2.) Recollection

Hitomi flipped through the blank channels desperately.

Well, this was just great; just when X-Files gets to that really cool freaky part does the lightning decide to take out the cable. Stupid lightning.

And it was one episode she hadn't seen before either! Sighing Hitomi gave it up and shut off the television. The first thought that jarred into her mind was to watch one of Amano's DVD's he gave her, but she figured with the storm going at this rate, she probably should keep the appliances off.

A flash lit up the dark room, and the massive clap of thunder rung through her ears, vibrated through the wooden floors tingling her bare feet. Thankfully, the lights were still on, surviving the storm's severity so far.

Hitomi leaned her head upon the cool glass of the window, feeling the large droplets patter against it, trickling down in an unknown pattern. Rainy weather always got the worst of her. Just by watching the water pour, the trees sway, almost made her just plain sadder. It was a depressing sight, as if the entire world were down and crying in a flood of falling tears. The sound of the teardrops rippling in the puddles, calling out a melancholic tune, a melody so sad, it was like violins weeping. She ran her fingers on the ice-cold pane, glancing outwards, longing for someone to be here with her. It was just so lonely.

Although she was far from her job and telephones and computers, far from her night-schooling and tests, far from those formal driving lessons, she could only now feel far from her own life. She sighed again, eyeing the telephone. If only she could dial up Amano, see how he was doing. But she knew better than to use the phone at a time like this, but still… How about Yukari? She was sure Yukari would have a ton more wedding info to update her on. That girl always had the latest on bridesmaid's dresses, florists, church gardens, the whole bit. Or… or what about her dad.

Her dad.

Hitomi hadn't talked to her mother about her father in seemingly years. She's thought about it though, thought about it pretty damn hard. It was as if the painful memories of her childhood refused to vanish. As if it were yesterday, she could easily recall the whole messy divorce her parents had been in, when she was only eight or so. Just her, the only child, to deal with the problems on her own. But she had to say, she was kind of relieved that they did separate; Hitomi could no longer bear with the arguing when her parents were together. Her father eventually moved on to Seattle in America, pursuing some sort of career in computer drafting. She used to write him letters, for maybe a year or two, but he never wrote back, and then, and only then… she understood.

It wasn't hard to see. He wasn't writing back, and he had stopped the monthly calls. Even after they had gotten a computer at last, her mother had "said" she'd given Hitomi's email address to her father, but not one letter ever came. Once Christmas time came into play her mother finally just came out with the truth. Hitomi pretended she didn't know, but it was plain as day. It's not like she never saw her mother crying on those sad nights, thinking Hitomi was still asleep. It's not like Hitomi wasn't going to hear about the tragic news on the television or somewhere else. Plain as day, her father had never made it to Seattle.

A shudder crawled up her spine making Hitomi seem suddenly cold. Hearing little feet behind her she turned to spot Naria, watching Hitomi curiously from the couch, ever so often bathing her ears with the back of her paw. Grinning, Hitomi went over and cuddled the massive cotton ball.

"Naria, Naria, always such a cheerer-upper." She embraced the white fluff in her arms, burying herself into the warm fur. She couldn't imagine life without that cat. Naria had quite a history. After Hitomi's so-called-disappearance in tenth grade, her mother had adopted Naria as one of the "helpers" to get Hitomi back to perfect mental health. At first Hitomi detested the cat, knowing her mother only got it so Hitomi wouldn't act so "crazy" anymore. But it wasn't long before the two began to bond, and the name "Naria" was given. She just seemed to like the name, it was so feline in a way. And besides, it reminded her of something, which she pretty much forgot what that was now.

FLASH.

Hitomi nearly jumped as the blinding light filled the room, and a violent clap that sent Naria running, and almost Hitomi as well! The rumble echoed on loudly for a few good long seconds. Hitomi gripped the arm-chair as if to regain balance. She felt suddenly dizzy, the rumble didn't seem to stop!

FLASH.

Another brilliant beam cut through the black sky, almost instantly triggering a sharp pain in Hitomi's mind. She gripped the chair tighter, feeling horribly disoriented. Her surroundings seemed to waver, her head deafened by the sound of an enormous crash of thunder. She found herself on her knees, trying to make sense of the floor.

What the hell was going on?

Her mind jarred at her, pinching her with pain, she wondered if she was screaming or not for she couldn't hear through all the echoes of the thunder.

Spinning.

Wildly.

