#koaescaff

Nodding, Van was already off in Hitomi's direction, dodging imbibed guests in his way. Seeing her stand there staring at the mess on the ground, visibly confused and frozen, made his movements urgent. Though she'd been rather bold with him before and confident with Millerna later, she now looked very lost.

As Van placed his hand on her shoulder, he immediately noticed that her skin was cold through the thin material of her blouse. Despite the high collar, the thing was doing nothing to keep her warm even in the steamy environment of the Mystic Moon where people were grinding and twerking on the dancefloor not far away.

"Hitomi. Are you alright?" Van asked when she slowly turned and inclined her head to face him. Her eyes had trouble focusing, causing her to shake her head slowly in an attempt to get rid of whatever was clouding her mind.

"Mmmh. Fine." Was all she responded while placing one of her hands against the front of his suit jacket to steady herself.

Millerna wasn't far behind them. "Let's get her away from all the people."

Van nodded. "Right," but didn't take his eyes off Hitomi. Her mascara was smudged and had settled into the creases around her eyes, giving her a haunted look.

"Hitomi, be a dear and come with us," Millerna instructed politely.

"Ooookay," was all she replied while smiling dreamily.

Van sucked in a deep breath. She sounded weird. Too readily complying.

Hitomi didn't resist at all when he guided her to the area where the private tables and couches were, secluded by a row of tight, sparkly crystal bead curtains. His hand was on her lower back as he nudged her in that direction with Millerna right by their side, making sure nobody was watching too closely. Good thing most of the people here were drunk at this hour.

Having anyone witness that the king and the princess of Asturia were ducking into a private area with a strange woman would surely prompt some juicy rumors. The area where they had all started out the evening earlier was still deserted. Save for some empty bottles of Champaign and glasses- a few of which had been knocked over by the girls in their haste of getting to the dance floor- there wasn't much around.

A bit clumsily, Hitomi tripped over her own feet and nearly crashed into the glowing glass table but a strong arm around the waist steadied her before something could happen. "Sheesh," Van huffed when her arms still flailed, holding her carefully until she seemed steady enough again.

Millerna wasted no more time and stepped up to cup Hitomi's cheeks in her hands. "Look at me, Hitomi."

Hitomi complied obediently. Millerna observed her for a moment, then asked her to follow a finger as she moved it left and right in front of her face. Hitomi's reaction was way off.

"Just what I thought. She's not drunk."

"She isn't?" Van asked while unbuttoning his suit jacket and removing it to drape it around Hitomi's shoulders.

"Mmmh," Hitomi closed her eyes and smiled, snuggling into the garment. She pivoted to face Van, then proceeded to slip her arms around his waist, lean into him, and bury her face in his chest. "You smell good," she announced quietly but happily, then mumbled, "like pet...pet-richor and charred wood."

Van gulped when he felt her nose nuzzle his pectorals through the black dress shirt. "She-she isn't?" His hands were hovering in the air near her waist uncertainly.

Millerna studiously tapped her chin with one finger, the other hand braced on her hip. "She isn't," Millerna confirmed. "She's high on some drug, and…I mean I've only just met her today but judging by what little I know her, would say she didn't take anything on purpose."

That set a part of Van's brain on fire. "What?!"

"Somebody must have slipped her something," Millerna theorized.

His hands suddenly settled onto Hitomi's sides, almost protectively. He bunched the fabric of his jacket in tight fists there, instinctively pulling her closer. "What do we do?" Van asked while regarding the woman leaning against him so contently, his anger dominating any uneasiness. Safe. She was safe here with him.

"Well," Millerna continued but certainly didn't miss her friend's atypical behavior. "It will wear off but it's best if she is brought home so nothing happens to her."

"Right," Van readily agreed again. He was unbelievably thankful to have a friend like Millerna. Out of all the royal pains, she was by far his favorite and always able to keep a cool head in situations where he'd be out for blood by now. He could really use some of that talent.

"I'll go find Allen. Pretty sure her friends are still with him near the bar. Do not let her out of your sight for even a second. Who knows what kind of weirdo is out there, waiting for her to be alone again. Pliable as she is right now, you could probably make her do anything you want," Millerna advised before straightening her dress and leaving.

Pliable? Make her do? Van glanced back down to Hitomi who then lifted her head away from his chest and stared at him dopily, mouth slightly agape as if waiting for something. He hissed through his nose when he realized what Millerna had implied. Not on his watch!

Van carefully removed Hitomi's arms from around his waist and maneuvered her to the couch. When she plunked down, the velvet shorts she wore hiked up another good two inches and bared the whole length of her lithe legs. Van definitely was glad Millerna and him had found her before anybody else because, at that moment, he had a few pretty good ideas for what kind of X-rated things someone might want to make her do.

He felt extremely bad for even thinking about it while she was in such a delirium. What if they hadn't been there? Hitomi's upper body swayed as she sat, completely zoned out. A few moments later she almost fell off the couch too, slowly beginning to fold forward at the waist.

Van hadn't taken his eyes off her, so he quickly dropped to one knee and grabbed both her shoulders, steadying her. Hitomi giggled. He didn't feel like giggling at all. Even though Millerna said the drug would likely just wear off, he was wholly uncomfortable with her having to go through this.

Concern etched onto his face, Van looked her over again. Some part of him wanted Hitomi locked in a room. Now. Until she was stone cold sober and very much in control of her wits again. So sober she'd be able to slap him or anybody else hard for attempting to do anything at all she didn't approve of. It made him feel doubly bad again for the stolen kiss. Although, at least for that she'd had her retribution.

A small crease appeared between Hitomi's brows and one of her hands slowly crossed the space between them. Van was too dumbfounded and intrigued to stop her when she wove her fingers into his hair and combed it forward so that it fell in a messy angle across his forehead. "Better," she announced with a weak smile. "I like this better."

So some part of her did know who he was. Maybe that also meant she was aware that she was safe. Or maybe not, because…well…

"Yeah,…" Van sighed quietly. "Me too." He wanted to entertain the illusion that he could have a normal conversation with her right now. About his hair. Because at least it meant she was somewhat okay and in control of herself, but…

"Why are your eyes red?"

…that question, out of nowhere, surprised him. She'd spoken quietly and was still playing with a few wisps of his hair.

The color of his eyes was a bit of a sore spot for two reasons so he never talked about it. Flaming red irises was the prominent feature both his mother and brother had shared as well and thinking of his family was never not going to be painful. It wasn't difficult to explain either but nothing exciting at all, so none of the tabloids ever wrote about it.

She likely wouldn't even remember if he told her now. "Lack of pigment in my eyes passed down by my mother. She and my brother had it too. I'm really just a freak," he stated, then shrugged lightly.

At the word 'freak' Hitomi frowned again but quickly recovered, even smiling a bit after. Her fingers traveled down the side of his head where they threaded themselves into his hair again, disheveling it some more while he could only stare back.

Despite the smudged makeup, she still looked lovely. The dreamy expression on her face, although drug-induced showed him her gentle side again. He'd seen it before during their other encounters, along with the strong-willed side that wouldn't tolerate any nonsense- not even from a king.

He wasn't doing anything to her though, was he? He wasn't making her do this, or…? It was difficult to focus with her so close. Her cheeks were tinted a bit red by now, this hopefully because she was finally warming up under his jacket.

After drawing a shaky breath, Van swallowed heavily while tightening his hold on her shoulders, subconsciously hoping that it would make her aware of what she was doing. He really, really should stop her from touching him but the way her fingers caressed the side of his head and nape was distractingly lovely. Even more so when her second hand moved to his neck, dipping a bit into the space where the shirt's collar gaped open. It made a shiver trail down his spine.

Hitomi's face drew nearer even and Van backed away a bit in an attempt to keep them out of trouble. She was still close enough for him to feel her breath fanning across his face when she whispered, inching closer with every word, "they are so...so...so beautiful." Van's heart skipped a few beats when he saw her eyes falling shut as she drifted further toward him yet, her mouth brushing his, soft as a feather.

His own eyes crossed in shock despite the ample warning signs. He really should have seen it coming but had been too mesmerized to comprehend what she was up to. Or maybe he was full of shit and had been secretly hoping for it. Either way, he'd not fully realized just how much he was craving the feel of it.

Who could even blame him? Behind the title and responsibilities, he was still a guy with wants and needs. No matter how aloof he appeared on the outside in the role of the monarch- protector of his realm- he couldn't just shut off the craving. The craving felt by a very simple fraction of his brain. The one that wanted to immediately reciprocate what she was offering, hollering at him to pull her close, savor the moment, and see how far they could go.

Only, responsibilities would always take precedence over such a longing now that he was king, especially in a situation like this. Hitomi's warm, soft lips slowly moved against his, tasting of bitter gin, tonic, and lime. She was searching, desperate for something he realized he couldn't- no- shouldn't give her.

Van groaned when Hitomi's grip on him tightened fractionally. Under different circumstances, having her grab him like this, demanding him to respond to her kiss while pressing her slightly moist lips against his would certainly have been more persuasive. After all, she was really pretty and intriguing in several ways. However, knowing that she was doing all this under the influence of some drug made it feel all kinds of wrong.

Hating himself for having let it even come this far, the king tapped into hidden reservoirs of sheer will and pried her hands off his head. His gut twisted sickly when a small noise of surprise and protest escaped Hitomi's mouth after they parted. Carefully but deliberately, he pushed her back into the cushions and drew in a deep breath of sobering air but that hitched in his throat halfway when he heard all his names.

"Van Slanzar de Fanel, what on Gaea do you think you're doing?" Millerna hissed behind him while roughly pulling him to his feet and, for a lack of a more acceptable retribution, pinched his upper arm where she knew the large welt of a scar was.

"Ow! What the..! Millerna, I didn't do anything!" Van exclaimed in exasperation while running both hands through his disheveled hair, combing it back again.

"Yea, exactly!" Millerna poked his chest with an accusing finger while, with her free hand, gesticulated towards Hitomi. The woman in question was resting against the back of the couch, looking like she was going to fall asleep any moment. She didn't need to say anything else. Van's eyes darted back over to Hitomi, staring at her ruefully.

"I…," Van began to speak but a frustrated growl escaped his throat instead. His hands balled themselves into fists at his sides and pure anger washed over him. Anger for his own stupidity and for whoever was responsible for this mess in the first place. If he got his hands on whoever slipped her the drug, they'd pay.

"Hitomi!" A frantic voice heralded the approach of her redheaded friend. Van was glad to see her rush to Hitomi's side with only a quick side glance at him and Millerna in passing. It was good to know she had a friend nearby now. Two actually, when Allen's brother rounded the curtain with a few swift strides, followed by Allen, who kept a respectful distance but looked thoroughly concerned nonetheless. More concerned than he ought to have been.

"Hitomi, what happened to you?!" Yukari and Amano fretted while inspecting their friend only to find that she was physically unharmed. Yukari's shoulders slumped in relief when she realized that her friend was alright.

Meanwhile, Millerna and Van were arguing quietly for a minute before he stormed off, his face a mask of fury.

"Don't do anything rash, Van! You don't even know who did it!" Millerna tried to calm him down, the words barely audible over the music.

Yea she was right, but he was downright pissed when he stomped out from behind the secluded seating area, fuming and wishing he had his sword on him. He stomped aimlessly into the crowd, scanning it for anybody who looked even remotely guilty.

He was just about to explode when a small voice piped up beside him. "Excuse me, your highness," Celena's melodic but confident voice reached him through the boom of the bass.

"Van," Merle joined them. They seemed to have been dancing up until now, as far as Van could tell by his sister's labored breaths and loosened buns with strands of pink hair framing her face.

"Van," Merle repeated his name firmly to make sure he was listening. "Celena thinks she saw something. We just only heard from Allen what happened in passing."

That, of course, got his attention. "Tell me!" Van demanded.

"Well. There was this guy," Celena began. "He was sitting at the bar the whole time but now he's gone. He dropped some pill into a drink and then a waitress came and took it. I don't know where she went with it, though. Could be that she gave it to that lady."

"What did he look like?" Van asked, already mentally skinning a faceless guy alive with the razor-sharp, royal sword.

"Silver or white hair. Similar length as mine. Very pale and sort of rude," Celena described him and Van didn't need to hear anything else.

"Dilandau," Merle blurted out his thoughts, confirming it. "His looks are uncanny. Van," she immediately grabbed him by the sleeve of his shirt, knowing him too well. "Don't do anything dumb."

Both Millerna and Merle were very aware that an enraged Van was nothing to be underestimated. As much as his sense of honor was his strongest virtue, it also became his biggest weakness when stretched too far, turning into stubbornness which translated to rash and thoughtless actions.

It was too late anyway. Dilandau was gone. His white hair would have been easily visible in the glow of the black light, even in a big crowd. Luckily, that wasn't a problem at all, Van thought. The dishonorable bastard would pay and he had a good idea about how already.

"Don't worry. I won't," Van promised. At least not tonight but nobody needed to know that.

The three then returned to the back area where everybody was still gathered around Hitomi. To Van's discontent, Allen was now hoisting a dead-to-the-world Hitomi into his arms. The king was a bit confused about the severity of his displeasure when seeing this. He stayed at the back of the group, jaw locked and arms crossed.

Millerna announced that Allen was instructed to make sure the three friends got home safely. "Allen, don't let go of her until you're inside their apartment. That's a firm order."

"Not to worry," Allen assured nobody in particular, donning an expression of chivalry. "My arms have and always will be the safest place on Gaea for any fair lady."

"Odd flex, but okay," Merle stated a bit dryly.

Allen, with Hitomi in his arms and flanked by Yukari and Amano made his way out of the club. As directed by Merle, they used the back door which the royal entourage had entered through earlier, so as not to draw attention.

