Summary: "A blue shirt? A nice cap? Cookies? Chocolates? Flowers? Stuffed toys? What would be the right gift for him?" A two-shot HaoTamao fic.
Disclaimer: Shaman King doesn't belong to me.
Aki: I was planning to make this for Christmas, but I wasn't actually able to do it… So I made it for Valentines, even if it's more than a month away.Well, anyway, here's another HaoTama fic I thought of. Uhm, actually, I don't know how Yoh won the title of the Shaman King because I've only watched the anime and I haven't read the manga, so I just decided to make my own plot for that. Well, hope you all like this…! (and I also hope you all review…) This is a two-shot ficlet!
Warning: Tama-chan is somehow overacting in this story… Blame Hao's good looks. ,
xXx
V-day Mayday
xXx
by Aki
There.
Tamao smiled at herself as she looked over the small box that she had just finished wrapping with a yellow cover that had prints of smiling bears on it.
The gift just looked satisfyingly nice.
The pink haired lass felt a warm blush creep upon her face. Inside the box that she held was the gift that she would give to him for the special day tomorrow --- the Valentines Day.
She had gathered all her self-confidence and courage to make the decision of giving him a present on the fourteenth day of February. Whenever the said event was being discussed in the group, all she could feel was the very uncomfortable warmth covering up her whole face; and her friends' teasing her didn't give any help at all. It actually took all of her and her spirit guardians' confidences for the idea to persuade her.
Right now, she couldn't help feeling every emotion known to a girl who had already met the fate of having her heart out-and-out to someone she realized as a truly special person.
True.
There were so many emotions dwelling inside her. She was happy, embarrassed, and nervous all at the same time: happy because she was able to find a gift for him; embarrassed because this was the very first time she'd give a gift to him; and nervous because doubt was coming back to her senses.
She really had a hard time looking for something that would soothe her judgment, but everything in every shop that she had gone to in Tokyo seemed to be a little bit… not right… Well, at least, to her point of view, all of them was really too clichéd.
And because she had chosen a totally non-clichéd gift for a boy, she was suffering once again from the self-doubt that had somehow gotten worse and worse every second that passed.
"Your face looks like some mashed strawberries were crushed on it!"
Tamao pouted and gave the raccoon spirit a dismayed glare. Konchi grinned at her while Ponchi gave her a thumbs-up as the two of them floated over her head and sat there.
"Don't worry Tami!" Ponchi said, or rather, shouted with so much liveliness in his voice, making the young clairvoyant cringed. "We're sure that he's going to like that!"
"But---" Tamao started; however, the two spirits had already gone their way outside her room with a loud bang coming from the door. She heaved out a sigh and leaned on her desk.
Why was she so troubled over the idea of giving him this gift…?
She lifted her head and stared at the small box clutched in her hands.
Sigh.
She really wasn't sure why she chose it among all the other things that had seemed to be an appropriate gift for a person like him.
There was the blue shirt that she thought would fit nicely on him; she almost opted for it, but an inner voice stated to her the fact that any clothing would fit perfectly on him. Tamao tried to give that voice a cold shoulder treatment, but of course, she failed miserably on ignoring it.
And this had made her face looked almost like to the color of the fresh apples she had bought that day.
Then there's the nice mahogany-colored cap that had a white kanji of "cast" written on it. She had imagined him wearing it and the young lass had to admit to herself that she would actually like to see his chocolate-colored hair tucked under that cap. She blushed at the thought of seeing him smiling at her with that cap on.
He'd probably prefer to make the world see his likable hair rather than tuck it under a cap anyway…
She also considered on giving him some home-baked cookies; but for the old onsen's sake, he and their other friends living in En has tasted her cookies and other foods she had made for as many times as they had probably bathed in the onsens. She didn't think those cookies would taste really special even if she put all her thoughts and dedications on them.
Chocolates?
He's not actually fond of them. And besides, boys were the ones who were supposed to give those. Ah, that didn't mean that she's waiting for him to give her some chocolates, although she'd really be happy to have some of those coming from him…
She felt her face grow warmer and all she could do was place her hands on her face and try to rub off the uncomfortable heat. But her doing that only made the matter worse.
