Author's Note: The rating's been kicked down a notch, as this fic really isn't "R" material. Just yet, at least.

Yeah, Hao is in this story. He's just coming later on because I haven't properly introduced him yet. I plan to, worry not!

Faust isn't a bachelor, by the way. He's happily married to Eliza. The German duo!

This chapter's a bit slow. Thus, there's more humor to help you cope... I hope. It's just here to move the plot along, and help show the strength of the friendship between Anna and Jeanne in this story. The Author's Note at the end of this chapter basically summarizes some key events in the next chapter. I guess it's a teaser in a way.

Thank you to Exeux for beta-reading this chapter, since I was pretty insecure at first about posting this one up.

And pairing is still undecided, though I'll take votes now, so it's your pick: YohXAnna or HaoXAnna (the other pairings will be RenXPirika, HoroXTamao, and obviously LysergXJeanne).

Disclaimer: I don't own Shaman King or any of the characters, etc. Hiroyuki Takei does. The storyline is based on a novel, Fourplay by Jane Moore (though, it's starting to drift away from the book's actual plot right about now).

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CHAPTER IV

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It was funny really. All she remembered was black. Her world was dark. And now, as she opened her eyes, all Anna could see was white.

'Am I in heaven?' she thought to herself, 'Better be.'

She squinted, the brightness was excruciating. Every muscle in her body ached, feeling heavier than usual. Either she was gaining weight – dear God she hoped not – or... well heaven wasn't all bliss and halos as it was rumored to be, was it?

Wait. Since when were angels hooked up to IV tubes?

Forcing her eyes open, Anna took in her surroundings. A typical, very white hospital room.

Okay, so now she knew where she was. Terrific.

"How the hell did I get here?" she grumbled to no one in particular.

"A young man brought you in," a deep voice from the doorway replied casually.

"Excuse me…?" Anna turned to face the man.

"Oh? I'm sorry I thought I heard you speak Japanese. Hm... blonde hair. Perhaps you're German! Können Sie mich verstehen?"

"I. Speak. Japanese. Fine," she said, becoming more and more agitated by the second. She didn't trust this man, but then again she never trusted doctors – he was a doctor, right? This was a hospital, wasn't it?

Anna took this time to analyze her doctor. He was tall and skinny. His hair was a fair gold, like her own, only a shade paler. His blue – no, purple? Whatever happened to her seemed to have impaired her vision – eyes stared back at her humorously.

"That's good to hear. You can still form coherent speech; though try speaking through your mouth and not your teeth. So how are you feeling?"

"Like Hell."

"You look it, too."

"You're one to talk. Have you been getting much sleep? It would help those bags under your eyes," Anna snapped.

"I'm a doctor, an obscene sleeping schedule is part of my job description," he replied with ease.

Okay, at least she knew he was a doctor now. Therefore, this was a hospital.

Good.

Fabulous.

"Now... Anna?" he asked, checking a clipboard he was holding.

"How do you know my name?" she asked suspiciously.

"Driver's license."

"Hmph. And shouldn't I know the name of my smart-aleck of a doctor?"

A cheerful smile made its way onto his face, "Faust. The Eighth, if you will."

"That's a weird name."

"I'm a weird guy."

Suddenly the reality of the situation hit her hard. She was lying down on a hospital bed, next to some German doctor (what was he doing in Japan?) with no recollection of how she got there.

"Me- I- How?" Anna struggled for words, having so many questions and not a clue as to which she should ask first.

"You want to know how you got here, how long you've been here, who brought you here, why you're here, how I know all this and how the hell someone like me became a doctor."

This Faust guy really knew how to smack the target, dead-on. She would've moved to slap him for being so smart, but her body refused. Her arm was resting comfortably on a metal-spring mattress with no intentions of causing physical harm to anyone nearby. Damnit.

All Anna could do was nod in wonder.

"You've been here, unconscious, for the past eleven hours with minor wounds from the impact. None of your bones are broken, but they were hit hard. Apparently, what happened was that your reflexes slowed as you reached a red light at a crossroad. Instead of stopping before the white line, you drove halfway out into the street, blocking the other road. Another driver, however, the very same man who brought you in, thought you were planning to run it and continued to drive at the speed he was going. When you suddenly stopped, it was too late. To make a long story short, his car hit yours. Both are totaled, and you are hospitalized."

Faust took a deep breath before continuing.

"You're here because you were injured. Everything was explained to us by the other driver. And finally, I come from a line of medical geniuses; it was expected of me to become a doctor. Happy?"

Once again, Anna just tilted her head up and down. He spoke enough for the both of them anyway.

"Alright, now that that's settled, your recovery should be quick and speedy. Let my assistant, Eliza, know if you need anything. Eliza dear!"

A tall blonde walked into the room and greeted her before heading towards her IV tube. The Eliza woman pulled out the needle from the arm and rolled the IV cables to the corner of the room. Guess she didn't need them anymore.

"When can I leave?" Anna asked out of the blue.

"As soon as you'd like. I'll have to give that man who brought you in a phone call to let him know of your awakening. He asked that of me, I hope you don't mind?"

She shook her head. Truthfully, she wanted to see the man who crashed into her Ferrari. Was he drunk? Stupid? Were her reflexes that slow?

Hmmm... wait. He mentioned a phone call. Phone! Contact with the outside world.

