Note: This is my first Shaman King fic., and on top of that, my first fic. To ever be posted on So PLEASE be nice (and hopefully somewhat supportive). Please, NO FLAMES! Constructive criticism I can deal with, and it might be helpful for future chapters that I write.
You might say this is slightly AU, since all of this is post – the Shaman King series. It might not make sense to you if you haven't watched the complete anime part of the series.
Also, take not that this is a Shounen-ai/ Yaoi fic. If you are in the least bit homophobic, LEAVE NOW! I consider this to be fare warning. Also, this is slightly Yoh-centric, for all of you who care to know. Now, if you still want to read this, strap yourselves in and get prepared for a long ride.
Translations that you'll need to know for the story:
'tou-san – shortened version of Otou-san, which means father.'kaa-san – shortened version of Okaa-san, which means mother.
Funbari Onsen – Funbari is the name of the town they live in. Onsen means hot springs, kind of like an inn with hot springs and hot tubs. This is currently the name of the residence in which Anna and Yoh live in.
Anna no kowaii! – Anna is scary! no is the word used between a name and a describing word, basically means =/is. kowaii means scary.
nani? – what?
ne? – right? – a word used when expecting an answer of agreement from the other person/people.
demo – but.
matte – wait.
Ja ne! – See you later!
Nantoka naru – Yoh's famous line of 'everything will be alright in the end.'
kuso! – 'damn!' – sometimes people use this word to mean 'shit!'
Fuuryoku – it's the name of the power that Shaman's use. It's the power of the spirit/their mochirei.
Ie – no (ie).
Gomen – sorry.
Hai – yes.
ninen-sei – second level, second year (sophomore).
kookoo-sei – high school student.
sou ka? – really?
Ojii-san – old man, grandpa (it has multiple meanings, but mainly means old man).
Baka-saru – stupid monkey. Baka – means idiot, stupid, saru – means monkey. (Gensomaden Saiyuki thing).
Gomen ne – sorry/ I'm sorry.
Arigatou na! – Thank you/ thank you very much. Arigatou – means 'thank you', 'na' is one of the various words you can use to place a certain type of emphasis to the statement.
Aa – not the type of Ah of surprise, but 'Aa' in this case means yes, but basically it's a sound of understanding.
Patch imura – Patch Village. Patch – is the name of the village where the final part of the Shaman Fight takes place. Imura – means village.
Sugoi! – amazing!
Himitsu – it's a secret.
sama – a suffix used at the end of a name for great respect, often like master/mistress or lord/lady.
Ohayoo gozaimasu – Good morning/ Good morning everyone.
Sensei – teacher.
kawaii – cute.
bishounen – pretty boy.
Watashi wa Asakura, Yoh desu. Yoroshiku. – Watashi wa – I am. desu – always added to the end of specific statements. Yoroshiku – 'Please treat me well.' Always added after one introduces themselves.
Ano – Um.
aniki – brother.
Konnichiwa – hello. It's a more polite and formal type of greeting in most cases.
Yoh-dono – dono is used after a persons name to mean 'master'. So this would mean 'Master Yoh'.
Daijoubu desu ka? – Are you alright/ okay?
Onegai – please.
Yamero! - Stop!
mochirei – (main) spirit.
hanshin – other half.
Daijoubu – I'm okay/ It's okay/ fine.
Ikuzo – let's go.
Kisama! – Bastard!
Shirimasen – I don't know.
Well, that's the end of a long line of translations. I hope they help. Now read on, and please enjoy the story!
Twisted
Chapter One
"You are no longer to be engaged to Kyouyama, Anna"It's ironic how life twists in unexplainable ways.
"However, you will still be living in the same residence as her. She has done well in training you. However, it would seem that the two of you are not compatible enough. So, we have decided to break off your engagement. Kyouyama, Anna is no longer your fiancée."
Yes.
Yoh was currently heading to his new High School.
This might not seem interesting in normal circumstances. But these weren't normal circumstances.
His life had been completely turned inside out and upside down, the pockets being removed of any familiar fabric that he had been accustomed to.
Let me explain.
Yoh's POV
(Kind of) Flashback mode
It's funny, really, how things have turned out. My parents visited the Funbari Onsen, where Anna and I are currently living, for a few days. We went about treating each other normally, as my 'tou-san and 'kaa-san had insisted upon.
