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Just You Wait by rui

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Chapter 8

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Hitomi stalked through the shadowed woods, the double moons hidden behind a thick curtain of gray clouds. She wasn't really mad, more put out that Van had suddenly clammed up even more than he already was. She was just curious why a handsome, supposedly smart, rumored nice, and thought to be a good guy wasn't able to pick his own little princess. It seemed a perfectly fair question to her, but men always made things so personal.

If he didn't want to talk about it, all he had to do was say something, Hitomi fumed mentally as she pushed her way deeper into the dense forest. Some limbs reached out and scratched at her skin, others back lashed after being moved and slapped her harshly. The pink nightmare dress would have been caught up, but the soft fabric of her shorter dress was easily hurt and damaged. Hitomi didn't see it nor did she care since there was nothing she could do about it currently.

Then, as in every bull headed in the dark situation, there was heard a noise.
Of course there were noises! Hitomi gave a small nervous chuckle at her own fluttering heart.

There was nothing to fear in the woods except the dark shadowy places were things liked to lurk. Things like those animals with long jagged teeth perfect for tearing a young body from limb to limb or maybe even that toothless mountain man with horrible hygiene who Armand had mentioned earlier.

Maybe, just maybe, there was a chance that someone like that had seen her changing and followed the carriage? Maybe he was just waiting for her to be all by herself again to make his move?

Hitomi's skin began to prick with fear as her thoughts ran into a colorful illusion. She shook her head, trying to calm her fears, but her heart was already racing with the sudden surge of adrenaline flowing through her veins. Why did she leave the camp again?

Oh yes, her beloved husband hadn't been the friendliest. It was a perfect legitimate question to ask him!

With another noise, Hitomi claimed the question as totally unreasonable and kept trudging through the foliage. A constant breeze made her shiver harder as she walked on. She wished that she had just walked back to the tree Armand had found her at or at least had taken the blanket with her!

Hitomi's breath hitched in her throat when she heard a twig snap that stopped her in her blind adventure. Her green eyes grew, trying to take in as much light as possible to make as much of her surrounding visible, but it helped little. Should she ask who was there?

Maybe it would give away her location? What to do, what to do!

Gulping, the Queen sent a silent prayer that someone would come and rescue her. It hadn't worked on her wedding day, but maybe it would now. Perhaps whoever was in charge was going to have pity on her for neglecting her earlier.

Another snap and a soft crunch of dried leaves under a foot.

Nope, the gods were still against her.

It was coming closer.

What if it wasn't human? What if it was?

Which would be worse? A person you might be able to reason with, but a person could also do some cruel things. All an animal could do was rip you apart. Hitomi pondered briefly and came to a conclusion that given the choice, she'd take option C. Option C was to kick, scream, bite, and do whatever it took to get away from her attacker.

A warm brush of-of something on the back of her arm was the hair line trigger the panicky female needed to enact option C.

Screaming, the girl closed her eyes, whirled around, and with her right hand balled into a fist, the way her sister's boyfriend had shown her, she threw a punch. She hoped it would knock out who or whatever was directly in the back of her. Her assault hit its target as she felt her fist connect with something and a surprised 'oomph' was released. Directly afterward there was another crunch of twigs, as if someone was catching their balance.

Then the world was still.

The green eyed woman cracked one of those eyes open slowly.

"Y-Your-" Hitomi's mouth quivered, trying to chase away the adrenaline rush left over from her panic attack.

Cinnamon colored eyes with a very displeased glint to them stared back at her; a hand was cupping his left cheek as a frown etched his mouth.

She had just hit Van.

She had decked her husband.

She just punched the king.

"I am so sorry!" Hitomi gushed out, stepping back from Van who gave a twitch of an eyebrow but nothing more. Not knowing him very well, the woman wasn't sure if a mild twitch of the eyebrow was a good or bad thing but regardless, he didn't look happy. He never looked happy per say, just tolerant. She swallowed hard. It was illegal to behead the Queen of the country, wasn't it?

Gods, she hoped so.

"I told you not to leave camp alone," Van said in an unamused voice. His eyes narrowed a bit more, and Hitomi tried to step back, but a sudden chill sent her into a violent shiver. With a tug of his lips, he stated the obvious, "you're freezing."

With a sullen nod, she heard him sigh.

"We need to get back," Van turned, released his reddened cheek and trudged back toward camp. Hitomi wasn't sure what to expect from that man. Given any other man, she'd probably would have been left or yelled at, perhaps even hit back, Van didn't do anything.

