This is an archive

From: Lara Bartram lara@emunix.emich.edu

Subject: [Ranma][FanFic] Bliss 1/5

FYI, to not scare people away from reading this effort, it’s been split up into 5 parts. When written, it was not split into parts, nor should it be assumed that the parts are broken into logical sections - it was simply split where it was most convenient. Yes, this is a 500k story - read all 5 parts.

Please send all comments and such to

mike@thekeep.org

lara@emunix.emich.edu

http://www.thekeep.org/~lara/bliss/bliss.html

{These characters are not property of us. We would never attempt to claim them as our own. This story may not be used without our permission, and may not be used to make money in any way, shape or form. Characters and certain situations were created by Rumiko Takahashi, so don’t try any funny stuff!}

“It begins now. And it’s pure and utter bliss”

• Kitt Gerrard

I

She woke up as another wave washed over her. Sitting up slowly, her entire body screamed at the effort, her muscles stiff, her skin dry. Opening her eyes brought its own agony as the light assaulted her vision and salt and sand stung her.

Another wave washed over her, splashing her gently in the face, causing her to sputter. Salt water. Ocean water. She looked out at what was in front of her and could only stare. Water. Lots of it. An ocean. And she was…

Looking around, she was nowhere. Some beach, somewhere, no place she recognized, seemingly sitting on the edge of forever, the limitless expanse of blue before her. Far off into the distance, the ocean and the sky seemed to merge, becoming a single massive entity, making her feel like she was the only person in a great blue void.

She felt… awful. She must have been passed out on the beach for days because exposed skin, and there was quite a bit of it, was angry red, sunburned; her lips felt dead, dried out, and she was intensely hungry. Possibly worse was how dry her mouth was. Water…

She desperately needed water.

Standing was a struggle. She felt weak all over and hoped that it was only temporary. If it wasn’t, she just might end up dying on the lonely beach and becoming nothing more than a dried-out husk. And she wouldn’t allow that to happen to herself.

Forcing herself to stand and to look away from the endless blue, she looked at the land behind her. Jungle. Alien. Green and lush, and it looked hot, while the blue had at least looked cool.

Maybe it would be better to just wander out into the blue and relax.

The green looked so much tougher to handle.

Yes, the blue looked better. She was about to turn and head into that blue, the cool, refreshing blue that would soothe her pain, when she heard it. A moan from somewhere nearby. At the edge of the green, hidden partially by shade and a fallen tree…

Stumbling as much as walking, she approached the mystery, unable to even care if there might be danger involved. The only thing she did care about was that she might not be alone. And indeed, waiting on the ground, moving feebly, was another person. A young man.

Somehow, she managed to drag him back among the green, but in the comforting shade. Sitting next to him, basking in the slight coolness of the shade, away from the killing sun, she knew she couldn’t allow herself to fall asleep. She might not wake up. But food… And water. And the young man.

When she opened her eyes again, there was darkness. Maybe she was dead, but she didn’t think so. There was still so much oppressive heat, and she was still hungry, and so thirsty.

“Drink this,” a tired-sounding voice said.

Something rough was placed at her lips and tilted, sending something wet and cold impacting with her lips. The sensation almost made her cry out, but she greedily began to slurp at the liquid.

“Not so fast,” the voice said. “You’ll get sick.”

She didn’t care. The feeling of that cold liquid was enough for the moment. Whether she could actually stomach it or not was not an issue. It felt good against her dried lips and washing over her parched gums and tongue. And down her throat… She had suddenly been transported to heaven.

Moments later, she was doubled over, retching it up, her

stomach refusing the offering as too much, too fast. The act of vomiting was almost too much for her to handle and it felt like she might faint again, but something wet and cold was placed against her forehead and that seemed to bring her back to reality.

After she recovered, the cold liquid was offered again, and this time, she sipped it. Her stomach gurgled ominously, but decided not to reject the liquid that was offered. Sighing with relief, she leaned back and relaxed as the cold cloth was passed across her forehead again. “Thank you,” she said weakly, her whole body feeling drained.

The cloth was removed, but the offered liquid remained.

“You’re welcome.”

She turned to see the face of the speaker and discovered the young man that she had found on the beach sitting behind her, supporting her. He was wiping his neck with the cloth he had torn from his shirt, his face looking as tired as she felt.

“Drink more if you think you can hold it,” he offered.

Nodding, she turned and looked at exactly what was being

offered. It was some sort of dried-out gourd maybe, or shell of something like a coconut. It was filled with cold, clear, sweet, refreshing water. Not pausing again, she drank the rest of it down, spilling some out of the sides. Once it was drained, she lowered the vessel and wiped her mouth on the back of her arm. “Where’d you get this water?” she asked.

“A river, not very far away. It empties into the ocean.” His answer was simple and concise.

She was about to wonder aloud why she hadn’t thought to look for anything, but then, she hadn’t been totally conscious. “I’m hungry,” she said instead. If he had found water, maybe he had food too.

“Now that you’re awake, I’ll look for something.” He draped the cloth over her shoulder and started to stand, so slowly like he was an old man, pulling away from the girl.

She started to stand as well, wondering if it was a mistake as her legs almost immediately collapsed beneath her.

“Don’t try to stand. Wait here. You’re not in shape to be wandering around like that. Rest. There’s more water if you need it.” His voice was so sincere, so serious.

She nodded. “I’ll wait here.” It was actually surprising that she could even speak at all, but that water had done all the wonder in the world for her. Even though her throat still hurt, she could at least manage words without sounding like she was part frog.

“I think I saw some sort of fruit by the river. I’ll see what I can find.”

She watched him move off into the darkness and wondered

absently who he was. Maybe she’d find that out once she could remember who she was.

She was asleep when he returned, though she looked peaceful this time, not the fitful half sleep she had been in before. He set the bananas he had managed to pull down in the sand and sat next to the sleeping girl.

He noted that she had finished off the water he had left and was clutching the still damp cloth to her chest. Thankfully she was breathing evenly, deeply, and her skin was cooler to the touch than it had been when he had awakened to find her sprawled out in the sand.

Whoever she was, she was strong. The condition she had been in… she probably should have been dead. The only thing that had saved him from death was the fact that he had been in some shade.

Some investigating had revealed where the girl had been, apparently unconscious on the beach, right out in the open. The print of her body hadn’t quite been washed away by the waves.

He couldn’t recall a name for her, but she must have been some sort of acquaintance. Maybe. Not that it mattered since they were the only two people around it seemed.

Gently moving the girl to an area he hoped would be shaded then sitting next to her again, he grabbed one of the green bananas and peeled it. Eating it slowly, he pondered what could have happened to put the two of them on the beach together. The fact that he couldn’t remember anything didn’t help either.

There had been no sign of wreckage, nothing that might reveal how they had gotten there, or gave any hope that there might be more people on the island. He hadn’t gone far from the beach to positively say that there was no other human life there, but he could guess.

Either way, once the girl was healthy enough, once he was for that matter, they would make sure to explore the island to their satisfaction. He didn’t want to live on a diet of bananas alone.

Finishing the banana and discarding the peel, he reclined in the sand and stared at the sky. The stars were familiar enough to see, but they looked strange otherwise. He knew one thing: he was very far away from home.

The images in her dream were vague, but unsettling. Lots of people with hazy faces and names she couldn’t remember were all around her. There was something huge, something evil there as well, and it caused her to tremble. Then there was brightness, a light of such strength she didn’t think possible. And then nothing.

Waking up was a nightmare in itself. All her memories were gone, simply vanished. She had no idea why, she had no idea where she was, she had no idea about anything except that she was pretty damn miserable.

Sitting up slowly, already sweating in the heat, she looked out from under the plants. Hoping to see something, anything, her meager hopes fell when she saw the blue staring back at her.

Nothing.

She wanted to cry, wanted to cry at the unfairness of the world and yell and scream her hatred out. But something inside her would not allow such a weak show of emotion. Something inside her prevented her from losing her control so utterly.

So instead, she closed her eyes and breathed deeply, trying to somehow flush the bitterness from her body. Surprisingly, it worked, and while she was still angry, she felt under control.

Exhaling heavily, she opened her eyes and prepared to…

A small smile made its way to her face when she saw the

dried-out gourd filled with water and a bunch of bananas. She would have to remember to thank her companion, whoever he was. And he was indeed her companion in this little adventure. Until she figured out what was going on, she would need to rely on him.

That was when her hunger reappeared in full force. Hands

suddenly shaking, she grabbed the bananas, even foregoing the water, and broke one off. She peeled it as quickly as she could, it almost falling from her hand, and once the peel was gone, practically shoved the entire thing into her mouth at once.

She didn’t taste it, didn’t need to because she was already peeling the second one. He had left her half a dozen, and within minutes, they were all gone. For the time, her hunger had been partially satisfied. She would need more food shortly, but for now…

She picked up the water and drank it down, appreciating it differently than the way she had last night. It had been life then, but now, it was a simple joy. Her body practically sang with health as she downed it, and she knew she wouldn’t need to consider wandering off into that field of blue again.

Her quest to stand wasn’t as bad this time, her legs had some strength to them, but she was still a bit wobbly. Yet, to be standing and not feel like her legs were rubber… She sighed with relief. For some reason, the idea that she might not be able to stand again had passed through her mind. That kind of weakness, she would rather die than live with.

“Good, you’re awake.”

She looked over and saw her companion walking out of the

greenery with an armful of fruit.

She waved at him tentatively, not sure what to say. She

didn’t know his name, what kind of person he was… The only thing she knew is that he had saved her with that water. “Hi,” she said simply.

“Are you still hungry?” he asked, noting the pile of banana peels.

“Yeah, I think I am. And I… Um…” She blushed, not sure how to put it delicately. Or at least so she wouldn’t embarrass herself.

He looked at her strangely for a moment, then understanding dawned on his face. “I will fetch more water until…” He trailed off, unsure how to finish. Instead of prolonging the awkward moment, he set down the different fruits he had collected, picked up the gourd and headed for the river.

Sighing with relief, not sure exactly what she was so nervous about, she went a bit into the trees to do her business.

“Here, you’ve got a cut on your arm.” She kneeled behind him as he was eating a fruit with red skin and sweet meat. It was on the back of his arm where he hadn’t noticed, and was already angry red.

There wasn’t anything she could do to help heal it, but she could bandage it just in case.

She tore one of the sleeves off her shirt and wrapped it

around his arm, then tied it snugly. “There. That should help a little.”

“Thank you. More water?” he offered.

She nodded and accepted the gourd, almost pulling her hand away when their fingers brushed against one another innocently. She blushed and took the gourd, avoiding looking in his eyes. Sipping the water, she looked out at the ocean, the waves lapping at the beach in a hypnotic rhythm.

“I think that we should make an effort to explore this island before we… give up. What if we sat here and there was some sort of resort on the other side?” he suggested, looking behind himself at the rather daunting looking jungle.

Nodding, she said, “Yeah. I don’t know how much longer I can look at this beach before…” And that hopeless blue void.

“Agreed. With no sign of wreckage, I can’t believe that any sort of rescue party will be out here looking for us.” He looked over at his companion, hoping he wasn’t being too nihilistic. “Are you feeling well enough to walk possibly a long distance?”

“I think so. I just needed some water and something to eat.

I’m feeling a lot better now.” She finished off the water in three large gulps and stood up abruptly. No, she couldn’t stand looking at that blue any longer. “Well?” she asked, looking down at the young man.

He looked up at her, rather surprised. “You mean… Now?”

She nodded, a confident smile on her face. “I want to get away from this beach, the ocean. I’m ready… Now.”

“Then, I guess we go.” He finished the piece of fruit he was eating and stood up, brushing the sand off his tattered clothing.

“It might be best to follow the river since we have no way of carrying fresh water,” he suggested.

“Good idea. We’ll probably see animals along the river too.

Maybe we can catch some.” As her body felt refreshed, her mind did too. It was quickly coping with the reality of the situation and trying to think of ways they could survive.

It was hot and humid, but the trees shaded the two from the sun. They were lucky in that respect as they were both without any sort of covering for their heads. That was the greatest danger now as they followed the river upstream, deeper into the jungle.

The two didn’t talk, the only noise coming from them was the heat-labored breathing as they made their way through the brush.

Footing was slippery with the muddy ground and fallen leaves, causing the two to often cling to trees to keep from falling or going into the river.

There was one point, a small waterfall, where the two were making their way up the large stones that made a natural stairway, that something… odd happened.

“Watch your footing. These rocks are slippery,” he warned as he slowly climbed onto the next rock. He looked back briefly.

“I know.” She was concentrating on her feet, the trees

overhead casting partial shadows on the wet rocks, making footing even more treacherous. She swore under her breath as her foot slipped and she momentarily lost her balance.

He looked back at her quickly. “Are you okay?” He took

another step, meaning to plant his foot on the next rock, but missed. His foot slid off the side, and he was suddenly teetering backwards, about to plunge to the shallow water and rocks below.

Looking up at the sudden movement of flailing arms, she was frozen. Frozen for a heartbeat while her mind determined just what she could do to save him. Her body acting on its own, her legs propelled her upward where her hand latched on to an overhanging branch. The momentum swung her forward where she was somehow able to grab her companion’s hand. She turned her body in mid-swing and let go of the branch, landing lightly on her feet on solid ground and pulling him with her.

He was jerked forward where he tripped over a protruding root of the same life-saving tree and tumbled into his savior. The two of them fell to the ground, chest to chest, him on top of her, their faces inches apart.

They stayed in that position, each of them genuinely

surprised, before it suddenly occurred to him what was pressing into his chest and he scrambled to remove himself.

Breathing heavily, but not because of the heat, he stood up and backed away. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…”

Standing up not as quickly, slightly winded from the fall, the hero of the moment brushed herself off even though there wasn’t anything on her. “It’s…” She started shaking her head. “No problem. Don’t worry about it.” She exhaled a bit shakily and laughed a little.

“Whoo. That was a close call, wasn’t it?” she said loudly, looking up and smiling.

“Yeah,” he answered, looking back at what he would have

landed on if she hadn’t caught him, “it was. Thanks again.”

Trembling a little, she tentatively patted his arm. “We’ve got to stick together, right? I didn’t want to lose you so soon.”

“I didn’t want to be lost so soon.” He was standing, but he wasn’t sure his feet would allow themselves to be lifted from the ground at the moment. One of the most surprising things, besides the amazing show of athleticism, was the way his companion, his…

friend? It was the confidence she was showing.

When she had first awakened, he had been so afraid that she would be helpless, useless, expecting to be catered to, but she was showing herself to be much different. She seemed more capable than him, only hindered by her injuries. There was no doubt that when she was recovered, he would be hard-pressed to find anything in which she needed his help.

“We should keep going,” she said, interrupting his thoughts.

She looked up the river, the path it was cutting partially obscured by trees, and nodded. “At the speed this water is traveling, there’s probably some pretty sizable hills at least.”

“You’re right. Maybe going to a higher elevation will get us out of this heat a little.” Thankfully, his body was convinced it was back on solid ground and was ready to get moving again. “Maybe we should keep a little farther from the river this time,” he offered.

“Yeah, the footing’ll be better, but the plants…”

He was already coming up with a minor solution. He broke off a sizable branch, the wood still moist and green, and pulled off the branches. “This’ll work a little. Better than nothing,” he said smiling, looking at the implement he was holding.

“Now we’ve got a plan… Some plan.” She snorted and kicked a rock into the river.

The pair followed the river, but this time, they were at a safer distance. The brush wasn’t as thick as they had feared, and only the occasional tall bush got in their way. The sturdy whiplike branch being used to clear such nuisance vegetation was working quite well.

“That was a pretty good move you did back there. Are you a gymnast or something?” he asked, whacking some leaves aside.

“I don’t know. It felt like my hand was going to slip off that branch the entire time.” It wasn’t saying much, but that was the most afraid she could remember being.

He shook his head, and she knew it was with disbelief, maybe a little awe. “Like I said, it was a good move. Great, actually…

Uh…”

“What is it?”

“I was just wondering… what should I call you? I feel kind of uncomfortable not even knowing your name,” he said, pausing for a moment.

“Oh.” She tried to dig up something, anything from her memory that might tell her who she was, but there was only a maddening blank. She growled with frustration. “I can’t remember!”

He blinked. “You too?”

Oh no. “Don’t tell me you can’t remember anything either…”

To her dismay, he shook his head. “I remember waking up on the beach, and smelling the ocean, and wondering why I was here.

Everything before that…” He shrugged. “I feel like a newborn babe, save that I can talk and walk.”

She sighed. “Damn. I was hoping that maybe you knew who I was, or what we’re doing here.” Again she tried to seize the memories, and again found only an unnatural hole, like a tongue probing a missing tooth. “I guess… well, I know what we’re speaking is Japanese, so that’s probably where we’re from.”

Frowning slightly, he stared at her. “I do think I know you.

There’s something just out of reach…”

…no! i won’t let it hurt aka…

He blinked, shook his head slightly.

…i lo…why does she hate me…no! akan…

“Akane?” he said, hesitantly. “Are you Akane?”

Her eyes widened. “Akane… Akane…” The word had meaning, it was important, it fit her…

…akane, teased a male voice, uncute tomboy…

“That must be me,” she said wonderingly. “I’m Akane.” The sound of the name was strangely comforting, and she repeated it again. “Akane. I have a name.”

“I’m happy for you,” the boy replied, amused. “It suits you.

Fiery.”

She stuck her tongue out at him. “So what do I call you, Mr.

Nameless?”

Shrugging, the boy slashed at another stand of vegetation with the stick. “I don’t know. But if I know who you are, it would stand to reason that you know who I am.”

That made sense. Frowning, she concentrated on his face, trying to fit the image to the hole in her mind, trying to call it back…

…why you! i’ll…

…ranm…

She shook her head, a wave of dizziness washing over her. “I think we were sorta friends, but we weren’t. You liked me, but you didn’t. I can’t… it’s hard to tell.”

He glanced back at her, slicing away more foliage as he did.

“If I was your friend, do you remember a name? Someone who was your friend, who was angry and not angry at you?”

…friends…

…uk…no! no!…

…no! don’t! not for me! no! my fault!…

…ukyo!….

“Ukyo,” she gasped, sweat streaming down her brow. “Ukyo, jumped in front of me, I fell, jumped in front of me…”

His eyes widened, the name echoing in his ears, the

description rising from his mind…

…no! hellthing, i won’t let you hurt aka…

…dived in front of her, weapon raised, burning searing flame pain screaming…

“Yes… yes… I jumped in… you didn’t want me to…”

“Ukyo…”

The name surfaced again, with some great feeling tied to it.

“I suppose I am. Ukyo. Yes.” It sounded good in his ears, now that he said it. “A fine name for a man.” He frowned, feeling something wrong with the statement, then shrugged. “I’m Ukyo, of the Ku…” He blinked, the word slipping away. “Of something,” he finished lamely.

They stared at each other for almost a minute, pale and shaking.

“There was some sort of fight,” Akane said slowly.

Ukyo nodded. “I don’t remember much.” He shuddered. “I do not really wish to, at the moment. I think perhaps we should continue exploring.”

She nodded. “Anything to get off this smelly rock. If I have to have no memory, I could at least be somewhere comfortable, damn it.”

Chuckling, Ukyo swung again, looking back at Akane as he did.

“This certainly is no…”

“Ukyo!”

He stopped, alarmed. “What?”

Akane said nothing, just pointed to the tree that was slowly toppling over. The tree he had just sliced in half. With a stick.

Slowly, Ukyo looked down at the branch he held.

“What… how did you…”

He shook his head. “I… I don’t know…”

“Whoa,” was all Akane said in response.

“Um…” The uncertainty in Ukyo’s voice was obvious. “Maybe we should… just keep going.” He was giving Akane a weak smile, but she was still staring at the stick in his hand.

Feeling suddenly self-conscious, he dropped the stick to his side, drawing her attention back up to his face. “Let’s go,” he said a little more harshly than he meant to. Turning, he ignored the fallen tree in his path and started walking.

“Whoa,” Akane said again quietly before following.

They followed the river until it started to get dark. Neither feat that had been performed earlier was repeated, and each of them was secretly happy at that. Something so… so freakish was unnerving.

Akane openly watched Ukyo to see if he might repeat whatever he had done before. He seemed to treat the incident like it hadn’t even happened, but Akane knew there was something more to him than what she could see.

Sometimes, when she was watching him, she would catch him looking back at her. When their eyes would meet, he would quickly look away, turning his attention back to the path they were cutting through the vegetation.

For some reason, this brought a small, secretive smile to Akane’s lips. She wasn’t sure why, but those stolen glances were things she found a little scandalous, a little daring, and quite…

exciting.

“I think we should stop for the night,” Ukyo said, leaning against a tree, the stick still held tightly in his hand, like it was fused with his flesh.

Looking around doubtfully, Akane shook her head slightly.

“Right here?” she asked.

“Unless you have a better suggestion.” It was evident that Ukyo was taken a bit aback at her rebelliousness.

Akane looked around, then eyed a tree. “I think I do.”

Ukyo’s knuckles turned white as he gripped the stick.

Whatever Akane was planning, it couldn’t be completely safe.

Tentatively hugging the tree’s trunk, Akane looked up, then with ability that seemed inherited from a double jointed monkey, she shimmied up the tree. At the top, she surveyed the area through the trees.

“There! A little bit up the river, it looks like a clearing or something,” she called down. Peering down at Ukyo, she continued, “I think it’d be better if we went to the clearing instead of stopping here.”

Barely able to see her face up in the tree, Ukyo nodded.

“okay. You can come down now,” he said nervously.

“Right.” Instead of climbing back down, Akane untangled her legs from the leaves and stubby branches so they were hanging in mid- air. Lowering herself slowly, gripping the same branches tightly, Akane began to drop from the tree.

Seeing this, Ukyo started waving his hands, actually setting the stick down. “Don’t do that! You’re going to…”

Akane released her hold and dropped down, almost landing right on Ukyo. She landed on her feet with a small grunt of exertion, but Ukyo crumpled to the ground, groaning.

“Oh… Oh crap.” Akane kneeled down next to Ukyo and patted his cheek “Ukyo? Ukyo, are you okay?”

“Yuh… yeah. I’m fine. Just caught me by surprise.” He sat up slowly, rubbing his head a little.

“Are you sure you’re not hurt?”

“No, really, I’m fine.” He got to his feet, Akane helping him, and grabbed his stick again. Receiving a curious look from Akane, he shrugged. “I just feel better with it.” He hefted it experimentally. “It doesn’t feel quite right, but a weapon in my hand…”

Akane nodded. At the moment, she was thinking how a weapon in her hand might feel better. “Why don’t we get going. I don’t feel comfortable in this jungle when it’s getting dark like this.”

Nodding and recovering his breath, his stick held comfortably if a tad awkwardly, Ukyo set out with Akane at his side.

They walked for 15 minutes more, the sky darkening overhead, stars taking the place of the glaring sun, until they reached the mysterious clearing. And mysterious it was. But maybe more like…

unnatural than mysterious.

There simply wasn’t any natural way for a clearing of the sort the two were standing at the edge of to exist and actually maintain itself in a jungle. It should have lasted for maybe a month before it was completely over grown, but here…

There was an easy way to tell that the strange clearing was considerably older than it should have been, and that was the large pillar that was sitting in the middle of it. Even from 75 feet away, it was obviously ancient, looking just like a prop from a movie.

It was formed from some sort of dark gray stone, one giant, unbroken piece, and it had been brutally weathered, that much was obvious. But the most telling thing about it, the one thing that told them the clearing was older than it should be was that the stone was bleached, sun bleached.

It was easy to tell the stone’s original tone had been very dark, but sitting in the sun, day after day, even it couldn’t resist and had lightened under the constant rays.

“What’s that?” Akane asked in a whisper. Why she was

whispering, she didn’t know, but it seemed appropriate.

“I don’t know. It’s… It’s…”

Akane nodded. It was eerie, the way it had such a dramatic presence even in the darkness. She had a weird feeling that the night was when its presence would be most powerful, only muted by the sun. “I’m not sure this was a good idea.” She was getting the weird feeling, like a wave of invisible goosebumps, that they were being watched, like the night was alive and watching them.

“It’ll be fine. There’s nothing to worry about.” And he knew it was the truth, but he sure didn’t feel that way.

The night did have eyes and it was most definitely watching the two. It watched them with multiple pairs of yellow, feral eyes that moved with the speed of the wind and with the same stealth.

Akane and Ukyo slept fitfully in the mooncast shadow of the pillar, unaware of the encroaching danger. If Ukyo hadn’t been a light sleeper, they possibly both would have been dead before they could have further considered their chances of rescue.

Upon waking, Ukyo’s hand went groping for his makeshift weapon automatically. It was only a moment after that he heard the noise, a soft growling. Instead of bolting upright, he moved his head slowly to look off to his right. The source of the growling was there.

And the smell, the smell of death and decay… Eyes that seemed to shine with their own inner fire, nearly glowing were not more than five feet away. There were others as well, all with the same ferocious glares of bloodlust.

Ukyo didn’t know how many there were, but he knew he had to fight them. If he didn’t, he and Akane would be little more the scraps of flesh in the morning. “Akane,” he whispered, hoping it was enough to wake her.

“I’m already up,” she answered. No doubt, she had already assessed the situation and knew it was dangerous.

“What do you think?” he asked.

“We don’t have a choice.” And then she was up like a shot, fighting, and he was hypnotized by the way she moved. “We kick ass!”

Ukyo was shaken from moment of admiration when several of the beasts next to him joined the fight against Akane. They charged over him, drawn by the motion of the girl. Without even bothering to check how Akane was, Ukyo rolled to his feet quickly and started swinging. Now he just had to hope the stick would be enough to scare the beasts away.

They seemed to ooze out of the darkness, with their slim, ragged bodies appearing to absorb any light that shone upon them.

Except for their eyes. Whether it was a trick by Ukyo’s mind or something supernatural, he was drawn to the yellow glow in their eyes. And so was his weapon.

When one moved in to attack, fangs bared and quite visible even in the dark, he swung downward and struck the beast on the top of the head. It let out an abbreviated howl of pain, then dropped to the ground.

There was no time to consider whether he had just killed it because the others were beginning to attack, and they in turn were joined by more forms from the dark.

It was about then that Akane wished she had something to start smacking the little monsters with. She was doing adequately with her fists and feet, but her reach was sorely lacking. The animals, wild dogs drawn by their scent, had to be almost upon her so she could take care of them effectively.

And the fighting was a necessity, but when her fist impacted with bone, and there was a crunching noise, like the sound of firecrackers, it made her almost sick. A weapon would have made it much more impersonal. The kick, even in bare feet, that snapped a head back and broke the neck…

Something seemed to fly at her, and her arm moved

automatically to swat it away, something wet showering her face on impact. But she couldn’t stop. They wouldn’t stop. She couldn’t die.

She wouldn’t allow it.

The tide of living darkness seemed to ebb, and then as

quickly as they had attacked, the dogs fled. Their prey hadn’t been as vulnerable as it had appeared, and it had hurt their numbers deeply. It might be a time before they returned in an attempt to taste of their flesh, but they would return.

Ukyo and Akane knew it.

“I think maybe a fire would help,” Akane said, panting

slightly. “At least, I don’t know… At least….”

Ukyo nodded and understood. It would be a comfort even if it didn’t serve any other purpose. He looked around in the night and had only one question. “How?”

Akane laughed a little. “That’s the sticker, isn’t it?” She walked around to the other side of the pillar, away from the bodies of the dogs and sat down heavily in the grass. If she never had to repeat a fight like that, it would be too soon for her.

“Akane, are you hurt?” Ukyo asked, crouching at her side and putting his hand on her shoulder. He leaned the stick up against the pillar and patted her knee.

“I’m fine, just a little tired. Just… tired.” She leaned her forehead against her knees and sighed heavily.

Ukyo looked at her, trying to determine if she was actually hurt, and when she seemed only… tired, he decided a fire was necessary. “Right, I’ll try and get a fire started for…

something.”

Try. That was the important word. Just how he planned on making a fire in the middle of the night, in the middle… well, kind of the middle of a humid jungle where everything around him was green, and when he had no idea where to even begin looking… The idea of a fire was starting to look like wishful thinking.

It took him one trip around the pillar in a wide circle to figure this out, and then he returned to Akane. “Um, I think the fire is going to have to wait,” he said sheepishly.

She laughed a little, not lifting her head. “I’m not

surprised. We don’t seem to be much into survival, do we?”

“I suppose not. Maybe we’ll do better in the daylight.” After they’d had a chance to recover from being attacked by a pack of wild dogs.

Smiling grimly, she glared out at the surrounding jungle.

From several places, pairs of red dots glared back.

“Get some sleep,” she said, suddenly feeling very tired. “If we’re going to be attacked, we might as well grab as much rest as possible in preparation. I’ll wake you when it’s your shift.”

Ukyo nodded. “Wise.”

He curled up in the shadow of the hideous column, and tried to sleep. It was a long time before he could.

---

Akane awoke to the smell of roast wild dog.

Yawning, she sat up, shaking the stiffness from her bones. In the back of her mind, the images of faces faded away into the dream they had emerged from, like mist in a harsh sun.

Ukyo sat hunched in the shelter of the monolith, roasting a haunch of canine steak over a crude stick spit. He smiled wanly at her as she yawned and wandered over.

“How’d you get the fire going?”

Ukyo smiled sheepishly. “I am a bit embarrassed. It wasn’t until almost morning that I noticed the huge stone pillar was, in fact, a huge flint pillar.”

Akane chuckled. “Whoops.”

“I broke off a fragment to use in a future camp,” he said, fumbling behind him to show her. “Staying here probably is not wise…”

“It’s stone. How did you break it off?”

He blinked, surprised by the flatness in her tone. “I took my stick and shattered…” Ukyo trailed off. “I shouldn’t be able to do that, should I?”

Akane slowly shook her head. “Nope. People don’t just shatter stone with…”

…bakusai ten-ket…

…focus, release….

…she lashed out, shattering the stone wall with the force of her blow…

“Akane? Akane, are you all right?”

She nodded, feeling a little nauseous. “I… I just

remembered a little. I can do that too, with my hands.” She stared at him helplessly, frustration welling up. “Damn it, we can smash rocks to powder and fight off rabid wolves with bare hands and branches, but we can’t remember our own last names. What the hell are we, and what are we going here?”

Ukyo frowned. “I don’t know. Perhaps we were in a shipwreck, and were washed ashore…” He shrugged helplessly. “There wasn’t any wreckage on the beach, but I suppose it could have been a small boat, far at sea…”

“And we both happened to have the exact same type of

amnesia?” Akane asked skeptically. “I don’t think so.”

Shrugging, the boy turned the haunch again, sending spatters of grease sizzling into the fire. “Then I don’t know. Perhaps we have been drugged, or brainwashed, and managed to escape.”

Akane shrugged. “Yeah, I guess. Maybe we’re secret agents or something.” She grinned, poking him. “Hey, Bond, when’s that gonna be done? I’m starving.”

“It should be finished soon.” Ukyo carefully poked the meat with a fire-cleansed stick, noting the result with satisfaction.

“I’m a good cook. You’ll like it. Wild Dog ala Stick.”

She smirked. “Good thing you’re the one cooking. I’m terrible at it, it’d be burnt and everything.”

Ukyo carefully turned the haunch again. “Who taught you?”

“Well, it was when I was little, and…”

…terrible, but will have to…

…cooking? you, akane this stuff is tox…

…akane, why can’t you make something edible for once? jeez, are you trying to poison…

A low scream ripped from her throat. Shaking, she turned on him, furious, her stomach churning. “Don’t you ever do that again.

Never. I’ll remember when I’m damn well ready, do you understand?

When I’m ready.” Her face had gone pale, and she could feel the fever-sweat dripping down her face, running into her eyes. That voice talking about her, saying those horrible things, damn it, damn it, go away…

“I’m sorry,” Ukyo said awkwardly, worried by the sudden

explosion. “I was just trying to help…”

“Well don’t. Please.” With an effort, she forced her

breathing and heart rate to slowly return to normal. “That kind of help I don’t need.”

“Very well.” He carefully removed the haunch from the spit, deftly tore it in two, and handed half to her. “Bon appetit.” The nausea quickly faded under the delicious aroma wafting from the steak, and she wolfed into it like a starving animal. It wasn’t half bad, she thought, pleasantly surprised. Ukyo actually did seem to be a decent cook.

“Hey, not bad. Best wild dog I can remember eating.” It was a pretty feeble joke, but he smiled anyway.

As they finished and wiped their mouths, Ukyo stood. “We shall need to find a spot with adequate protection from the dogs.

Perhaps a canyon, or maybe we can build a palisade.”

Akane nodded, scrambling to her feet. “Yeah. We’d better get moving; no sense in hanging around that creepy old thing.” She shuddered. “Dunno why I wanted to make for it in the first place.

C’mon, let’s find us a new campsite.”

Ukyo put out the fire as best he could manage, not figuring it would really catch considering the conditions. “Should we just keep following the river? Right now it’s a pretty good landmark feature.”

Akane chuckled. “You don’t really have any idea what you’re talking about, do you?” she asked, smiling at him.

“Well, not really. But it seems to be a sound plan.” He

collected the flint pieces he had broken off the pillar and tied them in a piece of his shirt. “I suppose if they get lost, we can come back and get more, but… this not a place I wish to return to.”

Akane nodded. “Me neither. Let’s go. Up the river is as good a direction as any.”

They left the pillar and clearing behind as nature took hold to remove the evidence of their presence. As they entered the jungle again, Akane spared one glance back at the eerie unnatural stone and shuddered.

Akane jumped up and managed to pull a coconut off the tree.

She squeezed it in both her hands, snapping the bristly outer shell and revealing the smooth inner shell. She discarded it over her shoulder and went to work on the inner shell.

Ukyo glanced back when he heard the snapping sound, and

whistled appreciatively as the shell broke like so many twigs in Akane’s hands. The “milk” spilled out onto the ground as she nearly shattered it and offered him a piece.

“Thanks,” he said, reaching for her offer. There was

something… not right about things, but he dismissed the feeling.

It could have been any number of things, but until something made itself evident, he could only try to relax. Taking the coconut piece, he bit on it and scraped the meat off with his teeth.

“You know,” he said, idly munching, “I think we’re going uphill.”

“I could have told you that about a mile ago.” Akane stopped and pointed up through some tree. “If you would have looked, you’d see the stupid mountain right in front of us.”

Ukyo stopped and looked where Akane was pointing. There was indeed a mountain looming above them. It appeared that they would be climbing it to some extent very soon. “Well I guess I can’t be as perfect as you are. I’ve got other things on my mind, like figuring out who I am!”

Letting out a disgusted breath, at Akane, at himself, he turned and continued to march ahead.

Akane sighed. Stupid stupid stupid. “Ukyo! Wait up! I didn’t mean it like that!”

“Oh? And just how did you mean it then?” he replied,

obviously with wounded pride.

“I just meant that… Just… I don’t know.” She seemed to sag. “I didn’t mean it the way I said it though.”

“I understand. It’s quite difficult for me to… remain calm under the circumstances. Something in me wants to crawl into a hole and stay there, not believing what’s happened. I have to… force myself to focus on the reality of the situation and not let myself get… too idealistic.”

Akane nodded. “I know. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to sound so… mean. I think it’s the heat.”

“I shouldn’t have been so touchy. I know you didn’t mean any harm by it.”

The silence was almost deafening as they looked at each other awkwardly.

“Next time, I’ll… I’ll try not to get so hot-headed about it. I think we’re both on edge from all this. Truce?” Akane asked, smiling tentatively at Ukyo.

“Of course. We just need to know when our lines have been reached and take care in not stepping over them.” He looked back at the mountain then. “I’m sure we’ll find something of interest there.”

“Then we go.” Akane started their trek again, trying to

retain her center of calm.

The uphill walk was quite gradual, but pleasant. Even in the heat, the pair walked swiftly, comfortably. They didn’t speak, but only because of the lack of discussion material. In a different place, they would have looked like two experienced hikers.

They stopped at one point, the sun high overhead, and ate fruit and drank water from the river. Still they avoided talking.

There was an unspoken understanding that they simply couldn’t get on each other’s nerves. If they started to annoy each other, being the only people on the island, things would get very dismal very quickly.

“Shouldn’t be too much further and…”

“And what? I don’t think we’re going to find anything we haven’t seen on this island already, Ukyo. I really don’t.”

He nodded a little. “But we have to try. Even if it’s only to look for things that will make… our lives easier here from now on.” But no, he refused to give in. Not yet. He would search the island completely until he finally decided there was no other choice. “Let’s keep going.”

Akane stood, refusing the offer of his hand, and brushed herself off, frowning. “I don’t care where it is right now, I just want to be home.” She clapped her hands suddenly in an effort to break her out of her self-pitying. “But I am NOT going to get down.”

She got a fiercely determined look on her face as she looked in the direction they would be heading. “Yet,” she added quietly.

It got to be a maddeningly boring jungle. There was so much to see, but Akane and Ukyo didn’t care. More than once, they had seen monkeys swinging in the tallest trees, and brightly colored birds calling out, but such wildlife didn’t interest them.

Beautiful flowers in every color of the rainbow decorated the jungle, but still, their eyes rested on those sights for moments before turning back to what lay ahead.

And they were both on alert for the appearance of any more of those wild dogs. Even if they didn’t show themselves in the daytime, there was still the night, and Ukyo and Akane had no shelter. The dogs would be back.

Akane was getting tired. Not physically tired, but just…

run down. A combination of everything just made her want to lay down and relax and forget about their troubles. Even if it was for only a little bit, she was really starting to drag her feet over it.

She watched Ukyo move through some trees and out of her

sight. No, things were just not working out, and that scared her more than anything. She should not have been so pessimistic about it all. The two of them should have been able to conquer anything they came across, and that included getting off the island.

The sounds of the jungle all around seemed to mock her. Birds squawking, monkeys hooting, leaves rustling, water rushing…

“Akane!”

Ukyo yelling for her. Akane was immediately sprinting ahead, wondering what was wrong. Damn, she had let him get really far ahead of her. Why hadn’t he waited…

Her feet slipped out from underneath her on the wet grass, and she landed hard on her rump. Ukyo was grinning madly at her, and she couldn’t help but return it. Why, she wasn’t entirely sure, but this was definitely a very pleasant discovery.

Towering above them, water gushed over the cliff and

thundered down into the small lake that drained off to form the river they had been following.

Akane was immediately on her feet and testing the water with foot. She shivered happily. “Nice and cool,” she said, still grinning.

Ukyo’s eyes got wide and his face turned bright red as Akane started to shed her shirt.

She stopped suddenly and looked back at him. “Could you not look?”

He nodded slowly and turned around, his face still red. He listened to the rustle of clothing and was first hit in the head by her shirt. Then her pants fluttered over him and rested on his shoulder.

Akane’s whoop of delight was followed by a splash. “It’s safe to turn around now,” she called.

He turned slowly and the blush kicked back into full force when he saw her treading water, the tops of her breasts just visible. “Come on in. It’s great!” she said, splashing some water in his direction.

Ukyo shook his head. “Really, I couldn’t. It wouldn’t be…”

“Come on. You don’t know what you’re missing. It feels nice just to be clean for a little bit.”

“I really shouldn’t. It just wouldn’t be proper.”

Akane couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re standing there with my pants over your head and talking about what’s proper? No one’s going to get upset. Come on.” She clapped her hands at him. “Let’s go.”

Turning a deeper shade of red, Ukyo gave a little nod. “If you could…” He made a turning gesture with his hand.

Akane turned and started to swim to the opposite bank, giving Ukyo a rather surprising glimpse of her naked rear.

Staring wide-eyed for a moment, he quickly averted his eyes and began to remove his own clothing. He carefully folded Akane’s clothing, then his own as he removed it, and set it all on a rock.

He tested the water with his toe and started to enter it slowly.

That was when he noticed Akane had reached the bank and was beginning to turn around.

Yelping, he dove into the water before she got a look at anything private. The cool water sluicing over his body as he swam to the shallow bottom of the lake was incredibly refreshing. Ukyo hadn’t really thought of just how hot and sweaty he had been while they had been walking, but he was now realizing how bad it had been.

He broke the surface of the water and smiled. “You’re right.

This is nice.”

“Told ya. You should learn to listen me,” Akane said,

swimming in a lazy circle around him.

Ukyo briefly ducked under the water and came back up,

spitting out a mouthful. “Yeah, it’s starting to look that way.

She smiled at him, broad and cocky. “You’re getting there.”

She swam away toward the waterfall, giving Ukyo another waterdistorted view of her body.

“Are you… doing that on purpose?” he asked, feeling lightheaded.

“Doing what?” she called back, her voice being drowned out by the noise of the water.

Ukyo watched her swim away and shook his head, smiling.

Akane swam to the waterfall, the churning water pushing her away, and turned to her back. Floating, she rode the water as it carried her to the river. Arms out, she closed her eyes and relaxed, feeling the most relaxed since she had arrived on the island.

“Don’t let yourself go too far or you’ll be down the river before you know it.”

Rolling over in the water, Akane began to swim powerfully back toward the waterfall. “I’m not going anywhere. This is way too nice.” She noticed, but didn’t mention the glances he was throwing her way as the water teasingly revealed her bare flesh.

After all, it was different for guys. The naked male chest was nothing that needed to be hidden, but a female chest, breasts, the most natural things in the world were treated like important government secrets. Well, she had nothing to be ashamed of. Unless Ukyo was some sort of… freak.

She had started to rise a little bit more out of the water, watching Ukyo’s eyes widen, when she suddenly sank back down. Nah, it wasn’t worth it. That didn’t mean she couldn’t appraise him though.

That line of thought made her blush for some unknown reason.

It was only natural, but it was somehow… wrong. But still… Akane looked up, almost shyly, and scanned Ukyo’s bare chest before looking back to his face. And yes, he was definitely built… well enough.

“Akane, are you…” Ukyo couldn’t bring himself to finish the sentence. It was far too embarrassing, for himself and her.

“Am I what?”

“Nothing. It’s nothing.” He turned quickly and looked at the waterfall. “Pretty impressive, eh?”

Akane looked at him suspiciously and nodded slowly. “Yeah, it is. How high do you think?”

Shrugging, Ukyo shaded his eyes from the sun. “Maybe 20 or 30 feet. High enough to hurt if you had to jump.”

Akane suddenly splashed him and chuckled. “You’re so serious, Ukyo. I think you need to relax a little. At least for now.”

Ukyo turned and blinked the water from his eyes. His gaze narrowed in false menace. “Is that so?”

“Sure is,” she answered, backing away slowly. “Why? You’ve got a problem with it?”

“Well,” Ukyo answered slowly, “not really.” He lunged at her, causing a sizable rush of water, but she was quick and twisted out of the way, his outstretched hands grazing her back.

She made a noise somewhere between a laugh and a squeal of delight and tried to swim away from him. But she was beginning to laugh harder and was starting to get water in her mouth. In truth, she was about three seconds from choking.

Ukyo cut through the water, completely submerged, and groped to get a hold on one of Akane’s thrashing legs. He was moving quicker than he thought though and his hands slid up Akane’s sides.

Her whole body froze at the foreign touch, which only made it worse as one of his hands slid over her left breast. Her eyes and mouth were both wide with surprise, which shifted to outrage.

Ukyo feeling the… not leg in his hand, let go and got his head quickly above the water. Before he had cleared the water away, he was already apologizing. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…”

“Pervert!” Akane yelled and slapped him hard across the

cheek. She swam away quickly toward one shore, then altered her path and swam beneath the waterfall.

Ukyo watched her go, a sick look on his face. That most

certainly hadn’t been his intention. He was only being playful and had accidentally… done something really dumb. Sighing, he swam back to shore and sat in the water, staring at where Akane had disappeared under the water.

Akane sat in the little alcove behind the waterfall frowning.

Pouting was more like it. Ukyo had grabbed her breast, and she hadn’t liked that at all. She was having a fine enough time before that, but… He had really ruined the mood…

She stopped herself. There hadn’t been any sort of mood. She had just been having fun and things had gone a little too far. And it had only been an accident. Still, it had been a bit…

Her thoughts were interrupted by a break in the water as Ukyo came through the powerful falls. Akane quickly covered herself as best she could, still frowning.

Seeing her frown, Ukyo looked down at the water swirling around his waist, partly in embarrassment in seeing her nudity and partly in shame. “I’m sorry. I did something crude and wrong.”

Akane snarled at him. “You’re damn right you did! Can you just leave me alone for a while?”

Sighing, Ukyo nodded, turned and exited back through the water.

Akane rested her elbow on her knee and put her chin in her hand. The look on her face was less than enthused.

Ukyo swam with the vigor of a triathlete, powering himself around the lake over ten times. Each time he mentally berated himself for being so careless in his actions. It was just so stupid.

What was expected when they were both… naked, swimming, maybe she was flirting with him and he was certainly enjoying it. A stupid accident, totally harmless. Meant to be totally harmless.

He couldn’t stay like this. He needed to resolve this between the two of them. Back to the waterfall he swam, breaking through the wall of water, expecting her to be sitting there and glaring at him.

But she wasn’t.

He saw her pale shape in the darkness, lying in the cool sand. She appeared to be asleep. Well, they had been in the water swimming for a while. He was feeling pretty close to wiped out himself.

Approaching slowly, he stopped so he was still concealed form the waist down in the water. “Akane?” he asked quietly. He could see her side moving as she breathed, but other than that, she didn’t stir.

Daring to leave the water, Ukyo approached Akane’s motionless form. “Akane?” he asked again. It was difficult because at the same time he didn’t want her to respond, and he did want her to respond.

If she was awake and turned to look at him, well… His face was turning red already from embarrassment.

But she wasn’t responding, wasn’t moving. Getting bolder with sudden concern, he kneeled down next to her and looked over her shoulder at her face. Ignoring the shapeliness of her body, he put his hand on her arm. She was still warm at least. And when he actually saw her face, she was indeed sleeping peacefully.

Somehow, in that way that men always curse and thank

themselves for, she had also managed to cover herself with her arm just so to tease Ukyo’s sudden wandering eyes.

Realizing he was staring at the swell of Akane’s bosom, Ukyo jerked his hand from her arm and tore his gaze away. If she needed sleep, then she should probably have it. He headed back into the water, planning on sunbathing a little to dry off. It might have been wiser to wait with Akane, but he didn’t think she would take kindly to him seeing her naked, or him being naked with her. And it was impossible to get the clothes in under the waterfall without them getting soaked.

As he entered the water, Akane opened one eye slowly and turned her head. She watched Ukyo walk away, almost clinically. She closely observed the way the muscles in his legs flexed as he found purchase on the slippery lake bottom.

And maybe a little at his back, the way the water from the falls beaded on his smooth skin. Maybe there were other things she noticed, but this little peeping session would remain her secret.

As Ukyo stepped under the falling water, the water up to the middle of his back, the sun shone through the pause in the flow, around his body and giving the impression that he was glowing.

Only when the waterfall had reformed its wall did Akane sit up slowly. Ukyo certainly wasn’t the most objectionable looking man she had seen. She thought. Yet, there was something holding her back, some little instinct that stopped her from exploring these feelings within her.

Why, she didn’t know, just that any overt actions directed at Ukyo were inexplicably reigned in. Feeling a little frustrated and a lot confused, Akane stood up from the sand, shivering a bit.

Suddenly, whether she was mad at Ukyo or he was upset with her, being with another person in the sun was sounding very comforting.

Plunging into the water and under the falls, she swam

directly for the shore and her clothing. The sun sparkled magnificently off the water, making the lake look like it had been sprinkled with gold dust. Pausing to admire the coloring, Akane drifted slowly until her feet were able to touch bottom, then she started to make her way to shore purposefully.

She smiled a little when she saw Ukyo asleep in the sand, covered by his clothing. He wasn’t dressed, he had just covered himself with his shirt. “Hey, Ukyo,” she called, waking him.

He sat up slowly, scratching the side of his head and

yawning. He looked at Akane in the water and waved hesitantly.

“Good morning,” she said, still smiling. “Truce again?” she offered.

He nodded. “It’s all my fault.”

Akane shrugged. “It was an honest mistake. Right?”

“Yes. I would never, never ever…”

“All right, I believe you. Besides, isn’t it just too great right now to be upset? I mean, look at the lake. It’s just beautiful. The way the sun is setting the rays are…” Akane ground to a halt and stared blankly at Ukyo.

“Hm? What’s wrong? The rays are what?”

“The sun,” she replied numbly. “The sun.”

Ukyo tried to get a look at the position of the sun through the trees. “What about the sun?”

“It’s setting, Ukyo. The sun is setting.”

“So?”

“The sun is setting and we’re just standing here!” she

suddenly shouted at him.

Ukyo blinked. “I don’t… Night.” Understanding dawned on him. He stood quickly, ignoring Akane’s presence as he started putting his clothes on. “Come one, get dressed. We’ve got to find some place…”

Akane hurriedly exited the water, kicking up water everywhere until she was standing on the narrow beach. She grabbed her clothes and threw them on, not bothering with her modesty. Survival was a hell of a lot more important than whether Ukyo saw her boobs or not.

“Where should we go?” Ukyo asked, yanking his shirt over his head. “We don’t have time to build any sort of shelter…”

“I know! Maybe we…” She looked around, somewhat

desperately. Akane slapped Ukyo on the arm. “Behind the waterfall.

Bet’s on that they won’t get back there.”

Looking hesitant, eyes worriedly scanning the jungle, Ukyo shook his head a little. “But what about…”

“Do you want to worry about breakfast in bed or surviving?”

Akane had a hold of Ukyo’s tattered shirt and was yanking on it.

“If we don’t have any other choice…”

“We don’t. Let’s grab some fruit before it gets too late.”

---

It was scary. Well, a little scary. Just a bit worrying

really. Neither one of them would admit that they were scared.

Worried, yes. Scared, no way.

So Ukyo and Akane sat behind the protective wall of water through the night, neither sleeping much. They just weren’t tired.

That’s what they told each other. It had nothing to do with the sound of feet that even they could hear entering the water.

Entering and exiting. Entering and exiting. Pacing at the shore. Waiting at the shore.

“Are you cold?” Ukyo asked at one point in the night, his eyes nearly closed, but his body straight and stiff with instinctual alertness.

Akane shrugged. “A little.” She looked at Ukyo, feeling more awake than she wanted. The fatigue on Ukyo’s face was clear, and she could almost feel the waves of tension flow from him. “It is kind of chilly, isn’t it?”

Ukyo nodded, and Akane shivered a little for effect. “If you’re cold, maybe we could use our body heat to keep warm,” he offered, eyes closing slowly and then snapping open.

“That sounds like a good idea,” Akane replied, knowing he needed the rest a lot worse than she did. Scooting over to sit right next to Ukyo, she leaned on him a little and felt him relax. Akane rolled her eyes at the stupid machismo Ukyo was showing. And yet, the warmth they shared was comforting, even as they both managed to fall asleep despite the pounding of the water in front of them.

Akane woke up, nestled within comforting warmth and

protection. Dimly, she wondered where she was, though at the moment, she didn’t much care. She felt safe, and that was the only thing that mattered.

The sound of the water constantly pounding down less than 15 feet away finally forced her to wake up. And that was when she discovered she was being held, and quite nicely, in Ukyo’s arms, and that was all she needed after the night she had had.

Removing herself as gently as possible, figuring Ukyo needed the sleep, Akane planned on fetching a little breakfast. In the daylight, it should have been perfectly plausible to make a fire on the beach and cook something up, but she had to catch it first.

Stripping and doing her best to shelter her clothing under her body, Akane ducked under the falls until she was forced to swim.

Holding her wet, but not quite soaked, clothing on her head with one hand, she did a clumsy three-quarter dog paddle to shore.

Once out of the water, she shook as much moisture off as she could and redressed. She hadn’t forgotten to snag a piece of flint from Ukyo before she had left him, and went about gathering tinder.

And there, among the sand and soft dirt, she saw the prints, paw prints of dogs.

They both had known the animals had been there, but actually seeing the ground covered in their prints was a completely different story. The sheer number of them was close to being frightening, and if they hadn’t taken refuge behind that waterfall, Akane wasn’t sure they would have been successful at fighting the beasts off.

Gathering the tinder and building the base for the fire, Akane tried to think what she could catch and cook. The thought of more meat was practically making her mouth water. Fruit was fine to a point, but red meat, or even poultry or fish was that much better.

The lake had seemed absent of any fish as she thought about it. They had seen birds in the trees, but only songbirds and nothing worth the effort of catching. There were monkeys, but they too were small, and they were fast little buggers.

There was no way Akane planned on hunting wild dogs by

herself either. She might actually find them. In large numbers. That would most assuredly be disastrous. That left her with nothing, but again, that wasn’t entirely true.

The two of them hadn’t really been looking for food before.

She just knew there had to be more on the island than scrawny monkeys, birds and those damnable dogs. After all, what were the dogs eating anyway? There had been so many of them, they couldn’t have been feeding off the very few tree-dwellers they could find or catch.

Unfortunately, with the two of them trampling all along the lake’s edge, whatever animals might live on the island would not approach the water to drink. That meant she had to go out and hunt.

Akane had never hunted before. But there was a first time for everything.

Breaking off a thick branch and crudely fashioning a point on it by rubbing it against a rock, Akane looked at her spear and almost laughed. If she could even catch a leaf on the thing, she’d count herself lucky.

Shrugging, Akane headed off into the jungle to hunt.

While it seemed fortune spat on them before, this day, it seemed to have changed its mind and was now smiling. Akane had gone less than 100 meters from the lake and was wiggling her way up a tree to examine what looked like a bird’s nest.

A rustle in the bushes below her made her freeze in mid

wiggle. Looking down, amidst a large, leafy bush, she saw something big and… bristly. Listening, she heard the sound of grunting and smiled predatorily. Just as she thought…

Trying to move around so she could somehow spear the animal, Akane slipped a little and slid a foot down the tree. The rough bark against her skin made her hiss in pain and grasp the trunk more tightly. She fumbled with her makeshift spear and almost dropped it, but she recovered, and her prey hadn’t seemed to notice it at all.

It emerged from the bush, black snout directed at the ground, pausing to root in the soft earth. It was bigger than Akane had first thought, looking to weigh a good 45 kilograms, but…

She was almost drooling at the thought of having some “real”

meat finally. There wasn’t any way dog was going to replace some nice, juicy pork on her list of preferred meats.

The wild pig revealed its full, bristly back to her as it continued to root for food around the tree. If only she could just throw her spear and hit it in the neck…

Letting go of the tree with her weapon hand, Akane hung down dangerously, trying to get the best angle on her future breakfast. A little lower she dropped as the pig moved to the left some. “Damn it, hold still, porky,” she said quietly, ready to throw her spear.

