Title: Intruder Alert 3: Transition
Author: Frostmourne
Disclaimer: I don't own Vision of Escaflowne so don't sue me…
Chapter Dedication: Night of the Raven, One-Mean-Rabbit, the original esca chick, Colerachel, Magicman/Smokegirl, Izzy, naria4, Moon Smurf, DillyChic16, T T, SabrinaYutsuki, Kat-Tastrophe, MysticalDreamer32, Princess Neptune, honeypot, My Silver Flame, who cares4, Wendera Jade, Diesty-chan, Blue Demon, Kendra, Fuzzie, Rina4, megami-sama, fallen-dark-angel
Summary: Hitomi Kanzaki and Dilandau Albatou were forced on a roller coaster ride of bad impressions, an unwanted engagement, and a weird friendship others do not take too kindly on. When they stepped out of the ride and went back to how they originally wanted everything – having nothing to do with each other – they're up for another roller coaster ride. This time, it's a ride they both need to decide the right way to pursue.
Chapter 3: Just face and confront it
'Damn! I think Hiko messed me up pretty bad,' he mused a little irately. 'Now all I want to do is go and talk to her and demand that she listens to me. But how do I do that when she's always surrounded by her friends especially that stupid a** Allen?!'
His jaws clenched unconsciously at the thought of Allen and Hitomi. How he hated the guy for simply being with Hitomi! And if he found out that Allen was cheating behind her, he'd pound him non-stop or simply just toast him.
He detoured to the right sharply and immediately found himself face to face with the happy faces of the last person he wanted to see and the person he so desperately wanted to talk to.
They were chatting happily. Well, at least she was trying to chat happily with them. But she just can't shake the feeling of being uncomfortable. Not with them but with their topics. She just felt so out of place like she can't even completely relate with what they were saying and understand their emotions while talking.
They have all agreed to never ask about what happened in Japan until Hitomi felt ready to talk about it so they resulted to just filling her in on what's what back in America. But she just felt she couldn't really relate no matter how hard she tried.
Is this all her fault? Was she making a gap? Or was there a gap developing over the past months?
She couldn't understand. She was supposed to be completely happy in their company. This was what she desperately wanted back then. So why is she thinking about other people now?
Sighing, she forced another laugh even though she didn't know what they were laughing about. And just as she was turning to see where they were going, she was met with the sight of the person who occupied most of her thoughts lately.
She stopped completely and stared back at the garnet eyes of the person in front of her and Allen. She didn't know what to do.
Allen noticed her reaction and looked at the guy in front of them. He can't seem to remember him anywhere so Hitomi must know him from school judging from her reaction. Is this one of the guys who were making fun of her? Just the thought of that made his eyes narrow at this guy.
"You know him, Tomi?" Yukari asked, trying to break the tension.
She nodded slowly; almost frozen by the coldness those red eyes seemed to exude with as of the moment. Then those eyes turned to her, wavering slightly with quickly passing and conflicting emotions.
"Hitomi," he acknowledged.
Everyone was looking at the red-eyed Adonis who had just said Hitomi's name as if he knew her. They could feel the tension starting to build up between their friend and the guy. But before anyone could say anything or do anything as a reaction, the red-eyed guy walked away without another glance to any of them.
"Can I say rude or what?" Allen scoffed.
They laughed. Hitomi merely forced a smile.
'He hates me for not giving him a chance to defend his lies,' she thought. 'Who cares? I have my friends now. And I have Allen back. The stupid engagement is off. Everything will be back to how it all was, to how I wish it would all be again. Well except for studying in America but it doesn't matter. This is as good as things could get.'
He walked directly to the mall's parking lot, eyes as impassive and as cold as could be despite its fiery color. He opened his car and ducked inside, slamming the door angrily before slumping on the driver's seat and shutting his eyes tightly.
He couldn't really understand but it hurts so much that it was burning him inside. Seeing her so happy, together once again with her Allen. He couldn't also understand but he wanted to be the one with her. He wanted to be the reason of the smile she had… He wanted to be the person she cared for.
"Damn it!" He snapped angrily, hands banging aggressively on the steering wheel.
He slumped on the seat once again, jaws tightly shut that it hurt.
