***Author's Note***

***Author's Note***

Oh my gosh I am SOOOO very sorry to you all! I am sorry for taking THIS long to get out this chapter. My life's been kinda hectic the last few weeks and all and standardized tests are coming up and yeah...so anyway, thanks for all the reviews! This is my first fic to get over 50 reviews! I am sooo happy! Thank you all!!!

Disclaimer: Blah!

Dedication: To all you dedicated readers and *~A White Rose Petal~*

Parents' Wish

Chapter 9: Kaira's Arrival

By: ME jus1digigirl *Maura*

Van walked around the throne room nervously in circles. The princess had arrived at Fanelia and would be entering the gates of the place soon. He hoped Torak would remember not to announce the fact that she was supposed to be his fiancée.

The large oak doors to the room opened and Van glanced up. Entering, was Amano, Hitomi, Yukari, Jair, and Merle. He gasped inwardly and stared at Hitomi. She was is beautiful! he thought. Still staring, he made a mental promise to himself to break the engagement in any way possible.

He saw Hitomi look up at him and blush. Realizing that he was still staring at her, he too turned pink and walked up to the group.

"Welcome to my throne room," he said with a gracious bow.

Hitomi giggled and curtsied back. "Thank you my king." She looked up and her eyes widened. She had rarely seen Van wearing royal clothing on her last stay in Gaea. As she looked upon him now, he seemed to look like the king he was. He wore a navy blue shirt with golden buttons and a sash with medallions over his chest. The pants he wore were beige and upon his head sat a golden crown. As Hitomi surveyed Van's attire, she suddenly remembered something. "Van, I haven't had a chance to look around the entire castle but from what I've seen, you've done a marvelous job rebuilding it."

Van smiled. "Thanks Hitomi. That means a lot coming from you."

Hitomi blushed once again as Yukari and Merle giggled behind her. "Well, I hope I can see the town later on."

Van continued smiling and nodded. "Of course! We have plenty of time." Now, he turned to the remainder of the group. "I hope you all found your rooms comfortable. Were there any problems at all?"

They shook their heads. "Umm...King-I mean Van," Yukari started with a quick glance at Hitomi. "So, are you going to, like, consider this princess as like, maybe a future queen? Or have you maybe already found your queen?"

Van's eyes widened as he blushed. Not looking at Hitomi, he stated in a clear voice, "I would rather not discuss this matter now Lady Yukari."

"Call me Yukari," she said while giving a sly smile at Hitomi who looked ready to kill her friend. Van continued to look embarrassed however, his uneasiness was interrupted by a courtier bustling in. "My king! Princess Kaira has arrived. Shall we send her in?"

Retaking his serious, king-like position once more, he straightened up and nodded. "Yes, send her in."

~*~*~*~*~*~

Kaira slowly walked down the long hallway towards the throne room, accompanied by the driver, a courtier, and several guards. Glancing along the walls, which were covered with paintings here and there, she had to admit that the young Fanelian king had done a wonderful job on the building of the castle as well as the decorations.

Suddenly, Kaira noticed that the guards had stopped. Looking up, she saw that they were standing in front of a pair of great oak doors. This must be the throne room, she thought. Taking a deep breath, she walked in through the doors, which a pair of guards held open for her.

Upon her entry, she realized that everyone who was in the room, had gone silent. Slowly looking up, she saw that on the left side of the raised platform, on the level ground, stood a cat-girl, a cat-boy, one handsome looking young man, and two ladies. She wondered who they might be and decided that they were perhaps nobles who wanted to greet her. Now, her gaze turned to the throne itself, where a young man sat, the king of Fanelia. King Van. He's so young! Kaira thought. She knew that he had in fact became king at the age of fifteen but it was still strange to see one as young as herself to rule an entire kingdom.

She watched as the king stood. Walking gracefully down the aisle, she stopped in front of the raised platform where the throne sat and he stood. Trying not to show any nervousness or sorrow, she curtsied and then lifted her head to find King Van bowing and looking straight into her eyes.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Van looked up and found himself looking straight into Kaira's eyes. His own widened as he saw them filled with the same feeling he was filled with. Despair. It was almost as if in those few seconds, as they stood staring at each other, that they seemed to be feeling the same thing and he somehow felt that she, like himself, did not like the idea of this engagement.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Hitomi stood with the others watching the princess walk down the aisle and curtsy. She watched as Van bowed and then the two, King and Princess, stared at each other for a moment. A feeling of dread swept over Hitomi at that moment. Merle said Van never considered any of the princesses as brides but maybe this time, it was different. What if he was falling for her?

She tried not to think such things and studied the princess. She looked around the same age as Hitomi. Her long black hair was braided down her back and twisted up in a fancy bun. Her dress was quite pretty, pale yellow, with tiny embroidered flowers everywhere. It seemed to be a reasonable traveling garment.

