Disclaimer: I don't own Disney neither do I own Escaflowne.
"Crazy old Kanzaki, eh? Crazy old Kanzaki..."
Just as Gaddes was about to open his mouth to say something, Allen cut him off as he started to talk though he never directed his stare towards him. "I promised myself that I would have Hitomi as my own Gaddes... and I have just thought of a plan to make that happen..."
Their talk went late into the night, but what no one knew was that Hitomi's father was telling the truth all along.
Chapter 4: No Escape
Throughout the still night, Hitomi could be found lying upon her bed while the demon paced back and forth in front of the fire. As the young girl was dozing into a light sleep, a slight knocking came upon the door. Sitting up, she walked cautiously to the door afraid it might be the demon.
"Who is it?" she whispered through the crack.
"It's Chesta ma'am. Would you let us in please?"
Relieved that other beings lived in the enormous castle, she opened the door expecting to see someone there, but was shocked when all she saw was the wall beyond her door. She looked down the hall and still found no sign of life. When someone cleared their throat, she finally looked to where it came from... down. A gasp escaped her lips for what she witnessed shocked her. There stood five little people, the size of children, but each held themselves with great dignity and maturity. She backed away from the door, opening it wider for the little group to enter. Once everyone was inside, the door was shut and they all formed into a line, the only girl with them being the center person.
"Miss Hitomi... we would like to welcome you and introduce ourselves," the little girl told her. "My name is Dilandau. This is Dallet, Gatty, Miguel, and..."
"I'm Chesta Miss. A pleasure to meet you." After interrupting Dilandau, he stepped forward and took Hitomi's hand into his own, stood up on his tip toes and kissed it.
Hitomi smiled at their politeness and gave off a light laughter when the other boys huffed at Chesta's boldness. The mood was broken though when Dilandau spoke up. "I should ask that you change Miss Hitomi... for dinner that is. We will leave the room..."
"But I'm not going to dinner," she replied.
"What do you mean by 'you're not going'?" Dilandau retorted.
"What I say... I'm not going."
"Then I must inform Lord Van about your decision," Dilandau told her.
"Wait Dilandau! No... you can't tell him that," he yelled to Dilandau. "Please Lady Hitomi! You must change your mind."
"Go ahead and tell him what you please. I won't change my mind."
But before any of the other Dragonslayers could say anything else, Dilandau was out the door with Chesta right behind him.
Van, who had been pacing the whole time whipped around when the door started to creak open. Expecting to see the girl, he let out a snarl upon seeing Dilandau. Chesta also entered and when neither said anything, their lord let out an exasperated sigh. "Well? Where is she?"
Both looked uncomfortably at each other and Chesta spoke up looking anywhere but Van's eyes. "Well you see sir... we wanted to ask you... have you given any thought to it that this girl might break the spell?"
"Of course I have!" he roared.
Chesta continued, "Well... you see my lord... you must remember that to win the girls heart, you must be patient and kind. And you must most importantly remember to control your temper!"
He started to get bolder in his statements, but as he was about to give the bad news, Dilandau jumped in. "She's not coming..."
There was silence for a moment, but the stillness was greatly interrupted when he bellowed out, "What?!"
"My lord, please..." Chesta tried to calm him, but Van's eyes narrowed to slits and his wings expanded from their folded placement along his back. He dashed forward a few steps and gave his wings a powerful stroke lifting his body into the air. The wind that was pushed away nearly blew the fire to nothing but ashes, and the doors which were opened only a crack crashed out with such a great force that they hit the walls on either side. Van flew down the corridor with great speed and accuracy, skipping the stairways and shortly after, he arrived at Hitomi's door. His wings were folded together while he was in the air which sent him quickly to the ground, but with a swift turn of his body, he landed on his feet and slid sideways across the floor, stopping directly in front of his prisoner's door.
With unthinking movements, he threw his fist against the door and hit the wood with so much force, suits of armor rattled in their place. "I thought I told you to come to dinner!" he yelled.
A faint voice was heard from behind the barrier, "I'm not hungry!"
Van huffed and replied rather ungentlemanly, "If you don't come out of there, I'll..." he thought for a moment, "I'll break down the door!"
"Go right ahead!"
But before Van could reply, a worn out Chesta and Dilandau came running down the hall all out of breath. "My lord! You... you must be... gentle!" Chesta said in-between breaths.
Dilandau piped in, "Yes... for once please try to be a gentleman!"
Van growled to himself, but decided to use their advice. Taking a few deep breaths to calm his nerves, he cleared his throat and said in a lower but still threatening voice, "Would you please come to dinner."
It was more of a statement than a question but the answer that came from within the room was still, "No."
Van was about to blow up again, but when he saw the looks his two Dragonslayers were giving him, he tried again. "It would give me great pleasure if you would join me for dinner."
"No thank you!" came the answer again.
"You can't stay in there forever!" Van angrily replied.
"Oh yes I can!" Hitomi yelled confidently.
"Fine! Then go ahead and STARVE!" Van eyes became more prominently red as he stared Chesta and Dilandau down. "If she doesn't eat with me, she doesn't eat at all."
And with ferocity showing in every muscle in his body, Van spun around and once again flew with great force back down the corridor.
Dilandau turned to Chesta and sighed. "Chesta... I'm putting you in charge to watch over this door. Tell me if there is even the slightest change."
"Yes sir!" Chesta started to march back and forth in front of the door. After Van had left, the other Dragonslayers that had been waiting in Hitomi's room peaked their heads out from behind the door. Upon seeing Dilandau, they scampered out of the room, shutting the door behind them. Each glanced at another and seemed to sigh inwardly. It was truly hopeless if any wished the spell to be broken. All except Chesta walked from Hitomi's room, walking with heads low, all their spirits shattered like berries upon the frozen bush.
Meanwhile, a furious Van had flown to the forbidden area of the West Wing. What was already torn up and looked as though a tornado had gone through was torn up again. Tables were flipped, books flung across the room, and tapestries became mere shreds of fraying fabric. The balcony at the very end of the room had an opening which welcomed the night. No doors or windows stopped the wind from soothing the restless spirit within. Near the opening though, there was a bright pink light which seemed to move with the steady rhythm of a heart beat. The sight was a familiar one to Van... the steady swaying of the pendant which swung from side to side upon the gold stand. How ironic that something so beautiful was a curse upon his soul.
Glaring upon the pink stone, he looked away swiftly at the thought of the girl. "I ask her nicely but she still refuses! Wh-what does she want me to do? BEG?!"
His hands clenched into fists at this and his gaze returned to that of the swinging pendant. Lying upon the table next to the pendant sat a mirror. Made of an opaque bluish glass, it glowed with a mysterious light. Van grabbed it and once he looked into the mirror part, he talked to it. "Show me the girl."
Suddenly, the reflection of himself was gone and the mirror crackled with a green energy that looked like bits of lighting. The mirror flashed and Hitomi appeared, lying upon her bed with Chesta beside her trying to comfort her lost emotions. "He really isn't that bad once you get to know him. Why don't you give him a chance?"
Hitomi, who was looking at Chesta while he spoke, turned her head down to the pillows and shook it from side to side. "I don't want to get to know him. He has shown his true nature... I don't know if there is anything nice in him. My whole life is gone now... I don't know what to do..." her voice broke off as her body was racked with sobs. Again Chesta tried to comfort her, but it looked as if nothing would help. The image disappeared just as suddenly as when it appeared when Van pushed the mirror away from his view and back down to the table.
