Summary: She's a teenage girl, nursing a broken heart and a glass of Southern Comfort. He's a stoic, love-'em-and-leave-'em kinda guy whose never found quite what he's looking for. So on one dark night in Gaea, will she let him nurse her wounds or will she refuse to trust another man, even one so tempting as he?
Disclaimer: First things first, this disclaimer applies to this chapter, and any following chapters in its entirety. I do not own, nor claim to own, The Vision Of Escaflowne or anything connected to it (characters, relationships, locations etc). However, I do claim ownership of any fictional characters I choose to create and include, the basic plot of this story and the visual description of the city of Gaea.
Of Cities And Southern Comfort
Chapter 1
The young beauty, Hitomi Kanzaki, sits opposite her companion with a smile sprawling from ear to ear on her lips. It is a gorgeous Saturday morning and the sun's shining down on the little ice-cream parlour she currently occupies, a beaming smile across her face, giving her a radiant glow.
Her companion, a young man also of 19 years and a pleasant, if not average looking, appearance, had invited her to join him in the parlour just under half an hour ago.
He had given her sparse details, only that it was very important and that she must be there within the hour.
Love-struck, Hitomi rushed from her house, dropping everything she had planned and made damn sure that she arrived at the parlour within minutes to hear his news.
She is almost 100 certain he was about to propose. They have, after all, been dating for a little more than 2 years and at just 19, that is an awfully long time to be with one person. She wiggles her ring finger under the table, imagining the feel of a heavy stone day and night, sitting there looking beautiful.
Her heart almost bursts with love for Mishime. He sits in front of her, on the other side of the bubblegum pink table, staring down at his folded hands, deep in thought.
Hitomi is too busy to notice his pained face. Her head is filled with images of their future together. They will not buy a house in Tokyo, but find somewhere together by the sea. A quaint little cottage covered in overgrown vines and a lawn stretching right out to the cliff-edge.
How many children will she want? Two or three perhaps; they will be beautiful.
Her attention is brought back to the present when Mishime draws something from his light cashmere sweater. Expectation and anticipation bubbles within her, here it comes; his proposal…the big question...she is just about ready to yell 'Yes!!' and burst into happy, joyous tears when, instead of presenting to her a ring, he offers her a pristinely-kept note, written on a pink slip of paper.
She screws up her nose in wonder; does she smell Eau de Romance, a tacky, overpowering perfume emanating from the paper?
She has never bought him perfume like that, so where has he gotten it from? His mother? She, Hitomi knows, only ever wears an expensive scent from Russia.
"What's this?" She takes the paper between her forefinger and thumb gingerly, maybe there is a proposition written on the note and Mishime just didn't have the courage to ask her himself. Renewed hope swells in her chest and she peels the paper from its fold.
Mishime doesn't say a word. He hasn't even looked at her. She feels a little downhearted, to be honest. This is not the proposal she had expected. She had expected him down on one knee, rose between teeth and fireworks exploding in the background.
Peeling the paper out flat, she realises there is a short but carefully written note on it. In handwriting she doesn't recognise.
Her emerald eyes scan the beginning with some scrutiny.
"My darling sweetheart.
I count down the minutes until we are together again, and I can only hope that you hold as much enthusiasm for our meetings as I do. What, I hear you asking, am I doing writing you a letter? Well, my love, I have a proposition. Daddy has just evicted a tenant at his apartment complex just for us, Mishime! Can you believe it? He says if you are willing, we can move in as a couple. Our first place together, it will be perfect. Please do not waste your life on your current interest. You and I both know she can't give you what I have to offer.
So please, my most adored darling, give it a little thought and get back to me sometime soon. We will have a spectacular future together. I will see you tomorrow night as usual
Can't wait
Tsumatsi xxx
P.S. I hope you recognise the smell of this letter. It is what I was wearing the night we met all those months ago"
For the moment, Hitomi is numb. Her mind struggles to overcome the cotton wool of the letter that is filling her head.
Images of Tsumatsi bombard her mind and she feels sick.
Is this girl thinner? Prettier? Bustier than Hitomi? Just plain better!?!
She has a terrible taste in her throat and her tongue feels dry against the roof of her mouth.
"Mishime...Who's Tsumatsi?...Is this a prank?"
Mishime finally meets her eyes and she regrets him ever doing so. There is no love, no admiration for her. His once lively blue eyes are dead to her and she feels a sob well in her chest.
