History's Flames

by CrysNaima

Formally Shaman King Manga 300: The Disaster of 500 years Semi-sequal to my Shaman King Manga 286. The past ALWAYS comes to haunt you, will Anna's past stop her and Yoh's strong relationship? And how does Hao's past effect them?

19. Hoshi no Kissu V

A/N: I delay way too much now don't I? Sadly this story is far from over. But I'm still not giving up on it! To be honest I forgot all about this for a while. Sorry! Well anyway, those of you who don't read the Hoshi No Kissu Arc & just love the YohAnna parts [& I know who you are] the YohAnna parts are close to the bottom. :) I don't mind if you skip some of the story but you're not gonna get a few things later on in the future chapters. Anyway if all my characters are confusing you then I'll start adding some Shaman Files somewhere for your benefit :)

By the way...Any of you like smut? Just curious to know if I should add any...

REMEMBER TO REVIEW!

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History's Flames;

Chapter 19

Shinra Private Academy

"WHAT IS THIS?" Tao Ren cried out slamming his fist down against the table, causing every cup on the table to tip over and spill over.

Everyone at the table exchanged amused glances.

"Looks like the great Tao Ren is mad over his ancestor's little crush," Horo Horo laughed, "With Anna's former self!" the Anui boy was laughing so hard that he didn't even see Ren's blade two inches in front of him.

The Tao glared at the Anui, "Urusai!" he shouted in rage, ready to use his blade to slice the stupid Anui at any moment, he turned to Sati, "What kind of nonsense is that thing showing us?"

Sati looked at the Tao with her calm demeanor, she gave him a small smile, "All of this is one hundred percent true Tao Ren, nothing has been altered or-"

"-There is no way in hell that my ancestor was smitten of that…that…"

"I do not see why he couldn't have," Ryu spoke up, "Anna-dono is rather a beauty herself at the age of 15. Her former self at the age of 18 must've been a beauty beyond all others!" he stood up placing a foot on the table and tightening his hand into a fist, "Why Master Yoh is a lucky man! Such a woman as a wife! Anna-san is the most GORGEOUS WOMAN OF THESE 500 YEARS! NO WOMAN SURPASES HER BEAUTY! NO-"

Ryu stopped at the sound of a click and the cold feeling of metal up against his temple, he slowly moves his eyes and saw Marco at his side aiming his gun at him. "You dare to say such a thing in the presence of Jeanne-sama…!"

Lyserg stood up and grabbed Marco's arm, trying to pull it down. "Marco, please calm down!"

"THIS MAN INSULTED JEANNE-SAMA!"

"MARCO!"

Jeanne cleared her throat. At the sound of it, all three men froze, she looked at them and smiled. "I am very aware of Anna-san elegance and it does not bother me, but rather, it makes sense. The Shaman King will not simply become dazzled by anybody, the Shaman Queen must be someone who stuns a person from just a small sight of them. And Anna-san's allure fits well."

The room became silent as everyone mentally agreed. Then Manta began to laugh. Everyone turned and raised eyebrows at him. All of them were completely clueless as to what the midget was laughing at, most of them thought that Manta had finally lost his mind.

The blonde boy continued to laugh but his laughter died down in seconds, Ren crossed his arms and stared. "What the hell is so funny?"

Manta straightened himself and cleared his throat, "Nothing…" he said through his small chuckles, "It's just…it really does make sense when you think about it." He sat up and looked around as he spoke. "I also thought that Anna-san was really stunning. So when I first met her I was really shocked she was Yoh-kun's fiancé."

The room was silent, Ryu took a seat was again and nodded, "I, too, was stunned by Anna-dono. At first sight…I fell in love with her." Every one sweat dropped, "But being Yoh-dono's fiancé…I could not do a thing but simply wish to have a wife as her."

"Anna-dono is pretty," Faust finally spoke up, "but no one beats my Eliza."

Ren felt a vein pop at his temple, "All of you are idiots." He spat, "that woman is nothing different than the rest of them in this world."

"I don't know, Ren," Chocolove disagreed, "I also became smitten."

"Ugh! All of you are imbeciles!" the Tao yelled.

"Come on, Ren" Manta spoke, "You mean to tell me your first impression of Anna-san didn't have you thinking the same?"

The Tao sat down and crossed his arms proudly, "Unlike you idiots I have more self control over my hormones." With that said he took out a glass container of milk from his school bag and took a big victory gulp.

Jun smiled and placed her hand on her cheek, "Is that why you were red after your first encounter with her?"

Ren spat out the milk in his mouth, spraying it all over Horo. His face became red suddenly as he remembered and knew what his elder sister spoke of. The other shamans noticed Ren's change of skin tone and raised brows, a mischievous grin creeping on each of their faces. Horo, being one of them who had this grin plastered on his face, grabbed towel and wiped the milk off himself and his eyes goggling at Jun.

"Now this you have to tell!" Horo shouted in excitement.

"Ano baka!" Ren yelled smashing his fist on the base of Horo's head, "There's nothing to tell!"

"Then why are you turning so red, Ren?"

"Did you try to do something to Anna?"

"Were you stalking her?"

"Guys!" Manta shouted, feeling rather embarrassed of the way his friends were acting in front of the other female shaman, "Not to point out the obvious or nothing, but if Ren tried to do any of that to Anna-san he would've probably ended up…."

"Dead?"

"Tied up in a futon and hanging upside down from the ceiling?"

"Disembodied?" Faust added, a sick smile creeping up his face.

The males in the room shivered. The females all wrinkled their faces in disgust.

Marco lowered his head and spoke low to where only Sati, who sat beside him, could hear, "Miss Sati, I forgive the rudeness these boys are displaying before your presence."

Sati simply smiled, "No worries, Marco-san," she assured, "I find it…interesting to find what boys talk about at such an age."

Rutherford frowned, "But with conversations such as this we are completely turning away from the topic."

Manta chuckled, "We could get back on track if Ren would just let Jun tell the story."

Lyserg pondered on what to do, then he turned to Jeanne who was calmly drinking her tea. She looked up and smiled at him and the green haired boy found himself blushing. That's when it occurred to him. "Jeanne-sama, ano, I have a bit of a request…"

Ren continued to yell at his friends who would begin to poke him and make fun of him in return. The Tao was about to take out his blade until he heard the Maiden call his name.

"Tao Ren," she spoke softly. Ren turned his head to look at the maiden and froze when he saw that she was smiling at him, light beaming brightly from behind her. All the Tao could do was stare. Jeanne continued to smile at him and added, "I'd also like to hear the story of you and Anna-san's first encounter."

The Tao stared for a split second at the Maiden's smiling face then sat down and smack his head against the table, leaving it at that position to keep the others from seeing the stains of red that had formed on his cheeks. "Fine." He mumbled.

Jun smiled, "Well then it was during Yoh's match with Faust during the Preliminary rounds. Ren had gone out for a walk around town…"

Anna took her time walking back from the restaurant, 'Real love is complete trust,' that's what she had just said to the Patch official, who had warned her about Yoh's next opponent.

Faust VIII…

A necromancer, one who can control the bodies of the dead. Anna's eyebrows furrowed as she frowned, an actual descendent of Faust. She had read stories of the man, stories that took place back in the 16thcentury; a descendent of a man with that much ability was bound to also be powerful.

But she believed in Yoh, so nothing to worry about…right?

The itako sighed, either way she was still worried…

"Oi! Move out of the way kid!" a voice shouted over all the noise that occurred in the town. Anna turned her head; most people were trying to get out of the rain, running to the dry spot or nearest opened store. But one man was standing in the middle of the rain with nothing but a newspaper over his head, he was looking down, shouting nonstop at someone.

Either way it was none of her business, the itako continued her walk in the rain when she noticed a store that sold raincoats. She walked to the door, about to open it, when she heard the kid's voice.

"Heh, stop yelling like that, you vermin. You're the one who's in my way."

Anna paused. Why did that voice sound so familiar to her? She turned her head. In front of the man with the newspaper was a boy about 4'9" in height, he wore a school uniform that consist of a pair of black shorts, a tucked-in white dress shirt, a yellow jacket, a dark green tie and a pair of brown shoes. His hair was up in a Chinese style called a tongari and the color was none other than a dark purple, his eyes the same color as hers…amber.

A vein popped in the man's forehead and he began to shout even louder. "VERMIN!" he shouted in disbelief, "You damn brat! I'm going to kill you!" he bent down and grabbed the boy by the arm. The boy looked up, his eyes a flame of gold that looked dangerous, like an animal. He grabbed the man by his shirt with his free arm and instantly struck his knee in the man's gut, the man spew out blood and fell the ground, crying out in pain.

A dark shadow came over him, and the man looked up to see the boy standing over him with a large Chinese blade aimed right at his heart."Who the hell do you think you are, touching me?" he yelled at the man with disgust. "A vermin like you shouldn't even have the right to look at me, let alone touch me!" the man winced in surprise, suddenly scared for his life, "As I thought," the boy muttered under his breath in a low and menacing voice, raising his blade high into the air, "your kind is better off dead!"

Screams and gasps were heard from all around as the purple haired boy brought his blade down to end the man, but as he did he heard something cut through the air and he feel his blade being pulled back by something.

He turned his head and saw a line of beads that wrapped around his blade, he followed the line of beads till he saw the hand that grasped it. A small hand and its owner –the boy narrowed his eyes- a female. The boy could not see the female's face, for her face was lowered, her bangs covering her eyes, and strands of golden locks covering the sides of her face. "Such an annoying brat," she spat in annoyance, "to think that think so mighty of yourself that you can't shut up…baka."

The boy clenched his teeth, his face becoming red with rage, he could put up with a man saying such things to him but a female! "You ugly wrench! You dare speak to me in such way?" he shouted.

The air around the two grew thick rather quickly, "Ugly?" the girl's eyebrow twitched in annoyance, the word said in such a tone that made everyone who stood around back away slowly.

The boy smirked in triumph, "What's with the atmosphere?" he asked mockingly, "I'm simply stating… the… truth." The girl raised her head, revealing a pair of long eyelashes, under them two golden orbs, her pale face emitted the kind of pure beauty that the boy had never once seen before. For some reason the boy felt heat rush to his cheeks, and for once he felt that it was not due to anger.

The girl smirked, "Regretting your words, Tao Ren?" she asked slyly.

Ren's eyes narrowed themselves as he glared at the female, he yanked his blade out of the necklace's grasp, and kept it to his side, "How the hell do you know my name?"

The girl took her beads and wrapped them around her neck calmly, "How could I not? Tao Ren, Birthday: January 1st, Age 13, Capricorn, Blood Type: AB. And the Shaman who sent my fiancé to the hospital after your first encounter."

The Tao now understood. "The Asakura Family must be very good at picking wives if they got you for that idiot."

"I'll be sure to tell them that they have a Tao's approval." She vaguely joked.

Ren straightened himself and loosened the grip on his Kwan Dao, he gave the itako a quick up and scan. He quickly decided that she was beautiful. Not that he was interested. "Are you here for revenge?" he asked, waiting to be amused by the girl's answer.

Anna gave a smug look and took a few steps forward to where she was just two feet away from him. The Tao tried hard to keep himself from blushing at the distance between them. Not that he had a reason to blush. "Normally, I would try to kill the idiots who insult me. But I have to go see Yoh take his next step towards becoming Shaman King."

"That idiot will never be Shaman King. He thinks that a stupid spirit is his friend and not a slave. A weakling such as that...you'd be better off with me. The REAL future Shaman King" Ren found himself protesting, the thought of Asakura Yoh having this girl as his fiancé was pissing him off for some reason, the blonde probably found the idiot just as annoying as he.

"Tempting," the itako responded casually, finding herself amused by the Tao's sudden offer, she "But my Yoh is better than an arrogant brute like you being Shaman King."

By the time her words had registered in his head, Anna had already taken a few steps away from him and had placed her itako beads around her neck. She wore a very dull look on her face, but her tone was entirely smug.

"Don't be disappointed that you didn't manage to win me over, Tao Ren," she said, "a normal girl would have been head-over-heals in love with you by now, but that's simply because you're a silver-spoon-boy who has good looks because of he's well pampered by other people, not because you're an arrogant brute."

The Tao blinked, he didn't take his eyes off of her as she began to walk away, passing by the Tao as she did. She stopped for a moment in her tracks, "Oh," she spoke aloud, "I almost forgot." She gave her fingers a quick snap, the beads of her necklace began to glow a bright light blue, and Bason suddenly materialized in front of Ren, the large Chinese Warrior was shaking in fear. "I confiscated him while you were too busy flirting. You could say that I had half a mind to keep him and make him my slave. But I'll simply let Yoh handle you in the next round."

"Not if that Necromancer kills him."

Anna froze for a split second; Ren smirked, thinking that he finally got to her, that he found her weak point. Anna turned around and gave him a cocky grin.

"If that happens, then you'll never know if you're stronger then him, will you? And then you'll never prove me wrong." Despite himself, Ren looked at her. She looked back at him, meeting his gaze for half a second, then giving her final smirk before turning around and leaving the Tao to be more puzzled than ever in his life.

And more enrage than ever.

"Damn woman," he hissed, clutching his Kwan Dao tightly. "Bason!" the spirit turned to look at his master.

"Yes Bocchima?" the Chinese Warrior asked suddenly having a very bad feeling. His Master would usually yell his name when he was about to receive a punishment.

"Where's Asakura Yoh's fight?"

Bason blinked. "The Oracle Bell said that his fight would be in Chokohama, why?"

Ren smirked as he turned to walk, "I'm going to prove that woman wrong."

"..."

"BAHAHAHAHA!"

The Tao felt himself shrink as his friends laughed at him. He felt someone slam him on the back, he didn't have to look up to see who it was.

"YOU GOT REJECTED BY ANNA! HAHA!" Horo Horo laughed his butt off.

Ryu wrapped his arm around him, a tissue in hand, he blew his nose, "I understand how you feel, Ren!"

Chocolove just continued to laugh his butt off on the floor. Lyserg calmly sipped his tea, trying hard not to laugh at the thought of Ren courting Ms. Anna. He looked over at Jeanne, who was smiling through her tea cup.

Manta looked at Faust.

Faust looked at Manta.

Both chuckled as they finally realized why Ren interrupted the fight between Faust and Manta back then. Who would've guessed Anna would've been the reason though?

Rutherford looked at all the idiots and was beginning to grow impatient, she turned to Nianna who now held Hana instead of her; the copy was feeding the kid his bottle while Nagehiko simply watched, never taking his off of either one of them. The Patch girl lost her patience, "You're supposed to be Anna-sama's copy," she stated, "Usually around this time Anna-sama would summon her Shikigamis and break the table in half to get them to silence."

Nianna raised her head and looked at Rutherford, then looked at the idiots who disturbed the meeting. She reached into her pocket and pulled out ear plugs, handing a pair to Nagehiko, and another pair for herself. Rutherford raised a brow. Then without thinking it twice, the Anna copy yanked the bottle out of Hana's mouth and threw it behind her.

Hana blinked. Then his amber eyes grew large, tears slowly forming, he bit down on his lower lip as his mouth began to tremble, "...B..."

Rutherford raised her brows even higher.

"BW..." Hana shut his eyes, and Rutherford slammed her hands over her ears and threw herself under the table as Hana's trembling lips parted and an ear-piercing cry escaped the baby lips, one so high pitched that tea cups shattered, ears popped, the whole campus shook, a few light bulbs exploded and cabinets fell on several shaman. Needless to say the shamans lost consciousness for several minutes after having shelves and pieces of the ceiling crash down on their heads. Nianna chunked a pacifier into the Shaman prince's mouth, and waited for the others to awaken.

"This could take a while."

[Several minutes of regaining consciousness later...]

"What the hell was that!" Horo Horo shouted, getting up from his position on the ground, rubbing his bottom from the pain of falling on it.

"One guess," Chocolove replied wiping his nose with a tissue, due to him falling on it when Hana cried.

Sati awoke and rubbed her head where it ached, which could be practically anywhere, she looked up at the ceiling and noticed the deterioration and lacking of it. "Well, I'll have to deal with that later, won't I?"

"That kid really is Anna-san's child if he can make us unconscious so easily," Lyserg added, he and Marco both raising the Maiden to her sitting position.

Ohachiyo sat on the table cleaning out his ears with his pinky, "That's the Shaman Prince for you."

Nianna sighed and closed her eyes, she stood up, completely unharmed thanks to the ear plugs. "You guys are all idiots," she spoke as she tossed Hana to the person right in front of her. Ren caught the kid but looked at the Anna copy, asking as to why he had to hold the damn thing. "Watch him," the girl ordered as she turned around, heading for the door.

Ren blinked, "What?" he spat.

Nianna turned around and looked at him, "Can't your mind digest two simple words, or will they clutter the vacuum within your so called head?" she snapped.

Ren's face darkened, "You have the same tongue as that woman."

Nianna's face was impeccably blank as she turned her back on him, "My tongue is my own," she said as she opened the door and left, Nagehiko following her on her way out.

Avaf crossed his arms and shook his head, "They spoiled her too much at the Patch Village," he pointing out.

Rutherford and Ohachiyo shrugged.

Jackson turned to look at Sati, who sat calmly completely unharmed, "My lady?"

Sati nodded and placed her hands together, her eyes looking around the room, everyone now quiet and settled down. "So. Shall we continue?"

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Chapter 19: Hoshi No Kissu V

Aho…

An annoying and disturbing aho…

That's what was passing through the Shaman Queen's head as she stared at the person she was accusing.

Tao Ju….

"You really don't think do you?" The blonde asked, crossing her arms out in front of her, "Nothing good comes out of me marrying your brother, if he's not the Shaman King."

The small green haired girl smirked, "My brother is the future Shaman King," she proclaimed, "and you will be his wife whether you like it or not."

The Jiang Shi formed a circle around the blonde, each one getting ready to jump Annaka, the Shaman Queen looked around and smirked, "You don't mind if I break your little toys do you?" she asked in a superior tone.

The Daoshi laughed, "How can you? Your little medium is hiding behind a tree," she pointed out looking at a quivering Ultimo.

Annaka narrowed her eyes, a blank, animal glare fixed like steel in them as she gave the Chinese girl a long smirk.

Ju clenched her teeth together and threw from her hand paper talismans onto the forehead of each Jiang Shi that surrounded Annaka, "Combat Talisman! Jiang Shi capture that girl!"

The zombies raced forward with speed but as they did a sudden flash of flame ignited, engulfing the body of each Jiang Shi. The female Tao stared at the flames that began to eat her toys, she took a few steps back as Annaka appeared out of the circle of flames, ignoring the fresh pile of smoldering ashes that she stepped over, the flames disappeared, and smoke took its place behind the blonde. "How naïve you are, Tao," Annaka said coolly, "Tell your brother" She added turning her back on the female Tao, "that I'm not interested."

"Hold on a minute," the child ordered.

Annaka stopped when three shuriken daggers flew past her, slicing through the tree in front of her in smooth lines, the tree slid to the ground; Annaka turned to her side. Ju had her small hands into two tight fists, her green eyes were cold, and much to the blonde's surprise, Ju's tongari was larger and spikier than before. "How the hell did you do that?" she hissed, referring to the ashes of what used to be living corpses, "The only one who can burn my Jiang Shi without hardship is Hao-sama."

Annaka raised a brow, "Do you always call your brother's enemy by adding '–sama' to the end of their name? Clearly you are a child…perhaps that's why Asakura Hao doesn't find you enough of a woman for him…"

"Zhu zui!" Tao Ju ordered in annoyance, narrowing her eyes more than before, "I've had enough of your tongue," from her golden robes she pulled out rectangular sheets of paper and without hesitation she bit her thumb.

Annaka winced in disgust as blood dripped from the young girl's finger; the thumb pressed itself against the paper and began to write in a rapid speed, "I have a belief that peasants should know their place. Kyo! Shu!" she slammed the papers on to the Jiang Shi's foreheads, "don't hesitate till she's unconscious!"

Both Kyo and Shu raced toward Annaka and began swinging their hands and feet simultaneously at her.

Annaka lowered her body to the ground as Kyo's foot was coming down to slam against her back, but she managed to roll away from their feet. As she got up Shu began to kick in circles, Annaka's feet quickly moved her body backwards avoiding every kick that the Jang Shi flung at her. Shu threw one last kick toward her gut, but the blonde dodged it by jumping backward, then swinging her body up to the branch of a tree. Just as she regained his footing, Kyo was in front of her again, swinging his fists madly. The zombie's fists met with Annaka's arms which were crossed in front of her body for defense, the blonde Jiang Shi took a swing at her stomach but as he did Annaka raised her foot up to his took a few steps back and brought her hands together to where they made a diamond and pushed her hands forward, a gush of air zooming out of her hands and sending the blonde zombie off the tree and slamming him straight to the ground.

Ju clenched her teeth and bit the nail of her uninjured thumb, she was very pissed, the blonde was good, she was not using an oversoul yet she was crushing and beating her two best Jiang Shi in a matter of minutes. There had to be something she could do to capture her, some weakness of hers…the Daoshi saw something red move and turned her head, she smirked as she saw Ultimo continuing to hide behind the tree, shaking at seeing his master in such a dangerous situation.

