Vision Of Escaflowne Fan Fiction ❯ Another Day in Paradise ❯ Uneasy Feelings ( Chapter 5 )

Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne or any of its characters… too bad so sad..

 

Chapter 5: Uneasy Feelings

 

Hitomi arrived to work at her usual time of 7:45am. She walked through the front door with a huge smile on her face. Looking around she could only see Erik placing a breakfast menu on each table.

 

“Good Morning Erik.” Hitomi chirped happily.

 

“Hey good morning Hitomi, have a good weekend?” Erik asked

 

“It was great, I had a wonderful time.”

 

“You look really happy this morning so does this mean you spent all your time with Folken? Maya told me how well you two hit it off on Friday.”

 

“Yeah, we spent a lot of time together. You better get back to work or Maya will have to punish you, I have some things to do in the back.”

 

“Yeah, she probably would.”

 

“Talk to you later on.” Hitomi said as she walked through the kitchen doors.

 

She hung up her long jacket in her usual spot and started getting the kitchen ready for its opening. One of the things she had to do was heat up the fryer and the stove which took a while. Usually the cook would do it but apparently he is late today.

 

When Hitomi finished she went looking for her boss, Maya. She found her sitting at a desk doing a bit of paperwork. She walked over to her and greeted her. “Good morning Maya.”

 

“Hey Hitomi, you look happy this morning, how was your date with Folken? I want details.”

 

“It was amazing, Folken had a nice little candlelit dinner prepared, he had made dinner which was really good we had some pasta and salad, we passed on the desert. There was also some really nice wine. We also had a nice conversation. He doesn't entertain; I was pretty much his only guest he has had.”

 

“Wow, a man who can cook and is good looking to boot, very impressive. Is he employed?”

 

“Yes, he works in an electronic store.”

 

“Oh my god he's like the perfect guy. Anything else happened.”

 

Hitomi blushed, looked and started tapping the tips of her index fingers together. “Um we kissed, and we decided to start dating.”

 

“Hitomi that's wonderful, I'm so happy for you.” Maya hugged her friend in joy.

 

“I know, I'm so happy. I haven't been waking up at 4:30 in the morning since then.”

 

“That's great Hitomi, I think this guy will be “the one” for you I know it. So did you guys do anything else this weekend?”

 

“Um… we went to the amusement park outside of town on Saturday. Folken had never been anywhere like that before. He was toast by the end of the day. We met up with a few old friends there too, Amano and Yukari, remember them?”

 

“I remember them, so they're still together? Wow Folken has never been to an amusement park that's shocking.”

 

“You could say he's from another world, most of the things you can do here he has never experienced before.”

 

“What do you mean, is he from a third world country?”

 

“No, more like third world.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“Can you promise me you won't repeat this to anyone?”

 

“You can tell me anything, I promise mums the word.”

 

“Folken is from another world, he was born in Fanelia's capital on a planet called Gaea. Before you say anything please hear me out I know this sounds farfetched.” Maya nodded and let Hitomi continue her story. Gaea is a planet really close to Earth but cannot be seen, not even with the most powerful telescopes. But, on Gaea the earth and the moon hang in the sky. I know this because I have been there. Four years ago I was transported against my will to Gaea with a strange boy that had appeared on the track at school. That boy was Van Fanel, Folken's younger brother.”

 

“Are you sure you slept okay Hitomi?”

 

“Please you have to believe me.”

 

“You look pretty serious so I guess your not pulling my leg, continue.”

 

“Thank you, anyways, Van had vowed to bring me back to earth but in the meantime Fanelia had been under attack and developed into a great war. Folken was working for the enemy. I had met some really nice people there, Allen, who looks like Amano, he is a Knight, he had asked me to marry him but I was in love with Van.”

 

“Why was Folken working for the enemy?”