So, Anna would continuously keep up her nerve-wracking training schedules from dawn to dusk. In the evening, my parents would witness how Anna would sit in front of the TV, snacking on cookies or whatever there was around, while I was left to go on my running sessions around town, until I would arrive back at home, either found being a near- corpse having collapsed on the doorstep from exhaustion from my previous over-exertion, or I would be so tired that I would be able to drag myself to my futon and fall asleep listening to my Bob Love music.
On some of those days, I think, Anna would push me harder, in order to impress my parents by her endless training schedule in order for me not to slack off. However, it was a surprise when on other days she would push me less, mainly so that she could talk to 'tou-san and 'kaa-san. Either way.
Life was hell.
I would come back home from grocery shopping, only to have a glaring Anna standing in the doorway, waiting for me when I came in the door. Then she would start the usual screaming about how I was 15 seconds late, which wasn't unusual in the slightest.
But still. A person really shouldn't have to get used to someone else mistreating them, in my opinion. But my opinion really doesn't matter in this household, or so it would seem. Anna no kowaii!!!!!!!
My parents also happened to see some of the small moments when Anna and I actually seemed to get along, which can be quite rare, to tell you the truth.
My parents had been all smiles, and I had been blissfully unaware of the plots that were going through those fiendish minds of theirs. However, most people don't suspect their parents of such things when they decide to drop by and visit. Especially since I hardly ever see them, so I don't know exactly what their personalities are like.
Later, Anna and I had been summoned to the main Asakura house in Isumo.
"You are no longer engaged to Kyouyama, Anna," my 'tou-san informed us.
"Nani?"
I was shocked, for lack of a better word.
My mother decided to cut in.
"However, you will still be living in the same residence as her. She has done well in training you. However, it would seem that the two of you are not compatible enough. So, we have decided to break off your engagement. Kyouyama, Anna is no longer your fiancée."
"Why?" Anna simply asked from her spot a few feet away from me.
"While we were visiting you, we were paying attention to how you interact with one another. We wanted to make sure that the two of you definitely suited each other before you got married. It wouldn't make sense for the two of you to be stuck together for the rest of your lives if you weren't compatible," my 'kaa-san told us.
"And from what we saw while we visited, you're not," my 'tou-san told us.
"However, you almost seem to have a sibling relationship, brother and sister. So it wouldn't make sense to completely separate you from one another's lives."
'Brother and sister? I never would have considered us to have a relationship like that. We definitely don't act like Jun and Ren do with each other...'
"So, you are free to have relationships with other people as you please from now on. Yoh, we don't plan on pairing you up with another fiancée. We feel that you should live like other children, or rather, young adults do. Anna, we thank you for your help. We would like for you to continue your Shaman training with Yoh. It seems to be having wondrous results. We still consider you to be a part of the Asakura family, no matter what. Why don't we discuss some more harsh- I mean- more helpful steps to add to Yoh's training? Shall we?" Yoh's 'tou-san said, trying to hide his grin as covered his mouth with the back of his hand and started laughing.
Anna grinned evilly at the enticing prospect.
Yeah, 'great minds think alike.'
Or rather, in this case it should actually be 'evil minds think alike and add on more ideas that could possibly torture others' like Yoh.
" 'Tou-san!" Yoh whimpered in horror, tears falling like waterfalls down his aghast face.
T T
0
End of Flashback mode
So here he was, walking down unfamiliar streets as he headed towards his new High School. And he didn't even have Amidamaru with him. Anna had taken him prisoner with her blue spiritual beads.
Flashback mode
"Yoh, you're going to a new High School in Kyoto!" Anna announced.
"Nani?!?!" Yoh asked in alarm.
He found himself asking that question a lot lately.
"You heard me! Don't make me have to repeat myself, Yoh!" Anna said icily.
"Ehehe..." Yoh uttered nervously, trying not to upset the crazy itako even more.
"Why?" He had to ask, even if it annoyed the blonde girl even more.
Afterall, he had planned to continue to go to High School in the Funbari area, and he basically had the rest of his life planned out. The goal: living life lazily. So this announcement changed things drastically.
"It was an order from your grandfather, Yomeii-sama," Anna told Yoh with a sigh.
"EH?!?!" Yoh cried in surprise.
Why would his grandfather care where he went to High School? Why the sudden change? And why in Tokyo, of all places?
"Demo..." Yoh whined.
"Don't try to argue with me, YOH! Now get on with it. Get OUT and catch your train!" Anna shouted in annoyance.
