I wake up on my bed. It seems to be the softest it's ever been, even up against my sore body. The 7:00 buzzer penetrates the air like a knife, but I, with my head buried in the pillow, can't find the energy to shut it off. The wound in my side still aches.

Wound in my side? My mind dense, I remember the events of last night, and the fight with Elizabeth. It seems impossible that we won, but yet all it taught us was that there were people out there more powerful who wanted us dead. Or was that really their motive after all? Confusion clouds the already dense haze of a headache in my head.

...not helped by that annoying buzzer! Anger momemtarily overcoming my lethargy, I lunge out and press in the button, ending the noise. I rest my chest on the headboard of the bed, sighing with fatigue. My eyes half-open, and move around to see Lu Han, moaning and sweating in my bed. And then I remember his injuries. Elizabeth's flurry of blows, him falling to the ground bleeding from pretty much everywhere, my rage...

"Lu Han!" I cry, throwing the sheets off of his bed. He's still in the uniform he wore out to battle, now barely holding together. The only liquid drenching his bed is sweat, so he's not hurt, but I know that having that many open wounds isn't good for you. How stupid was I to think that this could wait until morning?

I rack my brains for what I can do, a distaste for going to Darui still at the forefront of my mind. The only person who knows we went out there last night is Janna, and even if we could do anything she's still recovering from that augury... oh, and Kun knows too I suppose, but I doubt he'd be able to do anything useful...

My mind goes back to Janna, and a memory suddenly pops into my mind... the evening where I had met some of Janna's girl friends. The estrogen levels in that room were threatening to neuter Lu Han and I, but we persevered and it was generally a good time. But my memory belatedly focuses on one girl, whom had said during one of the less silly conversations that her main ability was healing...

Wasting no time, and still wearing the sweat-drenched uniform from last night, I dash out of the door. My memory, spurred on by need, supplies a name: Kaname. It's only a first name, but it'll have to do, and fortunately our doors have first initials on them. The girls' rooms are in the same location as the boys', only on the opposite side of the hall. I found that odd when I first arrived, but I suppose that keeping the teenagers apart was either not important to them or taken as a lost cause...

Argh! I've got to focus!

I start reading the name plates, the kanji characters inscribed in the metal, across the hall. J. Takami/R. Kan'ah... S. Xing/J. Starfire... M. Wei/O. Inoue... K. Hong/Vacant... where is she?

Finally, I reach the door which promisingly reads "K. Yumitsu/C. Wu." Kaname Yumitsu... that sounds about right. I bring my fist up to the metal and knock three times. "Kaname! Are you in there? It's urgent!"

After ten tense seconds, the door opened slowly and cautiously. Kaname has light pink hair, going down to her shoulders, and is pretty cute now that I think about it... a couple years older than me. Obviously, they weren't quite ready yet, because Kaname is dressed in her sleepwear... which is apparently a pair of pajama pants the same shade as her hair and a bra. Oh my.

Must... get mind... back on track... before... killed...

"Lu Han," I blurt. "Er, what I mean is that Lu Han's hurt. It's a long story. Bad. I mean, he's hurt bad and he could really use your healing right now. Yeah. Just don't kill me-- I mean, tell anybody."

Kaname looks at me with a mixture of confusion, anger, and concern. Finally, she delivers her verdict. "Give me ten more minutes, to get changed and ready. After that, I'll see what I can do, but you'd better tell me what went on afterwards. Oh, and for future reference, my face is about a half metre higher." With that hanging in the air, she shuts the door and leaves me standing out in the hallway, unsure whether it would be appropriate to smack my head against the recently closed door.

Ten minutes later, I'm still waiting, sitting up against the wall while the digits on my clock leisurely inch upwards. Stupid girls. Lu Han's in mortal peril and she can't risk being embarassed? Though admittedly, I probably didn't make the greatest case.

