Walking next to Van along the streets was an experience that Hitomi would always treasure. For a time she was able to forget where they were going and for what purpose as Van took interest in his surroundings. He stared in wonder at the people, at the clothing they were wearing and some of the hair styles. He stared into shop windows, watched cars as they passed, and stared in amazement at the televisions they could see through the windows.
Soon enough though, the walk came to an end and all of the stress came suddenly to rest on her shoulders once more. She did not want to walk through that door, but Yukio had already opened it, and Van was walking in, leading her by the hand. She couldn't tell her parents the truth about Van, they'd never believe it, but they hadn't come up with a cover story. Crap Crap Crap.
"You're late." Inside her father sat in his favorite chair reading the paper. He hadn't even bothered to look up from his reading to see who had been coming through the door before he spoke. "The two of you were supposed to be home an hour ago."
"Sorry dad," Yukio said promptly, "We ran into a friend of Hitomi's at the park and lost track of time." Finally their father looked up from his paper and glanced at his children. His expression froze momentarily as he took in sight of the aforementioned "friend" and the tight grip his daughter had on his hand.
"And you would be?"
"Dad, this is Van, Van this is my father," Hitomi was quite proud of the fact that her voice did not shake. Perhaps it wasn't as readily apparent as she had thought that she was guilty of a crime; the crime of loving too young, and bearing the consequences of the physical manifestation of that love.
Van and her father looked each other over for a moment before Van extended his hand towards the man. "It's an honor to meet you, sir." Her father merely grunted and shook the offered hand.
"Are you kids finally home?" her mother's voice drifted around the corner from the kitchen.
"Yeah mom, and we brought a friend," Yukio seemed eager to escape the tense atmosphere hovering over Van and their father, and swept into the kitchen.
"A friend?" Her mother ventured forth from the kitchen wiping her hands on a dishtowel as Yukio loudly rummaged through the refrigerator. "And who might this be?"
"Mom this is my friend, Van. Van, my mom," her mother took one look at the two and beamed.
"Would you two like something to eat, some lemonade perhaps?" Some of the tension seemed to melt out of Van's shoulders as he shot her mother a genuine smile.
"That would be lovely."
"So," Mr. Kanzaki's voice brought their attention back around to where he sat watching the two carefully, "How did you two meet?" The question should not have put them on the defensive, but it did. It was a simple question, something any parent had the right to ask, but there was something in his voice that set their nerves on end.
"I," Hitomi hesitated. How much could she tell them? Her father always seemed to know when she was lying, so she couldn't lie, but they'd really never believe her if she told them the truth. "I ran into him at practice. I was trying to break 13 seconds, when he showed up on the field." Alright not a lie, and she doubted they'd take her literally, which was how it had actually happened. She had run right into him, knocking herself to the ground, when he appeared in the middle of the track encased in a blue light, followed closely there after by a land dragon.
Her father seemed to measure her words carefully, trying to find some fault with them, before seeming to accept them at their worth. "You like sports, boy?" When Van nodded he continued, "Yeah I bet, spend all your time obsessing over the soccer teams." Van was completely confused and unsure how to respond, but her father didn't seem to be waiting for a response.
"Don't remember seeing you around, you new to the area?"
Van smiled, "Very."
"Ah, I see." Before he was able to say more, Mrs. Kanzaki swept into the room, bearing a plate of cookies and three tall glasses of lemonade.
"It's so nice of you to visit us. Hitomi doesn't bring home many friends… well besides Yukari. Such a sweet girl, have you met her yet?"
"Briefly," Hitomi had to be impressed, Van was handling things very well, but they still hadn't told them the "news" and she had no idea how to go into it.
"I do so enjoy to have her around," Mrs. Kanzaki took a seat and gestured towards the couch. "Don't just stand there, have a seat, unless you two had other plans."
"I think they need to have a seat," Mr. Kanzaki said firmly. Hitomi knew that tone of voice. That was the voice that said you were in trouble he just hadn't figured out for what yet.
Clutching Van's hand, Hitomi made her way to the couch and sat down. Van took one look at her and turned to face her parents. He had about him the poise of a king, something he had just begun to develop when she left Fanelia, now he seemed to wear it like a shroud. Even her parents seemed to become aware of the fact that this was an important person they were dealing with.
