Vision Of Escaflowne Fan Fiction ❯ Return to the Mystic Moon ❯ Chapter 10 ( Chapter 10 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Dawnrider31 
No warnings for this chapter
Anime/Manga: Vision Of Escaflowne Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 07.05.2011 | Pages: 2 | Words: 3.1K | Visits: 292 | Status: Work In Progress
No warnings for this chapter
Anime/Manga: Vision Of Escaflowne Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 07.05.2011 | Pages: 2 | Words: 3.1K | Visits: 292 | Status: Work In Progress
Well hello! I hope everyone made it through the most recent holiday with all their limbs intact and their houses in one piece. It was a bit touch and go for us. Apparently people ignore that whole “No fireworks permitted within city limits” thing around here. Our windows were rattling until almost one in the morning! One of my cats was hiding under furniture and in the bathroom all day. Poor thing.
Please enjoy this chapter. I wrote it just for you! Reviews welcomed and encouraged!
Unsure why he hadn't moved yet, Allen remained standing at the edge of the long room that was the palace library. He was only there to greet Hitomi, whom he hadn't spoken to yet. He had been called to escort young Prince Chid back home right after the wedding and had returned to escort Millerna and Dryden to their home so the princess would, hopefully, finally take up confinement. She was turning the men in her life into nervous wrecks and laughed off their concern as if they were all silly.
He had only meant to stop by and say hello. Why was he still standing there simply staring at her? She was bent over a stack of books, an unfamiliar young man with dark hair beside her. She was talking softly to him, laughing or smiling sometimes. More beautiful now than he remembered her, Hitomi took Allen's breath away. “My... My Lady,” he finally managed to get out. “Your Majesty,” he corrected his address when she looked up at him, sweeping into a deep bow. The bow was as much to show respect as it was to give him a moment to collect himself.
“Sir Allen,” she said with some surprise, standing and starting toward him. “Although... you're a general now aren't you?” Allen could only nod. She held herself like a queen, walked like a queen, but the familiar smile she graced him with was all Hitomi. Her golden hair glowed in the afternoon sunlight, making her seem even more ethereal than the winged goddess legends proclaimed. He fumbled taking her hands to bow over them when she presented them in greeting. “How are you? You're looking well.” She seemed unaware of his predicament, simply smiling.
“I am well, your Majesty. You are looking more than well yourself.”
Hitomi let out a light laugh. “You always were the charmer, Allen,” she said with a wink. “Come, meet the king's newest adviser. Also Merle's fiance,” she added in a whisper. The knight tried to come up with an excuse to leave, but couldn't think of anything fast enough. Hitomi tugged him down the length of the table. “Lord Dimitri Kayakova, this is Sir Allen Schezar of Asturia. He is a general in the royal military and a dear friend.” The young man stood, bowing slightly. Allen assessed him immediately and discovered that the man was blind. Little Merle was going to marry a blind lord?
“A pleasure to meet you, sir.”
“The pleasure is mine, my lord.”
“We are working on a tactile alphabet,” Hitomi told him when he glanced down at the many sheets of paper on the table. Allen tried to look as though he understood, but she quickly picked up on his confusion. “It's a way of writing so that the letters can be felt instead of seen. We're hoping to teach many who cannot see to read the classics as well as educating children who might not get any other chance.” Fascinated, Allen took another look at the papers.
Gently running his fingertips over the raised sequences on the surface, he was surprised to feel something that he recognized as a pattern. When Dimitri took the sheet from his offering hands, he watched critically for technique. “Poem. Hm. Not a very good one. Your Majesty, is this another one of your rhymes?” he asked with a smile in the queen's direction. She laughed at his assessment.
“Nursery rhyme, so not mine exactly.” She recited the rhyme aloud. “Pat a cake, pat a cake, baker's man, bake me a cake as fast as you can. Pat it, roll it and mark it with a 'B', then put it in the oven for baby and me.” Hitomi grinned at the perplexed looks on both their faces. “It's just a silly song mothers sing to their babies. I learned it when I was little. It was the only thing I could think of that I knew would translate easily. There are bakers everywhere.”
