My feet hurt!

Lucy was walking slowly behind Ryuu, both walking through the island city. Everyone passing by didn't pay attention to them, for they didn't care. They just wanted to get where they were going, all cheerful about it. Lucy did draw a few eyes, but all thought she was Ryuu's little sister, or daughter if Ryuu looked really young for his actual age, and he was letting her express herself. Lucy went of for a bit longer until her whining broke their silence.

"Slow down, please. My feet hurt! I'm tired!" Lucy said while slowing down a bit more before taking a jump to keep with Ryuu's speed. She looked up toward the sun, groaning and covering her eyes. "It's hot, too." She added quickly.

Ryuu climbed up the nearest palm tree and sat in the highest branch. "You're the one who wanted to come to the beach, now go off and have some fun." He relaxed in the tree, his weapon's sheath hanging down by his side. It was empty. He'd left the weapon in a cave he, Lucy, Ali and Piper had been living in since the attack on their hometown. He was sick of all this waiting, he'd heard that the city's rebuilding was finished and if it was up to him, they'd all go back now. But they couldn't, for you need to be a certain strength before you could enter the main city, and even stronger to be allowed into the ruins.

Lucy dropped to her knees and dropped back, the back of her head dropping in the sand. She closed her eyes, breathing slightly heavy. She let the beach air roll past her face, tickling her nose with its aroma. The trees rustling and the sound of laughter and screams of joy filling the air.

"Ryuu..." Lucy yelled up, her eyes still closed. "I wanna go home." She added, but a little softer. He could tell there was sadness in her voice.

He hopped off the tree. "Why so soon, Lucy? We just got here and now you want to go?" He shook his head. Sometimes the little girl made absolutely no sense to him.

"We have been walking from place to place for many years. I just like to go back to our home and see everything the same, before it was destroyed." Lucy said quietly. She had turned her head to face where Ryuu jumped down, but keep her eyes squinting because of the sun. She waited for anything Ryuu could say, but soon found herself wiping sand off her face.

Just as she finished her statement, a boy had ran past her head, kicking up sand, maybe by accident, just to catch a frisby that he missed anyway. When he picked it up, he took no care of how he did and only flung more sand at Lucy. He then spun it his normal way, low and almost hitting Lucy with a spinning disk this time. He obviously didn't care or didn't know she was there.

Ryuu shook his head, making a mudball while the boy picked up the disc. He pelted him with it right after it was thrown past her head. "Dude, watch where your throw that!" He looked over at Lucy. "You okay?"

"You watch where you throwing shit!" The boy had said while wiping the mud off and walking past Lucy, whom was still brushing sand off her body.

"No, I'm not, I got sand all in my hair, and in my clothes, and even in my eyes. Ugh!" Lucy dropped back into the sand, hard, covering her face. "I don't like the beach right now, it has too much sand." She mumbled from beneath her hands.

"...." Ryuu couldn't think of anything to say so he just motioned to her to follow and started walking back towards the cave. Of course there is a lot of sand here, that's the whole point of the beach..

"And for the record, you thought coming to the beach would be a good way to clear our minds of everything that has been going on. We should have just gone to some spa or something where we can spend fun without annoying people." Lucy explained while getting up, brushing what sand she can off her clothing. She took her hat from the ground and brushed it off as well, placing it firmly on her head. Once sanded off, she took off running to Ryuu, catching up then remaining a pace to match his.

"Nuhuh, don't go blaiming this on me, You wanted to go to the beach, Black." He called her by her last name to annoy her, because, well, he was annoyed that she'd gone and blame the trip on him when she'd been the one to ask for it. If only Piper had tagged along they wouldn't be having these problems.

"I don't remember wanting to go to the beach..." Lucy mumbled under her breath. She continued walking with Ryuu with her arms crossed and her head cocked to the left, looking out at the ocean water. She eyes the waves from the back up to where they crashed down on the shoreline. As they continued walking, Lucy calmed down, her muscles relaxing as the soft salty air breezed through her tangled hair.

"Can we stop for ice cream?" The silence was broken, Lucy now looking back toward Ryuu whom still kept the same steady pace since they began walking back.

If you want to buy yourself an Ice Cream you can, but I'm saving my Pasix for a ferry to Harkes. I wanna join a tournament they have there.

"Is that a ferry just for us all, or am I going to have to buy a ticket myself?" Lucy said, getting a little grumpy again, looking back to the ocean with her arms crossed.

"It's a ferry for all of us.. but you're gonna have to listen to Ali, seeing how I'm the only one who can enter the tournament, and Piper is gone..." Ryuu sighed.

"She wont be gone forever. She'll be back sooner than you know it!" Lucy said with much excitement, but only because she gets her ice cream now. She unlocked her arms and started to run down to the ice cream shop, already having an idea of what she wanted. Ryuu kindly waited for her just outside.

Ryuu waited for no more than a minute and a half before Lucy came back out with a blue-raspberry ice cream cone; two scoops, just how she likes it. Even though she must have been in there no more than ten seconds with the ice cream, there was a nice think blue line around her small fine lips and a sparkle in her eyes. She was clearly ready to go almost anywhere Ryuu wanted to take her now.

Ryuu didn't pay any mind to what Lucy was saying. He knew she was wrong. Piper had left because, well, she just didn't want to be with him any more. If she had wanted to be with him, then she would have stayed. It had hurt his feelings to find out she'd be gone, and he wouldn't even had known yet it he hadn't devolped that one psychic skill that he used to make sure his friends were safe, even when he wasn't around. He looked back towards Lucy. "Come on, let's go back to the cave. We need to get ready for the ferry, and after my tournament, we're gonna go home. To Brostis."

"Back home?" Lucy repeated Ryuu's destination. She looked at her ice cream, trying to remember what it was like when they lived there. "Are our parents there to?" Being so young, Lucy didn't understand what had exactly happened. She though that one day, they would just be able to go back and everything would be just like it was. Everything would be normal, as if they were just on vacation.

Ryuu looked away from her, he'd thought she would have learned, that Piper or Ali would have explained it to her. Apparently not.
"Lucy.. they aren't going to be there."
He looked back at her. Wishing he knew how to make this soft and gently like Piper or Ali would have been able to.
"Everyone who didn't escape.. died. Their souls left their bodies to who knows what ends, but they aren't alive anymore. The bad guys killed them."

Lucy looked down at the floor while she walked on. "If we escaped, couldn't they have done the same thing? Maybe they got away too!" She tried to find a way to make it seem like they could still have a chance they were still alive. She sped up to Ryuu and gripped his hand within hers. "We can just get ready for the tournament if you like."

"Yes, Lucy. I would like to get ready for the tournament." They'd arrived at the cave on the beach that they'd been staying in. Ryuu walked inside and came out in a second with his Sword sheath on his waist, ready to go. He stood their, waiting for Lucy to get ready. He wanted to avoid talking about the impossble.

Lucy walked in and then around the room, seeing everything that was their home since the past few days. She smiled, remembering all the good times they spent together.

Ryuu was waiting outside calmly for what seemed like a minute and a half before Lucy walked back outside with a small bag that hung from a strap on her shoulder. A gentle breeze blew past the two as they set off again, Ryuu leading the way. Lucy took one more look at the cave, seeing that they were leaving behind their other comrades belongings behind. One went to one, so Lucy decided not to ask where they were. She will just have to deal with Ryuu being the only one she can be with for a while. As they continued walking, Lucy gripped Ryuu's hand within her small palm again.

Ryuu led Lucy to the ferry and boarded it with her.