Yoh could've sworn he saw sparks shooting from her eyes. So, out of instinct, he cowered from the crazed itako in fear. He had had plenty of training in this household, and knew from experience that he didn't want to be on the receiving end of Anna's wrath.
"What should I bring? Amidamaru?" Yoh asked Anna.
All of a sudden he felt a suitcase being thrown at him, and he collapsed under the sudden weight that collided with his stomach, knocking the wind out of him.
"Take this! I've already packed the stuff you'll need! Now get going, already!"
'Why would I need this much stuff? I won't be gone for too long, ne? Why did she pack my stuff in the first place?' Yoh continue asking himself the continuous line of questions.
"Matte, what about Amidamaru? What's going on? ANNA?!?!" Yoh cried in fear.
Yoh watched in horror as Anna swung out her blue spiritual beads and took Amidamaru prisoner, his face turning pale.
"He stays. Here's your ticket for the train. Now leave. I'm having Manta come and cook and do the rest of the chores, so at the moment you're not really needed. And Yoh...good luck," Anna finished softly.
Then Yoh felt himself being roughly shoved out the door, and turned around to find that very same door being slammed in his face.
"Ja ne! Nantoka naru!" Yoh whispered, before taking off in the direction of the train station in defeat.
End Flashback
Waterfall like tears fell down Yoh's face at the memory. He truly pitied himself sometimes.
"I think I'm lost..." Yoh told himself.
This was one of those moments when he truly appreciated Amidamaru's company. The samurai spirit would have been able to help Yoh find his destination if he had been here.
But he wasn't...
"Kuso! Demo... nantoka naru!" Yoh told himself cheerfully.
Finally, after a while of searching, Yoh finally found the school.
"Hmm? Kyoto K.O.S. High School? Weird name!" Yoh said, before opening the front doors and stepping inside of the school building, dragging his suitcase along behind him.
He had gotten off of the train no more than two hours ago, and hadn't gotten any rest. It was kind of depressing, really. He stepped through the door that was labeled as the "Main Office', and the lady who seemed to be in her late twenties, early thirties that sat behind the front desk showed him to the principle's office.
And, of course, at these words, Yoh freaked, having taken this as a completely different meaning.
'AAAAAAAAAAAH! I'm not in trouble already am I? Maybe I shouldn't have asked! I shouldn't have even spoken to her! Was it because I'm not wearing any kind of uniform? That has to be it! NYUUUUUUUUU! I'll be kicked out before I even get a chance to begin! NNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOO coughcough OOOOOOOOOOOOO coughcough OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!' Yoh continued to mentally berate himself for his utter stupidity.
The lady from the front desk caught the sight of the different faces that continuously morphed on his face, that complimented his one-man conversation with himself, and she looked at him strangely (don't get any slightly perverted ideas from that!)
"Hmm... you look like a kid who's sent to see the principal a lot, or rather, just about every day. Yeah, usually for setting things on fire and trying to cause mayhem and destruction as I recall. A pretty face like yours, but he's a bit of a scary character..."she muttered.
That brought Yoh back to Earth.
"Nani?" he asked.
"Well, his voice is also different than yours...hmm, how very interesting!" the lady said.
'Looks like me, huh? And I'm guessing that it's not a doppelganger, since she said that our voices were different. Hmm... fire, huh? Who's somebody who likes to set things on fire and cause mayhem and destruction? It couldn't be...!'Yoh was cut off from his thoughts as the woman continued as she opened the door to the principle's office.
"Either that, or he also comes in with this boy with this giant purple spike for hair, and the two are snogging each other senseless. Huh, the two never used to get along."
"A purple spike for hair? It couldn't be, Tao, Ren?!?!" Yoh whispered, loud enough to be heard by the lady.
"Ah, yes, that sounds right."
'What are Ren and the others doing here? Ren is supposed to be in China, not in Tokyo, Japan, after I haven't seen him for two years!'
"Come in, come in!" the principal called from inside his office.
Well, it seemed that a lot of things have changed since Yoh was 14 years old. Yoh himself had changed slightly, as well. He had grown taller, and fit his form a bit more snugly, so he wasn't quite as lanky. He was a bit more muscle-toned, and he probably had a six-pack (not of beer, you dolt!), but it wasn't too too noticeable.
