Chapter 6 – Sea Sponge

Yuki held onto Shuichi's slender hips as he pumped into his tight little ass. He was taking him doggystyle under a maple tree in the wee morning hours. The sun was just coming up as he lay pressed up behind the shorter man like a second skin, his lips dangerously close to Shuichi's ear. Shuichi scratched over the surface, his hands plastered and fanned out against the tree trunk, he moaned sweetly. It was just the way Yuki liked to see the little pest…his hot little pest. He groaned at his ridiculous thoughts and at the satisfaction he felt at the same time.

"Ooo Yuki…I can feel your spirit! I love you," Shuichi panted out for his millionth time.

Yuki groaned in a dismayed kind of way but in truth he didn't mind that Shuichi kept saying that. He just never let on otherwise. Instead he nibbled on Shuichi's ear with his teeth, hard enough to make the boy squeal.

Rawr, he liked the control, he loved his secret. It was exactly what his totem stood for; the lynx the keeper of secrets.

But no sooner had he gained that control, he was about to lose it in the best way. His breathing hitched a notch faster, turning into a pant; his nails dug into tender young flesh. Gritting his teeth he spilled his life essence deep inside Shuichi's body. Yuki lulled his head back and sighed impassionedly...

Feeling as if he'd been run over by a herd of mammoths, K gave a sarcastic huff as he lay awake on his cot. What a scary experience, falling over a waterfall. He was sure he had died. There really were no other comparisons he could account this pain to. He could, but he'd rather not get so dismal.

He'd save that for when he wrung Ark's wretched neck!

Right now he needed to move, he needed to empty his bladder for the love of Aurora! Facing the morning sun that was spilling into the cave, K squeezed his eyes shut at its piercing intensity. But he slowly opened watery eyes—now was as good as anytime to loosen the stiffness and joint aches with movement. So he used the wall to steady himself and rose carefully, smudging the charcoal sun in the drawing Hiro made.

Oh yeah…that dream.

Looking around he didn't see Hiro anywhere. K felt really alone suddenly, lost in this strange place. But a soft sigh caught his ears and he turned to look behind him, down at the cot he'd just risen from. There was Hiro—nestled in his cot, against the wall, asleep with Aurora's angels.

K blushed. He'd never known such blitheness from a stranger before. He wondered how long he'd been sleeping beside him, or how long he himself had been asleep.

But he had no time to dwell on that, he had to get outside quickly and began to follow the light with unsteady and painful steps. Walking around naked, his eyes darted about, spotting other sleeping folk but some were awake and cooking over a fire. He could feel their eyes watching him silently. But his attention was drawn to his right, where two people quietly shared pleasures. He felt at ease for a moment; it was very similar to his own clan's activities. But these people looked different, they spoke differently too...they weren't his family. K wondered just how far he had travelled across the ice, far enough to find a land with a diverse specie of humans. Did Aurora put them here too? He noticed talismans and symbols on the walls; he didn't know what it all meant though. There was also a picture of what looked like the moon in different phases in the night sky. It was nothing like he'd ever seen before.

If Hiro hadn't shown him such gratuity he knew he would've acted more defensively towards these people. All of the sudden K wondered if his clan would come looking for him at all, would they run into this group? He didn't think they could be that far off, he imagined he travelled a few miles down that river. But he did have to wonder what kind of response this clan and his would have? Sometimes folks didn't like new people and thought they were wandering spirits or bearers of illness and bad luck. Some clans were just violent and would attack without warning, stealing possessions or worse…causing death.

All these thoughts began to numb his brain, he'd been through so much and he felt relieved to be alive, but angry too. He was sure Ark would try and steal Judy away from him…the bastard. K was convinced he was the one that hit him with that rock. Who else could it be? Ark had been acting so strange lately. Exiting the cave, K breathed in crisp morning air and blinked as his eyes adjusted some more, the sun washing his face and body. He didn't feel awkward about being naked either; skin was not something to be ashamed of—even if his was different from theirs.

