EVENTUALLY THESE CHAPTERS WILL GET LONGER. ITS JUST I'M TRYING TO TAKE IT SLOW. AND ALSO IT'S REALLY HARD TO FIND A GOOD STOPPING PLACE YOU KNOW. IT MAKES ME MAD HOW ON A WORD DOCUMENT IT SAYS I'VE WRITEN 18 PAGES BUT ON THE FANICTION WEBSITE IT LOOKS LIKE I WROTE 8.

I'M GLAD TO KNOW THAT PEOPLE ARE REVIEWING MY STORY. IT MAKES ME REALLY HAPPY! I DIDNT THINK MY STORIES WOULD GET SO MUCH ATTENTION, I WAS WRITTING BECAUSE I LOVE TO DO IT. BUT TO KNOW THAT PEOPLE LOVE MY STORY, IT LEADS ME TO WRITE MORE. AND I'M ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE WHO ASK "WHAT DO MY READERS WANT?" "WOULD THIS MAKE MY READERS SATISFIED?"

OF COURSE SINCE I HAVE A LIFE THOUGH, IT TAKES ME A WHILE TO UPDATE BUT I TRY TO MAKE THE WAIT WORTH IT. NOT THAT I MAKE YOU WAIT ON PURPOSE OR ANYTHING...OR DO I? BWAHAHAH. KIDDING HAHA. I KNOW, NOT FUNNY. WELL ENOUGH OF MY AUTHOR'S NOTE. READ THE STORY!

DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!

~CrysitaNaima


History's Flames;


A Thousand Paper Cranes Arc Protologue;

Part Four

"Wah! There's nothing to do!" Yoh yelled out. It has only been a few minutes since Anna has explained to him about the lights that constantly flew across the air, and he had nothing to do.

Anna rolled her eyes, she had been reading a book, which she had made appear a while ago, Yoh on the other hand didn't get the fact that in the Great Spirit you can have anything you want. She held out her hand towards him, "Here." She said. A warm yellow light formed in her hand and started to form in some square shaped figure, Yoh moved his head closer to see what it was. It was a SOUL BOB CD.

Yoh's jaw almost dropped to the ground, Anna handing him a SOUL BOB CD was…unbelievable. He looked at her, and she turned her head away, hiding the strokes of pink that were slowly forming on her cheeks. "You said you were bored, didn't you?"

Yoh took the CD out of her hand; he looked at her and gave her a wide smile. "Thanks Anna." He said to her.

Anna automatically stood up and began to walk, "I'm going for a walk," she announced, "Do what you wish…even talk to the spirit balls, if you want." With that she walked off, leaving Yoh completely clueless.

He looked at one of the little floating balls, squinting as he said, "And what?" he asked himself, "Are you supposed to keep me entertained or something?"

A sudden child-like voice interrupted his outer thoughts, "If you want," Yoh looked at one of the balls of yellow light that Anna had told him about earlier. He blinked several times before his mind processed everything slowly…

"WAHHHH!" he yelled falling back to the ground before suddenly standing and pointing to the ball "Y-you can talk?" He asked in shock, scooting back a few inches.

"Hai~~ But only when Queen-sama lets us. But usually Queen-sama doesn't like us to talk." Responded another little orb.

"She's scary so we do what she says."

"Yup."

"Speaking of Queen-sama," said another one with a more mature voice, from the sound of him he could've been around Yoh's age. The light approached Yoh slowly, making all the others wonder what we was about to say. "So what do you think of Anna-sama, King-sama?" the voice finished asking, if he had a body he knew he would enjoy the sight of Yoh blushing beet red. "I know she's beautiful." It continued. "But how's her figure? I mean you two did have a kid, so you should know."

The young Shaman King hung his head down in embarrassment, "Yeah." he admitted, "She's…gorgeous." A faint pink tint began adding itself to his cheeks as memories of that night came slowly into head. One by one those thoughts began to take over his head. Yoh had never blushed so hard in his life, from just simple thoughts! But yet, in some strange, twisted way, he knew those thoughts were not simple thoughts.

"I never would've thought there would be such perverted spirits here."

Yoh stopped, dead frozen as he heard the sounds of knuckles cracking behind him, and he turned to see a furious Anna that reminded him why he was so fearful of her.

"Asakura. Yoh." was all that Yoh heard before she raised her hand in the air in mid-slap, but, to both their surprise, as her hand came down for the impact on his cheek Yoh's hand had caught hers just in time.

Both their eyes widened, but not as big as Yoh's got, the brunette was shocked, no mortified, how was he suddenly able to stop Anna's slap?

Everything was completely silent but the wind softly blowing threw the tall grass that was around them.

