Disclaimer: If Shaman King were mine, I wouldn't need to write fanfics.

Background music: our lawyer made us change the name of this song so we didn't get sued - FOB

Not another school story, you say! Please, spare us! I would love to, but my invisible writing stalker won't let me! I promise I will skip over the dramatic shonen-ai shojo version, since I know probably no guys would actually do that, but there will shonen-ai! Pairings are still up in the air, but please know the love square before flaming me. The pairings I suggest may or may not be there in the end. And yes, there will be an end!

Chapter 9 – All Teenage Hopes

Keiko looked up as the door to her office opened. Mikihisa stepped in, wearing the dress shirt his wore on their date about a week ago and a pair of jeans. She looked back down at the firm papers and tried to convince herself that he was just here to check up on her. It wasn't as if he was thinking about her 24/7.

Because she wasn't doing that. No way.

"Your office is pretty organized, Keiko." Mikihisa looked around at the shelves of carefully categorized books. The pictures on the walls were hung with precision and care. The coffee table had a peaceful looking fountain on it, the water bubbling as it trickled down the sides of the dome-shaped fountain. The large window behind Keiko provided most of the light in the office.

"Well, I do what I can," Keiko muttered. Her desk was messier than her office: papers were scattered everywhere, one stack being kept in order by the opal paperweight Yoh had given her when he was twelve. Her computer had sticky notes stuck all over it, looking like it was being overcome by yellow sheets of paper. "What did you come here for?"

"Kimi said I should." Keiko looked up. "Well, I figured I'd meet up with you for lunch. After all, we're trying this out again, aren't we?"

"Yeah…I would love to go out to lunch with you today, but I really have a deadline to make, and I'm sorry. I have to stay in."

"Oh, that's okay. We can order in."

"No…I was actually thinking of actually…not eating. I really need to finish this."

Mikihisa frowned. "Not eating is bad. Can I get something for you instead?"

Keiko looked up. Concern was written all over his face and she sighed. She couldn't turn that away. "Alright. I'll let you play delivery boy."

"Great. Kimi had planned for all three of us to go to lunch together, but since you're staying here, I guess we'll just get something for you."

Keiko stopped writing. "You're going out with Kimi?"

"She said she could show me around. You know, since I'm new here." Mikihisa shrugged. "She's such a nice person. You're lucky she works for you."

"Uh-huh…" Keiko wished she could go, to keep an eye on them, but this was more important. Besides, she could trust Mikihisa, couldn't she?

"Well…have fun," she said slowly. "Pick me up a little something. It doesn't matter what."

"Alright. We'll be back." He walked out the door and Keiko could hear them talking, since Mikihisa hadn't bothered to close the door behind him.

"She said she was busy."

"Did she now? She seemed free to me." Keiko frowned. She had told Kimi she was swamped that morning. "Well, are we still going?"

"Yeah. We're picking something up for her, though. That okay?"

"Oh, it's fine! Completely fine." There was a quick bustling of fabric. "Shall we go now?"

"That would be nice." Keiko heard sounds of footsteps and friendly conversation before it was drowned out by other office noises. She was already getting second thoughts.

"Yoh."

Yoh jolted up, realizing for the first time that he had fallen asleep. That was probably…what…the fifteenth time in history that he'd fallen asleep? He rubbed his eyes, realizing there were probably lines on his face where his penciled notes had left a mark.

"Oh, shit, Lyserg, how long have I been asleep?"

"Oh, probably twenty minutes. Mr. Matamune decided it would be useless to wake you." Mr. Matamune was the history teacher who resembled a cat. A historic cat. He liked to smoke pipes and read old school literature that would keep the normal being asleep for weeks. Not only that, he was the kind of teacher that caught you passing notes even before you folded up the piece of paper.

"Damn." Yoh quickly stuffed his notes and books into his bookbag, realizing the class was now deserted. Lyserg was the only person who waited for him, his arm resting on his worn out carrier bag, probably bought in England.

"Come on, Yoh. We'll be late for art."

"Where's Horo and Ren? And Hao?"

