Shaman King

by The Amazing Sakumachan

For Higurashi Kagome, moving to Tokyo was supposed to be a fresh start. But little did she know that she was walking a similar path that was walked before. A fateful encounter. A promise that transcends time and space. A gift that keeps giving. What path lends a Happy Ending? [SPOILER-IFIC]

30. Asakura Yoh: Alpha

Asakura Yoh: Alpha

I Saw the Beginning

Slender, feminine arms trembled against the cool brush of a passing spring wind. The golden radiance of the sun against the bright clear sky painted a splendid portrait of deception. Hours ago, Anna looked out of her apartment window and noted what a beautiful day it was turning out to be. This was her grave mistake:she trusted her eyes.

The blonde woman found herself scowling in dismay as she tried rubbing warmth into her exposed skin. Spring was the season of rebirth, rejuvenation, and lies. The bright sun, the clear sky, and the flowers blooming: they were all lies. It was still pretty damn cold.

Too damn cold to wear nothing but the sleeveless, white sundress and beige sandals that the itako was sporting anyway.

The amused chuckle from her cheesing husband made her aim a silent, sharp glare at him. Yoh shook his head and mused as he shrugged off his denim jacket. "Told ya it'd be too cold today~." Chivalrously, he stood behind his wife and helped her inside of the dark blue cavern of body heat.

"Oh, shut up," Anna muttered as she breathed an annoyed huff and crossed her arms, her body language showing that she was in a somewhat sour mood and was not to be trifled with.

But even at age thirty-three, Yoh was not above poking fun at the (rare, in Anna's opinion) occurrence that his wife was wrong, and he was right. Even now, she still became embarrassed over the smallest things, and he still found it endearing.

"So, are you following up on that lead?" Anna asked as they continued their trek through the side streets of Tokyo. She noticed that familiar spark in Yoh's eyes when a prospective job was brought up by none than Manta earlier. It was strange how life could change people entirely. The once crying and seemingly cowardly runt had grown into a successful businessman who researched local supernatural and paranormal phenomena in his free time.

Yoh could not help but smile. "Sounds like someone like us is out there, and they need help," He stated. He closed his eyes as he recalled all of the details that Manta gave them about Tokyo's "hottest" paranormal case. "I have no clue what to expect from this person, but I have to at least try," he admitted with a soft sigh that became a reassuring smile. "Because I'm a shaman."

The couple stopped at an abrupt fork in the quiet neighborhood road.

The left path would lead them back to their apartment that they rented during their stay.

The right path would take them towards the outskirts of Tokyo.

"So, wanna come with?" Yoh asked with a wide grin. Anna's deadpanned expression told him her answer without her having to open her mouth. "It might be fun~" He added optimistically.

"Tch," She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right," She replied sarcastically as she turned heel and began walking the path on the left. "Remember that we're just visiting, on vacation," She reminded him as she continued walking. "Try not to waste all of your time with work."

Yoh watched Anna's slender form disappear from sight. Her frame tried shrinking into the warmth of his jacket: the very jacket that he only brought along so that he could give it to her once she realized the error of her ways. As much as he wanted to do nothing more than laze around their cozy apartment with her, Yoh had to follow his call in life.

The Asakura turned a solemn expression in the direction of his voluntary mission. According to Manta, there had been more and more cases and testimonies that civilians had been attacked and chased away from a shrine that used to be quite popular in the area. The few common elements in the stories were that the attacks took place around sunset, and by a beautiful, young priestess.

From what Yoh had known about ordinary humans and people with "supernatural" abilities like him, he suspected that the priestess was only defending herself. He figured that she was afraid and lonely. And if this truly was the case, Yoh had to meet her and show her that she did not have to resort to violence to find peace. It was a lesson that all beings born with great power had to learn eventually.

S.H.A.M.A.N.K.I.N.G.

Yoh paled and grimaced. He was truly considering turning back and joining his wife in lazing about their apartment for the evening. He was now staring down the strongest, most ruthless, most diabolical enemy that he had faced in years: stairs.

But it was not just any stairs: it was a traditional, grand case of stone stairs that led up to most prosperous Japanese shrines and temples. A waterfall of tears streamed down his tanned face as he hunched over in an act of melodramatic exhaustion. He had just finished an hour-long commute to make it this far.

And what was his reward?

Stairs.

Lots of them.

The shaman's silent misery was interrupted as a shockwave of energy erupted from somewhere beyond the apex of the stairs and pushed through his body. His eyes widened as the air was knocked from his lungs. 'W-what...?' He thought as his jaw dropped in awe. He instinctively stood up straight and looked towards the source of the energy wave that swept through the area with a ripple effect.

The energy was unlike anything that he had felt before.

And it was nothing like he had expected.

Based on the rumors, Yoh had expected a bitter, angry aura from someone who was acting out of fear or spite. He was expecting something like how Anna used to be when they had first met. But this priestess, she was nothing like that.

The translucent pulse of blue energy that she emitted left behind a spiritual residue that was thick and heavy with an overwhelming, seemingly endless sorrow. The grief that afflicted this tortured person drowned Yoh in a sea of grief and despair. The priestess' anguish flood the atmosphere around the entire shrine, leaving him with feelings of suffocation. The Asakura narrowed his eyes at the tightening in his chest

Stairs be damned.

Yoh had made up his mind.

He had to help her.

The traditional torii gate at the base of the stairs seemed to welcome him as he began his ascension towards the shrine. Another pulse of energy almost made the shaman lose his footing a quarter of the way up. It was just as heavy and brimming with grief as before. Yoh was compelled to quicken his pace. However, his haste did not make him blind to the very visible signs of age and neglect of the property.

The cracks in the discolored stone stairs were plentiful. The grass on either side of the staircase was unmaintained, left to grown wild and free. Sunset was fast approaching as orange spilled and crashed into blue overhead. By the time that Yoh reached the top of the stairs, the sky was a breath-taking mix of orange, pink, and blue. Even more breath-taking was the state of disarray that this shrine was left in.

The ground was littered with divets. Hopeful greenery pushed its way through the cracks and holes in the cement. There were also four structures that suffered from a lack of love and care: a residential house worn by weather and suffocated by vines; a lonely shrine where surely no one prayed or paid their respects to; a recognizable storage shed; and finally, a well-seasoned, mysterious smaller structure. Yoh sidestepped the sign that warned people not to trespass on the property. He could easily trace the energy towards the small structure.

Yoh's heart skipped a beat as another surge of energy pierced through him; this one was accompanied by a woman's deep wail. The cry was so pure. It was a desperate, futile attempt of a tortured soul who was trying to release their pain. It was the cry of someone who needed to escape a cruel fate. It was the cry of someone who Yoh knew he needed to help. Within a few short strides, the shaman found himself standing in front of the double-doors of the small building. He lightly knocked on one of them.

It was almost eerie how the crying instantly stopped, but the aura of sorrow did not recede. "I'm coming in," He announced politely yet casually as he parted the doors, allowing the golden backdrop to illuminate the darkened depths. Yoh was not surprised that he found an old well inside of the small house; it was not uncommon for older shrines that have dried wells. But he was surprised to find that the obviously dry well had not been covered or sealed in any way.

There was a moment of silence in the empty well-house.

"Ah," Yoh blinked as he watched a small hand tremble as its owner seemingly struggled to reach up from the depths of the well. He heard a soft, feminine grunt as the hand took hold of the lip of the well. The hand was soon followed by another grunt, then its partner. A short moment later, the owner of the hands slowly hoisted themselves up and out of the well.

She truly was a young, beautiful priestess.

She could not be a day over twenty years old.

She was a modern twist on the traditional Japanese beauty image: her long, black hair was a bit on the wavey side, her youthful skin was sun-skinned, and her eyes were a striking, unusual shade of blue. She adorned traditional priestess garb: a white haori, red hakama, white socks, and split-toed sandals.

"Uh..." Yoh began lamely and awkwardly as he found himself almost freezing up when she finally noticed his presence. Their eyes met. His warm chocolate pools found the depths of her blue oceans. The quick flicker of confusion in her blue eyes quickly became a storm of anger, fear, and pain. Her blue eyes further cemented that she needed his help.

The shaman offered the priestess a smile as he raised his hand in a friendly gesture. "Hi. I'm—!"

"Get." She suddenly seethed through clenched teeth. "OUT!" She shouted, with no care for hearing what he had to say. Those blue eyes lit up with a stranger power.

Yoh grunted as he was sent flying backwards by an invisible force. He landed several yards away, the wind knocked out of him as his back hit the ground. He winced as he slowly sat up in time for him to see the doors of the well-house slam shut. "Well, okay," He mumbled with a frown.

This girl was obviously going to make things even more difficult for him.

The shaman sighed audibly, but smiled nonetheless.

He accepted this challenge.

S.H.A.M.A.N.K.I.N.G.

The very next day, Yoh made the same trip and arrived around the same time: early evening when the sun was beginning to set. The priestess flooded the area with the same surges of woeful waves. Today, the shaman's foot got caught in a small divet in the shrine grounds and he ended up flat on his face.

It was a face full of dirt and gravel that made Yoh realized that he had returned without a plan of how he would approach the priestess. The mental image of Anna calling him an idiot for attempting to approach a hostile without a plan of action made Yoh release a quiet, embarrassed chuckle.

Oh well.

Yoh was the type to just go with the flow anyway, so he just had to work with what he had: absolutely nothing. After wiping his face with his arm, the shaman headed towards the small structure where a wave of energy and loud cries tugged on his heartstrings again. His bleeding heart was aching for this woman.

The shaman strode over to the well-house. After a soft knock and an announcement of his presence, he opened the doors and stepped inside. The crying had died down the moment that he had said he was coming inside. A few moments later, the young woman pulled herself out of the well once again. She dusted off her clothing before turning and looking up at him from her position near the well. Warm brown met stormy blue again. The shaman smiled and raised his hand to wave at her, "Good eve—! WAH!"

This evening routine repeated itself over and over again.

Yoh returned the next day, and the day after, and the day after that one, and the day after the day after.

"Yo, I'm coming in! Oh, hi th—! AHHHH!"

What he once thought would be a half week's worth of effort easily became a week and a half worth. About eleven times, Yoh made the journey to the desolate shrine and tried approaching the priestess.

"Priestess-san, I'm back~! How about we—?! UWAH!"

Once again, he was expelled from the well-house with a force that sent him flying and landing on his back.

With the wind knocked out of him, the shaman looked up at the sky that was slowly changing colors. 'Okay,' he closed his eyes and cupped his chin thoughtfully. 'I've got to think of a way to get her to talk to me.' He hummed as he slowly sat up. 'No, even before that, I've got to avoid that strange attack of her—. Attack?' He tilted his head to the side at thought of what the woman had done to him many times now. It was not truly an attack, was it?

Yoh then thought of the testimonials from civilians, how many of them claimed to have been attacked and chased off by an angry priestess. Of course, ordinary humans would take this view on the young woman. But as someone who knew pain and loneliness, Yoh knew better. His brown eyes widened and lit up as an idea struck him.

He finally had a plan of attack—err, approach.

S.H.A.M.A.N.K.I.N.G.

It was the twelfth consecutive day of Yoh's attempts at befriending the priestess. He made the same one-hour commute to the outskirts of Tokyo. He made the same trip up the excessive staircase. He ignored the same sign that told him not to trespass, but had no true power to stop him. He skipped over the same cracks in the ground. Everything was occurring almost exactly how it had been these past two days, down to the same ache in his chest upon hearing the priestess' loud weeping.

Even though it was taking a lot more time than expected, Yoh was determined to make some sort of progress with her. He did not have it in him to not give this endeavor his all every single day until his goal was reached. This time, Yoh did not knock, nor did he verbally announce his intrusion. He opened the doors and stepped inside the small space. Its atmosphere was heavy with the priestess' misery and pain. Her crying did not cease this time.

Yoh flinched and scowled after she unleased a wail that borderlined a roar. It was as if she was shouting her suffering out on a lonely mountain top, hoping that the wind would carry her pain away. The shaman listened in on the heart-wrenching cacophony of howls and bawls that the priestess screamed out. All the while, her voice, primal but not yet raw, bellowed from the depths of the dark well.

Wordlessly and cautiously, Yoh slowly descended the short staircase. One foot followed the other ever so carefully, as to not make a sound and alert the priestess of his presence. Once close enough, Yoh peered down the passage. The light from outside was unable to pierce so deeply into the house. Thus, the shaman found himself staring into an ominous gaping mouth of darkness as the priestess' cries pounded against his ears.

Yoh cupped a hand around the side of his mouth and called out into the nether, "He...Hello? Priestess-san, what are you doing down there?" He already knew the answer to his question to an extent, but he wondered if the priestess herself knew the answer yet.

The sound of his voice caused the young woman's cries to become soft whimpers.

