Shaman King is strictly copyrighted to Hiroyuki Takei, TV Tokyo, Shonen Jump, Fox Box, etc. Integrate is the property of Kitori Chiharu under the fan fiction department. The characters Eli Gorski, Mizuhara Delphi, Zetra Mizu, HaiRuwo Tao are copyrighted to Chiharu-chan. Sumino Sakura belongs to bOw-doWn-tO-KeiKo, Corinth Saki and Jada Hidiya belongs to Misai, and Miyu Akira belongs to KiristiexxNguyen.

Integrate

Chapter five; plus a pack of Japanese boys

In which more characters come in

- - -

"You look bored." Kiyosumi remarked, leaning his head on his palms. He stared at the girl in front of him, poking at her bread. "What's up?"

"Racket shopping." Macchi muttered, deadly glint in her eyes.

"Huh?" Sengoku blink, tilting his head sideways. He leaned back in the seat, looking around the living room. His aunt was baking pizza while finishing up breakfast. "What happened to your racket?"

"Nothing." Macchi slammed her fist on the table, groaning. "I'm just really pissed because... Guess what? Hao doesn't even have a racket! He used the old one in the storage room yesterday, and now I have to take him racket-shopping."

"So, go?"

"Life must be very simple where you come from." The younger redhead rolled her eyes, sipping on her milk. "I want to help Hao, because we both know that he has talent for this. But I really want to spend the weekend with you, so I'm just gonna ask Kana."

"Kanna's the crazy gangster, right?" Sengoku shivered.

"No..." Macchi stared at her cousin, blinking. "She's older one with the blue hair and the tattoo..."

"Yeah, the gangster." Kiyosumi nodded.

"Okay..." Macchi stood up. "I don't want to know. The point is that she works at Dick's Sporting shop, and she can probably help him pick up a good racket. Not sure if she likes Hao though; I mean, she still calls him 'The Fabio Wanabe', and I don't want to leave him there by himself so-"

"You like him." Kiyosumi smirked, showing flashy white teeth.

"I do not!" She threw her bread at his face, but was undoubtedly caught. Damn Kiyosumi and his crazy reflex.

"How cute. You're in denial." He smirked, taking a bite of the said bread. "You're actually considering the possibility of taking time off with me, your favorite person in the world, to take him racket-shopping." He sighed dreamily.

"I-." She paused. "I'm just a brilliant master-mind. You'll see; when Hao becomes a pro, he'll be thanking me for getting him into this."

"I doubt that." Kiyosumi waved the bread in the air, shrugging. "He has potential that's going somewhere, but I don't know about determination. He reminds me of someone; it's because he's naturally talented at it, he doesn't take the time to practice. You have to be talented and determined in order to be good."

"Maybe, but we're all different." She paused, cleaning up her breakfast. "And tennis is based on unpredictability, that's why it's so fun. Well, maybe you just like it because you get to see girls in mini-skirts bend over, but that's not the point."

"You insult me, dear Makki-chan." Kiyosumi placed a hand on his heart in solemn, reaching over to ruffle her hair. "But I still love you anyways, so I'll go shopping with you, since you're in such dire need of my presence."

"You loser!" This time, she aimed for his head.

- - - - -

"Yoh!" Macchi grinned, nearly attacking the boy. "I am ubberly in love with your shirt, where'd you get it!" She demanded, holding him back to get a better look of the Kimeru Shirt.

"Eh... Absolute Production (1)" Yoh smiled slight, pulling on the edge of the blue-shirt. "My mom kind of... Works there."

"Really!" She clapped her hands together, looking at Hao. "How come you never told me about it?"

The older twin shrugged, blue hoodie and jeans on, hair pulled up in a low-ponytail. "You never asked. Anyway, why did you bring your cousin along?" Sengoku only waved childishly in return.

"Oh, but I came along as well, Aniki." Yoh smiled, making their way through the shopping-streets.

"Speaking of which, I heard you got into the team." Sengoku grinned, poking at Hao's arm. "I suppose that I deserve thanks for my brilliant act of enlightenment; but that's okay, I'm a generous type of person."

"Gee..." Hao rubbed his arm numbly. "Thanks."

This continued as the group made their way down the sidewalks of the town-center, occasionally looking through a few window displays. Macchi had entered in a conversation with Yoh about various jpop singers, grinning happily.