She scratched her head, unsure what to think about this King until she noticed that he was steadily getting smaller. "Don't leave me!" she pleaded, running after his retreating form.

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Bumping along in the carriage the next day, the couple sat on their respective seats across from each other, both looking out the window. After they had returned from the forest adventure, Armand and one of the other travelers, Jill, were waiting for them. Van, apparently, had taken off without telling anyone and the travelers didn't even notice them gone until a few minutes after the couple had left.

Armand's excuse?

"I didn't want to interrupt any private moments," he shrugged and Van's face colored slightly as Hitomi just tipped her head in confusion. None of the men clarified.

When breakfast was through, they loaded up, and off they went.

Van hadn't said a single word to her, but she wasn't extending her voice either. Hitomi readjusted her dress for lack of things to do. There had to be something that was safe. She wasn't used to long, painful stretches of complete silence.

She mentally snapped her fingers. That was it! Her sister and she used to play a game with all the new children at school to break the ice and become friends. It was supposed to be a fun game of silly questions that would release the uneasiness or shyness of the participants.

"Do you want to play a game?"

Van gave her a flat look. "Games are for children."

"But this one can be for adults as well," she smiled encouragingly. When he didn't object, she went on. "I ask a question and you answer, if you want to do the same with me, you can." She already knew his name, where he was from, his age and what he wanted to do when he grew up so what was the next question?

"What's your favorite color?" Simple questions, that was how the players always had to start out. Van closed his eyes and turned his face to the side. Hitomi's spirits dropped. Perhaps she was pushing her luck with him. Maybe he was still upset about her question last night. She wasn't building up to ask him that any time soon.

"Red," Van's low voice answered and the blonde's heart skipped with excitement.

"Favorite season?" Hitomi went on, glad to see her husband responding.

"Summer," he turned his face back in her direction, his arms still crossed over his chest. If this is what it took to keep her occupied, he'd comply within reason.

"What shoe do you put on first?" Van's eyebrows went up and Hitomi's smile grew a bit at his confusion. This was the fun part of the game, to send the person a shooting star in their direction and see how on their toes they were.

"Uh, the left?" Van guessed, and she gave a short laugh at his expression. He felt himself relax a degree at her easiness. "Why aren't you answering any of your own questions?"

"That's the second part of the game. It was actually to teach us to be patient and wait for someone to ask us a question. I won't answer unless you ask me something directly. It's something that my mother taught me." Hitomi explained her smile slightly faltering at the mention of her mother.

When Van didn't say anything more, the blonde continued the game, "do you know any games?"

"Not really," the number one rule about the game, Hitomi remembered, was to never ask 'why' because it slowed up the game. Van had asked a 'why' question about something that wasn't related to any question she had previously asked so it was permitted.

"What was your day like when you were a kid?"

Van wanted to flinch, but refused to let her see his reaction. Instead he kept his expressionless mask and answered her with a monotone, "I was constantly being instructed about how to efficiently and effectively rule a kingdom." He was intrigued at her small frown.

"What did you do for fun?"

He couldn't stop a smile from tugging on his lips as he remembered some awkward moments between himself as a child and those around him, "I had friends I would play with."

That answer restored her smile. The rest of the ride was spent with her asking and him answering, only interjecting a question of his own every now and then. By sunset, the couple was shoved off to their own personal fire again.

"Are you sure he won't be upset?" Jill leaned over toward Armand.

"Is she sitting in his lap?" He asked, peeling the skin from one of the fruits they had
harvested from the local woods.

"No."

"Then he might be. Trust me; this is a recipe for love." He quit his peeling, looked to the sky as if reading a book, and then shrugged. "Or at the very least, lust." With a knowing smile, he added. "One or the other will do, as long as we get an heir."

Jill drew back his fist and punched the presumptuous man in the arm.

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The rain and the sheer need of a bath forced the group to stop at an inn on the third night of their journey. They had reached the other side of the Fanelian woods and the innkeepers bustled about when they heard that it was their King and Queen who would be staying at their little inn.

"Oh!" The chubby woman who ran the kitchen exclaimed with a bright smile. "What an honor it is!" Van gave a small and formal greeting to the people who were nearly fainting with pride at the royal family. "And this is our new Queen?" She took Hitomi's hand and with an even larger smile exclaimed, "my what a beautiful woman! No wonder you married her, sir!"

