CHAPTER

Van took Hitomi out flying the next time when Van had time off, Hitomi didn't need to rely on him to save her as often as he use to. Still, she couldn't help but remember on that day, at the end of the war when Van had broke through the fate controlling system just to come to save her. How he picked her up off of the floor and held her tightly just to rescue her from the capital of Zaibach. That whole time she had been in love with Allen, and yet, Van, who had faithfully been by her side at every moment loved her not just for fun, but for real. She finally figured out that what he had done to her on their wedding night, wasn't as bad to what she had done to him two years earlier. Now, they where on the right path to their relationship, and now had one another's trust completely and truly. She was happy, and could tell that Van was as well even though she didn't get to see him as often as she wanted, she was happy. She laughed as Van pinned her down to the floor and started to tickle her playfully. "Van.. Van, stop, I can't breath!" Hitomi begged which she really couldn't so the young king did as she asked.

"Are you happy here with me my queen?" Van asked still pinning her down.

"Why do you have to keep asking me that Van?" Hitomi asked as she stared in to those brown-crimson red eyes of his, which always caught hold of her attention no matter what the moment was.

"Are you?" Van asked again as he kissed Hitomi on her forehead and Hitomi nodded. "Of course, I wouldn't have it any other way, now stop asking me that stupid question."

"Good, I'm glad." Van said smiling as Hitomi ran her fingers through his raven black hair. "I'm glad." He repeated as he now laid his head down against Hitomi's beating heart. "I'm sorry that I don't get to spend too many moments like this with you."

"That's fine, you being my husband is alright with me." Hitomi said smiling happily. "I know that you love me and that's enough with me."

"Yes, though I still…" Van said and quickly looked up feeling like they weren't alone. "Whose there?" No one answered which made Van quickly stand up and with draw his sword, the symbol of the Fanelian king. "I order you to come out."

"There's no one there Van." Hitomi said as she wrapped her arms around her husband. "Trust me." She said as she kissed his arm gently.

"Hai." Van said as he kissed her forehead gently. "I believe you." The young king said and smiled at his young wife. "No regrets, now and forever."

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The end of the next month came around and Merle was back, she was actually glad to have her cat eared friend back. "How did it go Merle?" Hitomi asked after Merle had talked to Van about whatever it was that she went to go do.

"Great, couldn't have been better." Merle said happy. "I'm so glad that Van-Sama trusted me enough with this since this will make things so much easier between the people in the forest and Fanelia."

"I thought that Dragons where the only beings living in the forest." Hitomi said questionably and Merle gave her a strange angered look.

"DUH!" Merle said and rolled her cat like eyes. "Stupid of course there are Dragons in the forest, but they aren't the only ones." Merle explained. "Other people like me live there to, that's where Van-Sama's father found me." Merle explained. "Though I was alone and most of my tribe had been destroyed by war."

"Oh…" Was all that Hitomi could say and remembered that Van had said something about Merle's past when she was here two years ago. 'She understands their pain as well since she went through something similar to what they did.' Van had told her when Hitomi was making fun of Merle about something, but she couldn't remember what, and then that's when Van told her about it.

"Yes, ever since the war years and years ago, my people have been hesitant to be near humans. Humans treated my kind badly for years, expect for my case that is." Merle noted. "I finally got them to agree that they would start trying to come in to Fanelia and start trying to trade and so on." Merle explained. "That they have every right to be here as the humans do, and that these people are different and don't want to hurt the forest."

"I see…" Hitomi said smiling. "I'm glad that you did it, I wonder if they would be any thing like those two twins." (The two cat women, can't remember their name. The ones who loved Folken.) They had both loved Folken so much, not that she blamed them since he was actually kind once you got to know him, and they where so difficult to understand. Hitomi sighed at the sad memory.

"No, I don't know. I haven't really been around any of my own kind since I was little since I was pretty much abandoned since every one else who was left of my clan was too busy trying to get their own family to survive even though there's an old law in my peoples clans that every one in the clan is pretty much family."

"I see, it would make sense." Hitomi said nodding trying to understand Merle's original culture. "I hope that everything will work out in the end."

"Hey, Hitomi, let's go shopping!" Merle said suddenly as if trying to change the subject.

"Alright…" Hitomi said almost hesitantly. "But let me change first." Hitomi said still wearing one of her dresses that was meant for flying rather then just everyday walking.

"No, just leave it, you look fine. Besides no one's going to suspect that someone like you is Fanelia's queen anyway." Merle said slyly.

"What do you mean by that?" Hitomi asked.

"Oh, I mean you might dress like a queen but…"

At that moment Van happened to walk in.

