It took a long time for Senku to recover from the run. Chasing a wolf-dog would have been ten billion percent impossible if the dog hadn't been looking back at him, slowing when it noticed how he struggled. Had he not Senku would have been lost in the woods, or, worse, found by Tsukasa and killed. Again. He'd barely had time to take in the sight of Umeka's home, he'd noticed a garden, large storage bins, and a water filtration system. It was crude, more like an old school survivalist structure than anything else, but the science was sound. He'd stopped to take it in, ignoring how the old dog has circled back and nudge insistently at his hip. She'd tied three strong sticks together at the top making a sort of pyramid shape. Then she tied three different cloths to the sticks, stacked in the middle like a series of hammocks. The smallest, at the top, was filled with grass, the next with sand, and the last with a black substance he had to touch to confirm was charcoal. Below it was a barrel, with a cleverly carved lid, shaped like a trapezoid to keep it more tightly sealed and keep the water safer. It was impressive enough to almost completely distract him from the earlier terror. Then Saiyan had barked, and six more dogs slowly lurked from the woods beyond and Senku had quickly climbed the ladder in a cold sweat.

Though the inside of her home was equally interesting, there wasn't much of a view to the outside, so instead of looking around, he'd sat down in the corner, still breathing hard from his run and the arduous climb up the rope ladder. He had no choice but to trust that this girl wouldn't be completely illogical and turn him in after directing him to her house. That wouldn't keep Tsukasa from noticing him though. Senku had seen his senses at work so he sat still, huddled in the corner by what he assumed was her bedding, stark silent.

Then he heard them, talking under the house amid the wet slapping sounds of organs falling to the ground and the acrid smell of an animal's blood as they cleaned it. Alone in a stranger's house, he didn't have to act brave, he was sweating and his hands were shaking despite how hard he clenched them. He didn't have a fail-safe this time, if Tsukasa found him it was all over. When Tsukasa had asked to come up Senku felt his gut wrench, but he managed to keep himself from moving. He listened to Umeka turning him away and the rain began to pour outside.

It had been a while now since Tsukasa had left for his camp. Umeka still didn't come up into the house. While that was making him somewhat nervous he thought it was probably better to leave her. Let her do whatever she was doing. At the same time, he couldn't just sit around any longer. His legs were tingling from paresthesia, or 'pins and needles' as it was commonly called, from having sat still for so long. He stood, groaning and leaning on the wall as he rocked on his feet. The sensation worsening as it finally left his body. Then he straightened and looking around the cabin. There was a large stone slab with charcoal on it, he imagined she was bringing up still burning pieces to heat the room while she slept. Safer than lighting a fire this high up.

The floor and walls were made of wood, the spaces between filled with clay, the ceiling was thatched bamboo and hay. In one corner a macrame-looking chair hung from a bamboo pole. On the floor by the chair, there was a pile of half-finished carving projects, arrows and bowls, and combs. There were animal furs and skins neatly folded with bone needles still attached to them by strings. It was hard to believe she could do all this in the time since Tsukasa had gone off on his own. And why wasn't she with his group? How was she able to boss him around? Senku sat in the chair, swinging gently as he thought.

It felt impossible to climb the ladder. Umeka wanted to go back to her life weeks ago. When she was alone. When she only had to think about feeding herself and the dogs. When the coming winter was her only concern. Now she was stuck in the middle of some strange standoff. She took a deep breath and slowly released it through her nose.

"Nothing to be done, hmm?" she said, looking to Sailor whose large eyes were watching Umeka carefully, tapped into her anxiety. "Okay...food. We need to eat," Umeka mused, wrapping the font strand of her hair around her braid and then loosely looping the braid over her neck like a thick scarf. She hung her stone pot over the fire and tossed in some meat from the bear, spices she'd gathered in the woods, chunks of pumpkin, some bones for flavor, and finally water. Probably enough like soup, she figured. She wondered if Senku would like it. Then felt silly for being concerned about that.

Once it was boiling and smelling surprisingly pleasant she hefted the thick chord it hung on and climbed the ladder with one hand, "Senku, are you there?"

"Yeah," he said back, opening the hatch and looking at her, "ha, another lioness, huh?"

"Uhm...what?" she asked, continuing the climb as Senku reached out.

"Here, I can take the pot," he said, his palm open to her.

She paused, unused to the help. Then slowly placed the chord in his hand and watched him lurch forward slightly.

