Author: Tevrah
Email: writergirl852@yahoo.com
***
Chapter Three: Seventeen
"Hitomi Kanzaki."
Hitomi took a deep breath and stood up. She stepped onto the stage and walked steadily, faintly hearing the roaring applause. She went to the waiting principal and took his out stretched hand.
"Congratulations, Hitomi," he said with a smile. "I'm very proud of you."
Hitomi bowed. "Thank you, sir."
She walked off the stage with a smile on her face. The graduating ceremony was soon over. She went into the girls' locker room and changed out of her gown. Then she went back outside and stood on her tiptoes to find the Uchida's. She spotted Mrs. Uchida and Yukari immediately. They both had the darkest red hair in Japan.
"You were great, honey!" Mrs. Uchida said as soon as Hitomi reached them. She gave her a hug. "I'm so proud of you."
"Thanks," Hitomi said.
Mr. Uchida gave her a hug next. Hitomi gave him a slack hug just as she had done with Mrs. Uchida. And as usual, no one mentioned it. Hitomi didn't give as much affection as she used to. Not since her family had died.
Amono put her in a headlock. "Not bad, shorty."
Hitomi elbowed him in the stomach and was pleased when he let out a loud 'oof'. "You too, Barbie."
"Hey!" Yukari defended her boyfriend. "No need to get personal with the insults." She gave him a kiss on the cheek while he smirked at Hitomi.
Hitomi rolled her eyes. "Whatever, Yukari. You're just defending him because you have a thing for dolls. Besides, he got personal about my height. I may not be as tall as some, but I run faster than most."
"Here, here!" Mr. Uchida said. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders in a fatherly manner. "Come on, let's go out to celebrate!"
"All right," Hitomi agreed, "but I can't stay out too long. I have work in the morning."
Yukari groaned. "Party pooper."
Hitomi stuck her tongue out at the red head. "At least I have a job."
Amono laughed. "As much as I would love to see a cat-fight, let's just do as the man said, okay?"
"Fine," they huffed.
They started bickering again only a few minutes later.
***
Van walked down the sidewalk of Sakata Avenue in Tokyo. His mind was anywhere but in front of him, though. He was thinking about where his life was going to go and where it was going to be. He was thinking so hard in fact, that he didn't notice the woman hurrying around the corner until he had run into her. She fell to the ground with an audible thud.
"I'm so sorry," Van said. He helped her up by extending a hand to her. "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine," the woman said quietly. She had long honey colored hair and emerald eyes. "It was my fault, I wasn't watching where I was going."
"No," Van said. "Really, it was mine. I was so caught up in my own thoughts that I wasn't paying attention."
"Tell you what," the woman said, "why don't we both just take the blame and be done with it?"
Van smiled. "I can live with that."
"Well," the woman said, "if you'll excuse me, I have to be on my way."
"Look," Van said quickly, "I feel really bad that I bumped into you. Why don't you let me buy you a cup of coffee sometime?"
The woman looked surprise. "You don't even know my name," she managed.
Van smiled again. "Well, no," he admitted, "I don't. But I'd like to know it." He stuck out his hand. "My name is Van. Van Fanel."
The woman hesitantly took it. "Hitomi," she said quietly, "Hitomi Kanzaki."
"Well, Hitomi," Van said cheerfully, "since I know your name, would you do me the pleasure of buying you a cup of coffee to make up for so rudely running into you?"
"I suppose it wouldn't hurt," Hitomi said after a moment of consideration. "But I won't be able to do it right now," she added. "I have to get to work."
"That's fine," Van amended. "I tell you what, why don't we meet say around 7:00 p.m. at Zero Cafe on 4th?"
"All right," Hitomi said. "That'll be fine."
"See you then," Van said and watched as Hitomi hurried away down the street and around the corner. When she disappeared, Van began to smile. Today was turning out to be a good day.
***
The Zero Cafe was a building meant to stand out. It was shaped like a dome and stood in between two tall buildings. The front double doors were glass and shaped like waves. At the register were all types of pastries to sample and buy. The inside was composed of computers and single round tables.
