A/N: hey poeple, im still hear. (emerges out from under supper-dupper protective desk)its just that i lost my babysitting job and now i have less free time. how dose that work you ask; well its because my mom owns a store and enlists my free labour every summer. and when i had the babysitting job i couldnt go to work with her, so i got to stay at home and work on my story (or read fanfiction). so i can not update so much as before. but i will still work on my story as much as possible. promise.
TigerWolf- please refur to A/N, and thank you for ur review! this one's longer!
Fae Rain- the page knew where Van was, because word had spread that he was in the training area.
linkinparkfangirl- YES THEY ALMOST KISSED AGAIN! ;) and heres more story 4 u
trekker4life- nice to have u back, and of course i had to put Hitomi and the Caeli level, how could i not:)
Clémence- to tell u the truth i dont really know what Hitomi's decision is going to be (LYER!) shut up! but like i would spoil the suprise. XD and NO Allen will not tell Chid.
Macky- as always, thank you 4 the review :D
maeko14- glad that u like the romantic touch, and hope u like this
pure hope- have u ever tried decaf? but im glad that u like my story as much as ur coffee.
A/N: ps i kno that the end might soud a little lame, seeing as i just wanted to get this up for u people.
Chapter 16: Demon
After she had washed and changed, Hitomi headed out to the stables in hopes that Van's meeting with the advisors was over with. She had changed into her favorite kaki's, which she had tucked into a pair of flat soled boots that Merle had gotten her. A red ¾ sleeved shirt that buttoned up the front, she had pulled her hair back into a tight bun, and her sword still hung at her side.
Upon arriving at the stables the first thing that Hitomi noticed was that Van wasn't there, so she decided that she would take a look around. She first came upon the tack room were all the spare equipment was stored, and beside it was the feed room where the food for the horses was stored; so picked up something that appeared to be sugar-cubes and put some in her pockets. She then turned around a corner and come upon two horses that were saddled and ready for a run. The one closest to her was a beautiful gray mare who had a cream colored mane, and stood at least ten hands high. The other was a pure black stallion that Hitomi figured stood about fourteen hands tall.
Hitomi figured that these were the horses that Van was planning on riding, so she slowly walked over to them to say 'hello'. She first approached the stallion seeing as he was most likely to be the head of the heard, and might see it as disrespect if she didn't. She offered him a sugar-cube thing to him as she approached and held her other hand up so that he could see it. After he ate the offering Hitomi stroked his nose and gently blew into it, embedding her sent, and he graciously returned the gesture. Hitomi then repeated the greeting with the gray mare.
Out of the corner of her eye Hitomi saw that she had gathered an audience of the stable hands -who were trying to hide behind a bail of hay- and despite herself, smiled. She turned back to the stallion and heard the boys gasp in shock.
"What's up with that?" she asked, but only loud enough for the black horse to hear, he only snorted as if the matter happened all the time, and just wanted his nose to be stroked some more by the gentle two-legger, who smelled so much like his favorite flower.
"Who is that?" whispered a boy of around eight years, and who had a piece of hay in his
"Didn't you hear? That's the Lady Hitomi!" whispered another, brown eyes wide in awe.
"Yea, and she even defeated Sir Derek!" the third chimed in.
"No, way!"
"Yes, way," The brown eyed boy defended "I even saw her in action!"
After finally getting away from his advisors, Van entered the stables completely unnoticed. He saw the three stable hands all hiding behind a hay bail and gawking at Hitomi who was saying something to his horse, Demon.
Demon?
Van had to take a second look. No one was able to get anywhere near Demon with out being bit, or kicked -well except for him of course. That's how the horse got its name.
Hitomi was in her own little world, semi talking to the stallion. "I'm starting to think that coming back to Gaea was a mistake. I probably got Van mad at me, I definitely got that knight mad at me. I bet that I'm a burden and should just go home." The horse snorted as if the idea was a stupid one. "And I don't know what's wrong with me, I thought that I was completely over him, but just a little while ago I almost kissed him! He probably doesn't have the same feelings for me anymore," The horse whinnied "He has been married." She defended.
The boys were in shock, they thought that Demon would have tried to bite her by now, but he looked like a filly sucking up to its mom.
"I thought that those teachers' of yours taught you that it's rude to stare."
They were caught. Caught red-handed. And by none other than Lord Van himself.
All three jumped up and turned to face their monarch. "Y-yes, Lord Van they did!" The three half yelled in perfect harmony.
Hitomi looked over and when she saw who had caught the boys, she smiled, despite herself. And she came to the realization that she wasn't over him.
"Now those horses are not going to feed themselves." she heard him say. The boys bowed and quickly set off to do the work that they were supposed to be doing, not looking up from the straw and hay covered clay floor. Van then walked over to Hitomi and couldn't help but see the smile on her face.
"You knew those boys were there, didn't you." She nodded.
"He's a beautiful horse, Van."
"His name's Demon." He said as a form of introduction for the beast.
"Why Demon?" she asked.
"It's because, he doesn't let any but me this close to him."
"Is that true?" she asked the horse teasingly. And as if knowing what the two humans were talking about, Demon nibbled Van's red sleeveless shirt.
"And that one," indicating the gray mare, "is Chikara."
"So what did the advisors want? If I may ask."
"Oh, just to tell me some silly things, that I already knew." He half lied.
Flashback
"Lord Van, when were you going to tell us about your guest, the Lady Hitomi?" asked an advisor, who had peppering hair.
"Since when have my guests been a issue that the board of advisors discussed?"
"Since one of them is the woman who saved Gaea in the Destiny War." He shot back.
"And why does that concern you?" Van asked a little taken back at how straightforward his advisors were being.
"She is a legendary figure, and thus must have the proper welcoming."
"But she isn't one who likes to have a big fuss just for her." The king tried to explain.
"None the less we shall start making plans for a week-long festival for her return once you return from Freid."
"And I'm telling you that she doesn't want a big deal made of her being hear, and I doubt that she'll even be hear long enough to attend all of the festival."
After arguing for what seemed like an eternity, Van finally gave into the Advisors' request to start preparations for the festival upon their return, and then left to go see if Hitomi was still waiting for him.
End flashback
Hitomi gave Van a sympathetic look and knew that he probably wanted to get away from the palace, so she went to mount onto Chikara, but found that Demon didn't want her to, which made Van silently laugh to him self. "I think that I'll ride Chikara, seeing as Demon's found a new rider." Joked Van.
ok so what did ya think?
tell me!
tell me!
tell me!
tell me!
tell me!
tell me!
please?