Ch3:『WaterQuest』

"Aaah," Arashi sighed as he pushed leaves and branches aside as he cleared their path through what appeared to be an endless jungle. "I wonder what we're supposed to be doing here... I can hardly believe we were taken from our homes and placed here without a plan," he seemed to be complaining, not liking the idea that their bags were packed and they just woke up in the future.

"I can't be that bad," J4 uttered as his eyes remained on the back of Natsu's head as they were marching through the untainted soil. It was strange how the world had been polluted by humans one day and to wake up the next to see it without even a remnant of such contamination.

"Well, they took us without our permission..." Arashi turned his head to look at J4, having stopped both the petite female and the spliced-human in their tracks. "Even changed our clothes! They could've at least asked us if we wanted this."

"Sorrowfully I cannot relate, I was created for this, but I am glad I am with you two. It could've been anyone else, perhaps someone who would rather kill me as a freak of nature," J4's eyes looked over Arashi for a few seconds, before peering down to Natsu.

Natsu was lowing her head slightly hearing both of them talking. She could relate to both of them in the sense that she had been essentially kidnapped, and J4 was likely to face prejudice.

Her eyes moved forward though as she was trying hard not to cry in this situation, she had to stand tall, she knew this. If she did not make herself useful, if she did not improve herself, she knew she would inevitably fall behind.

This world from what she had experienced with the orange-haired male, was no different from the last. There were still bullies. Yet for the first time, her life had changed. Two boys were willing to talk to her, and one of them seemed to want to protect her.

Problems in her mind could be easily solved, she just needed to become more aware of herself.

As she tripped over a root, she felt a hand grasp at her bag and pull her right back up onto her feet before she was entirely lost. "Eeeh?" She let out a small sound of surprise, her head turning to the side so she could see J4 smiling down at her as he kept her on her feet. "T-thank you..."

At most the three were walking within a meter of one another, keeping enough distance to avoid tripping over the same rots or possibly falling into the ditch. However, this also allowed them to be close enough to each other to be in arm's length.

Sniffing at the air as he tilted his head back, J4 could tell that it smelled like it was going to rain again soon, and the sky wasn't looking too bright despite the rising sun.

"What are you doing?" Arashi blinked seeing J4 smelling the air, as well as looking over the trees.

"It smells like rain is coming, feels like it too..." Looking over the area, he could sense many other insects in the area. A swarm of cockroaches not too far away as their pheromones were permeating in the air due to their sheer numbers. "There are several cockroaches some distance from here..."

"Eh?!" Arashi immediately paled in the face at the mention of insects.

Natsu trembled slightly at the idea of a swarm, but she didn't voice a single sound. From J4's point of view, it was almost as if she was thinking more than she was letting out. This didn't hide her troubled face nonetheless, as he could see her saddened expression.

"Are you alright, Natsu?" J4 was used to using people's given names, or nicknames. So he had no problem calling her by her first name, whilst the others may end up calling her by her last. Though last names at the moment meant little to nothing. There was no family registry here, no medical documents and surely no government taxation system.

She had looked up at him when he had asked her this question, her lips parting. "Eh... Am I alright?" She repeated the question in the first person, thinking out loud with an unassertive disposition.

Reaching forward he lightly wiped her tear-filled eye with the back of his index finger.

"Jakku-san, Iwashimizu-san we have to get moving, we have to find water," Arashi spoke up loud enough to take both of their attention away from one another.

"Understood," J4 responded as he was called by the name Natsu had given him. A small smile forming over his lips as he placed a hand on her shoulder. This time he remained a bit closer to her as she appeared rather unsettled about touching the plants. So he used his hands to move the rustling green and blue flora out of the way as he was following close behind the young man ahead of them.

"So where do you guys thin we are anyways?" Arashi asked as he had never seen an Island that looked like a cat. Especially the fact that they had to climb up one of its paws to get up to the surface. "I've never seen so many plants in one place, and I don't recognize the island."

"There could be a chance that this Island was created after the fall of the Meteor," J4 surmised as he kept Natsu's path clear. He couldn't help but think though that his helping her, might make her feel less useful and too dependent.

"I... Um... I don't know..." Natsu's eyes remained glossy and salty tears traced down her face. She, however, didn't whimper and even if she did the rustling of the trees and plants drowned out the sound.

"No need to cry or worry," Arashi said as he looked back at her, moving a branch of feathered leave out of the way. "We're your companions, nothing is going to happen to you. I think we should keep on moving through," he stated as he didn't want to stop moving, probably wanting to avoid the bugs.