The room refused to stand still, the floor seem to give and she felt as if jell-o, sloshing around her own home, not knowing what to do. Her eyes were filled with blinding images of white, blank nothingness every so often replaced by a view of her spinning room.

Trying to stand; only to fall. Sounds echoed off in her ears, not willing to stop. Shadows darkly cast on the walls moving continuously, in ongoing circles. LOUD. Thunder, so loud. She brought her hands to her ears, held them down, but still it deafened her, rang through her limp body. The whole place was shaking. Massive jolts like four earthquakes gripped the floors and walls.

Sound.

Even with all that was happening, that sound stuck out. A horrible piercing sound, like the clashing of metal. LOUD. Deafening.

Screeching, hurting her ears.

Metal colliding, like swords being struck.

She shut her eyes desperately trying to wish it all away, very, very confused. The sounds grew intense, violent. Ringing in her mind.

Metal colliding, swords clashing, dragons crying. Dragons. That didn't make much sense at all. But it was there, a loud cry heard by her own ears, heard as if it came from only a few feet away. The same cries she had heard in that dream. That vision she had just had the night before. Filled with them. Dragons. Swords. Dragons. Swords.

"HITOMI!"

Her eyes flashed open. She was screaming. She could hear her voice so faint in comparison to the echoing bashes of the things surrounding her.

"HITOMI!"

Her name. Being called. What was it? Who was it? She squinted desperately but the room still moved, spinning as it was before; making her feel sick to the stomach. Try Hitomi…. Try harder. She looked ahead, heard her name. Who?

Amano?

What was he doing? Was he trying to help her? Why was his hair blonde? Why was it so long? She studied his blurry image, It was nothing but a blur, looming above her, calling out at her. Who….

He continued calling out her name.

"I'm here! Amano help me!"

He never turned her way, just kept calling. His long yellow hair flew in all directions as he ran through hallways searching for her. He didn't seem to hear her, or at least that's what it looked like.

"Amano!!" She yelled again. She got to her feet. Steadied herself. She had to tell him. She had to tell him she was all right. She ran, her head filled with clashing sounds and spinning rooms, but her eyes focused on the worried figure running ahead of her.

He was fast. She was too, but now her legs felt heavier, the floor wobbling, as if to give way in any second. He ran, and ran, till she couldn't even make him out at the end of the gloomy hall. He turned a corner, sword by his side. Sword???

"AMANO WAIT!" Her arm reached out, but the end of the hallway seemed to loom out even farther. Something was edging at her mind. Voices.

She could hear them loudly talking, discussing, coming from a room. A room next to her. The door was slightly ajar; she hadn't even seen it before. Loud voices, talking, whispering from inside. But who…

Hitomi stood still, stopping herself abruptly, the room still as well at last. She peered in. She could see only blurry images of chairs, tables maybe. Voices still too loud to make out what was being said. Slowly growing softer.

"I can't believe it."

Hitomi stood as quiet as she could possibly, an eye entirely locked onto the little space. She tried not to gasp as someone walked directly past her on the other side. She did her best to tune into the conversation. For some reason this interested her at the moment. More than getting home, more than figuring out where she was, even more than catching up to her strange looking fiancé.

"She's really gone now…. It doesn't seem right." A slick, handsome voice drifted into her thoughts, from the room.. She could only see a part of the one speaking. He was the one who had brushed by before. Tall, and thin, almost about 14 or so…

"But then again, I can't see why I'm making such a big deal of this." His voice was uneven, cracking, trailing. She felt her heart soften, it was the sound of a voice in need. A voice of a person that was sad, broken, she could just sense it.

He plopped down on one of the chairs, surprising Hitomi. She stepped back instantly at the sight of his face. A face a little too familiar to be comfortable with. Dark jet-black hair, framing the face of a handsome lad, eyes of pure chestnut-brown gazing aimlessly, as if lost in a broken world.

She studied it, motionless, enlightened in wonder. Her mind dazing with thoughts. Now who could he be? He dressed rugged, and looked of the fighting type. His face suggested that his presence was not to be taken lightly, but she could sense, inside, he was suffering. Suffering from what? She did not know. All she knew was that she had seen those deep eyes of courage and empathy at least once before.

"You truly do miss her don't you?" A voice wavered, from behind the door, sounding familiar to the kid's voice, but Hitomi couldn't see who was speaking now.

"Doesn't everyone miss her?" Hitomi could hear the kid's voice loud and clear now, the walls stabilizing, floors steady. She keened on to the conversation now that everything seemed sturdy.

"Sure… but you, Van. Its different with you." The mysterious voice answered the boy's question.