His face turned solemnly towards the ground, "She'll never see me as anything... but a monster... a demon." He put both his hands on the table and leaned on it, now casting his eyes upon the pendant. The pendant, as though knowing he was looking, paused shortly when it reached the furthest its swing would go. It sat suspended in air for a second longer until it started its swinging again, though this time, it was slower and the swings didn't reach the distance they once did. Van brought his clawed hand to his forehead where he held it. He muttered words of his failing hope, but only the air surrounding him heard it. "It's hopeless..."
~*~*~
All was quiet once again in the castle until Hitomi's door creaked open. Her head popped out and looked around. Upon seeing that the coast was clear, she walked out and closed the door behind her. Without hesitation, she walked down the hall without the slightest clue to where she was going. Chesta, who was supposed to be guarding the door, was found fast asleep against the wall, obviously not used to staying up late into the night. His ears did pick up the faint sound of footsteps and his eyes peeped open. At first, he thought nothing of it and was about to fall asleep again until he caught a glimpse of honey blonde hair walking in the opposite direction. He instantly jumped up and ran after her.
Back in the kitchen, everyone was cleaning up. The food had gone to waste and everyone's moods were down. Dilandau, along with the other Dragonslayers, hung around the door to the kitchen while all the servants and cooks (who were also chibi/small/midget sized) cleaned. The group of Dragonslayers were all talking to each other about what had transpired.
"Lord Van did say please you know..." Miguel said. "What do you expect him to do when she still rejected him?"
"It doesn't matter what he says. He must learn to control his temper." Gatty piped in.
This time Dilandau spoke, "Gatty's right... we'll stay like this forever if he doesn't..." but broke off as he saw Hitomi walk right through the kitchen door with Chesta running out of breath behind her. "Why Miss Hitomi! How nice of you to join us! How may we be of any service to you?"
"I am rather hungry..." Hitomi said shyly.
"Hear that! She's hungry! Stop your cleaning and do some reheating!" Chesta shouted to the room.
"But you heard what Lord Van said," Dallet added.
"We can't let the poor girl go hungry now can we?" Chesta asked him. "We must make he feel welcome her... she is not our prisoner."
"It's fine as long as you keep it down! If Lord Van finds out it will be our necks." Dilandau told him.
"Of course, of course..." Chesta said as he led Hitomi to the dinning room. "But what is dinner without a little music?"
"Music?! What?!"
"It is with deepest pride and greatest pleasure that we welcome you tonight. So please pull up a chair, and relax as the dining room proudly presents... your dinner."
Chesta stood upon the table and started to sing, "Be – Our – Guest, be our..."
"NO!" Dilandau ran into the room, jumped on the table and tackled Chesta, putting him in a choke hold. Every word seethed from her mouth, "You will NOT sing as if we were in a musical! In musicals, people sing for absolutely no reason and we are definitely not going to sing about her being our guest!"
Dilandau got off of him and Chesta waved his hands in front of him like he was joking. "I wasn't really going to jump into a song Dilandau... lighten up."
Hitomi surprisingly started to laugh along with everyone else in the kitchen. The thought of everyone jumping into a song was pretty ridiculous so everyone pushed the thought aside and gave Hitomi enough food to fill her twice over. When all was eaten and cleaned, a few of the Dragonslayers yawned.
This caused Dilandau to look at the time. "My goodness... look at the time. You must be simply exhausted madam. Off to bed! Off to bed!"
"Oh but I couldn't possibly go to bed now! It is my first time in an enchanted castle," she said as she gave a smile to both Dilandau and Chesta.
"Enchanted?!" Dilandau shrieked. "Who ever said anything about it being enchanted? It was you wasn't it?" Dilandau said and directed her talk to Chesta.
"Actually I figured it out on my own." Hitomi said with another smile. "I would like to take a look around... if that's alright."
Chesta butted in, "Oh! Would you like a tour?"
But Dilandau shook her head at the idea. "I don't think that's such a good idea... we can't go poking around in certain places... if you know what I mean..."
"I'm sure you know everything there is to know about the castle," Hitomi said to Dilandau.
Dilandau then glowed with pride. "Why yes... I guess I do know everything there is to know about the castle. We have lots to see! Come now!"
Chesta, Dilandau, and Hitomi all left the kitchen, leaving everyone else behind to finish cleaning and to go to bed themselves. As they made their way around, Dilandau's voice droned on and echoed off the walls of the castle. Chesta walked beside Hitomi as she looked at everything in wonder and amazement.
"These are from the Baroque times and show excellent craftsmanship," he was talking about the suits of armor lined along the hall. "And as I always say, if it's not Baroque, don't fix it!" she started to laugh to herself and Chesta had gotten sidetracked, but when they looked around for Hitomi, they didn't find her next to them. Only when they looked ahead of them did they see her walking slowly up a large staircase.
"Madam! Miss Hitomi!" they both yelled in alarm. But when they were running towards her and it seemed as if she didn't here their calls. They ran a few step ahead of her when they reached her position and jumped in her path.
"What's up there?" she asked innocently.
"Oh nothing! Nothing, nothing at all. There is absolutely nothing of interest in the West Wing... nothing..." Dilandau spit out hurriedly, but Hitomi had heard him say the forbidden place's name and that's all it took for Hitomi to become even more curious.
"Ah, so that's the West Wing," she said smartly.
Chesta then nudged Dilandau in the side, "Nice going..."
"So what does he keep up there anyways?" she asked.
"As I said, nothing-nothing at all." Dilandau emphasized.
"Well then it wouldn't be forbidden," Hitomi then started to journey up the stairs once making her point but the small Dragonslayers jumped in her path again.
Chesta then spoke up, "You don't want to go there... there's nothing up there and it's boring. What else do we need to see? There's the greenhouse, dinning halls, sitting room, a library..."
But Hitomi interrupted him, "You have a library?" She tried to sound as excited as possible.
"Why yes... YES! A library with tons of books! Rows and rows of books stacked to the ceiling!" Dilandau said excitedly.
Chesta put in his own two cents, "Mountains of books!"
The trio turned around and started to walk the other direction with Hitomi towing along, but she stopped and waited for Dilandau and Chesta to walk ahead, making sure they were unaware of her not following. Their shouting and rambling kept them from not hearing her footsteps that would have been muffled on the carpet on the way. Once she was sure they didn't notice, she turned back to the staircase and made her way up.
At the top, there were only a few doors that lined the hall of the wing, but one caught her attention. The door at the very end of the hall had scratch marks directly upon the wood. She walked cautiously to it and pressed it open. The loudness of the creaking made her wince so she opened only as much as she would need to squeeze through. Once in, she slowly made her way around the room, horrified at all the upturned furniture and shabbiness of the room. The only light came from the moon's beams which shined through the doorless balcony. Cloth that hung from the ceiling fluttered in the breeze and all the wooden furniture had either been broken or slashed.
As Hitomi continued, a flutter of cloth against the wall made her look twice at a framed item on the wall. There were five gashes on the canvas that made it flop downwards, hiding the image painted within. Hitomi slowly reached towards the painting and pushed the pieces back into place, gasping at the face which was shown to her. A man around her age with raven black hair and eyes of soft red brown made up what she could see in the darkness but she wasn't able to see the rest for a light caught her eye.
