Dawn had just cracked, and as Horo wandered by the last cliff before the foot of the mountains leading to Izumo. He then noticed something near the edge of the cliff.

"Tamao!" Horo Horo nearly lost the color on his face when he saw the pink-haired girl lying on the snowy forest, figure crumpled into a ball. He quickly made his way to her. "Tamao!"

The girl looked up weakly. "A-Ah, Horo Horo…w-what are you…doing here?"

"Shouldn't I be the one asking you that question?" he barked. "I thought you were sick and resting in your room. If I didn't have the initiative to check on you last night, I wouldn't have learned about this stupidity you did!"

"M-Maybe you shouldn't have!" she hissed in anger. She struggled to sit up and move away from him.

On the other hand, Horo was stunned by her outburst of anger. Her unexpected fire was a pleasant surprise for him. "You're beautiful when you're angry," he complimented her, smiling suddenly.

The prophetess blinked, not expecting his sudden change of mood. Was Horo Horo having an early menopause or something? Amidst her malaise, she scratched her head. She knew only women could have menopause.

He knelt beside her. "I'm sorry for losing my temper so many times recently. I was just…well, you terrified me, Tamao."

"E-Eh?"

"I hate for anything bad to happen to you, Tamao," he said slowly. "And you hiding your sickness from me…do you know how painful it is for me to know that you're suffering and I can't do anything about it?"

"I…I didn't know," she said quietly. "I thought I would just be a burden if…if I tell you…"

"You can never a burden to me, silly." He gave her a heart-stopping grin. "Never."

Her eyes shook, but then she quickly turned her back on him, vomiting.

"T-Tamao!!!" Horo's heart stopped. He could see that the sleeve of her kimono was starting to be tainted by something crimson.

He threw his arms around her back, burying his face on her hair. "Tamao, be strong!" he begged. His hands quickly searched for hers, found them, and imprisoned their cold sweats tightly. "I'm here, Tamao," he whispered fearfully as he heard a sob escape her throat. His own heart constricted.

"God, please stop her sufferings," he whispered shakily. "If You want, please give them to me…just please…stop them now." Helplessness was washing all over him again, and this time, he couldn't stop a tear from falling down his cheek.

If he had only brought his snowboard along…

Another tear fell, and another.

He was stunned when she faced him, surprisingly calm. "D-Don't cry, Horo Horo…I'm fine now."

"Let's get you home, Tamao," he said instead. "It's not very far."

She shook her head. "I won't make it there anymore." Passive acceptance was evident in her voice.

"W-What are you talking about?" His voice was rising again, but mostly because of despair. "Of course you would! I-I'll carry you home…you don't have to worry about a single thing-"

She smiled. "A-Arigatou. You were always so kind…so forgive me for falling in love with you."

He couldn't fight back the cascade of tears anymore. He, who had never cried a single tear amidst his sometimes brutally hard trainings, who chose to dull the pains of life by using the need for money and luxuries to motivate him to live on. He who vowed never ever to cry after he lost his parents, and to be the fount of strength for his sister.

Everything crumbled, and all because of one woman he once thought was a weak crybaby, a mouse even.

He forced a smile. "I'll forgive you if you will come home with me now."

Her palm cupped his face. "I can't. I was slated to die even before I was born, Horo Horo. I have served my purpose…to prophesize the coming of the shaman king who will redeem us." She reached for a scroll she kept inside her robe. "Please give this to Yoh Asakura. He will need it when he faces the Spirit of Fire."

Horo took it mechanically, not digesting the fact that Tamao called Yoh an Asakura. All in his mind was the girl's condition. "No…you won't die. You wear my ring…you will marry me. What will my folks say?" he asked, trying to sound teasing, but his own voice was trembling.

She caressed his cheek with her thumb. "I have already felt how you cared for me awhile ago…it's enough for me. You made me so very happy." She smiled. "Maybe when we meet again in the next life, God will be kind and He will let me have the chance to be your real wife ne? I-It would be…great." Breathing had started to become laborious for her, as evident with the painful rise and fall of her chest. "All I want…is to live the rest of my life…beside you…"

"Ssh," he hushed. "Save your strength! Whether you like it or not, I'm bringing you home." He lifted her almost lifeless body and smiled at her bravely. "Tamao, come." He looked out at the cliff. If he took his chance, he would reach the church of Izumo, the nearest link to human civilization, just before the sun rises fully. He could get help there. "I won't let anything happen to you, over my dead body," he vowed. "Don't give up, Tamao. What you predicted could still be changed, if both of us wishes hard enough. Nothing is more powerful than a human's will to live." He smiled at her tearfully. "I can't afford to lose you, Tamao; not now, not ever. You are too endeared to me already."

