Anything But Normal
WARNING: Spoilers for the anime ending.
Disclaimer: I absolutely do not own Shaman King, so don't sue me...but do sue Hel for her very late update.
Hel: I am very, very sorry for the really late update–
Hao: It's updated late, because...? raising an eyebrow
Hel: rubs hands together nervously Ah, well...you see, I...uh...um......am too busy with homework!
Hao: rolls eyes Yeah right.
Hel: pouts What?? It is true! thinks Dammit, I knew I should've saved the list of reasons for this chapter!!
Manta: Ano, Hel-san?
Hel: glares WHAT?!
Manta: taken aback W-well...didn't you say last chapter that less than ten reviews, no new chapter???
Hel: !-! ...I did? Oh! turns to glare at readers Then it's all you guys' fault! If you had reviewed more, I wouldn't have updated this late!! #$&!!!
Two men wearing suits&spy gear comes out of nowhere and grabs Hel.
Hel: struggles madly Let.Me.GO!!!
Spy guy #1: Let's take this crazy maniac away.
Spy guy #2: nods Yes, let's.
Spy guys: takes either one of Hel's arms and drags her off the stage.
Hel: wails Noooooooooooooooooooooooo....you can't do this to me!! I'm your favorite author!!!
To Chiharu-Chan: Yep, Nichrome just had to be alive! And please tell me more about your idea.
To rikuu-099: Yay, thanks for all the nice comments! I feel so loved!! Anyways, your story "Switching Genders" is really interesting, so please continue it!
To KikyoXInu fan: Thanks for your support, I feel much more confident now! I did update and always will. Oh, and are you a new user? Are you gonna write fan fictions too? If so, please tell me and I'll check it out, drop a review or two.
To kevins8: Thanks! But did you know that with the thin vocabulary, I have to spend hours writing the chapters, thinking of how to describe details and watching out for repeated vocabularies??? If not, well...I guess now you do. Also, it's okay that you didn't review before, (I have a way worse memory lol) I was happy that you've reviewed at all! And thanks for recommending me your friend's ficcie. It's very well-written with a very interesting plot...and her first fic too!
To XIAH: Thanks and your stories are really good too!
To jazzywolf: Yep, and thanks for the suggestion but, I was already planning on putting them in this chapter lol...oh well. I have some suggestions for your fic 'The Life of Hao Asakura' too. You should space out the earlier chapters; you should make the chapters a bit longer than chapter 10; you should have the characters more in character; you should use more descriptive words and look over your work every time. As for chapter 12, you could have...Hao attacking Lyserg?? Sorry, I'm not very creative. v-v Oh well, that's all for you to decide. But overall, I love the storyline, so keep it up!
Italics are reserved for Hao's thoughts only in this chapter
Bold for emphasis
Chapter 3: The Forbidden Book
The brown-haired boy woke up with a sharp splitting headache. He held his right hand up to his forehead in an attempt to stop his head from spinning, and eventually recovered. Looking around, he found himself lying at the opening of a dark cave. He stood up when he noticed the faint glints of light dancing around the corner of the cave and headed towards it.
The long-haired shaman came to a large clearing as he rounded the corner. In the middle of the stone floor, a built-in fire burned, the tip of the flames playfully licking the low stone ceiling. And sitting around the fire were his very comrades.
As Hao entered the stone chamber, all eyes instantly fixated on him, much to his annoyance. He walked towards them slowly, still feeling their intense stares as he sat down among them silently, staring into the flickering flames.
"What should we do now, Hao-sama?" Opacho asked quietly.
The said brunette looked up. "Aa." he replied with a smirk, "Don't worry...I will kill Yoh and his little friends if it's the last thing I do." He turned his gaze back onto the fire, determined.
"No!" his followers cried out in unison.
Their leader looked bewildered, blinking a few times before turning back to his so-called companions. He narrowed his eyes. "What's the meaning of this?!" he hissed, his voice dangerously low.
Silence. The dreaded silence.
"We can explain, Hao-sama." Macchi said hurriedly.
"Oh?" Hao said mockingly as he stood up, "Try me."
"Well..." Peyote started.
"Yoh had taught us that not all humans are bad. Otherwise, you wouldn't have been defeated; you must have noticed as well." Nichrome finished nonchalantly.
