Title: Intruder Alert

Author: Haze

Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne so don't sue me…

Chapter Dedication: candyfloss, Fushizen na, esca chick, anime_luver, Leiliiani, satan, chibi-ken14, Kat-Tastrophe , Moonbeam020290, Yukishin, Rina, Faraday, jess131346, Divine Discontent, naria, honeypot, Ledophole, Blue Demon, Princess Neptune, yukari, Fuzzie, Khayee

Chapter 7: The Different Kinds of Reactions and Situations

Donkirk Albatou took a deep breath and looked at his long-time friend and business associate who nodded. He turned his attention to Dilandau and Hitomi who looked as if they were ready to kill someone.

"You two are engaged."

Hitomi's jaw dropped impossibly low while Dilandau's eyes widened impossibly --- wide. But so far, there hadn't been any violent reactions… yet.

Mr. Kanzaki cleared his throat. "Perhaps we should leave them for a moment."

The rest of the parents nodded and exited the room with Mr. Kanzaki, leaving the two still frozen with their impossible reactions.

"Do you think we did the right thing?" Mrs. Kanzaki asked worriedly as they walked inside the elevator.

"I think not," was Mrs. Albatou's reply.

But Mr. Kanzaki and Mr. Albatou obviously disagreed.

"Nonsense! That's the best idea Donkirk and I ever came up with!"

Mr. Albatou nodded. "Trust us, they'll soon get the hang of each other."

"And what if they don't?" The mothers asked.

The fathers looked at each other and seriously contemplated. "Then, the engagement could still be called off."

"Donkirk is right. But for now, we have to give this a try."

"We really should. Your daughter, as far as I can see, may have what it takes to domesticate my son. You've seen his past records and all. He could be such a pain. Besides, if they really don't like each other, they could always fight it out since they seem to be both temperamental."

The parents laughed although the two mothers were still hoping deep inside that this wouldn't turn out as disastrous as would be possible.

"Well, I don't think it'll reach that point," Mr. Kanzaki interrupted amusedly. "After all, they both have good breeding which is one of the points why we considered the match."

"I couldn't agree more," was Mr. Albatou's agreement.

Dilandau and Hitomi had recovered from the shock and they eyed each other with intense commotion of emotions. For minutes, it went like that as they tried to sort out what they should feel after this. And for more important matters, what they should do to get out of this mess.

Sorting out reactions for Dilandau would be best done if one knows the exact seriousness of the situation. And as he replayed what his father said over and over again, one thing came to his mind. Curiosity. That was what his mind told him to experience.

On the other hand, Hitomi settled to make her reactions' ground by digging for possible reasons on why their parents lost their sanity and engaged them to one another. But her mind could only stay with one disturbing scene where she was on top of Dilandau and they looked as if they were doing something. . . romantically personal when in reality, she was trying to hurt if not kill him. And now, her reaction could be clear.

"YOU!!!" She screamed as she flew out of her chair and held Dilandau's shirt while staring down at him with fierce green eyes. "THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!!!!!!"

One of Dilandau's silver eyebrows shot up. "My fault? This is MY fault?"

"DAMN RIGHT!!!" Hitomi yelled with much, much exasperation as she gripped his shirt tighter and pulling it higher enough to choke any normal guy.

"How is it MY fault?" He shot back, curiosity seemingly forgotten as he settled for his new reaction --- pissed off. "I didn't know anything about THIS!!"

"RIGHT YOU DON'T!!! BUT IT IS STILL YOUR DAMN FAULT!!!"

He stood up and towered over her but still allowed her to grip his shirt and crumple part of it. "Care to explain, Ms. Barbarian?!" He snapped as he struggled to keep composed.

"YOU DIDN'T DAMN DENY ANYTHING WHEN WE WERE CAUGHT AT YOUR HOUSE IN A CLOSE POSITION!!!"

"And so it's MY fault?! I wouldn't have to deny ANYTHING if YOU didn't attack me!" He spat the words through clenched jaws.

