A/N: This is a short one too, but I try to post the next chapter pretty soon...

"Do you have any idea where we are?"

Kiti leaned her head on the wall of just-one-more-garage and watched Kyoya filling his water bottle from the outdoor tap.

"Does it matter?" he asked.

Kiti sighed. To tell the truth, it didn't. They had followed Tsubasa and his plan without questions, and they'd still follow him, wherever he was going to lead them. Only she had a feeling the Eagle wasn't so absolutely sure of their destination himself. During the day they had traveled on a pickup truck (again), squeezed in a tiny little Morris Mini with a very fat and talkative middle-aged lady as a driver ("Never again!" had Kyoya said after 50km), twice in a normal bus (feeling the wondering glances of the other travelers), and finally the last two hours on a trailer behind a tractor, between some hay bales and hen cages, a thing which hadn't improved their already shabby looks.

Kyoya splashed some water on his face before drinking and then filled his bottle again. He had understood Tsubasa's plan the moment they had taken a lift that had brought them farther north. The seemingly headless carhopping wasn't but a carefully planned blind to bewilder their chasers. As far as he could figure, they hadn't moved a mile to south, which would have been their most obvious direction. On the contrary, they had criss-crossed the country between certain latitudes, passing the point where they started at least twice within few kilometers.

"He is clever", he thought, watching his comrade, who was running from one lorry to another and trying to find another lift for them, a task which wasn't too easy, thanks to their not-so-respectable looks. Deep down in his mind the Lion admitted he appreciated Tsubasa more than anybody else in Team GanGan Galaxy, despite their different views on certain things. Ryo Hagane wasn't but a pup compared to him. He also knew Nile shared his opinion of the Eagle. During the short time Team Wild Fang had spent in Japan the both raptors had created a mutual understanding and respect towards each other, almost without sharing a word. Kyoya still would have preferred Nile beside him on a trip like this, but after all, things could have been much worse.

Kiti snatched the bottle from him and half-emptied it in her throat, totally ignoring his irritated glare. Her own water bottle was probably on its way to Hokkaido at the moment, deciding she had noticed it missing right after descending from the bus.

"I wonder if he'll manage this time", she said and nodded towards Tsubasa who seemed to have an enthusiastic discussion with some driver. Kyoya sharpened his eyes. There was something more going on now than the usual brief conversation with the almost always same questions and answers. The driver seemed to smile and nod with a furtive look on his rather stupid face, when Tsubasa talked to him with much more confidential air than what would have been necessary. Right then the blader lifted his head and waved to them.

"Kiti, Kyoya, come quickly!"

They run to him and followed in astonishment how the driver opened the backdoor of his lorry, still chuckling, and ushered them into the trunk. Tsubasa climbed in after them and sat comfortably on the floor. They heard the engine start and felt how the vehicle turned to the main road and increased its speed.

"What the heck did you say to him?" Kyoya was burning of curiosity. He had knelt on the floor but found it impossible to relax before he'd knew what was going on.

"Not much. Just a little tale of possible fame."

"What about sharing that story with us, too?" Kyoya demanded. Tsubasa leaned back with his head and closed his eyes.

"Well, then. As you maybe saw, it was a mission impossible to get a lift for a gang of bandits like us. None of the drivers didn't want any mud, hay or chicken manure in their vehicles, not even for money, so I had to invent something better to offer." A tiny but content smile was lurking in the corner of his mouth.

"I told him we are making a new TV-show, called "Across the Japan in a truck", or something like that. We are one of the racing teams, and we need to get to north as fast as possible to win this partial. As for cameras, I said we have them hidden in our clothes because in fact we weren't allowed to tell the drivers about the show and filming beforehand, but right now we were in such a scrape we just had to trust him to keep our secret."

There was a long silence after his speech. Neither one of his companions didn't know how to react to an explanation like this. Kiti felt like numb, her brain declined to understand that Tsubasa, the absolutely honest and trustworthy Tsubasa, had invented such a fairy tale to save their skins. It was like noticing that all you knew about the laws of physics were just balderdash.

