Chapter 8
Month: September
It had been as if nothing had happened at all. Neither man brought up the kiss they shared. It was as if it had been completely written off. A few days later the urge to travel returned to their brains. As soon as the sun began to rise they were up and stuffing smoked fish into their pockets wrapped in banana leaves. Both picked up their spear for fishing, deciding it would be good as a walking stick and protection. Who knew if another one of those wild boars would come after them, or if a snake got in their path?
Today Hiro made sure to wear his shirt so as to ward off the bugs and mosquitoes. He wore his shoes and socks too and cast a look at K, "Ready?" he asked.
K nodded and together they went in the direction of the cliff. They stayed on lower ground though, walking into the jungle brush and staying within distance to still hear the ocean. It would be all too easy to get lost on this island and they had to be careful to use a plan. Their plan was to stick near the ocean, as long as they followed it, they would always find their way back to camp.
It was so hot and they had to stop often to drink water from vines. But as they travelled, Hiro and K found themselves in awe of this island. Often they came across beautiful flora and fauna. They spotted an arrangement of butterflies floating in the sun rays that filtered through the forest. And the sound of buzzing and humming that came from bugs was constant, reminding them just how alive the forest was. Both investigated everything that could be used for a beneficial purpose, but not knowing much about plant life, neither had much to offer.
At the sound of water, they veered away from the oceanside and settled their eyes on a rocky cliff with a lovely waterfall. The vegetation here was extra thick and holding down the branches of a leafy plant, they checked out the falls with a pool at the bottom. It was the most picturesque site they'd ever seen.
"It'd be nice to jump into that right about now," K said wiping the sweat off his brow.
"Hmm, yea it would but what if it's full of snakes or something?" wondered Hiro cautiously.
But K only grabbed Hiro by his good arm and dragged him to the lovely pool of water. It was so clear, that just by standing on the edge you could see straight to the bottom. Vines hung from taller trees, birds flew back and forth and the air was alive with bugs. But it was all very pretty, exotic.
"Ok let's make it quick, we need to find a place to camp by nightfall," Hiro advised, taking off his shoes and socks, and then taking off his pants. He couldn't resist the offer to cool off either. Dropping his stuff on a rock he boldly he dove into the pool and surfaced, he looked to see K still on the edge starring after him with raised eyebrows. "Come on its great," he beckoned.
K quickly peeled off his pants that were damp with sweat and dove in too. When he came back up he commented, "You know how much money some people pay for shit like this?"
"Too much when you can have it for free," the redhead replied happily and splashed K before diving under and swimming away.
Narrowing his eyes at Hiro's mischievousness and wiping his face K only laughed easily. He wasn't sure it was wise to chase Hiro after the other day. He was still amazed at how easily Hiro acted like nothing had happened. K watched the guitarist swim over to the falls and decided it had all been just a comfort thing. Hiro was feeling vulnerable and in his emotional state he searched for warmth in a kiss.
And it had felt good.
Maybe he too needed the comfort, more than he was willing to admit, K thought. He didn't feel much like swimming and instead took a seat on a rock and wished he had a cigarette. What he wouldn't give for a cigarette! Sadly the pack they had, had run out a few months ago, they had rationed them well. But they couldn't have lasted forever.
The blond watched Hiro swimming about and investigating behind the waterfall. A soft smile settled on his face and K realized he was happy to have gotten to know Hiro better. He was a very intelligent man and such a big help on this island. K also realized he never thanked Hiro for nursing him back to health when he'd gotten sick. He'd do so tonight he thought and kicked some water with his foot.
K looked around again and spotted something reddish green hanging in a tree nearby. He blinked and rubbed his eyes…mangos. Jumping to his feet, K couldn't believe it, there was a tree bearing tons of mangos! Looking back in Hiro's direction K was about to shout out his discovery but thought it'd be more fun to surprise the redhead instead. The tree wasn't very tall and the fruit was so big compared to the branch that it simply hung at waist level. Reaching over, K plucked two ripe mangos from the tree and went to get his knife from his pants.
Hiro was just coming back and pulled himself out of the water and sat on the rock next to K. A wet orange piece of fruit was offered to him from the blade of K's knife.
"Mango Hiro," K told him, "It's good too."
Astonished, Hiro took the fruit and popped the whole slice into his mouth. "Mmm, it ish gud," he said with a full mouth.
