-Wild Aces-

Seto sighed lightly in relief as the rain had finally decided to stop for the day. He didn't like getting wet and he had gotten soaked on the ride back to his house, but he got over it since Joey had decided to let Tristan handle all the work today and the bank was closed for holiday.

Hearing the door open, he turned to find the blond walking toward him. Watching the other lean against the banister, he offered a small smirk. "You know, I still find it hard to believe at how well you are taking me being an 'outlaw' and all."

"Yeah, well I have to be, for my friend's sake," Joey sighed but smiled. "Also the fact that y'all didn't steal everything and it was about time this town had some excitement, just don't do it again!"

"Promise," Seto smiled while getting up from his seat and leaning over beside the blond.

"I'd hate to arrest ya," Joey chuckled. "Take it from me, those bunks are very uncomfortable."

Seto chuckled himself before turning around to catch sight of his little brother running away from a very ruffled hen. Rolling his eyes, he pulled out a gun and shot up in the air, causing the hen to end her chase and return back to the shed out back.

Mokuba took in a deep sigh of relief while flopping down on the steps to the porch. "Thanks, Seto. She almost had me there for a minute."

Joey laughed at the black haired kid while leaning over to pluck hay from the inky strands. "I'm guessing she had some little chicks, didn't she?"

"Yeah there were 5 of them, they just hatched yesterday and I didn't see her until I reached out to grab one and she came at me out of no where."

"I told you to stay away from those chicks," Seto sighed while looking his younger brother over for any injuries, seeing none he smirked. "Learn your lesson?"

"Yup," Mokuba nodded before getting up from his seat and dusting off the back of his pants then ruffling the hay from his hair.

Shaking his head, Joey smiled before stepping off the porch. "How about you and I going and giving the horses a nice rub down, since I know they didn't like the rain either."

Smiling, Mokuba looked at his brother to see if it was okay. Getting the nod, he grabbed Joey's hand and literally dragged him behind him to the bar.

Watching the two, Seto smiled before sitting back down and kicking his legs up onto the banisters, "Now for that peace and quiet."

Marik was being cautious as he continued his search. Ever since he had been allowed back into the shop, he had waited for Malik to leave to deal with customers before going on a scavenger hunt for his dynamite. So far all his searches had been in vain and he had nearly been caught three times, but since they had returned from Ryou's house, Malik had been swamped with customers, leaving him to search.

Looking into another hall closet, he carefully shifted through all the blankets and other articles in the shelves, but there was no sign of the white sack that carried his dynamite. Growling in frustration he stepped back out of the closet and wanted nothing more than to slam the door off its hinges but thought better of it, as he closed it gently.

'Where in the hell did he put it?' he asked himself while walking down the hall before coming to a stop at a white door, remembering it to be Malik's bedroom. Smirking deviously, he reached for the door knob and gave it a firm twist as the door slowly opened, he cautiously walked inside, being careful incase Malik had set up some sort of trap or something; anything was possible with that hell-cat.

Sneaking further into the room, he quickly scoped out the closet to turn up empty handed once again. Sighing, he turned his attention to the dressers and checked out the larger drawers to find nothing. Growling and cursing to himself, he went over to the bed and snatched up the pillows to find... absolutely nothing.

Dropping his head in a defeated manner, he decided to search one more place before totally giving up and going out to either steal or buy some more. Kneeling to the floor, Marik leaned over and pushed the hanging quilt out of his way so that he could peer under the bed to instantly find the familiar sack wedged in between a few boxes. Scooting the boxes out of his way, he grabbed the sack and pulled it to him as if he were a parent hugging its child.

Getting up from the floor, still holding the bag, he was unaware of the annoyed eyes watching him.

"Drop it!"

Jumping, Marik turned to find Malik glaring at him with a hand on his hip while the other hand pointed at the sack. "I thought you were busy!"

"I could hear you up here snooping around for something," Malik countered, crossing his arms. "You're forgetting that those spurs of yours clicks pretty loudly."

"Dammit, done in by the spurs," Marik grumbled, looking down at the sliver spurs glistening from the light from the windows. Turning back to Malik, he tightened his hold on the sack. "Ya can't have it this time!"

Malik hardened his glare while approaching the other. "I'm not playing, you better drop it, or else when I get it back, I'll go feed it to one of Miss Higgins's goats!"

Marik's jaw went slack at the thought of a goat eating away his precious stash. Offering a smirk to Malik, he decided to play hard ball. "That's if you get it away from me."

