Vision Of Escaflowne Fan Fiction ❯ When We Meet Again *~* ❯ Preparations ( Chapter 9 )

9.) Preparations

"Will you look at that, not even on the altar yet but she already looks the part."

Hikoro Kanzaki fastened the last button of several on the back of her daughter's elegant wedding gown. She rested her proud hand on the bride-to-be's shoulder, as they both smiled end to end at the gorgeous reflection in the bedroom mirror.

"It looks prettier than I expected…" Hitomi could only master those few words, although she had been babbling on and on at the bridal boutique just a few hours earlier. She was totally at a loss in her own self. She had never seen herself, or even imagined herself in a wedding dress before. The whole image was practically incomprehensible. It packed the whole idea of a wedding right in her face at that very moment. It summed up the commitment vows, the years of engagement, and the memories of love. It was also intimidating her, for the moment, the moment when everything would come to be, the moment of truth. It seemed silly to think this all from a dress, but an ordinary dress, it was not.

"That's only because you're in it honey," Hikoro ruffled her hand affectedly through Hitomi's crisp, long veil. Hikoro was tremendously proud; she couldn't believe time had crept up on her so quickly. She gave Hitomi a small hug, and turned her around to the ever-silent Catherine, who had been anxiously sitting on Hitomi's bed for quite a time, at a giant loss of words, although she had an ear-to-ear smile plastered across her face.

"Oh Hitomi!" Instantly Catherine bolted up and embraced her roommate with arms of happiness. "It is sooo perfect for you! I think the two of you have made a tremendous decision on this one!"

Hikoro smiled, "Not that it was easy. Hitomi was torn for hours between this other one, which I say was way to short for any wedding dress."

"Mom, they don't always have to tread for another billion miles behind me you know!" Hitomi argued defensively, although secretly she did prefer the one she was wearing, the one her mother had chosen for her.

"Whatever you say, but I' m the one who paid now aren't I?"

Hitomi grinned, "Yes, I know. And I'm thankful, now shouldn't we put it away before it gets ruined?"

Hikoro smirked and gave a sideways glance towards Cathy.

"Oh okay," she whispered. "I should be getting going anyway. Three more weeks Hitomi," Hikoro held up her right hand with three fingers extended. "You and Amano behave 'til then okay?"

Despite Cathy's giggling in the background, Hitomi rolled her eyes, "Please mother, enough with the theatrics, we'll behave."

"You watch her," Hikoro winked as Cathy and her burst out laughing.

Hitomi flashed a fake smile and guided her mother out the front door, the long tail of white trailing behind her.

"Don't forget to call Timothy and Alexandra to see if they got your invitations."

"I won't, don't worry. See you mom."

Hitomi securely locked up then leaned against the door and sighed in relief, "Whew, she is a handful! I can't believe how long she's been going on about this 'behaving' thing."

"Ah, Hitomi, you knew it would come, besides, it's cute. Who are Tim and Alex?"

"Oh, those are my cousins over in Poland. They plan to fly over here for the wedding, isn't that nice of them?" Hitomi smiled at Cathy as they carefully headed back toward Hitomi's room.

"Wow, what a long way, that is very kind. What is your background anyway Tomi? You aren't fully Japanese are you?" Catherine couldn't help but wonder. Hitomi obviously had a Japanese name, and her mother looked like she was from Japan. She thought about it a little bit more as she plopped herself comfortably on Hitomi's bed.

"Well," Hitomi mused as she adjusted her crown of flowers by the bedroom mirror trying to think of all her heritage details. "Um, my mother is Japanese, and I was born here, just like Amano and Yukari. That's why we all have Japanese backgrounds somewhere. But my father is Polish, so I have plenty of Polish and English background as well. Amano does too, he's lived there for a few years."

"That's neat," Cathy nodded, picking herself up to stare at Hitomi's reflection. She started to wonder once again about the whereabouts of Hitomi's dad, but since Hitomi didn't speak of it often, Cathy decided not to bring it up. There was no need to be such a nosy roommate. "So, you guys have all lived in Aimsa since birth?"

"Yep," Hitomi sighed, shifting endlessly from the uncomfortable under wire. "I lived in a house not too far from here growing up, my mother still lives there. Amano and I have been thinking about going abroad though, you know, once we're settled and everything, and we're done with school and stuff. America sounds nice… or Canada, and then there's Australia too. What about you Cathy? Where did you move here from?"

