A/N: Dedicating this chapter to Ria D'Arcy. You're the reason I haven't deleted this and continue to write it haha XD Thanks for your constant support!


The sound of my footfalls echoed back to me as I ascended the fifth consecutive stairwell to reach my bachelor suite. My steps were more quickly paced than they typically might have been, though this day I felt there was great purpose for such. It had been a full week since I had last conversed with Yusei, and I was certain that today there would be critical feedback awaiting me.

It probably would have been much faster to simply take the elevator to my floor, but in my excitement I had forgotten about it entirely. To be fair, I hadn't had all that much experience using them.

I nearly collapsed through the heavy door following a none-too-graceful trip over the final two concrete stairs. At the last possible moment, I managed to swing my arms in such a way that my balance was regained in time to push onward for the door near the end of the hall numbered five-twenty-four.

Hardly able to insert my room key at the rate my trembling hands were moving, I fumbled for a moment before rotating my wrist and throwing wide the door on its hinges. It bounced against the wall and slammed closed behind me. I bumped carelessly into a chair or two before diving over the armrest of the couch, stretching my limbs over the length of it and stabbing at the large grey button on the side table next to the land-line telephone.

A robotic voice announced, "No new messages," followed by a high frequency beep.

My muscles instantly weighted themselves, and in a frantic moment of utter disbelief, I crawled forward and pressed the dial repeatedly, each time the same result playing out as the last. I could almost feel the sensation of my heart dropping into the pit of my stomach in disappointment.


I pushed the last heaping spoonful of canned, vegetable soup through my parted lips before reaching for the television remote control. With a sloppily aimed click, I silenced the news reporter mid-sentence and tossed the gadget onto the coffee table before me. I had invested so much energy and optimism into the idea that Yusei had found my savior that facing the reality of the situation had caused my mood to suffer and to plummet from its earlier heights.

My gaze rolled about the suite, landing upon the small, circular dining table and chairs (that I rarely bothered to use) adjacent to the refrigerator. I never entertained guests anyway, save for Yusei on occasion. In fact, I did not really know anyone else well enough to invite them into my personal space.

Switching off the lamp on the opposite side table, I dragged the fleece blanket up and over my shoulders, resting my head on the decorative couch pillow. Beyond the silence of the room, the restless sounds of Yorkshin seemed to come alive. Distant voices, loud bass lines, and screaming sirens were my lullaby, and a disgruntled sigh escaped me as the scent of dirty, urban rain wafted in through my open window.

At times these daily occurrences still seemed overwhelming to me. Deep down there was a part of me that was too proud to ever admit aloud that I dearly missed home and desperately yearned to be able to return there. Perhaps this fact was ironic, as the reason I had traveled all this way to Yorkshin was influenced by a feeling of boredom, smothering, and a desire for more than I thought my simple lifestyle in NGL could ever offer me…


As a child I had never questioned the reality I was presented with. It made perfect sense in the realms of itself, or so I had believed. I picked berries with my younger sister, Suki, and believed in the potential of my older brother, Isamu. My mother and father were strict and hardworking, and my neighbor and best friend, Kota, was to be my husband once we came of age.

I was innocent and happy then, and life was simple and rewarding. I had never dreamed of the world beyond NGL as I believed that NGL was the whole world. I helped mother cook dinner and avoided tourists, whom my parents had warned me were dangerous.

One month prior to my tenth birthday, I was sent to collect water for my household. As I dipped the end into the clear stream, an unfamiliar reflection alongside mine startled me. I spent a moment or two wildly swinging my arms to regain balance on the small patch of shore, though I did not succeed in keeping grip on the container.

Much to my surprise, once I had steadied myself the man whose reflection I had seen was holding out the sack I'd dropped. His eyes were clear and blue and his face cleanly shaven. I was hesitant to take it from him, and he seemed to notice so quite quickly.

"Did you make this?"

His voice was smooth and slightly accented. I was fascinated at the foreign nature of it, and of his appearance as well. He wore large, laced, black boots over pants that matched his collared shirt. They were oddly patterned in a way that I then understood had allowed him to blend in with the foliage and thus approach me without my knowing.