"That's much heavier than I expected," he groaned, struggling but managing to get the pot up and into the cabin, resting it on the floor.

"What did you mean lioness?"

"Oh nothing, you just remind me of my friend, she's also crazy strong," he had another one of his funny smiles. Not so much friendly and teasing, a kind of boyish charm.

"Oh...I don't think it's really that heavy maybe-"

"I'm just a wimp?"

Umeka blinked, blushing slightly at how bluntly he put it, "I-"

He laughed again a sharp, honest laugh, his head back, "Don't worry I am. I know. I made my peace with that a long time ago."

She smiled, a little awkward from how easily he teased himself, "I thought you might want to eat, it's not much but-" she stopped herself, handing him a wooden bowl and spoon.

He took it with a gentle look in his eyes, "Thanks, and thanks for hiding me. Though...you could have warned me about being a full-on Princess Mononoke, I wasn't expecting to come up on an entire pack of dogs."

"Her name is San."

"Yeah I know but," He shrugged, sitting on the floor by the pot, "you knew what I meant."

Umeka sat across from him, spooning soup into each of their bowls, "Sorry I was a little busy keeping you alive."

"I wanted to ask you about that," Senku said, his voice suddenly serious, "why did you do that?"

"Did you not want me to?"

"Oh no, I vastly prefer continuing to live I just don't really get why you preferred that too."

Umeka thought for a moment, she didn't seem to have an answer. Honestly was the best policy so she answered, "I just felt like I should. You know in my gut."

"Doesn't seem like too much of a reason to betray the leader of your group," Senku said, blowing on his soup, "Do you not like something he's doing?"

"I'm not in his group, at least, I don't think I am," Umeka answered, holding back on the truth just a touch. Tsukasa knew Senku didn't wake her up because at the time she had to tell him to keep herself safe. Maybe if she didn't tell Senku she could learn something. She wanted to quiet her suspicions about Tsukasa but Senku seemed to be equally cagey. It felt like he was trying to poke around and get information without revealing much.

Senku stared at her calmly, his eyebrows furrowed in thought, "I see. So that's why you live somewhere else. And all this," he gestured to the house, "you did it by yourself?"

"Yeah."

"And that's why he's trying to win you over so hard. Cause you've got an insane amount of useful skills."

Umeka felt herself blush despite herself, which Senku softly snorted at, "You think he's trying to win me over?"

"Ha! I know he is. Tsukasa's not stupid. I'm sure he knows trying to force someone like you to join him wouldn't work so he's trying to convince you instead."

"Why wouldn't it work?" Umeka asked, she hadn't thought about that. She wondered how the others had come to join Tsukasa and what they were like. She'd been so focused on avoiding meeting the so-called Empire of Might that she hadn't considered what they were like.

"Well," Senku sighed, shifting his weight and gazing at the ceiling, "because you can, clearly, take care of yourself. I mean if you built this by yourself then you don't need him for shelter or food like I'd bet most of his Empire does. That," he said lifting his fist and then raising a finger, "makes you valuable," he raised another, "and harder to tempt."

"Tempt?"

Senku nodded, "he can't bring you to his side with resources if you have access to them on your own so you'd either join because you want to or…"

"...because he makes me," Umeka finished, suddenly feeling cold.

Senku nodded, spooning his soup around in the bowl, he looked like he wanted to say something, but he didn't. Instead, he continued to eat avoiding her gaze. His eyebrows creased in thought.

"Senku," the girl finally spoke. She set her bowl down beside her and leaned forward her eyes intensely focused on him, "how do you know Tsukasa?"

"...I woke him up, my friend and I were in danger and he was right there so, we woke him up to save our own skins, of course now, that's backfired," Senku answered. He didn't want to lie to her. After all, it would be better for him, for the Kingdom of Science, if she sided with them instead but he didn't want to strong-arm her into it. He wondered if she knew about how Tsukasa would crush statues or about his goal for the world moving forward. Maybe she'd been kept in the dark, it's what Senku would do in Tsukasa's position without knowing her opinion on the matter. Senku couldn't help but smirk a little, Umeka was probably far more of a challenge than she knew.

"Why does he hate you?"

"Hate me, huh?" He echoed. He couldn't help but feel a little sad. He had considered Tsukasa a friend, for a time, even if they were ideologically opposed.