"Excuse my wife," the male attendant laughed, "we just never thought we'd have someone as important as you in our little town. We've prepared our best rooms for you and your companions."

"Yes! A simply delightful room that has an excellent view, come! I can't show you now, it's being cleaned. But I can show you the kitchen." Hooking arms with the blonde, the lady dragged her through a swinging set of doors, chatting merrily the entire way. After signing in and leaving one of the men to talk to the innkeeper to occupy him, Van went to assist in unloading some of the luggage.

Van bristled when Armand addressed him as they unloaded a few of the lighter trunks that held essential changes of clothes for the couple. Knowing the brunette man for a long time, the raven haired king wasn't so foolish as to not know what the first question out of his mouth was going to be. Armand had never been one for stealth of curiosity.

"What happened?"

"It doesn't concern you," Van replied quickly.

"She stalks off from you in the middle of the night, almost gets herself killed and you don't want to talk about it?"

"She didn't almost get herself killed," Van corrected, hefting a trunk on his shoulder and sloshing through the mud toward the inn door.

"Hmph." Armand's face soured. "Fine. It might not concern me but I'm going to have to put up with the grouch all day." The man muttered under his breath.

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The night had been spent in the bar connected to the inn. It was warm and the locals all gathered to drink and have a good time. The barmaids were on high alert to men who were freely pinching their behinds.

The traveling group had collected in the middle of the room around a large table and spent most of the time telling jokes and wild stories without a care in the world. The king had stayed with them for a short period, occasionally smiling at one of his companions inane comments, but otherwise didn't participate in the conversation. After his men's first round with the liquor, Van made a quiet exit to another table, near the back of the room.

For lack of anything to do, Hitomi had begged to help in the kitchen where she could at least feel useful. Van, naturally, knew nothing of this. If he had, Hitomi was sure, he would have put a stop to it or at the least, Armand would have mentioned how un-Queen like it was to take up the position as a cook's assistant.

She scrubbed the dinged metal plates in the warm, bubbly water with a smile. It was almost like being home back before her father became so quick of the tongue and clever with trade. She and her sisters had rather extensive list of chores to complete before sundown because the family didn't have the funds to hire any help.

Yes, those were the days. When Leiko was still a shy girl, when Hitomi was the tomboy, and when her youngest sister, Ana, was still considered part of the family.

No, Hitomi shook her head; I'll just depress myself again.

After the first night in the woods, the Queen woke up with a nasty crick in her neck and a guilt filled heart. She was always considered stubborn and tender hearted both had their downfalls. For one, she couldn't help but feel like a child in a grown-ups presence around Van. He hadn't pitched a fit or runaway from his responsibility although he wasn't thrilled with the situation concerning their marriage. He didn't lose his temper and go marching off blindly into the woods, end up lost, and needing someone to help him out.

She wasn't putting him on a pedestal; she was just getting off her high horse.

The carriage had had an uneasy silence, and the tension was suffocating. Hitomi didn't have her sister to ask for help, not that Leiko would have been much help and probably would've suggested making out with Van or something, but she really didn't have anyone to talk to. Armand was first and foremost loyal to his King that much he made clear. It was just by a lucky brush of fate she remembered the question and answer game.

"What's the matter, pet?" The chubby innkeeper asked, brushing a loose strand of Hitomi's hair back from the girl's eyes.

"Nothing," Hitomi answered automatically and with a reassuring smile.

"You're probably tired, why not go into the bar and I'll bring you a bit to eat?"

"I want to help in here though," the woman smiled and shook her head.

"If you're dead on your feet, you're of no use." With a wink, the older woman put a hand on Hitomi's shoulder. "Tell you what, how about you do as I said, and when you're done with your plate, you can come back in here and wash it. Good 'nough?"

Hitomi gave her a genuine smile and couldn't do anything but agree with the woman.

Entering the bar area, the girl scanned the room trying to find an available table where she would be out of the way and unseen by either Van or Armand. She spotted a small unoccupied booth and table situated on the far wall. Walking past half a dozen men, the Queen happily sat down by herself. Picking up one of the cloth napkins on the table, she began to wipe off the bits of debris left on the table top by its last occupant.

Unbeknownst to the young woman, she had caught the eye of more than one man. Her shorter dress was traded for a bar's maid outfit after her clothes had been thoroughly soaked through earlier in the day. The rough fabric of the skirts scratched at her legs but she was thankful that at least the bodice was lined with cotton.

