The boy led out of the trailor a very beautiful buckskin mare with silky black mane and tail and a rusty golden color. She pricked her ears and nickered softly as she saw the new horses and pastures around her. Seto neighed to her and approached the gate. She cocked her head as if to reconize Seto from somewhere and then followed her master into the barn. Seto's eyes followed the mare as she dissapeared into the barn. He snorted, the mare was very beautiful, more beautiful than any horse he had ever seen in his life. If Seto even knew what he looked like as a horse, he would think again, but it didn't really matter, he thought he was an ugly nag anyway.
Seto whistled trying to get the mare to answer him, but she gave no reply. He felt frustrated, he was dying to get a closer look at her. It was a strong instinct deep within him, something he had never felt before as a human being. Seto contiuned to neigh and whinny to summon the mare. He pranced and bucked and cantered in circles, it was no use, her owner would never go outside with the stallions, and certainly not after that Indian boy saw what Seto did to Goku.
Rae was cleaning Rex's bit off when she heard hooves clopping on the barn floor. A chorus of excited whinnies echoed down the hallway. Rae turned and saw a very rugged looking boy standing with a buckskin mare by his side. Rae felt embarrased and moved her fuzzy hair from out of her eyes. She couldn't help smiling at the boy and her heart gave a strange twist when she looked into his black Indian eyes.
"So, where's your stud?" he asked as if Rae had known him all his life and didn't need to introduce himself. Rae didn't care she sighed dreamily to herself and said in a slightly shaky voice.
"H-he's outside, umm, Sir,"
"Call me Jeff," he said and walked up to her. "Is there a place I can put my nag?" he asked pointing to his buckskin mare. Rae didn't know why he reffered to his mare as a nag but she smiled and pointed to an empty stall on the left-hand side of the barn. Jeff sighed and led his mare into the stall and shut her in, not bothering to remove her tack or anything.
Rae got up from where she was and led Jeff to the pasture where Zanzibar was kept. He looked stressed slightly, he was pacing back and forth and snorting. Sweat covered his neck and chest and his nostrils were flared. He saw Rae and stopped his anxious pacing and froze on the spot. Rae held her breath hoping he wouldn't run away again. But the stallion remained still he lowered his head and swished his tail at the pretend flies.
Seto pricked his ears at the boy and gave whistle of uncertainty and looked at Rae. Jeff climbed in through the railings. "So his name is Zanzibar?" asked Jeff. "He's a good lookin' stud, Vicky told me all about him," he said approaching the stallion. "Told me he was a rogue and an outsider," he laughed at this.
Rae was shocked to hear that answer. Zanzibar was no rogue horse, infact there was no evil bone in his body, he was just uncertain about the new humans and surroundings. He was only desperate for freedom like the other horses but they got over it once they realized that humans weren't dangerous. Zanzibar was just a little more difficult in settling in that was all. She hated that horses were reffered to as evil or mean on purpose, there was just a pain deep withen them that caused them to act badly. By Jeff's laugh it probably meant he understood Rae. He probably was a better horseman than she thought. He stood watching the curious horse. Zanzibar stamped his hoof and lowered his head, ears back, and he gave a warning snort.
Seto wanted to be left alone and if this cowboy gave him any trouble, he was going to teach him a lesson he would never forget, if only he had his deck with him. The boy advanced towards Seto and he began to feel more annoyed, he turned around and trotted away. He was not going to put up with this "horse whisperer" nonsense they were practicing on him. He heard foot steps following him. Seto turned around. Leave me alone! He bellowed and turned to face the boy. The boy gave a laugh, "He sure is a mean stud," he continued laughing softly. White hot anger flared in Seto's heart and he reared on his hindlegs high off the ground. His hooves barely touched the ground and he broke into a gallop straight on into the boy. The Indian gasped and flung himself over the fence just in time before Seto could ram him into it.
"Sorry, he doesn't like men, he's just used to me seeing him, that's all," Rae said. Seto gave an annoyed snort. There she went again with her "one-man horse" rantings and how he was so attatched to her. Seto hated her more than anything, she chased him half way across the whole state, shoved him into a trailor, drugged him, and threw him in a fence and she actually expected that she would recieve love for that? Seto's idea about Rae had changed since he arrived at the rescue center, he now saw her as a traitor. Seto couldn't count how many stupid idiots tried to fool him and endanger his life because it seemed like fun, as if he were some stupid dog like Wheeler that didn't mind being shoved around like that. To name a few, Yugi Moto, Marik Ishtar, Maximillion Pegasus, Noa Kaiba, Gozuboro, and who could forget that queer, Amelda. Why did they torture him? The answer was easy, because they like to see a sucessful person like himself get put down, they treated him like he was cocky teenager that didn't know what he was doing. But those days were over now. Seto Kaiba was becoming a man. Well...after he stopped being a horse.
