Lie

Disclaimer: I don't own Shaman King, of course.

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"Anna I'm back," Yoh called out coming back from his daily training. He walked into the old inn smelling a delicious aroma of a nice hardy meal.

"'Bout time, Anna said coming out from the kitchen. Now get ready for dinner but first take your shower. You smell like yesterday's sweat."

(Sigh) "Yes Anna.." Yoh said drearily.

Yoh's been having a really difficult time having to deal with Anna and this crazy engagement. Why should he have to marry someone like her? He always thought when he would get married, he'd settled in, living happily, and in love….

Love.

Surely love was something Anna Kyouyama was incapable of. Yoh's been thinking about visiting Kino or Yohmei hoping to end their engagement sometime.

As Yoh left to his shower, Anna let out a deep sigh.

Why do I have to be so harsh on him? I know I have to be strong and not show him or anyone for that matter my emotions. Maybe I'll try to be nicer. Yeah .. I could be a little nicer. I'm sure Yoh understands why I'm like this all the time. I hope he doesn't blame me for his unhappiness. It's my past. It's my past's fault. Anyways ..as soon as we get married, I'll tell him how awful I've been to him and apologize for my actions and cruelness and from then on I can be as nice as I can be. But… I don't think Yoh will even last long enough until we get married. How could he? I'm a monster ….(sigh) I'm sorry Yoh ….. I'm so sorry.

Dinner was very silent that night and they barely said a word to each other. They were both ransacking through their own thoughts about each other. Until Yoh decided to break the piercing silence.

"Er…. tonight's dinner is… great Anna," Yoh said looking at his bowl full of uneaten rice.

"Oh.. you think so? That's weird because you're barely eating," Anna replied.

"Oh well that's because … uhmm .. I-I'm not really hungry. Excuse me." Yoh gave a little fake cough clearing his throat and left the dinner table and ran up the stairs to his room.

Anna stared at Yoh and her stare followed him up the stairs until his figure disappeared into the darkness of the stairs. She snapped out of it and dropped her chopsticks. Anna felt that maybe she should talk to Yoh. So she stood up and cleared the dinner table and left the dirty dishes in the sink to clean up later.

Anna walked up the stairs and halted at his door. She raised a fist up to knock on the door when she heard whispers coming from his bedroom. They sounded like giggles and laughter. She recognized that one of them belonged to Yoh but the other, she did not recognize. Anna leaned her ear forward to the cold mahogany door and listened intently. Her eyes widened as she realized that the other voice belonged to a girl. Enraged, Anna grabbed a strong hold of the door knob and flung his door. Once she did, Anna's eyes grew wide and as did Yoh's as he looked over at Anna. Both gaped in shock.

To Be Continued…

/Xcalibar/