Disclaimer: I do not own Escaflowne or any other copyrighted material used in this fic. This is simply a fandom so please don't sue me!

Summary: Hitomi met him on that fateful day. A young man that will ultimately change her normal life forever. Will she accept her destiny and use the light to save a dying world?

…

"You are surely my courage…

You are surely my light…"

-Chijou no Seiza….

…

…

Hikari

Chapter 1: The Pendant

…

"Did you hear them calling?"

"Calling?"

"Yes…the voices that speaks out to you…."

"How do you know?"

"Because I can hear them as well…"

"How do you know I was in trouble…?"

"I don't know. All I know is… I can also hear you…"

"!"

"I can feel your feelings…your fears…your distress. You were calling for someone to help you…"

"W-who are you?"

"I am the one who comes and protects the "one" who shall summon our deity from our world. Our deity is the only one who shall bring light to those in despair. She is the savoir of the universe."

"And you are the Chosen One…"

…

It was a beautiful, spring morning when Hitomi opened her eyes, with the sky as blue as the ocean in her line of vision. She could see the clouds drifting by. The birds flew by, its chirps diminishing as it flew farther away from her.

Hitomi was on the rooftop of her school. She heaved a sigh and slowly sat up, redoing the low ponytail she had on since the beginning of school, but now was messed up when she laid on the cold concrete floor. After securely putting her low ponytail and placing it on her shoulder, she gaze once more at the sky, the gentle winds lifting her honey brown bangs and the lose articles of her school uniform.

"It's him again…" Hitomi thought as she continued to stare dazedly towards the sky. "Why? Why he come to my dreams and tells me that I'm the Chosen One?" Hitomi shook her head and placed her face in her hands. "I don't understand…"

"Hitomi?" Hitomi lifted her head when she heard the voice. She turned around to see a girl that was her age with medium auburn hair coming towards. The girl was smiling as she knelt down a few feet behind Hitomi.

"Yukari," Hitomi said with a smile at her best friend. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you, baka," Yukari said. "What are YOU doing here? You didn't come back in class. I thought you were just going to the restroom."

"I was. I just wanted to go out here to get some fresh air, you know since its spring…"

Yukari pouted. "O-kay…whatever you say. Come on and get your bottom up. It's lunch time. You're favorite time of the day." Hitomi's eyes brightened, forgetting the thoughts she had earlier. "Let's go to the vending machines and get some drinks for our lunch." With a nod, Hitomi stood on her two feet, dusting off her skirt and walked with her friend down to the second floor, where the juniors were. As they stepped down on the floor to their floor, students are already heading to their respective area during lunch, chattering flitering the once silent halls. Hitomi and Yukari went down one more floor to the vending machines in a little area next to the student store.

"So…what DID you really do to our English teacher in 2nd period today, Hitomi-chan?" Yukari snickered. Hitomi immediately stopped, her emerald eyes widened with surprise. "Oh now don't look surprise. You know what you did earlier this morning."

Hitomi sulked at the memory of it. During their English class with their gullible, strict English teacher, Takahashi-sensei, she happened to be sleeping in class. She had her textbook high enough so the teacher wouldn't notice. She would had gotten the way with it too if it weren't for her teacher calling on her to translate a prompt from English to Japanese. The next thing she woke up to find that she punched her teacher out cold. The students in her class were getting a kick out of it once she punched the teacher square in the face. Everyone thought she did it on purpose to get even with him. Truthfully, she didn't know. She even didn't even know she fell asleep.

"Yukari…you know I didn't know about it until I saw him lying on the floor, twitching like he was some kind of run-over rodent on the road," Hitomi said defensively.

"Run over rodent? That's…an interesting way to describe him…"

"Yukari…"

"I know, I know. I still can't get over what you said when you noticed no one was looking at the teacher who is surprisingly gone. You have the gall to say, 'Oh! Is it lunch already?' when everyone was looking at you. Hitomi, where was your brain? On vacation? Haha!"

"No…more like in dreamland…I think…" Hitomi thought.

"But seriously, that made the highlight of everyone's day. It certainly highlighted mines." Yukari put some yen into a vending machine.

