Disclaimer: I don't own Gurren Lagann, this story has been written purely for entertainment purposes and no money has or will exchange hands. All original characters and story lines do belong to me.

Authors Note: This is for Bearsho who has not only supported these stories but has drawn the most amazing pieces of fanart I've ever had so thank you very much ^^. This is still set in the same universe but before any of them are married. It's roughly 2 years after the fall of the Spiral King.

Chapter 3 - Travelling

It was quiet in the desert, almost completely silent. The continual moving and shifting of sand as it moulded it's self in and out of dunes sounded almost like the waves on the ocean as they rolled into shore.

Yoko was content to enjoy the serenity of the night, cold though it was, wrapped in Kamina's cloak on the edge of the Oasis Hotel they were staying in. They usually camped or slept within the small vehicle they had been travelling in but Kamina had decided that it might be nice, for once to stay somewhere a little safer and Yoko had readily agreed if it meant a long hot shower.

They'd been travelling for a little over four months now, having finally made the decision to leave Tepplin and go out on their own. Simon had been reluctant to let his brother go but Nia had understood, helping Yoko to pack and promising to keep in touch often. It had been strange to leave after finally settling into a somewhat more organised way of life but it didn't really suit either of them. High rise living and rush hour traffic wasn't something she wanted to spend her life moving between.

She could remember the night Kamina had tried to tell her that he wanted to leave, he couldn't stand the confines of the city and the normality of it all. He wasn't done exploring their world - a surface locked away for so long. Yoko had punched him hard in the stomach when he failed to suggest that she should come along before reaching for something heavier… she didn't land another blow in the end - Kamina had very quickly gotten the message.

As it was he'd have either been lost or in jail by now if she hadn't been there. She also suspected that staying in the hotel was to avoid any back lash from their last encounter… it turned out that the desert land they were currently travelling in was sectioned off into different territories and Kamina being Kamina had decided to ignore this. It had taken a lot of explaining on her part and merely observing her wilfully ignorant boyfriend to let them leave again safely.

She reached into the pockets of her shorts to check the time, realising now was probably the best time to return Nia's call without it getting too late in Tepplin City. The reception at the Hotel was probably the best she would be getting for a while so she dialled and waited. Soon enough her friend appeared waving at her on the small screen. Nia was smiling, almost from ear to ear and Yoko could see Simon doing the same in the background.

"Simon's just finishing up some work before we go to dinner this evening." Nia explained. "It's good to see you, how are things?"

"You know, the usual - finding trouble and managing to find our way out of it just in time."

Nia chuckled. "Where are you? It's looks beautiful!"

"A Hotel, Kamina thought it might be better not to anger any more locals…"

"Sounds like a good idea. We're almost finished with the construction of the main city, we're just about to start work on the suburbs…. well...not me personally… although I am in charge of greenery, all parks and flowers." Nia beamed.

"Sounds perfect, we're thinking of making a small visit back in a couple of months, it's probably a good idea to pop in a couple of times a year so you remember what we look like." And so that she could spend a few days with running water, get her hair cut… the important things that sometimes Kamina forgot about.

"So it has nothing to do with the anniversary festival? I thought the lure of free food and luxury accommodation would be enough to temp you both back… if I'd known that wasn't why…"

Yoko smiled somewhat shocked by Nia's successful attempt at humour, the innocent look in her eyes made her almost believable and she wondered if her friend was developing along with the new city. Being with Simon would have that affect on anyone but it seemed it had taken longer to reach a Princess who, for the most part, took people at face value.

"We're heading in to the local market tomorrow." Yoko was purposely ignoring the comment, watching Simon and Nia both sharing their own private joke. "Is there anything you want us to look for?"