After they were gone, Van snatched up his crumpled suit jacket from where it had been left on the couch. The garment created a puff of air when he roughly straightened it around his shoulders. For a brief moment, it smelled sweet. Sweet like her, which calmed him by a small measure before his blood began to boil anew.

Yeah. Dilandau, the cretin, was going to wish he never set foot into the Mystic Moon tonight. He'd regret it by tomorrow afternoon at the latest.

When Van was finished with the last button on his jacket, he was back in charge of his temper again, the façade of a pure in-control king. "Celena, would you and the rest of security please make sure the princesses get back to the palace? I need some time alone. Escaflowne is outside. He will escort me back."

Celena nodded confidently. "No problem."

Millerna shook her head slowly.

"I'm coming with you," the princess answered while indicating that she was ready to go and would accept no debate about the matter. It seemed like the incident had sobered everybody up quite firmly.

Van looked at her with a neutral expression and said, "fine." He knew that arguing with her was pointless.

Dilandau smirked mischievously while ambling through the narrow alleys of old town. One hand was tucked into a pocket while the other held his cellular phone. The screen glowed brightly as a video clip played. Although a bit blurry and filmed from a weird angle near the bathroom hallway, one could make out the king and a woman in an intimate encounter.

Sylphy had really hit the jackpot with her choice. Never in his wildest dreams had Dilandau thought he'd still be able to enjoy entertainment of this caliber tonight. As far as he was concerned, nobody was safe from this kind of fate, not even the king. Spreading chaos and disorder was were where Dilandau felt most at home- it was his own, personal mission and he didn't much care who was affected by it.

He was glad to have slipped out at the right moment. Although he wasn't afraid of the king, he wasn't up for dealing with the shit this all could stir up in diplomatic terms. Relations between Zaibach and Fanelia had never been great, even though they were connected by some of the longest-standing trade agreements in history. Despite decades of peace, everything between them was frosty, to say the least.

Escaflowne marched along behind Van and Millerna, down the cobblestoned pedestrian area of old town. He'd wisely remained fairly quiet as various groups had exited the club with his master and the Asturian princess returning last. Although usually never shy, the machine knew when a situation was too serious for his witty remarks.

Van's hands were shoved deep into the pockets of his suit jacket while frowning at the ground. Millerna floated next to him, refusing to be affected by the foul mood he was emanating. Neither of them had spoken a word since they left the club. Van was obviously deep in thought even though he had put up a good show of being unmoved towards the end.

Escaflowne continued to keep his distance, scanning the area for danger as they went. It was a quiet night otherwise and Millerna let her childhood friend fume in silence some more until they reached the elevators. The guards positioned there snapped to attention when the king neared and one of them pushed a finger to his earbud while speaking into the small mic by his uniform collar, giving his colleagues upstairs a heads up that the royals were approaching.

Escaflowne's frame was too large to fit inside the brightly-lit box so he had to climb the steps. Nothing new. Van leaned against the brushed metal walls on the inside while the doors slid shut, arms crossed and eyes closed.

"You like her don't you?" Millerna finally interrupted the companionable silence since they were finally alone.

Van opened his eyes but didn't respond, only frowning back at her.

Meanwhile, the elevator was ascending swiftly.

Ornery mule of a man.

Millerna jabbed the emergency stop and Van's eyes sprang open when the elevator came to a sudden halt.

"What the…," he unwound his arms and braced them on the railing on either side of him. Now it was Millerna's turn to cross her arms and regard him inquisitively. She couldn't help but permit one corner of her mouth to rise. Looks like that accusation finally got under the reserved king's skin. His unguarded, startled expression was all the confirmation she needed.

"She's smart and pretty," Millerna assessed while Van stood unmoving, eyes trained at the floor.

"What are you talking about?" Van responded in irritation.

Millerna rolled her eyes dramatically. "Van, you're usually stubborn about the right things but this isn't one of them."

"Your point being?"

"That you don't have to pretend like you're made out of stone all the time!" Millerna clapped her hands in front of his face to emphasize her point.

Oh if only she knew. If only she knew that he'd given up on that twice before already when making his excursions incognito. A third time really, tonight, when he'd been stupid enough to let a woman under the influence of a drug kiss him. He shouldn't be making mistakes like that.

Then, a voice came through the intercom by the control panel. "Majesties, is everything alright? The elevator seems to have come to a stop. This must have been a malfunction. We will have it going again in a minute."

Millerna pushed the button near the microphone to answer back, "yes, thank you. Everything is just fine."

Then she turned her attention back to Van. "I'm only dropping that issue for now because I want to give you this without anyone seeing it," she said while digging around her small purse. She produced a small thumb drive and Van accepted it with a curious look on his face.

"It's from a friend. He thinks it could help you access those recordings in Escaflowne's storage you've had issues with."

Van's eyebrows rose when he remembered. He'd been meddling with it for a bit since Escaflowne's activation but not being an expert with machines, he had limited options. Just to be on the safe side, this would remain his own little project for now. Who knew what he'd end up finding.

When Hitomi came to, she felt positively nauseous. Either she was on a ship or had traveled back in time to when she was a baby because whatever she was in, rocked her like a boat or a cradle. Everything inside her stomach curdled like sour milk and burned in her throat, trying to claw its way back up before something tickled her cheek and distracted her enough to swallow the lump. When she reached for her face, her hand came away with a bunch of soft, blonde hair- definitely not her own.

"Hitomi," Allen's smooth voice was very close and it took her a moment to gather why. It's because she was being carried by him. Even though she seemed to be sort of awake, now cracking her eyes open a bit, it was difficult to move. Even her hand felt funny as she let go of the man's hair and flexed her fingers. Whatever liquor she'd had at the end had hit her like a sledgehammer and for a while, she'd been so impaired she forgot how she even ended up in his arms.

She remembered dancing with Allen for a good while before they'd entered the VIP area. Then talking to Millerna with Van- oh gods- standing next to them. She remembered drinking something and the alcohol in it being stronger than anticipated. Starting then, everything became very misty. A bit of panic but mostly confusion was what she remembered. After being lost for a while, she'd been enveloped by something warm and it'd finally allowed her to relax and feel safe.

That's when all the worry went away and was replaced with something new, exciting. Her heart hammered against her ribcage when she tried to remember but the visuals in her memory were oh so blurry- her impaired mind not able to fathom the sensory overload then. That's when everything must have become too much and made her sink like a piece of lead into deep, dark waters. Had Allen found her and saved her from getting into trouble? It sure looked like it.

"Wha…t-hap…," she tried to ask but Allen silenced her with a tender glance.

"Shh, it's okay," he soothed her. "Somebody spiked your drink with a party drug but nothing happened to you. I'm making sure nothing happens to you," he explained. "There's nothing for you to worry about. You're safe with me and we're almost there."

He was right. Safe. She couldn't imagine anything bad happening to her when Allen was near. He was princess Millerna's personal bodyguard after all. Hitomi then recognized the awning of the small corner store as they passed by it and Yukari had already run ahead on the walkway to unlock the tall front door of the old building they lived in. She could hear it creak as it swung open while Allen strode down the short gravel path through the small garden in the front.

Feeling safe enough again, Hitomi gave up and let the exhaustion win over once more. She nestled her head against the side of his chest, inhaling his scent. He smelled like cologne, a bit of his own musk, and shampoo. Not entirely unpleasant but distinctly different from what would have made the foggy images in her mind clear up.

Tbc…

Only a few years his senior, princess Millerna Aston was the youngest of the ruling Asturian king's daughters. A tragic illness had taken the middle sister, Marlene, so the loss of a sibling was something which created an even stronger friendship between them.

Relations between Asturia and Fanelia were to be deepened a few years ago after Folken claimed the throne but then the whole fiasco with the rite of dragon slaying happened, so needless to say that whole plan went poof. It would have been easy enough. Millerna's older sister, Eries, was supposed to be wed to Folken. They would have made such a great pair and no wonder Eries was so completely down in the dumps about his death. Not only had they known each other since they were little, but they actually harbored real feelings for each other. A rare thing with such unions.

The strategy changed after that and Marlene's death. Eries was instead to take the Asturian throne since the laws were progressive enough to let a woman rule alone there, but she was too shook about Folken's death, even now still mourning after all these years. It was unlikely that Eries, although always appearing reserved and seemingly strong on the outside, would ever recover from her broken heart.

What a mood killer to think about it again right as the gates in the wall opened to admit the armored vehicle convoy. They were bringing in the visitors who had landed at the airstrip not far from the city perimeters. Luckily, no dragons had been sighted in the area around that time but just in case, a good number of the melef drones had been sent on patrol. The airstrip was really just a paved area in the woods with a few bunker-like hangars which housed equipment and the royal jet. Staff communicated with, and coordinated flights remotely.

Just like everything else, levi ships had also evolved over time to become aerodynamic, metal pieces of engineered ingenuity. They were still powered by levi stones at their core, but the energy was now being more thoroughly harnessed. Thanks to mechanical designers and progress in technology, they looked less like ships which sailed the oceans and were much, much faster.

If civilians wanted to travel to other countries, there were enough commercial services which overlayed in Fanelia for a short time but none had their home base here- no surprise there. On occasion, dragons could be spotted from high up in the air. Seeing one was kind of cool but only if one didn't consider the havoc they could wreak upon that small, pressurized, metal tube if given the chance.

When Van and Merle stood on the mosaic in the palace square, waiting to officially greet the royal envoy, the king couldn't help but grin a bit when noticing that Merle took special care to chew her gum as discreetly as possible to avoid it being taken from her. She was looking forward to seeing Millerna because they both were party girls at heart. He already dreaded this evening when they would drag him along to the Mystic Moon, Millerna's favorite place to visit when in Fanelia.

Van wasn't fond of the nightclub. Oodles of odd high-society folk liked to dance the night away there, usually several notches too imbibed. In the occasion that he did show his face there, women vied for his attention and men in positions of leadership or high office tried to pander to him without shame, hoping to reach new heights in their careers. As if a whiff of vodka from their mouths would sway Van in their favor.

More than once, he'd wished he could have just given them a firm nudge and watched them fall over to be collected by security but he couldn't be seen doing that. Even though, no doubt, many of them woke up crapulous the next day, memories slowly dawning on them about how they had embarrassed themselves in front of the king. Sadly though, he was the head of his country and required to treat people with respect. Even when they were drunk off their asses, especially if they were related to diplomatic offices from other countries.

But anyway, this was a problem for future Van. Present Van actually cracked a smile when he saw princess Millerna exit the elevators first and confidently make her way towards him as the forefront of the entourage. She hadn't changed much from the last time they'd seen her except that she probably was even more radiant. No wonder her father had her protected so well.

A whole group of guys in navy blue suits along with a younger woman in a white sundress tagged along not too far behind. The princess herself wore light pink, her favorite color, and the dress itself, although proper enough, still hugged her body snugly. With her long, wavy, blonde hair and periwinkle eyes, she was nothing short of stunning. Hey, nobody could blame a guy for noticing those things. She was standing right in front of them by now, after all.

As soon as elaborate greetings between the king, the princesses, and the officials concluded, some pictures were taken from the few press representatives who had been admitted. Then, the group was off towards the palace where everybody finally was able to relax again after the double doors shut tightly behind them. Millerna's high heels click-clacked even through the crimson carpet covering the marble floor before the three royals came to a stop.

Not able to contain her excitement anymore, Merle squealed and both women hugged tightly in a proper greeting which prompted another, rare smile from the usually reserved king. "I'm so excited you're here Millerna!" Merle exclaimed as the other princess hugged her back tightly.

"Me too!" Millerna replied and then held Merle at arm's length. "Wow, your hair is so different I barely recognized you at first glance. You look more mature."

"Oh but wait," Merle laughed and reached into the pockets of her blue etui dress, only to retrieve two rubber bands. While chewing on her gum more shamelessly, she made quick work of the pink tresses and in no time had them back up in a pair of trademark buns on top of her head. "Better?" She asked Millerna.

"Much better. Now you look more like the cute kitten I used to know," Millerna nodded, pearly whites showing through a satisfied smile.

Van snorted a bit with a slightly raised eyebrow at the comment. Sweet kitten? More like a sly fox at times. Oh well. Much love, though.

With so many unfamiliar faces behind Millerna, a few more introductions were in order. On cue, a guy with long, blonde hair and the only other woman in the group approached.

Millerna motioned for them to come closer. "Van, this is Allen. He is my new head of security."

The blonde guy bowed lightly at the waist. "King Van." He greeted politely. "Behind me are our pilot and my second, Gaddess, as well as Reeden, Kio, Ort, Pyle, Katz, and Teo," he introduced the rest of the crew who bowed in greeting.

"…and this lovely lady is his sister Celena," Millerna continued. "She may look innocent but don't let that fool you. She hopes to become a member of Asturian security too. Until then, she's permitted to trail along and shadow Allen and the rest of the guys."

Celena, the young woman in question, offered both Fanelian royals a perfect curtsy. "Your highnesses."

Merle immediately liked her, Van could tell. She nodded eagerly, sensing an ally and fellow party girl only waiting for a chance to show it. "You can call me Merle when we're alone. It's totally fine. I can already tell we're going to get along well. Just wait until tonight when you get your first taste of Fanelia out and about. We're all going to the Mystic Moon! It's the best nightclub in town!" Noticing Van's scowl, she elbowed him gently in the ribs. "It's going to be awesome. I'm there with my friends a lot but it's going to be even better with you all."

Van was fully aware of how well she was plowing through his lack of enthusiasm- with the unyielding strength of a pack mule. Really though, it was good to have Millerna and her together. One, because he was hoping that Merle would take on some of Millerna's more mature qualities and two, because having a friend like her around made the palace instantly feel warmer.

