Um, A/N: I am holding a contest for my Mankin: Romantic site…a oneshot fanfiction contest. I will choose one grand winner per pairing, and the pairings available are: a) Ren/Pirika b) Horo/Tamao c) Lyserg/Jeanne d) Hao/Anna e) Jun/Pailong. Details to be posted this weekend in my site, but you are free to email me already if you are interested.

Tamao's eyes flapped open, and to her surprise, she felt that she was leaning on something moving. She rubbed her eyes and looked around.

"Hi Tamao!" greeted Horo cheerfully. He was carrying her on his back, whistling.

"I…I am still alive…" whispered the girl in pleased disbelief.

"Of course you are!" laughed the Ainu. "I told you, you're going to make it."

"Dakedo…for how long?" she asked quietly.

"Must you think about gloom and doom all the time?" he asked, not losing his cheerfulness. "Shouldn't you take it a day at a time? If you keep thinking of the future, it wouldn't help you at all. You must live for the present." He squeezed her hand fondly, as if reminding her where her present lies.

She smiled slowly. "Y-You're right. L-Live for the moment." She squeezed his hand back and then laid her head against the back of his head blissfully. "This feels very nice."

"You feel very nice too," smiled Horo.

"Thank you."

"Let's do this more often."

"Hai."

They returned to their comfortable silence, enjoying each other's warm closeness. Suddenly, the long walk back home didn't matter anymore.

Anna pushed a stray wisp of hair off her forehead then continued to treat Yoh's wound. It wasn't too deep, but she knew Hao Asakura caused him a deeper wound- one she didn't know if she could heal with her antiseptic medication. His confidence on his ability as a shaman.

"Gomen for losing, Anna," said Yoh quietly. "I know that the last thing a bodyguard should do is to bother his boss in treating his wounds."

"Just shut up," she said, out of having nothing to say.

"Maybe you really should find yourself a new bodyguard," he said slowly, his eyes on the basin of water nearby, tinted in faint crimson because of his wound.

"Don't tell me what to do," she said. "You can't get out of your obligation to me that easily. You will be my bodyguard for as long as I want to."

"But how can I be a bodyguard if I can't even defend myself?" he asked.

Her hand slammed on his cheek. She then continued to clean his wound. "If you let that defeat get you down, you will just waste your time. Instead of sulking, why don't you train harder?"

"I feel…I feel that my training will be all in vain. He's much stronger than me," he said sadly.

"Why are you chickening out already?" she snapped. "Are you just going to give me up that easily? I thought you said that as long as you live, you will continue to get stronger so as to be a worthy bodyguard?"

"T-This situation is different," he said weakly.

"How?" she wanted to know.

"You…" wouldn't understand. Yoh eyed her forlornly. Maybe he should just tell her about his situation- about how his powers pale in comparison to Hao Asakura's.

She sighed, then continued to treat his wounds. "You won't walk away, promise me that. Don't leave without telling me first, do you understand?"

"Anna…"

She suddenly slammed the capturing necklace on his neck and secured it. "You won't go anywhere."

He had to grin as he fingered the tusk necklace. "Anna…"

She bowed her head as she busied herself in squeezing the excess water of the towel onto the basin, but not low enough to hide her flushed cheeks. "May I have your word on that?"

He grinned in reply.

"Mistress Jeanne!" A blond man gaped at Lyserg and the girl who were talking by the altar. The girl immediately cowered behind the dowser. "M-Marco…"

"Mistress Jeanne, I told you already that it is a sin to make any more contact to the outside world!" said Marco, frowning at them.

"Lyserg is no outsider. He's my friend," said Jeanne softly.

"Mistress Jeanne, he is corrupting your innocence! The iron maiden requires a chaste heart for the one who will occupy it," said the man pleadingly.

Lyserg held his arm out protectively on Jeanne. "You won't make me go away. I have searched long and hard for her."

"Silly boy. She is no simple mortal, for she is the Holy Girl Jeanne, the Sarcophagus Lady. She is not like you, so I suggest that you leave her alone." Marco raised his pistol at him. "She will not be distracted by the likes of you when she faces Hao Asakura."

"She will not face Hao alone," said Lyserg grimly.

