Disclaimer: I do not own Shaman King.

A/N: You must have finished the manga before continuing. May contain spoilers. You've been warned =p

Chapter 4

It's really troublesome, school. I have to go to class pretend to be one with crowd, it's becoming monotonous. Rue thought as she plopped down her sofa. She just got home from school.

Just then a knock on the door was heard. Rue lazily walked to the door to see who's outside.

"Rue! We came to visit you!" Yoh shouted as she opened the door.

Rue's spirits were lifted. She jumped on Yoh to hug him.

"I've missed you! You ran out of us before the start of the second rounds."

Smack!

Rue's hand was still aching from hitting Yoh's head.

"That's for visiting without even giving me a warning! Look at me I'm still wearing my school uniform. And whoever told you I lived here?"

She didn't give him time to respond, "No, don't answer that! Second, did you really want me to stay there during your last night?" she looks at him meaningfully. Ren scoffed in the back.

"What are you talking about?" answered Yoh, as he scratched the back of his head. His other friends gave him confused look.

"Yeah, like you don't know. Come on inside. Lucky for you, I just bought food." They noticed the plastics in Rue's kitchen as they passed.

"Ryu, please help yourself. I'm a little worn out from school."

"Thank you Lady Rue. I'm going to cook us a nice one!" Ryu proceeded to the kitchen to cook for all of them. "Finally! Delicious food!" Horohoro shouted in the back.

"For someone who's living alone, that sure is a lot of food." Ren commented.

"That's because that's my food for the entire week. Be grateful, you brat!" She succeeded in throwing a cup to Ren's head when he was looking at the kitchen.

"U-Uh thanks."

"We're really sorry if we're barging in. We can pay you half of what we'll consume." Yoh offered.

"Only half?" she raised a brow at him.

"No, Yoh! We don't have enough money for that." Horo-horo interjected.

"So you'd rather me getting hungry to save your pitiful souls?" Rue said sharply.

"No, I'm sorry. We'll pay you." Horo-horo shrunk.

"Tch. Can't you guys see I'm kidding? Yohmei-sama already knew you would come so he sent me money to buy food for you."

Teary-eyed Yoh said, "Thanks Grandpa!"

"You didn't look like you're joking at all!" Horo-horo shouted.

"That's because you're an idiot." Ren interjected.

"Hey!"

"She's loyal to Yoh. I bet even if she was starving she'll give the last piece of bread to him."

Rue raised her eyebrow at Ren. Damn brat.

"The problem, now, was the rest of us. I was rather shocked she actually considered us in the budget."

"Stupid! I'm not that heartless; but, if you really wanted, I could have you work for me for the food you'll eat."

"Ren, shut up!" Horohoro whispered. With that, he went flying to the wall.

"Hey, Yoh, aren't you gonna introduce your new teammate?"

"Oh, I forgot. Sorry Lyserg."

"It's alright Yoh. I understand, you must have not seen each other for a long time."

"Lyserg this is our friend and one of my family, Rosemary Foxglove Asakura – we call her Rue. She's half Japanese and half American."

"Rosemary?" Ren repeated, which earned him a glare from the said girl.

"Nice to meet you!" Lyserg smiled at her.

"Be ready for it. Don't let it get to you that much." Horohoro whispered to Lyserg.

"Rue, this is Lyserg Diethel. He's one of the shaman fight contestants; we met him while we were travelling."

Everybody waited for Rue's response.

"Nice to meet you, too Lyserg Diethel."

Everybody's mouth hanged open.

"Diethel, hmmm… English?" Rue said not minding the others around her.

"Yup! From London, England. You know it?" Lyserg answered excitedly.

"Actually, yes. I've been there, but only a few days. I didn't get to roam around. I was actually there following a lead, but I had to leave immediately. Looking back, I really regret not roaming around first."

"That's a pity. You would have loved it!"

"Maybe I'll visit again."

"He-he-hey! Stop this! You're actually being nice to him! All I got from you was 'he looks kind of an idiot'. And what the heck do you do for work?" Horohoro exploded.

"Shut up, idiot. We were talking; anyways, what I do does not concern you. Moreover, I was just telling the truth; what's it to you, huh?" Rue actually stood up pissed and got closer to Horohoro. The latter shrunk back near Yoh and replied, "Nothing, ma'am."

"It's ready. Let's eat!"

"I'll help you." Rue answered.

She lets them sleep in her house and tells them she'll ask someone to drive them off to the place they were looking for. When she gets outside, she sees Ren using her practice field and all her equipment.

"Enjoying yourself?"

"Huh, I kind of expected you to have this kind of place in your house; but, I admit I'm pretty impressed with what you've done with it."

