Lightning-Dono: I'm not sure exactly how long this chapter might be, but I'm pretty sure it'll be longer. Poor Lyserg-kun. =( Yoh seems to be a bit spacey and goofy in this chapter, well...more than usual. And I'm wandering off the main subject of the fanfic. It's supposed to be about how Anna and Tamao end up getting along, but it's gone off somewhere else. But I WILL make this fit into the story. A lot of people seem oddly out of character in this chapter.
Yoh snapped out of his trance.
"Hao? A-Are you sure it's him?"
"Well, I'm not sure, but who else would target me like this?"
"Lyserg-kun, look at the possibilities," Yoh said, grabbing Lyserg by the shoulder and making exaggerated arm motions, supposedly depicting a wide horizon of possibilities. Instead, it looked to Lyserg as though Yoh had learned some new miming tricks.
"Marco, for instance..."
Lyserg jerked away from Yoh's grip.
"No way! He'd never do this to me!"
Anna stood silently by the ruins of the house and picked up a tuft of fur.
"Does this fur look familiar to you?" Anna helf out the sample of spotted fur to Lyserg, who shook his head rapidly.
"Must've come from a neko...But what kind?" Apparently, looking up at the sky inspired Anna, as she stood there, staring at the sky for quite a while before coming to a conclusion as to why they found a tuft of neko fur right there.
"I've got it! Chocolove?"
"Chocolove...I don't think he has one...Or...that jaguar." Lyserg pondered on this. "I don't remember who had the jaguar or cheetah or whatever..."
Yoh sighed loudly.
"As long as we have a clue, we can move on and look for whoever did this, eh, minna?"
"No, it's not okay, Yoh..." Lyserg's eyes darkened as he looked down at the ground, his fingers curling into a fist that was shaking.
"Why not?"
"It's just too much...My parents are killed and now my home is destroyed...I want to do more than just move on...I want revenge now!" Everyone noticed that Lyserg sounded very unconfident about this sudden decision, not to mention hesitant.
"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Anna walked up infront of him and looked at him sternly.
"...Iie..."
"Then you shouldn't be making so many quick decisions. We have the time to figure out who did this AND to plan out the attack. Right now, we need to find a place to get to sleep."
"Yeah!" Yoh shouted through a yawn. "It's about time we crashed somewhere for...the morning." He watched at the sun light up the sky in vibrant shades of light pink, orange and blue.
"True to the very last word. How about we just lie down here by Lyserg's used-to-be home and sleep?" Manta patted the ground lightly as though it were a cushion and lay down on it, pretending to be content through his discomfort.
Tamao looked reluctantly at the mass of dirt surrounding them.
"Why can't we sleep in the tall grass?" She asked, looking longingly at the tall grass that lay behind them, a yard away from where they were.
"Tamao, don't complain and just sleep where you please!" Anna chose a spot a few feet away from Yoh and sat down, looking at the sky.
"Yes, Anna-san," Tamao replied. She crawled back to the edge of the tall grass and lay down, just as the sky started to brighten fully.
"Ah! That was a nice rest!" Yoh sat up and stretched, grinning, the music on his headphones turned up.
Anna arose and brushed herself off, looking at the back of Yoh's head in digust.
"Do you have any IDEA how hard it is to sleep while you have those headphones turned up almost all the way?" She asked grumpily.
"I don't know. It's relaxing Reggae music. How can you not like it?"
"It's not that I don't like it, it's just that I can't sleep with something that loud on. It's silent out here! I'm sure you'll agree with me, Ly-," Anna paused and looked around her for the green-haired boy. "Yoh, where did Lyserg go?"
Yoh stopped stretching long enough to turn around to take a look at the people around him.
"Hm. Lys seems to be gone." He chuckled lightly out of nervousness.
"This isn't a laughing matter, Yoh-kun." Anna straightened out her dress in a haughty manner and glared at Yoh.
"Look, Anna. Lys can take care of himself. He's been in tougher situations-," Yoh stopped as Anna interrupted loudly.
"-Has low confidence, is afraid of the situation at hand concerning his home, and needs to have our support to get through this!"
"Not really. He and Morphine are perfect with each other in fighting abilities," Manta pointed out cheerfully.
Yoh nodded briefly and grinned.
"Don't you think so, Amidamaru?"
Amidamaru slowly appeared from his wooden tombstone carving Yoh had made for him in shop class one day.
"Yoh-sama, I do not think it is a good idea to let Lyserg go like this. Anna-dono is right. He needs us."
