Disclaimer: ownership of Shaman King still belongs to Hiroyuki Takei. I'm just borrowing his characters.
Author's Notes: as promised I am updating my multi-chapter fics after I completed my other story here 'Almost Magic'. I think I need a little practice with writing since its been ages since I wrote anything SK related after my month long hiatus so here I am writing this. I've got the idea for this story from the movie 4bia 2 , which is much like 'Shake, Rattle and Roll'(if you are familiar with the movie series) specifically by the last story entitled, In the End .
By the way this story is somewhat similar to my first story here "Love team" in a sense that I portrayed the Mankin gang as actors and actresses playing their roles in the hit TV series "Shaman King". I guess that'll be all the clarifications for now, on with the story!
Warning: this is slightly AU, if OOCness is encountered while reading, please just forgive the author.
~majrocks~
Title: It's not always what you think it is…
Summary: After the success of their TV series Shaman King, the Mankin gang was offered to do a horror movie. Everything flows smoothly until the movie started to border into reality!
"She's here, she followed us!" her voice was quivering with fear mirroring the very image that her face is showing and she was trembling even if it's not cold.
"What are you saying Kate?" he puts his hand on her shoulders and tried to calm down the girl in front of him. He was nervous and worried; he'd never seen this side of her before. She was the perfect example bravery and stoicism, whatever made her feel this way sure is terrifying.
They were huddled in the room that he shared with his twin. All the girls were giving nervous glances at Kate while the boys tried very hard to remain calm.
"She won't stop until she killed us all!" Sherry began to sob and hugged Yvo who was beside her.
"I don't understand…. What are-" Ryuki was cut off when they heard glass shattering and saw a frightened Akiko.
"We're next, we are the only ones alive…" she then burst into tears, her brother Toshi tried to calm her down.
"Enough!" yelled Mark, "Stop this all of you! You are just getting paranoids. You know she's already dead, and those unexpected deaths of our other classmates are just coincidence."
"He's right," agreed Ryuji, "Let's all put this behind us, we are just scaring ourselves thinking over nothing."
"Okay and ….. Cut!" the director's voice echoed in the room. The cameras stop rolling and the utility people stopped in a while and tended to the equipment.
"Dinner breaks everyone!" he also added.
Everyone sighed in relief, dinner break at last!
~majrocks~
After eating, the actors and actresses who still have 30 minutes to spare decided to go to the dressing room.
Upon reaching the said room, Anna Kyouyama looked at the clock and saw that it is already 8 pm and still they have a lot of scenes to cover. She plays one of the lead roles, Kate, in this horror movie.
When she walked to the chairs assigned to them she saw that they are already seated and a reporter was coming their way.
Yoh caught her eyes and motioned for the empty chair beside him.
Soon, Mai Suzuki, a 25 year old reporter from Tokyo Entertainment Portal with chin length red hair and a kind half smile approached them together with her camera man, "Good evening everyone!" she greeted them , which they all returned even though they are tired.
"Can I get a quick interview with you guys?"
"Yes"
She straightened herself and looked at the camera, "Good evening everyone, today we are in the set of the upcoming horror movie Past and beside me are the casts of the movie. The power house cast of the popular TV series Shaman King. Hello guys!"
The camera then shifted to them and they smiled at it.
"So, can you tell me what this movie is all about?" Mai asked.
Yoh answered first, "Past is about a group of teenagers whose class reunion brings sudden and unusual deaths on their batch as a long forgotten secret they carried haunts them back."
"Oh… wow I'm so excited to watch it! It seems very interesting. Can you tell us your roles in this movie? Can we start with you Pirika since you are nearer to me?"
Pirika Usui, who was wearing a blue knee-length dress shirt with her long blue mane flowing freely on her back answered, "My role here is Akiko, Toshi's sister. Even though I am not originally included in their batch since I am younger than them, I know something about their secret." She then passed the microphone to her brother Horo-horo who was wearing a white t shirt and blue jeans.
"I play Toshiro or Toshi, Akiko's brother. We are batchmates here with Yoh and I am also one of the secret keepers." Then passed the microphone to Ren.
