Love On Horseback:
Part Six
The four youths sat in Fumi's room. They were all very disturbed by the recent turn of events. Though sakura and Li were in China, not Japan, and he was supposed to be dead, somehow Brian had tracked them down and made an appearance. Li and Sakura had made a dashing escape on Lightning, though barely escaped out of their alive. Sakura had not taken it well. She had not spoken much since finding out about Brian's return.
Li didn't know what to do. It was hard enough to destroy him the first time. How would Li defeat him this time? How had he come back? These questions filed Li's mind, for the love of Kami-sama he couldn't find the answers! And it outraged him about what it was doing to Sakura. Brian scared her so much, Li hated to see her like that. He tried to comfort her, but she was unreachable. Li wanted to have just one minute with Brian where he would kick his rear all the way back to America, where he came from.
For now all Li could do was let Sakura know he was there for her.
Suzy turned to Li. "What are we going to do about this Brian guy? WE can't let him get to Sakura."
Sakura flinched at the mention of Brian's name.
Li glared. "I won't let him." He said firmly.
Fumi thought for a moment. "He's got to have a weakness of some kind."
Suzy nodded. "We just have to find it and exploit it."
"No."
Everyone gasped and turned to Sakura. "What?" Li asked.
"I don't want Fumi or Suzy involved in this. He's only after me. This is my problem."
"Think again!" Suzy said.
Fumi nodded his agreement. "You're one of us now. Your problems are our problems."
Sakura put on a worried expression and looked out the window. He's out there. Calling me. I can sense it.
Sakura…come to me…we were meant to be…
Sakura shook her head. Li glanced at her. "You okay?"
Sakura looked down at the ground. "I'm gonna go rest."
"Want me to come with you?" Li asked, then blushed at how what he just said sounded. Fumi and Suzy suppressed a giggle.
Sakura gave a weak smile. "I'll be fine." Then she walked out of the room.
Li sighed and turned to his cousins. "I hate to see her like this."
Suzy thought for a moment. "Why not try to get her mind off of it?"
Li frowned. "How?"
Fumi smiled mischievously. "Why not teach her how to ride?"
Suzy caught on. "A private lesson?"
Li blushed. "I could do that. With which horse?"
"How 'bout Shelly?" Suzy suggested. Shelly was a white Arabian. Lately Lightning seemed to be getting along rather well with Shelly. Besides, Shelly's white coat would compliment Lightning's black one.
Li smiled. "Alright."
Sakura layed down on the bed, and soon fell asleep. Though she appeared to be in a peaceful slumber, her dreams were plagued by nightmares.
Sakura looked around but found herself totally surrounded by darkness.
"I'm coming for you." A horrifying familiar voice said.
Sakura jumped. "Where are you!?" She demanded. "Come out, Brian!"
"You will be mine."
Sakura shied back.
"I'm coming for you."
Now Sakura started running away.
"You're MINE!"
Sakura screamed.
Li, Fumi and Suzy were still talking in the room when they heard someone scream. Li knew…"Sakura!" He immediately got up and ran to Suzy's room where Sakura sat up in bed, drenched in sweat. "Are you alright!?" He ran to her and wrapped her in a hug. She immediately cried into his shoulder, not being able to speak about her nightmare.
Li looked worriedly up to his cousins for advice. Suzy nudged her head out side. Li nodded. He stroked Sakura's hair until she calmed down. "Shhh. It's all right. I'm here now." He told her. "Hey…I got an idea." He said brightly, despite the gloomy mood. "Want to learn to ride a horse?"
Sakura looked up, her eyes wet with tears. "Really?" She said softly between sniffles.
Li smiled softly. "Sure." He used his sweater and whipped her tears away. "You even get to use your own horse." He laughed lightly and Sakura did too.
Unknown to any of them present in the room, Brian smiled at a job well done. "She may not know it, but now I'm linked with her. I'm lucky I was able to make the connection in her dream, before she woke up. You're very strong, Sakura, but you will come to me." Brian smiled and made ready his plan. Yes, Sakura would come to him and it would be soon.
