Nick: I'm bored. So I've decided to write another one shot and it shall appear in three parts!. This time it's a Shaman King one shot and the main hero will be Tao Len! Yayz!

Part Two: Ren's Surprise; Sleepless Nights

"I don't want to be a shaman! I don't want to be an Asakura! I don't want anything to do with you, mother, grandmother, father or my brother! I want to be normal!" Tears now poured down her cheeks as she turned back to the window and glared at the outside world.

"You don't mean that, young one..." Yohmei began until Aniko cut him off.

"I do. I mean every single word."

Yoh lay listening to his sister and grandfather argue and felt his heart break at his sister's revelation. He had never realized when he made his friends the effects it would have on his sister. She seemed happy when she was singing, when she could pretend to be like every other teenage girl. Now he saw the devestating effects his presence brought to her life now. She was lonely and he had not made it better by bringing his friends to meet her and then leaving her to her own devices once they had gotten home.

"Amidamaru?"

"Yes, lord Yoh?" The samurai turned to the young shaman with a look of pity as Yoh sat up.

"You're friends with my sister's guardian ghost right?" He asked.

"Lady Ayame? Why yes, Lord Yoh." Amidamaru answered, a blush tinting his pale cheeks.

"Would it be possible for you to call on her so I could talk to her?" Yoh asked as Amidamaru stared at him.

"Well yes, my lord." Amidamaru nodded before disappearing from the room as Yoh climbed to his feet, heading for his sister's room. Once there he knocked and heard his sister's dejected voice answer spitefully.

"I'm not talking about it, grandfather!"

"Hey!" Yoh interrupted her as she slammed the door open.

"What do you want?" She asked, her temper still flaring from her argument.

"Can we talk?"

"About what?" Aniko questioned, her eyes set in a hard glare upon her brother's figure.

"Ani..." Yoh began before she cut him off.

"No. No. No. I don't want to talk about it! I don't want to hear about it! I just want you all to leave me alone!" She slammed down shut and Yoh stood there as he heard his sister crying on the other side of the door that seperated them.

"Sister..." He whispered before walking back to his room where he found Amidamaru entertaining a young woman who looked almost exactly like his sister. Dark raven hair hung loosely around her doll like face and amethyst eyes shimmered brightly against her pale skin. She wore the attire of a princess or a shogun's wife but had it outfitted with armor similar to Amidamaru's.

"Lord Yoh!" Amidamaru looked up with a start as Yoh closed the door behind himself. Ayame looked up at him and sighed when she saw his rejected expression.

"Do not fret, Master Yoh. My mistress is just....lonesome and you bring back many friends when she has none." Ayame bowed to apologize for her mistress as Yoh sat down roughly.

"Has she entered into the Tournament?" He asked as Ayame looked up.

"Yes, master Yoh. She entered the Tournament because master Yohmei say she will be able to see you again." Ayame answered softly and Yoh looked down.

"I guess..."

"Asakura! Open up!" Yoh turned to his door as he heard Ren outside.

"Why should I?" Yoh's eyes widened as he heard his sister's voice.

"Just do it, damn it!" Ren answered back. Ayame and Amidamaru stared at the door as they heard Aniko's door open and shut.

"Master..." Ayame began but could not finish.

"Lord..." Amidamaru began as well but could not finish.

"Ren?!" Yoh finished their sentences and quickly climbed to his feet and pressed his ear against the wall.

"Why are you crying?" Ren's voice filtered into Yoh's ear as Bason entered the room.

"Good evening..." Yoh and the other two ghosts turned to the Chinese warrior.

"Bason, what is Ren doing with my sister?" Yoh asked as Amidamaru kept Ayame from bursting into her mistress's room.

"Master said he wanted to shut up her whining."

Ren watched the lonely girl walk away from him to her window seat where she would not answer his question. He saw the tears still sparkling down her cheeks and he felt the need to comfort her grow in his chest.

"Why should it matter to you, Tao?" The hostility in her voice caused a shiver to run own his spine as he took a few steps closer to her forlorn figure.

"It doesn't but it does to your brother." He answered when she turned to him with a glare.

"My brother doesn't need me. He has you and those other idiots you travel with." She bit back as Ren scoffed.

"I don't claim friendship with that idiot brother of yours." Ren's eyes darted to the floor when Aniko stared at him.

"But you..."

"I respect your brother. He defeated me in battle." Ren answered as a blush appeared on his cheeks.

"Hmph." Aniko turned away from him again as he came closer.

"You want to normal, right?" Ren asked as he came closer. Aniko turned to him in surprise as he pulled her up from her seat.

"You hate your family, right?" Aniko stared at him and he pulled her away from the window.

"I...just want freedom..." She muttered softly. Tears sparkled down her face and she let out a soft sob. Ren scratched the back of his neck in awkwardness as she brought her hands to her face.

"Mistress!" Ayame came through the wall and tears stained her cheeks as she wrapped her arms around Aniko's shoulders. Soon they were joined by Amidamaru and Bason as Yoh let himself in through the door.

"Ani..." Yoh opened his arms and Aniko ran into him, sobbing into his shoulder.

"Baby sister....I am never going to not need you..."

"You want to go with Yoh to the Shaman Tournament?" Yohmei looked between his two grandchildren and saw their determination.

"Are you sure, Aniko? The road will be rough. I do not want to see you get your hopes up." Yohmei began before a smile from Aniko stopped him.

"I'll be fine, besides I have my big brother to protect me." Yohmei turned to Yoh as he smiled, another aloof look upon his face.

