Hello everyone, thank you for your time reading this and for the time given to review, I appreciate it more than you think.

28.06.2021. I've updated chapter 3 grammar. Hope you enjoy this new chapter. For visuals for chapter 1 and 4, please visit my Twitter, I have a similar name to here.

TIMELINE: Earlier the day before Tokagero comes, but after Manta left.


Chapter 4: A talk about her powers…(part 1)

"Anna, who is Tony?"

"It's that new foreign student from America who joined our class this year, I heard his mum is Japanese and they moved here because of her new job. He's like the third new student after you and me. He's quite annoying and stares at me in that creepy way that also that weirdo with funny hair was staring when I came from school today. He's not the first, but good riddance none of them ever followed me home like the one today." Anna said in a monotone voice.

"You mean Ryu? And, WAIT, how many boys are staring at you?" Yoh asked mildly curious and felt a weird emotion that he could only describe as jealousy.

"I didn't bother to keep count, Yoh, you know I'm not interested in any of their petty superficial affection that comes and goes like a seasonal cold. Why, are you worried?" She teased.

"Not at all, I know you only have eyes for me." Yoh teased back.

"I forbid you from watching any soap operas with me and Amidamaru anymore, you're quoting Fernando and you know I can't stand when Fernando goes all cheesy with Camille!" Anna said frustrated. "And do another 100 push-ups in 30 minutes as punishment too! You've been so slow today! I've given you lighter training for the afternoon today, yet yesterday you finished 50 push-ups by this time. Is there a problem with the new weight Yoh? Also, you'd better not drop me or else…"

"Yes Anna, I mean no Anna, there's no problem and yes, I won't drop you."

"Good."

The so-called new weight was Anna herself who was currently sitting on Yoh's back. She was leaning with her full body on him, legs in the air crossed and with her elbows on his shoulders. One of her hands held the timer while the other rested on his hair, nonchalantly playing with it.

Yoh was trying his best to do the training, stay focused and chat casually to his very pretty fiancée leaning on him, but he failed on the training part as the closure made him move slower and made his limbs weak from time to time. He prayed he won't drop her.


When Yoh was about to start the short afternoon training and complained about putting on the painful weights, he didn't expect Anna to take him seriously. Initially she stared at him meanly, ready to give him one of her ice-cold remarks, but then she closed her mouth before any words could come out. Yoh swore he saw a light bulb lit above her head, before he watched her march towards him blushing madly, yet looking bold and confident. She instructed him to start the push-ups and as soon as he lifted his body, he felt her climb on him, holding on his shoulders to stabilize herself.

Yoh froze in his moves and tried to form some coherent sentence, but nothing more than her name left his lips. He turned his head around trying to meet her gaze and they stared at each other's red faces for a couple of seconds before she dismissively urged him to continue his training. At first, they just sat in awkward silence, but then he found his voice and he started to make small chat with her. As their conversation went on, Yoh and Anna became less tense and actually started to relish in the intimate closure.

The boy understood that this was another one of Anna's attempts to get close to him. Shily at the beginning and barely obvious like how she used to follow him through the house, Yoh realized that now she was much bolder and getting less embarrassed. Considering that last time she was watching him sleep and laid her head on him, the fact that now she climbed on him while he trained became less and less surprising to him the more he thought about it.

Inf act, Yoh understood that himself didn't mind her and actually was grateful for her affection and closure, but he still felt less confident at times. Although he was the one who suggested the deal, part of him was still a bit afraid that this was some experiment for Anna. He feared she'll just get over this relationship and him and get back to being her old self - cold stares, violent punishments and icy remarks. Little did he know Anna was feeling something similar herself.

Although she became much bolder and took the initiative most times, Anna was still pretty embarrassed and shy whenever she tried getting close to Yoh. Part of her was terrified he's agreeing to the closure only to please her in fear of her reaction or because it got her in a good mood. Then an even bigger part of her was absolutely frightened by the hurt she would feel if this proved to be right or if he would reject her. How did she become so vulnerable around him? When did it start to count so much it hurt her to the point she felt she couldn't breathe or talk just by thinking of it? She loved and cared about him before, but now when she knew what this closure meant, what being together with Yoh felt like, she just couldn't bear the thought of getting back to how things were. It would just break her irrevocably and that scared her.


"I didn't mean Tony from school, Tony the ghost, you know, the one you sent to hell. Amidamaru told me about him earlier today. I didn't know we had a house ghost called Tony…" Yoh said while he pushed up and down trying to keep himself balanced so he wouldn't drop her.

"Well, we don't have."

"Wait, what?" Yoh said suddenly stopping and turned his head around to meet her usual bored gaze.

