School had finished only about a few minutes ago and our shamans now found themselves coming through the doors of the Funbari inn. Ren was the first to come through the door and his eyes burst, a storm of rage within him. "Jun!! What is that?!" he yelled in a rage that could lift the hairs on one's arm, pointing viciously to a wall in the living room.
From the kitchen, Jun peeked her head into the living room and blinked curiously at her brother before giving a small gentile smile. "Welcome back, everyone!" she cheerfully welcomed.
Ren's hair spiked to the ceiling, everyone around him moved away, knowing the Tao's great temper, Arisu looked up at the long spiked and whispered, "Amazing," in her high soprano-like voice.
"Don't act so cheery when I'm talking to you!" Ren shouted at his cheery sister. Jun smiled and came into the living room where Ren and the others stood looking at the wall. Everyone stared at the enlarged photo that took up most of the wall. Jun smiled.
"It was such a cute picture that I decided to place it there!" she said proudly, clapping her hands together in joy as she admired her work. Her eyes got filled with sudden warmth, "It's the last picture we all took together," she monologued, loud enough so that everyone could hear the hint of sadness in her voice, "I wanted to place it there as a memory, until they come back."
That silenced not only Ren, but all the others in the room that had been snickering at the Tao siblings' pointless quarrel. The picture was a group photo of everyone that was on Mu, celebrating the fact Yoh had become Shaman King, it was taken right before Yoh and Anna left to go inside the Great Spirit, in the picture the were in between everyone, with Hana in Anna's arms. They all stared at the image of the two missing members of their "family". But a certain pink haired girl looked at it with an ache in her heart; she turned to the miniature sleeping figure of the man she loved, seeing the same face in the two. Then she let out a sigh.
"Ano…" she said towards the others, taking a slow bow, "With your permission I shall go and prepare dinner." With that said she went to the kitchen, her shoulders slumped in a sort of depressed mood.
Lyserg watched as the pink haired girl disappeared behind the wall that separated the living room area from the kitchen, "Tamao-san seems to miss Yoh-kun the most out of all of us," he said observantly.
Ren rolled his eyes, "The girl has a crush on an almost-married-man, leave her to do what she wishes," he stated harshly grabbing his Kwan-Dao and making his way towards the door.
"Where're ya going, Ren?" Chocolove asked, as he watched the Tao getting closer and closer to the exit of the inn.
"Training." He said curtly, "When Yoh gets back I'm planning on seeing how strong he has become. I'll have to become stronger in order to accomplish this."
Horohoro scoffed as the Tao left the room, "The bastard thinks he can beat The Shaman King…what a joke!" he protested, making sure it was loud enough for his aloof and ego-centric teammate to hear.
Chocolove piped up, "Speaking of jokes-"
The African shaman was interrupted by a sudden fist that knocked him on the top of his head. Emmetto had punched him in one quick unexpected motion, then he placed his arm in his usual position, crossing them in front of his chest. "I'll go to my room now," he said, acting as if Chocolove wasn't on the floor with a huge bump on his head.
Arisu watched as he walked up the stairs completely aloof to the others making harsh comments, she turned to them and gave a quick bow, "Gomenasen!" she said in a quick motion then she darted up the stairs then stopped mid-way up. "It'll start to rain any second, so I suggest the other three hurry up and come back soon."
She ran up the stairs once more, both Lyserg and Jeanne looking curiously at her, the others making comments on the curt blonde haired boy with the attitude. Nianna stood at a corner, seeming completely invisible to the others, her black bangs covered her eyes as her body faced the photo.
'These people…they're like family. They worry and protect one another they have wishes to be together. Even though being the Shaman King means death to the one who is crowned, they still wait for him to return.' She raised her head and looked at the sleeping baby that lay on the couch, sucking its small and fragile thumb as you could here soft breaths of air going in and out of him tiny mouth. Nianna's eyes grew warm. 'For 3 years I have been without anyone to call a family, I was looked down on by Goldva who always would say that I was nothing but a spec of dust and elements resembling a great woman. Nichrome was the only one of the Patch besides Goldva to know of my existence and he too belittled me. That's when I had enough of being looked down on and I revived the spirit of Nagehiko.' She walked over and sat on the couch beside of Hana and watched Horohoro wrap his hands around Chocolove's neck, shaking him violently as the African shaman recited another joke. Lyserg and Jeanne just smiled at the humorous scene and Ryu drooling as he stared at the maiden. The black haired Anna sighed, 'These scenes are the very definition of family. They have loved ones beside them, while I had to make my own. Soraguimi is not my family, they are wandering shamans searching for a loved one, I only agreed to help so that I could escape Goldva and her ending my life.' She gazed at Hana once more, 'What do you think Hana-chan? If my time wasn't soon to end I would search for a way to stop myself from aging, only until you were my age, then I could have a family for my defects have cause me to imprint on you. Maybe…someday I could have something as kind and important…something…like family.'
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Yoh placed his hand on the doorknob to Cadm's house. He sighed, Anna-chan had been crying for three long hours, so long that the wide ocean in the sky had slowly darkened, gaining tiny white orbs that floated over the sky's pool of purple and black. He felt useless at the time, it's hard to save someone from their own family, also…all this has already happen, so what's the point in doing anything about it?
He opened the door and was immediately welcomed by Cadm, who was finishing up his last suitcase for tomorrow. "Welcome back Yoh-sama!" he called as he was finally able to close the enormous suitcase he had left. He looked at Yoh and noticed his expression; he got down and took a seat at the table. "What happened this time?" he asked.
Yoh sighed and took the seat in front of Cadm, "Cadm, what do you know…of Kyoyama Damasu?"
Cadm's expression was unreadable; he sat there quietly, thinking of what to say. but it wasn't him who seemed ready to answer the question. Ohachiyo appeared on the chair beside Cadm, his arms crossed and his expression grim. "So…that bastard's back, huh?" he questioned Yoh.
Yoh gave a nod, Ohachiyo closed his eyes and frowned, "That man," he began with a dark voice, "he is evil." –Yoh raised his brows- "Damasu works for the Oyamada Company, he's a skilled doctor, the kind of doctor who finds your cause of death by examining your corpse. Hmm," Ohachiyo's face became thoughtful, "he must be here after looking over Shio Yui's corpse."
Cadm nodded his head in total agreement, "That must be the only reason, and obviously he must believe Anna has something to do with it. After all he does believe her to be-"
"'A Queen of Demons?' Yeah I heard." Yoh added, disturbed by the fact anyone would accuse Anna of being such thing, especially after seeing what a kind and gentle girl Anna used to be.
Ohachiyo busted out laughing, kicking his feet high up in the air, nearly falling out of his chair from all the movement he made while laughing, "Hahaha! Are you kidding me?! Anna being our Queen?! Hahahaha!"
Cadm glared at the laughing demon while Yoh was just stared dumbfoundedly, "Ano…there isn't such thing as that, is there?"
Cadm looked at Ohachiyo, Ohachiyo looked at Cadm and straightened up, clearing his throat, "I guess it can't be helped. Yoh no baka," he turned his eyes on the brunette and the seriousness in them increased, "we demons do have a Queen."
"NANI?!!"
Cadm rapidly covered Yoh's mouth, telling him to be silent. "Shh. Yoh-sama you must be silent of this, this is a secret not even the Patch know of. I have been informed because of my relationship with Ohachiyo, I am not to know this either." Cadm informed.
Yoh's eyes grew a great amount, he gulped and took a deep breathe when Cadm took his hand off of his mouth; then, once he caught his breathe, he turned to Ohachiyo, "Who is your Queen?" he asked in a low whisper.
Ohachiyo made himself comfortable in his chair and leisurely laid back on it, "We don't know," he calmly said.
"?!"
The demon opened his eyes and sternly stared at Yoh as he spoke, "The Queen's identity is an unknown secret to us, only the kings of hell know of whom she is, but they don't bother to interfere with anything that has to do with her because…the Queen is scary."