Yoh waited in silence for the priestess to either answer his question, or send him flying out of the well-house again. A minute of nothing but soft cries and whimpers cued him in that neither would happen, yet. "How about you come out of there and we talk, yeah?" He requested gently.

The shaman had nothing but the priestess' voice to tell him that she was even in the well. Without a flashlight, he opted for willing his Furyoku forward. His golden energy surrounded his body and shone down the well much like the sun would. Finally, he could see her.

She was sitting on the dry dirt floor, hugging her knees to her chest as her forehead rested on top of them. Yoh heard an almost inaudible gasp come from the priestess. She blinked and slowly raised her head to look up at the sudden source of light. The shaman could feel his heart lighten at the sight of her.

The priestess's eyes squinted for a moment as they adjusted to the illumination. Her blue orbs slowly lit up in wonder and as her lips parted slightly, as if this was the first time that she had seen light in her entire life.

Yoh smiled as he leaned as far into the well as he could. He extended his right hand to the priestess who stared up at him with the expression of a child who was witnessing fireworks for the first time. "What do ya say? Wanna talk?" He offered, slowly, tentatively, soothingly.

The priestess' pink lips twitched as she opened her mouth to speak. "Wh..." The wonder in her eyes never left as she asked him in a breathy voice, "Who are you...?" The way that this woman stared up at him told Yoh even more about her story, without her even knowing.

This was progress.

"My name is Asakura Yoh," He told her, his smile still going strong and his hand still extended out to her. It felt good, reassuring even, to be able to introduce himself to her. "And I'm a shaman," he added with much pride and confidence in his profession and title. He had hoped that hearing that he was someone like her would put her more at ease.

...it did not.

The announcement of his profession seemed to bring the priestess down from her dazzled daze. Her facial expression turned deadpanned within seconds as her tone became just as dry. "You're a shaman? What exactly does that have to do with anything?"

Yoh's smile faltered and became a desperate, nervous, almost panicked expression. "W-Well, I thought we could be friends!" He blurted out before feeling a bit embarrassed for being so tactless and straightforward. The priestess stared up at him quietly. "You know, bond over how similar our professions are?" He asked, as if asking for her help, or begging her to meet him halfway on the matter.

"You..." The priestess asked slowly as her eyes narrowed at him, as if she was having a hard time believing his words. "Want to be my friend?"

Yoh nodded and smiled with a lot of enthusiasm, "I do, so just...take my hand."

The priestess's eyes looked between his face and his hand, as if she was trying to connect the dots between the two. This young woman was indeed a particularly strange one, but it was somewhat expected of a modern-day priestess. She took her time as she slowly got to her feet.

Yoh watched as she mentally accessed the distance between where she stood and his hand. It was not a simple matter of her reaching up and taking his hand. She needed some leverage, some added height, or to jump. The shaman had seen her climb out of the well on her own however, so he was sure that she had a way to reach him if she truly wanted to.

This was the moment of truth.

The priestess had the option of turning him away again, or taking his hand.

Yoh hoped that she would make the latter decision. But deep down, he knew that he would still return even if she turned him away again. That was just the type of person that he was. The corner of his mouth twitched in a silent excitement when the priestess slowly reached out to him.

...then, she retracted her hand as a look of reluctance appeared on her face. "You want to be friends with me..." She repeated softly. "Are you sure...about that?" She inquired as her eyes reflected misery once again. "I'm not sure entirely, my memory is fuzzy," she placed a hand on her head as she strained to remember. "But I get the feeling that I've seen you before, and that I've been rude to you."

"Don't worry about it~" He shook his head and reassured her. "So, why not come out and we can have a nice chat?" He asked her once again, determined to not let today's progress go to waste. "It looks like you could really use a friend."

The priestess suddenly pursed her lips as she looked like she was trying to fight back more tears. A hiccupy cry blubbered out from between her pursed lips, despite her best efforts. Her small shoulders trembled as her hands rose to cover her mouth and mute the sounds that seemed to embarrass and shame her. Her face flushed a bit as she replied, "I-I think you're right."

Yoh could not suppress a chuckle from escaping his throat. It was a bit amusing how she flustered she became when she knew that someone could see and hear her cries. Moreover, this particular cry was more on the cute side, as he could hear a warmth to it. "Glad that you see it my way~" He smiled before continued speaking in a light-hearted tone, "Starting today, we're going be good friends, so..."

The priestess' eyes glossed over with tears from his next question.

"Are you ready?" He asked her softly.

For the first time since he had laid eyes on her, the young woman smiled, but not without her eyes shutting and squeezing out tears. "Yes, I am~" She nodded as her hands moved away from her mouth. Without any trace of hesitation this time, the priestess extended her arm towards Yoh's. Unsurprisingly, their hands were too far apart to meet.

The priestess looked annoyed before she made an applaudable, but futile attempt at jumping towards him. She jumped once more, her slender fingers stretching out as far as possible. Yoh pursed his lips and tried to suppress a fit of laughter at the sight. The young woman noticed and flushed in embarrassment.

"Meep!" He squeaked through an apologetic grin after she glared at him.

A moment later the priestess took a page from his book as her body was enveloped into a pure white light. She slowly began to floating closer towards him until her hand fell into his. They shared a smile as his larger hand gently encased her smaller one. Pulling her up and out of the well was a cinch. The moment that she was out of the well, both of their auras faded away.

The priestess blinked curiously when the shaman breathed a deep sigh of relief. Upon seeing her inquisitive expression, he merely chuckled and shook his head, "Oh, it's nothing~" He smiled while plopping his butt cheeks down on the lip of the well. The young woman to his left followed his example, all while her curious eyes never left his face. Once again, she looked like a lost child, or like a stray dog. "So, what should we talk about?" He asked.

Her eyebrow twitched at the question. Yoh threw his hands up and she leaned towards him, small hands balled into fists as she shouted, her tone incredulous but not angry, "You're asking me after all of that?!"

"S-Sorry," He sweatdropped while laughing awkwardly. "I didn't think that I'd get this far," he admitted. The priestess' annoyed expression fell into an amused one.

"You kinda suck at this, Asakura Yoh-sama," She teased him with a small smile.

"Yoh-sama?" The shaman blushed a bit at the formal honorific. He raised a hand and smiled apologetically, "I appreciate the sentiment but could you drop the honorific? It's a little embarrassing."

The blue-eyed woman tilted her head to the side and asked, "Then... Asakura Yoh-san?"

Yoh stifled a laugh and waved his hand dismissively," We're friends now, remember? Just Yoh is fine." This time it was the priestess' turn to blush a bit at being given permission to be so informal, but to Yoh, it was just the name that he was accustomed to. "Speaking of names, what should I call you?"

The priestess's entire demeanor shifted just from that question. Her fingertips brushed against her forehead as she raised her hand to her head that seemed to suddenly ache. Her previously gentle expression distorted into a pained one as she struggled to remember what should have been a simple, automatic answer. "My name...is..." She closed her eyes for a moment as she tried wracked her brain for a clue. "It's..."

Yoh was patient. He sat in silence as he waited for her answer.

It felt like several minutes passed by before she finally conceded with a soft and deflated, "Sorry for wasting your time... I can't seem to remember my name..." Her hands dropped into her lap. Her fingers interlocked tightly as she cupped her hands. "Or anything about myself," she added. "I don't even know what I'm doing here."

Yoh frowned at the sound of her wavering, weakening voice. It sounded like she was going to cry again, and he did not blame her for that. He placed a hand on top of her head and gave it a gentle rub. "You don't have to be sorry about anything. It's not your fault," He explained. He was glad that she still had the will to look him in the eye. "That's why I'm here, okay?"

"What...do you mean...?"

The confusion in her eyes confirmed Yoh's suspicions.

The shaman smiled warmly as he explained as delicately yet clearly as he could, "I think you have amnesia because you hit your head when you died." The surprise in the priestess' eyes was mild, but it was there. "Since you're so young, your death was probably abrupt so you died with unfinished business..." He paused for a moment, giving the spirit room to ask questions if she had any.

But she was content with listening to his conjectures.

"So you're haunting this shrine because you can't move on. And you won't be able to move on until you remember your unfinished business, or something like that," Yoh concluded. He tried to lighten the mood by flexing his bicep to symbolize how strong he was. "But that's where I come in~! I'm going to help you remember who you are so we can get you into heaven!"

The mild surprise in the priestess' eyes then faded and became pure curiosity again. She tilted her head slightly and asked him straightforwardly, "But why? Why do you want to help me so much?" The shaman was more taken aback by her follow-up statement than the initial question itself. "I'm sure there are plenty of other people out there who need you more than I do."

Yoh studied the priestess' face for a moment. Her statement was so pure and sincere. She was not saying it out of self-deprecation or suspicion for him. 'She doesn't remember who she was,' Yoh thought to himself. 'But I can tell, she's truly a good person...so selfless and kind.'

The priestess was unaware of it, but truly, she was the most miserable soul that he had met in a long time. Her pain and despair spawned a residual haunting in the form of her heart-shattering cries. Her ghostly wails were a symphony of untuned, neglected violins and shrill, unloved piccolos. Her soul was a displaced echo of the person who she was once: a person that the world had forgotten.

But, this was a person who Yoh wanted to know.

This was a person who Yoh wanted to know herself.

Yoh did not know how to answer her question without saying something that would probably fluster her. He offered her a cheesy grin while rubbing the back of his neck, "Well, I guess it's because you really spoke to me—" Understandably, the priestess appeared puzzled by the answer. "Your case, I mean."

"My case?" She repeated as her blue eyes blinked. "What does that mean?" She asked as she began swinging her legs back and forth, much like a child trying to pass the time. "Something to do with your shaman job?" She questioned him.

It was odd but amusing how an amnesiac spirit had more questions about him than herself. Either she was truly intrigued by him, or she was so used to being lost and ignorant of herself that it was normal to be indifferent towards her lack of knowledge. Or maybe part of her soul was still comfortable with extraordinary events that the news of her death did not faze her.

Yoh chuckled a bit at her inquisitive nature and replied, "Ah, well, something like that." He noticed how the light outside was becoming dimmer and dimmer. It was about time for him to get going. He did not want to keep Anna waiting or make her worry that something bad at happened to him.

"A friend told me about how civilians were being chased away from an abandoned shrine by a priestess. Priestesses are supposed to be gentle, peace-loving people so the case sparked my interest." She nodded with an understanding hum in her throat, but Yoh noticed how her eyebrows furrowed when he mentioned that people were chased away.

Did she even remember doing it?

Was she even aware of her actions when she was lashing out?

"So..." She started in almost a whisper. "What I gather about you, is that you're kind of nosey." Yoh stiffened at the assessment, but he couldn't bring himself to argument. Technically, she wasn't wrong. The shaman then relaxed when he noticed the small smile tugging at her lips. "But you're also very kind, aren't you?" She asked rhetorically while looking him in the eye. Her eyes followed him as he slowly got to his feet and stretched.

"I wouldn't go that far~" Yoh rebutted light-heartedly. She then proceeded to ask him more questions about his job and abilities as a shaman. She seemed genuinely interested in how he came to be a shaman and what it meant, so he was happy to tell her about it. He began with how he was born into a long lineage of shamans, and how he was uninterested in spirits as a small child. She laughed at the stories about how often his grandfather scolded him for his indifference for the spiritual world and punished him with his shikigami.

Yoh noticed how lovely her smiling face and infectious her laughter was.

This was the type of person that she was, wasn't it?

"Well, I better get going," He told her when he noticed the atmosphere gradually darkening more and more. "Anna is probably getting hungry by now. The last thing I want is to go home to an angry wife."

The priestess nodded as Yoh began to walk up the short staircase. He was soon in the doorway of the well-house with his back facing the outside as he stared down at the spirit. The shaman's soft smile only widened as happiness swelled in his chest at the sight of the spirit returning his smile. Today, a lot of progress had been made. He lifted a hand and waved to her. "Goodnight, Priestess-san~"

"Goodnight, Yoh. I hope you can come back tomorrow."

S.H.A.M.A.N.K.I.N.G.

After an hour-long commute in the opposite direction, Yoh arrived back at his third-floor apartment that he shared with his wife. The darkness of night had fallen across Tokyo and the surrounding buildings lit up with city lights. "I'm back~ He announced as he removed his sandals and walked barefoot across the carpeted floor. He was not surprised to find Anna lounging in front of the television with an open box of pizza in front of her.

Her brown eyes did not leave the screen as she replied with a casual, "Welcome back. I'm guessing that it went well today." Yoh smiled and nodded as he went in for a slice. It was still rather hot, meaning that it arrived recently.

