Just You Wait by rui

Chapter 06

Chapter 6


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Hitomi gripped the side of the bed tighter as she sat on the edge of the feather filled mattress. The male had said her name and she had reacted the one way she had been trying to convince herself she wouldn't. She was scared. Armand, before his departure, had been shocked to see her so pulled in to herself and not willing to throw things at his head.

"Hitomi?" Van questioned again.

From the sound of his voice, he was coming closer. She made a noise in the back of her throat that was a cross between a fearful squeak and nervous laugh. The blonde wasn't so naïve as to think he didn't know what to expect from her. She really didn't want to, but if she could just bare it this time, this one time, maybe she'd get over her anxiety and be able to do what everyone told her she was supposed to do.

Fanelia would need an heir. She just got married, why not completely terrorize her and make herself a mother as well. Hitomi clamped her eyes tightly as she waited for her husband to come over and—well, naturally do what he was supposed to do.

Instead of a harsh push or gentle caress to ignite the moment, she opened her eyes to see his booted feet next to her bare toes. Gulping, she looked up at Van whose face was hidden behind his black bangs and the shadows playing across his skin.

What was he going to do? What was going through his mind?

She flinched when she saw him move his hand and make and 'o' with his pointer finger and thumb. He brought it to her eye level, and gently flicked her in the middle of the forehead.

Her hand flew up to cover up the abused place.

"What was that for?" she demanded, fear forgotten and shock taking hold.

"Move over. I'm used to sleeping on this side."

Numbly, Hitomi shifted to the other side of the bed just in time to avoid being hit by Van as he collapsed, sword and all, into the bed. With a sigh, he was out. Hitomi blinked in confusion. After a few moments, she decided not to think too much and follow suite.

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"Hello, hello, hello!" Armand sang out as he entered, almost dancing, through the bedroom doors.

The biggest reaction he got was Hitomi cracking an eye open in acknowledgment of the man's too sweet attitude for morning.

"And how are you my little Queen?" He pinched her cheek as he leaned over her.

A wicked thought streaked through Hitomi's mind, but it was too early to properly carry on a fight, whether sarcastic or real, so she just closed her eyes again. She grabbed an extra pillow and placed it over her head, trying to block out the fancy man.

Her feathery helmet was ripped from her and thrown across the room.

Hitomi groaned.

"Tired?" Armand asked, his voice dripping with smugness, "as well you should be!"

"I'm Queen; do I really need you anymore?" She yawned and sat up jerkily. Hitomi was slightly bitter at herself for not throwing the pillow at him as she did yesterday, but then again, yesterday he had turned around and whapped her with it.

Two days of being Queen and she got him as a wake-up call. Van, apparently, was an early riser and never made a noise when he left or maybe she really did sleep like the dead. In fact, the groggy minded female realized, she was still only seeing the King at meals.

"Of course! A crown doesn't change who you are, just changes your location in the social ladder." Armand stood up, arms folded behind his back.

"Even though social ladders are rather slippery at the top and I would just hate to see Fanelia fall into ruin because the Queen made it sink into the black hole of disgrace because she wouldn't participate in her lessons as her loving instructor tried to get her to do."

Pulling the sheets up to her chin, the female came to the conclusion that no matter what she did, Armand would always find some way of having her lack of enthusiasm toward him mean that Fanelia was going to end up in ruin.

"Where did you learn how to make people feel guilty?"

"My mother," he answered smartly, told her to get dressed, and meet him in the dining hall.

Hitomi watched the door shut and flopped back down on the bed. It was strange, she thought, that the King wasn't making a move to—consummate their relationship. Maybe, Hitomi thought, it was that he felt the same way she did about it. She'd never been like her sister and believed in casual acquaintances, but in love.

That's what hurt the most. Hitomi's father hadn't considered his daughter's feelings, not even for a second. Instead, he insisted that she would be happy with money. Money might be nice, but it wasn't nearly as important as feeling good with the person you were to be attached to for your entire life.

She turned onto her side, one arm tucked underneath her head as the other one grabbed a fist full of sheet. If it were possible to, Hitomi would hate her father, but instead she only sighed. He was her father, and used to be someone amazing before he was so money hungry.

"Are you out of bed yet!" Armand screamed from the hallway, punctuating his sentence with a firm slap on the door.

And life goes on, the girl thought clambering out of the bed.