Marco began to smile. He must have sensed that the dowser held a grudge against the prince too. "If you really want to battle Hao Asakura and be permitted to protect the Holy Girl Jeanne, you must be one of us."

"M-Marco…" The Iron Maiden Jeanne shook her head firmly.

"One of you?" asked Lyserg.

"Join the X-Laws."

Nyorai woke up, and as usual, saw Nichrome seated by her prison cell. The boy was busy sketching, face crunched up in all seriousness. The girl smiled, then crawled towards him.

The boy looked up when he felt her presence. He tried to hide the sketch pad, but she had managed to take hold of it. She inserted the pad in between the gaps of the iron bars and peered at the picture.

"Oh!" Her face lit up. He drew her! She looked very much alive in the picture, ever feature of her face carefully sketched. He drew her while she was dozing off against the wall. 

"You…you draw very well," she whispered.

He grabbed the paper from her, not meeting her gaze. "It's not so good."

"M-May I have the drawing?" she asked quietly.

"No," he said flatly. He crumpled the paper and threw it some distances away from her.

Her face fell. "Y-You should have just given it to me…"

He refused to look at her. "I'll get your breakfast." He got out of the dungeon. When the door closed, she took the sketchpad that he must have forgotten to bring along.

To her surprise, it was filled with sketches of her! Most of them were drawn while she was staring at the ceiling, deep in thought. That explains why she could feel him gazing at her quietly, unspeaking, for he must have been memorizing the outline of her face.

"He must be really bored, choosing me as the subject of his sketches," she mused. "I'm not that pretty."

She picked his charcoal pencil up and began to doodle something on the pad too.

Nichrome returned, holding a tray of food. To his surprise, the girl was facing the wall, knees tucked. He bit his lip- his harshness must have hurt her. He put the tray down, then went to the piece of sketch he crumpled. He smoothed it, then placed it in his pocket. He faced her again. "It's time for your meal," he announced in a monotone.

He was not expecting to see the smiling face of Nyorai, holding his sketchpad. He frowned. "What are you doing, meddling with my things?"

She grinned. "Just a little something for you." She handed him his sketchpad before she took the food tray in.

He quickly took the sketchpad and rummaged through the pages. At the last leaf of the book, an elaborate cursive was written.

"Thank you," he read silently, then turned to her. She was engrossed with her meal. A small smile crept on his face.

"Master Hao," said Opacho softly as it watched its master throw his wine glass out of the window. His good mood had dissolved all of a sudden, and it couldn't help but think that the friend he visited awhile ago was related to his sudden change of temper.

"Do not mind me, Opacho," said Hao quietly.

"How can Opacho do that when Opacho sees Master Hao so bothered?" asked the servant.

"Tell me honestly, Opacho. What else do I lack for a woman not to totally fall in love with me?" he asked after a moment's pause.

"Nothing, Master Hao. You are perfect the way you are," said the servant with no hesitation.

"Well apparently, she finds something objectionable about me," he said, muttering. "She chose my brother over me."

"She, Master Hao?"

"Do not mind me, Opacho," sighed Hao again.

He wasn't taking this well though; all his life, everything he wanted was given to him served on a silver platter. No woman could turn him down, especially not a woman whom he liked with unexplainable passion. Not a woman who chose his weaker brother over him. He wasn't going to let that happen.

"I'll make her mine, by hook or by crook," he promised himself silently.

"Tamao!" cried Pirika happily upon seeing her brother carrying the girl on his back.

Horo Horo grinned. "Yeah, go ahead, sis. You greet her already even if you haven't greeted your own onii-chan yet."

She raised her eyebrow at him. "I don't greet onii-chans who make it a habit to leave their sisters without saying goodbye properly."

"Oh come on, I brought you an onee-san already. Shouldn't that be enough for you to forgive me?" he asked, winking at the blushing Tamao.

Pirika pretended to pause and consider his point, then grinned. "Fair enough." She beamed at the prophetess. "Welcome home, onee-chan!"

Ryu groaned. "Oh great, so I'm the only one loveless here?"

Horo smirked. "You can always go after Lyserg."

The Wooden Sword groaned. "He would rather look at the saints there."

Horo smirked some more. "Actually, he's going after a nun."

