"I think," the man said, "that we're lovers." He sat crossed legged, wearing his sheet comfortably tied around him like a robe.

The girl huffed, "You keep saying that. I know that's not true." She folded her legs up beneath her. "I know it." She fiddled with the knot holding her cloth in place, certain that she was probably showing more than she wanted to. She smoothed her hair over her shoulder fiddling with the black locks.

"How do you know it?" The man asked, his violet eyes twinkling. A dark lock of hair tumbled over his forehead.

"You know it too." The girl huffed, knowing what he was asking and not willing to give in. "Ask me something else."

"It's your turn." The man said wagging a finger.

The girl sighed, "I think... we're related." She huffed again and looked away. "You're way older than me, maybe you're my father."

"I'm certainly not your father!" The man said affronted. He sat forward. "I'm not that much older than you."

"But do you know it?" The girl said, her lips twitching in amusement.

The man blinked, not used to her teasing him back. Then he thought about the question and an odd look went over his face. "Yes, I know I'm not a father." He smoothed a hand over the beads and glove on his right hand, a habit he had when thinking seriously. "And that's important."

"It's important that you're not a father?" The girl said eagerly. She leaned forward putting her hands on the floor. "How is it important?"

The man stared at her, violet eyes meeting blue as they willed each other to remember, something anything, just to remember. Finally he looked away and scrubbed at his face. "I don't know. Dammit."

"Ugh!" The girl made a fist of her hand and slapped it against the ground. "This is driving me crazy!" She stood up and put her hands on her hips and addressed the rough ceiling of the cave they were in. "What the world is this supposed to prove!? What do you want from us?!" She ran over to the heavy wooden planks that made up the only entrance to the room. "Let us out!" She kicked at it. Her face crumpled up and she hopped to the wall. "Ow..."

The man slowly got up and approached her. He'd learned not to go to her right away, it only made her angrier. "I don't know why you're so certain they're listening to us, or that there is a "they" to listen." He knelt and took her foot in his hands. "And you shouldn't do that, you only hurt yourself." He massaged it slowly, the beads on his hand soothing the throbbing flesh.

"Of course there's someone listening. And there has to be a they, otherwise who's feeding us?" She pouted. "And it makes me feel better."

"I think it's been a week since we woke up here." The man mused, starting to move his hands up her leg. "And yelling at them hasn't helped in all that time, even if they are there."

She jerked her leg out of his hands. "You're terrible!" She turned her back to him and stared at the door. "They could at least have put a knob on this side. Then I could rattle it instead of kicking it."

"Very inconsiderate of them." The man agreed coming up behind her to stare at the door. "Maybe they're small people. Maybe that's why it's such a small door."

"It's not that small." The girl said looking up at him. It was just a few inches taller than her.

"It's not that big either." It was a couple inches below his eye level. "I'm just suggesting, my lady, that perhaps "they" might not be human." He put his hands on her shoulders and rubbed them soothingly.

"Youkai?" She said. "I think... I think I'd feel it if they were... I think I'd know." She looked back at the door, her brows furrowing.

"Only if they came close enough for us to feel them." The man said. "They never come in here while we're awake. And they could have human servants." He adjusted his hands on her shoulders to deepen the massage.

She batted his hands off. "Oh, stop it." She gave him an annoyed look. "So what do we know so far?" She walked over to the other side of the small room, as far as she could get from him.

"That we have been here about a week, but we are sure that we were somewhere else before. We knew each other before." He said settling back into his seat with a sigh. "Also we know that there are people missing." They'd established that early on. The girl was sure there was supposed to be someone else with them. Once he'd thought about it he'd agreed. "That we know the truth when we hear it." That had been an important one, it was what had prompted the "I think" game. He fingered the glove he wore, "That I should not remove this." She nodded, it gave her a sick feeling to think of him taking it off, but she didn't know why. "I know how to wear a robe, and you do not." He grinned at her. "My offer still stands to help you in that matter."

"No way!" She said clutching the cloth tighter. "We also know that you're a pervy letch!"

"And you, sadly, are not. " The man said with mock sadness. He sighed and turned serious. "We know there is something else we're supposed to be doing and that it's something important. We know that you like to bathe more than normal."

"We do not!" The girl said indignantly. "I like to bathe a perfectly normal amount." She crossed her arms over her chest. "I know it." She turned her head away in a huff. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. "I do."

