This Slow Dance

My goodness... the last chapter was short :( this is my chance to make up for it. haha

Chapter 9

The whole room was a flurry of bright colors, intricate fabrics and makeup. Choking perfume that always made me feel breathless clung in the air like the heat, and I battled my way through several of the male dancers to get over to my own room, where the doors were flung open. I found Analeigh inside, touching up her face with the intricate amount of makeup she preferred for her performances. She loved dancing, and had been the one to teach me the steps, no matter how exasperated she used to get with me.

She looks up from my small makeup table, notices me, standing awkwardly in my own doorway amongst painted male muscles and flamboyant dresses and ushers me over with a grin on her face. "Asha has decided we be a bit more... exciting for this performance."

I eye the pile of makeup on the counter in front of her, and quickly shake my head. "I am not wearing any makeup."

She laughs. "This isn't for you. Asha prefers you to not wear any." She tugged on my arm and I plopped down beside her while she fussed over my mussed hair a moment. I'd been bathing earlier, and had only had time to put brush it afterward while I was preparing for everything to go as planned after I left for the performance.

If anything were to go wrong with Van coming to get Celes, it could wreck everything.

Analeigh began to hum as she combed my hair, pulling it back into a knot at the base of my neck. She had my decorative pins held between her lips and she smiled at me when she caught me looking at her. She truly was beautiful, and her personality often reminded me of Yukari which I adored her for.

After sticking the pins in the right places, she stood quickly and moved towards the door, shoving a man named Jossin out of the way from the door. "The star of the show has to prepare, and you're in the way." She bellowed it, before shoving the door shut so hard it nearly came off it's track. I stared at her while she moved back in my direction, touching her own elegant hair as if something fell out of place in the action.

"Do I have to wear something different? Is that what you mean by more exciting?"

She grinned, and reached down to hold up a mass of thin silks of all different, bright colors. I blinked at it in surprise. "Who made that?"

"Wyatt."

"Ah." Wyatt made all the slutty outfit for the performances. I was suddenly apprehensive.

...But relieved when she came closer and showed it to me in it's entirety. It was quite beautiful, with very long sleeves and extra fabric hanging from every direction. I realized my legs would be showing through strips of fabric, and maybe a good (but hopefully decent) amount of cleavage.(AN: I guess picture House of Flying Daggers) I smile faintly, and run the fabric between my fingers.

"Stand up. We need to get it on you quickly."

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The entire building seemed deserted when me and Allen pulled in. Apparently when there was a show, the entire household was involved, minus the men at the gate who let us enter after showing them the contract Hitomi had drawn up, as she instructed us to do. I was nervous the entire time the man stared down at the paper, and he looked at it so long I thought I might burst. My hand was firmly on the sword at my side, and I was desperately hoping I wouldn't have to use it.

It was a while before he passed back the sheet to us, and he smiled (in a guard sort of way I suppose) and opened the gates for us. I wondered if he just stared at the paper so long because he's illiterate.

It was eerie being in the courtyard we'd been in just 13 days ago, especially since we weren't invited, contrary to what the guards thought. The shirtless man who pulled the rickshaw settled himself down on the ground to wait, but I told him we'd be leaving shortly as I stepped down onto the cobblestones.

I had no idea what to do from here on, as Hitomi hadn't left much instructions for this point.

Allen stepped up behind me, and was the one to point out our visitor.

An older woman was emerging from the slave quarters, walking through the garden along the stone path. Her hair was graying, almost silvery in the light, and she was stooped over and hobbling slightly. She must have been a dancer at one point I figured, for she was fairly slender and tall.

Trailing behind her was a little girl.

Now I had no idea what age the girl would be, and I couldn't quite place an age to this girl, though I knew she was fairly young.

She was dressed in a simply white dress that came to her knees, which, unlike most little girls, weren't bruised, spotted or dirty in anyway. Her jet black hair fell loose along her shoulders, fairly long, and as she came closer to us, staring up at me and Allen with a different sort of look than I'd ever seen on any girl, I could see her eyes were very black as well. Or... one of her eyes.

The other eye was covered with a circular black cloth. An eye patch. I wondered how she got it.

She didn't hold the older woman's hand, or reach out to her at all. She stood, staring up at my mostly, with her arms loosely at her sides, her face expressionless.

I wondered if she were a bit slow, though the way she was looking at us seemed quite calculating and intelligent.

For some reason I didn't feel uneasy around this girl.

The older woman spoke. "You have the papers?"

I showed them to her, and she nodded. "Hitomi is a trouble maker." I marveled at the fact she knew Hitomi's real name, as all the others didn't seem to. "I hope she knows what she's doing... giving this girl to you."

"We're going to bring her somewhere better." I felt a need to stick up for myself, and the older woman's eyes narrowed.

"They always say that though, don't they."

I fell silent. I didn't know.

Allen spoke up. "We need to leave quickly."

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The cart was filling up with the overpowering scent of perfumes again, as I huddled near the door, trying to breath in fresh air through the cracks in the wood slates. The brightly covered fabric overhead was giving everyone a red glow to their skin and hair, and it made me feel slightly sick as the cart rocked back and forth on the cobblestones.

Everyone was chatting. Excited. Supposedly there was some sort of Prince at this performance.

My mind was constantly on the Estate however. Had Van arrived yet? Were they taking Celes away?

Analeigh was speaking, and I turned my attention on her. "Asha said that we're all to go with them and the Prince afterwards. Especially you Esmeralda."

I knew what that meant, and my stomach turned over at the thought. I turned and quickly gulped air through the cracks.

