Hello everyone,

Thanks for making it this far in my story and for the time given to read it and especially to review it! I greatly appreciate it! Just to let you know, I've updated the warning on chapter 7, it's OK to read from the first horizontal line onwards if you are not OK with strong intense angst.

Moving back to this chapter, well, I hope you enjoy it! No warnings here, the more heavy discussion happens in chapter 8.

Again, big thank you to everyone who gives a chance to this story and even a bigger THANK YOU for those of you who take time to review! It really brings a smile to my face and helps with my motivation to keep on writing.


Summary: Yoh and Anna finally discuss the aftermath of the Tokageroh night...with Amidamaru...but is there anyone else suffering from the previous events?

TIMELINE - After the Tokageroh fight, early morning.


Chapter 7: Telling the truth and… (part 1)

Although he was still pretty tired and knew he would need more sleep to fully recover from the recent events, Yoh forced himself awake because he felt Anna move. It seemed morning anyway judging from the sunshine coming from outside.

After everything that happened, he really owed her an explanation, especially because part of him was pretty sure she might not even remember what happened last night. And right now they were both in quite the 'compromising' position and he didn't want her to get the wrong idea.

Yoh opened his sleepy eyes making a barely audible grunting noise, unconsciously caressing her back gently. She was sleeping on his chest, eyes still closed and mouth slightly parted, yet unlike him, she wasn't salivating all over the place. Her hands were still holding his sleeping yukata, but her grip seemed less strong as it must have lessened throughout the night. Her blond hair looked rather messy, locks of hair falling on her back and sides. He noticed her cheek wasn't bleeding anymore, but he made a mental note to check on it better when she was awake…and maybe not so 'close, close'.

Yoh watched her blushing madly. She was beautiful, no, she was gorgeous and the boy felt a bit overwhelmed by the situation. His hand froze on her back. Yes, they've been close or this close before, yet somehow seeing her sleeping and looking so vulnerable compared to how she really is 'in action' made him feel dazed and flustered. For the first time since he made the decision to keep her there, he realized he didn't quite think this through and wasn't sure what to say. He wasn't even sure he could find his voice to say anything.

'Should I wake her up? Let her wake up herself? What if she'll be grumpy? Will she hit me? Should I say something? She's so close…how come she doesn't salivate? Is it a 'girl thing'? Her hair is so soft...I wonder if she remembers, she's been incredible last night, her powers are wow. No wonder she trains me so hard, I wonder if I'll ever reach that level or even suppress it. I'm lucky I'm on her good side, especially those days. Or am I? Is she upset after last night? I made her cry and then didn't even go comfort her, I'm a terrible fiancé and now what do I do?!' Yoh's thoughts were racing, different emotions crossing his face as many questions kept on passing his now fully awaken mind.

Sensing his distress, Amidamaru appeared floating near him, a visible blush on his face. Yoh looked at him slightly panicking asking for help, but the ghost could only shrug helplessly. He warned Yoh-dono, but apparently a sleepy Yoh-dono doesn't think very coherently. And in all honesty, Amidamaru wasn't sure what to do either.


During the time he was a living person, things were much more different than now, so the current situation was out of his expertise. That included his telenovela knowledge because the people in it were at least 10 years older than his master and his fiancée. And they never had this kind of issues because none of them were shamans and had to fight in the middle of the night and then have to face the consequences the next morning.

There was also the whole intimacy between Yoh and Anna that Amidamaru had recently started to notice and that his master promised to clarify. However, judging from the current situation, he was now more than sure something was between the two, so he was rather eager to hear more about it.


Anna never felt so tired before nor could she remember the last time she ever felt like needing sleep. She thought that must be how Yoh feels after her Hell training and made a mental note to maybe give him more time to rest, so then she could make the training even more intense than ever. If he's well rested it meant he can endure (better) more tough training.

When Anna felt her body trying to wake up following her usual body clock, she forced herself to go back to sleep as she moved her face to the other side. After all, she really felt exhausted and the bed was so warm and cosy and made this comforting pounding noise that just lulled her back to sleep. And that hand massaging her back, was just pure bliss until it stopped.

"Don't stop." She murmured brows frowning annoyed as sleep was slowly coming back to her.

"O,o, OK…" She heard a shaky voice.

Wait a minute, beds don't talk or give massages. Since when did her bed had become so comfortable?!

