Disclaimer: I own my own ideas; the Shaman King Anime and its characters belong to Hiroyuki Takei.
Info: This is going to be a multichapter story. I've planned it to be only 4 chapters long going in depth into the relationship between the Shaman King cannon pairing. No, I'm not a Yona fan (GASP) but I'm writing a Yona. I just want to see one written properly so I'm taking upon doing that myself. So shoot me if you don't agree :P;.
It was one more sunny day during the dull class that he would have to endure for the few more years ahead. The sun remained forever plastered in the blue sky and time was slow like the endless traveling of a snail to its impossible destination. There were some teachers that could lecture about the most boring things in life but you could listen to them all day and there were some that could lecture about the most exciting things in life but you would rather sneak away from the stand you once stood at prefer to quietly fade away to nothingness…
Asakura Yoh, currently fifteen years old and in the ninth grade, had recently entered high school passing the entrance exams that Anna thought for sure he was going to fail. Anna passed with a satisfactory score..not exceptional, not horrific but satisfactory. Of course, Manta was the only one out of the trio that was accepted into the school – no questions asked.
It was almost one year ago that the mighty Asakura Hao was murdered by his own brother's hands. The ninth grader in Classroom B-1 that sat at the back of the classroom where no one could notice him. It was a fact of his life he had been abused throughout his childhood. What set him apart from so many other people was his Shamanic powers that made people disliked him and had many teachers look down upon him.
Starting at a new school could also mean a new life. Perhaps more friends could be made and new enemies could spring about. As the shaman prodigy only stared out of the classroom windows with a bored look, the sun still had not moved. He looked back on his desk and placed a small water bottle unto the very ledge. With a pencil he drew a line, light enough to erase and harder to detect by people who may desire to take his seat for any occasion. The line was drawn on the edge of the bottle's shadow. Glistening light from the water within it and the plastic edges danced around playfully whenever his desk had moved an inch.
As far as it went, his academic life was truly suffering in ennui. His parents had often gone on about "Asians are to achieve more than those 'other' races" but the point whether he could do it or not was out of the question. Of course he could. He just didn't want to.
"Yoh." A stern voice interrupted his peaceful silence; an invisible barrier that he casted upon himself. With an almost dirty look, he turned over to the person sitting next to him. The first thing that came to his mind was 'wife beater'. Emotions and relationships had gone downhill since the fight. When a crisis occurs, the most unique people from the most unique places come together and fight for one cause. The Shaman had never felt so much love and spirit in one place where he was surrounded with people just like him.
But when a crisis ends, life resumes once more. Lyserg Diethyl, Horohoro, Bokuten no Ryu, Chocolove, Pilica, Silva, Karim, Redseb, Seyram, and the Ice Men had left to gone back where they once belonged. Where life returns its call and once more, friendships were ended and separated.
Tao Ren, Faust VIII, Eliza, and Tamao all lived under the same roof as they were in. The empty rooms of their house was now occupied and the Shaman had an feeling he had called for some of them to stay where he lived. To perhaps still live with his friends, to continue on with the life he had wanted that had lasted for a few months. But in his heart, he knew life still had changed. People move on, and everyone seemed to have accepted it but him himself.
"Yoh."
"Yes?" he asked almost bitterly. Everyone had their own schedule. Ren was accepted into a different high school except it was a private high school his parents were sure to pay for. "I'm trying to listen to the teacher's lecture." He lied.
"You're not. Write down some more notes and try to be a better husband by getting better grades." She said returning her attention towards the teacher's lecture. Yoh turned back to the board and lost his concentration on trying to write down something within thirty seconds. Silence had settled between the two and Manta saw the fiancee relationship slowly tearing apart. As a best friend, he had always been by Yoh's side.
But Yoh had many friends too. One alone cannot fill up a whole heart no matter how important they were. He still had so many people who had made his heart whole but now had thrown off the makeup worn and revealed the scum that was behind it.
He looked back upon the shadow of the water bottle where he had drew the line. Only a sliver of shadow covered the line he had drawn. He felt tempted to slam his table in fury and evoke attention from the class. His social status had entirely had jumped an arseyturvy turn. 'So high school really does change who you are…' he thought. On the first day of school when he happened his locker he had gotten at least six or seven anonymous letters of all types of different girly handwriting of how they adore him.
