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Hitomi could feel herself shaking. She could not tell whether it was from anger or the fact that her stomach was twisting itself into knots.
"I'm tired of this. Every time I'm near all of you I have such awful visions. I don't want ot deal with them!" she hissed, her eyes dark with rage. "Go away. Just leave me alone."
"Hitomi, how could you ever say such a thing?" Allen asked her softly. He tried to place his hand on her shoulder but she swatted him away. "You're acting like we're your enemies. Hitomi, what is it?"
She stared at him unsurely, then looked to Selena. Dilandau was her other half, the half of her that the sorcerers had created, but was he still in there? When she came into control of the body, where did Dilandau go? That did not matter much to Hitomi when she thought about it. All that she ever thought about was Van, and the words that Dilandau had spoken to her. Yuaro even confirmed that. Van had been engaged at the time of her return, to a princess of a nation known as Chou-Nijyuu. Just the thoughts gave her simultaneous emotions: blind fury and depression. Even if he was no longer engaged, how could she possibly forgive him for not telling her, for leading her on like he had before?
"Yuaro-niichan, please send them away. I'm tired and need to lay down," she requested softly, then silently walked across the room and headed up the stairs.
A heavy silence consumed the room after her departure.
"If she feels that way then why did she even come back?" Merle asked, sounding fairly insulted.
"I never would have taken her for the mistress of a king. Had I known I wouldn't have brought her with me," Yuaro sighed. "Just too much trouble."
"I wanted to tell her right away..." Van mumbled.
Hitomi slammed her door after she entered her room, then slid the lock into place. She punched the door, sobbing softly. She felt shaken. Why did they have to find her now? She could feel her heart pounding hard as if it were trying to escape her chest. She was angry, disappointed, and yet a little happy. He cared enough to find her.
"Someone as beautiful as you souldn't be shedding so many tears," the deep male voice came to her through the darkness of her room. "Oh, Hitomi, you are so beautiful. Tell me what ails you."
"Dil-Dilandau?" She sniffled. "You... You're here?"
"How are you feeling, love? Has his presence upset you?" he asked, advancing upon her. "I could deal with him."
"You called me... love..." she breathed.
"Please forgive her. She's not normally so tempermental," Yuaro sighed, taking a bite of the dinner he had to make for himself. He sighed again. "I'll talk to her, see if I can get her to go with you."
Van sighed heavily as he stared at the ground. That was why she ran away. She knew. But how could she? The idea that Dilandau could have told her was completely absured, and yet, there was no other way. It was puzzling, and after a year of searching for her so hard, he was told to just turn around and walk away?
"Whatever it is that's upsetting her can wait. We shouldn't force her to return with us. It could ruin everything that could be between you two," Allen motioned to Van.
"Should we just leave?" Selena asked, yawning. It was getting late. "Maybe in the morning, huh? Since she doesn't want to come with us. Forcing her would only cause resentment."
"Yeah..." Merle sighed.
"I'm going to talk to her," Van said quietly as he pushed himself to his feet.
"Of course I called you my love," he whispered to her as he came closer enoug hto brush his hand against her cheek softly. "Hitomi, I love you.
She gasped, grateful that the shadows in her room were undoubtedly hiding the light blush on her cheeks. He brushed her bangs from her face and leaned down, his lips descending upon hers. In the moments leading up to it her mind grew disoriented and her thoughts clouded. The only real thought that she could make out was the fact that he had never lied to her, and that he had said he loved her.
He had never lied to her before -- tried to kill her, yes -- but not once had he ever lied to her. That was the only thing she could focus on. Lies.
His lips were warm, soft, inviting her into something new and exciting. It was like being taken somewhere Van could never show her. She closed her eyes as his lips pressed against hers harder.
She suddenly broke the kiss.
"Di... Dilandau..."
He smiled at her, and gently lifted her chin up with his forefinger.
"Come with me, Hitomi. Come with me, back to Zaibach and become me wife," he half pleaded-half ordered. "Come and be my beautiful queen."
She gasped and stared at him with wide eyes. "YOu... You mean that..."
"Hi... Hi... Hitomi?" she heard Van call to her from the other side of the door. "Hitomi, please. Let me explain."
"What do you say, Hitomi?" Dilandau's voice dropped low so that Van could not hear him. "Come with me."
"Dilandau..."
Van was completely baffled as to how she could have possibly known about his engagement. He knew that he had gone out of his way to not reveal it to her, so that there was always a chance for her to return. Her Dilandau story was just impossible. Selena was always watched over and not once had Dilandau given a hint of existing within her, not to mention the fact that she had been in Asturia during Hitomi's brief visit. One question led to another and none led to any answers. Dilandau being the one to tell her was a complete impossibility. Hitomi either imagined it or was lying to them, but why would she lie? Did Yuaro have something to do with it? Did he kidnap her? Control her with a spell? No, you could tell by looking at him that he was not the sort.