"I am Mark, Akiko's secret boyfriend. The most skeptical among the group about the past" answered Ren who looked dashing in his dark asymmetrically designed polo and black pants with his signature tongari hair style.
"I'm Sherry, Akiko's best friend. I am also not part of the original batch but I got involved since I am always with Akiko." Jeanne had her long silver mane tied in a chignon and was wearing a yellow sundress.
"My role here is Yvo, Sherry's boyfriend, and the one who will uncover the 'past'" says Lyserg then straightened a wrinkle on his grey polo.
"I am Oliver, the class clown, but despite the funny upfront I also hold the secret shared by the class" explained Chocolove who was wearing a white loose shirt and capri pants.
"I am Fuji, class valedictorian and I will help Yvo to research for a way for all of us to escape" says Manta Oyamada who wears an outfit similar to what he wore on Shaman king.
"Well its just down to us, I'm Ryuji, Ryuki's twin brother and I'm as skeptical as Mark in the story." says Hao wearing a light red dress shirt and dark cargo pants with his hair flowing at his back.
Yoh, who was wearing a checkered orange polo shirt and dark rinse grab jeans spoke next, "My role here is Ryuki, Kate's ex-boyfriend" then passed the microphone to Anna.
"I'm Kate in this story, my role is like everybody else's so I don't think I need to repeat their words" said Anna, she was wearing a white sleeveless crocheted dress then turned to Tamao.
Tamao's face was covered with blood and there are bruises painted on her face and she has contacts that hid her irises. She also wore a long bloodied white dress and a long pink wig. All in all she looked like the typical vengeful ghost Asian horror movies, "My role here is the vengeful ghost Tsuki"
~majrocks~
After the interview, the gang still has 20 minutes to spare. The girls were huddled to themselves memorizing their cue and lines while the boys were discussing at the opposite table.
Eventually the boys' topic came down to who was greater boys or girls.
"Boys are way better and greater than girls," remarked Ren, "When I was in elementary the ratio of boys to girls is 1:4, but despite that our valedictorian is still a boy, which concludes boys are greater than girls."
Pirika's ears twitch, "Says you"
"Men, generally accepted are thinkers. We excel more in fields that require thinking and analysis" says Hao.
"How can you be sure? That is just according to you" Jeanne took Pirika's side.
"Come on, tell me how many famous women scientist and inventors do you know?" added Horo-horo.
Tamao answered, "Marie Curie-" then coughed
"Besides Marie Curie, can you think of many?" asked Manta cutting her off.
"..."
The boys were now cheering at their victory; Lyserg also spoke, "How about Mathematicians and Philosophers? Look closely and you'll see a herd of men dominating those fields"
Each of the men high-fived laughing while the girls except Anna (who just busied herself with reading the script instead of joining their childish game) rummaged their brains for a witty retort.
"Men rules! We are stronger, wittier and greater!" they cheered.
~majrocks~
It was already 10 pm, and they were shooting the last few scenes for this location. Tamao was now in a crawling position as the director gives last minute instructions to her and the make-up artist redoes her make up.
"Remember Tamao, make it look scary just like what you do in our rehearsals okay?" the director said.
"Yes" answered Tamao then a series of coughs were heard.
"Are you okay?" asked the 1st assistant director (AD) then turned to the director, "She looked pale, can we stop-"
"I'm okay" she insisted then coughed again, "Let's continue"
"It's getting late and were running out of time. Didn't you hear her? She's fine. Good girl" the director answered then patted Tamao's head.
"But she looks pale-"
"She looks pale because that's how a ghost should look like!" the director was pissed then turned to walk back to his chair.
"She does look unusually pale or is it just the make up?" Yoh whispered in Anna's ears.
"I don't know" she answered.
Then they heard the familiar line signaling the start of the shoot.
"Past scene 89 take 1, action!"
All of them were waiting for Tamao to emerge from the alley
It's almost 3 minutes and still nothing emerged, the director losing his patience finally shouted, "Cut! What the- open the lights!"