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It took a week after the nuptials before Leiko was permitted back into the palace. There was an understanding that she was not allowed to let her mother in or to take anything from the palace.

Hitomi was thankful to see her sister again even if it was just for lunch. Armand had been a bigger pest than before the wedding; he kept referring to how she was Queen and would ruin Fanelia if she didn't listen to him. When she would point out that she couldn't do that, he'd fly into a higher state of dramatics complete with arm gestures and fantastic stories he imagined the future would be. Of course, all the stories were rather horrendous in nature.

When she cockily mentioned that if she failed, then he failed and therefore any ruin would be his entire fault. In response he gave her a pointed look. "Nice try, girl but you have so far to go before you can touch this."

Hitomi shook her head, bringing her back to the present lunch date and the conversation— if that is what one could call it.

"So, where's your man?" Her big sister smiled with an odd twitch to her lips.

Hitomi wiped her mouth with the white napkin in her lap. "He's gone to train in the woods."

Leiko's eyes flashed with encouragement as she checked the room to make sure no ears were perked and pressed into their conversation.

"So," she started, leaning forward, "how was it?"

"The salad?" Hitomi asked, poking the greens with her fork. She had been disinterested in most of what her sister had to say since it tended to be nonsense about guys. For the past half hour she had gone on and on about her latest interest since her last engagement fell through. Or more correctly, since he died.

"No!" Leiko rolled her eyes. "The wedding night." She gave a big smile and shook her head, winking as she tapped the side of her face with her finger.

"What about it?" Hitomi stabbed the leaf of lettuce with her fork.

"How was he?"

"Exhausted." Hitomi answered honestly. Leiko nearly choked on her water. "But who wouldn't be?"

"What did you do?" Her sister was almost across the table and in her face with surprise.

"I slept."

Leiko's jaw dropped. "Y-you mean to tell me you slept the entire time?"

Her eyebrows crashed together. "What else was I supposed to do?"

"Participate!"

"I was— by sleeping!" Hitomi defended herself. "He could do whatever he wished it didn't bother me."

Leiko groaned and fell back in her chair.

"My little sister is unbelievable. You slept with the King and all you did was sleep?"

Hitomi forgot about her salad as her sister began to grumble under her breath about how energy was wasted on the young.

"What else was I supposed to do?" Hitomi wanted to know. "Stay up all night and stare up at the ceiling?"

Her sister, no longer able to take the insanity of the Queen, jumped up to her feet and poked the girl in her shoulder with her fork. "You were supposed to enjoy yourself."

"I slept like a baby, I did enjoy myself." Hitomi's temper was starting to spark.

"And you missed all his fun!"

"Why? What was he doing?"

Leiko blinked at her and, as Hitomi stared at her sister, the confusion started to clear up. The blonde's eyes expanded in understanding.

"Y-you mean-," her cheeks did a steady color change from peach to pink to red to a much deeper shade of crimson.

The older woman gave the younger one a questioning glance.

"Well, of course." Leiko gave a short laugh when she realized the mistake.

"No!" Hitomi answered. How could her sister be so forward with her questioning! Didn't this woman have a shred of decency? She wanted to laugh as the answer came to her, of course her sister didn't. Hitomi and her (missing) younger sister were the socially acceptable ones. They weren't loud and in other people's business like Leiko and their parents. The older parts of her family were always questioning (badgering) and making pesks of themselves.

"Don't sound so disgusted, Hitomi." The guest gave a smirk as she leaned on one of her hands and gave her sister her classic 'come hither' eyes. "I'm sure you won't be soon enough. Maybe you've been blind to his advances."

"He hasn't made any advances," Hitomi confessed with redden cheeks and twitching eyes.

Her sister seemed to take this information in and digested it before spitting out what she thought.

"Maybe he likes a woman who takes charge." Leiko nodded at her own statement in agreement.

Hitomi, for once, was wishing the brunette man would come in through the doors, singing, and insisting she needed to do something like smell a rose or something. The candle could visibly be seen being lit in Leiko's head as her eyes brightened, her head snapped forward to look at Hitomi. The older female grabbed her sister by the shoulders.

"You need to seduce him!"

"What!" Hitomi released herself from her sister's grasp and got up quickly from her chair. "Why would I want to do that?"