"I got in trouble by doing that," Hitomi said gloomily. "He was going to give me a week's detention for doing that…"

"But you got excuse from it," Yukari said, matter-of-factly. "It wasn't your fault that he's giving us a hard time and suddenly decide to do some really easy translation just because it's hard for us…."

Hitomi sighed.

"Don't worry, Hitomi-chan," said Yukari as she patted her friend who was sulking next to her. "I got to say though, you must have luck on your side. It's not like the second time you got excused. Let's not forget the tardiness you always manage everyday and always get excused from. And then the time you accidentally almost burned down the school when we were in science class, which by the way you got excused from again. And then--"

"Yukari! Please! Stop making me feel more guilty!" Hitomi said, sulking more to her knees.

Yukari shrugged her shoulders, reaching forward to grab their drinks. "Hey, I'm just saying that you are ONE lucky girl. You show determination in school so every teacher you know loves you. Well, except for our English teacher. Come to think of it, he deserved it."

"Yukari!" Hitomi yelled.

"Gomen, gomen, you know it's true…"

They started walking back to their classroom on the second floor after getting their drinks. "Come to think of it, I guess he didn't really like you because English is your worst subject."

Hitomi looked up suddenly, her eyes suddenly dazed. "Yukari, jump." Yukari did as she was told and jumped, following Hitomi's move. After landing, they continued on, just as an unfortunate student snagged an invisible line and four huge buckets full of water hurdled towards him and the other unsuspecting students who happened to be walking by the same area. Yukari gave a thumbs up to Hitomi with her impeccable timing and safely enter their classroom, ignoring a young man, who happened to be laughing his head off, was chased by a soaked, angry mob.

They finally reached their seats and started their lunch. As Yukari opened her drink, Hitomi's eyes gazed out into the sky, her cheery eyes remotely distant. "Again…I am right," she thought sadly.

"Your unnaturally not hungry today," said Yukari suddenly.

"What?" Hitomi asked, breaking away from her dazed state and looked at her friend, placing a small smile on her lips.

"You didn't open your bentou or your drink," Yukari said in a concerned voice. "Usually, you gobble that lunch down and unexpectedly steal mines. You're not your usual self today, Hitomi-chan…"

Hitomi looked away from her friend, replacing her small smile with a thoughtful, sad, and dazed expression. "I-I guess I'm not then…"

"Don't worry, it's probably just instincts. I mean, you do have a thing in predicting things. Look what you did for me and Amano. It's like we're meant to be you know. I'm grateful for that," Yukari reassured innocently, trying her best to cheer her friend.

"That's not the problem," she thought, putting a small piece of tempura to her mouth. Hitomi didn't want Yukari to worry about her and her trivial problems. Besides, how can she tell her that she had been having the same dream over and over again during night and day with her predications becoming more accurate day-by-day? Putting that in mind, Hitomi removed her sad, dazed look and strongly smiled at her, being the bubbly girl she is. "Yeah, you're right. I'm just worried over nothing. Shouldn't let that keep me down!"

Yukari smiled. "Now that's the Hitomi I know! And, just to make sure, I'll treat you down in Shibuya!"

"Arigatou for lunch, Yukari-chan!" Hitomi beamed happily as she opened her bentou.

"Huh? What do you mean by that?" Yukari looked at her lunch to see it completely gone. "Iie! My lunch! Hitomi," growled Yukari.

"My hunger returned. Besides, your mom cooks better than mine's does. Shouldn't you be happy that I'm back to my normal self, Yukari?" Hitomi stated innocently.

Yukari's eyebrows twitched. Maybe asking to bring Hitomi's cheery self wasn't a bright idea. "Why you…!"

"Hey, Hitomi-chan…" said a sultry voice behind them. Both girls stiffened the moment they heard that voice. They looked around to see three girls looking down on them, with a cocky look on their heavily caked faces. Their skins are tanned and had platinum blonde color on their natural black hair. They almost looked like triplets considering the style of hair, makeup, and fashion they donned. Yukari winced at their unexpected niceness towards them. "And I thought Ganguro girls were extinct," thought Yukari.

"You know, you shouldn't call my best friend that. It's disrespectful," Yukari retorted out loud after recovering from her initial shock of the three girls known as the Ganguro trio, who was widely known in their school.

