This Slow Dance

Last chapter...

The hand still clutched in mine pressed carefully onto my thigh (how wonderful) and her other hand came up to gently touch the side of my face, rough with stubble, sliding delicate fingers along until they intertwined with my hair and I felt a shiver jolt down my back, the nerve at the base of my spine jumping as if this gentle motion was an erotic caress. Partially I felt it was, as her eyes looked deep into mine before closing. I followed suit, hesitantly placing my free hand on her neck, just below her ear. The curve of her soft flesh beneath my palm and fingers. I longed to touch other areas. Explore, but I kept my hand firmly where it was, unsure if that was even where it was suppose to go in such moments.

I felt like a small boy again, and wondered if this would happen every time her lips found mine, or if it was just something I could (hopefully) get used to.

As her lips pressed against mine I was already hoping there would be more like this to follow.

Chapter 7

I'm not sure if she's awake or not, but her breathing is even and slow, coming out warm against my neck as she pulls herself only closer to me when Allen comes through the door.

I fake sleep myself until I hear his door slid shut and him and Dryden talking in the next room, and wonder why I did so afterwards. I'd wondered before if he ever still had feelings for Hitomi. If he thought about her as often as I. I suppose he must, for she's not easy to forget. Did he love her once, or was it just that machine and Folken's influence? When Millerna gave in and married Dryden... did he turn his thoughts to Hitomi or did they remain forever on the Queen?

"You look so serious." Her sleepy mumble, or whisper against my neck. She pulled back to look at me better, a small smile playing on her lips. I realize my brow must be furrowed.

I panic a moment. "I'm just worried about how we're going to get you out of there." I say it because I don't want to tell her about what I'm really thinking.

She sighs, and instead of pulling away like I thought she would, she only pulls herself closer. "I told you I have it under control."

Stubborn. Stubborn. I still didn't see how she would do it.

"Why don't you just-"

"Shh." She pulled herself up to my face by tugging at my shoulders with both hands. I'm not sure if I lowered myself to her, or if she brought her face level with mine, either way she placed a small kiss on my lips, and just like that I did shut up.

"Trust me."

I stared at her, but said nothing else. I didn't want to make her angry and ruin the last few moments I had with her before she had to disappear again. Out the window I could see the sun was coming up, glinting off the purposely warped glass of the high windows lining the ceiling line.

I strained to hear what Dryden and Allen were talking about in the next room, but their voices were too muffled.

She stretches and I watch the way the muscles in her arms move, and the way her rib cage juts. "I'm not any sort of Helen of Troy."

"What?"

She finishes stretching and sits up, moving as if embarrassed to be caught laying pressed against me, suddenly a bit shy. I nearly protest as her body slides away from me. She sits on the edge of the large couch in front of my stomach and turns to regard me. "I don't want any conflict to start because of me. It's already happened before... I don't want it to happen ever again."

I don't say anything.

"You need to follow the laws of this country, even if they are horrible."

I sigh, and sit up a little bit, holding myself up with an elbow. "I won't just sit back while you are mistreated by that... monster."

She laughs, not really a genuine laugh, but a laugh none-the-same. "I'm not scared of him Van... not really." She looked away, to where Allen and Dryden were talking. I watch as her expression turns to one of determination, her eyes hardening to some sort of resolve as she turns to face me once more.

"If you want to help me... there is something I need for you to do for me. And i not /i just you... I don't want you to go in there without a plan."

I sit up completely. "What is it?"

She's quiet, and seems to be holding her breath. Her eyes dart to the window. To the door. Back to my face. "I can't leave until someone else is out of there first."

"Who?"

"A young girl... she's a bastard child of Asha. You can buy her, then you don't have to worry about the authorities going after you."

I scrunch up my nose at the thought of having to give into the laws of this country. Buying a young girl didn't seem... right in the least.

"Except... Asha won't want to sell her, so we need to do it while he's not there."

"But then that's still stealing." There were giant holes in her logic.

She shook her head. "I can get the papers, and fake his signature... just... it has to be done while he isn't there. He won't notice right away anyway. When are you all leaving?"

