Mikau: There is a good reason why I haven't updated in forever. Someone reported two of my fics, one week after the other, so my account has been frozen for awhile, and I can just now update again. And yes, I,SR was one of my fics that was taken down, so if you want to read it, you'll have to find me on MediaMiner.

Disclaimer: I don't own Shaman King.

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The Party Begins

"Hana, hand me the hair gel." Akira stood fidgeting nervously in front of my bedroom mirror.

I put down the bright red lipstick I had borrowed from Ivy and tossed Ryu's hair gel to my friend. "I don't see why you're so nervous. It's not like she's going to notice if a few hairs are out of place." I picked the lipstick back up and carefully started applying a layer to my lips.

"Look Hana," The Tao's tone turned sharp. "Why didn't you tell me it was Thorn?"

My hand jerked at his words, and a red streak trailed down my face from my lips to my chin. "What?"

"Don't play dumb; just tell me why you lied to me." He smoothed the spike of his hair down with several fluid motions. Akira didn't sound angry anymore. There was more of a pleading tone to his voice.

"I…" I couldn't think of what to say. "Listen. You do know that I was in love with her, ne?"

He nodded briefly.

I chewed on my lip, turning away from my friend and wiping the lipstick off my face. Our eyes briefly connected in the mirror. I looked away, unable to meet his gaze. "I'm sorry. I don't think I'm allowed to tell you anything." I pretended to be concentrating hard on applying the red gunk to my lips.

"Since when do you have to ask permission to talk flower boy?" My friend mocked me.

I bit down hard on my lip, longing to tell him of all the plans Hoshi and I had made in secret, but I knew my cousin would kill me if I ruined her plans. But then a thought came to me: Hoshi hadn't planned for Akira to figure out Thorn's identity just yet, so in theory, her plans had already been ruined, so what harm would I do if I further informed my friend?

I smiled, finally able to look him in the eye. "Actually, Hoshi and I—well, mainly Hoshi; I'm just her henchman—have been plotting to set you up with Thorn ever since Hao was in the hospital a couple months ago. She never tells me exact details, but she tells me more or less what to do. She said it was essential that you not find out about Thorn until you were absolutely ready. I think that she thought that you wouldn't let yourself fall for Thorn, but you would willingly give up your heart to a mystery girl who you'd never seen the face of. I think she's right; it worked didn't it? Don't you love Thorn?"

He glared at his reflection in the mirror. "Of course. It doesn't matter that my unnamed girl ended up being Thorn. I am a little disappointed that Thorn is the girl I've been lusting after this whole time, but I can get over that eventually. Despite my grudge against her multiple personalities, I think that physically she's very attractive, and I wouldn't mind making her mine. Now I'm just scared that Thorn would be opposed to the fact that her precious Lian is really plain, old Akira." He looked briefly over his shoulder at me. "I'm scared that she won't want me anymore."

"She's not that fickle." I finished up my makeup and put on my navy blue and pastel yellow kimono.

Akira blinked as he gaped at me. "Dude, you just completely killed the serious discussion the moment you put on that dress. When did you become a cross-dresser?"

A low growl crawled up my throat. "It's my costume for the party." I slipped on my starry blue mask and hmphed indignantly.

"Right." He slapped me hard on the back. "Admit that you like it, flower girl."

"Oh like you look any better in that knight in shinning armor costume. You do know how clichéd that is don't you?" I smirked heavily at my friend as I piled my hair on top of my head in mock-geisha style.

I received a bored stare from Akira. "Oh like I care if it's clichéd; that's why I'm wearing it. You know, the scary thing is that you actually look like a real girl in that get-up. An attractive one at that." His lips peeled back to reveal two rows of ivory-white teeth and a flirtatious grin.

The sick way that he looked at me made me shudder. "You and your cousin...tsk, tsk, tsk." I glared at him. "You know, it's not funny when you're the one hitting on me."

"I'm sure it's no—" The whole house lurched as something in the basement exploded…or maybe it imploded; I'm not sure which. Anyway, both Akira and myself were thrown to the floor with me landing on top.