“That's really very clever of you, your Majesty. I suppose rhymes for children are the best place to start. Most of us hear them since birth, so the children are likely to already know how they go. The letters, the spelling... reading them. That's the next step,” Dimitri responded with enthusiasm. Hitomi beamed at the praise.
Again, Allen was struck by the beauty of Fanelia's new sovereign. Seeing her in a more natural setting than the wedding in the temple only highlighted her natural beauty. She had grown from a lovely, still somewhat gangly, young woman who was completely unsettled by the foreign environment she had found herself in, into a self-assured and ravishingly beautiful lady. A queen.
He couldn't be in her presence any longer without embarrassing himself. Allen composed his face as best he could before he bowed sharply to Hitomi and then the young lord. “It was a pleasure to see you again, your Majesty. I must attend to returning the princess and her consort home. She has been away from home too long already.”
“I'm sorry to see you go so soon, General Schezar,” Hitomi said, matching his formality with a slight frown on her face. “I hope that we will see you again. Please convey my best wishes to Millerna and Dryden for their journey home. I spoke to them this morning... but one can't give enough well-wishes.”
“I will certainly tell them.” He gave another curt bow, executed a precise about-face and made his way out of the long library. The door closing softly behind him, Allen fought to regain his breath, his sense of calm... his mind. Why had the very sight of Fanelia's new queen in the sunlight through the library windows set him so completely off balance? Allen could be honest enough with himself to admit that he had seen – and been with – more beautiful women than Hitomi Kanzaki of the Mystic Moon. He was also well aware that she was now extremely off-limits. Was that her sudden overwhelming appeal to him? He'd been known as a bit of a rogue in his younger days. He had a son he couldn't claim as his own to punish him for it.
Chid had to remain the legitimate son of the Duke of Freid in order to maintain his place as rightful heir to his lands. Princess Marlene's royal status could no longer protect their child as she had passed when Chid was so young. Allen, a landed knight who owned relatively little property himself, would never dream of destroying his only child's chance at wealth and power. Wealth and power Allen himself could never offer Chid. Above all that, Chid was turning into a fine young man with all the potential of becoming a strong, kind, level-headed leader. He was serving his people very well as Duke and would continue to do so. The Asturian knight knew better than to jeopardize the balance created in the duchy of Freid by announcing that he was Chid's true father.
As Allen made his way through the main hallway of the palace, he considered the feelings he'd had for Hitomi in the past. He had been protective of her, certainly. She was in a place she knew nothing about, with nearly the entire planet wanting her for something or other. He had seen the same innocence in her that had been stripped from his sister Celena. Allen clenched his fists to restrain his helpless anger at what had been done to his beautiful little sister. Last he knew, Eries was still working with her to accept and come to terms with Dilandau's personality in her mind, trying to create a peaceful balance so that some day Celena could rejoin society.
“Allen. I didn't expect to see you before you left.” The blond knight's head shot up before he dipped a quick bow to Fanelia's king. “Is something wrong?” Van asked, light concern in his face.
The general hesitated. “I just stopped by to see the queen. I had not spoken to her since she returned.” Van twitched in the direction of the hall where he knew Hitomi was working. “She is fine, old friend.” Allen sighed heavily. “You are very lucky your Majesty.”
Van shifted his weight, eying his long-time friend, protector and competitor for Hitomi's affection. He saw the same defeat in his body language that he himself had felt the night he saw the tall blond knight kissing Hitomi on the bridge. “I am lucky.” Unsure what else to say at first, Van took a deep breath. “You will be just as lucky one day.” Extending a hand, he gripped Allen's forearm in a gesture of friendship. The knight gripped him in return. “Farewell General. We will see you soon I hope.” Allen only nodded, bowing quickly and excusing himself to find the Asturian royal couple. He had a stubborn young woman in a delicate condition to return home safely. He grinned ruefully. Millerna may yet be the death of him if she didn't let Dryden put him out of his misery first.