Flowers?
Come on… that's out of her choices. Many girls had been putting garlands of roses and many other flowers on his locker, desk, and in their mailbox ever since he started studying with them.
But somehow, giving him flowers sounded kind of cute. The pink haired lass wondered what he's reaction would be if he'd receive a bouquet of flowers from her…
Would he just hand it back to her and ask her to put them in some vases like what he did for the flowers he received from his admirers….?
Ouch. That would definitely hurt, knowing that she's just like the girls who had their feelings totally unrequited.
Stuffed toys?
…
Hao and stuffed toys might look cute together, but… it's sort of… kind of… unusual…
What would be an appropriate gift for a person like him?
Tamao smiled a little with pride.
There was no other person like Hao…
Looking back at the gift she would give him, she again wondered why she had chosen it among all the other things. Actually, all the things that she had almost opted to had passed her imaginary criteria for something right to give to him, but mysteriously enough, she didn't pick any of them.
Instead, when her cherry eyes set their view on that… that special item, she couldn't help but feel fascinated; it was what she had been looking for…! She knew that there was no chance that he'd use it, but her instincts told her that it was the right thing she should choose… All she was aiming for as a thank you was his warm smile… And she was sure she's going to attain it with this stuff.
She was sure that she had been totally sure of that.
But right now, as she gazed at its box, she wondered if it was actually right to buy that as a gift for him; if it was actually right to give it to him…
Why was she being so conscious at all?
It isn't like she was uncomfortable around him. Well… maybe she was uncomfortable when he's around, but that's because she had already accepted the fact that he was special to her! Not because he used to be the shaman who was planning to annihilate the human kind and reign the world full of powerful shamans.
Somehow, even if it has already been a year, people who knew about his past still hadn't forgotten his malevolence. They still considered and treated him as the evil shaman who cared less for the people around him if they weren't as powerful as he expected them to be.
It had been a year after all those happened. Even though a year was just a short time, many things had happened during the past twelve months that had gone.
Things had already changed.
After the title of the Shaman King was placed on Yoh, Hao was placed under the responsibility of his other half. The known-to-be evil shaman was punished with the spell of inability to use any of his shamanic abilities. His power spirit was also supposed to be taken away, but Yoh, being the open-minded one, objected the idea. The Shaman King had said that the power spirits of the shamans were important parts of them; whoever that shaman was, he would probably be incomplete without his power spirit.
The guardians first didn't agree to this, but when Yoh told every one of them that he was trusting his older twin, they all gave in on his decision.
Tamao weakly smiled. She had really loved Yoh --- anybody who knew him probably would. However, it was different now. She realized that her love for Yoh was that kind of an attraction towards a person who has the ability to change things through his rightful philosophies in life.
Yoh was a very dear friend to her and she had already accepted the fact that that was how the lazy boy viewed her. Although there would still be times when she would blush around him, she understood the fact that Yoh and her together was just like chocolate syrup and banana ketchup mixed as one --- they could be placed in one closet, but never in one container. Meaning, they were never meant for each other.
Besides, Yoh and Anna fit perfectly together.
But that didn't mean that she and the long-haired shaman were meant for each other. Even though she loved him, Tamao was altogether ready to accept the fact that Hao was another chocolate syrup, and she was ready to get hurt for falling for him.
After all, this was Hao we're talking about.
Things had really changed…
She continued to glance at the gift she tried hard to find and a frown appeared on her face as her brows creased together. It was impossible for him to like this…
Despite the fact that things had changed, it was impossible for him to like h--
"Tamao?"
The second that she heard that, Tamao involuntarily stood straight away and hid her gift on her back, away from his sight. Why was he here?
"H-H-H-H…Hao-kun!" The pink haired lass stammered as she felt her face grew warmer. She hated herself for blushing so much in front of him!
There, in the doorway, stood Hao, wearing a plain white shirt and a pair of dark brown jeans; his usual outfit whenever he's at home. His long hair was tied in a mid-high ponytail, and Tamao had noticed before that his hair had grown longer.
He appeared a little bit bored and somehow tired; he probably had just come back from the training that Anna had given to both him and Yoh.
