New chapter! And Yoh and the gang finally appear! (grand applause) There's even a bit of fluff. I think. Not sure.
Kitsurumenokitsune: Yes Mon Capitan! (salute)
Disclaimer: I drew a stick figure and named him Yoh. Does that count?
Note: This is after the first round. Yoh knows everybody and Len is on their side. They know about Over soul, just not that they need to go to Patch village, ok?
Note 2: For the names, I'm using the English ones, just because I'm used to the dub. Zeke/Hao's name will be Hao, because I feel like it.
A few days had past since Kari and Aiko partnered together as Shaman and Spirit. They were sitting on a wooden bench in the middle of the day outside of an Ice Cream Parlor. The shaman had a chocolate ice cream bar and was licking it contently while the warrior ghost floated next to her, deep in thought.
"I'm impressed that you mastered the double-edged, double ended sword so quickly." Aiko praised.
"Well, we have to find a weapon both of us could use. I've practiced using spears and such so it should be pretty easy, especially when we use Hyoui Gattai, Unity." she thought out loud, her spirit nodding in agreement.
They were silent for a while, Kari licking on her ice cream while she baked in the hot sun. Ever since she arrived in Tokyo, it seemed unusually hot, even the desert was starting to seem cooler than this.
Because of the heat, the shaman had spent almost all the rest of her money to buy the cheapest pair of jeans she could find and ripped them into shorts. The ends were sticking out a bit and there were strings hanging out because it was ripped, but the style looked cool and it served its purpose nicely.
"Thanks again!"
She glanced over her left shoulder and saw two boys exiting the parlor. One was about her height, an inch or two taller with rich brown hair that gleamed in the sunlight. He seemed pretty skinny and his slightly muscular chest showed through his open buttoned beige shirt and he had on long green pants with wooden sandals.
The boy next to him looked like a doll at first glance. He was short, really short. Only a few feet in height, the boy had blonde hair that when to the back of his neck, wearing the same thing as the taller boy next to him and carrying a foot thick encyclopedia.
The two passed, talking blissfully to each other when the short boy stopped. He turned and stared at her, and Aiko next to her. His eyes were wide and his mouth agape as he studied the female warrior, almost like he could see her.
"Hey Morty! Come on!"
The short boy turned as his friend called his name and ran forward, walking along next to him once again. Just before they disappeared out of sight, the little man shot one last look at the ghost before vanishing behind the trees.
"Kari-dono…" Aiko started.
"I know, but I don't think he's a threat. I doubt he even knows what a shaman is, much less is one. He probably thought you were a mirage, and I can't blame him. This heat is unbearable." she moaned and wiped the sweat off her brow.
Taking the last lick of her ice cream, Kari threw away the stick and grabbed her backpack, sliding it on her shoulder and walked down the road. The sun was closer to setting now, a ways above the horizon, but the sky was still turning a light orange.
Aiko had heard from local spirits, more local anyway, that there was a graveyard nearby called Monument Hill, a place where there were supposedly a lot of famous people buried there and had not gone yet to the other side. The warrior had become intrigued so both agreed to check it out.
The rusty iron gates were now insight when a thunderous crash was heard, startling them both. Kari narrowed her eyes as Aiko placed her right hand on her blade's handle, looking for where the noise came from.
To the left, across from the cemetery, a cloud of dust rose from the dry earth, hovering above the trees. The shaman opened her eyes wide as the dust floated down, settling beneath the trees as the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end.
She went to step forward, when Aiko's semi-transparent hand flew out to stop her.
"Stay here. I will see what's amiss," she ordered, before gliding off through the trees.
The wind blew and Kari pulled a few stray locks behind her ear, waiting for her ghost to come back. Strange noises of metal on metal and the crying of voices made her apprehensive, and she untied her two-sided sword Aiko named Subeta, from her pack, still wrapped in cloth to keep it hidden from prying eyes.
After a time, the ghost floated back, looking distressed and floated next to her master, looking glad at the sight of the swords.
"There are boys in the clearing beyond these woods, they are being attacked by another boy wearing a bright red outfit! I believe they are shamans!" the spirit explained quickly.
"Right! Let's go Aiko!"
Kari ran across the street, her backpack flapping in the rush of wind as she pulled the golden colored rope, the dark velvet cloth sliding off of the double blades. Snatching the cover in mid-air, she stuffed it carelessly into her backpack, ends of it sticking out.
Bursting from the last bush, the duo made it to there clearing where they gasped at the sight before them. On the ground were three boys; another one off to the side, while a boy in flaming red pants and sleeveless shirt hovered many yards in the air, a hundred feet away from them. Her eyes widened when she saw that the boy in the middle of the three was the brown-haired one she saw at the ice cream parlor, the other one off to the side was the short blonde.
