Chapter 3: Just Another Day on the Ranch
"For crying out loud, Duo! If you don't do this right then you are going to be a very crappy rider for the rest of your life." Usagi exclaimed from beside Duo.
"Well, maybe you should glue my butt into the saddle." He said sheepishly.
"Duo...maybe you should learn not to squirm so much. Maybe then Sandy wouldn't buck you off." Usagi replied as she helped the teenager get up.
"I think I'm going to take a break..." Duo said as he hobbled off to catch Sandy and take her back to the barn.
"Kami-sama! He's hopeless!" Usagi muttered in Japanese.
"And what else would he be?" Replied Hiiro from behind her.
She spun around with a grin on her face, "shut up."
He raised an eyebrow at her, "didn't you want to get that hair cut or something?"
She touched her hair, "hai, I did. I just don't have anyway of getting into town at the moment."
"I can drive you, I have to go pick up some stuff anyways. I'm going now so you better hurry." Hiiro said as he walked off towards his truck.
"Janet, I'm going to get my hair cut, I'll be back in a while!" Usagi said to her aunt.
"Okay! Have fun!" Janet replied from a barn.
"I will!" Usagi replied, then ran after Hiiro.
"You're driving," he said.
"What?!" She screeched. She may be of legal age to drive, but she hadn't yet.
"Drive, it's not that hard." He tossed her the keys and got in on the passenger side as a nervous Usagi got into the drivers seat.
"Okay, I put it in gear and press the gas..." She said to herself. She started the ignition and put the truck into drive and pressed the gas pedal down slowly.
"You can go faster you know, it's not a crime. Plus, you're doing fine." Hiiro said as they drove into town.
Usagi nodded, never taking her eyes from the road. She liked the feel of driving, even though she wasn't all that great at it yet. She turned into the parking lot of the mall and stopped the car. "Did I do good?"
"Hai. I'll meet you at the Orange Julius at two, okay?" Hiiro said.
"Okay. See ya." Usagi hopped out of the car and walked into the mall to find a place that could cut her hair as Hiiro drove off to a tack and feed store. Usagi wandered into a candy store and was looking at the tee-shirts when she saw a shirt that had Sailors Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter and Venus on it with Tuxedo Mask in the back ground holding Sailor Chibi Moon.
'Oh, wow, this is so cool! We are even known in America!' She grabbed the shirt and purchased it. Then she walked towards the hair salon and entered.
"Hi, can I help you?" Ask the lady behind the counter.
"Yes, I want to get my hair cut." Usagi replied.
"Okay, sit right here and I'll get to work. How short do you want it?"
"Up to my waist, please." Usagi said as she let her hair down from the bun.
"Oh, my word. You must have been growing this out since you were just a child."
"Yeah, I have. But there is always a time for change. I can stand if you need me to." Usagi said to the kind lady.
"I think you'll have to." Soon the hair stylist was cutting off tons of golden hair. It took almost twenty minutes to get her hair up to her waist. And another 15 to trim it so that it was all even.
"I guess you can donate all that hair to the hair foundations or something." Usagi said as she paid for her hair cut.
"Yeah, I think we will. Thanks so much. Good-bye."
"Bye." Usagi went to the Orange Julius with her hair back up in its bun and her bag in hand. She was just a few minutes late, so she hoped that Hiiro wouldn't get mad like Rei did.
"Did it take longer then you thought?" Hiiro asked to Usagi's surprise.
"Hai. Wanna look at it?" She answered.
"Sure." He replied. Usagi set her bag down next to her and undid the bun and let her hair fall down into her face.
"Does it look bad?" She asked, not really knowing if it was as pretty as her long hair had been.
"Iie. It looks just like it used to... only shorter." Hiiro said, making her feel better about cutting it.
"Arigatoo." Usagi said, "I guess we should get back, Janet will be wondering."
"Hai." With that they both got up and walked towards the truck. For most of the ride home, they both remained in a comfortable silence.