Umeka seemed to notice the shift in his mood, she quickly added, "I mean...he didn't say that he just...he called you dangerous so I…"

Senku nodded, giving her a small smile trying to comfort her slight panic, "No it's okay. You're probably right. We just...we don't agree. I want to bring back the world we're from and...Tsukasa doesn't."

"He...he said that the world he wanted to make was perfect for me is that...what he meant?"

"Probably," Senku shrugged, "and he's probably not totally wrong. Not everyone can build a house or hunt for themselves. Heh, most people from our time probably couldn't garden. It took a long time for you to do all this, didn't it? Since you woke up on your own."

"How did you-"

Senku grinned, "I don't know much about gardening but I do understand the process behind it. It takes about one hundred days for pumpkins to grow to maturity. That's just over three months but it's not like you could have run out to the store for seeds. You must have found them in the wild last season at the latest harvested the seeds and planted them this season. Tsukasa hasn't even been awake a full year yet so, you had to have woken up first."

Umeka blinked at him, "Geeze you're smart."

Senku sputtered then burst out laughing, "Thanks, I try."

"I…," Umeka took a deep breath, she swallowed hard. Senku looked at her, just as he was about to stop her, tell her she didn't owe him an explanation, she spoke again, "I was eight."

"...what," Senku said, his voice flat.

"When that green flash happened, I was eight. I've been awake for I think...maybe nine years?"

Senku had to set his bowl down. He couldn't concentrate on what she'd said and hold it. She had been a literal child in a world like this and she survived? She'd built a home, tamed animals, and grew a garden. He sighed, rubbing the side of his face, "Man yet another OP monster in the Stone World."

Umeka flustered, her face pink and her cheeks puffed, pouting, "I'm not a monster."

Senku laughed, "No you definitely are. A totally awesome one but definitely a monster."

She frowned more, her chest puffing out, "That's mean!"

Senku laughed harder, bracing an arm over his stomach, "I definitely mean it as a compliment."

The blush on her face spread, it made sense, she'd been alone for a long time. She probably wasn't used to compliments or even talking to someone else, she probably didn't have a huge vocabulary either given the age she'd been, he'd have to keep that in mind.

"Well thanks, I guess but...don't call me a monster," she huffed.

"Sure, sure, I won't. Princess Mononoke it is," he grinned.

She rolled her eyes, but couldn't suppress her tiny smile, picking up her soup again and continuing to eat.

They stayed like that for a moment. The only noises in the room were the thumping of the rain above and their wooden spoons scraping on stone bowls.

Then Umeka took a deep breath and looked up at him, an earnestly worried look on her face, "Do you know what kind of world Tsukasa wants to make?"

Senku paused, meeting her stare, "Yeah. You sure you want to hear it from me?"

She nodded, "I don't feel like I can trust him and...I don't know why but maybe if I hear it from you and him I can make up my mind. You know?"

"Yeah," he sighed, "He...wants a world without weapons. Tsukasa thinks older people are people with power who aren't thinking of the good of the whole society so...he doesn't want to revive them. I guess that's the big difference. He wants to pick and choose who gets to live in the new world and I think we should wake everyone up."

Umeka went quiet. She pressed her lips together tightly and balled her hands into fists holding the fabric of her pants. Her eyes seemed to tremble, dangerously close to crying. Senku shifted toward her nervously, "Hey it's...it's okay."

She sniffled, rubbing her nose, "No, I know. That makes sense. I mentioned my grandparents to him once and he seemed...mad? So he just doesn't like them because of their age. That doesn't make any sense."

Senku rested his hand on the back of his head, "No. It really doesn't. Heh. That's why I'm not gonna let him win."

She smiled a little, "You could barely lift that stone pot. How are you going to fight him? He killed the bear you're eating, you know?"

Senku laughed bitterly, "Not shocking at all. But science evens the playing field so my friends and I will just spam that until we get everyone on our side."

"What do you mean?"

Senku grinned at her again, "I want everyone to join us. I'm not interested in killing people I don't agree with being a bully. I'd rather just get people on the same team. If we have everyone we can build something awesome. We have a chance now to rebuild all of the awesome things science gave us and avoid making the mistakes our ancestors made before."

"That sounds nice," she said, a small smile on her face, "You seem nice."

It made him nervous. He'd never been good at dealing with compliments like that. He preferred to joke his way around them, "Ha. Hardly. I just selfishly want to get back to my old hobbies."

