Disclaimer: If anyone knows how I can become the owner of Esca, send me a line so that I can skip this part next time! *sighs*

Thank you soo much to everybody who reviewed!!  ^_^ replies at the end of the chapter.

Emmm… a short note before the long writing… please all Allen haters, don't kill me for what follows, I promise I'll make it up for you in good time *sweatdrops* It is quite longer than the prologue, just hope that you don't mind so plz give it a try ^^!!! Ah… and also plz forgive any mistakes you may find around here *cough cough* still working on that *uneasy laughter*

Natsu no E ~ Picture of Summer

~Chapter 1. Breakdown~

Someday my prince will come
Someday we'll meet again
And away to his castle we'll go
To be happy forever I know
Someday when spring is here
We'll find her love anew
And the birds will sing and wedding bells will ring
Someday when my dreams come true

Ayumi Hamasaki, "Someday my prince will come"

~~~

He walked down the street heading for his house, at just a five-minute walk from where he was now.

A line of huge detached houses and chalets stood neatly in place, with huge green gardens closed by low wooden fences or hedges in some cases. Trees shaded the road ahead him, and a bunch of kids riding bright and expensive bicycles rode pass him, absorbed in a race game down the street.

He whistled while strolling nonchalantly with his hands in his pockets and his schoolbag, now half empty, swinging lightly, hanging from his left shoulder. His fingers played with a folded letter in his trousers' back pocket, smiling absentmindedly as he did so.

Another love letter. Again in his locker at high school.

And, again, remained unnoticed until Jajuka came to the rescue of the poor piece of paper and made him notice it, stuffed between his math book and history notes photocopied from his friend's.

"Seems that girls know how to make the most of their time at school before having you gone to some small village for the whole summer" Jajuka had joked, and Van, a faint blush staining his sun-colored cheeks, had shrugged, trying to play it down. They noticed a group of girls a few meters away from where they were standing, one of them hiding her face behind a locker door, and the other five ones giggling and shooting side glances to them all the time. Van gulped and clumsily unfolded the note, reading through it quickly.

"It's from Miyuki" he murmured, and Jajuka let out a long whistling sound.

"Miyuki Sato, you mean that babe in class C? Oh, Van, you could at least leave some for the rest!" his friend poked him in the ribs, and the raven haired boy at his side frowned, the girl called Miyuki still peeking over the locker door to see if her letter had had any positive effect. It was their last day at school, and all her friends had encouraged her to make a move on the most popular guy in the whole place. Van Slanzar Fanel, 1 A, was really an institution in Hispano High School, but he had never dated a girl in his life, and nobody knew about any love conquests in discos and similar places.

When the coal black haired youth threw his last notebooks and schoolbooks in his bag and turned to leave with Jajuka, the girls knew that the letter's purpose had failed.

Van felt really sorry for all the girls that kept sending him love notes and such things all the time, but he truly liked none of them. In his school, a posh place where you were looked down on if the clothes you were wearing weren't considered classy of stylish enough, he hadn't found the kind of girl he was looking for. Jajuka had asked him many times what was she like, but he simply didn't know yet. "I'll know when I meet her" he had told him back then.

Poor Miyuki, I hope she's alright he thought, shoving the paper back into his pocket and checking his watch. Okay, half an hour and I'm off to kendo practice he planned, sighing. At last, holidays!!

It had been a very tough year, the year before college, having to pick up a major and decide what degree he was going to study, and where… and his parents were tearing their hair out because he still didn't know.

Well, Jaira spends her whole life doing that he chuckled, referring to his stepmother. She complained about him nor his brother having found any girlfriend yet, about his dad for not having changed his job for anything better, about Merle quitting her ballet classes… and the list went on and on, up to complains about the massive whale fishing in Japan and Norway, global warming, or the sudden rise of the prices in her favorite boutique.

He dodged a soccer ball flying centimeters away from his face, and then sent it with a powerful kick back to the Godashim's house, where it had come from. A blond mop of hair peeped from behind a low white fence.

"Thanks, Van!!" a childish voice said, and he smiled, walking up to the wooden planks and tousling the little boy's hair.

"Be more careful next time, okay?" he said, and the boy with big blue eyes smiled, letting Van admire two holes in his white teeth. "Whoa, lost other two, Chid?" the raven haired youth smiled, and the kid nodded solemnly.