 

“When Folken was 15 he was sent on a quest to slay a dragon to become the next King of Fanelia, is a prince by the way. Well unfortunately the dragon almost killed him, the dragon ripped off his right arm and if Zaibach, the enemy hadn't have dragged them back with him he would have died. He became a sorcerer for Zaibach and believed in Zaibach's plan to end all war on Gaea and create the ideal future through fate alteration. As years went by Folken gradually disapproved on their methods and abandoned Zaibach. This happened during the time I was on Gaea. When Folken sided with our side, that when we began to get to know each other. Unfortunately Van still didn't trust him. That changed when Folken saved his life and mine from the dragons. The reason Van didn't trust him was because Folken was indirectly responsible for his kingdoms destruction. A few days after he had saved us, he killed the leader of Zaibach, Emperor Dornkirk. Unfortunately he was stabbed also and Van and I thought he had died. We even mourned the loss of him back in Fanelia, we had no idea he was sent to earth.”

 

“Wow what an interesting story, I guess that's just the condensed version of it.” Maya couldn't believe all that her friend was saying, it was so much to take in.

 

“Oh yes many things happened, but I doubt we have time for that, maybe some other time.”

 

“Yeah, so what else did you and Folken do.”

 

“Um yesterday we went flying that was amazing.”

 

“Flying, as in a plane?”

 

“No, sorry I forgot to mention that Folken is a Draconian, which means he has wings. He has beautiful white wings it's amazing.”

 

“Really, I'd have to see them.”

 

“I don't think he would let just anyone see them, his mother who was a Draconian also and she taught both of them not to show them to anyone unless it was someone very special to them. You see on Gaea the Draconians were looked down upon, there went that many left. They were the descendants of Atlantis and, they wound up destroying their world. So the Draconians were looked down upon because of what they had done long ago”

 

“Oh I see. That's really cool, the whole Gaea thing; its kind of hard to take all of it in.”

 

“It was hard for me and I lived there for I don't know how long. I wouldn't mind going back, it's so beautiful and clean, and no pollution.”

 

“Sounds nice. Do you have any tangible poof this place exists? I'm not dissing your story, it will just help me understand, it's all overwhelming.”

 

“I understand, but the only thing I could suggest is Folken's arm. Remember I said he lost it to the dragon, Zaibach built him a new arm, and its technology is nothing like what you see here. Gaea may be set back in most things compared to earth but it's more technologically advanced. Not in things as cars and such they still use horses and carriages but things like floating fortresses and aircrafts powered by floating stones. It's really amazing, but Folken's arm would be the best example. It has no skin type covering, but its waterproof, and it functions a lot better then what we have here. Unfortunately we don't have the same resources they have so we cannot build one just like it.”

 

“Do you think he would let me see it?”

 

“I don't know, he's become more self conscience about it since he's been on earth, he had been the subject of ridicule because of his arm, his face tattoos, his clothing, ad even his beautiful blue hair. Those entire he had to cover up because society here isn't that accepting.”

 

“Really? I can see why clothing and his arm.”

 

“Yeah, well a natural blue hair colour is strange around here, even to have it dyed that way is rare. On Gaea it isn't that uncommon. A friend of mine had pink hair, she was a cat-girl, don't ask. Folken had took in two cat twins when they were five, because they were going to be killed, and one had silver hair and the other gold, Naria and Eryia, they had both died for years ago in the war.”

 

“I'm sorry to hear that, but you do have a point. A man his age would get weird look for a blue hair colour. So is there any chance of seeing Folken today?”

 

“Perhaps, before he left last night he said he might come in for lunch. But I'm going over to his place after work. By the way when is my shift over today?”

 

“Oh yeah work, I totally forgot all about it.” Maya laughed, “Um let me see, “Well, I suppose you could go at three.”

 

“Thank you Maya, I guess we should be getting back to work, Erik and Andy are probably pretty busy out there.”

