I thought of something very odd; Satoshi and Shigeru have had a very tumultuous time since this story began, after all; it has taken me nearly two years to write the past three days for them, which has encompassed everything from earthquakes to tribal ritual and mysteries to threatened lives. At long last, I'm allowing the boys to get settled in at Alph. So this chapter is going to cover a week and three days at minimum -- it could be up to three weeks and three days, even. It's open to the reader, but I'm leaning towards three weeks myself.

In Ruins

chapter eleven

When Shigeru and Satoshi emerged from the doors of the bath house, their skin flushed red from the soak, Masato was waiting on the street outside as he had promised.

"It's about time," he whined. "What were you doing in there?!"

Shigeru adjusted the bath towel on his shoulder, inadvertently revealing the damp spot that had coagulated on the fabric of his shirt. He looked at the green-haired boy and placidly replied, "Masato, it's a bath house. We were washing ourselves."

"And it was great!" Satoshi added, stretching out his arms over his head. "I can't believe how clean I feel. I don't think I've felt this clean since I arrived at Alph."

"I know what you mean. I think it's because we're not in the middle of a desert anymore," Shigeru explained. "e

"Stop standing there and just talking. We have somewhere to go."

"Cool," said Satoshi immediately, eagerly walking after Masato. Shigeru took up the rear of the trio, walking with an easy, lingering step that belied his state of blissful relaxation.

Masato rolled his eyes at Satoshi. "You don't even know where we're going! Why are you so excited?"

The thought drifted through Shigeru's mind, Because everything is exciting for him. He's just the sort of person who is happy. This was followed with another thought, or a memory, rather; it was of Satoshi standing mutely at the Indigo plateau as he was handed a bouquet of flowers, a medal and his dreams. Is he really happy?

Shigeru looked at Satoshi, who was in the middle of replying to Masato, a broad smile lighting up his face, "...making fun of me! My guess is that we're going somewhere, to - to keep us busy, yeah? It would be boring to have to sit inside all day."

Looking at Satoshi now, there was no trace in him of that boy who had been on television; nor was he anything like he the boy who he had met in the desert, when his leg had buckled underneath him, even though it had only been a week ago. No, Satoshi seems happy enough, thought Shigeru, and dismissed his strange thinking completely.

"I wouldn't be sitting inside all day, anyhow," said Shigeru, instead. "If we had nothing to do, I'd spend the whole day walking around the town."

And he was being completely truthful, too; as far as he could tell, the sky was a perfect blue and the air was bone-achingly warm. At this point in the morning, at least, it wasn't too hot to him - his hair was only half-dry from his bath, and the cool clumps that rested against his forehead reminded him of the freshness of his life. Even if he didn't end up walking around the village of Alph, he would gladly find a spot of grass and lay on it, soaking up the heat until he was completely dry, warm, and peaceful all over.

"Shigeru! Shigeru, did you hear that?!"

Shigeru snapped back to attention at the sound of Satoshi's excited voice, and looked up from where the stone-paved street where he'd been vacantly gazing. "Hear what?" he asked.

"That we're going to work!" Satoshi smiled exuberantly.

"We're working?" he returned, startled. He didn't want to work. He felt like he'd been working his entire life, and today, he was starting vacation for the first time in seven years. He'd been imagining the bliss of dozing off in a patch of grass, not another succumbing to exhaustion on a research paper-laden table in a white-washed room.

"Yes, Shigeru, you'll be working from today forward," said Masato. "While you were lost in your daydream, Satoshi agreed with me that it would only be fair that you both go to work in exchange for your room and board."

Shigeru knew that it was only fair and right, but -- but it still felt too soon. He was going to say as much, but in a sharp movement, Masato turned onto half a flight of stairs. Shigeru and Satoshi followed after him up the steps, more or less at his heel - and Shigeru felt the world grow brighter just at the pleasure of how easily he could take the stairs now that his leg was healed. It made work slightly more bearable somehow.

"Hey, Masato?" Satoshi piped up, suddenly. "You know, Shigeru and I told you yesterday that we don't really know any trades. And that wasn't a lie, so..."

"Yes, I remembered," Masato replied. "I'm sure you'll make do without knowing anything."

"Uh..." Satoshi trailed off.

"So when you said you were putting us to work, you really meant manual labor, didn't you?," Shigeru filled in the silence, distasteful. "Manual labor; ugh. I'm pretty sure that's the only job I can think of which wouldn't require much training."

