Disclaimer: I do not own Shaman King, nor any of the characters from the original manga. Hiroyuki Takei owns Shaman King. I own myself and all of my characters. That including Sofia and Hana Horutari. I own the rights to this fanfic so bleuh.
The night wore on with more arguments between Ren and almost everyone else. But Yoh would laugh it off, saying that he was doing great and that Ren was having fun. Despite the tough act.

Tamao and Pirika helped Yoh bring in the food and suddenly everyone's mouths were switched from talking to food.

"Uh, h-here. I-I uh... I got this f-for you." Tamao stuttered, handing Sofia a fork and placing it in her palm. The blonde gave a smile.

"Thank you." She nodded her head and once she had a bowl of rice and a separate one with noodles and egg rolls, she began to eat. The others soon followed, Anna and Pirika even joined them for the meal.

But Ren apparently wasn't as hungry and decided to talk. To Sofia. She'd been quiet most of the evening; though she'd laugh at all the arguments and the way Yoh would go on about they were just having fun.

Ren was looking to start another argument. In a slightly sadistic way, it was fun for him.

"So Sofia, how exactly did you come to be blind?" Ren asked bluntly, taking a sip of milk from his cup. She looked up, eyebrows raised in surprise.

"Ren!" Horohoro scorned, looking incredulous. "Don't ask that!"

"Why not? It's a simple question." Ren said, looking calm. Even Yoh thought that was a little wrong to do.

"It's not exactly dinner conversation." Sofia said, still chewing lightly on some food in her mouth.

"But I'm just dying to know. Unless you're too embarrassed...?"

"Ren no!" Pirika huffed, giving the Chinese boy a dark look.

"No, no, it's okay." Sofia shrugged, waving at them to dismiss their anger. "It's not that big of a deal."

"Well then... let's have it." Ren coaxed, though trying to think of other ways to get on her nerves.

"Ah well... it took my Vatti 20 years before he actually cured my mother's disease. I was born during those twenty years, so the disease infected my eyes."

Ren arched an eyebrow while Horohoro, Tamao, Pirika and Manta bowed their heads. It was a sad thing to hear. A child being born blind certainly couldn't have led a happy life. And they had already been told about her mother so that made their sympathy grow.

But Sofia shook her head. "Please, don't sympathize me. I don't mind how I live."

Horohoro looked up, scratching the back of his neck. "I know people don't like pity, but it IS a sad story."

"Not really. I could've died the day I was born but I didn't. I'm glad I got away with only being blind." That seemed to end the conversation. Sofia picked up her bowl of rice again. "Now stop it and eat." She ended sharply. Agreements could be heard and everyone began gobbling down their food.

"Hey Sofia, do you think you could stay the night?" Yoh asked, glancing up from his rice. Sofia wiped at her mouth with a shrug.

"Not sure. I'd have to call my Vatti." She traced her fingers around and picked up an egg roll, taking a bite out of it.

"Our phones are disconnected here. But there's a phone booth just a few houses down." He suggested, going back to his rice. Sofia nodded her head.

….

In only an hour's time, all the food on the table had disappeared without a trace. Unless you were to notice the full and satisfied stomachs around the table.

"It's been so long since I've had a properly, home-cooked meal." Horohoro commented, patting his belly. Sofia nodded in agreement.

"Ja. Same here."

Yoh leaned his head against the wall and glanced over at Ren. "How was your food?" The Chinese teenager shrugged, not wanting to actually give a compliment.

"It was edible."

"Well you looked pretty happy scarfing it down the way you did." Horohoro said with an eyebrow raised. Ren glared threateningly.

"Hey, hey, before you start going at each other again, how about walking Sofia to the phone booth, Ren?" Yoh asked picking up his dish and cup. Both Ren and Sofia looked a little surprised at the suggestion.

"Why should I do it?" He asked, still feeling a little lazy from eating so much food.

"Well she can't get there by herself. And you're supposed to be raised like a gentleman, aren't you?" Yoh smiled, knowing he was just getting to Ren.

Ren himself sighed in annoyance and stood up. "Let's go then." Sofia picked up her cane and hat before getting to her feet, all while he tapped his foot impatiently. She put on her hat with a scorn.

"Geduld, geduld." She quipped in German, brushing herself off. Manta laughed with Horohoro.

"Bet she totally just called you something dirty!" HoroHoro said between sniggers. Ren rolled his amber eyes.

"She said be patient, idiot." Sofia placed a hand on his shoulder. At first he thought it was to silence him, but it turned out she just needed to do so to follow him.

He led her out of the dining room and through the corridors, straight to the lobby so they could put on their shoes and coats.

