Change (PG-13)

[SqueezeMe]

Title: Change
Fandom: Escaflowne
Pairing: Hitomi Kanzaki and Van Slanzar de Fanel
Disclaimer: Honestly, if I owned anything of this series, do you think it would have ended where it did? Please, don?t sue me?

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Van sighed loudly from his perch on the window?s frame. The wooden swinging doors tossed wide to the view of Fanelia, in all of the small nation?s new glory. His midnight hair was crazed from the cooling night air, unnoticed by the young king.

The tall young man seemed unable to notice much, really.

His bare chest was tanned and shone gold by the candle light, and his eyes maroon seemed to have almost turned black during his long held trance.

One of the maids must have come to collect his abandoned dinner tray, and had placed out the few candles that rested on his desk and bedside table. He hadn?t noticed, hadn?t truly even cared about his growling stomach or the cold that sunk into everything in the large room.

Where was she?

He had searched his mind, reached out for her warm thoughts and happy day dreams. This wasn?t normal. He could at least feel her mind when she slept, and this was past the point of time when she retired to bed.

Van Slanzar de Fanel hated change.

They hadn?t been able to see each other for nearly a month between the finalizing of Fanelia?s repairs and her education at an apparently well known university on the Mystic Moon. This was an upset to their weekly meetings, and he was left feeling stale and drained from this fact.

By now, they were normally both asleep and within the other?s dreams, sitting in a field that neither knew if it truly existed or not.

Maroon eyes shut slowly as Van searched once again for her welcoming warmth and clear mind?

There.

The candle light and chilling cold melted like the snow off the mountains in Fanelia?s hot temperatures.

She sat upon the hill, their hill, under a tall tree that blocked out the afternoon sun that gave life to the tall grasses and multi colored wildflowers that danced around the old bark covered roots.

It was always afternoon, it seemed. The wind, carrying the familiar smell of the nearby spring, shifted her now shoulder length, honey-gold hair as she leaned against the tree. Her eyes were closed, hiding their brilliant emerald color in what appeared to be sleep sealed lids.

It always started like this, and he both hated and loved the regularity.

A smile brightened the pale skin of her face, her entire being; a dash a coral pink on off white sheets. Soon her eyes opened to the light, fixed directly on his maroon pair.

?Van.?

It was a statement, barely a greeting, seeing as it could be no one else.

The way she pronounced his name, with her slightly foreign accent, sent a shiver up his spine, into his now visible wings. Feathers shifted, some falling in glint white slips to the ground.

Her voice always had this effect, and he loved her for it.

Slipping through the grass and up the step like roots that lead to his beloved, Van settled down to the side and just bellow her to make up for their height difference. The wings upon his back shifted upwards, tucking closely into his back and shoulder blades.

?I?m sorry.?

The words were blurting from his mouth before he had even thought of speaking. Van wanted to bash himself over the head with the nearest stick.

?Brilliant. Just brilliant, Van.?

He cursed himself again, but stuttered to a stop as he felt warm lips press against his cheek. It was brief, chaste, with a sort of meaning behind it that only her kisses could hold.

Not that he had ever been kissed by another.

He never had, and never would if he had a say in the matter.

?It?s alright Van. We?ve both been busy lately.?

Her hand had somehow found his, and she started up at tracing the calluses, scars and natural lines that had developed since his birth.

She always did this. A sign of affection, Van assumed. She understood how flamboyant displays upset him. This was easy enough for him to allow her.

?Hitomi.?

Van felt stupid. Why did he become so tongue tied? He had been born into an age of unrest, and raised to be a strong warrior and leader, not a speaker. No, he had never been well equipped with words.

His angel leant forward to deliver a kiss, just as quick as the first one, to the tip of his nose.

She forgave him for his lack of tact.

She always did. And he felt lighter, every time.

?Fanelia has been finished, Hitomi. The castle is fully built and all that is left is for the rooms to be filled. We?ve made more then in the last castle.?

