Shaman King
Bittersweet Idol
Rated: T
Genre: Romance/General/Humour/Drama
Pairings: YohAnnaHao LysergJeanne RenPirikaOC HoroHoroTamao RyuJunPairon etc…
Summary: Its bad luck to break a mirror, right? Seven years does drag on…not that Yoh, a boy who fights with ghosts, believes in these superstitions. However, after an accident from trying to buy his fiancé a Christmas present, he's got it coming with…Faust as the happy school doctor? Hao as the hottie who flips his hair? This isn't going to end well...
A/N: Thanks for the reviews : ) And…wow, I really have nothing to say this time.
Chapter Nine: He Isn't Joking This Time, But Then Again These Days There's Always A Tough Crowd
"So…how'd it go?" HoroHoro enquired, shuffling his feet uncomfortably and averting the dark skinned comedian's gaze. When Chocolove didn't reply, he dared to look up to see the shaman's head was ducked slightly, so his eyes could not be seen. HoroHoro was very confused, until he began coming up with assumptions. What if Chocolove knew about his feelings for the prophetess and was feeling guilty because the tutoring delivered a successful ending?
"Look," he began, the words coming out from his mouth before he knew it. He couldn't believe he was even saying this. He just had to be blushing damnit! "I know that you know that…I…erh…um…l…li…l…LIKE TAMAO, DAMNIT!"
With this Chocolove's head snapped up, bewilderment etched onto his features.
"Eh? You…"
"THAT'S RIGHT! I LIKE HER! HAH! THERE, I ADMITTED IT! But, in all seriousness…," his voice had drooped considerably in volume by now. "I know she likes you and…wait…you said…ugh, damnit…"
"Y-yeah." Chocolove said, sweatdropping. He scratched the back of his head and did the only thing he could do which was give the male ainu an awkward smile. HoroHoro sighed heavily and shrugged.
"Ah well, you would have figured it out soon enough. But I…"
"Erh HoroHoro…I think I like Tamao too…"
It was HoroHoro's turn to have his head snap up, utter disbelief and hopelessness carved onto his face.
"You…"
BS I
"Why would a trip to Izumo take four hours?" Jun finally spoke up, forehead creasing in confusion. She frowned lightly when it became devastatingly obvious that she wasn't going to get an understandable answer out of Ryu's mouth. He had fallen asleep anywho, refusing to release Pairon's arm. Marona was much too transfixed by the clouds, pointing out every few seconds that one seemed grey and another looked black, or white, or silver…or gold for some reason.
The girl wasn't even talking to Jun, as most of her comments were directed to Pairon, who tried not to scowl. Jun had soon realised she'd been fooled into a plane ride that had other purposes, with an annoyingly chipper woman with the naivety of a toddler (which was usually endearing, but not when a grown woman used it constantly), a drunken and perverted shaman, (which would be fantastic if she was the kind of girl who would take advantage of a drunken Ryu, who'd probably not notice they were on a plane when (if) he woke up. Thank god Pairon was there to help keep the sanity.
She smiled appreciatively at him and he caught this.
She noted him staring at her and she blushed, quickly decided trying to talk with Marona was the only way to save her from further embarrassment. Pairon smiled briefly-a sincere and calm smile, which was only for her, before he flopped back onto the seat and groaned. Ryu's clinginess was agitating him now. So, he decided to recall Jun's smile and that faint, charming blush over her beautiful face. He felt warm all over and nodded.
If he had a heart, he was sure it'd be fluttering.
BS I
"I feel bad…" Pirika stated, twiddling her fingers. Shigeru eyed her curiously, wondering what she was upset about. He stuffed his hands into his pockets and shrugged.
"Wanna talk about it?"
She shook her head.
They were seated on a bench in the middle of town, while Ren was sitting cross-legged upon the branch of a cherry blossom tree, brooding. It must have been half one by now. Pirika looked curiously at Shigeru.
"How old are you Shigeru-sama?" she questioned, watching him blink and hang his head.
She frowned concernedly, placing a hand on his forehead. "Are you alright?" she quizzed, brows drawing together. He sighed again and removed her hand, taking it in his own.
"Yeah, I'm fine, but you may wanna know I'm sixteen."
Pirika gawked at him.
"Sixteen? Wow, you're shorter than me though!"
