Chapter 4: Fly High
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
From now on, I will take out the customary A/N's I usually put before the story (yay!) and instead give brief segments on the characters in my story and how the story was formed (boo! Stop wasting space, you self-absorbed jerk!)
By the by: Did you know that itako are female spirit mediums in Japan? (loosely translated). Did you also know that they're supposed to be blind? Did you know that Anna isn't blind? Right, last one was sort of a stupid question. Anna's full-sight is just another testament to her incredible power. This anomaly was actually one of the factors that inspired her "too much power" status for my story.
It begins.
"Man, I can't believe that Jichimaru guy... what was he thinking?" demanded Manta of the air. The group (minus Yoh) was discussing the earlier fight .
"Fame, glory..." Horohoro guessed, "who knows? He didn't even seem to care about weather he was remembered as good or bad: just that he was remembered. That guy needs a vacation, or something."
"At least," Ryu put in, "with Kino-sama looking after the punishment, he may never go back to his underhanded ways again"
"No kidding," Manta joked, "he may never even move again." Ryu had to admit the little guy had a point. Chocolove had to admit the little guy had a joke. And he seethed to not have thought of it first.
"And what about that Kihaku-Ken? It was really awesome…" Manta put forwards.
The group was discussing Yoh's last battle inside the Asakura's main building, at a sort of 'living room'-ish kind of area..
Yoh, himself was not here. He was out doing 'light' training.
"No," Ren immediately rebuffed the short one, "that thing is useless. We'll probably never see it again."
Nods were seen around the room.
"But… look at what it did! And everyone was so impressed." Manta insisted
Ren explained himself: "An exercise for training furyoku manipulation It takes a long time to master for very little effect. Asakura techniques like Kihaku-ken are almost useless in straight combat, yet the Asakura's were one of the most feared shaman families in history... Of course, that's besides the Tao."
"…" Silence met him. Firstly, no one was used to Ren being so… forthcoming with anything. Secondly, they were all curious to hear more of what the Tao's knew of the Asakuras. Finally, Manta spoke
"But hey… wasn't Jichimaru right? Furyoku can't do anything on its own. You need a spirit to shape furyoku and bring it onto the physical plane." Manta wondered
"A fair question" a voice assented from the doorway. Heads swivelled to catch the figure of the blind itako: Kino Asakura herself.
"Simply put, Kihaku-Ken doesn't exist on the physical plane."
"Wh-What?"
"Hmph, you're confused. I suppose you thought my grandson was knocking that Jichimaru fellow around with it? You'd think wrong. Kihaku-Ken won't work on physical things, but it can cut Oversouls just fine. Jichimaru was knocked around by his own Oversoul being forcibly shattered."
"A truly useless weapon" Ren commented dryly.
"No more useless than a training sword. The Kihaku-Ken is not dangerous: it cannot cut physical substance, and the amount of power one can put in it is limited to a small percentage of furyoku. You will never see it used against anything short of weaklings. The Kihaku-Ken is a useless wepon," the itako reiterated, "but any shaman that masters Kihaku-Ken will be more than dangerous enough."
"Since when," began Ren, "did the Asakuras start handing out their secrets like this?"
"Oh? Then the Tao family's spies haven't even figured this much out? How lax of them."
Ren bristled. It was fortunate (for Ren) that the impending argument was disturbed by another intrusion of people.
"It seems Sora-sama is not here, either Yoh-dono. I worry, shouldn't she come to assist you in the tornament?"
"Haha, it's fine, Amidamaru. She'll turn up. Besides, 'baa-chan can always call—"
Thwack!
"Oh, where did you come from, grandson?" asked Kino curiously.
"Oww. The first time she pretended to 'accidentally' hit me with her cane because she's blind—I believed her…" Yoh muttered under his breath, nursing the bump on his head. "But I lost faith in that story really quickly."
Amidamaru, who had accompanied him on his marathon (er, jog) muttered back conspiringly "Perhaps, Yoh-dono, you should stop calling her 'baa-chan'"
"Hehe, no way. 'Baa-chan is 'baa-chan"
"Something worth discussing, grandson?" asked the blind cane-attacker (er, itako) dangerously
Yoh snapped to attention "N-No, Obaa-sama! Morning training: Complete!" Yoh snapped off a salute for good measure. His friends seemed to chuckle from where they sat, but they weren't getting 'accidental' cane strikes to the head all day.
