A/N: Nabe (pronounced "naw-BAY") is a Japanese stew that is deliciously awesome. It contains tofu, nappa cabbage, white onions, and salmon in a miso broth. In restaurants, it's started off as a cold broth and uncooked ingredients, and then cooked over a portable burner. All the flavor soaks into the soup and it's just plain wonderful. It's eaten communally, which explains why Yuu's mother would serve it to friends. Soup is always good for colds and injuries anyway...

Apologies for the delay. I really got wrapped up in my recent Full Metal Panic! fanfic, The Hollow Men. I encourage you all to read it, as I think it's among my best work ever. I'm going to do my best to update once a week, still, but maybe only one story per week... The Hollow Men is getting some stellar critiques from some outstanding authors over in Full Metal Panic! category-land, and it's basically taking so much of my energy and momentum. It's something quite special, just like Deeper Water still is. Give it a read even if you don't like FMP!. I think it'll bring you into it.

This story is completely un-betaed; I really wanted to get it out. Therefore, all errors are mine and mine alone; I will correct them as they're pointed out to me.

On with the show!


9: Palomino

February 7th
Ichidai High School
Ichiguro, Tokyo
12:00 PM

The electronic tones of Westminster Chimes marked the end of the school day at Ichidai High. Of course, on Saturdays, they marked the half-day, and everyone seemed happy enough to have their free time close at hand.

Stress wasn't often as closely paired with the start of the weekend, but in some cases, it wasn't all that uncommon.

"C'mon, Kazuki!" Yuu tapped her foot nervously, having already dashed to the back of the room to retrieve her small roll-aboard. "We've still gotta go and get Aya!"

"I'll meet you at the shoe lockers," Kazuki fumbled with a notebook, trying to find space in his school bag. "Why'd I have to stick an entire 36-marker Copic set in here?"

"We'll work on your packing skills on the way back," Yuu spun her roll-aboard around. "Mizuki, kick him towards the lockers for me, will you?"

"I'm not kicking anyone!" Mizuki looked confused.

"I'll be waiting, Kazuki!" Yuu dashed off, tossing her school bag over one shoulder, still in her hand, as she trailed the roll-aboard behind her.

"Yeesh. She's excited enough for all of us," Kazuki noted as he dumped out some of the contents of his school bag to rearrange."

"She must be excited to go home," Mizuki observed, trying to suppress the bilious feeling rising in her stomach. Having studied and done homework with Kazuki the other night would barely make a dent against an entire weekend spent alone with him. Yuu, if you're going to do this... please, don't... she thought.

"Something wrong, Mizuki?" Kazuki looked up at her. "You've been acting kinda weird lately."

"Me? Weird? Nothing's wrong," she shook her head, smiling, as she flipped through her school bag. "I'm just still sketchy on the makeup of the Tojo cabinet."

"Yeah, history's always troublesome," Kazuki nodded. "We can study together again when I'm back for sure. The final's not until the end of the month anyway."

The end of the month. After you get back.

"You guys must have... I mean, you really worked hard on that dojinshi, huh?"

"Yeah, we did. My right hand may never be the same." Kazuki tossed his school bag onto his desk. "I give up on this thing."

"Let me see."

"My bag?"

"No, your hand. I used to be pretty good at reiki massage. It's probably been cramping up at times, right?"

"No, just a little bit of stiffness," Kazuki rubbed his hand tentatively.

"Well, I could take a crack at it, if you like," Mizuki smiled, tucking her hands behind her back and leaning forward expectantly.

"Sure, why not... maybe I should have washed it after I got curry on it at lunch."

"Jerk!" Mizuki laughed, grabbing Kazuki's hand. "Tell me if this hurts, okay?"

"It just feels kinda weird, but no, it doesn't hurt."

Okay, so I lied about reiki massage. But I want to know if I'm the only one who's held your hand before.

Mizuki tried her best approximation of hand massage, not quite content to just rub his fingers. She kneaded the flesh as firmly as she could, hopefully not making anything worse.

"When you get back..."

"Uh huh..."

I'm so stupid. How will I know what goes on this weekend? Maybe nothing will come of it... maybe they'll be together by the end...

"Well... you'll be back on Sunday, right?"

"Yeah, in the evening."

"All right, let's celebrate. You and me."

"Celebrate? I thought you'd be celebrating only after Comic Party's all over."

"Kazuki, I don't want to hate what you like to do."

"Mizuki..."

"I mean, what if I want to really understand, down to my bones, what dojinshi means to you?"

Yuu can understand.

"But you do understand, though."

"I understand... I know that it's how you express yourself, your drive... but I want to feel it, Kazuki. You have so much passion. I know I can't draw, but the more dojinshi you make, the more I see you spill out."

