Draconian Beast Chapter 2: Innocent as a child, an escaflowne fanfic

Disclaimers: I do not own Escaflowne

Thank you for all your wonderful reviews. I love beauty and the beast... so yeah.

Draconian Beast

Chapter 2. Innocent as a child

"Van!"

"Lord Van!"

"Stop!"

Hitomi had gasped when she saw mere children jump onto the boy, slowly pulling him away from her. 'They're crazy!' She observed, then blinked down at the child that stood bellow her.

"Please excuse our friend, he does not know what he's doing my lady." Spoke a little boy with long blond hair and sky blue eyes.

"A little help here Allen!!" Shouted one of the little boys keeping the monster held back.

"Come with me!" Urged a tiny pink haired girl with cerulean blue eyes. "Hurry up! I don't know how long they can hold Van-sama back!" She squeaked tugging on Hitomi's hand.

"Uh, o-ok." Hitomi said letting the girl pull her up a flight of stairs towards the next floor. She had stumbled a few times but had managed to catch herself each time. The girl had been pulling her down a long hall and had slammed open one of the doors, which she presumed led to a room. After being tugged in, she had slammed it shut and locked it, letting out a sigh of relief.

"I'm so sorry you had to see him like that. Van-sama isn't really like that, honest. He's just.." The girl shook her head, "What are you doing here anyways girl?! Do you know what you could have done?!" She shouted, her mood suddenly taking a turn for the worst.

She was a cat girl, from what Hitomi could see. She had stripes, fur, cat ears, claws and even a tail that seemed to now flair up with anger. "U-uh, I'm sorry! I didn't know! I was just following someone's voice, and it led me here. I didn't know it could cause so much trouble." Hitomi blurted, waving her hands around in a panic motion. 'I knew it! I should have stayed away. Idiot, idiot, idiot…' She mentally chanted.

"Well, I guess we can't do anything about it now. It's been a long time since an outsider has come here. I'm Merle by the way." The cat girl said staring up at the blond girl innocently. "I know I look really really small right now, but it isn't my fault."

'What happened to her attitude? She went from one extreme to the other in two minutes.' Hitomi smiled weakly, "My name is Hitomi Kanzaki." She answered back. 'This place is already odd, and by the looks of things, I'm not going to be able to leave for a while..'

"Hi, Hitomi." Merle smiled brightly, "Hey, you have green eyes," She observed, "and blond hair!" She exclaimed.

"Yes I do." Hitomi said with slight confusion. "Is that a problem?"

"No!"

One of the knobs to the connecting door rattled and caused the door to swing open. "Merle!" Called many voices in unison.

The cat girl hissed turning her attention to the rest of the gang of friends whom decided to barge in. "What?!" She yelled, baring her fangs and claws in anger once more.

The children had all bursted into the room to see the newcomer that had upset Van. She had recognized the one with long blond hair and blue eyes from before. His name was Allen she believed. The others were a mystery. There was a little girl with light blond hair and blue eyes; she wore a pink fluffy dress and white tiny gloves. There was a boy with short dark hair with a brown shirt and dirty beige pants. Another boy with brown hair, a red bandana on his head and dark eyes wearing a brown shirt with a beige vest and pants and the final boy had brown robes with wavy light brown locks.

"Hitomi, these guys are the ones that helped out from before. They kept Van-sama away from us." Merle piped.

'And then her mood changes again. Is she bi-polar?' Hitomi thought, but still listened intently to her, nodding.

"Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Allen Schezar." The blond boy said, "I am a knight of Caeli and the Captain of the Crusade. These two are part of my crew, Gaddess and Reeden." He introduced two of the little boys.

Hitomi giggled a little at Allen.

"What's so funny?" Asked the blond little girl hotly, placing her hands on her hips, glaring at Hitomi.

Hitomi covered her mouth blushing lightly, "I'm sorry, it's just, I thought at first.. That Allen was a girl when I first met him. His hair is just so long.." She burst into a fit of giggles again, not able to contain herself.

