Chapter 12
A/N: A fast update and a long chapter. Enjoy.
Disclaimer: I don't own Shaman King! ^^
Michiko's POV
I woke up at the sound of my name. Someone is calling me. I slowly opened my eyes.
"Great! Michiko-san is awake now."
I looked down to the right side of the bed and saw Opacho standing there. I sat up to stretch my arms and a yawn escaped my lips. I rubbed my eyes slowly and looked around.
"Good you're awake." I heard someone said.
I looked over to the door and saw Mari.
"Hao-sama asked us to buy clothes for you. They're in those paper bags on the sofa." she said, bluntly.
"Thanks." I gave her a faint smile.
"Michiko-san needs to get dressed so we can eat." Opacho said.
"Yeah, hurry up. We'll wait for you outside."
They didn't even wait for my answer and left. I stood up and walked to the sofa. I checked out all the clothes they bought for me. I took a bath and got dressed. I was wearing a blue floral dress and blue sandals. I quickly got out of my room and out of the inn. I haven't seen Hao since I woke up. I wonder where he is...
Hao's POV
Michiko slept all night yesterday. She didn't even wake up to eat dinner; I guess she got tired after crying so much. I didn't know what to do or say at that moment. That's why I didn't see her myself today. I told the flower team to go eat with her so she wouldn't be lonely. Although I have to see her eventually, because I promised to train her and teach her how to fight. Should I just act like nothing happened yesterday and pretend not to know her feelings for me? I can't do that, but I can't just reject her either. I'm still confused about my feelings for her. I treat her special, because she is special to me, but I'm not sure if I would call that love.
"What's this? Nii-chan seems troubled." I heard Yoh's thoughts.
"I know your there Yoh." I sighed, "Come out now or I'll burn you for sneaking."
Yoh came out of the bushes, "That's mean nii-chan." he showed me one of his goofy smiles.
"Stop that or I'll really burn you." I snorted.
He gulped nervously, "O-Okay...Hao."
"What do you want? Are you here to surrender?" I smirked.
He sat down beside me, "No. You know I can't do that."
"Because Anna will get mad at you?" I raised an eyebrow.
"No...Because Anna will kill me..." he laughed nervously.
I snickered and waited for him to talk. but to my surprise he just sat there quietly.
Michiko's POV
I met with the flower team and Opacho outside the inn. We walked towards the restaurant where Hao and I ate yesterday.
"Uhm...where's Hao?" I asked, hesitantly.
They just continued walking like I never said anything which really pissed my off.
"Hao-sama wanted to be alone." Opacho answered.
"Oh... but I'll see him soon, right?"
Good thing someone answered actually answered me. Opacho really is a good girl. I really can't help but think about Hao. I actually admitted that I'm falling for him right? I mean... that really happened right? I even cried, how pathetic of me. I wanted to explain myself or something so I want to see him soon. We entered the restaurant. It's still the same, but somehow different. I guess it's because of who I'm with today. Even Yoh and his friends aren't here. I sighed and walked to a table. I let the flower team order for me, cuz' I'm seriously not in the mood to eat now. Nothing really interesting happened at the restaurant. We just ate silently; actually...I ate silently while they chatted. After eating we went our separate ways or should I say...they left me. Those girls must really hate me. Opacho was nice enough to stay with me. We kept walking and we went to several stores. We eat lunch together, good thing she has money. After eating we went back to the inn. I went to my room in an attempt to wash up or maybe sleep.
"Welcome Back."
My eyes went wide. It was Hao, he was sitting very comfortably on the sofa.
"What's with that reaction?" he laughed.
I just rolled my eyes and dropped dead in the bed. I really don't know what to do at this point so I decided to pretend to fall asleep.
"Hey, are you sleeping?" I heard him ask.
I didn't speak nor open my eyes. I felt him poke my cheek.
"You're really asleep huh..." he murmured.
I felt hot lips touch my forehead.
"Sleep well."
I couldn't take it anymore. My heart fluttered about in my chest, so I opened my eyes.
"I knew it you're just pretending to be asleep to get a kiss." he smirked.
I bit my lower lip and stared at him. He looked so...gorgeous. He suddenly took a step back and turned around. I sat up and continued to stare at him. He just stood there motionless with his back facing me.
"Hao..." I called out to him.
"What is it?"
"What are you doing here?"
He turned to face me, "I came here to tell you that we'll be training today."
I gasped, "Really?! When?!" I grinned for ear to ear.
"I'll train you right now. So hurry up and get dressed, I'll wait for you outside."
He walked to the door and left. When he got out I locked the door and went to the bathroom. After washing up I got dressed. I wore a black tank top with matching shorts and rubber shoes. Went I out, Hao approached me and transported us to an open field.