Suddenly Kyoya started to chuckle. He laughed long and silently, leaning his arm on his knee, his head bent close to them. His companions couldn't but stare. For Kiti, it was the very first time she had seen the Lion laugh or even smile (those rare and beastly grins wouldn't count). She rubbed her temples to make her weary head find some sense of the situation.

"Am I going insane? Tsubasa lying, Kyoya laughing... What if in the next moment I'll have an irresistible need to recite romantic poems in French?", she thought.

Kyoya's eyes flashed in the dusk as he lifted his head.

"Good job, Eagle!", he chortled. "I wouldn't have believed you capable of that kind of stuff."

"Not the first time I had to make a cover quickly.", Tsubasa answered quietly.

The laughter stopped short. Kyoya's eyes narrowed suspiciously when he looked his companion again. It had been too easy to forget the older blader's past as a secret-agent of WBBA when all the time they had known each other he had seemed a paragon of loyalty. Maybe that ability had made him so good in his work? But was he really that reliable as he wanted to look like? This far he hadn't done anything to shake that image, but in the future maybe it would be risky to trust too much on a person who looked too much worth it...

Tsubasa moved his legs to more comfortable position. He had noticed the quick change on Kyoya's face and knew what it meant. From his own experience he also knew that every try to explain would only make the situation worse. He sighed and looked towards Kiti who had curled on the bare floor, her head on her pack. During the day he had anxiously followed the deepening dark circles round her eyes and the lean cheeks that seemed grown even thinner in the last two days. When he was sure she was fast asleep he moved and unfastened the tent (still unopened in its pack) from her backpack and tied it to his own. They had taken turns to carry it, but Tsubasa got an uncomfortable feeling he had seen that jinx of an item on Kiti's back most of the time. He hadn't dared to interfere, to prevent her silent stubbornness turn into an argument, but from now on he would take care of carrying it by himself.

The constant purring of the engine made his eyelids heavy. At the next stop they'd turn back to south, by bus or by train, he didn't know yet. But right now they'd have at least couple of hours sleep in a safe, dry and almost warm place, and he wanted to make the most of it.

Kyoya jerked awake the moment the lorry stopped. For a moment he laid motionless, listening and judging the situation. The only sounds he could hear in the darkness were his comrades breathing, Kiti still fast asleep, Tsubasa awake, likewise listening.

It was almost too quiet outdoors.

Soundlessly he moved his hand towards Leone when he heard the footsteps on the gravel and somebody opened the doors. The driver stood in the doorway, loudly whispering. Tsubasa, who was the nearest rose to talk with him, and he result of the discussion caused the Lion stand up on his feet. The movement woke Kiti.

"What now?" she asked drowsily.

"Everything's fine", Tsubasa turned to assure her. "The driver says he has to stop for couple of hours to sleep, but we can sleep here if we want to. He'll continue in the morning to... Hey, where are you going?"

Kyoya had taken his pack and walked to the door.

"Back to Metal City", he answered and jumped out.

"How?! We are in the middle of nowhere, it's more than 30km to the nearest railway station, and..."

The Lion stopped.

"I've had enough of fleeing and bluffing. I won't wait 'til they catch us sleeping in a cage, I rather walk and fight."

He continued marching.

"He doesn't need us or any maps anymore", Tsubasa thought "He can navigate by stars and find back to civilization by himself. Just when I wondered he had stayed with the team even this long! But should we follow him to stick together or are we better off staying right here, and is Kiti even able to..."

He felt a touch on his shoulder. Kiti stood next to him, her pack already on her back, ready to jump out.

"I think he's right. We've better go on", she said quietly.

Tsubasa saw her slip out of the door and sighed. He knew it would be useless to ask if she thought she was able to walk that far.

"Damn you, Lion!", he thought and grabbed quickly his belongings to walk after the others.