Chapter 6

Hitomi registered three things very quickly when she woke up the next morning. One being that she was being attacked with small butterfly kisses all over her mouth and face, another being that some time in the middle of the night, she had managed to squirm out of her night coat and now lay in her thin nighty, which, she guessed, was probably revealing all of her curves as she lay there. She was definitely unable to ignore the soft tracing of fingertips along her sides feeling every bit of it through the once again, very thin fabric. And last, but certainly not least, she realized that she was lying in Van's bed.

Yes, it was Van's bed, a thought that wouldn't have made her feel so weird inside, if she hadn't just realized that he, though sweet as always, was still a hormone raging, 19 year old male who was currently without a shirt.

She blushed, and tried to roll over, making small noises of protest to the sudden, but very exciting, awakening. "Van, let me sleep a bit longer."

He chuckled and gently kissed along her jaw line. She figured he was just too half asleep last night to realize that she was in his bed, or else he probably would have attacked her then, not so early in the morning like now. He stopped his kisses and pulled away, looking down at her with mischief in his eyes (and something else Hitomi refused to think about at the moment). "Queens wake up early."

"They do not." She rolled over and buried her face in the pillow. "I'm not a queen yet, anyway." She tried to ignore his body pressing against her.

"You will be, so you might as well practise." She made a noise cross between and huff and a snort. He laughed slightly and leaned down to her ear. "You'll make a great queen." He placed a small kiss on her earlobe, but leaned away as she turned over onto her back again.

"You think so?"

He smiled sweetly than ran a hand through her honey coloured locks. "I'm sure of it."

She blushed and looked away, seemingly looking at the dark wood floor of the room. Her housecoat lay in a rumpled heap near the bed. He was kissing her again.

"Van... It's too early in the morning." She pressed against his chest and shoulders as he left light, hot kisses down her neck and shoulders.

He made a small noise that sounded very much like a sigh, and leaned away from her, watching her as he sat on his knees. "It's never too early in the morning."

She groaned. "Your a morning person..." He shrugged, than crawled into the bed next to her, looping his arm around her waist and placing his head on her shoulder, his face against her neck. "And since when did you become so touchy-feely?" He went to move away, but she turned and wrapped an arm around his neck. "I didn't say I don't like it." She felt him smile against her skin.

"Merle threatened that if I didn't learn to act my age and show people I care, she would scratch my eyes out." Hitomi laughed. "She also said that if I don't show you any affection when you come back you would just go right back to Allen."

Hitomi snorted. "She doesn't think very highly of me, does she?" Van shrugged. 'Wait... you don't actually think I would do that, do you?" She moved away from Van, eyeing him carefully.

He kept her gaze stubbornly, showing something of the old stubborn boy king she had fallen in love with. "He did propose to you."

"Then I went back to Earth. I think that's the ultimate rejection, wouldn't you say?" (AN: I don't like Allen too much...)

He shook his head. "But you came back."

She put a hand on her hip and glared at him. "For you, yes."

He blinked at her, than turned away, seemingly embarrased. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"Because I was fifteen, and I knew I would have to go back." She sighed and cuddled up to his side again, nestling herself in the crook of his arm. "But none of that matters anymore, because I'm with you now."

He didn't say anything, but his arms seemed to tighten more around her in a protective gesture.

"Van!" Merle's loud voice broke the silence easy. She banged on the door. "The carriage from Asturia just arrived!"

Van sighed and let go of Hitomi, climbing out of bed like someone who looked suddenly a few years older. "I'm coming Merle."

"I'll wait at the end of the hall." They could hear her skip off, the sound of her sandals scrapping on the wood floors disappearing. Van put on a thin white shirt quickly. Hitomi noted that he looked very good with the light brown pants he was wearing, and even better with the dark brown boots he was putting on and tying up. She smiled. He would look even better in black, but the hot weather would be murder in that.