"Mexico," Cathy replied, brushing more hair back as she thought happily of her old home. She had only moved recently, yet she already missed Chihuahua very much. She could already imagine John-John, her little ten-year-old brother, endlessly chasing the goats and cattle on their grandparents' ranch amidst the northern deserts. Then there was funny cousin Hertu, about her age, always out washing his car shirtless, in tight jeans and an oversized sombrero, picking up 'imaginary women', as Cathy liked to say.

"Oh, that's right. I could kind of tell you had some Latin features," Hitomi zapped her back to present time.

"Thanks, I really loved it there. Though my whole family are Mesitzos, or in other words of both Spanish and Native American descent. I would've gladly lived my whole life in Chihuahua if I could, but Japan was too tempting, Warden University being so advanced in Aerial and Aeronautic technology and all. Besides, Aimsa's great, it's very multicultural."

Hitomi continued to dust out and re-fluff her skirt, and then looked to Cathy with an impressed smile. "Wow, that must be great! Yukari's always tells me of all the top graduates that come from Warden. Many of them get drafted by either NASA or InGenten flight academies all across Japan, you know. Is that what you're interested in?"

"Exactly it," Cathy looked over at Hitomi, who was holding onto a bouquet of plastic flowers from her bedroom vase and treading in front of her full-length reflection. "There's an InGenten Academy in both Sapporo and Tokyo I'll be checking them out some time. What about you? Aren't you taking night classes at Warden?"

"Yep, but that's only a few times here and there in accounting. I'm not too sure what I'm ever going to pursue, I know I should look up something soon."

Catherine grinned, "It must be nice to know Amano can take care of ya."

Hitomi sat herself down smiling, "Yep, that's incredibly convenient, but I'll take classes probably after we're already settled. I wish I had the patience to pursue something exciting though, like you and Yukari, she's always had that fascination with flying planes and looks like you're the same. Oh I almost forgot; there's a reason my mom had left so early."

"Why is that?" Cathy looked up curiously, jostled by the subject change, and forever noticing the mirror Hitomi had been looking at. Those hair-spray specks sure did need a good Windex wipe-off.

"You stay right here," Hitomi brought herself out of the train of business thoughts, then excitedly flurried out of the room, nothing but a blur of white. Catherine would love her surprise, it had nothing to do with what they were talking about, it was a last minute thing, but she was sure Cathy wouldn't turn it down. Besides, it was really urgent. Hitomi didn't know whom else she could turn to in such short notice.

Trudging to the living room, Hitomi frowned as she spotted the immense wall unit sitting where it was, scolding herself for not changing out of the dress first before mentioning the surprise. Did she ever bring up how hard it was to hide something from Cathy? Well, it was hard, extremely hard. Hitomi didn't hide anything much from Catherine, so Cathy was permitted to clean anywhere she liked. So sometimes, that made it hard to keep some things under wraps. Thankfully, Cathy never seemed to have noticed the closet tucked inconveniently behind the wall unit. Hitomi absolutely detested that thing. When she had moved in, it just sat there, embedded in the middle of the living room wall. Frustrated with what to do with it, Hitomi finally gave in to her mother's advice and blocked off the useless closet with the massive wooden wall entertainment system. For a year now it had just been sitting there entirely empty and beyond view collecting nothing but cobwebs. Then one day, not too long ago, Amano had come over when Catherine was out, to help her move the monstrous unit-thing and hide the surprise where it could not be found. And now here Hitomi stood, in her precious wedding gown, absolutely helpless.

"Hey Tomi, why did you decide to pick up your gown so early anyway?" Catherine poked her head out the bedroom doorway, ignoring Hitomi's command to stay put.

Hitomi glanced back with a look of despair, "I just wanted to make sure it was safe here at home rather than at the boutique where someone else could buy it, who knows, but um…"

She gave a fleeting look back at the sturdy unit, then a shimmering thought came to mind, "I should probably get out of this thing though before I ruin it. Hey Cathy, I think I saw that scrunchie hair-thing you were looking for behind the television, you can go give it a look."

