Nowaki yawned when he sat up from the bed he shared with everyone in the hut. He stretched out his limbs. The light peeked through the fur curtain which served as their door, he turned around and saw everyone was still in a deep sleep. After sleeping on the sand, the night before, having a comfortable bed provided to them was an improvement. The blankets which covered everyone were pushed away from them, Nowaki couldn't blame them, it was growing increasingly hot since the sun rose in the sky. He was sure it was going to be a particularly hot day and the fact they were provided suitable clothing for this weather was something he appreciated.
He poked the bed and feathers peeked out from the fur lining of the bed. It was well put and sturdy with the ropes used to keep it together, Nowaki didn't know if the other families on the island used beds, but he was grateful that they had one. One thing he wished they had been pillows, he was never able to fall asleep without clutching one or resting his head on a soft pillow. He didn't want to complain, the leaders and the village were so courteous to their ordeal so he could deal without the soft plush.
His hands touched the bandages on his head and felt the paste that Hiroki put on him seeping through the corners of the bandages. He might have to take another bath later on in the day, well if he was allowed to leave the village. They were not situated into their roles yet so he was sure the whole village would keep a close eye on them. Although, the ones who were placed aside due to further inspection were watched over with extra security.
In a way, he felt bad that those people were speculated as having dangerous tendencies for this tribe. However, the tribe judged people, the ones who had the final say were the shaman and the first leader. The second leader was the one who managed the peace and tended to all of the troubles on her own, with some help from the first leader if it was necessary. She explained her role which was more interpersonal than the main leader and after gaining the loyalty of the tribe, she was more eager at her older age to talk to everyone.
It helped that she knew the language and she told the passengers that she was more or less fluent after a few years. It wouldn't take them too long to learn the language and she encouraged them to practice any words they heard. The passengers told her they would try but not all of them wanted to learn the language, they still had the hope they would be able to escape.
The second leader was stranded on the island thirty years ago, technology had evolved substantially since then. With that information, there was still hope they would be found. They didn't want them to think they were ungrateful of their hospitality, but a majority wanted to go home and forget about all of this mess.
Nowaki got up from his side of the bed as he peeked outside of the hut and saw plenty of the villagers walking around. His eyes caught a young man's gaze and he smiled when he waved at him. The young man hesitated a bit but waved back a few seconds later, then he went on his merry way with a spear in his hands. Nowaki moved the fur curtain aside as he walked outside, his new sandals crunched the grass under his feet.
He made it to the middle of the whole tribe, a circular section where the plants were cleared out, leaving the grass and the double thrones of the leaders. The villagers behaved like anyone else back in Japan, he walked near a group of young girls who stared at him and started giggling. The older people were playing some gave that didn't require much movement, some were pointing at the homes or even the young children who were screaming their heads off with frowns on their faces. Everyone was either busy doing something or sleeping underneath the trees which obscured the harsh sun away from them.
Everything was peaceful, the sounds of the birds chirping and even the slamming of rocks wasn't harsh to the ears. Nowaki took in a deep breath, taking in all the smells which surrounded him. For the first time in years, he didn't smell overwhelming perfume or cologne, it was all fresh air. Something he would have never gotten unless he was out in the country which he almost never ventured off to since he knew no one to stay with to enjoy nature.
In a way, the airplane landing in the ocean made him open his heart to this new experience. He didn't have to worry about studying for school, working his list of part time jobs to make ends meet at his small rental and this was a new beginning. Even if he was never found, at least he had a new place to call home with other people.
He just had to learn the language so he could start talking to people.
Opening his eyes, Nowaki stared around the surrounding area. The atmosphere from when he woke up tied up and where he was now standing was vastly different. Before he was scared and stressed, now he was relaxed.
Nowaki saw a familiar long brown haired man a good distance away from where he stood. There were a few other men carrying some items which were wrapped with fur and Hiroki was walking right behind them. His usual loincloth was ditched for a long skirt which reached down to his knees and his hair was let go of the band which held it together the last time he saw him.
"Hiroki-san!" Nowaki waved at him from his far away distance, this caught the attention of the group of men who nudged Hiroki's shoulder.
Hiroki turned to stare at him, his brow arched, his hands were full to the brink with items. He recognized Nowaki when he saw his bright blue eyes, no one else on this island had eyes like those. His stature was different from all of the other people as well, the man was an easily spotted target for anyone that would try looking for him.
