Mari the Doll Master
Disclaimer: Do I own Shaman King? I mean I own soooo many other things maybe shaman king is one of them, let me check my files...no I don't own shaman king! There, happy?
Chapter 3 - Confused Awakening
A buzz of noise surrounded Mari and slowly filled her ears, growing in volume as she slowly felt herself waking up. She dimly registered she was on her back...but...she didn't want to open her eyes yet. She wasn't sure why, but there was something wrong...why was she so upset? She felt the pain in her head and the sting of her arms and slowly, very slowly images and flashes of what had happened to precious Tillie greeted her with a cruel smile: the ice shards approach; the china head shattering; the abandoned rose of its owner...
"Ti...Till...Tillie..."
Her eyes flickered open, yet they didn't focus due to the tears, hot and large, welling up in her eyes.
"Awww no don't cry again!"
Mari blinked, letting the tears streak down her face like warm wax, giving her a view of her surroundings. She sat up and gazed around. She was in a room of sorts, a desk peered at her from the corner, beneath a large open window and a bookcase occupied one side of the room and from her position she could tell the shelves were crammed with books of ancient Japanese rituals, spells...and, she jumped slightly, shaman books. She was in the house of one of the shamans!
She immediately felt the instinct to run and tried getting up from, what she discovered was, a soft bed. However a sharp pain shot through her arms and she glanced down to see a number of bandages covering her pale arms, slightly tinged pink, from what she suspected was blood. Trying to ignore it she tried once again to heave herself up, however the voice she had heard before stopped her.
"Don't get up, you know Anna will kill me if she knew i woke you up, imagine what she might do to me if I let you walk around injured!"
The voice sounded slightly panicked at the very idea, and Mari turned her head to find its owner. It was the brown haired shaman, the one with calm eyes she had heard being called Yoh by the others, he was sitting in a chair just by the desk and she felt it curious that she hadn't noticed him until now. Mari frowned slightly and glared coldly at him, attempting to show no emotion while her mind was racing with questions...
Where's Chuck? And Danni? Mari thinks that if she stays here she won't find them...then what will she do? And Tillie... I wonder where Tillie is now. Come to think of it, where's Mari? She must be in one of the shaman's homes, but why was she brought here? What do they want from her? Can Mari even fight them to get away without Chuck, Danni and T-T-Till-ie?
And so on, the questions continued to taunt and torment her, as she continued to glare at the shaman before her.
Almost as if he had read her mind the shaman, Yoh, said
"Oh, I guess you're wondering where those dolls of yours are. Well they're downstairs in the cupboard. Anna didn't think anyone could be trusted with them after, well...you know...what happened."
He seemed so calm and gentle, Mari felt she could trust him, though her training told her not to, so finally she spoke.
"Mari doesn't understand. Why is she here? After you beat her and murdered Tillie she thought you would just go and leave her in peace. What else do you want from her?"
Yoh had winced when Mari said the word "murdered" however he answered calmly with a cheerful grin on his face.
"We couldn't just leave you there, you were hurt, your doll er murdered, and besides what kind of people would we be if we just left you there? Anyway, someone downstairs wants to apologize, as soon as Nurse Anna gives you the all clear you can come say hi to everyone and-"
"Asakura Yoh!"
A sharp bark of a voice filled the room like the crack of a whip. Both Yoh and Mari had winced at the sudden noise but Yoh looked mortified to see the figure standing in the doorway. A tall thin girl, with shoulder length hair, much the same as Mari's own blond sheet, stood in the doorway glaring at the boy named Yoh. She wore a black dress and confusingly for Mari, a bandanna tied like a scarf around her neck, although Mari swore the weather outside was beautiful. The glare on her face was strong enough to match Mari's although something of pure, how can I put this, fear radiated from her.
"What did you call me Yoh?" barked the girl who presumably was Anna.
"Er...heh heh.. Um Nurse Anna..." replied a fearful Yoh.
Anna grabbed a book from the shelf and hurled it with pinpoint accuracy at Yoh, hitting him squarely in the face. Mari's eyes literally popped from her face in shock.
"From now on you shall address me by my name, or else suffer my displeasure, are we clear?"
Yoh nodded sheepishly and trying to get the her attention away from what had just happened, he said unnecessarily,
"Mari's awake."
"I am fully aware of that Yoh. I have been gifted with sight, as have many people, so there is no need to point out the obvious."
"Yes, Anna..."
Anna turned to Mari.
"I'm no doctor so I can't be sure, but you need to get those cuts looked at," said Anna indicating the bandages. Still in shock Mari nodded and answered warily,
"Yes Miss Anna."
"No need for formalities, but Yoh here ought to take a lesson from your manners," she added eying Yoh beadily, "anyway I suppose you should come downstairs. Manta's making dinner and your dolls can be taken up here later. You are staying aren't you?"Enquired Anna, for Mari had shifted restlessly.
"Mari doesn't think there's any need-"
"Well I do. You probably don't have anywhere else to go, and I'm not letting you go anywhere until those arms look better. That's final."
Mari opened her mouth to argue but closed it again as Yoh shook his head gingerly behind Anna.
"Anyway, I'll leave you here to have some time to yourself, come down when you're ready, oh and here's Manta with those dolls,"she added as the small blond haired boy entered the room and placed the dolls on the desk.
"Back to work, Manta," announced Anna clearly, as he left quickly. "And Yoh!"
Yoh winced again.
"Come downstairs this instant!" With that Anna, master of what seemed to be everything,departed, and Yoh, grinning sheepishly waved and followed.
Mari stayed glued to the spot and sighed slightly. She felt like a prisoner once again, a lucky prisoner, but nonetheless a prisoner. Glancing over to the desk where the dolls lay she whispered
"Chuck, Danni, Mari will be trapped here for a while...but she hopes these people may let her get her freedom...maybe...just maybe..."
Well that's the end of another chapter. Kind of boring I know, but still at least I updated. Anyways I'll see you guys later! Please read and review! Momentai! - Marion Phauna