Yoh snorted rudely and lay back down, staring up at the mid-afternoon sky.
"Guys, you need to get more relaxed about this. We need to be as calm as a pond, swift as the wind, alert as an antelope at the same time. I'm not panicking because I don't want to mess everything up for everyone. I don't want you all to be too hasty about this."
Anna's eyes softened as she listened to Yoh's intelligent words.
"Yoh-kun...I...Anou..."
"Hai?"
"I understand. Let us go."
"Do you not understand what I just said?"
Anna stopped at this, just as she was about to turn towards the open dirt road before them. Manta's wandering attention instantly snapped to Yoh. Tamao sat silently, hands in her lap.
"...Nani?" Anna had never heard anyone have the heart to argue against what she was doing.
"I said 'let's not be too hasty about this'. And you're leaving. We heavn't planned anything out yet."
Anna glanced back at Yoh, who was looking back to her through dark and neutral eyes.
"Okay...I'll stay then. Though I hope you don't plan to do anything ridiculous that might cost us our lives." Anna sat down, cross-legged.
"I won't put the cost that high." Yoh chuckled lightly and drew a diagram in the dirt before him, not really understanding what he was doing.
Tamao leaned over Yoh's shoulder interestedly.
"What's that?" She pointed at the stick figure that was carried away by another very plain stick figure.
"Anou...Ah! That's Lyserg being kidnapped by...a really skinny guy," Yoh replied.
Anna muttered about how horribly this was going.
"Anna, if you don't appreciate my drawings, don't look at them!" Yoh continued to draw hair on the stick figure that was being carried away.
"I appreciate them, but I wish you'd try and draw something that would actually help us. All I've learned from your pictures is that it's not possible to make very detailed stick figures!"
"Cool it," Manta said, and walked over to Yoh, who was busy drawing clothing onto the stick figures. At that instant, Manta gaped at them soundlessly, turned back to Anna and shook his head.
"Never mind, keep yelling. This is RIDICULOUS! I'm going CRAZY!" Manta yanked a handful of dead grass from the bare ground and threw into the air, waving his arm all the while.
Yoh stared at Manta, surprised at this sudden outburst.
"C'mon, Manta! I'm trying my hardest here!"
Tamao's eye twitched unintentionally at this very noticeable lie.
Anna rounded on Yoh, who was intently labeling the stick figures with his now dirt-caked index finger.
"Look, Yoh. We don't want stick figures. You were so serious before, but if this is you idea of planning, that's...That's just plain old bad!"
Yoh sighed, stood up, and kicked at the 'diagram'.
"Fine. If it makes you all so happy, let's go and save Lyserg!"
A few hours later of traveling along that same dirt road, Manta lost his stretching patience.
"Yoh, all we can marvel at here is this STREAM!" He shouted into Yoh's ear. "Maybe if you hadn't been drawing aimless stick figures on the ground, we might've been able to find Lyserg by now!"
Yoh covered his ear.
"If you're trying to make me lose my hearing, as well as my sanity, you're succeding. So stop and accept the fact that we're lost and be happy that we're still alive."
"Yoh you've already lost it," Manta replied, looking over at Tamao, who had stuck her face into the stream.
"Yoh." Anna was standing further down the stream, and looking over at something in the distance with a faint look of relief on her face.
"Yes, Anna?"
Anna turned and looked at him, her face shining. Not with tears, but with pride and happiness.
"There's a city right there, Yoh!"
Everyone ran to Anna's side and gazed over the grove of trees.
"Anna-san, this is wonderful!" Tamao hugged Anna.
"Tamao, let go of me." Anna looked at the girl who was reluctantly letting go of her.
"Let's get down there...Now!" Yoh grabbed everyone's hands and dragged them down the hill and through the grove of trees.
After a very horrid experience of running at Yoh's speed, they were all sitting on a bench, drinking water.
"Yoh-san, I don't have as much stamina as you do. You should slow down next time." Tamao took a large gulp of water, some of it dribbling down her chin. Anna looked at the thin strip water dripping down Tamao's chin with great disgust and out of pure instinct, she took the edge of her hair ribbon and wiped away the water. Tamao's head whipped sideways so quickly that water spilled all over her lap.
"TAMAO!" Anna threw down her hair ribbon on the bench and stood up. "That water costed money!"
"I-I'm sorry, Anna-san!" Tamao sat their sobbing into her hands.
