Besarki: Today is a happy day! Why, you ask? For many reasons.

First and foremost, I preordered Mantarite. Hooray! I'm so excited. I'm asking off all week at work in order to sit outside and wait for the mailman. :)

Second, Hana IS on the front of Mantarite, which automatically makes it more awesome than usual.

Third, school is almost over. Which...doesn't mean much, I guess. I can't update any faster than I do now. I mean, I really cheat myself out of feedback by updating this fast, but I sympathize. I HATE waiting for people to update. You'll find this really good story, and you'll be all happy then you'll look at the last updated date and the publish date and do some calculations only to realize that the author in question updates once every three months. -.- I hate that, so I'm doing my best to be an update fanatic for those who really like this story :D CAUSE YOU GUYS MAKE MY LIFE!

Fourth, and final, this chapter has two of my favorite minor characters in it! I LOVE THESE TWO!

I'm trying to make connections with the original manga and the KZBs. Yoh and Anna were 16 when Hana was born so I figured that chapter 16 should be big. Chapters 17 and 18 will have something to do with volumes 17 and 18. Look at the chapter title and take a guess and you'll realize why I'm so excited ;)
I'm going to try to tie this story's ending in with the true ending of Shaman King as well. See how many similarities you can spot with volume 27 throughout the story. :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Let's go, let's go
And then you're ready to go
Let's go, let's go
'Cause it's the end of the show
Let's go, let's go
And when it's over, you'll know
Let's go, let's go
Let's go, let's go

~Welcome to the World, Kevin Rudolf

(I have been trying to use this song since chapter 3. Hahahaha. It just never fit. Still doesn't fit all that well now, but...oh well :D)

The United States of America

Hana

My eyelids were red.

Not, like, bloody red or anything. Red as in there was a really bright light on the other side. The sun--I was sure.

Don't open your eyes, Instructed a voice in my head. I wasn't arguing. ...Especially not with my conscience.

"Hey...I think he's waking up," Someone suddenly said. I would have started had my entire body not been numb.

In that instant, a thousand things came rushing back. The ocean, the storm, the almost drowning...

The almost drowning? Oh right! Someone pulled back above the water. Was this that person?

"Wha?! No, I don't want you to dump water on him!" A strange hissy coughing laugh sounded beside the voice in question.

My hand quivered. Don't open your eyes, My conscience harshly reminded. Okay, fine. Sorry.

My god. My conscience was sure mean.

"Hana...can you hear me?" Asked the voice. Now that I thought about, did he sound familiar...?

DON'T OPEN YOUR EYES!

SHUT UP, CONSCIENCE! NOT ANSWERING IS RUDE!

...

HAHAHAHA! TAKE THAT!

...

...

Wow. I'm losing my mind.

The mystery voice spoke twice while I was busy with my internal conflict. I didn't hear him those two, but I heard him now.

"No, stay there, Shigaraki. I think he's waking up." Hmm. Yeah. Definitely familiar. Definitely...

Wait a second! Wasn't that...

My eyes forced themselves open. At first, all I saw were colors, but then things began to show themselves with increasing clarity.

The voice had come from a teenager with the strangest shade of dark brown hair and piercing blue eyes. He wore an open white shirt and green pants, accompanied by a pair of cheap bath sandals. Yep. I'd know this guy anywhere.

"REDSEB!" I yelled, shocked. I probably made an idiot out of myself by flying forward and grabbing onto him. I couldn't help it, though. It was Rebseb! SOMEONE I KNEW!

He grinned awkwardly. "Hey, Hana. I haven't seen you in forever."

I let go and fell back to the ground. It wasn't sand anymore.

"Rebseb! What are you doing here? And while you're at it, where is here? Where are we?" This was all coming out a mile a minute.

He scratched his head with a nervous smile. "Well...for starters, we're in America. Seyrarm and I came here to visit our old home, seeing as we haven't been here since the Shaman Fight." Sometime while he was explaining, his spirit ally got tired of listening to his command and came to sit beside him. It was Shigaraki, Redseb's tanuki spirit. Oh duh. I should have caught on earlier.