Right next to the balcony, a soft pink light swayed back and forth from an unknown source. With the painting now gone from her mind, she drew near the light. What she saw awed her. On a circular wooden table, a necklace with a pink pendant hung from a golden hook. Both were covered with a large goblet shaped glass and next to it sat a mirror. The pendant inside the glass seemed like a clock for it swayed back and forth without slowing or stopping. Curiosity took a hold of Hitomi as she neared it. Being extra careful, she grabbed the glass on both sides with her hands and gently lifted, being sure not to hit the pendant or drop the glass. She placed it by her feet and stood back up to be eye level with the glowing pink stone. She swallowed her nervousness and put her hand out again as if to grab the chain which the pendant swung.
Suddenly, before her fingers grazed the gold, a figure appeared behind her. "What are you doing?!"
She quickly spun around from where she stood and looked in terror at hell's angel. She backed away from him and away from the table never taking her eyes off his furious stare. "I wasn't doing any harm!" she said desperately.
"I thought I told you never to come here! Do you realize what you could have done?!" his voice grew with intensity as his fists clenched up.
"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to..." but her pleading was cut short by a growling erupting deep within Van's throat.
His teeth were showing and his voice bellowed straight out at her, "GET OUT!" but not even seconds after he shouted this did he realize his mistake.
Hitomi whipped around and sprinted to the door. Once out, she stumbled down the stairs and went straight for the main entrance doors. Chesta and Dilandau, who were heading her way, saw her and ran towards her. "Where are you going?!" Chesta yelled.
"Away from here!" Hitomi yelled over her shoulder. "I can't stay here any longer... I refuse. I'm sorry... I just can't stay!"
"No! Please wait!" shouted Chesta, but before his words could have made it to her, she was ready to fly out the door.
She snatched her coat which was lying on a chair near the main entrance and threw it on. Her helmet was still lying in the tower somewhere from where she dropped it, but she could live without it. She just prayed that her bike was still accessible. Once she burst open through the doors, she was greeted with the site of her bike parked off to the side of the dirt path. Running over to it, Hitomi found that the key for the main power was still in it and that the battery hadn't died yet. Running over to the gates, she pushed one open all the way and ran back to her motorcycle. Jumping on it, she kicked up the kickstand and pressed the ignition button. It took a few tries, but eventually it started and gave a mighty roar of life. Twisting her right hand a few times, she revved up the engine before shifting it out of neutral and speeding her way through the gate and away from the castle.
As Hitomi raced along the dirt road, her breathing came in quick deep breaths. Her adrenaline was pumping from her encounter with the lord of the castle and she now felt as if she were fleeing for her life. Time was nothing to her as the wind whistled past her uncovered head. She couldn't think straight and all her focus was upon the road in front of her.
The only sounds she heard were the low rumbling of her engine and the wind rushing past until an engine other than her own could be heard getting louder from behind her. She thought she saw the reflection of metal in the distance in her rearview mirrors, and she soon realized that her eyes were not deceiving her. As if on queue, three headlights switched on directly behind her. She became greatly alarmed and sped up, but her bike seemed to be slower than the others that were following her.
She had no idea who they were. For all she knew, it could have been the lord's men coming to get her back. Having not encountered anyone on her way to the castle, she would have never expected this time to be different. She still pushed her bike harder, but going faster and turning around the sharp corners of the road gave Hitomi more difficulty in handling the motorcycle.
Somewhere along the way, she could hear laughter. Looking behind her once again, Hitomi found the bikers were closer than ever. She could tell from certain attributes that these people were part of a gang. With her heart racing faster than ever, Hitomi tried to stop herself from panicking. She looked ahead of her and from side to side, but there was no where to run or hide. The rode had hit a straight-a-way and looked like it wasn't going to turn anytime soon.
As soon as the other bikers were right behind her, she couldn't keep calm. Before she could even react, something hit her back. She leaned forward a little and let out a sharp breath from the impact in turn making the bike swerve. Gritting her teeth from the pain, she steadied herself and looked ahead of her, trying to go faster in a desperate attempt to outrun them. A person that was hiding in the trees some distance in front of her flew from the foliage upon a motorcycle, and took Hitomi by surprise by turning on their headlights to their fullest power. Not wanting to hit him, Hitomi reacted by trying to swerve out of the way, but the tires lost their grip upon the dirt road and slid. The whole bike fell onto its side, Hitomi falling off in the process where she rolled on the ground and the bike slid until both stopped. The person who had jumped in front of her had moved out of the way as if knowing what was going to happen and waited to be joined by others.
When Hitomi started to roll, her arms instinctively covered her head because of the lack of her helmet. Lying on her side, she struggled to breathe, giving a few strangled coughs which blew up some dust from the road in the process. Her arms had lowered and shakily she pushed herself into a sitting position. As she sat on the ground trying to gain her bearings, it went unnoticed to her senses that the biker's had gotten off of their motorcycles and were making their way over to her.
All went unnoticed until one of them spoke, "Well, well, well... look what we have here. It's a bitch on a bike. Or a bitch that WAS on a bike."
Hitomi's head shot up to the person standing in front of her who had just spoken. He had short spiky blonde hair which reflected the moon's rays like sun flares and eyes the color of burnt coals that glowed dangerously. Mildly tanned skin and moderate sized muscles were revealed from the lack of a jacket. Only a white t-shirt covered his torso while faded black jeans revealed the amount of dirt and dust kicked up from riding. From looks alone, it was hard to tell that they were a gang.
Hitomi's eyes looked past the appearance and revealed the contempt for the person who stood in front of her. All too soon they filled fear as she realized that there were a total of 5 men surrounding her. Once Hitomi felt that she had recovered from the shock of the fall, she rose to her feet. Some of the other men laughed as she struggled to keep herself balanced but all were put into a silence as she slapped the man who had spoken first. She wouldn't go down without a fight.
After Hitomi had slapped the man, who happened to be the leader of the gang, his eyebrows furrowed together and his mouth drew into a line, scowling upon the woman in front of him. Hitomi stared at him, calm and composed, trying her best to not let him see through her mask and see into her fear. As if wanting revenge, he threw his fist back and flung it towards Hitomi's standing form, but she saw this and ducked. She missed the blow and seeing her opportunity, she rammed her shoulder into the man's legs. This caused him to loose balance and fall to the ground flat on his face. She tried to get up and run off, but the man she just knocked down grabbed her ankle and pulled her down with him. She fell hard and as she hit the ground, her chest hurt even more. The pain became overwhelming as she started to see black spots taking over her vision. Breathing became difficult, but despite the pain, Hitomi struggled to free herself. The other men grabbed her arms and dragged her away. The fallen man got up, still scowling, and walked over to where his men were holding Hitomi. Again, she tried to back away or free herself, but she earned a slap of her own from the leader.
"Let her go," he said.
Hitomi became confused as the men holding her arms freed her but soon felt why they had let her go in the first place. The leader grabbed her shoulders and drew her stomach straight into his knee. With the wind knocked out of her, pain flooded her senses. Not being able to bear it, Hitomi wrapped her arms around her gut and collapsed to her knees, gasping in pain. Before she could comprehend what was happening next, the man grabbed her short hair and yanked back on it, making her face him. More pain hit her nerves and soon tears started to form in her eyes. Her hands went to her hair where it was being pulled and tried to wretch his hand free. He smiled and laughed at her attempt. He was kneeling on the ground at her level and brought his head closer to her own.