"Oh. My. Holy. Shit." Muttered the Shaman Queen in shock.

She slowly took a step back, but slipped on a rock that was right under her sandal, and fell back bringing Yoh down with her. Yoh was able to stop his fall with his hands, but when he opened his eyes his body was right over Anna's. Instead of immediately getting off Yoh was frozen in place, he didn't move, he couldn't move, he just stayed in his place.

At that time Anna could have slapped him.

She could have kicked him in the crotch.

She could have punched him.

But instead she closed her eyes and said "Yoh. Get. Off." Her tone didn't sound annoyed or angry, or anything, it was just an order. Yoh snapped back to reality and hurriedly got off and sat up, he looked at his fiancé with a look of apology.

Anna stayed lying on the ground and turned sideways. "I'm going to rest a while," she told him, "try not to interrupt."

Yoh nodded. He stayed completely silent, not saying a word. But instead he began to think.

What was going on with him?

For the longest period of time Yoh kept his gaze up at the sky, then at the grass, he turned to his left and his gaze fell towards his lovely fiancé's sleeping figure that laid so comfortably on the grass

Her smooth delicate features across her peachish-pale skin never contrasted against her composed amber hair, such polished fairness that she could be called the incarnation of beauty. He studied her face a bit more; he had never noticed how peaceful her face was when she slept. Now that he thought about it, when had Anna's face been so peaceful? Every time he saw her she always had on her blank, emotionless face. Other times he'd seen her cry a few times, he'd seen pain, and fear, but not once had he seen her with such peace.

"Maybe," he whispered to himself as he moved a lock of her golden hair out of her face, "I'll never be able to really know you."

Anna moved a bit and her body got closer to him, so close that her forehead was now resting on his chest, while the rest of her body touched his. He gently ran his fingers constantly through her hair. He sighed; the last time that Anna had been that close to him was the night before he left to America.

The one night he had announced his feelings for her and the one night where she took off her mask.

'Her mask,' Yoh thought to himself, 'I sometimes wonder…'he looked down at her and placed one of his arms under his head the other around Anna's sleeping body. "Has there ever been a time where Anna would smile constantly? If so…then what happened to make her cover her true self?" he began to think out loud.

*sigh* knowing Anna she probably would never tell him of her past, even if he always pondered what made the beautiful ice queen cold enough to hate and trust no one, but him.

"Would you like to know?" A voice asked him.

The Shaman King looked up. What/who had asked him that question? That was certainly not Anna's voice, this voice was strong and male-like, but it didn't sound like anyone he knew.

"Yeah, I would like to know,"—he responded curious to know how anyone could help him find out— "but Anna would never-"

"-We can arrange that." The voice interrupted, as it soundly faded with the wind, echoing in the Shaman King's head.

"Uh, hey! Wait-a-sec! Arrange what?" Yoh called out not knowing who or what would answer…if they would answer him.

At that instant Anna began to move a lot in her sleep, Yoh looked at her face, the peacefulness of her face was gone and replaced with fear and agony.

"Anna? Anna, are you okay? Anna…Anna!" he yelled trying to get her to wake up.

She slowly opened her eyes, but she looked as if she were still asleep, Yoh said her name one more time, she didn't reply. But next she opened her mouth slowly and in a painful and heart aching voice she said, "Otosan."

Her eyes immediately closed afterward and sheens of light surrounded her body devouring her into the blanket of light. The light blinded Yoh entirely, not allowing him to see where Anna had gone to, only allowing him to feel the mild aglow devouring him along with her.

"Anna!" he yelled with his last breath before he fell into total darkness.


History's Flames;

Chapter 3

No one tried to kill them on the way to the airport, nor were any shamans or evil force of nature throwing itself in their direction during check in. All armor and weapons were packed snugly in suitcases. Ren constantly showed his displeasure at the arrangement was eloquent and severe, he was that liked to carry his weapons with him, but Hao didn't care. One bing from the metal detector, and airport security would be on them like fleas to fresh meat.

Hao hated airports. There were too many humans watching them, when he mentioned this Manta simply said it was because they looked like a salad bowl. Chinese, German, Japanese, American, Italian, French, British and who knows what else all mixed together in one group. It was normal for people to stare.

It was after a while that Manta began to doubt his own theory. There were groups of guys staring at Annaka, Jeanne, and Jun as they went and got some tea from Starbucks, completely oblivious to all the men who suddenly watched them with intense interest. Bailong and Marco managed to scare off those who were watching the girls, but not without other women checking them out occasionally.

When Lyserg went to help Jeanne carry her tea, he gave the cashier a smile and asked for a tray, the woman looked like she wanted to yank him behind the counter and kidnap him to her house.