She stretched, than leaned down to recover the housecoat from the ground. "I suppose we're going through with your surprise plan." She looked up at him as she put her housecoat over her shoulders. He smiled at her and came back of her to the bed.

"If you want."

Hitomi shrugged, than stood up, running her hands through her bed head of hair. "It's fine with me." She suddenly glared at him. "But if they get mad, I had nothing to do with it."

"One more thing." He reached up and unhooked the pendent from his neck, than placed it around her neck, redoing the clasp securely in place. "It's yours, and I can talk to you whenever I like now anyway." He smiled and touched the red gem as it lay on her chest. "It would only be right if you wear it tonight, Your Majesty."

"Van..." She didn't know what to say, only stare up at him and blush stupidly.

He smiled, then lent down and placed a small kiss on her forehead. "I'll see you later."

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Van took the grand stair case two at a time, heading down the to large entry way at the bottom of the stairs with Merle at his heels. The party there were all turning their attention to the decorated ceilings and great carved pillars around the room, seemingly in awe. Dryden had taken to looking at a large vase which stood between two pillars, carefully eyeing the design, well his wife, Millerna was being welcomed by Lorilae. All looked out of place here. What was tradition of their countries was completely different from the culture of this seaside merchants country. Even Asturia, though very similar in size, main industry and location, still was not similar to La Vallex in style. The clothes of the guards were more light compared to the uniform Allen wore, and the maids surrounding the group, carrying off bags and such to other rooms made the Queen of Asturia look drab next to them.

Chid, who was standing beside a girl with platinum blonde wavy hair, was first to spot Van. "Van, you're already here."

Lorilae turned to her adoptive nephew and Merle, smiling sweetly to them. "Van's been here for a few days now."

Millerna gave Van an enthusiastic hug, well Dryden came over and shook the younger man's hand, Chid soon followed. Allen and Selena simply bowed to him before Merle went over and gave Selena a hug of her own.

"You've met the princess than?" Millerna's curiosity was obvious as she eyed her old friend with excitement.

"I have." He smiled at Lorilae, who was watching him oddly. "I think you'll like her, she's very nice." Merle nodded in agreement. (Van had told her the plan when they were on their way there) He glanced quickly back at his aunt who was now watching him with a curious and mischievous smile. The old women was always good at catching on quick.

"You'll meet her tonight. I'm giving her the day off to relax." Lorilae patted Millerna's arm. "All the stuff a young queen has to go through... it gets very tiring." She took Millerna by the arm and gently steered her to a hallway off to the side. "Come along all of you, you must catch me up on things."

Van waited till the group had walked past him to follow, not missing the suspicious look Allen had given him.

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Hitomi now walked through the palace grounds with Griffin and Josceline, just as it had been on her first day there. Josceline remained quiet, but Griffin was piping with excitement over the ball that night. He had seen them bring in acrobats and players and was happy to tell Hitomi about them. Saying there was a place in the city that trained them especially for such things. He was so excited about it all that Hitomi was having a hard time trying to stay disgruntle and nervous over the whole thing.

She really didn't like being the centre of attention, and a whole ball dedicated to her seemed a tad too much. Let alone the fact she had to dance. She wasn't a good dancer. She had paled considerably when her father and grandmother told her what was required of her tonight. She was quite sure she would die of embarrassment tonight. Or just get Griffin to ship her off to some far away desert along the coastline. She could always just elope with Van and live secretly at his castle...

"Hey... Griffin..."

He stopped babbling about the fire dancers that were to probably perform tonight and gave her a lopsided smile. "Yes?"

"Is Van engaged... or anything like that...?"

Griffin was silent for a moment, and Hitomi did not miss the look he passed to Josceline. "No." He shook his head than continued to talk about the celebration.

"What- what was that?" She glared at the cat boy.

He blinked at her. "What was what?" He gave her his best innocent smile.

