"You like me."
I, for the millionth time, turned around from my position on Toby's back, shooting my best glare at the red haired twit.
"No, I do not. And get that idiotic grin off your face-it's creepy."
The smile turned into a twin-smirk. I sighed. "Not what I meant, wacko."
"Why do you keep denying it? It's not like your feelings aren't returned."
Heat spread through my face.
"Lay off, would you?" I snapped.
"I bet you're blushing, aren't you?"
Toby let out a sigh, sounding exactly as I felt.
"Come off it. And give your horse her head, would you? She's panicking from being held back," I added, seeing once again the rolling whites of the eyes of his bay mare, and seeing her dance along the trail behind Toby's slow plodding walk.
"But then she'll run." he replied plainly.
"Then ride it." I snapped. Kaoru's eyes sparked with amusement.
"But that'd be no fun."
For the past half hour, for whatever reason, Kaoru had kept insisting on the topic of the ridiculous notion that I liked him.
"Hey-has your mom come out with any new designs?" I threw out, turning to face forward on the forest trail again.
"You're not getting out of this that easy," Kaoru's smooth twin tone came uncomfortably close to my ear. A jolt shot through me as he rested an elbow on my shoulder, trying to hold back his mare with one hand. What the hell?
"Ouch!" Kaoru cried, jerking back suddenly, his mare jumping slightly to his yelling. I was suddenly aware of the decidedly stiff walk Toby had taken, pinning his ears and swishing his tail. Kaoru reeled back, clutching his hip.
"He bit me!" He accused, swinging a finger to point at my painted monster.
"You invaded his space without permission. Of course he did." I replied, less snappy than I originally thought. I took a hand and ran it slowly down the length of Toby's multi-colored mane, causing his ears to flick back towards me and a sigh to run down the length of his body, taking the grouchiness out of his frame. Kaoru fell silent.
"You said give her her head, right?" he said, and before I could turn to see what he was doing, his mare took off.
"You moron!" I snapped, and with a quiet signal, Toby tore off after them. One of Toby's better quirks was that he was fast AND he could jump high. However, we had to catch up with them quickly if at all, because the type of mare Kaoru was riding was bred for endurance, and Toby was not.
It was obvious Kaoru wasn't an experienced rider. The way he was sitting on top of the mare was too stiff, and against her movements. If she turned suddenly or jumped or bucked, he'd fly off.
I buried my hands in Toby's mane and urged him faster. An ear flicked back towards me, and he really took off. The trees were a blur around us, the wind tearing tears from my eyes. The only thing in focus at this point was the bright black tail and brown hindquarters of the mare, and Kaoru's red-haired form awkwardly riding her. Why didn't he wear a helmet again?
As we caught up to them, the path opened up into a clearing. I seized the opportunity.
"Bend her in a large circle!" I shouted. Kaoru's oddly determined face nodded, and he took a rein and pulled the mare into a bend. I aimed for the center of the clearing so I could clearly see what was going on, and sat up. Toby's hooves sank into the ground, stopping instantly. I cringed as I saw the mare's terrified, unresponsive expression as she tore around the clearing, taking Kaoru with her. I considered telling Kaoru to bail, but there was a determination in his tense form that told me he wouldn't even if I told him to. What the hell was the idiot trying to prove?
"Alright, now take one rein and slowly make the circle smaller and smaller, until you have her bent around and her nose is touching your boot. Sit back and push the front of the saddle with your other hand, to keep yourself anchored. "
There was an odd strength in Kaoru's form as he did as I said. The braced form of the mare was forced to bend, smaller and smaller, until she was dancing in tight circles on our left, chasing her tail.
"Just ride it. Ride it until she relaxes to a stop, and then release her."
A wry smile crawled up the red-head's face as he spun in circles. For the first time, I noticed his face had been drained of color. So now would not be a good time to chew his head off.
"Well, what a ride, eh?" I joked, surprised to hear the tone my father had when a similar situation had cropped up when we first bought Toby.
Kaoru looked up, surprise covering his features as he continually spun. Insanely, I found myself cracking up. And then Kaoru started cracking up. Soon, it turned into full blown out, uncontrollable laughter. Somewhere in the middle of it, the mare stopped, where-upon Kaoru let go of the reins. When she darted forward unexpectedly and Kaoru had to bend her again, we laughed harder.
A belly ache made itself known, and I tried to control my laughter. Finally, somehow, I managed to stop. Somewhere in the middle of it, the mare had stopped and relaxed.
"I have no idea what that was about," I said finally, an idiotic grin refusing to leave my face.
"No kidding. I've never seen you laugh like that."
I frowned. "You make it sound like I'm unhappy."
"Well, sometimes you look like you are."
I paused, and then Kaoru's mare tensed.
"Bend her."
"Where did you learn all this stuff? You seem like you know what you're doing."
"My dad. Rehabilitating horses was kinda our thing," I said, feeling another smile creep up my face.
"Did Saya train horses too?"
"No. She tried it a couple of times, but never really got into it like dad and I did."
"Where's your dad now?" Kaoru asked, an innocently curious look in his eyes.
A stab of sadness flashed through me. It really...wasn't the same training horses without him. I bit back a familiar sense of loneliness and answered.
"He died of the same cancer Saya has."
Something odd flashed in Kaoru's eyes, and I rushed onto the next sentence.
"No, but he chose it. He didn't want to go through with the treatment anymore, so it's okay. He wanted to keep his strength so he could spend the time he had training horses and spending time with the family."
Awkward silence. Damn it.
"Do you still rehabilitate horses?"
"No...Toby's the last Rehab. Saya has Takuto-he's an off the track Thoroughbred."
Silence. I snuck over at Kaoru, and found to my surprise he had a small smile on his face.
"What made you decide to keep Toby?" he asked. I eyed him suspiciously for a moment.
"Dad gave him to me. He was the only horse with my name on his papers, so when mom went and sold the rest, I could keep him." I replied, wording my sentence carefully, hoping the orange haired twin would miss what hadn't been said in the sentence. Hikaru would, no doubt.
"Why did your mother sell your horses?"
Obviously, Kaoru was not Hikaru. I fell silent. To be honest, a part of me was still angry at mom for selling the horses dad and I had worked so hard to rehabilitate. She hadn't even sold them to proper owners-she had trucked them off to an auction. I swallowed.
"It was for the best." I said, repeating what mom had so honestly said. Kaoru's eyes flashed with..something. I shifted uncomfortably.
"Hey-you know, you're not such a hard-head when you're alone."
I sputtered.
"And you-you're stupid."
My cheeks flushed with the pathetic-ness of my comeback.
Kaoru grinned a chesire cat grin.
"Is that all? Of all the comebacks-
"Shut up."
"Another spectacular comeback. Hitachiin Kaoru wins this round."
My eyes narrowed, and Toby gave a decided snort.
"No you don't."
"Oh? How's that?"
"...You suck."
Kaoru's chesire grin grew wider, if at all possible. Toby's ears flashed back as my only warning as Kaoru once again drew uncomfortably to the side of my face. Irritation seeped through me.
"Kaoru, do you always have to-
Instead of the usual awkward drawlings that he and his brother liked to usually say while being snooty, an odd pressure on the side of my cheek. Wait-did he just-
Toby let out a squeal of protest as I watched Kaoru flash past on his once again bolting bay mare, this time in the opposite direction. An odd weakness set in as I realized what had just transpired. Then anger.
"KAORU HITACHIIN, GET BACK HERE!" I snarled, tearing off after him on Toby, both of us chasing with crabby expressions.
A/N: Thank you guys so much for your support and loyalty. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. ^_^