Chapter 6:
"Van?" Hitomi lightly rapped on the door to his room, "Van? Are you awake?"
Still no response, gently she pushed the door open. Van was still dozing on the kingly bed with a sense of tranquility. Whispering into his ear she gently pushed away the unruly black locks that covered his eyes. Hitomi doubted Van would ever be able to tame them. "Rise and shine sleepy- head."
Slowly heading her command Van's eyelids fluttered open. The young king's face broke out into a wide grin seeing his guest.
"Good morning, or should I say good afternoon?"
He smiled looking half-amused, and half-delirious. For a moment it seemed he was going to reach out to wrap his arm around his love, but backed off at the last second. She was like a goddess to him. To worship, but not to spoil, everything she did he loved. And he often wondered why it was to him that all her affection was devoted. She could certainly have Allen; he had everything going for him, charm, looks, not to mention being a Knight Caeli and some women seemed to think that his tragic past made him all the more desirable.
'He's still shy.' Hitomi thought lying down next to him, doing what Van himself had been hesitant of. She cuddled against him breathing in his warm sent, hearing his heartbeat, laying suspended in time. No one could ruin this moment, no one.
"Lord Van!" A pink cannon ball jumped in from an open window.
Sourly, Hitomi re-thought the phrase, as she and Van sat up, 'Well, Merle can achieve the impossible.'
"Hi, Merle." Van was kindly prying the cat-girl off of him. "What are you doing?"
"Well, Hitomi was supposed to wake you up, but she wasn't doing a very good job, so I did it for her."
Fuming Hitomi interjected, "I woke him up! But you just barge in whenever you feel like it! No courtesy towards others, absolutely no manners!"
Merle's claws were bared sinking into the mattress, her fur standing on end, and tail twitching erratically. "Take that back!"
"No. It's the truth."
"Why you…" Her phrase was interrupted by Hitomi shrieking and running out of the room with Merle in close pursuit.
One of Van's advisors popped his head in the open doorway after being nearly bowled over by the frantic racers. "Get used to it m'lord," he said smirking, "They'll never change." To the man's surprise Van was chuckling and then laughing hysterically, "M'lord?"
*****
Jezabel tried to recollect some of the passageways around her new home. Stopping only twice for directions from meek servants who looked like they were having a seizure when she addressed them – apparently not all were as forth-coming as Eva. None-the-less Jezabel finally made it to the training facility. The Dragon Slayers were warming up.
"Well, well, look who decided to crawl out of bed."
Jez shifted her gaze to Dallet and his saucy tone, she resisted commenting.
"Oh come on, I didn't beat you that badly." Rolling his eyes he turned to talk to Gatti, still staying within earshot of Jez, "She's a weakling, me on the other hand, I'm perfect, not a scratch on me."
Strolling along, with every movement precise and calculated Jez lightly clapped him on the back, "Sure you aren't." Although he didn't show it, Jez knew there was a tender spot there. It didn't matter how though anyone was, one of her blows never failed to cause some damage. "You're not as tough as you look, wimp."
"Are you saying you want to take me on again? Don't you ever learn?" Dallet flashed one those just-try-it looks.
"Rather quickly," Jez replied, "Bring it on. But this time, no swords."
"Very well then," Dallet's growing leer quickly was wiped off his face, "L-lord Folken." He stammered plummeting to the ground.
"We will have no more barbarian fighting. I thought I said no training until tomorrow Jezabel."
"Yes sir."
"Then what are you doing here? You realize you'll do more harm then good to yourself if you start today."
The red-eyed general spoke up lazily twirling a dagger, "Let her fight Strategeos, then we'll really see what she's made of." He smiled cockily, as only he could do. "She isn't under your command. Remember she's one of my men."
"I'm not a man!" Jezabel screamed.
