(A/N: Sorry for the long delay.  I hope the chapter makes up for some of it.  Well at least I have some sort of idea of what the plot will be.  Please be patient, because it keeps changing and become more elaborate each time I think about it.  Lots of chapters to go though, that's for sure.)

Chapter 7: Your Ma is Macha

For once it was actually sunny and blue when I woke up this morning.  Guessing that it would be warm today, I put on the tank top and shorts I wore on my first day.  Tiptoeing down the stairs, I saw Korcha in the kitchen wolfing down some sausage and almost choking.  Outside in the backyard Rhonda was hanging clean shirts just as usual.  Patting my brother's back as he coughed, I said nonchalantly, "Hey Korcha."

"Hey Mel," he answered after a huge gulp of juice.  "Is that bastard still coming to our house?"

"I guess so," I said in response, shrugging.  "By the way, where's Van?"  It was odd enough that Van wasn't at the table making sarcastic remarks, but he wasn't even running around the house being hyper.  It was scarily silent in my opinion.

Korcha spent a while thinking meanwhile before saying, "Uh, he probably…"

"Is still sleeping," finished Rhonda, who had just entered.  "Korcha, why don't you explore the town, since you ate all the food," she said as she removed the empty plates from the table.  "I'm going to cook some more food.  And since you," she added, looking at me since my stomach had just growled, "haven't eaten anything yet, you can wake Van so you two can have breakfast together."

I looked at Rhonda with a "please not me" expression but she did not change her expression.  "Oh fine," I said, giving up.  Exiting the kitchen, I ran up the stairs to Van room.  Fun, right?  You must be kidding.  I was sort of dreading the moment.  I mean, what will he think when he realizes he slept in?  He's always been up before me creating havoc or doing something.  Deciding that thinking more about the possibilities would just make me dread the moment more, I knocked harshly against his door and yelled, "Van, get up!"

No sound.  Hmm…  Swinging the door open, I shouted the same thing from the doorway.  Since Mr. Dillogne seemed to be deaf, I went to shake him a bit.  But as soon as I touched his shoulders, he jumped and I was suddenly pinned to the floor, his body pressed uncomfortably against mine.  It was quite awkward, especially with his face so close to me.  I could feel his breath tickling my lips, his hands burning into my shoulders, his legs tangled in mine.  Talk about a reflex!  He almost killed me.  I wonder what he dreams about, to make him so tense.  Does he even sleep well at all?

We stared at each other for a moment before I asked, "Van, could you get up now?"  It was kind of shaky, because I feared any second he would collapse on me.

After a blank look, his lips formed a smirk, wryly saying, "Mel, do you really want me to get up?"  Suddenly his face seemed an inch closer and his lips a bit bigger.  Was he going to kiss me?  I felt like screaming in my surprise, but then I thought might as well let him continue.  It would be my first kiss, and I could brag that it was given to me by the famous Van Dillogne.  Not bad at all.  Besides, it wouldn't hurt, would it?  Though just as I closed my eyes, Rhonda's voice interrupted us.

"Van, Mel, breakfast is ready!" shouted Rhonda from the kitchen.  Soon after those words reached our ears, the smell of sausage and eggs filled our noses.  Immediately Van jumped off me and ran downstairs to the kitchen.  After I could breathe normally for a few seconds I began my chase after him.

"You bastard, Van!" I still shouted though he left some food for me.  It was mostly toast, his greedy mouth already devouring my share of the sausage, which I didn't mind so much because he left me most of the toast.  During the meal we didn't talk at all.  I was hoping some kind of different response to the almost kiss, and the lack of importance of the incident to him made me feel a bit disappointed.  Soon breakfast was over and Van retreated to his room to change his clothes.  I sat outside and continued to think.

What was wrong with me…or him?  Was it just Van's mood swings or something that caused him to not care?  Or was it something wrong with me?  How would I know, since no guy has ever liked me in all my fourteen years.  It would be kind of embarrassing to ask some stranger or one of the girls in my town who had already had boyfriends.  Maybe I just wasn't…

"Mel!" shouted Van as he walked out the front door wearing a dark green short sleeved plaid collared shirt and a pair of baggy khaki shorts.  He was…hot in those clothes, more than in those T-shirts.  Wow…  "There you are.  Have you seen Korcha yet?"

"Oh!  Uh, no…he hasn't come by?" I said with a confused face.  What was going on in Termina that could cause my brother to spend so much time out there?  "Well I guess we should look for him then," I said though we had both concluded that a while ago.  Grabbing Van's hand, I jerked him towards the first stop, Zappa's place.

Walking towards Zippa, who was at the counter as usual, I asked, "Have you seen my brother Korcha?  Reddish hair, kind of skinny, pole user?"

