Quick Recap: Kallie decides to travel with Vash, Millie, and Meryl and soon realizes that Meryl might have feelings for Vash. They make a quick stop only for her to see Legato talking to another man. She thought she'd made it inside before he noticed her, and alerted the others. Unfortunately, the man she was terrified of had seen her and managed to control the store owner, nearly getting Kallie killed. Vash managed to save her, and she reminds him that he promised to protect her, and things start to heat up a bit between she and Vash. They stop for the night and Vash is about to take a quick shower when suddenly, Kallie hears him scream.

Disclaimer: We do not own Trigun nor do we own the items or settings where this story takes place. All we own is the idea for this nifty little story and our original characters. Please don't sue, as all you will get from us is a case of soda, which is needed to caffeinate the writer so she can actually get this done.

Chapter: The Man She was Falling For
Chapter Written By: Peggi
Edited and Revised By: Peggi & Devy

Running towards the bathroom with the note in her hand, Kallie quickly discovered why Vash had screamed. She covered her mouth, trying her hardest to suppress her laughter. Vash was jumping in place while holding his arm and Kallie couldn't help but let out a little laugh at seeing him. She simply handed the note over and giggled a little as she did so.

"You already had turned on the water by the time I saw the note about there not being any cold water," she explained, holding back a smile.

Vash took the note and glanced at it before fully realizing his surroundings again. He'd already removed his coat and shirt at that point and his upper body was completely exposed. Kallie didn't think anything of it, but Vash's entire face turned bright red and he crossed his arms in front of his chest in a failed attempt to shield himself. Kallie didn't realize the problem right away and it took a few seconds for her to snap to awareness and realize he must've been embarassed.

"Oh, right, sorry. I should let you get back to your shower."

Before she could walk back out the door, Vash spoke softly to her, "I didn't really want you to see me like this."

Trying to break the tension, Kallie just laughed a little, "what, jumping around a bathroom after burning yourself?"

"Oh, right. It's a good thing I checked the water first," he joked, clearly still uneasy.

"Really though, what's wrong?" Kallie had never seen a man this self-conscious in her life; usually it was women who tended to be a bit more shy.

Vash just tilted his head a little bit at her, "aren't...aren't you completely disgusted? All of my scars, and-"

Kallie didn't even allow him to finish his sentence before placing a finger over his lips, finally realizing what he was so uncomfortable about. She hadn't really given them much notice because she'd been more focused on the situation itself, but after him saying something, she noticed that almost every single inch of his body was covered in scars. Not just small, easy to hide ones, either. She locked her eyes on his and removed her finger from his mouth and smiled at him, but he still looked mortified by the whole situation.

Rather than try to find something clever to say to make him feel better about the situation, she pulled his face forward and kissed him. At first it was gentle and soft but the moment he wrapped his arms around her waist it all intensified. She had been kissed many times in her life, but never like this, and never by someone she felt this way about. She smiled when she recognized the taste of chocolate and remembered the donuts, one of which he had finished off for her just moments before they walked into their room.

Kallie felt his hand running along her back and it sent chills up and down her spine. She allowed him to push her against the wall behind her, kissing her even harder at that point. She ran her fingers through his hair as she battled with herself as to whether she should drag him back out into the other room towards the bed or not rush things and just enjoy the moment while it lasted. When he started kissing her jawline and the side of her neck it really didn't help to make her decision any easier, and if she could've formed words at that very moment she probably would've almost demanded he follow her into the next room.

She was a little surprised, though, when he stopped entirely and was looking into her eyes again. At first she assumed maybe he just needed to catch his breath for a moment, as they were both breathing pretty heavily, but he just gave a little half smile before he spoke.

"You never really answered me."

Kallie was too lost in his eyes, too turned on, and still trying to register what was even going on after their kiss to fully understand the question. She just gave him a confused look for a few moments, hoping that he would clarify what he meant. He stared at her, waiting for a reply until he realized she didn't understand him, so he tried again.

"Aren't you disgusted?" his voice almost cracked at the end of the question and Kallie wondered if he were almost on the verge of crying.

Rather than answer, she responded to his question with a question, "Vash, who did this to you?"

She ran her hands along his chest and abdomen, almost feeling like crying herself at the thought of anyone hurting him like that. He didn't answer her right away, watching her as she ran her fingers over every last inch of him. He was almost fascinated by her reaction, which was the exact opposite he'd always imagined of someone. Finally, he gave her a reply.

"A lot of people. This is the burden I must bare for not killing anyone," he paused for a moment before finishing his thought "you know, I really hate for women to see me like this. I've always been afraid that it might scare them. Or sicken them."