"Nani?" both Cadm and Yoh asked, obviously Ohachiyo has not informed Cadm as much as he's informing Yoh at the moment.
"Like the Shaman King, our Queen is chosen every five hundred years, or at least, she reincarnates every five hundred years. I met her at the last Shaman Fight, she…looks like a normal person, she is known as 'a fox in disguise'. That much is true. But, the problem is that her reincarnation is similar to Hao's, she reincarnates and remembers everything in her previous lives. Thus making her a great threat if she were angered."
"…"
Ohachiyo stared at Yoh for a brief moment before he decided to go on, "There is a reason I haven't told the Patch about this, you know."
Yoh blinked and scooted and inch forward on his chair, "What's the reason?"
"…………Mappa Douji burned our Queen to ashes five hundred years ago."
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"I expected more from you, Asakura."
"Yes sir."
"You have the ability to get higher."
"Yes sir."
"I want you to promise me you'll concentrate on your studies more and NOT torment Tamaki-Sensei, much less threaten him, if you have a problem you come to me, do you hear me?"
"Yes sir."
The principal looked at Hao suspiciously before glancing at Manta, who was sitting in the chair beside Hao; he raised his eyebrows at the both of them. He seemed to make a decision of Hao's actions, and now turned to speak to Manta "I believe your father's company will be paying for the damages caused by Asakura Yoh's...actions, Oyamada?"
"Yes sir," Manta sadly muttered under his breath, "every single penny."
The principal stopped in front of the door, his hand on the door handle, pulling the door open. "You may now leave, Asakura Yoh. I'll be having a talk with Oyamada about the cost of the repairs," he said before Hao left the room, a blank look on his face.
The principal closed the door and turned to face Manta, "Interesting friend you have there, Oyamada. A few trips to America and it seem as if he's another person." Manta laughed sheepishly at the principal's almost correct theory. "In fact it seems I'm no the only one who finds him interesting." The principal stated casually, returning to his seat.
"Nani?" Manta asked, curious to know what the principal seemed to be stating of.
"Our school has a new superintendent and it seems she is interested in Asakura and Kyoyama."
"R-really?" Manta asked worriedly, why would someone be so interested in Hao and Annaka? Or at least, Yoh and Anna?
The principal scratched his chin and turned to Manta as he bent down and at his desk, "Tell me something, Oyamada. What Asakura said, about him and Kyoyama being smarter than Tamaki-sensei, do you find it true?"
"H-hai." Manta admitted. What was the harm in simply stating his opinion, right?
"I see. Well then, Oyamada, I have something for you to do for me."
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"How is she?" Hao asked as he walked into the infirmary, Love-Senpai was looking over Annaka, who sat on bed. Love-Senpai looked up from the thermometer that was placed in Annaka's mouth.
"She just stressed herself too far, something must've become overbearing enough to cause this reaction from her body. It doesn't surprise me though, her body is weak, but not to worry, she only has 3 more months-"
Love-Senpai stopped as she felt Annaka placed two fingers on her forehead, wincing at the girl's unexpected touch; Annaka stared blankly at Love-Senpai before slowly bowing her head, and softly whispering, "Memory erased."
Manta came through the door at that very moment, just in time to witness Love-Senpai instantly faint and fall down to the glittering wooden floor. "Eh?! Annaka-san what did you do?!" he yelled in shock, forgetting they were still on campus and that it was possible for anyone to come on and notice the name Manta had just called the blonde.
Annaka jumped off the bed, walking over to pick up her school bag, she slung it over her shoulder before turning to Manta with a glare, "Erased her memory, is there a problem?" –Manta shook his head, in fear of the blonde's glare- "Good," she said, "Then we should leave before she wakes up."
Manta, following orders almost instantly, headed out the door in a hurry to stop by his locker before heading back home, Annaka was about to go out the door as well until a strong hand grabbed her arm. She turned her head and saw Hao staring at her with deep eyes that were completely unknown to her. "What are you hiding from me?" he blankly asked, pulling her towards him as he spoke.
Annaka yanked her arm out of his grasp and turned her back to him, "I'll tell you on our way to the inn," she promised, walking out to meet up with Manta.
Hao followed behind, a serious but calm look planted on his face as he walked directly behind his wife. When they got to Manta he was already prepared to leave and step into the black car that had Tamurazaki at the wheel. Annaka got a hold of Manta's collar and dragged him beside, "Head back to the inn, you'll spend the night there for tonight, got it?" she ordered softly into his ear, Manta nodded to show that he understood, Annaka let go of his collar and let him step into the car to drive on back to the inn.
Annaka turned to Hao after Manta's car drove off, Hao had two umbrellas in his hands and handed one to her, then they both headed out the door with the rain softly falling on their umbrellas.
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Arisu threw her school bag in a far corner of the room she and Wilhelmina shared, then she threw herself on top of her futon and made herself comfortable. Once she got comfortable she raised her head to look at Wilhelmina, who sat on the floor with her legs crossed, a map of Tokyo in her hands. Emmetto was leaning against the wall looking out the small window that showed the large dark clouds in the sky and the tiny droplets of water coming down hard against everything that took place under the sky.
The small pixie looked outside as the drops of rain began to pour down even harder against the roof of the inn, "The rain came down quickly…" she said to herself, a perfect grin creeping up her face, "it's bound to come down harder."
Emmetto turned to view his younger teammate with eyes of total boredom, "You're hungry," he curtly said. Was this a question or a curt statement? No normal person would be able to tell, but then again, it seemed as if this team known as Soraguimi wasn't normal. Not normal shamans and much less normal humans, if that were the case…then what were they?
If we had enough believe in the supernatural, as humans, one would believe many things. For example, their unnatural beauty would make one think they were gods or goddesses that turned themselves mortal, but why would any god/goddess wish to turn themselves mortal? Their pale skin and perfect selves could lead one to think of them as vampires, but we know that those have never existed, for they have always been shamans mistaken for their special ability. Another option could be that these three are fallen angels, but yet…aren't fallen angels also known as…demons?
From where she sat on the floor, Wilhelmina smirked at Emmetto's statement, her topaz eyes rose to look at her teammate then they guided their way over to Arisu. "If you refer to the need to increase our vitality…then yes…we would find ourselves covetous."
Arisu smiled, though it seemed to be a sort of sad smile as she closed her eyes, "This will be our final dinner together…."
Both the blond and the red head looked towards the coal haired pixie, their eyes having the same expression, their faces both having the same mien. Arisu opened her eyes, a small glint of sadness in them. "Today…Hao-oni-chan remembered," she informed sadly, her voice soft and depressed, "meaning…pretty soon Annaka-san will realized what we are up to…"
"Meaning we have to act fast," Wilhelmina informed gravely, getting up from her position on the floor, dusting off her clothes with one hand, "when that girl realizes what we are doing she'll try to stop us."
Arisu looked at Wilhelmina in horror "But Mina-san!-"
"No buts!" the Chinese red head exclaimed, crossing her arms in front of her, she turned her back to her, her wine red curls bouncing as she did.
Arisu winced at Wilhelmina's tone, Hoshi appeared protectively in front of her, growling harshly at the Chinese girl. Sora, Wilhelmina's spirit, appeared on Wilhelmina's shoulder, facing Hoshi and spreading out his wings as he let out a few menacing shrieks. Arisu turned to Emmetto who calmly stood at the corner, his back leaning against the wall.
"Em-Oni-Chan, onegai! Tell Mina-san it's not time yet! We still have some time! We can wait!" she pleaded, bringing her hands together in prayer form as she gazed at him desperately.
Emmetto stared at the small girl for a moment, then turned his face away from her, "Why do you want to wait?" he asked in a blank tone. Arisu lowered her hands and just stared. Emmetto continued to look away, "You want to stay because you want to retrieve the heart of him don't you?"
