Note: This is my first Shaman King fic., and on top of that, my first fic. to ever be posted on So PLEASE be nice (and hopefully somewhat supportive). Please, NO FLAMES! Constructive criticism I can deal with, and it might be helpful for future chapters that I write.
You might say this is slightly AU, since all of this is post – the Shaman King series. It might not make sense to you if you haven't watched the complete anime part of the series.
Also, take note that this is a Shounen-ai/ Yaoi fic. If you are in the least bit homophobic, LEAVE NOW! I consider this to be fare warning. Also, this is slightly Yoh-centric, for all of you who care to know. Now, if you still want to read this, strap yourselves in and get prepared for a long ride.
Translations that you'll need to know for the story:
Shite – German word for shit.
Maa – now. Maa, maa – now, now (not like a baby crying for its mother, you fools.)
Omae o koruso! – I am going to kill you!
All of the other words that you could possibly want to know for this chapter you can find for the translations for - in ch. 1/ the Prologue.
/..../ - Yoh talking to someone telepathically.
-....- - Someone talking to Yoh telepathically.
GOMEN NE, MINNA-SAN!!!!!!! SO SOOOOOOOORRRRRYYYYY!!!!!!! I'm sorry for making you guys wait soooooo long for the update of 'Twisted'. I'm extremely happy, however, that you all liked this story. Your reviews make me update sooner. I would have updated sooner, except for the slight problem of school – the annoying pain in the (beep) starting and all.I just started as a freshman in High School, in a new town, so I had to get adjusted. Sorry! (sobs).
I also have been fixing some typos for the last chappie, because I was aghast at just how many careless mistakes I had made while I was typing it. Well, I do hope that you enjoy reading this.
Thank you, my lovely, wonderful reviewers, for my first reviews ever!!!!!!!!! :
Falcon Strife: Thank you for your advice on shortening the chapters. Such thoughts had already occurred to me, too, but I needed to get specific info. into my prologue-type chapter. I assure you that I will try to shorten the chapters a bit (or rather, a lot) from now on. I think it was so long because of the descriptions (ha ha!), which were a bitch to write. I don't like repeating myself when it comes to such details, so I crammed it all in there. Sorry if that bothered you.
I think you were my first reviewer, so I give you my thanks! THANK YOOOOUUUUUU! (winks).
Maddie: Thanks for your compliment! I'm extremely glad you like my story! SUPER! THANK YOU!
The Summer Stars: THANK YOU! I'm glad you like the fic. Happy that the translations could help. I often find myself in such predicaments. Yeah, I feel your pain about your stolen manga(s)! (hee hee). Well, hopefully you get those back from your sis. at some point, ne? You sound like one of my friend with the whole stalker bit. HAHAHAHA! (winks) Once again, sorry for taking sooooo long to update.
Have fun reading this!
rinkurocks: Thank you for your support! I hope you understand how appreciated it is. I feel like I'm on a sugar-high when I read in your review 'Perfect story'. (grins). THANK YAAAAAAAS! (Another one of my weird translations of thank you, 'thank yas'. Just in case you were wondering.) (winks.)
Wolf demon, Kyoko Asakura: This was one of the reviews that I was most looking forward to replying to. (grins). Sorry again about the long descriptions. I went a lil' overboard, I know. But just look at it as being better than having to read the same thing a thousand times, ne? I don't like to repeat myself in such things as descriptions, so I try to get it all done at once. That way people won't have to be asking questions about it. (Not that they won't anyways. Ha ha!)
As for the whole navel-piercing bit, I was under the influence of my sister at the time, who is also an author. I originally really came up with the idea for this fic. from a picture I had drawn in my sketch book; and then the light bulb went off in my head. I told my sis., and she told me to draw that in there (the piercing,), and give one to Yoh, seeing as we decided that he should be the older form of the random person/muse I just happened to be drawing (based off of no one in particular). Sorry if that upsets you. It might seem like I'm corrupting Yoh, and maybe I am, but whatever.
I don't think it will take away from the character himself, so not to worry! (winks) Gomen, gomen!
Thank you for reviewing! I hope not to make any more lengthy descriptions from now on, and hope that those were all finished in the prologue! THANK YOU VERY MUCH!
Yoko-obssessor: I love your name by the way! IT'S AWESOME! I can't help but smile when I see it! (If you came up with Yoko from YYH, I must say the series is awesome; if not, the name is still great!) Thank you SOOOOOOOOOO much for the compliments in your review! You probably wouldn't believe how helpful they are! I think the really nice and sweet reviews are what are really motivating! Please continue to do so, because it is much appreciated! THANK YOOOUUUUUUUU! HUGS!!!!
drunk drummer: Thank you for reading my fic. I'm soooooooooooo glad that you like it so much. (winks) Hopefully this chappie will make up for the long wait, ne? Have fun! And again, THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!!
Ellis: I loved your compliment. It makes me feel sooooo HAPPY! (grins) Sorry for the long wait. I hope you like the update. (Hee hee! Rhymes are cool!) THAAAAANK YOOOOOUUUU!
