Ch 5

They had been driving in the limo for about half hour before they reached Van's home. He lived in a large, beautiful mansion. Hitomi couldn't believe the size of it. She just sat in the limo staring. Before she knew it, Van was at her door opening it for her. He looked at her and smiled kindly, eyes crinkling.
"Are you amazed or something?"
"Well, sort of, I've never seen a mansion before."
"Well, you will not only see it, you will be living here for a while." He grinned heartily.
A smile tugged at Hitomi's lips and she looked from Van to the mansion. He beamed at her enjoyed watching her reactions.
"Well, are you ready to go inside? I mean, you don't want to just stare do you?" He teased.
"Sure, lets go."
Van unknowingly realizing what he was doing, took Hitomi's hand and lead her out of the limo. She felt so wonderful. The touch of his hand made her feel warm inside. She wasn't use to such nice treatment. They walked inside not holding hands. When Van realized that he had her hand, he let go abruptly. Hitomi had noticed his shock. She didn't want to say anything about it just now though. They entered the huge house. It was decorated beautifully. Hitomi felt that it looked like a castle of a king. She felt like she had been the main character in her favorite story book. Van took her in to one of the large sitting rooms and told her to sit down. She sat on a nice soft couch and looked at all of the people around her. Suddenly, she felt nervous. She couldn't help but wonder who they all were.
"Hitomi, I want to introduce you to some people that I work with. First off, I would like to introduce you to my older brother Folken. He lives here in the mansion. He takes care of a lot of the paper work that goes along with this job. He also gives tours of the mansion and helps out when I have fans back stage."
Hitomi smiled at the man and extended her hand out to him. He walked toward her and shook her hand lightly. She could see the resemblance between Van and his brother. Folken spoke to her, his voice quite different than Van's. His seemed to be filled with sorrow.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Hitomi. I'm glad you have come to visit us. I'm sure I will be seeing lots of you for the next little while. I hear my brother and you are trying to find something out about your pasts. Something about how you both link together. Well, if I must say, you look quite familiar."
Hitomi felt her heart leap. Had Folken remembered her from somewhere? Did they both know each other from somewhere before?
"Yeah, you kind of look familiar too and it is also a pleasure to meet you to."
Folken walked away from the girl and sat back down on a couch near by. He had been reading a large booklet of papers and continued his reading. The next person that was introduced to Hitomi was Millerna. From the minute Hitomi had met her, she felt a surge of dislike for her. Hitomi had found the girl very bossy. She could tell that Van wasn't very fond of her. Hitomi had also met some of the staff that worked at the mansion and Van's cousin Cheid, whom Hitomi found really cute. He immediately ran up to her and shook her hand. He bowed to the young girl and told her that she looked pretty. Hitomi blushed at the little boy's comments. While all was happy, Melirna decided to spring something upon Van.
"Van, I don't want to ruin your happy moment but, I would like to talk to you in private. This is quite important. I think your guest will be fine alone here."
Van gave a look of remorse to Hitomi and almost apologetically told her that he would be back soon. Before he left her, he asked Folken to take her on a tour of the mansion. Folken said he wouldn't mind at all. Chied wanted to go with them. Hitomi could see that he had a little puppy love crush on her. She thought it was sweet. Van walked out of the room slowly with Melirna ahead of him. They walked down the long hallway to one of Van's offices. The two went in and Van closed the door behind them.
"What is it Melirna, are you trying to ruin this for me?"
"For once, no Van. I got your point the other day. I know you're unhappy with things but, we really need you to do this. We want you to go to Japan and do a tour there."
For some reason, Van felt pleasantly surprised. It had been a year since he had been there and, he had missed it. It had been his home for the first part of his life so he was quite fond of it. He smiled at her and she knew what he was going to say. She had him right where she wanted him to be.
"I would love to do a tour there! It would be so exciting! I would be able to go visit Dad to."
"Van, before you get too excited, there's a catch to this."
He looked quizzically at her.
"What's the catch?"
"It's during your visit with Ms Kanzaki. We want you to leave this weekend. Maybe you should cancel this visit and send her back home. I don't think she would mind if you rescheduled, would she?"
Van scowled and shot daggers at Melirna.
"I will not make her leave! It was a task even getting enough courage to ask her here. There is no way in hell she's leaving now. I need to figure out who she is."
"Well then, are you going to say no to my father's request?"
"No, I'll have to talk to Hitomi first. She could maybe come with me. That way, we could both go see my dad and he might be able to help us."
"Van, it will cost you extra money if you take her with us. Some people may even object to it."
"Does it look like I care? She's my guest and, it's money that will eventually be going in to my pocket and I don't mind spending any of it on her."