"Hao has math now and Ren wanted to stay behind to wait, but I told him to go with Horo to tell Eliza that we were going to be a bit late." The art teacher, Ms. Eliza Faust, was a beautiful blonde who was quiet but actually pretty good at her profession. She was pretty lenient in her class, allowing the students to talk ("Art is beautiful when you are free to open your mind…that includes also opening your mouth…) and any random splash of color or lines would be considered for an A ("Sometimes, even abstract art that makes no sense is beautiful in its own way…"). She was married to the school nurse (or doctor as he liked to be called), Dr. Faust. Ironically, Faust also taught AP Anatomy.

Manta Oyamada, who was only a sophomore as well, was in most, if not all, of the AP and Honors classes. The shortie was terrified to go to AP Anatomy though, and would try to find ways to escape.

Let him tell you that running as fast as your little legs can carry you out onto campus is a pretty bad way. Especially if the teacher in question can roll a mean wheelchair and catch up with you.

"Why wouldn't you want to go? You usually don't bother with me." Yoh slung his bookbag over his shoulder and followed Lyserg out of the classroom. "That one time back in freshman year…remember when I slept through sixth period all because you refused to wake me even though you had the same class? And then they said I skipped it on purpose to go smoking on campus…"

"First of all, it was your fault you decided to sleep near the campus smokers. I told you it was a bad idea to sleep in the area near where Ryu and Kanna hang out." Ryu and Kanna were two juniors who were notorious for sneaking smokes during lunch period. They weren't friends in the hallways, but once they were outside in their little secret designated spot, they could just smoke for hours on end.

"Secondly…well, I really don't have a second reason. Just be glad I did wake you, alright?"

"Gosh Lyserg, that's so very nice of you."

"I am nice. What are you talking about?"

"I don't know. You're usually full of sarcasm and you insult me constantly even though we're best friends."

"Alright, you got me," Lyserg said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "I thought if I was nice to you, you'd stop stalking me."

Yoh pouted. "I told you, it was a one time thing!"

"Well, I guess I can't complain. I mean, I look so good." Lyserg was well aware of the fact that he could get anyone he wanted with his looks, boy, girl, whatever, and he flaunted his ability. Yoh remembered when Lyserg used to be a shy boy who hadn't gone through puberty. Now that he was, it was a bit like a good girl gone bad.

Um, boy. Good boy gone bad.

Oh god, he was getting freaky images now.

"Yoh, stop zoning out on me now." Yoh blinked and saw Lyserg staring at him with a concerned expression. They had stopped in the middle of the hallway. "I swear you're zoning out a lot more lately. Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing."

Lyserg bit his lip (cutely, Yoh added in his mind), looking even more worried. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, everything's fine." Yoh prayed Lyserg would stop looking at him. I swore the greenette's eyes could see through him sometimes. He gulped as Lyserg stared at him for a moment more before turning away. "Well, if you say so…"

Art was a riot. For that reason, Eliza had asked the principal, Mr. Silva, to soundproof the art room. Silva, who was a reasonable man, found no reason to do so ("I mean, if you asked to soundproof the choir classroom, I'd understand…what, with those screechy voices…but an art class room?"). After Faust had asked to speak to Silva privately though, oddly enough, the principal agreed. No one knew what Faust had said, but after that, Silva had been seen going to see the school psychiatrist, Marco. Marco was the school psychiatrist, but not many kids actually went to see him. Maybe it was because of the fact that he was constantly coughing and was always wearing a mask over his mouth, making him look like quite the creeper walking down the hallway. Ryu didn't seem to have a problem with him, along with strangely enough, Lyserg. Although Yoh made sure his friend saw as little as that potential creeper as possible.

Although there were many rumors that he and the French teacher, Jeanne, were seeing each other. Then again, Jeanne was maybe about…ten years younger and looked fifteen years younger than she actually was. Many parents were surprised to see such a baby-faced teacher teaching their kids French.