K smirked and continued to peel the skin off the mangos. He handed the fruit to Hiro. Together they devoured the soft sweet fruit, the juice dripping off their chins. It was bliss, as good as a bowl of sugar. Just before Hiro could finish the last bite of his mango, a big red bird perched next to him. It looked exactly like the one that was drinking water at their camp once, sorta like a red parrot but a little larger.
"Hey fella, what do you want?" Hiro asked the bird.
"Huh?" K murmured and looked over. He spotted the bird and looked on surprised, "I thought you were talking to me."
Hiro reached over to give the bird the last piece of fruit but the sudden movement caused it fly off. They watched the animal perch on a branch near the waterfall. "I'm going to leave this here for our friend," Hiro said and placed the mango on the rock.
Before they left, they filled up on the fruit and gathered as many mangos as they could carry. Hiro took off his shirt and used it as a sack to carry them in, this way they could pig out on them later. Putting on their stuff back on, they continued their journey.
In better spirits, they headed back towards the ocean, an hour later they came across another beach. It was on the other side of the cliff that separated their beach from this one. This beach looked almost identical except there was a lot more debris on the shore and very large but climbable rocks at the other end. They walked over the sand and squished seaweed roots under their feet. Each time they stomped on one it would pop and crunch loudly under their foot, it caused grins and smiles.
"I wonder if we could eat those," K mentioned.
Hiro chuckled, "I swear you only think of your stomach, you wonder if everything is edible."
"Well…yea so," K gruffed and picked up the long seaweed with root attached which was shaped like a bulb. He looked it over, it was very porous and full of water, which was what made it crunch so loudly, like a piece of celery.
Hiro shook his head and laughed at K, "We'll never starve with you around."
"I try," K bragged and crunched the bulb in his fist next to Hiro's ear.
They snickered like children. It was fun the things that you could find to amuse yourself with in the wild. It seemed like nothing was taboo out here. There was no judgement no ridicule; nothing stopped them from discovering the most basic things about themselves.
"Hey look at that," Hiro breathed and pointed out towards the end of the embankment of sea shore.
Bracing a hand above his eyes K looked out and squinted, the sun was reflecting viciously off the water in that direction. But then he spotted it, "An old ship wreck."
Spurred by intrigue both hurried to the other end of the beach, where upon the rocks rested only part of a ship. It was the prow, which by the looks of it, crashed into the rocks. It looked very old, not something that had happened in the last decade or so. Hiro ran a hand over a metal rung which was hot to the touch. They ventured further up the black rocks and to the other side. To their astonishment, more of the ship existed here. It was as if the ship hit the rocks on the side, probably on a big wave.
"Look there is parts of the sail left behind and rope!" K climbed down eagerly and inspected the ship wreck.
"Wow I wonder if anyone got stranded here as well?" the redhead speculated aloud.
"It's very possible," said K.
"Hey, maybe they were pirates and buried treasure on this island," offered the guitarist, jumping down to the sand below.
"I don't think dead pirates can bury treasure, besides what good is treasure if you can't spend it?" K chuckled dryly.
Hiro pursed his lips, "Hmm, good point." Then he shot out his arm stopping K from proceeding, "Watch out, a jellyfish."
K looked down in front of Hiro where there was indeed a shored jellyfish, its reddish slimly body the size of flatten basketball. "Big sucker, that would sure sting," K said and walked around the thing. Even though the bottoms of his feet were pretty tough now, he still had to be careful.
"Yea, then I'd have to pee on you," Hiro said matter-of-factly.
"Kinky," K quipped.
Rolling his eyes Hiro muttered, "Pervert."
Laughing, K continued to look around and avoided jellyfish. They collected some of the rope, although when they touched the sail, it simple tore. It was much to sun baked and weather beaten to be useful. But they did find a bucket half buried in the sand; unfortunately it was rusted and full of holes. There really wasn't anything useful here; most of the useful things were either buried or rotten. It seemed that the sea had taken most of the ship with her, and left nothing but the skeleton behind.
It was about midday and they decided to move on. They took turns sharing K's shirt to wrap around their heads and moved down the next section of beach. On this part of the island there were intricate constructions of nature. Cliffs of stone, edging out from the mainland had gotten shaped and gutted from the force of the ocean. With pants rolled up to their knees, Hiro carrying his shoes and socks in his hands, they walked in shallow water under one of these magnificent structures. It was like an archway, which tunnelled out to another part of the beach. Black stone protruded from underneath in some spots but mostly they walked on smooth soft sand in the shallow water.
"This is beautiful," Hiro commented.
