A/N: Sorry that it has been a while since I've posted! Spring semester started and wowzas is it a lot more difficult. I picked up more activities and there's some drama drama going on so gotta deal with that. Writing helps with the stress, although sometimes it leads to me getting more stressed since I'm procrastinating. I'm sure you've all felt that way sometimes.

Also, the updates are going to be a bit more sporadic at this point, but I promise I will complete this story. I hate leaving readers hanging.

Btw, I don't own K Project

Chpt 12: Basashi Commotion Pt. 1

May 10, 2010

Hana's POV

Tatara was still obsessed with his video recording. Every time I came down to the bar to read or help out, he would hover over my shoulder. Today, he pissed me off, so I grabbed the camera and decided to record him in return.

I lowered my voice, ran my hand through my hair, and twisted my face into an annoyingly happy expression to mimic Tatara, "May 10th, 17:30. The weather has been great lately. It's cloudy with a chance of everything turning out just fine."

"Hana-chan~ give it back!" Tatara tried to corner me, but I ran for cover behind a table.

"What's this? Tatara is too slow to catch up to me?" If he tried to circle around the table clockwise, I would also circle around the table clockwise. If he went counterclockwise, I did the same.

"Sucker~" I stuck my tongue out at him.

The went on for about 5 minutes until Kosuke and Anna walked into the bar. They had been out for errands and just got back.

"Izumo." Anna sounded like she wanted something.

Izumo, Tatara, and I were the only ones in the bar so when we heard Anna's voice we all turned towards her.

Except for Tatara, he took that opportunity to get back his precious camera by glomping me from behind.

What?! I was distracted okay.

Tatara had come up from behind me, so he had his arms around me with his elbows resting on my shoulders. The camera that was once in my hands, was now in his.

"You're heavy." I murmured to him as he decided to stay in that position. I was flustered and would've thrown him off of me, but was caught off guard.

Ignoring us, Izumo asked the Anna, "What's the matter?"

"Can we keep it?" Anna had the pwetty-pwease face on.

Izumo sweat dropped, "What is it this time? You're not going to tell me that it's a human again, right?"

Kosuke responded this time, "No…. it's not a human…"

"No?" Izumo sounded doubtful.

Anna's eyes sparked as she used her puppy dog eyes on Izumo.

Before he caved, he tried to get us on his side, "... you say something too."

"It's fine, isn't it? I'll look after it too." The hazel-eyed clansman responded.

"Hehe you know I love animals Izumo." A grin split across my face. I've always loved animals and I always will.

Izumo sighed, "Oh well, if it's just one or two cats or dogs."

The front door creaked open and there stood... a horse.

"I LOVE HORSES!" I whisper yelled as I dropped to the ground in a crouch to get out from under Tatara's arms. Then I bolted upright as I slowly walked towards the brown-haired horse, my right palm face up.

Since Tatara was leaning his weight on me, he collapsed onto his butt when I escaped from under him. He seemed dazed but was okay. I ignored him, because, duh, a beautiful horse was in front of me.

There are several rules that must be followed when being around horses. They've been drilled into me since I was ten, which was when I got my first horse. Now that I think about it, ironically his name was Red. He was a sweetie, the nicest horse you could ever have and was a cutie pie.

Anyways, 1) never yell around horses, they get spooked easily; 2) don't run towards/around horses or they may rear up and hit you with their front hooves; 3) never go directly behind a horse, you always have to have your hand traveling on the horse's fur so they're aware you're behind them; 4) respect them, they can tell if you're being disrespectful or scared of him/her and will in turn become scared and retaliate in self-defense. They're 2,000 pounds of pure muscle so don't piss them off.

Ah wait, we're in the middle of red clansmen territory… the absolute best place to freak a horse out and cause serious damage.

The horse Anna and Kosuke brought in seemed to be a quarter horse, but with a few Arabian traits like the height and the slight curve of the neck.

He had an intelligent gleam in his eye. I nodded to him as he inhaled my scent and then blew out through his large nostrils, nudging his head into my hand. A silly grin broke onto my face because that was a sign that he trusted me.

"WAIT A SECOND! A HORSE?!"

"SHHHHH don't yell Kusanagi-san, you'll spook him." The horse's eyes has widened and his ears were flipping back and forth. If he pinned his ears back flat that would mean he is going to a) bite you, b) kick you with the hooves that can easily crush bones, c) or buck (if there was a rider on him that rider would go flying a few dozen feet).

