Chapter 3: Breaking Up is Hard to Do

"You can't possibly do this!"

Hitomi didn't quiver one bit as all eyes in that living room snapped their gazes on her. She had pulled herself up and said that out loud. Her voice was filled with implacable protest and fierce opposition of the way their parents had dealt with their 'unprecedented crime'. No, she wouldn't just sit there and let them run and control her life like she was a puppet doll of some sort.

"And what deemed you to say such things, Hitomi?" Her father asked. His face was a cold blank mask.

Urging herself, Hitomi tried her best to meet her father's icy stare. "You are trying to run my life---our lives without even bothering to know how we feel or what we think about----"

In one flick of a second, Hitomi felt her father's rough hand land on her cheek. The harsh impact caused a spurt of blood to gush out from the side of her lip.

"Yuuji!" Natsumi and Varie called out in shock.

"Uncle!" Van abruptly stood up, taking Hitomi to his chest and wrapping a protective arm around her.

Goau Fanel took Yuuji by the arm. "Yuuji, calm yourself. You're hurting your own child."

"You have no right whatsoever to defy me, Hitomi!" Yuuji's voice reverberated in the room. "You can choose to obey us and live with it. Or you can just leave and forget being our daughter!" His chest was heaving with deep fury as he spoke the words.

Hearing this, Hitomi wailed off from Van's arms and sprinted for the door. It was way too much for her to bear. All she wanted and needed at the moment was to escape this one agonizing situation she had never wished to be under.

"Hitomi!" Van and Natsumi Kanzaki chimed in, calling out her name with deep worry permeating their voice.

"Leave me alone!" Hitomi was lying face down on top of her bed and stifling her sobs into her pillows when she heard someone enter her room after a few knocks. She wanted to mentally whack herself for forgetting to lock the door, much to her dismay.

She had ended up in her own bedroom after running off a whole block from Van's house. Since then, she had spent most of her time crying; her spirits plummeting with the depressing turn of her life from fine normalcy to ludicrous abnormality in the span of less than twenty-four hours. Under different circumstances, she would have laughed out loud just thinking about being married to Van, which she considered either an absolute joke or simply the most ridiculous idea anyone could think of. But no, the vagaries of fate had decided to turn against her; trapped her and left her with no option but to curse it and her misery. And the least she wanted right now was anyone's company.

Van's ears had almost gone deaf by Hitomi's shouting stunt. After the scene in their house, he thought he should follow her and he was thankful she had left the door to her room open, allowing him to easily follow her in. He was concerned about her. More so, he felt responsible for everything. He had never imagined things would turn out this bad. "Ey, Tomi, is that the way to treat your future husband?" He said teasingly, trying to lighten up her sullen mood.

"I said go away!" Hitomi screamed, pulling her pillow and throwing it at Van.

Luckily, Van caught the pillow just in time before it hit his face. What caught him off guard, though, was the small rounded alarm clock that Hitomi threw at him right after. It hit him squarely on the head.

"Ouch! That hurt! You better get up from that damn bed or I'll ---"

"Or you'll what?" Hitomi curtly interrupted, abruptly rolling up to her side.

Van's words were stuck in his throat the moment he saw Hitomi's face--- her left cheek was swollen, her lip bruised badly, and her eyes red and puffy. A strong impulse to offer her some sort of comfort built up inside him.

"Hitomi....." he walked up and sat down on the bed beside her.

"Just leave me alone, Van!" She hissed, but her eyes gleamed with surprise when, out of nowhere, Van's fingers gingerly touched her bruised lip.

"Did that hurt?" he asked gently.

Hitomi furrowed her brow. "What are you doing?"

"I'm sorry, Tomi. Tell me what I can do to make up for it, "he queried in a muttered voice. Then, as if in a trance, Van's lips reached Hitomi's in no less than a fraction of a second. It happened almost too quickly that Hitomi felt like a feather had brushed her lips instead of Van's kiss.

Dumbfounded, her gaze searched those pools of mahogany staring back at her in wide-eyed confusion. "I—---can't believe you just did that, Van..... What was that for?"

"I---I don't know. A comforting kiss, I guess...." He replied, unsure and less confident of his words.

"Yeah, right." Hitomi rolled her eyes, pulling a wry face.

But Van dismissed the matter as soon as he was able to push the doubts of his peculiar actions to the back of his mind, and immediately tried to change the subject to his advantage. "Listen, there's something I'd like you to know..... I've decided to break up with Celena....." He paused, and hesitantly went on. "And don't you think it would be better if you did the same with Dilandau?"

Hitomi stared at him as if he had suddenly gone mad. "WHAT??" Hitomi yelled in sudden anger.

"If we are to get married, I wouldn't want my wife having an affair behind my back, would I?" He continued on, seemingly not bothered a bit by Hitomi's violent reaction. "God forbid, but I'll kill you and that bastard with my bare hands if you continued to---"

"Don't give me that crap, Van Fanel. Who said I already agreed to marry you?" Hitomi retorted with scathing contempt.

"Well, as if you have a choice." Van snapped back.

