Gravitation Fan Fiction ❯ A Little Night Magic ❯ Chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

"We're working the new stallion today. You're welcome to come observe." K's voice was neatural, but his eyes amused, as he watched Shuichi. "It's not as though you've seen the stallion close up. It should be interesting. You haven't seen the unicorn before, have you?"

Shuichi was blushing hard, but K just chuckled knowingly. "Come on, but stay out of the way. If anyone sees you two, we'll all be in for it."

K lead them to the pin where the unicorn was already tacked up and waiting. From the looks of things, the beast had put up a good fight. Shuichi gasped as Hiro pulled him to a good hidey-hole to spy from.

"What's wrong?"

"They-they branded him, Hiro!" Shuichi looked at his friend, breath hitching.

"All the unicorns get branded, Shuichi." Hiro said, trying to calm his smaller friend, confusion nitting his brow. "What makes this one so differant?"

"You didn't see him last night." Shuichi's tone softened, and he again burried into Hiro's clothes. "He looked so human."

"He's not." Hiro gently pushed Shuichi back. "It is a unicorn-one that's about to be ridden for the first time."

The reminder made Shuichi look back towards the action. The unicorn was held in place by two shocking sticks, prepared to go off if he moved.

A slim figure glided onto the unicorn's back, and the shocking sticks were removed.

And the unicorn exploded.

The noise around them was almost nonexistant to Shuichi as he watched the unicorn spin, twist, kick, flip, and roll in ways he'd never imagined.

The first rider went flying in less then a minute, the second in less then twenty seconds.

More experianced riders stayed on for a full minute. One managed to cling to the unicorn's back like a burr for seventy two seconds, but was hurled threw a fence.

The unicorn was huffing by this time, head lowered in warning and exhaustion.

"They'll kill him, Hiro." Shuichi whispered.

"No." Hiro stroked Shuichi's hair gently. "He just needs tiring out."

Someone new was in the saddle. The unicorn shook his mane irritably, and took off crow-hopping. The bucks were less intense now, and twice the unicorn merly threw itself into the fence in an attempt to scrap off this new rider. It worked- the man tummbled off. The unicorn backed away, now useless horn at the ready.

"They need to leave him alone!"

"He's a challange, Shuichi, they won't leave him alone until he's broken or-"

"Dead." Shuichi leapt to his feet. "I won't watch this anymore!" He turned and ran back for the stables, body shaking with repressed sobs.

How can they be so cruel? How could I never notice it before?

He ran until he fell, as exhausted as the half-beaten unicorn, crying hard. When he ran out of tears, he lifted his head.

He could see the pin. They were leading the unicorn out. The animal was clearly wounded and too tired to fight them.

Shuichi frowned. He knew a little bit about healing, and tonight, he'd see if he could get close enough to that unicorn to help him.

He didn't think K or Hiro would tell on him.

Sneaky, sneaky; quiet feet carried the slender, small figure out of his bed and past his sleeping fellow workers. Under his shirt he carried fruit and a few more sugar cubes-amusingly enough, the mean spirited unicorn seemed to like them.

He slipped out of the sleep area and down the hill to the stables, slipping on the dewey grass. Teeth gritted with the effort of not rolling down the hill, he jumped the last few inches and hit the ground at a run. He eased open one of the big doors and slipped inside, closing it after him.

"Hey, boy." He said, notting the silence instantly. "Be okay, Unicorn, please be alright." He whispered, counting stalls until he found the right one. He didn't just mean pyhsically. If they'd broken this unicorn, he had the horrible feeling it would be more then just breaking a dumb beast's spirit.

It would be breaking something else, something more important....already so very close to the edge-

Where did that come from? He wondered, stopping in the middle of the isle. More slowly now, confused, he found the proper stall.

"Hey." He whispered into the crack. "You alright in there? Did they hurt you? Of course they did. Come on, boy, I'm getting you out of here! I don't care if I get thrown out! You're just not like the others."

He pulled open the top of the stall, prepared to leap back, fruit in hand.

Nothing happened.

"Unicorn?" The unicorn made no sound. Maybe it was sleeping? Probably it was sleeping. Heart racing, Shuichi approched the stall, ready to see a dead unicorn.

Nothing.

"Unicorn!" He opened the bottom stall, slipping in fearlessly.

And felt a large hand close around the base of his neck.

"My name," A voice breathed in his ear, both amused and threatening, "is Yuki."

Shuichi whirled as the grip on his neck loosened. A man stood there. He was tall, and almost painfully thin. His hair was shaggy, short, unwashed, wild, and blonde. He was also completly, unashamedly, naked.

And his eyes.....his eyes were the unicorn's. Not just the same greenish gold, though they were that.....but.....there was the same untamed look in those eyes. Wild, harsh, cold, and unforgiving, those eyes assured that he was every bit as dangerouse without the horn.

The world blurred and fadded out.

Shuichi never was even aware of strong arms catching him before he hit the ground, or of being lowered to the shavings gently. He also wasn't aware when the unicorn pushed the door to the stall open wider, slipping out into the isle, or when he slid out the big barn doors.

He was only aware of the yelling that work him up.