Shaman King

Kouzoku Waga Herutsu

'Following My Heart'

Romance/Humour

Rated T

Pairings: Yoh+Anna, Ren+Pirika, Lyserg+Jeanne, HoroHoro+Tamao, Ryu+Jun, Faust+Eliza

Summary: Manta has tickets to a five star hotel in Hokkaido and has invited everyone. It was intended to be a nice relaxing trip where you could just chill out…but you and me both know that's impossible when the boys are hormonal teenagers and the girls are just not having any of it. Yoh's shy, Anna's stiff. Ren's prideful, Pirika's stubborn. HoroHoro's clueless, Tamao is confused. Ryu is flirtatious and Jun is thinking. What on earth is going to ensue when the 'ones not caught up in love' decided to do some stuff…coughcoughpushpeopletogethercoughcough Why you shouldn't get tickets to Hokkaido and be stuck with quarrelling teenagers who really need to sort out their fusses.

Cast

Yoh 15

Anna 15

Tamao 14

HoroHoro 15

Manta 15

Ren 14

Pirika 14

Ryu 20

Jun 19

Hao 15

Faust 36 O.O

Eliza 35

Chocolove 15

Lyserg 14

Jeanne 14

Marco (The Paedo is here for some reason…to get sneered at) 35

And all the random spirits…and Opacho…what's her age (or he?)

Ryoi 15

Jukio 14-15

Chapter Five: What Happens When You Try To Fix Something Already Fixed

Dumbstruck, Tamao stood as if glued to the spot, her expression unreadable. HoroHoro sighed inwardly and outwardly, before giving her a pained and defeated smile.

"Ah…its ok, I understand. I'll go now…" and with that he disappeared out of the door, Anna, who was hidden and eavesdropping looking on after him, her black eyes flickering. Tamao absentmindedly touched her mouth and then her eyes widened when the shock ended. Her eyes now brimming with tears at her failed chance, a very sympathetic Anna gave a sigh of resignation and stepped into her room.

It took around five seconds before Tamao noticed Anna was standing there, in her trademark 'one hand on the hip and one left to dangle freely' style. She blushed under the itako's demeaning glare but then Anna's gaze softened. She felt bad for Tamao and it was obvious she was left speechless.

"Tamao-chan, why did you not respond to our male Ainu friend?" She asked lazily, fiddling with her blonde locks. Tamao's response was a long and hard stare at the floor. Anna whistled sadly and then smiled at Tamao understandingly. "You froze up, ne?"

"H…hai." She replied, not lifting her gaze.

"Tamao, would you say yes?" At this the girl stiffened and then looked up at Anna, a blank look on her face. Anna rolled her eyes playfully. "Because in my general opinion, it would be a yes, right?" Tamao some how even blinked blankly, before her face turned a wonderful assortment of many shades of red.

"Hai, but Anna…demo? Why would he..?"

"There must be a denseness bug flying around." She groaned, swatting at imaginary bugs with her hand. Tamao blinked again and scanned the room nervously. Anna rolled her eyes in a fed up way. "I was kidding about the bug Tamao. It was just a figure of speech."

"Of course Anna-chan," she responded, if possible her face darkening even more in red, "but why..?"

"He has a thing for you." She interjected politely, trying to look innocent. Tamao frowned slightly and looked up at the ceiling, and then back at the itako.

"But…I haven't got anything from him…"

'Oh for heavens sake…there has to be a bug…'

"He.Loves.You." Anna huffed slowly, making sure every word punctured into whatever dense wall was surrounding her brain. Her eyes widened and she wiped her nose.

"Are you sure Anna..?"

"YES!" She rudely interrupted in exasperation. Tamao smiled at her and she smiled back reassuringly, her anger and frustration vanishing also.

"So…" Tamao began, looking anxious and jumpy, "do I love him?" Anna rolled her eyes.

"I can't answer that."

"But you seem to know…"

"Ok. So I do, but I want you to figure it out yourself Tamao-chan."

