Hello all,
Sorry for the delay, the usual unfortunately - work, life, etc. Your reviews do help me remember to update, so thanks to everyone who took time to read my story and all the more thanks for making time to comment, you make my days 3
Hope you enjoy this chapter 3
SUMMARY: Yoh and Anna are unknowingly being followed by another Patch to test Yoh for the Shaman Competition. But meanwhile Yoh has to survive Anna's training first...
Chapter 27: Kindness is a form of love
Rutherfor used her work break to go search for Yoh Asakura, the shaman that had caused so much commotion among her Patch colleagues. Her trusty source had already informed her he was not at school so she planned to search for him around town and then test him. She had already gone to his house and found it empty, so she started looking around for him which proved more challenging than she had expected.
Sadly, she had to call in off at her job as the mission of testing the 'psychopathic dangerous unpredictable little Hao' – as Silva had named him, was more important.
The mission of testing shamans was exciting to Ruth, she had already passed 5 shamans and failed 10. Yoh would be her eleventh, yet he was the first she had to search so much for. And especially in her robes it was so exhausting that after a while, the girl just took them off and continued wandering the streets in a casual attire, trying to identify him by his furyoku.
After almost 4 hours and a half and two failed attempts – she ran into Bron once and the second time into Silva and Kalim having lunch, Rutherfor finally felt another powerful furyoku, so she followed the source. She thought the energy would feel familiar because of Hao being once a Patch, so his brother shouldn't be any different, thus why she confused him with other Patch. However, it was clear to her now this was a very different furyoku and regardless if it was Yoh or not, she should go and see if it was coming from a shaman willing to enter the competition.
"OK, maybe you can take a break now." Anna said bored putting the magazine aside.
Yoh collapsed dramatically on the ground, out of breath.
"You've barely been running for a couple of hours." She rolled her eyes searching through her bag.
"It's…actually…been…four…"Yoh mumbled between ragged breaths, face still planted on the ground.
With Anna there, Yoh didn't get any slack off moments or breaks and she regularly called out to him to go faster, which made it a four hour very faced-paced jog with heavy weights on and pulling an Anna in a trolley with a bag with rocks too.
"Four? How time flies." Anna shrugged and started munching a rice cake. "So, are you gonna lay there all day or do you want your rice cake?"
"Rice cake?" The boy was suddenly up, his eyes wide with hope.
"Well, I did say I'll share them with you." She said as she stretched her hand with a rice cake in his direction.
Yoh took the strap from the trolley off and went to sit cross legged in front of his fiancée, after accepting his cake. He started munching happily, all tiredness forgotten.
"Who would have thought a rice cake could do such wonders to your motivation?"
The boy replied by beaming back at her and she rolled her eyes smiling before she decided it was worth giving him a second one, there was one extra cake anyways. He did look really cute munching on his cake, reminding her in a way of those little chipmunks eating their food that she saw a few times on TV. And there was also the way he just gazed in her direction at times, adoringly, kindly, his smile growing ever so lightly and making her heart beat faster and her palms sweaty, barely able to swallow her cake anymore.
Eventually, she did finish her rice cake and extended a second one to Yoh who was already done with his and was just happily resting humming one of his songs, eyes closed. He felt however her gaze on him, so he opened his eyes sleepily before they widened upon seeing her obvious gesture.
"Another one?" His eyes glittered with hope at the additional treat.
"You can have one for Amidamaru too, he can't have it anyways."
"You took one for Amidamaru?!" Yoh's eyes widened at the unexpected gesture.
"You took one for me?!" The ghost materialized with a rather loud puff, eyes already a river from having overheard the previous sweet interaction between the two.
"No, it's for Yoh, now shoo!" Anna snapped flustered from the reaction she received and threw a rock through Amidamaru who disappeared away quickly.
"Sorry, Anna, didn't mean to make you feel bad about it…"
"I'm not feeling bad about it." The girl said harshly crossing her arms.
"You shouldn't, it was very kind of you to think of Amidamaru." Yoh said softly.
