Disclaimer: If Shaman King were mine, I wouldn't need to write fanfics.
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Not another school story, you say! Please, spare us! I would love to, but my invisible writing stalker won't let me! I promise I will skip over the dramatic shonen-ai shojo version, since I know probably no guys would actually do that, but there will shonen-ai! Pairings are still up in the air, but please know the love square before flaming me. The pairings I suggest may or may not be there in the end. And yes, there will be an end!
Chapter 2 – Enter Asakura Yoh!
"Yoh!"
"I'm up, mom. I'm up."
Yoh rolled out of bed…literally. Hitting the floor with a thud, the Asakura pushed himself up. This, he found, was the most effective way of waking himself up. Hitting the ground. Yeah, it was stupid and air headed, but it worked. Pulling on his trademark orange headphones, he groped around the room for his school shirt to cover his naked top half of his body. Sleeping with only boxers and pajama pants was pretty comfortable, which explained how he could sleep for hours and hours on end. Pulling the white fabric around him, Yoh yawned as he buttoned the clear buttons. He got up and almost tripped on the cord of his electric guitar.
Why did they have to make such a small cord so easy to be tripped on?
Opening the curtains of his room, Yoh blinked his sleepy eyes against the light of day. The light the sun shed on the room lit up the posters of SoulBob, along with piles of junk he didn't bother to ever sort out. His mother, Keiko, had tried and after the carpet could actually be seen, it was covered up the next day again.
The orange electric guitar had neon yellow lightning bolts all over it, and it had various scratches when the Asakura had dropped it and or tripped over it.
The silver razr on his messy paper buried desk started vibrating.
Yoh groaned and shuffled across his room to pick up. "What is it? It's seven in the morning."
"Exactly, sleepyhead. Get up and let's go."
Automatically, Yoh felt his spine straighten as he heard the voice. "Oh, it's you."
"Yeah, it's me," the voice said, sounding exasperated. "It's only me, Lyserg Diethyl, your lifelong childhood friend, and walking-to-and-from-school buddy. Let's chop up the pace, shall we?"
"God, I hate it when you use your stupid British accent on me. You weren't even born in Britain."
"Oh, we're not going to make this about me. This is about you." The voice paused and Yoh heard kitchen sounds and a faint voice…his mother? "Get your ass down here, Yoh."
"Why are you in my HOUSE?" Yoh asked, shedding his stripped pajama pants and pulling on dark green kakis.
"Well, in case you didn't notice, it's a bit nippy out there. You aren't going to let me sit outside, are you?"
Of course not. In fact, if Yoh could have his way, Lyserg would be with him, warming up in his blanket.
Yoh groaned and hung up. He had to stop thinking those kinds of thoughts.
Well, what could he expect from knowing and hanging out with that green haired pretty boy for years on end? It was almost impossible to grow up with Lyserg and not fall for him.
Their friendship started out in kindergarten. Yoh had been a pretty likeable kid even from the beginning, and even though he had started school with kids he didn't know, by the end of the first day, he had a group of people to hang out with. The American born kids had found him fascinating: an American born Japanese! Wowie (can you hear the sarcasm?)! A few days later, there was a new student, and he was instantly another hit. He had green (yes, green! A nice grassy green!) hair, and not only that, he had such a funny accent!
"'ello," the shy little boy in front of the whole class murmured. "I-it's nice to m-meet all of you…"
It probably didn't help the poor boy's nerves much with everyone staring at him.
Yoh watched Lyserg with interest. This new boy seemed interesting, despite his strange hair color. After observing him stay away from everyone, Yoh finally went up to Lyserg at recess, startling the boy who was sitting alone on a swing.
"Hey, wanna play with us?"
Lyserg stared at him, innocent green eyes looking a little scared. "Um…well…what are you playing?"
"Leave him alone," Yoh heard one of his friends call. "He's just a scardy-cat. Or he hates us."
"I don't hate you," Lyserg murmured, looking down at his feet.
"Oh, he doesn't mean it." Yoh shrugged at his friends. "I'm not playing yet."
His friends tried to convince him to leave Lyserg alone, but Yoh persisted until his group decided to start without him. Lyserg looked up as Yoh sat down on the swing next to him.