10 bags of choco to these excellent reviewers and to anyone else who reviews! (Virtually, of course. I'd probably send you some in the mail if it were possible just for being so awesomely cool (? ... Blinks)!!!!
I'll come up with some more gifts later.
And thank you people for reading this fic. It's nice just to leave a review to say 'I read this fic.', if nothing else. Ja ne!
On with the story!
Twisted
Chapter Two
Ren sighed to himself in annoyance.
'Yoh...'
"Kisama!" he shouted in annoyance.
'It's annoying. Three years after not seeing him, and all of a sudden he shows up. It's funny that with all of this time I've been spending with Hao that I hadn't really thought about Yoh. They are twins, after all...'
Ren growled irately.
'Why is it that all of a sudden I've got this urge to break something?'
Bason shivered when he saw Ren's golden eyes glaring at him.
"Bocchama? Daijoubu desu ka?" the Chinese warrior asked tentatively.
Ren averted his gaze slightly from his mochirei.
He hadn't even realized that his eyes had narrowed.
"Oh. Hai, Bason," Ren replied.
'It's unlike me to space out. I'm usually acutely aware of my surroundings.
Imagine if an attacker had come in at that moment.
In the state I was in, I would have been a goner.'
Ren chuckled.
Aa, this was extremely unlike him.
"Bason?"
"Hai, Bocchama?" the Chinese warrior looked up from where he had been observing his surroundings.
"What was it like? Visiting Yoh, I mean," Ren asked.
He was having difficulty trying to sound neutral.
"Well, it was very nice, I mean-"
"I highly doubt he was doing much. Probably just lazing around. I'm guessing that that's where you were when you disappeared for longer periods of time?"
"Hai. Yoh-sama was extremely polite, as (per) usual. However, it was a pain trying to locate him,"
"Hmm? And why would that be, Bason? Surely it shouldn't have been difficult to find him, if he was lazing about the whole time?"
"Oh, no. He was traveling around the world the whole time."
"Sou ka... So, he had that much leisure time on his hands, huh? Kisama..."
"Ie. He wasn't doing it for fun. He was doing it as part of his duty as Shaman King," Bason replied.
"As... Shaman King?" Ren asked, his eyes widening in surprise.
"Hai. It must have been extremely tiresome. He had just finished with his training with Silva, when he was told that he would have to travel the world for the next two years, visiting all sorts of Shamans and learn information about them, their abilities, and the cultures of their countries."
Ren raised an eyebrow in interest.
"Sou ka? So, how was Yoh during all of this?"
"On the outside he looked fine. All 'genki genki'. But in all reality, he seemed really depressed. He also looked like he hardly got any rest at all. He covered it up pretty well, though. All he'd say was something like "Daijoubu!" and then he'd change the subject."
"Ha! Sounds like him. It suits Yoh's personality to try to make others not worry about him when he's in pain. Rather, he'd ask them how they were doing, instead. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!"
Bason raised an eyebrow.
Clearly he was questioning his Master's sanity.
"Bloody baka. He is truly amusing, ne?" Ren asked.
"Hai, Bocchama. He is."
---------------------------
Classes continued the next day as they did the day before. The four shaman boys dressed in the same type of attire as they had worn previously. People kept on pestering Yoh with questions about himself, the rest would grovel to Hao, Ren, and Horo Horo, whom had already become their idles since they arrived at school.
Yoh stared glumly out the window.
He tried to keep a perky face on, but every so often his true emotions would flicker out of their hidden boundaries.
'I'm being ridiculous. I was too presumptuous, too idealistic. After all of these years, why would they want to be friends with me?'
"I'm such a bother. My presence is merely troubling their minds.
I don't want to trouble them...
I just want them all to be happy.
With or without me..." Yoh whispered to himself sadly.
A few heads turned in his direction.
'Oh fuck! Did I just say that out loud?'
"Ehehe. Ie. It's nothing, really," Yoh assured, chuckling uneasily.
Meanwhile, Hao was sulking to himself.
'Why did Yoh have to come back? Things have become way too complicated. And he's way too hot for his own good...
Wait! I did not just say that.
I did not just think that!
Yoh always had everything! He always had friends. He always had partners who were loyal to him.
(AN: You can interpret that 'partners' bit any way you want. Hee hee!)
Well, until now, it would seem...
I wonder how that happened?
Oh well.
That's of no importance now.
I don't want Ren and Horo Horo to return to him.
I don't want them to leave me.
To forget about me...
And that's exactly what would happen.
I would be all alone.
Again...
Damnit!
This is not happening.
Demo, Yoh's so kawaii.
Baka, baka, baka!
Stop thinking like that!
I have to hate him!
But somehow...
I can't.
Why is it that whenever Yoh turns up, my life is turned inside out and upside down...?
Kisama!
There has to be something I can do.
I have to do something!'
"Ha! I'm in control, "Hao assured himself with a smirk.
Somehow, it looked almost forced.
He glanced over at Yoh snidely.
'There he is with that grin again!
Kuso! Why does he always seem so calm and leisurely?'
His eyes narrowed at Yoh as he took the boy in.
'Because he doesn't want others to worry. And if he lifted that mask and showed others his real emotions, that's exactly what would happen.