The door finally opens, and a significantly more clothed Kaname walks out, scarcely paying attention to me as she walks down the hallway. I scramble up, and jog alongside her. Bitterly, I note that she seems to have put on makeup while I waited.

And then we both almost walk into the broad shoulders of Darui. With a poorly restrained smirk, he asks us "Where would you two be headed off to this early in the morning?" The look in his eyes is enough to instill panic in me.

Crap. He knows.

Shaman King 2498
Chapter 7:The Unseen Enemy
A fanfiction by Amor

Disclaimer:Shaman King is owned by Hiroyuki Takei and others. I am using its world and concept without permission. All characters, however, and a good bit of the setting, are original. This chapter contains profanity and graphic violence. Future chapters may contain sexual overtones and homosexual relationships.

An unsettling atmosphere descends over myself, Darui and Kaname as we march to Lu Han's room. He knows what's going on, and I know that he knows, and he probably knows that I know that he knows... and that's as far as we'll go. And she doesn't know any of this, and is getting irritated about it.

I open the door to our room, and Lu Han is still laying on the bed, the sheets where I left them. His wounds are all plainly visible, his skin marked y slim crimson ribbons. Kaname gasps as she sees him, but Darui does not seem surprised. "I believe that now would be the best time to put your talents to good use, Miss Yumitsu."

"Er... right," Kaname says, before rushing to Lu Han's side. Her spirit, a maiden in a spectral white gown, floats beside her, ready to lend help. Speaking of ghosts, Torrus is at the head of his shaman's bed, giving advice to the novice healer. I don't really know where Rukh is.

Darui turns to me, and I know this is going to be serious. "I know what happened last night. We have cameras there, after all. And our ghost gaurds are a lot more numerous and more digilent then you've been lead to believe... do you think that Soun would let them get away with any slacking off?"

"No," I admit. In hindsight, it wasn't such a great plan.

"And yet I let you go through with it. And I'm not going to punish you, or anyone else... well, Mr. Chang has had enough punishment already."

Relief flickers through me, and then confusion. "Thanks, but if I may ask... why?"

"Because," the tribesman says in a low voice, "We have actually never met one of these Redeemers before. As far as I can tell, they've either formed recently or have been lying low. In any case, watching one in battle provided us with some good information, as well as some hints towards their agenda. Besides, we can ID two of them, and we've forwarded that to the Europian Union... though whether they'll act on our information is anyone's guess." So, what was I just used for some sort of research? No consideration for my well being? No, I shouldn't begrudge him for not interfering.

"So, why did she call out me and Lu Han?"

"Well, sometimes before the Shaman Fight, competitors try to 'eliminate' their rivals before the tournament even begins," he explains. "It's not against the rules, though peirls always exist in unorganized brawls. This has been happening less during this tournament, though, as most of the prospective shamans are concentrated in places like this one. But machismo still lets events like last nights' occur."

A pearly white sheen has overtaken Lu Han's body, and I can feel the mana rolling off of Kaname's hands as Lu Han's wounds start to close. I look at Darui caluclatingly. His posture doesn't betray any emotion. "Do you think she had any other motives? I didn't quite understand what she was saying most of the time, but..." I trail off.

"Yes," Darui answers simply. "Unfortunately, my theories are classified, so I'm not allowed to share them with you."

That just about ends the conversations. An exhausted-looking Kaname brings herself to her feet. Most of Lu Han's wounds have been replaced with relatively smooth flesh. "That's about all I can do for now," she admits.

"It's all right," says Darui, moving to let Kaname exit, which she does quickly. On the way out, he says "But tomorrow, if you're feeling better, Natsume here as a wound in his side which I think you should look at."

That's right... I'm injured from last night's attack as well. In my panic, I'd forgotten about it, but Darui (who must have either assumed it from my behavior or watched me acquire it on the cameras) didn't. With no further comment, he leaves, ending the whole affair.