"We're not putting you to work like that, but I wish we were. Maybe it would tire you out too much to pepper me with your questions every day," said Masato, lamenting.

Satoshi made a disapproving noise that sounded like it may have been borrowed from Masato's sister. "Don't say stuff like that, Masato. I know it's probably annoying, but don't you like it that we go to you for information rather than to someone else?" asked Satoshi.

"Well,... I..." Masato's face seemed to be at war with itself; uncertain of whether it should show pride, or a sneer, or just flat out frustration. Ultimately, Masato's expression settled on a sort of resignation as the boy admitted, "It could be worse. At least you're asking your questions to someone who knows things."

After that hesitant one-eighty of opinions, Masato went back to his quiet pouting -- and Satoshi looked rather smug. A sudden smack of truth hit Shigeru so hard that he did a double-take upon the realization that Satoshi had intentionally been manipulating Masato's sense of self-fulness to override his dislike. It was still kind, but it was the most promising sign of manipulation that Shigeru had ever seen in Satoshi, and made Satoshi rise just that much higher in Shigeru's esteem.

"What, ah," Shigeru licked at his chapped bottom lip before he continued, "What trade have you lined up for us to learn, Masato?"

The three of them reached the top of the stairs and emerged on a little street made not of stone, but packed yellow dirt.

"A fairly decent one," said Masato evasively. When Shigeru and Satoshi seemed unimpressed, he threw up his hands. "Just ask your boss. I really don't care!"

Before Shigeru had a chance to ask about this boss, Masato was pointing out a building that stood a long stone's throw to their left, situated at the end of the street as if it were a cul-de-sac's finishing piece.

Upon seeing it, Shigeru knew immediately where he was. He had seen this place and studied it briefly in his past work; in his past life. He had not, however, seen it in his glory, which was magnificent even from the bright yellow-shaded road. A beautiful, straggly-trunked cedar tree fitted around with pots of flowers gave a lattice work of shade to the house's front. It was the only home facing the road; the rest had their facades facing opposite, and though there were small windows and sometimes even back doors, and on the side of the road where those buildings began, puffs of light green grass flourished, nothing intruded on the refuge of the place.

The house itself was like all the others in the city, formed by especially large limestones; in truth, it was actually a bit smaller, only being one story in height. Yet there was something about this building that he found immensely likable: the stones were fitted so perfectly together that there was not even the need for grout work between them. Shigeru wondered briefly if they were to become masons and tried to reconcile himself to the idea.

As they grew closer to the home, the morning light edged over the barrier of other buildings' roofs and shone brightly into the open windows. Within that pane-less view, Shigeru dimly made out the figure of an old man crouched over a rock slab. Shigeru squinted, trying to see his face more clearly, and succeeded (though, with shock) as he discerned that the old man was not only familiar, but his mentor in another life.

Masato lead them into Tano's home, at which point Satoshi also recognized the man, and kept looking at Shigeru, waiting for him to make the connection. Eventually Shigeru had to lean over and whisper into Satoshi's ear; "Yes, I know who he is- or who he resembles. But since he doesn't know me, I don't see any reason to make a big production over it."

Satoshi had wisely let the subject drop, in favor of congenial introductions and conversation. As Shigeru bowed to Tano, it surprised him to see that his mentor used a cane. It was a bizarre switch, and to Shigeru an unfair one: that in this world Tano could not easily stand on his legs, and Shigeru could. Tano was a good person, a better person than he was.

Shigeru and Satoshi had barely shared their names with Tano before Masato made a motion as if to leave.

"Where are you going?" asked Satoshi, curious.

"To work, too, of course. Now, listen.

"You should be grateful to Tano-san. He was the only one willing to take you in as apprentices, even though you have no trade and have uncertain origins. So if you do a bad job, then you won't have anywhere else to go," he threatened.

Satoshi looked a bit worried at this, but Tano just laughed.

"I think they'll do fine, Masato. You can run along and find your sister. I'll return your guests to you at the end of the day," he said, in an old and cheerful voice.

Masato inclined his head, darted a glare at Satoshi and Shigeru (his earlier camaraderie with Shigeru apparently forgotten), then left the room.

After waving goodbye, Tano put down his tea cup on its plate and sighed the sigh of a weary, old man.

"So, uh, Tano-san," Satoshi rubbed his hands together; visibly awkward. "Thanks for having us here."