His hair had also grown a bit longer, now it reached a good two inches below his shoulders, instead of being cut off just above his shoulders. His hair still had that spiky affect, and his hair looked layered, what with the occasional spike in his hair that framed his face, so he didn't look too much like Hao. It looked very pretty, in fact. As his Fuuryoku had grown, and with the amount of time he spent in the sun for training, the dark red tint in his hair stated to show. Now it looked like he had dark red streaks throughout the dark brown strands. His hair overall, though, was the same pretty dark chocolate brown color. The occasional red gave it a bit more life.
He had also gotten the top of the cartilage in his ears pierced because of a dare, which now held one shiny diamond stud earring in each ear, which he had chosen because they reminded him of the stars just beyond his reach. He also had two small silver hoop earrings underneath in each ear. Each piercing itself had hurt like hell, to tell you the truth, but he had completed the dare given to him by Ryu and Manta. And looked all the better for it.
Yoh now stood in the office, wearing an outfit like his training clothes (the only difference being that they weren't for training), which consisted of a white t-shirt and dark blue jeans. He was also wearing his usual thick, high sandals with the brown strap that ran across the foot, holding the footwear together. Yoh had his hair pulled up into a high-ponytail, the soft strands spiked at the ends, almost defying gravity.
"Asakura-sama, welcome, welcome!" The Principal cheered.'
'This guy seems to like repeating his words a lot, ne?' Yoh thought to himself in amusement.
"So, how was your trip here? It seems that you've come here from Funbari!"
'Ah, yes. The sweet-talking. They always seem to start that way, don't they?'
"When did you arrive?" the Principal asked.
"Two hours ago," Yoh replied.
The other man's cheerful expression seemed to drop slightly.
There went his idea of having a fun conversation.
"Oh! So did you get a chance to have a good sleep during those two lovely hours?" the Principal asked, his face seeming to brighten up again in hope.
"Ie. I got lost for those two hours trying to find this school, and I just found it. And I didn't get a chance to sleep on the train, either; for fear that I wouldn't wake up at the right stop. I also didn't get to sleep before I left, because I was sent off as soon as I entered the door," Yoh replied, and as proof a loud yawn escaped his throat.
"Oh..." the Principal muttered in reply.
All thoughts of being extraordinarily cheerful seemed to have left him.
"Well, let's look over your file, shall we?" the Principal announced, pulling out a dark brown folder and opening it to reveal a stack of papers.
The other man's eyes skimmed through the papers until he stopped and his eyes lit up.
"So, it says here that your name is Asakura, Yoh-"
"And it would appear that what it says is obviously clear, as you have been referring to me by that name since the moment I stepped through your office door," Yoh cut in, annoyance that had been enhanced due to lack of sleep piercing through his voice.
There was a moment of awkward silence that passed through the room.
"Ah, gomen, gomen. Continue," Yoh said, who would rather be somewhere else listening to his Bob Love music rather than talking to this gravely-voiced man about unimportant information.
"Hai. It would also seem that you are 16 years old, and will be going into your ninen-sei as a kookoo-sei here at Kyoto K.O.S. High School."
"Might I ask what the K.O.S. in Kyoto K.O.S. High School stands for?" Yoh asked.
The Principal chuckled lightly.
"Oh, the K.O.S. in Kyoto K.O.S. stands for King of Spirits, which is another name for the Great Spirit."
Yoh looked at the other man in shock.
"The Great Spirit? But it should only be known by-"
"Ah, yes. I'm a Shaman!" the Principal announced.
There was yet again another uncomfortable silence.
'What's up with things continuously repeating lately?' Yoh thought to himself in exasperation.
"Sou ka...?" Yoh asked.
"Hai. Anyways, did you bring your stuff?"
'Ha! Changing the subject? Good decision, Ojii-san.'
"Hai. However, it seems that Anna gave me too much stuff, and I highly doubt that I will need it for all of my classes," Yoh said with a bewildered sigh.
At the Principal's stare, Yoh pulled his suitcase onto the oak desk so that the bag was easily visible.
The Principal stared at the suitcase with a look that said that he was fighting with the sudden urge to either burst out laughing, or that he wanted to stare at the bag and its owner in incredulous shock.
He somehow managed to pull off both at the same time.
'Baka-saru," Yoh thought in annoyance.
He hated to be laughed at, and this man seemed to be doing just that to him.
On the outside, however, Yoh merely tilted his head to the side in confusion, not understanding what was so funny.
Finally, the other man's laughter died down to mere chuckles.
