The boy took one look at the building, immediately grinning to himself. Keery Tucker High, one of the most honorable high schools overflown by the asian community. He hadn't wanted to transfer in the first place, leaving behind his team.

It was his team, his pride and soul. Maybe it wasn't something he committed much to, but he had honestly loved to play soccer. It was where he could prove himself, show that he was skilled and causes; although, he didn't really much trouble with that.

Asakura Hao brushed a strange of bangs from his eye, walking onto the step of his new high school.

---------------------------

Disclaimer: I do not own Shaman King, this was inspired by the fanfic "Smell like Team Spirit".

Integrate

By: Kitori Chiharu

Chapter one

Dedicated to my favorite jock. Thanks for getting me into tennis, Danny!

---------------------------

School was, ineffecient, by chance. There was not much eye-catching moments, nor anything that caught his attention by far. The boy had heavily resisted the thought of listening in class; his new classmates thought the same. Most of them were hanging around, listening to their headphones while chatting over the teacher.

It was amusing at first, yes. He had just transfered from the school with the most rules to one with the less. People laughed, joked, even slept during lectures; although, he couldn't blaim them much.

It wasn't till after the last period, he had slowly wondered into the main office. As politely as he could, the boy had asked for a tour guide through the campus. After all; he still need to relocate the soccer team.

"Nora, show him the fields." The officer smiled, gesturing for the girl to come out of the counter. She smiled weakly, watching as the director left the office.

Hao gave her a silent look, scanning the girl over. Even with her light amber hair and honey brown eyes, she still had the distinct trades of Asian. "I told him my name was Nyorai, but he had never managed to pronounce it, so they all just settled with calling me Nora." She quickly explained, reading his mind.

"How rude." Hao grinned. "You'd think with all the asians in this school, they'd get used to it. I guess racism can be rather bland."

"Hai, but this is still California." Nyorai smiled, leading him out through the door. "It's okay because... Life as it is, we're all racist, so it doesn't really matter."

He nodded, following him down the side walk. "How did you know I was japanese?"

"We have many boys here, and most of them do not bother to grow their hair out. You can tell because the american culture has already influenced them enough, but you have such long hair." The girl explained, Hao took a silent notice of her simple yet proper grammar use.

He kept quite after that, following her throughout the campus. It was rather beautiful, really. Different types of trees were planted along the sidewalk, leading each towered building into another.

"Kerry High is a very wonderful school." Nyorai spoke up, trailing her hand along the bars of the sidewalk. "We might not have longest history, but the community is very...." She paused, looking for the word.

"Friendly?" He suggested.

Nyorai chuckled silently. "Yes, but we're much more than that. The teachers call us a circus, but that's really because we're familiar with the setting. Anyway, what sport do you play?"

"Soccer." He grinned, a sudden proud feeling washing over.

"Oh." She suddenly stopped, turning around. "You play... Soccer."

"Uh, yeah." He blinked.

"Maybe you haven't noticed, but we do not have a soccer team." A unfamiliar boy came up to Nyorai, taking a stare at Hao.

His eyes widened, staring at the two. "You've got to be kidding me, right? I only moved to this stupid place for an education, if there's no soccer team, what's the point?"

"Touche." The boy snorted, folding his arm together. "Join another team, then. We offer 16 different teams here, it's not that hard to switch professions."

"Nichrome." Nyorai warned, voice low. "Don't be rude."

"Right, student policy." Nichrome rolled his eyes, focusing a look at Hao. "New here? Most people would know we have no soccer team. Of course, I can't guarantee that for everyone."

"Yes, I'm new. Are you blind?" Hao depended, not bothering to explain his first day. He could already tell from his name, the boy was japanese as well. "What do you play?"

A small smirk appeared on Nichrome's face, tugging at the end of his mouth. "Tennis, I'm the captain."

"Tennis is for losers." He simply stated. Since when had tennis become an official sport, he did not know. Where he came from, no body cared to pay attention to the racquet sport. He could clearly see why.

"Excuse you, but did I just hear you diss tennis?" A red head bounced into the view, hand grasping onto a orange tennis racquet. Her dark purple eyes shined, reflecting her tanned skin. One look at her squat, one already knew she was another tennis player.