“You're bringing your work home with you now?” Van teased when he found his wife leaning over several books, laying on the floor in their sitting room. “There are chairs for sitting, you know.” Hitomi looked up from her reading and grinned.
“Not enough room to spread out the books. I'm still trying to learn your alphabet properly and how to read. Learning a new language isn't easy.” Van frowned, coming over to sit beside her. She had several books in front of her. One held most of the stories that the children of Gaea in general, and Fanelians in particular, learned from an early age. Another thicker tome was a dictionary. A stack of papers with words written in his own language and then Hitomi's beside them sat in the middle. A much thinner volume was his own speller from when he was a child. He lifted the last and flipped through the pages with a small smile on his face. “I never thought about how strange it was that I understand everyone and they understand me but I can't read written language at all. Well, maybe not at all, I'm picking up basics here and there.”
“I never thought about it either. I just... took it for granted.” Hitomi shrugged, smiling. She released a sigh and collected the books into a pile and set them aside. “You look tired.”
“A little.” He helped her to her feet, pulling her into an embrace and rubbing her lower back gently. “Oo, that feels good,” she murmured against Van's chest. A smirk on his mouth, he placed a kiss on her head. She relaxed against him and Van scooped her up, sitting in one of the cozy chairs. Her relatively simple dress still seemed like too much material between them, but Van decided to wait before trying to peel his wife out of the several layers she was likely wearing. “Van, did you see Allen by any chance?”
Van hesitated before answering. Obviously Hitomi had noticed the knight's peculiar behavior as well. “I did, as he was leaving.”
“Did he act... strange with you?”
Van let out a deep sigh, cuddling Hitomi closer to his chest. “Seeing you again affected him.” She lifted her head to look him in the eye, a frown curling her beautiful mouth downward. “He has been left behind in many ways. Millerna has gotten over her infatuation with him. She's happy with Dryden now that he's proved to himself that he's worthy of her. Marlene is long gone and he cannot tell Chid that he is his father.” Van tried to come to terms with the next part. “You are...”
“With you. I always was,” she interrupted.
“Not always. That time...”
Hitomi flinched. “Something wasn't right about that. We all know that.”
“True. It doesn't change that there were... times that there were feelings between you.” Van gently traced the line of her jaw, her cheek, her ear. “You've become even more beautiful than before,” he breathed, dropping his mouth to hers for a quick kiss. “Seeing the amazing woman you've turned into startled me and I dreamed of you almost every night. I can't imagine the shock it must have been for Allen.”
“You certainly know how to flatter a girl,” Hitomi teased lightly, reaching up to steal another kiss from her husband. “Have you heard anything about his sister? Having her home with him might make him feel better.”
Van shook his head. “I haven't. However, Allen is gone most of the time, traveling to escort the royal family around and checking into disturbances in Asturia. Celena is likely better off wherever she is with Millerna's sister.” Hitomi relaxed back into his arms, resting her head on his shoulder. “He told me I am lucky to have you.” He saw her smile out of the corner of his eye. “I'm more than just lucky,” he whispered, tilting her chin up to kiss her again.
Not that he hadn't been aware of the fact before, but Van could not get enough of his wife. Every moment he could, he spent with her. He took every opportunity to kiss and make love to her. He worried that he might exhaust her with his constant attention, but Hitomi was just as enthusiastic about their encounters as he was. He knew what they had was rare, special. If he had never met Hitomi, or hadn't been able to bring her back, he likely would have married some nobleman's daughter out of duty to his kingdom and they would have had a perfunctory marriage at best.
“You sure are,” Hitomi teased with a grin. “I'm just as lucky,” she said more seriously, kissing his cheek. Van shook his head with a smile, lifting her as he stood and taking her where he could stretch her out and remind himself all over again why he was so lucky.
After reacquainting themselves with each other – twice – Van barely had the energy to take his wife to bed. The pair of them dropped onto the mattress, Hitomi tugging the sheets up over them. The king smiled to himself as she tucked her body into the curve of his as tightly as she could, pulling his arm over her. “Goodnight,” he murmured, kissing the loose curls at the back of her head. Hitomi mumbled something similar in return.
