Growing Pains
15: Do good recklessly
Auteur : Rain
Disclaimer : Shaman King…. Doesn't belong to me! How surprising! I am only playing with borrowed toys.
Notes :
To save; to stall; to discover.
Hello everyone!
Thank you for your support. A special thanks to CorporalQueen, Realgya, Solemntempo, LugiaP2K, and Allie. Reading means a lot to me and commenting even more. Thank you.
Previously on: Growing Pains
Jeanne sends a message in a bottle and tries to prepare for the next leg of the fight. Tamao and Ashil hash out their different views of soulmate bonds, which allows Hao to learn more about what his maybe-probably soulmate is like.
...
Yoh's friend is nothing like him. Yoh is taller than her, with gangly limbs and a constant smile on the face. His concern is quiet and non-intrusive. Yoh's friend, in contrast, is small, with too much life to not explode every other second. His worries are loud and clear as he explains that one of their friends, someone else, has been killed by Hao's goons, and that Yoh Asakura is asking for her help.
The boy, he makes clear, is not only wounded or comatose, but straight up dead. And Yoh Asakura is asking for her help.
She is a leader. There are things to consider. Leverage and debts and respect owed. But Yoh Asakura came to her, just her.
"Bring the boy here," she decides, recklessly. She is talking to the boy; she does not look at the girl with him. She's noticed that she avoids her gaze, and seems to wilt every time she feels stared at, so she doesn't focus on her. The boy is also nervous, and struggling, but he holds his own.
Manta Oyamada, sixteen years old, oldest child of one Mansumi Oyamada, an important businessman with ties to the oil and weapon industry. A force to be reckoned with.
John shifts at her side. "My lady," he begins, but stops. Disagreeing with her, in front of civilians? He would never. Yet Jeanne can tell he's about to scream.
"Now, if you'll excuse us," she tells the boy, and gestures for her men to follow her.
They sit in the meeting room, and Jeanne can feel the tension swell around her. Small Porf and tall Larch and spiky John are all waiting for her word.
"Please," she begins, "tell me what you think."
They frown.
"What we think," Porf repeats hesitantly, "about what?"
"Where we stand. Helping this boy. Marco and Lyserg. What do you think?"
There is hesitation. They're not used to being part of the decision-making process, she knows as much. So she prods. "You know what state my captain is in. I am not Marco. I do not have his experience when it comes to steering this ship. So, tell me, what do you think?"
Porf clears his throat. "Marco would not want you to use your power for a stranger, especially considering his involvement with Yoh Asakura," he begins.
"Do we know who it is?"
"Yeah, I mean yes." John taps a pen against the table. "Ren Tao. He's in the tournament. Something like fifteen years old. The Tao family is one of these old shamanic houses that prides itself on strength and darker arts. Hao approached him a few days ago. He could be a plant, a trap."
"Or he could not," Larky interjects. "If he was Hao's friend, he wouldn't have sent his men to kill him. Now, it doesn't follow we should just aid him. Your blessings, my lady, are to be respected. You can't just give it away."
"Why not?" John butts in.
"Marco wouldn't do that," Porf repeats worriedly.
"It's not like he's here," the Brit spits. He's angry at their captain, Jeanne sees it plainly. And he's already talked about it with his teammates; she sees it in the way they glance at her guiltily.
"I am not Marco," Jeanne glances at the door, thinks of the two unconscious bodies. She's not sure what she means by that beyond the obvious.
"The X-Laws have worked alone until now, and we lost five people in one single moment." She knows how painful it is to say it out loud, but they don't have time to be coy. She focuses on keeping her voice firm, her heart strong, and her eyes dry. "We do not know if Marco and Lyserg will recover. We do not know if they will be operational if they do. The temptation to retract, to focus on ourselves, to try and find any advantage we can possibly find – all of these exist, all of these are difficult to resist. However… I think it would be a mistake."
She stops, and they wait expectantly.
"These people come to us hopeful and desperate. They need help, and the X-Laws are here to help. We want to save this world. Saving one child would be a good start. What's the use of a Shaman King if she cannot aid her people?"
They don't seem so convinced. Porf, though, gamely supports her. "What is your plan, my lady? You know we would do anything for you."
