disclaimer is on the1st chapter.

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KEY

Italics are Tamao's thoughts

Moving In

Chapter 3

It's so nice out today...now that the rain has stopped.

Tamao was in the hot spring after walking in the rain ((what I mean is the large public bathtub at Yoh's "Inn"...I don't know the proper name)). Her pink hair curled, and became wavy from the water. Then Anna came in.

"Hello, Anna." Tamao greeted. Anna gave a little "hm" in respond.

"You know," Anna continued, "I thought you'd be quicker. After our teacher introduced Hao as an 'Asakura' I thought you'd figure it out that he was a relative of Yoh's."

What an itako....

"I...wasn't paying attention in class." Tamao lied.

"Hm."

Tamao quickly got out of the hot spring, not wanting to get cold, she put on a bath robe. Anna doesn't waste much time just sitting there in the water, so she got out too. Tamao started heading out the door to her bedroom when the door somehow opened automatically.

"Oh..." calmly said by the boy who opened the door, "Is this the wrong place?"

Tamao looked up, it was obviously Hao, who didn't know where he was going.

"The boys' washroom is over there," Tamao shyly pointed to the other end of the hallway.

"Oh I see, I'm sorry."

"Pervert." Anna whispered to herself, "or just stupidity, not knowing which way is left, and right."

next day

"Yoh, wake up! Or you'll be doing three times more your usual training!" Tamao heard Anna yell. Tamao was already eating breakfeast, while most of them just woke up.

"Good morning," Hao said calmly from the doorway.

Tamao acknowledged his presence, and continued eating.

"Did you sense anything in your sleep last night? Any dreams?" Hao asked.

"No."

"Good," Hao quietly whispered to himself.

Tamao noticed how close Hao, and Yoh looked, for once. Just the thought of Yoh sent a slight blush to her cheeks. But when she looked at Hao...it wasn't of any fondness. Hao did look much like Yoh, with the exception of his long hair, but it just was something different. Just acting normal around him.

A crash came from upstairs.

"That's it! Three hours of training, after school!" Anna ordered.

"Hm...maybe we should go..." Hao suggested.

Tamao, and Hao took off for school before Anna could come downstairs, mostly for Hao's sake.

It was pretty quiet for a while, having not much to talk about.

"Hey Tamao," Hao asked, "are there anything like clubs, and stuff here? At your high school?"

"Hm..." Tamao thought for a moment, "Well, what are you interested in?"

"Torturing, killing...what else...."

"How about something school, or just a normal-life related." sweat drop

"Err..." Hao hesitated, "Gardening, flower arranging...cooking?...err...."

"Hao, are you serious?"

"Stargazing. Yes, serious. Don't tell anyone..." His eye glinted.

"Okay" Tamao answered quickly, "So, would you be interested in any sports? I suppose athletics could help you keep up, or maybe just improve your furioku strength."

"Yeah...good idea." Hao mumbled.

"Hm...tennis seems to be popular. I think soccer would improve your speed, since you'd be constantly running. Um...."

"Soccer sounds good...maybe it'll help me runaway from Anna..."

There was a slight pause between them from that comment, and Hao laughed. Tamao managed a weak smile, remaining respectful and loyal to Anna.

"Hm...from what I know, soccer try-outs are coming soon. So you'll want to sign up, and maybe practice before the try-outs."

Hao, and Tamao yielded to a stop as they got to the school gates.

He placed his hand on her shoulder, "Hey, thanks Tamao."

"Um...sure. No problem." Tamao's heart fluttered.

"See you later." Hao ran off to his new group of friends.

Tamao stood there until her heart finally slowed to a normal beat. I don't get this. This feeling...if I were to like Hao, wouldn't that prove some sort of...shallowness in personality? I don't know. But anyways, it does feel more comfortable to talk to Hao, than Yoh.

---------science class-------

This is bad. I'm paired with an Itako...and if she reads my thoughts.... okay, let's not forget to mention that Yoh is here too... oh no...

"Tamao, concentrate," Anna spoke sternly as she poured some chemicals into a tube. Yoh, having a science-nerd's soul in his body, was doing many papers.

"Here," the mindless Yoh said, "organize these papers."

Tamao kept a slight blush from the occasion, and then remembered that this wasn't Yoh. This would never be Yoh, whether he liked her, or whether he ever did work. Meanwhile, Anna looked at Tamao for a while...then resumed her work.

Hao, in the same class as Tamao, Anna, and Yoh, was working at another table with two partners.

"Hey, watch it!" HoroHoro yelped as he almost dropped a tube of acid.

"Ai--!!" Ren instinctively took a step back. Ren's reflexes saved himself from burning up with HoroHoro, and Hao from a mistake in the mixture of chemicals...

"You moron!" Ren barked, "what did you do?!?"

Horohoro just laughed nervously as he held two tubes in front of his black, smoke-covered face. Hao, standing next to Horohoro didn't feel much of any pain from the explosion, though his face was black on his left side. The bald, science teacher strolled up to the two.

"Detention, both of you, after school!" He said sternly.

"Today?" Hao asked.

"Yes, and no more questions. Clean up the mess, now, you won't be doing this lab for the rest of the hour."

--------lunch time--------

"Wow, Anna, look..." Tamao pointed.

Anna slowly turned her head as she munched on her sandwich. Tamao was pointing at Hao, sitting with some other friends.

"So?" Anna went on eating.

Hao turned out to be sitting among the popular crowd of the school. Most of them weren't mean, but some...well, you get the idea. The typical, popular people. Girls that came by the table smiled, and flirted with Hao, and his friends.

Tamao frowned upon the sight, but it didn't matter since lunch was almost over. Anna watched Tamao's frown, already figuring everything out.

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--yes, for all those people who know too much about Shaman King, I made up the science teacher.

does anybody know the name of the high school Yoh, and his friends go to? I don't know...because I watch FOXBOX...maybe they said it once...but I can't remember...???

snake