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: I don't own Shaman King, but I have now acquired four of the manga-books! Hurrah!
Author's Note: Eiha… sorry that this update is so much later than the others! ; -guilty- I've been grounded and a lot of things have happened since then. The fic is still ongoing, but the updates will probably be weekly, rather than every two days. Sorry about that; please bear with me and my rather hectic offline life!
On the other hand, I now own four Shaman King mangas (due to a shopping binge at the local bookstore) … I feel accomplished. :)
Votes: 14 Yoh x Anna, 9 Yoh x Tamao, 17 Hao x Anna, 8 Hao x Tamao.
H/A is beating Y/A by three votes, and YT is barely rising above the 8 HT votes. Overall, Hao/Anna and Yoh/Tamao are leading the race – which is kind of surprising to me, I admit.
Chapter Five: I No Longer Know The Way
Night was swept away by brisk daylight as dawn glowed vibrantly over Japan. Sunlight glinted in refracted fragments within glass and other reflective surfaces, lending tiny aid to illuminate the day. It was a sentiment, however, that was not echoed within the household of two shamans and a certain itako…
Breakfast was made in silence – ordinarily Yoh protested Anna's arctic determination to force him to provision them. In recent days, it had come to represent the ordinary routine of the household. And whatever enveloped the massive residence now was not the cautious friendliness that had once existed between Yoh and his fiancé. At least, if anything existed between them, 'friendly' was hardly the word to describe it.
The brisk clang of a bowl against the table resounded through the house. Automatically, the brown-haired shaman cringed at the sound. That Anna would expect him to sweep the pieces from sight and mind, regardless of whether it had been his fault, was a fact that had been ingrained within him since the beginning of time. It was an arrangement that was never spoken of; that did not require speaking of in its utter simplicity. Nevertheless, despite the tremulous embers of sympathy and compassion that he reserved for her state of mind and the distraction that had surely touched upon her thoughts, there had to be certain limits.
He had yet to gather nerve enough to broach the subject with the intimidating young blonde, however.
Enrapt within his own thoughts, Yoh barely noticed as the girl rose with a barely controlled tranquility from her seat, seeing only the dim outlines of movements before his eyes. And before he could think better of it, curbing his tongue from voicing his thoughts aloud, he had spoken.
"Anna…?" There was a double-edge to the words that he spoke, though he did not intend it to be interpreted in that manner. In speaking, he was not only requesting her attention, but in a sense, her forgiveness as well. It had always been so, and though the shaman had blithely assumed that he belonged to her no longer, nevertheless he could not bring himself away from needing her absolution in a manner that transcended logic and his own comprehension.
He needed her, though he was too blind to see it.
She, however, was not.
It was the same fumbling necessity that she had seen, glittering rawly within his eyes when the both of them had been younger. The potential, to be molded and shaped into something, anything she wanted. And in the years that they had transcended since that day, the blonde had seen only that future shape, that mold into which she would pour what he was now, never catching a glimpse of what he was while he was still blooming into that form.
And now it was too late… for him as well as herself.
"What is it?" Ice crackled sharply from her words, brittle daggers that threatened to bring blood from his veins. A carefully proscribed anger seared her gaze, studying him with every destructive emotion that had ever crossed her thoughts.
Anna could make pretenses of not caring, but ignoring Yoh seemed to be a concept entirely beyond her in this sudden, sweeping tempest of anger.
His lips parted, about to speak, and as though she could read his mind, she thought that she could already trace the words upon his lips:
I'm sorry, Anna, I'm so sorry, I-
"Ah!"
The sound was of an indrawn breath, a casual gesture that shattered nothing. But somehow, in its midst, as a second dark-haired shaman descended the stairs with a languid, felinesque grace, the moment to apologize passed; Yoh's desire to reconcile with the itako faded. The brown-haired boy's gaze, normally steady with some inherent confidence that she did not share, dropped and fell away.
"Nevermind." He said cheerfully, masking the hurt beneath the veil of normalcy, almost amazed at how easy it was to assume this façade. "I'll tell you at school."
But Anna had already turned away, and when she spoke again, her voice was venomous with contempt and scorn. "As though I care."
"Already feuding at such an early hour of the morning?" A third voice interspersed smoothly, falling into pace with the conversation with a slow, indolent ease. Dark eyes glinted with humor and a sharp edge of malice that was so thin as to be all but invisible as its bearer turned them upon the two frozen statues within the room. "You two are certainly being productive today…"
Raising his head, Yoh smiled, the mask of good humor so thin as to be transparent. But Hao accepted his façade graciously, with all the elegance of a sovereign. Having greeted his sibling, next he turned his attention to the young itako, who glared at him with blasé contempt.