"That look you gave Josceline!" She turned and glared at her bodyguard, but he only shrugged. He wouldn't be of any help. "What are you hiding."

"Nothing."

"Griffin..." She was nearly growling. "Tell me."

"I'm not hiding anything." He stopped, then looked over to the main court yard which was visible past the garden. He suddenly turned towards her with a defeated look, throwing his hands up. "All right, you win Hitomi. I guess I'll show you the surprise."

"What- but I wasn't talking about any-"

"No hush hush," He began leading her over the grass towards the courtyard. "You'll like this surprise."

"But I was asking about Van-"

"Your dad wanted to keep it secret, but... we might as well show you now." He mock sighed, than hissed rather loudly and cat like, his tail fattening as his hair stood on end. He rubbed the back of his head and shot a dangerous glare at Josceline who stood right behind them both. Josceline was holding a strand of Griffin's black hair between his fingers.

"Don't be an idiot." He marched past both of them, leaving them to stare at his back as they continued to walk. They were getting more and more surprises from Josceline everyday. And the more and more he did it, the more Hitomi realised he was an actual human being, not some weird mechanical thing he had seemed when they first met. She couldn't help but smile.

Her smile, however, turned into a full grin when she saw who was standing in the courtyard. Maids were there, bringing a few suitcases (yes, suitcases, Hitomi was relieved to see) into the castle. A tall man and a girl stood there, waiting patiently and watching the maids work with silent awe. The girl moved forward to help one of the smaller looking maids with her bag, but the maid only shook her head.

"Yukari! Amano!" Both of her Earth friends turned to look at her in shock as she hurried forward.

"Hitomi!" Yukari embraced her friend tightly when Hitomi reached them. When she let go she had a huge smile on her face. "It's so beautiful here! No wonder you didn't want to leave in the first place! And so hot! I wish I'd have known and I would have brought more summer clothes." She fanned herself with her hand for emphasis. "That's such a pretty dress!" She tugged at the straps of the dress she had chosen to wore today. A cottony fabric of a light blue colour with dark blue embroidery around the hems.

"You like it?" She did a quick spin so the fabric twirled around her, hugging her curves. "My grandmother bought it for me."

"Oh, it's beautiful!" She touched the newly placed pendent with gentle fingers. "And you have your pendent back too!" She looked up at her best friend and grinned. "Does that mean you-know-who is here?"

Hitomi blushed. "Yukari..."

"I told her not to attack you with questions, but I suppose the gesture was a waist of breath." Amano walked forward and gave her a small brotherly hug. "How have you been?"

"Fine... nervous for tonight, but fine..." She looked at them sceptically. "How are you... I mean, how did you get here?"

"Your dad came and got us this morning. He had to go off and do something though." Yukari motioned towards the castle. "He said that he thought we may want to come and see Gaea. And he said that you would probably want us here for your ball."

"I owe him!" Hitomi pulled her friend into another hug, than stepped back. "Oh! This is Griffin," she motioned to the cat boy who smiled happily and waved, "and Josceline." Josceline bowed.

"Hello." Both chorused a the same time, watching both with curiosity.

"This is Amano and Yukari."

"Nice to meet you." Griffin shook the surprised Amano's hand than placed a small kiss on the back of Yukari's who giggled. "Josceline doesn't talk much, so don't expect much from him."

Josceline glared at the cat boy but didn't say anything.

"Hitomi." Yukari nudged her best friend playfully, than went over to a bag that still remained. The riffled through it for a second before pulling out a pair of roller-skates. She stood and passed them to Hitomi with a grin. "Up to it?"

Hitomi took them with a grin and sat to put them on.

oooooooooooooooooooo

"You have such a beautiful garden Lorilae." Millerna was near bursting with all the beautiful stuff here. She had been making a mental note to herself of things to change when she got back home. A better garden was certainly on that list. La Vallex out matched Asturia's so greatly that it was getting embarrassing. She was just glad that Lorilae did not travel enough to see the gardens of Asturia.

