Konbanwa minna san! (Everybody, good evening!) Sorry about the wait, blocked me from my account for a while. Thank you all for patiently waiting for my next update and thankfully it was only a week/week and a half wait! I would first like to thank all of my reviewers and I hope that you review again this chapter! Onegai? Replies to the reviews will be at the end of my chapter. Arigatou!
Scowling at the bratty prince, Hitomi uttered two words before tearing her cloak back on and following a servant out, "Hitomi Kanzaki."
Chapter 2: Glimpse
It seemed that her earlier musing were right, this servant was just like all the rest: some type of hybrid. 'Kind of looks like a fox... thing,' Hitomi thought to herself as she gazed at two red, puffy tails emitting from the man's behind, and a pair of ears poking out of his brown hair. 'At least this one doesn't appear to have whipping scars.'
After walking for almost five minutes, the servant stopped abruptly in front of a wooden door and then proceeded in bowing deeply to Hitomi. His eyes were held closely to the floor and refused to even glance at the bottom of the girl's cloak. "Thank you for showing me the way," Hitomi said, earning a gasp of surprise from the man.
Grasping the door handle, she unlatched the door and raised her head so that she could see the sight that lay before her. There, right in front of her eyes was one of the most gorgeous and inviting beds she had ever seen. Walking further into the room Hitomi took in the king sized bed, with a white laced canopy and matching sheets, while spotting dragons of all shapes and sizes engraved upon the wooden border. The rest of the room was quite mundane in comparison, the only piece of furniture other than the bed being a vanity table with mirror, placed in the back right corner.
A quiet, "You're welcome," and then a click from the door was heard as the fox servant left Hitomi on her own.
'Whoa, I didn't even hear him... Kind of creepy, 'Hitomi thought, as her focus returned to the room once again. Deciding she might as well feel at home in the temporary placement, Hitomi pulled off her cloak and placed it, along with her bag, under the bed. Looking at the base of the bed, and seeing the high footboard, Hitomi yearned to do what she had seen so many times in the movies. 'Well why not? Who would ever catch me?'
Climbing onto the end base of the bed, Hitomi spread her arms out, let a smile spread across her smooth face and then fell backwards to land upon the soft comforter. With a quiet thud her body sunk into the cushions, "Ahh..." she sighed in contempt, snuggling into the blanket. " So soft and warm..." Hitomi whispered, "Unlike that stupid cart."
Listening to the sounds around her, the green-eyed girl heard footsteps just outside her door. 'Must be more servants,' she thought to herself. But from coming from another planet and feeling a little nervous, Hitomi gave good reason to lean down to her bag in search of a certain something. Quickly finding what she had been looking for, the girl lay back down on the bed and raised a beautifully crafted sword above her head.
Tracing her finger down the dragon etched into the sheath, Hitomi followed it to the end of its tip. The sheath, as well as the beginning of the blade, was wonderfully decorated with engravings of extravagant dragons -as well as those emitting fire- and a frenzy of feathers. The wood of the sheath looked to have some sort of black lacquer painted over it, but the pictograph was still easily seen to the naked eye. It was strange to Hitomi, she wondered just who exactly acquired the skill to do this art in such detail.
She had received the sword, as well as her red pendant, on her eighth birthday as a present from her adopted parents. That was the day that her mother and father had decided to tell of the incident in how they had come to know her.
They had first begun by asking her if she wanted to know the truth about her past:
"Now Hitomi, I know these gifts are not what you were expecting but, they are especially linked to you. This is going to be hard and really difficult but, we have decided that you the right age and if you are ready to know the truth then you will receive it," an aging brown haired woman said softly.
"If you don't want to find out about your past always remember, when ever you want any answers we are here for you," the man sitting beside her added.
Hitomi looked up into the faces of the couple she had called mother and father for the past five years. A blue eyed father and brown eyed mother. The difference between them and herself was easily told by a stranger. And yet, even though she loved them very much, Hitomi just couldn't handle not knowing the truth and had been quite curious about her past since she had reached the age of six, "No, I want to know."
Sharing a glance between the two of them, Hitomi's 'mother' and 'father' smiled reassuringly to their adopted daughter. "It started five years ago when your father and I went walking in the park. We were discussing how long it would take for an adoption approval to go through the system when we saw something flicker in the corner of our eyes. We thought it to be lightening or some sort of blue light, so we decided to check it out." At that the woman looked down towards the floor and her husband glanced at her concerned. Squeezing her hand lovingly he looked back at his daughter.
