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 Twenty-One: Midnight

It was midnight when he arrived at Funbari Onsen.

It had been one or two years since he first enrolled in a Japanese University near Izumo, and Silva had advised him to move to the city for convenience. He had spent a good month in the onsens before moving out into his own apartment.

Nowadays, he found himself frequently returning to that small onsen.

"Ah, Nichrome." A soft voice spoke up, and the boy turned to see Asakura Yoh standing in the doorway; clad in his normal t-shirt and jeans in all of his Shaman King glory. "Come over here."

He obeyed, following the Shaman King into the dinning room as they sat in one of the serving tables. The boy scanned his surroundings; a few other onsen customers were still awake, sitting at a nearby table as they enjoyed their mid-night snack.

"Mari." Yoh waved for the girl behind the door.

The blonde frowned slightly. "Nichrome-kun, what can Mari get you?"

The boy shrugged. "Water."

"Water's not healthy." Yoh grinned. "Mari-chan, get him some orange juice and some cookies."

"I'm not hungry." Nichrome blinked.

"No, the cookies are for me."

The blonde nodded, hurrying away.

"I don't understand." Yoh smiled, running a hand through his hair. "Mari-chan is so stiff around me. She's fine with all the other staff here."

Nichrome paused. "You probably remind her to much of him."

"I suppose you're right." The older boy sighed. "Things like this should be worked out between the two of them."

"They can't."

"Why not?" Yoh raised an eyebrow.

Nichrome bit his lip. "How can she work out her nonexistent love story when she doesn't even know where he is?"

Yoh paused. "He's back in town."

The younger boy shook his head, adverting his attention to the window. "I shouldn't be the one for you to be telling this to." It didn't really matter to him anymore; yet he could still clearly decipher the location Asakura Yoh mentioned to him that midnight.

Theme Twenty-Two: Library

"Hey, I know you!"

Nichrome turned around from pulling a rather thick book off the self. He blinked slightly, staring at the blue-hair girl in front of him. There was some recognition, but nothing too strong.

"I'm Usui Pilica!" She grinned, pushing a thread of hair on her shoulders. "Horohoro's little sister!"

"Oh." Nichrome replied dully.

"I'm going to school here." If she had heard the lack of interest in his voice, she didn't bother to show it. "Yoh said that we're going to the same school."

"University of Izumo?"

"Yep." She grinned. "Although, I just transferred here because Oni-chan got a new job. I'll be your sempai."

"I see."

"Have you heard from Macchi-chan?"

Nichrome blinked, finally paying attention. "What?"

"You don't know?" Pilica raised an eyebrow. "She's trying to get a record contract in Tokyo. Anna-sama said that if she can't get her big break here, she'll probably go back to England."

Nichrome frowned, nodding slightly. He was at a loss of what to say.

He didn't know she was leaving Japan. She never told him.

Theme Twenty-Three: Pets

Her body completely toned and tanned, the newly-wed young woman poked idly at the cash register.

"I expect you won't be working here anymore."

Kanna turned around, eyeing Anna flatly. "No. I'm moving in with him in Kyoto. I'm just here to pick up my old stuff." She paused. "Is Mari and Nic here?"

"Inside." Anna pointed to the dinning hall of the Onsen with her thumb. "He's here to get some spare money since we're in need of new employees. Business hasn't exactly been a carnival since both you and Macchi left."

"Then hire someone new." Kanna shrugged. "Where's he?"

Speaking of the devil, Nichrome came into the checking counter, pulling the bandana off of his hair as he walked. "Hey. You're back."

"Yeah, I got you something." Kanna snapped his fingers as her driver came into the hall with a small cage. The man presented Nichrome with opening the cage, and the kitten inside of it.

"It's a cat."

"You can play around with it." Kanna shrugged.

"You're loaded now, aren't you?" Anna raised an eyebrow.

"My husband is the heir to some corporation or another. He's not the oldest son, so he only gets a percentage of the stock, but it's all good."

"So you're admitting to being a gold digger?"

"Hey." Kanna took off her designer sunglasses, smirking at the blonde. "It's all good. You were so bent on being the wife of the Shaman King, and the most you can do is to run an onsen." She turned around, walking out.

Nichrome gave Anna a look, following the older woman out the door. "You didn't need to do that."

"To tell her off?" Kanna laughed as her driver open the door. "I've always wanted to do that. It's just that opportunity never presented itself since she was my employer." She paused slightly. "So what's this I hear about Macchi?"

"Oh." Nichrome. He turned towards the kitten inside the cat-cage. "She left. But eh, thanks for this."

"She'll keep you company." Kanna shrugged. "You know, since Macchi's gone."