Outside, there were people too and all stopped whatever they were doing to watch him. K ignored them and wandered opposite of the river, to the left, towards some smooth rocks covered in moss in the distance. He also spotted mint growing there also and knelt to pick a few leaves to chew on. Past the flat rock, the moss squishy under his toes, he entered a small forest of maple trees. They were still a bit bare without much growth yet, but he could see buds' sprouting…the promise of spring was here.

At least he'd done something right, he'd found fertile land.

But now look where he was?

Grumbling a little, he found a nice little spot for his morning ritual. It wasn't like he couldn't use the communal area for business, but he'd rather find some open spaces and be free of nosey stares for a few moments. Afterwards, he wandered to investigate a little—not even a knock to the head would stop him from doing that. So he looked around, walking further into the maple forest; maybe there would be something more to eat than mint.

To his left was some faint rustling…maybe it was a boar.

Only K walked upon a scene of a tall blonde haired male stroking—what looked like—the last drops of his seed all over a shorter male's backside. K swallowed hard and stood motionless as he watched these two men engaging in their morning ritual. Male pleasure wasn't alien to him, showing affection with men was just as rewarding as it was with females. But his cheeks burned crimson, knowing he'd caught them when they'd sought privacy. A hard man but inside he felt plenty bashful at times. He turned away.

Yuki saw the even taller blonde and casually dropped his tunic over his naked torso. Shuichi made a startled sound and gave the stranger a frightened look. "Yuki, save me!" he cried, "The man's a cannibal Tatsuha told me so!"

Yuki rolled his eyes. "He's not a cannibal, he's just a foreigner with a wandering spirit," Yuki muttered, completely unfazed by K's interruption. He knew that the man didn't understand a word he said, so it wasn't like he could go tell everyone he'd been with Shuichi in a more…provocative way. "Come on, he's harmless and in need of a bath and food…" Yuki added with a twist of his nose, walking closer, making sure the stranger saw him as he inspected the visitor unsurely, "Why are you so thin?"

But Yuki walked off, uninterested in any answers.

K watched him go. What was that about? K noticed the one named Shuichi trail after Yuki who headed back in the direction of the Nakano camp. He wondered what all their expressions meant since he could not understand their language. The shorter brown haired man looked frightened of him, yet the other one seemed all right. Although, he noted the man with short blonde hair had wrinkled his nose—K took a whiff of himself.

Egads!

Even he didn't like what he smelled.

Before he wandered back—since he couldn't go anywhere else just yet—he picked a few edible shitake mushrooms. Gingerly he ate them, he was starved! Feeling a bit better after the mushrooms, he decided to return to Hiro's home which was much more alive and bustling with people at the mouth of the cave now. He saw so many hair colours, young and old, tall and short and they all seemed to be packing.

Where were they going?

K saw large parcels being filled with clothing, tents and decorations. He saw a hole being filled with things they wished to bury and hide, so that no one would steal it while they were away, like their tools. He had to wonder how many more clans like them existed around here. Maybe his clan wasn't safe…what if something happened to Judy and the child Aurora blessed them with the night of their ritual?

Urgency filled his belly; he needed to return to his home!

But as much as he wanted to run, he didn't know the way and he didn't have the strength yet. A few more days, then he'd be alright he guessed.

"You look lost," said a brave voice.

K looked down at the small guy who was talking to him, he blinked, wondering what he'd said to him. He looked over the boy, with short dark hair, green eyes and a serious look on his face. Also, he wore the cleanest buckskin intricately sewn together that he ever saw. He admired this. "K," he said and pointed to himself, remembering it had worked so well with Hiro before.

The lad also caught on, but looked dubiously at the stranger within his camp. "Suguru," the boy said tentatively and pointed to himself.

K tried to repeat that but it came out horribly.

"Suguru! Be careful!"