"Anna, just let it go! It was just water!" Yoh grabbed Anna by the shoulder forcefully as Anna raised her arm threateningly at the young girl, who looked back up at her with frightened eyes.
Suddenly, Tamao said something that Anna would never have had been able to consume. Ever.
"I hate you, Anna-san."
Yoh snapped out of his trance.
"Hao? A-Are you sure it's him?"
"Well, I'm not sure, but who else would target me like this?"
"Lyserg-kun, look at the possibilities," Yoh said, grabbing Lyserg by the shoulder and making exaggerated arm motions, supposedly depicting a wide horizon of possibilities. Instead, it looked to Lyserg as though Yoh had learned some new miming tricks.
"Marco, for instance..."
Lyserg jerked away from Yoh's grip.
"No way! He'd never do this to me!"
Anna stood silently by the ruins of the house and picked up a tuft of fur.
"Does this fur look familiar to you?" Anna helf out the sample of spotted fur to Lyserg, who shook his head rapidly.
"Must've come from a neko...But what kind?" Apparently, looking up at the sky inspired Anna, as she stood there, staring at the sky for quite a while before coming to a conclusion as to why they found a tuft of neko fur right there.
"I've got it! Chocolove?"
"Chocolove...I don't think he has one...Or...that jaguar." Lyserg pondered on this. "I don't remember who had the jaguar or cheetah or whatever..."
Yoh sighed loudly.
"As long as we have a clue, we can move on and look for whoever did this, eh, minna?"
"No, it's not okay, Yoh..." Lyserg's eyes darkened as he looked down at the ground, his fingers curling into a fist that was shaking.
"Why not?"
"It's just too much...My parents are killed and now my home is destroyed...I want to do more than just move on...I want revenge now!" Everyone noticed that Lyserg sounded very unconfident about this sudden decision, not to mention hesitant.
"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Anna walked up infront of him and looked at him sternly.
"...Iie..."
"Then you shouldn't be making so many quick decisions. We have the time to figure out who did this AND to plan out the attack. Right now, we need to find a place to get to sleep."
"Yeah!" Yoh shouted through a yawn. "It's about time we crashed somewhere for...the morning." He watched at the sun light up the sky in vibrant shades of light pink, orange and blue.
"True to the very last word. How about we just lie down here by Lyserg's used-to-be home and sleep?" Manta patted the ground lightly as though it were a cushion and lay down on it, pretending to be content through his discomfort.
Tamao looked reluctantly at the mass of dirt surrounding them.
"Why can't we sleep in the tall grass?" She asked, looking longingly at the tall grass that lay behind them, a yard away from where they were.
"Tamao, don't complain and just sleep where you please!" Anna chose a spot a few feet away from Yoh and sat down, looking at the sky.
"Yes, Anna-san," Tamao replied. She crawled back to the edge of the tall grass and lay down, just as the sky started to brighten fully.
"Ah! That was a nice rest!" Yoh sat up and stretched, grinning, the music on his headphones turned up.
Anna arose and brushed herself off, looking at the back of Yoh's head in digust.
"Do you have any IDEA how hard it is to sleep while you have those headphones turned up almost all the way?" She asked grumpily.
"I don't know. It's relaxing Reggae music. How can you not like it?"
"It's not that I don't like it, it's just that I can't sleep with something that loud on. It's silent out here! I'm sure you'll agree with me, Ly-," Anna paused and looked around her for the green-haired boy. "Yoh, where did Lyserg go?"
Yoh stopped stretching long enough to turn around to take a look at the people around him.
"Hm. Lys seems to be gone." He chuckled lightly out of nervousness.
"This isn't a laughing matter, Yoh-kun." Anna straightened out her dress in a haughty manner and glared at Yoh.
"Look, Anna. Lys can take care of himself. He's been in tougher situations-," Yoh stopped as Anna interrupted loudly.
"-Has low confidence, is afraid of the situation at hand concerning his home, and needs to have our support to get through this!"
"Not really. He and Morphine are perfect with each other in fighting abilities," Manta pointed out cheerfully.
Yoh nodded briefly and grinned.
"Don't you think so, Amidamaru?"
Amidamaru slowly appeared from his wooden tombstone carving Yoh had made for him in shop class one day.
"Yoh-sama, I do not think it is a good idea to let Lyserg go like this. Anna-dono is right. He needs us."
Yoh snorted rudely and lay back down, staring up at the mid-afternoon sky.
"Guys, you need to get more relaxed about this. We need to be as calm as a pond, swift as the wind, alert as an antelope at the same time. I'm not panicking because I don't want to mess everything up for everyone. I don't want you all to be too hasty about this."
