Yeeeah ^^;

Writer's block hit me ridiculously hard with this chapter, so I apologise for the wait. This is just a short chapter to move things on a little, and to build up Ry and Carlin's relationship a little, but I'm still pretty proud of it :)

Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! is not mine ¬¬ It belongs to Kazuki Takahashi, and Season 4 of GX also belongs to 4Kids. Just a random fact I found out ^^

"Ryou, how long d'you reckon this is gonna take?"

"I'm not sure..."

"Fabulous(!)"

I let out a huge, exasperated breath and proceeded to glare at the back of Ryou's head. I had no watch and no way of telling how long we had been out here, but it felt like days. In the time (however long that may have been) we had been out here, I had gotten saddle-sore, Ryou had almost slid off the horse and both of us had failed to spot any sort of life whatsoever, never mind a black horse. Maybe the others were having more luck...

With Yami and Sophia...

"I'm telling you, he's that way!"

"No, I'm sure he'll be over that way!"

"Yami, you're always wrong!"

"I am not! You're just embarrassed that you didn't see him run over in that direction in the first place!"

"... you saw Kuroi run over to the left?"

"It looked like a shadow in the shape of a horse, I didn't get a good look before it disappeared behind the hill, but I'm sure it was Kuroi."

"Have it your way... but if you're dragging me on a wild goose chase, I swear I'll kick you."

"Whatever you say Sophia..."

With Joey and Marik...

"... so, did ya see the movie on TV last night?"

"No, I was doing... something else..."

"What were ya doin' Marik?"

"... helping Ishizu bake a cake..."

"Really? You, bake a cake? It must've tasted awful!"

"Hey! Ishizu and Odion said it tasted just fine!"

"Oh... sorry bud... Hey Marik?"

"Yeah Joey?"

"Can you make me a cake sometime?"

Back to Ryou and Carlin...

"Hey, Carlin?"

"Yeah, Ryou?"

"W-what's that?"

"Huh?"

I looked up and followed Ryou's pointing finger. My face broke out into a wide smile and I could see Ryou's do the same.

"It's Kuroi!"he squealed, nudging our horse in the side and setting off across the valley towards the said stallion. I gave a small scream and quickly grabbed onto Ryou before I could fall off. He hissed and I realised I had grabbed him right where Kuroi kicked him. Whoops. I quickly moved my hands to his waist as he continued to breathe through gritted teeth, and I began to come up with my apology,

'I'm sorry Ryou, it's just that you set the horse off so bloody fast, with no warning, that I almost fell off. Any you of all people should know, that if that had happened, I could've been bloody killed! Therefore, I think the apo-'

"Carlin! Carlin! CARLIN!"

I snapped away from my thoughts to the face of Ryou, calling out my name with a hint of desperation.

"What?"

"Um! S-sorry! I-I didn't mean to startle you... just, can you ride this horse while I try to get closer to Kuroi?"

My eyebrow twitched.

"Didn't I already say that I've never ridden before?"

"I-I know, but you'll be fine, I promise! This horse is really quite tame, he prefers it when he just has to walk anyway!"

I looked at Ryou with a disapproving look. Big mistake. I was met by two chocolate brown pools of innocence, silently begging for me to do as he asked. I sighed frustratedly.

"Fine, fine, I'll do it."

Damn, that boy could really get to people.

His smile practically engulfed to lower half of his face as he thanked me and dis-mounted, leaving me to sift forward and take the reins. He ran off towards Kuroi, slowing as he went nearer and nearer, before finally calling out his name in a soft voice. The black horse turned to look at him, but made no movement to get closer to Ryou. Instead, Ryou slowly inched forward, holding his hand out to Kuroi. The horse studied his face and hand, sniffing at Ryou's scent before taking a step forward and nuzzling his hand. Ryou smiled again and shot it back at me. I returned it as Kuroi moved forward again, nuzzling into Ryou's face and hair, making him giggle and cry out,

"Stop! That tickles!"

I laughed and attempted to move my horse closer to Ryou. It wasn't as easy as he made it look. No way...

I pulled firmly on the reins and gave the horse a light kick, causing it to jolt backwards. I jumped and muffled a cry.

"Carlin, d'you need a hand with that?"

"Yes actually, I do. How the hell d'you steer this thing?"

Ryou giggled and walked over to me, pulling Kuroi behind him. He stopped next to me and explained the basics, giving it a small nudge to make it walk, a harder one to make it trot and a soft kick to make it run. Using the reins was simpler than I'd made it out to be, it was simply pulling them in the direction you wanted to go in. I felt like a complete idiot afterwards having had to ask for help.

"So... have you understood everything?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"That's good! Now, why don't we go back to the ranch?"

"Sounds like a plan to me!"

Ryou mounted Kuroi, petting him and cooing affectionately as he did and we began the ride back to the ranch. Or what I hoped was the ranch. I was trusting Ryou to not screw up with his sense of directions, and my rumbling stomach was in the same boat. As we came closer to the top of a tall hill, I could see the rooftops of the village building and the distinct red of the ranch just over it. I smiled and craned my neck, trying to see more of the civilisation in front of us, only to be blocked my Ryou's head. His bun had almost fallen out now, and a small part of it still lay in the bobble, while the rest fell around his shoulders and face.

'Trust a boy to ruin my perfectly good handiwork...'

The clock-tower rang out as the time reached 5pm. No wonder I was so hungry.

"Hey, Carlin?"

"Yeah?"

"Didn't Yami say to meet up four hours from 12 o'clock?"

"Yeah...?"I didn't like where this was going.

"Well... it's been five hours since 12 o'clock, and well... no-body's back..."

"Oh you are fricking kidding me! Does that mean we have to go and look for them all? I'm starving, I don't have the motivation to look for them!"

Ryou gave a small, apologetic, smile and replied,

"I think it would be in our best interest to try and find them. I've been lost out there before, and it's not really a pleasant experience..."

"Alright, let's go. I'd like to have my dinner at some point tonight."

With a giggle from Ryou, we set off again, in the direction we had just came. The sun was beginning to set over the hills, casting long, dark shadows throughout the valley. A few clouds began to hover over the valley also, casting even more shadows around us. We began to call out for our friends, trotting over here, searching over there to try and find them. Half an hour into our search, Ryou tapped my arm and held something out to me. A red bobble sat in his palm.

"The bun was falling out, and I wouldn't want to lose this."

I took it back, thanking him, and then we both returned to calling out. The sun was almost completely gone from the sky when we finally found half of what we were looking for. Just not exactly in the position we counted on...

^^ Okay, I'm all geared up with what to do next chapter, so I'll get it written up quickly!

Melvin: *laughs* You're probably gonna take another EFF!ing month again, aren't you?

MMR: NO! I won't take that long! It's just that with my school year coming to an end and stuff, everything's going a lot quicker and I forget to write...

Melvin: No, you just want to write your Puzzleshipping story :3 That's it, isn't it?

MMR: Melvin, there is one chapter left until that thing is finished ಠ_ಠ And anyway, it's only a short story...

Melvin: *laughs*

MMR: ¬¬; As I said, I promise I'll get this updated soon (by the end of the week if I feel good and generous ^^), but until then,

Ja Ne!

Mew Mew Radish =^.^= & Melvin XD