"Yeah. Mom said that if I put them tonight under my bed pillow a fairy will come and leave me a present" he beamed, and Van chuckled.

"That's right. And tomorrow you'll tell me what you were given?" he smiled.

"Of course! But mamma said that you're going away on Monday, is it true, Van??" the small kid asked, and he smiled softly. He had grown very fond of the five-year-old kid.

"Yes, I'm going for the summer, but don't worry, I'll bring you a present back" he promised, and Chid smiled, calming down a bit.

He heard his stepmother's shout greeting him from the garden next to Chid's, and after rushing to say good bye to the blue eyed kid that was his neighbor, he ran up the emerald green lawn in front of his house, saying hello to Jaira, who was mowing the grass as the sprinklers showered tiny water drops all over her.

Hm, I could do with a shower like that now he smiled, his face flushed from the run, taking a deep breath when he closed the main door, leaving the heat outside. From the half open kitchen window, the tall brunette woman's voice in the lawn called him.

"Van! Don't forget to phone back your flute teacher! Do you remember that he called yesterday while you were at team practice at school?" Jaira shouted, and the raven haired boy nodded as he eased himself a glass of water from a jug in the fridge.

"Yeah, don't worry, I'll call in a second" he assured her, and the ran upstairs to his room. Finally. Out of school. No more exams bugging him, no more snooping teachers bossing him around. He had freedom for two wonderful months. Only that he was going to spend them somewhere miles and miles away from what he knew, from his friends.

He dropped his schoolbag on the bed mattress and turned on his computer. His dad had told him that, 'of course', he couldn't bring along with him his playstation to that small village where they were going to spend their holidays, but Goau had told him that the girl in the house had a computer, so he just hoped that she'd let him use it.

He was actually a little bit nervous about all this: he knew that in a small town like Fanelia they would be the main attraction, some kind of exotic people to talk about and gossip during long summer evenings at the local pub. He had never been very sociable, and he was a little apprehensive about having to start from zero and make new friends if he didn't want to live like a hermit for the whole summer.

And then, there was the girl living with them. Will she be nice? And she's my same age… he gulped. Would she be friendly? He fervently hoped that she was, and then maybe she could introduce him to the rest of young people around; Van did know that coming from a very posh district in the capital wouldn't make his staying there easy, but if he could stand on the girl's side, he at least would have some chance to enjoy himself over the summer.

I bet she must be nice if she's to take care of Merle… and will she be pretty too? he wondered, blushing. The idea of living with a beautiful girl for two months didn't sound horrible at all…

Of course, it can happen, and it cannot… perhaps she's not pretty, but very nice. That would be okay too…

He checked his watch again, and realized it was past time to get ready for kendô practice, so he scribbled down a note for her sister warning her not to download and install rubbish on his computer while he was away, instead of playing cards or chatting, as she always claimed to be doing, and picked his practice clothes, leaving for the gym. Other two days, and his real holidays were going to start.

***

She was sitting on the cold stone balustrade, her head tilted backwards against the wall and her eyes lost in the night sky above her. A soft breeze had swept away the heat of the day, and there wasn't a single cloud in the clear blue, hundreds of starts twinkling, as if they were winking at her.

Hitomi was aching all over because of the hard day of work she'd had, just to start cleaning up the house. The newcomers would arrive in two days' time, and there was still lots of work to be done.

Her mother had driven her up to Fanelia, while Mamoru and her dad had stayed at their flat in the city, as her little brother had a match tomorrow morning and he was all excited about it.

I didn't get to see him she sighed, rather disappointed. She had phoned Serena again to tell her that she was coming over, but she had had to spend the whole afternoon at her grandparents' house, down in the village, and she had been cursing her bad luck, sure that Allen and the others had come to visit her and had found nobody at The Sparrow.

Just my bad, bad luck she told herself with a sigh, mentally recalling what her day had been like. First, cleaning non stop all the bedrooms in the house, four actually, and the studying room….

~"Okay, now tell me: who are they?" she had asked plainly, and her mother, Sachiko, smiled at her daughter's vehemence, as she smoothened some crinkles on the bed sheets she had just made.

"As I told you, the Fanel family comes from Escaflowne…" she started, and Hitomi cut her off with an impatient gesture.

