Happy early 4th of July everyone! I'm back and now I'm nice and bronze from the sun, and refreshed with ideas! The day I got back I checked my email, and I couldn't believe the awesome reviews I got... pretty much they just pushed me to write the next chapter sooner than expected! Well... maybe by only a few days. Enjoy!

To Sarina Fannel: Ahh... thanks so much for the comment... * blushes * ... you really think it's one of the best? That really made me smile! Thanks!

To chichi: It's ok that you don't update every chapter... sometimes we all are bad when it comes to reviewing... hey even I forget sometimes! Thanks for reviewing for this chapter!

To Feye Morgan: Thanks for clearing up the Shesta/Chesta thing! I like Shesta more... so it's staying!

To Blue Demon: Don't worry... hopefully my writer's block 'piffled off'... never knew that word exsisted... but I updated so I guess it did!

To Ronin_Mage: Don't worry... I'm planning to put your 'hint' in sometime... I'll work it in soon! Thanks for all your comments... they made me very happy and excited to know that you really think my story is that good! Thanks!

To Young Hitomi: Don't worry... I wasn't planning on making it a lemon. Just cute love and blah blah blah... ummm... I don't want to give anything away so you will just have to read! (

Disclaimer: Ok... ok... enough with the rambling... I don't own anything related to or affiliated with Escaflowne in any shape, way, or form. Except for my characters... if you want them... you have to get permission from me!

With that, the three Dragonslayers walked out of the infirmary. Hitomi sighed... yes... she did hope to recover sooner. She felt dirty and all cramped up from sleeping and sitting on the infirmary bed for nearly a week. Until that time, she could only hope that the decision she had made in this war would be a good one.

Chapter 17: Q&A

It was still the same day that the three Dragonslayers had come to thank Hitomi and a few hours had gone by since. A nurse that had been caring for her the time she had been there walked over to her with a tray of gauze, ointment, and a washcloth with a bowl of warm water. Knowing it was time to change the bandage, Hitomi pushed the sheets off her stomach to reveal the gauze that were wrapped around her.

The nurse started to unwrap the gauze from Hitomi's abdomen until a knock came from the door. Since Hitomi only had her bra on, she pulled the covers back over her shoulders to cover herself. The nurse walked to the door and opened it.

A meek voice sounded from behind the door, "Umm... is Hitomi awake?"

"Yes she is but she cannot see anyone right now." The nurse answered the girl.

That voice... "Wait! Masumi is that you?" Hitomi yelled from her bed.

"Do you know this girl Hitomi?" the nurse asked from the doorway.

Masumi's head appeared when the door was opened a little more and her question was answered once she ran to Hitomi's bed without permission. Masumi sat down on the edge of the mattress, and being cautious of Hitomi's wound, she gave Hitomi a thankful hug.

"When I heard what happened to you, I was so worried and tried to come visit, but every time I came you were asleep. I came rushing here when I heard you were awake and seemed to be doing well." Masumi said as she broke the hug.

Hitomi smiled at her. "Sorry I worried you. My wound seems to be healing... and I think my blood is coming back to its normal level. I'll still be a little weak though for about a month."

The nurse that was tending to Hitomi walked back over to her bed and gave Masumi a scolding look. Hitomi gave her friend an apologetic look and Masumi understood. Standing up from her sitting position on the bed, Masumi walked to the door and left without another word.

The nurse then looked to Hitomi to try and tell her that they needed to change the bandage. She threw off her covers once again and the nurse got started with undoing the gauze that was wrapped around her abdomen. Once it was all removed, Hitomi waited for the patch that was against the gash to be removed.

When she first received her wound, they had to change the patch more often to make sure it was clean and healing correctly. It hurt when they would take off the bandage... the cut was still unhealed and any movement of the skin would cause her pain. She was lucky enough that no organs had been damaged, but still the blood loss was life threatening.