Hitomi tiptoed her way back to the bedroom, careful not to fall back on her own white tail of fluff. She couldn't help but grin; she knew this was the best way to get Cathy to discover the surprise for herself. In search for that scrunchie, Catherine would peek behind the unit, discover the mess, and the closet, then beg for Hitomi's help to move the unit out of the way; by then Hitomi would be changed and ready to aid her.

"What about that reason you wanted to tell me?" Catherine looked back on at the departed Hitomi obviously not catching the drift. "And uh, about that scrunchie, I've already found it, I'm wearing it right now!"

Hitomi's face turned a funny reddish tint even underneath the screen of her veil. Looks like her short-lived master plan had died out sooner than expected. 'Well, good going, what now Hitomi?'

"Oh Catherine Corain, just go check it out! I promise you won't be disappointed."

Cathy smiled amused, "Oh I get it now, the treasure's hidden behind the wall unit, and I'm dying of anticipation, right?"

Hitomi gave a roll of the eye, and then shut her bedroom door as she carefully removed her delicate gown and dressed back into her usual Warden University sweatshirt and jogging pants. Hitomi was busily tucking the gown back into its protective plastic covering when she heard a shrill scream piercing from the living room.

"HIIITTOOOOMMIII!!!!" Cathy let out a scream of disbelief as she squeezed the newly discovered, plastic protected, bridesmaid's gown in her arms. The pastel pink trim peeked out from the edge of the black plastic seal. "YOU MUST BE KIDDING!! THIS IS THE BEST SURPRISE EVER!!!"

Cathy couldn't quite believe it! Was it real? Was Hitomi joking? Cathy knew for a fact this was definitely one of Hitomi's bridesmaid's gowns, she had even looked it over in the catalogue with her. It was! It was! It was! Hikoro had left so Hitomi could show Cathy the surprise! Oh it was wonderful! They had been living together for about a month and a half, which wasn't all that long, even more reason to be surprised about her surprise.

As for Hitomi, she simply stood by her open doorway, entirely frozen, and jaw dragging on the floor. She couldn't quite believe her eyes as well. Right before her was the gigantic wall unit, moved a whole foot and a few inches over, to create a large enough leeway to the hidden closet. That was a HUGE wall unit. Hitomi's startled eyes moved themselves over to spot Catherine looking back at her with an expression of pure exhilaration, apparently still gushing over her present. But Cathy was so small!! Hitomi was barely listening to whatever the girl was saying as she tried to even grasp the energy and strength Catherine obviously had.

"Hito!! I can't believe it! Are you sure? Me?"

Catherine snapped Hitomi back to the situation. Hitomi's face lit up gleefully, as she rushed over and helped Cathy remove the protective casing of the dress.

"Of course I'm sure Cathy!" she proudly held the dress against Cathy's shoulders; perfect fit. "Oh, you'll look stunning in this Cath, I can't wait!"

"But what happened?" Cathy was still in the state of disbelief. She thought it would've been fun to be a bridesmaid at Hitomi's wedding since she never did get the opportunity growing up with brothers, but it still didn't seem likely. She was pretty certain many of the wedding details like bridesmaids had been planned out long before Cathy even met Hitomi. And to top that, Cathy was pretty sure she could recall Hitomi telling her who the bridesmaids were already once before.

"Oh, it's a long story," Hitomi waved it off with a flick of her wrist. "You already know that Kari's still up for bridesmaid, and my cousin, San, in Osaka can still fly in-"

"Which leaves your second cousin from Poland right?" Cathy quipped, feeling she was pretty certain of it.

"Yep," Hitomi smiled smugly at Cathy's superb memory. "That's Lisa, she's Polish, but she lives in Australia actually, somewhere near Sydney, but anyway there's been a family emergency on her husband's side. She had to cut out at a pretty nasty time for Amano and me, so… you're free aren't ya?"

"My gosh, Hitomi," Catherine rolled her eyes, carefully rewrapping the dress. "You know even if I wasn't a bridesmaid I'd still be sitting in second row. This is so great! It's my first time too!"

Cathy gave Hitomi an appreciative hug. "I owe you lots! Hold on, I'm just going to go call my aunt okay? She's always wanted me to be a bridesmaid (well more like a bride, but this is the best so far); I don't think she's ever seen me dressed up! And she only lives a block from here, I guess she could stop by some time, she'll be thrilled!"