"Dilandau?"
Celena couldn't take it anymore. She didn't like seeing her twin like this. As much as she hated to admit it, she'd rather have the gangster Dilandau than a broken one. She couldn't stand him like this and she couldn't stand seeing Hitomi had discarded Dilandau as if he was nothing and went on her merry way with her friends.
'She better have a good explanation for doing this to my brother,' she thought angrily as she pushed open Dilandau's door. "Dilandau?"
It was relatively dark except for the moving lights on the wall shaped in hearts and flowers. She could vaguely see Dilandau's figure, hunched on the bed near the lamp Hitomi had given him. Her heart ached for her twin. She had never seen him so broken before.
As she stepped towards him, she nearly tripped on some things and when she looked closely, she knew. Dilandau had just destroyed most of the things in his room.
"Dilandau?"
He didn't move. His face remained buried in his hands. She thought he was sleeping, but as she neared him, she could hear his faint sobs.
"Dilandau, what's wrong?" She sat on the floor and looked at him. "Please tell me what's wrong."
For many minutes, silence settled between them. But then, he removed his hands from his face and looked at his sister's sad face. "Celena, I don't know what to do anymore."
"What happened?"
"She hates me." He shut his eyes tightly. "She hates me and blames me for every fuck*** junk happening to her in school. Those fuck*** cheating, hacking, all those f***ing junk… she thought I did them to get back at her."
"But that's stupid! You'd never---"
"She doesn't believe me," he said brokenly. "She doesn't trust me enough to believe that the thing with Clover…"
Celena began to understand and waited patiently for the rest of Dilandau's explanation. He was very drunk to the point of senselessness, and that enough conveyed much additional information.
~*The Next Day*~
"Hitomi,"
She stopped by the gates and looked back to see Celena walking towards her with a very serious expression. She had a feeling this had something to do with Dilandau.
"Can we talk?"
"About?" Hitomi asked warily.
"Everything."
"Celena, if this is about Dilandau---"
"This is not just about him," Celena cut coldly. "This is about everything that's going on between you and my brother."
"Look Celena, I am tired with this and I don't want to talk about this thing."
Celena glared at her. "Tired?! You should see my brother before you say that! I thought you were nice Hitomi, despite what people thought," she said with hurt and anger. "But in the end, they were right after all. So you don't want to talk about this. Of course. That's the perfect answer to the problem, isn't it? Run away and let others suffer!"
"Hey! You don't know anything!" Hitomi shot back.
"No! YOU don't know ANYTHING! You actually think that my brother would do those things when you're probably the only girl he took seriously?! Gracious, Hitomi! How can you be so blind?! You only see your pain! How can you be so selfish?!"
"Selfish?! You don't know anything about what happened so don't go---"
"Really?! Did you ever stop your self-pity and actually tried to see what's on the other side of the fence?! You hurt my brother---"
"He hurt me."
"So this is it?! A tit for a tat?! Goodness, Hitomi! You're so immature! So you were unpopular because of him! But didn't he make it up by changing FOR YOU?! Didn't he make it up by trying to make you happy?!"
Tears stung both set of eyes by now and they had been raising their voices since a while ago. It was a good thing that the school was almost empty.
"It was a game, Celena," Hitomi said quietly then, forcing back a sob. "He didn't mean all that. He was just trying to make me soften up so he can have a bigger chance in hurting me. And he succeeded you know. He hurt me more than anyone could."
"He didn't, Hitomi," Celena negated softly but firmly. "You have to believe that he wouldn't do that to you… EVER. Everything is a big misunderstanding. Why can't you just give him a chance?"
"Why? He hurt me so much! How do you expect me to give him a chance?!"
"Not everything is as it is, Hitomi. You have to understand that."
Hitomi closed her eyes briefly before looking at Celena evenly. "There's nothing to talk about now. You said your side, I said mine. You know my decision. Go celebrate with your brother." She spun around and walked away, towards the waiting red convertible just on the other side of the road.
Celena closed her eyes and calmed herself. She had to find another way. Hitomi was stubborn but Celena knew that her green-eyed friend was hurting as much as her red-eyed twin was. And she had had enough of this angst.
"Are you alright, Hitomi?"