Kallie finally looked back up at his face, concern obvious in her eyes, "I wish you didn't have to go through the pain that caused them, but if you didn't have them...well then, you just wouldn't be Vash."

He thought about that for a short few seconds before smiling down at Kallie and returning to kissing her. She was still against the wall and as if by instinct he moved his hands, which were resting on her hips, upward to her arms. Once he was holding her wrists he put them above her head and completely pinned her to the wall. He could feel Kallie pushing herself away from the wall and he almost let her go, thinking maybe she didn't like what was happening, but realized she was just trying to move her body closer to his.

Vash was not one to turn down a situation like this, considering they were so few and far apart, so he took a small step forward so that she was completely pinned between him and the wall. He was so turned on and wanted her so badly that it was all he could do to focus on what was happening right then and there. Meanwhile, Kallie was in another heated battle with herself. She loved the feeling of him completely dominating her, which led her to so many other thoughts and ideas, but she wanted more.

She barely knew the guy so this teeny tiny part of her kept reminding her that she should get to know the guy before ripping the rest of his clothing off and throwing him onto the bed. That was just a teeny tiny part of her, though, and the rest of her was starting to become almost irritated by the fact that she wanted much more than she was getting. That part of her forgot what it was irritated by when she realized one of his hands had left her wrists and was moving down her side, lifting her shirt just a small amount. After his hand slipped under it he tugged at the waistband of the sweatpants she was wearing.

'Finally', she thought to herself, internally rolling her eyes despite knowing that at least he was moving past the foreplay whereas she would've been too afraid to get half as far as they were if she'd been making the moves.

She didn't have to even ask if he wanted this as much as she did, because she could clearly tell he was hard, but she decided to wait to let him decide what to do. At least, that was her initial plan. Before she realized what she was even doing, she had already pushed herself off of the wall and had stopped kissing him just long enough to push him out of the room and backwards onto the bed. The little voice that kept telling her to stop was completely drowned out by every instinct she had, guiding her through the entire procedure.

Vash was too surprised by having been thrown onto a bed by a woman, which, for the records, had never happened before to him, to really say or do much of anything other than let Kallie take control. Being careful to avoid injuring her side, which she had almost forgotten she'd been shot in, Kallie pulled her shirt over her head and crawled on top of Vash. She leaned in and kissed him again, then slid back down and began working on his belt. No sooner had she managed to pull his pants down did Vash hear her giggle. He lifted his head to look at her, seeing right away that she was desperately trying not to laugh.

Normally, this wouldn't be the response a guy would want from a girl who had just taken his pants off, but the moment he realized why she was laughing, he covered his face with his hands and started laughing too. Kallie took a moment to compose herself before tugging on his boxers with a smirk on her face.

"What is it with you and donuts?" she managed to get the words out in between some giggling.

Vash had forgotten entirely that he'd worn his favorite pair of boxers that day, obviously with no plans of having a girl see them. They just so happened to have donuts as the design, but fortunately for him, Kallie found it more amusing than weird. Also, luckily for both of them, the moment hadn't been a mood killer, and he sat up as Kallie removed her sweatpants, standing in front of him while twirling her dark hair. She was admiring her work so far, trying not to show any signs that she was actually very nervous at that point.

As if he could tell that she wasn't sure what to do next, Vash pulled her towards him and in a swift but gentle maneuver he managed to switch their positions. She was now laying on the bed and he was above her. He kissed her ribcage on the side she'd not been injured on while expertly reaching behind her back to unclasp her bra. Just when he almost had it, there was a knock at the door.

They just exchanged glances, wondering who could possibly be at the door and both frustrated that they'd been interrupted in the first place. Kallie was also a great deal concerned that it could be Legato there to hurt her, or someone else, perhaps. Vash must've had the same thought, because he stood up from the bed and looked to make sure his gun was still in the spot he'd left it.

"Who is it?" he asked, a bit out of breath still.

"Me!" came Meryl's irritated voice from the other side of the door, "Kallie, are you okay in there? Is Vash behaving himself?"

Meryl was practically yelling through the door, and Kallie felt her face turn completely red. She wasn't sure if it was from anger at Meryl's intrusion, or embarrassment because she was just laying there in a bra and panties in front of the boyfriend she'd had for less than 24 hours.

"Uh yeah," she replied, just loudly enough for Meryl to hear but hopefully not the people who might be in the rooms next to theirs. "He's fine."