The Mystic Moon's location was easily visible from anywhere in the capital because of its sky beam. A solid, blue column of light shone straight up into the inky night sky like a guiding beacon and young Fanelians flocked to it on weekend evenings like moths to a lamp. Likewise, Hitomi, Yukari, and Amano were on the way there.

Being that it was a Saturday night, the streets were livelier still than during the week. Some restaurants had extended seating outside in the pedestrian zone and on sidewalks. Groups of people enjoyed a late dinner and friends sat together for a glass of wine and to talk story. Hitomi would have much preferred to do so too, but Yukari was too excited to see the club for the first time and Hitomi didn't want to be a downer. Even though the prospect of mingling with a crowd of strangers didn't appeal to Hitomi, she at least owed her best friend an attempt at fun.

So there they were, ready to party. While Amano was dressed not much different than usual, in a pair of slacks and polo shirt, the girls had taken the opportunity to wear things bought on a whim during shopping sprees which likely would never fit another occasion. Yukari sported a purple, strapless dress and was proud to have matched it with her favorite heels to ensure maximum dance capability.

Hitomi had, after some persuasion from Yukari, finally given in and cut the tag off a pair of hunter green shorts made from some velvet-like fabric she'd had in the back of her closet for longer than she could remember. They were tighter than she would have liked but now, with the tag off, she'd sort of committed to at least wearing them once. A pair of strappy, black heels in addition had even made her bestie whistle at the sight of her legs. Too bad her usual sneakers really weren't an option. Thankfully, combined with a long-sleeved, ivory, high-collar blouse, the outfit looked more classy than trashy.

The Mystic Moon was located in one of the old, historic mansions in old-town, not far from where they lived. It had been renovated on the inside and some on the outside, thereby keeping the original structure and charm of the building intact.

The line to get in already wrapped around the corner and by the looks of some of those in that line, they'd been waiting for a good while. Some left eventually when it wasn't moving for a long time or were turned away by the hostess for random reasons after finally making it to the front. Few attempted to hide the looks of disappointment as they walked off, apparently too casually dressed or not important-looking enough to be admitted.

All this waiting in line to be let into a club they were barely good enough for. This was starting pretty great already, Hitomi thought while wondering what the night was to bring. There was a separate line for those who were on the guest list. It made Hitomi feel weird to bypass all the other people but Yukari marched up to the hostess with such confidence she had to admire her.

The woman eyed them suspiciously when Yukari announced that they were on the guest list. She scanned their attire, taking her sweet time, then finally clicked her tongue. They probably reeked like peasant but Yukari was calmly smiling at her, imperturbable as always. When the hostess scanned the guest list, her red lips curled in a somewhat dissatisfied manner because she couldn't turn them away.

"Go on," was all she said and motioned for the giant mountain of a bouncer behind her to let them pass. He grunted in acknowledgment and used one of his meaty arms to pull open the nearest one of the brushed steel double doors next to him.

Yukari beamed at him in passing and Hitomi wasn't far behind, followed by Amano. Sound waves of a pumping bass hit them before their eyes adjusted to the visual overload that was the inside of the club.

In front of them, a buzzing mass of people was dancing and drinking, moving through a kaleidoscope of colors. Although the club was mostly dark, light emitted from the inside of glass tables, the structure of the bar areas in different locations throughout the club, and pillars that went all the way up to the tall ceiling made for an otherworldly kind of mood. It looked as if the place had been built with cosmic mortar and pestle. A big disco ball was mounted right in the center of the tall, vaulted ceiling and reflected the colorful lights around the club, casting stars across any surface it could reach.

"Wow," Hitomi allowed herself to say.

Yukari elbowed her, giggling. "This is awesome!"

Hitomi laughed. "Okay, this is pretty cool."

Amano couldn't help but admire the ambient too. While there were small tables to sit or stand by around the sides, the middle was reserved mainly for dancing and busy waitresses dressed in black expertly weaved through the crowd to deliver drinks to thirsty guests.

"Come on! Let's find Allen!" Yukari yelled in Hitomi and Amano's direction while taking her boyfriend's hand and already dragging him along. Hitomi followed them as they made their way around the side of the dancing crowd, dodging a few people who were so immersed in their moves they had strayed from the rest.

Allen had sent a message a few days ago, letting them know that they were on the guest list for this evening and that he'd be near the VIP area, mainly off duty with his second, Gaddess, in charge but still close to the princess just in case. Fanelia was known as extremely safe due to good diplomatic relations but being overly cautious never hurt.

"I see him," Amano announced, pointing to a set of three, wide steps straight towards the back. A long, red carpet was spread across the floor there and leading up the stairs with another hostess desk occupied by a duo much like that at the front door.

Not far behind the thick, velvet rope which separated the VIP area from that of the common people, a man in a dark blue suit with a martini glass stood half facing the crowd back there and half lazily scanning the area down where the three friends were. Although Hitomi knew that Amano and Allen were twins, seeing a nearly identical copy of Amano smile warmly at them was strange. His features were so strikingly similar.

The only difference was the hair. While Amano's was chestnut brown, Allen's was platinum blonde. It was the wildest thing. Hitomi tried to remember if the few times she'd seen Allen in younger years, his hair had already been this shade or if, perhaps, some hydrogen peroxide had been used to help with that.

As they neared the stairs, Allen lifted a hand in greeting. He moved to meet them halfway after the hostess stepped over to unhook the rope for him so he could exit the VIP area. His long hair trailed behind him when descending the stairs; and not without an obvious look of admiration from the hostess, Hitomi noticed. No wonder, Allen was quite the looker in many regards, tall and handsome like his brother but with a different style.

Allen deposited his Martini glass on a tall side table in passing, this one illuminated pink from the inside. The guys wasted no time in greeting each other with a manly hug and slapped each other on the back.

"Hey little brother," Allen greeted Amano.

Amano rolled his eyes. "Don't start that again. By two minutes…," he trailed off, shaking his head lightly, knowing that their never-ending argument already had a longer beard than Emperor Dornkirk of Zaibach.

Yukari looked back and forth between them, obviously a bit overwhelmed by seeing the two next to each other after four years. She snapped out of it when Amano placed his arm around her shoulders, thereby popping any developing phantasy bubbles involving the handsome duo and herself.

Allen took Yukari's hand, bowing over it in a formal gesture that was probably making her blush a bit, but who could be sure in that lighting. "It's been a while, Yukari. I see Amano finally had the guts to follow his heart."

That made Amano pull Yukari a bit closer against himself. "Better late than never."

The three laughed and by now Hitomi felt fairly awkward off on the side, pretending to be busy scanning the crowd during the reunion. She glanced towards the VIP area where Allen had just come from. There was a small but packed dancefloor with a bar on the right but on the left, even further back, bead curtains hung all the way from the ceiling to the floor. They looked like somebody had strung up diamonds but they certainly weren't real, or were they? Hitomi wondered what could be behind them. Probably a seating area to give the high society some privacy when chatting with each other or otherwise…occupied.

Yukari's voice reached Hitomi from the side. "Allen, do you remember…"

"Hitomi," Allen's voice rang clearly over the sound of the music.

She turned her head around and up to lock her eyes with Allen's. They were ocean blue and regarded her with curiosity. Just like with Yukari, he took one of Hitomi's hands but instead of just bowing, he kissed the back of it like he would no doubt for some highborn lady. Despite the absurdity, Hitomi couldn't deny herself some enjoyment out of the formality.

"How could I forget Hitomi. You were one of Amano's best friends, after all. It was my bad for not making enough time to hang out with all of you back when we were younger." Allen held on to Hitomi's hand for just a bit longer than necessary. "I'll be sure to make up for some of that tonight," he finished with a slight wink to emphasize his promise.

"It's good to see you again, Allen," Hitomi responded. It really was, although the sudden interest from his side was unexpected.

More conversation ensued after the four of them ordered drinks at the nearest bar. Yukari immediately wanted to know more about princess Millerna's schedule in Fanelia, of course, to which Allen simply smiled knowingly.

"Well, actually she is here tonight although you can't see her because she's somewhere in the crowd on the dancefloor up there. My crew is strategically placed around the area to ensure her safety. He said all this with aplomb, thereby earning him looks of awe from the girls and a proud nod from his brother.

"Didn't think she'd be here! I thought this was something like your night off," Amano said.

"A bodyguard is never really off duty, but she's cool with it. Underneath it all, she's really just a person like you and I and she has siblings too don't forget that. She insisted that I take the time to see you after I mentioned that my little brother lives in Fanelia." Allen twirled the stem of a new Martini glass between his fingers as he talked.

Amano combed several fingers through his hair. "Here we go again."

Yukari gripped his upper arm in a gesture that left no room for arguments. "You know what? It's way to amazing here to stand around and talk. Plus, I love this song so why don't we give that dancefloor a try?" She didn't wait for an answer and instead pulled Hitomi in front of herself, then pushed her towards Allen. "We even got the right amount of dance partners." Winking, she already had Amano's hand in hers and was on the way to join the crowd.

Hitomi smiled a bit nervously while smoothing her short hair behind her ears. She did like to dance but that was normally done at low-key parties with Yukari and not with a guy like Allen at the hippest nightclub in town.

"Shall we?" Allen asked her, extending his hand expectantly.

Well, she couldn't think of a tangible reason to say no. Not that she wanted to think of one.

While Merle, Millerna, and Celena danced their collective hearts out, Van was content to sulk moodily in their reserved seating area, nursing a glass of neat whiskey. The bass was pumping in his ears and even made the silly bead curtain separating their table and couches from the dancefloor and bar shake. At least he'd be left in peace here unless somebody choose to come looking, of course.

He ran a hand through his hair which was neatly combed and briefly wondered what it'd be like to come here incognito. Would he enjoy it more if nobody knew who he was? If he were to be able to hang out with a group of normal people? Like his…ahem…acquaintance from the coffee shop?

Damn.

He'd done such a good job up to this point to not think about her again. However, the tricky part when trying to not think about something was that he had to think about it to remind himself what not to think about. Considering that, he'd actually done a lousy job because it required him to think about her at least once a day.

Ha. Once a day? If only…

It also didn't help that just at that moment, he spotted a way too familiar face near the bottom of the steps. He could see her between the cracks in the curtain.

Damn. Damn. Damn.

If he hadn't been sure before, he definitely was now because she was staring right at where he was sitting, just she obviously couldn't see him behind the sparkly diamond fringe. Seeing her here was like spotting an island in a vast, wild ocean. She seemed a bit out of place but it wasn't due to her looks because she was by far more tastefully dressed than most of the women he'd fended off earlier this evening. She seemed out of place because this obviously wasn't her natural environment.

He saw Allen greet a guy who looked a whole lot like him, no doubt the brother Millerna had mentioned he was going to meet. And there was the other woman from the coffee shop. The one who'd been in line in front of him the other day, so excited about the upcoming visit to the Mystic Moon.

After some elaborate show of courtesies from Allen's side, the four went further away so Van couldn't see them anymore but now he certainly couldn't stop his thoughts from spinning. And spinning they were, around the image of a certain short-haired, green-eyed woman. Why couldn't he just stop thinking about her? Pondering this for a while, he then waved over a waitress who was only too eager to assist her king.

They were all out of breath when they ordered a new round of drinks at the bar. Despite everything, Hitomi had to admit that she was having a great time. Allen was a good enough dancer to make up for her level of ineptitude with his confident moves. A few gulps of water and more potent drinks later they were nothing short of stunned when the VIP hostess appeared beside them and told them that they had been invited to enter that area.

"Wait but who…," Yukari began to ask but the hostess interrupted her.

"Look, do you want to come back there or not? I don't have time for this," the woman said over her shoulder while already on the way back to her post.

Amano chuckled, "now that's a pure-bred Rottweiler. She hardly even needs the bouncer's help."

Shrugging, the quartet made their way towards the VIP area, albeit a bit weary still. The hostess stood and looked them up and down, much like her colleague outside while unhooking the thick, red piece of rope to allow them passage. She was clearly not in favor of having any of them except Allen in this area but couldn't do anything about it despite her position as a gatekeeper. Some higher power had overwritten her authority.

To Hitomi, the grass wasn't much greener on the other side. Except that people here were perhaps dressed even fancier, looked more self-important, and the drinks they held looked more expensive too. Half-full bottles of Champaign and liquor had been carelessly left on tables littered with overturned glasses and crumpled bills, including traces of white powder which looked a lot like cocaine. It instantly gave the term high-society a whole new meaning.

They stood there for a few minutes, looking around to take it all in again, minus Allen who was already used to it. Nobody paid attention to them and even Yukari was still a bit taken aback. She probably couldn't believe her luck about having the chance to come all the way to the heart of the club on her first visit.

They were still standing at the edge of the dancefloor when Hitomi looked behind herself and saw somebody she didn't expect to see again in real life. All the tumult receded and everything around her grew hazy like standing in a dark tunnel with him at the end. Aw crap.

Dressed in a black suit with the royal crest embroidered on the breast pocket, sans sunglasses and with his hair combed back, the king of Fanelia could hardly be mistaken for anybody else. A few people who'd been busy dancing in that area took a moment to stare and exchange some hushed words which were easily lost in the sound around them. Yukari, Amano, and Allen were still looking the other way, pointing at the bar, when he came to a stop in front of Hitomi.

Neither of them said anything until Van offered a "hello."

"Hi…," Hitomi answered in an equally awkward way.

Cue for the others to finally notice the person who'd joined them. That seeing the king of this very country suddenly stand a mere few feet away shocked them would have been an understatement. Well, everyone except Allen again, of course, who was merely surprised to see Van approach them.

"King Van," Allen acknowledged him. "Was there anything you needed from me?"

Van looked at Hitomi for another moment before shaking his head. "No." He then proceeded to kick himself mentally. He'd thought about what exactly to say but now it was all gone. Smooth. Real smooth. Distraction! Now! "Is this your brother?" He asked although it was quite obvious that the guy next to Allen couldn't be anybody but an identical twin.

