(A/N: Hey, taking a small break from The Only Way Out to start this story. Thus, Amicitia is born! Rated R for abuse, romance, and foul language. It's set on Earth and I'm sorry to inform you that there won't be any fighting Esca-style. And never forget: I don't own Escaflowne or anything to do with it.)

Hitomi walked out of her room, towelling her hair. She could hear her mother yelling downstairs. She assumed she was fighting with her father. Recently they had gotten a divorce and Hitomi's mother always seemed to be angry. Sticking her head into Mamoru's room, she discovered he wasn't sleeping. She had put him to bed over an hour ago and couldn't think of where he'd be. Stepping lightly down the stairs, Hitomi could make out some of her mother's words.

"You're a mistake! How could I have raised such a stupid child?!"

Realizing that her father wasn't there and her mother was yelling at Mamoru, she began to run down the stairs. Just as her mother came into view, Hitomi saw her slap her brother across the face. Stepping in front of him to block him from her mother, she bent down to his level.

"I only wanted a glass of water," he whispered as Hitomi wiped tears off his face.

"It's okay, baby. Go upstairs and don't come down again, no matter what you hear. I just want to talk to Mommy for a little bit. I'll be up soon with a glass of water for you."

Nodding, Mamoru started up the stairs. Hitomi turned to her mother, seething. She had been the one to take care of Mamoru since their parents had started fighting and she wasn't going to stand by and watch as he was abused by their mother.

"Don't," she hissed, "you ever touch him again."

"Stay out of it, stupid girl," was the reply.

Hitomi braced herself as she saw her mother raise her hand for the second time that night. When it connected with her face she stumbled but did not fall.

* * *

Half an hour later, Hitomi walked gingerly up the stairs. Again, she checked Mamoru's room and was happy to see he was sleeping. Making her way into her own room, she closed and locked the door. For a second, Hitomi only stood there. Then she made her way to her open window and climbed out. A tree right outside had always been her way to get in and out without being seen.

Walking silently, she stopped outside a house with a ladder on the side. Hitomi climbed the ladder and walked carefully across the sloping roof. She knocked quietly on a window. There was no reply so she knocked quietly again.

The window opened to reveal a tousled haired, shirtless, tired looking Van. Her best friend. The one she could tell anything.

"Hey Hitomi," he said, yawning,. "What's up?"

Without a word, Hitomi climbed in his window and sat down on a chair. He sat beside her and only then seemed to realize the cuts and bruises on her face.

"What happened?" Van asked, brushing a finger gently over a bruise on Hitomi's cheek. "Did he do this to you again?"

"Huh?" she asked, completely baffled. "He? He's never hit me."

"Hitomi, don't lie to me. I've seen the bruises and cuts you've had since this divorce shit started."

"He's never hit me," Hitomi repeated and Van opened his mouth to protest. "It's her. For the first time ever, she hit Mamoru. I stopped her and she got angry. Even angrier than normal."

Van's face took on a shocked look. He reached out and pulled Hitomi close to him. She buried her face in his bare shoulder and he squeezed her gently. She flinched and gasped against her will.

"Hitomi. Stand up."

Without saying anything, Hitomi stood up and Van walked around her till her back was facing him. Gently he lifted the back of her shirt. Underneath, on her lower back, was a bruise the size of both of his hands. He lifted her shirt up to reveal her whole back and was relieved when he didn't see any more injuries.

"Any others you want to tell me about?" he asked her, turning her to face him.

Hitomi shrugged then shook her head. Van sat her down away and left the room. Half a minute later he returned from the hall with a wet cloth.

"Tell me everything that happened," he murmured as he started to dab at the cut on her face.

"I told you, she hit Mamoru and I stopped her."

"And what," Van asked, "you fell down the stairs?"

Suppressing a smile, Hitomi said, "Then she hit me too. She started yelling and swearing and telling me how much she hated me. When I didn't say anything it seemed to make her angrier because she pushed me. Into… into a table." Hitomi reached up and touched the small cut she had on her forehead. Van grabbed her fingers and held her hand gently. "Then, she kicked me," Hitomi gestured to the bruise on her back, "over and over again. I went upstairs to check on Mamoru after it was over. And then I came here."

