Anyways, enjoy chapter four. It took awhile to type but a quick break to read CoffeeWench's Fine Print helped me a lot.
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Hitomi didn't think that being away from Van would have been hard at all. She barely knew the Prince but more often than not she found her mind wandering to the raven haired young man.
She tried to stay shut up in her room if only to avoid her cousin's constant quesioning. Gloria hadn't missed the fact that Hitomi looked to be avoiding Van and she wanted to know why. And she perssisted in asking everyday. It wasn't untill Lotti told the girl that Hitomi was sick with something horrible and catching that Gloria stopped waiting outside her door.
In truth after three days Hitomi did start to feel a bit sick. Though she doubted being stir crazy was catching.
When she knew everyone would be downstairs for dinner Hitomi convinced herself to leave her room to check out one of the many libraries in the palace. If she wanted to keep her mind sane while staying away from the Prince than she was going to need more books to read seeing how she'd just about finished the ones Lotti had brought along for her.
The library she'd been looking for wasn't all that hard to find. It was one floor above her room. At one point or another she had heard Prince Van say that it one of the oldest of the many libraries in that part of Gaia.
Hitomi found the library's lanterns and light them, carrying one with her as she searched the shelves. The sun seemed to be setting earlier and earlier with the coming cold months and she was gratefull to have found any lanterns in the room. She hadn't thought about bringing one with her.
Towards the back of the library many of the shelves looked uptouched and very dusty. Hitomi made her way back there, weaving in and out of old furniture and massive tables carefully. She was sure that her dark dress would show every brush against the wooden objects around the room. Lotti would no doubt frown at her upon her return. The floors in the large library were crapetted thickly but she could still plainly hear her every step. Overall the room gave her the creeps but she was too desperate for something to do to just turn around and leave.
Leaning towards one of the dusty shelves with the lantern held high for light she read a few titles before moving on to the next shelf.
Here and there she saw books like 'Gaia's First Histories', 'Noble Families of Gaia' and other important (boring) sounding titles.
Not finding anything that appealed to her Hitomi turned to take a look at the shelves on the other side of the room when she caught a glimpse of someone at the end of the aisle.
Completely surprised she screamed and just barely managed to not drop her lantern as she took a step back away from the person.Her heel caught on one of the many rugs and she felt herself hit one of the shelves as she fell backwards.
Gaining some composure once she was on the floor and in pain she looked up to yell at the intruder about manners and saw that no one was there.
She tried to get up and coudn't. She had landed between a shelf and a chair and due to her many skrits she was stuck. Putting her lantern down on the foor she she pulled herslef up using the chair and swayed when she felt pain shoot through her left knee.
"Who's in here?" a voice, acompanied by quick steps announced Van as he ran from one aisle to the next untill her found Hitomi clutching the chair. She was rumbled and dusty but standing. She was just happy he hadn't found her on the floor stuck beside the chair.
"Are you ok?" he asked in a rush, "I heard you scream. What happened."
"I thought I saw someone." Hitomi pointed to the spot the figure had been, "But after I fell there wasn't any one there."
"Guards!" Van yelled, making Hitomi jump, "Search the palace and grounds for an intruder!"
Turning back to her he asked in a quieter voice, "Are you hurt?"
"I hit my knee on a shelf. It hurts and will no doubt be swollen but I will live." Hitomi tried not to show that at the moment her knee was actualy throbbing and she felt on the verge of being sick.
Without asking or even hesitating Van scooped Hitomi up and brought her over to one of the tables closest to the door. He set her down just as Lotti came rushing to her side.
"Princess!" Lotti took Hitomi's hand in both of her's, "I knew it was your voice I heard scream. By all the Gods, I tried to get here quickly but my old bones just wouldn't cooperate."
"I'm ok. A figure frightened me." Hitomi smiled at her friend, "I hurt my knee when I fell but I will be fine."
"Fine my arse." Lotti snorted and Van jumped at her language, "I saw how you were carried over here. Let me see that knee."
Van turned his back on them as Hitomi pulled up her skirts to show Lotti her very black and blue knee.
Lotti poked and squeezed and moved the whole joint painfully around before announcing that it was just a sprain and a bad bruise that would hurt for a week or so.
Hitomi slid off the tabletop carefully and was happy that she could hold her own weight even if it did hurt like hell.
"I'll help you to your room." Van offered Hitomi his arm and she took it slowly.
She was suppose to be avoiding him, not giving him an excuse to be this close to her. Not to mention she hated feeling the least bit helpless but Van was patient and quiet as Hitomi hobbled down the hall.
When they reached the stairs Hitomi refused to let Van carry her down them. She made her way slowly from one step to the next untill half way down she felt her leg give out and she yelled in pain.
"Will you please let me help you?" Van asked, agravated, "You're just going to make it worse."
"Have a guard carry me." Hitomi said, seeing a few of the girls appear at the bottom of the steps to see who was yelling.
"I sent them off to search the palace and to guard the doors." Van sighed, "Just let me help you."