Van? Hitomi bit her lip. What an intriguing name. It fit the kid quite nicely as a matter of fact. The Van kid was staring blankly back at the person speaking.

"How could it be any different?"

Hitomi could sense he was starting to get a little more nervous and edgy.

"Van, brother, don't be that way. We all know how you felt about the girl."

Girl? What girl? Brother? So that other guy was this kid's brother. Thoughts raced through Hitomi's mind. She had had a good feeling that voice was Van's brother, strange. Either her psychic skills were improving or she had already known it, which didn't seem right.

"I don't know what you're talking about Faulcon," Van eased back on his chair and refused to look at his brother in the eyes. Hitomi knew in a second that this kid knew everything his brother was talking about.

"Oh Lord Van," a high-pitched feminine voice jotted in out of nowhere and before you knew it, another character came into play, hugging onto Van's side.

Hitomi fell over absolutely flabbergasted. What on earth was that?? That thing that had…. had went up to the kid. She tiredly picked herself up, really shocked to see that the people inside hadn't even heard her fall. Strange. But what was stranger, was that girl. Or what she thought was a girl. It was some sort of girl, standing there, pulling at that kid's sleeve. She was ORANGE! Orange, like in the color! She had actual stripes, yes stripes, all over her face, legs, arms etc. Tufts of what looked like fur at the moment, surrounded her wrists, ankles, and her mane-like face. And the EARS… those giant ears looming like antennas on her forehead! Her orange striped furry forehead! And she didn't even want to start on the tail……

Hitomi's eyes narrowed in confusion as she tried to analyze what she figured was a "cat-girl". That was basically the summary of whatever that thing was.

"Lord Van, admit it!" it continued to whine at the dazing kid. LORD VAN? Hitomi wondered. What was with the "Lord" item? The kid didn't look all that religious.

He glanced down at the fur-ball pestering at his side.

"Just admit it!"

He continued to eye her, and then gave a long sigh.

"Admit what Merle?"

The cat-person gazed up at him with teary yellow eyes, lip curled in a pout.

"Admit it, that you loved her."

Hitomi's heart skipped a beat. Now this was interesting. So far, the story was starting to come together. Girl left, boy misses her, with a slight chance of romance! Sigh, it sounded just like her case and Amano. Only of course, with weird dressed people and cross-species.

Hitomi couldn't keep her eyes off the kid. She glued them on him basically. She studied his forlorn expression, and knew it was true. What the cat-girl said was right. He did love that other girl, and now he missed her because she left for some reason or other. He sat there, concealing all these emotions inside. Hitomi couldn't help but feel for the kid. The young guy, already head over heels in the game of love. But for some reason, she believed in him. She believed that maybe this guy was in actual "love" and now… he had actually lost it. How tragic. If only his friends could read him like this and understand just how much heart-break was involved.

Van stood up, gently pushing little Merle aside, and staring directly in front of him (probably at his brother or something-Hitomi figured). He brushed his dark bangs aside for a moment, and glanced out of the room's window; soft breeze rustling the satin drapes. His mind seemed focused and intent, but she could tell his heart was lost with the breeze, and they all wondered if he'd ever get it back.

"I don't see how this will help anything."

He turned his back on the two, hand on the doorknob. Hitomi jumped back suddenly as he stood directly in front of her, still in wonder on why he never spotted her. But now, she saw him. Saw his sad expression, and had to keep from shedding a tear herself. He had his forehead pressed against the wooden doorway, biting his lip to control his eyes from watering. But even the mighty lil' kid had emotions that could soar and that could drop, far below the depths of depression. His eyes squeezed shut, breathing slowly, remembering things. Hitomi stood directly in front of him, as if a mourning spirit, empathizing, though he did not know it. The room was silent, as if all knew they should let the kid have his space.

"It will help me Lord Van!" The tiny cat, Merle, stepped up.

"Merle-" hushed the brother at the sobbing figure. He gave her a stern look, signifying that she should just leave the kid alone.

Merle shook her head and kept her watery eyes focused on the figure at the doorway. She clenched her tiny paws, as if in bearing of the truth. "I want to know why you're so sad Lord Van! Tell me Lord Van! Just admit it!"

Hitomi gasped as the boy right in front of her spun around looking his little companion of so many years directly in the eyes.

"I am sad for many reasons Merle. I'll admit them to you!" he drew in a deep breath, Hitomi taken away at the passion in his voice. It struck them all with such emphasis, and strength, like a voice that had been waiting to speak for too long.

