Vision Of Escaflowne Fan Fiction ❯ Born Of The Moon ❯ Birthday Blues ( Chapter 2 )

Born of the Moon

Chapter Two

Birthday Blues

The sushi bar was free of people, except for a few lingering at a single table. Surprising, seeing as the place was usually crawling with people and you'd have to shove your way through them just to sit down. Yuhan, the waiter who came around asking people if they wanted a drink, came to assist me as usual.

"Hey there, Hitomi. Looking good. Will it be something with caffeine or aspartame today?"

"Huh?" I wasn't in the mood for his little word game at the current time.

"Heh, I'll take that as a coffee, double milk with half a teaspoon of sugar?"

I smiled and nodded. "Yes please."

He was back in about two minutes with my drink. Placing it in front of me, he sat down on the opposite chair, sighing.

"Working hard?" I asked, fingering the rim of my mug.

"Only you would consider this hard. The rush today was at around five thirty. I think it's because that new movie theater is opening downtown tonight at around, hmm-" he glanced at his watch, "About right now. I expect the shortest movie to be about an hour and a half. Maybe business'll pick back up around nine-thirty or ten." I hadn't payed attention to any word he had said, really. His eyes reminded me too much of a certain king's.

"Hey, what's wrong? You looked really bummed." He said, removing his black bandanna to reveal his short, dark brown hair. Too bad it wasn't black . . .

"Oh, uhm . . . well it's nothing really." I stopped my sentence short, taking a sip of my coffee. Boy was it ever refreshing.

"Ok, so I've known you, what, since the age of fifteen? I think I can tell when something's wrong. Where's the usual gang?" He leaned forward, resting his chin on his hands. Those eyes . . .

"My party lasted long into the morning. It's just a hangover, don't worry about it."

A smile crept up the right side of his face and he raised an eyebrow. "I've seen you plenty of times while having a hangover and you've never seemed this out of it before."

I could tell he was amused by the scrunched up look on my face. After taking a long sip of my coffee and staring lazily at him, I decide to explain myself.

"The one person I expected the most in life from and the one man I didn't expect to forget my birthday did just that. He let me down very badly. I don't know if I'll ever be able to forgive him." I drowned myself in more of my coffee. The next time I looked up to see Yuhan, instead I saw him heading towards the kitchen. He returned moments later with a piece of chocolate cake which had a single emerald candle lit right in the middle. After placing it in front of me, he gave me a kiss on my head and sat down again.

"Happy birthday, one day late." He paused. "Well? Blow out your candle girl, you've got a wish awaiting you."

I couldn't help but laugh at him. "I wasn't referring to you when I said that, baka. Someone else who knows me much better. Not saying that you don't know me well . . .I didn't expect this."

He took the moment to stand up and grab the rim of the plate. "Well I guess I could take it back . . ."

"No, no! Really, it's okay!" I took a hold of his hands and rested the plate back down on the table. "I could use some sugar to wake me up."

He grinned and retook his seat. He began to question me as I shoveled in my cake. "So, tell me more about this guy. Can I kick his ass for you?"

I choked on a fork-full of cake as he said that. He was so much like a brother it was hilarious. "No, no," I wiped off my mouth with my napkin. "I thought he loved me and I knew that I loved him back, but now I'm just not so sure."

Yuhan and I continued to talk for another hour, and just as he had predicted, the crowds began to return. After saying goodbye, I decided to finish up writing my story about Gaea and drop it off at Yukari. She'd probably be finished it in no time flat seeing as she was the fastest reader I know.

"Hey, Hitomi. How are you feeling? You sounded really sad on the phone." I had called Yukari asking her to meet me at the park that was exactly halfway from each of our apartments.

"I asked you to come here so I could give you something." I handed her the large folder which contained the five hundred page long story. "Remember those few days that I was missing?"

Her eyes toned down from their usual happy glow. She could probably tell from my deep tone of voice that something was wrong. "Yes, I remember. What's this all about? What's in this folder?"

I forced a smile onto my face. "It's a story I'd like you to read and finish as soon as possible." Without another word I left silently, tears silently rolling down my cheeks.

