Disclaimer: I do not own Shaman King
Teaser: Ren and Yoh lead peaceful lives as regular high school students. However, with the return of an old friend, Hao, they find him changed just as their lives are about to be. HaoRen
Note: This is AU as in it's taking place in a different setting. In this world there will be no shaman fights and no shaman powers. They are all regular school kids. You can think of furyoku as the equivalent of academic intelligence. Well, except for Manta. So following that Ren will be quite smart and so is Yoh, except that he doesn't try because he's too lazy. And Hao…you should know where Hao stands.
Within the Heart
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The fifteen year old boy leaned out his classroom window. "It's such a nice day today nee, Ren," a second boy said casually and joined Ren by the window. "Yoh," Ren watched the boy lower his gigantic headphones to his shoulders and lazily lean on the window sill. It was no surprise for Ren. Where ever he was, Yoh was never far behind. The two have always been together.
Ren stretched his arms and let out a sigh. "Finally the exams are over." He settled his arms back on the metal of the window and let a smile form on his face. "You can say that again," Yoh said with a hint of relief. His grin grew wider on his face. The two boys, clad in the white shirts of their school uniform, breathed in the fresh noon air.
"So, your brother's finally coming home soon?"
"Yeah…you're coming over after school to see him, right?"
"Uh huh, it's been such a long time since we've been together."
Memories flashed in Ren's mind of the times he, Yoh and his brother Hao had spent together. The memories were fond. The three knew each other since they were small and have always been inseparable, at least not until Hao went away to boarding school. It's been a year already since they last saw him.
"I can't wait." The smile grew on Ren's face.
"Yeah, me neither."
"What are you two so happy about?"
The two boys turned around. From the classroom's doorway their friend Horohoro glared at them with disbelief. He marched across the classroom heatedly. "Didn't you see the grades for the exams!" he shouted and pointed at the hallway. A large bulletin board with all the students' names and grades were set up outside this morning. There were students huddled before it all day.
The blue haired boy suddenly wailed, turning from angry to loudly sad in an instant, and latched onto Yoh's pant leg. "A 32! I got a 32 on the exam! Pillica's gonna kill me!" he cried.
"There, there." The ever sympathetic Yoh reached down and patted Horohoro on the back. Ren on the other hand let out a loud 'hmph'. "How pathetic," he said arrogantly. "Why you!" Horohoro instantly jumped to his feet. He stuck his face at Ren's and screamed, "Hey! I don't need this from you. Especially not right now!" He spun around dejectedly, crossing his arms in a pout.
"You never treat Yoh this way. Yoh got a 31!"
Yoh laughed, defeated. He rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Oh, you found out…heh heh…" But he was completely ignored by the two.
"That's because you still got a failing grade even though your sister trains you so hard," Ren continued in his cold tone. "Yoh, on the other hand, does not study and he still got the same grade as you!"
His face dropping again, Horohoro defended weakly, "He's still a point lower…" The blue haired boy fell to his bottom and remained there on the floor.
"Man, I don't get it. You only treat Yoh so nicely and you treat everyone else like trash."
Yoh shook Horohoro who had reduced himself to a depressed ball. "Don't be like that Horohoro-kun." A short boy named Manta looked up at Horohoro. He had slipped into the classroom and approached them when they weren't looking. Even though Horo was now crouching, Manta still had to look up because he was so short.
"Oh, Manta!" Yoh cried delightfully. Aside from Ren, Manta was known as Yoh's best friend in the school. It was charming how two so different were able to get along so nicely.
"Hi everyone!" Manta raised a hand as he grinned.
"Did you see your grade yet?" Yoh asked.
"Yeah…" Manta replied then a coy grin grew on his face. "I also saw your grade." At that, Yoh began to laugh as well, rubbing his head again. "So how did you do?" he asked Manta. "I did okay. All that cram school made it work I guess…" Suddenly, Manta looked up at Ren, entire face lighting up. He announced, "But more importantly, I saw Ren-kun's grade!" Hearing his name being mentioned, Ren turned to look at them, arms still half rested on the window sill like he was ready to turn back case they didn't really need him. Ren didn't like to interrupt when Yoh talked to his friends.