When they opened the lights they saw the reason why Tamao didn't budge earlier - she fainted.
"Tamao!"
The mankin gang and the movie team all huddled at the unconscious girl.
"Somebody take her to the hospital!"
"Call a doctor!"
A pair of hands carried Tamao, it was Faust VIII, who arrived a few minutes ago. He practically looked the same as in the SK series (so as his role in the movie)
"I'll take her to the hospital" he said.
~majrocks~
A few minutes later Tamao was put in a hospital bed while the doctors and nurses attended to her.
"Faust... I need to get to the set... I'm feeling well now..." Tamao pleaded.
"Don't be ridiculous! You'll have to rest, we'll go back once the doctor assures me that you're fit to work" answered Faust
"But-"
"No buts Tamao!"
~majrocks~
"Do you think she'll be okay?" asked Manta nervously to no one in particular.
They were all staying in the dressing room; the director gave them another 15 minutes break.
The director, 1st AD, 2nd AD and some producers were in a quick meeting; probably discussing what to do incase Tamao was announced not fit to work.
They have a schedule to follow and discrepancies are not very welcomed.
"She'll be okay Manta," assures Lyserg.
"Yeah don't worry Manta, if you want I can tell you a joke to brighten you up!" offered Chocolove.
"No!" the rest of the gang except Pirika and Yoh answered in unison.
Chocolove sulked in a corner, a spotlight highlighting his figure, "I just want to help you guys..."
Pirika put a hand on his shoulder, "Don't be sad... I'll listen to your joke if you like!"
Everyone sweat dropped when they saw Chocolove's body was adorned with sparkles as his spirits were raised.
Horo-horo had to yank his sister forcefully away from him, "Don't!" he warned Chocolove then turned to his sister, "Next time, don't encourage him Pirika!"
"But what's wrong with Chocolove telling us a joke?" asked Yoh. They all glared at him (except Pirika and Chocolove ofcourse) which made the brunette sweat drop and decided to shut his mouth to save his life
~majrocks~
Faust was sitting outside the emergency room waiting for any news about Tamao.
A little later a fat man wearing a doctor's coat and has a stethoscope hanging on his neck emerged from the room.
Faust immediately approached him, "How was she?"
The doctor looked at him apologetically, "Are you her father?"
"No, just a friend"
"I'm sorry, she didn't make it. She's dead"
Color drained from Faust's face, his knees seemed to turn to jelly that he had to grip the chair to support himself.
'How on earth will he tell the others about this?'
~majrocks~
Anna was sitting in a three mirrored antique dresser in their made-up room; the director told them that they would cover for the mean time, the scenes where Tamao was not included until the girl was back in the set.
After the last minute instructions, they started to cover the scene.
"Past scene 90 take 1... Action!"
Anna looked at her reflection in the mirror; she touched her face then with trembling hands opened one of the drawers and took out an old class picture.
She touched Tsuki's face which was near hers, "I didn't mean for it to happen... If I had known that it will lead to this..." she stood up and walked away from the dresser still looking at the picture when she bumped into someone and let out an uncharacteristic yelp of surprise as she saw a paler and more ghostly looking Tamao in front of her, the others were also surprised to see her then barked, "You frightened me..."
The director yelled, "Cut! Thank goodness Tamao you're back!" then held her hand and felt shivers down her spine at how cold it is. He can feel goose bumps on his skin when her eyes whose irises were hidden by the contacts she was wearing stared blankly at him.
He jumped when he felt a hand in his shoulder and found out that the 1st AD is asking him if they would inform the producers about this, he nodded and gave another 15 minutes break
Yoh, Hao, Manta, Horo-horo, Lyserg and Chocolove excitedly went to Anna and Tamao's side, happy that their friend is back.
"I'm glad you're back!" exclaimed Yoh as he hugged Tamao. He felt shivers and goose bumps on his skin at the contact which made him break away immediately.
Hao noticed his brother's behavior and whispered, "What happened with you?"
Yoh whispered back, "Something is wrong with her"
Unfortunately, Yoh is not the only one who felt something was off, because Ren and Horo-horo suddenly distanced themselves from the girl as well.