"What is wrong with you?" She was looking at me strangely, but I resolutely kept my gaze on the road through the boards, my head bumping against the wood as we hit a rather bumpy patch of road. The door of the cart creaked, and opened. A young man (new to the compound) went to close it but I stopped him, gripping his arm tightly. I guess something in my gaze made him back off.

"Esmeralda, close it!"

I shook my head. My mind was reeling. Thoughts of what would came after the show filling my head till I firmly wanted to vomit. The thought of Van drifting in and out of my head till I really couldn't take it anymore.

I shouldn't be here. I shouldn't be here.

I stood, making them all look at me. We were the last cart in the line, and there was nothing but lantern lit streets behind us all the way back to the compound. I held myself steady on the walls.

"What are you doing."

"Leaving." My voice was quiet, but the cart seemed to suddenly get even more quiet. I knew somebody would tell on me. I knew it would happen. "Don't follow me. You can tell Asha, so you don't get in trouble, but please act like you didn't notice."

Analeigh is standing up. People make room for her.

She looks like a demon with her face paint in this red saturated world. "You can't leave."

"I can and I will." I grin at her, rather recklessly and lean out the cart, a bump in the road causes me to loose my balance and I have to step out into the street, hurrying along after the cart to shut the door behind me. I can hear Analeigh yelling "Esmeralda" over the sound of the talk in the cart before I stop running to keep up.

My heart pounds in my throat.

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I've never been at the compound with no one there before, and getting in proves rather difficult at first, before I remember my powers in my ensuing confusion and frustration. After closing my eyes and concentrating on my room inside, I open them again to find myself right back where I was just a few hours prior. My room was in great disorder since preparing for the night.

I stand there for a good few minutes, just breathing, before I get myself together and run towards the sliding doors that open into the garden. The wood makes a heavy clack against the building as it abruptly comes to a halt at the end of the track.

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The old woman pushes the little girl closer, and she comes quietly, mutely forward, her head inclining more and more as if she doesn't want to take her eyes off me.

I find myself bending down to be eye-level with her. I feel silly talking to her, as she so obviously doesn't want to talk back. "I'm Van... and this is Allen." I hear Allen shift slightly. "We're going to take you with us..." I trail off, unsure what to say, and turn my gaze to the older woman.

She's only staring at me rather intensely.

Holding my breath, I look back towards Celes who is still staring at me. But suddenly she moves towards me, and wraps her arms around my neck.

And I feel rather stupid, kneeling there with a little girl wrapped around my neck, not really sure what to do. Allen is the one to speak. "Perhaps she wants you to lift her, Your Majesty."

I stand, folding my arms underneath her bottom as I'd seen other people hold small children. I'd never done this before, and it felt both comforting and odd at the same time.

Celes smells like flowery soap. She looks like Asha, I notice. But still undeniably a very pretty girl.

"Van."

I turn to look at Allen, surprised at the informal addressment, as he normally calls me by title in public. He's not looking at me, however, and I turn to follow his gaze.

So does the older woman, her gruff but gentle voice speaks in a sigh. "Foolish girl..."

Hitomi is standing there. Just there... across the garden dressed in bright fabrics. The shoulder of part of her dress slipping down her shoulders which looked tanned even from this distance. I can see her shoulders rising up and down, and at realizing we're all looking at her, she turns and quickly retreats into her room.

I can hardly breath.

Quickly, I turn and hand Celes over to Allen who goes into his arms willingly enough. "Take her to the inn, I'll be there soon."

"Van..." I warning tone to his voice, but he moves and gets into the rickshaw anyway. The man driving it gives us curious looks and I'm very thankful he can only speak the native language here, and one we were not speaking. Though I knew, just to be cautious, we'd have to pay him off anyway.

Celes sits quietly in Allen's lap. I don't watch them roll away.

As I slide past the woman and start heading through the garden, she follows at my pace, something I wasn't sure she could manage, and whispered quickly to me. "You can't be here. If you're caught-"

"I need to see her."

"Foolish. You are all so foolish."

I stop, and glare her down a moment. "I love her."

She stops walking, a strange look coming over her face before fading away.

In retrospect, I suppose I shouldn't have told her that, but I was obsessed and would have done anything to get rid of her in that moment, and I felt a certain triumph when she bowed and stepped away from me, moving towards another part of the dancer's quarters.

I climb onto the parapet, noticing that Hitomi left her door open. I hesitate before stepping in, finding her standing at the other end of the room. Her eyes were wide, and I realized, just then, that she didn't go to the performance. I knew the dangers in that, and of course she did to.

"Hitomi. The show..."

"I know. I know..." She didn't seem to be completely in her right mind, as she started to pace, her arms wrapped tightly around herself. "I had to see. I didn't want to be there. After the show Asha was going to..." She trailed off, stopping at the same time. "Van..."

She was looking at me strangely. Desperately, before her eyes drifted to the open doorway.

I closed it.

Suddenly she was across the room, her lips pressed against mine, her mouth attacking mine in a desperate act of owning, and I kissed her back just as intensly. All thoughts left my head as her body pressed tightly against mine, and I'm not sure how it happened, but we somehow ended up against one of the thin walls, trying to undress each other between the little space between us. Her face pulled away from mine as I pushed down the over part of her dress and tugged at the fabric around her waist, a loud gasp escaping her as her hands pressed against my chest. Slid down my shirt and underneath along the sensitive skin at my side.

I think at that point I went completely out of mind.

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AN: hahahahaha, cliffhanger. Dirty scene next chapter . You don't have to read it if you don't want to...

It will be up soon I promise:)