Title: Appreciating Things of Beauty [Chapter Seven
Author: Endless-Kaoru
Pairing: None yet.
Rating: Overall: PG-13. This Chapter: PG-13

Warnings: A cuss word, and a wet t-shirt.
Disclaimer: I don't own Wallflower characters. None. Not even a single one.
Summary: The Nakahara household heads off for a vacation at the Shuiro family beach, and are smacked in the face by horse ranch life and Aya's complete lack of proper modesty. And a fish.

Chapter Seven: Woo-Hoo! Beach, Beach!

The play was a hit, though Aya suspected it was because of the 'hot' cast. Laughing to herself, she repositioned the fake-blood covered blade she'd lifted from the props; Sunako would fall in love.

Yuki glanced at her strangely, "What are you laughing at?"

"Oh… nothing." She grinned at the sky, glancing briefly at Kyohei. He looked away, but not quick enough. Aya decided to be merciful and not call him out, "Say, Yuki, you did a good job. Why were you so worried about messing up?"

"Ah, I've never acted before." He looked ashamed, "You're such a great actor… you should be in a movie."

"Ha! But with my luck, I'd be cast in some girly tear-jerker as a simpering little girl! Nah, I can't even watch most movies, let alone act in them." She wiped tears of mirth from her eyes.

"We have a school vacation coming up, don't we? Are you going to go somewhere with Noi-chan?" Yuki asked Takenaga, turning around to walk backward.

"We haven't decided on anything yet." Takenaga shrugged.

Aya turned to face them – which required her to walk sideways – and patiently rose her hand.

Yuki glanced over, "We're not in school, Aya. Just talk."

"I didn't want to interrupt." She clarified with an obnoxious grin, then cleared her throat, "My family owns a beach."

There was a moment of silence, in which grins slowly spread over the boys' faces.

"Ah, but there's a catch." She held up a finger, turning to walk normally.

Kyohei looked grim, "How much will it cost?"

"A night in the stables… work included." She smirked.

Ranmaru blinked, "What…?"

"The nearest building to the beach is the stable. If you intend on staying the night, we'll have to clear out some stalls to sleep in. It's not a big task." She grinned, glancing at Kyohei, "You won't get scared, will you? The horses aren't gonna eat you."

He huffed, and the others began to excitedly plan for their beach vacation. Aya dropped back to walk beside Sunako, "And you? Are you coming with?" smiling, she leaned over to whisper to the girl, "There's a cool cave system out there… a good portion of it's underwater. You'd like it."

Sunako stared at her.

"That's the only land that didn't run through the family… Grandpa bought it cheap from this guy that had been renting it. He wasn't getting any income, because the renters kept saying the beach was haunted. They say… a woman was murdered in the caves there."

Sunako perked up and all but skipped the rest of the way home.

"Wh-What did you say to her?!" Yuki asked, seeing Sunako's blissful expression.

Aya just smiled and continued walking along.

"Woo-Hoo! Beach, Beach!" Yuki cheered excitedly, arms in the air as he took in the beach.

Aya threw a rubber fish toy at him, mocking rather dully, "Woo-Hoo, unpack your own shit."

Everyone else – who had already taken out their luggage -- waited patiently while the boy retrieved his suitcase.

"All right… stable is that-a-way." Aya led the way up to the clean white building. Horses nickered at them as they walked down the hallway, and Aya would stop to pet them every once in awhile.

Machiko peered into one of the stalls, "Aww! Noi-chan, look, isn't it adorable?"

The two girls huddled together to peer inside, and Aya looked over them, "That's Precious Moon. She's a week old. Would you like to pet her?"

"Could we?"

"Yeah. Let's drop our stuff, and I'll get her out."

Awhile later, the teens were hanging on the fence as Aya coaxed along the small horse. The foal's mother grazed contentedly at the opposite end of the corral.

"Come, come, love. Let's walk over to mama. Mama's this way, love." After awhile, she got the foal over to it's mother, allowed it to calm down, then invited in whomever wanted to pet it. The foal delicately sniffed each person in turn, then paused on Kyohei. He grinned and pet the small nose.

"Ha, she likes you, Kyohei." Aya laughed.

"Most girls do." Ranmaru jibed, elbowing the boy. Aya just laughed.

Precious Moon moved forward as Kyohei cautiously knelt, and the small animal sniffed his neck, then turned to nip at his hair.

Aya rapped it on the nose with her knuckles, "Don't let her bite, or she'll think she can get away with it."

"Ah… Aya-san? Th-There's a problem…" a lanky boy – an elementary kid, by his looks -- approached, brown hair flopping in his eyes. He looked out of breath.

"What is it, Takashi-kun?" Aya stood, keeping a cautious eye on the two horses.

"We need help… there's a mare stuck in the fencing…" the boy identified as Takashi shifted on his feet, looking impatient, "The pretty buckskin, that's due to that black stud. She's… pretty torn up."

