I'm horrible, I know... Gah... here I'm putting up two chapters to make up for not updating.

"Yoh isn't home yet..."

At the dinner table sat half of the usual group; Manta, Anna and Aimee.
"Neither is Coral," noted Manta. He was reading some huge dictionary about anything and everything in the world. He had his nose buried in it just like he had for the past three hours.
"Don't expect her to be," I answered. I was sitting, or rather lying, on my stomach on the floor with my Tarot Cards spread out in front of me. I tried concentrating on them, focusing my entire attention on them but that can be a bit challenging when Anna was muttering threats of harming Yoh under her breath. I've yet to see her lay a hand on, physically at least, on do much of anything that made her as evil as the boys described her. She trains Yoh, that's all. Sure it can be exhausting and painful but those seem to be the only things that he even responds to. If it doesn't put him in bodily harm or if it doesn't have anything to do with music, he simply just won't put any effort into it, the lazy bum. Let Anna have her bitchy fun running him all around Japan, I say. Get his butt into gear before it finds a why to genetically fuse itself with the couch. So long as she doesn't bother me, I'm fine. Though it was kind of hysterical to see her try to boss me around… I kind of got slapped in the process but I'm beginning to think I'm the only one in this house who thinks of retaliating with a blunt object…. Maybe it's just nostalgia for my own 'gangs of new york' privileges from when someone pissed Lexie off…. Something to work on later, I assume. But not now, as always I've found a way to worry myself.

For the past week I my dreams were exactly the same... it had to mean something. The location of the dream changed little- sometimes I was surrounded by a blinding light I had to shield my closed eyes from and sometimes and was in this endless pitch black where I couldn't even see my own hands. Either way it would start off with the man calling my name. The name echoed endlessly as I walked around, groping for something to find and attach to because I couldn't see. My throat ached in the dreams, like I had inhaled some harsh drug for the first time, and I couldn't talk. I had nothing to do but try and find the owner of the voice.

You know how with nightmares if you wake up and go back to sleep you fall back into the bad dream? Weird thing was, with nightmares if I can wake up three times from them and if I go back to sleep I can get a good dream but this time...
Each time I woke up the voice changed.
It always was the same owner... I think. Lemme explain. Last night when I first had that dream of the voice calling to me, it was definitely a man's voice and he was calling my name. Eventually I woke and found that my window was open. Let me note I never open my window. I open the door if I get hot so I don't have to worry about a creep coming in through my window. But other than the open window I saw no signs of break in, and trust me, me and my familiars checked the entire Inn.

After we checked the Inn, I went back to bed and fell back into my weird dream. Only this time the voice calling to me was Yoh's. He was screaming actually, he was in pain. And the worse part is-
It was my fault.

I don't know how I knew, I just did. That feeling in your gut you got when you knew something was wrong only I knew that the reason he sounded like he was being killed was because of me. Not mention he was screaming things like "Keep back!", "I hate you," and "Take me, don't touch them!"

Now that was just chilling. I woke up in a cold sweat and ran to go check on Yoh. He was fine; fell asleep listening to an old Bob Marley track, so I went back to bed. Well guess, what? I fell back into the same dream. And I know you're getting really tired of hearing about it but this is when I finally figured stuff out.

xXx

I was in the blinding light when baby began to cry somewhere in the distance. Their crying grew louder and louder until even I was about to scream shut up at the kid.Same voice as the other times I fell asleep. Footsteps echoed in the distance. When they stopped, he spoke again. "Why do you shield your eyes? Is this power to awesome for your mortal senses?"
I nodded, still feeling as though my throat had been burning from a new drug. The voice sounded cold and sharp but for some reason... welcoming. Like I had known the owner for years before. It was as though I was meeting an old friend for the first time in years.
"Why are you here?" The voice repeated. "These are sacred grounds of which you have no claim. Explain yourself!"
He spoke the last two words in such a commanding voice one the left me no choice but to answer. "I don't know..."
"What do you mean you don't know? You couldn't have gotten here with the intention to do so! Do not lie to me girl!"
"I'M NOT!" I shouted loudly. The baby's cry stopped and I felt someone pull my hands away from my eyes. Opening them, I saw the light had dimmed and the baby was sitting before me. His blankets were covered in talismans and chains. I went to go undo them, ignoring the fact that the talismans were meant ones of protection to restrain demons.
"Don't touch him!" The voice commanded. It sounded as though the owner was standing beside me but no one was there. I took a breath, readying my defiance.
"Why not?"
"Because I told you to. And if you have any brain in the insignificant waste of a body, you'll be wise and obey."

Oh. My. God. What. The. Fuck?

