SHORT SUMMARY: You're stuck with him for a whole day (night), and you still haven't SEEN him. Would you manage to fall in love with him?

FROM AUTHOR: I don't want to spoil the effect, so my note is at the bottom! -May K. Lunnaya :)

DEDICATION: To those who get stuck in elevators with lights switched off.

The Caveman and Woman - The Beginning®

"Why the heck did you leave me waiting for two darned hours at the movie theatre when it was pouring and never even deigned to show up?!" I yelled at my boyfriend.

"But I CALLED you!" he protested.

"Do you think I carry a cell phone around with me or something?"

"Well - "

"You're always late on our dates!" I accused him. "You never take me for who I am! And during the entire time we've been dating you've never kissed me!"

He was taken aback. "KISS you!? You're only FOURTEEN, for God's sake!"

"And how old are YOU?"

"Sixteen, for your information. You behave too much like a kid you are! I need a mature WOMAN who's serious about relationships!"

That did it. "*I* am a KID?!! Fine! Then go on, find some dumb WOMEN to suit ya!"

"Fine," he said coldly; his eyes were full of disdain for me as he turned and started up the street. The instant his slender figure disappeared behind the corner, I slid down the gate of my house, and my face flinched as I broke down into tears…

Absolutely fascinating, yeah? Only my parents would get the perfect idea to take me to a mountain resort for the weekend so that I would feel myself better and would get some peaceful rest after the break-up with Fumi. They could take me to Yokohama, I don't know! I mean, I HAVE been depressed and mournful for the last couple of weeks because of Fumi, but… Have you got any idea what Mom had told me? 'Usagi, dear, you have to relax and calm down! Fresh air and Mother Nature will have a good effect on you. Oh, honey, maybe you prefer a monastery??' I guess you don't need me to explain in vivid details what I'd replied… 'Get some rest', 'relax'!.. I wonder who on Earth would come here on weekend. I could spend it with my best friend Naru shopping or…

I let the beam of my small flashlight dance from one wall to another. Coldness, iciness, and dampness reigned the spooky cave…

"Don't shake your flashlight! It gets into my eyes." Dad's eyes screwed up behind the thick lenses of his bifocals (at least I suppose they did).

I made a face, knowing full well that in this pitch-black darkness he wouldn't be able to see me. 

"Why did I agree to come?" I moaned. "This thing gives me the creeps!.."

"Usagi." Dad turned on his best sweet voice. "We've skied, ski jumped, climbed the mountains, been to hot springs, been sight-seeing, bob-sleighed… Now why can't we see some old cavern?"

I shined the flashlight directly into his face. It was practically radiating with enthusiasm.

He sighed. "Why did you come with us if you didn't want to?"

I threw my hands into the air, exasperated. "Mommy said that this would be fun!.."

Over the other tourists' chitter-chatter I heard Mom's excited and awed squeal, "Ohh, just look at this stalagmite!!.."

DUH.

We proceeded after the troop of tourists with the guide ahead of us.

My brother Shingo noticed something in the nearby wall's niche. "Hey, there's some sort of a tunnel!" he exclaimed after ducking over to look. Then he smirked at me. "Bet you wouldn't make it through there alive!"

"Why do you think so?!"

"You're a coward, you know. 

"But if I would - "

"You'd black out on the way!"

I gritted my teeth and shone the light into the narrow passage that lay ahead. It breathed of chilliness and slugs…

I stumbled back. Shingo was wearing a look that said, 'Told ya!'

I can't let that nine-year-old little monster laugh at me!

I filled up my lungs with stuffy air and slowly stepped into the corridor, clutching the only source of light to my chest… After walking about twenty meters, I came out to the opening, which I guessed was a large chamber, judging from the fact that the flashlight's beam didn't reach the opposing walls…

I turned around and shouted into the tunnel, "Well, I made it!"

There was a moment of silence. "Yeah, but you wouldn't do it without the flashlight!" I heard my brother's nasty voice.

