Lost

[misono_soup]

"Genuemon?" Misono poked around on deck, looking for her family. She found him chatting animatedly with strangers in a language she didn't know. She looked down at the picnic basket in her hands. She'd snuck in to the kitchens and charmed the cooks into giving her a lunch for two...but she knew her family and she knew he wouldn't want to leave

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[misono_soup]

Kazunari-kun had hair the color of fire. And a lot of it. That he had a lot of hair she'd figured out down in the hold but in the dim she hadn't seen him very well. She'd only glanced at him as he'd stumbled. In full light, it was obvious he wasn't Japanese. He had a strange and foreign face. But he had a nice smile, even if it was tiny.

And the wind had missed him.

She smiled at him as he braided back his hair, reclaiming his hand when he finished. "Your hair is really, really bright!" she told him. She began to lead the way to the area she had in mind, the out of the way space with the view of the natural world and almost none of the ship. "I've never, never, ever seen hair like that on a person! A real person!" She had a doll with hair like that, almost. "It's really, really, really red! I have a kimono that color, almost! I'm not wearing it today!"

She lifted one of her sleeves and watched the wind play it. Pink against the blue of the sky and the white of the ship. "Do lots of people from where you're from have red hair? In Japan, mostly it's more like mine--straight and black and sometimes a little more like brown!"

[faysounds]

"I'd nearly forgotten," Kazunari admitted. "It's just always been like this." He twirled a braid absently around one finger. "I'm going to have to get it cut. It's gotten too long."

He watched her sleeve in the wind and took a seat on the rail of the ship. The boat was moving steadily, but up here they didn't feel like they were moving so far. It was bumpier to stand on this deck, though. Kazunari wasn't sure he liked it.

"Yes, many of them do. Not all, though. You'll probably see more of it when the boat gets to America. A lot of the people from England have moved there."

[misono_soup]

Misono desperately wanted to touch his hair. She took a mincing step toward him. "I can cut hair," she said. "There are scissors and razors and things on this ship." And she really COULD cut hair. If she cared, she was almost pretty good at it! "I do okay sometimes!" She sidled another step closer. The wind was still catching at it, toying with it. "I--wait, a lot? And in America, too?"

The idea was...she wasn't sure how she felt. On the one hand, she wanted to see it. She really wanted to go and see how different people could look. But it had reminded her that there were probably not a lot of Japanese living in America. They would all have faces more like Kazunari's than her own. "That's gonna be strange!" she settled on. She bit absently at her cuff, looking at Kazunari's unlike-her-own features. Well. Even if they weren't Japanese, it would be good, she decided. She wanted to see different things and to have a little bit more freedom to explore and ditch the itchy manners for a while. America was totally the place.

"I don't know England," she said. "I've only seen maps. Books of maps." She went back to edging closer to Kazunari. "I've been in Japan and on this ship and that's it." She had a lot to learn, maybe. If she cared. "Hey, Kazunari-kun..." she swayed closer to him. Did he look not-so-good? She couldn't tell. She didn't know his face well enough. Yes. Face. "Can I touch your hair just the tiniest, tiniest bit?"

[faysounds]

Kazunari blinked up at Misono and scratched at his jaw. "Well... I remember a lot. I think they were mostly from the island and the highlands, which is where I stayed for a long time. People farther down just had lots of light brown hair, or sometimes they had really sort of gold-and-white hair. So you'll probably see more of those than red."

He twirled one of his braids again and tried to settle against the rocking of the boat. Why did water have to be so bumpy? Would Misono be able to cut his hair straight if it was going to be bumpy like this? It probably didn't matter, given the length. He just needed it off - it looked silly.

Kazunari let the braid untwirl from his finger and shook out all of them so it was free. Then he turned the back of his head towards Misono. "Here. If we stop bouncing ever, you can cut it. It doesn't need to look good. I just don't like it very long. People think I'm a girl if it is."

[misono_soup]

Intellectually, even from before being on the ship, Misono knew that people from other places had hair in shades of sunshine and earth. It was just weird to think that there would be a LOT of it around her when she settled. "I like your color," she said. Even if it did seem strange.

But it felt like silk. Her own hair had a rougher texture than Kazunari's, like silk in the raw. His was just silky between her fingers as she combed it out, like measuring the length. "I like your hair." But. "The ship never stops being like this up top. It's always windy and kind of jounce-y. "But I can cut it just the same. I did Genuemon's not that long ago up here, at the back so his hair didn't fly everywhere once it was off."