That's when the rest of the children burst out laughing and pointed at Allen muttering little teases. Even the little blond girl was laughing at him, suddenly forgetting the form of insult, while Allen just sunk to the ground sighing and muttering curses under his breath. "I am not a girl!" He shouted.

Hitomi slowly stopped laughing to apologize to the boy. He had thankfully accepted the apology and they had continued with the introductions. She found that the blond girl was called Millerna Aston and that the other boy was called Dryden Fassa. She had then told them a little about herself. That's when Dryden had made the same comment as Merle had earlier done.

"You have green eyes and blond hair." He had said aloud pushing up his tiny set of glasses.

"You know, Merle had just said that before all of you came in." Hitomi replied. She was now sitting on the bed in the room with the rest of the children circling her.

"Did she?" Dryden asked and shook his head. "Well I say we should all retire to bed now. It's late." He said.

"What do you mean, late? It's morning!" Hitomi blurted, confused.

"Oh, well we sleep during the day Hitomi." Millerna informed. "Because of Van's… Errr state. We sleep during the day and stay up at night."

"That's different." Hitomi observed. "But I'm not even tired, I can't sleep now."

"Then I'll stay up with you." Merle piped bouncing up and down on the bed. "We'll stay awake for the whole day then you'll be able to sleep."

"Now that we have that settled, let's hit the sack. I'm exhausted from wrestling with Lord Van," Gaddess yawned stretching.

"Ha! I held him back more than you." Reeden commented.

"You wish Reeden." He replied, deciding to leave for his room.

All the others had also agreed to sleep and left the room through the connecting door to go in their own rooms. Merle had then closed the door and smiled brightly at Hitomi. "I would give you a tour of the Castle but it's the day, and I don't know how long you'll be staying here.. Are you going to try and leave? Or were you going to stay with us?" She asked.

"I'm not really sure, I was just following a singing voice. Though by the looks of things, I think I should stay a bit. I'm actually better off staying here than going back home." Hitomi replied.

"Did you not like your home?" Merle asked curiously.

"No, it was fine.. it's just… I wasn't really accepted for myself there." Hitomi said while fiddling with the hem of her dress. "I'm not exactly the most normal girl."

Merle sighed loudly, "Look around yourself, this isn't exactly a normal castle. I look like some little child and our Van-sama is.. well you know."

Hitomi stared at the cat girl carefully, "Were things always like this?"

"No.. Not always." Merle replied, "I used to be almost as tall as Van-sama. Back then, we were happy. It's because of this stupid curse that we are looking the way we are.
"See, Van-sama was a kind prince. He had a big brother and really nice parents. They had taken me in after my family was murdered. I was Van-sama's adopted sister! But then, because of his family's heritage, they were killed. Van-sama survived but he had grown to be so bitter and angry!

"…We got cursed by the Wing Goddess. Van-sama had refused to let her stay here one night and she was left outside in a terrible storm. She had died and placed a curse upon this castle. We all got caught into this curse. And now, we're like this. Don't worry, Lord Van changes at night, he's much kinder then." She said.

Hitomi nodded, "So, the Wing Goddess cursed him? He had called me Wing Goddess.. What does that mean?"

Merle nodded, "Well, the Wing Goddess that had cursed him looked a lot like you Hitomi. She had long blond hair and green eyes. Well your hair isn't long, but it is blond and not many people have green eyes."

Hitomi scowled, "So he thought I was her?" She stared down at her now bruising wrist and minor scratches.

Merle gasped, "Hitomi! Did Lord Van hurt you?! Let me see!"

Hitomi yelped when the cat girl had jumped up on the bed to inspect the wound. "There's dry blood and bruises! Hitomi, why didn't you tell me before?" Merle drawled bouncing up and off the bed towards one of the doors of the room. "I'll go get some bandages, ok? I'll be back soon!"

