This is a really long chapter I thinks the action kicks in at the end of this chapter as well as the fluff ^.^ (there will be angst in the next chapter though.)

Disclaimer; who owns Escaflowne? Not me that's who.

Reddened Rose

-----------------------Allen's room---------------------------

'Right do you all know how important the next six weeks are for me…I mean your sister?' Allen said quickly.

'No, not this again' Tsuyoshi mumbled, and then sighed 'we've been listening to this for the whole coach journey and we don't want to hear it again, *please*.'

'Fine, fine, anyway you're not wearing black; it will make your sister look ridiculous.'  Allen spoke in matter-of-fact tone not bothering to check if they thought it would be alright.

'What! Just because she's going to get married doesn't mean our fathers not dead, we loved him unlike her.' Sadhura said in a voice bordering anger; he had always been the more vocal of the two twins.

'I'm not getting married' they all turned around hearing a feminine hiss from the closed door.  Allen looked royally peeved, and walked over to the door and opened it in a huff.

'It's not very ladylike to eavesdrop.'

'Oh dear lord am I ever going to hear the end of this?' Hikari sighed as she was being marched back to her room and threatened to be locked in if she didn't stay put. 

Allen walked back in the room slightly annoyed by the interruption.

'Stop complaining you two, and Gaki pay attention.  This is important for our family we can't go around marrying just anyone, we have always been influential in matters concerning Gaea and I hope we continue to do so.'  Yuhei looked up for praise from his uncle, who merely smiled at the comment.  'Allen, there is one problem' he paused 'we only brought black.'

Allen slapped his forehead. 'You're going to have to borrow my clothes then.' Allen said with a smile on his face thinking that they most be counting their lucky stars for his good fashion sense.

Tsuyoshi was darting his head around the room, frantically looking for a window to jump out of.  Sadhura was swearing under his breath.  Yuhei looked like he had reached the pot of gold under the rainbow.  Sanosuke was as usual paying no attention what so ever and was jumping up and down on Allen's bed.

'So, I…um, we get to wear clothes you wore?' Yuhei asked trying not to sound too excited.

'You're really sad, you know that don't you?' Sadhura said shaking his head in dismay.

'Yes, I have worn them' Allen said looking smug thinking himself a wonderful idol.

Tsuyoshi was now eyeing the new found window with scary enthusiasm; and as usual Sanosuke was still jumping on the bed.  

'Um, so we get to wear the royal colours of Austuria then.' Yuhei said examining Allen's usual blue, gold and white uniform.

'No, only knights and royal men of Austuria can wear that; you are going to have to wear my casual clothes.'

After ten minutes of Allen darting around in the suitcase he dropped a pile of clothes on his bed and threw the suitcase back on top of the wardrobe.

'Allen you wear lace white gloves, diamond and ruby necklaces and a fan when you dress casually?' Tsuyoshi said with his back now against the window looking very worried.

'No baka that's for your sister.' Allen left the boys in the room to change and went to Hikari's room, next door.

-------------------------Hikari's Room--------------------

Hikari had opened her balcony windows and was leaning over the balcony looking at the garden which skirted around a large pond in the centre.  She sighed as she took in the scent of the jasmine which was intermingled with the honeysuckle.  She leant over to reach a single white flower which had climbed the trelace up to her window, which as she noticed, while leaning with one foot in the air was incredibly far up from the ground; so high she couldn't even make out the frantic servants features. Hikari gasped as she tripped over her skirt whilst trying to reach the bloom and prepared herself for certain death until she felt two arms lace around her waist.

'We wouldn't want you to die before you have even met your husband now would we?'  Allen chided gently.

Hikari sighed in defeat, when would her uncle get it in to his head that she didn't want to court Yusuke? 'I would have been fine if I wasn't wearing this infernal dress! I don't dislike wearing dresses but Allen the hoop for this dress is ridiculously large, and It's not very gentlemanly –like to enter a ladies room without knocking.' Hikari changed the topic seeing a way to beat her uncle in his own game.