"Mmhrrmph," He replied after shoving half of the slice into his face. "Rhye frynary gawt h—"

Anna rolled her eyes and commanded, "Chew. Swallow. Then speak." She then reached for another slice for herself. Yoh was practically glowing with triumph the moment that he walked in the door. And she was glad for him. He was always a kind-hearted person, especially when it came to gifted people like themselves. She would not say it aloud but she was grateful that he was finally able to make progress with this case. It pained her to see him come home disappointed and defeated this past couple of weeks.

Still, that did not mean that it was alright for him to practically inhale his food in favor of talking.

"I finally got her to talk to me," Yoh repeated himself after swallowing the glob of crust, sauce, and mushy pizza bits in his mouth. "Looks like she has amnesia so she'll need even more help moving on," he explained while sitting cross-legged behind Anna. He poked her shoulder and asked shamelessly, "Think you could help me out?"

Anna tossed him a pointed glare from over her shoulder. She scoffed and reminded him, "We're on vacation, and besides, that shrine is how far away? That's too much like work." Yoh sweatdropped at his wife's laziness. Sometimes she made him look like a dedicated, hard-worker by comparison. "Manta is the one who got you the scoop, right? Get him to help you."

Yoh gasped at that idea. He bopped a fist into an open palm. "You're right!" He easily agreed before scrambling to his feet and making his way to the phone. He placed the landline up to the side of his face and reached for the numbered buttons. He then paused when he realized that he did not remember Manta's phone number by heart.

"...what's Manta's number again?" He asked with a shameless grin. "WAH!" Yoh had to dodge a slipper from an Anna who was annoyed that her husband kept interrupting her program. "I-I'm sorry!" He cried as he sidestepped the other slipper. "I'll find it myself, promise!"

S.H.A.M.A.N.K.I.N.G.

Manta was in the middle of aimlessly browsing the internet when his cellphone suddenly vibrated on his desk. He was quick to pick up the device, as the violent vibrations caused miniature desktop quakes and made his chamomile tea ripple and threatened to slip over the edge of the mug. "This is Manta speaking," he answered semi-professionally, as he sometimes got off-hour calls from his most esteemed clients. The sound of Yoh's voice on the other end immediately put him at ease.

Manta sighed and smiled as he slumped back into his cozy, leather chair. "Ah, Yoh. It's you. What's up? I thought you'd be sleeping by now," he joked with a slight grin.

The blond stifled a laugh at the sound of Yoh choking in shock at the jab. "Mantaaaaaa, that's cruel! It's only not even eight! Not even I'm that lazy!" The shaman whined in faux-offense.

"Suuuuuureee," Manta grinned as he opened up his personal e-mail inbox to begin sorting through the spam that went undetected by the automatic filter. "Anyway, it's still unusual for you to call at this hour. Did something happen?" He then lifted his mug of tea to his lips and took a slow slip, relishing in its earthy flavor.

Yoh nodded from the other end and informed his best friend, "Yeah, good news. I finally got that priestess spirit to talk to me." The sound of Manta spitting out of his drink and sputter out of his shocked response made the shaman chuckle.

"Y-You mean you kept going back there even after she kicked you out five times?!" Manta shouted with bulging eyes. Even after so many years, Yoh's unwavering resolve to help spirits in need still seemed to amaze him. Manta could not imagine anyone more resilient than Yoh.

"I've been going every day since you told me about it," Yoh told him with a slight shrug. "Looks like she has amnesia and needs help remembering who she was," the shaman explained. "I think I can help her move on if she can remember who she was. Think you can help me out?"

"Ahhhhh," Manta hummed into the phone as he immediately began researching information about the shrine. "That shouldn't be too difficult actually. Old shrines like that one tend to be owned by one family. Just a sec." Yoh offered a simple thanks and sigh of relief as his more tech-savvy friend went quiet to conduct some quick searches of the shrine. After three minutes of skimming through information, Manta began speaking into his phone again. His brown eyes scanned the screen left to right, top to bottom, and back again.

"Apparently, that haunted shrine is actually called Higurashi Shrine. It's named after the family of priests who used to live there for many generations," Manta informed him before taking a quick sip of his tea. "The shrine was shut down and abandoned by its family about fifteen years ago, when paranormal activity began to occur and they were unable to stop it. It was a popular shrine back then so it was a big deal with the public. Many other priests and monks were paid to cleanse the haunted well-house of the restless spirit, but they were all driven away in fear."

Yoh hummed inside of his throat thoughtfully, "Yeah, I'm not surprised... That priestess seemed pretty powerful." He then chuckled at the thought of priests and monks trying to use wards to get rid of her. "Also, she's not an evil spirit so I can't imagine a cleansing working on her either."

Manta then minimized the long article and continued his search in another tab. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure that I can track down the family that used to live there for you. Just give me about a day to do some digging, okay?"

"Waaaaah~!" Yoh's eyes nearly sparkled hearing this. "Manta-sama, you're a saint! No—a god!" He bowed shallowly. "I can't thank you enough!"

The blond man smiled from the other end of the phone. "Don't thank me yet. I'm charging you for my time and effort," he told him straightforwardly. Manta almost smirked at the sound of Yoh's long, drawn-out whine. "Not even I work for free, Yoh~"

Waterfall tears streamed down the shaman's cheeks hearing this from his very own best friend. "Yes, yes," he mumbled miserably as his own personal raincloud rained down on him. "What would you like for your services, o' tight-fisted Manta-sama?"

Manta grinned and stated simply, "Once I have the information for you, you're going to treat me to lunch~!" He could just imagine the grateful smile on Yoh's face right now.

S.H.A.M.A.N.K.I.N.G.

The trip up Higurashi Shrine's stairs was becoming easier and easier by the day. Dodging the cracks and holes in the ground also became easier as navigating the abandoned property became muscle memory. Even the force of the priestess's energy surges became easier to bear as the pulse pushes past him.

Only one thing remained unbearable and unnerving...those cries.

Yoh had hoped that the cries would stop after he finally made contact with the spirit. He almost felt foolish and arrogant for wishing that it would be that simple. This was a tormented, confused spirit after all. She was someone stranded in an uncharted sea of darkness, an ocean where storms of unnamed emotions raged endlessly.

Once again, Yoh did not knock or announce his presence as he opened the doors of the well-house. He left them open as he stepped inside, allowing the fading sun to bathe the interior with golden light. He walked down the stairs and peered down into the weeping darkness of the well. "Priestess-san, it's me Yoh!" He called out over the wails. He breathed a soft sigh when the loud crying stopped immediately. "How about you come out so we can talk?"

"Asakura..." the familiar voice from yesterday whispered from seemingly all around him. "...Yoh?" The shaman nodded as he half leaned over the well and extended his hand to the spirit.

No, she did not need the assistance.

But it was the thought that counted, right?

Unlike other spirits, this priestess' touch was surprisingly warm and light, like an early morning ray of sunshine. With a friendly smile, Yoh hoisted the spirit out of the well. The two sat side by side on the lip of the well just as they did the day before.

"Soooooo..." The shaman searched for a conversation starter topic, "How've you been?"

Was it strange to ask a trapped spirit such a question?

The priestess tapped her chin for a moment, her face suddenly thoughtful as she contemplated her answer, "Honestly..." She trailed off for a moment before simply stating, "I don't know. I don't remember what happened between last night and just now..." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath while leaning back a bit. She took her time thinking about what she experienced. Her face was so serene that it almost looked like she was meditating.

"It's kind of like," She began again as she finally opened her eyes and looked at Yoh. "I just woke up from a nightmare, but I can't remember what it was about."

Yoh solemnly and wordlessly nodded at her answer before looking down at their feet. 'A nightmare that she can't remember...' He wondered to himself. 'Could the part of her that remembers her life be reliving the emotions that she felt right before death? Is that why she cries so much every evening?' The shaman stole a glance at the priestess, who was content in cupping her hands in her lap and going back to her own thoughts. Her peaceful facial expression was completely unlike the sobbing voice that drew him in.

"So you think that..." She suddenly spoke again while lowering her head a bit, "if I can regain my memories of my life, and my death, we can find a way for me to move on, right?" Without waiting for an answer, she gave Yoh a wistful smile, "You're probably right, but I'm not sure if I want to remember."

"I've noticed it since yesterday..." The spirit continued speaking. Yoh's eyes widened when she leaned closer and placed a hand on his chest, right over his heart. She locked eyes with him, "Right about here...it hurts badly." She removed her hand and concluded her thoughts aloud, "So I don't know if moving on is worth remembering that pain. Even when I don't remember what happened, it's almost unbearable."

Yoh paused and mulled over her words for a moment. He crossed his arms over his chest and closed his eyes, nodding and humming to himself. The priestess sweat dropped, "Uhhh, Yoh?"

"Well, even if you don't want to leave this world, you can't just stay here forever," The shaman told her. "Eventually, someone is going to want this land and you'll be forced to leave."

The priestess frowned at the thought of this. She then crossed her arms and huffed indignantly, "As if! No one can make me leave!" It was almost adorable how she was pouting.

The shaman scratched the back of his head, "But if they tear down the shrine, you'll have nothing to tie you to this world and you might be forced to leave this plane entirely."

Her eyes widened at this new knowledge. She suddenly looked desperate and fearful at the thought as she leaned closer again with her hands clenched into passionate fists. "Yoh, you have to help me! Is there a way for me to stay in this world without being stuck here?!"

Yoh scowled a bit while tilting his head to the side, his arms were still folded across his chest, "Honestly, I'm not an expert on these things—"

"Are you a shaman or are not?" The spirit asked with a deadpanned look.

"I AM!" He rebutted while throwing his arms in the air. "But most spirits aren't as difficult as you! Most want the help to move on!" He barked with a pout of his own. He met the priestess' deadpanned expression with a half-hearted glare.

"Difficult, huh?" She narrowed her eyes at the word. Her gaze became as sharp as a needle.

Yoh suddenly stiffened.

He knew that look all too well.

He held his hands up in surrender and tried to appease the spirit with a nervous smile, "I'm sorry...?" That was the expression of a cross woman. If there anything that he learned from knowing Anna all of his life, it was that look.

The priestess' glare then transformed into an amused expression. She busted into a small fit of laughter before she patted his shoulder in a chummy manner, "Don't look so scared~! I wasn't really mad at you~"

Yoh heaved a deep sigh of relief. The last thing that he wanted was to backtrack in his progress with befriending this spirit. "Thank goodneessss..." he released a sigh-whine hybrid while placing a hand over his chest. "You had me there for a moment."

The spirit's blue eyes almost sparkled with mirth. She smiled brightly as she spoke in a good-natured tone, "Yoh, you're pretty funny for an old guy~"

The shaman froze on the spot from her brutal statement. He turned to stone and then crumbled away. His ego, pride, and heart were shattered by those two simple words, 'Old...guy...'

"Eh? Yoh? You okay?" The priestess blinked while waving a hand in front of his face. "You in there? You know that I was kidding, right? Right?!" She began to panic as Yoh continued staring off into space, completely crushed and defeated by an inevitable existential crisis.

S.H.A.M.A.N.K.I.N.G.

The Asakura couple met with Manta around noon the next day. Their rendezvous was at a quaint, quiet cafe near Manta's downtown condo. Manta's attention was pulled away from the stack of papers in front of him from the ringing of a bell when the couple stepped through the glass door. Yoh smiled appreciatively at the nature-inspired interior design of the cafe. It was painted a neutral beige with a vibrant tree and its outstretched branches and roots being the central motif.

Anna nodded appreciatively at her husband when he smiled and silently pulled a chair out for her. Manta cracked a soft smile at the gesture but did not dare mention how cute they could be. One wrong word could release the inner beast lurking behind Anna's deceptively beautiful face.

Instead, he opted for making eye contact with a server, a young man who smiled and nodded before grabbing a few menus from behind his work station. Within a few short strides, the server was at their side with a note pad and pen in hand after carefully placing menus in front of each guest. "Good afternoon," the young man greeted them politely. "What can I get for you today?"

Manta dined at this cafe often enough to know the menu by heart so he kept his menu on the table as he responded just as politely, "I'll have the cassoulet and a cup of noisette." Yoh stiffened at Manta's seemingly perfect pronunciation of the French menu item.

The shaman's fingers trembled and he paled as his eyes skimmed down the menu. He was desperately scanning the words and pictures, searching for anything that seemed remotely recognizable. Yoh completely missed the server's sympathetic smile as he settled for taking Anna's order instead. "And for you, ma'am?"

Yoh's ear almost twitched as he became curious about how his wife would deal with ordering dishes listed in a foreign language.

"Poulet basquais with a glass of sweet and spicy chartreuse," Anna replied easily.

Yoh's jaw dropped as he suddenly felt like the odd-man-out. He then shook his head defiantly. He opened the menu wide and pointed at the first good-looking picture and all but shouted in a faux-confident voice, "I...I'll take this one! With the drink that my wife ordered!" The server kept his best customer-service face on as he jotted down the orders before politely excusing himself.