"You're a feisty little girl aren't you?" he started to say.
A low chuckle escaped his throat. "You're mine now..."
As Hitomi listened to every word, her anger and frustration grew. She opened her eyes to glare at him and spit out, "I belong to no one..."
Then lashing out her foot from underneath her, she kicked him in the stomach and pushed. The surprise had made him release her hair and he stumbled backwards. Hitomi took the opening and sprinted for the wooded area on either side of the road. Before she could even reach the edge of the road, a figure grabbed her wrist and whirled her around. Again, it was the blonde haired leader. He was more furious than before and having a steel grip on her, he threw her backwards. The force had caused her to slam straight into a tree, her head hitting the hardest. In wasting no time, the leader grabbed Hitomi by the neck and pressed her against the trunk, in turn cutting off her air supply. Her eyes widened and she clawed at his hand, struggling for a breath of air.
All attempts to free herself went in vain as she continued to push him away. With every push, her mind became cloudier and her muscles lost most of their strength. Her heartbeat became dominant in her hearing and her vision started getting splotchy.
'Am I going to die here?' she asked herself. 'I should have never left the castle... why... how could I have been so stupid...'
With her vision leaving her, Hitomi let out whatever noise she could before her body went limp. Her arms fell to her sides and her tightly squinted eyes relaxed. The last thing she saw was a large shadowy figure standing behind her assailant. After that, nothing registered in her brain, not even when the tight grip on her throat was released did she feel the air leak into her crushed windpipe. Having blacked out, she crumpled to the ground, muscles failing her. But what caused her assailant to let her go is what she didn't find out until quite a bit later.
The whole time Hitomi was struggling with her captor, a fight had gone on without her even noticing.
The men in the gang were standing around, watching the innocent Hitomi become deprived of oxygen and coming closer to her death. All was funny and well until the trees around them gave a little rustle in a breeze they didn't feel. No one knew what was happening until a creature swooped down from the sky and landed right in front of the group. Only a little could be made out in the light of the moon, but from what they could tell, it was a person... but he wasn't normal. His back had two enormous black angel wings. They had no doubt in their minds that this was the demon from the castle. Each and every one of them stared at Van in fear, neither moving a muscle. No time was wasted on Van's part as he sent his fist flying into one of the gang member's jaw. The instant this happened, the others snapped out of their shock and immediately ran for a weapon of some kind.
A lead pipe flew towards Van's head, but he saw this and grabbed it with his hands. His opponent had a strong grip on the pipe and tried to push Van down with it. Giving off a loud growl, his wings stretched upwards and were thrown down, giving lift to both people. Van, with the pipe still held firmly in his hands, lifted himself off the ground and brought the other man with him. Looking down in fear, Van's attacker held on for his life as the ground grew more distant. Shifting his wings around in the air, Van started to spin making the man hanging on below him gain momentum. Once satisfied, Van let go of the pipe which in turn sent one person flying who flew straight into another one of his buddies. With both laying flat on the ground, Van swooped down to the remaining men. One was grabbed by the collar of his jacket and sent into the trees.
Landing on the dirt, Van tried to search out the remaining man, but was surprised very suddenly when the guy jumped down from a tree he had been hiding in. Van dodged to one side to avoid a collision with the flying gang member. With wings quite larger than their owner, they lagged behind in the side step and Van's attacker took his chance. His arm rose then snapped down suddenly, releasing something that was concealed within his hand. Gasping in pain, Van stumbled backwards as blood flowed freely down his gray feathers and arm. A hidden knife had grazed his arm and was now embedded in his wing. Enraged at the bold move the other had made, Van ran forward grabbing the man's throat with his clawed hand. With eyes burning their fierce red, the infuriated demon held his enemy above his head, muscles tensing as time ticked away. Lost in another world and completely forgetting why he had flown all the way out here in the first place, a strangled whimper made itself known in the wind, snapping Van out of his furiousness. His head turned, settling on the last of the men. The young girl he had pushed up against the tree made his eyes widen with alarm.
Throwing the man held in his choking grasp across the path, Van rushed to where the leader stood. Grabbing the back of his shirt, he forced the man to let go of Hitomi and go stumbling a few feet backwards. A quick grab of his arm and a strong push to turn him around is all it took for the leader of the gang to face the lord of the 'devil's castle'. Van gave him no time to react and sent his fist flying into the man's cheek. When the leader turned around to face him, an angry scowl forming on his face, Van sent his foot into the man's gut.
The force sent him to his knees, but before the man could even hit the ground, Van grabbed him by the collar and lifted the man so they were eye level with each other.
Van's voice came out covered in an icy chill of threat, "If I ever find you around here again, I won't hesitate in killing you. Leave here now... my patience runs short with your antics."
The man Van was holding drifted out of his fearsome state and tried to break free of Van by swinging a punch at his face. Van caught the flying hand in his own free one and knew what he had to do. Turning around swiftly in a circle, Van used all his weight and strength to heave his attacker straight into his own motorcycle. Both machine and man tipped over and collapsed to the ground.
Groaning in pain, all the members of the gang looked at their leader for their next action, and those who were on the ground picked themselves up. Their leader was helped to get back on his feet while the motorcycle was lifted by a few others. Both Van and the leader stared at each other, one with anger, the other with intense fear. The gaze was broken when the leader turned around, pushing his men out of the way to grab his bike. Sitting down upon it, he started the engine, hoping it wouldn't die on him. Once it was running, the others took it as a signal to get on their own motorcycles and follow his lead. One last sneer was sent Van's way as the gang sped off down the dirt road, going in the opposite direction of the castle.
Satisfied, Van turned around to where the girl who had run from him lay. He walked over to her cautiously and when near enough, he examined her body for any serious injuries. Her mouth was partially open and her eyes lightly closed. A slightly darker color was starting to appear around her neck and she had cuts on her hands and a few areas where her pants were torn, her skin and the material showing signs of bleeding. Lucky for Hitomi, her leather jacket had protected her upper body but he still took caution to the possibility of wounds that were only on the inside.
By seeing Hitomi's injuries, the pain of Van's own came back to him. He looked at the knife still protruding from his feathers, grabbed it, and pulled it out giving off a loud growl as he did so. With the knife gone, the wound started to bleed, but it wasn't serious.
The knife was tossed aside and Van knelt next to Hitomi. He gently put one arm under her legs while the other slid under her shoulders. Lifting her up, he had her head rest on his shoulder. Once he was sure his grip was solid, he walked to the center of the path where the trees leaves and branches were bare. Outstretching his wings, he ignored the pain that came with the movement because of the wound. With a few swift pushes of his wings, Van and Hitomi were lifted off the ground and into the night's sky, traveling a path straight to where Van hoped Hitomi would eventually call home.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
People... I hope I haven't kept many of you waiting an extremely long time, but I have repaid you with an ultra long chapter. I won't give excuses... I just hope you are happy with it. I had Hitomi be injured for the most part because I want it that way. Van is injured and she probably will take care of it like in the movie, but more so on Van taking care of Hitomi. I'll get the next chapter out ASAP and until then, I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter and will R&R! Don't forget I can send you an email if you wish to know when updates are. Just tell me in your review you wish to receive and email. Thanks!