But her detentions could be murder…

That aside, Yoh and Lyserg entered the art classroom and both calmly avoided a paper airplane flying across the room and went up to the only table with two chairs empty. Horo and Ren were currently working on today's assignment, which happened to be water colors. Horo was a water fanatic (not only did he play basketball and ran track, he was a pretty good swimmer) and didn't quite understand why paint needed water.

"I mean, if they have liquid paints, then why would they need chalky paints?" he was asking as Yoh and Lyserg slid into the vacant seats, Yoh next to Ren and Lyserg next to Horo. Ren smiled a bit as he noticed the well known slacker sitting next to him and this seemed to affect his mood. "I don't know, Horo. Why don't you go ask the people who made it?" This instead of "Shut up and shove the paints up your

"What are we supposed to be painting?" interrupted Yoh, noticing Lyserg getting comfortable next to Horo. The tables in the art room sat four people, two people facing the other two. And if he wasn't mistaken, Lyserg was scooting his chair next to Horo's…a lot more than intended.

"That's a really cute unicorn, Horokeu."

"It's a snowman, Lyserg."

Lyserg smiled unabashedly. "Whatever, it's still cute. I couldn't tell cause you had a pond on your paper."

Resting on top of the pigment, there was indeed a pond on Horo's piece of paper. Really, throw on a few minute lily pads and a few cattails and some ducks might fly down and swim in it.

Lyserg turned to Ren's picture, which happened to be full of dark bold colors. "That's…are those headphones?"

"Yeah," Ren said, blushing slightly. He felt Yoh scoot closer to get a better look and blushed even more.

"Are those supposed to be mine?" Yoh asked, noticing the familiar orange headphones captured on paper. "That's really good, Ren."

"You can have it when it's done," Ren blurted, feeling flustered already.

Yoh looked at him before a wide grin spread across his face. "Really? That's great. I'd love it."

Ren blushed even harder.

"Hey, that's a great color, Ren. Do you think I could capture your blush on paper?" Lyserg teased. He, along with Horo and Hao, knew of Ren's crush on Yoh and liked to torture him about it. Of course knowing this, Lyserg also knew Horo liked Ren (okay, the rustling in the bushes during eighth grade graduation was him… okay?!), but the greenette remained convinced he could change that.

"Shut up, slut," Ren hissed.

"Hey, don't call him that," Yoh defended. Lyserg looked at him interestedly as he continued. "Lyserg's not a slut."

"You'd know Yoh," Horo said, swirling his paintbrush in his pond. "You stalk him." He and Lyserg burst out laughing, causing Yoh to start blushing as well.

"Now who's blush should I try painting?" Lyserg mused out loud. "Yoh's subtle pink or Ren's blood red?"

Ren twitched and in one smooth movement, grabbed his container of colored water and threw it on Lyserg. Lyserg sat there, looking surprised as a mixture of reds, blues, oranges, blacks started soaking themselves in his white uniform shirt and drenching his hair. Everyone in the class turned to look and there were a few wolf whistles and a round of applause.

"Ren!" Lyserg cried, trying to quickly dry himself off. His shirt was coming out to be quite the rainbow. Yoh turned away, realizing Lyserg's shirt was wet enough to be see-through, revealing his lanky figure. Horo had gotten up and helpfully gotten paper towels, glaring at Ren. "Ren, we don't waste water."

"Sorry, it was a slip of the hand," Ren said absentmindedly, using Horo's pond to continue his picture. Yoh ignored him, feeling a little jealous that it was Horo helping Lyserg dry off.

"Thanks," Lyserg breathed, as Horo slid his tie off to squeeze the water out of the soaked aqua fabric. He ignored the looks of the girls (and some guys) as he striped the soaking wet shirt off of him and Eliza quickly went up to him with a paint smattered smock that the little kids wore during art class. Lyserg slipped it on, looking like a little kid already. He looked at Yoh's face, which was turned away and pretty red, and smirked.

"Did you want that for your collection?" he asked, laughing as Yoh pretended not to have heard him. "Yoh, you know I love you."

Ren rolled his eyes. "Lyserg, you say that to everyone that it's lost its meaning."

