Hitomi stayed at Van's longer than she had ever at her friend Millerna's house. She walked through the door to her house at almost 2 in the morning, a goofy smile on her face. Her parents were sleeping and her brother, Chris, was listening to his rock music in his room, his dancing shadow visible under the door way.
The girl half danced to her room, humming one of her favorite love melodies to herself as she went. She fell back onto her bed and pulled Van's jacket closer around her, breathing in his scent. Van had offered to get her trench coat dry-cleaned and had given her, to keep, one of his oh so nice jackets. It was warm and cozy and the lovliest shade of black, all like Van.
She slid out of her heeled boots and semi damp clothes that Van had also given her and dressed into her nightgown, and hung her new jacket in her closet. She pounced on her bed and gripped her big brown teddy bear into her arms, squeezing it and burying her face into it until the true nature of 2 in the morning slowly overtook her mind and she laid out on her bed, getting ready for sleep. The only problem was, she couldn't sleep. Her mind was racing with thoughts about Van.
"Here it is." Van said, unlocking a door that looked so much alike the ones they had passed before.
Hitomi walked in after Van and couldn't stop herself from staring at everything, mouth agape. "This is where you live?" she said after a couple tries.
Van nodded and was blushing. Even red in the cheeks, Hitomi thought he was gorgeous. All the more so that they were in good lighting and out of the rain. "It's the apartment my father, brother, and I had lived in when I was growing up."
Hitomi could not believe how amazing everything was. The fire place was near to as big as her wall and the ceiling looked big enough to fit two garbage trucks on top of the other. The living room itself was the size of Hitomi's, Chris', and her parents' bedrooms combined and the kitchen/ bar was half that size.
"Wow." Was all she managed to say before Van offered her a seat on an expensive looking cloth couch with beautiful designs going along the fabric. Below the couch was a Persian rug that looked like a flame spreading across it and as Hitomi noticed, a lot of the furniture had somewhat the same design. Everything had the feeling of warmth and fire to it. Warm, bright, and welcoming. "I could get used to this." She said and heard Van snicker.
"A lot of girls say that, but they never stay." He said sadly and Hitomi shot him a glance that could've frozen blood. Van immediately held his hands up. "Not mine. Folken's. He's my brother. He brings random girls to our apartment. They never stay long and that's mostly Folken's fault. He's a headstrong scientist who does anything to get his experiments to work." Van rubbed his temple and eased into a lounge chair that matched the couch. "It gets annoying easily."
"So your brother's a player?"
Van looked up at her through his fingers. "No. Not a player, but not picky about his women. Last night he came home with a pair of twins. They were both gorgeous and swee hearts. Any guy would be half as lucky to get them. They left an hour after they came, but the older one, Naria, promised to come back tonight."
"I see. But Van?"
"Yes, Hitomi?"
"If he's your brother, then why isn't he in charge of your family business."
Van's eyes narrowed, and Hitomi felt she'd insulted him in some way, but as she stared into his eyes, she realized they weren't directed at her. "He decided to go to med school and get a degree in something other than law. I, just having turned 18, inherited my father's company, and though I don't have a degree in law, a friend of my family, Balgus, takes care of legal affairs for me."
"How old are you Van?"
"Still only 18. How bout you, Hitomi?"
"18. But if you're 18, why aren't you in school?"
"I am in school, but it's privet tutoring. Come June, I'm going to go to college around here, get a degree in law and take the reins from there." He explained simply, leaning back into his seat and relaxing slightly. He shook his head and smiled at Hitomi. "Forgive my rudeness. Would you like something, Hitomi? I did offer you coffee or tea."
"No, I'm alright. Maybe later though." She smiled at him. "So."
"So."
They sat in silence for a few minutes, Van getting up once to start a fire in the fireplace and to get himself a glass of water. Hitomi finally got bored of waiting and said, "Mind if I look around?"
"Of course not. Oh, but first, why don't you change out of those damp clothes? I know my brother kept some of his old girlfriends' things and you can change into those." He said, leading her into obviously his brother's room with chemistry sets everywhere and a laptop marked 'FOLKEN FANEL' on the lid. She stood there awkwardly for a moment while Van fished out some clothes and looked about the hallway, or what she could see from the doorway. There were pictures of a younger Van and a man a few years older than him with silver hair. They were grinning at the camera and holding up a huge fish that the two had caught. She jumped when Van threw her the clothes.
"Those should fit. And you can change in this room." He said, leading her out of the room and into a bedroom with no pictures and nothing to indicate whose room it was. Hitomi guessed it was a spare and proceeded to change. After laying her wet clothes in a little pile, she took a look at herself in the mirror.
Van had chosen a pink dress that had a ripped effect on the end and looked like bird's feathers on the shoulders. Big white bird feathers. It was comfortable, and fit nicely, but it was a bit tight. It showed off her legs, lengthy and slender, and her figure nicely. She twirled in it once, then twice and smiled to herself.
She was bored, and felt like exploring a bit. The room she was in was a good place to start and she started with the desk, which were filled with papers and folders. She still thought the room was just storage space and moved to the closet. She thought there was going to be boxes and stuff in there, but instead she found a couple jackets hung up, dress shirts and nice slacks. But behind the clothes were pictures. Pictures of the silver haired boy, but older more mature looking. He too was handsome and Hitomi realized that must've been Van's brother.
