Vision Of Escaflowne Fan Fiction ❯ Mystic Wings ❯ The Damage a Pin Can Do ( Chapter 14 )

Chapter Fourteen

The Damage a Pin Can Do

 

The next day, Hitomi was standing at her locker after the last bell. She was putting her books away and taking out her mp3 player and pencil crayons. Of course, she had detention again and she had to have something to do.

 

She was thinking about how boring it was going to be when Yukari pounced on her. “Got detention again?” the girl asked pleasantly.

 

“Yeah,” Hitomi mumbled.

 

“It's too bad you'll miss practice. We'll really miss you.”

 

“Hey Yukari, is there any way that I could get a key to the weight room? I have a spare I could work out during. I know it's not the same as training with the team, but that way I wouldn't fall that far behind.”

 

“I can loan you my key,” Yukari volunteered, “but you'd have to give it back to me after you finished using it, and there couldn't be a class in there while you were training. Hey, when is your spare?”

 

“Third period.”

 

Yukari thought for a moment before she answered, “That should be all right. Do you want to start tomorrow?”

 

“Please.”

 

Yukari waved to her and left her standing in the hallway. Hitomi waved back and pretended to smile.

 

She would have liked to smile naturally at Yukari, but she had no intention of training with the team from now on. She'd thought about what she had said to Mr. Raevendorf and she was right - joining the track team had been stupid. She should have joined the boxing club, except that the school didn't have one. In any case, there was a punching bag in the weight room, and she planned to make good use of it. She wasn't really thinking that she'd have to fight many more Dragon Slayers, but she needed to work off some of her tension. She was so tense!

 

The halls of the school were emptying now and she saw a familiar face heading towards her. It was Dryden.

 

“Yo, Kanzaki,” he said pleasantly.

 

“I can't come over to your house today,” Hitomi said. She had never yet accepted Dryden's invitation but today she had an excuse, and the sooner she could dispose of him, the better. “I have detention.”

 

“What a coincidence!” he exclaimed, “So do I.”

 

Hitomi shut her locker with a bang. “Really? What did you do?”

 

“Nothing as radical as you. I was late for the same class three days in a row and got detention this afternoon.”

 

“Only one day?”

 

“Only one day. Let me walk with you. And stop being so stuck up!” he said roguishly.

 

Hitomi regarded him with suspicion. There had to a reason he wanted to be friends with her, but Hitomi couldn't figure out what it was.

 

***

 

There weren't any other girls besides Hitomi in detention that day, so she got all of Dryden's attention. They were not allowed to talk, but he passed her notes that said things like “If you were a goddess, what would you be a goddess of?” Hitomi didn't know how to answer these questions and ended up writing flippant remarks back to him that were neither here nor there. He almost seemed disappointed by her answers and just kept on asking her questions. What was her favourite colour? Did she believe in fortune telling? What was her sign? What was her birthday? Did she believe that beauty and love were the same thing?

 

He wrote her a little quiz, asking her about her love life. How old was she when she had her first kiss? Had a guy ever told her that he loved her? The last question on the test was: have you ever cheated on a guy?

 

Hitomi felt sick and stuffed the paper into her bag. With Dilandau no less! She was flushed and unhappy. She still couldn't forgive herself for being so stupid. How could she have thought he was Van? It was just a trick, but a trick that Hitomi didn't know how to explain.

 

Dryden pouted and asked her to give it to him since she'd obviously filled it out. She wouldn't though, and on their way out, he tried to snatch it out of her bag.

 

“What are you, twelve?” she asked, questioning the maturity of his chasing her around the hallway after detention was over. “You're going to get detention again for goofing off in the halls.”

 

“Classes are over,” he said, making another grab for her bag. “I wanna see your answers. Besides, the teachers at this school are all about as professional as gold fish. Like they really care what you or I do as long as it doesn't reflect badly on their precious school's image. They're a load of brainless bureaucrats that couldn't do the right thing unless it was in their handbook, and even then, they'd have to be told to do it!”

