NOTE: I should be studying for a test, but I suck at studying and writing usually helps me destress. So, I wrote this one up. Kinda took Blackmetalzane22's prompt idea but changed it up a bit. I hope you don't mind.

Also, if it wouldn't be too much, I'd like to ask someone if they could draw this cover image. It's probably my favorite one so far, so I think it'd be cool to see. You don't have to if you don't want to, but yeah.

Enjoy and Review

Log 26: Carnival


Cover Image: Yukiko stood next to Ben and Gwen. The heiress was dressed in a purple floral print kimono. The outfit complimented her curves and figure, showing just how beautiful of a young woman she was. Her hair was tied up into a bun, a floral designed hair piece keeping it tied together. She was smiling softly at the camera for the photo.

Gwen stood to her right; dressed in a light blue kimono with cat prints. The young girl's growing hair was tied into a ponytail that reached the back of her neck. Her bangs had been brushed back to be kept out of her eyes. Gwen held a small bag in her arms to carry all of the gifts she had won at the festival. Gwen had a bigger smile than Yukiko, doing her best to look pretty for the picture.

Ben stood with his arms folded on Yukiko's left. He was dressed in a bright green kimono with the word 'HERO' printed on it in kanji. The white obi was wrapped tightly around his waist and his feet were covered in black sandals. Ben had the widest grin on his face as the picture was taken.


Yukiko happily bit into some cotton candy, the flavor melting in her mouth. The heiress looked down at the boy who was sitting next to her on the bench. Ben took a bite out of his cotton candy, grumbling slightly. She frowned slightly at Ben's negative attitude, wondering just how she could possibly change that. Their family had made a stop at a close carnival to take a break from their road trip. Gwen had gone off with Max to explore, leaving her with Ben for the meanwhile. Her little cousin's poor attitude was from not being allowed to go off on his own, because Max did not trust Ben to not burn down the entire carnival.

"Cheer up, Ben. We could go play some games?" Yukiko suggested.

"Or you could let me go off on my own." Ben offered. "I'm sure you don't want to spend all your time at this fun carnival with your little cousin."

"Why wouldn't I? I want to spend a lot of time with you, Ben." Yukiko smiled at him. Ben grunted, annoyed that he couldn't convince her. Was it so wrong that he just wanted to go and do things by himself? He didn't need Yukiko glued to his hip all the time! "Let's go play some of the games." Yukiko grabbed his hand, pulling Ben from the bench.

"H-hey! I almost dropped my cotton candy!" Ben cried as Yukiko dragged him off to one of the stalls. The carnival stall was a shooting booth; shoot down all the moving targets within the time limit and win the grand prize. Ben looked at all the prizes lined up in the booths, not seeing anything that catches his eyes. "So, what's the grand prize?"

The stall handler shrugged his shoulders, smirking at the kid. "It's meant to be a surprise. If you really want to know, then win the game."

Yukiko clapped her hands. "Oh, Ben! Win the grand prize!"

"Why don't you do it?"

"Because it's gentlemanly for the man-or boy-to win the prize for the lady." Yukiko explained to him, patting his head.

"She's got you beat there, kid." The stall handler added. "Win the prize for your sister."

Ben huffed, picking up the toy gun and aiming his shot. He really didn't want to do any of this, so he purposely missed his shots. Not thinking anything of it and completely wasted the time limit he was given. He never noticed Yukiko's smile falter with each shot that was made.

Ben put down the gun, satisfied at a job well done. "Ah, well it seems that my aim just wasn't it today. Guess, we better just move on. Sorry, Yukiko-" Ben stopped noticing the strained smile on Yukiko's face. "Uh? Is something wrong?"

"Nothing. It's a shame that you couldn't hit any of those targets. I was looking forward to seeing what that grand prize was." Yukiko said.

Normally someone would feel really guilty after hearing that, but Ben took the small traces of guilt and pushed it down into a deep crevice in his heart. "Sweet! Then, let's go!" Ben walked away to another stall with Yukiko slowly following from behind.

The next half hour would consist of Ben throwing each and every carnival game they went to in hopes of Yukiko giving up and letting him go off on his own. He was so focused on his own selfish thoughts that he never paid attention to how the smile on Yukiko's face slowly faded away, leaving nothing but a blank stare.

Ben pretended to wipe some sweat off his forehead. "Wow, I'm just having a real unlucky day, huh? Can't seem to win any of these games-"

"That's fine, Ben."