"Van-Sama!" Merle said and jumped on to the young king.

"Hi Merle." Van said and hugged his childhood friend. "Hitomi have you eaten lunch yet?" He asked.

"No why?" Hitomi asked curiously.

"I have some time so I was wondering if you would…." Van started to say but was stopped by Merle.

"Van-Sama, she just promised to go shopping with me." Merle whined. "And you never spend any time with me any more so would you expect her to break her promise?" Merle asked.

"Umm…." Was all that Van said not really knowing what to say and glanced back at Hitomi who stood behind Merle who just shrugged.

"I just got back after a month of being away and you don't want to spend time with me any more." Merle whined.

"Umm…." Van said trying to think of something. "Would you like to join us for lunch then and then we can go shopping?" Hitomi finally suggested trying to Merle off of her husband. "I'd ask Van to come shopping with us, but I think he would be bored, ne Merle?" Hitomi asked playfully.

"Hai!" Merle answered happily. "Lunch with Van-Sama!" She said happily.

'Damn, she's still clinging to him, is she doing that to piss me off?' Hitomi thought to herself as she looked at Merle and felt like hitting her at the moment. Hitomi and Van where married, and knew that Van loved her deeply, but that wasn't what she was worried about, it was Merle. She had known that Merle had always loved Van, even before she did and when Merle clung on to Van like that, it pissed her off sometimes, she didn't know why but it just did.

"Alright, let's go." Van said finally giving in not having much of a choice and was automatically ruined for his lunch date alone with his wife. Merle loosened her grip on to Van and walked next to him happily down the hall way.

Lunch was weird having Merle there especially since Merle had decided to grab the chair closest to Van. Normally it would have just been Hitomi and Van across from one another with out the third wheel on the bike, but this was just weird. She had gotten so use to not having Merle around and having Van all to herself. When they where finished, Van sent Merle to go walk ahead and made sure that she did what he ordered her to. Van pushed Hitomi against the wall before she walked out of the room and closed the door before he did it. "Van…"

"Sorry about that Hitomi." Van said. "I didn't expect Merle to be so persistent about it."

"That's fine Van, really. I understand that you don't get to spend a lot of time with me, but I understand." Hitomi said smiling.

"I know that you understand but…" Van was hushed by two fingers to his lips.

"Now, don't feel sorry or anything, you're king of a country and that's an important job. I don't care if you can't see me all the time, I'm happy with whatever time we have together, alone or not." Hitomi said. "Now, King Van, I would like it if you let me go from this spot." Hitomi said playfully. "I have a promise to keep."

"Fine…" Van said reluctantly and let his queen go. "Should I send…."

"Guards or samurai will just keep the people away from me, your highness, and we wouldn't want that, now would we?" Hitomi asked.

"No, I guess like you're right as usual." Van said sighing as he gave in. "Have fun."

"You to, or at least try to." Hitomi said and Van had to grin at that.

Hitomi and Merle made their ways down the streets of Fanelia with some of the people stopping to bow at her every once in a while and then went off to do their own thing. "Hey what's that?" Hitomi asked as a crowd started to gather in the center of the city.

"I don't know…" Merle said. "Let's go check it out!" The younger girl said excitedly but once they got there, things where a completely different story. A man with long white hair, and strange blue eyes was speaking.

"The king killed the High Priestess of Fanelia, for what reason?" The man said who seemed to gather a decent sized crowd. "Do you know my friend, do you, or you or you?" He asked as he pointed to Merle.

"YES I DO!" Merle shouted over the muttering crowd who shut up at her voice. "Naomi tried to kill Queen Hitomi!" Merle said as she now jumped on to the stage. "IF you DON'T STOP TALKING TREASON AGAINST THE KING I WILL CALL A SAMURAI OVER HERE TO STOP YOU!" She shouted at the man.

"You would say that now wouldn't you?" The man said questioning Merle. "You are a personal friend of the king, are you not? You would say anything to cover up the truth, we the people of Fanelia deserve the truth."

"YOU AREN'T EVEN FROM FANELIA!" Merle said and the crowd gasped.

"How dare you speak out against the king like that?" Another familiar voice in the crowd shouted at the man. "King Van and Queen Hitomi saved us from Zaibach and ended the Great War!" The woman who had saved Merle in the beginning of the anime shouted. (Yes I'm using this person just because I couldn't and didn't feel like thinking of any one of my own.)

"Yeah!" Another voice in the crowd said and then a few more. Hitomi wondered if she should back out at this moment.

"Well, there's your wonderful queen now." The man continued once he spotted Hitomi.

Hitomi just stood there not knowing what to do or say. "You dare to speak…" She was interrupted.

