Home on the Range

By Kallie

Ch 4

Lita yawned as she walked to the storage house. She was dressed in a fitted shirtwaist that was a sugar pink. She also wore a fawn-colored ankle length skirt. Her auburn hair was pulled up into a high ponytail.

It wasn't quite dawn yet and she was the first one up today. She needed to get breakfast started and wake the others.

In the past few weeks there had been major changes at the ranch. Luna and Artemis had died, and Serena hadn't gotten over it yet, (No one was expecting her to though). They'd cleaned out Luna and Artemis' room and were getting it ready for Serena and Darien. Mia had moved into Serena's current room (they were sharing it till the wedding) and Darien was out with the boys in the bunkhouse.

As it turned out Kento, Sage, Ryo, and Darien had just gotten back from getting cattle to replace the ones that had been stolen. Now they needed to brand them and then get them to the market as soon as possible.

Lita grabbed the last of the flour. She made a mental note to get some more. She set the flour on the ground. As she was getting up to close the door someone leaned around her and shut it for her. She whirled around to see a man with blonde hair that went to his shoulders. He had sapphire-blue eyes and towered over Lita.

"Wayne?! What are you doing here?"

"Just came to see my girl."

"I'm not your girl. And why didn't you wait till a decent hour?"

" 'Cause I missed you so much." Lita rolled her eyes. " Besides I was in the area anyway."

Lita narrowed her eyes at him. "And just what were you doing?"

Wayne stammered and stuttered before finally saying, "Nothing".

"Well maybe you should go join your friends Roy and Jim, and leave me alone."

"Now I couldn't do that." Wayne pouted. "You're being awfully rude, not inviting me in or nothin'."

"I'm being rude? You're the one who stopped by at an indecent hour. Now I think you should leave." Lita said the last part as a command.

"But I just got here." Wayne smiled at Lita, causing her to shiver.

"I want you to leave. NOW." She picked up the flour and tried to walk past him toward the house, but her grabbed her arm making her drop the flour.

"Come on Lita."

""I never said you could call me by my given name!" She snapped. "Now let go."

Nothing happened, except for Wayne's grip tightened. "Wayne. You're hurting me. Let go!"

"I believe the Lady asked you to let go." They turned to see Kento leaning against the bunkhouse. One hand was resting on his holster.

"Who are you?" Wayne demanded.

"Didn't your mama ever tell you it's not right to hurt a lady."

Wayne growled at Kento. Lita saw this as her opportunity and pulled out of his grip. She backed up a ways, out of Wayne's reach. She was giving Wayne a slightly scared look, but she quickly covered it up. Wayne had seen it though.

He tipped his hat to her and strode away. But not before saying, "Morning Miss Kino." She watched till he was out of sight. Then she sighed in relief. She looked at the flour; half of it had spilled.

"Just great. He made me spill all the flour. Now we'll have to go get more today. And with the branding, we need every hand we can get." She muttered to herself. She stiffened when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Are you OK?" Kento's concerned voice asked.

She smiled to reassure him. But he didn't believe her and followed her to the house.

"Kento, what are you doing?" She asked when he ran ahead and opened the door for her. He just smiled at her. She gave him an odd look as she passed by.

"Why are up this early?" She asked when he came inside.

"No reason. I just woke up early. I was going to head over when I heard you and that Wayne. What's his problem anyway?"

Lita sighed and started to knead the dough she'd made earlier. "He thinks I'm his girl. I can't for the life of me get him to stop thinking that. I've done everything but threaten to kill him."

"So he works at that Chaos Ranch with Roy and Jim?"

"Yeah. They've been after us since we moved here. They just can't take a hint. And lucky me I get the dullest one of the group."

"What do you mean by dull?"

"Well Wayne's not the smartest person ever." Lita put the dough in the oven and started to cook some eggs.

"Will you watch these. I'm going to wake the girls. We need to start early today."

She walked out of the room and headed upstairs. She started at Raye/Mina's room. She walked in to see both still asleep. She walked over in-between the 2 beds. She gently shook Raye who responded by rolling over and groaning. That was her signal that she was awake. Lita then grabbed Mina by the shoulders and shook her pretty hard.

"Just 5 more minutes Luna." She mumbled.

"Mina get up!" Lita stepped back. Raye reached under her head and grabbed her pillow. She threw it at Mina.

Lita walked out; knowing Raye would wake Mina. Next she went to her and Ami's room. She knocked and went in. Ami was awake and starring at the wall.

"Ami, is something wrong?"

Ami looked at her. "Just thinking."

"All right."

