I realized that true love was always needed when needed to get out of the tunnel. Weeping gently in to his smooth, bare shoulder, I whispered thanks to him.

He whispered, "Don't be sad. I thank you so much because...you guided...you lead, when I couldn't myself. We were burnt out. So you took over my place. I'll always be grateful for it." He kissed me softly.

In that way, I never felt insecure.

My heart leapt when he whispered in my neck,

"You see, none of the girls I'd dated in high school loved me the same way you did. They didn't even try to lead. I don't know where you got that ability. And I will always find out why you did it."

My mind had turned blank because of the way he'd moved made my fall in pleasure. That didn't matter

Because I felt lucky to have him.

After some gentle caressing, he whispered, "Love, where do you want to be felt?"

I closed my eyes and whispered carefully, "Wherever you feel with your hands."

Why? He asked quietly.

"We both burnt out," I whispered.

"Fine..." He whispered lovingly and caressed me slowly. Again.

I almost laughed inside.

-

Mother Asuza looked up to see Natsuko coming in to the room, tears in her eyes. She explained happily, "Mother, my siblings are back! From their trip."

"Really?" Asuza was surprised. "I thought they were dead."

Natsuko shook her head. "No, mother. Here." She gave Asuza a piece of paper in Japanes writing.

"最近の夢."

Natsuko stood up and walked out of the room.

When she peered in, she closed the door happily.

My children...they came back. Thank Kyoto and Takashi we have them back.

-

In a world rampant with corruption, there was the good and bad, both separated. When the narrow tunnel first found us, we were in bad condition after getting out of the forest. We thought the tunnel would save us. It didn't. It trapped us for almost ten days. However our love never faded no matter how our condition worsened. The camera made us find a way out...

When we came out, finally we found a shelter that provided us, in Kyoto. That was a small fault because you see, my husband Sohma almost lost his temper with his rival, cause of burnout. I managed to calm him but nope, he calmed down himself. He was on the verge of tears. He controlled when he felt appreciated.

That was when he felt grateful to be served with warm oyakudon. He wrote a paper for the strangers thanking them: 最近の夢.

-

Sohma returned to the empty kitchen and found Mother Asuza sitting near a table. " Mother Asuza?" He asked gently.

"The tunnel...the woods..." She whispered. "My, I thought you died!"

"We almost did," Sohma said quietly. "In the woods, five days without food, in the tunnel...ten! "

Asuza put a

In the deep, narrow tunnel, while I was putting batteries in the camera, I was crying because of our condition. I never imagined my husband would be in worse condition.

However I needed to save us.

Wiping my tears, I closed the bottom of the camera and then switched it on. The camera showed me a beautiful image of us being happily marriage, staring into a camera, smiling. Laughing.

I switched to the next one.

We were lost in the woods, without a way out.

Then, I typed my future in the camera about me being a housewife, cooking food and serving the family. The camera clicked.

I called Sohma gently, "The camera knows a way out. Let's go."

I rushed to helped him, he was almost fainting and half asleep. I felt faint too but I had to save us both.

I failed to climb out of the steep exit to the outer world five times. Inside, I screamed with despair and a small voice told to give up and die in the tunnel. However, reminding myself of the love we both shared and tried one last time.

I did it. I got both of us out of the tunnel.

-

Kyoto was only five miles away. So we had to keep walking.

When we saw a beautiful hut in front of us we stopped and then Sohma collapsed. The door opened to welcome us.

-

I volunteered to make the dinner which was oyakudon and even fried tofu, decorated with parsley.

Sohma almost fell into a cycle of depression and was crying in his room, unable to speak a word.

He once told me, "I wish I could think about living on...But I'm not brave enough..." before he cried in my chest. I embraced him and comforted him.

I knew that he was trying his best to go on living despite the trauma. Sohma was one of the people who tried to find meaning in everything, like me.

After the dinner, I replayed Mother Asuza's comforting words:

Oyakudon is the best when eaten together. Come back to Japan, please, my children. I don't wanna lose you. I lost my parents. Someone found their bodies in the woods...they died without food or water.

However it was more than death. It was something decided to do themselves.

Asuza's parents had wished they were dead because of marriage problems. And their wish came true. Staying without any resource, they died.

Their daughter walked out of the funeral hall, towards the seashore and screamed out while crying helplessly.

-

Walking over to Mother Asuza, Natsuko complained to her that she was hearing a sound in her head. Like Asuza was screaming because she was mad with grief.

"Shut your mouth," Asuza told her harshly. "I screamed out at the shore. My parents wished they were dead."

-

When Sohma woke up from sleep, he felt me sleeping next to him. He embraced me lovingly, in a way that is.

When we finished our mission getting out of the woods and the tunnel, Sohma suggested that we should book a visit to Shiofuki Blowhole.

"Shiofuki Blowhole?" I guessed carefully. "Interesting."

"Of course," Sohma smiled. "My parents visited there for the first time."

Holding each other's hands, I smiled at him. The strangers at Kyoto had treated us kindly, like Mother Asuza. I knew Asuza rarely attended public meetings but wanted to see blowholes to draw pictures of them.

We went to the blowhole and saw the beautiful, dolphine - like view. Didn't dolphins do like that?

-

For the upcoming winter, Sohma planned to buy us warm coffee from the convenience store.

Also, he wanted us to enjoy the view of winter. He was what people called a "self controlled" person due to experience making him stronger. I recalled I had been mentally strong too.

"No, thanks," sighed Mother Asuza when she was asked for a walk in the store. "I would rather stay home. But a coffee can be great in winter."

The convenience store, or konbini as people called it, looked beautiful inside. Winter looked vivid, but the snow flakes looked so sad, like tears that had no control when they fell.

-

As Sohma said, when you cry you shed tears that fall, you had no control over them. Coffee was said to be best for the wounded soul. Even egg over rice was said to be healthy for the mind and soul (I was just saying that).

-

"Steakburger rice?" I asked as I looked at the price.

Asuza looked at it, shaking her head. "That's way too expensive. You should try bringing...yakisoba instead."

Sohma nodded. "There's a blowhole in the center of Shiofuku but blows snow. We might need something warm to keep going. Such as Oden."

"Oden?" I nodded happily in response. Oden was enjoyed in winter so I liked that. "We can take ham sandwiches as well?"

Sohma laughed. "Ham sandwiches can wait. Focus on keeping yourself warm first."

Hence, we bought coffee and some warm pot Oden.

-

Staring in front of the blowhole, I recalled the same hole blowing out water in the summer. Natsumi came to join us.

"You see...that's the only hole in Shiofuku?" she asked faking a smile.

I nodded as if saying, Yes, that's the only affordable blowhole in Shiofuku.

The dish oden was cooked by Natsumi and the other cooks, which were her colleagues. The warm dish was shared in between the entire family members who wanted to keep themselves warm.

That was when I discovered the blowhole was actually meant to save and preserve family bonds.

"Hold on," Natsumi said. "You're saying that these are called bonds?"

Sohma said carefully, "You see, bonds are actually kept private. And Shiofuki Blowholes treasures them. If someone messes with those bonds, they would have karma in their next life." He turned to go away.

He spoke so quietly. Natsumi went after him. And the