Disclaimer: Escaflowne is the property of Sunrise and Bandai Entertainment. I do not own Escaflowne or its characters.

A/N: Thanks for the reviews you guys! Well, here comes the second chapter of the fic. It's based on Hitomi's pov. I hope you like it as much as the first chapter.

Chapter 2

Frisky Confrontations

77 years ago . . .

Hitomi begrudgingly fell into steps behind a very excited Millerna, who was dressed in the uniform of a scullery maid even though she was supposed to be hiding away from her father by doing laundry work. She had been very convincingly persuaded by the ever spontaneous Millerna into playing along with her mischievous schemes. "Tell me why again we're hiding from your father?"

Millerna swirled around, walking backwards. "Oh, Hitomi, he's making me dine with a rich, FAT man who only cares about the money he will gain once he marries me. Besides he has the ugliest wart I have ever seen. It's right on his nose like a giant star and when he rubs it, I can't imagine the repulsive wonders it'll do. I hope none of Father's bodyguards catch me. They'll drag me back. I can't, I can't allow that to happen!" She turned around again and walked briskly out into the back of the building.

Hitomi, also dressed in the same uniform, pulled her skirt lower over her thighs. "Why do maids have to wear such skimpy outfits?"

"Why do you think they get hired, Hitomi?"

That thought had never occurred to her before. She shifted the basket of damp linens to her right hip, her left having gone numb. They reached the hotel exit and went through the glass doors into the fresh, breezy night. The super bright lights outside of the hotel almost blinded her.

Millerna grabbed a bed sheet from her basket and hung it up over the line. "You know, this isn't so bad, working."

"You're insane," she grumbled. "It's such a pain in the ass to have to dry these sheets the old fashion way. The drying machinewas invented for a reason."

Millerna rolled her eyes at her as she grabbed a clip from different basket. "You're just lazy."

"That's what you think. Anyway, you're father is going to kill himself when he sees you doing work."

She gave Hitomi a wry smile. "Don't you just love him?"

Hitomi snorted. "I wonder how you ever escaped his watchful eye."

Millerna pulled another sheet from the hand-woven basket. "Let me tell you, it wasn't easy."

She chuckled. She had grown to like Millerna's mischievous, independent nature. It was Millerna who had befriended her when she first moved into the city from the country side. The city had made a huge impression on her. It bustled with life day and night and was populated with the kinds of people she never thought she would see.

Millerna stopped in the middle of snapping on a clip to the lines. "Did you hear something? Like a strong wind, but not?"

Hitomi gave her a weird look. "I didn't hear anything . . ."

"It was probably my imagination or something." She started to clip the other side of the sheet but stopped. "There it is again!"

Hitomi looked around, ears straining. The only sounds she heard were thousands of car engines and the loud buzz of hundreds of people talking all at once.

Millerna gasped and pointed to the wall. Hitomi's eyes flew to it and saw the silhouette of a person treading the top of the wall. It's probably just some bum. She had seen a generous number of slums cast about the city.

"I think it's one of Father's men!" Unexpectedly, Millerna seized the basket and flung it at the poor homeless. It hit him with a loud, satisfying smack and sent him over the wall. Strangely, Hitomi did not hear the sound of his body making contact with the ground.

"Millerna, why'd you do that? He was just a helpless old man."

"Ah, Hitomi, when will you ever learn? They may look helpless but you never can expect anything good from them. They'll do horrible things to you once they've got you," she reprimanded lightly. Hitomi always heard Millerna saying such things about men, and thought it had something to do with her father always setting her up with wealthy men who never cared about her feelings.

Millerna smiled at her. "He wasn't old, Hitomi. Anyway, I thought he was one of the bodyguards coming to fetch me. In fact, I still think so. Come, quick, let's go."

"Wait, I just want to make sure if he's all right."

"Okay, but I'm going inside. It's colder out here than I realized."

Hitomi made to say something but Millerna had already disappeared into the brilliantly illuminated building. The glass doors slid silently closed. She looked back at the wall and hurried over to it, peering anxiously for the poor old man. Her eyes found him lying dazed on the stone floor. She heard him mutter in a low voice, "What the hell."

