Chapter One: Unspoken Feelings
Hibiki sighed. He wished that Jura would just shut up for once. "What's wrong Hibiki. Headache or something?" Jura asked looking at Hibiki. "A headache would be an understatement" Hibiki growled stomping off. Hibiki was headed to the greenhouse where he was almost certain that he could be alone. Hibiki sighed again as he reached the green house.
"Why does he hate me" a voice cried in the distance. "I know that voice" Hibiki whispered as he went around a large tree. Squeezed in between a bush and a tree was Dita sitting with her knees pulled up to her chest, crying.
"Uhh..." Hibiki was lost. There was a part of him that wanted to run to Dita and comfort her. But there was another part of him urging himself to just turn around and not think of it.
Dita looked up for a moment to look around. "Is that you Meia" Dita looked around. "No but this is" Meia's voice rang from behind Hibiki.
Dita looked over to where Meia was whispering something into Hibiki's ear. Dita remained completely still for a moment but then, not knowing why, jumped up and ran away.
"NOW!!!" Meia yelled to Hibiki. Meia pushed Hibiki's back, shoving him in the direction Dita ran.
Confused, Hibiki ran towards Dita and did exactly as Meia had told him to. "Why am I doing what she tells me to all of the sudden" Hibiki muttered as he ran towards Dita. Slow down wunda Hibiki thought.
After a few minutes of chasing her, Hibiki finally caught up with Dita and firmly grasped her arm.
"You have been running from me for a week. Why are you avoiding me?!?" Hibiki yelled at Dita. "BECAUSE YOU HATE ME!!!!" Dita yelled with tears welling up in her eyes again. Dita fell to her knees and covered her face as she cried.
Hibiki leaned down towards Dita and sat quietly by her as she cried. "I'm sorry Dita" Hibiki whispered.
Dita woke up not knowing where she was. She looked around and noticed that she was sleeping in Hibiki's room. She quietly sat up and saw Hibiki sitting at the end of the bed. His head was hung and his face was covered in the emotion of confusion and pain. Hibiki had obviously noticed Dita's movement because he reared up and looked at Dita. "You cried yourself to sleep in the middle of the hallway so I brought you here" Hibiki said, his face beginning to turn slightly red. Dita looked down trying to avoid eye contact with Hibiki. "I am sorry I troubled you... I should go now" Dita said, standing up.
Just as Dita started to walk toward the door, Hibiki grabbed her hand. "Why are you always running away" he said in an angry voice.
"You told Pyoro that you hated me and then you told Gosco and Paiway the same thing" Dita looked down again. "I'm sorry. I guess that all people get afraid sometimes" Hibiki said more to himself than Dita. "What are you scared of" Dita asked having an idea that he was scared of his own feelings... just as she was. "Nothing" Hibiki growled but Dita was certain that he was scared of his feelings because Hibiki wrapped his hand around hers tighter.
Hibiki started to pull Dita closer just as Meia's voice rang threw the whole ship. "All vanguards get prepared for battle NOW!!!" Meia's voice reported.
Hibiki jumped up, still having Dita's hand in his, and pulled Dita behind him as he ran toward where is vanguard was.
"That was a good battle, don't you think Hibiki?" Jura winked at Hibiki. Hibiki rolled his eyes. Not paying to attention where he was going, Hibiki ran into Meia. "Come with me" Meia said signaling too not only Hibiki, but to Jura and Dita too.
All four people made their way to where the energy source was. All they knew to call it was the engine but everyone knew without saying that the blue ball of energy was something more. "Look" Meia pointed to a small point sticking out of the energy ball.
"It looks like a hand" Barnette, who had been waiting for them, said. Everyone looked at each other and exchanged confused glances. "It's moving" Dita yelled pointing upwards.
The hand extended and the ball let out an arm and then a whole body. The body was of a woman.
The woman looked as though she was only twenty years of age and even though it had just come out of the energy source, she was clothed in an ankle length, tight, blue dress that only showed a bit of her feet, her shoulders, and her arm. The woman floated there, above the ball, and suddenly she curled up into a tight ball. A scream echoed in everyone's mind as feathery white wings arched out of the girl's back.
After the wings came the girl started to fall and everyone knew that she wasn't awake.
They watched her fall for a few moments and the next thing that everyone knew, the woman had landed into Duelo's arm.
"How did you catch her. I mean, how were you there when no one else was?" Meia asked Duelo skeptically. "I'm not sure. I just felt I need to be there and this person is lucky that I did" Duelo explained to all of the confused girls.
All of the people in the room looked to the girl as her arm rose and the sat up. "Who helped me" the girl said in a sweet, almost angelic voice. Meia rose her laser ring to the girl "who are you first" she said.
The girl giggled. "My name is Zuttolin" she giggled some more.
"Zutto-lin?" Duelo asked. Zuttolin nodded "Are you confused about the zutto or the lin?" she laughed slightly. "Both for me" Hibiki said. "Lin is just an extra to my name... Zutto means forever" Zuttolin explained. "Why exactly are you 'forever'" Dita asked confused. "You might not understand" Zuttolin smiled.
