Searching for my Soul's Second Half

Disclaimer: I don't even own this computer I'm using, let alone the rights to an anime series, its characters, etc.

Pairings: Primarily it's a Yoh x Anna fic, though I will be popping in some others (all straight though).

Spoilers: I will make references to occurrences in the series, so you have been warned.

Warnings: PG-13 for adult situations, swearing and perhaps some violence later on.

Note: The story takes place five years after the series, and hence the majority of the characters are between sixteen and eighteen.

Personal Comments: This is my first fic, though I wanted start big so instead of a one-shot, I chose to do a long, multi-chapter fic. I hope everyone enjoys it and I'll accept all types of reviews and if anyone has ideas or requests, feel free to make them known to me. I promise you that no longer how long it takes, I will finish it.

Prologue

Cemeteries. To most people, these are places of sorrow and remorse, the final destination in the great journey that is life, and a place where they a remembered by those who have yet to reach the end. No one really likes to visit a cemetery; for it has the effect of causing people to remember the wrong memories at the wrong time. If one were to discuss these memories, you may find it confusing as to why they are feeling so sad, as it almost sounds like the memory is one of joy and happiness. Yet it doesn't take a genius to put two and two together, to find out why that person is sad. Yes, Cemeteries are places of sadness and death. Or so to most people...

To one teenager, the local cemetery has been a place of fun and interest. Since he was a young boy, he spent as much of his free time as possible at the cemetery, enjoying himself and finding out about ages past. How is this possible you ask? How can one boy have so much fun alone in a cemetery? Ah well, you see, he is not alone...and he is no ordinary teenager; he is a Shaman.

Chapter 1: Are we Going?

The sun was setting slowly in the West, the sky turning a crimson red, and bathed in what light could still be seen across the Tokyo skyline. The towering buildings almost seemed to piercing the night sky as the stars began to appear. This was the view ahead of one person, lying against the grand oak-tree in the middle of Funbari Cemetery, located on a small cliff near the city's outskirts.

In years gone by, many passers-by noticed a young, spiky-haired boy in such a position. With the wind in his face, he'd sit for hours on end watching the world go by. Now, five years had gone by, yet during these years he continued to return to the exact same spot, and the previous image made way for one of a more mature looking young man.

Whilst he still kept his trademark orange headphones, and black claw necklace, he had traded in his green trousers with the upturned hems for a similar, yet smarter pair without the turn-ups. His wooden sandals also made way for a pair of brown shoes, whilst his shirt was still of light cream colour, yet he wore it with a bit more dignity and more buttons done up.

But if there was one thing that hadn't changed it was his personality, his love for life and enjoyment of all things fun. This was the lifestyle of Yoh Asakura, the Shaman King.

As the Sun continued to set, a figure began to materialise next to Yoh. Clad in his ancient samurai armour, with his two katanas by his side, the spirit known as Amidamaru faced the relaxed shaman.

"Yoh-dono, isn't it about time we head back? It's getting late" he asked with concern.

Yoh, chuckled and stretched his arms, "True, but its so relaxing here, I swear I could remain here all my life."

"But what about Anna?" the spirit continued, "She isn't gonna be happy to hear you've been goofing off again."

"I don't get it" he sighed, "the Shaman tournament is over and there isn't gonna be another one, at least not for another five hundred years, by which time I'll be in the same shoes as you."

"And at least by then you don't have to worry about Anna killing you anymore" joked the spirit.

Yoh laughed at his friend's witty remarks, yet he couldn't help think about his fiancé. They had been living together for almost five years. Originally she was his trainer, preparing for the upcoming challenges in the Shaman Tournament. He knew that if it wasn't for her back-breaking training scheme, he probably would never have survived round one.

However, although the tournament was over, she insisted that he continue, albeit on a slightly toned down level, yet still tougher than the training many professional athletes undertake. So why did he agree to do it? Well, she may have had her own reasons, but Yoh had one simple reason for agreeing; it was all for her.

