~Familiar~Stranger~






~Chapter 7~


Dilandau stared down at Hitomi, absolute shock written all over his face.
*But, but how...* He found it was getting hard to breath and brushed a shaking hand over her face. He looked up at the sound of shouting, and gently pushed Hitomi off, laying her down on her back, then stood up. Miguel stumbled in and the guard came in for Dilandau. Even with Dilandau fighting him, he managed to drag him over to where they were beating the others and tied him up. Dilandau fought for a while, but froze when he felt the whip bite into his back. He stopped fighting, feeling he had to save his strength, and ignored the pain by tring to figure out what was going on with Hitomi. *I still can't believe she's alive. Those sorcerers lied to me. I'm going to have fun watching them trying to explain themselves.* He hissed as the whip bit even deeper. *Wait a minute. Where's Rafe?* Dilandau figured he'd had enough and started to struggle. The guards froze, narrowed his eyes and struck him even harder. Dilandau finally cried out, gasping as a large slice curled down his back and around to the side.
The man finally stopped and cut him down. Dilandau fell to his knees, then stood with difficulty. He slowly made his way to the cell, and the guard shoved at him, causing Dilandau to literally growl at him.

When he was back in the cell, he saw Hitomi sitting on her knees by Miguel, who seemed like he was listening to her. They both looked up as the door was slammed shut behind Dilandau, and he looked at Hitomi, who had tears starting in her eyes. She stood up and walked towards him until she was a few feet away, the hung back, as if she were slightly scared. He understood why she was nervous, he wasn't sure himself how he was feeling right now. After a moment, he scolded himself for standing there like a fool and walked over to her, drawing her into a tight embrace. Miguel was startled to see Dilandau displaying such emotion.

"Oh, God, Lord Dilandau, I missed you so much." He could feel her teats streaking down her face and soaking his shirt as they had taken away his and Miguel's jacket to, 'check for weapons', and they hadn't given them back yet.

Miguel watched them, still shocked at what Hitomi had told him. *Hitomi has been with the sorcerers all these years? And they've been...I agree with Hitomi. We shouldn't let Lord Dilandau find out about this.*

"Where have you been all these years?" Dilandau asked, pulling away.

"I am not allowed to say." She said quietly.

"What do you mean, you're not allowed? You are under no one's command, but mine. I have told you to tell me, so yo are allowed to." Miguel bit his lip. *Come on Hitomi, think of a good reason.*

"Because the people who I have been with have the power to destroy you and your Dragon Slayers, and they'll do just that if I tell." Dilandau studied her.

"Then I guess, you should leave that fact in confindential for the time being." Relief came over her and she wrapped her arms around her chest.

"I have waited for this day for so long, it doesn't seem real." She said, buring her face into his shirt. Dilandau left her alone for a moment, then pulled away.

"Now isn't the time. We have to get out of here first. Then we have to find Rafe and get back to the Vione." Hitomi nodded, then once Dilandau turned away towards the cell door, bit her lip and shot Miguel a nervous look. *Great. Now what should we do?* She thought bitterly. She walked over to Dilandau.

"You're right. Now isn't the time. Rafe can take care of himself. If the guards haven't brought him back by now, then he's either beyond our help or has gotten away from here. That is what we should do." Dilandau stared at her for a moment, then nodded, causing Miguel to sigh quietly with relief.

"So what do we do now?" Dilandau asked, turning to her. She smirked.

"I have some experience with our, 'friends' around here, since I lived outside their country for a while." She walked over to a shadowy corner and started counting the bricks on the wall until she reached the 15th one. Hitomi tried to pull it out, but it wouldn't move. After a moment, she stopped and turned to Dilandau. "Do you still have that dagger hidden in your boot?" She asked Dilandau. He shook his head.

"No, they got ahold of it." He muttered.

"I've still got my dagger." Miguel offered, handing it to her. She took hold of it and started digging at the brick, scraping away at the sides and wedging it into the cracks. Soon the brick came loose and was halfway out in one jerk. Tossing miguel's dagger back to him, she pulled the brick away, revealing a long hole behind it, with something that looked like a dagger inside. But, when she pulled it out, it turned out to be a long sword.

"But Hitomi, what does having a sword have to do with getting us out of this place?" Dilandau demanded.

"Just watch." She said. Walking over to the door, she leaned her arm with the sword out of the cage, towards something high in the wall.

"Hitomi-" She told him to shut up, and he realized what she was doing as he heard the clink of metal against steel and she pulled the sword in to reveal the keys resting on the hilt. He alked over, pulled off the keys, and, wrapping one arm around her to pull her closer, said, "Hitomi Fanel, you never cease to amaze me." She smirked.

"One of my many talents." With that, she snatched the keys out of his hand and pushed away. Dilandau stood where he was for a moment, shook his head and watched as she unlocked the door. Slowly, she opened the door and looked around. "Kay, come on. The weaponry room is down here. Let's get our swords back and get out of here."















A/N: well, dilandau finally found hitomi, huh? but will he find out the truth? i
dunno!! i haven't gotten to that yet!!! oh, by the way, if you want to know where they
are, i don't know what country they're in, so can you make up a country. sorry, i's no
good at that!!! sorry that this chapter was so short!!!! ^_~












~Wild Angel~