Jurai no Nozomi: Snippet "Nozomi and Shigure (1)"
One of my experimental scribblings regarding Nozomi and Shigure playing "Survivor" as they attempt to work together to stay alive.

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“I…I need to stop.”

Nozomi drew a painful breath of air into her lungs, pausing to lean against the trunk of a nearby dead tree as she struggled to regain her composure. A few paces ahead of her, her companion turned, casting her a disdainful look as he retraced his steps.

“What do you mean, you need to stop?” He demanded. “You’re the one who got us into this mess – don’t you want to leave this godforsaken hell-hole planet?”

“I need to rest.” Nozomi snapped back at him, steadying herself and placing her hands on her hips. “It’s been a long day and some of us spent it fighting off bad guys who wanted to kill us. Do you have to keep harping on about why we’re here? If you hadn’t been sneaking around at ungodly hours of the night, you’d never have been aboard and you wouldn’t be here. Don’t blame me for your own curiosity.”

Anger crossed Shigure’s face at this and he marched towards her, grabbing her forcibly by the arm and pulling her away from the tree roughly.

“Stop whining. We’re not staying here. It’s exposed.” He said frankly. “If we stop now we could easily be ambushed again and this time we might not get away so easily. We’re easy pickings for desperate, greedy people…you don’t seem to understand.”

“I understand.” Nozomi said thickly, biting her lip as a stab of pain wracked through her body. “But I’m serious, Shigure. I can’t go on. I need to…to rest.”

She stumbled, falling onto her knees as she put out her hands to check her descent. Shigure, who had opened his mouth to criticise her once more stopped dead in his tracks as he registered the pooling red liquid that began to drip onto the harsh desert sand, and his brows knitted together as he crouched at her side, putting a hand on her shoulder.

“You stupid girl.” He said quietly. “Why didn’t you tell me you were hurt?”

”What difference would it have made? We’re still stuck here and there’s nothing you can do about it.” Nozomi snapped back. “I thought I’d be able to make it to somewhere safe, and shelter for the night. But I’m so tired and it hurts more than I thought it would. I need a break…just a few minutes. Then I’ll be fine.”

Shigure sighed, sitting himself more comfortably on the ground and Nozomi leant back against the tree trunk again, glancing at her blood-flecked fingers ruefully.

“I’m sorry.” She added, in different tones. “I really thought I could make it. We should have stayed where there was shelter. Maybe this is my fault.”

“Did you take that injury defending me?” Shigure asked softly. Nozomi shrugged.

“Does it matter?” She asked simply. “It’s only a flesh wound, nothing major. But I’m tired and it’s hot and I’m so thirsty. I guess all those things piled up together made it harder.”

She glanced down, a sheepish blush touching her cheeks as she did so.

“I hear such great tales of Mother and Father and the brave things they both endured at times to save Jurai and the Earth from death and devastation.” She added. “Maybe I was trying to match up. I don’t know. Seems like I don’t match up whatever I do…to anyone’s expectations.”

Shigure was silent for a while, tracing idle tracks in the dirt as he considered. Then he raised his gaze to his companion’s.

“Are you sure you’ll be all right?” He asked. “I mean, you’re not a doctor and neither am I. Are you sure it’s just a flesh wound?”

”I’m not about to die on you.” Nozomi assured him. “I’ve taken worse hits in training. It’s just being here…in this place…” She shivered, shaking her head. “I don’t like the fact that they could be out there, watching us…waiting for a chance to strike.”

”Well, they’ll get a shock if they try it.” Shigure glanced up at the decaying tree, pursing his lips for a moment then getting to his feet, wrenching free the lowest branch he could reach and wielding it experimentally. “We’re not completely defenceless.”

“Shigure, that’s a stick.” Nozomi said frankly. “What are you going to do? Poke them to death?”

”Well, it’s better than nothing.” Shigure snapped back. “And I don’t see you with any better ideas.”

“I’m sorry.” Nozomi sighed, rubbing her temples. “You’re right. We have to make use of what we have. And right now I’m not sure I’m strong enough to do anything except sit here. I feel a little dizzy. I think it’s the heat.”

“We need to find water.” Shigure glanced around him, craning his neck as he attempted to see what was beyond the dusty horizon. “And shelter of some kind. We can stop here a few minutes, but not for long. We don’t know when those bandits might find our trail, and if you’ve been leaving them a track of blood to follow…”

”Oh, don’t be so macabre.” Nozomi groaned. “And besides, I haven’t. It was only when I fell…I mean, it’s soaked through my clothing but my hand’s stemmed the flow till now. If I was bleeding that much, I’d probably have dropped dead already.”

She frowned, letting out a gusty sigh. “Do you see anything?”

“Yes, I think so.” Shigure squinted, then nodded his head. “About two hundred yards to our right there’s a sheer cliff face, and I’m pretty sure I can make out a cave in the stone, about two or three feet above the ground. Do you think you could make it that far? It would be sheltered, after all.”

“And water?”

”My father told me that there are often underground lakes in caves.” Shigure thought for a moment, then smiled. “So it is on Jurai, anyhow. And those creatures manage to live here, so there must be water somewhere. It’s dry and there’s no rain or rivers that I can see. Where else would they get their water from? It must be caves.”

“Then they may just as well find us there when they come to drink.” Nozomi pointed out. Shigure sighed.

“I’m trying to be helpful.” He retorted, an edge to his tones. “You could at least give some of my ideas some credence. Just because you grew up the savage and I’ve been cultured as a Prince doesn’t mean I’m without imagination.”

