Heya! Not much to say, except I don't think this chapter took as long as the previous one, so no Melvin-Hug for me!
Melvin: Damn. And I was really looking forward to giving you cancer too. Maybe I should just give you a hug anyway... *moves to hug her*
Marik: Look out! *shoves Melvin away and hugs her instead*
MMR: *hugs back* This is even better than a Melvin-Hug! ^_^ Enjoy the chapter while I enjoy Marik-chan!
Disclaimer: MewMewRadish لا تملك يو غي أوه! انها لا بلدها قائد في كارلن وصوفيا (sunshinedasies)
(the disclaimer's in Arabic. I thought it would be nice to have it in Marik's native tongue :D)
"Y-yami... I had no idea you'd find so many people to help..."
I turned my head and pretended to stare at a passing butterfly, to try and mask the smirk that had undeniably covered my face. I really shouldn't want to be laughing, but Ryou's face had no real word to describe it. The sheer shock of Yami bringing Joey, Marik, Fia and me to help look for Kuroi was enough to make his eyes almost double in size and his mouth to hang slightly agape. I also couldn't deny, he looked pretty cute like that. Believe me when I say, any fangirl would suffocate him through hugs and glomps with that face.
"Yes, I'm surprised myself that Joey and Marikdecided to come and help. I would've thought they had something more... pleasurable to do..."Yami said, emphasizing 'pleasurable' way more than what was needed. Me and Sophia looked over at them to see Yami snickering to himself, and the two other boys with furious blushes on their faces, their eyes in the opposite direction of the others face. We frowned and shook our heads, turning out attention back to Ryou, who had obviously missed the joke too.
"Yes... erm, anyway, thank you all for agreeing to help me. It means a lot, really."
He gave us all a wide and cheerful smile, as well as a small bow.
"It's no problem. Anyway, me and Fia have sat and done nothing for the past 2 days anyw-don't give me that look, Sophia! We have!"I stated, ignoring the pouting that Sophia was shooting me. She scowled and rolled her eyes, earning a laugh from all the boys.
"Ryou! Who's there? Who are you talking to?"
A familiar man's voice with a British accent rang out from the house next to the ranch. The next thing any of us knew, was the presence of a tall man with blue hair. Ryou's father.
~YGO!~
"I thought I told you to stay away from my son. All of you."
"F-father! Don't be like that! They're here to-"
"Be quiet, Ryou!"
"Y-yes father..."
My eyebrow gave an anime-like twitch as I watched Ryou back down and stand, fingers interlocked and head bowed, not saying a word.
"Hey, don't be like dat to your own son! If you hadn't interrupted him so rudely, you'd've heard him say dat we're here to help him find his horse!"Joey snapped.
"Yeah, all we're trying to do is help him! Geez, we play one game of water-slash-mustard balloon throwing, and suddenly we're hooligans out to terrorize everyone? You need to sort your priorities out!"Marik spat. Ryou's head shot up, a look of terror in his eyes as they flashed between the back of his father's head and Marik's face. I sensed that Marik had crossed the line with that remark, and without giving any thought to my actions, I blurted out,
"If this is because I hit you with that balloon, I said I'm sorry, but there's not much I can do otherwise."
The older man 'humph!'ed and went back to the door he had supposedly came out of. Before walking in though, he turned to us all and said,
"You had better bring my son back in one piece. If I find one scratch on him, you'll pay for it."
Once he was gone, I saw Ryou give a little sigh before turning to us, his normal cheery smile replacing his previous look, as though nothing had happened. I swear I shall never understand how the boy does it.
"So Ryou, how're we going to search for Kuroi? You don't expect us to walk, do you?"Sophia asked. I could see her crossing her fingers behind her back, hoping, no, praying, that we wouldn't be walking.
"No, of course not! The valley were he ran off into is an enormous place, we'd never be able to search it by foot."Ryou said, "Since there's an even number of us, I suggest that we search in two's."
"That still doesn't explain how we're not going to be walking."
Ryou gave a little laugh before walking into the ranch. Not long after, he re-emerged, holding the reins of a tall, strong looking chestnut horse. It had a pompous air about it, the way it walked with grace and pride and the way it flaunted its shiny mane with each step.
"We won't be walking Sophia, because we can use the other horses that I have. If we use the well-built ones, they'll be able to carry two of us each."
"Ooooh... right."
Sophia nodded and her face broke out into a large smile. I held back a snicker. I knew Sophia loved horses almost as much as Harry Potter, so this was like a dream come true for her.
"Err, Ry, one problem here. I can't ride." Joey said, rubbing the back of his head.
"You don't need too. Me, Marik and Ryou can all ride, so there's enough of us to take the others." Yami told him, "Tell you what, why don't you go with Marik, I'll go with Sophia, and Carlin can go with Ryou? We'll meet back here in 4 hours. Everyone know what they're doing? Good. Come on Fia, lets go."
With that, Yami took the reins of the pompous horse from Ryou, mounted, grabbed Sophia's wrist and dragged her onto the horse. She yelped and was seated behind him before she could argue. As they rode into the valley, the two could be heard arguing, until Yami whispered something to her. The last the remaining four saw of them before they disappeared into the hills, was Sophia turning around to look at Marik and Joey, a devilish grin on her face.
"What the hell was that all about?"I asked, earning a shrug from everyone.
"Well, if you're all alright with what Yami said, I can go and get the horses."Ryou said, sounding a little unsure with his words.