"Gah." He huffed, hiding his blushing face.
Shigeru cursed when he pictured Ren, who's posture was calm, cackling away manically inside his head. "I wonder…," he started, glancing at Pirika thoughtfully. Said ainu frowned back at him, confusion on her pretty features.
"You wonder what Shigeru-sama?"
He gave her a lopsided smile.
"Do you like Tao-sama?"
BS I
"Marco…"
"Jeanne-sama…"
There was a thick tension coating the atmosphere.
Marco coughed lightly and played with his scruffy collar, repositioning it. Jeanne glanced all around the room, her hands threading together and resting upon her waist. She didn't know why Marco looked so…frightened? Was that the word…ah, she was too busy recalling everyone's theories of her and Lyserg. Absently, she blushed and that stopped Marco right in his tracks. He frowned darkly at her.
"Were you with Lyserg?"
Her blush deepened and she looked away, urging her mind to come up with something to get herself out of this predicament. However, she was given no time as Marco grumbled something and cut her thoughts off by saying;
"I'm afraid you're going to have to work double hard, Jeanne-sama and I'm afraid I can't supply you with soap viewing systems."
"…Hai."
BS I
"Akuma," Lyserg hissed furiously as he watched Hao flirt with the person on the desk next to him. Said flame shaman merely glanced at Lyserg and winked victoriously, which only sent the dowser's blood boiling further. Realising the teacher was giving him an expectant look, he flustered in his seat, eyes scanning the room to find out what people were doing. Books, ah books…they were open, so…
He flipped open a book entitled 'Seven Ways to Hell'.
Then he realised he still didn't know what the heck to do.
The teacher sighed resignedly eventually, frowning at him through her thick rimmed glasses.
"You're meant to read from page twenty, Lyserg."
At that instant, muffled giggles sounded while the teacher turned away, eyes fixing themselves to the book again. Lyserg sighed heavily, trying to downpan the embarrassed blush fanning over his pale cheeks. He heard Hao chuckle.
God he hated English lessons with devils.
BS I
"Remind me again how it's so possible for somehow who's lived over one thousand years to be this idiotic."
"Urh, well, I am your living example…"
"And I'm stuck in a closet with you. We're also missing English and it seems like you haven't washed for a thousand years."
"You can't blame my smell on me! I use fire and…fire makes me sweat!"
"Do you wash anything besides your hair, or do you spend what could be used for washing your body for it? Have you ever washed your body since the original you died?"
"Well…"
"…"
BS I
/Flashback/
Lyserg had finally sat down after flustering over page numbers, ignoring Hao's cocky smirk. Anna rolled her eyes at the boy, before her attention drifted to the clock. The lesson was already ten minutes in and Yoh and Manta hadn't come. She brooded thoughtfully and shifted positions so her chin rested on her knuckle. It wasn't like she was worried about him…
"Sensei?" she asked before she realised what she was doing. "May I go to the toilet?"
Everyone blinked at her question. Anna rarely spoke during classes. The teacher frowned lightly at her, squinting, before she sighed and nodded.
"Be quick."
And in an instant the blonde was up and out. It was time to find Yoh.
"H-hey wait! You forgot your hall pass…"
Hao raised his hand and spoke without being allowed to.
"I must go as well I'm afraid. Duty calls."
The teacher rolled her eyes, before she shrugged.
"Fine, but…"
Hao had smiled widely and cantered out, just as she turned to hand him a hall pass. Her eyes went to the door briefly, before she sighed and shrugged. Hopefully the other teachers wouldn't find them.
/End Flashback/
Anna wasn't jumpy, but she was so caught off guard that when Hao snuck up behind her, beaming and shouted 'boo' she jerked forward and automatically grabbed onto him. He tripped over his own feet, blushing from the unexpected contact and thus sent both of them falling down into a closet, a small closet where movement was practically impossible. It also didn't help the situation when a click signified they had been locked in when the door closed.
Anna was flat against the wall and her back was starting to ache. Her face was buried in the crook of Hao's neck and their front bodies were pressed together. His head was hovering just above hers and his arms were stretched out by the sides of her head, his palms touching the smooth surface of the wall. His hands clenched whenever one of her golden strands tickled them. Anna of course intentionally pushed back as far as she could go and attempted to curl her body to squirm away from him. When she tried again, Hao sighed and smiled slightly, ruffling her hair. She stiffened immediately.