She sighed and looked at Allen. She forced a smile. "Yeah."
He looked skeptical. "You look like you've cried. What's wrong?"
"Nothing. Just some school problem. No biggie. I was just being a crybaby and I didn't know I was losing it until I felt my tears. But it's not a big problem really. You know, just the usual stuff. Nothing to worry about. It's not really something. Just some minor school problem. Yeah, minor one. Nothing really big. Well, as I said it was minor."
Hitomi continued to babble and repeat her words. It was clear to Allen. She was lying. When they went to the mall to meet their other friends, he could see that Hitomi was not into the fun they were doing. The rest noticed, too but whenever they tried to pry the answers from Hitomi, they couldn't. She was just too stubborn to admit something was wrong.
If there was someone who knew what was wrong, it was definitely Hiko. He'd been around when they were not so even if Hitomi wasn't telling him anything, he was bound to see something. There was just some problem. Hiko hated them.
"I see." Hiko nodded and looked away. "This is so messy."
"I know."
"What do we do now? Hitomi rarely has time home. My parents had been allowing her to stay with her friends for most of the time. When she goes home, she's so tired."
"We have to get her to understand especially now that my brother had slipped that they were engaged."
Hiko frowned. "Were?"
Realization settled on Celena and her eyes widened. "Oh my goodness!"
"Now what?"
"I have to get my dad to understand that—"
"Hitomi's going to America."
"What?!"
"I'm sorry. I just remembered. I overhead my parents talking about it."
Celena began pacing the rooftop back and forth. "Wait, didn't you say Allen is Hitomi's boyfriend?"
"Yeah."
"If Hitomi hates Dilandau and the engagement is off plus your parents are allowing her to spend time with her friends AND her boyfriend, then it means—"
"Yeah. Even my dad approves of Allen now."
"This is bad."
"I know. And as much as I want to help get Hitomi away from Allen, this is her choice. I can try and tell her all that you told me about what happened between Dilandau and her but I can't make her accept. Besides, she might think that this is another one of my campaign to get her away from Allen."
"But she has to believe. She has to listen to the truth and patch things up with my brother."
"Celena, even if she patches things up, my parents' decision in sending her back is final. My dad was so mad when he found out about what's been happening to Hitomi here in school especially when my sister got called to the office."
"Well at least they get to stop hurting themselves, right?" Celena pointed out stubbornly. "They have to clear this whether or not the engagement is on. They're torturing themselves and I have had enough of this!"
"So what do we do now?"
"Set them up?"
"Impossible. Her friends stick to her like leeches. You know, catching up on old times. Besides, do you think Dilandau is still willing to have this fixed? He's been avoiding her here."
"Well that's because he's broken. When you see him at home, he's different. And I'm really getting pissed off. Hitomi's my friend but at the rate she's destroying my brother, she'd be my mortal enemy pretty soon."
Hiko kept silent and thought of a plan for a while before looking at Celena. "If we could get the one responsible for the mess to talk to Hitomi—"
"I'm on it," Celena cut in and walked out of the rooftop, leaving Hiko thinking of some other alternatives in case this one doesn't go too well.
When he went home, Allen was there in the living room, obviously waiting for someone. Hiko promptly spun back to just go to his room but Allen had stopped him. Green eyes glared fiercely at the blonde.
"What do you want?" Hiko asked in a cold voice. "I don't know where Tomi is. I thought she was with you."
"Hiko, your sister is in Yukari's place with the rest."
"So what do you want then?"
"I want to talk to you."
"What for? To rub it in my face that you finally succeeded in stopping me from kicking you out of my sister's life?"
"Look, I know you hate me—"
"Good. Because even if I act civil when Hitomi and my parents are around, it doesn't mean I'm okay with you. I know of your womanizing while you were back in America so don't try convincing me to your side," he spat in a venomous voice.
Allen's jaw clenched. "Did you tell—"
"No. She wouldn't believe me anyway. Besides, it would hurt her and I certainly don't want to hurt my sister. But don't be too sure about your self, Allen Schezar. I'd still kick you to the ground if you hurt my sister regardless of the fact that Tomi would be mad at me for that."