The shaman looked rather pleased with himself for getting through that awkward social interaction. However, Yoh's "fool-proof" strategy of pointing at any picture made him completely overlook the four flame symbols next to the dish's name...

Now in privacy within the nearly empty cafe, Manta slid a yellow envelope across the table towards Yoh. "That's for you," he said while shuffling through his own copies of the print-outs. "It took a bit of digging, but I found out that the Higurashi matriarch moved to Hokkaido upon her father's request."

"Hokkaido?!" Yoh beamed hearing of that prefecture. "You mean that we can visit HoroHoro and Pirika while interviewing the Higurashi family?!" It had been a while since he had heard from his old friends. Just the thought of them caused a wave of nostalgia to wash over the entire trio, even if Anna's face did not show it.

"Don't you think that you're getting a bit ahead of yourself?" the itako raised an eyebrow. "You can't just walk through Hokkaido like you can walk through a park. It's vast, and there are a lot of people. Who's to say that we'll be able to find them, let alone track down HoroHoro and Pirika?"

Yoh then gave her a wide, confident grin before looking at Manta, "No way! Manta-sama here is the brains of the outfit! I'm sure he's already tracked down the Higurashi's and HoroHoro both!"

Manta blushed at the compliment and display of confidence in his competence. The blond man scratched his cheek and smiled a bit sheepishly, his eyes lowering to his lap as he admitted meekly, "Actually... The more I read about the case, the more curious I became so..." He laid a few print-outs across the table and told them, "I got pretty into it and found out all sorts of information. I even went to the library to dig up public records and made a lot of phone calls. I know the general location of the Higurashi's and HoroHoro, and a lot more."

Anna face palmed as her husband jumped to his feet in excitement and openly marveled at his friend's work, "Woah, Manta! You've really outdone yourself here!" The shaman's brown eyes skimmed across the many pages spread out in front of him until his orbs spotted a copy of a newspaper article. He was particularly curious about the small photograph printed between the blocks of texts. He lifted the paper to his face to take a better look and felt his heart skip a beat.

Manta blinked when Yoh suddenly lost his grip on the paper. The blond man reached out to catch the swaying, fluttering parchment before it could hit the floor. "What's up with you, Yoh?" He asked before looking at the article. "Oh, yeah. This article is about how some friends of the Higurashi daughter reported her as a missing person years ago."

Anna immediately pieced together this small puzzle. The recognition then shock on Yoh's face told her that the missing Higurashi daughter was, in fact, the spirit that was haunting the shrine's well-house.

"This picture of the Higurashi family was taken after the daughter's high school graduation," Manta continued explaining. "Apparently, her name was Higurashi Kagome. It's speculated that she went missing sometime after she graduated..." He trailed off in his explanation as he and Yoh made direct eye-contact. The concerned, almost alarmed, look in his friend's eye told him all that he needed to know. "So, the spirit haunting Higurashi shrine is the missing daughter... Higurashi Kagome."

Yoh retook his seat and leaned closer towards Manta as they continued their conversation. Manta leaned closer and spoke in a more hushed tone since he realized that they were now discussing details about a messy missing person's case. Anna closed her eyes and crossed her arms as a solemn expression appeared on her face. "Alright," She said. "Tell us what you found out."

S.H.A.M.A.N.K.I.N.G.

Manta felt extremely anxious and apprehensive about dialing a complete stranger's number for an impromptu interview, but he was doing it for Yoh's sake. It was obvious that his friend was heavily invested in seeing this case through so he would do all that he could to support the obstinate shaman. If Yoh could withstand being thrown out by a restless spirit, then Manta could brave a conversation with another human being. He swallowed the nervous lump in his throat before hitting the "call" button on his phone's touchscreen.

Each second of hearing nothing but the typical sound of a call trying to connect to the recipient's phone decreased Manta's hopes of receiving an answer. A lot of people these days did not answer calls from unknown numbers, and for good reasons. After twenty seconds of ringing, he felt his heart dropping, 'She's probably going to think I'm a scam caller.' Just as he had given up hope of getting an answer tonight, the sound of the call being accepted suddenly boosted his spirits and made him more alert.

Manta stiffened at the sound of a female voice answering, "Good evening. This is Hojo Yuka." He sighed softly in relief upon recognizing the name of one of the friends who had reported the Higurashi daughter missing years ago.

"Good evening, Hojo-san," He greeted back just as politely. "My name is Oyamada Manta. I'm calling in regards to an old friend of yours, Higurashi Kagome." Yuka's sharp gasp preceded a crashing noise that made Manta wince.

"I-I'm so sorry, Oyamada-san!" Yuka called from a distance as Manta imagined the woman bending over to pick up her dropped phone. A moment later, her frantic, shaky voice answered in a louder volume, "Y-Yes! I'm sorry! Are you still here?!"

The man nodded slightly and replied, "Yes, I'm still here," He looked up at the news article that was glaring at him with bright intensity of his computer screen. "No need to apologize. I'm sure that a call like this would come as a shock to anyone."

The woman offered him a humble, slightly melancholic laugh, "I suppose that you're right..." She was quiet for a moment before she got right down to business, which Manta silently appreciated. "So, why are you calling about Kagome-chan? Has she been found?"

A twang of guilt pulled at Manta's heartstrings at the glimmer of hope and desperation in Yuka's voice. Before calling, he had considered how he would approach the inevitable question, but none of his mental simulations prepared him for the reality of knowing he was about to crush someone's hopes—hopes that he himself had suddenly raised.

"I'm sorry..." He whispered back. Manta could practically feel Yuka's disappointment through the dead silence. "She has not. But I'm hoping to find out what happened to her so I humbly request your cooperation in this endeavor. Can I ask you a few questions about what you remember about her?"

"Are you some sort of cop or detective?" Yuka asked him. "I thought that the police had given up on finding her years ago. I was told that she vanished without a trace, and that with no proof of foul-play, there was nothing that they could do."

"Ah, I'm..." Manta bit his lip. Normal people would probably hang up on him if he told the truth and told them that he was finding out information for a paranormal case. "I'm a detective in training and I chose Higurashi-san's case for a dissertation," was the first cover-up that he could think of.

"Oh, wow," Yuka chuckled at this. Manta was silently grateful that she bought his story. "A detective, huh? Kagome-chan probably needed one of those years ago. She was always kind of strange."

"Mind if I record you and take notes on this interview?"

S.H.A.M.A.N.K.I.N.G.

The trio listened to the recording of Manta's interview of Yuka and later her husband as he returned home from work. The details given by the couple only piqued their curiosity, and raised silent suspicions about Kagome's death even more.

Apparently, they had known Kagome since the beginning of middle school. For their first couple of years of knowing her, Higurashi Kagome seemed to be an ordinary girl overall. Both mentioned that the only strange things about her used to be that she lived on a shrine and her striking beauty. Anna bonked both men on the head when they seemed to nod and mumble agreements with the testaments to the girl's loveliness.

Yuka then explained that Kagome suddenly began to act strangely after her fifteenth birthday. Apparently, the girl had been taken frequent leaps of absences from school due to a variety of strange illnesses. She also began running with a rough crowd and had a cheating boyfriend. "Now that I think about it," Yuka's voice lowered a bit as the gears in her head began turning. "Kagome-chan always looks perfectly healthy when she returned to school, so she probably wasn't sick at all. I wonder if she had been getting into trouble back then."

Despite that passing thought, Yuka continued answering Manta's questions and explaining everything that she could remember about Kagome. She then explained that once they had made it into high school, Kagome stopped making her leap of absences and continued her life just like any other high school girl. "We suspected that things ended badly between her and her boyfriend... We met him once and he seemed pretty nice and cool, but you never know, right?" Yuka asked.

"Kagome-chan stayed popular, athletic, and pushed herself in her studies like never before. She was absolutely amazing, but she also did not seem the same. She was kind, cheerful, and energetic, but she also kept most people at arm's length, especially guys. I think that she was hung up on her boyfriend for so long..." Yuka explained, her voice becoming more and more melancholic as she went on. "She never really got close with anyone and it was such a shame since she brought so much light into people's lives. It's so sad...because I don't think that anyone could make her as happy as she made everyone else."

The expressions of the trio's faces became more somber at the sounds of Yuka's voice cracking as her long-buried emotions came to surface. "I-I..." She sniffed softly. "I was hoping that college would broaden her horizons and open her up again, b-but... She didn't get that chance. We noticed that she wasn't answering our calls a couple of weeks after graduation, but... It was too late. Kagome-chan just...vanished. Her family tried to say that she eloped with her old boyfriend but we didn't buy it." Suddenly Yuka sounded bitter and almost angry. "When we stormed up to her room, all of her belongings were still there: her clothes, her cellphone, everything."

Manta turned off the recording when he spotted their server emerging from the employee area from his peripheral vision. Yoh followed suit and helped his friend gather and neatly stack his assortment of research and print-outs. They thanked the young man as he placed their respective orders in front of them then politely excused himself.

"So we have a priestess who disappeared after her high school graduation, with her family possibly covering up a crime," Anna stated before lifting her bright-green drink to her lips and taking a small sip. "And she possibly has amnesia because she died from a head injury."

Yoh nodded as he scooped up some of his meal into his spoon, "That's what makes the most sense anyway. I want to head out to Hokkaido as soon as possible so we can speak to Kagome's family ourselves."

"You realize that you've just made our vacation into work, right?" Anna asked with a huff.

"Oh, come on, Anna," Yoh smiled at his wife. "You can't tell me that you're not the least bit interested, can you?" The blonde woman blushed and huffed at the soft, knowing expression on her husband's face.

Her spiteful scowl then turned into an amused smirk as she watched him place a spoonful of food into his mouth...only for his face to go completely red seconds later. "HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!"

S.H.A.M.A.N.K.I.N.G.

Yoh did not go to meet Kagome that night. Instead, he, Anna, Manta boarded the Hokkaido Shinkansen early that evening. It would be about an eight-hour train trip from Tokyo to Hokkaido in which they would transfer to the Hokuto express about halfway in. Yoh, who had been fascinated with trains since childhood, openly gawked and marveled at the train's sleek, snake-like structure. The choice of a turquoise top and white bottom reminded him even more of a vibrant animal than an actual train. Anna had to pull him along to stop him from missing the ride.

The interior of the train had a simple elegance with its patterned navy carpet and lush, cream-colored seats. Yoh was amazed that the train was so crowded on a weekday and he did his best not to disturb any other passengers with the small luggage that he toted with him. The seats were grouped in pairs so naturally he and Anna sat right next to each other, with Anna taking the window seat to admire the sights. Yoh was fine with this since Manta took the aisle seat right across from him so they could talk without inconveniencing anyone.

The duo started the trip out with both of them sharing and comparing the knowledge that they had about Kagome. "This is only based on a rumor but it seems like Kagome-san began haunting the shrine after a group of school kids played the "Kagome, Kagome" game on the property about a year and a half after she disappeared. I'm not sure why, honestly," Manta laughed a bit. "Kids can be weird like that. But it seems that the paranormal activity that drove the Higurashi's away began around the same time."

Yoh rubbed his chin at this bit of information. It was a good guess, but there was no clear handbook on how hauntings began. 'Maybe her spirit was dormant till the chanting of her name woke her up?' The conversation continued for another hour or so.

When Manta asked his friend what the priestess was like in-person, the shaman did not know how to answer. "It's hard to say..." Yoh admitted with an embarrassed smile. "I haven't figured her out yet, but I do know that Hojo was right. She's kind of strange, but I can tell that she's a good person. That's why I'll do my best to help her."

Manta nodded and smiled, "Yeah, you wouldn't be you if you were to turn your back on someone in need, especially a lost spirit like this one." The blond nodded slightly at Yoh from across the thin divide between their sides of the train.

"I'm glad that you followed that lead and discovered the priestess..." Manta's eyes dropped a bit as his smile faded ever so slightly. "I was getting bored with my job so I needed a change of pace. This feels like an adventure, like the old times!" His expression lightened with this last statement.

Yoh nodded and grinned at the sentiment, "Right? It's pretty exciting! It would be perfect if all of the old gang could be here for this!" 'I wonder what they're all doing right now...'

"Speaking of 'perfect'," Manta suddenly said as a thought crossed his mind. "You and Anna call yourselves vacationing, but what about Hana-kun? He didn't want to go with you two?"

The Asakura deflated at the sound of his son's name. "I invited him but—but...!"

Manta sweatdropped at the sight of Yoh's waterfall tears streaming down his face as he bawled about how his own son preferred training with his uncle than hanging out with him. "There, there. I'm sure it's just his young blood burning with the desire to get stronger..." He reached across the aisle to pat his friend on the shoulder.

S.H.A.M.A.N.K.I.N.G.