"Whaaaat??" Ryu's head hung. "That's it. I'm depressed. Kami-sama, I'm so unlovable!"

"E-Eh? R-Ryu!" Tamao, eternally gullible and softhearted, was immediately bothered by Ryu. "D-Don't worry, you'll find someone else to love. P-Please don't lose hope!"

Ryu's eyes shone. "Hontou? Then if you get bored with Horo Horo, here's my cel number-"

Horo's foot slammed on his face. "Shut up. Go find someone else to stalk."

Anna and Yoh were walking home when the skies began to darken.

"We better hurry," said Yoh when it began to drizzle. He was walking ahead of her.

She nodded, and hastened her pace. "Hey, wait for me!"

However, she didn't notice the stone on the ground. Her sandal stubbed itself on it, and she fell on the muddy ground, face first. Suddenly, she was overwhelmed by an ill feeling, and it wasn't because of her fall. She looked up at Yoh, who didn't notice her fall. He was walking away, and for some reason, Anna couldn't explain why she was feeling a sudden stab of dread, as if he was walking away from her to a place where he might never come back.

On an impulse, she cried out his name. "Yoh!!!"

He paused, then turned to her slowly. "Anna?" He then sweatdropped. "Anna, this is not the right place for mud baths. Aren't you too old for them?"

Her other sandal slammed on his face. "Idiot!" She wiped her face with her bandanna, then looked at her clothes. "Ah no! Laundering this will be pure hell!"

He hurried towards her and offered his hand to her. "I'll wash it for you when we get home. But right now, we have to go. You might catch cold."

She nodded, then turned to her other sandal. "Matte! This is broken!"

He knelt down beside her and inspected her sandal. "Why, yeah, it is broken!" He quickly took his own sandals off. "Here, use mine."

"And what will you use?" she asked, a little amused.

"Ah heck, it won't hurt to be one with Mother Nature once in a while," he said, grinning.

Anna smiled as she let her eyes wander on his open and warm face. Typical Yoh. Even if the droplets of rain seemed to love him too, the way the sprinklets of water made him even more handsome, as if he was someone who walked right out of a dream. He didn't look real, but when her finger touched his face and mud streaked on his cheek, she knew he was real.

He grinned. "Let's go, Anna."

She nodded and slipped onto his sandals. They were a bit big on her small, dainty feet, but she felt that it fitted perfectly, the way his presence fitted perfectly this delicious afternoon rainy moment too.

"Anna?" he asked after a while. The rain had not grown stronger, for some reason, but it didn't stop either. It was perfect too, for a cool, relaxing walk.

"Hmm?" She had to admit, but the moment was softening her too.

"May I hold your hand?" he asked, blushing faintly.

She blinked, then nodded absent-mindedly.

He grinned and shyly took her hand into his. He smiled tenderly at her. "It feels warm. Thank you."

She nodded. His touch felt the same way too, and it was warming her from her finger nerves to everywhere these nerves were connected – her entire body.

"Anna?" he asked again, not taking his eyes off her.

"Hmm?"

"I…I want to tell you something." His complexion turned hotter. "I mean, I know this is so outrageous for someone like me to say but…I really want you to know this already."

"Go on," she prompted.

He took a deep breath. "Anna, I…"

Anna suddenly stiffened. "Yoh, wait. Don't-"

He shook his head. "No, Anna, You can't stop me anymore. I'm going to tell you this once and for all." He looked at the path ahead so as not to see her reaction anymore when he confesses, just in time for his face to slam on the electric post in front of him.

She sighed. She warned him already.

"Yoh no baka," muttered Ren Tao as he watched Tamao treat Yoh's face. Anna was in her room, changing into dry clothes.

"Whoever built that electric post in the middle of nowhere anyway?" asked Yoh, whining.

***(Maybe it was part of the cosmic plans Syaoran no Hime laid for you, dear Yoh? *smirk smirk*) – sorry, can't resist putting that one. Can't you get any more planted in dropping scenes? Planted n planted ung electric post s scene!***

"Don't blame the electric post. All it did was stand there and support the electrical need of Izumo," said the Tao, rolling his eyeballs.

"Ah, don't worry. It will heal in two days, Master Yoh," said Tamao, smiling at him.

