What happens when it fades?

Chapter 25: Halloween Party

Once again Hitomi sat fidgeting in her film studies class, waiting for the lecture to end. On the upside the movie assigned for this weekend was Dracula. Any version was alright with the professor – their assignment this week was to analyze the way the director portrayed Dracula. He'd said something about the more versions they watched, the less repetitive the marking would be for him, or rather, for his markers. She shrugged, she was just curious to see what Dilandau's reaction would be to the whole concept of vampires. She checked the clock, thirty more seconds of this class. She willed the hands to move faster, slamming her notebook closed even before the professor was done talking.

"Hey Hitomi!" One of her friends called out as the class ended. "Here!" The brunette passed Hitomi a piece of paper, loudly exclaiming that she was holding a Halloween party that night. "You should come out." The girl said softly. "You never have any fun."

"O, but… I sort of have plans." Hitomi replied slowly, pulling her backpack up onto her shoulder.

"Really?" The brunette said with a knowing smile. "Finally going on a date?"

"No!" Hitomi exclaimed. "Not at all. It's just watching a movie with my roommate."

"Aren't you the one with the gorgeous roommate?" The brunette asked with a smile, tilting her head to the side. "You should bring him along too." She gave Hitomi a wink, and left the lecture hall. Hitomi let out a long sigh. What fun would a party be without Van?

Hitomi played with the remote, waiting for Dilandau to finish making popcorn. He'd been adamant that if this was to be a regular thing, they needed popcorn. She rolled her eyes. "Hurry up or I'll start the movie without you." She called in the direction of the kitchen.

"You never told me there was a party!" She heard him exclaim.

"Damnit." She muttered under her breathe, her head sinking down onto a cushion she held on her lap. "I'm not going." She called out, her voice muffled by the cushion.

"But you should get out more!" Dilandau said brightly, wandering into the living room, holding the dreaded party flyer. He pulled her up off the couch. "And this is perfect! I'll even take you there."

Hitomi sighed, "Don't bother. You're invited too. It seems everyone I know has heard about my so-called gorgeous roommate."

Dilandau smirked. "Of course they have."

Hitomi stared at her reflection in the mirror. She tugged at the hem of her skirt. Dilandau had dragged her into her room, and rifled through her closet, occasionally tossing things at her. He'd left with a smirk on his face. She sighed. There was no denying the fact that she looked good. But she hadn't worn this skirt in years, and while it had always been short, now it was ridiculously so. And the top was off the shoulder, revealing more skin than she would have liked. And she'd completely forgotten about these boots.

She looked down her reflection to take in the knee-high black faux-leather boots with their stiletto heels. She seemed to remember buying them on a dare from Yukari back in grade 12. She'd never worn them, especially not after her younger brother caught sight of them and ran around the house declaring to her parents she'd bought "hooker boots".

"Dilandau!" she hollered. "I look like a whore!"

Dilandau appeared silently in her doorway. Mentally, he suppressed a whistle, and drooling, and various other outward signs of how good she looked. Skanky, yes. But it was Halloween. And even nice girls are allowed to dress skanky on Halloween. He shook his head. Several months catering to the whims of twelve year olds had done nothing for his vocabulary.

"You look good." He said smoothly, grabbing her arm. "And don't forget its Halloween. You'll get to this party and feel overdressed."

Hitomi sighed. "At least let me grab a coat."

They caught a bus heading in the direction of the party. Hitomi gazed sideways at Dilandau. She couldn't help but notice how good he looked. Sure he looked good in business shirts and dress pants, but there was something about him in tight black t-shirts and black leather pants. Perhaps it was just the fact that he was the only person she'd ever known who could actually pull it off. She smirked, pulling her coat closer around herself. She attempted to ignore the looks of the punk teenagers at the back of the bus who were gazing hungrily at her legs in her tight black boots.

Dilandau gazed around the bus disinterestedly. It was ridiculous how used to public transportation he'd become: every day to and from the office. He shook his head, who would ever have seen him with enough patience to handle being packed like a sardine into buses and trains?

