Title: Intruder Alert: Take Two
Author: Frostmourne
Disclaimer: I don't own Vision of Escaflowne so don't sue me…
Chapter Dedication: MysticalDreamer, supergirl, esca chick, raveeeeen, Mad Meg Askevron, SabrinaYutsuki, Caitie, , Taiyl, ice, Izzy, mymi, naria, Kat-Tastrophe, Rina, Very evil daughter of Lord Vol, Princess Neptune, who cares, Fuzzie and to A Silvan Elf
Summary: Popular guy, Dilandau Albatou, had finally met his match in this green-eyed, short-tempered girl from America. Sparks flew between them from the start and intensified when they found out that they were actually engaged to each other. But when it seemed that they had settled the negative sparks between them, more embers glow from the outside.
Chapter 3: Early signs of affection from Dilandau?
Hiko could hear Hitomi screaming with much frustration inside her room. He cringed as he passed by her room on his way to his own. He could just imagine that Celena must have gotten her eardrums shattered by now.
'I guess Dilandau had gotten into her again,' he though both amusedly and fearfully. 'He doesn't know he's dealing with the warrior princess.'
"I HATE HIM!!! I HATE HIM!!! I FREAKING HATE YOUR BROTHER!!!"
He cringed even more and entered the comforts of his room. Grabbing his head phones, he proceeded to play the loudest music he had in his room, and at full volume just to shut Hitomi's raving out.
He winced as he touched his still bruised shoulder. He never knew Hitomi could damage him so much. She was thin after all and she looked fragile.
'Please,' he thought sarcastically. 'Fragile? I'm more fragile in her hands than she is in mine. Damn! She's so barbaric.'
He had her so riled up last Saturday that when the rest of his friends decided to drop by at his place, they were obliged to drag a raging warrior-like Hitomi away from him. Good thing he managed to keep his face intact.
The following day, Celena had gotten her ears tortured by Hitomi's screaming about hating him so much and wanting so much to tear him limb per limb. He was laughing at his sister when she told him about it. And now, it was Wednesday afternoon, but his bruises from Hitomi were still visible and painful.
At least he didn't have to spend lunch with her since she's with Celena and he wasn't allowed to go near her for at least a week to avoid having them kill each other. His father could be hard to understand. First, he orders him to spend time with Hitomi, and now he orders him to stay AWAY from her under the reason of avoiding another explosive fight.
"Thinking of your sunshine?"
"Van, f*** up, will you?!"
Van laughed and sat beside him in the locker room's floor. He shook his head slightly and looked at him. "You know, I never knew your girl could be so… barbaric."
"Me neither. I didn't even think she could actually injure me."
"Well, it just goes to show you found a perfect match. She spits fire you know."
"Yeah. Unfortunately, I had to find out the hard way."
"Damn!" Van suddenly interjected as he grinned. "Could you just imagine if she decides to kick someone's ass here in school?"
Dilandau's red eyes lit up and the corners of his sensual lips curled upwards. "It would sure be hell."
Van chuckled. "Yeah. Hell is the right word. By the way, how's the deal with your dad? You never told me."
"Well in case you didn't notice, I'm to stay away from Hitomi for a week."
Van raised a brow. "Hm, I don't know whether you sound happy to stay alive or you sound disappointed not to have your life threatened by Hitomi's presence."
"Let's just say I want to know if she'd actually feel guilty for me."
"You know what? I highly doubt that she would. She practically wanted to tear you apart. What did you do anyway?"
"I was just teasing her as usual."
"I think you went overboard," Van noted, grinning. "What did you say?"
"Nothing really. Just an addition from the usual like she may be liking me more than she should."
"And?"
"I continued taunting her till she just screamed and launched herself on me. And you know the rest."
Van laughed jovially. "You know, I think you're the one that may be guilty on your statement. Get a grip, Dilandau. The next time you check, you're already in love with her."
"Like that would happen. It would be like allowing Hitomi to hit my face without me exploding about it."
"You'll never know really. You'll never know."
~*That Saturday*~
"Are you coming tonight?"
Dilandau raised a brow and looked at Mei. "Where?"
"To Tryst. It's a Saturday night and a nice night to go to the bar and enjoy."
"Maybe. I don't know. Celena and the others would be there."
She raised a brow at his out-of-the-question-answer. "And that would mean?"
"If I show up, I show up. If I don't, then I don't."
"Di---"
"Later."
