You're Mine

Summary: AU"Just remember that you're mine." It begins with those words, but rapidly becomes something deeper and far more complicated than a mere promise to get back the boy of her dreams.. YohxAnnaxHaoxTamao

Disclaimer: Quite often, disclaimers serve to remind me that the world is not a toy for my pleasure. In this case, it reminds me through informing me that nothing of Shaman King belongs to me. Ah well.

Author's Note: So, so far I have the following votes: 4 Yoh x Anna, 1 Yoh x Tamao, 1 Hao x Anna, 3 Hao x Tamao.

With all the Hao/Yoh fics about, I'm surprised no one's asking for that pairing. :P Joke, joke. But I should probably insert that I'm toying with the idea of one-sided pairings from the minor characters…

And another note to include is that this world does have magic; they're just not referred to as 'Shaman'. There are tournaments to classify how strong a magic-user you are, but when you're able to enter is generally decided by your family. Most magic-users enter the tournaments at age thirteen. That's also the age when they're betrothed. Women rarely enter the tournaments; generally they throw their support behind their betrothed and trust in them. Only the unbetrothed enter.. and they don't generally win, because the stronger ones are quickly snapped up for engagements.

So far, Yoh hasn't qualified for a tournament.. and he's sixteen. It's one of the reasons why Anna razes him the way she does. One of the many reasons. ;)

Yes, this is going to stay primarily romance – but I just had to add a dash of magic, even if it's AU. Hope nobody minds.

Chapter Two: Lies of the Glass

The mirror was a liar.

It reflected calm, composed features, smiling-soft black eyes definitively set within a lean, boyish face. An irresolute happiness spilled from those eyes, a kind of obsidian sunlight that illuminated all that it touched. It said nothing about irresolute guilt, the tiny fragments of thought that replayed the shock in her eyes over and over again, and wondered if he had done the right thing after all.

Of course he had, Yoh was quick to reassure himself. Anna didn't love him and never had. Aside from the bitterness of realizing that it was her fiancé who was in control of the situation for once, there was nothing to regret about the situation. This was only her temperamental stage, when the rejection was all that she could see; rejection from a source that she had doubtless always thought merely a pawn.

His thoughts didn't stop the guilt from flowing, but it eased it slightly.

Turning his eyes outwards, rather than brooding upon the thoughts that had occupied him, dusky eyes scanned his reflection, searching for hints of imperfection. Tamao must be anxious, waiting in the park alone. If he closed his eyes, he thought that he could see the barely upturned curve of a dainty nose as it tilted huge, almost childish eyes towards the skies, never doubting that he would come, but worrying all the same...

"Dressing for your date with the pink-haired girlfriend, are we?"

The drawl came amusedly from the doorway, filled with a slow, sensual sarcasm. Yoh whirled to face it, muscles tense with uncertainty, before relaxing gradually, though not quite. His memories were suffused with moments when Hao had hurt him; hurt him where and when he least expected it. His brother – if brother he could be called – was not adverse to others' pain; it helped to pass the time before the next tournament.

"She's waiting for me at the park." He replied reluctantly, parting with the words as a miser might cling to his coins. Hao had a wickedly mischievous streak within him, and, were it not for Tamao's own powers, Yoh would not have put it entirely past his twin not to magic himself into an illusion and go on a date with Tamao himself. "Tell Anna that I won't be home until rather late; I think Tamao wants to go see a movie, too, and the one she wants won't be playing until late at night."

"Why don't you tell her yourself?" Hao suggested blandly, eyes curved with mirth. "I'm sure she'll be so pleased to hear the words from your own lips, rather than from mine. You are her fiancé, after all."

"I'd really rather not be forced to do the electric chair for three hours before going on a date, and I think, no, I know that I'll end up doing it if I tell her." Yoh admitted with a charming, wry smile, pushing away all doubts that he had possessed of his purpose. If he had doubts, they would have to be reviewed later; not now, when his twin was here, striding swiftly across the room to sprawl elegantly across the bed. "And you probably know already that if we're still engaged, it won't be for much longer.