"Can you tell me…the feeling you get when you hang around Yoh-kun?" Anna spaced out and then a soft red underlining appeared on her face. Coughing ensued and Tamao peered over Anna's shoulder to see Hao there grinning madly. Anna turned to him, eyes blazing, making him back away.

"BAKA!" She hollered, running towards him with a venomous look in her eyes, he himself legging it, "HOW DARE YOU INTRUDE ON A GIRLY CONVERSATION!"

Manta was grinning widely and Chocolove was tempting Anna to hit him as he kept on saying random things, but she restrained, as she was not one to break promises…just persistent and bad comedians backs…but that would have to wait for a while. She was puzzled at why they were still going ahead with their plan, but didn't mention to them they had put their squabble behind them. She just wanted to see if Ren would be nice…

Yoh rolled his eyes and Hao mused at his brother's developing jealousy. Ryoi or 'Spiky' as Anna referred to him was not only sitting next to Anna but was also EATING oranges. How clichéd that was. Hao wasn't at all surprised at his brother feeling this emotion, but seriously he had nothing to worry about.

"Ne, Anna-chan," Ryoi sighed, still munching on oranges, "what's this plan thing about?" Anna, who was reading a newspaper because her soaps were out of the question as sky had not been working properly, slammed it down and cast Ryoi a suspicious and accusing glare.

"How did you..?"

"Well…I overheard you and the short dude talking about it and…"

"And?" She prompted.

"…The weird dude with the dodgy hair made a joke about it."

"Which was?"

"Well…I said 'Ren and Pirika?' and he was like…'the beast and the beauty'." Anna rolled her eyes and placed a hand on top of her head.

"Ah well…they have a plan to settle Pirika and Ren's differences…"

"But I thought those two…"

"They have, but I haven't said as I want to see the enveloping plot and evaluate something."

"Evaluate what?"

His answer was a secretive smirk.

Chocolove and Manta shook hands, a big grin forming on Manta's face. Faust nodded at them smiling, before resuming treating a hotel staff with a broken arm. Manta winked at Chocolove.

"Ok!" Manta exclaimed, rising his fist in triumph, "Let operation REN AND PIRIKA commence!"

Ryoi, Anna, Yoh and Jeanne, still a bit depressed, were strolling aimlessly around the leisure section. They were bored as their room service had been in a car crash and was not injured, but faked it to get off working and still get paid. Though Pirika's period was half way through the weekly cycle, Anna's had only been around for approximately two days and the effects of mood swings were quite common around her.

At one point earlier in the day, she was happy and joking around with Hao, smiling with a can of fizzy drink bubbling in her hand. The next minute when Hao said her blonde hair was a bit messy, she burst into tears, which made Yoh appear and yank Hao's long hair. He, very confused began to apologise to Anna, but then she suddenly turned into an anger derived nutcase and hit him in the place with both legs, before flinging him at Lyserg, who had entered the room, who she was still mad about making Jeanne cry.

Seeing this Pirika and Jun had laughed, while Tamao smiled. Faust gave an understanding grin and Ren rolled his eyes, but the other occupants of the group were very confused at the girl's abrupt three mood changes. Hao guessed after a while and sweat dropped when Anna had reached him again, but this time she was really giddy and jumpy.

Then, a message from Kino came in the mail, saying Anna's mood swings were wild and unpredictable when she was out by some lovely beach and warm place with lots of things around it and had warned them that she should never go to that kind of place. HoroHoro had glared at the letter accusingly, muttering 'NOW YOU TELL US!' But upon Tamao coming into the room, shot her a solemn glance before sulking off, too sad to bother strangling Ren as he walked past the Tao rolled his eyes.

They paused at the heart of the leisure section. Anna, Ryoi and Jeanne were examining what the main part of the section looked like, while Yoh was too busy looking anxiously and protectively at Anna, and then shooting an oblivious and enthralled by the arch windows Ryoi and frosty glare, worse than getting frost bite.

