Sorry i took so long, but this chapter is important, so it had to be long
enjoy!
Chapter 10: I have a new dream
MARIANA´S POV
"Alright, boys, Karim said it was cool to team up four people!" I cry excitedly as I rush into the boys room "As long as there are only three of us fighting in the actual fight, there´s no problem! How cool is that?!" I jump up and down all around the room.
"Shut up! It´s 8 am! What did I ever do to you?!" Horo groans, just barely taking his head out from under he´s covers to glare at me. I smilingly give him the finger.
"I´m glad to hear that, Mariana" Yoh grins at me from the bathroom as he brushes his teeth. Behind him, Ryu gives me the thumbs up. Ren´s putting on his shoes and Chocolove hasn't even woken up.
"How sad is that only ones who are happy to hear this are those who are not on the team?" I make my way to Horo´s bed and pull the covers off "UP! Our plane leaves in half an hour and if your not there but that time, you´ll be teamless once again"
"I hate you" He grunts, getting up slowly.
"Up you too!" I go over to Choco´s bed and also pull his covers, unfortunately, he sleeps only in slips "No, no, no, no, NO, NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!! I snap my eyes shut and back away quickly "This is so much more than what I wanted to know about you! Eugh! Eugh, eugh, eugh!"
Horo laughs out loud "See? This is what happens when you venture to a men´s room"
"Don't laugh! I´ve been traumatized for life!" I whine.
"Hey!" Chocolove complains putting some pants on "My body is nice enough, I don't know what you´re freaking out about!"
"Oh, is this another one of your jokes?" Ren retorts sarcastically, coming up to me "Cause at least that one does make me laugh, ha-ha" He puts a hand on my shoulder and smirks "My biggest condolences. Do you want to get a teddy bear to stop the nightmares? Because I can make him buy you one"
"I don't think it´ll help" I say tearfully, going along with the joke.
"Mmm, maybe there´s like a group for people with that kind of trauma" Horo gets in, looking pensive.
"Puma" Choco says in a puma costume. Something shiny appearing behind him is the only warning there is before Ren beats the crap out off him with his Kwan Dao.
"I seriously don't get how´s that supposed to be funny" I observe the scene nonchalantly.
"It´s not funny" Ren replies as he finishes "That´s why I beat him up. Maybe that way he´ll get out of the delusion that it´s not" I smile at him.
"Well, seriously, get ready, I don't want to be late on our very first fight" With that I get out of the room.
(Three hours later)
We finally got to the plane that will take us to an unknown island where the matches will take place from now on. I´m sitting next to Ren, who has, obviously, the window seat. Behind us are Chocolove and Horohoro. Yoh and the others are taking another plane.
"Ok guys" I speak up. Ren looks at me and Horohoro and Chocolove stick their heads above our seats to listen "The moment has come. We have to decide who´s not going to fight today. Of course, the one who doesn't participate this day will do so the next ones. So, how´ll we choose?"
"I´m gonna fight no matter what, since I´m the strongest one" Ren declares determinedly "I don't want to take any chances"
"Hey! What makes you think you are strongest here?!" Horo yells at him "I can´t take that attitude of yours anymore! Lets fight right here, right now, and settle things once and for all!" He jumps out of his seat furiously.
Thank god, Ren remains seated "How stupid are you to want to pick a fight right before our first real shaman match?" He raises an eyebrow to the bluey.
"Horo please" I say soothingly "Ren is right, you shouldn't use your furyoku right now. For all you know, our adversaries could be Hao´s men, or even Hao himself" Horohoro looks away, still glowering "Please, sit and calm down" Ultimately, he takes his seat slowly with a scold "I think Ren should fight" Horo is about to protest but I put up my hand to stop him "As much as I dislike the idea, he is the most powerful on our group and I don't want to take chances either"
"Ok, I agree with Mariana" Says Chocolove, Ren smirks satisfied "Can we decide, now?" He looks at Horohoro uncertainly.
With a huge sigh Horo answers "Ok, if I´m the only one against that, then I guess there´s not much I can do about it"
"That´s the spirit!" I tease "Ren, pick a number from 1 to 9. The one who finds it first will be the one who doesn't fight"
"Ok" He shrugs uninterestedly "I got it"
"Ladies first" Chocolove smiles at me.
"No way, I want to fight! You go first" I stuck out my tongue at him.
Horohoro rolls his eyes "Three"
"No" Ren tells him shortly.
"Eight!" Shouts Chocolove.
"Nope"
"One!" I cry.
"Sorry" Ren smirks at me.
"Fuck!" I curse loudly "I´m so bad at these things, I have no luck!"
"Well, you picked the game" Horo laughs, but stops when I glare at him.
"If you don't win, it´s your ass I´m gonna kick so hard you wont be able to sit for decades" I snap.
"As if" Ren smirks even more "I´m still fighting, remember?"
"Yes, I trust you" I look at him straight in the eye "But please, please, please win!"