"Crazy old Kanzaki, eh? Crazy old Kanzaki..."
Just as Gaddes was about to open his mouth to say something, Allen cut him off as he started to talk though he never directed his stare towards him. "I promised myself that I would have Hitomi as my own Gaddes... and I have just thought of a plan to make that happen..."
Their talk went late into the night, but what no one knew was that Hitomi's father was telling the truth all along.
Chapter 4: No Escape
Throughout the still night, Hitomi could be found lying upon her bed while the demon paced back and forth in front of the fire. As the young girl was dozing into a light sleep, a slight knocking came upon the door. Sitting up, she walked cautiously to the door afraid it might be the demon.
"Who is it?" she whispered through the crack.
"It's Chesta ma'am. Would you let us in please?"
Relieved that other beings lived in the enormous castle, she opened the door expecting to see someone there, but was shocked when all she saw was the wall beyond her door. She looked down the hall and still found no sign of life. When someone cleared their throat, she finally looked to where it came from... down. A gasp escaped her lips for what she witnessed shocked her. There stood five little people, the size of children, but each held themselves with great dignity and maturity. She backed away from the door, opening it wider for the little group to enter. Once everyone was inside, the door was shut and they all formed into a line, the only girl with them being the center person.
"Miss Hitomi... we would like to welcome you and introduce ourselves," the little girl told her. "My name is Dilandau. This is Dallet, Gatty, Miguel, and..."
"I'm Chesta Miss. A pleasure to meet you." After interrupting Dilandau, he stepped forward and took Hitomi's hand into his own, stood up on his tip toes and kissed it.
Hitomi smiled at their politeness and gave off a light laughter when the other boys huffed at Chesta's boldness. The mood was broken though when Dilandau spoke up. "I should ask that you change Miss Hitomi... for dinner that is. We will leave the room..."
"But I'm not going to dinner," she replied.
"What do you mean by 'you're not going'?" Dilandau retorted.
"What I say... I'm not going."
"Then I must inform Lord Van about your decision," Dilandau told her.
"Wait Dilandau! No... you can't tell him that," he yelled to Dilandau. "Please Lady Hitomi! You must change your mind."
"Go ahead and tell him what you please. I won't change my mind."
But before any of the other Dragonslayers could say anything else, Dilandau was out the door with Chesta right behind him.
Van, who had been pacing the whole time whipped around when the door started to creak open. Expecting to see the girl, he let out a snarl upon seeing Dilandau. Chesta also entered and when neither said anything, their lord let out an exasperated sigh. "Well? Where is she?"
Both looked uncomfortably at each other and Chesta spoke up looking anywhere but Van's eyes. "Well you see sir... we wanted to ask you... have you given any thought to it that this girl might break the spell?"
"Of course I have!" he roared.
Chesta continued, "Well... you see my lord... you must remember that to win the girls heart, you must be patient and kind. And you must most importantly remember to control your temper!"
He started to get bolder in his statements, but as he was about to give the bad news, Dilandau jumped in. "She's not coming..."
There was silence for a moment, but the stillness was greatly interrupted when he bellowed out, "What?!"
"My lord, please..." Chesta tried to calm him, but Van's eyes narrowed to slits and his wings expanded from their folded placement along his back. He dashed forward a few steps and gave his wings a powerful stroke lifting his body into the air. The wind that was pushed away nearly blew the fire to nothing but ashes, and the doors which were opened only a crack crashed out with such a great force that they hit the walls on either side. Van flew down the corridor with great speed and accuracy, skipping the stairways and shortly after, he arrived at Hitomi's door. His wings were folded together while he was in the air which sent him quickly to the ground, but with a swift turn of his body, he landed on his feet and slid sideways across the floor, stopping directly in front of his prisoner's door.
With unthinking movements, he threw his fist against the door and hit the wood with so much force, suits of armor rattled in their place. "I thought I told you to come to dinner!" he yelled.
A faint voice was heard from behind the barrier, "I'm not hungry!"
Van huffed and replied rather ungentlemanly, "If you don't come out of there, I'll..." he thought for a moment, "I'll break down the door!"
"Go right ahead!"
But before Van could reply, a worn out Chesta and Dilandau came running down the hall all out of breath. "My lord! You... you must be... gentle!" Chesta said in-between breaths.
Dilandau piped in, "Yes... for once please try to be a gentleman!"
Van growled to himself, but decided to use their advice. Taking a few deep breaths to calm his nerves, he cleared his throat and said in a lower but still threatening voice, "Would you please come to dinner."
It was more of a statement than a question but the answer that came from within the room was still, "No."
Van was about to blow up again, but when he saw the looks his two Dragonslayers were giving him, he tried again. "It would give me great pleasure if you would join me for dinner."
"No thank you!" came the answer again.
"You can't stay in there forever!" Van angrily replied.
"Oh yes I can!" Hitomi yelled confidently.
"Fine! Then go ahead and STARVE!" Van eyes became more prominently red as he stared Chesta and Dilandau down. "If she doesn't eat with me, she doesn't eat at all."
And with ferocity showing in every muscle in his body, Van spun around and once again flew with great force back down the corridor.
Dilandau turned to Chesta and sighed. "Chesta... I'm putting you in charge to watch over this door. Tell me if there is even the slightest change."
"Yes sir!" Chesta started to march back and forth in front of the door. After Van had left, the other Dragonslayers that had been waiting in Hitomi's room peaked their heads out from behind the door. Upon seeing Dilandau, they scampered out of the room, shutting the door behind them. Each glanced at another and seemed to sigh inwardly. It was truly hopeless if any wished the spell to be broken. All except Chesta walked from Hitomi's room, walking with heads low, all their spirits shattered like berries upon the frozen bush.
Meanwhile, a furious Van had flown to the forbidden area of the West Wing. What was already torn up and looked as though a tornado had gone through was torn up again. Tables were flipped, books flung across the room, and tapestries became mere shreds of fraying fabric. The balcony at the very end of the room had an opening which welcomed the night. No doors or windows stopped the wind from soothing the restless spirit within. Near the opening though, there was a bright pink light which seemed to move with the steady rhythm of a heart beat. The sight was a familiar one to Van... the steady swaying of the pendant which swung from side to side upon the gold stand. How ironic that something so beautiful was a curse upon his soul.
Glaring upon the pink stone, he looked away swiftly at the thought of the girl. "I ask her nicely but she still refuses! Wh-what does she want me to do? BEG?!"
His hands clenched into fists at this and his gaze returned to that of the swinging pendant. Lying upon the table next to the pendant sat a mirror. Made of an opaque bluish glass, it glowed with a mysterious light. Van grabbed it and once he looked into the mirror part, he talked to it. "Show me the girl."
Suddenly, the reflection of himself was gone and the mirror crackled with a green energy that looked like bits of lighting. The mirror flashed and Hitomi appeared, lying upon her bed with Chesta beside her trying to comfort her lost emotions. "He really isn't that bad once you get to know him. Why don't you give him a chance?"
Hitomi, who was looking at Chesta while he spoke, turned her head down to the pillows and shook it from side to side. "I don't want to get to know him. He has shown his true nature... I don't know if there is anything nice in him. My whole life is gone now... I don't know what to do..." her voice broke off as her body was racked with sobs. Again Chesta tried to comfort her, but it looked as if nothing would help. The image disappeared just as suddenly as when it appeared when Van pushed the mirror away from his view and back down to the table.
