A/N: Sorry for not updating for such a long time! I've just had so many end-of-the-year things going on, so I didn't have time to do much. Anyway...a lot happens pretty quickly in this chapter, because of my lack of time to write. And I took some dialogue directly from the Japanese anime, so things might seem a little silly here and there, okay? Good!

Rag Doll

Part VI: Of New Friends and Old Enemies

As the weeks passed, things at Funbari Onsen became...lackluster, to say the least. Every morning at five-o-clock sharp, Anna's shrill voice would resonate throughout the in as she awoke Yoh in a less-than-pleasant manner. Of course, since my bedroom was the one directly next to his, the itako's voice would wake me as well. And, whether or not he spent the night, Manta would always be in the kitchen, having either made breakfast himself or just picked something up at a convenience store. We would eat rather quietly, and then Yoh would be off to run around the city. Anna would settle herself in front of the TV and watch early-morning sitcoms from the 80's that weren't old enough yet to show on Nick At Night, and Manta would go about cleaning things that were already clean.

Ho hum.

Left to my own devices, I found little I could actually do. I'd already listened to all of Yoh's music, and read through all of Anna's shaman-books. Neither of them were actually interesting, and soon enough I'd been longing to go back to school just to pass the time. Even though I hate it more than anything, doing Geometry is so much more interesting than sitting around watching reruns of The Nanny and collecting dust.

Just when I though I'd explode from boredom, Yoh brought home a guest. Not just any guest, oh no! Yoh just had to pick up the sketchiest person in the entire district of Funbari, because he Yoh, and he always does exactly what I don't want him to do. Since such is the case, I came down to dinner one night to find Bokuto no Ryu sitting at the dinner table with Anna and the others. I joined them of course, and played the happy little wife-to-be I'd become so accustomed to playing lately, complete with that phony smile of mine.

It's not to say that I don't like Ryu --oh no; wonderfully sweet guy once you get to know him-- but there's just something about him that creeps me out. I had a feeling that it was because he was out of high school, meanwhile, I was just entering it as a tenth grader. I'll admit, I do have friends who are seniors in high school, but it's not like they only hang around little thirteen-year-olds. I shuddered slightly, knowing that this was the guy who I'd seen having erotic visions of a threesome containing himself, a little girl, and a fourteen-year-old boy.

Hmm. Sketchy.

And, just to make things worse, after Yoh invited him to spend the night (which is daunting in its own right), Ryu didn't leave. Seriously, the guy stayed at the inn for three entire weeks! Sure, he was a big help with chores and all that stuff that Manta usually did, but there was honestly no reason for him to do it. He hadn't seen rescued Yoh from Ren (who, by the way, I was still keeping a sharp eye out for now that my nose had healed), nor had he been rescued from Tokagero yet. I just didn't get it at all.

Anna didn't seem to be too fond of Ryu, either. She would order him around day and night, and would rarely praise his work. I didn't understand why she wasn't voicing how creepy it was to have a random adult off the streets lurking around her house every second of every day, especially since I knew she felt the same way that I did. Maybe she could already sense his latent shamanic abilities and didn't want to tell anyone yet, but dammit! Why wouldn't she just make him leave! I wanted him out!

I know, I know; you're probably wondering why I want to exclude a major character from the storyline, but let me tell you, Ryu is just plain creepy when he isn't a shaman! He lurks around in these dark corners of the inn, and then when I pass by, he tries to get all friendly with me. 'There's nothing wrong with being friendly,' someone will whine. But you just don't understand; yes, there is something wrong with being friendly when it's Ryu we're talking about! I knew I'd get used to him eventually, but just not now.

Anyhow, back to the story... It was one of those too-typical evenings; Yoh and Manta were out shopping, Ryu was lurking around in the kitchen and waiting for the dynamic duo to return with dinner ingredients, Anna was somewhere in the house I could never seem to be able to find, and I was loafing around on Yoh's futon and listening to his music. I didn't know why I wasn't in my room listening to my music, considering I tried to get as little of Yoh as possible, but tonight I just felt like doing something a little out-of-the-ordinary. There was something about Yoh's music that was just different from mine; possibly the lack of homicide threats and drug references, but I wasn't completely sure.

My stomach growled loudly, and it was exactly then that I realized how little I'd changed since I'd come to the Shaman King world. There were obvious physical changes - my hands and feet were bigger (although my shoe size curiously remained the same), my eyes were enormous, my torso seemed too small for the rest of my body, and so on like that... But personality-wise, I was exactly the same person as before. I thought that I'd become sullen or virtuous or mysterious or something...but...no. I just wasn't. I still lied to make things work out alright for me, I still borrowed things without asking, I was still a flirt who scored the wrong guy, and so on with the unflattering traits.