"It's no prank, Hitomi. I met Tsumatsi a few months ago; when I told you I was staying with a friend of mine."
Hitomi blanches. So all the time that he had said he was with Kotami, he was really seeing some...cheap floozy!
She can't breath, can't speak, can't live without Mishime but oh god, the shame and disappointment hurts her heart a whole lot more.
Scrunching up the paper into a ball, she tosses it back across the table, he scrabbles to catch it.
"Why are you showing me this?" Her voice breaks a little.
"I thought it was only fair to let you know."
She laughs then, trying to rise above the pain in her heart but it refuses to let her go.
"You thought it was only fair? Oh right, and what do you know about fair? Did you consider how fair it was to go running off with some woman?"
"I haven't run off with her, Hitomi –"
"Yet."
"I'm still here with you, aren't I?"
"What makes you think I want you anymore? Have…have you…?" It hurts her too much to say out loud but Mishime knows what she is referring to.
Mishime's voice, when he replies, is frank and brutal.
"We haven't slept together yet. We want to though, soon."
Hitomi hisses in a breath through her teeth. A little bit more of her heart breaks away.
"And you love her?" For some insane reason, she fears the answer to this question more than the last. Perhaps it has something to do with her stupid, stupid emotions that do not quite want to pull away from Mishime.
"Yes. I do love her. A lot."
Hitomi chokes out a sob and clenches her hand beneath the table. Alright. Enough is enough; she has let this carry on too far already.
"Thank you for telling me this now, before I became too deluded in you that I couldn't back out. But now I'm still independent enough that I can leave you, and I'm going to. It's over."
She sounds reasonable, amiable, logical as usual. But Hitomi is tired of being the reasonable one; she is tired of being well-behaved and understanding and she has about three seconds to leave the parlour before she breaks down entirely.
Easing her chair back, she strides from the cafe with the air of a girl who has been liberated from deception in the same instance that her heart has shattered into oblivion.
Hitomi Kanzaki slumps forward over the cool surface of the table, depressed.
She lays her cheek on the frigid steel of the tabletop and squeezes back a thousand tears that threaten to spill.
The incident had been little under a week ago and she is still burning with the hurt. It gnaws on her life; every little thing she does, says or thinks brings a painful memory of her time with Mishime. She is suddenly reminded of his little quirks and sayings and it tugs at her heart like a ton-weight.
Her best friends, Amano and Yukari, have been of little help. She appreciates their efforts but at the end of the day, she just wants solitude and privacy to mourn and grieve and cry out her anguish.
The fact that they are love-struck themselves doesn't help. Yukari wants to turn to Hitomi for tips on dating and how to impress Amano and Hitomi breaks out in flurries of emotion. Yukari hadn't known how to react in the end and had sent Hitomi off for a few days of crazy shopping sprees and beauty treatments in the large city of Gaea on her own.
She has only just arrived, having checked herself in at the local hotel and loaded off her luggage there, and had decided a good strong drink would help solve her lonely issues.
She feels the hot pressure of tears at the corners of her eyes again and she inhales deeply, loosening the constriction around her lungs.
Lifting her head just in time to see a barmaid wandering over, she feels relieved for the brief company.
"What'll it be, Darling?"
Hitomi rests her chin on a fist, managing a thin smile
"Just a SoCo please-"
The bar maid makes a note of the Southern Comfort with a wink.
"You look like you need it, sweetheart."
"You could say that," She lets her golden-blonde hair fall over her eyes, suddenly wanting the woman to leave her alone now that the subject is bordering on her broken relationship.
"Heartbreak?" The maid has a sweet, sympathetic smile on her face. Hitomi feels the tears welling up in her throat again and she bites down into her bottom lip to stop it quivering. The barmaid seems to know this is her cue to leave
"Alright, darlin'. Your order'll be over in a sec."
Hitomi bows her head in shame when the barmaid disappears. Why can't she just forget the whole incident and act normal, like people usually did when suffering heartbreak? They wouldn't be sitting here right now, swearing off relationships forever and refusing to acknowledge the admiring glances sent their way.
Other people would get back up on their horse and start dating immediately, even if it resulted in a couple of meaningless one night stands and one or two short-lived encounters.