Lu Han has regained full conciousness. "That was unpleasent," he says frankly.

I laugh at his directness, and slap him on the back. "Well, at least that little problem has left us. For now."

A couple days pass. Lu Han begins to recover, and Kaname heals up the wound in my side, though it's still sore. Things seem to return to normal around here. Well, as normal as they can be. Lu Han, Janna and myself hang out a lot, when I'm not training. To my surprise, Tao Kun volunteered to be my sparring partner, just a couple days ago.

"Why me?" I asked

Kun chose not to answer me right away, instead turning his back to me and staring off into the distance. "Well... our styles complement each other well, I suppose. Besides, you were the first person ever to hand me a loss."

"Really?" This surprises me, I know there are powerful shamans in this institute, but Tao Kun never struck me as one of them. If anything, he was sort of a benchmark, someone with the same amount of power and skill as me, whom I could compare myself to. But then again, he did fight well during our battle. It's always possible. The cynical part of my brain says that he probably just got lucky draws.

"Yes," he said simply. I walked over to him. He was staring up into the bright lights that replicate the sun and sky in these park-like environs.

"I suppose that could work," I said. "I'll think about it." He almost smiles, before vanishing seemingly into midair.

I've tried sparring against Janna and Lu Han before, but both of them fight very differently than I do. Lu Han mostly dodges, until he has a good opening and can pull off a move like his Mercurial Arrow. Janna likes to fight at a long range, whilst aside from throwing my weapon I can only harm someone in close combat. But Kun and I have similar goals in combat, though his attacks tend to be more varied.

Rukh entered the conversation. "I don't think you should train by fighting him, Natsume. Sorry."

"Why not?" I asked. I wondered if he didn't like Kun for some reason.

"Learning how to fight is about discipline. You still haven't learned the basics of how to fight," he lectured. "If you fight this Kun too many times, you'll get complacent, and you'll be planning against every opponent as if they were him."

"That's bullshit!" I proclaimed. I was strangely emotional now that I looked back on it. "You know that just drilling won't prepare me for a living opponent."

Anger flushed to his face, transparent cheeks taking on a red colour. "And when did you become the expert on fighting, boy? I'm your trainer!"

"Well, I'm still alive, see, and that means I've done better at combat than you, by default," I remarked. You know, looking back, that was kind of a smart-ass thing to say, but boy was I mad.

His spectral mass inflated in anger. I stepped back, a bit afraid for what he was going to do... and then he stopped and returned to his usual form, the rage seeming to leak out like air from his ballooned form. Finally, he sighed, and turned to me.

"See, ninjustu is based on fooling your enemies. He wouldn't want to show you all his tricks, so either he's planning to put in a sub-par effort, or he has an ulterior motive."

He had a point, and his calm was infecting my own rage. "Well, why didn't you just say that before?" I argued. I still can't believe that Kun had malicious intent.

"To tell you the truth, I hadn't thought of it." He cracked a smile. This should have infuriated me, but instead it just made me laugh alongside him.

After that, we practiced some more, but it had been the longest continuous conversation that the two of us have had in a while.

So now I'm on break for practice, sitting in the cafeteria, eating my lunch. I'm sipping a high-energy sports drink, and the rest of my food has already vanished. I think I'm going to have a growth spurt soon, I've been eating more than usual for the past couple of weeks. Or maybe it's just the frequent practice and drills I've been doing. Either way, the shaman thing has been good for me in a health sense. I wasn't really out of shape before, but I've certainly lost some fat and replaced it with muscle recently.

Odd, Lu Han and Janna haven't shown up yet. Shi sits across from me, picking at her food, but we don't talk. I really don't know what to think of her, and the two of us have never been terribly close.

Speak of the devil. The two of them rush up, looking worried. In his hand, Lu Han holds a folded piece of paper, which he tosses at me with great urgency. Catching his breath, he says "Natsume... I thought you should know..."