The smile he turned towards her was wholly innocent, as though their conversation the previous evening had never occurred. "Good morning, Anna." And before she could respond, a cloaked arm had draped itself easily about her waist, fitting itself to that curve as though they were two puzzle pieces rejoined.
The action was not without its effect on Yoh; the younger shaman started slightly, eyes fixed upon his brother's arm, and more importantly, Anna's hand, which appeared to not be making its way to inflict bruises on Hao's own features. And though Hao appeared not to note the startlement and aching dismay that had exploded from a cheerful mien, Anna saw it.
A thin smile curled its way about her lips as the pair made their way out of the room in silence, leaving Yoh – though he had not yet realized it – to wash the dishes. He had anticipated so many things, but she should have known that when it came time to let her go, he would never be able to withstand the pressure. She was his strength, as he was her patience – they had been too accustomed to each other to do anything other than depend on each other.
"What a drama…" Stiffening abruptly, Anna glanced towards the speaker, who was staring languorously out the open door. Countenance turning towards her, his mouth twisted into the sensual smile that she recognized all too easily. "I had not thought it in you to be so dramatic." And his grip tightened slightly about her waist.
As though she had only noticed his grasp, the blonde broke away, her shoulders tense with anger. In stark contrast to the pristine blue of the skies, her eyes were heavy and dark with a barely controlled fury; a vision of a hell that paralleled the near-heaven of the day. "Bastard." She hissed, but the sound was contemptuous, rather than angry. The sound of her slap resounded throughout the outdoors, as did the clack of her shoes as she blazed towards the school, features set with the ominous dark of a coming storm.
He touched his cheek gently, fingertips lightly caressing its surface as he studied his retreating companion with what seemed to be amusement. "So easily infuriated… and yet you're strong." The dark-haired boy mused to himself, regarding the other girl with languid delight, as though she were a pet, performing antics for his amusement. "It will be… interesting to see how Yoh does without you."
Anna can't love Hao. Dark eyes surveyed the blonde from across the room, though she never deigned to return his blatant, open stare. A few more moments of questioning assessment, however, and he turned away again, gazing pensively through the glassy window, into the courtyard below. I would have known if she did. She would have never hesitated to tell me, just like she never hesitated in telling me how strong he was in comparison to me, how I would never beat him in any tournament, that it was offensive that I'd reached sixteen without ever being chosen for a tournament...
And yet hesitation clung to his words, as though they were spoken less to assert the truth than to convince himself that his version was truth. But he went to her this morning, in a way that I know would have gotten me a slap. And she didn't so much as touch him, or look at him murderously, or anything…
What's going on?
"Asakura!" A sharp rap struck his desk, and Yoh started visibly in drowsy surprise. Turning his gaze upwards, his eyes encountered the heavy-lidded pair of his teacher.
"If you would be so kind as to pay attention, Asakura." The man snarled with courteous sarcasm. "Though you might consider school to be unworthy of your attention, nevertheless I strongly suggest that you listen to me. And the subject I'm teaching." He stalked back to his board without waiting for a reply, resuming his speech as though he had never abandoned the stand, though his eyes were fixed meaningfully upon Yoh.
The latter, however, was easily swept away in a tide of thoughts as he appraised his brother's self-satisfied expression. He had never been one for over-interpretation, considering information to be a resource best used sparingly; too much, and he would be too bogged down to create the decisions necessary for his welfare. But now it seemed as though the images overwhelmed him with sensory input of days long gone, and futures that were yet to come…
Hands –not his own, but belonging to someone familiar to him – twine in blonde strands, drowning in finely spun illumination as her hands curl chastely about his waist. The two standing closer than close, so near to one another that they might well occupy the same space within the universe. Her face tilted lightly upwards, exposing a deep, raw darkness in her eyes that he accepts readily, as he does what she offers up. Something that she had never been even mildly tempted to grant her fiancé…
"Asakura-dono." The honorary title was granted with a denotation of vivid, biting sarcasm. "If you would please come up here and demonstrate the correct way to solve this math problem?" He gestured easily at the board, upon which was inscribed an obscure set of writing that looked far more like the pictograms they studied in history than the sensible math at which Yoh had been terrible.
Another shaman might have summoned a ghost to aid him in this, should he not have understood the subject matter. Yoh, however, could not; they had taught him little more than nothing in the years that he had spent with his family. Though Hao pushed his way brutally through any opposition that he might have encountered, Yoh was not of the same mettle. He could not summon strength enough to ask that they teach him, and so they did not. And now, when it was most necessary… he would be granted no reprieve.
This teacher was one of the more brutally merciless in their humiliations, and though he hardly minded in ordinary days, today, the boy thought that he could not stand it. Particularly not before Anna who, even with the tumult about, had still not deigned to glance at him. In that respect, she was wholly unlike his own twin, who was looking on the scene with something akin to amusement.
