Ainako: Hello, chapter 4. I never would have thought to see you here. Hope you will be better than the previous chapter. Oh but somehow for some reason I think if you skip chapter 3, you'd still get the story. Too many of my own strange original ideas there.

I have at least 3 original fictions all using Yukino as inspirations. Help me.

Silence…

She rose from where she was sitting and decided to take a walk. Ridiculous, she had thought of the long silent walk she took just to fill in the boredom. She remembered vaguely how close to insanity she was the first time she noticed the immense loneliness. From a slow pace it came to a frantic run, clawing her hair and pulling it out off its roots, loosing her wooden shoes. In the end, she would fall to her knees as they failed to function out of tiredness, gasping for breath that never seemed to fill her lungs ache for air. And always, she would end up where she had thrown her clogs. She had screamed in terror, eyeing the wooden clogs, lost somewhere in the cave, now lay right in front of her as if a poisonous snake, poised to bite her with its venomous fang. The thought of her running around in the vast cavern just to end up at the same place she frightened her, the endless maze that almost racked her sanity. But she managed somehow. Perhaps with Hisame constantly catching up to her as she wander around the cavern and purred under her touch reminded her that she is very well alive.

Hisame,

She swiveled her neck to the left and right when she awoke from her silent reminiscent to find the long-bodied creature. It had always been near, a moment or two without his presence would be very bleak, though thankfully it rarely left her side. But it wasn't there now.

Are you lost, Hisame?

No. It's over there, she said to herself, peering across the space. How she knew, she could never tell. She just knew it is at the far side of the peculiar cavern. But he is not alone. In a heartbeat, she 'flew' to the direction she was looking.

"Hisame"

The little ermine, perched on the boy's shoulder, raised its head as it heard her call. The tall boy, who was cheerfully being greeted by Hisame was a bit startled to see her.

Maybe it longed to see a new face rather than my sulky one.

The boy took a step forward to reach her, but she has gone too long with no other soul to talk with her and doubt if she could be able to talk properly. Not that she ever had anyone to talk with in the first place. She was always feared and hated. Despised. Only Hisame served as her companion all this long inside this maze, be it he couldn't talk or understand at all. So she shifted away from his reach in that instant to the space behind him. She had never 'flown' within such a short distance before, but it seems that she's capable of it after all.

"Here, Hisame,"

Swiftly, it left its temporal perching spot and glided over the smooth floor and climbed up to hers. Hisame squeaks as if to tell her that it was fine. Or is it to ask her where she has been? Through the years Hisame had been at her side, she could never understand it at all or the doubt if it can understand anything. But Hisame is all that she has. All she got to understand.

"You haven't told me your name yet. Mine is Ukiya Shun, written as 'moment' and 'floating arrows'"

The boy starts to talk with a foreign cheer in his tone of voice. His words sounded strange somehow. She strained her ears to catch those fast speeches. Perhaps the effect of her not having anyone to talk to over the years, she agrees. All those times, she just quoting the bits and pieces of a poem she heard of long ago. She had once loved poems and songs. So did Father. 'Moment' and 'floating arrows'… she was not that smart to learn her characters. She wondered if she ever knew how those characters looks like. Her name… how did it was spelled as? Her name…

What am I? Nothing.

"I am what I am"

She told him at last, unable to reply the same way he do. Her name means nothing to her. Nor will it have any meanings to him too, or anyone else for that matter. But she wondered, how did her name was written? Is it 'monster' like what they used to call her?

"I don't know how we got here, but it looks like we're in a weird place. It doesn't look like we're trapped in the snow…"

"Outside the flow. This place is outside the flow…"

The 'flow' hummed gently against her fingertips every time she touched the wall. Through the simple touch she had known years had passed by since she was trapped here. The 'flow' was indeed the time flow, she agreed to herself.

"Outside… the flow? You mean by a river flow or something?"