The basket was lying on its side, bed sheets strewn all over. The man seemed okay, but she pitied him nevertheless and called down to him, "I'm sorry, homeless man!"

He gave her a look she could not decipher at all. She wondered if he was 'touched' by the fall, and furiously worked up a storm of lies. "I'm so sorry, mister. It was my fault that the basket was violently thrown against your weak, malnourished body! But it wasn't entirely my fault. Miller—"

She stopped herself in case he did recognize Millerna's name and the vast fortune behind it. Since he was the richest man in Asturia, Mr. Aston ever so foolishly loved to strut around flashing his incredibly expensive jewelry for all to see and envy with a hungry lust.

"I mean, someone wouldn't let me hang the linens up and then we ended up having a tug of war and . . . and . . . that was when that someone lost their grip and the basket went out of control. I apologize again. Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?"

As she waited for his reply, she clambered over and gathered the bedsheets into a bundle, ferociously punching them into the basket. It was difficult, but she did it. She straightened up, a look of fierce triumph on her face.

She saw him stare at her with a strange look in his eyes. It made her feel a little nervous. Maybe he had not had a meal all day, which would explain why he looked a little pale which only made her pity him even more. "You're so pale, mister. Would you like to come inside and have some dinner? You'll feel better. Oh! I'm such a bad person. I forgot to introduce myself first. I'm Hitomi Kanzaki, if you're wondering."

The moment the last sentence left her mouth, she was filled with an absolute dread. How could she have been so incredibly, so inconceivably stupid! People here in the city were extremely unlike the people out in the suburbs. City people were far more suspicious and contemptuous, not to mention more dangerous. She had grown up in a small town where everyone met and knew each other and everyone was friendly. It was hard to forget old habits.

Upfront, the man was not as old as she had assumed. In fact, he was quite young, probably a year or two older than she herself was.

She wondered why he had not said anything. It was possible that he could have been mute. He looked on at her for a while longer, almost hungrily, and then nodded.

She smiled at him to make him feel a little better about himself and handed the basket to him. "You don't mind do you? I'll just climb over and you can throw it to me."

She did not see his smirk as she turned, pulling her skirt down once more. She made it over the wall and had barely enough time to catch the flying basket. She caught it with an exhale of breath. "I got it!"

As she headed for the glass doors, she heard him land as he made his way over the wall. She turned around and nearly dropped the basket upon finding how close he was to her. Good Lord! His speed was shocking. She hadn't expected him to walk so quickly. He was much taller than she had expected, or it was because she was still cowering with fright.

Suddenly he grabbed her by the arms with a strength she did not think a starving man had. It hurt. As he brought his head down, for some strange reason she could not guess, he uttered an irritated growl. His gripped on her tightened until she thought she could hear the sound of her own bones break, and repeated his attempts several times. Each time his growl grew louder and more animal like.

She was too frozen with fear to do anything. She thought she was being raped in a very peculiar way. Perhaps the young man thought he was so fortunate to stumble upon a young defenseless girl such as she, and his profound excitement got the best of him.

Move, stupid, you don't want to end up like your mother, a voice inside her head scolded. Finally snapping out of her daze, she clenched her jaw and swung her feet at his precious lower region with such a momentum she would not have been surprised if it had been mutilated for life. Then, she ran away from him and yelled at the top of her lungs for help.

She did not dare look back at him, afraid that he might be chasing after her. When she safely made it inside the walls of the hotel, only then did she look back. He was no longer there. In his place was a dark object/thing she could not make out. It was as if he had never been there in the first place. Panting, she wondered if it had all been some freakish daydream.

Millerna found her and came over to her, a trace of concern on her face. "Hitomi, are you okay? You're all white and—and shaking all over."

Hitomi nodded. "I'm fine. It was just cold, that's all."

"Let's get out of here. If the hotel manager sees us, or rather sees me, he'll tell my father. And I'll get into trouble. Or we both might."

Millerna led the way and she patiently followed. They abandoned their uniforms in a pile of old sheets and changed back into their old outfits. Millerna needed special assistance with her dress because Mr. Aston had felt his daughter needed to be corseted into the unfathomable figure of an hour glass. Hitomi grunted as the cords on Millerna's pale blue corset cut into her finger as she tightened it. She felt sorry for Millerna, who abruptly sucked in her breath. She made sure it was a little looser than it was supposed to be.