"You want to be taking a bath right now." He guessed.

"And you want to peek." She said turning her nose up. She glanced at the alcove that held the little hot spring and bathing supplies. "It's not like we have anything else to do here."

"Except find a way to escape." He reminded her. "You do still want to escape?"

"Of course!" She said looking towards him. "I don't like being kept like a pet hamster."

"A pet what?" The man said startled out of his teasing.

"You know, little rodent, kind of like a mouse? People keep them in cages and feed them lettuce and they run on little hamster wheels? You know, hamsters!" She waved her hands around.

"No, I don't. That's another strange thing you've mentioned that I don't know." The man said. "My lady, I think this bears exploring. You have mentioned teevees; boxes that show plays and actors from far distances and times. That is a wonder I know I have never experienced, yet you say it is common place. You spoke of Aye-poods-"

"Ipods." She corrected.

"Aye-podz," the man nodded. "A device you say is hardly bigger than my thumb, but holds hours and hours of music and song. I have never heard of a magic to capture music and replay it like that."

"I told you, it's not magic-"

"My lady, how else would such things be possible-"

"Good sir," She said imitating his tone, "I've told you before it's science, not magic."

"No science I know of could make such things." The man said. "I think perhaps you are a foreigner."

"No, I'm not." The girl said.

"You don't sound certain." The man said. "I'm certain that I'm from Japan."

"I'm certain that I'm from Japan." She said.

"My Japan does not have Aye-podz, teevees or hamsters."

"Well, mine does!" She said. "Perhaps, Good Sir, you just live under a rock."

"My Lady," he grimaced, "I think it is more likely that you are very pampered. Perhaps you are a princess and spoiled with strange creatures and devices from foreign lands." He paused. "And lots of time to bathe unnecessarily."

She actually took it into consideration. "No, I'm not a princess. I know it. I'm not anyone important." And she shot him a glare. "And bathing once a day isn't unnecessary, it's normal."

The man frowned. "That's not right." He waved her silent before she could complain. "I mean about you not being important, not the bathing." He grinned. "Though I'm not wrong about that either."

"What do you mean?" The girl said curling up her knees and resting her chin against it. "I'm not special in any way."

"Other than the fact that someone has deemed you important enough to lock away in a little room with me with no memories of your past." He reminded her. "Perhaps you were an important lady, and I was your servant and we were caught together."

"That would make it my fault that we were here!" The girl said, and he could see guilt flashing in the back of her eyes. "Maybe I was your servant and I'm here because of you!"

"If you are," the man said a wicked gleam appearing in his eyes, "and I am your master, you should do as I say."

"You are not my master!" She said quickly, trying to scoot backwards into the wall. "I know it."

He sighed and looked down. "And I know I am not your servant. But I do know that you are important, My Lady. I just do not know how." He looked up with his lips making a startled oh. "Perhaps it has to do with the fact that I am not a father." He pointed to her eagerly. "Perhaps you are my intended and were meant to bear my children!"

She blinked. "That's...almost familiar."

He stood up eagerly and started to walk over, his arms wide to embrace her. She scrambled up and ran to the other corner of the room. "That's not what I meant!" She cried. "I meant hearing you say "bear my children!" That's what sounded familiar."

The cave went dark. The strange ambient light that illuminated the room had disappeared abruptly and silently.

The girl gave a strangled squeak. It never failed to startle her.

"I suppose that marks the end of another day, day nine by my count." The man said with a sigh. "You will bathe now?"

"Yes." The girl said inching towards the alcove with the bathing area. The water was lit, so she could still bathe. "No peeking." She reminded him.

"No peeking." He agreed, following silently after. He'd found that he could see her in the bath much better than she could see him from the water. As long as he stayed back and along the wall he could see nearly everything.

"I don't hear the futons rustling!" She said looking over her shoulder into the room.

The man reached out with his foot and swished it through the futon blankets. "I'm laying down, My Lady." He called. "I await you eagerly."

She cursed. "Better not be too eagerly," she muttered as she fumbled with the knot of her sheet. She hated that they only had one futon. Even more she hated that she felt too guilty to claim it for herself and make him sleep on the floor. She'd tried it the first night herself and had woken up chilled and in pain. Now she grudgingly shared it with the man, and he'd kept his hands to himself. But she was certain that wouldn't last long. Every day, as the strangeness of their memory loss and their confinement became more normal to them, he grew bolder and more touchy feel-y.