 

Dryden wasn't looking behind him. If he had been there was no way that he would have said such a loaded statement, because standing behind him was Principal Voris. Apparently, he hadn't gone home yet, and managed to make it just in time to hear Dryden mouth off.

 

Dryden was given three days of detention, as if to prove his point. So, Hitomi would finish her first week with Dryden sitting beside her. “Oh goodie!” she thought, with absolutely no enthusiasm.

 

On the way out, he asked her if he could drive her home, but she turned him down, thinking of how little she'd like to be in such an enclosed space with him. He still seemed like the ultimate man-whore.

 

“Sorry, I've had enough man trouble,” she said, heading towards the bus stop.

 

“Is that why you wouldn't let me see your answers,” he called, too far away from her now to make a final snatch at her bag.

 

She shrugged.

 

“See you in detention tomorrow! It's a date, okay?”

 

“No, it's not!” she yelled back to him. She still counted herself lucky that he hadn't grabbed her butt.

 

***

 

When Hitomi finally made it back to the apartment, she saw Allen's motorcycle parked across the street. He was nowhere to be seen, but she thought she ought to get Marlene's skirt back. He probably didn't even know he had it. She reached into the back flap, but it wasn't there. There wasn't anything! Had it been stolen? Did Allen never lock his stuff up properly?

 

Hitomi slowly went up to the condo. She hadn't been feeling good lately. She felt sick to her stomach. Going home was now about as comfortable as pulling teeth or purposefully putting your head in a vice grip. Her family life had never been this strained before. They had always lived relatively together happily. Sure, there had been problems, but she had never been the centre of discontent before. And Allen was in the house now? Hopefully, he'd left off the stud collar. Hopefully …

 

She unlocked the door and announced her arrival, “I'm here!”

 

Hitomi walked into the living room to see Allen and Marlene sitting on the couch. Her skirt was on her lap and there was rosy blush on her cheeks. They were leaning towards each other with their eyes and lips just inches apart. They were whispering and he was touching the side of her face with his fingertips. Perhaps they weren't exactly doing anything, but there was something deeply personal about them. Maybe, it was their proximity?

 

Hitomi's first reaction was one of gladness that her sister had gotten her bloody skirt back. Now Marlene would stop complaining. Her second reaction wasn't nearly as pleasant.

 

“Oh, hello Allen,” she said, interrupting their flirting. “Did you come to see me?”

 

“Yeah,” he said, finally looking away from Marlene.

 

“Do you want to talk to me on the balcony?” she asked, indicating for him to follow her.

 

It wasn't a nice day as it was now October, and the cold weather was starting to come, but Hitomi didn't want to talk to Allen with Marlene. It wasn't just because of what their conversation might contain, but she didn't want Allen and Marlene to get any closer. Who knew how long they'd been sitting like that? And where was her father? Shouldn't he have snatched Marlene's skirt out of Allen's hand and sent him packing without even letting him into the apartment?

 

Marlene was at a bad age. Hitomi remembered what she was like when she was fifteen years old. She had fallen in love with Dilandau - which was such a major mistake that she'd be paying for it for the rest of her life because of Millerna's death. It didn't matter how Hitomi looked at it - Allen was NO better. His association with Marlene could easily turn out to be as damaging as Hitomi's prior relationship with Dilandau. Were both she and Marlene going to be victims of poor judgment? She'd have to talk to Allen about it.

 

Even though the resemblance between Allen and Marlene and herself and Van was clear, Hitomi wouldn't even let herself compare the two. There was no one for her but Van because of their abilities. It didn't matter if they came together now or in a year, or five years - there would never be anyone for her but Van. Hitomi thought herself so much better equipped to make the life altering choice of choosing of mate at age eighteen rather than age fifteen. Besides, it wasn't like Van was going to leave her in the dust - they were married! Hitomi didn't let herself remember that that was exactly what Van had done by leaving her to go to The Voltage Room by himself.

 

Allen followed Hitomi onto the balcony and was smart enough to shut the door firmly behind him before Marlene could follow. Allen never put pleasure before work. At least that was one good thing about him.

