Night: Hello there everyone~

Yoh & Yumi: Hi!

Night: Just so you all know, I'm getting a little impatient with the lack of reviews. I mean, I know for a fact that Venas was not the only person who read the last chapter and yet they were the only one to review! Please people, it isn't that hard to review someone elses work and, as motivated as I already am to write this story, I really like to know what people think of my story. So Review! I don't want to have to put a number on each chapter as to how many reviews I want before I'll update, but if I have to, I just might have to.

Yumi: -whispers- And if you think that the boss lady's kidding, you are dead wrong.

Yoh: -whispers- Yeah, what they said.

Night: So anyway, here's the next installment, as filler-y as it may be, it sets up the rest of the story.

Yoh & Yumi: Night doesn't own Shaman King.

Yumi: But she does own me and Ryoushiame. As wierd as that sounds.

Night: -pats Yumi on the head- But you love me for it! Enjoy people!~


With Zeke and Opacho

"HOW IN THE HELL DID SHE GET AWAY! SHE WAS UNCONSCIOUS!" the pyromaniac had gotten back to the camp late that night and had not been happy when his sister wasn't there. "Master Zeke, maybe Mistress Mayumi fell over the edge of the canyon? She was close to it when we left." Opacho spoke her opinion softly but confidently, Zeke wouldn't hurt her and she knew it. Walking over to the edge of the canyon Zeke could see where the woman had laid before the pair left in his mind's eye and calculated what it would have taken for her to fall. 'Not much in her state, dammit, if she fell and got hurt I would never forgive myself!' Zeke growled as he summoned the Spirit of Fire to investigate.

When the two got to the bottom of the canyon they found a considerable amount of dried human blood near the rock face, making the boy curse softly. After a moment the fire shaman found a steady trail of the same blood moving towards the exit of the canyon, signifying that Yumi had regained consciousness and was trying to get away. "Come on Opacho, we're going to find her and bring her back." Zeke spoke in a monotone as he began to walk at a brisk pace in the direction that the blood led him. Nodding happily the young girl easily kept up with him.

It didn't take long for the duo to reach the edge of the forest, much faster than it would have taken Mayumi; Zeke knew that much by the amount of blood that she had lost. Gritting his teeth in frustration with himself, the fire shaman continued to follow the blood trail until it came to an end at the base of a tree. Zeke didn't bother to check the treetops, if his sister still had the strength to climb up a tree there would have been a blood trail there as well, though the shaman knew that with the amount of blood that she had lost, it was a miracle that Yumi had made it this far. "Master Zeke, why does the trail end here?" Opacho questioned innocently. "Someone must have found her and bandaged her wounds before taking her away; the blood trail would have gone further otherwise." Zeke stated calmly, though he was fuming in his thoughts.

"Come on Opacho, it is useless to continue to stand here. We're re-joining the others." the fire shaman stated curtly, summoning the Spirit of Fire to take them back. 'Mark my words sister; this is not the last that you will hear of me, not by a long shot.' Zeke thought to himself, taking one last long look at the tree where his sister had rested hours before.

~SK~SK~SK~SK~SK~SK~SK~SK~

With Mikihisa

It had been a few hours since the man had found his daughter an inch from death and he was still very upset. Looking at the woman in his arms once more Mikihisa checked her health: nearly every bone on her left side had been broken, most of the bones on her right were either stressed or fractured, and her body was covered in gashes that had ceased bleeding once he bound them. 'What on Earth happened to you my daughter? I had hoped that it would have been on better terms that we reunited.' the masked man sighed through his mask as he made his way to his base.

Less than ten minutes later Mikihisa was setting Mayumi onto the couch in his temporary American home and gathering the limited medical supplies that he had in stock. The man was not a trained medic but he knew the basics and he hoped profoundly that those skills would be enough to help make his daughter comfortable until he could get a professional to take a look at her. Mikihisa removed the crude bandages that he had come up with when he first found his daughter and replaced them with the white cloth inside of his first aid kit, cleaning out the gashes as best he could as he went along. As he redressed Yumi's wounds the father realized that he would have to re-break some of her bones in order for them to heal correctly, namely her left leg, which was nearly completely shattered. Mikihisa also realized that he would have to put both of her dislocated shoulders back in place while she was unconscious.

