Hey y'all; I'm having major writter's block on chapter 6, so I jumped ahead. the only thing you need to know is that Asahana spends hours training Kana and the other in a dimension where time is modified. When they get out she crashes in her tent without even eating. So here we go chapter 7 !

Chapter 7 : a familiar onsen scene

Hao woke up Asana around ten in the evening. He had grilled fish for her to eat, she grunted and tried to turn around, but when he insisted she couldn't refuse his kindness.

She stepped out of the tent, a fire was burning, everyone had gone to sleep. So she sits down and starts chomping on the trout. She doesn't like it. But if he grilled this for her she wasn't going to turn it down.

"I like to go to Onsen after they are closed, I can relax. It's also Opacho's shampoo day, I take care of that"

"An onsen, that's like a public bath ? I'd rather use flash sani if it's available…"

The look on her husband's face stated the obvious, he did not know what she was talking about.

"Fresh water is a scant ressource in the future, the most common way of cleansing is with a laser light that kills bacteria of your skin."

"That doesn't sound relaxing at all" says her husband

"I don't like being wet" she grumbls while chewing.

He set a basket in front of her, inside she can see a folded towel, bottles that are probably soap and a peach fabric, fitting what she requested.

"When you're done we will go" He says and lays back on his hands to look up to the stars. She immitates him

"We can't see much here"

" Yes the city prevents us from seeing most of them. But I know they're there." the onmyoji smiles.

The girl had eaten most of the flesh of the fish, what was left was to be sucked off the bones, she didn't want that, so she threw it in the fire.

"Alright I'm…"

"Fruit." he points to a bowl.

She selects an apple. That's much better, it cleans the taste of charred fish skin in her mouth. Asahana grins as she enjoy the crisp fresh texture.

"You can have more than one, take your time."

They sit in a comfortable silence, the time it takes the girl to really wake up. When she's done Hao goes to fetch a sleeping Opacho and carries her in his arms while they fly on Spirit of Fire's back. When they land Opacho is waking up. The long haired brunette points to the women's side for Asahana to go into and himself goes to the man's side with the african girl.

The last Asakura opens the curtain to find lockers, her feet are dirty so she drops the pair of flip flops she was provided on the ground and slips them on. She finds changing rooms where she takes off her dress and catches her reflection in a mirror. It's so odd to see herself in this body, the same she had when she was a teen. A skinny malnourished teen, no wonder Hao kept asking her to eat. She examines herself, her breast are small, her hips are not as large as her usual as well. There's no fat and very little muscle. She turns around to see her backside. Her spine is showing and her buttocks are much smaller than she remembers as well. The woman in this teen body sighs and goes to the next room where stools and plastic buckets are set up in front of faucets. She starts the water, thankfully it's warm. Why was she projected like this ? She thinks back on her body the day she came to the throne in Mu. Thirty three solar years after her birth, back then she had fuller cheeks, her arms were toned and she had fully developed to a one meter and seventy nine centimeter adult woman. That is how she visioned herself for the next centuries inside the great spirit. Why would her husband set up a teenage body for her to reincarnate in ? She ponders while she lathers the soap all over her body. Hao also put a bottle of shampoo in there so she uses it. When she's done and rinced she goes to the back of the room where a mural of mount Fuji sits above pools of water. She looks to the left where there is a door that says "Onsen". Following this path she finds her husband and his goddaughter in one of the baths behind a wooden wall.

"Why am I in a teenager's body?" she asks while she pushes the door with a big red cross on it..

Hao is not surprised, he had been spying on her through Opacho.

"I can't be held responsible for decisions I haven't made yet."

He has his hair up in a clip for his oil mask to work while he relaxes, he did the same for the afro hair of the little girl besides him, only she was wearing a bonnet. He opens his eyes to look at Asahana who stepped in the bath.

"Your hair is all tangled." he states, surprised..

But his wife only pouts in response. "I told you I didn't take baths"

"You two no start" Opacho glares

"We have to use our outside voices." says the onmyoji. "Come, I'll detangle them.."

She moves over to him and he takes the comb in his own bucket. He starts gently with the ends of the auburn hair. " You have to take care of it or you will get split ends".

Memories come back to the newly reincarnated goddess, other humans always paid more attention to her appearance then she did herself. When she started having friends they would have her use all sort of products and take the time to comb through her knot just like her husband was doing now.

