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Just You Wait by rui

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Chapter Seven


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"She simply can't go!"

Merle growled and hissed at the coachman who was placing one of the several trunks of the royal couple onto the back of the coach. Van had been the one who insisted upon taking one of the coaches instead of riding the horses all the way to Slena. The journey was going to take three weeks, depending on the weather and roads, and the King wouldn't hear of anything more than ground transportation for the trip.

"Lord Van!" The cat girl gripped her friend's shirt tighter. "Let me come."

"Sorry, Merle." The pink haired female gave an 'I'm-not-happy-with-you' glance at the raven haired king and let him go as she crossed her arms with a 'humph'.

"I promise next time." Truth been told, he already knew she wasn't going to be able to come. Rai had suggested that the long ride to and from Slena would be a good opportunity for the King and Queen to converse. Also, the members of the council pointed out it seemed a bit awkward (even scandalous) for the King to prefer a cat girl rather than a human woman.

People would talk.

Even after Van insisted people would always talk, he finally determined it was for the best.

Maybe Merle wouldn't sabotage the entire castle, but maybe she'd take some of her feline frustration out on one or all of the council members who had been, as of late, rulers of Van's personal life.

"You better bring me something nice then!" The neko warned, tail flicking in a jerky pattern.

Van gave her a little smile; it was the closest thing he was going to get to an agreement from her. "I will."

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"This is going to be very uncomfortable," Hitomi concluded, staring at her reflection in the large mirror hanging on a bedroom wall.

Armand had refused anything less than the puffiest, poofiest, most disgusting use of pink fabric and tulle there possibly could have been or ever be. It was a long, full skirt with a tight bodice that ended in what looked like a white jester's collar. It was horrible, worse of all; he completed the outfit by placing two rather ghastly large pink flowers on either side of her head.

"Darling, if comfort was meant to be part of looking good, men wouldn't have invented the corset." Throwing the last pair of shoes into a trunk, the servants were called to fetch the trunks.

"Which you don't have to wear," Hitomi replied flatly.

"Not required to wear," Armand smirked as he fluffed out her skirt even more.

"Is that a personal confession?"

"I don't need one, I have abs like stone." To prove his statement, the man gave himself a few pats on his stomach. Then he adjusted the flowers on the top of her head, a wicked temptation slithered its way out of his mouth. "But I guess you would know all about confessing personal secrets."

The Queen's face almost popped with the sudden change in color. Had everyone found out about that? Most of the women had just giggled when she walked by but the men would give a sullen smile. Armand, bless his black little beating raisin of a heart, hadn't let the issue drop in the past two days.

Leiko had been so overcome with a laughing fit that she ended up crying in the middle of the garden. She was double over with laughter so Hitomi couldn't even make believe it was sympathy tears.

For his part, Van hadn't changed a beat. He would come to the room after she did and leave before she got up. The only proof she had that he had even been in the same room was the right side of the bed's sheets had been ruffled and sometimes still had warmth on them when she woke up.

"At least I get a reprieve from you for a few weeks."

Armand snorted so hard, Hitomi was sure part of the floor was missing.

"Only in your wildest and cleanest of fantasies, your majesty."

He offered her his arm and she accepted it with hesitation.

"I get to come with you as your personal servant. King Van agreed that it would be the best way to keep you from blurting anything else out."

"You're making that up."

Did Van really consider her some type of trouble maker? Had he been embarrassed but too polite, or upset to mention anything to her? Although they were close in age, maybe he thought she acted like a child? Hitomi had a million doubts and reasons to back up the doubts in her mind as they walked down the steps to where the carriage waited.

"I am your glorified babysitter," Armand insisted as he opened the coach door.

The blonde girl was quickly distracted from her current mind full of worry as she laid eyes on the tiny door and looked down at her disgusting large skirt.

"How am I supposed to fit through that mouse door with all the fabric on Gaea wrapped around me?"

Armand didn't answer but offered her a hand as she mounted the steps. She ducked her head and took one step in when she met with a pair of mahogany eyes who quickly turned away.

