Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Escaflowne: All you need is Love, Isn't it?

Chapter 51

Hitomi's Chambers in the Palace

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Sitting at the open bay window, Hitomi looked out over the city and sighed. She had hoped to spend part of the night staring up at the stars in Van's arms but that was not to be. The aid that delivered the king's message was unable to provide any details and despite her own desire to go to Van, she decided to listen to Merle, who recommended she wait to see him the next day as he had indicated in the message. The sun had long since gone down for the night and the moons were high in the sky, casting a surreal pale blue light upon the city. There wasn't much activity going on in the city streets. Most everyone had gone to sleep. Merle was already asleep now, having promised to get up early and join Hitomi on her run.

Sighing once again, the young teen turned and looked at her battery-powered alarm clock that was sitting on the dresser. 'It's late, I really should get to sleep.' She told herself then she slid down from the window and walked over to the dresser. She ran her hand over the intricately carved wood, and smiled.

The memory of Merle dragging Van and her around the Asturia shopping district came rushing back to her. Van had hinted at the prospect of replacing some of the functional but plain Fanelian furniture in the castle with the more ornate Asturian furniture. By chance they had ended up in the shop of a master carpenter who had many of his works in palaces all over Gaea. While all his work was normally custom designed and all handmade with orders taking anywhere from a few weeks to up to a year to complete, he was in the unusual position of having a houseful of furniture made and ready to sell.

He explained how a wealthy landowner had placed an order with him to have the home he had purchased for his daughter filled with furniture. The home and furnishings were to be his wedding gift to her, but two days before the furniture was to be picked up, her daughter ran off with a stable hand and fled the country. Furious, the wealthy landowner intended to have the furniture chopped up into kindling and burned along with the house he had build for his "ungrateful daughter". Hearing what the man planned to do with the furniture he had spent so much time and energy making, the carpenter refused to sell it to him, preferring to return to him the down payment he was given. In a moment of unusual generosity, the landowner told the carpenter he could keep the furniture and the down payment as long as he did not sell any of the pieces to anyone in Asturia. Being a man of the land, the rich man never left his homeland. So if the pieces were sold outside of his country's borders, he was assured of never having to lay eyes on them again, thus he would never be reminded of his daughter's rebellion. Agreeing to the arrangement, the carpenter had only managed to sell one piece, a large dinning room table in the past month. While he was accustomed to making furniture for foreigners, they always insisted on custom carvings featuring aspects of their homeland. Because of this he had been unable to sell the finished works.

That was until Merle took a look at them. She immediately fell in love with one of the bedroom sets and insisted that the other set be purchased for Hitomi's room. It didn't take much for her to convince Van to make the purchases. The teen smiled as she recalled the enthusiastic grin the catgirl had as she ran from piece to piece, admiring the craftsmanship and beauty of each piece. The dresser she was running her hand over had only been brought in that afternoon. All her belongings carefully moved from the old dresser to the new one by the handmaids that kept the rooms. Looking up she admired the frame around the mirror that was connected to the dresser. Supposedly this was the newest fashion in Asturia. While having a mirror over a vanity table was common, to have a mirror over a dresser was a very rare thing.

Shifting her gaze to the mirror, she studied her reflection and smiled as he looked at the nightgown she had on. While Fanelia was not known for their carpentry, they were known for their textiles. The gown was cream colored with brown trim. It had short puffy sleeves and a scooped neckline that stretched like elastic but she was sure there was no elastic in it. It had a similar elastic-like band just below her breasts and at the waist. She ran her hands over the fabric, 'Mmm, looks and feels like silk but it's warm and comfortable like flannel.'

Gradually her attention went from the gown itself to how she looked in the gown. 'Who ever designed this knew how to complement a woman's figure. With the puffy sleeves and waist band you'd think I had the perfect hourglass figure.' She mused as she held her arms away from her body.

Turning from side to side, she thought. 'And the gathering below the breast really makes them stand out. Even ones as small as mine.'

Turning to face the mirror once again, she thought out loud. "I wonder…"

She pulled on the neckline until she had it off her shoulders and slid it down just enough so she had some cleavage showing. Then she took a step back and curtsied low but kept her head up. "You called for me Lord Van."

Looking at her own reflection, she saw the adjustment she made produced the desired result. She straightened up and giggled. 'How would Van react if I gave him an eye full like that?'

Feeling quite silly all of a sudden she stepped forward and placed her hands on the dresser, leaned forward and arched her back. "Van, I think I may have something in my eye, can you check please." Then she fluttered her lashes.

She covered her mouth with her hands as she giggled louder this time.

"Oh, oh!" She reached down to the floor and grabbed the hem of the gown, holding it at one point; she raised it all the way up till the edge of her panties were visible at her right hip. Bending her right leg so it could clearly be seen she again leaned forward just a touch. "Van, I think I have a bruise on my hip, can you take a look?" She smiled wickedly at herself in the mirror.

Suddenly a thought occurred to her and she dropped the hem. "I'm not a tease."

She stared at herself in the mirror. "That would be a terrible thing to do to Van."

She quickly pulled the neckline back up over her shoulders and adjusted it so no cleavage was visible. "I love him, I don't want to play with his emotions."

A very serious expression appeared on her face. "That's not who you are, so don't even think about it."

She ran her hands over her face then looked at her reflection once again. "I can't believe I even acted like that."

Shaking her head, she turned away from the dressed and got in bed. "I'm tired. That's all. I was acting silly because I was tired."

Fluffing up her pillow, she continued. "That's my story, and I'm sticking with it."

Resting her head on the pillow she closed her eyes and hoped sleep would come quickly since thinking about what she had been doing was rapidly becoming too embarrassing to bear. Fortunately, the comfort of her bed, the pleasant Fanelia air and the stillness of the night worked their magic on her and she was asleep in less then a minute.

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AN: Believe it or not, I did not intend to write an entire chapter about Hitomi alone in her bedroom. It was just going to be a couple of paragraphs then move on to the next morning. But the more I wrote, the more I needed to write. I'm sure you've all experience that at one point or other in your writing.

Got to say though, I'm not at all unpleased with what I came up with. I find Hitomi such a pleasure to write for. She's not the most alluring or enticing female character in anime but she's so colorful with such wonderful depth. Those who haven't paid close attention to her in the series may think she's either just an overly cheerful, or overly melodramatic character but she has so many facets to her personality that it's a pleasure to watch the show over and over again just to find other little aspects of her persona that I may have missed before.

Anyway, hope this update was fast enough for everyone. ^_^ I had started writing my chapters a little longer but after it took me I think almost 4 or 5 days to do an update, I figured I'd go back to keeping them short. This way, as I have an idea I can write it and post it rather then try and fill in extra pages with filler. I think that's what happened to me a couple of chapters ago. I apologize for that. I gave you something that was not up to my usual standards and I genuinely regret that.

I hope you like this look at our heroine. Next up, Merle learns that there is running and then there is running. ^_^ Or Van finds out the good news or bad news. Haven't decided which to write yet.

Oh, by the way, before you start sending me comments like, "Her alarm clock wasn't on her list of things to take." Just remember I took you through the end of the list but I never said I started at the beginning of the list. ^_~ Nice way to cover my ass, don't you thing. ^_^

Thanks for you comments, critics, suggestions and words of encouragement. I cherish each and every one of them.

A. Amishi