"Jeanne-san," Ryoi marvelled, "those inscriptions are nearly as silver as your hair and tears." Jeanne was about to give him a weird thank you for the hair comment, but stiffened at the mention of tears and started sniffling. Anna shot him a 'Oh-you-pragmatic-moron' look and his look replied 'Oh-I-am-terribly-sorry-so-please-forgive-me-Anna-chan.'

"Why is the place so large?" Yoh wondered aloud, earning a whack on the head by his fiancé. "ITAII ANNA! Why'd you do that?" He whined. She rolled her eyes.

"Why'd you think baka? Anyways…it's so big because it's a five star hotel resort. It's one of the top three in the world and top means big people amounts, ok?" He seemed to contemplate on it before giving her a grin.

"God, how much do these people weigh then? Six hundred stone?" Ryoi, who appeared clueless at times, gave Yoh a quizzical look, a tad bewildered.

"Anna, I thought you said he was smart."

"In his own way." Was her weary reply.

"So…what is that?" Jeanne asked incredulously, pointing to something for the benefit of the other three. They looked over at a very short girl standing on a ladder in a ridiculously revealing pink bikini, handing out leaflets. Anna arched an eyebrow as the girl proceeded to shake her hips around.

"What kind of public indecency is this!" She roared, hands on hips, "I must stop this!"

"Anna! Come on…wait for me!" Yoh yelled, running after the fuming itako. Ryoi and Jeanne stood there, looking on in a confused manner.

The girl stopped her shaking upon noticing Anna storming up to her and Yoh, flabbergasted trailed her. Upon seeing Yoh, something glinted in her eye and she hopped down, strutting her stuff to him, who was too busy staring at Anna.

"How ya doin' Mr.Fit?" She teased, winking. Anna glared daggers at her, while Yoh, noticing she was actually there for the first time, scratched the back of his head and grinned sheepishly.

"I'm fine and glad you know I'm fit! That means Anna didn't make me run all those times for nothing!" The girl looked at him through slitted eyes and Anna let out a breath she had been holding in, smiling at his cluelessness. It saved her from pouncing on the little girl and choking her for hitting on her fiancé.

"YOU!" She said loudly on purpose, pointing accusingly at the girl as if she was the devil and attracting bystanders attention, "Stop showing your body off to the world and don't wear a bikini like that!" The girl stared at her blankly and then shrugged, doing a graceful twirl.

"I think you're friend likes the way I dress." Anna glowered at Yoh but had evil eye on him vanished as he was too busy staring at her dreamily. She shook her head vigorously, hiding her blush. The girl glared at Yoh now and frantically began to wave her hands in the air. "YO! Earth to orange headphoned boy! Hey! You can't ignore my hitting techniques! They're the best in the land and…LOOK AT ME BAKA!"

Anna smirked smugly at the chibi appearing girl and Yoh smiled because she looked so confident, though he didn't particularly know why. The girl stared hard at Anna. "Why won't he respond to my moves?" If possible, her smirk widened and proceeded more upwards.

"He's my fiancé." The girl nearly choked on her breath and Yoh, elated Anna had called him fiancé gave Ryoi a triumphant look and glomped on her from behind. The girl stuck her tongue out at their embrace. Anna was facing forward, arms crossed in a smug way before Yoh hugged her from behind. His arms were around her waist and his chin atop her shoulder, smiling fondly, while Anna's eyes snapped open on contact and a blush covered her face. This amused the girl. The blonde had been in control a second ago and was now blushing more than a setting sun.

"I like you kid, you got spunk." Anna's eyebrows cocked up at being called 'kid' but she said nothing. The girl shook her head, making her red hair bounce about and the men except Ryoi and Yoh stare dreamily at her, making Anna and Jeanne roll their eyes. "Hello," the short girl, probably shorter than Manta said smiling, a very bemused Yoh and Anna exchanging glances, "my name is Jukio Yikashi, the daughter of the resorts owner!"