"Yeah, you told me that, Irini nevertheless. How come we got some snobs to come here, I thought that this place wasn't precisely a tourist spot! That's over Arzas Beach, isn't it? And how did they happen to know about the Sparrow? And-"

"Hitomi, dear, I can't answer so many questions at the same time! For heaven's sake, wait a second and I'll tell you" her mother chuckled, as her daughter dusted a book case irritably. "It seems that the mother of the boys had been here when she was a child, and remembered the place, so when she asked for some house to rent over here, they gave them our phone number, and that's the end of the story" Sachiko calmly moved on to the next room, and opened the shutters to let the warm sunrays in. Hitomi followed, still frowning a bit.

"All right… and who are they, how many are they, what am I supposed to do with them!?" she inquired again, pouting loudly. Her mother shook her head with a sweet smile and sighed.

"Ah, dear, don't worry, they aren't going to blow up the house!" she chuckled, and the green eyed girl snorted, starting to sweep the dusty floor. "I think they must be very nice… they have three kids, the mother told me that the eldest is studying Genetic Engineering at the Phytia Superior Studies University" Sachiko explained, and Hitomi rolled her eyes. "The middle one is about your age, so you should get on well with him, and the last one is thirteen and her name's Merle. She's the girl you'll have to take care of" she smiled, but her daughter didn't look so happy.

"Oooh lovely, I bet she'll be a spoiled and greedy child who will complain about everything" she muttered.

"Hitomi, I want you to be nice to them, we've already been through this" warned Sachiko with a grave look in her blue eyes, and she waved her hand hurriedly.

"Yeah, yeah I know" she sighed, taking some more sheets from the wardrobe to make the double bed in the room.~

A shooting star crossed the sky for a moment, and she closed her eyes. I wish… I wish to be with him again; then she opened her green pools again; at her right side, in the distance could be seen the silhouette of a beautiful mountain rimmed in the moonlight, beyond the shades and murmurs of the dark shadows trees that were before her eyes. There was a forest beginning a few meters away from the house, now waving and sighing as the wind rustled through their fresh green leafs.

Turning her emerald eyes to the other side, she spotted the silver glimmer of the waves crowned with foam and touched by moonlight, the small part of the bay that could be seen among the trees surrounding the house.

Soft music was playing inside the room connected to the terrace where she was; she sighed once more, feeling relaxed and intensely happy. She felt at home there.

Suppressing a yawn, she stretched and went into the room, her bare foot making no sound on the tiled floor. The coldness of the tiles was a like a blessing, she had always loved walking barefooted, but her mother was always complaining about it. Just wearing a sleeveless undergarment shirt she had sneaked out of his dad's bedroom back in Astria, she took a seat in front of the computer screen, changed the song that was playing, and then connected to the net to check her mailbox.

Humming softly the melody that was on, she typed quickly her username and password, and then clicked to log in.

There were five mails for her to be read. It was always thrilling to open her inbox and find out who had written her the e-mails, but many times it was just the kind of rubbish publicity mails you throw to the bin without even reading them. She grunted.

Two useless ones this time she thought, at she checked in the boxes next to them to delete them, and then moved on to the other ones.

One was from her aunt, who was traveling only god knew where to this time and always sent her favorite nephew some electronic postcards or pictures. Greece this time, wasn't it? the green eyed girl smiled.

Next one was from Eriya, who, along with her elder sister, Naria, had been her neighbors in Fanelia all her life. As the two of them had gone to study abroad, they also kept in touch by mail.

She smiled when she read that the twins would be coming by the middle of July, and then opened the last one:

"From: yukari_rulz@yahoo.com

To: k_hitomi@ryuunet.com

SUBJECT: I'm coming!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Date: Sat, 26 Jun 20:13:37

Hiyaaa girl!!!!!!

Heeeey know what??? I told my dad if we could come to Fanelia for a few weeks or maybe a month this summer, and he said YES!!!!!!!! So I'm coming in a week or so, and don't worry I'll kick that Allen's butt for making you cry! Yes, that we'll do!! How are things going over there? Now mom is all the time bugging me, saying that if you got such good marks and have to work all summer I should be working all summer and all school time as well ù_ú so tell your mother I'm gonna eat her alive when I see her!!