 

“No problem, I'll just go back to my paperwork, how fun.”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Lunch hour came and gone and Folken hadn't stopped in, Hitomi just figured he got tied up at work, her shift would be over with soon. She did however get a visit from Amano and Yukari before they were going to leave town. Her two friends were disappointed they couldn't see Folken before they left. Yukari was the one most disappointed; she wanted to take a quick peek at his handsomeness once more, but she had to leave unsatisfied.

 

Hitomi continued to daydream until she herd a voice invade her thoughts. The voice repeating her name, “Hitomi…Hitomi…Hitomi… anyone in there? Hitomi.”

 

Who's calling me it sounds so familiar and so…so male. Hitomi finally snapped out of her world of thought. She looked around her blankly when she met a familiar face.

 

“Hitomi, your shift is over what are you still doing here?” He still saw a blank unchanging expression on her face. “Hitomi…” the man started in a concerned voice. “Are you alright Hitomi?” That still didn't work; he then nervously brought his hands up to her shoulders and quickly shook her for a few seconds. When he started this, attention was drawn to them in the kitchen.

 

Hitomi finally snapped out of it, she blinked a few times, “Andy? What are you doing?”

 

“Hitomi you gave us all quite the scare, are you alright?” Andy asked.

 

“Andrew what do you mean? What happened?” Hitomi seemed really confused.

 

“You looked like you were daydreaming but you didn't snap out of it, when I thought you herd me you turned your head towards me but you had a vacant look on your face.”

 

“I herd someone calling me but I think I was almost in an unconscious state. I couldn't get out of it. I need to sit down.”

 

Maya witnessed the whole thing, “Hitomi you should go home, or to Folken's whatever's closer, I can walk you there.”

 

“Thank you Maya, let me get my coat.” Hitomi grabbed her coat and soon enough Maya was walking with Hitomi to Folken's little house.

 

Maya had walked her up the little pathway to the house, “Do you want me to stay?”

 

“No I should be fine from here, thank you so much.”

 

“No problem Hitomi, Perhaps you should take tomorrow off sick to rest, we don't want you to get really ill on us your our best worker.”

 

“Thank you so much.” Hitomi waved back at her friend as she walked away down the street.

 

She turned her attention to the front door. She raised her hand and knocked…no answer. Hitomi tried a few more times but no answer, oh great. She then tried the door knob which was unlocked. She walked in, “Folken?” she called. There was only the echo of her voice. Closing the door behind her she took off her jacket and hung it in the closet.

 

As she was walking down the hallway towards the kitchen she passed by a small table and she noticed a piece of paper with elegant hand righting on it. She read it aloud to herself:

 

October 4

My Dearest Hitomi,

 

Forgive me for not being here to greet you; I was called into a later shift

and will not be back until 4:00pm. Please make yourself at home like

I had made of yours. We can decide what trouble we can get into later

when I get home. Until then excuse the wait.

 

Folken

 

Hitomi was so impressed at how well his righting is, she never did pay attention to which hand he wrote with, she assumed it was his left. Even if he wrote with his left it was so neat.

 

It must have been 3:30 now, she felt a funny feeling inside her and she didn't like it. She felt sick and needed to lie down. Hitomi dropped the note on the floor not realizing it, turned around and walked up the stairs looking for a bed to lie down in. there were four rooms upstairs, one master bedroom, a bathroom and two smaller bedrooms. There was nothing but a few odds and ends in the two bedrooms, Folken still couldn't afford to buy more furniture at this time. Hitomi walked into the master bedroom. There was a fairly big window for the size of the house in Folken's room, which were half covered by a set of dark blue curtains. In the middle of the far wall was a king size bed with a silky dark blue comforter on top of it with two fluffy looking pillows on the bed. On the two sides of the bed there was a night stand, each on having a lamp on it.

