First chapter fic, and AU. Rated for suggestive themes, and alcohol use, minor angst, and violence.

It's a lovely Peter Pan meets Shaman King spoof, and I hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Shaman King or any of the characters. Takei sensei does. I wish I did though.

Pairings:

YohxAnna

HaoxAnna

-----------Chapter One------------

Outside, the wind could be heard howling, like so many voices, raised in unison. The voices whipped at the tree leaves as though punishing them for their agony and the rain lashed like a thousand knives upon the lamp-lit street.

Occasionally, when the wind grew stronger, there was the soft pitter patter of those same rain drops against the glass of the window.

Pitter patter, pitter patter…

It was like an orchestra, a band moving all in beautiful disarray. Never was the rhythm the same, never was there a set beat, and yet, it was a beautiful sound that could make the strongest of hearts grieve and long for things they couldn't name.

So was the case for Anna Kyoyama, seated quietly in front of her computer, her fingers moving over the keyboard in the same unset tune as the rain, poetry spilling from her and onto the bright, glaring screen before her through some mechanical wonder she didn't care to know about.

Dark eyes focused solely on this sight, the blonde didn't let her fingers stray from their tapping, the clickity-clack of the keyboard now intermingling with the sound of the thunder outside—the distant thunder that wasn't quite there yet, and the lightening that wasn't bright enough to illuminate her room fully. The lights were turned off, the one source being the garish white of the word document that her words spilled across, the mechanical clock controlled by yet another mechanism she didn't care to understand reading the digits '11:54' tauntingly. It was near midnight, and yet the gentle sounds of the moaning storm and the sleeping pills she had taken hours ago failed to induce anything in the form of weariness.

And so she typed…

'When Mother lays me down to sleep,

And prays the Lord my soul to keep,

I wonder, if I die before I wake,

Will you be there,

My soul to take?

And if I fall and never rise,

And Father dries the tears he cries

Will you hold out your arms to me,

And make the world

Mine to keep?

And shadowed words that hold no truth,

Will then spill forth in constant loops;

I will not hold your hand in mine

My soul is mine,

My soul is mine…'

After a long moment of simply staring at the work before her, there was a click at the small 'x' at the top of the document. A message asked if her she wanted to save before exiting—the cursor of her mouse hesitated over the yes, and then moved to 'no'. The window closed, and the poem was gone.

It didn't matter; it was no good, anyways.

The little minute counter on the digitized clock flicked to midnight, and the grandfather clock in the hallway gave a loud chime—the blonde counted each one. Twelve. Twelve loud, echoing chimes that reverberated through the hallway and reminded Anna of a horror movie. Twelfth hour of the night, and at the same time, the first true hour of the day. She wondered, at this magical hour, what could happen. All things were possible in those few split milliseconds, where it was neither today, nor tomorrow, nor yesterday. But as soon as a thought of the magical moment crossed, so the moment was gone, and it was today and that was yesterday, and tomorrow was a full day away.

A slender, pale hand came up to run through the blonde tresses of the seventeen year old; not in an attempt to tame the mess, but in an attempt to calm herself and give her hands something to do. She needed something to do, and poetry obviously wasn't working. The monstrous piece of crap she had just produced had been proof enough of that.

Something told her that later, she'd regret not saving it.

Oh well. She could always attempt to rewrite it later, perhaps with a few changes that would make it more to her liking.

For her, writing was an escape: an escape from the mundane life of school, an escape from the pressure of her parent's constant arguing, and mostly…from who she was. Who she really, deeply was.

Or perhaps, it was who she was not that she wanted to escape from.

Anna, on the general, appeared to have it pretty well. A rich, upper class family, a pampered only child, straight A's, and a rare form of beauty that was not common in Tokyo. Her blonde hair, porcelain moonshine skin, and deep, mysterious brown eyes set her apart from the traditional dark haired, tanned skin girls that she attended Shinra Private Academy with. She even had a fiancé…mayhap one that had been picked out for her by her parents, but a fiancé never the less.

She couldn't even say she was too terribly cursed to be engaged to Yoh Asakura. He was indeed a good-looking young man, a year older than her, with a laid back personality and an easy-going smile that she had hated the minute she laid eyes on it.

