Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne. Motorcycles of EscaflowneChapter 4
Van and Folken stood a few paces away from the covered motorcycle. Balgus rubbed his hands, anticipating.
"This is a historic moment, boys and girls," Balgus said dramatically.
There was a snort next to Van. Merle, his adopted cousin, pressed a hand over her mouth to smother the giggles but to now avail.
Balgus's scared face quivered laughingly but somehow retained a stern enough look. "This is no laughing matter, Merle. Today is the day I reveal-" Balgus unveiled the motorcycle proudly. "Ladies and Gentlemen! The Black Escaflowne!"
His children's sarcastic looks slowly changed into awe.
The Black Escaflowne was a project that Balgus had been working on for the past five years. It was something so big that he had wakened his three children up at 5:30 a.m., just for them to preview it before school. Balgus had personally worked on the designs rather than leaving it to his engineers and had kept a heavy hand secured on the production of the Black Escaflowne. This was a revolutionary bike, a motorcycle that would surpass even the best of Escaflowne's older bikes.
It was simply beautiful. Balgus had painstakingly ensured that it was engineered with only state of the art technology and made with only the best materials. He had only labored long and hard on the designs so as to give the Black Escaflowne a dangerous and cool edge. And of course, every model sold would be painted ebony black. With all these outstanding qualities, the Black Escaflowne would of course be extremely expensive, only sold to the serious motorcycle lovers and would fetch a wallop of profit. This would make Escaflowne Motorcycles even richer than before.
Although it wouldn't be released to the public for sale for a few weeks, Balgus's children had the great privilege of owning their very own Black Escaflowne. The trouble was that there was only one.
Van stared hungrily at the Black Escaflowne, drool forming at the corners of his mouth. Merle raised an eyebrow and tilted her head. Folken merely stood.
Balgus beamed as he ran a hand over the bike. "I think we all know who deserves the very first Black Escaflowne." He tilted his smile toward Van. He crooked a finger. "Come on over, Van. Let's see how you like it."
"Can I have ride, Van? Please? Please?" Merle squealed as Van hopped onto the bike, a wide grin stretching out his cheeks.
"Sure, I'll take you to school," Van offered distractedly. He sighed, loving every moment of just touching the Black Escaflowne. And it was his!
Folken observed Van and Merle fawning over the Black Escaflowne, face unemotional. He abruptly turned around and left the garage.
Van frowned after Folken's retreating back but his mind instantly dashed back to the motorcycle under him. He wiggled his behind, settling onto the seat.
So therefore, Van was near bursting with pride as he rolled into the student parking lot, conscious of the admiring looks he was getting and pretending not to notice them. He parked his bike and looked up to face his new admirers. Smiling, he noticed Dilandau leaning on his red EscaXX and smirked. Somehow, he felt a twitch of dislike for Dilandau ever since Hitomi had cut her hair. Well, Van knew the reason why he disliked Dilandau for that: it had been Dilandau's fault that Hitomi had had such an disturbing night. Then again, if it hadn't been for Dilandau, Hitomi would not have cut her hair and changed for the better.
Van caught Dilandau's jealous stare and smirked at him. He had never really liked Dilandau anyway, he had always strucked him as a poser anyway.
Hitomi had overslept on that particular school day and was so late that she didn't even stop by the parking lot, thus missing Van's impressive entrance. Therefore Hitomi did not know of the Black Escaflowne's existence until lunchtime.
Van grinned as he watched Hitomi's mouth slowly hang open at the sight of the Black Escaflowne. "Hey Hitomi!" he called, waving his arm.
Hitomi looked up at him in surprise and was about to look down but stopped herself just in time. "That's some bike, Van!" she yelled back.
"Wanna take a closer look?" Van shouted.
Hitomi hesitated for a moment but the Black Escaflowne's presence shattered the shyness. She hopped up and approached Van, eyes wide with awe.
"Wow," she breathed. "It's amazing!"
"Yeah. Balgus has working on this model for so long." Van suddenly had the urge to spew out more impressive facts and babbled on. "It's called the Black Escaflowne won't even be for sale until next month at least! This is the only model out there currently. Balgus decided to give it to me, because I deserve it of course."
"Sure you do," Hitomi mumbled distractedly. She crouched down to take a better look. "Wait, who's Balgus?"
