. The Announcement .

"We won!"

"WE WON!"

"You're one damn hero, Asakura!"

Asakura Hao grinned down at him from his position on his teammates' shoulders. "It's nothing, guys. Really."

"HAO! HAO! HAO! HAO!"

People were thundering down the stands, each wanting to touch an arm, a strand of hair, a part of the shirt, anything that belonged to Shinra Academy's volleyball star and hero. "WE LOVE YOU, HAO!"

"Marry me!" Macchi, captain of the cheer squad, screamed, waving her pom-pons in the air. Her fellow cheerleaders cartwheeled their agreement.

"HAO! HAO! HAO! HAO!"

One person, however, did not share their enthusiasm. Sitting with his shoulders hunched on one of the highest seats on the bleachers, Asakura Yoh stared down at the school's star.

Hao was worshiped by practically every person who had a pulse in the campus. Girls threw themselves at his feet and every guy wanted to be him. If you didn't consider breathing the same air as him, you were branded a weirdo and people looked at you funny.

Don't get me wrong; Yoh did worship the almighty Asakura Hao, though he rarely showed it. Why? Let's just say for now that he had a friend who was officially classified as one of the weirdos.

"I honestly don't get what is so great about that guy," Usui Horokeu - preferably known as Horo Horo - voiced as he rested his chin on his palm. "That guy - who does he think he is? The richest guy in the world? Pfft! He's just a volleyball player. JUST A VOLLEYBALL PLAYER. I could easily join the school team and gain tons of fangirls myself! That jerk makes it look all so easy!"

Yoh ignored his friend's ramblings. Instead, he watched balefully as a golden-haired girl ran up to Hao and smiled dreamily at him. "You did well in the game, Hao," she said, bringing forth a cheeky grin from the Asakura.

"Thanks," he laughed. The school cheered wildly as the two pulled each other into a hug.

Yoh puffed up his cheeks, trying to ignore the feeling of being stabbed in the chest which happened so suddenly. Horo looked up at his friend and couldn't help noticing the disturbed look on the brunette's face. "What's up?" he asked out of boredom.

"Oh, I dunno. Your head, maybe," Yoh said sarcastically, rolling his eyes in the process.

Horo was amused. "Are you jealous?" he snickered. "Of Hao?"

Yoh's eyes widened instantly, and his cheeks flushed red upon hearing the star's name being mentioned. "No...! It's just...!" he tried to protest. "A-Anna's my best friend and I just can't stand to see the both of them together!"

Horo laughed mockingly, "Puh-leez, Yoh. You don't even know Hao."

Yoh frowned. "Keep your comments to yourself before I start pounding you," he threatened.

Yoh tried to ignore the scowl Horo gave him as he turned back to the couple, who were making their way into the school building, followed by the rest of the school campus. Unable to hold back the frustration inside of him, Yoh got to his feet and kicked the seats on the bleachers before him. "Screw the game!" he yelled. "I'm going home."

Horo furrowed his eyebrows. "But didn't you say you were going to pass some assignments to Anna?"

Yoh paused in the midst of his tantrum as he remembered about his best friend, Anna, not coming to school for the past couple of days. He sighed, "Right.. I left her assignments in class.. Let's go."

Despite being the last few to leave the stadium, the two boys still continued to stroll their way back to their classroom, with Yoh being perfectly aware of the fact that they might come across Asakura Hao in the process.

Back in class, Yoh fished out the assignments from the folder under his table, just when Hao and the golden-haired girl had stepped into the classroom.

"Hang on," the girl said. "I've got some things to take care off." She left Hao at the doorway (with Horo) and made her way to the shorter brunette, who was still standing at his desk.

"Uhh, here," he said, stretching his arm out to the girl. "Your assignments..."

"Thanks," Anna said, grabbing hold of the assignments, before playfully smacking the thick stack of papers on Yoh's head. This brought forth a crazed laughter from both Horo and Hao. Yoh couldn't help but feel extremely embarrassed about this, albeit he was already used to Anna and her random smacking hits.

Yoh slowly rubbed the back of his head, hoping it would help ease the pain. He inadvertently blurted out, "Are you and Hao together now?"

The others stopped their laughter and gave Yoh a funny look.

"I mean – " Don't be stupid, Yoh! " – are you and Hao.. in a relationship at the moment?"

Anna turned to Hao, and the both of them exchanged looks, before getting into another laughing fit. It was Yoh's turn to cock his head and arched a brow in confusion.

"Very funny, Yoh," said Anna. "But we're just friends."

Horo watched as his friend nodded doubtfully at his friend's words and shifted his gaze to something else.

Hao took this opportunity to speak a few words of his own, "My friends are inviting us out for some smoothies. Wanna come along?"