My eyes trailed around the room guiltily, knowing how badly Yoh-tachi would treat me if they found out this was all one big lie. I mean, I wasn't exactly a convincing fiancée, and I doubted that anyone would actually want to be around me if I told the truth. In all honestly, the only thing I wanted wasn't Ren (though he was very close to the top of the list); I also wanted to be accepted by Yoh-tachi as a friend. Not just a forced fiancée. I knew that I'd eventually be close enough to someone to tell them that Yoh and I weren't engaged, but until then, I knew I'd just have to keep on lying. It was a horrible realization, but one I knew I'd be able to fix some day.

As if to break my thoughts, I heard a door slam downstairs. The only person capable of slamming a door that hard was Anna, and she only did that when she was mad. I rolled off Yoh's futon and slipped down the hallway quietly, wanting to see what was going on. Maybe she was going to kick Ryu out! As I crept down the stairs, I could hear Anna complaining about something. But instead of coming from the kitchen, where I expected her to be whining about dinner, it was coming from the living room.

"We can't support any more freeloaders," I heard her say from inside the closed sliding door of the living room. Was she really kicking Ryu out? Ooh, I hoped so! I didn't want to interrupt and possibly change her mind, so I hung back outside the door and listened.

"But Boroboro doesn't have anywhere else to stay," Yoh pleaded.

Wait. 'Boroboro?' What! I frantically tried to remember what was going on, and who the hell this 'Boroboro' guy could be.

"It's 'Horohoro'," a voice from inside the room said. Ah! Horohoro! Everyone's favorite Ainu had come for a visit! I had been fretting that things would play out like the manga and I wouldn't get to meet him until the first round of the Shaman Fights, but I guess I had been wrong. I did a little victory dance, knowing that I would finally be able to talk to someone who knew what a funbox was!

"Well," Anna said thoughtfully from behind the ricepaper door. "If you really want to stay, you'll have to obey my orders."

"No problem!" Horohoro said after a moment. Anna began to list off things for Horohoro to do - like clean the kitchen and wash the dishes. I could faintly hear Manta, Yoh, and Ryu whispering to each other, but I wasn't exactly sure of what they were saying.

"I'm sorry, Boroboro," Yoh said once Anna was done telling the Ainu what to do. I pressed my ear to the door, trying to listen better.

"Hey, your sister's really strict," I heard Horohoro say quietly.

"I'm not his sister," Anna said sullenly. I waited for her to announce that she was his fiancée, like she did in the anime, but it didn't come. Instead, the itako flung open the door I was listening through, and I promptly fell into the room and onto the floor. Oops. Anna scoffed, and stepped over me to leave the room

"Anna's a...family friend," Yoh said, ignoring me as best he could for the moment, though Horohoro seemed to have different ideas.

"Who's this? Another family friend?" Horohoro asked, leaning over the table to look at me. I got up hastily and brushed myself off, blushing all the while. It wouldn't do to have potential mountain-buddy material thinking I'm a total klutz, would it?

"Not exactly," Yoh said, beckoning me to sit down next to him, which I did. "Kitty-chan's my fiancée." As he said this, he placed an arm around my waist possessively, which was really weird. Yoh wasn't usually the possessive type, especially around me; he always let me go where I wanted and spend time with who I wanted. Anyway, as soon as Yoh had said 'fiancée,' the entire room seemed to pause.

Then Horohoro went off on a long tangent about not even having a girlfriend. During this tangent, Yoh seemed to pull me even closer to him as if I might just get up and walk away if he didn't. Truthfully, I probably would have. I'd had enough of Yoh's cuddles for a lifetime, and I really wanted to know if the mountains of Hokkaido were really as amazing as people said they were. As Horohoro's tangent ended with him kneeling on the tea table, I felt Yoh's fingers twirling a lock of my hair. That was new...and a little awkward, too.

"I lose at life..." Horo mumbled, sulking.

"It's okay," I said sweetly to the sniffling Ainu. He glanced at me from his pitiful position on the table. "When you find the right person, you'll know."

"What?" he asked, sitting up.