The feelings revealed would cause utter chaos to be brought upon those who cared about him.
Hn.
He's like an atom bomb in the making.
Pull the trigger, and everything else blows up in your face, out of your control's reach.
Anyone who wanted to destroy the world could just use him instead, however much of an unwilling participant he would be.
Too bad I'm not like that anymore, for the most part.
With him, the result would be completely catastrophic.
In a good way for me.
That sounds quite dramatic.
Yes, I suppose him keeping his mask on is for the best.
Safer...
But safe is boring.
People say it's dangerous to play with fire, after all, and look how I acted upon that.
My element is fire.
I wonder what would happen if I pushed some of his buttons...
Hmm...
Nah!
I might as well leave the matter be.
After all, there are other ways of having fun... with him!'
Hao chuckled to himself.
Oh yes, he had many plans for the new... 'guest'.
"Aa. This should prove to be... most amusing."
'How fun!'
"What kinds of plots and schemes are in your mind, Hao?" Horo Horo asked suspiciously.
"Oh, nothing, nothing, dear! Go back to enjoying your wonderful class!" Hao replied cheerfully.
He began to giggle madly.
Horo Horo stared at Hao inquisitively for a few moments longer, but slowly turned back in his seat, dozing off once again.
"Insane, I tell you... Absolutely, positively... insane!"
'I am most definitely not enjoying this class. Who could? It seems Hao's bored silly, and it has screwed with his already twisted mind. But that hasn't stopped that 'twisted mind' from plotting.'
Horo Horo sighed.
'My weird, weird, tomodachi. Don't know what I'd do without you,' Horo Horo thought cheerfully.
And hopefully he would never have to find out.
"Hao, what are you thinking about? Obviously Horo Horo picked up that insane vibe from you, as well, as he has voiced words that say he thinks as such, "Ren asked in exasperation.
"Darling, there's no reason to worry. I'm just thinking of ways to have fun."
"Your ideas of fun are exactly what worry me," Ren replied.
"Tao, Ren? Worried? I never thought the day would come when you'd utter such words! "Hao teased.
"Kisama!" Ren growled.
Hao held up his hands as a defensive maneuver.
"Now, darling, do calm down, "he said in clear amusement.
"You know that I'm going to kill you now, right?" Ren asked calmly.
"You can try, even though you won't succeed."
"We'll see about that."
"Is that your sad attempt at a threat, Tao, Ren?"
"Sad attempt? Kisama! Omae o koruso!"
(AN: Omae o koruso! – famous Heero Yuy line. English: I am going to kill you! Heero Yuy – Gundum Wing/AC. Check it out! It's great!)
Hao chuckled.
All of a sudden he let out a loud yelp as Ren's kwan dao swung at him.
"Hey! That's not funny!" Hao shouted.
Ren began laughing maniacally as he continued to swing the giant halberd/ scythe.
"But apparently he thinks it is. Shit!"
In the end, the remaining spectators found furniture 'accidentally' being sliced into miniscule pieces and fireballs being thrown around the room.
The sensei found herself unable to continue her lesson due to the students' distraction.
Not that they ever paid attention, anyway, but she seemed oblivious to this factor.
The students ducked and jumped and hid in small corners out of instinct.
Apparently, this type of situation seemed quite commonplace to the majority of the individuals.
However, no matter how commonplace this was, the people all feared for their safety.
So, the classroom was in complete chaos.
To the cause of the destruction.
Shouts and cries were heard coming from the battling duo.
However, it was not like a battle so much as it was like a game of hide and seek.
Eventually, Ren ran out of fuuryoku and was left unarmed against his opponent.
Hao sent a fireball his way that scorched his pillaring purple hair.
Ren's eye twitched in annoyance.
"Ki... sa... ma...!" he whispered.
His purple spike grew a few feet higher.
Ren then bent over and rammed into Hao with his spiked purple hair.
He continued to charge at Hao with the spike, and eventually Hao toppled over from the mighty spike's sheer strength.
"Ow!" Hao groaned. "My poor, abused stomach."
Ren looked ready to attack Hao with his spiked hair once again and Hao frowned.
"Whatever," Hao muttered.
Ren's golden eyes gleamed triumphantly.
"Ha! I am the Great One! I cannot be defeated!"
The brunette merely replied with a "Hmph!"
Ren cackled.
Yoh couldn't hold back the giggle that had been trying to escape from his throat.
"HAHA cough HAHAHA coughcough HAHAHA!"
"What's so funny?" Ren asked in confusion.
Yoh glanced back at Hao and Ren, then burst out into fits of laughter.
"You! Hee Hee!"
Yoh slapped his knee as tears of mirth streamed down his face.
Ren blushed fiercely at the sight before him.
"It couldn't have been that funny!"
"Oh yes cough it was. I've never seen you two act this way before with each other."
"Damn, this is turning me on..." Hao muttered.
All of a sudden he jumped up and grabbed hold of Ren's face, before kissing him fiercely.
The kiss turned into a full out snogging session as the boys slammed against any of the remaining desks and walls in their desperation.