His face turned solemnly towards the ground, "She'll never see me as anything... but a monster... a demon." He put both his hands on the table and leaned on it, now casting his eyes upon the pendant. The pendant, as though knowing he was looking, paused shortly when it reached the furthest its swing would go. It sat suspended in air for a second longer until it started its swinging again, though this time, it was slower and the swings didn't reach the distance they once did. Van brought his clawed hand to his forehead where he held it. He muttered words of his failing hope, but only the air surrounding him heard it. "It's hopeless..."
~*~*~
All was quiet once again in the castle until Hitomi's door creaked open. Her head popped out and looked around. Upon seeing that the coast was clear, she walked out and closed the door behind her. Without hesitation, she walked down the hall without the slightest clue to where she was going. Chesta, who was supposed to be guarding the door, was found fast asleep against the wall, obviously not used to staying up late into the night. His ears did pick up the faint sound of footsteps and his eyes peeped open. At first, he thought nothing of it and was about to fall asleep again until he caught a glimpse of honey blonde hair walking in the opposite direction. He instantly jumped up and ran after her.
Back in the kitchen, everyone was cleaning up. The food had gone to waste and everyone's moods were down. Dilandau, along with the other Dragonslayers, hung around the door to the kitchen while all the servants and cooks (who were also chibi/small/midget sized) cleaned. The group of Dragonslayers were all talking to each other about what had transpired.
"Lord Van did say please you know..." Miguel said. "What do you expect him to do when she still rejected him?"
"It doesn't matter what he says. He must learn to control his temper." Gatty piped in.
This time Dilandau spoke, "Gatty's right... we'll stay like this forever if he doesn't..." but broke off as he saw Hitomi walk right through the kitchen door with Chesta running out of breath behind her. "Why Miss Hitomi! How nice of you to join us! How may we be of any service to you?"
"I am rather hungry..." Hitomi said shyly.
"Hear that! She's hungry! Stop your cleaning and do some reheating!" Chesta shouted to the room.
"But you heard what Lord Van said," Dallet added.
"We can't let the poor girl go hungry now can we?" Chesta asked him. "We must make he feel welcome her... she is not our prisoner."
"It's fine as long as you keep it down! If Lord Van finds out it will be our necks." Dilandau told him.
"Of course, of course..." Chesta said as he led Hitomi to the dinning room. "But what is dinner without a little music?"
"Music?! What?!"
"It is with deepest pride and greatest pleasure that we welcome you tonight. So please pull up a chair, and relax as the dining room proudly presents... your dinner."
Chesta stood upon the table and started to sing, "Be – Our – Guest, be our..."
"NO!" Dilandau ran into the room, jumped on the table and tackled Chesta, putting him in a choke hold. Every word seethed from her mouth, "You will NOT sing as if we were in a musical! In musicals, people sing for absolutely no reason and we are definitely not going to sing about her being our guest!"
Dilandau got off of him and Chesta waved his hands in front of him like he was joking. "I wasn't really going to jump into a song Dilandau... lighten up."
Hitomi surprisingly started to laugh along with everyone else in the kitchen. The thought of everyone jumping into a song was pretty ridiculous so everyone pushed the thought aside and gave Hitomi enough food to fill her twice over. When all was eaten and cleaned, a few of the Dragonslayers yawned.
This caused Dilandau to look at the time. "My goodness... look at the time. You must be simply exhausted madam. Off to bed! Off to bed!"
"Oh but I couldn't possibly go to bed now! It is my first time in an enchanted castle," she said as she gave a smile to both Dilandau and Chesta.
"Enchanted?!" Dilandau shrieked. "Who ever said anything about it being enchanted? It was you wasn't it?" Dilandau said and directed her talk to Chesta.
"Actually I figured it out on my own." Hitomi said with another smile. "I would like to take a look around... if that's alright."
Chesta butted in, "Oh! Would you like a tour?"
But Dilandau shook her head at the idea. "I don't think that's such a good idea... we can't go poking around in certain places... if you know what I mean..."
"I'm sure you know everything there is to know about the castle," Hitomi said to Dilandau.
Dilandau then glowed with pride. "Why yes... I guess I do know everything there is to know about the castle. We have lots to see! Come now!"
Chesta, Dilandau, and Hitomi all left the kitchen, leaving everyone else behind to finish cleaning and to go to bed themselves. As they made their way around, Dilandau's voice droned on and echoed off the walls of the castle. Chesta walked beside Hitomi as she looked at everything in wonder and amazement.
"These are from the Baroque times and show excellent craftsmanship," he was talking about the suits of armor lined along the hall. "And as I always say, if it's not Baroque, don't fix it!" she started to laugh to herself and Chesta had gotten sidetracked, but when they looked around for Hitomi, they didn't find her next to them. Only when they looked ahead of them did they see her walking slowly up a large staircase.
"Madam! Miss Hitomi!" they both yelled in alarm. But when they were running towards her and it seemed as if she didn't here their calls. They ran a few step ahead of her when they reached her position and jumped in her path.
"What's up there?" she asked innocently.
"Oh nothing! Nothing, nothing at all. There is absolutely nothing of interest in the West Wing... nothing..." Dilandau spit out hurriedly, but Hitomi had heard him say the forbidden place's name and that's all it took for Hitomi to become even more curious.
"Ah, so that's the West Wing," she said smartly.
Chesta then nudged Dilandau in the side, "Nice going..."
"So what does he keep up there anyways?" she asked.
"As I said, nothing-nothing at all." Dilandau emphasized.
"Well then it wouldn't be forbidden," Hitomi then started to journey up the stairs once making her point but the small Dragonslayers jumped in her path again.
Chesta then spoke up, "You don't want to go there... there's nothing up there and it's boring. What else do we need to see? There's the greenhouse, dinning halls, sitting room, a library..."
But Hitomi interrupted him, "You have a library?" She tried to sound as excited as possible.
"Why yes... YES! A library with tons of books! Rows and rows of books stacked to the ceiling!" Dilandau said excitedly.
Chesta put in his own two cents, "Mountains of books!"
The trio turned around and started to walk the other direction with Hitomi towing along, but she stopped and waited for Dilandau and Chesta to walk ahead, making sure they were unaware of her not following. Their shouting and rambling kept them from not hearing her footsteps that would have been muffled on the carpet on the way. Once she was sure they didn't notice, she turned back to the staircase and made her way up.
At the top, there were only a few doors that lined the hall of the wing, but one caught her attention. The door at the very end of the hall had scratch marks directly upon the wood. She walked cautiously to it and pressed it open. The loudness of the creaking made her wince so she opened only as much as she would need to squeeze through. Once in, she slowly made her way around the room, horrified at all the upturned furniture and shabbiness of the room. The only light came from the moon's beams which shined through the doorless balcony. Cloth that hung from the ceiling fluttered in the breeze and all the wooden furniture had either been broken or slashed.
As Hitomi continued, a flutter of cloth against the wall made her look twice at a framed item on the wall. There were five gashes on the canvas that made it flop downwards, hiding the image painted within. Hitomi slowly reached towards the painting and pushed the pieces back into place, gasping at the face which was shown to her. A man around her age with raven black hair and eyes of soft red brown made up what she could see in the darkness but she wasn't able to see the rest for a light caught her eye.
