Disclaimer: I do not own Escaflowne.
Author's Note: Here's Chapter 7. I didn't know what to call the city (it's a fictional city outlying Tokyo) so I dubbed it Gaea. And Irini is supposed to be a village in Fanelia, I guess. I'm sorry it took so long. I was in a summer program that was more mentally taxing than I thought. Also the fact that I'm lazy helps. I'll try to have the next chapter up in the next couple of weeks. The start of this school year gives me quite a bit of free time actually so, if I concentrate, I should be able to write the next chapter soon. As for what to expect, the next chapter actually will contain the main reason I rated this story PG-13. Other than that, I'm not telling! I fell though that this story will probably end is probably half over by now, if not more.
Thanks: Thank you to Magicman/Smokegirl, the peaches and cream, kawaii neko, Onigiri Momoko, and SabineballZ for reviewing chapter 5.
And thanks to f-zelda, SabrinaYutsuki, fireangel621, and Liarra for reviewing chapter 6!
I hope you enjoy this chapter, too! So please read and maybe even review!
Chapter 7 – Meetings
"Help me! Somebody, please help!" the young boy screamed.
"It's okay, don't be frightened, my dear," the old man's venomous voice murmured. "Everything will be all right." His claw like hand reached towards the shaking child, who whimpered, cradling his bleeding arm. A sickening feeling passed over the boy as he yowled...
BANG!
Pain coursed through Van's head after hitting a stoplight pole. People nearby stared openly at the young man.
"Shit," Van swore as he rubbed his forehead checking for blood. Whenever he let his mind wander, some sort of accident usually occurred. He was quite careless. 'Why am I thinking of that now?' he thought to himself.
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Dilandau grabbed the last fry just as Dallet had been reaching for it. He smirked at the other's expression as he popped the bit of saturated fat into his mouth. Celena giggled as Dallet then broke out into a fight with Gatty over the last chocolate candy.
"Let's go," Dilandau ordered, tired of eating. "I think it's time we dropped in on Miguel and make the rest of his day hell." Miguel had been sick the past week with a fever. The fever had passed, but the student still felt too ill to attend his classes.
All the members in the group nodded. Just as Dilandau stood up, a guy not watching where he was going crashed into him. Dilandau fell into the table while the stranger landed on the ground. Everyone quickly helped Dilandau up.
"Shit! Watch where you're going, you damn idiot!" Dilandau shouted.
The 'idiot' raised his head and yelled back, "Who are you calling an idiot?!"
Dilandau stared at the familiar dark-haired teen. "Fanel?" he whispered unbelievingly.
"Albatou," Van breathed in return. Dilandau reached down and pulled Van up. "It's been a while." Van awkwardly scratched his head.
"Yeah," Dilandau muttered. He looked thoughtful for a moment before a smirk flashed across his face and punched Van squarely in the stomach.
Van lay on the ground sputtering. "What was that foe?" he managed to get out.
Dilandau rolled his eyes. Fanel was hopeless. "Do you really have to ask?" he asked leaning forward. The fallen youth glared. The group was receiving many stares from others passing by or others eating outside of the restaurant. "You left, man, and you didn't even ask me to come along. Now hat kind of a friend does that make you?" He shook his head in mock shame of Van's inconsiderate actions. "I was the bad boy, Van. Everyone expected me to pull such a stunt. It makes me so frustrated. So frustrated that I have to hurt something." They stared at each other while Dilandau's groupies glanced between the once time friends, anxious of what was to happen next. Suddenly, Dilandau and Van burst out laughing.
"I'm glad you're still the same, Dil," Van choked out between laughs.
"I haven't gone by Dil in a ling time. So drop it." Van shook his head slightly.
"Whatever you say. How about Dilly?" Van suggested.
Dilandau held up his fist. "Call me that one more time and you're getting it."
"Calm down, Dilly," Celena spoke to her unofficial boyfriend and using the teasing nickname. Dilandau's cheeks were tinged the slightest pink at the familiarity.
