The first thing he noticed when his eyes opened was the mass amounts of steam and humidity.  The second thing was that he was almost completely naked.  His eyes widened and he looked about for the rest of his clothing, as it was he was only in his boxers.  But they were nowhere to be seen.  How had he gotten here…?  The ground was dusted in warm dew yet he could tell it wasn’t soaked through.  Every now and then he heard the hiss of steam and nearby was the comforting sound of bubbles.  It was a hot spring.  How had he gotten to an onsen?

In the distance he saw the building where people could stay for a night or so should they so choose, and he instantly started in that direction.  But no matter how much he walked he never grew closer.  He picked up his pace, breaking off into a sprint and yet the building stayed a treacherous distance away.  Minasé where are we?  Silence.  His eyes widened, Minasé, I mean it.  If I’m trapped here then so are you.  Where are we?  But still his daemon remained silent.  It was more than that: he didn’t feel him at all.  Normally his absence would be welcomed, but right now he had no idea how it had happened and that worried him more than anything else.

He brought his hands up, cupping them around his mouth as he called out, “Hello!!”   But only his own voice echoed back to him.  What was going on…?  And more importantly, how was he going to get back out?  In the meantime, he needed to figure out what he was going to do for clothes.  At least there was no one else here.  Why would they even be taken in the first place…?

She had been asleep by Hiromi's side still when she heard something quite weird. IT took her no time to end up in a daze and wake up laying on the ground. She looked down at her body and she had a towel around it. She let out a scream as she hugged the towel around her.  There was a 'hello' and she knew the voice. She got up off the ground and went towards it. "Naota?" 

Her long brown hair was pulled back and her silver eyes met his. They were separated by a hot spring and she took a step forward as she screamed and fell into the water. There were bubbles as she came up and panicked for a moment. "Hiromi this isn't funny! Come get me right now." She was yelling at nothing as her face look terrified towards Naota. She pulled the towel closer to her.

"Are you really Naota?" She reached for a rock for defense as she lifted it. "Do not make me knock you out and get answers from you!" She was hell bent on figuring out what was going on.

His head quickly turned to the side when he heard a woman.  But he recognized that voice immediately and his lips parted when he saw Holly on the other side of one of the springs.  She stepped forward and his arm lifted up, “No, wait-!”   His words were too late though and she fell straight into the bubbling water.  It had been a year and more of her movements had come back but he still didn’t like the idea of testing her strength out in water.  When her head broke the surface he breathed out in relief only to hold his hands up, “It’s me!  Don’t throw anything or we’ll be in worse than we already are!”

He looked around, not seeing anyone else come to them.  Could it be that they were the only ones here?  Why just them?  His hand lifted up to his chest and it was the first time he realized that his necklaces were gone.  That realization caused his heart to spike and he lowered himself down, sitting on the edge of the spring with only his legs in the water.

“I don’t think that it’s Hiromi.  She’s not usually the type to go through such efforts merely for a laugh…”

Holly held the rock for a little bit and watched him. "I have to make sure it's you!… And not some dream okay?" She put the rock down and swam over to the edge by him. She felt her neck and her necklaces were gone as well. Her silver eyes went to him and she shivered. "Whatever this is… It's a cruel joke." She pouted at him softly. She put her head onto his leg and looked extremely upset for whatever reason.

"I don't like dreaming so this better not be a dream. One minute I'm in bed with Hiromi the next I'm here naked falling into a hot spring!" She pulled away and went under the water blowing bubbles for a while. She was frustrated and it showed greatly as stared at him. "Might as well enjoy the water while we figure this out Naota. I have a feeling we will be here for a while." She reached up and cupped his face smiling. "What have you been up to?"

The closer she got the faster his heart raced.  Something was wrong, someone had brought him here and he had no idea why anyone would do such a thing.  Unless this wasn’t really Holly…Maybe she was just a figment made to trick him into believing someone he knew was here.  And for some reason he couldn’t understand despite how he wanted to move up from his seated position at the spring, he remained unmoving.  It was almost as if he was paralyzed, yet he could still move.  And the longer his legs stayed in the water, the more his body tried to calm from its tension.  Though his heart never slowed.

What disturbed him more was the constant silence of Minasé, and how even in this vulnerable position he still hadn’t so much as tried to take control over their shared body.  That was good in the long run because if it turned out that this really was Holly then he wouldn’t have wanted her anywhere near him.  Her fingers touched his face, warm from the hot water and his shoulders slowly lowered as the muscles eased down even further.

His eyelids drooped and even though he knew that it would be much wiser to pull away he was still unable to do so.  But each inhibition he had seemed to be slowly drifting away with the mists: he was bewitched.  And the longer he stayed here the less he cared.  So, rather than turn his head away from her touch he instead closed his eyes, a small shrug aiding in his answer to her question, “Hunting.  I always hunt.”   It was very rare that a day went by without him having to keep on the move for one reason or another.

“How are things at the house…?”   It had been quite some time since he’d paid Hiromi a visit, or that house at all of that matter sense now Holly was there as well.  Being surrounded by so many women whose usual purpose was to try and have men want to stay put him on edge.  Women in general seemed to do that if there were too many of them.  That may have been some men’s fantasy but it certainly wasn’t his.  

