The Tales Of Kyo And Yumi ~Tale 3
Several days passed, and, while Kyo was getting better, Yumi still wasn't convinced that he was good enough to go on by himself.
"I just think you don't want to get rid of me," Kyo teased one day.
"Whatever gets you through the day," Yumi joked back.
One day, Yumi walked out of the tent, sighing.
"I thought you'd be OK by now, so you could get going, and I could as well. But you're not, and some of those Fire Nation soldiers are still around.." she began. "It's no good, we'll have to find a new place- together.."
"Why is that such a bad thing?" Kyo asked, bringing up the topic he had been bringing up for a while now. "I still think we'd make a good team."
"And I still think it's best if we travel on our own," Yumi countered.
Kyo couldn't help but feel frustrated. He knew that Yumi still didn't trust him. But what was he supposed to do to gain it? She didn't make it clear at all.
"I'm going to go get some water," she sighed, after a moment of silence. "I'll go look for a new place after..."
She was gone for about an hour, and put the buckets of water near the stacks of logs when she returned. Kyo noticed something odd.
"Where did you put that ring you always wear?"
"What d'you mean? It's on my - " then she looked down at her hand. She gasped. "Where's my ring?!"
Yumi looked all around the campsite, and inside the tent. Yumi sunk down onto the ground, blinking quickly.
"What if I lost it in the lake..." she muttered to herself.
"Do you want me to go look for it?" Kyo offered, seeing how upset she was.
"No, it's fine. I'm going to go find a new place. Don't go anywhere!" she added firmly.
She set off away from the campsite, and wasn't back for several hours, coming back just when the sun started to set.
"Well, I found a place," Yumi announced dully. "We can go tomorrow morning. I'm going to bed, I'm not hungry. And it's your turn to take watch now, anyways, isn't it?"
She went inside the tent. After a few seconds, Kyo heard stifled sobbing. That ring must've really meant so much to her.. He decided that when Yumi was asleep, he'd go out and look for it.
After about thirty minutes, he went inside the tent silently, to see if she was asleep. She was, and tear tracks were glistening on her cheeks. Time to go find that ring, then...
Kyo trekked down the path toward the lake. As he walked down it, he thought how odd it was that he was doing this for a girl he hardly knew.. But she seemed so heartbroken. Why, though? Why was she so upset?
As he walked, he also paid attention to see if she dropped it on route. She didn't. It's somewhere at the lake.. And some waves must have pushed it further in, as well, speaking realistically..
Kyo reached the lake. He walked around the perimeter, looking for the ring. He didn't see the familiar gold ring. He sighed. Only one thing to do now...
He took off his shirt, and jumped into the lake. He swam to the bottom, and started feeling around the bottom.
He was starting to run out of breath.. He'd need to find the ring soon.
And sure enough, he found it! But his breath was almost gone completely. He started swimming out to the surface, but his vision was clouding up. And before he was even half way up, he blacked out.
When Kyo woke up, he was back at the campsite, lying in a sleeping bag by the fire. He looked around, and found Yumi pacing across the fire from him, muttering to herself, looking nervous.
"Yumi? What happened?" he asked.
"Oh my God! You're OK!" she said, relieved. She hurried forward and hugged him quickly before explaining. "Luckily, I woke up and saw that you were gone. I figured you had gone down to the lake to look for my ring."
"But how did you know I was in trouble?" Kyo asked.
"I didn't," Yumi admitted. "But I wanted to drag you back. I didn't want you to worry yourself over it.. And I saw that you were drowning, so I swam over and made sure you were OK."
It was only then did Kyo notice that Yumi's hair was a little damp.
"Thank you," Kyo said quietly.
"It's you I should be thanking," Yumi countered. "I can't believe you did that.."
"Well, you were so upset over it.." Kyo said, shrugging. "Speaking of which, are you going to tell me why you were so upset?"
When Yumi looked into the fire she must've lit while he was still asleep, Kyo immediately thought he must've crossed some line. Asked about something she didn't want to talk about. It happened a lot with Yumi, so he wasn't surprised.
"If you don't want to talk about it, it's fine," Kyo said quickly.
"No, it's fine.." Yumi inisted. "It has my family crest on it. See?"
She pointed at the crest on the centre of the ring, the crest was of a standing platypus bear.
"Everyone in my family has one. And, it's just the only bit of them I have left now that I've run away. They're probably furious at me. They probably hate me..."
"Don't say that," Kyo said immediately. "They're probably worried sick. I'm sure they still love you."
"Maybe," Yumi muttered disbelievingly.
There was a moment of silence. Then Yumi spoke again.
"You know, Kyo, I've been thinking about what you said," Yumi said, still staring into the fire. "And, I think you're right. We would make a good team."
She looked over at him for a second, and smiled at how he looked rather pleased.
"Knew you'd see it eventually.." Kyo muttered.
"Go to bed," Yumi said, smiling. "Rest up. I'm not tired. I'll take watch now.."
Kyo found that he was very tired, so he got up, and walked into the tent, dragging the sleeping bag with him.
