Chapter Eight: Method to Thy Madness

The landscape was visibly starting to get less and less lush. Red loose earth began appearing beneath the horses' hooves, the mountains began dipping into the flat savannah and plants, designed for the hot and dry constant climate, began to peek between cracks in the ground and around stones more regularly. The creek that they had been traveling in to leave little to no tracks was beginning to turn into less than a sliver of running water, and Kidd alerted the sisters to collect as much water as they could from now.

"Spartoi Town is still a full day away," he spoke to them while scanning his environment with a trained and careful eye. "It would be annoying if someone fainted from dehydration."

Elizabeth scoffed as she splashed water on her face. Patty crouched over the back so intensely that her nose touched the water, but she was more concentrated on an identical face that was making faces at her. While the sisters relished in their break from both riding and training, Kidd scornfully kept guard.

He paused when he looked towards the thinning edge of the short forest that had sheltered them for four days and glared, willing himself to see more than bark, roots of soil. Unsure of what he was searching for, the juvenile gun fighter sought for it, knowing, feeling that whatever it was, it was there.

He blinked absently with a quiet mild shock on his face, his condition abrupt, and just as quickly, it faded, leaving him unnerved. It was an unlikely, unassuming thought, but he could have sworn that he saw a pair of round evergreen emerald eyes with dilated pupils making it seemed feminine somehow, and staring directly at him. Or rather, at them, as he recalled that he wasn't alone anymore.

"Perfectly…symm…" he whispered and trailed off.

Patty caught the gesture before Liz did. "Kidd-kun?"

He visibly twitched. "I told you not to call me that," he stressed.

"What were you mumbling about a while ago?" Patricia blinked innocently at him. Liz, though listening, turned the bulk of her attention to her rippled appearance in the water and ran a damp hand through her long dusty hair.

"It's nothing," Kidd responded and started towards Midnight beside the two tan horses, all three drinking water silently. "We ought to get moving."

"There he goes again," Liz sighed with vivid exasperation. She stood and turned to him. "What in the world are we running from?"

"Have you ever considered that we might have been followed all this time?" Kidd asked dryly.

"Not after Justin, Giriko and Noah had their butts handed to them," Liz retorted and Patty laughed giddily.

"It's not them I'm worried about," Kidd responded in a low voice and looked towards the forest again.

Bone chilling water splashed on him and he flinched back, golden eyes opening, startled. Boots half submerged in the water, Patty cupped her hands below her again and flashed water towards Kidd. He flinched again. "Hey! What are you doing?"

Elizabeth laughed good-naturedly. "You're too tense, Kidd! Lighten up!" Bare footed, she kicked up water directed towards their gun fighter-teacher.

"Perhaps I'm tense for a reason?" He asked sarcastically, muttering over his shoulder. He started for Midnight but froze in place once more water hit his back.

The sisters paused warily.

"Uh-oh," Patty whispered, "did we break him?"

"If you're going to splash water on me," he growled, "do it right."

The sisters cocked their heads to the side in question. Patiently and with clear, absolute instruction, the thereof them were based in the middle of the shallow stone stream, boots by their luggage and sleeves and pants rolled up to their joints, ready for action.

"I feel ridiculous," Liz muttered, then glared at Kidd. "Aren't you supposed to be teaching us how to gunfight, not how to get into water fights?"

"This is mandatory for our lesson," he replied simply, and crouched over to the water.

Patty grinned. "Sure! When we meet upon Giriko again, we can douse him in style!"

The eldest of the triad bowed her head in defeat.

"Now then," Kidd began, "the whole idea of this is to keep your body centre. Always bend with both knees,"—here he lost height by demonstrating his point, and the sisters followed—"and always use to hands to cup the water. Never separate the hands once the water is in your hands—that will lead to a splatter, and the objective is to get your opponent wet."

"Kidd-kun," Liz moaned, looking over Patricia's childish antics and poor attempts, "aren't you taking this a little too lightly? We have a mafia on our tails."

He smiled promisingly. "I told you, this is mandatory."

"How can splashing water be mandatory for pistol practice?" she yelled, thrashing about in the water doing a good deal more damage than her supposedly "mentor's" technique.

Casually, said Kidd stepped out of the water and pulled on his boots, gracefully mounting his horse. He tipped his hat, hiding his serious gaze as he pressed in a suave, dark voice: "I promise you, it's beneficial. Let's go."

Midnight strolled forward before the Thompsons gathered their belongings. "We're leaving already?" Patricia pouted, but leaped onto her beast of burden with a smooth swing of the leg. Still barefoot, she kneed her horse to follow Kidd's.

"Hey, hey you two!" Liz fought to pull on her boots and was trotting after her sister after a substantial delay. "Don't leave me here!"

Despite the light air, Kidd felt solemn and restless, shrugging off the feeling of a stalker. Nevertheless, the staring eyes remained.

…

Albarn blinked away her ability, and her partner noticed her frown. On horseback he pulled up to her, and tired crimson eyes searched her face for answers. Lazily, he resorted to words. "What's the matter now? You lost him?"

She bristled and glared up at him. "I never lose a target, Soul," she hissed, and then her face softened. "That's not what bothers me."

"I'll tell you what's bothering me," their loud companion roared from behind, edgily seated in his mounted saddle. "We're a full day behind! We should have captured them by now!"

"But if we follow too closely, it would make the capture harder, Black Star," his soft spoken partner said while dismounting her beast, running her gloved fingers through its chestnut mane and motherly eyes soft on Black Star.

He huffed in response. "If we don't capture them, we'll deal with Lord Death himself!"

"Don't worry, Black Star," Maka pressed, turning to him. "We'll catch them in Spartoi Town.

Soul raised an eyebrow at her in question and she responded to it: "He has the same ability as me."

They tensed in realization.

"That means they know where we are—who we are?" Soul asked nervously.

She shook her head, long plain hair flashing about her shoulders. "No, its not developed yet, but he feels as though he's being followed."

Black Star grunted. "That's reason enough to catch up with them now."

In agitation, Maka slapped his horse while pulling on the reigns, and the jolt from the beast's retaliation sent their best fist fighter into the dirt. Maka glared down at him. "Don't forget that I have the most authority, Black Star."

He got to his feet, challenge glinting in his eyes. "Is that a threat?"

Tsubaki fretted, eyes flickering between the two and Soul blew out a sigh in exasperation. "Cut it out, you two. Let's just set camp and call it a day. If you're right, Maka,"—she sent him a glare and he smirked at her—"we'll catch up to them in Spartoi Town. Simple. For now, let's get some rest."

They retreated, pulling out equipment to retire for the night. When the last embers in the fire were dying, Black Star was snoring, Tsubaki shuffling in her sleep, and Maka staring at the few stars she could see through the overgrowth of the canopy.

"Hey, Maka," her gaze glanced to meet a wary red-tinted glance.

"Yes, Soul?"

"How are you so sure that we're going to catch up with Kidd and the Thompson sisters in Spartoi Town?"

She smiled. "Because he's going to wait for us."

…

Author's Note: Hi~! I apologize that this chapter is so late—so late in fact, that it's morning when I'm writing this! Ha, ha…yeah, that wasn't funny.

If you have ideas about this chapter, following chapters, former chapters and/or bonus chapters, review.

If you have a better joke, I'll accept that as well.