Hiroki didn't know if it was something important, but he did tell the newcomers to ask them questions if they needed anything. His mother must not have waken up yet or she was somewhere else on the island that none of them saw her. He knew for sure they were not going to ask his father, the terrifying face which judged them yesterday were not going to want to talk to him anytime soon.
Not that he blamed them.
His father intimidated plenty of the people in the tribe, but he was sure it was now out of respect at this point.
He told his group. "Go on without me and make sure to give the weapons directly to Aki, then come back with the herbs needed for the shaman's medicine."
They all nodded his heads as they walked away, and Hiroki jumped down from the small hill onto the ground. His feet managed to miss the thick roots which were spread on the ground and his basket was still tied around his shoulders. Nowaki tried not to wince since a jump from that distance hurt the feet if someone was barefoot, especially if the person landed on the roots.
Hiroki walked directly to Nowaki and asked him. "Is anything wrong?"
Nowaki shook his head when he smiled. "Nothing is wrong, I just wanted to say good morning."
"That's it?" Hiroki inquired.
"Having a conversation is nothing bad, Hiroki-san." Nowaki said as it dawned on him that maybe Hiroki was busy, and he might have intruded on him. "Were you going somewhere?"
Hiroki nodded his head, explaining everything, he held the strap of his basket. "I was told to send some new weapons to the tribe on the other side of the island actually."
Realization came to Nowaki when he asked. "I interrupted your errand, didn't I?"
"Not really, the group I was going with can handle themselves on their own. Though, Aki might be annoyed that I didn't meet him. He might try to keep what we need on purpose just to annoy them since I didn't go."
"Aki?" Nowaki grew curious at the Japanese sounding name.
"My friend." Hiroki told him. "I was told some Japanese names my mother told me, and I named him Aki because his name just didn't suit him in my opinion." Nowaki opened his mouth. "You are going to have to ask him when you meet him, don't ask me." Nowaki closed his mouth with a pout.
Hiroki's hair blew harshly when the wind blew and Nowaki burst into laughter. The hair blocked a good portion of Hiroki's face and became tangled on the surrounding branches behind the man. Hiroki moved his hair aside with disgruntled look which made Nowaki laugh even harder.
Hiroki tapped his foot, waiting for Nowaki's laughter to subside before he talked again. Moments later, the laughter went down to low giggles while Nowaki struggled to keep his laughter in check in front of Hiroki.
"Are you done?"
Nowaki snorted. "I'm sorry but-" He laughed again. "The look on your face!"
"I'm happy I amuse you." Came a sarcastic reply from Hiroki who crossed his arms over his chest.
Holding his hand up, Nowaki controlled himself, he stared at Hiroki with a smile. "Sorry about that..you are not mad right."
Shaking his head, Hiroki told him, "No." There was no point in anger when he didn't keep his own hair in check.
Nowaki let out a sigh of relief, "That's good." He stared at Hiroki's tangled up hair when he asked. "Do you have your hair tie?"
Hiroki took out a ripped piece of clothing and handed it to Nowaki. In turn, Nowaki walked around Hiroki and took out pieces of leaves out of Hiroki's long hair. He was amazed at Hiroki's nice looking hair, the humidity should have made the hair frizz up, but it seemed Hiroki didn't have this type of hair. His fingers went through the hair, taking out more rubbish while making sure there was nothing else while he made sure not to cause any pain when he fixed some of the knots.
"...What are you doing?" Hiroki knew exactly what Nowaki was doing but he didn't understand why he was fixing up his hair, it would turn into a mess when the day ended anyway. "There is no point in trying to fix it."
Nowaki continued on touching Hiroki's hair, he told him with a smile. "I want to fix it, it's no problem with me. And besides," He crouched down closer to Hiroki's ear. "It would look like in a braid in my opinion."
Hiroki's cheeks turned slightly pink; he blamed it on the weather growing hotter as the sun got higher up in the sky. "Do what you want, hurry up with what you are doing. I have things to do."
Nowaki snickered. "Alright." When he was sure there was no more leaves or twigs in Hiroki's hair, he separated the hair into three pieces and started to braid it. "You should trim it too; it would be a shame to cut it with lack of management. Your mother's hair is healthy and well taken care of, you should follow her example."
