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 13

Team The Ren retreated to a public bathhouse after hearing the news. All the while, Rue was restlessly running around the inn trying to tidy up everything.

"Rue," she heard Yoh call, "you don't have to worry. Everything's clean." He said with a smile.

"Yoh, but…"

"I'm going to the arena early, could you come with me? The others have things to do."

"Okay." Rue agreed.

On their way to the arena, Yoh held her arm stopping her from walking, "I want to talk to you about something."

"Yoh?" Rue asked confused.

"I heard from Anna," he started.

Her eyes filled with worry as soon as she realized what he meant, "Yoh, I'm sorry!" She bowed her head in apology.

"Rue," he said lifting her face back up, "you're not at fault. You've been through so much, I just wanted to say, this time around, I'll help you."

"Yoh~" she tearfully said, "thank you!"

He grinned before adding, "we'll be relaxing forever after this is done – all of us."

She sighed feeling uplifted with Yoh's optimism. Maybe I can survive what happens later, after all.

When the start of the fight was announced, Rue mentally cheered for her friends, Good luck!

When the first blow was thrown at Ren, Rue felt her heart drop as she clearly saw Ren's face twist in pain and shock. Yoh turned around to face her, patting her head to calm her.

Then, Ren tore off the remaining fabric of his shirt; Rue cringed seeing the huge scar on his body. Yoh realized that Rue has still not gotten over the incident with Ren dying. "He's gonna be okay," he whispered, hoping to ease her worries.

Rue was at the edge of her seat, literally, but when Ren finally landed a blow on Yainage, she visibly relaxed, holding on to her chest. That Ren, he always makes me worry like this.

She gripped the handles of her seat when Ren collapsed. It took everything for her not to run right there and heal him. She was focused on Ren's body, the next thing she knew, Chocolove was already stabbed and hanging on an arrow's body. She stood up abruptly and walked closer startling Manta who was near the ledge.

They were already attacking Horohoro, but Rue felt relieved seeing him deflect their attacks. She silently prayed, Please make this quick, Horohoro. During their training, she realized what Pascal Avaf was trying to make Horrohoro do. He has a strong inherent power, and Rue was able to see glimpses of it during her training with Horohoro.

A few moments later, Horohoro was able to defeat the remaining Myooh members, but surprisingly, Ren and Chocolove were unharmed. Rue was able to relax back on her seat as they announced the winner. Now their fight had ended; it's about time she starts hers.

"Anna, can't you take my side this time?" Rue said pleadingly.

"Only if you're being reasonable." Anna answered, straightforwardly. It was bad enough that she was begging for Anna's help, but she, without hesitation, rejected all of those pleas.

"Just this night, we still have to celebrate, don't we?"

"I'm busy." With that, Anna stood up and grabbed Manta.

When Team The Ren entered the inn, Anna was already dragging Manta outside, with Tamao following them.

"Pirika, you come with us, too." Anna said demandingly that called girl instinctively obliged.

Now, only four of them were left in the room. Food was already served, and Rue was sitting in front of the table. It would look like a celebration, if only there were more people.

"Eh – Congratulations on your win!" she greeted, but it was obvious she was pushing herself.

Ren raised an eyebrow at her. The three proceeded to sit opposite Rue.

"You were going to tell us something." Ren stated.

Brat! Rue shut her eyes, afraid of looking at them – she might back out if she risked a peek. To be sure, she bowed her head, and inwardly repeated, Please don't get mad at me!

"I… I don't know where to start, after all." Rue said softly.

"Rue, I told you, stop running away." Ren almost shouted, slowly losing patience.

"Okay already!" Where's that optimism earlier? She thought to herself. She released a deep sigh before finally looking at them. "This would be my third life."

"What?" Horohoro asked, confused.

"I don't understand." Chocolove told his teammates.

"It would be the same with Hao – reincarnation." She got their attention with this, "not just similar, but tied to it – I should say."

Rue sighed again, and forced herself to look at the mages in front of her. "It was 1000 years ago – I was a miko – I prayed to the gods, every single day. I asked them to help me; I needed to be reincarnated whenever Hao appears in this world."

"That would mean you were in the shaman fight 500 years ago, too." Horohoro concluded.

"You're right. I was not a participant; I had a different role, then. I was actually Yohken's younger sister." This earned her surprised stares from her audience, "Yeah, I was helping him defeat Hao. That would actually be my motivation for submitting myself in this. As long as Hao is reborn, I, too, get reborn; in all those three lifetimes, I was in the Asakura clan. This is all in order to stop him."

"You're actually one of the Asakura ancestors?" Chocolove exclaimed.

