Mai: Once again sorry for not updating in a while. My plot bunny seems to have left Shaman King. So as a result updating my Shaman King fic takes more time. I'm writing some Naruto fanfics that I'm really excited about. I'm not going to post them for a while so all you Naruto fans will have to wait a while. So anyway enjoy.
Disclaimer: I don't own Shaman King. If I did I would make Hao fall in love with Jeanne just for fun. And then after a while I'd let her love him back. Right after she pushes Marco off a cliff. But until I own Shaman King that's not gonna happen.
Chapter 10: Engaged
Umi awoke the next morning at 9:30 to the sound of the birds chirping. She sat up and noticed that a blanket had been draped over her and the book was placed neatly on her bedside table.
That's strange, she thought. She didn't have much time to think about this though because two seconds later there was a knock on her door.
"Come in," she called to the person out side the door. Her face lit up as the door opened to reveal Tao Ren.
"Ren-kun!" she cried leaping up to give him a huge hug and resting her head on his chest. "I missed you."
"I missed you, too," he whispered. A memory jumped into his mind at that moment. He remembered coming back from his first business trip after he had proposed to her. He blushed remembering how she had kissed him passionately seconds after he had walked through the door without even so much of a hello.
She disentangled herself from him still beaming with happiness. "How was your trip?" she asked.
"Not as painful as usual," he told her.
"That's good." She was smiling just like she used to whenever he came back from a trip. He felt a pang of longing fill his chest. He missed her so much and not just because of the trip. He wanted her to remember so badly that every time he saw her he felt words rising up in his throat that he knew he must suppress for her own good. She had to finish the book before she could ever really understand what they had.
"Tamao-san sent me up here to see if you were awake. She also wanted me to tell you that she and Anna-san are going out now. Yoh's also gone for the day he's visiting his family in Izumo," Ren said trying to resist the urge to kiss her.
"What about Horo-Horo and Pirika?" she asked.
"Pirika-san is out on a date with that idiot Chocolove and your idiot brother is probably pigging out somewhere and hoping that your sister won't find him."
"I guess it's just the two of us then," she said cheerfully. "Hey I'm getting hungry you want to go get some breakfast?"
"Sure. Where do you want to go?" he asked.
"I don't know why don't you pick someplace familiar to me? It might bring back some memories."
"I know just the place," Ren said grinning.
An hour later Umi found herself seated at a small café table with Ren. She kept looking around trying to figure out why this place looked so familiar.
"You used to come here all time," Ren told her as if reading her mind. "Bring back any memories?"
"Sort of," she muttered. "I guess it's not really memories such as a strong sense of déjà vu."
"What'll you two have?" a smiling brown haired waitress asked the two a minute later.
Umi noticed Ren staring intently at her as she ordered her food. And when the waitress asked him what he wanted it almost seemed as if he snapped out of some kind of trance before he gave her his order.
"What?" Umi asked after the waitress left and Ren resumed staring at her.
"Nothing. Everything just seemed so normal for a minute there. I almost forgot that you're not completely yourself yet," he said sadly.
She blushed. It was so sweet the way he cared so much about her. She knew why. Ever since she had talked to him yesterday she had been thinking about him. Then she figured it out why he seemed to so desperate to make her remember.
He was her fiancé. He loved her and that was why he did anything he could to help her. She wanted to tell him that she knew but she couldn't, not yet. She wanted to be able to give him more then the empty shell she was now.
She also wanted to know how she had ended up with him. She knew that she was engaged to that Hao guy. She also knew that she had had feelings for Ren that she had been in denial about. But she wanted to know how she had ended things with Hao and fell in love with Ren.
Until she knew that she couldn't tell Ren that she knew about the engagement. She also wanted to give herself a chance to fall in love with him again.
After breakfast they decided to take a walk. The walk eventually led to the movie theaters. During the movie he put his arm around her and she rested her head on his shoulder. She was glad it was dark because he couldn't see her blushing furiously.
After the movie they had a late lunch before heading home. He walked her to her room and they ended up standing in front of the door talking for forty minutes.
"Wow, I can't believe we've been standing here for all that time," Umi exclaimed laughing when she looked down at her watch.
"I can. It used to happen all the time," he told her smiling. He stretched out his hand and brushed a lock of her hair out of her face. Then out of habit he started to stroke her cheek lovingly.
"Sorry," he said blushing as he quickly removed his hand.
"It's ok," she said. She leaned in and kissed him lightly on the lips. Then she opened her door and went inside before he could say anything.
She stood there leaning against her door blushing with two fingers touching her lips. Then she moved to sit down on the bed.
Well so much for waiting, she thought. I'll have to tell him that I know now. That kiss was way too good, and I'm definitely going to do it again. Somehow even though I can't remember much about being with him I really miss him.
