Title: Better than a gift given
Author: Frostmourne
Disclaimer: I don't own Vision of Escaflowne so please don't sue me. I'm merely borrowing the characters for entertainment.
Chapter Dedication: Esca-lover, Caitie, ice, ShiAne, esca chick, Rina and Kechia
Summary: He was a creature of the dark, living forever through the lives he ended. His gift and curse was what would doom him for an eternity of solitary existence. But when he passed through time accepting his fate, it was always her, the girl with the most brilliant emerald eyes that haunted him.
Chapter 1: The Lost One's Origin
"Stop it!" She hissed and slapped the hand away.
"B****!"
She was pulled on her hair and slapped hard enough that she could hardly stand. She felt that the room was spinning. The man stood up and threw her some money before walking away angrily.
"Are you okay, Hitomi?"
She placed a hand on her stinging cheek and looked up at the worried face of Yukari, her friend here in Sable's Lair. She accepted the offered hand of her friend and stood up.
"Damn ass," she muttered as she pocketed the money. "How am I supposed to hide this bruise?"
"Hitomi, I always tell you to be careful."
"I was careful. The damn guy wanted to take me to bed when I was serving his beer," she explained with irritation as she glared at where the man was once sitting.
Her friend sighed. "Well, just be careful. You know how it is working in bars."
Hitomi nodded and walked away, preparing to continue her job. She had to do this. If she doesn't work, she'd have no money to support herself. She cursed again and again.
She ran away from home at the age of fifteen. Home wasn't much of a home to her anyway. Her father had died when she was around two or three. To support the family, her mother had had many jobs until it came to the point where she became a prostitute to rich old men. After some time, she began blaming them for everything and was soon detached from them. This turned her siblings to rebellious ones. All too soon, her two brothers turned to drugs and began selling as well as using them. And her sister had become such a wayward girl acting like a slut.
There was a time when her sister's boyfriend had tried to rape her, her brothers' friends tried to play with her, and worse, her mom tried to sell her body to some rich man. That was the end then. She had to run away to save herself and she did, not caring where she would go. She just had to leave.
Walking aimlessly and hitch-hiking had led her here in Trojan City, a metropolitan in the progressive country of Zaibach. She had slept on the sidewalks, hungry for days until a brown haired girl named Yukari Uchida took pity on her and brought her to a little apartment in the bad side of town. They became friends then and had helped each other survive the harshness of their lives, she being alone by choice and Yukari being an orphan.
For five years they worked at night and came to school in the morning in some public school. It was hard but they had no choice.
"Hey,"
She sighed and walked towards a group of teenagers around eighteen and nineteen. 'Kids,' she thought. 'Wasting their precious lives trying to be on the bad side of things. How pathetic.'
The cool air of winter stung her exposed skin. She cursed wishing that she had a longer coat than the one she had that only reached up to her knees. It didn't even help that it was only a thin layer brought about by the constant wearing over the years that passed.
'I hope Yukari gets home safely from her over time. Gods! It's cold!'
"Well look here."
She ignored the following sneers and the unspoken words of what those guys were planning to do to her, used to encountering this being in this bad side of town. She kept walking. This was obviously a bad day for her.
Hurrying her pace and pulling the short coat closer to her, she cursed inwardly. The laughing followed her. 'I guess I have to make a run for it then.'
"Damn!"
She had cut her mid thigh early this morning while trying to outrun those guys when she climbed up a high metal fence. Wincing, she finished dressing up for her job. She'd just have to explain to her boss that she can't wear a skimpy mini skirt for a couple of days.
Looking at a tight leather pants, she winced inwardly. It would be a pain to get into those especially with the wound, but it was needed for the job in Sable's Lair to appear seductive.
After the pain of getting the tight pants on, she pulled on a tight black tank top and proceeded to put make up on. A bit later, she was finishing the last touches of her make-up on. She checked her cheek one last time to see if the bruise was visible through the layers of foundation and was satisfied to find that it was not very much obvious.
A slight bang in the front door and a hurried walking signaled Yukari's return from school.
"Hitomi, you go ahead. I still have to change and we don't want to be both late."
Hitomi nodded and grabbed her coat on the way out.
"Sweetie, sit here a bit."
Hitomi was far more frustrated tonight as she dogged another arm. She was accustomed to customers asking for her company, but tonight was just so impossible. They were not only asking her but grabbing her and almost tying her down to the chair or to their lap. What was it that made them notice her anyway?
"Having trouble, green?"
She winced at the hard slap on her bottom given by her boss, Grava King. "Yeah, boss. It's a bit on the tough side tonight."
"Well, it's almost your time to bail out. Here. Your last one for the night."
He pointed to a far off table and she proceeded to bring the alcoholic drinks there. She almost sighed in relief when she saw that the man there had three female companions. The guy was handsome, couldn't be far from her age. She estimated that he was around twenty-five.
She placed the drinks there without any delay and was about to walk away when the man called. "Hey pretty, want to join us?"
Rolling her eyes, she turned to the man and plastered a seductive but uninterested smile. "Sorry, sweetheart, but I'm off shift now. Better luck next time."
She walked away then, feeling much pissed off when she heard one of the girls say that she's missing so much.
'Miss what? A bloody f***? Please,' she scoffed inwardly and walked towards where her boss was.
The following night she came to the bar with Yukari only to learn of news she had often heard before. The difference however was that the news were even scary than usual since the place of the bloody murders were now within where they were in the side of the city.
"Hitomi, do you think we should avoid going home without the sun?"
"Yukari, whether there's light or not, muggers and killers would still be swamping this side of town." She removed her coat and hung it at the back room before casually walking out of it to start her job.
Yukari shook her head. 'Someday, she's gonna get herself in serious trouble.'
'It's that guy again,' she thought as she passed by one of the tables in the darkest corners of the bar. She was just about to make her way back to her boss and get her coat for home when she was grabbed by the waist and slammed on the wall.
Her head hurt pretty much from the banging and she could feel herself getting faint from the blow. She looked at her offender and discovered two leering guys. Forcing her self to smile seductively, she said in a flirtatious voice, "Hey boys. I know you two want a piece of me but I'm off the shift."
She was about to move away but was then slammed to the wall once again. This time, the bang on her head was causing her to lose sight. And before she fell to one of the men's arms, she dimly saw one of them lick his lips in anticipation.
~tbc~
Author's Note: It's a bit short than my usual chapters but I'm still straightening a couple of things up so it'd be a match and that would lessen the confusion. But by next chapter, I think I'd be able to present longer ones. About the one speaking in the prologue, you'd find out in the next chapter or on the next one after. And about Hitomi's family's attitude or something, they do happen in reality but I just exaggerated it a bit so she'll really have a reason to run away.
By the way, about the author's name, it's still me Haze. But I changed it for reasons that I'm ranting about in my bio. ^^,
Thank you to the people who reviewed the previous chapter. Thanks for giving this one a chance. I really appreciate it. Thank you so much. ^^, And I really have to mention them so thanks to Esca-lover, Caitie, ice, ShiAne, esca chick, Rina and Kechia. And since it was because of them that I got the chance to continue this… I dedicate this chapter to them.
Thanks once again. ^^,
