Disclaimers: me no own SK. Me will die happy if me does… Fic's title is taken from a song with the same title written by a friend. It will be featured in the fic's later chapters.
Author's Note: I got the idea for this fic when I read something about Yoh. The article said that if Hao has all the siblings' evil then Yoh might be the remainder of whatever goodness isn't in Hao. Ne?
Running From Myself
Chapter 1: As the Beast Emerges
It was a humid day. The blue sky was cloudless and vapor could be seen rising from the pavement. Nevertheless, there was a slight breeze every now and then but the air it brought was hot and heavy.
Asakura Yoh lay dozing outside at the inn's shady part, shirtless. The heat inside the inn was unbearable forcing him to evacuate his bedroom. He didn't notice that his headphones were streaming music nor did he notice that Anna was walking towards him, wearing a sour expression and her hands on her hips. Her mood was at par with the weather-hot and sultry.
She stopped before Yoh, lost the sour face for a while and gazed lovingly at his sleeping figure. She took in the alluring image of Yoh firm and supple body. A slight sheen of sweat made his fit body…well…sexy. Anna shuddered at the thought. 'Stupid girl! Never entertain such thoughts!'
Though she would always deny it in front of everybody else, even to her self, she knew that she loved the boy Yoh. 'He will never love you back, Anna. Why would he love an itako?' she would always say to discourage herself. However, instead of waning, the feeling grew stronger-and Anna feared that.
Pushing those thoughts away, her sour expression returned. "Yoh," she said, gently nudging the sleeping boy with her foot. Since it was of no avail, she knelt beside Yoh and shook him. "Yoh, wake up."
"Wa-," Yoh groggily said as he reluctantly opened an eye. He cast a sleepy look at Anna, gave a yawn and closed his eyes again. "Five more minutes mama, five more minutes."
Anna's eyes narrowed, her lips forming a thin line. She raised her hand a drove a hard blow on Yoh's face.
Slap!
"Gah! Wha-Why you do zat?" a bewildered Yoh abruptly sat up and rubbed his red cheek. "It hurts."
"I'm sorry but you didn't wake up when I shook you so I had to slap you," Anna replied, regretting her action.
'Anna is saying sorry?! By god, I must have died because of the heat! Damn its hot!' Yoh thought, the corners of his mouth slightly twitching, fighting a smile.
Yoh thoughts were interrupted when Anna started to playfully slap his cheek. "Oi Yoh, you're not listening! Geez, I hate repeating myself."
"Wa? Oh, I'm sorry, a bit sleepy still. What were you saying again?"
"I said, we've run out of ice cubes. So I want you to go to the store and buy a few items. Now listen carefully, I don't want to repeat it anymore, my throat is unpleasantly dry. Let's see… Ah yes. I want you to buy 4 bags of ice cubes, a gallon of double dutch ice cream, a gallon of pistachio flavored ice cream, 2 pints of banana flavored yogurt, a pound of lemons, 500 grams of sugar, and 2 orders of that extra large-sized blueberry shake. Here's the money."
Anna handed Yoh some bills and coins and gestured him to leave. "I want you to be back before I finish my bath." With that, she retreated into the inn, headed for the bathroom.
Yoh watched her retreating figure until it disappeared, as Anna turned left. He stooped to collect his headphones and rumpled shirt and donned both items on. Before leaving, he counted the money, making sure Anna gave him the right amount. His eyes grew wide as he saw a folded piece of paper inserted between the bills. He opened it and saw that it was a shopping list; the exact items Anna told him to buy were listed there. His jaw dropped when he recognized Anna's handwriting.
Getting over his amazement, he placed the money in his pocket and started to leave. He placed his hands behind his head and whistled along with the music streaming from his headphones as he walked to the store. 'Boy it sure is hot!'
The trees on the road's side were shadeless, leaving Yoh under the sun's tremendous heat. In less than 3 minutes, he was sweating profusely; huge drops of sweat were evident on his face and his shirt soaked with sweat.
A sudden wave of dizziness swept over Yoh. His steps faltered and he stood there for a while holding his head in his hand, trying to will the pain away. 'Prolly because of the heat. No big deal.' A samurai ghost appeared and floated beside Yoh. "Master Yoh, are you okay?" the white-haired samurai ghost asked.
"Hai! I'm okay Amidamaru, don't worry, it's just a minor headache," Yoh replied as cheerfully as he can.
"Why don't you rest under that tree master. Perhaps that headache would disappear."
"Indeed we shall." Yoh staggered his way to a nearby tree, wanting to catch a rest. 'Boy, Anna's gonna be mad when she finds out I'm home late.'
As he approached the tree, a dog that was under the tree raised its head to see Yoh approaching. It startled to snarl at Yoh as its sensed Amidamaru. However, Yoh's eyes flashed and turned cold. He let out a smirk and moved towards the dog in slow, careful steps. Meanwhile, the dog stood up as it sensed danger and started to bark at Yoh. In one swift movement, Yoh kicked the dog forcing it run away from him in terror, yelping.
"Master?" Amidamaru spoke up, surprised at Yoh action. He never saw Yoh act cruelly to anything or anyone before and he was sure this was the first time. But why?
The glint in Yoh's eyes disappeared and a confused look replaced the menacing face he wore a second ago. He blinked once, then twice and blinked again. He tried to clear his vision but it was useless. Everything became a hazy, and his vision grew dim. He leaned on the tree, slightly slouching.
Amidamaru started to worry as he saw Yoh's pale lips. "Master are you feeli-MASTER!!!" Amidamaru shouted as he saw Yoh slump to the ground unconscious.
Chapter 2 is up!!!!