Suguru heard the voice of Shuichi's sister Maiko. She was the bearer of the beaver totem, which meant protector and the builder. Suguru thought acerbically, she was a protector alright, because she was like a mother hen! He sighed and ignored her shrilling. But to his dismay she walked over, circling him and K like some animal on the prowl. Finally Maiko stood with her arms crossed over her leather frock, her body language showing that she was uncertain of this foreigner. But she was also curious and studied the stranger over.

"Ooo he's soo tall, the tallest I've ever seen," Maiko noted enthusiastically but groused, "But his wounds look disgusting!" She looked up at K, "You need a bath. But, oh!" she exclaimed and peered closer, "the rumour was true, about the eyes," she declared and gawked at K's face.

K raised his blonde eyebrows peculiarly.

Suguru shook his head. "And you tell me to be careful?" he pointed out ironically.

"Hey, why aren't you guys working?" Sakano shouted at Maiko and Suguru. But his eyes also landed on the stranger within his camp. "Does he speak?" he asked, quickly forgetting about his initial task.

"Of course he does," Suguru replied dryly. "He just doesn't understand what we're saying. Hiro says it's a different language."

"Ohh really? I never thought of different ways to talk before," Sakano replied. "But then, he is really odd looking."

"Hey big guy!" Yuuji clamoured and rest his chin between Suguru and Maiko's shoulders.

Both swatted at him.

"Ouch! Aww, you guys are being mean. I was just looking too," he moaned and stood up behind them. "You know I was the one that found this Yellowhair yesterday…I thought Gaia had taken his spirit already." He looked at K, "The god's are looking out for you…here you are up and walking, amazing."

K only frowned as he stood here surrounded, the wind gently brushing his loose hair against the small of his bare back. He heard a few murmurs cascading over a gathered crowd.

The Nakano clan was curious, since this visitor seemed harmless and was injured enough, that they felt he couldn't do anything.

K's eyes darted about, he felt like some kind of prized kill surrounded by hunters. So many eyes were looking at him, talking to him and he had no idea what they said or what they wanted. He backed up to retreat, clearly outnumbered only to bump into someone else behind him. Someone even touched his hair, he bristled then. It was clear that he was the 'different' one, quite opposite of his initial thoughts. His space was being invaded and K could feel himself getting frustrated!

He just put on an angry face when…

"What's going on?!"

It was the only voice K recognized among the crowd. No sooner had it spoken that he saw Hiroshi push through the crowd and latch onto his hand. The man dragged him along and K sighed with relief, looking back at the faces that began to distance themselves from him. Only when he looked back at Hiro he noticed he wasn't going towards the cave, but around the other side of it and down a small path beaten into the grass.

"Where are you taking me?" K asked, pulling out of Hiro's grip. He was a big boy he could follow on his own.

Hiro seemed to figure out what K was asking him logically. "A bath and to clean your wounds," Hiro told him, looking back. Only K gave him a puzzled expression. He didn't know what he'd said. So he stayed silent until they got to the river, where Hiro dropped a small pack to the grass. When he looked back for K, he noticed the man had stopped a few feet back. The tall blonde stood there as if frozen to the ground. "Hey," Hiro called, "don't you want clean up? It'll be warm water, I promise I won't you." He waited patiently for a few moments, but K wouldn't budge. Hiro went about setting up a fire not as close to the river as he intended. He placed a large tanned bladder over a spit-like contraption, hoping to show K what he intended. The bladder would hold water that could be heated under a fire. That way they could have hot water to wash with and for tea to drink. While he waited for K to realize he wasn't going to harm him, or toss him back in the river, he stripped off his pants and began to wash himself first.

K couldn't help but feel wary and nervous out about the river and rightly so. Even though he knew inside no one would here would cause him to fall in again, his recent trauma compelled him to keep his distance. Instead, much like that dream they both shared, he stood looking on as Hiro washed himself. K's eyes studied the brunette's bare form, lean but wiry legs and a flat stomach, lightly sculpted to accentuate beautiful proportions. K let his eyes roam over the man's groin pinpointed by dark coarse hair, thinking how perfectly male Hiro looked even though he was different.