"He obviously does not know about the team, then." Nichrome turned to the girl, smirking while ignoring Hao. "Anyone sane would know that we have the best Tennis program in the state. Of course, you can already tell he's not the sporty type. Go back to being queer, man."

"Nichrome!" Nyorai gasped. "That's not very polite..."

Hao mentally growled, pulling onto his long hair. How dare this guy insult his hair? He can diss him all he want, but no one was allowed to insult his hair.

"Um..." The red-head paused, blinking at Hao. "I don't know, Nic-chan. I kind of like his hair, it's very kawaii."

Another japanese, he noted. "Fine, then what sports are there? Besides Tennis, of course."

"Well." The girl folded her arm together, tapping her chin. "There's Basketball, Hockey, Football, wrestling, Track, Softball, H-"

"Don't bother, Macchi." Nichrome cut in. "The guy wouldn't know anything, he'd probably end up as one of the outcasts." With that said, he walked away from the others, lifting an arm up for goodbye.

The three paused.

"Please excuse Nichrome, Asakura-kun. He's just like that, but please don't be mad." Nyorai explained, smiling softly at Hao. "He's not always moody, he's just being..."

"Bitter." Macchi laughed, grinning. She turned to Hao, extending her hand out. "I'm Macchi, captain of the girls' Tennis Team. And although you have no sense in what's cool, nice to meet you."

Hao stared down at her hand, silently shaking it before withdrawing. "Hao."

"If you haven't decided for a team yet, I suggest you do it soon. This week is the last cuts for tryouts, you have to do something for remain a loser." Macchi laughed. "95 of our school plays a sport, just so you would know."

"Well, I'm defiantly not playing tennis then."

"You're a man of big words." Macchi folded her arm, grinning at Nyorai. "Ny-chan, you remember that's exactly what Nic-chan said the first time, right?"

"Yes, and now look at him; captain of the Tennis team." Nyorai beamed in return, smiling softly at Hao. "I'm sure that might seem off and pointless, but we're probably the only school in the state that think so highly of sports as well as acedemics."

Hao kept quite, slowly wondering about the two. Maybe, maybe it was normal to them, but he defiantly wasn't the kind of person to do that. He's a soccer guy, period.

"You're not very friendly, are you?" Macchi said, picking up her racquet. "Anyways, just follow me."

She nearly skipped, bounced onto the tennis courts on the right as Hao followed nimbly.

There were two dozen people on the court, sitting down in a circle. All of them were carrying some sort of racquet with them, dressed in Tennis clothing. About half of them were girls, the others were boys.

"Okay, people." Macchi clapped her hands together, walking into the center of the crowd. "First order of business, we have another non-believer." She turned to face Hao.

He could could all of their glazes on him, quietly staring with aw. The girls offered him a few smiles, but nothing more. The boy barely paid any attention to him. True, he wasn't used to girls that were not attracted to him, but it didn't matter much to him anyway.

"Magma nearly broke my racket!" Lily spoke up, waving her hands in the air. "I demand he be punished severely for that, right Cap?"

Nichrome rolled his eyes, walking up next to Macchi. He folded his arms together, turquoise eyes halting. "Magma, this is a tennis court, not a dating Sim. Flirt later."

The rest of the crowd laughed, one of the boys playfully punched Magma in the arm.

"Oh! Tell the school to supply bottled water for our games." A brown haired girl spoke up, pulling her knees in. "Tap water does not do my voice any justice!"

"Stop being picky, Mannoko!" Pilica laughed. "We don't want to sound like hypocrites."

Nichrome smirked. "I hope not, we're complaining about different types of water here. Anyways, like I said, this is a tennis court. If you care so much, join the choir group. But you're on the Tennis Team, so the only bottle water you're getting is from the vending machine."

"Ah!" Mannoko pouted, seated next to her racket. "That's just wrong, Cap. You're disregarding our concerns, that's very important to the team, right?" She turned to her brother for support.

Instead, Manta just laughed, closing the lid onto his laptop. "Tap water and bottle water are the same, sis. If it comes out of a filter from the sink, its the same as bottled away after the filter. So there's not much difference."