" Now that you are in a physical form you have to take care of it. I know it's hard to think of in the beginning, but you need rest, and food. You went overboard today."

His wife relaxes and sighs. "I think I'm still in the efficiency mindset I have been in… It's just been one crisis after another. First the soul rehabilitation campaign, then the demon lord claims , the population decline, choosing new representatives on earth every sixty years or so…Five hundred years should be a long time but it went so fast. I felt like I just got a hold of the situation and already I had to prepare for the next shaman fight…"

"It sounds like a political program, weren't you doing too much?"

" I had to do so much because my predecessors were slackers." She turned to glare at him but when she saw his confused face she softened. She shifted to lean into him, but he wasn't finished with her ends so he pushed her back up straight.

" Not just you, most of the shaman rulers of this cycle were more concerned about life on earth than the harmony within the great spirit."

He considers her words, even if he had gathered all the intel he could, the role of the shaman king was still not fully uncovered to him, even as an ex patch officiant.

" What is it like? … To be Shaman King"

The woman inhales and closes her eyes."It's like I was finally where I was meant to be in this world." Asahana looked up, the stars were not all visible but she could see more now than in the camp. " I understood everything, I knew so much, I was connected to the energy of every being" she radiated while she was talking.

Spirit of Fire flew down to dip in the water, the temperature rose slightly. Opacho went to play with them, she could swim surprisingly well.

"Why would you give that up then?"

"I told you why."

"For a husband that does half of a job as a ruler ?" He banthers lightly.

The future queen giggles.

"Yeah you're not going to do anything in the first century, until the events force you to. But when you were with me you did the most. I told you I'm grateful, didn't I ?" she smiles at him.

He is struck again by her pretty blue eyes, the heat of the water makes her face flushed and she looks attractive. Her smile widens even more. She heard his thoughts through Opacho.

"How did we meet?" he asks and turns around pretexting to get some hair oil.

She turns her back again, not wanting to pressure him. The millennial teen starts running his finger in her long auburn hair.

" The first time I met you, I was about five. You looked really cool to me that day." She remembered him, he took on an appearance similar to what he had now. " But then it turned sour."

"How so ?" he asks, concerned.

" I was part of a ploy for the demons to take over the earth and the great spirit."

His fingers halts, worry takes over him, but he pushes it away and sways her locks to the side so they don't hang in the water. She takes his hand on her shoulder.

"I'm okay now" Ashana brushed her thumb on his knuckles to reassure him. His worry is washed over by this warm aura again.

" But it took a lot, I had to fight you, Yoh, all of the Asakuras, The world of the living. I was so full of anger no one could reach my heart." She turns to face him and lets his hand go. Her eyes are gleaming. "And you stuck by my side for all of that." She radiates again.

"Kissu" says Opacho.

That's the thought he had on the back of his mind but had been really careful not to linger on, the little mind reader had picked it up.

" I don't think Hao is ready for that yet" Asahana answers the little girl with uneasiness in her voice. "You told me you weren't much of a tactile person in your past life, so that's okay.."

"That's not true" he thinks but asks another question to change the subject "Why did you come now ? Why not when I was in my first shaman fight ?"

"Because that's as far as the Gods allowed me to go. Even if Yavis and I can work together he wasn't going to relinquish his victory, nor did any of the shaman rulers before the Asakura's rule."

Hao's face hardens, Yavis was probably the shaman he disliked the most in the whole wide world.

"I know you two will never get along, even Yoh had a hard time with him."

"But you didn't."

"He likes me."

He looks at her, there's nothing to dislike about her when she's like this. Calm, welcoming.

"Do you think he could like you even now ?"

"Hum I'm going to have to convince him. You thought he would immediately attack me if he had the chance, so we made sure I would reappear in a time he wouldn't be able to act."

"What do you mean by that ?"

"It's the start of the last quarter of the synodic cycle"

Hao reviews all he knows about the planets and astrology …

"Which synodic cycle?" he says outloud but he is asking himself.

"The All Synodic cycle. The planets will align in two and a half year"

That does not match what he knows, his brows furrowed.

"It's okay not to know everything yet" Asahana says with a kind reassuring smile.

"On the fifth of may of the 2000th year of this calendar, six planets will align. You have until that day to merge with the great spirit. The current king's power decreases as we get closer to this date. We just entered the last quarter, 819 days before this alignment. Yavis is not allowed to interfere with the contestant in any way from this point on."