"Yeah," she replied.  "He left a while ago mumbling about beating some 'bastard', but did not say who it was.  I suggested stopping at Lisa's to get some elements if he wanted to battle.  He might have gone there…what are you laughing for?"

Her voice changed as she noticed my uncontrolled giggles.  It was funny how crazy my brother was over protecting me even when he didn't know anything about the other person or what he was trying to protect me from.  "The 'bastard' that my brother is referring to is Van.  Isn't that strange?" I explained.  Van was a bit embarrassed, and became even redder when Zippa gushed how "gentle and kind" he was.

After a bit she calmed down and asked, "So how did Van become a 'bastard'?"  I decided that I would need to end the conversation now so I could find Korcha.

"I'll tell you later, okay?  I really need to find my brother because he's supposed to take me home," I told her, waving to her.  "See you!"  Whipping out the door I headed to my next destination: Lisa's shop.

Panting hard, I opened the door and yelled, "Lisa!"  I probably scared her by being so loud in the morning, but at least she would be awake.

"Mel!" she greeted excitedly.  "How are you?"  I didn't care for the greetings and decided to rush to the point.

"Have you seen my brother Korcha?  Red-haired, skinny, with a pole?" I asked quickly.

"Whoa, Mel," said Lisa slowly.  "Slow down a bit."  After I seemed to relax my breathing, she continued, "Yes I did see Korcha.  He's a bit protective over you isn't he?  Otherwise he seems pretty nice."

"Well I need to know where he is," I stated, though noticing that she quoted him as "pretty nice".

"Uh…he didn't tell me where he was going," she replied.  "He just left and…" Seeing Korcha enter, she added, "Came back."  Turning towards him, she smiled and said, "Welcome back, Korcha."

Pulling something from his pocket, Korcha said quietly, "This is for you, Lisa."  Handing her the Kodomo dragon shell he added, "It was pretty cheap, actually, but it looked nice I thought."  He was a little red even under his tan, but it could not compare to Lisa's crimson blush.

"Th-thank you," she stammered with the shell pressed against her chest.  Then clearing her throat she said, "So Mel, there's Korcha.  You can do whatever you want with him."  She smirked when she saw Korcha glare at her.

"Sure," I replied.  "Well I guess I'll talk to you later.  You have some things you better tell me, you know."

"You too.  I'll look forward to talking to you again.  Bye!" she said, waving as we exited.  I looked to see if Van was still around, since he hadn't said anything the whole time.  He was behind Korcha with a dreamy look on his face.  Man, was he thinking this whole time while Korcha was being romantic to Lisa?  There was some stuff he could have learned there…maybe.

"Why don't we head to Guldove now since we are all here?" I suggested after noticing both pairs of eyes on me.  The other two nodded.  Leading us through the rapidly crowding streets was Van, who kept rather calm despite the loud shouting and the shoving by the people in the streets.  As we approached the dock, the source of the crowds became apparent.  Nikki and the Magical Dreamers were going to give a short, free concert on top of their ship.  As Van tried to sneak around the crowd, one of the guards told us that all access to the port was temporarily closed until the concert ended.  So all we could do is listen, since there was nothing else to do.

I'm not a crazy fan of the group and it wasn't breathtaking or anything, though they were good.  The show was nice too, with Miki and the other two girls dancing and such.  My brother was staring at Miki most of the time, which didn't surprise me.  What did was the fact that Van mumbled to himself during the whole concert.  I don't know what he was mumbling about, but it seemed constant.  I, however, tried to see everything going on, but with an edge view of the stage it was kind of hard.  I opted to watch Nikki's hands with the guitar most of the time, which seemed most interesting to me.  It was cool.  Plus he was the only hot guy up there, so who else could I look at?

After an hour or so, the show finally concluded.  As we ran towards Korcha's raft, we saw a bunch of girls around it.

"Can you give us a ride to Nikki's ship?  Please?" begged the girls, some latching unto Van's arm.  Looking uncomfortably towards us, Van tried not to antagonize the girls but not encourage them either.  Thankfully Korcha saved us by his shouting and cleared the way for us to hop unto the boat and takeoff before some obsessed girl grabbed on.  It was quite sad how the girls screamed at us, but we didn't care.  Making myself comfortable, I sat in the back and watched as Termina disappeared from my view.  About halfway out a sudden question occurred to me.

"Hey Korcha, how were you able to recover your boat?  Or is this one not yours?" I asked, remembering how I used his boat to come to Termina but never returned it.

"One of my fishing buddies gave me a ride to Termina in exchange for a bit a money.  Though I recovered that by catching a few fish and selling that," replied Korcha, still looking towards Guldove.  After some silence, he asked a question of his own.  "So Mel, how long do you plan to stay in Termina?"