The rest of the students, which just happened to be boys, since this was an all boys school, stared in shock at the ending of the previous phenomenon.
Not quite what they had expected, huh?
"Public displays of sexual affection?!?! Get out I say! Out! To the principal's office with you! You've caused enough chaos for one day!"
Obviously the teacher needed to sort out her priorities (AN: Hee hee! Ron line from Harry Potter!), seeing as she hadn't focused even slightly on the piles of destruction they had created, but had paid plenty of attention to their snog session.
The teacher definitely had a few screws loose in her brain.
Horo Horo pouted as the two other boys eagerly left the classroom.
He had wanted to get some action too.
Horo Horo quickly glanced over at Yoh.
Ideas, ideas.
Oh yes. Things were going to get interesting around here.
--------------
Hao and Ren returned smugly from the principal's office right as the lunch bell rang.
Coincidental timing? I think not!
They walked over to the table that Yoh was sitting at and took their seats.
"Was this your table before hand or something?" Yoh asked in exasperation.
"No. We're just sitting here because you're here," Hao replied.
"Would you quit stalking me!"
"We're not stalking you. We're just following you every second of the day to wherever you go," Ren said.
"And don't forget that we don't give you a moment's peace and quiet," Horo Horo added.
Yoh sighed.
Images replayed in his head of them poking him with sticks and staring at him nonstop throughout his classes.
It was quite unnerving.
"I believe that counts as stalking in the dictionary," Yoh replied.
"Oh," Horo Horo said nervously.
"He's found us out! What should we do?" Horo Horo whispered – which was actually shouted, but Horo Horo seemed oblivious to this matter in his moment of delirium.
"Baka! He can hear your every word!" Ren shouted in annoyance.
"I won't shout if you kiss me!" Horo Horo whimpered.
"I highly doubt it," Ren replied.
"Ren! Kiss me! Kiss me!"
"Kisama!"
Meanwhile, Yoh had returned to blatantly ignoring Ren, Hao, and Horo Horo.
Hao sighed in annoyance.
Things were not going as they had planned.
He had given up on trying to be mad at Yoh.
That quest was next to impossible to fulfill.
It was even harder to aim this emotion at the other boy due to the fact that he had no real motivation behind it all.
"Ha! Fools! Urusai," Hao ordered.
When the other two boys sent death glares his way he merely raised an eyebrow.
"Defiance will do you no good," he told them haughtily.
Horo Horo and Ren looked ready to strangle the brunette.
"Who are you to tell us what to do?" Horo Horo asked icily.
"Your master, of course. You may refer to me as Hao-sama, as so many others have."
"Ha! When Hell freezes over!" Ren shouted.
- Hell -
All of the inhabitants stared in shock as huge layers of ice froze their usually fiery domain.
--------------
Ren's eyes widened in shock.
"Heh! Oops! Sorry," Horo Horo muttered nervously. "Weird things happen when I'm angry. Ren's comment gave me a location to unintentionally lock my powers on," he explained.
He quickly unfroze the area to its regular molten self.
"Horo Horo!" Ren shouted.
"Heh! I said I was sorry! Gomen, gomen!"
Yoh chuckled to himself mentally.
'Well that's an interesting new ability of Horo Horo's.
Well, actually... he did show such techniques during our fight with Hao.
He looks like he needs a bit more training to gain control, though.
Just to make sure that his powers don't gain control over him, instead.'
He made a mental note of that to himself for later use. Yup. He had gotten a brand new order of color-coded mental sticky notes. No more mental paper for him!
He watched as the two kept on bickering.
"So, Yoh," Hao suddenly said.
Said brunette turned to face the longhaired boy.
"Nani?" Yoh asked.
"What have you been up to lately?" he asked.
Yoh raised an eyebrow.
'That's the best he could come up with?'
"Avoiding you, of course, what else?" Yoh replied.
He winced mentally.
'Was that a tad bit harsh?'
Hao grinned, which shocked Yoh, to say the very least.
He was beginning to like Yoh this way.
'Hold on. Is he checking me out?!?!' Yoh screamed mentally.
Yoh cringed under the intense stare.
"Anything else?" Hao asked, leaning closer.
"Well..." Yoh began, slowly scooting away.
Ha! To hell with being discreet! The most important thing was putting as much distance between 'the Insane One' and himself.
Amidamaru suddenly showed up.
He glared at the trio of boys.
"Yoh-dono," he said.
"Hmm?"
Yoh turned around to face his mochirei.
"We should really get going," Amidamaru said meaningfully.
Yoh had never been so relieved to see the samurai spirit before in his life.
/Amidamaru, you are officially my savior! Arigatou!/ Yoh mentally cried in relief.
-Your welcome, Yoh-dono! You seemed to be a bit stressed.- Amidamaru replied.
"Ah, yes! Ano... for classes! Can't be late to my education lessons!" Yoh cried, jumping up from his chair.
"Yoh, we have another 10 minutes until our next classes start," Horo Horo said curiously.
Yoh sent the blue-haired Ainu a look that clearly had 'Omae o koruso!' written all over it.
Horo Horo gulped.
"Ano... I guess you can never be too early... to get some front row seats," Horo Horo added hopefully.