I flung the flashlight into the corridor, where it landed somewhere with a dull CLUNK, and with it has gone the light as well.

"That better?!" I cried.

"But the problem's that you'd done it with the flashlight, anyway!.."

Enraged, I stomped my foot at the hard, stone floor… Next second I heard some awful rumbling sound, followed by giant rocks and boulders coming crashing down from the ceiling, piling up in front of the entrance to the passageway…

My heart in soles, I jumped back. Is it forbidden to stomp around in here?!..

"Goddammit, what the hell!!!.." came a male voice furiously cursing every living being on Earth. I saw a very thin ray of light… that died out in a few short moments after. 

"Darn! Dead!" the same voice said in frustration.

"Who?!" I coughed out the dirt.

"The flashlight!"

"Who's here?" I asked, my eyes desperately trying to whip out the figure in the dark surrounding me. Before he could answer, I felt the ground vibrating violently underneath my feet…

I shrieked and bolted into the direction of the voice, then I guess that I missed him, because I slammed face first into the wall, just as more rocks departed from the faraway ceiling. It seemed like boulders were covering the whole room, and I was left in a tiny spot in a corner. Dirt rose from the floor in clouds of dust, stuffing my nose and eyes. I started coughing.

"Close your mouth and don't breathe!" he offered.

When everything settled down, I felt something grabbing my ankle!!

"Is this your hand?" his hoarse voice inquired.

"That's my FOOT," I informed him and coughed some more…

Suddenly, his hands blindly travelled up my body cautiously, searching.

"Stop touching me!!!" I screamed.

Small stones fell down on my head.

"Don't YELL," he said. His hands clasped over mine.

"Do you have any idea what happened?" I whispered. "Please, tell me! Do you know? What happened?!"

His frustration broke over. "Nothing!!" he shouted. "Just the fact that there was a sudden seismic activity that has blocked up the tunnel and locked us up from others in a chamber with no food, water or light! That's what happened!"

A cannonade of stones hit our heads.

"You said not to yell," I reminded him sourly.

"That's YOU who came here screeching!" he retorted. "I was just standing here, admiring the works of nature, and then…" 

Now THIS was too much!

"Are you saying this is my entire fault?!" I accused him.

"No," he said irritatingly.

"But you're blaming me for what's happened!"

"*I* am NOT blaming you!"

"Look, just get off," I scoffed at him angrily.

He let go of my wrist, and I heard his footsteps going away from me as he groped the path to… someplace. Then there were some sounds of rubbles moving. I crept over in that direction. 

"Whatever are you doing… do you need any help…?" I asked carefully.

"Try to help yourself," his low voice grunted out in a peevish tone. I muttered something unprintable here, grabbed a heavy rock in front of myself, and dragged it off the large pile… Just then, I guess the guy dropped a stone, because next second it clomped down at my foot. After I calmed down of screaming and jumping up and down, I noted that the noises from his side had ceased. 

I found his shoulder and whispered, "What're you doing?"

"Shh," he hissed. "I want to find out if we can hear the others from here…"

"You mean - "

"SHH!!" His hand gripped my throat!

I got into a fit of coughing.

"Ugh, sorry!" He jerked his hand away, his voice sounding apologetic as he explained sheepishly, "I meant for it to be your mouth… um…"

We listened to the dead silence and the quiet, slow dripping of the water from the ceiling. We couldn't hear a thing…

"It's useless," he murmured mournfully.

"But we still can try to clear the tunnel," I suggested hopefully as panic was slowly rising in my stomach. 

"No. That corridor is at least twenty meters long. We'll need about a month to do the work with just bare hands and no tools."

"Then… then we can just wait for the others to sort out the passage…" My voice shook.

He drew in a heavy and impatient sigh.  "The earthquake has shaken the entire cavern," he told me. "I don't think that they'd be dumb enough to try to rescue some two idiots who had enough guts to get stuck in a chamber. And by that time we'll be dead." 