Van woke sometime in the middle of the night, a vague pulse in the back of his mind drawing him from sleep. At first he thought it was the sound of someone knocking on the door, but when he crawled from bed and went to look, the guards glanced at him with raised eyebrows at his tumbled appearance. “No Majesty, there was no one here,” the senior of the two told him when he asked. Frowning, the king went to the windowed doors and looked out onto the balcony. Certainly Merle, the only person he could reasonably expect to be there, would know better than to disturb him in the middle of the night. There was no sign of anyone there either. Van's frown deepened and he returned to his wife's side, curling around her warmth. The pulse began again and he froze, straining his ears to hear where it was coming from.
As he listened, it faded into the background but didn't leave. Thinking it was likely the sound of his own blood pumping in his head, Van tried to go back to sleep with his arms wrapped tightly around Hitomi's sleeping form. She hadn't woken at all and as he drifted off, he scolded himself for tiring her out further when she was already so exhausted. He resolved to keep her in bed the next morning, no matter what she said. “Mmm,” she murmured in her sleep as if agreeing with him and Van smiled drowsily at her, hardly awake himself. He finally fell asleep completely, not waking until late morning.
Hitomi stayed asleep even longer than he had anticipated, but he was glad to see her resting. He waited as long as he could before requesting breakfast, not wanting to disturb her for anything. When she finally woke, Hitomi looked like she felt much better. Van smiled at the rosiness of her cheeks and the enthusiasm with which she took to their meal. Relieved that just that small amount of extra sleep had helped, he felt his worry for her fade and he too was able to enjoy the food. “I have a meeting with the council in an hour,” he told her as he finished, “but there's nothing important this afternoon. Can you take a break from your work?” She smiled softly at him.
“Of course. I'll let Merle know.” Her smile turned sly. “I'm sure she'd love the free time to spend with Dimitri.” Van smiled and shook his head in return.
“The two of you working together is almost worse than when you were fighting all the time,” he said with a laugh. Hitomi grinned gleefully and went to dress, leaving him to watch her from the other room. Van shook his head again with a soft chuckle, his thoughts peaceful.
Ah, peace love and happiness. At least for Van and Hitomi. Poor Allen, all alone and angst-filled. Here's hoping you enjoyed reading this chapter even more than I enjoyed writing it. Please let me know what you think. Thanks everyone!
Please enjoy this chapter. I wrote it just for you! Reviews welcomed and encouraged!
Unsure why he hadn't moved yet, Allen remained standing at the edge of the long room that was the palace library. He was only there to greet Hitomi, whom he hadn't spoken to yet. He had been called to escort young Prince Chid back home right after the wedding and had returned to escort Millerna and Dryden to their home so the princess would, hopefully, finally take up confinement. She was turning the men in her life into nervous wrecks and laughed off their concern as if they were all silly.
He had only meant to stop by and say hello. Why was he still standing there simply staring at her? She was bent over a stack of books, an unfamiliar young man with dark hair beside her. She was talking softly to him, laughing or smiling sometimes. More beautiful now than he remembered her, Hitomi took Allen's breath away. “My... My Lady,” he finally managed to get out. “Your Majesty,” he corrected his address when she looked up at him, sweeping into a deep bow. The bow was as much to show respect as it was to give him a moment to collect himself.
“Sir Allen,” she said with some surprise, standing and starting toward him. “Although... you're a general now aren't you?” Allen could only nod. She held herself like a queen, walked like a queen, but the familiar smile she graced him with was all Hitomi. Her golden hair glowed in the afternoon sunlight, making her seem even more ethereal than the winged goddess legends proclaimed. He fumbled taking her hands to bow over them when she presented them in greeting. “How are you? You're looking well.” She seemed unaware of his predicament, simply smiling.
“I am well, your Majesty. You are looking more than well yourself.”
