About Crystals and Stars (On hold)

7-2

A/N: Largest part incoming. Please tell me if it does not load fully!

His hand throbbed where it was kissed by fire the day before. With every beat of his heart, the blistered skin ached. Opening his hand Shimon glanced at the palm presenting a red weal. It looked like he had held a burning sword. Yet, it had been his lack of experience that had marked him.

When he had woken up, the sun was rising in the sky and he'd been very cold. Without his coat even the fire had not been able to shield him from the coldness. Glancing over to the sleeping form that was covered with his coat, he had been glad to find out that the girl from Narukami had not attacked him while he was sleeping. She looked to be resting with much more comfort and so he had decided to let her regain her strength a while longer at the sight of her soft expression.

The fire had dimmed down and he'd thought about gathering more firewood but decided differently. If they needed this much wood to keep a fire through the night, they couldn't afford to keep it running at day. But chopping wood was impossible, too. They had no tool for that.

And so he had made plans on how they most likely would survive until they either found a way to get off this island or to be found by the search parties which where likely turning each stone on Tsuchimikado around at the moment. At some point they would set their sight offshore, when they realized their prince was nowhere to be found on Tsuchimikado.

During planning on their tasks, Shimon's mind had drifted off to the girl sleeping peacefully a few feet away. She was odd. She looked like an underclass maid but acted and spoke like a noble. Something was off about her. She was clearly hiding something despite the stolen dagger and that was a dangerous thing.

And then there was also something familiar about her. Like he should have known her.

He was playing with a stick in the dying fire, when he'd heard her sigh.

Forcing her out of his head, he had continued to shovel the burning parts of the fire closer together.

When he'd heard her sigh again, he had turned around and watched her rise, before folding his coat neatly in her hands. It was a bewitching sight and he stared at her without understanding why. She'd looked like a princess and not like a simple girl. Her movements were graceful despite the restriction of her yukata, her expression awe-inspiring despite having risen from sleep just a moment ago.

He had watched her coming closer, his gaze fixed to her like in a spell. Was she able to use witchcraft like some people were said to be?

Anyway, this morning he'd learned that she was nice actually.

Until a few moments ago they had discussed the plans he'd thought about and she'd been logically and strategically adding to what he had planned. The result was them agreeing on collecting and stocking up firewood at the border of the forest, more shielded from rain. Moreover they agreed on a strategy to provide for food and start building a raft when they had time.

It had been almost surprising on how well they actually harmonized in discussing a strategy. Yet, that had not been the most surprising thing this morning.

He had been slightly surprised, when she'd thanked him for giving her his coat but even more, when she'd apologized to him. In kind he had told her his name while he carefully placed the folded piece of clothing in front of him which was soaked in her body warmth. And that was when the most astounding thing happened: The sound of his name rolling off of her tongue in a gentle tone was a hundred times more surprising than their harmony or her gratitude and apology; or rather the flutter it caused beneath his lungs was. It had taken him a moment and a steadying breath to catch himself after having heard her say his name in the slightly different accent, the foreign slur of vocals he had grown used to thanks to Seigen-dono. Without thinking about it, he'd called her Otomi-san in respect and had received the offer to call her by her birth name in return.