"Exactly..." Yoh said icily.
Horo Horo coughed.
"Yup! Good for you, Yoh!"
"I guess I'll be taking my leave, then."
Yoh sent them all a polite smile, before taking off in the other direction.
"What's up with Amidamaru popping up all of the wrong moments!" Hao growled.
"I think you scared him away," Ren said with a sigh.
Horo Horo nodded in agreement.
"Wakateru. Anyone would run away from that lusting leer you were aiming at him. Poor Yoh. I fear for his sanity after such a traumatic experience," Horo Horo said seriously.
Then he burst out into fits of hysterical laughter.
"However, Amidamaru does seem to be appearing way too often. I mean, possessive, anyone?"
"He seems to want to keep as much distance as he possibly can between Yoh and us. That spirit's appearances are way too suspiciously accurate to be coincidental. We're going to have to do something about that. An investigation seems to be called for. After all, we're going to get nowhere with Yoh if that spirit is always hovering around him anytime we get near."
All three boys growled.
"Oh, by the way. What do you think Yoh's been doing for the past three years?" Ren stated.
"For the first year he was training, I know that," Horo Horo replied.
"Training?" Hao asked curiously.
"Man, you really haven't been checking in on him at all, have you? Anyways, hai, training. Yoh became Shaman King—"
At this Ren growled.
"Oh, Ren, suck it up! You lost, Yoh won, he was better, life goes on! Anyways, as I was saying. After Yoh became Shaman King, he was informed that he would have to receive special training in order to control the power of the Great Spirit. He remained in Patch imura, while we went off in our own separate ways, and Silva trained him. That's all I know."
"Silva, huh? My damned offspring. And here I was hoping he had disappeared off the face of the Earth by now," Hao said casually.
"I guess Yoh was just lazing about at home after that," Horo Horo added.
Ren smirked.
"Ie. I was talking to Bason last night, and asked him about his visits with Yoh, and he told me..."
--------------
"Ha! 'What have you been up to lately?' What have you been up to lately! That's all he has to say?!" Yoh shouted angrily.
Amidamaru snarled as Yoh repeated the words Hao had spoken to him.
"It's been 3 bloody years! He didn't tell me that he was alive or anything! He didn't send me any sort of message during that time. And all my aniki has to say is 'what have you been up to lately?' I'll kill him! Tear him limb from limb! Leave him in a pool of his own blood! Argh!"
In his frustration, ha punched the nearest solid object close to him.
And found his fist had punched a hole through the wall.
"Shite!" he whispered, pulling his abused hand back from the open crater.
He winced as he noticed the blood.
Yoh bit back a cry of pain has his limbs gained back some feeling from their numb state.
"It looks like the walls here are made out of stone or concrete," he muttered.
'Probably 3 or 4 broken fingers, along with a sprained wrist. No big deal,' Yoh thought to himself glumly as he tried to move his right hand but failed miserably.
"Yoh?" a way too familiar voice asked smugly.
Yoh turned around to find himself facing Hao, who seemed to have randomly popped up out of thin air, and had remained floating above Yoh's head.
The brunette had his legs folded Indian-style beneath him, a grin of superiority spread across his face.
'Ah, yes. The cause of my current predicament,' Yoh though to himself in annoyance.
Yoh quickly tried to hide his hand.
Hao's eyes looked at him questioningly.
Yoh huffed exasperatedly and glowered at the floating figure.
"Otouto, what's wrong?"
He seemed not to have noticed Yoh's hand, much to Yoh's relief.
Rather, he seemed to wonder about the feelings Yoh had been directing towards them since yesterday.
"If you want to claim rights as my brother, you should have dropped me a postcard, you jackass!" Yoh growled.
Then he spun around and stormed off in the other direction.
Hao's eyes widened in mild shock.
"I'll kill the bloody bastard...!" Yoh muttered as he continued his previous tirade.
His injury probably wasn't helping matters what.
Hao then turned and looked at where Yoh had been previously standing.
An awed whistle escaped his lips as he took in the crater that had been recently made in the stone.
His eyes narrowed.
There was blood splattered on the wall.
"Yoh..." he whispered.
--------------
That night, Hao, Ren, and Horo Horo were having a 'conference' in Ren's room.
They sat in the small living room that he had, that was exactly like what all of the other boys had in their boarding school apartments.
(AN: except for Yoh, that is.)
"I myself think that Amidamaru's brainwashed him," Horo Horo announced proudly.
The other two boys stared at him incredulously.
"Baka," Ren muttered.
"Don't hate me because I'm beautiful!" Horo Horo mock cried.
"Iie. I'm the beautiful one in the group. You are... actually, I don't know what your place is in the group," Hao said.
"I'm the strong one."
At Ren's growl he shook his head quickly.
"Well then, I add the humor!"
Hao raised an eyebrow mockingly.
"I already find myself amusing enough, thanks."
"I add the pizzazz!" Horo Horo shouted.
"If that means that you're abnormally weird, then I agree. Cheers to that!" Hao said, chuckling.
Horo Horo snarled.
When the other two boys stared at him like he was a fool, he pouted.