"So…" Yoh said slowly. "Why do you talk so funny?"
"I don't talk funny," Lyserg protested, looking offended. "You…everyone talks strange to me."
"Where are you from?"
"England." Lyserg covered his mouth, as if he had said something wrong. "Oh, oops. I mean, I was born in America, but a few weeks later, my parents decided to go back to England and I've been living there ever since except for a few days ago when we moved back here."
"Oh."
Lyserg paused for a moment, as if debating whither or not to say what he wanted to say. "I miss England," he confessed, looking a little ashamed. "My mom said I'd like it here, but…I don't know. Everyone looks at me funny and no one wants to talk to me."
"Well, I'm talking to you, aren't I?"
Lyserg turned to Yoh. "Yeah…who are you again?"
"Yoh. Asakura Yoh."
"Oh. Okay. My name's…"
"Lyserg Diethyl, I know. It sounds so much cooler when you say it."
Lyserg looked surprised. "No one's said that to me before."
"Well, get used to it. We're friends now." Yoh nodded with this new and quick development. "So now we're going to hang out, alright? Now come play with us."
Lyserg had always been a shy person. Yoh had always been the one to stand up for him or sometimes to actually speak for him. It was only a few years back in sixth grade when the greenette actually started opening up to new people. Before then, Yoh was his only friend. Now Lyserg had a lot of friends due to his open and sunny personality. Yoh realized that when Lyserg finally started becoming more outgoing, it was around the time he started liking his British friend.
Taking the stairs two at a time, Yoh rounded the corner and entered his kitchen. Lyserg was sitting on one of the chairs around the kitchen's island, drinking coffee and looking amused. "Yoh, you look totally messed up."
Yoh stood still for a second to drink in Lyserg with his eyes. The greenette looked pretty good today; his shirt was straight, unlike his, which was wrinkled and sticking out in places. The aqua colored tie around the boy's neck was tied neatly, and coupled with a dark, dark colored skinny jeans, Lyserg looked ready to face the day. Yoh looked down at himself. Yup, messy.
"Yoh, comb your hair," Keiko said, handing Yoh a comb before turning back to the bacon on the stove. Yoh took a seat next to Lyserg.
"We're late," the greenette remarked, poking at the watch around his wrist. Yoh glanced at the British watch Lyserg had gotten in England a few years back, with Roman numerals, a clear quartz face, and a green leather band. Seven o' five. Yoh scoffed. "Please. We're hardly late. School starts at eight."
"Well, we're late to me." Lyserg finished his coffee. "Thanks a lot, Ms. Asakura."
"Don't worry about it, Lyserg. You can come over whenever you want. Yoh won't mind." Keiko turned to face Yoh in a way that only her son could see her face and winked. Yoh rolled his eyes as he went to get himself some milk. His mother had discovered his crush on his childhood friend and was milking it for all it was worth.
Lyserg sighed and watched Yoh pour himself milk. "Sometimes I wonder what goes on in that messy head of yours, Yoh," Lyserg said.
"Sometimes I wonder that myself."
Lyserg laughed. Yoh liked his friend's laugh. It always sounded fresh and new, like a summer day. Lyserg's eyes would always light up when he laughed, turning the grassy green even lighter. Lyserg's smile was enough to make him feel ready for the day ahead of him.
"Well, when you find out, tell me." Keiko turned and emptied the bacon and eggs on a plate in front of Yoh. "Eat up, honey."
Yoh bit into his eggs as he watched his mother in front of him. It was hard on her, he knew, even if she didn't show it, to raise a son by herself. His father, Mikihisa, had left him and mother alone thirteen years ago, taking his twin brother with him. It had been a long time since he even saw his older brother; Mikihisa and Keiko were on bad terms since the divorce and they couldn't stand even five minutes with each other. He had heard that his father had been a kind of a drunk and could be pretty harsh with his words. Yoh vowed he would never turn into his father.
"Hello?" Yoh blinked as he saw a hand wave in front of his face. "You've been staring at your mom for the past five minutes straight," Lyserg said, frowning. "You don't learn, do you?"
"Just let me eat, Lyserg."
Lyserg sighed and glanced at his watch. "But Yoh…"
"Please?" Yoh gave him his signature puppy eyes.