Hitomi let out a light laugh. “You always were the charmer, Allen,” she said with a wink. “Come, meet the king's newest adviser. Also Merle's fiance,” she added in a whisper. The knight tried to come up with an excuse to leave, but couldn't think of anything fast enough. Hitomi tugged him down the length of the table. “Lord Dimitri Kayakova, this is Sir Allen Schezar of Asturia. He is a general in the royal military and a dear friend.” The young man stood, bowing slightly. Allen assessed him immediately and discovered that the man was blind. Little Merle was going to marry a blind lord?
“A pleasure to meet you, sir.”
“The pleasure is mine, my lord.”
“We are working on a tactile alphabet,” Hitomi told him when he glanced down at the many sheets of paper on the table. Allen tried to look as though he understood, but she quickly picked up on his confusion. “It's a way of writing so that the letters can be felt instead of seen. We're hoping to teach many who cannot see to read the classics as well as educating children who might not get any other chance.” Fascinated, Allen took another look at the papers.
Gently running his fingertips over the raised sequences on the surface, he was surprised to feel something that he recognized as a pattern. When Dimitri took the sheet from his offering hands, he watched critically for technique. “Poem. Hm. Not a very good one. Your Majesty, is this another one of your rhymes?” he asked with a smile in the queen's direction. She laughed at his assessment.
“Nursery rhyme, so not mine exactly.” She recited the rhyme aloud. “Pat a cake, pat a cake, baker's man, bake me a cake as fast as you can. Pat it, roll it and mark it with a 'B', then put it in the oven for baby and me.” Hitomi grinned at the perplexed looks on both their faces. “It's just a silly song mothers sing to their babies. I learned it when I was little. It was the only thing I could think of that I knew would translate easily. There are bakers everywhere.”
“That's really very clever of you, your Majesty. I suppose rhymes for children are the best place to start. Most of us hear them since birth, so the children are likely to already know how they go. The letters, the spelling... reading them. That's the next step,” Dimitri responded with enthusiasm. Hitomi beamed at the praise.
Again, Allen was struck by the beauty of Fanelia's new sovereign. Seeing her in a more natural setting than the wedding in the temple only highlighted her natural beauty. She had grown from a lovely, still somewhat gangly, young woman who was completely unsettled by the foreign environment she had found herself in, into a self-assured and ravishingly beautiful lady. A queen.
He couldn't be in her presence any longer without embarrassing himself. Allen composed his face as best he could before he bowed sharply to Hitomi and then the young lord. “It was a pleasure to see you again, your Majesty. I must attend to returning the princess and her consort home. She has been away from home too long already.”
“I'm sorry to see you go so soon, General Schezar,” Hitomi said, matching his formality with a slight frown on her face. “I hope that we will see you again. Please convey my best wishes to Millerna and Dryden for their journey home. I spoke to them this morning... but one can't give enough well-wishes.”
“I will certainly tell them.” He gave another curt bow, executed a precise about-face and made his way out of the long library. The door closing softly behind him, Allen fought to regain his breath, his sense of calm... his mind. Why had the very sight of Fanelia's new queen in the sunlight through the library windows set him so completely off balance? Allen could be honest enough with himself to admit that he had seen – and been with – more beautiful women than Hitomi Kanzaki of the Mystic Moon. He was also well aware that she was now extremely off-limits. Was that her sudden overwhelming appeal to him? He'd been known as a bit of a rogue in his younger days. He had a son he couldn't claim as his own to punish him for it.
Chid had to remain the legitimate son of the Duke of Freid in order to maintain his place as rightful heir to his lands. Princess Marlene's royal status could no longer protect their child as she had passed when Chid was so young. Allen, a landed knight who owned relatively little property himself, would never dream of destroying his only child's chance at wealth and power. Wealth and power Allen himself could never offer Chid. Above all that, Chid was turning into a fine young man with all the potential of becoming a strong, kind, level-headed leader. He was serving his people very well as Duke and would continue to do so. The Asturian knight knew better than to jeopardize the balance created in the duchy of Freid by announcing that he was Chid's true father.
