"Unsolvable Puzzle "

-Vx Tao Ren xV

Disclaimer: Shaman King obviously does not belong to me, despite what I tell myself (sad, isn't it?). It belongs to Takei Hiroyuki-Sama in all of his glory.. So please, don't sue me… I'm broke anyway..

Author's Notes (Please Read): Oh my God.. I'm actually updating this fic! It's a miracle I tell you! Like I've said before, now that summer is here, I have nothing to do, excluding work, so I have a lot more time to finish these unfinished fics that are floating around. This one has been plaguing me in particular. This was my first fanfiction ever, and has been untouched for the longest period of time. Please try to regard this as sort of a new beginning, since I can't remember how I wrote the others in terms of the approach I made and what I wanted to convey... Forgive me if it's a bit different than before..

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"Unsolvable Puzzle": Chapter 05

Naze kisama no kao wa onaji.. zutto..

Why?

Why is your face the same.. always..

It's not that you carry the same emotionless expression everywhere, in any situation.. it's that you carry the same happy, unconcerned expression everywhere, in any situation. You seldom get angry; I've never seen you truly sad; Always the smiling, happy, "Nanto ka naru sa"...

Asakura Yoh..

Why?

Why don't you show your true face?

Why can't you possibly show others around you what you're truly feeling? Why do you insist on being happy and encouraging all of the time? I don't understand what the purpose can be, what the benefits are. Keeping to yourself is the long goodbye, the start of the drifting away to the ones you love.. the ones you help.. everyone that you know. I know that best.

But I can't understand why that doesn't apply to you. Despite the fact that you hide yourself from us, you hide everything from us, you aren't drifting, you aren't leaving... you're here.. with all of us. Always. Even when you aren't physically here, you're with us, all of us.. and you're laughing. You're always laughing..

.. Asakura Yoh..

Why?

Why are you always laughing?

Are you laughing out of true happiness? Somehow I can't believe that. No one in this world is truly happy. Not even you. Are you laughing at the world? Laughing at what it's become.. how nature is neglected, how polluted it has become.. how I used to view it. I can't believe that either. If that is really why you're laughing, then you wouldn't have bothered to save me. You wouldn't have shown me that people really aren't as filthy as I had thought. You wouldn't have persistently tried to have shown me that there's hope. You wouldn't have opposed Hao. Then why?..

.. Asakura Yoh..

Why?

Why must you hide?

Everyone has something to hide, but why must you? You, of all people. You reform nearly everyone that you meet. I know that best. Why must you feel the need to keep your feeling from us, the ones you've helped, the ones you've saved.. Why are you afraid that we can help you? Why do you reject the help of all of those closest to you? The ones you've helped so many times.. the ones beyond saving.. the ones like me. Why do you never open up to us? Do you not trust us? Do you not believe that we can help? Do you not think that we can understand? Even if we couldn't Yoh, we would try. We would try to understand to our greatest extents and further. We would make ourselves understand! Why don't you understand that?!?!

.. Asakura... Yoh..

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Owari! This may have been the shortest chapter yet, but I'm okay with that because I really like the intensity in the last part.. it makes Ren seem like he's given up on Yoh to some extent.. I like it! ::wide smile::

Please review this chapter. I want to know if this is as good as before (since I haven't touched this fic in such a long time), and if I should make it longer like the others, I personally like it if it's short, with that tiny bit of intensity at the end.. I think if goes a long way. (Plus it really helped since I couldn't remember how I had written the other chapters and how I wanted to approach it). I don't think that I could maintain that same feel if I made the chapters longer, it would seem a little too random in my opinion. Or maybe I'm losing my mind and making excuses for why it's so short! Please let me know if I should make the next and final chapter like the others, longer with more anxiety, or like this one, shorter with more slightly dramatic insights. It'd be a great help to me. Thank you! Please review and let me know!