"Are you sure? Your morning training seems unusually light for someone under my apprentice's training regime." Yoh sobbed quietly. He was the only one ever put under Anna's training regime. He could only surmise that letting his fiancée train anyone else would mean the poor fool's death. "I suppose you're recovering from the amount of furyoku you dispelled yesterday"
"Huh?" Yoh seemed confused by her words, "no, I'm fine…"
"No? That brings up the question of just how strong you have become."
Yoh scratched the back of his head confusedly. "If you want to know… you should just ask Anna. She should know better than me."
"I have asked my student" the senior itako shot back. "And it seems that her views on your strength are general, at best."
"Haha, then… I guess I don't really know, either" Yoh admitted. "I'm stronger than I was last year, but…" he trailed off. 'there hasn't been a means to measure with lately'
Kino made a thoughtful sound. She supposed it was understandable. Fighters measured themselves against other fighters. Yet it would seem that Yoh had ascended to a point too far above the shamans he normally ran into to let a proper measure be taken. Hao, that disasterous Asakura, had been able to defeat most of the oponents he met in one blow. His only plausible measurement was therefore that he was a god compared to a normal shaman: unbeatable, invincible. Common sense said that he wasn't. Yet some part of his mind must have reached that conclusion. That was what gave him the righteous feeling that his way was the right way. That was his flaw, that was his downfall. Yoh had become frighteningly strong. Almost too strong. Why would he need that kind of strength? Would he become another Hao?
"If you want to recall that wayward spirit friend of yours, get your fiancée to do it. She needs the practice." The old itako spoke up finally, abandoning her thoughts. Such foolishness. .
"Ah…" Yoh paused, as if he'd been caught with his hand in the proverbial cookie jar. 'Not good! What can I say?… Ann-chan's itako ability is kind of tenuous right now.' Yoh mentally grimaced, 'That bandana I gave her should give her some reassurance, but the situation still isn't good.'
The freeloader-group who was; if you stopped to think about it, now freeloading off of the entire Asakura clan rather than just Yoh for a change; were listening in on the conversation between grandmother and grandson as they offered their varied opinions. However, none dared to voice their revived curiosity in this "Sora" that was once again mentioned, lest a storm of bricks come miraculously flying out of 'nowhere' (caugh-wherever Anna is-caugh).
Kino considered her grandson's reluctance carefully "Itako's commune with spirits," she lectured, "Shamans commune with nature," she surmised simply, while still looking cool and wise with her dark shades and dangerous(heh) cane. "If you can't get an itako to contact the spirit side, then just speak just speak to the nature side"
Yoh's face lit up with understanding. The eavesdropper's faces drowned in confusion. What were they missing?
Shamans can commune with nature: check.
Sora is Yoh's other Guardian Spirit: check.
Kino just told Yoh to contact the 'nature side' of Sora: check(tentatively).
The only Guardian Spirits in this world that are connected to nature closely enough to be spoken to through nature are the five Elemental Spirits: check
Sora must be an Elemental Sp—
Oh, sweet and holy mother of cra—
"Hehe, it worked" Yoh's voice came drifting from outside. Apparently, he hadn't thought his friends' confused and thoughtful faces were interesting enough to stick around.
Heads snapped towards the direction of Yoh's voice. Soon after, the group of comrades were bolting for that same direction.
The sight that met them stunned their forthcoming demands for explanations—bricks or no bricks—into silence
Before them a woman made of a light yellow ether delicately stood She stood tall, wearing what could be described as a comfortable summer dress. Cascades of long and slightly curly hair ran down her back. She had a mature and kindly air about her and when she looked past Yoh and Amidamaru to the gaping guests behind him, she tilted her head slightly and gave a small greeting smile.
(A/N: ether has now been explained. It is a real chemical class. Yet at one time, ether was believed to be the fifth and highest element after air and earth and fire and water and was believed to be the substance composing all heavenly bodies . I'm also assuming that ether can be in gas or solid form. )
Ryu didn't even yell "Super!".