Mizuki had already stopped massaging a moment ago.

"It's hard to describe..." Kazuki gestured with his hands, trying to express a thought forming in his head. Grudgingly, Mizuki let go of his right hand. "I mean, it just sort of comes up when I'm working on dojinshi, like it's rising... the feeling flows up and it just sorta... I don't know. It kinda feels... skeletal."

Why can't I feel it, too?

"I really wish I could tell you, Mizuki. It feels great, like I actually have something I'm good at, something to enjoy."

Mizuki sat on her desk, crossing her ankles shyly. "I guess I'm just a little jealous, that's all. You get to really show that to Yuu, to Aya... even Taishi..."

"Jealous? Over me?" Kazuki looked quizzical. "But it's just dojinshi..."

"Yeah, it's dojinshi..."

I'm not jealous, right? I just want to understand you a little better, just as well as them... just as well as Yuu...

"It's dojinshi, but it's you, Kazuki."

"Relax, Mizuki; I'm not going anywhere," Kazuki smiled as he took one last look at his school bag. "At least, I'm not going anywhere outside of Kobe."

Don't go...

What am I supposed to do now?


It wasn't long before Kazuki had turned the corner to the shoe lockers, stepping into his street shoes and grabbing his overstuffed backpack from his undersized shoe locker.

"'bout time," Yuu teased. "Ready to go?"

"Yep, ready as anything." Kazuki looked over his shoulder for a moment.

"Forget something?"

"No, nothing at all," he shook his head, a little more tersely than normal. "Let's get going."

"You two had a fight again, huh?" It didn't take much to know when Kazuki was upset.

"I swear, Mizuki's first reaction to everything is to immediately go for the opposite," Kazuki shrugged as they walked. "As much as I like hanging out with her, I'd rather go to Kobe with you—like I said I would—instead of going to the movies."

"The movies?"

"Yeah. She even said she didn't mind if we went to the new Mazinger Z remake. I swear, something's up with her lately."

"Lately? Like what?"

"Well, you know how we were studying math together Wednesday night?"

"I guess I do now."

"It was like she lost everything. She was asking me what all the things were that she taught me ages ago, kept needing to see examples. I had to practically sit in her lap before she could see. That and she kept asking me about her hair, taking it down, putting it back up, asking 'Which one do you like better?' I mean, geez, it's like she's turning all feminine all of a sudden."

Gee, I wonder why.

"She'd give me crap if I skipped out on her to hang out with you. Nice of her to put in a Catch-22 like that."

"Hmm. Maybe I need to lure you away from her beguilement, no?"

"Yuu, now you're starting to creep me out..."

"Ah, forget about it, Kazuki. You remember how to get to Mitaka, right?"

"I thought you knew how to get to Mitaka."

"Hoo boy."

Near Kobe
5:44 PM

The 2:00 Tokaido was as precise as ever, leaving not a second before 2:01. After collecting Aya and some bento boxes in Mitaka, it was a hop, skip, jump, and three-hour ride to Kobe.

He's so excited about this, Yuu propped her chin in her hand as she leaned on the window sill near her seat. He looks like a kid who's going to the beach for the first time. I mean, just look at him staring out the window like that...

"Is that Osaka up ahead of us?" Kazuki asked, eyes fixated off in the distance. Yuu's seat faced the rear; she had to get up and turn around to look.

"Yep, that's Osaka. You can see Tsutenkaku Tower if you look close enough."

"Too bad we can't stop for takoyaki," he joked.

"Am I that much of a Kansai stereotype?" Yuu joked right back. "If you're desperate, worry not, we do have convenience stores; those do have freezers, and we do have the appropriate reheating utilities."

"Wow, talk about the royal treatment. I never thought that I'd ever eat at a down-home Kansai convenience store before!"

Even Aya giggled a little at the back-and-forth routine.

He's even kicked back a little. It's so nice to see him relaxed already.

"Relax, we'll treat you right," Yuu reassured the two. "My mom cooks all the time for the guests at the ryokan; although it makes our eating schedule a little weird when people are staying, now isn't exactly the on season."

"It must be hard..." Aya ventured. "Living when strangers are coming and going..."

"We have to be really quiet and avoid bothering them as much as possible," Yuu shrugged. "Since the family's rooms are on the other wing of the ryokan, I was always able to yell at Shuichi when he's playing Gundam Battle Assault too loud."

"Shuichi?" Kazuki asked.

"My little brother. He's in his second year of junior high and he's as annoying as they come. I gotta warn you, he has absolutely no sense of respect for guests unless they're Eimi."

"A little brother..." Aya nodded. "That explains a lot."

