Disclaimer: I do not own Escaflowne, no money is being made yadda yadda yadda.

Author's Notes: Hello! Another chapter. This was actually a hard chapter to write. I didn't know if this should happen first, or that should happen after, so I came up with this. Mainly a Hitomi chapter. I have later plans for our little puppy and his counterpart. Oh, and the movie mentioned in this is the movie I'm going to go see tomorrow myself. But of course, I'm not going with a gorgeous guy. I'm going with my family. I hope you like this chapter! Please Review!

Thank you to Magicman/Smokegirl, Chris James, and SabineballZ for reviewing in Chapter 2. And thanks also to snow blossoms who reviewed Chapter 1 right after I uploaded Chapter 2 but it hadn't yet appeared.

One more note. Please read! I've started another Esca fic. War of Darkness, Light of Love. I don't know about the title really. It's just the prologue so far but if you want to, you can read it. Don't worry. I'm mainly concentrating on this fic right now. WD,LL will be written more when I am either done with this or have writer's block.

Chapter Three – Time to Leave

Another day came, as days always do, and went. For the next week, Hitomi would go to school, Van would stay home and think, and then they, or actually Hitomi, would talk. Van always sat and listened politely to what she had to say. Some things were more interesting than others were. And so, that was how the time past. Pretty much the same routine. Van still didn't leave the open window ever. He had found out one morning that Hitomi opened it purposely every day so that he could leave if he wanted. That, he thought, was extremely kind of her.

No one ever called about a lost cat. There was one call, but it turned out to be the wrong phone number. Van didn't expect anyone to call for him. If they did, they were probably only looking for a different cat. The night of the mistaken phone number, Hitomi found something out that was slightly annoying.

"Yes. Yes. It's all right. Well, I hope you find you Snookums. Bye." Hitomi groaned. "I'm so sorry Van. I really thought someone was calling for you. It just seems that they had dialed the number above the one they wanted. I'm really sorry. Your family can still cal anytime, you know." With a glum face, she scratched Van's back. He arched beneath her hand, enjoying the touch.

Why had no one called for him? When she first found him, yes, he didn't look the best of shapes. But it only looked like he had been out for a few days. Was he thrown out? Hitomi prayed that he wasn't. "Oh, well. Nothing we can do except sit and wait. How about some dinner?" Van let out a meow.

Hitomi made her way to the refrigerator. "Oh, my!" she exclaimed. "I have to go shopping tomorrow. We have barely anything. You won't mind if I'm a little late coming home, right, Van?" Van just started to eat the food she placed down. "I'll take that as a yes."

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Hitomi slowly walked down the road, carrying bags full of food, when a small blur ran by her. It was a small white puppy. "Do animals like running into me?" she said to herself. "Come on, I won't hurt you." She motioned towards the dog. It nearly leaped into her arms. Hitomi was relieved when she saw a collar adorning his neck.

"Oh, thank you so much," a voice said behind her. Hitomi turned and saw a girl with pale hair and beautiful blue eyes. She was wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt and jeans. Hitomi thought she looked rather familiar. "All of a sudden, Dilly just ran off. I couldn't keep up with him, but he seems to like you," the girl continued to say.

"So he's yours?" Hitomi asked.

"Yes," the girl replied. "He was a birthday present from my brother."

The two started walking with Dilly happily trotting between them. They came to a small park and sat down on the bench as they watched Dilly run around chasing a squirrel.

"What school do you go to?"

The girl glanced briefly at Hitomi's uniform before answering. "I'm 15 and the same school as you. How old are you?"

"That's where I've seen you before!" Hitomi exclaimed. "Oh, sorry. You just seemed kind of familiar. I'm 17. My name is Hitomi Kanzaki."

"Hitomi?" The girl seemed thoughtful. "Now I remember. My brother is also in your grade and he talks of you often."

A slight blush adorned Hitomi's cheeks. A boy was talking about her? "All good things I hope."

The girl nodded. "Of course. He holds you in high regard. I'm Celena Shezar by the way."

Shezar? "You mean you're Allen's sister?" she said shocked.

"Yes." Celena looked over at Dilly. He had run into a group of other dogs that seemed to be wild, but Celena didn't do anything. She just continued to watch as they started following Dilly around. "Just like his namesake," she murmured.

A grin spread across Hitomi's face. "Namesake, eh? Watching them reminds me of Dilandau Albatou who is in my year."