 

The walls of the room were white with a small hint of blue. Folken has a thing for blue, not a bad colour. The bed looked so inviting to her right now. She walked over and lay down on top resting her head on the pillow taking in a deep breath, ahh it smells like Folken, I could get use to this, she thought before slipping into a peaceful sleep.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Forty-five minutes later a tiered looking Folken comes through the front door wearing his suit and his wide brimmed hat with a long white feather coming out from the top. He looked over to the table to see if the not he had left was received by Hitomi. Sure enough the not was gone, more like relocated to the floor as he saw it lying on the floor. Folken took off his suit jacket, opened up the closet and hung his jacket. Where the note had been, he set his hat down.

 

Figuring it must have been Hitomi who dropped the note; he called out, “Hitomi I'm Home.” Folken was only greeted by a long silence. He then checked the closet again to see if her jacket was there and it was. He then closed the door and nearly tripped over her shoes. Well she must be here, “Hitomi?” he called again but still no response.

 

He began walking through the main floor and there was no trace she had been there. Making his way back to the main entranceway he climbed the stairs and looked into the two bedrooms, nothing. He then checked the bathroom, for once you're not hiding in the bathroom, Folken thought as he chuckled to himself.

 

There was only one room left, his room. The door had been partly closed, he then slightly opened the wooden door a little to take a quick look inside. He then saw the peaceful form of Hitomi sleeping on his bed. He smiled then closed the door quietly so she wouldn't wake up and went back downstairs to make dinner.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Folken had just finished setting the table as he herd soft steps coming down the stairs. He then saw Hitomi's head pop around the corner. “Hey Hitomi, glad to see your awake, you looked so peaceful I didn't want to disturb you.”

 

“Thank you, I wasn't feeling too well, I needed to lie down. I feel a lot better now.”

 

“I'm glad to hear that. Are you ready for something to eat?”

 

“Yes please.”

 

“Sit down I'll have it out in a minute.” Folken pulled out a chair for her to sit down and the disappeared into the kitchen only to return a couple minutes with food.

 

They both at and enjoyed a candlelit diner like they had the Friday. They both enjoyed a lively conversation throughout dinner, telling each other about their hectic day.

 

By the end of the evening when the dished were cleaned up, washed and put away Hitomi was feeling 100% again.

 

The sun was now setting and it looked so gorgeous. Folken was looking out the window as Hitomi was upstairs getting acquainted with Folken's bathroom for a short while.

 

When she came back down the stairs she walked over to his left side and wrapped her arms around his arm.

 

Folken looked down at her, “Would you like to go for a walk, it's such a lovely evening?”

 

“Okay.” Hitomi left his arm to walk over to the closet and put on her jacket. She grabbed Folken's suit jacket and handed it over to him who had finished putting on a pair of black shoes and put it on. As Hitomi was putting on her shoes, Folken went over to the small table and picked up his favourite hat and placed it on the top of his black hair.

 

As soon as he had closed the front door to the house he turned to face Hitomi opening up the gap between his mechanical arm and his body inviting her to slip her arm around. Without a second thought she did, she wrapped her arm around his.

 

They began walking down the path and to the sidewalk and walked down the away from the main road.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Folken and Hitomi were out for what seemed hours, they were walking back to the house, it was now dark out. You would have been able to see the stars if it weren't for the streetlights guiding them back.

 

When they reached the door Folken freed his arm from her gasp and turned to face Hitomi. “Hitomi, I wanted to ask you something…” Folken started.

 

“Yes, what is it?” Hitomi asked as she looked up into his deep maroon eyes.

 

“I hope this isn't too sudden, but, I was wondering if you would consider…”Folken paused, “moving in with me.”

 

“Folken…” Hitomi was speechless.

 

Folken felt a slight blush creep onto him, “we don't have to share a bed if you are not comfortable with it, you are free to use one of the empty rooms. I would really like it if you would stay with me.”

 

Hitomi's face lit up and the anxiety had left Folken's body, “Oh Folken that is a wonderful idea.”

 

“You would like that?”

 

“Yes, we could start moving things on the weekend, if that's alright.”

 

“That's great.” Folken said as her leaned down to kiss Hitomi and felt the warmth of her lips return the kiss.