He noticed a group of teenagers staring wolfishly at Hitomi. He smirked, they'd attempted to dress in black and leather, and such. He shook his head, they looked rather trashy, especially when set beside himself. He stood up slowly, seating himself beside Hitomi, between her and the wolfish punks. He made sure to give them a disinterested glare. One that told them he could snap their necks in a second without a second thought. He smiled, they rather avoided looking in Hitomi's direction after that.

"What was that for?" Hitomi hissed at him as they stepped off the bus.

"What was what?" He asked, a smirk on his lips.

"I don't need protecting you know." She sulked. "I'm fully capable of looking after myself."

"Really?" Dilandau said, raising an eyebrow teasingly. "You mean they didn't intimidate you in the least?"

Hitomi glared at him. "Well," she said sweetly, "You don't intimidate me in the least, so why should they?" They entered the house the party was being held at and Hitomi stalked off in the opposite direction from him. Dilandau sighed. There was no winning with that girl.

Hitomi wandered over to the punchbowl, saying hi to people as she passed them. She recognized them from class, and a few from track, but she was rather sorry to admit she didn't actually know the names of most of them. She'd rather avoided going out up until now. After all, what was the point when Van was far away? She'd rather be with him than anyone else, right? And she had a few good friends, and she wasn't really much of a partier, so what was the point really?

She sighed, pouring herself a cup of punch. She had to admit though, it made situations like this more than a little uncomfortable. She scrunched up her face momentarily at the strong taste of alcohol in the punch. She shook her head, people her age always went so overboard with alcohol, she couldn't understand why in the least.

Dilandau wandered around the party, attempting to not look like he was looking for Hitomi, even though he was. It was ego-boosting to have half a dozen girls flirting with him, but when all he could think about was Hitomi, it didn't really mean much. Even when trapt in a conversation, it only took a few moments for his imagination to replace the girl he was talking with with Hitomi. Black and brown hair became her honey brown. Blue and brown eyes transformed to green in the back of his mind, and he wished, wished so badly, that it could be her flirting with him.

He shook his head, first off, Hitomi wasn't the type to flirt. Secondly, she was so much less shallow than all these people. All they were seeing was his spiked silver hair, and the leather pants. They didn't want to know him as a person, and Hitomi could never be like that.

The music got louder, and he finally spotted her, standing a little lonely by the punch bowl, sipping a cup of something. He walked over to her. "Having fun?" he asked her softly.

Hitomi rolled her eyes, "Tons. Time of my life." She downed the rest of the cup and poured herself another.

Dilandau watched her suspiciously. "You realize that the punch is spiked right?"

"Good." She replied curtly, downing this cup without any pretext of sipping, just to piss him off.

"How much have you had?" He asked her, getting a little worried for her.

"None of your business." She said, brushing past him to melt into the crowds. "I told you I don't need you to look after me."

Dilandau sighed. What was she so pissed off about? Maybe he should have just let her stay home. Sitting on the couch arguing about how ridiculous a movie was, was far more enjoyable than this any day. He couldn't even remember the last time she'd been angry at him, and now he couldn't even figure out why she was so upset.

He wandered outside. He was sick of the loud noise and annoying girls throwing themselves at him. He only wanted one girl, the one who didn't want him. The one who was engaged to his worst enemy. He sighed, leaning his forehead against the wall of the house, letting the cool brick of the house suck the warmth away from him.

'She won't love you.' He heard Celena's voice trickle into his brain.

Who won't love me? He said calmly, praying to himself that he hadn't let the walls in his head crumble. Begging the stars that Celena didn't know…

'Hitomi. She's getting married to Van, dumbass.' Dilandau winced at the harshness in Celena's voice. It was almost as if she was hurt by this revelation.

It's…I'm not… Dilandau stammered. He didn't know what to say, He wasn't ready for anyone to know how he felt about Hitomi. Some days he still couldn't figure out what it was he felt exactly.