"I wasn't, that was just an excuse to…" She bit her tongue mid sentence and her blush increased so she turned her face away, not trusting her words or what her feelings made her say.
"To?" Yoh pressed with genuine curiosity, leaning forward so he could see her face and read her, rice cake uneaten still in hand.
"Can't I just give you rice cakes if I want to?!" She snapped irritated turning towards him so fast she didn't realize how close he was and managed to bump her forehead into his.
"Ouch!" They both cried in surprise, rubbing their heads. "Are you OK?" They both added.
Yoh started laughing while Anna pouted at their synchronized reactions, yet the corners of her mouth ever so slightly turned into a small smile as she listened to his giggles. He eventually stopped and focused on his rice cake.
However, to Anna's surprise, he snapped it in two almost equal parts and outstretched, what seemed to look like the bigger one, towards her. She looked confused his way, so he felt the need to say something.
"Here."
"But it's for you."
"We can share."
"But I already had mine." She protested uncertain why she was feeling so unworthy of his kind gesture – she wasn't kind, she didn't take that extra rice cake for Amidamaru and anyways, she always had rice cake.
She always had a treat. He never had before. And that was her fault in a way.
"So did I." Yoh's voice sounded so kind and his eyes felt like they were staring into the depths of her soul. "But you obviously took three rice cakes for a reason. And I know you never have two rice cakes, so you must have had something or someone in mind when you took an extra one."
At his admission, Anna's head lowered and her eyes saddened to Yoh's surprise.
"Thanks for trying Yoh, but I didn't. I just took the whole pack because I thought there were two left and there were three. I only realized this after I gave you yours. I did take the second one for you, but I only considered giving you one more now. You looked so happy about it and I really couldn't be bothered if I had or not one more, so I just wanted you to have it. I don't do things like that, you know that." She didn't look at him as she spoke in a small, yet serious voice.
"No, I don't and you know that." Yoh replied almost instantly, a bit harsher than intended, yet he got her attention.
Their eyes met, hers startled upon hearing his serious tone, mixed with a sadness similar to hers.
"You have your own way of doing things like that, Anna, of being kind and caring. You did remember to take me a rice cake and you did give another one to me just because you saw it made me happy. That's still a very kind gesture, don't oversee that."
"But I never did before." She argued.
"You did before in other ways and besides, you don't have to make up for that now. I mean I know you're trying to do better by not hitting me…" Her fists clenched and he covered them after he put the rice cake halves in the trolley. "…and I really appreciate it, but I don't want you to feel guilty all the time about it or small things like this. Or do them because you feel guilty or feel like you owe me. Do them because you feel them, like you did when you gave me that extra rice cake. You didn't do it because you had to, you wanted to - it was all over your face." Yoh stopped and his serious face broke into a grin despite his cheeks also coloring and so did hers - of course Yoh realized she wanted to give him the cake all along despite initially being unsure what she had it for. "And just like you felt to give me the rice cake, I felt like sharing it with you, OK?"
She nodded slowly before she asked in a small voice, that Yoh almost missed.
"So…you think I was kind?"
"I always think you are kind." Yoh whispered back. "I mean, the training is a pain, but I know it's your way to help me become shaman king." Then Yoh leaned forward on her side and cupped his hands around her ear, startling her enough to freeze her in place.
He continued whispering before she barely had a chance to even finish 'freezing' from his sudden intimate, yet surprising new gesture. "And I know you tell everyone it's because you want to be shaman queen, but I was there before that, I know it's because you genuinely want to help me achieve my dream not only to repay me but because, you know…you also like me."
And then Yoh retreated turning around, blushing madly. Anna was still frozen in place, still trying to process what happened as well as his words. And then it hit her and she covered her face with her hands. She was sure her whole face was red and her heart was beating wildly and her palms were wet and her breathing irregular. And despite that, she found herself smirking.
'The audacity of that idiot I fell for too hard!' She thought sneaking a glance behind her fingers in his direction.
