A/N: Please, don't forget to vote and/or leave a comment at the end. 

Next to her she heard Shimon groan, as he heaved the boar the last few feet to the fireplace. He had refused to let her help him when she offered to lend him a hand. When he hadn't given into her arguing, she had let him drag the huge animal on his own, declaring his stubbornness as male pride.

"It was heavier than I thought," he commented breathlessly.

Mayura looked at him worried. He appeared to be exhausted. A layer of sweat covered his forehead and his body shook with strong breaths. It was no wonder though. After his fight against the boar and him dragging the animal over the uneven ground of the forest and the sand, he was allowed to feel tired.

At least the boar would feed them for a few days. Looking at it Mayura became aware of a problem though. Tilting her head to the side, she said, "How are we going to grill it?"

Shimon blinked and then turned around and looked over to the raft, which they kept close to their firewood storage. "I have an idea."

It took Mayura a few moments to catch up but when she got what he was implying she exclaimed, "What about getting off the island?"

"We have more important priorities, remember?" Shimon looked at her with a stealthy gaze.

It was true. Surviving was their major priority. Yet, they could have continued to do it like they had by collecting mushrooms or catching fish. There would be no need to destroy the raft they had worked on so far. There wouldn't be any need, if he wouldn't be planning to train her.

Conflicted, she nodded. She wasn't sure, if this was a good idea. What difference would it make, if she knew how to swing a sword?

"Could you start a fire while I built something to put the beast on?" His voice startled her out of inner argument.

"Of course," she replied. Even if their routine would change from today, she wanted to be as useful as she could and so she quickly walked to their firewood storage.

It was a long time later, with her building a fire, him building a stand to hold the boar above the fireplace, which wouldn't crash under its weight and them washing off the sand of the animal's skin, when they finally sat down to eat, cutting of pieces of meat beneath the thick skin with the dagger. It was the best thing she had tasted since ending up here.

Mayura, sitting on her heels in the warmed up sand, leaned back with a sigh and looked up into the darkening sky. It had been another long day. One she might not have seen to its end, if it hadn't been for Shimon coming to her rescue.

She wished she could repay him for his kindness and for risking his life.

She skipped her eyes over to him. Legs crossed he sat next to her in reach to the boar slowly roasting above the fire. He wore rings beneath his eyes, obviously in need of sleep. It would help, if he would sleep in a bit tomorrow but it was unlikely of him to that; this was not the Shimon she had gotten to know a bit.

Yet, she had learned something new about him today: He cared. He cared about the life of others and jumped to their rescue. And the idea that he cared about her filled her stomach with warmth. She smiled softly while it rose up to her chest.

She knew she could trust him. Thinking about it, she already had. She wondered how easily and fast she had grown to trust him. It was the first time since their second day on this island that she thought about it and she was surprised to find out that she had trusted him for a while now.

Perhaps it was time to raise a topic they had circled around since they've met. Perhaps it was time to tell him the reason why she was here and ask him to help her to get to Tsuchimikado. Though it felt bitter now. While she had thought it to be a fair request because they could be useful to each other – after she had regained the ability to pay him – she felt like she used him. After all what he'd done for her, all the times he had jumped in to help her, when something was going wrong, after him looking out for her, after him risking his own life, it felt unfair to ask something like this from him.

Maybe she should leave the conversation by telling him why she was stranded on an island south of Crystal Island and in-between the two enemy states.

Mayura blinked her eyes when the sight of a slice of rosy meat offered to her came into her view.

With a smile she took the piece and chirped, "Thank you."

She took a bite and after swallowing it down she addressed him, "Shimon?"

"Hm?" His eyes met hers, widely opened in surprise, while biting into a slice of his own. It looked kind of – cute.

"Why are you here? I mean, where were you headed before you shipwrecked?"

The light of his eyes vanished and he narrowed his eyes before he grumbled, "Crystal Island."

Crystal Island? No wonder his mood shifted. It was the place were the war took form, endless battles, numerous losses. It was the home of bloodshed. Nobody would be happy to go there. Well, except for Rokuro who had always been adamant about becoming a soldier and ending the war.

"How did you end up here?" Shimon asked in return.

Taking a deep breath, she prepared herself to tell him the truth, which she ultimately did. "I was on my way to Tsuchimikado."

His eyebrows rose. "Why? Are you a smuggler?"

She shook her head while taking notice how his gaze was filled with interest rather than reproach. "No, I wanted to see the Lord of Tsuchimikado."