"Why can't we? After all, we've known each other since middle school," said the girl with curly platinum blonde hair. Yukari clenched her fists. Yukari was about to deck the lights out of the girl when Hitomi suddenly stepped in between them.

"What is it you want, girls?" Hitomi stated firmly as she slowly turned around, gazing at the three girls. Of course, like Yukari, Hitomi tried her best to keep a happy face despite the fact she wanted to punch those girls ruthlessly. "State your business quickly so we can continue to enjoy lunch. If you're here just here for pleasantries then I suggest you leave." Yukari looked at her friend and smiled.

"Well then, since you don't want to chat then I should get right to the point. You see, there this is guy I have my eyes on and--"

"—and you want to know if he likes you," Hitomi said knowingly. She reached for her messenger bag and grabbed a deck of tarot cards from the small pouch in front. "I can see right through you, Kozue-san. Since that is the only reason you are talking to me…"

"Well, what I can say, I am desperate to find out if Yusaku-kun really likes me. So DESEPERATE that I have to talk to a freak like you." Her other two friends laughed along with her.

"Look who's talking?" murmured Yukari, apparently pointing out their style of makeup and hair dye.

"Yukari!" Hitomi whispered harshly.

"What?!" Yukari whispered back. "You know what I mean."

Hitomi sighed, ignored the girls' laughter, and started to do her task. For a while, she flipped a card, looking at its sign and meaning. After a good five minutes, Hitomi flipped the last card and put it down on her desk. Looking at the cards with mild interests, Hitomi leaned back on her chair after observing them, careful to look at each detail. With a satisfied smile, she said, unusually loud, "Based on what the cards, Yusaku-kun really does like you a lot. He is just too shy to even come out into the open. In time, you will find happiness with each other and fill a loving life." She paused for a moment. "I suggest you must confide with him and tell him your true feelings. Find a special place to tell him your feelings, like that tree over there…" Kozue looked through the windows to see a boy with brown hair. He was waiting patiently.

Kozue's eyes lightened and arrogantly turned to her friends, a smile appearing on her over-glossy lips. "I knew it! No wonder he was looking at my direction. Thanks a lot, freak. Even though you don't need my thanks. Let's go girls." The three girls left Hitomi and Yukari alone. Their laughter rang out through the halls. Hitomi simply ignored them and stared at the blackboard, a sad and angry look passing her face.

"Hitomi…" said Yukari, who noticed Hitomi's expression.

Just as Yukari called her name, an instant smile appeared on her face. As best she could, Hitomi tried to hold back her laughter. "Revenge is so sweet," Hitomi snickered.

"What are you talking about?" asked Yukari, who slammed her fists on her desk. "You just told her what she wanted! Those stupid, egotistical, Ganguro idiots! I can't believe you actually did that for her, especially after the way she treated you! She was the one who started calling you a weirdo just because you can predict what happens. Why, Hitomi? Why did you do it?"

Hitomi started to stalk her cards in a neat pile. "Well, if I didn't do it, they won't leave us alone until they get what they want. It's in their nature to be persistent. You should know since we've known them since elementary." She carefully put the cards back in its packet. "Besides, didn't you notice I "purposely" raise my voice?"

Yukari blinked a few times. "Huh?"

Hitomi giggled and looked at Yukari with a smug look on her face. "Normally, I wouldn't say in a loud voice when it comes to these things since I want everything to private. But this is an exception. I did it just so Kyoko-san could hear me," Hitomi said, proudly pointing at a girl with blue hair who was blushing. With a look of gratitude, she stood up from her seat and walked off to the place where the two shall meet and confess their feelings. "Wait, so you mean…"

"Hai," Hitomi said gleefully. "You see, Yusaku-kun came up to me one day about Kyoko-san. He wanted to be sure if she is the girl of his dreams. I told him the same thing I said Kozue-san. Kyoko happened to ask me the same question this morning between classes to see if it was the right moment to confess to him. I was about to do it during lunch, but Kozue got to me first. So, I had to intentionally raise my voice to make her listen. Kyoko-san is the right girl for Yusaku-kun."

Yukari's brightened by this new development and smiled just as smugly as Hitomi was. "Hehe, you sly girl. I can hardly wait to see her face. By the way, what is Kozue's true fortune anyways?"