Van smirked. "So you'll let your girlfriend call you 'Dilly' but not the friend that's known you since kindergarten?" Van teased. Dilandau glared at him.
"It's nice to see you again, Fanel," Celena said changing the subject. Van nodded to her in greeting. "Were you going anywhere?"
"Yeah, Taijuya, that one clothing store. But I don't know my way around this particular area," Van admitted, "and I'm horribly lost."
"Well, why didn't you say so," Dilandau cut in. "Gatty, you'll come with me and Celena. Everyone else, meet us at Miguel's. Oh, and pick up a little 'present' for him."
Obediently, Guimel, Viole, Dallet, and Shesta left the other four. As they walked, Van and Dilandau, catching up and discussing old times. They hadn't seen each other since junior high. Dilandau had taken the entrance exam for Gaean High when his family had moved after 9th grade. Van had lived in Gaea for the past seven months, but he had attended another school until he was kicked out due to long periods of absences that caused his grades to fall drastically.
"So you still get sick all the time, eh, Van?" Dilandau commented. He recalled the many times his friend had been out for days. He couldn't even see him when he was sick.
Gatty and Celena walked behind the two old friends in silence. They observed with interest that even though Dilandau and Van seemed to be perfectly comfortable in the other's presence, there was veiled tension between them. Neither knew what the cause of it was, so, for now, they'd just watch.
"It's just down the street," said Dilandau as he stopped on the sidewalk and pointed at the building.
Van nodded to his three guides. "Thanks," he said walking away.
After the teen was out of sight, Dilandau held out his hand for his cell phone. Gatty passed over the small electronic item. Dilandau quickly found the saved number he needed. After a few rings, the click of another phone being answered was heard.
"Yes, Dilandau?" a deep voice asked.
"Guess who I ran into today," Dilandau replied.
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Two days had passed since the new transfer student's arrival. Since it wasn't often that they received new students, it was with some shock that the students of Mrs. Takani's homeroom when they arrived at school only to find another desk with a pink-haired student sitting in it.
Mrs. Takani introduced the transfer to the rest of the class. "This is Merle Irini. She has skipped two grades and so is only fifteen. Merle, would you like to say anything else."
The new girl took a step closer to the class from her position beside the teacher's desk. Before she was able to speak, the door slid open to reveal an embarrassed Van. The teacher glared at him and pointed towards his seat before nodding at Merle to begin.
"Hello. I'm Merle Irini and I hope I can be your friend," she said bowing and smiling. When she raised herself again, her eyes were trained on Van alone.
"What a sweet girl," Mrs. Takani complimented. Merle's smile grew slightly as she walked to her seat that was situated directly behind Van. Her eyes never left him. The poor boy shivered under the strange girl's intense gaze. "Kanzaki will help you catch up along with Fanel."
"I can't wait," Merle murmured.
###########
"Would you me with your presence for another dinner tomorrow night, Kanzaki?" Allen Schezar requested of the blushing girl.
"O-of course," Hitomi stuttered. After Allen left, a call came from behind her.
"Hitomi!" a shrill voice yelled. The voice belonged to the new girl, Merle Irini, who was running towards her and pulling Van along. The boy looked helpless as he was dragged along. Hitomi frowned in sympathy.
"Yes, Irini?" she required once they reached her.
"Hitomi, Hitomi!" Merle shrieked, bouncing up and down. "Van and I want you to start tutoring us as soon as possible! Come on!"
Track was cancelled, so she didn't have anything else to do that afternoon. Yukari was on a date with Amano so spending time with her was out of the question. 'Might as well,' Hitomi thought. "Okay," she said simply. "I'm taking care of a puppy =, though, so we have to go to my place."
"Yeah!" Merle continued to jump around as they made their way to the train station. She pestered Hitomi with questions about everything, from school to her family to even her relationship with Van. Hitomi was extremely flustered and could barely reply to anything that the younger girl asked before she came up with another question.