I open it hesitantly. It's the fight schedule for tomorrow. The second fight is the one that catches my attention the most. NATSUME TAKENOUCHI
VS.
YUKITO ASAKURA

Shit.

That word seems to get said a lot in Lu Han's and my room, as the usual three of us deal with the recent news. "Shit," Janna mutters again. She has the most "shit"s, though I'm running a close second.

It's understandable: I am, after all, dealing with Yukito Asakura. Not only is he the highest-ranked student, knowing the oversoul technique, but his opponents tend to have their fighting careers cancelled after that.

"Now, let's not panic here," says Lu Han. I can tell he's trying to be the moderate voice, but he really doesn't have a lot of material to go on now. "If Darui really thought you were at risk, he wouldn't have booked the mathch."

"He's fucking Darui, not the Great Spirit," Janna mutters.

There has to be some way I can get out of this. "Is there a forfeit or anything I can do?"

"No such thing," Lu han informs me with a sigh of hopelessness. "That's the whole point of training matches... that's what it's supposed to be, anyways. Most of the time, there's such a gap in skill that it ends up being one guy just pounding on the other."

"But maybe if we ask Darui..."

"I think we've used up the last of our good graces with him, after the incident with that girl," Lu Han said kindly but with a firm undertone. He winces, the memory seeming to bring up the pain of his buried injuries.

Janna laughs, and lays back on the bed. It strikes me that all she needs is a smoldering cigarrette dangling from her lips to complete the image--she's been unusually crass today. "Has he ever done anything for us, really? Tossed us into the deep end, made us fight each other, take us away from our normal lives. Not that I'm complaining about missing my shitty home, but we could die in the shaman fight, and our last year or whatever before that is spent cooped up down here fighting each other for no reason? This whole government organization thing is so delayed, if you ask me."

No one responds. I'm just trying to take in the full magnitude of what she just said. After a moment of silence, the blonde girl continues on. "You know, why don't we just leave? You guys got out to fight that Elizabeth girl well enough, security isn't exactly tight. We could just go off wherever... home, or maybe someplace else... and do whatever we wanted to. We wouldn't even have to participate in this tournament."

Freedom. The idea is appealing. Even when I was living with my family, in Tokyo (that seems like a lifetime away now), I had always looked forward to independance, being able to do what I want, at my own pace. Now, it seems like freedom might finally be in my grasp. Sharing it with who are probably my two closest friends at the moment isn't a bad deal, either.

Rukh is the first to interject. "Look, that's a nice idea, but it'll never work. This place's security is like a mosquito net--it has holes, but it still does its job. Trust me, I tried to get out."

"But you're a spirit," I argue. "Soun can't summon us back."

"How about the entire Chinakan military?" Lu Han adds wryly. "They might not use it on a couple of punk kids like us, but I'm pretty sure it would be less freedom and more running for our lives."

Slowly, I nod, followed by Janna. So just when it looked like I could get out of it, my out was snatched away. "Still," Janna says defiantly. "I'm not giving up. I don't want to spend the rest of my lives as a freak to fight freaks."

The conversation moves from that to something trivial for a while. I find it hard to think about normal concerns at a time like this. Eventually, by necessity, the topic turns back to my upcoming fight with Yukito, and ways to avoid my utter destruction.

"Do you think Yukito would leave me alone if I surrender immediately?" I ask.

At this Rukh almost laughs out loud. "So, you're going to hand your balls over to him on a silver platter, begging for forgiveness? What, because he beat up a little girl? I've got to say, boy, you've outdone yourself this time."

"No, Natsume doesn't have a bad idea," Lu Han says. "I mean, Yukito really only hurts the people that get in his way, and you can't fall under that category--"

"If you're a complete and utter pussy." Rukh interjects. I begin to grow seriously irritated. How come he's being so stubborn about this? Can't he see that my life's in danger? And where did he learn swears like that, anyways? "Why don't you just fight the guy, and if you lose you face the consequences?"