Shigeru echoed the thanks and caught Tano staring at him with weak, yet perceptive eyes.

"What trade are you going to teach us?" asked Shigeru, awkward under Tano's gaze.

"One of the most important ones, my boy," said Tano. He reached behind himself, where there were several dusty-looking linen bags with the ends untied, and dusty granules were spilling from them onto the stone floor. He lifted one upright, and plopped it before himself. A tan-colored cloud rose up.

"Pottery," said Shigeru. He snapped his fingers together. "Of course!"

Satoshi's face was all confusion. "Pottery? You mean... like, how to make pots and such?"

Yes, exactly that -- At Alph,Tano was such a help because of his veteranship in the field, yes; but specifically, due to his specialization in the clay pieces with hieroglyphics like those of the Unown. He had studied the composition of the dirt in the area, he had a great grasp of all of those things. How many times had Shigeru learned from him in the past?

Now, in the home of this Tano, now that he was looking for it, there were pots and plates and cups all over the edges of the room, in various states of completion.

Satoshi, though still hadn't reconciled the idea in his head. It was as if he had never considered the stuff before. "What's the big deal about pottery?" he wondered aloud.

Shigeru considered offering up a few (hundred) reasons why pottery was a big deal, but Tano had opened his mouth and Satoshi probably wouldn't understand anyway. He didn't exactly have a solid background in the studies of history.

"Open these bags, will you, my boy?" Tano asked Satoshi. "And be careful with them, they're full of different dirts."

"You keep around bags of dirt?" asked Satoshi, disbelievingly.

"To form the clay for pottery, of course," said the old man. "I gather them from different places on the island, and mix them with just the right amount of water, to get the right consistency. It differs for what I'm making, and how it is going to be fired, of course, and for what color ceramic we want to have at the day's end..."

Shigeru sat back and let Tano explain to Satoshi, who was wide-eyed as he listened -- though perhaps bug-eyed would be more appropriate. Shigeru couldn't help but remember that Satoshi hadn't been in school, or studied, for years; the whole idea of the boy struggling to remember even an introductory lecture from Tano was laughable, and Shigeru found himself chuckling before he could stop it. He settled on sitting with his elbows on his knee, hiding a smile behind his hand.

Finally, Satoshi found himself released from the impromptu lesson and took a deep breath of relief when Tano's attention turned to Shigeru.

"What about you?" Tano asked Shigeru.

"I have a large pool of technical knowledge concerning the arts of pot-making," said Shigeru, with restrained pride. "But I don't have any experience in the hands on process of it."

"Then we might as well get started today," said Tano, smoothing over the slab of rock with his hands. "Satoshi, yes? Would you take this bowl and fill it with some water from that well in the back... over there? Yes, thank you. Now, Shigeru, come closer so you can see. I'm going to show you how to form the clay for a simple, undecorated bowl, just like this one..."

By the time lunch had ended, Tano was leaned over the first two clay samples that Satoshi and Shigeru had attempted. His wrinkly fingers pressed a chunk of Satoshi's clay together, forming a flat and incredibly near-perfect circle that would become the bottom of the bowl.

"Too chunky," he said. "Did you get lazy when you were supposed to be grinding down the rocks?"

Satoshi looked nearly ill at the criticism. "Don't worry," Shigeru told him, "It was only your first time."

Then it was the turn for Shigeru's clay. The moment Tano picked it up he let out a sound of disgust.

"Too wet!" he exclaimed, throwing down the clay on the slab, and rubbing off the excess wet clay-mud from his palms. "I will have to wait until the evening before I can use this clay now."

"But - how is it too wet?" Shigeru protested. "I followed your instructions exactly. The proportions--"

"My boy," Tano interrupted. "The proportions are merely a guide."

Shigeru frowned. "But I still don't understand. I did everything right."

"Your calculations were correct, but you trusted in them instead of judging with your eyes. Sometimes there is more than one truth," Tano extended his arm towards the window. "Today, the air was not as hot on Alph. Was it not pleasant? And so the clay retained more water. It is as simple as that."

Shigeru stared at him.

Tano continued, "You have to feel the clay and be willing to mold it in the way that is required, not merely in the way you have decided."

"You aren't talking about clay anymore, are you?" asked Satoshi.

Tano smiled mysteriously.

"Oh, I am talking about the clay. It is true that it has its own mind and inconsistencies. But perhaps the same principles may be applied to the circumstances of one's life..."