That was his first day of school.
Yoh became confused of how he had attracted girls in his grade who liked to be address to as 'women' or 'ladies' which he found odd at one time. When he had said that women were girls who lost their virginity, Anna had slapped him twice. Everywhere he went, he was swarmed by people he did not know and felt flattered in some way that he felt to the least 'liked' and 'wanted' by someone or many people.
He was also "friends" with the many boys in his grade. It didn't take too long for Yoh to realize that they were only using him to get to their secret crushes and the Shaman could only imagine what would happen when Valentine's Day came around.
Please Spare The Trees.
Anna was in the exact same position as he was. Except for some reason, boys always seem to carry a better reputation than girls if they were not an outcast, perverted person or a wannabe. Girls seem to waver and compete in popularity and work hard to attain the title as for boys seem to be the only world where you could present how you look despite how dumb or foolish you act but you can make it at the top of the pyramid of society as long as you looked great for everyone.
That system did not take that long for Yoh to figure out. Many girls were jealous of Anna but insisted on using her to get to him since the two lived together. When they heard of another boy that was almost fifteen years, they relaxed. They did not know of their arranged marriage and the other boy that lived with them was probably the division in competition. The bell had finally rang for last period to end. Yoh got up from his seat and a few girls had called out his name and waved bye to him. Out of common courtesy, he waved back at them with a small smile as their wishes were fulfilled with girlish giggles and squirms of laughter that the 'hottest boy' in their grade had given them the slightest bit of his attention to say good-bye.
Anna rolled her eyes and Manta got off of his seat and waited for Yoh to finish packing up. Manta was popular with the guys in a sense that they loved making him their ninth grade mascot for school spirit weeks and rallies. His entrance in rallies and spirit weeks created much commotion as many girls found him adorable and cute.
The boy had also grown a few inches surprisingly. Yoh wondered if it was Manta's mother's side of the blood that was giving him the growth spurt. It wasn't a drastic change of growth however. But it clearly made a different between his three foot and a half appearance to a four foot.
The walk home was a cheerful one as no girls were there to run him over, no guys to hover around Anna, not that Yoh really did care since he knew that Anna did not seemed to have minded the whole arranged marriage and seemed to have even supported it. Manta was surprised the first time he heard it a year ago but it became a usual thing for him as slaps and stare downs of Anna's fierce personality suddenly became normal. Despite everyone's return to the normality..
There was a part of him …that died a year ago. It was when he had killed Hao.
That was what he felt that separated him from the many people he knew. As twins are born, a superstition held that their souls were intertwined with one another's. But his had vanished and slipped through his hands. People had praised him for doing the right thing. But was it?
He had watched the faces of his followers turn away with such sadness he had never seen. They were not faces of revenge or loathe. He could hear the screams of jubilant joy and happiness flutter within the crowds that were against the mighty Asakura Hao. Even in the depths of it all, the cries of sadness and mourning had kept him up at night. It was in his best wishes to apologize and invite them to be friends…although Ren probably wouldn't like it but after what he had done, he couldn't bear to look at them in the face ever again.
He even considered himself a murderer.
"Life is so cruel, Manta, is it not?" Yoh smiled. Anna and Manta looked at him with a face of most bewilderment. Realizing what he had just said, he shook his head and dashed away from them in a nearly dreadful state.
"Anna---"
"Let him be, Manta. He hasn't been the same since Hao had departed this world." She shook her head sadly. The boy looked up at her with a look of surprise. "The idiot does not even want to be around me any more."
"Anna, he's probably confused." He said staring at the disappearing figure. "I'll go talk to him."
"No." she said sternly. "He should sort these feelings out himself. If he's going to be my husband, I don't want someone who will be dependant on others."
"Anna….I hate to say this." Manta looked away. The itako glared at the shorter boy waiting for him to say something. "He's fifteen."
"So?" she shrugged. "So am I. And so are you." Manta shook his head and mumbled 'never mind'. A frightened but sad look flickered across the itako's face and the two walked home silently. It was just like any other.