It was becoming evening, and according to my watch we were late for arriving in Santa Fe. Our driver wasn't saying anything about it, and it wasn't a big deal. Everyone was watching a DVD now and it was a movie I wasn't interested in. So, I was watching it while still listening to music. In the chair next to mine, Tetsu was holding Sana. Sana was facing me, his legs over Tetsu's lap in a sideways position. The side of his face was against Tetsu's neck, and he seemed tired. He'd only woken up about four hours ago, but he was this tired. I could see why Tetsu was concerned. Sana seemed to be staring at me as he sat there, but I didn't want to keep prolonged eye contact. I'd glance at him, though. The way he was staring was honestly scaring me. A long, seemingly unblinking stare as if he were thinking about something else, half out of it, not paying attention.

Was this what Tetsu had seen? Is that why he'd tried to have a meeting? And Lyra hadn't listened to him, just giving their unwanted opinions...

I tried to get over my uncomfortableness and extended my hand to Sana's. At this exact moment, Tetsu adjusted a little bit in his seat and therefore adjusted Sana, too. But, I was still able to make contact. Taking Sana's hand. He gave a small smile, but his eyes were still far away. His grip was very slight, but I was strong enough for the both of us. Like this, we all sat there not watching the DVD. 

After a while, the bus pulled into a large parking lot with a gravel driveway. I took off my headphones and listened to the gravel being slowly crushed under the wheels as it parked. We were near the entrance to a large building made of a sandy, tan material that we'd started seeing. Everything seemed to be made of this material, even the McDonald's we'd passed. This building had large posts holding up a roof in front of the entrance, and the posts had colorful pictures and patterns all over them. 

"Time to stretch our legs again," the driver announced. He opened the bus door with a whoosh. I released Sana's hand with a rub of my thumb to assure him, and Tetsu squeezed him affectionately. This got us a nice smile. 

The rest of Lyra got off the bus without looking back again, but my mom and Natsuko prepared Sana's wheelchair. I helped Tetsu get him securely into it. He picked up Sana's purse and slung it over his shoulder and I got off the bus to help guide them down with the wheelchair lift. When I did, I saw the rest of Lyra milling about at the entrance and watching us with interest. There wasn't any time to be upset at them for not helping. 

The wheelchair lift came down with a whirr with Sana and Tetsu on it, and I made sure it came down right. It set them down straight, and Tetsu wheeled Sana off of it. Natsuko and my mom got off the bus once the lift was back in place and the driver came last. Secure and safe, we could now make our way into this building. 

As we went inside, I became interested in some hanging, dark red objects. As I examined them near the doorway, I was curious. They were slightly shiny, and waxy looking. They were bunched together, and reminded me of the way bananas naturally grow, that kind of grouping. The bunch had to be at least four feet long, hanging up higher than me. There were two, one on each side of the doorway. I was aware I was being left behind, but what were these? 

Too curious, I touched one of the bunches. Feeling it between my fingers. It was indeed waxy, but still somewhat pliable. The object between my fingers, which the whole thing was grouped with loads of them, was oblong and came to somewhat of a point. My fingers came away from it, and I smelled them. The smell that was coming from the object had transferred to my fingers. It was a faint scent of something sweet and spicy. It reminded me of the smell of a kind of Korean soup I'd had before that Sana had made. It had a reddish broth, and the whole thing was extremely spicy. So spicy, that it had made me cry while I ate it and my nose run like I had a cold.

As I stood there, reflecting, it dawned on me what this object was. My hand stayed well away from my face once I'd realized they were hot peppers of some kind. But, why would they be hanging on either side of a doorway? 

I hurried to catch up with Sana and Tetsu. They were surrounded by my mom and Natsuko, and they were enjoying looking at a glass counter display with lots of silver jewelry in it. The jewelry had a lot of light blue colored stones, and I personally found them to be very ugly. However, they were all excitedly chattering. All except for Sana, who was just quietly peering at the jewelry, face level with the case. He stared at them like a child observing toys in a Christmas display. Full of wonder, which was a lot better than how he'd been looking at me on the bus. 

Maybe he needed this. Bringing him back to life, this experience. Waking him up. I didn't want to let that opportunity go to waste. 

"Do you like anything?" I asked him, getting down to his level beside him, acting like I was looking at the jewelry, too. 

"Hmm. The rings. See that pearly, white stone with the pink, purple, and blue in it? I think it's an opal."

We looked at it together. It was smaller than the others, less gaudy, I thought. The stone was small and humble, tiny really, compared to the others. Next to us, Natsuko was gesturing to a large necklace with lots of the light blue stones on it. The person behind the counter was taking it out for her, probably to try it on. Tetsu was distracted by this, and my mom wasn't paying attention, either. 

Sana was staring at the ring he'd indicated. Slowly, I saw his stare start to return to the one I'd seen on the bus. That nothing stare, like he was staring into space rather than the real world. Small fear billowed up into my chest. Was he becoming out of it? Was that it? What was causing it? I didn't want to think about it. 

I righted myself, tapping my hand on the counter. Another attendant came to us. She spoke English to me, but I only understood the word "Hello." I pointed to the ring, unable to describe it. She slid open the case and this got Tetsu's attention.

"What are you doing?" He asked pleasantly. 

"Buying a ring."

This got me a bunching at the thigh of my jeans. I glanced down, and Sana was holding them there with his fist. Holding on to me, because he knew what I was doing now. The attendant picked up the wrong ring and I shook my head. I pointed to the correct one. She couldn't understand what I meant, so she picked up a different one again.

"Which one is it?" Tetsu asked. His voice was light and airy, enjoying himself.

"The one with the opal."