Hiroki's eyebrow twitched but remained where he stood. "This coming from a man with short hair." Nowaki stopped moving his hands to listen to Hiroki. "If you haven't noticed, everyone has long hair in this tribe."
Nowaki thought back on all of the villagers he saw throughout his walk. "There was a couple with short hair carrying a child, what about them?"
"They cut their hair short and burned it for the health of their child. It's an old superstition that doesn't hold any value, but my parents did it when I was born." Hiroki's eyes stared at the flowers in front of him. "It is also done when someone takes in another child as their own due to whatever circumstance that leaves the child without their parents."
Nowaki kept his gaze on the remaining strands of hair in his hands and remained quiet. He wasn't ashamed of his stay in the orphanage, it was one his drives to enter medical school to prove that orphans had a chance in the real world and were not worthless. No one ever told him any backhanded comments to his face, but he was sure they whispered behind his back. He wasn't too dense not to figure out the facial expressions and the tone people used after they found out; this was why he never revealed his background so easily.
He told Misaki because the young man was in distress, and he knew Misaki wouldn't judge him for it. To find out the young man lost his parents at a young age and his brother raised him until he was in high school and had to move to Canada for his job, Misaki lived a long life before he lived it. He had a twinkle in his eye when he talked about his nephew to the woman he chatted with after he got out of his funk.
"Nowaki?"
Nowaki snapped from his thoughts, he smiled as he finished the braid and tied the torn up strip of cloth at the end. "Sorry, I was just thinking..."
"About going home?"
Nowaki's smile turned into a frown. "I have no home to go back to, I only stayed in the city to study, nothing more."
Hiroki took that as a sign to drop it and didn't ask any more questions on the issue. "Thanks for braiding my hair...it will be ruined by the time I get back home in the night."
Nowaki pouted. "Don't ruin it so fast, I worked hard on it."
"Whatever." Hiroki noticed one of the women pointing to Nowaki, he nodded his head to her, he turned back to Nowaki. "You should go with Fauna for a while," Nowaki stared at him in confusion, Hiroki pointed to the woman with a basket full of fruit in her arms. "It seems she wants you help her with the fruit gathering, you are up early so you might as well go help."
Nowaki nodded his head as he smiled. "Of course! I would love to! Um...do I just stay quiet the whole time..I mean I don't know any of your language."
Hiroki stated. "She knows Japanese, Nowaki. Well slightly, so you can understand what she tries to mean." He patted him on the back. "Go on, she won't stay waiting for long."
"Alright, see you later?"
Hiroki told him that he would, Nowaki took on running to the young lady while he turned away from him. His hands touched the braid with gentleness, smiling lightly, he walked away from the middle of the whole tribe.
Xxxxxxxxxx
Kana woke up by the sound of a zipper and a bag dropped onto the ground with a slight thud. She opened her eyes, squinting, she made out the outline of one of the young men who were stranded on the island with them. The thin body and the short hair cut proved her analysis, none of the other women had short hair, well except for her. Rubbing her eyes, she saw the guy more clearly and realized that it was Misaki who was near the pile of bags they placed in the corner of the cabin.
Misaki heard her shuffling in their bed as he turned to her. "Good morning, Kana-san!" He didn't mean to wake her up, but he was eager to leave the hut and start out his day, though he didn't expect that anyone would hear him all about.
"Good morning." She smiled lightly as she cuddled against her blanket, she reached for her glasses that she left above her head last night. "You are up early."
Misaki grinned without a care in the world. "I know, I'm going to go to the lake for a bath but this time I am taking my towel with me to dry myself off with."
"You are going to go to the lake again Misaki?" Kana asked the young man in confusion as she put her glasses on her face. "Wouldn't it be easier if we all went together as a group? This way you won't get lost when you go out to bathe."
Misaki stuffed his bag with his blanket and made sure his soap was inside before he zipped it up. "It's pretty early in the day so I wanted to make sure I was alone to wash myself and...I wanted some alone time to think too." He smiled as he put the bag over his shoulders and walked toward the entrance.
Kana sat up as she stretched out her arms and yawned. "Just be careful..."
Misaki's eyes twinkled when he smiled. "I will! I will try to bring some food if I can find anything." He walked out of the entrance as he immediately took the trail which led to the lake.