"I thought she was sick, what is she doing here?" Ren whispered to Horo-horo.
"I don't know also, but the biggest question was where Faust is?"
A production assistant shoved them away to the dressing rooms reasoning that they need to arrange the set.
Anna excused herself, so as Yoh, Hao, Ren and Horo-horo who were having weird feelings whenever they are near Tamao, which left Lyserg and Manta to deal with her although they themselves were also sensing something off on the lady.
The dressing room is devoid of any human existence except the three of them and it also suddenly gave off an eerie aura.
Manta literally jumped when Tamao's cold as ice hand gripped on his wrist, the hair on the back of his neck rose when he heard her voice, which is unusually scratchy spoke, "C-can you accompany me to the rest room?"
Manta straightened up like a statue and turned to Lyserg, " Lyserg can you acc-accompany her?"
Lyserg sweat dropped, he was also frightened at the aura that Tamao has, "Why me?"
Manta then feigned a cellular phone and started to speak at the imaginary caller on his hands, "What? The director needs me? Yes I'll be there." then practically sprinted as fast as his little legs can.
Lyserg looked like he was going to wet himself in fear as he mumbled, "You forgot that I borrowed your cell phone..." holding what obviously was Manta's phone.
He then felt Tamao's dead-cold hands on his shoulders and almost lost his balance when he saw her near him, pale bloodied face, ruffled hair, and iris-less eyes boring holes in his body, he forced a weak smile, "Y-yes..."
He walked behind her, never really wanted to be near her as possible, suddenly the cell phone rang and he excused himself to answer it.
"Hello..."
"Hello Manta," Faust's voice was faltering as he spoke
"It's Lyserg... Faust? Where are you?"
"Lyserg..." he broke into tears, "Tamao,"
Lyserg can hear his sobs, "Tamao... she's dead..."
"What?" he involuntarily looked at Tamao's direction and felt the hair at the back of his neck stood up, he then heard something dropped because the line went dead.
"Faust! Faust!" he called.
To say that he was terrified was an understatement. If Tamao was dead, how come she's here?
He backed out when he saw that she was advancing towards him. He was so frightened he wanted to run and scream away from her.
"Lyserg..." Tamao called and held her hand to him.
He screamed when he felt a hand on his shoulders, "Aaahhh!"
A slap connected with his face and saw that it was only Anna looking annoyed at him.
"You're so noisy!" she growled at him.
Ever the opportunist, he grabbed the opportunity to flee from the ghost, "Anna, c-can you a-accompany T-tamao here to the r-restroom?" and without waiting for a reply run away fast as if 50 crazy guys are after him.
Anna raised an eyebrow at him, and then turned to Tamao, "Come on, let's go"
~majrocks~
Lyserg found the guys huddled in a corner clearly in a conversation.
Yoh saw his pale face and spooked expression, "What's the matter Lyserg?"
He weakly sat on a vacant chair and didn't notice the radio lying on it, turning it on accidentally as he sat enabling all the movie crew to hear their conversation.
"Ta-Tamao... she's.," Lyserg's voice is faltering.
"What happened? Is she ill again?" asked Horo-horo.
Lyserg shakes his head, "F-Faust called me... she's... she's dead"
They were all stunned, nobody spoke after hearing Lyserg's statement; little do they know that they are not the only one's who were shocked by the news. The whole movie team who accidentally heard their broadcasted conversation each felt goose bumps on their skins and bile in their throats.
The director even dropped the coffee on his hands.
Chocolove laughed and they all turned their heads at him, "That's a good one Lyserg! I didn't know you're good at cracking jokes!"
Lyserg's face was grim, "I'm not joking! Why would I joke something like that?" he yelled.
It again blows hard on them, Yoh gulped; Hao finally spoke, "If Tamao is dead... Who is that girl?"
"She's dead and she didn't know it..." offered Ren.
"Wait-! Lyserg, where is Tamao? How did you get away from her?" asked Yoh.
Lyserg told them about the incident with Anna.