Manta stared up at him with a shocked expression, but just before any words came from his mouth, someone else beat him to it. "Ren-kun, did you know? You got the highest score out of the whole class of freshmen," said a green-haired boy approaching them from the doorway. The girls of their class swooned as he passed by. Lyserg was a member of the student council. As a first-year, getting chosen to be on the council was a great feat and it struck the hearts of many.
"So what," Ren said in a dismissed tone. He turned his body back so that he was leaning out the window again. Hiding under the sunlight, a shy blush had formed on his cheeks.
"But it's incredible!" Manta added enthusiastically. "You did so well even though you skipped a grade." The blush grew redder on Ren's face by the moment. One could tell he both enjoyed the attention and not.
"Hey, what do you want here?" Horohoro stood up and put himself between Lyserg and were he was heading towards Ren. He frowned and seemed to growl like an animal protecting his territory. Lyserg immediately stopped in his tracks. He had dealt with Horo before and realized the boy was no longer too fond of him, or any members of the council, not ever since they had rejected Horohoro's idea of building a snowboarding course for the school festival.
"Oh, are you still brooding over that?" Lyserg looked apologetically at Horo. They could all tell the look was feigned. The snow loving teen continued to glare at Lyserg, urging him to answer his question. Lyserg sighed. "Oh, nothing…it's just that as a student who also skipped a grade and a peer of Ren-kun's, I just wanted to come over and say congratulations." And there was the other part of the reason for his popularity; being much younger, girls from the upper grades loved treating him like their little brother. They loved walking him home, buying him things, swooning at how cute he is, etc.
Ren stared blankly at Lyserg. In fact, the whole speech didn't put much emotion on any of the faces. It may be the businessman-like tone Lyserg had on that caused them to not buy it or it may have been the many attempts Lyserg had tried at Ren. Horohoro stomped his feet impatiently on the floor. "Yeah right!" he shouted. "You're just trying to lure him into your stupid little council. Give it up!"
"Hey!" The usually calm council member yelled back uncharacteristically. Horo's words had hit a string. Landing a palm on his chest, Lyserg declared, "Our council only makes decisions that are just under the guidance of Jeanne-sama. We let others join us of their own free will, never force them!"
"If you make decisions that are just then why didn't you let me build the snowboarding course!"
Lyserg let out a frustrated sigh and began to explain. "Horohoro-kun, your course was too big for the school grounds to handle. There's no way the council could've approved it." The green haired boy thought that he had made it clear but instead of calmly accepting, Horohoro shouted, "There's never a way in the council!"
The two broke into argument as Manta desperately tried to mediate them. Ren quietly pushed himself off the window sill and soundlessly slid to the backdoor where he let himself out of the room. Yoh noticed and threw Manta a quick 'let them be' in a joking voice before following Ren out the door. He trotted to catch up to Ren and when he did he called out to let him know.
"Hey Ren!" The purple-haired boy turned around then stopped to let Yoh come up beside him. They walked side-by-side down the noisy hallway. After a while Ren announced, "I'm thinking of getting some curry bread. Hao really liked those."
"Yeah," Yoh's eyes lit up. "Remember how he used to eat those everyday when we were in middle school? The only time he didn't eat them was when the cafeteria ran out. Even then, he'd sneak out of school to get them." They let out a chuckle and Yoh continued, "And remember the time Fuji-sensei caught him trying to sneak back into History class through the window?" Ren finished for him, "He made Hao do the invisible chair for the rest of the day!"
They chuckled happily. Memories of the times they had together poured into their minds. They couldn't wait to go home.
So, what do you think? Another shot at an angst fic. This time I'm trying to write a long multi-chapter one. I like long fics. They're just hard to write.
Be sure to stay with me as more of the story unfolds!