"I am asking you not to." That has him confused. "Here is our current priority: finding Hao's soulmates. If we can place him in the state our Marco and Lyserg are in, then we have a chance to end it without any unnecessary bloodshed. But we can't learn more about soulmates without the help of other shamans, since we have never researched this and Kevin is gone now; we need allies."
They all ponder the thought. Then she shifts.
"As things stand, I should not make decisions that pertain to all of us alone. If you disagree with my assessment – if Yoh Asakura should not be helped, if this is weakness – I am asking you to tell me. I need your perspective on this; I need you to be with me."
Are they flushing? They might be, a tiny bit. On Porf it's obvious, with his pale skin. Jeanne tries not to get distracted.
John makes a face. "A show of goodwill has its perks. People will look up to us if we prove able to aid them. But we're not in a popularity contest."
"Aren't we?" Porf gestures to the world outside. "We are the only hope of many people out there. If we bargain with lives, how are we better than him? What's the hope? I know Marco wouldn't agree with just helping because he'd feel it was weakness, and he was very worried about Yoh Asakura. But I trust the lady's judgment as far as his character goes. So if we're not trying to emulate Marco…"
"I think we should do it because it is the right thing to do," Jeanne says, and they fall silent. "We have an opportunity to do good, and I want to take it."
Larky has been silent for a while. He finally cracks a smile. "Then let's do it. Destroying evil and purifying the earth has to start somewhere. Let's do a little good."
The other two glance at him, then nod.
And so the Maiden of Roses rises.
ꙮ
Yoh arrives with Ren rather quickly. Anna, Horo-Horo, Joco, Ryû, and Faust are there, too; Faust and Horo-Horo are the ones actively working to keep Ren stable and in one piece. The moment they meet up, she comes back from inside the ship, shadowed by the three remaining X-Laws.
"Thank you," Yoh says when she sets foot on the dock. "How do we help?"
"There is a ritual that must be observed," Jeanne tells him, and Tamao's insides melt. She's so close! Her voice is as powerful up close as it was in the ring. She's wearing a dress worthy of a princess, completely out of this world.
It was hard enough when she was on the bow of the ship, separated by a few meters in the quiet dark of the evening. But now, so close? She misses half the conversation just staring at her.
"It requires flowers. Forest flowers will do; they need to cushion his head and as much of his body as possible."
If Yoh is surprised, he does not show it; just nods. "What else?"
"In the meantime, he needs to be washed."
Tamao wants to stay and help, but she's so nervous her voice stalls, & Horo-Horo and Faust are already bound to remain close to the body, so she goes. In the semi-dark of the evening they steer clear of the uphill tracks, but there is enough undergrowth to carry back armfuls of flowers. Tamao tries not to think of those as flowers for her. She's confusedly worried about being found out, when she hasn't done anything wrong. She hasn't even talked to her – she couldn't. It'd be like talking to Hao, only not because she's not fated to her.
How can she feel so deeply for a girl she doesn't even know? She's seen what the Iron Maiden is capable of. It was terrifying. Is it that she's pretty? She's never really looked at girls. Or boys, for that matter…
"Tamao, are you still with us?"
She blinks out of it and carries her flowers back to the dock. The Iron Maiden looks on as her men and Horo-Horo carefully wash Ren with white cloth. There's already a huge pile of flowers and greenery, and once Ren is fully clean she directs them to place the flowers around his face, his neck, his shoulders.
"For his hands – this will do," she tells Yoh, pointing to the last flowers in Tamao's hands. She flushes beet red as he comes to get them from her, thanking her quietly, and then arranges them in Ren's crossed hands over his chest.
It does help, somehow, to see him like this. He's no longer a scary corpse; instead he seems almost at peace.
"He is ready," the Iron Maiden says, and her Oversoul snaps into place. A song of metal and grace, comes into Tamao's mind unbidden. Her lungs stop moving.
Everyone else steps back; silence comes before Jeanne's quiet prayer.
It's not in any language Tamao speaks. It strikes her as oddly beautiful, something ancient, something… Ren's eyes fly open and Tamao watches him sit up, hand outstretched, yelling no.
Chaos breaks out.
Yoh tries to get to him, to clear up the confusion he must feel, but he's already on his feet and yelling at the Iron Maiden.
Yelling.
At the Iron Maiden.
"What the FUCK do you think you're doing? Who gave you the right? I never asked for THIS!"