Umeka stood, putting their bowls and spoons in the pot and then lifting it and going to the hatch, she took the first few rungs down so only her upper body was visible, "Liar," she said, grinning as she descended out of view.

Their conversation hadn't so much answered questions as replace them with new ones. If Tsukasa wanted to pick and choose who got to live she couldn't side with him. But if Senku wanted to make the world like it was, would she fit in? She barely remembered what it was like back then and she was just a little kid. But it was the world her grandparents and mom knew so she owed it to them, didn't she?

Her head was rushing from these thoughts as she gathered coals for upstairs. She pulled another pile of blankets and skins for Senku. The rain was still pouring and judging by the deep black of the sky it was late at night now. He'd have to go home in the morning. Get away before Tsukasa inevitable came back.

She didn't know how she'd act around him now. She couldn't let on that she knew what he wanted. If she did, he'd know she met Senku or at least someone from Senku's group and that could be dangerous. Senku made it sound like Tsukasa wouldn't give it up on trying to bring her to his side and if he was right she'd have to leave behind her home. Start over somewhere else but that would mean giving up nearly a decade of work.

She sighed tossing the fabric over her shoulder and climbing back up the ladder, met at the top with Senku's outstretched arms, pulling the bedding from her shoulder and into the room, "Afraid of lifting the pot again?" she teased.

"Mm. I thought if I didn't pick it up you wouldn't tease me this time," he smirked.

"Oh sorry," she laughed.

"Are you sure it's okay for me to stay?"

"Yeah, Tsukasa doesn't come here at night. I've never let him come up into my house so even if he did I don't think he'd just come in. You'd have to be crazy unlucky for him to suddenly do all that in the rain too."

Senku deadpanned, "Trust me, crazy bad luck isn't unusual for me."

Umeka giggled slightly at his expression and shut the hatch. She set a lock and put the stone plate on it. Then she poured the glowing orange coals onto it, "Well if he does decide to pop by he'll be unlucky too."

Senku laughed but there were beads of sweat on his forehead, "Brutal."

She shrugged, "We'd probably both die otherwise, right? If he'd kill you, he'd kill me for helping you."

"Yes and maybe," Senku said, straightening out his bedding, "He might let you live, Princess Mononoke."

"Just call me by my name please."

"Oh right, San, sorry."

She laughed surprisingly hard. Hard enough that Senku laughed with her, or maybe at her for being so amused. He'd settled into his bedding but he was still turned to face her. She smiled, her laugh slowly tapering off.

"Hey...Senku," Umeka said, laying back in her blankets and turning her head toward him, "Thanks for answering my questions."

"Sure. Thanks for...keeping me from dying."

She turned her head again, staring at the ceiling in the ever dimming glow of the fire, "Senku?"

He hummed a sleepy tone from across the room, clearly close to falling asleep.

"Can I show you something tomorrow, before you go home?"

"...Yeah," he yawned.

She thought about asking him a million other questions. She realized she didn't ask enough about him. How he woke up Tsukasa, or who his friend was, or how he was gonna rebuild the world. She sat up, turning toward him but even in the dim glow of the coals, she could see his chest rising and falling slowly. She sighed and laid back down. Maybe tomorrow she could ask him. It didn't feel like she was going to be able to pull away from this now. She'd have to pick a side. Maybe their trip in the morning would make that easier.

Senku woke up first, the sun managed to hit his eyes through the cover hanging over the singular window in the cabin. He groaned sitting up, rubbing his eyes. His body ached from the running and climbing of the day before reminding him of the first few weeks in the wild on his own.

On the other side of the cabin was Umeka, her eyes shut peacefully, lying on her side with the fur she slept under clutched closely to her chest. Her breathing sounded more like gentle sighs. Senku smiled slightly to himself, and carefully got up. He picked up the heavy stone plate and set it aside, slide the lock on the latch, and opened it, climbing down. When he got to the bottom the large orange dog growled, he advanced at him for a heart-pounding moment and then Saiyan snapped at him and he receded. The others all watched from where they were laying, except one. A long brown-haired dog he came and rubbed her body against Senku's leg, "Hi," he said, petting her head, "So you're the friendly one, huh? Do me a favor and make sure I don't get eaten while I make breakfast."

