Chapter 1

It's been four long years since Hitomi left Gaea...that was one of the biggest mistakes of her life. Those four years have been horrible for Hitomi. Most girls at the age of 19 are happy and care-free. She hated watching them, but felt envious at the same time. Leaving high school only made her feel more uneasy. What was she going to do? Her grades were bad, near failing. Her teachers always try to boost up her marks, but it just doesn't work. She's just to busy, 'daydreaming' as they say.

Track kept her on her busy; gave her something to do to pass the time. She joined several clubs. The cooking club, sewing and other pointless things. Not pointless, but she thought so. Maybe it was just the track that was pointless. But it made her feel good. She loved to run away her troubles. Not run 'from', but run 'away'.
She could never get rid of the fact that she was in love. But how can you have a good relationship with someone who was so far away, yet so close! In her dreams, he was close enough to touch, to hold again. With his messy black hair and gental look. He never spoke to her in her dreams though. She needed that contact.

So here she was, sitting in class, listening to her teacher go on, and on about something or rather. She really didn't even know what class she was in right now. Was it Literature, or History? She heaved a sigh and lazily scribbled on her paper. Another boring school day, then track practise, then chores at home. It was her turn to do the dishes. Maybe she could pawn them off on her brother.
As thoughts of soap suds and vacuuming filled her head, she failed to notice the strange men standing at the door.

Three burly men filed into the room. All were wearing strange uniform and had swords at their sides. They stopped in the front of the class room, blocking the teacher from view of the students. An excited, shocked outburst of chatter rung out through out the room as people gawked at the medievel like fighters. Not samurai, they were totally different from anything any of them had ever seen.
"What is the meaning of this!" The teacher hollered out over the chatter.

Hitomi, at her teacher's sudden outburst, finally looked to the front of the class, hoping she wasn't the one being yelled at. No, it wasn't her, it was three men with swords. It took longer that it should have for her to regesture that. She stared in perfect shock at the men. They looked like they were from... they can't be...

"We are here for Princess Hitomi." One spoke. His voice ruff and hoarse.
It was like a sea of staring eyes as every single head in that class room turned towards Hitomi. She just sat there in total disbelief. Did he say 'princess'! She stood up slowly, expecting them to start laughing they're heads off, like it was just a sick joke. She heard several class mates next to her, not taking their eyes off her, mutter "Do you know what language he's speaking?"
But as she headed down to the front these ruff looking men dropped down to their knees and bowed. She stopped walking just to stare at them. They were actaully bowing to her?
They stood up as she reached them and beckoned her out of the classroom and into the hallway. She could hear the whispers and shocked voices as she left. Of the girls that used to make fun of her, and her friends who became distant over the years. She ignored her strict sensai's shreaks of outrage.

She walked with these gaurds, if that's what they were, to the front of the school, were a small crowd of people gathered to view the closed off carrage and the great white horses attached to it. She was just as shocked as they were to say the least.

She got in quietly, ushered in by the shorter of the three men, and sat down on the elegant carved and cussioned seats inside. The red velvety fabric felt so soft on the back of her legs and she felt out of place in her school uniform (the same school uniform she wears in the movie). But still, this was all for her. She had no clue why, but it was.
She'd ask all the questions flowing through her mind when they got to where she was going.

She looked out the small windows at the surroundings. They were rolling smoothly along the road past neighborhoods she usually walked by all the time. They seemed to be different now, from a new point of view. The three people who led her to the carrage were riding on the back, and the driver sat up high at the front. She felt like asking 'where the hell are we going!' but thought against it. She really didn't want to piss these people off, they had swords. Instead she sighed in irritation and tried to hold down laughter as people stopped and stared in the streets.

Shortly after, the carriage stopped and Hitomi looked out once again. She sighed in relief when she reconized the area. She was right in front of her house. Its small front lawn and small appearance made her feel comforted. But there was another carriage and more men with swords standing at the door, which stood open at the moment.
A man came around to open Hitomi's door, holding out his arm for assistance. But she ignored it and hoped down on her own. 'Not very princess like', she thought to herself, but silently cursed herself after for getting ahead like that. How the hell could she be a princess?

She, once again, ignored the arm offered to her and half ran to the door. The men bowed to her as she entered. She hoped it wouldn't be a constant thing. Maybe she could convince them not to do it?