"I'll get it, don't you worry about that," Malik growled. "I might take ya guns as well, so you don't shoot out the new window or blow holes in the wall!"

Marik pouted, that had been an accident and he couldn't stand it without his guns, they were another comfort factor that put him at ease. "Ya ain't taking my guns from me, what kind of outlaw would I be without a gun?"

"A dead one, probably," Malik replied.

"Oh well that makes me feel so much better," Marik glared while stepping to the side, trying to make a break for the door before the other could grab him.

"Now fork over the dynamite, or do I have to take it by force?" Malik asked, never dropping his glare.

Marik chuckled, "I'd like to see you take it by force!"

"Are ya sure about that, I'd hate to have to hurt ya," Malik smirked while getting ready to make his move.

Marik chuckled. "I don't think you could hurt me."

Malik took another step. "Are you sure about that, outlaw?"

Blinking at the tone the other was using, Marik didn't have enough time as he gave a loud 'oomph' as Malik jumped over the bed and tackled him to the floor. "Wha- How in the hell!"

"I warned you," Malik teased, reaching for the dynamite to have Marik grab his wrist.

"Not so fast, ya little hell-cat," Marik smirked, keeping a firm hold on the wrist as well as the white sack.

Malik brought up his other hand to try and snatch the sack, but Marik had snapped at him, causing him to draw his hand back and blink. "Just give it up, and I'll get off you."

"Maybe I like this position and you're not getting it," Marik countered with his own devious smirk.

Seeing that smirk, Malik rolled his eyes. "I bet I can get it away from you," he taunted.

"Oh and how would that be?"

Without saying a word, Malik leaned over and captured Marik's lips with his own, totally shocking the other. Smirking, he was surprised though when Marik's other hand came up to thread his fingers in his hair, deepening the kiss.

Mentally smirking, Malik leaned in further before getting a firm grasp on the sack then pulling back to draw in the much need air. Seeing the dazed, yet satisfied look on the other's face he got up from his captive with the sack in his hands. "Told ya, I'd get it back!"

Snapping out of his daze, Marik glared. "Of all the low down dirty..."

"Hey, I meant the kiss, by the way, but the dynamite is mine now," Malik smiled before running out of the room.

"Get back here, you little side winder!" Marik bellowed, quickly getting to his feet and running after the other, totally ignoring the onlookers of the store as he chased Malik outside and down the rest of the street.

Meanwhile...

Yami chuckled while watching Malik run by with a storming Marik right behind him. "Those two are something else," he mused before looking over to see Yugi brushing down his horse. "What do you think?"

"Malik really likes Marik, so expect to see weird things," Yugi chuckled while brushing the mare's inky black mane. "You know, I've never seen anyone ride like you do."

"It's not surprising, it's very difficult to learn," Yami sighed, patting his own horse's muzzle.

"Who taught you?"

"I taught myself how to ride," Yami smiled proudly. "Bakura calls me the trick rider of the bunch sometimes because I do all sorts of crazy stuff."

"I bet it takes a lot on the horse's part as well, right?"

Nodding, Yami smiled as Phantom nipped at his hair affectionately. "That's right, and they ain't none better than Phantom here, for me of course. I'm sure you feel the same way about that mare of yours."

"Yup, Angel was the first horse I've ever had. My grandpa bought her for me from a friend in another town, how about you?"

"Ah, well Phantom here was a special case," Yami chuckled nervously before sighing, not really able to lie to his little one. "I stole him."

"What?" Yugi gasped.

"It was for a good cause, he was a yearling when I stole him. At that time I was riding a buckskin horse that once belonged to my father, so it was getting pretty old. Anyways, apparently Phantom was born out in the wild so he had a fiery temper and would bite the man that caught him, so when Bakura and I were passing by, he had Phantom tied to a post outside and apparently was trying to break his spirit by not feeding him or giving him water. I couldn't stand it, so I cut him loose and instead of running off he followed behind me."

"Oh, so you saved his life."

"Yup, and he's been my best companion ever since," Yami smiled, giving the horse an affectionate rub across the muzzle. "Saved my life a few number of times as well."

Watching the display, Yugi put Angel back into her stall before walking back over to Yami and wrapping his arms around his waist while resting his head against his back. "I'm glad that he's kept you alive, I owe him some gratitude as well, since he brought you to me."

