This One-Shot takes place in between the manga volumes 10 and 11, during the time of "Horo-Horo's Stirring".

3 Days in Duringo

It was still early in the afternoon, the sun was shining bright up in a cloudless sky and cold wind was blazing through their hairs; it was a beautiful day to be out on the road, leaving the desert behind to go to the Lucky Mountains. Yoh and his group were riding north from Yontafe in the back of a pickup truck after spending a night at the Play Motel, a good 100KM behind. They were headed towards the town of Duringo, deep into the valley, following the same path the Seminoa warriors did 500 years ago to get to the Patch Village.

The highway was exactly what America looked like in the movies, an open road widening into the horizon where your eyes couldn't see any further, surrounded by nature and a good country song. As they moved away from the desert, the mountains made its way into the upcoming, greener scenery.

"Look! There's still snow on top of the mountains!" Horo-Horo exclaimed.

Ren, who was sitting next to Horo-Horo was unimpressed, "it's early spring, it's normal", he took his eyes back to the map in his hands, "I thought it was a shorter ride, I don't think we'll make it to town before nightfall".

"Yeah, America is huge!" Horo-Horo said as he leaned back on the edge of the trunk, "we should explore it, we're making such good time!"

Just a week had gone by since they first got to America. No, since they first got dumped into the desert would be more accurate. The Tournament Officials announced the second stage of the Fight right before disintegrating the plane that was transporting all participants in the middle of the air.

"We shouldn't waste any time", Ren said severely, looking at Horo-Horo over the map, "there's a reason the Tribe gave us three months to find the Village, it would be too easy if we just stumble upon it".

"But it hasn't been easy, Ren", Ryu said, he was sitting with his back against the cabin of the truck, "and we're not stumbling upon it, Lilirara guided us here".

"She didn't guide all of us here", Ren directed the coldest gaze in his repertory to Lyserg, who was sitting next to Ryu.

Yoh had been listening to the conversation in silence, he was right in his element just relaxing at the opposite end of the trunk, taking in the panorama and feeling the wind hit his face. He had to intervene now that Ren was making Lyserg clearly uncomfortable, as he shrugged in his seat.

"He already explained himself, Ren, the important part is that he's here now and…"

A cold and unpleasant shiver ran down his spine, interrupting his next sentence. Yoh grinded his teeth as all the muscles in his body tensed up, making the hairs in the back of his neck stand out.

"What's wrong, Yoh?" Horo-Horo asked.

"I got the chills all of a sudden…"

"Could you be catching a cold?" A concerned Lyserg asked.

"No… I've felt this before." Yoh sighed with resignation, as he remembered the last time he got goose bumps like that. "It's the feeling of a menacing force".

"The only menacing force I can think of is Anna", Horo-Horo chuckled, and he was not wrong, the last time Yoh felt something like it she was about to arrive to Tokyo.

"Just try to relax, Chief, I'm sure it's nothing."

"Yes, we better get back to…"

"Who's Anna?" An innocent Lyserg asked, interrupting Ren and causing an awkward silence across the group.

"She's my fiancé".

"Oh! Congratulations!" Lyserg tried to conceal his surprise with a smile.

"Don't congratulate him", Horo-Horo snorted, "that woman is a monster."

"Horo-Horo!" Ryu reprimanded.

"What? It's not like he chose to marry her, you know?"

Lyserg's eyes widened in shock before he tried to hide it by nodding, faking "he knew" what Horo-Horo meant.

"Anna was chosen by my family to become my wife", Yoh explained calmly, "we met when we were children and we will get married someday."

"Oh, is that customary in Japan and China?" Lyserg asked with genuine curiosity.

Horo-Horo laughed, "Just this loser, trust me. And maybe Ren", he teased.

"I am the master of my own destiny! Can we get back to the subject…?"

"So how does it work? Do you have a choice, Yoh?" Lyserg asked.

"Stop!" Ren exclaimed, raising his voice just enough to get everyone's attention without disturbing the drivers inside the cabin, "we're trying to qualify in the second phase of the Tournament, we have more pressing matters right now!" He said hitting the open map in his hands.

The group went quiet for a moment, once Ren calmed down he proceeded to go over the map and his calculations on when they would get to the next town over. Ryu, Horo-Horo and Lyserg chimed in the discussion and Yoh decided to stay out of it, his new friend's curiosity about Anna was… interesting. It was normal that Lyserg would ask them questions of that nature since they had just met the day before, and while he wasn't upset by it, it was awkward. Yoh grew up surrounded by his family, he didn't have friends in school or other shamans to talk to so he hadn't had to explain the whole "arranged marriage" thing to anyone until recently.

