Thunder: Well, let's hope this will be good enough…but I think it became too long… so what I did is shorten it, well…enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Shaman King and I don't own the masked boy's idea, it was inspired by willow of fire's story Yoh's Guardian, thank you very much for allowing me to use it!

Chapter 7

Invitations

It was just another nice and warm night in the forest, sitting against a tree trunk in front of the small camp fire with Shiro sitting across to him simply felt relaxing. After all, team Artiglio haven't showed themselves since the last time he encountered them and that was weeks ago.

Shiro leaned forwards and moved the burning bunch of small logs with another dry twig; it was silent, nothing but the sound of the dancing fire as it crackled and the soft music of nocturnal animals and insects, a peaceful night. The two of them sat like that for quite a while, chatting every now and then about daily stuff.

"Say, Shiro…how about you come over to our place this weekend, you have nothing else to do, right?" Yoh asked with his hands resting behind his back, looking at Shiro. The boy merely stared at the fire silently for a while and Yoh felt him thinking about it quite seriously from the glints that he could see through the eye slits of his mask thanks to the fire.

"I don't know, Yoh. I don't think…" He tried to make an excuse but Yoh cut him.

"Come on, you'll like my friends and it's about time that they meet you too. Why do you always refuse to meet anyone other than me?" Yoh asked curiously with his eyebrows furrowed.

"I don't think meeting anyone other than you is a good idea, there's always trouble wherever I go and sometimes I start…" He said and then slowly his volume decreased until he was just muttering to himself, progressively hugging his knees closer and closer to himself and then falling silent, his eyes never leaving the fire's flames. Yoh simply stared at him, trying to think of a way to convince his friend.

"You know my friends are just like me, they'll like you." Yoh tried again but Shiro kept silent, as if pondering over something.

"Please?" Yoh asked with a polite tone and Shiro sighed exasperatedly.

"Fine, I'll come and meet your friends." He mumbled. "But if something goes wrong then it's not my fault, okay?" He said as he raised both of his hands.

"Of course, I mean, what could possibly go wrong?" Yoh asked a bit confused.

"How should I know…?" He whispered to himself as he stood up to leave.

"So, tomorrow afternoon would be good?" Yoh asked tentatively.

"Yeah, I guess. Goodnight." He said and then walked away. Yoh simply stared at his retreating back.

OOOO

"I never thought I'd say this but, Ren is right, I don't think that masked dude of yours is going come today." Horo Horo said as he pushed another spoonful of his lunch into his mouth as they all sat on an outdoor table in front of the restaurant.

"Yeah, Yoh, we've been here many times and I've never seen a guy with your description." Manta said.

"Too bad, I really wanted to see him." Choco said, sounding a bit gloomy.

"I'm sure he'll come, besides, he won't be coming until afternoon." Yoh mumbled silently.

"Does he even know where the house is, Yoh-donno?" Amidamaru asked and Yoh simply stared into the open space in front of him.

"M-maybe?" He replied slowly.

"Hey, Yoh!" Someone yelled from the crowd and Yoh turned around to see who it was. The village was exceptionally crowded today, to the point that you can't walk around without brushing against someone's shoulder. The recent rumors that have been going around the place were most probably the reason for that, but what the rumors were, Yoh still had no clue.

From the crowd he saw three people emerge, a tall man with short black hair, wearing a very loose light blue shirt and loose beige pants. The other was also tall with brown hair and he was wearing an orange shirt with dark brown pants. The youngest of the three, who seemed somehow familiar, had red hair, wearing a light red, half sleeved collar shirt and blue jeans. Most importantly, they all seemed to have a scar on their faces.

"Do you know these guys, Yoh?" Horo Horo whispered in Yoh's ear as the three approached with happy grins.

"I don't think so…" Yoh replied, slowly shaking his head.

"Hi" The black haired guy said cheerfully with a warm smile. Yoh smiled and waved his hand awkwardly. The three of them stood in front of Yoh, a few minutes passed by…Yoh's friend's sweat dropped.

"What's wrong, Yoh? Couldn't you recognize us?" The guy with black hair asked with a smug look and the Italian accent hit Yoh like a brick in the head.

"ARTIGLIO!" He yelled out, instinctively jumping backwards, startling everyone else while the three team members simply giggled in amusement.

"What's up?" Miguel asked cheerfully with a bright expression on his face that Yoh had never seen before.

"Na, hallo! How could you not recognize me, Yoh?" Lazar asked with a look of disappointment on his face. Yoh simply put his hands in front of him in an effort of calming the boy down as he sweat dropped with a nervous giggle.

A few moments later…

"How come you're not wearing your masks?" Yoh asked after that they had all sat down on an even bigger table and all of them had ordered a cup of coffee.

"Well, we finally got the permission to. So we decided to come out here and try how it feels like and man! I don't even know how to describe it!" Adrian explained excitedly, his Italian accent annoying Ryo for some surprising reason.

"Ja, we can actually act more like ourselves now." Lazar added.

"You guys need permission to take off a mask?" Horo asked curiously but Miguel put his finger on his lips, telling him that they won't answer that question.