"First of all, I've lost a friend. I've lost a new friend I was only starting to know. A new friend I'll never be able to see again!! I've lost those moments, those memories that I've spent with her! While she was here, I never even bothered to tell her how I really felt! I never understood it myself. Why? Because I've never loved anyone like I loved her. WHY DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND-"

His voice cracked. He supported himself in the doorway to keep from collapsing in tears. His brother, Faulcon stood and came into view, looking at awe in his little brother, lost in his own emotions. Merle gripped her necklace, and shut her eyes, feeling horribly guilty, not wanting to have caused upset. Hitomi stood, breathless, wanting to reach out to the child who kept losing what meant so much to him. She could sense his pain and it overwhelmed her, and she could do nothing to fix that void that grew in him.

"You…" he whispered softly. Pulling himself up, to look his brother, and his best friend in the eye. "You … don't know… how much you love something…. Until you've lost it."

Merle gasped and went running towards him, holding him, hugging him. Van held on, feeling entirely empty, having poured out the last droplet of his emotions. He clinged to his small friend, held on to the dear ones he had left.

"She loved you too… I know she did! I could see it! When she looked at you…." Merle tugged at his shirt, gripping onto him, not wishing him to ever feel so lonely again, saying anything to make it right. Like a true loyal cat, her only desire was to make him happy.

Van managed a smile and looked down at Merle. "I would hope so…. But I just never treated her right when she was here. I made a mistake I'm going to have to live with. I had forgotten to tell her something."

His deep brown eyes once again wandered to the small window, gazing upwards, high above to where two moons shone bright.

"To the girl from the mystic moon, I love you Hitomi Kanzaki, wherever you are."

An impact.

One as surprising and violent as a rivet of thunder struck Hitomi. The blood seemingly drained from her face in utter shock at…. at…. What he had just said! She blinked still entrapped in utter awe.

Blinked once.

Twice.

Then all went black.

* * *

"Dear Lord, Hitomi, don't make me call the ambulance!"

A voice echoed on from somewhere. Hitomi couldn't really make sense of it. She lay, feeling paralyzed, even her eyelids too heavy to move. Her senses slowly coming back. Hard. Hard wood floor was piercing at her spine. She squinted, trying to move. Dapples of light seemed to clear away the shadows in her vision. She could see a figure, standing before her, seemingly looking back at her.

"Hitomi?? Can you hear me?? Oh God, please Hitomi, wake up!"

Corain. Cathy Corain. It took a while for the voice to register in her memory, but now she knew. She blinked a few times, until she could manage to see the dark silhouette of the girl, worried sick, standing above her. As heavy as her arm felt, she reached it upwards, feeling a hand take hers, pulling her, drawing her to her feet.

"Ugh…Allen…" Hitomi managed to utter as she used every inch of effort to remain standing. She gripped her forehead with her fingers, migraine still floating through.

"Amano! She's okay, don't call the police!"

Another figure came running into the living room, holding a wet cloth which he pressed onto Hitomi's warm forehead. It was Amano of course, and he quickly took Hitomi into his arms, sitting down with her on the sofa, lying her head onto a pillow.

"Sssh, now Hitomi, just close your eyes get some rest okay?" His voice was unsteady, cracking, insecure, a voice that had been worried for some time. Although she looked plain exhausted and a little sickly, he was praising the Holy Lord in his mind that she was alright.

Cathy worriedly looked over his shoulder, concerned for her new friend. It was quite the experience, coming home, and happening to stumble on her fainted roommate. She had been so shocked she just screamed, thinking it was worse than it was. She had been relieved to see Hitomi was unconscious, but still alive. But her heart had raced with worry, and confusion, having no idea what to do. Call a doctor. Amano had a degree in medicine and was studying medical practice, so who else was there to turn to. She had been blank with worry, and even until now her heart wouldn't stop pounding.

"I'm okay, I'm okay." Hitomi was starting to come to, and Cathy's face lit up with a load of relief. Hitomi lay motionless in Amano's embrace, absorbing the warmth of her love one.

"Oh my gosh Hitomi, you gave me such a scare." Amano held onto her tightly, refusing to let go. He had been going crazy with worry, and couldn't bear the thoughts of her being…. Being…. Gone. His heart had frozen when late in the night, his phone had rung and the sound of a desperate frightened voice had yearned at him for help, feeling helpless. The blood had drained from his face; at the very horrible thought that something had gone wrong to the one he cared for so much. And so, he held on, vowing to never again let go.