Hey, long time no see, huh:D It's been a while…a very long time in fact - it says in my bio that I'm still 15 while I'm only just reaching my 17th birthday now! God, I'm getting old!XP

Thanks to everyone who sent me reviews asking for me to update 'Feeling This', but due to school issues and my irritating laziness it kept getting put off until I came back and reread it to find it horribly written! Even if I was 15 years old! So, if I have any spare time I would like to update my chapters for 'F.T', but right now I'm focusing on this story - 'Bittersweet'.

I have this thing of naming my stories after song titles, but with this one I had already planned and written out the prologue before randomly listening to an Apocalyptica song I had stored on my Zen (yes, I like Apocalyptica! I saw them play at a Rammstein concert during the time I left and it was all fantasmajorical!XP) Anywho, there are some deep cellos playing and then Lauri from The Rasmus and some other random Icelandic dude singing (I think it's the lead singer of HIM, but I could be wrong…) and it occurred to me as I was typing that it kinda applied to Van…maybe it was just me, but my first chapter sounded somewhat like the lyrics that I understoodXP

So, that's the name of the fic explained. Hopefully I'll be able to complete this story without it dying on me like my other four…¬.¬

I hope you like!;P

Bittersweet

Prologue

Warmth. The overpowering, heady sensation he felt whenever they were like this, holding onto each other as if for dear life. He was her anchor to this world while she was the one keeping his sanity and heart intact, though sometimes it felt like both were coming apart at the seams.

Endless numbers of times they had done this. Almost two years to be exact and still he could not get used to it. Every so often, once or twice a month, she would come back. Having found some break in her ever more complex life she would return to him and Gaia, spending the time in the company of himself or Merle, or whichever old friend had come visiting the Fanelian castle at that time. When they were together , away from prying eyes and gossiping voices it was as if they tried to stop the hands of time from continuing their endless circles, with plans of ways to find some hole in the loop they were repeating. Never had time been so precious to either of them before then.

But they never succeeded and soon it was that time again. And each time she left he died a little bit more. Sure, it was one thing to dream about each other when separated by the distance that lay between Gaia and the Mystic Moon, but literally being together in the same room was more reassuring; reassuring in the way that she was not just a figment of his imagination, a phantom haunting his dreams. It gave him tangible proof that she really existed and had been with him for the short amount of time she could spare from her life away from him.

And yet here they stood, holding each other tightly, neither wanting to let go once more.

"Van", came a bittersweet sound, a voice gentle and caring yet holding a note of sadness when she muttered his name. The name of a king.

No reply. He was all too aware of what she was to say next. Every time it was the same.

Pulling her form closer to his he breathed in the scent of her fragrented hair, savouring it for those dull, tedious days when not even Merle could lift his spirits.

"Van", it came again, "…Van, I have to go" she whispered barely audibly.

Swallowing, the king nodded his head half-heartedly before pressing his cheek closer to the lockes of honey gold that had lengthened and teased him so often over the years. "I know". His voice sounded forced and seemed to tremble with the very strain of saying just those two words.

Still neither moved.

"But, why?" Van mumbled dejectedly despite knowing the answer to his question.

Green eyes suddenly filled his vision. Never before had he ever met a shade quite like those before. Jade and emeralds shadowed in comparison to the jewels now staring miserably up at him now.

"Van" she said a fourth time as if saying his name aloud would reassure herself he also existed despite her doubts, "You know why". A hand reached to cup his cheek, the warmth he felt intensifying with her touch.

He knew that he sounded like a spoilt child whose toys had just been taken away from him, but why did this have to be so hard? When she had first returned to Gaia and spent her time reacquainting herself with the rebuilt Fanelia, Van thought the intensity of his need for her to stay had been arduous. It was nothing compared to now. Two years and still he couldn't bear to let her go.

A gentle summer breeze caught up the trees and the leaves surrounding them, the forest's canopy shifting light across the clearing where Escaflowne, the mighty armour, resided beside the graves of the rest of the Fanelian royal family, ivy and grasses already entwining themselves around it's metallic figure.

