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flashback

But she was still believed that there were vegetables untouched somewhere on the island. She did another thorough search of the land, going by inches to see if she could have overlooked. But a second time would reveal nothing again. Flabbergasted by the inability to find something so simple, she would return to the forest again. It was unbelievable. She hadn't been dreaming of seeing the remnants of the plants. So then, where were they? She would be trying to find them as she continued to walk. And she would find them; some twelve or so hours later because right then her foot slipped on the mud and sent her rolling down a rather steep muddy slope. She had been too immersed in her thinking to look where she was going.  

She let out a little scream as she went flying forward, her body hitting the muddy slope and rolling down it. To add on to her already dirty attire. The slope wasn't as steep as that of a cliff or a mountain but it was steep enough that it took a few seconds of rolling before she would stop. Her head crashed into a tree trunk after stopping, knocking all the living daylights out of her. Feeling the initial pain from her head, her eyes would close and she would enter a state of unconscious. She definitely had not planned for that to happen. But she was unclumsy in her own right, so that it was just natural that she would find herself at a bottom of a slope.

Ren on the other hand had just awoken from deep slumber himself. He had slept longer than he intended especially on a surface like sand. He wasn't that fond of the particles in any way. But he must have been too tired to care the night before. Yawning loudly, he started to stand up. He noticed that the fire he had started was all but distinguished by now. He looked left and right, trying to find Sayuri. He had half expected her to continue to be sleeping when he woke up but it was already late morning. The sun was already streaming warmth down on the island. And his passenger was nowhere to be found. Thinking that she had probably gone to wash up, he didn't take much attention to her absence.

He was thinking about the plan he had had before. He was going to have to build a raft. It was a good thing that before he had gone under the water he had grabbed his emergency kit. It had all the necessary equipment to ensure that he could get a raft made and ready in no time. He retrieved his kit from his right. It contained a hammer, some rope as well as some first aid equipment in case an injury was to fall on him. He figured that he would need a lot of wood and logs for the raft since it needed to be big enough for two people to travel on. It also needed to be sturdy to support the weight of them. He was already thinking that it would take him most of the day just collecting the wood.

He didn't wait for her to come back to start looking for wood. The faster he started the faster he would be done and the faster they would be able to get off the island. If she came back and found that he wasn't there, she could use common knowledge to deduce that he was out in the forest trying to cut down tree trunks to make them a raft. Taking his bag along with him, he would make his way towards the forest area, anticipating that the day was going to be tiresome and cruel. He wasn't one that like physical labor, at least not too much of it. But they'd landed here and he couldn't ask a girl to go and chop down trees.

flashback

Sayuri was stranded on an island--with no means to escape. It was as though the skies above wanted to play games with her. First it was the violent waves and then now it was stranded. The only thing she got going for her was that she was not alone. At least she had Ren there with her. If not, she wouldn't know what to do. Having left the safety of the little town to seek a journey across the oceans, she really hadn't expected the journey to be so complicated. Maybe she was to blame for most of the complications; but she also blamed it a little on the cruelness if fate. If only fate could turn in her favor for once. But it wouldn't be notorious for being cruel if that was an option.

She sat on the sandy plains of a remote island. This place we far from ideal. Their boat had been hit with a violent wave while they were sailing; going to an unknown destination. They were lucky to make it to shore alive. But the real problems began to rise here. They had managed to settle the basic problem of food by cooking wild animals but now there was the problem with getting back to the ocean waters. Their craft having been carried by the vicious water was long gone somewhere and now they no longer had a boat that could continue their journey. So were they planning on just being left for stranded here? Was that where her fate would let her end up as the final point?

Ren had reassured her that he would find a way for them to leave. If he couldn't find a way,  he would make a way. Although trusting in his skills and word, she wasn't about to just be blindly hopeful. Their first night had come and gone without much trouble but it was only after waking up that she would start to wonder again how long it would be before without much trouble was going to slowly start to fade. And until then, what were they going to do?She was sure that she at least needed to do something to try and get them out of the mess.

Even though she had not be plagued with nightmares or weird dreams; a miracle upon itself, she found an unsettling and uneasy feeling surrounding her when she awoke the next morning. It couldn't be explained; or that there were just no words that could begin to offer the right explanation. She woke with a start, for a moment honestly afraid of something. That disturbed her because she didn't have the convenient excuse that it had been a nightmare she had just awoken from. Her sleep was dreamless as far she could tell. Then where did this feeling come from and why was it so great that it felt almost suffocating? She was at a loss for any kind of justification. 

A few seconds of blankness and then she would be forced back into reality. The reality which told her that she was stranded on an island and that she would need to get her act together if she didn't want to be stranded there forever. She looked at the smoke and ashes that were the remnants of the bonfire Ren had made the night before and then stared at the sleeping figure of Ren himself. She couldn't just sit there doing nothing since he had done so much. She would take advantage of the fact that he was still sleeping to try and act upon her thinkings. Just sitting wasn't going to get anything done after all.

