Disclaimer: I do not own Escaflowne or Twilight…blah blah blah…

-.:Twilight of Escaflowne:.-

Chapter 5

Tension

It seemed as if all activity stopped. There was no movement, and the bustling about of the other students ceased. I couldn't look away from his burning gaze. I had no control over my body, and he seemed just as immobile. I was in a trance, and I could feel my cheeks reddening as we continued to stare at each other.

Then time continued with a rush. The bell chimed, signaling the beginning of class, and I had gained control of my body. With a jolt, I tore my gaze from his and sat in my seat. As soon as I was settled, I glanced over at him.

He was very tense. I noticed that he had scooted as far away from me as he could get, sitting on edge of his seat. He was leaning away from me and his face was averted from mine as if he smelled a horrendous stench coming from my direction.

I shook my hair forward over my face to hide my eyes from his. I tried to look indifferent as I sniffed my hair. It smelled like the kiwi melon shampoo I used this morning.

Maybe he doesn't like kiwis, I thought.

As the class drawled on, I snuck another look at him. Big mistake; when I looked up from under my bangs, his outrageously handsome face was turned towards mine, and I met the full force of his glare. He looked livid. His eyes were piercing through mine; I found that I couldn't look away.

Was it me, or were his eyes turning a darker, deeper shade of red?

I felt a chill pass through me, and I felt genuinely afraid for once in my life. His strong jaw was clenched, and I could see the veins in his neck.

What is his problem?

The bell rang, and he tore his gaze from mine. He was up and out the door before any of the other students were out of their seats. I gathered my belongings and rose from my seat as well.

"Hey, what did you do to Fanel?" Amano asked. "I've never seen him act that way before."

"I don't know, I didn't even introduce myself," I said. "I'll see you later. I'm going to sit with Yukari and her friends at lunch."

"Hey, what classes do you have after lunch?" he asked.

"Japanese and then gym."

"Alright, I'll see you in gym then. Later," he called as he headed down the hall.

I went to Yukari's locker so that we could go to lunch together. Along the way, I pondered what happened during 4th period.

What had I done to provoke him so? I know that I'm not the prettiest girl in the world, but I'm not exactly ugly either. Did my breath smell? I had taken a shower and brushed my teeth before school; I shouldn't reek…

"Tomi! Over here!"

I looked over to see Yukari and a bunch of other girls gathered around her locker.

"Hey guys…" I said uneasily.

"Tomi, this is Angela Weber and Lauren Mallory. Angela, Lauren, this is Hitomi Kanzaki and she's gonna hang with us," Yukari explained.

"Hi," I smiled uncertainly. I had always been bad at introductions.

"Hi," Angela and Lauren echoed. An uncomfortable silence was beginning to settle around us.

"Well, let's go get us some of that sorry cafeteria food," Yukari tried to ease the tension between us.

She began to walk towards the cafeteria, and Angela and Lauren fell into step beside her as I followed behind. I felt excluded, but hey, I was used to being a loner from my old school.

I went to take a look at what was on the lunch menu and decided to wait till I got home from school as none of it looked very appetizing.

I went to the table that Yukari, Angela, and Lauren were seated at. I pulled out a seat and just sat down. I rested my head in my arms and began to doze off when I felt the tiny, blonde hairs on my arms and neck rise and a chill go down my back. I immediately sat up straighter and began to look around the cafeteria when I locked gazes with none other than Van Fanel. I couldn't turn my eyes away no matter how much I willed them too.

"Hey Tomi. Ohhh Tooomiii. EARTH TO HITOMI!"

"Oh, what?" I jumped in my seat. I didn't know I had been holding my breath until Yukari pulled me from my trance.

"Dude, do you like have a thing for the Fanels? Cause if you do, give it up already. They don't go with anyone."

"Oh," I sighed? I mean, it's not like I did have my hopes up right?

I continued to glance over at the Fanels's table every now and then to notice that Van had not hindered staring in my general direction.

"Pssst. Tomi. Why is Van staring at you? He's been staring this whole time?" Yukari asked.

"I don't know, I didn't do anything to him, at least I don't think I did," I replied.

Much to my relief, the bell rang signaling the end of lunch. I quickly grabbed my backpack and headed to my remaining two classes.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. I had Japanese with Amano and he sat right by me. I had him in gym too so we walked together to that class. I wasn't very athletic. The only thing I was good at was running. We played dodge ball and I was immediately out.

After I had changed out of my P.E. clothes I gathered my stuff and headed towards the parking lot. I was too engrossed in my thoughts to notice that a certain someone was leaning against my car. I had paused in my path to fumble with my keys to unlock the doors. As soon as I found it, I looked up and halted.

Green met red and I froze…

VvvV

I didn't know what to do. He was leaning against my car, and looking so utterly delectable while he was at it too!

But then I remembered the rude way he had treated me earlier this morning, and I tried my best to control my swooning and play indifference.

"I'm quite sorry for my rude behavior this morning, I wasn't quite myself," he said.

