Author's
Note: This story has 3 parts or a trilogy, whatever you
want to call it. Each part will focus mostly on 1 particular couple.
They're heavy on romance, angst, and lots of fluff. Part one focus on
Yoh Anna and Hao Anna with bits of HoroHoro Tamao.
This is an Alternate Universe story, so it may be out of
character.
Warning: Rated PG-13 but may go up in later
chapters.
Chapter 1: Perfect
The Spring air, fresh and crisp, as the students of Funbari Academy all rushed out to eat lunch. Lunchtime was a full hour long and students were left to eat wherever they pleased on the school courtyard. Among the crowd was a couple, one that the entire school recognized as the 'perfect' couple. The guy stood tall and a bit lanky, with the shoulder length hair and dark chocolate brown eyes. Though girls wouldn't quite dub him as drop dead gorgeous like his older twin Hao, they all agree he came close. He wore his trademark carefree smile.
A shorter blonde girl walked beside him, with her usual half lidded eyes. Her presence demanded attention and the utmost respect from her peers, and they have no choice but to abide. What guy could ignore her movie star face and killer body? Once their eyes were captured, it was impossible to tear them off her. You would think girls were jealous of Anna, well some couldn't help to be, but most admired her. Anna had always carried herself with dignity. She could take her pick of the many guys lining up for just a few minutes of her company, yet she chose to stay true to Yoh, her one and only. Plus, girls loved it when Anna slapped the hell out of any guy who tried to get fresh with her.
Yes, the couple was the envy of the school. Girls loved the happy-go-lucky nature of Yoh, and he was simply too sweet with Anna. Guys all over school would give their right arm to be in Yoh's shoes. There was one other interesting fact about the couple. They're been living together since their elementary school years. Rumors spread with various stories of how that came to be, but the truth was yet to be revealed.
Yoh and Anna lived together with Hao, Yoh's older twin and the celebrity of the school. Hao and Yoh were identical in facial features and height, but Hao wore his hair longer, down to his lower back. His body was nicely toned for he was the school's star athlete. The twin's personality also differed. Yoh loved to smile and looked for fun and festivities with friends. On the other hand, Hao was quieter despite always being surrounded with admirers. He rarely spoke a word to anyone. There was usually never a time he did not have a group of girls trailing behind him and one lucky, and always-beautiful girl clinging to his arm. But unlike Anna with Yoh, the girl is his arm changes almost weekly. Hao was another person guys would love to be. Some went to great lengths just to be in his presence. Being able to eat along with Hao or just walk with his crowd would greatly boost anyone's social status. With his celebrity status, it was a wonder why he never spoke much. And sometimes, when he thought no one was watching, Hao would look over at the couple with sad longing eyes. Everyone thought Hao had it all, but secretly, he could not disagree more.
"... and I said, no way! These boots look way better so, I went ahead and bought it. What do you think, Hao" Britney asked the longed haired brunet as she spun around playfully. All the guy's eyes were on her curvaceous body more so than the boots except for Hao's. She noticed and followed his gaze to find he was watching Yoh and Anna as they were setting up for a picnic under a cherry blossom tree. Of course, this upset her but she sucked it up, wanting to stay on his good side. Everyone knew the twins were close siblings, even though they didn't hang out or talk much during school.
"Oh look, it's your brother and ...Anna" she said the blonde's name dryly. Anna was one of the few girls whose looks rivaled to her. Hao finally turned to Britney after detecting detest when Anna's name was mentioned. Her legs trembled at his glare. 'Oh no, he's not pleased.'
"Stay here" he instructed his groupie as he began to walk towards the couple. Everyone threw Britney an angry look.
-
Yoh happily started unwrapping the food, Anna and him packed that morning. Lunch was his favorite time of the day. Not only was there food, he also got to spend time with all his friends, especially Anna. Yoh took a glance at her while she poured their drinks into the cups. He smiled as he watched her. There was no denying it; she was breathtaking. Yoh thanked God everyday as he woke up to find Anna next to him. They were constant reminders that she wasn't just a beautiful dream. Yoh and Anna already shared a bed, but they haven't gone as far as cuddling, fully clothed, and under the blanket. Of course, it was hard at times sleeping next to Anna without any sexual intimacy, but Yoh wouldn't dream of betraying Anna's trust. If she wasn't ready, then he could wait.
