Summary: Mayumi Asakura was always very close with her baby brother, Yoh, but he hasn't seen her in three years. When they both pass through the first round of the Shaman Tournament and find each other again, will Yumi travel with her brother and his new friends to Dobi Village? And what will Zeke do when he finds out that he has an older sister?
Disclaimer: If I owned Shaman King do you really think that I would be writing this story?
Key:
"Normal Speech"; "Spirit Speech"; 'Thoughts'; Reflections/Flashbacks
Len/Lenny Tao = Ren Tao; Morty = Manta; Trey = Horohoro; Rio = Ryu; Zeke = Hao; Joco = Chocolove
Hey everyone, my updates are not going to be regulated because my schedule changes so much, sorry…
Enjoy!
I woke up in the middle of the night to find out that Billy was still driving without any problems, which was pretty darn impressive if you ask me. So, after convincing myself that my brother and his friends were in good hands, I returned to my slumber in peace only to wake up three more times in the night and wee hours of the morning because I felt uneasy; like someone was watching me. But, we arrived at the next town without any problems so I didn't say a word to my brother or his friends when they woke up the next morning. Right now we are looking at a map of the town trying to figure out the best way to gather information on Dobi Village, with the exception of Rio who is making it his business to say a long goodbye to the truck driver who we won't even see again. Why do I even bother with that perverted shaman again?
"Hey, you guys hungry?" Trey asked as the four of us looked at the map of the town. "We do not have time to waste. We need to get information on Dobi Village." as usual Lenny was being a party crasher, but luckily, and unknown to the boys, Mayumi had some donuts stashed in my pack for emergencies. Though the woman declined to comment on her food because this was not an emergency situation, the boys would probably hate her for it later though. "What do you say we split-up, ask around and find out?" Yoh suggested a wonderful strategy of divide-and-conquer for info. "Hey Rio, come on, we're going, enough with the good-byes!" Yumi called to the eldest male of the group who was currently in a hug-fest with the truck driver. Once the big lug got back over to the group they decided that it would be a good idea to split up, everyone went by themselves except for Yoh and Mayumi, defending that they had been separated for a long time and needed to catch-up.
"No one seems to know anything about Dobi Village!" Yoh sighed in frustration after the pair had spoken with a group of women. "Don't worry about it Yoh, I didn't think that it would be that easy." Yumi assured her brother as they walked towards the meeting spot. "What do you mean by that sis?" the young shaman asked in confusion. "Well, this is a top-secret tournament that only shaman know about so why would normal humans know about Dobi Village? I mean, it would probably make a good tourist attraction so they have to keep it hidden so normal humans don't know about the tournament. That makes it harder for the contestants to find leads on how to get to the next round." the woman answered, pausing to look through a window of the town's music shop. "I think we have some time to kill before the others get back, let's go in here Yoh." Yumi gave a trademark Asakura grin to her brother as she pointed to the music shop. "Sure, why not? I need some new tunes anyway!" Yoh smiled back at his sister as they walked into the shop.
The minute that she entered the shop, Mayumi knew that she was being watched and knew that Yoh felt it as well. One look between the siblings was all it took to get a message across: 'Act normal and don't buy the music'. So the pair walked through the music selections, Yoh keeping to the CDs while his sister looked through the headphones since hers were getting a little fuzzy. After looking for about a minute, Yumi found a pair of headphones that she fell in love with. The headphones looked like a carbon-copy of her brother's, except instead of orange this pair was dark green. The woman picked up the headphones and found that the price was rather cheap for headphones of such good quality, and walked up to the check-out to purchase them. Five minutes later the siblings walked out of the music shop, Yumi with her new headphones around her neck and attached to her iPod in her back pocket, and walked over to the bench where Rio and Trey were already waiting for them.