'But I didn't enter a ladies room; I entered a foolish girl's room and just saved her ungrateful life.' Allen replied smugly and as usual having the last say in the matter.

'What do you want Allen?' Hikari asked hotly.

'I came to give you these' Allen handed Hikari the gloves fan and necklace.  Hikari completely ignored the gloves and the fan and dove for the necklace.

'Wow Allen it's beautiful, is it for me, can I keep it?'  Hikari said eyes wide examining the heart shape pendant which was incrusted with rubies with diamonds around the edge, it hung on a silver chain.

Allen laughed quietly, 'Yes it is, think of it as an early engagement present and you'll get an even bigger and even more expensive one if you pull this off. Here let me put it on for you.'

Hikari opened her mouth to argue that she could do it herself and decided against it.  She placed her hand behind her neck and hooked away her long thick silver hair way from the back of her neck.  As soon as Allen had placed the necklace around her neck she had immediately ran off towards her dressing table mirror, despite Allen's half-hearted protests against running, to inspect how it looked on her.

'Wow, it's gorgeous.' She said excitedly a bright smile flashing across her lips, 'You have to thank aunty Millerna for this.' She said squeezing Allen in a hug.  

'I think that has to be the nicest thing you have said to me all day, Hikari.'

'Well, don't get used to it!' She mocked playfully.

'Well as you can see the gloves and the fan are also for you, so I suggest you put them on.  Also I would tie your hair up before you greet you-know-who.'

Hikari smiled back, she was far too happy to complain and did as her retreating uncle told her to.

----------------------Allen's Room-----------------------

'Right let see what you look like.' Allen said whilst entering the room viewing the boys all clad in black leather trousers, a white shirt and an imperial purple sash.  He went down the line of boys one by one.

'Yuhei, you look almost as good as I do in those clothes.'  Yuhei smiled at Allen in response to that remark and the boy that is a mirror image of his uncle went back to grooming his hair in the mirror, every now and then looking down at his rear.

'Sadhura put your sash back on.' Allen said sternly to the older of the two twins who also had the longest hair out of the two that fell down to his chin and was more golden in colour than his older brother but had the same cerulean blue eyes.

'Allen, it's purple; I'll look like a girl.' He protested

'Put it on.' Allen replied with a menacing look on his face.

'Tsuyoshi, I think it would do you good to button up your shirt so all the ladies in the court don't swoon.' Allen added with a smirk on his face.  The younger twin had a face identical to his brother but refused to sport the same 'feminine' hair style and wore a crew cut with blonde bangs falling over his face, making eye contact with the boy difficult.  He started to button up the previously undone shirt which revealed some of his well defined chest, but not all of it as the shirt was tucked into his sash preventing it from flying open.  As his uncle passed him to walk over to Sanosuke he cursed silent insults about having to wear leather trousers.

'Um…' Allen didn't say much as he walked over to Sanosuke as he was obviously drowning in the clothes that were far to large for him, and the ends of the leather trousers and shirt had been rolled up to allow movement of his hands and feet.  'Well maybe you should wear black, *but* I am expecting you to wear the sash.' Allen said in a slightly bewildered manner.

After Sanosuke had finally got ready the boys marched out of the room in a single line and headed for Hikari's room to escort her down to the waiting room to greet the king and queen who would be arriving any minute now.  Already walking two steps to the next room the uniformed boys had received their first set of Raucous giggles by the young maids, bringing a grin to their faces. Allen knocked on the door hand already on the handle waiting to come in.

'Hikari' He called when there was no response. 'Hikari we are coming in alright?'

The former knight opened the door in a slight hurry and paced around the room and inside the bathroom checking for and signs of the young lady.  Then much to the confusion of the other boys he stuck his head outside the balcony window and sighed in relief after inspecting the floor beneath, 'She's still alive.' All the boys looked even more confused.