Annaka came down from the tree and stared at Kyo, he was no longer moving and stayed in the ditch that had formed from his fall. 'That's one down,' she noticed, 'now where's-'

"Heika-sama!"

Annaka swung her head to the tree where she had left Ultimo, Shu had him by his arms in one hand and his other hand had the redhead by his long unruly hair. Annaka's eyes narrowed and was about to run until she felt something. A piercing pain below her chest, the Shaman Queen looked down and saw a long blade coming out from inside her.

Red liquid began dropping from her wound and started a puddle on the ground below her; she heard a chuckle from behind her and turned her head.

There stood Tao Ju with a satisfied grin on her scheming face, her hand holding the long blade that pierced through the blonde's body, "Like it?" she asked slyly, "I borrowed it from Nii-sama, he has a million of them in his room, he wouldn't mind if I took one to capture his future wife."

Annaka faced forward, all of Ju's Jiang Shi were starting to circle the area around them making a diameter of at least 30 feet in length, the Shaman Queen lowered her head, a playful smirk spreading on her light lips, blood dripping from them as she did, "Perhaps…" she admitted, "Too bad I'm not his future wife!"

She grabbed a hold of the kwan by the blade and yanked it out of Ju's grasp and out of her own body. She did a backwards flip until she had Shu in sight, then she jumped into the air and slammed the blade down on Shu's arm, it fell of the zombie's body and onto the ground.

Shu let go of Ultimo and grasped the spot where his arm seemed to be missing, he looked up and saw the red headed boy run towards the blonde.

Ultimo raced over to Annaka and jumped into her arms, then he noticed the blood that fell from his master, 'Heika-sama your hurt!' Annaka nodded in acknowledgment, then she looked around her, the Tao's Jiang Shi would not let her out of the circle so easily, if she made a move to get out they could simply grab her and tie her down.

Tao Ju took two steps forward and placed her fan to her mouth, "Hmm, it seems you can't go anywhere with that injury, doesn't it?"

The Tao was right, Annaka needed to heal her injury if she wanted to get out without using an oversoul, but if she used the Senji Ryakketsu's forbidden technique for reviving and healing then she'd have no choice but to kill Tao Ju for seeing a hidden power of the Great Spirit. She could oversoul but she is not allowed to oversoul with the Great Spirit in the presence of anyone, that left Ultimo…

"Looks like the only thing left to do is wait for you to surrender, or wait till your loss of blood causes you to lose consciousness," The Tao spoke up, "No matter, I have all day."

...

Tamao sat in fetal position on the ground gasping for air, her skin was now wet with sweat, her hair damp. The pain was all gone but she felt herself weak, as if she could no longer move.

'Like hell that's going to happen.'

In her anger she pushed herself up, her body swaying slightly before she could stand straight. As she took in a few breaths she looked around her, her eyes narrowed at her surroundings.

"Dammit," she cursed, "I told you guys to leave me the hell alone!"

She was answered by the sounds of many shrieks, her eyes narrowed themselves at all the Onis that surrounded her, each one in fetal before her now standing figure.

"Of course this would happen," she cursed herself, "there is just too much sin in one place for me to hold in for years." She looked at the Onis wither angered eyes, the Onis were already devouring themselves, each one fighting for the taste of their fellow demon, she rolled her eyes. "You guys do not deserve to serve me."

She began to walk away when the remaining Oni grabbed her by the arm, she looked back at it and lifted her hand, her hand smacked the large demon to the ground. She looked at it in disgust, "Repulsive creature. I have nothing to do with you." She turned once more and heard the Oni as it began to sniff the air of its new location she stopped her movement as her stomach ached. '

That's right…' she told herself as she placed her hand on her stomach. She turned to the giant and ugly beast and crossed her arms, "Perhaps…you could be of some damn use…" she smirked maliciously, "You could help me let out some anger…"

"In what ways can that devilish thing help you?" a voice asked from behind her.

Tamao turned her head, her long pink hair swaying with the movement of her head, behind her stood Annai resting her body against a tree, her arms crossed and her itako beads in hand.

Tamao narrowed her eyes at the girl and turned her back on her.

"Leave me alone," she hissed violently. The Oni lifted himself off the ground and began to creep towards Annai, it stopped in front of her, leaning his face an inch away from hers and roaring in her face.

The Asakura narrowed her white eyes at the demon and winced away from her in fear. Annai grabbed the beads around her neck and the Oni ran past her to hide in the woods. Annai stayed where she stood, merely wiping the Oni spit off her face, "Your anger cannot always be relieved by simply letting these things run free, I've let them do as they pleased before, but they will end up killing someone."

"Good. Perhaps they'll kill those who are a nuisance to me."

The female Asakura sighed, once more placing her beads around her neck, "Stubborn as always, The pink haired shaman ignored her, "I wonder if that's why my cousin prefers not to deal with your temper…but then again…he's a hot head himself."

The pink haired girl did not turn around, instead she placed her hand against a tree to hold herself up right, she was breathing so deeply that Annai sensed that she would at any moment just land flat on her face, right on the boulder in front of her. She was partly correct, Tamao fell against the boulder on her knees, her breathing increased.

"How pathetic," Annai spoke up dully.

Tamao lowered her head and bit her lip so hard that she tasted blood on her tongue, "Don't insult me just because you have Hao's blood running through your veins. For me there is no such thing as guilt. I could go to the point of killing you and not care." Her tone was cold, her face had gone devil-like and deadly, her bangs were to the point of covering her eyes…her face was that of a demon.

"You won't feel bad for killing someone who cannot see?"

"Don't pity yourself so much," she spat in mock concerned, "You, too, are also a threat to what I wish to accomplish."

Annai shrugged, a sly smirk appearing on her blank face, "As if I care to know what goes on in your head, I'm neutral to what happens, I let what is going to happen happen." She paused, "That's why I don't bother to find out your true identity…and why I did not stop your Oni this time around."

Tamao opened her mouth to speak but she stopped in her words as she felt something, it was strange, a very quire but powerful force, it was furyoku for sure.

An incredible amount of it…an amount belonging to the Great Spirit only, "The blonde," Tamao hissed, she swirled her head to look at the female Asakura.

Annai looked up at the sky, her gaze staring somewhere else, somewhere much more far from where she stood. Her face was blank, no expression seen, just her white eyes seeing something that those with real vision could not. Her lips parted, her voice coming out like the sound of the wind passing through a wind chime, a total contrast to her personality, "She's real interesting," she noted aloud, "that Annaka-san…"

Tamao did not answer, she looked down and forced her arms to pull her body upwards, she straightened herself, ignoring the pain her body felt. She turned to face the Asakura her pink eyes cold with warning, "She's no better than a human," she spoke up, contradicting the itako's words, "Her attitude is the same as one. But then again…" she smiled wanly. "all shamans are very much human themselves they are simply just armed with some superpowers, that's all."

Annai stayed silent, she stared up at the sky, listening to the shaman's words but not responding to them.

"Though of course," Tamao mused aloud, slowly reaching into her kimono, her back turned to the Asakura. "That doesn't mean I have to like either one as a whole." She yanked her hand out of her kimono, a paper seal doll glowed brightly in her hand.

A gush of wind cut through the air, Annai felt her hair blow out of her face and felt her body being pushed back. The itako opened her mind wider, casting out her senses, she heard a whisper of spirits running from something, something dangerous. That's when she felt it, the itako felt the explosion in her head before the blast wave hit her, she sensed trees that flew past her, crashing against the ground behind her.

Tamao turned in one swift move, a giant kami-classed Dai Tengu standing tall behind her; the gigantic tengu was dressed as an ascetic monk with angelic wings and wielded a large golden katana. Tamao raised a brow casually, her face entirely smug, "You act as if I am dangerous Annai," she said twirling her own katana in her hands in an astonishing show of agility, a smile playing on her face, "Or could there be another reason for why you summoned both Zenki and Kouki?"

Annai stood only several feet away, in front of her were both Zenki and Kouki, knocking down the trees that came close, the itako's grip tightened around her beads, her face turned cold.

Tamao laughed bitterly, "You're pretty good for someone who can't see," she mused, "But you, like every other shaman…has their limit," she slowly lifted her hand, "and I'm going find out what that is…Jigoku no tengu no suraisu!"

the Dai Tengu pounced off the ground and came crashing down with his blade, aiming to slice through Kouki.

Kouki raised his arm to block the attack but instead he grabbed the staff with his left hand, both spirits placed both hands on the katana pushing against one another. As that occurred, Zenki left the job of shielding his master, and threw a kick toward the Tengu's legs, the Tengu jumped back, swinging a leg upward that slammed right into Kouki's face, causing him to let go of the katana.

Annai did nothing for the moment, the itako simply grabbed a hold of the beads around her neck and brought them to her waist, Zenki and Kouki reappeared in front of her defensively. Tamao blankly stared at the female Asakura and did the same with her Tengu. Both girls were prepared for whatever.

"You won't get rid of your anger by simply taking it out on me," Annai added, her stoned face not faltering to the slightess, she was completely calm, no fear shown in her stance or on her face. Unlike most people, the female Asakura did not know what fear was, it was something needed to be erased from her list of emotions to be what she was…an itako.

But then again, Tamao also did not know fear, she was fear itself. She took a few steps back and sat on top of the boulder, she rested her chin in the palm of her hand and began to wait with an annoyed look on her face, "Although what you say might be true, I find myself extremely bored."

There was a long silence while the 15 year old girl pondered on what to say to her three year older ally, it was hard to talk to Tamao, because she was so much like a rose. All others said she was extremely beautiful but everyone knew that her thorns kept everyone out. She didn't like to talk to anyone other than Hao when it comes to others she does nothing but insult and criticize. That girl…she hates everybody. The only exception is Hao, but that two seemed like a love-hate relationship.

The brunette gave a dull sigh.

"It can't be helped…" she emotionlessly monotoned, she brought her beads to her chest, and closed her eyes, then in the blink of an eye they opened and glowed, her short chocolate hair raised itself, and something glowed from her, "Zenki, Kouki, GoumaChoubuku," the spirits took a stance, "Akuma no shōmetsu!"

Something flashed through Tamao's eyes as she jerked up and stood, both shikigami came fast grabbing their weapons tightly in their grasp, they began to jump circles around the tengu and each one slammed their weapon down on it when gravity would pull them down from their flight.

The pink haired girl gave a sly smile, "this…" she said, "is much more fun. Dai Tengu… Tamashī no kyūin!"

The tengu clutched his katana, and the wind blew fiercely through the air and into the katana as it started to twirl, its speed increased and the itako heard as lightning cackled through the sky.

The wind began pulling everything toward the blade, and what ever got dragged got sliced by the katana.

Annai felt herself also being sucked in, the wind's current was strong, it was that of a tornado or worse. Zenki and Kouki were not so easily pulled in, they held on tight by nothing them holding them to the ground other than their weight.

Annai's hands moved quick, each movement ordering the shikigamis to strike in a different matter, but the final one sent the demons flying up and letting the wind pull them close to the tengu, the Dai Tengu stopped twirling his katana and also jumped.

Each guardian spirit was prepared to collide, only seconds left till their impact, but just as they came close…

A sudden flash of flame ignited in form of a line of fire, it came into contact with their bodies, engulfing them into a fiery inferno that was their bare skin.

Each spirit struggled to get out but faster than anyone could blink, the fire changed its shape into a five pointed star that tightened itself around them, crushing their bodies so tight that it became distortional, the star went tighter and tighter till- BAMMM!

All three spirits turned into dust that flew out into an explosion, Annai and Tamao were sent flying in opposite directions, but both crashed against something hard.

Tamao's eyes snapped open, her back ached from the impact, yet she managed to rise, she blinked several times when all she could see was red, then it hit her, the shaman felt a shiver run down her spine as she raised her head. "Hao…" she muttered softly

There he sat calmly on the shoulder of the Spirit of Fire, his legs crossed, his chin resting on the palm of his hand, brown curiously staring down at her, long trestles of chocolate blowing in the wind, he raised a brow at her and Tamao felt herself blush. The Asakura sighed and looked at his surroundings, there were hundreds of craters in the ground each about two feet apart from each other, trees were now nothing but stumps, and the grass was now a circle of ashes, rocks, and dirt with a diameter of about thirty-eight feet. A strange sound emitted from Hao's lips, Tamao blinked in confusion when she realized that Hao was laughing.

The pink haired shaman looked over at the Spirit of Fire's right hand, there sat Annai rubbing her temples, Hao had manage to make his guardian ghost catch both of them after the explosion.

At the sound of Hao's laughter Annai's brows shot up, but lowered themselves after her cousin's laughter calmed to a chuckle.

The laughter stopped, and for a long moment there was silence, Hao's eyes held at that moment an alarming spike of displeasure, but the pink haired shaman somehow knew that it was not because they had just demolished about sixty squared feet of forest.

"No it's not," he spoke up, agreeing with the conclusion inside the pink haired's head. His head turned to Annai who sat in fetal position a bit too comfortable on the Spirit of Fire's palm,

"Where's Emmetto?" he asked in a low tone.

Annai closed her eyes, her beads glowing as she sensed for a furyoku level that was the exact same as their tired blonde friend. Her eyes snapped opened and she slowly raised her head, "Waterfall," was all she said.

His head turned once more, this time towards Tamao, the shaman noticed that his orbs were emitting a flame within them as the Spirit of Fire lowered its left hand to place Tamao on the ground, she looked up at Hao who looked back down at her, "Go get Emmetto," he ordered, Tamao's face did not wither, her usual dull and stern expression came across her face, and stayed there. She lowered her head, her long strands of pink bristle hid her eyes, and with a shift turn of her heels she walked. She stopped when she heard Hao call her name, she turned to look at him, the flames within his eyes becoming larger and eerie smile creeping up his face as he said his next words in a low whisper, "be sure to get your stuff. We are going to go hunting…for Taos"

A smirk crept up the pink haired shaman's face as she dug into her kimoto, she pulled out a large golden katana and extended it in front of her, holding it by its ends using only two fingers, "Hunting," she repeated in a dark tone, staring at her bright eyes in the reflection of the blade, "sounds…to my liking."

...

Annaka glimpsed something large and fast off to her left, she believed it to be the Jiang Shi coming after her, but they were just closing off the circle that surrounded her. Ultimo reached out for his master's arm. Annaka glanced back at him, eyes narrowed. That's when the Jiang Shi striked.

Bodies slammed out of the narrow spaces between each other, making their way with rapid speed over to the two in the center. Annaka was ready; she spun with the impact that occurred when one zombie collided against her, she turned the force of its weapon against it by grabbing a thick arm and throwing the doll headfirst into the ground. From the impact of another Jiang Shi, Ultimo went down, but only for a moment. He rolled, barely missing the foot of a zombie clomping down toward his chest, and in a move too fast for anyone to see, found his feet and his fists, striking out with two quick punches that sent the Jiang Shi in front of him straight into the ground.

'Well he is partly metal,' Annaka remembered, surprised at seeing that the mechanic human her sister made for her was able to defend itself rather well. She concentrated on the Jiang Shi, noticing that all of them had broad chests, and arms so thick that possibly couldn't bend properly; she backed away, the Jiang Shi followed. They looked bored and unconcerned for their safety. Annaka did not feel sorry for them. The ten Jiang Shi that surrounded her all looked back at the female Tao, who stood close to the group that had surrounded Ultimo. Her two favorite toys looked at her, both waiting for her to give an order.

She looked to Kyo and Shu, then to the group of buff dolls, and nodded.

The Dolls shared a look and lunged.

Annaka sprang back on light feet, feeling the pain of her wound on her chest as she did, bouncing on her toes as she slipped and gracefully moved just out of the reach of their hands. All that boredom disappeared; several Jiang Shi hesitated, startled. That's when both Ultimo and Annaka heard a click. They jerked their heads, and in both Kyo and Shu's hands they glimpsed dark metal. Guns.

Annaka's eyes widened, "That is definitely not Chinese," she heard Ultimo whisper.

Tao Ju's face smiled bitterly, "It's something we took from some Englishmen that invaded our home several days ago, my Nii-sama is quite fond of weapons." She spoke proudly, "Though inside is not what you'd expect. It's Chinese poison, my family's specialty, one shot into your body will cause you to become unconscious long enough for my lovely toys to take you back to my home."

Annaka stared at the Tao, pure disbelief passing over her face, an arm curled around her neck, hauling her backwards, off her feet and keeping her body in the air, facing the gun. To Ultimo they did the same. Blood ran down the blonde's chest, more than before, the pain grew to be excruciating and unbearable in the position she was held.

Tao Ju calmly watched her as she squirmed. She turned to her two mediums, "On my count," she ordered.

"One." Annaka paused as she heard something behind her. Footsteps. Loud ones.

"Two." Something glowed from behind Ju, and the blonde heard something cutting through the air, something was coming fast, but the Chinese girl did not notice it.

"Three." Kyo and Shu raised their guns, but just as they were about to pull the trigger, a line of light slashed through the guns, splitting them into several pieces. The Jiang Shi turned but as they did something pierced through them again, and again, and again.

Annaka squinted to see a gem tied to a string going in and out of the zombies' bodies too quick for them to see anything of it. The string continued to move till it was full wrapped around the bodies, then something tugged at it hard, and the Jiang Shi were sliced, their pieces falling to the ground.

The remaining Jiang Shi bounced, running toward the wire and their sliced up friends, but then something roared.

Something large shook the earth as it bounced on the ground over Annaka's head, the blonde blinked her eyes, large was an understatement. The being was huge, as in half-the-size-of-a-Canadian-oak huge. It stood on four large paws, claws digging into soil beneath it. Locks of grey unruly fur sticking out in every direction it could come out of. It glowed of furyoku and inside it, also producing the large transparent oversoul, was a certain blonde male standing on all fours. His hair matching the pattern of his guardian spirit, his grey eyes killer, animal.

"Emmetto…" Annaka muttered in disbelief.

The young boy turned to look back, his oversoul with Jeikubu doing the same. He gazed at Annaka and blinked, his eyes and face turning into that lazy and tired gaze she had met him with. "Morning Annaka-Nee-chan," he said slowly and polite, his usual lazy grin plastered on his face, "pretty energetic morning, huh?"

Something popped in the Tao's temple, "That's unfair," she mumbled, "bringing in help is really unfair…"

"Really?" a voice asked out of nowhere, "Is the unfair one not you…Tao Ju?"

The woods suddenly became unbearably hot, rings of orange, red, and yellow covered the area, turning the place into a earthly inferno. Shrieks were heard from the Jiang Shi as their pieces began to fall. Skin began to peel, thread disappeared, body parts started to come apart, all adding up to the mound of newly burnt ashes on the ground.

Tao Ju's emerald orbs widened, as she saw something large begin to appear with in the fire, she knew that figure and suddenly felt fear overcome her. She took a step back, but as she did she heard something cut through the air and she felt something circle her body and pull it. She looked down in surprise, a long metal wire was wrapped around her, at the end of the wire was some sort of crystal. On the crystal was a pink creature that looked at her with huge eyes. "If you run away you won't get to meet Hao-sama," a male voice said behind her. She turned around and saw a green haired person looking at her with dull eyes, his expression changed when his eyes narrowed and a sly smirk appeared, "And I'm pretty sure Hao-sama wishes to personally speak with you…" he turned his head, "right Hao-sama?"

Annaka opened her eyes, but had to reclose them do to all the smoke that would enter through her eyes, she could only squint enough to see something large standing in front of her protectively. She saw something large and red come her way and suddenly felt her body tighten under the S.O.F's grip. When the beast let go, both Annaka and Ultimo found themselves on the Spirit Of Fire's left palm, right beside of Hao.

Hao looked took one look at Annaka and suddenly felt enraged at seeing her injury. He narrowed his eyes and lowered his head to look down at the female Tao. "This is your doing Tao Ju?" he asked, already knowing the answer. Tao Ju just pouted her lips and turned her head in the direction where Hao was not. Hao raised a brow, "That's strange," he drawled. "You are unusually mute today. Is there a reason?"

The Tao kept her silence. But the thoughts that were roaming into Hao's head made him grow impatient. He could see everything that the girl did, including the part of where Annaka was struck by a Kwan Dao, and Hao did not like it one bit.

"I should just engulf you in flames and hand you over to your brother in a vase. It'll save him a lot of trouble from having to cremate your dead body." The girl shot her head to stare at him with wide eyes.

'You wouldn't.'

Hao 's eyes looked around at the girl's former toys, then he looked back at the Tao a sick smile playing on his lips, "Wouldn't I?" he asked beginning to lift his hand, he stopped when he felt the warmth of another on his, he looked at the hand and saw the stains of blood, he turned back to look at Annaka, whose eyes were blasting red daggers right into his own chocolate orbs.

"Selfish brat," she spat in anger.

Ah, how amusing this girl was. Hao lowered his hand, "Is it selfish of me to kill someone who harmed you?" he asked in an innocent voice.

Annaka let go of his hand and crossed her arms, despite the pain she was in, "It is if I did not say you could kill her."

"Who's being selfish now?"

"Shut up."

