BLISS

                                part 2

                               a fic by

                     Mike Loader and Lara Bartram

                           ***   ***   ***

	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 with 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. If she could catch it.
	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, 
and 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, squealing 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 didn'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 satisfying 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, 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 largest hill on the island. It was so large it 
actually bordered on mountainous, and 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 almost mountainous 
hill 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 looked 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.
	 At one point, after they had turned one 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 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, he could barely make them 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 
over head 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 both 
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 like on his face, him exerting 
extreme amounts of effort, she wanted to shrink away. "Sorry," she 
said, feeling about a foot tall. If she 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.


...