She Came For Horses [Keiko]

[Naraku]

Keiko smiles as Odin follows behind her lightly galloping, Keiko didn't mind, since it was normal for him, since these two seem to be his only try friends. He slowly moves up and begins to move along side Ren. "I thought I should mention, if she gets to fast, the fastest way to stop her is to push your legs from her. Its amusing my she things your falling and she slows down to make sure your there, But you kinda have to cause she is a runner, and if you huddle closer to her once she starts she thinks you are wanting to go faster. Of course she not deaf either and understands comand but she still a child and once excited over something it's kinda hard to get her attention."
Odin lightly neights as shakes his head making Keiko look back towards him.

[Aiko]

As Keiko came up beside her on Odin and started talking, Ren quickly straightened up, not wanting the boy to overhear what she was saying to the horse. It was so silly, but the girl felt as though what she whispered to Hotaru should be secret. And then the American was listening carefully to the boy’s directions on how to ride the horse. It was important that she paid close attention. She filed the instructions away in her mind and nodded. [green]“Okay, got it,”[/green] she told Keiko, careful to remain upright as she sat perched atop Hotaru.

The mare continued forward at a gentle walk, the fastest pace that Ren wanted to go. Clomp, clomp, clomp went Hotaru’s hooves against the ground. Her rider could feel every time that the horse moved her muscles. [green]Ride with her, not on her,[/green] she thought. Ren couldn’t just sit there on a jarring animal and expect to be comfortable. It would have been easier with stirrups, but the American figured out how she could shift her weight in time with the light-colored horse’s walk. Renée gradually got into the rhythm of the walk, and smiled, looking at the back of Hotaru’s head. Her white coat was indeed freckled with gold, which caught the light of the late afternoon sun.

Now that Ren was comfortable, she turned her head to smile mischievously at Keiko. With a waggle of her eyebrows, the girl leaned over Hotaru’s neck, clucking her tongue, though that was more because that’s what she’d seen in movies than that’s what she’d learned to do. With a bob of her head, Hotaru’s walk grew faster, faster, until she was trotting away from Odin and Keiko.

Renée found herself needing to readjust the way she was riding, but she stayed bent over the mare’s neck. The wind whistled in her ears and tugged at the wayward strands of hair that escaped her ponytail. Its cool hands caressed the girl’s flushed cheeks as the animal surged beneath her, still gaining speed. Tossing her head and whinnying, Hotaru attacked the ground with her hooves as she hurtled into a gallop. Ren clung wildly to her mane and dug her heels and knees into the mare’s flanks. When she looked down, she could see clumps of dirt being thrown up by the mare’s feet, and she was quick to raise her eyes. The horse seemed to be enjoying herself, and Ren was feeling exhilarated. The girl’s breaths came in gasps, swarming through her throat and into her lungs in great puffs that mirrored the huffing sound the horse made. The jarring walk became a rocking run, and while it felt like at any moment the rider was going to be hurled off, Renée laughed, the air wheezing back out of her lungs. The exhilaration! The excitement! The energy!

Hotaru galloped in a wide circle before Ren could even remember how she was supposed to make her slow down. Though it felt exceedingly dangerous to do so, she loosened the grip her legs had on the mare and leaned back. The wind tried to tear her off Hotaru’s back, but the mare was slowing already, tossing her head and whinnying, as if to say, “Now wasn’t that fun?”

In response, Ren laughed again and said, [green]“Yeah, that really was fun!”[/green] Remembering suddenly that Keiko and Odin were probably somewhere around here, Ren twisted even as she bobbed along with the horse, a wide and somewhat goofy grin plastered on her flushed face as she looked for the other horse and rider.

[Naraku]

Keiko had stopped odin shortly into her run, as he just watches her a moment. Odin now grew more impatient cause he wishes to run. Keiko lightly pats him as he begins toalking to him. "Well shall we show them how it's done boy?" As response Odin reered up onto his hind legs. Keiko use to this had already tighten a gri around him, with his legs and arms.

As the Massive horse landed onto the ground it seem to had no time all to begin its run. Keiko had already loosen his grip, as they quickly came up onto the two. Odin was truly much faster then Hotaru and he actually enjoyed running with her, to show her how fast he really was.

[Aiko]

Ren had been so caught up in Hotaru’s gallop that she hadn’t even noticed that Keiko and his mount had drawn up beside them. It wasn’t until the mare she rode slowed a little and began cantering along that the girl noticed the great black blur in her peripheral vision that was Odin. The American saw that her fellow rider had been keeping pace the whole time. She winked at him as she bobbed along, taking one hand off Hotaru’s mane to brush her wild hair from her face. [green]I must look like I just came out of a monsoon,[/green] she thought, a moment before she decided that she shouldn’t care, anyway.