"Boy, you're stubborn," he commented, not losing his cheerfulness. "If pig-headedness would hurt, you'd be in pain all day long." [A/N: This line belongs to syaoran no hime, not me. I just reallyyy love this line & use it to insult guys who won't leave me alone but yes it belongs to syaoran no hime. That is all.]

"I did not ask for your comment on my personality, I'm ordering you to let the girl go and-" she was interrupted when she felt Hao place his finger on her lip, she felt her face become warmer, and saw a grin replace the Asakura's usual smirk.

"How you can think of others when you're possibly about to die, I do not know," he spoke, Annaka narrowed her eyes as if telling him to back off, he chuckled, "Fine. Fine. The Tao will live."

Ju let out a huge sigh of relief and felt her knees grow weak. She thought she was about to die...

Hao stood and looked at the Tao once more, he smiled, "It would've been a shame to turn you to ashes anyway, Tao Ju," he spoke, "I would like to see how you turn out in a few years."

Ju blushed.

Annaka whacked Hao on the head with her bloody hand, "Trying to court a girl after threatening to kill her...what kind of man are you?" she shouted at him. Ultimo shivered at the sudden shouts of his Master.

Hao laughed, "Jealous, Ms. Annaka?" he asked, clearly entertained by the thought. Annaka glared at him, and he continued to laugh, "I'll take that as a yes, but be reassured Ms. Annaka," he continued, grabbing both of her bloody hands in his, both of them being face to face- his laughing eyes on her seething and embarrassed ones, "I would not consider myself a man if I would not be lusting after someone as pretty as you." He let go of her and left her speechless.

The Asakura triumphantly turned and looked to his followers. "Lysander, you and Wilhemina will take Tao Ju back to her brother." Lysander turned to Wilhelmina, who was lying on a tree branch, her back resting against the trunk of the tree. Sora, her spirit, stood on the branch beside her. Hao turned to Tamao, who rested her back against a tree behind Emmetto's large oversoul, "Tamao, I place you in charge of getting rid of the Jiang Shi's souls. I'm sure you need to let out a bit of steam," he added knowingly.

Tamao's eyes landed on Annaka, they narrowed themselves and then gazed at Hao, "Like hell I do," she responded, causing Hao to smile in amusement.

The Asakura then spoke to the remainder of his followers, "The rest can head back to our place, I'll be going as well. But please don't wait on me," he added his eyes flicking over to Annaka, then back to his followers, "I'll be taking my time getting there."

With that the Spirit of Fire turned and began taking it's giant steps towards Hao's place. The Shaman Queen finally realized how Hao was planning on taking his time, instead of materializing he was going to make his spirit walk. All so he could be a while longer with her.

Her eyes crinkled in anger. "Pervert."

Hao chuckled. He looked over at Annaka, sweat glistened over her skin, making her peachy skin seem a deep gold that was almost as rich a color as her long blonde hair. A burst of wind cut through the air, making her cloak tighten against her body. Hao watched a strand of her hair touch the corner of her mouth, then he look up at her eyes, those pair of glistening rubies matched the blood that was dripping from the side of her mouth. And then those eyes stared coldly into his, "Could you stop looking at me?" she asked, though the way she said it made Hao chuckle, her tone of voice suggested it was an order, not a request.

"I am a man," he replied in amusement, "but please don't mistake concern for attraction, Ms. Annaka."

"Oh, never." She mocked, her gaze flickering to the ground under them as the Spirit of Fire stomped its way through the forest, she narrowed her eyes, "You're too easy to read."

"Unlike you." Hao watched her turn slowly, the air around them was becoming thick as tar, her expression turned from amusement to…sadness?

No. Not sadness…pain. He looked at her wound, she was bleeding more than usual, her hand was pressed hard against it trying to keep the blood from gushing out. She bit her lip and Hao swore he heard her mutter some indecent words under her breath.

He sighed and sat beside her, his legs in fetal position; Ultimo watched as the Asakura pat his lap at her. "Lie down," he ordered.

She snapped her head at him, "What?"

"Lie down," he repeated, "you need to rest." She opened her mouth to protest, but he placed a finger against her lips, she narrowed her eyes in annoyance and looked him in the eyes, the warm brown eyes were gone and were not stone cold, "Don't protest. I always win."

"There's a first time for everything."

He chuckled, "If you are worried I will do something to you, you have my word that I won't."

"Forgive me if I'm not reassured," Annaka drawled, her body weakening in its ability to hold itself up. Hao took the opportunity offered and caught her as she fell, her head fell on his shoulder, and he wrapped his arm around her waist to hold her up.

She raised her head to look at him, her eyes coldly glaring at where his hand was positioned, her right brow raising itself as she stared it down, a fire forming in those blood red eyes, it didn't take Hao's reishi to figure out what was going through the blonde's head at that moment…she was annoyed. Hao held back a smirk, "Sorry."

"Liar."

He couldn't hold the smirk back this time, "Yes," he agreed, than his eyes fell on his lap, "Rest," he ordered.

Her eyes still showed signs of anger and protest, Hao sighed, she was stubborn but strong. He had no choice. The brunette lifted his right hand and waved it in front of her face, "Nemasu," he whispered gently, a light glow escaping from the palm of his hand and warmed the surface of the Shaman Queen's face. Her eyes became drowsy and suddenly her body felt weak, she felt the wind blow as she fell and landed on something soft…soft and warm. She felt a strong but gentle hand twirl itself in her hair, and felt a thumb caress her temple, her eyes became heavier and the fact that Hao's body temperature was that of a mother's hug did not help her one bit.

She slowly drifted to sleep and let herself fall into her sub-consciousness the last thing she saw was a pair of warm chocolate eyes gazing at her adoringly, then she saw black.

...

In the moments before Tao Rem opened his eyes to the fire burning him alive, he found himself lost within a dream of thunder and water, where bones crunched underfoot and a chain pressed hard around his ankle, binding him tight within the center of a raggedy sand circle. A deep dream, an old dream, the kind he rarely had anymore, and it was only the scent of roasting meats that pulled him from the mystery of shadows inside his mind.

Pulled him free and floating, consciousness returning with a hard peeling light that became, after a moment's confusion, an inferno, a sheet of pure heat washing over his naked body.

Fire. He was on fire.

Rem screamed. He screamed until his eyes bulged, but he made no sound. His throat was hostage. And like his voice, his body refused him. He could not move. Paralyzed, or maybe he was already dead and this was hell: forced to watch himself burn to ash, his life given up like one of his sister's paper doll to a matchstick, some human sacrifice to the red-hot beast licking his eyes, melting his mouth, pushing deep inside his ears to roar like thunder; a sound to ride his terror upon as he silently screamed, screamed and screamed until something broke inside his head and shattered.

He felt hands on his body. Real hands, the kind he had not felt in years. Small and female, delicate. Moving against his chest, sinking into a bright silver light. He felt no pain, but he sensed those fingersslide into his body past bone to wrap tight around his hammering heart, and he thought he was going to die. But as the hand squeezed inside his chest, fingers forgiving, another voice intruded on Rem's mind, a voice loud and clear and unfamiliar, and he heard a woman telling him to wake up.

And just like that, the fire boomed, puffed, the pressure eased. The world collapsed into darkness.

He opened his eyes. The world came into softly lit focus: a blue sky, tall trees and leafy bushes. Nature at its best. Clean and perfect and not on fire.

'Not on fire.'

He sucked in his breath and closed his eyes. So. Just a dream, then. A damn dream.

He was naked, wet even, but his skin was smooth and he felt no pain. He was whole. Intact. He looked where he was and realized he was in front of a large body of water that would explain why he was wet. He now remembered why he was out. He was stressed and needed a bath to calm himself, but instead the cool waters reminded him of the lake back home and he had started to remember everything. His mother, his damned father, and he began to remember all those stupid rumors and he remembered seeing his mother, and all that blood as she killed herself. The image made him cringe and caused him a massive headache. So massive it had made him unconscious.

He must have fallen unconscious into the water and he remembered his last thoughts before seeing nothing but black.

Asakura Hao.

The man's words haunted him, his image haunted him even in his unconscious dreams. Rem sat up. Cold metal spilled from the hollow of his throat; his body gulped down long cold breaths that did nothing to slow his heart. He felt woozy, nauseated. Tried to imagine the fire as a dream and could not. The heat was still too real.

But if he had fallen into the water, why didn't he drown?

Sweat rolled down his body. What if he did drown and someone had pulled him out and revived him? The sound of the woman's voice in his dreams entered into his head, he could remember nothing but her voice and the smell of metal, he could remember the feeling of her hands and of something soft and silver...maybe hair. He remembered that when reviving someone, they go through a series of different feelings, sometimes they can see what occurs around them while they are being revived. Perhaps the fire he felt was not because of Asakura but because of whoever was healing him.

Then again Asakura was the only person Rem knew who could have anything to do with fire. Anything. Even making his flames appear in dreams.

"To hell with this." Rem murmured, sinking deeper into himself, rubbing his mind against memory, all that remained of flesh and blood and dream.

He stood up, covered himself with a robe and began walking away from the water, vowing to just take a bath the old fashion way. He stopped at his horse, which was tied to a tree several yards away, he glanced over his shoulder, feeling something watching him.

He was not alone. A bird cawed, swooping down low, skimming the top of his head with a wing. Rem caught the flash of a emerald eye, winking light like a tiny sun, and then it blinked and disappeared into the hot night; a ghost, a shadow flying.

Gritting his teeth, he took his kwan dao from the pouch that hung over his horse, he jump on his stallion and cut the rope that binded his horse to the tree, then began chasing after the bird. No time to waste—none at all—not with with that feeling he had that he had been watched, and a trail fading fast. The bird landed on a huge oak tree about as tall as the Tao mansion, it took Rem a while to realize the bird was rather big as well, possibly as tall as him, maybe bigger. Two figures came off the bird and his int the shadow of the tree's branches, a voice came from one of them. Female, "Well, I can't say its very pleasant to see you Tao Rem. Your a spitting image of your repulsive father."

Bad. No way that any of the shamans on this island could know how his father looked liked. Not unless they had once worked for the Tao family, but Rem knew that all the servants were killed by the Ming princess, all except Xialong. Meaning if anyone knew his father...

"Shit," Rem hissed. Something sharp jabbed his ribs.

"Well, is that what my presence makes you do, Tao Rem? Shit?" The female voice asked. rather amused. "Not in public I hope. You know how much more your family reputation will be ruined."

Rem didn't respond, a fan appeared right beside his neck, he felt the female's breath at his ear as she whispered, "You're lucky Hao-sama wants you alive. I don't see why. Knowing your blood you might rape his new mistress, you're interested in her are you not? The blonde with crimson eyes?" the female shifted her weight and flicked her wrist; the fan disappeared into the woman's long wine colored sleeves. Rem turned around and jumped away from her, aiming his Kwan Dao in her direction, his amber eyes narrowing as he got a look at her.

He had to admit the girl was rather attractive. She was tall and pale, with extremely large breast that contrasted with her small waist, a perfect line of cleavage was visibly due to the low cut cheongsam she wore. Her hair was the color of wine curled in several locks down to her waist, and her green eyes held that of hatred as Rem examined her, "Being rather smitten with me on a first impression basis. That man was defiantly your father."

"I never thought you'd be working for Asakura Hao," Rem spoke up, ignoring the woman's insults, "It would explain why he knows so much about me. And here I thought the man was some sort of mind reader."

"Don't underestimate Hao-sama. You'll find he has his ways of getting things done." she pointed upward to the tree, Rem looked up and saw a boy with green hair sit on a branch above him, his legs dangling. The boy's eyes wandered down, Rem followed them and saw his sister somehow in mid-air, her body looking as if it were tied up. Rem squinted to see better and noticed that there was a string tied around her arms and waist, the green haired boy was the source of the string.

"Why the hell do you have Ju?" he hissed, anger running through him, spreading like a wild fire.

The red head smirked, obviously amused, "She was trying to kidnap Hao-sama's new mistress. Stupid I should say. It's not that easy to steal from Hao-sama." she signaled for the boy to let Ju down. He did as he was told and the wire unwrapped itself from the female Tao's body, causing her to fall from her place in the air.

Rem caught her as she came down, the Ming princess rolled her eyes in annoyance of such action as Ju had displayed before, "What a stupid girl. How so very stupid. I would have expected better from the daughter of that man."

"And I would have expected my father to be stronger than to fall for some formless, faceless, opportunistic bitch, " Rem said grimly.

Above, the green haired boy wanted to tell Rem to rein in the anger. It was painfully obvious how much the Chinese red head enjoyed it. The red head raised a bow and then turned her head to look at Ju. Ju matched that emerald stare, taking in the threads of black that seemed to send memory shivering down her spine. She fought those thoughts, though—buried them down, and began thinking of her mother. Ju's gaze hardened when it all came together. This woman was the one who killed her father and the majority of the servants in teh Tao home. She was the reason her mother committed suicide. Dry facts that made the young Tao want to rip the princess's flesh off and resew it into the body of a horrid looking old hag.

Rem bared his teeth. "Your job here is done. You and your slave may leave."

A crooked smile touch the woman's lips and she signaled for her spirit to come down, the giant bird did as it was told. Rem noticed the large bird holding a large silver ring in its claws, it was so big the beast had to hold on two it with both of his claws tightly; the redhead appeared on the bird's back, her green eyes continuing to stare at the two Taos, "Well, I will take my leave now. Of course not because the great Tao Rem commands it, but because if I stay I might have the urge to kill you."

"You sound so confident you can kill us."

The woman gave a smug smile, "Asakura Hao doesn't make unskilled shaman his followers. I'm good at what I do." she patted the bird on the back and the bird spread out its large wings and began flapping them, the surrounding air blasting in every direction due to the force. The green haired boy, stood up on the branch and extended his right arm, his hand in a fist as he aimed. A small bang was heard and a slightly invisible wire wrapped itself around the silver ring in the bird's grasp. The boy jumped and the wire pulled him all the way up to the ring, where he sat down and hanged on tightly.

"Wait a minute!" shouted Ju, as the bird was gaining altitude, "What the hell is your name?"

The red head looked down once more, her mouth whispering a name that the wind carried right into Tao Rem's ear. He tightened his hands into fists, his grip so hard his knuckles were turning white.

"Ming Wilhemina."

...

When the Shaman Queen woke up, she remained to feel tired, her eyes slowly fluttered as she awoke, the room becoming blurry then she could see just fine.

"Ah good, you've finally woken up."

Annaka turned her head to see Hao standing at the door to 'her' room, leaning his back against the wall, his arms crossed, and that trademark smirk of his on his face. The sun behind him was beginning to rise. How long had she been asleep?

"You didn't sleep much," Hao answered her mental question, "You slept for about an hour, but then again...45 minutes from that hour came from you sleeping on my lap. I must admit I rather enjoyed that position. You move a lot when you sleep."

The blonde thought of his comment then turned her head to look away from him, mentally cursing herself for blushing. Ultimo, who was in the corner of the room watched his master's actions and frowned, something was changing within his master and he could feel it. He looked over at Hao who smirked and tried hard not to laugh, the karakuridoji had already realized the Patch's feelings for his master, whether or not he should tell Joan was another issue. After all, although he was made for Annaka, Joan was the one who made him.

Footsteps were heard as Emmetto suddenly appeared behind of Hao, the blonde haired boy looking as if he himself had just woken up, turned to his master and tilted his head, "I'm ready to take the Nee-san," he said dully, his actions, all in slow movement reminded both Annaka and Ultimo of a sloth. The boy turned to look straight at the Shaman Queen with his grey eyes, then he dipped his body into a bow, "I'll do my best to watch over you."

Annaka raised a brow and looked at Hao, "I need a body-guard now?" she asked in an unpleased tone.

Hao uncrossed his arms and turned his back on the blonde, but turned his head to look back, "Since you have the tendency to get lost or kidnapped, I decided it would be best to have someone watch over you."

The blonde female stood up from the futon and crossed her arms, looking dead at Hao with a glare, "I already have someone to watch over me thank you. I don't need another kid to watch over me like an annoying little brother who run to daddy whenever his Onee-chan did something wrong."

Emmetto just yawned.

Hao turned around to face Annaka, Ultimo could feel the atmosphere change and lighting escape crackle between the two, "You sure are a strange woman," Hao said, his tone sounding rather insulting, "Let me make something clear though," he grabbed Annaka by her crossed arms and slammed her into the wall, his long body towering over her, although the blonde didn't even blink as he did. "Just because you're a woman doesn't mean I'm going to be easy on you. You're pretty face is nothing compared to my authority, so I suggest you start listening to me before your pheromones stop working on me." He lowered his head to her ear and softly whispered, "And just to make sure you don't think of going back to your family yet..." before Annaka could react, Asakura uncrossed the blonde's hands and pinioned them behind her back, then lowered his head further and placed his lips on her neck, smirking as he felt her writhe under his touch.

He finally let go and stared at the shocked look on Annaka's face, Ultimo had a similar look on his face, and Emmetto had just raised his brows. Hao gave a triumphant smirk and turned to walk away, "I doubt you'll be able to go home and explain that mark on your neck to your family, so this way I can make sure you stick close to Em. If you try to run away he can always just sniff and find you, that's a real bodyguard...unlike your little toddler over there." Ultimo frowned, and with that Asakura Hao made his exit, leaving the three alone.

Emmetto drowsily looked at Annaka, "I'll wait for you to get ready, Nee-chan," then he left.

Ultimo looked at his master with concern, he took a few steps towards as he saw her frozen body shake, "Heika-sama...?"

Annaka placed her palm against the mark on her neck and narrowed her eyes, her body shaking in infuriated rage, "That bastard..."

The three shamans walked down the pathway of the woods. Nature continued it course of For a moment, Annaka had the thought of walking away. Leaving would be the best answer. She could escape back to her quarters and never see Asakura Hao or his minions ever again. The world was big enough, she could achieve it. After the Shaman Fight would be ever how would she manage to ever even catch a glimpse of him?

"Oi, Nee-chan, why do you hide your face?" Emmetto as he walked in front of Annaka.

Annaka stared at Emmetto's back as she spoke to him, "Is it any of your business?" she coldly asked, annoyed at this whole event. 'I'll kill Asakura…'

Emmetto looked behind him as he continued walking his face entirely dull and tired-like, "But Nee-chan, I don't see why you would want to hide it…because Nee-chan has a very pretty face…"

Ultimo stopped walking; Annaka looked down at his knuckles as she passed him, they were pale from the stop of blood flow. Emmetto continued also noticing it and gave a very lazy laugh, "Don't worry," he began, "I have someone else I fancy!"

"I assume it to be that bloody pink haired one. Tamao is it?" The past week she had been held in Asakura's residence she continued to hear nothing but Tamao rant about how she was the pinnacle of evil. The Shaman Queen's head pounded with irritation so much so that she could barely understand how the others who heard her could endure it. The bloody pink haired couldn't seem to calm down. She just continued and continued, to her Hao was being conceited, a bigot and that all of the ills of the world flowed forth from his decision to even consider me and this decision infected all other aspects of life in general.

At some points during her rage, Annaka wanted to laugh and during other moments, she wanted to send the girl to the inferno. How a kid such as the one before her could like such a witch...was beyond her mind reading abilities. But she could tell.

The corners of his lips pulled up into a derisive smile, catching the Shaman Queen off guard, could such an lazy angelic face make such a smile? "Yes ma'am." For a moment, he looked like he wanted to laugh, but it may have just been a play of light for he gave her a solemn expression the next second. "You shouldn't call her by her name, strangers just call her Rose."

"Clever pseudonym. How did come up with that one? From her rosy cheeks and her girlish aura?"

He didn't respond, too occupied coming up with the perfect response to the insult the female threw at his type. Sighing, Annaka turned toward the other direction. Ultimo gave her a satisfied grin before he ran back after them.

We walked in silence, so much so that all three of them could hear other voices in the distance. Annaka looked up and immediately felt waves of furyoku burst her way as if it were the wind on a stormy day. So many Shamans were in the Patch Village, thousands more must've found their way in her absence of one week. None of these Shamans payed any attention to the three and for that the Queen was grateful, she and Ultimo continued to follow the blonde male till he stopped at some tables right outside the Patch Cafe. He pulled out the chairs and signaled them to sit down, they reluctantly obeyed. "Anything specific you want to eat?" he asked us soon as their posteriors found comfort in the chairs.

The female raised her eyebrows. "Really?" she huffed, repositioning so that she was facing Emmetto. "You're telling me that you were forced to bring me here to make me eat?"

"Yes Onee-chan. Hao-sama told you this himself."

"The brute didn't look serious."

Emmetto gave a boyish shrug, "I have my orders, sorry."

"Use your imagination and get us something off menu."

"Okay! On it!" With that the kid left.

Annaka and Ultimo sat in silence, neither willing to make the atmosphere any more tensed then it was. Yet the room seemed to grow darker and darker with Annaka's demeanor. Ultimo could feel goose-bumps rising on his arms with the intensity of it. He seemingly tried to ignore this for he had never been the one to sit in awkward silences. Silence itself did not bother him, but this silence felt as if a ceiling of daggers hung over him, a strange tension was building as the time drug on and on.

"Ultimo what day is it?"