"You get in there with a good shove," the brunette answered from the other side of her skirt and gave her a firm nudge into the carriage. She made an 'eep' and ended up on the opposite side of the carriage, skirts and all. She sat down but found that though there was a fair amount of fabric on her backside, the closest layer to her skin was rather starched and itchy.

Crossing her arms while staring out the window, Hitomi sighed as she watched Armand saddle up on one of the traveling animals. He almost appeared regal in a twisted nightmarish way as he sat upon the beast.

"Ready?" The coachman asked, with a swift nod from the last traveler, the carriage jerked forward.

"Bye, Lord Van!" Merle called out from the steps, waving her hand wildly in the air until the box was out of sight.

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Two long and silent hours later, the group had made it into the forests surrounding the capital of Fanelia. Armand had been riding right next to the carriage and whistling the same song over and over again. Hitomi would have liked to open the door and give him what for, but her skirts restricted her movement.

She was reduced to giving him pointed looks, which Armand would see sometimes and grin like a malicious villain in return.

Sighing, the girl rested her head on the back of the seat, desperate for entertainment of any sort. There was always the possibility of talking to the other occupant, but his body language screamed discomfort. She wasn't the only one who was forced to be formal. He was in the black pants, knee high boots, high collared button down shirt with a rather stiff looking red jacket embellished in gold with Fanelia's crest. Van, from time to time, would jerk on his collar and tug on the white gloves that he was wearing.

Maybe he was uncomfortable but at least he could breathe. Hitomi tried to rearrange herself to make the restricting bodice more bearable.

"Are you well?" Finally! Van did know how to speak. Jade met cinnamon as she opened her mouth to reply, but quickly found that the bodice was hurting to the point that she could see spots before her eyes. Great, she was going to pass out and then slip into a comatose state because her vindictive teacher decided it would be a lark to make her suffer.

"No," Hitomi placed her hands over her stomach as the spots increased.

"Stop the carriage," Van shouted out the window. With a few slower steps and turn of the wheels, the box stopped. "Maybe some air will make you feel better."

She nodded and tried to open the door only to find it missing and Armand's smiling face in its place. "Need assistance, milady?"

Hitomi would tar and feather him later, right now; he was the cheerful muscle she needed to help exhume her from the prison of both carriage and dress. Armand laughed nervously as the Queen exited the carriage and, with his aid, made it to the woods.

Leaning against a tree, Hitomi gulped in air. If this was what it meant to be fashionable, she'd rather be in rags. Glancing back toward the carriage, she was confused to see the king exiting it as well. "Where is he going?"

"To get air," Armand waved his hand flippantly, "and so to change into more suitable traveling I would imagine. Without the council and the other stiff shirts, every royal is able to shuck some of the formal attire required of them." He gave a laugh. "Once, when I was visiting this kingdom, the king of that place went running through the halls without a stitch of clothing on, swearing it was the latest fashion."

"And I have to go around in this?" It wasn't fair! Women always got the short and tight end of the stick while men could, from what Armand insisted, run around naked as long as he sounded lucid enough to defend himself.

"Didn't you reserve a dress to change into?" He inquired innocently, though his cocky grin ruined his acting.

He did this on purpose. He chose this dress because he knew this would happen and she wouldn't be able to hit him from the sheer lack of strength. Even if she had been able to move, the dress acted like a bumper, not letting her within arm's length of the annoying man.

"You knew I didn't know," Hitomi said bitterly.

"Well then, perhaps we can ask King Van if there are any extras of his clothes. Be back in a buzz." Before she could protest, the brunette nuisance was off and running toward the caravan.

Sliding her way down the tree, the bodice felt like it was tightening again. Taking slow, calculated breaths, she tried to convince herself that she was getting plenty of air and had no need for panic.

Leaning her head back on the base of the tree, she reached to her hair and quickly plucked the awful flowers from either side of her head. At least that would make her look better but not feel better. With the soft thumps of approaching footsteps, the young woman swiveled her head and was met with the silhouette of the odious Armand.

"Well, what do you know! I peeked in my saddle bag and lo and behold there was one of your frumpy little dresses of ole. I must have saved it as a rag to wash my horse down with." Armand offered her the dress and then his hand to allow her to stand. Hitomi took both but not without a hazy, half energized look of utterly unamused emotion.