He felt Celena sigh. Of course she's hurt, he realized. She works for Van. She's best friends with Hitomi. Her world only makes sense with Hitomi going back there to be queen.

Celena let his thoughts wash over her, sifting through them for his reactions. She shook her head. He was clueless. Which was good, she supposed. She didn't want him knowing that the real reason this bugged her so much was that she loved him herself. It was just that Hitomi got everyone. She still had Allen wrapped around her little finger if she could only figure it out, she was engaged to Van, and now she'd stolen Dilandau. Someone who for three years had been Celena's alone. She sighed. How could one girl be so lucky?

She wanted to ask what it was Hitomi had that she didn't. That no girl did. What made the green-eyed girl so special? What made her so perfect, that she belonged on some pedestal of worship. But she bite her lip, feeling instead ashamed that she should feel so jealous of her friend, her future queen.

I gotta go. Dilandau's voice echoed suddenly in her head.

'Why?' She asked softly, her voice seeming so much harsher than she'd intended.

I think something's wrong with Hitomi. Dilandau sounded rather nervous at the moment. Celena started to say something only to realize he wasn't there in her head anymore. She growled deep in her throat.

Dilandau stared through the glass doors leading into the living room of the house. He pulled the door open, moving like a cat into the house, surprised by the sudden heat generated by so many bodies moving to the music. His eyes never moved from the strange sight before him however. He tapped a young man on the shoulder, distracting him from the girl he was passionately making out with. The young man started to protest Dilandau's actions, but Dilandau was focused only on the girl.

Hitomi stood in shock. What had she just done? Her mind was rather blurry, but she could see Dilandau staring at her in shock. "I think we'd better go home now." She heard him say softly, extending his hand towards her. Numbly, she nodded, allowing him to lead her out of the party, to the bus stop.

She said nothing on the bus, instead trying to focus. Trying to make sense of what her mind was telling her in screaming tones. What had happened exactly? She remembered stalking away from Dilly at the punch bowl. She remembered him asking her how many cups of punch she'd had, and how she'd gotten angry, not at him, but at herself because it was then that she'd realized that she had lost count.

The room had become a bit swirly then she thought softly. And then there was just the lonely feeling she had. She'd looked around the room and seen couples kissing and dancing everywhere, and she'd missed Van. And then someone had asked her to dance. And it had felt so right to sink into a man's arms. She couldn't remember who had initiated the kiss.

She hung her head and held it in her hands. She didn't feel good. But she wasn't sure if it was her body or her head, that was screaming louder at her stupidity. She wanted to cry. She felt Dilandau rubbing her back absentmindedly. She felt him lead her off the bus, and into the apartment building. That was when the tears started to fall.

She choked softly as Dilandau sat her down on the couch in their apartment. She turned onto her side and curled into a fetal position. The tears continued falling, her sobs came out choked.

She felt Dilandau shift awkwardly beside her on the couch. "Do you want some water or something?" She heard him ask distantly.

She turned to him and tried to force her breathing back to normal. "I… I…" She choked and started sobbing again, folding herself into Dilandau startled arms. "I cheated on Van!"

Dilandau sat there frozen, holding a sobbing Hitomi in his arms. "Maybe we should've just watched Dracula." He murmured softly into her hair, chewing softly on his lip, unsure of what to do now.

Sorry for the cliffy – but if I keep writing this chapter will be twice as long as previous ones.

:) YAY!!! I've officially gotten over 100 reviews – you guys are all awesome! I love reading them. Oh, and some quick replies to a few:

Kitsune6 – I just love playing with Hitomi's subconscious. I've always been of the opinion that since she's somewhat psychic, her subconscious may be at times stronger than her conscious mind. :P

Litschi – I promise. Keep a look out for chapter 28 or 29. ;)

Everyone else – I'm just so happy you like it. I'll try to keep updating as fast as I can get time to write.