"I can't beat Yukito."

"Have you ever tried?" That question permeates the air for a moment. I hardly expected Rukh to be the you-can-do-it type, but that's basically his message. Of course, from everything I've seen and heard, Yukito's skills far surpass my own. But maybe if I train, and strategize, and prepare obsessively I can survive, or maybe even win. But more likely, I think cynically, I'll probably just end up relying on luck.

Torrus, silent for the entire conversation, says plainly "Sometimes, the safest path is into the mouth of the lion."

"You realize that what you just said makes no sense whatsoever, right," says Janna snarkily.

Torrus merely smirks, and shuts his eyes.

"No." I stand up, surprising my two friends. "He's right. I can't run. I'll have to try, somehow, to survive that fight with Yukito."

The only question is how.

It's strange, the kinship I've developed with this spot next to a small hill. I've done the vast majority of my training here, and even when I'm not going through the Zulu drills I like to sit here and mull over my thoughts. The problem with this place is that there isn't enough to do. Either you train or you think about how meaningless the training is. Of course, you can play games and talk and stuff like normal teenagers would, but it doesn't help to relieve the ennui much.

Right now, the thought of Yukito weighs heavy on my mind, so I'm training. I remember when my hands were smooth and fatty, now they're muscled and callous. At least this whole thing has been good for my fitness, but nothing comes without cost: I can't seem to remember basic facts from school.

Augh. Listen to me complain. I should enjoy life, while I can still move. I thrust

"DODGE LEFT!"

Rukh seems to be screaming into my ear, so I just follow his commands and skip sideways. Something blurs past me, impacting into the ground I was just standing on. Artificial dirt flies up in a cloud, and I glance around frantically. I'm not integrated, so I'm essentially helpless against any skilled enemy, but there don't seem to be any attacks after the first.

"On the hill!" I glance up and see a flash of brown hair, and then nothing. Whoever attacked me is fleeing.

Before giving chase, I quickly integrate. The feelings of two souls in one rush into my body, but I'm too concerned with my assailant to care. However, as I look down, I can see what almost hit me: a smooth silver bullet.

I run around the hill, spear and shield held out at arm's length. It's uncomfortable, but a good battle position. I dash to where my assailant should be, but just catch a sight of hazel hair before it disappears into the trees. With a curse, I leap over there, hoping that any problem the underbrush should give me will be the same to him.

"STOP OR YOU DIE!" a deep voice rings out. I try to hit a full stop, but stumble a bit and trip over a tree root. As I hit the ground, I hear a bit of a smirk.

I glance up to see my attacker emerge through the trees. The emotionless eyes are what catch my attention first. Yukito.

"What the hell?" I panted. "You not content with killing me in a couple of days?"

A pause. "I'm going to let you live now." He sounds like he thinks he's doing me a huge favour by not shooting me-- though I'm a bit thankful, staring down the barrel of his rifle. The spirit in oversoul wrapped around the handle glares down at me with the same icy anger.

I stay frozen for a minute, and I feel Rukh flow from my body and de-integrate. Yukito laughs shallowly, and kicks my form before I hear him dashing off, crushing leaves underneath his feet.

What just happened? He had shot at me... and then ran away. I was stupid to stop chasing him. I'm surprised he didn't kill me right there. But he didn't. I have no idea what motivates Yukito, and it scares me.

Miserable, I drag myself to my feet. "That kid is crazy," remarks Rukh.

"Crazy... and stronger than us," I add.

The fight begins in ten minutes. I've delayed it long enough, and I realize very suddenly that this is going to happen, and it's going to happen to me.

Janna pats me on the back. "Don't think about it too much or you'll freeze up. Just go by instincts."

"Instincts?" Rukh snorts. "No. We have a battle strategy planned out."

Lu Han raises his eyebrows somewhat. "A strategy? Do you think it's good enough?"