Hao had made a mental note to never question Sengoku's sanity when they entered the giant sport central, pausing to look at the sight. The main hall was two stories high, and the high handle bars around the main-square could easily be seen.

"I think the tennis stuff is on the second floor." Macchi grinned, dragging the twins toward the escalator. Kiyosumi chuckled before following them through the crowds of people.

They managed to find Kanna, re-storaging the grip tapes, on the second floor. She groaned before setting the box aside, staring at her teammates. "You're early."

"No, we're not." Macchi smirked. "We can't be early, since I never told you exactly when we were dropping by."

"Fine." Came the annoyed reply.

"Gangster." Sengoku let out a suspicious cough.

Kanna narrowed her eyes, pointing toward the rackets hanging on the wall. "Anyways, when you're shopping for a tennis racket, there are major points to look out for." She picked up one of the rackets. "It has to have a good grip so it's easy to manhandle and whatever. The racket faces to neck ratio needs to be reasonable to the player, so you don't accidentally drop it or hit someone in the head."

Hao had wondered if half the stuff she said was even true, but he decided not to ask with the additional smile on Macchi's face.

"You need a good soft-grip." Kanna traced on the string-face of the racket. "The soft-shock rubber keeps the conducting shock of of the ball speed away from your elbow, so you don't get tendonitis or something."

During the wonderfully interesting narration, Hao had glazed around the shelves for the selection of rackets. He easily spotted a red racket on the bottom of the rack, lying out flatly. It had a black handle and yellow string-face, patterns titled on the sides into a flame. "I want that one." He pointed.

Kanna paused, turning her attention back to the said racket. "You have no sense what-so-ever. That's probably the worst racket we have in stock. The grip socks and the face are incapable to being used overtime."

"It's not that bad." Sengoku suggested, picking it up. "I mean, at least it looks cool, lucky for you."

"Looks are not everything." Kanna pointed out in a mature manner that astounded even herself. "I work here, so I'm supposed to warn the customer if it's not good for you."

"I want that one." Hao repeated, voice flat. End of discussion.

"Fine, whatever. Twists your arm for all I care." Kanna gave up, handing the said racket over. "You should pick up a soft-grip, though; it would go fine and help with returning balls. Next aisle."

"Fine." The older Asakura twin shrugged.

"We're here, let's split." Kevin declared, walking off before he was dragged back by Billy. He looked up, annoyed expression on his face. "What now?"

"We just need to pick something up before the movies." Billy hissed, lowering his face down.

"So?" The blonde demanded.

"So I don't want it to seem like it's a date, that's why you have to come with us." Billy whispered back, taking a small look at the girl behind him, looking through the aisle. "Can't you stop being a brat for once and help?"

"I don't want to be a third-wheel." Kevin shrugged. "And I'm about to die of internal bleeding on my arm soon if you don't let go. I'm sure you wouldn't want Stephanie to think of you as violent."

"Fine." The older boy sighed, managing a half-glare at him. "You are a manipulative little prat."

"Thank you." Kevin waved it off, smirking at his former teammate.

"Billy?" Stephanie swirled around. "I can't find the grip tape; do you know where it is? Sorry, I'm kind of slow at finding stuff."

"Ah..." Billy froze, love-struck look on his face. He rushed foreword, immediately flipping through the sack of products on the shelves. "Grip tape... Grip tape... I'll find it."

Kevin smirked, walking up behind the girl. Stephanie giggled slightly, pulling on her hem of her dress. "I heard you made the girl's team, not bad."

The honey-blonde hair girl smiled. "Thank you, it's because Billy is such a wonderfully coach."

"Yeah." Kevin looked up. "You just keep on believing that."

Stephanie smiled again, pulling her hands behind her back. "Kevin, you really don't understand how sweet he is. You have such a good friend, so it's really not something for me to say." She paused, spotting something on the shelve behind Kevin. "Oh, look. There's the grip tape."

She leaned over, reaching for the wrapped package. A few inches before contact, her hand connected with someone else's. The girl looked up to see a raven-hair boy in front of her, reaching for the same thing. Both quickly drew their hand back.

"Sorry." Stephanie quickly added. "It's yours."

"Oh no!" The boy shook his hands in the air. "You have it." His accent sounded somewhat off, not exactly something she was used to yet. Kevin had suspicions that the boy looked a little familiar.