Yoh sat down on the bench while Yumi leaned up against the tree next to the white bench to wait for Lenny to come back. When the young Tao Family leader did finally return, all four of the waiting shaman grinned like no tomorrow when they saw the lipstick mark on Len's left cheekbone. "So it appears that we've had no luck at all. We'll just have to keep our eyes peeled for a clue. For now let us find an eating establishment." Len spoke with his eyes closed so he could not see the grins that the rest of the group was giving him because of the smooch mark. "It looks to me that someone had a little luck." Rio commented from his place next to the Tao. "You've got some explaining to do Lenny!" Trey laughed from the other side of the boy. "I don't know what you're talking about!" Len defended himself horribly by attempting to cover up the lipstick mark. "Spare me your modesty, do tell!" once again it was Rio who poked fun at Len. "We don't have time for frivolity!" once again, Len tried and failed to defend himself from the onslaught of the other boys. "Awww come on! Where'd ya get that little smooch mark?" Yumi didn't catch if either Trey or Yoh poked fun at Lenny next because another player had just walked in on the group.
"Are you looking for Dobi Village?" the strange girl walked up to the group, effectively taking Lenny out of the spotlight. "We are." the Tao answered her simply. "Do you know anything about it?" Trey asked hopefully. 'I'm not buying this girl, seems too easy to me.' Yumi thought to herself, eyeing the new girl carefully. The girl had a nerd sense about her, from the green hair to the plaid skirt to the glasses and the sweater-vest; the eldest Asakura child got a bad vibe off of the new girl. "Not personally, though I know somebody who might." Yumi's eyes narrowed at the statement, this was too easy. "Seriously!" Trey jumped up from his seat in excitement. "That's right, she's lived here many years! Follow me!" the green-haired girl turned to lead the group away. 'Definitely too easy. We looked all over town for info and this girl pops up out of nowhere with what we need. It's going to be a trap.' Yumi frowned at the girl, who paid her no heed. "What good fortune!" Rio was falling for it. "This rules! Come on guys!" Trey called everyone to follow the girl. 'These guys are such idiots, if it weren't for me, Yoh and Len, they wouldn't have even gotten this far. But I guess that I'll play along, for now at least.' the woman thought to herself as she followed the group after the strange green-haired girl.
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"Here we are, come in!" the strange girl opened up the door to a creaky old house on the outskirts of the town. "Sweet! After all this we can grab some grub and gorge out the rest of the day!" Trey and Rio walked right in without a second thought while Mayumi, Yoh and Lenny held back for a minute. "You're thinking this seems too easy?" Yoh asked his sister and Lenny. "Glad someone else noticed besides me. Keep your guard up you two." Yumi smirked at her brother and his friend. "As always." was all that the Tao said, though the woman could tell that he was somewhat relieved as they walked inside. 'This is probably the group that was watching us at the oasis, on the road, and in the music shop. That means that there are five of them in total, not very strong shaman, but they have the right idea of picking off the competition before Dobi Village. Their only mistake is that they picked the wrong group to mess with.' Yumi thought to herself as the three younger boys took a seat while she and Rio stood behind the sofa, waiting for the elder lady who was so conveniently seated with her back towards them to speak.
"I hear you're looking for a place called Dobi Village." the 'old lady' stated from her rocker. "Yes we are." Rio stated plainly. "As far as we can tell it isn't listed on any maps. So we'd really appreciate any help you could give us." Trey spoke next, sounding hopeful. "Hmmm…lets see, Dobi Village, Dobi Village,…" the 'old lady' kept repeating Dobi Village so much that it only confirmed Yumi's gut feeling that this was a trap. Furthering her gut feeling was the fact that the so-called 'old lady' did not have any sensible life-force and there was a life-force in the closet while the green-haired girl walked over to the window and made a peace sign to someone outside. 'This is definitely a trap, now there is no doubt about it in my mind.' Yumi thought to herself, tapping Yoh on the shoulder. The boy gave a slight nod of his head to show his sister that he knew and was just going to go along with it, a fact that he knew what they were up against. 'I'm so proud of him, he's come so far since I left home three years ago!' the woman thought proudly as she brought her attention to the 'old lady' once more.
