Kyoyama Household — Christmas
"Hana, out of the way, out of the way!" Tamao skidded down the hallway, balancing a bowl of salad, a journalism book, a bag of leaves, and a sombrero in her hands. She narrowly missed running into the crawling baby as she raced to the kitchen.
"Tamao, calm down," Ryu called from the armchair as he watched his soap opera on the television. He turned back to the show as a chorus of gasps erupted from the outdated speakers. "Yes! Slap him again, again!" He looked at the clearly frazzled girl again. "Why are you in such a rush?" he asked innocently as he took a sip from his almost empty beer can.
"Calm down? Calm down? CALM DOWN?!" she shrieked. "You want to know why I'm in such a rush? It's because it's been exactly one year and seven months since Yoh and Anna have been home and the house is still a complete mess. Because they are arriving in four hours. Because Ren, Pirika, Manta, Joco, Jun and Bason haven't shown up yet. Because I have yet to clean up Mic's vomit from the carpet from last week when Joco brought him over. Because Bason and Amidamaru have been arguing on the porch since this morning. Because you are just sitting there, drinking your beer and watching Guiding Light!"
"It's All My Children…"
"Argh!" She jumped as smoke began to fill the room. "Who left the stove on again?" She hurriedly dropped everything she was carrying and dumped water on top of it. "Waitresses…"
Kanna, Macchi, and Mari cowered in the corner as she turned around slowly but was promptly interrupted when the doorbell rang.
"I miss the days when Tamao used to be quiet and sweet and nice. You know," Ryu lamented, his eyes glued to the television screen, as Horohoro nodded. "Argh! Now he tells her he's the father of her child?!"
"I better go and help out before Tamao kicks me out of the house…" the Ainu boy said as he stood up. He opened the door for her.
"Hey guys!" Joco, Manta, Ren, Pirika, Bason and Jun stepped inside. "Might want to avoid Tamao, she's gone into Anna/Pirika mode right now."
"We're right here, you know!" his sister and girlfriend called out.
"Here, Tamao. Go rest, let us finish cleaning up for you," Jun offered.
"Not us!" Joco and Ren shook their heads.
Pirika glared at both of them. "Okay, maybe for a little."
Three hours later, they all collapsed into an exhausted heap. "I hope…they at least notice…that we cleaned up…" Ryu panted.
"What are you talking about, you didn't even help!" Horohoro yelled from the floor.
"I did too!" Ryu countered as he turned back to the soap opera marathon he had been watching the entire time. "Oh, Days of Our Lives is on next! My favorite!"
Tamao groaned as she sat up. "I need to start cooking before—" There was a knock at the door. "That can't be—" Her eyes widened as she recounted everyone in the room. No missing guests. That could only mean… "No! They can't be here yet!"
Yoh and Anna who apparently had been too impatient to wait for someone to answer the door walked inside, dusting the snow off of their clothes. "Yoh! Anna!"
All the guests raced over to welcome their friends home. "Er, hi guys, you're an hour early…" Tamao said, completely flustered.
"We know," Yoh said sunnily. "We decided to tell you a later arrival time because we know you'd go overboard in the preparations."
"I didn't get a chance to cook…" Tamao sighed, completely oblivious to what Yoh had just said.
"You seriously hired these three?" Anna said, looking skeptically at waitresses. "Kanna?" Anna smiled. "Oh who knew that one day you'd end up working for me?" The blue haired girl angrily stared back at her boss.
"Damn, Yoh! Your hair's gotten pretty long."
"Did you bring us any gifts?"
"How's America? Is there really money growing off of trees?"
"When are you guys coming back home for real?"
"You're so tall now!"
"Where's my child?" Anna said, totally disregarding everyone else's inquiries.
Tamao's heart stopped as she realized that she hadn't seen Hana the entire time they had been cleaning up. "I-I-I-I-I-"
"Um, let's go get him, Tamao. We left him in—" Horohoro's excuse was cut short as a happy baby laugh drifted from out of a kitchen cabinet.
Anna, obviously not fooled, strode over and opened the door. Hana looked up happily at her as he clutched a beer bottle.
"You're letting my child play in the liquor cabinet?" she asked flatly, scooping up Hana and prying the bottle from his hands.
Tamao looked as if she would faint at any second. Scratch that, she fainted right now.