One of the men, tall with dark hair, smiled at his friends as he made his way to the blonde woman. When a large shadow fell over her already dark table, Hitomi looked up with a smile expecting to see the cheerful woman's face, what she saw was a leering, balding man with two dark tuffs of hair on either side of his face, large hands and a funny angled nose.

"Hey there, sweetheart."

Oh gods, Hitomi cried in her mind, why me?

Without asking and certainly without her consent, the man sat down on the other side of the table. He crossed his thick arms on the table; he leaned forward, and leered at the female with no shame in his hungry eyes.

"How about you serving me?" He licked his lips and Hitomi cringed. "I'd like some personal tender loving care." He snatched her hand and forced his lips into a lopsided smile.

"No. I don't think so," Hitomi tried to pull her hand back but the grip tightened.

"You just like playing hard to get," the man chuckled, moving closer. "I like playing hard, too."

If she screamed like a mad woman, maybe one of the others would hear her and come to the rescue. The man got up, and sat down beside her, his body pressing against her. His ripe smell assaulted her innocent nose, the girl tried to escape by moving further back until she hit her back on the wall.

"I like girls like you," he ran his finger down her cheek, traced her neck, and moved lower. She was about to scream when the man suddenly vanished. She registered a grunt and then a curse. "You bastard! Get your own skirt!"

"I would rethink your actions," admonished a deep, angered male voice. Armand was at Hitomi's side as the other man got into a nasty word battle with the stranger.

"Are you okay, your majesty?" He took her chin and turned it both ways to see if she had been assaulted in a way he wasn't able to see.

"I think so," Armand moved to the end of the booth and looked over his shoulder where the large, thick man had his finger pointed dangerously close to the King. Obviously the man had no idea who he was yelling at.

"I don't share!" The man screamed in Van's face.

"I agree," Van hissed low. "Stay away from the lady."

"Or what?" The man smirked, towering over the shorter man. "You gonna do something about it?" With folded arms over his chest, the stranger's eyes begged for a fight to kick the smarts out of the short raven haired man who dared to oppose him.

"Yes," Van growled, his hand itching over the hilt of his sword.

"Then let's take it out side."

"Van! He'll get hurt!" Hitomi tried to get out of the booth, but Armand blocked her path. She watched helplessly as the man and Van made a quick exit for the street. It took about ten seconds for half the bar to follow the two men outside.

Great, just great! She was going to be the cause of Fanelia's destruction after all. Frustrated tears started to pool in the bottom of her eyes. Van was going to get himself beaten into a bloody, unrecognizable mess of a person.

Armand might have been a little off colored and even more than once rude to women, but he was still male and thus hated to see any girl cry.

"My little eccentric Queen," he touched her shoulder gingerly. "The only way King Van will get hurt is if he trips over a rather large object— on purpose."

"Are you sure? The other guy is so tall and big and—"

"That man is as slow upstairs as a dead mouse in a rat trap," the innkeeper explained, setting two plates on the table. Hitomi's worried face broke with a silent question and the woman grinned as she wiped her hands on her grease-spotted apron. "For his majesty when he returns. Both meals are on the house." The woman left with a wink.

Hitomi couldn't convince Armand to move so she could see what was going on with Van. A few nights ago she punched him, now she was going to be responsible for his death! Perfect. Great.

They really were going to scream 'off with her head!' when the people in the capital city found out.

This was all because her father was too money hungry to continue to build up to his own rather impressive fortune slowly! Or maybe it was her mother's fault for putting the idea to become a merchant in his brain. Whoever was responsible, she was going to swing for it!

"My lord," Armand stated, rather surprised as Van walked up to the table.

Hitomi felt a huge weight lift off her mind as the king, only a tad worse for wear, stood directly in front of the chestnut haired man.

"Are you hurt?" Hitomi asked, catching Van's attention. He noted the food and sat down on his side of the booth.

"No," Van stated simply, picked up his fork he locked eyes with hers. "I didn't do it for you. I just don't like to see men use women like that."

Armand slowly drew away from the table, seeing all the warning signs of a fight brewing.
All the worry evaporated under her quick, hot flash of temper.

"I was worried about you! The least you could do is drop the tough guy act! You don't have to be rude about it. Playing hero then saying you weren't." She crossed her arms and turned her head sharply to the side.

Armand took another step away from the table.