Legs fatigued and hand sweating, Akane felt like she was suspended in the air for a brief moment as her hand slipped off the trunk. And then the ground was rushing at her and she couldn’t even manage to scream.

The pig, hearing enough noise to know something was going on, jerked its body around and ended up taking the point of Akane’s spear in its back, getting wedged between some ribs. Akane herself slammed into the rear half of the pig and drove its body to the ground, as it squealed with pain and terror.

Rolling off the animal, Akane sat up, half of her broken spear still in her hand. She looked dazedly at the pig, which was at the moment attempting to stand and make its escape.

Neck feeling like it was on a spring, Akane knew she couldn’t let this golden opportunity to get away. She crawled forward and dumbly stared at the injured animal, wondering just how she would finish it off. Even if she hadn’t plan on killing the thing, leaving it in such a shape would simply be too cruel.

Sudden sadness and frustration came over her, and she gripped the struggling animal’s head in her hands. Closing her eyes, Akane twisted quickly and felt/heard the sickening crunch of bones. The entire body shuddered and twitched for a few moments, then fell still.

Akane sat on the ground, just stunned at what had happened.

Looking down at herself, she could see her shirt was stained with spattered blood, and she felt some of it on her face. Whether it was from the initial stabbing or what, she didn’t know, but… The pig.

She had just snapped its neck like she had broken the stick she had stabbed it with. Just… snap. Absently, she wiped her cheek, smearing the blood, the broken stick still in her hand.

More rustling from the bushes made Akane look up, but her eyes were still partly glazed from the combined shock and surprise at what she had done. Trotting out from under the plant was a group of piglets, each of them plump and colored a dusky black in color.

Akane had apparently killed their mother.

She sat, her legs splayed out uncomfortably, blood on her shirt, smeared across her cheek, and stared dumbly at the little black piglets that had come trotting out.

…stupid pig…

She shook her head numbly, a feeling of nausea welling up.

That damn, mean-spirited voice seemed to loom out of the hole in her mind, somehow threatening…

A piglet squealed in fear and confusion.

…yo, pig…

…ranm… stop picking on p-chan…

…stupid porker!…

…p-chan, come back…

Her vision blurred, and with an effort she snapped her mind back to the present, stomach roiling. Black piglet… she or someone she knew must have had one, and the terrible, mocking voice didn’t like it… had killed it… tried to kill it?

Biting back a scream of frustration, Akane stood, and stared at the bloody main course in front of her. Out of spite, or hatred or confusion, she booted away one of the piglets. “Little bastards,”

she said, glaring at them.

But she had gotten what she wanted. Akane threw away the broken stick and bent down to lift the pig. It was heavy, heavy enough to stagger her momentarily when she got it across her shoulders. She wanted to throw it down and leave it there for the scavengers when she felt the warm blood trickle down her neck and into her shirt.

It was inelegant, but it was food. It was meat. That was all that mattered. And when Ukyo emerged from behind the waterfall, clothes held as high as possible when he got into the deep water, he kept his eyes trained on her.

The way she was hunched over listlessly by the fire, poking at the meat occasionally, looked very bad. “Akane, you caught breakfast,” he said in an attempt to get some sort of dialogue going.

She simply nodded.

As the water got shallow, he waited for her to politely turn her head so he could exit and put on his clothing. But she never even glanced in his direction. All her attention was on the fire.

Taking slow steps, Ukyo exited the water, holding his clothes in front of himself to maintain his modesty. Never once did she look at him, and that was worrying. He expected her to at least make some sort of comment, whether it was a joke or an insult… Something.

Once dressed, Ukyo sat on the opposite side of the fire, facing Akane. “Akane, what’s wrong?” he asked gently.

“Nothing. Eat your pig.”

Ukyo recoiled slightly as Akane thrust a piece of steaming meat on a stick at him. Taking the stick, he held it at his side and waited for it to cool. His stomach wasn’t even really awake yet, and Akane needed much more attention than himself. “Akane…”

“It happened again, all right?”

Drawing his eyebrows together, Ukyo tried to decipher just what it was she was talking about. “What happened? Were there more dogs?”

Akane shook her head, and Ukyo was surprised to see a tear hit the sand at her feet. “It happened again, and they’re all so awful… None of them are good. It’s just… Ukyo,” she said, finally looking up at him, “I’m scared. I don’t know what these memories are, but they’re not good.”

And then, Ukyo truly was frightened. Akane was getting her memory back? He hadn’t experienced a thing. Nothing. His mind was just as blank as it had been before, and now… What if Akane got her memory back and he never did? It would be like being the last one left at the dock as a boat sails away. Akane would be looking back, waving at him.

“Akane, does this mean… you’re getting your memory back?”

he asked, afraid to hear her answer.

She shook her head. “Just… flashes. Voices of people,

things I can’t remember… Sometimes I feel like I’m going crazy, all the voices and the headaches…”

“Headaches? You’re getting headaches? Why didn’t you mention this before? What if there’s something seriously wrong, a concussion or…” Ukyo trailed off when he saw the tired little grin Akane was giving him.

Blinking slowly, damp tracks still visible on her cheeks, Akane said, “Don’t worry about it. I was in good enough shape to catch this pig, wasn’t I? Besides, I think it’s some weird side effect of whatever caused this amnesia.” Her eyes grew steely. “I know it’s not some coincidence. This was done on purpose to us.”

Ukyo nodded, and as far fetched as it might have seemed

initially, he was coming to believe that it was the truth. Unsure of what to say, he began to eat.

Akane turned and looked up at the rising mountain. “We’ve got to find somewhere to make a camp or something.”

“But what about the rest of the island? We don’t want to stop in one place before we know what else is here. What if…”

“What if what? What if there’s some resort just over the next hill? Or what if there’s a boat washed up on shore just waiting for us to sail away in it? Face it, we both know that there’s nothing on this island but us. The only thing we can do is…”

Ukyo looked down at the fire in defeat. Akane was right. He DID know that they wouldn’t find any sort of miraculous rescue on the island. The dogs alone should have been proof enough of that, because if there HAD been some sort of civilization, a resort, those dogs would have been exterminated before anything else.

When Akane spoke again, her voice was quiet and somber. “I think we should cook more of this meat and when it’s done we go looking for a place to make a more… permanent home.” She thinned her lips into a white line. It was about the only way she could control her facial expression.

“Fine. Then later, we go.” Ukyo’s voice lacked emotion, and in his eyes, there was the look of finality. It was as if he was preparing to walk to his death.

Akane had removed a large leaf from something she thought might be a rubber plant and wrapped it around the meat they had cooked. She ripped the rest of her sleeve off, tore it in half length-wise and used the strips to tie the bundle securely.

“We’ll continue to follow the river. In any case, we’re

better off making camp near it, and then working our way from there.” And still, Ukyo couldn’t muster any positive emotion. But he couldn’t think of any good reason to except that they weren’t dead.

Akane seemed to understand and was quiet herself. But there had been no point in fooling themselves that they might be miraculously rescued. That would only make survival that much harder if they waited each day for someone to get them off the island.

Without further words, they walked into the jungle.

---

Ukyo sighed and looked at the scene before him. It was

beautiful in a starkly hopeless way. If they were on vacation, he would have been taking pictures, but he and Akane were not on vacation. The scene only presented itself as the final crumbling of his hope.

The two were standing on the lip of some sort of huge crater at the top of the only peak on the island. It gave an unfortunately good view of the rest of the island.

The crater was filled with clear water, which spilled over one edge and formed the beginnings of the river that they had been following. But the crater itself was a mystery.

It was large, but not exceedingly large. It didn’t look like any sort of volcanic leftover; the “mountain” was just too small for that. And too rounded. It just wasn’t the geology of a volcano. The facts just didn’t add up.

Akane started walking around the edge of the crater, looking out to the jungle below them. The look on her face was probably very similar to the one on his own. Now they knew. Not even a faint hope remained. In every direction was jungle, and more jungle, and beyond that, beach and ocean and limitless sky.

Ukyo almost wanted to cry, but if Akane could remain calm, then he would too. He turned and looked out at the jungle below him.

There was nothing in that greenery to be happy about, nothing to even be positive about.

“Hey, Ukyo, take a look at this.”

He looked up to see Akane waving him over. She was looking down the opposite edge of the crater, and she seemed enthusiastic about something. “What is it?” he asked, approaching her.

“Look down there.” Akane was pointing at something among the trees.

Peering down, Ukyo was confused. “It looks like…”

“A building of some kind.” She looked at him excitedly.

“Maybe we were wrong. Maybe there’s someone there.”

Shaking his head, Ukyo slowly answered, “No. Look at that.

It’s all grown over.”

“Well, maybe we can stay there then. Either way, we have to go down there and check it out.”

Ukyo couldn’t argue against that. “I suppose we do.”

Ukyo didn’t like leaving the river and told Akane as much.

“I don’t know what to say other than if we never leave the sight of the river, we’ll never explore the entire island. We may not find anyone else here, but it’s still important that we know the layout of the island. We can’t be content to just sit in one spot for the rest of our time.” She refused to say that they would be there the rest of their lives. She refused to accept that they would be. Even if it looked that way at the time.

But only at the time. They would find a way to get to some other island, something inhabited, or they would get themselves rescued. They simply couldn’t let themselves not believe that.

Ukyo followed Akane as they descended the slope toward the strange ruins they had seen emerging from the jungle. True, part of it was leaving the river, which he didn’t want to do, but it was the strange ruin as well.

Yes, they needed to explore it, but he really didn’t want to.

Seeing it at first had been a small spark of hope. Maybe, however improbable it might be, there was someone in that ruin. Maybe there was someone that could get them off the island. But something bothered him about that mysterious ruin. Something, just something, he didn’t like at all.

“Just as long as you know I’m not sure this is a good idea,”

he said, frowning.

Akane looked back at him. “What? It’s some sort of ruin or temple. What could be wrong? At worst, maybe it’s where those dogs are hiding out, but we can fight them off. I really don’t see what the big deal is.”

“It may be nothing, but I just don’t like it.”

Akane shrugged and picked up her pace. It should have been a straight walk down to the ruin, and not too far by the looks of it, but distances were deceiving.

They walked through the heat and the plants and the insects for an amount of time they didn’t know, sweating and tiring themselves out. They didn’t have the luxury of the river to draw water from when they got too warm or too thirsty this time, and they were starting to feel it.

Hell, both of them felt ready to melt, and several times they stopped and rested under the canopy of the jungle. Even though it was all downhill, their legs were burning with the effort of moving.

“A… Akane, I have to rest,” Ukyo said, panting. “It’s too hot. I can’t breathe.”

Akane was doubled over, sucking in air. “Just… just relax, Ukyo. Take deep breaths, don’t talk. It’s not as bad as you think it is.”

Ukyo leaned back against a tree and slid down so he was

sitting on the ground, his forehead resting on his knees. “I didn’t think it would be so hot if we got away from the river.”

Akane nodded, sweat dripping from her shorn off hair.

“Neither did I. Maybe…” Maybe this and maybe that. Maybe a golden horse would gallop out of the trees and give them ride. Or maybe a talking lion would give them a wish.

Ukyo waved his hand absently at her, and she stopped

speaking. There wasn’t much to say.

“Ukyo, we can’t wait until dark.”

He nodded. “I know.” He stood slowly, his face looking

haggard and drained of strength. His entire body felt like a rusty gate, stiff and creaking, like it might fall apart at any moment.

“Let’s go then.”

That small amount of movement, standing, had him sweating and short of breath already. And when Akane stood, he could see she wasn’t any better. “Quicker we get this over with, the quicker we can rest, right?” he asked.

Akane nodded, her eyes looking almost glassy. She wasn’t sure she could keep it up. “It can’t be much further, right?” she asked.

“Not much further. It can’t be.” She wasn’t sure she could make it, but it was something more than that. She was mentally unfocused, unable to concentrate on her breathing or her pace, which had tired her out immensely.

The entire time down, she had been huffing and puffing, her footing shaky, legs feeling like they were about to give out. It was almost like she was in a complete fog, mentally and physically.

“Ukyo, this is bad…”

“It’s not that bad, Akane. It’s only a little bit more and then we’ll be there. We can take this heat, just until we get there, and then we’ll rest. Even if we have to sleep in trees, we’ll be fine.”

He extended his hand to her, and Akane couldn’t even remember when she had decided to sit down. “It’s not that,” she said, taking his hand and allowing him to pull her to her feet.

“What is it then?”

Akane shook her head. “I just don’t think… I’ve changed my mind. This is a bad idea. We should go back, or around, or something. I just don’t think it’s a good idea to investigate this place.”

Ukyo laughed tiredly. “Come on. We’ve come this far. It’s too far to quit.”

They stumbled away from the spot they had stopped, looking like the living dead.

Thankfully, they had only a little longer to travel before they reached their destination. Even though they couldn’t see it through the trees, they knew they had made it.

The multitudes of living inhabitants that had been around them at all times before, so noisy, so ever-present, were suddenly quiet. It was like they had entered some dead zone, no sound, no movement, nothing.

Even the plant life was much subdued, and nearly non-

existent when they got within four meters of the immense structure, and all but the most basic plant life refused to grow. The grass was short and scraggly, thick blades grew in erratic clumps all over.

A few trees had braved the closer proximity to the walls, and they paid a price for their hardiness. Ukyo and Akane looked at the stunted and twisted trunks, almost black in color. The leaves, what few there were, were green and yellow, mottled with black and something that might have been purple, or maybe silver, but didn’t have any name they could describe it with.

“Ukyo,” Akane whispered, “do you feel a breeze?”

Ukyo shook his head. “Why?”

“Then why are those branches moving?” she asked. She pointed to a tree at the corner of the structure that was waving slightly, almost as if it were greeting them.

“Um…” was all Ukyo said in response. “Why… why don’t we take a look around the outside first?” he suggested, looking away from the tree.

“Good idea,” Akane replied, and turned away from the waving tree. She began walking briskly in the opposite direction, quite eager to be away from it. That was just another one of those things that Akane was beginning to really dislike about the island.

She knew Ukyo was just as disturbed by it as she was. The look of revulsion on his face had been quite clear. Or maybe it hadn’t been revulsion at all, but horror. And fear. Those were two things she could readily agree with.

They followed along one outer wall, idly looking at it,

sometimes looking at the surrounding greenery. There just wasn’t a whole lot to say about the wall because it was smooth and featureless. Just a smooth, solid expanse of white, pushing back the jungle, staking its claim.

After they had turned the first corner, Ukyo thought he had spotted another wild pig and had gone after it into the jungle. That left Akane alone, and she wasn’t exactly happy with it. Hell, she didn’t think she’d be afraid of much of anything the island could throw at her, but it was just… creepy.

The lack of any noise, birds, animals, insects even, was so disturbing that she found herself involuntarily shivering. Suddenly getting a look of distaste on her face, she forced her body to stop the worthless shaking and stand still. She wasn’t a child. It was unnecessary for her to act as one.

No, she could explore on her own. Ukyo would find her as long as she didn’t wander into the jungle. That she could handle. She would handle it, childish fears be damned.

Walking, it was actually a small shape huddled against the wall that caught her attention. It looked to be a log or something leaning against the wall, and on it, she saw something that looked familiar to her.

“Ukyo!” she called out as she walked on. “I think I found a little something!”

Ukyo came bursting from the jungle, panting and sweating. He had not found any trace of the pig he had thought he had seen. “You found something?” he asked.

“Yeah. Up here.” Akane pointed to the shape as they

approached it. “Do those look like shitaki mushrooms to you?”

Ukyo looked at the mushrooms growing on the log Akane had pointed out. He was still too far away to tell clearly, and he wasn’t quite sure what those looked like anyway, but it couldn’t hurt to investigate.

They approached the mushrooms, and Akane squatted down to look at them closer. “I think they look like shitaki, but if neither of us can be sure, then we shouldn’t…” She reached out to pluck one of the enlarged caps.

“Akane, don’t!” Ukyo said sharply. He was standing on the other side of the log and prodding it with his stick. “Don’t touch those,” he warned, his voice deadly serious.

Akane looked up at him, surprised. “Why? What’s wrong?”

He gestured with his stick and what he had found.

Rising and walking to stand next to him, Akane looked down at what he was staring darkly at. Her face twisted into a look of disgust. “Thanks for warning me.”

“Think nothing of it,” he replied. They looked at for a few moments longer, as if taking in the sight as a warning to themselves, then walked on.

They had left behind, not a log, but the corpse of a large monkey, huddled against the wall. The strange pitch black mushrooms sprouted from its body, a healthy cluster protruding forth from one empty eye socket. A slimy white fungus seemed to pour from its open mouth, like it was a rabid beast. The overall effect was disturbing, the animal seeming to clutch itself with its arms, its face locked in a silent scream of anguish.

Akane and Ukyo continued to walk, wondering when this

funhouse of illusions would end. First the tree, then the monkey…

What could be next? And could it be any worse? Then they reached the entrance, and a feeling of loathing washed over them. They both knew that it could get worse, and deep inside, they knew it would.

They paused at the “gates” to the immense structure, temple, palace, whatever it was and looked at each other. It was raising doubts in each of them, and the silence was beyond deafening. The two huge pillars of stone, what appeared to be a sort of marble, flanked them.

There were no obvious spots where any sort of doors might have been connected, but it seemed absurd that such a… pristine place would have been left open to the wilderness.

Akane looked at the “floor”, composed of blocks of the same marble the pillars were. Indeed, the entire thing seemed to be made of the stone. But… where had it all come from? It was obvious that it hadn’t come from the island itself.

Ukyo touched his hand to the smooth stone and ran his fingers across it. “It’s one whole piece.”

Akane looked at him strangely. “What?”

“This pillar, it’s one huge unbroken piece of stone.

Something this large… it should be in sections, but it’s not.” He looked at the outside of the pillar, where it was connected with the exterior walls. Again, there was no seam, no crack, no joint. The pillar and the wall were one huge, solid piece of rock.

“Did you see this?” Akane asked. She was down on one knee, looking with fascination at the marble “tiling” that begin just on the other side of the pillars.

Akane looked up at Ukyo, then back down at the floor. “It’s amazing…” She touched it with her fingertips and wiped it lightly.

It was smooth, almost greasy to the touch, and she couldn’t help but bring her fingers together, rubbing them against one another. “This is weird,” she said reverently.

Ukyo watched her, then took a big breath and stepped on to that strange, slippery surface. He expected his foot to slide on the smooth stone, but his footing was as solid as it had been on the dirt. He braced himself against the upright and stepped completely onto the floor of the ruined…

But he couldn’t really call it a ruin of any sort. It was in pristine condition when it should have been nothing more than a crumbling pile of rubble. The slightly off-white marble with veins of gray running through it looked like it had been cleaned and polished just the other day, and was cool on his feet, even through his sandals.

“What is this? It sure doesn’t feel like any sort of rock I know,” Akane said, stepping gingerly from the dirt to the floor. It was hard to concentrate on one aspect of the… temple because it was just so weird in all ways.

There was the weird stone, and the way it was cut, and the perfect condition, and it was just so… eerily perfect. Words just didn’t do it justice. Nothing she could say could accurately describe what she was feeling. Awe and fear and amazement and disbelief, but not any of them. It was all those things and more.

“Akane, are you…”

Ukyo’s hand on her shoulder made her jump and realize she had been staring at the smallish structure in the middle of the…

place. She didn’t even know what she was standing in the middle of.

“I’m fine, Ukyo,” she replied, her voice strangely devoid of all emotion, a fact that bothered even her.

“Well, if you say so.” He looked at her more, getting the distinct feeling that there was something very wrong, but not knowing what or why, then went back to his exploration. He decided he would try what they had done with the outside and follow the interior wall. It all seemed obvious enough, a big, wide open space surrounded by walls, but it was hard to say.

“I don’t think this is any sort of temple or anything,” he said as he walked. “The walls are all completely blank. Wouldn’t there be reliefs or something? Engravings? Sta…”

Akane had been walking ever so slowly to the building in the middle of the space, darkly fascinated by its appearance, like that of a tomb. Could it be? But then Ukyo had suddenly stopped speaking.

“What is it, Ukyo?”

Akane waited for his reply. There wasn’t one. “Ukyo?” she said loudly, and began walking to where he had been along the wall.

She got around the intimidating presence of the little building and saw Ukyo standing, frozen in place, staring at something. Frowning slightly, she approached him carefully. “Ukyo?” she asked again.

“What’s the…”

She saw what he was looking at, and something in her told her to stand perfectly still and not move. The survival instinct in Akane was quite powerful, and what she saw was something she couldn’t punch and break, or something Ukyo could fend off with his stick. What she saw was… an abomination of nature.

A statue made of dark gray stone, in complete contrast to the white beauty around them, sat in the midst of a stagnant fountain.

It was completely, wholly, disgustingly unnatural, with limbs all twisted, and a body perverted against everything natural.

A faceless stub of a head, masked by tentacles and claws and great wings casting a dark shadow across the still water in the fountain basin.

“Ukyo, what…”

…she screamed in fear and rage as the razored pincers

slashed down towards her…

“Akane?”

…“AKANE! NO!” the male voice, screaming in rage and

grief…

“Akane?”

…ukyo! no! no! my fault! my fault! no! NO!…

Waves of nausea surged through her, and she turned away and retched. For a few seconds she bent and panted, dry heaving, and then Ukyo helped her to straighten. She felt like hell, and her mind felt like something was rattling around inside it, and her head ached like mad…

“Are you okay? What’s wrong?”

“The statue,” she finally said. “I’ve seen it before. It was something horrible, and you…”

…he leapt in front of her, weapon ready, and then it was upon them…

“…and you were there…”

…ukyo! no, god, please no, my fault! my fault!…

“…and something horrible happened to you.” She looked away, shaking. “I don’t know what.”

Ukyo frowned, and stared at the ugly thing, the lurking

familiarity rising up as he did. A low throbbing began at the base of his skull.

Remember, he told himself. Remember. Look at the statue. Note the claws…

…akane! it hurt akane!….

…it killed…warrior’s death…avenge…

…you will not hurt her!…

Pain blossomed in his head, and a sudden flash of ripping talons, whip-like arms, and rending jaws filled his mind. And a girl, falling apart in a fountain of crimson blood.

“Something horrible happened,” he repeated dully.

“Something…” He stared at the statue, this time with sickness and loathing.

Akane stood, trembling, looking down at the floor, her hand clenched into a fist. It was the only way she could regain control of her emotions, the only way she could stop herself from breaking the statue into a thousand pieces. She wouldn’t do that. It wouldn’t accomplish anything.

“Something,” she said quietly, her voice little more than a hiss, “hurt people I cared about, and I think that something dumped us on this island without memory.” She looked up at Ukyo, tears at the corners of her eyes. Her eyes narrowed as the glanced sideways at the statue. “There had better be something here worth these damned flashbacks.”

With a great effort of her will, Akane approached the

fountain and statue. She glared at the water, trying to avoid looking at the remnant of some twisted person that would ever deem it worthy of being displayed. Her reflection only made her angrier, the person staring back at her looking worn and bedraggled, her hair just looked awful…

“Ukyo, I look terrible, and I feel awful, and it was all

because of this thing. And I want to see my family.” She closed her eyes tightly. “I want to KNOW who my family is, damn it!” she yelled.

Ukyo gently put his hand on her shoulder, only to have her shrug it off. “Akane, you don’t look terrible,” Ukyo said quietly.

“And I want to get out of here as much as you do, but I don’t think getting all upset at this is going to help.”

“I don’t care! Whatever happened, I couldn’t do anything

about it, and look what happened! Look at us!” She turned and glared at Ukyo.

“We are so utterly pathetic, we might as well just sit down and wait to die! We can’t survive here anyway, in a stupid jungle, with no food or water, no place to live, no nothing! So if breaking this ugly statue makes me feel better, then I will get as upset as I damn well please! Hear me?” Akane could feel her chest heaving from the anger and self-pity working their way to escape.

“Akane, you… you… Akane, you’re beautiful.” He paid no mind to her stunned face at his comment. “We will survive on this island as long as it takes for us to get rescued from it. We will.”

He gazed at her evenly, none of his own fear showing. “I don’t even remember if I have a family, so I’m going to do my best to survive so I can go back and see whoever might have missed me.

“Akane, I know you want to do the same. The both of us, we have to.”

She stopped and listened to him, his eyes transfixing her own. He was so… mysterious, but then, she was a mystery to herself, so that wasn’t too surprising. But still, there was something about the way he spoke that convinced her that he was right. She gave the tiniest of nods.

Ukyo did not smile. He did not even acknowledge her nod. “And if ever I feel I must simply give myself up to this forsaken island, this jungle, it will not be in this… unnatural place,” he said, still looking at her intently.

Akane turned her head and looked at the statue long enough to know he was right. The sweetest revenge on any stupid monster would be to go back home and show everyone she wasn’t dead. Show them that the monster had been beaten, that it hadn’t been able to erase her from life just because it wished to.

She was made of stronger stuff than that, and she knew it.

She looked at Ukyo and gave him the beginnings of a cocky grin. He knew it too. “Okay,” she said quietly, but forcefully. “We finish checking this place out and then we leave. I get a very strange feeling that we’re not exactly welcome.”

Ukyo nodded. “I as well. Should we split up, or…”

Akane shook her head. “No splitting up. I don’t think it’s big enough that we need to. Besides, I… I don’t feel as bad if I get those flashbacks when I’m around you. It’s like you’re my anchor to the real world. Even if I get mad at you, you’re all I’ve got that’s real flesh and blood, and not some nightmare flashback torturing me.”

She was quite surprised at how good she felt confessing that to Ukyo. It was like it had all been bottled up inside for some strange reason, that she hadn’t been willing to reveal such a silly weakness to him.

“I don’t think my flashbacks are as numerous as yours. It…

it frightens me a little.” Ukyo frowned and looked at the fountain of blackish water. “They scare me, because I know something terrible, something really awful happened, but… What if I never remember who I am?”

“Then when we get back home, I guess we have someone fill you in. I’m sure, positive, there’ll be someone waiting for us. Someone must know we’re not dead.” Akane nodded, assuring herself as much as Ukyo.

Hesitantly, Ukyo reached out and slipped his hand into

Akane’s.

For a moment, Akane didn’t do anything, then she closed her hand on his in a show of solidarity. The two it them would make it.

They would make sure of it.

They walked away from the statue, the water bubbling gently at their backs, reflecting dully the sun’s rays back as something not wholly of this world.

The pair walked across the open space to the back wall, hand in hand until Akane, with a sudden rush of discomforting feelings, pulled free. She stayed at the same distance, but let her arm swing free at her side. Occasionally, their hands would touch, but this was not acknowledged by either of them.

“I just don’t get it.” Akane ran her hand over the smooth, blank wall. “This can’t be a temple. Wouldn’t there be something here then?”

Ukyo nodded. “Yes, I would think so, but what about that

statue?” He jerked his thumb back over his shoulder toward the statue. He didn’t really feel like looking at it any more than he had to.

“I don’t know,” answered Akane. “None of this makes any

sense.” She leaned against the wall, getting fed up with the annoyingly strange construct. She was about to start complaining again when she felt the wall behind her shift slightly. “What the…”

Meaning to push off and investigate, Akane ended up putting the needed force on the wall to push it back, revealing a flight of stairs that went down into the ground. She let out a strangled yelp as she slipped backwards into the darkness.

“Akane!” Ukyo yelled, and without further thought, he went down the stairs after her.

Akane tucked her body into as small a space she could manage as she tumbled down what seemed like the world’s longest staircase.

She covered the back of her head and neck with her hands and arms, saving herself from serious injury. Her body came to a jarring rest as she reached the bottom of the stairs and crash-landed on hard stone.

Slowly sitting up, blinking rapidly, Akane heard Ukyo calling to her. His voice echoed eerily and sounded like it was very far away. “Ukyo?” she answered back. Her own voice sounded strange and alien, echoing in whatever chamber she had ended up in.

“Akane, are you hurt?” he called.

“I… I think so.” She could hear his footsteps as he

descended the stairs and stood up slowly. “Watch out, it’s really dark.”

His footsteps slowed with her warning. “You’re right. Can you see anything down there?”

Akane looked around, faced with only blackness and shook her head. “I can’t see anything.” She looked up where she thought the way out should have been, but still there was no light. “Ukyo, how… what happened to the wall that opened?”

“I think it shut automatically. Just wait there and I’ll be right down. We can figure out what to do from there.”

Figure out.. She couldn’t even figure out where her butt was it was so dark. How would they be able to figure anything else out?

“You shouldn’t have come down here, Ukyo,” she called out.

“Why not?” he said, standing almost next to her.

Akane jumped a little with surprise. “Don’t do that. You

almost gave me a heart attack. Besides, it’s pitch black down here, and we have no way out.” She looked up at him and scowled. “So how are we supposed to get out of here?”

“Well, I must admit, I’m not totally sure. It is rather dark, isn’t it?”

“Thank you very much.” Akane was really annoyed at this

point. “So how are we…” She blinked. There was a noticeable difference. Akane blinked again. “Hey, Ukyo, I think there’s light coming from somewhere.”

“Why do you say that? It’s still pitch…” He stopped and squinted, looking down at Akane. Sure enough, he could see her. So very vaguely, but he could see her pale skin faintly luminescent in the darkness.

“I have to say, as much as I appreciate this light, wherever it’s coming from, I really want to get out of here. I think it’d be a good idea to check out the wall back at the top of the stairs.”

Akane pushed Ukyo aside and began climbing the stairs slowly.

Ukyo planned on exploring the cavernous room a little,

beginning by following the wall around. He touched his fingertips to the wall lightly, and feeling only cold stone, began to walk. Maybe there was a tunnel or something similar they could use to escape.

He got only six paces before the texture of the wall changed from slightly rough-hewn rock to something slick and greasy. Ukyo jerked his fingers away and began wiping them furiously on his pants. Whatever that was, and he could tell it wasn’t simply the smooth, oily illusion of the strange marble; this was a physical substance.

Deciding he’d had enough of exploration, at least while he was by himself, Ukyo backed up and went to the base of the stairs.

Getting off whatever had been on the wall from his hand was now an obsession, and he spent the entire time wiping his hands off on his pants. “Akane?” he called out.

“I’m at the top, Ukyo. Come up here. I think I’ve got

something,” she answered, and again there was that feeling that he was a hundred miles away. Her voice was oddly distorted like he was underwater or something.

Not waiting for, or needing, another invitation, Ukyo started up the stairs as quickly as he dared. It would be just his luck to slip and fall and end up being stuck at the bottom of this seemingly limitless pit.

Several times, for no discernible reason, he looked behind himself, down into the black emptiness. He just knew all was not as it seemed and there was something down there, waiting for the two of them. But then again, the mind had the tendency to play tricks on a person, especially considering the situation.

After what seemed to be hours of speeding up the stairs, the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end, Ukyo ended up slamming into Akane and smashing her against what had been the way in.

“Hey, watch it, you moron! You could have gotten us killed!”

she admonished, pushing him away.

“I’m sorry,” he answered, panting. “I just… Something on the walls…”

Akane definitely did not want to know and turned her

attention back to the wall. “Here, help me push. I think we can tilt this thing if we try together.” She leaned her shoulder up against the wall and felt Ukyo do the same next to her. “Ready? One, two, three.”

The two of them put all their weight against the stone, and little by little, they felt it move. Soon enough, with both of them grunting from exertion, the slab slowly swung upwards, impossibly defying gravity.

Not waiting for it to open any more than necessary, the pair tumbled out into the bright afternoon sunlight. They watched their door swing continue to swing upward, until it was wide open, at which time it stopped.

“Whoa. That is… too weird for words,” Akane said, looking in awe at the opening.

Ukyo nodded, still gasping for breath. His attention was on his hand though, his fingers where they had brushed through whatever had been on the wall. They were black and green, like they had been severely bruised, and they tingled ominously. He set his stick down, then proceeded to scrub at his fingers with his shirt.

After a few moments, the fungus began to rub off, and after a minute of hard scrubbing, his fingers were clean once again. Ukyo felt intensely relieved, more even than escaping their temporary prison had left him.

He picked up his stick again and suddenly stopped. He looked at it strangely, then at Akane. “Akane?”

“Yeah?”

“You know, we could have just…” He waved his stick around a little and gestured to Akane’s hands.

Akane immediately understood what he was implying and smacked herself in the forehead. “You’re right. We could have just blasted our way through there instead of forcing it open.”

Ukyo stood in the doorway and looked down the stairs. The sun’s light only penetrated a little way down, making the surrounding darkness that much more intimidating. It then became obvious why they had been able to see so faintly in what should have been complete darkness.

The darkness beyond the light was lit up, just barely, by some pale glow that seemed to emanate from the walls themselves.

True, it was faint, but it was enough to reveal the cyclopean room they had been imprisoned in.

He was currently standing at the level of the ceiling, but the stairs, which he could barely make out, seemed to go on and on, down deeper than he had ever imagined. Whatever the room had been used for, was still being used for, it was something immense.

And in that glow, using the near darkness, he could almost imagine the shadowy thing that had chased him up the stairs sitting at the edge of that light…

He shuddered involuntarily, and for a moment, he thought he did see something twisting, curling just out of the light, something dark and wet, connected to something larger… “Here,” he said quickly, “let’s close this. That way, neither of us will slip down those stairs.”

He reached up and grabbed the stone, meaning to pull it back down. “Help me out with this, Akane.” He pulled with all his strength, even lifting his feet and letting gravity try its hand, but still the stone would not move.

Akane stood on her tip-toes and took hold, pulling down as well. “The thing practically floated up there,” she said, her arms straining with the effort. “And now it won’t come down…”

Ukyo spared a glance into the darkness, and this time, he was sure there was something down there, making its way slowly up so that it could…

At that point the door started to slide back down into place, and Ukyo dropped to the ground. He scrambled backwards as the door slowly closed, feeling a rush of cold, clammy wind on his face.

Akane stepped back calmly and watched the door gently shut.

As the last of the air was blown out and the rock fell completely back into place, there was a sound, almost like a frustrated sigh.

Then the faint seams that indicated where the opening had been seemed to just disappear before their eyes.

“Well,” Akane said, wiping her hands together, “glad to be done with that.”

“Akane, I… I don’t think we need to look around here much more. I mean,” Ukyo stuttered when Akane looked at him curiously, “we don’t want to take the chance that we’ll do something like that again. We might not be so lucky next time and we could get hurt.”

She shrugged in response and looked around. “Yeah, I suppose there’s not really much more here to see.” Not any more that she wanted to see at any rate. Akane reached down and helped Ukyo to his feet. “Yeah, I guess… This just isn’t the right place for a shelter. I bet we could make better use of trees and stuff than whatever’s here.”

It felt pathetic, a weak, sorry excuse, but it was better than actually spending time in the creepy place. “Let’s go. We’ve got to find some place to stay before it gets too dark.”

Ukyo nodded and immediately began walking back to the entry to the ruin, not waiting at all for Akane. That feeling that something was waiting in the dark for them clung to him like a thick fog. The horrible, vile statue did nothing to allay that feeling either.

Akane followed, moving slightly slower. She averted her eyes from the statue, but she made no move to hide her curiosity in the innocent-looking building. It was larger than a tool shed, and it had a faint design carved into the front of it. It was like a star, with an eye in the center. It was odd, the only sort of decoration in the entire place, and there it was.

She had an irrational urge to reach out and run her hands over it, see what was behind it, but Ukyo snapped her out of it.

“I don’t know how much longer we have. They’ll be out soon, I think.”

They. Akane knew what he meant. She had no desire to battle another pack of wild dogs. She looked away from the engraving and joined Ukyo in exiting the “ruin”.

Neither looked back.

Leaving the monolithic leftover of some civilization neither Akane or Ukyo ever wanted to know anything about, it was like a huge weight was suddenly lifted from their shoulders. Or maybe some heavy veil removed from their heads.

Either way, the hot, steamy jungle was a welcome environment after being in that desert of white stone. The natural formation of the plants and animals, all the sounds, that was so much more preferable than the mock representations.

Ukyo looked back once as they traveled north. He shivered a little and said, “I’m glad to be out of there. That is most definitely a place I don’t wish to ever return to.”

“And I agree. Whatever is going on in that place is not

something I want to deal with.” Sure they had escaped from that big pit, but it wasn’t just that that bothered Akane so. There was an incredible air of foreboding, the smell of decay and impurity was too much.

Not finding the urge to look back herself, Akane continued walking. After all, they had far more important things to worry about. Namely, finding a relatively safe place to spend the night and not get mauled by dogs or irate pigs.

“Hey, Akane, do you still have that meat? I think I’m

hungry,” Ukyo said suddenly as they pushed through the jungle. His stomach was churning and grumbling, which he attributed to hunger, but could have been his body’s way of protesting what he had just gone through.

Akane fumbled with her shirt, the package of meat wrapped in leaves bundled clumsily in it. Somehow, it hadn’t fallen out when she had tumbled down the stairs, and that was a minor blessing. She sighed a little as she unwrapped it and saw that it looked fine, but she wasn’t sure exactly what she had expected to be wrong with it.

The idea came to her suddenly. Why she was worried about the meat going bad for no reason was that the entire island was “bad” in some way. It was beautiful, but there was something corrupt about it, deep down in the soil where they couldn’t see.

She handed a piece of meat to Ukyo, then started to eat some herself. She hadn’t been overly hungry, but there was a strange weakness in her legs and a dizziness that accompanied her that she hoped would be cured with a little food.

And Ukyo walking as fast as he was wasn’t helping much. “Hey, slow down a little. I’m not feeling so good,” she said. It was the dizziness that did it. She just couldn’t get things around her properly in focus. Even when Akane stopped and leaned against a tree, her entire body seemed to rock back and forth.

“Akane, what’s wrong? Are you going to be sick?” Ukyo asked and placed his hand gently on her shoulder.

“No, I’m just… just dizzy,” she responded and closed her eyes. That was even stranger because she still felt the sensation of rocking, but without seeing the jungle around her, it felt more like she was floating.

Ukyo looked at her. Her face was a little pale, but

otherwise, she appeared perfectly fine. “Do you need water? More food? What?”

Akane shook her head. “I don’t know. I just feel…” She

tried to stand, letting go of the tree, and started to fall over.

Ukyo was there though, and he caught her in his arms. He felt her forehead while she continued to mumble about being dizzy. He couldn’t tell if she had a fever, and it was possible that it was just heat related… Either way, they still had to get to some sort of shelter and their precious daylight was running out.

“I don’t know where, Akane, but we have to go,” he said and lifted her. Cradling her against him, he walked at as brisk a pace that he could manage, trying hard not to trip over any treacherous vines and roots.

The problem was, he wasn’t in really that much better shape than Akane. If they couldn’t find a place… Ukyo didn’t really want to have to spend the night in a tree, huddled against the trunk, not sleeping at all…

But he wouldn’t stop, not until he had to. That was one

thing, he refused to give in. There could be shelter or something just past the next group of trees. Or through the next thorny bushes. Or… Ukyo was on his last bit of willpower, and Akane was a dead weight in his arms, making his entire body feel like lead.

The sun dipping lower in the sky, turning what was visible overhead a dusky orange, bordered with purple, couldn’t make him go any faster. Ukyo was simply exhausted.

And that was when he was answered. Indeed, past a group of trees adorned with vines that acted almost like a curtain, it was their sanctuary from the wild dogs. Up in a massive tree before him, supported by surrounding smaller trees, there was an old Zero.

The metal was dull with age and a good portion of the paint had come off, but the rising sun was still visible just behind the cockpit on the side and on the single intact wing. And it was rather surprisingly nestled in the tree, looking like it had actually landed there, instead of crashed.

Ukyo gently set Akane down and tried to rouse her. “Akane, I need your help. I can’t get you up there alone.” He patted her cheek as she fluttered her eyelids.

“What, Ukyo? What’s going on?” she asked, obviously very

confused.

“I found a place for us to spend the night, but I need you to help.” He took her arm and tried to pull her to her feet. “Come on.

The sooner we get up there, the sooner we can rest.”

Akane looked where Ukyo was leading her. “Is that a…”

“Yeah, it’s a plane.” They were at the base of the tree.

While it looked daunting, the tree seemed rather well equipped for climbing with nicely spaced limbs for them to grab and step on.

“Come on. Climb up.”

Akane looked confused. “Ukyo, how did a plane get in a tree?”

she asked, slowly starting to climb.

“Right now, Akane, it matters not to me. I only know that if we wait too much longer, those furry little devils will come after us again, and I rather like my skin where it is.” He let her use his shoulder as a step as they climbed together.

They got up to the plane’s level at the nose and stopped. The engine looked… serviceable for being as old as it was, but it was missing all the blades of the propeller. From underneath, they could see where it was seated in the tree, which had, to their amazement, accommodated the Zero and grown around it.

The other wing was completely gone, ripped off and gone to wherever. Not that any of that mattered because they wouldn’t be flying off the island even if they had a 747 ready to go at a moment’s notice.

Ukyo tested the stability of it, putting his hand on the

smooth metal skin and pushing it a little. It was rock solid, the body not moving at all, and that was good enough for him. “We can sit in the cockpit, Akane. That should keep us fairly safe. Maybe we can even get the canopy working.”

Walking like he was on egg shells, Ukyo climbed up and on to the nose of the plane. He looked at the cockpit and was relieved that the pilot was missing and the canopy open. Whatever had happened, the pilot obviously had better sense than to get stuck on the island. Even Ukyo couldn’t fault him for that.

“I’ll help you up,” he offered, extending his hand for Akane to take. “The pilot’s gone, so…”

Nodding, looking better than before they had started the

climb, Akane took Ukyo’s offered hand and joined him on the nose.

The two inched back to the cockpit, careful of the footing on the metal body.

Akane got in first and looked at the small space. “There’s not room for two people in here, Ukyo.” She looked at the instrument panel in front of her and frowned.

“Of course there is. Scoot forward a bit,” Ukyo urged.

Akane continued frowning, but moved forward as much as she could. This wasn’t going to work; they’d be smashed in like obese sardines.

Ukyo stepped over her and prepared to sit when he looked over the side of the plane. A dark shape on the ground below them moved stealthily back and forth. It was as he feared. “They have arrived.

We shall be stuck here until morning,” he said quietly.

Akane nodded. Had she expected anything less? She grunted as he sat down behind her, trying in vain to ignore the feel of his body behind her. It was important to keep this purely…

professional between them, and that meant not thinking about the man sitting very closely behind her.

And true, they were quite cozy, but not nearly as crammed in to the cockpit as she thought they’d be.

“Um…” he said quietly, obviously uncomfortable with the situation as well.

Akane adjusted the position she was in, wriggling

dangerously.

“Akane,” Ukyo whispered, “please stop.” He had his eyes

closed and was thinking desperately of things most mundane.

Akane stopped moving and turned her head. “Stop? I was just trying to…” When she saw the look on his face, him exerting extreme amounts of effort, she wanted to shrink away. “Sorry,” she said, feeling about a foot tall. If she had thought it was wise at all, she would have gotten out of the cockpit and slept on the wing.

It just didn’t feel… right to be so close to each other like that. Not that Ukyo wasn’t good looking and all, but she just didn’t think they should ever get into such a relationship.

And he was attracted to her, that much was plainly obvious, and possibly under different circumstances she might have considered seeing him. Possibly, but she didn’t really think so. He didn’t seem to be her type.

“Do you think we should close the canopy?” he whispered, eyes still closed.

“I’m not sure. What if it gets stuck?” she replied.

“Good point. We should be safe here without. Let’s just try and get some sleep.” Try was the operative word for him. With Akane pressed so close to him, the feel of her body against his… What man wouldn’t be thinking of anything BUT the soft curves molded against his…

Ukyo grit his teeth and tore his mind away from that line of thinking. He needed to think of something… ‘Miyazaki’ floated into his consciousness, accompanied by cute animals, children with round faces and innocence. That seemed to do the trick for him, and soon enough, he was able to enter a light sleep with most thoughts of Akane pushed aside.

II

The sun’s light fought its way through the trees to shine down on the sleeping couple. Ukyo was listing to one side, his mouth hanging open. Akane was turned expertly, fitting her body into the small space to lean up against Ukyo’s chest.

She stirred slightly, the remembrances of another dark dream finally rousing her. Finding herself nearly clinging to Ukyo, and with the sun risen, she quickly removed herself from the cockpit.

Standing gingerly in the tree, the mammoth trunk easily able to support her on its oddly flattened top, Akane began to do some stretches to get her blood flowing. This also had the consequence of waking her stomach up, and she soon realized she was starving.

The strange dizziness having passed, Akane figured she could go off and find some fruit or something. They had no water, but there was no way of telling how far away that would be.

She climbed out of the tree, not completely trusting her equilibrium, and felt the ground solidly under her feet for the first time since they had arrived at the forsaken temple the day before. Whatever had caused that dizziness, Akane could only guess it was the heat and lack of water because nothing else made any sense.

Not that what had happened to them made any sense, just that she preferred to stick with rational explanations for the time being. As long as they found food and clean water before they walked too much in the heat, she counted that it would not return.

Ukyo woke up and wondered why his neck was so incredibly stiff. When he figured out how he was folded into the plane’s cockpit with his head tilted to one side and his arm along the edge… It was easy enough to know why he had a stiff neck, but why he wasn’t cramped to high heaven in the rest of his body was unknown.

Akane was gone, but that wasn’t his concern at the moment.

Until he managed to remove himself from the cockpit without falling from the tree, Akane would just have to take care of herself. She was plenty capable of that anyway.

Daring the pain, Ukyo moved his head around slowly, trying to gently work out the stiffness. The one thing he wished he had was a good massage right then. The two of them had been safe though, and that was the truly important thing. When they got settled, there would be no need to hide in a tree. They would adapt.

A somehow forgotten thought pierced his mind then. But they could be rescued… And as much as Ukyo hated to do it, he shoved the thought away. No, they could not rely on a rescue; they had to rely on themselves.

After some self-applied therapy on his neck, digging his thumbs into the muscle and declaring it good enough, Ukyo stood up in the cockpit and looked out.

Jungle stared back at him.

Sighing, Ukyo got out of the plane and climbed down out of the tree. He was rather amused in a grim way to find that the bloodthirsty canines had not touched his other companion, the stick.

He had left it on the ground when he had helped Akane climb the tree, and he was feeling vulnerable without it. Just because the dogs attacked at night didn’t mean they weren’t out during the day.

He lifted it gently and smiled. It still wasn’t the weapon he was used to, but it was more right than nothing at all. Now it was time to locate Akane.

“Akane!” he called out, receiving only the replies of birds.

He waited a few more moments before calling out again.

This time, he was answered. “I’m right here!” Akane answered back, though Ukyo could tell she was a distance away. “I’m on my way back!”

Ukyo nodded to himself and investigated the area in more detail this time. He wasn’t expecting to find much, but it was hard to say. And as expected, he found nothing in the trampled vegetation, flattened by the feet of the circling dogs in the night.

For some reason, it wouldn’t have surprised him at all to find out he had ended up in some strange video game, and that food and prizes could be looted from an odd looking rock.

That probably would have made things too easy though, and that certainly could never be. Even the tiniest break, no matter how insignificant, was too much.

Yet, the plane had been a lucky break, a safe place for them to spend the night in relative comfort. There was the pig Akane had caught, and the waterfall… Yes, Ukyo supposed things could have been much worse. Not that he didn’t wish them to get much better…

“Here, found some fruit,” Akane said as she emerged from some trees with an armful of brightly colored fruit. She was smiling widely, very pleased with her haul. “No water, but this should tide us over for a bit.”

She sat with her back against the trunk of the tree and waved Ukyo over. She started peeling a large reddish fruit with dark nodules inside. “These seed things are good, real juicy, but the skin is bitter,” Akane said as Ukyo watched her pick out the individual seeds and eat them.

He picked up a ruddy pear-shaped fruit and began to eat it, attention turning back to, well, nothing in particular. They needed some sort of plan to survive on the island, but they had no means of forming that plan. They didn’t know what the island looked like, what kind of resources were available, they hadn’t established a base of any sort even. They were basically flying blind.

“What do you think we should do next, Ukyo?” Akane asked, taking another big bite of a banana.

“I have no idea. Keep exploring, I guess.” He shrugged.

“Maybe we’ll find something else on this island worth taking a look at.”

Akane nodded. “Maybe.”

Then again, maybe they wouldn’t.

“We should probably get going… North?” Ukyo said

uncertainly. He really wasn’t up for eating more sickly sweet fruit.

He needed something more than meat or fruit.

Akane looked around from her seat on the ground. “North.

Sure, sounds good to me.” She stood up, finishing off another piece of fruit and wiping her hands on her shirt.

Ukyo stood slower, tossing away a half-eaten banana, and began walking without saying a word. He felt rather grouchy, and small talk was about the last thing he wanted to do right then. If there was a convenient way to remember the location of this tree, that might not be so bad.

It might, in fact, be a pretty good place to build some sort of home base around. They could probably dislodge the plane, maybe use it in some way, then work in making a make-shift tree house.

That would keep them up from the ground at night, away from the dogs.

Well, it was a big tree. They’d probably run across it again.

If they managed to survive that long. “We’ll come back later,” he said as they passed the tree.

They pushed through some strangely thick branches, tangled by vines, leaves obscuring their vision until Ukyo and Akane had to finally yank on one vine together. Tugging didn’t work, so they pulled together with all their strength.

The vine broke free and brought down a hail of leaves and small branches. Pushing aside a loose hanging branch, the two jerked back in surprise.

Hanging amongst the branches was one skeletal Zero pilot, still dressed in his pilot’s suit and parachute. It had apparently gotten caught in the tree on descent, and he had ended up trapped there…

Ukyo grimaced, looking at the pilot’s lower legs. They were mere remembrances. Jagged bone protruded out of the shredded pant legs, feet and most of the two lower leg bones gone.

“What do you think…” Akane started to ask, but she knew how it had happened.

Ukyo could make the logical, and gruesome, conclusions. The pilot had escaped the airplane, come down and gotten the parachute caught in the tree. He had either been unconscious or it had been night, and the dogs had come. Apparently unable to get out of the harness, or never having the chance to do so, the pilot hung there while he was ripped apart from below.

“Ew,” was the only thing Akane said, grimacing at the sight.

“I agree.”

The two, eyeing the corpse, moved around it slowly through the hanging branches. Once it was behind them, they both breathed a little easier.

“Out of sight, out of mind,” Akane mumbled as they moved off into the jungle. Hopefully it would stay that way.

“Akane?” Ukyo asked after they had been walking in relative silence for over two hours.

“Yeah?”

“Those flashbacks you had… What were they like?” he asked hesitantly. He was prepared for her response to be not good at all and put a distance between them.

Akane tightened up, her jaw clenching, but said nothing. Eyes focused on the vegetation in front of her, she made no effort to answer, but the question was definitely stewing in her mind. How to answer, if she even wanted to, was the issue plaguing her.

“You don’t have to answer,” Ukyo added, but it was an

afterthought.

Akane looked at him angrily, ready to tell him in no

uncertain terms to go to hell, but the strange look on his face prevented her from doing so. It was obvious he knew that she would react unfavorably, but there was also some desperation there, like a cornered animal.

And in fact, weren’t they both cornered animals, trapped with no foreseeable escape? If their end came as an accident or disease, who could they run to? There was no one. They were alone, and any memory at all was better than the frightening blankness.

Akane sighed. “I don’t know,” she said in a voice that seemed small compared to the sounds of the jungle around her. “It hurts.

There are things…” She stopped walking and closed her eyes.

“Mostly feelings. A lot of pain. Misery. Anger.”

Ukyo nodded, cutting through some bushes. “No… no faces?

More names?” Anything at all. Anything because there was that bubble inside him that kept threatening to burst. A bubble that held all his memories, and things on the just below the surface of that bubble niggled at his brain.

The name, his name, Ukyo was one of those things, but it didn’t quite feel right either. Like wearing two different kinds of socks. They fit and served their purpose, but they were still…

wrong.

Ukyo was wrong. Maybe. Or he could just be lying to himself, trying to make sense of things when it just wasn’t possible. But Ukyo… That just didn’t sit right with him.

He shook his head. “I’m sorry, Akane. I just…”

She laughed roughly. “Yeah, I bet. You’re welcome to them, but I don’t think that’s going to happen any time soon.” To bear the weight alone of those memories… Akane would have given her right arm to share that pain with Ukyo. She was already giving up her sanity.

“I really am sorry.”

“So am I, Ukyo.”

After everything, their sudden emergence into a relatively wide open space was refreshing. And this time, there was no creepy pillar. There was something else entirely.

On the other hand, there were no flashbacks associated with this, just confusion.

“What is that? It looks like a… a…” Akane shook her head.

“It looks like a big mound of crap.”

Ukyo approached the massive mound slowly, as if he was

expecting it to come to life and attack. From the looks of it, that was a distinct possibility. “I think it’s just dirt,” he said as he got closer.

Akane shrugged and walked up next to Ukyo with no hesitation.

“I’m glad it is just dirt. I’d hate to see the thing that left of pile of shit that big. It’d have to be a monst…” Her face paled as she thought of the statue. “Never mind,” she added.

Nodding, Ukyo looked away from the mound. “Agreed.” Strangely enough as he looked around, he noticed that the area was mysteriously clearer than the jungle they had emerged from. Not just a little clearer, a LOT clearer.

“Akane, does the area like at all strange to you?” he asked, looking at the foliage.

Akane looked around and shrugged. “It’s green, it’s leafy, I hate it. I don’t see anything different.”

“Well, look. The area looks like it’s been… defoliated.

It’s all so short, no large trees or anything.”

Akane shrugged. “Right, I see that now. But what does that have to do with anything?”

“I’m not entirely sure. Yet, I don’t think I want to find out either.” He almost laughed out loud at himself. That was just ludicrous, like some monster, Godzilla or King Kong, had come through the jungle, ripped the place up, left a giant mound of dirt and then left.

Outrageous. There was some obviously logical explanation for things; he just didn’t know what they were. “I wonder…” he said quietly.

“Wonder what?”

“Well, maybe this used to be some sort of road. For that…

temple.” To imagine that there was some sort of civilization that could have actually built that place… made that statue…

Akane shrugged and looked too entirely relaxed. “Well, I don’t know, but I bet we could find a good spot to have a hut or something, and we wouldn’t have to clear any trees or anything.”

That was one thing about the island that bothered Akane. And there was nothing wrong with wondering, she knew, but it bothered her. There was an obvious natural order to the place, but it was an impossible ecological system. That waterfall… There hadn’t been enough water in that crater to form the river or the waterfall.