"WELL I WOULDN'T HAVE ATTACKED YOU IF YOU DIDN'T PROVOKE ME!!!" She retorted.

"I wouldn't have provoked you if YOU didn't act so rebellious around me from the FIRST day of school!"

"I WOULDN'T HAVE ACTED REBELLIOUS IF YOU DIDN'T MANAGE TO HUMILIATE ME THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!!!!!!"

"I wouldn't have MANAGED to HUMILIATE you if YOU were watching YOUR way!"

"YOU DIDN'T WATCH YOUR WAY EITHER!!!!"

They glared at each other as fiercely as they could manage without necessarily having their eyes pop out of their sockets. They could've set a world record for glaring at each other for more than two hours without one backing down but both their cellphones rang steadily.

Still glaring at each other, they both answered their phones in a deadly calm voice. A bit later, they ended the calls and still glared at each other, all the while silently telling each other that they'd continue this fight some other time in the very, very near future.

As if on agreement with each other, they simultaneously broke the glaring eye contact and stomped out of the conference room. Dilandau voluntarily took the stairs to give his self the time to calm down before meeting up with his friends. Hitomi took the elevator so she could finish her cursing and raving before meeting up with Celena.

~*A week later*~

The moment Dilandau entered the Fanels' living room, his friends knew that he'd explode any moment. He had been pretty much irritable when he came from his talk with his father. His narrowed eyes and set jaws were clear sign to any of them not to question what had happened.

And now that it has been a week since, they knew he wouldn't be able to keep his emotions bottled up especially with their Coach Sakima, the renowned Coach Spitfire, blasting them all with his insults and threats.

"Here." Van handed Dilandau a gloomy-looking vase.

Dilandau's eyes narrowed. "What---"

"Break it," Van encouraged. "It'll make you feel better and at least I'd be getting rid of my brother's weird vase without me breaking my promise of not personally doing anything to it."

The vase was shoved back to Van. "I don't intend to get in trouble with Folken. But I wouldn't mind breaking your nose."

Van raised a brow and looked at Dilandau with mock hurt. "Ouch."

Dilandau grinned and for a moment, forgot his dilemma. "At least he's worth something. Not like you."

"It doesn't mean that he helped reform us that he's going to be my idol or something." Van shrugged, returning the vase to its original position.

"Just what are you doing?" Folken's voice interrupted Van as he was placing the vase.

The rest grinned. Van would surely be in trouble. Folken would be suspicious at having seen him holding the vase, the precious vase that Folken got from his fiancée.

Hiko watched in amusement as Hitomi paced the living room to and fro as if her life depended on it. His sister looked so agitated and he was beginning to wonder what was wrong with her. Celena was wondering, too as she stood by the living room entrance and watched Hitomi closely.

When she turned up on their postponed mall ritual, Hitomi had been very upset about something that she strongly refused to talk about. What Celena found strange was that even her twin brother seemed to be in a desperate struggle not to lash out during the whole week.

"Tomi, if you continue that, the living room would have a hole," Hiko informed.

Hitomi stopped, glared at Hiko and hissed, "Interrupt me again and you'll be hanging upside-down in your closet!"

Hiko looked at his sister and sighed. "Fine. By the way, Celena is here." He stood up and smiled at Celena before exiting the room.

"I didn't notice you were there," Hitomi mumbled.

"Of course, you wouldn't," Celena replied amusedly. "You were too busy pacing the room."

"Sorry. I was just thinking of something."

"Care to tell me?"

Hitomi looked bothered. "Not now."

Celena sensed her anxiety and decided to back off for now until Hitomi would willingly tell her.

"Alright, let's settle this once and for all," Hitomi began promptly just as Dilandau stepped in and closed the rooftop door.

Immediately after the week of trying to think of solutions and trying to calm themselves down, they had agreed to talk on the rooftop and settle the matter. It was now their dismissal from their practices in kendo and soccer.

"Gladly," he replied as he leaned on the door. "Were shall we start?"

"From the solution itself. There's no use going back to the main reasons. We wouldn't be able to do anything anyway."