She looked around. "You still have not told me who helped me Meia" Zuttolin frowned. "Meia put her laser ring back toward the angelic figure. "How do you know my name" Meia asked angrily. "Umm... lucky guess" Zuttolin smiled.
writers corner
You might not understand this so far so I will explain.
Zutto is Japanese meaning forever.
Zuttolin was a name I created for an elf or angel.
Although Zuttolin isn't really an angel, she looks, sounds, and acts like one.
If you haven't noticed yet, Dita loves Hibiki and he DOES love her as well.
Jura also has a thing for Hibiki but he can't stand her.
Also, Duelo and Zuttolin will come to like each other.
"Thank you for helping me, Duelo" Zuttolin smiled. "You're welcome. At least we had another room open." Duelo said. Zuttolin nodded and continued to walk down the hall by Duelo's side. Zuttolin outstretched her wings for a moment and then quickly folded them neatly behind her back again.
Out of at least a hundred women here, why does this one stand out to me so much? Duelo thought to himself. "How do I stand out?" Zuttolin asked, smiling to Duelo. "Can you read minds?" Duelo was really confused.
Zuttolin shook her head. "I only read hearts. If you look deeply into a person's eyes you can see what they feel and even think. You were thinking that I stood out and I asked why." Zuttolin explained in her soft, angelic voice. Duelo was lost. "I don't understand. How can you do this?" Duelo didn't even know what he was saying.
"Never mind. I have seen at least ten other girls with long blue hair just as I do. But my wings are the problem. They make everyone afraid of me or just think that I am a freak" Zuttolin spoke in a sad way as she hung her head.
Duelo lifted her face gently with his hands and stared into her eyes. "I don't think you are a freak" Duelo said softly.
Zuttolin leaned close to Duelo and whispered "thank you" into his ear then as she pulled away, Zuttolin pressed her lips gently to Duelo's cheek.
As she pulled away, Zuttolin noticed that Duelo's face was partly red and that her face was burning up with embarrassment.
Duelo let his hands drift around Zuttolin's waist and pull her closer to him. Zuttolin put her arms around Duelo's neck and pulled herself closer still. "What is going on here?!?" Hibiki's voice caused Zuttolin and Duelo to break away from each other. Zuttolin looked downward and Duelo looked to Hibiki. "Ugh" Hibiki said in a disgusted voice as he stomped away.
Dita made her way to where she knew Hibiki would be working on his vanguard holding a small stuffed animal. "Mr. Alien?" Dita said looking around. She found Hibiki sitting down in an annoyed position.
"What is wrong Mr. Alien?" Dita said, hoping that she hadn't done anything wrong.
"I want to know what is going on around here. I found Zutto-whatever and Duelo hugging each other in the middle of the hallway today and now I am having these weird things happening to me!" Hibiki said angrily. "Did I do anything wrong?" Dita said taking a step closer to Hibiki. Hibiki looked at Dita and then turned away quickly. "N...no" Hibiki blushed.
"I brought you this" Dita sat next to Hibiki and placed the small stuffed kitten in his lap. "I made it. Do you like it?" Dita asked in a worried voice. Hibiki looked at the cat and then to Dita and smiled. "Yeah" he said. Hibiki leaned close to Dita as she smiled to him and pressed his lips softly to hers. He stayed that way for a moment then broke away. It was clear that Dita was confused, but Hibiki knew that he was at least five times more confused than she was.
"Dita...ready, Hibiki...ready, Barnette...ready, Jura...ready" the voices fluttered in to Buzam. "Okay everyone. Go get 'um" Buzam said energetically to the girls ... and Hibiki.... in the vanguards.
"Wait" a voice yelled from behind Buzam. "I want to go out there too. I want to help" Buzam turned and found that the person who 'wanted to help' was Zuttolin. "First of all, I don't think that you can fit into a vanguard. Second, even if you did you wouldn't know how to use it." Buzam said harshly to the angelic figure. "Just give me an air mask and I can fight. I was made to fight. That energy ball created me to be a weapon" Zuttolin begged.
Buzam grunted. "Fine. It's your funeral" Buzam said handing Zuttolin a mouth piece. "Just put that in your mouth and you can breathe just fine" Buzam wasn't happy about the girl going to fight.
Zuttolin could sense Buzam's unhappiness but she smiled "thank you for giving me a chance".
"Wow" Dita was amazed at seeing the angelic girl flying about space with ease. Even as Zuttolin fought, all of her strikes toward her opponents were like a graceful, but dangerous dance. Her wings fluttered and her rapier, which she provided from the energy ball, was light in her hand.
No one knew, but Duelo and Parfait were watching Zuttolin from a screen from Duelo's doctor's office.
"She seems like a good fighter" Parfait said as she took another swift bite from her chocolate ice cream. Duelo nodded but watched Zuttolin carefully. "At least she won't get hurt. That's obvious" Parfait smiled.
Duelo looked at Parfait. "Has it ever been known for one of your prisoners to fall in love with one of the women?" Duelo asked, starting to turn red.
Parfait nodded energetically. "It's quite exiting" she smiled. "Have you ever fallen in love?" Duelo asked. Even though he tried to hide it, Duelo was starting to feel something for both Parfait and Zuttolin.
Parfait was slightly red now and she looked at Duelo and simply said "I'm not really sure".
"Hmm..." Duelo began to think...