"I suppose."Marik said, and Ryou rounded the door, into the ranch again. This time he walked back out leading two horses by the reins. One was a dull grey, the other a fine coffee colour. He handed the reins of the coffee coloured horse to Marik, before walking back over to me with the grey one. He mounted first, sliding his leg over with ease and then extending his hand to me. I took it and tried my best to look even the slightest bit dignified as I practically scrambled on. Once I sat behind Ryou, I could see he was giggling lightly from my display. I huffed slightly and raised my eyebrows, causing a giggly apology to escape his lips, before a loud laugh alerted us to Joey and Marik. Marik already sat atop the horse, watching in hysterics as Joey tried to mount behind him.
"Hey Marik, gimme a hand here!"
The only reply from the young Egyptian was another round of laughter as Joey once again scrambled onto the saddle, only to slide off the other end immediately.
"Come on Marik, give him a hand! Honestly, we're never going to find Kuroi if Joey can't mount!"I cried, breaking his laughs into giggles. Still though, he refused to help Joey up.
"Right, dats it. You won't help me? I'll help myself."Joey said, determination ringing in his voice. Me and Ryou exchanged unsure glances, before looking back to see Joey running at the back of Marik's horse. He jumped and vaulted onto the back end, straight into Marik's back, who gave a big jolt and "Oof!" at the contact.
"Joey, you friggin' frigstick! That friggin' hurt!"Marik yelled, rubbing his back and the bottom of his head. My yaoi fangirl senses began to kick in a little as Joey embraced the other boy from behind, resting his chin on Marik's shoulder and stroking his sides.
"I'm sorry buddy... forgive me?"
"I-I suppose..."
They were talking in mere whispers now, so me and Ryou could barely hear them, but their actions spoke louder than their words.
"Oi, are you gonna sit and hug all day? Get moving!"I yelled, urging Marik to go. They both blushed, and Marik quickly set his horse off at a gallop in a random direction, Joey clinging to his waist and burying his face in the Egyptian's blonde locks. Once they were out of sight, Ryou turned to me and asked,
"Are those two... erm, you know... going out?"
I shrugged.
"Who knows? That's the only suggestive thing I've ever seen them do, although Sophia said on the way down here that Marik and Joey had been blushing and acting awkwardly since they arrived with Yami to get us. I must've been thinking too much to notice."
"Oh... we should get going."Ryou said, and I nodded as he started walking the horse in a direction not taken by the others.
"Um, Carlin?"
"Yeah?"
"You'll have to hold onto me. If we want to get anywhere, we've got to go faster."
I sighed and slid my arms around him, feeling how warm he was. It brought back all the memories of our first meeting. I still scolded myself for hugging him that day. It was inappropriate, we'd just met!
"Okay, hold on tight."
"Fine, but don't blame me if I crush you. I've never ridden like this before, and if I feel like I'm going to fall off, I've got a strong grip."
Ryou let out a cute little laugh.
"I'm sure you'll be fine!"
And with that, we set off, dashing through the valley, the small breeze whipping at our faces. It felt relaxing, and while holding onto Ryou, it was like I was flying with a teddy bear. I could tell my unruly hair would be even more of a mess once we stopped, but I could care less. I had bigger things to worry about.
Like Ryou's hair.
As nice as his hair was, the white cotton-candy-like cloud was blowing directly into my face with it being so long. It obstructed my view and barely missed my mouth, instead giving me a good idea of what sort of shampoo this boy used. If, by chance, his hair had ended up in my mouth though, it would have tasted like apples and strawberries. Nice.
A while later, as we rode deeper and deeper into the valley, losing sight of the village and ranch, I completely lost my patience with Ryou's hair. Reaching into my pocket and pulling out a red hair bobble, I pulled his hair back and tied it in a bun at the back of his head. The horse suddenly halted and Ryou turned around, confusion shown all over his pale face.
"W-what did you do?"he asked timidly, reaching back and feeling the bun.
"Your hair is too long when it comes to riding like this."I smiled, earning a blush and embarrassed smile from him, "I just made things more comfortable for me. Besides, I think it suits you."
"R-really?"
I nodded and Ryou started fiddling with the strands of hair and fringe that framed his face, a smile gracing his lips.
"I don't think this is such a bad idea! This way, I won't get my hair blowing in my eyes!"
I nodded pompously as the snowy-haired boy exclaimed his joy, brought back to reality only by one particular comment,
"If you teach me how to do these, I can give you one! Then I could give Marik one! Then Sophia! And maybe I could try with Joey and Yami too!"
My eyebrow gave another anime-twitch and I nodded slowly.
"Sure... I'll teach you once we find Kuroi..."
I said it slowly, crossing my fingers behind my back as Ryou gave another sunshine-smile. As he turned and continued to ride on, I sighed. Ryou learning to put his own hair up in a bun was something. Learning to put the whole world's in a a bun was another. Maybe I would teach him, maybe not. First I would have to test the phrase,
Looks can be deceiving.
And at the minute, the mental image of devil Ryou running around with millions of bobbles strewn over his arms, causing chaos in the hair department, proved that phrase to be very true...
Hooray for random endings! Yeah, I'm not that pleased with how this chapter came out, but meh. Oh, and before you all get the wrong idea, Ryou's father is not abusive! He's just extremely protective over his son, for reasons that will be explained in later chapters!
Speaking of later chapters, you may have noticed Joey and Marik acting a little odd? Most (okay, all) of you will know why, so be prepared for madness :)
Marik: Madness? This... Is... SPARTA!
MMR: XD Good one Mari! Anyhow, please leave a review, and if you're interested in finding out what Carlin looks like, go to my profile, click on the link to my deviantArt page and keep an eye on it over the next few days! I'm going to try and get Carlin's design up soon, as well as a possible one for Sophia!
Bai!
Radish ='.'= & Marik :)