CHAPTER TWO: The Road Goes Ever On And On...

"Old Toby..." Blue Knight told Ryou as they sat on the hill watching the party on the fields below. "The finest weed in the Northfarthing."

Blue Knight took a puff form his pipe and slowly blew smoke out so it formed the shape of a circle. Ryou chuckled as he put his pipe up to his mouth and blew out a boat going through the circle.

"Ryou, my old friend... This will be a night to remember." Blue Knight remarked. Then they both went down to the party.

Fireworks billowed out the onto the night sky. Everyone was singing and dancing and having a wonderful time. Two people were carrying a humongous cake with 111 candles on it. Ichigo was having the best time dancing! She stopped for a second to search for her friend Rettasu. She found her sitting at a table all by herself. Ichigo walked over to her.

"Go on Rettasu," Ichigo pressured. "Ask Johan for a dance!"

Johan was the person Rettasu had been crushing on since forever. Rettasu's eyes grew wide with fear and she shook her head violently and whimpered.

"I think I'll just get another glass of water..." She said, getting up. Ichigo laughed and pushed Rettasu in the other direction saying, "Oh, no you don't!" Rettasu was caught by Johan and they immediately started dancing, whilst Ichigo was laughing more.

"Whoa!" Ryou said as a reaction to what he just did. He set off another batch of fireworks. This one covered the whole place.

"So there I was..." Blue Knight stated to the four children listening to his story. "At the mercy of three monstrous trolls. And they were all arguing amongst themselves about how they were going to cook us! Whether it be turned on a spit, or sit on us one by one, and squash us into jelly..." He stopped for effect as the children gasped. "Well they spent so much time arguing about the ways to cook us that the sun's first light crept over the top of the trees... and POOF! And turned them all to stone, how do you like that, huh?"

Ryou was picking out more fireworks and walked away from his trailer full of them. Bad move for him.

Minto looked out from behind the trailer and hit the curtain to the side of her. Her hyper little friend Purin popped out.

"Quickly!" Minto whispered and she locked her fingers together. Purin used that as a spring board and fell into the heap of fireworks. "Get the big one!"

Purin searched through the fireworks and found a dragon-shaped one that was huge!

"Yeah!" She said. She jumped out and made a run for it. Minto took a bite out of an apple to look like nothing was wrong.

"Mrs. Aoyama, good to see you. Welcome, welcome! Are all these children yours?" Blue Knight asked the woman as about 13 kids walked by. The woman nodded. "My... you have been productive!" The woman walked away as Blue Knight's big ears picked something up he did not want to hear. He turned around looking scared, right into Ichigo's chest.

"Oh, sorry. But quickly! Chinese Momomiyas!" He said. Ichigo nodded and they hid behind a curtain, right next to where the Momomiyas were standing. Blue Knight sighed out of relief. "Thank you, little lady." He told Ichigo. "You're a good girl, Ichigo. And I'm... very selfish you know. Very very selfish. I don't know why I took you in after your mother and father died, but it wasn't out of charity. I think it was because of all my numerous relations, you were the one that showed the most spirit."

"Uncle, have you been in the Asaka's Home Brew?" Ichigo asked him, thinking he was drunk.

"No." He answered quickly. "Well, yes but that's beside the point. The point is, Ichigo, well... you'll be alright." And with that Blue Knight walked away.

Purin lighted a match inside one of the tents and lighted the thingy on the dragon.

"Done!" She squealed happily.

"You're supposed to stick it in the ground!" Minto complained, pushing it towards Purin. She pushed it right back. They were pushing it back and forth as the fuse was getting shorter.

"It is in the ground!"

"I mean outside!"

"This was YOUR idea!"

It was too late. The thing exploded. Fire went everywhere. Everyone thought that it was a great show and applauded it happily.

"That went well." Purin said.

"Yeah, let's get another one!" Minto suggested. A hand came down on them and pinched their ears. They were twisted so they were looking up. Ryou had a hold of them!

"Well, Minto Aizawa, and Purin Fong. I might've known..." He murmured. He made them wash dishes and serve food as punishment for doing what they did.