Hitomi smiled contented as she watched Catherine disappear behind the kitchen walls. She walked back to her room listening to Cathy's excited Spanish yelps as she explained the details to her aunt. Hitomi yawned exhausted, finally feeling the tire of a day's of wedding work. What else was there to worry about? Cathy was covered, which meant all the bridesmaids were good for the go. San would be flying in in about a week, then she would bunker over at Hitomi's mothers' home until the wedding. Yukari was just as available as Cathy, and the groom's side was Amano's worry. The best man was his 28 year-old brother Terry, who was only a half-hour drive or so away. The ring bearer was little seven-year-old Joey, son of Melinda Mayo, and his six-year-old sister, Grace, was to be their flower girl. Hitomi also was pretty sure her mother already had her specially- made Kimono ready from the boutique, seeing as she was the Maid of Honor.

Shutting her eyes, Hitomi plopped herself on her bed, realizing things were going by her so quickly. Three weeks… Three weeks! It seemed to her an eternity and a second at the same time. Being engaged for so long didn't even prepare her for all this. Mentally, it was strangely a lot to handle, even if she did know Amano for so many years. There were so many details to worry about, every little element had to be precise. She didn't know what to make of it if one flaw were to just arise out of nowhere. So far it looked like all the invitations had made it to their desired locations, and her and Amano combined had already gotten about 80 or so positive responses. She was prepared for a clutter of guests.

Hitomi turned her head in the direction of her dresser, where picture frames of friends and family stood. Hitomi was pretty sure she could count all of the guests she herself had invited. There was of course, automatically her mother and the bridesmaids; all of her local aunts, uncles and cousins, then there was Eric Knight, Sophie Glenn, Fuy Aritaka, Katie Dolan and her fiancé, Tanti Leyon, and Gary Tait from her office, Jenna Mark, Hinsan Kisoma, Jamie Peloutte, Jean DiLeon, and Pr. Derek Yarens from night school; then of course there was Peter and Lina from driving school, Dr. Friedrich and her dentist, Dr. Lindsay Bowlan, her new and old neighbors, the Mayo family and many others, and then Alexandra and Tim who were flying in two days before the wedding, not to mention that their immediate families were invited as well. Hitomi had a hard time keeping track of them all without her official guest list at hand, but of course Hitomi's list was minuscule compared to Amano's. Other than the ones Hitomi had figured, she still had maybe five or six other guests from high school and other things also coming. Amano on the other hand, had more than quadruple the amount of people than Hitomi. Practically everyone in Amano's family was coming from nearby or England or everywhere, brothers, sisters, aunts and uncles and all, which could be half the congregation in itself, then of course dozens of Amano's med-school and previous high school classmates, and then the numerous amounts of people around Aimsa that Amano strangely 'just knew' for some reason or other. Hitomi was counting on meeting many new faces that day. She did a mental calculation in her head, reasoning it to be just a little over three weeks, about 25 more days to go until her wedding. Sunday May the fifth, it was a day going down in Hitomi's history.

She turned uneasily, frightened yet excited by the idea. Yawning, she started to feel a heavy, drooping weight against her eyes, also the strain of keeping them open, and the bother of thinking of too many details. She rested herself more snugly in the caress of her bed, listening to Catherine's soft chatting drifting from the dining room now, slowly easing into a blur of words. The back of Hitomi's mind was still on going with thoughts of decorations, church schedules, restaurant reservations and so on… but gradually those worries were fading as well. Somewhere drifting in her dozing mind were more thoughts on things she had forgotten about over time, and had slowly start to recall. Yukari and Amano's strange behavior crossed her mind a few times, though she had willingly put away all the details. Every now and then she would also remember that person she met near the beginning of March, that longing infatuation that edged at her mind every so often. And what about those visions? She was beginning to succeed in ignoring them, and all those eerie premonitions from before. She never had a day vision again, but her dreams during the night were now beginning to disturb her. She dreamt of many things so far, some strange (usually with background music oddly enough) with scenes of her wrapped in a blinding light, and moving upwards at a very rapid speed. There was also one that came intensely, much more often than any others, and the one she usually remembered once she awoke. It was kind of weird, it felt as if Hitomi was falling, off some cliff, or into a crevasse in the ground, and above her was this strange figure, always getting closer and closer, with a shadowed image. All Hitomi could ever see were wings, large wings that stretched out into the blinding light. She could also make out the gloved hand, outstretched towards her, looking for her grasp. Hitomi never did finish the dream; it would always end as soon as morning came, but nonetheless she found it intriguing.

