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Hitomi sighed and breathed in the cool air. She knew everyone would start lecturing her if they saw her sitting next to the open balcony doors. She wasn't cold, she told herslef. So there was no reason fresh air, cold or not, could be bad for her and the baby.
Humming softly, Hitomi looked out at the peice of sky she could see from her chair. Lately she couldn't look at the sky enough. It was like it was calling her. Too afraid of flying while pregnant she had to settle for staring at the blue, winter sky whenever she had a moment to herself. A moment where she could slip away and not be missed.
Every now and then she could hear the sound of armored men walking by below.
Feeling someone in the room the Queen almost jumped up to close the doors. Turning her head slowly she could see Van standing with his eyes closed as he took deep lung fulls of the nippy air.
"So you feel it too?" Van asked, his eyes still closed.
"Yes." Hitomi turned her eyes back to the sky.
"It's like the air is calling." Van placed a hand on Hitomi's arm, "Draconian's would fly to defend their homes and land. War for them was fought in the sky. I don't think our blood has ever forgotten what it feels like."
Hitomi rubbed her growing baby bump and looked thoughtfully up at the thin clouds that had drifted into view, "I think the baby can feel it too."
There was a comotion in the hall and Van was forced to hide his smile as a very disgruntled Christopher walked into the room, dragging Chiro by the collar of his shirt.
"My King, I believe it is time for the young prince to be given schooling or fighting lessons." Christopher rarely lost his temper with anyone, giving Van even more reason not to laugh at the knight.
"And why do you believe that?" Hitomi asked, glaring at her brother.
It was typical for Chris to not trouble anyone with a problem he had 'fixed' but Hitomi wanted to know what her brother had done.
"I'm bored, Hitomi!" Chiro burst out, "You all are always busy with plans for the war and I'm not even allowd in the room when you talk about them."
"What did you do Chiro?" Van asked, still finding this funny.
"I caught him listening at the door to the guards' room." Christopher sighed and Hitomi felt herself pale.
"What did you hear, Chiro?" Van asked, all humor gone.
"I-I heard that the army is puppets and that you plan to surprise them by moving first." Chiro hung his head.
"And what is our move, Chiro?" Hitomi asked.
"I caught him before that was said." Christopher saw both royals sigh in relief.
"Very good." Van nodded to the knight before turning his attention on Hitomi's brother, "Since you seem so determined to make yourself a target you are now confined to the palace unless Hitomi or I escort you somewhere. Even with what little you know Zaibach may think you know more and kidnap you to hold against us. They would also pry any information you have out of you by force. That, Chiro is why you have not been allowd in our meetings."
"The more people who know, the easier it will be for Zaibach to capture someone with just what they want to know." Hitomi raised her hand as Chiro began to complain, "You deserve much worse than this Chiro. Complain and I will add Kitchen duties to your confinement. We have a short amount of time to get everything right. No more screw ups."
Chiro sagged, defeated and let Christopher lead him from the royal bed room.
"I'm sorry, Van. I'd forgotten how annoying a 14 year old can be." Hitomi shook her head. For the most part her family were adjusting to life in Fanelia. She had taken her father back to Earth so he could make arrangements about work and a few other thisng, but after that he had even been nicer to her.
"It's not your fault." Van was mentaly kicking himself for not giving the boy something to occupy his time sooner, "In just a few hours we can put our plans into action and give Zaibach the surprise of their life."
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Tina watched Hitomi walk across the dining hall and smiled. Her belly was certainly noticable now. Hitomi was small and Tina had a feeling that by the end of her pregnancy the Queen would look like she had 2 or 3 babies waiting to get out.
During one of her father's better moods Tina had learned that the same had been true with her own mother. Her father had joked that they thought Tina was going to be triplets.
Hitomi caught the younger girl's eye and walked over to sit with her as they waited for everyone else to join them.
"What's on your mind?" Hitomi asked with a smile.
"What if you have more than one baby?" Tina asked, her eyes still on Hitomi's belly.
"Oh, no. There's only one inside of me. That I am sure of. I just look big. Van said it's because the wings develope outside of the baby's body and when labor starts the wings will retract." Hitomi had been gratefull to hear that last part. She couldn't imagine looking down and seeing wings come out of her. Not to mention how badly that would have hurt no matter which way the baby was facing.
Tina laughed reading Hitomi's thoughts on her face, "Well, I would hope so."
A soft thud and the click of the door latch told them the others were finaly there and they moved to the table.
Van smiled at Hitomi as he made his way over to the seat next to hers, "How are you feeling?"
"Hungry." Hitomi laughed, "Since the sickness has passed all I seem to do is eat."
"Good." Van squeezed his wife's hand, "That means you need to."
"I guess." Hitomi shrugged, "I just think the baby is a bottomless pit."
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She knew she should have been tired. Normaly she would have collasped by now but she just didn't feel the strain, and the baby's humming was as strong as ever.
Hitomi craddled Trenton, Rosie's little boy, as she walked through the palace for the millionth time. She had to make sure everything was right and nothing had been forgotten.
The Queen had woken up restless and nothing seemed capable of calming this mood. All day she had been pacing and rechecking everything.
According to the scouts Zaibach was still half a day away. They could be on the other side of the world and still they would be too close for Hitomi's comfort.
Rosie was busy helping Hitomi's mum and Penning was at Van's side for most of the day. Being unable to do any heavy lifting Hitomi had volunteered her powers but Van had squashed that idea, pointing out how tired she'd beenthe night before. It was Rosie who handed Trenton to the Queen.
