Thank you all for you reviews. Again I apologize immensely for not updating for such a long time. I will try to keep up until the end. Soon I will have a book. HEHEHEHE
"ARE YOU OFF YOUR ROCKER?" Anna sighed at Ren's outburst, rubbing her temples with her middle and index fingers. His constant anger really was getting irritating. The rest of the men were looking at her wildly as if she had lost it. It made her even more frustrated. It was not hard to grasp. Make Hao so angry that it weakened him enough for Yoh to push through. Not hard at all.
"I would be afraid to see him mad. I mean Yoh could be bad but Hao…instant death," HoroHoro commented, exaggerating his point with a wave of his hands.
"I know. I have witness his anger myself."
"Yeah, he held back then, you are still here," he argued
"No. Memory serves me that after Yoh returned from Hao that was Hao's true fury, unleashed and wild."
"Just thinking about it gives me shivers," Chocolove commented.
"What if it does not work, woman?"
"Then we are all screwed. But what do we have to lose? I really do not think this is the kind of life you guys really want?" They remained silent and Anna continued. "And if we win, we would get Yoh back and things could return to normal. His spirit is still the Great Spirit."
"That is another issue…Great Spirit…hello…the Spirit of Fire is nothing compared to the big G.S." HoroHoro said, shifting his feet to make a pattern on the ground.
"We are not going to physically fight him. That is suicidal. We are going to hit his pride, get him angry. Each time he was angry, I was able to contact Yoh without his knowledge." Oh so I hope, Anna added to herself. She was not entirely sure if that was the case. She was hoping on it. No she was betting her life on it, literally.
"What is are first course of action," Ren finally said with a heavy sigh.
"Escape. Get everyone together. We need as many people as possible. We can get Yohmei and Mikky to gather up people…I am sure we are not the only ones who do not like Hao as Shaman King."
"Next question, Anna," Ren pronounced her name with mocking disdain. "How do we escape?"
"I do not know. Figure something out; you know this place a lot more than I do." Ren snickered at the compliment, crossing his arms over his chest. She hated to give him the ego boost but it really was an urgent matter.
"Just go through the hole in the wall," Chocolove said absently, spoiling Ren's moment. They all turned to him to see that he had dug an impressive hole in a far off wall. HoroHoro jumped up, clamoring a hurrah at the top of his lung and lunged for the hole. Ren grabbed his pant leg, which sent him crashing to the ground. A vein of anger pulsed along Ren's forehead and Anna could have sworn she saw his hair throb along with it. Faust chuckled and stood up.
"It is hard to believe it took you 6 years to figure out how to escape."
"Hard to think about escape when you are being tortured," Ren said, standing up. Faust offered Anna a hand, pulling her up gracefully. Chocolove and HoroHoro were already crawling through the hole.
"Better than dying," Faust said simply. Ren looked at Anna for a moment, his yellow eyes blazing.
"I rather would have died." Anna scowled, so many hidden meaning were in his remark but she let it pass. It was not the time for petty argument. Ren slipped into the hole after Chocolove and HoroHoro. Faust allowed Anna to go first, simply saying 'ladies first' and he took up the back. The hole was big enough to fit through but the passage was tinny. They were on their hands and knees as soon as they entered. Ahead Chocolove was using his claws to continuing digging a passage.
"And this time. Do not come up in a maid's dressing room," HoroHoro warned. Chocolove flashed a full, mischievous smile over his shoulder.
"Aw. You are no fun!"
A few hours later
"Air! Fresh air," Chocolove gasped as they finally broke through somewhere deep into the forest. After hours of laboring, cave-ins, high temper and misdirection, the group finally made it out of the tunnel and far from the dungeon. The sounds of the woods were all around them as one by one they emerged like refugees from the tunnel. Once everyone was out, they looked at each other for a brief moment. They were all covered in earth and their clothes were ripping and dirty. Anna patted her head to feel that her hair was tangled and coated in dirty and knotted with mud. She scowled, trying to shake away the dust. Somewhere, HoroHoro and Chocolove were celebrating, dancing around in the cool woods, bellowing loudly. Ren was screaming and threatening them to be quite while Faust was looking around cautiously. Anna tried to fix herself up but gave up.
"We did it. We did it," the dark-skinned boy and blue-haired Ainu chanted.
"Will you two shut up? You are making to much noise!"