"If you love this, wait 'til you see the basement." Rue said as she walked back to the house.

Ren's tongari spiked up as he heard this and followed her.

Rue leads him to the cellar.

"What's this all about?"

"Well, this part of the state experiences many different kinds of weather disturbances. Almost every home here has one like this. Well, I don't have much to do with mine, so I made it my training ground. It's convenient when there's a storm, too. Ugh, you wouldn't imagine just how boring staying at home was before this."

Ren was amazed with the basement that he started trying out some stuff. Rue got excited to learn that someone was taking interest in her hobby that she tells Ren what the equipment does, where she got it, and actually helps him try out some stuff.

"Hey, you were right here after all."

The two jumped at the voice; they didn't even notice Horohoro who followed them downstairs.

"Aha, Ren, don't tell me that you're actually trying to steal Yoh's old fiancée to get back at him. I'm telling you don't bother, she's as scary as his current one."

BAM! Horohoro laid lifeless on the floor.

Rue was red all over her face. "Who the hell told you that?!"

Ren stiffened at the sight; he didn't even had the chance to answer Horohoro's comment because of it.

"Does it matter?" a voice answered from the stairs.

Rue visibly relaxed and faced Yoh. She slowly walked to the owner of the voice and punched him in the face.

"So it's you, huh? Idiot Yoh! Who told you to do that?!" She went upstairs emitting a scary aura.

Yoh crawled to Horohoro to help him while Ren felt like doing some more exercises.

At dinner, everyone was silently eating.

"Hey guys, did I miss something?" Ryu suddenly said.

"I think I missed it, too, Ryu." Lyserg answered. Both uneasy with the tense atmosphere.

"If you wanna keep living, just shut up." Ren answered sharply.

Rue sighed heavily and all eyes were on her.

"I hate to say this. But, if that lead would be right, this is your last night here. I don't like to send you all off with this kind of feeling." She looked at them one by one.

"So, let's celebrate!" Rue shouted grinning.

"Yosh!" Ryu cheered.

After the celebration, Rue went to her room to prepare for sleep. She heard someone knock on her door. It was Yoh.

"I'm sorry. It bothered you earlier, right?"

"I'm that obvious about it?"

"No, it's just that I know you. You looked pissed, but I think the others thought it was because they knew of the previous engagement."

"It was because of that."

"C'mon, I'm still your childhood friend. You don't have to pretend in front of me."

Rue stepped closer. Yoh expected that she will hit him but she hugged him tightly to his surprise.

"Jerk. Don't get too big-headed just because you know that the three of us are in love with you."

He returned the hug. "I don't think about that."

"I know. That's exactly why we fell." After saying this, Rue released Yoh, pushed him outside, and closed the door, locking it behind her. I will make you the shaman king, after that, I'll forget about this feeling. Just give me my wish.

FLASHBACK

She woke up feeling her mother's trembling hands.

"Mother, what's –"

"Shh! Please be quiet, my love."

It was then that she heard banging outside the room, loud chuckles were echoing in her ears. The door opened to reveal three big men staring menacingly at them.

"Please!" Her mother shouted, "Take everything, just don't hurt us!"

An ugly man stepped forward and grabbed at her mother's chin pulling her face to him, she felt her mother tightening the grip on her.

"I like feisty women. Why don't you try fighting me back, if I like you, maybe I'll let you live." The ugly man whispered.

He, then, grabbed on Rue effectively freeing her from her mother's grasp, Rue started crying at the loss of contact. She was tossed to the other man, her mother shouting relentlessly, "NO! Not my daughter, please."

"Of course, who'd want a shrimp like that." he grabbed her hands and pinned her on the floor.

"Why are you doing this?!" her mother sobbed, her energy wavering.

"Because, miko-sama," he started, "we've grown tired of your self-righteous family. We decided this town no longer needs your load of crap. We sure as hell don't need to follow your precious Asakura clan bullshit; we're strong shamans, we don't need anything to do with a clan who's obviously starting to perish. From now on, we're starting anew, and we will rule this town. After we've finished here, we'll take down all Asakuras and rid this world of your old, stupid ways."

"You may get rid of our family, but you can never touch the main branch, you're too weak for that!"

He slapped her with so much force, "Don't be so impudent, and remember what situation you're in!"

"Mother!" Rue shouted as she cried loudly.

"Tch! That brat's voice is making my ears sting. Get rid of her."

"Nooo!" Rue's mother shouted.

The other man threw Rue to the wall. She felt searing pain on her head as she made contact. She fell on the floor with a thud. Her body couldn't move, and she could feel her head throbbing in pain; all she could do was look at the man as he unsheathed his sword and moved towards her. The man raised his sword, and as he swung it forward, Rue closed her eyes. She waited for the pain, but it didn't come. When she peeked, she saw a curtain of blue hair in front of her. She looked up and saw her mother looking back at her.