"Hitomi." he called for a third time. He tentatively raised a fist to knock on the door. "Please open the door, Hitomi. I want to talk to you. Please. Please open your door."
He was responded with a deafening silence. There was no sound. Period. No shuffling of feet, no creaking floorboards or bed. Absolutely nothing. His heart pounded heavily in his chest as if it were trying to fight its way out to freedom.
"Hitomi, if you're ignoring me, stop it. I won't leave! We're going to talk about this!" he shouted in a shakey voice. "Hitomi, answer me! We have to talk! I won't take no!"
There was still nothing but silence from her room. He growled, feeling irritated by her response -- or lack there of.
"Hitomi?"
"Lord Van?" Merle's curious, yet concerned voice called to him from the top of the stairwell.
He looked to his childhood friend with tearful eyes and shook his head. She nearly cringed and the breaking expression he had on his face. Hitomi meant everything to him, and now, even though he never gave up on her, even when things looked darkest, she rejected him over something that was out of his power.
"Lord Van... I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm really sorry."
"Why don't you all spend the night?" Yuaro offered, after discovering that Hitomi was refusing to speak with anyone.
"We don't want to over stay our welcome," Millerna countered.
"Nonsense!" he declared, smacking his hand down on the table. "We've people here most of the week! And, besides, if I turned you all away, what kind of host would I appear as? Not a very good one, let me tell you!"
"Yeah..." Allen rolled his eyes. Yuato was trying way to hard to show off to the woman. So hard, in fact, that he appeared without class. "I suppose one night chouldn't hurt. Perhaps Hitomi will have calmed down by then."
"Oh, more than likely!" Yuaro grinned. "The girl's got a hot temper but she's got a good sensability about her. She'll be fine."
Van was sulking on the couch with his head in Merle's lap. His eyes were closed and his expression stoney; a mask covering his inner turmoil. Only Merle could see to the full extent how upset he was over Hitomi's accusations and behavious, and he intended to keep it to Merle. He did not want any fuss nor did he want their pity and sympathy. Only understanding from his 'little sister' was what he wanted. As far as the others were concerned, he had come down with a terrible headache. The could probably tell that he was faking it, but no one questioned him.
'Hitomi...' Just the thought of her brought unwanted tears to his eyes. 'If I weren't a king... If I wasn't of royal blood than this would be different. I wouldn't have been forced to be engaged... my love for you would never have been denied. Bit, I met you because I was a prince, didn't I...? This fate is cruel. I only want you... I only want to be with you for the rest of my life...'
"So what do you think, Lord Van?" Allen's mocking voice reached him through his thoughts. "Shall we stay?"
"Watch your tones, Knight," he snapped back. He could feel Merle place a hand on his side to calm him. It worked. "We'll stay the night and hope that Hitomi has calmed down by morning."
One minute they got along just fine, and the next they might as well have been mortal enemies. There was no denying that these emotions had been a result of their fight over Hitomi two years ago. Allen had made it very clear that, although he stepped to the side, for Hitomi's sake, that if he was ever her cause for shedding tears, that he would sweep her out of his grasp once again.
"You remind me of my older brother, Yuaro," Selena commented with a smile. "You know her moods and habits by heart, and you know the limits. She's lucky that you found her."
"That I found her?" He laughed as if he had never heard anything so funny, but stopped when he saw their expressions. Even Van had pushed himself into a sitting position and was looking at him strangely. "I don't know where you got your information, but she was looking for me."
"She-what?!" Van exclaimed, leaping to his feet. "That's impossible. How could she have known about you?!"
Suddenly the Dilandau theory seemed a little more possible, yet there was still the possibility of someone playing mind games with her. Hitomi had lived on the PHantom Moon for most of her life, so how could she possibly have known about a man from a nation she had most likely never heard of before?
"What are you saying?" Allen growled.
Yuaro glanced around the room innocently. "She told me that someone had told her that I could help. She never specified who that someone was, and I never questioned her."
"Why not?!" Van snapped. He could feel himself shaking. "Why didn't you ask her? Weren't you curious as to why a total stranger was looking for you?"
"In my defense she didn't tell me that right away. She told me after we had been here for a while. And even then, when I asked her, she wasn't feeling like sharing so I left her be," he retorted, his eyes shooting daggers at Van.
"You still have done a greay job as her big brother," Selena continued on her earlier comment, as if by ignoring it, the tension would just cease to exist. "She depends on you like you're really her older brother."
Thanks." He smiled half-heartedly at her.
This was really going to be a long night.
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All I can really say is I'm sorry it took so long to get here!
Ja ne,
- Nekura