"Doctor!" she called out.

Too late, he'd already left. But wasn't there...

"Eliza-san?"

"Yes, do you need anything, Kyouyama-san?" the nurse asked, looking up from her work.

"Can you ask Faust-san to make a phone call to someone else while he's at it?"

"Of course."

Anna gave Eliza the name, phone number, and her message before allowing herself to drift off into a peaceful sleep. Physical accidents were barely a scratch for the already-troubled soul.

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"Kyoyama-san?"

"Ugh..."

She was so close. So close! Just another minute – no, second – and she would be off in dreamland by now.

Unfortunately, that voice didn't sound familiar. It had a deep, masculine tone to it, but it definitely wasn't Faust. It sounded younger.

One eye popped open and turned to focus on the man beside her.

There, seated on a chair beside her bed, was a blue-haired man, seemingly around her age. Jumping to conclusions, Anna assumed it was the guy who hit her car.

"Car-killer," she accused.

The man snorted.

"If you have to call me something, the name's HoroHoro. And who was the baka who stopped in the middle of the road?"

"I had a lot on my mind, thank you very much."

That was a lie. In truth, she was thinking about nothing at the time.

"Yeah yeah, and I came here to apologize and find a way to work this out and I get a slap in the face."

"I'll give you a real slap in the face," Anna mumbled, "As soon as my arm starts functioning again."

HoroHoro sighed.

"So Anna-san, are we going to be able to sort this out peacefully?"

"Depends. What's your definition of peaceful?"

"Hold back on the slaps for later."

"Deal."

"Okay, let me start off by saying sorry–"

"We've established that. I guess I am, too. I mean, it's not like I wanted to end up in the hospital. So anyway, next."

"–and I want to make it up to you somehow. I was proposing a trade, you pay for the damages to my car, I'll pay for the damages to yours."

"Why can't we just pay for our own?"

"Because... just cooperate will you?" He seemed a tad bit annoyed, "I'm guilty that I was saved by the ever-reliable airbag and you were injured. Besides, this'll take more out of my checkbook than yours. That Ferrari of yours is one piece of work."

"And what do you drive, a pick-up truck?"

"No, but my uncle does."

Anna saw this was going nowhere.

"Alright, fine," she agreed.

"Great!" he said with joy, handing her a piece of paper, "This is my number, call me when you get out of the hospital. It should be soon. And we'll exchange the cash then."

Anna didn't complain. She was saving money on car insurance, and she didn't even have to switch to Geico.

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"Anna!"

Damn the world. Damn them for not letting her sleep! Were they that cruel, to deny a single mother her only solace, her dreams? Once again, she was disrupted from her sleep, except this time it wasn't just vocally. She felt a finger poking her nose, followed by hands shaking her shoulders forcefully.

"What? What?" she yelled, nearly falling off the hospital bed.

Now that she was fully awake, she recognized that voice. Looking upwards, Anna found herself staring into red eyes, full of worry.

"Is this how you treat all patients in the hospital, Jeanne?"

Her best friend smiled, but her lips fell into a pout immediately.

"Just you," she responded, "You deserve it! How could you be so careless? I was so worried."

"I'm sorry. I should've, I guess... I don't know. Anything that I say will just be an excuse."

Her silver-haired pal nodded in understanding.

"What happened to Hana?" Anna asked, now concerned of the condition of her child. The phone call she asked Faust to make earlier was to the cell phone of the babysitter. The message was simple:

'Is Hana alright?'

"Well, that babysitter you hired got really worried, but apparently she didn't leave until I arrived there."

Anna nodded, encouraging the girl to continue her story.

"Lyserg and I were just walking in the park. I was in heaven! I swear, I felt so happy. He proposed to me, and I had to tell you! So I called your house. When the babysitter picked up, she nearly screamed your name into the phone. My poor eardrums. Imagine my surprise when I found out you hadn't gone home.

"I ended up saying goodnight to Lyserg, scheduled a new date, and rushed over to your house. Oh, by the way, Lyserg is really anxious to know you're okay, too. In any case, I just took Hana back to my place for the night and gave the babysitter the number to my home phone.

"She called me this morning, telling me you were at Funbari hospital due to a car crash. A doctor called her about it, relaying your message. I left Hana with Lyserg – I hope you don't mind, he's good with kids really-"

"I'm sorry. I ruined your night with Lyserg. Congratulations, though. I'm so happy for the two of you."

"No no dear, we've already there's always time to plan the wedding. There's no replacement for a best friend."

Anna smiled a genuine smile. There was no replacement a best friend.

Indeed, there was no one in the world who could take Jeanne's place, for without the red-eyed girl's support through these past few terrible days, a hopeless, broken Anna would have climbed into the Ferrari and drove at a hundred miles per hour into a tree. She wouldn't have cared, or thought of a way around it. There would be no solution. She would simply be drowning in heartache at the loss of her husband.

Instead, now she was fishing for men in the sea. Or something like that.

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to be continued

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A/N: In the next chapter, Anna is released from the hospital. Still achy, sore, and not in the best of moods, Anna calls up HoroHoro. But is money all they talk about? Or do they have more in common than they know – especially concerning Anna's romance situation? And what's this, Ren wants to see her? Sometimes a girl just needs to escape, and what better way than to visit the local top-notch bookstore. She never wanted to nor expected to meet...