Allen was taken aback that the king had decided to not only venture out into the open but now also showed interest in his family life. "Indeed, your majesty. This is Amano, his girlfriend Yukari, and their friend Hitomi." Allen introduced them all. "We all grew up together in Asturia."

Van didn't crack so much as smile, one hand clutching his glass of whiskey like a lifeline. Meanwhile, Yukari's eyes were still as big as saucers, words having failed her. Was this a dream? The awkwardness of the situation was completely lost on her. Hitomi, on the other hand, was close to bursting out in hysterical laughter. How was it that she kept stumbling into him?

Van nodded at the group as a collective greeting. "I saw you with them and thought it would be better to keep everybody together."

Amano was the first of the others to say something, shaking his girlfriend out of her stupor. "Thank you for the invitation, your majesty. Would you excuse us for a moment though? I think my girlfriend is thirsty." That said, he took her hand and coaxed her out of the semi-circle.

Hitomi could hear her protest a bit.

"Amano, why are you pulling me away? It's the king for Pete's sake…," Yukari huffed when they were out of earshot.

"Because you've been staring at him since the very first second," Amano laughed. "Calm down and we'll go back over there eventually, okay?" A mere warm, loving gaze from him usually did wonders in cooling her down.

Yukari rolled her eyes and nodded. "Fine. You're right. Thanks for making sure I don't say anything weird."

"Not a bad idea that with the drink," Allen said. "Hitomi, can I get you anything too?"

"Uh…sure," she answered.

"Your majesty? Anything?" Allen asked Van too.

"No. I'm alright," he answered and lifted his whiskey glass.

After Allen made his way towards the bar, it was just Van and Hitomi continuing their stare-off.

Hitomi finally laughed, but it was more because she was at a loss for what to say and do than actual amusement. It wasn't like this could get any more awkward. Enough shilly shallies.

The few drinks she'd had and the extravagant, overpowering atmosphere made her bold. "What now? Are we going to pass the time dancing? We know each other well enough after all." The absurdity of it all.

"No…I hadn't planned on it," he responded ruefully while taking in the sight of her in the party outfit. Although she looked glammy with the velvet shorts and high heels, the blouse gave her an aristocratic look and only underlined her natural beauty.

Even if he wanted to dance with her in a place like this, he couldn't. Not in a club where more than half the people were drunk, on drugs, or both. The possibility of somebody snapping a picture of him doing anything that would shame the royal house was too big. If was different when his little sister was spotted on the dancefloor. She was known as a party girl, a bit younger, and the darling of the media but he needed to be taken seriously at all times.

"Then…what am I supposed to be doing while we wait? Pretend to converse with you?" Hitomi asked him. "Like we just met for the first time?"

She was becoming impatient. Not many people would usually get away with talking to Van in such a way- it was quite sobering.

This was going absolutely not excellent. If only he could remember what he'd planned on saying earlier to smooth out the wrinkles.

Van scowled at her. She was testier than he remembered and his cheek tingled in remembrance.

Finally, another person saved them from their own stubbornness.

"Van! Look at you coming out of your hiding place!" A melodic voice proclaimed from the side.

"Millerna," Van said a bit gratefully.

"Who is this? Hi, I'm Millerna," she introduced herself, not even waiting for Van to do it.

The blonde was almost as tall as Van in her heels and shook Hitomi's hand eagerly. "Are you a friend of Allen's? I saw him here just a moment ago."

Allen was still not back and a quick look around confirmed what he had told them earlier. That Millerna's security detail was positioned at various places in the club. A guy in a navy blue suit was close by but still far enough away to give them privacy.

"Y-yes, your majesty," Hitomi said, the title feeling strange in her mouth.

"You don't have to call me that. At least not when it's just us. Call me Millerna," she offered.

"Uhm…alright…Millerna," Hitomi said.

By the gods. She was standing in the middle of the Mystic Moon's VIP area, talking to not just one but two royals, which doubled the number of royals she had ever talked to in her life.

"How do you know Allen? We haven't been to Fanelia in years, and even then it was before he became head of my security detail." Millerna asked curiously.

Hitomi felt a bit more at ease. The princess was clearly more laid back than she would have expected. "I'm actually from Asturia too. So is my friend Yukari. She is Amano's girlfriend. The three of us share an apartment here in town."

"What a crazy coincidence!" Millerna exclaimed. "Why'd you leave Asturia? Too boring because no dragons?" She joked.

Van stood next to them as the two women fell into an easy conversation. He was really quite relieved that Millerna had shown up. It gave him an excuse to look at Hitomi without the need to say anything at all. So far, he had only gotten himself in trouble or been a nuisance when alone with her. Not a great track record. Maybe it was better if there were other people and no disguises.

When Hitomi and Millerna arrived at another topic which they could bond over, both their eyes lit up. While Hitomi was nearing the end of her nursing education, Millerna was on her way to become a physician. She'd taken up medical studies despite her father's vehement protests and continued them even after Eries had threatened to abdicate after Folken's death, thereby making Millerna the only eligible heir in the event that she'd make her threat a reality.

Allen eventually came and delivered a drink to Hitomi but Millerna insisted that he re-join his brother and Yukari at the bar, which he did, albeit reluctantly. Hitomi had a feeling that Amano was keeping Yukari away on purpose still, to make sure the alcohol wouldn't prompt her to say things in front of the king and princess she'd later on regret. Millerna assured Allen that Hitomi and she were now best friends and that they had important things to talk about. The only reason Van was allowed to stick around was, well, who would tell a king to butt off? It of course also helped that he didn't say a word while the women were talking.

On the other end of the long bar, a guy with silver hair was playing absentmindedly with the ice in his empty glass. His eyes scanned the crowd without aim, watching people dance, laugh, and yell at each other over the loud music. Those fools.

Dilandau Albatou came solely for the people-watching and drink. Definitely not for the dancing and horrible music. Clad in a merlot shirt and black jeans, he was one of the more casually dressed people here. However, as a member of the Zaibach attaché corps, he never had trouble getting into the Mystic Moon no matter how he was dressed.

Reaching into a pocket, he retrieved a small plastic bag containing a single, white pill. Drugs weren't anything too uncommon here and the effects some of the stuff had on others was too entertaining to not sit back and watch. Sometimes, people did downright cringe-worthy stuff when high.

After ordering another round, he slipped the pill into one of two drinks in front of him before taking a sip from his own gin and tonic. He waited until one of the waitresses he knew well came by to load her tray with new orders.

Dilandau stopped the woman with the wavy, teal hair as she picked up drinks from the bartender. "Sylphy. I'm feeling generous tonight. Would you bring this to someone for me?"

"Sure. Who do you want me to bring it to?" Sylphy asked with a facial expression that suggested mild indifference.

Dilandau was regarded as a weirdo in certain circles. As an albino, his outward appearance was unusual. Pale skin, eyes the color of rosé, and nearly white hair weren't exactly what women would list as top desirable features. Although money had, more often than not, helped make them forget about that. It wasn't like he ever felt like wasting time with pleasantries in a woman's company anyway.

In his position, he enjoyed all the honors of a noble but was content to remain mostly antisocial. When he came to the Mystic Moon, he rarely left his favorite seat at the bar. The reason he was still a favorite among the staff was that at least he tipped well.

"Dealer's choice," Dilandau answered with a lazy grin. "Bring it to whoever looks like they could use it."

Shrugging, the waitress tossed her long hair over one shoulder before placing the glass on the tray, grabbing it and walking off into the crowd, weaving through it carefully.

Taking a big swig of his drink, he nearly choked on it when, very unexpectedly, a single finger poked his shoulder. Who the hell was dumb enough to approach him?

"Hey," a female voice demanded his attention.

"What?" Dilandau asked, obviously annoyed and not even turning around because he was trying to not lose track of Sylphy in the crowd. She was moving fast, doing her job well so he didn't want to miss who she'd deliver the drink to. Then, when he saw her finally zoom in on someone and hand the glass over, he was finally ready to deal with whoever had intruded his personal space.

"Did you just spike someone's drink?" The female voice prodded.

Even though many people in the crowd were on some sort of drug, they took them with intent. Dilandau whirled around and immediately backed away a bit because the young woman's face was closer to his than expected. Two pale blue orbs stared at him so accusingly that it made him feel naked on the spot. It was as if she was trying to read his thoughts.

When focusing on her more closely, he realized that she was around his age. He should be able to deal with that easily, or not? "No," he still answered calmly. "I spiked a drink. Not someone's. There's a difference." Dilandau regarded the young woman lazily, challenging her.

Her hair was cut the same way as his, although with natural waves. She wore a pair of thin, black palazzo pants and a lavender, silk, crop top. Where a lot of women liked to take the opportunity here to dress up to the nines, she looked like she was on her way to Sunday brunch. It gave her an air of sophistication and that made him a little curious.

Contrastingly, the girl was holding a fresh bottle of beer by the neck, apparently having stood not far away to order a fresh round for herself. Beer wasn't really the choice beverage of high-society girls. She was pretty and interesting so far, he had to give her that.

What he said made her frown. "Well," she said innocently. " Why would you spike a random drink?"

Dilandau chuckled. "Just sharing some Intensified Luck in hopes it will make someone's evening."

Brow slightly furrowed, the girl slowly said, "right. Because let me guess, you're a generous guy?"

Celena looked at him with an expression that was completely unfamiliar to him. Not outright disapproval about doing something fucked up like drugging a random person but instead bypassing the outrage and going straight about finding his motivation for it. That, in combination with her confidence about approaching a guy who was a stranger to her in a bar, made his skin prickle uncomfortably.

"Shit. You won't believe how many snappy one-liners I just forgot and because of that, I need to go." Dilandau said while getting to his feet and downing his drink in one large gulp while simultaneously grabbing a black sports coat from the back of his barstool.

In any other situation, he'd never be the one to back down. Who was he, to be scared of some naïve girl getting under his skin by merely looking at him? Even as he pushed past her, moving her out of the way with his elbow carefully but deliberately, she didn't make any attempts to follow him. At least, she knew what was good for her. The dancing crowd swallowed him in the blink of an eye.

Fuming, Dilandau ducked into the men's room. His evening entertainment was ruined for the time being. The audacity of this blonde bitch. He was so mad he kicked the silver trashcan sitting in the corner which earned him an annoyed glance from the guy at the urinal.

"What the fuck are you staring at?" Dilandau challenged him.

The guy shook his head, finished his business, and left the bathroom without washing his hands. Pig.

Dilandau walked up to the sink and braced his hands onto the marble washbasin. His own reflection stared back at him. Of course, he'd taken some of the Intensified Luck himself too but he already knew what it'd make him feel like. Like he was actually in control for once. Weird, because normally people took drugs for the exact opposite reason, to be able to let go.

His knuckles turned white as he gripped the marble surface harder and focused on his mirror image. The more he looked at himself, the more the resurfacing images of his surreal nightmares threatened to swallow him again. Hissing at his own image, he tore himself away and strode into the far-off stall, banging the door closed before locking it.

The smoke detector in the closed-off room was still damaged from the last time he'd broken it. He leaned his back against the side wall and reached for the pack of cigarettes in one of his pockets. After lighting one up, he inhaled greedily and then rolled up the sleeves of his jacket to be more comfortable. At least here he'd be safe from the curious, little inquisitor for a while.

Hitomi had lost track of time. At some point, a waitress stopped by and handed her a drink.

"But I didn't order anything," Hitomi protested while the waitress thrust the gin and tonic into her hand.

"It's from this guy at the bar," she explained and gesticulated vaguely towards it.

Over the woman's shoulder, Hitomi could make out Allen, Yukari, and Amano. Allen smiled at her from across the distance and she raised the glass in a toast before tasting it. It had obviously been sent by him- how nice. She was actually having a good time now even though the dark king was still next to Millerna and her, hanging out there like a soggy raincloud. After two more sips, she was glad about the refreshment even though she'd already had a few drinks up to this point.

Van was pretending to look as much interested as a guy could reasonably be expected to be when two women were conversing animatedly, not including him. But that was just fine with him. It gave him all the time in the world to glance at Hitomi whenever appropriate, drinking in the sight of her cheerful face more eagerly than the whiskey. Her genuine nature made him feel more at ease in the usually dreaded environment.

More time passed as the women talked about similar classes they'd had and shared stories of training rotations with obnoxious patients and shocking diagnoses. It was Millerna's turn to tell a story about a guy she'd treated in the ER who had thought it a splendid idea to mend a wound on his leg with superglue, which then necessitated them to soak the affected area in acetone.

Hitomi wobbled a bit and smothered a laugh with her free hand when Millerna talked. It wasn't actually that funny but an unfamiliar feeling in her head stole away her ability to keep it together. "'Scuse me for a moment please," Hitomi said and stepped away as gracefully as possible. What in the hell was wrong with her. She hadn't had that much to drink, or did she?

She stumbled into the VIP restroom where the sound of music was more muffled and the light was brighter, aiming for the sinks. Two other women were in there, fixing their flawless warpaint and giggling amongst themselves. "…sooo hot in that black suit and I can't believe he's here tonight."

Hitomi stifled a groan as she put down her drink and turned on the faucet to splash cold water onto her face, not caring if it would smudge her own, much less elaborate makeup. The cool water helped her focus again better. As far as she could tell from her reflection staring back at her, she looked fairly normal. Phew. At least she wouldn't embarrass herself completely if she went back out there to let her friends know that she would be leaving.

The two high-society girls brushed past her with envious looks on their faces, one whispering something into the other's ear without Hitomi even taking note. Right. Good. So that was the way out. Kind of hard to tell with all the light and glitz in there. All she had to do was follow them. Back out into the cosmic darkness of the Mystic Moon. The difference in lighting and intensity in sound after the brief stop in the restroom hit her like a brick wall against the head. She was feeling worse and worse by the minute and the refreshing effect of the cold water had worn off fast.