"Now, now," he chided playfully, one hand becoming tangled in her hair as he twirled it around. "Calm down."
"You…" she uttered. He couldn't see her dark eyes glaring at him, but he was sure when he felt the hairs on the back of his head prickle.
He still managed a sweet smile.
"Wouldn't it be amusing if Yoh came and found us like this?"
"…"
If she had the ability to move, she'd be treading over his motionless body and trying to be unlocking the door.
Where the hell was the Spirit of fire when it was actually needed for civil reasons?
BS I
Manta was hyperventilating and Yoh was just stuck speechless. Akiko merely arched a brow in Anna fashion. Somewhere in the recesses of their minds they realised half of the fourth lesson was gone, but their common sense was swarmed with the overwhelming shock of the emotion; "WTF?!"
"Are you…?" Manta panted, his hands gripping his hair firmly. Akiko still didn't understand why the midget looked like he was watching a comet near the earth, but he confirmed Manta's suspicion by nodding.
"Anna's Aniki, Akiko, like I said earlier."
Manta chose to remain quiet, but Yoh, who had recovered stared sharply at him.
"You…"
"No, don't finish that sentence. I know you think I'm some horrible older sibling that abandoned their younger sibling, but I'm not. In fact, we had to abandon her. It was an act of kindness-"
"Kindness!?"
"Calm down Asakura Yoh. Right, well, I'll explain it to you and Anna, later. Just show me where she is."
The boys stopped conversing when they heard Manta tap the plastic covering of his watch. The intelligent boy was sweatdropping, his brow twitching.
"Lesson's nearly over…"
Akiko smiled stiffly and whipped out a pair of sunglasses from his blazer pocket, placing them over his eyes.
"Just say you were helping the new kid get accustomed."
BS I
'Hmm, they've been gone so long. I do hope they didn't just go to…' the teacher's train of thought halted abruptly when crimson fanned across her face. 'What on earth am I thinking? Have I gone senile at twenty six?! Kyouyama wouldn't do that sorta thing…well, Hao would, but Kyouyama would probably not him unconscious. Then again, he's Kyouyama's fiancés Aniki, so…WHAT AM I THINK-!'
"Sensei? I thought you were explaining the meaning of this paragraph to me," a slightly puzzled voice snapped her from her musings.
She blinked in a dazed manner as though she'd just woken up and her eyes flitted over to an auburn haired freckled boy whose finger was pressed against the book's small font, his blue eyes holding a meaningful look. Noting she was still rather red, she put a fake smile and patted the boy's shoulder reassuringly.
"Ah, I'm fine Kai. Just thinking."
He frowned for a moment, before his features eased and he smiled shyly.
"So, can you explain this bit?"
She cleared her throat and nodded, pointing to the same thing he was staring at and beginning to ramble on about stuff that wasn't related to the question at all.
'Still…four have gone missing and they all know each other. I wonder…'
BS I
"I can sense Anna's aura, yet…," Akiko trailed off and scowled from frustration, raking a hand through his messy hair. Manta and Yoh lagged behind him, Manta very uptight and Yoh as casual as he could be with his hands shoved deeply into his pockets. It was nearly time for fourth lesson dismissal, but Akiko had dragged them along into locating Anna. They were travelling the hallways in search of her. They were focused on Anna's aura, but as they neared a certain locked closet door, they began to feel another familiar one…well, familiar to two, with Akiko as an exception.
The boy's brows furrowed and knitted together at the unknown aura.
He whirled around to face a pale Yoh, who had stopped dead in his tracks, an expectant look on his face.
"It's kinda similar to yours Asakura Yoh. You know him?"
"Hao…" Yoh gritted out, eyes darkening.
Manta had a fit, while Akiko observed confusedly as an infuriated brunette went to the closet door and wrenched it open with a force unknown to man. Out came tumbling a blonde girl and a long haired brunette. He was on top of her, while she was looking up at Yoh with an alarmed look on her face. Her jet black eyes scanned the room and fell on Manta, who was gawking in unquestionable disbelief, but then moved to an unknown figure. Her eyes widened and she unwillingly let out a small gasp.
"Akiko?"
Tsuzuku