"I'll go. You guys just… stay here. Stay out of trouble." Freeing the foal to the pen, Aya shooed the other teens from the corral, then jumped on a four-wheeler behind Takashi. The two zoomed off.

Noi looked worried, "Do you think the horse will be okay?"

"Come on, let's go clear out our rooms." Takenaga offered, leading the small group back into the stables.

It was nearly two hours later before Aya came back, riding in the back of a truck, drenched in blood, and cradling a tiny gold-ish horse wrapped in bloodied towels. Beside her, Takashi was holding another foal in a similar state. Behind the truck, they pulled a small open-top trailer with a large-bellied horse lying down, breathing heavily, her light-golden fur mottled with blood and dirt. Two more boys and an older man worked around her while trying to stay upright.

The four boys and three girls were outside when the truck pulled up, and Aya yelled from the back of the truck, "Hey, get over here and help!"

The four boys came over in a hurry and helped lift the small, squirming foals from the truck bed, handing them off to Noi and Machiko. The two girls were directed to rub dry the two foals, while Aya, Takashi, and the four boys went back to help pull the mare out of the trailer and onto a tarp. The truck was pulled away, and three of the stable-boys went after fencing panels, building up a small pen around the mare. One of them led the two girls and the foals to an empty stall and gave them new towels.

"What happened? Is she going to be okay?" Machiko asked.

"We had to perform a c-section out in the field to get these two out… Aya-san only orders that when circumstances look dire." The boy looked grim, then turned his back, "I'll get some milk for them. Keep them warm."

Kyohei, Takenaga, Yuki, and Ranmaru stood off to the side, feeling rather useless as Aya and the stable-hands swarmed about the mare. Feeling sick to his stomach, Yuki went to see if he could help the girls.

Another half-hour later, the large mare was lying unconscious under the makeshift tent that had been erected, bandages around her legs and trunk. One of the stable boys still hovered about her, carefully washing blood from her fur. It had been decided that all they could do was sit and wait.

Wiping her brow, Aya smeared a dirty red across her face, but seemed too tired to care as she approached the three boys that still stood around, "I'm sorry about this. I'll have Takashi-kun take you up to the house for a shower as soon as he washes out the truck. Is Yuki with the girls?"

Kyohei looked past her to where Takashi was using a hose to rinse the truck bed and trailer, and he felt his stomach lurch as a flow of red water gushed from the tailgate. He nodded mutely.

She followed his gaze, "Otherwise… there's a washing stall in the stable. It has warm water."

"I… I'll go with that." Takenaga decided.

"Okay." She summoned one of the stable hands over and told him to get some towels and show the boys to the cleaning stall. Turning back to the three boys, she said, "Shin'ichi-kun is going to get you some towels and show you where it is. Just leave your clothes in a pile and I'll have them taken up to the house to be washed. I'll send down the others, too."

"What about you?" Kyohei glanced her up and down; she looked the dirtiest of them all, with scrapes and cuts the length of her arms and torn open jeans. He briefly wondered if the horse had been sedated while they cut it from the fence.

She saw his eyes linger on the wound on her forearm that had dripped blood down to her wrist. Covering it self-consciously, she replied, "I still have work to do. I have to put away Rubi and Precious Moon, drive some of the boys home, fix the fence, get the ATV… I'll take my shower later. I'm sure if you ask, Shin'ichi-kun or Takashi-kun can help you with anything you need; they're part of the night crew, so they sleep down here. Ah… I'll bring back supper, too. What would you like?" the boys glanced at each other and shrugged, not particular. "Okay, I'll bring prawns. I remember someone saying he liked prawns."

Ranmaru glanced over at the stable-boy, noting somewhat off-handedly that he looked the same age as Takashi.

"Aya, if you have all these kids running around, why do you have to do all that stuff?" He asked, and Shin'ichi looked insulted.

"Most of them are just part-timers, hired to patrol the fields or muck out stalls or something. And besides that, I enjoy working here, even if it is hard work." She smiled tiredly, and shooed them along.

Once the three boys and the stable-boy were headed down the hall, Aya located the stall where Yuki, Sunako, Machiko, and Noi were playing with the twin foals. Leaning on the stall door, she smiled down at them, "Hey, Yuki, the guys are down the hall taking showers. Care to join them?"

All four looked up, startled, and Yuki stood, half-heartedly dusted straw off his jeans, and exited the stall. "Yeah, that sounds good. Which way?"

Aya indicated the direction of the showers, "Down there, at the very end of the barn."

"Thanks." He bowed and followed her directions.

Turning back to the girls, she dangled an arm into the stall to stroke a foal, "Two girls… what do you think we should name them?"

Machiko and Noi debated fiercely for awhile. Finally, Sunako threw in her two cents, "Koujo and Unjo…"((A/N: Both mean 'Lucky Girl'))

The other three girl paused, and Aya slowly tried them out, "'Lucky Girl'… Yeah, I think that fits them both. What do you two think?"