Her world stopped, and all she could hear was her mother's words, "I love you, Rue." And then, her mother fell to the ground.

She crawled to her mother's side, sobbing; she wanted to shout, but no voice comes out. Her eyes widened as she sees so much blood on her mother's beautiful face. She held her mother's head close to her body as she tried with so much energy to shout, but still, no sound; she tried so hard that her lungs almost gave out. There was so much blood – on the floor, on her mother, on her hands – she almost wondered if she was cut herself.

She looked around and was overwhelmed with a sea of fire everywhere. The men were not there, it was only her and her mother at the center. She thought that the others escaped and were now burning them to finish their deed.

All she could do was cry harder as she realized her impending end. She hugged her mother's head tightly as she curled, her consciousness almost gone.

Rue woke up groggily; she waited for her eyes to focus. She smelled alcohol and a familiar scent near her. She could hardly make out the noises around her. She tried to get up, but a sharp pain hit her head almost immediately. She was about to fall back when she felt hands holding her back and head helping her to lie back down gently.

"Rue! Can you hear me?" a boy's voice echoed in her ear. She winced as she found the voice too loud for her ear, increasing the pain in her head. She turned to look at the owner of the voice and saw a hazy Yoh in front of her. She pushed her eyes to adjust, as Yoh got clearer in her eyes.

"Yoh" she weakly said, "my mother." Scenes from her memory started to replay in her head. Her eyes watered and she started sobbing. Yoh panicked seeing this and ran outside shouting. "Grandpa! Grandpa! Hurry! I think Rue's in pain!"

Yoh came back running by Rue's side and he gently took her hands in his. Rue saw Yohmei come in and look at her worriedly. He smacked his grandson's head as he approached them, "Idiot! Don't shout so near her, you're causing her stress."

"I'm sorry." Yoh said softly as he rubbed his aching head. His other hand still holding Rue's.

"Rue, my child, you should still rest. Everything else would be dealt with after you've recovered." With that, Rue fell asleep again.

When Rue was strong enough, she was allowed to sit back up. Yohmei, with Miki, discussed what happened with her one day. It would seem that Yohmei had found out a little too late the fate of Rue's family. By the time Miki arrived in Rue's town, everything was already burning. Miki tried to search for survivors when he found Rue and her mother's dead body in the middle of the fire. At first, Miki thought they were both dead, but Rue was breathing, faintly, but still alive. Her mother, on the other hand, was long gone after Miki arrived.

Rue couldn't stop crying as they were discussing what Miki had seen. It was also assumed that their assailants and all others in the town were burned to death. Miki took Rue and her mother's body back.

The next day, they held a funeral in honor of her mother. Rue was not crying anymore, she felt empty – no home, no family, and she felt, no future. She stared at everyone who came, passively acknowledging them when they greeted and offered condolences. The whole day, she was like that. She only moved when she was forced fed by Yoh, and finally, at night when she retreated to her bed. That night was bad; the memories of her mother's last night kept playing in her dreams.

"Gyaah! Mother!" she was shouting in her sleep.

She was woken up by a worried Yoh; when she saw Yoh, she calmed bit, and went back to sleep. Yoh, troubled with Rue's state, didn't leave her room when she fell back asleep. He watched her until he felt sleepy. He was about to go back to his room when Rue cried out again.

"Ahhh, Fire!" with that, she bolted up with tears on her eyes.

Yoh ran back to her and hugged her trembling form. "Rue, it's a nightmare. Please stop crying." He said, almost crying himself.

When Rue recognized his voice, she hugged him back. After she has calmed down a bit, she refused to lay back down and sleep.

"Rue, you need to take a rest." But she shook her head.

"Okay, tell you what. I'll stay here and hold your hands until morning." He said trying to sound cheerful.

Rue stared at him for a while. Yoh felt pity looking at her bloodshot eyes and puffy nose. She nodded and laid down her bed finally. As he said, he held Rue's hands, but the latter still didn't close her eyes. Instead, she looked intently at Yoh. Yoh, feeling unease, patted her head, "Don't worry, I won't leave you."

Rue made an impression, which gave Yoh a feeling that she'll start crying again, so he laid himself by her side and kissed her forehead.

Rue looked shocked at Yoh's gesture. Yoh, on the other hand, smiled warmly at her, and said, "When I become the shaman king, I'll end your suffering for sure."

Rue, a bit surprised with his words, smiled back, as she closed her eyes to sleep.

Yoh, feeling tired himself, gave in to sleep, as well.