"When we arrived at the scene we could see something, someone, in the dark. So out of concern I called out to the figure, but all I got in return was the sound of running footsteps in the opposite direction. I remember yelling at the person to stop, that's when I saw who it was in the light from a lamp post." Smiling at Hitomi the blond man continued to listen to his wife tell the story. "It was a girl wearing the strangest clothing, and carrying the most bizarre object I could ever think of: a sword."
Upon hearing the sword being mention, the young Hitomi looked towards the object in her lap, "This, very sword?" she asked quietly.
"Yes," her father answered looking worriedly at the girl. "If you don't want to go any further then -"
"No! I – I mean, I want to know, I am alright," Hitomi said smiling, her gaze still heavily set on the katana.
"Alright then," looking at their daughter concerned, Hitomi's mother continued, "Well deciding that you were alone, your father and I chased after you. We couldn't leave a little girl all on her own during the night now could we? So we followed the path you took for about five minutes until we heard someone breathing hard. It seemed that you had fallen pretty hard and lay on the ground in a heap."
Signaling to her husband to continue, the woman looked towards her daughter in thought, "As we followed you together, I remember your mother grasping me wrist; she had caught sight of you. So I walked up to you cautiously. I didn't want to scare you, so I asked if you were alright and knelt down to your level. That was the first time you laid eyes on me; you were cold, hurt and alone. You started speaking in some foreign language that neither I nor your mother understood. We were concerned for you so we somehow persuaded you to accompany us to the police station. Once we were there, the police officers asked us some questions and then took you away to a child worker. We didn't see you for a couple days but, we had grown attached to you in the short period of time so we continued to talk to the social workers about your case. They, after a month or so, gave us permission to let you reside with us until they decided it fit." Taking a breath the man seemed lost in memory but still continued to look towards the young Hitomi whom was staring at the sword in her lap.
Hitomi's mom glanced up again and then finished the story, "All that we found out about you in the end was that you had that sword with you, a tattoo of a dragon on your right upper fore arm, as well as the pendant around your neck. No one could figure out the language you were speaking, the strange clothes or where you were from. It seemed that you appeared out of thin air." Pausing for a couple seconds, the brown haired woman let the girl take in everything she had just been told. "I'm sorry, it isn't much but, it is all we know."
From that point on Hitomi had disciplined herself in the art of fighting. If she had a sword, why not learn to use it? Tai Kwan Do, Karate, Judo, she couldn't even remember all the courses she had taken but she had trained hard everyday for at least an hour or two. At the age of sixteen almost every opponent she faced was taken down because of the repetition in her blocks and attacks, but she became unbeatable at the age of seventeen. It seemed that most people relied on guns and other forms of defense so not many kept to sword fighting on a continuous basis.
It had been ten years since the time she found out the small information about her past but the pendant, as well as her sword, were still in her possession. The tattoo adorning her arm, as well as everything else she learned that day, was still a mystery to her; one that she wanted resolved dearly.
Sighing, Hitomi turned over, careful not to get tangled with her 3 foot braid and muffled a sigh in her pillow. 'Why can't I be normal? I don't really care if I am adopted; I just wish I knew some answers. Everything is so weird here, and yet somehow... it is so familiar.' Placing the sword under her pillow as an act of protection for herself, Hitomi decided to go for a quick nap.
Fingering her red pendant as a habit of nervousness Hitomi listened to the noises that surrounded her and smiled slightly to herself. "Maybe I'll get the answers that I have been waiting for all these years..." she quietly whispered to herself before drifting off into a deep sleep.
"Wait! Don't leave me oniisan" a little Hitomi screamed into the darkness. "Big brother, matte!" There were screams heard behind her, ones which frightened the tiny child, "Oniisan!"
"Get back here you demon!" "Stinking demon, you deserve to die, just like all the rest of your kind!" Horrible things were being yelled at the small child as she ran deeper and deeper into what turned out to be a forest. The trees were everywhere which was good in this case for it seemed that because of them the hunters became lost and were following the wrong track.
Huffing heavily the young Hitomi sunk into a tree trunk and let the tears drench her dress, "Mama, Papa, big brother? Where are you?" she cried in a hopeless stir.
Suddenly from out of the trees a voice was heard, "Tomi, my baby? Is that you?" Immediately the girl jumped up from her spot and raced over to where the sound was heard. "Mama!"