"Geez, everyone's ganging up on me today," Yuu peered at Aya suspiciously. "The two of you are lucky that I don't have my harisen on me."

"We'll be good, we'll be good!" Kazuki held up his hands in supplication.

"Attention all passengers, attention all passengers. We will be arriving at Kobe Station in approximately five minutes. Please be careful when entering and exiting train cars. Thank you for riding the JR Tokaido Shinkansen line."

"That's us," Yuu stood up to get their luggage from the overhead storage. "Kazuki, you're tall, give me a hand with the bags?"

"Sure." Kazuki had to almost stand on his toes to reach the bags; they had been compacted in rather tightly.

"What'd you pack in here?" Yuu strained against the armrest of the outer seat; Aya drew her arm back and slid a bit away from the possibility of a flying kick to the face.

"I didn't think a weekend's worth of clothes would bulk up this badly... let's pull on the count of three."

"Okay. One... two... three!"

With a distinctive swoosh of nylon and the distinctive series of kerthunk and "Ow!" noises, Kazuki and Yuu ended up on a small pile of humanity on the floor.

"You okay?" Kazuki picked himself up, rubbing his elbow.

"I'm fine, but I think I twisted my ankle..." Yuu grimaced, picking her left leg up enough to take a look at it.

Great. Why did I wear my uniform? I can't get this looked at without flashing somebody.

"Don't move it," Aya came down from the seat. "Don't put any weight on it, either."

"We'll be at the station in a few minutes... Aya, let's get her up and into a seat, and I'll take care of your luggage, too."

"We need to find her some ice, Kazuki-san..."

"Do your parents have a car?"

Yuu shook her head. "No place to park it at the ryokan."

"Okay, let's take a taxi back. Aya, you take care of her ankle; I'll get our luggage and see if I can't find a conductor to have them ease up the departure. Does it hurt much, Yuu?"

"It's not fun, I'll say that." Yuu had rolled down her sock a little; there was already some swelling coming up just below the ankle joint.

"I'll be right back." Kazuki brought down their luggage and dashed off to find a train conductor.

"I can help you walk..." Aya volunteered. "I don't have much luggage anyway..."

"This bites," Yuu moaned, rolling back her eyes. "I wanted to show you guys a good time and here I am all laid out."

"It'll be all right," Aya reached into her backpack, pulling out a small first aid kit. "My father is a doctor, and he taught me a few things about injuries..."

The quiet girl expertly wrapped Yuu's ankle tightly in the bandage, securing it with the metal clasps that she got from the first-aid kit. Just as the loudspeaker announced their arrival at Kobe, Kazuki hurried up with a man wearing a suit and a JR nametag.

"I found a conductor," he breathed rapidly as if having run all the way across the train. "Do you think you can walk if one of us holds you up?"

"I'm too short," Yuu grinned, "so you'll have to be jealous of me getting to hang off of Aya."

"You're going to be just fine," Kazuki rolled his eyes.

"We'll hold the train's departure until you get off," the conductor picked up Yuu's roll-aboard and school bag, bowing repeatedly. "I am terribly, terribly sorry on behalf of JR due to our luggage constraints' failure."

"It's no problem. Kazuki here just can't pack."

"Hey!"

The brakes of the train stopped squealing as they pulled up to the station.

Seishin-cho 2347
Inagawa-sai Ryokan
6:27 PM

"Poor dear," Sakiko Inagawa doted over her daughter, unwrapping Aya's bandage. "It's too bad you had to hurt yourself on the way home."

They had set up an impromptu field hospital in Yuu's room; Aya was standing by, kneeling quietly, while Kazuki had gone to drop off his luggage in another guest room.

"Mom, I'll be fine," Yuu shook her head, wincing a little as she accidentally bumped her ankle. "It's just a bad twist."

"It doesn't seem like a sprain," Aya interjected. "It would be swollen much more than this."

"Such a good nurse you have," Sakiko chided with a grin.

Aya blushed. "N-nurse? Well, not really..."

"Yuu-chan, you have such wonderful friends," Sakiko lifted her leg up and put it on a spare pillow, arranging an ice pack over the swelling. "Thank you so much for taking care of my daughter in Tokyo." She turned and bowed to Aya.

"It's nothing, really... I mean, that is, we're happy to help," she replied formally, returning the bow.

"Can I come in?" Kazuki asked at the shoji door. "Your brother's here, too."

"You can come in, Kazuki, but Shuichi... nah, tell him to get lost."

"I brought your dinner, panda!" Shuichi yelled back. As Kazuki slid the shoji door to the side, she saw Shuichi sticking his tongue out, carrying a large, steaming earthenware stew pot on a tray.

