Part VII

A Setting of Plans: Helpless

"I knew that you couldn't be trusted." Hitomi bit the inside of her cheek to resist the urge to roll her eyes. Right now even the slightest expression would set Dilandu off, and that was the sort of thing that needed to avoid here.

The silver-haired captain paced the long marble floor of the private receiving room in a stalking manner. Hitomi sat by the window, her head still slightly throbbing, arms crossed. They were alone and she wasn't sure if that was a curse or a blessing.

"A woman like you…consorting with the enemy." He came to a sudden stop in front of her, his crimson eyes blazing. Baring his teeth he gripped the arms of her chair and brought his face close to hers. Hitomi had to fight the urge to flinch back. "Tell me. What did you promise him? When will you spread your legs for him?" He hissed. "When will he free you?"

Even though experience had told her that anger was a useless thing when dealing with Dilandu when he was in one of his moods she couldn't stop the instinctual action as her hand snapped up and her palm connected hard with his cheek, the cheek with a pale scar that was a testiment to his latest failure. A scar that he was disturbingly proud of…

Hitomi paled, her eyes going from her stinging hand to Dilandu's rapidly reddening cheek. She bit the inside of her cheek and braced herself for the explosion that was sure to occur. Stupid, stupid! Very intelligent, Hitomi.

His face turned almost purple and took almost all of her willpower to stop herself from flinching back instinctively, especially when his hand curled around the hilt of his sword. Narrowing her eyes, Hitomi straightened her spin. She had faced worse at the hands of the Sorcerers. Why should she let him intimidate her?

But really, if she was going to react with female indignation, did she really have to do something as feeble as slapping him? She should have at least curled her fist so that it caught him square on the jaw.

He took a threatening step towards her, but she refused to allow her apprehension show.

"Watch your tongue, Lord Dilandu. I won't tolerate that type of disprespect."

"You bitch." He hissed. His hand grabbed her forearm, the tips of his nails digging painfully into her flesh. "Disrespect? You dare to talk to me about disrespect? You think that just because Lord Dornkirk favors you that you're above me. You are nothing but a prisoner."

Hitomi hated the pained gasp that escaped her throat when Dilandu suddenly pulled her up. His face was only inches from hers and she could feel his breath warming her cheeks. An arm suddenly slid around her waist, and she went completely still when he pulled close against his body. Her whole body went rigid, and again the frail, feminine feeling from earlier returned. In that moment, when she could feel his hard muscles underneath the soft silk of his clothes, she hated him.

"Even if I was still a hostage I still wouldn't let you get away with that." Hitomi hissed, her emerald eyes sparking. "Not ever." She fought a nasty battle with herself to keep from moving. Her fingers itched, not from the dull throb of the after-effect of the slap, but from desire. The desire to reach under her skirt and to pull the jeweled dagger sheathed at her thigh. Oh, how she wanted to plunge that blade into his belly; to scratch his eyes and scarred cheek with her favorite weapon. Goddess! She wanted nothing more then to see the hot crimson blood spill over his skin and stain his silver hair.

It scared her, the feeling the twisted her gut. They left her trembling at night and she hated him and all of Zaibach for making her feel this way. Nothing good would ever—

Dilandu was hissing something in her ear, most likely some violent and painful promise, but she paid it no mind. Hitomi knew that she would be in a wealth of trouble if she dared to give in to these feelings. She needed to cleanse herself of this burning hatred. She needed—

She remembered him then— his tousled black hair, the warm cinnamon eyes filled with a concern that she, admittedly, didn't care for. Even though she didn't care for it she remember the way he—Van—had made her feel safe. He had felt so very strong and good. Just the memory caused a molten feeling to sprout in her belly. Van.She caught herself in time to prevent a wistful look from spreading across her face. With great reluctance she extracted herself from the memory and forced herself to pay attention to the bastard in front of her.

"Listen to me you damn bitch!" She only had a minute to see the rage in his bloody, crimson eyes and then his mouth descended, pressing unbearably hard against her own.