She watched him blink a few times as his dark eyes stared at her. He was meters apart from her and the silence growing before them made her really, really uncomfortable. She felt herself smile crookedly and her left eye twitch. Why was he looking at her like that? Was he reading her mind? Was there something wrong?
He tilted his head a bit and spoke. "Is there something wrong?"
"Huh?" She realized that she had been holding her breath ever since he came and her stature appeared really tensed. Damn… She felt really tired of thinking about all these stuffs… It made her act as if she was concealing so many evil deeds.
The pink haired lass closed her eyes and slowly took a deep breath.
Everything's just fine. I had just been thinking too much about things. Please don't read my mind this time.
She opened her eyes and turned to look at him; the uncomfortable feeling slowly fading away from her senses. Hao again stared at her for some time before speaking.
"Okay-" that was a relief, "-but you're hiding things, aren't you?"
It was Tamao's turn now to look at him and blink as she adjusted the gift on her back. He had knew she was hiding something?
"You're not reading my mind, are you?"
"I am not." He walked towards her bed, and sat comfortably there before looking back at her. "You're just acting weird."
Tamao slowly shifted her gift away from Hao's view, (she was really thankful for the bunch of books on her desk!) and tried to be really comfortable; after all, this wasn't the first time that they had talked to each other in her room.
Sometimes he'd come here to ask her for help about certain school works or when he was bored out of the training he was tasked to.
And whenever Hao came in her room, he had always left the door open, like now. She wasn't sure if he was doing that because he had had read her mind that she was uncomfortable, or if it was of any other reason.
He'd always just sit there on her bed while she stayed sitting in front of her desk.
"You've just finished your training?" Tamao asked, altering the topic away from her and her weirdness for the day. The other shaman plopped his upper body down on the bed and started stretching his arms.
"Yah." He grunted as he recall the previous hours. "Anna made Yoh and I stand on top of the two poles we placed on the river. Every movement we did cost us to get a hundred pail of water from the temple's well, which was located up the Funbari hills…! Huh, she's getting more and more pesky everyday."
Tamao let out a soft laugh after his response. Because of Yoh, Anna had also learned to trust Hao in some ways. And she was showing it in form of various trainings that she presented to the Asakura twins.
"Trainings? More like punishments." Hao sighed and rolled his eyes.
"You are still reading my mind?" Tamao asked in disbelief as she unconsciously pouted.
Hao shrugged. "You were not planning to tell me anything." He sat straight up and smiled at her. "Are you really gonna hide that thing on your hand to me forever?"
Tamao tensed again and did her best not to jump and cover the small gift she was secretly hoping that he wouldn't notice. She felt sweat drops forming on her head.
"How could I not notice?"
"Hao-kun, please stop reading my mind…!" She was aware that her face was again totally red. She was blushing madly, and Hao wouldn't probably miss that fact! And for the old temple's sake! The blood on her face seemed to be reaching he mind! She was really on panic about what to do, and Hao, staring at her like that and trying to read her mind, wasn't really helping her ease her nervousness!
She really didn't know what to do. He had seen her small gift! And he was reading her mind!
Hh! You're making me feel dizzy, Hao-kun! I'm already having a hard time thinking, and you reading my mind makes me over-conscious about things! Agh…! I don't know what to do…!
"Tama---" Before Hao could even approach her, she stood straight up with her arms covering her gift for him and bolted outside her room in a dash. Even if she was on panic, she still wouldn't leave her gift on the room just for Hao to see it…! Even if it was actually for him…
Hao was left there staring at the seat she was formerly taking.
Was what he had read on Tamao's mind… right…?
Moments later, he averted his eyes towards the door with his eyes widened and his mouth left open.
He was surprised, but it was not because of her uncharacteristic behavior; rather he was totally shocked to know that… that…
"That gift was for me…?"
.tsuzuku.
Aki: Uh… I wonder if there's anyone who'd be able to guess what Tami's gift for Hao is (Hehe... I know I didn't put enough clues...). And I'm sorry if Tamao and Hao is acting a bit OOC…: grins sheepishly: Hope you wait for the next chappie. Reviews are like food for the authors...
P.S If there are any wrong grammars, please tell me...!