"What, they have you playing the waiter?" Yuu scoffed.

"Just take the stinkin' nabe!" Shuichi stormed in, placed the pot down with an angry thunk, and dropped three small bowls and wide, low Chinese soup spoons beside it.

"No ladle?" Yuu teased.

"Yuu-chan, he was nice enough to bring you all this food."

"Yeah, nice of him to leave it all to slurp, too," she giggled.

"Fiiine," Shuichi moaned, tromping off and returning a moment later with a ladle. "Next time I hurt myself, you're gonna serve me hand and foot!"

"Fat chance. I'll be in Tokyo before you can break your own arm or anything like that."

"Whatever. Next time bring Eimi back with you."

"Let's let them eat, dear," Sakiko stood up, ushering Shuichi out. "If any of you need anything, please don't hesitate to ask. Make yourself at home."

She stood, bowed, and slid the shoji shut gently behind her.

"Are you feeling any better, Yuu?" Kazuki asked, serving out a bowl of nabe and passing it to her.

"It doesn't hurt that much," Yuu accepted the stew and settling back into her floor chair. "I just can't really walk on it all that much. The ice should get rid of the swelling quick enough, and the best thing to dull pain and soothe muscles is always heat." Her eyes glimmered. "There's only one good way to get some heat around here..."

"Is it a good idea for you to be going around the hot spring?" Aya asked, accepting a bowl of nabe from Kazuki with a nod.

"Please. It'll take more than a twisted ankle to stop me!"

7:44 PM

"Are you sure you'll be all right?" Aya walked with Yuu's right arm across her shoulders, holding her up as she dangled her right foot a little in the air behind her as they hobbled towards the changing rooms.

"I'll be fine." Yuu tightened the belt around her yukata. "I might need a hand getting in and out, but once we're in the water, I'll be just fine."

"Do you need any help washing off?" Aya asked. "Or should I hang up your yukata for-"

"I'll be fine!" Yuu laughed. "Aya, it's my ankle, not cancer."

"Are you sure?" Aya helped her into the women's changing area.

"Yes, I'm sure. Can you just make sure Kazuki can find his way to the men's changing room?" she tossed her head to the left.

"Of course."

Yuu pulled her arm from Aya's shoulder and grabbed onto a faucet from the tiled wall. Gently and tentatively, she set her foot down. She was able to use it a little bit, limping slightly, but putting too much weight on it started to hurt.

What a waste. I feel so useless, she thought as she hung up her yukata and started to wash off. It's like I'll have to worry about the pity factor now.

Aya came in as Yuu was finishing up. "Kazuki-san made it all right," she said as she untied the sash of her yukata. "Um... I'm not too used to changing in front of other people..."

"Aww, we're all girls here," Yuu scoffed, hopping up to her left foot, gently balancing out on her right toes. "Besides, you don't have anything to worry about with your figure," she grinned evilly.

"Thank you..." Aya mumbled, blushing all the more intensely.

"I'll wait up outside," Yuu wrapped a towel around herself and hobbled out to the wooden deck that led from the changing rooms to the hot spring.

Kazuki's in there...

Yuu looked towards the men's changing room exit door and sighed as she heard the faucet turn on. Aya had started to wash herself off.

If only this wasn't divided up into men's and women's baths. Just being able to relax with him, wearing only towels... I mean, ye gods, I don't know if I'd be kosher with that with ANYONE else...

Yuu shook her head. Why would sitting and talking with him in a hot spring be any different than sitting and talking with him in Marvel Burger? Would it give me any advantage? Would I be willing to use that advantage?

Yuu tentatively crouched down and propped herself up on her left hand, holding her towel closed with her right. She dipped her feet into the water slowly, soaking them up in the mineral-rich waters.

These waters are supposed to have high concentrations of ferrous nitrate and calcium compounds, not to mention herbal runoff from the mountains. She traced lazy circles in the water with her feet. Good for the body as well as for alertness and heart health.

Aya... I hope you don't mind if I give you the slip for a moment.

Yuu took a deep breath, exhaled, and held herself up as she stepped out of the women's side of the baths and into the men's side. It wasn't as hard to walk as she had predicted; the water was comforting in its heated liquidity. Soon enough, she had settled onto a rock, concealed from the changing rooms by a large boulder.

This is Kazuki. This is your chance. Alone with him... in a hot spring. I've done a lot for a moment like this... for him to see me as I am. As I truly am... as a person, and as a woman...

Yuu looked up to the stars, clouded in the steam from the hot spring.

The last time I was here, I sorted things out. Now I owe it to myself to know... because I want to be with you...

The sounds of footsteps on the wood deck were quickly followed by gentle splashes of someone entering the hot spring.

To be continued...