Crossing his arms on his chest, Allen narrowed his eyes on Hiko. "So this is what? A threat? What is your problem anyway?"
"Problem? I thought you'd know by now that it's you, jock boy. I want you out of my sister's life. You'll only hurt her. You'd dump her after you get tired of her."
"What makes you say that?"
"Oh please," Hiko said sarcastically. "Don't wash your hands. Your life is practically a well-known fact. Everyone there knows that you're a playboy."
Blue eyes narrowed. "I would've dumped your sister a long time ago. But I didn't. You know why? Because I'm serious about her. The problem with you is that you refuse to forgive other people's past."
"Past? Weren't you repeating your PAST when we came here in Japan? Didn't you go womanizing when Tomi was here?"
"It's my nature!"
"Yes! And it's going to hurt my sister in the end! I'm still watching you, Allen. You two-time my sister, I won't hesitate reminding you that I still can teach you some lesson," he hissed and walked away.
~*Last Day of School*~
Hitomi wished that she had left the room earlier and wasn't left there alone. But there was nothing she could do about that but wish that there were two doors instead of one in the classroom. She wasn't ready to face all this yet, not after the confrontation with Celena before and with her brother just last night. She still wasn't too sure of what to think of what Celena and especially what Hiko had said.
She decided that she had to do something to get away so she walked casually to the door and tried to squeeze through the very little amount of space that Dilandau wasn't blocking with his form. With him in the middle of the door, it was very disconcerting.
"Let me out, Dilandau," she said in a tired voice. "I just want to go home."
"No. Not before we talk."
"There's nothing to talk about."
"You're the only one saying that," he said curtly and stepped inside the room, making Hitomi retreat back to the other side. He closed the door and leaned on it, looking at Hitomi. For minutes he stared at her as she looked at her shoes as if it were the most interesting thing in the world.
"So talk," Hitomi finally broke the silence.
"Would you believe me if I do talk?"
"No. But you wanted to talk, right? So I'm giving you the chance to talk so I can go."
He frowned. After the talk with Celena, he'd been so embarrassed at having to have his twin see him in all his pathetic glory after meeting accidentally with Hitomi and her friends at the mall. He was even uncharacteristically worried that he might have rambled on about something when he had been very drunk. But Celena never mentioned anything so he was safe, or at least he hoped. However, he can't stand this anymore so he decided that he'd talk to Hitomi even if he had to trap her and pin her to the wall.
"I can talk but if you wouldn't listen it's no use. So I wouldn't let you off anyway."
She looked at him with much frustration. "Please don't make this so hard."
"You're the one making this hard, Hitomi. So tell that to your self," he said quietly.
"Why do you even insist on this talk?"
He looked like he was having second thoughts then and it took him a long time to answer, although a bit hesitantly. "I must be going crazy," he mumbled before looking at her with irritation and frustration. "Well because I don't want us to fight especially over something that's not true."
She looked back skeptically and it made him start pacing back and forth as if seriously doubting his sanity.
"Hell I don't know, okay?!" He snapped as he stopped. "I don't even understand it myself but… I… Hell! I'm crazy to say this! I don't want you to hate me."
She sighed and looked away. "I could say I hate you all I want," she said softly and looked back just in time to catch the unconscious hurt expression on Dilandau's face. "But if I… if I tell you… honestly… I… I don't. I don't want us to fight, too. But that—"
"That was a big misunderstanding, Hitomi. Clover was there to tell me what that junk was all about and—"
"I know."
"What?!"
She sighed tiredly. "I know."
"Then why—"
"I never knew that until last night. Hiko and I had a big fight about Allen and he blurted it all out."
"You believed him?"
"No. Not immediately actually. But I stayed up all night and thought about what he said as well as what Celena said to me about being so blind and—"
"Celena did what?"
Hitomi looked at him with surprise. "You mean you didn't really send Celena?"
"Send her to what?"
"Oh goodness! You really were telling the truth."
Dilandau's brow furrowed and then something clicked. He groaned and closed his eyes. "Please tell me that Celena didn't say anything about me being drunk and crying like some pathetic moron while rambling about something I can't even remember."
Hitomi studied him for a long time and noted his frustrated and embarrassed expression while his eyes were shut tightly. Then the weight that's been on her chest lifted completely and she smiled. "You cried like some pathetic moron?"