And that… temple. That was obviously not a natural

structure. The only rock they had seen was dark and jagged. Unless there was some giant hidden quarry, the white stone the temple had been made from did not come from the island.

Unable to make any of these things comfortably gel in her mind, Akane pushed the thoughts aside. When she was sitting safely in a fortress, she’d think about it, but not then, not when she had to worry about her survival.

“This looks like it continues on for some distance. How do you suppose it was made?” Ukyo asked, shielding his eyes as he looked down the path carved into the jungle.

“I couldn’t even start to guess,” Akane answered listlessly.

She wasn’t sure if speculation was such a good idea especially when considering the huge mound of dirt. And that temple. After that, she could have just as easily guessed King Kong as anything and it would have been valid.

“Possibly the soil is bad. That would explain the lack of large tress,” Ukyo continued, though he was reaching for explanations.

“I doubt that.”

Ukyo shrugged. “So do I, but…”

Akane cleared strands of sweaty hair from her face. “You know, right about now this whole exploration thing is just not agreeing with me. How about we just plant our butts somewhere, build a hut and go from there?”

“Well, I suppose so. We do need a place to work from. We can just work from there once we get settled.” Ukyo looked down the wide lane they were walking. “We could do it here. It’s as good a spot as any.”

“Little further,” was all Akane said. Best to put that weird mound and that t… She shuddered, fighting off the sensation of an oncoming flashback. Whatever it was, she didn’t want to know, she didn’t want to remember.

“We’ll keep going.”

“How far do you think we’ve gone?”

“No clue.”

“Let’s stop here.”

“Right.”

The two collapsed in the green grass that covered the lane.

“I think I hate this heat,” Ukyo said, his body covered in sweaty grime.

“I know I do.” She sat up and looked at his prone form. “But how do you think we should do this?”

“Do what? I’m considering just closing my eyes and taking a nap,” was Ukyo’s lazy reply.

“Making a shelter or something, dimwit. I don’t think we have much of a chance of getting one up before tonight, but this is something we need to do. Fast.”

Ukyo sat up and looked around, thinking about the quickest way of building such a structure that would also provide them the most protection. “I suppose we could start by building a wall…”

“Of what? Leaves and twigs?”

“We use tree trunks. Dig out holes, drop them in. Lash them together with vines or some such. That will be adequate protection at night. Then we can proceed to work on a hut.” Ukyo gave Akane a rather pleased and somewhat smug smile.

Akane looked at him, blinking slowly. “Right. I’ll believe it when I see it.”

Rising slowly to his feet, Ukyo looked around. “Where is the ground flattest? That will make things easier.” He walked around a bit, surveying the area.

“This seems fine. I bet we could dig a hole… here,” he said, marking and area by jabbing a nearby stick into the ground.

“How big do you think it should be? Twenty five feet? Thirty?”

Akane shrugged. “Twenty five is fine.”

Ukyo took twenty five measured steps away from the stick in the ground and marked a second point. He turned what he roughly figured as ninety degrees and took another twenty five steps. A third point was marked. He marked the final point and stepped back.

“We anchor the trunk in the ground at each corner, then just tie a bunch of them together between, work a gate in there somehow and we have a nice wall those dogs won’t be able to get through.” He nodded his head once to emphasize his point.

Akane looked completely unimpressed. “We still have to do this. Alone. With no tools, no supplies.”

Ukyo sat next to Akane on the ground. “The biggest problem I see is some sort of vine or fibrous plant that we can use to hold the trunks together. Maybe if we could find some sort of clay to fortify the bases. Or use a little water and sink them into mud and…”

“I get the point already! Give it a rest!”

Ukyo leaned back a little. “You wanted to know…”

“Yeah, and I’m sorry I did. You think this wall thing will work? Really work?”

“I don’t see any reason it would not. There is nothing

supernatural about these beasts. They will not leap the wall or knock it down. It depends on how well we can set a foundation for it, but…”

Akane flopped back in the grass. “Next time I’ll learn,” she groaned, rubbing her eyes. “Right. I’m putting my life in your hands now. How long will this take?”

“I’m not sure. It might be best for us to gather all the necessary materials first then erect it as swiftly as possible all at once.” Ukyo’s mind was racing in unfamiliar directions. Plans for this wall, how to make a gate, a ladder of some sort, where they would sleep… It was all churning in his mind. Could he have been an architect or carpenter of some sort?

Akane knew what all of that entailed. “I’m never sleeping in a tree again,” she said and shook her head.

---

“This one. Do you think it’s tall enough?” Akane looked up, shading her eyes with her hand from the sun. “Looks straight enough.”

Ukyo stood next to her, judging the height of the tree. “It looks fine to me as well. Stand back,” he warned.

Akane got out of the way so Ukyo could bring the tree down.

Getting hit with whatever technique he was using was something she didn’t want at all.

Ukyo eyed the tree. The tree sat there. Having no idea how he actually managed to do it, Ukyo just took a deep breath, held his stick just so then swung.

As if he had swung through air and only air, Ukyo’s stick lazed right through the tree. There was a moment of stillness before the tree began to topple, sending a small and annoyed group of birds into the air.

The moment it had crashed to the ground, Ukyo and Akane were on it, dragging it across the ground to place it next to the others.

“Perfect. I don’t know how many we’ll need,” Ukyo said, wiping his brow on his arm. “We should do one wall at a time. Though I am concerned about what we will use to tie them together.”

Akane’s forehead creased as she sank into deep thought. She couldn’t really identify the plants, but she had a pretty good idea about what would be the ones they were looking for. “Let me look around a little first. You keep up with the trees and when I get back, we’ll move them.”

Akane was up and moving before Ukyo could reply. There was a mass of trees close by that she had seen from her perch in their tree while they relaxed at night.

The trunks of these trees were thick, larger around than any others, and were relatively short with broad leaves that were a vibrant green. There were also long, slender vines drooping from the highest branches.

When Akane reached the trees, she yanked on one of the vines, ripping it free of the tree. It was maybe an inch around and had a rough exterior. She wasn’t sure if it would work since it was so thick, but it had a sponginess to it. She pulled down a few more of the vines to show to Ukyo and headed back to the building site.

On her return, she found that Ukyo had felled two more trees and was sizing up another. “Check out these vines. They might work to tie the trunks together.” She went to one of the trunks and experimentally tied a vine around it. It gave way a little when she tried to pull it tight, but held. “This is gonna work,” she said to herself.

---

“Push!” Ukyo yelled, sweat dripping from his forehead, his eyes closed tightly shut.

“What the hell do you think I’m doing?” Akane shouted back, her arms straining as she tried to push the trunk upright.

The base of the trunk slipped slightly in the dirt before getting the edge caught on the hole that had been dug for it.

“It’s going. A little higher!” Ukyo urged.

“Then you get back here! You’re taller than me anyway!”

“PUSH!”

The two strained themselves until they got the trunk upright and planted in the hole.

“One down,” Akane wheezed and slumped to the ground. “How many more to go?”

“A lot,” Ukyo replied, barely able to catch his breath, his arms aching.

“Oh, whee.” Akane kneeled on the ground and began filling in the rest of the hole with dirt and medium-sized rocks. It would have to do until they could find something better. Maybe clay, or something else like that.

“I think,” Ukyo said, starting to tie vines around the tree, one almost at ground level and another just above his eye level, which was slightly over halfway to the top, “that we should actually work on two walls simultaneously.”

That was answered by a grunt from Akane.

“Then the two walls will be able to brace each other. With our limited supplies, we can’t rely on these vines to hold an entire section up. So if we just…”

“Do we need more vines then?”

Ukyo looked down at Akane, who was looking up at him with a patient annoyance. “Um, not at the moment. We will when we…”

“Then let’s get another one of these bastards up. Sooner the better.” She stood, dusting herself off, and looked at the next trunk. “How are we gonna do this without a hole to anchor it in?”

she asked.

“I suppose we could lift it and put some sort of braces under it. Then lift it again and put a taller brace. We could get it up pretty high that way. It would probably work to dig a shallow hole to brace it in as we lift. Once we tie it up, we can…”

“You talk too much, Ukyo. If that’s how it’s gonna work, let’s just do it that way.” Akane leaned against their first post, anchored into the ground. It fortunately did not give. The hole had apparently been deep enough.

Ukyo was already digging the shallow hole for the next trunk.

When he was finished with that, he and Akane dragged the next trunk into position. “So now we just…”

“This isn’t going to work.”

“And why not?”

“Once we get this one up, how are we going to keep it from falling over? It’s huge, and how much you figure it weighs? We can’t hold it up and build the rest of the wall at the same time,” Akane asked, eyeing the huge log they would have to raise.

“We just tie it with the vines to the first one.”

“Assuming that holds it.”

“Assuming.”

Akane sighed. “Great, just great. Though I suppose we don’t have much of a choice, do we?” Akane lifted the end of the trunk and tested its weight. “Well, it’s lighter than the last one.”

“Tie it fast. I don’t know how long I’ll be able to hold it steady, and if it starts to slip, I sure can’t hold it then.”

Akane nodded. “Quick as I can. Ready?”

Ukyo braced himself, not leaning too much into it, but

keeping it steady. “Ready.”

“Letting go… now.” Akane released her hold on the log and fell immediately to her knees and tied the vine quickly. She stood and tied the second one tight. “OK, tied. See how it stands.” She stood back as Ukyo relaxed his hold.

The log swayed a little, but the vines tying it to the

anchored log, combined with a nice flat base for it, kept it steady.

“Looks like we have success,” Ukyo said, letting out a big breath. Now for the next one.”

Akane groaned.

---

Ukyo looked at the construction of their primitive protective wall. Three sides were done and they were just starting the fourth.

It had been over two weeks of hard work and sleeping in trees, but in his opinion, it would be worth it.

“It actually looks like something now,” Akane said, coming up behind him with a gourd of water and drinking from it. “Now all we need is a place to live.”

“We’ll get there. And we won’t have to worry about those dogs at all, not with our expertly constructed wall.”

Akane snorted and finished off the water. “Expertly built.

We’ll be lucky if it lasts one night with us in it and those dogs outside. And if it doesn’t, we’ll be dead. Of course, it would probably be because the whole damn thing fell on our heads.”

Ukyo smiled back at her. “Cheerful ray of sunshine that I’ve grown to… know, as always. Let’s just finish up this last side, and then we’ll give it a test run. We’ve got a gate after all.”

Akane considered the spit and leaves gate they had attempted to construct. “After the dogs and the whole thing collapsing, that’s the one thing I’d expect to break when we’re leaving and kill us.”

Ukyo just laughed, in far too good a mood from the progress they’d made on the barrier to get annoyed. Yes, Akane had an extremely pessimistic outlook on things, but that was probably better than both of them being hopelessly enthusiastic. “Right, one more and we’re done. Let’s go.”

Akane made a disgusted face and tossed the empty gourd aside.

One more and then she’d swear off log lifting for the rest of her life. Though… She looked at her arm. Two weeks and her skin was darkly tanned and she could see some improved definition in the muscles there.

She hated doing the work, but there were a few interesting benefits of it.

“Pectorals are next.”

Akane looked at Ukyo. “What?”

“We can work on pectorals next.” He was smiling, having caught her quick self-examination.

“Pervert,” she replied and marched over to the next log. They had exhausted the small group of trees’ supply of vines and had to search for more. It was, predictably, one of the few rare things on the island. They would never go hungry, never be thirsty, but they had trouble finding the trees that grew such useful vines.

They had discovered the secret to the vines’ strength, and that had made the relative rarity of the vines even more unfortunate. They seemed to be made of a large bunch of long fibers, all collected in a rough, protective skin.

These fibers proved to be strong and even stronger when in a bunch. Akane could see lots of uses for them. If they could find enough of them. Well, if there was going to be problem after problem, they’d just have to overcome them all. They couldn’t just quit.

She tied the vines around the next log, having learned two walls ago that it was easier to tie them on before they got them standing. Akane slapped the trunk roughly once the vines were securely tied. “OK, this one’s next.”

The two carried the log into position and began the rather arduous task of lifting it into place. The process had gotten less time consuming and a little easier, but it was still a strain on the both of them. Thankfully, they wouldn’t have to do it again, at least for a while, after the final wall was finished.

“One down, too many more to go,” Akane said, hopping down from where she had climbed the anchored post to tie the vine at the top. “How long do you think this thing will last anyway? I don’t want to end up doing this again in a week.” Though she had to admit that it looked petty sturdy, and when she climbed up the thing, there had been no dangerous wiggle, no wobble to it at all.

“I’m not sure. It should hold off the dogs for as long as we need it to. Solid, tall, and once we reinforce the base, it should be able to hold off a rhino. Not that I believe there are any on this island.” Ukyo’s arms were smeared with the dark, sticky sap the trees bled, but that was another one of those lucky coincidences.

It acted like a natural gum to partially stick the posts together. For once, luck seemed to be favoring their side.

“A rhino? I’ll hold you to that. But now about that gate…”

Ukyo groaned.

---

“Swings out. Like a regular gate.”

“Those are twelve feet high. How are we going to make them do that? Not to mention move those stupid things without tearing the whole thing down…”

Ukyo shrugged. “I don’t know. We can’t cut one in half or the others will be unstable. I am open for suggestions if you can think of something.” The gate thing had been plaguing them the entire time and they had put it off until the last moment.

Akane scratched her head, thinking about it. “We only really need to close it at night, right? We could leave it open during the day. So it doesn’t need to be a swinging door or anything. We just need to be able to get supplies in and out of here and keep the dogs out. So if it’s hard to open, that’s fine. As long as it doesn’t make the entire thing fall down…”

Ukyo growled in frustration. “It will not fall down! It will not crash down upon our heads! Please give me a little credit! Can you do that for a moment, Akane?”

“Sure, I can do that,” she answered quietly.

“Then help think of a way to make this work instead of only how we’ll fail.”

Akane could see that he was really upset this time and

decided to lay off a little. “Well, we could anchor two posts near the center and maybe have shorter posts between those… It’d be tough, but then they could swing out, or we could just drop them to the ground, then at night we’d just put them back in place and tie them together…”

“I suppose that works, but how will we brace them? We can’t just have them there, waiting to be knocked down. If those dogs manage to break through, then…”

“I know. You don’t need to explain it.” Akane was attempting to work around their lack of building supplies and wasn’t doing a very good job of it. “Well, what if we… Hmm. How about if we had three thick logs, but not as huge as these and made an arch with them. Then we put the arch against the inside of the door and brace it with two more logs braced in the dirt?”

Ukyo considered the idea. Not all that practical, but they couldn’t afford to be practical when it came to safety; they had to be sure. “I do believe that would work.”

“Good. Then we can give it a try. And then we’ll finally be done.”

“Done with the palisade. We will still have the house to work on.”

“First we sharpen the ends of these two.” Akane hacked away at the end of one log with a flattened rock until it was formed into a rough point. “Then we make holes in this one where we want them to connect.” Akane pointed to the third log.

“I see. We can tie them with the vines to secure them,” Ukyo said as he finally understood what it was Akane was trying to accomplish. “Then we just hold that up against the gate.”

“Right. As long as those dogs try to get in this way, it’ll be braced. Even if all of this should fall down, it’s still a lot of wood that would be laying in front of the gate.” Akane spoke as she continued to whittle away at the end of the log.

“And if we spread rocks and gravel around the base, maybe mix in clay or mud and let it dry, we should be securely tucked in.”

Each of them smiled at that, but Ukyo’s smile faded when he realized that they were on a permanent camping trip and would most likely never see home again.

---

It was something to be proud of. After all that work, they had to be proud of it. It was virtually impenetrable, if somewhat hard to get out of once the “gate” was closed, but that was fine.

They each knew they would, in time, devise new ways to make things work. All it took was time and experience in their new surroundings.

“Feel this,” Ukyo prompted.

Akane felt the point on the piece of bone he had been

sharpening against a large, flat rock. “Yow. What’s that for?” The thing was sharp, formed from the short rib of a boar, and wicked looking.

“Instead of using sharpened wooden spears, we can affix these tips to the spears. They’ll work better for fishing, though I don’t know if they will last more than one or two uses,” Ukyo said, holding the bone up and looking at it. “And it may be better to continue to use the wooden spears for regular hunting. These may be too fragile.”

Akane nodded. “Yeah. I haven’t had any problems so far just hunting regularly. Fishing is another story.” She laid out the armful of leaves she had gathered. They came from the same trees the vines did, being quite thick and heavy. Each one was about as big around as her head and would work as natural shingles to the shelter.

Construction of the shelter had been left mostly to her motivation. It wasn’t that Ukyo didn’t help, she just didn’t need it. She didn’t really want it either. The shelter was small enough, not like the palisade, that she could do it all herself, and it felt nice to have her project to work on.

There was nothing wrong with teamwork, but it felt good to work at her own pace and not rely on someone else. And Ukyo looked like he was doing fine, making spears, their own version of tools, and working on little things like that. His latest thing had been to gather gourds, strange squash that seemed to grow in large clumps, empty them out and leave them to dry in the sun.

“Water,” he had told her. “If we keep an adequate supply, we won’t need to make so many trips to the spring.”

Akane couldn’t believe the waterfall. There just wasn’t enough water in that crater to form a waterfall of that power. She had discovered, in her mission to gather as many vines as possible, that the island seemed to be covered with little natural springs. It still didn’t explain that waterfall really, but the one that was not too far away from their choice of locales was pretty handy.

Of course, not too far away in this case meant a nice half mile hike. Again, though, it was one of those things they could just do. Go out, go for a walk, fill a couple gourds with water, pick some fruit…

The fact that she was getting complacent about things didn’t sit well with Akane. There wasn’t much she could do about it, but she didn’t have to get comfortable with it. Not until she was good and ready to.

“Maybe we could build a small boat or raft to fish from,”

Ukyo said, having finished with the bone-tipped spear. He had set it aside and was working on carefully weaving together a few of the strands from the vines. If it worked, they could maybe make their own rope. That would be far more convenient than relying on the vines.

“Yeah, that’d be good. A raft…” Akane’s mind was more on building the shelter than anything. It was only temporary, but that didn’t mean it had to be shoddy. “Just let me finish this up before that.”

“Well, I didn’t mean you had to do it. I can help if you want. There’s not much…”

“No, Ukyo. I can do it.”

Ukyo looked at Akane for a moment then nodded. If she didn’t want his help, then… he’d just have to find something else to do.

“If you’re sure…”

“I am. I can do it by myself.”

Ukyo looked at Akane with a small frown on his face for a moment before returning to his work.

It was ugly, but it would do. It was just big enough to allow the two to sleep under, situated in the corner of their protected yard. It would serve its purpose until a more permanent structure could be built.

Akane relaxed under the brush and leaf roof, trying to fall asleep, but not having much success. The constant sounds of the dogs on the other side of the palisade were more disturbing than she had anticipated.

“Akane?”

“What do you want, Ukyo?”

“Come out here. Look at the sky.”

Akane rolled over so she was facing the palisade wall. “I’ve seen it before. Dark and lots of stars.”

“But look at this. Just for a moment.”

Having a yawning fit as she got up, Akane crawled out from under the shelter to see Ukyo sitting on the ground, head tilted back, staring up at the sky. “What is it?”

“Look,” he said, pointing upward.

Akane sighed in annoyance and looked up. The sight took her breath away. The sky was the normal midnight blue she was used to, and there were too many stars visible to count because of that, but she immediately saw two things she hadn’t seen before.

The first, which almost brought tears to her eyes, was the only constellation she was familiar with: Orion. She wasn’t sure why, but it comforted her in a way, to know that they really were still on Earth and rescue was always a possibility.

As she stared, Ukyo reclined so that he was lying in the grass and looking up. He put his arms behind his head and just looked.

Like a vertical gash in the sky, Akane also could see a whispy trail of what appeared to be clouds. “What is it?” she asked, her voice having dropped to a whisper.

“I think it’s the Milky Way. It’s the galaxy,” Ukyo replied with a touch of awe in his voice.

“I didn’t know it was possible to see that.”

“It is, but only under certain conditions. New moon, no clouds, no lights…” There weren’t words to describe the mixed feelings he was experiencing. Awe and profound sadness were the most prevalent, but not the obvious sadness he would have thought.

Maybe it was denial. Maybe he was just fooling himself, but that was the only way he could cope. To continue to believe that they might be rescued, leaving a powerful ache in his heart, and seeing the now familiar stars… It was all he could do to keep himself from crying.

Akane sat down next to him and looked up at the sky. It was another moment before she lay next to him and stared into the void overhead.

“It’s pretty. I don’t remember ever having seen anything like it,” Ukyo said quietly.

Nodding, Akane didn’t say anything. There was an ominous peace that accompanied the wide open sky, like the entire world was about to be swallowed up in those stars. Akane closed her eyes, consumed by total darkness.

Akane woke up to gentle morning light and a cool breeze. She sat up and looked around, feeling out of sorts. They were still on the island, still in the safety of their walls, and…

Ukyo was still sleeping, on his side with his back to her, next to her. Not bothering to wake him up, she rose and started to unbar the gate as quietly as possible.

When she finally got it open, able not to wake Ukyo, Akane headed on the hike to the nearest spring with a gourd in one hand.

The one… two horrible things about being in such an untamed setting without any sort of environment control were uncontrollable sweating and bugs.

After a night of sleeping outside, Akane tended to wake up with both problems working at full capacity. Just dousing herself didn’t work nearly as well, or feel as nice, as submerging herself, but it was better than nothing. Now all she needed was soap.

At the spring, Akane filled the gourd from the clear water burbling up from between some rocks and spilling out onto the ground. She took a long drink before refilling it and setting it down.

Facing the spring, Akane began to remove her ragged clothing, hoping for a miracle so that she might have something sturdier to wear before the shirt disintegrated off her back. Shirt and pants both were laid out carefully on a rock, then she sat on a large rock and dumped the contents of the gourd over her head.

One simple courtesy item she wished she had: underclothing that she’d be able to keep clean and in good shape. As it was, she had had to dispose of her old ones along with Ukyo’s. It just wasn’t practical.

Akane continued with the process of pouring the water over her skin. It at least cleaned off the visible grime even if it didn’t get her clean.

Ukyo yawned and rubbed at his eyes, trying to get the sleep out of them. Sleeping on the ground like that had put a horrible kink in his neck and he had apparently been sleeping on a rock. At least that was what his back was telling him. A quick wash would hopefully wake him up, get his muscles ready to work.

He wished they would have chosen a spot closer to the river, near that waterfall. That had been so much nicer than being forced to just dump water on themselves. But he could also imagine the hassle in building the structure they had near the river, without the benefit of the open space.

There was no reason in dwelling on that though. They had finished building something he hoped to never build again and that was that. They had immediate needs to satisfy and relocating was not one of them.

He pushed aside the branches that crossed his path and

suddenly held his breath. Every muscle in his body refused to even twitch while he took in the sight before him.

Smooth, naked skin assaulted his eyes, making his brain grind to a halt. Ukyo swallowed what felt like a boulder in his throat as Akane poured water over her shoulder and down her back.

Hand tightening on the gourd close to the point of crushing the slender neck, Ukyo tried to make himself back away. He twitched, but that was the only movement he could manage.

For what seemed like a lifetime, he stood there and stared.

Every detail, every curve revealed to him he studied and vowed to never forget. He didn’t think anything would ever surpass the moment.

That seemed to free him of his paralysis, and quietly as possible, Ukyo turned and started to walk away.

Akane turned, hearing the bushes rustle, her arm held

instinctively across her chest. “Ukyo?”

Ukyo stopped, his eyes darting back and forth. “Y… yes?”

She would kill him. And if she was naked while she did it, he would enjoy it. A lot.

“Just making sure that was you. I’m done here. Just let me get my clothes back on.”

Breathing a sigh of relief, Ukyo relaxed slightly and

answered, “Take your time.”

“Why don’t we work on that raft today,” Akane continued while she redressed, “and then we can work on a house. Feel up to it?”

Ukyo’s cheeks reddened and he subtlely held the gourd in front of his crotch. “Yeah, I think so.”

Akane slapped him on the shoulder, causing him to jump.

“Great. I’ll see you back at the fort.” With that, Akane walked away, whistling something.

Now shaking, Ukyo hurried back to the spring and thanked his luck that the water was cold.

---

“From here, that,” Akane said, “is a big ugly bastard of a mountain.”

That wasn’t exactly how Ukyo would have put it, but he nodded his head anyway. It was a big ugly bastard of a mountain. There wasn’t the tranquility of the river or the waterfall to mask how bleak the side was.

“Hopefully there’s something worthwhile on the other side of it,” he said. “At least, something besides vines and monkeys.”

“Heh. Yeah, maybe there’s a luxurious island resort.”

“Yes, where wealthy tourists frolic with the playful hordes of wild dogs infesting this hellhole,” he replied sourly. Still…

no luxury resort, certainly, but perhaps a coastal outpost? A tiny settlement? Anything?

It was very easy to get his hopes up. But he had the

depressing feeling that they were going to find absolutely nothing.

Akane jogged ahead, starting up the slope of the mountain.

“C’mon. We’ll get there a lot faster if we cut over this thing.”

Pushing down a growing sense of foreboding, he followed.

The trail - well, not trail so much as non-overgrown bit of rock - led them further and further up the mountain slope. As they circled around, the trees and vegetation began to thin, and the rocks became sharper and more broken.

“This is not exactly the most attractive part of this

island,” he noted. Akane shrugged.

“It ain’t pretty, but it’s kind of nice. We don’t have to worry that something’s going to jump out at us from a branch.”

“I suppose so,” he said, picking his way forward through a particularly rough patch of rocks.

Then the earth beneath him gave way and he fell, yelling, into darkness.

Akane gave a sharp shriek and grabbed for his hand as he fell. She caught it - and then, off balance, fell in after him.

They hung in the black air for a second, and then they fell on something soft, yielding, and furry. There was a rather decisive, short snap.

Ukyo looked up. He and Akane were lying on something furry and twitching, they were in some sort of cavern, and about twenty pairs of glowing yellow eyes were staring at them through the darkness.

“Oh shit,” he commented.

“You said it,” Akane muttered, glancing around, hands moving into ready positions.

One pair of the glowing yellow lamps moved forward, revealing themselves to be attached to a fanged muzzle.

So this was where the wild dogs went during the day.

“Ukyo, there’s a tunnel right behind us with no eyes in it.

Start backing up real slow.”

He did. That was what his body was screaming at him to do anyway.

The eyes began moving forward. A low growling began to fill the cavern.

“Keep going… almost there…”

The first dog growled and leapt.

Ukyo’s fighting stick swung out, almost faster than the eye could follow, and sliced it cleanly in half. The two pieces fell to the cavern floor with a meaty thud.

The other dogs continued slowly advancing, confused. They knew what to do when you were on hunts; snarl, bark, and rush the prey. But they weren’t hunting; they had been half-asleep and napping in their cozy den when two huge ape-things had fallen from the roof and killed their leader. The number-two dog had attacked, and now number two was dead. This wasn’t in the vicious wild dog scenario book.

So they were settling for snarling, advancing, and slowly waking up.

Akane and Ukyo, of course, knew none of this.

“How many left?”

“Only twenty-six or so.”

“Only?”

Ukyo winced, and kept backing up. “I know.”

They slowly retreated into a low tunnel, the dogs following.

“Ukyo, I think I can see daylight to the left.”

“Good. Keep going.”

Another dog sprang, and again Ukyo’s stick lashed out,

sending it tumbling to the ground a corpse. A few others crowded forward, the scent of blood in the air attracting instead of dissuading them.

“Akane, how much farther?” He fought to keep his voice calm; there were an awful lot of eyes appearing in the darkness….

“Not much, just keep… oh shit.”

He gritted his teeth. “Oh shit what?” The dogs grinned at him, lolling tongues flopping out between yellowing fangs. The growls grew louder.

“There’s some dogs at the entrance. I’ll take care of them, just keep going.”

Two sprang at him, and he slashed out, decapitating one, and sending the other crashing into a third attacker. The dogs paused to savage the two wounded pack members, then resumed their steady advance. He could almost smell the bloodlust.

The sounds of combat behind him didn’t register until they ceased.

“Keep going, Ukyo. Don’t trip on the bodies.”

He gingerly stepped over the four dogs that lay unmoving at the cave mouth, and then they were outside.

The remaining dogs hesitated at the cave entrance, blinking in the sun. Ukyo guessed that they had a largely nocturnal existence; while not blind in the sun, they were unused to it and needed quite a bit of adjustment.

He thought it over, and concluded it was worth the risk.

Indeed, it looked like their best chance.

“Run for it,” he yelled, turning around and taking off.

Akane, already facing the right direction, dashed just ahead of him.

They could hear the yelps and snarls as the dogs made a fumbling pursuit, their natural impulse to chase fleeing animals kicking in to full force. Normally they would have run the two bipedal humans down easily; however, they were still half blind from the unusual amounts of light. And so their pursuit was slowed by a great deal of stumbling, colliding, and running into trees.

The sounds of canine skulls colliding with wood would have been enjoyable if they hadn’t been scared out of their wits.

The terrain was rough and jagged, and tripped them up several times. Fortunately, the dogs had twice as many legs to stumble over outcroppings with.

Five minutes later, panting, they pulled to a halt.

Akane glanced around, her breath coming in gulps. “At least know we know where the dogs live.”

“Yes. The mountain.”

“Hrm. Needs a name, you know. We can’t just keep calling it ‘That Mountain’.”

“Why not?”

She poked him irritably in the side. “We’re exploring. If you discover something new, you name it.”

He rolled his eyes. “I suppose you wish to name it ‘Big Ugly Bastard’?”

“Nah, it needs a serious name. Something Latin or Chinese or something.” She furrowed her brow. “What’s Latin for dog?”

“‘Canis,’ I believe.”

“Okay, it’s Canis Mountain.”

“Yes, oh great explorer,” Ukyo deadpanned. Akane flushed slightly.

“C’mon, let’s head toward the sea. If we find a lagoon or something, you get to name it.”

“Oh rapture.”

“You’re no fun, Ukyo.”

“Sorry. Would it help if I named the trees as we walk?”

“Baka.”

---

They strolled along under the shadow of the mountain, heading for the northern ocean beaches. Both of them thought it unlikely that any settlement would be built far inland; at least, any civilized settlement.

That was something that they discussed from time to time.

Someone had built that temple, and that someone obviously wasn’t your typical twentieth-century explorer or settler. Were the builders still around, and, if so, were they friendly? Hostile?

Cannibals?

There was no sure way of knowing. But, as Akane pointed out, the intentions of anyone who would carve a statue like the one in the temple were dubious at best.

So they made their way quietly, cautiously, and hoped that they’d find a modern settlement instead of a headhunter’s village.

The northern face of the island was craggy, cliffs and headlands forming bays and inlets. The trees, dipping and rising in steep little valleys, helped shelter and hide the various bays and lagoons. Akane and Ukyo checked each one closely, painfully aware at how easy it would be for someone to be spying on them.

The first five coves had nothing even resembling

civilization.

The sixth, however, surpassed every expectation they had.

---

“Yup,” Akane said slowly. “It’s a ship. I don’t believe it.”

It sat in the bay like a metal leviathan, the evening sunlight playing upon flaking paint and rusty metal. From the size and shape of it, both instantly assumed it to be a cargo vessel of some sort, riding low in the water.

They looked at each other for a second, and then ran down the slope, frantically waving and yelling at the top of their lungs.

By the time they reached the shore of the bay, they began to realize something was wrong.

“I don’t see anyone on deck,” Akane said, pulling to a halt with a frown.

Ukyo nodded, studying the ship. “Look at the paint, and the state of the metal. I think it might be abandoned.”

She scowled. “Damnit. Still… you know, I bet we could figure out how to steer that thing. It could be our ticket out of here.”

Nodding, he continued to stare at the huge vessel. “I do not know if there would still be usable fuel in the tanks… if not, perhaps we could distill something that would be suitable, or rig sails.”

“The important thing is the size,” Akane said, eyes gleaming.

“If we made a raft, we’d have to worry about it tipping over in even moderately rough weather, and we wouldn’t be able to carry more than a week’s worth of fresh water. This… we could carry a whole damn lake in it.”

Ukyo suddenly trotted off along the shore to a stand of vegetation. Blinking, Akane followed, and watched as he hauled a tiny ship’s launch out of the weeds.

“It would seem someone has been ashore,” he said, pushing the small boat into the water. “Shall we row out to the ship?”

“I think we shall,” she replied with a smirk.

Each took an oar, and soon the tiny craft was speeding through the bay towards the looming bulk of the ship.

As they drew close, Akane suddenly stiffened. “Ukyo. Hey, Ukyo, look at the flag on the mast!”

He peered up at the masthead, seeing a dangling, ragged piece of red and white cloth. “It looks like white and red stripes…

perhaps it is Amer…”

A sudden breeze blew the flag for a second, and it hung open before collapsing back into a limp rag.

“That was the old Imperial ensign,” he said slowly. “The Rising Sun.”

Akane nodded grimly. “Look over there towards the bow. I think that’s an anti-aircraft gun.”

Ukyo felt a sour feeling begin to form in the pit of his stomach. “It this is a Japanese ship from the Second World War, and it’s been sitting in this bay for the last fifty years… I don’t think people visit this island much. At all, even.”

“Yeah,” Akane said heavily. “I was just thinking that too.”

Their skiff pulled alongside the huge vessel, and they clambered up rusty metal rungs set into the side of the hull. Each noticed how bad the corrosion really was, and now and again they had to skip a particularly unstable rung.

After the short climb, they hauled themselves over the side and stared.

The deck of the ship was a shambles. Rusted pieces of mast or bulkhead lay strewn across the wooden deckplanks, and bullet or shellholes seemed to riddle half the forward area.

The anti-aircraft gun was a rusted, corroded mass of metal, and slumped at its levers and handles were two skeletons, tatters of uniform covering yellowing ribs.

Akane swallowed. “This isn’t good.”

Equally dismayed, Ukyo nodded. “Hopefully, it isn’t quite as bad belowdecks. After all, this has all been lying in the wind and rain for the last half century, ne?”

She nodded. “Yeah. C’mon, there’s a door in that structure over there.”

Ukyo took the handle of the indicated portal, and pulled. The door came off in his hand.

“Don’t break the ship, baka,” Akane said, nervously smirking.

He gave a halfhearted chuckle, and carefully entered the hallway.

Inside, it was almost as bad as the deck. Bits of ceiling littered the floor, and a jagged hole gaped in one wall. Three more bodies lay sprawled along the length of the corridor.

Gingerly, they edged around the ancient corpses and made their way towards a stairwell.

Akane was the first one down, and frowned as she realized the lack of light that the lower decks obviously had. “Hey, Ukyo, could you make us a light?”

He shrugged helplessly. “From what?”

“I dunno. Those dead guys had some cloth on em, you could use…”

“I don’t think so.”

“Feh, squeamish.” She trotted down the stairs, squinting in the dim light. “Just because it’s on a dead guy doesn’t mean that…”

She opened the door at the bottom of the stairs, and had to stifle a shriek. She had found the upper hold.

Half of it was underwater, either through decades of rain or a rip in the lower hull. In the fetid muck, grinning at her in welcome, sat several hundred of the Emperor’s finest soldiers. They still clutched their rifles, bits of gear, or handholds, and all of them sat and smiled at her with empty eyesockets, helmets drooping low over bony foreheads, rank pins and medals glinting dully from chests of bone and decaying cloth and mud and algae.

Akane slowly backed away, and Ukyo let out a strangled gasp as he reached the door. “Oh my God…”

“There must be hundreds of them,” Akane said in horrified fascination, staring at the rows upon rows of silent, grinning faces.

“Yes…” Ukyo said, unable to look away.

The sight held them spellbound for a few seconds; then, with a shudder, they quickly retreated back up the stairs.

“This is bad,” Akane muttered as they climbed.

“Yes, a ship full of dead men isn’t exactly a blessing from heaven, I suppose.”

“Worse,” she told him glumly. “A sunken ship full of dead men.”

“It might just be that hold that’s flooded…”

“Nope. Do you feel the ship bobbing up and down? I don’t. And it looked like it was riding awfully low in the water. No, Ukyo, this ship’s at the bottom of the bay. The bay just isn’t terribly deep.”

He sighed. “I think you’re right. But it might not be necessary to sail the ship out of here.”

“Huh?”

“Radio. Maybe the ship has a radio. Actually, it definitely has one; it is whether or not it still works that is the question.”

Akane brightened. “Hey, yeah! That’d be on the bridge, I guess…” Her face darkened suddenly. “Look, Ukyo, something’s very wrong here.”

He smiled grimly. “Elaborate on that, please.”

“Well… look, what are all those dead guys doing down there?”

“Being dead would be my guess.”

She scowled. “Hahah, very funny. I mean what did they die from, smart guy?”

Ukyo frowned. “I see what you mean. Perhaps they starved…”

“There’s an islandful of harvestable food outside.”

“Maybe the boat didn’t arrive until after they were dead,” he countered. “And the last few people left alive abandoned it, went into the jungle, and were killed by the wild dogs.”

“You expect me to believe that an entire troop transport could float around the Pacific Ocean in WW2 long enough for everyone on board to starve? They’d have been rescued or sunk long before that.”

He spread his hands. “I do not know, then. It does not look like illness… perhaps a poison gas of some sort?”

“Yeah, maybe… whatever it was, it looks like it hit them instantly.” She shuddered. “Did you see the way they were just sitting in there, holding stuff? Like they were ready to stand up and go on with what they were doing?”

Ukyo didn’t answer.

They passed the door they had entered the stairwell through, and kept climbing. Finally, after rooting through several closets, heads, and side corridors, they stepped onto the bridge.

As they had anticipated, the room contained several corpses.

The captain, easily recognizable by his peaked cap and position in the center chair, sat erect. An unsheathed katana lay across his bony knees.

The other five bodies lay either slumped in their seats or sprawled across the steel deck. The narrow windows reflected their grinning faces, the color of the glass an odd, unplacable tint that made both of them a little edgy.

Akane spoke first. “Which one’s the radio?”

Surveying the room, Ukyo pointed to a station in the corner.

“There. That’s the transmitter set.” He slowly walked over, and stared at the bony occupant of the seat. Without a word, he gingerly pushed the skeleton out of the chair, sat down, and turned a knob.

A burst of static greeted him, and he gave her a hopeful smile. “It’s still working!”

“Great! Now transmit something so we can get ourselves rescued offa this dump!”

“I’m trying,” Ukyo muttered, fiddling with the decades-old knobs and dials. Akane briefly considered asking him where he had learned to use a radio; prudently, she decided against it.

“Can anyone hear me? This is an emergency. I repeat, is anyone receiving this?”

For several minutes, there was nothing but static.

“I repeat, can anyone hear me? This is an emergency. I’m…”

Without warning, a piping, atonal tune began to trill from the radio set.

Akane blinked. “What the? Flutes?”

Ukyo frowned at the set. “This thing shouldn’t be picking up music stations…”

The flute rose in volume, an odd, alien melody weaving through it in trilling bursts.

“What kind of music is this? Is it music?”

Ukyo’s frown deepened. “Whatever it is, I don’t like it.”

A chittering… static… arose behind the flutes, and Akane edged away. “Hey… hey, Ukyo, why don’t you turn that thing off, okay?”

“I think perhaps that would be wise,” Ukyo said uneasily, and he reached for the power knob.

Before he could touch it, the flutes trilled in a screech that caused both of them to clutch at their ears in agony. With a burst of oddly-colored flame, the radio set exploded in a small fireball, knocking Ukyo from his seat.

“Ukyo! Hey, are you okay?” Akane quickly knelt beside him, as he groaned and pulled himself to his feet.

“Yes, I’m fine… just before it blew, I thought I heard…”

He frowned, and shook his head. “It shouldn’t have gone up like that. There’s nothing in a radio that would cause it to explode.”

She shrugged. “Mebbe these older models are built

differently, and it blew a fuse or something.” Glumly, Akane examined the merrily burning set, the flames flickering with an odd hue. “Stupid question, but I don’t suppose you can repair it?”

“Certainly. All I need is a new set of component parts, a new case, and instructions on how to do it.”

“Oh. They probably don’t carry all that stuff on troop transports, do they.”

“No, not usually.”

Akane slammed her fist into the deck. “Great. Just great. The ship is sunk, the radio plays creepy flutes at us and then explodes, and there’s several hundred dead men in the cargo hold. This really isn’t living up to my expectations.”

Smiling slightly, Ukyo strolled over to stand in front of the captain’s chair. “It may not be a total loss. There is sure to be a great deal of useful equipment on this vessel.” Gazing at the katana lying in the skeletal lap of the dead officer, he hesitantly lowered a hand down to grasp the hilt.

He had half expected the corpse to awaken at the disturbance; but, of course, it simply kept grinning at him from a bleached face.

Slowly, reverently, he lifted the sword to catch the light streaming through the oddly-tinted windows.

The blade fell off.

He yelped, and yanked his foot out of the way of the falling length of steel. Behind him, Akane gave a small snicker.

The blade hit the deck, and broke into two pieces.

Disappointed, Ukyo picked up the two halves and examined them. It looked like good, carefully forged steel… on the other hand, it seemed to break like ceramic. Shrugging, he stuck the two halves in his belt.

“Ukyo! Hey, Ukyo, take a look at this!”

He glanced over to see Akane sitting in the radio chair, a leatherbound book open on her lap. “What is it?”

“Ship’s log.”

He hurried over, and she flipped to the last few pages.

Nagashi Maru, 4 June 1942, 0700

Received blinker signals from Soryu. Proceeding

north-northwest of Midway Island with light cruiser

Jintsu, heavy cruisers Kumano and Mogami, and 11 transports.

Nagashi Maru, 4 June 1942, 0900

Strafed by enemy aircraft. Seven casualties. Our

forward gun brought one plane down.

Nagashi Maru, 4 June 1942, 1100

Fog rose out of nowhere an hour ago. Have lost

contact with Jintsu and other escorts. Strafing seems to have damaged radar set; we are making slow but deliberate speed northward to clear the fogbank.

Nagashi Maru, 4 June 1942, 1230

First Officer Takahashi has shot Bosun Ogawa, then

himself. His mind apparently snapped for no discernible reason. A great tragedy. Both men were fine officers, and a credit to the Navy and the Emperor.

Orders on radio silence forbid us to use the set to

discover the status of the attack. Fog is still surrounding us. I have ordered the ship to turn and reverse course.

Nagashi Maru, 4 June 1942, 1500

Still only fog. I have ordered the ship to keep

course until we emerge from this damnable mist. I only hope that the foul weather has not interfered with our Midway operation.

Nagashi Maru, 5 June 1942, 0100

I have used the radio in direct disobedience of

orders, and I accept full responsibility for this act. No response as of yet. A broadcast for help will be made every half hour.

A Lt. Nakamura attacked his superior officer with a

knife in the troop bay. He was restrained, and locked in the brig, screaming about how his eyes were the wrong color. I have made a speech to the ship’s complement to keep up morale.

Nagashi Maru, 5 June 1942, 0600

The fog has not lifted. There has been no response to our radio signals. I am at a loss to explain this.

The crew is very uneasy, but keep to their posts like the brave seamen that they are.

Nagashi Maru, 5 June 1942, 1530

Ensign Hawamo took an automatic rifle from the troop bay half an hour ago and opened fire on the mess hall. Seven men were killed before Lt. (jg) Goro shot and killed him.

I am very much afraid that we have fallen afoul of a new American weapon. It is the only thing I can think of. I pray for the well-being of my ship and crew.

Nagashi Maru, 6 June 1942, 0520

Pestilential light and color on the horizon, ahead.

Helm does not respond. Lunatics everywhere, have secured bridge and posted guards, but they may snap too. Only five more minutes at most. Hideous gate to hell! Long live the Emperor! Long live Japan!

The log ended there.

“Damn,” Akane finally said. “This is really giving me the creeps.”

Ukyo nodded, staring at the open logbook. “At least now we know what part of the world we’re in. Near Midway.”

Akane snorted. “There is nothing near Midway. It’s all alone in the middle of the Pacific, we learned that in school. We attacked it with a whole fleet of ships just for that, and the Americans defended it with a big old fleet for the same reason.”

“Perhaps this is Midway?”

“Nah, I think there’s an airstrip and naval base on it. There was one back in the 1940s, anyway, and we’d have seen signs of it.”

“Then I am mystified. The ship must have sailed southward for many days, and finally run aground in this bay by sheer chance.”

“Yeah,” Akane said dubiously. “Maybe. I’m starting to think we’ve been abducted by UFOs or something, like on ‘The X-Files’.”

Ukyo smirked. “Don’t get too preposterous, Agent Scully.”

“I won’t, Mulder. Now, since this hunk of metal isn’t going to sail anywhere or radio anyone, how about we check the holds for valuables? The holds without the bodies, I mean.”

He hesitated for a second. What he really wanted to do was get off this ship as quickly as possible - but he couldn’t think of a single reason to justify fleeing. Quite the opposite, since the lower holds might contain items vital to their survival on the island.

“All right,” he said. “Let us find a way down.”

They combed the upper decks of the vessel for a good ten minutes, finding only long-dead corpses and shattered equipment and bulkheads. Akane managed to salvage a pocketknife, heavy flashlight, and some medical supplies, and Ukyo found a collection of classical Japanese literature.

It surprised them, however, how many potentially useful items were worthless. Silverware that disintegrated into dull flecks of metal when touched. Bowls coated with a greasy black fungus, rifles and pistols with the firing mechanisms rusted away, smashed, or in a few cases missing.

After this disappointing collection had been reviewed, they slowly began to descend down a rear stairway into the lower cargo hold of the Nagashi Maru.

It had been dim in the corridors above, and now it was dark as the inside of a coal mine. Akane soon switched on her new flashlight, and they carefully rounded the landings and moved downward.

Ukyo, leading the way, rounded the fourth switchback landing and suddenly froze. A figure stood halfway down the steps in a low crouch, head facing directly at him.

“Hello?” he called.

The figure didn’t move.

Akane swung the light up, and they saw in the dim glow that the lean face grinning mockingly back at them was only bone and flecks of dried skin, an officer’s cap perched jauntily atop it.

For a horrible moment Ukyo thought he saw the corpse wink, and then the body suddenly disintegrated in a shower of bones, rotting cloth, and dust. The skull fell to the steps, bounced, and clattered down the stairs into the darkness, still grinning.

For a few seconds they just stood on the steps they had halted on, each just wanting to go back up and forget about the hold. But neither wanted to be the one to suggest it, and each knew that there was really nothing to be afraid of. Nothing at all.

Finally, Akane walked past Ukyo and continued down. Glad that someone had made a decision, he followed, his fighting stick held ready in one hand.

They rounded three more landings, and then the stairway opened onto a low-ceilinged, broad, flooded cargo bay. The steps simply led into the water, vanishing. They could see wooden crates, the wood rotting in the silt-choked water, floating listlessly in the glow from Akane’s flashlight.

Nor was that the only thing that glowed. From the tops of the floating crates, from overhead pipes, from the far corners of the hold, beady pinpricks of red reflected the flashlight.

“Rats,” Akane muttered. “All over the hold. There goes any chance of finding a lot of stuff; little bastards chew up anything that doesn’t break their teeth.”

“There are a good many things a troop transport would carry that we could use,” Ukyo reminded her in a whisper. “Bayonets, shovels, shelter halves, insect repellent…”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” she said reluctantly. “C’mon. Looks like we’re gonna hafta wade to get to those crates.”

Gritting her teeth, she walked down the submerged steps and into the drowned hold. Ukyo followed a step behind her, stick held ready.

A few of the larger rats swam towards them, yellow teeth glinting in the electric light. They were quickly met with the tip of Ukyo’s weapon, and after the first three deaths the rodent flotilla retreated out of range, squealing angrily.

The first crate they pried open contained mold, rotting cloth, and several nests of baby rats. The angry rodents in the bay began to squeal and close in, and they hastily moved on to the next bobbing treasure chest.

This one contained halftrack treads. They seemed perfectly usable, but the island had a distinct lack of halftracks.

For several minutes they moved deeper and deeper into the hold, prying off the lids of likely-looking boxes. The items found were uniformly either ruined or of no practical use.

At last, after over a dozen unsuccessful tries, they hit a gold mine.

Akane ripped the lid off the latest crate, and grinned.

Inside were tools.

Most of them looked like folding shovels, trenchdiggers. But there was also a saw, a few awls and clamps, a keg of what she suspected were nails, two sturdy-looking iron mallets, and a longhandled, extremely sharp-looking axe.

“Jackpot,” Akane breathed. “This stuff is gonna make building a house a whole lot easier.”

Ukyo eyed the tools with open approval. “They certainly will.

I think we…”

A sudden squealing and scurrying caused him to break off sharply, and he spun around to see the rats darting about the cargo bay in a state of agitation.

“What the…?” Akane began worriedly. Ukyo silenced her with a gesture, and watched as the rats frantically scurried out of the stagnant water, up along the walls and steps, and vanished into the holes and fissures of the ceiling and upper walls.

“Ukyo, I’ve got a really, really bad feeling here…”

He slowly nodded. “I think we should leave. Quickly.”

“Right behind you. C’mon, we’ll pull the crate to the stairs.” They began to move swiftly for the entrance, the movement impaired by the waist-deep, silt-filled water.

Akane suddenly yelped and jumped away. “Ukyo, something just touched my leg!”

He pursed his lips. “Shine your light back towards the rear of the bay for a second.”

She did, and they both noticed the rippling, twisting water immediately.

“It… maybe it’s just a current or something…”

“Like hell,” Akane said, raw fear in her voice. “Quick, onto the crate.” She awkwardly clambered atop the floating box, and extended a hand to pull Ukyo up.

He was almost on to it when his foot caught painfully on something. Acting on instinct, he slashed downward with his stick, striking something that felt softer than metal. His foot came loose, and he climbed inside the crate, squeezing against Akane in the close quarters.

“What now?” he said, inspecting his foot as he hunkered on the pile of tools. Whatever had caught his foot had left several circular-shaped wounds along his leg, bleeding slightly.

Akane handed him one of the metal shovels. “We row for the stairs and pray.”

They did, and when the crate shook as if something large and blind and awkward was grabbing at it from beneath the water, they told themselves that it was only the motion of the water and redoubled their efforts.

Akane tossed one of the shovels into the water far behind them, and was disturbed by the way the ripples only seemed to increase after it had sunk.

Reaching the stairs, they quickly climbed out of the crate, grabbed two handfuls of tools, and ran like hell up the stairs. From the darkness behind the came a curious sound, not quite a squawk, not quite a hiss. They didn’t look back.

---

After that, they very quickly made their way to the tiny boat which had carried them to the ship.

“Have you got the tools?”

Akane nodded, hurriedly tossing them into the boat. “Yeah.

Nails, hammer, clamps, the lot. Can we get out of here now?”

Ukyo raised an eyebrow. “Nervous?”

“I’d just like to get off this ship before the army of dead men in the hold wake up and come to eat our flesh, thank you.” He wasn’t sure if she was joking or not. Neither, from her tone, was she.

“Very well. Let’s go.” He wasn’t exactly feeling like hanging around either. There was clearly something very, very wrong with this ship.

They swiftly rowed away from the decaying hulk, trying not to splash too much. They still remembered the patch of moving water in the hold, and the sound it had made.

Ukyo kept one hand on his fighting stick until they reached the shore. Akane just kept glancing nervously at the water, ready to either defend herself or row faster.

It almost came as a surprise to both of them when they reached the shore without incident.

“Well?” Akane asked as they were hauling the tools out of the boat.

Ukyo blinked at her. “Well what?”

She pointed at the bay and ship. “Aren’t you going to name it?”

A wet handful of sand sailed just past her. Grinning, Akane stuck her tongue out at him. “Missed me.”

“Why you…” he began to mock-growl…

…why you…

…missed me, ya…

…jeez…

…stand your ground!….

“Ukyo? Ukyo?”

His eyes snapped open. He didn’t remember closing them in the first place. Raising a hand, he wiped away the sweat that had suddenly appeared and fought down a rush of nausea.

“Just… just another flashback. It’s nothing.”

She stared at him with a mixture of sympathy and curiosity.

“Huh. Know what brought it on?”

Ukyo shook his head tiredly. “I think we’ve done that before.

That teasing, just now. Or something very much like it. I don’t know.” He winced. “For all we know, they might just happen at random.”

“Yeah, well, I hope not. What happens if we get one while we’re being attacked or something?”

“You make it sound like we’re likely to be attacked quite often.”

Akane shrugged. “Just being realistic. Everything on this island is either incredibly beautiful or wants to eat you.”

He nodded, a bit of depression seeping in. “Come on, let’s get these home.” A smile forced its way onto his face. “Now that we’ve got real nails and a hammer, we can make a real home. Just watch.”

---

The first step in the building of their new home was the destruction of the old one. Not that a crude brush hut was much of a home, but it still made them slightly regretful to tear it down.

In its place, a bed of gravel and rocks was carefully laid, forming a stone foundation. Neither of them were exactly sure what precise benefit this would bring, but they both felt it was preferable to dirt.

Corner posts were then hacked from the trees.

“Timber!”

“Which way?”

“Eh?”

“Which way is it falling, Uky…”

CRASH

“Ow.”

After some small mishaps, the posts were erected at what would be the four corners of the house.

“They’re crooked.”

“….”

After many more mishaps, the posts were repositioned in the straight four corners of the house.

“I think that one’s got wood rot.”

“Ukyo, why do you wait till now to notice these things?”

After a mildly bruised elbow, the suspect post was replaced by a fresh one.

“Now the new one’s crooked.”

”%#!$*&!.”

And so the pole was taken out, and straightened.

“Okay. Look good?”

“Well…”

“Good. What’s next?”

Boards, cut with their newly-salvaged saw and Ukyo’s fighting stick, were quickly fitted into position. Akane’s hand, they found, was admirably suited to making a 2 by 4 into two 1 by 2s.

A framework began to take shape between the four poles.

“It’s crooked.”

“Let it be crooked, Akane.”

“You wanna live in a crooked house?”

“Oh, all right…”

Before long, sections of wall were being nailed to it.

“Akane! Look…”

CRASH

“Are you okay, Akane?”

“…dig me out and then help me figure out why the east wall falls on people…”

The framework was revised and strengthened.

“But why not?”

“Because, Akane, that puts huge beams going through the middle of the house at waist level.”

“So?”

“So I can’t walk through wood.”

“We can just climb over them.”

Boards were refastened, and before long the house had an exterior wall.

“Looks good.”

