Disclaimer: I don't own Shaman King so don't sue me since I wrote this fic that takes place in the future. A long, long time after Yoh becomes Shaman King and leaves finally leaves this world.
Chapter 3 – Goodbye
Anna looked down at the food before her, but she couldn't see it. Everything for her had taken on a different shape, nothing was as it was before and not even the food tasted the same. She raised the chopsticks to her mouth, taking a bite, but she couldn't taste it. The flavor was foreign though anyone else would say that it was delicious, but for her. It wasn't his terrible cooking. Her mind was elsewhere. It was back on that day, the day she had said goodbye as she sat there. There on the cold, hard seat of the church that seemed too crowded.
Her cold, dull gaze centered on the proceedings at the front as the funeral carried on. One by one, person after person came to the front to say a few words about their friend, Asakura Yoh. She never moved to go to the front and as the funeral grew to an end all eyes fell on her waiting. Even at that time, she was lost in her own thoughts as her son sat next to her. Since the moment the news had been given to her that he was dead, her mind refused to exist in the present and returned to the past. Her mind continued to drift even at that moment as they sat in the row of the church, seeming on a journey of it's own through the past, to a time, a time when he was still there.
"Anna!" Anna sat up and looked toward the door as an 18-year-old Yoh ran into the room.
"Hm?" He ran over to her and grabbed her arm, pulling her up onto her feet. "Yoh!" She glared at him as he begun to drag her toward the front door.
"Come with me." He explained as he slipped her shoes on for her first and then his own. He grabbed her hand and ran out the door. "I have something to show you." He called over his shoulder as he led the way. He didn't slow down his pace for her as he hurried. She was left holding on tight to his hand so that she could keep up with his pace.
It was dark already outside and the stars had long ago come out. They finally reached a steep road and hurried toward the top. She knew where they were heading, it was the cemetery, the cemetery that Amidamaru's gravestone sat and it was Yoh's favorite spot to go stargazing. She glared daggers into his back in hopes that he hadn't brought her there tonight just to look at the stars. He came to a stop beside the tree and quickly sat down, pulling her down with him. They sat there in silence as they caught their breath. The only sound was their ragged breathing. When she finally was able to breath normally, she turned to look at him. He was still breathing hard and when he noticed that she was looking at him. He smiled.
"Why am I here Yoh?" She wasn't meaning for it to come out sounding quite so harsh, but for some unknown reason a blush crept into Yoh's cheeks.
"A-ah!" He quickly looked away and took a couple of more breaths before turning back to look at her. "Here." He reached around and placed his hand onto her shoulder, pulling her head close to his chest. She tried to push away from him to ask what the hell he was doing when his hand came to rest against the side of her head, his fingers lightly brushing against her ear. "Can you hear?" He smiled down at her though she couldn't see his smile. At first she didn't understand what he was talking about and then she heard it. A faint sound that grew louder as she quietly listened. The pounding in her ear was his heartbeat, the rhythm strong. She had heard it a few times before and was becoming familiar.
On the night before Yoh had left to go to American for the second round of the Shaman Fight. She had laid next to him on the same futon and though he had slept. She could hear it clearly and loudly. It was the same thing that she was listening to now. She allowed herself to listen for a moment longer and than pushed away, setting some distance between herself and him. He continued to smile at her as she looked away. He was always acting more open and freely with her as the years passed. It didn't bother him if they were around others or were alone. The odd stares that he received from others for doing things like holding her hand were enough to make her want to kill them for looking at Yoh as if he didn't know what he was doing. His fear toward her over the years was turning into something else and she found herself not pushing him away all the time. In that next moment, she didn't know what had happened.
"Anna?" She turned to look at him with her cold eyes. He was kneeled down beside her now and in his clasped hands was an object. It was like a scene that she had seen in one of her soap operas on TV and she was too surprised to even begin to think that there could be a possibility that she was dreaming. "Anna." He grinned, his eyes on her, as he lifted one of his hands off from the object to show a little black velvet box. It was the one used to hold most jewelry in, mainly rings.
"Yoh.." He chuckled softly as he knew that she knew what was going to happen next.
"Will you marry me?" He opened the box to reveal a single band inside of the box with a diamond placed in its center. She stared at the ring for a couple of moments as he waited for the answer. When no answer came, he began to sweat. "Anna?" She leaned in closer and inspected the diamond.
"Is it real?" Yoh almost feel over.
"Of course!" He took the ring of the box as he quickly grabbed her left hand and slid the ring onto her ring finger.
"I haven't said yes." He sighed.
"Its real, trust me. And you already said yes."
"When'd I say yes?" She continued to inspect the ring on her finger, appraising the value of the diamond and looking for faults in it.
"I could tell by the look in your eyes." She looked up from the ring to glare at him, but he was laughing.
"Yes." He stopped laughing.
"E-eh?" She looked off to the side as if there was something of interest over there.
"I said yes, I'd marry you." His jaw dropped in surprise. He hadn't expected that, that she would admit to wanting to marry him. She turned to look at him to see his jaw gapping. Her eyes squinted and her fist began to rise. He noticed the fist rising into the air and recovered, closing his mouth.
"Ah." He chuckled. "School is coming to an end so I figured we'd set a date soon."
"A date?" She dropped the fist.
"I'd say…" He paused as he scratched his cheek with his finger as he thought. "In a month or two from now."
"A month or two! That's so soon Yoh. Weddings take time to plan."