"I'm scared." the brunette admitted, "And I know he'll be safe with you. This way I can put my mind on my task."
Hitomi knew that what Rosie said was true but her friend was also trying to get her to slow down and do less. Holding the cooing, warm, soft bundle had helped Hitomi slow down a bit but she still felt as though she had to keep moving. Something was pushing her to keep going.
The halls felt so still and quiet.
Running the fingers of her free hand over the wall as she walked, Hitomi made her way out the back door towards the gardens and froze. There was a ripple in the air, something moving and yet not there.
Hitomi's mind flashed back to her first encounter with Zaibach fighters and felt her blood freeze.
The ground trembled and Hitomi thanked the Gods they hadn't waited to set their 'surprise' up. Turning as silently as she could Hitomi made for the front of the palace. Sure enough she could feel them there- not too far from her home.
Hitomi sent a mental jab Van's way and waited for the sound of his boots on the stairs before she pushed the doors open. Van gasped and Hitomi heard Christopher and Aidren do the same.
The buildings furthest from the palace were alight. Smoke just starting to trail heavenwards.
"They're early." Aidren said calmly.
"Indeed." Christopher's voice sounded strained.
"Quickly," Van turned to his friends, "We must get moving."
"Too late, Van dear." came a voice Hitomi wished she could forget.
The air rippled and Selena was suddenly standing not twenty feet in front of them at the feet of a gymelef.
The silence was thick, broken finaly by a small cry from Trenton.
Hitomi jumped, having forgotten the babe she was craddling.
Selena's cruel smiled twisted untill it was hard to see the once beautiful woman Hitomi had seen not months before.
"Aw, the child everyone's been speaking of." Selena took a few steps forward but stopped when Van placed his hand on his sword, "I must say, Queeny, you hid it very well."
Hitomi almost laughed, "This isn't my baby. Rosie, my lady of court gave birth to him two weeks ago."
Selena stepped back as two more figures appeared out of thin air behind her.
Van supported Hitomi's weight as her legs went to jello.
"Allen..." Hitomi felt her power moving on its own over her once friend, "He's not there." she whispered, "The first of their puppets."
Dilandau looked at Hitomi blankly as she turned his way. She opened her mouth to ask a question but the albino shook his head sadly and then kept his eyes on the ground at his feet.
"I hope your people are ready to fight for their lives." Selena grinned, "Our oders were to kill the child and raze the city, occupants and all."
"Good luck with that." Hitomi found her voice had turned harsh, "The city is empty. It took all morning but we managed to get them away."
"Away?" Selena's eye's darkened, already the demons had tossed something in she hadn't expected "Where?"
"Oh, don't worry yourself over the details." Van smiled as he pulled his sword out, "They are quite beyond your reach."
Understanding crossed first Dilandau's face and then Selena's. Both were stunned by the power of what had been done.
"The Mystic Moon..." Dilandau whispered but it was heard in heavy silence.
"And I can asure you we weren't followed." Hitomi handed Trenton to Aidren and walked down the last few steps untill she was almost face to face with Selena.
"You are running away from a war?" Selena spat, her anger building.
"Who said anything about running?" Hitomi smiled pleasantly, "We just moved the innocent to a safer place."
There was a ground shaking crash and the three Zaibach soldiers turned to see flames erupting in the distance.
"I believe the rest of your army has just met our welcoming commity." Van sneered, "You honestly didn't think we were stupid enough to think you would all arrive at once. Zaibach is well known for their underhanded ways. You were hoping to start the fighting here and when people fled for the forest the rest of your men would slaughter them." Van wagged a finger in Selena's direction, "Tsk, tsk."
"Fried felt they still owed you something for killing the Duke and most of it's people. Chid was more than willing to send us his army." Hitomi watched Selena go from pale to red.
"That's a cheap shot!" the blonde exploded.
"And Zaibach has never done anything like this before?" Van asked and Selen's gaze snapped up to him.
"The flames you are seeing," Hitomi pointed back at the battle by the forest line, "Those are the Dragon's who still held a grudge for the way your people stole and ruined the land you now call Zaibach. It's surprsing how many generations have been told of your wicked ways- how the anger was passed down."
"We still have men within the city walls!" Selena said just as more of Fanelia caught fire.
"We rebuilt before. We can do it again." Van took Hitomi's hand and began to lead her back towards the palace.
"Now you can have your war." Christopher kept his eyes on the three soldiers at the base of the stairs, "A war with poeple who have been planning your deaths for years."
"You can't just walk away from me!" Selena screamed, ignoring everything she had learned about the royals and reaching for a throwing dagger.
Hitomi, her back to Selena saw fear flash in Christopher's eyes and reached out, placing a hand on Aidren's arm. In half a second the dark haired man and the baby he held were gone but the Queen was still there, having sent them to Pennin and Rosie on Earth.
The dagger flashed past Hitomi, sliding off her power.
"As you can see I learned a new trick today." Hitomi turned slowly to face the enraged woman.
"Well, so did I." Selena grinned through her anger and threw another blade, one that didn't stop at the edge of Hitomi's power.
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A/N: I know there are a few of you who will not like the way I'm handling the 'war' but I don't believe in senseless fighting. Van and Hitomi are smart enough to out wit Zaibach so in my mind the whole of Fanelia didn't need to be involved in the fighting.
I keep forgetting to mention that Hitomi's powers are sorta like Jean Grey's or Raven's. I've been wanting to just give you an idea of what Hitomi can do.
O, and ignore any mistakes. I woke up from a nap and then typed this entire thing in one go. REVIEW!