"Where will we go?" Souten mumbled. Fifteen-year-old Hiten frowned to her, remaining silent as he guided her by the hand. He shrugged, not having much to say. Witnessing your parents burning to death wasn't something ideal, nothing something a small child should have to see.

"I don't know…" He muttered, feeling her gaze on him as they walked.

"Will mommy and daddy find us?" She asked and he bit his bottom lip anxiously. He didn't have to look to her to know there were tears. He shook his head and her lip quivered. He threw himself down on the ground under the bridge, pulling her on his lap.

"We'll be alright." He soothingly stroked her hair.

"I wanna go home." She cried in his chest, not understanding. He felt his own vision blur but refused to let tears fall. He was responsible for her, and so he would be strong for her. They wouldn't end up in some bullshit foster care; he would take care of her.

"We don't have one right now, Souten."

Hiten's eyes snapped open and he groaned, shielding the sunlight from his eyes with his hand. Why had he had such a dream? Technically, it was a flashback. He didn't like it. Glancing around the room he saw Yura was still peacefully asleep, but the boy, Bankotsu, was missing. He shook his head and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead before getting up, dismissing any acknowledgement to his nightmare.

"Hey!" He called out, getting to his feet as he searched. The girl remained asleep and he rolled his eyes. He was stuck with a moron and a lazy whore. He found Bankotsu sitting outside, contently drinking a bottle of water, staring into the horizon. "Ready to head out?"

"Have to wait for her to wake up." Bankotsu shrugged casually, taking a sip from his bottle. He seemed peaceful enough to concern Hiten, though it was another thought pushed to the back of his mind. He nudged him with the toe of his boot.

"Why should we do that? You need a piece of ass that much?" He teased and Bankotsu rolled his eyes, though he grinned to the comment. He then shook his head and Hiten arched a brow.

"I recognize her from somewhere, but I'm not ready to fuck anyone I see around here. Risks too much, I just think we all got put together a reason, be it good or bad, so we're best off sticking together until we find out what exactly." He looked up with his deep, azure eyes and Hiten scratched the back of his neck. That all sounded too full of meaning for this dimwit. He opened his mouth to speak but stopped when the girl poked her head outside, smiling faintly at the sight of them and approaching.

"So…did you guys have any food when you…woke up?" She asked hesitantly and they both glanced down to their stomachs, now realizing the emptiness.

The trio walked in silence, finding nothing edible in that small shelter, they decided to travel in hopes of something, anything. Were they put here to starve to death? It didn't make much sense, but what about their situation did? Bankotsu took on the role he had before, when it was just him and Hiten, in gazing around at the area. He looked around with a childish glint in his azure eyes despite the fact that nothing really seemed to change as they went on. Yura had her arms crossed tightly across her chest and was also looking around, only it was more frantically. She was scared, paranoid. Hiten ignored them both. He was determined to find a way out of this mess, or maybe wake up from this dream; nightmare?

"How many circles have we walked in?" Bankotsu asked in a raspy voice, even though he held the plastic water tight in his clenched fist. He learned how to preserve water; something told him he'd have to share towards the end.

"None." Hiten scoffed at him disapprovingly. Yura blinked over, and then joined Bankotsu in stopping. Hiten growled in his dry throat and looked to the side with them, wiping the beads of sweat that formed at his hairline with his arm. The whistling of the wind almost made the sounds of shouts from inside the shelter inaudible, almost. Bankotsu picked up his feet and started jogging towards it. Yura looked to Hiten warily, who shrugged at her casually before following the eager, child-like adult.

She snarled as she whipped whatever she could across the room to the cross-dressing man she had never seen before. Both of them had one wrist were cuffed to their separate beds on opposite sides of the room. The man with the feminine voice (and make up more expensive than hers) shouted insults, demanded to know where they were. Like hell she knew, she woke up after him.

"You whorey little slut, you better start talking! Wait until I get loose, oh-hoh you're in for it, hussy!" He quipped, trying to lunge forward, only for the metal cuff on his wrist to pull him back, toward the bed. Idiot, she'd tried that more than twenty times already. Only she was smart enough to realize the legs of the bed were bolted to the floor. She was hunched over, panting from exhaustion and the incessant heat. She brushed her bangs aside, she could feel her bun already half-fallen out, her strap of her tank top fallen off her shoulder, and she didn't care. Her heavy panting and clenched teeth were all she really felt, that and the thin layer of sweat on her skin.

"Listen, you fucking asshole." She whispered and the man rolled his eyes at her, huffing and muttering his insults he had just been yelling. "I don't know where the fuck we are!" She heard her voice crack; she didn't care about that, either. She was frustrated and hot and tired and for some reason, her muscled ached. How long had she been asleep anyway?

"You lying hussy!" He yelled back, throwing his feathery pillow at her. It hit her square in the face before falling to the ground in front of her. She snarled, it was like she was going insane in this little heat box. Who did he think he was? Where was she? She lunged forward. She was taken aback at first, but she ignored it and kept reaching, clawing her self-manicured nails in his direction, and he went back to her, taking a fistful of her hair and yanking her to him. She yelped and managed to scratch across his face, hearing a grunt escape his lips. They froze when the door opened, her grabbing his cheek and him yanking her hair.

"…Jakotsu?" A tanned man smiled, his piercing azure eyes showed gratefulness, excitement, finally someone he knew out here. His family, his brother was with him. Jakotsu seemed to return his smile and he took note of the cuffs and began shuffling around the room. The girl with scarlet eyes stood frozen, not attempting to fix the strap of her tank top or the ruffled mop of hair on her head. The man found the keys, in the bathroom by the sink and blinked at the girl, just taking note of her presence. He half-smiled, a little startled by the hateful look in her eyes. The stone cold glare she gave him with those red eyes.

"You." She spat.