"Uhm, yeah. About that – "

"Wait, I just remembered something, wasn't Yohken's sister the one from your branch; the one who started the sub-branch style and all your teachings?" Ren inquired.

"Yes, that would also be me. Now that I think about it, it was okay – all the strict teachings, the duty – it was all for this moment, after all, I'm just sorry I had to subject the others from my clan to all of those hardships. But I need to be steadfast; it was all to prepare for this final fight."

"So you were an Asakura, too, in your first life?" He added, having a bad feeling on the story.

"Ah – that. Well," Please don't hate me! "It would seem that in my first lifetime, I was Hao Asakura's wife." She said looking at her hands. She steeled herself, preparing for their reactions.

Silence.

It was truly a tense atmosphere. Rue quietly waited for the three to give off some kind of reaction, but her news seemed to have put the three into shock. She sighed, once again, and chose to continue, "things happened, and I felt, as his partner, that I had to stop his plans. That was when I met Pascal Avaf. We helped each other build up a team and find strong shamans who could fight Hao. In the end, Pascal died, but Hao did, too. Hao, however, was able to learn how to control when he'll be reincarnated and to whom will his new body be born. 500 years later, he came back, naturally, after praying to the gods every single day, I, too, was reborn." The silence was suffocating; they were still there, she could feel them. But she didn't want to risk a peek at the reactions on their faces – she might not be able to continue if she did.

"That's not fair for you." Horohoro said softly.

Rue was taken off guard by the comment that her eyes shot straight to meet with Horohoro's; she was unresponsive at first, trying to think of how to react.

"I-I'm… No… thank you for your concern. Even though I've told you all of those, you were still thinking about me." She started to tear up, Shit! Not now. "But it's okay. I don't mind it at all. It was my own choice in the first place." She looked at the other two, who intently faced the floor, before staring back at her hands firmly planted on the table.

This is frustrating. If they could just say anything, it wouldn't be this tense, damn it! She cried helplessly in her mind. It was becoming uneasy – the silence from her friends.

"Rue…" Horohoro said worriedly.

"Why?" Ren cut in. Three heads turned to him, waiting, "why did you tell us only now?"

"500 years ago, I asked to be revived without my past memories. I thought then, Hao would not be able to anticipate me, or maybe because I was trying a different approach," she said with a humorless chuckle, "It was stupid, right?"

"But he knew you right away, didn't he? That's why in London…"

"Yea, you're right. He knew from the very beginning. I was so stupid; I underestimated his power. Now it shot right back at me," she said looking directly at Ren, adding the last one a bit softly.

"Back at you?" but Chocolove heard.

"Ah! No, nothing. It's nothing." She said as she forced herself to look at them acting all jolly, "when I first entered the great spirit, that was when I started to gain them back – my memories. I don't remember everything, yet. But they're coming to me, slowly."

Horohoro looked at his comrades, waiting for anyone to speak, but the two were sat quietly in their places, "why would you do it?" he asked finally.

"I thought if he was finally stopped, maybe I could forgive myself for being weak." Seeing her sadness as she answered, the three decided not to ask any more questions.

No one spoke after that, before the mood got too awkward, Horohoro decided to invite the boys to the bathhouse.

After that talk, no one was really in the mood to eat. The three men went to the public bathhouse to rest. It was a quiet walk to the bathhouse, no one spoke until they were soaked in hot water.

"Yoh's family is really complicated, huh?" Chocolove dared to break the silence.

"Yeah. I could have never expected that," Horohoro added. Both of them looked at each other, and then to Ren, hesitating to ask that question.

"Well, it doesn't end there, does it? You owe us an explanation, too." Ren dodged the spotlight.

"Ah, well. If you say so." Both retreated.

Back at the inn…

When the three left, Rue was finally able to release her emotions. It was really a bad day; it felt like her heart was about to burst because of all the confusion.

She thought back at Ren's question, why had she ever thought of removing her memories. It created more problems than she needed.

Just then, Jun and Bailong entered the inn. "Rue."

"Jun-nee." She answered as she wiped the sadness from her face.

"Oh, you've told them, huh?"

"Yes. Even though I expected much worse, it was still painful, after all."

"Oh Rue." Jun said sympathizing with her. The older woman decided to embrace the girl she grew fond of, but the latter did not move, even then.

"I think he still needs time."

"Don't worry. It'll be alright."

Although Rue couldn't think of any way to make it right, she felt a little comforted hearing Yoh's famous line. She then, clutched onto Jun's arms as she let out a huge sigh.

"Thank you, Jun-nee. I'll be alright," she tried to smile at the older shaman, "let's go."

They went in Rue's room. "I'm counting on you, then, Jun-nee, Bailong." She said as she lied down.

"Good luck." Was all Rue heard Jun uttered before she lost consciousness.