"Hey, lets see the hair, Usa." Janet said when Usagi and Hiiro walked into the barn with the feed bags.
"Yeah, lets see it," Said Duo's cheerful voice.
"Hai." Usagi said as she set the bag down in the feed room. When she walked back out, Hiiro was no where to be found. Shrugging she reached up yet again to pull out her ponytail holder and let her blonde hair fall into her face.
"It's beautiful, Usa." Janet said to her niece with a smile.
"Arigatoo, Janet." She replied with a grin. "What do you think, Duo?"
"It's cool. Now I have the longest hair again!" He said with a lopsided grin.
"Oh, don't worry, my hair grows faster then most peoples. It will be back to its old length in about two and a half weeks." Usagi said as she walked past the now confused teen. She turned back a faced her aunt for a moment, "which way did Hiiro go? I wanted to thank him for taking me into town."
"I think he went out for a ride. He always disappears when he goes out." Janet replied.
"Okay." Usagi walked out of the foaling barn and went to where they keep the riding horses and tacked up her new favorite, a dark bay thoroughbred named Chance. "Hey, Chance, want to go out for a ride?" She asked the colt as she snapped a lead line onto his halter and lead him out into the aisle to be bushed and tacked up.
Chance snorted in reply.
"Okay." Usagi said with a giggle. She brushed over the colts already shining coat, then put an English saddle and bridal on him. She put him back in his stall so she could change into her breaches and boots. Once she had gotten them on, she grabbed the reins and walked the energetic colt out of his stall, grabbing a hard hat on her way out the door.
"Going for a ride, Usagi?" Came Trowas quite, yet deep, voice.
"Yup. Can you give me a leg up?" She answered.
"Sure," the tall brown haired boy walked over to Usagi and cupped his hands under Usagi's bent knee. "One... two... three." He counted before boasting the lightweight 16 year old up into the saddle.
"Arigatoo, Trowa. See ya later!" She said as Chance started off at a bouncy trot. "C'mon, Chance, let's canter." She said as she nudged the colts sides with her knees. Chance broke into a fast canter and Usagi's hair went flying behind her.
As they flew past the trees, she watched the creek wind around. Then she got an idea when she saw a straight path way. Pulling Chance to a halt, she leaned over and shortened the stirrups a few notches so that they were like a jockeys.
"Ready, Chance?" She asked the colt. He bobbed his head up and down in response. "Okay..." She got into the jockey stance and yelled, "go!"
Chance shot off so fast that Usagi had to grab some more of his mane to keep her from flying off of him.
'Now this, I could get real used to.' Usagi thought as they thundered down the path. Crouching lower, she urged Chance to speed up, and speed up he did.
Usagi let out a laugh. 'I haven't felt this good since I left Tokyo.' When she looked behind her, she saw nothing. But right in front of her path, a large log was lying across it. "Chance! Stop!" She yelled, knowing it was almost impossible to get over the log without Chance scratching something.
Chance was going to fast and the log was coming up to soon and the colt couldn't stop. Usagi readied herself for the jump and urged the colt to jump. All horses knew how to jump, it just depended on whether they wanted to or not.
"Please, stop or jump, Chance." Usagi muttered to herself. It looked like Chance was going to jump so she steered him to where it looked like the lowest jump. She could feel him gather his forelegs up and jump, they were going over smoothly. That is, until the landing. Chance, who was already off balance landed with a thud that caused him to stumble and throw Usagi off over his head.
Usagi, with fear in her eyes, curled up into a ball and waited to hit the hard earth, but instead she heard something go "Oof." She laid there for a few moments, so she could get her bearings.
"Get off me." Someone said.
Usagi yelped and rolled to the side, "Hiiro?" she asked.
"Hai." The teen replied as he rubbed his arm.
"Oh, Kami-sama. Are you okay? I didn't mean to land on you." Usagi babbled worriedly.
