SUMMARY - Having discussed the aftermath of the Tokageroh events, Yoh and Anna can now just sleep it off, right?

TIMELINE - straight after the last chapter.


Thank you to all my lovely readers, followers and favoruites and especially to everyone who has commented. Bless you, your reviews make my days and bring me so much joy! Plus, they motivate me to keep writing! Thanks for your time commenting on my fic 3 Hope you enjoy this chapter, there's one left before we finally move on from the Tokageroh arc.


Chapter 9: A long night… (part 3)

At least half an hour had passed and Amidamaru was certain no one would come to disturb the couple, so he came back ready to fill them on the details - Manta was on his room, the other ghosts were floating around the house, Ryu was singing in the shower and on his way to the kitchen and his friends were sleeping just outside the house ready to jump at his call.

As soon as he entered their room, Amidamaru realized he didn't expect the scene in front of his eyes. Yoh was lying on the floor with Anna on top of him, his hands trying to catch Anna's wrist in a defensive attempt to stop her from hitting him. However, it didn't seem like she really wanted to hit Yoh.

Compared to the usual fights Amidamaru had seen them have, this one looked more like a playful spat. Yoh was laughing and looking teasingly at Anna and had a small blush on his face. The girl's cheeks were really red, yet she didn't seem angry as her mouth was curved in a playful smile, just a small frown crossing her features.

The two were too busy shouting at each other to even notice Amidamaru's presence.

"You're so dead Yoh Asakura!"

"Wait, dead people can't have babies."

"How dare you!"

"Did you know you're cute with that blush on your face?"

"SHUT UP!"

"Oh come on, you know I'm right."

"You're impossible!"

"Um, I don't want to interrupt, but I just got here and seen too much to just leave and pretend I haven't because that would earn me a one-way trip to hell. I apologize if I got into something I shouldn't though." Amidamaru admitted his face looking like a tomato and voice trembling from the embarrassment. He really wasn't used to those two together yet, so the sight really flustered him. They seemed so out of character to him! Kind of like the same way he felt about the first time seeing the relationship between Camille and Fernando because he wasn't used to seeing close intimacies so openly.

Yoh and Anna jumped aside, now both very red and avoiding looking at Amidamaru. Hiding her face behind her bangs, Anna stood up and left the room through the balcony, obviously heading to her room. Yoh, on the other hand, mumbled something about bathroom and left through the door. Amidamaru stayed there still blushing madly. At least he didn't get hit or sent to hell…

"I am sorry about the whole Tokageroh situation, Yoh! I really didn't want to cause you and Anna any trouble, especially get you hurt since you're my friend." Manta admitted much later to Yoh after breakfast when they got a moment to themselves, which was hard considering Ryu and his big group of friends temporarily moved in for the day. Anna only accepted them because they did a great job with the house chores which gave Yoh more time to himself. She let him off the hook anyways because he earned a break after the fight with Tokageroh (and of course the events with the oni).

"It's OK Manta, really, it wasn't your fault they used you as leverage. And we're past that so let's not dwell on it anymore." Yoh replied with a bright smile while in his mind he was just really tired about the topic.

"Yeah!" Manta agreed smiling back, but then the boy lowered his head and continued, fear in his voice. "Yoh?"

"Yeah, Manta?"

"Do you think Anna will kill me, like for real? She seemed pretty angry with me."

Yoh closed his eyes looking as if his mind drifted far away in his characteristic manner, yet he replied to Manta.

"Maybe...or maybe not."

"Yoh, this is not funny!" Manta shouted back.

"There's more to Anna than you know. I'm sure you two will be fine, trust me." Yoh said as he opened his eyes and looked at Manta smiling.

Yoh trusted Anna, he knew she won't harm Manta any time soon at least, but he couldn't just tell Manta about his discussion with the girl. That will stay between them.

"If you say so..." The little boy trailed uncertain, but his friend's confident smile was contagious, so he beamed back and they started chatting about something else.

It was getting late and although today wasn't half as eventful as yesterday, a lot of things still happened that either annoyed or tired Anna. Too many people in the house were especially the reason she was so irritated right now and couldn't wait to get to bed, away from their constant buzzing and chatter. At least Ryu's friends left in the evening eventually, but Ryu, Manta and Yoh kept on 'having fun' for a little bit more.