 

“Was Celena there?” Hitomi asked after the preliminary `how are you's' had been exchanged.

 

“No!” he said, saying the word as though it were a curse. “All four of us took turns watching - Eries, Gaddes, Merle and me. The Dragon Slayers moved all the furniture out this morning and the house is now for sale.”

 

“What?”

 

“I can't make sense of it, either,” he said, turning his head to look at the view.

 

“Did they know we were following them on Friday night and purposefully drive to the wrong house?”

 

“I don't know … damn it! Probably … I don't know,” he groaned.

 

“Did you have a plan C?” Hitomi asked hopefully.

 

He smirked. “We can try following him again.”

 

“Yeah, Allen, I was going to tell you. I'm not coming on that little adventure. Besides, I don't see how I could be helpful from this point forward. I think our last little field trip showed that I can't do anything with Dilandau. So, how about you just leave me alone from now on, Allen?”

 

He didn't answer, but he didn't move to leave either.

 

“Oh and hey, didn't I tell you not to flirt with my sister?” she snapped.

 

Allen looked thrown by Hitomi's accusation. “I wasn't flirting with her!”

 

“Yeah, you were,” Hitomi sighed. “She is fifteen years old. You are nine years older than she is, and didn't you say something about not digging high school girls?”

 

“It's not like that with Marlene!”

 

“Regardless,” Hitomi said. “Van told me I was too young for him and I'm less than five years younger than he is. You encouraged him along those lines, didn't you? He asked you if it was too much of a gap and you told him that you thought it was. Isn't that right? And now you're shamelessly following along a path you wouldn't allow your friend on. I don't care if it's a game to you. You could really hurt Marlene by your casual attention. I'm asking you Allen, please don't pursue this. Ignore her.”

 

“No,” Allen said quietly. “He never talked to me about you.”

 

“What?”

 

“Van never talked to me about you. He never said if he was interested or no. He would never talk to me about something like that. It would be very … unlike him.”

 

Hitomi sighed. “Okay, I believe you, but you must have told him your feelings about high school girls at some point.”

 

“Maybe I did do that,” Allen conceded. He didn't look like he was having a much better time than Hitomi. Having lost his clue to finding his sister must have really hurt him, but obviously it didn't hurt him so much as to prevent him from being as bad as Dryden.

 

“Listen, she has a boyfriend …”

 

Allen suddenly looked even more uncomfortable. “Not anymore. She just told me that they broke up.”

 

“Did she break up with him?” Hitomi asked dangerously.

 

“I think so,” Allen answered slowly.

 

“That's great, Allen. That's just great. I told you your attention would screw her up. She's really young and not very experienced. What were you hoping? Please tell me you weren't thinking of recruiting her to the Abaharaki?”

 

Allen turned away and wouldn't meet Hitomi's eyes.

 

“That is what you were thinking!” Hitomi gaped in horror. “Listen to me Allen,” she said strongly, but not so strongly that she thought someone might hear her. “If you think talking to me would get you into trouble with Van - I can promise you this - getting Marlene involved with the Abaharaki would get you into trouble with both Van and I, which is a whole different level …”

 

“Of what?” he questioned, turning to look at her. “I'm not about to take orders from you, Hitomi. You don't speak for Van, and even so, he's not my bloody boss!”

 

Hitomi took a deep breath, to force herself to calm down. Allen was really irritating her. “We've already established that I can't be helpful to you anymore. I think you should just go.”

 

Allen turned, seeming unwilling to be affected by her disapproval. “But you'll tell me if you get a lead on Celena or Van, won't you?”

 

“Yes,” she said, knowing she would, regardless of how unreasonable he was being just now.

 

Then he said, “She would have met someone like me, eventually.”

 

“Yeah, when she was going to college and ready for it. Don't argue with me Allen. Keep away from her and don't recruit kids into the Abaharaki!”

 

Allen didn't say anything, but clenched his jaw and went out.