She giggled at the idea of Kazunari looking like a girl. "No, no, your face is too strong!" Genuemon, who wasn't ever taken for a girl, had a more delicate face than Kazunari had. "Ah! Maybe it's different in other places?" she asked herself out loud. Kazunari's face WAS softer than many of the new kinds of faces she was seeing. "But in Japan, even if you had dark hair, nobody would think you were a girl."

Her fingers were sneaky. They were just playing with his hair now. She braided it back with quick and practiced movements. "Tomorrow, though, I'll cut it for you. I'll get scissors and I'll--wait, you're not going to go back down there, are you? I don't want you back in the bottom of the ship!" He could sleep in her room, only Genuemon would have questions. "There's got to be another place!"

[faysounds]

Kazunari poked at his face. It had been called many things, but strong had not been one of them. At least not to his recollection. People hadn't always liked looking at his face when they knew what he was. Word had gotten around that fay could ensnare with a single glance; it was patently ridiculous, but there was sometimes no reasoning with humans.

"Maybe it is?" he mused. "Though I was only mistaken a few times. Maybe it was just bad eyesight."

He rolled his shoulders a little and settled into the playful touch - that was braiding his hair for him. Kazunari smiled a little and was about to thank Misono when she began to fret about him going back down. That pulled his lips back into a thoughtful line.

"I... well. I don't have anywhere else to go. I'm not officially on this boat, I sneaked in." He scratched the line of his jaw and humphed. "I'm going to have to go back where I can stay out of sight. And I don't really like this bouncing."

[misono_soup]

"It's a strong face to me," she said, finishing his hair. "It's not a bad face but." She made a face as she peeked at his face. "But I'm used to Japanese faces. They're kind of different."

Different! He'd snuck on to the boat. Misono hadn't had a criminal in her family in a long, long time. "Woooow," she said. "You sneaked in? Like a--I don't know the word! A sneaky person who hides on board the ship!" She was impressed. "I bet it's way cheaper that way!" She tilted her head, cupping her chin. "I bet I could have sneaked on! I can--" she demanifested for a moment and then came back to her body. "I could have sneaked too! Only there aren't many girls on board so probably somebody would notice an extra."

Yeah, probably. "I'd say you can sleep in my room only Genuemon would probably not like it. Also, I'm not sure it's proper." But she really didn't want him down in the iron. She was about to suggest hunting up a better place for him but he didn't want to meet any people and she wanted him in the sun, not peeking into dark places. "If you want, I'll look for a better place for you, later. After we roll around and wrap up in sunshine!"

"I don't like the boucing either," she confessed. "I don't like the ocean very much. It's a lot bigger than I thought. I like the shore only, I think." She wrinkled her nose. "The ocean doesn't look big on maps." She looked up at the sky. "The world is bigger than I thought. Did you think it was big? When you left home, was it bigger than you thought it would be?"

[faysounds]

"A stowaway," Kazunari said, ducking his head sheepishly and studying the boat deck, "Yeah. There were. Circumstances. I don't have money. Never have had - never needed it before the revolutions and war. And I really couldn't stay any longer. It's all scarred and the ghosts keep crying."

Being a stowaway was half the reason he'd stayed in the hull. Staying down there means that nobody saw him, so he was never in the way or likely to get caught. Kazunari curled his legs up and rested his chin on his knees. At least Misono didn't seem angry about him being a sneak.

"Yeah. It was a lot bigger than I thought it would be. When I was new, I thought my real home was really big and the world was tiny because the doors kept opening to different places. When I left to stay here I found out I'd had it wrong. Then the highlands in England look out over a lot of nothing, so I think I've always thought the world was actually bigger than it is."

[misono_soup]

"Stowaway," Misono repeated with a firm nod. But Kazunari seemed to feel bad about it. "You know, I never have money either." Misono NEVER had money. She never had a job. "I'm a freeloader!" She gave him a smile. And then she took his hand. She knew all about wars and revolutions and how the ghosts would weep. How lost ancestors would wander and cry out for their living kin. "Sometimes you have to leave the ghosts behind," she said. "You can't live in the world of the dead without dying."