Kyoyama Household — Backyard
"So Jun and Bailong finally tied the knot?" Yoh asked as the two of them watched the newly weds play with Hana. "I bet they can't wait to start a family. They'll have some great, literature loving, karate kids on their hands."
"Or ninjas who kill people with books," Horohoro posited.
"Anna was pretty upset that we couldn't make the wedding." Yoh frowned. "We didn't have enough money to come back…"
"Yeah, we also missed you guys last Christmas." Horohoro stretched. "The important thing is that you're here now."
"True enough. How's university life treating you?"
"Pretty good. Way better than high school for the matter. Though I'm apparently not any better at taking winter exams now than I was back at FHHS." Horohoro laughed as Ren smacked Joco in the back of the head. "Man, just like old times, huh?"
"It sure is. I missed everyone." Yoh drank some of the coffee that Ryu made for everyone. "Huh, this is halfway decent. Ryu ever become a sushi chef like he wanted to?"
"Er…not exactly. Ever since he came back from that spiritual pilgrimage thing with Lady Sati, he's been one big Zen fest." Horohoro shrugged. "At least he's been helping Tamao out with Hana and the onsen."
"How often do you get to see Tamao?" Joco took a vengeful swing back at Ren.
"I get to see her every day which is pretty cool. She's here when I come home and we get to spend some time together before she goes off for her night classes." Horohoro colored. "Er, I hope you don't mind…but I kinda moved in here a few weeks ago. B-B-Because your place is way closer to campus than my house."
Yoh burst out laughing while Anna fixed her steely glare on him as she sat down. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure Matamune doesn't mind. She loves you anyways." The three watched Mic poke at Hana with his nose. "Still bent on saving the world?"
Horohoro nodded. "What else can you do with an environmental science major and minor in rhetoric? Can't exactly take trees to court." He grinned. "I'm gonna try to write up some policies to start on reforestation back in Hokkaido after I graduate."
"Did you tell Tamao that yet?" Anna asked abruptly.
Horohoro frowned and scratched at the back of his head. "Well…I was hoping that she'd come with me…I haven't asked yet though. She'll probably just say that it's too early to tell. I mean we've only been in college for four months. I really want Tamao to say yes though."
"You want me to say yes to what?" Tamao emerged from the house woozily. "I can't believe I fainted."
"You've been stressed out for weeks. You probably saw it coming." Horohoro pulled out a chair for her.
"Changing the subject again," she sighed as she sat down.
"As always." Horohoro grinned. "Finish your microfiction for class yet?"
"I barely did last night. It's probably no good," she frowned as she stirred Horohoro's coffee.
"Wow, your hair's gotten pretty long." Yoh propped his head up with one hand. "Yours too Horohoro. I probably wouldn't recognize the pair of you if it wasn't for your hair colors."
"Yeah, I've stopped spiking my hair. Takes too much effort I realized." He laughed.
"Has it?" Tamao suddenly seemed aware for the first time in a year and a half of her hair. "I keep forgetting to get a haircut…" She shrugged. "I think I'll just grow it out."
"They look good on you both. How're your classes coming along?"
"Pretty good. I'm not really sure if I want to aim for creative writing or journalism yet. But since business is kinda slow at the onsen and Hana is well behaved for the most part, I have a lot of time during the day to write. Speaking of which…" Hana crawled over and looked up at his four parental figures before going over to sit down on Tamao's foot. "Hey, there, sweetie…" she reached down to ruffle his blond hair.
"She's a natural, huh?" Yoh cheerfully asked as Horohoro nodded, unable to conceal his pride. Anna hugged her arms closer to her chest. "Er…" Yoh mentally kicked himself inside for saying that. I can't believe I said that in front of Anna…she's still pretty sensitive about leaving Hana.
The baby boy tilted his head upwards at the pink haired girl before cooing happily. "Mama!"
Yoh, Horohoro, Anna, and Tamao's eyes all widened. The latter's face rivaled the color of snow and her jaw dropped. "W-W-W-What? No! That's your mama!" She pointed at Anna.
The little boy didn't respond and instead tried ingesting the head of a plastic giraffe figurine.
Tamao slowly turned to an expressionless Anna. "He's…never…done…that…be…fore…" Oh my God, this is the worst thing that could possibly happen. Why, why, why, why— She stopped mentally slamming her head against a wall when she realized that Anna was speaking.