Holly was overly comfortable with the fact that she was there with Naota. It was something she would have been on edge about. Certainly the more and more she thought about it the more she realized this was probably her cousin's handy work. Rhea. She had grown up with Rhea. As far as Holly knew they at one point, before timedeath, had been the same age. Her voice couldn't rise up to tell Naota of her suspicions so she let it go.

She was happy that he was so comfortable with her again. "I figured but I just thought it would be nice to ask." She took his hands and started to guide him down into the hot water with her. She brought water up onto his shoulders and smiled. "Busy as usual. The girls are dressing me up again and painting my face. They tease me about you all the time." She didn't know why she said that but she blushed all the same.

Still she kept him close as if she didn't want him to drift away again. She put her forehead to his chest and she heard his heartbeat for the first time since the necklaces broke. She missed it. "I'm thinking of going away again. At least to travel and sing. Coming back to see Hiromi once in a while. Life never stopped and only I did." She felt the words quickly leave her lips.

It was as if he was moving without his permission as he lowered into the water with her urge.  The wrapping heat of the water moved up his legs, his hips and stomach, to his mid chest and his eyelids felt even heavier for it.  Something’s wrong…  Yet he still didn’t stop anything from continuing on.  Her fingers moved along his skin and he breathed out slowly and gently with content.  It had been a bit of time since he’d felt the intimate touch of another and his body was eager to feel it again.  His hands moved to her hips, gently gripping to keep her there when her forehead moved to his chest.

His eyes stayed gently closed as he spoke, his hair sticking to the back of his neck from the heat and condensation in the air, “Why are they teasing you?  What are they saying…?”   For the most part the women there were good, but he knew there were some that could be cruel and he hoped that she hadn’t had to deal with any of them.  Though he doubted highly that Hiromi would have allowed them to spread their sharpness towards Holly, he couldn’t help but worry about that possibility.

“Moving around, performing…I think it would be good for you.  When you were younger it’s what you loved to do.  It should help.”   And that was the truth.  He was glad that she had a place where she felt comfortable, that spending time around such kind and strong people had helped her heal not only physically but mentally, but it was strange to imagine her remaining stationary for so long.  And it had only been a year.

His touch felt electric to her. It felt just like the time back in his room. It felt odd to be so close to him and yet at the same time it felt natural. Deep down she knew it wasn't like Naota to want this but she couldn't help herself. She knew it had to be Rhea. Her eyes looked up at him and she gave him a smile. "Because of how much I care about you. They are always asking me how far we've gone and what it was like since they feel you tease them. Nothing bad, they protect me like a little sister."

His words felt good to hear and she laughed. "Who knows how many times we would meet if I left and wandered again." She found it so funny that they had managed to find each other so many times before. "The fact that we found each other now even though we have no idea how we got here. It's like a crazy romantic fantasy of some sort."

She pulled her head back and wrapped her arms around his waist. "You always find me when I get into trouble. Maybe I should take up a new dangerous hobby." To be honest, she had wanted to ask Hiromi to teach her how to defend herself better. She was a bard and one meant to bring peace to everything but there were moments were peace couldn't be held. One could tell she was teasing him gently. Her brown hair plastered to her head and shoulders as she waited to see what he thought of her new plan of action.

A soft chuckle pulled from him and he nodded, unable to deny why someone would get teased.  At least they were doing it in a lighthearted way, just as he’d thought: Hiromi had kept the harsher of the women away from her.  She didn’t need any of that while she was healing, but in the back of his mind he hoped that Hiromi didn’t have to do that in the first place and that others would just be able to have enough decency to leave someone alone while they were healing form such an ordeal.  His faith in humanity wasn’t always the highest, but he still held hope in that regard.

He shook his head, a smile slowly spreading across his face, “I don’t tease them…I think they must have a bet going around to see who can convince me to spend a night there with one of them.  That or they just enjoy messing with me.  Both seem probable.”   His head lowered down and his lips brushed the side of her ear as he spoke,

“Did you tell them how far we got that night…?”   It was the only time they had been physically intimate.  Back then that had been a rarity, over the decades his comfort levels had risen significantly.  Even without this bewitchment he would have been able to touch a woman or man for that matter in the intimate way he was touching her now…quite the contrast from when he was a boy.

While her tone was playful he still didn’t like the idea of her putting herself in danger, and he gently nipped the side of her ear before shaking his head, “Don’t do that to yourself, or you’ll have an even scarier older sister coming after you to give you a good fussing at.”   The heat amplified her scent and he tucked his nose behind her ear, breathing her in from there before letting his lips brush down from there to the side of her neck.

His chuckle made her smile and his grin was almost too contagious for her. "Oh I think you just walking into a room is a huge tease for most women." She tightened her grip around him as he brushed his lips against her ear. He was the only one she had ever been with and she had never given herself to anyone ever. While he had the time to mature she was stuck in her sixteen year old body.

"I might have just to get them going. I don't know if they believed me though." A laugh left her lips as he nipped at her and she snuggled her face into his. "Oh I believe it. Hiromi and I are good friends now." She loosened her hips and felt along his muscles as he kissed down her to her neck.

"I've missed you. Even now it feels like yesterday." She didn't know why she was opening up to him. She normally kept all of it bottled up and the only person who knew was Hiromi and they were sworn to secrecy. She turned her face to his and kissed him gently. "I tasted your lips after I woke up like it hadn't been so long in the passage of time." She kept him close. "It was so weird to me and yet Hiromi had no answers as to why it's like that." She cupped his face gently. "Do you know why it is?"