Yet another inspiration from Arwyn! You'll understand the title after reading the last section of this chapter. And, by the way, if any of you were mustering sympathy for Neicodemus, believe me that it will be gone after this chapter. Enjoy!
Ditto.
~*Chapter Nine: Never Let You Go*~
Merle
sighed. Just this morning—a few hours
ago, in fact—that spoiled little Duchess came bursting into her room and told
her that Van had flown out a window. Merle
giggled as she recalled the conversation; it really was quite humorous….
"Lady
Merle! Lady Merle!" came the shrill cry
of Neicole.
Merle
lethargically sat up in bed. "You know,
it's common courtesy to knock."
"Knock? KNOCK?! How on Gaea can you be thinking of knocking at a time like this?! KING VAN FLEW OUT THE WINDOW!!"
For a
moment, Merle was startled. But as
thoughts reeled through the vast jungle known as her 'imagination', she
realized that her dear Van-sama had simply gone to see Hitomi. "I see nothing wrong here."
"How can
you not see anything wrong?!" Neicole screeched. "King VAN flew OUT of a WINDOW!! He FLEW!!"
"Yeesh. You're loud," Merle commented, rubbing her
cat-like ears. "But still, I see
nothing wrong here. He simply went to
the place he needed to be."
Neicole
halted her ranting, her eyes growing wide. "H-how did you…? King Van said
the exact same thing!"
Merle
snickered. "Guess Van-sama's not an
idiot after all. Good for him. Now I don't have to yell at him anymore."
Neicole
resumed her ranting. "DUH!! That's my whole point! He's not HERE for you to even CONSIDER
yelling at anymore!!"
Merle
shook her head, making a slight 'tsk' sound. "You really are clueless, aren't you? Van-sama will come back, don't worry about that." She yawned. "Now if you don't mind, I'd like to get the rest of my beauty sleep."
And with
that, Neicole huffed her way out of the room.
Merle
giggled again. It wasn't everyday that
she got to annoy a spoiled Duchess. Such fun!
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"Finally, I
got so annoyed that I just walked out of her room," Neicole said, finishing her
tale.
Balthazar
cast a worried gaze. "Are you sure that
that exit wasn't a trifle callous, my dear Neicole?"
Neicole's
shoulders slumped. "I…guess it was kind
of rude." She moved over to the
window-seat and sat down, hugging her knees to herself. "I seem to have a habit of overstepping my
boundaries."
Balthazar
gently laid a hand on Neicole's shoulder. "What do you mean?"
Neicole
sighed. "Well, last night when King Van
flew out the window, one of his feathers stayed behind." She paused, trying to keep a tear from
forming. "I went to go pick it up and…."
"And what?"
Balthazar prodded tentatively.
"It
disappeared!" Neicole wailed. She clung
to Balthazar out of instinct, her arms wrapped around his trim waist. "I love King Van so much! He's only spoken to me in privacy twice, but
already I can tell that he hates me." She sniffled. "I love him so
much, but he hates me! Oh Balthazar,
what will I do?"
Balthazar
cringed. The very statement that he had
hoped she would not say. He instantly
berated himself. Fool. How could you ever think that nobility such
as her would ever care for you? You are
a servant. A butler, bodyguard, male
hand-maid extraordinaire. The best you
could ever hope for is a good mistress-servant professional relationship. But, by the gods, he still loved her. Even if she loved another, in the end it
would be her happiness that would make him happy. With a slight wince, he advised, "My dear Neicole, I
think…that…."
"Think
what, Balthazar?" Neicole asked curiously. Balthazar's about 20…surely he's had courting dilemmas with women
before…
"That…if
and when King Van returns, you…should tell him how you feel," Balthazar ended
quickly. How he simply wanted to keel
over and die! Nothing is more
painful than love unrequited, he reminded himself with a grimace.
Neicole's
green eyes lit up with joy. "Oh,
Balthazar! You're a genius!" she
exclaimed, standing up to kiss him on the cheek. "I love you!"
Balthazar
winced. No, my dear Neicole, he
addressed her mentally. You don't.
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"That has
got to be the most silent child I've ever encountered," Yahiko commented. He was sitting next to Sano, both of them
observing as Kenshin and Kaoru babysat (i.e.: played with) Sachairi while
Hitomi gave Van a tour of Aizu.
