Title: Meaning
Rating: K+
Genre: General
Summary: While the others are in school, Ryu finds himself raising the youngest member of Funbari Onsen, and thinking on his Shaman Queen. Implied Yoh x Anna. Hints of others. One Shot
Disclaimer: Shaman King © Hiroyuki Takei.
A/n: Apparently Yoh and Anna are only 16 when Hana is born. This is set during their last year of highschool (when Hana's 2). Reviews greatly appreciated on this one.
Meaning
Such a little treasure was the small boy that sat before him. His hair was brilliant gold like his mother's, but his eyes were the lazy chocolate of his father's. Even with his face covered in spaghetti sauce, little Asakura Hana was the most adorable child Ryu had ever laid eyes on.
"Now look what you've done," Ryu laughed after Hana began swatting at a mosquito that had snuck into the onsen. While attempting to shoo the pest away, the boy had managed to dye his hair orange-red with the tomato sauce. Deciding he was finished eating his lunch, Ryu lifted Hana out of the highchair and carried him out to bath house. "Are we going to have to have a shaman fight today?" he asked with a grin.
"No!" Hana cried.
Of course, it wasn't really a fight they often had. Anna had insisted he begin training as soon as his skull finished growing. He could really only call a shikigami to his rescue, but even then it rarely lasted. While he had the shikigami to defend him, Ryu would oversoul Tokagero into his thumb and tickle Hana until he gave in and allowed himself to be washed.
Preparing Hana was an easy task, since the boy didn't like to wear clothes anyway. The tricky part was convincing him that the water wasn't too hot or cold. Knowing this from almost a year of experience, Ryu took his shirt off and lifted Hana to rest on his hip while he set the water. It may have meant getting soaked, but at least Hana would be clean, as well as give Hana the chance to laugh as he told his parents how he got Uncle Ryu's funny hair to fall down.
The shower lasted the customary fifteen minutes, and it took another ten minutes to get Hana dried and dressed again. After glancing at the clock, Ryu decided he had an hour for the two to play, and then he would have to put Hana in for his nap and start preparing Anna's after-school snack.
"What do you want to do now?" he asked.
"Swim!"
Ryu stared at Hana for a moment, and then smiled. Faust had begun teaching to swim a month earlier, but with a recent flood of patients, he had little time to spend with the boy, or anybody else for that matter. "You had to wait until after you were dry, didn't you?" he asked with a half-smile, and then laughed when Hana nodded furiously. "Careful, or your head might roll of," he joked, and then laughed again when Hana gasped and held his head.
After retrieving Hana's trunks, he took the boy out to the hot spring and helped him change again. "What do you do before you get in?" he asked when Hana was ready.
"Get help," Hana replied happily.
"Right," Ryu replied with a nod. Although he and Faust highly disagreed, Yoh and Anna had always been quite relaxed with their son being around the hot spring. It had been left to Ryu to teach Hana that the water could be dangerous.
They spent the next forty-five minutes in the spring. Ryu had decided the most important lesson to begin with (holding your breath) was how to float. Hana seemed to like being able to lay on the warm water, and twice he was gently scolded for beginning to fall asleep in the water; but finally Ryu told him it was time to get out, and with a pout he took Ryu's hand and followed him out of the spring.
Another ten minutes of drying and dressing passed, and finally Ryu lifted Hana up. "Time for your nap," he said in a murmur, and then smiled when the boy yawned and laid his head against his shoulder.
After ensuring the door to the spring was locked, Ryu took the two-year-old back to his room, and laid him down in his futon. After tucking him in, he smiled and brushed Hana's hair aside. "You sleep for a little while, and I'll make you a treat," he said.
"'Kay," Hana replied sleepily, and then rolled onto his side and fell asleep in seconds.
"You sleep like your father," Ryu chuckled, and then returned to the kitchen to prepare brownies for Anna and Hana. He smiled slightly, thinking of Hana, asleep in his futon, and Anna returning home just as he would be awakening. And he wondered how Yoh could simply go off with his friends every night, regardless of what they were up to.
Since Hana's birth, Anna seemed to have reached a dry spell. She continued to give out orders, keeping everybody and everything in shape, but she didn't punish people as frequently. He imagined she must be drained after having a child at only sixteen, and having to juggle that with school and managing the onsen. He often admired her strength. It was a rare gift, and he had seen plenty of the mainstream to know this. A number of girls he had gone to school with had depended on abortion since as early as thirteen years of age. The few who went through with their pregnancies often ended up dropping out of school. Only the week before he had run into an ex-girlfriend who had cheated on him during their relationship. She was now working late shifts, trying to support herself and her daughter, and looked as though she had just returned from some horrible battle.
Anna wasn't like this, though. She never let her attitude falter. No matter where she went, her personality demanded respect. Before Hana finally started sleeping through the nights, she still faced the world with raw beauty, not only physically, but in her ability to keep things under control. Their friends called her a tyrant because of her strength, but he knew better.
Anna had allowed him to become part of Funbari Onsen, even after what he had done to her fiancee. Even if she did have personal gain in the decision, she had still proven she had a merciful side. After he finished his basic training with Mikihisa, she employed him to the onsen and began training him to further his ability. Once again, there had been personal interest, but the schedules that their friends described as treacherous were a great deed on her part. He now realized that while Yoh made him what his life was becoming, it was in fact Anna who saved him from what he had become.
She had given meaning to his life. And now she trusted her son in his care.
Only a few years ago, he had often searched for the person he wanted to devote himself to. For a time, he had even been convinced that that person was Lyserg. He smiled awkwardly, thinking of how time had changed him. He decided that he finally had grown up, and smiled slightly, proud of himself for it.
The oven alarm went off, indicating that the brownies were now ready, and he briskly removed them and sat them on the cooling rack by the window. After setting pan in the sink to cool, he poured two glasses of milk, placed four of the hot brownies on a saucer, and then sat them on the small table that rested by Anna's resting mat by the television.
"Mommy's home!" Hana's voice called from somewhere in the onsen, and then Ryu went to the lobby and smiled as Anna entered.
"Good afternoon, Miss Anna," he said with a bow, and then smiled when Hana ran past him and hugged Anna tightly.
"Mommy, I made Uncle Ryu get his hair wet again," Hana said excitedly. "And we read and got to swim, and Ryu made pancakes for breakfast!"
"That sounds good," Anna said with her usual, faint smile. Then Hana ran to the living room to turn on the television.
"Thank you, Ryu," Anna said while glancing away.
"I left brownies and milk in the living room for you and Hana," he said while taking her coat and back pack. "If you decide you want more, let me know."
"Of course," she replied while slipping into a pair of slippers, and then walked past him. But before entering the living room, she did a small, peculiar thing. She paused and looked back at him with a strange glance. One that seemed to have a hint of sadness, but on the whole was a small smile of appreciation. They looked quietly at each other for only a moment, and then Ryu smiled. "Do you need anything else, Miss Anna?"
"No, thank you," she replied, her expression returning to normal, and then she entered the living room.
After hanging up her jacket and returning her back pack to her room, Ryu came to a rest outside of the living room and looked in with a small smile. Every now and then he would have ridiculous thoughts, and perhaps this was one of those times. He couldn't help to think how much meaning his Shaman Queen and Prince gave his life.