Years ago, he had taken their engagement for granted; yet as time passed he began to grow considerably fond of the young Itako. It wasn't long that he began to have these strange feelings whenever he spoke to her or even just looked at her; feelings of excitement, nervousness, happiness, concern, all rolled into one. For weeks he questioned what it was until one evening, whilst listening to the radio that he realised what it was...Love. He had fallen in love with her, something he thought would be hard to do, yet here it was, happening to him. He was now all the more determined to make her his wife, and trained hard to protect her and support her for the rest of their life together. As long as it was all for her, he'd train till the end of time itself, for that was where his heart lead him.

"Yoh-dono, are you okay?"

Yoh blinked as his images of his beloved were replaced by that of Amidamaru; "sorry Amidamaru, I was just thinking, anyway, lets head on home."

The young shaman stood up, brushed his trousers of any dust and began the walk home with his spirit in tow.

The clock struck eight o'clock, much to the annoyance of the young woman angrily glaring at it.

"That guy better get his lazy arse through those doors in ten seconds, or I will not be held responsible for what happens in here tonight" she growled.

She may be her fiancée, but Anna was still the no-nonsense 'master' of this house-hold, and she was determined to stamp her authority. Whilst many people saw her as an emotionless slave-driver, it was all just a front. For a start, she had plenty of emotions and many-a-times she desired nothing more than to express and share them with everybody; to one person in particular.

The only reason she kept all these feelings 'bottled up' within her was because of her past. Her difficult times as a child, followed by her Itako training with Yoh's grandmother, led her to believe that feelings and emotions were merely barriers that complicated and held you up in life. For over ten years she was like that, until one day when she met someone that would change her life; and that person was Yoh Asakura.

Never had she met someone who expressed so much joy and happiness with the world. He was her exact opposite, how could she have been chosen to be engaged to this guy? Over time she guessed that she had simply been chosen to train Yoh and get him into shape in time for the Shaman Tournament. With the prospect of an easy life as the wife of the Shaman King, she was willing to put up with the guy and even marry him; yet as time passed, things changed.

Despite her strenuous training and harsh moments with him, he refused to stop smiling and was always nice to her. This in turn was having an effect on her. She began to feel concern for Yoh, that she was over-working him and also felt warmth within her when he was with her; and then one night it hit her like lightning. She was falling in love with him. Somehow she felt that Yoh's grandparents knew about this and was way they had decided to have the two of them engaged to one another.

Despite this, she felt she had a reputation to uphold and so despite a few rare occurrences, when she was alone or with Yoh, she acted as she had always been; but for how much longer?

Her thoughts were cut off as she heard the sound of footsteps along the stone path at the front of the house. The front door slid open as the object of her thoughts walked in. He turned and immediately noticed his fiancé standing there, glaring at him sharply with her hands crossed across her chest. She was not a happy bunny.

"You're late!" she snapped.

"I know, I'm sorry but the sunset was so beautiful."

She rolled her eyes "that's been your excuse four times this week, it must be some sun."

"Then why don't you watch it with me some time" he smirked.

Anna froze for a few seconds and couldn't help but blush slightly. The thought of watching the sun set with Yoh by her side was too romantic to contemplate. This was bringing back thoughts of past fantasies and dreams.

Yoh blinked at the day-dreaming blonde wondering what was happening.

"Anna? You okay?"

She quickly snapped out of it, looked at Yoh and then glared and turned away towards the living room. "My life is too busy for me to waste time on some cemetery cliff. Besides, the last thing this household needs is another slacker."

Yoh laughed "I see your point, well my offer still stands."

Anna quickened her pace as the blush returned to her face. Then she called out to him "Yoh, can you go check the mail? The mailman was late."

"Sure Anna."