Lyserg sighed again and gave up. "Fine, fine, but only because I like you so much."
Yoh smiled. "That's more like it." He wished Lyserg actually meant what he said, on a different level, because as far as he was concerned, Yoh was only a best friend and nothing more.
Lyserg was already in like with someone else.
"When you're done, put your plate in the sink and get going. Lyserg's right, you know." Keiko took off her apron. "Knowing you, it'll take you half an hour to walk a normally fifteen minute walk to school."
"Why is everyone on my case?" Yoh asked no one in particular. Keiko smiled and walked out of the kitchen to somewhere else in the little house.
Yoh lived a few blocks away from the Tao mansion, where the middle class people lived. His house was modest as it came, a stereotypical vinyl lining house with a creaky porch. It was pretty big for only two people, so Yoh and his mother came along pretty well.
"We all love you so much," Lyserg said sarcastically, swirling around the coffee dregs in his cup.
Yoh turned to his green haired friend. Instantly, a scene floated into his mind: Lyserg smiling a little coy smile before sliding closer to Yoh, wrapping his arms around the Asakura and whispering Especially me, Yoh, I…
"Yoh. You're spacing out more than usual."
Yoh blinked. Dammit. He had to stop thinking those kind of thoughts. It got him a tad horny, and that was a bad thing to be while sitting along with Lyserg in a deserted kitchen.
Stop. … Stop.
"Bye mom."
"Bye, sweetie. I'll see you later!" Yoh closed the door behind him. His mother was probably getting ready for work at the firm. Keiko was a good attorney, but she was constantly stuck with the boring, little cases, like break-ins and thief cases that did nothing to stimulate her sharp law-abiding mind. Maybe that was why Yoh was always considered a goodie-goodie.
"Yoh, you walk so slowly!" Lyserg was already at the sidewalk, decked in a green hoodie he had probably gotten in England. That boy liked Britain too much.
"Alright, I'm coming, I'm coming." Yoh pulled the black hoodie over his head and followed Lyserg down the street, listening to meaningless chatter about random things. Today, Lyserg decided to discuss British bands, a topic Yoh knew little about, despite his knowledge about bands.
"And then they say AC/DC is making a come-back, and I think so too, cause I think they're pretty good to begin with…" Yoh was starting to lose Lyserg in his rant about AC/DC. Yoh closed his eyes and tried to follow what Lyserg was saying.
"Hey, if you walk down the street with your eyes closed, you're going to run into something."
"I'm tired."
"You do this once a week, you know that?" Yoh, in his blindness, felt a hand slip into his own. "I hate playing the guide dog, you know that?"
"Well, it's only once a week," Yoh said, feeling a smile cross his face. This habit had started a few years back when Yoh was starting to realize his attraction to the boy in front of him. Closing his eyes to try and block out a dirty thought (Yoh's puberty hit like an iron fist), Yoh had felt Lyserg stop in front of him and grab his hand.
"Hey, hey, hey. Yoh. Open your eyes."
"No, not yet." Yoh felt his face flush thinking about the dirty thought that included some…ah, unmentionable activities.
"Fine. I'll lead you to school today."
Thus, the habit began.
When they got to school, though, Yoh was forced to open his eyes. The second they reached Mankin High's gates, Lyserg's hand would mysteriously disappear and Yoh would find himself alone. Lyserg always disappeared out of his range of sight during this time, and Yoh made his way to the classroom on his own, only to find Lyserg talking to Horohoro.
Yup, Lyserg was already in like with someone else.
Yoh settled himself down at his desk, watching Lyserg shamelessly. No one else knew of his crush on the British boy, but then again, Yoh was known for staring out into space. Now was like one of those times. So no one bothered to ask. And Yoh left it that way.
"Morning, Yoh."
"Hey, Ren. You're late."
Note: apparently, some of you were wondering why all this takes place in America. One: I didn't feel like researching up schools in Japan. Two: Technically, Yoh's parents came to America for their own purposes that will not be explained, they just did. Then they had Yoh (and Hao), then the divorce, then Mikihisa leaves. I hope this clears some questions up.
Next will be the introduction from Lyserg's POV! Be patient! After Lyserg and Horo are introduced, the story will be on its way!