He thought of the man in his dream, it was Hiro…he could feel it. Only this dream was indeed not a dream at all…it was unfolding right before his eyes!

Even though the brunette was not fishing, it was all the same. K picked up his leaden feet from the ground and wandered over to the oak tree that he'd envisioned so many times before. His eyes travelled up the tall tree in the midst of spring growth and not yet in full bloom. Softly he touched the trunk with his fingers, astounded that he was really here and touching it. K wondered why he was the recipient of such a vision. Was it really the work of spirits or Her? Was it a message and if so, what was it? He glanced over at Hiro who had also glanced up to watch him too; K felt a small tremble travel over his skin. He shivered.

Hiro held out his hands towards the fire, "Come…warm up," he urged.

K looked at the fire longingly; he understood that's what Hiro was trying to tell him. He pushed himself forward, as if walking on clouds and numbly advanced. K didn't want to admit his fear and he hated acting like such a child, he forced himself to kneel at the fire. Ignoring the pain, he sighed happily as soon as he felt the delicious warmth, eyes closing peacefully. It was wonderful and he moved his hands out to feel the heat on his palms.

Hiro eyes roamed, pausing in his task to heat water and prepare a decoction of biwa. A leaf found on an evergreen tree, which produced a small fruit and furry-like leaves which could also be roasted and applied directly to the wounds on the skin. It would aid in keeping out infection and healing K's still very raw injuries. But the biwa leaf was burning as he studied his blonde companions' face, his body, strong hands—even listening to the rumbling purr emitting from his throat. Hiro couldn't help it, the sound was enchanting and it caused his loins to stir.

At the stench of burning greens K opened his eyes to see that some plant Hiro was cooking had burst into flames. Quickly he pointed down at the item until Hiro saw it and made a silly face. To K's astonishment the man laughed and dropped the leaf into the fire pit and went to get another to roast.

"I guess I should try again," Hiro said, unfazed by his debacle. "You sounded like a big cat," he started audaciously, "purring as he lies lazily under the hot sun."

K cocked his head to the side as Hiro spoke to him. It meant nothing to him but he had a feeling the man was saying something amusing by his body language.

Hiro smiled again at him, "I know you don't understand me…I wish you could so I could find out more about you." He left the biwa alone and produced a fibrous, spongy looking mass out of the pouch he brought along. Hiro offered it to K to see, "From the big water…really BIG water," he told the blonde with a serious nod.

"Beeg whater," K copied Hiro, holding the squishy, yet crusty feeling thing; K wondered what the heck it was. It looked like millions of tiny holes were burrowed by some wood ants or termites that had exploded and froze in that shape. He sniffed it.

Hiro laughed. "It doesn't smell like anything…look." He took the sponge back and opened the bladder top; he dipped the sponge into the hot water that he'd added lavender to. Immediately it softened to the texture of a pillow of cotton. Hiro handed it back to K.

With sheer amazement K held the hot wet sponge, he fisted it and all its water content expelled onto his thighs. "Ha!" he exclaimed surprised by this. "Is it food?" he asked.

Hiro didn't understand and held up his hands and shook his head. "Show me," he urged instead with a giving motion of his hands.

Misunderstanding K bit into the sponge, but quickly made a face. It didn't taste like food and it was too tough. Yuck!

With hands on his stomach, Hiro chortled vigorously.

Blinking at the laughing man, K knew that Hiro was laughing at his misfortune. He smiled; Hiro's laughter was such a cheerful sound and being a good sport, he chuckled too. "What do you want me to do with this?" K quizzed, wanting to know the use of this stupid thing already.

Taking the sponge back again Hiro dipped it into the hot water again. This time he didn't give the sea-sponge back and scooted closer to the blonde. With his knees resting against K's leg, he leaned in and daubed the sponge at the wound on K's temple.