In a flash, he was on his knee, presenting the ethereal woman with the bouquet of roses which Ryu always kept on hand in case of emergency. He would have said something, perhaps recited some poetry (god forbid!) but he was yet too stunned by her image. She was not "supermodel" gorgeous, but she had a calm, almost untouchable composure and a free nature within her smile.
The woman, who the group correctly guessed was Sora, did not freak out and run away as Ryu's usual fare tended to do. She took the roses as if it were the most normal thing in the world to be randomly presented bouquets; and seemed to look at her gift appreciatively.
All his friends stared, Ryu didn't know what to do next. He… hadn't ever gotten this far with the roses before! What would he do now?
What, exactly, he would have done will forever be lost to history. Because before Ryu got the chance to screw up his chances with a woman in some new and exiting way, he was left in the dust. Sora breezed past him and headed into the house.
Ryu's mouth dropped open as his face froze in shock. Yoh had sympathy and rubbed his back consolingly, yet what could he say?
"Dude…" Horohoro began "you know she's a spirit right?"
Ren scoffed, "So not only is the woman you're after out of your league, this one doesn't even exist on your plane of reality"
A bead of sweat fell down Manta's head. He chuckled, trying to bring humor to the situation "I thought the glowing yellow body would clue you in…"
Seeing Ryu's hair… thing droop—always a bad sign—Manta immediately regretted his words.
Chocolove chose this time to become philosophical. Indeed, he thought. In depressing times, amateur comedians should just step back and let the professionals take over. Humor—in unskilled hands—was a terrible thing. (because Chocolove is so much better)
"H-Hey," Manta amended, "at least she liked the flowers. Maybe your technique is getting better!" he one prompted optimistically. That seemed to help the tall shaman to revitalize slightly.
"Indeed," Ren's eyes narrowed at Yoh, "She did take those flowers, didn't she? A spirit that can interact with the physical world on her own…"
"Sora-san's really one of the Elementals then?" asked Faust.
"What?.!" Manta stopped looking concerned for the hair-drooping Ryu (who was now being cheered up by Tokageroh), and instead took on a look of shock. "How come I didn't know?"
"Huh, you didn't?" asked Yoh
"I didn't!" shouted Manta
"I guess I kind of forgot. Remind me next time, okay?"
"If I knew to remind you… you wouldn't need to tell me!" Why must life around his friends be so ridiculous? Why?
"My bad" Yoh admitted.
"So tell us already, is she really one of the Elementals?" Horohoro asked.
"Which one is she?" Chocolove asked as well. It was a good question, there were five element spirits left in the world. The patch tribe and shamans everywhere commonly recognized five elements: fire, water, earth, wood, and metal. Hao had mastered all of those elements, and could change the Spirit of Fire's alignment at will, thus defeating any weakness to the balanced 'cycle' of advantage and disadvantage that was supposed to exist between the elements. It was one of the reasons he had been so unbeatable.
"Well… she's kind of an elemental…"
"Kind of?" came the stereo reply.
Any further query was cut off by—you guessed it—a brick.
"Ooow."
"Hmph, I should have given you more training."
Yes folks, Kyoyama Anna arrives on the scene. Socialization and idle behavior of any and all sorts will now proceed to ground painfully to a halt
"If you have time to laze around here and give away secret information to your rivals, then you have time for 10 more laps!" Anna demanded.
"Oh come on!" Yoh protested. "Can't I just—"
"Get going!" she barked.
In fear, Yoh began to run. Weather he was running to train or weather he was just in fear for his life was a question for another day.
"I found a vase for the flowers" a musical voice announced. "Hm? Yoh-chan has run off… I suppose I'll go with him." Sora deduced. For a mature and calm seeming woman, she also didn't seem to care much about anything.
"When did you get here?" Anna asked of the spirit in a direct fashion (her favorite way of 'asking')
"Just now" Sora replied (musically) as she drifted off after her shaman without so much as a 'goodbye'
Various rhetorical questions cruised through the freeloader-group's minds. Did Anna just… get blown off? By a spirit? And is she not annoyed by it at all?