The itako felt satisfied with herself for having helped Yoh get his sword fixed, but at the same time the reunion between Amidamaru and his old friend Mosuke also pleased her. Amidamaru was a great support for Yoh, so he deserved some time to himself to briefly enjoy with his dear friend. At least those events helped improve her mood a little.

She'd been looking forward to getting to bed and rest, but now as she found herself laying down on her futon, in the darkness and loneliness of her room, flashbacks of the previous night came once again. Anna tried to brush it off, she was stronger than some silly feelings. Things were fine now, Yoh was alive, she had no reason for her feelings to show off again.

Anna closed her eyes trying to sleep, but her thoughts were loud.

'You killed him with your weakness.' The bad memory of the oni's voice echoed in her head.

The girl turned around on the other side of her futon trying to focus on something else. Like their upcoming date she had been planning.

'Yeah, that will be great until an oni shows up and hurts him.' Her negative thoughts continued to nag her.

Anna opened her eyes and stood up, attempting to make her thoughts go away this way. She felt rather warm, her body reacting to the stressful situation.

Then she took a deep breath and growled internally at her emotions before she closed her eyes and tried to get back to sleep. She won't let her emotions get to her, she will just order them to get over the traumatic experience right now and to let her sleep. Because in Anna's opinion, when you are strong like her, you get over such things fast and easy.

'Yeah, sleep, the oni will sure wake you up when he throws Yoh's unconscious body at your feet.'

That particular thought stroked a chord and tears formed in her eyes despite her gritting her teeth in an attempt to stop herself from being overwhelmed and actually bring an oni again. Now she was feeling rather cold.

'Stupid body reactions. Idiot emotions. Get over it!" Anna ordered herself curling under the covers.

"Anna?"

"JUST LET ME SLEEP!" She cried, but then realized the voice wasn't coming from her head.

The girl opened her eyes and turned around to see Yoh's figure at the door of the balcony watching her confused. Was it an illusion? Was she hallucinating now? Had the previous thought been real? A warning? She had to know!

"Anna, are you OK?" Yoh asked concerned.

Anna wasn't the only one greeted by unwanted flashbacks of the previous night when entering the room - so was Yoh. So the boy decided not to repeat his past mistake and actually check on his fiancée before he went to bed. If he was still shaken, maybe so was she. In Yoh's opinion, no matter how strong you are, you can't get that easily and fast over something like that…

Yoh used the balcony between them to reach her room and opened the door as silent as possible. Unsurprisingly, he noticed Anna wasn't sleeping despite the fact she left to go to bed half an hour earlier than him. Although her back was facing the balcony entrance, Yoh saw she was clutching her blanket, her body curling up.

Anna bolted up from her bed so sudden Yoh stiffened and almost took a step back. The girl rushed to him, put her arms on his shoulders and brought her face close to his, their noses slightly touching. Yoh's face became red.

"A-a-anna?...wh-what are y-you doing?" He stammered taken aback by her bold behaviour.

"No, I think you are real." Anna finally concluded ignoring his question.

She took a step back, sighting and absent-mindedly rubbing her forehead while mentally cursing her own troubled mind. She felt a trembling hand on her shoulder.

"What are you doing here?" She asked not looking at him, her head was starting to hurt, but his presence, as usual, seemed to calm her negative emotions…for now.

"I..I.. was checking on you...to see if everything is...if you are OK." Yoh mumbled shily still a bit flustered by her odd comportment, but then his face became serious upon realizing what she implied. "Of course I am real! Did you have another bad dream? Any…?" The boy continued and then he was suddenly looking around the room worried for any oni hidden in the shadows, ready to lunge at them. He instinctively put his other hand on her shoulder and stepped closer to her, ready to call Amidamaru if needed.

"No, I didn't and there's no one here, calm down." She deflected dismissively stepping away from him although she would have liked to stay close to him more. She made her way to the bed adding:

"I was just having a hard time falling asleep, no need to worry, Yoh, I'm fine now."

Anna was getting sleepy now that she saw him and his calming presence that just seemed to have taken all her worries away with his voice, touch, warmth and love. She didn't want to miss the chance to finally fall asleep, so she just went under the covers. And she didn't lie, she was really fine right now. She didn't let herself think about what we'll come later, she pushed that away with all her strength still watching his beautiful sleepy figure.