Shigeru couldn't help smiling fondly, even though he realized that he was being told that he was wrong (something which simply didn't happen). Rather than focusing on his failure, all that Shigeru could think of was how in both the way Tano made his clay and in the way he spoke and lived his life, he was completely unchanged: a true doppleganger.

"Well," said Shigeru at last, "If I did it wrong, I'll just have to try again, won't I?"

"That's the spirit," Tano replied. "We all make mistakes. Why, throughout my career, I have made enough bad pieces of pottery to fill this house with them! The important thing is to try again, eh, boys? ...Shall we?"

"Let's do it!" Satoshi said enthusiastically, and sat down at the slab. "I'll make sure to grind my clay down better this time."

Shigeru couldn't explain why, but when he sat down for a second time, he felt a bit of that same hope, too. He knew that life didn't always come with second chances, but he wasn't stupid enough to reject the few he got.

That night, as the night before, Satoshi and Shigeru arranged their bedding not three feet away from each other, on the side of the room opposite of the hanging tapestry hiding the bathroom.

Shigeru expected to fall asleep hearing nothing more than the cracks and pops of the last dying embers at the fireplace near their feet. However, as soon as he had gotten under his covers, and Satoshi under his, Satoshi began to speak.

"I admit that I was really nervous that you were going to do just perfectly, like with everything else," said Satoshi.

Shigeru didn't reply immediately. All at once his pride was both wounded and assuaged by Satoshi's statement. He settled on a simple, "Oh?"

"Yeah," Satoshi replied. "I mean... You know I used to be jealous of you, right?"

Of course he knew. He looked at the stars that were shining impossibly white from beyond the windows and remembered.

"I tried to make you jealous of me," Shigeru told him. He turned away from the stars and towards Satoshi. "I'm not sure that I'm happy it worked, though."

"Did it ever!" Satoshi laughed. "There was one time in my first year of traveling when I stayed up all night just thinking about what you had said to me, and how I just had to beat you!"

Shigeru felt his mouth go dry. "I... really? I know you would get so upset when I picked on you, but I didn't think you really dwelled on it." Like I dwelled on it, he added internally.

"I don't really dwell on anything," said Satoshi, the honesty in the statement evident in his very voice. "I mean, I don't really think too hard about emotions or stuff like that. The only thing I really thought about... Well, back then I used to think about my goals all the time."

"You did. And it worked out well for you, didn't it, Champion."

Shigeru had meant it as a friendly jibe. He really had -- so he didn't understand why Satoshi didn't reply, and why the air in the room that they shared between them had suddenly turned cold. It was as if by calling him Champion, Shigeru had accidentally stumbled upon a secret code word to the destruction of the world. He struggled to think of something that would stop the walls from returning between them. The only thing he could think of bringing up were words that Satoshi had never heard before. A secret.

He gathered his courage in the gathering bleakness, and spoke softly.

"Satoshi, I had... I had more than few sleepless nights, too. When I would think of you," he said.

To his relief, the words had their hoped-for effect, and Satoshi actually shifted to his side and leaned on his arm in order to face Shigeru better; his angst, for the moment, forgotten.

"Wait, what?" Satoshi asked. "That's... strange. I can't believe you would do that. You always beat me, in everything; you were a better trainer than I was back then."

"Yeah, I know! But I wasn't thinking about beating you!" Shigeru grinned, perhaps for the first time, in a fond recollection of those nights. "I mean, sometimes I thought about our battles. But mostly, I was thinking about different things."

"Like what?"

"Just... things," said Shigeru, and though he didn't mean to be evasive, he knew he had no choice. Fortunately, Satoshi didn't pry. It was unclear to Shigeru whether his motives were from disinterest, or from simply lack of energy, but all the same it let Shigeru off the hook from revealing uncomfortable truths.

"I think I'm really going to enjoy making pottery," Satoshi said, laying back down. His voice was heavy with sleep. "Aren't you, Shi....Shigeru?"

"Stop talking and go to sleep, you idiot," Shigeru chided him half-heartedly. Satoshi, though, was nothing if not passionate in everything he did. In very appropriate form he was fast asleep within moments after Shigeru's mothering command.

Shigeru, on the other hand, did not fall asleep as quickly. It was like all of those nights from his youthful journey were returning to him in substance, if not in their presence. He lay in bed and stared at the blob-shaped shadow patterns on the ceiling, remembering the past and wondering about his present.