'K, I'm off to get a film to watch tonight, I'll phone you tomorrow maybe, I tried this afternoon but you weren't home so I wrote this. Aw, well, c u around!

Lots of luv ^_~

Yukari"

Hitomi smiled; she had met Yukari at boarding school, and they had been friends since the very first day of school. Her friend was bubbly, outgoing and very fun to be with, and she had helped her a lot that year…

The girl with emerald eyes sighed and dropped on the small bed placed in the side of the room opposite the terrace. It was a spare bed, as that was the room that was used when she decided to invite her friends over to have a summer party, or just to have a long talk until three in the morning before going to bed. But there had also happened other many things in that room, in the terrace, in the stairs which led down to the porch…

Yeah, right, kick his butt… she repeated mentally, her eyes saddening.

Last summer had been the best summer of her entire life, and she had hoped it never to have an end. But everything does, and hers came much earlier than expected.

Why, why did he have to split up with me? she asked herself once more, a question repeated a thousand times over the past months.

She still remembered how it had happened…

~ She had been in her bedroom, in Astria, first day of the weekend, and she was going to enjoy it a lot. Allen had told her that he was going to visit her and they would go at the movies, and then maybe eat out at some restaurant, or just junk food, she really didn't mind what they did, as long as she got to be with him.

And then the phone rang; she heard her mother picking up the receiver from the hall:

"Hello? Oh, yes, hi, Allen. Yes, Hitomi is here. Wait a second, I'll call her. How are you all over there? Everything fine?"

She jumped to her feet, rushing to the hall to tell her mother that she would answer the call from her room, and bumped into her brother, who started making strange noises like kissing, 'uuuuhhs' and similar things. Hitomi smacked him over the head with a grin and after asking her mum to hang up the phone, she ran back to her room and hurried to the receiver with a huge smile plastered in her face. Only that, it didn't last long…

'You called yesterday to basically say

That you care for me but that you're just not in love

Immediately I pretended to be feeling similarly

And led you to believe I was O.K.

To just walk away from the one thing

That's unyielding and sacred to me'

She hung up the receiver in silence after a short 'Yes, don't worry about me. Take care you too. Good bye'. Suddenly the room wasn't bright anymore, and she sighed deeply, trying to calm herself. Come on, Hitomi, breathe. You can do it she told herself. Her mother's voice rang from the kitchen this time, she could tell.

"Hitomi, dear, where are you two going this evening? You know I want you back home before one" she reminded her daughter, and she gulped the lump in her throat.

"I-I don't know mum. I'll have the cell phone with me" she said out loud, her mind still whirling in shock. It couldn't be. It wasn't possible…

She immediately picked up the phone again and dialed Yukari's number. Her friend's cheerful voice greeted her and instantly agreed to go for a shopping session that afternoon.

"But wait, weren't you supposed to go out with Allen tonight?" the red head then asked, slightly puzzled. Hitomi had been talking all week about that eve's date, and now she was canceling it? That easy?

"Uuh… he couldn't make it this evening" the green eyed girl lied. "Would it be okay to meet in half an hour in front of the Shopping Center?"

"Sure. See you later then."

I'm okay, I'm all right. I can get through this she kept telling herself at her friend's side, who was commenting something about the sales in the shops around them.

"Hitomi, are you okay? You look terribly pale" Yukari interrupted her list to take a concerned look at the green eyed girl's features, and she smiled, waving her hand.

"Yes, of course, why shouldn't I be okay?" she said, forcing her voice to sound cheerful, but she couldn't fool the red head.

"Hey, tell me what's wrong. Is it Allen and this mysterious call off of your date with him?" she said, and Hitomi dropped her eyes to the ground and smiled sadly.

Right as always she thought. "Is it so obvious?" she sighed, sitting on a bench next to a tall shrub in a big clay pot. Yukari laughed,

"Only to me, 'cause I know you all too well. How could it be any other way if we spend 24 hours a day, five days a week, living together?!" she said, and Hitomi grinned. "So, tell me what happened" she asked, and her green eyed friend was silent for a few seconds.

"We split up."

"You-what??! Oh Hitomi, I'm so sorry…" Yukari started, slipping her arm over her friend's shoulders. "He's the most stupid guy I know, such a big jerk! Don't worry Hitomi, he wasn't half as good as you deserve!"