"Will you stop your forsaken stubbornness for one minute, Van? I want to know why all of a sudden, you've become persistent about this whole marriage thing," Hitomi demanded.

"I just realized it would be for the best. You will not be a single mother if ever you become pregnant. In that way, your moral and dignity will stay intact. Among other things, I don't want to spite our parents anymore than we did this morning, Hitomi. "

"I thought so. You and your damn gallantry," Hitomi remarked in mocking sarcasm. She looked at him and shook her head. "But don't get your hopes up too high, Van. I STILL WON'T MARRY YOU!"

"And why not?"

"Plain and simple, 'coz I DON'T LOVE YOU," Hitomi answered sharply.

In stony silence, Van stared at her for what seemed like ages. His stiff expression after her statement told Hitomi that she had gone too far. However, what she had said was just the truth as far as she was concerned. Yes, she did care for him, but that was in a brotherly manner- a brotherly love. No more, no less. That isn't enough reason for her to marry him.

"Sometimes you amaze me, Hitomi." Van said rather dryly. "The way you react to certain circumstances that come your way..... You were always brave, always trying to prove your point, courageous even to a fault- but let me tell you one thing, there are times that you need to stoop down your pride, even for just a little, 'coz it would serve to be for your own good and the people around you." He finally stood up and headed for the door.

Hitomi couldn't find anything to say until she heard the soft click of the door closing behind him.

"VAN!"

Van was pulled from his thoughts when he heard Celena's soft cheerful voice and saw her sitting down beside him. He had asked her earlier to meet him here at the school track bleachers after class. And though he had seen the questioning look that flashed in her face, she had gladly conceded, which made him hate himself even more when he thought about the pain he was going to cause her. He didn't want to hurt her in any way. He loved her. He truly did. But he'd be damned if he didn't do what he was about to.

Lingering for a moment, his eyes took in the exquisite beauty of the girl that had dazzled and mesmerized him the first time they'd met. Classic features, soft mellow voice, and a matching simple elegance, were just the words that perfectly described her. Her face radiated that child-like innocence, with a sprinkle of fine femininity and subtleness that invoked in any man the desire to protect her from any harm. Amongst all, she was sweet, caring, and kind. 'She's Hitomi's exact opposite in so many ways,' Van thought as Hitomi's face suddenly crossed his mind.

Celena, on the other hand, was battling her own inner turmoil. "Well, uhmm before anything.....there's something I'd also like to tell you....." After a moment she added, "This thought has been bugging me these past few days....." she said helplessly, peering at his face. She sighed when she saw no reaction from Van, but rather a pensive expression, as if he were lost in another dimension. She figured he had barely heard a word she said. Waving her hand before his face, she tried to wake him up from his unknown spell. "Celena to Van. Van!"

"Huh? Celena..... "He replied, shaking his head and finally realizing that he was with Celena right now and not Hitomi.

"I've been meaning to tell you this for some time now, Van....." Celena began when she finally got his attention.

"Celena, I....."

"Uhmm, Van....."

"I think we better call it quits."

Van's jaw dropped while Celena seemed to freeze. "You what?" They chorused yet again. Both gazed at each other while their mouths were left agape; baffled as their minds seemed to be left off track. Then, after a moment of awkward silence, Van cocked back his head and burst out laughing. Celena found herself shrugging at how stupid both of them could get.

Hitomi, on the other far-end side of the school, was pacing right and left while waiting for Dilandau in the parking lot area. She had rehearsed her lines all afternoon, hoping Dilly wouldn't take the news badly and find it in his heart to forgive her. She knew that given the right words, he would understand the situation. He wasn't as bad as Van seemed to think. He could be blunt and reckless sometimes but he could also be gentle and kind. She had come to know who Dilandau really was for the past couple months that they'd been together, and Van was just a jerk to say such unpleasant things about him.

"Hitomi?"

Hitomi's heart hammered when she heard his deep voice behind her. She found herself ill at ease and immobilized by the sudden attack of nervousness. 'Well, this is it.' She heaved a deep breath before finally maneuvering herself to face his quizzical stare.

"Dilly, nice to see you here." Hitomi greeted, taking a glance at his handsome face.

Dilandau Albatou was the kind of guy every girl on campus would want to date. With his silver gray hair, fathomless ruby eyes, and refined good looks, Dilandau was the object of secret drooling and fanciful dreams of a great number of his opposite sex. He was cool, polished, and carried an air of wild charisma overflowing about him. Yet he didn't care one bit about it all. His 'shrug it off' attitude and seemingly unattainable status made him infinitely more desirable and attractive unbeknownst to him.

"Well, I thought you were waiting for me, by the looks of it." He remarked, surveying her anxious face, and then shifting his gaze at his red jaguar beside her. "Would you like to go anywhere?" he asked.

"No, I'd like it if we'd rather go for a walk," she replied feebly.

He gave her a puzzled look but didn't argue. "Okay. Besides, I need to talk to you about something else."

Hitomi didn't pay that much attention to his last words. She was more concerned about how she was going to tell him about everything that had happened since they'd parted last night, and the dilemma she was under right now.