Her sleepiness disappeared in mere seconds as terror overcame the girl. Anna opened her eyes as she realized with horror that she was laying on 'someone'. Since her mind was still dazed and she just woke up, she didn't quite register who was this person, so her first reaction was to scream out loud.

Yoh was surprised to hear Anna talk, but he realized she probably didn't even acknowledge what she said. This was confirmed not even five seconds later when he was met with her wide eyes looking terrified at him and he quickly understood she was about to scream. This might actually draw everyone's attention and just make their current situation worse.

So, in one swift motion, Yoh turned them around, so now he was on top of Anna while at the same time he placed his hand on her mouth, but that only made it worse. The poor girl still blinking sleep from her eyes, used her hands to hit him and her feet to escape while she also tried to bite his hand aggressively.

"No, Anna, shh, it's me, it's Yo…" Yoh said panicked by her reaction trying to calm her down, but he stopped mid-sentence when she hit him there. Quite hard.

"Yoh?" Anna asked confused as recognition of his voice flashed in her eyes. She watched the poor boy fall to his side clutching at his hurt part, his whole body shrinking in fetus position while tears formed in his eyes. He suppressed a cry.

"Yoh, I'm so sorry, please tell me we can still have kids in the future!" Anna said grabbing his shoulders and trying to look at his face, but the boy was still in too much pain to make eye contact or even talk. "Yoh you idiot, what were you thinking surprising me like that and how did I even get here, this isn't my room, it's all your fault I hit you!" She complained annoyed shaking him. "YOH, say something, I need answers, stop crying and say something before I slap you back to your senses!"

"If I may…" Amidamaru interrupted blushing and feeling rather uncomfortable watching the exchange between the two.

"What the hell are you doing here?! Do you have a death wish?" Anna growled pinning him with her death glare.

"I apologies Anna, I was afraid to leave Yoh-dono after the events from last night of which I am happy to fill you in until Yoh-dono regains his voice if you are OK with it…"

"Start speaking before I change my mind. You have one minute before I exorcise you to Hell." Anna replied threatening throwing daggers at Amidamaru while she kept one hand rubbing Yoh's back who was still laying on the floor crying in pain.

"Yes, yes, I mean WHAT?!" Amidamaru asked panicked.

"50 seconds."

"I mean, yes immediately."

"45."

"So last night you came into Yoh-dono's room followed by this oni and you two fought him and defeated him, then Yoh-dono was extremely tired and you were…I mean, you felt asleep on him and… well…he just let you sleep here because…because…he was afraid another oni might come and PLEASE DON'T SEND ME TO HELL, YOH-DONO, HELP!" The ghost said in one breath shouting the last part and moving further away from her in fear.

"Oh shut up, the whole neighbourhood will hear you, I won't…" Anna said getting up irritated by his outburst to close the balcony door before she resumed her position next to Yoh. "…at least this time." She added narrowing her eyes evilly at him.

As Amidamaru started explaining the situation her memory came back in and little by little Anna started to remember the events from last night. She looked at Yoh softly before she turned back to looking annoyed at Amidamaru.

"Yes, I remember now. This better stay between us."

"Of course, I wouldn't tell anyone about what happened or about anything else." Amidamaru said seriously, yet his voice trembled awkwardly towards the last part.

Anna sighed. Her room and Yoh's had some special talismans that stopped ghosts from entering or hearing anything discussed within, so they could safely and peacefully rest at night without any stupid ghost bothering them. Amidamaru could enter because she made sure the talisman enabled him. Considering the oni, he must have been more powerful than the talisman to have been able to enter the room. She took a quick look in their direction around the room, but they seem still in place. However, she'll still have to check the books from Yoh's mother again or even have to talk to her herself about improving those to stand against stronger entities like onis.

"Speaking of me and Yoh…Amidamaru, you might have noticed but we are…rather close lately, I mean we are together, not just because we are fiancés, but by our own choice…" Anna explained shily looking at the floor and playing with her fingers.

"Together as in together?" Amidamaru asked curiously his blush increasing.

"Together as in like courting or dating, like getting to know each other properly, Amidamaru, nothing more…yet…" Yoh said grinning, joining in and surprising them both. Amidamaru nodded in understanding, his blush decreasing yet his ghost cheek still held a red tint.

Yoh made his way to sit next to Anna on the floor. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it encouraging her to continue.

"…and we would like to keep this relationship between us for obvious reasons and privacy…and because it's no one's damn business what I do with Yoh." She added glaring threateningly at the ghost, yet a small blush was visible on her cheeks.