"Could've been a little more optimistic," I grumbled sarcastically.

"And why should I be optimistic when the facts speak for themselves, may I ask?" he replied gruffly.

Like he's giving me some hope of survival!.. WHO is this guy to be so… so… cruel?!

"Who are you?" I questioned the darkness in annoyance.

Absolute silence fell down over the cave. Finally, he answered idly, "Mamoru Chiba… Now you'll want to know have I got a girlfriend, a car, and am I rich, right?"

Why, you!!!

"Why would I want to?" I wrinkled up my nose, forgetting that he couldn't see me.

He smirked. "Well, you asked my name, didn't you?"

"I'd just wanted to know who I'll with spend my last hours." And I returned to the fascinating activity also known as clearing out an obstruction. Without a word, the guy set back to work, too. Only our grunting and yelps disturbed the silence whenever a boulder would occasionally decide to squash our feet.

When we sorted out a couple of feet, I settled down by the entrance to get some rest. After a few moments, there was heard a tired sigh.

"We can't go any further," I heard from the passageway. 

If I were someone of the feline kind, my whiskers would've sagged down.

"Why?" I squeaked, immediately scared. 

"Because there's this huge rubble the size of the corridor. If only we'd have some dynamite…" His wistful voice bounced along the walls. "The rescuers will have to make sure they blow up the thing without having the ceiling break off at us in the process…"

I whipped my head up. "Would you stop thinking about DEATH?!"

He let out a few sorrowful laughs. "Well, everything's showing that's what awaits us."

Two salty drops escaped my eyes as I sniffed a couple of times. "But I don't want to DIE here with YOU!!.."

"I know. We don't choose persons in whose company we must end our lives," he commented dryly. "Especially whining, whimpering, female crybabies."

I'm sure he could see my flaming form clench its teeth. The noise was broadcast over the chamber.

"Don't break your teeth," he advised me.

The last straw.

I leaped to my feet and hit my head on a stalactite. "I'm never to going to speak with you again!" I announced and marched into the endless dark lying ahead, rubbing my skull…

Only when I couldn't feel that guy's presence near me anymore, I realized I could almost sense the darkness engulfing me. What if there are some tentacles… or MONSTERS hiding in there??.. I decided not to begin a journey in search of the opposing wall, so I made my way to the corner to the right of the entrance, slumped down, and rested my chin at my knees. Time crept by, marked by the "drop, drop" of the cave's water. Something got into my eye, and I rubbed at it with dusty hands, probably smearing the entire dirt across my face, but it didn't matter; after all, he couldn't see me, right? UGH, what am I thinking about!?..

I brushed off my palms at the shorts I was wearing and massaged the bridge of my nose with my fingers, closing my eyes. I just felt so tired… I wonder how much time had passed since the accident…

Something cold and slimy crawled over my foot.

Augghh!! It's a big monster! A big, slimy monster! And it's got me!!!

I sprang up and tried to shake the thing off, but it wouldn't. 

I reached, ripped whatever it was off my sneaker, and sent the… SLUG flying at the wall. My God, it was just a SLUG!.. I'm making a total fool of myself in front of the - 

From the other corner could be heard the guy's muttering, "Quit dancing around!"

- Uh.

Okay. Relax, Usagi. Everything's fine! That jerk over there isn't a problem! Everything's going to be just fine until a new earthquake!..

The ground under my butt started shaking slightly, but I didn't pay attention; there were enough of those rumblings already…
RUMBLE… RUMBLE… CRASH!

The stone floor abruptly switched from peaceful vibrating to a mad tossing around. Boulders and rubbles began collapsing from heavens, causing the dust to go up again. I couldn't see what was happening, and that was a good thing, or my hair would've stood on end…

I heard a cracking noise, and before I knew it, a fragment of a stalactite collided with my head, and I blacked out, though it seemed nearly impossible to get even blacker than it already was…

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