"Ha! You call yourselves shamans!" the red man placed his hands on his hips and leaned back in laughter, "I, the Great Umihiko, think you should go back to kinder garden where you belong!"
The boy on the left, furthest from her struggled to his feet, holding out a spear, "I won't be made fun of by the likes of you!"
The boy challenging Umihiko dressed in a Chinese type fashion, he had a sleeves vest on that showed of a bit of his abs with baggy black pants and Chinese slippers. He was taking in huge breaths and seemed to be staggering, one eye squinted and glaring at Umihiko.
The shaman in crimson pants sneered and grinned, and floated back, getting ready to attack. His feet seemed to be on fire, an orange flame licking all the way up to his thighs. He leaned forward and fell towards the Chinese boy; one leg bent and in a triangle as the other one was straight as he posed to strike.
The next second, the four boys being attacked gasped as Umihiko fell back to the ground and sunk into the dirt, a small cloud of dust rising. A second later, a girl landed in front of them, a strange, large weapon sparkling a turquoise color in her hand.
She didn't even look at them as she slid a backpack off her shoulders and let it fall carelessly to the ground gripping tighter on her weapon. It looked like a five-foot long and about two-foot wide blade, the blade itself curving back and forth like there were waves in it. When the metal went down to the handle, it was extra long with an identical sword on the other side, the whole thing flaming a blue-green color.
"Hey, who do you think you are butting in, girl!" Umihiko growled, sitting up and leaning on his palms.
The girl didn't answer and instead, twirled her swords twice and held them behind her back in a position ready to strike. She smirked and brought out her left hand and waved to him, infuriating him even more.
Umihiko stood up and dashed toward the newcomer, jumping in the air with his leg outstretched. In a swift motion, she brought both hands onto her sword and slashed upward at him. He started to fall back slowly, a huge cut in his shirt when she twirled on her heels and made a circle, coming back and slicing down at him, some drops of blood flying.
The flaming red shaman landed on the ground and groaned, his shirt ripped and he was covered in dirt, panting heavily. His flaming orange boots flickered and the fire was snuffed out, as he moaned and rolled over onto his side.
"Bitch." he muttered as he stumbled to his feet, running away and escaping in the cover of the trees.
Only when she couldn't hear his footsteps anymore did the girl relax, her giant double-sided swords stopped their glowing and turned into two katana blades, connected by their handles. Wiping the sweat off her brow, she turned to the boys behind her, already on their feet, seemingly recovered from their own battle with Umihiko.
"I'm glad to see you're not hurt." she said in a melodious voice.
The three battle-worn ones simply stared as the shorter boy ran forward from the sidelines. His eyes were large from distress, carrying his heavy dictionary in one hand while reaching out to his friends with the other.
"Yoh! Len! Trey!" the boy called, stopping right next to them.
"Don't worry, Morty. We're all ok, thanks to…" the brown-haired boy from before, appearing to be the leader said as he turned to the stranger.
"My name is Kari. It's a pleasure to meet you." Kari bowed.
The Chinese shaman snorted and turned away, his arm crossed and didn't meet her gaze. The brown-haired one smiled a wide grin as the short one, Morty, gapped at her, the last shaman, having spiky blue hair and a tan winter coat with navy shorts smiled.
"My name is Yoh, and this is Amidamaru." the leader said as he looked over his shoulder, a white-haired samurai appearing next to him, "And that little guy is Morty."
The little blonde fellow snapped out of his trance and smiled, "Nice you meet you. Hey, you're that girl from the Ice Cream Shoppe."
"Yeah, I thought you looked familiar." Yoh pointed out.
She smiled as the blue-haired one stepped forward and took her hand in a very lively handshake, "My name is HoroHoro but everybody calls me Trey. Oh, and this is Kori."
A little girl, smaller than Morty crawled up on his shoulder, smiling sheepishly while fingering her tan dress with markings on it, her red headband slipping over her eyes, her brown hair ruffling up a bit.
Kari smiled and looked expectantly at the Chinese boy who turned away, but he didn't turn around, just snorted as his Chinese warlord appeared and tried to talk to him.
"That's Len. Don't mind him, he's a little touchy." whispered Yoh.
"Touchy!" shouted Len, turning to face the rest of them, his English accent at it's fullest, "I'm not touchy! I'm just wondering why A GIRL thought she needed to come to my rescue!"
Kari looked a little taken aback as Len's friends turned to him; HoroHoro looked mad and Yoh and Morty looked surprised; Kori hiding in her shaman's coat while Amidamaru gripped on one of his blade handles, Len's own ghost, Bason, arms held up trying to calm him.