Why can't she just forget him and move on? Hopefully, a nice strong drink will numb her for a while, just until she finds another way to get through the next day.
Her order makes its way over to her moments later, the Southern Comfort sloshing around in the glass along with three or four cubes of ice.
It scorches the back of her throat from the first sip, warming her insides instantly.
Maybe she has enough money on her to get absolutely mind-wastingly drunk. That would solve her loneliness problem, at least until the morning.
She takes another sip and sinks down into the leather of the chair, until she feels no-one can see her.
Van Fanel is bored out of his skull. The whiskey is no longer taking noticeable effect and the blond broad beside him is droning on about herself in an endless buzz of self-compliments.
Though he has to admit, this is how every one of his 'relationships' had turned out so far this month. Not one of these busty, made-up females has kept his attention for longer than a night between the sheets before they begin to bore him and he moves on. He shouldn't even bother to call it dating anymore, it's just fucking, pure and simple, but at 19, he hasn't a care for what it's called, just so long as he's getting what he wants out of it.
He glances the broad over once again, wondering what had ever gotten him interested in the first place this evening.
She is hardly the prettiest girl he's ever come across with lips too big for her mouth and a nose too prominent for her chin, and a voice that is whiny and irritating, like a girl of 8 rather than 18.
Van knows he is just making excuses to ditch her before the night is through but he can't help it. This girl just isn't his type.
Few of the girls he has had have been. Gaea just isn't the right sort of city to find a girl with the defiant sort of attitude and spark to make it worth his while but that's the furthest thing from his mind tonight. Still; even if he is just 19 with the sort of reputation older guys respect him for, it would be a change of scene to find a girl he won't get bored of after a week. And it definitely isn't this one.
"And I said to myself, I said Keilo you gotta get out more. You can't dwell on the past, which includes Shinji. He was a brute. And ugly. And he drank too much,"
Van rests his chin on a fisted hand. This has to end any minute now.
"He was a pimp, you know. I didn't know it at the time but he was. He had about three of 'em. All of 'em ugly tramps. Told me when I broke up with him that the only reason he ever went out with me was to pimp me off."
Van doesn't respond. Instead he stares into his drink, hoping he seems drunk enough to be excused from falling asleep.
Her voice screeches in his ears again like an overgrown wasp.
"...I'm pretty, right? Tell me I'm pretty."
"You're pretty." His voice is emotionless and despondent.
"Pretty pretty or pretty beautiful?"
Van rolls his eyes, though she can't see the action. She is too busy checking out her reflection in the mirror over the bar.
He scans the room behind him using this mirror. With any luck he can find someone to sit with until Keilo gets the idea and wanders off, more effort than just telling her to get lost but he's in a generous mood tonight and it's the only way to get rid of her politely.
Ah ha, he spies one young woman, in the far corner of the room, looking very lonely.
Van doubts whether it would be such a good idea to approach her, not wanting to be burdened with an hour-long rendition of her problems. But his desperation to be rid of Keilo outweighs his worries of another troubled broad.
"Tell me I'm pretty again,"
Van looks back at Keilo again with his brow furrowed angrily; she is seriously getting on his nerves.
"Why?"
"Because I want to know you think of me as pretty."
"Fine, whatever. Excuse me, I see someone I need to talk to,"
Keilo loses her out-going attitude instantly, replacing it with a needy, desperate voice.
"Hey! Van, darling! Please come back!"
But he is gone, leaving Keilo and his drink at the bar.
He eases himself across the room silently, slipping through the chairs and tables with his eyes cast to the miserable young woman in curiosity.
Maybe she's been stood up by some guy and will be susceptible to a little harmless flirting.
She is pretty, without a doubt, easily considered beautiful which he knows would be emphasised if she just smiled.
Checking himself suddenly, he continues his approach, masking any kind of admiration for the girl with a dashing, disarming smile; baring a canine.
The first thing Hitomi notices about the newcomer is the smile. Maybe he's confused her with somebody he knows; and a little unreasonable part of her is disappointed.
She takes a sip of her drink before speaking
"Can I help you?"
Her voice surprises him, he'd expected something similar to just about every other girl in the city; all of them playing on the assumed school-girl fantasies of the lecherous businessmen. Hers, however, is natural; laid back and confident. It is a much-welcomed change to his ears.
Van flashes her another charming smile, slipping gently into the leather seat opposite her. She doesn't move, watching him with piercing green eyes.
