Mafuyu x Akito: Tangled AU Version!!!!!

Chapter 5

The ginger had helped her onto the horse and they were now on their way. They sat in a comfortable silence, each deep in their own thoughts. 

"Where are we going?" Mafuyu suddenly inquired.

"My special place, it's where all my buddies hang out. They're cool, you'll like them-" He cuts off as his eyes lock onto a nearby tree. "WOAHH... THEY DID IT AGAIN!!" The boy, fuming, jumped off the horse and stormed over to the tree.

"T-they??? Did what??" Mafuyu yelped, startled by the outburst. She struggled to get off the horse but eventually did. Then she ran over to the tree that the ginger couldn't take his eyes off of. On it, a poster was nailed into the bark. It read, "WANTED: DEAD or ALIVE: AKITO SHINONOME: THIEF" with a colored photo in the middle.

"Uh.. why does that look like you?" Mafuyu asked suspiciously.

"BECAUSE IT IS!!" The ginger, apparently named Akito, snapped back. "BUT LOOK- THEY ALWAYS DO THIS." He pointed to his eyes on the drawing. "THEY GET THE COLOR WRONG. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME." 

Mafuyu squinted at the poster, noticing his eyes were slightly a yellower color, but there wasn't really much of a difference. She didn't know if she should feel panicked or amused. "Does it really matter that much.."

"OF COURSE IT DOES!!! I GET MADE FUN OF FOR THIS STUFF!! I GOT TO LOOK GOOD AFTER MAKING A NAME FOR MYSELF!! UGH!!!"

"Alright, whatever you say..." she was about to question him about the huge word that said "THIEF" at the bottom but then thought better of it.

However he must have seen her shaking, because he then took her hand (which in turn, scared her even more) "Hey it's alright, I'm not like a bad person or anything!" He looked at her sincerely, and to her surprise, she felt like she started to calm down. "These people just want to make me look bad.. s-so that's why this poster says all that! Trust me." 

She definitely knew she should not trust a guy she just met, let alone a guy with a wanted poster that said "WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE THIEF" But for some reason, deep down, it was almost like she wanted to trust him.

He motioned her to follow him back to the horse, letting her hand fall back down to her side. She blushed a bit at the thought of holding his hand. It had felt so warm and... safe. Why was that? Once they were back on the horse and traveled a bit more distance, they arrived at their destination. A small wooden structure.

"Here we are! Weekend Garage!" Akito announced as he swung the door open to reveal a café inside, with what also looked to be a bar to the left. 

Mafuyu followed Akito into the building. It looked old and worn-out, yet had a sort of homey feel to it. But that feeling vanished as she looked around at the people seated inside and the numerous wanted posters hanging on the walls. They.. didn't look that friendly to say the least. 

Akito must have picked up on her nervousness because she felt him take her hand in his, just like last time. "Don't worry, everyone here is nice! Look, I'll even introduce you to my group! Then you'll see we're really not all that bad!"