"Not really, just find something you think best represents where you are, everything you've sent us so far is lovely. Simon loved the dress you sent me last time." And now Nia was back to her innocent self, the dress had been more to Yoko's taste than Nia's but Kamina had wanted to send his brother an inadvertent birthday present in the shape of the dress. Simon in the background was turning a shade of red even visible to Yoko on the other end of the video communicator and Nia in her obliviousness hadn't noticed. Yoko did wonder why the other young woman hadn't questioned the plunging neckline or the long slits up both sides of the pale pink dress.

"We'll see what we can do, I should get back inside… for all I know Kamina can sense when his cape disappears and if so he'll be out to find me pretty soon."

"Good luck and good night Yoko."

"You too."

She headed back inside, following the pathway around the natural pool of deep glittering water surrounding half of the hotel until she reached the staircase for their room. Yoko slipped in quietly, telling herself that next time she'd remember to bring her long brown jacket with her, worn though it was it was perhaps a little safer than stealing her boyfriends beloved cloak.

Luckily for her Kamina was fast asleep, not snoring she noted, which was always a good sign and didn't notice when she slipped back underneath the covers. Yoko had half hoped that he would, usually he'd slip his arm around her just so she knew he was there. After several minutes worrying like the real girly girl she realised she was becoming, she slipped hers around him instead and snuggled up against his back.

She fell asleep to the sounds from their Oasis surroundings and the reassuring presence besides her.

Kamina had been pleasantly surprised to find Yoko half holding onto him when he woke up, some kind of manly pride surfacing without his girlfriend conscious enough to be angered and embarrassed by such a comment. Those moments weren't quite as common as they were once upon a time, but growing up did that to a person.

He didn't consider himself mature enough to settle down to a job in the city, didn't want to do anything that involved deadlines and stress. He really didn't see the point in it, why save the human race only to have it slaving away in 9-5 office jobs? There was a whole world just starting to awaken and he'd rather spend his time exploring that…. along side the red head sleeping next to him.

Said redhead was sleeping soundly, which wasn't normally the case for this time in the morning. They had gone to bed sometime before midnight and usually Yoko slept right through till morning then bounced out of bed and headed straight for the shower… maybe it had been later than he thought….

Shrugging as much as it was possible for him to do laying down, he then turned on his side to be facing Yoko. Her breathing was deep and her expression tranquil, he didn't really want to wake her but he did want to take advantage of their nice, soft hotel bed whilst they had the chance.

So he pressed his lips to hers gently at first then applying enough pressure for her to respond and start to stir. His arms slid fully around her, Yoko's back arching as he did so and golden eyes peered out from barely open eyelids.

He could feel her lips move into a smile against his own and her arms start to work their way to his back, fingers dancing across his skin. Yoko could feel his hands working with her bikini straps and the cool of the beads at each end as they hit her skin as Kaminas knowing fingers worked their magic on both of her carefully tied bows. For now he didn't reach down any further, just discarded her Bikini top and started to trace his kisses lower.

"When do we need to check out?" Yoko Whispered and Kamina chuckled against her skin sending shivers through her.

"We're staying an extra night, was going to be a surprise but I'm guessing I'm not going to convince you to enjoy this if you think we have to leave soon?" He had stopped his trail of kisses and was looking at her, waiting for permission to continue.

She smiled, biting her lip before eventually responding. "I'm going to need a shower."

Kamina beamed. "That can be arranged."

The town was beautiful, the stone work simple but effective when you lived within easy distance of sand storms and it was clear that they had their own small group of Ganmen to patrol and look after the place. Yoko also suspected that they were more responsible for the housing in the town rather than the hard graft of those who lived there doing it all by hand as the artwork around the entrance would have you believe.

She'd decided to be slightly more conservatively dressed than normal, wearing her usual bikini and shorts combination but with a knee length cheese cloth purple dress over the top of them. It seemed in tune enough with the locals and she'd even managed to persuade Kamina to wear a shirt and leave his cloak behind.

"Stop grumbling." She told him, tugging at his arms crossed over his chest. "You seemed happy enough when we left this morning."