I'd heard this story a million times now, from Tamao and from Kaa-san. After the S.F. ended, Redseb and Seyrarm were adopted into the Asakura family. They lived with Mikihisa until he died, which is when they went to live with Kaa-san, Tamao, and Ryu. I was still really little at the time so my mother had her hands full with three of us. However, Keiko was a mess for a while and it wasn't fair to say no to Rebseb and Seyrarm. She took care of all three of us for the next year and a half, and that's when she sensed Tou-san's presence and took off. Rebseb and Seyrarm went back to Keiko and I stayed with Tamao and Ryu. It was a real disaster.

After he died, though, Mikihisa left his spirits, Shigaraki and Imari with Redseb and Seyrarm. That made things easier, especially after they lost their original spirit ally, their golem to Hao. Obviously, replacements never really cut it, but they made off pretty well, from what I hear.

The Munzers came to visit me a lot in the next few years, but, by the time I was five, they stopped coming. I'm surprised they still remember me. Then again...it was only two years...

"The better question would be, what are you doing here? Especially on the east coast?"

And so I launched into an all out, long-winded explanation, starting with me leaving, and ending with the storm.

Throughout the explanation, he exchanged glances with Shigarki four times, paled twice, tried to interrupt three times, and laughed more times than I can count.

"...And that's how it happened," I finished.

"...Wow..." He replied, stunned.

Shigaraki nodded appreciatively, at least, that's what it looked like to me.

"And now, I have to find Kaa-san. Wanna help?"

A dark look crossed his face. "Tamao--"

"Did you zone out or something? I said Kaa-san." I definitely explained this.

I definitely think I explained this.

He stared at me strangely. "You mean..."

"Duh."

"No way!" He grinned widely. "How'd you figure it out?"

"I already told you, dummy! The pictures!"

"Oh! Is that what you meant? You don't tell stories very well."

Thanks.

"I tell stories fine!" I fumed. The jerk...

He just laughed. "C'mere little dude." Without me even agreeing, Rebseb grabbed me and drove his fist into my head. Ugh, I hate noogies.

"Stop it! Cut it out! Nooooo!"

He laughed. Shigaraki laughed with him.

"I have to say, Hana, when I saw you washed up on the beach, I thought I was hallucinating. I mean, what are the chances? Hehehe." He rose to his feet and pulled me up with him. "Seyrarm's gonna freak. Come on!"

"WHAT?!" He didn't listen. Rather than actually ask me to go with him, he simply picked me up and put me on Shigaraki's back. He jumped on in front of me a moment later.

"Find Seyrarm, Shigaraki."

"Grraaraa." I paled as the tanuki coiled in preparation.

"You better hold on tight, Hana," Redseb laughed. Not a second after I grabbed onto his shirt, Shigaraki shot forward like a bolt of lightning.

----0----0----0----0----0----

"Why are we hiding again?" I asked, glancing up the wall to Redseb who was standing over me.

"Shhh. We're going to sneak up on my sister."

I dropped my eyes and sighed. This was never going to work. Not with Imari around.

Below even me, was Matamune staring around the corner like Redseb. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. He was an old geezer and here he was acting like a curious kitten. Oh well.

Matamune peeked out further when the door opened to the salon Seyrarm was apparently in suddenly swung open. "Thank you!" A voice yelled from within. A moment later, a girl in a white shirt and a green skirt stepped out of the building. Her hair was the same color as Redseb's, but, unlike him, her eyes were a vibrant red. Seyrarm.

"Wasn't she nice, Imari?" Seyrarm asked joyously. Her kitsune spirit ally appeared out of thin air and nodded with a small smile.

"Ready?" Redseb whispered. Shigaraki tensed with anticipation.