"Believe me," I said, cuddling closer to Yoh, who seemed dumbfounded, to say the least. "The first time I saw my 'right person,' I knew he was the one for me." I giggled, thinking back to the June 2003 issue of Shônen Jump; the first time I saw both Ren and Yoh. Seriously, the very first time I saw Ren, my initial thought was, 'Hey, he's actually kinda cute for having a spike on his head! Sucks that he's the bad guy, though...'

From somewhere above me, Yoh gave silly laugh, most likely assuming I was thinking of him just now, and he pressed a kiss to my forehead. My eye twitched, knowing that my Ren-moment was completely ruined by Yoh's incomprehension of the entire situation, but I didn't let anyone see it. If this was the way things were going to be, then I had to learn to put up with it, even if it meant losing my sanity. In the end, my goal was to get Ren all for myself, but until then, I would use any ploy necessary to get to him!

After Ryu and Yoh had shown Horohoro to his room, everyone went to bed at almost the exact same time. I retired to my room, as was expected, but I couldn't fall asleep. I could only wonder where Ren was at that moment in time. I knew he had to be somewhere nearby; at least in Tokyo. I felt like I should sing some nostalgic song or something, but instead I secured my headphones over my ears and plopped down into my futon, almost listening to the words of the song...

'Cause now I see

You are not what you seem

You are a mystery to me

Sometimes I just wanna scream...

As the days passed, Horohoro proved to be very useful to have around the house. He did a majority of the cleaning, while Ryu did the cooking, and Manta waited on Anna; the three of them created a delicate balance of keeping the household in order. Surprisingly, though, I spent a majority of my time hanging around Horohoro while he cleaned, just talking, though it was mostly about life on the slopes. Being an avid skier, it was wonderful to talk to someone who knew who Warren Miller was.

Anyhow, one night after dinner, when Horohoro was in the kitchen washing dishes, Anna finally voiced the fact that she knew the Ainu was a shaman. Everyone in the room was immediately tense, except for me. After all, I was the only one who knew how everything would turn out at the end of the little episode.

"That son of a--!" Ryu began after hearing that Horohoro had come to Tokyo to "ruin" Yoh's chance of becoming Shaman King. I grinned to myself; I have this annoying habit of finding humor in other people's anger, and Ryu was no exception.

Just for the record, I loved listening to the way everyone talked about important things; they'd state all the important facts just so everyone who might be watching could understand everything that was happening. What they didn't know, though, was how many people were watching. I doubt they'd do even half the interesting things they do if they knew about their thousands and thousands of adoring fans... But before I could entertain the thought any longer, Amidamaru poofed into view.

"That is correct," he said, though I hadn't heard who had addressed him or about what. Trying to get back into the conversation the only way I knew how to without sounding stupid, I scooted over to Yoh and sort of leaned on him, thus drawing attention to myself. "Horohoro-dono is definitely a shaman with his own main spirit. Unfortunately, I could not confirm the main spirit's form." Oh yeah...I remember this part from the anime.

"But still," Yoh said, trying to make his point that Horohoro wasn't bad. "He's a good guy." Wow, Yoh; would it kill you create more complex thoughts in that head of yours?

"Apparently, you're too easy-going to be fixed, huh?" I guess Anna and I were thinking along the same lines tonight... Just as I was about to say something, Ryu burst back into the room, sweating like crazy.

"He's not here anymore!" Ryu yelled, obviously talking about Horohoro. Before I could even blink, Yoh and Amidamaru had disappeared outside, leaving me to flop on the floor. Anna, Manta, and Ryu were soon to follow, and I stumbled after them, stopping only once to grab my scarf.

Lately, that poor scarf had been put through a lot. I would be awfully sad if it got ruined somehow; my aunt had given it to me when she'd gone to Indonesia a few years ago, and I was hesitant to part with it. It was a little bit of home in this strange world. Anyhow, just as I had gotten it securely around my neck, I almost ran into Anna, who had stopped abruptly in my path. She was staring straight ahead, completely frozen.

Standing in front of the huge, dead tree, were not any large number of kyonshii, but Ren, Jun, and Lee Pailong.

I felt another fangirl scream beginning to build up somewhere in my chest, and I did all I could not to let it out. As luck may have it, the Delectable One was once again wearing those Heaven-sent shorts, and this time, it wasn't too dark to see up them. I resisted the urge to take my peek right then by yanking at my skirt. I'd taken to wearing pleated skirts lately, as opposed to jeans, and I wasn't too sure why.