 

Man alive! Hitomi didn't like fighting with him. When they were at The Voltage Room together, he had been a real sport. It seemed unforgivable now for her to be so hard on him, but what about Marlene? She wasn't ready for this, and Allen wasn't a good choice, anyway. He'd just love her and leave her alone to lick her wounds like he had with every other girl who had come into his life. He would put her in danger, too, if he wanted her to join the Abaharaki - the monster!

 

Hitomi wished she could leave Marlene with Eries for a week. Eries would set her straight!

 

***

 

Hitomi didn't expect Marlene to say anything to her about Allen's visit, so when they were lying down to go to bed she was surprised when Marlene started talking to her.

 

“Why did you send Allen away when he came today? He could be my friend, too,” Marlene asked, not sounding snotty, but sounding like she wanted a logical reason.

 

“Why are you asking this all of a sudden?” Hitomi said. She wanted Marlene to forget Allen existed. Nine years older! And Van thought he was a cradle robber!

 

Marlene gulped, like she was about to say something that she found unpalatable, but she continued, “I was wondering if you were mad at me?”

 

“Is there a reason I should be mad at you?” Hitomi asked, she shut off the light and waited for her sister's answer in the dark.

 

“I didn't want to steal your boyfriend or anything. He's just so …” She trailed off and didn't finish.

 

Hitomi grasped at the opportunity to talk seriously with her sister. “Marlene,” she said sincerely. “I'm not interested in Allen, but he's interested in everyone. He's sort of my friend, so I don't like to say mean things about him, but he's not exactly a faithful guy. If you think he thought you were special, you're probably right. He does think you're special, but he thinks every girl he meets is special.”

“You don't want me to become involved with him, but Hitomi … I really, really like him,” Marlene confided in a soft voice.

 

Hitomi couldn't see her face, but for her sister to be talking to her like this, then it must be serious to her. The girl had even broken up with her boyfriend for pity sake! Hitomi didn't know what to say. Finally, she whispered, “What?”

 

“When I saw him come in the door, it was like … a miracle. I think I'm in love!”

 

“In love,” Hitomi repeated deftly. Marlene couldn't be in love with Allen! “You don't even know him,” Hitomi said out loud.

 

“I know it's crazy, but I …”

 

“He's twenty-four!” Hitomi pronounced. She doubted Marlene knew even that much about him.

 

“He is?” she gasped.

 

“He didn't tell you, did he?”

 

“No,” she said quietly.

 

“Look Marlene, I'm actually not trying to kill your dreams, or tell you who to date. I'm telling you who not to date. I think you should think twice about Allen before you decide that he's the man of your dreams. He's older, experienced, and has probably been around the block a time or two. I don't know about you, but lecherous guys don't turn me on.”

 

“I could hang out with him …” Marlene started to say.

 

Hitomi reached over and flipped on her bedside lamp. “What did you just say? You're underage!”

 

“But if you're really in love that sort of thing shouldn't matter, right?” Marlene said, looking very young and vulnerable with her hair braided in two long blonde braids.

 

“You have only seen him twice, right? How can you call that love?”

 

“Hitomi, are you trying to punish me for telling Mom and Dad about you skipping gym class to run off with him? Is that why you're saying all this? Look, I'm sorry, I had no idea it would make such a difference to dad.”

 

“That is NOT why I'm saying this. Allen is a MAN! You are … not experienced enough to date him!” Hitomi exclaimed.

 

“Well, that's not your decision, is it? Turn off the light, will you? I want to go to sleep!” Marlene said waspishly, finally having reached her limit. She turned on her side and snuggled her pillow.

 

Hitomi huffed. Marlene was so obstinate, yet she hadn't exactly been rude. She was going to make Hitomi stay out of her decision making process. Hitomi switched off the light. Crap!

 

***

 

Hitomi was sitting in detention the following Monday. Dryden had finished his detention the week before and hadn't done anything rebellious enough to earn him an extra week, day, or hour of detention. Hitomi laid her head flat on her cold desktop and wished faintly that he was back in detention. At least he had kept her entertained.