The patch was removed and now that her sliced side was nearly healed, it didn't nearly hurt as much as it did before. A stinging liquid, probably something similar to alcohol, was dabbed against the wound. Hitomi winced once it touched, but didn't say anything because she knew it was necessary. A new bandage was placed back against her skin and the nurse wrapped new gauze around it.

She was given a white shirt that she could slip on to cover herself... hiding under the covers was not how she wanted to stay all day. Hitomi carefully lifted her arms and the shirt was pulled over her head.

Now that the nurse was done caring to Hitomi, she left her to care for some other patients in the infirmary. Again Hitomi was left alone and bored.

'There's nothing to do here... and when something like walking will reopen my cut, there is nothing to do but sit here in this lousy bed, sleep, or just stare at the ceiling.' Hitomi told herself.

She wasn't feeling tired like she was a week ago, so she decided to stare at the ceiling. The whole day went by like that... she received no more visitors and soon enough, she fell asleep from boredom.

The next morning, Hitomi thought that this day would be the same as yesterdays. It was well past noon and she had already eaten a meal. Her bandage didn't need to be changed and that was a good sign. Soon enough, her wound would be totally closed and she would be released.

The day was going by slowly, and even the infirmary was empty... with the exception of her. The nurse was cleaning around the room and the doctors were not there. She gazed out the window that sat near her bed, and watched all the clouds as they floated past them. It was bright outside, above the clouds, and the whole peacefulness of it seemed to put Hitomi in a trance.

She didn't even notice when a knock came at the infirmary door. The nurse answered it and the person told her something. She gave a slight bow and left the room. The person who knocked at the door walked fully into the room and shut the door behind him.

Hitomi finally broke her gaze from the window as she heard heavy boots start to walk across the floor. She turned her head to find out whom the footsteps belonged to, but what she found surprised her.

"Dilandau..." she whispered.

It was in fact Dilandau. For the first time since Hitomi had been injured, this was the first time he came to visit her. He might have come sooner, but during the week, he was trying to find answers he didn't have to questions that were haunting his mind. He started to feel emotions he never felt before, trying to pin point what they were and why he started to feel that way. He started to feel frightened... he was worried Hitomi might not have made it. He also started to feel angry with himself... angry for not being a better soldier or more alert to his surroundings to have prevented Van from hurting anyone. And mostly he felt confused. Hitomi was the last person he would ever expect to jump into drastic decisions and to put their own life on the line for another. But she just kept on surprising him with her choices. She was strong, and had the will to survive, but she felt passion for others.

As he neared her, her expression did not change. Her eyes glimmered for she was happy she finally had another visitor, but the muscles in Hitomi's face showed that she was surprised he had come to see her.

Dilandau walked past the foot of her bed and towards the window. Truly he didn't know what to say so he just stared out the window. He could tell she was getting a little uncomfortable with the silence so he turned his head slightly to look at her. She had the covers pulled around her waist and her hair looked like a mess. The slight paleness of her skin showed the lack of blood that still resided in her body but also proved she had been in this room for the whole week.

"How are you feeling?" he asked in a low calm voice.

"I'm better... still hurts a little when I move though..." Hitomi replied. "My wound is nearly healed now."

His head turned back towards the window, almost as if in a daze. "You know it will scar..." Dilandau's hand found the scar on his own face and ran two fingers across it absentmindedly.

Hitomi looked down at her bed, knowing she had been the cause of that, but before she could put all the guilt down on herself, Dilandau's voice interrupted her thinking.

"You know this scar isn't your fault. If you remember, once you called out to warn Van, he whirled around and blocked my blow with his sheath. We were both totally aware of each other then. He is the only one responsible for this," he said as he lightly patted his cheek.

Hitomi lifted her gaze to see that Dilandau had now pulled over a simple armchair to her bedside and was sitting in it. She looked into his eyes and could tell that he wasn't lying. No hatred towards her lie in those eyes... only a confusion that she was causing.

Dilandau's questions lingered in his mind, but he felt that hey could linger no more. "Hitomi... why did you warn us about the attack? Why did you come back? I thought you sided with Fanel and Schezar."

