Little Big Dreamer

After closing his eyes in his bed, Kazuki open them to a pale yellow light. The beams of light blind him for a short moment, as his eyes adapts to this new bright environment. In the distance, the birds are singing their high-pitched and rhythmic melody. It is like the morning, when birds and insects wake up. The sounds of nature flow through his hears like the clear water of a river smoothly runs down to the lac. 

Kazuki is laying in long grass, covering the views on his sides. The only thing in his sight is the clear blue far away above him. The grass he is lying on is wet. The scent of the wet plants reaches his nostrils, bringing the powerful scent of the forest. The feeling of the warm light beams on his face, the music of the animals from up close and afar and the smells raised from the earth by the moisture makes it a perfectly peaceful moment, in union with the nature where he belongs, where the domain is. 

Thinking about where the domain is from his location, he changes his position to a sitting one. Through the top of the tall grass, all he can put his eyes on is a long is a seemingly infinite emerald green field of long grass. His eyes stops a moment, admiring the grace which they dance with as a soft breeze caresses them. The hands of the wind comes in contact with his skin with a soft touch. They raise his hair. His long hair. He is surprised by their length. He is definitely dreaming. 

Or is he? Maybe he just woke up. He isn't sure about what to think of it. The feeling of his long hair floating in the breath of the world seems such like a familiar experience that he doesn't question their reality furthermore. Even the way he looks at the world seems to have changed, which he strangely seems aware of. If it is not a dream, then his dream seemed so real that he was able to compare his younger vision to his casual vision and bring back perfect memories. But if it is the other way around, something is definitely weird about this dream. It is very strange, but the only thing he truly believes are eyes. His thoughts end there and he starts to examine himself. 

His attire consists of a gray kimono which looks like one of his, but bigger as he is taller in this wonderful vision. It is attached by a black belt. The outfit is pretty simple, ideal for a quick expedition. Whatever he was up to, he didn't plan on staying there for too long. To his feet, he wears a pair of classical sandals and white socks, which are now wet because of the grass. He examine his hair, touching them. They are long, messy and they make knots. He tries to arrange them a bit but quickly give up. 

He looks around him again. There are some woods far away on his right and a village on his left. But it is so far that it seems unreachable. Finally, he decides to lay again on the crushed wet grass. The grass, still damp, cools the atmosphere around him by tickling the little skin that his gray kimono reveals. He takes a deep breath and admires the purity of the clear sky. It is so simple but so beautiful at the same time. He takes his time and stay there, not moving. 

It is like time has stopped. How much time has passed since his younger self has closed his eyes? How much time did he spend, laying in the field of long grass? He doesn't know. It doesn't matter to him. He is just laying there, in this perfect sensorial harmony. The gentle caresses of the wind, the damp touches of the weary grass and the warm gaze of the Sun convinced him that nothing more pleasant awaits him. Every one of his senses tells him that there won't be many times like this one after it. So his first thought is to enjoy every second passing by in this field. He could stay there for eternity. What he feels deep inside him, it's that this place is like an echo of nature's true beauty. There are no words to say it. It's dicated by his instinct. 

But as he stays in this place which seems outside of time, something disturbs the seemingly paradise. It felt like a vibration, warping the blue sky and the green glass around him. The feeling is strange, he feels like he is attracted to it. It is like someone is calling him. He sits again, looking around him to find the source of this strange sensation. He find himself instinctively turning his gaze to a part of the forest where there is a little opening and a thin path. If wasn't visible if he hadn't paid attention to it, as the long grass hid the path. 

Kazuki freezes while looking in this direction. There is nothing yet he feels something. It is not normal. There is something happening. However, a whistling wind brought distant words to his ears. A voice continues repeating the same thing, and the whistling becomes audible words "Kazuki! Kazuki! Kazuki! Wake up!". This voice is that of an old man. He doesn't immediately recognize who the voice could belong to. But then, like a stone thrown at his head, it comes back to his mind as clear as the blue sky above him. This old man's voice is his master's voice, who is calling him and waiting for him. He can't make his master wait. He hastens to get out of this dream by leaving this "body" and regain consciousness in his bed, in his tiny bedroom. 

He is back to the temple, the place where he lives with his master. So everything that happened was a dream. He is very confused about this experience because everything was so different from his body to his way to think, but his innoncence and his naivety will just put it on the fact that dreams are not very realistic but more of a cool adventure that he is able to imagine, like in the many books present on his bookshelf. He wakes up to his master, holding him by the shoulders and shaking him quickly. Next to the old man, there is a serving plate full of food that he carefully prepared for breakfast sitting on the bed. The delicate aroma of the plant he used to make the tea mixes to the soft and tempting scent of the brioche stuffed with meat reaches the young boy's nostrils 

"Ah, my boy! I thought you would never wake up!" 

The old man puts the serving plate between the two of them. Together, they quietly eat while discussing the various chores of this morning. 

"We're getting short on wood, Kazuki. But I'm getting old, in 2 or 3 years I won't be able to lift an axe anymore. You might be young, but I think you're able to do something about it. By the end of the day, you'll know how to chop wood correctly even if it's the only thing we're doing. We'll also get some water for the end of the week."

Kazuki silently nods. He is never against helping his master. Master Yi required his help so often that it is almost natural for him to lend a hand to the old man, even when he isn't asking. Sometimes it is even too much. 

"- We'll do that this afternoon. This morning I'll teach you about the world around us.

-The world around us? I already

know the forest around the temple!

-Hoho, but the world doesn't stop, 

there! We're only a tiny spot on those lands. I will not show you everything in details, however I'll teach you about the real size of this land and how things work.

-But.. I thought there were only us 

here! You lied to me!

-Oh, no.. I didn't lied to you Kazuki.

I juste didn't told you everything. But never did I or will I lie to you."

Neither of them having anything else to add, they finish eating and the l

old man return to his own bedrooms, letting Kazuki change his clothes for clean ones. As he grabs his gray kimono, he notices that it is slightly soaked. He then looks for the source of the humidity in the cabinet, with no result. He turns to the ceiling, but there seems to be no source of this slight humidity anywhere else. He blames the ambient humidity, as he doesn't really know how it works. He hesitates for a moment whether to put this one on or take another one. He is taking some time. His Master's voice calling him impatiently from the floor below puts an end to his thoughts and, without complaining, he puts on the gray kimono and hurries to join his master.