The robot boy blinked, and looked up to see his master gazing at the pot of flowers in the middle of the table. The pot was hideous but the flowers inside were none other than Nadeshiko flowers and a large bundle of them, Ultimo wondered how he missed such a decoration on the table. But the only time the Cafe ever place such expensive flowers on anything was for-

"I'll be back."

Annaka stood up from her seat and jolted into the large crowd of people, disappearing from her subordinate's sight faster than he could even think, she might have looked suspicious running around town, hiding her face and her body under a cloak, but she didn't care. Today was the anniversary of Nadeshiko's death, meaning that Joan could possibly be going to lay flowers at his grave any time today. That man was a brave Patch soldier who died for a stupid cause that was the doing of Big Chief's bad informatory. Now that Annaka had heard the full story of Nadeshiko's death from Asakura several days before, she knew that her elder sister would've felt guilt within her. And that every year she would go and pray to his tomb to ask for forgiveness.

The blonde pushed her way past armored men, silked women, playing children, until she found the grave. Her feet stopped moving, and her cloak fell back from her face, allowing anyone to see a new definition of rage on her face.

Directly in front of where she stood, she saw Nadeshiko's grave, the rock was cracked and shattered in certain areas where large metal weapons were being slammed against it. The owners of the armory were cursing saying stupid shit about almost dying because they tripped on the thing.

Anger spilled viciously through the Queen. Even she wasn't even sure why she was so angry, but it pulled from every part of her. And those men where idiots for even thinking of what they were doing.

"What do you think you're doing?" the blonde asked at the idiots.

The men stared at Annaka, their eyebrows raising themselves in awe at her beauty. One of them, one with grey hair half hidden by a metal pileus, wrapped his arm around the Shaman Queen, much to her disgust. Annaka glared at the males all of them were dressed in what looked like sheets, nothing but white robes covering most of their skin, some wore golden armor or a head gear, but by their clothing the Shaman Queen could tell, the men were Greeks. "Well gorgeous," the man began to speak, finding himself a bit too comfortable with his arm wrapped around Annaka, "we were just having a little fun with these measly spirit, no harm done, right?"

Annaka narrowed her eyes at the arm that rested on her shoulders, with one moved she grabbed the man's arm and bended it to where she twisted it and tightly held it against his back, the male grimaced in pain. Annaka's eyebrows came closer to each other as she frowned at the other seven guys who stared at her in shock, "That measly spirit, whose tomb stone you've just broke, belongs to a well respected Patch Official, you bastards."

She kicked the guy and he fell to the ground in front of the other seven men. One of them, one with curly brown hair narrowed his eyes, "Women should just stay at home," he proclaimed, making his way to the blonde, cracking his knuckles slowly, "Should I teach you to behave, Miss?"

The blonde moved her eyes to look towards the guy; the other males also began to circle her as the curly brunette stepped in front of her. He slung his fist back to meet with her face, Annaka duck and swung her foot forward, right into the man's crotch. The brunette flew about three feet in the air, his body slammed back down to ground, he wailed in pain. Annaka took the event as a good distraction and grabbed one guys arm and swung him into three others. The two that were left jumped in the air ready to jump down on her, the blonde jumped and slammed her elbow into one guy's and she slammed her fist into the last one's gut. All the Greeks fell to the ground with a thump and in the middle of them all stood Annaka.

The Shaman Queen did not even break a sweat, she looked at the men and sighed, "Pathetic," she muttered.

"Very impressive," a voice praised behind her, followed by a pair of clapping hands.

Annaka turned.

A man stood behind her, with a very smug look on his face. He pushed back a strand of his long silky hair, pitch black, reaching past his waist. Annaka gazed at his clothing; the man wore an open-fronted doublet and a cloak tied over one shoulder over a low-necked shirt of fine linen, gathered and trimmed with a band of gold braid or embroidery. On his legs he wore long white breeches and black leather boots. Without a doubt the man was Spaniard.

The man's violet eyes gazed at the blonde from top to bottom, examining carefully as if she were a gem. Annaka raised a brow. The man smiled. "Pardon my manners, senorita," he spoke casually, stepping over the unconscious bodies and making his way over to her, "but I am finding myself quite fond of your features," he stepped closer, reaching his hand out to stroke her cheek, "I am curious to know what race produces a female with such beauty."

Annaka smacked his hand away, narrowing her eyes in disgust, "My race is the one that does not like to be touch," she snarled. She turned around and saw a blade just centimeters away from the skin of her neck. The blade was held by a very thin female with long white blonde hair, her blue-violet eyes had a malicious tint to them, one of anger and spite.

"Should I kill her, Haro-sama?" she asked with a strange accent.

Annaka's eyes grew… 'Haro-sama?'

"Have you ever heard of the Molina?" Hao had asked her several days ago [A/N: See chapter 17 to refresh your memory.] Annaka shook her head. "You must be human not to have heard of them," He mocked, she narrowed her eyes. Hao continued. "Humans do not know of them, at least not yet, but they are the largest clan of shamans after the Patch tribe. This is why the two are rivals, the Molina want control over the Shaman Fight but the Patch have always been the ones to control the will of the Great Spirit. The Molina have the despicable idea of turning humans into shamans in order to one day be in control of the Great Spirit, their theory is simple. Capture humans, have them in a divine near-death experience, then if they do not have a shamanic ability they kill them right on the spot… Haro, leader of the Molina."

Annaka took a step away and gazed at the small girl with the snowy hair, her attire was very strange as she wore a long black gown with gold embroidery and sleeves with small puffs right below the shoulders, the gown came tight around her small waist, but the pattern of gold yarn and buttons did not falter as it went down to the ground, and there was a more see-through material that was at her upper chest and from elbows to her wrists. The Shaman Queen don't know how long it took to notice all these things about her, maybe a half a second, but instantly after remembering Asakura's story Annaka knew the identity of the girl.

Idina.

The girl's large violet eyes bore holes through the Shaman Queen's body, her tan hand holding the blade tightly, she was ready for an order. Haro smiled at the girl and shook his head, "No need, Idina," he told her calmly, "I've become…interested in her."

"Well become uninterested," Annaka snarled, turning to walk to away, "Because you're very annoying."

Haro began to laugh, he was amused…very amused… "Now, now. You must come with me after amusing me in such ways!"

"I already told you 'no'."

"I won't take that as an answer." He smirked, his hand rising, his fingers made a quick snap and something began to appear behind him. A beast much larger than it should be, walking up behind its master with its eight long hairy legs. A giant spider. It stood behind Haro with its eyes looking hungry,

Haro gave a very smug look as the shamans who passed by the scene gasped in shock and awe, "Then I'm sure this little one can tell you how I capture what I want when they refuse."

Annaka looked above the beast and saw a petite girl, tied up, wrists, ankles, and waist. But not with rope but…webs…spider webs as thick as rope. Short spiky hair, tan, blue eyes…Patch uniform…it was Arisu.

The Shaman Queen's eyes narrowed, "You're disgusting, Haro."

The Molina leader smiled, "You think so?"

The blonde opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by another voice that spoke.

"What an eye sore." Haro's brows raised themselves as a cloaked figure emerged from the crowd. Annaka recognized the person instantly, by the tone of malicious death in her voice.

Tamao took a step forward and took off her cloak, revealing to Haro and the audience her pale skin, long pink hair, and her dark, diabolical pink eyes. "Let her go." she ordered with a violent hiss.

Haro's laugh rang in everyone's ears, he was amused, the damn bastard. "I'm afraid, my dear, that I will not do that," he gave her a malicious smirk and snapped his fingers once more.

Two large shadows jumped and emerged into view in front of them. One, a large brown bear. The second, a large muscled man. Slight curls of dark brown hair took over the top of his head, the rest was taken over by muscle that could be seen even with his clothing. Haro stuck out a hand that pointed to the big guy, "This would be one of my strongest allies, Felipe, he listens to everything I say without second thoughts. I could tell him to let the girl down, but I will not do that. But…" he crossed his arms, "but you're welcome to fight Felipe, if you wish. Then maybe I'll reconsider."

The people who watched began to whisper. Many of them wondering if they should leave or even considering to help. Others feeling rather entertained by the performance they were watching, making several bets among themselves. But more than half were definitely scared, thinking that these people they would eventually have to battle in the tournament.

The big guy, Felipe, took one look at Tamao and whistled, "Not bad."

From the many whispers and sounds from the viewers, there was a low, deep noise that Annaka heard behind her, though it sounded more like the growl of an angry lion than anything human. Annaka turned her head halfway, a large group of people had gathered to see what the commotion was, they looked with interest and fear. Annaka scanned the audiences' faces and caught the visage of a familiar face, and it effectively froze the Shaman Queen in place. It was Emmeto. He looked past furious. Almost past murderous, even. He came up behind Annaka slowly, until he ran passed her and at inhuman speed Jeikobu followed, snarling behind him, ready to kill, just like his master.

Felipe jumped in front of him, the large brown bear jumping in front of Jeikobu. The bear was going after Emmetto first, but somehow Em jump over it and spun out of Felipe's grasp. Or so he thought, Felipe was able to grasp Em's arm just as the bear pounded on Jeikobu, both animal snapping their fangs, and clawing at each other's skin. Em turned around and grabbed a hold of both of Felipe's wrists, then he got the big guy and swung him down to the ground, where the cement floor cracked at the impact. Em jump over Felipe's body, but the big guy got his foot and sent him to the ground, throwing his weight on Em's body and placing him into an inescapable arm hold.

"Nice try kid," Haro called out from his position, "but it's not that simple."

"Damn you." Em hissed, "Damn you! Damn you! Damn you!"

"No need." Tamao spoke up "He's already damned."

The Spanish devil smiled, "Even after seeing my followers' strength you still chose to fight?"

"Beautiful Japanese girls should stay home and drink tea," Felipe spoke up mockingly.

Emmetto's eyes flared in rage, "You-"

"-Em!" Emmetto's eyes looked at Tamao in confusion. Rose's tone had done its job, it shut him up. Her eyes landed on Felipe, then on Jeikobu, then back to Felipe, a smirk appeared on her face "Go to Hell."

A roar bursted its way into all ears as it echoed and bounced off the walls of the room, Annaka's head jerked to see that Jeikobu had bitten the bear and had swung him across the room right into the web that Ari hung from, the web ripped and Ari came to the floor. Idina grabbed her, pulling back her arms with her left hand, and held a golden Egyptian axe up to her throat.

Felipe was distracted by just those three seconds. What a stupid mistake. Tamao's hand fell on his shoulder and she swung him back, all possible 197 pounds of muscle. And in that small amount of time Em acted. Idina suddenly became stiff, her body not responding to the commands she was screaming mentally. The only thing that moved was her eyes, and they grew wide. Ari's previously harsh breathing lightened; while Haro's increased in excitement, he was so excited he clapped.

"Not bad at all, an anesthetic ability! How exciting!" he cleared his throat and look at Idina with a soft smile. "Idina, my dear, I believe now is the appropriate time to show everyone your ability." Idina looked at him as if he were crazy…he kept his smile, "Just try, my dear."

Idina's eyes fell on her axe, for a moment many thought they saw sparks jumping off her hands… close enough…for the next thing heard brought goosebumps to those around…Ari's scream.

Her scream bounced off the walls and just kept coming. It was a combination of sharpening an axe and a dying bird, no matter what it sounded like, it still made everyone's ears bleed.

In the two seconds that Ari was being electrocuted inside her body, Emmetto was able to shut off all of Idina's senses, and she fell back to the ground, but not before her axe accidentally cut a bit Ari's arms. Ari's body was now sweating, gasping for air, she placed her left hand on the womb in her arm. But both Annaka and Tamao noticed something flashed in her eyes as they turned grey and quickly went back to their ocean blue glow.

Haro's head turned to look behind him to the crowd of people. Annaka's eyes followed Haro's gaze to a certain unique looking girl. She had very strange features, a heart-like but round face, with two very round eyes, and silky hair that seemed to change colors with her movements, from black to dark blue and back, it depended on the sunlight. As for her skin…it was surprisingly paler than expected to be, it was an extremely light olive complexion instead of the dark brown that would've matched her features much better. As for her eyes…they are indescribable. Her right hand was clasped over her mouth and nose, her skin had become paler, her breathing was accelerating, and her previously brown eyes where turning clear blue, almost fluorescent.

Haro face had a smirk on it, "Desdemona…estás bien?"

The girl shook her head violently, "S-sa-sangre…" she whispered to Haro. Haro looked at Ari, then at her arm, a smile appeared on his face, he walked and bent over to Desdemona's ears and whispered something. To Annaka looked like he said 'Está bien.' … it's okay.

The girl's eyes dilated and she violently turned to look at Ari, opening her mouth, something about that scared Ari and she began to take cautious steps back. Then she turned around and tried to run, Desdemona chased behind her, and was catching up to her. When she was at jumping distance, that's what she did she jumped in the arm to slam down on her, and Ari tripped over her feet just as soon as Desdemona was about to land on her.

Annaka was about to grab Ari out of the way until something quick cut into the air and wrapped itself around the girl's body and slung her to the ground beside the one who sent out the wire. Lysander. The girl struggled to get free and the blonde Shaman Queen saw her body begin to glow sending out some Furyoku. She was Oversouling…..

Then, Ari screamed.

Hao's allies jerked their bodies and saw a reptile-like being, appearing to have leathery greenish-gray skin and sharp spines or quills running down its back. It had a panther-like nose and face, a forked tongue, and large fangs, it was screeching loudly at Ari, his two front legs/arms holding down her arms, and it's two back ones holding down her legs.

"My fellow Shamans," Haro announced proudly, to all who were watching with fear and disgust. Annaka's eyes narrowed, the bastard liked an audience. "Let me introduce you a creature yet unknown to the world, La Chupacabra. The goat eater. Its diet is simple. Blood. And not just goat blood as its name says."

The Chupacabra screeched. Ari screamed.

Tamao looked from the Chupacabra, to Ari, and back up to Haro. "You'll be going to hell for this Haro," she said in a rather cocky way.

Haro smiled and looked at Ari, "I'll take my chances." He looked at Em then his eyes made their way to Idina and back, "Let go of her senses."

Emmetto glared at him and looked at Tamao, asking her what to do, the pink haired shaman shrugged, "Don't let her go," everyone's heads jerked to look at her, she shrugged again, "You'll see."

That was when both Annaka and Emmetto heard footsteps.

Something black with fur jump out from the crowd behind Haro, the distance from the crowd to the Chupacabra was far but the thing made it and it threw its body to knock the Chupacabra off Ari and crashing into the wall of a nearby building. Then it chased after it and the beast opened its mouth revealing two large fangs that snapped into the Chupacabra's neck, and it screeched in pain.

In front of Lysander, Desdemona also screamed in pain she began hyperventilating and, when close enough, you could see something spreading through her veins…poison. In twenty seconds of struggling, her body stopped moving…as so did the Chupacabra's…

For a second the thing that had saved Ari looked like Jeikobu, but it was not. This thing was grey-black in colour with a dark coat of fur. It was a male with a deep set of blood-red glowing eyes. His piercing claws were like sharpened steel, and his fangs were obviously poisonous. Haro stared at the wolf-like creature and sighed after looking at Desdemona's unbreathing body. "You killed my best tracker…" he looked behind him, "Jasparo…"

Ari's eyes widened.

The crowd behind Haro parted like the Red Sea and out came a figure, cloaked, but his body was very tall and lean, and you could see a few locks of blond outside of the cloak. He walked up to Haro's side and pulled off the hood of his cloak. His face was now showing to everyone. And you could see it all, his face was cold and he seemed very apathetic, his hair was honey blond and it was unruly but partly curly. His grey eyes looked at Haro in an almost violent way and then he spoke, "There's a reason why people hunt these so called Ciuateteos, Haro." His eyes went to the big wolf-like creature, "Jaecar," he called, signaling him to come to his side.

The wolf-like creature, Jaecar, left the Chupacabra's side and went to Ari, picking her up by her clothes and ran to Jasparo, dropping her into Jasparo's arms. He grabbed her gently and held her into his arms, then his eyes fell on Hao and the others, "What the hell is going on Haro?" he asked as Ari shivered in his arms, he looked down from his 6'3" stature and looked down at 5'6" pixie in his arms, noticing the cut on her arm, his eyes narrowed, "You hurt her." he hissed through his gripped teeth.

"Correction," Haro said, "Idina hurt her, but it was an accident."

"Some accident, Haro." A voice rang out loudly above all others.

Then the temperature started to rise. Annaka knew what was coming next.

Flames ignited suddenly from the air, first from the ground then up to the sky and from it came out the lovely red spirit Annaka had seen plenty of times now to know it anywhere. The Spirit of Fire. Annai sat on the left shoulder of the spirit. And of course on the spirit's right hand sat the Patch Official that had already annoyed the Shaman Queen enough.

Hao sat with his legs crossed and one elbow propped up on his knee, his chin resting on the palm of his hand. His face was entirely calm and he held a very cocky grin upon his lips. His eyes circled the scene, first gazing at Annaka before making its way to look at Haro.

"Asakura Hao!" Haro yelled in a giddy voice, "Oh, how long it's been! Three years, am I right?"

Asakura's face stayed completely calm, "Well I was hoping it would've been longer," he admitted, "But it seems your power hungry ego can't keep itself away from Ari."

"Yes, well she's a very good pawn to have on my board, as you may know."

Annaka's face grew dark, the bastard was talking as if he were friends with Asakura, as if he was not trying to kill anyone at the moment. She wanted to kill him so bad.

Hao stared at Haro a long while before he jumped down from the spirit of fire and made his way to the ground without harm. He walked and stopped beside of Annaka and grabbed the hood of her cloak and placed it over her head, making her face not seen. Then he stopped a few feet away from Haro, "You decided to have fun with a few of my allies because you felt bored, Haro?" he asked, raising a brow.

Haro began to laugh, "I was merely trying to pick up that beautiful young lady over there before these others appeared!" he explained as if he were innocent.

Hao's eyes grew dark, "You touch her and I'll burn your hand off, Haro."

Haro's brows shot up, his eyes having a very excited tint in them, "A love interest, eh? A…new amor?"

"Exactly." Annai responded in Hao's place. Annaka raised a brow. Tamao's fists tightened. The female Asakura leapt from her position on the S.O.F's shoulder to the ground right in front of both Tamao and Annaka "So I suggest you keep your disgusting hands off of her."

"Oh, how interesting your visits are, Hao!" the Molina leader laughed.

Asakura smiled, "Good. I wouldn't like to bore a man before I kill him."

The Molina leader smiled maliciously, "Is that so?" he said conceitedly, "Then you must allow me to keep Ari, she is very fun to be with."

Asakura's smile faded.

Jasparo looked from Haro to Hao and sighed, he let go of Arisu and pushed her into Lysander's arms, "Take her," he told Hao.

Hao smirked as Arisu got pushed into Lysander's arms. She clutched him tightly and buried her face in his shirt.

That was when the fat lady screamed.

Right there in the front row of the audience you could see a large woman screaming her lungs out as something large and hairy bit into her neck with two large fangs. Rapidly, you could see the woman begin to lose weight, her skin beginning to stick to her bones. Then she was engulfed by a blue light and became her normal body weight. Annaka wrinkled her nose in disgust. The only thing that looked different on the large woman was a blue glow surrounding her and large hungry eyes.

Before anyone could blink, a shadow threw itself at Annaka and grabbed her from behind, holding a knife to her neck.

Everyone's eyes widened.

It was a stupid reaction, for in that small second of shock another shadow had snatched Annai out from behind Nagehiko in one fluid action. A blade was positioned at her neck, threatening to pierce her skin as well.

"Buen trabajo, mis sirvientes," a voice called out.

Heads turned to look at no one else but Desdemona who was rising from her spot on the floor, her wounds completely healed, her eyes showing hunger as well as rage.

"Desdemona what are you doing? Release her!" Haro ordered in confusion.

"No quiero," Desdemona said sweetly. She laughed at the murderous fury flashing across the Asakura Hao's visage. "El shaman mas poderoso del mundo, eh?" she said in a mocking tone, followed by a small chuckle, "Quiero tu cabeza, Asakura Hao. "

The Chupacabra growled. Desdemona's eyes narrowed as she nodded briefly to her men. Neither Annaka nor Annai whimpered as the blade was pressed deeper against their throat, drawing blood from their flesh.

"WAAAAAAARGGGHH!"

The horrifying scream halted everyone in their tracks. Their shocked stares went automatically to where the person had been holding Annaka, who suddenly felt heat rise from behind her, her back suddenly becoming warm. She turned around and saw a woman with a blade in her hand, being engulfed in flames.

"Help…" she gurgled, rolling desperately in a futile attempt to put out the agonizing flames that were licking, consuming every part of her small frail body.

The Shaman Queen's face wrinkled in disgust, the grotesque sight of a living, breathing being getting roasted alive before her made a long shiver run up her spine. It was much different than watching a Jiang Shi burn. Those would simply come apart without a skeleton or blood being seen. But this woman…her flesh would turn black before it came off of her, you could see her blood literally boil, you could see bone were the pieces of muscle and flesh used to be.

And blood.

Pure, innocent blood.

