Disclaimer: We still do not own Escaflowne or it's characters.

Chapter 3

Hitomi wanted to cry, just sit down and cry, but there was no time for that. There was no time to clean up either. She must get her brother back.

She raced down the three flights of stairs she had just grudgingly climbed and ran across the dark alley to the abandoned warehouse. The main entrance was locked, so she did the next best thing: she climbed up the fire escape. She entered on the second floor.

"Hey, you guys hear something?"

"Shhh... keep it down. Everyone, you know where to go."

Hitomi heard muffled footsteps coming from below her. She backed into a corner and grabbed a nearby pipe. What was she going to do now? There were so many of them and one of her. Way to not think ahead. She took a deep breath and looked for the stairs. Her brother would probably be downstairs with the rest of them, right?

"It's a spy!" yelled a nearby gang member.

She groaned inaudibly. Well, at least she knew where one of them was now. Sneaking up behind him, she took a big swing with the pipe and hit him square in the back of the head. Unfortunately for her, the rest soon showed up. Dragon walked up to her, a smirk on his face. Like a crazy woman, she choked up on the pipe and threatened, "Give me back my brother!"

"I see you got our note," said the leader.

"You know what?!" she said as she shook her pipe at him and walked forward. "I stook up for you. I don't know why, but I didn't tell that crazy guy with the incredibly annoying obsession with his lighter that you work at the gr-"

"Shut up!" he screamed. "Now what was that about a guy with a lighter?"

Ignoring his question, she looked around the room as best as she could and demanded, "Where is my brother?!"

"H-hitomi?" came a timid call from the next room. It was Momaru's voice.

"Momaru?" She thrust around, away from Dragon and headed in the direction of the voice. Unfortunately, the circle of gang members closed in around her. Her brown eyes furious, she growled, "Move."

The leader moved so that he was standing directly in front of her, eyes narrow. "Not until you answer my questions. You want your brother back in one piece? Then I suggest you do as I say."

She waved the pipe in his face and growled, "You had better not hurt my brother." After a short pause, she continued, "What do you want me to do?"

"I want you to tell me what happened with the man with the lighter," he said.

"You wanna know what happened, huh? Well, so I'm walking home after closing the store tonight, which I'm sure you know all about, when someone calls out to me. Next thing I know, I'm being dragged down this dark alley where I'm taken to this lighter freak. He asked me all about the little car ride of yesterday and where you disappear to all the time around, oh say, one in the afternoon. Any takers there?" She was annoyed and worried about her brother. Not a good combo.

"Look, that's not important," Dragon said quickly before his gang could say anything. He didn't want Hitomi to give them any more hints as to his strange disappearings. "And you said before that you said you didn't know? Right? And you had better not lie to me about this because I do have my ways of finding out." He stared her straight in the eye, looking for any signs that she might be lying.

She rolled her eyes. How obnoxious! "I know - and you know what? You and your ways had better give my brother back and never - oh - I mean NEVER bother us again. Got it?" Now, the fear in her voice was starting to rise.

"DID YOU TELL HIM ANYTHING OR NOT!?"

"For cryin' out loud, NO, I DIDN'T! Okay? Can't you tell? Instead of being escorted out nicely, I was thrown out the 2nd story window into a dumpster! Smell me, 'kay?" She thrust her arm out into his face. A piece of used floss, the mint wax kind, was dangling from her sleeve.

Satisfied, he smirked. "No thanks." He backed away from the psychotic girl and turned to walk away. His groupies looked at him, confused.

"You had better thank me for all the crap you put me through, jerk!" She pushed passed him as she said this, looking for her brother.

Dragon waved a hand. In moments, several gang members had grabbed her arms, forcing the pipe away from her. He casually faced Hitomi again, the smirk still in place. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a switch blade. He slowly made his way to the trembling Momaru, who still had no idea what exactly was going on.

"That had better be to cut him loose," she warned, not that she could do anything about it if it hadn't been.

"Heh, yeah right," said the burly man behind her. "The White Dragon is ruthless, man! He don't care about nobody. Why this man has - hey!"

At that moment, their leader had indeed cut the boy's ropes. Momaru stumbled out of the chair and ran as fast as he could towards his sister. With another wave, his gang reluctantly let go of Hitomi. "Now get lost," the leader commanded. With that, he motioned for his gang to follow him back down to the lower level.

