Chapter 2

My lawyer and I finally found Takei! Now we just have to convince him to sell the rights to me, and then we will have many YohXAnna and many Hanna moments and a sequel to Shaman King!

To the ones wondering, this is a translation of a fic that was originally published in 2006. I didn't know the ending of Shaman King (and didn't expect the KZB), so I combined the ending of the Anime (the one where the Shaman Fight is cancelled) and the story of the manga to create this fanfic. I ignored the timeline between FNU and Shaman King, and had to cut some characters out. Those include: Every member of Hao's group, Iron Maiden Jeanne, The Gandharas, Ryu (I needed to cut someone from Yoh's team, and Ryu was the one that people liked the least.) and Tamao.

Everyone was silent. Anna was participating on the Shaman Fight. Now everything made sense. If Anna was fighting on the Shaman Fight, then of course they were going to meet again. She probably planned three years ago, the night before she went with Hao. But… That was three years ago. Was she still on their side? That was the burning question on everyone's minds. Well, everyone's except for Yoh's.

To him that didn't matter. In fact, it didn't even cross his mind. He was going to see Anna again! Finally! After three long years he would finally be able to see his beloved again! He was happy again! And how could he not be? He was going to see Anna again!

"Do you think she switched sides?" Ren finally asked the question on everyone's minds.

"Can't say for sure." Horo-Horo answered, looking at his oracle bell "It's been three years since she had to go with him. Maybe she changed sides."

"We'll have to be careful." The British green haired boy said.

"Wait. What are you guys talking about?" Yoh was both confused and angry. How could they even consider such a thing? How many times had Anna saved them and helped them? She would never go along with Hao by will! Never!

Yoh's sudden question made everyone remember how delicate the situation was.

"Yoh-kun… It's been three years and…" Manta tried to think of a way to explain to his friend, without making it sound too bad.

"She is very much like Hao, Yoh. There is a possibility that he was able to persuade her to change sides." Ren explained.

"By her own will. Not… The way it happened three years ago." Lyserg added;

"She would never change her mind! She promised me that when we met again she would still be by our side inside her heart! She promised!"

"Why do you think that she would keep that promise, Yoh?" Chocolove asked, finally saying something after they found out Anna was Horo-Horo's next competitor.

"She kept her promise about the Shaman Fight," he smiled sadly "So I know she kept this one as well. I don't need proofs, I know Anna. I know she's still with us. I trust her"

Yes, he trusted Anna. Anna trained him. If it wasn't for her, he would be dead. Anna helped him for years. She told him about Hao during the first Shaman Fight. And she made a huge sacrifice for him, for his sake! He trusted his Anna.

Feeling too depress to continue the discussion, Yoh excused himself and went up the stairs.

"It must be hard for Yoh-san." Said Faust, when he knew Yoh was upstairs.

"True." Agreed Lyserg "First there was that day, then he couldn't see Anna-san for three years. And now that he finally has some news about her, we start talking about her as if she was our enemy."

"But we still can't rule out that possibility." Ren interrupted. "Even if it hurts to consider, we still have to. Anna is a powerful shaman and a powerful itako. And Hao has a new version of the Cho Senji Ryakketsu, if he teaches to her she will be even more powerful. We can't know for sure if she is on our side until the fight."

"By the way, when is going to be the fight?" the only American in the house asked.

"In two days, by the park…11h56min PM." Horo-Horo answered looking at the oracle bell "What the hell is the problem with the Patchs?! Can't they go for midnight or 11h30min PM?! Why the random hours?!"

"Do you think we should let Yoh-san go?" Faust asked, looking at Manta "If by the off chance Anna is on Hao's side then he will be extremely depressed. Even more than he is now."

"That's true. I don't think we should let him go. I mean, I can't see my best friend more hurt."

"If he goes he will not cheer for you, Horo-Horo." Ren said, looking at the ainu.

"I don't care about that! Our friend is hurt, that's what matters!" Horo-Horo yelled at his friends.