"My dad," Van answered.
Hitomi looked up at him. "You call your dad by his first name?" Was it just her, or did Van suddenly look depressed?
Van shifted uncomfortably. "Balgus isn't my biological father, he's actually my uncle, my real dad's older brother." He looked away suddenly. "My parents died in a fire, along with my other uncle and aunt. Balgus adopted us after the-" Van swallowed, "-you know."
"Oh," Hitomi said. Then she berated herself mentally. Oh? Oh? Is that all she could say? Van had just told her something personal and all she said was oh? "I'm sorry," she said, trying to make up for oh.
Van shrugged, trying to look indifferent. "Balgus is a great father to me. He took me and Folken and my cousin Merle in at once with hesitation, even though he was busy being the head of a company and a single man." He blinked suddenly and froze in horror.
I-am-not-crying-I-am-not-crying- he repeated over and over to himself. Van glanced over at Hitomi now, wondering why he had just spilled his family troubles to her. Maybe it was because she was a good listener, never interrupting and always looking him in the face.
There was a sad look on her face now, Van grimaced and turned his head to the motorcycle. Great, now she pitied him. Good job Van.
It wasn't as if he was emotionally traumatized by his parent's death. It had been nine years ago, when he was six and Folken was eight. Merle had gotten the worse of it. She had been only four years old, just recently adopted by his other aunt and uncle. She had lost two sets of parents in only one year.
Van shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts of the death. He forced a grin on his face and turned back to Hitomi. "So, how do you like it?" he asked, suddenly anxious for her opinion.
Hitomi blinked, flustered. Van had just looked so depressed and dejected right there. The change of emotion startled her.
"You already know what I think, stupid," she said teasingly. "This is best motorcycle I've ever seen!"
Van breathed a sign of relief. The fact that Hitomi liked it made the Black Escaflowne seem better than ever. "You have to ride it to really be convinced," Van said placidly.
Hitomi glanced at him. "Meaning…?"
A corner of Van's strained smile tugged up into a genuine smile. "How about I take you home after school today? You don't look like you get the ride bikes very often."
"I don't! My mom won't get me my own!" Hitomi said, brightening. She was getting lucky. Another chance to ride a motorcycle and the best one at that. Hitomi began to feel a happy bubbly feeling in her chest. She opened her mouth to accept and then remembered something. "Oh no," she said, slapping her forehead. "Sorry, I forgot. I have track practice today."
"That's no problem. I'll just pick you up after practice," Van offered.
Hitomi's eyes grew big with happiness. "That would great. Thank you so much!"
Van glowed with pleasure. "The pleasure is all mine."
They both went back to admiring the Black Escaflowne. Other people eating in the parking lot watched them, itching to go up to the bike but hesitating at the sight of Hitomi Kanzaki. In fact, they'd much rather watch. Hitomi Kanzaki and Van Fanel had certainly been very friendly these days, ever since Hitomi's sudden new hair cut.
"So this the only Black Escaflowne out there at the moment?" Hitomi asked.
"Yeah. I'm so glad Balgus gave it to me," Van stated proudly.
"But isn't Folken going to inherit the company after Balgus?" Hitomi questioned.
Van shrugged. "I suppose Balgus wants Folken to take after, being the oldest and all. But lately Folken hasn't been very keen on taking the job." Seeing Hitomi's puzzled look, Van was suddenly aware of the fact that he was telling very personal affairs to Hitomi. But that mystified look on her face prompted him to talk more."
"Folken isn't as into motorcycles as you and I are," Van admitted. "Balgus says that Folken is like our father: he only works with motorcycles for the job, not for the sheer love of it." Then suddenly, it clicked into place. "That's what Balgus and Folken were arguing for!" he shouted.
"Eh, what?" Hitomi asked. She was beginning to wonder why Van was spilling out all this random news.
"They were arguing about Folken's college applications. Folken was refusing to do any engineering because he doesn't want to work with motorcycles!" Van said, figuring it out. It had been a very loud night, hearing Balgus and Folken's bellowing voices through the night.
"Okay…" Hitomi said, not sure how to respond.
Van shook himself out of that mood and ran a hand through his messy, black hair distractedly. Hitomi watched, slightly mesmerized at the sight of this. For some reason, she wanted to run her fingers through his hair at that moment.