“Sure does. We’ve done well.”

“Yup.”

“So how are we going to put on a roof?”

“No idea whatsoever.”

Their first roofing experiment consisted of brush, and lasted about a week.

“Akane, I find the vermin in the roof a bit of a problem.”

“Yeah, I don’t like seeing the ceiling move either.”

An abortive attempt was made at a hide roof, but was quickly abandoned when the effects of repeated sun on dried hide became clear.

In the end, they simply built a flat surface of wood, hauled it up to the top of the framework with effort, nailed it in place, and used a mix of clay and earth to made an upper covering to keep the rain off the wood.

And then it was done.

---

“Ukyo, that’s just…”

“It’s for survival, Akane. I don’t relish the idea either, but it’s something we can use.”

“Well, yeah, but it’s gross.”

“And I say it’s necessary. It’s not like I’m going to bring the whole thing back. Just the ropes.”

Akane just made a disgusted face and shook her head.

“Don’t worry. It should only take a little while. I should be back before the afternoon.” He gave Akane a reassuring smile.

“Yeah, right. Just hurry so I don’t have to go looking for you.” Akane turned around and went back to fixing up the house a little more.

Ukyo watched her for a moment, letting his admiration show when she couldn’t see it, then headed out. It wasn’t a long walk, but it was enough of one, and he definitely wanted to be back before it got too late.

He walked around the edge of the temple, staying out of the cleared area, just like all the other animals. The tree wasn’t in sight yet, but it would be hard to miss. Especially with a skeleton hanging out of the branches, like some cheap movie scare.

The poor soul was too easy to find, hanging there, tangled in the branches. For a moment, Ukyo couldn’t quite decide if he really wanted to do this, but in his heart, he couldn’t leave that man up there either.

Sighing, Ukyo started to climb the tree, giddy with the memory that came back to him. The memory of the night with Akane pressed against him in which he had entertained the most impure of thoughts. But only after she had fallen asleep.

Making his way out on the branches where the parachute had gotten caught so long ago, Ukyo held on tightly. If he fell, and didn’t die, Akane would kill him anyway. Not that falling would be any picnic for him.

A few moldy shreds of parachute silk clung stubbornly to the rough bark, but other than that, the silk was rotted away.

Unfortunate really. He had been hoping that there would be enough left to maybe fashion some clothing out of.

Ukyo observed the way the lines were tangled and caught among the branches. He had brought the knife, but had been hoping he wouldn’t need to use it. If the lines could be kept intact until they needed to cut them, it would just be more convenient.

He pulled on one slightly and was surprised that it

immediately broke free from the branches. No doubt that silk had gotten tangled, the lines caught up slightly, and the pilot’s weight had caused everything to catch. But with all that gone mostly, it looked like it wouldn’t be that hard.

Ukyo pulled on the other lines, having to untangle one of them, but aside from that, they fell free with very little effort on his part. And as the last one came free, the body of the unlucky pilot plummeted to the ground and smashed apart.

Ukyo watched for a moment from above as the bones came to rest. There was just something very creepy about the entire situation; it felt like he was graverobbing or something. That strange feeling that the pilot was not completely dead and would object to this treatment… It was silly, but he couldn’t shake it.

Once back on the ground, Ukyo was forced to remove the harness from the torso of the corpse. It wasn’t difficult as there were no limbs attached and the rib cage had been almost pulverized.

Saying a quick prayer for the pilot, Ukyo pulled the harness free and gathered the lines up. Frowning at the remains, he turned and headed back to the house.

---

“Brave little bastards, aren’t they?” Akane asked, toeing the dead body at her feet. It seemed rare, but every so often, one of the wild dogs would attack them in the broad daylight. Though the attacks seemed more out of chance and desperation than anything since they were only one or two at a time.

This time, out gathering supplies to continue fixing up their new home, they had surprised a lone canine raiding a fallen bird’s nest. It had turned on them, growling savagely, but it had taken a single swing of Ukyo’s stick to fell the beast.

Ukyo looked at Akane, not bothering to speak the question.

She looked from the corpse up to him and shrugged. “Do you think we need it? I mean…”

“Only if you wish to carry it.”

Akane shook her head. “I’ll pass. My arms are still sore from the three ton pig I had to carry the other day.”

“Yes. It was an excellent catch though. We’ll get a lot of use out of it.” The two of them stared at the dead dog

uncomfortably. “It isn’t necessary. Leave it.”

Akane started to turn away when she heard a noise in the bushes. That was strange in itself as most of the island inhabitants avoided them at all costs. All except the dogs. Either way, it was surprise enough that she jumped back.

Staring at the spot the noise was coming from, Akane stepped toward it slowly, hand held up and poised for attack. She leaned down and pushed aside some leaves, not sure what to expect.

“What is it?” Ukyo whispered, staring at the spot, but unable to see what is was that had Akane’s attention.

Akane reached into the bush and when she withdrew her hand, she was holding, by the scruff of its scrawny neck, a small dog. A puppy.

It whined and struggled in Akane’s grasp, but that was all.

“Cute little buggers when they aren’t trying to eat us, aren’t they,” she said, practically shoving the little dog in Ukyo’s face.

“Not particularly, but that may be the bad experience with all of its… relatives.” He backed away slightly, but close up, the little thing did have a certain charm about it.

The dog opened its mouth and released another pitiful whine, just hanging there.

“Why do you think it’s out here?” Akane asked, looking over the pathetic thing. “That must have been its mother,” she continued, gesturing to the dead dog on the ground.

“Who can say how the social structure of those vicious

monsters operates.” Ukyo was about to suggest that Akane leave the thing before she got fleas, but the way she was looking at it, he knew she would not. After all, the dog had to have been domesticated at some point in prehistory. This one was young, and it could probably be done, but…

Akane held the dog, not quite sure what to do. Natural order would dictate that she leave the animal to let things take their course without her intervention. Yet, she couldn’t just leave it.

The thing couldn’t even defend itself, and what fairness was there in that?

“Do you truly think you can tame it?” Ukyo asked.

Akane looked away from the dog at him. Shrugging, she said, “I don’t know. You don’t think we should?”

Ukyo heard the shift away from herself to the encompassing “we” in an attempt to sway him. “I don’t think it’s wise. There’s nothing to stop it from turning on us, attacking when we least expect it. It may be imprinted that it should…”

Akane waved him off. “You know that’s not true. Stop making stuff up. So I’ll level with you. I feel guilty about just leaving it. And I think it would be neat. There’s nothing wrong with having an extra companion while we’re on this island, is there?”

Looking between Akane and the little beast in her hand, Ukyo shrugged. “If you want.”

“Only if you don’t mind.”

“I don’t mind.”

---

“Dog! Come ‘ere, dog!” Akane was trying to get the little thing’s attention, while the dog was just exploring the interior of their small stronghold.

“Are you actually attempting to train it?” Ukyo asked, taking an armload of plantains inside.

“Well…” Akane started to respond, but didn’t say anything else.

So far, it seemed fine. The dog was a little high-strung, but other than that, it showed no signs of hostility toward either of them.

Ukyo had to reluctantly admit that it was kind of cute and that Akane seemed to be in a better mood with it around. Heck, even he felt in a better mood. The dog was proof that there was something that wasn’t out to kill them on the island.

“Hey, you stupid dog! Look at me!” Akane said sharply,

snapping her fingers.

Ukyo came out of the house and shook his head. “It won’t learn. I think it’s too wild to…”

“Hey dog!” Akane yelled.

The dog looked from its investigation of the a clump of grass to Akane, eyes perked forward.

“It’s about time, you dumb dog. Come here,” Akane repeated snapping her fingers again.

This time, it actually seemed to get the point and trotted merrily over to Akane.

Smiling, Akane began to pet him. “See? He’s getting the hang of it.”

Ukyo shook his head and smiled bemusedly. “I think it

believes you have food.”

“It was just a little encouragement. Besides, he’s so skinny.

He needs something to eat.”

“Akane, you sound just like a worried mother. That little rodent should count itself lucky you decided that you pitied it.”

Akane grinned. “Yeah, and I know how much you hate him.

Softy. But what about a name?”

“A name? You mean actually naming the thing?” Ukyo asked in almost complete disbelief.

Akane couldn’t help but chuckle at his response. “That’s what’s usually the result of naming something. So what’s wrong with that anyway? You’re not going to call him ‘It’ all the time, are you?”

“Possibly.”

“Not if I have any say in it,” Akane warned. “I’ll name him…” She looked at the dog. The dog looked stupidly back up at her. “Um…”

“Well, I’m waiting to hear this name that’s going to change our lives.”

“I’m thinking! Give me a minute. You know,” she said,

grinning slyly, “I’m not all that good with names.”

Meant to be funny, the comment only ended up making them both uncomfortable.

“I guess I’ll name him… Dog.”

Ukyo choked. “Dog? You’re going to name it Dog? Are you joking?”

“No! What’s wrong with Dog? He’s a dog after all.”

“But you… It’s just… How can you…” Ukyo threw up his hands. “I give up. Its name is Dog.”

Akane smiled and scratched Dog’s ears. “See? I told you he was just a big softy, Dog. Go get Ukyo now! Go get him!” she encouraged, pointing at where Ukyo had gone inside.

Dog growled, taking on a decidedly playful look, and ran off after Ukyo.

---

Akane woke up early, stretching in the relatively cool

morning air. She could still hear Ukyo’s steady breathing and knew he was still asleep. She smiled briefly. That was why she did most of the fishing.

She skipped the morning trip to the spring, as she’d need a trip there after she was done in the ocean anyway. She grabbed some fruit and some dried meat and put it in her bag. Peeking around the curtain, Akane looked in on Ukyo.

He was sprawled out on his stomach with Dog sleeping soundly on the small of his back.

Akane barely contained her snicker. “Come on, Dog,” she whispered. “Let’s go fishing. Come on.”

Dog opened his eyes slowly and looked up at her. His tail began to wag slowly and he yawned.

Akane patted her leg. “Come on, Dog. Let’s go.”

Standing and stretching on Ukyo’s back first, Dog hopped down and trotted over to Akane.

She leaned down and scratched his head. “I don’t think Ukyo will miss you,” she whispered and left the house with Dog close at her heels.

The sun was just casting its rays across the treetops, late enough that the wild dogs had gone back to their mountain, but before the temperature started to rise. It looked like she’d get a good couple hours before it became unbearable on the raft to sit out on the water.

Akane retrieved a pair of spears from the lean-to. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to keep the rain off their supplies.

Everything else was already down at the beach, stored up in a tree to keep the dogs from destroying those things.

The walk to the beach was pleasant and uneventful, as it was every morning. Akane kept a fairly close watch on Dog, though she knew she had nothing to worry about. The little thing had almost immediately adopted both her and Ukyo as his guardians. He didn’t stray far from them if he had the choice.

At the beach, Akane climbed the tree and pulled down the rough reed basket that was filled with a tangle of crude-looking hide and plant fiber strings.

Back on the ground, Akane removed the tangle, revealing it to be a net of some sorts. She checked it to see that it was all intact, then put it back in the basket. Gathering her spears, she started toward the water.

The raft was safely anchored a bit off shore, in water that was about chest deep. The first time she had left it in shore, the dogs had made their presence known on it, and that had been the last time it had been left on the beach.

Akane waded out, Dog following dutifully behind her, swimming as the water got deeper and deeper. She put the spears and basket on the raft, then lifted Dog onto it. Next came the hard part: lifting the anchor. It was necessary to have an anchor heavy enough to not get dragged by the tide, but it also needed to be realistic as they had to lift the thing on to the raft.

Once the rock that acted as their anchor was on the raft, Akane began pushing the raft out, kicking her legs powerfully. Once she got out to the infantile reef, she would anchor the raft to that and get started. It was the same thing she had been doing ever since she had built the raft.

Dog stood at the front edge of the raft, barking at nothing.

Not an active participant in the morning’s activities, Dog was still Akane’s frequent companion to break the monotony of the task.

At the reef, Akane pulled herself up on the raft then dumped the rock off the side. Tether staying slack, Akane knew the rock had landed on the reef.

First things first. Taking a deep breath, Akane dived below the surface, leaving Dog alone. He paced around the edge of the raft, peering into the water, barking periodically.

Akane resurfaced for a moment, then took another deep breath and dived beneath the water again.

“Whoo hoo!” she cried out as she broke the surface of the water, holding a large contraption in her hand.

Dog didn’t know why, but she was happy, so he was happy too and began barking again. He was hopping excitedly for whatever it was in the big box in her hand.

Akane climbed up onto the raft, grinning. “We got one, Dog.

We finally got one.” She looked at the trap she had brought up, the thing shaking slightly. “Looks like it’s not too happy either. It’s gonna be real unhappy when we cook the little insect.”

Dog barked in agreement as that seemed all he was capable of barking in.

“That’s right. Real sorry. You watch it over and make sure it doesn’t get away while I check on the other traps,” Akane said to Dog. She scratched him between the ears before diving into the water.

Akane flopped on the raft, breathing heavily. None of the other traps had anything in them. Only one had worked. Still, it was one in the countless number they had set, trying to figure out how they would work.

Dog was sleeping next to the trap, his ears twitching as the trap wiggled every few moments.

Akane watched him and shook her head. That was just about what she felt like doing. Just lay down, have a nap and not worry about anything. “What am I gonna do with you, Dog?” she asked quietly.

He responded by rolling to his side, undisturbed.

Shaking her head, Akane lifted the anchor and moved the raft a bit down the reef. The fish seemed more prevalent as she moved to the South. It must have been something about the reef, she mused.

Stopped on the reef once again, Akane set about using the net and spear to try and fill the basket with fish. It combined the worst elements of regular fishing and watching paint dry. She usually ended up sitting on the raft, staring into the water for long periods of time.

Unfortunately, she had to let the fish come to her. Her net was good, but not good enough, and got cut up on the reef, otherwise she would just let it hang there, catching fish as they darted among the coral.

The net ended up being her herding device, sending fish swimming toward the raft where she could hopefully spear them. This worked, but not very well. They didn’t eat fish in large quantities.

If she could have found some reliable line, she could have just gone pole fishing, but she didn’t trust any thread they could come up with to hold under the pressure of some of the fish down there, and any supply of hooks fashioned from bone would be fairly limited.

So Akane lay on her stomach with her breasts hanging over the edge of the raft (much more comfortable that way), holding the net in one hand, a spear in the other, and just waited for fish.

“Dog, I would gladly swap spots with you any day,” she

mumbled, glancing back at the sleeping animal. “Then I wouldn’t have to be here with my boobs hanging in the water.”

Dog made a strange sound in his sleep, but did not stir.

“Stupid fish. I wish Ukyo was out here. He’s better to talk to than you, Dog. But you’re cuter. Barely.” Akane looked at her reflection in the water, wondering how her hair would look when it grew out.

“I don’t know, Dog. I just get a feeling I should do

something, tell him something, but when I start to, I can’t. It’s like someone’s just squeezing my voice, like someone’s telling me I shouldn’t say anything.” Akane sighed, her eyes still on her reflection.

“Do you think he likes me?” she asked, finally saying it out loud. She had wondered, but never voiced it. “I think he does, but I’m not sure. All that stuff he said, it could have been just because. He didn’t really mean it maybe.”

Dog’s tail twitched and he rolled to his other side.

“Maybe if he said something to me first. Maybe if we were off this island. I think he does.” Akane nodded to herself. “I think he does, Dog, but I don’t know if I can do anything about it. Not that I don’t want to, because I really think I would.”

Akane looked back at Dog, who was still asleep. “Silly Dog.

You’re not helping me at all.” She sighed and looked back at the water.

“I don’t know if I should feel like this. But I don’t want to stay here and end up being just friends for the rest of our lives.”

Akane frowned and jabbed with her spear, stabbing a fish.

She brought it out of the water, still wriggling, and dumped it in the basket.

“Well,” she continued, waiting for another fish, “I guess that maybe I’ll just have to make the first move. Ukyo’s a guy. I’m a woman. He can’t resist me. He has to like me.”

Having convinced herself, Akane went back to her fishing.

“Thanks, Dog. You’re a pretty good listener. I guess those floppy ears are good for something.”

Dog snorted and kicked his legs, running in some dream of his.

Akane anchored the raft and hopped in the water, carrying everything carefully. The trap was the really bulky thing, bulging from under her arm.

Dog splashed in behind her, very interested in the wiggling fish in the basket.

“Not now, Dog. You’ll get some later. Besides, I think I’ve got a plan for tonight.” The little bit of excitement bubbling in her was suddenly squashed by fear. “Or maybe not. Oh, I don’t know!”

“Don’t know what?”

Akane jumped, not noticing Ukyo standing a ways down the beach. “Nothing. Just… talking to Dog. Look what I caught,” she said, quickly changing the subject. “One of them worked!”

“That’s great! Let me help you out.” He approached her, meaning to take some of the things from her.

Akane nodded, looking away demurely and knowing it. She felt silly, but also like a school girl. She was just thankful Ukyo didn’t notice, or didn’t mention it.

“Looks like we’ll have a veritable feast tonight,” he beamed, holding up the trap proudly. “Finally a design that works.”

Akane nodded, still unable to meet his gaze. This was getting to be a feeling she didn’t much like. She didn’t like not having control of herself, her feelings.

They headed back to their house, not talking, but feeling better about the way things were going.

---

Deep under a swollen, bulging mound of earth and organic material, ten million living beings swarmed.

They were ants. A more precise name for them did not, at this time, exist. They bore marked similarities to the Leafcutter Ant which plagues the jungles of the Amazon Basin, and other traits which were more similar to the Driver Ant of the South Pacific.

Calling them ten million living beings is only technically true. The reality was that there was only one, vast, semi-aware mind spread across ten million separate components, communicating via a mixture of chemicals, preprogrammed DNA, and exchanges that humans would term ‘psychic phenomena’. It was quite natural, really. After all, what is a human brain but a collection of individual neurons through which electricity passes?

A biological timer slowly ripped away seconds. Five, four, three, two.

One.

Slowly, like some massive animal shaking itself awake, ten million ants boiled out of the mound. The carefully maintained egress holes bulged, burst, and split, strained beyond their capacity as the living tide burst free of the earth. Before long, the one impressive structure was nothing more than a deflatedlooking lump buried under thousands of armored bodies.

The tide flowed down the path of least resistance, as they had for the past few millennia. They had a total of five ranges; when one grew scarce, the entire nest moved to the next site to give the last one several decades to recover.

Of course, the route they took never fully recovered. Because the ants needed food for their migration, and could not let anything slow them down, and were agitated and enraged by the need to move on.

They passed over trees and shrubs. The shrubs simply melted like snow. The smaller trees swayed for a moment, turned black with thousands of swarming beings, and then fell to the ground. The larger ones would stand, barren, branchless poles, mortally wounded.

Those birds with nests and young never had a chance. A

parrot, green plumage covered with swarming black, dived into the air, hung for a second, and then fell like a stone into the boiling river beneath it.

A wild dog, out hunting, ran headlong into the swarm. It squealed in terror, turned, and then the river engulfed it. It went from living animal to glistening skeleton in under thirty seconds.

Across the path of the black river, a silent, soundless wave of terror passed. Animals bolted from a sound sleep and ran blindly into the jungle, not knowing who or what they were fleeing from.

Some ran directly into the ants. Their deaths were quick, if not pleasant.

They were marvelously suited for this migration, these

insects in black-armored chitin. Six legs, capable of moving them over rough terrain at high speeds. A set of powerful ripping mandibles, with a smaller set beneath for chewing and fine manipulation. Venom sacs were located on each of them, and while the amount released was insignificant to a large animal like a dog or a boar, the amount released by dozens of swarming ants would quickly paralyze the central nervous system. There would be discomfort, but no pain; the victims were alive and unmoving until the first ant ate its way into the brain and began to destroy mental functions.

They could take terrible punishment and keep moving. They had no concern for each other as individuals, any more than the cells of our bodies have for each other. If the path written in their genetic code was impassable, they kept moving forward until it became passable. And there was very little that could obstruct them. About the only thing that could was water or massive fire, and even then they would, likely as not, ford the water on leaves and in clumps and over the branches of trees, or move around or burrow beneath the fire.

Like a living flash flood, they boiled along their ancient pathway. The ground they left behind them was bare of any life. Just the husks of trees and the bones of animals.

The area would recover. Life springs eternal. But in a few decades, it would happen all over again.

That’s why the trees and brush along the migration path were so sparse.

---

Ukyo looked outside and frowned.

It was too still. Too quiet, tonight. Normally the jungle was filled with cries and yelps, and tonight…

Tonight there were noises in the background, shrill and harsh, somewhere in the far distance. And over that, a pall of silence.

He ruefully chuckled. The quiet probably just meant that their tiny patch of civilization was keeping the animals at a wary distance. That would be a pleasant change.

It would certainly beat being leapt at by wild dogs, anyway.

Smiling slightly he eyed the palisade. A lot of work to build, but well worth it. Nothing short of a rhino was going to get through that.

The house, now… Frank Lloyd Wright, they weren’t, but it was about as comfortable as you could expect, given what they had to work with. Crude, but very, very serviceable, and with room to be expanded.

For one thing, he should really make them their own rooms.

Ukyo sighed. He didn’t want separate rooms, which was one of the main reasons they needed them.

His thoughts slipped into a mode of questioning that was becoming very, very familiar to him. What had they been before coming here? Friends? Enemies? Lovers? He was almost certain that they weren’t related, but aside from that…

It was incredibly frustrating. For all he knew, they could have been openly in love before coming here, and now…

Well, now he was afraid that he felt something for her.

Something very strong. And he had no idea how Akane would react to learning that.

For one thing, he was stuck on a desert island with her; maybe a man would feel this way towards any woman stranded with him.

For another… again, he was stuck on a desert island with her. They needed to work together, closely; if his attraction to her made her uncomfortable, how were they supposed to do that? It could get them killed.

So he kept quiet out of necessity. And because he was afraid, but necessity made a better excuse.

“Ukyo? Something wrong?”

He turned slightly. “I do not think so. It’s just… quiet tonight.”

Akane shrugged, leaning against the doorframe in a posture he wished he could admire more openly. “Good. Better than those damn mutts camping right outside our gate and howling.”

Ukyo nodded, still slightly uneasy. “I suppose…”

“Heh. Yeah, I suppose too. Come to bed, Dog will bark his silly little head off if anything stirs.”

Somewhat reluctantly, he followed her back inside. They each had their own pallet, and a rush curtain in between the two.

He lay down in his, and blew the fat lamp out.

Akane undressed for bed, her lamp still lit, and he tried not to watch the shadow behind the curtain. Well, mostly tried.

She was taking her time about it, he thought absently.

When her lamp was finally extinguished, it took a long time for him to finally get to sleep.

Ukyo had been right when he had expected the palisade to stop anything smaller than a rhino.

The swarm was much, much bigger than a rhino.

Dog woke from doggish dreams to see a huge, black creature seeping through the straining, bursting outer wall. A smarter, wilder animal would have fled. Dog, a domesticated, loyal, stupid little thing, snarled and ran to attack the intruder.

The intruder barely noticed.

The crazed, agonized yelp woke Ukyo, and he immediately knew something was horribly wrong. Still half asleep, he jumped from his pallet, and heard Akane start to struggle free of her cot as well.

He dashed to the door, threw it open, and sucked in his breath.

A tide of humming, buzzing, moving blackness was sweeping across the yard towards the house. Behind it, the palisade wall was melting, sagging….

“Out!” he screamed, running back into the house. “Akane!

Hurry! We need…”

He moaned, realizing that even if they went out the door now, they would still be engulfed before they could round the corner of the house.

THWACK

Akane swung the axe a second time, and a section of the back wall fell out. “Ukyo, here!” He could see the raw fear in her eyes.

They dashed out the hole in the wall, tiny black objects dropping from the ceiling as they did. One landed on Ukyo’s arm, and he swore as it stung. Was the stuff some sort of acid, or…?

He watched it move, and realized with horror the nature of their enemy.

“Ants!” he yelled, a touch of hysteria entering his voice. Of all the ways to die that he could think of…

Akane frantically hacked at the outer wall, ripping away boards with axe and fists. The palisade hole widened…

Something stung his leg, and he swore. The outriders were here, and the swarm was only feet away…

Akane squirmed through the hole, and the sight of her

posterior in the moonlight was almost enough to let lust override fear. Almost.

Ah, our romantic moments, his mind yammered as he hastily followed her, ants now biting at his feet and lower legs.

The second they cleared the outer wall, they ran like hell.

Around them, the swarm passed.

They dashed through the night, a primal horror filling them.

Something huge any tiny and alien was after them, and their instincts led them along the path of least resistance as fast as they could run.

Had reason been a factor, they might or might not have

figured out that least resistance for them was also least resistance for the ants.

As it was, their options were growing fewer. The palisaded house had held up the ants in the center path; but the ones to either side had passed them by. They were in the mouth of a living, flowing ‘V’, and a look back by Ukyo told him that they were losing ground.

“They’re gaining!” he screamed. Akane glanced back,

swallowed, and gave him a look of mixed terror and determination.

Then she put on yet more speed, and ran. He somehow matched her.

They were about as fast as any non-Olympic runner, but they still could tire and slow. The ants, on the other hand, could keep up their mindless, swarming pace for weeks. It would not take weeks for Ukyo and Akane to drop from exhaustion.

He swallowed. About the only chance they had was to cross a river or a gorge or something, and he didn’t think that there were any rivers in the northern part of the island. The only landmark, in fact, was…

The temple rose out of the distance ahead, bone white against the greens and browns of the jungle.

Maybe the need to detour around and over it would slow the ants down… no, he though, running around it would slow them down, too. And the breath was coming harder for him, and the ants didn’t look like they got tired… this was the end of the line.

“Into the temple!” he yelled to Akane.

“Are you crazy?” she panted back. “We’ll be trapped!”

“They’re gaining anyway! Maybe we can lift that slab and hide in the room beneath; I doubt they can eat through solid rock.”

“Did you see that stone? And the stairs? I think there was something down there…”

“Yes,” he said between gasps for breath. “But I know there is a horde of carnivorous ants behind us, and I suggest that whatever may or may not be down there is infinitely preferable.”

“You have a point.”

They dashed through the open gates, carefully ignoring the blighted foliage surrounding it, and briefly pulled to a halt.

“Where to?” Ukyo asked, glancing around the small courtyard warily. Akane shrugged.

“I guess your idea was best…” She shuddered. “But I really don’t like it.”

“Neither do I, but…”

His voice trailed off, and he mutely pointed out the gate.

The ants had swarmed to the very foot of the blasted

vegetation surrounding the temple. And then, as if cut by a knife, they split.

They split, and in two streams flowed around the temple like water around a tall rock.

Akane stared. “They didn’t even come up to the walls. They just hit the clearing and went around. Now why the hell would they do that?”

Ukyo watched the streaming ants with a certain foreboding.

“Perhaps they know something that we do not.”

“Maybe.” She stared out at the tide of insects flowing past the island of pale stone and twisted plants, and shuddered. “You just said that whatever’s in here can’t be as bad as the ants. Still certain about that?”

He opened his mouth to reply, considered, and then shut it again. He was not at all certain.

“I still find remaining here preferable to leaving,” he told her. “Do you agree?”

Akane kept her gaze fixed on the swarm, a mixture of horror and fascination on her face. “Yeah. I definitely agree.”

III

It was almost daylight by the time the swarm finally passed.

Slowly, somewhat dazedly, they made their way out of the temple gates, and wandered down the barren, cleared swath of dirt that led to their house.

Nothing had been left in the path the ants had taken. Except for an occasional stump, it could have been a man-made road. A stump, and the gleaming white skeletons of animals and birds, shining in the dawn’s light.

“I guess this is why there weren’t many trees,” Akane said numbly.

Ukyo could only nod his head.

They almost didn’t recognize their homestead.

The palisade had vanished, as if it had melted away like ice. The only sign that it had been there at all were the empty postholes.

In the spot where their house had been was a scuffed patch of earth, a gravel-and-slate floor, the remains of a hearth, and metal nails and tools. And shattered pottery, worn as if by acid in places. The wooden walls, the woven rugs, the hides… all gone without a trace.

Gone, as if it had never been.

Ukyo’s hands tightened at his side, and he felt his eyes sting. All the work, all the effort, something to call home…

wiped out overnight. And it had only been luck that they hadn’t died horribly along with it.

Akane had walked over to a corner of the leveled yard and sat, staring, at the tiny white skeleton by the far side of the palisade. He swallowed, remembering the pain-wracked howls and yelps that had awoken them. If it hadn’t been for that…

If it hadn’t been for that, they would have woken two minutes later as the ants stripped the flesh from their bodies.

Ukyo slowly walked over, took Akane’s arm, and led her away.

She leaned against him slightly, and he fought down the stirring her touch evoked. This was not the time.

“Sometimes I think this place is going to kill us,” she said dully. “It tries so hard to.”

He sighed. “Sometimes I think so too.”

“I’m not gonna let it.” Her voice was still numb, but an angry, determined edge was in it too. “It’s gonna have to fight to get me.”

“It will,” Ukyo said, looking back at the remains of their house. “It will fight. We just can’t let it win.”

“The house is gone.” It was more than just a simple

statement of fact; they had put a lot of themselves into building their home. “I don’t know about you, but I’m not building on this site again.”

He nodded. “I’ve been thinking… the river down by the southern part of the island offers fresh water, fish, and a bit of protection. Plus it’s closer to some of the plantain groves, and farther away from that damn temple and Canis Mountain. “

“The temple saved our lives, you know.”

“I’d still rather have it as far away as possible.”

Akane nodded, a slightly distant look in her eyes. “Ukyo…

how did we get here?”

He frowned. “You know I don’t know that.”

“Yeah, but look at what we do know. No memories. A creepy temple in a place with no humans and no stone for building it.

That transport, with the log and the flutes and the dead men and whatever that was in the hold… I think that temple’s important.

I think it might be the key to all of this.”

Ukyo thought for a second. “Maybe. But do we really want to go poking around in it?”

“A month ago I would have said yes. Now…” Akane sighed. “I just want to stay alive.”

“First things first, then. We need to build another

palisade, and I have some ideas for outbuildings and the new house.”

“Yeah, me too. Somewhere to hang meat would be nice.”

They knelt in the remains of their house and began to pick up the precious nails and tools. A slight breeze rose, blowing leaves and dust through the near-empty courtyard.

---

Akane looked at the river. “Pretty. And it’ll be nice not having to walk half a mile for drinking water.”

“Bathing water, too,” Ukyo said, smiling slightly. “I’d suggest making a bathhouse if he had the materials for a real tub.

As it is, we’ll just have to make due with using the river.”

“We don’t have the room for another outbuilding anyway.”

“We would if we enlarged the palisade.”

She glared at him, wiping a rivulet of sweat away from her eyes. “We just got done building this thing, and you want to enlarge it?” One hand waved behind them.

The structure that she was pointing to was impressive…

well, impressive by island standards. It was nearly three times the size of the original palisade, arranged in a roughly rectangular shape. No buildings inside it, yet, but it was a safe place to sleep.

They had debated whether to build the house in roughly the same design as the last one, or to try something new. The idea to go with a new layout had quickly been adopted; they had learned a lot since setting up their first dwelling. And, too, building something new made it feel like they were improving their lot, not just struggling to stay the same.

“So,” Ukyo continued, “now we just need to build our new home in a manner that doesn’t collapse and kill us as we sleep.”

Akane nodded resignedly. “Whose bright idea was it to build the damn house in the air?”

“Yours, as I recall.”

“Oh yeah. Damn. Okay, back to work.”

They had both been uneasy about the safety of the palisade.

Sure it would keep the wild dogs out when it was up, but what if the gate came undone? What if something tunneled under it? What if…

The fact was, taking anything regarding safety on this island for granted was a good way to get killed.

So they had decided to elevate the house. Ten long posts, cut from the trunks of some of the taller trees, would form the legs upon which the structure would rest, a good eight feet above the ground.

All in all, it was probably a lot more trouble than it was worth. But they did it on the off chance that it wasn’t, because it was better to spend a little unnecessary effort than to have your throat ripped out as you slept.

And so the rest of the day was spent digging the postholes.

“&@%!^*&#!ing postholes!”

“What you said.”

The next day was also spent digging the postholes.

“STRAIGHT, you moron!”

“This is straight, you homicidal shrew!”

WHAM

Day three was spent putting up the posts themselves.

“Sorry about that.”

“urgh gah whoosh.”

“The log just slipped…”

“aaaaaaaaagh.”

“Does it hurt?”

“…”

And, of course, after that came the difficult part.

---

Ukyo stood on the floor, and cautiously walked across it.

“Okay… come on up, Akane.”

Gingerly climbing up the rope ladder, Akane walked across the newly-placed floorboards. “Huh. Well, it looks like we did it.”

He grinned. “We sure did! Look at that view!”

They stood for a second and drank in the sight of the trees, the palisade, and the river far below.

“We need to stick a balcony on this thing,” Akane murmured.

Ukyo nodded.

Somewhat hesitantly, her hand snuck out to take his.

Ukyo gave it a slight squeeze.

And then the floor collapsed.

“owwww. ukyo?”

“urgh.”

“hey, ukyo?”

“yeah?”

“i think we need better floor bracing.”

“brilliant, akane. that’s just brilliant.”

“it was just a thought.”

“we’ll start just as soon as i can move my legs again.”

---

Ukyo finished jumping up and down, nodded, and waved to Akane. “Okay, this one should hold.”

Akane tossed a good-sized rock up to him. Blinking, he caught it.

CRASHSPLINTERWHAM

“I think we need a bit more bracing in the middle.”

“aaaaaaaaaugh.”

“Okay, THIS time it’s fine!”

“Yeah. Now how do we get the test boulder down?”

“Good question.”

---

The walls went up. While not as easy as it would be in a house built entirely on the ground, it was still a refreshingly simple task. Brush, bamboo, and light woods attached to a sturdy frame was really all they needed, and the panels and posts went up with surprising speed.

The roof was a bit more tricky. Should it be flat, or should it be curved? How sturdy should it be?

Their first crude attempt blew away shortly after they had finished it. The wind was a bit stronger, up at their current height.

Eventually they constructed a flat board roof, atop which a triangular rush-and-bamboo superstructure was set. The ‘attic’, as Ukyo dubbed it.

One of the biggest troubles they had been presented with in their old camp was the lack of space, particularly dry space. So they put up several outbuildings; a long wooden structure to serve as a smokehouse, another building carefully set downwind for the curing of hides, and a bakehouse for the rather second-rate bread they had been experimenting with. A boulder, with cuts to the appropriate places was converted to a crude stone oven.

Finally, right beside the house next to the wall, a storage shed was built. The roof was braced and double-braced, and then a small bridge was built from the main house to it.

The result was a balcony large enough for two chairs and a small table. They carefully rigged an awning from brush and bamboo poles, and when it rained on the fourth week into their construction they sat under it, watched the drops patter through the leaves outside the palisade, and drank in the sight.

---

“Akane?”

“Yes, Ukyo?”

He suddenly felt the blush in his cheeks as she looked at him. He shook his head quickly. “It’s nothing,” he said.

She nodded and smiled at him. “Okay, Ukyo.” She returned to breaking open the coconuts with her bare hands.

He glanced over at her, her profile highlighted by the rays of the setting sun. His blush increased and he went back to working on the repair for the roof of their hut. Even as he wove the thick leaves together, forming a nice waterproof mat, he glanced over at her periodically.

“You’ll finish that faster if you keep your eyes on it,” she said playfully, knowing he was watching her.

He quickly locked his gaze on the mat he was weaving, more embarrassed than before. He should have known better. She was incredibly perceptive, much more so than he. Sometimes he felt positively stupid around her.

But this… this wouldn’t wait. “Akane?” he asked again, not looking at her this time.

“Yes, Ukyo?” she replied, turning to face him.

“If I tell you something, will you promise not to get upset at me?” he asked almost timidly.

She smiled widely. “What would I get upset over? You can tell me anything.” Her tone suddenly changed. “Are you starting to get any memories back?” she asked excitedly.

“No,” he answered slowly. “I don’t think so.” With an effort of supreme will, he looked at her, looked her in the eyes. “Akane, I think… I think… I… love you.”

She gasped.

“I don’t know if it’s for the first time or all over again, but I think I’m definitely in love with you.” Again he blushed and looked away. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry, Ukyo. I’m not mad.” She set down the coconut and stood, looking at him. “Why would you think I’d be upset over something like that?” she asked, approaching him.

“I don’t know, but…” He abruptly stopped speaking when she sat down right next to him. Her mostly bare thigh brushed teasingly against his. “I didn’t want to make things uncomfortable between us,” he continued, far more slowly than before as she slipped an arm around him.

Almost giggling, she squeezed him around the waist. “Ukyo…

Ukyo-chan, you act like I might hate you. You know I won’t. Things can only get more comfortable between the two of us.” Her smile decreased in size, but increased in warmth. She just hoped he understood what she was hinting at.

It was her turn to blush when he looked at her, and there was such a strength of emotion in his eyes.

“I really do, Akane-chan,” he said quietly and stroked the side of her head, his fingers running through her lengthening hair. “I do love you.”

“I know, Ukyo-chan, and I love you too.” She brought her hand up and ran it through his hair, pulling some down in front of his eyes playfully.

He pulled away and shook his head, getting the hair out of his face. He didn’t know what further to say to her. He had told her the secret he had been holding for too long, and now…

Instead of speaking, he took her hand in his and kissed it while gazing into her eyes.

“Ukyo-chan?”

“Yes, Akane-chan?”

“Are we going to be here for the rest of our lives?”

“I don’t know, Akane-chan. We might be. We might never be rescued, and I don’t think it’s wise to risk our lives on a raft to float out into the ocean when we don’t know where anything is.

We could be hundreds of miles from the nearest island.”

She nodded at him, his thoughts mirroring her own fears.

Really though, the island wasn’t so bad. There were much worse places to be stranded, she was sure, and she had Ukyo. That helped a great deal.

He looked away suddenly, pulling his lips away from her hand. “Akane-chan…”

“Ukyo-chan,” she breathed. She pulled her hand away from his and put it to his far cheek, gently trying to make him turn his head toward her. “Ukyo-chan,” she said again as their eyes met.

He watched her lean up, her eyes half closed, and as her lips neared his, he closed his own eyes. The moment seemed to last forever before their lips finally came into contact with each other.

A single moment of bliss as they held the kiss, and then they broke apart, each somewhat breathless.

“Akane-chan,” he said quietly as his eyes fluttered open.

“Ukyo-chan, please… don’t talk,” she replied, her eyes still closed.

He looked down at her, unable to do anything except comply with her wish. She looked so beautiful with her eyes closed, the slight blush in her cheeks and the fading sunlight caressing her skin. He hoped she wouldn’t think he was too forward.

He stood, lifting her in his arms, and strode to their hut with her hanging on to him tightly. He stopped in the doorway, looking down at her face. “Forgive me, Akane-chan.”

“No. No, Ukyo-chan. I don’t need to.” She lifted her head to kiss him again, far less tentative than before. “I love you, Ukyochan,” she said when the kiss ended.

Looking at her for a moment more, he entered the hut.

Ukyo carried Akane into the hut and laid her gently down on his padded mat. He leaned down slowly while she reached eagerly up to meet in a kiss.

With hands on either side of Akane’s head, he leaned down and kissed her again, each working aggressively at the mouth of the other. It had been too long that they had existed together with their feelings burning inside them.

Ukyo pulled his head away slowly, his lips reluctant to leave Akane’s. Looking into Akane’s half-lidded eyes, he could see the unshed tears of happiness, and he felt himself begin to follow suit. “I love you, Akane,” he whispered and ran one hand down her cheek gently.

Akane smiled and covered his hand with hers. “Ukyo.. shut up.” She took hold of his hand and moved it away from her cheek.

Leaving his fingertips in contact with her skin, she moved his hand down her neck. Down her neck and lower to smooth skin of her chest.

The look in his eyes told Akane that he knew exactly what to do. Still smiling, she took her hand away and touched him gently in the side. With that feathery touch, she ran her fingertips down his ribs and watched him squirm ticklishly.

She giggled very briefly until she was again surprised by the look in his eyes. He was not joking around, and in an instant, neither was she. Akane leaned up once more and kissed Ukyo, briefly though, and softly.

Ukyo’s hand moved down a little to the simple top Akane was wearing and caressed her breast through it. It was, at the same time, fabulous and frightening. It was exactly what he had been wanting to do; it and all those other things, the thoughts that had plagued him endlessly at night.

But then, he had almost been in love with her at first sight, and being near her for so long, really getting to know her had only made his love grow. His physical desires were a natural result of his feelings, and they had been entirely innocent.

So now, it was like he had just been offered the forbidden fruit. It was his one desire, and while he had been assured it was fine to partake of, he still wasn’t quite sure.

“Ukyo-chan,” Akane asked breathlessly, “what’s wrong?”

“Nothing, Akane-chan, I just don’t want to… I want to make sure you…”

Akane smiled knowingly and slowly reached up to her top.

Ukyo stared first at her face, then at the destination of her hands, which made Akane’s heart beat just a little faster.

She undid the tie that kept her top together and her breasts covered. Pulling aside the first flap, and then the other, she bared her chest to him. “If you don’t… like them, Ukyo-chan…”

Ukyo gasped, but he wasn’t sure if it was in denial of him not liking what he was looking at, or simple appreciation. “Akanechan, I don’t know what to say…”

“Don’t say anything then, you idiot.” Her voice grew quiet.

“I didn’t think we came in here to talk anyway.” This was it. A dagger of fear pierced her suddenly, made her want to flee from the situation, but she did not allow it to take hold.

It was silly, irrational. It had been almost six months that they had spent on the island together and in that time, her thoughts hadn’t always been chaste. She had even dreamed about it a few times, so there was no reason to be afraid.

There had been a strangely surreal feeling to those dreams, but the way she felt when she had awakened was very real. Those feelings had finally come to a head and she would not hold them back.

Akane took a big breath then leaned up and kissed Ukyo again. Her hands moved across his chest then down his arms until she was holding his hands. She took one hand and placed it first on her side, then moved it up slowly until it was covering her breast. The feeling was strange, but exciting, and she decided that for whatever reason she had been afraid, it was unnecessary.

There was no pain, nothing to be afraid of, just a nebulous pleasure that she didn’t know how to quantify. Akane just continued to breathe, trying not to give away just how much she was enjoying what he was doing. Not just yet.

There was something of a standstill at that point. Ukyo was far too intimidated to try anything more, though he desperately wanted to. Akane was more important to him than that though, and he would not endanger…

He squeaked, partially of fright, mostly of embarrassment as Akane took the initiative again and released the tie that kept his sloppily crafted shorts cinched up around his waist. His face glowed crimson as she pulled the shorts down a bit with her hands, then actually used her toes to yank them down the rest of the way.

“Akane,” he gasped.

“I know, Ukyo, why…” she said, smiling. “I know why these instead of something else. I’ve known for a while now.”

Ukyo didn’t think his face could possibly turn any more red than it had. “I just… didn’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

“Stop, Ukyo-chan. There’s no need to. I don’t want to think about this, worry about it now. Right now, I don’t want anything more than to just…” She didn’t know how to express it. Or she was afraid to actually say it. It didn’t matter. “I just want to be with you.”

The rest of it, the other things she wanted to say sounded too silly, too melodramatic even to her. Instead of words, she spoke with actions.

The two kissed ferociously this time, their initial

tenderness swept away in a tide of passion and desire. Tears were actually coming from Akane’s eyes at the extreme need she was experiencing.

Ukyo kicked off his shorts the rest of the way, tearing the seams in the process, and lay down fully on Akane, feeling her body press against his.

He couldn’t even figure out how, but they managed to get Akane’s modest loincloth off, and leave the both of them naked with each other.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” Ukyo panted, his entire body quivering.

“I… I don’t think you will,” Akane answered, her eyes closed, her body seeming to move of its own will against Ukyo’s.

She groaned, her hips grinding upward against his. “I don’t care.”

Ukyo attacked her neck and began to thrust gently with his hips, trying to find the proper spot. It took a bit, time that was enjoyable in its own way, where the two were able to feel each other with every misguided thrust.

“Here, let me,” Akane said, her voice low and sultry. She ran her hand down Ukyo’s chest as he pulled away from her slightly. Her hand moved lower and paused. Again, something wanted her to stop, to not do this, but she would not listen.

Grasping Ukyo gently in her hand, watching him shudder with the feel of it, she steered him to the proper point. “Now, Ukyo.”

He pushed forward slowly and entered her, drawing moans from both of them. “Ooh, Akane,” Ukyo breathed as he penetrated her.

Akane shuddered with pleasure at the feeling. She had been correct. There was no pain, only pleasure, and she couldn’t imagine why she had ever hesitated. And Ukyo… She cared for him so deeply that there were tears in her eyes.

It seemed like a lifetime and only a heartbeat at the same time before Ukyo stopped moving against her and only panted heavily in her ear as he lay atop her.

“Ukyo?” Akane whispered, her entire body quivering with pleasure. “Are you all right?” She hoped so because she wanted him to keep going, the twisting in her stomach not at all unpleasant.

“Yes, Akane,” he answered, panting between words. “I… I…

Wow.”

“What? You’re done?” Akane asked, definitely missing something in the whole process.

“Yeah. Couldn’t you tell?”

Akane snorted. “Not really. What about me?”

Ukyo was slowly getting his breath back. “What about you?

Didn’t you…”

“No,” she answered briskly.

“Well, I guess…” Ukyo shrugged. “I don’t know what to do.”

“Then I suggest,” Akane said, holding Ukyo’s face in her hands, “that you figure something out quick. Before I get…

forceful.”

Ukyo swallowed, his eyes wide. “Yes ma’am!”

“You know, it just occurred to me, that we don’t exactly have any sort of birth control,” Akane said as she lay in Ukyo’s arms.

“Odds are pretty low,” he mumbled in response, squeezing her.

“Maybe, but they’re high enough. I don’t want this to be ruined every time by me worrying if I’m pregnant or not.”

“Ruined? I did my best.”

Akane giggled and shook her head. “I know, but that’s not what I meant. I want to enjoy this moment with you, just laying here together.” Akane considered things for a moment. “I think you’re the perfect man for me.”

“I knew, the moment I saw you, that you were the only one I ever wanted.”

“The moment? What if we had been related? What if we are related?”

Ukyo sighed, sending a breath across Akane’s neck and causing her to shiver. “If we are, then so what? We won’t ever know for sure. And it doesn’t change the way I feel about you.

Just stop worrying, Akane.” He propped himself up on one arm, looking down at her. “And it’s all right for you to lust after me, but I’m not allowed to declare my love for you?” he asked, arching an eyebrow.

“Hey, don’t change the subject. That’s not the point.”

“Oh? Then what is the point?” Ukyo countered.

“The point is that I don’t want this to be a bad

experience.” It was Akane’s turn to sigh. “I do love you and I don’t want things to change.” A baby would definitely change things.

Ukyo kissed her neck and settled down again. “They won’t.

Things won’t change as long as we’re together.”

---

“Well, I guess I don’t need to worry about separate rooms any longer.”

Akane looked back at Ukyo. “Separate rooms? What would you want separate rooms for?” she asked.

“Well, nothing now. Before though…” He shook his head, smiling a bit ruefully. “I was sure that one night I wouldn’t be able to hold myself back. You tempted me every night.”

“Ah, well, sorry about that.”

Ukyo laughed a little. “Don’t be sorry at all. I’ve never been so happy while I was so miserable.”

“Sweet talking will get you everywhere.” She kissed him quickly on the lips. “If we keep this up, we won’t accomplish anything.”

“We? My dear, I am only your willing partner. You are the mastermind of all this.” Ukyo put his hands on Akane’s hips and pulled her close to him. “Don’t think that I will take the blame when we waste away from dehydration.” He grinned lecherously at her.

Akane pulled away and winked. “I’m going to gather some more wood for the fire. Keep it… lit for when I get back.”

“That won’t be a problem,” responded Ukyo, his eyes roaming over her bare skin.

Akane smiled at him and left the house, not even bothering to use the ladder.

He watched her go then poured himself a small cup of palm wine. He still got nervous with her and he didn’t know why. The way they felt about each other was very clear, and it didn’t appear that there was much that would change that. He downed the contents of the cup, hoping it would start working quickly.

Akane returned a bit later with some wood. “This should be good. It’s pretty hard, should burn for a good while.” She deposited the wood in their crude stove, adding some smaller branches on top of them. “So what have you…” Akane trailed off when she saw the glassy look in Ukyo’s eyes.

“Jus’ fine, ‘Kane.” Ukyo burped and Akane could smell his breath.

“Ukyo!”

“Was jus’ a little’ No hard done.”

Akane shook her head. “You can’t even stand up straight.”

“Sure I can. See?”

“I see you swaying back and forth like the drunken nitwit you are. I was only gone 15 minutes. How did you accomplish this so fast?”

“‘Kane, I love you,” he said, sitting down on the floor, looking up at her.

Akane gave her most annoyed sigh. “You’re just lucky we don’t have to do anything today, or I’d be really pissed.” She stood with her hands on her hips, looking even more annoyed than she sounded.

“I love you.” Ukyo held his arms out for her.

“You already said that. Lay down so I can try to sober you up. And I’m not cleaning it up if you puke.” She watched him recline with a goofy smile on his face and shook her head.

“Sometimes I wonder about you. Makes me surprised we even lived this long,” Akane continued, turning her back on Ukyo and starting some soup and mentha tea. “I don’t want you to make this a habit. If you start getting trashed every day…”

“I only do it cuz I love you.”

“Right. Just lie there and don’t talk. And when this is done you had better not argue with me. I’m not in the mood to deal with you.” Akane continued to mumble under her breath, cursing the stupidity of men.

It was ten minutes later, Akane trying to make Ukyo eat a little barely warmed soup and keep his hands to himself, when she smelled it.

“Do you smell something?” she asked, looking around.

“I love you,” Ukyo repeated, resting his head in her lap.

“And I love you too, but what’s that smell?” It was kind of a sweet odor, heady, like strong perfume, but not overpowering.

She inhaled deeply trying to figure out where it was coming from and was immediately dizzy.

Vision spinning slightly, she could barely see the smoke hanging in the air, swirling out of the fire. “Ukyo, the smoke…”

she said, pushing his head out of her lap and crawling across the floor.

“‘Kane, don’t leave me!” Ukyo whined, waving his arms around, trying to find where she had gone off to.

Coughing a little, Akane replied, “I’m not leaving you. I just want to find out what’s up with this smoke.” She coughed again and was finding it increasingly difficult to coordinate her arms and legs. She looked behind herself at Ukyo and it seemed that entire floor was sloping away.

Akane clutched at the rough floor, afraid of sliding down it. She didn’t know how long she’d be able to keep her grip since she could already feel her arms getting tired. “Ukyo, hold on!”

“I think I’m gonna be sick.”

“I’m gonna fall! Try and grab me!” Her arms wobbled and she fell to the floor. She started screaming as gravity took hold of her.

Ukyo stopped her though, catching her in his arms, and she kissed him gratefully for it. Ukyo responded in kind, finally getting some action, what he had been waiting for all morning.

“Ukyooooo…”

Ukyo could only murmur in response, too busy attacking Akane’s neck and shoulders with his mouth.

“When did your haiiiiir turn reeeed?” She stared up at him with a glazed look on her face, her hands holding on to his hair and shaking his head for emphasis.

Pausing for a moment, Ukyo looked back at her, tongue hanging out of his mouth. “I think… I think when yours did…”

That started him giggling, and she joined him.

“Uk… Uk… Yo,” Akane stuttered through her giggling, “have you ever thought what it would be like to me a ban?”

Ukyo ignored her and removed her top.

“I mean, me a ban.” She began giggling all over again as Ukyo undressed them both totally. “Be a man…”

“No, ‘Kane,” he answered, handling Akane as if she were a rag doll.

She giggled the entire time.

---

Dawn broke. More like it slammed over Akane’s head and jabbed her eyes.

Groaning, Akane started to sit up then decided against it and just covered her face with her arms. Whatever had happened, it had hit her hard, like being hung over, but five times worse.

Eventually managing to open her eyes without her head exploding, she looked over at Ukyo. He looked positively dead, just about the same way she felt, except for the gentle rise and fall of his chest.

“Ukyo…” Akane groaned, closing her eyes again. “What the hell happened last night?”

She waited for a bit, listening to the jungle waking up, and tried again. “Ukyo?”

“Do it again, Akane…”

This got Akane to open her eyes and look at him. “Ukyo!” she yelled, immediately regretting it. She smacked his arm for emphasis, squinting her eyes as her head throbbed mercilessly.

Ukyo’s eyes opened slowly, staring up at the ceiling.

“Akane, whatever you were doing, don’t stop,” he said dreamily.

Akane was ready to pound on him and not stop, but settled for talking at him from between grit teeth. “You idiot. Don’t you know what happened last night?”

Ukyo turned his head slowly toward her and smiled. “Yeah. I love you for it.”

Akane rolled her eyes. “Not that. I remember that just fine, but that smoke… And you were drunk off your ass. What was that stuff?” she asked, holding her head.

“I don’t know, but can we do it again?”

“No!” She winced, trying to teach herself not to yell like that when her head was in such a delicate state.

“Akane?”

“Don’t tell me you’re going to be sick.”

“OK, I won’t.”

Getting very slowly to her feet, Akane walked over to the remains of their fire, long burned out and poked at the remains with another stick. The wood that she had gathered had been reduced to ash, but when she prodded at the dust, she could smell it again. That must have been it. “I think I figured out what happened.” She turned only to see him out on the balcony, his head hanging over the side.

She shook her head as he made various retching noises.

---

“It was this.” Akane and Ukyo were standing in front of a medium sized tree with several low branches that looked dead hanging off. “I just broke off some of these branches, the bigger ones, and tossed them on the fire.”

“And you think that is what caused… our behavior?” Ukyo asked, looking at the tiny leaves that adorned the branches.

“It must have been. There’s no other explanation for the way I started acting. Or why we were asleep for two days after that.”

She looked over at Ukyo just in time to see him put one of the leaves in his mouth and chew. “Stop!”

Ukyo’s eyes narrowed as the strangely sweet and bitter taste invaded his mouth and spit the leaf out.

“What if that’s poisoned!?” Akane yelled at him.

“Akane, relax. It’s not…” Ukyo’s eyes bulged and he clutched his hands to his chest. Making strangled gurgling noises, he fell to the ground while Akane watched, horrified.

“I told you to relax,” he repeated and stood up, earning a deadly glare. “I don’t know what it is exactly, but apparently it’s some kind of hallucinogen. I don’t feel any effects now so it’s probably just the smoke.”

