A/N: hi all, im back up and running! and this is the full version of cahpter 20, there will be a sloid line where i've changed the last bit of what i had posted, and a dotted line indicating that some time has passed. and where did everybody go? i barly got any reviews... oh well this chapter is completed now so heres hopes to more reviews...

Attention: i have edited page 1 of this story so please reread it, it sets this up better now and will answer some of your questions and will limit some confusion.

yami ayu juuji- love the name!

Dark WolfHawk- sorry to be the berrer of bad news but there will be a lot more supense in this story but i hope to but some of ur worries to rest

mysisterthinksimasquijum- i will eventually get u back to that place and theyll be more then happy to take TheElvenHanyouas well XD

Macky- thakya

Fae Rain- yes it does suck when comps crash and u have to reformate, but im up and running again and the last one was just a part one to keep ya pple interested and many pple were glad (to say the least) that Sara isn't Van's :) hope u enjoy this

xXFoolishXx- yes go horses

LADYPOSIONOFFANELIA - curseing the author is not a good idea: she (in this case) may end up getting hit by a buss and dies, therefor u dont get to kno what happens, or she just hit by bad luck and gets major wrighters block and has to abandon the story... so i say again curseing the author is not a good idea

TheElvenHanyou-yes another cliffy, and thank you

trekker4life- XD this ones longer

Dragon Star16- here it is, enjoy!

Pure hope- BREATH! and heres the freging chapter, enjoy

everyone i do stronglt advise u to reread the first page containing the prolog and first two chapters i have changed a few key things

well anyways Enjoy!

Chapter 20: Attack!

No sooner did the words leave his mouth that men dressed all in black swarmed the stables and practice area. The invaders also were warring masks so only their eyes were showing. To Hitomi they reminded her of those samurai assassins that she had seen in some of the American movies. They attacked the knight who had come to warn his monarch of the intruders first, and being winded from the run he was quickly over taken and killed with a sword through his back.

Before the body hit the ground Van and Hitomi were back-to-back with their swords drawn and Sora had dropped the basket and drawn her sword.

He lunged, parried, blocked, and attacked. His heart would skip a beat whenever he and Hitomi would separate only to relax a fraction knowing that she was still all right. One by one the invaders dropped, but no matter how many he cut down it seemed two more would pop up in its place.

He knew that they couldn't keep it up forever, he could feel himself tiring and could hear Hitomi ragged breath. Sora he knew could hold her own seeing as she could draw upon her magic, but even that had limits.

The solder that he was fighting for the past five minuets now? -He lost track of time a long time ago and for some unknown reason his left arm was begging to hurt. Suddenly lunged, and Van barley brought his sword up to block in time.

Then as suddenly as they appeared the black figures disappeared.

Seeing as they were in no more danger for the time being Hitomi fell to her knees, breathing heavily. "What…in the world…was that…?"

"Are you all right, Hitomi?" Van asked "Sora, was that-"

"Yes my lord. Those were Kagemusha, shadow warriors, from Old Zaibach."

Van heard Hitomi gasp and turned his full attention to her.

"Van, your bleeding!" he followed her gaze to his left arm and saw that he had a two inch gash in his upper arm. "Here, let me take a good look at it," He felt her cool hands on his arm as she inspected the cut more closely. He heard her sigh of relief, "thank God it's not deep, but I think that it will need some stitches and we need to keep as much dirt out as possible." And with that he saw her rip a piece of her skirt then rapped it around his arm.

……………………………………………………………………

The numbers were in; 15 dead, 25 seriously injured, and many more with minor cuts and scraps – including Van.

'Van's too stubborn for his own good.' thought Hitomi as the healer finally finished with Van, who would not let the healer even look at the injury until all of the others were taken care of, so here they were well past dinner time. Seeing as she was trained in first aid, Hitomi had helped with some of the very minor things, and was now waiting for Van so that she could tell him the finial numbers.

And the strange thing about the attack was that it was only on the castle, as if it was only a distraction. But why? Nothing was reported stolen and everyone was accounted for. True all the knights that were grading the treasury were dead but nothing was missing that they could tell.

So why a pointless attack?