For a minute the both of us were so shocked that we were stunned speechless. "GET OFF OF ME!" Akira screeched at the top of his lungs, apparently not too speechless.

I rolled over off of him and to the side, still gaping. "I thought that Ivy gave up on that."

"You're not making any sense." Akira got to his feet, brushing himself off. "What's all this about that woman?"

I looked up at him with wide eyes. "Her experiments. You know, making a fully functioning body? She told me a few nights ago that she was sick of it. She said she was quitting, and whenever her present body stopped working she would finally leave this world."

"So?" Akira wasn't at all fazed by my words.

I jumped to my feet. "SO! That means she leaving us soon!"

He brushed me off as if it were nothing. "Yes, yes; I understand that. What I mean is: what does that even remotely have in common with the house shaking?"

"Are you DENSE!" I scooped up a discarded sock off the floor and threw it at him. "The house shook because of an explosion. There was an explosion because Ivy blew something up down in the lab. She blew something up down in the lab because she's probably trying to create a new body for herself. Why did she suddenly change her mind about giving up?"

Akira's icy eyes locked on mine with a burning intensity. "She's dying slowly you know. Anna's killing her. By not letting her confess to Hao, I mean. Not that Ivy would confess even if Anna let her. Ivy is too scared to say anything to Hao. She loves him, and that has completely clouded her common sense, what little she had in the first place. It doesn't surprise me that she wants more time with him. She wants to be alive again so they can be together; it's quite obvious to even someone as DENSE as me. Don't you see all the trickery and plotting going on right in front of your eyes? All of this is worse than a thousand years ago in the Heian courts! Anna has sided herself with Lucifer in order to get Hao and Ivy back together, but Anna won't let them dive right back into a relationship. If they get together, they'll be doing it by Anna's rules. She's the puppet-master here. We're all her playthings. Also, Hoshi's no better setting Thorn and me up this way; she means well, but she too has allied herself with the devil. What kind of way is that to live? You're her doll too, Hana. I know you're not stupid; I know you know you're being used. You're letting her use you. I don't know why, but I have a hunch it's because you still care about Thorn and want to see her in good hands. Personally, I don't think that I was a very good choice if you wanted to see her taken care of. Also I love how you are all blind to what's really happening. I'm blind, you're blind, Thorn, Hoshi, Ivy, Anna, Hao! We're blind! Why can't you see it? Am I the only one who sees the truth? We're all being used, and no one realizes it."

I didn't say a word. He wasn't mad, just very worked up about the subject. I really couldn't think of anything to say. I opened my mouth, perhaps to voice my agreement with his spirited monologue, but no words formed.

"I may be blind, and I may be dense, Hana, but I see and know more than all the rest of you put together." And he left.

I let out the breath I'd been holding. Akira had a rather volatile disposition, and I didn't know what to say or, rather, what not to say in order to keep from setting him off. "Well, that went well." I glanced in the mirror one last time to check my makeup, and seeing that everything was in order, I went downstairs where the Masquerade Ball was already in full swing.

I spotted Akira—Lian—talking to Hoshi, Lucifer, and Thorn off by the DJ. It looked as if Lian was trying to pick a fight with the demon, but Lucy just laughed the Tao off, further antagonizing the purple haired shaman. Hoshi scolded at her boyfriend, and Thorn tried to smooth Lian's ruffled feathers.

I smiled and laughed at the ridiculous look of the scene, but soon got over my fit of giggles when I saw my best friend, the computer nerd, trying to flirt with a gorgeous woman by the punch bowl. I made my way over to Makoto and the girl.

He was dressed as Ichigo from Bleach, and she looked beautiful in a long, mandarin-style Chinese dress. The bright green dress contrasted perfectly with her fire-red hair.

I walked up to them just as the girl walked away. "Just one dance, please!" My friend called after her. Seeing that the woman had no intention of giving in to his request, Makoto sighed dejectedly and slunk over to grab a cup of punch.

"You are aware that someone probably already spiked that, aren't you?" I warned teasingly just as he was about to take a sip.

The sudden intrusion of my voice startled him, causing my vertically challenged friend to jump and almost spill his drink. The glasses wearing midget looked up scandalously at me. "Uh, what did you say Miss?"