Jeanne seems too stunned to react. Ren looms over her, and because she does not back down he gets a lot closer than any of them dared to so far.
Tamao moves at the same time as the X-II do. One of them draws a gun and aims it at Ren's head; the other gets in front of the Maiden, and Tamao does too, arms outstretched.
"Stop," she says in the pregnant silence, refusing to be cowed by the loaded weapons raised all around. "How dare you do this to someone who helped you?"
"I didn't ask for her help," he sneers.
"We weren't going to just let you die," Yoh intervenes, his hand clamping down on Ren's shoulder. "If you need to be angry, be angry at me."
"And apologize to her," Tamao insists, with an anger she can't quite explain. "She went out of her way to do this for you!"
"Yeah," Horo-Horo butts in. "How dare you yourself, dickhead? She worked hard for you."
"It doesn't matter," the Iron Maiden says, somehow silencing all of them with her soft voice. "John, put your weapon down. There are other people who need me. I shall now take my leave."
She turns to go; Yoh calls out to her. "Are you sure there's nothing we can do to help?"
The Iron Maiden catches his eye, then looks back towards her ship. "I'm afraid not."
"I am sorry about him. I appreciate what you have done for us. I know this isn't very proper, but I'd like to have you over for dinner. Tamao cooks very well."
She flushes. How can he – she's not supposed to draw this kind of attention! But he gestured towards her, and now the Iron Maiden meets her eyes. Her whole body locks up. She feels so small.
Jeanne nods, and turns.
"Our lady will think about it," Larch says, and then they are gone. Ren resumes yelling, and the others too, but to Tamao it's like the world has somehow lost intensity. Feeling weak, she wanders to the edge of the dock and sits down.
The Iron Maiden looked so sad, so hopeless when she refused Yoh's offer of help. She looked so different tonight. So young. It's so clear she needs help. Losing so many of her people – it must have taken a toll. But what can she do? She's not the one who stole the X-III's souls. She's not even in Hao's team, to ask him for mercy. She can't exactly…
She glances at her feet, the quiet words there.
It's a stupid idea. It's a suicidal idea.
But she can exactly go up the cliff and ask him herself.
ꙮ
He doesn't expect her to help.
"So the Iron Maiden revived Ren," he repeats, almost doubting his poor follower's words. But Mathilda is not known for being a good liar.
"I did as you commanded and went to assist Turbein and Zang-Ching," she explains. "Nichrome distracted Ren and they were able to kill him off, but we had to back off when Yoh-sama arrived. He took the body away, so I tried to track them, and I followed them to the docks."
He nods, thoughtful.
"And you saw her helping?"
"Yes." She describes the ceremony. "I saw him stand up after."
She's full of surprises, isn't she.
He remembers what he thought when he watched her match again, more because he was bored than because he needed to: a song of metal and grace. Not just visual, then.
"Do you know what her price was?"
"Price?"
"For his life. What did she demand of them?"
There has to be something. He knows her type; alone and weakened as she is, she will need a strong incentive as a way to get some measure of control back in her own hands. Yoh giving up the tournament, perhaps? Marco never liked him.
"I'm sorry, sir," Mathilda shakes her hand. "I couldn't get close enough to tell. But it didn't look like she received anything specific. They helped wash the body and then they… They covered it in flowers, but…"
"They, as in, Yoh and them? Was there anyone else?"
She furrows her brow, trying to remember their names. "Definitely Ren's teammates, Yoh-sama's, and…" Squint. "Anna, too, and the human boy, and the girl with pink hair."
Tamao.
How quaint. He wonders how much of her reverence has survived his match, and close contact. He'd never quite believed before in love at first sight, but he has just been privy to it. She surely wishes she was connected to her instead. Or maybe not; he doubts there is any more hope of a happy resolution with the child-woman in her doomed ship, and he doubts she would welcome such advances.
But she's not tied to her, she's tied to him.
If he has his way, she won't have to worry about this much longer. What he used to feel was just useless cruelty has now gathered a somewhat… personal dimension. Poor girl, he thinks, drawn into the eye of the storm. How cruel can fate be? If he were equally cruel, he would burn her before she could do him any damage. But he's never seen himself as cruel.
Just willing to do what's necessary.
Is Hao going to make you happy?
Maybe not, but he could make her free.
