Because tomorrow I might forget and passed the time to update, I update this earlier. So, see you at Monday? ^^
The morning came and another day had passed.
Tamao was in the middle of cleaning the cooking utensils she used for making breakfast and hummed lightly. It was a clear day. The sunshine was shining through the window and gave its blazing light to dance with her smile.
Today is a new day.
Or so, she told herself like that. And her peaceful silence was distracted when she heard someone got down from the second floor.
"Oh, Yoh-san. Good Morning!"
Yoh, in the other way, looked at her a bit surprised and then gave his goofy smile. "Ah, good morning, Tamao."
And then, he left to the common room, still fresh from washing his face and teeth from the bathroom. As Tamao finished her last plate, she took the tray beside her and walked to the room where Yoh was. Her smile was so light and she was looked in a very good spirit.
She never knew that the result of yesterday event was making her this far. It was like having a dream came true.
"Yoh-san, I have made your breakfast—"
But, something stopped her. As she found Yoh knelled in the middle of the room and read a piece of paper, somehow she started to numb. The young man was deeply sinking into the small written paper in his hand. Without get through it second time, in the end, he smiled.
And she knew that she were just once again, defeated.
Yoh rose up from his place, only to give a sign for Tamao to snap out. When he turned at her, at last, he recognized what Tamao tried to say and then smiled warmly. "Can I have it later? I need to do my morning practices for a while."
"A-ah, yes, Yoh-san."
Then, he passed her. Something so naturally to be done and she had it almost every day in the past.
But, will she get this ignorance again in the near future?
It sunk her.
And Yoh was already left. Leaving the small paper stubbornly, this made her curiosity upfront. As she took the paper, what she just read was very contradicted with what she could imagine.
Don't forget your daily running, electric chair and other training that I had told you. Even doubting me for my trust to you isn't a reason for you for not doing these. Neglect it, and I'll kill you. –Anna
Yesterday was one of the darkest nights.
Shouts were heard, and angry steps were made all the tatami trembled. Here in the common room, the elders were waiting for the couple to return, only to be accompanied by the small pinky girl who was shaking in fear and worried in the corner. As the shouts were vaguely resonated to their place, both Yohmei and Kino sighed.
"Youngsters these days… They really have troublesome spirits," said Kino.
"What do you expect, Kino? Something like this, even would make the adults falter." Yohmei added. "I even don't have any words to describe this if I should be in their place. Let's just hope that this problem won't have the possible worst ending."
*srak!
The sliding door was opened. After two hours long they took their time, at last, Yoh and Anna showed in front of them.
But, it seemed, they didn't reach any satisfactory decision.
"So, Yoh, your answer?"
Yoh didn't answered, only jerked his head to the other side, unsatisfied. Anna glanced at Yoh for a second and took this time to move forward. "We'll already talk about this and we accept the agreement."
Both Kino and Yohmei exchanged their look. In the other side, they could sense that Mikihisa started to join the heated conversation by giving them a sharp look at her proclamation. But, it wasn't for a long time, until the elders started to reply.
"Well then, you will be starting tonight. Finishing it as soon as possible will be much better than never," said Yohmei gave the decisive decision. "You'll be going to the training's place after this, so, be prepared."
"Yes." Anna didn't complain. But, it seemed the one who had problem was Yoh, and no one seemed wanted to make the scar getting larger by asking him.
"Then, Yoh, you will started tomorrow with Mikihisa," said Kino made him drawn his eyes to her. "And since there is still a possibility, I'll let Tamao to go with you, since in the other hand, she had been years didn't have her training with her master too. In fact, she was the only one we could lean on for taking care the Asakura's daily routine for the next following times. So, just take this as a part of the training, Yoh."
Anna could feel her stomach jolted. And so did Yoh. Although it was much hidden and smooth delivered, they knew what Kino meant about this.
How far their relationship needed to be stretched in a single night? Especially in the middle of misunderstanding and flood of miscommunications…
While Yoh held his head that almost blew out, Anna once again nodded as she clenched her hands tightly. They really hope that these kinds of things weren't happening. They were, perhaps, engaged because of obligation at first. But, their hearts weren't entangled because of that.
And this is frustrating them. Torturing them slowly in the inside…
Yohmei took a glance to his wife, almost noticing that it was almost out of the line. But, he didn't say anything, maybe because he knew that there was a reason. After taking a deep sigh, he looked at both of them and said, "Anna, time to go. We'll be waiting for you in 10 minutes."
And then, they dismissed, only leaving both of Yoh and Anna behind. Tamao was reluctant to get out from that place, leaving her master and his fiancé in a bruised like that, although she was really glad that everything is over. No one seemed walked from their place as Tamao left as the last person, until she tried to slide the door and stopped suddenly.
"Yoh, you heard that well. You should take care of yourself for now on," said Anna flatly as she walked to the terrace and started to wear her shoes.
The young shaman slowly approached to her direction and stopped after they had one meter left with each other. "I did. You too."
It took Tamao's attention as this was the first time for her to hear how Yoh answered so quickly and shortly, in a deep voice. It felt like thousands of feelings were mixed into one in there.
Anna was the only one who could face him straightly face to face in this kind of situation.
"Take your training seriously. If I ever heard you slacking off—"
"I know."
"Eat only healthy stuff and add the vegetables. I don't want to see you get fat as I came back."
"Sure."
"And Tamao," Anna was a bit hesitant for a second. It was clearly from her eyes that she was concerned. "Please take care of her."
Yoh raised his eyebrows and then turned it into a warm smile. "You don't need to ask for it, Anna."
Again, silenced. No one seemed had an idea at how the things turned out 180 degrees between them. Although they were just having a fight with each other that could tear each other feelings, in five minutes, they turned out lively as if nothing had happened. The composure felt serene, as if nothing could get into their short quality time and it did reinforced their bonding.
And this bonding did touching people, as Tamao sat down behind the sliding door and cried.
So it was happened in that night and the pink girl still couldn't let it pass on her mind.
As she waited Yoh gobbled his breakfast, her mind was wondering everywhere. With sad eyes, she suddenly looked at Yoh and felt that the closer distance she excitedly imagined was nowhere to be found. For Tamao, the distance was like a vast sea, although now they were alone. She even confused at what she should do with her feelings toward Anna. Surprisingly, she just did what she said last night and added more vegetables for him…
"Ahh… This is good!" Yoh moaned satisfied as he cleaned all the plates. It was a bit astonishing, of course, since Yoh wasn't a type to clean 'such vegetables' cleanly in no time. "Nah, Amidamaru." The Samurai suddenly emerged from the mortuary tablet and surprising Tamao in an instance. "Do you sense Dad anywhere? We need to start training quickly if possible."
"Yes, Yoh-Dono. His presence is already near here."
"Is it?" Yoh looked at the blue sky for a while. As if getting some inspirations from it, he smiled sheepishly to his partner who sat beside him. "Then, it's time to go, Amidamaru."
"Hai!"
The Samurai nodded and gave his most determination smile to his master. Even from this small scene, Tamao could feel how strong the bond between them. Before the feeling turned out into a feeling of being left out, Yoh suddenly looked at her while still smiling. "Let's go, Tamao. It's time to train."
In the middle of dessert, Anna was standing alone with no one and nothing beside her. Everything was only sand, sand and sand, without any panoramic scene around her, except a heated air. She even didn't know how she could get here, but somehow she knew that she was transported into the first stage of her training. She even didn't need to spend a lot time either to understand what kind of ordeal she needed to face for this test.
It was loneliness.
Next Chapter = A Gullible Heart
