Chapter IV: Vision

Van woke really early, the next morning too excited to sleep, he laid in bed daydreaming about Hitomi, knowing that she was going to be here with him all day. Here on Gaia.  He couldn't believe that he had kissed her, and then how she kissed him back.  After, when he brought her up to her room, he acted like an animal; he couldn't control himself.  Then the way she had acted after, it was like a dream come true. I wonder when I'll have enough courage to tell her how I feel?

He went down to the kitchen and grabbed some food and he went to Hitomi's room, he knocked, but there wasn't an answer, she still must be sleeping.  He thought happily.  He carefully opened the door; he almost dropped the food when he saw what was there.  The room was clean, the bed was made and there was a note on the bed, he picked it up, but he couldn't read it, because it wasn't in Gaian.  No she can't be gone again; she was taken from me again.  As soon as I get her back, she's caught up in something that has nothing to do with her.   Van was losing his mind; his imagination was going off again, not knowing what to do.

Van was about to call the guards and search for Hitomi when he heard somebody say something from out the window.

"READY! SET! GO!" Van rushed over to see some guards smiling and cheering as a woman was running.  It was Hitomi.  Van put down the food and ran outside as fast as he could.

Van entered the courtyard, the guards bowed as they saw their King come up to them.

"Good morning your Majesty.  I hope we did not wake you up by cheering for the Lady Hitomi."

"No.  How long has she been running?"

"Two hours before sunrise."  It was now only about an hour after sunrise.

Hitomi spotted Van and ran back to him.

"Good morning Van.  How was your sleep?"  She smiled.

"Very good till I came to your room and found it empty, with a note, which I assumed a ransom note. Thankfully I was wrong.  What type of writing was that?"

Hitomi looked at him with a strange look.  "Opps, sorry I guess I never figured that our writing was different.  It's Japanese, my language.  I'm sorry about that, Van."  She said with a guilty smile.

"Don't worry, I'm just glad that you weren't taken from me again.  Are you hungry, yet?"

"I'm famished, but first I was wondering if you could do me a small favor?"

"Of course."

"I was wondering if you could time me, with the pendant that I gave you; it keeps perfect timing."

"Sure." He said with a smile, taking out the pendant from under his shirt, wondering how she knew that he still wore it.

They placed the guards some distance apart, and she ran from one guard to the other and Van counted how many times the pendant swung.

One, two, three, four… he looked at Hitomi as she ran, her face looked so different as she ran, she was concentrating very hard ignoring everyone and everything around her.

…Nine, ten, eleven, twelve. Done! Van was waiting with the guard as she caught her breath.

"Hitomi?" she was panting very hard.  "The pendant swung twelve times." She looked up at Van after he said that, and then jumped up and hugged him.

"Van I did it!  I broke my record!  I've never been able to do that.  I'm so happy!!!"

"That's great Hitomi! Come, let's get something to eat."

"Arigatou!" Hitomi said as she bowed to the two guards and left with Van.

"Ummm… Van where do I go to take a bath?"

"Oh… I'll have a bath brought up to your bedroom."

"Thank you, Van"

"Would you like to eat or take a bath first?"

"If you don't mind I would like to take a bath first." She said with such a simile that he couldn't resist but smile back.

"Ok."

~*~*~*~

While Hitomi took a bath, Van decided that the private garden would be a great place to eat breakfast, instead of her room.

When Hitomi was done taking a bath, she quickly got changed and then she was about to run off to find Van.

Van in the mean time went up to her room to get her, and she found herself right in front of him.  He grabbed her around the waist and pulled her into him, taking in the intoxicating smell of her hair.  He brought his head to hers and kissed her deeply, and she responded just the same.  In the process she bit his lip, so hard that it started to bleed.  Hitomi could taste the blood, so could Van, but he was too busy.  She broke away, looking at Van.

"Oh God Van, what have I done?" she looked horrified at his lips.

Van chuckled. "Don't worry, I've bled worse than this before." He said trying to calm her down, but it wasn't working at all.

"I'm so sorry. Is there anything that I can do?" dabbing away the blood with her fingers. She looked so worried about hurting him that he had to laugh.

