Tsukasa wakes to find Katsumi already awake. But then again he is expecting this for she has been awake for four hours already, on watch while he sleeps.

“You had enough sleep?”
“I’m fine.”
“You sure coz you’ve not had the full four hours yet.”
“I said I’m fine. I’ll go look for some breakfast.”
“Oh right ok.”

Tsukasa gets up, brushes of his clothes and puts on his leather coat, and heads of looking for some food. Katsumi catches herself staring after him, but quickly finds something to occupy herself other than staring after Tsukasa. She busies herself looking for water. Their canteens are nearly empty so she heads of in the direction she could hear water from.

‘I really do need to find out what he feels for me. I need to get this sorted. I can’t go on like this; the no knowing is going to kill me eventually. I can’t bear not knowing, but I don’t know how to ask him… and he is always so short with me. I don’t know what to do about it. I don’t know how to connect to him. I guess it is just something that I will have to figure out. Though how I don’t know.’

Katsumi reaches the river and fills up the two canteens with water, and replaces the lids and proceeds to carefully wash her hands and face.

‘That feels so much better. Just to feel clean is so nice. I haven’t felt so good since we first entered this world. There really is too much dust in this world. How on earth will I ever get all this dust of my coat and boots? My trousers will be easier as they can always be washed, but my leather… I can’t wash it as it will ruin it. Hmmm. Not too sure what I can do but I’m sure I can think of something. Or maybe Tsukasa has.’

Tsukasa returns to the campsite to find Katsumi missing. He does not worry, for he knows she can’t have gone too far as her bag is still on the ground and she hasn’t extinguished the fire. He sets about trying to make what could be called a meal out of the meagre supply of food that he has managed to find. Katsumi soon reappears with the two full canteens of water, and Tsukasa promptly takes a long drink form his.

“Nice water. Where’s it from?”
“There is a stream nearby, waters really cold and fresh.”
“Might have to go investigate it later.”
“Fine it’s not far from here. I’ll show you if you want.”
“Whatever.”

‘Not that it is really hard to find, but hey if it mean I get to be in your company I’m not going to complain. I wonder if we’ll finally get out of this place today. I hope so I still haven’t though of how to get this dust of, I think I need a lot of long grass, or something similar.’

“Hey Tsukasa, do you have any idea how to get all this dust off our clothes? Hang on, why is there none on your clothing?”
“No static electricity, I discharged it.”
“Huh?”
“You have dust clinging to your clothes because you are charged up with static electricity; I have none, as I discharged it.”
“How did you do that?”
“Sandstone.”
“Huh?”
“It helps to dissipate electricity build up.”
“Oh right. Is there no other way?”
“Probably, but I don’t know what.”
“Right, so where can I find some sandstone?”
“I don’t know; mine came from Gaia.”
“Great so basically I’m stuck with this dust, at least til we enter another world.”
“I think so.”
“When do you think that will be?”
“I don’t know. There is no way to tell when we will enter another world, except when we enter it. The only thing we can do it keep moving in what we feel is the right direction.”
“Do you think that we have time to have a quick wash in that stream over there?”
“I guess, though be quick.”

Katsumi quickly finishes her food and runs for the river. After a few moments he can no longer see her as the trees obscure where she has gone.

After arriving at the river she quickly strips down folding her clothes neatly and laying them down carefully next to the river. She carefully slips into the water and totally submerges herself to soak her hair.

‘Mmmm, this is so nice. This makes me feel so clean, so dust free. And the water is so cool, it is really refreshing.’

She swims slightly in the river, though it isn’t really that deep.

‘Mmmm, I really like this, I wish I could stay here longer, but I guess I should get out and get myself dried and dressed. I wonder how I’ll get dried…’

She gets out the river and wrings out her long soaked hair. Then looks round a little lost.

‘How am I going to get dried? I really should have thought about this before I got in the river. Erm what to do, what to do… I know, I’ll use my coat dress and then lay it out to dry while Tsukasa is washing, yeah that’ll work.’