"That's because I enjoyed your persuading and got distracted enough to leave my cape behind." He muttered, refusing to let her loosen his arms.

"That was the point Kamina." She reminded him, it wasn't that the cape was a problem, but she'd bothered to do her research this time and this was a low key place that didn't like Hero's that stood out from the crowd. "And as fun as it is to continually bust you out of jail I didn't feel like it this time, it should be my turn to get us into trouble or avoid the trouble all together." She finally managed to yank his arms apart, although she suspected he just got bored of putting up a fight, and took his left hand in her right.

"Don't pretend you don't enjoy it!" He said, maybe a little louder than he needed to.

"I'm not, I just want a break this time that's all." Her eyes were soft when they looked at him and he could understand where she was coming from, the last four months had been a little intense on the action and adventure side of things but there had been plenty moments like that morning too.

"I promise to at least spend the morning doing sensible things, I can't make the same promises for this afternoon though."

She laughed and shrugged. "Sounds good enough for me…. by the way." She added as they passed a clothes stall. "Nia really liked her dress, Simon enjoyed it too by the sound of things."

Kamina looked at her for a moment, seeming to be working something out in his mind before grinning. "Good, When's Nia's Birthday?"

Yoko was shaking her head and giggling, her red hair swishing from side to side as she did so.

"After the festival but I'm not really sure she'll quite understand the sentiment."

"We'll see." Kamina started to pull her along with him, seemed he'd found something he wanted to look at up ahead.

The morning had been spent browsing the stalls, Kamina endlessly intrigued by the weavers and the speed of the looms in some of the clothes stores they came across. He also seemed to have some questions about the local festival dress and why some area's on the clothing was left particularly open. He managed to keep these questions to himself though and only sniggered on a couple of occasions. Instead he'd found it much more entertaining to quietly point these things out to Yoko who then, by virtue of her own not quite so innocent mind had, on several occasions had to burry her head in Kamina's chest.

By the third time this had happened Yoko had slipped on her sun hat so that she could hide behind the rim instead of her boyfriends chest. No matter how much they might enjoy it, it was starting to look a little strange.

They'd settled in a small local cafe, possibly the only cafe by the looks of things and eaten lunch. Kamina very happily making Yoko aware that it was now afternoon and he could do as he pleased.

She had grumbled but smiled under her hat, bracing herself for an interesting afternoon.

The other half of the town seemed somewhat more sophisticated than the first half they had spent the morning in and the Hotel had mentioned that the town had a reputation for it's craft work being popular with the locals and other visitors much like themselves.

Kamina pulled Yoko along some of the stalls but was starting to notice that several of them were actually more like shops, very well put together too. There was one that caught his eye.

"You think you can trust me enough to head somewhere by myself for a while? I know you're dying to look at some of the stalls just over there." A few clothes and accessory stands were gathered on the other side of the street. "I know you want to pick up some things for yourself and Nia and probably don't want me to get in the way."

Yoko looked at him carefully, unnerved at his sensible behaviour and she placed her hand on his arm. His eyes didn't waver from hers but she could tell, however honestly, that he was hiding something.

"Alright, but if I have to break you out again -"

He ran a hand through his blue hair, trying to look as honest as possible. "I swear I won't cause any trouble Yoko. Promise." Then seeing the disbelieving look in her eyes he added. "At least not for the next hour or so."

Yoko let it go, taking his free hand in hers and squeezing. "Be careful." With one kiss on the cheek she was soon at the clothes stall across the road and Kamina was free to head to his chosen destination. He couldn't read the sign but the window display told him everything he needed to know and with a quick glance to check Yoko wasn't looking he slipped in the door.

Yoko had picked up a couple of little trinkets for Nia, a flowery clip for her keys and a couple of similar ones for her hair and decoration. She'd also chosen one for herself, neither she nor Kamina had admitted it but they had both picked up a few on their travels - only from the places they'd enjoyed the most and it so far hadn't been bigger than something you could put on a shelf or so but she couldn't help imagining them being dotted around a house they would share in the future.