They reached the pavement outside the parking lot when Dilandau suddenly took Hitomi's hand in a tight grip. Hitomi almost jumped in surprise.

Glancing sideways, Dilandau withdrew a breath. "Hitomi, I wanted to apologize for being a total moron last night. I know I pushed you too far. I'm sorry."

Hitomi gazed at him almost unbelievingly. And she was on the verge of killing herself when she saw the sincerity on his face. The feeling of unbearable guilt was choking her to death. How could she not when she should be the one asking for forgiveness for her being a 'magnificent cheat.' She would gladly accept it if he would just execute her right now or burn her alive.

"Last night, I stayed up late thinking about us, and I've realized I wouldn't be good enough for you. Not ever."

His statement almost caused her to lose her balance and trip. She was thankful Dilandau was still holding her hand. Hitomi watched him in disturbing disbelief, as if her sense of hearing had malfunctioned in the direst of times. She couldn't believe the sudden turn of events.

".....Our differences are too extreme. While I'm Mr. Renegade, you're Ms. Prim and Proper. You live by the rules while I love breaking them. Besides, I think...." He hesitated for a minute. Dilandau continued, not daring to peer at her reaction. "I think we never did really love each other in the first place."

Hitomi's eyes went wide. "And why is that?"

"You just found me interesting and weird, I guess. You saw me as a charity ward that needed some parental discipline- which you took upon yourself. While I took you as a kind of challenge. Forgive me, but I'm positive about this," Dilandau explained.

Hitomi was greatly humiliated. However, the memory of the first time they encountered each other automatically replayed in her mind, as if her brain perceived her need for an assurance that what he was saying was true.

Dilandau had been sent into the guidance counseling office for scaring the hell out of the whole school when he'd played a trick of burning his test papers and setting it near the fire alarm system in the boy's comfort room. It had caused a state of panic in all corners of the school, and the principal would have expelled him if not for the influence of his father, Jajuka, after knowing it was but a stupid false alarm. Hitomi had been there in the counseling room, working as student assistant then. She had witnessed Dilandau being lectured and scolded by the principal and guidance counselor for his misbehavior, while he remained calm and passive- his eyes meeting hers the whole time, instead. They took interest in one another and the rest is history. Dilandau became Hitomi's first real boyfriend after less than a week of unorthodox courtship.

As much as Hitomi refused to admit, the harsh reality of Dilandau's words were beginning to take root in her mind. Yet, for him to regard her as merely a quest for adventure; she couldn't accept that. "Me? A challenge? How dare you? "She asked indignantly.

"Hitomi, don't be mad. Take it as a compliment." He said arrogantly, "You're the first girl I've met who has some real sense in her head- unlike all the others around me. I thought I could change my rebel self when I dated you, but I found out later I didn't want to change. I'm just happy the way I am."

Understanding slowly dawned on Hitomi and she actually admired Dilandau for his bluntness in telling her all this.

"You're a remarkable girl, Tomi. Really you are. But I'm not your match, and you're not my match, either. "He said with emphasis.

Hitomi sighed. "So this is goodbye then?"

"We could still be friends. That is, if you'll have me," he teased, offering her his right hand.

"Alright. Friends," she agreed, accepting his offer of friendship with a rueful smile.

"I hope you'll be happy, Van. I wish I could meet Hitomi to congratulate her myself." Celena said after almost an hour of talking with him. They had finally come to terms with each other and ended up being friends. They had explained the reasons why they both wanted to end their relationship. She understood his reasons for having to marry another girl, even though he really didn't plan on cheating on her. He, too, understood her need to have space from his protective, if not possessive, kind of treatment as her boyfriend. Everything was rightfully patched up.

"Well, in that case, I'm going to invite you to our wedding. I could even ask Hitomi to have you as one of her bridesmaids." Van's mahogany eyes beamed with delight at the thought.

"That would be nice." Celena smiled warmly.

"I wish you'll find happiness too, Celena. You deserve that. You're one special girl and you'll always stay special for me," Van said solemnly, holding both her hands. "Can I have one last request before we part?"

"Sure, anything."

"Can I hug you one last time?" He asked, taking a step closer to her.

"Of course, Van." She answered, softness yielding in her blue eyes.

Van placed his arms around her in a tenderly manner, and took her in closely to his chest.

They were vaguely unaware that a pair of fury-filled eyes was watching them from far below the track field.

A/n: Sorry for the long wait minna. But I just finished all of my exams last week and I really had one terrible time. Well, I just hope all my efforts paid off (-.-9). Wheww! Really glad exams were over. I can finally get to update my stories. Thus a new chapter of A Shotgun Wedding. Hope u like this folks!

Dedications: MaboroshiTsuki:: I'm glad u like my story! I felt really pleased and wonderful when I read your review And also to Kisakino Ookami, vegetasprincess1, Niffer, cutesweetheart11, SabineballZ, and Avelyn Lauren. Thanks a lot!

Disclaimer: Don't own Escaflowne

Next chapter: Wedding Jitters

Ja ne! Please don't forget to review! .