"You know German?" Sofia asked, though it was more statement then question. She sat down and felt around for her shoes. Ren handed them to her and grabbed his own.

"I know many languages." He said, quite haughtily. She nodded in acknowledgement.

"Really. How many?" Ren pulled on his jacket and folded his arms.

"Not that it's really any of your business, but I happen to know five languages."

He took her outside to the porch and looked both ways of the street to try and spot the phone booth. To his luck, it wasn't far away. Just like Yoh had said, only a few houses down. With her hand on his shoulder and him figuring out how long it would get to the phone, they set off.

"So you're fighting in the Shaman King tournament." Sofia said, apparently trying to get a conversation going. Ren grumbled something in Chinese (very loudly though, as Sofia noted) before answering.

"Yes."

" How have your matches gone?"

"Fine." Sofia pouted lightly.

"Oh... good." Ren looked up at the sky with a glare. She'd been subtle but he knew she was purposely trying to guilt him into talking. The blonde really knew how to piss him off in the right ways.

"I won my first two matches and tied with Yoh today." He explained, in a very rushed voice. Sofia smiled.

"That's good."

"How was your father's last match?" He asked; sounding a little forced of the question.

"He won it."

"I suppose that means his oversoul actually managed to pick up another win then." Sofia paused.

"Yes... she did."

"Oh you actually refer to that toy of his as a person. How charming." He felt the grip on his shoulder tighten lightly and he smirked.

"Stop trying to start a fight with me Ren." She said after a minute or so. Ren raised his eyebrows in fake surprise.

"Who? Me? I was merely commenting on your father's... fetish."

"Oh really." She said; her voice was one of doubt. "You know what you're saying to me is rude. You're only saying it to get a rise out of me." And yet she didn't sound angry.

On the contrary, she sounded cheerful about him saying such things to her. Her first reaction was only that. A reaction. A reaction to insulting words.

"If they're so rude then why aren't you angry with me?" He figured she must've just been suppressing her anger just so he wouldn't win.

"Because I'm happy you're rude to me." She put simply. Ren furrowed his eyebrows together, looking bewildered.

"You're happy I'm rude to you?"

"Aren't we at that phone yet?" Sofia asked, angering him lightly for not answering him. But when Ren looked up, he found he'd almost passed the phone booth.

"Here we are." Ren announced in a cautious tone. Still curious about her being so cheerful, he strolled over to the booth and handed her the phone.

"D... do you know the number to the hotel?" She asked slowly, a little embarrassed. Ren sweat dropped.

"You don't even know the number! And you made me walk with you with that blithering small talk and you didn't even know the number!"

Sofia giggled, though trying to stifle it by biting down on her lower lip. "Yes?" Ren let out a loud and annoyed sigh, snatching away the phone and dialing in the number. "What're you doing?"

"I'm dialing the number!"

"You yelled at me for bringing you along without knowing the number and you knew the number the whole time!"

"I wasn't yelling at you for not knowing the number I was yelling at you for your idiocy!" Ren suddenly hushed up and began speaking in a well-mannered tone instead of the insulting one he'd just been using. "Hai," To Sofia she'd thought he'd just said 'Hi'. "I'd like to be connected to the room where a Mr. Faust and his daughter are staying. Arigatou."

He pushed the phone back into her hands and folded his arms. "There, it's ringing now."

Sofia hastily put the speaker to her ear and waited for an answer. "… Hallo? Yes, it's me. I'm at Yoh's…. Yes, can I spend the night? They--…. Oh… oh okay. Alright… alright, see you soon. Bye."

Sofia covered the speaker and sighed, handing it to Ren, who promptly hung it up.

"No?"

"No."

"Did you expect a yes?"

"No."

Ren walked beside her, letting Sofia place her hand back on his shoulder. And once again they set off, only now it was back to the old En Inn.

"So why were you so cheerful?" He asked out of the blue.

"Was?"

"Why were you so cheerful to my being rude?"

"So you admit that you were being rude." Ren stiffened lightly but pushed it aside.

"Why were you so cheerful?" Sofia smiled.

"People being rude to me makes me feel normal." Ren gave her a funny look, though not actually facing her. She could tell he was confused, so continued. "Whenever someone sees me, they think 'Oh that poor girl. She's blind. Oh that poor thing.' And I hate that. And then they act all nice and mist."

Ren raised his eyebrows, smirking lightly. "So basically you don't like to be treated differently."

"Genau."

…

Author's Note: 'Ja' Means yes in German and 'Was?' later means what? 'Mist' means crap, 'Genau' means exactly. Mutter and Vatti are 'Mother and Father'.