The first one he ever had to explain it to was Manta. He was shocked when he told him, but didn't ask much about it because he assumed it was a "shaman thing". Yoh knew he was just trying not to offend him by questioning his family's ways, and he appreciated it back then; it was hard enough to face the proximity of the tournament and Anna moving in to also have your first and only friend completely against your wife-to-be.

Anna didn't make first impressions of herself easy, but the first time she showed up in Tokyo he wasn't very helpful when introducing her to Manta either. He remembered it clearly, catching up to his friend and telling him: "All the memories I have of Anna end up with me in tears", and he wasn't lying.

Over the years their relationship evolved into one in which she had the upper hand the entire time, it was like having a sibling that always got their way at the expense of the other: he would always end up with a shattered ego, a sore face from all the slapping and sometimes even grounded, making him dread the times they visited each other.

There was this one time during the summer break that they went to the local carnival. Anna emptied up his wallet by playing every game and slapped him in the face when he suggested they share dessert after lunch, she felt it was a disrespectful suggestion that she had eaten too much when he only meant he couldn't afford two servings. That slap really hurt, her hand was cold and a little wet from holding a can of soda and…

"Are you okay, dude?" Horo-Horo asked with an arched brow. Yoh was frowning and rubbing his left cheek as if it was hurting.

"Yes…" Yoh sighed "…just thinking about something".

The rest of the ride went uneventful, they joked around and shared about their lives with their new friend and as they kept learning things about Lyserg, Yoh felt more confident he had made the right choice taking him into the group. He was just lonely, looking for friends and he could empathize with that. He also felt a little jealous about the Diethel's family tradition to inherit a guardian ghost like Morphine, the Asakura's was just to marry people off to keep the bloodline going… and while learning how uncommon and frowned upon arranged marriages were wasn't exactly new to him, he was surprised he was still running his mind around the subject when he would normally disregard it quite easily.

Yoh leaned his head back and closed his eyes after taking a deep breath, all of these thoughts could have to do with the fact that he was so far away from home. People say that traveling makes you evaluate your life, put it in perspective, and America was definitely doing that to him. It was making everything that he had prepared for years come to life, making it real and tangible.

Time doesn't stop for anyone and life happens to you whether you're ready for it or not. Just as the time for the Shaman Fight came around, the time where he would have to marry Anna and lead the Asakura family would catch up to him too, ready or not, willing or not. Lyserg's question had been floating around his mind: "Do you have a choice, Yoh?" And sadly, the answer was no.

The men driving the truck pulled over on the side of the road, leaving the group at a bus stop near the hiking trails that went through the Lucky Mountains. That point was the closest to Duringo they were going to get and after giving them instructions on how to get to the town by foot, they drove away.

Horo-Horo hadn't tested his brand new board yet, so they agreed on letting him go down a couple of slopes before continuing their journey. The rest of them waited at the foot of a hill as his friend slid away in the snow.

Yoh watched him go with a smile, he looked so free, smiling and yelling nonsense as he jumped over and twirled, it was a feeling he could only imagine. The way Horo-Horo related to nature was special, besides the spiritual connection the Ainu had with their surroundings his friend also seem to have so much fun in it, making Yoh wonder if he had ever felt something like that… because that was what he was seeing in Horo-Horo, not a kid playing with a snowboard, but someone who was right in his element, someone who had a place where they could be themselves and do what they loved, someone who could turn a snowy mountain into his own canvas to do as he pleased, something Yoh had never been able to do.

Horo-Horo stopped by twisting his board horizontally, covering Ryu and Ren with snow. Yoh watched the scene from the side giggling as Horo-Horo argued with them it was an accident and an innocent Lyserg tried to mediate the situation.

"We'll follow the road to town and you can go through the trails and meet us there".

Yoh settled the battle that was about to unfold by proposing they split, Horo-Horo disappeared into the snow with the widest smile on his face as the rest of the group made its way back to the road and headed to town. Ren wasn't very happy about the decision, but Yoh was not about to rob someone the freedom he craved so much.

As they walked towards Duringo Yoh kept answering Lyserg's question over and over inside his head: he never had a choice. His own snowy mountain was crumbling before his eyes as he let the realization sink heavy into his heart, that freedom that Horo-Horo had couldn't be his, not when all throughout his life he was never asked if he wanted to do anything. He never spoke against his family, he just accepted he had duties to fulfill and in that mindset he had made promises, so many promises…

"I will become the Shaman King and I will help you".

