Disclaimer: I do not own Escaflowne.
Hello to everyone. First, I'd like to thank everyone for the reviews, and though I cannot recall who asked, I don't think I'll have Hitomi be a Draconian. For reasoning, e-mail me, because I'm sure you'd all rather read the story.
As you may have noticed, the rating has been changed. Quite simple why I did so. This chapter will get into a more…sexual way of thinking, so to speak. So if that bothers you, don't read.
Other than that, I have nothing else really pressing to say. So, here's the chapter.
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Chapter 4: Desire
He ran through the halls of the palace, messing the gilded carpets, earning
glares from the guards on duty. He didn't care. The almost kiss
just kept playing in his head. He had almost ruined everything. His
mind shouted at him to slow down, but he couldn't. He knew if he stopped,
he'd turn around and go right back to her. He had to reach his room.
No matter how he fought against it, the scene kept on playing back in his
head. Her sweet scent of flowers, her petite structure, her soft skin,
her bright eyes. How she looked so innocent in her dressing-gown and
night-gown. How the moonlight made her glow-how innocent she was.
Innocent. It played in his mind over and over again. How he hated
the word at the moment. It made him remember that they were both
innocent. Innocent in the sense of never having been with another man or
woman, in his case. Chastity. Virginity. Whatever one may
call it, the meaning was the same. It made him desire her even
more. He wanted her to be his first, he to be hers.
He finally came to his bedroom door, gripping it with a vengeance.
Thoughts of lying with her, making her his, sharing his bed with her
overwhelmed him as he threw the door open, leaping for his bed. He had
never felt such a thing before. He remembered when he had first learned
of such a thing, but actually having experienced it was different.
At the age of ten, Master Hydran, the Head Male Healer, sat him down. Van
still remembered the words. At a certain age, a boy begins to
change. It usually starts about the age you are now, Highness. A
boy becomes a man. Master Hydran started talking about adult things, like
bedding a woman and what to do if he wanted a woman, but couldn't have her,
something Master Hydran thought was very important for any noble to know. He
had never been so embarrassed it had seemed. Master Hydran had continued
his speech, and he had left the room confused.
Though Master Hydran's words stayed by him, he never really thought about their
meaning. It wasn't until the month before his fifteenth birthday that he
realised he might find himself in such a situation. In Fanelia,
theoretically a man wasn't a man until his eighteenth birthday. But in the
case of being the last Heir, at fifteen it was the age to receive the family
lands and titles. In Van's case, it was his time to go out and complete
his Rite of killing the Dragon of Darkness. Vargas hadn't wanted him to,
but he had insisted. Van shook his head. First, he wasn't going to
hunt out any dragons anymore. And secondly he was always going to listen
to Vargas- and then it hit him. Vargas was dead.
Vargas had always been a second father to him. As High General and
Samurai of the Fanelian Crown, he had been good friends with his father.
And since Gaou had died so early on in Van's life, Vargas had taken King Gaou's
place as a father-like figure. It was also he who had stood up to the
Fanelian Council when the prospect of Van's marriage came up.
It was then that Master Hydran's words came back to his mind. Chancellor
Orthain, a member of the King's Council, was convinced that Van should marry as
soon as possible. And so were many other Council members. Van had
fought against it. I'm only fourteen! I won't be fifteen for
another month! And I don't want to marry just anyone, I want to marry
someone I like! Not just some rich princess!
Van laid on his back on the bed, trying to rip his mind away from the goddess
in the castle. He was hard for her, and it was beginning to become
painful. When he had made his startling announcement to the Council, they
had agreed to wait, though they had already made it clear that they would begin
looking for suitable princesses. Van hadn't said anything, but he knew
that he wasn't going to marry just anyone.
Gaou and Varyie had been in love with one another. Gaou was engaged to
Princess Syria of Lethian, a country on the other side of the Manteno Mountains
on the southern border of Fanelia. She had been a petite, beautiful,
blond-haired, blue-eyed spoiled Princess, who had been schooled in Decorum,
Child Bearing and Running a Palace. She was also vain and could be quite
cruel. Gaou had no interest in marrying her. Then one night in the woods
of the Fanelian and Abalian border, Gaou, Vargas and other Fanelian Samurai
were camping out, when Gaou went exploring, found a lake, and first laid eyes
on his future wife.