Horo Horo then remembered the scroll Tamao asked him to give Yoh, and how she called him Yoh Asakura. He decided to ask Yoh about that later.

"Lyserg's not yet home?" asked Ryu.

Horo smirked. "He must be having a great time with the nun. Maybe he forgot about us already!"

"Waaah!!! Shaddaaap!!!!" yelled the Wooden Sword, who still had not quite gotten over his feelings for the dowser.

That night, Yoh stretched lazily, then peered at the girl sleeping peacefully behind the pillow barrier in the middle of the bed. He got up and gazed at her for a moment, letting his mind memorize the face of the girl. Ah, how he wished he could take her along with him. He would love that very much.

Dakedo, all he had given her was a lot of trouble.

He tucked a stray wisp of her hair behind her ear and smiled sadly. "You are a rose who wants to belong to the shaman king, and I am just a gardener who wants to take care of you forever. But who am I to stand in the path of your happiness? I'm sure my brother will become the shaman king anyway. He's so strong…"

"You are ethereal, you are so fine. I don't have anything to offer you- nothing that can match up with the things other men can give you, like my aniki. I don't deserve you," he sighed as his fingertip touched the delicate curve of her forehead and cheek and chin. He smiled at the sleeping face tenderly, his dark eyes shining with a deep emotion. "So forgive me if I will leave once again. I would love to grow old with you, but you deserve so much more."

He bent down close to her neck. His hand unclasped the capturing necklace she put on him awhile ago. Shilva taught him the trick of taking the necklace off- breaking away would only tighten the hook of the necklace, but if he would hold the capturing necklace close to her itako beads and unclasp it there, he would be set free.

"I thought long and hard about this, Anna. Go find yourself a bodyguard much more worthy than me." He stood up and grinned. "Ja!" He looked out at the window and found a court priest waiting impatiently for him. He raised his hand as a greeting at him, then put his jacket on. After one last glance at Anna, he leaped out into the darkness.

Ren watched Yoh walk after the court priest. "I hope that your decisions is right, Yoh Asakura. Because you know that you'll hurt her badly."

Horo Horo, from his window, watched Yoh disappear into the darkness. Tamao was beside him, near to tears.

"I warned him," said Tamao softly. "I warned him not to come too near to the flames, or he shall burn as well."

Horo sighed. "Yoh knows what he's doing…" His eyes softened. "I hope."

They heard someone gasp behind them. It was Manta, looking sad and mad at the same time.

"She's going to get upset, you know that," said the midget, who had developed a brotherly affection for the itako. "Why didn't you stop him?'

"Yoh thinks he's doing it for her. We don't have any right to intervene," explained Horo.

Manta bit his lip. "But Anna…"

"Let's wait tomorrow."

Everyone in the breakfast table was silenced when Anna went down the stairs, looking grim. She was holding Yoh's tusk band. "Where is Yoh?"

No one spoke.

"Just as I thought…the idiot left me again…"

No one dared to speak, not even Ren.

"…and he didn't say goodbye." Anna's eyes moistened. "That idiot…"

Everyone looked at each other, not knowing what they would do if Anna would cry.

"That idiot!!!" Anna's eyes blazed, startling the people. "Does he think he can get away from me that easily! I'm going to follow him!"

Horo slowly smiled. "Anna will always be Anna."

Tamao shook her head. "Anna is different now. Anna is one determined woman in love."

Her eyes went to Horo Horo. "Where did he go?"

He threw her a scroll. "I'm coming with you to the Asakura Court."

Tamao nodded. "Me too."

"Me three!" piped in Pirika.

"Same for me," said Ren. "He forgot that he's committed to me too." He groaned when he became the recipient of dark looks from everyone else in the table once again. "He's committed to me in a battle."

Pirika sighed. "You and your vague words!"

Ryu slammed his fists on the table. Then that settles it! We're all going to the Asakura Court!" He paused. "Er, why?"

"To see Yoh!" sighed Manta.

"No, why would he be in the Asakura Court?" asked the Wooden Sword.

Anna wanted to know the same thing too, but kept quiet.

Horo smiled mysteriously. "You'll find out why when we get there."

Tsuzuku

No omakes again.*sigh* 38 degree Celsius body temperature can explain it, I hope ^^;;