FLASHBACK END

After their talk, Yoh went downstairs to the guest room. But before he could even reach his destination Ren entered the house from the backyard.

"You were still training?"

"Heh. Unlike some of us, I focus on winning."

"Why don't you rest now? We'll likely be departing early in the morning since the place is a bit far from here."

"Yoh – what about her?"

"Ah! Rue said she'll leave before dawn to catch her morning classes."

"No – I meant have you cleared things up with her?"

"Oh"

Ren waited for Yoh to continue.

"She's still playing tough, but I think it'll still need time."

"You think you're so lucky having three girls presented to be your wife."

Yoh flashed him a serious look, but it was gone in an instant. Grinning at Ren, Yoh answered, "I didn't know she was your type, at all. And I don't consider it as being lucky, really."

"Wh-what?! I didn't say she was my type!"

"Good night, Ren!" Yoh was instantly gone.

True enough, in the morning, when everybody woke up Rue has already left the house. Ryu found a note in the kitchen saying that she's already made them breakfast and left them some money.

Moments after breakfast, a loud honk was heard from the front door. "It's here!"

They went out and greeted the driver, who warmed up to Ryu easily.

After a little over an hour on the road, the driver spoke, "Do you see that?"

Everybody went to look at the direction he was pointing. They were dropped off in front of the tourist spot and the driver went back to the direction they came from.

When Rue arrived, she wasn't shocked with the silence that welcomed her. She dropped her things and her overcoat near the door and planned to proceed to her training ground, but she noticed a piece of paper by her kitchen table.

"Thanks for taking care of us! We'll do our best!"

She unconsciously smiled. Yoh.

The next day, she was woken up by a call.

"Hello? Is this Rue Asakura?"

Said girl figured who the voice was from.

"It's me, Anna. Oh for the love of – do you know what time it is here? I was in a good part of my dream, too!"

"I don't care about all that. Listen."

"Keh – stupid Anna. Always bossing around other people."

"Are you gonna listen or not?"

"Fine. Fine."

"We'll be following Yoh and the others. We'll arrive there three weeks after today, morning of your time."

Not much went after that. Rue started drafting her drop out forms and spent the afternoon training.

The time Anna said has arrived. Rue prepared everything she thought would be needed and proceeded to Mesa Veldede. When she arrived she saw Anna hurriedly entering the caves – followed by Tamao and Manta.

"Anna! Wait for me!"

"Hurry up or we'll leave you behind."

"What's wrong, she seems more irritated than ususal."

Manta and Tamao animatedly told Rue what happened before she arrived.

"You've met Hao!? And Anna slapped him?" she asked almost shouting. They didn't even get a scratch.

Both nodded.

"Wow. That really is surprising." She looked at Anna's back as they walked. Could she have not sensed the power within that man, or … "Anna's so brave." She said deciding to leave things for now.

"Hey," she called the two beside her, smiling mischievously, "if Hao really does get to convince Anna to be his wife, then I'll be Yoh's wife again."

"What?!" Anna stopped walking to look at Rue.

"Hey Look! Its Mikihisa-sama!" Manta shouted.

Everyone got distracted at looking at Mikihisa's form.

After that, Rue opened her eyes to darkness. She couldn't speak or move. Thousands different memories flashed before her eyes – she couldn't tune them out.

She awoke with a jolt, beads of sweat covering her body, and she was panting.

"Good. You're awake."

"Miki-sama." She struggled to remember her dreams.

"What you saw were memories of the spirits within the Great Spirit. Billions of years of memories."

"What?!"

"Yeah. And more than that, you've been sleeping for over a day." He said as if it were normal.

"Whoa! That's why I feel this sore." She looked around to see Manta and Tamao still asleep.

"Different people take different times of recovery."

"Ah – but where's Anna?"

"She's been walking around town since yesterday."

"Ugh. I guess it's to be expected." She said as she brushed her hair.

"You can go around if you like, I'll watch over these two."

"Thanks! I'll be off then, Miki-sama"

Billions of years of history – that sure is a lot. Rue thought as she wandered around. One memory struck her weird though. It was a vivid scene, how would she forget?

"Hao-sama." She heard a female voice said as she looked at a man, who looked exactly like Silva – an older version. He was wearing traditional Japanese clothing, which was normally worn by scholars of the old times.

Hi readers! =) I'm soooo so happy for those who expressed appreciation for the first three chapters. Cheers! (Although, it means more pressure for !)

Thank you for taking the time to read this story! ;)

Thanks Moo for pointing that out! I don't know where I got that 500 years thing - I forgot, maybe I made it up, I don't know. =P Sorry! I will be changing that, thank you again! ;)