She grabs her coat dress and starts to dry herself with it. Once dry she tries to remove the dust from her boots, coat and trousers, and is fairly successful using the grass to get it off. She then replaces first her underwear then her trousers, strappy top and finally her boots and coat and walks back to Tsukasa with her wet coat dress in her hand.

“You want to go and bathe then.”
“Yep, back soon.”
“Ok.”

Tsukasa heads off in the general direction Katsumi came from. Katsumi mean while lays out her coat dress in a sunny spot and then sits down to think.

‘This is so nice to feel so clean. I hope Tsukasa finds the stream ok, I mean he doesn’t really know where it is. But I’m sure he’ll find it, he can always find things. Though I wish I could understand what he thinks of me. I want him to open up to me, like he did last night. That was really nice; we actually connected for the first time. He was open with me, and he listened to me, we connected. I really enjoyed last night, I hope it happens again tonight, or sooner if possible.’

*~*~*~*~

Tsukasa wanders through the trees looking for the river he knew was close.

‘I can hear the river so why can’t I find it? It is close I can feel the aura of it, yet where is it. I know it can’t be far.’

He wanders on, looking around him. The trees are slowly getting denser and denser and he can’t see much ahead of him. After a few more minutes wandering he comes to the river.

‘Ahh at last. Here is the river that Katsumi found. The water in it looks so fresh and clean, I’m not sure I can get in it, dirty the water up with my dirty aura. I know that is not possible, but I can’t help but feel it. Well I guess there is no choice, I want to get the dust out of my hair, as I know it is in there, and I can’t stand that though.’

He slowly takes off his clothes, and like Katsumi he places his clothes by the river, but unlike her he doesn’t bother to fold them. He slips into the river and only then does he gently pull out the leather tie in his hair. He runs his fingers through his hair, gently teasing out the knots in his hair, and then soaks it in the river. While his head is tipped back and his hair is under water he massages his scalp, making sure there is no dust trapped in the roots of his hair and then gently rubs the ends of his hair in his hands to make sure that is clean too. He takes a lot of time and trouble making sure his hair is clean, yet does not pay as much attention to his body. Just before he exits the river again, he ties his hair back after wringing it out. He takes a lot of time and care over his hair making sure it is all tied back. It seems important to him.

He sits on the bank for a while, waiting until he is dry before he dresses himself again. He stares at the water watching the swirls and eddies in the river and thinking.

‘Talking last night… it really brings it all back… the memories from Gaia. Memories I’d rather forget. And also some memories that I kept special, that I now feel that they have been exposed. And are no longer special. They don’t feel pure and clean anymore; it feels as if I’ve dirtied them. They were meant to be kept deep within me, kept private, no one was meant to see them, other than me. But now I don’t know what to do to make them special again. I guess they will have to remain how they are, sullied and viewed by another.’

He lies down in the patch of sun filtering through the trees as he dries off. His hands behind his head as he watches the leaves rustle in the wind, creating different light patterns on the floor of the forest.

‘Why am I travelling round with Katsumi? I mean I prefer my own company, I’ve always been a loner, so why am I now travelling round with someone, let alone Katsumi? She talks too much, and gets into the most ridiculous of situations, which I normally have to rescue her from, so why am I travelling with her? I’d move faster if I were on my own, yet I can’t leave her; she’d probably get herself killed on her own. I can’t leave her; I’ve killed enough people …’

Tsukasa gets up from his position on the bank and begins to pull his clothes back on. Crouching down on the bank edge he re-does up all the buckles on his boots as he thinks further.

‘I guess I have to put up with her. I can’t let her down, like I’ve let so many others down. I’ll let her stay with me and look after her until this is ended. Though I can’t help but feel that there is someone else nearby. I can feel a presence, though I can’t pin point it. If I were on Gaia it would be simpler. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see what happens, if this person reveals themselves, or if I have to find them …’

*~*~*~*~