--ZN--
So much for not updating, huh? What can I say, Daisuke and Satoshi have been haunting me, insisting I continue with their story. . And it's actually really easy for them to do, seeing as they're both in my harem... Yah. Inside joke between my twin and I. Also, in case you didn't know, "blunette" is like "brunette," except a "blunette" has blue hair, not brown. (Yay, Satoshi!) Anyway, here's chapter next one.
Just so you know, "nani" means "what" in Japanese... I thought it sounded cuter...



It was slowly growing colder in the cave, even though the hot spring that served as the back barrier of the cavern kept the area at a warm temperature. Satoshi glanced at his wristwatch/compass. While it didn't do him much good to know he was facing north-west from where he was sitting, he realized why it was getting so cold. It was nearing nighttime, and he wasn't sure how much colder it would get. If it became too chilled in the cavern, he didn't know how he was going to keep Daisuke warm enough.

He sighed and rubbed between his eyes. Why didn't I pay more attention to those medical soaps, like ER? I don't know what to do...
His sigh echoed eerily in the cave. As it bounced away, the silence came back to deafen him. The only noises, it seemed, were those of his calm breathing, Daisuke's labored breaths, and the gentle lapping of the sulfurous water against the stone bank. Satoshi leaned back against the cavern wall and closed his eyes, tilting his head back until it touched the cold rock.

It was becoming dark in their sanctuary, and he didn't want to end up tripping over Daisuke sometime. With his foot he hooked the strap of the bag and pulled it towards him. Sorry, Aunt Middie, he thought grimly as he clicked the lighter to life. Your birthday presents are going to be re- purposed. He lit one candle and set it down about an arm's-length from Daisuke, then placed a second opposite the sleeping boy. It wouldn't be much for heat, but once more Satoshi was surprised by just how much light a single tiny flame could create.

When he put the rest of the candles back in the bag, Satoshi's hand brushed by an odd, rectangular shaped item. Confused, he closed his fingers around it and pulled it out. Eyes wide, he couldn't believe how he'd missed it earlier. His cell phone! They'd be out of here yet.

"Stay put, Daisuke," he said gently, stroking the redhead's forehead once or twice. "I can't get a signal in here; I'm going to go try outside. Kay?"

The other boy didn't answer, just slept on. Satoshi nodded and crept out of the cave.

Outside the cold air hit him like a pail of ice water. He was stripped down to just a tshirt and pants, having wrapped Daisuke up in his sweater and jacket, and he felt every icy dagger the wind was blowing his way. Leaning against the wall, he used the rock face as a windbreak and glanced at the phone again. No bars. Damn. Eyes locked on the phone, he wandered around a few paces into the wind, trying to get a signal. None came in.

Then something cold, tiny, white, and wet touched his face. Satoshi held his fingers up and lightly touched his cheek. A drop of moisture came back off on them. He looked up just in time to catch another flake, this one in his eyelashes. Blinking only ended up in the drop of ice water fluttering into his eye. He blinked some more, dropping his head. Damn, damn, damn. They couldn't stay in the mountains very long, or they'd be snowed in but good.

But what choice did he have, really? None. Daisuke wasn't even conscious, much less able to travel. It wasn't safe, even with Satoshi carrying him. He'd come down with hypothermia in moments in his condition.

Satoshi looked closely at the phone again. Shouldn't he be getting even one bar of a signal? It didn't make sense. He tried to do a search for the nearest tower—maybe he could configure the phone to work using it. But pushing the buttons on the phone didn't do anything. The menu didn't even come up. What the hell...? He tried once more, then his china blue eyes widened with shock. The battery was dead!

It can't be dead, he thought, nearly panicking. I charged the damn thing all last night. Is the actual battery dead? He groaned aloud. He wasn't even supposed to buy a new battery for another month yet, why would this one go bad? Oh well, the fact of the matter is it did die, and I have to improvise. Somehow.

The snow was building around him, burying him up to the middle of his calves in moments. He sighed and headed back into the cave.



Daisuke showed no signs of movement when he came back in. The blunette knelt down beside him and stroked ruby bangs from his forehead. He'll wake up in a bit. Satoshi leaned across the unconscious boy and picked up his bag. There's not much more I can do.

He pulled his detective novel from the bag, but couldn't get into it. After twenty minutes of staring at words and turning pages, he sighed and dropped the book in his lap, then slowly rotated his shoulders to ease the tension in them. His gaze traveled longingly towards the hot spring, then wandered back to Daisuke.

"He ought to be all right, I'll just be over there," Satoshi mused aloud quietly. His shoulders and back ached horribly. That matter settled, he stood and stripped to his boxers, then went to the back of the cave and the eerie greenish-blue water. The water steamed and fairly oozed with a sulfurous scent, but now Satoshi found that smell oddly comforting. He stepped into the mere.

The water was hot, probably over one hundred Fahrenheit. Muscles in his calves that he hadn't known were tensed began to relax as he stepped in further. A sigh of contentment escaped his lips as he continued into the water until it swirled in frothy waves around his waist, then sat down. The smell of sulfur was strong, but he'd survive.

Satoshi leaned back until he floated on the surface of the water. He felt his muscles loosening and relaxing as he just drifted. Not even thoughts penetrated the thick block he put on his mind; if he got to thinking, then he'd get tensed up and he'd feel sick because there was nothing he could do. His eyes eased closed.

He didn't know how long he slept on the surface of that lake, but when he woke up again, his toes were numb. Stiffly he sat up and shook his head to clear the water from his ears. He glanced around the cavern and immediately identified what had awoken him.