The blond girl put on a bright smile on her face, and turned to Yukari. "Yeah, you're right. I'm quite fine, don't worry about me" she added cheerfully… rather too cheerfully, she did know, but she couldn't help it, it was the best she could do at the moment… "What about going to that shop over there? Weren't you looking for a pair of jeans you told me before? There are jeans sales there" she pointed with her finger over a large boutique next to a news agency, and dragged her friend over there, trying to forget for a while Allen and what had happened. She could cope with it, she was strong enough to.

'Well I guess I'm trying to be nonchalant about it

and I'm going to extremes to prove I'm fine without you

But in reality I'm slowly losing my mind

Underneath the disguise of a smile gradually I'm dying inside

Friends ask me how I feel and I lie convincingly

'Cause I don't want to reveal the fact that I'm suffering

so I wear my disguise 'til I go home at night

and turn down all the lights and then I break down and cry.'

She came back home at ten o'clock because she knew that there wouldn't be anybody in the house: her dad was working because he had a night shift that day, and her mother and Mamoru were out to a parent reunion in her little brother's school until eleven.

The lights were all off, and the closed the door and left the bunch of keys on the key drawer. She stood with her back on the door, leaning as if looking for support, and then walked to her room serenely, the house still dark. For once, Hitomi didn't feel like switching on the lights, because that way the tears that were starting to spill from her green eyes would remain in the darkness.

Closing her room's door behind her, she threw herself on the soft mattress and hugged her pillow wildly. She turned on her cd player, and finally then, lulled by the song echoing through the empty house, she gave in to the sorrow filling her. Sobs escaped from her lips and shook her body violently, tears spilling over the creamy yellow bed sheets.

Allen had left her. And it had been so simple. She just couldn't believe that starting a relationship could be so difficult, while as ending it could take just a few words in a phone call. Why has he split up with me? Why? the questions rang in her mind, feeling horribly guilty. What, what did I do wrong?

She had know him all her life, as they lived in the same neighborhood in the outskirts of Fanelia, and Hitomi went to the same class with him, as well as with his twin brother, Susumu. And she had always liked him, she couldn't remember a time before that. Maybe it was his blond hair and blue eyes, or his warm smile, or maybe the sweetness and care he had shown for her since they were small kids. Allen had always protected her as well as her little sister. Intelligent, very good-looking and terribly popular among girls, she had treasured her love for him secretly, hoping that some day she would summon up courage to tell him how she felt.

It was then when they had to move to Astria, and Hitomi thought that all was lost. But last summer, a miracle had happened. He had asked her out.

And I thought that I was dreaming she smiled, a bittersweet feeling inside her chest. It had been the best summer of her life, her dream come true. But, of course, September came and she had to go back to boarding school. She still remembered his good bye. He had told her that distance wasn't important, that they could make it and wait for another long and wonderful summer to be together again.

And he had called her, they had met from time to time when he could come down to Astria, and she had thought that everything was alright.

But it seems that it wasn't she choked back a sob, closing her eyes and sniffing loudly. I wasn't alright for him… I wasn't enough

'So what do you do when somebody you're devoted to

Suddenly just stops loving you and it seems that they haven't got a clue

Of the pain that rejection is putting you through

Do you cling to your pride and sing "I will survive"

Do you lash out and say "How dare you leave this way"

Do you hold on in vain as they just slip away'

Guilt and pain hadn't faded away yet. Five months since they had split up, and she was still hurting inside, still hopelessly in love with him, and mad at herself for being so. She wiped back a tear and clicked on the 'Reply' button.

"From: k_hitomi@ryuunet.com

To: yukari_rulz@yahoo.com

SUBJECT: Re: I'm coming!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Date: Sat, 26 Jun 23:25:43

Great news!

Long to have you here already. Things going fine over here, just wrecked from so much house cleaning. Looking forward to some butt-kicking ;·) that'd be nice. Fanel snobs coming over Monday, I'll keep you informed.

Hope you get a nice film, I'm going to bed 'cause I'm terribly tired and tomorrow I've got to finish all this and my mum's going back home. I'll phone you maybe in the evening. Till then, wonder girl, sweet dreams love.

Hitomi"

***

One day.

She was nervous.

One day and they were coming.

Oh gods, I can't do this, I can't do this!!! she frantically thought, while cleaning a window which was paint-stained.