That had struck a nerve. The dark-haired shaman held out his palm where a fire which grew larger within each second could be seen. The shamans present all backed away a little from their seats, fear visible in their eyes.
From outside the cave, a loud explosion could be heard. Inside, Hao cackled maniacally as he chases his...ex-subordinates, who were running away as fast as their legs could carry them, hardly dodging the fireballs being thrown at them.
"And that's what you get for betraying me!" he yelled between cackles, trailing the shamans deeper and deeper into the cave. Random fireballs lighted the narrow cave-way before disappearing when missed, hitting the stone wall.
"Uh-oh." Mari whispered after awhile.
"What do you mean, 'uh-oh'??" Kanna asked hastily, constantly looking back at Hao.
Her question was answered when she bumped into hard, cold stone. Her eyes widened in shock.
"Mari, don't tell me..." she breathed with a questioning look.
Hao soon caught up, smugly looking them up and down. "Now I have you." He approached them as he held a huge fireball in both of his hands. "I'll finish all of you with this final blow."
Seeing there's nowhere to escape, the group of shamans closed their eyes to meet their end. Hao brought up his hands to deliver the fireball as dust flew from every direction. When the dust cleared, all of the figures are still standing.
"Wh...how..did you...?"
The shamans were quite astonished themselves as they realized that they're still alive. But before they could celebrate, the Buddhist monk attacked again. As the results still remain the same, Hao attacked again yet again, slowly losing his patience. Finally, the tired Asakura collapsed to the ground, gradually slipping into unconsciousness...
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Asakura Hao snapped his eyes open, only to find that he wasn't in a cave after all. It had been a long while since he had slept, not to mention to had dreamt.
But maybe it wasn't a dream. That stray thought surprised even himself; promptly he pushed it to the back of his mind. He tried to sit up, but felt something weighing him down. He looked down to see a girl around the same age as him kneeling on the carpeted floor and resting her head comfortably on his chest, asleep. Her head fell onto his lap as he sat up.
Only a mere human, eh? Hao thought, since he sensed no spiritual powers from the short-haired girl. Although he couldn't help but notice that she was really pretty.
Tsk tsk tsk, what a terrible waste. But I guess it could not be helped. He smiled sardonically as he raised his hand, only to stop in mid-attack when the contents of the seemingly real dream came rushing back into his mind. He frowned, rubbing his throbbing temples as he turned to glare at nothing in particular.
'Not all humans are bad', huh? I'll show them. His eyes moved down to the 'sleeping beauty'. And she shall be my test object. He smirked as he began to make his deviousplans.
A strong gust of wind brushed past the long-haired boy making him shiver a bit. He looked around like he was aware of his surroundings for the very first time. Turning around to the source of the breeze, a vast field of flowers could be seen through a line of slidable glass windows on the far side of the room. Speaking of which, the room itself was exceedingly immense. It was heavily furnished as everything were either silver or light blue. He was lying on a King-sized bed, likewise with silver swirly patterns.
Hao chuckled bitterly. Humans. But he could not help but to admire the scenery of the large flower garden through the open glass doors. His attention turned back to the silver-haired girl when she stirred on his lap.
She slowly opened her eyes, looking confused, before jumping up excitedly and grinning like an idiot. The older boy could only blink as the unknown girl did a happy dance in the middle of the silvery white carpet and singing on the top of her lungs.
The commotion was stopped short by a certain brunette's amused laugh. The younger girl turned around. And she stared.
And stared.
And stared.
And stared.
Finally, she–
Started laughing along with the dark-haired stranger??!
Amidst finally calming down, the girl asked, "Ano...why were we laughing again?"
Hao sweat dropped.
It was then that he noticed, that somehow, he could not reach this human's mind. It's as if there's an invisible wall that keeps her mind all locked up. Interesting. He was on another attempt to read through her mind when–
"Oi!" The pallid girl called, shaking him. He finally snapped out of his reverie. "Are you okay? You seemed......" She thought for a moment. "......Dazed, that's it!" She beamed with pride at her supposed 'brilliance'.
"I'm fine." Hao replied firmly, looking away.
The girl's face brightened up even more. "Okay!"
Chotto matte...she was across from the room before... How did she get here so fast? And without me noticing?!
"I'll go get Val and Kaitou then." said the girl with silvery-blue eyes, skipping across the room to the big silver door.
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A dual sat by the dining room table. The girl had her head down as the uncomfortable silence continued.