Grinning fiercely, Renée leaned over Hotaru’s neck again, pressing her heels into her sides to urge her into another run. [green]“Let’s show ‘em what we’ve got! Girl power! Allons-y!”[/green] she whispered, but Hotaru was already surging forward again, her powerful legs extending and her hooves thrumming against the ground. An untamable laugh erupted from Ren’s throat as she rode with her mount. Faster! Faster! The runner’s speed was a wonderful thing, even though some part of the rider was still convinced she was going to go flying straight off the horse’s back. But with the wind whipping past her face, it was hard for her to do more than focus on the rhythm of the ride.

[green]“Come, Keiko! Ride with me!”[/green] she screamed, still leaning low over the mare’s neck as she rode. Of her own volition, Hotaru was galloping along, following some path that only she knew. Ren didn’t know enough to direct her; she just knew how to cling to the mare as she flew over a ground that blurred into a green-brown mass beneath them.

[Naraku]

Keiko and odin veered off towards the right talking a small shortcut. Keiko smiles as he disapears from behind her.He couldn't help but smirk when he hears her call out to him.

Keiko and Odin both leaps over a large bussle landing off beside them, as they now was running side by side. Keiko had to watch Odin to make sure he didn't try to get to close to Hotaru, making Ren loose balance. He smiles though when he turns and looks over towards her.

[Aiko]

There was a loud thump from right beside Hotaru and her rider, and it startled the girl. Ren’s head flicked around, only to see the huge, muscular form of Odin pounding across the ground beside her, Keiko perched like a little bird on the horse’s back. When the boy looked over with a smile, Renée masked her surprise with an impish grin. But then she was trying to adjust herself on Hotaru’s back, though, as she was so low over the mare, she was in a relatively secure position. Ren licked her lips, which were being chapped by the onslaught of air that blasted her face. She was feeling competitive now! Clearly, though, Keiko was the better rider of the two, and his horse had a longer stride. Hotaru and her American rider didn’t stand a chance against the other two in a race.

But Ren just couldn’t resist! [green] “I am faster!”[/green] she goaded Keiko, leaning even lower over Hotaru’s neck, until the mare’s mane was whipping at her rider’s cheeks. The girl thought she heard her horse snort, but she could never be sure over the whistle of the breeze. She wanted to give the mare free reign on her speed, so she pressed herself as low as she dared. It was so much harder to keep her grip, though, as Hotaru surged forward for a moment. Ren thought she could feel herself slipping backwards, even though she’d grabbed fistfuls of mane.

[Naraku]

Keiko had to do nothing, to speed up Odin, for he in fact made the change himself, to keep up and beside Hotaru. As they kept going it begin to show how much land truly they had as thhe field seem to want to go on, as the house behind them was now looking small. Keiko finally looks ahead seeing they was actually heading towards the pond. Keiko only had to make a loud, but odd noise, that made Hotaru make a sharp left perparing to go around. Keiko though still follows closly, as he really could of gotten Ren's attention with this wind, but he watches her and slowly pulled behind in case she falls he be there to grab her.

[Aiko]

Hotaru’s hooves dug into the loam as she suddenly veered to the side. The unexpected jerk left Renée gasping, and made her slide onto her belly as her legs began to lose their grip. The thrumming of the mare’s hooves the girl could feel against her chest and stomach. She had been so low over her mount’s neck that she hadn’t seen the lake and hadn’t expected Hotaru’s turn. Struggling for breath, Ren jammed her elbows into the base of her horse’s neck and pulled herself up along the horse’s spine. She had to release her grip on her flanks with her legs, and she felt as though she was being whipped around. Gritting her teeth and sucking in her breaths between them, she managed to bunch her abdomen up closer to her chest, and managed to clamp her ankles around the horse’s girth. Hotaru must have sensed that Ren was losing her grip, for the mare had slowed, and that was what allowed her rider to shift in position. As Renée settled again, Hotaru thumped forward again, barely keeping ahead of Odin, who pounded the ground just behind them. Loosening her jaw, Ren gasped again. [green]That was exciting,[/green] she thought, though terrifying would have been an equally accurate adjective.

[Naraku]

Keiko follows along her from behind as he pulls up to her side as she adjust herself back on the horse. "Sorry, I didn't think you would be able to hear me in time and Hotaru would of just ran through the pond, and swim across, if you didn't have her turn." He smiles as he gallops on beside her, and Odin got to close and begins nudging Hotaru with his head. "Wow now!" He looks back down as The two came closer. "Agh I can't take my eyes off you." He pulls him away from her as he looks back at Ren. "Would you like to to ride onto of Odin here, He can take you much faster if you like."

[Aiko]

Rolling her head to the side, Ren saw Keiko coming up beside her on Odin. While the American was hunched awkwardly over Hotaru’s back, the boy still rode with the easy gracefulness of experience, a style of motion that Ren couldn’t help but envy. She was too dazed to translate the boy’s explanation in her head, so she just nodded dumbly, without any idea what he was trying to say to her. Actually, she was trying to concentrate a little more on riding with Hotaru, doing her best to cling to the mare’s back. [green]I feel like a tick,[/green] she thought, making her grin as she stared at—through, really—Keiko.