I blinked. "Huh? Oh! The kimono and makeup! Makoto, don't be ridiculous; it's me! Hana!" I shone my charming smile downward at my buddy.

He looked back up at me incredulously. "HANA! Why do you look like a geisha! You could have picked any other costume, but you chose to go as a girl? I really don't understand the way you think."

"No one does." My smirk spread from my face to his. "So you like that girl?"

He nodded sheepishly. "I have for awhile; do you think that's wrong?" He nervously chewed on his bottom lip.

I took a good look at her; she was stunning. "Why would that be wrong? I think she's a total babe."

"Really? Well, I love her and she's never going to notice me…I'm going to go sit on the sidelines until someone asks me for a dance…Ha! As if." My friend started to slink off in the direction of the benches.

I caught his shoulder and held him back. "Wait here. I'll get her to dance with you."

The incredulous look returned to his face. "REALLY? You'd do that for me Hana-kun!"

"Of course. We've been buddies for forever, and it's my job as your friend to look out for you and protect you from heartbreak." I spotted the girl and walked over to her. "Hello."

She glanced up at me for a fraction of a second, but her gaze soon reburied itself into the floor. "What do you want?"

"I'm hurt madam; all I wanted was a dance for my friend over there." I motioned toward Makoto. "It seems he's fallen for you, and I don't blame him; you're possibly the most entrancing woman here." I took a seat next to her and smiled my most charming grin.

"Oh really? So I dye my hair and dress up and then you'll look at me? Is that the way it is Hana?" The girl looked up at me and glared. I got a good look at her face for the first time.

"IVORY! What are you?—I thought that you were—Why did you dye your hair?" I was absolutely dumbstruck by the appearance of my friend. She looked like…a girl. A real girl, not the usual tomboy that I had befriended long ago.

"Baka. Is that all you have to say? No compliments on the new look? No 'wow you look nice'? I dyed my hair because I thought that it might get your attention." She gazed down sadly at the floor.

"Why would you want to get my attention?" I blinked stupidly, not exactly sure what she meant.

"Because I like you idiot." She mumbled sullenly.

I chuckled lightly. "Well duh; we're friends. Of course you like me and I like you too, otherwise we wouldn't hang out together."

The volume of her voice decreased further, and took on a dark tone. "Not like that Hana."

I hung my head and sighed. "I know." There was no use hiding the fact that I knew. "I know that you like me."

I saw her eyes light up for a second and instantly regretted what I was about to tell her.

"But I don't like you that way. Makoto loves you though. Will you please dance with him? Just once Ivory, that's all I'm asking." I couldn't look at her. I didn't want to see her tears. Instead I looked out at the sea of people on the dance floor.

"Fine. I'll give shorty a dance. Since that's all you're asking for. It doesn't matter that you just turned me down, or that you can't fall in love with me, but you get the hotts for your own cousin!" Ivory's eyes burned a hole through my skull.

She was angry with me, and she had every right to be. I had been horrible to her, and I didn't even deserve her forgiveness, but I saw no harm in asking. "I'm sorry. Do you hate me?"

"No, baka. I don't hate you. I just hate you that's all." She smiled, walked over to Makoto, and asked him for a dance.

I knew she was still hurt and heartbroken and angry with me, but there was nothing I could do about it. I couldn't make myself unhappy by agreeing to go out with her, so she had to get over me on her own and deal with it by herself. I wished that there were someway that I could help, but I knew that there wasn't.

"Hey, Hana!" I looked up as my father called to me. "Have you seen Ivy?"

"No. Why?"

"Oh, no reason. Anna told me to find her and see if she was okay." Yoh half-smiled at me, something obviously distracting him.

"I heard that explosion a little while ago. Do you think it was her?" The house had been relatively quiet after the explosion; no yelling or screaming, just a whole lot of nothing. Usually something like that would draw attention to itself, or Ivy would come up from the basement coughing and complaining, but I hadn't heard a peep out of her. 'Something must be wrong.'

