Gone and Done

By: Chiharu-chan

Themes from 55themes on livejournal.

Fifty-five drabbles on Nichrome and Hao's gang.

Shaman King is copyrighted to Hiroyuki Takei, TV Tokyo, Shonen Jump, Fox Box, 4KIDS , et.

Theme Eleven: Infatuation

Nichrome was eight when he was first introduced to the Hanagumi. All three of the girls were older than him; he didn't consider them as anything else besides nasty, annoying girls.

Nichrome was ten when they died. All three of them, crushed to death in an instant by Peyote. He wasn't the judge for that particular match, yet he felt responsible for their death.

Nichrome was eleven when they were revived by Kyouyama Anna, the Itako. She wanted them to work for her Onsen. The rush of relieve never caught up to him, and he found himself in a dream as all three of them stood in front of his eye.

"Oi, you got tall." Macchi grinned, patting him slightly on the back.

"You got skinny." Mari decided. "Being boney is not attractive."

"You got quite." Kanna remarked, smirking slightly.

They were borderline insults masked as compliments. Yet, there was that sense of elegant air to all three of them.

They instantly became ladies in his eye.

Theme Twelve: One night stand

It was five years later than he found her on his doorsteps. Her cloths were drenched with the rain, her face lost its exciting glow and her purple lilac eyes were no longer bright.

"Can I come in?"

He let her in, let her take a shower, and made hot cocoa for her.

She took the shower, but rejected the cocoa. "I should be going."

"Did you have something to say?" He raised an eyebrow.

"No.. I just, I don't know what I was thinking." She replied, running a hand through her hair. "I've sunk to a new low, haven't I?"

"You're older than me. I shouldn't be the judge of that."

"I'm so stupid, Nic-chan." She laughed. "I'm so stupid, Nichrome."

She began seeing him as more than a little boy after she lost herself.

"Can I stay with you tonight?"

"You're stupid, Matilda."

Theme Thirteen: True love

"What brings you to my door?" He asks dully.

"Please." She replies in equal fashion. "Your overwhelming enusthiasm is just too much."

Nichrome smirked. "I'd invite you to come in, but it's a bit unsanitary in there."

"Please, I'm not stupid." Kanna took out another pack of cigarette from her bag.

"Those aren't good for you."

"Maybe." She shrugged, lightening another stick.

"So?" He raised an eyebrow.

"I'm getting married."

"To whom?"

"Met him at work. I asked him out. Been dating. He asked me to marry him." She summarized, checking her watch.

"Is he a Shaman?"

"No."

"Do you love him?"

She shrugged.

"Okay. What else?"

"I want you to be the Best Man." She replied, flipping her cell phone open causally.

Nichrome stared at her. "The groom gets to pick that."

"His sister is the Brides Maid." Kanna replied alarmingly sharp. "I'm picking the Best Man. I want you."

"Ah. Thank you." He smiled. Another one of his girls was leaving him.

Theme Fourteen: Food

The food at the reception was surprisingly good. Nichrome, however, barely got to taste the cake as he was greeted by countless old faces.

"Can you believe it?" Zen hummed against the table, whine bottle in hand. His suit was cheap and understated. "Our Iron Girl is getting married off. Even our little boy has a lovely escort."

"Are you stupid? Can't you recognize me?" Macchi snapped at him. She had had one-too-many bottles of whine as well.

"Mmm. Can it be!" Ryo slurped drunkenly. "Our little Macchiii is so gorgeous now! Let's celebrate."

The Guitar Twins clashed their whine glass together.

"Yeah!" Macchi joined in, spilling whine on her dress.

Nichrome slapped his forehead. She was going have a fit when she sobers up. That dress had cost five months of her pay. He gently grabbed her arm, helping her away from the buffet table. She laid her head on the crook of his neck, giggling madly.

"Lovely reception, isn't it?"

He turned around, still securing Macchi by grasping around her waste, to see the girl's blonde counterpart. Macchi hiccupped. "Mari!"

"You're such a bad boyfriend, Nichrome-kun." Mari smirked knowingly. "You let her get drunk." Of the three girls, Mari grew the most. Her blonde hair framed her beautifully elegant face, and her crystal green eyes radiant seduction.

"I probably am." Nichrome sighed, pulling Macchi up as she slid downwards.

"Don't blame yourself too much." Mari winked, walking past him. "It's because Mari and Nichrome are the only two people who hasn't tasted the food."

Theme fifteen: Depression

She found him near the river banks, lying on the grassy marshes. She dared not to disturb his peace; yet, she knew that he had noticed her aside from his cloud-watching.

She gulped. This reminded her too much of him.

He finally sat up. Without turning around, he patted the spot on the grass next to him. She slid down the hill slowly, taking a seat silently.

"I don't get it." She spoke up. "I still don't get it."

"I don't understand how he could've found a peace of mind with this." He replied with the same monotonous voice. "It's so juvenile."

Over the years, cloud-watching became the only thing that could relate them back to him. That unforgettable yet shattered piece of their memory. It was the only way to connect back to Hao-sama.

"Oh. You're here already."

Macchi and Nichrome looked up to the top of the side-walk along the rive bank.

Mari and Kanna stood there, smiling back at them.

