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 11

Anna woke up to the rattling sounds on the windows. Branches were constantly being swayed by the wind outside towards their window. It was in the middle of the night. All her roommates were peacefully sleeping.

How could they sleep like this? She would let herself wonder sometimes.

But she was different; she knew that since long ago. Like now, instead of sleeping through the night, she had been awakened by a presence outside the inn. She adjusted her night robes and went outside.

"I'm sorry to wake you, Anna." Hao was smiling. Anna doubted he was sorry at all.

"What do you want?"

"Visiting."

"Just cut to the chase."

"Don't worry. I'm doing you a favor." He said and then left.

"Finally." She muttered under her breath.

"I just missed the bastard." Someone said from behind her.

"Tch." Anna didn't bother to acknowledge Ren and went on her way towards her room.

"Wait," Ren continued when Anna did stop, "she's awake."

The moon's light was the only source of illumination in the room. But it didn't matter, no one was awake in the room. The only sounds that could be heard were the snores of Horohoro, some of the pins Ren put on his face remained, and the wind racking on the window from outside. The other to his left, back turned to him, slept silently.

A sharp intake of breath followed by fits of coughs woke the duo.

Horohoro removed the pins, dismissing his curiosity of where it came from, as he rushed to Rue's bed. Ren was there in an instant.

Two mouths hang open as Rue bent her body backwards, trying hard to breathe.

Her eyes flew open, to a dimly lit room. She inhaled, deciding she needed the air, but almost regretting as she felt her lungs burning with the sudden action.

She coughed uncontrollably, unaware of the presence now surrounding her.

It felt as if she was recovering from having drowned. She kept on taking in the much needed air, but having her lungs not functioning for a while had required so much more than she could inhale. She felt the tears at the corner of her eyes caused by the pain. She attempted to sit up, but then felt blood suddenly rush to her head and fell back down.

Am I alive?

She felt her heart overworking itself to pump the blood back to her system.

"Rue!" she faintly heard someone call her out.

"Rue!" this time it was louder, she even felt someone shaking her gently.

"W-water." She pleaded softly. Her throat was so dry she thought she felt the walls colliding with each other when she spoke.

In no time, Horohoro was holding ice on his hands and gave it to Rue.

"You're gonna be alright" he tried to comfort her, "just hang on!"

He wondered where Ren was; he just needed to get Faust, what's taking him so long?

She was finally able to leave the inn alone that afternoon. Those bastards were playing the strict guardian not letting me out of their sights the whole morning, she thought as she trudged through the forest.

"What happened?" one of them would demand.

She'll say, "I'm not sure," which was not a lie. She was really uncertain of what had happened and needed to go out to make sure.

It was surprisingly because of Anna – who callously took the Funbari Onsen team to training – that she was able to leave that afternoon. Also because of Pascal Avaf who forced Chocolove to drag away his teammates; his part on my mother's story might be true, after all.

She stopped at the port. "Where to?" she asked herself.

"Here's good," said someone from behind, "hello, Rue."

She turned around with a straight face, "I kind of expected this." She looked at him, who seemed to be waiting for something. "Don't expect me to run and jump on you just to greet you."

Hao laughed at the comment, "I knew you were gonna say that, but it was funny hearing it out loud."

"Psh. What, making fun of me, already?" you don't need to try and talk normally.

"Don't get too worked up, if you didn't overreact before, we would have just talked back then." Hao sat down the dock and decided to look at the ocean.

"And I suppose, you expect our talk to be light and carefree?" Rue just stood behind him.

"He-he. What did you want to ask first?"

"Why would you help…" She started to ask, but was interrupted.

"I told you, I need Yoh to get stronger."

"But, back in Europe you didn't want me helping Yoh."

"Because it wasn't time for him, yet." Rue's face showed confusion, so Hao continued, "he needed to get stronger on his own, then."

"You really didn't decide on a whim?" she decided to sit down, too.

He laughed again, "Did it look like that?"