"No," I reply drearily. We do have a plan, of sorts-- we bull rush him out of the ring as soon as we can. All he's been known to do is shoot at people with startling speed and accuracy, and that's usually enough. The "strategy" is to just hope against hope we're fast enough to eke out a victory.

"You have no spirit," Rukh criticizes. "It'll work. Just wait and see."

The role reversal causes me to crack a smile despite myself. "Now I'm the cynic?"

"Like I said, don't worry about it," Janna says. "Just go."

Lu Han and Janna give me thums up. Darui calls for the practice match between me and Yukito. His usual spiel just goes through one ear and out the other, as I take slow steps towards the circle. Yukito is already standing there, brown hair hanging down around his neck lazily. He holds his rifle in one hand, and his ghost-- a ladylike spirit with metallic skin-- looks at me coldly.

He raises the rifle, his spirit turning into a whirling spiral of spectral energy before clamping down around the barrel. I raise my spear and shield, and Rukh carefully but silently integrates into me.

My heart is pounding in my ear.

Darui raises his hand. "FIGHT!"

Yukito

Journal Entry for October 12, 2498

Day went as normal, with an extra focus on close-range target shooting, until 1:00 when scheduled match with Natsume Takenouchi took place.

I have written about Takenouchi as I see him here before, so I will not go into greater detail, but suffice to say his ability has grown an amount which surpasses even my expectations. He displays good form and clever tactics, as well as above average mana and shamanic technique.

I mention this again because he defeated me today.

Analyzing the fight through Metella's memory, I can see exactly how the battle went, though it only lasted 13 seconds in real time. I raised my gun, and he ducked. The bullet barely missed, and broke a part of his wooden shield. Though it ricoched, there was no colatteral. Using his spear, he dashed forward the ten feet that were between us, moving the battle to a close scale which was much more beneficial to his style than mine.

Though my bullets would not be as effective, I began to use my mana to execute a Ravaging Shards technique. Takenouchi proved too fast, however, and rushed me with his spear, which landed in my thigh causing a minor injury which I am still suffering from. His entire body weight pushed me out of bounds just as I managed to generate the shards.

It was a clean, if somewhat opportunistic, defeat.

I must confess that I suffered from a fierce bout of rage after that and, vainly, took aim and shot the unprepared Takenouchi. In my emotion, I did not aim for a critical area, but it still did severe damage to him. Chief Darui has informed me that he survived and is now in stable condition, and has warned me that a similar incident will result in my expulsion. I believe he suspects my previous actions of this nature, but I am keeping my trail as clean as possible.

But I digress. Perhaps I should apologize to Takenouchi for my actions. Losing a practice match, after all, has no real effect on my goals. The only point of the excersice, and my assassination attempt, was to eliminate the competition so as to increase my chances of survival.

In times like these, I find myself distracted. I must focus on the reason I want to survive, and proceed through the stages of the fight. As I become more powerful, and the competitors become fewer, I stand a greater chance of encountering him and, more importantly, killing him.

I must focus on my unquestionable nemesis, the unseen enemy.

I must focus on Hao Asakura.

Author's Notes

In the end, I can at least say it's finished.

Just kidding. Sorry for this chapter taking so long to get out, but my attention wandered, and once school started it more or less bitchslapped my free time. I hope this chapter is worth it, there are some things I like about it and some things I don't.

Kaname is a new character, but don't expect her to show up too much. She's really not that important. As for Hao, yes he will be in this fanfic... though how big a role he'll play is up in the air.

Why skip the fight scene? Well, what I was getting at was that it all happened so fast it would be hard to describe in even stream-fo-conciousness style. Yukito recapped it later (by the way, the journal entry is an attempt to fool around with different forms and voices for various characters), so hopefully that's enough.

After this, I'm probably going to work on my original story, making it suck less. Character profiles for Kun, Shi and Yukito will go up on my site sometime this week, maybe.