Just then, Odin swung closer to the mare and her tick-like rider. Ren gave a little yelp of surprise as the huge ink-black horse suddenly pressed up close, bringing Keiko close, too. For a not-so-absurd moment, Ren was sure that her leg was going to be crushed between the heaving bodies of the two horses when the boy regained control over his steed and managed to get him to pull away. A gasp of relief escaped from the American, and she realized she’d been holding her breath.

This time, the girl understood what her purple-haired companion was saying to her. Fervently, Ren shook her head. [green]“This is as fast as I want to get!”[/green] she managed to shout. It felt like she was going to fall off as it was; there was no way she was going to get on that massive Odin and really get thrown.

Speaking of which, Ren wanted to slow down. She needed a break! Her mind buzzed, trying to remember how to get the mare to slow. [green]Crap,[/green] she thought. Reluctantly, scared-out-of-her-mind-ly, she pushed herself up off Hotaru’s neck. She felt the wind try to rip her off the mare’s back, and she instinctively gripped tighter with her heels. For a moment, it felt like the mare was going to try going faster, but since the horse didn’t feel her rider lean forward like before, she slowed, apparently uncertain. Ren took the opportunity, and let her legs fly off the horse’s side. After all, Hotaru was supposed to slow if she thought her rider fell, right?

Only Ren instinctively let go with her hands, too. The wind roared with triumphant laughter and ripped her from Hotaru’s back. The girl was flung backwards, off the mare. For a giddy moment, Ren was weightless, flying through the air. At least she had the sense to curl her head forward before her back hit the ground.

The breath whooshed out of her lungs, and the American reflected, in an oddly calm moment, that one, she couldn’t breathe, and two, her back hurt.

[Naraku]

He smiles listening to her, but he was unsure if she was aware meaning riding with him. But he let go on, not actually wishing to say it bluntly. He begins backing away giving her more room so she can ride and incase she was feeling crowded. He moves out about 5 feet from her and rode out beside her.

His attention was drawn back to her as she seem occupied with something, yet he couldn’t see what she was doing as she tries to lean up. Of course that didn’t last long before see moves back down. But before he could turn back straight he sees her move her legs, but his eyes widen seeing she releases with her hands also.

Hotaru had begin a rough start startled as she felt all the weight on her leave. But even before then Odin already reacting and raised rearing up onto his hind legs. Keiko Moves his legs up onto his back and use Odin’s and his own force to leap off. With such a force he flipped into the air and landed shortly from her before running the rest of the way to her.

“Ren! Are you okay?” His hands move down beside her as he begin checking her for scratches or anything. “Let me take you to the house and we can bandaged you or get some medicine. If its okay, I will carry so you don’t hurt yourself.”

[Aiko]

Lying on her back, Ren was aware of how it was a warm spring day. The weather was nice. Funny, the things that went through her mind while she struggled to make her lungs respond and suck in a breath. Finally, with a mighty heave of her chest, the winded girl managed to get her breath back, and she blinked up at the sun. Her spine ached dully, but mostly, her rump was hurting. She must have landed on her bottom and then fallen back, though she wasn’t totally sure. She was sure, though, that she was going to hurt more if she tried moving, so she just laid there on the ground, contemplating what lovely weather they were having.

Keiko’s voice, colored with concern, came floating down to her ears, next to the sounds of the horse’s hooves against the ground. Because of her close proximity to the ground, Ren could hear every step that the horses took very distinctly. She blinked, and Keiko’s head popped into her vision, dark against the light blue sky. His eyes were very obviously concerned, as was his voice, as he was apparently checking her for any obvious injuries.

Now, Ren didn’t like being thought of as weak or hurt (unless, of course, she was trying to garner pity, which she wasn’t). Her determined streak flared to life inside of her, and her lips quirked up in a smile, even though her eyes still looked shocked and somewhat vague from finding herself on the ground. [green] “I am fine,”[/green] she said thickly. [green]“J’ai en bonne forme. Or is it ‘je suis?’”[/green] Disoriented as she was, Ren was reverting to other languages. Trying to prove what “bonne forme” she was in, Renee struggled to lift herself up on her elbows. When her vision swam, though, she eased herself back down.

[green]“I bet I’ll have some wicked bruises tomorrow,”[/green] she muttered to herself in English. Addressing Keiko, she managed, [green]“Truly, I am fine. Let me lie down for a little while, and I will be chipper. I will be okay.”[/green] A dazedly amused smile dancing on her face, Ren closed her eyes and rested her head, which had been lifted slightly so she could talk to her friend, back against the hoof-pounded earth.

[green]“Killer headache, too, I bet,”[/green] she subconsciously mumbled.