“But I just burned some branches. That seems kind of strange.”

Ukyo just looked at Akane.

“Oh, right. Anyway, guess I’ll try to avoid this next time.”

“You guess you’ll try?” Ukyo asked.

Akane smiled a little. “Sure. You heard me.”

---

“It just hit me. We must be somewhere near the equator.”

Ukyo, skinning an unlucky dog that had ventured too close, asked, “Why do you think that?”

“Well, how long have we been here? A while now. It’s been…

almost nine months, and we haven’t seen any big change in weather.

No seasons, so we must be close to the equator.”

Ukyo nodded. “A wise deduction.”

Akane nodded too, not sure just what she was expecting. A gold star or something for figuring it out, but when it came right down to it, it just didn’t matter. “Well, I thought it was important.”

---

“Um, I don’t want you to worry or anything because it could just be one of those things, but…” Akane toed the dirt a little, looking at Ukyo’s back.

“Is there something wrong?” he asked, not turning around.

Well that would make it a little easier. “Just that… I haven’t… I didn’t…”

“Didn’t what, Akane?”

“I didn’t have my… time of the month.” For some reason, she was expecting Ukyo to be upset about it.

“Your… Oh. Is that a problem?”

“I don’t know. It might be. It could mean that I’m…”

“Pregnant,” Ukyo finished for her.

“Right.” The whole exchange sounded very cold to her.

“You’re not upset, are you?”

Ukyo turned then and shook his head. “Of course not. Why would I be?”

“I’m not sure, but…” She shrugged helplessly.

“You’re not sure yet?”

Akane shook her head.

“Then, I guess we should just wait to start panicking after you are.” He smiled a little, which made her feel better. “Whether you are or not, there’s not much we can do. If you are…” Home abortion? No way. And they couldn’t just go and visit the doctor.

“You’re right. I just don’t know about this.”

“Until we’re sure, there’s no use in worrying about it.” Not openly at least.

---

“Ukyo?”

Ukyo swallowed. He knew that tone of voice. It looked like she was sure. “Again?”

“Yeah. I think that’s what it is. I think we screwed up.”

Ukyo’s jaw clenched. “We did not screw up. We are simply being presented with a new challenge, and we will get through this. There is nothing wrong with what’s happened. We should be happy.”

Akane shrank back from the look in his eyes. He was right, of course, but he wasn’t the one that was pregnant either. This was something she was going to have to deal with, not him. Of course he’d be helpful and supportive, but she would still be taking the risk, dealing with the pain. “I’m afraid now, Ukyo.”

Taking care not to get cross with her for her reaction, he nodded. “That’s fine, Akane. But this is something we will get through. No matter what.” He bent down a little so they were eye to eye. “Don’t forget that. And I’ll be here whenever you need me.

You won’t be able to get rid of me.”

“Thanks, Ukyo.” Akane hugged him, afraid to let go in case things got went horribly wrong.

“If you ever need anything, just tell me. Now this is your time to relax; don’t overdo things,” he responded, holding her tightly.

---

Akane woke up in the morning and staggered out to the balcony. Holding on tightly to the rails, she made her way out to the roof of the storage shed, leaned over the side of the palisade and threw up.

This had been her normal schedule for the past two weeks, and it wasn’t getting any better. Leaning on the flattened tops of the logs that formed the palisade, she closed her eyes and waited for the nausea to pass.

Ukyo walked up behind her silently and set some water next to her. He knew she didn’t like him to try and baby her, especially when it was “just a little morning sickness” even if she did end up drinking an entire gourd of water when she was done.

He would wait on washing up in the river for a bit. It was always more pleasant with Akane along, and she liked to go after the vomiting passed. Instead, he decided to just go for a little walk, follow the river for a bit upstream. When he returned, Akane would probably be ready to go.

He took along a bag in case he found anything interesting, grabbed his stick on the way out and left. Trying not to be too cheerful for Akane’s sake, he didn’t start whistling until the house was out of sight.

He followed the river until he reached the waterfall. This was one of the defining reasons they had moved to their current location, to enjoy to enjoy such a beautiful and picturesque spot.

It was almost perfect, possibly too perfect, but Ukyo had long ceased caring about such things.

He took in the sight for a few moments, then started his walk around to the top of the waterfall, and continued onward.

There was a slight danger of the ground caving in, the same way it had before, but he wasn’t going to be too worried about that unless he went higher up the mountain.

He planned on keeping to the waterfall’s plateau though and not going up the mountain. That was taking just a little too large of a risk, and he didn’t want to do that to Akane. Ukyo didn’t even want to think about the fact that there would eventually be a baby in their midst.

Ukyo hadn’t realized how far he had gone, using the

opportunity to think about the way things were going to change fairly shortly. Akane had morning sickness, and who knew how long that would last. Then she’d start to show and be less mobile, and he’d have to do almost all the work to make up for it, leaving less time to care for her.

The best they could do would be to store extra meat and fish, as much as possible, make sure they had plenty of skins for whatever they might need them, and… just be prepared. Not much of a comfort really.

Sighing at the daunting time ahead of both of them, Ukyo stopped walking to drink some water, the sun beginning to acquire its midday heat. He sat in the shade of an immense palm and relaxed, trying not to think too hard about what the future would bring. It was too uncertain to do that.

He leaned his head back against the trunk of the tree and closed his eyes. It was impossible not to consider the future.

Akane… she was the only thing he had. If something happened to her, he didn’t know what he’d do. Probably go mad.

The sound of growling shattered his contemplation and caused him to open his eyes very slowly. Not more than three feet away stood the largest, ugliest wild dog he had seen. It was brutish, almost wolf-sized, and was completely unkempt. The other wild dogs were wild, but their coats were in fairly good condition. That was how they were able to make decent skins from them, but this one…

The fur was long and matted, sticking in clumps, looking like it had tangled with something larger than itself and lost.

What that could have been, Ukyo didn’t want to know.

He started to stand slowly, and the dog advanced, one half of its face mangled, the socket crushed and devoid of an eye. Ukyo froze. His stick was some protection, but unless he could get to his feet, he wouldn’t have the speed or power to protect himself.

It was the only thing he could do. If he could just stand up enough, just make the dog back off, then he could fight the thing off. Slow or fast, how should he do it? Whatever way would let him live.

He started to rise again, bringing his stick up, but the dog seemed aware of what he was attempting and attacked.

Launching itself at him, saliva flew from its gaping jaws, yellowing teeth gleaming in the light. Ukyo watched the beast come closer and closer, his arm seeming to move in slow motion to swing his stick. At the last moment, he put his other arm up and watched as the dog clamped its mouth down on it.

Time seemed to speed back up as blood spurted out of the wounds and he screamed in pain as the teeth scraped against the bones of his arm.

The weight of the animal slammed him back against the tree, smacking his head against the trunk. Ukyo fell to the ground with the dog still on top of him, tearing at his arm. He was dizzy, with the world swimming in and out of focus, but the fire in his arm and chest kept bringing things back to reality.

Weakly, he batted against the ribs the dog with his stick and fist. He would have been dead if not for the fact that the dog was occupied stripping his arm of any muscle and wasn’t going for the throat.

Akane walked out slowly, still taking swigs from the gourd and spitting them out, trying to get the taste of stomach acid from her mouth. Same damn thing for two weeks and it was still almost debilitating. She should have been over the weakness bit.

And Ukyo was probably already down at the river and she’d have to take care of things by herself while she felt like crap.

Akane massaged one temple as she walked toward the river. Her head hurt too.

“Ukyo?” she called out, expecting him to answer back as usual. There was none however, just the normal jungle noises.

“Ukyo?” she called again, her pace beginning to pick up.

This time she was answered, but it was a faint scream, echoing through the trees.

Headache gone, Akane was instantly running, trying to find the source of that scream. She knew the source, of course, but wherever he was, she knew she had to get there quick.

After that one short scream, there was nothing more, nothing else for her to follow, but something in her told her to just follow the river. Ukyo liked the river. Out walking, it would be the most natural way for him to go. He might have fallen, slipped, hit his head, hurt his ankle…

Akane ran as fast as she could, careful not to kill herself in the process.

Ukyo was being flayed alive. He was dying and very slowly, very painfully. He had never discovered who he was, but he had found love with Akane and he could almost die happy.

Searing pain ripped through his arm and an enraged canine shriek rang in his ears. The weight was suddenly removed from his chest and he was allowed to lie still. It was the end.

In fact, he was being lifted, floating, rising up… Then the voice of an angel…

“You’re gonna be fine, Ukyo. Just hang in there. Don’t give up.”

Then the pain returned, his entire body bouncing violently, though he was in the embrace of someone. Was it true, that hell must be conquered to reach heaven? Maybe that’s what it was. Ukyo only hoped he would not be deemed unacceptable for his weakness, and passed out.

Akane was sucking in the air as she moved as fast as her feet would carry her with Ukyo’s near dead weight in her arms. She would have shifted him to a fireman’s carry, but there were some nasty wounds on his chest that she didn’t want to take any chances with.

The worst thing was definitely his arm though. That fucking dog had clamped down and wouldn’t let go, like a toothed vise.

Only after she had shattered its ribs and come close to breaking its neck had the thing let go.

And then she had snapped its neck like a twig, crushing it under her foot, even as it had tried to bite her. Still, the empty socket seemed to burn with an unkillable fury, making Akane doubt her own sanity for a few moments.

Ukyo’s groans had snapped her from her confusion, and she had ended carrying him back. Back to the house… She changed direction, going for the river instead. The flowing water would help, or at least she thought it might.

She set him down gently on the ground, watching the blood flowing freely from the wound in his arm. Sucking in a breath, nearly scared witless, she ran back to the house to grab some supplies that could be easily used for first aid if necessary.

Oh how they had been hoping it would never be necessary.

“I’m here, Ukyo. Hang on,” Akane spoke breathlessly as she lifted him and carried him into the water. The water seemed to work, rouse Ukyo from semi-unconsciousness. “I’m gonna sew you up now, so hold still,” she said soothingly.

Akane grabbed the palm wine and held it over his arm. It would hurt like hell, but it had to be done. Gritting her teeth, Akane poured the wine over the open wounds.

Ukyo’s eyes snapped open and he howled in pain, struggling in Akane’s grasp.

She didn’t let go, holding him tightly until she started to pour the alcohol over the claw marks on his chest. “I know it hurts, Ukyo. Just hold on. Just a little more…” she said calmly.

It really wasn’t going to be just a little more since those gouges wouldn’t close up on their own… That was what she had brought the bone sliver and fishing line made of sinew for.

“Hold still now, Ukyo. This is gonna hurt, but it has to be done,” warned Akane, gripping his arm tightly. Whether he was listening or could even hear her, she didn’t know, but it made her feel better.

With shaking hands, she fixed the line to the sliver, normally used for hooks or traps to catch fish, and brought the point to the ripped open flesh. “Hold on, Ukyo,” Akane repeated and pierced his skin with the needle.

Ukyo’s cries were weaker this time, and that worried Akane, but it had to be done, and there was no anesthetic on the island to be found. He would have to cope with it or… or not. But he was strong, he would make it. A few stitches wasn’t anything.

As efficiently as she could manage, Akane fixed up Ukyo’s arm, pulling the skin back together as best she could, hoping it wouldn’t tear. The last step for the moment was wrapping a thick leaf around the arm and tying it to hold it all in place.

Hopefully.

The wounds on his chest weren’t bad, mostly deep scratches, but there were a couple puncture wounds where the dog’s claws had dug in too deep. They’d do with some bandaging, but would heal with very little problem. No, the big worry was his arm. Would his arm hold up?

Gathering Ukyo in her arms, his frame slightly bulky, but nothing she couldn’t handle, Akane headed back to the house. For the moment, she needed to watch over him, make sure he simply had a torn up arm and not some disease from the dog.

“Shit, Ukyo, why’d you have to go out? Why didn’t you just wait for me?” They were questions she couldn’t help but ask, feeling like she should have been there for him, kept him from going out. “Ukyo, you idiot, wake up…” She didn’t even notice the tears rolling down her cheeks.

---

His first sight was a welcomed one. Akane was standing, stretching, arms raised above her head, hip thrust out to one side, womanly attributes accentuated nicely. Especially since she was naked from her waist on up.

“I couldn’t think of anything better to wake up to,” Ukyo weakly said, making an effort to sit up.

“Don’t do that,” Akane warned and sat down next to him.

“Just rest until you’re strong enough. Don’t try to force things.”

She pushed on his chest and forced him to lie back down.

“My arm hurts,” he said simply.

“I’m not surprised. It’s in pretty bad shape. I think it was luck that you didn’t get killed by that thing.” Akane toyed with the container of palm wine. She’d have to bathe his arm in it periodically, but she wouldn’t be very happy doing it.

“How bad?” There was so much unspoken in the one short question he asked.

“Bad, but not too bad. Deep bites, to the bone. But that’s all.” If she took proper care of it, he would escape the encounter with only a scar on his arm and not a stump.

“It hurts, Akane.”

“I know it does.” She moved so that she was cradling his head while on her side, and ran her fingers through his hair.

“I’ll have to clean it again.”

Ukyo nodded and closed his eyes.

“You want something to drink?” Akane asked.

“To dull the pain?”

“If that’s what you want. I’ll get a cup.” Akane started to rise.

“No, don’t.”

“You’re such a baby, Ukyo. I don’t need to take care of you like this. You’re not hurt that badly.”

“Maybe not, but I like this. I like having you close to me; it makes it hurt less.”

Akane shook her head, still running her fingers through his hair. “Oh does it now?” she asked quietly, lowering her nose to the top of his head and breathing in his scent.

“Very much so. The only thing I can think of when you’re so close is how much I wish all my limbs were functioning so I could carry you to the waterfall.”

Akane kissed the top of his head. “And then what would you do?”

“I’m not sure yet, but just feeling your body in the water is enough.”

“Enough for what?”

Ukyo tilted his head back a little, trying to see Akane’s face. “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”

“You bet,” answered Akane, smiling. They stayed that way for a bit, just looking at each other, before Akane lifted the palm wine and took a drink. “Want some?”

Ukyo nodded and drank when it was offered. It was strong, and in the shape he was in, it would probably knock him out in a little while if he continued drinking. “Akane, I love you. I don’t think I can say that enough now.”

“Shut up and have another drink.”

---

“Akane!”

“Hold still, damn it!” Akane poured the wine over his arm, trying to keep him still. “It’s not that bad!”

“Yes it is! It hurts!” Ukyo yelled back.

“Get a grip on yourself! You want this to get infected? Is that it? I’ll stop if you do.”

“Good! I don’t care!”

“Well, I do,” she answered him and poured more of the stinging alcohol over the healing gash. “Act like this again and I’m gonna…” With an annoyed sigh, Akane shook her head. “Just don’t make it this hard.”

“Akane…”

“Don’t even try, Ukyo. I’m not in any sort of mood to deal with you. I’m about at the end of my rope right now, and I know you don’t want to make me upset.”

Ukyo shook his head sadly.

“Good.” Not quite shoving his arm away, Akane stood. “I’m going out.”

She sat at the edge of the water and tossed small rocks out into it. They sank beneath the slow moving current, even as Akane tried to follow their progress. A lot like the progress she felt: down.

Sometimes she hated Ukyo, for no reason that she could put her finger on. She just wanted to hit him every time he opened his mouth, every word, every action… That frightened her. Why would she hate Ukyo? She loved him, and she knew why. She loved him and didn’t ever want to be without him.

Another rock sank in the water. So why did he infuriate her like that? Why?

A question Akane couldn’t answer. Another one to go along with all the others. Things she had no explanation for, things she had long given up on trying to figure out. And yet, still they haunted her. Questions of why and how, where, and even who…

Questions she had no answers for.

It was fitting. After all, her whole being was a person she had no answers for. No memories except what had transpired on the island over the past eleven months.

For the first time since she had awakened on the island, Akane put her head down and cried for herself.

---

“Are you gonna hold still, or do I need to knock you unconscious?” The look in Akane’s eyes was absolute seriousness.

She wasn’t kidding.

“Go,” Ukyo replied, nodding his head once.

Akane cut the end of the line with the knife and pinched it hard between two fingers. “Ready?” Her arm tensed.

Ukyo started to nod, but before he could finish, Akane pulled on the line. He released a sound that resembled a squeal and immediately clamped his hand over the wound.

“All done. That wasn’t so bad, was it?” In one hand, Akane was holding the homemade suture.

Ukyo’s face slowly turned red and it was quite obvious he was trying to hold something in. “Gyaaahh!” he finally cried out.

Walking away, Akane said, “I’ll get the wine.”

“Gyaaahh!”

---

Akane woke up early, Ukyo draped all over her, and expected the usual intestinal rumblings. Surprisingly enough, they weren’t there. She removed Ukyo’s arms from her and sat up.

It felt good not to have to go out and throw up for once.

She took a deep breath and was finally able to enjoy the morning air in a way she hadn’t for a month. Maybe it was only a temporary relief, but she was going to take advantage of it.

Trying not to wake Ukyo, she headed outside and soaked up the morning sun in a way she hadn’t been able to for weeks. This time, her stomach gurgled, but not for the usual reasons. Akane looked down at her stomach then and noticed the change.

It was slight, but it was there, a definite roundness she hadn’t noticed before. Maybe it hadn’t been there before and this was only the beginning. Her first step to becoming a water buffalo. Akane was, at the same time, excited and dismayed. She didn’t want to get huge, but…

“Akane?”

Akane turned a dazzled Ukyo with her smile. “Good morning!”

Ukyo looked confused, made even sillier by the mass of morning hair. “Why are you so happy?”

“Because I don’t feel sick this morning!”

Ukyo scratched his head. “Well, that’s good.”

Leaning up to kiss his cheek, Akane giggled. “Well it sure feels good to me. Finally I can look out at the sky in the morning instead of down at the ground.”

“Oh.” It was obvious Ukyo wasn’t awake yet.

“And look at this.” Akane took a step back and turned to show her profile to Ukyo. “See?”

Ukyo looked at her. A little more. “No.”

“Look!” Akane pointed to her stomach.

“You’ve gained weight.”

“Yeah! It should only…”

“Maybe we should cut back on the red meat then.” Ukyo looked down at himself to see if he could judge any weight gain.

Akane sighed. “No, I’ve gained weight, you nitwit.”

Ukyo blinked at her and shook his head.

“Idiot, the baby.”

Ukyo cocked his head to one side. “The baby? You mean that’s the baby?” he asked, pointing to her stomach.

“Somethin’ like that.” Akane looked down at herself again.

“The beginnings of one anyway.”

Ukyo shook his head again. “It’s too early in the morning for this.”

---

Time seemed to fly by. At the point in time Akane’s hair could be tied into a ponytail that reached her shoulder blades, she was most definitely showing. In fact, she thought she couldn’t get any bigger.

“I feel like I just swallowed a coconut whole,” she groaned.

There wasn’t any real discomfort other than the fact that her stomach was practically its own entity.

“NO, Akane. Whatever it was, it’s much bigger than a

coconut,” Ukyo answered and grinned at her.

Akane stuck her tongue out at him.

“Hey there, missy, I dare you to do that to my face,” Ukyo drawled, raising his eyebrows at her.

“To your face? Don’t tempt me. I might not stop there if I do.”

“Is that a promise?” Ukyo took two steps forward, putting himself within arm’s reach of Akane.

“Maybe. Depends.”

Ukyo took another step. “On what?”

Akane beckoned him forward with one finger, to which he complied. “Stuff,” she answered, slipping her arms around him.

“You’re a tease,” Ukyo whispered and kissed Akane.

“But it’s worth it, isn’t it?” she asked after they broke the kiss, smiling.

Shrugging, Ukyo refused to answer, simply looking at her with his hands on her hips.

Akane’s eyes opened wide. “What the…”

“What’s wrong, Akane?” Ukyo asked worriedly. “What’s…”

“I felt it. I felt the baby kick.” Akane’s eyes were huge, amazed. “I felt the baby.”

Ukyo swept her up in his arms. “That’s great!”

“Right, now stop that before I throw up.”

---

Akane was on skin patrol, what she preferred to call the duty of skinning the hides of whatever beasts that happened to be needing it. Whistling as she removed the hide, Akane entered her own little world of daydreams.

She wasn’t aware when her whistling shifted to humming, still absorbed with the work she was doing.

[… my need for two hearts that bleed with burning love…] “What’s that you’re singing, Akane?”

Akane startled and turned, glaring at Ukyo. “Don’t sneak up on me like that!”

Ukyo backed away, grinning. Akane looked like a homicidal maniac with the blade in hand and blood staining her. “I just wanted to know what you were singing.”

“I was singing?”

“Yes. I was curious as to what it was.”

Akane thought about it, but could only shrug. “I don’t really know. I didn’t even know I was singing.”

“In English no less. It was very nice.” He smiled pleasantly at her.

“Thanks.”

Ukyo stood for another moment, but Akane wasn’t really paying attention to him, so he went about his business.

In English? How strange. Akane couldn’t even recall any English words, let alone sing a song in English. She winced as the baby kicked especially hard, then went back to skinning the corpse.

---

“Damn this kid is feisty. Feels like it’s about to bust out through my gut.” Akane sat down with her hand on her stomach, grimacing. The baby had waited approximately two weeks before it decided that breaking ribs was something it wanted to do as a hobby.

Akane was none too pleased.

“I’m not sure what to do. We don’t really have anything for pain. Unless you want some more wine, but I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“I don’t either. I just am wishing right now I could hand this off to you. Bleah.” Akane laid back and closed her eyes.

“I don’t know if it will help, but here.” Ukyo offered the ashen powder and a smooth hide he used to write things down. “Maybe it will take your mind off things.”

“No, I can’t draw or anything. It’d just be a waste of a hide.” Akane tried to give the materials back, but Ukyo refused to take them.

“Akane, it’s not a waste. And how do you know you can’t draw?

Just give it a try.”

Shaking her head and sighing, she was going to refuse anyway, but Ukyo’s gentle smile convinced her. “I’ll give it a try.”

She doodled. There had been a couple vain attempts at drawing the interior of the house, Ukyo, a tree, birds… Failures. Bad ones. So Akane found herself simply doodling, drawing intricate patterns with no real rhyme or reason on the hide. It whittled away the time while she waited for the baby to be born.

[…there is no doubt you’re in my heart now…]

Ukyo paused what he was doing, just long enough to hear Akane singing again. Not wanting to disturb her from it, he continued what he was doing, just listening.

Her singing faded, slipping to just humming. And then that was cut short by a huge yawn. “I’m whipped, Ukyo. Think I’m going to sleep now.”

“I’ll take care of the gate then. How’s the kicking?”

“Better. Guess the kid finally got tired.”

“Or just liked your singing.”

Akane gave a disgusted snarl. “I was doing that again? Tell me next time so I don’t make an idiot of myself.”

“It was nice, and maybe that’s why the baby stopped kicking.”

He looked back at Akane, only to see her with her eyes closed.

“That’s stupid,” she mumbled. “How does the baby know I’m singing?”

“I don’t know…”

---

“Sick again?”

“Yeah, but not too bad. It’ll only be another couple months anyway. I can handle it once or twice a week. Besides, it just makes that trip to the river that much better.” Akane ran her hand down Ukyo’s cheek then went out to the ladder.

“Hey, I can take a hint when I see one,” Ukyo called after her, gathering their primitive bathing items.

“Shit!” Akane yelled.

Ukyo hurried out and saw Akane at the base of the ladder, a look of pain on her face. “What happened!?” he asked, leaping off the walk and hurrying to help her.

“I fell. What do you think?” she snapped. “I’m too damn fat to get down that damned ladder!”

“Relax, Akane. Are you hurt?” Ukyo asked, voice remaining calm. “We’ll deal with the ladder later.”

“I think I’m fine. My back’s a little sore, but other than that…”

“Good. Then I’ll deal with the ladder. You just relax, take as long as you need.” It seemed a little harsh just leaving her on the ground like that, but he couldn’t realistically get her back up into the house. The ladder definitely wouldn’t accommodate the two of them. “I think I’ve got an idea. It shouldn’t take more than a few hours.”

In those few hours, Akane managed to make it down to the river, her back protesting, gathered some fruit from the trees nearby, work on some weaving and a number of other random tasks.

By the time she had finished everything she had set out to accomplish, Ukyo had finished.

“What do you think? Looks good, doesn’t it?” Ukyo asked, smiling at his project.

Akane looked. “What is it?”

“It’s a ramp. Instead of the ladder. You can walk up it and don’t have to climb.” Ukyo sounded vaguely hurt.

“It looks more dangerous than the ladder,” was Akane’s reply.

“Nonsense!” Ukyo started to walk up the ramp. “It’s perfectly safe.” His foot hit a slick spot and slipped out from underneath him, sending him tumbling back down. “Sort of,” he croaked.

“You need help. Good thing I’m around.”

---

Ukyo looked up at the sky and knew they were in trouble.

Never had he seen it turn green before. The stiff, cool breeze that blew smelled imminently of rain.

He paced back and forth along the balcony, his eyes

transfixed by the swirling green sky. This wasn’t good. He cast one glance back at the house, inside where Akane was resting.

How she hated to rest, forced to recline and do nothing, yet she knew it was something she had to do. Not to mention Ukyo would physically force her to lie back down if she ever got too active.

It was so soon. They had predicted as best they could the date the baby would arrive and that day was coming soon. That didn’t mean their date was exactly right since they had, after that first time, attacked each other almost every day.

They had no means of protection and the pregnancy was

something they both had accepted as a risk they were willing to take. It had been only a matter of time, which brought them both back to the approaching moment.

“Ukyo?” Akane called from inside.

“I’ll be right there,” He answered, looking back at the sky.

Bad things were in store for them, the sky was a frightening indicator of that.

Shivering at the breeze, he went back inside, closing the door behind himself. “Is there something you need?”

“Yeah,” Akane grunted. “Help me sit up, first of all.” She was in the hammock and struggling to rise. The thing was comfortable, but it was hell for a pregnant woman to get out of.

Hurrying over to her, Ukyo took her hand pulled Akane into a sitting position. “Something else?”

“Kind of. What’s it like out there? I can here the wind…”

Hear it? She could feel it, and she was very concerned that it would take the roof right off.

Ukyo shook his head. “It doesn’t look good. A storm it looks like. A bad one.”

Akane’s face paled. “Do you think that it’ll hit before…”

“I don’t know. I think the best thing to hope for is that it doesn’t last very long. Maybe just a day. And that it doesn’t blow away everything we’ve worked to do up until now.” Whatever happened, it wouldn’t help at all when the baby arrived.

Before the birth or after it, if it ripped up their house, blew down the palisade, where would they go? They couldn’t have a baby living in a shelter and Ukyo couldn’t build an entire house by himself while Akane was pregnant/recovering.

“Don’t worry, Ukyo-chan, we’ll make it.” Akane took his hand and smiled up at him.

Ukyo squeezed her hand, a ghost of a smile touching his lips.

“I hope so, Akane-chan. I hope so.”

What little daylight there was faded into the darkness of night. The wind continued to blow, but no harder than before, leaving the roof in place, and only a few of the wild dogs came to investigate their compound.

Even they were daunted by the imminent bad weather, and most of them stayed holed up in their caves in the mountain. It was when the rain started that Ukyo wished they had a cave to hide in.

“Hungry?” he asked, putting another piece of wood on their small fire.

Akane shook her head. “Not really. My stomach’s kind of upset, actually.”

Making a tsking sound, Ukyo shook his head. “Well, you must eat. I’ll see about putting together some of that stew.”

Akane nodded weakly, concentrating on not complaining about how crappy she felt. She feared that if she started, she’d never be able to stop. Her back ached, her feet hurt, she felt swollen, had to pee about once an hour and she just knew she looked like crap.

“Be right back.” Ukyo ducked out of the house and went down the ramp. He went first to the smokehouse, ignoring the sounds of the dogs outside the gate, and retrieved a flank of wild dog.

The joke went that everything tasted like chicken, but the dog had a kind of gamey taste that went better in stew. It was the closest thing to beef they had.

He retrieved some plantains from the storage shed, along with a few wild vegetables. It wasn’t quite stew, but a chunky soup that worked just as well. If he had been able, had the proper ingredients, he would have devised some way to make noodles, but with the way their bread turned out…

Back inside, Ukyo noted the look on Akane’s face. She was not feeling well and he knew it, but there wasn’t much he could do.

Tossing one of those plants on the fire was completely out of the question with the baby…

Devising a plan and saving it for after they had eaten, Ukyo went to work preparing food.

Ukyo got the thick plantain stew heating then carefully got into the hammock with Akane. It would be a good 15 minutes before the food was heated up enough to eat. “So do you think it will be a boy or a girl?” he asked quietly, stroking Akane’s hair.

“I don’t know,” she replied, sighing deeply. “I just want this to be over. I want it to be healthy, but…”

“But what?” he whispered, kissing the side of her head.

Akane didn’t answer for a moment and Ukyo knew there was something wrong. “I don’t want my child to grow up on this island. I don’t want him, or her, to have to watch us get old and die and not have anything they can do about it. I don’t want…” She stopped as her breath caught in her throat and she held back a sob.

“You won’t have to, Akane-chan. You won’t. Are you listening to me?” Ukyo held her closely, speaking softly as she tried to regain her control. “We will get off of this island. One way or another. Eventually.”

Akane turned as best she could and kissed Ukyo, tear tracks on her cheeks. “I wish I could believe you, Ukyo. I want to, but I just don’t think we ever will.

“That scares me more than anything, to rot here and let my…

our son or daughter do the same.”

Ukyo was caught speechless. Instead of continuing with false words of hope, he lay silently and held Akane.

A while later, Ukyo stirred. “I should check if the food is done. You need to eat.” There was no protest as he removed himself from the hammock and checked on the soup. It was slightly warmer than lukewarm, and that was enough. “I hope you’re hungry.”

“I guess,” Akane answered, feeling more like she wanted to throw up than eat.

“I think eating a little something will make you feel

better.” Ukyo brought the bowl over and sat down on the edge of the hammock. “Here,” he said, offering Akane a spoonful of soup.

“You don’t need to feed me. I can still do that myself,”

Akane protested.

“Quiet. Eat.” Ukyo held the spoon up and watched as Akane ate the spoonful of soup.

Ukyo did not stop until the bowl was empty and Akane looked better than she did before. “I told you you would feel better after eating.”

“Don’t gloat. I don’t need it now,” Akane warned, voice revealing fatigue.

“Of course you don’t,” Ukyo replied as he set the empty bowl and spoon on the floor. “Here. Roll over a little.”

The two shifted until they were arranged more comfortably against each other. Ukyo then began to gently massage Akane’s shoulders and neck.

“This was one of the things that got us in this situation in the first place,” Akane murmured, very much enjoying the attention Ukyo was paying to her sore muscles.

“And now it’s important to keep you as comfortable as

possible. Just rest now.” He reached around and released Akane’s top.

She sighed at the relief of pressure on her chest. “Ukyo, don’t. Not now.”

“Don’t concern yourself with it, Akane. You need your rest.”

“Just don’t get any funny ideas.”

Ukyo didn’t reply, continuing to give Akane a massage in silence. She was so close to sleep that he didn’t want to disturb her any more than necessary.

He listened to the first patterings of rain strike the house, the wind rising in strength. He didn’t think the storm would be so considerate to give them relief when the baby arrived.

Their wake up call in the morning left a lot to be desired.

The home creaked ominously, but it was only when, with a tremendous squeal, the roof was yanked off and sent crashing into the tool shed that they realized they had a problem. A big one.

Immediately Ukyo and Akane were awake, wind and rain whipping into the house and down on them. They struggled from the hammock, too shocked to even yell or scream over the rude awakening.

For a moment the two scrambled around with any sort of direction. Akane was the first to calm down, but it wasn’t because of any good reason.

She sat roughly on the floor, rain pouring down on her. This was not good. Under normal circumstances it would simply be the most frightening moment in her life. Under current circumstances…

“Ukyo,” she said weakly.

Ukyo finally took notice of her sitting on the floor, nearly naked, and he rushed to cover her with a soft hide vest.

“Ukyo,” Akane repeated, looking up at him with water dripping into her eyes.

“What is it?” he almost had to yell to be heard over the wind.

“I think it started.”

Ukyo stared at her for a moment. “What has?”

Right away, Akane slapped him, rocking his head back. “It’s started.”

Ukyo paled, the red mark on his face standing out. “Akane…”

A gust of wind drove the rain horizontal for a moment, and the creaking of the house intensified. Both Ukyo and Akane looked around and grabbed each other’s hands. They were just waiting for the entire thing to collapse around them. But the wind subsided and the house was still standing.

Akane grimaced in pain. “Ukyo, it’s really starting.”

He looked at her first, then at the house around them. “We can’t stay here. We can’t take the chance that… And we can’t do this in the rain…”

Ukyo grunted in pain as Akane squeezed his hand extra hard.

“Ukyo…”

“I don’t know what to do!” he yelled, panicking. “We can’t stay here!”

As if to make his point, the wind gusted again. “We’ll be lucky if the palisade stays up, let alone the house! Where are we supposed to go?” Ukyo continued to yell.

“Damn it, I don’t know!” Akane yelled back and flinched at the dull lance of discomfort that rippled through her.

Ukyo panted, eyes moving from wall to wall. He might have suggested one of the sheds, but if the house collapsed, if the palisade collapsed, they would probably be damaged. Assuming they didn’t blow away as well.

There was the mountain, the caves, but giving birth amongst a pack of wild dogs…

There was one other option he knew of. “Akane, the temple.”

Instantly she shook her head. “No, Ukyo. Not there. Not in that place.”

“It’s the only place I can think of, Akane. Before this gets worse, we have to go! It’s the only place!” How he wished that wasn’t true.

Akane closed her eyes, oblivious to the wind and rain for a time. It was the only way. Ukyo knew it. She knew it. “We’ll need some sort of coverings, water…”

Ukyo nodded and was instantly in action. He grabbed their three skins filled with water and slung them over his shoulder.

Grabbing a mat and rolling it up, Ukyo also snagged a large, allpurpose skin. He shoved each of those, along with their trusty pocket knife into their satchel and put that over his shoulder.

“Let’s go, Akane,” he said, helping her to her feet. “Will you be able to make it?”

“I don’t think we have much of a choice. Let’s just go.” She held on to his arm as they left their house.

The ramp was slippery and they made their way down it slowly, Ukyo barely stopping himself from dragging Akane along.

“Wait under the ramp while I open the gate,” he commanded, expecting her to obey him. Not bothering with the usual care, he lifted and threw aside the half-trunk bar across their gate. For less than a second, he hoped the dogs had fled the weather, then opened the gate with a prayer on his lips.

The only thing beyond the gate was jungle, dark, blowing in the strong winds, and wet. “Come on, it’s safe!”

Fighting back the pain and extreme discomfort, Akane followed as fast as she could, half-blinded by the wind and rain. “This isn’t getting better, is it?” she asked, her voice just below the point of yelling.

“I don’t believe so. We have to hurry.”

Akane grumbled, “Like I don’t know that.”

They headed northeast, looking to hit the ant trail, which they could then follow to the temple. Making their way to the trail was a journey in its own right. The wind was blowing branches and leaves and bushes all around, and rain was always in their faces.

It was a battle to make it through the wild jungle,

especially considering Akane’s condition, but they somehow managed even though Ukyo had neglected to bring his stick.

They burst from the trees to the open space made by the ants.

“Come on, Akane, not that far now,” Ukyo urged, holding on to her arm.

Akane stumbled along behind him. “It’s getting worse. I don’t know how much longer…”

“No! We’ll make it!” Every word had to be shouted to be heard over the ever-increasing wind. “I’ll carry you if I have to!”

Akane shook her head and stumbled, ready just to fall to the ground and stay there.

Ukyo was there, supporting her though, dragging her along.

“You are not allowed to give up. If you die, the child will die, and I refuse to lose both of you.” There were tears in his eyes as he spoke forcefully to Akane.

Akane shuddered, her head hanging down, then began to move under her own power. “I’m doing the best I can.”

Several times, the wind managed to push over trees in their path, the sky blackening overhead, but they didn’t let that stop them. They continued northward, drawing ever closer to the temple, to the only place they believed they could find safety.

Akane felt like her feet were lead and the weather was determined to root her in place. But Ukyo would not allow it. He was pulling her, dragging her when necessary and never released her arm.

She was blinded by the wind and rain, but when they were within sight range of the temple, she knew and dreaded it. “No, Ukyo. Someplace else. Anywhere but here…”

“We have no time and no alternatives, Akane. We must.”

Akane wanted to cry as they crossed the threshold to the place. She tried to resist, pull away, but her feet simply slid on the wet tile. “Noooo…”

“Akane! We must!” Ukyo snapped at her. They were free from most of the wind, but the rain was driving now, falling in a steady sheet. “Down here,” he said, dragging her toward the set of stairs.

“I’m so cold…”

“Hush, Akane,” Ukyo answered absently as they descended the slick stairs. At the bottom, he dropped everything he was carrying and helped Akane to sit down against the wall. He pulled out the mat he had brought along and laid it on the ground. “Relax here, Akanechan.”

As she moved herself to sit on the mat, Ukyo was removing the other things from the satchel. He washed his dirty hands with some of the water then turned his attention to Akane. With all the moisture and then being on the tile, his skin was freezing, and Akane couldn’t be any better.

“Take that off,” he said, and started to remove the oversized vest from her. Next, he removed her loincloth so that she was naked.

“Akane, I don’t know what I’m doing,” he said as he washed the dirt from her.

“Neither do I, Ukyo. But I’m cold…” She shivered, but was thankful for the mat, that her bare skin was not touching the floor of the place.

Ukyo pulled out the skin, worked to be soft and supple, and put it over Akane’s shoulders. “Does it hurt much yet?” he asked, offering her some water.

“Not much.” Akane took a drink of the water. “Do you think this will work out all right?”

Sitting behind her for support, Ukyo took her hand and squeezed it gently. “I don’t know, but I hope so. You just tell me when it hurts and we’ll get through it together.”

Akane closed her eyes and tried to breathe deeply, closing out the discomfort. Ukyo helped, and getting off her feet helped too, but she wasn’t sure that was enough to overcome the fear and hatred of the temple. And to have her child born in it…

“Unh… A little pain.”

Ukyo looked over her shoulder, but could only see the expanse of her stomach. Something told him to count and so he did, silently on his mind.

He was still counting and rocking Akane gently when she indicated that there was pain again. “Three hundred,” he said quietly.

“Three hundred what?”

“Three hundred seconds. Since the last time,” he replied.

“Five minutes.”

Akane was starting to breathe a little quicker than she had been. “Five minutes? So what?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know anything about having babies.”

Akane couldn’t help but laugh, short and painfully. “Neither do I or we wouldn’t be in this situation right now. Gods my back hurts.”

Ukyo began massaging her shoulders again. The cold, wet stone couldn’t be helping at all, but he didn’t think they’d find any place on the island that was currently dry and warm. Above them, he could here the wind blowing, rising in intensity, and water had started to trickle down the stairs.

Akane sucked in a breath of air and squeezed his hand almost painfully. “How long was that, professor?” she managed to say through her gritted teeth.

“Not very long, Akane.”

“Is it supposed to feel like I’m going to turn myself inside out?” Akane was breathing shallowly, holding Ukyo’s hand tightly as the discomfort mounted.

“I don’t know. Maybe. Is it getting worse?” Ukyo was very glad Akane could not see his face and the total bewilderment on it.

He had no idea what to do, what to tell Akane, if everything was going as it should… He just knew that the woman he loved was in pain and there was nothing he could do to help.

“Worse?” Akane asked, shivering.

“The pain, Akane. Is the pain worse? Is the baby coming?

Don’t do this now,” Ukyo answered, now very worried.

“The pain? Not really. I just…” She grunted as every instinct in her body yelled at her to push. “I think it’s coming,”

Akane said before she answered her instincts.

“A Ka Ne, you’re… crushing my hand,” Ukyo gasped. The pressure suddenly released and Akane slumped against him. Ukyo pulled his hand free and flexed it, confirming that it was still intact.

“I can’t do this, Ukyo. Make it stop,” Akane whined

pathetically. “Make it go away.”

Ukyo let out something between a laugh and a sob. “I can’t, Akane. You have to do this. There’s no other option.”

Akane was slowly shaking her head back and forth. “I don’t want to be here. I want to be home. I don’t want a baby. I just want to stay with you…”

“I’m here. I won’t go anywhere without you. Just relax. Let it happen on its own. Those damnable dogs do it more often than rabbits, and they don’t have any help. We can do it as well.” Well, that was a pretty good speech. Ukyo just hoped Akane would believe it.

“I don’t care. I don’t want to.”

“You have to.”

“I’m not sure if I hate you yet or not.” Akane took Ukyo’s hand again.

Ukyo chuckled weakly. “We’ll see after this is all over.” The small smile on his face quickly disappeared as Akane squeezed again and the bones in his hand creaked.

There was no holding Akane back as she didn’t quite scream with the effort of trying to force the baby out. She put all her energy into it, but again she was denied the relief.

Ukyo could only watch in fright as Akane put forth everything into her efforts and practically deflated when she stopped. She was shivering and her skin was pale, and he knew things were not good.

Thankfully, it seemed things were moving quickly because the longer they stayed in the veritable dungeon, the worse things would get.

The dank conditions weren’t good for Akane and they wouldn’t be good for the baby. He started rocking Akane again as she leaned against him, panting.

The process repeated itself several more times until, rather unceremoniously, the child was expelled and landed roughly on the mat.

Akane nearly passed out, while Ukyo could only stare. There it was, on the ground. The baby. Still he stared, and as if to protest this staring, the baby opened its mouth and wailed like there was no tomorrow.

Ukyo moved slowly, like he was swimming in mud, to get a closer look at the baby. It was small, somewhat wrinkly, had a mouth the size of the sky it seemed, and was shaking. His secondary observation, after finally realizing that it really was a baby, was that it was a girl.

“Akane, it’s a girl. It’s a girl. We have a daughter.” His voice was growing in volume and excitement. Ukyo used some water to rinse the blood and mucus off the baby, then lifted the tiny thing in his arms.

She hadn’t stopped crying, but as Ukyo cradled her to his chest, she stopped shivering mostly. Looking back at Akane, he meant to show her what had caused them so much worry over the last nine months, but Akane was reclining with her eyes closed, obviously exhausted.

“A girl?” Akane asked tiredly, thankful it was finally over.

“Yes. Look at her. She’s beautiful.” Ukyo held the child toward Akane again, and this time, she opened her eyes to look at the brand new baby.

Reaching out with her hand, she touched the baby on the side of her head. “Good. Can we go home now?” she asked, fatigue more evident in her voice than anything. “I need to sleep. I still don’t feel well.”

She still felt full and there was still that instinct in her that wanted her to push. Akane clenched her muscles, pushing somewhat involuntarily, too tired to try it actively.

“I don’t think it’s a wise idea to head back until the storm has passed. We would risk all of our lives traversing through the jungle,” Ukyo answered, cradling the child again. Not to mention it was quite apparent that Akane was in no shape to be traveling at the moment.

“I just want to… unh… get out of this place.” Whatever was going on, she wasn’t done yet. And they had never considered that there might be more than one baby. “Ukyo, I don’t think…”

She didn’t think about it, and she was very glad after the fact that she didn’t have to look at it, but very shortly, she also birthed the placenta. With a sigh of relief that the feeling was finally gone, she fully relaxed.

Ukyo looked with horror at what had just happened. For one fearful moment, he thought Akane had ruptured something, that her ovaries had fallen out or something, but when he saw the look of peace on her face, and that the umbilical cord was connected to the mess, he calmed down.

“Let’s remove this from you, shall we?” he said quietly to the baby. Some buried memory, from some place he didn’t know, made him take a portion of the tie from his shorts and wrap it around the chord tightly. He then cut the chord with the pocket knife.

“Akane, can you move? I need to clean this up. You don’t want to lie in it,” he warned.

Akane did move, allowing Ukyo to pull the mat out from under her and rinse away the mess, getting the blood off of it. He flipped it over and allowed Akane to sit on it again. This time, he placed the baby in her arms and wrapped the hide around them both.

Akane held the child and looked at her. She looked back.

“What should we name her?”

Ukyo shrugged, looking at the two. “I’m not sure. I can’t really think of any…” Pain ripped through his head as he looked into the wide open eyes of his daughter.

His hands flew up to grasp his head as he gasped for air.

“Na… Nabiki.”

Akane looked at him, quite concerned. “Was that a flashback?”

“I… I don’t know. Just a name… Nabiki. I don’t know why,”

Ukyo said, his voice strained, head still in his hands.

Akane looked at Ukyo then at the baby in her arms. “Nabiki.”

She smiled. “Nabiki. Yeah.” As she held Nabiki, the baby began rooting around on Akane’s chest. It took a moment for Akane to realize what she was trying to do.

“Look, Ukyo. I think she’s hungry.” Akane positioned little Nabiki at her breast and directed the nipple to her mouth. Nabiki latched on almost immediately and began nursing in earnest. “Not so hard, Nabiki-chan,” Akane warned as the baby suckled.

Ukyo stood abruptly and walked up the stairs. At the top, looking out on the barren courtyard, swept by rain and wind, he had to bite his lip. It was almost too much, too much for him to handle.

After a moment of futilely trying to hold everything back, he wept openly. The most dangerous time was over. The baby had been born with no ill effects and they were all currently safe even in the storm. Even in the temple.

“Ukyo? What’s wrong?” Akane called from the shelter of the bottom of the stairs.

“Nothing, Akane. Everything is fine,” he called back down, tears of relief still cascading down his cheeks.

“Come back, Ukyo. Stay here with Nabiki and me.”

“I… I was just checking on the storm,” he rationalized, wiping his face. As a matter of fact, the rain had slowed somewhat, but the wind was as powerful as before. If they were very lucky, they might get a break before nightfall, allowing them to return to their home. If it was still standing.

He definitely did not want to spend the night in the temple.

Sighing, he headed back down the stairs. It was better that he stay with them anyway.

“How’s it look up there?” Akane asked as he descended the stairs. Nabiki was still at her breast, a look of determined contentment on her little face.

“Not good. The rain has slowed, but the wind is as fierce as before. I hope that we can leave before dark. I don’t want to spend the night in here.”

Akane nodded. “Neither do I. And I’m getting hungry.”

Ukyo sat next to them, huddling as close as possible. For once, a time when they didn’t want it, it was actually cool on the island. After this was over, he was going to make a dog skin blanket just in case. “Maybe I will venture out later to gather food. Or if the weather has cleared, we can head back.”

That made him cross his fingers, knowing it would be a long shot from what he had seen. To think that the weather would break so suddenly and miraculously…

“At least…” Akane started, then stopped.

“At least what?”

“At least it wasn’t the transport. I think there might have been worse.”

Ukyo nodded, but he wasn’t so sure that the temple was any better. He was grateful that he hadn’t had to step another foot into that pile of scrap, but he knew that whatever had made it that way… It all came back to the temple.

“I’m going to check the weather again,” Ukyo declared and hurried up the stairs. He wanted to go, run up the stairs and keep going, but there was no way he would leave Akane and Nabiki.

At the top of the stairs, his hopes were dashed. With the wind still blowing and rain still falling, they were stuck at the temple. “Shit!” he yelled at the sky.

“Come back, Ukyo. It’ll clear up eventually. You need to give it more than a few minutes,” Akane called from below. “Just sit with us for a while.”

Us. Akane… and Nabiki. The realization hadn’t totally sunk in yet for him. Surely all the implications hadn’t been considered, nor did he want to, but…

“Ukyo?”

Ukyo stood out in the open air and let the rain strike him for a few moments. The sound of thunder in approaching clouds made him shiver, the sky being lit up periodically by lightning. He made his decision then.

“Akane,” he said, marching down the stairs with purpose, “I’m going to check on the house.”

She looked at him, not quite believing what he was saying.

“Why?”

Ukyo looked down at his feet, frowning. “Because. I won’t let you spend any more time here than necessary. If it’s still in one piece, mostly, we’re going back.” He looked up and met her eyes.

“We’re not staying here.

“Now I know the roof came off, but we can sleep in the storage shed while I fix it. That’s where everything we know is, and that’s where we need to be. Not here in this dungeon.”

Akane’s lips twitched and then she smiled. “Just… hurry back.”

“Wish me luck.” Ukyo leaned down and kissed Akane, then the top of Nabiki’s head. Giving then one last look, he headed up the stairs.

Akane watched him and sighed. It was silly to go back in the weather, but she didn’t want to stay in the temple either. She winced as Nabiki started gumming her breast, and pulled the baby away. “Stop that. You keep that up and you won’t get anything at all out of that one.

“Oh. Aha.” Akane turned Nabiki around and situated her at the other breast. “And I’m going to have to do this how many times a day?” Akane asked, as if expecting the baby to answer.

Nabiki’s only reply was to eagerly start nursing again.

Akane sat there, the sound of the wind and rain coming from above her, water trickling down the stairs, but other than that, there was foreboding silence. When Ukyo had called it a tomb, he had been exactly right, and Akane hated it.

Turning her attention away from the how much she didn’t like being there, she concentrated instead on Nabiki. The little girl was adorable, not that there was anyone else to notice. Why she would ever consider not having a child was incomprehensible, especially after… after…

After Ukyo had turned out to be someone she knew she could always count on, and someone she wouldn’t mind being trapped on a deserted island with for the rest of her life.

And Nabiki. He had helped create her, and Akane could see each of them in the little girl. The shape of her nose, a dimple there, her eyes… The way she was eating. “Ouch, not so hard. It’ll all come out. Just give it a chance.”

Akane winced again at Nabiki’s insistence on eating. She was starting to wish for a bottle the way Nabiki was going at it.

“C’mon, Nabiki, take it easy. It’s not going anywhere.”

In the dark they waited, Nabiki’s feeding slowing down, and Akane counted off the minutes. She estimated 15 minutes there, if the way wasn’t too blocked, and the same amount back, possibly less if there was good news.

Thirty minutes wasn’t so long. She had waited longer under less interesting circumstances before. This should have been no problem. And she had Nabiki to take care of, to get that first bonding with in. It would have been better if Ukyo was there instead of out in the jungle.

“I’m sure he’ll be find, Nabiki. Your daddy will be back soon.” She knew it was true, but there was some doubt gnawing at her as well. With the weather going crazy, anything could happen. The dogs might have ventured out, or the house collapsed while he was in it, or the palisade… “He’ll be back.” Only another 26 minutes to wait.

Nabiki’s suckling slowed and finally stopped completely as she drifted off to sleep.

Akane cradled her and sighed. At least one of them would get some rest after the entire ordeal. It was hard to think that just a little while ago, Nabiki had been a mystery presence among them, a little person without a face, without an identity. And there she was, sleeping soundly.

Akane lowered her head and closed her eyes. She had seen the look in Ukyo’s eyes before. He hadn’t admitted it, but she knew he had been shaken up by the birth, and she was too.

“I hope he makes it back soon,” she whispered.

The sound of the wind didn’t make her feel any better, nor did the dripping water. Akane just wanted to be back with Ukyo, where it was dry and warm.

She lifted her head when she thought she heard something.

Looking over in the corner, there was nothing. It must have been her imagination, just her imagination.

Akane lowered her head again, feeling the baby in her arms, so warm and alive, and slept.

A snake. Water. Sand. The wind. It could have been any one of those things crawling across her skin, those claws poised to dig into her. Strange sounds, like music, but… not. Haunting. Evil.

A voice now, calling to her. Akane… Akane…

“Akane?”

Akane opened her eyes and lifted her head, confused whether she was awake or still asleep. “Ukyo?”

“It’s me. I think we can go back. It shouldn’t be too bad, and the rain’s slowed down.” He was a dark shape in the dim light.

“Ukyo?”

“Yes, Akane?”

“Who… where’s Nabiki?”

“You mean… Isn’t she there? Aren’t you holding her?” he asked, kneeling down next to her.

She felt his hands reach out, moving over her flesh, and fought to not pull away from him. The weight in her arms suddenly seemed to come into being. Nabiki.

“She’s here. Is there something wrong?”

“I… I’m not sure.” She tightened her grip, feeling the child in her arms. “I just want to get away from here.”

Ukyo’s voice softened. “We can go, Akane. Back to the house.”

He took her arm gently and tried to get her to stand.

“I’m so cold, Ukyo. And Nabiki…”

“The sooner we get back to the house, the quicker we can get you warmed up. Come along. I’ll carry Nabiki if you want me to.” He stood slowly, pleased when she followed.

“No, I want to hold her.”

Understanding the strangeness in the situation, Ukyo spoke gently. “Then you hold her. We should get going before the weather picks up again.” He escorted her up the stairs and out of temple.

The weather had calmed considerably, but the sky was still that strange color and the threat was still there. Ukyo was thinking that they might be spending the night under the house if things didn’t clear up.

The wind had been strong enough to take off the roof, but everything else seemed to withstand the storm fine, with even the smaller structures remained standing.

Ukyo walked as fast as he thought Akane could handle. He wanted to get both Akane and Nabiki out of the weather as soon as possible. He didn’t even want to consider what the days ahead would involve, including repairing the roof, discovering just what about their baby preparations had been inadequate, tending both mother and child…

Back at the house, Akane grinned tiredly. “Looks just like we left it.”

“I should hope so. It’s only been three hours,” Ukyo said, happy to see that Akane was acting like her old self again. Not that he blamed her for behaving oddly; giving birth would probably do that to a person. “If you wait in the storage shed, that should be safe until I can manage to get the roof back on.”

“No, Ukyo, I should help with that. I just need…”

“You need to rest and take care of Nabiki,” he said sternly, steering her to the shed and inside. “It’s dry here and out of the wind. I’ll get some food and water.” He looked at her, his eyes rooting her to the spot.

“Yes, sir.”

“Good.”

---

“Ukyo, almost done?”

“No!”

“When do you think you will be?”

He wiped his forearm across his face, clearing some sweat away. “When hell freezes over,” he grumbled.

“What was that?”

“Just as soon as I rebuild the entire thing, love,” he said cheerily, an insane grin on his face.

“That’s good. Keep it up,” she said happily and waved.

Laughing sickly, Ukyo waved back, ready to throw the hammer at her.

---

“It only took me a week. Not bad, if I do say so myself.”

Akane shrugged. “Not too bad. Though I think it is a little crooked.”

Ukyo made a strangled gurgling noise, his face a comedic mask of pain.

“Settle down,” Akane said, poking him in the arm, “I was only kidding. Looks great, especially since you did it without any help.”

