Disclaimer: Shaman King belongs to Hiroyuki Takei

With This Ring

"Do you want a wedding ring when we get married?"

She glances at Yoh from the corner of her eye as if the answer is obvious, but his gaze trained wistfully on the graveyard misses her haughty look. "You'd better wait until you can afford to buy me a ring with a really big diamond before we get married," Anna replies succinctly, not sure where the question is coming from.

"No, I meant…" Yoh sits up a little straighter, frowning slightly in concentration. "That Faust guy and his wife are married, but they don't have any rings. I wondered if it wasn't fashionable anymore."

His face is youthful—childish—even for his age. He makes it so easy to want to coddle him and say that everything ends happily, even though the words won't fix or change anything. But that is the weak way out and does no one any good in the long run, so Anna has cultivated a strong will against him.

Still, her voice is more gentle than callous as she responds, "It's the vows they make as they give the rings. 'Till death do us part.'"

She watches Yoh visibly struggle to accommodate that into his worldview. His frown deepens. "But why? Spirits live on after death, and people don't stop loving each other." His hands tighten in the silence, as if to fight the injustice of it.

This is the last time, Anna promises herself. She refuses to pamper him again. Yoh possesses more than enough empathy to be strong without her adding to it to the point that it hurts him.

"Rings are a symbol of marriage, not love. You can still love without being married." She stares fiercely at the grave markers so she won't have to see the way his eyes widen in realization and his face slowly turns to a grateful smile.

"Of course," Anna continues, her sharp tone returned, "I'll haunt you even after I die. Don't you dare think you can get away with turning into a lazy slob the minute I'm gone."

The comment fails to wipe the brilliantly tender expression off his face, so she scowls at Yoh for reading her so easily and turns away to pretend she doesn't care. Still, the graveyard slowly settles into a reluctant, comfortable peace again.


Owari

-Windswift