"What?" Ben turned to her, finally noticing the lack of emotion on Yukiko's face. "What do you mean? Don't you want to keep playing?"

"No. Playing these games means nothing if you don't want to do them. Go off by yourself, I know that's what you wanted this entire time." Yukiko turned away, leaving Ben behind.

"Sweet! Now, I can-what?" Ben turned to the stall owner, who was giving him a frown of disapproval. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

The woman rolled her eyes. "Are you really going to let her leave like that?"

"She said I can explore on my own! I don't need a babysitter!" Ben huffed, crossing her arms.

"Obviously, she didn't want you to, because she wants to spend time with you. However, you couldn't help but be a brat. Your sister wants to spend time with you, not be a babysitter."

Ben allowed her words to sink in, realizing what she had meant. The guilt from earlier started to bubble backup as he thought about how as time went on Yukiko became less responsive to his actions. And her earlier words stung a little more now that he realized it. "Maybe… I was a bit of a jerk."

"A bit?"

"Okay, yes, I was a jerk!" Ben exclaimed, much to the woman's enjoyment. "I'm still trying to work on the whole selfish thing. I need to apologize to her."

"I think you'll need a bit more than just an apology, kid." The vendor said.

"What do you mean?" Ben was confused slightly, until the woman pointed at the prizes behind her and it suddenly clicked in Ben's brain.


Yukiko sat on a bench, feeling exhausted. The heiress watched as families walked past her, enjoying their time at the fair as families should. It made her heart hurt that Ben didn't want to spend time with her. She understood that he wanted to feel independent, but she wouldn't always have the free time to be around him and the others. She just wanted to be around him for as long as she could.

Maybe, she was the selfish one all along?

"Hey, Yukiko."

The heiress turned around to see a large stuffed teddy bear with a pair of silly glasses on its face staring at her. It took a full minute for Yukiko to realize what she was looking at before she felt the incoming wave of laughter busting out of her mouth. Eventually she was able to stop her laughing, only letting out a couple of giggles. "A-and w-who is this supposed to be?"

"Mr. Stuffy."

"And why is it that Mr. Stuffy wants to come see me-snrk."

"Because he wants to apologize. He's sorry for being such a jerk."

Yukiko smiled softly at the teddy bear and reached for it. "Well, Mr. Stuffy, as much as I appreciate your apology…" Yukiko gently pulled the bear away, revealing Ben who had been standing behind it. "I think I'd rather hear it from your mouth, Ben."

He stood there for a few seconds as he stared at Yukiko. He kicked his feet a bit before taking a deep breath. "I'm sorry for being a jerk, Yukiko. All you wanted was to have fun at the carnival with me. Do you forgive me?" Her answer was wrapping him up in a tight hug, he slowly returned the hug.

"Of course, I forgive you, Ben. And I'm sorry if I seemed a little too pushy. You're growing up and want to start being more independent… I guess, I just want to spend as much time with you as possible before you're all grown up."

"Seems we both have a little learning to do, huh?" Ben smiled.

"Totally." She broke the hug, then turned to the stuffed animal. "And where exactly did you get this from?"

"Oh, that was the grand prize at the shooting boot-" He didn't get to finish as Yukiko wrapped him up in another hug, squealing loudly.


"Uh? Where exactly do you plan to put this?" Gwen asked as she stared at the teddy bear. They had all regrouped back at the Rustbucket after having their carnival fun.

"In your bunk, duh!" Ben replied.

"But we share the same bunk, doofus." Gwen reminded him.

"Exactly. You can sleep on the floor from now on."

"No way, dweeb!"

"Yes way, dweeb!"

Yukiko watched the two argue with a small smile on her face, maybe she didn't have to worry so much about them growing up if they're still arguing like this. Max came over to sit at the table with her. "What's got you smiling, sweetheart?"

"Oh, I'm just happy to see them acting immature."

"That's a first."

"Yes, but it means that they're still young. I'm sure one day they'll actually be able to get along with one another and not break into a fight every five minutes. But, for now I'm going to enjoy them like this for as long as I can. It'll mean they'll depend on me for just a bit longer." Yukiko said.

Max smiled softly at Yukiko. "I wouldn't worry about that, Yukiko. I'm certain they'll always need you, no matter the age."

A sudden reminder of their trip to the future came back to her mind. "Yes… you're right."

Log End

NOTE: I hope you all enjoyed this one. Because I know I did.

Stay safe and have a great day!