The young pixie girl kept her eyes on him for a few seconds, then she lowered her head, her black bangs covering her eyes. "I am still a child," she stated softly, "years have past and I have had many offers of men…but…I always turned them down. I've had enough men to confess to me each day, so much that I could fill the palm of my hand with off of their words. But……I…still love him. I was young back then, I know, but…" –she blushed-"if I ever wanted one to thrust me with their naked weapon and slice of my maidenhead…then it would only be him."
Wilhelmina gave a chuckle, "You want to live a little longer to retrieve the heart of someone who doesn't know who you are, truly." She frowned and turned to face Emmetto and Arisu, "Em," she began in a serious tone, "you want to accomplish our goal the most out of all of us, do you not? You want to bring her soul back."
Arisu's eyes widened as she yelled in remark, "Don't use her against Em-Oni-Chan, Mina-san! That's cruel! Iie! Iie!" she turned to Emmetto once more, "Em-Oni-chan, don't listen to her, she-"
"-Ari…stop acting like a child," the blond boy emotionlessly ordered. He closed his for a few seconds as he thought about it, as he thought with his eyes shut he spoke, "Wilhelmina, don't bring her into this. I have not forgotten my goal." He opened his eyes and they were like golden daggers striking into ones' fears, "I will bring her back." he finally said.
The black haired pixie girl stared at him in disappointment, she lowered her head, her hair shadowing her face, "You…you're just like me…thou art a child!" she insulted him, she raised her head and her eyes were glassy, as if wanting to let out the heavy liquid that was bubbled up inside…but not a tear ever came. Instead she walked over to the window, stopping right in front of it.
And in one quick motion, she pulled back her arm in a tight fist and rammed it against the window, shattering the glass into billions of fragments; she placed her arm beside her, not a tear of blood coming from it. Then she threw herself out the window, disappearing into the dark bottomless pit that was the darkness of the night.
Emmetto blankly stared at the spot where the girl once stood, he could hear the girls footsteps as she ran far from the in, "Where do you think she went?" he asked Wilhelmina.
The girl just stood there, her arms crossed in front of her large chest and smirked evilly, "To eat," she responded slyly, "It's dinner time."
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Yoh sighed, too much had gone on that day, too much for him to handle. He had been through worse, it was true, but something about all that has happened bothered the Shaman King to great extent. "I wonder what Anna did while I was gone?" he finally asked himself as he went up the stair to his room. He got to the door and placed his hand on the knob, turning it and slightly opening the door, peeking inside and then letting himself in. "Anna?" he called as he stepped into the room, closing the door behind him.
"Nani Yoh?" Anna called back in a drowsy voice.
Yoh's eyes adjusted to the darkness long enough to see that Anna had been asleep on the futon, already in her yukata and, possibly, half asleep. "Ah, did I wake you?" Yoh asked, walking over to the futon and taking a seat beside her lying body.
Anna shook her head, placing a hand on her forehead and laying back down in the futon, "It's fine, I've been sleeping all day. I don't see how you can do that, it just makes you more tired," she protested, a frown on her face.
Yoh grinned, "I just have more experience than you," he laughed, he look down at the bag in his hands, "Oh! That reminds me!" –He held the bag out in front of her- "Here."
The blonde took the bag from his hand, Yoh stood up to go and change into his yukata, "What is it?" Anna asked, taking a small look inside as she asked this. She immediately closed the bag and blushed, "You actually went into a store like this?" she softly whispered.
Yoh, who was now tying on his yukata, blushed as well, "Eh…actually…Anna-chan went in and bought it all for you…I stood outside," he lied.
Anna narrowed her eyes at him, seeing right through his horrible lie, due to her being in the shop watching him and her younger self, yet she let the lie slide by. Yoh finished tying his yukata on and began to walk back to the futon, she placed the covers over them as Yoh laid himself beside her, "Either way, you should sleep." She told him, "Tomorrow will be a long day." 'Too long for you to bear...' she turned to her side to lie on, her back facing Yoh.
He stared at her back with eyes of eternal and perfect warmth, even from the back the Queen seem impossibly perfect, even in her yukata she was flawless, and the way the moonlight from the window shined around her delicate body made her seem like an angel. If Anna were ever to be made immortal then she could replace the Goddess of Beauty herself.
Oh how he loved her. He enjoyed being with her, her coldness and emotionless never drew him away from her, instead it drew him close due to his desires to open her heart. And he had succeeded several times, the biggest time of them all was on "that" night. The day both of their love came together. The day he thought his heart confessed its thoughts to the wind, but he confessed his love to her, a touch of her closeness profound, until the space between them was gone.
He remembered, that night, how he laid his head on her bosom, how lovely was the music of her heart. Indeed, Anna had a heart, a heart that loved him, and he loved back.
He suddenly remembered all the memories he had thought of these last few days, but each time he did he would end up remembering "that" night. And each time he would remember that night his heart would begin to pound hard, trying to leave his chest and go to Anna, sweat dripping down his forehead because of those strange urges he had and wanted to fulfill.
Yes, the Shaman King wanted to repeat that night.
The night that he felt him and her become one and fully express their love for each other, he felt like a man that had been at sea all of his life, desiring to see and reach land, and his hope and desires not fulfilling as soon as he wished them to. Oh how badly he wanted to reach that land, the land called Anna.
Anna stared out the window, the moon shining brightly on her face, puzzling over the unknown events that would occur tomorrow until she felt Yoh's warm hand on her shoulder. She turned around, eyeing him in curiosity as she noticed his hesitant mein.
Could tonight be the night that he told her this? Could he really tell her that he wanted to make love to her once more?
'Tell her.' His mind persuaded him, a voice so eager that he wished to accomplish its orders.
"I. . ." he stuttered, his heart hammering against his ribs. For a fleeting moment it seemed like he was going to speak before he shook her head, looking away. "It's nothing." he muttered. "Nothing."
Anna blinked at him, staring straight into his eyes, almost desperately trying to find reason within the words he spoke. When she received nothing but that curt reply, she turned her back to him, and started to close her eyes again.
'Yoh no baka, TELL HER!'
"I… I want to make love to you again!" Yoh blurted out, and regretted doing so quite soon after, immediately wincing as his words left his mouth and echoed in his head, absolutely no way of taking those words back.
Anna turned back to face him, the expression on her face was quite unlike others Yoh had seen. It was a powerful mixture of shock, puzzlement and amazement, and she simply gaped at him. "What . . . did you just say?" she asked Yoh, her eyes wide in exclamation.
"I said. . ." he whispered, forcing himself to repeat those words that were causing him to turn such a dark shade of red, trying to force his cowardly chocolate eyes to look back into Anna's. "I said . . . I want to make love to you again." he finished, his voice throbbing with warmth.
At first she just laid there, frozen; her heart, which seemed to have swollen to an unnatural size, was thumping painfully against her ribs. Anna gazed at him in dazed wonderment, before looking down at her pillow, sighing depressingly. "I'm sorry," she whispered, but she did not look up to meet his eyes sad. "Not...not tonight, Yoh."
He nodded in obvious disappointment, sighing, then giving her a gentile smile, "It's fine Anna," he stated, wrapping his arms around her small, perfect body, "I can wait," he assured her. Anna gazed up at him, Yoh's smile seemed to assure her he was fine with it, but she wasn't.
"Yoh," she said, squirming inside his arms, curiosity tugging at her head, "what made you bring this up?"
Yoh rested his head on his pillow, pulling Anna closer to him, close enough that she could hear how much the beating of his heart increased, "I've been thinking about this for a while, actually" he began with a sigh, "ever since that night. Um…at least, after it."
The brunette blushed as he remembered that night, Anna's eyes grew in realization as she processed the fact in her head; Yoh had been desiring her for quite a while now.
He brought his head to rest on Anna's shoulder, burying his face in the cloth of her yukata, "Ah, this is a little embarrassing" he muffled on her shoulder. "…do you want me to explain more?" –Anna nodded, wanting to get inside Yoh's head at the moment- "Ano… I thought that if I didn't hurt you the first time, that maybe I would hurt you the second or third time, so…I tried not to think anything of you, tried not having any urges to take you once more, but…it was hard and…I couldn't. instead I thought a lot more of it, basically everyday…" –He sighed- "it's hard not to think of how much I love you when my heart pounds roughly against my chest just from seeing your face in my head."