Yes…it was much different.

The disgusting smell of burning flesh made viewers vomit, many covering their mouths with their hands to prevent from doing so. Others began to slowly back away from the scene, terrified and most definitely scarred for life. And there were those few who were simply entertained.

Someone else screamed.

Annaka looked around her, the man who once had Annai in his grasp was already rapidly decaying. Strangled yells cut through the air in unison with the roaring thunder, as three other people under Desdemona's control started to become human torches. Each one leaving a new pile of ash on the ground.

"Hao-sama! Stop it!" Lysander yelled. "Calm down!" he looked at all the bodies. He couldn't understand why Hao wouldn't stop. These people were being controlled they had done nothing wrong. Then why? Why? "HAO-SAMA!"

Seemingly oblivious to Lysander's cries, as well as those of the innocent shamans that were going up in flames, the Asakura started to raise his hand. The flames grew more intense, creeping their way nearer to the shamans, who were by now half-crazed with fear; they tried hard to escape the grasp of Desdemona's control but it was no use, that girl had full control over them.

Now, screams were echoing right, left and centre. "Desdemona, pare!" Haro screeched to pale girl. "That's enough Desdemona! Stop right now!" he ordered, "You'll get us all killed!

The girl did not listen, she continued to move the bodies who now seemed to be terrified out of their skins. They fell, as a line of fire spread like a fiery serpent, trapping them in a circle of hell before they could even think of escaping. The heat from the fires was so great, the ground was rapidly being dented with crater holes. The ring of flames closed in falling on their bodies, five new shamans were already alight, their screams starting to die down as they were reduced to piles of smoldering ash in the middle of the crater.

The screams which had resounded upon the fire's contact with flesh tapered off into silence faster than anyone would have expected.

Tamao calmly stood watching as more and more people were being burned to crisps right before her eyes. Hazily, many who were watching wondered why the pink haired shaman was still able to hold her ground without even a flinch. By now many people had scrambled their way to get the hell out of there, yet she calmly watch, with nothing crossing her face. Just a calm and dull look.

"She's a monster," one woman had the nerve to spit out. Two others nodded their heads in agreement. "A demon."

"That girl…she's one of Asakura Hao's followers, isn't she."

"To be watching something like this without changing her expression…does she have no heart?"

Tamao's eyebrow gave a faint twitch and before anyone could blink a gust of wind blew around her, revealing a rather large winged Dai Tengu behind her. Tamao turned her head, the women's composed, haughty faces no longer looked tranquil but now looked scared out of their wits. Their wide eyes stared at Tamao and the grand beast behind her. Annaka couldn't see Tamao's face, but the all three of the women's visage had gone a pasty, unattractive white, and it was enough of a clue to figure out the pink head's current expression.

"You want me to do something?" she asked menacingly, raising a brow upwards in question. "Alright then," –she pulled out her paper seal doll and stared at the new victims of the Chupacabra, narrowing her eyes- "Shugen Kijin Shiekihou Gokugi: Kamaizuna!"

The Dai Tengu unleashed a series of sword strikes, moving so rapid that it made the attack appear to be several swords attacking at once. The blade slashed for several seconds at the shamans in front of Tamao, then stopped. For a second it grew quiet before the bodies of the victims had pieces moving in several directions, their inside flesh and bones being seen by everyone, blood being splattered around the area.

"Hmm," Tamao hummed as if in thought, "could I have been a bit too hard on them…?"

The three women all looked at her in shock, breathing in deep breathes of air, "H-h-how could you! These are still people! You're a heartless demon! A-"

The females didn't manage to keep their vocal cords working after Hao shifted his gaze towards them, what appeared to be a ring materialized around the women's bodies –the line of fire circled their group and came closer to contact with their skin. All of them kept their mouths opened in horror and stared at Hao, wide-eyed.

"How annoying you three are," Hao stated coolly, as the women still gapped in horror of the inferno that surrounded them. "Instead of Tamao doing something about this situation, how about I handle it instead?…" The people that had stood near the ladies backed away, terrified and shaking in silence. Hao's tranquil features split into a serene smile. "How about I permanently silence you ladies?"

Terrified gasps were beginning to ripple through the crowd once more, almost bordering upon screams. A handful of the people watching gasped at the question, for many have heard of The Great Asakura's merciless killings…

"Que cruel eres, Hao," Desdemona's voice rang out above all the rest of the noise that surrounded them, Hao turned his gaze to her, she smiled, "Que bueno seria tenerte bajo mi control…" the fierce Chupacabra stopped feasting on another shaman and turned to look at Hao, its black eyes looking thirsty, as if agreeing with its master. 'Yes, it would be nice for you to be under my master control…'

Hao smirked, "Sorry, but the offer fails to suit my preferences."

That's when Desdemona turned her gaze somewhere else, the image of her mind flickered in Hao's head and he knew where she was looking and he was not pleased; a sly smirk appeared on the girl's visage as she stopped staring at Annaka and Annai and turned to look at Hao. "Entonses, siguen ellas." Her voice whispered, a violent rasp accompanying her words.

An almost audible hiss escaped from the Patch's lips as he raised his hand, the heat around them turning up ominously in accordance to his movements. Then he snapped his fingers.

That was when the explosion occurred.

The sound of it was as if a crackle of thunder cut through the sky and landed on the earth in the form of a fiery twister, picking up all the dirt, smoke, and ashes around the area and making a large sand storm of remains.

No one could see anything without ashes going in their eyes. But they could hear one person shriek their lungs off in a foreign language in the center of the storm.

"NO!" someone screeched.

Annaka dared to open her eyes despite the ashes and sand that would go into them. The first thing she saw was Asakura Hao's face and then she felt her eyes grow. Even from a distance, the blonde could see the rage and insanity dancing in his brown orbs.

Hao narrowed his eyes at Desdemona, who now had a ring of fire around her neck, her body somehow about two feet of ground. The girl finally looked scared to death as she stared right into Hao's venomous eyes "So small…" he hissed, the glow of his flames only enhancing the vindictiveness spread across his features.

Annaka's eyes turned to look at Haro, the man stood on the other side of the scene his face calm as he watched his female follower being robbed of her vocal chords and her life. The other members of the Molina matched his expression, emotionless and calm.

To Annaka, those guys were the true monsters.

In spite of everything, no one was foolish enough to make another yet another noise or even take in a breath. But handfuls of them were too terrified to stay and watch any longer, yet they stayed, knowing that when the Shaman Fight would officially begin tomorrow, they would see things much more worse than this.

"P-pare! Porfavor!" she shrieked, a new flame appearing around her waist, another one under her feet on the ground, the orange flames under her rapidly began rising up her body. The pain, already unbearable, was intensifying. "Lo siento! Lo siento! Sueltame porfav-" The rest of the girl's pleas started to turn into an intense sound of gagging as the ring was now consuming the only oxygen she could take in, and the skin on her neck beginning to be cooked.

Annaka had had enough, she pushed herself past Annai and Tamao, running up to Hao and wrapping her hand around Hao's raised arm. The look on Hao's face could scare the hell out of anyone who saw it, especially up-close, but then again, the Shaman Queen has never been controlled by fear.

"Hao…" she warned as she stared at him right in his harsh brown eyes. The heat radiating from the Hao's aura, which could only be his Furyoku, was burning through his thin garb into his skin, but she held on tight. "You've got to stop."

Asakura raised a brow, "As much as you're amusing me by ordering me to stop, I'm afraid I'll have to decline-" he stopped mid-sentence as Annaka jumped up from the ground to where Hao sat on the Spirit of Fire's hand. She landed right in front of him lightly, her hands touching the ground and only one of her knees bent, the other touching the ground. She lifted her head upward, making her the hood of her cloak fall of her head, and stared right into Hao's eyes.

"You're such a child," she whispered before she bent both knees to the ground and wrapped her arms around Hao's shoulders, to where Hao's head rested lightly against her chest. The Patch's eyes widened as he was suddenly at a loss for words as the Shaman Queen's body slid downward to where her head was now lying on Hao's chest.

She could hear his heart beat speed up and she could hear the loud thumps growing more and more with the small seconds. She could feel as his warmth slowly entered her body, her cold skin warming to a temperature that matched his. His breath would move certain strands of her hair out of place, and when his breath would reach her bare flesh, she would feel goosebumps rise on her skin and a shiver would go up her spine. She felt that Hao was calming down as she felt as his body lowered slowly by sighing. He dropped his head and placed his face right at her shoulder, his lips right beside her ear. She could practically sense the smirk on his face as he whispered into her ear.

"As you say…Annaka."

Hao snapped his fingers and Annaka could instantly feel the wind and flames begin to die down. She left go of him and placed her hood over her head, she could feel Asakura's eyes on her and felt a vein pop on her forehead because of it. "Stop staring at me," she ordered.

"I'm finding that very hard to do at the moment…"

"Don't care. Just stop."

He laughed, "As you wish."

The wind finally died down, Desdemona's body flopped to the ash-filled ground, part of the girl's neck was already cooked, leaving her with no ability to speak what-so-ever. Her eyes were huge and frightened, no one could blame her, she was about to see hell after all. Every viewer remained silent only the natural blow of the wind made any sound among the whole island at that moment.

That was when Annaka heard the first sound made. Footsteps; the soft, almost musical-like pattering brought down upon the ground with each step like the ghostly rhythm to a song, a serene atmosphere brought upon the almost gruesome scene with haunting definition. The footsteps echoed throughout the entire area until it slowly beat down to soft pats onto the ground below.

Annaka's heart sank when she saw whose footsteps it was.

Hao heard the soft approach of the stranger, and turned his head and met up with a rather large Shamash holding an axe twice Hao's size over him. Hao smirked and turned his head to meet eyes with the owner of the spirit, "Nice to see you too, Joan."

Joan D'Arc stood about ten feet in front of where Haro stood; behind her were Arrison, Marcel, and Raiden. The female patch raised a brow at the scene, as the storm began to slowly die down, her silver hair continued blowing in the air as she took two steps forward and stopped. Her crimsoned orbs stared at two things. One, the girl within a ring of ashes, her neck stained with cook meat and her hands clutching her neck as if she were slowly choking. Two, the ugly and repulsive creature that was in the hands of the Spirit of Fire, something Annaka did not notice before.

Joan slightly wrinkled her face in disgust.

Hao smirked, "It's called a Chupacabra," he mused as the creature shrieked and squirmed in the giant elemental spirit's grasp.

"Charming," she spat curtly, her eyes turned to look at Annaka and her eyebrows shot up. Hao whistled as he felt the gears turn in Joan's mind. Joan's face changed as she took a quick blink, then her brows furrowed and her lips hardened into a thin line. She turned to look at Haro, "You're the cause of all this? You'd think that after Hao dealt with you after your previous nonsense would have given you some sense, Haro."

Haro gave a creeping grin that made him look psychotic and mad, "I like powerful people, Miss D'Arc, you can't blame me for wanting her."

Hao's whole demeanor changed, a disconcerting meltdown from cool suavity to quiet fury. A flush stained his cheeks. Haro's words sparked transformation. Sweet icy rage poured through Hao; he felt cruelty pool in his eyes, his lips. As for Joan, her mask of a saint was slipping, dying, gone. She smiled; a baring of teeth, one animal to another. "Wanting her, Haro?" she repeated in question through her bared teeth.

"Oh, come now. I haven't hurt her." He spoke in his defense

No, but Joan knew he would, short of killing her.

"You should hear how he wants her," Hao spoke up, "His thoughts are rather...bold," His eyes sparked rage, fire flickering in the shadows of his face. He could see everything as Haro planned it Annaka is trapped in the oubliette, embracing darkness, vomiting obsidian on the cold stone floor. Haro over her, trying to make her show some sort of prodigious shamanic ability and if not he always had something else he could use her as—

"Bastard." Annaka spat in disgust as the image poured into her mind as well, she regretted even considering to get inside of Haro's mind and immediately got out of it, not wanting to see more.

She almost used her oversoul—she could feel the Great Spirits waiting, breathless for the chance to explode free, to teach this man a lesson for all his greed and revolting lust.

'Annaka be careful' Joan warned mentally.

Yes, be careful. There were people watching all around, and her control was fragile at best. She could not risk exposing herself at the moment. If people were to see the Great Spirits at work...many would want to obtain it to their own greed. Annaka took a deep breath. Carefully, painstakingly, she calmed herself and tilted her head with a disdainful glare.

"Haro, I'm afraid I can't give you a chance to live." Haro cocked her head and stared at her in curious confusion, Joan turned to face him, her face no "You have the burden of the deaths of many children, you're greedy, you fornicate with you're underlings" -Idina narrowed her eyes at this- "you're obviously a man of unforgivable sins" -Haro turned smug- "But I find this matter even more intolerable seeing that its become personable."

Haro cocked a brow, "How so?"

In that moment Shamash appeared beside Annaka, an axe in his hand, the spirit brought the blade down on the blond's cloak, the fabric tore and revealed underneath her Patch Official Uniform. Haro and his subordinates turned to Joan, wide-eyed as she was no longer in her Patch Uniform but in metal armor that the people around her had named the "Iron Maiden's Mask".

In her new form Joan stared at Haro, around her frail and pale body was a tight metal armor that had attached a large belt with a lock. From the sides of the belt were skirt-like alloy that went to mid-thigh but was open at the front, like a front opened metal skirt. Metal finger snappers covered her wrists and on her feet were needle shoes with spikes that struck the soles of her feet. Upon her head was a metal head frame with a mask-like figure on the back of her head. The change was made in the second Shamash cut the fabric of Annaka's cloak, yet it was an outfit to be in awe at.

Joan's eyes narrowed themselves, a bitter smile appeared on her lips, "The woman you're lusting after is my little sister."

In that instant crows cawed; leaves rustled in the cool breeze, and Haro suddenly found himself chained around his arms, legs, and waist, each of those body parts being pulled all in opposite directions by an immense Shamash in the air. Haro paled. Joan gave a gentle smile.

"Feeling unconfortable?" she asked.

Haro gritted his teeth, "Bitch," he spat, spitting from his position in the air, the loogey of his spit landing at the Maiden's feet. "If you want to kill me, do it, but your problems won't end there. I'm a well-known man. I'm even fairly likable. There are many important people who would be mighty pissed off if I disappeared or died, and trust me, my people know who you are, what you do, and where you live. Kill me, kill some of them—you won't get us all, and once the blood spills, we will come for you. You think you're the baddest badass out there? You don't know shit!" Shamash pulled on the chains and Haro stopped his threatening to scream in pain.

"Has a rather large ego, doesn't he?" Joan noted in dislike, she looked up at him, "Perhaps you do not feel helpless enough?" She looked at Idina, Felipe, and Jasparo and cocked her head, "You three will do...Shamash..."

The large God spirit moved his head, his large yellow orbs looking down at the three, a large amount of silver furyoku escaped from his eyes and landed on them. The three closed their eyes, when they opened them they found their bodies lacking the ability to move, they moved their eyes balls down. They felt the cold metal surround their bodies and saw that it held them tight against one another, as if it were a cage in the shape of all three of their bodies together.

The cage tightened around their bodies, merciless, and Idina screamed. Jaecar's own howls melded with her own, and he launched himself at the cage that surrounded his master Jasparo—only to be knocked aside by a large hammer in Shamash's graps. Jaecar found his feet in an instant, swiping at the air with his claws, hurling himself against the hammer, not giving into the God class spirit. Felipe's spirit did the same, tying to knock down the cage or take down Shamash.

Joan sighed, "Haro, I'm actually beginning to feel pity for those three..." she looked up at the Molina leader and pushed back some of her long locks of silver from her face, "I wanted you to suffer like those innocent human whom you killed mercilessly...but no pain will amount to what you did to them," she smiled, "So I'll just let the Devil deal with you for the rest of your death."

"Shamash..."

A large pyramid appeared under Haro on a tall stool; the men in the audience grimaced as they recognized none other than Juda's Cradle. Haro began screaming and begging to spare him, tears running down his eyes as he stared at the blood stain on the point of the pyramid, knowing the next blood on it would be his.

Annaka heard a gasp behind her and Hao, she looked down and saw Lysander, looking as if he were about to vomit, he could no longer hold Ari tightly and fell to his knees. Hao noticed this and sighed he snapped his fingers.

The flames soared around the scene of Haro as soon as Joan called out "Judgement," not letting anyone see and Shamash slammed Haro's lower body to the peak of the pyramid, the peak striking through his male gentiles. Nobody saw the peak tear through the Molina leader's manly organ, shredding it so that ground was tainted with splatters of red in a circular area of about 10ft squared, but they heard it they hear Haro shriek in pain, yell in such excruciating agony that could keep you up at night from its echoes in the back of your mind.

Joan ignored his screams, letting him taste pain as he had with those children, she was the one who witnessed the scene closely, Hao and Annaka were the only two others who could see the scene from their position on the Spirit of Fire. Annaka's face was blank and stern, Hao's was more amused.

After a while it seemed that Haro was in his last seconds of life that's when Joan signaled Shamash one last time before the spirit's hand morphed into a seven foot long metal stake and pierced it right the the center of the Molina leader's body, splitting his body symmetrically down the middle, with his blood covering whatever other place he had missed on the ground before, finally the screaming stopped.

Hao undid the flames and the audience that watched made sounds of shock and disgust at seeing the man's bloody corpse. Joan was now in her normal Patch clothes and made her way over to the Spirit of Fire, looking up at Hao.

"You may finish off the others...their spirits as well."

She didn't have to tell him twice.

...

"You're a very stubborn woman, Miss Annaka. If you had just been obedient, in the least, you wouldn't have had to see any of that."

The blond turned her attention away from the blissful sky out the window of the carriage they were riding within, she looked at Hao for a second then looked back outside, "I've seen worse. Death doesn't phase me."

A flicker of surprise registered in his eyes, "Despite your beauty, you're fearless. It's an interesting virtue in a woman."

"Don't flatter me."

Hao smirked and laid back, crossing his arms behind his head, the bumpy traveling of the carriage not distracting or disturbing his peace of mind. "That wasn't flattery, Miss Annaka, the flattery I give you is something you'd actually might enjoy."

"Bite me."

Hao responded with a smile. It grew wicked as he approached her. He leaned down to her face, his hair creating a tent around them. Annaka warned him with her glaring eyes when he cupped her chin in his hand. He tilted it up, first gently, then forcefully when the blonde refused; Annaka was not one to budge under his charisma. And it was exactly her resistance to his charms that made him desire her more. It was very much in his nature to want what he couldn't have.

"I'd bite you with pleasure, Miss Annaka," he whispered, touching her shoulders; she felt the heat of his hands sink through her clothing into skin; hot like his urgency, the insistence of his dark gaze.

The moment of fear in Annaka's eyes was brief as she immediately regained her composure and slapped his hand away. When she did, Hao grabbed her palm and darted his tongue against her skin. Annaka's eyes widened, and as he trailed kisses across her wrist, she found herself frozen and gazed at him with strange eyes, her cheeks flushed, lips parted. Hao continued pressing kisses on her palms, and then her face, her throat. She shivered and found it hard to breathe, Hao stopped and looked down at her face, and something soft fluttered in his teasing eyes, he bent down to her ear and whispered, "Enjoying it?" he asked with a smirk.

Annaka was having trouble breathing and her heart refused to slow down, did this mean she enjoyed it? "Go to hell," she said. At least, she tried to. The moment she opened her mouth, Hao kissed her on her forehead, leaving a strange warmth in that area while she froze again. She mentally cursed herself as the brunette softly chuckled.

"You are...very hard to understand," he mused and reached out to touch her cheek. His hand actually felt good. She leaned into his palm, and after a moment he drew her into the circle of his arms, his touch sliding up, up past her waist, over her shoulder blades, until he cradled her face in his hands. Annaka's breath caught. Really, she should tell him to stop touching her. Really, there was no reason in the world he should think to get away with that kind of behavior, but…

He kissed her chin, the place that was only millimeters away from her lips. Annaka swallowed hard. "Stop." she ordered, feeling her voice leaving her, her body overheating suddenly.

He did as she asked him to, but not without a large smugged smirk plastered on his features.

"Don't look at me like that," he said with amusement as Annaka recovered and glared holes through him, "You liked it."

She turned on her side so that she didn't have to look at him, she was angry, but not at Hao, because she was sure...he was speaking the truth. Not that she would give in so easily to it though. "Shut up. I don't know what I like."

Hao edged close, pushing the tensed air aside. He tangled his fingers together and rested his chin on his knuckle, his warm chocolate orbs looking into her eyes. His was an old-souled gaze, dark and strong. "You're stubborn," he said quietly. "Surly you don't wish to acknowledge your attraction to me?"

She swallowed hard, she calmed herself before answering, "I've been locked up until a week ago, Asakura. Yes, you've been the most pleasant of men that I've had a chance to look at, but I can assure you your personality is a let down to my taste."