"Hmph, and you lot" the prodigy itako addressed. "It's clear that your curiosity will not cease until your questions are answered."
"Then," Horohoro interrupted hopefully, "you'll answer us?"
"Hmph" Anna held out her palm
Many faces were confused, but Ren's was not. Grumbling something about ruthless ice queens, the Tao successor pulled out about ten-thousand yen (let's see… about $100 US?) and slapped it into the ice queen's waiting palm.
Anna's left eyebrow raised, as if proclaiming that Ren really just had to be joking.
Ren became flustered, somewhat enraged, and slapped another ten-thousand yen into Anna's waiting palm. 'Highway robbery!' his business mind demanded.
Anna proclaimed that the group had "one question" and then began to coolly count her ill-begot cash.
Chocolove was sorely tempted to ask 'how many Minutians it took to screw in a light bulb' but restrained himself.
It was Horohoro that eventually asked the question on eaveryone's mind. "What element is she?"
"It should be obvious, but it seems you lot aren't quite that smart."
Cue: ticked off looks.
" 'Sora' is just what Yoh calls her."
"She's actually the Spirit of Air."
(A/N: Minutiouns are called Koropokkur in Japanese, in case anyone was confused or whatever. I would use Koropokkur, but it's just so much harder for so little reason other than sheer consistency. Which, let's be frank, I don't really care for right now)
Yoh was running down the path that outlined his laps for today. Sadly, today he was doing laps around the whole perimeter of the Asakura compound. A roughly 4 mile circuit, he at least had the supportive words of any shamanic students he met along the way, as well as the company of his two very close friends: Amidamaru and Sora.
"Hm, Yoh-chan?" Sora inquired.
It was odd, yet she had always used the "-chan" with him. Did she think he was very cute? 'Well, Sora is Sora. It somehow doesn't seem that unusual.' Out loud, he only prompted:"Yeah?"
"Those little girls that tried to keep up with you said something odd after they gave up" Sora informed. The 'little girls' being around Yoh's age.
"What's that?" Yoh asked. He was reminded that you couldn't really rush conversations with Sora. She would say what she wanted to say—in those rare times she had anything to say—eventually.
"They mentioned," Sora continued, "that 'Yoh-sama is so hot!'" Sora paused
"Are you hot, Yoh-chan?" she inquired.
Yoh blinked. They thought he was hot?
"No, not really. Am I sweating a lot? What do you think, Amidamaru?"
"You seem fine, Yoh-dono. Perhaps it is some form of secret code…" the samurai guessed.
"Ah, that's it," Yoh reasoned, "girl code. It can't be cracked by us Amidamaru, don't even try" he advised.
Amidamaru nodded in assent.
Yoh carried on, jogging in companionable silence until he reached the part of the circuit where he was supposed to jog down—and then up—the stairs. Weights are still on, people.
"Yoh-san!" came a determined voice. It was Pirika (Pillica). "Have you seen my brother? I (huff) finally made it back from Hokkaido! I brought (huff) all his training equipment!"
'no wonder she's huffing' Yoh thought. On her back, Pirika carried several stacked bags. Carrying bags under each arm as well, Yoh could only surmise that Horohoro was in for some heavy training with a capital "HEAVY". (A/N: Ah, see? It's technically correct, because I made all the letters in "heavy" capitalized.)
Horohoro, his comrade in female-inflicted intensive training… it was good to have someone who could understand his pain.
Yoh smiled a little. In the end, Pirika really wanted to do what she could for her brother. He considered asking her to decode the girl-message "Yoh-sama is so hot!" but thought better of it, and sent her huffing along in the general direction of her now-doomed brother.
"I don't get it" Manta proclaimed. The group had not moved from their location. They now pondered the nature of Yoh's secondary spirit. "I didn't think there was an air element."
"There isn't" Chocolove replied. Any shaman knew the five elements.
"The story goes," Faust recapped for his short friend, "that the Great Spirit created the five element spirits one day. One for each element: Fire, Water, Earth, Wood, and Metal."