It was love at first sight, but when Gaou brought Varyie back to Fanelia, their
reception was not the greetings they were hoping for. Chancellor Orthain,
for one, was very piqued. The marriage between Gaou and Princess Syria
had been trying to take place for the last two and a half years, and when he
had finally gotten Gaou to give his semi-consent at almost eighteen, he wanted
the marriage performed as soon as possible. And instead Gaou had come
home with Varyie.
Though Varyie and Gaou's marriage was not supported by many of the council
members, they had to admit that Varyie made a good a queen, despite her
Draconian heritage. And their opinions had changed when ten months after
their marriage, Varyie bore a son, the Heir.
Van pushed himself up so that he was sitting. Thinking about his parents
had brought his mind from Hitomi. But he had stumbled upon another
painful subject. Folken. He still couldn't get over Folken's
betrayal. It was hard enough that Folken had supposedly died, when he had
been alive the entire time, but that Folken was on the enemy side, and about to
attack Freid in a few days...was unbelievable. And awful. Not to mention
he didn't want his Hitomi to get hurt...
Damn! He had thought of her again. No matter what he thought of, he
related everything back to her. Her looks, her voice, her powers,
everything. And he was head over heels in love with her. It was
nerve-wracking. Not to mention the fact that she loved another. Allen.
Allen Schezar. Knight Caeli, perfect at
the Kendo Arts. Van's and Allen's pasts were quite similar, both loosing
their fathers at a young age, having siblings that were at one time missing,
though Celena Schezar still was, and having mothers who had wasted away from
grief. Both had been trained by Vargas, and both considered him a second
father. Unfortunately, Van wasn't thinking of the similarities between
Allen and himself. He was thinking of the one woman that he was in love
with, and the man he was terribly jealous over.
He felt himself harden for her again, his want for her becoming almost unbearable.
It was amazing, he reflected, about how he could want her so much. And
then he stopped. Forget about almost unbearable, it was unbearable for
him in his state of mind. He couldn't help build fantasies of sharing a
bed with her, her legs around him, her flesh and his mixing, her kisses and
caresses bringing him to the edge. He was straining against his pants,
and he knew he had to do something fast.
The first thing that came to his mind was to find her, and bed her. The
only problem with that certain act was that she probably just wasn't going to
let him take her the first moment he admitted he loved her, especially before
marriage. The second option was to touch himself. Master Hydran had
explained it to him during their 'little' talk. When a man hardens for
a woman, a woman he can't have, then to ease the feeling, he can touch himself,
imitate what a woman does. It brings the same feeling, and returns him to
his normal state. At the time, Van had vetoed that act
immediately. He wasn't about to touch himself there, that had to be
something only whores did. Master Hydran had been quick to explain that
it was nothing to be ashamed over, but Van didn't care.
He still kept to his previous decision. He wasn't going to touch
himself. But he admitted that he didn't know what to do. It was the
first time he had been in such a situation. Sure, at fourteen he saw
girls that he'd admit were pretty, but he had never wanted them, especially
like this. Hitomi was the only woman who could make him feel so. But the matter at hand was he was running
out of options to relieve himself, as he felt how close to the edge he
was.
Getting up slowly, he made his way to the connecting bathroom, locking the door
behind him. Maybe…he turned his eyes to the bath. Turning on the
water as cold as he could get it, he undressed, noting how he stood straight
up, and sat down in the cold water, feeling himself reside. His thought
process had been simple-if he felt like burning, why not cool himself
off? And it had worked. He made a note of it, in case he had to do
such a thing again, especially when she resided a few rooms down.
Soaking in his bath, he finally got out, and pulled on his under-shorts,
deciding to sleep just in them. Climbing into bed, Van tried to keep his
thoughts away from Hitomi. Unfortunately, that didn't work. His
head hit his pillow, and he was instantly reminded of their almost kiss.
He was reminded of how he had pressed her body to his, how her curves fit with
his angles perfectly, how she hadn't resisted. And then he repeated the
last part of his thought: how she hadn't resisted. She hadn't
pushed away from him, actually, it was almost as if she welcomed him, as if she
wanted him to hold her, and kiss her. This makes things a lot easier,
he thought, as he fell asleep with a smile on his lips. Maybe she does
feel something for me.
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There. I think you have now realised why I raised the rating to R. I don't have a lot of time, so I', just going to post this now. So thanks of those who have reviewed, and please review again.
-Madrilène, the tenth of December.