One of the candles he'd placed by Daisuke had burned down a couple of inches, then been knocked over, judging by the amount of still-liquidy wax pooled on the icy stone floor. The redhead was sitting up with his left foot pulled into his lap, arms wrapped around his leg. He was rocking back and forth and whimpering.

The detective pulled himself from the pool and draped his shirt over his shoulders, then went over to the other boy. He knelt down on the pallet and gently pushed the redhead back on his back. "Relax, Daisuke, calm down. You're injured."

"I noticed." Daisuke's breath was coming in harsh gasps between clenched teeth. "I believe standing up is a bad choice."

"Yes." Satoshi went about resettling the quilting on his friend, then checked his watch. Barely four hours had passed since they'd come into this cave. It should be all right to give him another dose of medication... He pulled out the plastic bottle and a water bottle from his bag.

"Where are we?" Daisuke asked as he watched Satoshi shake out two white pills.

Satoshi glanced up. "We're in a cave in the mountains. It's started snowing outside, but you can't go anywhere just yet, so we'll just have to sit tight." He smiled briefly. "How do you feel?"

"Fine, other than I wish my ankle could be cut off at the knee." He smiled a bit, then closed his eyes. Satoshi noticed how pale his face had gotten again.

He gently eased the redhead up until he was leaning back on Satoshi's chest. "Here," he said a bit gruffly and dropped the pills into one of Daisuke's hands and the water into the other. "Take this, it'll help. Don't worry about trying to sit up, I've got you." As he rested his arms around the smaller boy's waist, he felt the fine tremors wracking the redhead's body.

The younger boy did as he was told, then collapsed back on him, still shivering. "I'm so cold, Hiwatari-kun," Daisuke whispered. "It's cold..."

Involuntarily Satoshi's arms tightened around him. "It's only going to get colder tonight, Daisuke," he answered apologetically. "I can't turn the heater up, we're in the middle of nowhere..."

"I know, I shouldn't be complaining," he whispered. His teeth started to chatter and he moved closer to Satoshi's warmth. "But you asked."

"Lie back down, Daisuke," Satoshi said softly, easing out from under him. He quickly slipped into the now-dry clothing he'd discarded from Daisuke earlier, then his own, and blew out the candle. Using his fingertips, the detective felt around until he located the pallet Daisuke was lying on.

"Daisuke?"

"Nani?"

"It's only going to get colder tonight."

"You've told me."

"And if it gets too cold, we'll both freeze to death."

A slight pause from beside him, then, "Now I feel lots better. That's nice to know."

For a moment, the blunette had an insane urge to laugh, but he squelched it down. "There's only one way I can think of to prevent that. Now, we're both reasonable adults, not children, and I'm sure we can behave accordingly—"

"Hiwatari-kun, what are you talking about?" Daisuke interrupted.

He sighed. "Let me put this as bluntly as I can," Satoshi replied. "In order to have any chance of survival what so ever, unless we can grow gills that can breathe sulfurous water in an hour or so so we can sleep under that lake, we're going to have to sleep together."

Another pause, this one longer. "Na...ni?"

Gods, he's dense, Satoshi thought. "I mean we're going to have to sleep very close, under the same blankets, to share body heat. If nothing else, you're going to need the extra heat so your body has more energy to devote to healing your ankle instead of warming you up."

"Oh."

"I just thought you might appreciate it to know what was going on, what the circumstances were."

"I do... thanks, I think..."

This time Satoshi did laugh, and as he did, he slid under the covers. He could still feel Daisuke trembling with the cold and hear his teeth chattering quietly, try as the redhead might to quiet them both. The twain fell silent for a while. Satoshi stared at the ceiling as he listened to Daisuke breathe beside him. After about twenty minutes, it was clear that this wasn't going to work, and he told Daisuke as much.

"Well what do you want me to do?" Daisuke bit out. After a quiet pause, he sighed, "I'm sorry, you didn't deserve that."

"It's quite all right, I can only imagine how you're feeling at this time." Satoshi leaned up on one elbow to study the lines of his friend's face in the almost non-existent light. "I can think of one thing that may help."

"If it's stripping naked, huh, you've got another thing coming—"

Satoshi laughed so hard he nearly fell over. "Niwa-kun! What a mind you've got inside that pretty head!" He chuckled and tried to regain his composure. "No, it's not that. It'd probably be easier just to show you."

Quietly and slowly so as not to startle the other boy, Satoshi scooted closer to him, still on his side. He laid his head on the pillow above Daisuke's shoulder and lightly draped his arm around the redhead's waist, then gently pulled their bodies into alignment. His ankle moved to lightly drape across the younger boy's, and he was very careful not to put any weight on Daisuke's left leg.

Daisuke froze, then whispered, "S-Satoshi?"

"Shh," the detective breathed into his ear. "You'll warm up." Unconsciously he hugged the other boy closer to his body. "Just go to sleep. You're safe with me, I promise you. I won't let anything happen."

Daisuke turned his head to look at the detective, but he'd misjudged the distance between them. In result, his lips brushed over Satoshi's lightly, the whisper of a feeling, but he felt it. And by the subtle tightening of his arm, so had Satoshi. A red wave fought its way up their faces, not that either could tell in the darkness.

"Go to sleep," Satoshi whispered again, thickly.

The other boy didn't answer, but in moments, Satoshi sighed with relief and—disappointment?—as he felt the body beneath his arm loosen and relax, felt the redhead's chest rising and falling in the deep, steady rhythm of slumber. His last thought before he drifted off himself?

What have I gotten myself into this time?