Disclaimer: me no own Shaman King, and personally me don't want to! Lol

Half Time Anna

It'd been three days since Manta had seen Yoh. As he walked to school that morning, he saw a dark figure sitting on a park bench. The dark figure looked up at him with surprise. It was Yoh.

"Yoh! What are you doing here? You've skipped three days of school!" Manta cried as he dropped all the books he was carrying. Since he had lost his backpack to some bullies yesterday who thought he was some rich kid, he was now forced to carry his supplies for school.

"Anna kicked me out of the house," Yoh said as he stood up to help Manta pick up his books. He seemed not to be bothered by the fact he was currently homeless.

"You should've told me I would've let you stay with me," Manta said as Yoh handed him his books. "Oh crap I'm going to be late," Manta cried as he sped off, forgetting to preach to Yoh about the importance of education.

Manta was walking home from school later that day in a tizzy of the day's events. He stopped at the same bench where Yoh was this morning to find him still their.

"Please tell me you've eaten…" Manta said as he sat down next to Yoh and placed his books between them. Yoh looked up and gave a pleased smile as Manta pulled some change out of pocket. "I'm going to the vending machine and getting you some water and chips."

Just as he had promised, Manta came back with some bottled water and a small bag of pretzels. Yoh ate the food and drank the water greedily as Manta sighed in empathy. "You want to come home with me?" Manta asked as he glanced at the licked clean bottle and bag that once contained food.

"Why not?" Yoh said as he jumped up. He grabbed half of Manta's stack of books and the two walked to Manta's apartment in the downtown. It was a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom apartment that overlooked the train station.

"Nice place you got here," Yoh said as he threw himself on the couch and turned on the small television. Manta put his books in his room and hurried around watering plants, checking phone calls, and receiving his mail. Yoh just lied down on the couch starring blankly at the TV screen. Finally Manta sat down in a chair and took a sigh of relief.

"Why did Anna kick you out exactly?" Manta asked as he flipped through a telephone book for a pizza shop number. Yoh turned around to face Manta. The two made brief eye contact, and then Manta turned away and picked up the phone. "Is it okay if I get a medium pepperoni?" Manta said as he dialed the phone number.

"Anything's fine," Yoh said as he turned around and continued to watch the television. Manta made the order then put down the phone and glanced over at Yoh.

"You're not going to answer me are you?" Manta said as he sat down next to Yoh on the couch. Yoh picked up the remote and turned off the television and turned to face Manta.

meanwhile

Anna was meditating on the porch when she heard a knock on the door that broke her concentration. She opened her front door to find Horo.

"I thought you weren't coming till 7?" Anna asked as she quickly shut the door and leaned against it.

"I got bored, so I thought I'd come early," Horo said as he took off his shoes and put on slippers. "Hope you aren't mad."

"No, I'll be outside meditating, make yourself useful and make dinner," Anna said as she walked back out to the porch. Horo went into the kitchen and seemed at ease for he knew where everything was. He had obviously been to the house many times before.