Already Bedtime

The third in the Unusual Behaviors trilogy (as I have decided to name it), this fic is dedicated to both Soul of the Xcaliber and Keyo-Red Angel of Hope for their support for Makeover and What's For Dinner, and for reviewing "What's For Dinner?" the day I had it up. Thanks both of you! Hepefully this was written to your satisfactions.

Standard Disclaimer Applies

Cobalt Rose

"YEESH!" Yoh cried out as icy water streamed down his back. "Cold, cold, cold, cold, COLD!" Shivering, he stepped out from under the shower and dried himself off. I have to stop thinking about Anna… His treacherous mind and Anna's unusual behavior that day had given him much to think about. More than that, it had also caused some…rather normal teenage 17-year-old male reactions…but anyone who knew Anna and had half a brain wouldn't be caught dead in such a way. Oh geez…

With the towel wrapped around his waist, he walked off to his room. Changing into boxers, pajama pants, and a loose shirt, he towel dried his wet hair. Anna was particularly quiet in the next room. Maybe I ought to say goodnight… The memory of a certain kiss earlier that day brought a grin to his face. He knew quite well that he was acting stupid and he didn't care. His fiancée, his Anna, must share his emotions to kiss him back. He flopped down onto his bed, staring up at the ceiling. Now…the question was…should he say goodnight?

"Of course baka, she must know you love her right? So she'll smack you into the next life if you don't…right…yup…" he muttered to himself. He decided that his thoughts were enough of an excuse to go see Anna and say goodnight, so he slid off his bed and walked down the hall to Anna's room.

The door was closed.

"Anna?" The door gave under his knock and he stopped dead.

So much for cold shower…And these darn pants are looser than my school pair…

"ASAKURA YOH!" SLAP

"Itai…" Yoh could still see the image of Anna; wearing only her forest-green school skirt and looking at him in surprise, her blouse in her hands, and the black lace bra she was wearing underneath molding to her curves and leaving little to his imagination; before the overwhelming nosebleed, as well as the powerful Legendary Left that had just been delivered, knocked him out cold.

"Yoh no baka," Anna muttered under her breath, hurriedly putting on the blouse again. She made a detour for the bathroom, wetting a towel with cold water, before returning to Yoh. Carefully, she wiped away blood from his face. Then, she wiped the stray blood splatters from the floor. "Yoh no baka," she repeated in a soft whisper, placing a cool hand against the throbbing heat of his cheek where she had slapped him in an uncharacteristically loving gesture. She let him lie there, unconscious, as she washed the towel in the bathroom and set it to dry. He was still unconscious when she had returned. Sitting next to him on the floor she sighed quietly. Yoh had better get up…

As if hearing her mental mutterings, Yoh groaned and his eyes opened slowly. "A-Anna?" He blushed and laughed nervously. "Ah…um…I'm sorry about…uh…not knocking…" he waited for the inevitable slap.

Anna just rolled her eyes. "Well don't forget next time alright baka?" she told him. "And what were you doing at my door?" she asked, getting up.

Uh oh… "Um…that…" Yoh laughed nervously. "I…I…uh…wantedtosaygoodnight!" he told her all in a rush.

Anna blinked. She hadn't understood a word of what he'd said. "What?"

"I…wanted to say goodnight," he told her, his voice getting smaller with every word.

Anna could feel her cheeks heating up rapidly, and couldn't help but be thankful that the hallway wasn't very brightly lit. "Oh…yeah, goodnight Yoh. Oyasumi. I'll see you tomorrow," she told him.

Yoh nodded. "Night Anna, see ya tomorrow…" He paused, wanting to do more, but turned and went back to his room.

After a moment, Anna shrugged and went back to her own room to change for bed.

"Yoh no baka!" he muttered irritably. I should have kissed her… He flopped over onto his stomach, punching his pillow as he tossed and turned. He wanted to, but the thought of kissing Anna again stopped him cold. It wasn't that he didn't want to, or because he was afraid of her reaction. He was afraid he wouldn't just stop at kissing her. Who was he kidding? I'm male, I'm 17, I'm her fiancé, and I'm in love with her! Flipping over onto his back again, he smacked himself in the face with the pillow. Maybe if he did it enough times he'd stop thinking about kissing Anna.

And not just kissing her either… Was someone out to get him today? Anna's odd behavior was beginning to scare him. Not that he minded greatly, he just wasn't used to having his mind on her all day in such a…mature way. Unbidden, the image of Anna as he had seen her in her room floated before him. Barefoot and with her shoulder length hair free of the usual scarf, she would have looked beautiful had she been wearing anything. Of course, it was really the lack of clothing that made him stare… Yoh groaned and tried to block out his mind's commentary of how Anna had looked. The pure ivory loveliness of her skin, almost glowing in the moonlight from her window, caressing the curves of her calves and thighs, waist and breasts… Oh geez…and that bra…

Overly heated from tossing and turning on his bed, he scooted closer to the cool wall, pressing his still-stinging cheek against the chilly surface. The cold wall soothed the ache of the Legendary Left, and better yet, it forced him to press his ear against the wall that divided his room from Anna's. She's awfully quiet… He could hear a faint rustling, as though she were changing… He cut that thought off before it got out of hand. Maybe…no…she'd just give me another slap…but I want to give her a goodnight kiss… Thoroughly irritated by the growing need, he flung himself out of bed and out into the hall.