Yoh turned to Hao, surprised. Was the school's star and hero actually talking to him? Well, the look on his face showed enough sincerity for Yoh to be able to trust him. He then turned to his friend beside him, and received a scowl as a response. He turned back to Hao once last time, before shaking his head, "No, thanks. We, uh, have some things to attend to." He shot Horo a cold look before the bluenette could say a word.

Hao shrugged, "Alright. See you." He walked out of the classroom, with Anna following closely behind him. When he was clear they were out of their league, Horo advanced to Yoh and glared at him.

"You didn't have to give me that look!" he snapped.

Yoh stuck his tongue out, "Whatever. I'm going home anyway... I think my mother bought some mandarin oranges when she went to the market this morning."

Horo's eyes widened in excitement and the edges of his lips curled to form a wide grin, "M-mandarin oranges! I'm coming along!"

Yoh laughed, "Please do."

After about half an hour of strolling and laughing and yakking, the two boys finally reached the Asakura household. Yoh slid open the main door and stepped inside freely, followed by Horo. It was a habit of Horo's to visit Yoh's house almost everyday just for the fun of it. At first, Yoh's family found it to be uncomfortable.. But after a while, they got used to it and now, they even considered Horo to be a part of their family.

The boys ran up the stairs and went straight to Yoh's room after exchanging greetings with the elders. Yoh's mother appeared in the room shortly after with a plate of mandarin oranges and two glasses of ice cold water. The boys thanked her as she bowed and left to leave the two alone. Moments later, the boys found themselves lying on the bed and the floor, reading magazines and munching on their oranges (which have already been peeled, thanks to Yoh's mother!).

Horo turned to his friend, who was lying on the bed. He was nibbling on his orange slice and looking at graphic images of the latest game released by the Play!Patch company. Horo voiced hastily, "So, you like Anna, huh?"

Yoh's eyes widened and the magazine and the orange dropped onto his face. He managed a reply but Horo had to lean in closer to listen because his voice was muffled and unclear, due to the stuff lying uncomfortably on his face. "Wh-why did you ask such a thing?"

Horo shrugged, "Just curious. I kinda suspected it after you asked Anna earlier if she was dating Hao or not."

Yoh obliged himself to sit up right, brushing the objects off his face while doing so. "Don't be stupid," he said, frowning.

"You still haven't answered my question," Horo teased, a slight smirk forming on his face. He got to his feet and walked to the drawers, where he thought Yoh had kept all his magazines in. He reached out for the drawer and pulled it out before Yoh could yell,

"Wait, no! Don't open tha–"

"What's this ugly-looking necklace?" Horo blurted out as he stared at the bear-claw necklace lying dully in the drawer, which was filled with many other random things such as broken pencils and foreign money.

Yoh reached out and grabbed the necklace before Horo could touch it. He faced his friend with a stern frown, "That offended me."

Horo shrugged, "Whatever. What is that, anyway?" He turned to stare at the weird object, as if examining it. "Looks pretty old..."

Yoh tightened his grip on the necklace, and the stern features on his face disappeared instantly. His eyes went into a dreamy state, as if he was remembering something. "It was given to me by a.. childhood friend," he began. "That was many years ago, though. This necklace - it's special to me, because that kid.. he was my first friend. The last time I saw him was ten years ago, though."

Horo tilted his head, "Do you remember his name?"

Yoh shook his head.

"What about his face?"

"No clue."

The two boys remained silent for a long while, one thinking about his childhood while the other was thinking about whether his friend was sane or not. Eventually, the bluenette sighed and grunted, "Everything you own is precious to you. That weird necklace, that samurai sword - even the headphones your father–"

Horo paused to find his friend glaring coldly at him.

"S-sorry," he mumbled and nervously scratched the back of his head, trying to get rid of the chilly feeling that was creeping its way up his spine.

"Keep your comments to yourself," said Yoh sternly.

The following day, Yoh and Horo met up and walked to school together. When they stepped into their class, they found their classmate - Kyouyama Anna - laughing along with the most popular guy in school - Asakura Hao.

Upon seeing the sight of the couple, Yoh widened his eyes and turned sharply, "I need to go to the washro–"

"Oh, no, you don't," Horo said as he dragged Yoh into the classroom.

"Yo!" Hao greeted happily as he noticed the two boys stepping into the classroom. Anna, too, turned to them both and grinned.

Horo walked up to the two of them, dragging Yoh along with him. Hao noticed Yoh sulking and furrowed his eyebrows, "What's wrong with him?"

"Just being childish and throwing a tanthrum, as usual," said Horo, rolling his eyes.

"Well, it's because someone isn't allowing me to go to the bathroom," said Yoh sarcastically, as he turned his head and glared coldly at his friend. Horo shrugged and rolled his eyes once again. He released his grip on Yoh's shirt and watched as the brunette ran as fast as he could to goodness-knows-where; as long as it was somewhere far away from the gang.

Hao chuckled, "That Yoh guy seems pretty interesting."

