DarkTaoAngel: Yeah, I know, late update. But it's here, so… XD It gets sadder from now on, and… uh… it's sad and stuff. But don't take my word for it! Read! (and review)!

Chapter 2: It's Raining in My Eyes

Yoh was worried. His usual lazy, carefree sense of life had seemingly disappeared to be replaced by a fretting sense of danger. The smile on his face was generally the source of his happiness, his mask to conceal his emotions which also held back all traces of fear or pain, even in the worst of times, had been removed and replaced with a completely unfamiliar grievance of sadness. And it wasn't that unexpected for him to be in such a state, after all, it's not every day you find out your best friend is dead.

He had started his day perfectly fine, the cheerful grin never leaving his face. Around midday Anna had decided to go shopping, leaving him with a bit of time to himself. Having no training to do and not wanted to spend the day sleeping, he'd made up his mind about visiting his sick friend in the hospital.

Sure, he'd been told that Horo was extremely ill and would never recover, but Yoh still kept his faith through all harsh events. His friend was strong and had an amazingly powerful will to live, which was what had kept him alive thus far. Yoh had even visited him once in the hospital where he'd actually become healthy enough to sit up!

Yoh had also been there through the rough times. When Horo had been going through another one of his coughing spells it was Yoh who was there, fighting away every doctor that tried to remove him from the room, and holding the bucket as his friend threw up. It hurt Yoh to see him like this, to see anyone like this. They'd known each other ever since they'd first fought in the Shaman Tournament preliminaries, and they'd been friends ever since. It had been almost two years since they'd met.

Yoh's breathing was shaky as he fought back tears. If Horo could see him now he'd tell him to stop crying, that it wasn't dignified and that it wasn't something that he would normally do. But Horo wasn't there, and Yoh had to stop telling himself that he was. It only caused him more pain when he had to be told again that he was dead. He still liked to think that, if he didn't say he was dead, didn't say those words, that they wouldn't be true. He was only fooling himself.

Yoh picked up the phone, hoping to call someone so that he wouldn't feel so alone. He thought through the list of people he'd call, and came to only one. Pirika. She was the person who was most likely to be powerfully affected by Horo's death. After all, he was her brother, and her only remaining family member as well. Both of her parents had died when she was only ten in a car crash, leaving her and her twelve-year-old brother to fend for themselves.

Yoh heard the ringing through the phone and waited for an answer, but none came. After three rings the answering machine picked up. Horo's chucking voice sounded through the other end, and for a moment Yoh thought that it was actually him talking. But he knew that it was a recording, and that fact only made it worse. The last thing he'd hear from him, and it would be from a machine.

Hey! You've reached the Usui household. Uh, me and Pirika are out at the moment, but we'll be back later! Oh, and hi Yoh! Surprised I know it's you? You're the only one who calls here anyway. Um, but yeah, you can just leave me a message and I'll call you later!

Yoh felt himself involuntarily crying as he listened to Horo speaking, especially when he said his name. Of course Yoh was the only one who called there; Pirika had a cell-phone, and Horo didn't have that many friends. Well, he had Ren, but Ren didn't talk much. They didn't even think he knew how to use the phone.

Yoh gasped when he realized that the BEEP had come and gone a while ago, and the message was already recording. And he'd been crying the whole time. Not that Pirika wouldn't understand why. She was probably crying wherever she was, too. Yoh spoke into the phone, trying to hold his voice steady as he spoke.

"Um, Pirika, listen, I know what happened and I'm sorry. I'm taking it really hard myself. I just thought I'd call and ask if you're okay. I guess you are, since you're not at home, but I want to talk to you anyway. So, call me back when you get this message, okay? We don't have to talk about what happened, if you don't want to. I just want to know that you're alright. I'll talk to you later. Bye."

Yoh had managed to prevent a few sniffles from making their way through the receiver, but he'd been crying nonstop the whole time anyway. Well, at least Pirika was alright. She was probably somewhere with her friends, or at least with someone who could make her feel better.

At least, that was what Yoh hoped she was doing.

(Page breaker)

"Shaman Queen?" Hao asked, completely baffled that he'd just been asked such a question. Of course he was still looking for a queen; if he was to be Shaman King, he'd need to have someone to share the glory with him. But, he didn't think anyone would willingly ask for the position, "Seriously? Why? I killed your brother! Why would you want to join me?"

Pirika thought of the wording she would use to explain it to him. Why did she want to join him? She didn't want anyone else to get hurt because of her mistakes, so she knew that the only way to prevent her friends from being killed was to stop Hao from thinking of them as his enemies. Sure, they'd never be friends, and Pirika would never get to see them again, but at least they'd live.

"Well…" Pirika just couldn't think of anything to say. But Hao seemed to know that, because he just nodded as a sign that Pirika need not continue. He knew her reason; after all, he could read minds.

Pirika could hear her cell-phone ring and, checking the caller ID, she identified the caller as Yoh. He'd probably tried calling her at home and found that she wasn't there. He knew her cell-phone number too, and she knew he was worried about her.

"Aren't you going to get that?" Hao mocked, knowing fully well that she couldn't. If Yoh asked where she was, she wouldn't be able to answer truthfully. Not talking to him would also spare her the trouble of having to say goodbye.

"No." Pirika answered bluntly, watching as a smirk made itself apparent on Hao's face. Finally her phone stopped ringing, and a dull silence blanketed over the room. Pirika still wasn't comfortable with being in the presence of her sworn enemy, but she'd just have to get used to it.

(Page breaker)

Yoh was even more worried now. Sure, it was one thing for Pirika not to pick up the phone at home if she wasn't there, but she took her cell-phone everywhere with her. It wasn't like her not to answer it.

What if something's stopping her from answering? Yoh found himself deep in thought. What if she wouldn't answer because she can't? So many problems presented themselves to Yoh, and there was only one way to find out for certain where she was. Go after her.

Yoh pulled his raincoat out of the hall closet, knowing that it was rain season and he could never be too careful, and slung it over his shoulder for the off chance that he should need it. He took some money from a jar they kept in the hallway for tax fares incase he needed to take a cab eventually.

But yet another problem aroused as he stepped out onto the sidewalk outside: where would he look first?

He came up with the conclusion that she couldn't have made it very far. She'd been at the hospital with her brother when he'd died, and Yoh had arrived there after she'd left, only a few hours later, he'd been told by the doctors. Her and her brother had had very little money, mainly because they had no parents to support them, and he hadn't even been twenty years old when he'd died.

Alright, I'll look around the neighborhood first, and go from there. She can't have gotten that far. She's never traveled by herself without her brother before, and I doubt she'd have started today. But, of course, Yoh knew that she very well could have gone the distance just to get away from the fact that her brother had just died.

And Yoh was off on his way, still having no idea that the place he was looking for was the last place he'd actually look, and also the closest to where he had started.

DarkTaoAngel: Um, yeah. This isn't a very good chapter, and it isn't very long, but it's more of a filler than anything. Oh, and I assume that Ren can't use the phone (at least not very well) because he's not very good with electronics. But, he might still appear in this story, so look out for him! And Yoh's here now! Okay, just review and I might update a bit faster next time.