Theme sixteen: Heart break

"Sometimes… Mari wonders why these things happen to her." She hummed as she laid on her elbow, swishing her can of beer. Her beautiful blonde hair was tied in a messy ponytail; her gorgeous face was now ruined with running mascara and dirty eyeliner.

"I'm sorry." Nichrome took her beer away. "I don't know what else to say."

"So is Mari." She laughed slightly, sloping down onto his carpet. "Whenever someone leaves Mari's life, she can never forget it. She remembers everything about him."

Both of them were smart enough to know who she was talking about.

"Kousuke-kun left too. But when Mari tries to imagine his bright red hair, all she can see is his soft brown hair." She smiled bitterly. "Mari sees him in her dreams, and she can't forget him."

Nichrome frowned, pulling the blonde girl into a hug. She buried her head into his shoulders, sobbing quietly. He frowned, quietly whispering into her ear. "I see him too, Mari. I remember him. I love him, yet hate him at the same time. Don't let them –him- break your heart anymore."

Asakura Hao left all of them in a broken-state of mind.


Theme Seventeen: First encounters

He met Nyorai again on a subway on his way home from school. He had been seated, flipping through the pages of a book quietly as the subway eventually came to a stop at stations.

It was on the stop between Shinbuya that she walked past him.

He looked up. He had his reading classes on; its thick black borders sloping lazily against the bridge of his nose. His bangs fell halfway across his face.

She turned around. She held a beach bag across one arm as the edge of books stuck out. She took off her sunglasses, readjusting it on the top of her head.

The subway began to move again.

"Nichrome-kun." She remained standing in the aisle of the nearly empty halls, smiling brilliantly as she radiated that sense of calmness he once remembered.

"Nyorai-sama."

It was just like their first encounter. Subtle. Vague. Unpredicted.

It happened too quick.

Approaching Kantou Station

"Well, goodbye, Nichrome-kun." She leaned down to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. The last thing he remembered was seeing the fabric of her dress as the subway zoomed out of the station.

He touched his cheek; mildly wondering if that had been a dream.


Theme Eighteen: My thoughts alone
In the beginning, he thought life would eventually get better. His brother died. His mother died. He was wrong.

He thought that his position in the Patch Tribe would provide a stable assurance that Asakura Hao would become the Shaman King. He had been wrong.

He thought that life was happening too fast for him. He didn't think he would ever mature; yet, he grew little by little out of that lifeless shell. He had been wrong.

He thought that he would always be alone. He thought he didn't need protection or love from any bystanders. He thought that he could conquer life on his own. He thought that nothing else could possible shake his world further.

In return, irony got the best of him again.

They came into his life. One-by-one. They quietly made a firm impression of themselves in his world of unrealistic shelters. Nyorai, in all perfection, provided him with the love of a friend, gently guiding him towards a new light. Kanna, unknowingly, gave him the love of a sister. Mari, mature in her own way, smiled and allowed him to face harsh surrealism. Macchi let him fall in love with her.

He, grudgingly, had been wrong again.

Theme Nineteen: Torture

He thought torture was repetitive. Torture was those memories that never seem to go away. It wakes him up at night, scare and alone. It played over-and-over again like a piece of broken film. It was the scratching on a record that refused to stop.

Over and over.

It's over, he was on the job.. He's dead.

Sorry, the procedure failed. She's dead.

He woke up, panting. Running a hand through his damp hair, he frowned at the girl next to him on the bed. Macchi slept soundlessly, hugging her pillow as she hummed softly in her sleep.

He smiled slightly, running the back of his hand against her cheek. This, perhaps, was the worst torture of all.


Theme Twenty: Music

He nearly choked on his coffee. Quickly wiping his face with a napkin, Nichrome looked up at his girlfriend. "What?"

"I want to become a singer." Macchi replied, looking out the window- seat of the small café. "I don't want to stay like this, you know. I don't want to stay in this city; it's a living reminder of everything. I don't want to waste the rest of my life as a waitress."

"But, a singer?" He stared quizzically at her.

"I have too much stuff bottled up here." She grinned, pointing at her heart.

He knew. He knew of her beautiful voice. He knew of her desperate need to sing and voice out the fragments of her memory. It was the only way she could express it.

His eyes went back to his coffee. "What are you planning?"

"I want to go to Tokyo." She replied with the same light-hearted tone. "I need a manger, and I need a contract. I can't find that here, so I need to leave." He paused. "You understand, right?"

"Right." Fuck, he did understand. It only hurt more, him understanding. "Right. You want to break up, right?"

Macchi smiled. She didn't kiss him nor declare her undying love to him. "Thank you."

"Right." Her muttered again, failing to meet her eye. He grabbed his bag, ready to leave. "What now?"

"Good bye." She only smiled wistfully.

He wondered about music and its importance in her nonexistent relationship.

Afterthoughts

Mmm. This set of drabbles came out better than I expected. It did eventually frame into a story, see? But I felt the need to refrain from something too cheerful. My Nichrome-muse is one of the few things in my fandom, including Shaman King, that refuses to die down. X3 I think of him as a puzzle waiting to be solved by different people with different points of view.

Anyways, this is drabble 10 to 20. There are 25 left. Let's see if I can finish, and make up, this story by then.