"No, no." Stephanie replied. "It's yours."

"No, you can have it."

"No, you have it, it's yours."

"No, you-"

"Enough." Hao happened to choose that moment to walk in between the two of them, snatching the grip tape out from the shelved before walking away. "I'll take it, then."

Macchi walked up behind, hands on her hip. "Can you be more rude?"

Hao pause, taking the time to consider the question. "Yes, I can." Stephanie was looking around the corner, blinking in confusion. Billy had froze from searching, staring at them. The skinny boy had stared, his headband falling halfway off. Kevin only watched the scene in amusement, leaning behind on the shelves.

"We have more of those in storage, you know." Kanna spoke up, arms folded.

"Come on, Makki-chan." Sengoku appeared with Yoh behind the shelves, rubbing his head. "Did you find it?" He noticed the others in front of them.

"..." The scene froze.

"HEY!" Kiyosumi and Billy burst out at the same time. "YOU'RE THAT GUY FROM THE JR. OPENINGS AND-"

"You played against Atobe and Sanada-"

"And you played against Bobby-"

Sengoku turned to look at Kevin, continuing the gasping routine. "Oh, you're the kid who kept on challenging Ochibi-kun!"

Macchi blinked. "You guys... Know each other?"

"Sengoku-senpai!" The skinny boy had yelled out, launching himself at the older redhead. Kiyosumi took a few seconds to realize that he was currently on the floor with a boy on top of him.

"Taichi!"

"Sengoku-senapi! What are you doing here, desu? I didn't know you lived here and I thought that you were in collage, desu! And-"

"Hello!" Macchi yelled out in exasperation. "Am I missing something here? Who are all you people!" She paused. "And why are you gloping my cousin!"

Dan Taichi flushed, quickly jumping off of the redhead. He started to splutter senselessly in Japanese. "ah, Gomen-ne, desu. I didn't mean to do that, desu. It's just that I didn't know Sengoku-senpai lived here, and I haven't seen him since he went to collage, desu, and I-"

Kevin raised an eyebrow. "You're in collage?"

"Long story." Sengoku shrugged. "Got accepted early, skipping my last year in high school."

"Cool." Billy grinned, lowering his hat. "Where are you now?"

"CAU."

"Oh, that where you're applying for as well, right?" Stephanie spoke up, clapping her hands together. Billy blushed before nodding slowly, Macchi now looked interested.

"Hey, have I seen you somewhere before?"

"Me?" Stephanie blinked.

"We go to the same school, Smart One." Kevin declared with hints of amusement in his voice. "And I think you're on the same team as Stephanie."

"Stephanie?" Macchi blinked. That name sounded awfully familiar.

"Stephanie." Kevin repeated, raising an eyebrow.

"Stephanie." Yoh nudged Macchi on her right arm. "Remember? Team list?"

"Oh." Macchi let out a quotable gasp, perhaps a little too loud. She pointed at Stephanie in a dramatic manner. "You're Stephanie Owen!"

The blonde nodded slowly, wondering what else there is to say.

"And as much as I care, I'd rather get on with my life." Hao declared, heading toward the nearest cash refinisher. "Later." Yoh had shrugged before following, earning confused looks from the other tennis players.

"Arg." Macchi groaned, turning toward Stephanie. "We'll talk later, but excuse me while I haunt his ass down."

Sengoku only smirked while watching his cousin run down the corners of the second floor, practically attacking the twins down the escalator while running towards at the cash registers. He didn't know when, but Kiyosumi found himself amazed by Macchi's agility.

"So." Billy spoke up. "Since you're in town and all, want to have a match?"

"Me?" The redhead blinked, pulling Taichi into a headlock. "I'm leaving tomorrow, but I can probably fit a match in. I don't have my tennis stuff, though."

"Why?" Taichi looked up at his old sempai.

"The retard lives two and a half hours away." Kana, who had been forgotten for the time being, explained. "He'd come back on long weekends or holidays. I think that's what Mach told me."

"How nice of you to memorize my profile." Sengoku snorted.

"Are trying to pick a fight?" Kanna declared, folding her arms together. "'Cause I can beat you anytime, anywhere. You name it the place, but I have to work right now."

"So, I'll see you on the courts in an hour."

