3.) Omens

Van.

Van Fanel.

Sighing, Hitomi gazed up at her bedroom ceiling. She pointlessly gawked at the varied pattern of bumps, paying particular attention to the insignificant details. She began to notice all these funny little things; like all the water creases she hadn't even noticed before. They stretched on endlessly, breaking off into other little rusty stains all over the white layers of paint. Ugh…. How repulsive. She scrounged up her face in disgust. This was all so… sooo… BORING.

But it was all Hitomi could do to keep her mind from "thinking". The more she lay in bed thinking, the more that 'name' popped up, that mysterious beautiful name that seemed to manifest out of nowhere. She could easily recall that horrible episode she had last night, as much as she wanted to forget it.

But that wasn't what was disturbing her. What was eating at her was the fact that in that hellish… nightmare… she had only heard the boy's first name. So where on earth had "Fanel" come from? In all honesty, she didn't have a clue. She had awaken, to a sunny day smelling of sweet dew, when all of a sudden * PANG * and the name hits her. Just like that. Out of nowhere.

Groaning at her miserable self she buried her face into her pillow, only wishing to disappear. That whole night was sooo embarrassing. She must have scared the living hell out of Amano and poor Cathy, who had been innocently coming home with an armful of math books and a box of pizza, which ended up on the floor anyway because she had dropped it in the sudden shock of seeing her fainted friend (and just to take note, Cathy had cleaned up the pizza too).

Hitomi ran her fingers through her short, auburn hair, not knowing what to expect of the day. Rolling over to lazily climb out of bed… she noticed someone.

"Allen??" She gazed surprisingly as she spotted her fiancé, asleep on her dresser chair. A coat was draped on him for a makeshift blanket, his drooping head supported by his hand, his forehead leaning onto Hitomi's wooden dresser.

She smiled softly, admiring the guy's loving dedication. He had just sat there and watched over her all through -

Then Hitomi stopped smiling.

What had she just called him?? ALLEN?????!?

ALLEN???

What was wrong with her??? Her right hand came up quickly smacking Hitomi on the forehead. How could she be so stupid??? She just called her own boyfriend, of like four years, ALLEN!!! And Hitomi had a good feeling it wasn't the first time she had accidentally done that.

Scurrying off her bed she quickly eyed Amano, yes Amano, to make sure he was sound asleep, and hadn't heard her utter a sound. But there he sat, looking drained of all energy, and absolutely tuned out. Smiling with worried satisfaction, Hitomi let out a breath of relief. She grabbed one of her toss pillows and tucked it neatly under his chin, and then brought up one of her comforters, snuggly tucking it around him before giving him a little morning kiss.

Then she tiptoed out onwards to the kitchen.

"Mornin' camper, u feelin' better? How's the lil' trooper doin'?" Catherine was already up, sitting on one of the kitchen stools, bowl of Kellogs cereal in one hand. She quickly got to pouring Hitomi some, every so often glancing at her with a sympathetic look.

"Oh he's fine… but I'm sure wondering what's been wrong with me lately. Can you guess what I just called him??"

Cathy looked down at her cereal for a moment… then looking up at Hitomi said, "Hmm… Allen maybe?"

Hitomi froze, spoonful of sugary flakes directly in front of her frozen open mouth.

"You heard??"

"Uh unh," the little brunette shook her head back and forth, grabbing a box full of Fruit Loops (Don't ask about the cereal - Cathy had brought it along with her when she moved in).

"You mentioned that name before… but you were like sub-conscious at the time, so you had no idea you said it."

"What!?" Hitomi glanced back at her in disbelief, also in the pursuit of some more Apple Jacks. "When was this??"

"Last night Tomi, if you don't mind me calling you that, last night, it was the first thing you said when you woke up after that uhh… little 'expedition'… girl you gave me quite the shock, I wasn't planning for you to be the first dead body I ever see…"

"Last night…" Hard as she tried last night only came in as a blur. She couldn't even come to think of when she had said the name "Allen". It didn't register with her at all.

"Um hum…" Cathy nodded skipping off her stool in journey for more milk.