"As soon as the papers are signed by the Emperor and the refugees gathered we're leaving."

"How long will that take."

"Dryden estimates about a week or two. Probably two."

She looks towards the door that Dryden is no doubt behind. I see she's chewing her lip a little bit. "There's a show in thirteen days. You can do it then when we're all out of the house."

I nod, still not sure about the whole thing, but wanting to make her happy. If this could truly help her get away, I'd do it.

"I'll talk to Dryden and Allen about it. Dryden holds sway over the other diplomats on this trip... it shouldn't be hard."

"Good." Her gaze is hard. Blazing. I'd seen this look of determination on her several times. "She'll be in the care of a friend."

"You won't be there?" I can't help but feel a little off put at that.

She shakes her head. "No... I'll be at the show."

I remember her dancing along the stage in her flowing cotton skirts and bells on her ankles, seducing the men in the crowd with every move her body makes. Every sway her hair makes and every step her feet take.

I hold my breath, as if just to stop myself from saying something that could sting her. I'd learned not to trust my mouth sometimes.

"Van..." She's looking at me imploringly, her eyes drifting from my eyes to my mouth, to my hands formed into fists at my side unintentionally. I untense and carefully take her hand.

"I'll do this for you."

She smiles, a slow sad smile, then gives me a rather stern look, tinged with a bit of playfulness. "And don't you i dare /i try to play the hero."

I blink in surprise. "What makes you think-"

"Oh, please." She rolls her eyes, and I instantly see the old Hitomi. The other Hitomi I'm in love with.

"Why is this girl so important?"

She doesn't answer, only quickly turns her attention towards the windows. There is the sound of wheels grinding against the stone courtyard just below the windows. I watch her expression turn to one of distinct fear before quickly fading away.

I hate seeing that expression on her face.

It seems Allen heard the noise to, for he is suddenly pulling Dryden's door open and striding into the room, giving both of us a passing glance before heading to the larger window closer to body height. He pulls the wood shutters open, and the morning light streams into the room. Dust motes float around him, and his hair seems blonder then ever.

I watch, with apprehension as he peers into the courtyard below and turns to regard us, or rather, Hitomi.

"I think your escort is here." His voice is quiet. He knows what this means too. Hitomi has to go back to him. They'd done nothing to change that.

Hitomi stands as I turn to look at her, moving in a flustered manner. Smoothing down the front of her dress, lightly touching her hair before passing a look down at me. A smile.

"Don't worry."

I don't reply, because there is no way I wouldn't worry.

There's a knock at the door, and Hitomi turns resolutely towards it while Allen goes to answer. Dryden comes out of his study, leaning against the door frame with a hand at his hair.

I can't see the man in the hallway, but Hitomi seems to recognize him as she frowns and starts forward. I worry she'll leave without saying anything but she suddenly turns from the doorway, her voice a little bit desperate.

"I really will be ok." She doesn't want to say more, and I know she's hesitating because of the man there. I'm standing, staring at her helplessly from across the room.

I don't know what to say.

She lowered her head. Looks down at her feet. And is suddenly rushing across the room towards me.

I catch her in my arms, the impact sending me back a few steps as her body falls completely against me, her head nestled in the crook of my neck. I suddenly don't care about the other people in the room as I tuck my face down next to hers, brushing my cheek against hers in an intimate gesture that felt wonderful.

Suddenly she's lifted her head up, and places a soft, but rather passionate kiss on my lips which return before she breaks away, whispering against my lips.

"I love you."

I breath out quickly and find myself smiling despite the situation. "I love you too."

She pulls back just a little bit, to look into my eyes. "Remember... in thirteen days."

I nod.

She pulls away completely after a moment of silence and heads quickly over towards the door as if she went slower she would not go at all.

At the doorway, Allen holds the door open for her, as it seems he'd half closed it when she came back into the room, and smiles at her which she returns before looking back at me. "Her name is Celes."

I nod again, perplexed at the name as the sudden familiarity hits me. A name I remember from parts of my childhood. I furrow my brow, and watch as Hitomi passes me a significant look, calculating, before heading out the door.