Dark eyes clashed against dark as their gazes met, and Yoh was the first to look away.

"Afraid of your own fiancé, ototo?" The older twin said softly, his words edged with a diamond-sharp malice.

Yoh smiled again, forcibly, turning back to the mirror to uncomfortably adjust the clawed necklace that hung loosely about his throat. "Eiha, she's scary when she's angry. Even you should be afraid to face her, onii-chan."

Hao appeared to be inspecting his fingernails blandly, leaning into his other palm as he cocked a brightly amused gaze towards his brother. "I would, especially if I had abandoned her and left her entirely distraught."

"She'll never miss me. She's never liked me from the moment that we were engaged, and you know it."

"All those days spent making you do the electric chair for five hours straight..." Hao sighed nostalgically. "A pity that Tamao isn't shaped of the same clay as our dear Anna. However, I must admit that she is quite the pretty toy; is that why...?"

"Hao." The name was spoken lightly, but there was a subtle warning ingrained within Yoh's stare as his eyes flickered back to meet that those of his brother's.

Tamao loves me, everything about me. She doesn't want to change me, make me different from what I am so that she will benefit. She loves me genuinely, sincerely, and wants nothing from me other than a love returned.

…Anna's always wanted more from me than I could ever give her, more and more until I felt dry, desiccated. And even if I died from giving her everything she wanted, I know that she would never be satisfied with what she could take from me.

"So..." There was an insolent amusement in his sibling's voice that stiffened Yoh's spine, seeming to warn him automatically that the older Asakura was preparing to tread upon a more dangerous path. "Since you've left Anna, does that mean that she's free from all responsibilities to your relationship?" At the younger boy's confused look, Hao smiled lithely, cattily, and deigned to clarify. "Does that mean that she's single?"

Alarm leapt into the younger Asakura's eyes before he could prevent it as he jumped to the single conclusion to be derived from his twin's words. "You're not-" He began cautiously.

"Hai, and why not? She's strong – you know she is, or else Yomei and his wife would have never chosen her the way they did." Vaguely, Yoh wondered at the deliberate informality regarding their grandparents; and realized that it was a calculated insolence, and had always been. Hao had always been inclined to push his limits and see how far they could stretch... and the family let him. Yoh had never entirely understood why, but they allowed him less restraint than anyone else in the family. "And certainly she's cleverer than that pink poodle you call a girlfriend." Now his voice had taken on a teasing, older-brotherly tone, one that Yoh knew how to respond to.

A pillow rose weakly from the bed and thwacked the older boy over the head... or would have, if Hao hadn't ducked at that very moment. "Not your best effort, Yoh." He remarked blandly. "Very weak. Weaker than I anticipated, in fact. You should really re-consider forgetting about Tamao and going back to Anna if you're going to lose strength this quickly. Has keeping that pink-haired pet of yours about already begun to weaken your powers?" A mocking light glittered in his eye. "Dear ototo."

Yoh ignored the repartee, focusing instead upon a single concept. "Get out, Hao." He said, and his voice was soft with a dangerous anger.

"Something wrong?" The latter inquired with a bright sarcasm.

"I didn't really think that you'd be the kind of person to go after a girl on the rebound." His voice dropped in volume still further, though whether this was because they were discussing Anna, or for the thrumming menace that pulsed within his voice, no one was certain. "There are names for people like that, onii-chan..." He spat the title out bitterly, as though hardly believing that he were granting it to Hao, "and not good ones, either."

"Just like there are names for people who break up with their fiancés of several years for no other reason than the fact that they've found someone prettier, right?" Was the older boy's smiling retort, though he rose from the bed swiftly, willingly. His features were ingrained with a light-hearted disgust, as though he had only begun to notice the flaws within his twin's physique, and the imperfections that went deeper...

"It would be cheating if you went after her now." Yoh said, though dazedly, as though he no longer understood the words that emitted from his lips.