'Things will work out.' She encouraged herself using his moto.

"If you say so, but if you need anything, I'm just next door." Yoh said and was about to leave before he added. "If you ask for my help, that doesn't count as weakness Anna, it means we're helping each other grow, you told me that, so please do say something." He added smiling warmly and was happy to see her smile back blushing. He closed the balcony door.

Anna fell asleep, but she had a terrible nightmare in which she relieved part of the Tokageroh night, Yoh's evil twisted smile haunting her. She woke up sweating, eyes wide, body slightly trembling. She took a couple of breaths to calm her racing heart and looked around the room in an attempt to leave the terrifying dream behind and focus on something else.

There was some light coming from the moon and artificial public lighting and the small furniture in her room made a couple of funny shadows. Outside was quiet. She focused on the silence and those objects around, following their outline. That seemed to help her a bit. She cursed her 'weakness' and turned around on her bed trying to fall back asleep once again.

She tossed around on the futon - left, right, on the back, on the tummy. Sleep just didn't want to come. She tried focusing on him, his smile, his last appearance, but it just didn't work. Her mind was too loud and kept on modifying Yoh's beautiful image with the evil smirking possessed Yoh. It also continued to buzz with harsh words directed at her or about her fault for Yoh getting hurt or flashbacks from the previous night.

This was torture and was currently getting her nowhere.

Anna gave up and decided she could go for a walk around the house. She could have gone to watch TV, but she didn't want to draw attention about her state of awakeness to anyone else in the house, especially to Yoh. He was already highly sensitive to her presence, but he needed sleep - he had training, school and the previous events had been draining. He had to rest properly and the last thing she wanted was herself to be the reason to drag him down. She would hate herself for that and that wouldn't help her current negative thinking and she really didn't want another oni incident. The first one was draining and traumatic enough!

The girl tiptoed around the house till she got outside. Ignoring the chill of the night, she started walking fast, pacing around the garden and the house trying to clear her mind. She went faster and faster till she felt she managed to let all the negativity behind. She stopped to rest on the porch, her breath coming ragged and her eyes closing, tired.

The girl heard footsteps and opened her eyes to see Yoh approaching and placing a blanket on her shoulders, smiling warmly at her. She smiled back and wrapped the blanket around her, but her hand touched something wet on it. Her fingers were now red and upon closer inspection she noticed the blanket had red spots all over - blood. Anna blinked in horror upon the discovery and then realized she was actually wrapped in a jacket, Yoh's jacket.

Anna looked at him with terrified eyes only to see him still smiling at her, yet his naked torso was full of wounds. A huge oni appeared just behind him, preparing to strike with his sharp deadly claws. The girl screamed, but no sound came. She tried to get up, but the jacket was all of a sudden weighting so much, she couldn't get up, her body frozen in place. She felt she was suffocating, and her eyes widen as she saw the deadly blow coming for Yoh.

The poor girl opened her eyes. Her heart was racing and her hands were trembling. Despite still half asleep, she stood up from the porch frantically reaching ahead, slightly dizzy from the sudden movement. She looked around, still wobbling on her feet, but there was nothing there. Just another bad dream. Anna felt cold and frustrated with her restless mind. She tried to take a deep breath, yet she felt no air was coming in.

Despite the overwhelming panic, she steadied herself and went back indoors. She decided a shower would help her warm up back fast, but first she needed to quickly check on something to make those 'damn' persistent feelings go away faster. As silent as possible, she tiptoed back upstairs and slowly opened the door to Yoh's room, for once, not caring if someone saw her.

Yoh was sleeping - face up, arm over his eyes, mouth open. His chest was moving up and down. Anna itched to go closer, but she didn't want to wake him up, so she tried to just get whatever she felt she needed from watching him from afar. She closed the door. She breathed in and out, finally getting some air in, her previous panic fading away. Then she tiptoed towards the bathroom.

"She left master Yoh-dono…" Amidamaru whispered.

"Thanks Amidamaru!" A very awake Yoh replied as he moved his arm from his face.

Truth to be told, Yoh was having trouble sleeping too. He didn't have bad dreams and was able to sleep, but he just didn't feel like he was resting at all. He kept on dreaming random things and kept on going from one dream to another as he was watching a series of short movies one after another without break. It was rather intense and exhausting.