"I made him up to scare Amidamaru and told him this Tony didn't obey me so I've sent him to hell. I've done it so Amidamaru won't think I'm weak or something after what happened last time…I used the same name with our classmate because he annoys me that much that I would send him to hell if he were a ghost."

"ANNA! Amidamaru was really terrified, he said you even mentioned and I quote 'getting him replaced won't be that hard anyway, the cemetery's full of ghosts.' You hurt his feelings, Anna." Yoh complained pouting yet rather serious. "He really believed you even though he knew I liked him and I would never replace him. You know he's loyal so even if he did see us, he would never go around gossiping about us…"

"Not even to Manta? Are you sure?" She replied sharply.

"Not even to Manta if I tell him to. If we tell him to. You know he greatly respects you despite his terror of you and you know he didn't say anything about what happened…"

"Yeah, I've noticed Manta still looks at me with the same dread as if I'll kill him just by looking at him. I won't deny I tried…" Anna said the last part casually yet with a tint of superiority in her voice.

"ANNA!"

"Don't worry, I haven't tried it with you, not even when we met actually." She replied thoughtfully while unconsciously still playing with his hair.

"That's not what I meant Anna…this reminds me, I think this is a good time to tell me what happened last time you tried to kill Manta."

He felt her tense and released his hair.

"If you don't want to, that's fine, but I think you should."

"No, you're right, I should. I wanted to. I've wanted to show you that day…"

"What happened?"


It was her first time playing this silly game and she was annoyed she was feeling so nervous about it. They agreed one hides and the other searches for 10 minutes before admitting defeat. No hiding outside or in their bedrooms. Looser has to obey one wish from the winner, but not training related. If they tie or both loose, no one gets any wish. Anna wanted to go hide first.

That's how she found herself sitting in a rather uncomfortable position hiding under the table in the living room. She expected him to probably cheat and find her using his shamanic senses since they never said they can't. And after all, she wanted to surprise him herself with her newly found powers. She trusted Yoh's thoughts won't be hard to handle as he always seemed to be thinking of happy things that made him smile.

Anna heard his steps and held her breath. He was getting closer. She could feel his presence right in front of hers and then…footsteps retreated. Anna was surprised, she expected him to actually check under the table. Maybe he was bad at the game, after all, he said it himself he only played it with the ghosts and most of the time they didn't even bother to come looking for him.

Anna exhaled when she was sure he was out of the room and grinned. The victory was hers.

"GOTCH YOU!"

"AAAAAA" She screamed as she felt herself being pulled by her feet out.

She was met with Yoh's wide grin. Anna wasn't pleased at all.

"Not fair, you left, I heard you!" She fumed.

"I pretended to, but then I tiptoed back in the room."

"Cheater, you used your shaman senses, you knew I was here!"

"Actually not, I tried to refrain from doing so and instead I just started with the room you usually spend most of your time in. I wanted to look under the table because it seemed like the only good place to hide aside from behind the TV, but I couldn't see you there. But then if you really were there, the game would have ended too fast, so I just thought I could go around and surprise you. You confirmed you were here because I heard you exhale. And I thought you would be smart enough to be facing the hall entrance so you can see when I'm coming, thus, I assumed your feet will be on the other side." Yoh finished his explanation still smiling widely from his victory and for being able to 'outsmart' Anna.

The girl pouted looking at him annoyed.

"I win." He beamed.

"Shut up, I can still tie."

"We'll see."

"You'll eat your words."

"Prove it."

She immediately stood up and ran upstairs to count to 50 while he went hide. She knew it would be kind of cheating to use her powers, but she didn't want to let him win. And she sure wanted to surprise him now too. How dare he sneak and grab her like that?! However, she was no longer annoyed, but rather amused by his behavior. It triggered her competitive dormant side. She'll show him a good surprise.

Anna concentrated and turned on her powers. Initially she didn't even realize it worked because it seemed so quiet, but then she could clearly hear Yoh's thoughts. He seemed to be hiding in a dark place, trying to fit between different cleaning tools. She knew immediately where he went.

'Of course it's a brilliant idea, I'm a smart kid, people should have noticed this by now, right?!' Anna heard a familiar thought that wasn't Yoh's.

She swore and cursed the shrimp before she quickly tried to focus to turn her powers back off. She could already hear Amidamaru too. They were both thinking about what a horrible person she is, especially towards Yoh. This only made it harder to stop them.

She took a deep breath and tried to focus on the game, on the fun and not on their negative thoughts directed at her. It was easier said than done - they were stronger because the hate was directed at her and they also outnumbered her.