Right next to the balcony, a soft pink light swayed back and forth from an unknown source. With the painting now gone from her mind, she drew near the light. What she saw awed her. On a circular wooden table, a necklace with a pink pendant hung from a golden hook. Both were covered with a large goblet shaped glass and next to it sat a mirror. The pendant inside the glass seemed like a clock for it swayed back and forth without slowing or stopping. Curiosity took a hold of Hitomi as she neared it. Being extra careful, she grabbed the glass on both sides with her hands and gently lifted, being sure not to hit the pendant or drop the glass. She placed it by her feet and stood back up to be eye level with the glowing pink stone. She swallowed her nervousness and put her hand out again as if to grab the chain which the pendant swung.
Suddenly, before her fingers grazed the gold, a figure appeared behind her. "What are you doing?!"
She quickly spun around from where she stood and looked in terror at hell's angel. She backed away from him and away from the table never taking her eyes off his furious stare. "I wasn't doing any harm!" she said desperately.
"I thought I told you never to come here! Do you realize what you could have done?!" his voice grew with intensity as his fists clenched up.
"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to..." but her pleading was cut short by a growling erupting deep within Van's throat.
His teeth were showing and his voice bellowed straight out at her, "GET OUT!" but not even seconds after he shouted this did he realize his mistake.
Hitomi whipped around and sprinted to the door. Once out, she stumbled down the stairs and went straight for the main entrance doors. Chesta and Dilandau, who were heading her way, saw her and ran towards her. "Where are you going?!" Chesta yelled.
"Away from here!" Hitomi yelled over her shoulder. "I can't stay here any longer... I refuse. I'm sorry... I just can't stay!"
"No! Please wait!" shouted Chesta, but before his words could have made it to her, she was ready to fly out the door.
She snatched her coat which was lying on a chair near the main entrance and threw it on. Her helmet was still lying in the tower somewhere from where she dropped it, but she could live without it. She just prayed that her bike was still accessible. Once she burst open through the doors, she was greeted with the site of her bike parked off to the side of the dirt path. Running over to it, Hitomi found that the key for the main power was still in it and that the battery hadn't died yet. Running over to the gates, she pushed one open all the way and ran back to her motorcycle. Jumping on it, she kicked up the kickstand and pressed the ignition button. It took a few tries, but eventually it started and gave a mighty roar of life. Twisting her right hand a few times, she revved up the engine before shifting it out of neutral and speeding her way through the gate and away from the castle.
As Hitomi raced along the dirt road, her breathing came in quick deep breaths. Her adrenaline was pumping from her encounter with the lord of the castle and she now felt as if she were fleeing for her life. Time was nothing to her as the wind whistled past her uncovered head. She couldn't think straight and all her focus was upon the road in front of her.
The only sounds she heard were the low rumbling of her engine and the wind rushing past until an engine other than her own could be heard getting louder from behind her. She thought she saw the reflection of metal in the distance in her rearview mirrors, and she soon realized that her eyes were not deceiving her. As if on queue, three headlights switched on directly behind her. She became greatly alarmed and sped up, but her bike seemed to be slower than the others that were following her.
She had no idea who they were. For all she knew, it could have been the lord's men coming to get her back. Having not encountered anyone on her way to the castle, she would have never expected this time to be different. She still pushed her bike harder, but going faster and turning around the sharp corners of the road gave Hitomi more difficulty in handling the motorcycle.
Somewhere along the way, she could hear laughter. Looking behind her once again, Hitomi found the bikers were closer than ever. She could tell from certain attributes that these people were part of a gang. With her heart racing faster than ever, Hitomi tried to stop herself from panicking. She looked ahead of her and from side to side, but there was no where to run or hide. The rode had hit a straight-a-way and looked like it wasn't going to turn anytime soon.
As soon as the other bikers were right behind her, she couldn't keep calm. Before she could even react, something hit her back. She leaned forward a little and let out a sharp breath from the impact in turn making the bike swerve. Gritting her teeth from the pain, she steadied herself and looked ahead of her, trying to go faster in a desperate attempt to outrun them. A person that was hiding in the trees some distance in front of her flew from the foliage upon a motorcycle, and took Hitomi by surprise by turning on their headlights to their fullest power. Not wanting to hit him, Hitomi reacted by trying to swerve out of the way, but the tires lost their grip upon the dirt road and slid. The whole bike fell onto its side, Hitomi falling off in the process where she rolled on the ground and the bike slid until both stopped. The person who had jumped in front of her had moved out of the way as if knowing what was going to happen and waited to be joined by others.
When Hitomi started to roll, her arms instinctively covered her head because of the lack of her helmet. Lying on her side, she struggled to breathe, giving a few strangled coughs which blew up some dust from the road in the process. Her arms had lowered and shakily she pushed herself into a sitting position. As she sat on the ground trying to gain her bearings, it went unnoticed to her senses that the biker's had gotten off of their motorcycles and were making their way over to her.
All went unnoticed until one of them spoke, "Well, well, well... look what we have here. It's a bitch on a bike. Or a bitch that WAS on a bike."
Hitomi's head shot up to the person standing in front of her who had just spoken. He had short spiky blonde hair which reflected the moon's rays like sun flares and eyes the color of burnt coals that glowed dangerously. Mildly tanned skin and moderate sized muscles were revealed from the lack of a jacket. Only a white t-shirt covered his torso while faded black jeans revealed the amount of dirt and dust kicked up from riding. From looks alone, it was hard to tell that they were a gang.
Hitomi's eyes looked past the appearance and revealed the contempt for the person who stood in front of her. All too soon they filled fear as she realized that there were a total of 5 men surrounding her. Once Hitomi felt that she had recovered from the shock of the fall, she rose to her feet. Some of the other men laughed as she struggled to keep herself balanced but all were put into a silence as she slapped the man who had spoken first. She wouldn't go down without a fight.
After Hitomi had slapped the man, who happened to be the leader of the gang, his eyebrows furrowed together and his mouth drew into a line, scowling upon the woman in front of him. Hitomi stared at him, calm and composed, trying her best to not let him see through her mask and see into her fear. As if wanting revenge, he threw his fist back and flung it towards Hitomi's standing form, but she saw this and ducked. She missed the blow and seeing her opportunity, she rammed her shoulder into the man's legs. This caused him to loose balance and fall to the ground flat on his face. She tried to get up and run off, but the man she just knocked down grabbed her ankle and pulled her down with him. She fell hard and as she hit the ground, her chest hurt even more. The pain became overwhelming as she started to see black spots taking over her vision. Breathing became difficult, but despite the pain, Hitomi struggled to free herself. The other men grabbed her arms and dragged her away. The fallen man got up, still scowling, and walked over to where his men were holding Hitomi. Again, she tried to back away or free herself, but she earned a slap of her own from the leader.
"Let her go," he said.
Hitomi became confused as the men holding her arms freed her but soon felt why they had let her go in the first place. The leader grabbed her shoulders and drew her stomach straight into his knee. With the wind knocked out of her, pain flooded her senses. Not being able to bear it, Hitomi wrapped her arms around her gut and collapsed to her knees, gasping in pain. Before she could comprehend what was happening next, the man grabbed her short hair and yanked back on it, making her face him. More pain hit her nerves and soon tears started to form in her eyes. Her hands went to her hair where it was being pulled and tried to wretch his hand free. He smiled and laughed at her attempt. He was kneeling on the ground at her level and brought his head closer to her own.