His mind kept on anxiously going over different scenarios of oni or onis appearing to attack Anna or hurt her. And in each, he never made it in time and that made his heart race. He tried sleeping not to think anymore but all this stress was seriously affecting the quality of his sleep, being the reason he was so restless and distressed in his slumber.

Yoh awoke at some point because he thought he heard something outside and saw Amidamaru was already checking. His spirit informed him about Anna's outside night run, followed by the girl falling asleep.

'Is she testing a new training for Yoh-dono?' Amidamaru thought, but decided not to share his opinion with his master because he could feel he was rather stressed.

Yoh was about to drag himself outside to put something on the poor girl when Amidamaru had told him Anna was awake and probably had a nightmare. The boy sighed and knew what was going to happen because it wasn't hard for him to guess what she must have been dreaming. He didn't want to load Anna's conscience with the guilt of keeping him awake, so he pretended to be sleeping. And as expected, the girl came to check on him, before she left.

"I'm sure we'll be fine after a while, but the events are still too raw in our minds Amidamaru…and let's just say that oni event triggered something else for us that doesn't help to get over the first situation easier."

"Maybe you should go talk to her…" Amidamaru suggested. "It might actually help you both sleep…"

"I told her where to find me if she needs me, I don't want to push her or make her feel weak." Yoh replied rather sad.

"Yoh-dono, are you afraid of her reaction?"

"No, it's not that Amidamaru. It's just…" Yoh tried to explain gathering his thoughts despite the tiredness. "Anna has her own way of being strong and I need to let her be. I know we're in this together, but I need to give her space to try and solve her problems in her own way otherwise she'll feel 'weak' or she'll think I consider her weak. She will overcome this, she is really strong and if she doesn't or does need help, she'll always have me to lean on."

"Excuse my bluntness Yoh-dono, but what if she doesn't come to you? Because she likes to be strong and as you said that might be seen as weakness by you..."

"Then I'll just have to confront her about it, but as I said, for now I'll let her be and give her a chance to do things her way before I try doing them my way…Amidamaru, did she go to bed?"

"No, I think she went downstairs."

"Uhhh!" Yoh sighed. "I didn't say it's easy to let Anna be. I hate it when she struggles on her own, but with Anna there's no other way than treat her with patience."

Amidamaru watched Yoh try to fall back asleep - toss right, left, on the back, on the tummy - and sighed. He knew the boy well enough to know that when it came to Anna, Yoh played by different rules. Despite his wish to let her be, the spirit knew Yoh was desperate to go and help her. Both for her and for him.

'Yoh-dono should be more selfish. If it's also affecting him, he should tell Anna and if she cares for Yoh, she'll understand and find a way to work on it together... But what did Yoh-dono mean by doing things his own way?' Amidamaru thought.

About fifteen minutes later and another "Is she back to her room, Amidamaru?", Yoh was out of the bed and the room.

Amidamaru sighed knowing very well where his master went. Fernando also woke up in the middle of the night last episode because he couldn't stop worrying about Camille - he just had a feeling something wasn't right with her, so he took a taxi to her flat to see if she was OK. However, he found the house empty with obvious signs of forced lock, so he called the police. Someone had kidnapped Camille! Amidamaru couldn't wait to see what happened next, he had waited all weekend for that episode and tomorrow was the day he and Anna will find out. But for now, he had his own live telenovela to watch unfold.

The shower helped Anna warm up and eased her troubling mind. Wide awake once again, she took control of her thoughts and pushed away all the worries. She enjoyed the water as she let it wash away everything that happened that night.

Anna stepped out of the shower, pleased with the mood change and more confident about herself after letting all the previous worries wash down the drain. She was making her way back to her room when she ran into a sleepy Manta.

"Anna, is something happening? I heard footsteps outside and now the shower? Ryu told me to go back to sleep…"

"You should have just listened to him, it was probably just one of the house ghosts." She said impassively.

"OK…Are you OK?"

"None of your business." The girl replied harshly walking past the boy.

"Anna, wait! I know it's not the time, but I've been meaning to say…"

"Yes, it's not." She glared at him coldly.

"I am sorry for what has happened. Yoh is my best friend and I didn't want him to get hurt, I swear. I promise I will be more careful." Manta said seriously.