"Okaa-san! Otou-san!" She ran from the kitchen to the den calling for her parents. Gods! They weren't kidnapped where they!
"In here!" She stopped storming around the house at the sound of her mothers voice. She followed it to the family room where she saw her father, her mother and her little brother Yuuhi (AN: I don't think that's his real name...isn't it Mamoru or something?) all seated and waiting. She heaved out a sigh of relief when she saw there were no men in the room with them.
"What's going on!" She asked finally. Not really caring if she was yelling or not.
"Hitomi! Guess what! We're aliens!" Yuuhi shouted happily. She some times thought him to be very immature for a 13 year old.
She stared at him like he needed serious help. "What!"
"Hush Yuuhi!" Her mother hist. "We will explain everything Hitomi." She added more soothingly to her daughter.

"Hitomi." She turned her attention to her dad who was standing by the wall of family portaits. " I have something to tell you."
Hitomi swallowed nervously. She really didn't like the sound of that.
"Hitomi, dear, this may be a little hard to believe. But I'm not originally from Earth."
She looked at him funny. 'Ok, this is pretty wierd' she thought to herself.
He continued. "I'm from a planet called Gaea. It's alot like earth, it just has different ways..."

Hitomi shot a shocked look at her mother. Her mom, out of a little few, knew about Hitomi's journey to Gaea.
"Gaea?" She managed to choke out. Had her mom told him about her going there yet? She plopped down on the couch next to her mother.
"Yes Gaea. I am the prince of a country there called La Vallex. It's a very wealthy merchant capital and it very beautiful there. It's right on the ocean and-"
"I've never heard of La Vallex." She cut him off. But her statement earned her a few wierd looks from her brother and father.
"That because it's not on earth, 'Tomi!" Her brother stated, smirking.

Hitomi just ignored him and kept her attention on what her father had to say. "So your a prince. So... I'm a princess?" She asked plainly.
"And..." He faultered. "The next heir to the throne, Hitomi." She opened her mouth to protest but he was faster. "You are the oldest, and your great Grandmother, my mother, is very old, and she doesn't have an heir there."

"What? Wait a second! Back up! Why are you on earth in the first place? Why did you leave?" She asked getting quite angry. Her mind raced at an alarming rate. "And aren't you suppost to be the heir...being male and all."
"I was stupid and young, and that was a long time ago. And La Vallex doesn't work that way. They've always been ruled by women."

She sighed and rubbed at her temples. "So... I have to go back to Gaea, and be a princess, and eventually, a queen?" Reality seemed to be collasping around her.
"Back?" Her father asked.
"Yes back. Dad... I've already been to Gaea. Mom knows all about it. Get her to tell you. I can't take this any more." She turned to leave the room, but her dad stopped her.
"I'll get your mom to tell me, but Hitomi. You need to pack. You need to leave as soon as possible. There has to be a new Heir by the harvesting season."
She nodded in understanding and headed slowly up the stairs, not being able to think of anything else to do anyway.

Hitomi had finished packing her whole room, minus the bed, the dresser and desk. Everything was piled in boxes and trunks, which were there when she got upstairs, by the door. She did note that the trunks were very beautiful and expensive looking.

Now that she was finally going back, she wasn't happy. I mean, sure she could see Van and everyone again. But what happens if they've moved on and have lives of their own.
Besides, she always dreamed of going to Gaea, straight to Fanalia. Then she would see van standing there waiting for, wings outstretched and everything. She would run towards him and kiss him right then.

She was brought out of her daydream by the shuffling of boxes. She looked over to the door to see 4 or 5 of the armed men carrying her all her things downstairs. Probably loading them in the carriages.
She made her way down after them and went back to the living room where her parents still were. Yuuhi must have been off somewhere, she really didn't care at the moment.

"How come you guys aren't getting packed?" She asked eyeing them suspiciously.
"Because, were coming in around a week. We have to take care of everything here before we can leave." Seeing the look on his daughters face he added. "Don't worry Hitomi! As I've heard, your familuar with the surroundings! Besides there are tons of people your age at the castle I'm sure!" He gave her a gental hug which she returned.