Hao's POV
"So...Where's my sword?" she asked, enthusiastic.
I chuckled inwardly. "You don't need one at the moment." I replied, "I'll be teaching you basic self defence today."
"Uhm...Okay!" she replied eagerly.
She was a fast learner so our training ended early as expected.
"You we're great." I praised her.
"Thanks!" she smiled sweetly, "So what do we do now? Next lesson?"
This girl really is eager to learn. "No, let's talk."
She gulped nervously, "T-Talk? About what?"
"Tell me something about yourself." I replied and sat on a nearby boulder.
"You sounded like an interviewer." she snickered.
"I'm serious."
She stared at me for a moment before sitting beside me, "What do you want to know?" she gazed into my eyes.
I thought about it for a moment before answering. "Everything."
We've been asking each other questions for a while now. It's not my style though. I'm used to be asked questions not to ask questions, because I can always get the answers straight from their minds, but that's different with Michiko.
"Fried chicken, huh." I laughed.
"Hey! Don't laugh at my favourite food!" she exclaimed.
I shrugged my shoulders, "Anyway...you said you play the piano right?" I eyed her curiously.
She nodded, "It's one of my hobbies. I usually sing while playing. It's more fun that way."
"You should play for me." I suggested and smiled.
"Sure, some other time."
"Speaking of which...you really love to sing don't you?"
She nodded and looked up to the sky, "I like to express myself through singing...It makes me feel good." she smiled, genuinely.
"So... I've been meaning to ask you something." I began.
She averted her gaze to me, "What is it?" she tilted her head to her left.
"Have you been in a relationship before?"
She flinched, "W-What?! Why the sudden question?!" she exclaimed.
"I'm just curious." I said, calmly.
"Y-You first!"
I can't help but chuckle at her reaction, "Well of course, I even got married and had kids." I stated.
"R-Really?! Your married already, and you even have kids?!" she exclaimed, her mouth hung open.
I couldn't take it anymore. Her reaction was so hilarious, I burst out laughing.
"Why the hell are you laughing?!" she scowled at me.
"Because you're funny! I was talking about my past lives." I replied, still laughing.
"O-Oh..."
"I'm still single in this lifetime." I winked.
She flinched, "W-Who cares!" she looked away.
"You're way too obvious..." I murmured.
"A-Anyway..." she turned to face me again, "How do you do it?" she asked.
"Do what?"
"You said you got married in your past lives..."
I nodded urging her to continue.
"How do you even know that? I mean...How can you still remember the memories of your past lives?"
"Well it's my will to be reincarnated more that once. Retaining my past memories is part of it naturally." I replied.
"Is it...possible?" she frowned, "I mean...for me to remember my past memories? If I happen to have one..." she asked, hesitantly.
"It's possible, but that really depends on you." I eyed her curiously, "What are you getting at?"
"Well...I was thinking, if maybe you can teach me how." she pleaded, "There's no harm in trying right?" she grinned.
"You're really serious about this aren't you?" I stared at her intently.
"Yes."
"I guess it can't be helped then." I sighed, "But this'll be very tiring for you, we'll still have to train. So you'll be doing it at the same time. Can you do it?"
"I can and I will." she answered with conviction.
"Okay, let's go back for now. It's starting to get dark."
She nodded and we stood up at the same time. I transported us back to patch. We ate dinner together and went back to the inn. We said our goodnights to each other and went to our respective rooms to sleep.
I felt the warm rays of sunlight touch my skin. I slowly opened my eyes and saw the sun through the window, shining brightly on the sky. It must be around seven or maybe eight in the morning already. So I decided to get up the bed and fix myself. I walked to the bathroom to take a bath. After taking a bath. I got out of the bathroom, when I heard my stomach growl. Of course I needed to eat, because today is an extra busy day. I dressed up & left my room to fetch Michiko. I got to her room and was about to knock, when the door suddenly opened.
"Hao!" Michiko exclaimed.
I was pretty surprised myself; I didn't expect her to be awake. I thought she was still sleeping.
"Hey, you're just in time." I smiled.
"Damn it, you really startled me..." she muttered. "Let's go eat."
I nodded and got out of the way so she can step out of her room. She was wearing a red floral dress with matching red sandals. We ate at the restaurant. After eating we went back to the inn to change clothes. I tied my hair in a pony tail and changed into my red jersey with matching red jogging pants. I met with her outside and we proceeded to our training.
We arrived at the same open field as yesterday, so we can train as much as we want without disturbing anyone or destroying anyone's property. I looked at Michiko; she seems to be so eager to do this training. I stared at her; she's wearing a tank top, shorts & rubber shoes. It's almost the same as yesterday but with a different colour, and the funny thing is...its colour is red. We ended up wearing clothes with the same colour even without agreeing to it. Even though her clothes are almost the same as yesterday...I'm seeing her now in a different light. She looked so sexy. Damn it! I'm not even supposed to think about that! We're here to train for God's sake. What's happening to me? I\m acting like a hormonal teenager!