Barely finding the energy to yawn once more, Hitomi turned over the last time as she finally felt Naria settle comfortably by her side, appearing out of nowhere once again, as Hitomi's arm found it's way to lazily droop over the furry body of white. Mesmerized by the rumbles of purr floating from her friend, Hitomi drifted off into another world, another dream she couldn't understand… just yet.

* * *

"'All You Need to Know About Physics'…" Van carefully juggled the massive hardcover book in his hands, as he slowly flipped through it. "My gosh, I would hope this is ALL you'd need to know on physics, it's already enough!"

Shied cupped his hand over his eyes to block out the bright sky light and smile back at Van. "You should have a good look-see through those King Van, I'm sure you'll find them fascinating as well. Science and mathematics can be expanded so thoroughly, Dryden will love it."

"There's no doubt about that," Van heaved the large book and three others into one of Shied's many boxes. Boxes that Shied was planning to bring along to Gaea at Dryden's request, full of usually books, devices, magazines, music, and many interesting things that Shied had managed to scrounge up at garage sales, thrift stores, and used-bookmobiles. Shied was also blessed to have Angela who would constantly supply him with interesting artifacts she purchased from Liquidation World, and clothing for his visiting friends.

"Are Earthlings really that much smarter?" Van couldn't help but inquire, as he studied a book labeled "Trigonometry and Calculus" with a forlorn expression written upon his face. "There seems to be a lot of thinking that goes behind everything they do."

"Yes, it does seem that way. But no matter how you think it, they're just as human as you or I. I feel the only reason they are so advanced is because they've been evolving in technology for much longer than we have. It is proven here that humans appeared on Earth around 2 millions Earth years ago, they've been around for a while. The earliest record of human or even Draconian life in Gaea is, oh I'm not sure, maybe only around eight hundred thousand years, Gaea years."

Van nodded slowly, feeling slightly intimidated to be around such an educated eleven-year-old. He also couldn't help but smile when he heard of Shied speak of Draconians, it made him feel so alive in his own, secretive way. Just at the thought of the word he instantly recalled Vari, his beautiful mother, and her wings, oh she wore them well. Never did he ever lay his eye on a creature any more beautiful than she had been, with her long, angelic figure, forest green hair draping elegantly by her side. He also loved to enkindle on the thought that his parents had not been afraid of the pressures of society; even as two entirely different types of people coming from different worlds, they had believed their love was everything that could matter. Their love had remained strong until the end of their lives, and because of their love, two descendants had grown in their name.

A small pang of sadness hit him as well, as he thought of Faulcon, and how their endings as brothers had unfortunately gone so bitterly. As he matured Van never thought of him any longer as his dark adversary from Zaibach, but instead, as that older brotherly figure, who taught him about slaying dragons, and conquering fears. The brother he wished he could have only known better, as he did his parents.

Merle, who had been quietly immersed in a large book of her own written entirely on the feline species, gave up a knowing glance towards Van. She watched him slowly pack away more of the large texts, than her eye peeled on one that caught both their interest.

"Aha! There it is! I've been meaning to show you guys this," Shied proudly mentioned it first, and handed the hardback towards them. "I believe it has a great link to how Gaea started. It possibly explains how we came to be on Gaea all along, it'll be a great read for Dryden, and the rest of you."

Van got a hold of the book first, studying intently the front cover, as Merle peeked over his shoulder.

"Wow," was all Merle could say as she ran her hands over the rough, gold lettering on the aged book. "'Atlantis'," she read aloud.

Van immediately turned through page after page, quickly skimming over what looked like the unknown history on a disappeared time and age on Earth, a time of the advanced and mythical people of a place called Atlantis. The story was so familiar to him, it got Van plopping himself on the soggy, dead, grass, and giving it a longer look over.

"So they had an Atlantis too…" Merle finally broke the fascinated silence, joining Van's side. She dusted off all the burrs, which immediately stuck to her over-sized jeans Shied had managed to find her. Shied had done an incredible job in disguising the cat girl. She had on those jeans for one thing, completely hiding those long, furry legs. Her paw feet were enclosed in a pair of size eight discount sneakers Angela had lying around. She wore one of Shied's navy sweaters, and an extra wool winter coat his Mum thankfully had, and lastly a snug, red Aimsa Sharks baseball cap, with her pinkish-red hair tied up in a fluffy ponytail through the adjusting strap hole at the rear of the cap. It amazed him on just how human she was beginning to look.