But that…was because of who she was…

Let's rewind a bit, shall we? Back track to ten years ago, when seven year old Anna lay in bed and cried and screamed for her dead dog to come back from Heaven and lay at her feet again.

She had cried herself to sleep, and when she had woken, there had been Tommy, the little cocker spaniel, wagging his tail happily at her from beside her bed.

The seven year old had screamed.

She had gotten in trouble. Her parents could not see Tommy, and they told her it was a sick, cruel joke to play, and not at all good to joke around about. They had sat her down and told her Tommy was dead and gone for good, and that saying things like that was a horrible, horrible thing to do.

All the while, her small brown eyes had been fixated on the little dog that was curled up next to the couch, snoring contently.

Now, fast forward about two months later, to Anna's eighth birthday. She had been allowed to invite two friends, and the rest were rich adults that her mummy and pappy worked with. But that was ok. Little Anna stood there in front of her mirror, in her white, frilly dress that mummy had bought especially for today, her hair specially curled into ringlets, and a white rose embroidered delicately over her left ear, woven into her hair. And around her neck, was her gift from pappy—a genuine pearl necklace, each pearl perfectly rounded and polished a gleaming white, all identical in size. It was her pride and joy, and she couldn't wait to show it to her friends, Pirika and Tamao.

And so, clinging to her pappy's hand, she let herself be lead downstairs. Everyone was dressed in beautiful gowns and suits, since her parents had made this into an expensive party, with a fun time for the adults after the children had gone to bed for the night. Little Anna was beaming with the brightest smile, and waited for each person to coo over her—she knew she looked adorable!

'…little brat…'

That was the first thing she heard. Blinking, the young girl looked around for who would say such a thing, but everyone was beaming at her, and complimenting her. Blinking, her nervous hands smoothed the front of her petticoat. Had she imagined it..?

'She thinks she's so special. Heh, she's a piece of filth. Her mother only married because of the money…'

'Look at that, real pearls! What a brat. She doesn't even look Japanese. And they say she sees things. Demon.'

'Demon'

'Filth'

'Product of a whore'

By this point, the small girl was in a panicked mode—everyone around her was smiling and chattering happily, and she couldn't seem to find who was saying such things! And such mean, nasty things…she wasn't a demon, and mummy loved pappy!

But the voices kept taunting her, until the point that she excused herself from the crowd, and rushed off to find her friends. The farther away she got, the quieter the voices, until it was nothing but a distant murmur.

Tommy following behind her—she could still see him, though no one else could, the blonde girl made her way to a quiet corner, and knelt to pet the puppy affectionately, giggling as he gave an appreciative bark, and wagged his tail so hard that the entirety of him quaked with happiness.

"What are you doing?"

A startled gasp, and Anna quickly stood, folding her hands behind her back. There, peering at her with matching expressions that clearly said 'you're weird', were Pirika and Tamao. Pirika, in her blue frock, with a matching headband, and Tamao in a lacey tan one that matched Pirika's perfectly. They were beautiful frocks, and looked expensive, and the eight year old couldn't help but be slightly jealous.

"Anna-chan, what were you doing just now?" Repeated Tamao, in that quiet, delicate voice of hers. Anna blushed. "N-nothing.." she stammered, and scuffed a foot along the ground.

'Liar…'

"I'm not lying!" She jumped, shaking her head so fast that her ringlets whipped against her cheeks. Pirika blinked at her. "No one said you were, Anna-chan."

'She's so weird…Mamma didn't want me to come, 'cause she thinks Anna talks with demons…maybe that's what she was doing.'

A gulp, as the young girl swallowed hard, and watched her friends. Neither of them had moved their mouths the slightest, but that had been Pirika's voice she heard…

For the young girl, this was getting to be too much. She tried not to think about those voices, and remembered the pearls around her neck. Her bright eyes lit up. "Oh! Look what pappy got me!" Her hands went to the necklace and unfastened it so she could hold it up to the light, where it sparkled and glistened. Her friends leaned in and 'ooohed' appropriately…and yet…

'What did she do to deserve that? She's going to break it or somethin'! Da says she's a demon. It's not fair. I want it.'

That…had been Tamao's voice, and yet, at this same moment, Tamao was speaking brightly, in a cheery voice, about how lucky Anna was, and asking if she could try it on. Again, the voices, and the mixture of spoken words, were getting to be too much for her.