"May I ask how you all happen to have the same scar?" Ren asked nonchalantly after a few silent minutes. Everybody except team Artiglio whipped their heads and glared at Ren, the silent REN! was clear on everybody's face, but Ren simply shrugged them off.

"It's alright." Lazar said with a shrug.

"It represents us after all." Miguel started.

"You see, all three of us in team Artiglio own dragons and Artiglio itself means Talon. Each of us got this scar from our own dragon on a…certain day…in a certain unpleasant, event…" Adrian trailed off and glanced at Lazar, just in case, the boy was clearly biting his lip but Adrian ignored that and continued. "…Yeah that's just about it!" He said cheerfully while wearing a clear fake smile. The gang stared at him for a moment, not entirely believing his story but kept silent anyway.

"It doesn't make sense that your own dragon attacked you, it simply defies nature." Ren asked, still insistent on knowing more.

"Ren…" Yoh whispered but was met with a determined look from the yellow eyed boy.

"Well maybe because this event we were in wasn't natural at all." Lazar seethed through gritted teeth and then Adrian suddenly started laughing.

"Okay now, don't push it, Lazar." He said while patting and ruffling the younger's hair. Yoh was expecting Lazar to blow up in any second but to his surprise, the boy remained silent.

"So that's why you guys wear masks?" Yoh asked curiously since he had never seen the scar before, but Adrian shook his head.

"We don't really mind the scars." Miguel stated.

"We wear the masks for another reason." Adrian said.

"Which would be?" Horo Horo asked.

"None of your business." Lazar replied nonchalantly.

"I've never seen you guys in town in the first part of the tournament." Ryo asked suddenly.

"Ah, yes…you'll find out soon enough." Adrian said mysteriously.

"We should go." Miguel stated as he looked at his watch and the other two got up instantly.

"Going so soon?" Yoh asked politely and Adrian smiled.

"We have an appointment with someone today and if I may offer you any type of advice, stay away from our place as long as you can. Don't take it the wrong way, Yoh, but most likely, the next order will be to hunt you down...maybe. Bye-bye!" Adrian said and waved with a smile as he walked away, leaving behind a very stunned Yoh.

"They own dragons…" Choco said out of nowhere, his mouth open in awe.

"I'm going to die?" Yoh said silently, staring into the wall with a horrified expression.

"Oh give me a break." Red said with an annoyed tone, giving the boy a smack on the head.

"I see you're having fun, eh, Ren?" A certain person's voice said from the table next to theirs. Everyone knew who it was and turned to face him with an annoyed expression.

"What do you want, Hao?" Ren retorted angrily. Yoh stayed silent, not knowing what to say for now. Hao was sitting just in front of them, sipping from his cup of tea while surrounded by the rest of his remaining followers, Opacho, Luchist, the Hana-gumi girls and Turbine.

"Nothing, I'm just having fun listening in on your conversations." Hao said with an amused, smug smile. Ren simply balled his fists in anger but Yoh held him down.

"Hao if you need to say anything then just say it." He said it in a way that made it feel like he was tired of Hao's taunts, which wasn't too far away from the truth. Hao eyed him with a brief smile and then turned to sip from his tea.

"You're going to miss that friend of yours if you keep wasting time here." Hao said nonchalantly then turned to his followers, dismissing Yoh and his gang. Yoh's shoulders slumped but Hao was right, they had to go soon. There was this thing though, Yoh felt as if he had wanted to say something to Hao but he had completely forgotten what it was. Giving up on remembering, he got up and the gang followed.

OOOO

"Heeeello and good afternoon." Sora greeted the trio with a melodious tone.

"What do you want this time, Sora? But per favore make it quick." Adrian said.

"Oh, now, let me at least greet my little close friend." He said and suddenly appeared next to Lazar, ruffling his hair violently. Lazar freaked out and started thrashing about, shouting and cursing in his mother language until Sora let him go.

"Aww, I thought you'd at least miss me a little." Sora said in a disappointed, child-like tone.

"It seems you're in your prime today, Sora." Miguel pointed out and Sora nodded vigorously.

"The spirit that the organization's been after, Lugia, has been located. Actually I've located its current shaman only and he'll be arriving at any time at the younger twin's house! If the shaman is there then his spirit should be there too!" Sora announced excitedly, nearly jumping. The trio were baffled for a moment but then Sora broke their trance.

"Let's not waste time, it'll be interesting!" He said with a melodious tone in the end and then disappeared in a tiny cloud of mist.

"Unfortunately…I can't deny what he just said. This will be interesting." Lazar said with a maniac smile plastered on his face and rode on Asche then quickly flew over the valley they had just come through, the other two exchanged amused glances and followed suit.

OOOO

The small breeze was slowly taking more strength, turning from a simple breeze to a strong gust of wind and finally to a storm. But how will the events unravel in that sequence, not even Hao knows what the close future has in store for them all. He just sat on the cliff and watched the soft wind play with the ocean's waves.

Thunder: I'm glad I finished this; I hope it was good enough.

Ja: Yes (German)

Per Favore: Please (Italian)

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