Imari's ears suddenly shot up and her head whipped toward us. In an instant, they folded back viciously and her lips curled up over her teeth. Had I even thought about messing with Seyrarm in the first place, I'd have second thoughts now.

"What is it?" She asked.

"Arrrrraarrrrr."

Seyrarm frowned nervously for a moment, and then her face turned abruptly annoyed. "Ugh. I bet it's Redseb. Go get him, Imari!"

Her kitsune spirit was around the bend in a flash, her teeth inches away from Shigaraki's throat. She had him cornered.

"Arrrraarrrrr."

"Grrrraarrraaa."

I fell back and landed on my butt. Matamune sat down beside me.

Redseb was a little more useful than I was. He quickly jumped off the wall and grabbed Imari around the neck.

"Argh! Let him go, Imari," He demanded. The kitsune wouldn't budge. She persisted, completely ignoring Redseb.

I heard footsteps first, and then the voice. "I knew it!"

Rebseb, Matamune, and I all turned to Seyrarm who was standing at the mouth of the alleyway we were hiding in. She looked pretty mad.

"That was mean, Redseb," She scolded. Her brother couldn't have cared less.

"Quit reprimanding me and call off your stupid kitsune, Seyrarm!" He yelled. He was still tugging at Imari to no avail.

She sighed and dropped her shoulders. "Alright. That's enough, Imari. Thank you."

At her mistress's words, Imari immediately released her former partner and returned to Seyrarm's side. She sat down obediently and glared at Shigaraki.

"What a bad influence you are! This little boy here has been watching everything. He's probably going to run home now and tell his mommy all about what happened today. You should be ashamed." Did she always talk this much?

"Idiot. Don't you recognize this guy here?" Redseb questioned.

Seyrarm frowned. Her eyes trailed over to me and she stared intently for a moment. Her eyebrows connected as if she were thinking really, really hard.

And then her face went blank.

"No way."

"That's what I said," Redseb laughed.

"Hana?!?! What are you doing here?"

"I said that, too."

"Shut up, Redseb. I'm talking to someone who's actually important."

"Oh, thanks--"

"Shut up! Now, Hana...how did you get here, and why are you here...in the United States...and not Japan?"

I groaned and smacked my face. I just told this story. Did I really have to tell it again?

"Allow me, Hana-chan," Redseb volunteered with a smirk. Seyrarm didn't like that as much, but she listened.

And so Rebseb began. He retold my story with many elaborate hand gestures and different voices, which made me think that he probably liked acting. Still, the message got across to Seyrarm and Imari.

"And that, dear sister, is how Hana-chan ended up with us." I felt like clapping for some reason. No idea why...

While it's true that his retelling worked quite well, there were several downfalls to it. Mostly, his version was just much shorter and condensed than mine, and it also eliminated about half the information. I'd have to clue Seyrarm in later and let her know all the little details that her brother apparently saw as irrelevant or at least no worth mentioning for reasons unknown to me. Regardless, though, she was still in shock.

"Hana figured it out?!" She gasped. That was what had shocked Redseb the most, too. Must be a Munzer thing.

"Yep. All by himself. Well, that bonehead Ryu helped a little, I guess."

"And he got seperated from Anna over the ocean?!"

"That's what he told me."

"Oh no! What if something happened to her?"

Redseb grinned. "Need I remind you who we're talking about?"

Her face mellowed out then. "Oh, right."

"Hahahaha. See? No need to worry!"

"Still, we should go look for her. Hana, when exactly were you two separated?"

I stared at her for a second before answering. That was a good question.

"Uhhh...yesterday? ...I think..." I think it was yesterday. I don't know how long I was out, though.

"Yesterday is correct," Matamune confirmed.

"Oh, hi, kitty. I didn't notice you there."

"His name is Matamune, idiot. He's a ghost, hence the talking."

"Oh! He is! You're Hana's spirit ally, aren't you?" She realized. She spoke as if she had just discovered something amazing.

Matamune nodded. "Yes, Seyrarm-san."