Yoh was still sitting with his back at her so she ever so slightly moved from the trolley, almost hissing when she accidentally leaned on the wrong foot. She changed to the other and carefully approached him only to find him with his hands on his face too. Smirking mischievously because turnabout is fair play, she imitated his previous gesture and whispered in his ear, surprising the boy who did feel her approaching, but didn't expect her actions.
"And you wanted to become shaman king to help me, but also because…you…like…me…too." She sing-sang the last part.
She moved away at the same time he also moved away so he could turn towards her, watching her with big incredulous eyes.
'Oh, I'm so head over heels for her, that this expression finally makes sense to me.' Yoh thought their eyes still locked, faces red.
"D-did y-you-ou just…?" Yoh mumbled.
"I did. You did too." Anna replied voice confident, smirking eyeing him playfully.
"Indeed I did." Yoh said his voice more determined now as a grin broke on his face.
"You did say to do what I feel like…" She trailed coming closer so now she was sitting next to him.
"Told you you're kind." Yoh smiled widely, that warm tender 'I'm so smitten for you' smile and she smiled back with her unique 'I'm also so smitten for you' smile before they both started giggling and then their giggles transformed into laughter.
They laughed so hard they fell on their backs, tears almost forming at the corner of their eyes from literally rolling on the floor. Now, on their sides, they locked eyes, hands interlocked between them.
"I like our romantic antics." Yoh spoke first, still grinning widely.
"Can't believe you actually…we actually…flirted. Or whatever that was." Her voice sounded so lively, she barely recognized herself.
"Another great confession I guess. They always make us so happy!" His voice softened looking adoringly into her golden eyes and leaning so slightly so he could touch his forehead to hers.
"They do, despite sounding so childish…" She said thoughtfully, but she didn't mean childish in a negative way.
"So innocent? True? Like…"
"Like we could have said the same things when we first met yet we were too shy?"
"I don't think we're past the shy stage."
"I don't think we'll ever be." Anna half sighed, half giggled. "And to think this started because I didn't want you to share your extra rice cake with me."
"Just don't blame yourself for what you did before, Anna, OK? I'm not holding a grudge, I never did, I always accepted you for what you are and wouldn't have had you any other way." Yoh said serious, squeezing her hand.
"I'll try." She murmured cuddling on his side before she added suddenly very aware of the surrounding, even having that odd feeling someone was watching them. "Yoh, are we laying on the sidewalk, in the middle of some public, yet deserted alley in town?"
"Yes, maybe…But I'm sure Amidamaru's somewhere close guarding us." The boy replied sheepishly, starting to remember where they were.
"He better be." She snapped as if she was talking to the ghost himself trying to ignore her previous feeling – maybe it was Amidamaru, before she added in her usual tone. "We sure are very romantic." Despite not fond of their 'uncomfy' place, she still cuddled closer on his arm, avoiding leaning on her hurt leg.
"We sure are!" He agreed snickering and she smiled relaxing on him, their hands still intertwined between them.
They stayed like that for another 2 mins, eyes closing, listening to their own heartbeat, before Anna turned back to her usual self.
"Back to training now. You have extra hours to make up for, break done, come on." She got up hurrying him.
"Wait, one more minute, we need to finish those!" Yoh protested giving her once again her half rice cake from the trolley.
"OK, but I'm adding another half an hour to your training." Anna took the half from him.
He nodded too happy she took the rice cake this time to properly process her words. They started munching the rest of their snack contently, sitting down on the pavement before they both got up ready to go. To Yoh's surprise, however, Anna suddenly darted past him towards the end of the street, at an alarming speed, fists closed.
"Anna?" He questioned, yet he realized there was no way she heard him past the angry aura she was suddenly emanating.
"Yoh-dono, is there something wrong with Anna? I did feel something amiss a few minutes ago…" Amidamaru came closer from his 'guarding patrol' feeling the chills from the girl miles away, yet it somehow felt different from what he felt odd before.
"I'm not sure yet…I think she saw or sensed something. I better go after her, nothing good comes when she lets these kinds of emotions loose." Yoh said concern visible in his voice.
Amidamaru nodded and followed his master dash the same way Anna did, yet the girl had already disappeared behind the corner of the alley.
