Disclaimer: I own nothing and nothing owns me.
Summary: High school is filled to the brim with cliché's. Let's explore these cliché's.
Pairings: Van/Hitomi, Merle/Dilandau, Allen/Millerna, etc.
Character profiles:
Hitomi- the psychic heroine
Van- the princely athlete
Merle- the artistic chick
Dilandau- the homicidal bully
Allen- the pre-law prep
Millerna- the popular chick
Fulken- the observant brother/ art teacher
Eries- the stone cold English teacher
Eriya- the pop/rock twin
Naria- the classical arts twin
Shesta- the working boy
Gatty- the history buff/gossip buff
Dallet- the skater boy
Miguel- the goth-recluse
Guimel-the party boy
Viole-the boy confused with his sexuality
Jajuka- the other art teacher
Gaddess- the gym teacher
Dryden- the slutty science teacher
Yukari- the ever-so-slightly snobbish student body president
Amano- the faraway prince
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Chapter one: Hitomi's personal feelings.
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Bits and pieces of lightning flashed about Hitomi's body in an intricate dance. When they struck her nothing horrible happened, like her blowing up or anything like that.
No, the lightning didn't even really hit her. It only passed through her like a ghost might and changed it's collor. From blue to green and red to yellow.
The last little bolt of electricity to pass through her turned from a light gold to a gorgeous silver. The thunder to follow sounding like bells. Church bells.
And then she woke up.
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Scrambling for her alarm clock, Hitomi's eyes opened to the sound of that horrible heavy metal that served her as a wake-up call. It certainly worked a lot better than Bach.
Finally slamming her hand down on the off button, the green eyes blinked a few more times, washing the sleep from them, but not the dream she had woken from. That she would not have. She always needed to remember her dreams and her nightmares so her grandmother downstairs could decode them. Such was her only real pleasure in the morning.
Removing herself from the covers, the young clairvoyant made her way to the closet. Within the hopeless order of the walk-in she managed to pull out a billowy black dress with two red butterfly wings printed on the back, tanned commando boots and a red shawl.
Her friends always complimented her on her ability to read people, but they never really noted the way she dressed. She was an individual and she liked to show it off, always wearing shoes that would hurt if they were aimed at someone and always wearing a dress that showed off her curves.
She would probably never be good enough to be dubbed beautiful, that she knew, but being called pretty was good enough.
Grabbing her bag she made her way down the stairs for breakfast.
Taking the steps two at a time she could destincly smell bacon, eggs and toast wafting through the air, "Good morrow, Nanna."
The aged face of her elder grandmother turned and gave a smile, each crack in her skin visible, "Good morrow Hitomi. Any good dreams for me today?"
The tom-boy nodded, seating herself infront of her plate of wonderfull food and handing the older woman the slip of paper she had written her dream on.
"Oooh, this looks promising. Lightning changing color. An unusual detail, but not unreadable..." Nanna muttered as she herself sat down and started nibbling on her toast.
"Do you think you'll have the reading for me by lunch?"
"I might. It really all depends on if I can find the right book."
It was known through out the town that the entire Kanazaki family had a form of psychic power and they were reveared for it. They owned a shop attached to their own living up-stairs that people from far and wide came to when they had problems. The family had been in Fanalia for as long as anyone could remember. They weren't exactly rich, but they were certainly well-off. Reasonably wealthy, yes, that's what they were.
Hitomi was still learning the ropes of the business, but that was okay. She liked being around her nanna ever since her mother had died when she was still ten.
"Before I go off to school, could you give me a rough summary of what you think it means?" Hitomi lightly begged and she scarfed down her remaining eggs.
"Well, personally, I think you're going to have a wonderfull surprise later. Something to do with a boy."
Hitomi sighed. "Nanna, that's your answer to all things! Can't you give me something more specific?"
The elders dark green eyes flashed teasingly, "Hitomi love is love, though not entirely love. You never know. You could find someone if you'd just stop wearing those boots."
Before Hitomi could retort, the nocking at the door stopped her dead.
"See you later dear, and remember; think lovy-dovy thoughts."