"I guess." Lyserg looked down at himself as everyone started going back to their own projects. "I look like a little kid."

"A cute little kid," Horo chuckled, rubbing Lyserg's slightly drying hair. Lyserg smiled at him, looking grateful as he wrung out his shirt.

"I'm glad you think so," Lyserg said slowly. Before he could say anything else though, he was assaulted by what looked like a comet that suddenly whizzed into the room.

"Lyserg, cutie, looking so wet and sexy!" sang Hao, who was hugging Lyserg so hard that he had lifted the said victim off the ground. "I managed to sneak out of math early to see you !"

"That's great and everything, now put me down!"

"I swear that brother of yours is from another world," Ren muttered as Horo sat down across from him again, after just cleaning up the mess. Yoh laughed.

"Twins are usually demented," he said helpfully. He was starting to draw random lines across his paper, hoping they would somehow turn out to be a beautiful Monet. Ren glanced at it and scoffed. "Yoh, you're such an artist."

"Then help me, o art genius."

"Gladly." Ren scooted over to Yoh, getting all close and personal. "First of all, connect these two lines." Ren pointed to two lines as Yoh started following his instructions. The Tao wondered why he was feeling so strange and tried to ignore Horo staring at him.

"Can you stop staring at me?" he demanded, as Lyserg continued to struggle in Hao's grasp, his pleas of "A little help here?" gone ignored by everyone in the class. Eliza didn't seem to have noticed someone had entered her class. Yoh looked up, looking at Horo with a confused expression.

"I'm not staring at you," Horo said calmly. "Getting a little self centered, aren't we?"

"Don't make me throw this water on you." ("Um…Yoh? Ren? Horo? Get off me, Hao!")

"I wouldn't mind." ("Hey! Get your hand off there!" Insert slapping sound)

"Oh, of course you wouldn't. I should have known." Ren stared daggers at Horo. Yoh sighed and decided to help Lyserg. Ren didn't seem to have noticed and was staring Horo down. He started getting a little annoyed as the Usui suddenly started smiling.

"What are you smiling about?" Ren demanded.

"I'm pissing you off by doing nothing." Horo sat back. "You're so high strung, Ren."

"I am NOT high strung!" Ren stood up suddenly, his seat skidding back a few inches. Horo raised his eyebrow.

"What? Going to let me have it?"

"Damn straight."

"Then come on. Give it to me." Horo gave Ren a smirk and beckoned him closer.

Ren blushed as he realized what Horo had said. He blushed even more realizing it was probably him who was getting dirty thoughts and Horo hadn't meant it the way it sounded. He was instantly saved by the bell and at that moment, Hao had let go of Lyserg, dropping the boy onto the ground.

"Ow! Damn you, Hao!"

"That's right. Damn me. Fuck me."

"Yeah, fuck y--…wait, no! Shut up!"

Yoh helped his pissed off friend up off the ground as Eliza went around collecting the papers on the tables, as students started filing out. She arrived at their table, looking at Ren's picture, which actually resembled something. Yoh's paper had random colored lines stretching across it, Horo's pond had become a puddle blurring his badly painted snowman, and Lyserg's paper was just a strange blob of color, as the water Ren threw at him had soaked on his paper as well. She looked up. Ren was looking at her with an embarrassed look on his face, facing Horo, who looked smug. Hao was standing there looking blank, next to Lyserg who was being soothed by Yoh.

"Well, was this art class productive to you?" Eliza asked.

"Yes," all five of them answered at the same time. (Although Hao wasn't technically in the class…)

"Then I'm glad. You all pass today." Eliza scooped up their 'works of art' and continued collecting papers.

They said Eliza was almost the same as a corpse: beautiful yet emotionless. Some had even speculated that she was a kind of 'Frankenstein' that Faust had resurrected.

But they were only rumors. Rumors that…weren't true. Yeah, not true at all.

---

Note: I apologize for semi-bashing Marco. I'm not a big fan of his. Next chapter reveals a little more of everyone we know. The title is a line from the song 1234 from Feist.

TRIPLE RELEASE! OH GOSH!