"The Spirit of Fire stayed in Dobie Village, and the other four spirits remain somewhere else in the world, though no one knows where they are." Horohoro continued
(A/N: that Shaman Villiage where the Great Spirit stays.)
"So where did this Spirit of Air come from?" Chocolove asked. "Was it created after? Is it a secret spirit?". "Well? Speak up people! I can't Air you!" He proclaimed dramatically. The crowd went wild… with rage. It was a full five minuets before the ensuing "beat up Chocolove" tussle calmed down.
"He had a point though" Manta admitted. "Maybe it was some kind of super-secret spirit that the Dobie tribe asked the Grate Spirit to make. I mean, Hao could change Spirit of Fire's element at will, right? The most dangerous spirits to him, the elementals, were all at a disadvantage because he could change his element to suit their weaknesses!"
"But if there were a spirit that existed outside the five-elemental cycle... it would have a fair chance." Horohoro mumbled in realization.
"Yeah!" Manta became exited. He loved these kind of secret detective things, "and then, Hao learned about it, and locked it up in the Hole of Yomi!"
The group had to admit: that was a very sound scenario. Yet…
"Hey… the students around here seem pretty familiar with Yoh's techniques, couldn't we just ask them?" Chocolove wondered aloud.
Silence. No one said anything. Horohoro would have commented that Ren had wasted twenty-thousand yen, but then he would have to admit that he, himself, had wasted most of the afternoon when the answers to their questions could be found by asking any random apprentice they found.
The group, struggling hard to hide their stupidity (come on, we've all been there) stood up stiffly and prepared to go ask some apprentices.
Horohoro coughed to clear his throat. "Come on, Ryu! Let's go interrogate some mature, busty apprentice about the Spirit of Air."
"SUPER!" Ryu yelled and surged to his feet, his hair combed and his teeth shining.
"S-Such a fast recovery" Manta said in awe. He was smiling because, yes, it was funny. But his cheek was also developing a twitch. 'That guy… after my efforts to cheer him up!"
Horohoro laughed, but was cut off when a bag came sailing, sailing, through the air and nailed him right in the face. 'W-What am I? Yoh?' he thought painfully as he crashed down into the ground.
"Onii-chan! Training time!"
'Oh no'. Horohoro knew that voice. He knew that voice and he knew those words. They were engraved into his nightmares forever. He didn't even try to remove the heavy with-gear bag resting on his face. If he could just lay there, in the ground and pretend Pirika wasn't here, maybe—
Oh, he had an idea. (A/N: His ideas never seem to end well, but far be it from me to be pessimistic)
Horohoro stood up and protested loudly. "Oy! I don't have time for you right now, Pirika! Me and the guys are busy investigating—"
"Enough! Dodge!" Pirika immediately began to throw various household items at her elder brother in an attempt to heighten his reflexes.
"Ow!" came a cry of pain from an innocent victim of the crossfire: Manta. A thought buzzed around inside his head before he collapsed onto the floor in high-velocity, coffe-mug induced pain.
"Little sisters..." Horohoro spat out darkly as he dodged to the side. "You buy them a coffee mug and they turn around and nail your friend in the head with it. Is there no justice? Why must all the women we meet be so violent?"
Alas, though it seemed Chocolove had an answer (or a joke) he was nailed in the head by a small paper weight and lost consciousness.
End Chapter 4: Sky High. There is an Omake after the closing notes. You have been informed.
I like not the notorious clifhangers, therefore I end chapter here. Great be me. Grateful be you.
A/N: Dun-dun-Duuuun! (dramatic music). The secret is out, and I managed to drag it through a whole chapter, yay me! Sora is actually the spirit of air. This is an important concept! She is important! The five basic elements, and Sora's existance outside of that is also important! Got it memorized? (Kingdom Hearts 2 reference, you don't have to memorize the elements)Was tough to write for a little while, then bam! I stopped being so picky, and words flowed like waer. A precious, kind review gave me courage. Because in the end, I don't do this just for me. I do it for you guys too, because I want to share the thoughts in my twisted little mind with all who would enjoy them. Fear my awsome dedication to my readers. The story has updated. Are you shocked? Of course you aren't. You're used to it by now. And yet I need to keep getting these responses. I need to know that people are still enjoying it or what's the point in uploading it? I can just keep the words in my head. Much easier.