Anna blushed beet red from embarrassment and worry and Jukio raised an eyebrow. But then, understanding, the roughly about three foot four girl grinned. "Don't worry! I'm not gonna kick you outta the resort for telling me not to do something I shouldn't be doing, besides…if my dad caught me wooing every man I meet," she halted to wink at Yoh, making Anna glare at her through half lidded eyes and Yoh arch his brow in puzzlement, "I wouldn't live up until my fifteenth birthday."

Anna sighed and motioned for Jeanne and Ryoi to come over and they did, looked a bit aghast at the sight before them. Both Anna and Jukio rolled their eyes in union and then gawked at each other when they realised they had done the exact same thing.

"Ohayo, miss…" Jeanne looked over at Anna for support.

"Jukio." Jukio herself supplied helpfully. Jeanne smiled politely, ignoring her odd attire.

"Ohayo…I am Jeanne"

"And I'm Ryoi!" A cheerful shaman exclaimed, making Anna roll her eyes. The two exchanged handshakes with Jukio friendly and then she grinned at them cheekily.

"Ok my new pals! Take me to meet the rest of your friends!"

"Ok! Let it commence!" Chocolove nodded in agreement before running off to find Ren. Manta whirled around and saw Pirika talking the pretty girl Jukio. Well…in Manta's eyes she was pretty. "Ohayo guys." He said cheerily, walking up to them and smiling. Pirika smiled back and Jukio gaped at him. "Is there something wrong miss?" He asked shyly. Her eyes knitted together in frustration.

"Dammit! I'm two inches shorter than you!" Pirika sweat dropped but then regained her composure and turned to directly face Manta.

"What is it Manta-kun?"

"Dunno really, but I wanna show you something at the dock at night time, wanna come?"

"Why not show it now?" Jukio butted in sceptically. Manta considered ideas.

"It's special."

"Oh love sparks!" Manta blushed and Pirika rolled her eyes in an Anna fashion.

"Ok Manta, how about nine?"

"Great."

"Oh that's so cute…"

"Shut up chatterbox," Pirika huffed, causing Jukio to be angry, "there is NOTHING going on between me and Manta." Jukio lost her frown and turned to see Ren behind her, glancing at Pirika sceptically. He frowned at Manta, but upon hearing Pirika's remark 'humphed' in approval and walked off, Quan Doe in hand. Jukio began to laugh like a insane boy band fan.

"So, it's you and the Chinese one, eh?" Pirika blushed, "Gawd! You guys are a good match for each other! Both stubborn and hot headed."

"EXCUSE ME!" Pirika fumed, "AT LEAST I'M NOT A POLE DANCER!" There was silence. Jukio turned back to Pirika, trembling with rage.

"BAKA! I'M ONLY FOURTEEN! I'M NOT IN MY DESIRED OCCUPATION YET!" They stared arguing like mental cheerleaders, pressing their faces against each others, veins pulsating very badly. Manta laughed nervously and swivelled around, running off. Now those were some sparks.

Her body was bathed by the moonlight's glow as her finger skimmed the surface of the lake. She paused when she heard yelling and turned to see Chocolove racing towards her, Ren at his heels.

The comedian pushed past her, mumbling 'sorry' and before she could react, Ren, not noticing she was there, collided with her and carried on as if nothing had happened, though paused when he heard a splash. He whipped his head around to see Pirika surface from under the water's depths, gasping for air and after a few seconds, noticed him gaping and gave him a glare which consisted of raw hatred.

"What the hell! Pirika! What are you…oh no!" He gasped as when Pirika attempted to swim to the bank, her face winced in pain and she dived under again.

She held her breath and was holding her aching leg, eyes firmly closed and still she cringed. She had gotten a cramp at the worst possible time in her life. She felt herself slowly falling into the watery depths, her breath persisting in being let free. She inwardly cursed and opened her mouth to breathe. Darkness.