"You had this planned the entire time, didn't you?" The Queen asked after the attendant had shooed her further from the road as not to get seen by the others in the party and helped unlace the bodice. The first thing the freed girl did was take a deep breath of air, ah, it felt good to be untamed by the cage of fashion.

"Whatever do you mean?"

"You knew the King was going to stop and change and you put me in that dress," she pointed accusingly at the pink mountain, "for a laugh."

"I laugh enough watching you try to remain a lady in the presence of others, the dress was my vindication for you running away on the wedding date. You made me look bad, I don't like looking bad." His voice had lost the light air of amusement for the briefest of tones. "Besides, the king might like a little leg."

Plucking one of her shoes from the ground, she quickly and precisely threw it at the infuriating man's head. It hit his wavy locks and all that was underneath of it with a sound 'thwack' that made Hitomi smile in triumph.

"Go back to the carriage and leave me alone," she commanded.

Taking a chance, the man turned, rubbing his head gingerly where the shoe had connected. "And leave you out here alone? Preposterous!"

"Leave me alone, I'm almost done anyway and take that thing with you." Hitomi tilted her nose a bit further in the air since all he could see was her head from behind the bush she was hiding behind to change. Armand grumbled and said a few unpleasant things about her gender in general but obeyed.

"If you get kidnapped by some toothless mountain goat man, do not call for me. Because I just know I'll get fired because you got yourself raped, maimed, and murdered by some overly hairy man with bad hygiene."

"I'm sorry your complete delusional experience of my death is so horrific for your career," Hitomi shot back as he marched away, an armful of frill and bows.

Slipping the dress over her head, she took a sigh of relief. Never had she ever imagined loving this dress so much in her life. After locating the shoe turned projectile, the young woman ran back to carriage and refused Armand's aid.

As soon as she had situated herself, the door opened again and the dark haired king stepped into the box, shut the door, and within a minute, the carriage lurched forward again. Hitomi sighed contently as she folded her arms behind her head and looked out the window.

"Feeling better?" the other occupant asked. Hitomi turned toward the voice. Van was dressed in his normal attire of tan pants, brown boots, gloves, and a red sleeveless shirt that showed off his toned and tanned arms amazingly well. She tore her eyes away from him and gazed out the window again.

She missed the small smile Van gave her at this less than subtle action.

"Much. I can breathe without feeling like my ribs are in a vice."

"Ah."

That was the extent of the conversation. Van tried to think or something to say but drew a blank.

He told Allen he would try, but Van's ability to start and maintain a conversation was never a good one. Sure, he could recite ever single treaty and war strategy that his country had been in or devised, but ask him 'how was the weather' and he got lost, even on that.

While Hitomi was trying to hide the blush coloring her cheeks from looking at him in the eyes since her rather unexpected confession a few days ago, Van studied her. Thankfully she had changed out of that pink monstrosity. When his escorts had seen her coming down the stairs, they tried their best not to laugh, but when Van started to snicker under his breath, they let loose. She looked like some type of fairy tale princess nightmare gone horribly wrong.

Surveying her current choice of dress, he had to mentally approve of it with high marks. She looked like a real person in the shorter, looser dress and not a little girl's doll. She had her ankles crossed and hands idly playing with each other in her lap as she gazed out the window. He gave her another small smile that she didn't see but quickly averted his eyes away from Hitomi when a certain gold band caught his eye.

No matter how sweet and innocent, girls weren't to be trusted.

Hadn't he already learned that the hard way?

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When the sun was close to setting, the team stopped to make camp. Hitomi had been unable to provide any sort of help seeing as how every male strove to be of aid to her, except Van who mainly stuck to working. The two moons were burning brightly and a deep chill had come over the group by the time all the men were sitting around the campfire laughing and carrying on.

Hitomi had been able to secure a blanket and a spot a fair distance away from the fire. Every time she dared to go close to the fire, the laughter would stop and the men would revert back into gentlemen. Not wanting to ruin their fun, she decided to stay away from the fire. Van had been arranged a bit further from the road. Hitomi asked Armand about it and the inane man just chuckled and said it was the men's idea.