"Oh dear, I feel as if I have asthma," she panted as she began walking again.

Hitomi laughed inwardly. "I'm glad I don't live with your father."

They left the hotel in a hurry to get back to Millerna's home, which very much resembled an old Victorian castle, thought Mr. Aston insisted on calling it a mansion. Hitomi always thought it looked rather gloomy, even more so on dark, cloudy days. She parted with Millerna, wishing her good luck, and ran to her room in the Aston mansion. She raced through the dim hallways, feeling like she was being watched by prowling eyes that might have belonged to a pervert.

Several times she thought she saw a shadow pass across the curtained windows but when she turned her head to look, she did not see anything. A rising fear flowed through her. When she reached her room, she darted inside and locked shut the door. She cautiously peered outside a few times to make sure no one was there, especially that homeless man, and pulled close the velvet curtains.

That night when she went to bed, the feeling of being watched again arose and she pulled the blankets over her head. Her eyes must have been as wide as saucers as she strained to see in the dark. Chills ran through her body and no matter how tightly she wrapped the blanket around her, it could not abate the fears. She didn't know how she managed to sleep, but when she woke up the next morning, the feeling was gone and for some reason she knew she was safe again. For the moment. The sun broke through the thick heavy clouds.

However, her feelings of security were sadly disappointed. A horrific week went by, very much the same way as that night, except it was worse. Always at night, her skin crawled, feeling eyes follow her every footstep. She hardly slept because of that. Old fears of monsters and ghosts haunted her dreams. She did not tell anyone, afraid that they would think she had gone insane. She even thought she had, until she saw him. Or rather it.

It was a gray evening. Clouds hung like heavy curtains over the sky, threatening to pour roaring falls down on Gaea's inhabitants. She loved this sort of weather, where she imagined the endless sea of dark gray clouds giving way to a grim fantasy.

Millerna appeared downstairs of the mansion, dressed in a thick dark navy blue gown, corseted of course. She frowned but then a smile lurked behind that frown. "Father has invited another rich man to have dinner with us. I was thinking . . . Hitomi! What's happened to you? There are horrendous bags under your eyes."

"It's nothing. I haven't been able to get much sleep."

"Did you get sick? Anyway, let's go somewhere. I don't want to be here when that awful man gets here."

Hitomi shook her head. "We've gotten into enough trouble as it is."

"Oh, come on, Hitomi. I assure you this time we'll be careful."

She eyed Millerna warily, only to be grinned at. "I get to choose where we go this time."

They cautiously checked for any maids or butlers and made their way out into the open streets. The city lights had already begun to shine down on the smooth cobble streets. She deliberately chose the safest route to the heart of Asturia. Millerna followed happily behind. On their way, they passed a sleek carriage drawn by proud, large stallions. A man was seated inside. He looked out at them, a grim expression on his face. But as soon as his eyes landed on Millerna's beautiful face, they flickered and he hastily ducked his head back in.

Slightly unperturbed, they continued on our way. It was amazing how many people were awake at night. Everywhere Hitomi turned she either bumped into someone or they crashed into her. She looked behind her to see if Millerna was still following her but she was no where to be found.

"Millerna?" she called, but she received no answer. "Milllerna!"

She drifted from stall to stall of the various markets but she still couldn't find her. She heard a shrill cry or moan or something and followed it, hoping to find Millerna along the way. As she neared the area where she had heard the cry, she found the dark form of a man stooping over the body of a woman. Instantly, she felt fear and anger. Her anger won.

"Hey! Get away from her!"

The dark form snapped up, a hiss escaping his lips. The woman crawled away from him and Hitomi thought she saw a cruel smile touch upon the woman's lips under the shadow of the light. Hitomi blinked and the smile was gone. It had probably been her imagination. The woman scrambled to get away from the man and tripped as she ran out into the busy plaza.