"I welcome you, Princess Kaira of Hippolyta, to Fanelia." Van's voice broke Hitomi's gaze on the princess and brought her back to what was happening.

Princess Kaira curtsied again. "Thank you milord."

"I trust your journey was pleasurable? Perhaps you'd like to wash up before dinner. I'll have a maid escort you to your room."

"Thank you milord," Princess Kaira repeated. "But I do not wish to hold up your dinner any longer. It is late and I am sure you must be famished."

Van nodded and smiled down at Kaira kindly. "Very well then. However, before we proceed down to the dining hall," he walked over to Hitomi and the others and stepped off the raised platform. "May I introduce my other guests? This is Lady Merle, my personal advisor and friend since my childhood. Sir Jair, Lady Merle's friend as well as mine. Sir Amano and Lady Yukari. Friends of Lady Hitomi." He gestured towards Hitomi. "They have come from the Mystic Moon."

Hitomi saw Princess Kaira's eyes widen with a sudden burst of delight that had not shown for a while. "Lady Hitomi? I am honored to meet you! I've heard much about your heroism during the Destiny War." She curtsied slightly. Lady Hitomi! This is terrific! If the rumors I've heard are true about King Van and Lady Hitomi, then perhaps I can use this to my advantage and break the engagement. Kaira thought.

Hitomi curtsied back and gave her a small smile. "Thank you Princess Kaira. I too, am honored to meet you." She seems quite nice. Hitomi thought. Not at all snotty like I imagined. And very humble as well. I had no idea that even princesses knew my name! But we'll have to see how she really is later. Maybe this is just an act.

Finally, both young women straightened up and Hitomi now looked at Van who nodded. "Well, let's make our way down to dinner shall we? I hear Cook Frump has gone all-out tonight." He offered both Hitomi and Kaira an arm, which they took.

Merle took Jair's arm as Yukari took Amano's and the group made their way down to dinner through the open doors.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Soon after everyone was seated, the servants and maids brought out the food. Van sat at the head of the table with Hitomi at his right and Princess Kaira on the left. Beside Hitomi sat Yukari and then Amano. To the left of Kaira sat Merle and Jair. Van's advisors and a few nobles who lived in the castle occupied the rest of the seats.

"Before we begin," started Van standing up, "I would like to once again welcome Princess Kaira to Fanelia. I hope you find Fanelian food satisfying." He sat back down looking at her.

Nodding slightly, she answered softly, "Thank you. I'm sure I will."

Van looked at the faces up and down the table and stopped at Hitomi. "Hungry Hitomi?"

She smiled and was about to reply when all of a sudden, an excited female voice rang out, "When's the wedding?"

Shocked, Hitomi, Van, and the rest looked up to see who the speaker was. It was Mrs. Frump, the old cook's wife. She was standing beside her husband who was trying his best to restrain her excitement but it was hard for the old woman was practically leaping with joy. " 'Scuse my rudeness Your Highness but I simply must know! When's you an' the little princess plannin' to get hitched? I 'erd 'bout the engagement afterall!"

Clang! Those who had picked up their forks dropped them down on the silver platters. Then, silence. The entire dining hall had gone completely still and no one moved. Van stared at Mrs. Frump would didn't seem the least bit bothered by the fact that she had let something important out. However, Torak was looking quite the opposite. He was sitting beside Amano and his wrinkled hands began to shake slightly but he kept his eyes focused on his goblet.

After about a minute, Merle's voice broke the silence like shattering glass. "Lord-Lord Van? Is-is this...is this true? You and Princess Kaira are engaged?"

Van turned his gaze towards her, his face unreadable. Staring blankly at her, he had no idea what to say and didn't dare to look at Hitomi. Still in shock that the old cook's wife had yelled it out, he slowly nodded and kept his gaze now on the white tablecloth. "It is."

To the right of him, Van could hear the scraping of a chair on the floor. Looking up on instinct, he saw a blur of green and watched Hitomi run out into the garden through the back doors, in the far side of the dining hall, which lead outside. The others sat watching to see Van's next move but he just stared after her.

A sigh came from his left and Merle again spoke. "Well, go after her will you?"

As if being controlled from the time Mrs. Frump had spoken out, he automatically rose from his chair. An attendant quickly hurried to help pull back the chair but Van simply brushed him off. Once standing, the sense of what had happened came back to Van in a rush and he knew what he had to do without Merle telling him, "Hurry up! Go get her!"

~*~*~*~*~*~

Kaira sat silent and watching as Hitomi, the girl from the Mystic Moon, ran out of the castle into the garden. So it must be true then, she thought. Hitomi's running out at the news of the engagement had to be living proof that she cared whether or not the King married someone else. It seemed as if the King had not wanted the others to find out or perhaps he was waiting until dinner to announce the engagement. Now she slowly glanced at the King who continued to look like in a daze. It took a push from the cat-girl to get him to run after her.