- - - -

Hao had only been on the soccer team before, and the training schedule was much more different than tennis. The coach, Ms. Kat, was not too tough, but her training plan was a horror to face.

On Monday, Hao was introduced to the rest of the team. Some of the other members were new as well; over all, he made it through his first practice without being harassed by the girls. He spotted Taichi, the other new kid, in the crowds. He had paused to debate whether to talk to him or not, but decided against the idea.

On Tuesday, the boys practiced double techniques. Hao, being in the spot of Singles Three, had some free time to go roam the school with Chiaki, Single Two. The girls practiced on a different court by themselves, and Hao was fortunate enough not to walk into the fields when the track teams had a sprint session, Chiaki was not as fortunate after being run over by ten or so seniors.

On Wednesday, Ms. Kat declared that their first match of the year would be against Pocahontas High School on Friday. Hao momentarily wondered if they were good, but the question was shrugged by Chiaki. "Of course not. I mean, come on, their school is named after an Indian."

Manta has laughed. "But what if they're also as violent?"

"No need to worry." Magma smirked. "We have Nichrome, he can just scaring them off."

"I heard that." The said boy had somehow wandered into their circle, voice flat, ending the conversation.

Today, Hao was paired up with Senkun to do serving drills. Senkun Morris was a semi-quite flutiest, as Hao learned. The sophomore did not try to make pointless jokes, but would often laugh along with the crowd. Senkun also had a crazy serve, Hao observed. His serves practically smashed into the ground before rolling off.

"Thanks." Senkun smiled after Hao's off-hand compliment. "I suck at backhand, though."

"Doesn't everyone?" Hao smirked, leaning against the back-railing of the sidewalks. They were taking a water break in between the game.

"I guess." The green-hair boy paused, smiling slightly. "But you're really fast. I didn't think you could return some of my trick balls at first, but you did."

Hao shrugged it off. "Everyone has some sort of unique trait that follows their style. Mine just happens to be because I have nothing to give, so speed isn't really something to brag about."

Senkun frowned slowly, but didn't make a notion of disagreeing. "If you choose to believe that, then." Hao didn't understand why he liked talking to the boy, he was just dead quite. Sometimes Hao felt like Senkun always had something else to say, but never actually voice it out.

"You can stop dosing off now." A somewhat curt-voice cut in, and Hao found himself turning face-to-face against Nichrome. The other boy merely shrugged, gesturing toward the court. "Break is over, go back to practicing."

"Cage the rage." Chiaki smirked, giving him a soft pat on the back before heading back toward the courts. He grabbed Hao in the processes, dragging him along. "Come on, let's play a set."

They paused upon walking into the court; the girls had completely filled the place out.

"Hey!" Macchi grinned, sipping onto her water through a straw. She waved, jumping up from the fence. "What's up?"

"We were gonna practice. That is, before your girls overtook our court."

"Pfft." Macchi waved him aside. "We need to practice too! Besides, you can't hog the court all day. We're supposing to share, and it just happens your time's up."

"You don't seem worried about the up-coming match." Chiaki pointed out, crossing his arms.

The redhead blinked, frowning. "Should we be?"

"I don't know." Chiaki shrugged. "Are the girls this year good?"

"Eh." Macchi turned around as their glazes followed her sight onto the courts. The girls were warming up, hitting balls back and forth in a effortlessly smooth pattern. "Yeah, we're pretty good this year. None of us are exceptional or anything, but we've all got the basics to kick ass. So I'm not worried."

Hao silently noticed Macchi's extra boost of confidence when it came to tennis. The girl was naturally loud and confident to begin with; however, when it came to tennis, she seemed to know exactly what she's doing.

It wasn't that Hao was surprised, he never assumed Macchi to be the clumsy kind in the beginning. But seeing her on the courts, playing tennis with such a carefree passion almost radiated a glow like no other.

Hao silently hoped that he wasn't crushing on the girl.

- - - - -

The older Asakura twin woke up early on Friday morning, grunting slightly before making his way into the bathroom to take a shower. Hao stepped out ten minutes later, running the towel along his hair. He blinked upon seeing Yoh in front of the mirror, messing with his tie. The younger twin's shirt was neatly zipped, half-way tied in.

"You!" Hao mock-gasped. "Who are you and what have you done with my messy little brother!"