That night I tried to contact Van but he just wouldn't answer. I was becoming angry with him. It was like he was trying to avoid me. Didn't he know how much he was hurting me by doing so? I needed to see Van again. I had to find out his reasons for suddenly excluding me from his life. I needed answers, and quickly. This had been going on for a good three months now and I was becoming fed up.

"Why Van?!" I suddenly spoke out loud, scaring myself. The screaming sound of the phone ringing didn't do anything more to calm my nerves. Glancing over to my digital clock, the red block numbers read two forty-seven A.M.. Who would call this early? A telemarketer? "What?!" I yelled into the receiver. The person on the other end had better of had something damn well good to talk about or else I probably would've exploded in a fit or rage right on their heads.

"I can't believe how well written your story is, Hitomi. You should get this published."

I took a few very deep breaths to calm my anger before continuing. "My story, eh Yuki?" I began to pace the length of my room while talking. "Those few days that I was gone, that's what happened to me. All of it. I didn't leave out a single detail."

I could hear her giggle at the other end. "Right, Hitomi! And I'm really an alien! This is an awesome story though. It could be something big."

"Yukari! Listen to me!" If I didn't have her full attention after calling her by her full name, I would've surely hung up on her and given up in the snap of a finger. "Remember that time in tenth grade when no one believed that you hadn't cheated on your final exam in history and only I did? This is one of those times where you've got to believe me, accept this is about one hundred times larger in importance!" Without knowing it, I had grabbed a large duffel bag and was furiously throwing essentials inside of it. "Do you believe me or not?"

"H-Hitomi . . . all this stuff, it's just . . ."

"Impossible to believe? Yes I know that Yuki but you know what, as your best friend I really need you to trust me on this one. I need you to be behind me on this."

"Hitomi, I-"

"Fine then!" I exclaimed hatefully at her. "If you don't want to believe your best friend when she asks you to when she knows for sure that no one else will, fine! Have a nice life without me!" I slammed the phone receiver down onto the panel and finished packing. Not much was left to do when your best friend didn't believe in you. I know that it was much to ask, but she surely could've humored me at least. Grabbing the last of my money, I locked the door to my apartment and started walking down the stairs to the foyer.

I must've stared at the clear glass door for about ten minutes. I also happened to not notice that Yuhan was watching me from across the street. His shift usually ends at around one thirty but he sticks around until about two to help cleaning up. My mind was somewhere else and I, and I still hadn't seen him as I flung the door open hitting him right in the face.

"Umph!" I was too late in pulling back the door handle so that it wouldn't hit him but since my mind had been wandering, I wasn't that swift to react.

"Yuhan!" I couldn't believe that I hadn't seen him. Blushing with embarrassment, I offered him a hand up. "I'm so sorry. I didn't see you."

"Obviously not." He laughed as he raised to his feet. "Where are you headed this early?"

"Hitomi!" A female voice called to me from down the street. Yuhan had to of seen me cringe. "Where the hell are you going? What are you doing?!" I saw the folder in her hands. Grabbing it from her, I shoved it into Yuhan's chest and began to run.

"Hitomi, wait!"

"Dammit, Yukari!" I spun on my heels, tears running down my cheeks again. "You know I could also ask you what the hell you're doing out here this early but I could care less! Why can't you just understand? Just this once why can't you believe me?!"

"Because it's impossible to believe! You think that if I were to tell you that I traveled to another world, met a king and saved a world from a war, would you believe me?! I don't think so!" She equally yelled back at me.

"Well you know what, even if I didn't believe you at least I'd make an attempt to understand if you asked me to!"

Yuhan was standing in between us, totally awe struck. Completely lost, obviously.

"You know what," a new feeling of basically nothing at all came over me. Who cares what anyone thought, especially her, the one person I confided in up to this point. "If you don't want to believe me, fine. I just don't care anymore. I don't have to deal with this anymore. I'm leaving."

Raising my bag higher on my shoulder, I started on my way to the train station.

"Hitomi, where are you going?" Yuhan asked innocently.

"I'm going back to Tokyo." I looked up to the moon which was still shining brightly in the night sky. "Back to the place where this all started."

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