"Mr. Kanzaki, Mrs. Kanzaki, I'm afraid, this visit is not just to enjoy your wonderful company, but rather to make a bit of a confession." Hitomi went white by his side, she was afraid, but he supposed any one would be. It was only through sheer will power that he sat here speaking at all, and he prayed his nerves did not show in his voice or body language. "Rather I should say, Hitomi and I have news."
Both of her parents looked at him, waiting. Mrs. Kanzaki had a sort of knowledge in her eyes, perhaps she had figured it out, but beneath that knowledge, there seemed to be a trace of fear. Mr. Kanzaki looked merely suspicious.
"Hitomi and I," he glanced at Hitomi, she faced her parents, but clutched his hand so tightly he swore he had lost circulation in his fingertips. "We have spent a great deal of time together, and found we liked each other . . . a lot. I would go as far as to say that I love your daughter," Hitomi looked up startled, staring deep into his eyes, searching for the truth of his words, "very much". The answering glow in her eyes was everything he could have hoped for, but there were more important things to handle and he could not loose himself in her gaze, not yet.
Van shook himself and turned his attention to her parents. First to her mother, who had tears glistening in the corner of her eyes and then to her father who was looking more and more frustrated by the second. "We, perhaps foolishly, acted upon that love, and now Hitomi informs me that . . . that she is pregnant." He decided to stop there. This was probably a shock to her parents and he surmised they needed time to absorb it.
"SHE'S WHAT!?"
Perhaps her father did not need as much time as he figured.
"I take responsibility for my actions."
"As do I," Hitomi spoke from his side, her voice was soft, but it was heard none the less.
"I thought we taught you better than this! To go out and put yourself in this position. Do you realize the shame you have brought to yourself, to this whole family!" Her father's voice seemed to resonate within a person's bones, forcing them to feel his words as well as hear them. "We shall take care of this right this minute." Her father had risen to his feet and was reaching for his coat. "Get in the car, we're going to the clinic and you are getting an abortion."
If it was possible, Hitomi paled even further at those words. Van didn't need anyone to tell him exactly what her father intended, and he felt fury rise at the ease to which this man had so willingly decided to end the life of his own future grandchild.
"Absolutely not," Van rose to his feet, rising to meet the tide of Hitomi's father's wrath. His voice may not have held the resonance of Mr. Kanzaki's, but it did hold a great deal of authority. He had been king in name for almost a year, but had held all the responsibilities of that office ever since his mother had disappeared. He had watched his country be destroyed, fought and led in the greatest war Gaia had ever seen, and had been working these last few months on rebuilding his kingdom. Authority, he knew he had.
Even Mr. Kanzaki seemed to recognize something in his manner, and turned to face him, not as one would a teenager in the wrong, but as an equal.
"Oh, and what do you intend to do about it?"
"With your permission Kanzaki-San, I would wed your daughter, and raise the child." Behind him Hitomi gasped and he found himself slightly ashamed that he had been unable to ask her properly, but he had needed to let her father know exactly where he stood.
"Wed?! You are both mere children! Hitomi is still in school, as I imagine you are as well. Where would you raise this child? How would you provide for it? Children shouldn't raise children. Now sit down, Boy. As her father, I will desire what actions will be taken."
Van didn't think, he reached to his side pulling the sheathed sword from its place on his belt and, horizontally, held it before her father's eye. With practiced ease he exposed the seal of Fanelia.
"I am king of Fanelia. Here I may be merely a child as you consider it, but there I am King. I am well versed in the customs of other nations and daily I manage the business of ruling a kingdom, I doubt you are aware of the complexity of this position. Any children of mine, and thus Hitomi's, would have every thing provided. Clothing and food, go without question, of course, but they shall also have the best tutors Fanalia has to offer. They will learn swordplay and politics, diplomacy and war. I can't say their lives will be easy, I can't promise you even their safety, though they will be as safe as it is possible to make a kingdom, but I can tell you that they will be loved, cherished and raised in a tradition of honor."
"Some honor!" her father roared, pointing his finger at his daughter while facing the young man before him, "YOU STOLE HER HONOR!"
"Your daughter is the most courageous and honorable person I know."