It was almost the witching hour when the trio scrambled off of their second train and arrived in Sapporo, the largest city in Hokkaido. After only receiving small lapses of sleep during their two train rides, Yoh found himself exhausted and ready to collapse on the spot as he trudged through the station. His eyes lit up like a child and his mouth watered at the smell and sights of the different food stations.

Manta laughed to himself at the sight of Anna dragging her husband away from the vendors and continued towards the exit. The shorter man spoke to the brunette in a soothing tone, "Don't worry, Yoh. Something way better than train station food is waiting for us just ahead."

"W-Woaaaaah!" A familiar voice bellowed from across the way. Yoh's eyes widened as he jumped to his feet to spot HoroHoro, Pirika, and Ryu entering the station through the rotating glass doors. The elder Usui led the procession as he charged towards them with his arms spread out wide. "You guys really came!" HoroHoro shouted as he approached the trio.

Anna was quick to sidestep his embrace and stick out her foot, causing the blunette to call on to flat on his face. "UWAH! Anna, that's mean!" Yoh panicked as he pointed between his wife and his bawling, fallen friend. "Just because his name is BoroBoro, doesn't mean you can treat him like crap!"

"Ahhhhhh," Pirika politely yawned from behind a hand as she and Ryu approached. "Long time no see, everyone~" She gave a slight bow to Anna to show the itako the respect that she's always had for her.

"That's right," Anna smiled a bit before nodding her head in acknowledgment. "The little sister was always my favorite sibling." She then looked over at Ryu and observed, "I see that the rest of your body matures faster than your choice in hairstyle."

Ryu then smirked while running a comb through his thicker, longer pompadour, "Why thank you, Anna-sama. It is an honor for you to notice." He gave a slight bow to the blonde woman.

"That wasn't a compliment," Anna deadpanned while crossing her arms. She then looked Ryu in the eye while admitting, "I'm genuinely surprised and glad to see you here too." The older man blushed like a maiden at the confession. She then gestured towards Yoh, "Make yourself useful and help my husband with our bags."

The mental image of a sweeter, more honest Anna shattered from Ryu's mind as his jaw dropped, "W-We haven't seen each other in years and the first thing you do is boss me around?!" He asked in an incredulous tone as Yoh happily placed Anna's suitcase and purses in his arms. Yoh grimaced as HoroHoro and Manta stiffened at Ryu's whisper of, "I could fall for you, Anna-sama!"

Pirika and Anna shrunk away from the older man. Ryu then looked around frantically and noticed how all of his friends had distanced themselves away from him. "Wait! It was a joke! A joke, I swear!" He cried out as Anna grabbed Pirika by the forearm and pulled her along.

"Let's go, Pirika," The blonde commanded. "You're still young. I can't have you tainted by a dirty old man like this one." Pirika nodded in agreement as she shot Ryu a disgusted look over her shoulder.

"Pi...Pirika-chan! You can't turn on me too!" Ryu called out as he scrambled behind them. He looked around and watched his other friends went on ahead without him. "Guys! Guys, back me up here!" He begged of Yoh and HoroHoro.

"I don't know, dude," HoroHoro grinned widely as he picked up his pace. "That's another man's wife. You deserve to be left alone." The Ainu shaman then rushed through the rotating doors behind Manta and Yoh.

"You can't treat me like that!" Ryu shouted as he too exited the station. "I rode all night to make it here on time!"

S.H.A.M.A.N.K.I.N.G.

Yoh was surprised to find that HoroHoro actually drove a mini SUV to pick them up. His surprise was dulled with the blunette's casual confession and shrug of, "Eh, it's a rental." After loading up their bags into the trunk, the ragtag group of adults set off towards HoroHoro's home in Chitose, a city that was a half-hour drive from Sapporo.

The onlookers were not surprised to find that Usui siblings settled in a city that housed a beautiful national park. Unfortunately, they were unable to enjoy the splendor of the mountains and lakes, as it was barely 4:00 A.M.

Within the thirty-minute drive from Sapporo to Chitose, Manta and Yoh brought the newest additions to their teams up to speed on the situation. At a red light, Manta passed HoroHoro the article about Kagome's disappearance and he nearly choked upon seeing her picture. His grip on the paper crumpled its sides as he brought the image even closer to his face. "This girl is a babe!"

"Girl," Anna reiterated as she reached forward to snatch the paper away from the overly excited shaman. "Greenlight," she told him while narrowing her eyes. "Go."

"Was," Pirika added in as she leaned over to look at the picture. She then blinked as her jaw dropped a bit, "Oh, wait! You're right, Onii-chan! She's so beautiful! Hey!" She pouted when Ryu took the paper from her hands for his turn to ogle the girl in the picture.

"So we're visiting the girl's family to find out what really happened to her?" HoroHoro asked as his voice became serious. "What will you do if we find out that something bad happened to her?" His eyes found Yoh's through his rear-view mirror.

Yoh sighed at the thought of that possibility. It was a very real possibility that the family was covering up some sort of murder, accidental or not. "I'll do what I'm best at," the brunette responded vaguely. HoroHoro nodded silently in understanding. He had known Yoh long enough to know exactly what he would do if the case took a darker turn. And after all they had been through together, HoroHoro was prepared to stand by Yoh all of the way.

S.H.A.M.A.N.K.I.N.G.

The group rested up from the early morning travels at HoroHoro's small and rather humble home. He was even gracious enough of a host to offer his private bedroom to Anna and Yoh. Before Anna could accept the offer, Yoh politely declined and told him that the couch was good enough for them. With everyone cozying up in HoroHoro's living room, it almost felt like their days as teenagers. "The only ones missing are that grumpy old Ren, Chocolove, and Lyserg, huh?" HoroHoro grinned in the darkness.

They fell asleep one by one as they laughed and reminisced about the days of their youth. Hours later, they began waking up one-by-one. Anna was the first up. She was quickly followed by HoroHoro as she lightly kicked him in the ribs to tell him bluntly, "I'm hungry. Make breakfast."

HoroHoro gritted his teeth but knew better than to argue with the itako. He grumbled to himself as he went to making breakfast for his guests: something that he planned to do anyway, just later. After eating breakfast and freshening up, they were ready to greet the day and track down the Higurashi family.

Manta had truly dug up a wealth of information. Through his interviews with Kagome's old friends, he had learned that Kagome's mother and grandfather had moved to a very small city known as Utashinai. It was a two-hour drive from Chitose. This drive was spent with Yoh and Manta admiring the gradients of colors of the towering mountains and the sparkle of the sunlight on the ocean and Anna trying to ignore HoroHoro's intentionally bad singing.

Fortunately for the group of amateur investigators, the surname Higurashi was so distinct enough in the small town that it only took an hour to find someone who knew of the family. It was a kind, smiling elderly woman who shook with each step that she took that gave them the information that they needed. "Y-Yes, I know of Higurashi-san," She told them while practically beaming at the mention of the name. "She's a very kind person who helps me with my grocery shopping every Tuesday."

After using the guise of being estranged nieces and nephews of the Higurashi matriarch, they received the information that they were looking for. The address that the old woman gave brought them to a small house that was so symmetrical that it would have been a perfect cube if it were not for the balcony on the second floor. They agreed that only Manta and Yoh would go up to the front door, as not to startle the family with a huge group of strangers. The shorter of the duo brought his notepad and pen as they walked past the black iron gate and to the white door.

Yoh stopped himself from knocking when he spotted the doorbell on the side. He gave the small, circular button a press. The mechanism gave off an oddly satisfying click beneath the pressure of his finger before a pleasant chime resounded from inside the residence. The duo was pleased at the sound of shuffling coming from inside. A minute later, an older woman's voice came from the other side of the door. "Yes? Who is it?"

"Good day, Higurashi-san!" Manta greeted the woman politely. "We're old middle schoolmates of your daughter Kagome-chan and we thought that we'd stop by and meet you since we were in the area." He looked at Yoh, who nodded in approval of his cover story.

The woman opened the door all of the way and showed her surprised expression. Yoh noted how she resembled an aged Kagome with brown eyes and shorter hair. The woman was still quite the beauty as well. What took Yoh by surprise was how her face did not flash any emotions indicative of guilt: no panic, no anger, no reluctance.

The woman merely smiled softly at them and nodded, "I see... Well, it's been lonely since Father passed so I don't mind some company." Her eyes looked past them at the vehicle full of strangers. "Why don't you all come inside for some tea and snacks?"

The inside of the Higurashi's abode was quite modest, with just enough decor to feel comfy and inhabited and just enough furniture for herself and the occasional company. There was a small television in front of a reclining chair and a small bookcase aligned with an assortment of colored, hard-back spines.

She apologized as she had to grab some chairs from storage to accommodate them all, but Ryu assured her that it was alright and easily took the chairs from her hands and hauled them to the snack table. She filled everyone's cups with warm tea after setting a tray of mochi down in the center of the table.

"Thank you so much for your hospitality, Higurashi-san," Pirika thanked her with a smile. The rest of the group followed her example and offered the older woman their gratitude as they began to enjoy the refreshments provided to them.

"You're very welcome," She responded with a warm smile as she finally took her own seat between Ryu and HoroHoro. The Higurashi closed her eyes and took a long sip of her tea. Once reopened, her brown eyes then landed on him and Manta, who sat next to each other. "You're middle school friends of my Kagome, you said?" She asked with an unreadable smile. "Since you've decided to come and see me, I'm guessing that you have questions about her disappearance."

Everyone except Anna visibly stiffened when the sharp woman immediately hit the nail on the head. She smiled down at her reflection in her tea as she continued speaking in a calm voice, "Don't worry. I'm not angry. A lot of people used to have a lot of questions about her disappearance, they probably still do."

Manta nodded before clearing his throat and speaking up, "If I may ask, Higurashi-san, I've heard that Kagome-chan eloped with her middle school boyfriend..." He paused to look over at Yoh, who silently nodded at him to continue. "But, is there is a possibility that anything else happened to her? Like, maybe she was never heard from because something bad happened to her?"

Kagome's mother's face remained calm, aside from the downcast smile on her face. Her expression was that of a mother who was missing her child who moved away, not of one who thought that her child was deceased.

"Not at all," She replied, her voice was soft but firm, confident even. "I don't know anyone stronger or more spirited than my Kagome," She told them. "And the boy who she fell in love with, he truly loved her in return. There's no way that something bad happened to her."

After swallowing the remainder of his mochi, it was Yoh's turn to ask a question. "What about the time when she kept contracting mysterious illnesses?" He inquired. He followed Yuka's lead and added, "When she returned to school, you couldn't tell that she was ever sick."

The group found it strange how the woman suddenly released a fit of raspy giggles. "I-I'm sorry," She apologized between soft laughs. "I know that you said you were from her middle school, but I didn't expect you to bring that up."

Anna sent a stoic face at the woman and piped up, "I find it strange how you could laugh so casually at the mention of your daughter suffering from sickness and disease." She crossed her arms and continued bluntly, "It's obvious that you love your daughter, so there's no way that you'd laugh like that if she were truly sick back then."

The assessment caught the Higurashi's attention and put an immediate stop to her recalling obviously fond memories of the past. The laughter died down quickly, but the woman's smile did not fade or falter. "Alright, you win," She admitted surprisingly easily. Manta was unsure if this woman was truly this honest or if she was just lonely enough to spill family secrets.

"Kagome was not sick back then. But," her eyes made direct contact with Anna's. "I can assure you that she was being responsible and doing good deeds. She had a duty that was more important to her than school."

Anna's eyes narrowed a bit as she asked her next question, "And were these responsibilities the reason why she disappeared after she graduated from high school?" Yoh and Manta deflated when Higurashi merely shook her negatively and insisted,

"Not at all. I can assure you that Kagome left to marry her sweetheart."

S.H.A.M.A.N.K.I.N.G.

The Higurashi matriarch had an answer for almost everything. Even when Anna asked how she could be so sure that Kagome was alright if she had not contacted anyone in years, the older mother still had a sanguine answer. She smiled, the small creases around her eyes wrinkling beautifully as if all of the memories associated with her daughter brought her happiness.

"I appreciate your concern for my daughter," She began. "You may not know it but my Kagome is unstoppable. She chases her dreams with unwavering strength." She then looked at the faces around the face one by one, "She draws in people like a magnet. So where ever she goes, she will always be strong, and supported by people who are just as strong."

Yoh could have sworn that Higurashi's eyes lingered on him for a moment, "Maybe you know what I mean on a personal level?"

Manta then slid the slightly crumpled copy of his news article print-out towards the woman and broached, "Higurashi-san... This might be out of the blue, but you can tell me about the events that made your family move out of the shrine?" The watched as the woman's smile faded a bit. "I've heard that the shrine was in your family for generations, so what exactly brought you to the decision to leave it behind?"