Manta would have laughed hysterically, but there were already too many people staring at him—well, at Hao and Ren really, who stood beside him, although the little blonde received his own speculative glances, probably wondering how a midget like him ended up friends with Mr. I'm Too Sexy for this Millennium and Mr. Silver Spoon Prince.

The flight attendants were worse. When Hao stepped on the plane Annaka thought bras and panties would spontaneously explode, or at least magically appear from beneath hastily discarded clothing. She saw one older woman fiddling with the buttons on her blouse, "accidentally" undoing several of them. The Shaman Queen wrinkled her nose in disgust.

The Patch Tribe had reserved them seats at the very front of the plane. First class was almost empty, peacefully quiet except for the clink of glasses and the occasional sounds of flight attendants talking in the galley.

As soon as they sat down the pre-flight informational session commenced, a deep-throated woman speaking over the intercom system, detailing safety measures and FAA regulations. Several flight attendants swished by, ostensibly to make sure everything was upright, in the locked position.

When one overly eager girl with itchy fingers began trying to buckle in the Shamans, that was when Hao became suspicious. Ren stopped the flight attendant, who was maybe in her early 20s, and both he and Lyserg asked where the bathroom was. The flight attendant just smiled and said she'd show them before she slipped her hands into the back pockets of their jeans, squeezing. The men jumped, biting back gasps as the girl laughed, "Follow me," she said. Ren and Lyserg flushed as red as beets.

Marco covered the Maiden's eyes in horror. Hao bit back a laugh and looked at the woman who was passing out wine to those in first class, "Excuse me," he said casually, "Would there so happen to be any extremely flammable substances onboard?"

Manta sighed. It was going to be a long flight.

They did not crash, they did not burn, and thirteen hours later when the plane landed, Manta wanted to throw himself down and kiss the ground. He had been waited throughout the whole flight for something to blow up or catch on fire, or for someone –say Chocolove –to be thrown out of the plane. But it didn't happen, everyone actually behaved.

Baggage claim was separated from the airport terminal by a set of large sliding doors. As the Shamans handed over the last of their customs paperwork and entered the main terminal, Manta noticed Silva standing in the middle of the place. As everyone else noticed him they followed him after getting their luggage. Manta looked to where the Patch was taking them.

A Patch Jet.

Great.

It was in the jet where everyone began to act as themselves. Ren was practically murdering Chocolove and Horohoro cause of their annoyance to him, with Chocolove's jokes and Horo's stupidity along with both of them making fun of the scenario back at the previous plane with the flight attendant. "Damn you! Can't you two bastards ever shut up!" he yelled at them constantly.

Horohoro puckered his lips and made kissing sounds. Good-natured bickering followed that along with the chatter between Bason, Amidamaru, and Tokageru, all talking about their adventures that took place on Mu. Morphine and Kororo constantly flew circles around Shamash who, as always, was reading his book of Laws. Faust and Eliza did nothing but stare deeply into each other's eyes while repeating each other's name constantly and holding hands.

Then there was everyone else.

"Lyserg, my protégé! How I've missed you!" Ryu shouted as he grabbed Lyserg into a bear hug, all pounds of muscle tightly knocking the air out of the weaker green haired boy.

Jeanne watched in childish amusement, grinning as she watched Ryu squeeze the breath out of Lyserg. Ryu placed Lyserg down on the floor and turned towards the silver haired maiden, "Oh, of course I've missed you as well, Maiden-chan!" He said as he spread his arms out to include her in his hug. He froze when he felt cold metal at the back of his neck; looking back he saw green flames burning behind Marco's glasses, the rest of his face shadowed.

"If you touch Maiden-sama with your sinful hands and I'll make your brain come out of your head." He threatened mercilessly.

Ryu hid behind The Maiden, causing Marco to become more pissed.

Luchist sat in front of them laughing at the scene in front of him; he couldn't help it at all. At the very back of the plane sat Hao, Annaka, Opacho, Manta, baby Hana and Tamao. Opacho was dead asleep on Hao's lap, while Manta and Tamao covered their ears, Manta with his encyclopedia, while Tamao with her hands.

Manta turned to look at Hana who was also dead asleep but in Tamao's lap. 'It's amazing how they both can sleep through anything' he thought comparing one of those 'like father like son' moments to Yoh and Hana. He then turned to Hao who looked as if the noise caused by Marco's yelling had no effect on him whatsoever.

"I bet you did some kind of anti-hearing oversoul, huh Hao?" Manta asked him.

Hao looked at him blankly for a while before reaching into his ears then and pulling out some little yellow balls…ear plugs. "Did you say something, Oyamada?" Hao asked him.

Manta fell to the ground "Ear plugs." He told himself "He had earplugs." He then looked up at Annaka, "What's you secret?" he asked her.