Just a reminder: I'm still updating my author's page with completion percentage status of the next chapters. You can see that my other project was scrapped (I lost interest my readers did too. I felt no guilt, I gave fair warning and so. It became obvious that no one had enjoyed it.) so I'll have a little more effort cut out for this one. If you're a person who bookmarks fanfiction you like and check those bookmarks periodically (as I have done before) then you can just bookmark that author's page.
Omake:
What if… Anna was less of a pain to live with? (just a little. Miracles come one drop at a time.)
What would the price for her being less of a pain be? I'm going to keep the part of her life where she was abandoned by her parents at a young age, as well as the part where she gains and losees the power to read people's minds and drown in thier darkness. I'll also keep the part where the Asakura's take her in and engage her to Yoh. Beyound that, it's up in the air
Begin.
"Yoh!" called Anna Kyoyama: Yoh's beautiful (yet cold and dangerous) fiancée.
"Ah, coming!" Yoh proclaimed, unstrapping his weights and letting them fall to the floor. He walked inside the Funbari Inn (his house)
"Ann-chan, what's up?"
Whatever Anna had originally called Yoh for, it was replaced by "How many times have I told you, it's not Ann-chan!" she glared daggers at him for good measure.
Yoh chuckled and ignored the glare. He walked up and embraced his fiancée in a hug. Hug and smile, hopefully it would get him out of trouble
"Asakura Yoh," came the wintry voice of his fiancée. 'Operation distract Ann-chan: fail! Run for it!'. But Yoh hadn't made it farther than unwrapping his hands before Anna grabbed his arm in her iron-like grip.
'The hug never works!' he mentally lamented. 'why do I keep trying it?'
"Asakura Yoh," Anna repeated, "did you just track your muddy sandals into our house again?" her grip tightened. Fear Yoh, fear for your life. Fear will give you an edge, a chance for survival!
"Do you know…" the angry Anna (never a good type of Anna to be around) continued, "how much effort goes into keeping this floor clean?"
Using her monstrous strength, Anna punctuated her question-to-which-there-is-no-reply-that-does-not-bring-pain by dragging Yoh's arm around until he built up enough momentum to slam him effectively into the wall.
"What have you to say for yourself?" she demanded Yoh, who had crashed through the wooden wall and into one of the guest rooms.
"Sorry, Ann-chan" Yoh replied as he sat up from his prone, post-'I've been thrown through a wall' position. And he looked sorry. Not hurt (she sometimes regretted toughening him up so much) but sorry. And looking into his deep, soulful eyes, Anna was ensnared. Hypnotized. And she knew it. And damn him, but he knew it.
'No!' her mind protested feebly, 'must… retain… anger. But he really is sorry, I… damn. What a fool I am. Getting engaged to such… such a wonderful fiancée, I…I... damn. There's no way I can stay angry.'
Anna sighed. And as she let out that breath, it was as if she was breathing out her resentment to Yoh: the ruination of floors. She slowly walked over to him and collapsed into his arms, sitting on his lap.
"Baka" she declared as she looked up at him. "I have to clean the floor again. The wall too."
Yoh winced and looked guilty, though the wall might not have been all his fault.
Anna sighed into his chest, frustrated. "It's too tiring to stay mad at you, Baka-Yoh" she accused. She felt a finger under her chin, and soon she was looking up into her fiancée's concerned eyes.
"I'll fix the wall…" he offered as he dropped a light kiss onto her creaseless forehead. Yet his brow was creased in concern. "Ann-chan is jumpy today… what's wrong?"
Anna pulled her head away and placed it back in her fiancée's chest. She said nothing.
"Ann-chan," Yoh said reproachfully, "something's bothering you… tell me" he insisted
"No" she muttered into his chest childishly
Yoh frowned. There was very little in this world that could make him frown. He pulled Anna away just enough to kiss her ferociously.
Anna wasn't quite sure what happened. She never was. Always he would tower over her. She would be covered in his shadow, lost in his eyes. And then she would be drowning, melting under the dizzying taste of her fiancée's lips. Always she resisted, always she fought the sensation, the weakness. And always she lost.