Hitomi sighed, figuring that trying to remember was just a pointless waste of energy. Try as she might, she could only get recollections of that… that wild vision.

Vision. That was two in a row, the first one wasn't all that bad. All she saw in her first vision were dragons, dragons and machines, and swords! In this other one… it had the same basics as the first, but that kid and his friends… THAT was something else.

Frighteningly real. She wasn't all in the mood to try and remember it. She eased back on her chair, gazing aimlessly, trying to figure out things but really just felt as puzzled as ever.

CLATTER.

Hitomi's spoon fell to the floor, splattering red and green O's all over the white linoleum.

"Hitomi, what's wrong?" A concerned Cathy spun around alarmed at the sudden noise. She turned to see Hitomi, almost paralyzed again with shock, staring intently at Cathy's cereal bowl. Cereal bowl???

"N-n-othing…" Hitomi lied, voice wavering.

But it was something. Something was very wrong.

There Hitomi sat frozen, hands gripping the counter top. She couldn't tear her eyes away, her eyes away from that bowl. Cathy's bowl, sitting only a few inches away from hers. A bowl full of floating Alpha Bits, soaking in milk. Of course this wasn't what amazed her. It was the letters themselves. Floating, forming something that scared her more than anything else.

The first omen.

A

V F N L

A N E

* * *

Dr. Nathaniel Teroka

Professional Psychiatrist

Professor of Psychological Studies at Warden University

Hitomi gripped onto the little business card she held in her hand. She tapped it rhythmically on her palm, looking over it again and then tapping it again. Obviously, her mind was lost in thought. She had given this plenty of thought, so much so that she gotten lost in it. Finally in conclusion, she figured two horribly realistic visions and an eerie message from floating cereal just didn't sound too sane. She really couldn't make much sense if any, out of this whole mess.

She shuddered, pulling up her scarf higher round her chin. She glanced every so often through the store windows, lazily window shopping. Hitomi couldn't be happier about having these care-free weekends off. She wouldn't have a clue what to make of her crisis if she also had a job to watch over at the same time. But Sundays don't last forever, and she agonized over the thought of returning to work in only a few hours.

She stopped interested as she spotted a cute little bakery store just off the corner of Sherman and Victoria. Peering in, she spotted a delicious array of pastry treats. Her eyes yielded a fantastic variety of crullers, doughnuts, cinnamon buns, and pastry flakes. Her stomach drooled with hunger, probably feeling four different kinds of cereal was just not enough. Besides, pastries had always been a delicious love of Hitomi's.

She pulled open the door, glad to be escaping the cold. A small jingle of chimes rung above her head, and she was swept with the aroma of fresh-baked goods.

'Ooooohh.. YUMMY YUMMY YUMMY!' her mind screamed with delight. Hitomi was just thankful she didn't say those kind of things out loud, she'd look like an immature 20yr old in Toys R' Us.

But fact had it that she was surrounded by 'yummy' foods. And this brought up the whole thought of something else.

"Um, excuse me, you have such a wonderful amount of cakes here… tell me.. do you cater weddings?"

She inquired at the small, heavy built man on the other side of the counter. Smiling at her, he pushed up his small reading glasses on his round button nose ('somewhat like Santa' -boy Hitomi was sure getting immature), and tightened his apron round his waist.

"What's that young lady now? The cappuccino machine is such a nuisance…"

"Umm.. wedding cakes.. do you make any?" She was practically yelling, as that insolent machine continued grinding away an aromatic bunch of coffee beans.

"Wedding cakes you say? Oh sure of course, what's a bakery shop without them?" Laughing merrily (again the Santa features occurred in Hitomi's mind) and guided her to the display cases near the front of the shop. Many beautiful wedding cakes lined up; each looking as pleasant as the last.

"Oooh they're gorgeous indeed; how could anyone eat them?" Hitomi pushed her face up to the glass, feeling all giddy inside, eyeing each and every beauty of a cake, one after the other.

"Yep, they pretty alright, but they definitely for eating." The heavy-lidded man grinned, looking all jolly like, and then took a closer look at Hitomi.