"But we love ya, anyway," Hao added.
Horo Horo immediately perked up.
"Don't speak for others so casually without their consent," Ren growled.
Horo Horo's face fell.
"Well, I suppose I care in some odd way," Ren muttered in embarrassment.
Horo Horo grinned.
"I highly doubt that any spirit could brainwash any normal human or Shaman," Ren added.
"Why would your first conclusion be brainwashing, anyway?" Hao asked, as he leaned back to get more comfortable in his chair.
"Why else would Yoh turn on us?" Horo Horo asked in his defense.
The other two remained silent.
"I highly doubt Amidamaru would do such a thing as brainwashing. Especially to Yoh," Ren commented.
"But still..." Horo Horo muttered. "Well, I never would have thought that Yoh was traveling around the world for the past 2 years. Especially not for Shaman King duty. Anna must have flipped!"
"She got her easy life. She got her title as Shaman Queen. What would she have to complain about?" Ren replied.
"She wouldn't have a victim to pulverize," Hao remarked dryly.
"You forget about Manta," Horo Horo added.
"What, you mean that little human? So what," was Hao's casual reply.
Last time he saw her, she was way too possessive of Yoh.
The itako was way too demanding, and gave out orders to everyone so casually, knowing that all would obey her.
Hao was not one to be ordered around. Thus, the two personalities clashed like the colors hot pink and muddy brown.
'Imagine. Her try to order me around? I'd pulverize her, burn her to a crisp, and let the Spirit of Fire eat her as a snack.'
The thought caused Hao's lips to curve menacingly.
"Yoh's quite a mystery," Horo Horo said.
"Now that is something I can consent to," Ren stated.
Hao's eyes gleamed dangerously.
"So can I, Ren... so can I."
--------------
Yoh was bored out of his mind.
Nothing seemed to be going well lately.
On that thought, he looked down at his throbbing hand.
This was his third day of school here, fourth if you include the day he arrived.
"Why can't something just pop up and twist life up a bit?" he asked himself.
They say that talking to yourself is the first sign of insanity. But he had been doing so for a while now, and he felt just as sane as anyone else.
'I mean, if you're going insane, shouldn't you realize it?'
A loud yawn escaped his throat.
English class was torture. He had already read everything that they were going over in his class, thus, he had also already memorizes it. And the Principal already told him when he arrive that he wasn't allowed to listen to his headphones during class.
He had already been napping for the past 45 minutes, but he was incapable of forcing his body to sleep afterwards.
"AAAAAAAARGH!"
Yoh slammed his head continuously on the desk.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
"Fudge. Ow."
'Friggin' Hell Damnit!
Whoa, watch it with the language there, pal.'
"Ooh! Pretty stars!!!!" Yoh giggled.
Some of the people who had heard this statement groaned.
"It seems we have a bloody masochist in this class," one boy said.
"Cool..." another boy cried.
"Asakura-sama? Daijoubu desu ka?" the English teacher asked, who's name he learned to be 'Kiroshi-san'.
"Daijoubu, Kiroshi-san. Arigatou na," Yoh replied.
On of his fellow leaf spirits appeared, and he decided that he'd talk/conspire with it, instead.
"Ne?" He asked.
(AN: Ne can also be used as "Hey!" to get other people's attention.)
"Nani? What's wrong?" Yoh asked in concern.
The spirit seemed to be fretting, which was very unusual for such a spirit of its element.
The spirit floated forward and whispered quickly in his ear.
Yoh's eyes narrowed.
"Nani?! A powerful Shaman is approaching this school quickly? I should have sensed it!" he whispered nervously.
This was not good.
"Oh, Silva's going to kick my ass if he ever finds out I didn't sense this! What, with those blasted TV screens the 10 oracles have situated all over the place as spy cameras. Hopefully he's on vacation.
I'd rather not see my dear cousin under such circumstances.
This is really, really not good," Yoh whispered nervously to no one in particular, seeing as the leaf spirit had seemingly disappeared.
When the bell rang, Yoh bolted out of his chair and ran down the hallway to the cafeteria as fast as he could, pushing crowds of students out of his way.
"Wow, he must be really hungry," Horo Horo muttered in shock.
Nearby students just nodded in agreement.
"Gomen nasai! Gomen!" Yoh yelled apologetically.
Yoh continued to spout apologies as he crashed into people in his haste to get to the cafeteria.
He threw the doors open and looked around suspiciously, trying to find a Shaman with a higher-ranking aura, but to his bewilderment, found none.
He hastily made his way to his usual table, and once he confirmed that nothing was unusual with the area, grudgingly made his way around the cafeteria to collect the items for his lunch.
Once he had finished his rounds for food, he plopped down into his seat and was consumed into his own thoughts, worry plaguing his mind.
He munched slowly on his own food and was left in a moment of wonder.
"I wonder what exactly is in cafeteria food. Every school that you go to, it's always the same," Horo Horo muttered.
"I highly doubt that you'd want to know. The content list would probably make you sick," Yoh interrupted.
The three other boys stared at him.
This was the first time that the boy had made semi-willing conversation with them since he had arrived.