At one of the single round tables sat a young man with black hair and brown eyes. He took a sip out of the juice that was sitting in front of him, eagerly watching the front doors. He looked down at his watch. It read 7:03p.m.
At 7:10p.m. the door to the Zero Cafe opened and a woman with honey hair in a ponytail walked in. Van raised his hand to her and waved her over.
She walked over to him and sat down, smiling timidly. "Sorry I'm late," she said softly.
"No problem," he said. "Though, for a moment, I thought you weren't going to come."
"Well, for a moment I wasn't," she said truthfully.
"How come?" Van wanted to know.
"I usually don't meet a man that I don't know for something to drink," she said.
Van grinned. "You make it sound like we're doing something that we aren't supposed to be doing," he said. Then, "What changed your mind?"
"My roommate," she replied.
"Roommate?"
She sighed, frustrated. "Yeah, my roommate. She can make you think that you'd want to jump out of a moving car and break every bone in your body, but you would still end up having a good time."
Van laughed. "I like her all ready."
Hitomi shook her head. "You should have seen her when I told her about you."
"What'd she do?"
"Made me model every single one of my outfits, then hers. I couldn't seem to get her to understand that this wasn't a date. Just an 'I'm sorry' appointment."
"'I'm sorry appointment', huh?" Van asked. "You seem to have a way with words." A waitress came by to take their order. Van ordered another juice and Hitomi had some water. "Well," Van commented. "Where do you work?"
"The Museum of Art and Antiques on 8th," she replied.
"Really?" Van asked surprised. "I work there, too."
"What do you do?" Hitomi asked.
"I move the boxes and categorize them is all," he replied. "I'm paying for my way through college."
"So am I," Hitomi commented softly. "What part of Japan did you come from?" she asked, changing the subject.
"Actually," Van said, "I don't come from Japan."
"Where are you from, then?" Hitomi questioned.
"I have no idea," he replied. The waitress returned with their drinks. "You, see," he continued, "I was in an accident when I was fifteen, and I lost all my memories."
"I'm sorry," Hitomi said with sympathy.
"It's all right," Van said. "I've learned to live with it. So, where are you from?"
"I'm from here," she answered hesitantly.
"That's not much information," Van said. "Who's your family?"
"I don't have one," Hitomi said quietly. "I'm an orphan." A tear ran down her cheek.
Van used his napkin and wiped the tear away. Hitomi's eyes snapped to his. He gave a small smile. "I'm sorry," he said. "I know what it's like to be alone."
Hitomi gave a small smile to him. "I'm sorry," she said. "I don't usually cry in front of people. It's just that, well, my family died in a plane accident two years ago. It's just been really hard on me."
"If you want to talk about it," Van said softly, "I don't have anywhere special I'm supposed to be any time soon."
Hitomi smiled at him. "You're an angel, you know that?"For the next two hours the two of them talked about everything that had happened to them in the last two years. They talked about their feelings, their thoughts, even their goals for the future.
"I don't know why," Hitomi commented, "but I feel like I could tell you anything. Which is really weird considering I've only known you for a little less than a day. You're just easy to talk to, I guess."
Van smiled. "So are you. I don't think I've ever talked to anyone for this long before."
Hitomi smiled shyly and pink tinted her cheeks. When she figured he was probably thinking that she was a dolt for blushing so easily, she cleared her throat and forced herself to look up at him. He was smiling with kindness, but she could detect a hint of amusement in his eyes. Hitomi raised her eyebrows. Two could play this game.
Van watched with amusement and fascination as the woman across from him became a complete and total contradiction. One moment she was shy and looked so innocent, then the next second she was just as sassy as ever. In a way she reminded him a lot of Merle with her mood changes, but other than that, she was all Hitomi.
"So you graduated yesterday, huh?" he said to change the subject.
"Yeah," Hitomi smiled softly. "And I don't mean to sound conceited or anything like that, but I'm proud of myself. I never in my wildest dreams thought I would be graduating so soon."