She glanced up at him, who stared back down at her, feeling a little awkward.

"Wait a sec, I know you!" He continued to peer at her.

"You do?" She peered back, eyebrows raised with curiosity.

"Sure thing, little miss, you the bride-to-be of Amano Nekuchi now aren't ya?"

Hitomi nodded, seriously wondering how on earth Amano managed to somehow know almost everyone in the city. She was starting to feel like a mini-celebrity of sorts.

"Yes, that's me, Hitomi Kanzaki," she smiled politely, reaching out her hand.

"Pleasure to meet ya at last in person, Amano gave me a pic of the two of you, adorable like bunnies you two are, indeed. That Amano, I taught him as a kid, in my schooling days you know… he's all rattled up bout your wedding, he got us to get him the finest cake in the house! Here, I'll go get you a pic of how your dream cake will be lookin' like…"

The jolly man disappeared behind a green door, on to fetch Hitomi a picture of yet another irresistible cake, only of course, this one she would actually get to eat! (Well, not the picture). She sat herself down in one of the chairs by the pantry, absolutely stunned at how much better she felt. It was all a matter of getting her head out of the clouds and back on track.

A few people sat by her as well, sipping on large mugs of cappuccinos and lattes and what-nots, enjoying some easy-going conversations. Well, this was interesting. It was a sort of café/bakery. Wafts of fresh bread and creamed coffee floated in, and Hitomi eased back and relaxed, feeling she could sit there forever, just breathing in the scent of the bakery/café place thing. She sat, listening to the quiet drone of the people talking, or the never-ending grinding of the many caffeine-beverage-making machines.

She stared on out the window, watching people hustle down their business through the jammed streets of Victoria and Sherman. Ahh, and here she was, just a-lazily sitting, missing the whole clots of rush hour. The weather was quite sunny, but a sharp cold breeze took all the fun from the sun.

Wait a sec…. Something was off.

Now that was odd, it wasn't everyday Hitomi would see what looked like feathers, yes feathers, floating on downwards. She got up for a minute to take a better look. Cupping her hands around the shop window; she confirmed that she wasn't loosing her mind after all. White feathers slowly drifted from the clouds above, many of them, everywhere she looked! They looked as soft as cotton, and began to line the sidewalks, tops of awnings, street sides and everywhere.

Peering in confusion, Hitomi quickly glanced upwards to see if she could catch sight of any sort of super large bird shedding its coat up there. But there was none to be seen, besides, it would've been much too early and too cold for the winged creatures to have returned already for spring.

She used her hand to dim out the sunlight to look on upwards, hoping to see the shadow of a large hovercraft of some sort. But as hard as she gazed she couldn't find any sign of floating blimps or air balloons or anything that could have been pointlessly sending a bunch of feathers downwards.

Still looking up, she couldn't even spot any maniac throwing the feathers down from any one of the windows in the high-rises that loomed above them. So just what was going on? She was about to turn and question someone, when she noticed ANOTHER odd thing. NOBODY else seemed to see the feathers! No one! The people on the streets waltzed on like it was a good ole average day just happening to have falling feathers… yeah that was normal alright.

Spinning around, she saw that the handful of people, in the café, were busily discussing endless topics, not one bit concerned on what was going on in their surroundings. Hitomi stood there appalled. She may not live downtown, but it doesn't take s genius to notice something was up, or in this case, falling down.

She felt her forehead for a second, checking to make sure she wasn't sick, and then noticed that man come on back out from the backdoor in the shop. In one hand he balanced a plateful of newly baked gingerbread cookies, and in the other he studied a thick cake catalog.

"Here you go miss, try one of these new lil' ginger men we got going," He continued to munch on the one in his hand.

"Umm… uh maybe later, thank you, but do you have many birds around here? And I mean MANY of them?"

The man glanced up curiously at the young lady that stood before him, then on outside. "Birds you say?"

"Yes, white ones, especially."

"No sirree! We get 'em pigeons on in the summer to fall kinda thing, but never once did I see a dove round this bum-ridden place." He pushed up his eyeglasses once again, studying Hitomi over wondering about the question.

