Youhei awoke with a start. It was almost morning - the day was about to break and he could see a faint tinge of red in the horizon. Today, they would continue to look for Hanamichi.

I wish …

There was a faint memory of grit and sand.

There is nothing to wish for. I am no longer a child, to long for a mother to run to when I have nightmares.

But still -

Youhei sat up gingerly, took a deep breath then closed his eyes.

"Can't sleep?" A quiet voice.

Youhei jumped, then relaxed as he recognized the other.

"… not exactly." Youhei admitted ruefully.

Kogure smiled, then got up from the watch point to sit beside Youhei on grass that was just beginning to condense.

Was it just he? Or was it out of respect for the dignity of dawn that their voices were hushed? From so near a position, Youhei noted that Kogure looked ordinary. Ordinary enough for someone like him to be thought of as someone average, going about his little business in the day to day life.

"I have nightmares too." Kogure tucked his knees under his chin and then stared at the dying firewood in front of him wistfully.

"Tell me about your dream." It wasn't a question.

Youhei stared at him, taken aback at the sudden change of tone. He turned away then, face flushed as his memories took control.

There didn't seem to be any harm not talking to Kogure. Youhei did not perceive any use in running away from someone like Kogure. He's the sort who catches up - eventually.

Youhei bit his lip, then rubbed his eyes.

No big deal … Lord above, it's just a dream …

"I was in a room, and there was a mirror in front of me. It was … late at night…"

Youhei frowned, then looked thoughtfully up at the sky. This was strange. This whole episode of him talking to Kogure about his dream was strange. He didn't normally tell people such things the next day he met them.

Kogure is an exception, I suppose …

"And…?"

Youhei glanced sideways and was a little unsettled to find Kogure's full attention on him.

"Go on."

"I wanted to wash my face, but before I could do that - I looked at the mirror and... " Talking about it was supposed to help, he knew.

"This is going to sound really strange but - "

Ah Lord, talking about it only made him feel worse.

"I walked towards the mirror and right after that, I found grit in my mouth." Almost self-consciously, Youhei fingered his mouth - as if to check for any anomalies.

"I started - vomiting. I was - puking … stone and sand. "

For a while, they were silent. The morning awakened slowly but there was no warmth in the dawn. After a few minutes, Youhei continued in a tone that sounded somehow detached.

"The pebbles were filling the room and the sand … it was everywhere… I couldn't get rid of it. And I couldn't stop vomiting either.. I just kept vomiting and when there was nothing left, I starting retching… "

His skin was crawling. The dream was not frightening in any sense but it shocked him in a strange way.

They both fell silent again.

"Perhaps you needed to get something out of your system?" Kogure chuckled ruefully.

"Couldn't you come up with something better than that?" Youhei shot back.

Kogure raised his eyebrows but did not comment further.

"Get ready, we have a long day ahead of us." He was about to get up and leave when Youhei hurriedly clutched at his sleeve.

"Please wait!" Torn between curiosity and the need for courtesy, Youhei let go of Kogure and stared steadfastly at the ground.

"What?"

"I want to know why you called me …that."

"Eternal One?"

"… Hai."

Again there was silence. The morning was dawning, and with the coming of that - the men were starting to awake. Youhei felt like he was watching a puppet show where the puppet master pulled the strings and hark! The men awoke and life began.

I am disgusted with myself.

Youhei rolled his eyes at the direction of his thoughts. First it was sand, and now it was puppets.

"There is nothing in a name." Kogure smiled, anticipating the heated response.

Youhei did not take kindly to that.

"What do you mean? First you call me 'Eternal' when I am like - the youngest one around here, and after that you tell me smugly that there is 'nothing in a name'?" Frustration laced his words.

I am losing control of my life. And this thought irked him far more than all the rest. Hanamichi was gone, and he was damn sure his childhood friend was somehow the central factor in all this mess.

The morning was dawning. But it didn't feel like morning, instead Youhei felt as if time had just reversed - and the morning had slid into an evening.

Kogure stroked his chin thoughtfully as he considered the bewildered young man beside him.

"Stop that. You aren't old enough to do that - only old people like my long dead drunkard of a father can."

After a shocked silence, both began to laugh.

"I'm sorry." Youhei grinned, offering a hand in apology.

"And I promise never to do that again. " Kogure swore in mock seriousness, and shook hands with Youhei.

Was it morning or evening? It was of course logically the morning - but could not one be tempted to lay back down and look at that fading sky and believe that it was really dusk? It was dawn because the soldiers said so. And they set up fires and broke camp because they look up at the sky and they say that this was dawn.

"Youhei."

It seemed to him that although Kogure's voice had a low, gentle tone - there was an underlying sense of something that Youhei couldn't define.

"What do you understand from the word 'Eternal'?"

The question caught him by surprise.

"Eternal - is the sky above, the turning of the seasons, the ocean." He hoped that made sense.