I shook my head in response to his question.

"Did your father make it?"

I nodded, studying him for any signs of the danger that I always anticipated from people that did not live in my village.

He smiled a pearly white, dazzling smile and gently set the sack at my feet.

"I've never seen anything like it before. Do you know what it's made out of?"

I stared at him out of wide, hazel eyes, my curiosity increasing with each passing second.

His face fell slightly as he questioned in a concerned voice, "Are you able to talk?"

I scrunched my face.

"I mean, do you know how?"

My head tilted at the strange inquiry that I did not particularly understand the purpose of. Were there many people that could not talk besides babies?

A sad smile wove itself into his features and he tipped his hat while turning away to leave.

"It's made from Taurus bladder," I whispered in a higher frequency than usual.

In an instant he was facing me once more, a stunned look claiming his expression in such an exaggerated fashion that I nearly giggled at the sight.

"Oh, so you were just shy," he said.

I shook my head and withdrew the majority of my cheeks into my long, ashy blonde locks for comfort.

"Why didn't you answer then?"

With a sheepish grin, I explained, "I'm not supposed to talk to strangers…"

His eyes softened.

"That's good advice. Did your mother tell you that?"

"Isamu," I corrected him.

He borrowed a moment to look mildly confused before replying, "Well, Isamu is smart to say that." He bowed to me and then firmly raised the side of a flattened hand to his forehead, adding, "Lieutenant Kin Ueno, pleased to make your acquaintance."

The gesture both baffled and enthralled my naïve, young mind. Inwardly I wondered what a "lieutenant" was, though admittedly I felt too embarrassed to ask.

"I'm Aina," I offered quietly, finally reaching for the container and slinging the strap over my right shoulder.

"Are we still strangers now, Aina?"

I shrugged, honestly unsure. I had never been told whether a stranger could somehow stop being a stranger, and if they could what the conditions for that would be.

"That water bag sure is impressive," he went on. "I wish I had one of those."

"You could make one."

Kin chuckled, readjusting his hat during the process.

"I don't know how. Where I come from, we don't need to make water bags. In fact, almost no one makes anything themselves."

I stared at Kin for a drawn out period of time, not comprehending his words.

"How do you hold water?" I inquired awkwardly.

"In bottles," he explained, reaching into his own side sling and retrieving from it a strange, ominous, black cylinder. At the very top there was a sort of spout that lifted kind of like a nipple.

I had never seen anything like it before, and I eyed it with child-like wonder and awe.

"Does that really hold water?"

He held it out to me and I told it carefully in both my hands, as though it were an explosive that might be set off if I moved too quickly. The material was hard and had no jagged edges. It made a soft "ting" sound against my fingernails. After a moment, Kin reached over and plucked at the spout, lifting it slightly higher.

"Now you can drink from it if you want to," he offered once he saw the confusion in my features.

I knew that Isamu would be irate if he discovered I had even considered drinking from the strange "bottle", but on the other hand I was quite absorbed by this concept of holding water in this contraption. Of course, if mother, father, or Isamu knew that I had spoken to this man at all they would be furious, so I supposed the hypothetical damage had already been done. Moving slowly so that I could hold my stare on the bottle as much as possible during the act, I raised the spout to my lips and sucked in. When I received no water, Kin gently tilted the bottle upwards on an angle to assist me.

The water was different than the water from the stream. It had no odor, but the taste was somehow completely isolate of the water I'd always had. When I finally pulled away, I spent a few more seconds inspecting the interesting container.

"If I give you a water sack like mine, may I keep this 'bottle'?" I asked hopefully, not ready to give up the treasure I had found.

To my good fortune, Kin simply smiled and leaned in to run his fingers once through my long, ashy hair.

"Can you meet me back here tomorrow afternoon then?"

I nodded almost too enthusiastically, bowing over and over to him and clutching the gift to my chest.

"Thank you!" I said on a seemingly endless loop.

Then I rushed back through the bushes, trying to think of a good place to hide my incredible new item that I was quite aware mother, father, and Isamu would not permit me to keep if they saw it.