The man now straightened his back and gazed arrogantly at Hitomi. His clothes were of very fine, rich material only an extremely wealthy person could afford. His shoulders were thrown back in a lordly way, as if to intimidate his underlings. He bent his neck to one side, stretching the muscles there, all the while his eyes remained on her. She was unable to budge or even look away. In a sense, he seemed to be hypnotizing her. His face seemed very familiar yet unfamiliar.

"Stay away from me," Hitomi rasped through her dry frightened lips.

A lopsided grin marked his pale face. "Now why would I want to do that?"

He circled her, as if she was some prey and he the predator. His breath came in quick puffs, sniffing but never touching her. He was toying with her.

Hitomi shivered. "What . . . what do you want with me?"

He threw back his head and gave a wild laugh before returning his gaze on her. His grin widened. She saw the unnaturally long, sharp canines on his upper jaw. They glistened in the dim light, slick with saliva. He eyed her, obviously amused that she noticed his teeth, and ran his tongue over them. "Interesting, isn't it?"

Hitomi immediately dropped her eyes. The man continued to torment her in his strange ways, and she trembled when he drew near. A fierce delighted fire danced in his eyes. Hitomi realized he enjoyed her suffering and a bitter resentment arose in her. "Are you going to keep doing this all night?"

The man stopped in his track and peered at her through his thick wiry hair. A strong breeze blew it back and revealed a strange mark on the side of his temple. He quickly covered it and sent a chilling glare at her. "There is no other way since you have let someone very valuable to me escape. This is the only way you can repay your debt."

"But I didn't even know who she was. I thought you were going to—"

"Rape her!" he interrupted in an amused voice. "Such a shame, one so young, so ignorant. I was trying to get something she stole from me. And since you let her escape, you are going to get it back for me."

"No way! I don't even know you."

"Oh? That's what you think. I'll come for you soon." He turned and walked away, but before exiting the alley, he threw back at her, "You know that term, 'homeless man'? I don't find it very fitting."

His words left her feeling outraged and perplexed. Who was he to order her around? He looked young but he seemed old . . . as if he possessed an ancient soul. And what was that about the 'homeless man'? As Hitomi slowly emerged into the crowded street, she realized why he had looked so familiar. He was that homeless she encountered.

She shuddered involuntarily. His personality was completely changed, totally transformed. He no longer acted the quiet impulsive bum, but a dangerous, manipulative con artist. She now feared him more than she had before. She looked around several times to make sure he wasn't stalking her. Satisfied, she continued her search for Millerna, not wanting to be alone, and found her standing at a stall that sold trinkets.

Millerna turned to her. "Where'd you go? I waited forever for you."

Hitomi didn't mention her encounter with the freaky man. "I was looking for you."

"Why would you do that? I was here all along," she murmured as she examined an antique lamp. "Do you remember that man in the carriage? I saw him head towards Father's mansion! I think he was the man I was to dine with today. The man looked neither fat nor ugly. Father has unusually good taste for once. I want to go home to see if I'm right. Come on!"

Millerna grabbed Hitomi's hand and they both ran up the street to the mansion. Millerna was right. The carriage was there. They hurried inside and found the man in deep conversation with Mr. Aston. They seemed to be arguing about something. Mr. Aston's face was flushed with heat.

"You say that there are vampires here in Asturia?" he asked incredulously.

The man simply nodded.

"Why, you must be insane. Never in my 65 years have I heard of such a ridiculous tale."

"It's true, Mr. Aston. There have been a number of reports done on vampire activity."

"I'm telling you, there are no such things. And even if there were they're probably too stupid to realize that we have the upper hand."

"You shouldn't underestimate them," the man said gravely.

Mr. Aston roared with laughter.

Millerna slightly blushed at her father's manners. Hitomi stared curiously at the stranger until his eyes turned to her. He gave a slight nod of recognition and rested his gaze on Millerna. He seemed taken away by her very breath. Millerna seemed just as raptured by him. Mr. Aston stopped talking and noticed the man's attention was on Millerna. "Millerna! There you are. And you too Hitomi. You arrived home just in time to meet our guest, Mr. Allen Schezar."

A/N: Well? How'd you like it? I know it took a while to post the second chapter. Writer's block. Mann, I like this story so much but not quite as much as my first one. Maybe it'll grow on me. Please review, thank you.