Chapter 4: A Hike in the Woods is No Walk in the Park

The promising sunrise of that morning was slowly being compromised as we finished up breakfast; Clouds were rapidly covering the sky and the wind seemed to have shifted. I cut into the pancake on my plate again; Shirogane had not been kidding when he'd complimented Ami's cooking: the meal was made with an egg substitution and soy milk since neither needed to be refrigerated; well, technically the soy milk did, but only after being opened and Ami had no problem using it up for our food.

"So, who will be leading us today," asked Retasu. Ami took a bite and pointed to Shirogane and me with her bowl.

"Ryou and Ichigo are up."

"Well, at least we'll be taking a lot of breaks," teased Mint. I stuck my tongue out at her before Shirogane smiled and reminded her that he would keep me in line. I hung my head and sighed-this was going to royally suck.

"We should get going soon guys… We have to get to a certain point today and it would be best to get there before the storm hits." Ami handed us a map and two compasses and wished us luck.

"Alright Strawberry," said Shirogane, flicking me in the forehead. "Let's look over this map." I scowled at him before turning my attentions to the task at hand: "So, we need to get from here to this spot here…" He pointed to the "x" marked for the day- roughly eight miles northeast… I felt sweat beads start to form on my forehead. The map might as well have been in English; I couldn't understand a thing on it.

"Ichigo," I looked up at him. With a look of exasperation he sighed and moved to sit on the ground:

"Look," He sat the map down on the ground and signaled for me to sit beside him. "This is where we are right now," he said pointing at a little red dot on the map. "And we need to get to this "x" right here," he pointed to another spot on the map. "Now, if you look at the map key, you can see that we need to head in a Northeastern direction to get to the next camping spot." He pointed to the Compass I'd placed around my neck. "Which direction are we facing?"

"North…" I said, hoping I was correct. He nodded. "So we need to go that way," I asked pointing to the right a little bit." He nodded again. I smiled excitedly. I'd gotten it. I understood. I laughed a little with excitement and wrapped my arms around his neck. I pulled away, trying to hide my blushing face from view.

"Okay, now let's get going." He quickly got up quickly and walked away, never looking back.

LUNCH

"Well, at least it looks like the weather is holding out for us," commented Zakuro as she ate her sandwich. We all nodded in agreement. The sky looked like it could burst at a moment's notice, but it was definitely holding back. Purin shivered as the cold wind enveloped us. Ami suggested that it may be time to pull out our warmer clothing for the rest of the walk. I turned pale.

"Don't tell me you forgot a sweater or jacket Ichigo," asked Lettuce with a concerned look on her face.

"That's just like you Ichigo," remarked Mint. I looked around at my friends- I had hardly realized that they had all pulled out something warm to wear. How could I have forgotten? I shivered.

"Here." I felt something warm cover my back and shoulders. Shirogane had placed his jacket on me. Mint dropped her food in her lap and the others simple stared at us; mid-chew, mid-bite, and slack-jawed. Shirogane looked around while I blushed a bright red. "What?" he asked.

"You're just being awfully nice to Ichigo… It's abnormal," Akasaka-sama smiled.

"Completely," teased Zakuro.

I hung my head and quickly bit into my pita bread and peanut butter sandwich (a/n: hey, that's what I had to eat… if I had to suffer, so do they -.-).

Shirogane mumbled something about trying to be nice and moved away from the group to finish his food. The others went back to their conversations and jokes. They hardly noticed me get up and walk away.

"Shirogane," I said as I approached with caution. He had a tendency to go from being super nice to me to being downright cruel. I wasn't sure which way he'd go this time.

"What do you want Strawberry?"

"Thanks for the jacket." I smiled at him and pulled it tightly around me. It was warm and… it kinda smelt like him… I blushed a little. He gave a little half smile and said it was no big deal. He'd have done it for any of the girls. I bit the side of my cheek and raised an eyebrow. Why did he have to be so difficult?

"I know…" I sat beside him, much to his surprise. "So, where do we go from here?"

"What do you mean," he stammered- a little red. I gave him a funny look.

"The map, baka. Where do we go from here?" He got a little redder with embarrassment. "What did you think I meant?"

"Nothing… Where's the map?"

THAT EVENING

Zakuro, Mint, Shirogane and I crawled under our tarp, sopping wet. Our luck had run out about one or two miles ago… Fortunately our packs were water safe! The others were safely tucked away in their tarp. Dinner was the least of our current concerns… right now we needed to dry off… and warm up.

"Uh… Shirogane," said Mint sweetly. He turned to see the three of us looking at him intently. "We need to change and dry off…" He turned bright red.

"You can't possibly want me to… but it's… I'm soaked too you know!" His argument was futile. We quickly kicked him out. From inside the tarp we could hear him talking to Akasaka-sama… who had been kicked out as well.

"Okay Shirogane! You can come in," called Zakuro. We were in the process of toweling our hair dry when a drenched, annoyed looking Shirogane crawled back into the tarp.

"Okay ladies," he said crossing his arms. "Exactly what are you going to do while I change?" We slowly turned and looked at each other.

"I suppose we could just turn our backs to him…" suggested Zakuro.

"We could make him change inside his sleeping bag," added Mint.

"Err… let's just turn and give him some privacy like Zakuro said," I opted. We thought about a moment longer before agreeing to the idea. I could hear him grind his teeth as we simply turned around and started brushing our hair in unison.

Things sort of calmed down after we were all dry and fed (Ami prepared some hot food called "calzones"). We couldn't see the sky for a rough estimate of what time it was… but according to Mint's watch, it was about 8:30. That was when we heard the first clap of thunder.

"You've gotta be kinding me," I cried out in terror. "I hate thunder!" I buried myself deep in my sleeping bag.

"Ichigo, for the last year and a half, you went up against monsters and aliens on a daily basis. Do not tell me you're scared of a little thunder." Another clap of thunder, louder this time, sent Mint flying into her sleeping bag. I peeked out, and Zakuro shook her head.

"Night guys," she commented rolling over. I saw Mint come out of hiding and attempt to fall asleep. I lay there, shivering with every rumble the sky produced.

"Relax Ichigo." Shirogane. I'd almost forgotten he was there. "If you let it be, thunder can be quite soothing to listen to." He lay in his bag on his back and placed his hands under his head. "Just listen." I copied him and closed my eyes. The sound of beating water against the tarp started to dwindle and the loud booming noises slowly faded into gentle rumblings. After a time, I could hear the soft sound of breathing around me… Suddenly, I felt very safe. Curled up in a little ball, I felt myself slowly drift to sleep.