Kallie finally discovered the emotion she was feeling to explain the redness on her face, and it was definitely embarrassment. She grabbed at her clothes and wrapped the blanket around her, trying to feel less exposed at the moment. She wasn't sure if she was grateful for the interruption or angry, but she was a bit relieved when she realized that Vash was redressing himself as well. She managed to slip her clothes on faster than Vash could locate and put his back on, and she sat down on the bed, pulling her knees up to her chest and burying her face in them.

As soon as Vash was dressed and checked to make sure Kallie was as well, he opened the door and Meryl was still standing outside of it. Her hands were on her hips and she looked like she was very impatient. She picked up two bags that were next to her on the ground and walked in, pushing past Vash. She instantly looked to Kallie and then back at Vash, a suspicious look on her face, but she said nothing.

"I thought the two of you might be hungry, so I brought you both some food. It's not much, but it's something. Oh, and by the way, there's no cold water."

The moment she said it, both Vash and Kallie started to giggle and she gave them another odd look, not sure what she had walked into or what was so funny to them. Kallie instantly relaxed and crawled off of the bed, investigating what Meryl and brought them.

Meryl just raised an eyebrow at their odd behavior, looking back and forth again before excusing herself as quickly as she could, "enjoy the food. We have to leave early so you two had better go to bed early tonight. Good night, Kallie. And Vash?"

"Hm?" he looked up from the bags, which he was also looking through.

"You'd better not try anything with Kallie."

Vash just put on the most innocent smile he possibly could as she left, closing the door behind herself. Kallie and Vash both looked up from the bags, making eye contact, and then bursting into laughter again. It was a close call, but it may have been for the better. They could still blame Meryl for interrupting, though. They were thrilled to see Thai takeout, and sat on the beds to eat. Every now and then they would glance up at one another, neither really wanting to break the silence for a while. After they were both finished eating, Kallie threw out her trash and sat back down on the bed.

Vash stood and threw his trash away but didn't return to the other bed. Instead, he walked up to Kallie and sat down next to her.

"I'm sorry."

Kallie tried to read his face, not sure what exactly he was apologizing for in the first place. He just wore an apologetic look, never taking his eyes off of hers.

"You're sorry? For what?"

"You hardly know me. I was way too forward with you, and I know it."

She couldn't help but smile at how genuinely sweet he was, "you didn't do anything wrong. I was just as into it as you were, and I was the one who kissed you, remember?"

He nodded and stood, walking back to his own bed. They had turned off the lights and Kallie was staring at the wall, so tired she could've fallen asleep at any second, but too many thoughts kept racing in her mind. The past few days had been some very strange ones. First she had walked nearly all day in the heat before being shot, she met the man she once thought she hated and now she couldn't get those beautiful light green eyes out of her head. The moon was shining in through the small crack between the curtains and Kallie somehow kept expecting to see a shadow there. She closed her eyes and ignored the feeling, just hoping that Legato wouldn't somehow show up.

She was just starting to relax and drift off into sleep when she felt something shifting on her bed. She turned around quickly, nervous at first that her fears had been accurate, but then she relaxed again. She came face to face with Vash, and even in the pale moonlight she could see him with that big goofy smile.

"Can I sleep in your bed?" he asked, innocently.

Kallie narrowed her eyes at him, trying to give her most menacing look despite the fact that internally she was doing a little happy dance.

"Why?" she asked him, trying to play hard to get.

She could see that he was desperately trying to find a good enough excuse, but clearly he wasn't good at that when put on the spot, "there might be monsters under my bed."

Kallie just laughed at him and rolled her eyes, the dead-serious expression on his face when he said it being absolutely priceless to her. She grabbed his hand and turned over, snuggling up to him with his arm over her, and he took that as her answer and moved as close as he could to her. Kallie giggled a little and remembered Meryl's warning to Vash from earlier.

"Now, remember, Vash. Meryl said 'you'd better not try anything with Kallie', so you be good, or she'll be giving us dirty looks all day tomorrow."

They both laughed at the memory of Meryl eyeing them all day followed by her very stern warning. It didn't take long at all for either of them to completely fall asleep.

Peggi: Awww, I'm sorry. Were you hoping I might write in some tasty adult fun in this chapter? Hope I didn't break your feels. Don't worry, it's coming. In chapter 10. Where you will be linked off-site so none of the little kiddos on here who don't want to see such things won't have to read it! For now, that's all the spice this gal is offering!

Vash: So, what do you think about the me/Kallie relationship so far, and do you think Meryl will keep getting in the way?

Peggi: Probably, to that last question. Meryl certainly doesn't let up when she has an opinion! Please review guys! Faster updates come from reviews, m'dears!