"Amazing isn't it? We're not so different from them after all," Shied gave a huge heave of breath as he lifted volumes of encyclopedias into a partly filled cardboard box. He tapped them proudly, as he rested his arm upon it. "These things are pretty expensive, glad I got them discount. A few pages missing and a bit of scribbles here and there are about the only problems."

"Oh, and I think you should take a read of this book King Van," Shied buried through one of his partly filled boxes and handed Van another thick paperback.

Van smiled, taking the book, then taking a short second to zip up his polyester spring windbreaker Shied had picked up for him. The April chill was starting to grow crisp, Van was used to the usual warm Gaea weather at this time.

"'Economies and Governmental Systems of the World'," Van read aloud, running his fingers through the yellowing pages. "Is it about politics and such?"

"Um hum," Shied nodded his confident, little head and pointed a few things out to Van throughout the book. "Gaea could use some of these laws and systems, good for a king to have on hand."

"I agree," Van nodded and added the book to his amazingly growing pile in his box. He had already picked out basically all of the books he figured he'd be interested in reading. Van didn't honestly know how they planned to carry all of these things back to Dryden once they reached Gaea, but he was figuring to simply play it by ear. He was also quite astonished to see just how many things Shied was planning on carrying along. Did they really need all of these things? Van was no scientist, but he figured Dryden and the rest of his elites were pretty clever men, could they not figure these things out on their own? It seemed strange to him that Gaeans would have to be so reliable on the intelligence of other humans in order to advance. Earthlings had to learn using trial and error did they not? If they could do it, he knew Gaeans could as well, as long as they were patient and persistent enough to try. Why didn't Shied just do something more productive? Such as maybe looking to see if he could bring along any medicines, or something of the sort, to help out all the research against all the ailments over in Gaea. There was a good possibility that Earth may experience the same viruses and diseases. But then again, Van was in no position to complain. He wasn't the one who had spent countless years working and building a space ship, he wasn't the one who had to leave home and spend a year of his life in another world, so he wasn't the one to go and try to run the show. Besides, he had good faith that Dryden himself would be paying Earth a visit for four months, or eight and a half Gaea months, next year, there wasn't a doubt in his mind.

Merle perched herself carefully as she repositioned on the large oak branch of the large, tall tree she sat upon. She gave a bored glance down below, in the direction of Shied and Van continuing to pack the last few items into the many large cardboard boxes. Sighing, she turned her attention back to the newest book she had added to her own collection. It interested her much more than whatever them two could have possibly been discussing. That is probably because Merle could probably guess just what they were talking about, more information on this and that about what they would do with everything once they returned home.

Funny as it was, Merle did not share their anticipation on returning to Fanelia. That odd feeling seemed very strange to her, as she figured she would be the one who'd be most unhappy on the Mystic Moon, seeing as she was only here for Van. At least for the first few weeks, that had proven true. Despite her coat of fur, she still disliked the cold, and having to remain cooped up inside the hotel. Finally, the cold was starting to become bearable, but then there was nothing but consistent rain almost on a daily basis. The world was in a murky, chilly state, and she hated being hidden under the layers of clothes that felt way too unnatural. She was only lucky she had managed to convince Shied to allow her to let her tail out just above the seam of her jeans. It wasn't comfortable, but she didn't fancy the idea of having her tail flattened within her pant leg either.

Then again, Merle wasn't all complaints. There were a few things she had begun to get dangerously attached too. One fine example would be without a doubt, Casey, Shied's adorable kitten. She often treated him as if she were a human, constantly picking him up, embracing him, and baby talking to his furry, aloof face. But though she did those human-like things, she had a deeper sense to Casey than that which could be understood by Van, Shied, or anything that wasn't as feline as the two. Merle felt a sense of belonging with Casey, one that wasn't exactly straightforward, but connected in an out-of-sort way. Similar, Merle felt, to the relations between a baby Siamese kitten to that of maybe a baby lion cub. The two were obviously very different in size, nature, and appearance, but deep down within them was still an indefinable connection that rooted back long before the two became different. Merle didn't honestly understand her species, and they didn't have any sort of information so detailed on creatures as on Earth, but Merle knew there were definitely two impulses within her. She was part human, she was part cat, and of course, she would miss Casey on both of those levels.