He chuckled, the blonde was cold and distant…even cruel, but Hao liked her for that. He even knew she had the reason for being so cold, but she couldn't reveal it to him…maybe not now, but someday…

They rode on in silence, one of them feeling rather relieved of the quiet, the other irritated. The Shaman Queen felt her heartbeat slow down in its pace, why had Joan allowed her to ride in this carriage back to the cafe with Asakura? And why was she not enraged that for the past week her absence had been due to this man? She could not comprehend anything at the moment. Why did she hug Asakura back then, how did she manage to get a clue that that would have calmed him? And why was her body acting so strangely at his touch? She was to be a figure who wouldn't be phased by anything, especially a man's touch. Her eyes found themselves staring at him, she clutched her hands in her lap. She continued to feel the weight of his fingers, his lips, the memory as real as flesh. God. He was good. Touching him was too dangerous.

The carriage was so tiny it was impossible not to brush up against each other. Every touch, no matter how innocent, made fire in her belly. She could not help herself. It was sickness, a disease, and even if she could have cured herself began to think she would not have, because it felt too good. In her younger years she would hear the women in her tribe speak of how it was exciting, to be so near a man who was worthy of warmth. So many were not. Just illusions, parading themselves like cheap facades. Not worth keeping over the long, hard years.

Hao was no illusion. With his shamanic abilities he could become Shaman King.

"How did you cope, Hao? What did you do when you were alone after your mother was gone?"

Hao jerked back, surprised, but Annaka refused to let take her gaze off him. "How much do you know?" he asked, his eyes flickering in irritation, fire shining through the irritation, then a cool water putting out the fire and replacing it with pain. It hurt to talk about his mother.

"She was killed, that's all I know."

"By humans."

She stared at him, a question hanging from the tip of her tongue, her curiosity taking the best of her, "Do you not consider yourself human?"

"No," he said, his eyes narrowing, . "You're not human either. Shamans are not humans."

"Human enough." Hao laughed at her response, a bitter smile forming on his lips.

"Having humanity and being human are two different things, Miss Annaka," Hao licked his lips. "Humans..." His mouth felt dry. "Their children beat me with fists, rocks, and sticks, some even used clubs and weapons. When I laid there unconscious I saw the men of the village make their way to my home..." his eyes grew dark, his voice growing deep, "I saw them as they slapped her, laughed at her, spit in her face, and turn her and my home into nothing but ashes."

"Because of your ability to see ghost?" Her eyes were soft, dark with knowing. Hao sways close. For a moment she forgot he was like a stranger, a mystery, because the regretand uncertainty in his dark gaze suddenly felt like a mirror, a hard reflection of her own emotions. She not feel sorry for him.

"Because of my gift. They couldn't handle it. The villager had said we were demons and got someone to get rid of us. They accomplished that task with my mother only...after i saw it with my own eyes, the villagers though that their children had killed me, not knowing that I watched from bushes. They left and I ran, ran to a place I knew ghost and demons gathered together. I made a friend there. Later made him disappear with the oversoul I used to kill the so called monk who murdered my mother. Then I was taken in by some Onmyoujis, started my life over there. But it was the same result. Humans think what we are...is unnatural."

"We speak with the dead," Annaka said, feeling a strong urge, a need, to comfort him. "We do what humans wished they could do, it is why they invent stories of heroes of the supernatural, they are simply jealous of us."

""Maybe." Hao turned away. "But jealousy hurts, Annaka. Jealousy makes people want to lock you up or kill you." he couldn't keep the bitterness from his voice. She acknowledged it.

"You dwell in bitterness."

"Bitterness?" Annaka forced herself to look into his eyes. It was difficult; his gaze was too far-seeing, "What do you expect, Annaka? Yes, I have power. Yes, I am proud of that. I wouldn't change a thing. But has my…my gift brought me happiness? Real happiness? No. Only… isolation. Loneliness. I don't call that a prize."

Annaka stretched out her hand. Hao did not flinch. She touched his shoulder, fingers trailing up, up, up to his hair. She skimmed the fine dark strands. Hao closed his eyes.

Before she noticed, Annaka buried her fingers in his hair, fingertips floating just above his scalp. She kneaded, tugged, a light massage of ethereal proportions, and Hao let out a sigh that sounded like the low last breath of a dying man. He stepped close, eyes still closed. He kissed the warm crown of her head. Then his warm, and impossibly large, palms drifted up, slow, and Annaka found it so difficult not to touch his skin, to bring her lips down upon his brow, his closed eyes, his mouth, but she knew better.

She was not used to being touched. She like it. Which was dangerous, stupid. She was a death sentence for all men. Literally.

She was the Shaman Queen, the one engaged to the future Messiah of the world...she had to resist.

She tried to pull away, but felt two arms wrapped themselves around her waist. Hao opened his eyes. Very slowly, exquisitely so, he stood. There was no room for him; Annaka had been pulled so close already that the only way for him to rise was to slide up against her body, inch by slow inch. His hands never lost their grip on her waist. "It seems...that I have come to fancy you, Annaka," The corner of his mouth curved ever so slightly, but that was no consolation, because his eyes would not stop looking at her, not even to blink.

Her palms became sweaty, and there is a low warm ache in her stomach that has been growing ever since they got into the carriage together. His stare made it worse, made her scared and hungry for something she knew she should not have—or contemplate. Her cheeks become warm. She looks away, but when she looks to steal another glance he is still watching her, and it is too much. His eyes are too gentle. "Stop." Her voice breaks on that word. "Please." she begged silently, not looking him in the eyes. Hao found himself unable to conceal the smirk that formed on his lips, he let go of her and sat back down to his side of the carriage, not looking at her.

The carriage gave a jolt and a sudden stop, both of them heard the carriage driver knocking against the top of the carriage; Hao looked at Annaka, "This is where you get off, Miss Annaka."

She nodded and stood up, she made her way off the carriage and touch the ground when she felt a hard hand grab her wrist, she jerked around, her red eyed narrowed themselves as she looked into his eyes, and Hao wondered what she saw in his eyes, whether his desire was so transparent. He found he did not care if she knew how much he wanted her. Shame had left him long ago.

Before she could protest, he wrapped one large hand around the back of her neck and pressed his lips to hers. His kiss was fire. Slow and hard, grinding her so close to the edge of pleasure she almost came apart in his arms. Warmth poured through her body, pure sunlight in her bones. Hao's breathing was ragged, he swallowed hard. He had never tasted anything so wondrous, drank in the scent and flavor of the woman. He wondered if he would ever let go, if he would be able to stop.

But he did stop, with great difficulty, and, and when Hao finally broke off the kiss it Annaka pulled herself away. Her eyes were wide, lips swollen with his kisses, her breathing ragged as a spring storm. Hao's heart pounded, blood rushing down, down, though there was enough left to heat his face.

"You're a spoiled child, Asakura," she whispered, brushing her fingertips against her lips.

Hao looked at her, saw Ultimo running up to the carriage behind her, a smirk appeared on his face and he sat down, "I may be a spoiled child, but its your fault." With that he signaled the driver to go and then closed the door to the carriage as it pulled away.

Annaka was still standing where she was when Ultimo ran up beside her, "Annaka-sama! Are you okay?" The Shaman Queen did not answer and simply stood there for a while, she could still feel Hao's lips pressing against hers, she could still feel that fire run through her veins as if it were a forest. Ultimo's eyes grew as he watched her movements, "Annaka-sama...did Asakura Hao...kiss you?"

A grim feminine voice spoke behind Annaka, "He what?" asked Joan, suddenly appearing by her sister's side, her red eyes narrowing themselves, "Annaka...?"

Annaka's eyes followed the carriage and realization hit her, Asakura Hao had just kissed her...and died.

...

Annai had been sitting on the edge of the porch, sipping tea and waiting for Lysander to stop vomiting on the grass, when she began to feel something dripping down her cheeks slowly. She brushed her cheeks with her fingertips, felt liquid, she brought her fingers to her lips. Salty. Tears, she was crying. She brushed them away with her sleeve but more kept coming. She knew the source of this. Another part of her was grieving, a part that was far.

By the time Hao's carriage came forth on the residence, Annai had managed to stop her tears, stop the feelings from the heart of the other person that could not express it in her state. Annai could not see anything. She was blind after all, but her ears were great. She heard Arisu run to the carriage and she heard her when her scream cut through the air, sending all the others on the residence towards the carriage, the sound of their breathing rugged, their feet running hard through the grass. She heard Lysander, who had finally found his stomach devoid of vomit, along with the others, "What happened? What's wrong with Hao-sama?"

Wilhemina and Emmetto brought Hao into the room just as soon as Tamao appeared running up the stairs. She stared as Wilhemina and Emmetto set him down on a futon, his body was limp and she could not see his chest rising for any form of breathing. Tamao felt herself go cold, she walked up to his body and shoved the other two out of the way, she stared at Hao's pale body even closer, as if she could find any sign of life at all. When she didn't her jaw tightened, "Everybody. Out." she hissed.

The Chinese red head blinked, "What?"

"EVERYBODY GET THE DAMN OUT OF THIS ROOM!" Nobody dared to disobey her. Annai remained in her seated position as the others left the room. The pink haired shaman shut the door behind them and left herself with Hao, her eyes grew cold.

"Bastard." she stated coldly, "You kissed her." Visions of death haunted Tamao since Hao had brought that woman, it was a fatal caress upon her mind. Hao's anguished face had filled her thoughts, and all she could see now was someone's death resting right in front of her. She had trouble closing her eyes, this sort of thing really pissed her off. "Now I'm the one that has to save your cheating ass."

Tamao stepped away from Hao, and brought out a knife from her pocket, before she had any second thoughts, she plunged the knife into her arm, hilt deep. Blood began spewing from it, a measly drop falling on Hao, the others staining the floor. The blood began to move on the floor in a circular paradigm, a large, gaping hole was surfacing below it, as if the blood was an acid that made the ground seem to be melting. Deep malicious laughter filled the area, and Tamao found herself sinking down into hell's mouth.

It swallowed her whole and spit her out in no other place then Hell itself.

"I am here to see Enma Daioh," Tamao said. The naka-oni stared at her, silent and expressionless. Typical. Such treatment was a good way to intimidate someone who did not really mean business. Unfortunately for these naka-oni, Tamao was quite serious about wanting to see her boss. She began to walk between them. They placed hands on her shoulder and Tanai touched their shoulders and she looked into their eyes, one oni to the other, and said, "I'm sure you two enjoy your positions here do you not? Well allow me to say that I can make you both go down to the most damned part of this place where you two will be incinerated and your spirits will wander in nothing more than a blazing inferno. If you do not believe me. Test. Me."

Their hands flew off her body. She saw the fear in their eyes and savored it as just one more moment of life. The oni on her right knocked on the gate door. Tamao heard a familiar voice from within. She did not wait for anyone to give permission. She brushed past the onis, opened the ornate wooden gate door, and entered the large throne room.

Enma Daioh was alone, sitting on a large throne made of harsh red rock. The air in the place was dark, smoky, much like the King of Hell himself, he was tough like a leather strap, his eyes like pin-holes, and when he saw Tamao he straightened slowly, bones cracking in his knees and back.

"So, you return." His voice was low, rough from years of living in the fiery kingdom. "I thought I would see you again, though much sooner. I expected you to come crawling back to me. I am oddly unpleased that it did not happen." He looked at the Oni behind Tamao and said, "Leave." The Onis began making their way back out the door, before closing it behind them they stole a look to Tamao who glared at their disgusting figures. The Oni shivered and slammed the door shut.

Enma Daioh said, "You must have scared my Onis for them to let you in here. You must have scared them more than I scare them. How did you do that, Rose?"

"You forget I used to be one of the four kings of hell."

"Yes, I did." Enma Daioh sighed. "The Queen of Demons, making a deal with Mephistophele to go and chase after a mortal Onmyoji. Isanami has not done even ten percent of the amazing work you did." He peered into Tamao's face. "And what of you? I sent several low class demons to stalk you, you know. I never discovered what happened, except that I was sure you were not dead."

"I found other work," Tamao said coldly. As she looked at Enma Daioh, all she could do was glare at him, the king of hell had sort of a fancy of her and it disturbed her for millions of years. "And now I am here on business."

Enma Daioh's smile was cold, mirthless. "My, I had a hunch you didn't just come hear to give me a pleasant visit." he licked his lips.

Tamao's face didn't falter, her pink orbs stared calmly into the eyes the greatest of the four kings of hell. "As always you are right, Daioh, this regards Asakura Hao."

Enma wrinkled his face in disgust, making a strangled sound low in his throat."I hope you made it quick," he said bitterly, "I do not find him pleasant since you came to me 500 years ago asking to reincarnate yourself in the body of a shaman to follow him in this life time. What happened this time? Your demons affecting him too?"

"He's dead, Daioh."

"Sorry to hear that, Rose."

"You lie."

"I do."

Tamao rolled her eyes, having to deal with her boss was difficult, she suddenly remembered the reason why she thought Hao was a more appropriate man. "I want you to revive him."

Enma sat back on his throne and began playing with the edge of his beard, "You know quite well that if you want a wish to be granted then Mephistopheles is the one you should talk to. Besides why would I want to revive him? If he's down here that means you'd want to be here as well. And personally, I'd rather have you reak your havocs here."

"Mephistopheles will grant people wishes, yes, but he will find a loophole in the contract and take their souls. You should know this yourself, you underestimate my knowledge. May I remind you that I was there when he did this with Faust I?"

The King of Hell closed his eyes and rubbed the crease in his eyebrows, "You never change, Rose. But I still see no reason to-"

"-I've found the Shaman Queen, Daioh. Hao kissed her, that's why he's pushing up daisies."

Enma froze, a sick devious grin emerging on his features, his eyes glittering in greed, "The Shaman Queen." he whispered, as if the very sound of the name held the presence of the Great Spirit, "The Shaman Queen is the temple of the Great Spirits. Shes the Holy of Holies, the temple that holds the ark of the covenant. Metaphorically speaking that is. You're positive you've found her?"

Tamao nodded, suddenly becoming interested in her fingernails as she spoke, "You try to enter the Holy of Holies without being a pure man and Kami strikes you down. Asakura Hao is not yet Shaman King but he kissed her, Kami ended his life."

Enma Daioh leaned back against his throne, folding his hands over his round stomach. Nearby flames of fire softened his face until he looked almost grandfatherly. A patient man. A hushed man. "So, what does this have to do with Asakura Hao?"

"The Shaman Queen," she murmured, "seems to be attracted to Asakura."

The King of Hell's eyes grew, his brows shot up when he noticed the serious bitterness of the girl's tone, letting him know she was not lying to him. "Attracted to Asakura Hao." Tamao nodded. "This could mean one of two things. Asakura Hao is to be the Shaman King or the girl is flawed."

Tamao hesitated, "Either of the two could be right. But I want to make a deal with you. Revive Asakura and I'll be sure to use him as bait for the Shaman Queen, once she gets too close to him she'll lose her immortality. I'll go in and kill her when this happens. Giving the man up there" -she pointed upward- "a disadvantage."

"Impressive," the King of Hell said, coming down from his throne, he reached out and patted his Rose on the head. "Good girl. What a fine pet you've made. Perhaps that deal with Mephistopheles did some good. But I'm still not convinced." Anger flashed on Tamao's face, but she retained her anger, she had no choice. "Let me add something to this. If you fail, when you die your memories will be in my hands while your reincarnating body would be born with nothing but a personality opposite of yours. Yes your reincarnation will maintain the physical appearance you have now, but you will have no memories of your love for Asakura. And if your reincarnation just so happens to run into Hao...I'll make it so that he'll never love you." As he finished he smiled, and it was eerie the way he never looked at the others. It was as though he wanted her to give up on Asakura and stay with him.

But the girl was not so easily manipulated.

"I'll take your deal," she spoke up, not an ounce of hesitation in her voice, and here she leaned forward, smiling softly, so cruel, "I won't regret chasing after Asakura."

He did not trust her acquiescence—she could see it in his eyes—but he respected her enough not to challenge her motives. "So you say, Rose. So you say."

---

Shinra Private Academy

The clouds glided softly across the skies as golden rays illuminated a path above the horizon, revealing the sun's trudge upon the dome of blue. The streets of Tokyo did not rest silently as who would throw silence at the city and its people? The campus of Shinra Private Academy was the only thing along the streets that was restful, yet the school awoke as the sound of the final bell sprung forth and echoed its voice in every hallway and classroom. Students stuffed and shoved books into lockers, friends met up with one another while leaving, making plans, ready to be anywhere besides where they were.

Tamao was among those making their way past that front gate, but unlike the majority of her classmates she didn't want to leave, for she would have nothing to do once she got to Funbari Inn. She wished to be inside where the others were, where they were discussing of her precious Yoh-sama. She stopped in her tracks, making several students behind her run into her or nudge their shoulder against hers. Tamao didn't care, she decided. She wasn't going to leave yet.

With a sudden turn of her heels she began to walk opposite of the current traffic movement of the Shinra students. Once she made it passed the large crowd she made her weight to the back of the school in silence. At this hour the back of the campus was silent, a complete antonym to how it was on the other side. It was so quiet that Tamao could hear her feet crush pebbles and granite while walking through the club fields.

The rosy tresses of the girl wavered as the wind soothingly blew through it with a simple breeze. A frown was placed upon her face as she laid back against the hollow tree looking out to the horizon. Her eyes watched as the wind blew dust and pebbles onto the black cement that was the track field. Her precious Yoh-sama had been running on that same field the day before the he left for America. She remembered his last school day to be on the day of the Sports Festival...

Yes.

She remembered...

"I don't believe it...YOH-KUN WAKE UP!"

Yoh opened his right eye to look up at his screaming vertically challenged friend, who was frantically pointing as Yoh laid down on the grass beside him. He smiled at his friend's habit to over exaggerate things out of proportion. "Yoh-kun, Yoh-kun! A-Anna-s-san i-is! DAMMIT LOOK WILL YA?"

Yoh sighed and sat up, rubbing his drowsy eyes as he did so, "What's this about Anna?" he asked lazily, for the brunette still found both his energy and vision to be as if he were asleep. He looked to where Manta pointed and saw Anna on the track field, or at least he caught a glimpse of her. He tried to follow her swift moving figure, but it took a bit of time before his eyes escaped from their semi-purblind state.

Once his blurry vision was gone, the brunette noticed Anna's golden locks to be shot back by a large amount of forced wind cause by her body cutting through the air as if she were light traveling through an empty vacuum. He blinked finding it hard for his eyes to keep up with her, her body soared several times into the air over constant white figures before the soles of her feet touched earth once more. Yoh found himself impressed at how his fiancée never skipped a beat or lost rhythm in her run, it was really something.

He crossed his legs on the grass and propped his elbow in his knee, placing his chin on the palm of his hand. He gave a boyish grin and found himself chuckling, "She's fast!" he laughed, turning to his friend, "You think she trains in secret?"

Manta smacked him upside the head, "That's not the point!"

Yoh rubbed his injured head, "ANNA-SAN IS DOING WORK! DOES THAT NOT SEEM WEIRD TO YOU IN ANY WAY?

"No -OW!"

Amidamaru watched the two in amusement. How nice it was for his young master to have friends when his childhood had been one of bullying and loneliness. The connection between Manta and Yoh was good, almost unbreakable at this point, Amidamaru knew since the incident with Faust VIII.

"Ano..." All three heads turned to face a very diffident pink haired girl in her gym clothes, she trembled as if she were about to get mugged rather than to simply talk to her friends. "Ano...Yoh-sama...Anna-sama doing this...is because of me. I feel guilty because-"

Yoh stopped her by raising a hand, he gave her a friendly smile, "Don't worry about it Tamao. Anna doesn't do things she doesn't want to. All we have to do for now is cheer her on." the brunette ran to where the patches of grass ended and took a deep breath, cupping his hands around his mouth as he screamed, "ANNA YOU CAN DO IT!"

He noticed Anna lose a bit of her rhythm but regained it after a second, her head turn and she caught a glimpse at Yoh happily waving at her. The blonde found herself smiling as she looked away, a small pink stain appearing on her cheeks.

Tamao noticed this and felt her stomach turn, she grabbed Yoh by the arm and began pulling him away, "Y-Yoh-sama, your event is next!" she stuttered, "I made you a bento so you can run on a healthy stomach!" with that she dragged Yoh to the far side of the school building.

"Amazing." mused a voice from the judges corner, the voice belonging to a girl who was looking out through some binoculars, her sight set on Anna and Yoh. The girl pulled the binoculars away from her eyes, the sun touching them and making the scene of the sky in her blue orbs, her hair was a cascade of green that was tied in a high ponytail, yet it reached to her knees, her skin was rather tan compared to that of a boy's beside her. On her white gym shirt there was a button that said "Hisho" or Secretary, and the blue haired bishie beside her had one that said, "Fuku Kaichou" or Vice President.

The Hisho of Shinra Private academy took one last look from Yoh's leaving figure to Anna's running one and nodded, "As I thought something is going on between those two."

"I'll tell you what's going on between the two!" A voice announced along with the presence of a tall six foot lean boy with long white hair and glasses, his tag that had written "Kaichou" shined as the sun's rays touched it, he pointed a finger towards Yoh, "That Asakura Yoh is stalking my beloved Kyoyama Anna-chan!" -The Hisho and Fuku Kaichou sweat dropped- "That is why I, The Student Council President of Shinra Academy, have decided to deal with Asakura by confessing my love to Kyoyama-chan in the borrowing race!"

