AN: oi... i haven't updated my fic in a while @_@. sorry to all my faithful readers! i've been pretty tied up with family ... issues. anyhow, i finally got the chance to write part 3 while camping in nevada city. enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The drive from Eureka, California to Cheyenne, Wyoming had been long and grueling from Tasuki, while for Chichiri, who was so absorbed with thought about the legend, it seemed to fly by. He had hardly spoken a word in the car or on stops which made Tasuki incredibly restless. He hated that abnormal sense of silence that his friend had suddenly contracted after that encounter with the man in the lobby of the hotel. It made him feel like jumping out the car window, feeling as if it were smothering him to death. Finally, he couldn't stand it any longer.

"'Ey, Chich. It's kinda pretty here, eh? I mean, it's still flat, but at least there's more plants an' shit."

No response.

"I was lookin' at th' map at our last stop, an' we should be there real soon," Tasuki continued, eyeing the still ever-silent Chichiri. "'Course I ain't too sure, 'cause I still can't read th' goddamn thing."

He sighed and leaned back against his seat when there was still no response. In desperate need of some kind of noise, he looked to the radio and then clicked it on, cranking up the volume and starting to head bang when he realized a good rock song was on. "Hey!" he cried out when it was clicked off just as quickly. He glared at Chichiri who seemed rather unnerved. "What's the fuckin' big idea?"

"Gomen, Tasuki, no da. I just can't handle that noise at the moment, na no da."

"Fuck you."

"What??" Chichiri quickly reminded himself that he was driving and looked back to the road and jerked the wheel sharply to get the car back in the right lane.

"Ya heard me. This whole goddamn way ya haven't said hardly a fuckin' word t' me, an' then when I finally find some mode o' entertainment, ya take that away! Dammit, Chichiri! I agreed comin' all this way instead o' goin' home, 'cause I thought we'd be havin' fun! Well, ya know somethin'? I ain't!"

Chichiri frowned slightly and took a quick glance to the flustered red head next to him. "Oh, Tasuki... I'm sorry, no da. I know that I haven't been the best of company these past few days, na no da."

"Shit! Ya've been a fuckin' brick wall! I bet ya wouldn't have said anything t' me still if I hadn't turned on th' fuckin' radio."

Chichiri sighed and took one hand off the wheel to rub his right temple, feeling a headache coming on. "I'm sorry, no da... it's just that ever since I heard that story, I've had the strangest feeling, na no da..."

"What sort o' feelin'?" Tasuki asked, sitting up, his angry tone gone.

"I can't really describe it, no da, but the closer we get to Cheyenne, the stronger it becomes, no da. It's like we're supposed to be going there."

Tasuki's brows furrowed as he turned and looked out his window, pondering that. "That is kinda strange..."

"You're telling me, no da," Chichiri sighed again.

****
Tasuki had been daydreaming out the window and Chichiri had fallen silent again as they drove into the city limits of Cheyenne. The land was still flat, but the buildings, houses, and other structures made up for it. There were more trees and a wider variation of plant life, along with people. It was over all, a very pretty city.

Chichiri's attention was drawn from the road ahead of him and out his side window to a rodeo as they drove down a stretch of street similar to an express way. He furrowed his brows as he continued to watch; the sound of the music and the cheering crowd flowing to his ears. What was a rodeo doing in the middle of this area?

The blaring of a tuck horn and the squealing of rubber tires on asphalt snapped Chichiri back to the present as the car he and Tasuki were in did a doughnut turn and slid off to the shoulder of the road, skids marks left behind them. Bewildered, he looked to his companion after watching a big rig drive by, realizing that he had been in the wrong lane again.

Tasuki reluctantly let go of the wheel and met Chichiri's gaze with wide, amber eyes. "You okay, man?" he asked.

"I-I think so, no da..." Chichiri replied, trying to get his heart beat to go to normal.

"What th' fuck is yer problem!? This is the second time ya spaced out at th' wheel t' day!"