Anna felt a tug at her lips, and a bit of blood rush to her cheeks, "Baka," she muttered, half amused at his words. Yoh just gave a small embarrassed laugh, "Hehe, gomen Anna."
Their lips were barely a centimeter away now, she knew he was waiting for her to decide what to do. She knew he would not dare to do anything without her permission. God, she loved him.
She loved him.
Yes. . .she loved him.
"I love you too." she whispered before pressing her lips against his. His heart leapt as he kissed her back, not with fierce lust, but softly and sweetly, knowing her feelings.
Anna also wished for her and Yoh to… but the great Kyoyama Anna was worried. Yoh was in her head, her lost memories of her childhood, and even Yoh knew…Anna's past was covered in blood. Yet the idiot wanted to know of her past, of all the blood that was drawn, of all the people that she killed. But she didn't want him to know. He'd been so understanding for the moment, but he has not seem what was yet to come. Tomorrow, on Christmas, someone else was going to be killed by her oni, she was sure, even though the memory of that Christmas was blank. Her only memory of this Christmas was waking up in a hospital bed and people crying, yelling outside her door, fights between her brother and father, and then six days later…red snow.
No. she did not want Yoh to see anymore of her memories. No more. Yet she too…wanted to be his again…
She let out a sigh when their lips parted from each other, her heart ached dearly "Yoh," she whispered softly, closing her eyes tightly as she reached for his yukata and pulled herself up to his chest, "tomorrow," she promised.
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"May I ask what you're doing, Lyserg?"
Lyserg looked up beside him to see the young Iron Maiden Jeanne reading over his shoulder, her red eyes glazing at the piece of paper that was under his pencil. He blushed at seeing the closeness of her face and turned back to his paper, "I am writing to my grandfather." He began explaining, "I'm pretty sure that if I explain to him all the lies that Hao told us then Grandfather will tell me that they really are lies."
Jeanne's gaze turned to view the green haired boy beside her, "What if they aren't lies, Lyserg? Will you accept the truth if you know it?"
Lyserg's pencil stopped its movement, pressing itself hard against the sheet of paper, the lead breaking into graphite dust. "I'm…not sure," he hesitated, "to think…my ancestor would take part in Hao's team…I'm not sure I would ever believe such a thing." –Jeanne nodded in understanding- "but, what I don't understand is…"
The Iron Maiden blinked as Lyserg trailed off, she got closer to him to see if he was fine; Lyserg was blushing, the color of red on his cheeks greatly contrasting with his hair. In realization of what he was about to say, "Oh," she said softly, taking a seat on Lyserg's bed, "who knows? Maybe our ancestors were really close…"
Lyserg's heart began pumping at an unusual rate; he grasped his shirt, thinking maybe it would slow his heart rate down. When he turned back to Jeanne, Lyserg found the Iron Maiden blushing for no reason he could immediately discern. He did note that she was looking at him in a rather embarrassed way and that her cheeks did look cute when they were crimson. He gave her a nervous smile, "Maybe," was all he said before turning back to the letter for his grandpa.
--
Ren came back from his usual training outside with Bason, the big Chinese warrior hovering over him; he was walking down the upstairs hallway, a towel hanging around his neck to dry the bare upper half of his body.
He was only a few doors away from his room, which was when he saw Marco standing at the door to Lyserg's room.
Marco was peeking through a medium size crack in the door, looking outraged, stunned, furious, and dumb all at the same time, clenching and unclenching his hands as if he was trying to squeeze the life out of something in them; the veins on his forehead had never looked bigger. His eyes were so huge Ren was sure they were about to pop out of their sockets.
Ren rolled his eyes and continued to walk, but he stopped a few steps after passing Marco, "I would've never thought you would've ease dropped on something as simple as those two being in the same room together," he said coolly, taking his towel and drying the sides of his face.
Marco ignored the Tao and continued to supervise through the door, Ren just shrugged and slid open the door to his room, and entered, "Four-eyed idiot," he whispered before sliding the door shut.
The X-law could not help but to glare at his two treasures as they sat there, Lyserg in his oversized white jammies writing rapidly on his desk, and Jeanne in her usual baggy pink shorts, topless with only her hair to cover her upper body. Marco tightened his two fists in jealousy, Lyserg was a good boy, he knew, but he was still a man.
"Lyserg, what is this?" he heard The Maiden ask, holding up a grey and old wrinkly paper in her hands and placing it in front of Lyserg.
Lyserg looked at it for a moment and said, "Homework. After Annaka-san slapped Hao into the wall the damages were so much we were required to move to another room. Well the classroom assigned to us was History, and we're learning about Joan D'Arc."
"I see," The Iron Maiden pawned, looking at the old article curiously.
The green-haired X-Law nodded as he continued to write, "Yes, was a national heroine of France and a Catholic saint. A peasant girl born in eastern France, she led the French army to several important victories during the Hundred Years' War, claiming divine guidance, and was indirectly responsible for the coronation of Charles VII. While living, she was captured by the Burgundians, sold to the English, tried by an ecclesiastical court, and burned at the stake when she was nineteen years old. Joan asserted that she had visions from God that told her to recover her homeland from English domination late in the Hundred Years' War."
The silver haired maiden arced a perfect brow as she softly asked, "How are they sure this women was burned at the stake? Could it be possible that she may have escaped?"
"Witnesses documented it."
"I still do not believe such thing happened, why would anyone stake a saint for heresy? Saints are the purest of God's servants," Jeanne frowned.
"Maybe she wasn't truly a saint, but a witch disguised as one." The young X-Law shook his head. "The irony of people's images," he mumbled to himself, "trying to be something they never were and in the end they end us having to pay for their actions."
Jeanne blinked at him, not believing what she just heard. Were those words uttered by the same boy who is required to protect her? Her angel, Diethyl Lyserg? She couldn't believe it.
"Lyserg…" she said timidly, quickly rising from his bed, "please excuse me—"
He quickly held her hand, "Wait, Jeanne-sama, don't let my agnosticism frighten you. Forgive me if I said something to frighten you, you can have Marco punish me later if you wish," he said, nervously.
The Iron Maiden looked down at the floor, she had given Lyserg the wrong impression by quickly trying to run out of the room like that, "You are not forgiven, for you have done nothing wrong, it is I that…that had done horrible things. So who am I to be speaking of God's servants?"
Lyserg suddenly felt his heart ache, he had saddened the Holy Maiden by practically insulting her deeds and here she was saying he had done nothing wrong. "Jeanne-sama…"
He was interrupted by Morphine, who flew in the door, past Marco, and went over to him, holding a photo in her tiny hands. Lyserg let go of the young maiden's arm and took the photo from Morphine, "Thank you Morphine. Grandpa will be able to remember better with a photograph," he said as he walked back over to his desk and placed the letter and the photo inside an envelope. "I'll need you to take this to England and give it personally to Grandpa, it'll be faster than regular mail, could you do it for me?" he asked his spirit with a kind and tender smile. Morphine quickly nodded and took the envelope; spreading her tiny pink wings and making her way back out.
Jeanne watched as the small fairy made her way out the door, then she turned to her X-Law, "I bid you good-night then, Lyserg," she said, gently curtsying, her long hair still hiding her breast from the view of the young X-Law. Lyserg frowned as a thought came upon his thoughts, Jeanne noticed this, "What is wrong?"
He shook his head rapidly, "N-nothing!" he stuttered, not wanting to imagine anyone's reaction to what he had thought of just now.
Jeanne took a step closer towards him, and she stared into his eyes for a brief moment. From the doorway, Marco felt the urge to knock the door down and take the Maiden to her room. Lyserg gasped as Jeanne got on her tip toes and placed her forehead on his, closing her eyes for those few seconds. "J-Jeanne-s-sama," he stuttered once more.