"Hitomi, why does this have to be so hard? It hurts more each time you go…" the pain in his blood red orbs reflected in jade as his sight never wavered from hers.

A sad smile graced her lips. Two years spent helping him out of his emotional shell to actually admit his true feelings for her had been chore enough for Hitomi, and by the look on her face, Van could guess she regretted doing it at points such as these. It did make everything so much harder than it had to be.

"I know, but there's nothing we can do. You know about my family and my running, and school…I can't just leave them all like that no matter how much I wish I could…It's just not that simple and it isn't fair on them. It would be like asking you to abandon your kingdom to live on Earth. You couldn't do it, could you?" Hitomi replied sympathetically even as Van's head drooped and his gaze met the base of her neck, muscles expanding and contracting as she swallowed. He knew she was right, but still he didn't want to meet her gaze now as she attempted to make him feel just a little bit happy about the whole depressing situation.

Offering a wavering smile as she tried to meet his gaze once more, Hitomi's voice was strained as she rubbed his arm, "I'm coming back in two weeks, which isn't long if you think about it. So before you even know it, I'll be back. It'll be like I've never left".

Reluctantly his eyes raised to meet hers. She was trying so hard to be the sensible one, while all he could do was sulk like the child he had been when he first met her compared to the young man he was, and should be acting like, now. But it was so hard to imagine the next few weeks without her again; alone in his room staring up at the sky through his open window, or in a council meeting just sitting there, tuning out the monotonous voices of the old men who made up his council to remember happier times when she had been there to fill the empty void she had created the day they had met with laughter and love.

The sea of green that met him reminded him of how he'd felt the first time she'd said she needed to go home, back to a world he had no grasp of. He felt like he was drowning. It was only when she returned again that he felt saved from the waves of his life that had been crashing down on him in her wake.

He couldn't let her leave again. He knew he was strong, but, how long could he survive this emotional torture?

Without warning his lips descended on hers ravenously, stealing her breath and her sensible attitude away. Yielding instantly, Hitomi's palms clung to his cheek and ruffled raven lockes. Wandering hands clung to the small of her back and shoulders as if to pull her even closer though distantly Van knew she was flush against him. But still it wasn't close enough.

He wanted her to stay with him and save him from his loneliness. She was the only thing standing between sanity and a life half lived. Still, this was not the way to win her. Only time would tell if she would choose him over her life on the Mystic Moon, or even her life over theirs together.

They had to stop before he knew he would never be able to let her leave.

Remembering the lessons he had been taught by his mother such a long time ago about not delaying the inevitable, Van gathered all the fragments of his self control to calm the passion he felt boiling in his veins, the warmth ever increasing. Gradually he managed to slow the hungry kiss to tender meetings between their lips before reluctantly pulling away.

Finally taking a breath, Van could hear Hitomi's similar breathing pattern as he caught her fighting against a genuinely heartbreaking smile.

"You never fail to impress, Van Fanel" Raising her gaze once more she gently brushed tousled bangs out of his eyes. Responding with the best lop sided grin he could managed at that moment the young king grasped one of her hands in his own and raised it to his lips for a tender kiss. Gazing intently into her jade depths a final time, Van whispered, "I'll miss you" before reluctantly taking a few slow steps back, their hands outstretched to one-another.

As Van's fingertips left hers, Hitomi whispered back, "I'll be back soon…", half - formed tears making her eyes shimmer in the afternoon's light.

Green searched red for a long moment before they finally closed, brows furrowing in concentration. It was finally time.

Silence filled the clearing as neither spoke, only the breeze that once again reappeared to circle Van's bare forearms and lift the hem of his shirt whispered to them.

Suddenly a pillar of blue towering down from the sky pierced the canopy above and landing on Hitomi's slender form engulfed her in light. Eyes flashing open she was able to glance at him longingly before levitating just above the floor and was then carried up into the sky beyond Van's sight. The light dispersed in a flash of bright stars leaving the forest as it had been not a few seconds beforehand. Silence returned once more, but this time even the breeze had left. Van no longer felt the warmth he had shared with Hitomi mere moments ago and it left him feeling empty and cold.

She was gone.