"But he already conceded," she said in confusion.

"Not for long." He answered with a smile.

She looked at him, waiting for an explanation. But he didn't speak further, she decided to let it as it is for now; of course you have a plan.

"What if Yoh gets strong enough to stop you?" she said, a small smile on her face.

"You say the funniest things." He said with a smirk.

She decided not to respond. Silence followed for a while.

"So what my mother said was true." She muttered.

"All of it," he confirmed, "are you having doubts in moving forward?"

She just looked at him and found that she didn't have the answer to that, yet. Do I really want to go through with this?

"That's too bad, it would have been a good show." He smirked at her, which irritated her. Everything's an entertainment to you.

"Damn you." She said between gritted teeth, "I'll give you a good show" without concealing her irritation.

He smiled cockily, and then looked in front, "you saw your mother, huh?"

She nodded.

"And you learned about the past?"

She nodded again, as she tried to remember.

"So tell me, how was it?"

She just looked at him, the answer not coming to her again. I'm still confused.

She felt her mood get serious all of a sudden, "was it you back then, when my mother died?" but he was just quiet.

"There were no other shamans in the town. And I wasn't strong enough to create that fire. Miki-sama said if it were normal fire, we would have also been swallowed in it."

"You want to say you're grateful to me?"

"Yes. Thank you – for saving me."

"You didn't need to say your thanks. I can read your mind." He answered, his face blank.

"But – Well, I – it's different for me. It wouldn't be the same if I just think it and not say it." She stood up and dusted her back. "I promise you, I'll stop you, this time."

"Going back?"

"Yea," she started walking back, but stopped after a few steps, "Thank you, Hao."

She purposely took the longer path back to the inn. I still need time to think.

Her mind wandered back to her mother's face.

FLASHBACK

"My dear Rue, listen to me well."

She sat up straight, intently listening to her mother.

"Do you know the reason behind your healing powers?"

She opened her mouth, but closed it again, thinking about it, "I haven't thought about it."

"It's because of your furyoku. To a shaman, our furyoku is our life source. If we exhaust this, it means death. But some shamans are able to transfer their furyoku to another person; like you, they are Yutas."

"Wouldn't that mean if I revive a person, I give all my furyoku to him, then nothing should be left in me?"

"In theory, that is correct, that is why not all Yutas can revive people."

"Ah, the stronger ones?"

"Yeah, that could be one. Over history Yutas, has furthered their powers by contracting stronger spirits – a few are able to use god-class. With the spirit's power, they are able to transfer a larger amount of furyoku without taking the same amount from their own."

"Sounds like amplification."

"Yes, you may say so. Still, others make use of their skills or expertise in order to use a minimal amount of furyoku in healing, but these seldom get to revivification."

"Ah, like Faust."

"Unless they receive a strong power."

"Power?"

"Knowledge. If you can't increase your furyoku, you can increase your mind power."

"I can't see where I stand in any of these."

"Because you, Rue, are a unique shaman."

She shows off a confused look.

"On top of your ability to transfer your furyoku to another person, your body is also capable of regenerating the lost furyoku faster than normal."

She was taking her time to take in her mother's words, but Mariko continued.

"Only one other shaman was known to have that ability. And she had developed a great use for this power."

"A great use?"

"Yes. That power, has been kept protected by our family since a thousand years ago."

"I didn't know about that."

Mariko looked away, feeling guilty, "that was my fault. I wanted so much for you to stay out of it."

"Mom."

But then, Mariko turned to her with a smile. "It's finally time for that now."

"You know that all shamans do not use all their furyoku at once."

"Yeah, Keiko-sensei told me that it's because it would be lethal to the shaman, right?"

"Yes that's because that final bit of furyoku – probably the most powerful – is called our soul."

Mariko stood up and pulled her daughter's hand until they were outside again.

"We can determine the power and limits of our furyoku by our soul – or others call it our hearts. It is because our soul is our furyoku in itself."