 

She was still the only girl there and was having zero fun. Hitomi had taken all the same classes the semester before, so she knew the material and never had any homework. Normally, she listened to mp3s while she sat out the clock, but she hadn't had a chance to change the songs on it, and she couldn't bear to listen to the same tracks again so, she left her earphones off. She was on edge, frustrated, desperate, and basically feeling like kicking the crap out of someone, but had to sit quietly. So, she sat quietly.

 

Actually, she was drumming her fingers on her desk when suddenly a boy two chairs over flicked a pin at her. It pricked her on her right ear. It didn't hurt much, but when Hitomi bent down to pick it up, she saw that it wasn't a sewing pin, or a pin used to pin papers to a bulletin board - this was different! It was a pin probably stolen from the biology room. Hitomi wasn't taking biology but she knew it was the tool used for pinning dead frogs and pigs for dissection. It was long and very sharp.

 

“You little brat!” she screamed, holding onto her injured ear and looking at the boy with her eyebrows drawn together. “How dare you! This could have really hurt me! You could have hit me in the eye!”

 

“What happened?” the female teacher asked, rushing to Hitomi's aid.

 

“That kid … flicked this at me!” Hitomi exclaimed, showing the pin to the teacher.

 

The woman looked at Hitomi and the boy, who sat there looking like he was pleased he was able to piss Hitomi off and especially to get a reaction out of her. “You NEED a bandage,” the teacher insisted, looking at Hitomi meaningfully. “The nurse is gone for the day. Why don't you go to Mr. Raevendorf's office, and he'll give you a bandage?”

 

Hitomi didn't shout that she didn't want to go to Mr. Raevendorf's office, even though she wanted to. She was still feeling blessed that she didn't have to meet with him after all. However, she knew that the teacher didn't know how distressing she found his company. The woman was just trying to nip a potentially explosive situation in the butt. Hitomi had not gotten along or fit in with the delinquents at the school, and she would gladly have kicked the crap out of the little puke, in her mood. It would be better if they walked out different exits at the end of the day.

 

“Is he going to be punished?” she asked, pointing at the stupid kid.

 

“Yes,” the teacher said, nodding. “You should get going.”

 

There wasn't much blood, but to prevent there from being more (more blood would have come from the kid's nose if Hitomi had had her way), Hitomi nodded and picked up her books. Her mouth was dry and she was so angry her eyes were bugging out of her head.

 

She stomped her feet down the hall like she was an army of elephants on her way to Mr. Raevendorf's office. This was a right pissy situation, but Hitomi would put up with it. She'd get her friggin' band-aid and then head straight for the door and go straight home. Detention was almost over, anyway.

 

As she got closer, his door was ajar and Hitomi thought she heard him speaking on the phone. She stopped stomping and approached much quieter. Then she heard what sounded like the end of a phone conversation.

 

Mr. Raevendorf was saying, and he wasn't bothering to keep his voice down, “Van did what? That bloody idiot! Fine, I'll be there as soon as I can.” Then he clicked his flip phone shut quite noisily and was putting on his jacket.

 

Hitomi was thinking quickly. He'd said `Van', hadn't he? Was Van a common name? She had never known anyone else other than her Van called that! But Hitomi had to think quickly as he was coming out of his office.

 

“Hi Mr. Raevendorf,” she heard herself saying pleasantly. “Are you on your way home? I was just coming to see you.”

 

“Oh, have you changed your mind about our sessions?” he asked, regaining his composure at lightning speed, if he had been agitated by the news he'd just received.

 

She showed him her ear and explained that the teacher on detention duty had sent her to him for a bandage.

 

He took a look at her wound and invited her back into his office. He opened a first aid kit on his desk and said, “I'm surprised that you don't get along with the other students. They seem to like you.”

 

“Do you think so?” Hitomi said, trying not to allow herself to become volatile. Even though that was how she had been feeling, she had to swallow it. She really wanted to find out what happened to Van and the way she saw it, was that there was no way, except to pick F. Raevendorf's brain. She had to find a way to steer their conversation back towards their sessions. If she agreed to meet with him, she'd be able to talk to him, too, and maybe get some information? “I thought I was intimidating them, because of …” Hitomi purposefully hesitated, and hoped that Mr. Raevendorf would pick up on it and ask her what she was about to say.