He wasn't too surprised when he saw plenty of the villagers walking around, some were making clothing, others were picking fruit from the trees, he caught a few carrying jugs full of water. There were kids who ran around, they broke in fits of giggles every so often, but Misaki saw them playing the same game he participated in the day before. Smiling lightly, he walked past all of the activity and took in all of the scenery of the forest and the perched birds that ate some of the fruit that were left over from the earlier pickings. Now that he wasn't afraid, Misaki saw the beauty of the forest, he only saw pictures and scenes on tv, but it didn't beat the real deal.
His brother would have loved to wander through the forest with the whole family. Manami carrying the new baby when she grew older, Takahiro walked on ahead with a huge basket of food while he carried his Mahiro in his arms. Biting the inside of his cheek, Misaki briefly stopped in his tracks as tears accumulated in his eyes. He didn't want to cry again, there was honestly no point when nothing could change.
Wiping the tears from his face, he smiled in bitterness and sniffled. He couldn't share any more moments with his family, he was now truly alone with people he just met in an airplane. He resumed walking, wiping his face again with the back of his hand but looked at his surroundings so he didn't get lost.
The moment Misaki made it to the lake, he peeked over his shoulder and any other place he might find anyone. Letting out a sigh of relief, he walked down the small trial which connected with a small patch of grass, connecting to the actual lake. He placed his bag in one of the spaces of the roots from one of the many trees surrounding the lake, surprisingly he didn't see any fish swimming in this small section of water. They were most likely in the river on the other side of the tribe, and he was glad for it. He didn't want fish touching his bare skin.
He placed his hands on the ties which held his new clothes together when he heard the splashing of water. Misaki snapped to the left and saw someone without any clothes in the lake. He recognized the long brown hair and the scars; his eyes widened the moment he stared below the waist.
Misaki blushed when he got an eyeful of Hiroki's bare butt, he covered his eyes and looked away. "I-I'm sorry! I didn't know you were bathing I apologize."
Hiroki had no shame as he turned around and placed his hands on his hips, he said to Misaki. "You have seen a dick before, haven't you? There's one between your legs if you haven't noticed."
"O-Of course I have seen one and have one! I used to bathe with my brother all the time when I was little!" Misaki kept his eyes covered with his hands. "It's just that I didn't expect anyone to be taking a bath this early in the morning! There is such a thing as privacy you know!"
Hiroki stared up at Misaki. "Just to let you know kid, there is no privacy on this island when it comes to bathing. You either have a spotter, bathe in the coldness of night or bathe in your clothes. Take your pick before you decide to bathe."
Misaki peeked through his fingers, trying to keep his attention on Hiroki's face. "But I didn't think anyone would be here this early..."
Hiroki walked toward the tree his clothes were located and avoided the rocks near the shore with finesse. "I'm sure you only saw my butt, so I don't know why you are being so flustered." He grabbed his skirt that he placed on one of the branches which leaned over the lake. "You are going to have to get used to it unless you will react like this to everyone else who bathes in this tribe."
Misaki's face turned into an even darker red. "You mean the women bathe without a care too?"
Hiroki studied Misaki for a moment, then shook his head, he got onto the grass and let the air dry him off. "Of course, as I said, there is no privacy in the matter of bathing. Though everyone takes offense if someone stares at them while bathing on purpose."
When his body was sufficiently dry, Hiroki put on his long skirt and tossed his braid over his shoulder. After Nowaki left to help one of the women, the braid was left undisturbed by his hands. It helped that his hair wasn't all over his face, but he didn't want to see any disappointment in Nowaki's face if he saw he ruined his work form earlier. Peeking over his shoulder, he still saw Misaki covering his face, he rolled his eyes at the display. To him, nakedness was no big deal, but it seemed where his mother came from were not used to seeing people in the nude on a daily basis.
Misaki had to get used to his new life or he would never see anything on this island because he was distracted from the lack of clothing on everyone else. Although, Misaki was safe compared to some of the men who were put aside for re-evaluation. His father and the Shaman saw the evil intentions in their eyes without a second thought, Hiroki knew their departure to the other tribe was inevitable.
Not that he cared about them, anyone who was harmful to their peaceful living needed to be gone.
Hiroki didn't hear anyone else coming along, he commented. "No one else is around, you better make this bath quick."
Misaki peeked through his fingers and saw Hiroki was fully dressed. He furiously nodded his head as Hiroki walked away without another word. The young man touched his warm face and contemplated on his reaction. He had shared a bathhouse with men before so why did he react this way?
TBC