"…only to be expected that he sees you as a mother figure since he's been exposed to you the longest. At least when we get back then he—" Anna silenced herself as Hana scooted over and clamped onto her leg and began laughing. "Oh." He gurgled in response. "Well…I…"
Yoh's eyes softened and he beamed quietly. Horohoro and Tamao looked at each other. "Let's get out of here, Hime," he said, winking. Tamao couldn't keep from smiling as he used his old pet name for her.
Suddenly, Ren, Pirika, and a chicken burst out of the house and into the backyard. "Ren, stop it! Why are you trying to kill Morphine? She was a present from Lyserg!" she screamed as she chased Ren who was running, broom in hand, after the fleeing hen whose feathers were oddly tinted pink.
"You said you didn't believe me! So I'm trying to—"
"I knew it! The part about the librarian and the asparagus was true, wasn't it?"
"For God's sake, woman, I've told you a million times that it isn't!"
"So why are you so intent on massacring my chicken? This is the first time I've seen you in half a year and this is what you do?"
They re-entered the house.
"Do we want to know?" Anna asked, still bored as ever.
"I don't think we even understand what's…" Tamao trailed off as she watched Pirika turn around and start yelling at Manta about pre-Industrial Revolution tribe rituals. "I don't want to know either."
"So this is what Ren's been up to since he's graduated?" Yoh raised an eyebrow. "Doesn't look very productive if you ask me."
He cleared his throat, his brows furrowed. "Well, technically he's supposed to be studying business to take over the world but now…" He held up a video camera with which he had caught the entire chase scene. "He is officially my slave with this blackmail."
"What's McDaniel doing?"
"I think he, surprisingly enough, somehow has a gig over in New York. Beats me how anyone could actually think his material is funny. Works with the Orona troupe I think," Tamao relayed as she cleared the table of the coffee cups
"No, I mean, what is he doing?" Anna indicated with a jerk of her head.
"Huh…?" She turned around and nearly dropped the mugs. "Joco! Get down from there!" she yelled at the fully grown man who was cowering in a tree with Morphine.
"Then tell Ren to stop trying to kill me!"
Pirika ran over to prevent Ren from sending yet another person to the emergency room as Joco, who was now joined by Manta, clung onto the branch for dear life. Back in England, Lyserg was in a cybercafe, sending the gang pictures of Jeanne's Christmas performance with the orchestra. Jun and Bailong were about to free Morphine who somehow had gotten stuck in a bush and Mic who was trying to find various ways to eat the poor, abused chicken. Amidamaru and Bason were watching basketball, both of them having monetary bets riding on the outcome of the game while the three waitresses were sneaking a smoke break in the kitchen (with the full knowledge that they would be punished later by Tamao). Ryu opened the door for the just arrived Marco, Faust and Eliza and promptly slammed it in the men's faces once he saw who was there, letting only the blond nurse into the house. Anna, Yoh, and Hana sat in the middle of it all, calmly eating a batch of stale biscuits that had been set out. Horohoro merely laughed and Tamao thought back to the first day of school, amazed at what a few chance encounters with these people had led to. And the Ainu boy and the formerly quiet girl looked at each other and smiled knowing that the future only held better days for them.
A/N: oh my goodness. two years of thinking about it and writing it and...it's finally over! i really hope that you have enjoyed reading Unwritten as much as i have writing it. Unwritten has definitely been my baby/pet project and has special meaning for me which is why i'll write a side story for it. (I just can't let go) =) look out for The Mismatched Adventures of Tao Boy and Ainu Girlwhich will take place between the last chapter and this epilogue (Lyserg, Tamao, Ren, and Horohoro's senior year). if you liked this at all, consider checking out my other story, Yoh and the Oni which is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast. Fun stuff and, from the looks of it, a fun read.
after thinking about it, i'm happy to say that instead of writing a sequel, i have come up with an outline for a totally new series of stories called Wild Young Hearts, which i came up with after reading the first chapter of the sequel to Shaman King. (Tamao sure has changed in the sequel!) This cycle will take place simultaneously and the stories are all interconnected so they all stand on their own but it will be more fun if you read all of them ;) each story will feature a pairing...well, you can find the descriptions on my profile page. i'm really excited as you can probably tell from this long author's note. okay i'll stop now. but before you go, i'd love to hear what you guys think =) thank you so much for reading this story! Happy days to you all.
PS: Go read SK's sequel on Mankin Trad! It's called Flowers. DO IT.