"I know."

Theme Twenty-Four: Fate

"There's something you should know." Kanna spoke up pointy, sipping onto her cup of coffee.

"Oh?"

"Macchi called me last night." The newly wed declared, sitting her cup down as she looked up at the boy sitting opposite of her.

"Oh." He felt his throat tighten up. "What did she say?"

"Nothing much." Kanna shrugged. "She talked about how she got a record label and a signed contract. She said her manager is gorgeous and she wants to date him."

Nichrome paused.

"And she's coming back to Izumo."

"Why?"

"Her manager wants her to sing at a promotional event here." Kanna paused. "She calls it fate, I call it bullshit. She wants to see you."

"No, she doesn't."

She raised an eyebrow. "How would you know?"

Nichrome shrugged. "I don't, but how would you contradict me?"

Kanna laughed slightly, taking the wallet out of her designer purse. "Nic, you're smart enough to know that I can't do that. But I'm also familiar with you enough to know that you want to see her again."

"If she wanted me to come, she would've told me herself."

"So why don't you think she didn't?"

Nichrome looked between the two of them. "She still thinks that I'm mad at her." He chuckled slightly. "That idiot. I was never mad at her in the first place." He stood up, making his way from the table.

Kanna watched as the boy exited the café, grinning to herself.

Theme Twenty-Five: Adrenalin

She only had to wait a couple of seconds for a new figure to be seated in the seat opposite her; where Nichrome had sat previously.

"Why are you in disguise?"

Mattise Matilda grinned, taking off her sunglass. "What? I'm a celebrity now! I need to disguise myself from the paparazzi!"

"You're not a celebrity." Kanna pointed out fully, calling the waiter for another cup of coffee.

"That's what you say." The redhead grinned. "When I become famous, you'll be the first one I mock."

"Good luck with that." The older girl laughed before pausing. "So you got what you wanted, what do you plan to do now?"

Macchi bit her lip.

"He said that he wasn't mad at you, why won't you believe that?"

The redhead shook her head. "That's just his adrenalin rush. He wanted to prove that he's man enough to not depend on him. I know him well enough."

"No." Kanna stood up. "You obviously don't."

Theme Twenty-Six: Death

"Ah, Nichrome." Yoh greeted him with a smiling face. "You came."

"When the Shaman King Orders." The boy spoke up, reciting another section out of his well-organized memory. "All members of the Patch Village will obey. Don't thank me for anything."

"Right. Right." The older boy laughed. "I'm sure that he'll be grateful that you all showed up."

"Your grandfather was a very wise man." Karim concluded. "It's an honor just to attend his funeral."

"Although." Silva paused. "There's a lot of people here."

"Ah." Yoh laughed. "Anna told me to invite a lot of people incase some don't show up. I think it's mainly for her own reference. Although.." He scanned the graveyard filled with familiar faces. "You might be right."

The group paused. "Didn't Anna-sama call you awhile ago?"

"Oh, yeah." Yoh grinned. "She'll get mad if I don't show up soon. Oh, and Nichrome?"

The younger boy looked up in the middle of dusting his suit awkwardly.

"There's someone here. I bet you'd like to meet her. Silva, Karim. Help me find Anna, won't you?"

"Who'd-"

"Nichrome-kun."

The boy paused, turning around and flinching at the familiar, soft tone. Yoh gave him a pat on the back and his disappeared into the crowd with the two other judges.

"Nyorai-sama."

The said girl smiled, taking off her dark sunglasses. Nyorai herself still managed to look relevantly young despite chosen black outfit. "I still don't know why you insist on calling me that."

"It's a habit, I suppose." Nichrome relaxed slightly.

"I heard that you're still in college?" The amber hair-girl smiled. "It's interesting how I notice the age different between us now."

"It's not that big of a deal."

"If you say so." Nyorai smiled, turning around as she scanned the graveyard. Spring cherry blossoms blew into the wind, acting as a converse of the actual mood of the funeral. "I haven't been back to Izumo since the last time I saw you here. When was that?"

"Half a year ago."

"Nichrome-kun." She paused. "I get the feeling that you don't want to stay in contact with me very much."

He paused.

"You're letting go of everything that's important to you, are you sure you're ready to do that?"

"Nyorai-sama." Nichrome grinned slightly. "Are you a stalker?"

The girl giggled slightly. "No, I don't think so. Or, I don't have to."

"I understand. It's only the darkness in my heart. Right?"

Theme Twenty-Seven: Rejection

"Kii-chan." Nichrome sighed, reaching his hand under the sofa. "Come out already."

The kitten, in return, shook her head proudly and ignored him.