Dilandau walked away from her, leaving her just a bit more upset than she would've wanted to be at the moment. He wasn't paying her any attention just a moment ago. It was so obvious. He didn't let anyone question him the way she just did, but he did. And it was proof enough that his mind was everywhere except with her and her questions. Some of his answers where even off tangent to her questions.
And then, he just dismissed her as if she was nothing. She wouldn't really mind if he was the one doing it. But now she minded it a lot, especially because she had an inkling that Dilandau dismissed her for that green-eyed witch. He had always been doing that since he started to spend time with the witch way before the concert ramble.
This was all unacceptable. She's popular and that girl was not. That girl was absolutely NOTHING and yet she has Dilandau. That girl was even an outcast!
'I will not lose to you, Kanzaki. I will not!' She thought, outraged by the moment.
"Hitomi~"
She could vaguely hear Hiko's voice calling her but she was just too tired from kendo practice and therefore, needed her rest badly.
"Hitomi~"
Hiko could wait just a couple more minutes. Whatever it was he needed from her would have to wait.
"Hitomi~"
Just then, she heard someone knocking at her door.
"Hitomi?" Hiko's voice filtered through her closed door.
"Just freaking come in!" She snapped angrily as she shut her eyes even more tightly.
There were slight noises outside her room for a while before everything became quiet. Hiko must've left. But then, she felt him sit on the bed, just beside her.
"What?!"
Hiko didn't answer. And when she couldn't take it, she snapped her eyes open to glare at her brother. But she was surprised to stare at an all too familiar pair of ruby-colored eyes.
"Hey," he said. "In case you want to ask why I'm here, it's Saturday."
"So?" She asked uncaringly, still laid on her bed while looking at him.
"The week-long 'stay away from Hitomi' business is over. That means I could pester you again."
She rolled her eyes as she noticed a grin curving his kissable lips. "I guess you really do want to die."
He just laughed. "Maybe. But I don't think you're the one sending me to the grave. My dad will do that."
She raised a brow at him.
"You know. I'm still grounded and yet I'm here."
She shrugged and diverted her gaze to the ceiling. "We could always say you were fetching me and I was taking so long in changing."
"Like you'd really say that for my behalf."
She snorted and smiled absently. "Better believe it. I will."
"Why, are you trying to make amends for trying to tear me apart?"
"Maybe," she replied cockily.
"You're not as perky as your usual self. Tired?"
"Yeah. And I guess you'd be happy to hear that. You can aggravate me easily."
He laughed for a moment before shaking his head. "Don't worry. I'm not feeling up to making you blow up right now."
"Oh joy, you finally developed some sensitivity," she muttered sarcastically.
He just shrugged and laid down beside her on his side, facing her.
"Just what do you think you're doing, old man?" She turned on her side and looked at him.
"I just want to hang around. Don't tell me you didn't miss me the whole week."
She smiled cockily. "Why, what do we have here? Dilandau Albatou trying to be cute? That's just so disgusting you know."
He merely smiled at her. "I know."
Her cocky smile changed and matched his unguarded one. "But guess what old man? I did miss having you around. But don't get your spirits too high, I'd still pound you if you irritate me."
"I guess this means we're back to seize fire and being friends?"
"You bet. You still have to teach me how to drive a car and then a motorcycle."
He groaned. "At least it will be many days till my ground punishment is over and I'd resume hell trying to teach you how to drive and trying to prevent us from getting killed in a car accident."
~*A few days later*~
"Well, I'm going. I don't want to be late. Merle would have my head."
Viole left in a hurry after soccer practice, not even bothering to change but just sprinting away with all his things. The rest of the team just smiled and entered the shower room's stalls.
"He's got it bad," one commented.
"Can't really blame him though. Merle just happens to be pretty and popular." Another one joined in.
"I'm crazy for my girlfriend. But I'm not as crazy as Viole."
"Me, too."
And so on, the rest talked about relationships and such. They were just too busy that they didn't even notice that their captain was quiet and just simply rushing a bit.
"I am definitely tired!" Hitomi exclaimed, as she leaned her head on Dilandau's back.
He grinned smugly and revved up his motorcycle. "Just don't fall off while we're on the road. You'd be littering the ground."
"Don't worry, old man," she chided. "When I fall and litter the ground, I'm taking you with me."
They continued their exchange of insults and taunting until they reached the Kanzaki residence. Everything was back to normal. The usual banters, the usual insults, the usual everything. But of course, there were additional new things such as them playing with Hiko's PS2, and Dilandau trying to teach Hitomi how to prepare an edible and presentable meal.
"So, we're up to what dish today?"