"Alright. In my idea, the best solution we could have is that we avoid each other so that our parents would think their engagement plan is not working."

"We could try that. But if it doesn't work, we could always try pretending that we have other. . . serious relationships."

Dilandau nodded although he noticed the falter in Hitomi's sentence which was unlikely of her since she always did speak her mind without any hassle and straight on a person's face, brutally honest or not.

"Alright then. So we end it here," he said plainly and left.

Hitomi was left staring at the door before her gaze flew to the sky and a sad look crossed her face. 'Allen, I wish you were here.'

Dilandau walked down the hallway feeling a bit resentful for having no choice but to avoid Hitomi. Not that he felt anything similar to care or love for her. It was just that he did enjoy being around her and annoying her as well.

But he had no choice. Either he gives up the fun of getting Hitomi to flare up or he gives up the fun of being free from commitments that he did NOT set upon himself. He'd rather forego Hitomi than his freedom.

However, there is this slight feeling of loss by giving her up. He had never had so much fun just by annoying a girl. Sure he did a lot of annoying people before when he had strayed from the path of being a good person, but not a fraction of the fun he had before could compare to the fun he felt with Hitomi around.

Still, choices had to be made. And he and Hitomi had just done that.

Millerna raised a brow at the girls surrounding Allen.

"Easy girl," Yukari warned. "It is so unthinkable if you get into a brawl in a public place such as this bar."

"I don't give a damn about that popularity bull---"

"Hey, girls," Amano greeted and sat beside Yukari. "Am I interrupting something?"

"Actually," Yukari said. "You're just in time to help me make Millerna realize that it would not be so good on our reputation if she goes and wage war on the girls surrounding your brother at the moment."

Amano frowned and scanned the dance floor below. "I guess I have been VERY late. I should've left Gades to his salon appointment WAY earlier."

"You mean Gades is not with you?"

"Nope, Millerna. I got tired of waiting for him make his new image after I got my hair done."

Yukari rolled her eyes as she spied Gades stalk towards them after being pointed to their direction by a couple of their schoolmates. "What new image? He still looks the same to me."

"Hey people," Gades greeted jovially as he sat down beside Millerna. "Could you just imagine that after all the time I spent in the salon trying on different hairstyles, I actually decided to retain my original one?"

"Actually, we don't need to imagine," Millerna said sourly.

"The proof is already in front of us," Amano said in an equal sour tone as Millerna. "I've waited for a long time and it's for nothing."

Yukari shook her head. "For a vain boy, Gades, you are definitely too troublesome to justify your looks."

"So is Allen," Gades answered defensively. "Where is he anyway?"

"On the dance floor," was Millerna's very, very sour reply. "With at least a dozen girls who in my opinion are members of a new specie evolving from leeches."

Gades turned to Amano and Yukari who both nodded their agreement before scanning the dance floor. True enough, Allen was there with girls clinging to him like, what Millerna had said, members of a new specie evolving from leeches.

"This is NOT good," Gades said, shaking his head slightly. "If Hitomi---"

"She'll soon learn if those blasted girls don't go burn in hell soon."

"Millerna, calm down," Amano reprimanded.

"How the hell can I calm down with all the fuss that's been happening behind our best friend's back?!"

Yukari sighed. "You know, Millerna is right. It had been weeks since we last mentioned Allen during our talks with Hitomi. We couldn't exactly tell Hitomi a lie."

"It's a good thing then that Hitomi isn't asking me and Gades some questions about Allen."

"Come to think of it, Amano, if Millerna and Yukari haven't been mentioning Allen; and Hitomi doesn't ask the two of us about your brother, it could be possible that she is suspecting something."

The four looked at each other and then the dance floor.

"This is NOT good," they all said at the same moment that their latest addition to the crowd came.

"Sorry, I'm late," Sarah apologized. "I had to drop off my brother." Sitting down on the other side of Millerna, she noticed the looks the four had directed on the dance floor. "Does this mean that you all want to drag Allen out of the dance floor?"