"What? You've left her with Anna? What if something to her?" asked Yoh, concern and anger rising in his body.
"Yoh that girlfriend of yours is so scary I wouldn't be surprised if she scared that ghost off" said Ren
"But-"
"Yoh and Anna is already an item? Since when?" asked a wide eyed Manta
"Since antiquity, it just happened that Anna doesn't know it so don't tell her, they might break up" answered Hao.
Yoh couldn't help but blush at his brother's teasing.
"Wait guys," says Manta, holding a headset in his ears.
Whenever he is not included in a 'scene' he is assisting the lighting and sounds crew, "Anna forgot to turn off her lapel" he then adjusted the volume so they can hear it via loud speaker.
They heard Anna's voice, "Are you feeling well now?"
Then Tamao answered, "I suppose, I really wanted to finish this movie Anna-chan. Besides Shaman king it is my biggest break; my first and probably last movie... I'm going to miss all of you"
Then the sounds were gone, Manta tried to get their signal again but failed, "I guess Anna turned her radio off,"
"What do we do now?"
"We have to tell the others" said Hao
~majrocks~
When they went to the set, they were surprised to see that not a soul was in there.
"Where are they?" asked Yoh
"They must've heard the news and left us here..." said Horo-horo.
They all looked at each other, and with their eyes talking agreed to leave the place when Anna suddenly appeared on the doorway.
"Where is everyone?" she asked with arms crossed at her chest.
"They already left" answered Manta
"Left? We still have work to do right?" she asked again confused as to why they would suddenly leave
"They left because-" Yoh wasn't able to finish his sentence when they saw Tamao trailing behind Anna.
"They left because t-they have an emergency meeting with the upper management" offered Hao.
"Are we still going to continue with the movie?" asked Tamao.
A pregnant pause occurred before Yoh spoke, "Yes"
The guys looked at him with wide eyes.
"Excuse us," said Ren as they all huddled in a corner.
"Are you crazy? Why did you say that?" asked a furious Horo-horo.
"We have to, it's a choice between finishing the movie or she finishing us" defended Yoh.
"Fishing with us?" interjected Chocolove. Everyone glared at him.
"I believe you guys! It's a shame, you are working with a show that deals with and spirits and you know nothing about-"
"Cut the crap Yoh, just tell us your point!" an impatient Ren cut Yoh off.
"Okay fine. My point is, we should finish the movie so Tamao's spirit can now rest in peace. They say that a spirit can only move on if they didn't have any unfinished business left" explained Yoh.
"Oh… I remember Tamao saying that she wanted to finish the movie," said Hao.
"She also said that it's probably her first and last one…" seconded Lyserg.
And with that they agreed to finish the movie, and went back to Anna and Tamao.
"We will finish the movie" announced Manta.
"And how are we going to do that? The crew had left remember?" asked Anna through raised eyebrows.
"Manta here knows how to help us. He practically lives with the production people" assured Hao.
Anna rolled her eyes at how ridiculous the idea is.
~majrocks~
"We can't just use the equipments here, do you want us to get into trouble?" yelled Anna as the boys started to ready the equipments for the shoot.
"Anna, just helping them get the movie done is already a good excuse, besides don't you want to finish this thing already and then relax?" reasoned Hao as he shoved the big lapel microphone for Anna to hold.
"What the-! I'm not helping you guys!"
"Come on Anna, all for one; one for all." convinced Horo-horo.
"One for all your face" she spat.
"Be a sport Anna, we're all in this together, for richer or for poorer, till death drew us apart" added Chocolove
"Ow… really?"
'Smack!'
Chocolove fell to the ground with a thud.
Yoh sighed then grabbed Anna's hand.
"You want to follow his footsteps?" she threatened with a smirk.
Yoh put on his best puppy dog eyes, "Anna please just bear with us. We all wanted to finish the movie so we can take a break and relax for a while."
"…"
"Please, do it not only for us but also for Tamao… she needs to rest"
Anna cursed under her breath then slapped Yoh with her Legendary Left then snatched the lapel from his hands.