"…Dobi Village…hmm, why don't you tell me what you know about it?" the 'woman' asked after she finally stopped repeating herself. "Oh, we can't, we came to you for info we—what the?" Trey finally noticed the girl in the closet. "Well my friends, it seems this was a false lead. Perhaps it is time to move on." Rio sighed, clearly disappointed. "There's only one thing before we go, tell me, why do you want information about it?" Lenny hit the nail on the head, making the woman in the closet stutter as she threw her voice. Finally growing tired of the game, Yumi walked right over to the closet and opened the doors. "Game's over, you can come out of the closet now." Yumi gave the blond a dead-pan look, making her gasp in surprise. "Who are you?" Trey and Rio questioned as the girl walked out to see everyone. "This…is not a granny! It's a teddy bear!" Rio stated the obvious as Mayumi walked back over to her brother. "So, you found us out?" the blonde smirked at the group. "I applaud your ability to throw your voice, quite a performance. Tell me, is that one of your shaman talents?" Lenny stood as he spoke, causing a shocking reaction from everyone except for Yoh and Mayumi.
"You girls are shaman? How many of you are in on this?" the ice-shaman got a two-fingered answer from the green-haired girl. "I don't think you're being truthful. If you're part of the group that was watching us at the oasis, then there are five of you." Yoh stated, making his sister smirk. "Yep, you're the same group of five female shamans that was watching us at the oasis, and last night on the road, and while me and Yoh were in the music shop earlier." Yumi threw her two cents in as well, causing an even bigger reaction. "Oh yeah, I forgot about those ones! Thanks sis!" Yoh snickered at his sister while the rest of the people were shell-shocked, except for Lenny. "I didn't see anyone at the oasis." Trey confessed. "Me either, but Master Yoh and Mistress Yumi are very observant." Rio commented after his younger companion. "Well, well, well, you may have seen through our ruse this time, but next time—oh, AHHHH!" the blonde girl screeched as a giant hammer crashed through the house.
"Amidamaru!" "Bason!" "Ryoushiame!"
The three guardians got out just in time to catch the Furyoku-filled hammer, the blue and grey gryphon taking the brunt of the force since he was much stronger than the human spirits. "These girls are pathetic, why can't you call me out for a real fight Yumi?" Ryoushiame commented dryly as the hammer was reduced back to its base form. "Sorry 'Ame, just didn't really want to get crushed." the woman apologized to her guardian, making the other girls angry. "And just who do you think you are to call us weak!" the blonde one cried out. "I am the eldest child of the Asakura family, I trained on my own in the wilderness for three years straight, I can sense your strengths and weaknesses, and to top it all off I'm not a spoiled rotten brat, I work for what I want and need. You girls look like you're used to things coming to you on a silver platter." Mayumi gave the group of girls another dead-pan look as she spoke, throwing an intense glare in to make even the red-head shiver a bit. "And just who are you people?" Lenny decided to throw his two-cents in as well.
"Allow us to formally introduce ourselves! From the left girls!" the blonde one was getting on Yumi's nerves very quickly.
"Sally."
"Lilly.
"Ellie."
"Millie."
"Sharona!"
"Uhhh, why didn't the last one end with "-ly"?" Yoh asked in his naive fashion. "I don't know, you want me to go ask her?" Trey was in on the circle. "It does sound a little bit funny." ending with Rio was the interest with the girl's names. "What's it matter! Did you all do something to my airplane?" Lenny sure was pointing fingers, though Yumi didn't blame him, that thing looked expensive! "What if we did?" the newly dubbed Sharona mocked. "That was a bad move, the council will hear about this." "Ha! Like we care! The only rule of the second round, dear boy, is that you have to find Dobi Village one month, there's no rule saying you can't eliminate other participants along the way." the girl's argument was sound, though Yumi noticed Silva's appearance in the tree before he even spoke. "That is true. But there is a rule say that you will be disqualified if you fight and lose while a council judge is watching, even if the fight is unofficial." the Patch Tribe member startled everyone except for Mayumi when he addressed the problem.