Annaka pulled out a Ringo CD. "I found it in Kyoyama-san's room," she told him, then she pulled out a CD player with her other hand and looked at it for a while, "At the time I thought it went in this device, and I was right."

Manta sweat dropped as so did Tamao, they were about to say something until they heard a little noise.

BEEP…BEEP

They all stopped what they have been doing, and for the first time since they got on the plane there was silence. They all looked up to a big television screen at the front of the seats and there appeared Golva.

"Alright Shaman, this is your last stop. We are now over your destination in America, so enjoy…the plane will now disappear in 10 seconds."

"SAY WHAT!" Manta and Tamao both yelled out.

Annaka instantly grabbed Hana out of Tamao's arms, grabbed Hao and opened the door of the plane.

"See ya'll at the bottom." Hao said with a sheepish grin on his face as he, Annaka and Hana jumped out of the plane. A giant flame appearing beside the plane and through it appearing the Spirit of Fire, Hao and Annaka managed to successfully land on it.

"Ah, Annaka-sama!" Tamao yelled she then turned towards the timer that appeared in the screen where Golva was a few seconds ago.

3…2…1…

The Patch plane disappeared, vanishing into nothing but air. Manta never hated oversouls as much as he did now when he was suddenly caught in an instant rush within his stomach, the feeling of him falling. He screamed, Tamao screamed, everyone else was calm, "Why the heck are we falling!" Manta yelled to his friends.

"It some sort of 'prank' the Patches like to pull," Ren replied as he fell from the sky in an upside down sitting position. He took out his sword and held it in front of him with one hand, "but no worries, we know how to handle this."

"Was it really alright to have just left them like that?" Annaka asked looking up at the sky, holding Hana in her arms.

Both she and Hao were now on the ground waiting for the others to come down. Hao lay on the grass with his arms behind his head, while Annaka sat up beside him. "They'll be fine. If anything happens just catch them…" he told her, "Speaking of which they're coming down now." He pointed up, and the others were really soaring above them coming down so fast their clothes would turn to fire any minute.

Annaka saw them as well, she gave Hana over to Hao, "Hold him." She ordered. Hao didn't object. The Shaman Queen watched carefully as she saw gravity yanking the shamans downward, she could hear shouts of someone about to pee in their pants…Manta. She sighed and slowly began counting the seconds before they'd hit the ground.

"If you don't do it now, this desert is going to have a river of blood."

She glared at her husband before snapping her fingers, the large hand of the Spirit of Fire appearing out of a sudden flame in the air, the screaming stopped, replaced by a group of people going "oof". Annaka lowered the large spirit's hand and dumped everyone on the ground, Manta and Tamao frozen stiff in fear.

Hao chuckled as he got up, Hana still in his grasp, "That never gets too old for me…seeing the faces of those who don't expect the plane to disappear."

Ren stood up and began dusting himself off, the Chinese shaman found himself rather annoyed from the females help, in order to cover it up he coughed a bit and added, "Shouldn't we at least start walking to get a head start on what we're supposed to be looking for?" he announced.

"Preposterous, I will not allow Maiden-sama to walk who knows how long through an unknown area." Marco told them. "I offer to use my oversoul car."

Luchist looked at him with a raised brow, "With your furyoku? Your furyoku would be all gone before we ever find the place."

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?"

Lyserg put his hand on Marco's shoulder. "Its fine Marco I can just carry Jeanne-sama on my back like last time." He turned to the Iron Maiden "Is that fine with you?" he asked her. She nodded and got on his back, ready to go.

"Um, excuse me."

Everyone turned to look at Tamao, who almost turned pale at seeing everyone's eyes turned to face her. The young girl began to stutter from the usudden attention, "Um…gomen but…I saw a small town as we were falling down from the plane, so… I thought…maybe we could start there?"

They all nodded. "That's where we should start." They agreed, and then they began to walk towards the direction Tamao had led them to.

Darkness had begun to arrive to the sky hours ago. Yet the brunette girl found herself sitting patiently on a chair twice her size, staring at the screen in boredom as her follower kept searching for the shaman on the screen. The sound of sudden static made her wince, but the image on the screen made her firm mouth slightly curve on one end. "They had come faster than I expected." She mused, "I wonder if those three have something waiting for our visitors…"

Mari sat at the kitchen table with Kanna, Asanoha and Jane were making dinner as they sat there waiting. Pirika threw herself on the Asakuras' couch and stretched out her arms and the rest of her body, she yawned as she began to speak.

"How long have they been gone?" she asked Jun who sat on the couch in front of her with Bailong laying his head on her lap as she played with his locks of purple hair. Jun stopped what she was doing for a second and looked up at the clock that hung at the door beside of Pirika's head. "About 14 hours" she told her going back to caressing Bailong's hair around her fingers.