"What was that?" Dilandau looked at her like she was nuts; he'd never had this kind of reaction before from a soldier. A couple prisoners, but they didn't live long afterwards. Infuriated the general marched up to her, throwing the blade to the ground, narrowly missing Jez's foot. "You never talk back, you are a direct subordinate!" Smacking her Lord Dilandau sent Jezabel to the ground.
Like a caged lion she glared at the offender while rubbing her cheek. "Temper, temper." she muttered, not expecting anyone to hear, but naturally her commander did.
His red eyes aglow Dilandau picked her up by her collar and punched again, this time hard enough to send Jez crashing into one of the other soldiers. Her jaw was dislocated, and blood ran rampant in her mouth and down her chin.
Some lessons had to be learned the hard way.
"Miguel, help her get fixed up. I know I can trust you not to go easy on her."
The soldier scrambled to the front of the line, "Yes sir." Rolling his eyes at Jez he waited for her to stand up and led her out the door.
"What the hell were you thinking? You never contradict him like that." Miguel was dabbing an antiseptic on Jezabel's face to clean the cut at her mouth.
"Ouch, that stings."
"It should," however Miguel did try to be more careful with the cloth. "You can be such an idiot, use your head for a change. Hold this on it for awhile." He gave her a fresh towel, "Hot-headedness isn't a good trait if you want to survive during battle."
Mumbling through the cloth Jezabel contradicted, "I thought being impulsive was a good thing though."
"But being rash is just stupid."
"It's the same thing."
Coolly he spoke back, "Is life and death the same?"
Jez didn't respond to that, something in the way he said that, it seemed like he knew what it was to die. 'Soldiers, they're all so serious.'
A/N: Well? …Same question…good? Bad? Kill it? Hmm…? Sorry this one is so short, I have this huge American History project, and I'll be devoting all my writing time to that for the next week and a half or so. Sorry 'bout that, but school first, blah, blah, blah. I'll make up for it. Promise…that is if people still want to read this. ^_~ Well guess that's about it. Oh, please R&R…TTFN!
Ciao!
Ice Eyes
"Van?" Hitomi lightly rapped on the door to his room, "Van? Are you awake?"
Still no response, gently she pushed the door open. Van was still dozing on the kingly bed with a sense of tranquility. Whispering into his ear she gently pushed away the unruly black locks that covered his eyes. Hitomi doubted Van would ever be able to tame them. "Rise and shine sleepy- head."
Slowly heading her command Van's eyelids fluttered open. The young king's face broke out into a wide grin seeing his guest.
"Good morning, or should I say good afternoon?"
He smiled looking half-amused, and half-delirious. For a moment it seemed he was going to reach out to wrap his arm around his love, but backed off at the last second. She was like a goddess to him. To worship, but not to spoil, everything she did he loved. And he often wondered why it was to him that all her affection was devoted. She could certainly have Allen; he had everything going for him, charm, looks, not to mention being a Knight Caeli and some women seemed to think that his tragic past made him all the more desirable.
'He's still shy.' Hitomi thought lying down next to him, doing what Van himself had been hesitant of. She cuddled against him breathing in his warm sent, hearing his heartbeat, laying suspended in time. No one could ruin this moment, no one.
"Lord Van!" A pink cannon ball jumped in from an open window.
Sourly, Hitomi re-thought the phrase, as she and Van sat up, 'Well, Merle can achieve the impossible.'
"Hi, Merle." Van was kindly prying the cat-girl off of him. "What are you doing?"
"Well, Hitomi was supposed to wake you up, but she wasn't doing a very good job, so I did it for her."
Fuming Hitomi interjected, "I woke him up! But you just barge in whenever you feel like it! No courtesy towards others, absolutely no manners!"
Merle's claws were bared sinking into the mattress, her fur standing on end, and tail twitching erratically. "Take that back!"
"No. It's the truth."
"Why you…" Her phrase was interrupted by Hitomi shrieking and running out of the room with Merle in close pursuit.