"Those are great names, Sunako-chan!" Noi gushed excitedly, and Machiko nodded in earnest.

Aya smiled, "O-kay, Koujo and Unjo." She laughed, digging a permanent marker out of her pocket that she'd lifted from the tack room and entering. Carefully, she slid her arms around one of the foal's necks and allowed it to calm down before handing the marker to Noi, "Here, write a name on the inside of her ear. First just pet her ear until she calms down, then write it quickly."

Noi did as requested, writing 'Koujo' inside the foal's left ear. As soon as she was done, Aya released the small animal and went for the other one. Machiko repeated the process, writing 'Unjo' in the other one's left ear.

"There. Now, did they get fed?" at the positive response she got, Aya nodded her approval and continued, "Good. Now you girls just go back to your rooms until the guys are done showering. I've got some work to do."

The three girls were just getting into the showers when Aya returned, sent a tired and annoyed-looking Shin'ichi off to bed, and telling the girls that some of the full-time staff had taken over most of her duties. As the washing stall was built to clean two horses at once, it was plenty big enough for four people, and Aya slipped inside with them.

"What are we doing for supper?" Noi asked, wetting her hair.

"I called up to the main house. The cook is going to send something down. I suggest prawns, but… who knows with him." Aya shrugged, rubbing at her skin.

Noi glanced over at her, staring for a minute, "You have really pretty hair."

Aya smirked over her shoulder, "What, you mean when it's filled with dirt and grime? Gee, thanks."

"No, I mean when it's clean." Noi giggled, "I wish my hair was that long… and it looks so silky. Well, not now of course, but…"

"I agree! What shampoo do you use?!" Machiko chimed in, "Sunako-chan has really long hair, too!"

Aya glanced over to the dark girl who was keeping to herself in a corner. "Shampoo? Ah… just whatever's around. This stuff, usually." She handed over a plain-looking bottle with a silhouette of a horse on the front.

"Isn't this… horse shampoo?" Machiko asked, cautious.

Aya laughed, "I said whatever's around. I spend a lot of nights in these stables, and there happens to be a lot of horse shampoo in them. I guess… for human shampoo I use this rose-scented stuff. I can't remember what it's called, but it's not anything special."

Noi handed back the shampoo, and the auburn-haired girl lathered it into her own hair, "Anyway, having this long hair is a bother. It's hard to keep it out of the way, and in the summer it gets so hot. Windy days are the worst."

"Then why not cut it?" Machiko ventured.

"… I don't wanna." Aya laughed, "Despite all that, I kinda like long hair."

The girls continued their small talk, and Aya finished off her shower by rinsing out her shirt and jeans.

"Ah, Aya-chan, your arm is bleeding! Do you have bandages? I'll wrap it for you." Noi offered.

Aya glanced down; it was the same wound Kyohei had been staring at. Sitting back against the wall, she inspected it, finding it to be a rather deep gash. "Nah. I'll pour some peroxide on it later, but bandages don't last long on me. Don't worry about it." Standing, she glanced critically at the three remaining towels.

Sunako was first to finish, and she wrapped herself in a towel before shuffling out of the room and down the short way to their stall/rooms.

"There aren't enough towels…" Machiko said softly, liberating her own towel, "I'll go change and bring this one back."

"No, don't worry about it. I've got a back up plan." Aya handed the remaining towel to Noi, who looked dubious. The auburn-haired girl continued to rinse her shirt until all that was left was stains, and then slipped it on. It hung to her thighs, and one wrong move would probably have it riding up, but she didn't seem to care as she tossed the girl's clothes into a basket and kicked it over by the door, "I'll have Takashi take our clothes up to be washed and brought back down in the morning."

The other two girls looked shocked that Aya was going to walk through the hall wearing only a sopping wet t-shirt that stuck to her like a second skin, but it was her decision, they guessed, and allowed it.

The three girls passed the stall that Takenaga and Yuki were sharing, and when they noticed that all four boys were in there and the door was open, Noi and Machiko scampered past, not allowing them a decent look. Aya paused directly in the doorway, "Did Shin'ichi-kun take your clothes up to the house already?"

The four boys looked up, and Takenaga looked away with a blush, "You know, Aya, it's not proper for a girl to be running around in a wet t-shirt."

She only shrugged.

"Yeah, he said they'd be down in the morning." Ranmaru responded. His eyes shamelessly roamed her figure, then turned back to his cards.

"Ha. Then you may want to check your shorts, Ran-chan. He didn't seem to like you much after you called him a kid, and Shin'ichi-kun is known for his pranks." She smirked, told them supper should arrive soon, and left, listening to the boys' laughter.

"How can you stand in front of them almost naked and not be embarrassed?!" Machiko cried once Aya entered their shared stall.

"I haven't had a lot of female-influence in my life. I know no shame." Aya laughed when Machiko stared at her.