Ukyo snorted. “Well that’s for sure.”

Akane blew a raspberry at him.

---

Akane stared at the stretched hide, dipped a stick into the bowl of pigment, and drew.

Lines emerged, and then an outline. With a satisfied grunt, she reached for a second bowl and began to fill in the form that was emerging with color.

Another bowl, and green and black shapes were called into being around the center of the drawing.

She frowned slightly.

Carefully, she took a smaller stick, honed to a sharp point, and deftly began to etch in details. Reliefs, carvings, chips in the painted stonework… the building began to emerge with a crisp clarity on the hide, while the jungle framing it remained a blur of green and black.

Akane examined the work, and frowned again. There was still something missing.

Mixing two of the pigments, she daubed a bit on the edge of the canvas.

No, not what she was looking for.

She mixed two more, then a combination of three, then more, in varying amounts and types….

“Akane? What’s this?”

She blinked. Then, almost reluctantly, she stepped aside so that Ukyo could see her canvas.

He stared at it for a second.

“I never knew you were an artist,” he finally said.

Akane shrugged, somewhat embarrassed. “Neither did I. I just suddenly had this compulsion to paint, and so I mixed up some colors and sat down and, well…”

“It’s very good,” Ukyo said, a slight tinge of wonder in his voice. “Why the temple?”

Again she shrugged. “Well, it’s really the only building around here. I think I’m more of an architecture painter than a people painter… I guess… I dunno, I just wanted to paint the temple.”

“It looks… I don’t know… real,” he said, amazed. “Not like a photo, but like you really captured the essence of it. Sort of creepy.”

She poked him hard in the leg. “Don’t call my picture

creepy.”

Ukyo chuckled. “Hey, if it wasn’t creepy, it wouldn’t really be the temple. Creepy is good.”

“It’s not really that bad. Just different. Nabiki was born there after all, and it did save our lives. Twice.” She frowned, looking at the line of sample mixtures at the edge of the canvas. “I just wish I could get the color right for the highlights.”

He blinked. “It looks finished to me. What sort of color?”

“Well, it’s a… I mean… well, it’s not purple, really…

maybe green? With yellow and purp.. well, no, not really.” She stared at the canvas, confused. “I don’t know. Just a color.”

Chuckling, Ukyo looked admiringly at the canvas once again.

“Well, you’re the artist, love. Tell me when you think it’s finished, and we’ll find a place for it.” He cocked his head, turning back to her. “Maybe you could paint something over Nabiki’s crib? Something…” he paused, fumbling for a word.

“Less creepy?”

“Yes, less creepy.” He chuckled. “We should try to make her life as creep-free as possible. Certainly the island provides enough of that as is.”

Akane nodded somberly. “I’m going to start training her in a few more weeks.”

“Toilet training? She already….”

“No, martial arts.”

He stared at her. “Akane, Nabiki can’t even walk yet. She’s not even a year old. How on earth do you train a baby?”

“Not kicking or punching, stupid. Just basic reflex training, coordination exercises. That’s all they’re ready for at this stage, but it makes a big difference later on.”

“As you say.” Ukyo still looked dubious. “I would ask how you know, except…”

“…except that we both know that I have no idea,” Akane finished. “But I do know, and strongly. This was a big part of my life, before. It was for both of us, I think.”

He nodded. “Why, do you think? What kind of people were we?”

Akane spread her hands. “No idea. To be honest, Ukyo, I don’t think it matters now as much as it used to. I’ve got you and Nabiki, and next to that… next to that, who I used to be really isn’t very important, you know?”

Ukyo nodded. “I know. I just worry, at times.”

“About?”

“Nabiki. I worry that she’ll get really sick. Or that

something will happen to her. But mostly I worry about what her life is going to be like. We have each other, and I think that’s all that’s really kept us alive and sane. What’s she going to have, especially when we’re gone?”

Akane nodded. “I’ve been worried about that too. But really, Ukyo, you shouldn’t be, because there’s nothing we can do about it right now. Maybe when she’s older… 16 or something… we can make some sort of real attempt to escape, build a boat or something. But right now is not the time to risk it. I plan on being around for several more years anyway.”

He kissed her lightly on the cheek. “I’m glad to hear it.”

Laughing, she reached out, draping her arms around his waist.

“C’mere, you. I wanna paint.”

“I’m not a canvas.” His shirt came off nonetheless.

“We’ll see.”

A mural of sorts was drawn, but largely destroyed by the exercise which followed.

The painting was hung the following day.

Ukyo often wondered how she had finally found the right color for the highlights. He didn’t like the look of it at all.

For her part, Akane just felt it fortunate that the mix of colors had dried like that, or that the light played on it just right, or whatever had finally made the highlights look the way she wanted. It was curious.

She had another bad dream that night, but didn’t mention it to Ukyo. The sound of the piping flutes faded from her mind by midmorning, and Nabiki required her attention.

---

Time passed, as it tends to if you take your eyes off of it.

The groves and fields were their main chore, now. The labor involved in tending them wasn’t terribly burdensome, but it did take a while. Especially since they were constantly expanding, cultivating new fields and orchards and food sources in case a storm or blight hit some of the current ones.

They both, of course, required meat. Without a wide selection of modern vegetables, vitamins, and supplements, they had no real choice except to be the omnivores nature had designed them as. This didn’t particularly bother them. After all, a large percentage of the meat they ate had wanted to eat them before making the career change to main course.

With effort, probably, they could have set up a captive breeding program and raised dogs for food. Somehow, however, this didn’t appeal to either of them.

Besides, their current program of hunting helped keep the wild dogs within reasonable limits.

The dogs themselves were beginning to feel a positive sense of hate for them, Akane sensed. These two bipedal creatures were threatening to take over the top rung on the food chain… HAD taken it over, because while they dined on dog steak every week, the pack had yet to drag either of them back to Canis Mountain for a snack.

From their point of view, the situation was intolerable.

That, of course, implied intelligence and reasoning on the part of the wild dogs. Akane still believed it. While they were individually no more that rather mangy, stupid canines, the pack as a whole seemed to have a certain evil, vicious cunning and sentience. She believed practically anything where the damn island was concerned.

The damn, vicious, deadly, beautiful island.

Akane couldn’t really compare it to anything, not directly; her memories had begun that day on the beach. But somewhere below the surface were hidden knowledges and recollections. She knew the sheer misery and danger of this place, and how she had once lived somewhere safer, somewhere where you could relax your guard without danger. Somewhere where children played outside, and dogs were wellbehaved and tame.

She also knew that it was the most beautiful place she’d ever seen.

The way the waterfall cascaded down through sheets of green and black, the birds flitting around like breakaway bits of rainbow, the lagoon crystal, a sheet of rippling glass over pebbles and sand…

Their porch during a slow, steady, gentle rain, water

thrumming atop the awning, water flowing down the branches and dripping from the leaves, dry in the crude chairs. Making love during it. Watching little Nabiki, almost a year old, stare in confused wonder and irritation at the falling drops. The smell of the air and earth afterwards.

Akane loved the island, and hated it just as strongly.

Her nightmares left her the most ambivalent about it, for in them she would be running through the jungle. Sometimes she would be fleeing, and other times running towards something, but each time she would awaken with the voice laughing in her brain, and sometimes she would scream. It worried Ukyo, she could tell. It worried her a bit, too, because it was getting worse and worse.

Worst of all was when, in her dreams, she found the temple.

After that, her flight always wound up in there, screaming as she dashed through the black corridors of it, deeper, deeper, running screaming through tunnels that dripped a black oil with a tinge of color she couldn’t quite identify….

But they were only dreams, after all, and daylight banished them and the piping of flutes.

Ukyo was happy, in his own way. His daughter made him feel oddly complete, as if he had needed someone to take care of. He would show her the places he treasured most on the island, and tell her why they were special to him. While Nabiki clearly couldn’t understand the words, she easily picked up on the sentiment and would look at him with wide eyes.

The early reflex training went well. To Ukyo’s relief, it mostly seemed to consist of Akane poking at Nabiki’s hands with a finger. After Nabiki had caught on to the concept of meeting finger with tiny palm, Akane would attempt to slowly move her finger to touch Nabiki’s shoulder. And the tiny little hand would move to intercept.

Gradually, Akane increased the speed. At an age Ukyo could barely comprehend, Nabiki could move her tiny arms with startling speed to accurately block her mother’s pokes.

“I’m burning in responses,” she explained to Ukyo. “Kids’

brains are still a work in progress, and you can do a lot with them if you catch them early. Nabiki’s hand-eye centers are getting an incredible workout, and so they’re being more fully developed and built up more than they normally would be.”

“It’s not going to make her stupid, is it? I mean, if that part of the brain is getting all the attention…”

“It doesn’t work like that. The parts that get attention get well-developed, the others just do as they’d normally do. That’s one of the reasons why I like you reading to her. She’s picking up useful processing.”

“You make it sound like we’re building a computer or radio or something.”

She had chuckled. “Something much more important, Ukyochan.”

The river flowed by, sweeping down to the sea. Sometimes the days were long and lazy, and sometimes the nights lasted forever.

IV

…cometouscomecomeyoumustgetupopenyoureyescomewecallyoucome…

Akane’s eyes snapped open, and a low whimper escaped her

lips. She was on fire, she was burning up, she needed something…

Slowly, gingerly, she threw off the blankets that stuck to her sweating limbs and walked over to the balcony. The cool air blew in, and the moon illuminated her nude form in a faint glow.

It was out there. She had to go.

It took all her willpower to stop and hastily throw on some clothes before leaving, the feverish craving singing in her veins.

She supposed this must be how a drug addict would feel. Should she be worried? Probably, but she couldn’t quite manage fear. There was just the awful aching that needed to be salved, and the thing that would salve it was out in the jungle. She knew it.

She also knew that she really should wake Ukyo up, but… he wouldn’t understand. He might try to stop her, and then she wouldn’t be able to go and make the burning stop…

A low moan escaped her lips. Carefully, quietly, she

descended the ladder, opened the palisade gate, and carefully shut it behind her. Then, without hesitating she walked through the cleared fields and into the jungle.

She knew that if the dogs caught her, as they were likely to do, they would probably kill her. She was unable to feel any fear at this. The whole thing was like a hazy dream, all except for the savage, twisting craving filling her. It wasn’t hazy at all. It burned like the sun.

She walked through the jungle, green on black on green,

pushing aside the branches with her hands, stumbling over rocks and vines, running in a slow lope through the darkness.

Howls arose from her left, then from her right. Glowing eyes like bright yellow lamps appeared in the bushes. Akane ignored them.

They weren’t important.

Branches lashed at her form, ripping her garments, drawing blood from low scratches. She ran on, the dogs loping about her like shadows, snarling and slavering and utterly inconsequential. She dimly supposed she should be afraid of them, but there was a foggy wall wrapped around her brain that was cutting off such silly things as fear and doubt. There was only the desperate, hungry NEED that was filling her veins, inflaming her, burning…

She ran, ignoring the rocks and trees, stepping right through a small river of carnivorous ants who parted for her like the Red Sea. They did not part for the wild dogs, and only the ones who loped almost at her heels survived. She barely heard the dying yowls of the others.

Green on black on green on black, and she was almost sobbing with the need for relief. It drew her on, like a magnet to a lodestone, and she feared that her heart would burst before she got there…

The temple loomed before her, and she scrambled desperately through the barren ring around it. The dogs at her heels drew to a sudden halt as she stepped through the ancient gates; they stopped, convulsed once, then fell lifeless to the eon-worn stones.

She pulled to a halt in front to the statue she had seen

before, admiring the beauty of it, the loveliness of the work. Then the gnawing, burning compulsion hit her with almost physical force, and with a choked wail she stumbled into the main building, into the darkened vaults, and finally came to a stop before the muckencrusted slab. The slab door leading to the steps, the door with the loathsome sign on it.

Drawing her fist back, she shattered it into a hundred

pieces.

Gasping with pleasure, she lurched frantically down the

stairs. It was down there, what she needed to quench the terrible craving was down there…

The geometry of the room was wrong, warped, but she felt

oddly comfortable with it. An oily black liquid swirled around the floor, and she waded into it with a low sigh of contentment, feeling it pulse warmly and damply around her legs. And there, floating in the center of the room, was a large glassy sphere, almost delicate looking, that pulsed and shone with a hue that her fogged mind refused to identify, and yet somehow knew intimately. She needed it.

That was what would stop the burning!

Screaming an incoherent shriek of need, she jumped to the sphere, grabbed it, curled herself around it, pulled herself tighter and tighter against it…

And, with a pop, the sphere burst like a soap bubble.

The color within it suddenly was everywhere, in the walls, in the floor, in her, and a black oil began to well up from between the cracks of the walls to join the ichor she waded in…

And then the haze over her mind callously left, and her

emotions and reason returned, and Akane shrieked in sheer terror and ran, the black oil suddenly feeling like the foulest substance imaginable.

It welled up from the pit of her stomach, like a burning

acid, almost making her faint from the pain. Slowly, tendrils of it moved through her body, and she screamed, feeling something inside her twist and writhe and decay. The scream ended in a choking cough, and blood spattered across the steps as she staggered out of the oil, up, away, up…

Her heart skipped one beat, then another, and a giant fist seemed to close around the inside of her chest, and a black tide swelled through her brain, sweeping her with it. She tried to scream again, and more blood gushed forth. Her vision dimmed, and she cleared the last step, and then she fell.

Frantically, limbs and body spasming and flopping, she clawed at the stones, trying to pull herself a few more feet away. She knew she was dead, but she wanted to get as far away as possible from the thing before the end. Her eyes failed, and she convulsed again, hands flailing weakly at the ground.

Behind her, flutes played with malignant glee. A final cry of horror tried to escape, and the resulting wet gurgle was the last sound she heard before her ears shut down. She felt rather than saw the blood flowing up from her throat, and hoped Ukyo would be all right.

And then there was nothing.

---

Ukyo woke, and immediately realized something was wrong.

He sat up in bed, and his mind registered the unfamiliar

absence next to him. “Akane?”

No response.

Alarmed, he lit a lamp and peered out into the stockade.

“Akane? Are you out there?”

Silence, except for the normal sounds of the jungle at night.

Swiftly descending the ladder, he checked all of the

outbuildings, knowing exactly what he would find. Nothing. Akane was out in the middle of the jungle, alone, without having informed him first. They never did that, not even during the day. That was the rule, you always told the other person where you were going to be hunting, just in case…

So was it an emergency? What sort of trouble, though, would prevent her from waking the person sleeping an inch away?

And then he remembered Akane standing on the balcony at

midnight, eyes glazed. Akane complaining of odd dreams and nightmares. Akane absently sketching the temple…

The temple…

A cold, prickling feeling began to work its way along Ukyo’s spine. He returned to the main house, grabbed his fighting stick and a torch, and ran out into the jungle night.

Akane was easily a match for several dogs when awake. Asleep, though, or at least partly asleep… he wasn’t sure what had happened, but all of his guesses involved a helpless Akane lurching blindly through a predator-infested wilderness to a place that practically radiated evil.

No wild dogs appeared to contest his passage. The night was unnaturally silent, which frightened him even more. By now he should have been attacked at least once, night birds should be cooing, things should be scampering out of his path… Instead, there was just the swaying of the branches and vines in the low breeze, and the sound of his running feet against the rocks and dirt.

He entered the blasted ring of vegetation surrounding the temple, and his heart skipped a beat. There, lying under the entry arch, were several shadows that were unmistakably bodies.

Running forward, he let out a sigh of relief. All of them were the corpses of dogs, the dead eyes staring at the moon, tongues lolling out of mouths filled with dying gore. Akane had at least made it this far, then, and no animal ever came in here… so she was probably safe, right?

No, he suddenly realized with a terrible certainty. There was a reason the animals didn’t come in here, and Akane would probably be safer out in the jungle. Or in the caves of Canis Mountain, for that matter.

Trying to fight down the growing fear, he strode swiftly into the main building, shuddering as he passed the hideous statue. It seemed to leer at him in the pale moonlight, the eyes glowing with reflected radiance.

He broke into a run, past the fountain, through the vaulted doorways, down towards the crypt that they had almost opened…

And there, by the shattered remains of the carved, muck-

encrusted stone slab, lay Akane.

“Akane?” he said softly, suddenly very afraid.

She lay still, a slender, crumpled figure in the darkness of the vault.

He dashed to her side, crouching down by her, a sick feeling building in his stomach. “Akane… Akane, wake up… Oh, God….”

Dark blood spattered the front of her shirt, her neck, her face. She was very pale, and very still.

Numbly, he began to reach for her wrist to check for a pulse, and then she convulsed, flopping on the bloody stones like a landed fish, twisting and writhing. And then she went slack again, a new trickle of blood and bile oozing from a corner of her mouth.

From the vault, a dim whistle of flutes came, and he thought he saw a glimpse of something moving up the steps.

Ukyo’s mind quickly summarized the situation. If I stay here, I will die. If I move Akane, she may die. If Akane stays here, she will die.

Without hesitating, he scooped up the frighteningly light body of his love, gritted his teeth, and ran out of the vault.

The fountain spewed a foul black oil as he dashed passed it, the odor sickening. He ran, and did not slow his pace until he had passed the gate and was safely out of the barren zone.

Moving as fast as he dared, he gently carried her back to the house, loping through the jungle in a half-run. Even if it weren’t for the wild dogs, he didn’t think that staying in the shadow of the ruins would be a good idea. He ran, and prayed to any power that might be listening that the move would not kill her.

Akane lay still in his arms, her breathing like a rusty knife being slipped in and out of its sheath; slow, uneven, barely audible. Her face was horribly pale in the moonlight, an unhealthy pasty white. Now and then a violent spasm twisted through her, sending her flopping in his grip; then, as fast as it had come, it would stop, and again she would hang limp against his shoulder, and the sound of breathing tore in and out…

The run seemed to take forever, and twice he drew to a

panicked stop, unable to hear her lungs working. But then he would catch a whisper of ragged breath, and he would run on, a terrible fear in the pit of his stomach.

Finally, like a beacon in the night, the camp loomed out of the darkness. Dashing through the gate and securing it, Ukyo slowly ascended the trunk ladder and laid her tenderly on their pallet.

Nabiki began to cry from her cradle as he lit the lamp with his flint, and moved to kneel by Akane. Carefully, terrified by the pallor he saw in the flickering light, he stripped away her clothes and began to search every inch of her for a puncture or welt.

He found nothing the first time, nor the second. On the third attempt he even ran his fingers through the close-cropped hair, trying to find a bump or swollen patch. Still nothing.

She didn’t appear to be bitten or stung.

He swore quietly under his breath. Akane wouldn’t have eaten anything untrustworthy; she was smarter than that. And it wasn’t just sickness. He was sure it was no coincidence that he had found her at those steps.

Another spasm rippled through Akane, almost throwing her off the pallet. Then another. And another, even as he grabbed her shoulders to keep her from spilling onto the floor.

And then a hideous gasp came from her throat, sending Nabiki into a frenzy of wailing. She convulsed once more, and stopped breathing.

“No…” he moaned, grabbing her face, “No, Akane, please…

don’t, please…’

…classman, are you listening? Put your mouth to the dummy’s and blow…

Knowledge flooded into him in a burst, and he put his lips to her cold, ashen ones and desperately performed CPR.

He blew into the silent lungs as Nabiki screamed, and sobbed as he did so, crying for the first time in his briefly remembered existence. It wasn’t going to work.

And then her lungs heaved, and a choked breath escaped, and she began to gag. Swiftly he grabbed their crude clay bowl and tilted her head, placing the container under her mouth.

Akane spasmed, and then an oily black liquid spewed from her mouth, splattering against the bowl. The odor hit Ukyo like a blow, and for a few seconds he was afraid he would pass out. As soon as the vomiting ceased, he hurriedly laid her back down on the pallet, dashed onto the balcony ledge, and hurled the bowl over the edge of the stockade.

A few spatters of it had fallen to the floor, and he grabbed a leaf from their sanitary supplies to mop it up. He had never seen anything like it… almost like tar or petroleum, slowly eating at the boards where it had fallen, and the stench of it…

Once the floor had been wiped, he poured a gourd of water and bathed Akane’s face. The rasp of her breathing was painful to listen to, and she lay very still.

Nabiki’s wails had died down, to be replaced by a low,

frightened whimpering. He felt like doing the same. She looked so fragile now, and she had always been so strong…

“I love you,” he whispered brokenly. “Please don’t die. I love you…”

The only answer was the slow rise and fall of her chest.

Ukyo pulled a chair up beside the bed, sat down, and waited.

He had never felt quite as scared, or as helpless.

Twice more that night her lungs stopped. Twice more he put his lips to hers, each time sure that it would not work and that she would die. But instead her breathing would resume, and he would slump back into his chair and sob in terror and relief.

Morning came, the light streaming through the windows harsh against his reddened eyes, and what he saw frightened him even more.

Akane’s skin was a pale, puffy, grub-white hue. Her hair was in matted strands, and her fingernails had turned a deep blackishblue. If it weren’t for the slow, unsteady rise and fall of her chest, he would have judged her dead.

As the heat of the day rose, she began to sweat, and a new horror appeared. He watched, fascinated, as inky black drops beaded on her skin, peaked, and ran down her body in a stained trail. A horrible odor began to fill the tiny hut.

He carefully wiped away the liquid, making sure not to

directly touch it with his hands. From time to time he forced a little water into her mouth, and she would reflexively swallow it.

Little Nabiki watched from her crib, wide-eyed, not making a sound.

Around afternoon Akane went into another fit of convulsions, and it took all of Ukyo’s strength to hold her to the bed. Her eyes shot open, she gave a hoarse, strangled scream, and then began to gag and choke. He barely got the empty skin to her mouth in time.

After filling the vessel with another load of oily, viscous discharge, she sank back into unconsciousness, breathing slow and shallow.

That night, he forced a little bit of plantain soup down her throat, and ate a little himself. The smell in the hut was getting unbearable; if he dared, Ukyo would have moved Akane and himself to the old house in the yard. But he didn’t want to move her unless he had to.

Her lungs stopped for a fourth time towards morning, and this time upon recovering she coughed, heaved, and brought up a ball of material as big as his fist, an unwholesome mass of green and gray and black that looked like watery clay. He had gagged at the stench, and almost fainted as he threw it over the palisade.

Akane was semi-awake when he staggered back in, and a hand clutched at him with blackened fingers. “Ukyo… help, help me…

that thing…”

“You’re going to be all right,” he lied soothingly, not

knowing what was going to happen. She would die, or she wouldn’t.

“Help me…” she whimpered, terror and agony in her voice, and then she sank back into sleep, her nude body a pale white against the brown reeds of their pallet.

Ukyo took Nabiki, who had begun to cry, and walked out onto the balcony of the hut. He stood for a while, and bounced her up and down in his arms, and finally she giggled at him and began to tug at his shirt with a tiny hand.

He held his daughter, and stared at the setting sun, and

watched the trees sway back and forth in the breeze. It was very beautiful.

The next morning, Ukyo found the first of the lesions.

It was on Akane’s left side, between her breast and her hip, and it was the color of a bruise, all purple and blue and scabby red, and it wept a black oil.

He cleaned it, and rubbed ash and palm wine in it to stave off infection. That was all he could do.

He discovered another one at noon, on her buttock, and then another one behind her right shoulder, and then one in the small of her back, and then one on her cheek…

By the fourth day, the unnatural paleness was pocked with the purple-red sores, all oozing the black, tarlike fluid. He washed and cleaned them all, doing his best not to actually get any on his skin. If he contracted whatever it was, they were both dead. And then Nabiki would starve to death in her crib, and that would be the end of everything that had ever mattered to him.

He no longer cried. He was too numb to cry. The hours passed mechanically, cleaning, forcing soup down her throat, wiping the loathsome oily fluid from her body. It hurt to look at her. His Akane, his life, his beautiful, fiery, wonderful goddess on earth, a thing of grace and strength and life. Lying on the clean pallet where they had made love so many times, now stained and filthy and sticky with bile, writhing and convulsing, the beautiful, strong body chalk-pale and covered with weeping sores…

The fourth day came and went, and now he was only waiting for her to die.

“I’m a coward, Nabiki,” he told his daughter that night. “I should just release her from this. But I can’t, I can’t…” He had cried again, and this had made little Nabiki cry, and again he had walked up and down the balcony with her until her sobs turned into contented sighs.

On the fifth day Akane vomited, and his saw to his mixed

apprehension and relief that the substance that came up was not black, but merely plantain soup and stomach acids.

The sores continued to leak the oily fluid, and the drops of sweat that beaded on her still resembled ink, but no more of the liquid was vomited up.

That night she awoke for a short time and asked weakly for water. He gave it to her in measured sips, and spooned almost half a gourd of soup into her. She gulped it down, smiled wanly at him, and then slipped back into sleep.

The remainder of the night passed without the usual

convulsions, and on the morning of the sixth day the sun revealed that some of the lesions were shrinking in size. Again he sobbed like a baby, this time in thanks and hope and desperate relief.

At noon, her eyes slowly opened, and moved to gaze unsteadily at him. “Ukyo-chan…”

He was at her side immediately, trying to hide the fear and anxiety and stress in his face. “I’m here, Akane-chan. It’s okay.”

“God, I feel awful…”

“You’re going to be okay.” He thought that was the truth, now, and he spoke with a firm conviction. “You’re past the worst of it. You’ll be okay now.”

“I went down, and there… was something, and it opened, and the color, it was all wrong…” An edge of hysteria entered her voice, and he stroked her matted hair and made calming noises.

“It’s okay. You’re home now, and you’re going to get better.”

“Ukyo, I’m scared, Ukyo…” Akane coughed, and he brought over a gourd of water for her to sip. “Oh God, I feel so awful…”

“I thought you were going to die,” he told her, hoping

honesty would help comfort her. “You were very sick.”

“But now I’m fine,” she joked weakly, and he laughed and

gently hugged her. She drank almost a full gourd of soup, and then slept.

Her rest was relatively peaceful, and by the when the sun of the seventh day rose, the sweat that beaded upon her brow and stomach and breasts and legs was a clear, translucent, normal sheen.

---

Ukyo walked swiftly along the game path. It was the ninth day.

Akane was awake now, much of the time. She still slept most of the day, but that was to be expected. She was still very weak, and needed all the rest she could get.

But she was getting well, and that was all that mattered. The lesions had closed, and were now just black and purple bumps. She was eating like a horse, and drinking even more than she ate. No, Akane was definitely on the mend, and he felt it was safe to leave her alone for an hour or two while he went to replenish their supplies. They were running very low, and he had to get the soft foods that Nabiki would be able to eat. In light of the black oil that had emerged from Akane’s pores, he thought it wise that their daughter not breast-feed for a few weeks.

Ukyo had already gathered a large bundle of plantains, which he had carried back to the stockade. Now all he needed was a few coconuts and some meat… Monkey, pig, or wild dog. Wild dog seemed to be the most common, possibly because they didn’t try to avoid him. Far from it. Still, you didn’t see them much in the daytime…

Whistling a little, he trotted up the last hill before the coconut grove. Thank God Akane was better, he thought, and whatever it was, let it please not come again…

He crested the hill, stared down at the grove, and stopped dead.

The trees. For as far in front of him as he could see, the trees were a charcoal black, their trunks twisted and warped into hideous parodies of normal limbs, the branches clawing at the sky like fingers of a corpse. A light pattering, like a distant rain, reached his ears… he unwillingly looked closer, and saw the greenblack sap dripping from the branches and twisted leaves to spatter on the ground…

He could make out the coconut grove. Bloated globes of a

milky green-yellow substance hung from it, and as he watched one fell from the blackened bough to squelch against the ground. A white pus oozed from it, and he watched in horror as grublike forms wriggled out, squirming away through the putrid fluid…

On the nearest of the corrupted trees sat a monkey, eyes

festering holes leaking a black oil, dead mouth open in a silent scream. The branch it sat on was already beginning to send probing roots into the corpse.

But it was the leaves, the twisted, curling leaves that

caught his gaze and made him unable to look away. They were not purple, or green, or black, or yellow… they were a color, but he couldn’t find a name for it, and it was wrong and an abomination…

The wind shifted towards him, bearing the smell of it, and he turned away and vomited.

After retching for almost a minute, Ukyo turned and ran for Akane and home. He needed to find out what had done this before it killed them all.

---

“What?” Akane stared at him through reddened eyes.

Ukyo nodded wearily. “Everything below the hill was like

that. The smell, the look of it… whatever it is, it’s the same thing you had.” He looked at her, and shuddered; her skin was returning to its normal color, and the blotches were fading, but she still looked like the living dead. “Akane-chan, I need to know what’s going on.”

She shook her head numbly. “I don’t know.”

He sighed. “Can’t you at least tell me what happened to you?”

“I don’t remember very much,” she said hesitantly, a tinge of fear entering her voice. “I was dreaming, but I was awake, and a voice called me… I had to follow it, and it led me to the ruins, and down the steps, and through the halls, and then there was a room…” She shuddered, and stopped, staring at him helplessly.

“Please, Akane-chan,” he said as gently as he could. “You need to tell me.”

“There was a seal, and I broke it, and the color… it was in the walls and the floor and everywhere and I woke up and ran, but it had me and I started up the steps…” She grabbed his arm, the grip almost painful. “The color. It was…”

“Wrong,” he finished grimly. “It wasn’t right. You didn’t know what it was.”

Akane slowly nodded.

“It’s in the leaves. They’re all that color.”

“Ukyo…” she said, eyes widening, “the ruins. The ruins are past the coconut grove.”

She was right, he realized. “It must be spreading outward, although the coconut grove is a long way from…”

His eyes widened in horror.

“I’ll be right back,” he said frantically, pulling on his sandals and desperately hoping he was wrong. Before Akane could reply, he was sliding down the treetrunk and darting out of the stockade.

He ran, and ran, and prayed that he was wrong. And then he came to the hill, and pulled to a stop, and wondered what the hell they were going to do.

Because the corruption, which on his last visit was only at the base of the hill, was now halfway up it.

It was spreading.

It was spreading quickly.

The leaves rustled in the tepid breeze, glittering mockingly with a color that no human being had ever put a name to.

---

The next few days were spent in a frenzy of preparation.

Akane was still very sick. While the traces of the lesions were slowly fading, she was unable to rise unassisted from the pallet. Despite eating over twice the normal amount of food per day, she remained very weak and slept away most of the day and all of the night.

Ukyo hunted and harvested and prepared stocks of food. It wasn’t difficult, because the blight was driving the animals towards them, into the yet-untainted parts of the island. Pigs, monkeys, birds…

The wild dogs…

Canis Mountain lay far in the middle of the corrupted area, and without their cool, deep caves to lair in the dogs were swarming about the area. Twice during the day he was attacked by small, desperate packs of them, and it was only through a combination of luck and skill and desperation that he had fought them off. They fought with a savage hunger in their bellies. He fought knowing that Akane and little Nabiki would die if he was gone. He won.

And the blight creeped on.

It swallowed the outermost plantain grove. It swallowed the pillar of flint. It swallowed the waterfall where they had frolicked two years ago, each aroused by the body of the other.

The plantains turned black and scarlet and wept green pus.

The pillar jutted from a clearing of slimy purple grass, seeming to revel in the desolation around it. The cool, shady bowers that had graced the waterfall became blackened corpses twisting in upon themselves, but the waters still flowed unpolluted. The leaves on its banks had turned that indescribable, ghastly hue… but water is colorless, and remains so. The falls still poured down pure water.

So it was with the river. No foulness marred the flow of it, although once in a while a twisted, leprous branch would float downstream. Water was beyond its power.

Ukyo watched the spread with a sick feeling in his heart.

Watched it eat the closer groves. Watched it eat the ‘dojo’ clearing where they practiced. Watched it eat spots where he had sat with Akane and talked, or where he had hunted, or where he had shown his daughter something beautiful, or where he had made love to his lady.

He watched them crumple into obscene caricatures of black trunks and diseased sap and leaves of vile, unnatural color.

Days past, and he prayed that the blight would come to a

halt. But instead it advanced all the faster.

He knew, finally, what needed to be done, and told Akane. She agreed, and then wept, and so did he. It would very probably kill them all.

---

“It is time.”

Akane glanced over at Ukyo, nodded, and laboriously stood.

She still felt like hell.

Sometimes she wondered if the Color had shattered her health forever. She had been able to break stone with her hands, and now she was weak… so very weak…

Her jaw firmed. She would be strong, today. She needed to be.

Little Nabiki was lifted from her cradle by her… husband?

In every way that mattered, she supposed. He gently placed their crying daughter into the back harness slung over her shoulder, and picked up his fighting stick. “Are you ready?”

She looked at the bed, at the painstakingly molded clay lamp, at the crib dyed with bright pigments. The rug Ukyo had spent a month weaving. The shelves and drinking gourds and crude bowls. Her home.

“I’m ready.”

Slowly, carefully, they descended the ladder for the last time, and walked past the first hut and past the now empty storage sheds, smokehouse, and tanning hut. At the gate of the palisade, she stopped suddenly. “Shh. Listen!”

Ukyo froze, and she knew he heard it too. A low panting, a shifting of paws. Just behind the gate.

She quietly swore. The damn things somehow knew.

The farthest tree in sight shone with a color that had no name.

“Ukyo, we need to get out,” she said grimly. “We only have a few hours, if that.”

He nodded, still staring at the closed gate. “I know. Perhaps if we wait…”

“More will arrive. No. They hate us, Ukyo.”

“So what can we do?” he said plaintively. “I can fight my way through, but you…”

She took a deep breath, unhooked Nabiki’s harness, and handed it to him.

He stared at it in shock. “No… no, I shall not permit…”

…i shall not permit it!…

She brushed away the nausea and memory. “I can fight. I’m not in top form, but I can fight.” She gazed at him pleadingly. “If I fall, at least Nabiki will be safe with you. But I don’t plan on falling.” She grinned at him, purposefully making it cocky and careless. “I didn’t fight off that icky stuff just to be puppy chow, okay? But no sense taking chances, and I’ll fight better without Nabichan on my back weighing me down.”

Ukyo looked at her, looked at his daughter, and took the

harness. He carefully buckled it around the highest part of his back, took a deep breath, and glanced at Akane. “Ready?”

“Yeah… wait, hold on!” She walked swiftly into one of the storage sheds, emerging with two large torches dabbed at the end with flammable tar. “Light these, okay?”

He complied, pulling the flint out of his belt to ignite

them, and she smiled. She didn’t think she was going to make it. She was sure Ukyo and Nabiki would. It was enough.

“Okay. Ready.” Her heart began to race, and adrenaline began to wash away the fear. It was time to fight.

He kissed her fiercely. Then, with a roar, he kicked open the gate and charged out, fighting stick moving too fast for the eye to follow. With a cry, she jumped after him.

The dogs leapt to meet them, springing from all sides. Ukyo’s stick neatly sliced one in half, moving rapidly downwards to send another cur flying with bonecrushing force into the outer wall. He ran as he fought, and she followed.

A wild dog sprang for her throat, jaws snapping, and Akane shoved the burning brand into its skull with enough force to crack the bone. Another leapt at her from the side, and she was barely able to take it in the throat with a spinning kick. She could feel the illness still within her, sapping her strength, her speed…

Onward. The river wasn’t far from the gate, they just had to make it to the river, it wasn’t far….

The maelstrom of jaws and fangs and fur and slathering teeth swirled about her, and she kicked and thrust and chopped and punched. A torch snapped off in the chest of a large, brown and black dog, and she switched to a one-weapon form. Ahead of her, Ukyo’s stick rose and fell in graceful, deadly arcs.

A huge dog ran at her, and she almost gagged. The face was half gone, one eye socket a mass of festering black ooze with a rancid, shriveled eyeball the color of the obscene leaves…

Panicked, she clubbed it down, forgetting the others, and then she screamed in agony as a set of jaws clamped shut on her shoulder.

She broke its neck with a quick throw, but another leapt on her back and she stumbled forward, hand frantically moving to keep the fangs away from her neck. Sensing a kill, two others closed in on her…

Ukyo’s fighting stick whistled past, knocking the dog off her back. Akane lunged forward, killing the other two with savage blows to the throat and head, and stumbled onward.

And then they were at the river.

Akane jumped for the canoe, landing with a clumsy thud on her back in it. The sky turned dark, and suddenly a mass of fur and teeth and rabid yellow eyes landed on top of her.

Fangs lunged for her throat. Weakly, she thrust her arm up to block, and the slavering maw stopped inches away from her chin.

Claws scrabbled on her chest for purchase, sending white hot lines of pain down her side as the hot, fetid breath nearly gagged her…

…guri…

Screaming, using the last of her strength, she slammed her fist into the furry chest again and again until the ribs snapped like twigs and the internal organs broke with sickening splats. The yellow fire behind the eyes dimmed, and Akane felt the telltale thud as Ukyo jumped into the canoe and pushed off. She dimly heard his voice cry her name, somewhere in the distance, and then everything was black.

---

Akane awoke in the bottom of the canoe, with the gentle murmur of the water in her ears.

“I thought for a second that it had killed you.”

Painfully, she eased herself into a sitting position. The bite on her shoulder had a crude bandage wrapped around it, damp and reeking of palm wine. “I thought so too. It nearly had me, for a second.”

Ukyo smiled slightly, and she noticed a similar bandage on his left leg. “We killed over a dozen of them, I think. They won’t be as eager to attack for a few days.”

Akane shook her head. “They’re desperate, Ukyo-chan. They can sense that it’s the end of it all, and they just want to kill as much as they can beforehand. Especially us.” She shuddered, again feeling the teeth ripping into her flesh. “We’d better build a small fence to sleep in before we work on enlarging the raft.”

He shook his head. “There isn’t enough time. We have maybe a week before it reaches the shore. I think it’s speeding up.” With a low sigh, he looked into the bottom of the boat. “I saw it overtake the stockade, and some of the injured wild dogs. It… was not pleasant.”

Tears rose in her eyes at the thought of her home, the home she had built… No. She thrust it away; there was no time for it.

“Maybe the mainland is just over the horizon. Or another island.”

“Maybe.” Neither of them believed it.

They paddled on in silence. Up ahead came the roar of the surf against the rocks.

---

The fishing raft, big enough to seat one person in comfort, lie buried safely beneath a cairn of rocks on the beach. From time to time Akane - or, more rarely, Ukyo - had hauled it out and cruised along the shore, fishing line trailing. It was not really necessary, but ocean fish made a pleasant change of diet once in a while.

The raft was once again unearthed, but this time it wasn’t for a luxury item. This time their lives would depend on it.

Working as fast as possible, Ukyo felled trees with his fighting stick and dragged the trunks down to the raft. There, Akane carefully used the stone cutting tools and the flat of her hand to shape them into new boards. These were then built into a new hull around the old core, more than doubling its size. Hemp rope and tarlike sap secured the frame in place, and wooden spikes liberally smeared with natural adhesives provided the flexible joints of the middle structure.

A precious day was spent erecting a crude mast, with several sewed skins forming a sail. They constructed a rail around the edge, more to keep water out than for anything else, and secured the allimportant water barrels to the middle of the raft with rope and a wooden frame.

A tiny shelter was built of poles and rope in the forwardcenter of the raft, and salvaged rugs of woven hemp were used as the upper walls and ceiling. The rough, uneven weave would allow some heat to escape during the hot daylight hours, and could be drenched with seawater for additional cooling properties. Hide blankets, tanned to a point where they were nearly waterproof, were placed inside against the possibility of cold nights.

And as they worked, the Color spread its chromatic death across the island, devouring plants and animals and soil, the twisted, unholy leaves shining malignantly in the tropical sun.

The wild dogs made sporadic attacks, in scattered, fearcrazed groups. Akane and Ukyo killed the first, smaller ones. When larger groups congregated, they pushed the raft into the ocean and sailed down the shoreline to a different worksite.

And then the day came when the sky became a cascade of colors; green and red and blue and yellow and pink. The birds of the island, parrots and toucans and songbirds, were flying out to sea, into the ocean. They wouldn’t get very far; they weren’t designed to fly long distances. But their instinctual knowledge of their limitations was outweighed and drowned by the onrushing tide of death and corruption, and so they flew out into the horizon, passing over Akane and Ukyo in a feathered rainbow as they fled.

Behind them, the obscene Color writhed among black, twisted trees, loping steadily towards the beach.

They pushed the raft, laden with supplies, into the waves and began to row.

Behind them, the remaining animals of the isle burst from the jungle and ran into the sea. For a time they swam, forming a howling, shrieking, splashing wake in the rear of the tiny vessel.

Then, one by one, the furry heads and backs slipped beneath the water and vanished.

The corruption reached the shore and stopped, its limit reached. A crash of the waves cleansed the beach, a surge of rot and decay befouled it again. The tide counterattacked, and again the sand was clean and white.

Ukyo and Akane watched for a time, and then turned their faces away. It was over.

---

They sailed into an unknown sea.

They had no home port. They knew nothing of stars or

constellations or latitudes. Their map was the vague assumption that land existed on the planet aside from their island.

So they drifted, the hide sail flapping listlessly in the hot air, and told each other that land was ahead.

It had to be.

Food wasn’t a problem. They had stored plenty of it; both soft foods for Nabiki and protein-laden meats for each of them. With a bit of chewing on their part, too, anything could become a soft food.

Fish existed, and Akane was able to catch several. These they ate raw, for nutrients now could not be sacrificed for flavor. Fire on the raft was a risky proposition anyway.

A day out they floated through a band of multicolored, sodden feathers, and Ukyo cried.

It was water that was now their problem, and they rationed it severely. Nabiki had as much as each of them. They didn’t have much.

To minimize the need for hydration, they tried to stay inside the shelter as much as possible during the day.

Days passed, and the water was a sheet of glass.

Once Akane pointed downwards in great excitement, and they peered into the suddenly transparent water to glimpse the crumbling green spires of a city. The architecture was strange and angular, as if built to a geometry of unfamiliar kind, and neither of them liked the statues that lined the sunken boulevards and terraces. The weedwreathed faces smiled back at them maliciously, and then they were past, and the ocean’s murk descended once more.

Days, and days, and days, and the wind was a tepid breeze and the sun was a dull ball of orange in the sky.

They told each other stories, and sang to Nabiki, and

speculated about the place their raft would eventually make landfall at.

“Where would you like to wind up, Ukyo-chan?”

He rubbed his chin. “I think I would like to be in Japan.

Nabiki could go to a real school… I remember that the Japanese have the best schools in the world.”

Akane leaned her head against his shoulder. “What would we do there?”

“I don’t know. Learn who we are, I suppose.”

“I think I’d like to wind up in China. Or on another island.”

She smiled at him, and he stroked her hair fondly. “I don’t care who I was anymore. They’re dead and gone, and now there’s only me and you and Nabiki. And that’s how I like it.”

Ukyo pulled her close, and they watched the nameless stars wheel and dance over the sea.

It rained once, and they were caught between gratefulness for the extra water and fear of a real storm, for they knew that the little raft would never be able to ride out a spell of rough weather. But the ocean stayed as smooth as a rock, and after four minutes the rain melted away.

Days, and days, and days.

They made love once, little Nabiki tucked safely out of sight in the shelter.

“Please. Once more.”

“We can’t. You know we have to save our…”

“Please. If we reach land it won’t matter, and if we don’t…

it still won’t matter. Just once more.”

“All right.”

It was done with a sort of desperate pleasure, each one knowing that it would very likely be the last time. Afterwards they held each other, and did not speak.

Days, and days, and days, and now the water was almost gone from the barrels. The desert of the ocean stretched from horizon to horizon, and the sun burned in the sky.

They saw a dolphin, once, swimming near them. It grinned at them in a cocky, mocking fashion, and dove. They did not see it reappear.

The fish vanished, and the food ran low.

Now there were no waves, and the water was as still as a millpond, and the tattered sail hung limp.

Days, and days, and then there was no more fresh water.

They gave the last few swallows to little Nabiki, waited for a day, and then knew that it was over.

Finally, Ukyo turned to Akane, and embraced her.

“It was a good try,” she whispered, and lay down inside the shelter. He lowered himself down beside her, and Nabiki squirmed in between them, giggling.

“I love you.”

“I know.”

They held each other, and soon Nabiki fell asleep, and finally the fatigue and lack of water rolled over them like a wave and they sank beneath it, together.

---

Log of the Wakazashi Maru, 5/23/98

46 days out of Innsmouth, Mass., USA, spotted small

raft adrift off the starboard bow at latitude 32 longitude 1. Second Mate Jiro Abe boarded the raft in a motor

launch with two seamen. He discovered two young adults of apparently Japanese ancestry, both badly dehydrated and in a stupor, and one infant, in good health. Abe

immediately transferred all three to sick bay, and I have ordered watches posted for more rafts. The materials

used in construction of the craft do not appear to be from a wreck, and I admit to being perplexed by this discovery.

A call to the Registry in Osaka confirmed that no

ships have been recently lost in these waters.

Doctor Winchester assures me that, given time and

rest, both of the adults will survive. He hopes to see then awake and lucid by tomorrow.

Log of the Wakazashi Maru, 5/24/98

More mysteries. The two young people identify themselves as Akane and Ukyo, no last names, and claim to have been fleeing an island where they had been stranded for two years. They further claim to have no memory of their lives before this wreck, citing amnesia.

This is a patently ridiculous story, since there are no islands aside from Midway within any reasonable distance. Furthermore, a unusually large storm swept through this area four days ago, which would have certainly sunk their tiny raft.

However, the browning of their skin and signs of exposure to the elements are evidence of an island existence. So is the construction of their raft, and each bears healing puncture wounds, which they attribute to wild dogs. Dr. Winchester confirms the bites as canine.

The baby is healthy, the adults are confused but otherwise in sound mental health. We shall reach Japan within a few days, and perhaps their fingerprint or dental records will allow us to identify the two beyond a first name. Since neither appears to speak English, I shall assume them to be Japanese citizens.

---

The phone rang.

And, with a slight sigh of irritation, Akane Tendo put down her college application, walked across the kitchen. and picked it up. “Hello, Tendo residence.”

She listened for a few seconds, and then her face turned pale and her hand tightened alarmingly around the receiver, almost cracking the plastic. She wasn’t going to cry, she firmly told herself. She had put this behind her a year ago, and she was now able to visit Ukyo’s grave with regretful sadness instead of almost suicidal grief. One day she would be able to visit Ranma’s monument in the same manner.

“I’m sorry,” she replied in a cool, controlled voice. “He died a little over two years ago, and…”

She listened for another few seconds, and then her world turned upside down. The plastic of the receiver gave way slightly.

“Y-you… it’s a mistake… he died two… I mean, they never found the body, but, but… Wait! With who? Where!”

Dizzy, sick with a desperate hope and with the fear that it was all a sadistic mistake, she calmly asked for and got an address.

And the second she got it, she abandoned all pretensions of calm and dropped the phone and ran for the door.

Kasumi, who was just entering the house with the groceries, was extremely surprised to have her younger sister physically shove her out of the way and nearly trample her on the way out the gate.

Nabiki entered the house a few seconds later, bearing on her face an extremely pissed expression and a red mark reading ‘NIKE’.

Five minutes later she ran down a moving taxi, shoved money at the driver, and asked him to take her to the Tokyo Bay Immigration and Naturalization Centre. The terrified driver complied. He wasn’t used to passengers ripping the door off instead of taking the trouble to actually open it.

They were briefly held up in traffic. Akane got out, removed the offending cars to places on the sidewalk, and ordered the driver onward.

They arrived at the Centre. The driver noticed with mixed relief and amazement that the crazy woman didn’t wait for the cab to stop before getting out. After all, as he somewhat hysterically told his friends in a bar that night, the car had slowed to a mere 25 miles per hour…

Akane picked herself up, brushed herself off, and ran into the Centre. She didn’t bother opening the doors.

And so a very startled official in the medical office found herself speaking to an 18-year-old woman who looked as if she had just come from a war zone. “Can I help…”

“Where’s Ranma?”

“Excuse…?”

“You called and told me you had found Ranma…”

The official, seeing the girl on the verge of tears, ushered her to a seat and checked the computer. The wanted information quickly was found.

“Ranma Saotome. Rescued by a Japanese freighter in the Pacific along with…”

“I know. How is he? When can I see him?”

“According to the medical report, he’s suffering from

amnesia. They only identified him via dental records. Are you his sister?”

“Fiancee. Can I see him? Please?”

The official shrugged. “If you’re his fiancee, certainly. And good luck. Down that hall, fifth room to your left.”

The girl had already torn out of the office by the time the official looked more closely at the file and noticed something odd.

Akane ran down the hall as if in a dream, hope and fear and desperation raging within her. It would be a mistake. She would open the door and it would be someone else, just an error in the records, haha, and Ranma would still be dead. After all, how on earth would he come to be in the middle of the Pacific Ocean… but still, there had never been a body… no body, just a charred shred of Chinese shirt and the end of a pigtail…

She raced toward the door, hesitated in an agony of fear and anxiety, and then threw it open.

And then she screamed with joy, because Ranma was there.

Older, browned by the sun, hair trimmed into a short, ragged cut, dressed in obviously loaned shipboard clothing. But it was Ranma, alive.

Akane crossed the distance between then in seconds and flung her arms around the shorter girl, sobbing with relief. “Oh God, Ranma, I though you were dead… we all thought you were dead…

where have you been, I thought you were dead…”

Ranma stood, awkward, clearly unsure and timid. “I’m… I’m sorry, who are you? I lost my memory…”

“It’s me. It’s Akane.”

To her surprise, Ranma flinched. “No, I’m Akane…”

“You’re Ranma.” A stab of fear ran through her with horrible suddenness. “You’re Ranma. My fiancee.”

The other girl laughed awkwardly, looking increasingly nervous and tense. “No… no, I’m Akane… I’m not Ranma… we can’t be… we’re both girls, so that’s impossible. Don’t you see?”

The door opened behind her, and someone else she hadn’t expected to ever see again stepped in. Holding a baby.

“I found some formula and diapers…”

She couldn’t speak. She couldn’t breathe.

Dimly, as if in a fog, she turned to Ranma and heard herself ask if the child was his. She didn’t understand the answer, only that it was yes. It was their child.

She heard herself scream, felt herself grab the other girl, heard herself scream that no, he was a man, he couldn’t have. He was Ranma, not Akane. He would never have done it.

The eyes that looked back at her held confusion, and pain, and obviously didn’t know what she was talking about.

“NO!” she screamed, backing away. “RANMA! HOW!”

“I’m not Ranma!” the other girl screamed. “I’m Akane! I’m not Ranma Saotome! He’s dead! He deserved to die! He’s dead!” And then she stopped, aghast as what she had just said.

Akane pushed her way past Kuno, who stood in baffled concern holding the baby, and ran, and ran, and ran.

It was all some obscene delusion. First it was her dream come true, now it was a nightmare. Ranma would never have done that with Kuno. Never. He would have died first.

She finally stopped running and sank to her knees, shrieking in pain and fury. How? How could he do this to her? How could he do this to himself?

She sobbed, and screamed, and put her fist through the wall.

And then, slowly, rational thought re-exerted itself.

He had lost his memory.

How easy it must have been. It would have been like a dream come true for Kuno, wherever it was that they had wound up. Just him, and a helpless, female Ranma with no memories, and no-one to stop him.

The bastard. He couldn’t have taken her by force; not Ranma Saotome. So instead he just told her she was a woman. Akane. He had finally gotten both of his two ‘loves’.

God, she thought, horrified. It could have been me. That could have been my baby, could have been me as Kuno’s little concubine.

But instead it was Ranma, which was even worse, and she silently wished that she could trade places with him. Because at least she was really a woman.

So now she had two choices. She could either go home, knowing that at least Ranma was alive, and get on with her life. Or she could try to cure Ranma, try to bring him back. If it could even be done.

What would Ranma have done, she asked herself, if that had been me in there?

Answer: he would have done everything humanly possible to free her.

She could do no less.

A whistling noise caused her to raise her head, and she nodded slowly when she saw its origin. It had brought him out of the Neko-ken. Perhaps it would work here, as well.

Taking the office teakettle from its hotplate, she slowly marched back into the room.

The sight that greeted her - Ranma holding Kuno’s hand, smiling somewhat girlishly at him - almost made her run again.

Instead, it only renewed her determination.

“Ranma,” she said quietly. “You are Ranma. Come back.”

The girl blanched. “No… no, I’m Akane…”

She advanced slowly, the kettle of hot water held tightly in one hand. “You’re Ranma Saotome. You know that. Deep inside, you know.”

“I’m not…” Ranma whispered, staring at her in terror.

“Ukyo…”

“You’re frightening her,” Kuno said, a hint of anger in his voice. She fought down the rising fury. That sick bastard.

“Ranma. Look at me. Remember.” She lifted the kettle, and Ranma recoiled in fear.

“No… no, get it away… no…”

“It’s just hot water, Ranma.” A calm engulfed her. “You know, somewhere inside you, what hot water does. It restores.”

“NO!” shrieked Ranma, and Kuno rose threateningly, and Akane swung the kettle towards them in a wide arc.

Hot water drenched them, and Ranma’s form shifted.

And he screamed.

---

It had been another search for a cure. He had stolen the idol, and incanted the words, and hoped that maybe, just maybe, it would work and he wouldn’t turn into a girl anymore with cold water.

Oh, it had worked.

It had worked in that it ripped open a hole in the fabric of reality, through which had hopped a titanic, semi-living obscenity that should never have existed.

They had all fought it, the best martial artists of their generation in Tokyo. They had done this sort of thing before.

But not like this.

It was almost over. Ryoga lay facedown in a pool of his own blood; Ranma wasn’t sure if he was dead or just mortally wounded. He hoped the Lost Boy was as tough as he had always thought.

Shampoo, a wide gash exposing some of her entrails, had curled up in a corner and was singing hysterically in Mandarin, stopping from time to time to either giggle or shriek.

He hadn’t seen what had happened to Mousse. A shred of white robe, soaked in crimson, lay on the pavement.

Behind him, Akane lay slumped against a wall like a rag doll, arms and legs at unnatural angles. A thin trickle of blood ran from one corner of her mouth.

The attack had gone badly. The thing was fast… faster and stronger than anyone had dreamed, and within only a minute Ranma had found himself flat on his back as the killing pincers ripped downward at him.

Ukyo had jumped in front of him, her combat spatula swinging defiantly, and had bought him the four seconds he needed to regain his footing. And then it had sent the weapon flying, and then it had ripped Ukyo apart, torn her into seven bloody shreds as she screamed for him to help her, help her…

And now it was just him, and Kuno, and the badly wounded demon.

