Disclaimer: I do not own Shaman King or any of the characters used in this story.
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Sorry that the last chapter was so short, but I just wanted to build up a little anxiety for what was to come...don't worry, there has been some concern about a Hao x Anna romance, and I assure you that is NOT the case. Feel better?
Anna stepped back, and drove her elbow into Hao's side forcing him to let go. She had to make it to the front door, but as she ran down the hallway she suddenly heard...
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Yoh walked through the door and yawned with a large stretch following.
"Man, am I beat!" He suddenly became serious as he sensed a powerful shaman...not just any shaman... "Anna?!"
Anna met Yoh at the front door, "Yoh! We have to..." Before she could finish, Yoh watched as she was lifted up off the ground and as her body smashed into the living room wall and lost consciousness.
"Anna!" Yoh yelled, as he started toward the living room.
Hao smirked, "I will not tolerate such rudeness," he stated with a very calm tone, "Well, welcome home, it seems that you have interrupted my fun..."
Amidamaru appeared next to Yoh suddenly, "Master Yoh, we must over soul immediately!"
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Anna slowly made it to her feet. She had no idea how much time had passed, or how long she had been out. She looked out in horror to watch Hao easily toss Yoh aside; he was losing his furioku at a rapid speed.
"Yoh!" she yelled, trying to get to him, but the blow had hurt her more than she had known.
"Anna...stay back!" yelled Yoh as he gave Hao another strike with his blade.
"This just isn't any fun at all," stated Hao, with a sigh, as his smirk grew wider.
Hao easily dodged Yoh and Amidamaru's attack. Yoh was about to attack once more when Hao suddenly disappeared.
Yoh was taken back when he suddenly remembered Anna and ran into the living room, he was only a few feet from reaching her. Suddenly, Anna's eyes widened as Hao appeared in between her and Yoh.
"Now the fun shall really begin!" he yelled, with a laugh soon following, as he easily picked Yoh up off the floor and dealt the fatal blow...
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"No!!!" yelled Anna, dropping to her knees as she looked around to find herself still in the hallway, and no traces of Yoh anywhere.
"It would appear that you love my other half much more than I had first expected. Now, this does make my little game a great deal more interesting," explained Hao as he looked down at Anna, with that arrogant smirk.
"...I'll...I'll go with you..." she whispered, feeling inferior to him at the moment, for having allowed herself to be manipulated through his vision.
"I thought you would see it my way," he replied, holding out his hand to her.
Anna smacked his hand away and stood up on her own. She arched an eyebrow at him questionably when he motioned to her spirit beads. With a glare as cold as ice, she removed them and shoved them into his hand.
"Promise me that no harm will come to Yoh," she stated in an emotionless tone, not allowing him to read her thoughts.
"Yes, yes no harm shall come to my other half..." He arched an eyebrow as she went to the kitchen and took out a piece of paper and a pen from a drawer, "Do you really feel it necessary to write him a letter? Won't he already be heart broken enough?" He sounded as if he cared, but the evil smirk plastered on his face said differently.
"If I just disappear, don't you think Yoh will be suspicious?" she asked, with a flat tone of voice, never looking up at him.
"Always thinking ahead, that is one of the things that set you aside from most; however, do not try to place any hints within your letter my dear..."
"...I wouldn't dream of it..." Anna stated, with a sarcastic tone and then began to write...
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'Oh, how long is this bus ride?!' She sweatdropped, ' ...Of course, the master said, 'I'm sure that you're over reacting Tamao, remember you do often mistake your visions.' Yes, I know I SOMETIMES mess up...well...ok...LOTS of times, I mess up, but not this time. Something just tells me that Anna is in trouble...and if Anna is in trouble then Yoh will...'
She shook her head and jumped off the bus, quickly pulling out a map, '...That's not important at the moment!' she scolded herself, it didn't matter how she felt for Yoh at that point in time because if something was going to happen to Anna then Yoh would need to know immediately. 'I just hope I'm not too late!'
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Yoh opened the front door, "Anna, I'm back...won the match..." he managed to announce in between yawns. He looked around to find the house quite empty and shrugged, "Must have gone out. Man, I'm starved; too bad Ryu isn't here to whip something up." As he set a plate of leftovers on the table he noticed an envelope with his name on it. He held the letter with one hand, and a chicken leg in the other, "Probably Anna telling me what to do while she's out..."
Yoh,
Congratulations on winning tonight's battle. It would appear that you are no longer in need of my assistance. I am leaving town, so you're on your own. As for our engagement, consider it off, I am obviously not needed around here. Please tell your grandfather that no one these days carries through with arranged marriages, they're just so out of date. Good luck in the future, I'm sure Tamao would love to be your queen.
Anna
Yoh's mouthful of chicken nearly flew across the room. This was not a training list, a chore list, hell, not even a grocery list! Anna had left! The training was one thing...but...the engagement was off? Didn't she want to be the Shaman Queen and have an easy life????
He ran to Anna's room to confirm her leaving. Yup, sure enough, her belongings were gone.
(Hao must have a plot hole or something...little bubble pops up
Chibi Anna: pushing things into a plot hole
Chibi Hao: Faster Faster!
Chibi Anna: I'm going; I'm going, slave driver!").
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Manta arrived for his and Yoh's 'try to study' session and came to an abrupt stop when he didn't hear commands being shouted throughout the house.