Ok, it's just not possible to keep a calm demeanor when he speaks with such a sexy voice lilted with a hint of an Old English accent…Gosh darn it Hitomi! Remember the matter at hand! This is the boy who acted like you were the bane of existence!

I snapped myself out of my daze and boldly met his gaze with a fierce one of my own.

"Look, I don't know what your deal is, but I don't recall having done anything to you to deserve such treatment. I mean, I didn't even know your name until today!"

Atta girl! That's the way ta tell him!

"As I mentioned earlier, I am quite terribly sorry. It's just that you caught me by surprise," he said.

"I don't understand," I answered, wrinkling my forehead in confusion.

"You see, when I first saw you in the parking lot this morning, you looked so familiar, as if I had met you before. And then when you walked into Biology, I was reminded of how familiar you look, and I couldn't figure it out. Not being able to put my finger on it was quite frustrating, and I suppose I didn't conceal my frustration very well. Once again, I apologize. So why don't we put first impressions aside and try to be civilized beings and start over again?"

I was quite surprised at the turn this conversation had taken. I was so sure that I had been in control and then he turned things around to make me the one at wrong! But gosh darn it, how could I resist that oh so handsome face and cute smile he was offering me? Too much more of this and I would be putty in his hands. So I averted my eyes, tried to focus my thoughts, and concentrated on breathing.

"Ok, seems fair enough to me."

His smile widened and my heart melted even more. I swear it just stuttered and skipped a few beats.

This guy was definitely bad for my health, I thought.

I too, offered up the sweetest smile I could muster and said, "My name is Hitomi Kanzaki, but I prefer it that people call me…"

"Tomi right?" he interrupted me, "And my name is Van Slanzaär de Fanel, pleased to make your aquaintance my fair maiden." He swooped down into an elegant bow before me as he said this.

Ok, I'll be a goner for sure if he continues to talk to me like that as it's doing funny things to my heartbeat, which definitely can't be normal.

I was too shocked to say anything. I uneasily glanced around to make sure no one had witnessed Van's bold move, but everyone else seemed to be oblivious to our conversation.

Too fast for me to even notice, Van had straightened up and continued to say, "Surely this can't make up for my dreadful rudeness. There must be some way I can make this up to you."

"N-no really, it's fine, apology accepted," I said a little too cheerfully. "It was nice to uh-meet you Van, but I really need to be going."

Van glanced around the parking lot as if he just remembered where we were. He seemed to notice that everyone else had cleared out and gone home. "Quite. Well it was a pleasure Miss Tomi, but my family is waiting for me as well. We shall meet again and I assure you I will produce proper payment." He winked at me and said, "Be Safe," before he strode off to meet his impatiently awaiting siblings in his fancy Scion tC. Before I had so much as gotten my keys out of my bag and opened my car door, Van and his family had whipped out of the parking spot and sped off down the road.

I opened my car door, threw my bag in the back seat, got in, stuck my key in the ignition, buckled in my seat belt, and leaned back against my seat and heaved a huge sigh as the radio came on.

Everything had happened so fast that I had had a hard time keeping up. Even as I replayed the conversation in my mind, I had trouble making sense of it. Van was very genuine, and he was definitely not the person I had thought he would be. He's dark, and mysterious, and painstakingly handsome, while also chivalrous, polite, and old-fashioned. In the same breath, there was something hostile about him and almost sinister. I couldn't help but be drawn in by his beauty, but somewhere in the dark recesses of my mind, a warning signal was going off. He seemed like he was hiding something that was for sure. His reaction to me in Biology was way to intense to be out of frustration.

I couldn't place what Van was hiding or why he was hiding it from me, he was so composed during our conversation that it was hard to find any holes in his act.

Nevertheless, I knew I couldn't stay away from him even if I tried, and it was my every intention to solve the mystery of Van Slanzaär de Fanel.

VvvV

AN: As you all can probably tell, this chapter has changed quite a bit. Marlene and Eries are no longer the substitute characters for Angela and Lauren, & these characters are now their original characters from Twilight.

Also, I added quite a bit to this chapter, and those of you who have read this story before, you'll notice that I tacked on the content from chapter 6 to the end of this chapter with some adjustments. I decided to redo their conversation as I felt that in the original conversation, Van was turning out to be a little too OOC for my comfort, and his character was straying too far from the way I wanted it to be. Also, the way he acted in the original chapter 6 was a little too un-Edward-ish and we can't have that since Van is the replacement character for Edward Cullen from Twilight.

Nevertheless, in Chapter 6, I have a completely different scene planned since I felt that the events between chapter 5 and 7 are way to rushed for my comfort, and it skips over some of the things I wanted to use from the original Twilight plot. Therefore, I've decided to use chapter 6 to add some of those scenes.

I hope you enjoyed this past chapter as much as I have, and for my old readers, I hope you like the adjustments to Van that I have made. I'm really excited for the next chapter so stay tuned!

By the way, Van's car is a sizzling crimson mica Scion tC—which is a very very very sexy car if I do say so myself ;)

And as always, R&R as your comments are what keep me going!!!

Ja ne

TEE