Ren dived into the water, his arms flailing frantically as her searched for her. He saw her sinking and inwardly gasping made his way swiftly to her side. Though HoroHoro was a shaman, Pirika had not acquired any shamanic abilities, so her breath holding was limited to the average person's.

His eyes widened when he realised she had succumbed to shortage of breath and was now disappearing down below. He finally caught her, and as fast as he could began to swim upwards. But he knew she was unconscious. He knew she would drown eventually in a short time. He knew he would not make it in time back to the top at this rate.

Suddenly, his guardian spirit appeared at his side and he nodded at him. "(Bason! Ghost ball mode! Hyoi Gattai!)" When Bason shifted into a glowing orb and sunk into Ren's body, the Tao thrust his hand down and released a blast of furyoku. This propelled him and Pirika into the air and he landed on the bank, Chocolove and Manta gaping.

Manta had run off saying he forgot to bring the thing and she had awaited his return. Chocolove had commented on the point sticking out of Ren's hair implying it was a murder weapon and he was probably and escaped convict, which made him go into rage and chase him. But, now as they watched Ren cradle a lifeless Pirika in, his face scrunching up, they realised it was best not interfere in love with these kinds of drastic measures. And then, when a lone tear fell down the Tao's cheek, their hearts plummeted.

The silence was horrendously much. They all sat around her unmoving body, Manta and Chocolove looking guilty; Ryoi, Anna and Faust looking guilty because they had known what Manta and Chocolove would do and could have told them that Ren and Pirika were friends again.

Ren sat, leaning against the wall, still holding the female Ainu's fragile frame. Lyserg heard a jagged sigh emit from his mouth and sighed himself, eyes drooped.

Ren bit his lower lip as Faust continued the prognoses of the girl in his hands. Finally, he halted and smiled weakly at everyone.

"Don't worry, she's ok. Just needs a little rest." Everyone let out relieved sighs and Ren forced himself to smile. But Jun knew what her younger brother was feeling. As he had knocked Pirika into the water in the first place, he naturally would blame himself for what occurred.

'Dear brother, please don't hound after yourself. Even if someone else had knocked her in you'd take full responsibility, right? You believe you are hard to read, hidden behind an uncaring mask just like Anna, but we all see the concern you're displaying and flashing in your eyes but please…Pirika wouldn't want this.'

Ren nodded sullenly at Faust and then with Pirika still in his arms, walked off, everyone staring on after him. Ryoi let out a shaky breath and Tamao tried to calm her racing heart down. HoroHoro, the impact of the realisation Pirika could have lost her life dawned on him was no longer wondering about Pirika, but staring after Ren, eyes venomous. The only to notice was Tamao.

HoroHoro ran a hand through his spiky blue hair, letting out a tired whistle. The night sky above loomed over him, the few scattered stars across it dimly shining, as if to confirm his aggravation and weariness. He rubbed his eyes and smiled at the sky.

"Pirika will be ok, right? She's too stubborn to let anything happen to her." His half hearted smiled faltered slightly as he pondered on his joking tone and then his head ringing with doubt and self reprisal, he lowered it. He bit his lower lip and hugged his knees, brining them as close as he could towards himself. "I mean, ever since we were kids, she was always the mature one, looking after me, cooking for me, cleaning for me and aiding me in anyway I can. I really have took her for granted. I've depended on her to help me do things all my life and whenever I needed help she was there on the sidelines with a smile. But…when she nearly drowned, where was I? Taking a nap and thinking about tomorrow's dinner." He scoffed with self loathing.

His fingers dug into his flesh, attempting to inflict pain upon himself. "Dammit! The one time I'm needed, I'm not there. What the hell is wrong with me! I should of…oh my god…I've failed as an older brother…"

"N…no Horo-kun, don't say that!" A voice yelled from behind him. He halted and a tingle followed up through his body as he turned, trying to find the source of the voice, and he did; Tamao.