Her eyes moistened. Oh, how could have she given up so soon! Horo Horo was right- she had to fight to live.

She held on to him like a lifesaver as he suddenly slid down fearlessly the cliff of the mountains, all in mind was to save the one girl he loves the most.

"Ohayou!" greeted Yoh, stretching lazily. He threw them an infectious grin.

"Ohayou!" chorused everyone in the table, smiling back.

Anna, who was standing behind her bodyguard, noticed it. Yoh's genkiness was one of the things she missed while he was away.

"Our battle will start after breakfast," informed Chocolove. "I can't keep Anna waiting for me for so long, you know."

"Wait a minute!" complained Ren. "I've been waiting for months already to battle with him! You'll have to fall in line behind me!"

Pirika narrowed her eyes at the Chinese shaman, then slammed his bowl of noodles on the table. Fortunately for the Tao, the bowl was made of plastic.

He looked up at her, surprised. "Pirika?"

"Talk to my hand!" She slammed the kitchen door close.

He sweatdropped. "W-What did I do?" He quickly knocked on the door frantically. "Pirika! Pirika!"

Everyone else watched the scene astounded; only Yoh remained happily devouring the ramen. How the fierce shaman could fold up like that to a girl's whims would still be a mystery for all of them.

"Hmp! You want Ms. Anna, not me!" Her scream came through the door.

"Idiot!" yelled Ren back. "I want Yoh!"

Everyone's face darkened.

"Idiots!" Ren turned to everyone in the table. "What I mean is I want not that itako, but I want to battle Yoh Asa-"

A noodle bowl flew straight to the Tao's face. Everyone turned to Amidamaru, who looked like he just witnessed a brutal murder scene. He was holding Yoh's hand that aimed the noodle bowl at Ren.

"Sorry…Master's hand slipped." The samurai spirit laughed nervously.

Ren suddenly remembered how Yoh insisted on the confidentiality of his true identity. He decided to turn his attention to the door. "Pirika, you know that you're the only one in my life! Really!"

Everyone in the table was gaping at him, as if an alien just abducted the Ren Tao they knew.

"H-Hontou?" The door opened slightly. Pirika was looking at him tentatively.

"Hon_tou." He pushed the door open and let himself in. He then shut the door behind him, leaving everyone else pretty much still in shock.

"What love can do," laughed Manta.

Yoh then noticed the absence of Horo Horo.

"He went out on a vacation," explained Anna. "And I was left in charge."

Everyone's face darkened. They knew what would take place in the coming milliseconds…

"Ryu, you can start clearing the table. Manta, you can start preparing the dishwasher." Her eyes looked at the other empty seat. "Is it me or Lyserg Diethyl doesn't take breakfast?"

"The green-haired guy?" asked Yoh. The itako nodded.

"He goes to the church, I think." There was a catch in the Wooden Sword's voice.

"Hmp. Maybe he's just trying to escape his morning chores." She turned to Yoh and Amidamaru. "You two! It's time to get back to your trainings!"

Yoh's eyes widened. "B-But I just returned from my training!"

"Exactly. Now you're under my training programs again." Anna shot him a you-dare-object look, shutting him up.

"But what about our match?" whined Chocolove.

Anna turned to him coolly. "Once you finish sweeping the house, I will permit you to battle with my Yoh."

Choco and Amidamaru blinked when they heard what she called Yoh. The boy, on the other hand…he was obliviously talking with Ryu.

"What are you jokers looking at?" she snapped.

The samurai spirit was wearing an irritating mysterious grin. Disappointment, on the other hand, was in the African boy's face.

"It's a short term for 'my bodyguard'," she snapped. "Why are you making so much fuss out of it?"

"N-No, Ms. Anna." The samurai turned his back on her- he couldn't risk angering her too much. She might take it out on him during their training.

Jeanne, once again was sitting in the confession box, enjoying Lyserg's presence on the other side of the box. He was still deep in prayer.

Through the small, forbidding holes of the window screen, she could still see and trace the familiar outline of Lyserg's face. Fortunately for her, he wasn't too interested in looking through the window screen, or he would have recognized the nun habit she was wearing.

At last, he finished praying. "Father, the flower rosary you gave me was beautiful. I slept with it close to my heart last night, and I had the most peaceful dream in my entire life. I dreamt that…it was Jeanne holding on to the rosary for me."

She smiled. Her heart ached to call his name out loud once more. Perhaps, she would be contented if she could just reach out and touch his skin. Perhaps, he wouldn't even know.

Her mistake. The minute she touched his hand, she felt him stiffen. Alerted, she tried to withdraw her hand, but he had firmly held on it already.