"Well, I'm sorry then." they all looked up at her, "I didn't know that you 'Didn't want help from a girl.' I just saw some shamans in trouble and decided to help. If you want I can go get Umihiko to come and give you a rematch?" she said in a playful tone.
"No, that's ok!" Yoh said quickly, bringing his hands up in defense.
Morty motioned for the new girl to come closer with his hand, then whispered in her ear with his hand blocking the sounds, "He thinks it's a dishonor to be saved or beaten by a girl."
"I heard that!"
The rest of them smiled as Len threw a temper tantrum and pranced around yelling that, he didn't "need to be saved by a girl" and that he was "strong enough to take care of himself" without Yoh and the rest of his friends as well as Kari.
"Kari-dono," Aiko appeared behind her mistress, making her look over, "It is getting late, we should find a place to rest for the night."
"Yeah."
Amidamaru looked up, staring at this new ghost with interest. Indeed, she was beautiful, but she had an aura around her that she was not to be taken lightly. Her slightly tanned skin and physically fit; somewhat muscular body seemed always tense and ready to strike.
Kari looked over and saw the samurai's stare immediately saying, "Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot to introduce my own guardian ghost. This is Aiko."
The warrior nodded at the swordsman, the other ghost nodding back. "Pleasure."
"So, you don't have a place to stay?" Yoh spoke up, making everyone look at him.
"Not officially, but you would be surprised how comfortable a park bench can be when you're tired." she smiled.
Mortimer's face turned from one of happiness to one of slight pity. When he looked closer, Kari seemed weary and dirty, probably not having a decent bath in days, she also seemed a little thin, her ribs starting to peek through her skin and skin-tight shirt.
"Well, you can stay at my house."
She stared wide-eyed at Yoh and Len nearly burst his jugular vein. Trey looked pretty pleased, as did Morty. Amidamaru smiled and glanced at Aiko for a quick second, while she tried to ignore his gaze.
"No, really, you don't have to-"
"What the hell are you thinking? She can't stay with us!"
"No really I insist."
"I can't impose-"
"You're not imposing."
"You're letting her stay!"
"I don't really think-"
"You're staying and that's final."
Kari blinked stupidly with her mouth open slightly; her hands were raised in defense but were drooping as she lost the argument. Len was boiling over with steam shooting out of his ears and everyone was else seemed delighted.
The female shaman fell onto her knees and looked up at Yoh, staring at him as he smiled back at her kindly. Blinking one more time she shook her head and turned to him.
"You are really good at winning arguments," she said stupidly.
"Really? Then how come I don't win any?"
The brown-haired shaman, HoroHoro and Morty chuckled to themselves and Len pouted and stomped off. Kari smiled as she scooped up her backpack and placed the straps on her shoulders, picking up Subeta by the handle.
"So, let's get going I'm starving!" Yoh announced, stretching his arm to the sky.
He lead as the rest of the boys followed him, Kari still not moving from her spot, sitting in the dirt. Yoh looked over his shoulder and saw her there, sitting on her knees in the dirt, head bowed and expression unreadable. He waved to his friends to keep walking and stepped back to her, his wooden sandals clicking against his heels.
"Hey! Aren't you coming?"
She looked up into his dark chocolate eyes and blushed, looking away and fingered in the dirt. Her index finger circled around and around leaving a donut shape in the dry earth as he just stood there, watching her with unblinking eyes. Suddenly, a growl interrupted their silence as Kari blushed again, one hand curling around her stomach.
"Hungry?" Yoh asked.
"Yeah…"
"Well, come on! We're gonna have a big feast tonight. Come on!"
He held out his hand and she looked at it, staring before she grasped it. He hoisted her up in one fluid motion, her body almost falling into his chest. Kari quickly recovered and stepped back, taking her hand from Yoh's grip, brushing the dirt off her butt.
The male shaman smiled and adjusted his orange headphones on his head before turning and walking down to the path about a hundred yards ahead, where the others were waiting patiently.
"Yoh…"
He stopped and glanced back.
"Thanks."
"No prob!" Now, let's get going, I'm hungry!"
Kari felt a sweat drop appear on the back of her head as she slowly followed Yoh to the sidewalk and down the road. Aiko materialized next to her; the two were drifting apart from the group, moving slowly so the could talk privately.
"He's an odd one, Yoh." Aiko observed.
"Yeah, but I think he's trustworthy. I don't think he could hurt a fly." the shaman replied.
"More likely, the fly would hurt him."
Kari couldn't help but giggle as she watched the four boys in front of her joke, argue, and just be boys as they trekked along to Yoh's house.
Weird ending, I know. I'm bad at endings. Either way, Please review!