And how did Sora know what those things were, and from where they had come from?

"There you are, your Majesty"

"Thank you Isha" he said in a flat voice not reviling any emotion, dismissing the healer.

After Isha left the room and they were finally alone in Van's study, "Van…?" she asked timidly. The in question had his back to her. He was afraid that she would see the hurt he was feeling.

He didn't turn around, "How many dead?"

"Fifteen. And twenty-five seriously injured." She stated knowing that he didn't the blow softened, and would probably take it as an insult if she did. She saw his shudders slump just a fraction that would have gone unnoticed by anyone else, though she did not know that. "Come now Van you couldn't have done anything different…"

'Of curse I could've' he thought to himself.

"…They just popped out of nowhere… I had as much warning as you did, Van…"

"General Sora." He called

"Yes, My Lord" Hitomi looked behind her to see the general standing beside the door.

"I want the city and palace guard doubled."

"Consider it done, My Lord, and is there any thing else?"

"Please send someone up with some food for both Lady Hitomi and my self seeing as its well past dinner and we both haven't eaten since breakfast." The general bowed and disappeared.

They sat in a semi-awkward silence until a maid brought up two steaming bows of stew and some bread.

All Hitomi could do was stare at the bowl of food in front of her. Was that a piece of pineapple?

Van couldn't help but notice that Hitomi hadn't eaten anything and was staring at her food with a very peculiar look. "It's quite good." He assured her.

"I have no doubt, Van. It's just this…" she poked the offending object with her spoon. "We have something that looks just like this on Earth but u don't usually put it in stew." This comment earned her a soft chuckle from the young king, who just shook his head and continued to eat his food.

They sat in silence for some time after they had finished eating, the meal was actually quite good, and to Hitomi's relief: that wasn't a pineapple. "Van…?"

"Yes?"

"How does Sora know what those things were that attacked us, and where they've came from?"

Knowing that he was going to have to answer that question sooner or later Van prepared for a pain filled story. "You remember what Zaibach was up to before the war?" she nodded her head, how could she forget that Zaibach had kidnapped children and then experimented on them; that was how Dilandau was created. "Well Sora and the other Generals were some of the first, when the scientists' first tried to change a person's destiny.

"They went through many alterations. They are all siblings and they were all completely human when they went in. The scientists -mainly my brother at the time- were trying to create the perfect soldier, so he made sure that they could not lie, and gave them the ability to use magic.

"They were the ones first ordered to start the war…it would take only the four of them to invade and contain a country. The original plan was to attack Faneila while her leader was off on his right of passage to become king; then set up a trap and kill him when he returned.

"But one of the few things that they were able to keep of their original selves was a sense of right and wrong, like how Dilandau kept his caringness for those loyal to him. So the night before they were to attack they escaped.

"After the war they came out of hiding they sought to work for me, either being grateful to me for bring down the empire or for felling guilty for what did happen to Faneila, no one has had the heart to ask. They have proven themselves time and time again. Though they do raise question to their motives every so often, but in the end we find that they always have Faneila's best interest at heart."

At that moment they heard a sharp knock at the door "Enter."

"My Lord," Jack swiftly stated while giving a stiff bow from the waist, showing respect to his king and symbolizing that he was there on official terms "I have reports that all the energests have been stolen."

"So that's what they were after" Van muttered to himself. "Thank you, you are dismissed" Jack turned to go but Van called him back "How are Merle and the twins?"

"They are fine, they all managed to escape without any injuries." Then they were alone again.

Hitomi couldn't quite sustain her yawn, the candle that was used to keep track of time had nearly burned out and all the events of the day were starting to catch up with her.

Noticing this Van offered to walk her to her room.

When they got there they found that her room had been ransacked.

All of her clothes were torn and thrown onto the floor, the furniture was destroyed, and thrown across the room. The only thing that was still in one piece was her duffel bag atop of the bed -who's contents were also apart of the mess on the floor- and a blue felt piece of fabric laid on top of that.

They just stared in awe at all of the damage. Hitomi carefully picked her way through the debris over to the bed. "Van… I know what they were really after."

oooooooooooo what could it be?

suggestion welcomed

till next time

9/14/05