Vision Of Escaflowne Fan Fiction ❯ With Eyes Unclouded ❯ Bittersweet Romance ( Chapter 6 )

"…Memories fade, they're designed that way…"

~*~ Savage Garden

I woke up with a start, blinking my eyes hard so they adjusted to the pitch-blackness of the room.

Something was in my room.

Slowly, with my heartbeat echoing in my ears, I lolled my head to the side.

A pair of glowing florescent green eyes met mine.

"Boo."

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

I swung my pillow at the owner of the eyes with such force that even Superman would've flinched upon impact.

Merle fell backwards off of the bed and onto the floor with an ugly thud, promptly followed by a string of curse words.

"What was that for?" She hissed, jumping back to her feet.

I grinned weakly at her, "Heh… heh… I thought you where trying to kill me in my sleep."

"Well, I'm defiantly gonna now…" She mumbled, rubbing the back of her head as she crawled back unto the bed.

Shrugging, I laid back down, pulling the covers up after me. "So now that you're done hazing me, do you mind if I go back to sleep?"

The cat girl frowned, obviously looking around the room for something, "So?"

"So what?" I yawned, curling back up underneath the blankets.

"Am I an aunty yet?" The cat girl asked, grinning ear to ear.

My face felt like it was on fire.

Mental note to self:

Invest in a dog. A very big dog.

"It was just a joke Hitomi." Merle said through a mouthful of food.

"I know." I said, sticking my tongue out at her before popping a grape into my mouth. "And I'm going to get you back for it."

"Hold still Hitomi, or I might just hem you into the dress." Rena mumbled, her mouth full of pins.

I sighed and did what the older girl asked, staring off out of my bedroom window that overlooked the gardens.

I hadn't talked to Van since last night, and the entire kiss thing kept nagging me from the back of my mind.

I liked Van.

A lot.

And Van seemed to like me.

A lot.

And that scares me.

A lot.

I've known the guy for less then a week, but I still…

I shivered, despite the warmness of the bright afternoon, ignoring the reprehending look from Rena.

Out of all the things I didn't remember, you'd think that knowing if I was in love wouldn't be one of them…

"There, finished." Rena pulled away, eyeing her handiwork on the hem of my dress. "What do you think?"

I looked up into the mirror at the flushed looking girl staring back at me in a beautiful pale blue gown that was bound to her waist by a lacy white sash.

I spun around in front of the mirror, watching the skirt fluff out around me like a little girl would, my petticoats peeking out from underneath the yards and yards of soft fabric.

"You're just so beautiful." Merle sobbed, wiping away a fake tear. "I'm going to have adorable nieces and nephews."

I stopped spinning and looked at the cat girl with an evil eye that could've stopped a hardened military tycoon in his tracks.

Merle paled.

"Heh… heh…" The cat girl giggled nervously, edging away from me. "Joke…?"

"Bad kitty!" I shouted, lurching at her, promptly tripping on the edge of the dress.

Rena raised an eyebrow and looked down at me where I had fallen face first, "I think I still need to shorten the hem a few more inches…"

Merle just giggled.

"Is this a bad time?" Asked a male voice from the door.

I propped myself up on one elbow and looked at the door.

A tawny cat-man stood there, dressed in a simple forest green tunic and pants.

"I-I didn't hear you come in… Seigi…" Merle squeaked, her face flushing as she fluffed her hair, "What's up?"

I looked back and forth between Merle and the cat-man she was batting her eyes at.

I grinned evilly.

Revenge is sweet.

"Lord Van wishes yours and the Lady Hitomi's presence in his study." Seigi said, bowing before he walked out of the room, his tail swishing behind him.

Merle sighed dreamily as she watched him go. I giggled.

"What?" The flustered cat demanded.

I smiled angelically at her and batted my eyes at her playfully. "Merle and Seigi sitting in a tree. K-i-s-s-"

Merle groaned and covered her ears, her face bright red despite it's fur.

Within an hour, the evening twilight found me curled up on the sofa of Van's private study.

I sat there, with my chin cupped in my hands, looking out the window up at the twin moons.

Van had told me last night during our little heart-to-heart about a lot of things.

About how we had met, how I had the gift of the Sight, and how I wasn't on Earth anymore. The last of the three wasn't a big of a shocker as you might think it was… I think I'd be a little more thrown of balance if I traveled back through time instead of traveling to another planet. As much as I would love to meet the Flintstones and the rest of the gang, I feel a little safer here with a bunch of complete strangers on a planet that you can't see from Earth, as strange as that sounds.

