Memories Keep You Near
A/N: Chapter 2! ...and the reason why I rated this story M. For MATURE. As in Le Sex!
O.o if you don't want to read it, you can just not read the story :P however, I want you to so I won't make it that graphic. It will be romantic, not graphic and porno-ish (A new word!).
----indicate where a memory comes in and out.
Chapter 2
"That's a beautiful necklace."
Hitomi looked up in surprise at the painfully familiar tinkle of voice. Here she was, standing right beside her with that beautiful smile, elegant clothing that Hitomi suppose must be from her home country -- flowing fabrics and draping jewelry and skin an amazing color created from living in a country with more sunlight than anything else. She had her dark hair braided back in something that Hitomi could never pull off and her hands were clasping shawls of fine fabrics to her shoulders. Hitomi didn't need to glance around to know there would be a small group of women tagging along with her and a gaggle of bystanders curious to see their new Queen wandering the streets of Fanalia.
Hitomi felt herself blush in embarrassment and turn her eyes down to the table of wears she had stopped the view. She hardly noticed the necklace now. "It is very beautiful."
"You should buy it." She smiled, so innocently. "Van did give you some spending money didn't he? If not I shall ask him to."
She instantly felt uncomfortable, not at the girl's question exactly, just at the fact that this women really did not know what was going on.
She didn't know how badly she was being betrayed.
The thing that bothered her most with the whole thing was that this women could be her. So far from home. So far from anything she knew. Betrayed by the one you love.
And this women did love Van, just as Hitomi did.
"It's too fancy for me." Hitomi forced a smile, turning green eyes to meet the women's deep brown. She had such wide, curious eyes. A beautiful young queen. Nodding at the vendor, an old women with wrinkled cheeks, she began to move away down the street, away from the queen.
However, she seemed to think the gesture an invitation to walk with her, and Hitomi wondered if she really did not want Van's wife there. She was friendly, and good company.
As she fell into step with Hitomi she caught the smell of the perfume she wore. It smelt like fruit and spices.
"Van says you did not see the city completed before you left."
she nods, not sure what else to do, and keeps her gaze on the street ahead of them. The crowd parts as they move. She can hear the whispers.
And they do whisper. Of course they do. The King's wife walking with his lover. She did not know for sure if they knew about their relationship now, but there were the stories about what happened during the war. Some went as far as to say their love had stopped the destruction of all of Gaea.
Of course there would be rumors.
"I left when they were starting."
"Why did you leave?"
An honest question, and one that clearly puzzled her by the curiosity in her voice. Obviously she knew about the love her and Van shared, even if she wasn't clear on the status of that relationship now. "I wish I had stayed." She felt like telling the truth. "But I felt I should do something with my life on Earth... the Mystic Moon." She looked up towards the sky then, but the moons were obscured by clouds and wouldn't be too visible during this time of the day anyway.
"Did you? Do something with your life there I mean."
She smiled. "I went to school. Finished. And was just starting University when my parents died."
She felt rather than saw the other women hold her breath. "I'm so sorry."
Hitomi shook her head, never one for pity. "It's fine. I wanted to bring my brother with me, but I thought it might be better if he stayed. He's living with some family members."
The queen was quiet a moment, and Hitomi felt she was no holding her breath. "It seems so many have lost their family. I lost cousins in the war, but my parents are still alive." Here she suddenly smiled and Hitomi caught it as she was glancing at the taller women. "Not like Van. Still a king, he went to war without hesitation."
"His country was destroyed. He was involved in the war whether he liked it or not." No, she knew it was true. Van could have got others to fight for him.
The other woman fell silent and Hitomi noticed she walked with a distinct motion that was clearly bred from high-class families.
After too long of silence Hitomi decided she needed to speak up. "He is the most amazing person I ever met."
Oh god, what was she thinking? To take such a big risk with that sort of comment? She felt herself holding her breath again.
More silence before her voice broke in. Clear. Beautiful. With the accents of her country and the gentleness in her heart through her words.
"Yes. He is."
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A feather light touch awoke her, and at the shock of waking to complete silence as oppose to the ball downstairs she jerked violently awake and away from the touch in a moment of disorientation.
She instantly felt embarrassed as gentle laughter reached her and she realized that the gentle touch had been Van. His laughter was new to her, and the more she heard it the more she loved it.
"You scared me." Unable to focus properly in the dark room, she found herself staring up at a dark shadow looming over her bed. One hand on the sheets. One knee up on the edge. A mop of messy hair that stuck up in odd angles, longer than she remembered it. The small amount of light filtering through the curtained windows reflected off his tanned arms and her attention drifted automatically to the blue markings he had there.