Pirika sighed and sunk into the couch, "I want Onii-chan to hurry up and come back!" she yelled into one of the cushions.

Macchi appeared standing on the top part of the couch; she had a tight grip on her broom with both hands which was on top of her shoulders. She leaned her body over slightly to get a closer look of the tired Ainu girl. "Saving Yoh-sama is not an easy matter you know. It's even harder since Lord Hao has not yet received his full power yet." She told her as-a-matter-of-factly.

Pirika looked up from the pillow she had, "I thought Hao was left being a normal human after he used up all of his furyoku to revive Anna-san." She asked.

"Hao has only a tiny bit of furyoku now due to Annaka," Jane began as she gently walked out of the kitchen and sat at the stairs of the Inn, smoothing out her white silk apron as she did so. "Annaka was able to restore some of his furyoku to him."

"Mari doesn't understand." Mari stated boredly now that she and Kanna were now looking through the window that allowed them to see into the living room. "Mari has never heard of such thing," she added as she began to sow Chuck's parts together that were ripped by the cat.

Jane exchanged glances with Asanoha, a knowing look passed through them, one of secrecy. Asanoha was the one to answer. "It's one of those rare things that no one will be able to understand why it was done…except maybe Anna."

"Hey guys wait up!" Manta yelled, everyone was walking faster than he could therefore it was hard to keep up with them. Tamao was the only one who turned and waited for her little height-challenged friend to catch up with her, when he did, they both ran up to catch up with the others just in time to hear Chocolove begin to annoy others.

"So what has everyone been doing this past week?" he asked to try to start up a conversation, when nobody answered him he decided to pick on Ren who he knew if he pushed him enough he could crack.

"What about you Ren? What'd you do? Huh? I can't hear youRen-kun. Perhaps you've been spending hours of the day thinking about a girl? You know maybe how to conquer her love or-"

"Shut up, you annoying bastard!" obviously the Tao had lost in his ability to control his temper. He began to pull out his Bâo-Lèi Sword to single-handily murder his annoying teammate.

Chocolove, noticing the danger he was in, decided to arrange an agreement with the ill-tempered Tao.

"How about you answer my question and then I'll shut up?" he proposed, Ren looked at him with dagger eyes.

"What was your pointless question?" He mocked but showing a slight sign that he was giving in.

"You know what I said." Chocolove pointed out.

Ren put away his Bâo-Lèi in his pocket "If you must know," he began annoyingly, not to mention loud enough for the rest of the guys to hear. "I've been doing nothing but training on how to become a better emperor. Soon enough I'll have to find myself a wife."

Hao, who walked in front of him, laughed. He looked back at Ren with a wide smirk planted across his face. "Any of those candidates for your wife someone we know?" his eyes slowly darting to a certain direction of their group.

Ren's face turned red and his hair grew at about the same rate his temper was. "I have no idea what you're talking about!" he added defensively.

"They say one's first love is one's first kiss…"

Annaka gazed over at Ren slowly, her eyes judging, "I never knew you were one to fall for such a simple gesture, Tao Ren."

"URUSAI!" The Tao yelled, he whisked his body violently to point at Chocolove, "You! Ask someone else about their week! I'm not going to continue with this conspiracy!"

Chocolove wanted to continue bothering Ren, but instead he decided to ask Hao. "So…what about the powerful and almighty Lord Hao? What did you do over the week?"

Hao stopped dead in his tracks, the others did the same. Manta knew what he was going to say, as so did Annaka, but they just wanted to see the guys' reaction when Hao would say…

"School."

O_O

Ren dropped his sword, Horo's snowboard fell off his back, Chocolove completely froze in place, Marco's glasses fell to the ground and broke, and Lyserg fell flat on his face with the Maiden still on his back, shocked.

Bason and Avaf turned to stone, Kororo and Morphine fainted and fell slowly to the ground, and Mic's jaw flew wide open.

The only ones who didn't react were Annaka, Manta, Tamao, Ryu, Faust, Amidamaru, Luchist, Opacho, Tokageru, Eliza, Ponchi, and Konchi.

Marco placed his hand in his pocket and took out a new pair of glasses and quickly put them on before stuttering "S-sch-school!"

Hao turned to all of them, if he didn't know how to keep his cool he would have probably busted out laughing at everyone's face. But he knew how to stay calm. "Yeah school. Is there a problem?" he asked coyly but he knew their answer, because thanks to Annaka he was still able to read minds, but now he was able to use it whenever he pleased.

'Asakura Hao, went to SCHOOL, Kami-sama please have mercy on those who got him angry!'