There were secrets, and there were secrets; and Shigeru knew he had many of them. But this secret was one best kept from Satoshi, not for his sake alone, but for the good of the friendship that they were re-building between them.

No, of course he couldn't tell Satoshi what he had been thinking of on those sleepless nights.

He would not tell Satoshi that he had been in love with him.

Shigeru woke up with the sun for the second day in a row. It was as curious to him as it was to Satoshi; he had never known himself to be a morning person, but now that apparently the opportunity presented itself, he enjoyed it. He liked the initial silence of the day and the growing murmur of things outside. It wasn't a solitude; there were bird pokemon taking wing over the city, after all, and they called their names out to each other. He enjoyed heating water and making it into tea (which he couldn't love any more than he did; whatever plants Haruka picked and dried for her teas, they made the most delicious herbal combination that he had drunk in his life).

It was not only the morning that had started similarly. The rest of the day progressed in nearly a perfect compliment to the prior. Haruka, rather than Masato, joined them for breakfast. They ate a nutty oatmeal, dried fish, and a queer sort of curdled milk before they took off to the bath house. Haruka informed them that, for this moon cycle, the women were allowed into the bath house in the evenings, while men had it in the mornings. If either Satoshi or Shigeru were dirty enough by the end of the day, though, Haruka jestingly offered to bring out a large basin of water and pour it over them, in the middle of the road and in sight of everyone.

When Haruka walked them to Tano's house and workshop, the trip seemed to be shorter to Shigeru, even though it was the same path and their walking pace was slower. It had to be Haruka's much more pleasant company, he imagined, and it occurred to him that Satoshi had been incredibly lucky, indeed, to have had such a good traveling partner. He had always regretted that he had travelled, although with his pokemon, largely alone.

Work was a lot like the day prior; they began with a 'warm up' of making clay for a bowl. Then they did it a second time, and a third. By the end of the day, Tano felt that they were at last proficient at preparing clay for bowls and for two different sizes of cups. This was all fine and well, but, Shigeru had found that the practice had grown dreadfully dull; during their clean up, he was excessively relieved to overhear Tano telling Satoshi that they would begin to learn how to mold basic clay shapes on the following day.

Shigeru caught his mentor before they had left the workshop.

"Tano-san, we really appreciate everything you're doing for us. I mean to say... just for everything... thank you."

Tano smiled. "Now, why are you saying that?"

Shigeru furrowed his brow. "Because I am grateful that you're letting us learn your trade, and-"

"No, no. My boy, you're grateful for more than that, but not to me."

Shigeru blanched a pale white. He had been caught in a lie he had barely realized that he had formed, himself.

"Tano-san, how did you know...?" he asked.

"I have a way of sensing these sort of things," said the old man, resting on his cane. "Now, go off with you. I'll see you and your friend tomorrow morning."

"Yes sir," replied Shigeru, dutifully. Yet as he turned to catch up with Satoshi, who was speaking to the waiting Haruka, he felt himself filled with a quiet mirth. It seemed to him that this false Tano was as clever and discerning as the real one. In fact, there was hardly any difference between them at all, and Shigeru couldn't help feeling like he hadn't met someone new here in Alph; rather, it felt like he had reconnected with an old friend.

Whenever he got back to his world, the real world, he would take this world's Tano's advice, and thank his Tano-san. Shigeru knew that he owed the man at least that much, if not everything.

At the end of the road, Haruka waved at him to hurry and Satoshi called his name. He broke out of his thoughts and ran up to meet them with lightness of heart.

The next day, also, the sun rose.

Shigeru rose to consciousness with the barest traces of light on the horizon, and even with sleep at the edges of his eyes he knew there was a sameness in this day with the two days that had come before. He got up and began brewing tea, and wondered if there was truly a new routine for him, now, at Alph. As the day rushed by, he grew certain that it was not only a new routine, but it was a new life as well. He could lay down the main points quite easily: in the morning, he woke next to Satoshi; they ate; they bathed; they were walked to work and he would roll clay in his hands. Then he washed it off of him as the sun began to set, and went home, where they ate again before laying down on their pallets.

Yes, he realized, all too easily; this was his life now.

Some days passed like this, nearly a week of them, and then he found himself not counting the time, because it didn't mean anything anymore. All that mattered was the sun and Satoshi, and sometimes, they were the one and the same.

XD