He looked to the storage boxes, a small bin held herb and small vegetables, a basket to the side of the box had eggs, all organized neatly. He couldn't help but smile, "That'll do." He pulled a small piece of flint from his bag and lit the fire, setting a flat piece of stone on the frame above it. Once it was hot he cracked an egg, tossed some salt from his bag on it, and threw in the herbs he found in her box. Just as he was finished he heard a loud gasp, then a thump, and suddenly Umeka's head dropped through the hatch, he gave her a quick wave.

She huffed, "I thought you got nabbed!"

"No nabbing, just hungry," he called back, grinning a little.

She climbed down the rope and looked at the plate, a small smile on her face, "Thanks…"

"Who said I was sharing?"

She deadpanned, making him laugh. He slid two eggs into a bowl and passed it to her. She sat, cross-legged on the ground. The large orange dog nosing at the side of her head.

Senku flopped down in front of her, "What's that one's name?"

"Oh," she said, her face turning red, "It's...uh...Sueno."

Senku blinked, his expression flattened. He tried to hold back a snicker. "Like...from Doraemon…?"

Her cheeks puffed and she mumbled, "Yes...like that."

A breathy giggle escaped his mouth before he managed to press his lips together to stop himself, "Because he's-"

"A jerk, yeah."

They look at each other and laughed.

"I loved that show, you must have been a teenager why were you still watching it?" She asked.

"Heh, cause I was lame," he said. He finished the last bite of his food and set the plate down. "Wanna show me what you mentioned last night? I should get back to my friends soon. I'm sure they're freaking out."

She nodded, hopping up, "Sazae, come," she called to the brown dog that had rubbed again Senku's leg earlier.

Throwing her bow over her shoulder and strapping the quiver to her belt, Umeka headed east out of camp, "We won't have to go far."

"That's great news," Senku called behind her.

She smiled over her shoulder at him and walked into the woods. She was quiet. The was a solemnness in the way she moved, like someone approaching a temple. So Senku mirrored her, taking in the woods around them. Giving Umeka the space she seemed to need. They walked through the early morning haze until they came to a small clearing, one that looked man-made to Senku's eyes. In a spot of sun in the middle of the clearing was a stone woman. It looked like she'd been trying to kneel, the way her knees were bent and her chest was angled, her arms were outstretched. Her head was turned, looking just over her right shoulder, her face stuck in a look of shocked horror. Though of course, her entire person was now the dark blue-gray of the stone, her long straight hair was hanging in a curtain around her head, gently flowing down her back. Her eyes were large, the upturned outer corners made her look kind. The cupid's bow of her upper lip was pronounced and her cheekbones were high giving her face a sort of heart shape. It was like looking at Umeka cast over in stone.

Umeka was smiling despite the sad look in her eyes, she brushed leaves from the woman's head. Then settled back and looked into her face before turned to Senku. "This is my mom."

Senku nodded, his heart felt heavy. He knew what it was like to lose a parent, but to have her right there at the same time must be beyond painful. He nodded, looking her over. The ground around her was tidy, the underbrush cleaned away. Umeka must have been keeping the area clean, like a shrine to her mother since she found her.

"Could you bring her back, someday?" Umeka asked, her voice quiet.

"Definitely. We're not gonna leave anyone stuck in that stone. I ten billion percent promise."

Umeka's smile spread, a relieved look spread on her face, "Thank you, Senku."

He rubbed the back of his neck, "You don't have to thank me."

She shook her head, "I do. Now someone else knows mom's out here and…" She took a slightly shaky breath, "I feel like I can trust you which is nice."

Senku smiled looking up at the sunlight that shined through the trees above, "You probably just feel like that because you could absolutely body me."

She laughed, shaking her head.

"So you know that slang? What kind of second-grader were you?"

She laughed harder, her mood lightening and relieving Senku's tension. "You should go back to your group," she patted the dog lightly on the head, "Sazae will go with you to help and protect you, ya know if needed."

Senku raised an eyebrow, "And then she can guide you to us, right?"

"Right," she smiled.

"Yeah...okay," he sighed, "I guess I'll see you around, Princess Mononoke." He ignored her groan and he headed in the general direction of the village He turned back just before he completely lost view of her in the trees. She'd focused on her mother now and he could see her mouth moving. The sun reflected off a small tear that ran down her cheek, Senku turned quickly to give her privacy. He looked down at the dog that trotted beside him, tongue happily lolling out of her mouth, "Do me a favor and make sure she visits soon, huh?" The dog huffed, forcing her head under his hand and staying there the whole walk back to the village.