"I'm sleeping," Hitomi declared as she plopped on her bed, not bothering to remove her shoes. 'Then I'll check my e-mails later,' she thought, hoping that her modem would work by then.
Dilandau rolled his eyes. "That's boring."
"Go suck a doorknob," she mumbled sleepily.
He stuck out his tongue and immediately retracted it. 'Damn! I'm beginning to get her mannerisms.' "Fine, sleep all you want." 'I need to get away from you anyway. You're contaminating me with your stupid mannerisms.'
Hitomi was already dead to the world when he looked at her. Rolling his eyes once more, he walked out the room and came across Hiko.
'Perfect. Now I can ask Hiko what I need to know.'
"I wonder how Hitomi is doing," Millerna thought out loud. "It's been a couple of months since we actually had a lengthy phone conversation with her."
Sarah cocked an eyebrow. "Why is it so? She's one of your close friends."
"She's often out and her brother says he doesn't know where she is. But I'm sure he knows. Anyway, when she's not out, she's too asleep to be woken up."
"Try her cellphone then."
"Subscriber cannot be reached or something. I think her cellphone is always turned off. Do you think she knows that we're hiding something from her?"
"I don't think so. You know, maybe it's just the time. When it's morning here, it's night there. Vice versa and all. Besides, I think you'll be able to clear that up soon anyways."
"Oh yeah. It's just a matter of time before the semester ends and we can fly to Japan and see her. You know, she's such a great girl!"
"I can tell. Even Allen keeps on blabbing about her. And a playboy Allen blabbing about a girl is something."
Millerna giggled. "I know. Allen really is into Hitomi even if he's a bit on the playboy side. I mean, they'd been together for almost three years, not counting the time when Hitomi went to Japan. He may play a bit, but what can you expect? Allen's been a playboy even before he was in a relationship with Hitomi. And for them to last that long is certainly a signal that they're really serious about each other."
"Hitomi's a lucky girl."
"She is. And we all are since we met a true friend in her."
"Let me guess, she's the one who started the thing on being true friends despite being contenders for who's the most popular?"
"Something like that," Millerna replied, smiling genuinely. "I can hardly wait to see her again."
"Sorry, we're late," Yukari interrupted. "Amano and I had to pick Gades and Allen up near the mall. It was so hard to get going with all those other popular kids from other school socializing with us. And you know the protocol we have."
"Yeah, socialize with the other popular kids to avoid having a hierarchy fight," Sarah stated.
To: emerald_princess@vision.net
From: sapphire_princess@asturia.com
Subject: Hello star sprinter ü
Hey dear,
We miss you so much. It's been really long since we had a decent conversation. I know you're busy. And I hate to inform you, so are we. Things are rather hectic here. But you know we'll be sacrificing any time just to talk with you.
How are you? We're all fine here. And we're planning something big. You'll see. By the way, did you receive my other e-mails and the others' e-mails as well? Yukari and the others had been sending you e-mails too. But they say you never reply. You also do that to me.
Do you have a problem there? We'll help. Just tell us. We just miss you so much. And so do people here. Oh, there will be a party involving the popular kids from other schools. You know, the usual party for a popular kid's birthday.
But anyway…
…
Well, I guess I have to end this now. It's too long. Hope to hear from you soon.
Love you always… üüü Millerna üüü
Hitomi looked at the last e-mail she had on her mail. She never knew that her e-mail address was swamping with e-mails from her friends and they were all long ones. Since her truce with Dilandau, she hadn't had much time to check her mail. Her cellphone was left to one side of her desk long ago. And it had been since then drained of its battery.
She had really been quite busy with her studies and her kendo, with Dilandau and his friends, and Celena and Merle. Of course she had thought of her friends in America, but whenever she would call them on their landline, they'd be too asleep or they are out. And to top it, her modem had been defective for the past months and it was only now that the blasted thing decided to work.
"Something wrong?"
She shook her head and turned to look at Dilandau as he walked towards her from the door. "I was just checking my mail."
"Oh. Well, here's your food. It took me long. Hiko was trying to help me make a new dish."
"I hope he doesn't poison anyone. And the time? I didn't really notice. My e-mail address was swamping with e-mails."
"I hope you finish up with that. Celena is expecting me to deliver you to her presence an hour from now."
Hitomi nodded. "Why don't you just join us in the mall? You know, so you can carry our bags."
He stuck out his tongue at her. "I'm not your servant, *Princess* Hitomi."
She laughed and stuck out her tongue in reply.
"That was fun as usual," Celena commented as she dumped her shopping bags on the floor.
