Chellu to you! Raikku of the Darkness here, again! Thanks to all who have reviewed (crying You are, like, so cool! Bunny Plushies to all!). And a special thanks to LadyGoddessCeres for your help, I really admire you!

And it won't leave me alone………………………………...

If it Takes Forever

By: Raikku of the Darkness

Chapter 3: Reunion of Friends Long Since Past

These wounds won't seem to Heal………………………………...

"Rayna, I want you to take care of this necklace, it's a family heirloom!" My mom said, yet again. Geez, this smelly necklace is really downing on my schedule…what was that again? Oh yeah, at one: sit around, at two: watch TV, at three: be lazy, at four: bitch about being so lazy. Oh yeah, I got a full day planned.

"Rayna! Are you listening to me?"

"Yeah, Mom. Sure, take care of weird, old necklace. Got ya." I sighed. Her brown eyes looked at me in a very annoying manner. "Raye," she began, "this necklace has been pass down through the women in our family for six hundred years! It has secrets that none of us have been able to unlock."

Oh great, now she's going on and on. "Mom, I get- " she grabbed my hand. "Rayna, you're the future of our family, the one to go to the Shaman Tournament. This pendant, is our lucky charm, it will help you. Do you see this glow?"

I look down at the pendant, a bluish glow was coming from it. Preettty. "Yeah, so?" I said

Mom shook her head. "My mother told me that a ghost is in there and if it chooses you, it will allow you to use it in battle to save the world."

"For real?"

"No, for fake." Damn, why did I teach her that?

"Ok, so, it's alright, I guess ."

"Good, now go to school." Damn it!

This Pain is just too Real………………………………...

The sun set over the lake as Rayna finished her homework. "Man, I hate school, hate homework too." she said, yawning. She replaced her books in her bag. The girl threw her bag on the bed.

"I guess I'll get some chips; I got the munchies." said Rayna, taking of the necklace, placing it on her dresser and slipping out the door. The silver pendant moved a bit, then stopped. The glow disappeared. Rayna reentered the room.

"Oh, yeah. These are some good chips." she said, then looking toward the window and dropping the bag. "W-Who are you?" In the window, a woman sat on the sill, her head against her knee. The woman's eyes looking out upon the lake. She turned toward the fearful girl and smiled.

"I'm Raikku, guardian of the pendant. How do you do?"

Rayna was dumb founded. The girl began to laugh nervously. "You're…Rai…pendant." she fainted.

There's just to much that Time cannot Erase………………………………...

"Please, tell us your name and about yourself." The teacher asked the girl standing in front of the room of adolescents. Yoh still looked at her in awe. "Rayna?" he whispered.

"Uh," the girl began, "My name's Kishami Rayna and I'm thirteen. Uh…that's all I got." The class giggled, the teacher seemed a bit ticked. "Just sit in the empty desk in the back." He knew this Rayna would be trouble.

When you cried I'd………………………………...

"Ah school's out, time for bed." Rayna thought to herself as she got ready to leave. She was stopped, however, by the call of two, oddly familiar boys, one very small and one with orange headphones.

"Yoh?"

"Rayna?"

"DUDE!" they yelled together, then embracing. Manta was confused. "You know her, Yoh?" he asked. Rayna looked at him.

"You're the little pervert from the graveyard! Came back for some more, eh?" she said, unbuttoning her shirt cuffs. Desks and chairs went flying.

15 minutes and 5 chairs later………

"So you came here for training too?" Manta asked as he, Yoh, and Rayna sat in the ice cream parlor. He had finally talked Rayna into thinking that it was an accident in the graveyard (A/N: Morale of the story: Don't throw your trash on the ground. Someone with get beat up!) and had finally gotten out of that tree.

"Yeah," Rayna said, taking a lick of vanilla, "my mom sent me. She said I'm not 'challenged' enough, or something like that. I wasn't really listening."

"Cool, you're going to be in the shaman tournament?" Yoh asked

"Yeah, I guess." Yoh looked at her inquisitively, then returned to his ice cream. The three friends were quiet until Manta broke the silence.

"So, how do you know Yoh?" he asked.

"Oh, me and Lazy boy go way back. He's my cousin." said Rayna, very nonchalantly. Manta, however, was shocked.

"You two don't look alike?" Yoh finally looked up from his strawberry ice cream. "Well, her grandma is my grandpa's sister and I really don't feel like explaining." He turned toward the female shaman.

"Can I see you guardian ghost?" Rayna looked back at him. "Sure." The young shaman reached her hands to her neck, unlatching the silver necklace around her neck.

"You kept it in your necklace?" asked Manta. "Yuppy," Rayna started, "Come on out, Raikku!"

Then out of the necklace, came out a tall woman with long black hair and green eyes. "You bellowed?" Raikku said. Grrr….

"Must you always have an attitude?" Rayna said, with a smile. Raikku smiled back. "Oh, you're such a doll!" The two laughed; Manta whispered in Yoh's ear: "They're weird."

Rayna turned to the two boys. "Yoh, Short Dude, this is Raikku. Raikku, this is Short Dude and Yoh."

"My name is Manta!" The boy yelled and rolled his eyes. The boys waved at her and the woman bowed slightly. "Come on, Amidamaru. Now's your chance!" Yoh thought to himself.