Jeanne found herself inordinately absorbed over the spectacle of a green-haired dowser turning tomato red right before her very eyes. Lyserg had an amusing way of expressing embarrassment: First he'd seem a touch too quiet; then the blood rapidly rose up to his cheeks as he realized whatever mistake he made, and then so cute he'd begin stuttering rapid apologies and tripping on every word.
Just like now.
She smiled in that beautiful way she always did, and on some strange impulse she let her hand pressed upon his own most gently. Her concern at his odd actions abated and was forgotten; his panic died away and replaced with sheepish reluctance. "Good-night, Lyserg," she said as she pulled away from him and turned around, walking towards the door.
"Marco will murder me," Lyserg sighed, as he watched her go, pretty soon he turned around and threw himself on his bed, looking at the ceiling until her voice was heard once more.
"Lyserg, may I ask you a question?"
"H-hai!"
"If I were a bit more of age…would…would you be attracted to me?"
Lyserg sat up from his bed in a swift jerking motion, Marco felt his glasses break, but during all of this the small maiden just stared at the boy blankly, waiting for his answer.
Words would not suffice. Words sometimes couldn't.
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Hao and Annaka walked home in silence.
Hao and Annaka kept sneaking glances at each other, wondering in their head whether the other person who angry at them or simply waiting for them to start a conversation, and whether they should speak or wait for the other person to start a topic. It was after a few glances when their eyes finally met, and Annaka looked away, her face turning crimson. Hao sighed and stuffed his hands in his pockets
"You're mad at me aren't you?" he asked her.
Annaka stopped dead in her tracks, the small droplets of water making soft sounds against her umbrella, she sighed, "Not as much as I am disappointed," she admitted, lowering her head so that her hair would hide the expression on her face. "But then again…you are the one who seems to be mad at me."
Hao shrugged, "Maybe, maybe not, I haven't decided yet," he told her. Annaka frowned at his comment, opening her mouth to speak but then closing it moments after.
"Gomen. It was not my intention to do that," she apologized out of the blue after a few minutes of silence. Hao raised a brow and walked up to her until he was directly in front of her; he placed to fingers under her chin and raised her head so that their eyes could meet.
"Something is wrong with you," he told her, staring into the deepest part of her red eyes.
She smacked his hand away, "What makes you think that?" she asked coldly.
Hao winced at the coldness in her tone, dropping his hand to his side, "It's the first time you apologize with ease," he stated, turning around to walk through the rain, Annaka taking small steps behind him, "and also…" –he turned to face her- "I can read your mind."
Annaka turned behind to face her husband fearfully, and she felt a sudden chill go down her spine at the dirty look on his face. He took a shuddering step towards her, his hands in his pockets. "Are you going to tell me or not?" he hissed.
There was a silence that followed that, and Hao shut his eyes in defeat, until he felt Annaka's fingers entwine themselves in his. His eyes widened as he looked down to face her, and it turned into a full-scale blush at the look on her face. There was a smile on it, and as he looked down, she walked beside him and dragged him to a bench with a roof over it.
They both sat down and laid their umbrellas down under their feet, then before Hao had time to ask again, Annaka began to speak.
"Something is going on with the baby," she said to him quietly, her gaze turning away from Hao's.
"What's wrong with it?" Hao asked.
"First off," Annaka retorted, giving Hao a glare for using the word it, "'it' is a 'she'."
Hao's eyes widened, "A girl?" he blinked, "It's a girl?" –Annaka gave a curt nod- "Well that's a first…" he said, resting his chin on the palm of his hand, his voice trailed off in realization to something. He looked up at Annaka, his eyes wider than before, "How do you know that? You're only three weeks pregnant."
Her face was tensed up as she looked out at the rain as it came down harder than before, her lips became a thin line. A rumble sounded in the skies; a signification of bad weather, Annaka let out a sigh, "Ever since my pseudo-death experience back at Mu, I've been feeling…anemic."
"That's normal for someone who's pregnant."
The blonde shook her head, "Iie, not for Shaman Queens. Our preemies, or infants, don't reduce our strength. They live off of our furyoku, taking it in little by little, but since our furyoku is never ending it doesn't affect us."
Hao's face didn't show that he was engrossed in this bit of information, but he was really wondering where his wife was going with such trivial things.
"Faust and Nianna didn't tell you of the electrical shock they felt when they were giving me their minutes left of life, there's a reason… they don't understand what happened."
"And you do?" Hao asked, his tone making the question sound more of a statement than an interrogation that he wanted to ask of.
"Partly," she said, her eyes now wandering to her feet, "that shock…was caused by your brother's son."
Hao raised a brow, "Hana?" he queried, his expression clearly showing his interest in the conversation.
Annaka gave a blank nod, "At first I didn't understand why," she said in a bored tone, cupping her cheek with her hand and resting her arm on her knee, "but then while looking into Nianna-san's head I realized something. A child born from the Shaman King and Queen, but born before his father was announced King… it's possible that Hana may have Yoh and Anna's abilities combining them into some sort of multi-kinetic ability, an ability that Yoh-san will soon have after he fully merges with the Great Spirit."
[A/N: 'multi-kinetic ability' meaning Hana can use all five elements in ANY way he wants, something Yoh will have after he fully merges with the G.S]
Hao leaned back against the bench, crossing his arms leisurely behind his head as Annaka continued.
"When Ryu dropped Hana on me, that's when I felt a jolt in me, and I felt two lives being poured into me, their last minutes left of life, afterwards I thought nothing of it, but I should know better." –Hao raised a brow as he saw Annaka's hands tighten into two tight fists- "The slap was involuntary, so was the pain I felt later that caused me to cough up blood. But…when Love-Senpai was checking on me in the infirmary, her exams showed me an answer to my actions…"
She paused as she let all the information she gave out sink in to Hao. When she saw his expression go blank, she decided to tell him the rest.
"The infant is no longer feeding off of my furyoku; she's feeding off of the amount of time Faust and Nianna handed to me through the 'jikan wo watasu' and because of it…she's matured in my womb faster than she should."
Hao was silent as he was waiting for the climax of his wife's explanation…he was about to get it…
Her red eyes fell on his as they grew serious for the next few words that came from her mouth.
"Hao, she's growing three months in my womb with each passing week. Meaning…she'll be born tomorrow."
Hao felt his eyes grow and his mouth open as those words were sinking in, 'She'll be born tomorrow...' "Oh. My. Holy. Shit." He muttered.
Annaka brought out an apple from her school bag and took a bite of it, giving Hao a curt nod, "hmm, I expected a worse reaction…but then again, I can never predict anything when it comes to you," she said, taking another bite of the juicy red fruit.
Hao smiled and took Annaka's hand, the one that held the apple, and brought the fruit to his mouth, taking a small bite of it before turning to look his wife in the eyes.
Rain was starting to fall, a thin clap of thunder slashing through the sky like a knife.
Hao looked out into the rain and smirked, closing his eyes as he held Annaka's hand in his. "Something else is bothering you as well," He muttered.
Annaka raised her eyebrows, then turned her gaze to where Hao's hand gently held her's. "Do you fear death?" she asked.
Hao looked at her with raised eyebrows, the rain now pouring heavily down the roof top that covered the bench outside. "What kind of question is that?" Hao asked witheringly.
"An important one," she said dully, "so answer it."
Hao returned to his leisurely position by leaning back on the bench once more, "This has something to do with the dream I had under the tree, right?"
"You used to not be able to read my mind." She said sulkily.
"That was when you were just an empty box in a very attractive frame." He said coyly. She said nothing more, and he drew stray hairs away from her face soothingly. "But to answer your question…" he whispered to her as a distinct rumble filled the skies. "If you mean the death of myself, then I have no worries, I've stepping before death many times and passed it with no shivers at all, I've been through way too much for me scared of such trifle things," he added in a rather proud tone.
Annaka nodded, her gaze being held by the pouring rain.
"Do you fear. . ." she continued in a soft whisper, and he turned to her "the dead coming back to end your life, for you ruining theirs?"
