The soft rays of August morning sun floated through Desirays room. It softened the scared wood floor and banged up dresser and vanity; it made her rodeo ribbons gleam on their shelves and the picture of her runaway parents glow. Too bad Desiray didn’t have her contacts in. cThe room had belonged to her parents and herself, since they ran off it was hers, she slept in their old bed. Desiray’s childhood bed sat in the adjacent corner, above it were shelves that held her dearest things: ribbons, medals, pictures, contacts, jewelry, and other important teenage girl things.
Desiray walked over to the other bed and climbed on it. There seemed to be something else on it but she dismissed it as a discarded saddle or maybe a dog. She straddled what ever it was and on her knees reaching up to the shelves she felt for her contacts. "Where are they?!" she said in disgust.
"Hmmm… You have an interesting way of waking a guy up," Desiray screeched and scrambled backwards. In her haste she forgot that this bed was considerably shorter than hers. With a "thunk" she landed on her back on the floor, one leg still hooked on the bed. "You all right?" she saw a blurry image leaning over her. She let her head fall to the ground with a groan as two thoughts entered her mind: 1) yesterday was not a dream, and 2) It was going to be a long day.
~*Later that day a.k.a. after the morning rituals and breakfast*~
The breakfast conversation still buzzed in her ears. "Hey John," she had said, "What was that pilot doing in my room last night? He scared me to death this morning."
"There were no other rooms to give him and the bunks are not suitable for guests," John replied.
"I’m not a guest anymore," Duo had stated after spearing his sixth pancake.
"What?" Desiray asked, then turned her voice sugar sweet, "Oh are you leaving so soon? What a pity." Mentally doing a victory dance.
"No," he said between bites, "I work with you now." After that Tilly, the cook, said Desiray had gone whiter than a bed sheet.
So here she was in the West barn where all the round-up horses were kept, trying to find a horse compatible with the famous "Shinigami." She stopped in front of a stall. The horse inside was as a dark bay with black muzzle, mane, tail, and stockings. Oh, this will be too perfect, she thought as she saddled and led him out to meet his new rider.
When Desiray got out of the barn she saw Duo talking to one of the other female inhabitants of Dusk Valley. Miss Zandi Hoffer, the ranches book keeper. Zani, as every one called her, had been a military accountant but had retired when her fiancée was killed.
Des led the horse over to them, "Hey Zani," she greeted. Then turned to Duo, "I think I have found the perfect horse for you, O great god of death," Des handed Duo the reins of the horse, "This is Hades, Hades this is Shinigami. Introductions set, let’s go and get those cattle."
Zani was giggling and said she had some work to take care of in the house but wished them luck in their pursuit.
"Hey, Hades is it?" Duo scrutinized the horse, "well, birds of a feather should stick together, it only seems right." Duo awkwardly mounted the horse and went to catch up with the other members of the "search party."
Duo found them astride their horses looking at a very large gorge in the ground. Duo whistled at the size of it. Of course, it seemed like a good idea at the time, using his scythe as an anchor; but now the massive trench spanned before him.
"Well John did say he needed a new trough but this going a wee bit overboard," laughed Kyle. Kyle was a tall, thin man with curly dark hair, at first glance he looked gangly then if you took another you noticed who strong he actually was. Desiray smiled up at him. A smile Duo had seen before, although the smiler then had been Relena, a love struck girl fawning after stony Heero. This girl’s got it bad, he thought.
Duo was pulled out of his thoughts by an excessively antsy Hades. The horse was tossing his head, flattening his ears, and pawing the ground.
"We should be heading out now," said a tall black man, Jim, "We want to get this over with in time to make the shipment time." They all, except Duo, spurred forward and towards the hills. Duo didn’t have time to give his horse a kick, Hades was off and going with the rest of them.
The search across the scrub land was fun and carefree. Duo and Kyle raced and Desiray and Jim were comparing equestrian skills. When the made it to the foot hills of the mountains They were all laughing and Desiray was actually starting to like Duo.
"Well," said Jim, "Me and Kyle should go straight through and Des, you and Duo should take the East switch back trail. Got it?" Then he and Kyle thundered down the trial before another word could be said. "Hmm…" Duo looked after them, "I guess we go this way." He turned Hades and followed Desiray.
*~AUTHORS NOTE~* well that was the second chapter! E-mail me if I get something wrong (like horse behavior) … sorry but I am not an expert on horses (I don’t even own one ^.^* ). So if you want to help with names of breeds I would be **really** happy!! Or if you want to comment ß those are wonderful its like candy for a fic writer! and I have a **big** sweet tooth... Where are my manners? Thank you for reading this hope ya liked it!