Taking a deep breath the man set to work on his daughter's bones, not failing to notice the grimaces that furthered the pained expression on Mayumi's face. Thankfully the woman did not wake as her shoulders were put back into place and her bones were re-broken, and Mikihisa was eternally grateful of that small fact. Stepping back at last the man noticed the small rays of light coming from the east; he had worked on his daughter's condition through the remainder of the night and only then did he realize his exhaustion. 'Mayumi has strengthened significantly since she left us three years ago, the girl that left my home then would not have survived this. I'm going to have to keep my eyes on her even after she wakes up. She may not even continue in the Tournament.' Mikihisa thought to himself as he retrieved the sleeping mat from his room and moved it to where his daughter currently rested.

Setting the futon on the floor so that he had a clear view of his daughter and would know if she woke, the man went to sleep for the remainder of the day.

~SK~SK~SK~SK~SK~SK~SK~SK~

It had been three days since Mikihisa fixed Mayumi's bones before she showed signs of waking. At the time that she did wake her father was nowhere in sight, having gone to check-up on Zeke and Yoh's group. The boys had just lost Lyserg to the X-Laws the night before and were currently asleep on the outskirts of a town in the direction that they had been headed due to the green-haired shaman's dousing ability. Zeke was once again separated from his followers with Opacho to check up on his twin brother and to see if he could locate his elder sister. Anna and Morty were on their way to America with the Tome of the Shaman in their possession, Faust was also accompanying them.

The sun was just peeking through the window of Mikihisa's living room, its rays falling onto the face of Mayumi Asakura. Most of her minor wounds had completely healed while the major gashes were scaring up and her broken bones were healing nicely so she wasn't in much pain at the moment. Thought that was also due to the fact that her father had forced pain pills down her throat with the liquefied food he had been feeding her for the past three days. However much her health was improving, she didn't have a very good chance of competing in the Shaman Tournament at the level that she had been at before.

Moments after the first rays hit her eyes, Yumi began to squint and groan in pain and tiredness. Eyes slitting open just enough to examine her surroundings, the woman found herself clothed in unfamiliar garments, covered with a light blanket, lying on an unfamiliar couch, in an unfamiliar room, and in an unfamiliar house. Scanning the room Yumi spotted her father's female guardian spirit, Imari, curled up by the doorframe dosing off. "Imari?" it sickened the woman to know that the weak-sounding straggly voice was hers, only furthering to define her weakened state. The white-and-red fox perked up at her master's daughter's voice and trotted over to the couch in order to check the woman over. "You shouldn't move or speak too much Mistress Mayumi, save your strength for healing yourself. Master Mikihisa, your father, is out checking on Yoh and his friends along with Zeke. If you want you can wait until he returns to tell what happened to you." Imari had always had a soft spot for Yumi.

"I will wait. Please wake me when he returns Imari, he needs to know what happened." Yumi's voice was weak and she had to pause to catch her breath often even for how little she spoke. "Of course Mistress, now please rest. I will be here to watch over you until your father returns." the fox's voice calmed the shaman into falling back into a deep sleep. 'She works herself so hard.' Imari shook her head before walking back to her previous position, except this time she was going to stay away in case Mikihisa and Shigaraki got back or if Mayumi woke up again.

Why was she on guard duty again?

'All because Shigaraki said that he was a better fighter, not a better guard. That bastard just wanted to get out of the house instead of guarding the Mistress. Lazy ass.' the kitsune thought bitterly as she curled back up by the doorframe.

It was another half hour before Mikihisa and Shigaraki returned home to find Yumi still sound asleep and Imari curled up next to the doorframe feigning sleep. "How is she Imari?" the masked man asked in a hushed tone, keeping his unseen eyes on the woman sleeping soundly on his couch. "She woke for a few minutes, though she went right back to sleep after she saw me. She wanted me to wake her once you returned so that she could tell you what happened. Mistress Mayumi made it clear that you need to know what happened." the fox spirit stated as she uncurled and walked over to the sleeping woman. "No, let her sleep. I will wake her when her food is ready." Mikihisa whispered before the fox could touch his daughter. "Very well." Imari responded as she went over to her corner and disappeared to get some well-deserved rest.