"You'd better." Anna watched him expressionless before she started walking upstairs, but then she stopped mid-staircase and turned towards Manta who was just about to go back to his bed too.

She had felt the boy's uneasiness and she knew he really didn't mean things to turn the way they did…and then she also lashed on him pretty harshly. Murderous harshly. And now looking at him, the little boy looked rather sad.

He was stressed from all the worry and guilt. Despite Yoh's reassurance, Manta was himself still anxious by how he caused trouble to the Asakura household as he really enjoyed spending time around them…well maybe not so much around Anna, but he still felt bad for upsetting her too.

"You were just a victim, being the friend of a shaman comes with high risks, so don't blame yourself too much over this, there might be future similar situations, just learn be more careful and trust your instinct when it tells you you shouldn't be somewhere. And then Yoh won't get hurt because you were there…he might not get hurt at all because he will have you around, his friend to help and support him." Anna added not looking at Manta, yet her voice was clearly directed at him.

Manta was astonished. His mouth was wide open, his eyes the size of the saucepans. Did Anna just tell him something nice?! Did she just acknowledge his friendship with Yoh?! And actually somehow accepted his apology?

"Wa-wa-wait, A-Anna!" Manta cried after her running at the end of the stairs.

Anna turned around, her murderous glare freezing him in his place. If Manta had any doubts the Anna that had just spoken seconds before wasn't actually her, they were all gone now. 'Anna will be Anna.' Manta chuckled nervously internally.

"I just wanted to say that Yoh doesn't only have me around, he also has you. We can support him together and make sure he doesn't get hurt." The boy said friendly.

Despite his fear and bad opinion on Anna, Manta wished to get along with her too. Part of him was aware Yoh would have never reached the current level of power on his own since he was so laid-back and it was his fiancée who pushed him to become stronger. So he wanted to let Anna know this way he acknowledges she's helping Yoh.

Before the Tokageroh event, Manta was entirely sure the girl is pure evil and will accidentally kill Yoh. However, he saw her cry for Yoh and then this sudden speech. Maybe there was more to Anna as Yoh said…maybe she won't be his friend like Yoh is, but they could at least get along for Yoh's sake, Manta hoped when he had called her to add the last part to her speech.

Anna didn't reply to Manta, but the boy swore he saw a ghost of a smile on her face before she just left back to her room.

'There is more to Anna than I know…" The boy smiled as he made his way back to bed. He'll surely have a long sleepy day tomorrow at school.

Anna thought she heard footsteps upstairs, yet the corridor was empty. She frowned and approached Yoh's door.

"You'd better be sleeping, Yoh." She said out loud more to herself, not expecting a reply and turned to walk back to her room.

"I am!" She heard a squeaky voice.

Anna stopped stunned.

"Idiot." She said fuming and went to her room, slightly slamming her door.

She turned on her lamp and started to sew.

'Maybe Manta isn't indeed that bad…at times.' She mused.

She didn't want to sleep anymore, she had enough of that. She was finally feeling better and wanted to keep that mood instead of letting the troubling stressful one come back.

Anna focused on getting the thread through the needle. She'll just spend the rest of the night doing things that kept her calm. And maybe plan again that date for her and Yoh.

Yoh barely managed to get back to his room in time. He went to check on Anna, only to find her talking to Manta. He didn't get to listen to the conversation because he realized she was coming his way, so he walked back to the room as quiet as he could. However, he couldn't fool Anna - he heard her footsteps approaching and he held his breath.

'What if she has her powers on? Then she definitely knows I'm awake! But if she doesn't, what if she comes in? No, she won't, she never comes uninvited unless she's actually worried for me and judging from the lack of noise, her discussion with Manta didn't evolve into a fight, so she shouldn't be worked up. But then, would she be upset I'm still up? Did she hear me? Did she know I'm following her? Anna always knows, so better not hide it.'

So when he heard Anna's voice, Yoh thought that she was indeed speaking to him expecting a response and not just thinking out loud. The boy realized only after he replied, that he'd been wrong. He listened to her retreating annoyed steps followed by an obvious slam of the door.

"Not a word Amidamaru, I said I was sleeping!" Yoh complained pouting as he went to bed, not wanting to face his spirit.

Amidamaru was chuckling behind his palms. He loved his telenovela with Fernando and Camille, but this real-life one with Yoh and Anna was equally good.