Yuuhi suddenly burst into the room shouting, "This guys the best dad! He can make his tail puff up and everything!"
"Tail?" Hitomi turned around just as a boy walked into the room. No, not exactly a boy, a cat boy. He didn't have the same orangy fur as Merle, instead it was a sort of milky beige colour and he had black markings like a tiger. On the tips of his ears were little tuffs of fur like a lynx, and he wore Van like clothes. He still had that same mischievious glint to him that Merle had.
"Ah, Princess Hitomi. Finally we meet." He bowed a little sarcastically and smiled brightly. "My name is Griffin, and I'm your new assistant for as long as you want." She noticed he had a slight accent. But he voice was so cheery and cute. He was only her height, but... if she must say... pretty good looking.

She smiled slyly as she thought of a certain Cat girl who would love the attention of this 'Mr.' Griffin.
"Are we ready to go?" He asked almost excitedly his eyes flashing something along the lines of impatientness. She had to hold in the urge to giggle.
"Yes." Her father turned towards her. "Now Hitomi. Don't get into to much trouble. As your mother told me, you had quite a time there before. And if you want to know, Fanalia is one of our neighboring countries, so you can see this King of yours whenever you want." He added the last part quietly, which was very good in the company of so many people. But she couldn't help but blush at this comment.

She bid her family a temporary farewell and headed to the carriage with Griffin ahead of her.

They rode along in silence for a while. Griffin just kept his attention out the window, looking at all the earthy stuff with amazement, well Hitomi kept all her attention in his tail, it flicked every once in a while. So cat like. She remembered back to when she had a cat. His name was Thai, and he always managed to look cute, even when he dug in the house plants and tore up a curtain. Her thoughts wondered some more to the cat girl she knew on Gaea. Merle always got into her stuff, and could always find a way to bug her some way or another. She had a huge facination with Hitomi's earth belongings.

Hitomi cracked a grin. Merle would deffinitly have fun looking through all of Hitomi's stuff now.
But then her smile turned to a frown. What about her friends here? She couldn't just leave without saying goodbye to them. Expecially Yukari.

Just as she thought that, the carraige rolled past the road that Yukari lived down.

"Whats wronge?"
Hitomi looked up to see Griffin watching her, looking concerned.
She sighed and looked back out the window. But he didn't stop watching her with that cute look of his. She might as well tell him.
"It's just that... I didn't get to say goodbye to my best friend." She said, she tried to make it sound like it wasn't a big deal, but he saw right through it.
"They didn't give you much time did they? Why did you all of a sudden think of it now."
She looked at him in shock. He's been the first person to be able to see through to her when she faked stuff. Well... except for Yukari. Though it always seemed like Van knew when she was lying.
But Griffin's tone of voice when he said this was wierd. It was very care free and merry, but at the same time important. So...Merle like. She couldn't help but smile.
He smiled back. "Well?"
"We just passed her road thats-"

He didn't give her a chance to say anything else, he stuck his head out the window and yelled up to the driver. "The princess requests that you turn around and head down the road you just passed."
Hitomi heard the muffled reply "Yes master Griffin." then the carraige came to a halt and started turning around.

"Thank you." She told him timidly.
"Don't mention it! Consider me as your friend, I don't want you treating me like you would the gaurds and maids."
"Alright..." She thought for a second, "How should I treat the gaurds and maids? I'm new at this." She put on a shy smile.
"Well... I don't have to slightest clue. Its really up to you I guess." He shrugged then looked out the window. "What house is it?"

Hitomi looked outside too. " The one with the blue Mazda in the front."
He turned a puzzled look towards her. "A what?"
"Sorry, I mean the one with the tree over the side walk."
"Alright." He leaned out the window again and hollered up. "It's right here."

They pulled up in front of Yukari's home and Hitomi got out. She walked slowly up to the front porch and knocked lightly, then rang the door bell. She really had no clue what she was going to say to her yet. A million things popped into her head at once.

Luckily it was Yukari who answered the door. "Hitomi! You didn't show up for-" She stopped and looked past her, wide eyed at the carriage.
"You know all that stuff I told you about Gaea?" She decided to just plunge right into it. Her best friend nodded her head slowly. "Well, it turns out I'm actaully the princess and soon to be queen of a country there." She chuckled nervously and smiled. "Kinda wierd huh?"
"Holy crap Hitomi!" Yukari hollered. "Your not lying are you!"
"No." Hitomi shook her head. "You see those funny looking gaurd guys?" She pointed to one of the burly men standing by the carriage door. "Uh... you there."
The man became instantly alert and hurried over dropping to his knees. "Yes Princess?"
"I am the future queen of La Vallex right?" She asked, smiling at the shocked look on Yukari's face.
"Of course Princess, when the queen can no longer rule."
"Alright, thank you." She waved the man away feeling extremely uncomfortable doing so, and he went back to his post.
"The queen being the grandmother I never knew, and she wants me to come to Gaea and take up my spot... today. So.. I came to say goodbye." She felt tears coming to her eyes.
"Oh, Hitomi." Yukari hugged her started to cry with her."You'll have a good life there I know it."