The Hisho rolled her eyes as her boss went on in his plan, she suddenly became very interested in her nails as the Kaichou's voice grew louder, "MY plan is simple! In the borrowing race there is always a slip of paper that makes a lucky individual have to go and borrow the person he/she loves. This year, to make sure I am the one who gets something to confess my love to Kyoyama-chan, I have made all the slips say to borrow someone you love/like. Or something around that area. This way I will go and ask Kyoyama-chan to go out with me! She will say yes and Asakura Yoh will have to leave her alone! HAHA! I'm a genius!"

The Fuku Kaichou looked at the Hisho and whispered in her ear, "Ano, if it's like that, I don't want to take part in the borrowing race. Can I find someone to replace me?"

The Hisho nodded, her eyes watching Anna as she came back from the track field. The blonde had won the Obstacle Race for her class and was now making her way to Manta, then she noticed Yoh's absence, she felt a vein pop on her temple, "Where is he?" he asked the short midget and the 600 year old spirit.

Manta looked at Amidamaru and the two turned to look at Anna, Manta was the one to respond, "Tamao took him. We don't really know where."

"I see." Anna said, she turned and grabbed a small

The spirit did what he was told. Manta looked at the two in curiosity. wanting to ask where the two were going, but instead decided to turn his attention back to the sports festival.

"Wow Tamao this is really good!" Yoh complemented as he stuffed another eggroll into his mouth, not bothering to even chew it before swallowing and chugging down some rice.

Tamao blushed as she watched him eat. The fact he liked her cooking so much made her heart jump and pound loudly against her chest. She took a deep breath, ready to do what she brought him out here for. "Ano...Yoh-sama."

Yoh stopped eating and looked at her, his gaze innocent and boyish, yet making her blush even more and stutter in embarrassment.

"Ano, Yoh-sama, I've been meaning to ask you something." 'Say it' her mind continued to pursuade her. She had to ask. She wanted to. For long years Tamao had been watching him from afar. Admiring his courage, his laid back nature that made everyone else's affliction leave them just by seeing his smile. In time it was no longer admirition that made the pink haired shaman look at the Asakura boy but a certain feeling that made her think of warmth. That's when she decided she too would try her best. But in order to become his fiance.

The Anna came in the picture. Tamao remembered seeing her for the first time. Golden hair, pale skin, amber eyes that could see right through you, and a certain beauty, an elegant grace that Tamao could never have. She remembered Yoh's face when he saw her for his second time, right there in the Asakura residence. He stopped what he was doing and stared at her for the longest time and whispered her name in disbelief, his face had grown color and he gave a sheepish and embarrassed grin that was one hundred persent honest and pure.

...and it had broken Tamao's heart. So knowing the large gap between her and Anna what was it that this girl had to ask Yoh?

Simple. "Do you...love Anna-sama?"

Yoh choked on his egg roll. His face grew red, but not from nearly dying. "W-what?" he asked after gaining his ability to swallow.

"I've s-seen the way you look at Anna-sama," she spatted taken aback by his blushing face, wondering if she really wanted to hear his answer, "Since she arrived, Yoh-sama has been acting differently…towards me at least...You once said that you enjoyed spending time with me, that you liked to get away from Anna-sama's harsh training and go grocery shopping with me! B-but I've seen a change in the way you look at Anna-sama a-and never looked at me like that so I've come to think you don't like me...!" she closed her eyes, as if waiting for a slap to her heart.

"I like you Tamao."

She opened her eyes, saw his smiling face and felt her heart jump.

Yoh gave her a smile. Had he been treating his friends differently lately? He had been thinking a lot about Anna. His grandfather had called before asking if his relationship with her was good.

Yoh had said yes. Things hadn't changed between him and Anna. He still had those same feeling he had felt as a ten year old boy.

"Have those feelings grown any stronger?" Yoh asked what he meant. Yohmei sighed, "When you look at Anna or think of her, what do you feel?"

Yoh had thought of her in that moment. Her golden locks spread against her pillow when she slept, her pale, slender figure as she watched her soaps, her dress not helping to hide the way her hips curved...Yoh found his face growing hot, his heart began beating rapidly at his chest, he placed a hand to his chest, clutching his shirt in hope that it would stop its speeding. Yohmei smiled knowingly. "I see," he mused slowly. Yoh looked up at him in confusion, Yohmei chuckled silently deep in his throat, "You love Anna even more then you did Yoh. Much, much more."

Yoh recalled this moment with his grandfather and blushed as he remembered the rest of the conversation, it had been a long one, which had involved the topic of babies...

Tamao noticed the change of his skin color and thought that he had just realized the meaning of his words and felt embarrassed. In her unknown misunderstanding she inched closer, her face gaining color as well, she felt the words she wanted to say right at the tip of her tongue, she bit back her fear, determined, "Yoh-sama the truth is I've really always-"

"-Asakura-kun! He's over here you guys!" Tamao jumped away and created a distance between their bodies at the sound of one of their schoolmates, several other students appeared, all females. One of the girls, black haired and rather large at the chest, walked over to Yoh grabbing him by the wrist and forcing him up, her curls bouncing as she did so. "Asakura-kun, your race is about to start how could you possible be eating now?" Yoh blinked as two other girls began pushing him towards the the corner. One of them, with short shoulder-length periwinkle hair, began to shove with her whole body.

"Hurry, Sensei is rather mad-"

"ASAKURA YOH! THIS IS YOUR HOMEROOM TEACHER" You could hear over the school's intercom "GET YOUR ASS TO THE TRACK FIELD THIS INSTANT!" at hearing this, Yoh stopped and turned to look at Tamao, who sat on the floor, her face rather pale. He figured his homeroom teacher's language shocked her.

"Tamao I have to go. Save the left overs please!" he called as he began to run towards the field. He made it past the corner when he saw a blur of blonde, he stopped and saw Anna leaning against the wall, her head down and both of her hands curled into tight fists. She was shaking...

"Anna...?"

"The nerve..." she whispered loud enough for him to hear, she jerked her head up to look at him, her eyes glassy and her cheeks flushed in anger, "you actually have the nerve..."

Yoh blinked and took a step forward, reaching out a hand to touch her, "Anna, what are you talking abou-"

"DON'T LIE TO ME ASAKURA!" she shouted, her hand iching to slap him, "I heard everything." she spat through gritted teeth, one of her hands rose to clutch the fabric of her shirt in the area above her heart as it began to burn within her chest. She lowered her head, "You...like Tamao."

The wind rustled through the trees stirring fallen leaves as the words left her mouth; Yoh blinked, suddenly rather confused. "Why are you angry?" He looked at her, stared, trying to find an answer within her expression.

Anna did not reply; she narrowed her eyes, looking at the brunnette with such intensity he could feel her gaze almost as a touch, right down to his aching heart. Her gaze was pure fire, her mouth twisted in disgust. Something in her snapped—a piece of her heart, tearing right out of her chest—she took a step forward and whipped her hand across his cheek. The sound of the impact echoed.

The brunette boy found himself on the floor within seconds of the impact, the force of Anna's slap had sent him to the ground, knocking off his headphones. He cupped his swollen cheek and looked at her wide-eyed. He saw her as she grabbed her hand and once more clutched at that area above her heart, but she glared at him, so deep in anger that he felt his heart sink. Yoh dropped his hand slowly from its position over his swollen cheek and looked away from her to stare at the wall. "I don't understand you, Anna."

"What is there to understand?" she asked bitterly, a lump forming at her throat, "I hate you," —Yoh's head shot up to look at her, noticing the stain of red on her cheeks—"If for one moment I've have thought otherwise, I find myself an idiot to ever love you."

Yoh stood up as she turned her gaze to look right into his eyes. They were sorrowful, a chocolate that was melting under the painful fire that harmed it; he took a few steps towards her, his right cheek still burning, he stopped, "You don't hate me Anna..."

Her breath caught, her body stilled. Guilt rumbled through her eyes, which he instantly noticed. He did nothing to acknowledge it. Just held her gaze. She didn't respond, and the silence was unbearable. He searched her face with a desperate expression and was unable to repress the tears that were beginning to fill his eyes. Anna's eyes were indescribable, and she stood silently in front of him without breaking their gaze. Her heart was pounding loudly against her chest, it screamed to her, telling her that her hesitation was the reason she was losing him to begin with. She did not listen, "Leave, Yoh."

His heart pounded a triple beat, inhuman; quick and strong, so hard his chest burned in agony from the pain of it. "Anna it's not what you think."

"Then what is it Yoh?" she began to shout, finding herself turning bitter by the second, "Explain why. Why is it that you saved me at that moment from that Oni? Why? It's not love obviously! You never once told me that you loved me, liked me even! Explain to me Asakura Yoh!"

Yoh hesitated. How was he to explain that for the longest time he knew that in the Shaman Fight there would be a large possibility of his death? He wanted to tell her, he wanted to kiss her, hold her so tightly that his heart could burst. But he couldn't. Not knowing that tomorrow he could be leaving for his funeral. "It is complicated."

She became bitter, "Of course it is." She began to walk around him, back to the track field. Yoh blocked her, fear and confusion making his throat thick.

"Anna-"

"ASAKURA YOH, YOUR HOMEROOM TEACHER REQUESTS THAT YOU COME TO THE TRACK FIELD IMMEDIATELY."

"LIKE HELL I DO! HURRY UP ASAKURA!"

Anna shut her eyes, "Go," she muttered, fighting the compulsion to forgive him for liking another woman. She succeeded—shockingly—but she knew it that feeling of hatred wouldn't be there for much longer. Yoh was still too close. He said her name. She could feel him reaching out to touch her.

No. No, no, no—

"Go!" she screamed. Yoh flinched, and backed away, for one long moment he stared at her, confusion and anger in his eyes.

"ASAKURA YOH! GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE NOW BEFORE I EXPEL YOU!"

Anna pointed to the the track field, hand shaking; Yoh gave her one last look that made her heart ache, then he left. Amidamaru appeared suddenly beside of Anna, his eyes looking sadly at Anna who simply stood there looking at the dirt on the ground. "Anna-dono—"

"Don't speak if you don't want to die twice." Amidamaru shut his mouth.

There was a second of silence until Anna heard screaming followed by the sound of a slap that was not her own.

"Kya!" Tamao screamed as her body slammed into the wall, her white gym uniform becoming dirty from the dirt and dust that flew to the air from the impact of her crash. She scrapped her hands, blood slowly flowing from her wounds.

"Honestly Tamamura, you thought we wouldnt notice what you were up to?" asked the tall senpai with black curls as she grabbed Tamao by the hair and pulled her to her feet. "Do you think we're fools?"

Tamao shook her head, "I-I just wanted to give him a b-bento before he raced!" the black haired girl pushed her face to the ground.

The girls laughed, "You think we're stupid?"

Tamao screamed once more as her body slammed against the side of the school, the bricks of the wall scrape her skin through her thin shirt, leaving red stains on her white shirt. Ponchi and Konchi ran to her side, both asking if she was okay, she couldn't respond at the moment. One of the female Senpais stepped close to her and grabbed her by the collar of her t-shirt, ramming her back to the wall. The Senpai glared into Tamao's pink orbs, disgusted black eyes burning holes through fearful pink ones. "You have a lot of nerve, Tamamura," the Senpai acknowledge in disaproval, "You actually dared to get close to Asakura-kun when we gave you a warning the first time."

"You fucking bitches, leave Tamao alone!" yelled Ponchi, shaking his fist violently at them.

"Yeah!" Konchi joined in, "If you don't we're going to rape your asses!" The Senpais couldn't hear them, which was the reason the two spirits continued their verbal abuse and false threats.

"I-I wasn't making a move on Yoh-sama!" proclaimed Tamao in her defense, shaking, fear striking her heart as if it were a dagger.

"Yoh-sama?" repeated one of the other girls, her purple eyes showing her disgust as she wrinkled her nose. She stepped closer, "You're taking advantage of Asakura's kindness, you bitch. How dare you call him 'Yoh-sama' if you're nothing to him. Asakura Yoh belongs to everyone!" she raised her hand and slapped Tamao across her face, "Don't try to fucking keep him to yourself!"

"Asakura Yoh belongs to everyone? Is that what little girls are telling themselves lately?"

"ANNA-SAMA!" Ponchi and Konchi shouted in shock and sudden fear, both running to go and hide behind Tamao.

The three seniors froze, the one grabbing Tamao's shirt suddenly letting go; Anna stepped around the corner, her arms crossed, she was pissed and the girls could sense it easily. "Care to explain?" she asked referring to the blood on Tamao's wrinkled shirt.

One of the girls, the one with black curls who had grabbed Tamao's shirt, straightened up, though her body slightly shook, "W-we're not scared of you." she managed to say, as if that could change the fact that she really was scared.

Anna cocked a brow, "Oh really? So you're not scared of the possibility of people finding out that you're making your breast pads bigger?" she turn to the two other girls, signalling them out with her eyes, "Or that you are an absolute otaku to the point of cosplaying? Or your middle school picture?"

The girls grew red, two of them began to slowly back away. The black haired girl glared at Anna for about a minute before Anna rolled her eyes, "It's pointless to think of jumping me or plan revenge. May I remind you that Yoh isn't the only one with followers. If mine found out, we won't be able to recognize your face much longer." A smirk appeared on the blonde's face. Anna wasn't joking.

The two other Senpais winced in sudden cowardness, the other buried herself in the fact her pride was being hurt, "It's stupid to think you're the secret adoration of the male students at this school. You're think you're so great that you walk with Asakura in the mornings. Taking advantage of his kindness. He doesn't care about you. Can't you see you're a bother to him you-" SLAP! The girl fell back, wide-eyed, completely shocked at the sudden agonizing pain on her right cheek. She looked up at Anna, who glared holes into her body back.

"I'm not in the best mood," she warned the girls, "You've already made me take that stupid bet to take part in the Sports Festival. Do you want me to show you my worth by sending all of you to the hospital?"-the girls shook their heads- Anna narrowed her eyes, a rather violent expression taking over her face, "THEN. LEAVE." she ordered.

Tamao watched as two girls helped their fallen friend up from the ground and then all three ran the other way, shouting things that she could not quite catch. The pink haired girl's gaze turned to Anna whose back was turned towards her. Ponchi and Konchi, as always, managed to break the comfortable silence that had arrived with the departure of the Senpais.

"YEAH! THAT'S ANNA-SAMA FOR YOU!"

"BITCHES WERE LUCKY! WE WERE ABOUT TO GO AT THEM!"

"NEXT TIME WE WON'T BE SO FORGIVING!"

Amidamaru sweatdropped at the spirits' large egos, he was about to laugh until he saw a rather dark aura forming around Anna's body, her hand curling into fists so tight that her knuckles were turning white. Her body whisked to look at the two spirits, her eyes were fire, burning hole with their glares. She jerked the two spirits off the ground and slammed them back into the dirt, her foot stepping on their testicles with full force in her heel.

"AAAAGGHHHHHH!" the spirits screamed in agony. Anna pushed down harder, her eyes enraged.

"You two actually have the nerve to be shouting threats when you're obviously nothing but useless." Anna spat, pushing down harder with each word that left her mouth. She finally let them have their balls back when they began begging, no, screaming for mercy to the point of tears. She took her foot off and watched as they both ran to Tamao, crying.

Anna looked at Tamao, looked at the blood on her shirt, "Go to the nurse's. I'll get you to leave early so you can wash those close back at the Inn." Tamao nodded and watch as Anna turned her back on her and didn't look back as she walked away.

Anna did not want to look at her.

Manta remained where Anna and Yoh had left him, in the patch of green that surounded the track field. He was with his classmates who were cheering Yoh on, well, not all of them. Some of Manta's male classmates have been gaining ill feelings towards Yoh ever since Anna had entered school, and Manta was not an idiot who could not guess the reason. It was the same reason why the female classmates had ill feelings towards Anna. Both had become a secret affection in school, idols, so to say.

Manta sighed. Both of his friends had obtained popularity even if one ignored it and one didn't notice it. Anna had noticed it. As long as Yoh didn't acknowledge it, she didn't care.

Manta decided not to think of Yoh and Anna's relationship. It was a bit above his comprehension skills. Instead Manta decided to watch the race, he began to watch just as soon as a kid in the class passed the baton to Yoh and Yoh ran so fast that Manta's eyes could not keep up and, within seconds, Yoh won.

The short blonde did not find it hard to believe; Anna's training had made Yoh gain so much strength that he wouldn't be shocked if Yoh could rip out a tree from the ground. Actually it would still surprise Manta, but not as much.

Yoh made his his way over to Manta. While all the other runner had already been sweating bullets, Yoh was dry, minus the drops of sweat on his forehead.

Yoh flopped himself on the grass, face first, he remained there and muttered something incomprehensible. Manta blinked and asked him to repeat.

"Take me out of all of the events," he wined, his face still pressed against the grass, "I don't want to run!"

Manta sighed. Yoh was still as lazy as ever, Anna's training didn't cure laziness. "Yoh-kun you don't have any more races to run-"

"Good."

"-But you have to take part in one last race" Manta finished, "The Fuku Kaichou came and asked if you could cover the borrowing race for him."

"The borrowing race?"

Manta nodded.

Yoh groaned, "I don't want to...I lost my motivation."

"What happened?"

Yoh finally flipped his body so that his face was now facing the sky, he sat up and took in a long sigh, "Anna's mad at me." Manta smacked him with a rock on the head, "OW! What was that for?"

Manta shook his head, "Anna-san is always mad at you! What makes this time so different?"

"I don't know why she's mad."

The midget sighed, his friend was so simple, "What did you do before you ran into her?"

"Ate Tamao's bento and talked to Tamao."

Manta pondered a bit. Yoh ate Tamao's cooking at the Inn every day. Anna never seemed bothered by it. "What did you talk to Tamao about?" Yoh told him, and instantly Manta realized how dense his best friend truly was. Of course Anna would get mad at Yoh for telling another girl he liked her. But Yoh's like with Tamao was probably on the same level as his like for a sister. Anna misunderstood. He was about to tell Yoh about this but was interrupted when they began calling for the participants of the borrowing race.

As Manta watched Yoh get in his position to run, Anna suddenly appeared beside him, and, boy, she didn't look too happy. Because of this Manta decided to remain silent, if Anna was as mad as she looked, he'd rather not get on her bad side by getting into her business.

They both silently watched as the school Hisho explained the rules of the game. Right after the rules were explained, someone yelled, "Go!" and the competitors threw themselves into a run towards a table at the end of the field.

Anna watched carefully; Yoh was the first one to the table. She wasn't surprised; her special training course was flawless.

Yoh picked up the slip of paper and read it. Manta saw the brunettes body suddenly stiffen and his skin rise in color. While he stood there the school's Student Council President darted past him and yanked a paper off the table. The idiot did not even glance at his paper and broke into a run...towards Manta and Anna...?

The short blonde blinked as the President stopped, just several feet away from them; his eyes were set on Anna.

Anna raised a brow as the President got on one knee, she already thought him to be disgusting with just that one gesture. She looked at Yoh who was still staring at his paper, red as a beat.

The President got off his knee, it was his way of showing respect to the lady, he held out his hand as he spoke to her, his voice loud, booming in an exaggerated manner that made him seem dramatic, "Kyoyama Anna! You're beauty as a breathtaking flower has stunned my eyes. The beauty you obtain far surpasses that of those around you. So in this moment I ask you to use your beauty to help me win this race!" while the boy spoke Manta noticed several other boys from other classes crowd around Anna, asking her to go with them to the finish line instead. Eventually all the participants of the race wanted to 'borrow' Anna

The short blonde blinked as the President stopped, just several feet away from them; his eyes were set on Anna.

Anna raised a brow as the President got on one knee, she already thought him to be disgusting with just that one gesture. She looked at Yoh who was still staring at his paper, red as a beat.

The President got off his knee, it was his way of showing respect to the lady, he held out his hand as he spoke to her, his voice loud, booming in an exaggerated manner that made him seem dramatic, "Kyoyama Anna! You're beauty as a breathtaking flower has stunned my eyes. The beauty you obtain far surpasses that of those around you. So in this moment I ask you to use your beauty to help me win this race!" while the boy spoke Manta noticed several other boys from other classes crowd around Anna, asking her to go with them to the finish line instead. Eventually all the participants of the race wanted to 'borrow' Anna

Manta dared to look at Anna. The itako stood there, eyes close, arms crossed, a vein becoming visible on her temple. She opened her eyes and flickered her gaze to Yoh, she caught him looking at her, and he watched her, a sort of questioning look on his face. His face reminded Anna of an abandoned pup.

It caught her off guard and she felt her heart leap. She looked away, focused on the loud idiots in front of her, yelling at her, begging her to go with them.

She was beginning to think that this wasn't about winning the race. Which pushed her to the edge, "SHUT UP!" she shouted, ordered. The whole field grew silent. Manta flinched, Anna lost it, "All of you just go and die and LEAVE. ME. ALONE."

Her tone was so threatening and cold that it didn't surprise Manta when several of the boys began to back away slowly, suddenly becoming cautious. The school president was a different story and Manta's stomach began to feel like puking up breakfast when the Kaichou turned around and pointed at Yoh.