'Stupid girl, I told her to stay put.' Allen said angrily grabbing her neglected fan and making his way to the waiting room hoping she would turn up to greet the king.

-----------------------Palace Gardens------------------

Hikari was glad to be free of her resting quarters, it wasn't that they weren't nice it was just that the large window she had overlooking the lake demanded her to take a closer look.  The large blue lake was surrounded by a lacing metal face less than a foot away from the ground; it had four gaps in it, and she guessed that it could be for people who wished to bathe in it as it was certainly large enough, but then decided against it when she realised it was probably uncivilised to go swimming in lakes.

'It is a very beautiful lake, isn't it?' A husky voice from behind Hikari came, shocking the girl to the brink of death, she didn't know why but she felt like a child who had just been caught stealing a cookie out of a cookie jar.  Hikari turned around in a flurry, but much to her embarrassment her foot got caught in the swirling fabric of the dress sending her flying backwards in to the lake, when for a second time that day a pair of strong arms caught her from sudden doom.

'I apologise, I'm not usually such a klutz, but this dress is so large it gets in the way of everything, I think it's the third time I've tripped today, once while trying to get the beautiful flowers from the trelace outside my window, I would have died if it weren't for my uncle Allen who brought me this dress anyway, I swear he's trying to kill me with all his etiquette lessons…and I'm rambling aren't I?' Hikari said nervously, a blush quickly rising on her face.  For some bizarre reason the green eyed black haired tanned skin boy made her very self conscious and she started to fidget and then realised that she was still in his arms. 

The boy released his arms from around her waist when he realised that she realised that he was still holding her around the waist. 'No you weren't rambling I was rather enjoying the conversation.' He said awkwardly, flustering at the sight of the beautiful girl in front of him. 'Please continue.' 

'Are you sure?' Hikari asked hastily slightly bewildered by his request.

'Very' he said looking up in her eyes, and raising her hand for her to hook on to so they could walk through the gardens.

'Well anyway I'm here to stay for six weeks, my uncle prince Allen of Austuria seems to think we can't handle six weeks on our own without a strong male figure, even though I have four brothers three over the age of twenty so he asked king Van If we could stay with him until his wife and he return from a peace conference in Ziabach.  He really seems to think women can't do anything, he treats my mother and I like we are made of glass and a tiny wind could break us.  In fact he flew over from Austuria to make sure we got settled in for the day.'  Hikari said with as few breaths as possible surveying the scenery.

Her handsome companion laughed slightly 'Sounds quite nice to me.'

'You must be crazy.  He's so over protective I can barely do anything and what I can do he always reprimands by saying its un-lady-like.  I just had an hour long lesson on etiquette and how to blink seductively.' She demonstrated to him laughing, 'you see he wants me to court Yusuke, he even acts like we are already married.'

'Why do you sound so sad? I hear millions of girls are dying for the chance.' He smirked

'Well I told him it's because I don't think he looks nice, which he did when I last saw him, but that's not the real reason.  I don't believe in courting some one for their status but by what kind of person they are; Of course I can't tell Allen this he would of think I picked up from the un-lady-like women with brains.' For the first time Hikari seemed dismayed in his presence.

--------------------------Waiting room------------------------------

'Where is that troublesome girl?' Allen fumed which was quickly accompanied by a sigh from Celena.  He paced backwards and forwards in the room.  'Your majesty' Allen said while passing the newly arrived king and Queen bowing followed by the rest of his family in the room. 

'I don't think you can call me that anymore now you are prince of Austuria, Allen, anyway we are all friends here so I don't want any of you to bow.' Van said confidently.

'Nice to see you again Celena.' Hitomi said walking directly over to Celena embracing her.  Celena looked slightly uncomfortable as this is not what she was used to from people of nobility.