Anna looked up to find Yoh staring at her with the smile that she loved so much on his face. She smiled back as she simply couldn't resist. Some strands of hair, Anna had pulled behind her ear managed to fall down to the front, covering half of her face. She hated her long hair. Ever since she was little, Anna kept her hair shoulder length. Yoh however, thought she would look nice with long hair so there it is. Anna's hair now extended a little beyond her waist. After a sigh of annoyance, Anna suddenly felt a finger slipped under her hair and pushed them back behind her ears. Yoh's face appeared to her, only a few inches away.
"Your hair must be annoying you. I'm sorry for asking you to keep it long. You can cut it if you want to, you know" His eyes were thoughtful, but Anna knew Yoh loved her long hair. He spent many nights stroking them as they laid in bed, falling asleep.
"No, I like it long" she lied. It was then Yoh noticed Hao walking their way.
"Hey, Hao's coming over" Yoh's smile broadened. His brother occasionally sat and ate with them. They were on random days so Yoh could never figure out why Hao sometimes prefer their company rather than his many admirers. Anna turned halfway around and just nodded in acknowledgement. "Good to see you've come to join us, Hao" Yoh said brightly when his twin sat down on the blanket next to him.
"Yeah, I wanted to eat some home cooked meal today" Hao simply said.
"Great! Me and Anna fixed up some great stuff for lunch today." Yoh pulled out all the food from the hefty sized box. Hao smiled with a nod. Anna however, has yet to say a word.
'Does she even know I'm here?' Hao wondered. He turned to glance at her, but was greeted with a cup of soda in front of his face. 'Hmmm… at least she acknowledges my existence.'
He took the cup from Anna and uttered, "Thanks."
'Talk to me, Anna.'
She nodded in reply making Hao's face drop just slightly.
'Why doesn't she like to speak to me?'
"Here's your drink, Yoh," Anna handed a cup
to her boyfriend of countless years.
'Only speaking to
him huh?'
"Thanks, Anna. Here's your plate." Yoh
took the cup and handed Ann her plate of food. They locked eyes for a
moment before looking shyly away. Hao couldn't help but be
envious.
"Hey Yoh, Anna… and Hao?" All three looked up to find Manta, Ren, and HoroHoro joining them. The four had the same fourth period class, Chemistry, which happened to be at the other end of the school. They all eyed Hao as they made their way over. Needless to say, they weren't too comfortable with Hao being there. True, he occasionally joined them, but it was still strange. Hao mostly only talked to Yoh and Anna. He might nod or reply with a word or two when one of them tried to strike up a conversation with him.
"Hey, come quick! The food's already getting cold" Yoh waved for them to hurry over. Soon they were all seated with food stuffed in their mouth.
"Wow, great stuff" HoroHoro complimented with his full mouth.
"Don't talk with your mouth full. Didn't you learn any manners" came Ren's accented insult.
"What was that" HoroHoro grew angry; his fist rises in the air, threatening to strike.
"You heard me" Ren wasn't one to back down. The others sighed at the familiar scene. This was quite the norm between the blue-haired Ainu and the yellow-eyed Chinese.
'They act like an old married couple that's long overdue for a divorce, yet both are too stubborn to do so.' Hao thought as the bickering continued. Fortunately they finally quiet down after Tamao pulled HoroHoro away and Yoh held a cup of milk in front of Ren. For some odd reason, the cup of milk had the power to make Ren calm down.
'What senseless noise.' Out of the corner of his eyes, Hao looked to see Anna's reaction. There was none. She wasn't even looking at them. 'How does she do that?' He wondered as she continued eating. Anna did that often. Unless, it directly involved Yoh, she tend to tune out everyone and usually stayed occupy in her own world. Hao continued to watch her, completely fascinated, until she looked to Yoh and gave him a tug on his shirt. Yoh looked over at her and nodded with a smile, meaning it was that time of the day. Hao just now realized he was looking at Anna for over half the lunch period. He quickly turned away as Yoh and Anna stood slowly.
The couple had this thing where they took off together twenty minutes before lunch was over. Of course, the question rose regarding what the two were doing when alone together, but no one knew for sure.
"There they go again" Manta said after the couple was far enough not to hear him.