"Hmm... That feels so long ago, to be honest," She replied as she tucked a strand of loose hair behind her ears. "But I can still remember the terror that we had to endure..." Her voice fell into a whisper tone as she recalled those times of horror. "It was our first time experiencing paranormal activity like that. It started out with everyone inexplicably feeling sick around sunset every day."

Yoh's eyes widened as he thought of the daily energy pulses that Kagome's haunting released through out the area. To him, the energy was like a mysterious force, a gust of wind that carried remnants of Kagome's pain. But, perhaps sickness was the bodily reaction of ordinary humans being hit by that abnormal amount of energy?

"At first, the sickness was just passing nausea or headaches. But after about a week, the sunset sickness began to intensify more and more. It got so bad that we had to prepare for the sickness by having father already in bed by that time," She explained slowly, her tone becoming more and more solemn. This was the first time that the woman showed any emotion besides contentment and love for her daughter.

There was something about fear that made every human appear more human, even this saint with an endless love and admiration for Kagome. "We thought that maybe something in the air was causing our illnesses, but the doctors could not find anything physically wrong," She told them as she stared down into her tea again. Her hands' grip on her round cup was stronger, more desperate, than normal. The shamans, especially Yoh and Anna, took in every detail of her behavior and tone as she told her story.

"And as time went by, things got worse. The sicknesses got worse, and the paranormal activity picked up. Objects began falling...like pictures fell off of walls, and books fell off of shelves."

"Did the activity become violent or harmful towards your family in any way?" HoroHoro suddenly asked. Pirika looked over to her older brother in surprise. He was wearing his serious face for the first time in a long time. He must have been concerned for Yoh's safety to ask a question like that, knowing that the spirit haunting the shrine was Kagome herself.

The woman shook her head from side to side, "I can't say that it did, not in the traditional sense anyway. It wasn't anything like in those scary, ghost movies where people got scratched or thrown around..." She paused for a moment then added, "But the objects that were affected became larger and more dangerous: furniture, the oven, large objects like that shook or completely flipped over. My son...he also began sleepwalking. I would often find him standing over a dried well."

"Do you think that your son had something like...a heightened spiritual awareness or something?" Yoh pressed, his lips tightening a bit as he tried to piece the puzzle together inside of his head.

The woman then chuckled softly before she answered with a small smile, "I can't say that he did. All I know is that when I woke him up, he would only tell me that he had no clue how or why he went there." She lifted her cup to her lips to take another sip.

"What about your daughter?" Manta brought the topic back to Kagome. "Did she have some sort of connection to that old well?" He asked curiously.

The Higurashi suddenly relinquished her grip on her cup. It fell to the table with a loud clatter as its liquid contents splattered and spilled across the table. Manta and Ryu quickly reacted and began rescuing the research papers from the raging rivers of green tea.

"Hmph," Anna crossed her arms and did not hide her suspicious look.

The woman looked alarmingly stunned at the question that should have been random and innocent, had she not been hiding a secret about her daughter after all.

Yoh blinked when Anna suddenly pulled him close by the ear and whispered so that only he could hear her, "If you want, I can summon Kagome right here and now and we'll get to the bottom of this mystery." His eyes widened at the offer.

He then pulled away and looked between the stoney face of his wife and that of Kagome's mother. The woman recovered from her shock but was still flustered as she frantically apologized and scrambled to clean up the mess that she had made.

There was something about that the look in her eyes that told him that while she was indeed hiding some sort of secret, she was not capable of ever harming her daughter. And moreover, she would never condone or cover-up anyone who did harm Kagome either. The last thing that he wanted was to cause this woman, or Kagome, undue distress by suddenly dropping this bombshell on her...

Yoh shook his head and whispered back, "Not yet. Let me try to continue working with Kagome before it comes to that." He smiled when Anna looked like she wanted to protest, but chose to breathe an aggravated sigh instead.

After Manta's last question, the group silently and unanimously agreed to drop the topic of Kagome and her disappearance. Instead, they allowed the woman to show them pictures of her family. She seemed genuinely happy to have company and to remember the goods times when her family was complete. Pirika had to slap the back of brother's and Ryu's head when they practically drooled over some of Kagome's old pictures.

Night had fallen by the time that they found themselves back on the woman's front porch. After exchanging a few more pleasantries and contact information, they bid her farewell...for the time being.

HoroHoro was surprisingly quiet during the drive back to his home. Pirika and Ryu had fallen asleep from all of the excitement. Anna secluded herself to her thoughts and theories while Manta and Yoh discussed what they had just learned from Kagome's mother.

S.H.A.M.A.N.K.I.N.G.

The majority of the next day was spent sight-seeing Hokkaido's snow-capped mountains and other natural wonders. Of course, Anna had to try the fresh, world-renown seafood and pure waters that Hokkaido was known for. By nightfall, they had boarded their train back to Tokyo. This time, the trio was accompanied by HoroHoro, Pirika, and Ryu who decided that it would be fun to take time off their normal lives to play detective and visit Tokyo again.

"Great," Anna muttered as she watched HoroHoro, Pirika, and Ryu place their bags down on the living room floor. "Now we have less space, and more mouths to feed."

"Just like old times, huh?" Yoh asked with a cheeky grin that landed him punishment from Anna's Legendary Left. HoroHoro and Ryu flinched when Yoh landed on the floor with a loud thud. "Yup..." He whispered with a pained smile as tears puddled around his head. "Just like old times."

Manta sweatdropped and offered, "I have plenty of space back at my condo if you'd prefer to have your privacy."

"C-Condo?!" Pirika eyes sparkled at the prospect. "One of those upscales ones with granite countertops and other fancy things like that?!"

Manta blinked before sweatdropping and nodding affirmatively, "Y-Yeah, I guess you could say that. It's spacious with a very modern aesthetic."

"Onii-chan, we're going with Manta-san!" Pirika suddenly stated firmly as she seemingly teleported to the door. She then waved at Yoh and Anna from over her shoulder, "Thanks so much for your hospitality though!"

Yoh gave his friends a deadpanned expression as they willingly shuffled out of the door, in favor of Manta's more expensive abode, "I feel slighted somehow..." he mumbled with a twitching eyebrow.

After the Asakura couple partook in leftover pizza from days ago, they settled down in bed. It was late...the wee hours of the next morning. Just as Yoh felt himself drifting off into sleep, he felt Anna shift next to him. He opened his eyes to find that he was staring directly into Anna's. The moonlight was sliced into slivers by the slightly parted window shades.

He smiled before reaching to cup her cheek, "It's rare for you to be restless. What's bothering you?" He asked curiously.

Anna was scowling, despite the fact that she enjoyed the contact and her husband's concern for her. "Higurashi Kagome—to be able to cause sickness within humans and affect physical objects...she's abnormally strong," the itako stated straightforwardly.

"Ahhh," Yoh responded while nodding. "Yeah, I could tell when I first met her that she had an incredible power," He admitted. "I think that some of her power is unknowingly unleashed during her sunset haunting, and that's what caused the paranormal activity that drove her family away."

"It is strange though," Anna cut in. "She seems to be the only one in her immediate family with great spiritual power, despite their long line of priests and priestesses."

"Well, her family probably wasn't like ours," Yoh guessed, "They didn't keep the bloodline strong by marrying successors to strong suitors."

The itako cracked a smile at her husband's deduction, "I see that even you can get lucky with good ideas sometimes." She stifled a chuckle when his expression went from calm to outraged at her jab.

S.H.A.M.A.N.K.I.N.G.

"Oh come on!" HoroHoro laughed heartily into Manta's cellphone as they reconvened at Yoh and Anna's apartment. "You're a big-shot CEO now! You can make it happen!" he goaded the person on the other end. Manta and Pirika sweatdropped as his expressions and tactics continued to change throughout the conversation. A challenging smirk appeared on HoroHoro's face, "Oh? Sounds like you've become too soft if you're too afraid to take some time off of work." He then sighed deeply, "Laaaaame. You used to be cool."

Yoh could not help but smile when HoroHoro's grin widened into a victorious one, "Oh yeah? Good. We look forward to having you. Just call Manty when you're arriving."

"Can't believe you got Ren to call off of work for this," Ryu chuckled as he propped an elbow onto the table, earning a warning glare from Anna for his bad manners. He was quick to retract his offending arm.

"HoroHoro has always been the best at getting under Ren's skin," Manta responded with a chuckle of his own. He then looked at Yoh and asked, "So, what's our next plan of attack, Yoh? Should we all go to see Kagome-san this evening?"

"Mmm..." Yoh hummed thoughtfully as he recalled all of the times that the priestess expelled him from her domain. It was possible that she had changed from being so defensive, but he was not certain of that yet...at least, not with complete strangers. "Actually, let me talk to her about it first," He proposed. "I'm not sure if she's ready to meet other people yet."

"What?!" HoroHoro and Ryu interjected simultaneously. "I wanted to see her in person!"

Pirika found herself giving the duo a suspicious side-eye as she shrunk away from them, "I'm beginning to doubt the reasons why you decided to come along..."

They then put on their best angelic faces and batted their eyelashes prettily, "Who us? We're helping out of the goodness of our hearts, of course~!"

Manta looked up at Yoh and shrugged, "Well, I kind of understand. She is quite the beauty." Yoh smiled and nodded in agreement, only to receive a bonk on the head from Anna.

S.H.A.M.A.N.K.I.N.G.

After spending the day goofing around Tokyo and enjoying his friends' and wife's company, Yoh found himself back at Higurashi shrine that evening. It had been a few days since he had last been there. Everything had remained the same from the silent torii gate, to the cracked stairs, to the energy pulses, and down to Kagome's cries and shouts.

What had changed was not the shrine or atmosphere, but Yoh himself. He felt more prepared, more confident, with the knowledge that he gained over these past few days. He felt confident enough in his bond with Kagome to knock on the well-house doors and announce, "Hey, I'm back!" before entering the small structure. He stepped inside and noticed how the sound of his voice did not silence her cries this time.

Perhaps something else had changed after all.

Yoh descended the stairs and walked over to the well, where he could still hear the priestess crying her heart out. He peered down and called out to her softly, "It's me, Yoh. I'm back...Kagome."

A soft gasp came from below. "W-what..." the priestess' watery voice asked slowly. Disbelief mixed in with her shock, "What did you just say...?"

Yoh stifled a chuckle at her reaction to her name, "I said that I'm back, Kagome." He extended his hand out into the gaping darkness and asked in a friendly tone, "Why don't you come out of there so we can talk?"

"Okay..." She whispered before she placed her hand inside of his a moment later. Once Yoh felt the warmth that was unique to Kagome's spirit, he effortlessly pulled her up and out of the well. She looked up at Yoh, her eyes wide and full of wonder, just like the day when they first spoke. "Ka..gome..." She spoke her name slowly as she rediscovered it. The wonder was replaced with joyfully sparkling eyes and a bright smile.

"That's my name!" Kagome exclaimed before catching Yoh by surprise by grabbing his hands excitedly and jumping up and down. "Higurashi Kagome is my name!" The shaman could not help but join her in smiling. His heart melted at the sight of her brilliant, beaming face. He had never seen her so happy before, but this face definitely suited her.

"Yeah," The shaman felt sheepish in his confession. "I got some help in finding some information about you. We learned your name, and that you used to live here with your mother, grandfather, and younger brother."

"Mom..." a wave of emotion washed through her wide, oceanic pools as more memories seemed to come back to her. "Grandpa...and Souta..." Tears gathered in her eyes as her lips twitched between a frown and a forced smile. "I remember them...they were my family, and we..." The tears began flowing silently. "We loved each other so much."

With her true emotion inscrutable, Yoh did what only felt appropriate for the situation. He silently opened his arms to the priestess, who easily stepped forward to be embraced. If comfort was what Kagome needed to move on, he was willing to give it to her.

Yoh still did not know what was the cause of Kagome's death, but now... He was sure that her family had nothing to do with it. With the way that both mother and daughter reacted to each other, love was the only thing that he could see between them.

He took it as a good sign that despite the tears flowing down her cheeks, she was not sobbing in that heart-broken way that she did during her haunting time. Yoh smiled down at her when she slowly pulled away and looked up at him. "Feeling better?" He asked.

Kagome nodded as she wiped her face with long white sleeves, "Mm hm..."

Before he could nod back and ask her about his friends meeting her, the priestess took him aback by suddenly glaring and scowling at him in a displeased manner. He knew this look, again. "W-What did I do?!" Yoh was quick to ask her.

"You scared me!" She suddenly shouted with her fists clenched. "You didn't show up for a while, and I got scared that you'd never come back again!" She barked at him before her expression became a cooler one, which made Yoh sigh in relief inwardly. "I..." A light blush stained her cheek before admitted in a slightly embarrassed tone. "I can't really tell how long you were gone, but to me..."

Yoh felt a bit of guilt as she finished her sentence.

