A/N: Presenting some shameless fun. Enjoy!

10. The Bet

Meryl sipped her chocolate milkshake casually. So far, that had been the highlight of her and Vash's first date. He was nervous, she could tell. He kept fidgeting with things and had already knocked over the saltshaker twice.

"Well… um… do you have any hobbies?" Vash asked lamely. He tried to remember some of the tips that Wolfwood had given him earlier, but that was all he could come up with. He could tell that Meryl wasn't impressed in the slightest, but she answered anyway.

"I like to read, and cook sometimes… mostly baking, though."

"Wow! That's neat!" Vash said a little too enthusiastically. Think of something else! "Well, if you believe it or not, one of my favorite things to do is fly kites. I thought that, if you wanted to, we could go after dinner-"

Suddenly Meryl burst into tears.

"Are you okay?" Vash asked concernedly. "What's wrong? Was it something I said?"

"No, no…" Meryl said, wiping her face with a napkin. "It's just… when I was a kid… my brother he… he died in an… unfortunate kiting accident."

"Oh… a kiting accident?"

"Yes, it was windy, and the string got wrapped around his neck and-" Meryl started to cry again.

"We don't have to talk about it… I'm sorry." Vash clumsily patted her hand. "I shouldn't have brought that up."

"No, you didn't know… it's fine."

There was a very uncomfortable silence. Meryl was still busy blowing her nose, and Vash was afraid to say anything, lest it lead to another Strife family tragedy.

Then Meryl began to laugh.

"What's so funny?" Vash was confused. "Why are you laughing?"

"You should have seen the look on your face!" Meryl could barely talk she was laughing so hard. "Priceless!"

"…what?"

"Vash, I was kidding!" Meryl giggled. "I never had a brother die in a kiting accident! I don't even have a brother!"

Vash simply stared at her. "So… it was a joke?"

Meryl nodded, laughing so hard that she clutched her side.

"Oh… heheheh…" Vash laughed nervously. "You really had me going! I felt so bad!"

"Yeah, I know! You should have seen the look on your face…" Meryl wiped tears of laughter from the corner of her eyes. "By the way, never take romantic advice from Wolfwood. That's just asking for it."

"But… what- um…."

"Kites? Please." Meryl snorted. "Yep, looks like the preacher man owes me ten double dollars. You want a drink?"