Hao turned to her, but she was looking up at the ceiling with almost irrevocable disdain, and he felt like he was invading her privacy by looking at her. She did not speak for a long while. It was then when Hao placed his hand over hers, and her eyes widened, her head turning to face his, "You're referring to Soraguimi, am I right?"
Her eyes grew even more, "You finally remembered?" she asked, completely awed.
Hao laughed, "You underestimate me, Annaka. Yes I remember now, I remember all of them, and everything that happened in my previous life."
"And all because of a dream," Annaka added, rolling her eyes, passing the apple from Hao's hand to her other hand, then bringing it to her mouth.
"I'll have to thank Wilhelmina for that."
Annaka dropped her apple and stared at her husband with uttermost disbelief.
Hao smiled at her, "I told you," he said into her ear, "I remember everything."
"Then you should know the danger of having those three- I mean four with us. They somehow managed to reincarnate into the same time as you, most likely to get revenge. It doesn't help much that the three of them still have their shamanic abilities." The blonde informed him.
"Ah, yes," Hao mused, staring up at the ceiling, "I was very fond of their abilities; Wilhelmina's ability to create illusions in one's head, Emmetto's ability to block others' senses, and my beloved 'sister-like' follower Arisu, who can see into the future. All very useful shamans who had helped me in my previous life, to think that now they wish to end my life," he added in a very amused tone.
"You forget some other followers that you were very fond of," Annaka endowed.
Hao blinked as he searched his wife's head for the missing images in his, "Ah, how could I forget. There was also Lysander, Nagehiko, and…" Hao trailed off as he remembered the one of his closest followers, the image of the brown haired girl filled his head, and burned a hole into his chest.
Annaka's red eyes softly stared at Hao; he looked back at her giving her an uneasy smile. "You're still mad at those who killed her, huh?" she asked him, not a hint of jealousy anywhere.
Hao sighed, "She and Arisu were like younger sisters, what do you expect?" –His eyes grew hard- "Those bastards deserved being cremated in my flames," he added in a fiery rage.
Annaka placed a hand on her husband's shoulder, "Well you cremated them alright," she retorted, "You got your revenge. But now Wilhelmina, Emmetto, and Arisu want theirs, what gets me is how they were able to reincarnate, they look exactly the same as they did when I last saw them. Also…what do they want revenge for?"
Hao wasn't listening to his wife's humdrum, he was off in his own thoughts, remembering something that had recently happened, something that had to do with Opacho and the way Soraguimi smelled…
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"You all hold a grudge against me." Hao said. It wasn't an opinion, it was a fact.
"That's an understatement." Emmetto remarked his golden eyes glaring through Hao.
"Hao-sama, make them go away." Opacho wined. "Opacho does not like the way they smell."
Ren, Horohoro, Ryu, Hao, Luchist, Manta, Faust, Chocolove, Lyserg and Marco all looked at Opacho.
She had her hand on her nose as if to keep away their smell.
"The way we smell?" Arisu asked her eyes full of interest.
Wilhelmina walked over to Opacho, Emmetto grabbed her arm.
"Let go Em. I want to try something." She said her eyes on the small African child.
Emmetto let go, and Wilhelmina stopped as she was only a few inches apart from Opacho.
Opacho looked at her Hao-sama as if she were looking for approval. Hao looked at her and smiled.
Luchist got his gun out aiming at Wilhelmina, Ren got out his Basontou spear, Lyserg got Morphine ready as so did the others with their spirits.
Wilhelmina looked over at Arisu, Arisu mouthed two small words. Mind reader.
The red haired stuck her hand out at the small African girl. 'What do I smell like?'
Opacho looked at the hand. 'Hao-sama I can't read what else she is thinking' she whined to her precious Hao-sama.
'I know, neither can I.' He responded.
Wilhelmina's flaming red eyes stared at the girl. She asked one more time 'what do I smell like?'
Opacho uncovered her nose and leaned in to smell the girl's hand pausing for quite a while to get a good sniff.
Lyserg looked at Morphine, only to see that her pink eyes were glued to something or someone across the room. He followed her gaze to see that Arisu stood frozen as if she were in some kind of trance.
Her eyes were wide and she did not blink, her coal eyes for the moment had no pupils as if here soul were far in time.
Morphine turned, to face Lyserg; she flew in front of his face and desperately pointed to Arisu and Emmetto.
"What is it Morphine?" He whispered as she began to tug at his shirt.
Out of the corner of his eye Emmetto eyed the fairy spirit, with a pleased look on his face.
Hao seemed quite impatient by now. 'Opacho.' He warned.
Opacho took one last whiff. And looked at the red head, she looked at her with the up most curiosity.
'Don't say it out loud. Just say think of it, I know you can read my mind though I can't read yours. What do I smell like?'
Opacho closed her eyes and pictured what she smelled.
There was a huge squawk of a bird and everyone's eyes widened as they saw a ghost like figure come their way pushing them back against the ground.
Each one began to stand up but with a last glance in Wilhelmina's direction they saw the ghost like figure come at them, then it disappeared within each ones' head.
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"Why are you here alone?" a young boy with long chocolate-colored hair asked.
A smile child with long pink hair past her waist looked at the boy. "I am not alone." The girl said "I am a demon girl, I live with my kind."
"You are no demon girl." The boy laughed.
The girl growled at him "What do you know?" she snarled.
"I was told by humans that I was a demon, but a demon himself told me I was not. I was something far off from both things."
The girl narrowed her eyes "And what would that be?"
"A shaman."
The girl laughed "I can assure you I am no shaman!" she stood, her tiny delicate legs lost their balance and she fell back. The boy caught her.
"How about I prove you wrong? I'll give you a home and a human free world if you help me."
"I'm not what you think I am." The girl softly protested.
"I've proven many wrong before, but even if you are not what I think you are…it doesn't matter."
"It doesn't matter?"
"No. because you were treated similar to me, thus I'll help you." –he smiled and the girl's heart rate increased-"Of course only if you'll let me help you."
The girl blushed and looked down at her hands, her soft pink hair covering most of her face.
"Yes."
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"Tell me Opacho, when you smell those three, what do you smell?" Hao asked one day when he and his most loyal follower were laying under a tree.
The small African girl looked up at her master and scrunched up her tiny nose, "Ashes."
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Hao opened his eyes, most of those flashbacks were the ones Wilhelmina purposely showed them back at America, but why would she want him to remember them?
He shrugged it off and turned to his wife, who was staring at him with a look of horror. "Nani?" he asked, arching one of his perfect brows.
Another blade cut through the dark sky, making it bleed colors of yellow and white, but healing all too quickly.
"You never told me…that Opacho said that," she accused in horror, she instantly stood up, making Hao flinch at her sudden movement. "You don't remember everything, Hao," she said.
Hao stood up, at that moment Annaka placed a hand on both sides of his head, their bodies touching one another but their faces inches apart. Annaka looked at him straight in the eye, in his head she showed him an image, an image of his past.
"Do you remember this woman? This girl?" the blonde asked her husband.
In his head, Hao saw the image of a woman in a pink and red kimono, her long waist-length hair, was the same color as her dark and vicious eyes…pink. She sat on a rock, glaring at every person that walked by her, until she spotted Hao walking over to her, then her eyes would turn warm.
Hao looked cluelessly at his wife, not knowing how to respond. Annaka's eyes narrowed, "You don't remember her?"
Hao placed his hands over her's and took them off of his face, "Rose? Why are you showing her to me?" he asked calmly.
"That's not her name Hao, you gave her the name Rose because of her hidden thorns, but you know her real name, she was your first follower."
"I don't." he stated, "My memories don't show me much of her. Why is she so important?"
Annaka took a step away from Hao, her face being covered by her hair, "Because 500 years ago, you killed her…because she tried to eat my soul."
Suddenly the weather around them grew vicious, the wind blowing hard, carrying many leaves a twigs in its direction, thunder clashed overhead, and then the sound of an engine was heard overhead, slowly coming down.