"How can you tell?" Lily blinked. "Don't water like, taste the same?"

"My point exactly." Macchi shot Nichrome a smirk. "So you should've just saved the argument and pretended it was really bottled water."

"Excuse me." Mannoko gasped offhandedly. "You think I can't tell the difference between tap and mineral water? That is so rude!" She laughed.

"Oh, stuff it." Nichrome grinned.

"I think we should extend practice hours." Another boy suggested. "That way, we can miss more hours of school. It's like they don't appreciate us for state champions. They act like we're just a JV team."

"That's because we are a JV team, Redseb." Macchi smirked. "If only we can keep the team up with their test score, the world would be a happy place to be."

"With rainbows and butterflies-" Mannoko intercepted, clapping her hands together. "Where tennis players do not have to deal with unsanitary tap water and-"

"We're not going into that again!" Lina rolled her eyes, sighing.

"Oh, be quite already!" Zria groaned. "You are such a pain, Cap."

"Oh, you be quite, witch!"

"Be careful, Nic-chan!" Macchi laughed, waving her fingers. "She might use her evil witchy powers on you! MWAHA!"

"And us?" One of the twin girls poke up.

"Do we-"

"Count as one of-"

"The witches?"

"Lip, Rap, you've got to stop that whole phrase thing." Kanna sighed, twirling around with her racket. "It's freaking me already. And that's said, Freshmen scaring the shit' out of Seniors."

"Hey, hey!" Pilica laughed. "We'd like to keep this team G-rated, please! No cussing in front of the poor, innocent, unsuspected, loser freshmen people. Thank you!"

"Weren't you a freshmen last year too?" Seyriam spoke up, her soft voice blending into the nosy view of the crowd. "We're not that bad, the freshmen are keeping the team together."

"No, more like keeping the team's snacking schedule. Where's our snack, anyway." HaiRuwo leaned up onto the ground, groaning.

"Why do freshmen have to bring the snacks again?" Redseb growled. "That's unfair. In fact, that's more than unfair! It's child labor! That's against the law!" He gasped in a horrid manner, laughing.

"Keep it down!" Zria argued back, being one of the seniors. "We had to do the same in our first year too, so shut it! God, you little rats are seriously getting on my nerves...."

"I don't mind bring snacks, though." Seyriam explained, smiling softly while the rest of the team gasped on.

"Seyriam, you're seriously earning brownie points here!" Zria laughed. "If only your brother would be as corporation, then we couldn't be having this conversation in the first place. Right, brat?"

"Cap, the witchy lady is being mean to me again!" Redseb screamed, laughing halfway while chocking on the words.

"Yes, and behold my witchy powers!" Zria yelled, waving her racket in the air playfully.

"SILENCE!"

Everyone paused, looking at Nichrome.

"Yes, Captain?" They chorused in perfect harmony, it was chilling Hao out.

"Hey, cage the rage, man." Macchi smirked, tapping her shoes on the cement ground. "Anyways, before I was so rudely interrupted, we were talking about our Season. The orders are already set. So no, don't ask us to change the line up. Secondly, we have a tennis hater here."

Everyone turned back to Hao, who was forgotten for the time being.

"Boo!" Everyone started throughing non-exhausting paper at him. Gum rapers, paper air planes, rubber lits.

"People!" Macchi yelled. "Can we please respect the economy? I don't care if you throw stuff at the new guy, but you're littering our environment! What the heck-"

"Redseb!" Kanna ordered. "Stop throwing napkins at the Fabio wannabe! Where did you get that anyway?"

"From the cafeteria. They're hiding it with all the spoon and forks, did you know the lunch ladies are conspiring a plan against normal eating habits?" The said boy grimaced. "It's so controversial."

"Wow, that might explain why the bathrooms are out of toilet paper." Magma laughed.

"Ew!" Pilica shrieked. "TMI, TMI!"

"What's that mean?" Lina blinked.

"Too much information!" Lip and Rap chorused, learning a freakish look from Lily.

"And this team gets weirder by day." Kanna sighed, puffing on her cigarette while folding her arms, laughing at the scene in front of her. Mannoko was chasing Manta down with her racket.