A river? No, not a river. No rivers are this constant. A heavy rain or drought should alter a river flow, but this is something different. It's always there, always with its violent but at the same time calm flow. Maybe that's why she grew fond of feeling the walls every now and then, just to make sure it's still there. It made her content, but sometimes it made her forget. She would choose to forget rather than being haunted by the same sleepless nightmare of her own past. She felt the boy's stare at her as if waiting for answer from behind. He wanted her to answer but how can she? How can she ever explain to him it is the time itself out there? She is in no place to explain. She had gone so long in silence. What there is to talk? Talking would not get her anywhere. Talking to the walls would reminded her how lonely she is. She had even grown to hate the sound of her own voice.

"I don't like to talk…"

What there is to talk about? Nothing.

"I'm sorry, but we can't stay here any longer. If there is an exit somewhere you know…"

An exit? She almost howled by the very mention of it. She had spent all her waking hours just to find an exit, all to dismay. The cave twists and bends all it likes. She had tried searching for the non-existent exit, she had truly tried. But she just couldn't. She just couldn't find it. Or perhaps she wasn't suppose to find one.

Trapped forever…

She heard the boy sigh and apologized for an unknown reason. Then she heard his footsteps nearing her. She started to walk away too. She was afraid of him somehow. Something about him made her feel insecure. What was is? Perhaps he is the first soul she talked to after so many years. What was it? She couldn't answer her own doubt. She picked up her pace to be away.

"Don't run away. Let's go together"

Go? Go where? She knew no exit he is looking for. She didn't want to disappoint him – telling him there is simply no where to go, but…

"We cannot go anywhere – not you, nor I. Outside is outside"

She didn't know what will happen if she really did manage to tear down these walls just to escape from here. Maybe she will die if whatever it is outside might drown her. Maybe there won't be anything behind them. Maybe it just will be the same place as this one is - an endless spread of nothingness. He had no place to go. She felt sorry for him for a moment. What did he do to deserve being trapped along with her here? Surely this is where people like her will end up. This may be the 'hell' she had heard of. Sinful person will go to hell, she was told. Monsters go to hell too. Maybe this is hell. But this boy is here too. What could it mean? Why?

"Even if that's true, I still have to go"

Why? She had told him an exit is never to be found. She wanted to ask, but the boy walked past her and continued.

"You remember that girl with the long brown hair? I call her Rurippe, but she'll get furious whenever I did. For all the tough face she had, she had been a real crybaby since she was little. That time when we played hide and seek together and we couldn't find her, she'd bawled in the closet. What a mess it was…"

Hide and seek? Is that a game? She had never played with anyone before. To be able to play so hard until you cry… it must be a nice game. Or maybe it was not. She had once just crouched behind the bushes and watched the other village children playing in laughter. They would stone her if they saw her. Laughter. She never laughs before - to voice her joy in meaningless babbles. Father had laugh, but his laugh was rare. He smiled a lot. Did he? Did Father smiled? She couldn't find the piece of memory to confirm it. It had gone missing so long ago, she cared not about it anymore. They all disappeared like the dusts.

"She's probably looking for us right now. I bet she's about to cry too. She's a handful, huh? Guess I have to go and find her again."

He turned with a smile on his face. He held out a clothed hand to her.

"Let's go together"

Had he not heard her? Had he not understand? There is nowhere to go. No escape. Where there is to go to? Why can't he just give it up?

"But even if you do find her, even if you believe you will, everyone disappears…"

There. She said it. Why would he believe he would find his friend? The fact that he is here in the cavern just proved he wouldn't find the exit. He wanted to find her? Why? The world had trapped him here with her, why would he insist on escaping? They would all be gone even if he does manage to escape. Father is still in his grave with Mother. 'He' would still be on the mountains where he died and never to return home again. The 'flow' would take them all away from him, alike what it did to her.

The boy however just smiled. Maybe he didn't believe her. Or maybe she disgusts him and putting a fake smile just to curse her later. Hisame purrs lightly from its perch on her shoulders as if he, too, felt the same. The tall boy withdraws his hand and turned to walk ahead. Hisame made a gesture as if to tell her to follow. What there is to do? She steps lightly to follow his pace. She steps lightly and cautiously.