Smiling, Yami pulled on Yugi's arms lightly before turning around to place Yugi's arms back around while he hugged the other closer to him. Reaching up, he caressed Yugi's cheek lightly before brushing those golden bangs from his beautiful amethyst eyes.

"Me too, Yugi," he smiled before tilting the little one's chin up and capturing those lips in a searing kiss. He couldn't get enough of the little one, but didn't want to push Yugi into anything he wasn't really ready for, and besides he didn't want Yugi's grandfather chasing him down either. All he wanted was for the little one to be happy and be with him.

Breaking away to gulp in some much needed air, Yugi rested his head under Yami's chin before reaching up to pat Phantom as the horse nudged his shoulder. 'Thank you, Phantom,' he smiled while the horse as if reading his thoughts neighed and bobbed its head lightly, urging Yugi and Yami to pet him together while still in each other's arms.

Bakura yawned as he finished up feeding the horses and cleaning out the stalls. After everyone had left Ryou's he had come to the deal that as long as Ryou cooked, that he would take care of all the dirty work. Pitching in some fresh new hay to both of the horses, he put the pitchfork back into place before heading out of the barn and closing the doors behind him.

He had been thinking about the way Yami had acted. Seeing Yami acting like that was very creepy and strange, since Yami was the type of person that considered a smirk a smile and what not. Shaking the thought, he mentally thought of what it would be like to be in the same situation but with Ryou.

Sighing, Bakura was finding it hard to believe that he was actually falling hard for the friendly little doctor's assistant. It wasn't in his nature to show his emotions, especially nice ones, since they had been locked away and hidden very well over the years. Sure he would laugh and go on with his friends but then with friends like his, who wouldn't laugh.

Ever since he was little he could remember being in the care of old bats as he had called them. He didn't remember his parents so that left him in the care of the older ladies of the town. He and Yami would run into one another all the time and Bakura had envied him because Yami was usually covered in dirt and grim from rough housing and getting to wear rugged jeans and stuff while Bakura had to be neat, clean and dressed in itching, irritating outfits.

Shuddering, his mind wandered back to the time when one of the old hags had tried to put a ribbon in his hair and put him in a dress. Senile old bat had thought he had been a girl! Growling at that memory, he kicked a stone out of his path. Thankfully though the other old ladies had set the senile one straight, but that still didn't save him from those dressy suits.

That was then though, and now all Bakura wanted to do was smile, laugh and make Ryou happy. 'Oh hell, I am going soft... Damn it all to hell!' Shaking his head, he made his way up the stairs and into the house to see Ryou pouring himself a glass of milk before turning to face him and offering him one of those infamous smiles.

Walking over to the other, Bakura grasped Ryou's hand softly before surprising him even further with a chaste kiss to the lips before pulling away and smiling. "You really are a special person, Ryou."

Blushing scarlet, Ryou looked down at their still joined hands before looking back into those softened fierce russet brown eyes. "Bakura, why do you think I'm special?"

Caressing the hand lightly, Bakura smiled. "Because you taught me how to feel again," he sighed softly, reaching up another hand to caress Ryou's cheek. "And I just wanted you to know that I really like you."

"I really like you too," Ryou smiled, leaning over to brush his lips across Bakura's before hugging him tightly.

"There's going to be at least 13 soldiers on that train," Keith sighed, looking over at Pegasus who merely smiled.

"We will have them outnumbered," he grinned while running his fingers across the loot they had received as ransom pay form Silver City.

"You know that we're still taking a chance," Keith pointed out.

"Live a little, Keith," Pegasus taunted, getting up from his seat and walking over to look down at the saloon floor to see all his men drinking or finding a girl to cuddle up to. "I have sent out another scout and it appears our Aces are still in Vander and have gotten really close to their little look-a-likes."

"So what's your plan?"

"You'll find out, when it comes time to play," Pegasus smiled while walking down the stairs to instantly be met with a girl and a mug of beer.

Shaking his head, Keith leaned over the balcony to look down at the floor. After getting the ransom from Silver City they had all moved out to get in a better position for hijacking the train. Which lead them to the Town of Dry River. It was a town for outlaws and such, devoid of any law and full of liquor and pleasing whores.

"Hey there, darlin'"

Hearing the feminine voice, Keith turned to find a busty red head eyeing him lustfully. Smirking, he offered the lady to come closer and when she did, he pulled her into a bruising kiss. If they were going to stay in this spot until the time came, he was going to make it worth while.