You're Mine
Disclaimer: I don't own Shaman King. Go away.
Author's Note: Sorry that it's been so long since my last update! I've been very, very busy. Fortunately, this section is very long; unfortunately, it's so long that I had to break it in two, if only to keep up suspense of some kind. Enjoy! And sorry I'm late; I owe you guys apology-fic for this. –shifty eyes-
Special Chapter: Karaoke Part One
"Ototo!" A bundle of cloth appeared to have been flung onto his bed. Muzzily, with a dizzied air and eyes that were not accustomed to opening at such hours, Yoh reluctantly peered up into the gloom. Questing hands, scrabbling intently to identify this mysterious new object, located a texture as though silk and burlap had been blended, and two curiously smooth objects beneath his fingers that seemed to flex as he touched them…
Hao arched a delicate brow. "My dear, dear ototo." He drawled, but with far more of an amusedly condescending note as his brother's hands fumbled clumsily about his legs, "I thought you said that you didn't swing that way?"
A furious blush suffused his brother's cheeks, and Yoh hastily removed his hands, delving them into the safe – and warmer – cover of his bed. "True enough." He agreed embarrassedly, with his traditional unperturbable grin. Also in keeping with his own tradition, the shaman yawned exaggeratedly, though an eye remained faintly open to ensure that Hao was under surveillance. "'Re you just here to joke..?" He murmured drowsily. "S'too early f'r me to be up on…" A sigh twisted its way from his lips as he crumpled gently back into bed. "A weekend…"
"Ototo!" Hao prodded him intently, eyes brilliant as he fixed them upon Yoh's dozy features. "This weekend is important." As his younger brother began to regain some semblance of sensibility, he was aware that the fire shaman was grinning broadly. "It's our birthday. And as such, I've decided to take matters of party arrangements into my own hands this year, which means…" He allowed a dramatic pause to infuse the moment.
"We've invited everybody out to have a karaoke party." He allowed this last phrase to slip casually past his lips, and sat back, eyeing his younger brother's complexion with no minute amount of amusement as Yoh awakened abruptly.
"Kareoke?" The boy regarded his elder brother sceptically, though he paused a moment to marvel how alike they were still. The years had done nothing to broaden the differences in their physical appearances; the sharp lines of their features like swords mirrored each other in perfect parallels, and their eyes (liquid black) still possessed the same inflections, the same colors and the same bright glint. "But no one you know likes karaoke, do they?"
Hao laughed, and the sound was vivid with only a little gleam of malice to indicate why he had selected that particular style of birthday at all. "Well," he said, folding his hands across his knees in a bright, drawling grin, "it's time they expanded their interests. Isn't it?"
They looked the part of the motley party as they strode into the restaurant, Hao taking the malevolent lead, Yoh and Anna second, each with a reluctant hand seized by the long-haired shaman. The rest of the group trailed behind, looking alternately furtive and decidedly embarrassed. HoroHoro, for example, might have gotten away if Chocolove, insistent upon the ideal that he would not have to sing without watching everyone else embarrass themselves first, had not seized his ear and dragged him along the velvet floor.
"Remind me again," Ren said with a heavy irony under his breath that did not fail to penetrate the guards of his companions, "why I came here?"
Hao angled his head back, sweeping his gaze demurely from Ren to Yoh in a sardonic arc. "I'm sure you wouldn't like me to." Said the dark-haired shaman, and smiled widely as the Chinese boy turned faintly crimson, waving his spear with a murderous air. "And here's our table."
Chocolove and Horohoro glanced up with shining eyes, for although the table was an ordinary enough object, the banquet sprawled across its surface seemed a veritable feast that would take aeons to finish devouring. Dishes from every culture, in plentiful amounts, steamed invitingly upon its surface, and glinted at them. Eat me. It suggested – a comment with which the shamans were more than ready to comply.
But in the background, as the rest of the group settled down to eat, Hao watched, and his eyes were bright with unkindness.
"Karaoke?" Ren and Horo shouted in murderous synchrony before glaring at each other and continuing, separately.
"You're mad—"
"—absolutely insane—"
"—stupid blackmailing baka—"
"—have dignity, even though I went through Pirika's training—"
"—refuse to compromise the only son of the Taos—"
"—won't sing!" They finished together, and glared at each other again upon realizing that they had spoken together.