~majrocks~
after all the preparations, you will see Anna on the side holding the big lapel microphone,; Yoh as the director; Hao as the 1st AD; Horo-horo and Ren holding the cameras, Lyserg and Manta on the sounds and could hear Chocolove saying, "Past scene 89 take two!"
They decided to continue Tamao's scene earlier; the scene where she would emerge from the dark makeshift alley crawling.
Again, minutes passed but no sign of Tamao
"Cut!" said Yoh, "What's taking her so long? Hao go check on her"
"Why me? Hey I'm older than you to begin with, you can't order me around!" protested Hao, "Ren, it's your turn to check on her now"
Ren's hair grow higher, "Why me? I'm not-"
Anna's fit cut off his next words, "What the-! I'm getting numb holding this, stop arguing like sissies and just go!" she yelled, clearly pissed off.
Ren contemplated on who was scarier, Anna or the ghost and decided to just go.
He was slowly walking on the dark, he was nervous and scared but never would he admit it to others so he acted tough and macho. He was halfway and can see practically nothing on where he was going when cold hands touched his left foot and he let out a girl like scream then run as fast as he can out of the studio. He accidentally walked unplugged the lights off and the rest of the boys screamed on their positions.
Hao spoke first, "Get a flashlight anyone!"
Yoh blindly fumbled at his pockets, when he found the flashlight he realized he couldn't turn it on, "It won't turn on!" he wailed.
"Try it again!"
With hands trembling he finally managed to turn it on, then Hao ordered, "Turn it to Anna, Yoh. Horo-horo focus the camera to Anna too!"
"What?" asked Yoh confused, he accidentally focused the lights on the alley and they saw a hair raising Tamao slowly making her way on them.
"AAAAAAhhhhhhhhhhh!"
"Focus the light on Anna!" Manta almost pleaded.
Yoh shifted the light on Anna, the latter squinted her eyes on the sudden brightness.
"Anna act now!" ordered Hao
"What?" she asked confused at the whole situation.
"Just say your last line… please Anna" Hao pleaded at her
"O-okay," she then inhaled deeply, "What kind of crap is this? Why are you following and scaring me? Didn't you know that I am a ghost too? Duh! I died first before you dummy"
Yoh, Manta, Hao, Chocolove and Lyserg all clapped their hands and group hugged Anna, "Good job! It's been nice working with you!" then run as fast as they can from the perplexed girl.
~majrocks~
"We shouldn't have left Anna! Let's go back for her" said Yoh as they were running.
"Don't worry about your girlfriend; she's even scarier than Tamao. She' would be fine" reasoned Lyserg.
"But-"
"If you want you can go back there then have dinner with Tamao later. She has a crush on you right?" suggested Horo-horo.
They reached the exit and were greeted by Ren inside a van.
"Come on, get inside fast!" he ordered.
"Easy for you to say, Mr. I ran and screamed first" snapped Horo-horo.
Ren and Hao were in the driver's seat while Lyserg Chocolove, Manta and Yoh were at the passenger's seat. Ren was about to start the van when they saw Faust walking to their direction.
Chocolove stuck his head on the window, "Faust! Hurry get inside!" he yelled.
Faust blinked then ran to them, after he entered, and sat beside Yoh, Lyserg noticed the rearview mirror and said, "Start the car! The ghost is behind us!"
Ren immediately started the car and each of them let out a sigh of relief.
Manta then turn to Faust, "Where have you been? You won't believe what happened, Tamao doesn't know that she's dead and comes back to the set!"
Faust was just silent, his mind seems to be floating and not with them.
"Are you okay Faust? You act kind of weird, and look pale."
Faust just nodded and still has that faraway look, suddenly blood started to oozed and trickle down his face from his head.
Yoh looked worried and pulled out his handkerchief, "Why are you bleeding? Do you have a cut on your head on something?"
Ren and Hao glanced at the small mirror on top of them then looked at each other worriedly, when Hao looked at the others (save for Yoh and Faust) they are also giving off weird glances at Faust.