Anna swore again and made her way towards them. She had to shut them up somehow or at least distract them enough to be able to turn off her powers. What if they got worse? What if her thoughts go back to that negative path and she actually starts creating onis again? This wasn't part of Anna's plan when she decided to embrace her powers. She hurried in their way.

The confrontation was rather unexpected. Instead of making them recoil in fear, like Amidarmaru had obediently done, it seemed Manta had decided this was the best occasion to challenge her. Some other time, part of her would have slightly admired his courage to stand up for Yoh, but right now she had a horrible headache and she was really pissed off that the shrimp DARED to oppose her when she was feeling this bad. Obviously, Manta had no idea how Anna felt, but Anna didn't care. No one challenges her and escapes unscathed. She was about to flatten that nose of his he was so proudly pointing at her unintentionally, when Amidamaru's words stopped her.

She also used the moment to try and shut down her powers again as both boys were distracted. But then Yoh's thoughts became really loud.

'Please don't kill him Anna, no, no, no, Manta is dead, she's definitely gonna kill him and then she'll summon his ghost and send it straight to hell with Tony. Oh, wait Tony doesn't actually exist, but oh no Manta, what should I do, he's still blocking the door and I don't want to hurt him, but if I don't then Anna would kill him and Manta's my friend, so maybe breaking the door and hitting Manta in the process is better than him getting killed by Anna? I mean it's better than her killing him, actually, would she kill him like really kill him or would we need to call an ambulance? I don't think I even know the number for that, but I don't want to hurt Manta either, he's standing up there for me and…' And it went on and on about not killing Manta with an occasional unrelated stuff and at a speed that would have probably been unintelligible if spoken. Who would have thought behind his chill appearance, Yoh's mind could be rushing at this speed?! It was driving Anna crazy.

"I WON'T KILL HIM, DAMN IT, YOH, STOP IT!" She screamed to him.

Everyone froze and Anna used the unexpected opportunity to force her powers off once again. The effort almost made her body shake, but she was sure it worked this time. However, they never just turned off immediately, they always still lingered for a while more, so she had to resist them some more which was hard. Even harder than the previous times she had them on.

She tried to distract herself by focusing on Manta. He finally seemed to have lost that irritating tough guy attitude.

"I meant it, you shrimp. I won't kill you today, you stop it with these stupid nonsense speeches of yours and I'll take this, thank you, and use it if I want and when I want." Anna rephrased trying to mislead them into believing they heard wrong. She took the voucher with her right hand and then she slapped Manta hard with her legendary left to further distract them before they thought twice about the sentence. And because Manta deserved that slap. It was strong enough to shut him down for a while, yet not too powerful to actually do any serious damage. Probably because Yoh distracted her she thought and rolled her eyes mentally.

She was about to turn towards Amidamaru to shut him down too somehow when the storage door opened revealing Yoh. Anna was still angry, but upon seeing him she also became nervous because part of her was afraid of his reaction to her powers. This wasn't the way she wanted to reveal things to him, yet she was dead sure he knew she screamed at him because of his thoughts. She could fool Manta and Amidamaru, but now Yoh, couldn't she?

'You didn't kill Manta.' Yoh thought his serios gaze falling on her challenging.

"He's still breathing." Anna complained pointing at the still unconscious Manta.

"That's not what I meant." Yoh replied aloud. He just wanted to test if he was right and she did hear his thoughts which she proved through her verbal response, but her attitude also showed something wasn't quite right with her.

Obviously Yoh took pity over his brave friend, but he expected that Manta will get hurt the moment he heard him challenge Anna. He will care about Manta's red cheek later and bring some ice after he'll deal with Anna. If her powers were indeed back, sorting things out with Anna first was a bigger and more pressuring matter at that moment than waking up Manta.

Yoh's presence calmed Anna down. It gave her the strength to keep her powers in check and motivated her enough to try and overpower them, as it did years ago when they first met, because he gave her a reason to fight for - him, her, THEM.

She didn't know what to say and bit her lip nervously while she unconsciously started to play with her fingers. Her gaze still held fury, yet not towards her Yoh. She was angry at herself for letting things get out of control and at Manta and Amidamaru for interrupting them.

'Why didn't you tell me?' He thought concerned.

"I didn't get a chance to tell you, I was going to show you after this as I've mentioned, but…" She defended her eyes pleading with him. She glanced shortly at Amidamaru and so did Yoh. She tried to ignore any of the ghost's thoughts which were calmer now and rather confused. She wished he would just go, but he didn't. At least Manta was still unconscious. She turned her attention back to Yoh.

'Oh, Anna, since when?' He thought and she heard him.

She looked at him anxiously.

'So rather recent. Any Onis?'

Anna looked surprised.

'No, so something has changed.'

Anna slightly smirked.