She wobbled again, looking around but everything appeared strange. It was as if she had fallen through a rabbit hole and been spit out in another dimension. Faces were blurry and bodies moved too fast for her to follow. Walking felt like having to wade through molasses. She stumbled to the other side and reached the area across from the bathroom doors where a polished shelf along the whole length of the wall was meant to hold drinks for those whose hands were otherwise occupied. Only a few steps away, a couple made use of just that and had abandoned their champagne glasses while thoroughly exploring each other with hands and mouths.

Hitomi reached out to place her half-empty glass onto the shelf but, in her delirium, misjudged the distance. Only halfway on the secure surface before she let go, the glass fell and shattered, sending shards of expensive crystal, ice, and booze flying. Some splashed on her toes, some on the couple's legs and ice went sliding across the floor. They only spared a moment to shoot her an annoyed glance before stepping away further and resuming their previous activities.

In the meantime, Hitomi could do nothing but stare at the floor, dumbfounded and utterly at a loss for what had just happened. As if hypnotized, she stood in the same spot for what felt like an eternity before she, even despite the blaring music, heard glass crunch under the soles of, no doubt, expensive shoes and felt a firm hand on her shoulder.

Tbc...soonish.

A/N: Really, I had nearly 19 pages written already but decided to cut it off sooner for my own sanity. That said, ch 4 (or rather chapter 3, part 2) shouldn't be as long as this update. Alas, real life often gets in the way.

Thank you to everybody who's taken the time to review. It's motivating, as you can imagine. Keep it up!

Fanelia's raven-haired king took similar, if not more, care whilst slipping out of the palace this time. His disguise was, once again, pivotal to the success of this little excursion. Granted, it was only the second time he was perusing it but it seemed as though the scheme could be a way of offering him a much-needed breather from now on when necessary.

Someone cleared their throat and it sounded as if amplified through a can due to the nature of the source, then hollered against the marble floor and walls. The sound demanded immediate attention and emanated clear disapproval. Van froze in mid-step down the deserted hallway just outside the royal apartments. Ah but of course. He had nearly forgotten the grouchy sentry who now never was too far away.

Almost like a puppy, he usually followed Van around unless otherwise instructed. Turning, the king peered at the robot who had stepped away from his guard post. Van was already mildly annoyed because for the better part of the day he had been trailed by hordes of foreign and Fanelian members of the royal council. Sure, he usually had a daily agenda anyway but this week was especially busy for various reasons.

The sentry in question, Escaflowne, had been in every ruling king's possession since the early days of Fanelian history. Purchased from the mysterious and elusive Ispano folk, the machine was a masterfully crafted protector and weapon. Considered a patron deity way back when, now more like a champion of Fanelia, Escaflowne had been rebooted again. Much unlike other melefs here, Asturia, Freid, Zaibach, or other countries south of the Big Seas, Escaflowne was unique.

The machine was tied to the king of Fanelia through a blood pact. To operate, it required the heart of a dragon. A drag energist had to be obtained by the worthy heir and that meant hunting and slaying one of the beasts. Escaflowne could only be activated this way and his service always ended, well, when the king ended. While other melefs were nothing more than drones, programmed to defend or perform manual labor, Escaflowne had a life and intelligence of his own.

"Going somewhere?"

Much to the occasional dismay of his master.

Escaflowne's eyes glowed in what seemed like amusement through the slit of the robot's helmet. While he had resembled a knight in traditional Fanelian samurai armor in some shape or form for generations before, his appearance had been thoroughly updated by the Ispano prior to this activation.

It was part of the service agreement to keep him under a lifetime warranty and up to the newest standards of Ispano technology. Improvements had been made which increased Escaflowne's degrees of freedom, allowed for more variety in his end effectors, as well as extended reach, payload, and repeatability.

"In a poor disguise unlikely to fool anyone, no less."

Together with an update of his behavioral characteristics befitting a more modern Gaea.

"Your father would highly disapprove."

And his internal memory storage, which had been expanded through another chip to add on to the centuries of knowledge stored away inside of him.

The machine towered over any human by a good three feet. His chassis was covered entirely by Ispano white, metal armor in mostly rectangular panels. The updated look still incorporated two diamond-shaped receptacles for green energists on each shoulder and one octagonal receptacle for the main energist on the left side of his breastplate, where a human's heart would be. This energist was the special one, the one Van had collected from the corpse of the dragon.

Escaflowne stood a few feet away from him, scowling as Van resumed on his way. Despite the king's current mood, it was good to have Escaflowne back. The last time the sentry had been in operation was during his father's reign over the country but it felt different now with him being the one to command it.

He still wasn't completely used to this monarch gig, burdened with decisions which affected not just him but everybody else in the kingdom. Although there were enough resources for advice in the form of an eager council -too many resources at times, really- he always put a great deal of thought into the consequences for each decision. Sure, he had been educated and prepared well for years but now it was real. It had felt different when Balgus was the steward of Fanelia, bound to rule within the tight guidelines set by ancient laws until the rightful heir finally claimed his throne.

"No need to follow," Van answered courtly and as an afterthought he added "don't wait up," while tossing his suit jacket with the Fanelian crest on the breast pocket towards the robot. Escaflowne's arm moved in a circular motion type to reflexively catch the garment. While it wasn't uncommon for patriotic people to sport the diamond-shaped insignia with the dragon wings on clothing items, it would probably be better to not wear it right now.

The king's daily attire had finally been given a major overhaul. Pomp and gaudiness had been toned down which allowed for more relaxed-fitting suits. Especially when it came to the damn tight collars and the amount of embroidery, as well as more dark colors instead of screaming, royal red. While Van casually made his way further down the hallway, Escaflowne's steps and robotic voice echoed behind him. "I'm compelled to inform you how absolutely terrible of an idea…"

Closing the heavy fire door to the emergency exit behind himself, the machine's last few words were muffled considerably. While Escaflowne's primary objective was to protect the royal family and Fanelian citizens from harm, the robot's programming was still slaved to Van's commands. He sighed in relief and descended the old, slightly uneven stone steps of the narrow staircase. The main structure of the palace was still original but plenty of renovations over the last decades had altered the overall appearance just like the rest of the city.

Old-town Fanelia close by the palace and the palace itself were reminiscent of the ancient, historical architecture the most. The core structures of most buildings were made from solid stone cut from massive boulders by stonemasons in centuries long past. In centuries long past when men rode into battle on the backs of Yerkle and no walls protected the citizens from the fury of dragons native to this part of Gaea.

Now, many, many lifetimes later, the original houses and storefronts had been modernized with materials such as glass and steel whenever alterations or renovations were performed. As the largest structure, the royal palace still remained the focal point. Built atop of a high plateau, the natural terrain of the mountain slopes it sat on was enforced with another protective, metal layer which doubled as the last line of defense for those inhabiting the palace. Luckily, the armament hiding inside the casing had never seen the light of day since it had been installed by Van's great-grandfather.

A bit further outward from old-town, the foundations of the first wall were still visible in some places as a concentric circle closer to the palace. The wall had been torn down several times to make room for a prosperous, growing city to provide more space. Each time it had been relocated, it had been rebuilt with upgraded materials or updated as time passed and more modern ways for defense emerged. Further north-east, a tall mountain range with sharp peaks enclosed the city from the back like a natural barrier.

It took a while for Van to make his way out of the palace although avoiding people who were more accustomed to seeing him in a less formal state proved to be suspiciously easy. Nobody seemed to even pay attention to him. Turns out, Escaflowne's worries were very unfounded. His disguise was downright impeccable! As he strode across the courtyard, a radio blared pop music from the guard post not far off.

Royal security guards were hardly alert, talking to each other about upcoming plans for days off and some such stuff. One of the larger men in royal crimson enthusiastically tapped his booted foot to the beat of the music and mimicked the female singer's voice with his own high-pitched falsetto. It made Van cringe a bit.

The courtyard was fairly wide, originally intended for military formations back in the day or ceremonies such as coronations, parades, weddings, and whatnot. He was passing the round, blue and white flower mosaic in the center of it shortly after. The one he'd kneeled on while being crowned king not long ago. That ceremony had also been annoyingly stiff and followed a bunch of ancient rituals. Really though. Were other kingdoms still so backward too when it came to all this?

It'd been a while since he and Merle had last gone on any diplomatic trips but he was pretty sure the heir of, say, Egzardia wasn't required to wear a full-on armor complete with helmet and cape at their coronation. On the other hand, there was also a good chance they didn't consider a razor-sharp samurai sword to be the ruling symbol of their monarch. The sword itself and the art of wielding it in training, Van had always appreciated but actually using it in combat, to kill something, was so very different than anything could have prepared him for.

The royal sword was an heirloom passed down through generations and the thought of holding something which tied him to the long line of kings before him filled Van with pride. The sword was, without a doubt, his most valuable possession.

Thing is, it should have been Folken's. His brother, who had for some reason failed at passing the rite of dragon slaying. Even after tossing the issue around in his head for years, Van couldn't figure out what had happened. There'd never been any rescue missions or search parties either. On this quest, the heir to the throne was on his own. If he died, he died. Not the best odds considering what they were up against but customs wouldn't allow someone to rule if they weren't worthy.

One would think this whole ordeal with Escaflowne, slaying a dragon by hand, and the energist made zero sense. Why would a king well-versed in mortal sword combat need a machine such as Escaflowne? Kind of pointless, right?

Wrong.

Apparently, the Ispano had been instrumental in ensuring that Fanelia was well guarded before a wall had first been constructed. A king responsible for protecting his citizens needed a badass sidekick after all. Before him, Escaflowne had been under his father's command. The robot remembered Van from the time he'd been active then but after Goau Fanel was taken by a deadly disease, Escaflowne went into a temporary idle state until Van awakened it with the new energist.

The sentry had recognized him immediately after activation, had memory storage devoted to Van and all their interactions but now, due to the upgrades and change in ownership, the mood between them was something else. Maybe it was also due to the altered settings in Escaflowne's software or whatever it was the machine operated on now. Obviously, Ispano technology had made progress in the last years again but what the robot's inner workings looked like, only they knew.

For the most part, Van supposed Escaflowne's endoskeleton was made similarly to the melef drones which guarded armored mining convoys traveling beyond the wall each day. So yes, people did go outside daily but it was only specially trained workers who stayed on established and guarded routes. Nobody in their right mind would deviate from that.

Thankfully, it had been weeks since the last dragon incident outside. Even then, those drones programmed to protect the armored vehicle convoys had been able to take care of it. Dragons were fierce but not immortal. They favored the climate in this part of Gaea and only very few strayed into other regions.

For this reason, Fanelia was home to the only dragon graveyards on the charted globe which made it the prime exporter for drag energists. Since a good part of Gaean technology operated on this power source, the small country of Fanelia was a critically important member of international trade proceedings.

That's also why so many countries had diplomatic reps residing in Fanelia. Good relations with the only source for drag energist power was essential.

Van never understood why his ancestors had chosen to set up camp here so long ago before modern technology was even a thing. Who builds a city in the most dragon-infested piece of this continent? His people, apparently. Sure, history books had been shoved under his nose just as soon as he'd been able to read. Not that they weren't interesting but a bit more freedom to choose other material would have been nice every now and again.

But there was no use in griping about it now. His heritage, the throne, while the general public and the paparazzi made it seem all kinds of extravagant, required a great deal of self-sacrifice. The only reason Van really never griped about it too much was that he truly cared for his people. His pride of country, even though dragon-infested, prevailed above all. And, of course, the love for his adopted sister.

Merle had joined the family when Van was so small he couldn't recall a time without her around. Not that he wanted to. Sassy and opinionated as she was, his sister was an anchor to normal life in the palace. A palace so big it sometimes felt like he'd get metaphorically and literally lost. He even still felt this way now as a man in his early twenties.

Actually, he felt like that especially while passing through the massive wrought iron gate, the entrance and exit which lead to a wide staircase flanked by two sets of elevators on either side. It was the main and only convenient way to get on and off the palace plateau. People were already lined up to leave after a day of diplomatic games at court. Men in suits carrying briefcases and women in modest dresses and heels with large purses.

Some looked tired but happy to leave, waiting to get to their homes down in the city, the royal court only a place of business, unlike for Van. After all, the king worked and lived here. That's why he needed a bit of a break. Some time to himself. Right now!

Nobody ever took the stairs, especially not up. Except before there were elevators, of course. It took about five minutes of walking to get all the way down and climbing the stairs was an entirely different workout altogether. Van didn't mind, especially not because it meant his chances for being recognized by an observant council member were pretty much slim to none. Again, not that anybody was even looking. They probably all thought he either worked here too or was the stuck-up son of a diplomat. All the better for him.

The only area where he encountered a few people again was towards the bottom where pedestrians sometimes liked to hang out. The narrow cobblestone streets of old town around the palace were popular with hip, young people for taking pictures, sometimes with the palace way up as a backdrop. Some of them liked to sit on the stairs to eat ice cream or drink a cup of coffee from one of the chains along the small square. A cup of coffee like the young man he was passing. A sub-par coffee served in a disposable to-go cup.

Van wrinkled his nose. Nope, he needed the real thing. A coffee brewed from freshly roasted beans that didn't come from an industrial-sized machine made to satisfy the craving of hordes of people every day. Good coffee required love and care in preparation and was served in a ceramic mug. A rather large one, if at all possible. Could he have gotten a stellar cup of coffee in the kitchens at the palace? Yeah, sure but it defied the purpose. He just wanted to feel carefree for a bit and that wasn't going to happen up there.

