Nat’s POV:
“Alright Ramses, I’m gonna just tie you up here for now, but I’ll ride you soon, I promise.” I smile as I slide off the horse, and giggle as he licks my cheek. “Weirdo.” I tie the reins to the post beside the arena, and pat his head before closing the gate after each horse has come into the arena.
“Yosh~ Everyone, stirrups off!” I call, pointing to my toes.
“Eh?” Izumo starts, but Rin only groans.
“No, Onee-chan anything but that!!” He whines. I giggle, and start to go by each of the horses, patting their heads and looking at each person’s figure. I had Haru beside me, padding along in the sand with her tail flicking with anxiousness and excitement.
“While I’m walking, everyone do 50 posts! Then do 30 back touches!” I call, starting towards the next horse.
“N-Nat-chan, can you hold onto T-Topa for me?” I hear someone sputter, and so I look over my shoulder at Koyalee, who was trembling as she looked down at the pony.
“That’s fine, kiddo.” I grin, gently taking hold of the first part of his reins, right under his jaw. “Topa’s a nice boy, don’t you worry.” I smile faintly, looking over to his missing eye. “He had cancer when I was little, so Shiro got some doctors to fix it up. Now he only follows the horse right in front of him.” I smile, and start to go towards Bon while Haru holds onto the reins with her tail.
“Ryuuji, keep your shoulders back, and keep your legs forward. If you stray to the back, she’ll think you want her to canter, so that won’t be good.” I smile sheepishly, though when I look up at him, his smile isn’t there, only a frown and slightly-slightly concerned eyes.
I frowned slightly, and looked up at him. “Dai-jo-bu, Bingo’s a good girl. All of these horses are well trained, you won’t fall off, I promise.” I smile at him, and pat Bingo’s neck before letting go, getting on Ramses and starting to go in front of Lolita, who was being ridden by Hoshimi.
“Alright, everyone! Since you’re all done with your exercises, now we’re gonna-” I frown, and look at Topa, who was acting skittish. I then saw that Koyalee was holding on too tightly and smiled. “Daijobu, Koyalee.” I sooth her, gently taking Topa’s start of the reins again.
“Alright, minna! Trot!!” I call, and look at Lolita, who gets the order and starts to trot. I start to jog, telling Topa to trot, smiling when he did. “Koyalee, you’re doing fine, see?” I coo to her, and smile. “Topa’s not going too fast, he’s a slow-paced horse and he just loves walking. He’s not gonna do anything.”
I calm her, and start to let go, but look like I’m still holding on. Topa still steadily followed Noah’s tail, and I smiled faintly. “Topa’s got this, Koyalee. Trust him.” I state firmly, before starting to get on Ramses.
Trotting in front of Hoshimi, I smiled as I started to make a circle. “Circle, minna!” I call, and they all obey, though I could tell they were slowly getting exhausted. Pico was shaking his head, clearly not liking Rin very much. I giggle, knowing that he secretly liked Rin.
I started to continue on the trail, then felt Ramses stumble, though it was a lot worse than usual. I yelped, my knees trembling, causing him to stop in his tracks, then start to gallop, bucking and rearing. “Ramses!” I cried out, holding onto the reins, trying to calm him.
“Nat!” I heard Bon yell, immediately jumping off Bingo. Haru yowled, starting to spring into a jump, but Hoshimi caught her before she could sink her claws into Ramses.
“Onee-chan!” I heard the three children of Satan yell, but I couldn’t hear them over the pound of my heartbeat. I fell to the ground in a heap, coughing out sand, then gasping when Ramses’ hoof slammed into my lower spine. “Onee-chan!!” I heard Rin scream. I got up unsteadily, then fell to the ground, my back and lower half stinging like licks from fire.
“Master!! Master!” I heard Haru cry, tears flooding from her eyes. I felt Ramses’ soul in my hands, as if I was controlling him now.