K grit his teeth, feeling the sting of hot water.

"It's ok," Hiro soothed close to blonde's ear. He gently cleaned the dried blood from the gash and ran the sponge down K's cheek, removing dirt and more blood. "I'm a healer," Hiro said to him whether he understood or not. "And you were brought to me by the spirits. My dream was a vision…you were meant to come here. I know it. Gaia is testing me...or perhaps you," he spoke softly.

Once again Hiro was touching him but K didn't pull away. He could only listen to the hypnotic tone of Hiro's exotic tongue; he wished more than ever that he could understand him. It seemed no matter how insane he felt, Hiro managed to calm the beast inside. K knew he should run from here and make right with his own family again…to lead his clan but he couldn't. And at this very moment, he didn't want to. As long as this man, with the eyes the colour of thunderclouds talked to him, he felt at ease. Maybe it was just him, delusional after this ordeal, delirious and incapable of rational thought. And it only got worse when that sponge filled with wonderful hot water washed over his neck, a warm trickle racing down his chest and straight to his groin. K could feel himself becoming aroused instantly.

This act was very intimate and K couldn't stop himself. Not that it mattered anyways. All animals became aroused, it was normal and he held no shame in it. Instead he began to enjoy what Hiro was doing for him, stranger or not it was something he could expect from his own clan. He could easily take over and wash himself but Hiro made no attempt to stop and pass on the task. K could feel his roughened body relaxing, forgetting his near death experience.

"So, it was a bathing tool," K murmured about the sea-sponge.

Hiro enjoyed listening to K's voice, it was so rich and deep, he tried to pronounce 'bathing tool' and blushed at his attempt. But he smiled and paused cleaning when he noticed the man's organ all pink and full before speaking, Hiro admired it. "I'm thinking you're telling me you like this?" He skirted behind the tall blonde and lifted the man's hair, "Hold this." Hiro handed the tresses to K with a few nudges. The man got the picture and held his own hair up. Hiro began to wash his back.

K sighed languorously.

"We'll wash your hair too, we have all day. I bet you'd like that…it looks like you haven't washed it in a long, long time. Being in the river don't count…but that makes me wonder since you came from the north side of the river…how did you get here? There is a big waterfall too. We would have noticed your people before. Was it the glacier? That is all that's north of here…" Hiro blinked and paused washing, he crawled around to face K "Did, did you come over the glacier?"

Was such a task possible?!

Staring at Hiro, K looked puzzled with all the chatter.

Thinking about how to make K understand him, Hiro clasped his arms around his own bare chest, he pretended to shiver. "Cold," he said and huffed air into his hand as if to show his breath. "Ice," he added and chattered his teeth which sounded close to crunching ice.

Quirking a brow, K wondered why Hiro was acting cold. For a moment he looked concerned, but felt that the man was trying to communicate something important to him. "Col-d," he repeated. K thought of the glacier and the river. He pointed to the river, "Cold?"

"No," Hiro said with a sigh. "Not the river. Cold ice," he tried again. He reached across K to grab a fur blanket he'd brought, then stood up and wrapped it around his head and bundled up. He walked around, "Walking, cold, over the ice," he offered and shivered again. He pointed up the river from whence K came. "Waterfall?" Hiro flattened his hand and drove it to the ground quickly like a waterfall.

"Water…fall," K said and furrowed his brows at this game. Hiro was asking him so many questions! But he repeated the falling waterfall signal with his own hand and nodded, "Yes. I thought I was going to die."

Hiro widened his eyes when he understood the part about the waterfall. "You are lucky to still be breathing with no broken bones. Lucky."

"Luckey," K mimed.

Hiro smiled at that, the man had no idea what he just said or how correct he was in saying so. He didn't know what else to do about finding out how K got to this land. But now he had his own ideas, if it were true…he felt curious to know what else existed beyond the glacier. Were there more of Gaia's children beyond? Was the world bigger than he knew? And why had K travelled across it to come here? He looked at the man, "You must learn to talk my language and I will learn yours, ok?" Hiro pointed at his mouth to show speech. "Yes?"