The scenery of pure whiteness graced her eyes as she saw that the boat was drifting closer and closer to the country marked as the New World. She was rather shocked at the striking resemblance between Tetsu and whatever memory she still had left of Yuki no Kuni. It was true, the bone chilling coldness that came with the sudden drop of temperature and the snow that covered the country's grounds made it almost look like she was back home. But she wasn't that naive knowing that Yuki had been demolished long ago. But seeing the sight of thick snow--She was more inclined to explore this place now; and best of all she had a friend.

She would turn to him and hear the first part of his remark. There was nothing to be pitied about fir losing memory and it was only a matter of whether she gained it back that was the most important thing. And besides, apparently she wasn't alone on this journey after all. She had agreed to go with him not only because she thought it beneficial that she would be able to find something out about her past. She was also looking out for him; knowing the exasperations firsthand of what it felt like to wake up one morning and not have any recollection of anything. She had been there and done it. "There's no need for apologies. We're in the same boat now so let's try and help each other!" She was being unusually cheerful which scared and shocked her. Though she had no problem with being nice, it just wasn't in her veins to be.

It was after that she caught him mentioning about her being cold on Tetsu no Kuni. She was born and raised in Yuki no Kuni, accustomed supposedly to the harshness of cold climate. She was rather concerned about him as he was not from Yuki and may not be as used to the cold as she was. He would take off his coat and out it over her, dismissing her futile refusals. "Need I remind ya why ya should take the coat, lass? Ren winked at her while flashing her a bright smile. God she hated when other people were right. She shuddered as she remembered her first boat trip. Being born in Yuki no Kuni didn't mean a thing. The only thing it could mean was that she'd had the companion of snow all through her childhood. 

They would near the shores of this new foreign land within moments, Ren paddling the boat to the docks. Sayuri now had protection from the coat that was wrapped around her. She saw that Shizuka would not have a shirt and again be worried for his stamina against the chills of the country. He strapped his sword to his back and there was something about his figure that made her think him manly. An interesting thought from a mere teenager. She observed the scars on his body which were quite visible now that he was shirtless. He must have fought hard every battle and suffered a lot, she would think as her eyes did not leave the scars. Was this the true way of a warrior? If it was, then she must not be a real warrior having sustained little to no injuries. 

As they stopped, Shizuka would jump off first and would lend a hand to help her off the boat. Ren stayed on the boat however, bidding the two shinobi farewell. His transport mission now complete, he had to head back to the five great shinobi nations to transport other passengers. But he vowed that he would come back for them; would be there naturally if they needed his services again. With one last big smile, she would watch as he pulled out of the country's dock and move slowly away from the country itself. He had helped her a lot and she had not had a chance to show proper appreciation for all that he had done. She would stand very still, watching the boat's frame become smaller and smaller until it disappeared entirely beyond the horizon.

She followed Ren on the grassy terrain and ventured to where she knew the boat had been parked. The trio would walk down the patches of grass, quickening their steps as the thunder roared. They would have to try to get to Tetsu no Kuni fast. It wasn't quite safe to be traveling on the waters when a thunderstorm was fast approaching. So it was basically beating the clock. Wherever Tetsu no Kuni was. She had never heard of the place, much less seen it on a map. But she had faith in Ren; had faith that he would be able to take them there. He seemed to know the waters like it was his second home and had been to every place at least ten times if not more. She counted on his expertise.

As the three of them rushed to the boat, Ren would run ahead of them. He quickly untied the boat from one of the wooden poles that he guessed had been the remnants of what had been a dock that led people out of the country. His hands worked fast, untying the knot that he had made to secure the boat while he had followed Sayuri to tend to the stranger. And he would push the craft a little out to the waters so that it would start to drift. Motioning for the other two to get on before the craft left them behind, he helped first Sayuri and then Shizuka onto the wooden boat. It was small in terms of size but it made up for that with its comforts. There was an inside part of the boat, one which was clothed in cloth into a dome shape that allowed his passengers to sit quite comfortably within. If they didn't feel like sitting, they could always sit on the bench that was a little in front of the dome, the one Sayuri had been sitting on the many times she traveled with him.

Once the three of them were safely on board and that he had regained his paddle, he would officially start to paddle, his arms working vigorously as the paddle attacked the water's surface. He had never paddled so fast before, not unless it was a desperate situation. He wanted to ensure that they at least could get their way to Tetsu no Kuni. They would start traveling north. For someone that was only using one paddle, he was certainly one to paddle fast. He would only stop for a fraction of a second to which he took his map and would begin to search for the location of Tetsu no Kuni. He had never been there before, or rather had not known that the place was called Tetsu no Kuni. He had merely seen a large land of snow that was so cold that after dropping off his passengers he would not linger. But he had made a point on his map, marked with a red X. Seeing as he knew the names of the other places that were on the map, the red X must mark where they wanted to go.