Neither condescended to lift a finger to aid him.
"Asakura-dono…" The teacher drawled again, and for a moment, the boy that he had named turned towards him. As he did so, the former started, shuddering with some unearthly terror that went beyond his own mortal dreads. There was something… inhuman in the fury of that gaze, the anger that was perfectly controlled, like a honed blade that had spoken, and begun to thirst for blood…
Rapidly, however, he recovered, loathing the younger all the more for having exposed him to that moment of perfect, supreme terror. Eyes narrowing in a distaste that would have been aristocratic, had it not been for his own crass demeanor, he regarded his student with something akin to contempt.
"Well?" He sneered.
And the words slid with a quiet calm that was eerie, rather than cheerfully accepting, from Yoh's lips.
"I'm lost on this one, sensei. I no longer know the way."
Author's Note: I know that Yoh might have been a little out-of-character in this one… he's being heartbroken. This is how I see Heartbroken!Yoh… which is really hard to play, since I could have never otherwise imagined him as heartbroken in the first place.. --; Anyway, hope you enjoyed it…
As an apology for the late updates, here's a short excerpt from the next chapter, mildly edited so that you can't really guess what's going on:
"She's still my friend."
"She may be your friend," The latter said, with an exquisitely timed pause. A sleek smile curled about his lips. "But are you hers?"
Everybody's coming in on the next chapter, even if it's just an honorable mention. Including a lot of rarities, like Faust and Chocolove..
You know the usual… read and review! :)
Review Replies:
bOw-doWn-tO-KeiKO: -bows- Sankyuu. :) And next chapter will have just a smidgen of Faust/Eliza; he's the biology teacher and emergency school "nurse" of sorts. Eliza's his teaching assistant. And I don't know; it's just how I've always seen Hao. –laughs-
yami1: Update's a little later than I would have liked, and yet I hope you don't mind.
The Summer Stars: Ooh.. –poke- Squishiness.. D And you know what's scary? The scene was actually partially based off of a soap playing in the other room at the time. Except for the bit about the hair.
soccer-cutie67: Just remember that you only get the one vote. ;) But so far the votes are definitely swinging your way.
Kali Kamiya: Heh.. –cough- I like how Fate sends me a curveball preventing me from updating quickly about the same chapter that you tell me how it's good that I update so quickly. Hope you don't mind too much..
Blugirl: Uhh.. Sankyuu?
AleGnA: -shrugs and grins- What can I say? Yoh/Anna may be canon, but there's something very attractive about a Hao/Anna as well. I'd love to see someone write a fanfic on their house-lives.. and whether Anna would succeed in making Hao do the chores the way she makes Yoh do them. xD
Sarah: I am getting deeply suspicious of all these disembodied votes.. oO –stare-
Kawaii Koneko92: Strangely, for all that she's one of the love-square, she doesn't get much attention in the fic at all, either. I guess I'll have to give her more spotlight. Thanks for inadvertently getting it to my attention. D
Ravendream: Well, I thought it'd be interesting to have Anna in the position of the intimidated for once. And this is what came of it.
felipe1123: -bows- Thank you. Always nice to meet a person who sticks to one pairing, but isn't afraid to appreciate another kind.
Ruby27: Same t'you! :) And.. er.. it's not an attack! –hides glaive- It's just a.. torture session? No! No! It's a plot device, a plot device, I tell you!
Inulover4eva: I thought I was being a little heavy-handed with the hints of romance in this chapter.. nice to have some reassurance. :)
Kokoto: Another disembodied vote.. oO; Ah well.
Trisyl: Er.. I think I might have done more obscure vocab in this chapter. Hopefully you survived through it.
Miryan: There's really nothing much that I can say other than.. sankyuu?
Kago: Hail, fellow Hao fangirl! D
pandachan: Why were you blushing? It's not as though they did anything.. terrible.. Although you might have been blushing because of the terrible jokes. Were you?
Anonymous: I'll tell him, but currently he's attempting to sic the Spirit of Fire on me for putting him in a romance pairing at all (I'm fairly certain that he /has/ loved before, in previous lives, but he doesn't care to publicize this in case the romance fanfiction about him doubles), so I guess I'll tell him… later… -wary look-
Yuriel: Hope it came soon enough for you. –grins-
Meisha: ..Or else what? –runs away beforehand anyway-
Nakashima-Michiyo: If you know why, then tell me why my fic's going well. And so far, yes, the votes are beating Yoh's. Happy?
Snow-girl: An Asakura-twins connoisseur or something? Anyway, sankyuu! :)
Mina-chan: Disembodied vote.. o.o –poke-