"I´m not planning to do anything but that today" Ren assures me "Don't fret over it, I´ll take care of everything"
"Oh, you´ll take care of everything?!" Horo rises abruptly from his seat "Seriously, who the fuck do you think you-"
"Oh, shut up with that already!!" I tell him "You´re just nervous about the fight, I get it. But stop quarrelling already"
"Nervous?! Who the fuck is nervous! I´m not nervous, I-"
We´re here!" Silva calls. Horohoro yelps and jumps. We all stand up hastily and make our way out of the plane. In no time, Silva leads us through a corridor and eventually to the court.
"Ok, Horo. Don't get anxious" I say comfortingly "I´ve seen you, you´re really good. And you too, Choco. Well, Ive never seen you, but good luck!" I give him the thumbs up and he smiles appreciatively "And well, Ren, you just, you know, don't loose your temper or anything"
He gives me the finger as the three of them go to the field. I grin and shout "Good luck, guys!" Ok, now I´m nervous.
As they get to the court, one of the priests, who´s apparently the commentator, starts explaining the rules. Meanwhile, Karim guides me to a bench close to the court so I can get a good view. I take a look around. The place is enormous and there are a fair number of spectators on the stands.
"Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to the first team" The commentator bellows enthusiastically on the microphone "Here is The Ren!"
"Oh, look at that" I tell Celandine "I didn't know our group had a name. Who do you think might have named it?" I grin at her with glee.
"Mmm, let me think" She plays along "Maybe the love of your life?" She teases.
"Shut up, I don't love him" I smile a little "It´s just a crush"
"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that" She says dismissively. I smirk and look back at the trio. We missed the name of the name of the opponent team, but as we look up, our jaws drop. They are the two weirdoes from the Bozz that I fought against in my first match and won. Didn't think I would see those guys again. Their third man is a Mexican guy.
"Ren! What are we gonna do?!" Chocolove whines "They are Hao´s men!"
Naturally, Ren looks very unconcerned about them, even disappointed "Horohoro, I´m not wasting my time with Hao´s weaker henchmen. Chocolove can take care of them. I only want to fight those who have at least a minimal chance"
God, I could really go and ravish him right there in the spot. He looks so sexy when he says things like that, it just makes me fly high in a cloud of joy. And that sexy voice is just hypnotizing. I close my eyes and smile dreamily.
"Yeah, I don't even think it qualifies as a crush, just a tiny bit interested, right?" Celandine tries to say with a serious face, but ends up laughing hard.
"Shut up, stop ruining the moment" I hiss, opening my eyes to gawk at Ren.
"Would you look at yourself?!" She exclaims giggling "You´re practically dribbling!"
"Hey, no!" We hear Chocolove protest "Why have you decided this?!" He pales as he sees Ren and Horo backing away to let him handle the battle.
"Poor Choco" I chuckle "But he´ll be ok, they´re really no much for any of us"
"FIGHT!" The commentator roars passionately.
The Bozz dash to Chocolove, who, much to his own surprise, easily blocks them. This time, Chocolove attacks and almost throws them out of the court. The Mexican guy just stays behind observing. After several strikes, the Bozz seem exhausted enough to loose, but, strangely enough, they get up again and again. Even though their bodies seem completely worn out, they keep on fighting and still the Mexican refuses to participate.
"This doesn't look very good" I tell Celandine worriedly "It´s clear that our team has the advantage, but if Choco continues beating them up like that he´s going to kill them"
"I have no idea where the Bozz take that energy from" She says "They didn't last that long against us, but they haven´t improved that much. There´s something fishy going on in here"
"I know and what´s up with the Mexican block?"
A couple of punches later, it becomes clear to me Chocolove is doing everything he can to win without murdering them in the process. He´s not doing that well though, he´s becoming tired himself.
At last, he figures out the Mexican is controlling their bodies, he´s using little spirits on them to oversoul and making them continue fighting against their will, which complicates things, because he has to find out how to break that oversoul. However, it seems he´s come up with something. With a roaring, he does a huge oversoul, using what must be all his furyoku and covering most of the battlefield.
"This is the winds of laughter!" Chocolove shouts "The ultimate joke is about to come!"
"Quit joking around, you ass!" Horohoro yells furiously.
"Eres correcto" The Mexican speaks up "Give up already, I´ve heard your jokes are no fun at all, so you might as well save yourself the humiliation of trying one in here"
"Stop drawling, Peyote!" Chocolove roars "And watch the Ayers Rock!" His oversoul takes the form of said rock from Australia, which is usually called the bellybutton of the earth. It´s quite impressive.
"Is this supposed to be the ultimate joke?" Celandine asks me confused. I shrug, just as confused as her.
"Hahahaha! See?! No one´s laughing! You´re too boring" The Mexican leers "Go, Bozz! You´ve finally found someone even more worthless than you to defeat!"
"That little…! I knew he´d screw up!" Horo seethes "I´ll finish this!"
"Give it a rest Horohoro" Ren suddenly speaks up, the Ren-smirk fixed in place "Look close, the joke isn't over" We all look perplexedly back at Chocolove.
"This is over, loser!" Mexican guy screams "You´re going to die right now and there´s nothing you can do about it!!"