Dryden speaks up from behind me, and I turn to regard him, still feeling slightly numb.

"Who is Celes?"

But I blink. Ignore him. Rush to the window, all the while tugging at my shirt collar, at the chain around my neck. I pull up the red pendent attach, and quickly unhook the small clasp at the base of my neck, pushing back strands of my hair forcefully out of the way as I all but fling myself against the window pane, peering down into the courtyard.

She's still there, gliding across the cobblestones to the fancy rickshaw awaiting her. She's flanked by a rather large man dressed in red and blue.

I call to her, and she looks up in surprise. Her eye darting straight to the window, and I watch as her surprised expression changes to one of realization as I hold out the pendent into the morning air. "Catch!"

She moves quickly in the direction of the wall while I carefully drop the pendent down. She catches it, cradles it in her hands before bringing it to her chest as if afraid to loose it. She looks down at it in her palms while I watch her face light up.

Her eyes are on me suddenly. She doesn't speak. Only smiles brightly, so brightly, and turns back to head to the cart.

I watch as they leave, then turn back to the room.

Allen is watching me with a rather guarded expression, while Dryden just looks faintly curious.

"Van?" The other king uncrosses his arms and moves more into the room.

"Mm?" I know the question they have waiting on the edge of their tongues, but I don't feel like answering any of them. Answering them would mean that she really is gone.

Hopefully just for the moment.

I still doubted whether or not she could escape, but if this girl was the key to making that happen (however that was) then he was going to do everything in his power to make it happen.

"Who's this Celes person?"

I still felt a bit of both apprehension and amazement at hearing that name. The sound of it. The way I always pictured it rolling out of my mother's mouth when we were younger. "She's a girl that at the same place Hitomi is." He sighed. "Hitomi wants us to buy her."

Allen speaks up. " i Buy /i her?"

"It's the only way to do things in this country it seems." I can't help the venomous tone the words came with. "Hitomi says if we get this girl, she can come up with a way to escape."

There is a silence in the room as both men contemplate my words, and I wonder what is going through their minds. Are they wondering the same things I am?

Allen's face is etched in disbelief. Doubt. Dryden looks thoughtful.

"We've got the money of course. How much?"

I shrug. "Hitomi's going to come up with the papers. She'll probably make it a decent amount," whatever that might be for a human being, "so that Asha won't follow up on it."

Unless this Celes was a very important piece in his little "dance group."

"We'll see what we can do." Dryden is running a hand through his hair, rubbing the side of his head as he normally does when faced with a situation he finds both exciting and unorthodox. "How long?"

"Thirteen days."

He nods. Turns back towards the room.

Allen moves away from the wall and follows Dryden back into the study, eyeing me quietly a moment before sliding the door closed.

I feel a little put out, wondering what they could be discussing that they would shut the door on me.

Normally I would just barge my way into the room and demand to be included, but this time I felt I'd rather be alone for a little while.

Hitomi felt me disorientated. Thrown off balance from the rest of the world, even though it was such a brief time with her, I felt it was take some time to gain myself back.

And the words she last uttered ringing through my head was a great cause of my disorientation. They kept echoing over and over until I tried to think further of it.

i "Her name is Celes" /i .

Mother used to tell me the story. After she'd tucked me into bed. I remember Folken standing in the doorway, acting as if he was too old to listen to stories, even though I knew he was listening to every word. Mother's soft hands smoothing down the blankets at my shoulders, placing a small kiss on my forehead while he started to recite from memory a story older then she could remember, passed down from a person she could barely picture in her mind's eye anymore.

Her beautiful voice fills my head now, telling the story of a beautiful women who led Atlantis to greatness at one point in history. Before the fall of the civilization, my ancestors. Before they became something cursed and frightening. Mother said she was a beautiful woman who made people want to follow her because she was destined for greatness. She died at the hands of her own people. She died because she was wingless.

They said that was wrong.

Now the look Hitomi passed me before the door closed between us took on a new light, and I once again marveled at the type of person she is. The type of person she's become.

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A/N: omg... there is so much snow here. I want to live somewhere warm!