Glaring at him Hitomi gave the slightest nod. That was all the answer he needed.
Hitomi crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Van's chin as he carried her down the rest of the stairs.
"What happened to my cousin!" Gloria came rushing forward, playing the part of concerned family.
"She had a scare in the library and hit her knee rather hard." Van said when Hitomi refused to answer, "She'll be fine in a few days but for now she needs to stay off that leg."
"How horrible." Gloria squeezed Hitomi's arm, "Does it have anything to do with the guards running around?"
"We think there may have been an intruder." Van stepped past Gloria, "You should all stay in your rooms and lock the doors untill morning. There will be guards in the halls should you need anything."
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"That was not how I wanted any of this to go." Hitomi sighed as she pulled on her nightshirt.
"I know, dear." Lotti took the dress Hitomi had been wearing and threw it over the back of a chair, eyeing the dusty spots, "Did you even find a book?"
"No." Hitomi carefully inched back onto her bed. She kne Lotti would want to fuss over her now that she was hurt. It didn't matter what Hitomi said at this point, Lotti would hear none of it.
"Now you stay put. I'll be right back. You need some dinner and a bit of tea." Lotti fluffed all the pillows and proppred HItomi's leg up., "Now don't even think of getting up while I'm away."
"I wouldn't dream of it." HItomi flinched at the pain, "I'm not going anywhere."
"Just what I needed to hear."
Hitomi was left staring at the ceiling. Her mind of course was on the person who had frightened her. It hadn't been distinctly a male or a female shape and it was driving her crazy that someone had snuck up on her again.
While HItomi was lost in thought there was a light knock on the door and Hitomi looked up as it started to open. She prayed it wouldn't be Gloria but never even thought that it could be Van.
"Lotti asked me to bring these up." the Prince blushed and looked away as Hitomi pulled the covers up to hide her nightshirt from view.
"Is she ok?" Hitomi asked, taking the tray of food Van held out to her.
"She said her back was bothering her and that she needed a rest before climbing the stairs again." Van pulled a chair over and sat beside Hitomi's bed.
"What are you doing?" she sat up straighter and almost upended her tray.
"Lotti told me to keep you company until she returned." Van shrugged with a smile, "I didn't dare tell her no."
"Better men than you have tried." Hitomi sighed and relaxed a bit, feeling her belly rumble with the smell of warm soup.
"I got that feeling." Van leaned back in his char and looked around as Hitomi started in on her soup and fresh bread.
The curtains weren't pulled over the windows, the dress she had been wearing that day was draped over a chairback, books seemed to have taken over the desk in the corner and there were very few girly things about.
"Do you need more reading material?" Van asked, looking back to the desk, "Is that why you were in the library?"
"Yes." Hitomi frowned down at her food, "But I hurt my knee and forgot all about wanting something to read."
"I'll see what I can find." Van smiled, "I doubt you would have liked any of those old books anyways. Most of them are just people going on about how great they and their family are because their families were one of the firsts in the history books. Really dull stuff. I was forced to read them when I was little."
"Really?" Hitomi was interested. This was the first time Van had really said anything about himself since that day on the wall.
"Even though I was only ever going to be a Prince I had to know who was who and who we traded with even way back when." Van turned his head and looked out the window, "Folken was the one who liked History. He had the memory for it. All I ever wanted to do was slay Dragons."
"Why would you slay Dragons?" Hitomi stopped eating.
"Beacuse they are dangerous." Van said it like it was the simplest thing in the world.
"But Dragons are rare and peacefull if you leave them alone." Hitomi protested.
"Then why do they attack farms every spring?' Van asked, sounding annoyed with her.
"Because people are taking dragonland as their own. I'd attack them too if I woke up from a winter's sleep to find a farm suddenly on my doorstep." Hitomi shoved her tray at Van who just barely caught it.
"Dragons don't think like that. People think like that, Princess." Van stood to leave, the tray in hand. Why did she always make him mad?
"You've never asked a dragon how they thought, have you?" Hitomi said as Van's hand touched the door nob.
"No, I haven't. Have you?" he looked at her over his shoulder, his anger forgotten at such a question, only to find that she had laid back down and turned her back on him.
"As a matter of fact I have." she said so quietly he almost didn't hear her.
His heart hammered and he wanted to ask her more but he knew she wouldn't tell him anything now. Not after he had made her mad again.
Van closed the door behind him and wished once again that he had kept his mouth shut and watched her reactions more closely. She wasn't normal by any means and that was what drew him to her but he had to learn her moods and how she thought. If all he ever did was piss her off then there was no hope of him convincing her to stay when he sent others home.
Groaning as he walked down the stairs towards the kitchens Van remembered that his aunt and her advisors would be paying him a visit in just a few days. She would expect him to have a list of possible wives. But he hoped that only one name would be on that bit of parchment when he handed it to her.
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A/N: Ok people, chapter four! Please review. I love hearing what you think. And yes, I already have the next one started so it shouldn't take me too long. Look for it on Tuesday or Wednesday.