"Hitomi, you're rubbing the wooden part, darling" Sachiko told her sweetly, and her daughter realized that, in fact, she was.

"Sorry mum, I just had my mind somewhere else" she hastily said, concentrating again on the window glass. "When did you say they were going to come around?" she asked for the hundredth time through the weekend. Her mother smiled.

"Tomorrow at twelve o'clock, you've been asking me that same question ten times per minute! Darling, is anything wrong? You're terribly nervous. Maybe you should take a break" she suggested, and Hitomi shook her head with a smile.

"Don't worry, Serena just phoned a while ago and said that they would show up in ten minutes or so to go to the beach all together" she explained, feeling butterflies in her stomach. She was going to see Allen again. Was she to slap his face, to break down and cry at his feet, or simply ignore him? Or maybe act as if nothing had happened at all between them? Just friends again?

Well, that's what he told me on the phone when we split up she mused, lost in her thoughts.

"Dear, the window…" her mother's voice made her feel that she had been cleaning again the wrong part, and corrected her position immediately.

Actually, will I look good? I mean, I'm like last year? Will I go in a plain swimming tug, a two part one…?

"Hitomi, love, come on, go and get ready. Anyway, you won't get over that window, I can see it perfectly" Sachiko told her daughter, who sweatdropped, her cleaning cloth again on the wooden surface. She beamed to her mother and ran to the huge staircase, as next to it there was the door to the porch. She was going to have to sleep in a different place, because all the bedrooms were left for the family staying in: one for the couple, and one for each one of the children. And so, she was to sleep in a room completely aisled from the house, with only one door, and that door was in the porch. She picked the old key from her back pocket, opened the lock and stepped inside. A large bed and a wardrobe, along with a big wooden desk, a chair and a chest of drawers, was the room's furniture. She didn't need more though, she smiled, opening one of the drawers and sitting in front of the small mirror on top of it. She looked good, she told herself, but do I look good enough for Allen?

Stop it right now Hitomi Kanzaki!! I'm over him, remember? she scolded herself; she was sweating because of working in the house all day, dressed in a simple grey T-shirt down to her knees. Now I'm not going to wear something special for him, you don't fancy him for heaven's sake! she brushed her golden brown hair, cut short for the summer. That was what she had told everybody here, but she had cut it short five months ago, and wanted to keep it like that to remind herself of what she had done it for… In fact, it had been Yukari's idea, telling her that girls always cut their hair when they want to start a new stage in their lives and forget an old love. So far it wasn't working too much, but she had kept trying, just in case someday did.

"Hitomiiiiii!!!!" Serena's voice could be clearly heard even from the backside porch where she was. She looked at herself with a horrified expression on her face, I'm not even wearing my swimming tug!!! her mind was shouting, as she grabbed the first one she found in the drawer, eased herself into it, threw the T-shirt on her bed to get into the tug completely, just to run wildly to the line where her towel was drying, hanging between two big almond trees a few meters away from her room.

"Coming!!!" she shouted, running and at the same time trying to get into a clean T-shirt, again two sizes bigger than what she actually needed.

Hitomi ran past the porch, the lounge door and the kitchen window to the path full of stones that led to the entrance gate, flanked by the oak forest at her left, and by a huge oak tree at the right.

There, behind the green bars, stood Serena smiling widely, wearing a blue summer dress and a pair of sunglasses hiding her big blue eyes. Behind her, Susumu, although everybody called him by his middle name, Amano. Hitomi's heart sunk a little at the sight of the features of the boy, exactly the same as his twin's… Allen. And there he was, blond hair and blue eyes with the same spark in them that she remembered. You haven't changed the very single bit, Allen she sighed, while getting to the gates and opening them skillfully. She greeted them all with a smile, as Serena trapped her in a bear hug, and both twin brothers kissed her on both cheeks.

She didn't have time to think that in the end she had dressed with the first thing she'd come across, to realize that her hair was disheveled and her breath caught. Allen. Again. After five months, him again.

They walked down the lane to the crossroad, in the middle of which a huge pine tree stood, four different roads coming together: one led to Fanelia, the other one to the bunch of houses where the Schezars lived, the one they were walking now, and the last one, the one they were to follow. It led to a lovely sand beach, and the meeting point for all young people around the place.