His eyes widened as the bubblegum haired girl began to walk over to him. She sat down next to him, staring at the sky as he stared, wordlessly at her. She gradually turned to him, smiling earnestly. "Don't say stuff like that. Pirika always used to tell me about the things you did for her. Like one time she told a boy she fancied him and he laughed his head off. When she went and told you, you went and gave the boy a piece of your mind…though she was suspended and you were dragged to the police station for a day, but that was brotherly love. And…remember the time she lost her pocket money on a trip and there was something she really wanted to buy there? When an Ainu elder told you about the situation, you dropped whatever you were doing and rushed to Hiroshima. When you got there, you were dirty, tired and panting, but you gave her a grin and handed her the amount of pocket money she needed and then went! If you're saying you've failed as an older brother, maybe you should consider these things first."

They sat, Tamao blushing at her sudden declaration and HoroHoro gazing at her speechlessly.

"Tamao…" she smiled at him.

He smiled back.

Yoh yawned and was promptly whacked square over the head by Anna. Honestly, the owner of the resort, Jacob Yikashi, was talking about the dance and he was showing her and everyone else up.

Jukio had declared that these were her best friends (whom she had known for less than a day) and her father accepted this and came over to meet them, addressing her as his 'little messiah.' Anna had rolled her eyes. Wouldn't he be pleased to know his 'little messiah' had been flaunting her stuff in public.

Ren cracked his knuckles together as Hao tried to stare at Pirika was still being carried by Ren and still slumbering and the shaman got the message and grinning sheepishly, swivelled around on his chair to face Anna, who was on the chair in front of him and rest his chin on his hand, gazing admiringly at her. He pretended he had hay fever and began coughing when a very rigid Anna eventually turned her head around to face him, vein pulsating and a demonic half lidded glare.

Ryoi was next to Anna and was playing with the blue beads on one of her wrists and Yoh, not wishing to be outdone, began to play with the one on her other wrist, not that she paid attention to any of them. However, she did when Yoh got over cocky and snapped her wrist beads. He hadn't heard the rest of Jacob's talk as he was instantly sprawled on the floor lifeless, Ryoi staring at him as if he were intrigued.

After the talk, Lyserg followed Jeanne out of the room, hoping to patch things up with her. Pirika and Ren had managed it, so why couldn't he.

"Jeanne." He said, causing a jolt of surprise to course through her body. She hesitantly turned around, staring at the dowser, eyes wide, ruby coloured eyes glimmering nervously. Before he got lost in her eyes, he composed himself and took in a deep breath. The lessons with Hao had better work.

"Jeanne, those fools in the shop meant nothing to me. You are the only one I live for, breathe for, and accumulate sweat for! Be mine again!" Jeanne sweat dropped. It sounded as if Ryu had been tutoring him instead. Anna would have watched this intently, as it looked like a soap.

But then, Jeanne frowned. These were words out of Hao's book, not from Lyserg's heart. Hao probably got fed up with the flinging of girl merchandise and ordered him to say this lines, but she would never except it…not from him in this way.

Lyserg cursed as Jeanne stared him down, her eyes glimmering with fresh tears. He resigned and let her storm off, Marco awaiting her at the doorway into the leisure section, giving Lyserg a glare before following her suite. Hao, observing from the darkness, sighed and shook his head at the absolutely crestfallen dowser.

"One shall meld perfectly,

Then all should change forever

The exit of trust for a long while

Only strengthening the heart."

Tsuzuku

Wow…Jukio is odd. Yeah, its classified as a romance/humour, but you've got Hao saying some fancy dramatic stuff at the end and Pirika nearly drowning. Eh heh (sweat drop) Maybe it should be a drama…Nah. Oh, and the leaflets Jukio was handing out was to advertise the hotel, if you want to know. That's all.

Now, there will be no spoilers for chapter six. This is simply because it will be a memory from Anna's childhood. And it will be pretty angsty and drama like, so…yeah. It takes place when Anna is seven and is training with Kino. Matamune (faints) and a new character will be involved, but the new character will only appear in flashbacks I'm afraid.

Anyways, by and thanks if you've reviewed.