"Do you guys have extra handkerchiefs or tissue? Faust is still bleeding" asked Yoh
Suddenly the car came to a halt and almost everyone was bumped into the front seat.
"AAAAAAAaHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"What the hell are you thinking?" yelled Hao while the others tended to themselves
Ren has a horrified aura and looks like he was going to wet himself any minute from now. His gaze was outside, Hao followed it and his eyes landed on the spot where he was looking…
There was Faust's car bumped on the tree and the windshield mirrors broken. From the looks of it, whoever was inside the car wouldn't survive the impact of the collision…
Manta noticed that the two people at the driver's seat froze, when he followed their gaze he almost had a heart attack and tug the shirt of Chocolove who was nearer to him. The latter looked at him oddly then followed his gaze. And the next that you know Manta, Hao, Ren, Lyserg, Horo-horo and Chocolove were looking into each other's eyes then as if a negotiation had occurred instantly bolted out of the car never bothering to take Yoh with them, who is still too pre-occupied in helping Faust to notice the commotion earlier.
They all ran a good distance from the car then started to call Yoh and gave signals.
"Yoh!"
"Yoh!"
"Get out of the car Faust is dead!"
Yoh had his brows furrowed when he saw all of them a good distance outside the car and was saying something he cannot hear and was making funny gestures.
"What? I can't hear you!" he said while his right hand was pointing in his ear and his left one gesturing 'no' to back up his words.
"I think he can't hear us," said Chocolove
Hao then pointed his fingers to the car that collided with the tree.
Yoh followed it and had the shock of the century. He started to tremble and when he looked back at Faust he saw that a stream of blood was oozing from his head and that his hands were bloodied.
He let out a scream and panicky fumbled to open the door when Faust's hand stopped him.
He swore his heart skipped a beat in his fear, he put his fingers together to form a cross while falls like tears ran from his eyes, "Please Faust don't! I promise to never forget you and always pray for your soul!"
"What are you talking about?" then his eyes caught the car that he'd been driving earlier and realization dawned on him. "Yoh, I'm not yet dead! Believe me I got out of the car before it collided with the tree"
"Huh?" he opened one eye to check if he was lying and when he saw no hint of it opened his other eye and straightened his tense body, "Really?"
Faust nodded then started to tell him what happened, "After I left the hospital I called Manta but got Lyserg on the line and informed him of what had happened. I never got the chance to say I was on my way because my cell phone slipped out of my hand. I hunched down to retrieve it when a truck was suddenly in front of me and I yanked the car around on impulse and before I knew it I was to collide on that tree. Good thing my reflexes are fast and I got out of the car seconds before it hit the tree."
Yoh just nodded, "And the wound on your head?"
"When I jumped out of the car, I fell and rolled on the ground"
Yoh let out a breath that he was holding, "Why didn't you tell us?" he asked in an exasperated tone
"Well, nobody asked and besides you all seemed rattled by the appearance of the dead Tamao, and I'm a bit shocked myself from what happened to me"
Yoh sighed then called the others from the window, "Guys come back here! There's just a misunderstanding"
Faust backed him up, "I'm not yet dead!" he yelled, "I got out of the car before it hit that tree!"
All of them sweat dropped, so they're spooked by nothing!
They are sighing in relief when they heard Yoh's voice quivering with fear, "Come back here! T-The ghost is behind you!"
They shuddered and slowly turn their heads just in time to see Tamao at their back
"Aaaaahhhhh!"
They screamed then run as fast as they can back to the car.
"Start the car!" yelled Ren at Hao who was at the driver's seat.
"What do you think I'm doing?" snapped Hao as he started the engine.
After a few tries his face paled, "We run out of gas"
The other's mouths dropped at his statement.
"Wait! Where's Tamao?" asked Chocolove
Each of them looked outside and saw nothing
As if a light bulb has been lit Manta spoke, "Close the windows!"
They all closed the windows near them except Horo-horo who seems to have a hard time closing the one near him.
"Horo, close that window now!" ordered Ren
"I'm trying but it's stuck!"
"Try harder!"
Horo did as he was told, then...
