Five reviews for only one chapter! This is a new record for me! Thank you, all my faithful reviewers! Please check out my other fics. Here are my replies to you:
Hioki: Whoa, I think from now on I will call you my best reviewer ever! I know a horse that acts a little bit like Hiei, but he is more like a fox. He looks like one too! Also I know a horse that acts exactly like Yusuke. Weird, ne?
Lady Lanyara Artemisan: I put Yukina's last name as Jaganshi because that's the way I heard it was. So now, to clear everything up, I changed it to Koorime. Oh, and Kurama and all the other male horses are geldings because, well, almost all the boy horses I know are geldings. Except for Charlie, who was half a stallion at one point. Plus I heard that stallions are usually real jerks. But I could be incorrect.
Dreammaster2411: Yay! Another person who likes wolves! Thanks for the compliments! At my sleepaway camp, there are two pairs of mothers and daughters, but they act like they've never met.
Arahazi: Thank you! Well, now I'm updating.
Luna Stargazer: Gomen nasai, but I haven't seen the second YYH movie. Heck, I haven't seen any YYH for over three months. If I do see it though, I will try to add Hinageshi later on.
Ok, I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho. SO DON'T SUE ME YOU EVIL LAWYERS! *growls*
*
Keiko couldn't help but smile at Yukina's look of wonder as the four girls walked through The Tokyo Mall. "Hey, haven't you ever been to a mall before?" she asked the small girl jokingly.
"Yes, but not one so very big!" Yukina replied.
Botan had them stop at a medium-sized store on the bottom floor. It bore the sign, "Masho Tack and Supplies".
"This is it!" she said triumphantly. "It's the new tack shop they opened yesterday."
As they went inside, even Shizuru was in awe. Polished saddles gleamed on racks protruding from the walls. Bridles and halters hung patiently next to them, waiting to be slipped on a head. Bits and stirrups shone silver, while crops and lunge whips stood at attention in their barrel. In the back they could see a handful of kids looking through the model horses and books. Riding clothes in a rainbow of colors displayed themselves on shelves and manikins. Pictures of various horses jumping and racing took up most of the free space on the walls.
"Whoa…" Botan said.
"This…" added Keiko.
"Is…" continued Yukina.
"Heaven," concluded Shizuru.
They were woken from their rapture at the sound of a friendly voice behind them. "Hello, ladies. What can I do for you today?"
The four of them turned to see a young man of about eighteen, with flaming red hair and a mischievous grin. He wore a white T-shirt bearing the store's logo on it, with faded blue jeans. "I'm Jin, one of the employees," he said, bowing.
Slightly startled, the girls bowed back, and introduced themselves.
"So, are you ladies looking for anything in particular?" Jin asked.
Shizuru, Keiko, and Yukina shook their heads, but Botan nodded. "Do you know where the hair nets are?" the blue-haired girl questioned.
"Right over here, if you would please follow me," Jin said.
He headed past a cluster of clothes racks, and stopped at a space next to the barrel of whips. Below a few rows of helmet covers there were several packets of hair nets. "Sorry, but I don't think we have them in blue," Jin said, grinning.
Botan picked up a packet of black ones. "It's fine. Besides, I like this color anyway."
"Suit yourself, Miss Botan," Jin replied. Near the back, a little boy knocked over some glass figurines. "If you'd excuse me ladies, I have to attend to something," he said quickly, then went over to the accident.
"Why do you need a hair net, Botan?" Keiko asked as Jin left.
Her friend stared at her. "Don't you remember? We have a show in less than a month!"
They remembered all right. In preparation, the three of them were trying to surpass their limits in every lesson, not that they didn't do that on a regular basis.
The show was at Makai Hill, the rival of their barn, Reikai Ranch. Keiko, Shizuru, and Botan would be participating in it not only to win, but also to take back their winning streak. Makai Hill had been receiving the golden trophy for over twenty years now. However, Reikai Ranch won 53 times in a row before then. Before the accident.
At the mention of the upcoming event, Keiko turned to Yukina. "Are you entering the show?" she asked.
The crimson-eyed girl gave a small shrug. "I don't know. I was thinking about it."
"Why don't you do it? We're all in it, so you would have friends there," Botan said enthusiastically.
Friends? Yukina thought. Then she looked at the three others, who were waiting for her answer. They didn't seem like people who would hang out with her once, then go back to teasing her. They hadn't made fun of her when she fell from Kazuma at that first lesson. Yes, they are my friends.
"I'll do it."
*
Genkai sat in her wheelchair, watching the horses and ponies in the pasture. The sky was painted magenta and lavender with the sunset. Hints of indigo and violet peeked out of the horizon, across from the last of the sun's golden fire.
Yusuke walked up to the old woman. Genkai held out her weathered hand and softly clucked. He sniffed her palm in hopes of an evening carrot or apple. Finding nothing, he gently nudged her hand and went back to his spot by the crab apple tree.
Yusuke, Genkai thought. You have such potential. You could be an unbelievable horse. But you choose to be stubborn and cooperate with only the right people. Heck, make that the right person. That Keiko girl seems to be the only one you really listen to. If I was to ride you even just for a half an hour, you'd know who was boss. You would be able to surpass even him.
But how was she to ride anyone now, in a wheelchair?
The elderly woman touched the armrest of the cold metal contraption bitterly. She remembered the day she had become like this.
It had started out as a normal show at Makai Hill. She was doing perfectly, and now was coming up to the final jump of the course. Every detail of that day was etched into Genkai's mind. The heat of summer causing her pink hair to stick to her damp neck, the horse under her glistening with sweat, the sharp thud of hoof on wood, the shock and pain as both she and her mount fell over that one jump, that one oxer.
Then she had woken up in the hospital, numb and unfeeling from the waist down. Genkai remembered the doctors telling her that when the horse had tripped over the jump, and fallen on her. Those same doctors told her that she would never be able to walk again. That from her hips to her toes she was paralyzed.
It was the last day that I saw you, Toguro. Genkai thought. The last day I'd ever see you again.
She pictured the dark bay's 15.9 hh{1} frame, his muscular limbs and neck, the way he was stern yet gentle at the same time. At first her mental photograph was fuzzy, but after a few seconds it grew clearer. This was something she had done every evening since she had last seen him, so his image wouldn't fade from her sharp mind.
With a sigh that for once she didn't bother to conceal, Genkai turned and wheeled herself back to the office.
As the sun became less and less visible, the horses soon were dark silhouettes against the grass. When the sky was completely dyed midnight blue, they could barely be seen, the silver rays of the half moon just barely tracing their still forms.
*
{1} – Horses are measured in "hands", which are about four inches.
Once again, here's a thank you for everyone who reviewed me.
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