"Why don't we ask her why our precious priestess was killed?" The man asked.

"Pst, this way!" The boy that she had chased previously earlier in the month said through one part of the crowd.

"Naomi was killed of her own selfishness." Hitomi answered ignoring the boy and the crowd looked at her. "She tried using the gods as her reason to kill me so that she could have the king." Hitomi answered now beginning to loose her temper, but managed to keep it under control.

"How do we…"

"The King of Fanelia…" Hitomi interrupted. "Has gone through much lengths to bring peace back to Fanelia and to Gaea." Hitomi continued interrupting the man's rude interruption. "During the Great War after Zaibach attacked Fanelia, King Van fought Zaibach until the end to bring peace back to his people and is this how you repay your king?" Hitomi asked the people. "By believing this man who isn't even from our country?" Hitomi continued now getting the people's attention. "I'll leave it up to you to decide for yourselves to who you want to believe. King Van of Fanelia, or some nameless stranger who hasn't been here to understand our hardship from the beginning." Hitomi had the right to say our not only because she was queen, but because she was there on that day when Fanelia was attacked, Balgus was killed as well as the other three lords, and she remembered how Fanelia burned to the ground.

"King Van of Fanelia!" A voice in the crowd shouted out.

"King Van!" Another voice shouted. "And the Wing Goddess Queen Hitomi!"

Hitomi smiled happily knowing that they trusted Van over this man. The man jumped down from the podium and jumped in front of her. The kid from that day who stole her purse quickly moved to her side. "The Legendary Wing Goddess, what a joke." The man said as he looked down at her. "This is the pitiful Queen of Fanelia?"

Hitomi just stared at him. 'There's something that he isn't telling the people…' Hitomi thought as she looked at him. "Is there something that I can help you with?" Hitomi asked trying to act as polite as she could.

"Funny, you don't look like a wing goddess, or a queen." The man said as he got dangerously close. The kid stepped in between the two. "People like you shouldn't get too close to the queen." The kid said. "His highness wouldn't like it."

"You are done here, I suggest that you leave now before I call the samurai over for disturbing the peace." Hitomi said not liking how close he was getting.

"Always hiding behind another?" The man asked coldly.

'Give me a sword and I'll show you a thing or two.' Hitomi thought to herself having had taken fencing (sword) lessons after she had returned back to Earth. Van and Allen both knew how to and she figured that if she had needed it for some reason, now she wished she had one.

"I order you to get out of Fanelia and to stay out!" Hitomi said raising her voice.

"Frightened are you Wing Goddess?" The man asked as he stepped closer and grabbed her wrist. She gasped as he held it up and she started to feel faint. A man suddenly punched the stranger and stepped in between them as Hitomi struggled to keep herself awake. 'Who, who is he?' Hitomi asked as she managed to stand up straight.

"Keep your lieing hands off of our queen." The man said angrily. "If you want to get to her, you will have to get through me first."

"One man? Is that it?" The man asked laughing as he stood there. "You are no threat to me."

"One man might not be but a crowd might!" The kid said but a whole crowd might be!" The man stared at the kid and then at the people who started to get in between him and Hitomi. "You will regret this!"

"Yeah, yeah, just get out of our country!" The kid said and the man was about to say something but the sound of whistles could now be heard as a group of Samurai started to run toward them.

Once Hitomi and Merle where alone again, she sighed in relief. "There, there's something that I don't like about that man." Hitomi said to Merle.

"Queen Hitomi…" The kid from that day said as he came up. "Sorry about that day, I didn't know who you where and just thought that you where some snobby royal person from some other country."

"That's fine." Hitomi said.

"Why didn't you turn me over to the samurai?" The kid asked.

"Because, you gave it back to me didn't you?" Hitomi asked.

"Yes but…"

"That means that you're not completely all that bad." Hitomi corrected. "And I didn't want one mistake to ruin the rest of your life."

"Queen Hitomi, what are you two talking about?" Merle asked rather lost.

"Nothing, just a little misunderstanding." Hitomi said. "Come on Merle, let's head back to the castle before his highness finds out about this."

"Yes, now let's go back." Merle said sighing. "We didn't even get to go shopping!"

"Fine we can do some shopping." Hitomi sighed and turned to look at the kid before she could ask his name, he was gone.

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Hand…. Cramp….. ouch…. Too much typing….. dah dah! Yeah I think that I'll leave you off here. Not too bad of a cliffy if none really. :sighs: Well this was completely random but oh well so I don't know what to do from here since people keep asking for villains so there you go. I was actually going to end it short but some people keep being a bugger about it. Well if I don't update or finish it with in oh two years, it's not my fault.

-Darkia-