"No way, you just made that up on the spot!" Sharona whined. "You should have read the oracle message more closely, it's all there in the last section." Silva informed the female shaman. "Last what?" Trey voiced the confusion of both groups. "Press the 'B' button and scroll down." the Patch Tribe Judge stated simply. "'B' button?" everyone except for Yumi looked at their oracle bells. The result was everyone talking excitedly. 'These guys are such morons! They thought that the oracle bells were just for calling matches?' the eldest female Asakura nearly fell over because of her group's reactions. "Check it out Lenny! This thing's even got games on it!" Trey was so easily distracted. "Like you need any more distractions." the Tao groaned. "Look at all these menus!" Rio was also distracted. "Woah!" even Yumi's baby brother was distracted by the new discovery. "Say, what happens when you click on that right there? No the one there?" Rio was drowned out by the sound of Sharona and her team attacking the boys.
"Seems like I need to take care of this one." Yumi growled as she stepped in front of the boys, smirking as the girls threw their strongest attacks at her. "Ryoushiame, into the bo staff." the blue and grey gryphon complied with his mistress' order and a shield of Furyoku surrounded the group of five. "I got this guys, you can continue checking out your new toys." the female sent a pointed look over her shoulder at the rest of her group, three of whom were smiling sheepishly. "We could have easily defended ourselves, but you can go ahead." Len turned away from the group, embarrassed about being caught off-guard. "With pleasure, it's been a while since I had a good warm-up." Yumi smirked as she turned back to the Lily Five, the dust clearing as she put the shield down. With Ryoushiame in her bo staff it was surrounded with bluish-grey energy and had the same color wings sprouting from either side of the pointed tip. The gryphon's red eyes and beak were embedded into the energy wherever Yumi had her hand, or hands, holding the weapon.
"We did it!" the blonde shaman girl exclaimed excitedly as the dust settled. "Actually, you didn't even give us a scratch." the voice that was Mayumi called as she walked out of the dust cloud. "What! How could you still be standing after that attack?" one of the other girls asked, scared out of her wits. "As I told you before, I'm stronger than all of you. Now it's my turn to attack you." Yumi smirked again, a glint flickered in her eyes as she walked forward. "Cyclone Storm!" the woman pointed her weapon's pointed side at the group of five and slashed it from her left side to her right, causing a strong wind blast filled with Furyoku to cover the Lily Five with dust and nearly break their spirit control. Once the dust settled, the Lily Five found themselves confronted by the boys as well as Yumi. "Care to go again girls?" Yumi asked calmly, eyes locking with Sharona. "It's not fair!" two of the girls cried as they held each other. "You haven't defeated us yet, we still have spirit control!" the blonde defended.
"The key word in that phrase is yet." Lenny glared at the group of girls. "What are we gonna do Sharona?" the girl with the green camo sleeveless shirt was nearly in tears. "Relax, this is exactly the reason that I came up with a second plan." Sharona gained some scared looks after she spoke. "Oh no!" the same girl exclaimed. "We're gonna do that!" the youngest girl asked. "They leave us no choice!" the blonde was really getting on Yumi's nerves. "You have another plan?" Lenny was egging them on. "Well then, bring it on." Rio followed suit. "RUUUUNNNNN!" Yumi's eyes were wide as dinner plates as the group of girls ran off into the distance. "Later losers!" the youngest girl called back. "Wow." Trey was nearly speechless. "Indeed." Len was in the same boat. "Be careful of roses boys, they always have thorns." Rio gave his advice, which was a little stupid in Yumi's opinion. "I like roses." Lenny confessed. Mayumi could no longer hold back her laughter, so, she laughed at the boys until there were tears coming out of her eyes. "H-hey! What are you laughing at Yumi!" Trey questioned as the female sat on the ground and clutched her stomach as she laughed. "You guys! I can't believe you guys!" Yumi spoke between bursts of laughter. Her brother joined her after a moment, knowing exactly what she was laughing at. "You too Yoh! What in the world is so funny?" the ice-shaman was clearly confused. "Aw, you guys should see yourselves! If I didn't know any better I'd say you guys are a little smitten!" Yoh laughed at his friends. "Well, five beautiful shaman princesses are enough to smite any man." Rio, once again, was blabbering on about nothing.