Anna's eyes softened as she listened to Yoh's intelligent words.
"Yoh-kun...I...Anou..."
"Hai?"
"I understand. Let us go."
"Do you not understand what I just said?"
Anna stopped at this, just as she was about to turn towards the open dirt road before them. Manta's wandering attention instantly snapped to Yoh. Tamao sat silently, hands in her lap.
"...Nani?" Anna had never heard anyone have the heart to argue against what she was doing.
"I said 'let's not be too hasty about this'. And you're leaving. We heavn't planned anything out yet."
Anna glanced back at Yoh, who was looking back to her through dark and neutral eyes.
"Okay...I'll stay then. Though I hope you don't plan to do anything ridiculous that might cost us our lives." Anna sat down, cross-legged.
"I won't put the cost that high." Yoh chuckled lightly and drew a diagram in the dirt before him, not really understanding what he was doing.
Tamao leaned over Yoh's shoulder interestedly.
"What's that?" She pointed at the stick figure that was carried away by another very plain stick figure.
"Anou...Ah! That's Lyserg being kidnapped by...a really skinny guy," Yoh replied.
Anna muttered about how horribly this was going.
"Anna, if you don't appreciate my drawings, don't look at them!" Yoh continued to draw hair on the stick figure that was being carried away.
"I appreciate them, but I wish you'd try and draw something that would actually help us. All I've learned from your pictures is that it's not possible to make very detailed stick figures!"
"Cool it," Manta said, and walked over to Yoh, who was busy drawing clothing onto the stick figures. At that instant, Manta gaped at them soundlessly, turned back to Anna and shook his head.
"Never mind, keep yelling. This is RIDICULOUS! I'm going CRAZY!" Manta yanked a handful of dead grass from the bare ground and threw into the air, waving his arm all the while.
Yoh stared at Manta, surprised at this sudden outburst.
"C'mon, Manta! I'm trying my hardest here!"
Tamao's eye twitched unintentionally at this very noticeable lie.
Anna rounded on Yoh, who was intently labeling the stick figures with his now dirt-caked index finger.
"Look, Yoh. We don't want stick figures. You were so serious before, but if this is you idea of planning, that's...That's just plain old bad!"
Yoh sighed, stood up, and kicked at the 'diagram'.
"Fine. If it makes you all so happy, let's go and save Lyserg!"
A few hours later of traveling along that same dirt road, Manta lost his stretching patience.
"Yoh, all we can marvel at here is this STREAM!" He shouted into Yoh's ear. "Maybe if you hadn't been drawing aimless stick figures on the ground, we might've been able to find Lyserg by now!"
Yoh covered his ear.
"If you're trying to make me lose my hearing, as well as my sanity, you're succeding. So stop and accept the fact that we're lost and be happy that we're still alive."
"Yoh you've already lost it," Manta replied, looking over at Tamao, who had stuck her face into the stream.
"Yoh." Anna was standing further down the stream, and looking over at something in the distance with a faint look of relief on her face.
"Yes, Anna?"
Anna turned and looked at him, her face shining. Not with tears, but with pride and happiness.
"There's a city right there, Yoh!"
Everyone ran to Anna's side and gazed over the grove of trees.
"Anna-san, this is wonderful!" Tamao hugged Anna.
"Tamao, let go of me." Anna looked at the girl who was reluctantly letting go of her.
"Let's get down there...Now!" Yoh grabbed everyone's hands and dragged them down the hill and through the grove of trees.
After a very horrid experience of running at Yoh's speed, they were all sitting on a bench, drinking water.
"Yoh-san, I don't have as much stamina as you do. You should slow down next time." Tamao took a large gulp of water, some of it dribbling down her chin. Anna looked at the thin strip water dripping down Tamao's chin with great disgust and out of pure instinct, she took the edge of her hair ribbon and wiped away the water. Tamao's head whipped sideways so quickly that water spilled all over her lap.
"TAMAO!" Anna threw down her hair ribbon on the bench and stood up. "That water costed money!"
"I-I'm sorry, Anna-san!" Tamao sat their sobbing into her hands.
"Anna, just let it go! It was just water!" Yoh grabbed Anna by the shoulder forcefully as Anna raised her arm threateningly at the young girl, who looked back up at her with frightened eyes.
Suddenly, Tamao said something that Anna would never have had been able to consume. Ever.
"I hate you, Anna-san."