"Actually, you can. See that girl over by the bar, the one watching us?"
Hitomi nods bluntly, maybe this man is drunk and thinks he can get an easy lay out of her (though some secret part of her assures itself that he is far too handsome to be that desperate) and she formulates a plan of humiliating rejection in her mind.
"I see her." The girl looks a lot like how she's imagined Tsumatsi would look like; Skin-tight shirt and hip-hugging mini skirt, peroxide-blond hair and inch thick make-up balanced on her plain features.
What is a man like this stranger doing with a cheap floozy like that?
Van smiles again, not quite sure how to phrase his reply.
"She thinks I know you, and we're talking about something important. I'd be grateful if you could humour the idea for now."
Hitomi narrows her eyes at him, her first impression of him building a rather sketchy profile.
"You want me to talk to you just so she thinks I know you?"
"Well…it sounds crazy if you say it like that," Van knows he is quickly slipping from her zone of tolerance.
Hitomi turns back to her drink, blatantly unimpressed and her disappointment grows.
"Of course it sounds crazy."
Van peels off his black leather jacket and slings it around the back of the chair, not quite ready to leave.
"I don't know any other way to get rid of her. I've only been with her for an hour and I already know she's not my type. I have more class than that."
He expects a girlish giggle, or a flutter of eyelashes, but what he receives is nothing like these.
"And you're just going to desert her?" Hitomi's voice is a little crestfallen, a little hurt and a little angry. She doesn't like to see the same disrespect towards women in this man that Mishime had shown.
Van stares at her like she is half mad. Perhaps it is the fact that she's not reacting to his charms like women usually did, perhaps it is that he is simply not used to having his banter being deflected with such cold tones.
"Hey, I'm not deserting her. She probably won't even remember me in the morning. You can bet that she'll just find some other guy to take home and entertain."
His own tone is bordering on defensive and he has to hold back from being downright insulted. Does this woman have some sort of pre-impression that he isn't worth her time?
Hitomi lowers her gaze to her drink, muttering a simple "Hmm." and settling into silence.
Van huffs out his breath in one last ditch attempt to impress her.
"Alright, I've been a bit crude, haven't I? I appreciate that you've put up with me this far, to be honest." Hell, it is a long shot but surely even she isn't immune to such suave honesty. "Let me make it up to you, how does dinner sound?"
Hitomi can't contain the smile twitching the corners of her lips. She hides it in her glass.
"I don't think so, after all your date's just left with some man. You don't need me as an excuse anymore."
Van doesn't even turn around to look. He's too preoccupied with facing her.
"Alright, if you won't let me take you out to dinner, then at least let me get you a drink. That one's finished."
Hitomi is surprised to see that it is indeed. She hasn't noticed much other than what the stranger had to say.
"Fine. I'll have a Southern Comfort again, if you don't mind."
Once both drinks have arrived, Van is engaging Hitomi in what he hopes she understands as flirtatious banter. He was determined to get some sort of response back from her, if only to reassure himself that there's not anything wrong with him.
"So what brings a girl like you wandering through a city like Gaea?"
He watches her with a hawk-like gaze, russet brown drifting over her carefully, there is no doubt that she has sparked his interest; it sounds arrogant but finding a woman who doesn't respond to his advances the tiniest bit is unusual.
Hitomi smiles gently, a little painfully, and turns her gaze away from his inspection.
"This and that. Something came up at home and I had to get away by myself for a while,"
For Van, this almost automatically translates as 'heartbreak'. He's heard too many sob-stories from women in need of comforting to not recognise that nine times out of ten, 'this and that' means 'nasty break-up'.
"I understand. If you don't mind me asking, what did you break up over?"
Usually he wouldn't care about the details of a woman's problems; he would normally sit there, listening while she cried it all out, offering a comforting word here and there to show he was still awake, then make a move once she was over herself.
However, tonight (and perhaps the drink has gone directly to his head) he cares for the details, and wonders what sort of man could ever live with losing such a girl.
Hitomi, startled, looks back at him with wide eyes. How can he possibly know of her broken relationship when she hasn't mentioned a word of it?
"I…Uh…-" She considers lying; to tell this man that she and Mishime just weren't compatible but stops herself. Why should she hide the truth for Mishime? He doesn't deserve to be protected from others knowing. She could tell whoever the hell she wants!