"Hmm…I don't know," I truthfully responded.  How long would it take to become a master painter?  Nah, that was out of the question.  How about becoming a good painter?

"Mel has been learning really fast, so maybe a year or two and she'll be pretty good," Van said as if reading my mind.  A year or two?  That was quite an optimistic view.

"Just think of it as going to school almost like the rich people do.  I think a year or two will be all, because by then I'll be sixteen and ready to earn my own living," I decided.  Wow, I didn't think about saying that before I began speaking.  Maybe I shouldn't think so much and I'll sound more eloquent.

"Yeah…" sighed Korcha.  "Well, it's your decision.  I think you can make a good one."  He seemed at a lost of words, and I knew he was trying to say how I've changed in just a few days.  It must feel weird to not call your sister a "brat" or a "young girl" anymore.  But then I don't have a younger sibling…

This little conversation was the only things said during the whole boat ride.  How exciting, I know.  Oceans sure are big, though.

*****

We pulled in with a large crowd around the docks.  It seemed that Nikki and his group were coming here as part of their tour, since the same type of screamers were forcing everyone else off the dock.  We managed to get out the boat with the help of one of Korcha's fishing buddies.  Though it didn't help that Van was as much a celebrity as Nikki was.

"Oh my god!  That's…Van Dillogne!  OH MY GOD!" screamed one of the loudest girls.  Everyone seemed to turn their heads in our direction and scan for him.  Van looked as if he wanted shrink to the size of a mouse and scurry between their shoes.  It was so obvious that even Korcha, who was busy chatting with his buddy, saw it and decided to help him out.  After Korcha created his diversion, which consisted of screaming some random stuff which I didn't care to figure out, Van grabbed my arm and we went sprinting towards the bar.  I heard some gasps as some of the girls recognized me.  I bet they were surprised I was running around with some hot guy, since most of them laughed at how I've never had a boyfriend.

"Sorry Orlha," I gasped as I barged inside her bar, almost tripping on one of the chairs.  "I need to hide this guy from crowds…so can you do that for me?"

Orlha, whose bar was empty during the afternoons usually, had been setting up for the incoming crowds.  "Ask Doc," she said to me.  "He's back there."

Going through the side door, we found that Doc was reading a book on medicine, but otherwise was free.  "Hey Doc," I greeted, and he nodded to me.  "This guy needs to escape those crowds outside of screaming fan girls.  Any ideas?"

Doc smiled.  "Under the bed you two," he said, lifting the blankets and shoving us underneath.

Now I'm stuck in a dark, cramped place with Van again.  What luck.

*****

"I think it's safe to leave now," said Van after half an hour passed.  "They probably don't know where we are anymore, so let's go to your house."

"Uh…sure," I replied.  "There's not much to see there, but you can come anyway."  Crawling out from under the bed first, I accidentally banged my head against the bottom of the bed.  "Ow!" I cried.  Van scrambled out after me and rubbed the spot of the impact.

"Maybe this will make it feel better," he said, touching his lips to the spot.  I glared at him, only because he was trying to make me feel like a child.  Though the action was nice…

We then crept out the bar, waving to Doc and Orlha as we walked to my home.  Running attracts attention, Van told me.  I was too lazy to run anymore today anyway.  It took so long it seemed just to get to my home.  When I entered, I found that my Ma had left to see the concert.  After reading the note, I started laughing for some reason.  Maybe she was one of the people that was screaming out there.  "Well, I guess you can't meet Ma yet, Van," I said.  "So…might as well show you my room then."

Climbing down the ladder, I showed him my small but messy room.  He looked and was surprised by the picture I had of him.  But I looked around and became angry.  Ma sold my favorite picture!  What about all that money I saved just to buy it?

"Mel," Van said suddenly, and I turned to face him.  He was holding up an attempt to copy his self portrait.  "It's not so bad.  Why don't I teach how to draw parts of the body next?  Because your lines aren't so bad…"  He held up the sheet I did to practice straight and curved lines.  "Then you can draw me."

"Sure," I said.  "But now that I know you, why would I want to draw you?" I said slyly.  He glared at me.  I mentally laughed at him.  Score!

"So what do we want to do next?" said Van, changing the subject.

"Well you can give me another lesson right now while we wait for Ma, since it might be a while," I replied, thinking of my mother trying to push towards the front to see Nikki up close.

"Uh Mel?  You need to pay attention to learn, you know," said Van after waiting a bit for me to stop thinking and start grabbing my supplies.  It's easy to guess what I did next.  Of course I glared at him.

*****

It had been an hour or so, because I heard my mother come in with fish for dinner.  Not knowing both Van and I were here, she began to cook.  When it started to smell a bit, I remembered that fact and climbed up to tell her.  Hearing the noise from underneath, she thought I might be some kind of thief.  Then when she saw me she gasped in surprise, and soon I was squeezed to death.