'Why does she care...' Hiiro thought. "I'm fine," was the monotone reply.
"Liar." She said with a knowing look. She got up and brushed off her breaches and walked back over to Chance. "Are you okay, baby?" She asked the colt as she inspected his legs and belly. "Well, Chance, you are a very lucky little colt. I'll have to tell Janet about that log..." she said thoughtfully.
"I'm not a liar." Hiiro said, breaking into her thoughts.
"There you go lying again. Hiiro, if there is one thing that I hate more so then betrayal, it's lying." With that the blonde led Chance around the log and they started to walk back to the ranch.
Hiiro just sat there with a stunned look on his face. No one ever talked to him like that before. Everyone he knew was at least a tad bit afraid of the trigger-happy teenager.
"Usagi! What happened?" Quatres worried voice said when she got back to the ranch.
"Chance and I, well, we had to jump a huge log in the middle of the path. But Hiiro was there to break my fall." She said with a laugh.
"Are you both okay?" He asked, looking her and the colt over.
"Yeah, were are both just fine. We were lucky." Usagi.
"Usagi, you have scratches on your cheeks, they're bleeding." The blonde Arabian said.
"I do?" She asked. She reached her hand up to touch her cheek and whipped it back when it stung. "Guess I did. I'll clean them up after I get Chance back in his stall.
With that the blonde girl walked towards the barn and untacked the now calmer colt. She brushed all visible signs of them going out from his coat and put him back in the stall with some hay and water.
"Now to get myself cleaned up." Usagi muttered in Japanese. She grabbed a rag, and some of that disinfectant stuff her mom used when she got cuts and sat down at the houses steps. "I can't really just rub it all over my face, now can I." The girl said to herself. Just as she was about to get up and grab a mirror with someone grabbed the rag and disinfectant from her hands and dabbed the wet cloth on her cheek.
Usagi winced slightly and closed her eyes to think of something else, not really caring who was applying the stinging disinfectant. When the stinging stopped, she opened her eyes to see who had applied it.
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"For crying out loud, Duo! If you don't do this right then you are going to be a very crappy rider for the rest of your life." Usagi exclaimed from beside Duo.
"Well, maybe you should glue my butt into the saddle." He said sheepishly.
"Duo...maybe you should learn not to squirm so much. Maybe then Sandy wouldn't buck you off." Usagi replied as she helped the teenager get up.
"I think I'm going to take a break..." Duo said as he hobbled off to catch Sandy and take her back to the barn.
"Kami-sama! He's hopeless!" Usagi muttered in Japanese.
"And what else would he be?" Replied Hiiro from behind her.
She spun around with a grin on her face, "shut up."
He raised an eyebrow at her, "didn't you want to get that hair cut or something?"
She touched her hair, "hai, I did. I just don't have anyway of getting into town at the moment."
"I can drive you, I have to go pick up some stuff anyways. I'm going now so you better hurry." Hiiro said as he walked off towards his truck.
"Janet, I'm going to get my hair cut, I'll be back in a while!" Usagi said to her aunt.
"Okay! Have fun!" Janet replied from a barn.
"I will!" Usagi replied, then ran after Hiiro.
"You're driving," he said.
"What?!" She screeched. She may be of legal age to drive, but she hadn't yet.
"Drive, it's not that hard." He tossed her the keys and got in on the passenger side as a nervous Usagi got into the drivers seat.
"Okay, I put it in gear and press the gas..." She said to herself. She started the ignition and put the truck into drive and pressed the gas pedal down slowly.
"You can go faster you know, it's not a crime. Plus, you're doing fine." Hiiro said as they drove into town.
Usagi nodded, never taking her eyes from the road. She liked the feel of driving, even though she wasn't all that great at it yet. She turned into the parking lot of the mall and stopped the car. "Did I do good?"
"Hai. I'll meet you at the Orange Julius at two, okay?" Hiiro said.