 

He wasn't a bad looking guy and the afternoon sun through his window was killer. He tore a band-aid off the sheet and unwrapped it. “May I?” he asked, looking for her permission before putting it on for her.

 

She nodded.

 

“Hitomi, I have to tell you something. I think your experience would probably be useful to other students who are frustrated and miserable about their school life, if you weren't afraid to share it. I know you don't want to talk about it, but you might be able to convince someone who feels like doing something violent to think first,” he said, actually blowing in her ear before he touched her to place the adhesive strip to her skin. It might have been accidental, but Hitomi got goose bumps down her neck.

 

“I couldn't!”

 

“Well, not to an audience of people. Not at first, anyway. First, you'd need to work up the courage to tell just one person.”

 

“Like you?” she asked, trying to sound a little like the same person who'd been in his office the previous Monday - like herself. He wouldn't buy her act if it was all sweet.

 

“Yeah, like me,” he said, looking at her warmly. “But you said you weren't interested.”

 

She bit her lip and looked at the floor.

 

He seemed to catch her hesitation and said, “I'd gladly pick up with you any time you wanted. Just say the word. Now if you'll excuse me, something just came up and I need to be on my way.”

 

Mr. Raevendorf was standing at the door now. He was holding it open for Hitomi, but she was still leaning against his desk - appearing to be thinking. He raised his eyebrows as if to ask her what she had decided.

 

“What word would I need to say?” she asked slowly - very slowly, and very distinctly. She didn't know why, but for some reason she wanted to hold F. Raevendorf back for as long as possible.

 

“What you just said will work fine. We'll start tomorrow, okay?”

 

Then he did something that was very unprofessional, and it took Hitomi by surprise. He put his hand on her shoulder and led her out of the room. Hitomi didn't think that he should have touched her, but he led her out of the room and locked the door to his office before she had time to think of something else to say that would keep him with her another second. She was new to this.

 

“Considering what happened, you shouldn't go back to detention. Just go home and I'll see you tomorrow. I'm very interested in learning all about you,” he said, waving to her and heading towards the parking lot.

 

Hitomi watched him go.

 

He had said `Van', but maybe it was a misunderstanding … maybe.

 

***

 

When Hitomi got home, she telephoned Allen to tell him what she'd heard, and ask his opinion on the situation.

 

“It's probably nothing,” he said drowsily, like he had just woken up.

 

“It's five o'clock in the afternoon. Don't tell me you just got up?”

 

“So? What if I did? Look, call me when you've got a real clue, instead of when some weirdo at your school who might have said his name.”

 

He was about to hang up but Hitomi beat him to it. Why was he being such a jackass, anyway?

 

Hitomi marched to her room and slammed the door. Marlene wasn't there so Hitomi was alone to think. So, she wasn't going to get any helpful hints from Allen. She'd have to think up a strategy for learning what Mr. Raevendorf was talking about. Yeah, Allen was right. He might have been talking about anything, but Hitomi had to make sure.

 

First, she decided that she'd get him to tell her something of his past. Hitomi believed that anyone could be a Dragon Slayer, since that misfortune with the security guard at the hospital. She might be able to ascertain that much on her own - hopefully.

 

Except that Mr. Raevendorf wasn't at school the next day. The teacher supervising detention told Hitomi that he had phoned the school with a message that he'd had an emergency and wouldn't be at school for a few days, and that he was deeply sorry that he hadn't been able to make it for his session with Hitomi. He hoped she'd forgive him and that they could meet together sometime in the middle of the next week. He hoped he'd be back sooner than that, but was worried that it might not be possible.

 

Hitomi took this news in stride and tried her best to be patient and wait for him to come back, but by the weekend, she decided that waiting for him to come back was stupid. She should be doing something productive, but what?

 

She didn't come up with a solution until Friday when she was passing his office in the hall. She wished she could go snoop around when the thought hit her. Why the heck shouldn't she?