Chapter Five: Run To You
"Heh… heh… heh…" I smiled weakly at the raven-haired teen that was, quite frankly, staring at me, "Hey…"
"Will you two please excuse us?" Van asked; his eyes not leaving my face.
I felt all the blood drain from my face.
I'm going to die.
"Well, I know when I'm not wanted," The cat girl sniffed, wiping away a fake tear, "Let's go cause chaos and destruction else where Rena."
Rena shot me a supportive smile as she and Merle made a tactful retreat, leaving me to face Van alone.
Van turned and slowly smiled at me, his deep brown eyes searching my face for something, long after Merle and Rena's footsteps faded into nothing down the hall…
I shivered in spite of myself under his gaze and looked away. His smile faded slowly as he saw me look away, and he nervously ran his fingers through his hair as he awkwardly shifted his feet as he sorted out his thoughts into words.
"Do you mind if we sit---?"
I shook my head, not trusting my voice as I sunk back down on the sofa where I had been sitting before, pulling a blanket protectively around my nearly bare shoulders.
Van sighed, and gingerly sat down next to me, well, next to in the sense we where about three feet apart.
We where both avoiding each other's eyes by this point, I was fidgeting with the tangled blanket between nervous glances at him.
The silence was almost deafening.
Van coughed loudly, making me look at him eye-to-eye "So…how are you feeling?"
"Better… thanks…" I paused, lowering my eyes from his so I could study the blanket with renewed interest. "And you?"
"Tired… very tired…" He sighed and leaned back farther against the sofa, closing his eyes. "Merle was keeping you company because I've been stuck in final negations for the better part of the day…"
He sat up, looking at me closely, "Are you sure you're feeling alright? You still look rather pale…"
I nodded, closing my eyes as I leaned lethargically back on the sofa.
I could feel his eyes on me and I shivered, suddenly wishing that I were wearing something else other then my somewhat revealing nightgown… like a pair of baggy sweatpants and an oversized turtleneck kind of something.
We drifted back into the awkward silence, neither of us knowing where to start.
I slowly opened one eye and quickly glanced over at him. He was staring up at the ceiling, his unnerving eyes glazed over with thought, his wild hair covering one of his eyes.
He wasn't bad looking to say the least; in fact I thought he was rather… well… you know…
And with that stupid warm, fuzzy feeling I seem to get when I'm around him welling up in my chest I just wanted to--- no… no… I'm not even going to go there.
His head lolled to the side, and he looked at me questioningly.
"What?" He asked, his eyes still holding that glazed look.
"Excuse me?" I asked, my face heating up, embarrassed to be caught staring.
He shrugged and looked back up at the ceiling, "You just looked like you wanted to ask me something."
I laughed, and joined him in the staring contest with the ceiling, "Where to start…"
Thoughts bounced around my head as I took a deep breath, and looked at him eye-to-eye.
"Did you ever meet my family?"
He sighed and looked back up at the ceiling, "Not formally, but once. A little after your 16th birthday."
I bit my lip, "What where they like?"
Van smiled over at me, and draped his arm over the back of the sofa. "They were… really nice… and they loved you a lot."
I let out a breath that I hadn't realized that I had been holding.
So I wasn't from a family of serial killers.
"Can you tell me more about them? Please?" I moved a little closer to him, sitting cross-legged so I could look right at him.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Things went smoother after that, between Van and me. There still was the awkward teenage moments where you probably could've cut the tension with a knife and served it up on a silver platter, but they where short-lived.
Van described my entire family to me, from my hyper baby brother named 'Ari' to my orange kitten named 'Riku'. He kept me laughing then, telling me stories about growing up in a castle, and about sneaking out in the middle of the night to steal cookies from the kitchens.
Mind you, when the talk of childhood memories came around, the conversations were slightly one-sided because I didn't remember any of mine, but I tried not to show how much it hurt me. Because it did.
A lot.
I can't describe how pathetic I felt, I felt like I was looking into a window from the outside into my life, and the blinds where drawn. It was frustrating, heart retching and most of all: terrifying.
"---And of course then, I really did fall out of the window." Van said, laughing.
I grinned weakly, the hot sting of new tears filing my eyes.
Van immediately stopped laughing, his eyes searching my face. "What's wrong?"
I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand, vainly attempting a weak smile for him, "Nothing… I'm just…" I took a shaky breath, "I'm just a little tired, that's all."
He nodded, if he saw through my lie he didn't say anything.
"Hitomi…" He moved to brush away a tear that I had missed. I tensed up and pulled away. I've already fallen crying into the guy's arms once, and I wasn't aiming for it to be twice.
He swallowed hard then, and looked away, his eyes glazed over again.
"Do you want me to stay?" He whispered, not looking at me.
I blinked a few times, trying to keep from crying in front of him, "No… I'll be fine…"
He nodded and leaned forward, roughly kissing my forehead before he pulled away and got up.
Dazed, I called out after him
"Hey Van…?"
"Hmmm…?" He asked, turning around.
I blushed, and wiped away some more tears, "Thanks for telling me about my family. It meant the world to me."
Van grinned sheepishly at me.
"Try to get some rest, okay…?" He said over his shoulder as he disappeared out of the room.
I nodded, waiting until he was gone for sure before a sob escaped my throat. Tears streaming down my face as I curled up in the feudal position on the couch.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Ari!"
The sandy haired boy stops dead in his tracks, like a deer caught in the headlights.
Hitomi?" He whisper in a small voice, afraid of the answer.
"Ari?" The voice calls out again.
He spins around frantically, trying to find her, as his eyes blur with tears.
There. He sees here, tall, slender with hair and eyes the same colors as his own. He runs towards her.
She opened up her arms reflexively as he tackled her, his body shaking with sobs.
"Hitomi… please… I just want you to… to come back home."
He open my mouth to tell her how much he's missed her but a flash of white light surrounds us, trying to pull his sister away from him. The girl screams for him not to let go.
"HITOMI!"
"Noooooooooo!"
Ari bolted upright on the couch; his body covered with cold sweat as his own scream pulled him from the dream.
Gasping for breath, he ran his hands through his light sandy hair, trying to calm himself.
That was the fifth time this week he'd had that dream of her…
He bit his lip, drawing blood as his body shakes with dry sobs.
It just keeps getting worse…
I just wish that she'd---
No.
I'm not going to think about that.
I'm not going to think about how my sister isn't ever coming home again.
Taking a shaky breath to hold the tears at bay, he curled up in a tight ball on the couch. He drew my knees to his chest, pulling the blankets tighter around himself, and waited for the empty silence of the house lulled him back to sleep.
He was more then half-asleep, the only light coming from his wristwatch reading 1:53PM, when he heard it.
The faint grate of a key in a lock and the soft footsteps of bare feet.
Too tired to look up, he simply mumbled a greeting as Amano tuck the blanket around him tighter, his tongue clicking with worry as he saw the faint trails of tears across the little boy's cheeks.
"… Don't worry Ari… We'll find her… I swear…"
R&R… Avaris Sky… 2001-2004