His hesitation made her wonder whether or not he really cared about her in the way she seemed to care about him. But now, with the King gone, she had an excuse to leave the table. A plan formed in her mind. Suppose she could try and use her brand of magic to try and escape. Although highly unlikely, there was a slim chance that she might be able to break her mother's spell.

Not waiting a minute longer, she excused herself and walked out of the dining hall, telling the guards not to follow her for she needed to walk down the halls alone so as to "get used to the place."

~*~*~*~*~*~

Merle sat back in her chair confused. In all her years, she had never known about an engagement to Lord Van. He had never told her. Perhaps he hadn't known till now. Wrinkling her forehead in concentration, she thought back to earlier that day when Lord Van had yelled when Torak had entered his room and how the doctors had come out, refusing to say a word. How Amano and Jair had turned away when questioned by Hitomi. It all fit in. Lord Van hadn't wanted Hitomi or anyone else to find out in hope of trying to break the engagement.

Deep in thought, Merle didn't realize that Princess Kaira had left until about two minutes after her leave but noticed Yukari eyeing her.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Utterly delighted, Yukari picked up her glass and took a small sip of water. The old lady shouting out about the engagement was perfect. Settling back into her chair, like the others, she smiled to herself. Hitomi would realize that she really did love Van and vice versa. The engagement talk would just push them faster into revealing their true feelings.

Better than anyone, Yukari knew that Hitomi could be quite stubborn at times, especially when it came to matter like this. And although she didn't know Van for even an entire day, she could tell that he was the same, stubborn and hard on the outside, but a complete softy on the inside, just like Hitomi.

Not caring about why the Princess was leaving, she sipped her water again and then suddenly Yukari bolted straight up in her seat. The dare! She wondered if Hitomi would actually go through with it now. She had gotten through going out to the garden, a little early and because she was upset but it was still the perfect time to do it! Looking across the table, she caught Merle's eye and mouthed the word "dare."

Catching on, Merle nodded, ever so slightly and excused herself from the table and walked out the dining hall doors. Yukari did the exact same thing about a minute later and found Merle waiting for her in the hall.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Hitomi lifted the hem of her dress for it was getting hard to run, especially with her shoes. Slowing down her pace, she continued to the other side of the large garden and went to sit in a swinging bench that sat by the small pond, under a tree.

She didn't know what had made her run out like that but when she heard Van actually confirming the old woman's statement, well, it felt like her heart had just burst. Here she was, thinking Van might actually love her because he brought her back to Gaea when he's already engaged! Her mind was so jumbled and her heart so mixed up, that she didn't stop to think about earlier that day therefore, unable to come up with the conclusion Merle had.

Thoughts just kept running through her head, What if Van brought me back just to see the wedding? What if Princess Kaira and Van really do love each other? Why didn't Van let me know sooner instead of leading me on?

Gazing up into the night sky, she saw the two orbs hanging in the sky, shining brightly. Earth and another moon. Earth, her home. She averted her gaze to stare down into the blue-green water of the pond and her reflection stared back. Two seconds later, another reflection joined her own.

Startled, she gasped and jumped up so suddenly that she almost toppled over into the fountain but strong arms grabbed her and sat her back down on the bench. Looking up, she found herself once more melting into the deep brown eyes that looked back.

But just as suddenly as the melting feeling had come, it disappeared and she stared back into the pond once more, forcing herself to look away from Van.

She heard him go around the bench and sit himself down beside her, looking into the pond as well. Seeing his reflection look at hers, she turned her head and gazed out across the garden, staring at the flowers scattered everywhere.

"Hitomi, please just listen to me," Van's soft voice said. Trying with all her might to try and not be enveloped into her dreamy mood of him she continued to look at the flowers. She would listen because there was no way she could close up her ears but she did not have to look at him.

~*~ Will Princess Kaira try and get Van and Hitomi together? How did Mrs. Frump find out about the engagement? Did Torak really tell her? Will Kaira succeed in escaping or are her powers too weak? Will we find out what powers she posses? Are Merle and Yukari going to do some spy-work? Will Hitomi accept Van's explanation whatever that may be? ~*~

***Author's Note***

Well, I think this is long enough so I decided to stop. Now we can see that some major fluff will be coming up. What better place to add fluff than when they're out at night by a pond sitting on a bench together and add in the little dare and well…you got a perfect setting for fluff and romance! ^_~ Anyways, next chapter might take a while to get out, depending on the amount of work I have to do. Sorry but I'll try to get it out soon....sooner than I got out this one anyway. Review please and until next chapter, peace!

*Maura*