They kept building. People were approaching for refreshments, and the voices crashed over her. She dimly registered Tamao putting on the pearls.

'Demon, demon, Anna's a demon… ' The voices seemed to taunt, and it was too loud.

She remembered reaching for her pearls to snatch them back, and Tamao screaming. She remembered the pearls, her perfect strand, her prized possession from pappy, shattering into a million pieces on the floor. She remembered standing with her hands covering her ears, yelling loudly, screaming that she wasn't a demon. And even with her hands over her ears, she could hear them…

Everyone had gone home early. She had been punished, and pappy had never bought her a new strand of pearls.

She was a bad girl, who played pranks, and beat up her friends.

She had embarrassed her parents.

Girls like her didn't get pearls.

After that, four years passed. Research had put a name to her abilities—one, the ability to call spirits from the after life, made her an Itako, a rare and powerful form of Shaman. The other was a much more mysterious ability…the Reishi. The ability to see into the hearts of others.

It wasn't until she was twelve that she figured this out.

For the four years that she spent believing she really was a possessed demon, she changed. She shut herself in her room, and her eyes lost their youthful glow. Her skin grew paler, her hair lighter, giving her the fragile appearance of a painted doll. Pirika and Tamao had spoken to her possibly twice after the incident, one being a forced meeting so that they could all apologize to one another.

Even then, Anna could hear them. They didn't mean it. They were promised ice cream afterwards, if they apologized to the demon girl.

Her inability to control what she heard drove her to shut herself down, using every possible excuse to keep from mingling with the public. She did all she could think of to learn to control it, but fear kept her from seeking help. She was already thought to be a demon.

Perhaps she was.

She slowly learned to control it, around small groups of people—but crowds were hell. School became her dreaded enemy, and she spent many days trying to shut everything out. As a result, she quit smiling, and always bore a constant void expression, treating everybody with the utmost contempt, and holding her head high above them. Names mingled in with 'demon' now. 'Ice queen'. 'Wench'. By the time she was twelve, she had a record of treating people coldly, distantly. People no longer talked to her, or tried to befriend her.

That was fine.

When she finally learned what her abilities were, she was so used to believing she was indeed a demon, that she had not readily accepted it. But it all made sense, after a while. Yet knowing what it was, had not helped her to control it.

And so she did not smile.

When she had met Yoh Asakura at the age of fourteen, and learned that he was her fiancé, she had been appalled. He, she knew, had to be like everyone else. Behind that lazy, goofy smile, he probably thought she was a demon, like everyone else.

And so she had opened her mind to the Reishi.

'…She looks alright. I wonder if they have a kitchen here. I'm starving. Oh, look, a butterfly…would it be rude to put on my headphones? I want BOB love…maybe I should talk to her. She looks kind of sad. I wonder if I can help. I hope she likes me. Hey, another butterfly…'

Not only had the thoughts she received from the other amazed her, but they had also almost made her smile.

Instantly, she hated him. He had broken her façade. She hated him. She had told him that.

Now, three years later, she didn't hate him. Everything about him, from his goofy orange headset, to his laid back attitude, to his smile, to his idiotic antics, were things she had grown used to—things she dare say she cherished. No, she wasn't too terribly cursed. He was from a good, well known family, the Asakuras. They were somewhat shady, because no one really knew what they did for a living, and their interest in Anna was starting to get out as well. It wasn't good for their reputation. But they had money, and her parents would accept anyone right now.

And after all, Yoh could see Tommy as well.

"Isn't that right, Tommy?" Cooed the girl, and the ghost dog yipped and hopped into her lap, where she gave him a slight pat on the head. Her eyes went to the digitalized clock again.

One in the morning. She had spent an hour submerged in memories. At least drowsiness was finally kicking in…

Flicking off the monitor of her computer, and listening momentarily to the mechanical hum die down and then go quiet, the Itako clambered under the warm covers of her bed, and let sleep take her.

At the very least, Yoh could see Tommy.

---Chapter End---

Ok, next chapter, we get into the really interesting stuff. I promise an appearance of Hao-sama, and a few other people. Oh, and for those who are fans of Tamao and Pirika, please don't bash me! cowers That was their cameo appearance, I'm not sure if they'll show back up. Anyways, please R&R.