'Doves', Hitomi thought for a second. She wondered now, thinking about those feathers. They were much too large to be any part of a little creature like a dove, more like something bigger with wings like that.

Pure, white striking feathers, soft as satin. Large feathers a part of very large wings. Wings of… not a bird of any sort, almost like wings, wings… wings of an angel???? It was totally absurd, but seemingly the explanation fit.

"But those feathers outside… is there some sort of celebration going on? Where are they coming from??" Hitomi studied the man now for an answer.

He stared blankly back at her, and then back out the windows. Then back at Hitomi.

"I'm sorry there, Ms. Kanzaki, but you totally lost me somewhere round heres."

"The feathers sir! They're everywhere! Look, all over -"

She froze. It must have been the third time today! Her arm was extended, pointing on to the shop windows, her eyes pasted on the windows, but her mind stuck in an array of disbelief! NO WAY!!!

She shakily walked on up to the windows, again cupping her hand round and peeking outside.

There lay the streets, the sidewalks, the awnings, with not one, NOT ONE, feather in sight. She could feel her face turn ghostly pale, then tomato red with embarrassment. Here she stood just minutes before, absolutely paranoid, and now an inch more to being convinced she had entirely lost it. LOST IT. Those stinking feathers were there!! WERE THERE!!! She had seen it with her very own eyes! And no matter if she was half blind with cataracts she could never mistake floods of feathers floating from the sky!! She had been positive, certain, everything!!!! That was it! She had just lost it!

"Um, miss, is there something I can do??"

Hitomi shook her head frantically. She absent-mindly grabbed for her purse, and quickly headed on out the door. The chimes rung out wildly, interrupted by the man calling.

"Ms. Kanzaki, your cake?" He waved the catalog above his head confused.

"I-I've got to run," Hitomi replied, a little shakily. She gave a last glance and almost crying out in confused tears, disappeared around the corner, running through the featherless streets.

* * *

"Hitomi! Long time no see, what's it been, two days?" Yukari laughingly joked hitting Hitomi in the arm.

Hitomi stood there, still recovering from the cold, glad to be safe and weather protected in Yukari's newly renovated hallway of her condo. She was still frozen from her two, TWO eerie experiences in one half of a day, not to mention the insanity she went through the night before (and also the night before that!).

Sighing she stepped on in and collapsed onto Yukari's retractable lazy-boy.

"Weelll…. Someone's not very happy to see their best friend," Yukari moaned dropping down beside Hitomi on the arm of the chair. "That damn Amano is taking my place now isn't he? He gets to be your best friend noooww… well * bleck * to him!" She grinned now quite concerned at Hitomi's straight face.

"Girl, you be asking for some coa-coa now ain't ya? You COULD JUST ASK you know, you don't have to look all grumpy-like for me to get the message. I get my lazy ass up sometimes you know." Yukari hung up Hitomi's coat and disappeared into the kitchen.

She grabbed a stool to stand on, and reached far back to the highest cabinet, in search for more coa-coa powder. Climbing down off her counter, she couldn't help but wonder what was going on with her best friend. She remembered leaving Hitomi a few messages a few days ago on some wedding tid-bits, but Hitomi hadn't returned the call. And now this. What was going on with the girl?

'Calm down there Yukari,' she hushed to herself. 'The girl's got to be concentrated on the wedding, you know that."

She struggled to balance the two hot mugs of coa -coa and held a bag of plump marshmallows with her teeth.

"Here, I hope you're happy!" Grinning, she settled the drinks down on the coffee table and sat herself down in the armchair across from Hitomi's.

"Thanks," Hitomi took the cup and softly sipped it, not even glancing once at Yukari.

'So much for gratefulness,' Yukari muttered under her breath. But she felt kind of bad too. Something was wrong with the girl.

"Hitomi," Yukari put her glass down, clanging with the plastic server tray. "What is up with you lately? Coming in here all pissed without a word, that's not how its gonna be!" She studied her deeply for some sort of expression.

