Disclaimer: The usual; I don't own Shaman King, blah, blah, blah.
WOW!! Bin awhile, eh?! I got caught up in my other stories and forgot my plan for finishing this one! But…HERE IT IS!!! THE CLIMAX!! There's one last chapter after this, but this is the main climax of the story. I just hope you guys can forgive me for taking so damn long in updating.
On with the story!
Chapter 10
Yoh and Anna sat in the waiting room of the hospital. Yoh frowned. He'd never been alright with hospitals: the smell, the food, and the WAITING!
But hey, at least I'm not dead.
He looked over to Anna, and she looked back. Practically reading his mind, she gave him a peck on the cheek.
"So, how's life?"
Yoh chuckled. "Not half bad." He extended his hand over to her, and they intertwined their fingers. Anna missed this. She worried that she would never be able to hold her husband again. But he was back.
The nurse walked into the waiting room. "Asakura?"
Anna stood up for her husband. "He could use a wheelchair, if you don't mind."
The nurse smiled and signaled for a chair. "Is he suffering from a leg injury?"
Anna shook her head. "No. He's just lazy."
Puzzled, the nurse looked over to Yoh. He shrugged. "It's true. I am." Sighing, she brought him the chair, and Yoh hoisted himself into it. The nurse leaned down to him. "Would you like your friend here to take you to admitting?"
Anna coughed. "I happen to be his wife, thank you."
The nurse looked up in shock. "Aren't you like, 18?"
"17, thank you for asking."
As the nurse stood there stupefied, Anna wheeled Yoh over to admitting. "He could use about two or three days of bed rest, under observation, and a vitamin/mineral IV drip." The attending shrugged. "You're the boss."
-4 hours later-
Yoh yawned after his sleep, and lay back in his bed, in his private room. Having a little money really helps at times. He looked out at the sunset through his window, then turned his head to his wife, sitting at his bedside. Could you BE anymore beautiful?
Yoh stretched. "Well, you don't have to worry about me, Anna. I just gotta get some strength back. I know you've got stuff to do, so don't stay on account of me, okay?"
Anna smiled. She knew her husband didn't want to keep her. Plus, she hated hospitals as much as he did. And she did have a lot of excess spirit energy to clean up at the spot where Yoh died. Leave that for too long, and people will start asking questions.
She nodded and stood up. "Don't worry. I'll only be out for an hour. I'll do a clean up, and take a shower."
Yoh smiled. "Don't be long." They exchanged a mutual kiss before she walked out of the room. Yoh smiled, still feeling the warmth of her lips and the smell of her hair as he leaned back and grabbed the remote. "Alrighty, let's see what's on hospital TV."
…
Anna rolled up her spirit beads and placed them back over her neck as she finished cleaning up the sparse furioku. Sighing, she smiled and walked back towards their house, eagerly anticipating a shower and clothes change. Unlocking the door, she leaned back, breathing in the air of what was now officially a family home for her and Yoh. It was THEIR house. It was home. Officially in good spirits, she quickly stripped down and walked into the hot shower. She closed her eyes, letting the hot water run down her body, letting the stress of almost loosing Yoh wash away. About ten minuets later, she turned the taps off and stepped out of the shower. The bathroom was still filled with steam, so she struggled to find the towel she had set down. Finally her fingers found the towel.
It was three feet up, in the middle of the bathroom.
The towel bar was on the wall.
She screamed and whipped up her arms, letting the towel fall to the ground as she threw up a furioku shield around herself. With a flick of her wrist, she cleared the steam from the room with a blast of energy. Standing not even three feet away, holding the towel out to her, was Hao.
"WHY DO YOU NEVER DIE?!!"
Hao shrugged. "It just doesn't seem to take." He looked down at her nude form, still wet. With the steam now gone, the room had a chill, causing Anna's nipples to grow firm. He smiled. "I can see why Yoh's so passionate about you. When he partially bonded to me, I could feel that passion he feels for you. And I still can."
Anna's hands were occupied, keeping the shield up, so she couldn't cover herself. She didn't care. She was strong, and wouldn't let a lack of covering stand in her way.
"Hey, pervert. My eyes are up here."
Hao laughed. "Well, Yoh's left my soul in a bit of a crippled state. I can't manipulate it anymore, so I can't try my little trick again. But I can still try to get Yoh to bind with me. And this time, you get to play a vital role, Miss. Kyoyama."
"I've told you before, its Mrs. Asakura."