"Of course Anna, I understand! Yours and Yoh-dono's secret is safe with me. I thank you for trusting me with this information." Amidamaru nodded seriously, mildly bowing. "I must admit I thought something was between you two, but I wasn't sure since some events made me think otherwise."

"Oh, by events you mean like me getting the house all empty? That's so we can just have some time to ourselves. Now that you know, you can guard the house for us." Anna said nonchalantly.

"Wait, you mean that's the real reason you sent me all over the town?!"

"I hope you found some nice places where I and Yoh can go on a date." Anna added dreamy.

"You just wanted the house to you two?!" He eyed Yoh.

"I didn't know initially…" The boy shrugged innocently smiling.

"And you also made me do date research?!" He looked at Anna not believing he's been played this way.

"Yes, got a problem with that?"

"No, Anna, not at all."

"I bet you thought I was trying to kill Yoh."

"Not all the time…"

"So it was Manta."

Amidamaru sweatdropped. He couldn't fool Anna's senses. He made a quick small prayer for Manta.

"We have been really spending time together Amidamaru, honestly, she hasn't tried to kill me. Remember yesterday? We fell asleep, that's why you found us together." Yoh explained awkwardly blushing.

"But all the hard training did happen?"

"Of course that was real, how else do I become shaman queen if he doesn't train?! It just happened to fit in our plan." Anna said casually.

"Including that time when she tried to drown you? And that special training for our connection?"

"I only made those up to cover for him getting too overworked over the small fire in the kitchen. I only splashed him with water to help him calm down, but all the other hell training was real, you saw him train after all." Anna replied rather annoyed by Amidamaru's curiosity.

"Small fire in the kitchen?" The ghost gasped worried.

"How about we don't go into details about every moment for my hands' sake…" Yoh suggested to Amidamaru.

The ghost looked at Anna who was rather angry and was throwing daggers in Amidamaru's direction for putting too many nosy questions. Her fists had tightened, squashing Yoh's hand in the process.

"Oh, sorry Yoh." She said applying less force on the grip, yet not letting his hand go while at the same time she didn't break her murderous eye contact with the ghost.

She didn't expect him not to believe them and she didn't like having to prove herself or themselves. However, if they chose this path, they needed to get Amidamaru's trust in them, so she was trying to be open in explaining or clarifying certain events. However, she didn't want to reveal every detail - that should be private and only between her and Yoh. Amidamaru will know as much as it was reasonable and comfortable for them.

"Yes, yes, of course, ignore my last question, I actually meant to ask about the whole hiding thing, I assume that was also somehow part of your plan…" Amidamaru quickly said trying to save himself and divert her attention from the previous question. While he noticed Anna seemed indeed 'gentler' around Yoh, he was sure he won't receive the same treatment if she lost her temper.

"Oh, you mean when I was hiding in the storage closet? We were just playing hide and seek…" Yoh explained simply as if it had been obvious it had been a game.

"Hide and seek?! As in the game?!" Amidamaru said totally taken aback by the reveal.

"Yes…" The boy said rather red. He really felt awkward saying all those things out loud to Amidamaru and looked at Anna for help. She was supposed to do the talking, but the girl seemed lost in thought, her gaze darkening.

"And the training from that day Manta saw you in the park running was tag then?"

"Something like that…"

"What do you mean?" Amidamaru asked confused.

"That Manta, always sticking his nose and making up stuff." Anna mumbled interrupting them. "I really need to kill him, Yoh are you sure you want to keep him?" She eyed him pouting.

"Yes, Anna, he is my best friend, please let him live." Yoh said pleading sweatdropping.

"OK, I'll give him a chance…today. And you, anymore of those pestering questions or is that enough for you that I haven't been torturing Yoh?"

"Yes, yes, definitely, not a problem."

"Good, now go look around the house and tell us who's awake and who's not. I want a full report of both humans and ghosts. And make it at least an hour, it's still early and hopefully everyone's still sleeping so I can have some time with Yoh. A minute early and I'll kill you instead of Manta. If you are late or if someone comes for us, I'll make sure you spend the rest of the day touring the whole city." Anna threatened in an icy voice that sent shivers down Amidamaru's back despite being already dead. "Have I made myself clear?! You're still here."

"Yes, Anna, yes!" Amidamaru said and disappeared outside the room in a hurry.