In that quaint shop not too long ago, he had gotten a very homey vibe and that wasn't just because the young woman behind the counter had basically halfway undressed him as if it was their shared home they'd been in. Van's steps slowed a bit at the thought and he paused at the mouth of the familiar, narrow alley. So full of drive to get there and redeem the promise of a cup of that steaming hot nectar of life had he been that he had forgotten all about the rather…scandalous incident weeks ago.

Some mad luck it was that nobody but him, her, and Balgus seemed to know about it. It would have been the headline of the month and he hated being on the cover of those paparazzi magazines.

Too late for second thoughts. The air was already redolent with the rich aroma of dark roast, the scent stealing out through the cracked door of the little, old coffee shop only a short distance away. It was enveloping Van, beckoning him closer to the source. The dark magic spell was just too strong. He wasted no time in making his way there albeit still wary of what would happen if she was really there again.

The little bell Balgus had abused so violently gave a bit of a muted ding when he entered. There was a small crowd of other customers this time but sure enough, a mop of short honey-colored hair was visible behind the heads in front of him. Not a long line but a few people, just like him, obviously still appreciated the slow pace of a little mom and pop coffee shop like this. These people didn't rush through life but instead took the time to sit down and enjoy the simple pleasure of savoring a cup of fresh brew.

The line moved only slowly but it didn't bother anyone as everyone patiently awaited the careful attention given by…what was her name again?

"Hitomi!"

Right.

"Hey, Yukari," Hitomi cheerfully greeted a redheaded woman in green scrubs in front of Van. "Nice of you to stop by. Do you just want the usual?"

"Yes but make it a triple shot of espresso, pretty please. I need it badly," the woman named Yukari responded while stifling a yawn with the back of her hand.

"You got it," Hitomi promised and got to work.

Van could see a bit better now. She looked just the same but was in a pair of jeans and a white shirt under the green apron. His palms became a bit sweaty and the cheek she had administered the impressive slap to tingled all of the sudden. Damn. Maybe he should leave.

Of course, right at that moment she turned around and placed the large cup and saucer in front of the redhead on the counter and saw him. Her eyes flickered to the side briefly, then widened in recognition.

Yukari liked to stop by the little coffee shop Hitomi worked at on the way home whenever she could. They didn't always have the same shifts at the teaching hospital. Of course, having a hookup for the best coffee money could buy was an incentive to come here above all.

Hitomi turned away from the back counter and served her friend but then almost dropped the cup when she saw who was standing behind her. What in the seven hells…

Her eyes widened and her brows shot up. Was this really?

Yep, it definitely was. No other than the king of Fanelia, incognito again and looking like a young business professional in dark navy slacks and a white button-down shirt with sleeves rolled up to just under his elbows. He was next in line after her best friend and roommate. With his raven hair disheveled and wearing the same mirrored shades again, he looked too effortlessly handsome to be completely inconspicuous. Hitomi's heart skipped a beat when he raised a finger and placed it on his lips, motioning for her to keep his presence a secret.

His lips. The sight made her heart skip another beat and her hands went cold. All of this happened in a matter of seconds so Yukari seamlessly accepted the cup from Hitomi before she squealed so suddenly it forced Hitomi to direct her undivided attention back to her.

"I almost forgot!" Yukari trilled full of excitement. "Amano's brother will be in Fanelia later this week and you won't believe it but he said he could get us into the Mystic Moon!"

The Mystic Moon was Fanelia's hippest and most extravagant nightclub. It was named after the phantom moon visible in Gaea's sky behind its smaller twin. Neither of them had ever been there because it was nearly impossible for normal folks to get in. It was a ritzy place for rich people and kids of diplomats to party the night away.

No wonder Yukari was excited. It wasn't that Hitomi didn't like to dance or go out to party. She did. But the thought of spending a well-deserved evening trying to unwind and have a good time in the company of people she wouldn't normally have anything to do with made her feel a bit weird. Not like they were likely to schmooze with Fanelia's high-society. These people could probably tell from a mile away that their clothing wasn't name brand and that this definitely wasn't their normal stomping ground.

Well, at least she'd have Yukari and Amano. After the day she had walked in on them making out, they had finally declared their relationship status as official. The fact that they were all roommates luckily didn't have to change even after that. They had known each other long enough but walking in on them practically piled on top of each other had been an unexpected shocker.

Yukari's now-boyfriend, Amano, who was one year their senior, had been in Fanelia already a few months before they came and started college. He had been an accomplished athlete in Asturia and gotten multiple offers for sports scholarships from colleges around Gaea, then ultimately chosen to move to Fanelia and pursue an education in engineering and whatever else that entailed.

Although Amano and Allen were twin brothers, they had always had different styles and interests so Hitomi and Yukari never got to know him well. Especially not after moving halfway across the continent. Allen had opted for a completely different line of work and was now the head of security to Asturia's princess, Millerna Aston. If Allen was going to be here, that meant princess Millerna was likely the reason for his upcoming presence.

"We need to talk outfits later tonight!" Yukari was already beginning to scheme.

"Sounds like fun," Hitomi lied successfully and watched Yukari nod and motion to a table in the corner.

"Don't want to hold up your line. I'll be right here, reviewing a few pages in our beloved tome of anatomy while you work." Yukari said while already moving towards it.

Hitomi held her breath when her friend turned and nearly bumped into the tall man behind her. She briefly looked at him and smiled while shuffling past him. "S'cuse me."

"Ok great," Hitomi acknowledged her friend while already face to face with the dark-haired man who had been patiently looming behind her best friend until now.

That. Smug. Look on his face. Okay, maybe it wasn't intentional but he clearly came off smug. It was actually, probably just the sunglasses. Hitomi couldn't tell what he was really looking at and that bothered her. He did, of course, have a good reason for hiding though. So what. The reigning monarch wanted some coffee. No big dealio.

Dragonshit.

Of course, it was a big deal. Why was he here again of all places?

Oh drat, that's right, Hitomi remembered. Again, all this took place in a fraction of a second. Before he could even speak, she turned towards the back counter and filled one of the large mugs to the brim with piping hot coffee.

"Black, right?" Hitomi said while sliding it across the counter towards him with as much of a neutral expression as she could muster. "On the house," she said and it unintentionally may have come out a bit rude. Good thing nobody was paying attention because she clearly wasn't good at pretending like this was an absolutely normal transaction.

"Thank you," the disguised king said with the hint of a warm smile. Fine, maybe he really hadn't intended to come off smug but seeing him again right here made her remember the incident in such clarity as though it had only just happened yesterday.

The way she had shamelessly unbuttoned his shirt as if he was just a regular guy off the street. His warm hand on top of hers while stopping the bleeding on his wounded, upper arm. And then, of course, sitting on his lap, and….and…

Their encounter, although brief, was something she'd probably never forget.

It was so crazy she'd never even told anybody about it. Yukari was her best friend but even she would have laughed. Yeah, right. The king himself, waltzing into the shop disguised as a commoner. Recounting Hitomi's own clumsiness would have definitely checked out but then, the picture-book accident, like a scene from a silly rom-com. She probably wouldn't have believed it either.

For a while, she'd even convinced herself that it hadn't really happened. Not until she had found one of the paparazzi magazines Yukari loved so much open on the coffee table a few days later. It was turned to a page that had several pictures of 'The Most Eligible Bachelors on Gaea' on a double-page spread.

Undeniably, it had been him. His stature, the hair, the dark skin, and of course the garnet red eyes. Unique, garnet red eyes that were at this moment hidden to the world by only a pair of sunglasses. A pair of sunglasses attached to the very man standing right on the other side of the counter, still offering her a gentle half-smile.

Hitomi took a calm breath. He actually hadn't been completely insufferable even after she had, very deservedly, defended herself by slapping him so hard it'd immediately left a searing, red mark. Not a permanent one, as far as she could tell, thankfully. Come to think, did they still execute people here?

Now that she thought of it, the way to dispose of severe offenders in Fanelia was to ban them beyond the wall. But really, that hadn't happened in decades. It was a severely antiquated form of punishment. Eaten alive by a dragon? Probably not the law of the land anymore. Although…

"You're welcome," Hitomi finally forced herself to say as casually as possible. A side glance at Yukari confirmed that her friend was anything but attentive anymore after a, no doubt, hectic day at the hospital. Some days, patients demanded a whole lot of energy besides the free care they provided.

The tall, dark, and handsome man in front of her finally accepted the mug and was about to walk away but then reached into his trouser pocket. With a smooth movement, he dropped a crisp, folded bill into the tip jar full of coins and then found a seat at a tiny table on the far side. He sat sideways in the chair, leaning his back against the wall and propped one arm up on the table to hold the mug possessively even while he wasn't drinking.

Hitomi decided she'd try not to care that king Van Fanel was casually sitting on the other side of the room although this course of action was, naturally, sure to compel her to care even more.

Leaning against the wall behind him, he looked like his eyes could be closed but Hitomi thought she saw him tilt his head her way every now and again while she served a few more customers and then busied herself with some cleanup. Admittedly, she caught herself sneaking some glances here and there too. Okay, maybe more than just here and there.

Hey, nobody in their right mind would blame her if they knew what was up. It wasn't even just because he was the king of all Fanelia that she caught herself looking. He was, as previously mentioned, also very easy on the eyes. Especially with his shirt off.

No! Not that! Any thought but that!

Hitomi quickly ducked behind the counter and cupped her flaming cheeks in cool palms. She almost fell over backward when Yukari's head appeared from above.

"What are you doing down there?" Her friend asked.

Hitomi quickly snatched a clean rag from the pile on the little shelf next to her. "Just looking for this," she said weakly while it dangled in her grasp.

"Ah. Well, I'm gonna go now. Amano and I will get dinner started. Should be ready by the time you get home," Yukari waved briefly while Hitomi straightened back up.

The redness on her face was still present but what was there to do about it?

"Cool. I'm going to close at six," Hitomi said despite the nervousness.

"Say, " Yukari finally asked. "Are you okay?"

Her façade had obviously been not as convincing after all. Was she okay? Hells no, the king of Fanelia was sitting mere feet away. Was Yukari really not seeing that?

"Yes! Of course," Hitomi answered almost a bit too fast while her disobedient eyes stole a glance at the raven-haired man not far away.

Yukari briefly narrowed her eyes but then turned and walked towards the door. "You're such a weirdo sometimes. Later!"

Hitomi breathed a sigh of relief when her friend left. There was no telling what would have happened if Yukari had found out just who was sitting by the wall, now idly playing with the handle of the mug. It was astonishing that she hadn't recognized him right off the bat.

Yukari was one of those people who loved gossip about high society and read magazines published by the paparazzi during lunch breaks. Was the king's disguise really this good? No. No, it absolutely wasn't! Now that she looked at him again, it was totally obvious. Anybody should be able to tell. Who was dense enough to not recognize somebody just because they decided to sport a pair of glasses and mess up their hair?

Turns out everybody, including her, actually. She hadn't recognized him the first time either but attributed it to the fact that she didn't follow the high society news and never made it a point to sift through papers or magazines looking at pictures of 'The Most Eligible Bachelors on Gaea'. And if, then most certainly not the royal-blooded kind. The kind like the man gaping in her direction now.

Big yikes. She had been caught looking directly at him. A gigantic sweatdrop formed on the backside of her head when she noticed that Van was staring right back at her. How long had she been gawking? Seconds? Minutes? This was mortifying. She began to panic a bit when he rose from the old, worn chair and sauntered right up to the counter.

Without much ado at all, he placed the empty mug before her and said "thank you for the coffee," then pushed it a bit further her way before adding quietly, so that none of the last few people in the small room could hear, "I apologize for bothering you."

Great, now she felt bad. Hitomi reached out instinctively and groped for the empty coffee mug, staring at her own reflection in his shades while distinctly remembering what his eyes had looked like up close. Her fingers brushed his warm hand but he didn't hurry to retract it.

At least he had good manners and was nice enough to bring his dishes back. Further confirmation that he maybe wasn't such a bad guy after all? Less of an enigmatic, royal pain than Yukari's magazines depicted him to be. In the pictures she did see every now and again, king Van Fanel looked untouchable, serious, and rarely smiled. He was always wrapped in an invisible cloak of admiration, adulation, and respect and that showed in his demeanor. The demeanor of a royal who never let his guard down.

So much unlike now. Right now, in this cozy, friendly place he looked like he felt…comfortable. Like he was able to let his guard down for at least a short while. Maybe that's why he was here. He had said something along those lines after the…incident. Gods be damned she really needed to stop calling it that. It had been a kiss. His lips had been on hers, full on.

Then, after she'd delivered her retribution, he'd apologized and it seemed to have been sincere. After that, he had justified his desperate course of action. Hiding from his guards and wanting to be alone for a minute had been the very simple reason for that shorted circuit in his brain. Something about wanting to feel normal and not like the fate of all Fanelia was going to be resting on his shoulders soon.

Well, now it was. The weight. Resting on his shoulders. But he was carrying it well enough so far she was aware. Even she had read the announcements and news articles about his coronation not long ago and seen him in the ceremonial armor. A bit olden-timey but a guy like him, emanating that kind of swag, could probably look good in anything.

There they were again. Uncalled-for thoughts that would lead nowhere although he wasn't making any haste in retrieving his hand from under hers, or was he? She chanced a glance there.

The woman's eyes flickered to their barely touching hands and it made Van snap out of this frozen moment in time. Although the effect of the delicious coffee had him on high alert, the spellbinding power of the honey blonde's green eyes was stronger.

This situation was quite unusual. He felt so at home in the little coffee shop, had enjoyed sitting there by himself, sipping some hot brew out of an old, overused mug scratched inside and out from stirring spoons and endless use.