The four looked at her and nodded.

"Well then, why don't we just do that? I would have a perfect excuse for that."

"We're interested. Go ahead."

"Good, Millerna. I was thinking that we could say that we are going to plan for a party at my house tomorrow."

"I hate having to lie, Sarah. I may be mean for other people," Yukari began. "But that's because I'm brutally honest."

"Then, we'll have a party. That's not a problem. We could do it at my house tomorrow."

"Actually, Sarah, our main objective of wanting to drag Allen away is to keep him away from the leech people. And we won't be doing a very good job if we'll really have a party tomorrow."

"You have a point, Gades. But we could still have a reason to drag Allen out, have the party, and have Allen avoid the leeches people, which in my opinion are the girls clinging to him most of the time."

"How are we to do that?" Amano asked curiously.

"We could get Allen drunk today so that he won't be feeling up for the party tomorrow night. I know it's mean but at least it'll work. Besides, I'm not so comfortable seeing leeches literally and figuratively."

"That's pretty nasty. But I'm with the plan," Millerna informed. "Allen needs to be taught a lesson anyway."

Yukari looked convinced. "No offense, Amano, but Millerna is right."

"And I think it's time for our playboy to get out of the scene even for a short time."

Amano looked at Gades. "I suppose you're right about him getting out of the scene."

"Great!" Sarah exclaimed. "Now we could get out of here."

The four looked at her quizzically.

Sarah smiled. "I'm avoiding my ex-boyfriend who is now two tables away from us and with his new leech and jealous girlfriend."

The four smiled in understanding. Sarah may be spoiled, but she is very considerate of other people's feelings, especially if those people had been a part of her life at one time or another.

"No wonder you hate leeches," Gades grinned.

"Guimel," a pretty girl said seductively. "Care to dance with me?"

Guimel raised a brow and swept an analytical look on the girl before smiling and taking her to the dance floor.

"So," Van mumbled, looking at Dilandau. "Why the bad mood?"

Dilandau glared at Van. "What bad mood?!"

Van smiled triumphantly. "THAT bad mood."

"I'm not in a bad mood."

"Why are you ignoring every girl then?"

"F*** up, Van. Why don't you just get lost with some girl like the rest?"

A look of mock hurt was plastered on Van's face. "Is it too bad to keep my best buddy company?"

"I don't think that's your reason."

"What do you mean?"

"I think you're just waiting up for Celena to make an appearance."

Van's disgusted expression was reaction enough for Dilandau. "Celena is gorgeous. But I don't do incest. I may have become one troublesome delinquent but I don't dig that crap."

"Go on denying again."

"Hah! And go on changing the topic."

"What damn topic?!"

"Let me guess, is this about the talk you had with your parents? Did you have another talk? Because if you did, I'm guessing that it's worse than before. I mean one week, you are all tense and ready to explode. This week, you're acting like you've been actually banned from one of your favorite past times or something."

"So?"

"So what's the catch? Are you getting sent off to a far-away place?"

"You look as if you're going to throw a party if I say yes."

Van laughed at the statement. "It doesn't matter whether I do that or not because I doubt you'd be sent off somewhere. We've been in a lot of trouble before and you didn't get to be sent off anywhere but your room. And now that you're straight, I doubt your dad would do such a thing."

Dilandau snorted. "Yeah, he wouldn't. He did something much worse." 'And damn I'm still not out of this mess and I'm even forbidden to play around with some girls,' he thought glumly. 'And if I get caught, I'm going to be deprived of EVERYTHING. Damn!'

"Oh? Something much worse?"

"Get off my back, Van," Dilandau mumbled. He took his last liquor for the night and started to walk off.

"Going home already? It's just ten minutes past twelve."

Dilandau stopped and turned around. "So?"

"We're already eighteen. And I remember having so many fist fights with you at around THREE in the morning in random exclusive bars. And we were still in junior high back then."

"Going straight, remember?"

"It's Sunday tomorrow."

"You mean today," Dilandau corrected and walked off. "Tell the others I'm off for more rest."