'Hao i-in school! That's too good to believe man!'

'Jesus, please spare those poor lost souls.'

Heh, he didn't have to read their minds to figure out that they thought he probably murdered some classmate or something.

"Actually," Matamune began, breaking the silence with his sudden appearance, "Hao-sama didn't do so badly on his first day, I was more worried about Annaka-sama because of what had happened the day before school began."

Everyone's eyes were now on Annaka, she didn't pay any attention, she was too busy walking ahead of everyone else.

The others followed her, still thinking of Matamune's words.

Then it hit Manta, "Ah, I remember now!" he said everyone began to listen to the little guy as he began to tell of what Matamune had meant:

"Good luck at school today you four!" Asanoha yelled out as Annaka, Hao, Tamao, and Manta all left the Inn, to go and pick up their stuff for school.

"Explain this to me again." Hao ordered Manta "we have to go to school, but not to learn, we're going to get our uniforms, text books, schedules...etc. Then meet our teachers?"

Manta nodded "yeah, pretty much."

"Sounds pretty pointless to me" Annaka stated as she bit into an apple that she held in her hand.

She was dressed in her black jumper dress and white mid-thigh-high socks, she also had on one of Anna's red bandanas on her head tied similar to Anna, and borrowed a pair of her sandals. Hao had on the same clothes he wore when he had coffee with Yoh, while Manta and Tamao had on their usual clothes.

Tamao walked quietly by Manta's side, until she remembered something. "Um…Annaka-sama," she began,- Annaka turned to look at the shy shaman behind her—"Um, shouldn't we do something about your eyes? You and Hao-san are supposed to be co-playing Anna-sama and Yoh-sama, so-to-speak and… I mean…Anna-sama's eyes are brown, yours are red so…"

They all knew what she meant, and she did have a point.

"Not a problem." Manta spoke, getting everyone's attention. He smiled, suddenly rather proud of himself, "I thought of this last night and went and got you these," he whisked out a small container.

Annaka stared at the container before adding, "A box. You got me a box."

Hao took that box as Manta fell to the ground, anime drop style. The brunette opened the container and peered in, "Colored contacts." Annaka blinked in boredom, "Their round things you put in your eye to change your eye color." Hao explained to her.

"I see." She took the small container and slowly began placing the contacts in her eyes. She opened her eyes which were now a shade olive-brown, the coloring on the lens was blurring her vision a bit.

"You'll get use to it," Hao said, then turning to Manta and Tamao, "Now how 'bout we move a bit faster to get this over with?"

With that said they finally reached Shinra Private Academy.

They all stood at the entrance to the school looking at all the teens coming in to the academy.

They began to walk and as soon as they did all eyes were on them, okay they were on Annaka and Hao.

A girl that had been in Manta's class the year he met Yoh (Year 7 group C) came up to him. [A/N: she was in chapter 1 pg 11 in the Shaman King Manga]

She was already wearing her school uniform, and her short shoulder length olive-brown hair bounced as she ran up to Manta.

"Manta! Oi, long time no see!" she waved to him and ran up to him with a smile.

"Ah, Rukia-san, hey."

"Hey where have you been? You've been gone for nine months. Ah don't tell me you've gone and gotten someone pregnant?" she said in a shocked/mocking voice.

Manta sweat dropped with Rukia-san and the others he use to have some odd conversations.

"I'm just kidding, Man-ta." She said smiling sweetly, she then turned to the others; she looked at Hao then at Annaka.

"Who are these?" She asked Manta curiously, not remembering anyone at school with a beauty similar to theirs.

"Uh, you remember Asakura Yoh from our class." He said pointing to Hao.

Hao suddenly had a sheepish Yoh-like smile on his face as he raised his hand and said "Hey."

Rukia looked at him closely and studied him for a while, until it hit her "Ah, I remember now! You're that guy that Manta had mistaken for a ghost kid in the cemetery, back in class C when we were in 7th! Heh, I didn't recognize you without those orange headphones you always wore."

Hao sweat dropped 'only because of the headphones?' he mentally asked himself.

Rukia then turned to Annaka. "That must mean you're Kyoyama-san, right?"

Annaka didn't say a word all she did was nod, her expressionless face being similar to Anna's.

Rukia sweat dropped a bit. "Besides your hair being longer you haven't changed much."

Then she looked at Tamao, before she could ask who she was Tamao immediately gave a responsive introduction.

"Ano…I'm Tamamura Tamao, year 7. It's a pleasure to meet an acquaintance of Yoh and Anna-sama!" she stated in about 10 seconds.