As Allen made his way through the main hallway of the palace, he considered the feelings he'd had for Hitomi in the past. He had been protective of her, certainly. She was in a place she knew nothing about, with nearly the entire planet wanting her for something or other. He had seen the same innocence in her that had been stripped from his sister Celena. Allen clenched his fists to restrain his helpless anger at what had been done to his beautiful little sister. Last he knew, Eries was still working with her to accept and come to terms with Dilandau's personality in her mind, trying to create a peaceful balance so that some day Celena could rejoin society.
“Allen. I didn't expect to see you before you left.” The blond knight's head shot up before he dipped a quick bow to Fanelia's king. “Is something wrong?” Van asked, light concern in his face.
The general hesitated. “I just stopped by to see the queen. I had not spoken to her since she returned.” Van twitched in the direction of the hall where he knew Hitomi was working. “She is fine, old friend.” Allen sighed heavily. “You are very lucky your Majesty.”
Van shifted his weight, eying his long-time friend, protector and competitor for Hitomi's affection. He saw the same defeat in his body language that he himself had felt the night he saw the tall blond knight kissing Hitomi on the bridge. “I am lucky.” Unsure what else to say at first, Van took a deep breath. “You will be just as lucky one day.” Extending a hand, he gripped Allen's forearm in a gesture of friendship. The knight gripped him in return. “Farewell General. We will see you soon I hope.” Allen only nodded, bowing quickly and excusing himself to find the Asturian royal couple. He had a stubborn young woman in a delicate condition to return home safely. He grinned ruefully. Millerna may yet be the death of him if she didn't let Dryden put him out of his misery first.
“You're bringing your work home with you now?” Van teased when he found his wife leaning over several books, laying on the floor in their sitting room. “There are chairs for sitting, you know.” Hitomi looked up from her reading and grinned.
“Not enough room to spread out the books. I'm still trying to learn your alphabet properly and how to read. Learning a new language isn't easy.” Van frowned, coming over to sit beside her. She had several books in front of her. One held most of the stories that the children of Gaea in general, and Fanelians in particular, learned from an early age. Another thicker tome was a dictionary. A stack of papers with words written in his own language and then Hitomi's beside them sat in the middle. A much thinner volume was his own speller from when he was a child. He lifted the last and flipped through the pages with a small smile on his face. “I never thought about how strange it was that I understand everyone and they understand me but I can't read written language at all. Well, maybe not at all, I'm picking up basics here and there.”
“I never thought about it either. I just... took it for granted.” Hitomi shrugged, smiling. She released a sigh and collected the books into a pile and set them aside. “You look tired.”
“A little.” He helped her to her feet, pulling her into an embrace and rubbing her lower back gently. “Oo, that feels good,” she murmured against Van's chest. A smirk on his mouth, he placed a kiss on her head. She relaxed against him and Van scooped her up, sitting in one of the cozy chairs. Her relatively simple dress still seemed like too much material between them, but Van decided to wait before trying to peel his wife out of the several layers she was likely wearing. “Van, did you see Allen by any chance?”
Van hesitated before answering. Obviously Hitomi had noticed the knight's peculiar behavior as well. “I did, as he was leaving.”
“Did he act... strange with you?”
Van let out a deep sigh, cuddling Hitomi closer to his chest. “Seeing you again affected him.” She lifted her head to look him in the eye, a frown curling her beautiful mouth downward. “He has been left behind in many ways. Millerna has gotten over her infatuation with him. She's happy with Dryden now that he's proved to himself that he's worthy of her. Marlene is long gone and he cannot tell Chid that he is his father.” Van tried to come to terms with the next part. “You are...”
“With you. I always was,” she interrupted.
“Not always. That time...”
Hitomi flinched. “Something wasn't right about that. We all know that.”
“True. It doesn't change that there were... times that there were feelings between you.” Van gently traced the line of her jaw, her cheek, her ear. “You've become even more beautiful than before,” he breathed, dropping his mouth to hers for a quick kiss. “Seeing the amazing woman you've turned into startled me and I dreamed of you almost every night. I can't imagine the shock it must have been for Allen.”