Van cocked an eyebrow while watching Dilandau shrug off girls as he made his way out of the bar. Something was weird, but Dilandau was big enough to handle his own problems. For now, he'd have to focus on something else. Or rather someone else.

"Dear, I've noticed that Hitomi has been staying at home with Celena everyday after her school."

Mr. Kanzaki closed his laptop and stared at his wife beside him in the backseat of a black BMW. They were on the way home from a dinner date. "Isn't she supposed to be spending more time with her fiancé?"

"Well, I've talked to Mrs. Albatou and she said that her son has been with his friends most of the time. Dear, I think it was a hasty move to engage the kids. We're not even sure if they were really in a relationship of more than friends or if they were in a process of being romantic."

"But what about when we saw them at Donkirk's house? What about when we saw Dilandau and Hitomi outside the house?"

"We really haven't known anything about what's up close. We could've just misinterpreted things."

Mr. Kanzaki groaned. "But we can't call this thing off."

"Why not?"

"Let's just say most of our business associates have heard of this. And it would be disastrous for our names if we can't pull this off. They'd think that Donkirk and I have wrong judgments on things. And besides, this is a good financial move for both our family and Donkirk's. It's also good for Hitomi. She'd be going to a good family with a very good breeding. There's also the fact that we'd be surely having good-looking grandchildren."

"But at the expense of our daughter's happiness? We are mixing business with personal matters."

"Our daughter doesn't look unhappy. She just needs to adjust. And there's no better way than to make her spend time with Dilandau. I would have to talk to Donkirk about this."

Mrs. Kanzaki sighed. "Alright. A chance taken is better than wondering about it."

'I hope they're calling the engagement off,' Hitomi wished fervently as she walked into the conference room.

As she entered the room, she noticed the tension that seemed to hang around Dilandau. She gave him a quizzical look which he returned with a look that suddenly gave her an idea that Dilandau was having bad vibes about this talk.

A few minutes of introduction about the engagement's positive points was delivered by Hitomi's father. And the real issue was tackled by Dilandau's father.

"We've noticed that you two aren't really spending time with each other. And it would really help if both of you would get to know each other as future husband and wife."

Hitomi almost gagged on her own saliva and Dilandau almost rolled his eyeballs at the mention of future husband and wife. Didn't their parents realize that they couldn't even stay together without annoying each other?

"So we decided something very important."

Dilandau shot Hitomi a look which was exactly the mirror of the look Hitomi gave him. They were sure having a VERY bad feeling about the 'decided something very important' part of Mr. Albatou's speech.

They both drew in a deep breath and waited for the judgment of the court --- death sentence or lifetime imprisonment with each other.

"We're ordering both of you to spend time with each other for the rest of the year and even next year if it'll take you both that long to get to know each other or else."

~tbc~

Author's Note: Okay, the continuation is finally here. I hope this is good enough considering the time it took me to upload. Actually, I had this finished a couple of days after the previous one. However, there had been many personal problems hindering me from uploading. Anyhow, I think the title is a bit appropriate so in case it doesn't sound right in your POVs, I think it may be because my head is all messed up. If the chapter's boring, I'm really so sorry. As I said, my head is all messed up.

            Notes on Sarah here. I think I had her mentioned in the second chapter and it goes like this: Everything was okay except for some changes like some new girl making a transition from a newbie into a popular one and is most likely going to be one of them. And I think I mentioned her in the fifth chapter where Hitomi was having a screaming fit while on the line with Millerna and Yukari. That's about that. I just wanted that cleared up so to avoid confusion on her sudden popping on the scene.

            Alright, before I get caught sneaking the pc in the middle of the night, I think I might as well end this rant. I wouldn't want to have a cross-path with my father right now. To jess131346: I'm glad that wasn't a flame. Whew! For a moment there…   So, to all those who had given me review: thank you so much. That may sound clichéd but hey, thanking is always part of me showing how appreciative I am for those feedbacks. Thank you very much. Maybe we could try for 150? ~_^