After we each had washed our bodies off, we got into the tub of hot mineral water and soaked. Toshi was in my arms again, with his head resting on my shoulder. We did not talk, just enjoyed the moment and being together. I looked at him and he was crying. When I asked why, he told me that he was so glad that I had returned to him. We both knew it was only for a short while, but we tried to enjoy the time we had together.

A person is told not to stay in the tub too long, since the hot mineral water will sap your strength and weaken you. I do not know if this is true or not, maybe it is a way to keep people from soaking in the tub for hours on end. We were there for about 30 minutes. Then we climbed out of the tub, and I once again was able to take a towel and dry this lovely young stud's body.

We returned to our room and put on kimonos and ordered hot water for tea. Toshi made the tea and we sat in the garden, enjoying the afternoon and what little time we had left. Toshi told me about his life since we had parted and I tried to bring him up to date on everything I had been doing (well, maybe I did not tell him everything). We both enjoyed our long conversation.

This was a beautiful day and we both wanted to take another walk around the village. I am sure that some of the people in the village remembered us from our visit there 5 years earlier. We went into the shops, talked to the people, and looked around this beautiful old village. Houses in this village were several hundred years old. One nice gentleman saw that I was trying to see inside of one of the houses. Guess I was curious. He talked to the lady in the house and she invited us into the house so we could look at it. It was beautiful! The wood in that house was so old that it had turned black from smoke and age. Nice thick mats were on the floor and a fireplace pit was in the middle of the floor. From this pit, all of the cooking was done. I just loved that house.

Then it was on to the temple. Toshi and I again made a donation to the temple and promised that we would try to visit the temple again. The monk from the temple could speak English and he took the time to show us around and explain their religion and the temple to me.

We left the temple and slowly walked back to the inn. We had told the owner what we wanted for dinner that night and he told us that our dinner would be ready as we requested. Again we went to the baths and soaked in the hot mineral water. When we returned to our room, the maids began bringing our dinner to us in the room. Our dinner was served in several beautiful wood boxes that were painted bright colors. I loved our dinner but really did not know what I was eating half of the time, but I enjoyed the dinner.

After dinner Toshi and I sat in the garden. I had a bottle of sake, so we would sip as we talked about our lives after we parted. He told me he loved his wife and son but something was empty in