She looked over at her bedside table where the book lay. It seemed to be calling to her. Begging her to open it. So she did.
"Alright everyone, we have to divide ourselves into teams of three for the next round. Umi and Opacho will be on my team. The rest of you can pick your own teams," Hao told the camp. "So divide yourselves up then go register in the village. And please try not to fight about this too much."
The large group quickly organized themselves into smaller groups and headed off to register themselves. Opacho headed off to practice so she wouldn't make the rest of her team look bad.
"So, what do you want to do now?" Umi asked.
Hao smirked obviously pleased with himself. "I'm glad you asked. We are going on a date!" he announced happily.
"You planned this didn't you?" Umi asked.
"Pretty much," he said. "Kanna insisted that I take you out before all the fighting starts up and we have less time together. Now where would you like to go?"
"How about we go to a movie?" Umi suggested.
"As you wish, my love," he said offering his arm to the blue haired girl.
As they walked into the village she couldn't help but feel insanely proud of herself. She had managed to win over this wonderful sweet sexy guy. He was perfect and absolutely nothing was wrong. Or at least that's what she told herself in a desperate attempt to silence the part of herself that kept telling her that something was wrong.
As they walked to theater eyes followed them. People who knew Hao's identity were whispering about the two of them. They couldn't believe that the almighty Asakura Hao had enough of a heart to care about anyone let alone that he would walk down the street holding some girl's hand.
Two hours later they left the theater still holding hands and looking extremely happy. Neither of them could tell you what the movie they saw was about because they had been making out through almost the entire thing.
Hao's eyes flitted around scanning the confused faces that were staring at him and his fiancée. Then his eyes landed on a floor shop ten feet away.
"Umi, wait here for a minute. I'll be right back," he said heading off in the direction of the flower shop. She smiled watching his back disappear into the doorway.
Thirty seconds later she noticed someone walking towards her. Her face fell; it was Ren. He looked angry and unhappy as usual but there was also a hint of firm determination in his gaze.
He walked right up to her, looked her in the eye, and said, "Don't trust him. He's lying to you." But before she could ask what he meant he was gone.
It was obvious that by "him" Ren had meant Hao. But why would Hao need to lie to her? To make her think that he loved her so that she would marry him? No, that couldn't be it. There were much more powerful female shaman who would be happy to marry him and would be much more of an advantage to him. Love had to be the reason he was marrying her instead of one of them. But what could it be then?
Then she realized that Ren could be lying to her. It was no secret that their whole group hated Hao. What better way to mess with Hao then making his own fiancée doubt him. If she started to have second thoughts about the engagement then Hao would be distracted by their relationship problems. And if he was distracted might make mistakes that could cost him everything.
"I never thought they'd sink that low," she muttered to herself. She was disgusted that she believed that dirty trick for even for second.
"You didn't think who'd sink that low?" Hao's voice said interrupting her self loathing.
"Oh it's nothing. Just one of Yoh's friends spreading lies about you."
"What did he say?" Hao asked concerned.
"He told me that you're lying to me," she told him still feeling a little guilty about taking Ren seriously.
Hao's face remained calm as usual but Umi thought she saw just a flicker of fear in his eyes. She told herself that she was being stupid. Hao couldn't be worried about what had happened because it was a lie and he had nothing to lose.
"You know I would never lie to you," he said trying to sound confident.
Umi smiled at him and said, "Of course I do. I trust you. I love you."
"I love you too," Hao said handing Umi a bouquet of lilies.
"Thank you, Hao," she said sniffing the beautiful flowers. She loved lilies, they were her favorite flower. And she was pleased that Hao remembered her favorite flower. It was times like these when she really remembered why she loved him, and why she was marrying him.
As the two of them started to walk back to the camp Tao Ren sighed. So she didn't believe him after all. He didn't think she would but he had still wanted to try. Not that he would tell anyone else that he had tried.
He didn't want them to know that he was feeling sympathy for someone who had declared herself his enemy. Or that he had really wanted to see her again for some reason that he himself didn't understand.
A knock on the door pulled Umi's focus away from the book. "Who is it?" she asked.
"It's your brother," Horo-Horo's voice answered.
"Come in," she said. He opened the door and sat down next to her. "What's up?" she asked.
"You wanna come to dinner, with me and Pirika?" he asked.
"I'd love to," she told him smiling. "I'll meet you guys downstairs in ten minutes, ok?"
"Yeah," her brother nodded.
Ten minutes later the three of them gathered downstairs and headed out the door. As they were walking to the restaurant Horo said, "Oh I forgot to tell you. I invited Ren and his sister Jun. I hope that's ok?"
"Sure why wouldn't it be?" Umi said. She wanted to meet his sister again. She had decided that her goal from now on was to try to trigger memories by learning more about Ren. She just hoped things wouldn't be awkward because of the kiss.