He wouldn't break his promise to Anna, not ever. He would fight for the title and he would help her, but he had to ask himself if marrying her would lead him to the peaceful, simple life he had always wanted, because their engagement couldn't be farther away from this new need of freedom growing inside of him, the simple thought of it felt imprisoning and heavy inside his chest, as if he could almost hear the sound of shackles forever chaining him to Izumo.

"We made it!" Lyserg exclaimed, taking Yoh back from his own mind.

Ren's calculations were correct, it was already dark when they reached their destination. While Duringo was a small town, it was bustling with people, restaurants, bars, gift shops and cafés; people were handing flyers offering guided tours and selling crafts on the streets despite being late.

"Not exactly what I was expecting…" Ren said as he looked around.

Yoh wasn't expecting a busy, touristy town either, it just didn't look like the type of place you would find information on a secret village. The group's only choice was to stay at the "Duringo Hotel", which was one of the few tall buildings surrounding the rather cozy downtown, it was a little fancier than the places they had stayed at in the past few days but since the motels were full it would have to do.

Ren booked his own deluxe suite while the rest of them shared a room. Ryu made the sleeping arrangements very easy as he collapsed on a couch the moment he walked into the room, leaving a bed each to Lyserg and him. The pillow felt like a piece of heaven as soon as he laid his head on it, sending him right off to sleep.

The next day they met up with Ren for breakfast, he found a couple of places worth checking out, they were all at least an hour drive away so they would have to wait for Horo-Horo to get to town, but there was a small local history museum they could visit: The Animas Museum.

Once the tour began, they kept at the back of their group, the guide would tell them about each exhibit and let them wonder around for a few minutes to take pictures before moving to the next one. Yoh stayed a couple of steps behind his friends and wasn't paying attention to what the guide had to say, there was only one exhibit they cared to see anyway, so he figured it wouldn't hurt anyone if he played some Bob very discreetly on his headphones. He walked distracted at the very end of the line as they went through an exhibit of a classroom from the early 1900's, the founding of Duringo, cowboys and now, trains in the Midwest.

"Do you like trains, Yoh?"

He unconsciously reached for the bear claws around his neck the minute he walked into the exhibit, looking at the room was like a replaying a movie inside his head, the music he was listening to faded into the background as he remember clearly how Matamune's voice sounded like.

The room was small, its walls decorated with pictures of the station that used to be in Duringo and the tracks that ran alongside a mountain, with a beautiful old school train traveling through them. There were vintage spare parts carefully laid on stands, including an old and rusty whistle but trains were ruined for him a long time ago and as a beautiful as the items curated in the exhibit were, he couldn't concentrate on either of them.

His eyes kept going back to a black and white print of the old station hung up on the wall to his right, it didn't look like the ones in Japan, but it was still bringing back a lot memories, all bittersweet. He liked to think about the incident as such because it wasn't a complete sacrifice, a soul was lost, but another one was saved. A life ended, but one was able to finally begin.

"I can see that you're lonely"

On their way to Aomori he remembered saying he had trouble making friends, there was no one around who could understand the curse that being a shaman was, no one who would accept him. But on that trip, Matamune not only saved Anna from herself, he also saved him from his loneliness by giving him a companion, a friend. Anna, his very first friend, something he hadn't realized before.

The memory of that young girl screaming in tears on top of Mount Osore, demanding the Oni to go away made him realize something else, this freedom that he was craving was not only for him to demand, Anna deserved it just as much as he did. They were like brother and sister in a way, lonely kids, both raised by the Asakura to fit their agenda, with no real saying in their futures.

He leaned on the clear panels that separated the items in the exhibit from the public, the voice from the tour guide in the background was muffled by the faint sound of the music he was playing. He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't remember listening to an entire song, even when it was playing right in his ears the entire time. Our brain can play tricks on us like that, it's a funny thing. The day before he was thinking back to that one time where he had taken Anna to the carnival, he chose to remember the slapping, the embarrassment and how broke he was afterwards, but he had blocked something far more important about that day.

It happened during the summer break, it was the first time that they saw each other again after meeting on New Year's Eve. Kino and Anna were in Izumo for the weekend and Yohmei asked him to show her around town. He would never forget the actual words his granddad used: be a gentleman.

His grandparents waved at them from the gate of the house as they walked away, they seemed as excited about the carnival as they were. Yoh went to most places alone, so it was nice to have company for a change, on their way he was telling her about all the things they could do once they got there, what he wanted to eat, the prizes they could win, the rides…

"I've never been on a Ferris wheel before", Anna said.