"Oh, that'd be interesting. How fun it'd be to see Horo Horo squeamish. I wonder if it'd be enough to get the boy to stop eating enough for the Jurassic 'Kingdom'," Hao added, hoping to keep Yoh in the conversation and not give the boy a second's chance to change his mind.
"I suppose he has to have a metabolism that runs at the speed of light in order for him to still be in such good shape," Ren commented.
Ren, Yoh and Hao made no effort to hold back their snickers.
"Oi!" Horo Horo complained.
Ren smirked to himself.
'I have successfully completed my life's mission," Ren thought to himself smugly.
They all started laughing at Horo Horo's expense.
Suddenly, Yoh froze as his feelings of uneasiness returned ten fold.
The strong fuuryoku was nearby.
And getting closer.
However, in order not to startle the others, he continued to act calm as he hesitantly ate his lunch.
Let's just hope this didn't turn out too horrifically.
The presence was getting closer.
Yoh got himself ready for any sort of oncoming onslaught.
And closer.
It was closing in on him.
"Yoh-sama!" was the cry that rang throughout the air.
Yoh blinked stupidly at the white fluff ball of cotton that had tackled him to the floor and was now standing on his head.
He let out a miserable groan at the incessant pounding in his head.
The figure above him had clearly heard this noise as it had hastily moved back onto his chest.
Much to his cranium's relief.
It looked as if there was a sheep on top of him.
'But aren't sheep supposed to say 'baa'? Well, apparently they've learned Japanese. Maybe the sheep have joined forces with the chickens and are plotting to take over the world by means of overpopulation of the species and learning the human language; resulting in confusing the human race and using our stupidity to overpower us? I didn't know they were so intelligent...
Or maybe that fall on my head did more damage then I thought and I'm over thinking the matter and making a dumb assumption...'
He was going to have to go with the latter idea once ha got a good look at his 'attacker's' face.
He took in the 'sheep's' face with it's huge watery eyes that greatly resembled egg yolks if you didn't consider their dark color; and the dark skin of the other individual.
"Mr. Sheep?" Yoh mumbled sleepily.
"Yoh-sama! Daijoubu desu ka?!" the squeaky voice asked him worriedly.
"Opacho?" Yoh asked in confusion.
"Hai, Yoh-sama!" Opacho chirped.
Young Opacho watched as Yoh hastily tried to get up, only resulting in him falling back down again.
"Yoh sama! Daijoubu desu ka?!" Opacho asked yet again, sounding almost hysterical at this point.
Yoh smiled up at the small boy above him.
"Aa. Daijoubu. That fall just caused me to become slightly dizzy. A few bruises at most. Think nothing of it. However, if you'd be so kind as to give me a hand, I'd greatly appreciate it."
"Hai, Yoh-sama!"
Opacho retracted his white sheep cotton back into his skull until it returned to being his normal black afro. His orange poncho (mantle), much like Hao's old white one, returned as well, along with the golden bracelets/anklets; which left the boy still barefoot, as usual.
He hopped off of the brunette, and then took the outstretched hand in his own and pulled the other boy to his feet, before plopping him back into his seat.
"Gomen, Yoh-sama! Opacho no baka! Opacho is just very happy to see Yoh-sama again. Opacho is very sorry for accidentally hurting Yoh-sama! Please forgive Opacho's mistake! Opacho is very sorry for being such—"
"Opacho! Calm down! Wakarimashita. Daijoubu desu ka? You fell as well, after all," Yoh asked sweetly.
Opacho's eyes watered happily.
"Sugoi, Yoh-sama! Yoh-sama is so kind to Opacho, after Opacho caused the accident. Yoh-sama!" the African boy cried hysterically.
Now Yoh, being Yoh, took this to be his fault, and even though he didn't know why Opacho was crying, he felt that he himself was to blame.
"Maa, maa, Opacho. It's fine. Don't beat yourself up over it. Seriously," Yoh said with a little wink
--------------
The nurse was starting to grow tired of all of the accumulating students in her office lately.
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(AN: Quite surprising, isn't it, seeing as they're (the students) all boys? Hee hee! winks mischievously.)
"Why does it seem that everyone is making surprise appearances lately? Soon enough, I'll be getting white hairs from sheer fright," Yoh muttered to himself with a tinge of humor.
He looked down at his hair in amusement, only to find to his horror a clump of hair that had been turned starch white.
"AAAH! Nani?! What the hell happened to my hair?!" Yoh screamed.
"Wow! Yoh's cussing!" Horo Horo said in disbelief.
"He did so earlier with me, too," Hao added.
Ren and Horo Horo looked at Hao curiously, then turned back to incredulously stare at Yoh.
"But not to worry, Yoh. It's only white paint. You must have gotten it in your hair during Art class," Horo Horo pointed out.
Yoh's eyes widened in shock, but seemed to settle moments later with a look of relief.
"How did you—? Oh, yeah, that's right. You were stalking me..." Yoh said, his eyes narrowing as a low growl escaped his throat.
The other three looked away guiltily.