"Mishime had an affair. I would never have found out if he hadn't shown me the letter she sent him. "
"Then thank god he had the guts to show you the letter, if nothing else. Aren't you glad you got away before you got too involved?"
He is leaning forwards, elbows propped up on the table, dangerously close to getting 'involved' himself. This isn't what Van Fanel does. Van Fanel would be playing it effortlessly cool, all actions and words teetering on flirting but keeping well out of the 'Desperate' borders, because if Van Fanel is anything, it is not desperate. He doesn't need to be.
But here Van Fanel is, delving into conversation.
And it is making Hitomi feel better. She feels liberated, oddly, and she holds her shoulders back, having a proper conversation for the first time since Mishime's betrayal.
"Of course I am, but…it still hurts, I suppose. As I'd expect it to." Realisation suddenly blooms in her green eyes. "I don't even know your name. You must think me rude not to have asked before, but I was so caught up in talking to you…"
Van dismisses her concern with a disarming smile and brushes his raven hair back from his eyes, catching the neon light of the bar making the black strands reflect blue. Feeling himself on firmer ground, his easy-going charm storms back.
"Hey, it's no bother," He thrusts out a hand for her to shake "I'm Van, Van Fanel."
Hitomi takes it gracefully, reflecting his confident smile with one of her own (Van's own smile almost slipped, witnessing his theory proved correct; that if she would only smile, she would positively radiate)
"I'm Hitomi Kanzaki."
"That's a lovely name" Van bares a canine tooth with a smooth grin. "Hitomi"
The way her name eases from his lips sends a shiver down her spine; it is primal, with a rough edge that sends butterflies erupting into her chest and she is momentarily stunned at the effect it had on her. Mishime had never spoken her name like that.
She pulls her hand back, wary at her reaction, and attempts a tiny smile.
"It's nice to meet you, Van"
Hearing his name formed on this strange Hitomi's lips sends a shiver down his own spine, and a foreign feeling buzzes into his diaphragm.
Van Fanel is not used to this, and he looks away quickly; hiding his surprise beneath a scan of the room and discarding the fluttering in his chest as a minor bout of disagreement with the alcohol.
Hitomi watches him appreciatively before downing her drink in one gulp and pushes her chair back, about to stand up.
"It's getting late, and I probably have an early start tomorrow. I should thank you; you've really made my night. Well…goodbye, Van"
She is about to stand when Van stops her, pinning her to her seat with a powerful gaze.
"Let me take you out for dinner sometime. Anytime. Or we could catch a movie somewhere?"
Hitomi's uplifted attitude plummets. Two words scream through her mind, flashing neon. Relationship. Heartbreak.
And it really is very soon after her break-up with Mishime. She can't deal with the hassle, not this quickly.
"Listen, Van. I came here to get away from that sort of thing. You know how it is, right?" Though Hitomi doubts he does know how it is, how could a man like Van know what it's like to be cast aside? "I could really do without the trouble."
Van watches her, confusion etched in his features. She really didn't want to see him again? She is happy to just walk away and forget about him?
He has to admit, it hurts more than he thought it would. He begins to feel the slightest sympathy for the girls he has seen for a night then deleted the numbers of.
"Oh. Right. Of course." He stands up, slinging his jacket around his shoulders. "Goodbye then."
Hitomi keeps her eyes on him, feeling a little mean. She hasn't been stringing him on all this time. She hasn't given him any delusions that he can expect any more of her than a night's conversation.
But still…it is a little cruel to just leave it at that.
"Hey, we can always go for just coffee? That's perfectly harmless."
Van kicks the chair back in with his foot, refusing to jump at the chance. Van Fanel does not jump through hoops for any woman.
"Maybe. I'll have to check when I'm free."
Hitomi looks downcast. She's blown it, she knows she has. She's offended this amazing stranger and now he's backed off entirely. Standing, she looks at anything but his face, avoiding the blush that threatens to colour her cheeks.
"Here. Take my number, and phone me if you can to arrange something. I would love to meet up with you again, Van, really I would. But I'm not looking for anything more serious than that at the moment."
She scribbles down the number of her hotel room on a scrap of paper she'd found in her pocket, and hands it over.
Van stares at it briefly, before shoving it into the faded back pocket of his jeans. He spares her a slight smile, once again looking every inch the charming gentleman.