"I agree
with you on that one." A never before
seen look of panic crossed Sano's face. "You don't think Chibi-Tori's deaf, do you? I heard somewhere that deaf kids don't make noise!"
The comment
didn't phase Yahiko. "Rooster-head. The kid's father
is an angel who claims to be King of an unknown country. And his mother's a teenage runaway from
who-knows-where. I think we should
allow some more room for abnormalities, 'cause this messed up family of theirs
is chockfull of them."
A blank
look crossed Sano's face before he replied, "Yeah. I guess you're right." "For once," he added under his breath.
Yahiko
decided to ignore that last statement. He pointed to Kenshin and Kaoru. "Look at them. You'd think they
were the kid's parents."
Sano
nodded. "Well, it's obvious those two
are head-over-heels for each other. Babies have a tendency to bring that sort of feeling out of a person."
Yahiko
smirked. "Well, if they're so
desperately in love, why don't they just get it on already? I mean, come on—Kenshin's nearly 30 and the
hag's 19. They're both well above the
common age for marriage."
Sano hung
his head. "Guilt can do nasty things to
one's sense of logic."
"Yeah,"
Yahiko agreed. He gestured to Kenshin's
sakabatou. "Look what it can do to a
sword."
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Van looked
around, completely awe-struck. "Hitomi,
your land is amazing! Even when I came
to you astrally, I could never see exactly where you were. Everything was so fuzzy and indistinct. But this—this is more that I could've ever
imagined!"
Hitomi
laughed. "If you're this fascinated
with Aizu, you would be even more so with Tokyo. It's very technological and industrialized."
"Maybe some
day you will be able to show me this Tokyo place," Van said with a smile.
Hitomi
smiled as well. "Maybe."
"How
touching," a new voice commented from behind.
Both Hitomi
and Van whirled around at lightning speed. Hitomi immediately gasped, while Van only took on a look of
curiosity. "Who are you?"
The man
mockingly questioned the sky, "Why does everyone want to know my name?"
Hitomi
pointed an accusing finger. "Neicodemus
de Longg! That's who he is!"
Van was
taken aback. "You?! You're the Duke of Longgalia? You're the father of that ditzy
Hitomi-lookalike?"
The man,
now identified to be Neicodemus, growled. "My daughter is not a ditz! And
she is most certainly not a lookalike to this wench!"
Van moved in
front of Hitomi, shielding her from this untrustworthy man. "How dare you insult Hitomi in such a
manner!" In a moment of sheer bravery,
he added, "She is my fiancée! You will
not say such things to my soon-to-be Queen!"
Hitomi was
a little startled yet extremely happy at Van's speech, but she decided to keep
quiet.
Neicodemus
looked smug. "Who really cares? She won't be alive to attend the
wedding." He pointed to Hitomi. "Come with me."
Hitomi
shook her head fervently. "Why would I want
to go with an insane monster like you?!"
Neicodemus
took two steps forward. "You will come
with me because if you don't, your precious son will die!"
Both Hitomi
and Van gasped. "You wouldn't!" they
exclaimed in unison.
Neicodemus
chuckled. "I have soldiers at that
run-down dojo right now, who, at my signal, will kill your son." It was a bluff, but it worked. He paused, letting them think for a moment. "So, what'll it be? What will you give up, King Van? Your lover or your child?"
Van reached
for his sword, but his hand recoiled when he remembered that he had not brought
it with him. "I will never let you take
Hitomi or Sachairi away from me!" he yelled with iron resolve.
"Such brash
statements will get you into trouble later on," Neicodemus said, sneering. He lifted his hand in the air, obviously
preparing for the nonexistent signal. "Since you can't seem decide, I'll decide for you. Your son dies!"
"NOOO!!!"
Hitomi screamed, running out from behind Van. "You'll never take our baby away from us! NEVER!!"
Neicodemus
snickered. Just as I predicted! "Very well then." He grabbed Hitomi harshly by the arm, gripping her tightly.
Van looked
on, purely horrified and unable to say anything.
Neicodemus
laughed maniacally. "Say goodbye to
your wench, King Van, for it's the last time you'll her alive!" And with that, he pressed a button on his
belt. In an instant, he and his hostage
were beamed away by a black light.
"H I I I I TTTOOOOMMMM I I I I I I I!!!!!!!!!!"