[Roll]

Akiko turned her head sideways to look at the familiar voice, and wasn't all too surprised to see Udes standing over her with a loincloth smack-dab in the midst of her direct straight-forward sight. Looking up at the face that was Udes (and not really bearing much attention or knowledge to the fact that the loin cloth was blowing up with the wind; not that she would know how to react), she answered him and pushed the blanket away softly.
"You should hold on to that. I don't need it."
Udes looked at his blanket, and repeated the proposal. After refusing it once more, Udes gave up and took a seat next to her. His wings gave a quick little twitch, which would have startled Akiko if she wasn't so absorbed into looking into the twilight topped sand. He looked at her face, and at the way she watched the terrain so intently. She didn't seem to waver in any of her thoughts or movements; there weren't even any movements to speak of. She barely even blinked, though it was only to prevent herself from losing any detail at all of the land spread before her, lest that she should miss the sight of her dear friend approach her once more.
Udes: "...Are you alright?"
Akiko continued to stare at the world. "Yes, I'm fine, thank you."
Udes decided to try again, but this time he would be more blunt to the matter.
"Why aren't you asleep?"
Akiko turned to look at him again.
Akiko: "I do not want to sleep. Not yet, at least. I am still waiting for my friend to arrive; when he does arrive, then I might sleep, but not a moment sooner."
Udes: "But why? It won't make a difference if you wait; and you do need to rest like everyone else."
Akiko: "I'm waiting for him to come because I said I would wait." Udes' eyes gained a little bit of shine in small surprise.
"If I were to go to sleep, then I would not be waiting for him. I would be sleeping, and I would be in the comfort of dreams and timeless moments. I wouldn't be holding on to my promise anymore, and I wouldn't be doing as I told I was going to do. That would be misleading, and it would be unfair to him."

Udes became suddenly more interested in a pebble that lay on the ground nearby his knee. As he poked it back and forth in continuous cycles, Akiko continued to watch him. Feeling that she may have perhaps struck something within him that may have hurt his feelings, she decided to change the subject.
Akiko: "Why are you awake at this hour?"
Udes still looked at the pebble: "I don't know. I am not very tired, I suppose."
Akiko: "Oh.. well, why did you come to talk to me? I notice that no other being in this town has tried to do so for this entire day."
Udes: "I just wanted to see how you were doing. There is no shame in that, is there?"
Akiko smiled softly. "No. None at all."
Udes' face became suddenly serious. He finally decided to ask the question that bore down on his mind so harshly for the past few moments during and after her expressions.
"Are you alone?"
Akiko's smile vanished. "I beg your pardon?"
Udes: "I asked whether or not you are alone; as in, without family, or friends in this town. Are you?"
Akiko only nodded to him, and held the fox just smidge tighter than a second before.
Udes: "Why are you alone?"
No answer came.
Udes: "Did you run away from your family? Did they leave you? Were you adopted by people, and taken away from people who you cared about?"
Still no answer came. Instead, Akiko just turned her head to watch the sky sparkle and glisten. Udes noticed a little glistening in her eyes as well when he watched her closely.
Udes: "Tell me why you are alone."
Akiko closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them again, the glistening was more brilliant, and Akiko's voice came pouring out in soft, slow, melodic beats.
Akiko: "My father and mother are both dead and gone. I have no brothers and sisters... and I am very new to the world around me. I have just left my home not too long ago, and this is my first venture out and into the world. So, that, Udes, is why I am sitting here before you so lonesome."
Udes took another moment before speaking.
"This is your first time out of your home?"
"Yes."
Udes: "So you do not have any friends yet, then."
Akiko: "No. I do have a friend; and I am just waiting for him to come back, so I can know if he is ok or not."
Udes: "I see..."
Akiko: "Why do you want to know this?"
Udes: "Eh?"
Akiko: "Why do you want to know about why I am so alone? Why do you, out of every one person, come to me to find out about how I can be so stray?"
Udes: "I was just concerned. I noticed you sitting here during the day, and then I came to see you sitting here still after doing a little bit of shopping. There is nothing wrong in that, is there?"
Akiko looked down at the pebble Udes had busied himself with not too long ago.
"No, there is nothing wrong with that."
Udes sighed. "It's not that I was trying to be wierd or anything, it's just that I was really concerned about you. No one should stay by themselves like you are; away from everyone and everything, while just waiting in one spot for something to happen. It's not healthy."
Akiko: "But I don't have anything else."
Udes did not understand very well.
Akiko: "I have nothing else within my life, and I don't have anything to say or do, or anyone to know or look for. I only have my lost friend, and this little fox, and at the current moment, you. There is nothing else right now."
Udes did not want to understand anymore.
Akiko: "If I had something else, then I would be out in the world just as happy as those people in this town are. I could frolic through every situation in glee and in utter happiness, while at the same time remaining at peace and in harmony with the world. Better yet, I could be not alone. .....but I am alone, and there is nothing else, except for something that I have to look for that may not even be here anymore. If I cannot find it, then I will have probably lost it forever."
Udes quietly shifted around to become a tiny bit more comfortable. The words that came out of Akiko's mouth were almost too honest for his liking. Something about her, even with small, quick glances, was definitely pitiful and sad.
"...How about I wait with you then?"
Akiko looked up at him in confusion.
"Why?"
Udes: "Well, I can't leave ya alone, now, can I? Besides, I'm not really going anywhere anytime soon, with the gatekeeper being gone and away from his post. I'm not sleepy either, so what else can I do at this time of night."

It was true that the Gatekeeper was gone and in his home now with his family. He had been sitting at his post all day, working up a sweat in the immense heat, and left the area swearing and insisting that he had lost at least 16 pounds in sweat water in just that morning. Akiko could remember how he walked away looking completely wet and dazed, like he had a mild heat stroke.

Akiko: "No, I suppose not. But are you sure you'd like to wait with me? It could be a while until the person who I am waiting for returns.."
Udes thought on this. He did have someplace to go, and his time might be better spent by going and doing something else. However, his honorable side would let him leave Akiko alone; it was sad and bad to see a girl alone like that, and no right man would let that stand. Besides, if he became really tired of it, he could just get up and leave at anytime: she didn't seem to notice or mind anything else anyway. So, he answered and expressed his emotions in a nice, complicated answer to Akiko.
Udes: "Yeah, I don't mind."
Akiko turned and looked ahead at the horizon in her transfixed gaze again, whereupon, she lost all connection with the world around her once more. Filled with wonders and hopes and dreams of things to come in her brand new adventure, Akiko's mind was bursting with ideas and thoughts. When she thought of the events passed in the few days that came to pass, and what had happened just now, she could count only a few large blessings. Then one more thought crossed her mind. Perhaps Udes, too, would be her friend?



Edited By Roll on April 24 2004 at 07:33