"Hey." Faust called the trio. Anna looked around trying to find out where they were. Nothing looked familiar and all looked the same. Anna took in a deep breath of the cool air, whipping sweat from her brow. They were off to a good start…unless they would not shut up. "HEY!"
"What?" Everyone's attention turned to Faust as he stood motionless and looked around.
"Does anyone find it suspicion it was that easy to escape?" They looked at each other carefully than around. The woods were alive with wildlife and the rustling of leaves in the wind. HoroHoro and Chocolove stopped their mad dance to listen carefully with the others. It was true. It had been way to simple, way to easy. Anna could kick herself for not realizing it. Even being put in the dungeon with Yoh's friends had underhandedness to it. She had been so wrapped up in her frustrations and revenge to realize it. Then they heard it.
A snap, clear and precise in the wind and a moment of panic coursed through everyone. They were in no condition to fight. They were not armed and they were tired. Like a bolt of lightening, the boys were off running. Faust grabbed Anna by the hand and pulled her along with him. They dodged through the woods, running from an unseen predator, blinded by the night and their lack of a formal direction. Anna struggled to keep in step with Faust, his long fingers tight around her wrist and practically dragging her along. Her heart was pounding and she was running out of breath. Was this what Yoh felt like when he trained? Finally, tired of dragging Anna as dead weight, Faust stopped and hoisted her on his back.
"Much easier, Anna," he mumbled an explanation when she protested. Anna felt idiotic being carried around like a child but when Faust sped off, following behind the others, Anna wrapped her legs around her waist and held on tightly. They ran for miles, dodging this way of that, trying to break any clear trail that they might leave. Anna's haired flew around her face and she forced herself to bury her head in Faust's back to stop her hair from hitting her. Finally, out of breath and tired and sure that they were in a safer area, they stopped, panting loudly. Anna quickly jumped off Faust's back. She stumbled on a rock and fell to the ground with a painful thud. HoroHoro leaned against a tree, breathing heavily while Chocolove and Faust were bending to catch their breath. Ren was breathing heavily but he seemed accustomed to the exercise.
"We…we…we need…"HoroHoro gulped.
"To be more careful…" The voice was clear and familiar but everyone panicked. Faust turned to pick up Anna again as she pulled herself to her feet. His eyes were wild as he offered his hand. Rubbing her behind, Anna offered her hand when Lyserg emerged from behind a tree. Morphine glittered behind him. It took everyone a moment to gather the situation before HoroHoro leapt at the green-haired boy.
"You freakin' scared us, you twit!" He laughed, pulling Lyserg in a manly hug. Lyserg pushed him off quickly, blushing.
"You will blow are cover," he hissed.
"What?"
"Breaking out like that…what if the Hana Gumi found you."
"What are you talking about?"
"Some of Hao's followers are about," a soft, gentle voice said. Jeanne came into view, his hair flowing behind her. HoroHoro's eyes went wide when he saw the slight girl.
"What for? If they are after us, we have not been gone to long," Ren commented, his arms over his chest.
"We do not know," both of them replied in unison.
"Something is going on. Everyone is restless. Hao's followers are roaming as if they already knew you would escape," Lyserg explained.
"They were here a few hours ago. They almost found where everyone was," Jeanne continued. She and HoroHoro were staring blankly at each other.
"Already knew…shit!"
"It was all a ploy…" Faust mumbled.
"And I bet she is apart of it," Ren accused, thrusting his finger at Anna.
"Keep pointing that thing at me and I will break it off."
"This is all some plan. You and that pyromaniac devised it just to flush out them," Ren continued, dropping his hand. Anger rushed through Anna as she balled her fists.
"Why they hell would I do that!"
"Because you are his wife! All this bullshit about Yoh being Shaman King and some mind bending scheme was all apart of you plan. Get us all together to get us all in one go."
"Take that back, Tao Ren."
"HELL NO!"
"You guys, please be quiet. You are going to get us caught," Lyserg tried to intervene.
"That is the plan, Lyserg. Miss Shaman Queen is nothing but a traitorous bitch. I suspected all along." Everyone's eyes were on Anna with a questioning gaze. Anna was steaming, her hands clenched in a fist. Without another thought but the pure instinct of fury, Anna lunged at Ren. Her fist came in contact with his jaw first and when she swung her other, she got him in the eyes. Ren stumbled back and tricked over a raised root. Anna fell on top of him like lioness and beat him with flying fits, screaming.
"SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! You have no idea! You have no fucking idea what is like! I had to be that madman's wife! I had to share a bed with him and leave in utter hopelessness and fear! YOU HAVE NO IDEA! I only wanted him to love me so he would stop being suspicious! YOU HAVE NO IDEA! To lose someone you love and wake up to find he is dead and you are married to his murderer. Then to find out that your husband is really your husband but his brother takes his place and you cannot talk to him and his friends think you are a traitor and a bitch. YOU…HAVE…NO…IDEA!"
Her punches were getting weaker as all her frustration and anger and fear was unleashed on Ren. Finally she felt hand underneath her arms and like a child; she was lifted off Ren, who was bruised and bloody. Anna sobbed for a moment and pushed Faust away. She looked out upon the forest her back to everyone as her body trembled with rage. Her fingernails dug into her arms as she hugged herself. Behind her, she could hear Ren mutter cursed while someone helped him up. She felt hot tear in her eyes and whipped them away. Everything stood still as Anna collected herself. No longer could she keep everything in side, the deeper this got the more unstable she became. I am going to lose it, she thought.
"If I was working with Hao," she turned her head, swallowing hard. "You would already be caught and dead as soon as we came back to the surface."
"That is just…" Ren began. Anna turned to him; his face was bloody and swollen from her punches.
"Shut up, Ren," everyone said at once including Anna.
"Look. I understand why you do not trust me and to some degree, I really could care less. However, at this point you have nothing to lose, so grin and bear it." That ended everything but tension lingered. Quietly Lyserg and Jeanne lead them to an entrance hidden at a base of a tree. Stairs made of earth led to an underground room and inside it was crowd. Mikky, Yohmei, Keiko, Kino, Tamao, Bason, Amidamaru, and now Jun, Pilica, and Silva were sitting in a dimly lit shelter similar to the one under the house. It was a reunion to remember. Jun embraced Ren tightly, crying as her green hair streaked with subtle grey fell around her face.
Pilica did the same, weeping loudly as she looked at her brother. Bason floated happily around Ren and Jun, repeating over and over 'Master Ren'. Keiko and Tamao were offering everyone water and food. Everyone talked at once and emotions ran high. Anna sipped on her water, retreating away from the festivities and silently watched with a subtle smile. A warm feeling overcame her frustration and anger. Just like old times except. She looked at all the faces as Faust and Silva chatted. No Manta or Yoh. Anna bowed her head and sipped the cool liquid.
"How did you find everyone," Chocolove asked Mikky.
"It was not easy but we managed." He replied cryptically.
"What happen to the other hid away under the cabin," Anna asked.
"The Hana Gumi," Kino said.
"We were moving everyone to this place since it was getting crowded. When we went back, the Hana Gumi was destroying the cottage. When we went back, they had found the hide out, so we ran back," Keiko finished.
"As we said, they have been lurking in the woods with a bunch of other followers."
"It does not make sense," Anna exclaimed.
"What do you mean dear," Keiko asked as all eyes turned to her. Anna shook her head sending a puff of smoke in the air.
"Hao put me in the dungeon with them after he found out I let Bason and Amidamaru loose."
"He knows," Tamao exclaimed.
"Yes. He found out. Of course he was not happy. He knows I am thirteen-year-old Anna but he still kept me."
"Why?" Jeanne perked her head up. Anna loosely shrugged. She really did not want to explain.
"He put me in the dungeon with Faust and them. He is not stupid; he must have known we would escape. He sends out his goons before hand and it is obvious he suspected Kino and Keiko, so why did he not wait until we escaped and returned to the cottage before attacking. Did he know you had relocated? Even if he did, it was just by chance we found you or we would have been wondering the woods. If his goons were really looking for us, would they have put up a better chase? It does not add up to me."
"Or maybe you were all paranoid and thought it was Hao's followers about when it was only mine and the Hana Gumi discovered the hideaway after they escaped." Everyone's head whipped around as a sweet, melodious girl's voice spoke up. A dark-skinned girl about the age of eleven or twelve was sitting at the steps. Her brown hair was a curly mass of fluff on top of her head and deep brown eyes as she smiled cheerily at the group. While Anna, Ren, Faust, HoroHoro and Chocolove froze with fear of being caught, everyone smiled.
"Opacho! You sly girl," Tamao said. "You scared us!"
Opacho is a girl: Holds up some random weapon as tribute: It is true and I stick by it. Wasn't that update fast :)…That was a long chapter and I made Hao to be such a villian...awww...
