Together - A Senku Ishigami Love Story (Dr.Stone)

Chapter 1 - Pilot

A heavy sigh slipped through Tachi's lips, her hand lifting to wipe the sweat from her brow. Her head fell back slightly, allowing her to gaze up to the cloudy skies. Looked like rain, good. Her green eyes trailed the small patch of tilled soil to her left, it was beginning to dry out, and knowing she wouldn't have to make the trip to the river to fetch extra water was a load off her mind. Her thoughts wandered to the events of the past few months. It was cold when she woke, half submerged in some kind of yellow liquid that smelled none too desirable, deep inside a dark coastal cave. When it had happened she had been on a boat with her family. They were visiting her grandmother in Japan, and had taken the trip on their last day there together with the woman... She hadn't been able to find any of them when she emerged from the cave, her grandmother, her mother, her father, her brothers...they were gone.

The realisation had hit her hard, but her survival instincts hit her harder. Food, shelter, she knew how lucky she had been with them, and if it wasn't for that luck in stumbling across the wild cabbage patch well...she wasn't sure she would still be here. She knew how to make a fire, having spent much of her childhood as a girl scout in America, again, lucky her. Even without her trusty flint stone, she knew how to identify the substance in the wild, the hard part had been finding dry timber to light. So many times back home she had complained that the ranch she lived on was boring, that the farming was boring, that tending the animals was boring, that knowing how to hog tie was unnecessary, that lassoing was stupid... she took it back, she took it all back. All those things that she had put down so many times, her girl scouts, the ranch, even her grandma's vacation sailing lessons... they were the reason she survived, they were the reason she had pulled through the seemingly never ending winter.

The frost eventually thawed, the winter melting into spring. Cultivating the cabbages had been her top priority. The more were growing, the better; then there was the sheep. She had stumbled across them a month or so ago, a small herd which stayed close to the river nearby. So far two had died by her hand, allowing her to make the pelt which she called her clothing, and after the long arduous task of whittling the necessary tools, she was now the proud owner of 6 whole balls of wool, which when she eventually got time, she intended to begin work on an actual blanket to keep her warm through the long, dark nights. The first water droplet fell from the grey skies, landing on her forehead and running down her face. She sighed once more, tying off her work and glancing back to her progress. She should be done soon. The enclosure was crude at best, her rope not as well constructed as her wool, but holding nonetheless. 2 more days, and she should be able to lead the sheep from the river back to it. They needed sheared, she needed wool and meat, as far as she was concerned, it was a win win for her to keep them here.

The heavens opened quickly, the rain falling hard and fast just behind her as she entered into her small home, pulling the misshapen scraps of timber that composed the door closed behind her and tying it closed tightly. Damn monkeys loved it in here, and if she didn't tie it, they always seemed to find their way inside. In the centre of the tepee structure burned her small fire, half of the area taken up by drying firewood. A small collection of one sheep pelt, one deer pelt, and one lion pelt made up her bedding area. She shuddered from time to time when she lay upon on the lions pelt, imagine it had been alive when she found it... She lay her head down softly, listening to the rain against the layers of large leaves and branches which made up her walls, at least she had somewhere dry to sleep.

Another 4 days past, her enclosure now complete, the sheep herded up into it. She was pleased with her work, and smiled to herself in relief as she looked to the 11 healthy looking animals, she was actually making this work. Though as she stared ahead, she couldn't help but envy the beasts. At least they had each other. What she wouldn't give to talk to someone who wasn't encased in stone. She passed by the same faces each day, greeting them as though they could hear her, as if she was expecting them to respond. It helped keep her sane, or so she liked to think, perhaps it was a sign of encroaching madness, who knew. Satisfied that her herd was secure in their new home, she began towards the river. Her fish traps weren't what anyone would call elaborate, just some sticks and twigs strung together with wool where the current flowed, but they provided her with something other than cabbage to eat from time to time, so she was eager to check on them at least twice a day.