She clapped her hands eagerly, a big smile on her face. "He knows my name!" She announced, absolutely enthralled at this fact.

Redseb wasn't sold on her antics. He shook his head sagely. "We've only used it, like twenty times in the past five minutes."

"Oh, shut up, Redseb."

"Hey, you're the one saying stupid stuff."

"I don't remember asking for your opinion."

"Oh, really? Bad memory too?"

"REDSEB!"

Matamune and I exchanged glances. Their bickering wasn't something either of us, or anyone else for that matter, could ever understand. Why? Because it was a Munzer thing, and Munzer things weren't meant to be understood.

At least...naw, I got nothing.

It was a Munzer thing. Enough said.

Besarki: Tried to make Hana seem a little younger in this one so he wouldn't be mixed up with Rebseb.

I'm going to refer to Shigaraki and Imari as tanuki and kitsune rather than racoon dog and fox because...well, it sounds better. Imari looks like a kitsune not a fox. And racoon dog is too long so screw that.

Bah. Let's have another guide real quick mini-guide...

Asakura Munzer Redseb
Age: 16
Spirit Ally: Shigaraki

Asakura Munzer Seyrarm
Age: 14
Spirit Ally: Imari

Speaking of Munzers, how obvious was the title to this chapter? A Munzer Thing. Ha. Wow, wonder who's going to be in this one. Hahahaha.

So, Seyrarm didn't talk much in the manga so there was nothing to grow on. In her Shaman File in vol 27, she was smiling, so I figured it would be fun to make her sort of a ditz. Redseb was a funny character so I portrayed him in his older self as someone who would come off as a pain in the ass, yet also someone who is deeply compassionate deep down.

Playing with the divider again. Don't know if I like it in the middle like that, but I just wanted to try it out. I kinda like it more on the left. What do you think? *Goes off asking more questions as insignificant and petty as divider placement*

Oh, and before I forget, are any of you going to Otakon (it's a convention in the states. The big one for the east coast. It's in July)? There's apparently going to be some big SK revival. At least, that's what I heard. Though, you know that you can never trust anything you hear, 'specially not off the net. Anywho, I might be going along with a big group (and when I say big, I mean big. Safety in numbers) of my friends, but I'm like, the ninth wheel. The only one out of all of them that is single and won't mind hanging out with me is my ex boyfriend. Can you say "awkward"? I'd rather go off and hang out with the SK cosplayers, rather than stick around with my friends. AND SO I ASK! Are any of you going? If you are, you MUST tell me. *Turns into Lyserg* I'm looking for allies. Hahaha. Joking. But seriously, I'm not positive I'm going, but I might. Inform-eth me, Munchies! TOGETHER, WE SHALL BRING BACK SHAMAN KING!

By the way, for those who have seen my hidden photobucket account with the KZB "snaps," as I call them, from volumes 15 and 16, I just wanted to let you know that I updated it with some new snaps including Goroshin, Bob, Awaya Ringo, Kino, Tamao, Oni, and Naka-Oni. There are still more which include Chuck, Chuck, Mari, Macchi, Jack, Jack, Kanna, Ashcroft, Ashcroft, Gumakura, Hao, and a few others. Wondering why there are two of Chuck, Jack, and Ashcroft? It's because it shows the ghost as well as the medium. In other words, it shows the way you've seen them and the way they look when they were alive. Pretty cool, eh?

Bah. This chapter was just a comic relief in order to keep the story light, especially after that disaster mentioned last chapter. Brrr. Brr? What? Uh...never mind. Anyway, next chapter will be the reunion with Anna. Hooray! I'm looking forward to how Anna will react to Redseb and Seyrarm.

Random Reader: Idiot! You're writing the story.

Besarki: Oh yeah...

But really, I don't know what happens in most cases until the chapter it happens in. This goes for pretty much everything besides the main plot, get it?

New poll up. Go vote, Munchies!

See you soon!