A woman with an open wound in the side of her abdomen wearing a beautiful ivory dress was slouching on a tree. "Hitomi, I'm sorry, there is nothing else for you here." After inhaling a large breath of air the lady continued, "Take good care of this, and always wear the heart," a woman with long brown hair and blue eyes struggled to say, as she handed the small girl a sword and hung a necklace around her neck. "Keep them safe my little Tomi."
"But Mama..." the girl whispered, but stopped when the woman put a shaky finger to her lips.
"It is alright my daughter." Hearing a shout not far away the woman looked fearful and then began to hurry in her wobbly speech. "You must go now Tomi, but you must remember. Never forget us Hitomi, always remember..."
Slowly a melody began from the woman in her last breaths as a sorrowful chant filled the air:
"Remo, tremo, sento
Profondi, oscuri abissi
E' per l'amore che ti do
E' per l'amore che non sai
Che mi fai naufragare
E' per l'amore che non ho
E' per l'amore che vorrei
E' per questo dolore
E' questo amore che ho per te
Che mi fa superare queste vere tempeste
Onde sull'oceano
Onde sull'oceano."
A blue light erupted from underneath the young girl and she screamed as it began to envelop her into the brightness. "Never forget us Hitomi, always remember..."
"Remember? Remember what?" Hitomi questioned herself as she groggily woke up. Sighing she realized it was the same dream yet again, but suddenly she heard a sound from above her window. Accurately recalling the prince's warning, Hitomi grabbed her sword and struggled to get her cloak on. Only when she turned around did she find the source of the noise as she was met with a pair of purplish-blue eyes.
Thank you so much everyone for reading and I hope that you review this chapter as well, here are the responses to my reviewers last time! Ja ne!
Sorcerer of Darkness: Thank you very much for the compliment and as you can see Hitomi still does possess the skills of a swordsman so all is well! I hope you enjoy this chapter more than the last chapter 2!
Magicman/Smokegirl: I love your comments! They are so cute, aw! Smokegirl you are absolutely evil, I love it!
Lady Snow Blood: Thank you so much for the review, I love hearing from yah!
Kagome: An Inuyasha fan eh? I love Inuyasha as well as Escaflowne, any who! Thank you very much for the review!
Kya77: Oh! I love to hear that! I was trying to make the first chapters more interesting than before and not quite as crappy as the first time around. So I am here and enjoying re-writing them all out. Even though it takes a lot of work it isn't as hard as the first time around because I have somewhat of a plot written out already! Thank you so much for your review!
Sush: You have been following my story? You haven't reviewed until now... sigh OH WELL! Thank you so much for reviewing and I love to hear the compliments, as well as the criticism.
Eio: I am really sorry about my story being taken off, but I promise you, I will try and put more wings into the beginning of the story. Since my chapters are longer in the beginning than they were the last time I bet you will get to see wings soon! Thank you for reviewing!
Kimpatsu no Hoseki: Hey just wondering, what does your name mean? Sounds pretty cool to me, even if I take Japanese I don't know what Kimpatsu nor Hoseki means... he he he. Thanks for the review!
Feathers of Snow: Honeypot: Thank you so much for the review and thank you for supporting me when my story was deleted. Yes I am really glad I found another copy, I supposed that is what sisters are for eh? Even if I am re-writing it, it is a lot easier to write something that has a plot already determined. If yah know what I mean, jelly bean? LOL :P!
Anthius: Thank you for reviewing the chapter, and yes! You must review again because they are different! I am re-writing them all so they should be better and I am changing some things as well. Thanx for the review!
Claire: I do not know exactly why my stories were deleted because all I had was some swearing in the first chapters. Maybe someone took enough offence and went to the story staff about it or something. But anyways I hope that you enjoy reading this again even if you can't remember, that should be the fun part!
VoilesDragonGurl: Thank you so much for your support and sympathy! I just want to get that stupid head, and just, umph, umph, umph to it! Punches hand with fist threateningly (if you have seen Shark Tale then you know what I mean with the whole Ange thing.) I think I am fine with the chapters thing because I am actually quite enjoying re-writing my chapters because I realized that the beginning ones were CRAP! But that is fine, thank you so much for the compliment. :P! sniff, single tear falls Thank you so much for your compliment it really made me beam proudly! (In actuality literally!) Thank you so much and I hope to hear from you in this chapter review section! THANK YOU SO MUCH!
Nina: Stupid girl, when are you going to decide to stick to one name? STOP CHANGING IT ALL THE TIME!
Thank you so much everyone for reading my chapter and now there is only one more thing to do: REVIEW! Ps, sorry blocked me from my account for a while.
Koriina, - meow!