"I envy Anna" Tamao said sweetly. "Yoh's so sweet towards her." All the guys except Hao made gagging noises jokingly. ''You guys are so rude. Why can't you all be like wonderful Yoh" Tamao clasped her hands together, held them to her cheek and looked over at Yoh dreamily, the three guys sighed. Everyone knew Tamao has a crush on Yoh. They were neighbors since preschool, but Yoh seemed completely oblivious. Either that or he's just a great actor pretending he's clueless. Then again, nobody blamed him. Yoh had Anna, and no guy in his right mind would break up with her for any reason. But that doesn't mean Tamao wasn't attractive herself.
Tamao was the smartest girl in school. She never once had to study but still managed to ace all the exams and school work. Someone suggested she could look into the future and know the answer before hand, which of course everyone thought the idea to be absurd. Aside from being smart, Tamao was also quite the looker. Though, she wasn't classified as beautiful, she still had a pretty face and curves at all the right places. But what drew guys to Tamao the most was her shy nature and sweet personality. Too bad, she was too busy crushing on Yoh to realize the possibilities in other guys.
"Why do you go all googlly eyes over Yoh when you know he already has Anna" HoroHoro asked with his arms crossed and head turned away. Unbeknownst to him, he was falling for the pink-haired girl, and jealousy was leering its ugly head. "You know they're inseparable" he added quietly.
HoroHoro's words snapped Tamao back to reality. "I wasn't planning on coming between them..." Tamao turned to the Ainu, hurt that he thought she could do such a thing. The tension was making the others feel uncomfortable, so Hao took his chance to slip away. "I know they love each other but... I can't help the way I feel." Her voice dropped. HoroHoro was suddenly saddened by her words. He slowly turned back to find she was nearly in tears,
'Oh no! She's going to cry and it's all my fault!' Tamao quickly stood and left before anyone could see tears sliding down her flushed cheeks, leaving HoroHoro feeling more terrible than ever.
"Nice going, idiot" Ren scolded gulping down his last drop of milk.
"But I was only..." HoroHoro began defensively and looked at Manta for backup.
"Dude, you made her cry." Manta shook his head in disapproval. HoroHoro sighed in defeat. "Hey, Hao's gone." Manta pointed out. All their eyes traveled to the spot the older twin usually sat, and surely enough; there he was with his own people.
"Good, cause I didn't feel too comfortable with him here anyway" said HoroHoro. "Why does he even come here to eat with us? He has his own people."
"Well he is Yoh's brother. Maybe he just wanted to spend some time with him. You know, like brotherly bonding." Manta came to a conclusion and HoroHoro nodded in agreement.
"You guys are more dense than I thought" Ren finally spoke as he cleaned up his food.
"What's that suppose to mean" HoroHoro started raising his voice again. Manta was equally confused with Ren's statement.
"Well isn't it obvious" The two waited for him to continue with great anticipation on their face. Ren sighed before continuing. Clearly he was the only observant one in the group. "Hao loves Anna, you dopes."
"What" The two's voice rang in unison. Their eyes shot straight back to Hao.
Then it struck Manta. 'Wow, even though beautiful girls and people surround and worship him, Hao seems so... sad.' Sympathy soon overcame him for the older twin.
"But, Anna's Yoh's girlfriend! They're practically a married couple" HoroHoro exclaimed.
"I know, you idiot! Why do you think Hao hasn't made a move on Anna" HoroHoro thought for a moment. The more, he thought about it; the more, he can pinpoint moments he had noticed Hao secretly glancing over at Anna. He never thought much about it, but out of all the girls he's seen Hao with, none of them had gain as much attention from Hao the way Anna could.
"Wow, now I kinda feel sorry for the guy..."
"Yeah…yeah… yeah." Ren rolled his eyes.
'I'm surrounded by a bunch of idiots.'
"Now lets clean up your mess. And your face" Ren yelled and threw a napkin at HoroHoro's face after seeing food smeared all over the boy's mouth.
-
"So what do you want to do tonight, Hao" Britney's sweet voice whispered into Hao's ear. Her arm started to snake around his neck as she positioned herself in front of him.
'This... girl is becoming quite a nuisance.' Hao thought, forgetting her name at the moment. 'I think it's time I get rid of her.'
"I'm busy" he simply said without even looking over at her. "In fact, why don't you leave now" Hao commanded rather than asked.
"What..." Britney was taken aback. She was quite a popular girl in school with only Anna and Jeanne as her rival for the top spot. If anyone, Britney thought she had the best chance at becoming Hao's true girlfriend since Anna already had Yoh and Jeanne seemed to despise Hao for some reason. "But..." she tried to touch his face but a firm grip on her wrist restrained her. Turning back, Britney found another one of Hao's nameless fangirl with a warning glare in her eyes.