Jeff continued to talk to Rae, "He's got a temper, but I don't think it's anything to do with you or me," he said.
"What do you mean?" asked Rae.
"I mean that your stud has guts, and that's something your sp'osed to look for in a stallion, unless you wanna geld him..."
"No! No, I want him to be stallion! And I'm going to prove to my parents that I can take care of a horse on my own, I proved it with Rex and Delilah, and Sid, and...," Rae was cut off.
"Who are they?" asked Jeff.
"My horses, well, Rex is, but the others are my parent's horses, they're Saddlebreds, we used to own a farm in Kentucky before we moved here and we are trying to start the same business over," Rae said.
"Well, you sure won't find any show dealers over here," said Jeff, "Nowadays all a guy wants is a good cow pony to keep his cattle stationary, as far as I know, the last thing you want around here is a flashy, gaited horse runnin' around their yard,"
"Why?" asked Rae, "At least someone does something fun around here, like showing or trail riding,"
"Nope, not a sole wants to waist time or money on a horse that's worth nothin' but his show record," Jeff said, "But I think ya'll find someway to make a livin' with your nice lookin' nags,"
Jeff's words hurt, but seemed to have a meaning rather than an insult. He was right, Rae hadn't seen any single show barns or ASHA affiliates since she came there. It was just the cows, the mustangs, and the prong horns. She nodded, but the part about flashy, gaited nags hurt down deep. Her whole live had been centered around them, besides her religion and her family. She felt as if her own family had been insulted. Rae tried to not take the words to heart to much, yet it stuck in like a cork in a wine bottle. She tried to shake it off for a moment and thought about a different subject.
"Well, I still want to prove mine and his potential, he's really friendly and lonesome inside, the other night he ran up to me for some reason as if he hadn't seen me in years. Then he ran away, but I think we have some kind of connection, like a hidden bond with each other, it just hasn't reveiled itself yet," Rae said.
"You could be true, but horses don't have mystical bonds like your thinking, they need trust first of all, animals don't follow the "love at first sight" concept, they trust what trusts them," Jeff said. Rae nodded but she didn't really understand what his words meant.
A whinny came from the barn. Seto pricked his ears and answered it. It was the beautiful mare he had seen. She had such a musical voice. He trotted up to the fence and neighed again but recieved no answer. He had asked her her name but it seemed she didn't hear him correctly. He hoped it hadn't sounded like an insult.
"By the way, who is your mare?" asked Rae as she and Jeff walked back to the barn to get ready to leave.
"She's Gypsy, I have no idea how she showed up, but she was an outsider like your stallion," said Jeff and he entered the mare's stall. She was a delicate creature with a golden coat and black legs, she had a dished head like Seto and looked a lot more Arabic than he did. She also had a silky black mane and a high set black tail. A black dorsal stripe ran down her back all the way to her tail. Her ears were like black rimmed funnels that caught every whisper of wind. She had handsome brown eyes and a velevety black muzzle. But was most peculiar about her was one her forehead was a tatoo of a golden eye. It was kinda hard to see, but it almost seemed to be glowing. Rae was going to ask about it but it was time for Jeff to leave.
"Well, I'll deal with 'im tommorow," Jeff said with a laugh and he quickly mounted his mare and trotted off, leaving the truck parked for the next day. Rae gave a dreamy sigh as she watched him ride off at a canter and dissapear. She looked at her watch. It was 10:00 already! She couldn't believe she had stayed there that long talking to Jeff. He was strange character, he was so distant sort of like Zanzibar was. As if he always had something more important on his mind than what he was saying to you, she could see it in his eyes and in the eyes of his horse. She stood for a while thinking about what the boy had said to her and decided to go get Rex and start riding back home. She heard booted footsteps run up the hallway startling several horses. It was Vicky.
"Rae, Rae!" she called.
"What is it Vicky!" Rae asked wildly, her heart pounding.
"It's Zanz, he tried to jump over the fence and he's hurt badly!"
to be continued...
