"It appears that anything in this
new world is possible. I have met wolfmen and catgirls, and have seen robots
that fly and battle with swords or shoot liquid metal from their claws.
But what I have just seen tops all that easy: Van, the boy who I was brought
to this world with, has wings. He was the one from my vision who
swooped down to rescue me, it wasn't Allen. The raven-haired boy who I
thought was a creep has just saved my life.
"Upon waking up in an area far from the Dragon-Mine,
I found that Amano had paged me. I clutched the small electronic device
against me, sobbing as I realized how much I miss you, Amano. But my crying
was stopped when I heard footsteps behind me. I turned and saw Van, his
amazing white wings stretched out behind him. So it was true, then, it
had not been a dream. Van was an angel... my guardian angel, in a way.
He had saved me.
"Merle was awake within seconds, and immediately
ran to her 'Lord Van', trying to hide his wings from me. A feather drifted
down into my hands and I saw Van's past... a whole array of saddening stories,
depicting the fated meeting of Van's parents; Goau of Fanelia, and Varie,
a woman with wings.
"I saw the brith of Van, and his first attempt
at flying as a child. I learned that Van, his brother, and his mother were
Draconians; descendants of Atlantis who, for the most part were hated and
feared. I saw the disappearance of Folken and Varie, and the death of Van's
father. I now realize what Van has gone through, and I feel what he must
be feeling... loss.
"We're now flying away from that spot, to Freid,
to warn the Duchi of Freid of Zaibach's intentions. A few minutes ago,
I rounded up my courage and told Van what I thought of his wings... I told
him they were beautiful. I don't know why I needed to be brave for
that little comment, from which the warmth in my cheeks has only begun
to cool down. Why did I get all nervous about such a trivial thing? It's
not like I'm in love with him or anything..."
Hitomi smiled at the fond memory of seeing
Van's wings for the first time. Carefully, she tucked the crumpled pieces
of paper that had been her "diary" back into her duffelbag for safekeeping
and walked over to the window. Bright morning sun filtered in and Hitomi
shaded her eyes. Down below, she could see the people of Fanelia had already
begun their work.
Another day, Another dollar, she
sighed to herself. She reached into her bag and brought out her track clothes.
The smell was repulsive and she dropped them immediately. Hesitantly, she
sniffed what she was wearing, a t-shirt and some jeans that she had slept
in. It was even worse.
"Well, looks like I have a plan for what to do
today," she muttered to herself. She could already tell that her school
uniform would fare no better in the odor test.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The basket of clothes was becoming hard to balance, and the weight
was pulled mercilessly on Hitomi's arms. All that morning she had wandered
through Fanelia, asking if anyone had any wear they wanted to wash. It
seemed to Hitomi that far too many of the citizens had answered "yes".
Struggling a little with the load, she made one
final round before heading to a little stream in the forest behind Fanelia's
castle, a borrowed washboard in hand.
Three hours later, the clothes were strewn up
in a long line of thread that attached to several trees, allowing for more
room. Hitomi looked down at her uniform, and decided that it could use
a wash as well. Glancing around to be sure that no one was there, she slipped
out of her clothes, immediately jumping into the stream to conceal herself.
She began to scrub her outfit clean.
"I'll hang them later, when I have something
dry to wear." she commented to herself aloud.
The water was pleasantly warm, and Hitomi felt
a sudden urge to take a bath. Reaching into her duffelbag which she had
brought with her as a "Just in case" she pulled out a bar of soap and a
washcloth.
She had barely reached the point of scrubbed
her toes when a shrill noise broke her bathing.
"Hitomi!!!!!"
Someone's coming! hastily,
Hitomi jumped out of the water and pulled on the nearest item of clothing
she could find, not bothering to look at what it was.
"Hitomi!" Merle bounded into the "washing" area
and spotted the sandy-haired girl. "Hitomi, Lord Van wants to see y--"
she stopped, staring at Hitomi. A sly smile drew over her face. "You know,
I really don't think that red is your color." she remarked with a smirk.
"Red? Merle, what are you--" Hitomi looked down
and turned as red as the shirt she was wearing. It was large, sleeveless,
and had a small white string at the front.
Merle continued with her taunting. "Lord Van
told me to go find you... but it looks as though he found you first. I
wonder what he looks like in a brown dress?"
"You're not thinking that we... MERLE!"
"Looks like that to me."
"Well miss Kitty-Cat, sorry to disappoint you
but Van's not here. I assume he's wherever you talked to him last."
"Sure, sure."
"Why is he looking for me?"
"Why don't you ask the guy hiding in the bush
wearing your outfit?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In her newly cleaned uniform, Hitomi picked up
the basket of laundry and began her tour of Fanelia, stopping every now
and then to return the clothes she had washed. Eventually, only a few items
were left. Among them was the red shirt that Hitomi had previously "borrowed".
"Let me guess," Merle offered, catching up to
the girl from the Mystic Moon. "You're going to return that shirt to Lord
Van, and the two of you will pretend that nothing ever happened. Right?"
"Nothing did happen." she turned her gaze
to the young man who was helping reattach a door to its frame. He was again
without a shirt, as his had been included in the washing. Losing some of
her nerve but pushing forward nonetheless, she approached him.
"Van?"
"Hitomi!" he greeted with a smile, losing his
concentration on the door entirely, causing the person on the other side
to be surprised by a large door falling on him.
"Here's your shirt, as promised." the girl from
the Mystic Moon held up the red top. As she passed it over to him, she
caught a whiff of the garment.
(The smell of the fields... Van's smell....
I love him. I love you, Van.)
The memory passed through her like ice,
chilling her, forcing her to remember that Van would probably never accept
her as more than a friend.
"Kayulo!" shrieked an excited catgirl, rushing
over to greet the youth who had appeared behind Van.
"Thank you, Kayulo." the young king said. "For
completing that task for me. If there's anything that I can do to repay
you..."
"Nonsense, your Majesty. It was nothing." the
catguy said, waving it away with his hand.
"Once Fanelia is back in order, I promise, I
will reward you." persisted Van. He pulled on his shirt and turned back
the emerald-eyed girl. "I have something I need to talk to you about, Hitomi."
he said nervously, his eyes darting back and forth from hers.
"Of course, Van. What is it?"
"Let's go into the forest, where it will be easier
to talk, and get away from all the action for a little while."
She nodded, examining him with curiousity. What
did he have to tell her? Could it be possible that he felt the same way
she did? Was this his confession? They started towards the forest.
"Err, your Highness? A word?" came Kayulo's gentle
voice.
"I'll be right there," Van mouthed to Hitomi.
She continued without him.
"What is it, Kayulo?" Van asked. He glanced around.
Merle had run off somewhere.
"Lord Van, I... I can see what you're going to
do."
"What do you mean?"
"I... I can't really say more than that... but
I can tell you this: don't overdo it... be careful with what you say to
her, your Highness." with that, the brown-furred cat turned back to his
work.
Van wondered what the cat was talking about,
but didn't press the matter any further. He headed for the forest.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
A/N: Sorry for the short chapter. -_-' Sorry for the bad chapter. *laughs*
I am in constant putting-down of myself. I just really don't like this
story that much (eep) because it's basically romance and later on it will
be WAFF and fluff and my other one is WAY better in my opinion because
it's actually original! I mean, come on! How many times has this VH paring
been done? 100 000? 100 001 with mine. Sailor Mystic Moon is something
entirely different, which is why I like it.
But anyway, flame me, criticize me, suggest things,
or comment or compliment me if you want. The review box is always there
and always open. ^_^
05.25.01