"Of course."
Hitomi shuffles from one foot to the other, nibbling on her bottom lip, not entirely sure where to go from here.
Van saves the situation, drawing away from the table and offering the crook of his arm.
"Let me walk you to your car, it's dangerous for a girl to be out alone at this time of night."
There is humour in his twinkling eyes and Hitomi places her hand formally on his forearm, letting him lead the way.
Outside of the bar, the night air is harsh against her skin and Hitomi cannot suppress the shudder of cold from rushing through her. She crowds closer to Van; feeling the heat resonate from his body. he looks down at her, frowning a little.
"Cold?"
She nods her head, not saying a word, knowing her teeth would chatter if she loosened her jaw the tiniest bit.
Van's arm pulls away from her own and the body warmth is ripped cruelly from her, sending the shivers multiplying through her before a layer of heavy fabric is draped around her shoulders and they stop instantly.
Unscrewing her eyes against the breeze, Hitomi immediately notices the flapping sleeve of a thick leather jacket that is most certainly not hers.
She glances at Van, her eyes sparkling with question but his stone-expression reveals nothing; instead, he just replaces her hand on his arm and continues walking.
Now jacketless, Van waits while Hitomi fumbles in her trouser pocket for her set of car keys, and he whistles appreciatively when she guides him over to a classic Chevrolet, dazzling blue under neon lights.
He runs a hand over the bonnet admiringly while Hitomi pulls on the door
"This is a nice car, I must say."
Hitomi barely gives it a glance. "I suppose. It gets me around." She spares him a sparkling smile but it slips when he turns to her suddenly,
"Did you really mean it about meeting up for coffee? I don't want you to agree just because you felt you had to."
Hitomi casts her eyes to the ground, feeling another smile twitching the corners of her lips.
"I gave you my number, didn't I?"
"Yeah. Yeah, I guess you did. Well then, I'll give you a ring sometime."
Hitomi nods and slips into the driving seat of her car; pulling the door closed and feeling Van's gaze on her face.
Without another word, Hitomi shifts the Chevy into gear and reverses; executing a u-turn and drives off into the night, Van's leather jacket still snug around her shoulders.
Van watches after her in a daze, he hasn't felt such fascination in a girl for a long time…Shaking himself from his thoughts, Van idles over to his own car and gets in, starting the ignition and u-turning backwards into the road.
Hitomi's number is still tucked safely in his back pocket and he feels a silly grin ease onto his lips.
The grin has not faded by the time he pulls into the driveway of his bachelor pad; the penthouse of an expensive, high-quality apartment building.
He had lived in a grand estate for the first 17 years of his life; with his family and without. All 6 floors had come together into one huge mansion-esque house that boasted the best views of Gaea in the rural areas of the city. The grand house was left to Varie when Gaou died, then to Van shortly after his brother walked out and his mother had faded away.
Now it sits nestled in the Gaean wilderness; gathering dust and rumours while Van lives elsewhere with Merle.
He has not so much abandoned the mansion as keeps it hidden away with the rest of his childhood memories; preferring the distractions of a penthouse flat to the seclusion of his old home. It still belongs in the family of course; Balgus, an old friend of his father's, lets himself in occasionally to keep out tramps and wildlife.
Up the elevator and along to his front door on the top floor, Van unlocks it and steps into the air-conditioned room, dropping his keys onto the table beside the plasma-screen TV and goes to peel off his jacket; only just realising he's not wearing it any longer.
His thoughts trace back to where he had put it down; the last time he remembers seeing it is laying it around Hitomi's shoulders.
A wanton shiver runs through him at the thought of his jacket around Hitomi; seeping in her body heat and her scent, hugging against her slim shoulders…
Van lets out a groan of frustration, what in Gaea is the matter with him tonight? There is no girl in the world that could change him so radically in a matter of hours.
Swiping a cold beer from the mini-bar in the front room, he calls out for his flat-mate and adopted sister.
"Merle? You home?" He receives no answer. Concern settles in his heart for the fourth night in a row. Merle has never acclimatised to city life; she is rough-and-tumble on the surface, but Van can see beneath her exterior. Beneath is a tender young girl who was raised in an orphanage in the country after the violent deaths of her parents then adopted by a caring couple but people who did not understand that she was not ready for change. The abruptness of her surroundings was damaging, she threw herself into the sorts of social circles Van dislikes; probably very nice people except for the various piercings and strange hair-colours.