It was exactly what he'd needed but he hadn't bargained with being quite so captivated by seeing her again. It was really him who was to blame for all the awkwardness. If he hadn't used her so shamelessly, stolen a kiss just to hide his ass, they wouldn't be in this situation now. Maybe sneaking out of the palace wasn't such a good idea after all. It only caused trouble.

Maybe Escaflowne had been right. Not that he'd ever admit that of course. Not out loud, at least. Van finally and carefully retrieved his hand and offered the woman another hint of a smile. He hoped it looked genuine enough to convey everything he had just thought about because there wasn't really ever going to be a chance to talk about it again.

Van forced himself to leave but he could still feel the ghost of her touch on the back of his hand when he began to climb the palace steps. Rubbing the tingling spot across his trousers, he shook his head. Why was this bothering him so much though? What exactly was his problem?

Tbc…

It was dumb. Dumb and boring. Dumb because the physicians were still, after a whole damn week, refusing to allow him to leave his bed, and boring because of, well, being stuck in said bed without any sort of entertainment whatsoever. It was a just cause for slow but gradual declivity into insanity. He had been told numerous times that he still needed rest and even though hotly contested by himself, there was absolutely no debate about it.

Van Slanzar de Fanel, heir to the throne of Fanelia and soon-to-be-crowned king was, until further notice, strictly ordered to rest. To say that he was miffed about it would have been an understatement. If he had to swallow so much as another drop of the bitter, medicated tea they brought twice a day, he would most definitely hurl. If he had to taste it even one more time, he couldn't be held responsible for what he was going to do.

Oh how gladly he'd instead fight that bloody dragon again. All the dragons in Fanelia, no scratch that- all of Gaea, actually- just to get his hands on a freshly brewed, delicious cup of hot, steaming coffee. The lack of caffeine was another, very undesirable, side effect of the bedrest they still had him on. Not even his younger sister, Merle, could be convinced to smuggle a cup out of the kitchens for him, and she would pretty darn well do nearly anything for him under normal circumstances.

At present, said younger sister was still in her usual post on the floor next to his bed, holding onto his hand and napping with her head resting on the mattress, legs curled up by her side. Pink hair, which she liked to carry in two small buns on top of her head had become disheveled from moving around and was beginning to spill onto the crisp, white sheets near their arms.

Of course, Van had told her already days ago that spending every waking hour with him was not necessary. As it was, however, they were the only two remaining members of the royal family so her protectiveness towards him was not entirely unfounded and it wasn't like he wouldn't act in a very similar way if the roles were reversed.

Funny, Van thought now as he stared at the fresco on the ceiling above his large four-poster. Funny how Fanelia's capital was protected by tall, metal walls topped with electric fences to keep out the land dragons native to the kingdom but when it came to traditions, they had no qualms whatsoever about sticking the last male heir of their royal family into an ancient, primitive armor and pushing him out the gates, armed with nothing but a sword and a shield. Not to forget, that was after his brother had already failed at the rite of dragon-slaying years ago.

When Merle finally woke from her early afternoon nap by his side, she stretched and fixed her hair before popping some gum into her mouth. She loved gum and even though the governesses who were supposed to educate her in proper behavior and etiquette befitting a princess kept taking it from her at every possible chance, she always somehow had a piece in her mouth again mere minutes later. It was pretty likely that she had a secret cache somewhere in her room. Clever. Van could really learn something from her in those regards.

"Van, I think it's time for your tea again soon." She announced while getting to her feet, smoothing the wrinkles out of her favorite yellow sundress in the process. "I'll go grab a snack from the kitchens and bring you a cup myself."

Van's eyes widened at her words but he said, "sure. Thanks, Merle," while one of his eyes involuntarily gave a nervous twitch. There was no use in arguing about it. His health was her top priority and it had made her unsympathetic to any and all of his complaints about the foul-tasting brew.

Over my dead body! Was what Van actually thought after the ornate door clicked shut behind his sister. In the blink of an eye, he was out of his bed and across the room, stripping off his black, silk pajama shirt with a few quick movements on the way. He winced a bit when his right arm protested. Ah yes, the injury. The very reason for his much abhorred, mandated bedrest and sole justification for why they were still keeping him quasi-locked up in his own, royal chambers.

Van had managed to slay the dragon but not before the beast, in return, had wounded him with the sharp, bony protrusion at the end of its tail. In hindsight, he had been lucky to get away with only a deep gash on his sword arm considering the beast could have roasted him to a crisp in a matter of seconds. Sure, it hurt but he seriously doubted that a flesh wound warranted anything more than three days of bed rest. They had stitched it together pretty well, after all.

What he really, really needed right now was a good cup of coffee to satisfy the craving and lift his spirits after lulling about and vegetating in the same spot for days. Enough was enough. He needed to get out of here. Only for an hour or two at least, before he'd lose his mind completely.

Luckily, there was a pair of ordinary denim pants way in the back of his closet, behind the suits with the royal crest and the scratchy embroidery around the tight collars he usually wore when going about his duties. No, going out by himself and enjoying some much-needed freedom would only be possible incognito. Luckily, the pants still fit and comfortably so, although he couldn't remember when he even had the chance to last wear them.

Probably sometime before Balgus insisted on upping the sword training to make sure Van wouldn't suffer the same fate as the oldest Fanel offspring. The combat training had eaten up a good chunk of his free time. It was fine, though. Really. He never complained about it. If anything had happened to him during the rite of dragon slaying, all the uncomfortable responsibilities would have fallen upon Merle. Not a royal by birth, his adopted sister would have had to marry some foreign aristocrat to be able to even stake a claim to the throne and Van just couldn't leave her to such a fate. He didn't consider himself particularly fit to rule even now but at least he had received some formal instruction alongside Folken since their father had passed years ago.

Van hastily picked a button down shirt from the endless pile of fresh laundry and yanked the sleeve up his sword arm where the thick bandage was, rolling up the cuffs to just under his elbows after hastily closing the small buttons, only haphazardly tucking it into his pants after. Wait, what was he doing? He didn't have to do this. This was incognito prince Van. He tugged the, now slightly wrinkled shirt, back out of his pants and let the hem hang comfortably loose.

Unfortunately, the royal wardrobe almost exclusively offered a wide array of polished dress shoes. A pair of soft, brown loafers meant for traveling in the summer was the least fancy thing he could find. Perfect, and who needed socks anyway.

When looking into the large full-length mirror, Van noticed that his hair was in a state of complete disarray from the restless tossing and turning he had been doing in bed all day. How convenient. It looked a far cry from the usual, slicked back style which had become his signature look over the past years. A faint smile formed on Van's lips when combing his hand through the mess to drag some of it across his forehead and cover more of the dark skin and trademark garnet eyes he could easily be recognized by.

Drat. This was indeed a dead giveaway. Looking around… Ah-ha! The royal wardrober's least favorite pair of sunglasses just so happened to be Van's favorite. He usually sported them during sword lessons in the relentlessly hot Fanelian afternoon sun and that was pretty much the only reason they had not yet mysteriously disappeared from his wardrobe. The lenses were mirrored, framed by a thin, metallic wire and would completely hide his eyes from anyone. Dressed like, perhaps, a preppy-looking university student, he would be able to roam the streets freely. Just so long as he got out of here before Merle was back, of course.

This was, without a doubt, the worst day in Hitomi Kanzaki's life. Not only had she been soaked from head to toe by a surprise rain shower this morning, torn a lace on her favorite pair of sneakers, and walked in on her two roommates making out with each other in their apartment living room. No, she had also just dumped a whole, fresh carafe of coffee onto the floor behind the counter of the little coffee shop she worked in. It was a good thing there weren't any customers in here at the moment. This was still a slow time of day what with it being a bit after lunch but too early for people to stop in for a pick-me-up on the way home from work.

Perhaps, if she had known that it was about to get even worse, she wouldn't even have left her bed this morning.

Of course, right then, while she was still kneeling on the floor to take care of the mess, the bell on the door chimed behind her to indicate that somebody had entered. Hitomi plastered a fake smile on her face. "Hey! Welcome! I'm sorry I had a small mishap. Will be right with you." She announced while scrambling to her feet from her kneeling position on the floor and gingerly dropping a handful of glass shards into a nearby trashcan.

The tall guy who was passing through the doorway at first appeared to be unusually nervous for a customer. He was checking first left, then right over his shoulder to perhaps see if he was being followed. Then, seemingly more relaxed, he casually sauntered up to the counter where Hitomi was still standing in a puddle of lukewarm coffee, the soles of her sneakers squeaking as she shifted her weight.

"Afternoon. I'll have a cup of coffee. A very large cup of coffee. Black." The man said upon arriving at the counter. Hitomi eyed the dark-skinned stranger more closely before replying.

His clothing was a bit disheveled, the slightly too elegant dress shirt wrinkled at the hem, and his face accessorized with a pair of mirrored shades which completely hid his eyes. He didn't seem to be planning on taking them off like anybody else would have by now.

An ebony mess of hair covered his head and fell across his forehead in charming disarray. He could be handsome, but it was hard to tell without seeing his eyes.

"Sorry, I just dropped the carafe a few minutes ago and need to clean up this mess before I can get a new one from the storage room in the back." Hitomi apologized, visibly a bit annoyed at her own clumsiness. "If you don't mind waiting a little, I'd be happy to make fresh coffee."

The guy scratched the back of his head while turning his head again to look through the large glass windows on either side of the door through which he had just entered while saying, "sure no problem."

Hitomi nodded and crouched down on the floor again to pick up some more of the many glass shards that littered the immediate area. Before she could proceed, however, the guy had come halfway around the counter. What in the world was he doing?

Van saw an unmistakable hue of scarlet pass by the storefront. A royal guard. Damn, they were fast. Surely, his sister had alerted them immediately after she had returned to his room and found him missing. With nowhere else to hide, he quickly stepped around the counter to where the young woman was kneeling to shield himself from view. "Let me help you with that," Van mumbled and moved to reach for a piece of glass near him.

"Wait what are you doing? Don't cut yourself!" Hitomi exclaimed in alarm. It most definitely wouldn't do to have a customer get injured while picking up broken glass.

Hitomi's hand shot out and grabbed the dark-haired guy's arm. Her fingers wrapped around it firmly, pulling him away from the glass and catching him slightly off guard with her reaction. His head moved up and the lenses of his glasses reflected Hitomi's own face back at her. "I don't want you to hurt yourself." She said a bit annoyed but meaning well.

She was pretty. No make-up, short hair, and with a few freckles across her nose from being out in the sun.

"Fine then. Do it all yourself…and let go because that hurts!" The stranger replied, clearly irritated, and winced a bit while readjusting himself and attempting to get back up.

Hitomi's eyes widened when she released his arm. "By the gods…did…did I do that?" She uttered in horror upon seeing that where her hand had been only a moment ago, a scarlet splotch was beginning to bloom on the white fabric of his shirt.

"How in the…was there glass?" She stuttered before scrambling to her feet too, the mess completely forgotten while she checked her hand back and front to see if a stray shard had caught itself on there without her noticing.

"Oh dear. I'm so very sorry. I don't know how that happened! Please let me take care of that." She said with a horrified expression on her face, motioning towards the guy's arm which he was cradling a bit protectively by the elbow. "Your coffee is obviously going to be on the house," she said for a lack of anything else.

Van couldn't help but be a bit amused despite the accident. The young woman, probably around his age, had not the slightest idea who he was even though the news about his injury had spread like a wildfire. When she took his hand, he noticed that it was much smaller than his and soft, not calloused from holding a sword nearly every day over the last five years or so.

He was used to being treated with respect and a sort of standoffish care by the staff, never ever being dragged around. Certainly not ever being dragged around the counter of a tiny coffee shop and maneuvered into a worn, wooden chair next to a square table by the wall.

"Wait here. I'll get some first aid supplies," the woman said while she hurried towards the back, skidding a bit through the spilled coffee near the back counter on the way. She was athletic looking, dressed in tight khaki shorts and a green polo shirt under the short, brown apron that was wrapped around her waist.

When she came back, she was holding a white plastic box with a red cross on the lid. "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing. I'm in nursing school. I just work here to make a bit of money on the side." She said while depositing the container on the table.

"Really, I'm so sorry I don't even know how that happened." Hitomi stammered again, looking at her hand as if to check again whether she had perhaps spontaneously sprouted a pair of sharp talons without her own knowledge.

Van didn't have the nerve to reply. What was he supposed to say without giving himself away? He was currently also busy staring at her face again. As flustered as the young woman with the short, honey blonde hair was, she was becoming prettier by the minute. Maybe it wasn't just her looks but also her naturally endearing demeanor. He didn't really protest either when she investigated the sleeve of his no longer completely white dress shirt.

No cuts or holes were to be seen, of course. A bit bewildered, Hitomi scrutinized him, her face so close to his that Van was afraid she would see right through the lenses of his mirrored shades. "I can't get to your upper arm. Would you mind just taking it off?"

Van only stared at her while his eyebrows traveled far above the metallic rim of his shades. Was she serious?

"I see shirtless male patients during my rotations all the time. It's not a big deal." Hitomi assured him, the professional through and through.

Quite serious, so it seemed.

Fine then, Van thought, slowly becoming extremely curious and also a bit uncomfortable due to the freshly leaking wound. Perhaps it wasn't such a bad idea after all to at least have it wrapped up. Walking down the street with a bloody arm would most certainly draw a whole lot of unwanted attention.

He fumbled with the buttons of his shirt a bit, the stinging pain in his injured arm making his fingers slightly clumsy. "Here, let me help with that," the woman immediately offered when she saw that he was getting nowhere. Her hands gently pushed away his and deftly undid the button row in mere seconds. If it hadn't been for his naturally dark complexion, the faint tint of red on Van's cheeks would have been blatantly evident. It wasn't every day that a woman undressed him.

