I do not own Escaflowne, and don't want to. Rather, I wish Van was a realboy! Yeay. This is my first post, hope it's ok! Enjoy

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"Miss Hitomi!! Miss Hitomi! Wake up! You were supposed to meet with Princess Millerna an hour ago!!" The servant woman frantically called to the sleeping beauty. Hitomi began to stir slightly at the mention of her friend's name.

"Hmmm? Oh, can't I sleep a little longer? It seems too early to be waking up..."

"Of course it does, mistress! You were supposed to be in the party that was going out early to watch the sunrise! You were supposed to meet them an hour ago,"the poor woman wailed," and I tried to wake you, but couldn't. So now you are going to be atrociously late!! I believe they even left without you...I'm such a failure!! Oh, how can I face the head woman now, when i couldn't complete my job?"

In the while that the stressed out servant had been wailing, Hitomi had jumped out of bed in a fluster and began throwing some clothes on. She had just finished tying the straps of a willowy white dress on when the other woman turned. Smiling, Hitomi said,"Dont worry, I'm going to catch up to them! I run fast!!" Because her beautiful features momentarily stunned and incapacitated the maid, it enabled Hitomi to quickly dash out the door.

"I'm heading out! Bye!" was tossed to the servant, waking her from her reverie. (She's so pretty...)

"But misstress, you need an escor- ah!" It was an empty hall that was being spoken to. She's gone...well, I'm sure...she will stop bye and get an escort..right? Oh, but she is a lovely creature, and I can't risk it if she didn't take a gaurd...which I doubt she did, now that I recall the stories about her. It is said by all he servents how carefree she is..not to mention that she is quite nice under her boistorous exterior. I have just seen it myself, haven't I? She did not yell at me for not waking her up in time, nor making it so that she had to set out alone...AH!! What am I doing? I need to go tell someone to go after Miss Hitomi! The woman fretfully began to look for an escort as the castle began to come alive with daily routine. It was even busier yet, as today was the ball held before Princess Millerna's wedding.

Hitomi decided that it was too late to catch up to the group and winess the sunrise, so she decided that speed was not of the essense. Instead of taking a horse, the young woman decided to walk to where her Asturian friends were and catch them on their way back. In the meantime, the morning was beautiful as nature began to awaken. Treading along the dirt path was alright, but when she heard the call of the sea through the trees of the forest, Hitomi couldn't help but respond.

Van had arisen early that morning, deciding to go out and get some fresh air while he still could; otherwise, he would have no other chance once the Asturian princess' ball began. Those crazy women will be everywhere ... hanging all over me, suffocating me, Van thought. It was true, too. Anyone who had eyes could see that the young man was gorgeous. His dark hair was windblown from his ride to the sea, defining the wild feel of him. Auburn - or was it deep red? - eyes burned with a fire from within, complementing his fine, tanned features. He was of lean build and in very good shape, his hard muscles showed no trace of excess fat over them. His looks were all around pleasing, attracting many women. Yet, Van had never really paid attention to any of the women who fawned over him. He shook his head dryly as he thought about how women sought to control him. Tame him. He knew they wanted him because of his looks and the fact that he was a prince. Though a prince isn't much, anyways. Those foolish women don't understand that Folken is who they should be going after. Van sighed. Women were just to complicated to deal with. Until he found one who was not only interesting to him, but stirred something else, he doubted he would ever feel anything more than annoyance or possibly friendship with any lady.

Pushing all thoughts of women out of his mind, Van looked out over the water, letting the reigns of his horse, Netalli, slip from his hand. The horse playfully scampered around the beach, but Van didn't worry how far the horse went since he knew it would return sooner or later. Kicking off his boots, Van went to the water, letting the cool waves soothe him. He loved the peacefullness. It reminded him of his mother. She was so serene and calm. Even with all the things going on around her, she never broke her calm.

She was the image of serenity...I miss her... Van's eyes turned dark as he recalled her death. Flames licked the wood and I could hear the screams of many dying. One of those screams was my mother... Just as fury began to roll over him, he heard a noise. Shaking off the fog that had come over him, he looked around to see what had made the noise, gripping his sword.

What he saw next was one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen and one he'd never forget.

Hitomi had risen from the water where she had playfully been splashing about. She was soaked thouroghly. The waves had enticed her and she couldn't help herself. Besides, I can dry off in the sun before I have to face anybody, Hitomi thought riteously to herself as she stepped on to the beach. Shaking her head, water droplets went cascading around her. The sun caught her hair and made it infused with gold. The soft wave of it rolled over her body, covering her soft breasts and stopping short of her navel line.

Van stared in wonderment at the lovely creature. Her white dress clung to her curves, the fabric becoming see-though. He let his eyes rove her body, from her dainty feet to her astouding face. Everything about her seemed perfect. Her body was like that of one carved by the great gods, and Van felt his 16-year old body began to react. His gaze drifted to the young woman's breasts, hidden behind a waterfall of hair. He could make an outline of their shape and saw them to be a bit small, but perfect for her size. His hungry eyes slid down her torso, past a smooth mid area, down to where he could make a faint outline of her-

"What exactly are you ogling at?" demanded a voice, bringing Van's eyes up to meet the gaze of the beauty. Oddly enough, her gaze held no anger at being thoroughly looked over, but rather one of amusement. Van didn't know whether he should get mad at her for such a smirkish look, or to give her back a sly look of his own.

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That's it for the first chapter... I may try to rewrite it later...