She smiled, not really listening to the chit chat held by Allen and Amano involving surf and water skiing that summer, feeling just wonderful at the moment. It was odd how a strange kind of happiness always flooded her every time she was with him. Serena took her hand and looked at her with concerned eyes.

"You okay?" she whispered, and Hitomi nodded with a bright smile.

"I'm over it, remember? I'm happy now, just like this" she assured her friend, as they walked on. And, anyway, with the Fanel people at home, I hope I won't have time to think about him so much! she sighed, as they made their way down the white sanded beach.

***

"Check time: half past eleven" she said out loud, walking up and down the lounge. "Mum long gone, half a hour for those people to come" she murmured.

Sachiko had left the house that very same morning, very early, telling Hitomi to be nice and polite to the Fanels, brush up the last house corners, check the bedrooms, the kitchen, the wardrobes… and the gree eyed girl had had to "kick" her out of the house with a smile and a "Mum: I know. Now stop worrying and go, or you'll get on dad's nerves!".

And now, the limit time approaching, she felt as if she was made of jelly.

She gave another look to her outfit: a pair of shorts and a plain green sleeveless T-shirt, clinging to her curves and enhancing her natural beauty. Hair kept out of her face with a white hair band, a pair of sandals in her feet.

Then she ran to the upper floor, to check once again all the rooms, at the end of the corridor, and the studying room, the door immediately at the left of the staircase, where the passage started.

All okay she told herself, trying to calm down. Hmm… what about a cold shower, Hitomi? she playfully thought, going downstairs slowly and heading for the bathroom in the garage. They always went into the house through the garage, as the main door was not half as comfortable for daily use, and there was a bathroom in the side of the room opposite the door.

She decided to use it because she wanted to keep clean all the others to show the Fanels when they arrived, and that small one was theoretically going to be used only by her. So she took a big clean towel and went into the room, softly humming to herself…

***

"Why, isn't this breathtakingly beautiful!" Jaira said, getting out of the taxi and opening her purse to pay the driver; other four people did as well, and stood still in front of the dark green gates, staring at the house where they were to live for the whole summer. "The Sparrow" was written on a nice stone plaque next to the gates.

The three young people took a long look at the place: one of the boys was a tall and pale-skinned man, aqua-blue hair and plum colored eyes with an intelligent look in them, wearing a green T-shirt and a pair of jeans; the other boy had ebony black hair falling over his face in unruly strands, his skin tanned to a beautiful golden shade, and deep eyes, which were a hazel brown with ruby fire flickers in them. The two brothers didn't say a word, admiring the astonishing landscape, and at their side a slim girl with big dark blue eyes looked around for a few seconds and then snorted.

"Great place. Where did you say the beach was, mom?" she asked, turning over to Jaira, whose reddish hair both women shared.

"We'll go there later on, sweet. Now let's go into the house" she declared, urging each one of them to pick their own luggage.

And then, she noticed someone pulling her sleeve softly. It was Van.

"Jaira, I… I need to go to the loo… very urgently" he murmured, and she smiled, pushing the entrance gate open.

"Go ahead, you run to find one while we have a look around here"

He nodded and ran to the house, storming in at the first door he found open: it led to a rather dark garage, with four windows on the left; he noticed that some system of the house, maybe the water one, was making a lot of noise, muffling any other ones around. And then, a door, and next to it a pile of clean towels.

So that must be it he told himself, hurrying over towards the half closed room.

***

She just stepped out of the shower, taking the towel to wrap her body with it, when the door was shot open. Hitomi's eyes stared into ruby hazel ones, and for a moment, they were both frozen, rooted to the floor. Only when a deep blush crept up the boy's face, she finally covered herself completely with the piece of warm cloth, at the same time that she picked up one of her sandals to throw it at the intruder.

"AAAHHHHH!!!!! A PERVERT IN THE BATHROOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  she screamed at the top of her lungs, closing her eyes and shooting her shoe to the dark haired youth in front of her, who managed to close the door just in time to avoid the flying sandal.

Uh oh… bad… veeery bad start… he told himself with a shrug, his cheeks still burning red.