"You should be proud," Van said. "You did a great job with your studies. To tell you the truth, I'm a bit amazed. It's quite an accomplishment that you've succeeded at."
"Thanks," Hitomi said quietly.
Van forced himself to keep from grinning. She was back to being shy again. She looked extremely pretty when she did that. Scratch that, she was beautiful. From her green eyes to her honey colored hair to the way she would bite her lower lip when she was listening to him talk.
A waitress walked over to their table. "I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to ask you to leave now," she said apologetically. "We have to close up."
Van looked at the clock. It read 9:27. "Wow. I didn't know we had been here that long."
"Me either," Hitomi confessed. "I haven't been keeping up with the time. Yukari's going to kill me."
Van paid the bill against Hitomi's protests. They said goodnight to the waitress and walked outside. Van insisted on walking her home. Hitomi smiled. It would be nice for some company, so she didn't argue.
"Why will she kill you?" Van asked.
"Huh?" Hitomi said.
"You said that Yukari was going to kill you," Van reminded. "Why?"
"Oh," Hitomi remembered. "I kind of told her that I would be home early."
Van laughed. "I'm so pleased that you found the thought of my company to wonderful."
"Hey," Hitomi defended. "Give me a break, would you? I mean, first off I barely knew you, and second, I really didn't want anyone to think that this was a date."
"Why?" Van wanted to know.
"Because we only met today," Hitomi explained. "That's why."
"That's not a good reason," Van said. He looked at her to gauge her reaction.
She didn't disappoint him. "Well, excuse me, Mr. High-and-Mighty," she huffed. "I just didn't want anyone to get any ideas."
"You're a girl and I'm a guy," Van said. "I think they all got some ideas."
Hitomi opened her mouth to say something, and then closed it. "Ohh, you haven't even met Yukari and you're already picking up her character traits."
Van smiled. "Well, maybe I should meet her."
"Fine," Hitomi said with a cat smile. "But be warned, it's not her you'll have to worry about."
"Oh? Then who?"
"Amono," she answered smugly.
"Who's he?"
"You'll see. That is if you still want to meet Yukari and the rest of the Uchida's."
"Absolutely."
"Fine."
Van smiled. "You like getting in the last word, don't you?"
"Absolutely," she copied him.
Van continued smiling and let her have her way. There would be plenty of time later for him to argue with her. He was going to make sure of it.
They reached their destination twenty minutes later. It was a nice two-story house that was blue and white. It looked very warm and inviting. The porch light was on. Hitomi opened the front door and took off her coat, placing it in the closet by the door. Then she did the same with his.
"Hitomi?" a woman's voice said. "Is that you?"
"Yes, ma'am," Hitomi answered politely.
"We're in the family room," came another voice.
Hitomi grinned and looked at Van. "That's Yukari," she said.
Van smiled back at her and followed her into a spacious room where four people sat. There was an older man and woman and a young man and woman. Everyone stopped talking when he and Hitomi walked into view.
"Everyone," Hitomi said, "this is Van Fanel. Van this…well, everyone."
Van nodded. "Hello."
"Why don't you come and sit down?" the older man suggested. "That way we can talk."
Van did as he was told and was glad when Hitomi sat down beside him. It meant that she liked him.
"I'm Mr. Uchida," the older man continued, "and this is my wife Mrs. Uchida. And those two are my daughter and her boyfriend Yukari and Amono."
Van looked at the younger man and nodded his head. So this was Amono. Van looked in the younger man's eyes and saw why Hitomi said he should worry about the guy. He had that older brother protective look in his eyes. Van squashed a smile. This was going to be fun.
As the evening wore on, Van began to get more and more relaxed. Everyone talked and joked, especially Yukari and Hitomi. Van couldn't really ever remember being this close to some people before. It was…nice.
For the first time in the past year, Gaea wasn't the only thing on his mind.
So what do you guys think? Thanks for all the reviews and be sure to review this chapter! ^_^ Tevrah