But it turns out that Chocolove is lying on top of his oversoul, looking up and his bellybutton´s inside out. His body looks just like the rock and he added a mini kangaroo next to his navel to finish the joke.
"Ok, I got to admit, that joke is not that bad" I grin.
"Argh! That´s crap!!" Mexican block shrieks "You actually thought anyone would laugh?!" But his spirits apparently think differently. They are laughing out loud, losing the concentration in the battle.
"The winds of laughter blow away the evil" Chocolove pants because of the exertion of using all his furyoku "You´ll never understand it, Peyote" With that, he falls to the ground exhausted, his oversoul disappearing "It´s all yours, Ren"
This totally takes me by surprise. Ren swiftly emerges from behind the Mexican, Kwan Dao in hand and a gigantic oversoul. "Nice work. This way his spirit can´t defend him properly" The Ren-smirk flashes, visible to everyone there.
"Damn it, morons!" The guy screeches "Move already!"
"Don't stress" Ren smiles twistedly "It wont make a difference, I´m gonna kick your ass anyway" He strikes with an immense power, creating a great explosion and sending his opponent flying away, completely defeated. He quickly gets to Chocolove and picks him up in his arms "Because you dared to look down on my teammate"
He´s practically radiating as he does all this. His movements were so precise and his strength gives the impression to be unlimited. A strong feeling of awe comes into me and it even multiplies as I see him standing up for Choco. I can´t even remember the fact that they´ve just won the first match, ´cause I honestly can´t care less at the moment. I only see perfection in front of my eyes. I only see Ren Tao
Distantly, I can hear all the onlookers bursting in applauses and cheers "Hey, Mariana!" Celandine waves a hand in front of my eyes, making me snap out of my daze "Lets go celebrate with them! Look! Horo´s calling you!" And indeed, I can see Horohoro signalling for me to go.
"YES!!!" I cry out excitedly and rush towards them in no time "You´re the best guys!" I jump animatedly.
"Yes, yes, yes!" Horohoro yells and we hug joyfully "Way to go Ren! We won!"
Above his shoulder I see Ren facing away from us. As we separate, he throws Chocolove over his shoulder to Horo, who catches him easily "It´s him you must thank" He Ren-smirks contentedly "His humor is awful but he has a good soul" Jesus, he´s not making this any easier, I feel myself rapidly falling even deeper for him.
"For you spectators, I´ll ask a word with the winners. Hey! You!" The commentator shouts at Horohoro "Tell us! How does it feel to have won so spectacularly your very first fight?"
"Oh, really, ehh…"
But Ren steps up, attracting the attention, so the microphone is pointed at his way "Yoh!" He says loudly. Oh my god, I so don't want to miss this. I open my eyes wide and hear attentively "I will defeat you! The Ren team will be the winner!!" He says this with so much determination that it looks incredibly cool. Ok, I think I´m flying again.
"Yes!" The commentator bellows "A very provocative speech!"
"Ren! You´re the best!" It can be heard from the crowd. Ren freezes and we all turn around to look for the source. We all stare stupefied at the multitude that occupies a vast part of the stands. The whole Tao family.
"Eh, Ren? Is that your family?" Horo asks disbelievingly.
"Yep! I believe they are" I grin widely, trying my best not to laugh. Horo starts sniggering a bit.
"Amazing!" The commentator yells "Here is Ren´s entire family, who´s come to support him!!"
"My father! I will kill him!" Ren hisses, going tomato red. At this, Horohoro and I burst out laughing hard, falling to the floor for it.
"SHUT UP, YOU TWO!!!" He raises his Kwan Dao at us with a maniac glint in his eyes. Horo and I look at each other alarmed before breaking into a run outside the field, Ren sprinting crossly right behind us.
After an hour of being chased, I finally loose him and drop against a tree, panting hard from the run. It takes me quite a while to catch my breath. By the time I do, Celandine finds me.
"Wow, just wow" She says quietly "I would never like a guy like him, but, seriously, wow! He rocked back there! I didn't know he was that strong"
"I know" I whisper. A long pause comes between us before I whisper again "I have a new dream"
"Huh?"
"Him" I close my eyes.
"………Oh"
"Everything about him is my dream. I want him to be happy forever, like he was just now. That Ren-smirk is the one he uses when he´s happy" I take a deep breath and open my eyes to look directly at Celandine´s "You were right. I love him" My voice shakes slightly.
"I know" She smiles sweetly at me "I can see it in your eyes"
"What should I do?" I mumble, overwhelmed.
"Well, you probably already know how I feel about this. Go for it. Tell him. At this point, your friendship is too strong. Even if he doesn't correspond your feelings, he wont hurt you, nor will he let this affect the bond you two already have"
"Yeah" I look at my feet "Erm……Do you, er….mind if I ask for second opinions? I´ll consider yours but I want to be sure about this"
"Of course, sweetheart" She places her hand in my head comfortingly. Together, we watch the beautiful sunset, postponing as much as we can the moment where I´ll have to face the love of my life again.