Tbc~

Dariel: *blushes crimson red* HIYAA!!!!! Hehe, I did think of you when I started writing this about the summer job ^_~, in fact you had a lot to do in that!! sigh yeah, why does she get such wonderful jobs [working in a restaurant attended by Van is also too good to be true, *sniffs*] and I only get awful ones!!! Tis not fair… I would sign up to be the heroine of an anime with Van as a partner!!!!! Ah uhoh *recoils a little and laughs uneasily* err you saw the Hitomi-Allen thing? But yes, don't worry, Van will win her heart over… *sweatdrops* okay, you'll have to give him some time, as you read he didn't have what I call a great start, but well… anyway, thanks again for reviewing!!!!! *hugs Dee almost to death* and you, _you_!!! Hurry up, hurry up with yours, you have me waiting!!!!!!!!! Ah, guess what. ff.net made two of my reviews disappear as well… so club, club plz, I sign up for it!! ¬¬

SabineballZ: ^____^ ahhh glad that you like it!!!!! Ahem, I wonder you don't quite like Allen here, but as I said in the beginning, I swear it'll change… And I read, you are at Ferrara????? You LUCKY ONE!!!! *wails* I want that too!!!!!! I was to Italy this year with my class and it was absolutely beautiful, wasn't at Ferrara though, where's that exactly? Yeah, heat is horrible here too *snorts* anyway, have a great time over there and noo your ideas aren't awful at all ^__^ tanks a lot 4 reviewing!!!!!!! *grins widely*

little fairy: *grinning* yes, YES!!! Lucky her, soo lucky! I hope that you like this one as well, I tried my best ^^ and thank you so much for your nice review!!!

hitomi21: here it goes some more ^__^ thanks for telling me to go on and reviewing!!! *bows to the floor*

van lover: [sigh I completely identify with your name ^__^!!!!!!!] I did!! *grins blushing* And… oh gods, I feel so stupid to ask *sweatdrops*… what is BFF Pauline? *looks at her toes, blushing* ya know, I'm not English and I sometimes get lost with things whose meaning I don't quite know… ahh I feel so dumb! Anyway, could you plz tell me if you don't mind??

Fae Rain: *grins widely* glad that you like it!!! ^_____^ thank you tons!!! And yes *sweatdrops* this was the idea, ahem, if it turns out to be good I think I'll wash the dishes more often just in case I get some more inspiration ^_~ loved to read your lovely review, thanks a million!!!

Cyber11: thank you soo much!!! ^__^ and yes, I plan to write pure evil here hehe ^_~

Toni: ^__^ thanx for the review, I hope that you still like it *smiles widely*

Cev: thanks a lot for reviewing ^____^ hehe I hope I answered your questions here, I wouldn't dream of leaving Folken out of this *blushes* he's too good for that!! He's going to be into all this, but as he's older and already in college [Genetic Engineering! Ahh such a good catch! ^_~], the fic will be mainly centered on Van and Hitomi. Anyway, living in the same house, he's going to be around all the time ^__^

Rhapsody's Song: thanks a lot!! *blushes*

Aya_chan(): *grins from ear to ear* thank you a million!! ^____^ Yes yes, don't worry they will ^_~ they already started hehe, and I promise things will get better from now on… I also think it is funny [hah! I thought too that I was the only one ^^U we're not alone anymore!]!! So thank you so, so much for your review and reading this ^__^!!!!

 

A/N: Ahem… I'm not really completely satisfied with this chapter… things are somewhat rushed, I would've liked to include maybe the Fanels' plane trip, but in the end I didn't, although I may add it later on if I feel like it [I could write pages and pages and never get to the conclusion, and I wanted the two main charas to meet at the end of this so…] … and I know Hitomi's meeting with Allen was short, I could've written a lot on that and on how she felt towards him, but I thought, "hey! This is Hitomi and Van's fic", so I didn't explain it that much.. after all, I'll have to write a whole lot about it in following chapters if I want to make it easily believable sigh… anyway, how was it? I hope not that bad *sweatdrops* I'd be sooo grateful if you told me with a nice review ^_^ I truly need them when I'm not inspired!! So PLEEZ DO REVIEW!!!! ^__^ ( flying vegetables also appreciated).

Till next time [as soon as I can, I promise]

Ryuu ^^

PS: aaagh I nearly forgot!!! The song's credit is not mine!!! [pheew, don't sue me for that plz ^^U] It's Mariah Carey's "Breakdown", I just thought that the lyrics fitted perfectly so there they are…