"Oh my god, Mel," she said with some tears.  "You're back!"  I hugged her in return, but did not cry.

"Yeah Ma I'm here," I said.  "And I brought my teacher with me too."  Looking down the ladder I shouted, "Hey Van!  Get up here!"

Van scrambled up right at my command.  It made me feel quite powerful.  Anyway, Ma was examining Van head to toe.  It made him a bit nervous, but she soon broke into a cheery welcome.  I could sense Van relaxing more as she asked him some of the typical questions, like where are you from and how old are you.  Then when Ma signaled for me to leave, probably because of some private questions she wanted to ask, I left and went outside.  I frowned as I noticed the sunset was not as pretty as on the beach or from Van's balcony.  Maybe I'll ask Van if he'll let me go out on his balcony sometime.

"Hey Mel what are you doing out here?  And where's Van?" asked Korcha as he saw me outside alone.  I guess he had a great time or something, because he looked quite happy.  Wonder what he did…

"Well Ma is talking to Van about some personal stuff.  They should be done soon," I said.  When after a minute or so it was clear that Ma would never stop asking questions, Korcha and I silently agreed to barge inside together.

"Who's there…oh it's you Korcha," said Ma as she was interrupted by our noise.  Before she could say more, Korcha gave her his cash.

"Ma, why don't we have dinner now," Korcha said.  He seemed kind of tired, and he was soon sitting on the floor.  I plopped down next to him.  Though Van wasn't as exhausted it seemed.

"You know, Korcha," he said quietly, "you were really nice today.  Thank you for dealing with the crowds and such.  I'm…just a very shy person and the amount of people kind of overwhelm me."

Korcha smiled, and then put his hand out.  "Sorry for bashing you.  You're actually a pretty cool person.  Want to shake hands and start again?"

Van also smiled and put his hand in Korcha's.  After a firm shake, he said, "Deal."

It was nice and quiet for the rest of the time before and during dinner.  Ahh…so much better then screaming all the time.  Those girls probably damaged my ears…

*****

"You're not staying?" asked Ma as Van and I waved her goodbye.  Van had wanted to return home before the next day, and though it was dark, Van insisted that he knew his way home from the stars.  I wasn't so sure, but Ma trusted him, so I guessed it would be okay.

Van replied, "No, Mrs. Hineka…"

"Please call me Macha," said Ma, interrupting him.  "That's what everyone else not related to me calls me."

Van looked a little nervous when he replied.  "Sure," he said.  "I guess we better go now then, Mel."  Taking my hand, we were soon out the door.

"What about a boat?" I asked him, thinking he didn't have one.  He just smiled at me.

"Do you know why there's always an empty boat?  It's owned by this one man who makes boats for rent.  We'll be using that," said Van, reaching into his pockets.  "Well I have plenty to pay for it."  After we reached the dock, Van went to pay the man and secured the boat.  "So let's go now, Mel," he urged, allowing me to step into the boat first.

We started kind of shaky, but soon the boat was stable and Van was paddling our way to Termina.  Though when land was kind of far away, he suddenly stopped paddling.  I could not think of why he would do that, and it must have been apparent on my face.

"Mel," he said, turning to me and trying to smile despite being a bit nervous, I could sense.  "I know I wasn't really nice to you at first and we haven't known each other for very long but…"

He searched to see my reaction so far.  Not knowing enough, I motioned for him to continue, which he did.  "I really like you and wouldyouliketobemygirlfriend?"  He was blushing crimson as he rushed the last part of the question.  It kind of surprised me that he would ask me that question, but in the middle of my thoughts I remembered that he was waiting for me to respond.

So what should I say?  If I said yes, then…well why not try it?  I've never had a boyfriend before, and Van was actually not so bad…  "Um, Van…" I started, waiting for him to fix his eyes upon mine.  "Yes."

He moved closer to me then until we were only an inch apart, pulling me into his arms.  Leaning over to my left ear, he whispered, "Can I kiss you then?"

Kiss ME?  Wow, two things in one day…  "Sure," I said.  I had wanted him to kiss me this morning, didn't I?  He slowly and softly placed his lips on mine, and I could feel his arms shift to pull me closer and my hands around his neck.  After a short while, he ended the kiss, only to invite me with his eyes for another one.

Of course I let him kiss me again.  That's what anyone would do.

(A/N: Surprised?  Well I already put in so many hints that they better had gotten together soon.  Plus I didn't feel like dragging out the "just friends" part.  Come on, most of you here want to see them kissing each other and stuff.  Anyway, those who are new or faithful to the story, please review!)