Van chewed his bite of food slowly, his eyes narrowed slightly. Taking a sip of from his cup, he decided it was best not to say anything. He wasn't playing hero, and he wasn't putting up an act but if that's what she wanted to see than who was he to peel away her delusions? It was better to keep people at arms' length anyway.

Faintly turning her head to see the king better, Hitomi was something of put out to see him quietly eating his dinner. Armand had beaten a hasty retreat not long after Van took his first sip. Sighing, the girl shrugged off the weird 'not-for-you' comment her dinner partner had made and started to consume her own meal.

Knowing that there was going to be no conversation started under Van's will, Hitomi decided to be the bold one again. It had been less than a week since she had started to be the 'bolder' one but it was an act she wasn't use to. Most people, once the ice was broken, eased up and started to open up. Not this black haired royal, he just kept his icy guard solid as if she was going to stab him in the back.

Hitomi stretched her brain for something that would interest him, that hadn't already been asked in the past few days. She'd done most of the learning; he just didn't seem interested in her. With a deep breath, she asked her question. "Does Fanelia have knights?"

Van blinked in surprise and gave his small, amused smile before putting another forkful of meat in his mouth, chewed, and swallowed it before he answered. "Of course, every kingdom does."

"Really? I haven't seen any."

"I find that hard to believe since you were just talking to one," Van wiped his mouth, crossed his arms, and gave her his full attention though it didn't look like that to Hitomi. It appeared as if he were only irritated with her.

Regardless of Van's actions, the blonde couldn't help her reaction as her mouth dropped open in surprise. "Who?"

"Sir Armand Decri." He motioned toward the fancy man who was twirling a knife in one hand and a fork in the other, making one of the younger bar maids giggle in encouragement.

"Him?" Hitomi couldn't believe it! Sir Armand? The same man who jumped on a chair and screamed for Hitomi to kill a spider no bigger than the size of the tip of her pinky. He literally made her take off her shoe and show its wrinkled and smooshed body before he would step off of the chair. Then threatened her pretty little neck if she told anyone about his episode, Hitomi had flipped her eyes and pointed out that he couldn't even kill a spider how on Gaea was she suppose to be afraid of him. "Really?"

"Why else did you think he wore a sword all the time?" Van couldn't help but smile a little at her shock. "I picked him for you because he is less—formal than the rest."

"You picked him for me?" Hitomi echoed, her eyebrows knitting together in the middle of her forehead. "Why did you do that?"

"Because you need a body guard." Van added under his breath, "maybe I should have chosen someone else."

She blinked, not quite sure what to say, then it hit her. "But I was told he was my instructor."

"He's that as well." Van's smile grew a bit as she became flustered over the information. He had chosen Armand because he was sure that the blonde would take less offense and feel less awkward around that knight than any other one. The knight, when told of his duty, agreed to it quickly saying that he could keep a close eye on all the maids—what that meant precisely, Van didn't want to know.

"Stick your tongue out at me again and although no one else will see it, I'll kick you viciously in the shins," Armand's voice rose above the rest of the bar's racket and caused the two Fanels to focus their attention in his direction. Jill, who Hitomi figured was probably Sir Jill, snorted and patted the frustrated Armand on the back soundly.

"I think I can understand what you mean," Hitomi glanced at Van, "about him being less formal." With a sharp yelp from Jill, Armand burst out with laughter. "Or he might be a bit insane."

"Indeed."
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"The bed." Hitomi noticed with large eyes when the time to sleep had finally come.

"Yes, that's a bed," Armand helped as he put her trunk in the corner. "I thought you said you were raised in a country manor. I would have suspected that they had beds, or did little lady savages like you only get hay?"

"It's— so small!" She gulped.

In Van's chambers the bed was the largest she'd ever seen! It was three times the size it needed to be to fit two people in it. She could do flip flops, back flips, and cartwheels in that bed and never once come close to her husband.

This bed, though, would take both of them sleeping on the edge and being as still as the dead not to touch.

"Hmmm, appears we might have an heir sooner than expected." The brunette ducked and made a quick retreat to the hall when Hitomi picked up a hair brush from the vanity and waved it over her head with green eyes narrowed.

Putting down the brush, the female swallowed hard and went to the trunk Armand had put in the corner. Somehow, he said with a little smirk, it had ended up in his room. Hitomi flipped the lid open and rummaged through the contents. Knitting her eyebrows together, she searched through her belongings again. The result was the same, it wasn't here.

She gritted her teeth together, her nightgown was missing.

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