Rayna looked at her watch. "Oh! It's late, my aunt's gonna kill me!" She exclaimed, rising from the table. She ran toward the door. "Later Yoh, short dude."

"My name is MANTA!"

Wipe away all of your Tears………………………………...

A car past Yoh as he walk toward the En Inn that evening. After Rayna left, he and Manta hung out at the arcade for a few hours. The shaman, however, left in fear of his fiance's wrath.

"Amidamaru? Why didn't you talk to Raikku?" he asked. To side, appeared the young samurai.

"I-I couldn't, Lord Yoh." he began. "I couldn't face her." Amidamaru took a deep breath. "Raikku's beauty is intimidating."

Yoh chuckled as the two walked (A/N: And floated!) up the walk to the front door. "Yes, Raikku is very pretty. But anyway, you'll be able to see her tomorrow; I invited Raye over to hang out." The boy reached for the door but it swung from his grasp, revealing a very pissed Anna. Yoh cringed in fear.

"And where have you been?" she asked.

"Um…I was out with-"

"I don't care! That's it! You've been bumped to Level 5 training!"

"NOOOOOOOO!"

When you'd scream I'd………………………………...

"Hello? Yoh? Short Dude?" a voice called out from the front yard of the En Inn. Rayna wore pants with chains all over them (A/N: Cool, huh?) and wore a shirt that said "Save the Trees: Wipe your Ass with an Owl.".

"Coming!" A male voice yelled back to her. The door opened, showing our favorite shaman.

"Hey." he said, leading her to the living room where Anna sat in front of the TV. Rayna gasped.

"Yoh," she whispered. "I don't want to alarm you but there's a psycho in your house!"

"I heard that!" Anna said, rising to her feet and turning toward the two. She glared at Rayna and Rayna glared back.

"Hello, Anna."

"Hello, Rayna." Yoh began to panic. "Don't tell me they're still mad at each other? It's been 5 years!"

Flashback………………………………

"Raye, I don't think we should do this." a very nevous nine-year old Yoh said. "I mean, Anna's crazy! She'll kill us!"

Rayna turned to him. "You want to get her back for strangling you with her beads, right? If you don't, I will!" The, also, nine year old girl said. "Look here she comes!"

Anna, who was unaware of the trouble brewing under the blackberry bush up ahead, turned the corner and was walking toward the shrubbery. Rayna crawled closer. She signaled with her fingers:

1

2

3

The girl leaped from the bush like a bat out of hell on the itako, spraying silly string.

"Attack my cousin, will you?"

"GET OFF, NERD-WAD!"

The two girls wrestled around on the ground, hitting, kicking, scratching, and biting for a good five minutes until Rayna's elder brother, Kage, broke them apart. The two hated each other ever since. And where was Yoh during all this? He snuck away to take a nap.

End Flashback………………………………

The girls' eyes were still throwing sparks as Yoh ended his trek down memory lane until…

"Cookies!" Manta yelled when he entered the room. Rayna got off track. "Cookies are super!" she thought to herself.

"Are they oatmeal raisin?"

"Of course!"

"HOORAY!"

Fight away all of your Fears……………………………….

The night air was tainted with the scent of rain at the the end of the day. Rayna had spent the day with her newly found friends and with few fights with Anna, the day had been somewhat pleasant. The group now relaxed in the front yard of the house.

"Hey, Yoh?" Rayna asked.

"Yeah?"

"You never let me meet your guardian ghost." Yoh sat up. He had forgotten all about Amidamaru. He should be ready to talk to Raikku now.

"Raye, can I talk to you privately?"

And I've held your Hand………………………………...

"So, my guardian ghost and your guardian ghost were friends?" Rayna asked Yoh as they sat in the young shaman's room.

"Yeah, and he really wants to talk to her. So…" Yoh kind of moved his hands in a weird way of saying "Let them talk!", but Rayna ignore that because she knew her cousin was a little "special"; he was her "special" friend. Instead, she was lost in thought. "Could this be the samurai Raikku was speaking of?"

"Of course," she began. "who am I to deny Raikku of an old friend?" She took off the necklace, laying it on the pillow she was sitting on. Yoh put the memorial tablet on the floor and rose to his feet.

"We should leave them alone." he said, pulling Rayna out the door. The glow from the pendant flickered, then died. Raikku appeared.

"Amidamaru?" she said, her voice quivering. The samurai appeared across the room.

"Raikku." he whispered, unable to look at her. He felt ashamed. He was ashamed because he had been unable to protect her; unable to save her life but yet, he longed for her approval. For her to approve of what he had done with Yoh, as his guardian. And to forgive him, for what he couldn't do: Protect the one he loved. All of these thoughts, however, were pushed to the back of his mind when a hand found its way to his cheek.

"Amidamaru." Raikku began, the water from her eyes flowing down her rosy cheeks. "My dearest friend. How I have missed you!" She wrapped her armor-clad arms around her friends neck. Amidamaru's shocked face turned into a smile as he realized his friend would be here. To fight along side him again.

"And I you, my dearest…Raikku."

Through all of these Years……………………………….

What did you think? Please review and feel free to email or IM me!

Kage: Shadow