And that was it for her share of the conversation. As the years went by Anna became more and more outspoken, but back then, he could only get a couple of words out of her at a time. But it was okay, she didn't have to say it for Yoh to know she was excited: there was the faintest hint of a smile on her face.

Anna was wearing a pink A-line dress that made her amber eyes look even more intense and carried a small purse that matched her brand new sneakers, ever since she came down the stairs he thought he should've said something about how pretty she looked, but he wasn't sure if it would be considered a "gentleman" or a "pervert" thing to do, she had slapped him for less so… as he remembered how said slap had happened, Yoh shook his head abruptly trying to get rid of any thoughts about her as he could, how could he have forgotten about her abilities?

"Are you okay?" Anna asked.

He shook it off with a giggle and they continued walking, once they got there they played the usual carnival games and for a first timer Anna was pretty good at them, they won a couple of prizes tossing rings, pinching balloons and fishing ducks, Yoh managed to convince her to go on the flying chairs ride and they got yakitori skewers for lunch but as much fun as they were having, he was almost out of money by the time they got to the kakigori stand.

"What flavor are you getting?" she asked as she read through the menu.

"I was thinking we could share one before we go home, I'm full already", he wasn't, but he was embarrassed to confess he had spent most of his allowance already.

"Are you saying I eat too much?"

"W-what? No!"

There was nothing he could've said to avoid the slap that followed that statement, Anna's hand was still cold and a little wet from holding a can of soda earlier and he wasn't sure if it was making the slap more painful than the last one she gave him or if he had just forgotten how heavy handed she was for a girl her size.

He recovered from the slap as gracefully as he could and got Anna a big serving of kakigori, they sat on a bench near the food stands where she reluctantly handed him a second spoon so they could share it, in an absolute and awkward silence. He couldn't help the feeling that he had done something to hurt her, even when he didn't mean to, but he was too afraid to ask her directly. He saw an opportunity to strike up some conversation once they were almost done with the ice-cream.

"Did you have fun…?"

"You will never forgive me, will you?"

Anna cut off his sentence and looked at him with an expression that was very hard for him to read, it was a mixture of anger and sadness, she was frowning but her lip was trembling ever so slightly as if she was about to cry. He didn't have time to say anything before she continued.

"For the cat. You can't wait to go home and get away from me".

Yoh was taken aback since the beginning of the conversation, but now he was completely in shock. So that was the real reason behind the slap at the food court? She thought that he was trying to cut the day short because he didn't want to be around her and she couldn't have it any more wrong, he didn't blame her for Matamune, that thought had never crossed his… mind.

"You can't hear them anymore", he said.

Anna's anger was replaced by quiet surprise, Yoh took it as confirmation for what he just said and felt relieved, he knew how painful life was for her because of her gift, even after the Oni was defeated.

"If you could, you would know I don't have anything to forgive you for", Yoh paused; her expression, while still surprised, softened; "I promised I would save you and Matamune wanted to help me do that. He'd be very happy to know that you can't hear them anymore".

He offered her a smile, but Anna looked away from him and focused on the ground, Yoh gave her a moment to say something, if he was right then he imagined it could be difficult for her to believe in his words, as she couldn't read his heart anymore.

"Do you want to go on the Ferris wheel?"

Anna looked up with a completely different expression on her face, it was calm in her usual demeanor, making it difficult for Yoh to know if she was still angry or not. He was expecting some sort of acknowledgement that they were good, maybe an explanation on why she'd think he didn't like her… but he figured he would just avoid all the trouble and answer her question.

"W-well…"

After confessing he couldn't afford to go on other rides, Anna told her Kino had given her money to spend that day and they went on the Ferris wheel. As soon as the operator locked the door of their pod the mood changed, they sat in front of each other and the silence they were sharing was peaceful this time, even enjoyable, but it didn't last very long. As soon as the ride started to move, Anna spoke.

"I hear them less and less everyday", she said staring at her feet, "some days, I can't hear anyone at all, like today".

Yoh meant to say something, but he couldn't figure out what. The pod stopped in the air swinging a little bit, it was a small ride so it wouldn't take them long to get to the top. Once it stood still again Anna continued.

"I want to help you keep your promise", this time she looked at him right in the eye, "you haven't forgotten, haven't you?"

"Never".

"He would've wanted you to become the Shaman King too, I owe it to him" she said.

"It's a promise".