"Till you turned her into a . . . "
"Danyeb, that's enough!" Mr. Kanzaki turned rage filled eyes on his wife, who sat calmly in her chair. Calm except for the white knuckles of her hands. "The news you have given us has shocked us. You must forgive my husband, he reacted badly." Van nodded and replaced the sword by his side. Mr. Kanzaki glared at his wife, opening his mouth to speak, but she beat him to it.
"I've never heard of the country you speak of, Fanelia is it? Where is Fanelia." Van glanced over at Hitomi, and sat by her side once more.
"Fanelia is on Gaia," Van supplied, as if this would explain all.
"Gaia?" Mrs. Kanzaki seemed startled, searching her mind for reference to the name.
"What's with the stories? You expect me to believe this rubbish?"
"Trust me, I never lie," There was that edge that Van always seemed to have, that recklessness to defend his honor that he had learned to control during the war. "Gaia is a . . . well I suppose you could say it is a world. In our sky we see your world; we call her the mystic moon. Fanelia is a small country near the mountains of Treynor. We provide Gaia with some of the best woolen goods as well as a great deal of lumber. The people are hardworking and intelligent. We have some of the best samarai many of which travel the world, expanding their knowledge, but always they return to their home. Fanalia may not look like much compared to Asturia or Freid, but it is a good country, strong and independent. We have stood for generations surrounded by our larger neighbors, and though we have been struck a mighty blow, never have we completely fallen."
"You honestly expect us to believe that bull shit?" Mr Kanzaki seemed ready to kick the boy from his house at that very instant, furious and unable to see the truth in the two sets of eyes looking at him.
"I've been there Dad. I've traveled the roads. I've met the people there. He's telling the truth."
"Gaia . . . Asturia," the voice was soft, but filled with such realization everyone turned to look at Hitomi's mother. "It was real. Grandmother's stories . . . They were real. The pendant…" for the first time in months she turned to look for the pendent on her daughter's chest and found it instead on the young man's in front of her.
"Don't be daft, woman! They're just making it up."
"You'll be wanting a bride price of coarse," Van said, shifting the conversation away from the earlier topic.
"Bride price?" her father looked over at Van surprised, unsure of the turn the conversation had taken.
"Yes a bride price, a payment of money or goods to the bride's family in recompense for their loss of a daughter."
"And how much exactly do you propose? Fifty dollars? One hundred dollars?" Her father seemed to sneer at the young man before him.
"I'm afraid there is no currency exchange between the money of Fanelia and your own. Perhaps if instead we dealt in weight?" Van's demeanor remained poised and calm as if this were a conversation he had planned well in advance, a conversation in which he held all the cards.
"Weight of what?"
Van looked at her father, his eyes and face serious, "Why, gold of coarse."
Mr. Kanzaki stared at him for a moment in shock before throwing back his head in laughter. "Tell you what, you give me," he wobbled his hand as he thought, "Three hundred pounds of gold and I'll give you permission to wed my daughter."
Hitomi merely stared at her father, ashamed for a reason she could not name. Van as well seemed to be insulted. "Three hundred pounds it is. I will go and fetch it, but you should know that there will be many forms that will need signing and it will take me a while to get everything together. So I shall return in three days hence."
"So easy to return to your country is it?"
"Only if you know the way." Van started to rise, intent on leaving that very moment.
"Van wait," Van turned to Hitomi his hand catching hers unconsciously. "I don't know if I can return to Gaia. I left because the visions were just too much. I don't want to see or cause another war, I'm tired of war."
"We're all tired of war, Hitomi. And I've been thinking about the visions," Van smiled at her in reassurance. "All the time you were with us before, you wore this pendant, but now I wear it. With luck it is the key to your visions and without it," he paused and his eyes grew soft as his hand brushed the hair off her forehead and behind her ear, "without it, you can stay with me." Hitomi smiled at him as he suddenly remembered they were being observed and glanced up at her parents.
Mr. Kanzaki was glaring daggers at him, while Mrs. Kanzaki seemed to smile at them, never loosing though, her white knuckled grip on the arm of her chair. He wondered about that as he stepped out the door and wished himself back home.
What was she so scared of?
-----------------------
I know the money should be in yen rather than in dollars, but I'm not sure of the worth and well I know the American dollar so shrug
Okay people tell me what you think. I love to read the reviews.