In front of Anna's door, he paused. He had no excuse to be there any more, but he wanted to see Anna one last time before he went to bed. A little uncertainly, he knocked on the door.

"Hmm?" Anna's head appeared as she opened the door. "Asakura Yoh, what are you doing?" The question was more one of confusion than anger at being disturbed, but she got no answer. "Yoh?" A vein started to twitch in her forehead as she slid out from behind the door, closing it.

"I…wanted to kiss you goodnight."

Anna stood stunned. He…he…he…WHAT! She blushed and her eyes closed, surprised, embarrassed, and yet flattered. The next instant her eyes flew open at the softness of Yoh's lips against hers. It was nothing like the fierce, passionate kissing of earlier. Sweet and caring. She closed her eyes, wanting to savor the moment, when her back pressed against her door. She could feel the hard wood behind her, and she'd read enough manga and watched enough soaps to know what this specific position was. The fact that one of Yoh's hands rested on her waist, the other against her cheek in a light caress, did nothing to help the matter. And deny it as she might, she knew that she wanted to see if it was true: the headiness, the…she blushed a deeper pink…heat… Maybe…

She parted her lips in invitation…

Yoh's reaction was immediate and intense. Taking the invitation for what it was, his tongue slipped between her lips to tease hers. His left hand, which had rested so innocently on her waist, wrapped around her, pulling her body flush against his. His right hand was now gently caressing the back of her neck as he kissed her. She could feel her whole body flushing, heat spreading through her as she kissed him back. The need for more comfort made her shift in Yoh's arms, her right hand fisting in the material of his pajama top, her lower body brushing against him like a whisper of silk. Heat seared through her body as his tongue wreaked havoc on her senses, his attitude changing from loving caresses to primal and possessive. Yoh… Her lips parted further and through the haze of desire and heat circling her thoughts, she realized that she was moaning. She arched her back slightly and her cheeks flushed a bright red; she gasped in pleasure as her left hand sought a handhold and found the doorknob…

The world, as she saw it vaguely through her lashes, tilted.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

WHUMP

THUD

"Itai…"

Anna coughed and sat up as she drew breath into her lungs. Her bedroom door across from her was now wide open. She herself was lying on her bed, slightly winded. Yoh was nowhere to be seen. Smoothing the hem of her pajama pants, she looked around.

A groan from the floor made her crawl to the edge of her bed and look down. Yoh lay in an undignified, and probably rather painful, heap.

Yoh groaned, his head telling him with large, painful signs, that it was not happy with him. He could feel a killer headache coming on. For a confusing second he had thought that he would fall on Anna, probably hurting her a great deal. It had taken some split-second reflexes to toss her light frame onto her bed and collapse headlong into the bed frame, but it had been worth it…he hoped. And the most surprising sound reached his ears.

Anna was laughing.

His head shot up, pain shooting down from his head to his shoulders, and he stared. Her reaction as she knelt on her bed looking down at him, was to laugh even harder. The small giggles that she had been muffling behind a hand rounded out to happy laughter. Laughter he had never heard from Anna before. Though when he had become Shaman King he had stopped her voices, she was still something of an Empath. Even so, he hadn't though that the icy itako who was his fiancée would laugh a scant two years after the voices were gone. Wounds like that would have taken so long to heal…

Yoh sat up with a groan as another bolt of pain shot up to his head. He looked at Anna as she did her best to stop laughing, and laughed with her. Getting up, he turned to go when a hand caught his sleeve. He turned to find Anna's eyes smiling at him, though her laughter had stopped.

"Thank you, Yoh." Her words were so simple, but so sincere.

He could feel his face heating up, blood rushing to his cheeks. "Y-yeah…" he mumbled, trying to walk out of her room while keeping eye contact. Which is why he didn't see the discarded towel on the floor.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"

WHUMP

THUNK

For the second time that night, someone crashed into the bed.

"Yoh?" Anna poked the cheek of the prone shaman on her bed. "Hey Yoh." Still no reaction. She decided that three nosebleeds plus the number of times he had hurt himself that day, not to mention the fact that his head had collided with the wall next to her bed when he had slipped, was reason enough that he would be out cold. With a frown she tugged his arm and contemplated giving him a Legendary Left so that he'd go back to his own room, but decided against it. After all, training was training, but seriously jeopardizing Yoh's mental facilities was another thing all together. She managed to drag his limp body so that it was more comfortably placed on her bed. "It's only for tonight Yoh, got that?" she whispered to his unconscious form. "Only for tonight."

Yoh's only response was to throw an arm around her waist.

"Yoh!" When she tried to extricate herself from his grasp he would pull her closer. She glared at her fiancé, soon-to-be-husband, but her features melted into a soft smile. Turning off her bedside lamp, she settled gingerly into the comfortable curves of his arms and body. With the small smile still tugging at her lips, she closed her eyes and whispered as she fell asleep, "Only tonight Yoh…only for tonight…"

In the darkness of night, Asakura Yoh opened his eyes cautiously. Anna lay asleep in his arms. Smiling his easy-going smile, he kissed Anna's forehead softly, pulling her closer. His lips brushed the shell of her ear as he whispered words she wouldn't hear. "Not only for tonight Anna. I love you, and not only for tonight. Always…my Anna." Kissing her cheek one last time, Yoh closed his eyes and slept, marveling at how easy it was to tell Anna he loved her, when she was sleeping.
Please review and tell me how you think the last one turned out?

Cobalt Rose