"In short, she'll crash and burn and see a huge heart-wrenching future in a matter of minutes…" Yukari laughed. Hitomi smiled as her best friend began to converse something else with her other than bashing down the Ganguro trio.

Hitomi sighed. This was Hitomi's normal life. And she never expected this life to change. So, the day commenced as normal as life can be, with a day without excitement in Hitomi's life. Time flew quickly like the wind. Clouds drifted aimlessly with the sun shifting unnoticeably in the crystal blue sky. Oddly, before Hitomi could blink, school had ended for the day. Instead of being in the "go-home" club like most of the students, she went to track, her favorite time of the day. She was the best sprinter in the woman's team and was acknowledged by most of her peers. After three hours of practice, she gathered her stuff and walked with Yukari, hanging out in Shibuya for ice cream as Yukari promised earlier at school. And soon, that afternoon commenced on as well as the two friends had their fun in karaoke, played in the local arcade, window shopping, spotting cute guys and played a game if they imagine them dating the cute guy they spotted. They separated ways as time reached 8.

Hitomi finally returned home when the sky turned dark. Quietly opening the door to her apartment home, she went in, making sure to close the door quietly. She looked behind her. No one was there. With a happy sigh, Hitomi took off her shoes and put on her slippers, happily skipping to the kitchen.

"And just where have you been!?" boomed a voice behind her.

Hitomi toppled to the floor when she heard that voice. It scared her to the point where her life seemed to pass before her eyes. Looming over her toppled body stood a young man with slightly spiked, messy honey brown hair with angry hazel eyes.

"O-o-oniichan! Don't DO that!" Hitomi yelled, instantly getting up when her older brother started laughing his head off.

"You thought I was Okaasan, huh? That fall was priceless! You should have seen your face! Haha! That's my little sister for you!" he laughed. After he took in his perfect moment, he sat himself on a chair in the dining table and poured hot water in his bowl of instant ramen. "I just wanted to scare you." He started pouring his boiling water into his ramen as Hitomi sat on the seat next to him, fixated to get revenge on him. "Anyways, Hito-chan, don't come home at this time or mom will have a fit again."

Hitomi kept on starring at him as if he was her mortal enemy. He looked back and noticed the irritable look in her eyes. "What?"

"YOU!" she said and pointed at him. "How dare you not make me one! I'm your little sister and big brothers like you should take care of me!"

Raising an eyebrow, he looked down to see the ramen bowl and sighed. "Geez, and what happened to 'How are you" to your older brother from my sweet little sister?" He sat up from his seat and grabbed two cups from the cabinet. He poured in cold green tea in the two cups. After placing the lid, he grabbed the two cups and went to the dining table. "Anyways, did you have fun with Yukari today?" He gave Hitomi her refreshing drink.

"Arigatou, Oniichan!" Hitomi beamed.

"NANI?! Where's my ramen?!" yelled Mamoru. "I could have sworn I left it here!" Slowly, he turned to his little sister to see another innocent smile on her face, catching the remains of his precious meal on her left side of her lip. He sneered. "Hito-chan…"

"What? I'm suddenly hungry," Hitomi simply stated. "Arigatou!"

"And that was the last one too. Back to the grocery store…" he said as he hung his head in defeat. For the next five minutes, Hitomi began explaining her time with Yukari. Mamoru is her older brother. They get along really well. He was always there for her whenever she needed help. She would always talk to him about everything. Well, almost everything except boys. Whenever she mentioned something about a guy she saw or had a crush on, the overprotective older brother side of him comes in, who had shovel and a baseball bat in his closet (literally), ready to be used for a well-needed smack down to vent his rage if anything happens to his precious little sister. Hitomi gets nervous when she sees this side of him, completely humiliated. She should be happy since there was no boy that caught her interests. For the moment, at least.

After five minutes of conversation, the two siblings sat there in silence as they gazed at their own respective cups, hearing the faint sound of their clock ticking away in the silent room. Slowly, his brother eyed his little sister closely, seeing the dazed, sleepy look in her usual cheery emerald eyes. This came so suddenly right after she explained her day pleasantly. This was no surprise to him. He leaned back in his chair after observing a little more, sighing upward as he looked at the ceiling.

"Hito-chan," he said, breaking the silence.

"Huh?"