"Okay. See ya." Usagi hopped out of the car and walked into the mall to find a place that could cut her hair as Hiiro drove off to a tack and feed store. Usagi wandered into a candy store and was looking at the tee-shirts when she saw a shirt that had Sailors Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter and Venus on it with Tuxedo Mask in the back ground holding Sailor Chibi Moon.
'Oh, wow, this is so cool! We are even known in America!' She grabbed the shirt and purchased it. Then she walked towards the hair salon and entered.
"Hi, can I help you?" Ask the lady behind the counter.
"Yes, I want to get my hair cut." Usagi replied.
"Okay, sit right here and I'll get to work. How short do you want it?"
"Up to my waist, please." Usagi said as she let her hair down from the bun.
"Oh, my word. You must have been growing this out since you were just a child."
"Yeah, I have. But there is always a time for change. I can stand if you need me to." Usagi said to the kind lady.
"I think you'll have to." Soon the hair stylist was cutting off tons of golden hair. It took almost twenty minutes to get her hair up to her waist. And another 15 to trim it so that it was all even.
"I guess you can donate all that hair to the hair foundations or something." Usagi said as she paid for her hair cut.
"Yeah, I think we will. Thanks so much. Good-bye."
"Bye." Usagi went to the Orange Julius with her hair back up in its bun and her bag in hand. She was just a few minutes late, so she hoped that Hiiro wouldn't get mad like Rei did.
"Did it take longer then you thought?" Hiiro asked to Usagi's surprise.
"Hai. Wanna look at it?" She answered.
"Sure." He replied. Usagi set her bag down next to her and undid the bun and let her hair fall down into her face.
"Does it look bad?" She asked, not really knowing if it was as pretty as her long hair had been.
"Iie. It looks just like it used to... only shorter." Hiiro said, making her feel better about cutting it.
"Arigatoo." Usagi said, "I guess we should get back, Janet will be wondering."
"Hai." With that they both got up and walked towards the truck. For most of the ride home, they both remained in a comfortable silence.
"Hey, lets see the hair, Usa." Janet said when Usagi and Hiiro walked into the barn with the feed bags.
"Yeah, lets see it," Said Duo's cheerful voice.
"Hai." Usagi said as she set the bag down in the feed room. When she walked back out, Hiiro was no where to be found. Shrugging she reached up yet again to pull out her ponytail holder and let her blonde hair fall into her face.
"It's beautiful, Usa." Janet said to her niece with a smile.
"Arigatoo, Janet." She replied with a grin. "What do you think, Duo?"
"It's cool. Now I have the longest hair again!" He said with a lopsided grin.
"Oh, don't worry, my hair grows faster then most peoples. It will be back to its old length in about two and a half weeks." Usagi said as she walked past the now confused teen. She turned back a faced her aunt for a moment, "which way did Hiiro go? I wanted to thank him for taking me into town."
"I think he went out for a ride. He always disappears when he goes out." Janet replied.
"Okay." Usagi walked out of the foaling barn and went to where they keep the riding horses and tacked up her new favorite, a dark bay thoroughbred named Chance. "Hey, Chance, want to go out for a ride?" She asked the colt as she snapped a lead line onto his halter and lead him out into the aisle to be bushed and tacked up.
Chance snorted in reply.
"Okay." Usagi said with a giggle. She brushed over the colts already shining coat, then put an English saddle and bridal on him. She put him back in his stall so she could change into her breaches and boots. Once she had gotten them on, she grabbed the reins and walked the energetic colt out of his stall, grabbing a hard hat on her way out the door.
"Going for a ride, Usagi?" Came Trowas quite, yet deep, voice.
"Yup. Can you give me a leg up?" She answered.
"Sure," the tall brown haired boy walked over to Usagi and cupped his hands under Usagi's bent knee. "One... two... three." He counted before boasting the lightweight 16 year old up into the saddle.
"Arigatoo, Trowa. See ya later!" She said as Chance started off at a bouncy trot. "C'mon, Chance, let's canter." She said as she nudged the colts sides with her knees. Chance broke into a fast canter and Usagi's hair went flying behind her.