She pulled the blanket tighter around her shoulders, closing her eyes, attempting to focus on something other than how her entire body was trembling under to cool touch of the night. The crunch of the grass under booted feet caught the girl's attention as she turned her face to see the tall brunette, blue eyed man looking down at her.

"Cold?"

Tugging the blanket even tighter, she nodded her head sullenly.

"Too bad you didn't have a nice, hot man to curl up with during the cold night." Armand placed the back of his hand on his forehead, Hitomi rolled her eyes. "Oh wait!" He snapped his fingers, "You do!" The innocent and bewildered look he'd been giving her earlier melted away into a stern expression. "Get over there! The others and I won't disturb the two of you."

Hitomi hesitated, but climbed to her feet.

"Just don't do anything too inappropriate, we can see you two after all." She paused for a moment making an inarticulate sound and then proceeded toward where the king had situated himself near a personal fire. The closer she went, the more uncertainty ate at her stomach.

What if he didn't want her near him? He obviously had made his camp about thirty feet away from the rest of the group for a reason. Swallowing, the blonde quickly looked for an excuse to walk to him. She wasn't hungry, some of the others and Van had already hunted, cooked, and shared a meal. He hadn't said much, but he didn't seem to be a big conversationalist.

Van's eyes almost appeared red as she stood across from him, just outside the circle of the fire glow. His hair turned to a dark chocolate brown under the warmth's color; the shadows deepened and accentuated his already toned flesh. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she turned her face to the ground, the blanket draped around her shoulders and her balled fists at her sides.

"Hitomi?" Van had watched her approach through the corner of his eye. The men of the group had been rather tricky with trying to get the two of them together. They purposefully had moved all his camping equipment to a small forest alcove, away from the rest of the group. Van had shrugged, but doubted the girl would search him out. She did however and was standing rather still a few feet from him.

"Do you mind if I join you?" she asked tentatively.

"No," glowing reddish-brown eyes followed her as she careful sat down, pulling her legs to her chest and wrapped her arms and blanket around them. Resting her chin on her knees, she sighed happily, feeling the warmth seeping into her chill goose-bumped flesh. Jade met garnet and stayed focused on them.

Say something… Van's mind fussed at him in Rai's voice.

"Where are we going again?" Thankfully, she decided to jump start to conversation much to Van's pleasure.

"Slena," he answered, rather to the point and not letting much conversation to bleed from that.

"Oh," was her reply.

Van mentally berated himself for not giving her something else to feed off of his answer. Maybe it wasn't too late?

"It's a kingdom to the west, almost next to Asturia." Rai would be proud; Merle would be rolling her eyes and trying to get his attention so that meant he was doing a good job Van wagered. "They are good friends with Fanelia."

"Are you good friends with the family there?" Hitomi inquired.

"Yes, I know the King well; Coron and I are about the same age. He came to Fanelia about three years ago." Van poked the fire with a stick, breaking the eye contact with Hitomi. He would consider that that was the reason for her next question.

"Why couldn't you find your own bride?"

Then came a noise that made Hitomi jump, it didn't come from the dark woods, but from the dark-haired man whose bangs now covered his eyes. All movement had stopped; he laid the hand that had been stoking the fire across his drawn up knee. Hitomi was waiting for a chuckle or some type of noise to erupt from his throat but nothing came.

The crack and pop of the fire stole the silence. The uneasiness enveloped the female so much she abruptly stood up, letting the blanket fall to the ground in a heap. Casting one glance at the circle of men off in the distance, she huffed and turned on her heels toward the forest behind her.

"Where are you going?" Van asked, his voice was low, with an almost silent warning creeping in. Since it was almost, Hitomi ignored it.

"To take a walk," she stated firmly.

"You shouldn't leave camp, especially at night, and without an escort."

Concern? Hitomi doubted it at this point. She had obviously hit a nerve, but if he wouldn't tell her, how would she know?

"It's a lot warmer out there, then it is here." With that said, she tipped her nose a bit higher and strolled blindly into the woods.

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