"You're a feisty little girl aren't you?" he started to say.
A low chuckle escaped his throat. "You're mine now..."
As Hitomi listened to every word, her anger and frustration grew. She opened her eyes to glare at him and spit out, "I belong to no one..."
Then lashing out her foot from underneath her, she kicked him in the stomach and pushed. The surprise had made him release her hair and he stumbled backwards. Hitomi took the opening and sprinted for the wooded area on either side of the road. Before she could even reach the edge of the road, a figure grabbed her wrist and whirled her around. Again, it was the blonde haired leader. He was more furious than before and having a steel grip on her, he threw her backwards. The force had caused her to slam straight into a tree, her head hitting the hardest. In wasting no time, the leader grabbed Hitomi by the neck and pressed her against the trunk, in turn cutting off her air supply. Her eyes widened and she clawed at his hand, struggling for a breath of air.
All attempts to free herself went in vain as she continued to push him away. With every push, her mind became cloudier and her muscles lost most of their strength. Her heartbeat became dominant in her hearing and her vision started getting splotchy.
'Am I going to die here?' she asked herself. 'I should have never left the castle... why... how could I have been so stupid...'
With her vision leaving her, Hitomi let out whatever noise she could before her body went limp. Her arms fell to her sides and her tightly squinted eyes relaxed. The last thing she saw was a large shadowy figure standing behind her assailant. After that, nothing registered in her brain, not even when the tight grip on her throat was released did she feel the air leak into her crushed windpipe. Having blacked out, she crumpled to the ground, muscles failing her. But what caused her assailant to let her go is what she didn't find out until quite a bit later.
The whole time Hitomi was struggling with her captor, a fight had gone on without her even noticing.
The men in the gang were standing around, watching the innocent Hitomi become deprived of oxygen and coming closer to her death. All was funny and well until the trees around them gave a little rustle in a breeze they didn't feel. No one knew what was happening until a creature swooped down from the sky and landed right in front of the group. Only a little could be made out in the light of the moon, but from what they could tell, it was a person... but he wasn't normal. His back had two enormous black angel wings. They had no doubt in their minds that this was the demon from the castle. Each and every one of them stared at Van in fear, neither moving a muscle. No time was wasted on Van's part as he sent his fist flying into one of the gang member's jaw. The instant this happened, the others snapped out of their shock and immediately ran for a weapon of some kind.
A lead pipe flew towards Van's head, but he saw this and grabbed it with his hands. His opponent had a strong grip on the pipe and tried to push Van down with it. Giving off a loud growl, his wings stretched upwards and were thrown down, giving lift to both people. Van, with the pipe still held firmly in his hands, lifted himself off the ground and brought the other man with him. Looking down in fear, Van's attacker held on for his life as the ground grew more distant. Shifting his wings around in the air, Van started to spin making the man hanging on below him gain momentum. Once satisfied, Van let go of the pipe which in turn sent one person flying who flew straight into another one of his buddies. With both laying flat on the ground, Van swooped down to the remaining men. One was grabbed by the collar of his jacket and sent into the trees.
Landing on the dirt, Van tried to search out the remaining man, but was surprised very suddenly when the guy jumped down from a tree he had been hiding in. Van dodged to one side to avoid a collision with the flying gang member. With wings quite larger than their owner, they lagged behind in the side step and Van's attacker took his chance. His arm rose then snapped down suddenly, releasing something that was concealed within his hand. Gasping in pain, Van stumbled backwards as blood flowed freely down his gray feathers and arm. A hidden knife had grazed his arm and was now embedded in his wing. Enraged at the bold move the other had made, Van ran forward grabbing the man's throat with his clawed hand. With eyes burning their fierce red, the infuriated demon held his enemy above his head, muscles tensing as time ticked away. Lost in another world and completely forgetting why he had flown all the way out here in the first place, a strangled whimper made itself known in the wind, snapping Van out of his furiousness. His head turned, settling on the last of the men. The young girl he had pushed up against the tree made his eyes widen with alarm.
Throwing the man held in his choking grasp across the path, Van rushed to where the leader stood. Grabbing the back of his shirt, he forced the man to let go of Hitomi and go stumbling a few feet backwards. A quick grab of his arm and a strong push to turn him around is all it took for the leader of the gang to face the lord of the 'devil's castle'. Van gave him no time to react and sent his fist flying into the man's cheek. When the leader turned around to face him, an angry scowl forming on his face, Van sent his foot into the man's gut.
The force sent him to his knees, but before the man could even hit the ground, Van grabbed him by the collar and lifted the man so they were eye level with each other.
Van's voice came out covered in an icy chill of threat, "If I ever find you around here again, I won't hesitate in killing you. Leave here now... my patience runs short with your antics."
The man Van was holding drifted out of his fearsome state and tried to break free of Van by swinging a punch at his face. Van caught the flying hand in his own free one and knew what he had to do. Turning around swiftly in a circle, Van used all his weight and strength to heave his attacker straight into his own motorcycle. Both machine and man tipped over and collapsed to the ground.
Groaning in pain, all the members of the gang looked at their leader for their next action, and those who were on the ground picked themselves up. Their leader was helped to get back on his feet while the motorcycle was lifted by a few others. Both Van and the leader stared at each other, one with anger, the other with intense fear. The gaze was broken when the leader turned around, pushing his men out of the way to grab his bike. Sitting down upon it, he started the engine, hoping it wouldn't die on him. Once it was running, the others took it as a signal to get on their own motorcycles and follow his lead. One last sneer was sent Van's way as the gang sped off down the dirt road, going in the opposite direction of the castle.
Satisfied, Van turned around to where the girl who had run from him lay. He walked over to her cautiously and when near enough, he examined her body for any serious injuries. Her mouth was partially open and her eyes lightly closed. A slightly darker color was starting to appear around her neck and she had cuts on her hands and a few areas where her pants were torn, her skin and the material showing signs of bleeding. Lucky for Hitomi, her leather jacket had protected her upper body but he still took caution to the possibility of wounds that were only on the inside.
By seeing Hitomi's injuries, the pain of Van's own came back to him. He looked at the knife still protruding from his feathers, grabbed it, and pulled it out giving off a loud growl as he did so. With the knife gone, the wound started to bleed, but it wasn't serious.
The knife was tossed aside and Van knelt next to Hitomi. He gently put one arm under her legs while the other slid under her shoulders. Lifting her up, he had her head rest on his shoulder. Once he was sure his grip was solid, he walked to the center of the path where the trees leaves and branches were bare. Outstretching his wings, he ignored the pain that came with the movement because of the wound. With a few swift pushes of his wings, Van and Hitomi were lifted off the ground and into the night's sky, traveling a path straight to where Van hoped Hitomi would eventually call home.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
People... I hope I haven't kept many of you waiting an extremely long time, but I have repaid you with an ultra long chapter. I won't give excuses... I just hope you are happy with it. I had Hitomi be injured for the most part because I want it that way. Van is injured and she probably will take care of it like in the movie, but more so on Van taking care of Hitomi. I'll get the next chapter out ASAP and until then, I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter and will R&R! Don't forget I can send you an email if you wish to know when updates are. Just tell me in your review you wish to receive and email. Thanks!