Rukia started blankly at the pink-haired shaman who was still in a bowing position. She couldn't help but to burst out laughing. "Hahaha, I'm sorry, hahaha, I just wasn't expecting that kind of response. Hahaha. Nah, I believe I've heard of you from the new 7thgraders, Tamao-sama I believe they call you." Tamao began to turn the color of her hair, as Rukia said those last few words.

Annaka and Hao both stared at her 'Tamao-sama?' they both thought.

"Well, nice seeing you again Manta" Rukia said as she finished laughing. "I have to go but hopefully we get some classes together and you can tell me stories of your trip. Ja ne!"

With that, she left to meet up with two guys at the door to the school, both of them waved to Manta, who waved back.

"That was…interesting." Hao stated sarcastically, while Annaka nodded in agreement.

Manta smiled sheepishly "Yeah..." he responded then looked at his watch. "Crap! We better hurry and get inside before they close the doors on us!" he yelled.

The others followed him into the school, entering the halls of Shinra Private Academy.

Where ever they went Annaka and Hao noticed many staring at them, but decided to ignore it until the thoughts and whispers of the students came into their heads.

'Holy Crap. Is that Kyoyama-san? She looks better than last time I saw her, that long hair suits her better."

'Damn and I thought Kyoyama looked good before.'

"Oh. My. Gosh. When did Asakura look like that?"

"Asakura looks cuter than usual."

Annaka and Hao sighed. Humans were so predictable.

"Oyamada-san," Annaka called. Manta stopped walking and turned to look at her. "How about we just get our uniforms and leave? We can meet our teachers tomorrow."

Manta agreed. "How about I go pick up our uniforms and you guys wait up, ok?"

"That's agreeable" Hao said, as he looked over a little annoyed that a group of girls were staring at him, completely concentrating on his features. Manta nodded and ran up the hallway leaving Hao, Tamao and Annaka to wait.

"Ano…" Tamao shyly began. "I need to go tell my teachers that I won't be attending school, so I'll be back."

"Just go." Hao said.

"Arigatou!" Tamao yelled thankfully as she ran down the hallway.

That left Hao and Annaka alone. Hao looked at her as she bit her apple again and again, after the 7thbite she turned her head to face him. "What are you thinking?" She warningly asked him.

Hao just gave a grin and looked towards the ceiling "I have no idea what you are talking about."

Annaka opened her mouth to say something until she heard a voice close to her.

"Ano…please leave me alone…..don't…come any closer." The voice said.

It sounded scared, as if whoever was the owner was being threatened to be killed. The crimsoned eyed blond turned to where the voice appeared to come from, Hao also turned towards the direction his wife was facing.

The voice belonged to a red-haired girl who stood in a corner with about five guys surrounding her, not allowing her to leave.

Annaka and Hao looked at the girl and immediately they saw why she was surrounded… she was wearing her work clothes which were sort-of a girlish sailor suit that was extremely short for her long legs.

The guys that were around her began making comments that were known to everyone who was listening to them.

Hao began to show a bit of disgust and anger as they began to touch her skirt trying to pull it off her; the poor girl was merely a child in his eyes, a child that shouldn't be exposed to such disgusting behavior.

Manta came at that instant with their uniforms in his short little arms, waving them in the air as he called out to his...friends.

He froze in place only a few inches between them when he saw Hao's hands crunched up into two tight fists. Then he looked up at Annaka, her hair covered her eyes so all you could see was a dark shadow around them.

He winced when she opened her mouth to speak. "Oyamada-san…"

"Y-yes?" Manta nervously responded.

"Anna-san…never liked perverts, right?" she asked in a fierce but casual voice.

"N-no, she hates them a lot."

Hao could practically 'hear' a smile form on his wife's lips; to Manta, it seemed more like a smirk than a smile.

"Good." That was the last word she said to them as she coursed her way on to the perverted males in front of her. She stopped directly behind them and tapped one of them on the shoulder.

He turned around only to be met with a fist in his gut that plunged him into the lockers.

The other four guys looked at their friend who was now unconscious on the ground right under the huge break his body made into the lockers.

They then turned towards the one who punched him, all with wide eyes, staring in complete disbelief.

What they saw was a very antagonized blond, who stood with her arms crossed in front of her chest looking straight at them in rage. "How sick." She said crossly to herself loud enough for them to hear, "To even think that humans can even be this hellish and loathsome…what a waste of a life."

Manta began to sweat tremendously, he anxiously looked up at Hao, Hao just looked at his wife with a look of amusement plastered across face.

The four guys looked at Annaka, until one of them snapped out of it and smirked at her.

"Hey sweets, I have no idea what you're talking about, I don't believe you had a reason to knock my friend unconscious."

"Didn't I?" Annaka asked rhetorically in a cold voice, rolling her eyes at the hopeless human, then as if answering her own question she said, "Like hell I did, you ass."