"And that world is way, way smaller than this one, I think!" She was glad he thought the world was big. She was beginning to think she had been very sheltered. She didn't want to think about sad things. "Hey, you know any games?" she asked. "Because ghosts and wars are sad and now it's sunny and nice so I don't want to think about it! We're leaving that behind, yeah? So let's play something! Like we're little kids!"

[faysounds]

Money was a strange human thing. Kazunari remembered when it hadn't even existed - people had simply traded services and goods for services and goods. In some ways he'd liked it better when money hadn't been an issue. Money was convenient, but services and goods couldn't be hoarded in the same way money could be. Services and goods didn't make people greedy in the same way.

They could make people do worse things, though, sometimes. Money was a strange thing indeed.

"I liked My ghosts," Kazunari said quietly. "They were Mine when they were alive, too, so I wanted to stay. Now there are too many strange ones and I can't hear Mine." He smiled idly and chewed on a free nail. "I think My ghosts understand. I hope they do."

He leaned back against the boat rail and looked up at the sky and laced his fingers into Misono's. "Games? I know a lot of board games. And card games. I'm good at those. I don't really know any others, but I'm a quick learner."

[misono_soup]

He sounded sad about his ghosts. He probably meant his favorites. Misono cast her eyes to the side--grief was a private thing. "I know they do," she said. "I've always, always lived with humans. I know they do."

And she knew, too, that the humans who loved them wanted them to be happy. To keep living on with a smile instead of sorrow. "I don't have much with me--we had to leave a lot behind--but I could probably find stuff to set up for a board game." Only she didn't know his kind of games. "And I know for sure I could find cards so you could teach me your games and I could teach you mine." But! She also wanted to stay beside Kazunari right now. "I know one with string, though! Ayatori! You make shapes with strings and using just your fingers." She had string with her almost all the time because ayatori was a quiet game, for when she had to be still and quiet. "And we can pass it back and forth making different things."

She wriggled the fingers of her free hand under her obi and pulled out the long loop of string she kept there. "You want to try? For now? And then I'll find cards or something for your game?"

[faysounds]

"Ayatori?" Kazunari echoed, blankly. Making shapes out of string? He eyed the string that Misono produced from her sash and tilted his head at it. "Is Ayatori anything like catch cradle? You use string and make shapes in catch cradle, too."

He stretched out his fingers in anticipation. Maybe the games were the same. Wouldn't that be funny!

[misono_soup]

"Catch cradle?" Misono repeated, confused. "I don't know that game. But you can make a cradle shape!" She looped the string around Kazunari's thumbs and ring fingers, catching it over both his hands. "You use your middle ones to take it up," she told him, miming it.

But from the way he looked, he already knew this game. "Probably this is the same game. We're not so very, very different, right? Everybody gets bored and sometimes needs to have quiet games, I mean." She dimpled at him. "I like this one. If you're quiet you can tie yourself all up in knots, even!"

[faysounds]

Misono looped the string around his fingers just like you did for catch cradle. Kazunari laughed softly. How funny! That two entirely different people from two entirely different places should have the same game. He slipped the strings over his fingers and moved them into the proper position for Misono to take.

"I know this game," he said. "Games with string must have been the easiest to come up with - everybody has it. Especially a game you can play by yourself."

[misono_soup]

"String is easy to carry around," Misono agreed. "Plus, you could do it accidentally while weaving. Or to avoid weaving." Misono often had. She could weave. She wasn't bad. Just not good and not patient enough. She had to really want to. "But I'm glad you know this one. It's hard to explain sometimes. Teaching little kids--ahh, but you're not little." He would understand and catch on even if he HADN'T know it already.

"Later I'll try to find stuff for other games. Probably there's not much for games I know--Genuemon has some stuff, I think, but that's it. But you know, there are lots of people. I can find cards and games and if you know them you can teach me and I can teach you if I know them!"

She got the string settled and held her hands out to Kazunari. "Because you know I'm coming back tomorrow. And the day after! And the next! All the way to America!" He didn't have a choice.

[faysounds]

Kazunari chuckled a little. He wasn't little. Hadn't been for a long time, unless one was talking about physical size. Then he could be as little as he wanted - and often was when there were people around.

He manipulated the string carefully into the next shape and held his hands out again.

"I'd like that," Kazunari said softly. "I'll pick a place that's easy to find."