As they flew past the trees, she watched the creek wind around. Then she got an idea when she saw a straight path way. Pulling Chance to a halt, she leaned over and shortened the stirrups a few notches so that they were like a jockeys.
"Ready, Chance?" She asked the colt. He bobbed his head up and down in response. "Okay..." She got into the jockey stance and yelled, "go!"
Chance shot off so fast that Usagi had to grab some more of his mane to keep her from flying off of him.
'Now this, I could get real used to.' Usagi thought as they thundered down the path. Crouching lower, she urged Chance to speed up, and speed up he did.
Usagi let out a laugh. 'I haven't felt this good since I left Tokyo.' When she looked behind her, she saw nothing. But right in front of her path, a large log was lying across it. "Chance! Stop!" She yelled, knowing it was almost impossible to get over the log without Chance scratching something.
Chance was going to fast and the log was coming up to soon and the colt couldn't stop. Usagi readied herself for the jump and urged the colt to jump. All horses knew how to jump, it just depended on whether they wanted to or not.
"Please, stop or jump, Chance." Usagi muttered to herself. It looked like Chance was going to jump so she steered him to where it looked like the lowest jump. She could feel him gather his forelegs up and jump, they were going over smoothly. That is, until the landing. Chance, who was already off balance landed with a thud that caused him to stumble and throw Usagi off over his head.
Usagi, with fear in her eyes, curled up into a ball and waited to hit the hard earth, but instead she heard something go "Oof." She laid there for a few moments, so she could get her bearings.
"Get off me." Someone said.
Usagi yelped and rolled to the side, "Hiiro?" she asked.
"Hai." The teen replied as he rubbed his arm.
"Oh, Kami-sama. Are you okay? I didn't mean to land on you." Usagi babbled worriedly.
'Why does she care...' Hiiro thought. "I'm fine," was the monotone reply.
"Liar." She said with a knowing look. She got up and brushed off her breaches and walked back over to Chance. "Are you okay, baby?" She asked the colt as she inspected his legs and belly. "Well, Chance, you are a very lucky little colt. I'll have to tell Janet about that log..." she said thoughtfully.
"I'm not a liar." Hiiro said, breaking into her thoughts.
"There you go lying again. Hiiro, if there is one thing that I hate more so then betrayal, it's lying." With that the blonde led Chance around the log and they started to walk back to the ranch.
Hiiro just sat there with a stunned look on his face. No one ever talked to him like that before. Everyone he knew was at least a tad bit afraid of the trigger-happy teenager.
"Usagi! What happened?" Quatres worried voice said when she got back to the ranch.
"Chance and I, well, we had to jump a huge log in the middle of the path. But Hiiro was there to break my fall." She said with a laugh.
"Are you both okay?" He asked, looking her and the colt over.
"Yeah, were are both just fine. We were lucky." Usagi.
"Usagi, you have scratches on your cheeks, they're bleeding." The blonde Arabian said.
"I do?" She asked. She reached her hand up to touch her cheek and whipped it back when it stung. "Guess I did. I'll clean them up after I get Chance back in his stall.
With that the blonde girl walked towards the barn and untacked the now calmer colt. She brushed all visible signs of them going out from his coat and put him back in the stall with some hay and water.
"Now to get myself cleaned up." Usagi muttered in Japanese. She grabbed a rag, and some of that disinfectant stuff her mom used when she got cuts and sat down at the houses steps. "I can't really just rub it all over my face, now can I." The girl said to herself. Just as she was about to get up and grab a mirror with someone grabbed the rag and disinfectant from her hands and dabbed the wet cloth on her cheek.
Usagi winced slightly and closed her eyes to think of something else, not really caring who was applying the stinging disinfectant. When the stinging stopped, she opened her eyes to see who had applied it.
Don't hate me because I love cliffhangers! Review :D