"Y-yes," K muttered not knowing what he was agreeing to, his eyes landed on Hiro's mouth, soft pink lips, he licked his own and wondered what the man was telling him now.

"Water." Hiro began teaching right away by pointing at the bladder full of hot water. He went back to washing and listened as K repeated his word. He smiled and came around front to cleanse that leg wound. "Bad wound," Hiro said and pointed to it.

K repeated that.

Surprised, Hiro looked up at K's face, "Not bad…maybe we'll learn how to talk together sooner than I thought." By now Hiro noticed the blonde wasn't aroused anymore. A strange smile came over his face; he realized he's enjoying this man's foreign body, a lot. So different from the males he grew up with. Legs so long—in need of nourishment yes—but in time he imagined a strong toned man, fast…daunting like his wolf spirit. Hiro had an urge to nurture him, it made him chuckle at the silliness of his thoughts. He was sure the wolf was K's animal spirit; his eyes told him and somehow he just felt it. Boldly, Hiro squeezed the water out of the sponge over K's groin, wetting his genitals and watching those blue eyes devilishly for response. The man didn't balk, but those blue eyes watched him back intently…Hiro had to swallow. This man wasn't easily intimidated he noticed and re-wet the sponge. This time he urged K to sit on his rear on the grass and lean back and dutifully washed him, he started with his hands.

K did so, his face scrunching with soreness. But he opened his eyes, seeing that Hiro was propped between his legs. This bath had to be the best one in his entire life! "You're very brave Hiroshi…don't I frighten you at all?" K asked but he knew Hiro didn't get it. With all Hiro's aid, he had to wonder why he wasn't at all timid; he was after all a stranger. "Don't you feel as though we met before?" K continued, "Can a dream really be that vivid?"

All these questions…

Hiro wondered what K was telling him, his face looked questionable. He heard his name so he knew the blonde was talking to him, but the rest was just sounds. He finished cleansing all the wounds, deciding not to play sensual games with the injured man. K needed rest not pleasures, although Hiro thought of it…

"I'm your friend," Hiro said and got up so he could refill the water jug for hair washing, he was in no rush. He knew he should be helping get ready for the journey but what for? He wasn't going with them anyways. Returning to the fire he re-hung the bladder to heat and then dug into his pack, producing some root vegetables and some dried meat. He handed K some food and sat on the fur blanket, "Here eat, you need to you're very thin. After sleeping for two sun cycles you must be starving."

Salivating, K took the offerings and moved off the wet grass and sat on the blanket that was soft under his rear. He felt wonderful and clean again, except for the wounds. But he forgot as he chewed on sweet tubers. The sun beamed on him and K closed his eyes so he could concentrate on the warmth while he ate. Things where silent for a long time until…

"I'm going to help you find your home," Hiro explained to his new friend.

K looked at him then, blinking.

Hiro pointed to himself, "Me, take you," he pointed at K, "home, your home. Get it?"

His home? K's eyes widened, he understood! "You are taking me home? Where is it?! Let's go now?!" He was getting excited about this and started to get up.

Hiro yanked K back down, "Not so fast…we need to pack a few things. It could be far, we have to travel around that escarpment, waterfall…you need clothing. It could take awhile and you're in no position to do that trek today. Tomorrow, after my clan leaves for Naniwa. Ok?"

So many words, K sighed. He'd have no choice but to follow what Hiro did, because of this language barrier. "O…K," he said impersonating Hiro, even though it made no sense to him.

"Hiro!?" called Shuichi, walking over to them. He knelt on the blanket and huffed a little from running.

"What's the matter?" Hiro asked his long time friend.

"Well nothing I don't think…but your father just asked me and Yuki, plus Sakano and Suguru to come with you when you go to take him home." Shuichi pointed at K.