'Anna must be out?' he thought to himself, trying not to let his smile grow too big.
When he ventured into the living room his smile suddenly faded as he found Yoh and Amidamaru on the couch (Yoh sitting, Amidamaru hovering) looking rather lost.
"Hey Yoh, what's up? You ready to study?" asked Manta as he joined them on the couch. "Uh...Yoh?" he questioned, having gotten no reply.
"Huh?" Yoh looked up from the letter, "Oh, I'm not really in a studying mood at the moment buddy..."
"When are you ever in a studying mood?" Manta said jokingly, but seeing his joke fail miserably led him to question Amidamaru. "What's wrong with you two? You acted like you lost the match tonight."
"I am afraid that Master Yoh received some rather..." he sweatdropped, "Bad? Good?" his sweatdrop grew as he whispered near Yoh's ear, "What kind of news would you say you received?"
Yoh had no real reply to their questions. Was he happy or sad that Anna had left? He had gotten used to the fact that she was always here and there to help him out, she didn't need to say that she cared for him...he just knew...but why had she left? Was it something he had done?
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Ryu walked in to find Yoh, Amidamaru, AND Manta all on the couch at a loss for words. Apparently Yoh or Amidamaru had informed Manta of the current situation. Manta's mouth was still open and had been for quite some time.
"What are you doing sitting in the dark? And where is Miss Anna? I need to ask her what needs to be cleaned this evening and what she wants me to make for dessert."
Of course, he received no reply at first. He only noticed that all eyes were fixated on the piece of paper in Yoh's hand. Ryu shrugged and helped himself to the interesting article, taking it out of Yoh's hand.
Ryu's eyes widened. "Just as I expected! Miss Anna DOES have a boyfriend."
"No way, Ryu! Anna would never..." Yoh slowly began to shut up as he noticed that Manta and Amidamaru had both come out of their stupor.
"And it would appear that you were not faithful either" commented Ryu with a TSK.
"What?!" exclaimed Yoh, getting a tad defensive.
"Well, if you had been faithful than Miss Anna would never have felt the reason to add Tamao's name in this letter."
Suddenly the wheels were turning as Yoh took back the letter and re-read certain parts...
"Please tell your grandfather that no one..."
"Stop!" yelled Manta as he snatched the letter from Yoh's hand, "Please tell your grandfather..."
'What???" Yoh suddenly had a large sweatdrop.
"Just listen, Anna wouldn't just pick up and leave, plus how would she have moved everything so quickly?"
Yoh and Amidamaru shrugged. Ryu opened his mouth to say something, but Manta quickly hurried on...
"There's gotta be something in this letter that will give us a clue. She's asking you to tell your grandfather..."
"But I won't be seeing him until after the tournament."
"Exactly! So she wants you to get in contact with your grandfather before the tournament ends."
Amidamaru gave Yoh the 'smile and nod' look and Manta sighed and shook his head, while Ryu was trying to figure out why they were smiling and nodding like idiots.
"Are we playing charades?" he asked, hopefully.
Manta fell over backwards. 5 minutes later
"Now why would Anna mention Tamao's name?" asked Ryu, with a smirk, "Because she knows that..."
"Because she knows that Tamao is...uh..." began Yoh with a rather complexed look on his face.
"Because..." Amidamaru trailed off and then shrugged, "I've got nothing master Yoh..."
Manta had now covered an entire teaching size chalk board with diagrams as to how to decipher the letter at hand. "Now look, it's very simple, Anna wants you...that's you Yoh..."
"Oh! Ok...continue..."
Manta sighed and continued on with his theory, "She wants you to contact your grandfather because he knows that she can't break the engagement, and the reason why Anna mentioned Tamao is because she knows that Tamao is with your grandfather and has visions so she can pinpoint her location..."
Swirlies were now in Yoh's, Amidamaru's, and Ryu's eyes. Manta smacked his head against the wall in vain.
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Meanwhile Anna was (oh so very comfy) in her new room. The room was in a similar fashion to the one she had when she was growing up, but something about this room gave her the chills. Maybe it was the fact that Hao had designed it and had known about her room as a child?
She sat on the window sill seat and looked out at the ocean beyond her reach. She let out a soft and annoyed sigh as her thoughts came to the same conclusion:
"The only possible candidates for reading my letter are Yoh, Ryu, possibly Amidamaru...I have no hope of getting out of here..."
She lowered her head and shook it as the truth hit her like a ton of bricks. Yoh was cute, he was sweet, but when it came to common sense...yeah...that pretty much sums it up...but wait...there was hope...
"...My life is in the hands of..."
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"ANNA. NEEDS. YOUR. HELP.," dictated Manta as he pointed to each word on the board with a yard stick, "CALL. YOUR. GRANDFATHER. TO. HAVE. TAMOE. TRACK. HER. DOWN."
Yoh, Amidamaru, and Ryu continued to turn the letter upside down, on its sides, and in all directions as if expecting the words to magically appear before their very eyes.
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Anna had fallen backwards onto the window seat. "The squirt...he's the only one who possesses any common sense at all out of all of Yoh's 'groupies'...Oh, in the future I will make it my personal goal to be kinder to those with half a brain..." With that she placed a pillow over her head.
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My apologies for not getting a chapter out for so long but I wasn't home all summer. I'll do my best to write more in a much shorter time period. Ja Ne =.=