Rue experimentally held out her hand and willed for fire to emerge from it. Her hand lit up in no time. With renewed confidence, she closed her eyes and called out, "Irkosu."

As she did, the fox spirit came out dancing in front of her.

"Even as a soul you can call out your spirit," her mother continued as she ran her hands through Irkosu's body, "this only shows that our soul really is furyoku."

"Mom, don't you think maybe," Rue answered as she looked at her hand, "it's the other way around?" She turned to look at her mother and smiled, "Maybe our furyoku shows what our soul really is."

Mariko patted Rue's head affectionately, "I'm sure that's true."

"But, Mom, what do I do now?"

"I told you, you'll learn the only technique our family has protected, passed on, but never used." She said, getting serious.

"Never used?"

"Because only you can control it, and it was meant for this fight only."

Rue gulped, getting nervous.

FLASHBACK END

The sound of waves pulled her out of her thoughts. As she rounded a tree in front, she was once again greeted by the beach.

This couldn't be the same beach, could it?

But then a figure by the port caught her attention – Hao waved to her just then. She immediately spun around and ran back to the forest, her mind screaming, I won't let you say anything!

A few minutes later, she sat by a comfortable-looking tree. I got lost in the forest! Her earlier embarrassment shot back to her memories.

She looked up at the sky wondering what time it was. It's almost nighttime. I'm getting hungry. She remembered not having lunch earlier – which was her rebelling against The Ren team for not allowing her to go out.

She dropped her hand to one side and felt something on the ground.

She found mushrooms growing by the foot of the tree. She picked one, and studied it for a moment.

I wonder if I can eat this, looking at the mushroom made her feel her hunger more.

Nah – I was always bad at knowing what's poison and what's not.

She closed her eyes, just a little while, she thought.

She suddenly pictured a mushroom-costumed Manta following Yoh, a tree sprouting on his head.

Both of them stopped as Yoh started to talk, "Rue, I'll end your suffering."

She was not given a chance to respond as fire slowly crept from the ground. She was now in a burning house.

Her eyes widened at seeing a figure at the middle. She ran forward in panic, but stopped short as she saw her younger self, sobs heaving her small body – which was crouched protectively around a another body lying on the floor.

"Mom."

She awoke with a jolt. I haven't had that dream in a while.

"Rue, are you alright?" It was Yoh.

Yoh, who had always saved her from her deepest pain.

She suddenly attacked him with a hug. Losing his balance from the unexpected gesture, he fell on the ground pulling her with him. "Hey, are you really okay?" He patted her head in worry.

She just nodded in response, "Yoh~" she cried, but Yoh could feel nothing wrong.

He released the breath he was holding, but suddenly needed to take air back in as a familiar sandal stepped by his head.

Oh yeah, Anna! Alarms went off in his head as Anna crouched down to get closer.

Anna picked Rue up tearing her from Yoh – stepping on him in the process.

"Uff!"

Surprised, the teary-eyed Rue looked at Anna.

"If nothing's wrong, then let's go back," Anna said commandingly.

But Rue continued to look at her. She squirmed from Anna's hand not breaking their eye-contact.

She's acting weird, Anna thought.

As she was about to call to Yoh, Rue suddenly caught her in a hug, "Anna, Oh Anna!" Rue said happily. With that, she collapsed.

"Master Yoh, what happened?" Ryu asked from behind some trees as he skillfully wheeled Faust to Yoh and the others.

"Miss Anna, what happened?" Ryu shouted when he saw Anna – stunned and wide-eyed.

"Ryu, come help me carry Rue, she lost consciousness all of a sudden. Let's take her back and check."

I'm back! ^_^

Oh gosh! I'm really really sorry for updating sooo late. But I thank all who reviewed after the last chapter :" I love you all so much! XD

AND Because of that - I promise to update tomorrow, if not, by weekend. woohoo! :D (and partly because, I felt this chapter needs more story XP)

luvyah!