"Let me know if Mayumi wakes before I get back, but do not wake her, she needs her rest." the father ordered his raccoon spirit, Shigaraki, before walking into the kitchen. Grumbling something under his breath the raccoon spirit sat across from the couch where Mayumi was resting peacefully. 'That girl, no, woman sure got herself into a pickle this time. I wonder what really happened to her.' Shigaraki thought to himself as the smell of Mikihisa cooking reached his sensitive nostrils.

The man had decided to prepare solid food for his daughter today since she had already woken up and spoken to Imari. After careful consideration, Mikihisa had begun to make one of the woman's favorite childhood breakfasts; blueberry pancakes with peanut butter, strawberries, and maple syrup. The masked shaman had time to think about how much his daughter had grown up since she had left his home three years before, how she and Yoh had both grown up so fast. 'It seems like just yesterday that Yumi stopped Yoh's crying on his first birthday, but in reality it has been twelve years. Even worse, those two hold the weight of the world on their shoulders with Zeke returning for the Shaman Tournament.' Mikihisa thought grimly as he finished preparing his daughter's breakfast. Just as he was about to head out to the living room, Shigaraki was standing in the doorway informing him that Yumi was waking up again.

A minute later the young woman was awake and eating her food with a newfound passion. Well, as much as she could with her body in the condition that it was in. After she was halfway through with her food Yumi stopped eating and looked at her father, leaning back into the soft couch to ease her sore body. "What happened to you my daughter? I thought that you were going to die." to anyone else the father's voice would seem to be unemotional and careless, but the woman knew that her father wasn't very good with conveying his emotions. "I'll use the short-and-sweet version instead of the long version. I was traveling with the boys through the mountains, we had a confrontation with Zeke, he attacked one of the boys, and I jumped in front of the attack and got captured. I woke up three days later to find myself alone with Zeke and Opacho on the edge of a canyon, refused his offer to join him, got knocked out before he left, somehow fell over the edge of the canyon, woke up just as my left side hit the ground, walked out of the canyon, found you." Mayumi kept her sentences brief and to the point since she was still very weak and needed to conserve her energy.

"I see, can I assume that Zeke knows who you really are?" Mikihisa asked carefully after a few moments of letting the information sink in. Yumi's red bangs covered her eyes completely, partially blocking the pained expression on the woman's face and completely hiding the tears that threatened to fall from her eyes. "Yes. He knows." the woman's voice was very quiet when she spoke, both because of the physical and emotional pain that she was going through. Her father sighed, they had known that Zeke would probably figure out the truth sooner than later, but he had never wanted his daughter to be found out by the madman.

No, he had never wanted her to get hurt like this, not in infinite lifetimes would he ever want to see his darling baby girl hurt like this.

'Zeke, I will make you pay for what you have done to my family. I will not have you harming my children like this anymore. When the opportunity arises, I will finish what Yohmei started the night that you were born.' Mikihisa's determined look was lost beneath his mask as the first tears escaped the eyes of his eldest child and only daughter.

It's been three days since I was able to get away from Zeke, and six days since I've seen the boys. I hope that they're pulling through alright, but knowing Yoh he'd want to come after me. The other boys must have talked some sense into him otherwise this would be a completely different situation. Ryoushiame should be holding up, we thought that something like this might happen and we decided that he would stay with the boys if I was captured. That doesn't make it any easier though. Why the hell did I have to fall of a freaking cliff again? Stupid Zeke, of all places to camp out you pick the side of a freaking canyon and leave me unconscious on the edge while you go and pay my baby brother a visit! I'll knock some sense into him next time. Well, time for me to hit the hay, I'm still pretty weak and I need my sleep. Stay strong little brother, I'm safe now, and I'll see you again soon. I promise.


Night: Dun, dun, duuuuuunnnnnnnnnn...

Yoh: What does that mean? What does Zeke know that we don't!

Yumi: -has ducktape over her mouth-

Yoh: WHY DOES SHE HAVE DUCKTAPE OVER HER MOUTH!

Night: So she doesn't spill any of her secrets just yet! -happy face-

Yumi: -glares at Night-

Night: Don't forget to review people! Hit that little button and send me your feedback!~

Yoh: Review!

Yumi: -tries to say 'review' but is muffled by the ducktape-