Ten minuets later, she was nestled in strong, familiar arms. The only arms, she knew, that would ever always be there for her. The world spun, it glowed. She was melted, she knew. The 'Ice Queen' had melted into a vulnerable mush of woman. Vulnerable yet invulnerable. Because nothing could touch her here, not in these arms. Not now, not ever. 'those giggling girls are always ogling my Yoh's looks. Always looking. If they knew… how wonderful he is… when we're all alone, even I couldn't scare them off.
She gazed up to see the welcome sight of Yoh's face. It was all she wanted to see. And she realized that her fingers were tangled in his hair. She felt lazy, relaxed, drunk on life. So she untangled them and let them drop where they would.
"Ann-chan," Yoh began softly as he buried his face in her hair, "what's wrong? I haven't seen you like this… in a while now…"
"Your grandparents are coming over today" she mumbled sleepily. She couldn't resist. Anything he asked now, anything he wanted, she would give him. She couldn't ever resist because she knew… she knew he would do what it took to protect her, to help her. It had always been like that. She didn't want… to be protected, but… she was so safe here. Here in his arms. Safe and warm. Could she be blamed? Soon, soon they would come. His grandparents. The matriarchs of the Asakura family. They would come and see her house, see her inability to look after even that much, and the marriage would be off. She was a useless human. Not even a shaman, not even an itako. Nothing. If she was not worthy to be a wife, then how could she be a daughter-in-law? How could she be an Asakura? They would take him. They would take him away. Away from her forever. They'd take him away and give him to… to that Tamao Tamura or, or any one of a thousand women, a thousand shamans who all wanted him. Her Yoh. They'd take him away, she'd never, never see him again. Her whole body was warm and lucid. Yoh was heating her. Yet from the pit of her stomach, a cold ate away at the warmth. Those wonderful arms could keep her safe from anything but nothing, nothing could save her from herself. The cold spread through her soul, she knew it would not last. She knew she could not keep him. Her light, her warmth, her solace. She would cry, as a child that has lost the world would cry, but she was too afraid. Afraid of the dark and cold world without him. She could see nothing else. Only a blank encasement of cold. For cold is only the lack of warmth, the lack of Yoh.
Yoh looked down at his fiancée of five years. He didn't like what he saw. It was always wonderful. A gift. To see her wrapped in his arms. Yet this was… fear. Fear lay in her eyes. Engrained in them now. So deeply, so completely. As if she were a caged animal, as she had no way out, as if she were already dead. He became angry. If it took a lot to make him frown, it took much more to make him angry. There ware very, very few things in this wide and vast world that could do it. Seeing his Ann-chan like this, scared in his arms, was one of those things. He kissed her again. It brought tears to her eyes. It was warm and wonderful, but she could not keep it, she knew she could not keep it. And so: as fast as the comfort spread, the fear consumed. And so she cried.
Yoh caressed her hair, and rocked her form. He had not seen her like this in such a long time. He was angry. Him, the laughing slacker, the gentle wind. And his fury was that of a cyclone, that of a Hurricane. "Let them come" he whispered. Not gravely, but solidly. Factually. As if they were nothing to fear. Whatever fear they may ignite, however they could slow him down, they would not stop him. They could not. Not now. "Let them come, for nothing will change. Nothing will take you away. Nothing will take me away. Do you understand?" he asked the last more gently.
She shivered, she wanted to believe him. She should believe him, she knew.
"I don't care" he insisted firmly. "I don't care if you think you don't deserve me, I don't care if you think you're not enough. Because I don't think I deserve you either" he smiled a little ruefully. "That's how it's always been. That's how it works between us. And I'm not going to let you go."
She nodded.
"Let them come if they will"
Owari (end… of Omake that is)
Completion time (for Omake): 2 hours. Very good time. But then, it was my first omake. I threw care to the wind and fell into a "Trance". This is "The Zone". Very similar to the trance I used back in much of "Fist Stage", before I started trying to apply writing science to my work. Much harder to fall into while simultaneously looking for word and event structure.