Natsu naturally lowered her head again from his words. Did it appear to be a self-pity? J4 wasn't quite sure, but she seemed to have words on her mind, just not on her tongue.

His hand slowly moved from her shoulder and brushed his fingertips over the back of her neck.

Her head involuntarily jolted forward from the tickly sensation, "Ah!" Natsu skipped a step or so ahead before turning back to look at him, blinking up at him as he was giving her this crisp passionate smile.

"Be patient, be vigilant, don't let the menial things upset you," J4 spoke in a soft tone as he held out his hand towards her. "As long as you hold my hand, I will hold yours." Though his words may sound ambiguous, he was essentially offering her help as long as she helped him.

"...Oh...O-okay..." Natsu's gaze rested on his hand as she slowly reached out to grasp up.

"A Water Fall!" Arashi up ahead shouted as the sound of rushing water could be heard thundering through the trees as bushes and branches were shoved aside.

Unintentionally, Natsu's hand snapped onto J4's hand due to the sudden shouting and pulled him along to Arashi's dedication just up ahead. She hardly noticed as he allowed himself to follow her lead. His presence felt essentially weightless aside from the warmth of his hand ingraining itself into hers.

As they came up behind him, Jakku could see the water, and hear it even more clearly than before. His eyes then traced over the freshwater that was streaming from a higher base and into the body of water below. His gaze then moved down to Natsu who still didn't seem to notice how tightly she was squeezing his hand.

"S-sorry!" She suddenly squeaked when she felt his hand move in her grasp, suddenly letting go of him, but she didn't step away this time.

"It's fine," J4 chuckled favorably, "It helped didn't it?"

Natsu blinked a few times and let her lips curve into a smile ever so subtly, "Y-yes..."

Arashi looked over the two before rolling his eyes, "Can you guys find the others? I'll go look for a way to get to the source." He pointed towards the greater height of the waterfall.

J4 nodded lightly, he could easily find the others on the way back. This would allow them to find the others far easier than just running around or waiting back at the cliff.

Turning away from Arashi, the two would begin walking back from whence they came. However, as they did so, Jakku was listening out for his footsteps, at the same time as paying attention to the pheromones being emitted in the area.

He was pretty sure there was an ant colony somewhere nearby.

His eyes landed on the nearby mushrooms which were on the side of some rocks and even some of the trees. They were long flat semi-circles, they were poisonous and were marked as such by other insects that couldn't eat them.

Many things in the forest were marked by bugs and even other animals. Some things were readable for him, while others weren't entirely clear due to a different chemical composition. Even then, he was able to tell if it was poisonous or not. Sweet smells, bitter smells, harsh tastes, and welcoming ones came in different forms.

Eventually, he caught up on the Ginger and Botan's scents, easily pinpointing their general direction. He could even pick up the tall grass they were hiking through at the time as well.

After a short while, they came to a parting in the trees that oversaw the tall grass not too far away.

Natsu immediately rested her eyes on the two of them. She brought both of her hands to either side of her mouth trying to help with the projection of her voice. The only problem was, she didn't seem all too loud.

"Umm..." She tried to speak, but she couldn't make up her mind on what to say. "Umm... Water... Water is..." Sweat formed on her face as she was becoming mildly irritated at herself.

J4 just stood there though, waiting for her to shout. If she didn't know how to scream, it would be a big problem, he wasn't going to do this for her. His wings droned behind him for a split moment, making sure that they were ready to be used at any moment. That was when he could sense the increase in her heart rate, the sudden excitement from her pheromones as she was making herself upset.

"H...Heeeeey!" Natsu finally yelled out after giving him a side glance, seeing that he was depending on her to make a move. "Heeeey! We found some water!" She continued to shout, before covering her mouth.

He could hear her labored breathing, she was panting. A small smile remained on his lips though seeing as tears were rolling down her face again. She was a cry baby.

"EH? Really?!" Semimaru seemed surprised by her voice and nearly jumped upon hearing it.

Botan shook her head at his reaction and looked to the direction it came from. Compared to the ginger, she was relatively calm about the whole thing as usual. "We'll be right there!" She responded cooly as she began to maneuver through the grass.

"Watch out for Cockroaches!" J4 decided to shout out, causing Semimaru to squeal out loud in fear while watching his feet. A devious grin formed over his lips seeing how two of the men in this group appeared to have an aversion to bugs. "Don't worry! They're not nearby!"

"You bastard!" Semimaru cried out with a vengeance.

Natsu giggled as she wiped her tears from her face, having not only surprised herself by her shouting along with her accelerated heart rate.