There were other pictures of a woman with long brown hair. She had the prettiest smile and looked like the nicest dressed so far. "That must be Van's mother." She whispered and touched the picture gently. It made her smile and she closed up the closet. She didn't do any more searching because she had come to the conclusion that the room she was in was Van's.
There was a knock on the door and Hitomi opened it. Van looked her over, kind of wide eyed and grinning, but he, like before, kept his eyes on her face when he spoke. "Again, I ask if you want something warm to drink or eat?"
Hitomi smiled and gathered up her wet clothes. "Tea would be nice."
Van grinned and held out his hands for her clothes. "May I? I'll send them to be dry cleaned along with your coat. Things like that should be treated with care." Hitomi's heart jumped and she prayed that his words had a double meaning.
She handed him the wet clothes and purposefully let her hand brush his. He was warm, even with the cold clothes in their hands, and Hitomi wondered how he could be warm all the time. She liked his warmth. Like the apartment, it was welcoming and had a tiny taste of fire. She liked it.
Van turned and headed to the doors, Hitomi at his heels. She sat on the couch again, more self-conscious now that she was in a short dress, and crossed her ankles, straightening out the dress so it wasn't wrinkled. Van folded her clothes and laid them next to her damp jacket by the door along with a pile of other folded clothes, all male.
"Are you cold, Hitomi?" Van called from the kitchen over rising steam.
Hitomi rubbed her hands over the cold skin of her bare arms. "A little. I mean the fire's toasty and all, but I'm used to long sleeves." She explained.
He retreated into the hallway again and returned with one of the black coats she'd seen. He handed it to her and said, "That should keep you warm."
Hitomi smiled and thanked Van before slipping into the jacket. It was warm and cozy and she shivered as the soft cloth brushed her skin. "better?" He asked and Hitomi moaned in reply. "I'll take that as a yes." He laughed and returned with two cups of steaming raspberry tea. Hitomi took hers and breathed in the scent lovingly. When she took a sip, it wasn't too hot, despite the fact that it was steaming.
"Oh my god, Van. It's delicious." She said taking another sip delightfully.
"Of course it is. I made it." He joked and took a sip of his own tea, licking his lips. Hitomi had stopped in mid motion to watch Van make that little gesture. She watched him sip at the tea with hungry eyes and suddenly her skin craved his. She dropped her shoulders and set the cup on the glass table in front of her.
"Van. I'm sorry. I better go." She stood to leave and peeled the jacket off of her. "Thanks for everything though." Hitomi headed towards the door and reached for her damp jacket and clothes. She was stopped when Van spun her in his arms and held her tight.
"Please don't go, Hitomi. I don't want to be alone." Hitomi's eyes opened wide when she heard that. She closed her eyes and cried into his chest. Silent tears soaked his red t-shirt that he had changed into while Hitomi had changed and she rubbed her cheek against the soft cloth.
"Van, can't do this anymore. I'm tired of getting hurt." She whispered.
"Hitomi, I promise never to hurt you. I will protect you from everything around you." He whispered back and kissed her hair, rubbing her back gently.
Hitomi looked up at him, pleading in her eyes. "Really?"
He looked down at her, those garnets filled with promise and something that Hitomi had never seen before. Love. Did he love her? Or was he another player? Allen's eyes seemed to be filled with love, but look what he turned out to be. She cried into his chest and let him comfort her. "I promise Hitomi. I am bound to my word." He whispered and kissed her head again.
"Oh Van. Van. Van." She whispered, hugging the bear tighter till it looked like the beady black eyes. Hitomi couldn't help but grin like a love struck teenager as she remembered being in his arms. She held herself tight and breathed in the lingering scent of Van. Was she in love with Van? That was easy. Yes. Of course she was. But what made her smile fade was the question of if Van loved her.
She remembered the look in his eyes and desperately wanted to tell herself that the answer to that was yes, but she remembered his words. He'd protect her and he promised to never hurt her, but he didn't say anything about love.
Hitomi sighed in despair, her eyes filling with tears slowly, but she bit her lower lip to force them back. Just because he didn't say that he would love her, didn't mean that he wouldn't eventually.
But that was what she had said about Allen so many times. Was she directing herself for heartbreak, again? Was she leading herself into a trap? Probably, but Hitomi doubted that she could spend one more day without a pair of warm arms to fall into. She'd just have to endear her little secret until she found someone else who gave as wonderful as hugs as Van did. The next question was could she find someone as perfect?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A/N: Sorry it's probably not as tasteful as the first chapter. It's basically just a very very long flash back from a few minutes ago after coming home from Van's place. If anything is out of place, or you think it needs to flow better, please e-mail me at or at . i'm glad have gotten 4 reviews on the first chapter. I hope more come. Oh, and I forgot to add this in the first chapter:
I DO NOT OWN ESCAFLOWNE! I AM MERELY USING NAMES IN A STORY I ALREADY HAD LAID OUT! SO NEH!
anyway. happy reading and I hope to have a chapter up soon. this is probably my favorite story to write right now. so many ways it could go horribly wrong or perfectly right.