"Very well. If you two believe you are ready...then you have my permission to go, Aniko." Aniko's face lit up as she hugged her aging grandfather and practically ran to her room to pack. Yoh scratched the back of his head as his teammates walked up to him expectedly. Well everyone except Ren.

"So? Is she?" Horohoro asked as Ryo nodded.

"Is she going to be traveling with us?" Manta wondered as Yoh smiled.

"Yeah, she's going with us." Yoh answered with a smile and his team jumped up with joy.

"Ren?" Yoh turned to the Chinese shaman with a smile.

"Thank you."

"Hey, Ren!" Horohoro came up beside the silent shaman as Aniko and Yoh walked ahead of them, lost in their own conversation.

"So our new teammate's sure is a hot one, huh?" Horohoro laughed as he said this and Ren turned to him with a glare.

"What?" Horohoro wondered as he shrugged his shoulders carelessly.

"She is!" He exclaimed as Ren began to walk away from him and Horohoro pouted when Ryo came up to him expectantly.

"So?" Ryo asked as Tokegeroh floated above him, looking smug.

"He got mad." Horohoro mumbled before pulling out money to pay Ryo.

"Told you." Ryo spoke smugly and he counted his newly acquired cash as Aniko slowed down to talk to Ren.

"So hey! China man!" Ren looked up when he heard her voice and she smiled at him.

"Look Ayame and Amidamaru and Bason have been talking behind our backs and I was wondering if you happen to know what's so interesting to them?" She asked as a smile still played on her lips and Ren shrugged his shoulders.

"No." He answered simply as Aniko's smile turned to a pout.

"You sure?" She wondered and he nodded. She sighed before shrugging her shoulders.

"Maybe Tokegeroh knows! Thanks, Ren!" And with that she bounded away back to her brother while Ren stared at her figure with a longing that was unlike him.

"Bason?"

"Yes master?" Bason turned to his young master with a questioning tilt of his large head.

"What is she talking about?"

Silence filled the inn as Horohoro and Ryo went to sleep as did Yoh. Aniko tried to fall asleep but found the task almost impossible as Ren stared out of his window in thought. Aniko sighed in frustration as she climbed out of bed and walked to her window. She sighed again this time wistfully before she walked out of her room and down the hall, her feet making soft pats as they hit the hardwood floors. She could hear her brother's snores as she walked past his room and Horohoro and Ryo's when she walked past theirs but Ren's room was silent. She took another step past it before she froze just as she heard his door slide open.

Ren froze when he saw her clad in a only a tank top and a pair of shorts, her long hair tied in a ponytail behind her. Her amethyst eyes were brightly shining in the pale moonlight that filter into the inn through it's many windows and she smiled at him.

"I'm sorry if I woke you." Her voice was soft in consideration of the other patrons around them. He shook his head.

"I was not asleep." He answered a little louder than her, his voice rough with edginess.

"I couldn't sleep either." She replied before giggling softly. Ren stared at her with interest. She was everything he wasn't. Soft, fragile, kind, and caring. He could see why Horohoro made such a fuss about her or why Yoh was so protective of her. What he couldn't see was why she hid behind this happy facade. She was miserable on the inside and he knew it. That was why she couldn't sleep and he knew before it was why he couldn't sleep.

*Tell her.* Ren's mind burned at him but he quickly pushed that thought aside when she turned away from him to continue to walk down the hallway. He watched her, his breath catching in his throat when she turned to him with a smile.

"Do you want to walk with me?" Her question was innocent enough. The thought of spending unsupervised and uninterrupted time with her caused Ren to secretly beg for a reprieve from his body. He simply nodded and she smiled again as he walked beside her, just enjoying the proximity of their bodies.

*Tell her now.* Again Ren had to quiet his mind when they reached the gardens and Aniko sat down upon on eof the benches, sighing in contentment. She looked at Ren and he blushed before turning away. She giggled softly before heat rushed to her cheeks as well.

*Invite him to sit with you.*

*Sit next to her* Ren groaned before sitting next to Aniko on the bench.

"I uhh...have a question to ask you, China man." Aniko's blush deepened as Ren turned to her in surprise.

"That night you came to my room, why did you come?" She asked as Ren looked down, his own blush deepening.

"I..."

"Mistress!" Ayame squealed as Aniko looked up in surprise. Ren sighed in relief at the distraction until he saw Bason's large form trying to hide behind a nearby tree.

"Ayame, where've you been?" Aniko asked, frustrated they had been interrupted.

"Why, I've been with Lord Amidamaru..."

"Of course." Aniko mumbled before Ayame could finish.

"And Lord Bason, Mistress!" Ayame finished with a smile and Bason came out of hiding when he caught his master's glare.

"Bason..." The threatening tone in Ren's voice caused Aniko to giggle. He turned to her in surprise again and she smiled at him.

"Relax, China man! I told you they were talking behind our backs. Besides getting mad at him won't stop him." She spoke softly and Ayame beamed at her mistress. Ren sighed before nodding to agree with her.

"Mistress is always right!" Ayame exclaimed and Aniko shook her head in frustration as Ren chuckled at her. She looked up at him with a smile before sliding closer to him.

"Laughter? From you?" Ren blushed when he noticed how much closer Aniko had gotten in his carelessness and she smiled at his embarassment.

"So tell me why you came to my room that night?" She asked again as she leaned closer to him and Ren stared at her, his mouth agape.

"What?" He asked in confusion, his mind unable to concentrate with her this close. Aniko giggled softly before leaning in and pressing her lips to his cheek. She climbed to her feet with a smile.

"Good night, Ren."