"Maybe we should go first, and find out if Anna-san is on our side. In case she is not, we think of a way to break the news to Yoh-kun." Lyserg, the smarter of them all, was already making a plan "We should also try to convince Anna-san to come back to our side. One of us should stay here and not let Yoh-kun go to the battle. And in case she is on our side we will try to bring her here, so at the least they will meet." He looked at everyone "Hao can't stop her from visiting him."

"So either way, Yoh-kun wins." Manta agree. "I'll stay behind."

"It's a plan then."

Upstairs, Yoh was looking at the stars. He was thinking about Anna. After three years he would see her again. After all that happen… It seemed so unreal.

How much he missed her. He tried to picture Anna in his mind, the way her blond hair would look now, and her pale skin. Had she changed as much as he did? Was she still the same Anna he knew and loved? The one he missed? Had she been treated well? Was she eating right? Anna couldn't cook very well, he knew that.

He smiled sadly. What would be the first thing he would do once they saw each other? Would he run to her and kiss her or would he just stand there and look at her like an idiot? What would she do? Would she try to hide her emotions as usual or would she slap him for being an idiot three years ago?

The smile disappeared. Yoh was an idiot. It was his fault. She sacrificed herself for him. He should have done something. If he had just spoken up, then she wouldn`t be in this situation. She did for him. Couldn`t he have figured out a way out? A way to help her?

And his friends… They knew what happened! How could they doubt her?!

"Anna-chan…" he said to himself, sighing.

"Yoh-dono…" the spirit of the Samurai appeared by his master's side "Are you okay?"

"I am, Amidamaru. Is just… I'm surprised, I guess." He explained, still looking at the stars.

"Surprised because they don't trust Anna-dono?"

"How can they not trust her? After all she did for us…! For… Me?"

"I know it's unexpected. But Hao-san is still the enemy, and you guys still have to stop him. That's why they said those things. No need to worry about it now." Amidamaru smiled at his friend "Yoh-dono, if you don't mind me saying, I think you should just sleep, so you can be awake to cheer Horo-Horo on. And…"

"I'm not going to cheer for Horo-Horo." Yoh said "I know that if Anna loses then I don't have to fight against her, and Hao won't have a partner for the Shaman Fight, but… If she loses, I may never see her again."

"But I thought that when you become the Shaman King you would…"

"I am! But… For some reason, I still want to cheer for her."

"If that's what your heart says, Yoh-dono…"

"It is…" And with that, he went to bed.

"So Anna… Do you know when the third battle is?" Hao asked, taking a bite of his meal.

"Nope. And even if it did, I wouldn't tell you Hao. It's none of your business!" Answered Anna, angry like always.

She had just finished preparing hers and Hao's dinner. This was something very common to them. A little before the Shaman Fight started, and after they had finished their special training to become stronger, Hao "bought" the house for Anna and Kanka. Unlike Hao's old followers, Anna had the "freedom" to chose between sleeping in a camp like Hao or in a house. Needless to say, she would do anything to stay far away from the onmyouji. She chose the house. Unfortunately it didn't make much of a difference; Hao would always go there to eat something or spend the night.

Hao liked to give Anna comfort. In his mind, it was only a matter of time before he became the Shaman King and Anna his Shaman Queen. He liked to give her a good impression of how much of a great husband he was going to be.

Kanka had finished checking the house for random spirits that may have got in, and went to join the two of them for dinner.

"What you guys doing?" she asked smiling.

"Hello Kanka." Hao replied, also with a pleasant smile. "How are you today?"

"Very well, thank you for asking Hao-sama."

"Don't put sama after his name!" Anna stood up, looking at Kanka disgusted "He doesn't deserve that much respect!"

"Sorry Anna. But technically he is our master and…"

"He is not our master. I am not his slave!" she was even more disgusted.

"If I wanted to, you would be." Hao smirked "But I'm too nice for that. I like to give you a bit more freedom. Thought I do request that you stay by my side and fight on my side, like my followers."

"I hate you." Anna said as she sat down. One day she was going to punch him so hard that all his teeth were going to fall off and he would never have that stupid smirk on his face again.