"Yes there is… you can stop talking and kiss me again." He said closing the distance between them.

Hitomi started to mumble something, but her lips were covered by Van's. Hitomi became very quiet, but still feeling bad for what she had just done.

"Are you ready?" Van asked as soon as they broke off.

She nodded her head, and took his hand as he led her to the gardens.  When they got there, there was a blanket set out with food on it.  Hitomi smiled, so happy that she could spend some time alone with Van.

"Oh Van… thank you so much.  Let's eat!"

They sat down, him leaning against a tree and Hitomi against him.  They sat there eating and talking about their time apart.  Van told her about the attacks that have been pestering the allied countries, and he also told her about the alliance.

"Van…can you teach me to fight? If there is any danger I know I'll just be a pain to protect and I'd be in the way most of the time, so I want to learn to defend myself."

"I can protect you Hitomi, I promise.  I will never let anything ever happen to you. I promise.  I swear as a king, a friend and upon the feelings that I have for you." Van panicked.  He had to have someone to protect, or his life would have no meaning.  I've always protected her; she's still here, isn't she? I won't let anything ever happen to her.

"Van, please calm down.  Thank you, but please… I really would like to learn. I don't want to be watched over like a baby all the time; I really need to be able to do this for myself more than anyone else. Its just so then you don't always have to worry about me."

Van took a deep breath.  Hitomi's words brought Van back to reality and he relaxed and thought about what she was saying.  What harm could it do? I guess I can't always be there for her.  I thought I would have figured that out by now, her leaving Gaia… it might just happen again. And I really don't think that I could live without her.  She just means so much to me…

"Okay I guess I agree, but women are not supposed to fight, so I don't know of any trainer that would be willing to train you.  I'm sorry." He looked sad as he said that.

"I know of one." She said with a seductive smile.

"Who?" He asked curiously.

She grabbed a small piece of dessert and fed it to him, then kissed him.

"You." She said after she finished kissing him.

"Oh ya, I guess I could.  When? We would have to practice a lot throughout the week, almost everyday." He said as he took the hand that fed him and licked all the dessert off her fingers.

"How about tomorrow morning? Come and get me up really early, say three hours before sunrise. But for today, I would like to be lazy. I also wouldn't mind talking to Chid and finishing that tour of Fanelia."

He smiled and fed her a bit of the dessert. 

~*~*~*~

The day went by very quickly. Hitomi and Chid spoke for hours, while Van went off to a meeting about a heir and his intended marriage.

"Your Majesty, what about Lady Celena?"

"Cancel it." Van said abruptly.

"But your majesty, you can't, you asked her. She and her family would be shamed."

"The public does not know. There would be no shamed people here. I've already decided!" Van said, becoming angrier.

"You don't know if she'll leave you again, not to mention that she's from that accursed place."  Said Yuko, the lead advisor.

"How dare you!!" Van roared as he slammed his fists down on the table; the advisors didn't know what to do because Van has never raised his voice at any of the meetings before.

"Lord Van, you can't revoke your marriage with lady Celena, it might bring war upon us.  We still haven't recovered from the last one.  Austuria would wipe us out."

"There will be no war and no marriage.  They are friends, they will understand. Is there anything else you would like to address?" Van growled, they moved their heads back and forth quickly.

"This meeting is adjourned" Van said dangerously and left the room without another word said.

I wonder how I'm going to tell Hitomi; how mad will she be?  What am I going to do?

It was about half an hour after sunset.  Van went to the dinning hall and saw that Hitomi and Chid were both eating.

"Hello Van, how was your meeting?" she asked as he sat down and started to eat.

"It went over well, I guess…" Hitomi saw that he was mad.  I guess I'll find out later.

"Van, Hitomi, I am becoming very tired, I think I will head up to bed now.  Good night, sleep well."

"Good night Chid" Hitomi said as she got up and kissed him on the cheek. "Sweet dreams, Chid."  Hitomi looked sad as Chid walked out of the room.

"Van, you know, Chid and yourself are both alike.  You are both very young but still in charge of a country, and no one to help you, to love you like a mother would, or hold you.  I wish I could do more to help both of you."  Hitomi looked so sad, and bizarrely pale.  The paleness worried him.