Melirna giggled at Van.
"What are you laughing at?"
"Van Fanel, you like her, don't you?"
A blush spread across Van's cheeks. He really wasn't sure exactly why he had been so drawn to her but, maybe he did like her. Liked her quite a bit. But, he wasn't ready to admit that to anyone though, that's for sure.
"Look Millerna, I don't want to talk about this anymore. We have it all figured out. Hitomi will be coming to Japan with me if she chooses to do so. Now, I have some things to get to before she finishes her tour."
"Sure Van, avoid the question." She said cheekily. "I'll leave you alone about it for now."
She left the room quickly and the door clicked shut behind her, leaving Van with his thoughts.
Do I like you, Hitomi? Was Millerna right?
Folken and Hitomi had been through most of the mansion. Hitomi loved the ball room and the beautiful dining room. She felt like a little child learning so many new things. They had made their way to the third floor of the beautiful mansion. Folcan was taking Hitomi down a grand hallway. All of the doors were made of beautiful wood. Each door had a name carved in it. They reached a large door that said Van Fanel on it. Hitomi didn't even have to ask what it was but, Folken had told her anyway. The next door belonged to Folken himself and the door across was Millerna's. Folken stopped abruptly and turned around.
"Hitomi, I forgot something."
She looked at him quizzically.
"What did you forget?"
"Do you remember where Van's room is? The one beside mine?"
"Yes why?"
"Well, your room is directly across from it. Would you like to go in and take a look?"
A big smile graced Hitomi's lips.
"I would love to!"
Folken took her back to the room and opened the large door. Sure enough, it even said her name. She wondered why it was engraved since she wasn't going to stay here long.was she? Inside, she found a large rack of beautiful dresses as well as a beautiful chest where she could put her own clothes. She also saw a huge king size bed that had beautiful, designer, bed linen on it. She felt like a queen. She looked across the room and saw a door. She asked Folken where it lead.
"Why don't you open it and see."
Hitomi walked slowly to the door and opened it to see a beautiful balcony looking over the city. She stepped outside and looked around.
"It's so beautiful." She whispered breathlessly.
"I know, when I'm sad, I look out over the city all of the time. It helps to ease my pain."
Hitomi desperately wanted to know what pain Folken had been feeling but, she didn't have the courage to ask him. She felt that it was not her place.
"Would you like to see the rest now?"
Hitomi quickly came out of the hypnotic trance that she had currently been in and nodded. They walked back in to Hitomi's room and in to the hall. She closed her door behind her. The continued down the long hall until they reached another large oak door. This one said the word 'library'. Hitomi loved to read and now, this made things even more exciting.
"This is where Van spends a lot of his time when he wants to get away from all of the fame. You are welcome to read any of these books whenever you feel like it. We have a great selection."
"Thank you so much. I feel so welcome here."
"Hitomi, I think there's something you should know. I think my brother is drawn to you."
She blushed, throat up. Hitomi felt nervous and excited all at once. She wanted to ask a million questions but didn't bother. She only could manage to ask one.
"Why?"
"Well, he just seems to be acting strange to me. Maybe I'm wrong. It was just a thought. Look, we had better go downstairs. I'm sure you're quite hungry, and dinner is sure to be ready soon."
Hitomi had seen so much in these last few hours and learned so much to. She felt so wonderful but at the same time, felt as if she knew nothing. Had this handsome gentlemen really cared about her?
The had reached the dining room and the dinner had already been placed on the table. Hitomi sat in a large chair beside Van. She couldn't believe all of the food that was laid before her. Van smiled at her.
"You don't have to eat all of that you know, just what you want to."
"Oh, ok."
Everyone sat quietly eating and Van tapped on his glass to get their attention. A hush came over the table. Hitomi felt like she had been having deja vu from when she was back home. Yukari had been doing the same thing just a few days ago at around this time. Van began to speak and Hitomi could feel that this was going to be about her.
"I have something that I have to say. I'm happy to say that I have accepted to the tour in Japan. I have to ask my guest one simple question. Hitomi Kanzaki, I want you to come with me to Japan. It just so happened that my tour had landed on the dates of your visit and, I didn't want you to go back home. My father lives in Japan and we could find out more about our past this way. I would be honored if you would come with me?"
Hitomi wasn't sure what to say. Her heart has been screaming at her to say yes but, her mind was telling her that she would be intruding. Before she knew it, the words flowed freely from her lips.
"I would be happy to join you on your tour. I'm honored that you asked me."
Van smiled one of his genuine smiles and they stared in each others eyes. Soon, they would find out how they had come to know each other so long ago. To Be Continued