Disclaimer: I do not own Shaman King, nor any of the characters from the original manga. Hiroyuki Takei DOES however. I own myself and all of my characters. That including Hana Horutari and Sofia Faust. I own the rights and plot to this fic. Don't sue-- 'cauuuuse... please?
Author's Note: It's seriously just dawning on me on how LONG this fanfic's gonna be. However, next chapter is the beginning to the climax bitches! At the end, I got really embarrassed and didn't go into too much detail .. For some reason writing stuff like that just makes me REALLY uncomfortable. Also-- just recently discovered Ren's father's name is actually Yuan. Soo yeah. There's a name change. Translations! 'Hergekommen' means 'come here', and 'guter junge' means 'good boy'. 'Wie?' means 'eh?'.
Ren let out a sigh, his breath almost showing up in the cold desert night. The moon hung high in the sky, bathing the land in silver. The shadows cast by the Pache Village loomed to three times their height and in the distance, Silva's coyote spirit, Silver Tail, howled at the white face.
Ren leaned against one of the Pache hotel buildings. His foot tapped against the ground impatiently and his arms folded in annoyance.
Why was Sofia always LATE? Okay, fine. She's blind. But her skeleton dog Frankensteiny was NOT. She'd told him once that the dog had a horrible sense of direction. Not an excuse. The second he caught sight of her he was going to let her have it!
Today, he had finished his first match in the Shaman King Tournament with Team Ren. A match no one was going to soon forget. Everyone had witnessed Chocolove's 'Wind of Laughter' in the fight. An amazing thing to see.
Ren smirked. But Tao Ren had been the real finale. His Over soul; his mana; his overall power. Everyone had to check their oracle pagers twice when they saw his numbers.
So why did he, Tao Ren, have to be the one to wait for Sofia? SHE should wait for HIM. Not the other way around. It was ridiculous. Though after a few more minutes (it felt much longer to him), Ren heard barks from down the road. He got to his feet and scowled over at who he saw.
"What the hell TOOK so long?" He snapped.
Frankensteiny led Sofia down the sandy road with his nose to the ground. As soon as the Over soul dog caught sight of him, he raced over barking. Sofia didn't even bother to try and run with him. She let go of the leash with a sweat drop.
"Oh you're lucky I came at all. Took me half an hour before I found something with your scent on it."
Ren was about to reply with a 'then you should've just let me take you from your house!'-- until he was jumped by the rottweiler. "Get off of me!" He shouted, pushing off the dog. It was becoming second nature to him whenever he saw Frankensteiny now. Sofia laughed and slowly traced her way over to his voice with her walking stick.
"He likes you."
"I don't give a crap. Get him off of me." Sofia grinned, got to her knees and whistled.
"Frankensteiny! Hergekommen!" The dog lifted his head at the call and trotted back over to his owner, earning a scratching under his ears. "Guuuter Juuungen!" Sofia cooed.
"It's a dog, not a baby." The blonde stood back up with a large smile.
"By the way, congratulations on your match today." Ren blinked, then smirked.
"It was nothing." Yes, even Tao Ren enjoyed bragging about himself from time to time. But, come on, him being awesome was common fact. People needed to understand that. "Did you gasp along with the crowd involuntarily?" He asked. Sofia just sweat dropped.
"Well, no. I couldn't go."
Ren fell over anime style, before quickly getting back to his feet with a stress vein. "What! Why the hell not!" The blonde shrugged.
"Remember? I can't handle crowds. I'd be throwing my lungs up if I were in that stadium during a match." The Chinese teen tensed with anger, before sighing. Right. He'd forgotten about that. He'd been so proud today and wrapped up in himself he hadn't even CONSIDERED the idea she might not be there for her health. "But my Vati told me about it when he and my Muti got home!" She reassured him. Sofia managed to reach out and grab his arm. "They told me how you finished the match off with one blow!"
"It was nothing." He repeated, only a little more deflated this time. What was the point bragging, when you were only being admired out of sympathy? Sofia pouted.
"Are you upset I couldn't go see you?" Ren grunted in reply and began to guide her up the steps along the Pache hotel building. This was their first night without the spirits or friends and family. He wasn't about to ruin it by being mopey. He was Tao Ren. Tao Ren did not mope!
"I'm still irritated you were late." He lied, going up another flight. He saw Sofia pause (realize what he was feeling), contemplate (figure out what and why he was feeling it), then smile (go along with it). "I know there are brail watches so don't give me crap about losing track of time." She laughed at that.
"I'm sorry."