The two siblings stood in the middle of the room, hugging tightly and crying. "I'm so sorry, Momaru... so sorry," his sister continued to mutter.

"Wha-What was that all about?" he asked quietly as he moved towards the fire escape.

"N-nothing. It's over now," she assured him, even though, in her head, she added: "I hope." They both went home where Hitomi cleaned up and lay down for a restless 4 or so hours of sleep before she had to go to meet Mr. Moleman and work.

"So, Dilandau has been noticing my disappearences, huh?" Dragon muttered to himself as he adjusted his cap. He took one last look in his rear view mirror to make sure he wouldn't be recognized and made for the grocery store. 'That means I'll have to act and fast, before he figures out what I've really been up to,' he thought as he swiped in.

This is what she had been dreading the whole hour she had been at the grocery store: Dragon's arrival. She inwardly groaned. Why was her life so screwed up? Ever since last year...

The gang leader's eyes narrowed as he glanced around, seeing Hitomi at her register. He quickly walked up to the group of baggers that were standing around while no one else bagged (Jessi was not there today).

Hitomi's line was full - 3 ladies who looked like they were buying for forty people each were in line. What made it worse was that they wanted paper in plastic. Groan.

"We need all packers up front, please. Packers."

Van frowned. Why they were being forced to work, he did not know. I mean, it was only a job at a grocery store. Who really cared? Most customers just yelled at him for putting their eggs on top of their bread anyway. So why didn't they just do it themselves? He quickly walked towards a lane, making sure it was not Hitomi's lane.

Unfortunately, since Hitomi didn't get a bagger, she had to bag everything herself. The customers just stood there and watched her in annoyed impatience, rather than helped. What a nuisance.

"Young man, I told you! I want all of my cold things in plastic and my bread kept in a separate paper bag! Why did you just put my bread in plastic underneath my cheese!?"

Van just rolled his eyes, not really listening to the old lady that was yelling at him as he took out the cheese.

"Oh - just move - I'll bag it myself!" the elderly lady growled.

He held up his hands in mock defense as he walked off to bag at another lane. Unfortunately, due to the managers keeping a close eye on all the baggers, only one other lane was open to bag at: You-Know-Who's.

Groaning, he walked up to You-Know-Who's lane and grabbed at the bottle of wine she had just put into the special little brown paper bag. Startled, she let go, realizing who it was. With a slight smile, she informed with an upbeat tone (well, at least upbeat for someone who was dead tired), "They'd like paper in plastic."

Glaring at her, he snatched up a paper bag, tore open the plastic, and stuffed the paper down into it. He was tempted to throw the bottle inside, but he wasn't in the mood to clean up a mess.

"Thank you," she said sweetly as he filled the last bag and she started to ring up the next customer before he got away. You couldn't keep a bagger for long... well, except that one Jessi girl.

"Paper or plastic?" he growled at the next lady in line.

"Oh, plastic will be just fine, honey," she answered with a smile.

As Hitomi rang up some of the lady's produce, she commented on the nice ripeness of the kiwis. Yes, as a cashier you try anything to make the customers happy. After that, she received a tutorial of how to find the best kiwis to be eaten. In a humoring fashion, the cashier warned Van, "Be sure to keep these kiwis on top - they're awfully ripe and ought not to be smooshed."

He smirked. "Oh, don't worry," he said a little too nicely as he took them from her.

"My, my, you two just work so well together. It's a rarity these days. Wait a second," the elderly lady leaned forward a little and whispered in a too loud voice that had denture cream odor, "You two aren't, you know, an item?" she asked with a twinkle in her eye. Hitomi was paralyzed with dumbness at the question. How could she ever think such a thing? She hated him with her entire being.

"No." Van didn't even look up as he continued bagging. 'Her kiwis are definately getting squashed,' he thought bitterly.

The rest of the order was continued in silence. Hitmoi shut her lane's light off. Her first break was coming up.

The bagger took this opportunity to steal away to the bagger's "secret hiding spot". He felt he deserved a nice long break.

The weather was nice today, so Hitomi went outside to eat the apple she had just purchased. The warm breeze made it nice to just sit and think. After she finished the apple, she sat with her eyes closed - picturing a different life, wondering what it would be like if she were still living it.

"You guys got it?" said Dragon. His gang looked at him and nodded. "Good. This plan will be put into effect tomorrow. We don't have time to waste. We'll have to strike Dilandau and the rest of the Slayers good and hard, you got me? There isn't room in this gang for losers, so if you're too big of a wuss, I suggest you skip town unless you also want to be targeted. Remember to meet me here at 8 sharp. Any questions?"