"Ah," sighed the shaman, turning a predatory smile upon all of his guests. "But this is a karaoke party. Would it be so still if there was no karaoke? No, before you leave, in return for the cake and the food supplied to you during the course of the party—" he did not look at anyone particularly, though his gaze seemed to rest particularly upon Chocolove and Horohoro, both of whom had large stacks of plates (now empty) before them, "—I think I'll have to ask that each of you sing at least once. Tamao," He turned his owlish dark stare upon her, unblinking and saturated with only the faintest hint of amusement, "Why don't you go up first?"
"M-me?" Instinctively Tamao shrank away, with only a faint, melting smile towards Yoh as the boy smiled at her too. "Karaoke? I-I—"
"You'll be ruining my party if you don't go." The dark-haired adolescent remarked with a mocking pout, though she seemed incapable of grasping the sardonic humor in his expression. "And," he added offhandedly, gesturing with exquisite simplicity towards the boy at his side, "Yoh's. It's your birthday party too, isn't it, ototo?" Maliciously, he smiled at the vague confusion within his younger brother's eyes. And it was Hao, perhaps, who saw best the troubled expression within her gaze as she lifted her chin, replete with a resolute sadness.
"I'll go then." She said quietly, and rose to her feet, standing upon her tiptoes to murmur blushingly into the stage manager's ear.
It cost only a few seconds before she was on stage; the boy had taken great care to arrange all things, even the order, beforehand, and the stage manager had his orders. As did certain other individuals…
Everyone preoccupied with the image of the young diviner arriving on stage, no one was in a position to notice Hao gently flickering his fingers towards the apparent disc jockey, who grinned conspiratorially and flicked a certain song into place, ready and awaiting only the pink-haired girl's debut.
At last, she consented to move onto the stage, feet slow with a curious awkwardness that was not, in ordinary circumstances, evident within her movements.
Timidly, quite as though she did not dare to approach the microphone as it was to be used, she grasped it with gently folded hands and whispered the unfamiliar words into the black cone as they appeared on screen, though her voice grew stronger with confidence as time passed.
The dawn is breaking…
A light shining through
You're barely waking
And I'm tangled up in you…
A bare pause skimmed her words.
Yeah
She wavered briefly in the face of the music as the melody twined into itself for a few moments, hesitating in her decision of whether to hum along. But that choice was swept from her hands as the lyrics appeared upon the screen again, scanning downwards so that she could see what came.
But I'm open, you're closed
Where I follow, you'll go.
I worry I won't see your face
Light up again
Even the best fall down sometimes
Even the wrong words seem to rhyme
Out of the doubt that fills my mind
I somehow find
You and I
Collide
I'm quiet, you know…
You make a first impression
But I found I'm scared to know I'm
Always on your mind
Eyes widening at the curious appropriateness of the lyrics, she flushed a delicate rose hue, though she managed a pale smile towards a certain brunet in the audience. But the question was, since the two were seated so closely together at the seats of honor – to whom was she bestowing that pallid beam?
Even the best fall down sometimes
Even the stars refuse to shine
Out of the back you fall in time
I somehow find
You and I
Collide.
She repeated the chorus and several randomly strewn words here and there, but began to creep towards the back of the stage as the melody died away… only to be called back with a round of thunderous applause – and a few whistles as well.
Grinning tremulously with the evidence of her triumph, the rose-haired girl was ushered from the stage as the next victim was called up, and immediately darted to the Asakura twins.
"You did surprisingly well." The elder of the two drawled, reclining back in his seat to regard her with a certain amount of amusement, and—was that veiled surprise that she perceived within his lightless gaze?
Yoh, however, smiled at her with a heartbreaking openness. "You have a beautiful voice." He said simply, and she found the flush that she had thought banished gradually climbing up her neck again as their eyes found each other and interlocked…
"So." Absorbed as they had grown within their own sentiments, they flickered in startlement like easily smothered candleflames as the elder shaman spoke. "Who's going next?" Lustreless dark eyes trailed languidly about the table, settling at last, upon…
"Little Ainu." At the condescending title dealt to him, HoroHoro flickered to attention, eyes narrowing with an impotent ill-will.