"Your hand is too delicately soft for a man," he said, trying to see through the screen window. "You're a nun!"

She bit her lip, scolding herself for letting her heart intervene with her sensibilities. Now look what she did!

Suddenly, they both heard a commotion outside. Jeanne seized the chance to withdraw her hand from his grasp. Before Lyserg could react, she had ran out of the confession box already.

"Wait!" Lyserg got out of the box too, just in time to see a small, familiar figure running away from him. "Wait!"

"Lyserg!"

He froze, then turned around. "Horo Horo?" His eyes widened when he saw the weak Tamao he was carrying in his arms. "W-What happened to Ms. Tamao?"

"Later. You have to help me get her first aid, then we can bring her to a doctor already," he said hurriedly.

"Right!" He hurried to where the nun disappeared to awhile ago. "Sister, we need your help! We have a sick girl here who needs immediate medical attention!"

Jeanne froze. She slowly turned around and found Lyserg struggling to run after her. Her feet wanted to run again, but his words struck her- a sick girl in need of medical help. Ah, she would deal with her stupidity later. She must help the sick girl first.

"Sister?" Lyserg watched as the nun passed him wordlessly and went straight to Tamao.

"We need furyoku to revive her," she said.

Horo and Lyserg were stunned.

"I heard you need help." A tall blonde man dressed in white coat was looking at them, and at the pink-haired girl to be exact. "She's not in a good condition. We better get started on her operation already."

"W-Who are you?" asked Lyserg.

"Who cares?! As long as he can save Tamao," said Horo.

The man smiled. "Call me Faust." He then began his operation. "We need lots of furyoku."

"Take mine," said Horo Horo quickly. "Just do everything you can to get her back."

Faust smiled. "Of course." He could see himself in the young man before him, the one who loved and wouldn't let go of his beloved until the very end.

He won't let another tragedy happen to another couple in love.

He would save this girl.

To Anna's pleasant surprise, it didn't even take Yoh a minute to end the shaman fight victoriously. One moment he oversouled, then the next thing she knew, he blocked Choco's claws with ease and used the aura of his shield to throw the boy away, making him lose his furyoku too.

"Wow," was all Choco could say after the match.

"Impressive," said Anna, keeping the excitement in her voice checked. Yoh had improved so much in keeping his furyoku.

Yoh however, wasn't smiling. Something caught his attention. His eyes looked on at the bushes some feet away from them. His forehead creased.

"Yoh?"

He blinked when he felt Anna's inquisitive gaze on him. He gave her a lopsided grin. "Hai?"

She smiled slowly. "You did well."

His grin widened. "You really think so?" He placed his hands on hers and pulled her with him. "This calls for a celebration!"

"H-Huh? Where do you think are you taking me, Yoh?" She wanted to ask what distracted him awhile ago, but she didn't want him to think that she was concerned about him.

But I am, her heart insisted deep within her.

"It's not too far from here," he promised.

The two ended up sitting in one of the booths of Shilva's restaurant.

"Sure, you guys can have a free lunch," grinned the Indian. "I'm telling Mikihisa though."

Yoh grinned back.

"Who's Mikihisa?" asked Anna as they waited on their order,

He shook his head.

"You're keeping secrets, Yoh." Her eyebrow rose. "I hate that."

"I'll tell you who he is, Anna, someday," he said quietly.

"Well…as long as Mikihisa is not a girl…"

Yoh pinched her nose fondly. "Nah. You are enough, thank you very much."

Her eyes widened by his sudden act of affection. A smile escaped her lips. "Just because I complimented you doesn't mean you can just go touching me like that."

"Can't help it," he said, gazing at her tenderly.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked, more afraid than angry.

"Ne, you're so beautiful, Anna," he said.

He said it not as a compliment; he just said what he honestly thought about her. She smiled.

"Say that when you're looking at me seventy years later."

He was delighted. She still remembered his promise to grow old beside her! He grinned. "Even if you grow old, you're still the most beautiful rose I've ever met. You have a beautiful soul that reflects beauty in your face."

"R-Rose?"

"Hai. The rose is the queen of all floras, or so gardeners say. And you…intend to become the wife of a shaman king."

There was a hint of sadness in his voice.

"B-But if I don't find him…you'll do what you promised. You'll stay beside me. We'll grow old together, right?" she asked shyly.

Yoh nodded eagerly.

Hao smiled when he remembered what transpired by the coltsfoot field awhile ago. He knew that the boy sensed him- he immediately took Anna away, in fact.

"I found my long-lost little brother," he smiled.

Tsuzuku

(gomen, no omakes. I'm late for school yet again ^^;;)