Chapter 2

"Hmm."

Hitomi Kanzaki, seeress of the Mystic Moon, saviour of Gaea and ... the fiancée of the King of Fanelia. She stood on a stone balcony; her emerald-coloured eyes sparkled as she looked at the thriving country of Fanelia, or the small portion that she could see from the balcony.

Although it did not seem that she was used to fame, she was famous on the Mystic Moon as well as Gaea ... in fact her family was one of the first clans to rise to a position of power in the Fourth Dynasty. In fact, at one point in time, one of her ancestors became the Empress of Japan.  Although it was quite odd how it came about, originally she was engaged to be married to the only grandson of a wealthy landowner by the name of Karana, Lord Karana was in the running to become the new emperor after the last emperor and his entire family was assassinated.  But somehow Lord Karana's grandson and his team disappeared mysteriously on an expedition near what would eventually become the Kamakura-Kita High School. Their disappearance had never been explained but since her fiancée failed to return within a year of the official announcement of their engagement it was called off and her hand was offered to another of the wealthy bachelors and he ended up becoming the emperor of Japan.  Hitomi herself was fourteenth in line to the throne and was not considered important enough to be escorted with bodyguards at all times.  Luckily, for her and Van, she wasn't escorted by bodyguards on that fateful day when they first met or she would have never have gone to Gaea.

Hitomi sighed; Van was supposed to come to get her after his meeting to go to the market; they were going to design the furniture for their royal bedchambers that calm afternoon. Hopefully giving the carvers enough time to carve each piece by hand before the wedding in six months time. She sighed again, it would only be six months until she married the man who had starred in her dreams for the past six years.

But she couldn't help but wonder what happened to her ancestor's first fiancée. It had been lost through the years what the expedition was searching for, and as trivial as it may seem, if her ancestor had been in love with her betrothed. Love was very important in Hitomi's eyes, if they had not been in love then why were they engaged? Was it an arranged marriage or what happened? 

Although come to think of it, it did happen in the past and it isn't an important concept, it's not like she'd ever meet someone who'd be able to tell her. It was time for her to focus on something that really mattered, namely getting married to Van and spending the rest of her life in Fanelia as it's queen.  She felt a tad bit guilty that she had only left a note for her family, and to make it even worse she'd left it with a lawyer to be opened if she hadn't been seen in a year.  But she believed it to be necessary, as one of the heirs to the throne, no matter how distant; she would never have been allowed to leave Earth.  Although even if she hadn't been a member of the royal family she wouldn't have been allowed to leave Earth, she was hardly allowed to leave the country without an official escort!  Or at the very least without her brother as an escort, maybe that was another reason she felt so compelled to leave Earth for Gaea.  She needed some freedom to survive and Van stood for freedom, the fact that she'd become a queen would be difficult to overcome she may end up being more restricted then she already was.  Hmm, becoming a queen could definely have it's downside but it also had it's benefits. She missed the rush of being involved in decision making, after all it wasn't too long ago that she had been a main player in Japan's political scene.

She had actually been the chief advisor for the Government of Japan, a hereditary position, and she was able to spend a year as the Assistant Chief Advisor to the President of the United States on an exchange program. She was more than ready to become the Queen of Fanelia. Fanelia always reminded her of Van and just thinking of Van made her remember their dates together … She remembered each and every one of her dates but she smiled as she remembered one of their first dates... It was on Gaea...

Hitomi walked through the entrance of the temple by her high school and soon was greeted by the lush beauty of Gaea, more specifically, an area near a field of Fanelian wild flowers where Van was waiting for her. With, predictably, a bouquet of flowers. But in his defense, the bouquet was made of roses from the castle and the roses were a different colour than the ones in the field, and she noticed the thorns had been removed as well. He was sweet like that.

"Hitomi, you're finally here." He smiled and started to walk towards her.

"I thought that I was early." He smiled sheepishly.

"Well I missed you so I came early. I've been waiting for the better part of half an hour."

"You are so sweet." She kissed him lightly on the cheek, taking the flowers from his hands; when his hands were free, he delicately placed one of his hands at the back of her head, tangling it delicately in her hair and the other on the small of her back. And deeply kissed her. They had been kissing for a few minutes when she started to giggle, Van pulled away with a slightly offended look on his face.

"What?"

Hitomi kept giggling but said,

"It's not you, a drop of water just fell down my back. Is it raining?" Van and Hitomi looked up as the sky opened up. They ran to the trees to escape the relentless drops, holding hands and giggling.

"This isn't exactly what I planned for our date today."

"Well, if we're going to be standing here for a while why don't you tell me all about it?"

"Well, it started with a carriage ride out to a small gazebo I had built about two kilometres outside of Fanelia. Then I had prepared a picnic, well I had the chef prepare a picnic. And then, I thought we'd watch the stars come out."

"Oh, that's so sweet! We could probably risk getting wet to get to the castle but we would probably have to wait for the rain to stop. Or we could just go to the castle and talk in front of a warm fire. Cuddling." He placed his arm around her shoulders.

"Well, I don't know about you but cuddling sounds like adequate compensation for getting soaked to the bone."

"Okay, let's go." Van and Hitomi laughed as they ran all the way to the castle. The whole staff looking at them strangely was they finally ran through the doors and collapsed in a heap. After they had dried off and put on some dry clothes, they sat together in front of a cozy fire, wrapped in a soft blanket.

"Van?"

"Hmm?"

"I think this is our best date yet. I love you, Van."

"I love you too, Hitomi."

Hitomi smiled softly as she felt Van's arms surround her waist and his lips descend on the delicate spot between her shoulder and neck.

"I'm so sorry that I'm late. I hope I didn't keep you waiting for too long. I was in discussion with the leader of a tiny country."

"Oh? What country?"

"I think it was called Karana." The book Hitomi had picked up from the small table fell to the ground with a 'thunk.'

"Hitomi? Is there something significant about that name?" She turned in his arms and looked at him,

"Are they still here?"

"No, they just left. Hitomi, what's going on?"

"Karana was the name of a Japanese Emperor. Because of the Karana family, my family became the hereditary advisors of all of Japan's governments going back to the fourth dynasty. Also..." She took a deep breath. "One of my ancestors was engaged to a member of the Karana family."

Van blinked. "Maybe it's a coincidence, but it doesn't matter now, they're gone and we won't see them for a few weeks, when we go to Asturia for the next set of meetings about Karana's acceptance as a member of the post war alliance."

Hitomi barely heard him as the thoughts kept spinning around her head. 'That's where they ended up, they ended up on Gaea. Where I'm the only member of their hereditary advisors who knows of their whereabouts. What an ironic situation.'

AN- Hi people, I realize it's been a while since I updated, cough cough nine to ten months cough cough. Sorry about that, but I started college and I have a new boyfriend, although he's not very new since we've been together over nine months and I've been busy with school work and making new friends. And the ultimate excuse is that this summer I'm working for my dad and that means full time grimy work in his metal shop. So I've kind of updated now, although this is a rewrite of this chapter, for some reason I absolutely hated it although it was warmly received. Thanks to everyone that liked it btw. Okay so I'll stop babbling and post this chapter, I'm going to try updated regularly and I've come up with some ideas for this story and my hp/esca story. Oh also I feel very intelligent because I figured out why some of my favorite stories don't show up on the Just In section of this site … any guesses? It's because they are rated 'R'!!! Aren't I a genius? … Maybe you shouldn't answer that and no I don't have too much time on my hands.

Well since I said I'd stop babbling I'll actually stop now. I hope you enjoyed the chapter and that you review and recommend my stories to everyone you know.

Thanks.