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As Hitomi closed her large oak front door with the little blue stars carved into it, she looked over to the side of the porch where her bestfriend and neighbor always sat to wait for her.
"Good morrow, Merle."
"Good morrow yourself, I didn't fall asleep until five this morning." The little cat girl replied in her usual bitchy tone.
Hitomi just smiled. Over the years she had grown accustomed to Merle's way of life. The strawberry haired girl had a reputation to uphold. The town's artist at their school had always seen potential in Merle's work and had offered last summer to buy some of it. Merle had turned him down flat, but she did give him a small one for free.
That was just the way she was.
"Are we leaving or are you just going to stand there all day?"
"I'm coming."
Moving down the sidewalk the two walked in silence for a very short twenty seconds before Merle struck up conversation.
"So, did you hear? A new prince is starting at the school today. Really high up on the ladder. Supposed to be a direct descendent of the king's clan. They say he's a bit odd, though."
"And who in our happy school isn't odd?" The psychic answered and questioned dryly. Their school consisted of mostly nobility and those who had gotten recomendations from the teachers themselves. The whole damn faculty was filled with odd people who could get anything they wanted, yet had instead chosen to teach.
"All I'm saying is that he'd have to be pretty damn bored to take up going to school at Esca' Academy." Merle commented, lighting up a cigarette from her bach pocket.
Hitomi never repremanded Merle for smoking. The strawberry haired teen only did it when she was either under stress or really pissed off at someone. Hitomi was willing to bet that today the cause fell under the latter. Merle tended to leave smoking the orange and peppermint smokes for when her cousins, Eriya and Naria, did something to tick her off.
"So, why were you up so late?"
Merle inhaled, exhaled and took a moment to look at her nails thoughtfully.
"I was working on a project." She answered vaguely.
Hitomi didn't press the matter. Merle was respectfull of the psychics privacy and Hitomi had decided long ago to respect the artist's.
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As the two girls finally made their way onto the accademy grounds, Hitomi took a moment to see if anything had changed, like maybe the willow trees being moved to another area, or the lunchroom suddenly taking up residence beside the gym.
Aside from being the teaching facility for most of the nobility of the land, Escaflowne High was also a confusing building. The staff often changed the most important schedual on short notice or rearanged the building over night. A very strange building indeed.
Walking to where the two girls lockers were, the tallest noticed that a shadow with extraordinarilly long hair was sneeking up behind them.
"Good morrow, Allen." Hitomi called behind her, calmly turning to get a better look at the blonde with the kicked puppy look.
"How did you know I was behind you? I didn't make a sound!" Allen asked sadly. He did this every morning at school. He'd try to pounce on Hitomi, she'd spot him before he could, and he'd whine before complimenting her on her wardrobe.
"Say, nice dress. Where'd you get it? It looks kinda like the one in 'Dress to Impress' magazine. From two years ago, I think."
How could a guy like that not be gay?
"Allen, you know I buy all of my clothes from flea markets." The green eyed girl replied, opening her locker in search of the lost library book from history class.
"And you know I think you're lying."
"That's your problem, not mine."
"Hitomi, how can you expect me to believe you got this gorgeous outfit from a place with a word like 'flea' in the title?"
"Because you're an pampered little aristocrat who- oh, look here comes your girlfriend."
Turning, Allen saw his beloved girlfriend of two years. Millerna, a princess with class and sympathy for those without it. Her father worked the whole spectrum of royalty, from oil to pearls. She herself was much like a business woman even at her age.
Today she wore an off the shoulder pink tank-top and crimson colored jeans with little sparkly bits attached. And as always, she was followed closely by her two best friends Naria and Eriya, wearing matching orange tank-tops and blue jeans.
"Allen!" Even her voice was royal.
The two gave each other a peck on the cheek before going back to Hitomi, the girl was still searching for the book.
"So, Hitomi, did you hear that Van Fanel is coming to school here?" The blonde princess asked the psychic.
"Yeah, actually Merle told me on the way here. I don't get why you guys make such a big deal about this sort of stuff. We see royalty every day, what's so special about this one?" The green eyed girl asked as she finally caught sight of the book she needed.