He whisper yelled, "WE CAN'T KEEP A HORSE! PUT IT BACK WHERE IT BELONGS!"

"But you said that it was fine…." Anna teared up.

"That's true… you can't go back on your word." I gave the brown-haired beauty's nose a rub.

Izumo faced away, exasperated that he had been tricked by that as permission that we could keep the horse for a bit, Anna ran towards the horse with her little chibi arms up in the air, "What should we name it?"

She seemed super excited, but I wanted to make sure everyone was safe. I stepped in front of Anna and placed a hand on her shoulder, "Never run towards a horse. They spook easily alright? And no yelling, it'll scare them."

"Un." She nodded her head, but didn't seem to hear what I said. However, she did walk up to the horse after that, so good enough. I doubt the horse would hurt Anna though.

Every animal has a personality and this horse definitely disliked arrogant people with short tempers, but absolutely adored girls. Hm, he's a gelding.

He won't be as wild as a stallion, but geldings can still be scary when mad. The gelding snorted into Anna's hair looking for food.

"Before we name it, we should feed it first." Kosuke could tell the signs of a hungry animal.

"Him. This guy here is a gelding."

"What's a gelding?" Anna asked, eyes sparkling at hearing more information about the horse.

"Uhhhhhh," I hesitated, wondering how to explain that humans castrate horses to make them more tame. A male horse that's not castrated is a stallion and a castrated one is a gelding. "It just means that your horse is male and is a very nice horse."

I cringed, and Tatara laughed at me. Getting mad, I threw the book I had in my hands earlier at him. (I always have a book in my hands, or on my person because I love reading).

"Ite!"

"How do you know so much about horses?" Izumo seemed confused at my knowledge.

"Oh, I didn't tell you guys? I grew up on a ranch. I had some horses, sheep, 3 dogs, and 2 cats. I used to compete in horseback riding tournaments." I laughed as the hungry horse tried to nibble on my hair. "Don't eat my hair."

That was what my dad's horse liked to do. She was a rescue horse and was abandoned, which is horrible because she had the sweetest personality. At least sweeter than my arrogant horse named Shadow who liked to bully the other animals on the ranch.

Despite the fact that my dad is a doctor, he and I both loved animals so we moved onto a ranch in middle school. My two brothers grumbled the entire time because they disliked anything "dirty." They would rather stay inside and play video games all day and night if they could.

We brought the horse in and rummaged through the fridge to find some carrots.

I showed Anna, Kosuke, and Tatara how to hand feed a horse, because you could have your fingers accidentally bitten off. I've been bitten by several horses before, straight to the finger bone when I didn't hold the food properly.

"Here, hold your hand flat. And place the food flat on your hand. This way, when the horse bites down on the food, he won't be able to get a grip on your hand or fingers and bite down. But if it's something long like a carrot, if you hold it at the bottom then he'll snap the food from the top and work his way down. When he gets to the last part of the carrot, use the first method I showed you and keep your hand flat." I held Anna's small hands in mine as I showed her how to feed the still-unnamed horse.

"Izumo, could you please grab that wash tub we keep in the back? It should be clean enough to fill with water and use as a water trough. I'll check the horse and make sure he's uninjured."

As the horse was happily munching on the snacks fed to him, I ran my hands through his fur, looking for horsefly bites or any sort of lacerations. I checked his hooves, seeing that they were well taken care of. He definitely had an owner and is not wild.

Running my hand down one of his hind legs, I clicked my tongue and pinched the ankle of his leg to tell him to raise his foot. He obediently shifted his weight to his other 3 legs and raised his left hind leg. I picked it up and placed it on top of my left knee. My legs were slightly bent as if I was half way through a squat. I faced the horse's tail, meaning that my back was towards where Kosuke and Anna were feeding the horse.

Even though my hair fell into my eyes as I leaned over to check the frog of the hoof (the sensitive part) and ran my fingers over the rest to check for rocks, it seemed like he was perfectly fine. I did the same procedure to the rest of his hooves.

Satisfied, we all washed our hands and sat down as Izumo set the makeshift horse trough on the bar table.

As we all settled, Anna pulled out a naming pad to begin the process of figuring out a name for the horse. However, it wasn't long after that we heard someone coming down the stairs. The only person who would sleep until 4:30 PM is…. Mikoto. Of course.