She finally dropped that shapeless swath of fabric and the man gave a silent "oh" of appreciation. At this time every night he sent a silent prayer of thanks to who ever put them in this little cave together. The girl was simply perfection. Ripe full breasts, tiny waist and a pert rear that just begged to be pinched. Her skin was lightly sun-kissed but still creamy white, like a peach not quite ripe. She bathed often, so she smelled as sweet as she looked. She smelled like tart, ripe apples. It gave him a fierce appetite.

He scratched at his hair, he'd borrowed a bit of his linen napkin yesterday to tie it back. The girl had looked at him oddly before confessing that the little dragon tail looked familiar. He couldn't confess, without inviting her wrath, that the sight of her bare flesh in water was familiar to him. He knew it was true that they were not lovers, but it was also true that he knew her naked body. He wanted to know it better, and that seemed familiar too. He couldn't understand, if he'd been in her presence for as long as they both thought, how he had not sampled that sweet body. What held him back?

After her bath, the girl followed the edge of the wall to the futon. She tested the edge of the bedding with her foot to make sure she wasn't about to step on her cell-mate. "I'm coming in ." She said softly, just in case he'd fallen asleep.

"I'm against the wall. You have plenty of room, My Lady." He sounded amused.

Her lips twisted. He always sounded amused, like she was his own personal jester. "Aren't you going to bathe?" She asked as she settled in. "You didn't yesterday."

"I haven't been doing any sort of strenuous activity." She could hear his shrug in his voice. "I do not think I have gotten too soiled sitting here in this room."

"If you don't tomorrow I'm not letting you in the futon, because that's just gross." She said as she snuggled into the blankets.

"I think you just want the opportunity to peek at me." The man said and she could feel him moving closer, his warmth not far from his back.

"Ew! Gross!" She said over her shoulder, indignant. "For all I know you're my brother!" She gasped. "I do have a brother! I know it!"

The man drew back, distressed. If she was his sister it would explain so much, why he hadn't been in a relationship with her, but why he knew her body. Then his brow cleared. "But it's not me. I'm an only child. I know it."

"You sound relieved." The girl said and he could tell she'd rolled over towards him despite the fact that pitch darkness of the room wouldn't allow him to see her.

"I am." The grin was back in the man's voice. "It means I am free to appreciate you."

"Ew." She huffed and turned back over. "You know, you might not be free." She smoothed her hand over the soft futon cover. "You could be married."

The was a pause. "No, I'm not married," He said. "I know it. Are you?"

"No." The girl said quickly. "But... you could be engaged."

"Are you?" He asked curiously. He could not understand how a prize such as her could be unclaimed.

"No." The girl said and then covered her heart. "I feel sad. Thinking about that makes me feel sad."

"Maybe you were engaged and your man broke it off." He suggested. "Though I think any man who would do that a fool. More likely, he might have been killed in war."

"No, that's not it." The girl could feel tears pricking at the back of her eyes. "It's something sadder."

"Sadder than death?" The man said. "Then let's leave that alone for now. Broken hearts aren't something to sleep on if you want pleasant dreams."

"You never said if you were engaged." She said, for once wishing the man's wandering hands would squeeze her shoulder in comfort.

"I'm not." He said, but didn't add their customary "I know it" to seal the knowledge as truth.

"Are you certain?" The girl asked curious about the omission.

"There is...something there." The man said reluctantly. "I know I am not betrothed or otherwise engaged... but there is a feeling, something like your sadness. I suppose you could call it, longing?"

"Oh!" The girl said eagerly. "Maybe you're in love but haven't confessed yet!"

"Does that sound like me?" The man chuckled.

The girl rolled her eyes in the dark. "No, I guess not. But... maybe she was someone you couldn't confess to. Like, someone important."

"Mmm..."

"Am I right?" The girl said eagerly.

"No," He said. "Or, at least, not completely. But I think you are close."

Silence fell between them and he almost thought she slept.

"I'm sorry." She whispered finally. "I bet it's hard to be in love with someone you can't be with."

"You sound like you know." He said softly.

"I think I do." She whispered back.