"So what do we do first?" she looked at me and tilted her head to the right.
"First we...warm up!" I smiled. I need a distraction.
I told her to warm up a little so she won't strain some muscles, while I try to calm myself down. After that I went back to her and assessed her skills. The only problem is that her body isn't that fit. She's easily exhausted after only sparing for an hour.
"Go on, punch me."
She narrowed her eyes at me, "But you keep dodging!" she shouted.
"That's the point of the training, you have to hit me." I said calmly.
She eyed me intently, before going into crouch position and lunged at me. I already saw through her attack and easily dodged her. Therefore she missed her target, so she was about to fall. I reached out my hand to catch her, but I ended up falling down with her. I opened my eyes and saw her lying on my arm beside me. She opened her eyes and tilted her head back so that she could look at me. I looked into her brown eyes and got lost in it. She looked so beautiful that I couldn't help but stare at her. I ended up looking at her luscious lips and at the spur of the moment, I kissed her. Our lips barely even touched when she suddenly moved away, and stood up. I was taken aback but I manage to stand up as well.
"I'm sorry..." I murmured.
She refused to look at me and had her back face me.
"It's...Okay." she turned around and smiled, faintly.
"Let's take a break first."
She nodded in response and walked over to a near boulder. I really don't know what to say at this point, so I just sat there quietly. It's really hard not to be able to read her mind. She's so unpredictable.
"While we're taking a break..." she turned to face me, "Why don't you teach me how to remember my memories from my past." she raised her eyebrows.
"Okay." I smiled, good thing she's not upset or mad at me. "First of all, you don't really need to do much. You just have to stay focused and meditate."
She frowned, "Meditate?"
"Those memories are in your heart, you just have to let your heart help your mind remember and that's through meditation." I smiled.
Her face lightened up, "The heart remembers what the mind cannot..." she murmured.
I smiled and nodded. She closed her eyes and started meditating, but after a few minutes she opened her eyes.
"This isn't working." she frowned.
"You have to concentrate, think as if you're alone. Don't let yourself get distracted."
She sighed, then tried again and this time I can tell that it's a success. She managed to focus her mind.
Our days continued like this. Waking up to eat, train, eat and sleep again. Sometimes I have a match for the Shaman Fight and she'll watch me. I don't know why but after fighting and knowing she's waiting for me makes me happy. She improved a lot in training too; she managed to beat the crap out of me. Although I feel like she's hiding something, everyday she was changing. I can't point out what it is though. When I ask her regarding the memories of her past she keeps changing the topic and we end up not talking about it anymore. I figured that I shouldn't press her, because I know that she'll tell me sooner or later. Spending time with her everyday made me realize that I am falling for her, although I still haven't told her. I thought about it, but decided it's best for her not to know yet. She's still busy with a lot of things. Surprisingly all these times, we haven't encountered those weird twins that are after her. I think they're planning something, but I don't worry, because whatever it is that they're planning I know we can handle it together. We're ready for them.
"Hao..." Michiko called.
I turned to face her, "What is it?"
She frowned and turned away, "Nothing."
I pulled out my hand, cupped her chin and turned her head to face me, "You know you can tell me anything right? So go ahead." I smiled.
She removed my hand from her chin and looked me in the eyes, before rushing into my arms. I was startled, but nevertheless I hugged her back. I felt like telling her how I feel right now, but I don't know how to tell her. We never did mention nor talk about our feelings for each other anymore, since the incident where she cried and fell asleep in my arms. I was about to say something, when I realized that she already fell asleep. I sighed and carried her back to her room. I lad her down her bed and stared at her. I decided that I will tell her tomorrow, first thing in the morning. I'm not sure how, but I will.
After waking up & fixing myself I hurriedly went to Michiko's room. This is definitely a big day for me and somehow I felt nervous, What if she doesn't like me anymore? I cursed myself for losing confidence so easily. I was standing in front of her door. This is it. I knocked, no one's answering. I remembered something like this happened before. The towel incident... I suddenly felt my face grow hot. I knocked for the second time and again still no answer this time. I checked the door knob and the door isn't locked! I rushed inside and found out that she's not in her room.
I went out and started looking for her. I figured that if she was to go out she must have told one of my followers where she was going. So when I saw Mari with Opacho I asked them, but to my surprise their answer was...
"Who's Michiko?"
A/N: Oh no! What's happening?
Tune in again next time to find out.
Thanks for reading. ^^
