Chapter Five: The "Mane" Character
Night fell on the four travelers; the full moon shone through the dark forest in a sort of eerie light and when he yawned, Mokuba's mouth seemed almost as wide as it.
"Seto, I'm sleepy," Mokuba said quietly, rubbing his left eye.
"Maybe we should set up camp, Kaiba," Jou suggested, "The little guy looks ready to give out any moment…and it'd be easier to follow the Yellow Brick Road by day anyway."
Kaiba sighed. "I suppose you're right…"
So the four sat down in the middle of the road to rest for the night. Ryou chopped up a few logs and started a small fire, which Jou kept far, far away from. Kaiba covered Mokuba in his trenchcoat to keep him warm, and stroked his long black hair softly as he fell asleep.
"Kaiba, you should sleep too," Jou whispered.
Kaiba shook his head.
"No…I-it's okay," he tried to hold back a yawn.
Jou looked at the CEO in concern. "Look…I don't need to sleep, as I'm not human, but you need rest if you plan to travel well tomorrow."
Kaiba eyed Jou in surprise. Jou patted his hand reassuringly.
"Don't worry, Kaiba," Jou told him, "Ryou and I will be here; we'll wake you if anything happens."
Kaiba looked at Jou carefully for a moment, before smiling subtly. "Thank you."
And with that, he went to sleep.
Jou sat next to him, and absently brought up his cloth hand to stroke Kaiba's hair like he had Mokuba's.
"Hey, Jou," Ryou spoke quietly.
"Yeah?" asked Jou, "What is it?"
"Do you really think the Wizard of Oz will help us?"
Jou blinked.
"Of course he will," he replied confidently, "Kaiba and Mokuba wouldn't steer us wrong, would they?"
Ryou was quiet.
"I don't know," he admitted, "Everyone I've trusted has left me…my father left to explore Oz…my mother died when I was little…my sister Amane became a witch's assistant for money, and that witch made me like this…" he gestured to his tin body.
Jou frowned. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be," Ryou smiled sadly, "I shouldn't have brought it up…I just hope the Kaiba brothers aren't being led along-"
"They're not," Jou interrupted firmly, "We're going to get to the Wizard of Oz, and he'll give us what we want with barely a shake of his little finger."
It was then that a rustle came from the bushes behind Ryou.
"Ah!" Ryou whirled around, "W-what was that?"
"Dunno," muttered Jou.
Suddenly, out of the brush, a large animal jumped out.
"AHHHH!" Ryou screamed.
"KAIBA!" Jou shouted, "KAIBA, HELP!"
Kaiba and Mokuba both jerked awake as the animal lunged at Jou and knocked him down.
Now the four could get a good look at him; it was an odd black lion, with a black, purple and yellow mane and bright, glaring red eyes. And right now it was growling.
Jou tried to get away from the lion, but its paw was leaning down on his food and made it impossible for him to move it.
"Come on and fight," the lion growled deep in his throat, "I could take all of you on…just try me."
His eyes narrowed deviously at Jou. "You afraid of me or are you gonna fight me, you lopsided bag of hay?"
"Th-that's getting personal, lion!" Jou stammered, trying to sound brave.
"Y-yeah!" Ryou added, "G-go ahead and teach him a lesson, Jou!"
"B-but what's wrong with you teaching him?" Jou demanded.
"Well, I-I barely know him!" Ryou squeaked.
Mokuba was glaring at the lion, and right then he snapped, "Go away and leave us alone! We did nothing to you and we have nothing you want!"
The lion's eyes went to Mokuba, and then his mouth went up into a twisted grin.
"I'll get you anyway, runt!"
The lion lunged at Mokuba; Mokuba yelled and started running.
Kaiba, however, had stepped in front of Mokuba at the last second and had slapped the lion full on the face.
SMACK!
"You son of a bitch!" he snarled, as the lion's paw went to his pained cheek.
"W-what did you do that for?" the lion asked, "I didn't bite him…"
"But you tried to, and that makes all the difference," Kaiba retorted, "You already have no right to fight on things that are weaker than you, but to pick on my little brother is beyond the limit! You're nothing but a great big coward!"
"You're right," the lion said, and it was here that Kaiba saw he was crying, "I am a coward. I don't have any courage at all. I am the heir of the Yugioh clan, the highest hierarchy of the forest…and I was so afraid of my title that I ran away! A King of the Forest would never run away, and particularly not sloppily like I did. I didn't think about all the scary noises in the forest at night…look at the circles under my eyes; I haven't slept in weeks!"
"Why don't you try counting sheep?" suggested Ryou.
"That doesn't work either," the lion sobbed, "I'm afraid of them!"
Ryou and Mokuba exchanged a look of pity, before Jou said, "Gee, that's awful," he added to Kaiba, "Don't you think the Wizard could help him too?"
"I don't see why not," Kaiba muttered, before speaking to the lion, "We're going to see the Wizard of Oz to get Jou a brain, Ryou a heart and Mokuba and me back to Japan…maybe he could get you some courage."
"Are you sure you wouldn't be humiliated to be in the company of a Cowardly Lion?" the lion sniffed, "I would."
"Of course not!" Mokuba assured him.
"Things can't get more insane than they already have," Kaiba added.
The lion wiped away a tear and whispered, "That's…very nice of you…thank you."
"Welcome to the club," Jou said cheerfully, "What's your name?"
"I'm Prince Yami Yugioh," the lion replied, "But plain Yami's fine."
And so the lion joined the circle of friends on their journey…
Little did they know that the Wicked Wiz of the West had already planned another obstacle for them to overcome, right in front of the Emerald City.