'You're in control this time…' He thought taken aback.

Her smirk grew and she blushed a little. She was impressed to discover she was able to have a non-verbal conversation with Yoh. She thought he knew her, but this was next level of understanding. She felt a wave of adoration and gratitude towards this amazing man who she was lucky enough to call her fiancé. All those emotions combined with the exhaustion from keeping her powers in control were finally getting at her. But she realised she could let go and lean on him and, just this time, let him save her from herself once again. After all, she trusted him with her life.

'Anna, we need to talk abou…' His voice was fading away in her head. Her powers were finally turning off.

"We'll talk, I promise, but not now and not because of what you think…" Anna said trying to make him understand it wasn't as much for Amidamaru and Manta's presence there, as it for her having barely any physical or mental strength left to do that just now. She found her voice coming in ragged breaths as if she just came from a long exhausting run.

Anna turned towards Amidamaru. She adopted an angry threatening tone that came less menacing than she wished and barely got out between her teeth.

"YOU. Not. A. Word. Or. HELL."

Then she looked back at Yoh. With her eyes almost pleading unconsciously for his help she said:

"And YOU. Catch…"

She saw how his face turned from concerned to disbelief at realising she was about to collapse. He caught her right in time as she expected him to do, not missing one second. Her head didn't hurt anymore, it was all nice and quiet now, yet all the effort of having her powers on seemed to have drained all her body strength.

Yoh picked her up bridal style looking worried at her, trying to read her. She gave him a reassuring proud of 'managing so far' grin, but could barely move her hands to hang on to him. Yoh smiled back blushing. She was glad to see that iconic smile of him back on his face. Her powers really worried him that much to make him keep a serious face throughout the whole conversation and that really worried her.

She was so tired she could barely focus on following on Amidamaru and Yoh's conversation, but she didn't care. At this point, she trusted Yoh will know how to handle things. She'll fix them her way later on when she'll feel her strength back. She was already a bit better, feeling comfortable, warm and protected in Yoh's arms. She finally acknowledged the closure and blushed. Out of reflex, she hid her face in his chest while he carried her towards her room.

Yoh gently placed her on her futon and covered her. Then he went and closed the curtains. He gave her a short kiss on her forehead, surprising her, and left her sleep.

Despite being still flustered from the gesture, she fell asleep quickly with a smile on her face, feeling safe, loved and warm, emotions she never thought she could feel before or that she would ever feel.


Yoh had been quiet, listening to Anna while also rememorating himself the events. They paused the training temporarily, so they were both sitting cross-legged and facing each other.

"So, when did you realise your powers were back?" Yoh asked when she finished the retell.

"Remember the day Amidamaru came in and that window broke? That's when I realised they were still there, but Yoh…"

"Yes?"

"It's me who turned them on as in I wanted to use them."

"You did?" Yoh asked surprised, eyes wide open looking at her. She avoided his enquiring gazed and instead looked at the floor, toying with her fingers nervously and focused on explaining it to him.

"I thought I can learn to use them. You see, ever since we started the deal, I've been experiencing a lot of new emotions, positive ones, so I thought that if my powers used to be fuelled by negative emotions, it can work the other way around. So, I've tried and it worked, but it's really hard to control them. The more minds around, the harder is to focus on not falling on the other side…"

"Does it hurt?"

"Yes at times because it's rather hard and a lot coming at once, but how…" She asked raising her eyes surprised and they finally made eye contact.

"I know you, Anna. You could probably just stare at me straight for one minute without showing any expression and I could still tell you at least two different things that passed your mind. Of course, I noticed how tense you were last time…" Yoh said seriously his concern for Anna visible.

"Are you sure you don't have reishi too and you've been reading everyone's mind all this time? I could sure use some tips." She asked one eyebrow raised and the corners of her mouth turned into a small teasing smile.

"Not that I know." Yoh replied breaking into his characteristic grin, unloosing a bit, yet she could still see he was worried for her. Part of her was concerned too, but a stronger bigger part wanted to overcome her fears and learn how to control this power, her power.

"I want to learn how to use my powers Yoh. I know you promised me that you'll help me and make it easier for me, but I want to help too…"

"You're already helping Anna with the training and moral support and…"

"Yes, but I can't just sit here and watch you grow while I sit here frozen in time, I need to grow myself. I can help you more if we both grow together, you taught me that." Anna said with confidence and grabbed his hand, squeezing it as a thank you.

"I did?" He asked blushing as he squeezed back.

"Yes stupid. The deal was to discover our emotions together and I think it's working. So why not do the same with the other promise and continue to work on it TOGETHER?"

"I guess you're right." Yoh said smiling his face beaming with comprehension at her words.