The boy ran a hand through his hair, crossed between annoyance and amusement. He took another look at the kitten crawled under his furniture, not quite sure of what to do. Surely it didn't hurt to have Kii-chan sleep there, it's just that Nichrome's over compulsiveness ensured him to be edgy about the whole idea of a cat underneath his sofa.

"Need help?"

Nichrome paused, looking up to see Mari enter his apartment with a bag of groceries. "Yeah, that would make my day."

The blonde smiled, setting the paper bag onto the table as she pulled out a stick of carrot. She kneeled down, poking it under the sofa.

"Mari, eh, rabbits eat carrots, not cats."

"Oh, shush." The blonde gestured him away as she softly cooed the kitten to come towards the carrot.

Nichrome froze slightly.

Mari paused, looking up as the kitten crawled into her arms. "What's wrong?" She fell quite. "Mari's sorry, she shouldn't have done that."

"It's okay." The boy smiled.

"No." The blonde shook her head. "Mari didn't mean to remind you of her. Maybe it was out of character for Mari to say something like that."

"For a second, you sounded like Macchi."

They fell quite.

"Don't take it as a rejection."

"I won't."

Theme Twenty-Eight: Believe

"Has anyone ever told you that you're extremely boring?"

"Yes, and on many occasions." Nichrome smiled slightly. "Why do you ask?"

Horokue Usui looked a little taken back by his response, but grinned in return. "Nah, I just thought that you seemed a little moody." He leaned against the sign-in counter, scanning around the entrance of the onsen.

"I've always been moody."

"Well, I guess I wouldn't be the one to judge that, but you seem contemplative. I, being such a nice guy myself, am trying to help you." The Ainu grinned cheekily in return.

Nichrome raised an eyebrow. "You ran out of things to do."

"Basically." The older boy laughed. "But I don't think of it like that! You need to view things in a more positive manner!"

The patch boy paused. "The glass is half empty."

"Half full is more like it."

"Expecting so much in return is what draws most people back; I'm trying to not make that mistake again." He shrugged, rummaging through the drawers. "Here's your key."

The blue-hair boy snatched the said keys away, staring indefinably at the other boy. "Again?"

"Have a good stay." Nichrome muttered.

Theme Twenty-Nine: Alone
His apartment is on the third floor of an old building. It's relevantly close to the city, but mostly empty. The apartment complex was cheap –a feature that drew him there in the first place- but lonely.

When Nichrome first moved in, he would often make occasional visits to the land lord: a pleasant widow living by herself on the first floor. On those days, he usually went home with a vase of fresh flowers that she picked from her self-mutilated garden on her balcony.

After seeing the first vase of lilacs die, Macchi would take it upon herself to hand select new ones from the local flower ship daily. She would often refill the glass vase in the morning before he woke up, because she new that simple things like that annoyed Nichrome.

By the time he threw away the dead flower two months later, he had finally admitted to himself that he missed Macchi.

Theme Thirty: Vacation

"Mari loves firework festivals" The blonde smiled, twirling around in her new kimono.

"Yes, you've stated that already." Nichrome groaned. If she hadn't dragged him out of his apartment, claiming that he needed a break from schoolwork, he wouldn't have been in such a mess.

Or at least, he wouldn't have to watch countless men hit on the blonde girl with little regards to her escort. They didn't bother to consider that he could be her boyfriend –not that he was-, those pigs.

"No." Mari smiled charmingly at another boy. "Mari came here with someone." She quickly took a stance behind Nichrome, who shot the boys a look.

"Don't be stupid." One daring spectator declared. "Anyone can tell that you're not going out. There's no attraction between the two of you."

"Says who?" Nichrome growled.

"Says me." A cheerful voice replied. A few in the crowed stepped back, turning around to the source of the voice; an adorable redhead in yukata, holding onto a stick of cotton candy.

Nichrome and Mari both stared.

"Macchi-chan!" The blonde quickly dashed out from behind her friend, glomping the new comer with surprising ease. "What are you doing here?"

"Vacation with my boyfriend." Macchi grinned, ignoring Nichrome for the moment. "Come on, I'll introduce you to him."

Mari paused. "Wait for Mari, she needs to get her money from Nichrome-kun." She sprinted back towards the boy, who idly handed the purse back.

"Win her back, stupid." The blonde whispered in his ear before dashing away.

Aftertalk

I know that this set feels pretty rushed, I ran out of inspiration is the only excuse I can come up at this point. I had to rearrange the number of the themes to set the mood right, so that's why most of these themes seems oddly dislocated in places.

Thirty themes done, twenty-five more to go. Review please?

Chiharu.