The guys looked around and their gaze fell upon one poor chap. He spoke up as it had been determined earlier, due to his picking the short straw. "J-just one, sir. Wh-Why did you let the girl and her brother go?"

Their leader's eyes narrowed. "You care to ask that again?"

"N-no, sir," the questioner backed down, looking apologetically at the others.

"Anyone else want to question my authority?"

No one spoke up, although everyone wanted to know. Unfortunately for Dragon, everyone had some reason thought up in their mind. Some thought it was because he was becoming soft. Others thought that there was something between the two - old relationship, new relationship. Minds were wandering, but tongues were still.

"Good. Now get out of my sight."

"Finally..." Hitomi muttered as she handed in her till (the drawer with all the moolah) at the office door. It was 8 o-clock, and she was heading home in hopes for a nice, long, uninterrupted sleep. Wouldn't that be a nice change of pace?

As she turned onto the main street in front of the building in which she was renting space, her senses heightened. She thought for sure she had seen something move in the shadows. She whipped around and took a closer look, but stayed in the alley's lamp light.

A hand suddenly clamped down on her mouth, and she was being dragged into the shadows. She thought to herself, "Man, I gotta get mace," as she struggled against the attacker's strength. It was a pretty good hold on her.

"I'd suggest you quit struggling if you don't want your life to end prematurely," growled a harsh voice in her ear.

"Mm-phmmmphm," she tried to speak, but his hand covered her mouth. Soon, she relaxed. No amount of movement was getting her away from him. He was just too strong.

"Now, if you do as I say, you won't get hurt," his voice barely above a whisper. "When I give the signal, over 30 men will be on the move through this city. If you don't want to get caught in their way, you had better run for that dumpster and stay there until all the noise has died down. Got it?" He took this opportunity to take a good look at his captive. "What the - WHY THE HECK ARE YOU HERE!?" Dragon's voice rang throughout the quiet alley.

She glared at him. "I was heading home. I live here, remember?" She was annoyed. She added indignantly, "And I am NOT getting in the dumpster. No way. Not again!"

"Fine! See if I give a crap about what happens to you! You had just better stay out of my gang's way, you hear me?"

She rolled her eyes and plopped herself down next to him, behind the cardboard boxes which he had pulled her behind. "I shoulda told lighter weirdo that you work at the grocery store..." she mumbled to herself. This whole mess was getting old.

"Well, you are lucky you didn't or else your brother would be in a few more pieces than he is now."

"Do you know how low that is? He's twelve for cryin' out loud! He's the only family I have left..." she trailed off, praying he was okay right now, as she sat here waiting to see what in the world was going to happen.

"Oh well isn't that just too bad for you," he snapped, "We should all just stop our fighting just so you and your poor little brother who moved here can finally live in peace and quiet. The rest of us should go straight home and, oh wait, I forgot, most of us don't have homes to go back to! Gee, that really complicates the situation, doesn't it?" He glared at her, his fist clenched around the ring under his shirt.

She looked at him, good and long. After this long pause, she mumbled while looking him square in the eyes, "I'm sorry. If it makes you feel any better, I don't have a home to go home to either, really." She blew some stray hairs from her face, looking away. She paused. "But you know what? What little home I have left, you and your fighting has messed up. You don't need to fight... but, if you must, why have you brought me into it? I haven't asked for it. I don't want it. My past week has really sucked - thanks to you." She looked back into the alley, away from Dragon. Tears came to her eyes, but she couldn't let him see.

"In case you hadn't noticed, you seem to always be in my way, not the other way around," he said harshly, "Like now. If you'll excuse me, my gang is still awaiting my signal." He peered over a box and glanced around.

"You're excused..." she mumbled.

Without another word, Dragon jumped out of his hiding spot and ran down the alley, staying hidden in the shadows. Hitomi just sat behind the boxes with her arms pulling her legs up close around her, awaiting whatever this big hoopdala was about. Not too far from her, a flare suddenly shot into the sky. It had begun.

to be continued...

A/N: Hehe, the kiwis!! I love the grocery store moments. It's the gang part that's difficult. Though I guess that's not surprising. Rumble in the next chapter! But I warn you, we aren't so good at those... ^_^;; Anyway, hope you enjoyed it!