Disclaimer: I don't own Shaman King.

Chapter Five: The Other Woman

"That was Anna!"

Utsumi's voice rang throughout the room. She looked from Yoh to the others, seeking confirmation. Yoh and Utsumi just met up with their friends, hoping to catch up before the convention started. Yoh had just told them what had happened.

Amidamaru appeared and answered Utsumi's question.

"Yes," he said, "Master Yoh's fiancée."

"Ex-fiancée!" Utsumi said sharply, "Right, Yoh?"

Yoh mumbled something indistinguishable.

His friends looked at him, worriedly. He didn't seem like himself. He looked like he was in shock. Was it because of Anna?

Clearly irritated, Utsumi called him, "Yoh? What's the matter with you?"

The Shaman King glanced at her; he had actually been staring at the same spot at the wall, all this time.

"What? Oh, nothing. I'm just concerned about my speech, that's all. I keep getting the idea I'm going to fall flat on my face!" he laughed. It was a fake laugh, but she seemed to have bought it.

Amidamaru, however; hovered behind him, still anxious.

Seeing that Yoh didn't want to discuss the subject any longer, Ren changed it.

"What time would dinner start, by the way?" he asked.

"Seven, I think."

Horo-horo jumped from his seat. "What's for dinner?" he asked, excitedly.

"A lot."

Horo-horo whooped with joy and Ren rolled his eyes at him. The once silent room began to fill with excited talks of the incoming event.

Yoh thanked Ren silently. He was glad he changed the subject. He couldn't take everyone's eyes boring down on him. Especially, Utsumi's.

The rowdy atmosphere provided Yoh the perfect time to think. But the truth was, he didn't know what to think.

Anna.

That was a good place to start.

It had only been a few hours ago that he had been dreaming about her. Had his dreams somehow made Anna materialize right in front of him? How he wished that was true. Then he could have all the food in the world. He often dreamt about that.

Yoh rubbed his temples wearily. He was starting to get a migraine. But as the oracle bell rang, he knew he was about to get a bigger one.

It was time for dinner.

Silva watched the lights of the elevator transfer from one number to another.

10.

9.

8.

They were descending towards the first floor, where dinner would commence right after the Shaman King made his welcome speech.

Silva glanced sideways at the boy next to him.

No, he corrected himself, not a boy, but a man.

A man who has proved himself worthy of the title he was holding. But from the silence in the elevator, Silva sensed that all was not well with the young master.

"Something wrong, Yoh?"

He didn't answer. Silva waited before he sprung another question.

"Is it about Anna?"

Yoh's head jerked sharply from its position. Surprise was written all over his face.

"Wha-? H-how did you-?" he stuttered.

Silva smiled.

"We like to keep tabs on our Shaman King."

Yoh furrowed his eyebrows in a frown. "Are you spying on me or something?" he asked suspiciously.

"Well, I wouldn't really call it spying…" Silva's voiced trailed off. It didn't look like he was improving Yoh's mood one bit.

The Shaman King didn't speak for a while. When he finally did, he said,

"Do you know why she's here?"

Silva's raised his eyebrows in surprise. " You sound like you're not happy to see her." Silva paused, expecting Yoh to disprove what he had just said.

He didn't.

"You are happy to see her, right?"

Yoh looked at the numbers Silva's eyes had abandoned just moments ago.

"I am. Kind of. I'm just…" Yoh tried to find the right word.

"Confused?" Silva supplied.

"Yeah."

Yoh leaned against the cold elevator wall. "She went away for five years," he said, almost to himself, "Then she returns, leaves after a few seconds and after eight months, she appears again." He gave a hollow laugh, "My friends don't even know she went back eight months ago because she left so fast."

"Why didn't you tell them?"

Yoh shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, that does sound like a very confusing situation." Silva said with a cough.

Yoh sighed in agreement before turning to face Silva, "What do you think I should do?" he asked, almost pleadingly.

Silva looked at Yoh, finally realizing how tired he really looked. It was obvious he had been agonizing over this for the past few hours. Silva groaned inwardly. This was not really his job as guardian. If it had been any other person, he would have stayed as far away as possible. But this was Yoh, and he was…a friend. He couldn't refuse and even if he could, he didn't want to.

" I suggest you talk to her."

"Welcome, Shamans, Spirits… and everyone else in between." Yoh said with his usual laidback grin as the crowd laughed.

He leaned closer to the microphone, "I'm glad you could all come. I know and you know that the Shaman Convention only takes place once a year…" Yoh's voice recited every word from his speech perfectly, with just the right enthusiasm and tone.

Unfortunately, his heart wasn't in it, just like his eyes weren't. They were too busy scanning every table in the room, looking for a certain blonde.

Here and there, he caught glimpses of people who nearly resembled her but was either too short, too fat or had a different gender altogether. It wasn't until he paused in his speech for breath did he see Anna.

"…this is an event to be celebrated, so I suggest you enjoy yourselves. Of course, if you find fighting fun, I'm not really against it as long as nobody gets hurt…"

His mouth moved mechanically, as if it had a mind of its own. Yoh certainly wasn't using his for it. His speech was nearing its end.

Yoh knew no one noticed his mind was somewhere else. Or that his eyes were constantly searching the room all this time. It was one of the things he picked up over the years.

From the sort-of-podium where he was speaking, Yoh watched Anna. She didn't seem to be listening to what he was saying. Or at least, that was the way anyone would view it since she wasn't exactly looking at him like everyone else. Her eyes were cast down. At the rate she was going, her plate would be melting anytime soon.

Look up, Yoh willed her, Come on, look up.

They needed to talk. Silva was right, they had a lot of things to sort out and since she was here, he was going to make the most of it.

Look up.

She did.

It was long moment when she fluttered her eyelids upwards and unintentionally locked her eyes with his own. Yoh felt relief flood through him and he tried to grasp that moment for as long as he could, but Anna broke it. She looked away, staring once again the meaningless object in front of her.

"…if you have any problem whatsoever just come see me. But, once again, enjoy your stay and thanks for coming!"

Yoh sat down in his chair and listened to the applause that filled the room.

Anna didn't look at Yoh again. Yoh knew because he had been glancing at her all throughout dinner. He gave up and decided to just wait after.

There was an unofficial schedule that was followed every first night of the Shaman Convention. First came the speech, then the dinner. Next, was the entertainment and finally, the mingling.

It was at this time, as Yoh was talking to one blind shaman that he spied on Anna walking towards the balcony, alone.

"You're heart rate is beating a little faster." The blind shaman informed him.

"Oh, really? Thanks." Yoh said absentmindedly, forgetting that this particular shaman had the ability to hear very well. "Uh, you don't mind if I go right now, do you?"

"Not at all."

Yoh hurried away, sidestepping the maze of people blocking his way. As he neared the balcony, he slowed down and silently walked. He hoped Anna wouldn't realize he had followed her and walk away. Half-afraid that she was already gone, Yoh walked outside.

He breathed a silent sigh of relief to see that she was still there, leaning against the railing, staring at the moon, with her hair billowing around her. Yoh didn't move, mesmerized. He felt like he was staring at a scene taken right out from the painting. He was afraid to ruin it. Yet, somehow, he had the feeling that Anna knew he was there. No matter how silent he had walked or how unnoticeable he came, she knew. He took a deep breath and proceeded to do the task at hand.

a/n: Really sorry It took me soooo long to update! I've been really busy! Hope you forgive me. By the way, thanks for all those reviews! You know you can insult me, right? I not saying you should, but if you have things to say that would improve my writing, well…