All the while, Sayuri would sit with her new companion at the inside quarters of the boat. She noticed that the thunder clouds had started to part a little as they reached farther out to sea. That was a good thing since she questioned the likeliness of this little craft being able to survive should a huge thunderstorm strike up the waves of the ocean. She watched as Shizuka put his headband back on his forehead. Apparently he saw no need to hide the fact that he was a neukenin. Was that proud she saw on his face? She guessed that he should be proud. He had survived the war and though his country and village were destroyed, he had survived. Survival of the fittest after all. She would retrieve from the inner compartments of her cape her own headband and strap it on her forehead, the symbol of Yukigakure glistening. She was kind of proud of herself too for her village had met the same fate and she too had survived.

As the boat sailed forward, she would notice the awkward silence that ensued. She tried to make conversation, a rare thing for her to do. But he was so similar to her that it wasn't just creepy; it felt surprisingly calming. She would turn to Shizuka and began to speak to him, half speaking to herself though. "I came from Yukigakure no Sato and apparently was a Genin there before the war. But I lost a lot of my memory and ended up in a small town in the middle of nowhere for a year. Only recently did I get decide to travel around to find my own memories; any clues to my past." Had she said too much? Probably. But she couldn't mask her happiness at meeting someone so similar to her even though linked together only by the unfortunate similarity of amnesia. She decided it would be alright to stick around him since he seemed nice. Seemed.

Ren would take sudden turns in different directions while he paddled. Apparently Kusa no Kuni and all the other countries which had dissolved miraculously into islands of some sort were quite close to Tetsu no Kuni. There was no hard feat at trying to find the place since his navigation skills on water was superb. After a couple of twists and turns and some hours on the calm chilling waters, the boat would find itself nearing dangerously cold territory. The land was covered in snow, and a biting chill. Indeed, they had reached Tetsu no Kuni.

There was a certain thing about Shizuka that made her feel a little uneasy but she tried to mask it as she applied to cloth wrapped ice cube to his head. She told him that it was best if he pressed the ice against his head. Hopefully he was not going to ask where the ice came from. If he did, she'd literally have no choice but to disclose that she was a Genin from Yukigakure and a member of the Yukina Clan. Not that she expected him to know either of those things. But there was one thing that she was certain about the redhead now sitting in beside her; he was a shinobi, or had been once upon a time. She became quite intrigued by his best but knew it was best not to pry. People had their privacy after all.

She would bow to him as a sign that she too was pleased to meet him. Although on the inside she was certain whether it was pleasure that fueled the string of nice things that she was doing for him. But whether it was centered at that or whether she had had other intentions it all didn't matter at that particular point. He was injured and his injuries were not those quick fix things that only required a bandage. As she listened to him spill out his life story, which was only a few short sentences, her silver lobes would widen. This sort of scenario was so familiar--too familiar. But she waited until he had finished speaking, digesting everything he had just told her. He didn't remember anything about his past, only that he still live in this village and a war had ensued here and now had made this place the rubble that now graced their presence now.

So she was right, this place had once been a hidden village. She searched her limited memory for any particular as to which of the smaller villages which had been demolished by the war was under their feet. After a few seconds, it hit her. W-Was this Kusagakure no Sato? Then were they technically standing on its country, Kusa no Kuni? How did such a big country become this little island like structure? It was too surprising for even mere words to describe but apparently that was the case. She had only been able to link the country with the place because of the unusual abundance of grass terrain. There was no mistake in it, she was certain.

"I think--I think this is Kusa no Kuni and that you were a shinobi of its hidden village, Kusagakure no Sato." Her assumption was further certified as she looked at the metal plate that was still in his hand. The metal that had gleamed in the sunlight was indeed a headband and on it was the symbol for Grass Village. But why was there as a strike through the symbol? Another couple of moments of thought would finally dawn upon her that this man was a neukenin, which meant that he had voluntarily given up his village shinobi status without having committed a crime or that he had indeed committed some criminal act while he was still part of the village. Whichever it was, he didn't seem to have much memory of it all.

Thunder crackled up above, alerting both shinobi that a storm was about to hit the island. It was best if they headed out of the country for now. It was then that he stood up with a bit of difficulty and told him that he wanted to go to Tetsu no Kuni. She had never heard of this place; but from his simple description it was a safe haven for neukenin. Although she was not a neukenin, she was definitely not going to be going anywhere anytime soon. And so, she nodded when he asked her if she wanted to join him. "I'll gladly join you--I want you to find your memories" and lowering her voice she muttered underneath her breath "And maybe find my own at the same time--"

It was then that Ren finally stepped forward, introducing himself as the boatman which had brought Sayuri here to Kusa no Kuni. Being a boatman, his directions around the ocean waters was much better than the shinobi in front of him. He grinned and told Shizuka that the boat that they had come from was tied just past the grassy terrain that was behind them. If they hurried they could get there before the storm hit. It would have to wait before he could guarantee whether he knew where Tetsu no Kuni was.