Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.
Escaflowne: All you need is Love, Isn't it?
Chapter 92 ½: Hitomi's muse
Hitomi nuzzled up close to Van, and squeezed her eyes tightly shut before relaxing in an effort to fall back to sleep. But with so many thoughts racing through her mind, sleep was next to impossible.
'I can hardly believe we're here like this. Lying naked in each other's arms. If I had stayed up last night, would we have made love? If I ask him to make love to me now, would he? Am I really ready to that that next step? I love him so, and I meant it when I said I belonged to him, body and soul, but right here, right now; am I really ready for this?' She let out a deep breath and whispered softly, "Van?" But there was no response.
Carefully, she lifted her head to look up at him. Van's eyes were closed, his face turned slightly to the side. 'He's asleep. How unusual. Van's normally such a light sleeper. He must be exhausted.' She studied his features for a few moments longer. 'He looks so at peace when he's asleep.' Slowly, she eased her head back upon his chest. 'So tranquil.'
In the stillness of the early morning hour, she could feel the subtle rise and fall of Van's chest as he breathed, and she could feel and hear the strong, steady beat of his heart beneath her ear. Hitomi smiled, enjoying the guilty pleasure of being with Van like this, but slowly the smile faded. 'What would Yukari say if she saw me like this? What would my parents say if the new I was lying naked with a boy? Oh, my god, they'd probably ground me for life.' She tightened her hold on Van. 'I have to be careful what I say, when I return home. I can never let this slip out, not even to Yukari.' Her heart began to race and her breath quickened. 'Calm down Hitomi. No one's going to find out. Not now, not ever. Just calm down.'
Gradually, her respiration returned to normal. Closing her eyes, she inhaled deeply then gradually allowed the air to flow out of her lungs. I love the way he smells. Like the fields of Fanelia. Like the outdoors he loves so much.' She placed a tender kiss upon his chest. "I love you so much Van," she whispered as softly as she could. "I love you more than life itself."
(To be continued)
AN: Everyone, I am so very sorry for taking so long to post my next chapter. To be honest, after losing my last job, I went through such a bad case of writers block that I hardly wrote anything for nearly two months. But with my new job has come a new desire to write and I did finish writing the 93rd chapter over a week ago. But it is still in the hands of my beta-reader. I've learned my lesson when it comes to posting chapters that haven't been edited especially longer ones, so chapter 93 will have to wait a while longer until Janice has time to finish it. But until then I thought I'd send along this short little chippie in hopes to ease your craving for something new. I call this chapter 92 and ½, but really it's more like 92 and a 1/10th. Just a little something I whipped up quickly but I think, at least I hope you found it somewhat satisfying.
A great big thank you to Random1377, who looked this chapter over for me. Not really a beta, but an extremely gifted writer.
By the way, I'll be on my mIRC all next week from 8:30pm till 10pm. The server is 6667 and the channel is #EscaANL. Hope some of you can make it on. I'd love to chat with you about my story.
Again, my deepest apologies for taking so long to update. And hopefully, chapter 93, which is much longer, will be up soon as well.
Thank you all,
A. Amishi