She didn't seem used to making such a sound at all. From his observations, he could think that perhaps she was a calm and composed person in the normal world? No, that wasn't right. He could recall the fact that she was a shut-in, her interactions limited with the outside world. The only explanation was, she wasn't used to raising her voice and the sensation baffled her.

After regrouping at the top of the waterfall, the four of them placed their bags down on the ground and started going through their bags.

J4 stood next to Natsu, seeing as to him she was the most vulnerable of the group. His eyes remained on her bag. It didn't seem as if there were any other pairs of clothes packed away in there. The only clothes she had were the ones on her back.

Come to think of it, he didn't grab the gear he was supposed to on his way out of Okinawa. He wondered if it had even been preserved due to the breach. It didn't matter now though, he was with a group, now he just needed to get them with the others. Sadly, he didn't know all of their locations.

As each of them took out canteens, he looked over them. All of these items were the same brand, model and even color. A small frown was forming over his lips as it appeared all too uniform.

There was no change of clothes, but there were all matching items in the form of basic survival kits. However, food and water were not included in these kits meaning they had to live have hoped they lived in conditions in which they could go out and get their supply. There was too much guesswork in the making of these kits, they needed to know how to survive or learn quickly without prior training.

As the four of them went on over to get their containers filled with water, J4 followed them once more. They didn't seem to speak much as they did this either, but at least the three older ones were looking around as they collected water.

Jakku moved onto his knees upon the river bank leading to the waterfall and scooped some water to his lips. He didn't put it in his mouth immediately. He smelled it first, let it rest against his mouth, before eventually sipping the water slowly.

There was nothing in the water that would be particularly harmful to humans, he was sure of that. Though it would be far more healthy to boil it, there was no real need to do so.

After getting his fill of freshwater, he turned his head and looked to Natsu who was looking at him over curiously. "If you believe something may be poisoned, you have two choices: avoid it or check it. When it comes to liquid, you can typically tell by putting it on your lips and seeing if there is some sort of reaction. However, it isn't ever recommended to come in contact with a potentially lethal substance... Especially without knowing what it is you're supposed to expect."

"...Oh..." Natsu looked at the water in her canteen before screwing on the top.

"Where did you learn this?" Botan asked as she looked him over curiously, he didn't look like he spent a day of his life outside until this all occurred.

"I watched a lot of movies and anime, most of my knowledge of the outside world consists of real-world facts, however..." J4 returned his gaze to the older woman before standing up and wiping his lips of water. "As I said, it wouldn't be safe to do such things with every toxin or poison."

Nodding lightly, she looked to the mushrooms growing on some nearby rocks. "Are those..."

"Those are poisonous, the mushrooms have been marked by some of the ants and probably the cockroaches with pheromones warning against consumption." J4 rolled his jaw slightly, "Not sure what they do though if eaten."

"If they're toxic for human consumption, then it would be best not to eat them to find out," Botan sighed as she put her canteen into her bag after sealing the lid. "There are no medical facilities here to pump your stomach."

"You can say that again," Semimaru snickered as his gaze went over Natsu who was pulling her pack unto her back. "Pffft... No ass."

"What did you say?" Arashi asked with a brow raised.

"Oh, nothing you should concern yourself with, School Council President!" Semimaru laughed as he looked to the athletic male, a grin across his lips as Natsu just stood there frowning.

Narrowing his eyes on the Ginger, J4 didn't seem to like the fella very much due to his attitude, as he seemed to be the type to show off being a fool. "Stop being an idiot... Now that we have water, we should find food and shelter. Rain is coming, and I'm sure it is going to be just as rough as it was last night."

"Rain? Again...?" Botan shook her head and looked to the sky. While it wasn't too clear out, the number of dark clouds in the distance were assuring that his prediction was correct. "Let's return to our starting position before going off again, we don't want to lose our only ticket off of the island."

"That is an understatement," Semimaru didn't want to get lost and that was evident in his tone of voice. He didn't want to go back on the ocean, but if they needed to leave the island, they couldn't just lose their float. If there was something in the water akin to sharks, the last thing he wanted was to be eaten alive. That went for just about all five of them.

"On our way back, we should watch out for carnivorous plants. I saw a few of them on our way here," J4 informed the group. "They're big enough to try and eat us whole... But they're also edible, at least the enlarged venus fly traps are."

"P-people eating plants...?" Natsu whimpered at the thought.

J4 just stared off in the distance as he continued to speak, "Yes, but they're the least of our problems..."