Hao smiled. It was not the bright, vibrant smile that often infected Yoh's features, and danced across others' faces simply because his merriment was so infectious. It was the slow, seductive contagion that had acquired him so many fangirls at the high school that both attended. It was a sign, his younger brother had learned long before, of danger.

Languidly, he draped a casual arm about his brother's shoulders, forcing his gaze towards the mirror. Their features were reflected in the glass, bright and similar, though there was a darker knowledge about Hao's than the unblinking innocence that touched Yoh's and endeared him to others. "We look so much alike, don't you think, ototo?" The older twin murmured within the younger's ear, heedless of the angry way that Yoh gripped at an intangible sword at his side. "So much alike.. if I changed a little, think how easily I could pass for you…"

Abruptly, the younger boy was released. Stumbling away, he stared up at a suddenly towering Hao, eyes wide circlets of fear and defensiveness.

"Enjoy your… date, Yoh." The latter said with a smile. Combing suddenly agitated fingers through short-cropped brown hair, Yoh wondered why it had never occurred to him that, to go on a date with Tamao, he would have to leave Hao and Anna at home.

Alone.

Suddenly the prospect of seeing Tamao began to feel much less appealing than it had before.

Maliciously, the older Asakura brushed lightly past Yoh with a sensual grace as he paused at the door. Eyes studying the younger boy's frozen features, he seemed to grasp with ease the current of thoughts that were coursing through his brother's mind.

"Remember this, Yoh," His voice was an easy, languid drawl as his whisper brushed his younger brother's ear. "There are no rules in the game of love."

Author's Note: Aand.. there's the entrance of our beloved Hao – I think I had him a little out-of-character in this chapter, but hopefully not overmuch so. For those of you who were on the watch, yes, there was a little subtle hint of something in this chapter; see if you can spot it. If you can't.. well.. there's always hope for the next chapter, right?

R&r, please! And here's the review replies:

KristiexxNguyen: Hey, thanks for being my first reviewer! And as for Yoh/Anna.. well, I really do fancy the pairing, but there is something terribly cute about pink hair. Currently I'm wavering on the subject, so I guess we'll all have to wait and see. What I do know is that there'll probably be an alternate ending so that most will go away satisfied.

Betty: Ah.. good. I like Yoh/Tamao too. :)

YamiandAnzu4ever: Heh.. not for at least ten chapters, with more forthcoming. I'm planning out the fic. :) But worry not; it'll have its Yoh/Anna moments.

bOw-doWn-tO-KeiKO: Hao/Tamao was a pairing that I'd never really contemplated up to writing the first chapter of this fic… which is why I'm really tempted to throw in some extra moments of Hao/Tamao-ness soon. The next couple of chapters are going to be dedicated to the date, so Hao and Tamao won't actually see each other for a while. But I've got a cute scene planned.. ;)

Inulover4eva: -laughs- I really think that Anna/Hao is the cutest of the plausible pairings. I'm toying with ideas of another alternate universe where Yoh lost in the final battle, and Hao won – where, therefore, Anna/Hao would be inevitable.

Akira: Like everyone else, you'll just have to wait and see. –angelic smile-

soccer-cutie67: Thank you.. :) And so far, the votes don't agree with you much, but I must admit that I really do fancy the pairings you chose.

Kago: A lot of the notes in the author's note were all for you, Kago. :) And this is the first (but not last!) chapter that Hao will be participating in, so I hope you enjoyed it.

Dark Lady: Love the name you chose; and I hope this update's soon enough.

Tsubasa no Miko: ; Eiha, there wasn't really a lot of humor in this chapter… But unfortunately, in this world, Yoh and Hao have a very… intense sort of siblingship. It's not something I can make light of when I'm trying to establish the story. Later, I promise, though, will have its humor.

Wendy Wei (alias): I liked my writing style too, until the point when people started lodging complaints about incomprehensibility. Since then, I've toned it down.

Meisha: Hehe.. Bitter!Anna is one of my favorite combinations to play. As for Yoh, well… Yoh seems to be always happy. So that's a nevermind.