Kumiko looked away the moment she caught herself staring at the man in front of her for too long. 

They stopped talking some minutes ago after introducing themselves by just saying their names. At first, it wasn't uncomfortable but now Kumiko didn't know what to do with all that silence and was fighting the urge to say something while, at the same time, didn't how to start. Umi, though, looked pretty calm and unbothered, just staring at the fire in front of him with his eyes reflecting the flames. The truth was, the impression he gave Kumiko since they met was of a calm guy, too calm, one who would know how to act or what to say at any situation without getting nervous.

“How old are you?”Kumiko interrumpted her own thoughts letting out a small voice.

Umi slightly turned his head at her.

“I'm something between 25 and a thousand years old”.

His eyes closed curving and synching with his lips in a smile and, when they opened back, they caught Kumiko staring back with a confused face. 

She didn't see any joke coming, not from him, and her mind was left processing it for at almost half a minute.

“Hahaha”, she faked a laugh and proceed to talk really fast without any pause to breathe. “So you're older than me. I'm 23. Nice to meet you”.

She immediately extended her arm offering her hand as a greeting. Umi just stared at the hand and rolled his eyes back to her eyes, with that nonchalant look of his. His arms didn't move. “Maybe I'm too far for him to reach me”, she tought. Then his mouth opened:

“We already introduced ourselves”

She got a little shocked by his response, but her arm was still up, firm, waiting to be reciprocated.

“We haven't shake hands, though”, she answer with confident in her voice.

“Why would we?”

Kumiko was taken aback by the difference between his sharp words and his calm face.

“Do you not hold hands as a greeting here around this area?”, she asked back.

”Where the hell do people do that?”

One of his eyebrows raised up while the other lowered. His lips grinned. Finally an expression any other than calm.

Her arm was starting to get heavy and sore but she wasn't giving up. She was convinced it would be too uncomfortable if she just let her arm down and she wouldn't know how to break the ice after that. It was now or never. 

“Well, give me your hand, we can share my culture that way. It's always good to try new things and share life the experience of each other cultures”.

She shook her hand in the air, insisting, with a forced a smile.

“We can share "my" culture, by not shaking hands”, he said changing the tone of his voice, still not moving his arm.

“Just give me your hand”, she shook her whole arm.

“I don't want too”, he replied in a cutting a way and added in a sarcastic tone, "My hands are sacred”

“Just once! How can I trust you if you can't even entrust me your hands?”

“Then don't trust me”.

Kumiko got up out of nowhere and went directly to him taking him by surprise. She tried to reach one of his arms, trying to find his hand. The expression on his face suddenly changed to perplexion, as he stopped her in a quick reflex by holding both her wrists with his hands. He grabbed her tightly, strong enough for her to not get away, but also not to hurt her much. She tried to get free from his grip twisting her arms, while trying to keep her balance. They ended up in a fight of strength, where he was obviously looking as the winner, until her feet stumbled on one of his legs, falling over him and making him fall on his back.

Kumiko ended up on her knees, between Umi's legs that now pressed her waist to hold her still, while the rest of his body was laid down. And, even though she ended up on an advantage position, the other half of her body was suspended over him with her arms in the air, over his head, still held by him, making him the one in control.

All of a sudden, they saw themselves face to face. Kumiko noticed his breathe was as agitated as her as his chest went up and down with intensity. His hair was messy. Some strands of hair completely covered his left eye now. He shook his head on a attempt to clear his view, with success.

Her hair was hanging in the air by the gravity and some strands escaped from behind her ears.

“What should I do?”, he suddenly spoke again with softness.

“Give me your hands ”, she said without doubting.

His lips drew on a smile letting a row of teeth be seen. He had some crooked teeth, but they weren't much noticeable unless you carefully looked at them. Still they looked pretty aligned, making it a unique and pretty smile.

“Get up”, he said with that smile still on his face, pushing her back, with the strength of his arms, to help her balance until she was in a sitting position. Then he let go of her hands and also her waist. He incorporated on himself, sitting down with Kumiko still between his legs. 

He looked for her hand and unexpectly hold it, then placed his other hand over them. Her face suddenly felt like burning hot and her cheeks turned red. But, since she was backlit by the fire, she trusted Umi wouldn't be able to see the sudden change of color on her face.

“Your hands are sweating”, he suddenly said as he brought his face closer to hers.