"Yeah. Viole and Merle were so funny. They look as if they're so besotted with each other. They would even shop for a baby if that's possible."
Celena giggled. "Don't tell me you're still not used to them."
"I am, but it's still too cute that I find it funny."
"I guess I've to agree on that one." Celena proceeded to open a couple of their shopping bags. "Hitomi? What are these game CDs for?"
"For games obviously," Hitomi replied, giggling at the same time.
"Yeah, but for who?"
"For Dilandau. They're the latest versions of all the games we play." Hitomi took the game CDs from Celena and walked towards the door. "I'm just going to give this to him. I bet he's in his room, sleeping."
"Uh, Hitomi, no one is allowed to go to his room unless he says so."
Hitomi raised a brow and grinned. "Well that's too bad I want to go there. If he gets pissed, too bad for him. If he doesn't, then I guess there's no problem."
Celena hesitated for a while. "Uh, is there something you're not telling me… about you and… my brother?"
"We're just friends. Really."
Hitomi walked out of the room and without second thoughts, Celena followed her.
Hitomi opened the door and was greeted by the black and red colors of Dilandau's room. He wasn't around. She shrugged and walked towards the bed, intending to just leave the CDs there. But when she reached the bed, she sat down and decided to scrutinize his room.
'Clean, for a boy's room,' she thought as she looked around. 'His bed sure feels nice. Maybe I could ask him to trade beds with me. But how do we do that? Hire a truck to move the beds?'
She laid down unconsciously while thinking of solutions. But then, a door she hadn't really noticed opened and out came Dilandau, dripping wet and clad only with a towel wrapped around his waist.
He was surprised to see her there, laid comfortably in his bed while looking at the ceiling contemplatively. But then, a smirk found its way to his lips.
"Well, well, well," he drawled, making her sit up and look at him. "I never knew you were excited to get on my bed."
Hitomi glared at him fiercely but then noticed that he was a bit more naked than she would've liked to see. She flushed and laid back down, fixing her gaze on the ceiling.
"Oh, suddenly shy?"
"Just shut up and get dressed."
He stifled the urge to laugh knowing that Hitomi was getting more uncomfortable by the moment. "You really want that? Or did you just say that so you can tell me some other way to remove this towel? Admit it, you want me."
"Go to hell!"
"Oh, we could burn. Want to start now?"
"Stop playing! Geez! Just go back wherever you came from and come out dressed decently!"
He grinned and walked towards her, laying beside her. "What if I don't want to do that?"
"I'd throttle you till your eyes bulge out from their sockets!"
His grin widened. He was succeeding in making Hitomi upset… and uncomfortable. Something he had never truly succeeded in doing except now. He was really going to enjoy this. Shifting to his side, he fixed his eyes on her flushed face and placed a hand on her stomach.
She blushed more and stiffened when he started to make figures on her stomach with his index finger. As her blush deepened, so did his smile widened. But then, Hitomi sat up abruptly and smiled evilly at him.
'Somehow, I don't like that look,' he thought nervously. "Hitomi, I was just kidding."
She suddenly grabbed a pillow and proceeded to suffocate him with it, all the while the smile on her face growing more evil and even wider.
He struggled and after managing to sit up, he grabbed another pillow and whacked Hitomi with it.
~tbc~
Author's Note: First off, it's still me Haze. I just changed my name and I've ranted about it on my bio. Okay, moving on. I know there wasn't much D/H interaction and their interactions were not so satisfactory. I have no excuse for that except I needed to make room for the other scenes that are necessary to develop the story. I hope that's good enough for a reason. And the last part, yeah, Dilandau was just kidding. He wouldn't dare do anything concerning the bed with Hitomi especially if she's very unwilling. I mean hey, that's an ogre you're dealing with. Kidding. Yes, about the e-mail of Millerna, I cut them short and the dots would indicate that.
Anyhow, I hope you'd give my other D/H a chance and read it. And even my first try on a V/H. Yeah, I'm advertising. Lolz. The D/H is entitled 'Better Than a Gift Given' and the V/H is 'Standing at the Edge of the Earth'. They're not really good as none of my fics are good but hey I'm entitled to try, right? That's why I really would appreciate it if they're given a chance like the others.
To A Silvan Elf, thanks for commenting on my other fic (Intruder Alert) even if it's long since finished.
To all reviewers: thanks once again to all of you who so kindly supported me through feedbacks. This story is made possible because of that. So whenever you see an update, you know who to thank… yourselves. And that's why I always have to put a chapter dedication. Thank you once again. ^^,