He yawned and made his way towards the bar with his eyes tightly shut. His spiky red hair stuck up in the wildest directions. Anyways, it seemed like he had a headache or was hung over since he clutched his head in his hand as he made his way to the bar.

"My head hurts… Water…" Mikoto muttered. I could barely contain the large grin slowly spreading across my face when he sat down in his normal seat…. which was right next to the horse.

Then I burst out laughing when I saw his surprised face as he noticed the horse drinking at the bar.

"Why did a horse end up here?"

A few seats over, Izumo had his glass clutched in his hand as he went on a ramble, "That question aside, how? Where did they get the idea to pick up a horse.. Do we only have idiots here?"

Tatara tried to console Izumo, "Now, now. Isn't it a good horse? See, it has pretty nice fur."

Anna walked up to Mikoto with her naming pad, her puppy dog mode was on, "Mikoto! Name it!"

Mikoto stared at the horse for a moment before replying, "Basashi."

Everyone froze, even the horse. Basashi is a Japanese dish of sliced raw… horsemeat.

Even Tatara was amused, "What a sharp sense."

Izumo also seemed to like the idea, "Roast, thigh, and fillet. All parts in a complete set. Today's a feast."

I had noticed this earlier, and I remembered this chapter from the manga. But decided to keep quiet. Mikoto noticed "it" too.

"By the way, that horse… is not a normal horse."

Suddenly, the horse sprouted wings and his mane and fur turned white. I wonder how that's even possible. That's what confuses me about some of these powers. The horse has the ability to… seemingly understand human speech… and grow wings and turn white. To modify its own genes on command.

I'm a scientist, or well, was a bio/pre-health major so I loved to know the why of things.

"Animal strains exist?!" Izumo apparently had never met one before.

"It's so pretty…"

Mikoto's stomach growled. Loudly.

"King? Did you seriously just look at it as basashi?"

The gang tried to convince Anna to let it fly away. Mainly because they didn't want to deal with keeping a horse.

Like always, I ignored them when they were being idiots. "Guys, it's alright. If we decide to keep him, I know how to take care of him. Even if he's a strain, he's still a cutie. But what if he already has an owner?"

"Do you have a place you want to go?" Anna asked Basashi.

Perceptive Anna, very perceptive.

In agreement, Basashi lifted his head and beat his wings.

The commotion he made knocked over a few tables and broke the glasses and table settings.

Izumo began to silently shake in rage so everyone made a run for it.

"Anna! Hana! Let's go for a walk!"

After we got Basashi out of the bar and he returned to his normal color, I kneeled down and placed my hands facing upwards on my knee. "Here, Anna. I'll give you a push up. Place your left foot on my knee, grab onto that part of the mane, and swing your right leg around."

After Anna mounted Basashi, I made a loop by tying the rope they had attached to his bridle onto the other side of the bridle. This created makeshifts reins.

Anna held the reins as I swung onto Basashi's back. Anna's small enough so both of us fit easily on Basashi's back despite there being no saddle.

She was snugly between my arms as I held the reins in my hands. Just to be safe, Kosuke had one hand on the side of the reins as we walked.

Anna is adorable. Although she had probably sat on top of Mikoto's shoulders before, there was something serene about sitting on top of a horse. I've always loved how you see things from a different perspective. Our hair blew in the wind, and I was slightly worried that we didn't have helmets. But I trusted Basashi and my own horseback riding experiences. If Basashi bucked or took off in a dash in fright, I know how to keep Anna safe.

It was just the six of us on the walk, the rest stayed back to help Izumo clean up Basashi's mess.

Me, Anna, Kosuke, Kamamoto, and Basashi.

Eric had been tailing us for a few minutes before Kamamoto finally noticed him and called him out.

We had been talking about if Basashi could fly since he had wings, when three men dressed in royal blue uniforms interrupted our exchange.

"Found you, strain!"

A/N: Shoutout to DanTra12, sora2718, vanessaforeverflower, Adamantia13, QueenOfEpic, cookiepandaluv, Yuuki-Hime 2097, and tempestmind for the fav/follow!

Also, huge thanks to Lau (guest), Kikikitsune18, and YuriCrystalMoonlight for the reviews! I love hearing back from you guys.