Mai: Sorry that I haven't updated in a while. Sometimes the inspiration fairy is with you and sometimes it isn't if you know what I mean. Also to the people who read Unloved I'm sorry that it's taking so long to get the next chapter up. The inspiration fairy just hasn't been kind enough to give me more ideas for that one.

January 31, 2008: Ok so here's my revision of this chapter. Again not much I can do to it but I think the little that I can do to fix it up really makes it stronger. Oh and by the way the inspiration fairy quit on me several years ago and was replaced by my plot bunny. Plot bunny and I have a similarly difficult relationship but we are working through it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Shaman King. I do own the first three Fushigi Yûgi manga. I am now obsessed with Fushigi Yûgi! I love it! And when I take over the world (or get fairy godparents which ever one comes first) I will not only take control of Shaman King but I will also demand all the Fushigi Yûgi manga and episodes on dvd. Nuriko you are my absolute favorite character so far! Sorry about that I'm just obsessed don't mind me.

Chapter 5: Now I'm almost nothing

"You're Tamao, right?" Umi asked. It was her second morning living in the Funbari Inn. She was standing in the kitchen talking to a short pink haired woman with red eyes.

"You remember me?" the pink haired girl asked shocked.

"No, my brother just won't shut up about you so I recognized you from his descriptions," she told Tamao.

"Really? Your brother talks about me that much?" she asked blushing.

"Yup. When he's not worrying about me or talking about food you're all he can talk about."

"Umi!" she heard Ren call from around the corner.

"In here Ren-kun!" Umi shouted back.

"Oh there you are," he said walking into the kitchen. "Good morning, Tamao."

"Good morning, Ren-san," Tamao responded.

"I was wondering if you would like me to read to you some more of the book to you," Ren asked turning his attention back to his oblivious fiancée.

"Yes I would love it," Umi replied happily.

"Ok, I've got it right here," he said smiling.

I like it when he smiles, Umi thought to herself as she smiled back at him.

"Can I listen too?" Tamao asked intrigued. Horo-Horo had told her about what Ren was doing and she was interested to know more about it herself.

"Sure," Ren said.

"Thank you," the pink haired girl responded taking a seat next to Umi.

Umi tried not to let on that she knew that the purple haired boy was approaching as she tried and failed to get to her feet.

"Shit," she muttered falling on her ass for the third time.

"You'll only hurt yourself more that way," the boy commented watching amazed at her futile persistence.

"Shut up!" she snapped. "Why are you still here?"

"I thought you might need some help," he offered his outstretched hand to her. Umi looked at it for two seconds before slapping it away.

"I don't need any help from my enemies."

"I must be spending too much time with that damn Asakura," the boy muttered. "I can't believe I'm saying this but I could be your friend if you let me."

"Hell no! I have real friends and if you'd just leave me alone I'm sure they'd come and help me out."

"Well why don't they come now if they're such great friends?" Up until then all of his taunts hadn't hurt one bit but this one stung. How dare he suggest that her friends didn't care about her?

"You'd attack them," she said in a desperate attempt to get on the winning side of this argument. "It's hard to fight and take care of injured people you know."

"Just face it I'm not leaving so you're going to need my help," he said smirking.

"No way."

Umi crawled over to a rock that was just about two feet shorter than she was. She pulled herself to her feet using the rock and started using it to hobble along. Apparently though even this was too much for her because a minute later she fainted.

When she came to it was dark out. She was lying on a red sleeping bag by a roaring fire. She sat up rubbing her aching head.

"Where am I? What happened?" she groaned.

"Well you strained yourself too much so you passed out and I took you back to our campsite," a familiar voice answered her. She turned around to see the purple haired boy standing there smirking at her. "What no thank you for not leaving you out there? How about for bandaging your leg?"

"I'm sorry I don't seem to recall asking for your help," she snapped back.

"Would you prefer being left alone out in the scorching hot desert with a badly sprained where you could have died of dehydration?" he asked sarcastically.

"If you had left me alone than Hao-sama could have come and helped me in peace," she told him angrily. "Besides I'm a shaman my ankle will be fine in a matter of days."

"Well why would it matter if I was there if Hao is so powerful?"

"Hao-sama would send Opachao or the Hanagumi to get me. Opachao doesn't like fighting and the Hanagumi are only supposed to fight people when Hao tells them to so they'd be way to tempted to kill you," she told him defensively.

"Well I guess there's nothing you can do but stay with us until your boyfriend comes to get you."

"He's not my boyfriend," she said quietly but it was just loud enough that the boy could hear it along with the note of longing deeply imbedded in it.

"You should get some sleep," the boy suggested in what seemed like a relatively nice tone of voice. This shocked Umi, until just then she had assumed that he didn't like her so therefore she would never hear something he said directed at her with even a hint of kindness in it.

"Yeah, I probably should," she agreed surprising herself. Normally she would have snapped back at him that she was perfectly fine or bring up the fact that she just woke up, but something about that nice tone seemed to temporarily banish all the sarcastic remarks she had in her.

'Good night then,' he said trying not to give away how surprised he was that she didn't protest at all. In Umi's opinion he did a pretty good job of it except she knew that most likely he had expected a sarcastic remark.

She ignored this and just laid back down and closed her eyes. As she slept she had no idea that the boy was still awake trying to figure out why in the world his heart was beating so fast.

She dreamed about Hao proposing to her as usual but for some reason in this dream she seemed to hesitate about accepting the offer instead of her usual joyful acceptance.

"I wonder who she is?" someone wondered aloud as she felt herself wake up. Then she opened her eyes to see someone staring at her.

"No don't stop!" Umi protested when it became clear that he had come to a stopping point.

"Sorry Umi but I have to go soon and I thought I'd leave you with a nice little cliffhanger," Ren teased her.

"Ok Ren-kun I understand. Promise me you'll come back and read me some more later," she requested in that longing tone of voice the he couldn't seem to resist.

"Ok, I promise I'll come back later," he said smiling. "See you later Umi."

"Bye!" she said cheerfully.

I hope she remembers soon, he thought longingly. I used to be one of the most important people in her life. But now I'm almost nothing and I can't stand it.