His eyes immediately opened. "You mean she didn't say anything?"
"No. She just said I was blind and—"
"You mean I just made a fool of myself?"
Her grin widened. "Completely."
He groaned and slid down the door, slumping on the floor dejectedly. "So much for my tough guy image. F***! Could someone just shoot me?!"
Hitomi giggled and walked towards him, sitting beside him and looking at him with a big smile plastered on her face. "I would've shot you if you asked for it during my first days here. But now, I think I'll let you live in torture."
"Damn Hitomi! Shut up!"
She stuck out her tongue. "Well, do you want to hear what Hiko said? He said that Celena told him that you slipped about our engagement and when it was broken, about the fight, about me not believing you, and about Mei and Clover's involvement in the mess here in school."
"That's all?"
"Yes. But now I know you were, let me quote this, drunk and crying like some pathetic moron while rambling about something you can't even remember." She grinned. "That's a great thing for blackmail you know."
He rolled his eyes. "Gee, I'm thanking you with all my heart for seeing a new angle to that."
Then they fell silent for a long while before Hitomi found her voice.
"I'm sorry for not believing you. I guess I was a bit too judgmental that I didn't even think there could've been more than what I saw or heard."
Dilandau sighed and closed his eyes for a moment before looking at her. "I know saying what I'll say would make me look even more crazy and pathetic but…"
"But?"
"Well… not believing me had hurt."
She raised a brow. "It did?"
He smirked. "I know it sounds ridiculous but it really did. I don't know. Maybe you've actually drove me mad during the course of our friendship or whatever it was."
"Let's just say I have the capacity of driving demonic old men crazy." She giggled and looked at him. "How do we settle this all then?"
"I'm not one for settling friendships really. I haven't really cared for things like that. Well, not until you screwed with my mind and made me THIS pathetic. And to think that before, I had this resolution to not turn into some pathetic guy."
"Well you're originally pathetic, you know. No need to blame me for sinking lower in the pathetic scale."
He laughed. "Are we friends now or what?"
She smiled. "I guess."
"So we start all over again? Forget the past and just move on?"
"Well, not all of the past."
"What do you mean?"
"I don't want to forget that you rambled---"
"Hey! My rambling never happened. Let's make that a deal or else I'd really do anything to shut you up."
Hitomi looked thoughtful. "But isn't that a bit too high for the price of YOUR friendship? I mean you're just a demonic old man. Who'd want to pay so high a price for YOU?"
Dilandau rolled his eyes. "Way to start a good friendship. Insult someone."
She grinned. "I was just kidding. But still, it's still too high for a price."
"Tomi," he said warningly.
"What?"
"Tomi,"
"What?"
"Tomi," he repeated in the same tone only this time, he was glaring a bit.
"Fine, fine. Your dumb rambling never happened. So, are we friends yet or do you want us to start some really brutal war with each other?"
Dilandau snorted. "Bossy ogre," he grumbled.
"Hey!"
~tbc~
Author's Note: I'm sorry for the late update. I couldn't bring myself to write for the past time. Besides, it's so hard to sneak for writing. As I said, the *P* factor of my life don't take a positive look on my writing stuff. And I couldn't access my account for days. I don't know what's wrong. All I want to say right now is that I hope I can update before a week has passed. I'm not feeling so well physically.
Anyway, I'm glad that you all seemed to like Hiko and well you see that Hitomi's friends are really her friends coz that's what I aimed for. There's always something good about someone no matter how worse they could be.
Thanks to Colerachel and Lady Ice Phoenix for still reviewing Intruder Alert which was already done ages ago, to Blue Demon and Kendra for her belated review on Intruder Alert: Take Two, and to honeypot for reviewing Heart of Sword.
To Kendra, I read your review. I read every review no matter how late because I owe my writing motivation to the reviewers. I'm sorry for making you feel miserable about the ending on IA2. Thanks for saying I should get an award. Anyway, I don't think you should say sorry for your chap 10 review. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion.
Thanks for all the opinion about the previous chapter. I hope you leave me one in this chapter, too. Till the next update… thanks once again. I hope you all enjoyed.