A/N: Yay, my first ever fanfic! (Well, I did start one once before, but never finished or even got very far.) This is written from Rakan's point of view and takes place somewhere along the way as he and his little group are travelling towards the capital. The first few chapters are going to be pretty innocent, but I promise there'll be some kind of (light?) yaoi later on, so consider yourself warned! If boys' love is not your thing, don't complain later!

Anyway, please review and tell me what you liked or didn't like about this, or you can even point out grammar or other mistakes (as I'm not a native speaker I know there'll be some left no matter how careful I am). All comments and critiques will be welcomed and highly appreciated, and this applies to later chapters too.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters of Silver Diamond.

Cave of Memories

Chapter 1

Hidden Secrets

It was very early in the morning when I woke up. Touji and Narushige were still sleeping on the floor of the empty house in which we had stayed for the night, but I couldn't see Chigusa anywhere. I tiptoed out as silently as I could so as not to wake them up.

The morning was grey, as they always were here. I yawned and stretched myself a bit, then picked a juicy fruit from a tree I had grown the night before. Kuro was asleep underneath the tree, and I patted her lightly. She rewarded me with a content growl-like sound but didn't wake up. Then I spotted Chigusa on the edge of the cliff, looking at the great grey wastelands ahead of us. I glanced back a bit, and the contrast between the way we had come and the way we were going still amazed me.

I knew he had noticed me but he didn't turn his head before I was beside him. Only then did he look at me and smile a bit. His goggles rested on his forehead, so he must have been using his eyes' special powers.

"Rakan," he said. "Good morning."

"Morning," I said, stifling another yawn. "What are you looking at?"

"Just at the route ahead," he said, turning his eyes back towards the desolate landscape. "Can you see that small rocky hill over there?" He pointed, and I nodded. It didn't look that different from the rest of the geography.

"It's full of holes," he continued. "They seem like they're man-made, there are several rooms and corridors on many levels. The whole thing looks like a cross between a home and a labyrinth. I can't see any signs of life, though."

"You're eyes are amazing! Maybe we should stop there to explore on our way, I bet you could guide us through the labyrinth."

He looked at me expectantly, and I patted his head. He seemed satisfied with that. Then an idea struck me. I tried to banish it from my head but was unsuccessful.

"Chigusa, can you see through clothes?" I asked.

He looked at me, then moved his eyes slowly up and down my body, all the way from head to toe and back. I shivered almost as if I could feel his gaze on my skin, softly caressing every surface even under my clothes. Especially under my clothes. Then his eyes returned to mine.

"Well, I do have very good eyes."

Before I could say anything (not that I even knew how to answer), the others came out of the house. I must have been blushing quite a lot, since Kou's sword form appeared out of nowhere and was promptly pointed at Chigusa.

"Good morning, you two," Narushige said quite chilly, and that was that.

Later, when we were riding on Kuro's back, I could feel Chigusa's gaze on me every now and then. It hadn't bothered me at all before, but now it was as if he was undressing me with his eyes all the time. He sat right behind me, and my skin prickled with each inadvertent touch and glance.

I sighed with relief when Kuro finally landed on the hill we had been looking at before. It felt like the ride had lasted an eternity when in fact it had only taken a couple of hours. I jumped to the ground as fast as I could, refusing Chigusa's attempts to assist me with the landing. I felt a small prick in my conscience when I saw his concerned look. He wasn't used to me being so forbidding. It wasn't exactly his fault, after all, that I felt a bit uncomfortable around him at that time. Or maybe it was partly his fault, but that was just because of his personality and unique physiology, and it wasn't as if he could do anything to change them. Main thing was that everything was just in my imagination. No, wait, maybe I had actually been affected by everyone's insistence on Chigusa's pervertedness.

I tried to act as normal as I could when Chigusa led us towards the entrance to the caves. It was easier like this, him being in front of me. I didn't have to imagine his glances from behind me or suffer from neither frequent shivers down my back nor hair standing up constantly at the nape of my neck.

We found the entrance half-blocked with small stones which we quickly threw away. Chigusa said there was a way through for us, although it seemed to be a bit twisty. Even so, it shouldn't take us too long to reach the other side of the hill, we should be there before nightfall even if we stopped several times. The doorway was too small for Kuro, so we told her to meet us on the other side. Chigusa gave Kuro some landmarks so she could find the other doorway, and I gave her some seeds after touching them so she would have something to eat as well while she waited for us. We watched her trot off towards the top of the hill. She seemed to enjoy the sudden bit of freedom.

I planted some light flowers beside the entrance and we each picked one. Then the four of us plus one snake entered the darkness inside the rocks.