Last was Mia/Serena's room. Lita pounded on the door and went in. Mia looked at her groggily but sat up. Lita walked to Serena's bed. She took a deep breath and said loudly, "Rise and shine Serena!"

Serena opened one eye the shut it. Mia looked at Lita. "I'll make sure she's up and ready." Lita nodded and went downstairs.

She got to the kitchen to see that Cye had joined Kento, but he was cooking breakfast.

"Morning Lita." He greeted. "I'll cook breakfast today. You sit down and relax."

Lita did as she was told. She turned to Kento; "Maybe you should go wake the guys."

"All ready done." Cye said.

"Oh."

A few minutes later Raye came in dragging Serena behind her. Mina and Ami followed them with Mia bringing up the rear.

The guys came in right after that. Sage and Darien were guiding Rowen. He looked asleep on his feet. Ryo followed them in and closed the door.

Mina, who was in a much better mood this morning, greeted them all brightly.

Breakfast passed quickly and they soon moved on. The girls decided that Mia would get supplies from town. She was handed a list and practically shoved on a horse. Ryo ended up going with her, because he made such a fuss about her not being safe by herself. They decided to take the wagon instead.

The guys were sent to the cattle pens to get things ready while the girls gathered up supplies.

Today all the girls wore their hair up and out of the way, and they all had aprons on.

When they joined the boys they decided to split into 3 groups so it'd go faster.

Lita, Kento (who insisted he be with Lita), Raye and Sage were Group 1. Ami, Mina, and Cye were Group #2. Serena, Rowen, and Darien were Group 3.

First Raye and Mina herded the cattle to the main pen. Then each group setup the stuff they needed in 3 smaller pens.

Serena's group was ready first. Darien and Rowen led the animals in one by one while Serena branded them. When that didn't really work they switched it. Serena had a way of calming animals down. So she petted and talked to them while Darien branded them. Rowen would then get the next one.

In Ami's group (Group 2) Mina let them in while Ami branded them and Cye calmed them.

Lita's group had some trouble. But they finally got things rolling. They could brand 2 at once. Raye branded one and Kento the other. Sage had to calm them both and Lita got to herd them into the pen.

Lita's job sounds easy, but it wasn't. She had to ride on a horse and get the cattle to leave the main group. None wanted to do that.

At one point Mina had a bull charge her and she had to jump the fence. Lita and Rowen rode over and threw rope around the bull's neck, restraining it.

As the day drew on, and morning turned to afternoon things were going pretty smoothly. 3/4 of the cattle were branded with a 8 pointed star, the symbol of the Cosmos ranch.

Lita and Raye had switched spots at noon. Kento kept glancing at Lita and it was unnerving her. Whenever she went to do something he was there offering to help her. Sometimes he didn't offer he just did it for her. Lita was getting annoyed fast.

She was trying to brand the bull in front of her but couldn't concentrate. As a result she accidentally kept the poker there too long. The bull broke away and ran toward the other end of the pen.

Lita growled in frustration. She looked up and saw Kento looking at her. She glanced away.

"He's worried about you, you know."

Lita turned to glare at Sage. "Well he doesn't need to. I'm fine."

Sage raised his eyebrows, then turned back to the bull in front of him. "It's a hard life out here. Don't you ever feel like you were cheated?"

Lita laughed. "Where did that come from. Of course not. This ranch is the only real home we've ever known. Out here we're free to be ourselves. Why should we feel cheated?"

They continued on in silence for a while.

Sometime around late afternoon, Mia and Ryo came riding into the courtyard; an elderly gentleman followed them. Serena motioned for everyone to group together. "Grab your stuff, and we'll call it quits for the day." They all hurried to comply.

Serena wiped her hands on her apron and smiled at the man. "To what do we owe the pleasure of this visit, Sheriff?"

Sheriff Ted tipped his hat, "Ladies." His tone was pleasant, but his eyes were troubled. "It would seem that there's a bit of legal howdy-do dealing with your ranch."

Serena's smile faded. "What do you mean?"

"Well, with Luna and Artemis being dead and all . . . we . . . I need to see a will."

Amy spoke up. "But Sheriff, the ranch was left to Serena. It's in her father's will."

"You see Miss Mizuno, there have been some claims that the ranch only goes to Serena once she's of age. That would be this coming summer, correct?" Serena nodded. "I'm afraid that you're going to have to show me the will. You have two weeks to bring it to the courthouse, or we'll have to seize the ranch."

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Hey people, long time huh. I'm really sorry about the year lapse between updates. But going to a foreign country can do that. Anyway, reviews always welcome.