"...it felt like years since I've last seen you..." Kagome placed a hand to her chest as she closed her eyes to think about it. "It's so confusing... My mind tells me that it could not have been long because you look the exact same way as when you last came," She explained slowly before her eyes opened again, showing Yoh the perplexed look in her eyes. "But it really does feel like it's been a long time since I've seen you... That's why, I was so sad earlier."

The priestess' blush deepened at her next confession, "When I heard your voice, I thought that I missed you so much that I was hallucinating." She flashed an embarrassed smile, "I thought that I had lost my only friend."

Yoh smiled and patted the spirit, who he decided was truly a sweet person, on the head. He continued, despite her protests. As much as the shaman wanted to tell her that he would never leave her for so long, he could not. He had a life outside of Tokyo that he would eventually have to return to.

But, the thought that a few days felt like years to her was concerning and heartbreaking. It made him wonder just how long she felt alone since her spirit had awoken years ago.

"Don't worry about that," Yoh told her as he finally removed his hand from her head. "I actually have some friends of mine who'd like to meet you. A few of them traveled all the way from Hokkaido to meet you."

Yoh expected for the priestess to glow with excitement at the possibility of making more friends. Instead, she shrunk away from him while staring at him suspiciously, "They're not all a bunch of old guys like you, are they?"

The Asakura's eye twitched at the question, "I resent that!" He pointed at a finger at her. "And beggars can't be choosers!"

Kagome flushed as a wide scowl spread across her face, "What are you trying to say!? That I'm desperate?! Well, I'm not!"

The small spat ended with Kagome huffing and agreeing to meet Yoh's friends.

It was another small victory for the Asakura.

S.H.A.M.A.N.K.I.N.G.

The group lived up their vacation days together to the fullest. The wishes and whims of the ever-excited and energetic Usui siblings were indulged by the generous and wealthy Manta. Ryu, Yoh, and Anna were content in following the siblings' lead and doing whatever activities that they thought of. Today's activity was blowing a bunch of cash at one of Tokyo's largest video-game arcades.

Yoh clapped to the beat and marveled at how surprisingly skillful Anna was at the Dance-Dance-Revolution game. She did not bat an eyelash or miss a single beat, even as the song sped up and called for sharper reflexes.

Meanwhile, Ryu failed at impressing Pirika by failing to win her a stuffed animal that she had been eying from outside the (rigged) claw machine. HoroHoro spent a lot of time fluttering between a zombie-shooter, which Yoh joined in on a few times, and the snowboard simulation game. "Hmph, I've still got it," He smirked as he set another high score. He glanced at the digital clock imbedded into the wall where an assortment of colored lights danced around.

"Guess it's about that time," The blue-haired man said to himself as he began rounding up his crew so they could start their journey to Higurashi shrine. "Partied too hard there, eh?" He smiled teasingly at his wary-looking younger sister.

"I can keep going!" Pirika insisted with a determined but tired expression.

Manta then took out his cell phone and began tapping away on the screen at a speed that impressed his friends. But they guessed his dexterity and speed was due to how much he worked with computers for a living. After a minute of staring intently at his phone screen and typing out quick responses, Manta looked up at his companions and informed, "Ren wants to drop his things off at his hotel so he's going to meet us at the shrine. I texted him the address."

"Pfffft," HoroHoro rolled his eyes. "Knowing that princess, he probably brought more stuff than necessary." Yoh and Ryu stifled laughs when the blunette held his cheek in a delicate way while speaking in a high-pitched voice, "I'm Tao Ren~ I just couldn't leave home without my designer slippers and overpriced moisturizers~!"

S.H.A.M.A.N.K.I.N.G.

"...you've gotta be kidding me..." HoroHoro and Pirika's eyes bulged at the sight of the staircase that led up to Higurashi shrine. The younger sister looked at Yoh with teary eyes and quivering lower lip, "We don't really have to climb all of these stairs, do we?"

Manta sweatdropped and told them, "Well, it's a traditional Shinto shrine so it was obvious that there was going to be stairs like this." With that said, he took his first step, only to freeze on the spot when a strange energy suddenly shot through him. He almost doubled-over, not from pain, but from the shock and how foreign it felt. He turned around and looked at Yoh for confirmation. "Was that...?"

Yoh nodded, "Yeah. That's her." He then turned to check on the rest of the group. Pirika looked surprised but bewildered. Ryu and HoroHoro also appeared a bit rattled, but overall in good condition.

The Asakura's thoughts could not help but fall back to his wife who had chosen to go back to the apartment after playing at the arcade all day. He was sure that she merely chose not to go because she did not feel like making the commute, but he still could not help but feel disappointed. Anna definitely had the most useful skillset when it came to cases like this one.

"I can see why ordinary humans would get sick from something like that," HoroHoro stated as they began ascending the stairs. "Even as a shaman, her energy feels so strange."

"Warm, but so sad..." Ryu noted as he thought about how the energy made him picture a lost soul, trapped in darkness and scratching around for an exit to escape their prison.

After several minutes of climbing and talking, the slightly winded group reached the top of the stairs, but not after Pirika almost suffered a few potentially nasty falls from stepping on the wrong spot. Many eyes took in the shrine's shocking state of dilapidation that Yoh had failed to mention when he talked about visiting its priestess.

There were a few passing comments about the depressing state of the shrine as they crossed the courtyard, but the hushed conversation was interrupted by the harrowing cries and distressed screams of the priestess. Half of the group froze in their tracks, shaken to their core by the gut-wrenching sobs. It felt like they were intruding on someone's grieving process, or like they were overhearing a devastated soul who had just lost something precious to them.

"That's her too," Yoh told them as he led them to the old well-house that he spoke of. HoroHoro quirked an eyebrow when the Asakura politely knocked on one of the doors before opening them. "Kagome, I'm back. And I've brought the friends that I mentioned yesterday!" He called out to her.

"Oh, wow..." Pirika whispered when the sobbing stopped immediately after Yoh spoke. "That's bizarre," she stated as they huddled around the entrance of the well-house. She only caught glimpses of the interior from behind the backs of the others. All that she could see was golden sunlight slipping into a dusty, dark place. It was certainly not the type of place that she wanted to hang inside for long.

Meanwhile, HoroHoro shivered at the sight of a hand reaching out from the depths of the well. "T-This is like a scene from that horror movie!" The Ainu shaman pointed out, only for his younger sister to elbow him in the ribs for the comment.

Manta could not help but silently agree with HoroHoro as his widened eyes saw how the specter with long, dark hair pulled herself out of the well. Even Ryu was disturbed by the picture of horror that the spirit created—

—that was, until she looked up at them. Her bangs finally lifted from over her face, revealing eyes as blue as the open sea and a dangerously beautiful face. HoroHoro, Manta, and Ryu found themselves stiffening as their voices got caught in their throats. Even as a spirit, she was much more beautiful in person!

"Kagome, come up here and meet everyone," Yoh beckoned the spirit towards them with a "come-hither" motion of his hand. He then noticed the awe-struck expressions from his friends and chuckled, "I promise they don't bite."

The priestess looked a bit skeptical, but walked up the stairs regardless, "Yeah, like they could." She made it near the doorway of the well-house before bowing politely to the newcomers. "Nice to meet you all. My name is Higurashi Kagome," she introduced herself. "I'll be in your care so please treat me kindly."

Ryu and HoroHoro were quick to return stiff bows of their own to her, "Likewise! My name is Usui HoroHoro, but you can call me HoroHoro!/Likewise! My name is Umemiya Ryunosuke, but you can call me Ryu!" They chorused in almost perfect unison. Once they realized what had just happened, they stood at their full heights and glared at each other.

Pirika shook her head and ignored how her brother and Ryu began bickering about who was copying the other. "It's very nice to meet you, Kagome-san," The younger Usui stated with a charming smile. "I hope that we can be friends~!"

Kagome beamed, immediately taken in by Pirika's charm.

"Honestly, it's dark and not much space in there," Pirika pointed out as she took a few steps back to make room. "Do you mind coming out here so we can hang out, Kagome-san?" She asked.

The priestess shook her head and decided that it was the least that she could do for someone who had been so honest and asked so nicely.

Yoh was glad that Pirika had tagged along for the trip. The young woman had just the right personality to warm Kagome up and put her at ease. "Make way for Kagome-san!" The younger Usui commanded the men who were crowding the doorway.

"Aha," Manta chuckled with an embarrassed smile. He stepped aside along with the other men and apologized, "Sorry about that. I guess we got too excited." He then looked up at the priestess who had yet to set a foot out of the well-house. 'Uh oh...'

Kagome did not leave the well-house. She merely stood, her feet seemingly rooted in the ground. Her blue eyes were wide, her lips parted, as she took in the state of the shrine.

Yoh inwardly panicked and berated himself as his eyes followed her line of sight.

The priestess saw every crack. She noticed the dirt and grime. She looked at the crumbling foundations. She was now a witness to the decline and decay of her home: one of the few things that she could actually remember. Even the once vibrant and proud torii gates were discoloring with age.

Everyone noticed how the light faded from her eyes and how her enthusiasm was extinguished as her chest puffed out and deflated with an inaudible but visible deep sigh. Without another word, she lowered her head as her arms stretched out to grab the well-house doors.

Yoh felt his heart sink as he realized what was happening. He raised a hand to reach for the priestess, to pull her close to him so that he could reassure her that everything was alright. "Kagome, hold on—!"

But his panicked face was only met with the warm, musty air that the doors released as they slammed shut.

For a few moments, Yoh stood there, stunned and caught in a passed moment, with his hand outstretched. His friends stood behind him in just as much shock and silence. Finally, Ryu picked up his jaw and he slowly asked with a slow blink, "What...just happened...?"

"Tch, you got rejected, that's what," a familiar voice bluntly replied from behind them.

The group whipped around in unison and exclaimed, "Ren/Ren-san!"

The Tao, looking as cool and collected as ever, quirked an eyebrow at his friends. "Who else would it be?" He asked before crossing his arms while glaring directly at HoroHoro, "A certain idiot practically begged for me to show up."

The once cheeky grin on HoroHoro's face was wiped as he glared back at Ren, "Begged!?" He shook a veiny fist as he shouted indignantly, "You wish! I only insisted that you came because I know how lonely and boring your businessman's life is!"

Manta raised his hands as he smiled timidly while looking between the bickering pair who was suddenly in each other's face, gripping each other's collars, "Now, now, you two..." He then looked over at Yoh, whose expression was uncharacteristically despondent, "We're not here to fight. We're all here to help with Kagome-san, right?"

After one last glare and muttered death threat, Ren released his grip on HoroHoro and turned to Yoh, "Right, Manta told me about your little... "project"." He calmly walked up to the well-house and stated, "Let's get this over with."

HoroHoro's eyebrow twitched with the Tao's sly remark, "Unlike some people, I'm a busy man." With his right hand, Ren took a firm grip on a single door handle. "Shit." He was startled into releasing his hold when a jolt of cold electricity shot through his body. His hand instinctively retracted. Golden eyes narrowed at the sight of his burning skin reddening and a whisp of smoke disappearing.

The Tao then turned to look from the well-house doors, to Yoh, then HoroHoro, and then at the other faces in the group. Within the blink of an eye, Ren was across the courtyard, nearly at the staircase.

"Okay, I'm leaving," He announced. As he tried to take another step, he felt an unfamiliar weight holding him back. Ren looked over his shoulder to find HoroHoro and Yoh hanging onto his arms, Ryu holding onto his leg, and Pirika and Manta on his other leg.

"Let..." He inched forward.

"Ren, just calm down! I'm sure she didn't mean it!" HoroHoro insisted while tightening his grip.

The Tao managed to take a full step forward as he grumbled, "Go..."

"There, there..." Yoh started in a soothing tone. "She'll apologize if you give her a chance..."

The irate Ren won today's battle when he managed to slowly drag them to the base of the staircase. No one wanted to risk the stubborn, slighted shaman trying to descend that death trap in his current condition.

Once they reached the bottom of the stairs, Yoh could not help but throw the shrine one last glance from over shoulder before departing... Today may have ended in failure, but that did not mean that he would give up.

S.H.A.M.A.N.K.I.N.G.

Several days had passed since the fiasco that sent Kagome into hiding from the world outside of her well-house. From what Manta had known, the Asakura continued visiting the priestess every evening, but he had been unable to convince her to try leaving her personal space and comfort zone.

HoroHoro had made himself quite at home at Manta's condo. He leaned back casually in a cherrywood chair with his feet propped up onto the shining glass table in the living area. The blue-haired man looked up at the ceiling, deep in thought about the development. "Jeez... That Kagome girl is one of the most emotional spirits that I've ever met," He pointed out.

Pirika stopped sipping on her canned beverage and easily replied, obviously feeling sympathetic towards the priestess, "Well, she died at a pretty young age. And it looks like her death might have been a tragic or violent one."