"Ooooh, beautiful and feisty. Are you also very flexib-"

Before he could finish the last word, Hao had grasped him by his shirt collar and raised him off the ground. "I dare you to finish that last word." He said angrily, his eyes showing hot flames inside them. "Finish it." He ordered.

The boy looked at Hao in fear but wanted badly to keep his dignity, so he opened his mouth and with his shaky voice he finished, "F-flexible."

He fell to the floor unconscious.

The red-headed girl stared at Annaka in awe, she turned to look at the boy who just a while ago was clutched in Hao's tight hands, but was now unconscious on the floor after Annaka had came out under Hao and punched the boy heavily in his crotch.

Hao looked down at his spouse, his expression was difficult to tell but it seemed a mixture of anger and relief.

Annaka looked up at him as well, she then rose up and turned her face to the last three standing males.

They looked at her in alarm. One of them raised his hand as if stating surrender or just trying to stop her from hurting them.

"Um…look. We don't want any trouble, so if you don't mind we'll just be on our way and leave the girl alone." He announced in surrender.

There was silence as both Hao and Annaka read their thoughts seeking their heads for the truth.

"Liar."

The boys shared a look... and lunged.

An arm curled around her neck, hauling her backward, Annaka stepped back, bent over in one violent motion, and flipped the boy over her shoulder, driving him hard into the floor. Suddenly Hao was there and he pushed Annaka aside as he flipped the groaning boy over on his stomach and yanked back his arms.

The other two were easy enough to finish off, they'd never had experience in fighting, in a matter of seconds Annaka dusted her hands off and looked at the remaining guys who were now unconscious along with the rest of their friends.

"Just a bunch of dumb ox." She stated before walked back to Hao, placing her hand into his.

They began to walk, but were stopped by the girl in the sailor suit.

"Thank you for helping me, Kyoyama and Asakura-san." She said to them her voice strong and mature.

Hao stared at her for an instant, then, already knowing the answer, he asked "What is your name?"

"Sumisu Shaarotto, Class F, year 11." She immediately stated.

Hao raised a brow at the human, "Year 11?" –-Shaarotto nodded- "Well then Sumisu-san I advise you to either quit your job or to pack an extra change of clothes before coming to school."

Shaarotto's eyebrows came closer together, but instead of saying anything, she blushed a bit and nodded. With that Hao turned back and walked with Annaka through the hallway. "Come on Shorty, we're going home." He told Manta.

Manta turned towards Shaarotto and bowed slightly then went and ran behind Hao and Annaka with the uniforms under his arms.

Then they met up with Tamao at the entrance and walked back to the En Inn.

Everyone looked at Annaka in shock, how could two people be so alike when it came to their temper?

Hao began to laugh at their faces of astonishment. Annaka rolled her eyes.

No one knows how long they had been walking for now it had seemed like hours, they were all wondering now if Tamao had a sight problem and this town she saw didn't exist.

That was when they hit a dead end…

A big pile of rocks stood in front of them they were so huge that it could have been possible for them to be at the Grand Canyon.

"It's a dead end." Lyserg sighed.

"Well, no shit Sherlock." Horo responded.

"Speaking of Sherlock…" – Chocolove began –"I have a joke that's bound to crack you guys up! Okay so Sherlock and Watson go camping, set up their tent, and fall asleep. Some hours later, Holmes wakes up his friend. He says: 'Watson, look up at the sky and tell me what you see.' Watson replies, 'I see millions of stars.' 'What does that tell you?' Watson thinks about it and says 'Astronomically speaking, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Astrologically, it tells me that Saturn is in Leo. It appears to be a quarter past three. Theologically, it's evident the Lord is all-powerful and we are small and insignificant in his vast creation. Meteorologically, it seems we will have a beautiful day tomorrow. What does it tell you?' Holmes is silent for a moment, and then says, 'Watson you idiot, some one has stolen our tent.'!"

Everyone sweat dropped at Chocolove as he fell to the ground dying of laughter. Ren lost it. "That is the worst joke you've ever came up with!" he shouted in rage, grabbing Chocolove and yanking him up into the air before using all his strength to throw him towards the rocks in front of them. Chocolove went flying straight towards the boulders but instead of crashing into the boulders as they had thought, he flew throughthe rocks as if they weren't even there.

Everyone's mouths dropped open. In their moment of awe, Faust walked over to them and placed his hand on the rough texture, his hand just went through it as Chocolove did.

"A hologram?" Ryu asked walking forward to examine the rocks as Faust had.

"Wrong…an oversoul." Hao corrected.

They all watched him as he walked straight towards the rocks, disappearing as Chocolove did. The others followed close behind as well each vanishing before the naked eye.


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