So after a tearful goodbye, Hitomi climbed back into the carriage and sat across from Griffin again. He had watched the whole thing and was now chuckling over it. "What?" Hitomi asked curiously.
"Its just..." He laughed. "I'll never understand girls."
"Well if you laugh at them, of course not. Girls like to be understood by their guys." She smiled at his confused look. But then went back to her worried expression.
"Whats bothering you now? Don't you want to go to Gaea?"
"Yes.. of course I do, I can see all my old friends again. Its just that..."
"Your old friends?" He looked at her in confusion. "When were you on Gaea?"
"3 years ago for the War of fates."
"What! Hold on a minute." He scratched behind his ear. "Your the Hitomi Kanzaki from the mystic moon! The Seeress!"
She shrugged, she really didn't know what he was talking about. Was she really that famous?
"Then why are you sad to go back?"
"Because... oh, just forget it." She looked out the window again. Griffin didn't say any more, it was obvious that she didn't want to talk about it.

They arrived at Hitomi's old school where she first went to Gaea and where she ran the track meets. The stopped in the middle of the field and Griffin climbed out of the carriage, taking a big red jem from the bag beside him. An energist. It had been a while since she'd seen one.

After a short amount of time, a bright light envoloped the whole carriage and she could feel it lifting off the ground carefully. The sound of rushing wind and the startled cry of the horses was the only thing telling her she was still with the party.

They finally landed on solid ground. All four wheels touching down carefully, and smoothly. Griffin climbed back in after ordering them to move on. He smiled at her. "Welcome back to Gaea."
She looked out the window and saw they were on a dirt road surrounded by a field, then worked into a dense looking forest. She noted that the road was layed out with stone blocks, so she figured it was a main passage through the country.
"Where are we exactly?"
He looked out the window. "I'd say, north of Fanalia's capital. We're almost at the countries border, past this forest in La Vallex territory."
She nodded in understanding.
"We can't leave the carriage what so ever once we reach the forest, the dragons are hunting they say."

"I've had two incounters with Dragons, they're really not all that bad. You just have to understand them."
"Well, they're scary enough for me to stay away from them." He grinning at her.
She chuckled. "Both of them, I was with the king of Fanalia. One time his brother too."
"King Van and Lord Folken?" She nodded. "I've never met the king, he's really busy with the rebuilding of his city. Its so beautiful now.What's he like?"
Hitomi blushed dispite herself. "Well... he's kind of rude at first, but once you get to know him... he's actaully really sweet." She looked at her feet. She looked up at him shyly and asked. "Ummm.. do you... I mean, have you heard anything about him lately?"
He smiled slyly. "If you mean 'is he married' then no, he's not. Actaully, I did hear something... His advicers want him to find someone soon, but he keeps turning the proposal down. Nobody knows why."
Hitomi smiled to herself. 'maybe he still loves me.' she thought.
"Now... why would a pretty girl like you be asking a question like that..." He asked in mock confusion, looking up at the ceiling as if thinking it over. She laughed and blushed slightly, pulling lightly on his tail.

The scenery just kept getting more and more beautiful. They passed through a thick forest for around 15 minutes, but exited into a wide, flower covered field with long lush grass.
Hitomi was marveling just over the wide vareity of colours in the flowers, but turned her attention ahead of them when a guard shouted to them about their soon arrival.
Now she found herself looking over down into a valley covered with beautiful houses, all surrounding a elaberate white castle in the center. It reminded her so much of the castles straight from a fairy tale, only much more breathtaking.

Just past the cities, the water glittered in the harbour as trade barges and fishing ships docked in for the day or left to do business. The whole thing was so breathtaking, she actually found herself afraid to blink, supposing it was all a dream. Myabe she had fallen asleep in class again?

But as Griffin spoke, she knew it was no dream.. it was perfectly real.
"Welcome to your new country princess Hitomi."

(An: Alright...what do you guys think? Continue? No?)