"Speech Blue Knight, Speech!" Everyone was shouting. Blue Knight made his way up to the stage and tilted the microphone to his height. Then, he spoke.

"My dear Momomiyas and Fujiwaras..." He started. Everyone who was in those families gave a "Whoop!"

"Aizawas and Fongs... (WHOOP!) Asakas, (WHOOP) Aoyamas (BOO!) Kisshus (WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP) (I'm running out of last names) Paises... (WHOOP!) Deep Blues, (WHOOP!) and Tarutoes!"

"Taru-feet!" Some person yelled to correct him in a humorous way. Everyone laughed except Blue Knight, who waved his hand in the air in frustration.

"Today is my one hundred and eleventh birthday!"

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY BLUE KNIGHT!"

"But alas, eleventy-years is far too short a time to live among such admiral MewIts. I know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as much as you deserve."

The whole place was silent like they had no clue what he just said. Ryou and Ichigo on the other hand knew exactly what he meant and stifled laughs. So Blue Knight went on. He became nervous and reached behind his back and pulled something out and kept it hidden.

"I... I have things I need to do..." He said. "I've put this off for far too long."

Ichigo's face grew upset as she watched her uncle talk nervously like something was about to happen. Her face gradually got more and more worried.

"I regret to announce that this is the end!" Blue Knight continued. Ryou's face grew worried also. He KNEW what his friend was going to do. "I am going now... Good bye."

Blue Knight put his ring on and disappeared instantaneously. Ichigo's face dropped as the rest of the place seemed to gasp. Ryou's eyes grew. He knew that Blue Knight had planned to leave secretly, but he didn't know he was going to pull a stunt like that!

"Uncle?" Ichigo yelled. "BLUE KNIGHT!"

Blue Knight ran to his house and slammed the door. He took off the ring and chuckled. He had out smarted people again.

"I supposed you think that was terribly clever." Ryou said from behind the shadows.

"Oh, did you see their faces? Priceless!" Blue Knight shouted happily.

"There are many great Rings in this world, and none of them should be taken lightly." Ryou countered.

"It was just a bit of fun! Oh, you're probably right, as usual. Is everything set?" Blue Knight asked.

"Yes,"

"And you will keep an eye on Ichigo, won't you?"

"Two eyes, as often as I can spare them."

"Great. I've left everything to her."

"And what about that ring of yours?"

"Yes, yes. It's in an envelope on the mantle." Blue Knight stopped moving. "No, no wait, it's here, here in my pocket…." Blue Knight opened up his pocket and pulled his beloved ring out. "Well, now that I think about it, why shouldn't I keep it? It's mine, I found it, it came to me! It's mine! My own…. My… Precious!"

"Precious? It's been called that before, but not by you." Ryou said.

"What do you care? It's nothing of your business!"

"I think you've had that ring long enough Blue Knight…."

"YOU WANT IT FOR YOUSELF!"

Ryou stepped forward and glared at Blue Knight.

"BLUE KNIGHT! DO NOT TAKE ME AT SOME MAKER OF CHEAP TRICKS! I'M NOT TRYING TO ROB YOU!" He shouted. Blue Knight looked terrified. Ryou calmed down a bit. "I'm trying to help you."

Blue Knight reluctantly nodded. "Yes," He said. "Yes you're right."

"Let the ring go."

"I will."

Ryou smiled at his old friend. Blue Knight picked up his walking stick and walked to the door.

"Blue Knight," Ryou said. "The ring is still in your hand."

"Oh!" Blue Knight stared long and hard at his hand, holding the ring. Slowly he dropped it onto the ground.

KLUNK

"Well, now off I go." Blue Knight waved good-bye to his friend. As he walked down the path to get out of Mewton, he was humming a simple tune:

"The road goes ever on and on, down from the door where it began…."

THE END!

I made a mistake in the last chapter! I can't make Sakura Eowyn! Just because Zakuro is Aragorn! You all know Eowyn is supposed to like Aragorn, so I don't wanna make Ichigo's regular mom in the manga a lez! So Shintaro will be Eowyn and Sakura shall be Eomer. There, now that that's settled, REVIEW PLEASE!