Disclaimer: The old saying, "I don't own esca; never have, never will."

Hitomi's POV

When Dilandau offered the Dragon Slayers to spar against me, I thought that he was training me. But I was wrong. He was using me. Instead of dueling with his Slayers himself, he used me.

Convenient, ne? But it didn't matter after a while.

The first duel, between Viole and me, was not to challenging. But after that, came Guimel and Dallet. They were a little harder to duel with. Gatti, Dilandau's messenger, was a lot more than I thought he was, and almost defeated me. I guess it was because he wasn't so underestimating as Viole, Guimel, or Dallet. I planned to save my energy for the last opponent, Miguel; I had seen him fight once. Unfortunately, fate had other plans for me.

I was dueling with Chesta when I first began to use more of my strength. We were practically mirroring each other's move. It was as though we shared the same thoughts. It was strange, dueling with him. I felt like I was dueling my own self for we look so much alike. Some people on the Vione actually said that we were twins. It was, of course, a lie. How can we be related?

Anyway, as we neared a window, he accidentally cut my hair, which was tied up. And like all girls who care about their hair, I was pissed. My hair, which is now short, took me three ears to grow. There was a silence as Chesta took a few steps away from me, knowing what a girl was capable of doing when angered.

Immediately, my feminine instincts took over me. I began to bash him with my sword, not caring whether I was damaging it or not, while shouting and cursing at him. The only thing he could do was defend himself from me.

"HOW DARE YOU CUT MY HAIR OFF LIKE THAT? DID YOU KNOW THAT IT TOOK ME THREE YEARS TO GROW THAT HAIR??? CURSE YOU, YOU INSOLENT SCUM! YOU BASTARD! YOU-!"

It must been hilarious at the time, because by the time I had beaten up Chesta into bruises and sores, Dilandau was rolling on the floor, laughing. The Dragon Slayers too, were laughing. Most of the anger I had suddenly lifted, and I felt triumph instead.

"And this, Gentlemen, is what happens to you if you cut a woman's hair!" I called out in an amused voice. At this moment, I glanced at Chesta, who had returned to the line where the Dragon Slayers stood, hanging his head in shame and embarrassment. 'Serves him right,' a voice in my head said, but I felt a moment of pity for him instead. However, it all disappeared when I dueled with Miguel.

The amused laughter was now replaced with a serious atmosphere. In a few minutes, however, it was over. Miguel had quickly hit the flat side of his blade on my stomach, and I flopped down in pain, losing the duel.

"That's cheating!" I cried out in pain and embarrassment.

"Not in the sparring tournament rules, it's not." Miguel smirked at me. I glared at him in returned.

"Slayers, dismissed!" Dilandau's voice floated around the room. "And Lavariel, congrats." All who had been watching quickly left, including Miguel. Finally, it was only Dilandau and me.

"You did good today." he said. "How's your stomach?"

"I'm fine." I said. It was true. "But my hair! What am I gonna do with short hair?" Dilandau cupped my chin into his hand.

"A girl with short hair is no interest to Adelphos." he said. "If you act more like a boy in court than you do now, he might persuade Startegos Argonaut to leave you be." He then left me there, in the training room, feeling foolish. His third in command had, after all, defeated me.

Normal POV

-In Dilandau's bedroom-

Dilandau lay down on his bed and thought about the morning's match with Chesta and Hitomi. 'They looked so alike.' he said to himself. 'Is it possible that they're related?' But he dismissed the idea as soon as possible. If Chesta was related to Hitomi in anyway, then either Chesta was a noble Fanelian by birth, or Hitomi was adopted by the royal family. But whether they were related or not, was not of his concern.

Dilandau was more concerned about Hitomi's answer of his offer. If she accepted it, she would fight in his honor, not to mention being the first woman to have made it into the Dragon Slayers. But then again, she would have less chance of seeing her beloved Fanelia as much as she did in her current state (becoming Adelphos's wife). Whatever decision she made, she would be signing the peace treaty between Fanelia and Zaibach. He knew that he was still using her as a peace treaty and as another trophy of Zaibach, but becoming a Dragon Slayer was the only way she would be able to escape her marriage to the brutal beast, Adelphos.

And as much as he hated to admit it, he, General Dilandau Albatou, Captain of the Dragon Slayers, one of Zaibach's best soldiers, felt guilty about it. 'But why?' he asked himself.

'Probably because you're attracted to her.' A voice in his head told him. But as quickly as possible, he shrugged the idea off him. The last girl he had fallen in love with was someone who had run away from him. He still remembered her smile. The way she used to laugh and talk, the way she touched his hand with pure kindness. But when he had confessed his love to her, she had run away from him.

Flashback

"What! Am I not good enough for you?" Dilandau snarled at her.

"It's not that, Dilly-,"

"Stop calling me that! It's Dilandau!"

"Dilandau, it's not that your bad or anything, it's just that I don't feel right when I'm with you."

"Get away from me, bitch!"

"Dilandau..."

"Get AWAY from me, bitch."

End Flashback

It had hurt, knowing that she didn't love him. He was younger back then, only eighteen years. She was only sixteen, two years younger than him. She wasn't ready to love him yet. Hitomi, now sixteen, probably felt the same way towards him. She wouldn't give a second thought from running away from him if he confessed his thoughts to her. Wait a second- since when did he start concerning about her?

As the sun set in the sky, the Red General was left to ponder his thoughts.

Celena was not a happy person at the moment. Van had just asked her to accompany him to Zaibach for the sparring tournament.

Flashback

Van walked casually towards the librarian's desk. Sitting in her chair, was Celena, reading.

"Hey Celena!" he called. Celena looked up.

"Oh, hi Van. Are you looking for a book or something?" she asked. Van shook his head.

"No, I want you to accompany me to Zaibach for the sparring tournament. Please?" he gave her the puppy eyes. Celena laughed. Over the few weeks of her new job, they had gotten extremely close. Apparently, he found out that puppy eyes were her weakness.

"Okay, I'll go with you. I'll have to assign someone else as librarian while I'm gone." Van jumped into the air.

"YES!" he cried. Giggling madly, Celena dismissed him from the library for shouting.

End Flashback

She had been so careless back then. But now, it was different. Now, she was worried. Going to Zaibach would mean she would get to see the tournament. But then again, it would mean she would have to face someone she did not want to meet. Sure, she could go and tell Van she didn't want to go. But that would hurt his feelings. Looking out of her bedroom window, she sighed, not knowing what to do.

A/N:

bandescafreak: thanx 4 that review!

koriina: ur on the right track... to tell you the truth, i sorta got that idea rom u .: looks around shiftily:. hehe, just joking! but yeah, ur on the rite track.

kimpatsu no hoseki: .:evil grin:. maybe ur rite, maye ur wrong.

sakura shinguji-albatou: trust me, there r alot of FxE pairings... u just have to dig up the stories that go waaaaaaaay back to 2000. there's a fic called Hitomi, Girl Dragonslayer or somethin... check it out! i haven't read it yet (no time . ), so i can't tell u anything bout it. oh well, nevermind. hey, wen r u gonna update La Ra Everlasting Forest? that fic is SO good.

sorcerer of darkness: im trying to decide wether Hitomi should enter the tournament or not.

well, ppl, that was Chapter Three. it should've een longer, but it WASN'T! i promise i'll write a longer chapter next time...

cya!

Lady Snow Blood