Van dragged a few feet behind. He was worn out. All day, the new girl had followed him. She clung to him, constantly questioned him, and had even made him sit with her during lunch so she could see if he liked her home cooked lunch. Not once had she used 'Fanel'. It was always 'Van'. Why was she acting so familiar towards him? True, Hitomi herself rarely called him by his last name, but when she caught herself doing it, she'd immediately revert to Fanel. It was often annoying. Sometimes it sounded as if she were addressing him as 'Van Fanel', not 'Va-Fanel'. But what could he do?
They finally reached Hitomi's apartment. Van gazed up at the not so familiar building. He'd only seen it a few times. As the trio approached the Hitomi's apartment number, they saw an old man sitting in front of the door. He had thin white hair and a rather large belly. His clothes looked old and raggedy. At the sound of their voices, he turned to look at them.
"Oh, Miss Kanzaki," the man said. "I hope you haven't forgotten that I'm here to rid you of those insects you called about a few days ago."
Hitomi's eyes widened. "Mr. Mole!" she exclaimed. "I'd completely forgotten! Let me just get my puppy out and them you can work, okay?" Mr. Mole nodded. He got up and moved aside to let the embarrassed girl through. After collecting Dilly, she turned to Van and Merle.
"I'm sorry," she apologized. "We can't go into my apartment for five hours after Mr. Mole is done. He leaves bottles of this chemical open and the fumes just fill the place right up. Is there anywhere else we can go?"
Merle looked as if she was about to cry. She turned to clutch Van's right arm and wailed. "Oh, Van! What're we going to do? I was looking forward to this study session so much!" she cried.
There was no way Van could resist a distressed girl. "Umm... My place isn't too far from here," he began. "If you like, we can go there." 'Escaflowne is going to be so mad at me,' thought Van.
Immediately, Merle cheered up. Since there was nothing else she could do, Hitomi agreed. It was actually quite a bit farther than either girl had expected, but they finally managed to reach Van's small accommodations
The outside wasn't much to look at. The place looked rather shabby and worn down. The inside looked the same. Van paused outside his door and turned to Hitomi.
"I have a cat, you see, and he doesn't really like dogs," Van told her. Hitomi looked at the innocent puppy she clutched in her arms. What was she going to do with him?
"I'll watch the pup for you," a voice spoke. Dryden approached Hitomi with his arms stretched out. After Van explained who Dryden was, she forfeited Dilly to him and they entered Van's one-room apartment.
The place was surprisingly clean. The only messy area was a bookshelf on one side of the room. A yowl came from inside the closet. Van swore at himself for locking his cat in the closet. The animal sauntered out and glared at the strangers briefly before running back in. Though tempting, Van did not slide the door shut again.
Hitomi exclaimed, "What a cute kitty! What's his name?"
"Escaflowne," Van replied.
As they settled down to work, Hitomi thought to herself, 'Escaflowne is a strange name. But the cat's beautiful.' Escaflowne was mainly white with several back spots on his body. Hitomi continuously glanced around the room. 'It's so impersonal. Only one picture, only a laptop, a portable CD player, and some books is really all that there is.'
For his part, Van was extremely nervous. He couldn't find a single pen anywhere. Nervously, he played with the golden circlet that hung on a string around his neck. 'Why does Hitomi make me so nervous?' He growled in his mind. Yes, she had shown a strange kindness to him at first, but now he was just an average guy to her. He continued to frantically search for a writing utensil as Merle excused herself to go use the phone that she had seen in the hallway. Finally, Van's efforts were rewarded. He found an old battered pen that Escaflowne had been laying on in the closet.
"Are you okay, Van?" Hitomi asked when Van backed out of the closet and hit his head on the shelf.
"Fine, I'm fine," he assured her. As he placed the pen's tip to his homework, he noticed faded words on the pen. He squinted at them trying to make out what they said. There appeared to be a logo on it. It looked like two English letters blended together. Hitomi again asked if anything was the matter. Van shrugged and went back to his work, forgetting about the pen. Merle entered the room again with a strange smile on her face, but neither Hitomi nor Van noticed.