That really hit a nerve. I'm so sick and tired of people telling me that I'm useless, a waste, evil and insignificant. And this... voice inside my head- don't look at me like that!-had no right to talk to me like that. And at this point I didn't care if I was standing in front of a little kid, he was too young remember anything that I was about to say, my ego had been struck and I sure as hell was going to strike back.
"Who the hell do you think you are?"
"Excuse-"
"No. Shut it and listen up." I could tell he wasn't used to this type of treatment because there was a slight gasp... maybe it was a growl. "I have no idea how the hell I got here. You choosing to believe so or not is entirely up to you but no not call me an 'insignificant waste'! "
I could hear him scoff at the end of my little rant. "Such brave words. Is that your death wish?"
"Death Wish? Dude, you're freaking invisible! As far as I'm concerned, you're not even there!"
"Then you are a fool. I am everywhere around you and-"
"Yet nowhere." I finished for him, crossing my arms around my chest. This guy was seriously annoying me. With a sigh, I brought my attention to the baby once more. "So what's with him? Why is he chained up like that?"
"Those talismans are for restraining demons."
"... I knew that, thank you," I growled sarcastically.
"You're welcome?"
"Jesus Christ... you're really hopeless. I meant why is he chained up and talisman-ized?"


There was a pause and I felt myself drawn to the child and now kneeled beside it. Surprisingly enough, the voice didn't say anything against it. I pulled back the covers a bit, hearing my breath hold as well as the other guy's. The baby had a light tan skin, thin brown curls and beautifully deep brown eyes that could melt your heart; he looked up curiously at me unsure of what to make of me.
"He is a demon," The voice answered. Now I knew demons, by both senses of the word. Especially since the majority of the world considered me one. He was not a demon. He just was... misplaced.
"You think so? Woman, who are you to say that he won't grow up to become a monster?"

Odd. I don't remember voicing the baby's innocence to the voice.

"And who are to say that he wouldn't be able to change his ways?" I found myself saying. "Who are you to say he isn't deserving of another chance?" There was a pause. I knew that back at my old school, anyone else would have gotten slapped clear across the face for saying that. The only people who would do that to me were to the people who didn't know I dealt. They were the fools who would later get jumped by my more trusted clients.
"What's your name?"
"Raven. What's it to you, stranger?"
I heard him chuckle.
"You will call me 'tono', Raven." He corrected me. Ug. He was an arrogant piece of meat. I could tell. He continued, "No doubt you have a surname."
"Asakura," I smirked and decided to humor him. "Tono," I added, mimicking his arrogance confidence.
"Asakura... you must be a Shaman, yes?" I nodded slowly. "Don't be ashamed Raven. Take pride in your abilities for you have been blessed far more than you might ever know."
"And you know this how?"
"I have my ways. But I'm curious, you do not admit the normal chi of a Shaman whom would be able to cross the line and enter here-"
"Where is here?" I interjected. It really bugged me that I didn't know.
"Be calm. You will now all in good time. I repeat, you do not admit the normal chi of a Shaman whom would be able to cross the line and enter here. Where does your training and background lay?"

Again there was a hidden command buried within his voice. Something told me, deep down, I would be a fool to lie to him. He would know and he would do something to end the action.

"My grandfather raised and trained me to be an Onmyoji," I left out how much, or rather little, I had gotten done in my six years of training and life before I left for American and had to train myself. "I would hardly consider my skills more than adept."
"But you're aunt wished for you to be a Miko and was unable to get you to convert paths? Now... you specialize in divination by use of tarot cards?"
"Yes..." How did he know that? I never mentioned that or-
"And you've the ability to summon familiars from darkness?"
"Yeah…"
"And you're able to enforce their abilities with spells you use alongside your Tarot cards in battle?"
Woah. This guy was weirding me out. I nodded. What else did he know about me?
"Many things, Raven. Your soul is an open book to such a skilled Shaman as myself."
"Who are you?!"
"A god."

xXx

Like I said, it was a weird dream. There was no way I had made all that up in my overactive imagination. It had to have been some sort of spiritual connection. After all, he said he was a Shaman. So here I was, sprawled out on the floor with my tarot cards waiting for Yoh to home and hoping that Coral hadn't gotten herself in too much trouble. With a groan, I peered down at the three cards I had laid out. The Fool (reversed), The World (reversed) and The Tower (face up). The same cards in the exact same order and positions as I had been pulling for the past hour and a half. I stood up not even bothering to clean them up, a silent act of rebellion against Anna, and headed to the door to get my shoes.

"Where do you think your going?" Anna called out sharply. She seemed more pissed off than usual.
"Out," I replied.
"What about my lesson?" Aimee asked timidly. Ever since I got it out of her that she could see, hear and touch ghosts, me and Coral (who oddly turned out to be some German type of Shaman that I couldn't pronounce) had been trying to develop her skills as a Shaman. Which, in essence, she was considerably good at for being distantly related to Anna. She had progressed and was now gaining control of her mana. My currently goal was to get her able to channel it into different parts of her body and focus it enough to draw it out. That way whenever she found a proper partner or Shamanic form, she would be able to create an Oversoul.
"I'll give it to you later." I slipped on my slippers and reached out for the door when the she-witch called for me again.
"Where are you going?" She repeated.
God. Did it really matter that much? "Out," I replied and closed the door behind me. "... To find Yoh."

(( "Tono" means "my lord" in Japanese))