Chapter Eleven – Pranks

By the time Hitomi stopped running, she was far from their room, but still on the castle grounds. Why, why had she kissed him like that? She knew that she loved him, and that he didn't even love her and that their friendship was forced upon them, but she wanted to at least get the chance to be close to him. Tears came down her eyes as she sat there all alone and decided that going to the garden wasn't the best place to be alone at the moment. Then again, there weren't really all that many places to be alone in the castle and especially since you where the queen. Yes, she did have her own private rooms, but Van could find her easily there and he knew by now that she liked going to the garden after they had a fight or something else like that. She found herself alone and outside at the back side of the castle.

She didn't know why she loved him, or how she had even come to love him. She wondered if this was how Varie felt when she had married the former king of Fanelia. Rejection, forced friendship, and a false life, feelings she wondered if a person was even suppose to feel all of their lives. Sometimes she wished that she would have ran away before she even came here, sure she was good at acting like she was happy but all of the sadness was beginning to catch up with her, and especially after what had just happened minutes ago. She sat down by the tree and huddled her knees together and began to cry. Baka, baka, baka, she was such a baka. When did she start to love Van? They had been married only a few weeks and she had just told him that she had loved him, and actually meant it! What was she going to do? She knew that she couldn't hide here forever.

Van just stood there and it took a moment before he realized what had just happened. 'Damn it! What else can go wrong now?' Van wondered and kicked the bed like a child throwing a fit but it wasn't that bad since it was only one kick, but it was still a childish thing to do. It wasn't his fault that Hitomi fell in love with him or that he didn't love her or that he married her. Their parents where to blame because they where the ones who had arranged this whole marriage. It wasn't his fault that Hitomi had fallen in love with him, what kind of woman was dumb enough to fall in love with a guy who had been nothing but mean and cruel towards them? He had done that on purpose to make her not want to be close to him, but in the end, it seemed to go in the completely different direction then he had planned. She was a strange girl, and he was calling her a girl because she was acting childish! Running off in the middle of a fight, that was childish! What was her problem anyway?

The sun had already set and the nights where getting chillier now. Damn it! If she got sick then it would be his fault. He grabbed one of Hitomi's shawls and went outside. Why did she run away like that after she kissed him? Then again why had she kissed him, it was technically her fault! He groaned at the thought of asking Balgus's for help to find her and he hated it when he had his samurai involved with his own personal affairs. However, he wasn't stupid and knew that two people looking for one person was a bigger chance to find them then just one.

When he found Balgus he had explained to the samurai what had happened which made Balgus just frown at him. "It was probably something to do with your eyes." Balgus explained as he looked down at the young king.

"What do you mean by that?" Van asked. "You where never married so you wouldn't know."

"I know that Van-Sama, however I was young once believe it or not and I did like a girl when I was younger. They can tell if you like them or not by the look in your eyes. I use to like one girl and then met another some time after who I had fallen for. The first girl could sense it. That was long before I had ever become a samurai I was very young back then and I asked my mother about it. Her answer was that some women can tell what men are thinking most of the time by just looking in to their eyes." Balgus explained. "Women always seem to have sort of some sort of six sense that allows them to tell what you're thinking or doing or what you are about to do. That's what makes them such good mothers I guess."

Van said nothing but looked away from his teacher. "I'll go look for her then." Van said not feeling like talking about the subject with his teacher any more, but than again, who was there? It's not like his mother was still around or he had his older brother around to help him any more. "I'll take one side of the castle and you can take the other." Van said. "I don't want any one to know about it because I don't want this to cause an uproar about the queen missing. I don't need word to reach to Tier that I can't even take care of their daughter." Van said and Balgus nodded. As Van was about to leave he could hear Balgus call him.

"Van-Sama, how is it that you expect us to find one another if we find her first?" Balgus asked and Van sighed. "I don't know… I haven't thought of that yet, let's just look and meet back here in three hours." Van finally said.

"Yes Van-Sama."