"Of course, my mistake. Now, if you would be so kind…"
With a casual motion, Hao blasted apart her shield and grabbed her, binding her with furioku so she couldn't move. She screamed. He didn't care. With another motion, he blasted the ceiling open, large enough for the Spirit of Fire to appear. Hao leapt onto it, carrying Anna over his shoulder. They flew a short distance, to a large house just two blocks away. The Spirit of Fire dissipated, and Hao leaped through an open window into the master bedroom.
He set Anna, still nude and immobile, onto the bed. Stepping back, he smiled and spread out his arms. "Welcome to my abode. Charming, elegant, a real good find. Cost me a bundle too. Man, I can't BELIEVE the price of housing these days."
Anna spat. "Go to hell. And by the way, you're small talk isn't charming."
Hao's smile changed from mock hospitality to cold malice and anticipation. "You were always the charmer, Anna. It's a pity you'll never get to use those charms on Yoh. Because you're all mine now."
Anna grew cold. "You sick bastard."
He shrugged. "I try. Now, because it seems to be the right moment for a little climactic monologue, I think I'll divulge my plan to you. Out of common courtesy," and he bowed in mock consideration. "Now, try to keep up.
I intend to fake your death, which needless to say will shatter dear Yoh, and I'll let him grieve for awhile, go through some depression or whatever, then I'll come to him. Say that since she brought you back, you can do the same for her. And only I have the knowledge he needs. So in exchange for him binding to me, I'll bring you back. And everyone wins."
Anna scoffed. "Yoh'll never fall for it. He knows I won't die easily."
Hao leaned in. "Not if I tell him that I killed you. I bet that's a little more plausible."
She froze. That would work on Yoh. "You're sick."
Hao grinned. "Oh, you think I'm sick now?" He removed his poncho, his gloves, and his pants. Anna broke out in cold sweat.
"Just wait. I'm gonna be a whole lot less likeable in half an hour." He laughed like a maniac. "But Hell! Who knows, you may even prefer me to Yoh."
"YOU SICK FUCK!! DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH ME!!"
Hao climbed onto her. "Try stop me."
…
Back at the hospital, Yoh grew worried. It had already been three hours. Unless Anna had some surprise planned, there was something wrong. Can't hurt to call. He reached over and grabbed the bedside phone and dialed home. Within a few rings, he got the answering machine. He hung up and tried again. Same thing. On the third time he left a message and hung up. He called her cell. It was off. He leaned back, worried. I'll give her 20 minuets, then I'm going out for her.
…
Hao stood up from the bed, chuckling as his slid his pants back on. Still lying on the bed, Anna sobbed. She continued to sob uncontrollably as Hao got redressed and picked up Anna's headscarf. "Good thing I grabbed this on our way out, eh? Saves me from cutting off your finger or ear to show Yoh."
Anna continued to cry. "Well, I can't have you scarred. Because, of course, you belong to me now. And I intent to make real good use of you while I have you. So don't think this is over yet."
Anna paused in her sobs to stare up at Hao in pure hatred. "I hope Yoh kills you. Permanently."
Hao stepped over to the window, summoning the Spirit of Fire. "Anna, we both know Yoh won't have the guts to kill me in cold blood. Not when I can 'save you.'" And laughing, he flew away, leaving Anna violated and forever shattered. Yoh, I'm so sorry.
…
"Anna! Anna! Where are you?!" Yoh drove in his car, leaning out the window, driving near all of Anna's possible stops: the theater, the church, the mall, even the grocery store. Nothing. Not even a trace of her furioku anywhere. "Anna! ANNA!!"
He turned a corner, and froze. Standing on top of a light post was Hao. Yoh didn't even break stride. He sent a blast of energy through the roof and leapt out ten feet in the air, landing on an adjacent post, letting his car roll to a stop. "Fuck all, do you ever stay dead?!"
Hao laughed out loud. "Yep, you and her were made for each other."
"Her?! WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO HER?!?!"
Hao sighed. "It's sad what you make me do to get you, Yoh. I'm sorry to say you pushed me rather far this time."
It a flash, Yoh vanished and reappeared behind Hao, sword drawn and pointed against his throat. "What the hell did you do?"
Hao sighed. "I'm sorry Yoh." Reaching into his pocket, he drew out Anna's scarf. Yoh froze. Time slowed down. The moments between his heartbeats went on for hours. He couldn't believe it. Him holding Anna's scarf could only mean one, shattering truth.
Yoh dropped the sword and fell off the post to the pavement. His butt hurt from impact. He didn't care.
Hao turned. "You see what you drove me to? But, there's still a chance to rectify your mistake."