He leaned over the case, trying to see it among the fifty or so rings that must have been in that display. The attendant spoke to me in English again, something different this time. I had to say one of the only English phrases I still remembered from English class when I was in school.

"I'm sorry, I don't speak English," I explained. Compared to her English, I could tell mine was fractured and heavily accented. Maybe she wouldn't understand me anyway. 

Sana pointed into the case. His finger pressed against the glass. Sending relief through me, he started speaking to the attendant in his perfect English. He was very quiet, but it wasn't loud in here at all. Tetsu started petting the back of Sana's hair in an affectionate way. I was noticing this more, the way he pays attention to him. Something about that made a small blush rise to my cheeks and I turned my face a little to hide it. 

Finally, the attendant picked up the correct ring. I held out my hand and she placed it delicately into my palm. It really was very tiny. The band was slim, and the opal was being held in place by pressure from a piece in the exact same shape as it. It was a bit oval shaped. As I moved it, the opal seemed to change color mysteriously. No wonder it had caught Sana's eye. 

Very gently, I took Sana's hand in mine just like on the bus. His grip was still so weak. Once again, I tried not to think about that. Ignoring it, only for now. Trying to be stronger than I felt, the more I felt his grip, the more I saw his far away look. How tired he seemed. I separated the ring finger of his hand and slid the ring onto it. Mysteriously again, it fit perfectly. It was like Cinderella's glass slipper, I thought. 

Tetsu clapped a little bit in his merriment at this. "It fits!" He gasped happily. "Oh, Sana. You have a good eye. It's so pretty."

Sana just smiled for us. So pleased at the ring and that it fit. He admired it himself, but his eyes still seemed so far away. No doubt, he was definitely tired. Was this too much for him... But I tried to ignore that thought, too. Staying in the moment, that was what I needed to do. Pretend, just like Tetsu. But, it seemed to me as if Tetsu's reactions weren't pretending. 

"How much is it?" I asked Sana. He squinted into the case and then smiled. 

"Twenty-four dollars," he said, his voice quieter this time. Fading away. 

Without a second thought, I got out my wallet. I had some money from Nobu and Masaki. Finally, that stupid dare they'd made me do was for something. I didn't have a lot of money, but if this ring would make Sana happy, I'd pay for it. 

As the bills came out of my wallet, Tetsu's hand went onto mine. I glanced down and Sana wasn't paying attention again. He was definitely fading. I had to do this fast. 

"I'll pay for it, it's okay," Tetsu whispered, leaning in to me a little. 

I shook my head. "I'll do it. I want to."

He nodded, looking down at Sana again. We both realized that his eyes were closed. Resting, right here in front of the counter. Getting too tired by this little excitement. But, he'd been getting tired ever since he'd woken up. 

Quickly, I gave the attendant my two twenty dollar bills and she made change. I took the cash and crumpled it into my hand, stuffing it into my pocket. We bowed to the attendant quickly in thanks, and left Natsuko and my mom. They were still interested in the necklace that Natsuko was buying, so it didn't bother me. 

Like this, we went around the large emporium. Sana was resting in his chair, a safe position so he wouldn't fall forward, his head off to the side. I kept glancing down, seeing the silver ring now on his finger neatly. A memory of this little stop, even if he might not remember it much due to being too tired. 

There were many things in here of interest. Tetsu became enchanted by some hanging, colorful cloths which he identified as wraps. They had bold patterns and fringes on either end. We admired these for a while and found a small sign explaining about them. We couldn't read it, but it did say the prices. They weren't very expensive, just like the ring. Gently, Tetsu brought two of them down. He wrapped one of them around his shoulders, one with light purple, blue, red, and orange threads in a striped pattern. The other one was orange, red, and yellow with a little bit of that same light blue as the jewelry we'd seen. He draped it around Sana's shoulders and this caused him to wake up with a small startle. Tetsu rubbed his hair and Sana smiled sleepily. 

Now more warm and comfortable, Sana rubbed his fingers on the material of his new wrap as we made our way to another counter to pay. As I stood by Sana, we saw Tetsu take a hundred dollar bill out of his wallet. I blinked at it, thinking about spending that much money at once from my own small collection of bills. 

As he paid, Sana tugged on my jeans. I took his hand, holding it there. Not knowing what else to do, trying to ignore this feeling inside. One that told me I felt lost. Unsure what to do in this situation. Just wanting to be here with him. 

"Um," he said, so quietly. I got down on his level again, hoping that didn't make him feel small. 

"Yes?" I asked, starting to rub his hand to comfort him. His eyes closed briefly, for about a second or two. He was too tired. I was patient, though.

They opened again, but only halfway. "Um...my head hurts a lot. I don't know why. It's been hurting ever since I woke up."

Oh. I rubbed his hand faster. That explained a lot. "Why didn't you say anything?" I asked. 

His lips went into his mouth, nervous. That's all I needed to know. His eyes peered down in his anxiety. 

"You didn't want to disturb anyone?" I asked. I already knew the answer. He nodded a little bit. "There's some ibuprofen in your purse. We can get some water." 

"Okay." Said almost like he was scared. There wasn't any reason to be scared, even though I had been before he'd told me the truth. 

I continued to hold his hand as we waited for Tetsu. He was with the attendant at the counter, and she was animatedly obviously talking about the wrap Tetsu was holding, but Tetsu was definitely too polite to attempt to explain to her that he didn't speak English. She was just holding it up and grinning at him, pointing at it and sliding her hand across it repeatedly. It looked like it'd take a while. 

So, slowly and without any fuss, I put my hand on Sana's head. I felt him relax at this already. And gently, with all of my good intentions, I began to rub my thumb with pressure against his forehead where surely he was hurting. He let out a sigh, showing that I had been right. Together, like this, we waited as I took care of him.