As she was talking, her husband's eyes were getting shinier and his smile wider. He's a geek for astrology and always loves to know more about the universe. His face looks like that of a child receiving a new toy.

"You're so cute." she comments.

Part of him delights to her compliment and the other feels embarrassed, but overall he wants to know more.

"What happens when the six planets align?"

"You will announce yourself to the faraway civilisation." She dips into the water and turns her gaze to Opacho and Sof playing so she doesn't give away too much.

"Which civilization ?" He insist, getting excited.

"If I say more, then the Gods will have a reason to send me back to the future."

Disappointment doesn't deter him, he ask another question:

"How did you travel to this point in time ?"

"Aha ! This you'll have to figure out yourself" She grins and naturally comes close to him again.

"It's another secret ?"

"No, I know you, you prefer to solve things yourself than to be served with the solution."

"Hum maybe I do, the question is usually more interesting than the answer." He sinks in the water a bit further himself, and relaxes.

"So did you figure out my techniques?"

"I think I did"

"I'm ready to hear it."

"Yesterday you had about 700 000 points of Mana, You only have about 500 000 now which means you had 200 000 in a stored object."

" are pretty good at judging furyoku"

"That ribbon you used for one copy, it was mine in my first life."

"Was it ? I didn't know that, it was in my hair when I came to. Also I didn't consume 200 000 on one copy alone"

" The dimension ?"

"No that was my furyoku."

He wasn't getting everything, but what he knew was enough.

"So you created a copy with the ribbon, the other one was summoned from the dimension you had me in at first."

"Yes."

"So you are able to create pools of furyoku contained in copies of yourself that you can access whenever you need."

"My husband is so smart." she beams. He looks away. "Last question: my medium ?"

He hadn't figured that out. It had to be something invisible like he used oxygen and Kana used her own ectoplasm. Another molecule ? If so she would've had another reaction to him changing the oxygen concentration in his own dimension. What else was invisible ? visible meant light, anything that couldn't be hit with a particle wave..

"Sound ?"

Asahana is grinning ear to ear, usually she's the one guessing, this is so much fun.

"Kissu" Opacho states again, this time echoing the women's thoughts.

The atmosphere becomes awkward and Hao once again pushes through to ignore it.

"So you use the same techniques as BoZ ?"

"Not quite, BoZ infuses their chants and sounds with Furyoku. I isolate short waves in micro dimensions, looping them over and over. I essentially turn soundwaves into objects so I can use them as mediums."

"That must consume a lot of furyoku…"

"I have a lot, and it's only one of the tactics I use."

"I look forward to discovering the others.."

"KISS-U" Opacho is making a weird face with her lips pushed forward, and spirit of fire is also clasping their hands as if to say "get closer".

Hao glides over to his goddaughter to change the subject.

" We need to detangle and rinse you off, you're going to catch a cold"

He walks out of the onsen bath with her in his hands.

"I want to hear more of your story" the onmyo says before he gets back inside the building. She follows him.

While he combs Opacho's hair she talks about her past, and he understand the similarities between them. She grew up alone, unable to die because of the curse he places on the family, she survived off demon reyroku and ghosts taught her to dig for roots, hunt grasshoppers then fish and hunt small mammals. When she turned five his future self came to find her and gifts her with Spirit of Fire .The little African girl was drifting in and out of sleep as she was being cared for by her godfather. Asahana kept on telling her story.

"But my powers grew too strong. The demons were feeding me so I could turn blind and they could manipulate me. I was terrified most of the time and each time I would act out more rashly. Until Yoh summoned me and things got really heated."

"You fought the shaman king as a five year old…"

"Ten years old. I was relentless, no matter what Yoh tried I would push him back. I would destroy the earth if I was sent back and the demons wouldn't hold me in hell, pretending that I was too strong for them. Even Hana got tired of me. Time can be endless in the great spirit and there was no sign of me backing down ever. Yoh considered destroying me, that's when you stepped in and offered to keep me on your domain, restrained."

"This doesn't sound like the beginning of a love story."

" I hated your guts, I wanted you and Yoh obliterated, I wanted all the Gods thrown in burning pit." Her mood had changed as she retold her story. Opacho looks up to Asahana, and shivers, she is scared.

"Sorry !" she switches her aura immediately when she sees the little girl tear up.