The young man casually walked out to the front gate of their house to the wooden mail-box and opened it up. He pulled out the multiple pieces of mail and began to browse through them:

"Bills, bills, junk mail, hey a CD catalogue! More bills, Anna's magazines and hey, what's this?"

The last piece of mail was a small white envelope with a swirling blue pattern around the edge. He looked at the stamp and noticed it was from Hokkaido in Northern Japan.

"I wonder if it could it be from...?"

Yoh carefully, yet hurriedly, opened the letter and began to read it. He began to smile as he continued to read through it and laughed at its conclusion.

"That is so like him."

Yoh picked up the rest of the mail from the table and made his way into the living room. Inside he found Anna sitting on the sofa reading a book whilst eating some crackers.

"Mail's here" he called out.

Moving only her eyes, she looked up from her book for a few seconds and then back down again; "anything for me?"

He handed her the magazines, then eyed the bills; "you wanna deal with these?"

Again, she merely looked up and glared at him before returning to her book.

Yoh smiled, "I think I'll handle them. Oh by the way, we got a letter from an old northern friend.

For the third time, Anna looked up from her book; though this time she had a confused look.

"A northern friend" she thought to herself, "what sort of friend is he......oh no!"

Yoh noticed from Anna's expressions that she had figured out who it was who sent the letter, much to her displeasure. "Its Horo Horo's eighteenth birthday in a week's time, and he's inviting us up to his village to celebrate."

He turned back to her expecting a reply, but none came.

"Anna..."

"I heard you the first time Yoh" she retorted.

Yoh was taken aback by her tone, yet he continued "so......are we going?"

"Going where?" replied the Itako still fully immersed into her book.

By now Yoh had had enough. He knew that he was gambling with his life here and the chances of receiving at the very least a sharp blow to the head were very high; yet he knew he had to. In a flick of an eye, he took hold of the book and whisked it out of her hands before gently placing it on the coffee table.

Anna was currently in a state of shock with both her hands still in their position from when she was holding the book. Yoh had never done anything of this nature before; and she wasn't exactly gonna let him get away with it. Her body tensed up as she prepared to give Yoh the biggest taste of Hell in his life. Yet before a single muscle could move, Yoh made his. He knelt down right in front of Anna, placed both his arms across her knee-caps and rested his chin atop. His heart-warming smile plastered across his face and his dark brown eyes gazing straight into Anna's.

Her once tense body literally turned to Jelly, followed by what seemed like an electric shock travelled up from her knees and through her. Since she was still accustomed to wearing her short-cut, sleeveless black dress, their skins were in contact with one another. Whilst Yoh didn't seem to have any problem with it, it was of considerable concern to Anna as they had never been this close before despite the fact that he was her fiancé. And yet, she couldn't help but feel a sense of warmth in his touch. All this resulted in her face reddening once again and the worst of it was that it "burnt" so brightly, it was impossible for Yoh to miss and use it to his advantage.

"So Anna...are we going to accept Horo Horo's invite or not?"

Recovering from the initial shock, "Well......I'm not too sure..."

"Oh come on Anna" he interrupted, "it'll be a great time and I'm sure you'll enjoy it too."

She stared at his puppy-dog face, his deep chocolate coloured eyes; she just couldn't refuse.

"Well", she sighed, "I have no trouble with you going, yet I'm not to sure if I should go."

Yoh's eyes widened, "but you've got to come Anna, besides the invite is addressed to both of us."

"It just isn't really my sorta thing, besides I've still got to finalise preparations for the onsen and then there's..."

She found herself being interrupted yet again, this time as Yoh grabbed both her hands and clasped them in between hers. This of course affected her facial colour yet again.

'At this rate, this guy is gonna cause all my blood to end up in my head' she said to herself.

"I think everyone else would be happy to see you" he said with pleading eyes. "Besides, you've been so immersed in preparing for the Onsen that you've barely relaxed. This would be just what you need. And besides..." Yoh tilted his head down slightly, "I really want you to go with me. I always feel better when I'm with you, and I feel the night would go more smoothly if you were there with me."