She would also miss many other things, not so much the technology of the television, but it's intelligence, or at least the intelligence it portrayed. In one day of sitting by her hotel appliance, she could laugh, cry, learn and fear in all one sitting. It could mesmerize her, bore her, entertain her, or insult her. It was like a whole other personality in itself.

She would also come to miss the food. It was a funny thing to be upset about leaving the food behind, but they had to face facts, the Mystic Moon made good grub. Merle could eat anything, just about anything that Van would order from room service, or take out. Every meal was something new, something that she wasn't familiar with, and something she couldn't have enough of. She knew Van loved it too; they just didn't serve 'hamburgers', 'pizza', 'spaghetti', 'teriyaki' or any other of their classical favorites in Gaea. Merle wouldn't be surprised to open one of Shied's many boxes and find some take-out and cocktail nuts hidden within those books. Especially salted barbecue peanuts and cashews, Van was a horrid addict. Angela, Shied's Mum, was also a marvelous cook. She had an incredible talent in preparing any fine Japanese, Italian and Chinese dish. She had taught them what the names of many of the meals were, and Merle was pretty sure she had given them a few cookbooks to take along, she was only hoping they had the right ingredients back on Gaea.

"Hey there kitty, what's up?" Merle glanced upwards in surprise as she spotted Van clumsily weaseling his way through the branches, often losing grip with his penny loafers and smacking his forehead against a budded branch.

"Picked up the Mystic Moon jargon already, have you?" Merle laughed in amusement as she used both her arms to pull Van up along to the secure section above the oak trunk He had a cluster of dead grass and twigs coating him all over, but Merle simply smiled and pretended not to notice.

"Yeah, I guess so. Shied is starting to speak with better grammar than me, or I," Van gave that kiddish smile he rarely used, and leaned back cautiously on one of the largest branches extending diagonally behind him. His footing wasn't all that great, but he had balanced on the brink of Escaflowne's narrow metallic parts enough times to know how to keep a straight figure.

Merle was still smiling, and brushed some of the decayed twigs from Van's volumized hair. He was obviously having a lot of fun using that hot tub with all the shampoos and conditioners in their large hotel bathroom. Merle couldn't help but wonder where on earth Shied had squandered up the money to keep them in the Ramada for so long.

"Look what I found, Shied was telling me about it," Van finally found himself a comfortable resting position sitting upon the diagonal branch, allowing his right leg to dangle and balancing the left on another thinner limb below him.

"Oh, really, is that a newspaper?" Merle squatted between two large branches, legs supporting her weight in what Van perceived as a nearly impossible position (and definitely a painful one- at least in his case). She carefully took the newspaper from him, wary of the breeze.

"Is that Shied??" she looked up in surprise, as she studied the faded image in the gritty bundle of papers she held. A definite picture of Shied stood in about the seventh page in, with a giant headline saying 'Young Einstein Conquers World Fair'.

"Who else?" Van nodded pointing to the article. "It's really impressive, I'm surprised it's not framed and lemonated, or is it laminated? Anyway, can you believe this kid? Wait until Allen finds out that his son has outsmarted him."

Merle smiled at Van's relaxed attitude, happy to see he was feeling better ever since they had told him of the Hitomi situation a few days before. Even Merle was equally surprised to hear of Hitomi's engagement, but she was more surprised to see just how quickly Van had recovered. It was almost like Hitomi wasn't any of his concern.

Shutting the thoughts out, Merle focused more on the article she had in her hand:

'ATHENS, GREECE - commonly known as the home of winning, of striving, of achieving. What other perfect place to host the 2000 International Youth Science Fair, taking place in the large, Hellenic Republic Community Center. A multitude of children from across the world has gathered to proudly demonstrate their scientific accomplishments in a feat for the gold. The recipient of the prestigious Gold Award for Best International Youth Scientific Display would have to be highly qualified, highly educated in all science aspects, determined and well portrayed. A young eleven-year-old boy from Aimsa, Japan, has proved he is this and much more. Recognized scientists of the world marveled at his experiment in complete awe, young Steven Sheizar, has dazzled the best… '