The hints in his words were veiled only by thin silk, almost transparent. Had he not just come to understand his lack of gift with words?

?I?m glad for you, Van.?

She shifted, smiling up to him in a way that made his heart clench. Had he not been blunt enough?

?Hitomi, I want you back in Fanelia. My people need a queen, and you are the only one with a claim to that, um? title.?

This had never come up before, and Van was shocked to be the one to push the conversation. Van suddenly missed their normal silence after the small amount of talk.

Why had he been so stupidly blunt?

The girl blushed slightly, looking away from him, and toward the gray, sun dried rocks that rested along the river. Van couldn?t remember ever going down there, but he knew this fact. They both knew everything about this world around them.

They knew everything, because they had made this world for themselves. It was a place to meet while their physical forms could not; their own private world.

?I know, Van. I just need a little longer. My brother will be off to Europe soon, to college, and we need to figure out a way.?

Since when had they ever needed to find a way?

?If we wish hard enough, it will happen. Hitomi, I?ll wait for your brother to leave, but that?s it. You know how the council has been pushing for my marriage. I?m wishing with all of my will, but it won?t happen if you don?t want to come to Gaea.?

?I won?t push you to do something you don?t want to.?

He finished the sentence without vocalizing, but Hitomi appeared to have understood without the words.

Van?s arms were suddenly filled with the girl beside him. Her quick movements pushed him backward, and his wings splayed out to catch his balance.

?Van! I?m just scared. I wasn?t raised in your world, and leaving what I know will be hard.?

Her confession ended as he balanced them out, ending up on his knees with a very pretty girl on his lap.

It was then that he noticed what she wore, his mind clicking back to the mode of a nineteen year old, and not that of a young Fanelian king.

Her skirt was longer by a few inches, slinky blue fabric shifting at her lower thigh. The shirt was long sleeved and knit, far too clingy to her curves, in Van?s opinion.

He blushed and fought the natural reaction, shifting to move away from her after hugging her back for a few moments.

Hitomi refused, however, and leaned forward to plant a kiss on his lips. This kiss lasted longer, but remained as innocent as the rest, leaving his lips tasting like whatever had been on her lips to make them shine.

Her fingers played along the blue markings that decorated his shoulder, the swelling had just gone down and the ink was rimmed with pink, raw flesh.

Both the kiss, and the markings were new, and Van didn?t truly care.

Hitomi smiled up at him, then leaned forward to place her head on his shoulder. Her eyes were drooping, Van realized, and he quickly moved back against the tree?s trunk. His wings shifted forward and around, making room for the tree against his back.

Lifting her legs up, Van settled the girl on his outstretched legs; her shoulder and back leaning against one shoulder, and her legs over the opposite thigh.

She wrapped her arms around, brushing her fingers against the longer lower feathers of his wings. His back and shoulder muscles tensed with the sensation.

Never before had he let anyone touch his wings.

No, Van realized, no one had ever wanted to touch his wings. He was just not used to the sensation.

Hitomi kissed his cheek, leaning back against his arm to sleep.

This was how their meetings always ended. Hitomi would doze off, then he would follow, and both would eventually wake up in their own world.

However, as Van slipped off to sleep, he had a feeling that when he woke up, things would be different.

And for some reason, their meeting today had changed his mind about something. Their rendezvous in their own little world had made ?change? somehow more appealing.

He smiled, conscious thought almost completely gone.

No, ?change? didn?t seem so terrible any more.

But then again, after every meeting in their world faded, ?change? never seemed so bad.

It was normal.

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Author?s Corner:
Well, my last Escaflowne series didn?t go so well, and is still being worked through. So, here?s a nice little one shot for everyone. This was inspired by 30 Kisses #8.

Please comment. I would like to know if the story is too rushed, and if my characterization is up to par. Constructive criticism is welcome!

A special thanks to Kinyo, for being a great Beta.