"Relax." Yoh turned around, pulling his shirt-ends out again. "The acropolis is not coming."

"You could've fooled me." Hao smirked, seating himself down on his bed. He slipped his towel off from the nape of his neck, pulling his semi-wet, long locks into a messy ponytail.

"Well." Yoh yawned. "The exchange students are coming today, we have to go to the airport and pick them up. Apparently, Sati thought it wouldn't be appropriate if we didn't wear our uniforms the right way."

Hao nodded, waiting for him to continue.

"Oh, and Anna said she will beat me with a stick if I didn't listen to her."

The older twin shook his head. "I don't know why you put up with her, really."

"Isn't your match today?" Yoh blinked, condignly changing the conversation.

"Yeah." Hao shrugged, dropping himself backwards onto his pillow. "Singles three. I'm sure it's not that important, but they say that the other's school's pretty weak. We'll probably finish it before I even come on."

"Aw, but I wanted to see you play." Yoh pouted.

"I'm sure you have better things to do than that." The other boy laughed.

- - - -

Fuji Yuuta groaned, robbing his eyes. He frowned at the subtle pokes on his left arm, turning towards his left. "Hai?"

"Yuuta-kun." Mizuki Hajime smiled slowly, pointing towards the window on his left. "We're here."

"I don't know how you slept through the landing." Kisarazu Atsushi muttered, standing up to open the upper-compartments. He pulled out the carry-on backpack, swinging it halfway around his shoulder. "I thought I was going deaf."

"Come on, Fuji-kun, Mizuki-kun." Their fellow classmates smiled, nodding towards the line of people in the aisle, waiting to wander off the plane."

The St. Rudolph boys all had seats in the same row. It had been a long, enduring ride. The girls were too busy giggling over all the functions and in-flight-movies. Yuuta had found himself tired upon flight, eating very little before falling asleep.

He yawned once again before pulling his bag off the racks, following the string of people in line. He managed to exit the plane and into the airport half-awake.

"Finally!" One of the girls stretched. "Fresh air! Look at this place! It's giant! And look at all the storage shops! I want to get something to eat!"

"Let's just find exit two first." Mizuki declared as the rest nodded slowly. "Now, according to the instructional film we saw before landing, Exit two should be on our left if we keep on walking after turing around the over-sea services."

"Problem is where are we now?" Kisarazu pointed out. "And where's our luggage?"

The groups of Japanese students paused, gathering into a circle.

"Let's ask for directions." Hiwatari suggested, looking around. The rest of the passengers had already made their way after entering the airport; there were few people they knew here.

"Let's find our pick-ups first. They probably know where to go after this." Fuji replied, following their glaze around. "But I have to use the restroom."

"Oh, I saw a sign when we were passing the other exit." One of the girls smiled.

"Let's go in groups." Mizuki declared. "The last thing we need is to get lost here."

- - - - -

"Well, they should arrive out of that door over there." Sati spoke up, taking a seat.

"How long do we need to be here again?" Ying groaned, popping her Mp3 player out again.

"Awhile, I'm afraid." Sati replied, pulling out more paperwork from her bag. "Just get comfortable, we're excuse out of school work for now, but that doesn't mean we are exempt of make-up work."

"Um… Sati?" Yoh spoke up slowly, nodding towards the direction of the restroom. "I think I just found them."

There, stood a group of students in St. Rudolph uniform, looking around with somewhat of bored expressions on face.

- - - - -

"Well, we're here." Yoh smiled, stepping out of the car. He slide the door closed with ease; waiting for the other boys of climb out before hitting the automatic "lock" button.

"Oh." Mizuki looked up at the three-floor house. The path leading towards the seemingly large mansion. The path leading towards the porch was covered with fields of luscious green.

"Come on." Yoh grinned, pushing through the gate of the front yard. He gave them a soft wave before making his way through the pavement. Kisarazu shrugged at Mizuki before following him.

Yoh grinned at them, pushing the door open before pulling his keys out. The door cracked open, revealing the halls leading to the living room. "Well, don't stare all day." He grinned.

"Wow." Mizuki muttered, pulling onto his bag and stepping from the porch.

"Oh, you're home." Beth was halfway out of the kitchen, drying her hands on her apron. "Your brother brought a bunch of his friends home; they're in the entertainment room. What do you want for dinner?"