"The sky turns dark for half a day, and the next half it turns bright with the coming of the sun. It is never eternally spring or winter. The ocean tides come and go as and when the moon wanes. Tell me what is so eternal about that."

Youhei never pretended to be a scholar. He only gazed at Kogure with a rising sense of disquiet.

Scholar or not, he had to try.

"The islands in the north have always been eternal summer."

"The Northern islands?" Kogure shook his head. "Would you believe that the ancient histories have referred to the Northern islands as the coldest places on earth from the time of the Second Awakening?"

Youhei could only sigh in frustration. Kogure got up, dusting his robe. It was time to talk to Akagi about the journey ahead.

"Now you understand why I cannot answer your question before you find me something that is eternal."

He could only chuckle softly at Youhei's rueful dismay before walking away.

"Perhaps in the process of searching for the eternal, you might understand a little better what it means to be named so."

---------------------------------------------------------

He had long given up trying to figure out where they were. It looked as if it was some kind of a dungeon at first, but he wasn't so sure anymore.

It was darker now. If it was 'day' just then, he construed from the shadows lingering that it was 'night' now. Sighing under his breath, he did not have to look beside him to know that the do'aho was fighting to stay awake but failing miserably.

Hanamichi and Rukawa sat side by side, backs leaning against a stone wall.

It was a stone wall from all appearances. Hanamichi glared at it for a while, refusing even to touch the uneven surface. He and Rukawa would have sworn that it hadn't been there a few hours ago.

They were both exhausted. Hence, the unspoken, tentative truce between them.

Hanamichi was aware that Rukawa was more tired than he was. After all, he had been the one who had to drag him out of the quicksand.

Not once, but several times. An insidious voice whispered in his mind. He hated Rukawa, but he was finding out very soon that he hated quicksand more. That, and anything that has sand in it.

Rukawa's head was drooping and Hanamichi was sure by now that the monster was asleep.

He wanted to wake him up, just to spite him. But he didn't. Hanamichi thought it wouldn't be wise to spoil the tentative peace. And he needed to take some time to think.

I would die before I let anyone see myself like this. He thought, frowning down at the deadlock that trapped his wrist to Rukawa's.

He suddenly froze when Rukawa made a soft sleepy sound and leaned on Hanamichi's shoulder - as if it was the most natural thing in the world for the dark angel to do.

Peace or no peace - this was unforgivable.

"Bakayarou!" He didn't have to do much, all he did was to jerk his hand and shake Rukawa off his shoulder.

"… what?" The low husky voice that came when one just awoke would have been thrilling to hear if it didn't belong to him.

"Stop sleeping." Hanamichi muttered in a disgusted tone.

"I wasn't!"

"Weak."

"Shouldn't you be a bit more grateful?" Rukawa ran his fingers through his hair tiredly.

"Hmph."

The silence stretched like a string on a needle. The shadows grew long, and it truly felt like the day has gone asleep. At least, it felt like it. After all, if you couldn't see the sun - it was night, was it not?

How long were they going to be stuck here? He still had many things left behind in the real world.

Youhei and the rest would be searching for him. He could still hear the frantic edge in Youhei's voice before he jumped down from his window.

Come to think of it, that was a really stupid thing to do. Hanamichi would never admit that to anyone, of course. He had an image to maintain. He was the tensai.

The hours crept. Thoughts circled themselves like a dog chasing its own tail.

Pandora's Box.

A monster with wings.

Rukawa was a monster - one who had just saved his life not once, but several times.

Was all of this even real? Was all of this possibly a dream that he hadn't awakened from? If only there was a way to get out of this damned place. Perhaps there was - if he thought hard enough.

Hanamichi knew he wasn't one to sit down and ponder on things. Youhei was the one who did that. He himself had always been a person more given to action than thought.

What was the use of thinking so much when in the end, there was really only one solution?

But right now, there was nothing to do. There wasn't anyone to fight, or knock down. There wasn't a target. Hanamichi had no idea what he was supposed to do.

That do'aho beside him had fallen back to sleep. With nothing to stare at, he could only turn his gaze to Rukawa.

He's too fair, he decided after a moment's thought. Glancing at his own skin which was tanned from the many hours spent in the sun, Hanamichi could only wonder at how Rukawa managed to stay so pale.

Well, unless he stays at some place where there wasn't much sun. Hanamichi concluded lamely.

I don't even know his full name. Or where he came from. Or why he was looking for Akagi.

And why he struggled to save me when he could have just left me alone to drown in the quicksand.

And he had wings. Glorious, raven black wings that burst from his back - like an angel.

A dark angel.

Mother was right. Trouble never comes alone.

Perhaps he should sleep as well. The gray emptiness was wearing him out.

Perhaps Pandora will come by, and set us free with her curiosity.

He was so sleepy he didn't realize just how bizarre that sounded. His eyes closing, Hanamichi gave in to the heavy drowsiness of sleep.