"Alright, all of you!" Nichrome clapped his lands together, shooting the rest of the team a look. "Dismissed, you warm up and run some drills. Don't forget, the track's reserved for the Football team right now. So lucky today, no running. Now shoot."

The rest of the team grinned, obviously happy they didn't have to run. They all flown back onto the courts, each spearted by metal fences. The boys immediately claim half of the courts, starting games of doubles while some of the girls sat out.

All in all, they were a corporation team.

"Anyways, if you don't want to play Tennis, fine." Macchi turned to Hao, silently crossing her arm. "But just pick a sport, and play it. Because I'm sure you're a cool soccer player, but it never hurt to try something new." She tilted her head sideways, orange bangs fallen onto her lilic eyes. "Right?"

"Right." He silently paused, wondering if there was more to the conversation. Apperantly; no. He was ready to leave when another sight caught his attention, making him come to a sudden halt.

A blond girl in pigtails ran up to them, her crystal green eyes stiring. "Macchi-chan! Mari is late!"

Hao momentarily wondered who she was talking about, blinking. The girl was cute, he had to admit. Her soft pastel skin reflected back at him, seemingly glowing.

"'S okay, Mari." The redhead replied smoothly, grinning. "Just go warm up with Nic-chan."

The blond nodded, running out into the Tennis Courts. Hao silently wondered if this could be the highlight of his day. A girl, he almost snorted, could make him feel better by just smiling at him? He was getting soft, Hao concluded.

"Anyways, the other fields are around; you need a tour guide?"

It took him a second to realize the girl was semi hitting on him, just a little bit. "Not really."

Macchi shrugged. "Whatever."

Nichrome walked up to them, raising an eyebrow. "And just for a point of advice, I wouldn't go off dissing the team is I were you. It's just not right, we're factor of this school. I don't care which sport you play, but athletes don't diss each other off. I don't care where you come from, but if you're trying to earn enemies here, you're defiantly doing a good job. Kerry High is a good school, leave your street manners somewhere else."

"Whatever."

"Giving off the speech again?" Macchi grinned at Nichrome. "They work on unsuspecting freshmen." She turned toward Hao, scanning him over. "What grade are you in?"

"I'm a junior." He deadpinned, already losing interest in the conversation.

Nichrome ignored him. With a wave of his arm, he past by Macchi and onto the court. "Later, I have to help Marion work on her backhand. She's too stiff on returning lobs." With that said, he walked away from them.

"'I have to help Marion with her backhand'." Macchi mimicked, rolling her eyes. She tapped her foot in a pattern, turning toward Hao.

"Was Mari the blond?" He asked, unable to help himself.

She raised an eyebrow in amused. "That, was Marion Phoeba. My cute and sassy cousin. Why? Intersted in her?"

"Maybe."

"Well, don't be." Macchi declared, setting her racquet down. "She's Nichrome's girl. I have dedicated three year of life in trying to hook them up. Don't think you can just waltz right in and take her by the arm." She frowned. "Even if Nichrome's a little slow on taking a move."

"Right." He smirked.

The two paused.

"Well, guess I'm off to find a sport."

"Have fun." Her voice was practically dripping with sarcism. The team was crazy, he had to admit. Nevertheless, they were very well organized and all had connections with each other. If his soccer team had their unison, they might have won even more trophies. No matter, he didn't have the time to wonder about informalities.

After all, he had a mission. He was going to make the School Board approve of a soccer team. And Mari was going to be his.

------TBC--------

Well, a lot of character introduction here. Most of them only appears in the manga. Yes, I'm well aware that most of these people are either younger or older than Hao's age group. But this is AU, so what the heck.

Zria is from Team Iceman. Mari, Macchi, and Kanna are the Hanagumi. Nichrome is the tenth priest of Patch. After sticking with me for so long, everyone knows that. Manako is Manta's bratty little sister, but I like her, so beat it. >. Okay, I finally realized that I would burn all of my favorite MP3s onto a CD, because I have this wonderful program on my computer. So now, I'm obessed with doing that. Apperantly, since its my first time, some of my tracks got strached up. >. Review please?

Chiharu