Both shamans looked up and saw a giant robot slowly, but powerfully, coming down to land, causing great winds and noise under it. The giant robot landed and its door opened with a hissing sound. "Oi! Hao, Annaka-san, long time no see!!!" a kidish voice called from inside, "You guys need a lift back to the inn?"
Hao laughed at the Redseb's sudden energy, while Annaka rolled her eyes, yet both of them agreed and bordered Golem, making their way back to the inn.
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Some believe the sounds of birds chirping mean peacefulness, but it could possibly mean the birds are encouraging someone to hurry, to run away as fast as they can. That is the significance of these birds following the two young figures in the fields as they run.
"Oni-chan, why do we run?" asked a small blonde haired girl, who was being pulled forwards by the older male figure in front of her. The girl found a reason in the male's head, but she wanted to hear it from her brother herself.
"I can't explain. But either way, I'm sure you already know."
The small girl's eyes grew.
"I know you're not the same as us, as humans, but yet I can't bring myself to believe father's crap about a demon queen. You're something else, something that somehow has knowledge of many things that go on in this earth, that's all I know."
The small girl lowered her head, her long blond hair covering her perfect young face features as he brother continued to pull her away from the hospital campus and away from Kyouto, pulling her closer to Osorezan. "Father could be right," she said softly.
The male boy stopped dead in his tracks, snow falling and landing on his blond hair as his eyes stared at his younger sister, he pulled her in front of him, his back now facing the place they were running away from, his tone grew dark, "That man…is evil."
The small girl had known this for a while now, but yet she didn't want to believe it, her mother was married to that man, and anyone who was married to Kyoyama Akiko couldn't be evil.
Or could they?
There was a loud gun shot at that instant.
There was a grunt that was heard so close to the small girl's ear.
There was a red liquid that escaped the mouth and injury of the man in front of her.
There was red snow…
All the girl could see right now was red, and all she could hear was her older brother's last words, "Run, RUN NOW!"
And that was all the small child could do, to run away from the now dead corpse on the snow, to run away from the red snow, to runaway from whoever fired that gunshot at her brother...
From whoever fired that gunshot at Kyoyama Edward…and was now going after her…Kyoyama Anna.
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Anna jerked up at that instant, taking long harsh breaths that she needed from the shock her dream gave her. She looked out the window, the blurbs of white and blue calmed her, as so did the movement of Cadm's car.
"Anna? Are you okay?" Yoh asked beside her, looking at her in a worried manner. Anna turned her gaze away from the window and looked at Yoh instead, calming her even more.
"I'm fine, Yoh. Really. Just a bad dream, that's all," she replied dully.
Yoh opened his mouth to say something but Cadm's loud and excited voice interrupted him. "Yoh-sama, here we are! Kyouto! Look out the window to see all the snow that Kyouto has to offer!"
Ohachiyo rolled his eyes, "Only an idiot like you would be so interested in snow," he insulted his Patch partner, as the car was parked right beside the big school bus, "Looks like we're here," he announced.
Yoh got out of the car, helping Anna get out herself, both wearing their usual coats for this time in weather. They both watched as all the students loaded off the buses and grabbed their bags, entering an inn in front of the parking space; Yoh looked around trying to find the bus where Anna-chan had loaded. He spotted Edward coming off a bus to his left, holding a tiny hand in his, Anna-chan came off the bus with him.
It surprised Yoh greatly to see that the small girl had not yet recovered from her depressed stage, she had this dull, hardened look on her usually sweet and glowing face, her eyes seem all too blank, as if lost somewhere far away, and there were small almost unnoticeable circles under her eyes, but if you were to stand in front of her you could not notice due to her long hair covering certain parts of her face. She stared at the ground the whole time she walked with Edward, and it seemed to the young Shaman King that it basically looked as if Edward was dragging the small girl out of the bus, not out of Anna-chan's own free will.
"It is out of my own free will," he heard Anna say beside him, he looked down to see her also staring at Edward and her younger self, "He thinks he can protect me more if I am away from my father, if I am with him instead of being at home," she explained.
Yoh eyed her expression closely, it was blank, the same expression as her younger self, Anna walked past him and opened the trunk of Cadm's car, "We, too, have to go inside. Get the bags," she strictly ordered.
"H-hai!" he immediately replied, running over to the trunk and getting his and Anna's bags.
"Oi, Yoh-sama, those seem too heavy for you. Let me help," Cadm offered, reaching his arms out to grab the bags.
Yoh kindly refused, "Arigatou Cadm, but I pretty much consider this training for myself, hehe," he told the Patch member.
Anna watched as the two had a humorous conversation, but she bothered not to listen to it, Cadm couldn't see her, there was no need, she was only here to retrieve Yoh out of her childhood memories but failed in doing so. 'Pft, when did he become so hardheaded?' she asked herself, referring to him saying no to her order. She looked around at all the cheerful students that surrounded her invisible body, looking at each happy face that went by…until she saw a different visage.
Coming down from the steps of the bus came a girl with a head of long flames of fire and big round eyes that seem like a garden of lavender, for once the girl had her hair all the way loose, showing that her hair came all the way down to the back of her knees, she was wearing the red school uniform that belonged to the school and as she came down the steps she seemed suspicious, as if she was observing something.
Anna watched as the girl's visage changed its mien, making it seem more joyful as she gradually skipped her way to the inn, but a sudden movement in the girl's pocket caused her to stop dead in her tracks. Anna raised a brow as the girl placed her hand in her pocket and pulled out a 2g, looking at it for a brief moment then placing it in her ear. She listened for a few seconds before putting the phone away and began looking at her surroundings.
The girl began to slowly walk away, making sure no one noticed her absence, then when reaching the nearest tree, she turned around and ran.
Anna took a step forward, about to go after her but Yoh called her as soon as she did, "Anna, you coming? He called out from the steps of the inn. Anna clenched her teeth, she turned to her husband giving him a vile look, Yoh winced at this face, "Anna, are you okay?" he asked taking a step towards her.
Anna turned in the opposite direction, "I'm going for a walk," she told him blankly, regaining her usual mien, "Be sure to have everything ready for when I return," as she spoke that last order she turned and began walking in the direction of Shimizu Shiori's previous path.
'That girl…' she began thinking 'I have a feeling that girl is here to cause my younger self trouble. But…what could it be? I have yet to remember what happened on this day, for some reason my memory does not wish to travel to this day. What could it be?'
She stopped dead at her tracks when she saw the flame of fire that stood out from the pure snow, Shimizu Shiori's hair swayed back and forth as she pushed herself on a swing, everything moving up and down with the movement of the metal seat she sat on, her face no longer that of an innocent child, but it seemed one more of an adult. Footsteps were heard behind her and the girl stopped swinging.
"I'd like to know exactly who you are and what your business is with me," she said in a grave voice, one that caused you to question the intelligence and threats of a child. Her lavender-grey eyes blaring holes through the man that stood in the shadows.
A chuckle was heard through the shadows and a familiar voice to Anna was heard, "That attitude of yours…it doesn't seem to be one that belongs to an eight year old girl. Could it be that you too are the same as that girl?"
From the shadows arose the man no other than Kyoyama Damasu, an evil and amused grin plastered across his face. Shiori frowned as she saw this man; she turned her head away from him and went back to swinging back and forth on the swing. "You're the father of that girl I am required to retreat to my boss. I have heard much about you, Kyoyama…you're a confused and disturbed eye-sore," she insulted him.
"No. I believe you are the confused one," he said, taking steps closer to the girl, "If my studies are correct it's possible that you, too, are a demon."
Dust flew up into the air as the girl brought her feet out in front of her to bring the swinging to an immediate stop. Shimizu Shiori lowered her head, the flames of her head covering her eyes. Damasu's lips curled up into a smug smile, "I knew I was right," he told the girl, "What better way to get rid of a demon rather than a demon doing it?" -He chuckled- "Oyamada is truly a genius, but also a fool for thinking I would not find this out." –Shiori tightened her grip on the rope of the swing- "Your form of speech, your appearance, your knowledge…they all are not of this generation. Oyamada is an idiot, bringing out one of his 'experiments' to end with that girl's life."