"Asakura Yoh," he called in his booming voice, "I have had enough of you medaling your way into my future relationship with Kyoyama-Chan! Your stalking of her ends here!"

Manta found himself staring at Yoh, he watched closely as Yoh turned his gaze from Anna to the Kaichou. The brunette blinked and scratched the back of his head, giving a clueless grin, "Ano...I have no idea what you're talking about."

Manta dropped to the ground, as so did most of the school's viewing students, the midget chuckled the answer was typical Yoh.

The Kaichou did not find it as humorous, he stood tall, a towering giant over those around him. His eyes shifted to a hard glare, "Your insolence does not work on me, Asakura. Since the first day Kyoyama-Chan arrived you have been following her like a dog! I'd like to know the reason! Why don't you go out and tell her your true intentions of being around her?"

Yoh sighed, he had no clue as to why this guy was bothering him, he gave up reasoning with made his way over towards the crowd, it splitting in two as he passed through, "I really have no idea what you're talking about," he added as he walked stopping right in front of the Kaichou, staring him right in his eyes.

Amidamaru began to shift uncomfortably beside Anna; he did not like the look in the Kaichou's eyes.

Yoh didn't seem to notice the look he was being given. He just let the Kaichou, and the crowd, watch him as he made his way over to Anna, stretching his hand out towards her, "Come with me?" he asked rather sheepishly.

Amidamaru's instincts were right, for the Kaichou began to curl his fingers into a ball, ands as soon as the words left Yoh's mouth he pulled back and arm and threw it towards Yoh.

Manta closed his eyes, waiting for a sound of impact. He heard nothing. He opened his eyes and widened them.

There stood the Kaichou with his eyes a rather abnormal size, the punch which he had thrown was caught in mid-punch. Anna being the one who caught blonde itako didn't even look like she was using too much force to hold the Kaichou's fist in place. Her body didn't shake nor did she seem regretful. Manta couldn't see her face but he was sure that under that lowered head she was pissed.

And he was right when he heard her voice grow colder than normal, "I. Told. You. To. Leave." she said through gritted teeth, then without even missing a step, she used her body weight and slung the Kaichou into the ground. His back made the first impact with the ground a loud crack echoed throughout the field. Everyone remained silent.

Yoh seemed to be the only one unparsed by the whole thing, while everyone stared at Kaichou's fallen body he took the opportunity and grabbed Anna by her hand, pulling her with him as he began walking away from the crowd.

Anna blinked in surprise but did not protest, which surprised Yoh, yet he continued to pull her towards the judging booth. Once he got there he placed down a sheet of paper and looked at the Hisho. He dragged Anna closer to him and pointed to her, "I win." he said with a given smile.

The Hisho took the paper and unfolded it, a smirk creeping up her face, her blue eyes twinkling as they went from the paper to Yoh's hand. "Yes. I see you did."

The brunette blushed and quickly let go of Anna's hand, not looking at her as the Hisho grabbed the mike and announced the end of the Sports Festival, "THE SPORTS FESTIVAL IS NOW AT AN END. ALL MALES AND FEMALES PLEASE GO TO THE SHOWERS THEN REPORT TO YOUR HOMEROOM." Anna looked at Yoh and found him finally looking at her, his expression looked rather saddened, she felt her heart sink.

Yoh forced himself to smile at her and gave her a quick nod before turning away and walking towards the school. Anna watched him go until he disappeared inside, then she turned to the Hisho and held out her hand, "Let me see that paper," she ordered.

The Hisho gave her a knowing look that appeared rather smug, yet she handed over the paper.

Anna felt her hands grow sweaty as she reached for the folded paper, her heart began to pound hard when the paper made it to her hand. The paper was only a small square folded in half, so in the second she decided to look, she opened it and almost let the paper drop when her eyes read "THE GIRL YOU LOVE" in huge block letters.

"Seems like a confession, doesn't it?" mention the Hisho as she suddenly appeared over Anna's shoulder, reading.
It did and it didn't make any sense. A few minutes ago she had heard him tell Tamao that he liked her. Now he chooses her for the borrowing race, she being under his "love" category?

Anna rolled one of her hands into a fist, the confusion that was in her turned into sudden rage, "What. The. Hell." Hisho heard her ask before the blonde turned on her heels and began walking towards the building, a dark aura surrounding her.

The itako was pissed. What kind of joke was Yoh trying to play on her? She pushed several people out of her way as she thought about what the hell was going on. Once she was inside the building she didn't stop walking till she made it to the corner in front of the boys' locker rooms, she saw Manta leave the room and disappear down the hall. He and Yoh were always the last ones to change, meaning Manta decided not to wait on Yoh, in other words Yoh would be in there alone.

She didn't hesitate to enter, she was still pissed so she slammed the door opened and it slammed shut behind her, she didn't care.

She noticed her stupid fiancé in the corner of the room, in front of his locker, his back was to her. Oh and he was naked. He was using a towel to dry off his hair, Anna noticed his headphones were on his ears, and she could hear his music on full volume. He didn't even notice her there.

By the time Anna began to walk across the locker room, Yoh began to wrap the towel around his waist to cover his lower area. He bent down to dig into his gym bag for clothes, while "Soul Bob" blasted in his ears, then he felt his headphones being snatched off his head, "Hey!" he shouted as he turned and was faced to face with a piece of paper with familiar writing on it. He looked pass the paper and saw Anna, glaring bullets at him, her eyes dark from the shadow that her bangs made around her face.

"What the hell is this Asakura?" she asked, Yoh immediately noticing how cold her tone was. Yoh blinked, not really understanding the question.

"Um...a sheet of paper?"

Anna slammed her hand onto his shoulder and pushed his body against his locker, his wet body now wetting her uniform from the small distance between them when she moved closer. She didn't seem to care, "Obviously it is, but what's the meaning of you 'borrowing' me for the category on this paper?"

Yoh found himself blushing, he moved his gaze away from her eyes, "You weren't supposed to see what it said." he mumbled, rather embarrassed. He felt her move closer, so close that only her shirt was what kept their bare skin from touching. Yoh felt his temperature rise, "Anna..." he whispered, his voice wavering, "You're too close."

"Does it bother you?" He continued to turn his gaze from her, Anna narrowed her eyes, "I see...you were playing with me all along."

Yoh blinked and yanked his head to look at her as she pushed herself away from him

Yoh touched her shoulder, but she shrugged him off. He tried touching her waist, "Anna..." she batted his hand away. Panic swelled. As did he grabbed her the third time, he did not let her push him aside. He held on tight, pulling her hard against his chest. Warm and small. Muscles corded his lean arms-sooner or later to be a killing strength, Anna knew- and the heat of his naked torso washed over her shoulders, making her cheeks red. "Anna, tell me what's wrong." Yoh asked, and Anna jumped slightly, startled by his voice, which was both soft and hard, loud in its quiet.

Anna looked away from those eyes, those warm eyes that were begging, she felt her voice crack as she whispered, "You...don't...love me..."

he replied, but before she could say another word he closed the space between them and touched her cheek. The contact was unexpected, as was the spark—a shock of electricity from his fingers. He stared, and in a ragged voice whispered, "Anna..."

The sound of her name in that tone startled something in her chest, and before she noticed it her hand whisked itself across his cheek. Yoh stood staring, his hand automatically cupped his cheek, his heart racing faster than the thoughts flitting through his mind, the sorrow in his eyes was immediate, raw; a shocking revelation of emotion. His usually cheerful face grim as death. Anna could not find words to speak. Guilt spread through her body as it turned on its own and she began walking away when she heard him speak.

"'I have begun to love this man'."

She stopped walking as he continued, "Do you remember those words, Anna?" she shifted her body her right to look at him, the words struck her heart they struck it as if were effortless as breathing. Yoh stared at her, his eyes warm, as if they were melting into her. He was waiting, waiting patiently for her to respond. She said nothing. She had no words, no reason. He stared at her like she was a puzzle, and Anna felt like one. He stepped closer, pressing so close she could see herself reflected in his chocolate eyes. Anna closed her eyes, wondering what kind of mess it would make if her heart exploded from her chest; the pounding rattled her ribs. "Do you?" he asked, his voice so close, Anna bit back some tears and opened her eyes. Before she could say another word he closed the space between them and touched her cheek. The contact was unexpected, as was the spark, a shock of electricity from his breath caught and it was because of that touch that she gave a brief nod, turning her face away from his.

"Good." was all he said, almost in relief. Anna jerked her head to look at him as the heat of his body began to leave her skin, he gave her a gentle smile then dragged his gaze from her face, and turned on his heel, and walked towards his locker, his face was so intense, so pained with sadness that it instantly repelled her, as though her mind and heart simply could not take the force of his gaze. Anna without realizing reached out and grabbed him by his arm, Yoh flinched in surprise of the sudden contact, Anna flinched as she felt a dry area over his smooth skin. Her heart sank.

It was those scars...

Those incomprehensible slashes dipped into his skin like grotesque canyons. Guilt spread through the itako's body as she recalled the cause of the scars, their origins, and how their effect had made her say to him and that Oni her feelings for the first time. Her eyes felt far too hot. She tried not to blink, afraid she would betray her itako-upbringing with tears. But she found herself stepping closer, tracing the deep grooves with her fingertips, spreading her hands against his skin, touching that she had caused.

Yoh made a small sound. A faint flush stained his cheeks, her touch was soft and gentle, a strange tingling rippled up his back, lifting the hairs on his back. Heat filled his chest, his heart thudded dully, loud and coarse, but it began accelerating making him feel his heart about to leave his chest from the rapidness of its beating.

"'I have begun to love this man'" she repeated, a soft whisper right in his ear, "I'm sorry if those words have been troublesome to you." The beating stopped but his heart gave a jolt. His body turned around to look at her, her amber eyes were looking away from him, she had let him go and was now moving towards the door.

She heard him move, but then was startled when she his hand grab her wrist, pulling her onto his chest, his two strong arms wrapping themselves around her waist, the mess of his wet brunette hair resting itself on her shoulder, so close that she could feel the owner's breath on her neck. "Those words made me really happy." he whispered, his lips so close to the nape of her neck that she could practically feel him grinning. Some strange energy began humming against her chest and her cheeks grew red. His body was practically on hers, his chest leaving no room between hers, allowing her to feel the years of his training over her body. She felt his grip tighten but yet he did it carefully, making sure not to crush her. "Heh heh, this is embarrassing," he commented, raising his head to meet her gaze with a full grin and a red face, "This time we don't have a sliding door to hide us, huh?" he chuckled.

Anna tried her hardest not to smile. "Idiot." she muttered as he loosened his grip around her body.

The itako still had more to tell him, and she wanted more than just a tight embrace from him. She watched him as he got his shirt and placed his arms through it. She knew what she wanted, and she felt rather guilty, she wanted to have his child. There was some deep part of her that knew that if she would just sleep with him once it would be enough. That in 9 months' time there would be a miniature Yoh in her arms to take care of.

"Anna?"

She jumped at Yoh's voice, he had caught her off guard, why did she have to have those thoughts now? She pushed him away from her and turned her back on him and began making her way out the door, Yoh watched her, blinking in confusion. She stopped right at the door and looked back at him, her face stern to hide her embarrassment of her thoughts, "I'm going to the Inn early, I'll bid you goodbye when you come home. If you're late, I'll kill you." then she disappeared out into the hallway.

Yoh simply laughed. Even when he made his way to the classroom he remained to have a large grin on his face. He sat down on a desk close to the window where he saw Anna making her way out of campus, Tamao trailing behind, "Well," he began completely at ease, "It's about time. I just got more information about the Shaman Fight from my oracle bell..." he paused for a moment and unconsciously thought of his experience in the locker room with Anna and grinned. "Ah...I'm kind of worried."

"YOU DON'T LOOK WORRIED AT ALL!"

"Tamamura-san, you haven't left yet?"

Tamao jerk her mind from the painful memories and looked up, wondering at what moment someone has snuck up on her.

There with her long knee-length dark green hair, tan skin, and blue eyes stood none other than the school Hisho. The girl stared at Tamao in curiosity, "It's after school hours, Tamamura," she said in a sudden mature tone, "it'd be safer if you go home now before it gets dark."

Tamao did not want to leave yet. There was a part of her that thought that if she were to stay on campus someone would call her to go and be informed with the others. But she was not going to admit something so embarrasing to the Student Council Secretary. "Ano, I'm waiting for Pirika-chan." Which was not a lie.

"Usui Pirika? I saw her leave campus a while ago."

Tamao's heart sank. "Oh...then I guess I should go..." Ponchi and Konchi appeared at her side.

"Don't let this bitch push you around Tamao, FIGHT BACK!"

"Yeah, we'll help you take her down!""Heck, we'll even rape her!"

"Yeah!"

Tamao turned red from embarrassment of the barbaric this her spirits were yelling. She turned to look at the Hisho, who blinked at the pink haired girl and smiled, "Is something wrong?"

Tamao stood up and slowly shook her head. There was no way a human could've heared Ponchi and Konchi. "Iie...ano...I'll just leave then."

The Hisho watched as the pink haired girl scampered quickly to pick up her stuff from the ground and made sure that she made it out of campus before her eyes narrowed.

"Damn low class spirits," she growled, her voice several octives lower in pitch. She turned around and saw Usui Pirika walking towards her.

"Ano, suminasen! Have you seen a tall pink haired girl with short hair?" the anui girl shouted in question as she ran.

The Hisho softened her expression, "Tamamura Tamao? I'm sure she went back inside the building to speak to a teacher." she smiled "I'd help you look for her but I'm running an errand for a teacher myself."

Pirika shook her head, "It's fine, I'll go find her myself. Thank you!"

Hisho waved as Pirika walked around the corner of the school building. Once she out of sight, Hisho's expression hardenened once more, her eyes narrowing.

"If you make that face your feminism leaves you."

Hisho looked up to see a certain wine haired chinese woman with curls look down at her with her amber eyes from a second story window within the school. "I liked you better with your green eyes, Wilhelmina."

Wilhelmin narrowed her eyes "And I like you better as a girl. But we can't change what we have right, Nagehiko?"

"Hisho" smirked and grabbed a mess full of "her" green hair, pulling it off. A long green wig falling to the ground and long black locks taking its position on the head. Nagehiko watched Wilhelmina as she jumped from the window to the ground in front of him. She stared at him with bored eyes.

"I didn't believe Ari when she said you would help us." the chinese woman narrowed her eyes, "It's rather suspicious on your part."

Nagehiko sat down on the ground against the side of the building, his legs spread apart, showing his shorts under the skirt he wore. He rested his elbows on his knees and rested his head on the wall behind him, closing his eyes. "We all have reasons as to what we do." he opened his eyes, his gaze intense, "Five hundred years ago I watched the one I love suffer under the Asakuras. I want revenge, and I can obtain it by helping you three with your goal."

"I don't trust you. Even when you're in a skirt."

A rustle of leaves were heard. Large footprints walking among blades of grass, Wilhelmina shifted her gaze to her right, a large blob of white fur in her sight. Hoshi. The large artic bear was holding a brunette girl in his mouth's grasp. Nianna. The girl was unconscious, blood dripping from her head. Something a blow to the head would've caused. Nagehiko walked over to her, "Pity." he said, "I used to be very trustworthy."

Wilhelmina stared at the unconcious body. "What's this?"

Nagehiko smirked his eyes dark, "Food. For when the Rose blooms."

...

Tamao took the ridiculously long way back to the inn. She didn't want to be there, staring at the mural Jun had put on the living room wall, staring at the photo of Yoh's smile, pondering what the others were talking about.

She sighed as the inn came to view. She felt so pitiful.

Ponchi and Konchi were actually silent in their form as key chains on her school bag. Earlier on they had been protesting of whether she should to back to Shinra Private Academy, barge into the room where the others were and demand to know what was going on.

The pink haired girl was tempted to do so...

She opened the door to the inn, sliding it quietly so that she wouldn't disturb anyone in their work. Yet she found the house incredibly silent. She stepped inside, a fearful feeling striking her, "Asanoha-sama? Jane-sama? Pirika-chan?" she called cautiously.

No answer.

She stepped into the kitchen, found two piles of dirt in the middle of it. She stepped back slowly, the feeling that was passing through her wasn't a good one. "Ponchi, Konchi, what do you think those are?" she looked down at her school bag, found the keychains missing. Her eyes grew. "Ponchi? Konchi?" she called out in fear, "T-This isn't funny!"

"No. It isnt." Tamao turned around, found Emmetto sitting on the couch's frame, staring at her intensly, "The way you immediately cower in fear from the absense of people...its not funny, its sickening." his eyes softened a bit, giving his face a rather lazy expression, "Why don't you go back to your normal self?"

Tamao backed away slowly, her eyes growing as Emmetto came down from the couch and began walking towards her. He stopped only a few feet away, but he leaned in to look into her eyes. "W-what are you t-talking about?" she shouted.

"Do you not remember, Tamao?" asked Wilhelmina, suddenly appearing from the shadows behind her, "Remember the betrayal? The hatred?...Asakura Hao?"

"I don't know what you're talking about?" she yelled, grabbing her head as she felt her brain begin to throb against her head. The same as her heart did against her chest. Her wrist began to burn, she swallowed her screams of pain.

She felt a hand touch her head, looked up to see Wilhelmina looking at her with grave eyes, the Chinese woman did not back her hand away, her lips parted, "Then I'll make you remember."

—And the earth moved.

Images flashed through Tamao's mind, blinding her; a violent vertigo sending her reeling into darkness, something in her stomach lurched, another premonition. She felt a ghost of movement, before her and felt as as sheer crimsoned light spiraled through the darkness, shimmering in steep waves, a bloody palette of colors stroking light slowly took form, a gathering pressure of intense pinpricks, a man emerging, his face was dark, and ever so violent look on him that made him appear insane in rage. Tamao felt her heart leap as that man stared at her with a look of hate, and she felt her chest tighten for unknown reasons as she regognized the face.

Asakura Hao...

His face said it all, loathe. His gaze was telling her to die. Tamao felt like shouting something at him, and she felt her lips move along with the words she wanted to say. Hao looked at her and threw his hand at her.

Some strange light escaped from his hand in the form of a star and it slammed against her body, kicking the breathe from her lungs. She hit a wall, a huge hole being left in the shape of her body's impact. Then she felt her arms throw themselves backwards and stick to the wall. Then her wrist began to burn. She looked up, a ring of fire was pining down her each of wrist to the wall behind her, the flames turning her skin slowly to charcol as it melted slowly. The pain was escrutiating, so much so that Tamao began to bite on her lower lip to keep from screaming. Feeling a sense of pride bubble in her. She began to bite down so hard she could taste the saltiness of her blood on her tongue.

She heard Hao move, a wind blowing as he came closer to her, Tamao felt long strands of her hair touch the sides of her face, and she found those long locks utterly gentle verses the situation. It felt like someone caressing her face.

Hao stared at her, she could see her reflection in his eyes.

She was a stranger. A stranger that she felt knew more about her than she.

She felt her body move, sensed a sudden swarm of rage boil through her as she stared into those dark eyes. She exposed her teeth, gritting tightly to match the tightness of her chest. Her mouth opened, "I hate you."

He laughed. The pink hair girl wanted to spit at his face. She watched him as he laughed, its sound striking her like a dagger. He stopped and looked at her, amusement filling his face where his disgust used to be. "You could've at least made your last words more honest...Rose."That was it. The final thing she needed to fully feel enraged, hearing him call her what she used to be. Showing that she no longer held a place in his life. That he was going to fucking erase her from it.

Hao watched her intensly, as she felt her eyes burn, feeling something drip from them. Tears. Stupid. Fucking. Tears.

She felt his hand grab her cheek, pushing them off her face. She looked up. And saw the warmest pair of eyes in her life. Her tears stopped but she stared at those eyes knowing the source of them. Pity.

That was when her rage boiled, she threw her legs up, wrapping the around his body and closing it against her, crushing her lips on his. Pouring out all the love she had of him and replacing it with absolute rage. Something began to boil within her, the temperatures her body was reaching was that could only happen if she was being engulfed in flames.

Flames...

Fire.

She was on fire. Tamao screamed. She screamed until her eyes bulged, but she made no sound. Her throat was hostage. And like her voice, her body refused her. She could not move. Paralyzed, or maybe she was already dead and this was hell: forced to watch herself burn to ash, her life given up like a paper doll to a matchstick, some human sacrifice to the white-hot beast licking her eyes, melting her mouth, pushing deep inside her ears to roar like thunder; a sound to ride her terror upon as she silently screamed, screamed and screamed until something broke inside her head and shattered.

She felt her spirit split in two suddenly hearing a harsh raspy voice call, a demonic laugh echo within her head as if a King of Hell rejoiced, two large hands moving inside her chest, her soul, sinking into her splitting flesh. Rearranging. Changing something inside heart. She felt no pain, but she sensed something wrap tight around her hammering heart, and just like that, the fire boomed, puffed, the pressure eased. There was a new presence in her mind and heart, small as a spark, suddenly expanding like a rose in bloom. The world collapsed into darkness, as so did her soul.

And so she awoke once more...

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