"Oh I'm sorry," Hitomi mumbled. "I really don't mean to be rude or anything; that's why I'm here, to tell you bout the crap that's been going on." She gazed down at the dark brownness of her coa-coa, mesmerized by the little ripples of chocolate.

"Hmm," Yukari pondered. "Is it about, those… those dreams that you've been having?" She glanced up at her.

"How did you know?" Hitomi inquired, surprised to see everyone was always such a step ahead.

"Amano, he called me yesterday night I think, he sounded really wound up! I was worried about you girl!"

"Ooh, well everyone was. I'm not even sure how well I'm doing myself. Everything's just been so awkward today… its not even funny."

"Well, no matter how strange, you know I won't laugh, come on girl, spill."

Hitomi looked back at Yukari's earnest eyes. Sighing, she began retelling the whole little episode of last night. Then she moved on to the strange happenings of this very day. The two horribly weird events.

"Now THAT is awkward," Yukari took the last sip of her drink. "But it seemingly adds up, doesn't it?"

"Adds up? How so?" Hitomi's voice stressed, thinking nothing made the least bit of sense.

"Weeelll, its like this is all happening at one time. I don't care whether you believe in fortune telling or not, but face it, you were always good at predicting these kind of things before, so good that people asked you to help them with their future!"

"Yeah so? That was before, this is now. What do weird related dreams and messages have to do with my future?"

"Think about it this way. You stopped your fortune telling years ago-"

"It was false. Blasphemy. That's why."

"Well yes, I'm sure everyone was a little critical of it. But still, it helped you determine what you were in for. Now, you have no idea what's to come of you and your life. And we both know, these eerie premonitions only come when needed right?"

"Yeah, maybe so."

"Well, what better time than now? The wedding has an ENOURMOUS affect on your life! You don't know how it's to turn out! Maybe, just maybe, these visions of sorts are trying to guide you through it."

Hitomi blankly stared back at her, barely considering the thought. She had convinced herself, she was most-likely just crazy. Hitomi was crazy, is crazy and always will be crazy.

"Bullshit Yukari! How the hell is that going to help me any? I'm in love with some sort of Allen person, or maybe a giant dragon is going to attack my wedding, or I should wear wings with my dress? What huh?"

Yukari glanced back hurt. "Well fine, just fine. Don't listen to my advice, it won't get you anywhere."

"Girl, I'm sorry," Hitomi sighed. "This isn't easy to figure out, I know, but I'll give your theory some more solid thought."

Yukari smiled. Now that was the Hitomi she liked to hear. Confident. She couldn't stand Hitomi without confidence, without it the girl was just a wobbly mess she had to direct this way and that. In the midst of chewing down half a marshmallow, she brainstormed something.

"I've got it! I know how we can test this thing!"

"Huh? Test?" Hitomi stared back up at her questionably, eyebrows raised.

"Yes, test! She jumped up excitedly. "I don't know if you still remember Hito-girl, but you should give it a shot with one of these!"

Yukari scrimmaged through loads of paper and stationary in her little oak desk, finally burrowing far enough to find…

"Aha! I've got it…. Eureka!" Yukari proudly held up a divine deck of cards.

"OMIGOSH! My cards! Yukari, you have them??" Hitomi jumped up as well, inspecting her good old taro cards from looooonng ago. She opened the package, and inspected each and every one, trying to remember what each character symbolized.

"Ahh, in mint condition too. Yeah, I have them. Your mother gave it to me to hold on to."

"Oh I see," Hitomi babbled sarcastically. "She was trying to keep me from using them, right?"

"Uh…. I really don't know!" Yukari replied innocently, shrugging her shoulders, not wanting to get involved in any old family rivalries. "Just get crackin, will ya?"

Hitomi smiled, finally happy to see her high-point in the day. She spread out the cards on the table, to make sure not one of them was missing, and drew out the blank card and sat it by her side.

"Wow, its been ages."

"Yeah I know!" Yukari sat there eyeing the vast collection. Her heart leaped, remembering the times when she had great faith in those cards; for until now she knew not one time when those cards had fore-seen something and got it wrong.

