Disclaimer: I do not own Shaman King.
A/N: You must have finished the manga before continuing. May contain spoilers. You've been warned =p
Chapter 14
When the five warriors entered hell…
Ren…
Rue appeared before Ren just when he finished all the dead soldiers coming at him.
"Congratulations, Ren." Rue greeted with a smile.
"Rue? Are you an illusion?" came his confused answer.
"It really doesn't matter. What's important is I'm not here to fight you."
"Who are you? You resemble Rue, but is quite different."
It's my memories – coming back to me faster here. "Whether I am the Rue you know or not, I already told you to stop worrying about other things."
"'That I know?'"
"*Sigh* On to why I'm here, Ren." But she stopped as she noticed something bothering Ren. With a tic on her forehead, her fist flew to Ren's head, "brat, I told you to listen."
But he didn't respond. "What's still bothering you?" she asked irritably. Ugh! To think I had been nervous in meeting him after revealing my past.
"But… I told you I'd never die again." Ren said, almost regretfully.
She wasn't able to properly respond, "Ren…" she said with a low voice. His statement touched her heart – he was unexpectedly caring for her, still. I'm kind of relieved.
Smack! But she still couldn't stand not hitting his head again.
"You're in hell you idiot! You'll be killed here, if you're not careful," she said, hiding her embarrassment.
"Ah – you really are Rue." Ren answered as he rubbed a sore spot on his head.
"Argh! I didn't know going in hell makes people stupid." Rue finally snapped.
"Wait! If you're here, does that mean, you're…!" Ren somehow got serious.
"We're shamans, Ren; we usually are able control our spirit and leave the body if our mind is strong enough. I've finally learned how to do it." Rue said smiling proudly to herself.
"Why are you here, then?"
"Sightseeing," she answered with sarcasm, "of course to help you, idiot!" she shouted.
"Ah, there's my Rue."
"Shut up!" Wait, 'whose'? Rue thought, a bit taken aback.
"You're still easily distracted." Ren said triumphantly.
"Oh yeah, why I'm here. I'm here to tell you that you've been chosen as one of the elemental warriors. You've probably guessed why you needed to be sent here. I trust you've realized what you needed to do."
Ren nodded slowly, still trying to figure out what's happening. He still wasn't sure how to respond to her whenever he remembers her confession about her past.
"Good. When you wake up, you'll be attaining more furyoku than before, you are well acquainted with the element of lightning." Good, thinking to herself, she smiled in relief. "That means you can already control an element. Do your best, Ren. I believe in you." Rue said as she was about to hug him, but decided against it; instead, she placed an arm on Ren's shoulder and smiled.
"Tha – wait! What's this?" Ren was about to respond when he felt light and his body started glowing.
"You've grown a bit, Ren. I'm happy."
"Wait, wait! What's happening?"
"Be careful when you wake up, the enemies are still lingering near you."
"What about you?"
"See you on the other side, Ren."
Horohoro…
She transferred to Horohoro's space right just when he defeated the monster lord there. He was losing consciousness, but Rue's attention was on the small girl in front of him. She feels so familiar.
The little girl smiled at her as she disappeared before her eyes. And then, Horohoro was down.
Black hair and that familiar pattern on her band. Ah! could she be…?
She shook her head to focus.
"Idiot, passing out even before I could explain," she sighed before walking towards the place behind the monster lord's throne. She pulled out a blue gem from the pillar and shoved it in her pack together with a yellow gem she got from Ren's space.
She walked back to and crouched over Horohoro's sleeping body, and patted his forehead, "nice work, Horohoro."
With that, his body glowed and disintegrated.
She stretched her hands over her head. "It's been a tiring day."
While Yoh and Hao sit over coffee…
Rue woke up to a noisy room. Everyone was chatting about, some of her friends were shouting at each other outside. She could barely make out of the conversations, it would seem going back to her body on her own was more taxing than she expected.
"What the hell is he thinking?!" she heard Ren's voice loudly. He seemed to be approaching her room.
"I don't know, but it would not help anyone – hey, Lady Rue you're awake!" So Ren was arguing with Ryu. The latter got interrupted in talking with Ren when they entered her room.
Rue noticed Ren's head instantly whipping to face her. Before she could speak, he turned around to walk away, but Ryu caught him, "Hey, wait. Didn't you say you wanted to check on her?"
"I did not say that, moron, let go of me!" Ren shouted as he – unsuccessfully – squirmed away from Ryu.
The two heard giggles from said girl, "Let him Ryu, I have things to ask you anyway."
Ryu sat down by her bed. "How do you feel?"
"I'm more okay now." Rue answered with a smile. "What'd I miss?"
"Well, It's Master Yoh." Ryu said softly, not looking directly at her.
She sat up with Ryu's reaction, "Did something happen?" Rue asked worriedly.
"Well, he's kind of having coffee with his brother."
"What?!" Rue, this time, got to her feet.
"Alone." Ryu added.
"And you let him?!"
"Well, it's Master Yoh. He said not to follow them." Ryu said defensively. In truth, he'd really like to follow them, the more time Yoh wasn't with them, the more worried people became.
"He's too troublesome. Doesn't he realize just how much he makes people around here worry?" Rue said, not particularly directed to Ryu.
She heard him sigh as he got up. "Lady Rue, if you're okay now, can we go out? Well, it's something I can't handle, really. I think Mistress Anna snapped. She doesn't want anybody talking to her right now."
Rue massaged her head in response. She turned around and walked towards the door, with Ryu behind him.
Well she imagined Manta and some others, maybe Horohoro or Chocolove, running around in panic, Ren being grumpy or missing, perhaps following Yoh on his own, and Anna on her own little corner, when Ryu said it was out of his control. But she saw Horohoro plopped down on one of the corners not minding others, Ren just outside sitting on the grass alone, and Anna with Tamao preparing food.
"Well, it was much more chaotic earlier." Ryu started to explain when Rue looked at him. "Ren and Horohoro kept on shouting at me. Anna was being difficult, Tamao was running around dropping things in the kitchen, Manta was just staring off to space, and Faust just slept thru the whole ordeal." He was panting by the end of his explanation.
Rue heaved a sigh, "At least, it's a little okay now." But it was not, she can still feel the tension, and she was a little nervous of what will happen once Yoh comes back.
FINALLY!
I originally planned to have this fic published and finished in around two months or so - or so I thought. . Sorry for the delaaaay. But still, thank you to all those who read, reviewed, followed, and favorited this story even after that loooong halt. Super thankful! Every notif in my e-mail really gives me a rush of excitement. I will finish this. I will!
Good news! I already have the next two chapters - and as I promised myself, in the beginning, I'm able to finish this in less than 20 chaps! I just need to do some cleaning - remove the notes and other unnecessary comments in my draft. The two weeks of lack of internet connection paid off, I guess (but it was still frustrating, especially when it's Christmas and you wanted to greet everybody . and laze around playing online games ;P)
Happy holidays to everyone! Happy New Year!
luvyah!