"What's wrong?" Hitomi's eyes widened. She looked at him to see him glancing worriedly at her. "Yukari-chan and you don't usually go all the way to Shibuya to grab some ice cream. And normally, when you want ice cream, you come home and eat it out of the carton after track practice. You wouldn't spend time down there since you have a dozen full of ice cream here." He paused for a moment thoughtfully. "I'm assuming that you went to karaoke and window shopping while checking out some hot guys." Hitomi cringed. Right on two marks. That's her brother all right. He's brilliant at such a young age with great observation skills. He actually made it into Tokyo University two years ago to become a great doctor. He's got the looks, the body, and the brains. He's the whole package. Everything, except he's ninety-nine percent dense. The other percent goes to his unpredictable mind and unexplainable craziness over video games and anime. "So, what is it? Did something happen today?"

Hitomi looked down at her lap, hands clenched together. "You noticed huh? I can never hide anything from you," she said, gazing sadly at her hands.

"Is it those Ganguro girls teasing you? I thought they were extinct." Mamoru began to laugh as he tried to keep the atmosphere light. But Hitomi didn't respond. She simply shook her head, still hesitant to state her real problem. He sighed. "Or, is it that dream again?" he asked, knowing the full extent of her sister's mind.

For a moment, a pause came between them. Hitomi twiddle her fingers thoughtfully, nervously trying to think of what to say. Slowly, she nodded her head and sighed. "I can't get off my head. Every time I close my eyes. I would always see that dream. I would always hear that voice. It never stops. I can't get enough sleep at home. I don't even know I slept in class until I find my English teacher on the floor, with a huge purple bump on his side."

"Hehe, serves him right," he snickered.

"Mamoru, I'm trying to be serious here!" Hitomi scolded.

"Sorry, sorry, continue…"

"Anyways, the point is, why am I dreaming of this? Why am I dreaming something that I am not part of? I can't shake this feeling that something big will happen. It felt like…something important is coming…"

Mamoru sighed for a moment as he gazed at the ceiling again. "Maybe the dream is symbolic."

"Symbolic?" Hitomi asked, somewhat surprised.

"Yeah, sometimes dreams have no meaning. But sometimes they do…"

"What should I do then?"

"I guess you just have to wait it out. Maybe your dream usually means a sign of stress you know. You have been stressing a lot lately in school," he said. "With college coming up, exams coming at you from every corner, and you have to deal with snobbish people who only sees you as a weirdo considering you have this knick in predicting things at the right moment." Hitomi cocked her head, wondering where her brother was going. When he noticed the confused look, he sighed. "I'm just saying don't over do it. I don't want my only sister to stress over nothing." He patted Hitomi's head lightly and smiled. "Things will get better, don't worry."

A small smile appeared on her lips. Hitomi was thankful that she has an overprotective brother by her side. "Thanks, Oniichan…"

"Now, go to your room and get some rests. Don't study unless it is necessary. You study too much to the point you study little things that are really not important. Just be sure you have a lot of sleep."

"Un!" Hitomi nodded and slowly stood up, skipping happily to her room. Mamoru smiled as he watched Hitomi disappear to her room. "Now, back to the damn grocery store. One of these days I'll die from hunger from Hito-chan's gluttonous stomach."

Moments after Mamoru left for the nearest grocery store, Hitomi closed the door behind her. With a bright smile, she rolled her sleeves and dropped her bag on top of her desk, a determined look in her eyes. "Yosh…time to study!!"

---

It had been nearly three hours since Hitomi began her tedious study time, writing here and there and reading the context in her books over and over again until she was able to understand the topic. It was three o clock when Hitomi reached the end of the chapter. She triumphantly stretched her arms and sighed. "That's it for that class. Now for a break."

Neatly, she packed her books in a single pile and set them aside. With another sigh from her lips, she sat up from her seat and gazed at the beautiful cityscape before her. From afar, she could see the moon rising up in the night sky. The stars twinkled faintly against the city lights. From her room, her surroundings are quiet and peaceful, making her feel as if she was down in the countryside, smelling fresh air and see the expansion of green trees. She wished Tokyo was like the countryside. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a single pink petal floated through her window, gliding gracefully down and landed in one of her opened textbooks. Hitomi's eyes followed that little petal. Curious, she looked at the pink little thing in her textbook. Slowly, she reached for it with careful hands, studying its pure features.