"Why don't you go next?" Hao suggested blandly, as though he did not see the vivid malice growing within the young shaman's eyes. "After all, Ren shall be going after you, and I'm sure that he would like a few tips on how to perform it correctly."
"What!" The spike upon the Chinese shaman's head had grown to such proportions that it threatened to overtip his head itself. "I don't need the aid of any idiot—"
"That fool could stand to take a few tips from me—"
They stopped, each in the midst of the other's interruptions, and glared at each other. The blue-haired boy was the first to break the deadlock, stalking off towards the stage with all the sulky arrogance of a wounded panther, though he had not that animal's grace. As he stumbled up the steps to the stage, Hao gave a faint inclination of his head towards the stage manager, mouthed the Ainu's name with a grace that the employee read with ease – and settled into his place as the resonant, faintly punk-ish rock music began to resonate through the room…
Appearing rather startled by the swiftness with which events took place, the snow shaman scrambled up the rest of the steps, hastening into place – and nearly tripping over the microphone in the process.
Ren put a slender hand over his eyes, muttered, "Baka," and did not look for the rest of the performance, despite the sound of HoroHoro's voice beginning to ring out through the room as he hummed to the guitar riffs of the beginning…
Bowing his head, he lifted in a dramatic gesture, and grinned ferally as he began to sing,
I'm the kid that no one knows
I live a life I never chose With these thoughts in my mindOn my own…
My own…
About half-way through the first verse, as a few wan cheers soared up from the audience, he began to perform a curious little hopping dance that thrummed in synchrony with the song that now reverberated through the dome. As catcalls and jeers greeted this performance, however, he ceased again, and merely continued to sing in a voice that cracked faintly as it hit the lower notes, and possessed very little flexibility in its range.
I'm face to face with the unknown
My scary movie will be shown
I've got one evil mind
On my own…
My own…
The lyrics themselves, Ren thought, were things that Horo would have never chosen. And yet—and yet… there was something that belonged uniquely to the shaman, it seemed, in the rhythm, the soul of the music.
And that was it; the soul of both the music and the snow shaman were one and the same.
We take from one another
And never stop to wonder
How it feels from the other side
But nothing lasts forever
When stupid turns to clever
Why are you surprised
Little know-it-all…
Ten bucks in my hand
Little know-it-all
Don't cry, I understand…
As the music began to break into its instrumental sections again, the shaman threw the microphone into the air… and began to calmly walk away. As it thunked down on the stage, a faint grin twisted his lips, though he was careful to hide in darkness until the raucous hisses of disapproval died away from the audience.
The song continued to play of its own accord, but the cerulean-haired adolescent no longer intended to be there to support the melody with his admittedly rather strained voice. As he seated himself, sprawling his feet widely across the table, he grinned at his arch-rival, a silent challenge as the last of the notes in the song began to fade away.
"Think you can beat that performance, Ren?"
"Huh." The violet-haired shaman glanced away, though his contempt was clearly in evidence. "A squawking bird," said the Chinese boy derisively, "could have matched, and indeed bettered, your performance. You are a terrible singer."
"Better than you, at least!" Horo slammed an irritated fist against the table, restraining the urge to yelp as it calmly began to swell in protest. "Where's your confidence, pointy-haired one?" He challenged. "Or do you only do your singing at home?" He continued in such taunts, never noticing that the gold of the other boy's eyes had stirred, and in their depths was something less than kind…
"Very well." The words were spoken evenly at last in the middle of the Ainu's boasts. "I shall sing."
And, as though he did not find the boy suitable with which to communicate, Ren rose to his feet and swept to the front of the stage, pausing only briefly by the stage manager to whisper a few choice words that paled the man's features and sent him bustling to obey. Once he had reached the center of the stage, he stood, squinting a little, hands fitted casually into his pockets as he surveyed his audience of the evening.
They were not the people that he would have selected, but nevertheless… there was nothing that could be done about it now. Nor did he intend to; not with Horo still jeering in the audience, of the opinion that Ren, only son of the Tao family, could not do something that he, Horo, lowborn child of some Ainu woman in a backwater village of the north, could. Such was idiocy, madness; and he intended to prove it so.