Kumiko turned more red, adding more to her embarrassment, thinking this time he would also notice that. She shook his hand super fast and let go even faster. She got up quickly and turned back on him, bending down a bit to shake dirt off her knees and legs. She heard a low and soft laugh behind her.

“What the hell is he laughing about?”, said on her head, lifting one eyebrow. But she didn't turn back to look at him instead, she stood up straight and walked up to the other side of the bonfire, against him.

His eyes tried to catch her giving a look at him, but she just sat down without even looking at his direction, pretending she still was cleaning her knees. 

He just kept smiling at her attempt to look like she didn't care about anything.

The night kept going with her avoiding to look at him at any cost. Without a chance to fight back, the tiredness and sleep overcame her after she decided to rest her head on the backpack. When he noticed she wasn't getting up back again, he went to her and covered her body with the haori. Then he laid down near her and, in no time, both were far lost on their dreams.

Kumiko was already up before the sun had completely rose up from the horizon. She look at the person laying next to her. Umi slept on one side, his back facing her. He slept so in silence she could barely hear him breathing. She got up quietly and slowly squatted behind him to see over his shoulder if his eyes were still closed. Yes, he was asleep yet.

All of a sudden, it came to her the thought of everything that had been happening this past... two days? She felt as if she were in that situation for a couple of days, but the truth was it only past one day since she arrived to that unknown place. 

“My phone”, she remembered out of the blue.

She looked for it between her things. “How could I forget about it?”. When she found it, she tried to turn on the screen, but it remained black. She thought that her phone most probably run out of battery, so she left it back in her backpack. She then took out a bottle from inside and gave it a long sip. The water was still pretty cool and she drank it with yearning.

“I've never heard anyone drink so loudly”, Umi's just waken up raspy voice startled her out of nowhere, almost choking her with water. She started to cought.

Umi sat up as he turned to her and, when she managed to calm down, he added:

“I could hear every gulp going down your throat”.

“Said that you who snore like a bear!”, she exclaimed back almost screaming.

He just kept looking at her in his sit, with one knee up and his arm resting on it. She didn't realize, but her cheeks turned red from shame, and that view really amused him. He gave her a side smile and that make her blush even more.

“What are you smiling at?” 

“Where are you from?”, he just ignored her question.

“Kyoto”, she responded as she got up as she carried her backpack on her back. “Just tell me in what direction is the nearest train station and how long I have to walk to get there and I'll just manage on my own”

Umi looked confused at her. 

“You don't know how you got here?”

“I probably took the wrong train and fell asleep. I guess”

“Listen, I don't really understand what you're saying, but you won't  get so easily to Kyoto. We're days away from there on horse”.

Kumiko bursted out laughing. 

“You seemed so serious, but you're actually quite a joker”, she said when the laughing stopped, “We're not in the feudal era to go on horse everywhere”.

Umi just watched her clean some tears from her face, result of her laughter, with a deadpan face. 

“I still don't get you. But we're in Edo and it'll take you days to get there from here. So if you you're really on a hurry, you better get going now”. He got up as he finished the sentence. “I'll better go with you to the nearest village, it's better to guide you from there”.

He looked quite serious to be joking. But still, it was really difficult to get any expression from him, so she couldn't figure out when he was actually serious.

“What do you mean Edo?”, she started to feel concerned.

He looked back at her with frowning eyebrows.

“You don't look from here from the way you dress, neither from Kyoto”, he extended his hand on her direction, “But I'll help you get there safe if you tell me too”.

Kumiko looked at his hand waiting for hers. Then looked him in the eyes. She started to think about everything strange that she'd been noticing since the day before. Nothing made sense, since the way of the people's talking to the way they dressed. It was like she went back in time, hundreds of years back. But it wasn't possible. Was it? Her pupils were shaking side to side as her pulse started to raise. When he noticed her nervousness he gave her a calmed expression to reassure her. She take some steps up and held his hand a little hesitant, but he hold it tight and as he looked straight at her eyes he spoke back again:

“We're in the Sengoku period... Where do you come from?”.

“Kyoto... contemporary era”, her voice was trembling and she took a pause before talking again, “Year 2003”.

“Good”, was his only replied as he started to walk still holding her hand, taking her with him.

She just let herself get carried away not knowing why she let herself trust that man called Umi so much, after meeting him just one day ago not even knowing him at all. But the feeling of trust came out so effortlessly when he looked at her and talked to her with that serenity.