"Yeah, tell me about it," said Horo. It was his turn to be sarcastic. He turned to Anna, who tried to avoid his gaze by turning to look at her other classmates.

Oblivious to the odd body language between Horo and Anna, Hao laughed cheerily, "I'd like to know more about that guy!"

"Hao," Anna called out, getting his attention. "The bell's going to ring any minute now. You should get going to your class right now."

Hao stared blankly at the blonde, as if pondering over something. His dark eyes showed a slight tint of confusion, but it was so subtle, it was almost unnoticeable. Finally, after about half a minute of awkward silence, Hao shrugged and spoke up, "If you say so." He walked briskly out of the classroom and made his way to his own.

Horo continued to stare at Anna - who stared back - before advancing to his seat.

When it was finally time for lunch, Yoh stayed in class and took out his huge lunch set to share with Horo, who never bothered to bring his own lunch. Sometimes, Yoh asked himself why he was even friends with an extreme lazybum like him, but eventually he came to the conclusion that that didn't really matter, and as long as he was happy around him, he was fine.

Horo grabbed hold of a rice ball and took a big bite from it. With his mouth still full of rice grains, he spoke up, "I'm still convinced that you've developed a crush on that Anna girl." He turned to look around the classroom, making sure no one was overhearing their conversation.

Yoh widened his eyes and paused in the midst of eating his own riceball, "Wh-what! No! I mean.. how can I say that...?"

Horo arched a brow, truly intrigued by Yoh's last line. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"Anna's my best friend. I can't say that I have a crush on her," Yoh said plainly.

Horo gave Yoh a confused look, but since he didn't say anything more, Yoh ignored him and continued eating his lunch.

Then Horo came up of something. "Hey, could that childhood friend of yours be a girl?"

Yoh shook his head, "I highly doubt it. My friend and I went to the men's room all the time."

And with that, the two continued having their lunch in awkward silence.

Later that day, the students of Shinra Academy were made to stay back as their principal had an important announcement to make. All students remained in their classes while they listened to the announcement through the speakers, which have been implanted in almost every room in the school building,

"Attention, students. I am here to proudly announce to you that the school has organised a masquerade party, which will be held in a month's time. Students and staff will have to dress up in costumes and disguise themselves; remember, no one has to recognize you! On the night of the party, you will have to find a partner - regardless of whether you know them or not - and the both of you will have to dance until the party ends. I repeat..."

Yoh's face lightened and he displayed an extremely wide grin, "That sounds fun!"

Horo shrugged, "I dunno, man. I mean, it's weird. You never know when that partner of yours happens to be a guy." Horo shuddered at the thought of wrapping his own arm around a male's waist.

Yoh's grin was then replaced by a meek smile, and he merely shrugged in response.

Horo widened his eyes, and he stared at his friend with the same expression. "Hang on...," he muttered. "Y-Yoh, are you telling me y-you're... gay?"

Yoh shrugged once again, this time a goofy grin began to form on his face.

"Get away from me, man!"

Yoh laughed, "Don't worry, I won't do anything to you" - Horo grimaced as weird mental images began flowing in his mind - "Besides, my heart already belongs to someone else." Two, to be exact, Yoh thought to himself.

Horo blinked at his friend, before shaking his head in disbelief, "I still don't understand why you could fall for someone like Anna, though."

Yoh frowned at Horo not getting the hint.

Weird intro chapter is weird. xD Just wanted to introduce the four main characters, the masquerade party, and Yoh's.. sexual orientation. Turned out to be longer than I thought! xD

Anyway, ta-da! My very first Shaman King multi-chapter fic! Thanks to SK-fan7 for inspiring me to write this! Wahahahahahahh, now I can waste my time planning and writing as much as I want!

I apologise if this is a really weird intro. I think it's weird. Idek. And can you try to guess who are the two people Yoh is crushing on? It's not very hard, as both of them have been introduced in this very chapter. :P By the way, Yoh's not really gay, he's actually bi. It's just Horo being blunt. :| And yes, all characters are very OOC in here, especially Anna. I never liked Anna and I always thought that if she was just a tad bit nicer, then maybe she would be a favourite. I can't really say I hate her, but I can't say I like her, either.

Also, if any of you guys have noticed already, there is a link to my blog on my profile! Details of the blog have been typed right next to the link, so I won't repeat myself here. Do check it if you wish; I'm not really forcing you to. xD

Oh, yes! The reason why I chose Hao to be a volleyball player is because.. football is too mainstream. xD It doesn't seem to fit Hao. I wanted to make him a soccer player, but the thought of Hao jumping and that teasing glimpse of his abs when his shirt is being pulled up in the process (like when he raises his arms and his shirt gets pulled up just a little?) made me go crazy. So I changed from soccer to basketball, but basketball doesn't fit Hao either. Besides, I want to add a beach scene in this fic and volleyball seems just like the perfect sport!

Well, I don't want this note to be long, so I'll end it here. Till next time!

- A