“You certainly know how to flatter a girl,” Hitomi teased lightly, reaching up to steal another kiss from her husband. “Have you heard anything about his sister? Having her home with him might make him feel better.”
Van shook his head. “I haven't. However, Allen is gone most of the time, traveling to escort the royal family around and checking into disturbances in Asturia. Celena is likely better off wherever she is with Millerna's sister.” Hitomi relaxed back into his arms, resting her head on his shoulder. “He told me I am lucky to have you.” He saw her smile out of the corner of his eye. “I'm more than just lucky,” he whispered, tilting her chin up to kiss her again.
Not that he hadn't been aware of the fact before, but Van could not get enough of his wife. Every moment he could, he spent with her. He took every opportunity to kiss and make love to her. He worried that he might exhaust her with his constant attention, but Hitomi was just as enthusiastic about their encounters as he was. He knew what they had was rare, special. If he had never met Hitomi, or hadn't been able to bring her back, he likely would have married some nobleman's daughter out of duty to his kingdom and they would have had a perfunctory marriage at best.
“You sure are,” Hitomi teased with a grin. “I'm just as lucky,” she said more seriously, kissing his cheek. Van shook his head with a smile, lifting her as he stood and taking her where he could stretch her out and remind himself all over again why he was so lucky.
After reacquainting themselves with each other – twice – Van barely had the energy to take his wife to bed. The pair of them dropped onto the mattress, Hitomi tugging the sheets up over them. The king smiled to himself as she tucked her body into the curve of his as tightly as she could, pulling his arm over her. “Goodnight,” he murmured, kissing the loose curls at the back of her head. Hitomi mumbled something similar in return.
Van woke sometime in the middle of the night, a vague pulse in the back of his mind drawing him from sleep. At first he thought it was the sound of someone knocking on the door, but when he crawled from bed and went to look, the guards glanced at him with raised eyebrows at his tumbled appearance. “No Majesty, there was no one here,” the senior of the two told him when he asked. Frowning, the king went to the windowed doors and looked out onto the balcony. Certainly Merle, the only person he could reasonably expect to be there, would know better than to disturb him in the middle of the night. There was no sign of anyone there either. Van's frown deepened and he returned to his wife's side, curling around her warmth. The pulse began again and he froze, straining his ears to hear where it was coming from.
As he listened, it faded into the background but didn't leave. Thinking it was likely the sound of his own blood pumping in his head, Van tried to go back to sleep with his arms wrapped tightly around Hitomi's sleeping form. She hadn't woken at all and as he drifted off, he scolded himself for tiring her out further when she was already so exhausted. He resolved to keep her in bed the next morning, no matter what she said. “Mmm,” she murmured in her sleep as if agreeing with him and Van smiled drowsily at her, hardly awake himself. He finally fell asleep completely, not waking until late morning.
Hitomi stayed asleep even longer than he had anticipated, but he was glad to see her resting. He waited as long as he could before requesting breakfast, not wanting to disturb her for anything. When she finally woke, Hitomi looked like she felt much better. Van smiled at the rosiness of her cheeks and the enthusiasm with which she took to their meal. Relieved that just that small amount of extra sleep had helped, he felt his worry for her fade and he too was able to enjoy the food. “I have a meeting with the council in an hour,” he told her as he finished, “but there's nothing important this afternoon. Can you take a break from your work?” She smiled softly at him.
“Of course. I'll let Merle know.” Her smile turned sly. “I'm sure she'd love the free time to spend with Dimitri.” Van smiled and shook his head in return.
“The two of you working together is almost worse than when you were fighting all the time,” he said with a laugh. Hitomi grinned gleefully and went to dress, leaving him to watch her from the other room. Van shook his head again with a soft chuckle, his thoughts peaceful.
Ah, peace love and happiness. At least for Van and Hitomi. Poor Allen, all alone and angst-filled. Here's hoping you enjoyed reading this chapter even more than I enjoyed writing it. Please let me know what you think. Thanks everyone!