"So… What were you two talking about?" Kanka asked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Oh, we were just talking about Anna's third battle." Hao said in a as-a-matter-of-fact voice.

"You mean the one that is going to be in two days against…"

"Shut it!" Anna looked at the spirit. How could she be so stupid?

"So you do know…" Hao smirked again. It was always easy to find out what Anna was hiding by Kanka. "Who is going to be against, again?"

"Don't think about anything, Kanka" Anna knew Hao would try to find out by reading Kanka's mind. "Just don't think! To you it's easy!"

Both shamans looked at Kanka. Both had the power to read minds, and the spirit knew they were looking deep into hers at that moment. Looking for a slip. It happened often, so she was already used to it. Hao tried to find out something Anna didn't want him to know, and to find out he looked inside Kanka's mind. Anna would tell her not to think about it, but of course, that only made it harder not to think about it.

The thing she could never figure out was, why wouldn't Hao just order Anna to tell him? He knows that if he gives her an order, no matter what, she won't be able to refuse. And no matter how much the two of them hated the word, there was no denying: Anna was Hao's servant.

"Third Fight against Usui Horokeu, in two days." They both said at the same time. She didn't even notice that she had let herself slip! They were good.

"I'm sorry Anna." Kanka said, looking at the blond itako.

"So you are going to fight that stupid friend of my brother's?" Hao smiled as he looked at Anna "That will be very interesting."

"No, it won't." Anna had started to get the dishes. She would do anything to avoid staying close to Hao at this point.

"I'm going to watch the fight." He said, when she was at the kitchen door. Her reaction was priceless. Anna Kyouyama, the itako with the heart made of ice almost let the dishes drop to the floor.

"What?!" she turned to look at him.

"I'm going to watch your fight. I want to see it." Hao turned his head down and then looked up "I have the right to watch this fight, haven't I, Anna dear?" he laughed and stretched his back "Besides… I want to see my little brother. I miss him."

"You son of a…" Anna was interrupted by the look on Hao's face. He looked beyond angry. He never looked at het that way.

"My decision is final. You can't do anything to stop me. I'm going to see the fight." Anna knew she no longer had a choice. When he spoke like that she couldn't disobey him, no matter how much she wanted to.

With that said, he stood up and went upstairs; to the room he called his.

Anna was left alone doing the dishes. How ironic. Kyouyama Anna, doing dishes. Would Yoh and the others laugh if they saw her that way? In the old days Anna would make the others do the dishes for her. She would just stand around and order them. And even thought they complained, Anna knew they didn't mind. Not that much. It wasn't as bad for them as it was for her.

When she was left alone her mind wondered off to how things were before, and what happened that day. She missed Yoh. She missed him so much. She wanted nothing more but to be with him once again. But… Part of her was afraid that he wasn't waiting for her. That he had moved on.

She did it for him. She promised they would see each other again. So he had to wait for her, didn't he? He loved her! She did all this so one day they could be together once again. That was the only way out.

Yes, he was waiting for her. Anna knew it. If he wasn't, then he wasn't the one she loved.

But even with that in mind, the loneliness did not go away.

Two days went by quickly. To Anna things went like usual. She trained and avoided Hao. To Horo-Horo and the others things were a bit more complicated. They didn't want Yoh to go to the battle. The plan had changed. All of them but Horo-Horo were going to stay behind. Horo-Horo would say he was going to the market to buy groceries, and the others would distract Yoh. Horo-Horo would fight and figure out if Anna was or not on Hao's side, then tell the others.

To be continue…

Okay, so this chapter would go on until the moment Yoh and Anna meet each other again. But the scene where they try to distract Yoh doesn't exist on the original fanfic, and I wanted to publish this today (Sunday, April 19,2009), so I decided to put that to the next chapter. This way I can also create the scene with more patience.

Maybe you guys noticed some difference on the writing of this chapter and the previous one. Before I was translating everything word for word, but no I decided I was only going to translate the main events, writing the way I do now.

Hope you liked this chapter, and please, review! =D