This time Celena blushed. "Well, you see, I, I, oh you won't tell him will you? Allen is so protective of me and won't let me even talk to Dilandau. He says Dilandau would just play with my feelings. But I know he wouldn't do that, would he, Hitomi?"

"I don't know. I won't say he doesn't drop girls left and right. He does have almost as many fans as Allen does."

"But Allen dumps girls all the time also! He's going to do that to Millerna soon. Dilandau can't be as bad as that."

It surprised Hitomi that Celena was so passionate about all of it. Dilandau just did not seem her type. While he didn't really use any girl's emotions, he sure could hurt them. "Look, Celena. The only way you will ever know is if you go and take what you want. Ask Dilandau out or something. Allen can't keep you under his wing forever."

Celena smiled. "Thank you, Hitomi. I've never had many friends. I'll take your advice. Can we be friends?"

"Sure," Hitomi replied. "Now go and talk to Albatou. He just turned onto this street and Dilly's running after him so you better catch him. Call me and tell me how it goes." She slipped a small piece of paper into the younger girl's hand. "Later." She left laughing slightly at the shocked expression Celena had after seeing Dilly trailing behind Dilandau. Celena started running across the park hoping that everything would turn out right. The last thing Hitomi saw was Celena apologizing to Dilandau.

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As always, the two sat down after dinner and Hitomi spoke of many things. This time she spoke of how she and Yukari would spend the day tomorrow since it was Sunday. After a while, she turned to the meeting of her new friend. After explaining the encounter, Hitomi lapsed into a momentary silence.

"You know, Van," Hitomi began, "maybe I've been wrong about Allen this whole time. I thought he was perfect, but after talking to Celena today, I realize he does use a girl's feelings to the most of his advantage. And what about him dumping Millerna? I was so sure the two were perfect for each other." A laugh escaped her. "Yesterday, I thought I was perfect for Allen, but I guess all this time I really thought..." She broke off her sentence as the phone began to ring. She ran to pick it up and shouted with glee.

"Oh, Celena! So how did it go?"

"Not much happened really," the voice on the other side of the line said. "We talked for a while and got a cup of coffee."

A frown crossed Hitomi's face. "Well?"

"Well what?"

"Are you going to see him again?" Nothing came from the other side. "Celena? Are you there?"

"Uh, yeah, I'm here. We, um, we..."

"Wait, what was that? I couldn't hear you."

"I said, we're going to catch a movie tomorrow."

"See? All you had to do was talk to Albatou and get to know him. Now you're going to the movies! What are you seeing by the way?"

"The final Lord of the Rings movie, The Return of the King. Allen still doesn't know though."

"LOTR? Have you read the books? If not, I suggest you do. They are really good. So don't tell Allen. Tell him afterwards."

"Yeah, I've read them. But how will Allen react?"

For a while, Hitomi did not answer. "I don't know. Trust your heart, Celena. That's the only thing that will help you decide."

"Thank you."

"Hey, what are friends for? I have to go so good luck!"

"Wait! I have a little favor to ask of you."

"Okay, what is it?"

"Can you watch Dilly? It's only for a week and I can give you everything he needs. Allen needs him to be away for a little while after he destroyed his room."

Briefly, Hitomi glanced at Van who was washing his face. "All right," she agreed hesitantly. "If it's only for a week."

"Thank you again. Bye!"

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Night fell. Hitomi lay in her bed peacefully sleeping. Van sat on the open windowsill, watching the moon as he thought of many things. The moon was a quarter full; much like it had been the night he had left his family.

His family. How long had it been since he had seen them? Three, four years now? Too long. Would they recognize him even? Would he recognize them? People changed over time. Faces could be forgotten.

Other, more troubling thoughts also drifted through his head. For three weeks he had been stuck. For three weeks he had not been able to return to what was currently "home". But then, he had no real home. Always moving from town to town, trying to find a cure, and failing. It was useless. He was slowly getting worse and that worried him. He sometimes found himself forgetting things, not comprehending where he was, or not knowing what was reality and what was fantasy. If he didn't hurry, he would be lost.

A sharp pain coursed through his body to his heart. He recognized the familiar sensation immediately. He had to leave now. As he prepared to leap down to the fire escape, he turned to look back into the small apartment. She had treated him well. She had even spoken of getting him his own bed, his own water and food dish, his own things. The first thought he had had back when he first came here came to haunt his mind.

Maybe tomorrow she would throw him out on the street. For some strange reason, he didn't want that. But it would be better for him if she did in the long run.

With a determined mind Van gave a leap. He couldn't stay any longer. It was time to leave.