As the familiar jazzy melody floated out, drifting listlessly into the ears as it was blared by the tinny speakers of the club, he closed his eyes, allowing his audience to fade. He opened his mouth to sing…
yamiwada wo kirisaku tachi koso
sogiyoto shite kita kokoro no makari ka
sei to shi wa hirameki no ma ni te
kumo ha chirikiri ha kiete
seijou na hasuji wa ichijin no kaze wo okoshi
tatakau sube wo hibaku tosu
jakunen to yama wo mireba kogi kara toozakaru
sume ni yaiba no shita ni koso "kokoro no oite iki yo"
shishi honteki no tamashii tora wo toraete kare
onore no iro sae mo keshi hokori made mo sute yuke
onore no moteru mono nomi chie no minamoto toshi
sugata wo todome ne mizu tonareru ka "itsu no hi ni ka ha"
kaminari kaze ai usuri mizu to hi ai ireba
seihitsu no hako no naka ni itachi wo shizume you
sei-san ni itaru jisetsu made hitooyumi totemo tome wo shirazu
jiyuu ni kitari jizai ni saru
hori to kase kokoro wo tsuku shite
hitoshimi yusamete sutomete hageme
…and closed his mouth again as the music faded away.
Pirika glanced irritably at her brother. "Horo," she said irritably, slapping him upside the head, "Close your mouth. Something's going to fly in."
Her brother obeyed with great difficulty.
(to be continued...)
Author's Note: Part Two should be up in a few days (yes, really); I only need to research a few things and decide upon Yoh's song… :D And you just –know- that the Asakuras (and Anna) will dedicate their songs to Certain People, won't they? Anyway, onto the review replies!
Review Replies:
Kasumi Nishikao: Thank you:) Rather wish that more people would be more like you and not spam, although I don't mind if there's good input to be had. Sorry for taking such a long time.
Pendulumxswing: Thank you. A pity that I had to take a brief break in order to make HoroHoro do a weird dance. –evil smile-
anime-obsession260: I know. But not yet, aye?
BabyKaoru-Sama: What happens next isn't to be revealed until the second part of the karaoke party is over, sorry… :P
lil.blu.clover: Thank you! –bows- I try. But, erm. There'll be arcs for each; voting is rather pointless now, as there'll be both.
Dillpops: Huh, Lyserg's father? –laughs- Well he IS mostly untouched except for in those Meet the Parents fics involving Lyserg… As do I, actually. There's a lot of material there about parental neglect and refusing to let their child go even with someone who might actually care for them on the line.
Inulover4eva: No, I don't think you –did- mean that. After all, we all know you covet Hao yourself. Why add Anna to your competition:P
Hana: I'm touched. Really. :)
asn water: He can pick Tamao if he likes! –pets him- For he is my baby. Er. Not really.
TenkunoMeiou: I plan to.
cherri-chan: Well, what do you THINK he'll do? He loves Tamao, of course, and wants to keep her safe. And at the same time there's the revival of a feeling not quite dead for Anna… Great Spirit, I love fanfics. :D
Yes, I'm Chinese; I speak Mandarin though not Cantonese, and so adore Ren.
Yep. Strangely, however, he sings in Japanese – that's his image song he's singing. I may add detail later, but I was in a hurry just now; I've got to get off soon.
Bibliomaniac: -shakes head- My other fic, As Far as the Soul Goes, is the one set after the manga. This is definitely AU; I wanted a rather more in-depth Tournament and a deeper look on how the whole thing evolved.
squashes- Quit reading my mind. I'm sure it's bad for your health; look how flat you're getting through my squashing:P
Well, Anna kept talking about how she'd become a 'Shaman Queen' in the manga. But she wasn't going to win the Tournament, and surely Shaman Queen couldn't be an official position unless you won the Shaman Fight… Thusly, the selection was born. It'll be elaborated upon in later chapters, I promise.
Mystery is what makes Hao /Hao/. Besides, he'd kill me if I sold tickets into his mind.
Hatami: Thanks for the feedback; sorry for the wait. :)
jagan-I: I think your review may have been cut off. –apologetic look-
Andrea Nefisto: It's all right. Only one vote would have been necessary to get your point across. Thanks for reviewing, though.