Hao had finished detangling her hair and rinced it off silently. " And then…"

"Part of me escaped back on earth. You set it up. I made quite a mess on earth and Yoh was not happy. Many gods were pleased to see someone stand up to the Asakura twins and offered me their help, they all thought they could sway or manipulate me."

"But you came out on top."

" I did, Thirty three years after my birth I became Shaman Queen."

"All the power the demons and the Gods gave you so you could destroy the world…" the same goal he had, but even more.

" I gained power for myself, nobody handed it to me."

" I didn't say you didn't earn it"

" Don't even think it"

" I didn't, Asahana."

She blushed.

"You don't like your name."

" I only like it when you say it "

So he had named her after himself because they started out the same, orphans conversing with demons left to survive on their own. But she had accomplished so much in so little time…

"You also named me after Hana" she answered his first thought, Opacho was drifting and would soon be asleep again. Hao took her to the hair drying stand.

"Who is this?"

"Your nephew"

The hair dryer started and prevented them from talking. It also jolted the little girl wide awake for a minute. Asahana was seeing a Japanese man with light chestnut hair, who looked like him in some way, more than Asahana herself. Nephew meant it would be his twin brother's offspring, confirming once again that in the timeline she came from, he would not destroy humankind. He pondered on that while the hair dryer worked. Asahana also went under one to dry her own hair, understanding Opacho's would take a while. When they were both done she said. "He's your favorite."

"What ?"

"Hana. You have a soft spot for him."

He couldn't say anything to that, so he didn't. He wrapped the little girl in a bathing robe and laid her down to sleep on a bench. He walked back to the faucets to rinse his own hair off finally.

"And what about us ?"

"what?"

"We're married, do we also have a…" he cut off when the mood changed suddenly

Asahana's face had turned somber, and onis appeared all around them.

"I am the last Asakura. There will be no one after me."

The aura around her was not just menacing, it was truly terrifying. He called on Spirit of Fire, who appeared between them. They positioned themself underneath the girl's face to get her attention, and Hao quickly casted an annulement spell to disband the spirits. It was enough to undo the oversouls, but this time three of the oni stuck around in spirit form. His wife encircled spirit of fire and hugged them. Only after that did the oni spirits go away. It had been one of those moments that was only seconds but felt like more. Hao's breathing was a bit quicker than usual, the onmyoji was making efforts to keep cool.

"That's… good." He says to try and dissipate the tension.

"Yes." she answers.

A marriage with no children. That was a first to him, he had been forced to marry and conceive in his two life before this one. He rinsed his hair trying to appear unphased.

"It's a touchy subject for me…"

"I gathered"

He stood up and went to face her.

"I only asked because I don't know… what our story is."

She looked up. Their eyes locked onto each other. Last night they sat silently in a crowd of people, saying nothing. Tonight it's just them.

"I'll tell you everything."

"Without any oni summoning ?" There is a slight worry in his voice but he was playing it cheekily.

"I can't guarantee that" she answers, half apologetic and half playful as well.

"Let's go for another dip then"

In the onsen they talked for another hour, she told him about their time in the great spirit, as a prisoner and later as equals. How she had started to fall for him when he aided her under the guise of someone else on earth, and his proposal several decades later. The first wedding between two shaman rulers. He mostly listened, because evidently, she knew all his stories. He found that he liked to listen to her .

"We should head back". They had been silent for a little while now, looking up at the nightsky and enjoying each other's presence.

Asahana gets up and heads to the women's section.

"Baths are pretty good in the end" she says before pushing the wooden door and disappearing behind it.

She finds the sari fabric, peach with gold ornaments, and wraps herself in it. Outside Hao waits for her in a red ensemble made of terry cloth. They ride under a clear sky on Spirit of Fire. The queen-to-be hums a tune and they seem to vibrate to it all together. When they reach the camp she sees the tipi she had knocked down was reset closer to her own tent. The magic ends here.

"Oyasumi." her husband says and swiftly dips into his sleeping quarter with Opacho.

It was too quick for Asahana to react, she stands for a minute with her bucket in her arms. Thinking about how she wanted to be close to him. How the air was in fact cold like he had said the previous morning. She bends into her own sleeping alcove . Spirit of Fire stays outside, between the two tents. Once the girls' sight adjusts to the darkness, she notices a pile of clothes in the corner. She picks them up, they are all shades of yellow and orange, there's a large T-shirt with a sun on it. She smiles. Once she's in that shirt she snuggles into the sleeping bag and quickly falls into a sleep full of nice comforting dreams.