"Well, for one thing it's Millerna's job to greet all new students to the school." Naria started, looking over her nails.
"And he's the brother of our art teacher Fulken." Eriya added.
"And you two probably just want to get on his good side in case you need a favor, right?" Merle said teasingly causing the twins to brisle indignantly.
"Oh, what do you know?!" The twins yelled angrily at their younger cousin, her own hair going on end as the two glared daggers at her.
"She's right, though." Allen added, breaking the uncomfortable atmoshere.
"They're right too, I do have to greet him today, and I don't even know what he looks like." Millerna was in the student council and this was what they had given her as punnishment for screwing up the lunch order last week, she just knew it.
"You could always ask Fulken, he'd be able to tell you something." Hitomi suggested, as they made their way to the first class of the day. Science class with Dryden Fassa, ex-royal, comfortably well off and total slut. He'd been trying for years to go out with students, but Millerna's sister Eries who taught English always managed to prevent any major problems from him.
"That would be a good idea, if I could find him!"
The group quieted down as the bell rang and they made their way to their respected seats. Millerna at the front next to Allen, Naria and Eria behind Millerna, Hitomi in the back next to the windows, and Merle directly beside Hitomi to the right. Perfect for talking when the teacher wasn't paying attention.
Before long the rest of the class began to enter the room. Like Amano and Yukari the student body leaders and royal pains in the ass, they sat at the front near Millerna and Allen.
The seating arrangment was four lines with four to a line.
Next to enter the room were Guimel and Viole, the former being the school's top-most partier and the latter was the other's friend from years ago. Both sat behind Amano.
Coming in next were Shesta and Gatty, bestfriends who sat behind Yukari.
Last to enter before the bell rang were Miguel and Dallet, two perfect beings to any female who happened to come upon them in the hall. They sat behind Allen.
Conversation rose again, Dryden was always late for his first class so they had at least five minutes to kill. Allen and Millerna talked to Amano and Yukari about thenew student soon to arive with Dryden, Naria and Eriya about the latest coming attractions in pop culture, Guimel and Viole about the cafeteria ladies latest attemt to kill them, Shesta and Gatty about ancient history, Miguel and Dallet about where to have practice for thier skating and Hitomi and Merle stayed quiet.
Peace in the classroom never lasted for very long and the two back row girls knew it.
Just as usual the school's bully and heart throb Dilandau walked in. His moonlight skin that should have made him look like some greek god shined with the morning sun, giving him a look that made everyone think he was a demon. His ruby eyes didn't much help either. Most of the school tended to avoid him, unless they knew him like Miguel or Gatty.
Making his way over to his seat, the albino set his bag down and settled into the chair, moving his feet onto the writing area. He sat to the right of Merle, but she had never been very afraid to be around him. She was more indiferent than anything. It wasn't like they even interacted anyway.
Turning in his seat, Miguel faced Dilandau and handed the bloody eyed boy a piece of paper that had the gothe's hand-writing on it. He never wrote in cursive, but his print was,nt very easy to read. Too many 'Ts' looked like 'Fs' and all his 'Es' looked like three's.
"What's that?" Dilandau asked his friend as he took the paper. Opening it revealed what looked like lyrics, "Another one? Miguel I'm still working on the last one you gave me."
"Yeah, but I wrote that last night and thought you might like it. This one has a better influence." The brunette answered, crossing his arms.
"Influence? It's about-"
"Good morning class! Sorry I'm late, had to pick up the knew kid." Dryden's annoyingly chipper voice rang through the class. The teacher himself ran to the desk with his paperwork.
"But, the student isn't with you, sir." Shesta commented with a blank stare.
"Oh, right."
Running back over to the door, the ditzy teacher put his arm into the hall and grabbed a body carrying a rather large stack of paper.
Pulling the teen into the room, the class got a good look at the new student.
Dark, soot black hair all wild and dishelved, chocolate eyes that seemed bright, but secretive, wearing black pants that a business man might wear and a red button-up shirt with the sleeves pulled up.
In the back, Hitomi couldn't look away.
"Meet Van Fanel, the new student."
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Next chapter will be up soon enough.