He owed Matamune something else, another promise he would never forget and that he had present every morning when he tied his old medium around his neck: to become as strong as his master and bring him back, and if the way to do so was to become the Shaman King, he was ready to make it happen.

The pod moved once again, this time stopping at the top of the wheel. Both kids rushed to the window, from above they could see all of the carnival, it was a local summer fair and the ride wasn't very tall, but it was the first time either of them had been on a Ferris wheel, making the sight wonderful in their eyes.

"Everything looks so small…"

He smiled as he remember the awe in Anna's voice when she said those words, even when it was just the second time he had seen her, he was sure it was going to be rare to hear it… before he knew it the group as already moving on to the next exhibit.

He turned off the device playing music inside his pocket before pushing his headphones back in place behind his ears, as he walked behind the group to leave the room he took another glimpse at a lonely bench at the very corner of the photograph he had been staring at, he knew it was silly to even think about it, but he thought that one of these days, any day now, he would find his old friend Matamune sitting at a train station, waiting for him while reading a book.

For a small museum the tour was taking a little longer than they had anticipated, they had to go through 3 more rooms before they could finally get to the Native American Gallery. The guide told them about the tribes that used to live in the region, but he never mentioned anything remotely close to the Patches. There was, however, a set of dwellings carved into a mountain that were abandoned hundreds of years ago by a mysterious tribe in the Mesa Verdede National Park.

They left the museum with renewed hopes, but with no signs of Horo-Horo yet, the group decided to take the afternoon off and rest. Lyserg and Ryu went for dinner at a nearby café and Ren retreated to his room, he said he was going to do research on Mesa Verdede, but they all knew he was going to take a bath.

Yoh found his way to the hotel's roof and stood near the edge of the building as he waited for sunset, letting the wind announcing the nightfall mess his hair as he overlooked the town. The same town that had all the answers they were looking for according to Lilirara, but for him, it was just posing more questions.

The sky started to get an orange tint in the horizon that would soon fade to pink, just like Anna's dress at the carnival. After all those years he had finally understood what was it about that day that made her look so pretty, it wasn't the dress: she was happy. She couldn't hear people's thoughts anymore, she was out in the summer riding a Ferris wheel for the first time, enjoying ice cream like all the other children their age and yet… It seemed like such a waste.

She deserved to be happy just as much as he did to be free. He wouldn't break an oath, but he had to be honest with himself: wasn't that first promise he made to her fulfilled already? He promised to help her, but with what, exactly? She couldn't hear people's thoughts anymore… and Anna's promise to help him become the Shaman King, did she have to marry him to fulfill it?

Their engagement wasn't a commitment out of love for each other, it was duty. They could try and trick themselves into believing they chose each other that day in Aomori, but their bond was far from romantic… they became family that night.

And as much as his heart ached at the thought, the time would come when he'd have to confront his family. He couldn't become the Shaman King to keep letting other people make decisions for him… after all, he was in the tournament to make his dreams come true, just like anybody else.

Something had changed inside of him during this trip, he didn't know what, but something in his gut was telling him there was a bigger reason for him to be in the Shaman Fight, something yelling at him that he had a role far more important than to make the Asakura clan proud, as if there was a missing piece yet to come into play…

"Here to look at the stars?"

He felt Amidamaru's presence leave the memory tablet he carried inside his pocket, it was so distinct he didn't have to look before asking the question. The night had fallen over the town and the first stars were slowly making their way into the sky.

"Yes, Lord Yoh", Amidamaru replied, "They never cease to amaze me".

It could be Tokyo or it could be Duringo, but Amidamaru would always find a place to look at the night sky, it was refreshing how some things never changed, even after 600 years. Yoh sat on the floor and took a deep breath, trying to clear his turbulent mind as he waited patiently next to his guardian ghost for the rest of the stars to come up.

All this thinking about freedom, lost friends, promises and the future had him exhausted, confused and a little afraid, but unknowingly, Amidamaru's presence was comforting him. They were in a foreign land, first in the line of fire of a fight that would shape the world and yet… he was peacefully contemplating the night sky. In a way, Amidamaru reminded him of his own advice, the one he offered to almost anybody he knew: everything will be okay.

He had to make important decisions about his future, soon, and if wishing Anna would side with him in this new quest for freedom was too much to ask, he was just hoping she'd understand.

The rest of the world would catch up with him in due time and he would be ready for it, but for now, he just had to let the stars align and watch.

Thank you so much to Salem for betaing this work, it would've never seen the light of day without you.