So he screamed in rage and grief, and picked up Ukyo’s gorespattered weapon, and used the Tenshin Amaguriken to drive it through the thing’s chest repeatedly as Kuno distracted it from the side.

He saw the unholy light in the thing’s eyes begin to dim, and knew that he had won. For what that was worth.

A final blast formed at the end of a pseudopod, and he prepared to dodge. In his girl form, to which he had switched at the beginning of the battle, it would be easy.

And then he realised that Akane’s prone form was directly behind him.

Ranma sighed, and stood still. After what he had done in his selfish, reckless search for a cure, maybe it was better this way.

I’m sorry, Ukyo. I’m sorry, Ryoga, Shampoo.

I’m sorry, Akane. Forgive me. I love you.

And then Kuno leapt for him, shouting something about love and danger, and he felt a brief annoyance at the idiot as the light rushed towards them. Stupid fool didn’t need to get himself killed too…

And then he was burning, and light flayed him, and his mind shrieked and ran far away as he fell through somewhere outside of reality…

And then, for the first time in over two years, Ranma Saotome opened his eyes and screamed.

Ranma screamed, and screamed, and screamed.

He dimly heard Akane’s voice, Akane who WASN’T HIM, he was Ranma Saotome, he was a man, he remembered everything and he was a man…

And he heard Ukyo NO KUNO IT WAS KUNO OH GOD OH GOD WHAT HAVE I DONE WHAT DID I DO…

He screamed, and screamed, and his memories replayed life on the island, living with Kuno, being attracted to Kuno, sleeping with Kuno, making love to another man and actually ENJOYING it…

He fell to his knees and vomited. He felt… oh God, he wanted to bathe, he needed to wash it off him, he needed to wash it all away…

Kuno’s hand fell upon his shoulder, and he gagged. Without even knowing why, he grabbed the other man by the neck and slammed him against the wall.

“WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?” he screamed, fury and repulsion and sickness flooding him. “DAMN YOU! WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO ME!?

WHAT?”

And Kuno just stared back at him, confused, horrified, looking like he had just punched him in the stomach.

And it wasn’t Kuno, who was an arrogant hentai shit, it was Ukyo, Akane’s husband.

Behind them, abandoned on a chair, little Nabiki started to cry. His daughter.

Ranma gave a despairing, animal scream and fled.

He ran through corridors and halls, ran out of the building, ran across the highway and into the small clump of trees beyond, overlooking the sea. He curled into a tiny ball beneath one of them and cried.

Gone. Everything gone. He had lost his friends. He had lost his manhood. Bitter laughter welled up, manhood indeed. He had spread his legs for Kuno. Some man.

The demon should have just killed him. It should have just killed him like Ukyo, who his ego and selfish need for a cure had murdered, murdered along with maybe Shampoo and Ryoga.

And he couldn’t even lose himself in revenge. The thing was dead. Kuno hadn’t known what he was doing. The only person to blame for the sick joke his life had become… was himself.

The cliff edge stood not six feet away, and he stood. It was better this way. He only wished he had died on the raft, before having to realize what he had done, how he had befouled himself.

He walked to the edge of the cliff, looked down at the waves crashing against the jagged rocks, and jumped.

For a second he hung in midair, and then a hand closed around the back of his shirt and swung him around to land with a thud on the turf.

He looked dully up at his rescuer. “You shouldn’t have stopped me, Akane.”

She lifted him from where he lay, pushed him up against a tree, and kissed him.

When she stopped, he noticed with some surprise that she was crying. “No. No, don’t you dare, Ranma. I lost you once, and it almost killed me. If you do it again, I’ll follow you.”

He gaped at her. “Wha… what…?”

Smiling through her tears, she kissed him again. “I love you, baka. I always have.”

He stared at her, in shock. “But… but you always…”

“Why did you think I was so jealous of you?” Akane laughed, the sound a little sad. “It wasn’t until you ‘died’ that I realized how stupid I had been. And then I was stupid in a whole new way, and slashed my wrists, and got into the furo to just drift away to the afterlife.”

“You idiot,” he said, aghast. “You tried to kill yourself?”

She shrugged. “It was really, really dumb, I admit. Silly and melodramatic. Luckily Nabiki had been expecting something like it, and got me out and bandaged my wrists.”

He shook his head. “Just because you thought you loved me…”

“I do love you,” she said quietly.

Ranma laughed bitterly. “How? I have a child, for God’s sake.

I gave birth to a child! I’m not a man, I’m Kuno’s whore.”

She slapped him, hard. “No! You’re Ranma Saotome, and I don’t give a shit what you did with him or who you gave birth to! You’re the man I love, and you’ve come back, and that’s all that matters to me.”

He stared at her, stunned. “You… you really mean that?”

“Yes, you baka.” She smiled, her eyes filling with tears. “I know you never really thought of me as more than your friend, but…”

He embraced her, kissed her, and bore her to the ground.

“Kawaikunee. I always loved you.”

“Ranma… oh God, I thought you were dead, we all thought you were dead and you’re not… I love you… I don’t care what happened, I love you…”

He was a man, he thought like a drowning man grabbing a life preserver, and he tore away her clothing as she pulled away his, and with awkwardness and desperation and joy they made love on the edge of the abyss, with the waves crashing against the rocks below.

Afterwards they rested, leaning against a tree, holding each other.

“This is a dream,” Akane whispered to him. “I don’t want to wake up, but it has to be a dream.”

He ran a hand along her stomach. “No dream. I don’t know if I want it to be one or not. God, Akane, what I’ve done… all my friends dead, Kuno… Kuno and me…”

She was silent for a second. “Ryoga lived. He was in the hospital for a long time, but he lived. Akari married him as soon as he was able to walk, and they moved away.”

“Shampoo?”

“I don’t know. Cologne thinks she’ll regain her sanity with enough care. They went back to China together. We don’t know what happened to Mousse.”

“It was my fault.”

She squeezed his hand. “You couldn’t have known. And even if it was, there’s nothing you can do about it now. You’re alive, and that’s all I care about.”

“I… I have a daughter, you know. I gave birth to a

daughter.” He smiled slightly, a tinge of love surfacing through the shame and horror. Somehow, he couldn’t bring himself to be ashamed of his beautiful, wonderful baby girl.

Akane was silent for a second. “I saw. What’s her name?”

Ranma flushed. “Er, Nabiki.”

She stared at him incredulously.

He flushed some more. “It just popped into Uk… Kuno’s head, and I liked it. I didn’t remember…”

“I’m going to kill him,” Akane said quietly. “I’m going to kill him for what he’s done…”

“It wasn’t his fault,” Ranma said dully. “He didn’t remember anything either. He was ‘Ukyo’, and I was ‘Akane’, and it was a couple months before we started havin’ sex…” He began to shake, and Akane tightened her embrace until he stopped.

“Are you sure he didn’t remember? You know Kuno. This was probably his dearest fantasy come true.”

“Kuno’s not bright enough to fake it.” He stared at her, eyes filling with tears. “I loved him, Akane. Kuno. I didn’t just have sex with him, I actually loved him, and God help me but part of me still does…”

He fell into racking sobs and she held him, crying with him.

And she swore to make Kuno pay for what he had done to her Ranma.

In the trees beyond, Ukyo Kuno fled, hot tears running down his cheeks, his infant daughter clasped tightly to his chest.

---

Nabiki Tendo yawned irritably, scratched, and meandered sleepily down the stairs. She wasn’t a morning person at the best of times, and last night’s sleep had been interrupted by the sound of her little sister arriving home at some ungodly hour. Maybe Akane had gone out on a date? She hoped that was it.

Yawning, she took out a cup and a bottle of soda, setting both on the breakfast table. It was high time that Akane stopped pining away for someone who had been dead for over two years.

Especially when they had never gotten along when he was alive.

Someone tapped her on the shoulder, and she turned.

“Boo,” Ranma said.

Nabiki opened her mouth, moved it for a few seconds, and then fainted.

Ranma shrugged, took the bottle of soda, and began to fix breakfast. Cereal. Real, packaged cereal. He was gonna enjoy this.

“Good morning,” Akane said, strolling into the kitchen. “Did you sleep…” She stopped, glancing down at her sister. “Hey. Did you startle Nabiki?”

He smirked. “I’ve been wantin’ to do that for ages.”

“Meanie.” Hefting Nabiki, Akane carried her out into the living room, set her on the sofa, and quickly returned. She found Ranma at the table, wolfing down food, and smiled.

“You don’t know how much I’ve missed seeing you there, eating.”

He finished chewing, and looked down. “Was it really that bad?”

“I didn’t know that you were dead for three weeks. I was in the hospital, and they felt it would be best if I didn’t know until after I recovered.” She shook her head. “I was in shock for a few months, tried to kill myself twice, and then I slowly began to adjust to the fact that you were dead and there was nothing I could do about it.”

He lowered his eyes. “I’m sorry.”

Akane walked over to sit down beside him. “It wasn’t your fault.” She sighed, and hugged him. “A lot of things weren’t your fault. Losing you hurt, a lot, but I grew up a little because of it.”

“I… look, when I was ‘Akane’, I’d have these flashbacks, and I’d hear my male voice insultin’ you. And I hated it. It seemed so cruel, so demeaning…” He trailed off, and looked at her. “I guess what I’m tryin’ to say is that I won’t do that anymore. I didn’t know how much it hurt.”

She smiled. “Well, you can tease me if you feel like it. I remember someone calling me a ‘kawaikunee tomboy’ last night at three in the morning. And after waking me up, too.”

He blushed. Somehow, they had both known that he was going to be sharing Akane’s bed from now on. And he needed her to lay with him, partly because he was falling in love with her all over again and partly because he still felt the need to prove that he was a man, that he preferred women. “Hey, where’s Pop?”

Akane just shook her head. “He left shortly after the

funeral. We haven’t heard from him since.”

“Aw, man. I hope the old guy’s okay. We’d better take out ads in the Chinese newspapers asking for him.”

“You think he’d be in China?” Akane asked. He nodded.

“Pop always went to China whenever things were rough. I don’t know if he just liked it there, or if he disliked Japan.” His stomach growled, and he forked down another load of cereal. “So Ryoga married Akari, huh?”

“She practically nursed him back to health all by herself. By the time he got out of the hospital, they had already arranged the wedding.” Akane smiled wistfully. “It was a lovely ceremony. I was still a little out of it, but they insisted I be the maid of honor.

It was good that they did; I needed to do something besides sit and stare at the walls.”

“I’m sorry I missed that,” Ranma said. “I’da liked to have seen that pig get hitched.”

“He said afterwards that the only way it could have been better was if you’d been around to serve as best man.”

“Aw, man… he really said that?”

She nodded. “He was pretty broken up by it all. You were the closest thing he had to a friend, I think.”

A door opened and Kasumi walked in with a bag of groceries.

“Good morning!”

“Hi Kasumi,” Ranma said awkwardly.

Kasumi blinked. “Ranma-kun?”

“Er, yeah. It’s me.”

She blinked again. “Aren’t you dead?”

“I got better.”

A third blink. “Oh. That’s nice.”

Slowly, she set the groceries on the counter and walked upstairs.

“I think she took that well,” Akane told him.

“Better’n Nabiki did.” He grinned at her. “You shoulda seen her face.”

Akane sighed. “Tell me you didn’t jump out at her moaning and making faces…”

“No! I just tapped her on the shoulder.”

“Good thing she doesn’t have a heart condition.”

Ranma smirked. “Yeah. Say, your dad doesn’t, does he?”

“Father? No, he’d just hug you and sob at us. He doesn’t live here anymore anyway.”

He blinked. “Huh? Isn’t this his house?”

Akane looked embarrassed. “It’s still in his name, yeah, but he’s been living with Hinako-sensei for about seven months.”

“I don’t get it,” Ranma said, scratching his head. “This is a nice place, lotsa room with me an Pop gone. Why didn’t she move in with him?”

The embarrassed look turned into a blush. “Not enough

privacy.”

“What do you mean, not…” He stopped. “Oh. Are they gonna get married?”

“We don’t know,” Akane said sheepishly. “He hasn’t mentioned it, but we hardly see him anymore.”

“Jeez.”

He stared at her for a few seconds, noticing for the first time the changes and the differences. Taller. Body more filled out, leaner and harder. The facial features sharper, more worn in places.

The eyes the same, the angry crinkle around them softer.

“I missed a lot, didn’t I,” he finally said.

She nodded. “We both did.” She looked at him for a second, and then spoke. “Ranma, what happened? Where were you?”

He shrugged. “It was an island. We never knew the name, and the captain of the ship that fished us out of the ocean insists that there’s no place like where we were in the entire North Pacific. I believe him. It’s gone now, anyway. Destroyed. I’m sad about that, because it was very beautiful.”

“What was it like?” she asked quietly.

“It was the entire world. It was Genesis. It was very lovely, and very frightening, and savage beyond measure. We were hunted by wild animals, battered by storms, and there was a sorta plague at the end that almost killed me.” He smiled wanly. “I’d be dead about two dozen times over if it hadn’t been for Uk… for Kuno. And viceversa. But we lived, and we built a home…” He looked away, then, and shuddered slightly. “I don’t wanna talk about it right now.”

Akane nodded. “You don’t have to. Yet. One of these days you’re going to have to tell someone the whole thing, but that can wait for a while.”

He sighed. “I should go get Nabiki.”

“She’s just in the other ro… oh.” She looked at him in alarm. “You don’t think Kuno would hurt her, do you?”

Ranma laughed sourly. “He’d rather rip off his right arm and eat it than harm a hair on her head. Naw, she’s perfectly safe with him. I’m just not sure if he knows….” He stopped, and slumped in his chair. “I guess he knows how to take care of her. He took care of both of us while I was sick, and that was in the middle of the jungle…” He suddenly buried his head in his hands. “God, I don’t know, I wanna see my daughter and I wanna forget she exists. Kuno can take care of her for today. Damn him.”

Akane walked over and knelt next to his chair, and stroked his back until he finally looked up. “Sorry. I still… I’m confused, I guess.”

“It’s okay. You’re home now.”

---

He was home now.

Ukyo opened the door of the massive house and stepped inside.

Under one arm, Nabiki whimpered.

Inside was a stately entry hall, dust covering everything. A gaudy palm tree marred the otherwise tasteful decor, and he frowned at the sight of it. It must be his…

…haircut time, tatchi! hoho!…

Father, it was his father’s. He hated him.

He walked into one of the sitting rooms, knowing the way instinctively. It was his house.

On the floor of the room, coiled like a poisonous snake, lay a gymnastics ribbon.

Laughter echoed in his brain, mad and joyous.

…brother dear!….

…i despise you, sister…

…ranma-sama!…

Kodachi, that was her name, and he suspected that she was not entirely stable. The officials in the port had checked, and found that his one relative was in America, studying at a medical college.

He supposed that was a good thing. Maybe she had gotten better since he… left.

“And who am I?” he asked Nabiki, quietly. She gurgled at him happily.

Slowly at first, then swiftly, as if drawn by an unseen force, he ascended a flight of stairs. Left down a hall, through a door, up another staircase…

And then finally he was in a room. His room.

Photos. Photos of Akane, and the other Akane who had… who had made Akane someone else. Photos everywhere.

…my pig-tailed goddess!….

…akane tendo, i would date with thee!…

Photos on every corner of the room, bought from…

…500 yen, kuno-chan…

“Nabiki?” he asked, staring at his daughter. Now another picture floated through his mind, the sister of Akane Tendo, who helped him at times….

…i must have them both!…

…i call it two-timing…

He had openly sought both of them? And they had agreed to this?

…for the last time, i’m a guy, you idiot…

…hentai!…

…come to my arms!…

“No… no…” he whimpered, almost dropping Nabiki. His daughter howled in alarm, and he was barely able to set her on the bed before falling over, pain ripping through his head in white- hot bursts.

…idiot!….

…jerk!…

This couldn’t be him, it wasn’t him, it couldn’t be…

His eyes jerked upward, to where a bokken lay on a hardwood stand.

…saotome, die!….

…foul sorcerer!….

…i shall free akane from your clutches…

Enemy. Ranma was his enemy….

…yo, kuno….

…aw, man, not again…

…hentai…

No. Not enemy. Ranma held him in friendly contempt. You had to be worth something in order to be an enemy.

Ranma and his Akane were the same person. He had known this, before, but denied it. They were the same person, and he was engaged to the real Akane, and both of them had a certain amount of feeling for each other.

“No, please no…”

Because Ranma was a man, not a woman. Just a man who

occasionally turned into one. It would seem that hot water triggered the change, and his memory showed that cold water induced it. There hadn’t been any hot water on the island, save for the odd bowl of hot soup.

And Akane - the only real Akane, because his Akane was Ranma - Akane and Ranma hated him. They quite rightly despised him as a delusional pervert.

Memory flooded back. Blows rained upon him, insults were hurled, and he had refused to see that they didn’t like him and found his behavior objectionable.

He saw how they looked out for one another.

How they teamed up to attack him.

The disgust and fury they showed when he dared touch one of them.

And again he felt Ranma slam him up against the wall, and scream at him in horror and rage and disgust, and he understood completely.

His Akane was gone, and she hated him. And would always hate him.

Ukyo screamed, and the last memories of Tatewaki Kuno slid into place. And the last shards of Tatewaki Kuno melted like icicles in a blast furnace. He was Ukyo Kuno, with the memories of someone called Tatewaki Kuno, who he hated. Hated because his actions had taken Ranma away from him forever.

Kuno bent double in agony, and slammed his fist into the floor over and over, screaming his rage and grief. Pictures ran through his mind, of Akane and Ranma, lying naked together under a tree by the port, still glistening from the sweat of their lovemaking…

His first impulse was to run from the room, find the family tanto, and end his misery. Then little Nabiki cried, a worried, frightened wail, and he knew that he could not. His daughter needed him.

Slowly, shaking, he stood, and sat on the bed, and cradled his daughter until the cries stopped. She was his, his and his beloved’s, and they would always be together in her. And nothing could ever take that away.

It was small comfort against what he had lost. But it was the only thing he had left.

---

“Come now, Nabiki-chan, you must eat. Take the bottle.” Kuno sat on the big sterile couch in his big sterile home, cradling Nabiki. The bottle he was trying to get her to take was going completely unwanted. The little girl wanted nothing to do with it, no matter that it was her dinner.

“Please, Nabiki-chan,” he pleaded, putting the bottle to her mouth. “You must…”

Little Nabiki turned her head away from the bottle, closing her eyes as well. It was her ultimate refusal.

Kuno looked down at her, desperation slowly creeping across his face. He steered the bottle to her mouth again, and again she turned her head away from it. This was not good. Standing, Kuno went to the kitchen and resisted the urge to throw the bottle down. This would work for now, but he couldn’t feed Nabiki out in public this way.

Setting Nabiki down on the counter, he grabbed a banana and peeled it, keeping a careful eye on his daughter. He took a small bite and began to chew gently, mashing up the already soft fruit.

This had been his least favorite part of caring for Nabiki because it felt unsanitary that she should be sharing his germs.

When he had softened the banana up into a uniform mush, he scooped it out of his mouth on his finger and tried to feed it to Nabiki. “Here you are, just like we’ve done before.”

But still, Nabiki refused his offering of food. She would not open her mouth even to cry.

“Nabiki…” Kuno wiped the much from his finger and stared at his little girl. She opened her eyes and looked back, almost defiantly. “Nabiki, you have to…” He sighed, defeated. She wasn’t going to do anything she didn’t want to, she never had before.

Maybe she wasn’t hungry though. Maybe that’s what the problem was. That’s what it had to be. Well, that was fine. She could wait a little while, and then when she got hungry enough, she would eat.

“If that’s the way you’re going to be,” he said and lifted her in his arms.

That brought a smile to her face and a stab of pain to Kuno’s heart. Why did things have to be this way? He felt so useless, half a person without Aka… Ranma. Whatever was in the past between the two of them, Kuno didn’t care. His docile home life before the island felt like it was a million miles away, and he was glad of it.

On the island, he felt that he had finally blossomed into a man, a real man, and that he and… Ranma had something between the two of them that would last until they died. On that island. Only on that island.

But they weren’t on that island. They weren’t on the island, and with all the inconveniences it had laid upon them, he wished he was back there. “Nabiki-chan, we were happy there, weren’t we? It wasn’t so bad, was it? Allowing nature to take its course with us…

That’s really not so awful. Is it?”

The little girl could not answer, only smile and giggle at him, and smack him in the face with her tiny hands.

The sigh this time was not of defeat, but of resignation. To him, there was a difference. He had not been defeated, he had given up. Now he was forced to adapt back to the ways of civilization, of Japan, of living alone.

And he was so miserable and confused. The only person who loved him was his daughter, and if she had known him before, she would probably hate him too. All he wanted was his life back, his REAL life, his life back on the island. All he wanted… all he wanted was Akane back.

“Nabiki-chan, why? Why couldn’t she be mine? It was all I wanted, and now… Now I don’t have anything. Except you.” He looked around at the huge, terrifyingly empty house. “And this house that I barely remember, and money I have no use for except to take care of you.”

He began to rock her gently, soothing himself as much as the child in his arms. There was just so much wrong with his life in Japan, so much wrong and there was nothing he could do to fix it. He felt like he was back on the raft, bobbing in the water, waiting for the ocean to take him wherever it wanted.

“If you won’t eat, my little songbird, then I think it’s time for a nap.” He tickled her under the chin, getting a wide, toothless smile from her.

And he was so tired. Tired of it all because he didn’t fit in. Didn’t fit in with society, with his life, with himself. He hadn’t finished high school, he didn’t have a job, and even his memories seemed hazy and distant. The people he should have known just… weren’t there.

It seemed like his entire life had just gone missing. He sat down slowly on the couch that he was beginning to hate, Nabiki already resting against his chest with her eyes closed, and slowly reclined. The shadows of his past, of his rotted, perverse, twisted, pathetic past, seemed determine to haunt him in his waking hours and his dreams, so it seemed preferable to let it assault him in his sleep.

But in his sleep, they weren’t just his memories haunting him. It was everything, all merged into one giant nightmare, waiting for him. Twisted versions of himself, rife with the disease on the island, and his sister in all her insane glory… And Ranma, his Akane, spewing words of hate at him and the baby clutched in his arms. And her hair shone with the color that he couldn’t identify, and the pillars were all around him, and…

Kuno woke up suddenly, the remains of the nightmare, confused as to where he was momentarily. The feeling of his daughter still asleep on his chest yanked him back to reality, which was its own nightmare in a way.

Nabiki had adorably left a rather sizable drool puddle on his shirt, which blended in perfectly with the sweat. At least he hadn’t awakened screaming like the first few nights the nightmare had come upon him. That had invariably awakened Nabiki, who had also begun to cry, and made him feel lower than low.

The sweat was a much nicer, at least quieter, reaction to the dream and didn’t make Nabiki react adversely. And at the time, the only thing he cared about was taking care of her, and her wellbeing, and making her life as easy as possible. If she was hungry, he would feed her. If she was tired, he would put her to bed. If she was bored, he would play with her. If she was hurt, he would heal her.

If not for her, this weird conglomeration of Ukyo and

Tatewaki Kuno would have simply been a memory, put out of his, and everyone else’s, misery.

And if at any point in time, she didn’t need him, didn’t want him, said she hated him, then he would remove himself.

And then his tears began to mix with his sweat and Nabiki’s drool because he didn’t want to exist in the strange half-life he was forced to live.

“Nabiki-chan, I don’t know how you can stand me, because I can’t stand myself.”

Kuno couldn’t put down Nabiki the rest of the afternoon and night. He wanted to have her close to him before she grew up and became distant, as children invariably did. He wanted her love for as long as he could get it because she was the only person he was getting it from.

And speaking of his daughter, it was getting late and she still hadn’t had anything to eat. She’d probably be up half the night since she had been sleeping, but Kuno thought he might be too.

“Nabiki-chan, it’s time to wake up,” he said quietly,

bouncing her slightly in his arms. “Nabiki-chan…”

She slowly opened her eyes, her face slack and tired looking.

Blinking slowly, she looked up at her father and yawned.

For the first time since Akane had been ripped away from him at the port, Kuno smiled. “That’s my little girl.” He ran the back his finger along her cheek. “You must be hungry. Let’s get you some dinner.”

He repeated his ritual of warming up a bottle to the proper temperature, bouncing Nabiki in his arms the entire time. He made a silly face at her, causing her to giggle, and he smiled again, this time sadly.

“One day, little girl, you’re going to grow up and you’re not going to need me any longer. You’re not going to laugh at a silly face, or smile at me. I’m not really your father after all. Your father was a good man, not a delusional pervert like me. I’ll never be the man your father was; I can’t.”

Shaking his head at the girl’s smile, he fetched the warm bottle and tested its temperature. Determining it safe, he once again tried to give it to Nabiki.

She accepted the rubber nipple partway into her mouth before turning her head and rejecting it once more.

“Don’t do this to me, Nabiki-chan. You need to eat,” Kuno said, his voice somewhere between annoyed and desperate. He tried to give her the bottle again, and again she refused it.

Finally, Kuno did throw the bottle, and that made Nabiki cry pitifully. Looking down at her, a look of panic settled on his face.

She wouldn’t eat and now this. God, he was an awful parent. And needed her to eat.

Kuno retrieved the bottle and tried again. “I know you

haven’t eaten all day, Nabiki-chan. Take the bottle. It’s dinner.”

He tried to force it in her mouth. “Damn it, Nabiki. You’ve got to eat.” The last sentence was spoken with desperation and the beginnings of tears in his eyes.

He just didn’t know what to do. Nabiki wouldn’t respond to him, and she wouldn’t take a bottle or soft food.

The phone rang and was answered. “Hello?”

Yes, may I speak to Ranma? I need…

Kuno looked at the phone in his hand as the line went dead.

He slammed it down, frowning. He needed to speak to Ranma. The problem with Nabiki went beyond their problems in the past. This was the here and now, and he needed to talk to Ranma.

“Come on, Nabiki-chan,” he said, lifting her, “we have to go see Mommy.”

---

Akane opened the front door about twenty-three seconds after she heard the knock. She was expecting it to be Kuno, and it was. So she drew back her fist in order to properly explain to him her feelings.

Then she noticed that he was holding a baby. And you just don’t hit people holding infants, not even if you’d gladly see them slowly roasted alive over hot coals.

“Get out,” she said coldly.

“I am sorry, but I need to…”

“You’re even dumber than I remembered. He doesn’t want to see you. Go home.”

“I need to see…”

Akane glared at him. “What part of Go-The-Fuck-Away don’t you understand, asshole?” She reached for the edge of the door, intending to slam it shut in his face.

“The baby,” he said desperately, “it’s about the baby,

please.”

She hesitated, the scowl turning into a frown. “What about it?”

“Her. She’s not eating, and I hoped… I hoped maybe her mother…”

Akane’s face softened slightly. “Okay. Hand her here, and I’ll take her in.”

“I thought I would give her to…”

The scowl returned. “You aren’t getting within his sight, pervert. Unless you want a repeat of yesterday, with him trying to kill himself.”

Kuno’s face turned ashen. “She… he tried to…?”

“He was in the process of jumping off a cliff when I grabbed him. That should make it real clear how he feels, ne? Frankly, I’d be pretty horrified if I were in his shoes, and I’m not even a man.”

He looked as if she had punched him in the stomach, and part of her felt sorry for him. For a second.

“I didn’t wish… I didn’t want to hurt her…”

She laughed, the sound mocking. “You’ve done nothing but that since the day I met you, Kuno. Ignore it, beat it up, or throw your perverted self at it, that was your routine, remember? I used to merely dislike you for causing me to be assaulted every morning and grabbing me every chance you got. But that was before you ruined Ranma’s life, wasn’t it? Now, now I truly hate you.”

He silently handed her the baby. Little Nabiki looked up at her, and gurgled contentedly.

Akane stared at her, and her face instantly went from cold glare to admiring warmth. “Oh, what a beautiful little girl!”

“Yes. I will be back for her later. Or she can be dropped off at my house, whichever you prefer.”

“Okay,” she said, gently holding Nabiki.

He left. She was very glad.

The baby gurgled, and she smiled at the adorable little thing. Such a beautiful little girl…

“Let’s go see daddy now, okay?”

Bouncing Nabiki slightly in her arms, she carefully ascended the stair to her room. As she had expected, Ranma was in her their, now - bed, asleep. Quietly, she laid the baby within the curve of his chest and shook gently him by the shoulder.

Ranma’s eyes slowly slid open. “Is it time for…” He stopped as a tiny hand pulled at his shirt, and smiled. “Hey, look who’s here! Hey, Nabiki-chan. How’s my girl, huh?”

Nabiki looked at him sternly, the tiny face confused and grumpy.

He winced. “Ah, jeez, I know that look. Akane, could ya get me a cup of cold water?”

She blinked. “Uh, sure.”

She jogged downstairs, got the requested water, and brought it back up to him. He doused himself with mild reluctance, carefully keeping the cold water from getting the bed wet, and then to her horror began to open his shirt.

“R-Ranma?” she asked faintly. “Er, what are you doing?”

In answer, Ranma raised Nabiki to one breast. “Kid’s hungry.”

A wince. “Good strong teeth.”

Akane swallowed. “And, uh, you… you don’t mind doing that?”

“What, you want a turn?”

“Yes,” she said steadily. “Eventually, with luck.”

Ranma shrugged, at least as much of a shrug as he could currently manage. “I did this for a year, so it ain’t new to me. It ain’t exactly manly, I know, but if Nabiki-chan needed me to dress up in a skirt and stroll through Tokyo, I’d do it in a flash. Okay?”

She nodded. “What if she needed you and Kuno to stay

together?”

Ranma’s face hardened. “Luckily, she doesn’t.” He blinked.

“Hey, speaking of which, how’d the kid get here?”

“Kuno brought her. He said she wasn’t eating, so he came to the house and gave her to me.”

Nabiki pulled away, and Ranma gently transferred his daughter to his lap. “That musta been hard for him to do.”

“Yes. He had to talk to me, for one thing.”

Ranma frowned. “I guess that means you weren’t exactly nice to him, huh?”

“I guess,” Akane replied. “After what he did, I don’t see why I should bother hiding how I feel.”

He sighed. “It wasn’t his fault, Akane. It wasn’t anyone’s fault, except maybe mine for acting like Shampoo in heat.”

“Kuno’s never been full of restraint, Ranma. I can’t count the number of times the slimy creep grabbed one of us.”

He nodded. “Yeah. He changed.”

Akane snorted. “Yeah. Now, instead of groping you, he’s gotten you pregnant.”

“I should talk to the guy. Hammer things out.” He sighed, a pained look moving briefly across his face. “I’d better arrange a meeting with him, alone.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Akane said. “I don’t want a repeat of yesterday.”

“Yesterday was yesterday. I wasn’t thinking straight, I was a little nuts.” He smiled. “I didn’t have you.”

She didn’t smile back. “I think it’s a bad idea.”

“Look, the guy’s probably hurting just as much as I was…”

“Let him.”

The smile slipped away. “No. I won’t.”

Akane focused a baleful stare at him. “You’re not going, and that’s final.”

“Oh?” Ranma closed his eyes for a second, and then met the stare. “No, Akane. I’m gonna go meet him. And if you don’t trust me enough to just do that, then we might as well break things off between us right now. I never minded getting slapped around a bit, but none of you, not even Ukyo or Shampoo, ever really trusted me.

And I deserve better than that. So what’s it gonna be?”

Akane didn’t meet his eyes. “I’m sorry, Ranma. I do trust you, really I do.” Then she looked up suddenly, eyes fierce and wet with sudden tears. “But I don’t trust the person who married Kuno.

I’m scared of her. I’m scared that she’s going to take you away from me again.”

“That’s silly…”

“No it’s not!” she screamed. “Look! Look at her!” A finger shot out to point to Nabiki, dozing in his arms. “God, she’s beautiful. And she’s not mine. You lived with him for two years, I had you for one year. You made this… this wonderful little girl with him…” She was openly crying now. “How am I not supposed to worry, Ranma?”

He stared at her, digesting what she had said. “Okay. I can see why you’re worried. But you’re still going to have to trust me sometime, and it might as well be now. So is it yes, or no?”

“Can you tell me, honestly tell me that you don’t love him?”

He sighed. “No, no I can’t. But I can tell you that he and I will never be a couple again. ‘Akane’ is dead. I’m a man, and I like women, and the love I still have for him is… it’s settling into the kinda thing you have for Kasumi and Nabiki, y’know? Family. You can love people without loving them in that way.”

She met his eyes, the deepness of hers drawing him in. “You promise?”

“I promise.”

Akane sighed, and looked away. “Then I trust you. But if you need help, or if you want a ride home, I’ll be here sitting by the telephone, okay?”

He smiled, and kissed her on the cheek. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

---

Ranma’s sleep was restless. He woke up periodically, his mind filled with thoughts of both Akane and Kuno. Akane trusted him, but he didn’t trust himself. Kuno needed him, but he wasn’t so sure…

Ranma got carefully out of bed, trying not to wake Akane. She said she trusted him, and he believed her, but he needed to do this.

He needed to do this without her pressuring him. He needed to do it alone so he… so he didn’t have to put on any sort of act.

Until Akane accepted the way things would be, he had to put on the act. It hurt, but it hurt not to fake the way he felt too. It hurt in his heart, his mind, and his pride.

He froze when little Nabiki started to squirm around with him not there to hold her between him and Akane. Watching her settle into place next to Akane, clutching at her pajamas, Ranma sighed and exited the room silently.

He snuck downstairs, not rousing any of the other inhabitants of the house, and picked up the phone. Ranma carried it to the door, gently pulling on the cord and hoping it would reach, then he left the house.

Ranma sat on the front porch, the phone at his side, head in his hands, and looked out into the darkness. Occasionally he would glance at the sky overhead and wonder what had really happened to that island. Sometimes he wondered what had happened to him on the island, and for neither question could he come up with an answer.

He picked up the phone and placed the handset against his ear. His hand strayed over to dial, but then it lost courage, and he dropped the handset back into the cradle. Again, this was something he needed to do. And he hated it.

Ranma hated it all. He hated his daughter because…

because… And he hated Kuno because… because…

He snatched up the handset and stabbed at buttons, dialing the number to the Kuno house.

The phone at the other end rang once, then twice. “C’mon…

pick up the damn phone,” he mumbled.

There was a click. Hello?

Ranma’s voice froze for a moment. “Yo,” he said somewhat forcefully.

The silence stretched, and Ranma began to sweat.

Yes?

“How’re ya doin’?” Ranma asked and instantly cursed himself for sounding far too soft.

Perfectly fine.

Ranma went through it once more in his mind and came to a decision. “Kuno, we gotta talk. I wanna talk to you about… You know. I wanna figure this out, figure out just what I’m feelin’

because I don’t think I’m too happy about it.”

I don’t think…

“No, you damn well better show up tomorrow because I am not going to feel guilty about this for the rest of my life! And I’m not going to make Nabiki-chan suffer because you’re still just as pigheaded as you were before!” Ranma could feel his face twisted into a snarl, breathing heavily with the outburst of emotion.

You don’t know anything about me. You never did. You still don’t. Don’t try to emotionally blackmail me into…

Ranma laughed. “Emotionally blackmail? I’m just trying to set things right, and that means putting up with your crap. I’ll do it for Nabiki-chan’s sake, but I don’t…” He hesitated for a moment.

“I sure don’t need you.”

There was silence except for the faint sound of breathing through the phone. Something faint that interrupted the breathing came through, something that sounded like a choked back sob.

Ranma closed his eyes, repeating to himself over and over again ‘I am a man’.

Fine. Just say it over the phone. Might as well, since I already wish I was dead.

The line kept running through Ranma’s head as he spoke. “That would be a mistake. You don’t want to be dead. You…”

You don’t know what I went through! You don’t know what it was like!

“Don’t say that to me! How the hell do you think I feel? Huh?

It was a real picnic for me finding out that I… that I screwed a guy, OK? How do you think that makes me feel?” He was almost yelling.

I wouldn’t know, Kuno answered flatly. *The only thing I have now are memories, some good, some horrible. And I have Nabiki.

She is the only thing I live for because… I don’t have Akane, and I know she… you hate me now. And I’m the one who made you… her hate me. I have nothing.*

Ranma hung his head, the phone clutched tightly in his hand.

He tried to stop himself, but he couldn’t. It hurt too much. It hurt, and he was still putting on that act. “I am a man, God damn it!” he yelled into the phone and slammed it down.

Then he covered his face with his arms as the tears slid down his cheeks. Not the disgusted, pitying sobs that he had released before, but pained, heartful tears of sorrow and anguish. It was his fault, it really was. Even if he didn’t mean to do it, he had…

broken Kuno’s heart. And maybe his own a little.

“Hey there,” a gentle voice said from behind him. Ranma didn’t turn to look, preferring to stay miserable because it felt better. It felt good to be miserable and cry and be mad at the world for being so unfair to him.

Akane sat down next to him, Nabiki sleeping in her arms. “I heard you,” she said simply.

“Go ‘way, Akane. I’m not a man. I’m not anything.”

“Ranma, I won’t let Kuno do this to you. You’re better than he is. You don’t deserve this. You have Nabiki to think about. And me. Kuno’s not your concern.”

“He is! Don’t try and stop me from feeling for him because I can’t help it. I don’t want to, but I can’t help it. I don’t want to, but… I do.” He turned away from Akane, and the tears came a bit faster.

Akane thinned her lips and rubbed Nabiki’s back absently.

Something in the back of her mind was telling her what a good mother she was making. “I’m sorry, Ranma. Come back to bed.” She hated seeing him hurt, and for some reason, whenever she tried to help get over what Kuno had done to him, she ended up hurting him too.

“Come back to bed. You don’t need any more of this tonight.

You can deal with it in the morning.” It was the most non-biased thing she could think to say.

“You go on. I’ll be up in a little bit,” he answered, voice still muffled by his arms.

Akane looked at him, tears forming in her eyes. It hurt her just as much to see him in such bad shape. It hurt her to see him in such a state of confusion. “I love you,” she whispered before standing and going back inside.

Ranma waited on the porch for 15 minutes before picking up the phone again. This time, he dialed the number with no hesitation, though his hand was shaking.

The phone rang. He listened and waited for the phone to stop ringing. It never did.

“Sorry, Akane. You know I have to do this. As much as you may hate it, or him or me, I have to do it.”

“Do what, Ranma?” Akane asked as she entered the room. She froze when she saw him standing there with the phone in his hand.

Spinning on her heel, she left just as quickly as she had come.

This wasn’t the time to deal with Akane. He had his own “Akane” to deal with. And he was really beginning to hate the phone.

Dialing and holding the phone gingerly to his ear, he waited, practicing what he would say.

Yes?

God, he just knew it was Ranma, didn’t he? “Hey,” he said softly. “I’m sorry about last night.”

There was no answer.

“I still wanna talk.”

Why?

“Because I didn’t mean what I said last night. I didn’t mean it like that. We need to talk, and I think the sooner, the better.”

Why?

Ranma growled in frustration. “Why? You stupid jackass, because I’m sorry and I still care!”

You… But you’re…

“Yeah, I’m a guy, but… Look, let’s talk face to face. I know we can work something out. We have to.”

The moments of silence were maddening to Ranma. He couldn’t understand why Kuno was being so… so… Scared. “How about in a couple hours, down by the Neko…” No, that was gone.

I know where you mean. I’ll be there.

“OK, good. I’ll see you then.” Ranma hung up the phone, his hand shaking. He released his breath and shook his head. It hadn’t been quite as difficult as he thought it would be.

“So you’re going to see him?”

“Yeah, I am, Akane. I’m gonna work this out once and for all.

It’s eatin’ me up inside, and that’s not fair to me or you or Nabiki-chan.” He looked up at her, her face carefully neutral.

“Or Kuno?” she asked emotionlessly.

“Or him. Akane, the sooner you understand, the better off we’ll be: I’m not going to hurt him, I won’t let him stay hurt. I won’t run off and be his girlfriend either. If it had been you instead of me, I would do my very best to understand. All I’m asking is for you to do the same and trust me.”

Akane stared into his eyes, a single tear working its way down her cheek. There was that glimpse again of the person that cared for Kuno, the person that might take her Ranma away from her.

“I’ll try. I really will.” She looked down at her feet, then back up. “Do… do you want to take Nabiki with you?”

“No, I don’t want any excuses, no interruptions. This is gonna be man to man.” He paused, looking at her, and smiled. “And then we’ll be a happy family, right?”

That brought a hesitant smile to Akane’s face. “We will.”

“Good. I’m gonna meet him in a couple hours.” He grinned at her. “Which means I’ve got some free time until…”

Akane smiled back slightly and headed for the stairs.

---

Ranma was early and very nervous. This was something that needed to be done, but it didn’t mean he had to like it. Or like doing it. He walked quickly, filled with nervous energy and his hands in his pockets. This would be his first seeing-speaking conversation with Kuno since…

He figured he had reason to be nervous. There was no telling what would happen when they saw each other, if Kuno would try and attack him, or maybe his girl side would kick in somehow and have him fawning all over…

Ranma thrust that possibility away. No way would that happen.

He had asked Akane to trust him, but he wasn’t sure he could trust himself. And most of all, he wanted to prove to Akane that he was him again, but better.

Walking down the street, the sun shining overhead, it was impossible to tell that there was anything wrong. People walked by, all concerning their own business, shops open, light traffic…

Nerima just like he was used to it.

Except, when he got in sight of where the Nekohanten should have been, it was a little noodle joint, a corner beefbowl counter.

And standing out in front of it…

Ranma kept his legs moving to walk up to the front and greet Kuno. “Hey,” he said.

Kuno looked at him evenly, but there was a kind of void in his eyes. He just seemed absent. Kuno stared at Ranma with dark circles under his eyes. “How’s Nabiki?” he asked abruptly.

A bit surprised, Ranma didn’t answer for a moment, then he chuckled. “I scared the hell… Oh. She’s fine,” he answered. He looked at Kuno, and Kuno looked back. This wasn’t working.

“We… we need to talk. We need to work this out,” Ranma said and shook his head. “I’ve been tearing myself up over this and it’s not helpin’ any.” His eyes were hard and merciless, but there was misery in them as well.

“Agreed.”

The two began to walk slowly, a distance apart, appearing to be colleagues above anything else.

“And I don’t even know what to say. It’s just…”

“You hate me.” His voice, in that one sentence, seemed to convey every single bit of misery he felt.

There was a moment of silence. “Naw, I don’t. It’d be easy to say I did, but right now, Akane hates you more than I ever did.”

Ranma sighed heavily and kicked at a pebble. “I just kinda wish…”

“Why me, right? Why you and why me? Why couldn’t it have been Akane? Or Ukyo, the real Ukyo? Or Shampoo, or even my sister, right?

How could you have sunk so low? How could you have let this happen to yourself? That’s it, that’s all of it.

“You’re Ranma Saotome and everyone likes you. And me… I’m nothing. I’m the one that brainwashed you and took advantage of you and I deserve to be thrown into the deepest, darkest pit and left to rot. It’s fine to hate me. Everyone else does.”

That was when Ranma realized what had happened. When his memories had returned, he had gone from being “Akane” to being Ranma. The change had been different enough that there was a clear division between the person he was and the person he had existed as on that island.

For Kuno, there was no such division. Strangely enough, the person on the island wasn’t a whole lot different from the person walking next to him at this moment. The line between “Ukyo” and Kuno had blurred and disappeared, leaving only a confused and miserable young man.

Ranma suddenly stopped and looked at Kuno. He smirked. “I never thought I’d say this to a guy, but… let’s just be friends.”

“Friends.” The word sounded like an insult coming from Kuno’s mouth at that point. “I suppose it’s the only thing I have left, isn’t it?”

Ranma shrugged. “There’s always Nabiki. You’ll always be her…” He had to force the word out, but he managed. “Dad. That’ll never change. I know it sucks, but things are not going back to the way they were before. Not on the island, and… not before that either. They can’t.”

The two began walking again. “I know a lot of people talk about me and don’t really know what I’m about, but I know.” The path they were taking would lead them through the park. “And now, sometimes I don’t know. Part of the reason I went to Akane was that I thought I had, you know, like turned gay or somethin’.”

“And you blame me.” The look on Kuno’s face was pathetic enough to make a corpse look cheerful.

“Quit puttin’ words in my mouth! I don’t blame you. It sounds like you blame yourself more than anyone. Except Akane. But I can handle Akane, and one a these days, she’ll figure out the truth.”

There was a bench under a tree that Ranma chose to sit on. He waited for Kuno to sit before speaking again. “Look,” he said, looking seriously at Kuno, “I meant what I said about bein’ friends.

I really did. What everyone else thinks don’t mean nothin’ to me.

Not even Akane because none of them know what it was like.

“If you think that means I’m in love with you, you’re wrong.”

Ranma looked away to watch the wind shake the leaves overhead. “I’m not Akane any more, but… in some small way, you’re still Ukyo.

There’s some small part of me, maybe somethin’ that doesn’t want to let go, that still…” Ranma sighed. “I still, you know, care. About you. You know?”

“And this is where it ends? Just like that? I don’t want to sound… selfish, but I need more. I can’t live like this because I still love Akane. She was everything I ever wanted in a woman, and… and… We were happy, weren’t we?”

Ranma nodded. They had been. “We were. Were. Akane doesn’t exist any more. Both of us have to move on because it’s only gonna hurt more if we… you don’t.” Ranma suddenly felt a hundred years old.

“In a way, I miss it. It was so simple on that island. It was kinda nice not having to worry about… how I showed my emotions. Or to who.” He looked hard at Kuno then. “Friends?”

Kuno sighed and nodded. “Friends.”

Seeming to know what was needed, the clouds suddenly opened up, dousing the two with cold rain. As quickly as it started, it was gone and left behind one very wet young man and one very wet young woman looking at each other.

Sighing in defeat, Ranma turned back forward and looked at a bird splash in a sudden puddle. She hadn’t thought about the way she was sitting, only that it was comfortable. That part of her buried inside made her sit still when Kuno slid over and put his forehead on her shoulder.

“You’ll have to get used to it. This type of thing is going to happen all the time.” Still, she reached up and patted his back.

And she remained still, frighteningly still when Kuno couldn’t help himself and hugged her.

“Good bye,” he whispered to her, then stood up and fled.

Ranma watched him go, shaking her head. “Aw shit.”

V

Nabiki wandered downstairs warily. Life had been fairly normal of late, luring her into a false sense of complacency, which was why a little thing like Ranma coming back from the dead was able to rattle her.

She flushed, irritated. The damn jock was never going to let her live that down.

Her own feelings were curiously mixed. On the one hand, she was certain that his reappearance heralded a new wave of strangeness and chaos, and she wasn’t at all sure that she wanted to be living in the middle of it. Not when the last time had ended with three or four people dead and Akane a physical and emotional wreck.

She wasn’t relishing the idea of the constant Ranma/Akane squabbling, either. It gave her a headache, and it made her want to pick the little brats up and shake them. Which, of course, she was physically incapable of doing, and this fact would make her headache even worse.

On the other hand… she liked Ranma, in his own annoying sort of way. He wasn’t nearly as dumb as he seemed, and despite his stupid arrogance and teasing, he did seem to really care about her sister. While Akane could do better than him for a husband, she wasn’t likely to. And she could certainly do worse.

And from the little she had seen of the two last night…

things were a bit different. Ranma seemed to actually understand that her sister had feelings. Akane didn’t take every poorly phrased word as an invitation to club him. They had seemed a lot more…

honest. And mature.

After two years, she would damn well hope so.

Nabiki was so wrapped up in her thoughts that it took her at least three seconds to notice the baby Akane was cradling in her lap at the table.

“Ah, Akane?”

Her sister looked up, a baby bottle in one hand. “Yes, oneesan?”

How to phrase this? “You’ve got a baby in your lap.” Boy, she thought, that was sharp.

“Uh-huh. Isn’t she just adorable?”

Nabiki examined the infant. It stared at her in a manner she assumed might be adorable. It looked more like vacant imbecility to her, but she didn’t like children.

“Akane? Stupid question, but, ah, whose baby is this?”

“Hmm? Oh, it’s Ranma’s.”

Akane placidly continued feeding the baby. Nabiki’s brain turned cartwheels. Didn’t it take nine months before you had a kid?

Had Ranma shown up nine months ago, and she had somehow not noticed?

When had Akane been pregnant, anyway?

“Er?” she asked intelligently.

“It’s Ranma’s.”

“You mean you and he, ah…”

“No, it’s not mine.”

Okay, now she was confused. “Hold on. He had a kid with another woman, and you’re calmly feeding the kid instead of beating his worthless skull in?”

“He didn’t have it with another woman.”

“How can he… oh. Hey. You don’t mean…”

Akane lifted the baby to her shoulder and began to pat it.

“Yes.”

“Ranma? Mr. ‘I-Must-Be-The-Ultimate-Man’?”

Her sister continued to gently pat the infant. “He lost his memory for two years in a place with no hot water.”

“Ah.” Nabiki winced. “When did he, ah, regain…”

“Day before yesterday.”

“Did he take it well?”

“He tried to kill himself.”

“Oh.” She didn’t ask who had stopped him. Poor guy. “So, uh, who’s the father? I mean, the real… er, the other father.”

The baby burped, and Akane lowered it back to her lap. “You should probably ask Ranma that yourself, Nabiki. It’s his business.”

“Okay.” Struggling to regain her composure, she asked a harmless question. “So what’s the kid’s name?”

Akane flushed. “Er, Nabiki.”

She blinked. “Excuse me, did you just say…”

“He lost his memory.”

“Ranma’s daughter with some guy has my name?”

Her sister smirked. “It’s a real honor, actually.”

“Honor. Yeah.” This was a dream. Yes, she was dreaming. After all, the night before last she had dreamed of nude Fidel Castro on kangaroos herding purple sheep, and that had been much less surreal than this. “Look, this has got to be a mistake…”

The door swung open, and Ranma trudged in. “Hi, Akane. She give you any trouble?”

“She was a little angel, weren’t you, Nabbiekins?” cooed Akane. Nabiki almost gagged.

“Hey, Ranma… I heard you named your daughter…”

He looked embarrassed. “Well, see, I lost my memory…”

“Yeah, I heard. But you’ve got it back now, right?”

He nodded. “Yeah. I have it back.”

“So, now that you remember who I am…”

“We already named her,” Ranma said flatly. “Besides, I’d have to ask Kuno before changing it, which I don’t see a need to do.”

“Why would you need to ask…” A horrible thought dawned.

“Oh… oh, you don’t mean… I mean, he and… this kid is…?”

“I lost my memory,” Ranma said evenly. Nabiki read between the lines: Keep it up, and you won’t like the result.

“Right, you lost your memory.” Gee. Ranma and Kuno. She wasn’t sure whether to be horrified and aghast or bust a gut laughing.

“So you named her Nabiki, eh?” she said weakly. Her head was starting to ache.

“Yup. Wanna hold her?”

“Ah, heheh, hey, I don’t know…” With mild horror, she found that Ranma hadn’t waited for an answer, and was thrusting the kid at her. Not knowing what else to do, she took it.

Nabiki stared at the baby.

The baby stared at Nabiki.

“Stain the 1000 yen shirt, kid, and you’re in trouble,” she told it dazedly.

The baby considered this.

“Yen.”

Ranma stared at his daughter. “Hey… hey, Nabiki-chan just said her first word! I don’t believe it!”

Nabiki beamed. “Hey, I think I like this kid.”

“Yen.”

She nodded. “Yup. Definitely like her.”

Akane just stared.

“Nabiki, you’ve corrupted my daughter, haven’t you,” Ranma said, tone mixing horror and amusement. She shrugged.

“I call it an improvement. Are you sure this is your kid, Ranma?”

“Yen,” little Nabiki said happily.

---

“Here she is.” Ranma handed a sleeping Nabiki to Kuno. “She fell asleep on the way over so she’ll be out for a little while,” he whispered.

“Understood. I’ll drop her off in a week then.” Kuno stood and looked at Ranma a little unsure. “Would you like to come in for a drink or something?” he offered. “It’s a bit warm out today.”

Ranma looked uncomfortable. “I gotta get back to…” His voice trailed off when he saw the pleading look in Kuno’s eyes. He stopped and listened and heard only the buzz of cicadas. “Sure, I could use something cold.”

The relief that Kuno showed was obvious. He stepped aside and let Ranma inside the vast, empty house. The group walked silently back to the kitchen, the complete lack of sound becoming rather oppressive.

“So, have ya heard from Kodachi?” Ranma asked, unable to stand it any longer.

“Yes. They notified her when we were picked up and

identified. She won’t be coming home until next year. She said her classes were very important, and I can’t really blame her. I don’t think that she will return then though. The travel between the U.S.

and Japan is quite trying,” Kuno answered. “She sent a letter that was very pleasant and I wrote her back.” He shrugged. “We have grown apart as siblings.”

Ranma nodded and leaned against the counter. “Too bad. I bet she’d love to meet her niece.” He grinned.

Kuno shook his head. “I don’t think Nabiki’s reaction would have been anything to compare to my sister’s. What would you like?”

“Whatever you got. I’m not picky,” Ranma answered, smirking as he remembered Nabiki’s reaction to her future niece. More specifically, the girl’s name.

Ranma watched Kuno open the refrigerator, still carrying the sleeping child, and saw the mostly empty icebox. “How about water?”

Kuno offered as he looked in it himself.

Ranma pasted a sickly smile on his face. “That’s fine.” He wasn’t concerned with Kuno’s ability to take care of Nabiki. When it came to her, Kuno’s pride was non-existent. If he needed help, he would ask for it. But he wasn’t sure how well Kuno was taking care of himself. “Hey man, why don’t we go get some lunch?” he suggested.

“I don’t want to take up too much of your time.”

“It’s no problem. Akane will understand.” He paused as they started to walk from the kitchen. “Well, she won’t, but hey, I’m used to it.”

The three were at the cafe that had been, and still was, the Furinkan hangout. They were sitting in a booth, Ranma on one side and Kuno on the other with Nabiki in his lap. She was enjoying playing with a still-wrapped package of crackers and remaining relatively oblivious to the concern her “mother” was showing.

“If you make her wear dresses all the time, she’s gonna grow up to hate them,” Ranma said, looking at the girl and smiling.

Kuno had dressed her in a cute little red sundress before they had left for the cafe, declaring the miniature sweatsuit was too unflattering. And she did look adorable, but… “Nonsense. When she grows of age, she will wear whatever she desires. What she wears now will have no bearing on it. Besides, I think she looks cute in it. She has a noble face.”

“I can see she got her looks from me,” Ranma said, grinning.