'These must be the boys.' Van smiled shaking their hands

'They've grown since I saw them last, Yuhei's hair is longer than last time, the twins must have a hard time fighting off girls, owwww Sanosuke last time I saw you, well you were in your mothers arms.' She said pulling his cheek.

Van straightened his posture and looked more sombre, 'I'm very sorry for your loss Celena.' Celena remained mute and smiled as a reply but it was clear she was still sad from the death of her husband as her eyes glistened with tears; true she never loved him and she had even found him irritating when they married but they had grown to become close friends.

Hitomi quickly changed the subject not wanting her old friend to be reduced to tears, 'last time I checked you had an astonishingly beautiful young woman, where is Hikari.' Celena smiled at the release but still continued to remain silent.

'Well um,' Allen looked visibly uncomfortable, 'She should be here any time soon.' Van laughed as he saw Allen fidget with the lace fan in his hand.

----------------------------Palace Garden-----------------------------

'It doesn't suit you to frown' The young man said and reached over to pluck a fiery read lily from his right and placed it above her ear, he reached for her hand kissed it once then bowed his forest green eyes never loosing contact with her red ones; 'I have an engagement to attend to, see you later.' He said running off.

'Wait I never caught your name.' She said to her self as she realised he was out of hearing distance. Hikari stood there dreamy eyed and took the lily out of her hair and twirled it in between her two fingers. She sighed gently as she recollected his arms around her waist.  She brushed her fingers against the bushes she saw him brush his fingers against earlier and smelt the flower in her hand and returned it back to where he had placed it, behind her ear. 

'Hikari, baka.'  Tsuyoshi said panting and lent his arms on his knees gasping for breath, 'I've been looking for you everywhere, and the king and Queen are here, Allen is really angry with you.'

'I didn't know you cared that I went missing.' She smirked.

'*I* don't' He said harshly eyes void of any emotion.  He grabbed Hikari's arm and dragged her whilst running towards the dining room, 'Baka, we're having dinner now.'

Hikari tried to hold back the sobs in her throat, she was being playful towards him but she knew he was serious when he said he didn't care about her.

----------------------------Dining Room------------------------------

'I found her' Tsuyoshi announced.

'I'm very sorry, your majesties that I am late.'  Hikari curtseyed lightly knowing now was not the time to try to be 'seductive' and kept her head bowed down not wanting to face the angry eyes that were staring at her at the table.

'Do try not to do it again Hikari, Where were you? We were all worried for your safety.' Allen said trying to sound concerned but his eyes gave him away he was furious, Hikari looked up once in his direction and at his gaze she looked back down again not wanting to see the similar looks she would probably be facing from her brothers.

'I was in the garden and I lost track of time, I know I shouldn't of worried you by leaving my room without permission, I won't do it again.' She knew none of them were worried for her, they were worried about the displeasure of the king and Queen, just as she knew they didn't care for her; how could they when she had shut them out of her life and the ones she let in, her mother and Allen were afraid of her and she never knew what she did to cause such hostility towards her; it was like that ever since she could remember.  Allen stood up and gave her a hug to try and make it seem as if he was worried but took the opportunity to hit her in the gut with her fan that he had been carrying all day.  I few tears escaped from her eyes; not because it hurt, she didn't even feel any pain; it was the gesture that hurt her hurt.

'She shouldn't be sorry I sidetracked her by trying to make conversation.'

Hikari looked up to see the source of the voice and tried not to look visibly shocked when she saw him.

'Prince Yusuke, she should have known better than to leave her room in the first place,' Sadhura said angrily his gaze unmoved from her direction.

Hikari tried her best to fight the blush rising on her cheeks, she couldn't believe that was Yusuke, he had changed so much! She blushed even more when she remembered what she told him earlier.  'Prince Yusuke, nice to see you again' She curtseyed reasonably low and blushed when she saw him smirk.

'Why don't you take I seat in between your mother and I' Allen chirped; the seat she noticed was opposite Yusuke.

Owari

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-The Backwards Angel