Hitomi barely even got out a goodbye before the cat girl left. It wasn't until later on that she had returned, muttering apologies under her breath for taking so long. She couldn't find any gauze so she had to step out of the safe area's and venture throughout the dangerous castle to find the medical supplies. After the girl was bandaged up, they had ventured out of the chambers to find some decent food to eat for breakfast. Merle had guarded Hitomi the whole time as they walked down the halls. The cat girl had a basic idea of the whereabouts of Van, so she didn't worry much about encountering him.

Once they had reached the kitchens, Merle had pulled out a loaf of bread and some jam for Hitomi. "You can eat this for now. The chefs are asleep right now so they can't make you anything. We'll have to make do with this." The girl said.

Hitomi just shrugged and had her breakfast with the quiet neko. "So.." She had begun, "Will we be safe while walking back towards that room?"

"You mean your room? Yeah, I'm sure we'll be fine. Though we should probably bring some food with us so you can have lunch." Merle replied, tucking some bread into a bag, with a butter knife and jam. "Sorry, you'll have to have a jelly sandwich again."

"It's alright, as long as I have food. Where are the glass cups anyways? I'm a little thirsty.." Hitomi whispered mostly to herself. Unfortunately, the over enthusiastic cat girl had caught wind of her voice. She had leapt up onto the counter behind her to get a glass out of the cupboard when a strange noise had caught their attention.

Hitomi's back went stiff when she heard the steps come closer and closer towards them. 'Please don't be him.' She mentally said.

"Merle?" Yawned a tiny voice, "What on earth are you doing jumping up on my counters!"

Merle hissed, her tail sticking up and flaring out. "Don't scare us like that Mrs. Miyano!"

"Well, you should be asleep Merle, not wandering about the kitchens for warm milk." The chef scolded.

"I wasn't getting warm milk! I was getting Hitomi's breakfast and water." Merle countered motioning a fury hand towards the silent blond girl.

"Oh," Mrs. Miyano said, "I'm sorry dear," The miniature woman apologized, "I didn't see you there, as you can see, I'm not very tall because of the curse… and my eye sight isn't the best without my glasses." Her old child-like voice said.

"It's alright." Hitomi smiled warmly at the woman, "It's not your fault. Anyways, we'll get going out of here as soon as I have a bit of water—"

"Here!" Little Merle smiled holding up a cup of water, "All yours, now lets get back! Grab the bag of food and let's go!" She chirped marching out of the kitchen.

Hitomi blinked at the girl before shrugging her shoulders and following close behind. "This place is way too weird.." She mumbled to herself as they silently walked back towards their rooms.

.:.:.:. Noon .:.:.:.

Hitomi groaned, flopping back on her bed. "I am so bored."

"So am I. I wish we could do something, like play a game." Merle said.

"A game… Hey, is it safe to wander outside you think?"

"Not likely, we would probably get caught by someone. Most likely Van-sama. Though, I do know of a place that Van-sama wouldn't be near!" Merle piped, jumping up and down on the bed, causing it to squeak in protest.

"Is that so? Where might this place be?" Hitomi asked the little pink haired girl.

"The library! It's really big and has really comfit chairs!" Merle exclaimed excitedly, "Do you like to read?"

"Yes, I love to read about fairytales with Princes, and Princesses." Hitomi replied, "Let's go, I'd like to see this place."

"Okay! Let's go!" Merle meowed, bouncing towards the door, "But we have to be very quiet like before. Van-sama has very good hearing!" She cautioned.

Hitomi smiled, nodding. 'I always did like a challenge, besides, I can't see how this cursed prince can do anymore damage to my life.' She thought quietly to herself as she followed the cat girl.

A/N Wow, that took longer than I thought to edit. Ha ha, imagine talking to a bunch of short adorable kids that are actually like 18 years old, or even like 40 years old! Crazy! With tiny voices and everything! That would be awesome.. Anywho, R&R and I might update a bit faster..