Chapter 11

"Well…." The medical expert diagnosed, having wrapped some medical tape and bandages around Erin's midriff. "Nothing's broken…. Though a rib /was/ fractured." He helped the girl out of the ambulance. "Keep her off the horses for a few weeks."

"/What!" Erin exclaimed in disbelief. "Nuh-uh, no way!"

"Erin, be a good girl and listen to the nice doctor." Bryanna said. She turned to the doctor. "Are you /sure/ there's no way around this?" She begged. The doctor laughed slightly.

"Well…. I suppose if she rode double with someone, they could keep her in one position in the saddle." He suggested. "Other than that, I don't see a way around it." Erin blinked, glancing at Bryanna.

"I've never ridden double…."

"Well if you want to ride, it's the only way." Satoshi cut in, shrugging.

"It's not that bad. I've done it before. This way you won't fall off again!" Bryanna said, laughing slightly at the memory.

"Hey," Erin snapped, "that only happened /once!" She paused. "Okay/twice/… but I was bareback, so shush!"

Satoshi laughed quietly, but didn't say anything.

"Besides," She continued. "Who would I ride with?"

"I'll volunteer!" Dark suggested with a grin.

"Yeah, that would be a good idea. You can ride double with Dark!" Bryanna agreed, trying not to laugh too hard at Erin's blush. Deciding that it would be pointless to argue, Erin was quiet—until, that is, Dark picked her up by the waist and set her in Eros's saddle. She squeaked slightly and clinged to the saddle.

"You don't mind if we take him, do you Bryanna?" The kaitou asked.

"Nope. He's the only one who'd be able to do that, anyway. The others aren't long enough."

"THANKS FOR WARNING ME, DARK!" Erin yelled sarcastically. Dark laughed, climbing up behind her.

"You're welcome."

-----Meanwhile-----

"They make such a cute couple, don't they?" Bryanna asked Satoshi/trying/ to tighten Missy's girth. "Uhg! Stop puffing, you little puffer fish!" She exclaimed, poking Missy's ribs even though she knew it wasn't going to do any good.

"Puffing?" Satoshi asked, one eyebrow raised.

"Yeah. Most horses don't like their girths being tightened, and they can hold their breath for a ridiculous amount of time. If you /see/ them taking a breath, the look like they're puffing. Can you help, please?" He grabbed hold of the girth strap as well, and they both pulled up. Bryanna quickly tied off the strap and sighed. "/Finally! Thank you."

–SMACK-

Bryanna blinked and looked over at the other pair.

"What just happened? Why'd Erin smack Dark?" She asked.

"Do we /want/ to /know?" Satoshi asked.

"Well, let's go find out what happened!" Bryanna skipped over to the source of the commotion, Satoshi close behind.

"Dark mousy, you pervert!" Erin growled, glaring at him over her shoulder. The thief laughed slightly, smiling innocently at her despite the throbbing red hand-print on his cheek.

"A pervert?Moi? I'm hurt that you'd even /suggest/ such a thing!" He said, pretending to be offended. She rolled her eyes and held the reins in a death grip, muttering something incoherently.

"Do we /want/ to know?" Bryanna asked, stopping in front of them. Erin nodded towards Dark.

"Mr. Phantom Thief over here just pulled a Miroku." She muttered, doing he rbest to not kill Eros when she 'lightly' kicked his sides with her heels. She clicked her tongue and said, "Walk" to the horse.

"Be good, both of you. We don't want you to scare the horses and end up in the hospital again. I don't think the doctors would like that too much." Bryanna said.

"Don't worry, BB," Erin assured as she directed Eros towards the trail they'd discovered awhile back. She leaned back in the saddle as much as she could with Dark there, whispering 'whoa' to Eros. "If /anyone's/ going to the hospital, it'll be Dark and Satoshi." She winked. "It's been my experience that teenage boys can't exactly ride pain-free."

"True, very true. Hey, I got an idea! Let's go get lost again!" Bryanna said, laughing.

"Yay!" Erin cheered. She smirked devilishly. "But first we have to find a field so we can c-a-n-t-e-r, or even g-a-l-l-o-p."

Dark glanced at her. "Eh?"

"YAY! LET'S GO!" Bryanna yelled, leading them to the nearest field.

"/Score! Go, Eros, Go!" Erin whistled and Eros took off in a fast trot, not quite a canter.

"WOAH!" Dark yelled. "Do you have any /clue/ what you're /doing!"

"You bet!" Erin laughed. When they reached the nearest huge field, her eyes widened in excitement and she instinctively set the horse into a gallop.

"I'm not sure that's completely safe…." Satoshi said, his eyes following Erin, Dark and Eros.

"'Course it is. Come on, Satoshi!" Bryanna said, urging Missy into a gallop and chasing after the others. When she caught up to them, she yelled, "Race ya!"

"You're on!" Erin grinned in challenge, ignoring Dark's protests and pushing Eros to go even faster. She laughed and cheered as he pulled just a centimeter in front of Missy, glancing back at Satoshi briefly. He was riding Sunny, keeping up at his own pace. Turning her attention back to the field, she dared to lean forward a ways.

"It goes on forever!" She called to Bryanna.

"Yeah, I didn't know it went on this long. Pretty soon, we're just gonna run off the edge and fall in a ditch." Bryanna called back.

"Optimistic, aren't we?" Dark said sarcastically. Erin ignored him.

"If there's a ditch, we'll jump it!" She called happily. "Where's our finish line, BB?"

"MAKE IT SOON!" Dark cut in aggravated—or annoyed and in pain. (A/N: -snicker- Boys and horses don't mix….)

"Know what? Let's just stop now and give poor Dark a break and let Satoshi catch up, okay? We'll race later."

"Aww.… Alright…." Erin pouted, leaning back and pulling on the reins. "Whoa, Eros!" The buckskin horse slowed to a halt and she dismounted, giggling somewhat when Dark practically fell off.

A/N: Well, that's it for now. Hope you liked it! Poor Dark…. Anyway, the next chapter should be up sometime soon. Also,fanfiction hates me and keeps screwing up my punctuation and spaces, so sorry about that.I'm doing my best. Ja!