"I take it you want to stay here tonight, hey?"

Hitomi nodded and Van stood up and went to his dresser. He pulled out a pair of boxers and tossed them to her. She caught them and was about the undo her pants when she looked up at Van.

"Van! Turn around!"

Laughing slightly he said, "Calm down, you know I don't think of you like that. Otherwise I'd end up trying to rape you in the middle of the night."

"You're so gross," she said as she pulled off her pants and put on Van's boxers. She took off her bra and dropped it on the floor along with her pants.

"Six o'clock, as usual?" Van asked her as he set his alarm.

"Yup, I have to be home so Mom doesn't know I've been gone all night."

Van climbed into his bed as Hitomi looked at her reflection in the mirror. The bruise was a nasty looking purple but the cut looked like it might heal fairly quickly. She climbed into the bed with Van and as she expected, he immediately reached out and wrapped his arms around her so her back was facing him.

"Thanks Van," she whispered as she gently touched the bruise on her face.

"No problem, 'Tomi. It's what I'm here for."

* * *

The next day at school, Hitomi was incredibly tired. She had done her makeup so the bruise was almost invisible. She could say her cat had scratched her face or something to get people off her back. As she opened her locker, she checked her reflection again in her small mirror.

"HITOMI!" someone yelled in her ear and she jumped.

"AH! Dilly! Don't do that!"

"You know you like it," Dilandau said smoothly and grinned cheekily at her.

Merle, Allen, Millerna, and Dryden came up behind him and Hitomi automatically smiled. This was their group. They were missing Van but he was late almost everyday so it wasn't a surprise he wasn't there yet.

Millerna blew a bubble with her gum and Merle automatically reached out to pop it with her sharp nails. Dryden had his arm protectively around Millerna as if to tell every guy in the school to "stay away from his girl." Hitomi knew Allen had liked Millerna for a long time and she gave him as sympathetic pat on the arm as Merle screeched and went running off down the hall, pink hair flying.

"VAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN! I haven't seen you since Friday, where have you been?"

"Around, Merle," he said as he messed up her hair and she struggled to fix it. "Do I have to report to you wherever I go?"

Merle looked at him mock astonishment. "You didn't know that? I thought I made it clear you had to tell me EVERYTHING. Naw, I was just wondering, we went to see a movie. Attack of the Killer Slugs IV. I thought you would've liked it."

Laughing, Van and Merle approached the rest of them. Hitomi saw Van's quick glance at her cheek and she immediately turned her face to the ground.

"So Van, who's the skank of the week?" Allen asked.

"What're you talking about, man?" enquired Van, coolly as he shoved his backpack into Hitomi's locker.

"C'mon Van, don't tell me you haven't found some blonde hooker to take place of the last one," Dryden said.

"Who, Ashleigh?"

Millerna laughed. "No Van! Ashleigh was before Kelly. Kelly was your last girlfriend who lasted a week and three days."

After thinking for a while, a huge smile broke out onto Van's face. "Oh yeah!" he said. "I forgot about Kelly!"

Hitomi slapped Van lightly on the arm as the bell rang and they all headed their separate ways. He grinned at her then seemed to remember her bruises and immediately stopped smiling.

"I know what you're going to ask. I'm fine, don't worry about it," she said, before he had a chance to speak.

"How'd you know what I was gonna say?" he asked.

"Van, we've been best friends for years, I think I know you well enough to be able to predict what you're going to say every once and a while. Did you finish our homework for Mrs. Walker?" she questioned, changing the subject.

"Do I ever?"

"You're such a slacker, did you know that?"

"Yeah, but you love me for it, Hitomi," he said and slung an arm around her shoulders. They walked into the science room together, Van's arm still encircling Hitomi.

(A/N: Holy Shamoly! That was a beastly chapter! Aw, I love them! They're soooooo cute! And Dilly! What a great dude! They're so psycho, I love them all. Anywho, I might have gotten Hitomi's brother's name wrong so just say the word if I have. REVIEW PEOPLE!)