The roof of the hotel building was not only flat, but shingled quite poorly. Ren actually wondered if it was safe for the both of them to be walking along it. He'd gone up here plenty of times with Bason, but would the roof hold for two people?
He walked up first, finding his footing on the shingles, then slowly helped Sofia up. There was a creak. Followed by a groan. But nothing moved; nothing cracked. Ren let out a deep breath and took another step. Still nothing. He smiled and looked straight out into the land. The couple and dog were basked in an aura of beautiful white light. Before them looked like a glowing, swirling fountain. Instead, it was the King of Spirits. The moon was a flashlight compared to what could be called 'God'. Ren and Sofia's shadows stretched over the roof, and even spilled upon the ground to appear fifty feet tall.
"Mein Gott." Ren looked back at her, his sight spotted from staring at the bright light from the King of Spirits. Sofia's eyes looked clouded, almost faint.
"Are you all right?" He asked. She held her head and closed her eyes.
" I've... I've never been this close." She slipped back into her German tongue, taking deep breaths. "I didn't know..." She looked to have lost her train of thought for a moment."...I didn't know it... was so heavy. " She gulped down, trying to stand up straight. Frankensteiny barked with worry. Ren cursed.
" Let's just go back down." He said, taking hold of her other arm.
"Nein!" He blinked in surprise. Her fists were clenched and eyes winced, as if hurt from the light. She paused in concentration. "I can keep it under control."
"Stop being stubborn!" He snapped. "Just go back down, I won't think any less of--"
"It's not about you!" She shouted.
Silence blanketed over them. Echoes of her yell reverberated off the concrete walls, then, as if absorbed by the King of Spirits' form, died away completely. Ren's voice died within himself. He stared at her for a moment. She was glaring at the ground, trying to concentrate. But her eyes twitched with complications. Spirits were usually too weak to give off enough emotion to effect her. But millions at once were enough to cripple her. So many spirits, so much confusion, so much sadness, regret, peace, happiness. It was enough to drive anyone insane to even comprehend all of the separate minds at once brought into one.
She wanted to be strong enough. He could see that in how hard she was trying. She didn't want to be defeated. Ren's expression softened. He could understand what she was doing. That stubborn ass part of her brain was screaming 'Don't back down!' And it hurt to do so. But all Ren could do was watch her try to fight it.
All he could do was sta--
Ren whipped his head around to look behind them. Someone was there... He narrowed his eyes, trying to search for any kind of sign of movement. Someone was watching them. Tao instinct knew all. Someone was hiding, watching the two of them.
"Sofia-- we have to go." She wanted to object, but caught the warning in his tone. Her jaw tightened but she followed him as quick as she could. "Someone's watching us." Sofia's eyes widened.
"Wie? Who?" Ren shook his head, then remembered she couldn't see it.
"I don't know." They took down the stairs and Ren started to drag her back to his hotel with Frankensteiny at their heels. He had a hunch, and usually wouldn't have reacted so nervously if it was who he was thinking of. But with Sofia around, he wasn't going to take chances with HIM. "Just keep close to me."
"Hold on-- hold on Ren! Stop! I'm gonna trip!" The Tao boy came to a halt, Sofia bumping into him for stopping so fast. "Just-- calm down!"
"We need to go!" Sofia flinched, glaring at him. But her face soon changed to a sad one. Ren watched as she slowly went through a phase of expressions. Mostly depressed or angry ones. Was that still from the King of Spirits?
"I feel like saying...," She paused, trying to make sense of it. "... not good enough. Like... I'M not good enough. For you. I'm not good enough for you." Ren's eyebrows raised. Sofia was trying to figure out who was watching them. "It's like... protective and... possessive." Finally, an expression of realization came over here. "I know this! Your dad! It's your dad!-- Oh." Another realization came. That's why Ren had been worried.
At first, he felt angry for being right. Then it was quickly switched to anger and indignant. How DARE his Father pass judgement on her? How dare he decide who was good enough for him? After everything... after what had happened back at the mansion and he still thought it was his place to judge her so unfairly?
How DARE he bring her into this!
Then there was guilt. Ren should've seen this coming. Being involved with Sofia... he had instantly burdened her with his family hate. Of COURSE they would bring her up for judgement. Of course they would be curious and decide if she was good enough for him! They were Taos after all!
"Ren?" He glanced up. Sofia sweat dropped. "You're hurting my arm." He blinked and realized that he had been tensing his knuckles in anger. He loosened his grip.