It was like a deep in cold ocean water in the midst of winter. It yanked her from her warm, safe memories so violently it jarred her since of reality. For a full moment she stayed frozen, compliant. It was only when her own lips started to return the bruising kiss, hesitantly, that she was able to summon the strength to push him away. Enraged tears welled in the corner of her eyes and she screamed as she pushed against him violently,

"Get your hands off of me, bastard!"

Her sudden resistance surprised him enough that he stumbled back, falling on the floor. Her stared back at her, looking as shell-shocked as she felt. He shifted then, as if to get up, something dangerous glittering in those hated eyes. Raising a hand to her lips, and hating the strangled gasp that escaped her lips, Hitomi fled from the room.

Summoning all of her strength she slammed the doors shut as hard as she could. It was loud enough that it started a maid that was cleaning the windows at the other end of the hall. Hitomi stood there for a moment, her limbs trembling from the effort. A tear welled over her eyelid and slid down her cheek. Her hands shook with the effort to resist the urge to open the door and slam it again. Only this time she would slam it loud enough that the very walls of the palace would shake.

"Lady Hitomi?"

Goddess, no. Not him, not now.

"Princess, are you hurt?" A hand rested on her shoulder, but she shoved it away. Picking up her skirts she ignored the golden-haired knight, the way his crystal blue eyes narrowed in concern, and fled. She had to get out, get out! She kneeded to find some place where she could escape, some place where she could forget about the whole damn—

About everything.

As she dodge the pillars and weaved through the servants that stood in her path Hitomi didn't think there was ever a time when she hated herself more.

Damn you, Dilandu. Damn you for making me feel like this.

She didn't pause until she was outside, and even then it was only long enough to find the path to the garden. She didn't care how many heads turned at her sudden flight. She just kept running, trying to find some sort of escape. It wasn't until she arrived in a hidden grove, with a delicate sakuratree placed by a small pond that she stopped.

Chest heaving for breath she walked the delicate, pink petals float in the sunlight. The tree was nearly bare of flowers, being replaced by full, dark leaves. Still breathing heavily, Hitomi walked towards it. A calming peace settled over her at the sight of a tree that only grew in Fanelia. She settle down next to the pond, letting the rays of sunlight that filtered through the leafy oaks that kept the grove hidden warm her shoulders. Holding out her hand she waited until one of the pink sakura petals floated lazily onto her palm. Her slightly swollen lips quirken into a smile, and if it wasn't for the way that her lips throbbed she might have been able to forget what had just happened. Placing the velvet petal between her thumb and forfinger she revelled in its texture and let her head rest on her knees.

When would this all be over?

Sorry about the shortness. The scene with Millerna is dragging. I promise to make the next one longer, ne?

Agh! I had such a hard time writing this chapter. I got so involved spending two pages writing another scene that happens later on that it was almost impossible to tear myself away from it. Curses!

happy sigh Love angst.

I got to say, there is no better feeling in the world when you open your email in the morning, find out you have 14 email, all of them fromm FFN, and about half of them are reviews or PMs. Thanks guys. Thanks so much! It really means a lot and helps the fic going. Kept me happy for at least an hour.

The following are responses to people who do not provide me with an email address, sign in, or have an FFN account.

Tem: Thanks so much. I really appreciate especially since the job hunt isn't going so well. Good luck to you too. Was this update soon enough for you. I am completely abandoning all of my Inu fics because I'm having so much fun with this one. ;;

God, I am such a geek. Just orders a much of old cartoon dvds (Captain N, Super Mario Brothers, Zelda, Sonic) from Rightstuf.

...

Ok, maybe the fact that I even write fanfiction should have been the first clue...

A special thanks to Mimi B, Niello, Ro0tin4Kagome, Suils Saifir, Inda, tem, thepinkmartini, Aga, & Vera Lim for their wonderful reviews for the last two chapters. Thanks mina-san!