His chin dropped, his mouth slightly opened before he inquired, "You? You realize that the soldiers of Tsuchimikado would have killed you instantly, if they would have learned where you are from."

"You are a soldier and you did not kill me," she countered, feeling a bit more unsure about rising this topic.

"That's... different," Shimon said and averted his gaze, looking down on the cold slice of meat in his fingers. Hers had grown cold, too and she nagged on it despite the sudden nervousness tugging at her stomach.

"Anyway, what did you want from the Lord of Tsuchimikado?"

There was no need to hide the truth, was there? Shimon seemed to be surprised but not suspicious of her reasons to see the Lord of Tsuchimikado. If she held back the truth, he might think she had planned an assassination. She looked at him again and replied, "I wanted to persuade him to end war with Narukami."

He stared at her. Simply stared and said nothing.

Oh, no. Perhaps that had been too much. What had she done? Maybe it wasn't the best idea to tell a soldier she wanted to end the war. She should have gone with something different, a lighter version of the truth.

Suddenly she felt the need to explain herself and rambled, "It's been too long and it makes no sense. Both nations are divided by the sea and the Crystal rests in the middle. Why do we need to fight? Why do we need to pour blood?"

Not once had he blinked. Shimon was still staring at her.

Anxious about his reaction, she asked in small voice, "Do you think I am mad?"

That question finally shook him out of his stare for he blinked. "No, no, I don't. Actually, I have similar reasons to be here. I was on my way to Crystal Island to end the war."

Surprised she gasped. The last rest of her meat dropped out of her hand into the sand. This she hadn't seen coming. Couldn't have. Disbelievingly she uttered, "You were?"

"Yes," he nodded and looked at her openly.

The understanding of his meaning was slowly dripping into a sea of realization. Shimon had meant to end the war as well? In her mind resounded his words from the other day: I hold no grudge against Narukami or its people. Far from it. It's more the other way around. So all this time he had had a similar goal than her?

Who would have thought of this turn of events?

She couldn't help but smile at him. Not only did he not belittle her arguments but he shared her ambitions.

His response, a small smile, was even more rewarding and she thought that he should smile more often like this.

She thought about his statements, wanting to know even more about his path which had lead him here with her on the same island, with the same goal. "Why Crystal Island?" Her voice sounded lower and deeper to her own ears.

Turning his head away, Shimon looked at the flames. He looked to be deeply in thought.

Because he did not reply for a while, she was growing more and more nervous for his answer. After a while he said, "I am not a big talker. Not like my brother. He is the persuasive one of us," Shimon told her.

Mayura blinked in surprise at his response. What did his brother have to do with Crystal Island? Was he stationed there?

When she'd recovered from the surprise, she acknowledged, how it was the first time Shimon had told her something personal. With a little smile she hummed, "You have a brother?" Tilting her head she tried to imagine how this brother of Shimon might look. Would he have the same color of hair? The same color of eyes? Was he kind as well?

"Actually, I have a brother and a sister. He's the oldest and our sister is the youngest."

The way Shimon spoke of his siblings Mayura was reminded of her on family, her mother and her father and of course Rokuro. Fondly she thought about the brown haired boy, who, in her point of view, was part of her family as well. "Sounds nice. I have a very good friend who is like a brother to me but it must be nice to have two siblings."

"It is," he said softly as he stared off to nowhere.

There was so much warmth in his eyes that Mayura felt it affecting her and it was in that moment as she thought about talking something else that she noticed she missed the point of his answer and so she asked again, "How would you have stopped the war on Crystal Island?"

Shimon's gaze turned sharp again. Ice drove the warmth out of his eyes. "I wouldn't be able to stop the war by diplomacy. Neither do I think it will be the solution to this war. It wouldn't be enough. It's not enough for me. Therefore I was on my way to split the Crystal and fulfill the prophesy."

Now she understood what he'd meant by telling her about his brother. Yet, although she wanted to correct him about diplomacy being of use, the more curious she was about his plan. To fulfill the prophecy in which two stars fall from the sky and split the Crystal in two. Wait... He couldn't mean to - "Split the Crystal? Is that even possible?"

Shaking his head, he threw the rest of his cold meat into the fire. "I don't know. I hoped to find a way while I was there."

His idea seemed as insane as impossible. Leaning forward and stemming her hands onto her folded legs Mayura eagerly asked, "Don't you think if it was possible, people wouldn't have tried?"

Shimon crossed his arms and tilted his head down. "It's sacred. People wouldn't dare to touch it. Besides the Lord of Tsuchimikado might want peace, too. But it's not something you can just decide."