Li jumped behind Sakura on Lightning, making her blush. "I thought you said I'd get my own horse." Sakura teased.
Li shrugged. "Fumi and Suzy went to go get Shelly ready. Until, we'll have to share."
"No objections here." Sakura said with a smile.
Li smiled back. I'm glad to see that smile on your beautiful face again. "How 'bout I teach you the basics now?"
Sakura nodded. "Okay. What do I do first?"
"Take your hands and get the reins." Li instructed her.
Sakura grabbed the ropes that hung around Lightning's neck. Liu's hands came around and went over Sakura's. Sakura blushed at how close she was to Li. Li fought against his own blush and tried to focus on the lesson.
"If you pull the reins to one side, he'll move that way. Watch." Li lightly tugged the reins to the right and Lightning turned to that direction.
"Cool!" Sakura exclaimed.
Li smiled and moved his hands to his waist. "Now to start moving squeeze your thighs around his girth."
Sakura did as told and Lightning started into a leisurely walk. "Try moving him in different directions." Li suggested.
Sakura pulled to the left and Lightning turned to the left. She moved all around the rink. She got excited and slightly jumped. "Great! This is fun!" She accidentally squeezed her thighs again, and Lightning increased speed to a trot.
Li tightened his hold on Sakura, while she bounced around uncontrollably.
"Move with the horse! Hold yourself up and stay there before coming down again!" Li shouted to her.
Sakura did like Li said and soon her bouncing got more controlled. "How do I stop!?"
Li smiled. Should I tell her? Li couldn't put Sakura through that. "Pull back on both reins at the same time."
Sakura pulled back, kinda hard, and Lightning stopped immediately. Sakura still had momentum and would've flown right over the top if Li hadn't held her back.
Fumi and Suzy came out with Shelly and Suzy sighed at the kawaii couple. "Don't they make a perfect match!?" She squealed.
Fumi cringed and covered his ears. "If I say yes, will you stop that noise?"
Suzy punched him playfully in the arm. "Baka!" She took Shelly's reins from him and entered the rink.
"Ready for your own horse?" She called out to Sakura. Sakura nodded. Li dismounted and helped Sakura down.
"She knows the basics. She'll do fine." Li said, making Sakura blush.
Fumi came up and lightly elbowed Li in the ribs. "Did you have fun?"
Li smiled and whipped out his leg to trip Fumi. Fumi would've fallen in the dirt, but Li caught his hand. Fumi stopped an inch from the ground. "All that and more." Li said. He then pulled Fumi to his feet and walked over to Sakura. "Need help?"
Sakura smiled and mounted the horse on her own. "No thank you."
Li opened his mouth in shock. "You're a fast learner."
She winked at him. "Always have been." Then she started Shelly to a walk and went around the rink.
Fumi walked over to Li and smirked. "You gonna let her show you up like that?"
Li smirked back. "Do I need to knock you down again?" Then he grabbed Lightning's reins, mounted him, and trotted after Sakura
They rode together in and out of the rink. Pretty soon though, Shelly was getting tired, Li noticed this. "Why don't we call it a day?"
Sakura nodded. "Fine with me?" She smiled sideways at Li. "What do we do?"
Li shrugged and looked down at Lightning. "Well, Shelly can be put away right now. You can just go over to the stables and Suzy and Fumi will help you. Lightning on the other hand needs to cool down first. I'll take him around one more time, then meet you back at the stables, okay?"
Sakura nodded and turned Shelly towards the house. "See you there!"
Li smiled at her disappearing figure. "She's so beautiful." Then Lightning neighed impatiently. "Alright, I get it!" Li started Lightning away from the house, on his cool down.
A ways away, Brian watched all this in amusement. You should've left her alone, little wolf. Now she s mine. With that magical link I made with her, she'll be fully under my control very soon.