"K-kaitou?" Val stuttered, her voice trembling a little.
"Hai?" The boy referred to as Kaitou looked up, smiling warmly.
A crimson color crept on her cheeks as she stared into those mischievous but sincere peridot eyes.
"Hello!" The long-haired girl was startled as her cousin literally jumped on her from behind, seemingly coming out of nowhere.
"N-noelle! N-nani?" she asked nervously, still recovering from the shock.
"Come on!" Nolle rushed energetically as she practically dragged both of her cousins into the silver room. Inside, the brown-haired stranger was already up, holding a book. Hao turned to stare blankly at the three strangers at the door. Noelle proceeded dragging the other two across the room and came to a stop in front of the brunette shaman.
"I'm Noelle Dieu," the silver-haired girl announced cheerfully as she stuck out a hand, "And these are my cousins Kaitou Dieu and Valentine Tsukishiro."
"Hey." Val and Kaitou said at the same time. Hao merely sat there as he gazed at the trio dully. The tension was really starting to build up when–
"Asakura Hao." the brunette boy said coldly, shunning the hand Noelle held out as he turned back to the book.
At that point, Noelle decided to be the ice-breaker. "So...what's that book you're reading?" she inquired curiously, taking a closer look. Hao looked up to see three spirits floating behind Val. He stared long and hard at the three, narrowing his eyes.
Noelle turned around to see what Hao was staring at – and screamed. Val and Kaitou backed away as they saw the spirits also. Noelle grabbed the closest thing – which was Hao's book – and threw it at one of the spirits.
It hit the spirit with long, pink braided hair. "Ouch! What's your damn problem?!" she spat angrily.
"Oh, they talk too..." Noelle murmured. !" she said happily as she walked over and picked up the book she just threw.
Her eyes widened as they landed on the book. "I-it it's..." Complete and utter shock was written all over her face. "...The Forbidden Book." she whispered, dropping onto her knees.
To be continued...
Aa - Yeah
Ano - Um
Chotto matte - Wait a minute
Hai - Yes
Oi - Hey
Nani - What
Hel: Pairings are still undecided. If you have any suggestions or ideas–
Horo horo: DON'T LISTEN TO HER!!! She already decided all the pairings, love triangles, and even love circles!!! And–
Hel: sticks an old smelly shoe into Horo's mouth Haha, good old Horo, always joking around. sweat dropping from behind
Horo horo: muffled talking
Hel: Ahem...as I was saying, please feel free to send me any suggestions or ideas......right, Horo? looks to the right
Horo horo: looks half dead and completely blue
Hel: gasps Oh.My.God. Horo? Are you okay?? You looked all blue!
Horo horo: ...
Hel: went teary-eyed What happened, Horo horo? Speak to me! Who did this to you??
Horo horo: cough you...you...cough...did...
Hel: O.o I did???
Horo horo: Y-yes...
Hel: stands up Ah, well. I guess I'll be going now.
Horo horo: turns non-blue immediately W-wait! Where are you going?
Hel: winks Aha! Works every time.
Horo horo: EH?!! Oops... faints
A/n: I worked really hard on this messed up chapter, so I hope you guys all enjoyed it...and please review! Oh, and, like I said above, pairing suggestions&ideas will be carefully mulled over. .::innocent grin::. (Horo: Riiight.)
By the way, it would be a good idea to just slightly reread the earlier chapters again, since I sort of modified them so they would fit the whole plot, among with Noelle's personality; so the story would flow well; also you might not remember the plot that well after me not updating for almost......two months. o.O
A/n2: I hereby announce officially that Noelle has short hair. I am sorry for the misunderstandings if there were any. I changed my mind since I was bored and incidentally drew some pictures of her. With both long and short hair. I decided she looked better with short hair so end of story. My scanner is really messed up right at the moment so I cannot put the pictures up. Any recommendations for a store that sells quality scanners will be greatly appreciated. Also I drew too many pictures on one paper and they are not good anyways.
I also want to confirm that the school name has changed to 'Tokyo Nishimachi Private School', because it is a real international school in Tokyo and the school name sounds nice.
A/n3: In case you hadn't already noticed, I was kidding when I wrote I was mad at you guys for not reviewing more...I was more than happy that people actually spent time to review for me... .::sniff sniff::. Thank you so much!!! I love you guys!
Hel