The handle broke…
They didn't have time to react because Tamao was already hovering on the window, "Guys..."
They all huddled in a corner trembling and pale.
"Please Tamao... you're already dead find the light and move on" pleaded Yoh.
The next thing that she did almost made their stomachs turn, she laughed at them.
"You are right Anna-san, *laughs* you are a genius!" small tears started to form on her eyes and she was clutching her stomach.
The people at the van all resembled big question marks on their faces.
Then out of nowhere three other girls emerged from a car, a giggling Pirika with a video camera at her hands; a snickering Jeanne holding a digital camera and taking pictures and a smirking Anna who high-fived with Tamao.
A vein popped in Hao's forehead, he had a bad feeling on where this is heading, "What is the meaning of this?"
The girls exchange looks then laughed evily.
"I'm not yet dead" Tamao answered.
"What the-!" they chorused then glared at Faust.
The latter sweat dropped, "Don't look at me that way! That's what the doctor at the hospital told me," he answered defensively.
Ren glared at the girls, "Care to tell what happened?"
Jeanne cleared her throat, "Well, here is what happened: after Tamao collapsed on the set Anna asked me to check on her at the hospital. So I went there and arrived just in time to see the doctor tell Faust that Tamao is dead, I was devastated... the air seems suffocating so I ran to the nearest open window. After a few minutes I was about to comfort Faust when I saw the nurses hauling the doctor that talked with Faust earlier. I got curious so I asked the nurse why are they hauling the doctor and she informed me that the man is not a doctor but a mental patient from the adjacent ward. I immediately searched for Faust when I bumped into Tamao trying to sneak out of the hospital and pleading to go back to the set. I've called Anna to inform her of what happened and then she told me that she has a plan and I am not to inform anyone of what I learned and bring Tamao back to the set." she answered sweetly.
"And then Anna called me to see Jeanne at the parking lot, where we meet her and Tamao and then told us that she knew a very nice way to get even with you guys."
"So that's why Jeanne and then you suddenly disappeared on the set!" said Lyserg.
"So you've had it all planned out" confirmed Yoh.
"You can say that," answered Anna, "Tamao's sudden appearance on the set looking half dead, the conversations that you've heard in the bathroom"
"You left your lapel open on purpose!" accused Chocolove.
"Yes of course"
"But how can you be so sure that everything will work out as you expected?" asked Ren.
"Good question, well it's called playing with the mind. Knowing how wild a human mind is, I plotted several evidence to lead you in what I want all of you to believe. With a little help of a camera to perfect the timing we played with your minds"
"Actually," Pirika chimed as she got inside the car and reached for the teddy bear at the front window and opened it to reveal a camera, "We've been filming you guys from the start, just for good laughs sake"
The boy's blushed both in anger and embarrassment
"What did you say again? Boys excel in fields that require thinking?" mocked Jeanne
"I believe that now, they do tend to over think" answered Tamao then burst out laughing again with Jeanne.
Anna played a recorded scream which made Ren turn ash white, "Guess somebody screamed like a girl!"
"It's not funny." remarked Manta
"So is being a sexist, as they say what goes around comes back around. Be nice to us if you don't want this video to circle the net" she then signaled the girls to go and leave the boys, who are shocked at what they've just heard.
"So nobody's dead" said Faust absentmindedly
"I can't believe it, we've freaked out for nothing!" lamented Horo-horo.
They all agreed and voiced out their protests; they even mapped out a plan to get back and was so absorbed when Yoh interrupted them.
"What?" they chorused.
"The car run out of gas, how are we going to get home?"
~majrocks~
Yay! After 30,000 years I've already had the time to write this, the longest one-shot that I've written. Just a crappy story that insist to be written, guess I really miss writing these days. I'm so sorry if I wasn't able to reply to some reviews because I'm really really busy.
By the way this is for my very good friend Sah who is a huge fan of SK.
I said to myself that I'll only upload this once I fully accepted what happened...
Guess I already did…
She'll always remain in our hearts.
~majrocks~
I'll love it if you leave a review... please don't forget to give one