Disclaimer: I stil don't own Shaman King or any of the Characters.

I really tried to keep everony in character in this one, but it was very difficult so I'm not sure that I succeeded.

Reviews and constructive criticism are appreciated

Anyway, here is chapter 4:

Uncomfortably calm

En in once again was filled with shamans. The whole crew was assembled around the dining table as had been custom ever since they had become friends.

The scene could have seemed the normalest in the world for this group of friends if it hadn't been for one thing: Yoh's smile. Or more precisely the nervous shivers it was giving everybody in the house. Nobody would have expected this to be the cause of uneasiness, all the more disturbing it seemed to be. Apart from the shock Yoh had shown the first moment when Anna's disappearance was discovered 3 months before, there had been no sign of sadness or worry, or anything for that matter, in his attitude.

He seemed as relaxed and as easy-going as one could get.

One week before this evening the oracle pager had announced the restart of the shaman tournament. The message had been holding date and place of a meeting and the order to enjoy the last days before the fights were starting again.

Not even this command had provoked any change in Yoh's behaviour.

Yoh was sitting at head of the table, grinning in his unmistakable manner while the rest of the gang was atypically silent. Everyone was walking on glass-shards to avoid Anna as a topic.

The last few weeks it had been easy to evade the topic, first Ren's and Horo's constant fights had entertained everyone more than enough, then Choco had appeared. Horo and Ren had then entertained everyone with beating Choco whenever there was occasion, meaning whenever he tried to tell a bad joke, meaning constantly.

Finally Faust appeared and even though his.. unorthodox theories on how to train and cure injuries were greeted with skepticism they kept the talk in safe waters.

Now however, there was nothing to talk about, the Shaman tournament would start tomorrow. Of course they knew what to expect, and of course they were confident about what was to come, but a hint of nervousness lingered. So everyone was hanging on to his own thoughts and absentmindedly eating.

Ren too was lost in deep thought but suddenly banged his fist on the table, making all glasses next to him hop of the table and spill their contents "I don't get it Yoh!" he exclaimed and looked towards his friends. Yoh looked up grinning sheepishly "Huh..? what..?" he asked through a mouth full of food.

All eyes were now on Ren, even Eliza had bothered to look away from Faust, Jun who was sitting next to her brother knitted her eyebrows and opened her mouth but was cut short by Ren. "Don't play any dumber than you are, Asakura. Your fianceé is gone, do you understand that? She's gone, and you are sitting here grinning like nothing ever happened, don't you care at all?"

The complete silence was proof, Ren had asked the question that had been burning itself into the souls of everybody in the room for the past few weeks.

Yoh blinked at his friend and grinned "Of course I miss her, but I really believe she is well and I'm sure she ha her reasons, I trust her you know." He started chewing again. "Besides, If she was kidnapped her room would look differently, Anna, isn't one to go down silently and why should someone take all her things with him?." He smiled at his friends who were shaking their heads.

"Nice reasoning Yoh, but what if someone kidnapped her and took her stuff to make them main parts of a new maniacal religion.." Horo started to illustrate his idea with elaborate gestures ".. and their believe is founded on the power of the all mighty householddragen.!" In shame Pirika hid her face behind the teenage magazine she was reading "You are embarrassing, brother, but seriously Yoh, you could be a lot more romantic, maybe she ran away with another man. You should be jealous or at least worried." Ryu was rubbing his chin thoughtfully and nodded, making his hair toll bob up and down "Yes Master Yoh, Pirika is right, but then again, master Yoh is proving the true love here, trusting no matter what." He said trying to sound philosophical. Yoh just grinned happily as always making everyone uncomfortable again.

Faust looked down at Eliza and smiled "But Anna would be indeed interesting to kidnap, her powers are pretty amazing, especially for her fragile body, a few tests on her body could mean a massive step for science, and if it was possible to check her furyoko.. the shamanic possibilities might prove incredible.. and her relationship with her things.. yes to check that and their association with her powers.. oh the possibilities..!" Faust's monologue was registered with blank stares and then collectively ignored."

Manta was sweating and laughing nervously,"Don't you think you are making this one too simple for yourself, Yoh?" "Nah, she is pretty strong, she'll get along." Yoh answered and started eating again, something about this gesture was final enough to end the conversation permanently. The evening ended in silence and the young shamans went to bed and soon were fast asleep.

Yoh and the Tao too appeared to sleep, but as soon as snoring was filling the room it was Yoh who stood up first and went out on the front porch. For Ren this was the signal to follow , and shortly after the Chinese was sitting next to his friend " Will you talk now Asakura?" "I don't even know the answer Ren." Yoh sighed. "I trust her, I really do, and I don't feel like she is in trouble, but Hao may still be out there, and in her current state.. I don't know what she might do to herself." "Why aren't you doing anything then?" Ren asked a lot more patiently than was typical for him. " The house spirits didn't notice a thing, no ghost in the whole city can give me even a hint of a direction, Tamao's Kokurri board is not responding either. She can be god knows where and probably does not even want to be found. What on earth should I do?" A slight tone of bitterness was contained in Yoh's voice. It was not compatible with his usual behaviour, but then again Ren had not believed for a second that Yoh's "typical behaviour" had been totally genuine for the past few weeks. "For a start you could stop playing happy. You are creeping out everyone, except Faust but he is no measure to go by.

Yoh laughed a bit, Ren couldn't help but notice that it sounded a litte hollow. "May I ask you something?" "With that you already did ask me, moron, but sure go ahead." Ren replied. "Do you think she is alright?" Ren starred for a moment and swallowed hard, he wasn't prepared for that. "Oh.. well, I don't know, I never knew her that good. But I guess you are right with her room.. and she really is pretty strong so.. I do guess she is alright.."

The smile Yoh gave him looked honest this time. "Thank you Ren". Ren suppressed his embarrassment and looked away "Just don't think too much of it. I don't like to be lied to and.." "I think I'll just watch the stairs for a bit." Yoh interrupted. Ren looked at him for a few seconds before he stood up wordlessly and went back to bed. Soon he was asleep next to his friends.

On the front porch Yoh was sitting and gazed at the same night sky Anna had to be under, somewhere.