Of course, in their minds they felt that they wouldn't need to feel guilty if they hadn't been caught in the act. If they had remained inconspicuous, then everything would be fine, and they would be able to still stalk Yoh; not that they weren't still planning to if at all possible. How poking someone with a stick can be called "inconspicuous", I don't know. Their minds seemed to work differently than most people's.
They had actually considered themselves quite clever, and were still utterly bewildered as to how Yoh had caught them stalking. It seemed that stupidity was running amuck in their brains. Or some people might somehow call it being naive. It didn't matter, really.
All that mattered was that Yoh had caught them stalking him, and was now more suspicious than before, making it all the more difficult to try to obtain him.
Life sucked.
Or as a very famous, and very true quote says, "life's a bitch and then you die". They found that they could truly understand that statement now, in their current predicament.
"Oya, oya!" Horo Horo cut in accusingly. "What's he doing here?!"
The other boys followed said Ainu's pointed finger to Opacho.
Opacho growled fiercely, as if saying "put your dukes up and fight me so I have a reasonable excuse to beat you to a pulp, which I will say is because you were bullying a little midget of a boy. Human rights!"
The others raised an eyebrow as they leaned back from the afro bunny-boy a little.
(AN: Dude, he hops. I think that gives me the right to call him "bunny-boy" rather than something like "sheep boy". His whole "human rights" bit reminds me of Chang, Wufei's whole "(in)justice" motto from Gundum Wing/AC.)
"Mou ii, Opacho. It's alright," Yoh said.
The boy visibly calmed down the slightest bit, but still seemed to have an air high on the anger scale.
"Hmph! Yoh-sama is too kind! Opacho will teach the others a Lesson."
He turned on the extremely startled boys, glowering darkly.
"Did you know how upset and hurt Yoh-sama was?! You all just left Yoh-sama behind to rot while you went about having fun! You forgot about Yoh-sama, and that is unforgivable. Yoh-sama felt even worse because he knew that you—"he directed this at Ren "—were mad at Yoh-sama for becoming Shaman King, and he felt that he had possibly destroyed your dream. All of your dreams. Yoh-sama went through such pain and trouble trying to help everyone in the world out, and in the end Yoh-sama was treated like trash for it.
Yoh-sama waited and waited for any type of message to come from one of Yoh-sama's "friends", but in the end Yoh-sama figured out that you were purposefully ignoring Yoh-sama because of the results of the Shaman Fight. Yoh-sama was crushed. Yet Yoh-sama still kept faith in Yoh-sama's tomodachi, even though Yoh-sama knew subconsciously that it wasn't any good to try to come up with excuses."
"Opacho... yamero..." Yoh said calmly.
"Matte!"
He now directed his glare fully on Hao.
"Opacho is ashamed of Hao-sama! Bad, bad Hao-sama! Leaving Hao-sama's aniki behind. Hao-sama's changed, and not necessarily for the better. Hao-sama is still Opacho's Hao-sama, demo, Hao-sama's a different Hao-sama with these people," he said, nodding in the direction of Ren and Horo Horo.
"Yoh-sama was sad, and often times Yoh-sama would cry. Manta-san was his first friend, and you being bitter and disgusted with him reminded him of the times when he was called a demon child and a monster and—"
"That is ENOUGH, Opacho!" Yoh cried angrily, his face becoming red and flustered in embarrassment.
Opacho whimpered.
Yoh's facial expression softened.
"Demo, Arigatou for trying to help, Opacho. You just went a little too far with the details. I'm glad that you care."
Yoh smiled sweetly at the little African boy, who visibly brightened.
"Opacho visited Yoh-sama many times... Opacho knows!" Opacho whispered, although it was loud enough for everyone to hear.
After that everyone was silent.
Hao, Ren, and Horo Horo looked extremely uncomfortable currently.
'I wonder what they'll do once they process that little piece of information. I would have greatly preferred it if Opacho hadn't gone into such great detail. Most people don't make a point of telling others that they made them cry on a regular basis.'
Yoh sighed in defeat.
Life was way too damn complicated.
"Opacho..." Hao whispered sadly, breaking the ever-growing silence.
"Opacho's not the one Hao-sama should be worrying about!"
"Is it true...?" Ren asked suddenly, startling the others into fully noticing his presence.
Yoh tilted his head so he could look up towards the heavens as he calmly replied to Ren, "what do you think?"
There was no anger in his voice, no overflowing pain, just a calm serenity that came from years of practice and keeping up masked appearances.
"Hn..."
"Well, no need to be sad! Ikuzo, Opacho! What do you want to do for fun?" Yoh said with a mechanical type cheer. "Ja!"
Then he dragged Opacho off out of the cafeteria, much to the grief to his stomach, which let loose a loud growl of protest.
Two days without a real lunch wasn't exactly the best of all things. However, they were off and out the doors before anyone could question it.
The three remaining boys stared at the cafeteria doors for a moment before turning to glance at each other.
Things had just gotten a heck of a lot more complicated, and they were going to have to get to the bottom of this ordeal.
It seemed there was a lot that they were going to have to learn about Asakura, Yoh.
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Things should get more interesting later. Relationships will develop and more characters that we have met throughout the series will appear. Please read review. Ja ne!