It seemed as if Hitomi had completely ran off. She was acting like some spoiled child who didn't get their way when their parents said no to something. Then again, this was his fault technically since he should have at least acted like he liked Hitomi at the very least. Three hours had already come to pass when he found Balgus carrying someone in his arms as he headed towards the castle. "Where was she?" Van asked annoyedly as he spotted the sleeping Hitomi in Balgus arms, and wondered how she could have fallen asleep outside since it had started to rain and the three where both drenched.

"Not in her usual place." Balgus answered. "Behind the castle where the trees are."

"Thank you Balgus." Van said.

"It is my duty to protect the king and queen of Fanelia Van-Sama, no thanks is needed."

"No, just because…" Van said and then decided that it was best to change the subject. "We should get inside before we catch colds." Van said and Balgus agreed. No one asked why the three came inside way after dark or why they where all wet. Van would have snapped at them if anyone asked. Balgus laid the still wet Hitomi down on the bed.

"She needs to get changed." Balgus said. "Or she will catch a cold even though she is inside."

"I'll get one of her maids to do it." Van said and actually wondered at that point if she had any maids. "On second thought I'll just ask one of the maids to do it, I don't think she has her own actually…"

Balgus grinned at that. "A queen with out any maids, how unusual."

"Then again she is very unusual for a person, Balgus." Van said and the man left leaving the two alone. "What am I going to do with you Hitomi?" Van asked and ran his hand through Hitomi's wet hair. 'How am I going to explain this to the maid that I choose to undress her…' Van thought and finally found an excuse. He knew that they would have to talk about this in the morning when she woke up, as awkward as it would be it would have to be done. After quickly changing in to a pair of dry clothes he went out in to the hall and called one of the maids who was on duty.

When Hitomi woke up she realized that she was in her bedroom and in her nightgown. Her eyes widened as thoughts quickly came to mind to how she got here and who had changed her. Her eyes trailed over to the presence she now felt and now realized that it was Van. He sat in a chair next to the bed already clothed and was frowning at her. She quickly sat up. She couldn't face him now, not after what she had done. She could feel the heat rise to her cheeks as she looked at him. Van, oh gods, why did he have to look at her like that? Just looking in to his eyes made her melt in them. Was this love? No, she decided. Not really since this love was a one sided love. Van opened his mouth to say something but she was quicker. "I'm sorry about last night Van." Hitomi said. "It was a joke, I just wanted to see your reaction to it if I did actually kiss you." Hitomi forced herself to laugh. "It seems as if I had gotten the reaction that I expected to get." Her voice was somewhat cold, but then again why would she show any emotion now to the man who had rejected her completely.

"Hitomi…" Was all that Van had managed to say.

"It's a game that my friend Yukari and I use to play when we where little." She lied. "We always got in trouble for it when we where caught, kiss a boy to see his reaction." This wasn't a complete lie, it was Yukari who did the playing. "Yukari always got kicks out of it, I never found out why though." She finished. "Don't you have something else better to do today then to be hanging around someone like me?" Hitomi asked coldly which made Van just stare at her as if she wasn't even Hitomi. This was how she had to react around him now just so she wouldn't embarrass herself. Cold, distant, hateful, she didn't know the meaning of love so why should she show it to a man who had already rejected her completely.

"Hitomi…" Van said again.

"Go, other wise they'll come looking for you." Hitomi said trying her hardest not to let her true emotions show. She just wanted to be left alone, and Van being here wasn't helping anything since she wanted to be left alone. She was a loner, and she always would be, sure she had friends when she was a kid, but after that, well she didn't really have any any more. "It's late in the morning as is." Hitomi said and quickly stood up and grabbed one of the dresses not caring which one and walked to the bathroom so she would have an excuse to get away from him. Once in the bathroom she shut the door and held her back to it. She heard the bedroom door open and shut and she allowed herself to slide down and started to cry.

Things had just gotten from bad to worse in his and Hitomi's relationship. The festival/ball was a week away and right now they where on the verge of raising hell between one another. He didn't understand his wife, one moment she was saying that she loved him and the next minute she was saying that it was all just a joke. They seriously needed to talk about things. This was all his father's fault, that was for sure, because his father was the one who arranged this with King Tier. Van shook his head as he walked to the door to his office, it was going to be a long day.