It is the sort of social circle Van witnessed Folken getting involved in, the sort of people Folken would bring home at all hours.
A sneer of disgust finds itself rumbling from Van's throat and he takes a gulp of the alcohol.
Thinking about Folken always gives him the horrible urge to get drunk and forget about everything and Van always complies willingly.
Wandering towards the large leather couch, beer in hand, Van lies himself out along the cool material and feels behind him for the phone on the side-table.
He briefly wonders about Hitomi; about what she is doing now and whether she is thinking of him too, and he checks himself for the thousandth time that night in dismay. He is going soft because of this girl and he retrieves the scrap of paper from his back pocket quickly, dialling in the number before he decides otherwise.
Ring, ring.
Van bites into his bottom lip, nibbling at the skin.
Ring, ring.
He starts tapping his shoe against the arm rest at the other end of the couch, still waiting.
Ring, ring.
He picks up the beer bottle again and takes another pull, swallowing bitterly.
After half a dozen more rings, he is set to hang up the phone and forget all about the idea of meeting up when the answer phone kicks in.
"Hey, you've reached Hitomi's voice mail. I'm not in right now, or I can't get to the phone so leave a message, your name and number and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Thanks for calling, talk to you soon."
Even a recording of her voice causes another surge of foreign feeling in Van's chest, and with renewed determination, he clears his throat, formulating the message in his mind.
"Uh hi, Hitomi. It's Van, from the bar tonight, remember? Uh, I've been thinking about where you might like to meet up. There's this little coffee house just off the city centre, about half a mile north. You'll know which one I mean. I thought…well, if you want to meet up then I'll be there at about ten-thirty in the morning. I hope you decide to come." Bordering on getting 'emotional', Van takes a breath and exhales. "Goodnight, Hitomi."
Elsewhere, not far away in the large city, Hitomi shoves open the door to her hotel room and heaves a sigh of relief. Her shoulders droop with an unfamiliar weight and only then, after driving with it draped across her shoulders comfortingly, does she realise that she still has Van's jacket. She pulls it from her with both hands; holding it in front of her with curious eyes, imagining it around Van's lean frame. How long has Van had this jacket? Has he ever accidentally fallen asleep in it? Ever pulled a girl and brought her home, letting her slip the leather from his shoulders with a smirk? A flare of jealousy runs through her and she folds it over the back of the settee in a mild sulk.
Mulling around the small front room, undressing and packing away her belongings, Hitomi wanders past the table beside the musty couch; only to have her attention roused by a tiny, shrill beeping. She looks towards the old but reliable answering machine
Who in Gaea could be leaving messages at this time of night?
Flicking the various buttons, Hitomi winds up the volume and listens to the white noise of the tape before the message kicks in.
"Uh hi, Hitomi. It's Van, from the bar tonight, remember?"
Hitomi's drowsiness vanishes in a second and she sits down, watching the machine replay Van's voice.
"Uh, I've been thinking about where you might like to meet up. There's this little coffee shop just off the city centre, about half a mile north. You'll know which one I mean. I thought…"
She clamps down on her bottom lip to stop the girlish squeal from slipping out.
"Well, if you want to meet up then I'll be there at about ten-thirty in the morning. I hope you decide to come."
She fails and an excited squeak vibrates in her throat. "Goodnight, Hitomi."
Her heart is thudding now; hand clamped over mouth, and she flops onto her back. She didn't actually think he'd call her, it is impossible that a man so charming, suave and handsome like Van would be interested in a dull, rebounding girl like Hitomi.
Stabbing at the 'Store' button to preserve Van's voice in the tiny machine, Hitomi picks up the receiver and dials in the phone number she is most familiar with.
Three rings and a tired voice answers at the other end.
"Hello?"
"Yukari…you'll never guess what…"
End of Chapter 1
Important Points:
Fate is a Liar has been deleted forever.
I hate to reveal some spoilers now but I'm afraid you might not like my rendition of Van so all I'll say is please stick with me, I have some changes in store for him.
I'm thinking of illustrating a couple scenes so if I do, I may put them behind links.
I usually write in past tense but this time, I am writing in present tense so if there's a few mistakes it is because old habits die hard.
Please review otherwise I'll assume no-one is reading this and thanks so much for getting this far.