"Because, darling, let's face it, your body, at this age, can bounce back from having three babies at once but wait too long to start popping them out and you'll look like, well," she leaned closer, "You've seen mother." Leiko took a deep breath as she shook her head as if in pity.

"I'm leaving." Like a bee to a flower, the blonde made her way to the door and quickly went into the hall. It didn't stop there though, oh no, like all of the things she pursued, Leiko wouldn't give up the fight until she was dead or victorious.

"Go home!" Hitomi ordered, but Leiko followed her instead.

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"Your majesty?"

Van had honestly, and in vain, hoped the council would let him rest after his hunting/training trip. He barely dismounted and prepared himself for Merle's welcome back tackle before the councilman had come up to him hesitantly.

"Yes?"

Merle gave a short hiss of annoyance at the man for her precious Lord Van being taken away from her just after she had gotten him back, but was silenced quickly with a look.

"I would like to request a private audience with you, milord, whenever you are able to schedule it." The man gave a deep bow and turned to leave.

Van turned his head away, as much as he would like to run to his room, jump in the bath and be in bed before sunset, the council made themselves rather annoying when they were made to wait.

He ran his gloved fingers through his ebony hair. With a sharp look of repulsion, he pulled his hand from his hair to see the blood and other inward parts of the buck still speckling his glove. It was too late that he remembered that the hunt from the day had been cleaned with his hands. Wiping it on his pants he asked Merle to be the one to catch the man and tell him to wait in the garden.

"You wished to see me?" Van asked a few minutes later, after he was cleaned up a bit more. He couldn't stand the thought of having the guts in his hair, so he had dumped a pail of water over his head, thoroughly soaking himself, but feeling cleaner.

"Yes, sire," the man cleared his throat, "as you know you and our new Queen have been invited to several different kingdoms to honeymoon."

Van remembered very clearly to turn each and everyone down politely since he was too busy with the kingdom to leave it.

"Go on."

The man pulled at his collar, "we have recently received another invitation from the kingdom of Slena, from King Coron."

The Fanelian King made a noise under his breath, he had a very strong feeling where this would be going and where he would soon be going as well.

"He has made a special request that the King and Queen come to his palace."

"If I accept this invitation, it'll become known to the other places I've turned down. Wouldn't that upset them?"

"It would, sire, yes. However, considering how far back the kingdoms go, we can cover up this visitation as a necessary trip to reinstate a trade treaty." They were excellent at cutting off all his escape routes without him just giving a flat no. "We cannot force you to go, sir, but I believe it will be most beneficial."

Van sighed, when was the last time he had heard that? Oh yes, when they told him he was engaged and soon after that, married. They were right on this account. Slena was a good friend to the kingdom and had always aided Fanelia in every wayward adventure they went into.

"Just tell me when you plan on getting with him," came a sharp and shrill female voice.

"Go away!" Replied another female with clear exasperation in her voice.

The trio could not help but be intrigued by the sudden outbursts and slowly trickled toward the sound coming from the opposite end of the stables.

"How many times must I tell you that I don't know and if I ever do know I certainly won't share it with you!"

"That sounds like the Queen," the council elder whispered, as they continued to creep forward.

"Just tell me how sure you are that he isn't!"

They came to the doors of the stable and without warning; one of the doors flew open. Merle caught it in the face and was knocked back into a thick bush of roses as Hitomi stormed through, ignorant of anyone and everything.

"If the King did prefer men, I certainly wouldn't know! No matter how much you say I look like a young teenage male!" Hitomi bellowed, her skirts lifted and tromped further into the garden with a scowl on her face. Van peered from around the door after attending to Merle, but only just missed Leiko throwing the door open again.

"But why haven't you, you know, warmed the sheets?" Leiko stopped, put her hands on her hips and demanded to her sister's back. "Are you to tell me you don't think he's good looking? That you don't think he is distractingly delicious!"

"Yes!" Hitomi did an about-face and gave a steady, irked look to her sister. "I think he is very handsome or whatever you want to call it! Is that okay with you? He is very good looking. He is highly distracting! He is—" she saw Leiko's smirking face, but beyond that she saw a pair of large reddish-brown eyes above reddened cheeks and below jet-black hair. "— standing right over there."

Van.

"Who is?" Leiko turned around to see the King and one of the other stuff shirts hiding behind the door with a rather angry looking neko. "Oh."

"Oh my gods."

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