One of Van's advisors popped his head in the open doorway after being nearly bowled over by the frantic racers. "Get used to it m'lord," he said smirking, "They'll never change." To the man's surprise Van was chuckling and then laughing hysterically, "M'lord?"
*****
Jezabel tried to recollect some of the passageways around her new home. Stopping only twice for directions from meek servants who looked like they were having a seizure when she addressed them – apparently not all were as forth-coming as Eva. None-the-less Jezabel finally made it to the training facility. The Dragon Slayers were warming up.
"Well, well, look who decided to crawl out of bed."
Jez shifted her gaze to Dallet and his saucy tone, she resisted commenting.
"Oh come on, I didn't beat you that badly." Rolling his eyes he turned to talk to Gatti, still staying within earshot of Jez, "She's a weakling, me on the other hand, I'm perfect, not a scratch on me."
Strolling along, with every movement precise and calculated Jez lightly clapped him on the back, "Sure you aren't." Although he didn't show it, Jez knew there was a tender spot there. It didn't matter how though anyone was, one of her blows never failed to cause some damage. "You're not as tough as you look, wimp."
"Are you saying you want to take me on again? Don't you ever learn?" Dallet flashed one those just-try-it looks.
"Rather quickly," Jez replied, "Bring it on. But this time, no swords."
"Very well then," Dallet's growing leer quickly was wiped off his face, "L-lord Folken." He stammered plummeting to the ground.
"We will have no more barbarian fighting. I thought I said no training until tomorrow Jezabel."
"Yes sir."
"Then what are you doing here? You realize you'll do more harm then good to yourself if you start today."
The red-eyed general spoke up lazily twirling a dagger, "Let her fight Strategeos, then we'll really see what she's made of." He smiled cockily, as only he could do. "She isn't under your command. Remember she's one of my men."
"I'm not a man!" Jezabel screamed.
"What was that?" Dilandau looked at her like she was nuts; he'd never had this kind of reaction before from a soldier. A couple prisoners, but they didn't live long afterwards. Infuriated the general marched up to her, throwing the blade to the ground, narrowly missing Jez's foot. "You never talk back, you are a direct subordinate!" Smacking her Lord Dilandau sent Jezabel to the ground.
Like a caged lion she glared at the offender while rubbing her cheek. "Temper, temper." she muttered, not expecting anyone to hear, but naturally her commander did.
His red eyes aglow Dilandau picked her up by her collar and punched again, this time hard enough to send Jez crashing into one of the other soldiers. Her jaw was dislocated, and blood ran rampant in her mouth and down her chin.
Some lessons had to be learned the hard way.
"Miguel, help her get fixed up. I know I can trust you not to go easy on her."
The soldier scrambled to the front of the line, "Yes sir." Rolling his eyes at Jez he waited for her to stand up and led her out the door.
"What the hell were you thinking? You never contradict him like that." Miguel was dabbing an antiseptic on Jezabel's face to clean the cut at her mouth.
"Ouch, that stings."
"It should," however Miguel did try to be more careful with the cloth. "You can be such an idiot, use your head for a change. Hold this on it for awhile." He gave her a fresh towel, "Hot-headedness isn't a good trait if you want to survive during battle."
Mumbling through the cloth Jezabel contradicted, "I thought being impulsive was a good thing though."
"But being rash is just stupid."
"It's the same thing."
Coolly he spoke back, "Is life and death the same?"
Jez didn't respond to that, something in the way he said that, it seemed like he knew what it was to die. 'Soldiers, they're all so serious.'
A/N: Well? …Same question…good? Bad? Kill it? Hmm…? Sorry this one is so short, I have this huge American History project, and I'll be devoting all my writing time to that for the next week and a half or so. Sorry 'bout that, but school first, blah, blah, blah. I'll make up for it. Promise…that is if people still want to read this. ^_~ Well guess that's about it. Oh, please R&R…TTFN!
Ciao!
Ice Eyes