Hitomi was shocked at straight forwardness on his questions, but she had to give him honest answers.

"Uhh..." she thought for a moment. "Well I warned you on the attack because... I was betrayed by the people I thought were my friends... and by the person I thought I loved."

Deep sadness possessed her eyes and it took all she had to not cry. She turned her head to look away. "I felt so betrayed... I wouldn't let them use me just so they could win a stupid war!" she suddenly shouted.

Her head shot up and instead of sorrow, anger flared in her deep green eyes. "I located where the Vione was and told Allen. Then I warned you... that was the only way I could think of to get back here. I've tried to go back home... but I can't. So the only place left for me to turn was to Zaibach. Van tried to fill my head with all of his beliefs, always saying 'Zaibach is evil; Zaibach is the enemy. They're murderers.' But is this not war? Isn't everyone really a murderer? Zaibach isn't the only country who has killed!"

Dilandau sat listening to Hitomi's every word. She wasn't ignorant at all... the words she spoke were true... but one thing still lingered in his mind.

He spoke. "I see your point, but I still have one question. Why did you put your own life in danger and knock me out of the way when Van and me were fighting? Why did you take the blow meant for me?"

Hitomi didn't expect him to ask this so quickly, so she sat (What else could she do... pace?) and thought about it.

'Now that I think about it... why did I save Dilandau? Was it just my reaction to the vision I had? Was my refusal to let my vision come true the reason I jumped into making my choice?' her face contorted different emotions as she thought. 'No... I know that I didn't just save him because of my vision. But what is it? He did save my life a few times... but... was I repaying him?'

Dilandau patiently waited for Hitomi to answer... although inside he just wanted to demand something out of her. She looked into his eyes and gave him an honest answer. "I really don't know. I'm not even sure myself."

She could tell that was not what Dilandau wanted to hear, but he kept his cool and just gave off a sigh. 'Even I don't have the answers to all my questions... and I cannot expect her to have them either.'

Hitomi turned her gaze to the window until Dilandau spoke again. "Are you still willing to train with the glaive after you're healed?"

She looked back at him with the excited eyes of a child. She nodded her head eagerly and the corners of his mouth twitched up slightly.

'Is he... smiling?' Hitomi asked herself.

"As soon as you gain your strength back, would you like to train as a Dragonslayer?" he asked her quietly.

Hitomi looked at him almost unbelievingly. "You want me to become... a Dragonslayer?"

"Actually, you have a choice. You can become a Dragonslayer, you can become like any other average soldier here, or you can just sit around and be nothing."

She really didn't need much time to decide. Sitting around and doing nothing was what she had experienced for the past week and it was about to drive her mad. The want to learn more on how to use her weapon and to get better at it was pushing her. Her decision was made without a second thought.

"Yes... I want to become one of your Dragonslayers," she told him while smiling.

He stood up from the chair he was in and nodded at her once more. The smile she wore... it seemed to push the 'psycho-pyromaniac' part of him away. He felt... at peace in a way. After talking with her, a weight seemed to lift from his shoulders. Everything that was bothering him over the week was now gone from his mind.

Dilandau walked towards the door of the infirmary, but turned his head slightly just so he could see her out of the corner of his eye.

"Get healed soon... you have a lot of training to do..." and with that he left the room and shut the door softly behind him.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Uhh... short... but I'm keeping ideas together. Sorry if you all were hoping for a little romance, but I'm slowly having them come together and start to feel the emotion. I hate when they just jump into each other's arms, have a passionate kiss, and then wonder what the hell they were doing. Not my style. But keep posted... it will be here soon enough! I can tell you now that it's nearing the end of the story... I have no clue how many more chapters... but you will have to wait and see.

Oh... if you want to have a really good laugh, download the song called 'I'm the Man' by Anthrax (Look for the 'def uncensored version'). Then look up the lyrics and follow along in the song. I couldn't stop laughing the first time I heard it... my brother got it... trust me... it will crack you up!

Please don't forget to R&R!