Kuno snorted at that. “Hardly. Compare our profiles.” He turned his head to let Ranma see just how his face didn’t look anything like the child’s.

Ranma reached over and mussed up Nabiki’s hair. “She’s got your hair, that’s for sure.”

Shaking his head, Kuno looked at his daughter and smiled a little. “She’s got the most beautiful eyes.”

“They’re my eyes, that’s why,” Ranma said, smirking.

Kuno looked up at Ranma, all mirth disappearing instantly.

“You’re right,” he said quietly. “You do. I always loved looking in your eyes with the stars reflected in them.”

Ranma was stunned for a moment, then laughed a little. “Yeah, uh… well…” He scratched the back of his head and looked at the counter. “Do you think our food is ready yet?”

Kuno sighed and leaned back in the booth. What kind of idiot stunt did he just pull? Ranma wasn’t interested in either form, and the only thing about Ranma he liked was “Akane”. No, that wasn’t true, but if there was one thing he missed more than anything, it was the look in “Akane’s” eyes when they had looked at each other.

Ranma could practically hear Kuno’s thoughts, and they made him very nervous. “Look, man, I don’t think…” Ranma stopped speaking as the waitress approached with their food.

She smiled at them as she set their food down. “Beef bowl and curried pork for you…” That was placed in front of Ranma.

“Soba and the sushi snack for you.” She smiled as she set Kuno’s order in front of him. “Is there anything else I can get for you?”

“No, I think that’s it,” Ranma responded, trying to get his mind as far away from what Kuno had said as possible. He looked from his food back to the waitress and noted the friendly smile she gave him and then the smile she gave Kuno. They were different. Very different. And a plan was born.

“Thank you, we’re fine,” Kuno answered, fussing with Nabiki and not noticing the look the waitress was giving him.

“That’s a cute little girl you’ve got. What’s her name?” the waitress asked, stalling a little.

Kuno looked up, surprised. “Nabiki. Nabiki’s her name.” A slight blush started to rise to his cheeks at the way the waitress was looking at him.

Ranma sat back and smiled. It didn’t even look like he’d have to do any work either.

“You’ve got to go back. Didn’t you see the look she was givin’ ya? Man, she’s got it bad.”

“I really don’t think…”

Ranma punched him lightly in the shoulder. “This is just what you need. At least don’t leave her hangin’ like that. Go and talk to her.”

“But I…”

Ranma lost the look of silly excitement on his face and his voice grew quiet. “Look, you owe this to yourself. Get out of the house, do stuff.” Ranma swallowed. “Forget about Akane.”

Kuno’s face twisted into a painful grimace. “It’s not that easy.”

“I know. This’ll help. Even if nothin’ comes out of it, at least you’ll have made a new friend. There can’t be anything wrong with that.”

The indecision was obvious, but Ranma knew his friend wanted to get out more and just didn’t really know how without him. “Fresh start, back at stage one. It’s called meetin’ new people,” he said softly.

“You think she did?” Kuno asked.

A small smile made its way to Ranma’s lips. “Definitely.”

Standing outside the door, Kuno fussily straightened Nabiki’s clothes, who squirmed in his arms and mussed them up again. She was almost taunting him with the little noises she was making, as if she were saying, “You’re stalling, coward.”

Taking a deep breath, Kuno opened the door and entered the cafe. He looked around furtively before sitting at a small table off to one side. He wasn’t all that hungry, but it had been the only time he had been able to rouse his courage enough to come.

Instead of looking at the other people in the establishment, he picked up the menu and began to stare at it.

“And how is my cutest customer?”

Her voice almost made him jump, he was so nervous. He lowered the menu slowly and looked at the waitress. She was smiling gently at Nabiki and not at him. Saying a quick thanks, he forced a smile onto his face to hide the doubt gnawing at his gut.

“Does she eat solid food yet?” the waitress asked, not even paying much attention to Kuno.

“No, not really.” He didn’t know what else to say.

“I hear teething’s pretty rough on babies. Parents too,” she said looking at him and smiling. “Now what can I get for you?”

Kuno looked at the waitress, swallowed and looked quickly at his menu again. “Uh…” His eyes moved over the menu, his mind working furiously. He had seen it this time, seen the look in her eyes. Frankly, it scared him.

The only woman that had ever looked at him like that had been… Akane. “I… don’t really know. Maybe you could… come back in a bit.” It frightened him that someone could ever possibly take the place of Akane, that he could consider simply putting his feelings for her aside.

He shouldn’t have listened to Ranma. It had been a horrible idea to come back, to see the woman again. “I’m sorry. I just don’t…” he started to say, but when he looked back over the top of his menu, she was already gone.

Kuno was relieved, but disappointed he had handled it so badly. How could he ever explain his situation to her, to anyone?

Even if he had wanted to, how could he? With a thump, he dropped his head to the table and closed his eyes. “Nabiki-chan,” he moaned, “what do I do?”

Nabiki whomped him on the head and grabbed two handfuls of hair.

“How do I tell her? I… I think I want to, but how do I say it?” Kuno groaned while Nabiki pulled on his hair.

“Coffee’s a start. Or sandwiches.”

Kuno sat up abruptly upon hearing the voice and was

immediately blushing. “I, uh…”

“I get a break in ten minutes. If you wouldn’t mind waiting here until then…” She looked hopefully at Kuno, who nodded mutely.

“I’m Tojiko,” she said, now smiling, and held out her hand.

“Uk… Tatewaki.” He took her hand in his for a polite shake.

“It’s nice to finally put a name to the face.” With that said, Tojiko headed back to the kitchen.

Kuno looked at Nabiki, who was still stubbornly hanging on to his hair. “What have I gotten myself into?”

The ten minutes seemed to crawl by, minutes in which Kuno considered leaving more than once. But he couldn’t make himself do such a low act.

“Hi.”

And before he could consider anymore, she was sitting in front of him. “Hello,” he answered slowly.

“I don’t make you uncomfortable, do I?”

Toying with lying for a moment, Kuno replied, “Yes. I am rather… inexperienced with women.”

Tojiko smiled. “That’s sweet, but you don’t need to make things up. It’s nothing to be ashamed of if you’ve played the field.

Nowadays, you have to be sure.”

Kuno was quite surprised by the woman’s… Tojiko’s openness.

Most certainly no woman had ever spoken to him quite like that.

“Well, I…” He could feel his cheeks reddening and willed them to stop. “I haven’t really. There has been only one woman before.”

Tojiko nodded slowly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t see a ring and I just assumed…” She started to stand, silently cursing married men who didn’t wear their rings.

Kuno watched her, confused. “I don’t… Ah! No, please sit.

I’m not involved with anyone. Sit back down, please. I… We… It was a complicated situation and we are no longer together.”

Tojiko sat down slowly, not as open as before. “So then…”

she began.

“Um…”

“Nabiki’s your…”

“Daughter. She’s my daughter.” He looked her in the eye for just a moment before he was forced to look away. Kuno nodded. “She’s my daughter.”

“She’s very cute.” Tojiko held her hand out to Nabiki, who grabbed her finger and gave her a big grin. “She’s got quite a grip too.”

Kuno nodded, but didn’t say anything. His eyes were still directed on the table.

“When I asked you your name, you started to say something else. Why?” Tojiko was not one for beating around the bush. Not in the least.

The slight frown that passed across Kuno’s face was not lost on Tojiko. “It has to do with Nabiki’s mother. It’s… not a pleasant memory.”

“I’m sorry.” Now her curiosity was piqued. This was something Tojiko would make sure to find out later. “I know this isn’t a very good place to talk, not like this, so…” She pulled out her pen and an order slip. “Here,” she said as she began to write down her phone number. “If it’s not too much trouble, if it’s something you wouldn’t mind doing, I’d still like to talk.”

Kuno took the offered number and stared at it. “I don’t know when…”

“Call me any time it’s convenient for you. I won’t mind.”

Tojiko stood and pushed her chair in. “And I don’t mind Nabiki or whoever her mother is either.”

Kuno looked up at her, a look of confusion and uncertainty on his face, and nodded.

“I do believe she was…”

“Putting the moves on you. The next step woulda been for her ta throw herself at you. I’m kinda surprised she didn’t from what I’ve heard.” Ranma thumped Kuno congratulatorily on the back.

“But I… I don’t know.”

“You didn’t like it?”

“She was… staring at me. In her eyes, she saw me as if I was just…”

Ranma chuckling stopped him. “A piece of meat, right? Get used to it. Women these days take their manhunts very seriously. She obviously thinks you’re a good catch, and you are.”

He leaned closer. “Was she good-looking?” he whispered conspiratorially.

“Well, Yes, I suppose she was.”

Ranma grinned. “If you end up home alone with her, I’d watch it. You better use Nabiki-chan as a shield or you might be naked on the floor before you know it.”

Blushing, Kuno shook his head. “No, I really do not see that happening.”

“See, those are the ones you have to watch the most. You think you’re safe and then BAM! Pants in the kitchen, shirt in hall and you’re pinned to the floor next to the bed.”

Kuno stared at Ranma. “It seems as if you speak from

experience.”

Ranma’s grin widened. “Maybe. Don’t knock it till you try it though. What’d she think of Nabiki-chan?”

“She was alarmingly understanding. After… after Akane, your Akane, I didn’t think…”

“Whoa. I don’t need to hear any more of that,” Ranma

declared, holding his hands up. “I know you two don’t get along, but I hear enough of it from her. I don’t need it from you too.”

Kuno nodded. “That was rude of me.” He sat roughly down on the couch. “I have noticed, and today made it painfully obvious, that I have an extreme lack of social graces. It is a wonder Tojiko…”

“Tojiko’s her name?” Ranma was really getting into it.

“Yes. I’m surprised she even considered giving me her phone number. I came across as a… a brain damaged monkey,” Kuno said, shaking his head.

“I’m sure it wasn’t that bad. And if she didn’t mind, then what’s there to worry about? I think you gotta stop worrying so much about what happened… before.”

Ranma sat down next to Kuno and began counting off on his fingers. “She’s good looking, she likes you, you like her… Right?”

Hesitating for a moment, Kuno nodded. “Only superficially, but…”

“She likes Nabiki-chan, she doesn’t care about what went on before and she was practically in your lap. I don’t see what the problem is here.”

Kuno frowned. “I don’t know. It feels wrong, like I’m

betraying…”

“Akane? No, you’re not betraying her. Akane… Akane doesn’t mind. Not any longer.” Ranma sat just a little closer and hesitantly put his arm across Kuno’s shoulders. “Call her. Tell her…”

“Tell her what? She will never believe me!”

Ranma shook his head. “The truth when you’re ready to tell it. Don’t let what happened get in the way of anything.” He smiled a little. “I can tell you like her at least a little. Before you even said anything I could tell. Don’t let Akane get in the way. Don’t let what you… we had in the past get in the way of somethin’ for the future.”

“Your interpersonal relationships have much improved,” Kuno said, laughing a little, sniffling once.

Ranma shrugged, removing his arm from Kuno. “I dunno. I guess… the island forced me to grow up. Maybe it was against my will, but I saw some pretty ugly things about myself.”

“I wish I had been able to see such things before all of this had happened. What… what if I go back? I go back and I am not able to stop myself, and I know that everything is wrong, but…”

With a stern look on his face, Ranma slapped Kuno. “Shut up, man. You ain’t going back unless you let yourself.” He looked in his friend’s eyes. “If you do, I’ll let you know. I won’t… go back.”

Ranma swallowed and took in a big breath through his nose, buying himself time to reaffirm his identity. When he spoke again, it was with a quiet and uncertain voice. “I… won’t.”

“I’m sorry. There is nothing in the world I am more afraid of than letting everything go to waste. All our efforts, all our experiences… I don’t wish to lose those because I lose my sanity.

I don’t want to lose those memories.”

Ranma shook his head. “That’s not gonna happen. And even if it does, there’s just one thing…” He frowned a little and chewed on his lower lip. “She was real. Akane was real. I know that’s something I won’t forget. Not ever.”

“I loved her like nothing I ever have before.”

“C’mon, you know much I hate this,” Ranma said. Kuno’s show of emotion was making him very uncomfortable. Not only because it was directed at a particularly vulnerable spot in himself, but also because he just didn’t know how to handle it.

“I’m sorry we never got along before,” Kuno finally said quietly. “I have so many regrets.”

“Remember what I said? New start. For both of us. I know I’m gonna take advantage of it, and I think you need to too. You gotta think about yourself and Nabiki-chan. You know if you’re not happy, she won’t be either.”

Kuno smiled sadly. “This is true. I won’t get a moment of sleep if she believes there’s something amiss.”

“See? If you’re ever not sure, just think about her because she needs you just as much as she needs me. Don’t forget that and you’ll do fine. And if you ever need anything, you just call. I won’t turn you away. Besides, how else will I find out how things go with Tojiko?” Ranma broke into a grin.

“A deal then. Thank you. I shall call her. And hope she doesn’t think me too… odd.” Kuno stood and nodded his head to Ranma. “Shall I pick up Nabiki-chan, or will you drop her off?”

“I’ll drop her off. Good luck with Tojiko.” Ranma saw Kuno to the door.

---

“Kuno’s dropping by today, in a half hour or so.”

Akane frowned slightly. “Dropping off Nabiki?”

Her husband shrugged. “Yeah. I thought I might invite him in for a drink, as well.”

She nodded resignedly. “I’ll go do some shopping or

something.”

“I’d rather you didn’t.”

Akane glanced sharply at Ranma. The deceptively mild tone had quite a bit of steel under it.

“There’s no real point in me staying, Ranma. I’d rather not spend any time in his company, and I’m sure you can…”

“Akane, what have you got against him? Honestly.”

She stared at him. “You have to ask?”

“Yeah. Mostly because I can’t see any good reason for it.”

Scowling, Akane glared at the counter. “Possibly the few years he spent hitting on me might have something to do with it.”

Ranma shrugged. “That was pretty annoying, yeah, but he’s a completely different person now. Can’t blame someone who’s honestly reformed for what they did in the past, can you?”

“He took advantage of you on that island…”

“Oh, for crying out…” He shook his head disgustedly. “I know I’ve told you this before - he didn’t initiate anything. It was mutual, neither of us had our memories, and both of us wanted to do it. You have to be in a position of power to take advantage of someone, and if anything I had the upper hand in that relationship.

So no, Akane, that doesn’t cut it either.”

“I don’t like him,” she said flatly.

“Why?”

She opened her mouth to answer. Nothing came out.

“Look,” Ranma said mildly. “I can understand why you thought he was using me. He was a arrogant hentai jerk, and it was a logical guess. But it’s been almost a year now, and he’s been nothing but polite and proper. Hasn’t he?”

He had been, she reluctantly admitted to herself. “He’s been better than he was.”

“So what’s your problem with him? Honestly?”

She thought about it for a few seconds, examining her reasons and feelings. She wasn’t certain she liked the answers.

“Well?”

She shrugged. “I guess I blame him for what happened.”

“But we just agreed it wasn’t his fault.”

“Do I need a reason to dislike someone?”

Ranma smiled thinly. “If you’re going to snarl and try to lay a guilt trip on them, yes. Especially when they’re a friend of mine and a guest of ours. Not to mention your stepdaughter’s father.”

She glared at him. It wasn’t much of a glare, and it faded pretty quickly.

“What do you want me to do, be his best friend?” she finally said, looking away.

“You don’t have to like him. But you could be polite to him, at least not act like he’s some sort of criminal or something.”

She considered this. It wasn’t something she wanted to do, at all, and she wasn’t sure why. After all, everything Ranma had just said was correct. So why didn’t she want to stop her feud?

Because, she suddenly realized with an unpleasant jolt of recognition, that would mean admitting that she had been wrong. That it hadn’t been his fault after all, that she’d been heaping abuse on someone who really didn’t deserve it.

“Baka hentai,” she muttered, amusement mixing with dismay and regret. This was sounding awfully familiar. Worse, almost, since Ranma often had deserved what she dished out; if she had been too quick to blame, he had been insensitive and taunting to the point of cruelty.

Her husband had grown beyond that… well, mostly. She had thought she had, too. Now she was beginning to wonder if instead she had only shifted targets.

No, she decided. Not entirely. Blaming Kuno at first had been understandable, even inevitable. It was continuing to blame him after learning the facts that was the problem. She hadn’t even done that with Ranma, usually.

“I’m jealous,” she finally said wonderingly.

Ranma blinked. “Excuse me?”

She was actually jealous of Kuno.

He and Ranma had Nabiki, and she was outside that. He had lived with Ranma for two years, and she was only now approaching that. He had shared a part of Ranma’s life for years, a part that she would never have and would never fully understand. A part that should have been hers.

She sighed. “Okay. I’ll be as pleasant to him as I can, and make him feel at home. Just understand that I’m never going to like him. At all.”

Ranma chuckled. “No-one’s asking you to. Just don’t kill him before he finishes his sake.”

“I’ll wait until he’s done,” she said, smiling slightly.

---

Tojiko leaned up slowly, letting him see her intentions, and touched her lips gently to his. Her hands moved down his sides and rested on his hips as they continued with the rather chaste contact.

She sighed, partly with contentment, partly with

disappointment, as they parted. His hands were still on her arms, where they had remained during the kiss, and he was gazing into her eyes. There was a moment, the barest second, when she thought she could see a longing in his eyes, a desire for more.

Tojiko leaned forward and rested against his chest, putting her arms around him. With her ear against his shoulder, she could hear the slow, steady beat of his heart. “Tatewaki,” she whispered, staring off into the darkness, “would you come inside with me? Just for a little while…”

“Of course I will,” he answered, feeling very good about the person in his arms.

Arms around shoulders and waist, the two entered the

apartment building and up the stairs to the third floor.

Tojiko mounted the stairs ahead of Kuno, her hand in his, pulling him along. This was new, going up to her apartment after the goodnight kiss, and she was hoping, just hoping…

Down the hall, tugging him to her door, Tojiko brought out her keys. Casting glances back at him, keeping her smile guarded, she unlocked her door and led him inside.

Kuno stood inside and waited for Tojiko to close and lock her door. He kept his hands in his pockets, attempting to dry the sweat that was gathering on them. Normally he left her apartment after the kiss, and that would be the end of it. But this night, he wasn’t so sure.

The lock clicked and Tojiko turned her attention on the man locked in her apartment with her. “Tatewaki?”

“Tojiko, I don’t think…”

“Hush. I know you don’t… want to…” She turned away from him, hurt and disappointed not only in him, but herself as well. She shouldn’t be taking responsibility on herself for his… problems, but it felt like rejection.

“That is not it at all.” Kuno put his hand gently on her shoulder. “It is not that I am unwilling, but that I… I…”

“Is it Nabiki? Is it because of her? I said I didn’t care, and I don’t care about how…”

“It’s not that simple, though I wish it were.” His hand trailed down her arm until it grasped hers. “I know what you must think of me. A single parent who can barely function on his own, let alone take care of a baby…”

“Where is she?” Tojiko asked, the question an obvious

diversion away from the direction things were heading.

“She is with… her mother’s family for the week. Why?” He still couldn’t get her to turn around and face him.

“So why is she with them for a week? A full week. Why is that?” Tojiko asked, this question taking her mind off things that were less pleasant.

“Because she… Her mother…”

Tojiko turned and met Kuno’s confused gaze. “Just tell me.

How is that so difficult?”

“Tojiko, would you allow me to tell you a story?” Kuno asked, knowing that it was time. Things had gone too far and he didn’t really want them to stop. “It shouldn’t take long.”

“I suppose, Tatewaki. But I don’t see…”

“Sit with me.” Kuno went into the compact living room and sat on the loveseat that was settled in front of a blank television. He waited for Tojiko to sit next to him before speaking. “This story has to do with a group of children who didn’t know better. One of them was cursed terribly to always be surrounded by chaos, and it was his goal to remove this curse.

“Unfortunately, one potential cure had serious, even deadly results. More than one of the children were killed, and the young man and one of his enemies ended up trapped together on a mysterious island. They stayed there for two years.” Kuno stared off into the darkened room as he spoke, trying not to let emotion break his voice.

“But what does…”

“This boy was cursed to be surrounded by chaos, but he was also cursed to turn into a beautiful girl when splashed by cold water. Hot water returned him to his normal form, but on the island, there was no hot water. And both of them had lost their memories.

They didn’t know.”

Tojiko was taking everything amazingly well and she wasn’t sure why. But there was something she was sure of: when she took Tatewaki’s hand, he squeezed hers gently.

“And this enemy of his, he fell in love with this girl who did not know that she was a boy, and she fell in love with him. And they had a child together before they were forced to flee the island and almost died adrift on the ocean.

“Not remembering anything, they managed the best they could, and the girl called herself Akane, who was the cursed boy’s love, and his enemy was called Ukyo, one of the cursed boy’s friends that was killed.

“The child when she was born was named after one of the boy’s love’s sisters. Her name is…”

“Nabiki,” Tojiko said for him. She looked at him, partially in disbelief, but even moreso in sympathy.

“Ranma. Ranma is Nabiki’s mother. Ranma is her mother and I’m afraid because I still love the woman on that island, but I love you and I don’t want to lose you,” Kuno blurted out in one breath. He looked at her, pleased that the dark hid the fear in his eyes.

Tojiko put her hand on his cheek. “Tatewaki, I still don’t care.” She leaned up again and kissed him. “I’m not letting you get away so easy this time,” she said after they parted.

“What do you…”

Tojiko wasn’t pausing another moment before unbuttoning his shirt, leaning forcefully against him. “This is what I mean. But it’s so much more fun when you play innocent,” she commented before attacking his chest.

It hadn’t been what he had been expecting at all and wasn’t prepared to fight off the rush of sensation she was sending coursing through him. He pulled her shirt off, barely breaking the contact between them. Her slacks were next to go, being unbuttoned and unzipped before they were pushed down around her ankles.

Tojiko wasn’t allowing her hands to be idle either and had managed to get his pants undone and off while lavishing his bare flesh with attention from her mouth.

Kuno’s hands ran up and down her sides before they dropped lower to her panties and slowly dragged them down. She froze for a moment, but the feel of his warm hands along skin that had previously always been protected by a layer of cotton was too nice for her to deny.

Tojiko kicked out of her pants and underwear, leaving her clad in only her bra, though she had herself draped all over Kuno.

Hands and mouth moving together, she pressed herself against him in a rhythm, moving like a stationary belly dancer.

Her hand snuck low, tickling his side for a second, then lower still until she hooked the band of his briefs. Down they went, leaving them both mostly naked, bodies poised at the brink.

Kuno’s ministrations stopped, letting only his hand idly swirl on her shoulder. “I can’t do this,” he whispered, his arms around her, dangerously close to doing it anyway.

Sighing, Tojiko removed herself from the loveseat and headed back to her bedroom, leaving her clothes on the floor.

Kuno sat on the loveseat, covering his eyes with one arm. The one thing he had thought would scare her off hadn’t made her bat an eyelash. Something he wanted to do with all his heart, but not his head, had pushed her away. He was beginning to think he just couldn’t win.

A time later, Kuno entered the bedroom to see Tojiko asleep, her back to the door, as if she knew he would check on her. He watched for a moment, then started to leave. The twisting in his stomach would not allow him to though.

Stripping down to his underwear once again, he slipped into bed next to her. His worries were soothed when Tojiko rolled over and snuggled up to him. Content for the time, Kuno put his arm around her and went to sleep.

---

“You keep spendin’ the night like that and you’re gonna get yourselves in trouble.” Ranma sat and lifted Nabiki to her chest.

Kuno shook his head. “You know it’s not like that at all. She thinks there is something wrong with me. I can see it in her eyes.”

He was practically wringing his hands with worry.

“There is something wrong with you.” Ranma leaned forward a little. “Or have you not taken a look at the two of us lately?”

“She has never spoken it aloud, but enough hints were made that she believes I need to see a… a…”

“A shrink? Ow! Watch those teeth, Sweetie.”

Kuno looked like the picture of misery as he nodded.

“Well, I think if I didn’t have all the crap before this thing had happened, I might be seein’ a shrink too. There’s nothin’

wrong with that.” Ranma shrugged, trying not to seem too unsympathetic. “She’s only doin’ it because she cares. If she didn’t want to stick with ya, she wouldn’t even bother thinking it.”

“Still, I think that…”

Ranma shook his head. “Think nothin’. I think it would probably be a good idea. It might help… What’s the word? Reconcile how you are now and the way you used ta be.” Looking down at Nabiki while she nursed, Ranma continued talking in a softer tone. “I really think you should, even if you don’t think you need it. If only to make her feel better, it’ll be worth it.”

Perking up suddenly, Ranma smiled at Kuno. “So she was all over you? How far did you go?”

Kuno’s face turned red and he looked down at his hands.

“We… we didn’t. I was unable to.”

Ranma tsked. “That’s definitely somethin’ the doctor can help you with. I hear that it’s mostly psychological.”

“Not that! That was not why!” Kuno got control of himself, the vein bulging in his neck. “I just could not bring myself to do it in good conscience. That is something that should wait until marriage. And no matter how much I wanted to…”

“Do you really think you can hold out that long?” Ranma asked.

“I… I will try. But no, I’m not sure.”

---

“Tatewaki.”

“I would like to speak with you.”

“I don’t get a break for another hour. And I’m busy now so…”

“I will wait.” Kuno took a seat at a small table in the corner and looked over the menu.

Tojiko looked at him for a moment, trying to figure out just what he was up to. Often when she attempted that, it was a losing proposition.

“What do you want, Tatewaki?” Tojiko asked, sitting down across from him. “I only have 20 minutes.”

“I wanted to apologize. I wasn’t rejecting you. I just don’t think… I don’t think I can do that unless we’re…” He looked down at the table, then back at her. “And I have decided to visit a doctor starting next week.” He swallowed and made sure he was looking in her eyes. “It was suggested that I bring someone… close to me along.”

“So why don’t you take Ranma?” was her somewhat bitter reply.

“Ranma is already Nabiki’s mother. My relationship with him will go no farther than friends.”

The words and what he was implying with them barely

penetrated Tojiko’s very confused brain. “You want me to go with you?”

Kuno nodded. “I don’t need a friend with me. Nor do I want one with me. I would prefer someone closer, someone who can understand from a different viewpoint. I don’t want someone who knows what I used to be. I wish I couldn’t.”

“When and where?”

            ---

Kuno swallowed and looked at the gate, completely intimidated.

“Are we going in?” Tojiko asked.

He nodded in response and lifted his hand to ring the bell.

It was shaking and his palms were sweaty. But he had already explained the situation to Tojiko, and she had accepted it. Maybe not completely believed it, but accepting it was the beginning.

Tojiko reached up and rang the bell with Kuno’s hand still holding it. “Don’t be so nervous,” she whispered, leaning against him.

“I’m sorry. It’s just that…”

“And don’t be sorry.”

“You don’t realize what the situation between Akane and I is like. It is most unpleasant.”

“We’ll make it through alive. I’m sure of it.” Tojiko kissed him on the cheek before the gate was opened.

“Hurry before someone dies.”

“What is the…”

“I said hurry. Who knows how much longer it’ll last before they explode in there.” Nabiki kept glancing back at the house worriedly.

“I don’t…”

“Just get in there, Kuno-chan. I think it’ll be your only chance.” She shooed the two in and closed the gate.

As Kuno and Tojiko walked to the front door, they stayed alert for whatever it was Nabiki seemed to be so concerned about.

Inside, it was quiet, with Kasumi, Ranma and Akane already at the table, chatting pleasantly.

“What are you talking about?” Kuno whispered as Nabiki closed the door behind them. “It looks perfectly fine.”

“Exactly. I’m just waiting for them to explode. Watch yourselves,” she warned then smiled and went to the table.

Tojiko cast a doubtful look at Kuno, but followed as he approached the table as well.

“Good evening,” he said.

“Heya, have a seat. We’re just gettin’ ready to eat,” Ranma offered, smiling. “Thought you weren’t gonna make it there for a bit.”

“We wouldn’t miss it,” Tojiko said perkily. She waited for Kuno to sit to Ranma’s right, across from Akane, before she sat next to him. “It smells delicious.”

“Thank you. It’s one of my mother’s recipes,” Kasumi answered politely.

And then they began to eat with almost false politeness.

Everyone stayed quiet, even both Nabikis. There was something happening that didn’t seem like it would be a good idea to interrupt.

“Excuse me…”

“Tojiko. Just call me Tojiko.”

“Yes, Tojiko.” Akane gave her a thin smile. “I was just wondering how you met my husband and his…”

Ranma looked at Akane for a heartbeat, then continued to eat.

“Friend. Ranma’s talked a lot about you. I think he considers himself a matchmaker.” Akane smiled wider, but it was limited to only her mouth.

“Oh well I was working at the cafe on my usual shift when these three come in, and little Nabiki was just adorable, and…”

Tojiko shrugged, smiling, a little aglow with the memory.

“Yes, she is a beautiful child. It’s surprising actually.”

This time, the humor reached her eyes as she looked over at Ranma.

“Hey, Nabiki’s gonna be the cutest girl in school when she starts,” he said with a mouthful of food.

The elder Nabiki just shook her head and rolled her eyes. She was still waiting for something to happen.

Tojiko smiled warmly and looked at Kuno. She was worried and a little disappointed to see how he was looking sadly at Ranma. That lasted for a moment, then he looked across the table at Akane, who was holding Nabiki in her lap. More than anything, she wanted to know how everything had gone, all the details. She needed to know why they all acted so… coldly to one another.

She felt a twinge of regret in her, knowing full well that her relationship with Tatewaki was not as strong or steady as what Ranma and Akane had. Tojiko wasn’t even sure it would last, since there were things she… wanted in the relationship that so far Tatewaki hadn’t been able to give her.

But she wanted to try, and Ranma and Akane just showed her how miserably she was failing to make a stronger bond. When she tried to get close, he pushed her away.

The counseling had been a revelation for the both of them, but that didn’t seem to help their relationship. That just didn’t seem to be the necessary glue, but she didn’t know what was.

Akane was lifting Nabiki and handing her to Ranma; that was what got Tojiko’s attention. But when Nabiki kicked over Ranma’s cold beer and Akane’s water, she had to stare.

“Aw, da…” Ranma barked, catching himself from cursing.

“Akane! Aw, Nabchan. Darn it…” The now female Ranma busied herself with cleaning up the mess. “Great, now the whole place is gonna smell like beer.”

“It’s all true.”

Ranma looked up to find Tojiko staring.

“It’s all true. I don’t believe it.”

“Yeah, it’s true,” answered Ranma, trying to clean herself up. “As much as I hate it, I manage to get along.” She tried not to look uncomfortable as Tojiko continued to stare.

“I’m sorry I didn’t really believe you when you told me what happened,” Tojiko said quietly as she walked next to Kuno back to his house.

“There is no need. Whether you believed or not, you accepted it. That is enough for me.”

Their hands found each other in the dark.

“It was selfish of me,” she said quietly. “I accepted it because I… I just wanted you. I didn’t really care. I didn’t care about Nabiki or Ranma; I was pretty sure that if I got enough of a foothold, I could make myself more important than them.” She looked at the sidewalk.

“Though you never…”

“No, you never. There’s one thing I know about men, and that’s what they think is important in life. A single father, lots of responsibility… I don’t need to spell it out for you.

“I still think you’re a great person, but maybe I’m not as generous and forgiving as you thought I was. No, I know I’m not.”

“Compared to what I used to be, you are a saint,” Kuno told her. “And I would have fallen into your trap if it hadn’t been for the person I used to be. Now, after the island, after Akane, now that I have Nabiki-chan, I suppose I want it all. I have the house and the baby, and now all that is missing is the… the person to spend the rest of my life with.”

Tojiko’s only response was a squeeze of his hand.

---

Tojiko sat and looked fairly uncomfortable. Akane was a person she didn’t know really, and yet she was about to ask her about some things that most people only discuss with their parents, their closest friends, and the second party.

Akane returned with tea. “What did you want to talk about?”

Her manner was cool and pleasant.

“Well, I know you don’t like Tatewaki, but I guess I just wanted some perspective on things.” She sipped her tea nervously, meeting Akane’s gaze as little as possible.

“It’s not that I don’t like him. I just…”

Tojiko shook her head. “It’s obvious you don’t, and that’s fine by me. I’m not going to try to make you see what a great person he is. I just want to know… I’m curious about your wedding.”

“My wedding? What about it?” Akane was genuinely surprised.

“Well,” Tojiko began, looking at her tea, “I was just wondering what it felt like when it was done with. When you knew that you were going to spend your life with Ranma, how did you feel?”

The first real emotion crossed Akane’s face then and she smiled. “It was a dream come true. I finally knew that all that time before wasn’t just some crush or even my imagination. It was the happiest day of my life, even more than when they called to tell me they’d found Ranma.” Akane shook her head slowly, tears at the corners of her eyes.

“It’s something I have with him that we’ll never lose. No matter how we get split apart, the only people that can really break us apart are ourselves. And I don’t plan on letting that happen if I can help it.” Akane sipped her tea, acting as if she hadn’t just poured her heart out.

“That’s wonderful. I don’t think I know two people who belong together more than you two.”

Akane smiled shyly. “Thank you. It was a struggle.”

Tojiko nodded. “So I’ve heard. Tatewaki told me all about the way things used to be.” She wrinkled her nose slightly. “I don’t think I could have put up with it.”

“It wasn’t easy, and there were times I didn’t think I’d ever make it to this day, but now that we’re together, none of that seems to matter.”

Tojiko was nodding again. “Even the things with Tatewaki?”

she asked evenly, watching for Akane’s reaction.

Akane winced, but maintained her composure. This was a discussion she didn’t want to get into because she was pretty sure that Tojiko was ready to attack. The last thing Akane wanted was unnecessary hostility; there had been too much of that already.

“What’s done is done. It’s in the past and is going to stay there.

Is that why you came here? To pick a fight?” Akane shook her head slowly, eyes downcast. “I don’t need to. I don’t want to. The only thing that ever achieved before was a lot of misery. I don’t want to be your enemy, Tojiko, so I’m not going to defend myself over things that happened over two years ago.”

“I guess that’s what I wanted to hear because I would fight over it. I would fight for Tatewaki, and I definitely want what you and Ranma have.” Tojiko set her cup of tea down. “I’m sorry for disturbing you. I’ll just be going now.”

Akane stood as Tojiko did. “You’re going to marry him?”

“I would sure like to. There are other people in the world that aren’t lucky enough to have a storybook life, marrying their high school sweetheart and living happily ever after. Some of us have to work our tails off to get along.” Her voice softened since she could see the confusion in Akane’s eyes.

“I want what’s best for Tatewaki, and I’m sorry to say this, but you’re not helping. I’m happy for you and Ranma, but…”

“I understand. I think you should leave now.”

“Don’t worry. I’m on my way out.” She stopped in the doorway.

“And thank you, Akane. I appreciate it, even if it doesn’t seem like it.”

“I talked to Akane today.” Tojiko was cleaning carrots while Kuno cut onions.

“Oh? And why did you do that?”

“I was just asking her about some things. Nothing all that important.”

“I doubt that. What did you discuss?”

She shrugged. “Girl talk. Things like that.”

Kuno looked at her, drawing his eyebrows together. “Things?

For some reason, I believe it was more than that.”

Tojiko sighed. “So I asked her about her wedding. Just how things went, what it was like… You know. I was curious.”

“And?”

Frowning and concentrating on the carrots, Tojiko took a moment before speaking. “I told her… to… I told her that she was hurting you, and that I’d fight to defend you.”

Kuno was perplexed. “Why would you ever do something like that?”

“Because it’s the truth. I would, no matter what. I’ve said it enough. I love you and I don’t want to see you hurt. If that means I have to defend you, protect you, then I will.” She turned and looked into his eyes.

“Akane’s done nothing to hurt me. I’m not concerned…”

“But I am! She’s got no right to treat you like she has! And Tatewaki Kuno, don’t try to hide things from me. For whatever reason, I know it hurts you. And no matter how much you try to deny it, I’m going to watch over you for as long as you live.” Tojiko was breathing heavily, looking at Kuno with fire in her eyes.

He looked back, face devoid of emotion.

They looked at each other, completely in silence except for the sound of Tojiko’s breathing for more than a minute.

“Tojiko…”

“What?” she snapped.

“Was that… was that a proposal?”

“Maybe. You got a problem with that?”

“On the contrary.”

“Good. Now kiss me, you idiot.”

Epilogue

“I am not entirely sure I can go through with this.”

Ranma snorted, and straightened his friend’s tie. “What, you scared or something?”

Kuno considered this. “Yes,” he said flatly.

“Heh. Don’t blame you. I wanted to run like hell the day I married Akane… not that I didn’t want to,” he hastened to add, “but actually being married… man, it’s a terrifying thought! I mean, making that kind of commitment, spending the rest of your life with this person, being completely and totally subordinate to their…”

“Is this supposed to be helping?”

“Er. Sorry. Anyway, I found one thing that really helped me deal with the fear.”

Kuno raised an eyebrow. “Really? I would be grateful to know what it is.”

“Well… you know the twisting feeling in your gut at getting married? How utterly horrifying it is?”

“Yes?”

“Think how much more afraid you are of the bride’s reaction if you don’t show up to get married.”

Kuno considered this, and shuddered. “Thank you. I think.”

Smirking, Ranma stepped back to critically examine the groom.

“You’re welcome. Straighten your cummerbund.”

“Which piece of cloth is that?”

“The red thing. I think.”

“This one?”

“That’s a handkerchief.”

Clothing presentable, Kuno stared at the best man. “Well.”

“Well.”

Neither spoke for a second.

Ranma shook his head. “This is the end, then,” he said quietly. “The end of the end.”

Kuno slowly nodded. “So it is.”

“I lied to Akane, you know. At first I wasn’t completely sure I was going to stay… me. ‘Akane’ was still right under the surface. I thought I might go back to the way I had been, and I wasn’t completely sure I didn’t want that.”

Kuno nodded. “I would have been glad to hear that once.”

“Not now?”

“No. I’m getting married.”

Ranma smiled. “Good. Because after a month, I knew for sure who I was.”

Turning, they walked out of the dressing room. In the distance, an organ slowly began to play.

---

The wedding went alarmingly well.

Somehow, the best man got the groom pointing in the right direction, and, after mild prompting, even got him to walk. The bride looked radiant. The maid of honor looked terrified. She had been told all about this particular group’s wedding habits at the last minute, and was waiting for the transvestite ninjas to break in and open fire.

The surprise guest at the festivities was the groom’s sister.

Kodachi had flown in from her medical college in America, dragging with her a somewhat put-upon-looking gaijin. He wasn’t particularly good at Japanese, and was puzzled by the phrase people kept muttering at him.

[What are they saying?] he finally asked Kodachi.

The former gymnast winced. She had mellowed slightly since her high school days, and was now much more restrained. In public, anyway. [They’re offering you their condolences. Don’t ask.] [Oh.]

In fact, the only moment of crisis came when the groom took a full fifteen seconds to say ‘I do’. Luckily, the flower girl and Best Daughter was there to kick him firmly in the shin. Hard.

“Ow I do.”

Tojiko Kuno didn’t bother to wait for the usual ‘you may kiss the bride’ routine, and managed to nearly asphyxiate her new husband. The audience applauded enthusiastically.

Afterwards, there was the usual. Cake, dancing, the throwing of a clump of flowers. It was caught by the pig Ryoga and Akari had brought as a wedding gift, and promptly devoured.

Nabiki the Younger had a field day looking adorable for the guests. Much to her parents’ relief, she didn’t ask anyone for money. The girl idolized her father, her other father, all three mothers, and her namesake - and tried to emulate all of them. At once. The result tended to be the grade-school equivalent of a wellbred yakuza.

Akane spent the wedding smiling, but it didn’t completely touch her eyes.

---

“Can I have the next dance?”

Kuno blinked. “Certainly.”

Akane took this hand, and they waltzed out across the floor, moving slowly towards a less-crowded section of it.

“Congratulations.”

“Thank you.”

She sighed. “Look… damn it… I’m sorry.”

“For?”

“For treating you the way I did after you and Ranma came back.”

He shrugged. “You didn’t know.”

“I did after a few days, or weeks. I was pretty cruel to you.”

“Yes.” It was said without malice, or rancor. “You were.”

They spun, ducked, and whirled back across the room. “I’m sorry about it. I can’t honestly say that I didn’t mean some of it, but I wish I hadn’t. You didn’t deserve it, and it was wrong of me.”

“So now we forgive and forget,” he said coolly, leading her backwards. “And go back to the nice, civil behavior we’ve settled into?”

“No,” Akane said bluntly. “I said I was wrong to give you such a hard time. I never said I forgive you.”

He stared at her. “This is the most unique apology I’ve ever heard.”

She shrugged. “You made hash of my high-school life, impregnated my husband, and you want forgiveness? Sorry.”

Kuno smiled bemusedly. “I’ll just have to live without it, then.”

She grinned. “But, just so that you know, I don’t hate you anymore. You’ve actually managed to build yourself into a decent person. And a good father. I could almost like you.”

“And you are not as much of a homicidal, venomous shrew as I remembered. I think I used to find that attractive.”

“Pervert.”

“Psychotic.”

Akane chuckled. “See, isn’t this much better than being polite to one another?”

He nodded, amused. “Very well. If you won’t forgive me, I won’t forgive you. And we shall hold our enmity until the end of time.”

“Sounds good. Want to be friends in the meantime?”

“All right.”

The bride reclaimed her groom once he had finished dancing with Akane. “What was that about?” she asked.

He shrugged. “Nothing. We hate each other.”

Tojiko blinked. “Excuse me?”

“We’re going over for dinner.”

Tojiko blinked again. “When?” she asked slowly.

“Right after we get back from the honeymoon,” Kuno answered with a sly grin.

“I like the way you think.”

Ranma was massaging his forehead. How they had ever managed to pull the whole thing off without anyone killing anyone else… It was a miracle, in his opinion.

“They look good together.”

Ranma looked over to his wife who was sipping punch next to him and looking out on the dance floor. He followed her gaze and watched the newlyweds dance, whisper and laugh with each other.

Akane shook her head. “What could she be laughing about with him?”

Looking at the two, squinting, Ranma said, “Sex.”

A look of complete disbelief on her face, Akane looked at him. “What? How do you know?”

“I’d know that look on his face anywhere.” He took the cup of punch from Akane’s nerveless fingers and sipped it. “Is there something wrong?”

Akane’s mouth opened and closed.

“Mom! Dad! Mom!”

“What is it, Nabiki-chan?” Ranma asked as his daughter ran up to them, stopped and skidded on the smooth tile of the floor. “Don’t run in here. You’ll cause an accident.”

“Sorry. Aunt Nabs has…”

“Go. Just don’t let her get you arrested. And I want you back in my sight by eleven,” Ranma said resignedly.

“Thanks!” Nabiki briefly hugged Ranma’s leg, then was off and running again.

Akane regained her voice then. “Sex!?”

“Right here, Akane?” Ranma asked with fake surprise. “I didn’t know you were so frisky.”

“Ranma…”

“Oh, Akane, don’t be a fuddy-duddy. And don’t play innocent.

You know I love you,” he said, taking her into his arms after setting the punch down.

Akane returned the embrace, then leaned in and hugged him, sighing softly. They stayed that way without speaking for a few moments before Akane spoke again. “What were they really talking about?”

Ranma looked at the couple on the floor again. “Definitely sex.”

END

Together alone

Above and beneath

We were as close

As anyone can be

Now you are gone

Far away from me

As is once will always be

Together alone

Together alone

Shallow and deep

Holding our breath

Paying death no heed

I’m still your friend

When you are in need

As is once will always be

Earth and sky

Moon and sea

Author’s notes:

Bliss started, as an alarming number of projects have, with idle conversation in the Keep of the Four Worlds on Kawaiimuck.

At some point in the conversation, Lara asked us what it would take to get Ranma and Kuno together. The result was a flurry of ‘Ain’t gonna happen’, ‘Hell would freeze over first’, and ‘You’re sick, Lara’.

I, being a smartass, told her at some length that they’d have to have their memories wiped, Ranma stuck in female form, their personalities open to alteration or building-over, and you’d have to lock them in a room with no contact with the outside world.

“Hmm,” Lara said.

Oh shit, I thought.

Lara actually liked the idea, and, after a moment, so did I. But we couldn’t really come up with a good reason to have them locked in a room.

Then Lara had the brilliant idea of making it an island.

I eagerly leaned back and waited to see what would be written, and it was only by degrees that I realized Lara expected me to co-write the thing.

Here we go again…

*

The discerning reader will notice several references or inspirations. The most obvious, of course, is the works of H.P. Lovecraft; those of you who’ve read ‘The Colour Out of Space’

will to some extent recognize the plague that devours the island. Other small details - the flutes, the home port of the Wakizashi Maru, etc - are placed as tribute.

The wild dogs came largely from the children’s book Island of the Blue Dolphins. I don’t remember very much of it, but I do remember that it had people eaten by wild dogs, which is very admirable and ought to be in more children’s books. At any rate, there they are. I’ll dedicate em to Alan Harnum, our resident wild dog advocate.

The ants came from an episode of MacGuyver I saw when I was a kid, where ants eat most of the cast. They didn’t eat MacGuyver, because he made an atomic ant-blaster death ray projector out of two coconuts, some string, a toaster, common household chemicals, a swiss army knife, and duct tape.

MacGuyver was cool that way.

The transport is inspired partly by the book ‘Dream Park’.

The log in the transport is as accurate as a certified WW2 history loon can make it.

Bolivia exports tin.

*

While the work as a whole, IMHO, is of fairly even quality throughout, it’s the last fourth that I’m expecting to get most of the comments on.

Many of these comment will likely involve hanging the authors up by our own intestines.

So here’s the answer to the big question: why did you heartless vermin break the two of them up, after all they went through together?

The answer is that it’s what we thought would happen in that circumstance.

Ranma has, from all evidence in the manga, a very ‘straight’ self-image. He’s also rather paranoid and insecure about what he views as his ‘manhood’, check out the dream he has about Kuno in Vol 1 for an example.

When Akane splashes him with the hot water, it’s as if he woke up one morning with two years worth of memories and emotions belonging to someone else. ‘Akane’ is a very different person from Saotome Ranma.

‘Akane’ saw herself as female, Ranma sees himself as a straight male. ‘Akane’s worldview, sense of self, and feelings are different than Ranma’s.

It is not, by the bye, a choice between Akane or Kuno. If Akane had been dead, or absent, or married, or had never existed in the first place, he still would have immediately left.

In the end, it’s not a matter of Ranma making the right choice or the wrong choice; it was really the only choice he could make. Love is not something that pays attention to deserves or shoulds; you can’t force yourself to be attracted to someone. If Ranma had tried, it only would have hurt them both.

To quote the Bard, “This above all - to thine own self be true.”

So why did we, as authors, engineer this situation?

I can’t speak for Lara, but my personal feelings were split along four main lines.

1) Character Promotion Agenda. By this impulse, I would have left Ukyo and Akane on the island and not brought Tendo Akane into the story at all. She doesn’t come off well in Bliss; more on this later.

2) Personal Wants. By the time I wrote the final days on the raft, I wanted to keep the two together. You can’t write a blooming relationship like that and not want it. So from an emotional point of view, I wanted them together.

3) In Character Accuracy. This is a big point for me personally.

I expect that characters be portrayed in the bounds of their personalities; with the flaws and merits that they’ve been shown to have. Nothing will turn me off a fic quicker than seeing a character who is suddenly free of all the negative traits they had in the manga - and sorry, fanboys, every single one of them had negative traits.

If you wish to free a character from one of his or her hangups - or, conversely, add one - more power to you. But there will have to be a clearly shown and explored reason, or I’m not buying it.

I cannot see Ranma becoming, well, Ranma again and staying with Kuno. I cannot write that character and feel that it is IC.

So by this, we’ve either got to leave him as ‘Akane’ or break him up.

1) Plot and Exploration. This one is fairly clear. I can hit more emotions, present a stronger end, and explore the characters more if I break them up. There are scenes and feelings in this that are too good to pass up writing.

Unfortunately for Ukyo and Akane, I am an artistic bastard. I will cheerfully kill, discredit, and put through hell my favorite characters if I feel it’s in character and offers me a chance to write some great scenes and explore some characters. 3 and 4 beat the living crap outta 1 and 2.

*

I’m fairly happy with how the characters turned out.

Kuno got a chance to grow beyond being an arrogant twerp. Pretended nobility gives way to actual nobility.

Ranma is given a terrible blow to his image of self, one that ultimately makes him a lot stronger. He’s more willing to let down his defenses, more understanding of how people feel, and much less defensive about his female side by the end.

Akane is, unfortunately, placed in a situation almost tailor-made to bring out her worst traits. Jealousy, stubbornness, anger, and a tendency to rush to judgment have always been Akane’s fatal flaws, and they all are given ample opportunity to emerge. In defense, she works through all of them, eventually, and I am uncertain how well I would do in her situation.

Nabiki the Elder doesn’t learn any Important Personal Lessons, but it’s nice to see her caught off guard. Repeatedly.

Tojiko and Nabiki the Younger are new characters, so they don’t grow that much. But Nabs2 is darn cute, IMHO. ;) *

Thanks, of course, need to go to the Keep Rats, who had to suffer through me and Lara ranting and raving and laughing maniacally over this here work of fiction. We wouldn’t show em any of it til we were done, but we’d talk about it constantly.

In particular:

Rod M, for calling it ‘Sex On The Beach’ until I wanted to strangle him, and for reminding me to hurry up with it so we could finish Converging Series, also until I wanted to strangle him.

Alan Harnum (who contrary to rumor IS NOT ME), for actually finishing the preread in reasonable time and giving helpful comments. And for the wild dog advocate.

White Wolf, another prompt prereader, who disagreed with the end and thus helped perfect our defence. As perfect as possible; WW can launch a spirited attack when he gets into it.

Trisha Sebastian, because she’s always interested.

Finally, though it’s not really my place, thanks to Lara for putting up with my often erratic progress and quibbling on our second co-write project. It’s been a fun write, at least when it wasn’t a hellish writing abyss that we seemed trapped in forever. ;)

-ML

---

I’m writing these notes after having already read Mike’s so maybe I’ll address some of the things he did. Or maybe not. Never quite sure…

Let me confirm, yes, it was from idle conversation. Just because I happen to like Ranma and Kuno as a couple (hell, m/f or m/m, either is good) everyone in the Keep takes two steps back.

Admittedly, I’m not always into close characterization, so when I asked (if I did; I don’t really remember) what it would take to get Ranma and Kuno together, it was probably an attempt to gauge what people would accept and what they wouldn’t. Or then again, I might have just been trying to scare people.

Mike, being the incredibly skinny smartass with a two dollar accent that he is, said something about no memory and being locked in a room. I think I mentioned no contact with the outside world, but at this point, it doesn’t matter a wit.

I don’t think I said “hmm”. It was probably something more like “Good idea. Get writing.” Mike doesn’t like that. He expects that when I come up with an idea that he likes that I have to help write it.

Some nerve.

~ ^_^ ~

Concerning our Lovecraft inspiration: He’s one of my favorites and anyone who’s read my stuff for Ranma 2096 will notice my liberal use of his work for my quotes. It’s good stuff, nice and atmospheric, the origin of the word ‘creepy’ in my opinion.

Though I’m not a big monster fan, especially a Lovecraft monster because the words of mere mortals could never describe the things he imagined. ‘Colour Out of Space’ being probably my alltime favorite, I suggested the plague instead of an island monster.

I think that probably worked better that way. shudder I still get creeped out by that.

The demon was a bit of an afterthought, needing some reasonable way to get the two on the island. And if there is one thing more plausible than others in Ranma, it’s a demon. Cliche maybe, but better than a shipwreck or something else similarly inane. That’s why its appearance is kept very short.

Wild dogs were entirely Mike’s idea. They worked very well as an alternate food source and antagonist. Hats off to that and the ants. I never knew ants migrated.

And go read Dream Park for some good pulp fun.

@

Mike is a controversy whore. He loves it. He wants those nasty comments and raging and screaming about how unfair the end is (hey, he put up with mine ^_^). And no matter how much I did want to keep them together, I can understand the ending that we engineered too.

I can see Ranma, with all this baggage, memories that he doesn’t really consider his, feelings that are so powerful, so true that he can’t accept, running to the only thing that hasn’t changed: Akane.

I kind of equate Kuno in this to Ukyo in IMBS: hey, someone’s gotta get the shaft. Of course, we didn’t grind Kuno up in some giant gears (though he did marry, and some people might make comparisons). And since Mike absolutely refused to keep Ranma and Kuno together, and I refused to leave the character hanging, yes, we tossed in an ANC. ^_^

I don’t consider Tojiko to be all that annoying or all that new really. She’s just a regular person, possibly more understanding than others, but maybe she’s just that extra bit desperate too. The fact that she’s a waitress tells me almost everything I need to know about her (thinking in an American context here). She doesn’t have an easy life, she might not be going to college (her exact age is never determined so who knows), she’s looking for someone, and to top it off, she’s feisty. ^_^ Richard Lawson is probably saying right now that even though she’s not perfect, her “flaws” actually help her in the situation.

Well, sorry Richard, but I like Tojiko. After all that happened, I think Kuno deserved someone with a little fire. And just because this is Ranma doesn’t mean everyone needs some terrible personality flaw.

Unfortunately, I find myself agreeing with Mike on the point that breaking Ranma and Kuno up (boy doesn’t that sound weird) allowed for more story and character development. I may not have liked the reason for the development, but I did like the development itself. Even Akane (who Mike will tell you I hated) became a decent person through her development (and Ranma’s influence).

I was a little disappointed we didn’t get to play more name games with Nabiki and Nabiki, but that’s just the way the cookie crumbles sometimes.

!

Thanks. I always hate doing this because without fail I will forget someone.

Let’s see… Nothing specific really. Anyone who showed interest. ^_^ When you work on a project this large but have absolutely NO feedback on it until it’s done, people who show a genuine desire to read it are your friends.

So, um… I’d thank Mike, but he’s terrible to work with.

Slow and fussy, always puts his schoolwork ahead of writing… This is the last thing I’ll ever work with him on.

Chris Hong and his wife and new daughter for some consultation on the joys of being pregnant and having a newborn (I also did some research on this stuff at www.childbirth.org).

I would definitely like to not thank University of Kansas for almost killing my co-writer in the middle of this. I would have been very upset if that had happened, and so would all the people that had been waiting for it.

Belated thanks to everyone who commented on the FFML, especiall Warr and Freemade who gave C&C to every part (so if there are mistakes in this, it’s their fault ^_^).

Lara