Yoh turned to the guest. "What do you guys want?"

The Japanese students blinked. "Eh..."

"Never mind." Beth laughed. "I'll just order pizza since the tennis team's still here."

"Awesome." Yoh grinned, heading towards the stair. "Well, come on. Leave your stuff in the trunk; I'll get them later, 'kay?" The boys nodded, following him up the wide, swirling staircase onto the second floor.

Yoh pointed at the halls. "This is where most of the bedrooms and bathrooms are. Yeah, and mine and Aniki's room are here too."

"Aniki?" Mizuki blinked, trying to speak more fluently without the accents. "You have a brother?"

"A twin." Yoh grinned, leading them onto the third floor. "He didn't go with us because he goes to another school. I think his tennis team are up there, they just won their first game of the season."

The other boys immediately lightened from the previous awkward state. "Tennis?"

"Yep." Yoh nodded before pushing the door to the first room on the left, Kisarazu and Mizuki followed. The room was relevantly big, the walls were blue, and two beds were pushed up to either side of the wall. Two or three windows illuminated the setting sun. "And this is your room."

Kisarazu and Mizuki stared in aw.

"Sorry we couldn't get you individual rooms and all." Yoh grinned, untying his tie in the process. "But the last open room was turned into an art studio a few months ago."

"It is big." Mizuki quickly regained his posture, smiling.

"Cool." Yoh grinned, nodding towards the door where the music was coming from. "Just dump your stuff on the bed and I'll introduce you to Hao."

- - - - -

"Stop changing the channels!" Kanna snatched the remote control from Redseb. "I was watching that!"

"Pfff." Redseb ignored her for the time being, deciding to join Manta and Taichi's virtual tennis court.

Seyram scooted next to Mari as the girls focused on the current tennis game on TV. "Wow, did you just see that?"

"Crazy move." Kanna nodded, grabbing another cookie out from the box Beth had brought up later.

"Ha! Eat that!" Zira slapped her cards down on the floor. HaiRuwo groaned, Rap signed, Lip blinked, and Mannoko dumped her cards into her lap.

"This is useless!" Pilica decided. "You're cheating! You have to be cheating! There's no way you can win seven times in a role! Arg!"

"Sorry." Zira smirked. "Nothing up my sleeves except for skill!"

"Hey." Chiaki grinned at the girls, sipping from his can of coke. "Be happy that this isn't strip poker, okay!"

"Why?" Zira looked up from her seated position, reshuffling the cards again. "Afraid of showing some skin because we know you'll lose to me?"

"Oh." The boy look amused. "You did not just challenge me to poker."

"I believe she just did." Lip and Rap chorused.

"You're so on." Chiaki sat down as the girls made room. "Ladies, get those ready to be blown again because I am good."

Macchi looked up as the door opened. Yoh flinched from the noise, blinking. "What in the world are you all listening to!"

The room fell silent, pausing. Even Chiaki stopped from pulling cards out of his hood. Everyone's attention adverted from the younger twin and onto Hao, then back onto Yoh. Brains composed, questioned, and clicked.

"What!" Macchi yelled through the heavy metal.

Nichrome was the first to make it towards the stereo, blasting the music off before turning to face the situation. Hao shrugged from inserting a DVD in. Before anyone could ask, "no, I don't have a clone."

"That's odd." Chiaki deduced. "He looks like him and appear like him, he even-"

Kanna leaned off the couch to whack the boy in the head. "Dude... They're twins."

"Yeah um." Yoh stepped aside, nodded towards the two new comers. "Kisarazu-kun and Mizuki-kun, right? They're the foreign exchange students I'm in charge of, so they'll be staying here and... Yeah. That's about it."

The tennis team stared at them.

"And the pizza Beth ordered came in." Yoh added, pulling out a few stacked boxes from behind the door.

"YOH! My man!" The room suddenly greeted him happily, embracing the new coming pizza.

TBC

Ignore the horrible uncreative ending. I just wanted to finish this chapter so I could move on. I originally planned it to be more creative than just this; hopefully, I'll use that in the upcoming chapters.

Absolute Production is a entertainment company in Japan that sponsored Kimeru, one of my favorite j-pop singer of all times. This will come in handy later when Asakura Keiko makes her entrance.

For anyone who's interested, my updating schedule is posted on my user information page.