With one simple look, her eyes suddenly dilated and everything around went instantly black. Panic filtered her mind as she looked around, trying to find her room. "What is this?" she asked worriedly.

Petals suddenly surrounded her. In her area, she was surrounded by rows of cherry blossom trees, holding the many pink petals in each of its branches. It was night, as the atmosphere felt nostalgic to her senses. The moon was in full bloom as it lightened the entire area with its faint glow. Under the rows of trees, several feet away from Hitomi, stood a figure, its head looking towards the sky.

Hitomi shook her head and shut her book. She removed the single leaf from its perch in the corner of her books. She walked to her open window and leaned against it, observing the pink leaf close to her eyes. Somehow, the quiet night added some familiarity with the pink petal.

"Do hear them calling…?"

Pain suddenly shot through Hitomi's mind as she grasped her head with her hand. "Not again," she said.

Suddenly, a wildfire shot at the far south side of the scenery, causing her to jump and scream astonishingly. Red diminished the light on the south side immediately.

"Whenever you are in trouble…."

On the west side, a huge tsunami crashed into the trees, a blue light highlighting the once serene area.

"I will be there to protect you…"

A violent wind came from the east, with yellow swallowing the tranquil setting. Soon, the earth shook uncontrollably, causing upheavals to the north side, filling that area with its green light.

Everywhere, all the sides of the scenery were completely wrecked, with the middle being the only stronghold for Hitomi to stand. Before she could even think, the earth began to shake violently once more, causing the entire middle part to collapse. It was then that she felt herself falling into the black void.

"Until you find them, I shall reveal myself…"

A white light appeared above her. She looked up to that light to see white feathers falling everywhere. There, coming out of the white light, a figure came towards her, shrouded in white.

Hitomi gasped when the pink little petal from her hands flew onto her eye and drifted off into the sky. Hitomi grasped her head as she watched the petal disappear from her sight. Her head still ached. "What am I dreaming of?" Hitomi asked herself. "Why do I have these dreams?" She looked at the dark sky to see the stars blinking luminously. Slowly, she shook her head and closed her bedroom window. "Maybe Oniichan is right. I probably am stressed…"

With that conclusion, Hitomi proceeded back to her studies, hoping that dream would not return.

---

The early morning rays spread through the slightly open blinds in a room filled with decorations on the wall. Hitomi mumbled under her sheets and turned around, with her head sticking out of the covers. The sun's warm rays hit the side of her face.

"Umm…not now…" Hitomi groaned, covering her head once more under the covers.

Just as the person was about to fall back into dreamworld, a loud thud came from her door, causing Hitomi to sit straight up, surprise etched through her face. "Huh? What?" she said half asleep.

"Hito-chan, wake up!" said Mamoru from the other side of the door. "Hito-chan! Kuso! You better be up!"

Irritated, Hitomi stared at the door with an evil glint. "Oniichan! It's too early! Can't I have a few hours of sleep?" she asked. "School does not start until 8!"

"Hitomi! For crying out loud! Don't you realize what time it is?!" her brother said.

"It's too early to be soo late. I'm telling you it's early…" Hitomi decided to take this time to rest her head on her pillow. She looked at her clock on her nightstand to prove that she was right. Suddenly, her once sleepy eyes shot wide open. With one deep breath, she uttered the only thing she can think of at that moment:

"IIIEEEE!" Birds started to fly away, a passer-by stopped when he heard that sound, and the cars' alarms outside turned on.

"Geez…here we go again!"

…

Hurriedly, Hitomi ran out of the train station, trying to put on her school blazer as she made a sharp right. "Oh my god! What's wrong with me?!" Hitomi wailed hurriedly as she stuffed her books inside her brown school bag. She opened the same book she read this morning before her panick attack and immediately scorned. "A magazine for odangos? Why was I reading this? Oh yeah, I was hungry." She immediately shook her head. "No, no, no! There's no time to think about that! I'm going to be late!" She looked at her watch and it read 7:45am. She was glad she made it in time to catch the train. But, it's not helping her situation since the school was only a mile away from the train station. Determined to beat time, Hitomi quickened her pace and zoomed through the crowded sidewalks, avoiding one person after another with her incredible speed. She looked at her watch again and increased her speed even more. She ran and ran, controlling her breathing so she wouldn't be breathless.