Yoh looked up. Hao smiled internally. Gotcha. "I know how to bring her back. The same way she brought you back. All I ask in return is for you to again bind with me. So we can become complete. So we can accomplish our destiny as one."
Yoh stood up. He slowly walked over to his sword and picked it up, sheathed it, set it down, and kicked it away. Turning back to Hao, he looked up.
"We can be great, Yoh."
Yoh spoke softly first, and Hao saw Amidamaru fuse with Yoh. Then Yoh looked straight into Hao's eyes.
"Do you really expect me to let you live after you killed my wife?"
Hao smiled. "Yoh, you can't kill me anyway."
"WANA BET?!"
Yoh flew straight at Hao so fast that he couldn't move out of the way, so he rose his arms to block. Yoh punched straight into Hao's arms blocking his chest. And broke them. The bones shattered and splintered through the skin. Hao screamed in pain. Yoh was already moving again. He hammered his fists, arms, and legs into Hao's body. Hao couldn't keep up. Any block was destroyed. Any furioku was shattered. Any dodge was intercepted.
Yoh screamed as he pummeled Hao. "YOU WONDERING WHY I PUT DOWN THE SWORD?! BECAUSE I WANT TO KILL YOU WITH MY BARE HANDS!!! I WANT TO FEEL THE LIFE SLIP OUT OF YOUR BODY!!!"
Hao spat up blood. He bled from countless wounds, and pieces of flesh, torn away from pure blunt force flew everywhere. Yoh stopped, and admired his work. Hao was caked in his own blood. Bone was exposed, and he bled freely. He smiled. It felt good.
YOH!!
Shut up Amidamaru.
You can't kill him!!
I'm going to.
If you do, you'll loose a part of yourself.
Anna's dead. Do I look like I care about anything else?
I-I won't let you.
How so?
I'm bonded with your emotions. I can manipulate them; use them to keep you from acting against my will.
You-you can't do that!! You're my spirit! You're supposed to stick by me!!
Not when you're not in your right mind.
Well, I guess I have to do this the hard way.
What?
If you're bonded with my human emotions, I can will them away. Then you'll be powerless.
You can't will away you're emotions!
I'm the strongest shaman in the world. I can do anything.
No, Yoh! Don't! YOH!!!
Yoh clapped his hands together, and focused the furioku into his soul. Reaching inside his soul, he found his human emotions. He reached out with pure power, and crushed them.
Amidamaru flew out of Yoh's body.
"My god, Yoh! What did you do to yourself?!"
Yoh looked up, looking like a maniac. Holding up a small tomb stone, he sucked Amidamaru inside it, just like that day when Tokagaro tried to kill him. Dropping the stone to the ground, ignoring Amidamaru's cries, Yoh walked straight to Hao's near dead body. Grabbing him by his hair, he hoisted him up to eye level. Smiling, he spoke.
"Look a little familiar?"
Hao's blacken eyes widened in realization and shock, then fear. Yoh could actually see tears forming in Hao's eyes, because he knew exactly what Yoh was about to do.
"You know, Hao, that's really very touching. If I had even an ounce of humanity left, I might consider sparing your life, maybe even your soul."
Hao looked at Yoh with a glimmer of hope in his eyes.
Then Yoh rammed his hand into Hao's stomach. Hao screamed in agony, as Yoh tore the soul out of his body. Hao's body went limp, and Yoh threw it across the street. He stared at Hao's soul, gripped in his hand. Yoh sent a huge blast of furioku through it, and in a flash of light, the soul of Hao Asakura was torn apart. Yoh sighed. He slowly walked over to his sword and picked it up. Ignoring Amidanaru's shouts, Yoh rose his hand up to the sky, and called the King of Spirits to him, and bonded with it. Yoh glowed gold, but there was a tinge of shadow to it. Sighing again, Yoh shot into the sky, flew towards the center of the city, and began blasting the buildings to pieces.
Since Yoh was no longer paying attention to Amidamaru, he escaped and flew without wait to the Asakura compound. Because he knew that Yoh was no longer himself. That the pain he felt at loosing Anna didn't go away with his emotions. Rather, the emotions made it possible to express that feeling of loss. With the emotions gone, Yoh had to find another way of ridding himself of that pain. And that way was to destroy everything around him. And he knew that the only people capable of stopping and saving Yoh was the Asakura clan. For they had stopped a madman like this over 2000 years ago. Maybe they could do it again.
xxxxxEndxxxxx
Well, how was it? One chapter left. And once again, I apologize 1000 times for not updating sooner. The last chapter will come in sometime in the next two weeks or so. PLEASE R+R so I know that someone out there is still reading!
Long live Shaman King!
closet fan 16