Hitomi stretched out her arms, eyes surveying the bleachers. Yes, there was Van, sitting on the top row, arms crossed with a bored look on his face. She waved to him and grinned when he waved back. She turned to walk to the track, thoughts drifting in her head.
Why did Van offer her the ride anyway? There were plenty of girls in the school much prettier than her and would have loved the ride very much, but why little old her?
Come to think of it, Van had certainly been paying a lot more attention to her than usual over the week, usual referring to before her haircut. In the hallways they would exchange friendly greetings and during lunch they would chat together.
Hitomi froze at this thought. Yes, that was right. Van only started talking to her after that night. Before, there was almost no contact between them.
And then Hitomi realized that before, she hadn't really spoken to Van at all before either. She had only envied him because motorcycles surrounded him and his life while she only dreamed.
It all seemed to revolve around that night when she sawed off her hair. Well, Van had certainly changed in her eyes. Hitomi had thought of Van as another indifferent, arrogant, popular guy, but in truth, there were more layers to Van than meets the eye.
Had she changed in Van's eyes as well?
Hitomi snuck another peek at Van and looked away quickly. Van was staring directly at her. It made Hitomi slightly uncomfortable.
"Okay Kanzaki, you're next," the coach called out.
Hitomi stood up and took her spot at the start line. For inspiration, she envisioned the Black Escaflowne speeding down the highway. Hitomi had made it a habit to think of motorcycles before beginning a race. It settled her mind and smoothly transferred her into the right sprinting mood. The inspiration worked. Hitomi beat her personal time by a second.
As she walked over to a bench, Hitomi glanced up at Van again. He noticed her glance and gave her a thumbs-up. For some reason, Hitomi felt a huge surge of happiness. Smiling she plopped down next to Yukari with a thump.
Yukari clucked her tongue and raised an eyebrow at Hitomi. "Sure," she said, "he doesn't like you. Not at all. None whatsoever. Never ever-"
"Oh shut up, 'kari."
Hitomi slipped on the helmet, jumping with excitement.
"Ah, Hitomi, you may want to let me drive," Van reminded her as Hitomi plopped down in the front.
"Oh, right, sorry," Hitomi said, flustered.
Van smiled at her and revved up the motor. He felt Hitomi's body behind him move back into the natural movement of the motorcycle. He was also extremely conscious of the pair of arms wrapped loosely around his waist and the slim mass of warmth at his back.
As they sped down the road, Van felt himself relax. For the first time in weeks, Van felt completely at peace with himself and the world. Perhaps it was the smooth riding of the Black Escaflowne or the feeling that he was where he belonged. Maybe it was the fact that Hitomi was actually touching him, holding him at that, something a multitude of guys at school dreamed about.
The setting sunbeams streaked across the sky behind him and Van felt Hitomi shift slightly, staring at the sunset. She leaned back in her seat and laughed giddily into the rush of wind.
That's my kind of girl, Van thought to himself.
As he admitted his feelings for Hitomi to himself, Van felt her arms tighten around his waste, the body warmth scooting closer. A helmeted head appeared at his right, resting on his shoulder in total contentment. Van knew right then that Hitomi was feeling the same peace of mind as he did.
The Black Escaflowne seemed to purr happily as Hitomi wrapped her arms even closer to Van. It was a perfect, everlasting moment.
But the moment ended once they reached Hitomi's house. Hitomi regretfully got off the Black Escaflowne, slipping off her helmet and shaking out her hair. Van had only glanced at her and the full mesmerism of Hitomi's beauty hit like a cream pie.
Noticing the attention, Hitomi smiled nervously at Van. Handing him the helmet, she said, "Thanks for the ride."
Van, still gazing into her eyes, smiled lazily. "No," he replied, "thank you." And then he leaned forward and gently kissed her on the lips. Grinning at her, Van put on his helmet and rode away.
Hitomi stared after him and touched her finger to her warm lips. She numbly walked into the house and froze dramatically. Then, a dreamy smile crept onto her face.
"What're you smiling about?" asked Mrs. Kanzaki upon finding her daughter in this state.
"It's been a great day, mom," Hitomi replied and went to her room.
A/N Haha! There's your romantic scene. So I'll see you guys after my wisdom teeth are out and I'm all sane again! In the meantime, your reviews would be good.