"Although I may be good at sprinting," she said as she swerved to the right to avoid a person reading a newspaper. "It still doesn't even give me any justice for being late all the time. Sensei is really going to be furious this time!"

She turned left and cut through another street, her usual shortcut to get to school faster. As she passed quickly by, she could see different students in different uniforms heading their way to school. "Oh I don't have time for this!" she said, noticing a crowd of students blocking her way. With deep breath, she hollered at them. "Excuse me!"

"And get this…did you see the latest--"

"Excuse me! Gomen! Watch out! I'm late!" Hitomi screamed and zoomed passed the poor students.

"Wah! Look out! It's her again!" screamed another student in another crowd in front warningly. They quickly disperse, letting Hitomi speed passed them. "Gomen nasi!!!" she yelled.

After cutting through the crowd, she turned right, heading towards her school. She smiled proudly. "Yes! This time, I will make my record time! I might be able to make it to school on time for once! No more guilt trip for me!" The view of her school was in her line of vision.

"Almost there! Almost there! Almost there! Almost there! Almost-"

Suddenly, her mind didn't focus on making it in time in school. Rather, her mind was filled with pain. Hitomi grimaced and held her head. A ringing sound suddenly came from her ears and eliminated any sound from outside.

A young man's back faced her in her line of path. Another flash came and cut that scene and switched to a necklace flying somewhere. Suddenly, the image flashed into another to show the young man lying on the floor, facing her.

"Ahou, what are you looking at?!"

Hitomi shook her head and tried to get of those images. But, as she looked up, she suddenly crashed into someone.

"I-I-ittai!" she screamed. "What in the world just happened?"

"Will you watch it?!" retorted a deep voice in front of her.

Hitomi's eyes suddenly shoot open, her eyebrows twitching annoyingly. Hitomi quickly stood up and looked directly at his face. Somehow, gazing at his face looked awfully familiar. She could see the color of his eyes, reddish-brownish, and his unruly dark hair from the shadows. She couldn't identify his uniform since Hitomi was so focused on his face and the familiar feeling she had. For a moment, Hitomi's mouth hung open.

"Ahou, what are you looking at?!"

She wanted to apologize in a polite way because she knew it was her fault. But, the word "Ahou" kept repeating in her mind. All reason to apologize left her mind. Without a second thought, she confronted him. "Idiot?! Why are you calling me an idiot!? How dare you call a girl an idiot!"

"Well, excuse me! You're the one pissing everyone off just because you're late! Who would be such an idiot to do such a thing like that?! What kind of role model are you setting?!"

"Oh? And you think you're setting a good role model by calling a girl an idiot, Ikkoku-kun! Do you HAVE any decency?!"

The boy's reddish-brown eyes was startled at first. That disappeared immediately as the eyes turned lethal. "Ikkoku-kun?! Who you calling a hot-head?!"

"YOU! Move it or I might run you over. I only have 5 more minutes until 8!"

"Five more minutes until 8. Ahou, it's passed 8!"

"Yeah, right! You're just saying that so you can ruin my life!" she said as she started to get up, dusting off her skirt.

"Look at your watch!" he countered.

"Fine, I'll listen to you once but if you're wrong, then I'll kick your slow behind to the farthest galaxy." Looking at her left wrist, she looked at her watch. For a moment, she stared at it, watching as the small hand clicked every second. Then, all of a sudden, her eyes shot wide. "Oh no! Not again!!"

"Ahou, I told you so," said the man coldly, dusting his pants.

Shaking angrily, she turned around. "Why I oughta…!"

"Well, good luck going to school on time…even though I doubt you'll make it! Ja ne!" he said, and left her standing.

"Huh?! W-wait a minute!" He continued to walk. "I'm not done with you yet, Ikkoku-kun!!" Before long, he disappeared. Hitomi couldn't believe this man. Who does he think he is? "Well, he's got one thing coming if he keeps up that hot-headed attitude of his. His name will be Ikkoku-kun from now on if I ever see him again…"

With that said, she started to pick up her fallen stuff. Out of all days, she had to leave her bag open. Why can't she be organized for once? After grabbing another textbook that landed were the boy landed, something pink and gold caught Hitomi's eyes.