The thought turned her face a bright shade of red, it was wrong, she knew to be thinking that far ahead. Granted living in the city had meant they had ended up sharing her flat out of convenience but she never wanted to treat their future together as certainty… it was hard to put into coherent thoughts. She couldn't even imagine spending her life with anyone else but she didn't want to take Kamina for granted, she didn't want either of them to ever stop making an effort.

The figurine she had chosen was of a kind of desert mammal that she'd seen running through the sand dunes, it had been hand calved in a light coloured sturdy wood. There had been plenty of others to choose from but Yoko had almost instantly decided on which one to buy just because of the expression on it's face and the way it's ears pointed.

She paid for her items and headed to the stall next door, so far the only other thing she'd bought was a new scarf that was wide and long enough to double as a makeshift dress if she tied it correctly. They still had plenty of the usual wash supplies and toiletries so she didn't have any need for that and they had enough money to afford everything they would need, they hadn't really had time to spend anything they had earned during the rebuild and only staying in hotels every now and again saved them a lot.

She was finding herself occasionally looking over at the row of shops she was sure Kamina had headed towards, Yoko couldn't figure out what he was up to. It was one of the many quirks she was still getting used to, sometimes he would go off on some seemingly important mission and wouldn't reveal what he had been up to for anywhere between a few days and several months.

"Run." Kamina had barely enough time to whisper it into her ear before grabbing her hand and pulling her along with him, back through the parts of the town they'd already seen and wandered through. Yoko held onto her bag tightly, determined not to drop or loose anything she'd bought. They were weaving through the crowd with a high level of both speed and accuracy, but you tended to get better at this kind of thing with time - she didn't think they'd be this good after only four months.

He finally pulled her to a stop when the reached the other side of the wall surrounding the small town, Yoko thankful that their Hotel was just far enough away for them to be safe there and that she'd had enough time to do her shopping.

"What happened?"

It took him a moment to answer, he couldn't help but watch the rise and fall of her chest as she caught her breath. He knew she'd be waring the same disgruntled expression she normally did but it hadn't stopped him yet.

"It turns out that even telling the truth can make you stand out here." He explained, hiding his face slightly from her, he didn't blush…. wasn't blushing, his face was just red from the exercise.

"Explain?" She was resting against the wall, paint flaking behind her and falling to the ground in slow drifting patterns.

"I just told them what I wanted and who it was for, after I bought it they asked why, I told them and made a hasty exit when they started after me." He had taken a step closer to her, more to stand in the shade as the afternoon sun was starting to blind him.

"Who was it for?" Yoko asked, head tipped to the side and trying to catch his eye. Her temper at simmered down and her breathing had evened out. It didn't sound like it had been his fault this time.

"It's a secret." He told her, smiling reassuringly at her scowl. "I don't want this to ruin the surprise." Kamina then leaned in slowly to kiss her, giving plenty of time for her to move away before his lips covered hers. She didn't stop him, letting him move his mouth with hers and body press her further into the wall. It was refreshing in the dry heat of the afternoon, their pace slow and unhurried.

"Let's head back to the hotel." Kamina whispered after a while, moving just far enough away to catch his breath, his arms still around her.

"Why?"

"They have a pool." Yoko laughed deciding to let this one go - he always told her eventually and also really glad she'd bought new swimwear… the embarrassment of her first time at the beach still didn't seem to have worn off, no matter how much Kamina had protested she was wrong.

She really hoped he liked the new one.

Kamina took hold of her hand as they walked back, looking at her every now and again. What he'd managed to find was worth their escape, which hadn't been so bad as annoying. He just needed to wait for the right time to show her what he'd bought for her…. whenever that happened to be.

Reviews and constructive criticism are welcome and very much appreciated.