Chichiri quickly turned and looked back out the window to the rodeo. "It's gone, no da!"

"What's gone?" Tasuki asked after a moment, looking to where his friend was.

"The rodeo, no da! Didn't you see it?

"Chichiri.... I didn't see anything."

"But, it was there, no da!" Chichiri protested. "I saw it, na no da!"

Tasuki frowned and gently put his hand on his blue haired friend's shoulder. "Yer really startin' t' scare th' shit outta me, Chich. This ain't like ya one bit. Maybe we oughtta just ferget 'bout this whole ghost chasin' business?"

"I-iie, no da... Th-this is too serious now, na no da."

"We just almost got fuckin' killed!! And ya still wanna go on?"

Tasuki sighed at that look that Chichiri gave him in response, knowing very well what it meant. "All right, all right," he surrendered. "But maybe I should take over th' wheel?"

"No way, no da!"

****

They took a stop at a local mini-market store to buy some sodas and a few little treats to snack on until they got further into town. Chichiri waited at the front counter while Tasuki ran and got a few more things that he just had to have, and looked over the old news paper articles on the bulletin bored next to the cash register. He took a double take at one which had a picture that looked exactly like the vanishing rodeo he had seen earlier.

"Can I help you, sonny?"

Chichiri started slightly and looked up to the big woman with heavy rouge and frizzy brunette hair that was pulled up at the top of her head. She tapped her long, red nails on the counter top as she eyed him curiously.

"Yes, no da." He pointed to the article. "Do you know anything about this?"

The woman put on a pair of gaudy glasses and squinted to the article then looked to Chichiri, taking them off and slipping them back in her apron pocket. "Sure do. That's the rodeo my son died in sever years ago."

"Your son, no da?"

"Yup. Andy Jackson was his name. He was pretty popular around these parts."

Chichiri's mind reeled at the name of her son. Andy is what the spirit of the girl had cried out before plunging into the ocean back in Eureka.

"Not to pry, ma'am, no da, but did your son by any chance happen to have a girl friend?"

The woman nodded and fiddled with random knickknacks hanging on a small display rack on the counter. "Her name was Kelly White. She was a very nice girl."

"Was?"

"Yep. She committed suicide after she found out about Andy's death."

Chichiri could hardly believe his ears! Finally he had found some sort of breakthrough to this mystery! "What happened that night before the rodeo, no da?"

The woman eyed him again before answering, "She and Andy got into a fight. She didn't want him to ride, especially the bull that he did and lost his life riding... How do you know all of this?"

"I heard a story while staying in Eureka, California, no da. A man told me about the rodeo, but while I was there on the beach... I saw her, no da."

The woman was silent for along moment, eye wide in shock, then she turned away and found something else to fiddle with, attempting to hide the shaking of her hands. "T-thats impossible," she stuttered.

"I know it sound's completely absurd, no da.... I'm having a hard time believing it myself, but it's happening and it's not allowing me to function right, na no da. I need to find this out as soon as I can so my life can go back to normal. I've come a very long way, no da. Please help me."

The woman was silent for a long while, obvious having a mental debate within her. "What do you want to know?" she asked finally in a hushed tone.

"The rodeo, no da. Does the place where the accident happen still stand?"

"No. It was torn down not too long after Andy died."

"What about the fight? Do you know what was said then, na no da?"

"Andy called not too long after he made the call to her and said that his relation ship with Kelly was a little bumpy and that they might not be together anymore. I don't know what exactly was said though," she said as she wrung her hands together. "But everything would have been just fine if he had never gotten on that damned bull."

"All right, Chich! Let's buy this shit and get on th' road!" Tasuki laughed loudly, setting an armful of stuff on the counter top, inturrupting as usual. "Oh, an' I need t' borrow a little money from ya too. I spent all my dough back there in California at the bar."

Chichiri paid for the food, and looked to the woman after taking the bags of groceries. "Thank you, no da. You've been so much help, na no da."

The woman nodded and watched them as they went to the car, loaded their bags, and then got in and drove off.