Rutherfor had been following the source of the powerful furyoku till she got on some abandoned alleys that all looked the same to her. She wandered around rather lost, feeling like she'd been walking in circles till she heard voices and rushed their way. Initially, she couldn't make out the words, then she could hear bits of conversation and then she clearly was able to hear two distinctive voices. She was very certain this was the source of the powerful furyoku she felt.
Despite being excited to meet the famous 'psychopathic dangerous unpredictable little Hao', she also felt anxious because she heard the stories – Hao wasn't one to mess with and Silva's worry sure didn't help calm her nerves. But Chrom was unharmed, so maybe, just maybe he won't be as dangerous?
Grey Saucer, her alien looking powerful ghost spirit, materialized in front of her, showing her the peace sign and despite his serious alien face, Ruth smiled and nodded gratefully his way. She knew he had her back, so she shouldn't be afraid. It was time to change back to her robes she'd carefully carried in her beige backpack, yet the voices had grown increasingly quiet, so she decided to check on them first before approaching them in her Patch attire.
Ruth crept around the corner of the block, looking down the alley. There, almost at the end of the street, at about 3 meters distance from her, were a girl and a boy, sitting on the pavement and apparently the latter was whispering something into the girl's ear.
The young Patch blushed madly and moved at lightning speed back to her hiding spot. Her back pressed on the building wall and her hands covered her now red cheeks. She assumed the two voices were coming from little Hao and his spirit. She definitely didn't expect to see a girl there that wasn't a guardian ghost, but what really flustered her, was the closeness between the two.
Curiosity got the better of her and Ruth looked again, but first she made sure to tie her hair in a quick messy ponytail, afraid it might stand out. This time it was the girl who seemed to be whispering something to the boy, before she watched them stand aside, looking at each other bewildered and exchanging some replies that didn't make much sense to the Patch girl.
And then, to her surprise, the two just burst out laughing so loud and so unexpected, Ruhterfor jumped a little behind, startled and accidentally oversouled, messing up the gravity and making some things down the street she was on float – a bin, some stones, cardboard. She quickly lowered them back softly and looked around for anything out of the normal, but fortunately, nothing else looked out of place. Then she immediately used her oracle bell Patch technology to hide her furyoku and used her oversoul to make herself look like the building. She owed this technique to Renim who helped her use her oversoul as a camouflage.
She was pretty good at oversouling her Patch robes too, but Goldva had recommended to all Patch that for this part of the test to not oversoul more than necessary, so the shamans won't be able to acknowledge the lengths of the true powers of the Patch. However, Ruth heard her colleagues talk and she knew some believed Goldva also suggested that because she was afraid in case they'll get intimidated or something unexpected happened, they might end up out of the oversoul and in an embarrassing position. She did always mention to them to only oversoul clothes on top of existing ones – it's not like they added another layer, it was intangible.
The downside was that now since Ruth had a job, she always had clothes on for that, so if she had to wear Patch robes, they would come on top, but they were making it harder to move and they were also making her warm, thus why they were now in her backpack.
Ruth noticed from her invisible hideout a passing samuarai ghost, that looked around warily. She was sure he must have felt her, yet now he couldn't so he just started floating around still looking for the source of the power outburst. Once he was definitely out of sight, Ruhterfor finished her oversoul and resumed her spying mission on the couple.
Now they were just lying on the ground, cuddling before they got up to eat something. She stared at their happy munching with occasional sweet gazes before she retreated to her place, cheeks red.
Rutherfor couldn't believe her luck. She volunteered to test this Yoh Asakura because she was curious to see how someone in love looked in reality, so seeing him and her girlfriend was definitely a bonus! It was so much more than what she saw on Patch TV and magazines and somehow still the same – they were so cute! Ruth felt like squealing thinking of how adorable the couple looked. She went as far as even thinking how it would feel if she was in the place of the blond girl, I mean she could tell the two weren't far from her age and the boy did look good looking and cute and…
"He's engaged." A cold venomous voice shuttered Ruth's dreaming violently, making the girl freeze in place.