After that the other three shaman joined the siblings in their laughter before walking back to the town to get something to eat.
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"WHAT! Why does he get to be our leader?" Trey was having a hard time accepting Yoh as the leader of the little group. "Because I said so. If nothing else those girls were organized, they had a leader. We should have a leader too if we wish to accomplish anything." Lenny said simply. "Yeah but…but why YOH!" Trey fired back at the Tao. "The reason is simple, it is simply not my character to be the helm of the group and stand out. You'll have to forgive me." another plain response by Len Tao. "That's not what I meant! You…back me up here Rio! We'll never make it to Dobi Village in time if this slacker is calling all the shots!" the ice-shaman turned to the older boy for support. "I will follow you anywhere my brave leader!" Rio was hugging Yoh's neck. "What's the point! HEY! Yumi is the oldest so shouldn't SHE be our leader!" Trey argued once more, the group turning to the lone female in the group. "I'm not cut out to be a leader, I'm more of a 'you-tell-me-what-to-do-I'll-do-it' kind of person. Besides, I think that Yoh would make a great leader." Yumi smiled at the boys.
"Okay then it's done." Lenny smirked at his decision making skills. However when the group turned to look at Yoh, they found that Rio was attempting to kiss him. With an angry glare, Yumi walked right over to Rio, picked him up by the back of his shirt, and kicked him where it hurts. "Let's get out of this town." the woman said as she turned away from a whimpering Rio, watching as the other boys winced out of pity for the older boy before following the eldest Asakura. Rio soon picked himself up and waddled after his group, wincing ever time he took too large of a stride. 'And that is why you don't attempt to kiss my younger brother, let that be a lesson to all. Yoh is engaged to Anna, and she is the only person besides me that can ever kiss my brother.' Yumi thought smugly to herself as the group walked out of the small town at sundown.
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"There's no way this is gonna work again!" Trey complained as the group stood at the edge of the road, Rio was going to try calling for a ride once more. "All brothers of the road are connected cosmically, they always find one another, like so." Rio brought up his 'thumb' like the night before. Not a minute passed before a blue pick-up truck slid to a stop in front of the group, Billy sticking his head out the window. "Ah, we meet again my favorite roaming companion!" Rio spoke to Billy as the rest of the group nearly fell over. 'This is just freaky…' Yumi complained in her mind as they all got in the truck once more, Rio riding shotgun, Yoh and Amidamaru on the roof, while the rest of the group was in the bed of the truck. As the rest of the boys spoke to one another Yumi placed her new headphones over her ears and leaned against the outside of the truck, taking note that the Lily Five was still following them in the distance, but she didn't really mind as long as they didn't attack them again.
As the sound of her favorite song floated through her headphones, Mayumi slowly began to fall asleep in the back of the same blue pick-up she had slept in the night before. Smiling as she watched the stars, the female shaman fell asleep to the sound of her music.
And so another day in the life of Mayumi Asakura has come to a close. Gosh that was cheesy! I am so proud that my brother is getting stronger and that his observation skills are improving! I remember when he couldn't find me without me deliberately leaving clues for him to follow. He's improving so much and it makes me so proud! I truly believe that Yoh will make an amazing Shaman King and that he will be the one to defeat Zeke once and for all! Ah well, it's about time for me to get to sleep. Until next time.
There you have it! Chapter 4!
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