K shifted the small sack of mangos to his other shoulder, stopping to look up and around the archway. "I've never seen anything like it in my life," K ventured. Along the walls there were small pockets with green creatures that had resembled small anemones. But these lived in the moist wells of the stone as well as more starfish and lichen. Bubbling in shallower spots were clams buried under the sand.
By the time they stopped the sun was headed towards the horizon. They found vines for drinking water and collected wood for a fire.
"You know this isn't going to last much longer," K mentioned, shaking the red plastic see through lighter. He could see the fuel was nearing empty.
"Then we'll have to use the magnifying glass," Hiro said.
With a fire built and once again without a shelter, both men sat and rested.
"You know this is like our own little paradise," K said and looked over at Hiro.
The redhead gazed back at K, "Well at least we can share it with each other."
That comment made K smile softly.
"You know K…even if under the circumstances, I'm glad we could become friends," Hiro stated pulling out the wrapped fish from his pocket.
"Hrmph, funny I've managed Bad Luck for over three years and we barely knew each other," K offered.
Hiro bit into the smoked fish, "We never had a reason to. But I still think you're crazy."
Finding his own meal, K laughed. "Guess I'm not so scary without my gun hmm?"
"Not as much, no."
"Ha!"
But Hiro took on a more serious face, "K…tell me about what happened on the plane."
K stopped mid chew and gazed up at Hiro again. "Are we going to talk about the crash?"
"I want to hear your tale," said the redhead.
Three months eased the nightmares but K couldn't finish his food though. He set it on his lap and starred off towards the ocean, suddenly losing his appetite. As calmly as he could he told Hiro what happened to him on the plane, he told him about the pilots and the hours of swimming.
"It was all my fault Hiro…"
Even Hiro couldn't finish his dinner as he listened to K. But he kept quiet. He was surprised that K mentioned his son and his ex wife. The more the man talked the more gut wrenching it became, especially when he mentioned he could see the water before the plane crashed. Hiro shivered but K's last words made him look over at the blond sharply. "You're fault?" he asked, "How in gods name do you figure that?" Hiro asked disbelievingly.
K huffed, "Oh common, it was my idea to charter the private jet so early. I wanted you guys to get that publicity job in New Zealand, and the only way to have it was to get there early."
"But you were only doing your job…"
"Forget it!" snapped K, "You guys didn't really need the publicity…you're already famous!"
Hiro was stunned to silence at K's emotional outburst. Immediately he felt bad for ever thinking that K didn't feel anything and didn't care. K did care and Hiro sighed, he wondered if K needed to cry like he had on him after their play fight. Fighting the urge to go hug him now, he sat there silent for a moment. But he finally spoke, "We were famous, were…"
K hadn't imagined that bringing this topic up would make him feel so much fury. Yes Bad Luck was a has-been, Shuichi and Suguru dead along with Yuki and Sakano. The blond hung his head with guilt and shame. "We never should have gotten on that plane..."
"You know I had a dream, a really dark and cryptic dream before and during the flight," Hiro revealed suddenly.
Blond head popped up and looked at Hiro in the orange glow of the firelight.
Hiro began to tell his tale of the plane crash. And at the end he added, "I think it was almost an omen that dream, I could have told someone, but do you think it would have mattered?" Hiro didn't wait for an answer. "No matter what, we got on that plane and fate took its course. Nothing you did, or could've done would've changed the outcome. Maybe it's selfish but I'm glad I'm alive and that I'm not alone."
K couldn't believe the event that took place on the over side of the cockpit door. Wow, the plane had torn in half….K closed his eyes and shook his head in disbelief. But Hiro was right they were alive and that's what mattered. "You realize that everyone back home has probably already attended our funerals," K said quietly as a tear spilled down his cheek. He turned away so Hiro wouldn't see, "My son thinks I'm dead," he added over a quivering breath.
Softly Hiro placed his hand over K's, he squeezed lightly. Without looking at him K grasped his hand back and held it. "And one day you'll go home to him K…one day."
Reviewers:
GreeneyedFloozy: Haha! yeah I debated a long time about those beards. To have a beard or not to have lol. But I decided I didn't want that, they are bishies, they are allowed to get away with that XD Although I don't mind beards. Anyways lol thankies for the review!
Dejichan4444: YAY! I'm glad that spider business was funny. I got a kick out of it myself. Yes finally some romance but they will still have to work at it XD I like to remember that Hiro is much younger than K, so I always make him more emotional than K too. I dunno thats just me, but you're right they aren't exactly themselves one hundred percent.