"Thinking?" Van asked as he looked up from the book he had been pretending to be reading for the past fifteen minutes or so.

I nodded, pulling my gaze away from Earth, looking instead at the raven-haired boy who was sprawled out across the couch next to me.

"About wh--?"

A soft knock at the door interrupted him.

"Come in." Van called out as he heaved himself to a sitting position, letting out a soft sigh of frustration.

A little girl of about seven or eight came through the door, glancing about nervously with her bright green eyes.

"Yes Miyako?" Van asked, his face softening as he looked at the little girl.

The little girl handed Van an envelope, blushing slightly. "Pappa said a messenger just d-delivered this for you."

"Thank you very much Miyako…" Van said, smiling at her as he ruffled her white-blond hair as he took the thick parchment from her. "Sweet dreams…"

The little girl blushed again and almost ran out of the room, the door closing behind her with a faint click.

"Who's it from?" Merle asked, sitting up on one elbow from in front of the fireplace where she too had been reading. I watched Van pull out a dagger from his boot, carefully opening the wax seal and scanning the letter's content.

"Allen." He said finally, not bothering to look up.

"Well, what are you waiting for? What does it say?!" Merle demanded.

Van rolled his eyes and started reading, "He sends his and Celeana's fondest regards… They're in Palas still… Allen says that they received a message from a scout that a mysterious white light was seen over Fanelia three nights ago… He says that he's en route to here… And that he should arrive here sometime tomorrow afternoon…"

Van paused, his forehead creasing.

"Anything else?" Merle asked excitedly, peering over his knee at the letter.

Van shifted the letter away from the cat girl's prying eyes before she could read anything, "Just political talk, nothing important."

Merle rolled her eyes, standing up, the book she had been reading in hand "Can I borrow this book, Van?"

Van nodded absently, his brow furrowed with deep thought as he continued reading the letter.

Merle rolled her eyes again and yawned, "Good night 'Tomi…"

"'Night Merle." I yawned, pushing a stray hair behind my ear.

The room was eerily quite after the cat-girl left; the flickering flames of the fire making the silence feel almost surreal.

I fidgeted with the sleeve of my dress, "Can I ask you something Van?"

"Hmmm…?"

"Who's Allen?"

Van mumbled something I didn't quite catch and he carefully folded the letter again, sliding into the pages of his unread book for safekeeping. He looked at me for a moment, running his hand through his hair, looking at the fire instead of me while he talked.

"A old friend from Austria… He----"

~"---- And that's how we met Allen."

The embers of the fire had faded to almost nothing during my story, and so the room was bathed in almost complete darkness of the night.

"I-I wish I could remember…" The slender girl next to me mumbled, shattering the silence of the room as she let out the shaky breath of someone who's crying.

Unconsciously my hand went out and cupped the side of her face, and I felt like a knife had been slid into my heart as the tears that ran down her cheeks crossed my hands.

I never meant for her to cry…

Gingerly, I pulled her into my arms, and she seemed almost to collapse into me as she sobbed tears of pent-up frustration, exhaustion, and so many other out of control emotions.

I held on tighter to her with each shuddering breath, unsure of how to ease her pain except to hold her.

I-I don't know how long I held her… but softly her heart retching sobs ebbed into nothingness as sleep claimed her.

Slowly, I tried to move away so that I could lay Hitomi down on the couch, suddenly painfully aware of our close proximity. After her shyness during last night… As enticing it was to spend an entire night with the person who've I've spent so many sleepless night thinking of… I-I didn't want to do anything that would cause her any more confusion or pain.

I could feel the heat from her breath as she sleepily nuzzled against my neck, clutching unto me with a sleep noise of protest as I tired to timidly pull out of her grasp.

"Please… stay…" She mumbled sleepily, draping her arms around my waist.

I immediately stilled and let her sink limply back against my chest, re-wrapping both arms around her.

I didn't try to move again.

Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne or it's likeness and I'm making no profit off of this gross misuse of the English language.

A/N: *cackles* 2 updates in less then a week. I'm defiantly making up for lost time. Oh, and if anyone wants to see more fluff, I strongly urge you to review, like these nice people did:

(8-29-03)

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