He'd told her he'd gotten them after Fanalia was completely rebuild and the river routed through.
"Sorry." He shifted, his hand sliding along the sheets of the guest room. He'd told her when moving her in that he originally intended this room for Merle, but she'd moved into a smaller off building earlier in the year. He'd also hinted, shyly and unsurely, that he'd intended her to live in the room off of his.
However, his queen now held that room as her own.
"Did I wake you?"
Hitomi rubbed a fist over her eyes in order to wake herself up, not wanting to be sleeping during the little time she had with Van, but felt herself waking up anyway.
Especially after the initial feeling in the courtyard earlier. Those butterflies in her stomach at the sight of lust in his eyes she probably mirrored in hers.
"Yeah, but it's fine. I didn't mean to fall asleep." She smiled through the darkness at him, even though he probably couldn't see it.
Her heart leapt into her throat as he shifted further onto her bed slowly. Almost too slow. The bed dipping closer to the edge so that Hitomi had to shift closer to him herself. His familiar scent reached her and she felt dizzy from it all.
She wondered if his wife missed him, but thought not as they slept in separate rooms anyway. If she were his queen, she would not want to leave his side.
"Do you mind if I'm here."
She suddenly felt shy. "No... I want you here with me."
He was quiet again, but she took it as a good thing as he crept a little closer to her. She heard the soft thunk of his boots hitting the ground as he kicked them off, and the bed creaked a little bit as he pulled himself fully on top. Goose bumps erupted up her arms as the cloth of his clothes brushed her shoulder and his hand found hers in the dark.
Somehow, she didn't know when, she'd closed her eyes and felt the soft tickle of his breath against her cheek and the feather light brush of his hair against hers and along her forehead. She titled her head up and felt a shock of realization as she brushed her lips against his.
This was Van. This was the young boy whom she'd saved countless time and he the same for her. This was the Van she left behind and dreamed about being with for years.
She was with him now... and he was taken.
It was amazing to her that she could do this without feeling guilty.
What was wrong with her?
Though she forgot everything when she felt an arm encircle her and pull her closer to him. His lips pressed a little harder, more needy and she returned the intensity, feeling her will break down bit by bit. She was entranced and hopelessly caught up in all of it as he pulled away and gently nudged his nose against her cheek before placing a soft kiss there. On her eyelids. On her jaw. On her neck. She didn't realize she'd made a noise of desperation until he'd returned back to her lips, letting his tongue brush along her bottom lip before she allowed hers to meet him halfway.
"I love you." A whisper against her lips and she felt hers tighten into a smile. Her fingers intertwined with his hair before she let her hand carry on down his back, drifting across smooth shoulder-blades. She wondered where his wings went when he pulled them inside.
"I know... I love you too, Van."
He was gentle when he made love to her that night, knowing it was her first time. He offered her an experience she knew she would never feel with anyone else, as she knew she would never love another so much. His breath in her ear and their rhythm was enough to drive her over the edge and she called his name out in the end, clasping to him tightly with one arm around his shoulders and the other hand buried deep in his hair. He stiffened above her a moment and she felt incredibly warm and pleasantly exhausted as he slowly lowered himself next to her and pulled her near to him, his breath heavy and hot against her shoulder before he laid small kisses there. Her pendent around his neck lay along her collarbone, enjoyably cool against her heated, blushing skin as her chest rose up and down. Her body trying to catch up with her mind and the other way around.
She lay there, perfectly still, perfectly intent on simply feeling his body there next to hers and his heart hammering, slowing, against her arm and side. His hair tickled her shoulder where he'd dipped his head down and his nose pressed into the sensitive flesh under her ear. She smiled, and to let him know she regretted nothing, let her hand reach up and run through his black tresses before she folded back his bangs to place a loving, almost cliché kiss on his eyebrow.
He chuckled. She felt the growing up of it in his chest before the small gush of hair against her neck and the small, delightful sound that followed. Oh god, she loved that sound.
They lay in silence for sometime, and when she wasn't sure if he was sleeping or not, spoke into the darkness. "I wish I had come back sooner."
She only realized the weight of the comment when Van pulled her a little tighter to him and kissed her shoulder again.
In the morning he wouldn't stay long. In the morning she had to pretend that everything was fine all over again.
She didn't think she could stand this much longer...
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A/N: there we go. Another chapter :P
I don't know how long it will be until the next one, as school is just about done and I have a final on Thursday. yucky.
I don't much care for this chapter, but meh...haha