Now there was no way she could refuse, he had smashed the wall of ice that surrounded her; she had to go with him.

"Very well Yoh, I'll go too" she groaned.

Yoh just smiled in reply.

"But listen to this", her tone changing considerably. "I know what these eighteenth birthdays are like, and if you get hammered by some local brew and start making an arse of yourself, you'll be walking home."

Yoh raised his right hand "Shaman's honour; besides, I doubt it's gonna be that sort of party, more of a village celebration. When an Ainu man turns eighteen, the entire village celebrates his coming of age, so I don't think they are going to risk their village being smashed up by a group of drunken teens."

Anna couldn't help but laugh at his comment; he had a good point. "What time do the celebrations begin?" she asked.

Yoh checked the letter, "it says that the festivities start at seven sharp so don't be late."

"It'll be a long drive up to Hokkaido, so I suggest we better leave here a few hours before."

"You wanna drive up there!?" Yoh shouted with surprise.

She eyed him once more, "do you really want me to go?, cos I am sure as hell ain't gonna be travelling on a crowded train and then hiking up to that village of there's."

"Fine, we'll take the car" he groaned. Ever since he obtained his driver's license and got that car, he's had to drive her almost everywhere. Although he had tried to teach her how to drive, and she was actually really good at it, she obviously preferred the idea of having her own personal chauffeur; not that he really minded though. He had promised to her years ago to give her an easy life, and he always kept his promise. It also gave her a chance to spend time with her. This is all he ever had to think about when having to pay for fuel.

"Well, now that that's all sorted out" she said clasping her hands, "I think it's about time you start getting dinner ready."

"But isn't it your turn this evening? I thought we agreed to cook meals on alternating days. Besides," A sly grin crossed his face, "I always thought you looked good in an apron."

Anna didn't know whether to smile or smack him right off her knees, so she did neither; "if you want me to go with you, I'm gonna need some compensation, namely you doing all the cooking for the next week."

He sighed as he recalled that evening, during the months following the return from America at the conclusion of the Shaman Fight almost five years ago, when he was shocked to find her cooking dinner, even after he had bought groceries for himself to cook. Since then, they had agreed to cook meals on alternating days, whilst on Sunday they usually cooked together.

No surprisingly, Sunday was the day he looked forward to the most as it allowed him to be close to her. In fact, he had used it as a chance to get even closer. The amount of flirting that had been taking place during these meal preparations had been constantly increasing every week and only last week, Yoh found himself helping Anna to make pizza dough by standing right behind her, placing his hands over hers and motioning her through each step. Yoh had swallowed an awful lot of courage to try a stunt like that, yet was astonished to find that Anna didn't even flinch. This was just one of numerous signs that their relationship was opening up, and he was determined to just confess that he they weren't just together because of some engagement, but that he truly loved her. However, he still hadn't decided when to do all this.

Yoh looked up at Anna's waiting face, "okay, you win. I'll be the house chef for a whole week.........though can you at least be me assistant on Sunday?" He added the last bit quickly, and shone one of his cheerful smiles in hopes of sealing the deal.

For the umpteenth time that evening, she was mesmerised by his goofy grin and hence in no position to refuse; so she gave him a nod of agreement.

"Great" he cheered. "So, in conclusion of this little conversation, are we going then?"

She rolled her eyes and smiled at his attempts to be entirely sure of everything. "Yes, we're going."

End Notes

Well it may have taken almost 3 weeks, but I finally wrote the 1st chapter. I hope to cut it down to one chapter a week.

Well, next time we follow our favourite SK couple as they take the long journey up to Hokkaido. With a journey that long, there must be ways to pass the time. Anna's version of I-Spy is revealed and who would have known a CD could fit in such a small space. All this and more will be revealed in the next chapter:

Chapter 2: Are we there yet?