Van watched her in awe, how she could be so supportive to them, so caring, although it wasn't her fault that they both didn't have a family. 

She suddenly started to sway violently back and forth.  Then she just fell; thankfully he was close enough to catch her.

"HITOMI!!" he caught her and picked her up and cradled her delicate body in his strong arms.  She was having another vision.  Her eyes were closed, and her face was contorted with pain.  He brought her up to her room, and set her down on the bed.  "Sleep well Hitomi," he said knowing that he couldn't do anything for her while she was having a vision, other than sit by and wait.  He kissed her on the forehead and brought up a chair to sit by her bedside and wait for her to wake up.

~*~*~*~

Hitomi woke up later to find herself in bed, and Van was nowhere to be seen.  I had that same vision, with the crying boy, and that cat-woman.  I think that I should tell Van.

Hitomi decided to put on a nightgown.  Hitomi got up and went to find Van.  When she knocked on his door he wasn't there.  She ventured back into her own room and looked out the balcony window and she saw a feather float down from the sky, it was his feather, she didn't know how she could tell, but she just could. She decided to go to roof to see if he was there.  It took her about ten minutes to find her way up.  Van was lying there; he looked as if he was asleep.  She slowly walked up to him trying not to wake him.  She laid down beside him, and put her head on his shoulder.

"Mmmm…Hitomi…" he moaned. He was asleep, but he still put his arms and wings around her.  He hugged her tightly to try to get some warmth from her.  She looked at him and noticed that he was drooling; it was sort of cute in a really weird way.  She brushed the drool away and then kissed his neck, slowly moving her way up to his mouth, and stayed there for a while.  She could feel him responding and he little by little started to wake up, very happily. 

His arms tightened around her, he was awake now, and moving over to her to be able to kiss her better.

"Gods, please don't let this be a dream."  He moaned as they parted so that they could breath.

"I'm not going to let you sleep now, so don't worry this isn't a dream."

He continued to kiss her, noticing her in her thin silky nightdress.  After several minutes of kissing and holding each other, she snuggled up to him trying to stay warm, but couldn't.

Van noticed that she was cold, and he left to go inside. "Hold on I'll be right back."  He spread his wings and flew over the roof.  When he can back seconds later he was carrying a heavy blanket.  "I think that this should keep us warm.  Are you feeling better?"

"Yes, thank you.  Van, I had a vision.  I've already had two others exactly like it.  I think that Fanilea's in danger again.  I…also think…that…that you might…be in danger."  Hitomi buried her head in his shoulder.  Van was taken back by her vision and gathered her in his arms.

"Shhhh… it's alright, I'm not going to die.  I'm right here.  I'm not leaving you.  I care for you too much.  Shhhh, just rest, I'll keep you warm and I'll protect you.  I promise you that."

"I'm afraid that this magnificent city will once again burn."  She pause, it hurt both of them to bring back those memories.

"Shhhh it's okay, nothing is going to happen.  Just relax. I'm here."

She snuggled into his warmth, feeling like she was in heaven.

Neither of them spoke for a long time, they just wanted to be beside each other, and take in the cold breeze.

"Van what are you doing out here?" she asked after the long pause.

He blushed but said, "I always waited here for you, looking at the starts, waiting for you to come back to me, and I guess that it just became a habit."

"Thank you Van."

"Would you like to go back in? It's getting colder out here."

"I'd like to stay out here for a bit more, unless you want to go back… But I'm just starting to get warm."

"Oh…okay."

It wasn't long till she fell asleep in his arms; she looked so beautiful that he could take his eyes off of her.  Against her wishes, he brought her back in.  As he set her down in her bed, she said to him, while he eyes were still closed,

"Van, stay here with me tonight, we will keep each other warm."

Van nodded not wanting to decline her offer, he took off his sword (he still had on pants) and crawled into bed and wrapped his body and his angelic wings around her protectively.

"I can't live without you anymore, Hitomi, I need you...I want you…I love you…" but she didn't hear his confession because she was sound asleep.

(*NOTE*: I hope you like this so far. Oki Miya)