"You again!" Manta yelled to the Taos. "I thought we taught you a lesson last time!" Of all the corny things to say, he just had to say the corniest of them all; in front of my beloved, too! Ooh, I just could have drop-kicked the little porker into Hong-Kong for saying that!

"Apparently not," Ren said calmly, drawing the tip of a perfect finger along his kwan-dao's blade. I wondered momentarily if the three of them had been secretly camping out in front of that dead tree until we got there, or if they'd come at the same time we did, because it seemed awfully silly of them to be just waiting there for all that time.

"I told you last time!" Yoh yelled across the clearing. "You can't have Amidamaru!" But before any of the opposing force could respond, Horohoro cut in.

"Stay out of this, Yoh," he said heroically. "This is my battle." Yoh gave him a confused look, as did everyone else. "I'll explain later." And with that, he promptly flung himself at Pailong, icicles magically shooting out of his snowboard. I wondered how that was physically possible, but then again, not much here in the Shaman King world is.

As the king-fu master blocked the flying ice shards, I unconsciously found myself inching ever closer to the Delectable One himself. Maybe if I could get close enough to him, then waft some of my perfume over onto him, then he'd notice me as more than a possible hostage! It wasn't the most thought out plan in the world, but I'd read somewhere that guys respond very strongly to the sense of smell, so it was worth a try.

It was quite possibly the most awkward thing in the world; I was trying to seduce the most antisocial guy in the world using perfume, while he, by the way, could hack my head off with his kwan-dao at any time. As I approached him slowly, I noted that Ren's three glasses of milk a day were paying off; he was taller than before. Even I was a little startled at how I'd noticed that fraction-of-an-inch difference, but hey. When you're infatuated with someone, you notice things like that.

Before I knew what was going on, I was standing right next to the Delectable One. He didn't seem to notice me, though, and he just leaned on his kwan-dao as he watched Pailong fight with Horohoro. I of course, was taking every opportunity I could at getting Ren, so, I made an effort to get myself even closer...maybe even say something...

Just as this thought crossed my mind, Ren caught sight of me staring at him, and we locked eyes for a moment. I don't know about him, but I definitely felt something there. Of course, I always feel something when I make eye contact with a guy I like, so what can be said? Anyhow, I stood there staring into his lovely golden eyes, hoping he was thinking of some wonderful word to describe my eyes as well...maybe cobalt...or cerulean...or maybe indigo... I'd never know, because he promptly broke our eye-to-eye bond to stare at the ground.

Was it just the awkward lighting, or did I actually make Tao Ren blush?

A/N: Uh-oh! Semi-cliffy! I think I gave myself a little too much luck in terms of Ren right there, but I don't know. You're the judge! Leave a nice little review, and I promise I'll respond to it, okay?

Frozensoul13: Here's the update! Woo! Yeah... "making" Ren mine would be easier, but I'm trying to keep this as "realistic" as possible... And yes, my humor is usually hard to understand since it's meant to be heard or seen instead of read, so I'm not surprised that at least one person was confused by it.

Mikol: Thanks!I'm glad you read the whole thing!I have a bad habit ofbabbling on and on, so people just skim over thingsI write really quickly!

SGCred: Ah, clever calling me Neko-chan, though I don't usually think of myself as an actual kitty-cat. I think I put in too much "lost time" by breaking my nose one chapter and it being perfectly healed the next. Not much actual dialogue this chapter, and I don't think I talked to Anna at all, but I'll be sure to add some kind of fight in next time! I think I'm on my way to fixing my little screw-up in canon by having the Taos come fight instead of sending kyonshii, and next chapter, I'm going to try and set Phase 1 of Mission: Seduce Ren into action.

Sakura Mitsu: Well, Ren is pretty delectable, so it makes sense to call him the 'Delectable One.' You have a 'Most-Hated Anime Girl List'? I don't have one, but I know who I hate... (coughPirikacough)

Bafu: Happy really, really, really belated birthday! I'm glad you liked it that much!

Dreammistress Jade: Ren is a sore loser, but that's what makes him Ren! (giggle) You see, I love to alter canon more than anything, so that's why Ren has appeared so often lately. Yeah, Anna's back...and this chapter was sort of a setter-upper for things to come, so don't feel jipped or anything.

Akio the Dragon Master: Yes, things were back to normal for a while, but I've messed up canon, so things won't stay normal for long!

The Summer Stars: Sorry that my writing hasn't been as constant lately! I've been busy... I heart Tamao! Woo! And I wanna see the Marco x Tamao site! Can you email me the URL, if you don't mind? (My email is in my profile.)