"Huh?" she said. Her hand stayed in midair as her eyes slowly set on that beautiful mix of color as if she was a bee drawn to a beautiful flower. Shining beautifully on the cemented gray ground, a pretty teardrop pink pendant laid.

Hitomi's eyes momentarily looked at the object. Something about this scene made her feel a sense of déjà vu. Something about the beautiful necklace on the ground made her mind boggle. Slowly, she let her hand graze the cold object on the floor, cradling gently in her hands. She looked at it, watching it glimmer underneath the morning sun. The necklace was truly beautiful. She never crossed anything like this before.

"But whose necklace is this?" she asked as she looked around her. No one around seemed a bit interested in what she was holding in her hands. And if it was that jerk's necklace, he would had come right away for it, considering he looked like a punctual, neat-freak kind of guy. Once more, she gazed at it, letting it dangle from her hand, as the necklace moved left to right in seconds, like a clock. "Strange. I've never seen a necklace do that before…" She looked around to see that no one was around her. "Oh shoot! I forgot! I better get going." She looked at the necklace once more and shrugged. "Well, I'll just keep it for now until I find the owner of this necklace." Hitomi put the necklace in her bag, making sure it was in a good and secure area. Locking her pack firmly, she dashed off into the direction of her school.

As Hitomi ran innocently to her school, she was unaware of a dark presence that lingered above the trees. In that very tree, four pairs of eyes followed her until she disappeared.

"We found you…"

---

Author's Note: Hello everyone! Thank you all for reviewing. I'm glad that most of you are interested in this story. I know it's Au-ish, but I'm trying to do something different. It's still somewhat follows the Escaflowne plot, but with a twist. I'll try my best to keep the characters' personality the same.

There are some questions I would like for to answer, if you can. How would you describe each of the Escaflowne characters? I want you to answer it for me so I can have a generalized ideal of each character and how I should portray them. I want to hear everyone's opinion of each character since it will give me a better idea than just sticking with my own opinions about them. Also, I want to ask your ideas of this story or what you want to see in this fic. So I can incorporate it into the story as much as I could.

From here on out, there will be a lot of character and plot development in this first part of the story. What I mean by first part is not the chapter, but for the following 12-13 chapters. This part will mostly focus on developing the characters. I think I already mentioned it in the prologue, did I? I know the chapter at the moment is boring, but right now, I'm focusing on developing Hitomi's role into this plot as the main female protagonists of this story. I'll be portraying her as a typical high school student, but with special abilities that will begin to grow from here until the end, especially her personality. So please bare with the first couple of chapters.

As for Van, well, he'll be appearing soon. Although brief for this chapter and the next. Like I said, chapter one was suppose to be long, but I decided to cut it. His appearance will be more continuous very shortly. I'm not good with dialogue, so I did the best as I could, especially the part with Hitomi and him for the first meeting. I wasn't sure how they would talk, but I wanted to express "bad first impression." That's what they had for each other when they first met, right? Please correct me if I'm wrong.

In other news, chapter 2 will be coming up. I'm not sure as of yet. It took me a while to make this chapter (which I'm sorry about. It took longer than expected). I want to work on it more, but apparently school has now become a major influence in my life, now that I got into the nursing program. I hoped to write this fanfic when I have a breather from studying and writing care plans, XX.

Also, during that chapter, I mentioned a Ganguro trio. I'm not making any remarks on that at all. I apologize if I'm offending everyone. I just remembered seeing a video of Red Hot Chili Peppers in their tour in Japan one day with my sister. I just remembered them making a "documentary" of them and thought it was funny. I just happened to be in that laughing mood that I decided to put in there just for a laugh I guess. It's also a fashion choice in Japan. I'm not sure if it's current.

Hmmm….anything else? Oh yes, some of you were asking about questions in the reviews, such as when who's who in the confusing prologue of this story. Unfortunately, those questions will not be answered. It's going to spoil the plot if I do. Sorry. Just stick around and your questions will be answered as you read along. Again, if you have any complaints, please don't hesitate to ask. Thank you guys so much for reading! Love you guys. Until next time!

-Kuti