Nozomi frowned.

“All right.” She said at length. “So I guess we’ll make for the cave and then see what happens. Honestly, I’m so desperate for a drink that I’ll risk meeting the footpads again. Can you help me up? I think I can make it that far.”

“With pleasure.” Shigure grasped her firmly by the hands, pulling her to her feet and Nozomi let out a cry of pain, wrenching her hands away as she put one to her side, glaring at him.

“Noone ever taught you to be gentle?” She demanded. “What about if you had to lead forces onto a battlefield and you couldn’t even minister to your wounded troops? You’d cause a massacre before they even got to a hospital!”

“Shut up.” Shigure responded flatly. “Save your energy for walking. It’s right across that rise, where the shadow falls over the land.”

“I see it.” Nozomi blinked, shielding her eyes against the sun. “All right. Then let’s go. If nothing else it will be somewhere quiet to spend the night…and a chance to work out how we’re going to get off this wretched planet.”

“Well, the ship was more or less destroyed on impact.” Shigure remembered. “And the radio systems with it. Why didn’t you steal a Royal ship, Nozomi? At least then we’d have the connection to Tsunami. But no, you had to take a military patrol bug. And now look at us. Stranded.”

”I wasn’t really being picky. I just wanted a craft and that one was handy.” Nozomi sighed. “I don’t know a lot about Juraian ships, Shigure. I’ve only ever flown in Ryo Ohki – I didn’t realise how different it would be.”

”If you’d taken Ryo Ohki, we’d be safe by now.” Shigure muttered, as they trudged onwards across the barren plain towards shelter. Nozomi sent him a baleful glance, but did not respond, and they reached their destination in cold silence.

Once inside the shade of the cave, Nozomi sank down against the cool stone wall, letting out another heavy sigh as she carefully peeled back her blood-soaked clothing, looking over her injury as best she could in the dim threads of sunlight that filtered in through the opening.

“Well? How is it?” Shigure demanded, standing in the entrance to the cave as he watched her tentative examination. Nozomi glanced up.

“Why not come see? Or are you afraid of blood?” She taunted. Shigure bristled.

“You are a woman.” He managed, indignation in his reddish eyes. “And I am a man and it is not proper for me to come and look at you, wounded or not. My father would have my hide if he thought I was behaving inappropriately with you! Even if they do all want us to get married, we’re not even so much as betrothed yet. And even if that did happen, Nozomi-san, you have my word that I would not compromise your modesty without good reason!”

Nozomi stared at him, startled by his impassioned speech. Then she smiled.

”We come from different worlds.” She reflected at length. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think of it like that.”

Shigure relaxed slightly at her apology, shrugging his shoulders.

“Whatever you think of me, I am a gentleman.” He said stiffly. “And I have my honour and yours to consider.”

”Well, then maybe you could take a look around?” Nozomi suggested. “It’s dark at the back there. Maybe it’s a passage – or maybe it leads to water.”

“I could do that.” Shigure agreed, relief flickering in his eyes at the suggestion. “But if there is water, how will I bring it back to you? I’ve nothing to carry it in.”

Nozomi frowned, squinting around the cave for inspiration. As she did so, something in the corner caught her eye and she reached out a tentative hand, wincing involuntarily as her fingers closed around the object. She brought it into the faint stream of light, glancing at it, then smiling.

“Use this.” She suggested, holding it out. “It looks like a coconut shell – or some similar type of fruit. Whatever it is, it should do to carry water in. Don’t you think?”

”What’s a coconut?” Shigure took the shell blankly, turning it over in his hands. Nozomi sighed.

“Never mind.” She said with an impatient shrug. “The point is that that should hold water. And there are more of them in the corner. It’s almost like some giant squirrel has been having a feast in here.”

“Do I want to know what a squirrel is?” Shigure raised an eyebrow. “If there is some kind of creature down here, eating fruit of this size, maybe we shouldn’t stay here very long. They could come back.”

“Maybe.” Nozomi agreed doubtfully. “But we don’t have much choice. And I really can’t go any further, Shigure. I need a drink and I need to rest. I’m sorry…but I do.”

“Then we’ll have to hope for the best, won’t we?” Shigure said with a sigh, glancing at his stick then wielding it aloft, gripping the woody basin in his other hand. “I won’t be long. Cry out if anything attacks you. I won’t be far away.”

Nozomi rolled her eyes, but settled herself as comfortably as she could against the wall of the cave as her companion disappeared into the gloom beyond. She closed her eyes, trying to ignore the dryness of her throat and the dull ache that rattled through her muscles every time she breathed in. It wasn’t a serious wound, she knew that, but she felt ashamed by it anyway. Her mother would not have been stopped by such a trivial hurt, she knew that. And her father would have battled on through whatever adversity approached him, because that was who he was.

“And I’m just Nozomi, the girl who can’t even match up to her own self.” She murmured sadly. “Tsunami-sama’s account of the girl who gave her life for Jurai…that girl isn’t me and she never has been. They have expectations on me that I just can’t meet...and I’m so fed up of disappointing everyone. But I’m still doing that. Even being here with Shigure…I’m letting him down by being wounded and Mother and Father must be worried. So must Lady Ayeka and Lord Takeru. I wish I’d thought this through…but I’m not letting him know I feel that way! Bad enough I’m stuck here with him…”

She sighed, shaking her head as if to clear it.

“But at least there’s one thing.” She acknowledged. “I’m not here alone, and that makes a difference. If I have him to be annoyed with, I can’t stop and think about being scared.”