The younger Asakura twin rubbed the back of his neck thoughtfully. "I'm thinking it most definitely was Ivy who caused the explosion, but no one's seen her since, sooooo…I don't know. My orders were to check up on her, so I'm trying to find her. Let me know if you see her—or, better yet, if you see her, tell her to come find me, then it will be her problem to deal with, and I won't have to keep up this searching." I smiled as my father walked off chuckling to himself. I shook my head and smiled.

My smile faded as soon as I got out of range of Hana. In truth I was really worried about Ivy. Anna was certain that Ivy had been trying to create another working body. Usually after something blew up in Ivy's face she would have a hissy fit or something, but this time she had just stole away to her room, and no one had heard a sound out of her since.

I walked down the crowded hallways on my way to Ivy's room, and paused as I lifted my hand to knock on the door. She probably wouldn't be able to hear me knock over all the commotion going on in the house. 'Should I just go in?' I tried the door handle, discovering that it turned freely and clicked open. 'It isn't locked.'

I took a deep breath and cracked open the door. "Ivy?" My voice came out in almost a whisper. The lights were off, but I could sense someone else in the room.

"St..ay back." A voice softer than my own answered.

"Ivy?" My voice got stronger and more confident as I reached for the light switch. "Oh my god…" I was completely horror struck when the lights came on and I saw her lying there.

Ivy lay limp on her bed, blood dripping from the corner of her mouth, her eyes half shut. Sitting on the bed with her were two other women: one, a girl I had met before, Judo, and the other a woman who I had recently met, Valerie.

"We're dying." Judo looked up at me with sad eyes as I slowly approached, afraid to get close.

"Is there anything I can do?" My voice wavered uncontrollably.

"We're beyond all help." Valerie sighed, her tone dripping with depression.

"Oh." I sat down on the bed next to Judo and cradled Ivy's body in my arms. "Hey."

"Hey." She smiled weakly back up at me and rolled her eyes at my attempt at not acknowledging the fact that the life was leaving her.

"What happened to you?" I wiped the blood from her lips.

Ivy glanced at Valerie, and the silver-haired woman started explaining. "We could feel the body weakening, and we knew it wouldn't be long before it failed us entirely, and we would have to cross over to the other side. We didn't want to go yet; we wanted more time with Hao, and so we went down to the lab and tried to make a new body. As you can see, we did more harm than good. I'm afraid that now we're fading even faster…"

My mind raced, trying to think of a solution to our problem. I didn't want to think about how Hao would react if Ivy left him again so soon after they had been reunited. "Maybe Faust or Anna could help? Maybe even Hoshi would have an idea?"

"It's our time to go." Judo sighed pathetically. "We have half a day left at most, so the way I figure it, we'll pass away tomorrow."

"Help me up." Ivy ordered weakly.

Valerie rolled her eyes at the body lying, too tired to move by itself, on the bed. "We don't have the strength for this."

Ivy sat up on her own and glared at her eldest persona. "I know what I'm doing. Judo said half a day, so I'm going to make the best of this last day of my life. You can cross over now if you want to. I have no need of you anymore, and frankly, I'm sick of your nagging and pessimism." She slid easily out of my embrace and stood on her own, wavering a little, but standing.

Valerie and Judo both disappeared and I was left alone with Ivy. "Are you sure you can do this?" I placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I'll be fine. Really. Just leave me alone to get ready." She smiled shallowly at me.

I nodded and turned to leave. Anna had also instructed me to wake Hao up and tell him to get his lazy butt in gear, so I planned to stop by my brother's room while I was in the area. "If you sure this is what you want Ivy." I shrugged and walked away.

"Yoh?"

I looked back at her over my shoulder.

Her smile became genuine. "Thank you, but it does you no good to try to save a dead woman sixteen years after she drowned."

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Thank you to: RainAngelSing, HAO-Addictive, isa18, demon thing, thoughtless dreamer, DarkPisces33, MaiValentinefan, Andrea Nefisto, Untitled Sorrow, yo wuz up, Touch of the Wind, kari tao(ren's little sister), BrokenHeartsVille, Who Cares, KaZuYaMiNeKuRa, LisaTheHedgehog, Marina, my favorite flamer D, and his impersonator D;.

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