Anna frowned as she heard all this, surly this explanation was not enough for her, she needed to know more. As if her prayers were answered, Shiori threw herself off the swing, pushing herself into the air with her legs and landing in front of Damasu, sending a leg up to his neck.
"To call Oyamada Mansumi an idiot…" she muttered under her hair, "I believe the idiot is you, Kyoyama." –Damasu winced at the girl's dark tone- "Oyamada gave me a place after years of searching for one, and because of it I must bring your daughter to him. If you interfere then I can assure you…I'll have your soul."
The fiery haired girl lowered her leg, away from Damasu's neck, she turned her back to him, "Though…this is not what you wanted to discuss with me, is it Kyoyama?" she said dully, "What do you want from me?"
This was enough for Anna. She turned her back on the two and began walking back to where she came from, but she did not walk fast enough to not hear Damasu as he said, "I want you to take that girl's life."
-----
"I'm back," Anna dully replied as she entered the room assigned to her and Yoh in the Kyouto inn. Yoh was at a corner, tying on his orange koshi-obi over the waist of his periwinkle haori.
"Welcome back," he said with that usual boyish grin, "Did you have a good walk?"
"Hai," she softly replied going over to the bed in the corner of the room where her bag laid, she placed her hand on the zipper and opened it, pulling out her wind-mill printed kimono. "I see you found the kimono I made for you to wear when viewing the Shaman Tournament," she told him as she began to change into her tradition clothes.
"Hai," he replied happily, "All the other students were saying how you have to dress traditionally for the Christmas festival here, and in found this one in my bag. I'm glad I did too. After all…" –Anna stopped tying her koshi-obi around her waist, waiting for Yoh to finish his sentence. Yoh blushed- "after all, you did make this yourself for me. That may be why I like it so much!"
Anna turned her face away from him, her cheeks a faint pink blush on them, "baka," she whispered softly. She pulled her red koshi-obi back around her waist and quickly tied it, looking at the ground instead of Yoh who gazed at her dearly.
They both finished putting on their traditional Japanese attire, the same they used to watch the Shaman Fights, then without a word to each other they headed outside.
---
Edward took a deep long sigh; he turned to his younger sister who looked at the ground in a blank mien on her young pale visage. "Lighten up, Anna, you look dead," he told her, not bothering to look at her torn up face.
Anna raised her hazel-brown upwards, her head following the same motion, then her eyes practically burned holes into a small redhead's fragile body. "I don't like her," she snarled in a low voice, Edward looked down at her as she said this, "she can go and die."
She turned around and began walking away at a great speed, Edward watched her go across the street and down it, and as he watched her back Misaka appeared beside him her long blue hair swaying back and forth as she walked to him and stopped by his side. "I'm guessing she did not enjoy being paired up with that Shiori girl, I'm guessing that she doesn't enjoy having a little competition for being the next young prodigy, huh?" she joked.
The male Kyoyama didn't seem to find it funny, instead he rolled his eyes and walked off slowly, away from the blue haired girl that eyed him out of curiosity; she stared at him then slowly walked behind him.
In a corner of the cluster stood the young Shaman King and Queen eyeing the whole thing, Yoh watching all the cheerful teenagers talking among each other; Anna watching her former brother and his number one fan go after her younger self. The blonde took her husband by the arm, "We're going," she ordered, pulling him forward towards her as she walked.
Yoh blinked at her sudden jerk but followed her either way, "Anna, where we-" he stopped mid-sentence as he saw Shiori stand up from a nearby bench and began to slowly walk backwards away from the crowd. 'If I do this than I can finally rest in peace.' He heard her say in her own head, Yoh's eyes widened as the previous scene entered his head through the thoughts of the small red head. He looked towards Anna with a worried look, though her face was so blank he thought that she must have not known anything of it. But we know otherwise.
The Shaman King let out a sigh, he continued to let his wife pull him by the arm, suddenly Anna stopped. Yoh looked past to find the reason of her sudden stop and he saw that the rest of the street in front of them was filled with clusters of people and stands of foods, with tons of people in traditional Japanese clothing. The laughter of cheerful people could be heard throughout the whole Christmas Festival in Kyouto.
"Ah! A Christmas festival!" Yoh awed, looking at all the passing people by the two of them, "I guess this is why the school decided to bring its students here." He gave Anna one of his usual boyish grins, but the Shaman Queen was to busy looking around to pay attention to her childish husband.
"We lost them," she sighed in disappointment, "I would say it's impossible to find them but I know better." She closed her eyes, getting ready to use her furyoku to find her younger self, until she felt Yoh's warm hand place itself on her small shoulder. She opened her eyes and met with her husband's deep eyes.
"How about we just look around the place?" he asked, his face filled with childish hope, "I really want to go somewhere. Can we?" he added with a smile.
The blond gave him a stern face, though it was more of one for thought, one that you really don't see very often. Yoh didn't let her reply for he just took her by the hand and began to walk fast, pulling her along with him. She blinked as he began to pull her through the crowds of people, wondering when Yoh had gained the courage to hold her hand without her permission, to do it in public out of all the things.
She narrowed her eyes at these questions, "Yoh, where are we going?" she demanded to know in a stern voice, her eyes glaring at the back of his yukata.
He just laughed, "You'll see when we're there," he promised her, "it's somewhere that I went with my family when I was younger, I'm pretty sure I told you about it, it was the first time I was with both my parents as a family."
It was now that the blond had a guess as to where he was taking her, she stayed silent for a while until Yoh began to speak once more. "You know now that I look at this place…" he began, "it looks almost exactly as I remember it, there's that huge sakura tree right in front of the Shinnyo-do Temple, and there's also that guy that gave me two bags of oranges when I came, he used to be right in front of the-" he came to a brief and sudden stop before finishing his sentence, too sudden that Anna almost ran into him, but placed her hand in front of her before she had a chance to bump into him.
"Yoh?" she asked raising, trying to look over his shoulder but could only see the head and neck of a giant swan, she slowly blinked and then, letting go of Yoh's hand she stepped to her left, feeling something run right into her lower body.
"Itai!~" the thing said in a childish voice, after feeling the impact. Anna looked down and her eyes grew, she could not see the face of the small boy that ran into her, but the child had one thing that was truly familiar to her…orange headphones.
The small boy looked up at Anna, a soft pink color slowly coming about his cheeks as he saw the beautiful onee-chan that he ran into, Anna stared at him for what seemed like hours, eyeing the boy in shock. Brown hair, chocolate eyes, that boyish smile, and those orange headphones…
"Gomen Onee-chan, I wasn't watching where I was going," the small boy apologized quickly after hearing his parents call after him, he ran past Anna and Yoh and then quickly met up with his parents.
Anna stared after him and then turned to look at Yoh, his usually warm eyes were unseen, hidden under the shadows of his hair. She looked and saw that his hands were into fists, not tight ones, but they were softly and barely balled up. "Anna…" he softly called, "why…why is my younger self here too?"
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I KNOW, I KNOW. I DESERVE TO BE PUNISHED FOR TAKING SO LONG. BUT I'VE HAD THE BIGGEST PROJECTS OF MY LIFE! [FRESHMEN PROJECTS SUCK.] BUT SUMMER IS ALMOST HERE THOUGH! MORE TIME TO WRITE! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!
OK I KNOW U GUYS WON'T FORGIVE ME. BUT HOPEFULLY I WONT LOOSE ALL MY FANS.
ONE MORE THING U GUYS PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I REALLY WANT TO KNOW WEATHER U GUYS LIKE MY STORY OR EACH CHAPTER. SO ONEGAI!!!!!!!!!
NO TIME FOR REVIEW REPLIES, THERE ARE TOO MANY OF THEM AND I WANT TO GET STARTED ON THE OTHER CHAPTER. SO U KNOW WHAT TO DO!!!
YohAnna4eva/Crystel Hidalgo