"But we can do it! We can do it..", he took her ringed hand into his, "together." She stared into his dark eyes and could clearly read the excitement of the whole idea there. She slowly nodded.
"Alright." He jumped up and started to dance around stupid and silly like. "Yoh?" He paused in the middle of shaking his booty to look at her. "Your not going to dance like that at the wedding, are you?"
"Eh?" And it all came to an end. She could see the coffin sitting at the front of the church.
Hao slowly stood up and offered his arm to his mother. She released a pent up sigh and finally stood, taking his arm. He led her up to the front and turned to look at everyone that was gathered in the church rows. Off to the side stood Jeanne and Marco, former members of the X-Laws, as they waited.
Hao's mind reeled as he tried to find the words to express his feelings for his father, of all the good and bad times that they had together, but no mere words could explain how he was feeling or the bond that he shared with his father. Asakura Yoh had been the most important person to him. He was a daddy's boy. His father had saved him from endless days of hard training that his mother had wanted to put him through merely for the sake that he was a Shaman.
He had known that he would never have the chance that his father had of competing in the Shaman Fight and becoming Shaman King. He had been left to fight against members of his family and friends all for the cause of learning what it was like to be a Shaman. His father shared many stories of his own past and of the history of the man that he had named his son after. Countless stories of the original Asakura Hao had been told to him to the point that those stories had become his favorite bedtime stories or just stories to pass the time with. His mother had always given him death glares when he would ask for her to tell him something about his father's twin and others had refused to talk about the twin that caused so much trouble and pain for them, but Yoh had always been up to telling stories and the various battles that he had with his older brother. He knew that he would no longer be able to hear stories like that anymore. His father was the only one that would ever tell him anything and everything. He now was laid to rest and had gone to join his twin, his other half.
Hao tried to speak, but his voice cracked as a single tear fell down his cheek. There was no shame in crying. Yoh had told him that as they cried together when Anna would scold them for doing something wrong or that she didn't approve of.
Anna finally looked up from her musing of the past and stared out at everyone that frequented the rows of seats. Friends and family were gathered there, but she searched the faces looking for one in particular that she knew she wouldn't find. It was the face of the one that meant so much to her, but he was no longer there. There were no words that she wanted to share with everyone. They already knew. When it came to Yoh and his family and friends. No words were needed because no words could truly explain Asakura Yoh. His individual personality was like nothing else that any of them had ever known and he had played an important role in each one of their lives, but not more than the role he had played in her life. He was her protector though it never appeared that she would ever need one, but everyone didn't know the past that the two shared together. The various things that they had gone through together and what it took for them to establish a place for themselves, for a place that they could call home and raise a family.
She had never been a part of his original dream of one day becoming Shaman King and living an easy life while listening to good music. Girls had seemed nonexistent to him when his grandfather had first told him about the Shaman King. He had always known that his place wasn't among the Asakura clan and that he would not continue in his family's footsteps. Even with all the constant training that he had done with his grandfather had never seemed to be enough to make him stronger, to make him push hard enough to become more powerful so that he could become Shaman King. Everything had changed when the Itako first appeared, when Anna had appeared. His life took on a whole new different direction and yet it continued down its steady course of becoming Shaman King, but he was no responsible for someone. Someone that he became accustomed to having around to tell him what to do and at times though he didn't find it much to his liking. She was always there and he drew strength off from that alone. With that strength he was able to become Shaman King, to survive a marriage with her and to even be there to watch as their son came into the world, but it all came to an end.
She placed a steady hand on her son's arm and another tear landed on her hand this time, but it wasn't her own. She didn't say anything as Hao looked at his mother as he continued to cry. Words were never needed within their family because the bond that existed in their kin was an open-minded understanding and strict love for one another. Both heavily influenced by a demanding mother and a lazy father. She dropped her hand and made her way back to her seat in the isle.
If anyone saw the slight trembling of her knees as she walked, no one said anything as she calmly sat down before her legs had a chance to give out from under her. The young man followed his mother back to their seats, but he continued to cry. Not just for himself, but for his mother. He knew that inside she really was crying.
The funeral finally grew to an end and everyone went to stand around outside. They were talking in hushed tones and whispered amongst themselves. The day had truly been a sad event for all of them as they had finally said their farewells. There was a moment for all of them to take a quick break from the days long and sad events. The body wouldn't be taken to the gravesite for another hour as things continued to unfold accordingly to the days proceedings.
The moment she reached the door and walked outside, a hushed atmosphere descended upon all those that gathered there. All eyes once again feel on her as she walked out of the church doors. Chocolove was the first one for her to reach, but she didn't seem to notice who it was as he emotionless eyes center on just getting out of there. He didn't try to crack any lame jokes, but bowed his head instead to pay his respects for her loss. As she passed by everyone, they all caught on and bowed their heads. No words were need to be said to the Itako that they feared yet greatly respected and what had to be said had been said on the day that she had lost something precious to her, precious to them all, a loved one, a friend.
Anna slowly stood, trying once again to leave the events of that day behind her. "It's getting late and I have something to do." She left the room and went to the front door. Hao didn't need to ask her where she was going because he already knew. Every since the day that they had laid his father's body into the ground and put up the tomb on the holy soil. His mother had gone to visit him everyday and yet he couldn't find the courage to visit his father since the day of his funeral because he would have to tell him. He would have to tell his father about the visitor that had come to see him that day.