A light bulb suddenly lit over HoroHoro's head before he grinned while leaning forward. He planted his hands against the table surface and asked, "You know what? She could really use a good laugh!" His eyes then lit up at the sight of Ryu bringing over a tray of riceballs and placing them in the middle of the table. He eagerly reached for the closest one and took a big bite.

The younger of the Usui's then glowed hearing this, "You're right!" She nodded before looking at the faces of her friends, "We should find out what Chocolove-san is up to!"

HoroHoro and Ryu both grimaced at the idea.

Manta chuckled as he spoke the question on their minds, "You think that Kagome-san would actually find him funny?" He then held up his cellphone while explaining," I actually reached out to both Chocolove and Lyserg on the same day that I called you all."

HoroHoro and Pirika both threw their hands in the air and cheered, "Good thinking, Manta!"

The blond then finished his statement, "But both are too busy with work right now. Chocolove is hosting a big comedy event in America. And Lyserg is in the middle of cracking a classified case." His three guests quickly deflated at that news. "But, he also said that we could still call him for any advice."

Ryu pulled up a chair at the table while picking up one of the snacks that he just made, "That's a good idea actually! Lyserg has always been the smart one!" Manta's brow twitched at that statement. "We should ask him what we should do next!"

S.H.A.M.A.N.K.I.N.G.

Later that day, the group reconvened at Manta's favorite French cuisine cafe. Yoh was beaming with excitement as he listened to HoroHoro relay the advice that Lyserg had given them on the phone earlier. Anna listened intently, but her expression remained impassive as she ate her meal. Pirika and Ryu still looked thrilled to hear the plan, despite knowing exactly what it was. Manta nodded slightly as he listened to plan once again. Ren listened in as well, but he looked particularly unpleased as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"That sounds like a great idea!" Yoh commented. "That's our Lyserg for ya~" He smiled while crossing his arms and nodding. The brunette then looked over at Ren and asked casually, "I can count on you to do your part, right?"

Ren then held up his scarred right hand and asked, "Need I remind you what happened the last time that I tried to help her?" His annoyed scowl only widened when HoroHoro leaned in close to poke his cheek roughly.

"Ehhhhh, you're still sour about that?" The Ainu shaman asked in a teasing tone. "If you're really a man, you wouldn't run away over a tiny battle scar."

The Tao scoff as he pushed HoroHoro out of his personal space. "What battle?" He deadpanned while looking over at Yoh, "That priestess of yours is powerful enough to repel my Spirit of Thunder. In fact," he narrowed his eyes as he noted his next observation, "It doesn't seem like any other spirits are able to approach that entire area because of her spiritual energy."

Yoh scratched his cheek while smiling sheepishly, "Yeah, I noticed that too." Manta spat out his drink when he heard his best friend's next confession. "I've actually been asking her to become my partner this past couple of days." The Asakura blinked as he watched the blond man choke and cough, trying to recover from his shock. "You okay, Manta?"

The shorter man nodded as he finally regained his composure. He then pointed an accusatory finger at the brunette and shouted, "What would you do with a spirit like Kagome?!"

Yoh grinned and responded, "A priestess might be useful for things like healing the sick or wounded," he paused before his grin became even wider, "Or maybe even exorcising evil spirits and stuff!"

HoroHoro nodded enthusiastically, "Her special move seems to be getting under Ren's skin! ACK!" This jest earned the blunette man an aggravated chokehold from Ren, who did not relent, even when HoroHoro tapped his arm in submission several times.

Ryu flushed then smiled a wide smile that immediately came off the sickly lovechild between dreaminess and perversion. "Ohoho, the things I'd do if I had that priestess as a partner~!"

Pirika and Anna alike bashed the top of the older man's head with their elbows before the itako hissed out, "Dead or not, that woman is a priestess. Have some respect."

Ren huffed when Yoh turned a smile towards him once again. He rolled his eyes before finally conceding, "Fine. But you owe me for this."

"And you?" Yoh asked while looking at Anna, who was sitting next to him.

"...fine. I'll meet her this once," She said in an almost exasperated tone.

Manta looked between the grumpy faces of Ren and Anna, then finally at Yoh. If there was anyone who could get the priestess to come out of her shell, it would definitely be Asakura Yoh. This man sure knew how to use his charm when he needed to.

S.H.A.M.A.N.K.I.N.G.

Anna huffed and crossed her arms as she and her husband ascended the decaying staircase. "I swear to God, Yoh," She muttered beneath her breath grumpily. "If this woman does not live up to the standards that you've set, I'm going to slap you good," she threatened as her irritable expression darkened further. The last thing she wanted to do during her brief stay in Tokyo was to ooze sweat into her dress from climbing so many damn stairs.

"I promise that she won't disappoint~!" Yoh chuckled softly as they arrived at the top of the stairs. He was quick to grab his wife's hand and lead her past the sign that warned them not to enter the private property, leading her over all the obstacles that used to trip him up.

Anna's dark eyes narrowed more and more the deeper they traveled across the shrine grounds. She had sensed a great spiritual energy and an even greater sorrow the moment they arrived at the bottom of the stairs, but the presence became even more overwhelming the closer that Yoh led her to the well-house that he had told her so much about since he first began visiting the shrine. The air was thick with trapped energy. It was like treading through gelatin. It was almost sickening: this level of despair that bore down on the itako.

'So this is why he invited me here…' Anna noted as the sounds of grief assaulted her ears. She was not surprised that her husband would have a bleeding heart over this woman's plight…

The itako took in the unkempt appearance of the shrine and almost sighed. She, too, could not help but feel sorry for the woman who had caught her husband's attention. "Okay… I'll help."

"Kagome, I'm coming in," Yoh announced before parting the doors and taking a few steps inside. Anna quietly followed his example and stepped inside of the well-house. The itako could tell by his calm demeanor that her husband was used to the strange events around the haunting that she was witnessing for the first time.

The shaman silently went over to the well. Anna watched as her husband pulled a young woman dressed in traditional Shinto priestess clothing out, like a magician pulling a rabbit out of their hat. Yoh smiled while nudging the priestess towards the stairs, which she climbed with a confused look on her face.

"Look! I'm fine with staying here forever!" Kagome's voice argued as she ascended the short set of stairs. "I'm not ever leaving this place and that's fin—!" The last syllable was replaced with a surprised gasp as she finished climbing the stairs and found herself face-to-face with a calm-looking Anna. "Pardon. I didn't know that Yoh brought company again," the priestess' blue eyes took in the appearance of the itako.

Anna noted how the gears inside Kagome's mind immediately began turning. She knew that she did not need to introduce herself, judging by the spark of realization in those blue eyes. "Asakura Anna," she said in a calm voice.

Kagome smiled and nodded in response, "Higurashi Kagome." She bowed politely before the itako, "Yoh has been taking good care of me. I hope that we'll get along."

"Huh..." Anna huffed a bit as she stared down at the priestess before the spirit returned to her upright position. "Impressive," She said simply, causing both Kagome and Yoh, who just made it up the stairs, to blink. "You truly fit the image of an ideal modern priestess: pretty, gracious, and powerful."

Kagome found herself blushing prettily and smiling timidly at the compliment from the woman who Yoh had described as a bit abrasive if you did not know her well. The priestess' warms feelings about the compliments were short-lived as the itako suddenly began making a series of arm gestures and hand signals.

"Uwah! A-Anna, what are you doing?!" Yoh shouted as he recognized her body movements.

Anna's body became engulfed in a brilliant white light before she outstretched her right hand towards Kagome. "I've seen all that I needed. I'm banishing this girl from this world and sending her to heaven, where she belongs."

Kagome's eyes widened as she felt a strange tugging at her very being. A light from above suddenly shone through the ceiling of the well-house, as if the heavens had dropped a spotlight on her. The priestess whipped around, her saddened, fearful eyes searching for Yoh's. Blue eyes once again met brown ones. To both her surprise and relief, his eyes showed no signs of betrayal or guilt. His eyes were widened and mouth hanging open in panic.

It was as if, he truly did not want her to leave...

Because he truly wanted to be her friend?

Because his smiles and vows to help her move on were genuine?

He had not given up on her.

"Anna, stop!" Yoh pleaded with his wife as he stopped on the other side of the priestess, watching in horror as her incorporeal body began to fade in and out, switching from being visible to translucent and back again. "This isn't the type of help that I had in mind!"

Anna closed her eyes and replied simply, "I am aware of that..." She then met Kagome's blue eyes as the priestess turned back to her. "No hard feelings. But down here, your existence is a miserable, painful one. You will find true peace in heaven."

Kagome closed her eyes and seemingly took a breath.

The itako's eyes narrowed when Kagome opened her eyes. The priestess' fearful, sad expression transformed into a firmer one. She had the face of someone with an unshakable resolve.

"My existence is a miserable, painful one?" She asked as her fingers curled into fists. "That may be true..." The priestess' fists began shaking as her existence filled with a cyclone of emotions. "It's true. I don't remember everything about my life, when I had one. Every day, I feel like I'm just waking up from a nightmare that I can't remember..."

Anna watched silently, her expression still neutral, showing no fear as the priestess' body began glowing with its own white light. "But where I go—whether its heaven or if I choose to stay here for all of eternity... What's best for me," The priestess raised her hand in front of the itako.

Yoh's eyes widened as he leaped for the priestess, "Kagome, NO!"

"—is MY decision," Kagome asserted as Anna's body began levitating against her will. The sudden lack of gravity was finally enough for the itako to look mildly surprised with her eyes widening and her lips parting. "You're the one who doesn't belong here."

With those words, a blinding light erupted within the well-house. The Asakura couple had to shield their eyes with arms and hands. A moment later, the light subsided and they lowered their arms, only to discover that they were sitting at bottom of Higurashi shrine's staircase, completely unharmed.

Yoh breathed a deep sigh of relief before crawling over to Anna and asking, "Are you alright...?" The shaman blinked when the itako did not answer. Instead, she silently stared up at the shrine from afar.

S.H.A.M.A.N.K.I.N.G.

Anna's eyes shot open wide as she sat up in bed, looking around the room in both panic and confusion. Judging by her surroundings, she was lying in her bedroom at the Asakura residence. 'What the hell is going on...?' She thought as she took in her surroundings. She was sure that she had just woken up from a dream. But in reality, her home with her fiancee had been destroyed by an oni. And yet, here she was...

A moment later, her door opened and Kagome strolled inside, a small bowl in her hands. Her blue eyes widened as she released a soft gasp. Her fingers' grip on the bowl loosened from her shock so she had to scramble and fumble to regain her grip. "C-Crap!"

"What are you doing?" Anna asked, raising her eyebrow as the priestess finally steadied the bowl and regained her composure. "And where the hell are we?" She pressed. One of the things that she hated the most was feeling lost and confused.

"For starters," Kagome smiled as she pulled up a chair that Anna did not notice was near her bedside. "I was going to pat you down with some cool water because you were sweating in your sleep," she explained as she lowered the bowl so that Anna could see that a sponge was floating inside of crystal clear, cool water. "Secondly, we're back home~"

"Impossible," The blonde girl remarked. "It was destroyed by the oni."

"Yeeeeeah," the priestess smiled sheepishly. "We spent the night with the Tao's after the fight. But when we returned to see if we could salvage anything, we found that the entire neighborhood had been restored to normal."

Anna's eyes widened as she remembered her last thought before everything faded to black.

She had been in the middle of a group hug. She was hurting so much. She felt guilty for endangering the people who she had just realized were her friends. She also felt warm and fuzzy. And she had thought, 'I want to go home...'

Kagome noticed Anna's surprised expression and chuckled, "Yeah, I don't get it either. But I'm glad that it all worked out somehow."

Hearing a play on her fiancee's catchphrase, Anna then went back to her normal self as she asked straightforwardly, "And where is Yoh?"

The priestess smiled, widely and proudly, "I was just about to get to that. Yoh left for his second shaman fight about fifteen minutes ago." Kagome then stood up, her hands balled up into excited fists, "I'm sure we'll make it if we leave soon! I'm sure having you there will be a confidence boost for him!"

Anna scoffed, but she would not disagree with that. Even after all that had transpired, she still wanted to see Yoh's fight. Even now, Yoh was her fiancee and the person who she loved...no matter where his heart lied at this moment in time.

"Yeah, you too," she muttered as she swung her legs over the edge of the bed before standing up.

"Hm?" Kagome asked from the doorway. "Did you say something?" She asked.

"No, now hurry up and get out so I can freshen up," Anna commanded as she reached for the cool sponge. The blonde's eyebrow twitched when the priestess did not leave immediately.

Instead, Kagome laughed from behind a hand, "Ohoho? There's no need to be shy, Anna-chan~ It's just us girls here!" The priestess easily dodged a hairbrush that Anna threw at her as a projectile weapon. But she could not help but gulp as she saw the brush become embedded in the wall next to her head