Okay, maybe she shouldn't have so vigorously insisted on helping because this, this was most definitely a first. Normally, Hitomi's professional attitude surpassed any and all awkward situations but the slightly arrogant guy with the ebony hair, the sunglasses he still didn't feel the need to remove, and the wrinkly, bloody shirt looked quite a lot more built, no…let's call it 'healthy'…than the average guys who normally came by the teaching clinic to get free urgent care. This wasn't even a guy. This, most definitely, was a man.

A man who was quite a sight to behold. Hitomi realized that not only had his face a dark taint, his skin was dark, no, bronze all over, making it ostensible that he was a native Fanelian, much unlike her who had moved here from Northern Asturia a few years ago.

His dark skin spanned across a slim, well-muscled stomach, a broad, equally toned chest and nicely shaped shoulders and arms. Hitomi gulped and only somewhat regained her composure when the man carefully peeled the blood-soaked sleeve down an already bandaged upper arm. The bandage, of course, was soaked too.

It seemed like a fairly serious injury and this finally caused Hitomi to snap out of it and back into professional nursing mode. "Good grief, where did you get that injury?"

The dark stranger froze in his movements for a second before answering. "Don't worry about it."

His evasive reply rubbed Hitomi the wrong way but she decided not to question him any further for the moment. Getting his arm cleaned and wrapped up was more important right now.

Van was relieved by her reaction but then winced when she removed the dripping bandage. Her hands were quick and careful but the sticky fabric pulled uncomfortably on the wound, making Van hiss and squirm in his seat, the injured arm jerking away by reflex.

"Hold still you're only making it worse." She admonished him, pushing down on his shoulder to prevent his arm from moving out of her grasp again. The royal physicians, as dedicated as they were, usually apologized profusely at any small sign of discomfort from him when changing the bandages. Not her, though. How irritating and refreshing at the same time.

"Looks like a few stitches have come loose." She said full of concern. "Obviously I can't fix them with what I've got here but it's small enough for me to use a taping technique that will hold that part of the wound together. It's likely going to scar a bit more at this point, seeing as how the healing process already started…around a week ago, I'd judge?"

A pretty darn precise estimate. An estimate that would have maybe given him away anywhere else but this woman was clearly not one to follow the news very closely.

"I don't care," Van replied finally. He really didn't. It wasn't like many people would see it anyway, what with him being stuck wearing these awful formal suit jackets all the time. By Escaflowne's scaly hide, one of his first orders would be to completely re-design any and all of these damn suits. For the past years, Van and his sister had still been bound to the etiquette and traditions set in place by the long line of royals before them but things were about to change drastically.

"Okay then," the woman replied and began rummaging through the box to retrieve a bottle of antiseptic. When she began to clean the bloody gash, a crease appeared between her eyebrows. "How on Gaea did you even do this?" She couldn't help but inquire again. "The edges are all jagged and torn. Not something you'd get from anything I can think of except...," she shook her head now, the thought being too silly to finish.

"Except from what?" Van couldn't stop himself from asking.

"Except from…being outside the walls, fighting a wild beast." Hitomi exhaled audibly after saying it. "…but that's madness. Who would be idiotic enough to go out there?"

Who indeed? Van had to wholeheartedly agree with that last part, albeit quietly so and in his head.

This man dressed in a once crisp button-down shirt certainly didn't seem like the kind who would willingly head out for an adventure beyond the walls and make it back alive to tell the tale. Then again, he did look fairly strong, Hitomi couldn't help but be reminded of that fact as her eyes wandered back across his exposed upper body again.

Nope. This was not the time for wandering thoughts. Most definitely not.

"I'm going to need you to push down on the dressing for a moment while I look for something." The blonde woman instructed him while already beginning to rummage around the box for more materials with one hand, while still applying pressure to the wound with the other.

Van wordlessly and obediently complied. It was truly something to behold. The temperamental prince of Fanelia normally did not like to follow anything that sounded like an order, especially not by the physicians, and if, then not without making his extreme displeasure known.

He numbly reached around with his hand and placed it on the woman's smaller one which was pressed onto his upper arm, compressing the wound with a piece of thick gauze. His larger hand had firmly trapped hers in place. As a response, her face immediately flushed a charming shade of red and they stared at each other for the duration of several heartbeats.

"N…n…no I mean…I need my hand." She stuttered charmingly.

"Oh, right. I'm sorry." Van replied equally flustered and let her retrieve the appendage from his hold.

She quickly claimed it while averting her face to go through the box again instead. "My name is Hitomi, by the way."

"Hi-to-mi." Van tested out her name slowly. It definitely was foreign. She likely hailed from one of the other kingdoms.

Her name sounded very different when he said it and it somehow had a nice ring to it. The thought made Hitomi's heart beat oddly fast for a moment.

"What's yours?" She asked the man to distract herself from the feeling.

Shit. "Uh…never mind that." Van replied evasively. It had come out a bit more rude than he had intended.

Hitomi pursed her lips a bit at the answer. She had just begun to think that maybe he wasn't as arrogant after all but clearly, she was mistaken.

"Suit yourself," Hitomi replied as she finally found what she had been looking for. What a weirdo. Undoubtedly good-looking but definitely weird. It would be best to get him out of here asap after making sure that wound was taken care of properly.

Hitomi unboxed the flex tape and cut a few strips off the roll while a strange silence lingered between them. The dark-haired stranger pulled a bit of a grimace again when she asked him to remove his hand and began to tape the top edge of the long gash. He groaned in response to the intense discomfort.

It obviously hurt and no wonder, the wound was deep. Any sane person would be resting, taking it easy instead of wandering around, buying coffee. Hitomi's eyes darted to the man's face right next to hers. He was watching her intently, probably to make sure she wasn't going to botch him.

She finished stretching the last piece of tape across and smoothed it down as gently as possible. Van's face tensed once again. "Just making sure it's sticking well to the skin. I stretched it pretty good so the elasticity of the tape trying to revert it back to its original length will be pulling the wound together.

"Ok, great." Was all Van managed to say when he regarded her big eyes from behind the privacy of his shades. They were green, he now noticed. Her eyes. So green. At that moment, those green eyes flickered over to the side, distracted by something she saw outside. Van quickly turned his head to follow her gaze.

Damn. A royal security guard was right outside again, scanning the immediate area for any trace of him.

Van panicked. What if they saw him? Would they recognize him despite the hair and the sunglasses? In a desperate moment of sheer lunacy, he reached for Hitomi's shoulder and pulled her around to the other side, effectively shielding himself from view.

Hitomi shrieked a bit when he grabbed her with gentle but deliberate force and moved her. In her still slightly bent-over position, she lost her balance and nearly stumbled over her own feet but Van caught her around the waist so that she landed on his lap instead.

Arms flailing briefly, Hitomi supported herself on the next best thing she could reach- a muscular shoulder and a solid portion of pectoral. If she hadn't been so shocked, she would have immediately scrambled back to her feet but the guy had his one arm wrapped tightly around her waist while the other rested on her bare thigh, halfway under the short apron.

Color and heat tinted Hitomi's cheeks once more when she noticed how close their faces were again. So close she could feel his breath brush across her face and feel the warmth radiating off his broad chest. What in the world was happening? Why was she not getting up right now?

Van gulped when he felt her slender form against his. She was clearly some kind of athlete, he decided when his hand on her bare thigh felt lean muscle there. This was most definitely more than he had bargained for. His eyes briefly darted back to the window on the side, taking note of the security guard who was now all too close to the storefront, attempting to look inside past the cursive writing that decorated a good part of the window with the coffee shop's name.

That's when the usually dignified but stubborn prince of Fanelia panicked even more. For a lack of time to come up with a smart plan and to save his hide from being found, he unwrapped his good arm from Hitomi's waist, reached around the back of her head and pulled it across the short distance between them.

Without much warning at all, poor Hitomi found her lips crushed against those of the man whose lap she was presently still trapped on.

Hitomi's grip on his shoulder and chest immediately tightened, her fingers digging into the muscle mass in either location. Van's eyes rolled back to the window nervously while his lips were locked with hers. The royal guard was turning his head away, seemingly embarrassed at having caught two lovers in an intimate moment.

He left only a moment later, but Van's lips didn't seem to want to detach themselves from the woman's silky, soft counterparts. Relaxing a bit, his eyes slipped half closed, matching hers. This was exhilarating and just probably the most scandalous thing he had ever done.

Van couldn't resist and carefully moved his lips against hers, eliciting a small, muted noise from the woman who seemed to be resurfacing from her state of stupefaction. Just as fast as it had begun, it was over. A bit delayed, she finally recoiled in complete and utter shock and scrambled off Van's lap. His hands fell away, although a bit reluctantly, in the process.

"What on Gaea do you think you are doing?!" She exclaimed in a much more high-pitched voice than before, touching her lips with the tips of her fingers before using the same hand to slap him so hard across his left cheek that the stupid sunglasses finally fell off his face and bounced onto the floor. "You can't just do that!" She yelled angrily while taking another step away. "Who made you king of anything?!"

Van's head was still turned to the side from the force of her quite mighty whack. Hitomi stood across from him, panting a bit from anger and confusion while her hands were balled into tight fists. He slowly rose from the chair and retrieved his beloved shades which had landed not too far away. Straightening himself, a single chuckle filled with dark mirth escaped his mouth.

He just couldn't help it right now. "My father." Van finally replied with a single, raised eyebrow as his garnet eyes caught her angry, green ones.

That's when it hit Hitomi. The man's dark, native look, his wound which seemed to have been inflicted by a wild animal from beyond the wall, his reluctance when it came to tell her his name, and then those uncanny, garnet red eyes. Of course. She had heard about it last week on the news but not really paid attention all that closely. The council of advisors had finally decided to send the youngest, male heir of the royal family beyond the walls to complete the rite of dragon slaying. He had returned successfully but sporting a pretty gruesome wound.

Prince Van de Fanel undoubtedly looked a lot different than on a TV screen or in newspaper pictures. His hair was normally always impeccably styled, combed to the side or slicked back while dressed in expensive, tailored suits featuring the Fanelian crest and fancy embroidery.

It indeed was the worst day in Hitomi Kanzaki's life. Not only had she been soaked from head to toe by a surprise rain shower this morning, torn a lace on her favorite pair of sneakers, walked in on her two roommates making out with each other in their apartment living room, and dumped a whole, fresh carafe of coffee onto the floor behind the counter of the little coffee shop she worked in. She had also slapped the heir to the throne of Fanelia. Quite hard.

Hitomi felt hot, then cold, then hot again for a whole array of reasons. Embarrassment, confusion, but most of all, anger. She gritted her teeth. "You!" She hissed, eyes glinting with agitation. "…you…..," she continued with a slightly different expression on her face, brows twitching and a finger pointing at Van across the distance as if she wanted to impale him with it.

Van could nearly see the gears in her head turning. "You?" Van supplied dryly while Hitomi was still processing the events.

She sucked in a deep, calm breath and repeated. "Y…you…your majesty...my…my most sincere apologies." She finally finished but crossed her arms in front of her chest defiantly, averting her gaze and then added more quietly, "I had no idea."

Her reaction then was somehow a bit disappointing but understandable given the circumstances. Van continued to be amused nonetheless.

He sighed and took a step closer to her, completely ignoring the fact that he was still shirtless in this establishment with very large windows. What she had settled on saying was betraying what she felt on the inside. Of course, she had every right to be angry after he had forced himself upon her out of the blue. Future king or not, such a behavior was unacceptable and it was only due to a momentary lapse in judgment that he had allowed himself to act in such a despicable way.

"No," he finally sighed a bit regretfully. "It's me who should apologize. Please forgive me. I was…only trying to escape the palace to spend an hour by myself. I've spent every day since returning from beyond the wall in my bed, being treated like some gravely wounded invalid. Next week, I'm supposed to be shouldering the burdens of an entire country…and all I wanted was a cup of coffee."

Why was he suddenly saying all those things, trying to justify himself in front of this woman? Why was he pouring his heart out to her? What nonsense was he blabbering? She finally looked back at him again with an expression he hadn't expected from her. Pity.

This time it was him who almost recoiled in shock when Hitomi's gentle hand reached out for him. With a feather-light touch, she grazed his offended cheek, about to reply when her words were cut short.

The small bell above the door chimed violently as it opened. Only one individual Van knew could open a door with such panache. "Lord Van." His sword master's deep voice boomed across the small room.

Van's shoulders slumped when Hitomi's hand immediately pulled away from his face. She latched the other one onto it and began to knead them awkwardly.

"You have had the whole palace going wild for the past hour. Everybody is looking for you." Balgus said in a calm but tense voice. His intimidating appearance doubtlessly was the reason for Hitomi's new, fearful facial expression.

Van rubbed the bridge of his nose before replying. " I know. Please give everybody my apologies."

It took a bit of convincing to ease Balgus' mind and Van had a feeling that the man was making it difficult on purpose to make up for the troubles he had caused with his disappearance. No, Hitomi had certainly not harmed him. She had merely taken care of his wound after he had carelessly overexerted himself while out and about. It had been solely his fault for putting a strain on it which had caused some of the stitches to loosen.

A month later, king Van Slanzar de Fanel rested his forehead against the heavy doors of his chamber. Finally a moment of peace on this otherwise busy afternoon. It was as if everybody had done a complete 180 on him in the weeks following his coronation. Nobody lectured him anymore but instead offered council with bowed heads, seemingly bending to his every wish. It was fake, frustrating, and fodder for fury deep inside. Then he remembered something.

A small smile tugged on his lips when that particular thought came to mind. His fingers were still wrapped around the door handle of his chambers but before re-opening it and slipping out, the king hurried over to his dresser to find his favorite shades while raking a hand through his hair in an attempt to mess it up as well as possible. Somebody still owed him a coffee…

Tbc...

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