"So, what fortune should I look up?" Hitomi inquired, deck ready by her side.

"Yours of course! Try to make sense of all this!"

"Alright, but I'll probably mess up somewhere or other." Hitomi's eyes narrowed and focused on the deck. Did she remember how this went again? A part of her did, and she hoped to get it right…

Closing her eyes to add to the suspense, she drew out the first card, laying it on the table diagonal to herself.

"The.. The Forked Path…" Hitomi lay her fingers on the card, studying it, gazing at the picture of intertwined trails.

"And so??? What does that mean Hitomi?" Yukari feverishly tugged at her sleeve.

"Hold on, hold on… it means… it means that there is a major decision to be made, but the path leads off into two different directions, meaning, two different results."

"Oooh, I see," Yukari glanced at the card, puzzling over what "decisions" Hitomi possibly had to make. Was it "Should I marry Amano?" and the whole "Should I not marry Amano?"…. could that possibly be what was disturbing her?

"Don't think about it so hard just yet," Hitomi smiled watching her pondering friend. "I have to draw four more cards to form the star, and the final conclusion."

"Oh…" Yukari watched interested as Hitomi drew out another card, adding it to the left point of the star of cards.

"Hmm," Hitomi furrowed her brows at the next card, a picture of man on a stallion. "The Knight… the knight is a sign of a noble man… who is going to play an important role in your life…"

"Hey!" Yukari hooted. "This is starting to work out!! That is sooo obviously Amano! Cool!"

Hitomi nodded skeptically, still glancing at the card.

"Isn't it?" Yukari froze in mid-cheer.

"Maybe, I haven't come to anything just yet, take a look at this card," Hitomi lay down on the right point a card with a brave soldier holding onto a sword, some sort of mythical creature standing in the background.

"This is the dragon slayer, also said to be a noble warrior, but often contrary to the knight…."

"Contrary?" Yukari studied the card. "So you mean the knight and the slayer are competitors?"

Hitomi studied the two points of the star. "Not necessarily; but often times they are on different ends of the table if you know what I mean; one brings up one fortune; the other brings up a totally different one."

Yukari nodded, starting to see something to build. Two paths. Two choices. Two men. She looked upwards and questioned Hitomi for a second. Could the cards be telling her what Hitomi had never been willing to say?

"Oh no… the Stream." Hitomi lay down a card, filled with the image of a lonely stream, rustling down a forest. "The Stream card is the sign of illusion. Something that you believe will make you happier in life, but in all truth takes away from your spirit and adds to your anxiety."

"Ooh… Hitomi… tell me, do you have any idea of what this means?" She looked earnestly at her friend, hoping for a response. She had good feeling that Hitomi understood everything the cards said about her fate.

But Hitomi could only shake her head, probably not wanting to reveal anything until the end.

"And now, the last card," she placed it down on the table. "Oh would you look at that, it's the King." A picture of a large king sat on the last point of the star.

"The King is the card of good fortune. This card determines true happiness, and the right road in life."

"We-e-ellll… interesting may I say!" Yukari folded her arms proudly, glad to see her faith in Hitomi's powers hadn't let her down after all.

Hitomi nodded. But she knew Yukari didn't understand any of it, much less than she did. What did this all mean? Two choices? Hitomi only knew of one major decision she had to make. Only one. There was only one path, one man, one fate. Then why had she been given two options?

"Hitomi," Yukari sat and gave her a concerned look. "This may not be any of my business; but seeing as we are good friends, you can trust me to keep it secret if there is a 'someone else' in your life."

Hitomi stared back at Yukari shocked. "Another man?? How could you possibly come to imagine anyone else between myself and Amano? These cards are nonsense! That's all they are! I don't understand them."

She swiped the table rid of cards, and her fortune fell to the floor. Hitomi stood impatiently, and sat on the arm of the sofa, head in hands, refusing to believe anything.

Yukari slowly stood.

She glanced at Hitomi, with eyes of sympathy, and a different view of things.

"Hitomi, I never thought I would be the one to say this, but you're starting to sound like your mother."