He didn't even consider spying on them or staying around to accidentally overhear something. As much as he was terrified of Anna, he also wanted to prove that entrusting him with their secret was a good call, so he hurried to accomplish his mission and do his part. After all, helping Anna now also meant helping Yoh and Amidamaru would do anything for his master.

And if the girl was truly making Yoh happy, then he would gladly serve them both and be their ally in this secret relationship of theirs that still made him blush at times. It will take a while for him to get used to it. But if he could get used to those telenovelas and their drama and scandalous relationship, he was sure he could handle Yoh and Anna's…right?

Well, he had some second thoughts about that considering Anna was also part of the relationship. He still had doubts about her true intentions, but he promised himself he would give her a chance and believe that she truly cared for Yoh for his master's sake.

He saw how Yoh looked at her, that shy yet cheerful smile, the shiny eyes. And Anna also seemed different now when it came to Yoh, gentler, less harsh and her eyes held more emotion than her usual care for him, something that Amidamaru could only describe as love.

Again, Amidamaru knew he only had the telenovelas as experience, so he wasn't sure how to react or how relationships work, especially since he lived in different times with different customs. However, he still promised that he will try his best to help the two teens and be there for them because part of him realized that themselves might not know how to handle a 'relationship'. Camille didn't know either at the beginning and would have learnt together with Fernando if Lucinda wouldn't have appeared that day and then also Maria. Amidamaru was relieved Fernando actually didn't cheat on Camille though, he liked Fernando and Camille but he found it hard to compare them to Yoh and Anna. Even counting out the age, they were still so different!

"Amidamaru, why are you standing here looking so thoughtful? Did something happen? Is Yoh OK? I was on my way towards his room…"

The ghost was brought back to reality by Manta who was waving at him while walking towards Yoh's room.

'if someone comes for us, I'll make sure you spend the rest of the day touring the whole city' Anna's icy voice echoed in his mind as he floated quickly in front of Manta.

"Yes Manta, Yoh's OK, he's actually still sleeping, let him sleep. And Anna's also up, I wouldn't go upstairs if I were you, she still holds a strong grudge towards you since last night…"

"Because I woke her up when I came to check on Yoh or because of the whole Tokageroh thing?!" Manta asked frightened.

"I think both…"

"She's gonna kill me for sure! Amidamaru, let me know when it's safe to go to Yoh's room, I can't afford walking around the house without him or Anna will kill me…and knowing how sleepy head Yoh could be he might not even notice I'm not around anymore! I need Yoh around for some protection against Anna although I don't want him to get beaten up because of me…" He sighed lowering his head before he continued in a sad voice. "Amidamaru? Do you really think it was my fault Yoh almost got killed? I really didn't mean to get kidnapped, Yoh is my best friend and I would never want anything bad to happen to him, I swear it was an accident and…"

"Don't worry Manta, I really think it wasn't your fault. I don't even blame you for Harusame. Yoh had taken Ryu's sword for now and it's using Harusame's sheath for it…It was just a series of unfortunate events and you got caught in the cross-fire…" Amidamaru told him gently trying to comfort the little worried fellow. He was already feeling bad for lying to him. He considered Manta his friend and lying to a friend wasn't very honourable, but his master's words will always come first.

"But Anna said, Anna, she blamed me and she's right, I'm like a damsel in distress, she would never stupidly get caught like this and put Yoh in danger!" Manta continued as he burst into tears. "I am really sorry for what happened Amidamaru, I apologize for Harusame and I wanted to go apologies to Yoh too."

"Manta…you're not a damsel in distress, you couldn't have known about Togakeroh's intentions. Have you forgotten who helped Yoh survive Pylong? Yoh might not have made it out of that fight without you bringing him a sword, give yourself more credit!" Amidamaru encouraged in a very Yoh optimistic way.

Manta looked at him with teary, yet hopeful eyes. The ghost continued happily he got through to him:

"And about Anna, she was probably only extremely upset about Yoh. I know she's always terrifying and mean, but maybe last night's events also scared her and it's not like she could have gone to kill Yoh that very moment…so instead she just blamed you. Don't get upset over it, you know she's always like that and if it helps, she always tries to kill me too. And I'm already dead."

"Thanks, Amidamaru, I really needed to hear that! "Manta smiled at Amidamaru's joke attempt. "I'll go to Yoh when he's awake, see you later." He waved heading back towards his room.

Amidamaru smiled watching him retreat before his face dropped remembering his mission. 'Oh, no! What's the time?! I really hope no one else went their way, better go look around!' the ghost thought as he hurried on his mission from Anna.