"Let's just go." Ren started walking again, then glanced back at Sofia. His cheeks reddened and with a sigh. "Good... good job." He was impressed, despite how forced it sounded. She'd managed to figure out who was watching them sheerly on her empathy. She wasn't as weak as she thought she was.
Sofia smiled.
"Thanks." His eyes saddened. He had brought this upon her. Dating... obviously his father would've wanted to know everything about it. And what better way then to see her for himself?
Fortunately for them, the hotels were all together in one area of the Pache Village. Ren still had a feeling of being watched, but if he could at least get Sofia inside; he could take care of his Father then. "I'm... sorry." He said, after finally getting her onto the Funbari Onsen team's porch. Sofia just shrugged.
"Don't worry about it. Another time." Despite her words, Ren still felt guilty. Their one night to get away from everything and it'd been completely destroyed. Mostly because of him. "Ren?" He grunted. "I knew what I was getting into when I told you I liked you." He drew his head back in surprise. Sofia smiled. "I don't care what people think of me, let alone your dad." His fingers brushed against her wrist in the loose grip."Again, congratulations." He blinked.
Oh. That was right. He'd won a match today. The first match of the tournament.
A hand came to his cheek, and soon the thumb went to his lips. With it, Sofia managed to guide herself up to kiss him. Her eyes were closed, though it made no difference. Ren smiled inwardly. No doubt his father was watching them closely. If anything, that made the kiss even better.
Ren curled an arm around Sofia's waist, pulling her closer. The idea of making his father angry took away any kind of awkwardness the Chinese teen could have. He felt both of her hands hold his cheeks. His mouth opened and closed with practiced ease. Sofia went on her tip toes. Another arm wrapped around her. Breath spilled against his neck. Frankensteiny scratched at the door.
Sofia was the one to break away a mix of anger and giggles emitting from her. Though her face was clearly blushing from adrenaline. Even in the dark night he could make out the red cheeks. "He's so angry!" She giggled. She must've guessed what Ren was trying to do. "I think he might spank you."
The purplenette sweat dropped and smoothly unwrapped his arms from her. "Good night." He said, opening the door for her. Frankensteiny ran in to greet his owners in their futon. Sofia smiled and walked in.
"Don't rough him up too much Ren." She closed the door and Ren let out a deep sigh. He stepped off the porch and went down the street, straining his ears for sounds of movement. His Father was obviously doing his best to spy. As soon as he turned the corner, Ren stopped.
"How long are you going to keep hiding, Yuan?" He called out.
A few moments of silence.
Silver Tail howled once more that night.
A pair of foot steps came up from behind Ren. He glanced over his shoulder, the giant Over soul of Tao Yuan stood before him in full robes. He smiled, Ren scowled. "Now, now Lian. There's no need for such a dirty look."
"There is when you do something as dirty as spying." His father shrugged with a sheepish grin, obviously not sorry or guilty about anything he had done that night. "What the hell do you want?" An arched eyebrow came to meet the derogatory tone, but Yuan kept smiling.
"Just thought I'd get a better look at the girl my Lian had taken such an interest to."
"Because trying to kill her before wasn't a close enough inspection?" Yuan frowned at that.
"Lian." He paused, obviously trying to let the Tao teen calm down. "You didn't honestly think I'd turn a blind eye on the blind girl, did you?" The pause to calm Ren down didn't help much. He whirled around to face the Giant Over soul, whom was now stroking his beard.
"It's none of your business!"
"To be honest, I was thoroughly surprised when I first saw you two alone at the mansion. Letting someone else tend your wounds. I don't think I've ever seen you so open about a weakness." Ren couldn't tell if Yuan was insulting him about it. He was still smiling, but not in the old sly way. "And then DANCING." Ren sweat dropped and a few stress veins pulsed on his fist.
"Have you gossiped about our entire relationship!"
At that, Yuan's eyes widened considerably. "Relationship?" Ren froze. What had he unleashed! "That's quite a strong word to use for someone so young of age." Before Ren could reply, a large hand was put up to stop him. "You really are growing, Lian." The smile... it wasn't a sly smirk or an evil grin. It wasn't sickeningly innocent to hide an abusive hand. It was a proud smile.
"Why are you here?" Ren asked. His limbs fell to his side, he was calming down. Tao Yuan took in a deep breath.
"To support my son." He hesitated with his next words. Though they became confident. "Whether he succeeds, fails, or has his heart broken by a blind German girl who can barely walk with out tripping."
Ren's hands tensed in frustration, he then turned on his heel and marched off down the street. "Get away from me!"