"I try, dear. If I didn't have a garden, I would go mad. Looking at city and ocean all day." A cry of delight caused several colourful birds in the tree next to them to shoot out into the warm afternoon sky. "Oh dear..." They all looked down the smooth stone path in surprise as two girls bolted towards them on what looked like rolling shoes. One was dressed in strange clothes that looked like something a boy would wear well the other was dressed in a pretty dress.

The one in the dress waved as she passed and to half the people's surprise Van and Merle both waved at the girl and smiled as she sped along past.

Shortly after, before they were all able to collect themselves, an extremely out of breath Josceline nearly collapsed in front of the group. He doubled over, grasping at his knees as he breathed. Griffin was at his side soon after, having ran on all fours to catch up, followed by a man with short brown hair (AN: yes... I gave Amano a hair cut. He lived in England... he should know long hair is bad O.O) and strange clothes like the other girl.

"You can run pretty fast, Josceline." Griffin grinned and patted the guards back sympathetically.

He stood, and tried to look dignified, but failed horribly as he let out a sudden cry of frustration, turning to the queen. "That girl is insane!"

"Now now Josceline." The queen stepped towards the Celestial, taking his arm and began leading him away, but he resisted slightly. "She's just having a bit of fun."

"How am I suppose to guard her when she runs around like- like- a crazy person!"

Merle stifled a laugh behind her hand. Van looked amused.

"You need some tea dear, come along."

"I need to-"

"No no, you don't. She doesn't need you to watch her all the time." She forcefully brought the babbling Josceline back towards the castle, calling over to Griffin. "If your not busy, Griffin, could you please continue on with the tour."

Griffin grinned, than turned to Amano. "Did you want to stay, or go after those two?"

"I should go after them." He gave a quick, unsure Japanese style bow to the group, than hurried off in the direction the girls went.

Griffin watched him go for a moment before making eye contact with Merle. Both broke into hysterical laughter soon followed by Van's small chuckle.

"What on Gaea was that about?" Millerna watched the three for a moment, a confused smile on her face. "That wasn't the princess was it?"

"She-" Merle gasped, "She broke him already!"

"I never thought I'd see a Celestial breakdown."

Allen stirred at the comment. (AN: He's either thinking something along the lines of 'Of course he'd break, none are as good as a knight of Caeli'... or he's thinking 'I would break to if I had to sustain from women for my entire life'. A feet which would probably be impossible for him . Yes... I told you, I'm not a fan of Allen... him and his girlie hair... -shakes fist)

"That was the princess yes." Griffin told Millerna, still grinning. He had noticed that Millerna, though friends with Hitomi did not call the princess Hitomi. He shot a look over in Van and Merle direction. Merle was shaking her head. "She's really fun, her friend brought those roller boots from the Mystic Moon for her. She has lots of little treasures from there." He got a very excited look on his face as he continued. "She has this black box that plays music from shiny round things when you press buttons. She calls it a boom box! Lorilae is going to make it work without the power source she uses."

Merle coughed, signifying that Griffin was suppose to be showing the guests around, as much as she liked to hear about all the neat stuff too, she didn't want the royalty to get annoyed with the loveable cat-boy.

"Right, anyway..." He passed her a thankful look. "On with the tour than." He took up his professional manner in an instant and continued on with the tour smoothly.

ooooooooooooooooooo

AN:

that chapter was fun Sorry all you people who were waiting for the ball to happen in this chapter. That will be in the next chapter. I just wanted to have a little fun first. -sigh- I'm so mean to Josceline, but I loves him!

The next chapter will get a bit more... erm... spicy... yes, thats what I would call it. Either the next or the one after that... depends how long the ball lasts. I won't go into detail when it gets to that part, because I know some people don't like it. But the story is rated M, so I will have some mature stuff I thinks.

What did you think of the chapter? Review? Critique? Suggestions?