"I think it's best to do as he wish" the girl said before pushing Britney away from the group. Britney quickly looked back, now angry, but Hao still didn't pay her any attention. She wanted to scream but held back for she had been humiliated enough.
'I'll get your for this. If I can't have you, no one will.' Britney declared mentally as she clenched her hands into fists. She could feel everyone's eyes on her now, laughing inwardly. 'I promise I'll get you back.' Then she ran and disappeared for the rest of the day.
Hao sighed. 'This was a routine. She should have known it was coming.' In truth, the only reason he even used her as his arm candy was because she slightly had some similarities with Anna. Though Britney's hair was red, it was the same length and straight like Anna's. There eyes were the same onyx color and both had the same curvaceous figure. But still, she was no Anna.
'I wonder what they're up to.' Hao looked over the distance where the couple disappeared to. 'I wonder is there a way I can have Anna...?'
-
The couple arrived at a secluded area of the courtyard. It was a place out of everyone's prying eyes, hidden behind a row of green nicely trimmed bushes, their secret place. They stood below a tree, looking up at a branch where a bird's nest layed.
"Hey, Whitey" Yoh called. "We brought you something" He held out, his hand revealing a small pile of breadcrumbs. The white bird in the nest chirped in delight and flew down, landing on Yoh's welcoming hand.
Anna merely watched as Whitey pecked at the crumbs. She thought back of when they first found him injured, scared and alone. Yoh quickly took the bird under his care. They searched for a nearby nest but was unsuccessful. Yoh then brought the bird to this place and built a nest for it. Since then, Yoh and Anna made regular visits to feed and keep Whitey company, even if it was just for a little while.
"You know others think we're doing something else every time we walk off together like this, right?" Anna finally spoke. Yoh smiled but kept his eyes on Whitey as he feast on the crumbs.
"Do you care what they think"
"... no."
Yoh's smile widens. His free hand suddenly found Anna's. "Then that's all that matters."
"Yeah..." They both fell silent watching Whitey finish his food. Anna wasn't sure if other couples where like this when alone with each other. She knew Yoh and her were not like other couples in public though. Seeing couples kissing and holding each other were common at the academy, but she couldn't recall Yoh and her ever doing that in public. Yet their relationship was said to be 'perfect' and envied by others. Anna never looked interested, but she heard and listened to what everyone said about her and Yoh. She just never let them know she acknowledges them.
'I wonder what they consider to be so perfect about us." Anna thought to herself. 'We never spoke much, at home or at school. But... I do enjoy his company. It doesn't matter what we do, as long as he's there, as long as I feel him nearby, then I feel safe.'
Yoh's hand gently squeezed her as if on cue. Anna turned around to find Yoh looking straight at her.
"Are you okay, Anna? You seem a little..."
"Do you consider us to be a perfect couple" she broke in before he could finish.
Yoh's eyes widen a bit before they soften again. "I don't know what other people considers to be a perfect couple" Yoh answered honestly after a brief thought. "It could be their looks suit each other, their social status or their intellect. I however, can't see them being perfect from just those qualities if they're unhappy being together. Are you happy, Anna" He looked at her, smile not leaving his face.
Anna almost laughed. "I can't believe you even have to ask me that. Of course I'm happy. I highly doubt I will be standing here with you holding my hand if I wasn't." Yoh's arms wrapped around Anna, pulling her close until her forehead pressed against his chest. And her too slowly wrapped itself around Yoh's waist.
"See Anna, we are perfect together because we're both happy." Anna's head nodded against Yoh's chest. It felt warm and safe that she couldn't imagine being anywhere else she would be happier. The bell rang then, much to her disappointment. Yoh slowly released his hold and took hold of Anna's hand as he walked Anna to her next class before leaving to get to his own.
-
That had to be the longest chapter I've ever written for a fan fic. But then again, all the chapters will be pretty long for this story. There won't be cliffhangers, but it will take me awhile to update though. I'm so happy I got myself a beta. I actually forced her into it, but she's doing it none the less! Duckie's (that's her name) awesome!
Ok I read a cute one shot presented at the end of the Shaman King graphic novel vol 5. It's cute, sweet, funny typical Yona goodness. You can read it by going to my bio. I've placed a link to it from there. Read it! There are only 2 pages. Enjoy!