Taken aback Hiro sat up straight. "What? I can take care of myself!" But Hiro looked down ashamed with himself, "I'm sorry Shu…I didn't mean to take it out on you. Really, my father is sending a party with me?"

Shuichi nodded.

Hiro looked at K with frustrated eyes, then back to Shuichi, "I wanted to do this myself…argh my father these days!" It was so frustrating; pressure Hiro felt given by his leader father. Marry Ayaka, become the next leader, have children, stop questioning everything, hunt more, don't journey alone, all these things rang through his mind. And now he'd gone and created a travelling party for him!

K watched Hiro as he clenched his fists angrily, eyes gleaming with petulance. He wondered what was wrong all the sudden but found himself admiring the man's character. Just when he thought Hiro was a totally peaceful person, he delighted him with this spunk. K then looked at Shuichi, the guy he saw earlier this morning in the bush with the other blond and bit into pink-veined daikon, grinning to himself.

"Fine," Hiro muttered, "what choice do I have? At least it's a good friend," he told Shuichi. "Stay with us and have breakfast…help me teach K how to talk to us," Hiro asked his friend.

Shuichi looked skeptical. "Tatsuha says he's a cannibal and eats boys with butterfly totems," Shuichi mentioned worriedly, casting a fearful look at the blonde stranger.

"Give me a break," Hiro said dryly. "Tatsuha is yanking your hide. He's just a man from a clan north of here. You know I think they travelled over the glacier but I'm not sure. It's only a guess but—"

"—the glacier?! Wow," exclaimed Shuichi cutting Hiro off. "I really want to come with you then Hiro. I want to see more too."

Hiro smiled, "Yes I want to know more as well."

A/N: Yes this language thing is tough to write around...challenging though, so I admit I like that part. But yeah I'll be happy too when K can start talking with Hiro more and vice versa. Funny I'm making Hiro so rebellious in a way, but it sort of reminds me of his issue with school and his mother from the manga. Only here I chose his father to be the enforcer...although good luck Dad! lol Also what is interesting I found in this fic is the ages. I haven't mentioned anyone ages at all...I dunno if clansmen would consider their measure of growth by time, I decided to ignore age XD Funny, I thought of another Kiro plot the other day...actually I wrote this original fic called The Phantom. It's an adventure about an art thief that wears a mask by night, a vigilante. And by day is a straight and narrow businessman. He falls in love with a girl (this was before my yaoi days lol) and eventually she discovers who he is. Blah blah..happily ever after lol But I'm going to re-write it as a Kiro fic! Of course I will finish this one first lol Will I ever be cured of K and Hiro? XD! H

Reviewers:

Dancing Coconuts: Thanks hun for your comments!! I hope to keep you entertained. I do have a rule that when I post a fic I finish it. It's a pet peeve about people that don't finish XD! Yeah Reiji and Judy. I kinda hate that I had to make them almost scapegoats...I hope I can successfully rationalize their actions by the end of it. I dunno if you can classify cheaters so much in this fic. I've been thinking about that to death about this fic...like you could I guess. I mean the heart will always tell you what you feel if you listen to it. Even if sex here is almost animalistic and for procreation, it still and will always have repercussions. But u know even in the manga I had to question how much Judy truly did love K, u know? She was such a backstabber and a 'me' person. Still I'm a Judy and K fan...but Hiro comes first XD! Reiji is just a sore loser...but she needs love too. Maybe I'll find her some lol! Thanks again hun!

Michelle: The title eh? You mean Land of the Rising Sun? I thought it was pretty commonly known, almost like a slogan for Japan? The kanji that makes up the name 'Japan' stands for 'sun-origin'. So it got nicknamed Land of the Rising Sun. I heard this in war movies and such, and when I thought of a story like this, taking place in prehistoric Japan..I automatically thought of Land of the Rising Sun. I got that when I started writing the part were K decides to follow the sun, thinking he'd find warmer lands. So it was a common sense choice for me. Besides Japan has the sun on their flag.