Mayura looked into the flames. She agreed on that. It wouldn't be easy to end the war and wouldn't be done in form of a simple decision. She had seen what the endless war did to people. They wouldn't change from one moment to next, not because of words.

Yet, for all their talk about convincing the Lord of Tsuchimikado, splitting the Crystal and ending the war, Shimon and her shouldn't forget their current situation. Their chances were pretty low on their own but everything seemed impossible as long as they stayed here. Frustrated she pressed the knuckles of her hands into her legs. "Right now, nothing of this matters. We're both trapped here. So it seems our plans were delusional in the first place."

Beside her she heard him shift as the leather of his armor groaned.

"We'll eventually get off the island and then I will help you meet the Lord," Shimon said with a strong voice.

The tension in her arms loosened. She turned towards him and saw his gaze being just as strong as his words were directed at her. The impact on her was odd. Her heart had skipped a beat. Wide eyed she stared at him and asked, "You would?"

"Yes," he nodded once and unfolded his arm before he continued, "but first I need to see the Crystal. Maybe you won't have a reason to talk to him, if I succeed."

"Then I will accompany you." The idea tumbled over her lips before she had thought about it. But it felt right. Together with Shimon she would find a way to procure peace. Perhaps it was a twist of fate that had brought them together.

"You will?" It was his time to look surprised as he blinked his eyes.

"I need to make sure I won't loose sight of my guide," she replied with a small smirk and quickly added, "Although I don't think that splitting the Crystal will work."

He rose an eyebrow and dryly replied, "I don't think that talking to the Lord of Tsuchimikado will help either."

She huffed at his retort. Strengthening her argument she told him, "My father always said, if all people would put their weapons down at once? What reason would be left to fight?"

"Sounds like someone I know," Shimon mumbled in thought.

It was the second time today Mayura remembered Jinya-sama's words of parting. He'd said, it wasn't the Crystal that made people hate each other. All of them, each and everyone, was a descendant of the Crystal's child. "Do you know the story about how men came to be?" She asked Shimon.

"I don't think so," he said with a frown.

This was to be expected for it was one of the less popular myths due to its message but during her studies she'd come across it. After folding her hands on her lap she recited the tale in her own words, "From the beginning of time a soul pulsated within the Crystal, which stood in the middle of a large land. Life flourished around it but the Crystal felt lonely and made a wish. One day a star fell from the sky. In the fading light of its mark the Crystal breathed life into the fallen star. Out of it a girl rose. Years later this girl bore two sons. Both of them were strong but greedy for their mother's attention. Jealousy turned into hate over the years. They fought and their fighting brought disharmony. Saddened about this the mother plead towards the Crystal to help her. In that moment the ground shook, breaking deep furrows into the earth, dividing the land into many small island and two bigger ones with the one of the Crystal being in the middle. Finally the brothers lived apart but their fight did not end and surpassed themselves, inherited to every next generation. All the while their mother wept. She wept until the end of her days, until her bones turned to dust and she will continue to cry until the brothers are reunited."

"Every time a storm rises, it's the Crystal's child weeping," Shimon said, "Now this saying makes more sense to me. But how will this help us?"

"It is the understanding that we still fight because of jealousy. If the brothers would just reach out for each other, there wouldn't have to be a reason to fight. We are all children of the Crystal."

He stared at her. Something glinted in his eyes before he murmured, "You're right."

Tearing her gaze away from the him, Mayura looked at the sky. She wasn't sure how to deal with the emotions darting through her. Was it excitement about having found a comrade in arms? She did not know. With a sigh she leaned back again and drank in the sight of the beautiful sky. The sun had sunk into the horizon, having dipped the sky into a deep orange that reflected in the sea. Enchanted by the magnificent view, she whispered, "The sky, it's beautiful. The color is so rich. It reminds me of a pumpkin."

"Looks more like a very ripe orange to me. What is a pumpkin?"

Orange? She had never seen one herself, only heard about their sweet taste. She hoped that one day, she would be able to try one.

"Something to eat. You should see Narukami. The fruits, the vegetables, the snowy mountains far from the Crystal's reach."

"Someday I will."

In comfortable silence they stared at the sky for a while and Mayura dreamed of the day she would visit Tsuchimikado and explore its nature with her own eyes.

Next to her she heard Shimon rise to his feet. When she looked into his direction she saw a hand reached out and eyes softly looking at her, "Come. Let us begin with your training."

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A/N: What do you think? How do you like the idea of Shimon and Mayura having now a common goal? Was the dialogue too long or did you just roll with it? XD