Is this...a soul link? I asked myself, then frowned slightly. I saw myself in Ramses’ view; Nat-or myself-, sprawled out on the soft ground of the arena floor, and Ramses rearing, scared, but there were two scared that he had in his mind. The first was-was that something from Gehenna was here. The second was that he would hurt his master again, that the same thing would happen.
I smiled a little, before holding up my hand, closing my eyes. Ramses instantly stopped, his figure now faintly rigid, but standing in front of me. Ducking his head then rearing up, I looked up to the animal before holding out my hand to him.
“Master!!” I heard Haru then scream, and I smiled faintly before starting to get up so I could kneel on the ground.
“Dai-jo-bu, Haru.” I stated softly, and rubbed my head. “It’s just a scratch, it’ll be fine. I promise.” I smiled as I petted her, then looked at Ramses, who was snorting as he had stopped, immediately by my side again.
Hishomi had jumped off Lolita, holding her reins as she ran to me, collapsing next to me and wrapping her arms around me, crying. “Onee-chan...Onee-chan…” She whimpered, her head buried in my chest. I slowly wrapped my arms around her, my legs tucked outwards as I kissed her head and stroked her head.
“Dai-jo-bu, Onee-san.” I whisper to her, and hold her to me. I then felt hands wrap around my waist from behind, someone’s head buried in my hair. “Eh?” I started quietly, lifting up my chin to see Bon with his eyes hidden under his hair, his lips turned down into a quivering frown.
“I-I can’t let it happen again…” He mumbled, turning me so I was opposite of Ramses, as if protecting me from him.
“E-Eh?!” I started more frantically, my cheeks flushing and I look up at him. “R-Ryuuji did you hit your head?!” I blush more, blinking a few times in confusion.
“No. Just...Haru told me…” He mumbled, tightening his grip. I let go of Hoshimi after kissing her head again, then I looked up at him before hugging him tightly.
“Don’t tell a soul. I don’t want them to worry. And-and it won’t happen again. I’ll make sure of it. I just...I’ll need help with getting back on.” I mumble, blushing. Nodding slowly, he was about to carry me towards the animal, but someone else’s arms scooped me up, holding me into a chest that was covered in a white cloak.
“Sorry love, but you’re just too tempting.” A familiar voice purred in my ear, and so I blushed a lot before feeling a beard against the top of my head.
“M-Mephisto.”
“Now a little bit of manners I would like to apply to that, Nat-chan.” He whines, and pouts at me.
“G-Gomen, M-Mephisto-san.” I mumble, my cheeks flushing. Hoshimi looks at him, and growls lowly, her tail flicking out, it this time being a white with the tip of a black. She growled more, her canine teeth showing.
“Let go of her. I don’t care who you are.” She twitched lightly, getting held back by Rin and Yukio, knowing better than to mess with someone like Mephisto. “Damn you guys, why won’t you do anything?” She scowls, annoyed and angry. Bon on the other hand, was being held back by Izumo, Shima, and Konkemaru.
“Let go of me! And you let go of her, you perv!” He roared at Mephisto, who only chuckled.
“M-Minna, daijobu…” I mumble, and blush a lot squirming. “Now please set me down, Mephisto-san.” I look up at him, smiling faintly as he only sighs, setting me down by my feet. “Arigatou, Mephisto-san.” I smile at him, and bow. When he pulls me aside to tell me something, I nod a few times.
“We’re needed back at True Cross. They know their way back and there are stables here that they can stay at, so we’ll be going through this portal.” I motion to the ground. “Dai-jo-bu, it’ll be okay, I promise.” I smile. “Now come on, minna! Let’s go!” I hold out my hand. Bon takes it, quickly followed by a glare from Rin and Hoshimi as they quickly put their hands over mine first, causing Yukio to chuckle and Konkemaru to smile. When everyone puts their hand atop mine, our figures start to glow, and so we started back to True Cross.