"Gomen ne, Yoh-sama. It's just that I expected you to bring more stuff. This is a boarding school, after all."
Yoh froze.
It was almost as though he had a burst of ice running through his veins.
"Nani?!?!" he cried out in horror.
This was not happening. This was so not happening. Maybe he had mistaken the school he was going to, and there was another high school in Tokyo just waiting for him to enter through their doors. But that couldn't be, because the Principal had been expecting him, and had had Yoh's personal file of school records.
'Even though they had nothing to record.'
"This information seems to have shocked you," the Principal said in concern.
"This was something that I hadn't been informed about," Yoh said uncertainly.
"Oh. Well, here are the school items and books you'll be needing."
All of a sudden a large box was pulled onto the desk with a loud 'thump'.
Yoh stared at the box incredulously, as if half expecting the object to break out into tap dancing with a set of black, shiny heeled shoes.
'Am I supposed to find this amusing?' he asked himself sarcastically.
"Your room number is currently number 312. However, we don't know if we're going to be moving you boys around so that you share your room with other people," the Principal said.
"Nani? What do you mean by 'you boys'? Aren't there any girls who are going to be sharing rooms?" Yoh asked in confusion.
The Principal burst out laughing again, which soon died down.
"Asakura-sama, this is an all boy's school!"
Yoh stared at the man in front of him for a moment.
Then understanding finally hit him.
"NANI?!?!" he shouted in outrage.
"Is there something wrong, Asakura-sama?"
"This was yet another piece of information that I hadn't been informed about," Yoh replied, trying to calm himself down slightly.
"Well, if you're all set, then you might as well head to your room. I've excused you from your classes today so that you can get accustomed to your new surroundings. You should take this time to unpack and look around the school and the school grounds."
Yoh jerked himself back to reality.
"Oh! Arigatou na!" Yoh said, taking hold of the hand the Principal had held out, and shaking it.
"Also, you will not be allowed to listen to headphones during class, but you are free to listen to them during your own free time. Now remember. If you need anything, just come to one of the secretaries or me. I'll be in my office for the most part, and I'm sure that the teachers would be more than willing to help you out."
"Aa! Ja ne!" Yoh shouted, before heading out of the office, shaping some of his fuuryoku so that it would levitate his suitcase and move it in the direction of where ever Yoh wanted it; this left Yoh's hands free to carry the huge box of school supplies and books.
"Finally!" Yoh cried out in relief, his shoulders beginning to ache due to the load in his arms.
He stepped before the wooden door with the golden numbers 312 attached to it, before turning the knob and kicking the door open slightly with his foot. As soon as he stepped into the room, he placed the box on the ground, and directed his suitcase to lower to the ground as well, instantly noticing that his numb limbs gained some feeling back into them again.
He took his time to look around and take in the room that he stood in. To put it simply, it was HUGE, even by the standards Yoh expected for a boarding school bedroom. He had a gigantic bed in one corner on his right, which he suspected was a king sized. There was a bedside table sitting next to it, which looked to be made of cherry wood. There was a desk towards the left side of the room on the wall opposite of which Yoh stood by, which was equipped with a lamp, writing paper, pens, pencils and other writing utensils, and a black computer. In front of the desk was a high backed black office chair, which he was excited to spin around in.
(AN: I'm going to be putting in these discriptions because they may be brought up later. If you want, you can just skim through some of it, but I wouldn't recommend skipping it, because there is some important personal info. about Yoh in here.)
There was a bookcase on the far left wall, which had yet to be filled. On the far right wall there was a walk in closet that was gigantic, and a few people could walk around in comfortably. On the right of the wall Yoh was standing by there was a bureau for him to store more clothes and other items in as well. Yoh would have to rearrange where things were in the room to his taste, but the items he would need were there for his use.
He walked over to his left and found a small entry way with no door in it. He walked through to find a small hallway area. He opened the door on the left hand side and found a bathroom that left him gaping. There was a white and black-checkered marble floor. He walked forward a few paces and looked around. There was a white marble bathtub to his left, which could also be used as a shower. The thing had to at least be 8ft. long by 4ft. wide.
The shower itself was surrounded on three sides by the marble wall, looking like it had sunk in. The remaining long side was open, but covered by a white shower curtain. When Yoh turned to get a better look at it, he noticed that the showerhead was on the right side, and beneath it was the spout for water for the tub, along with instruments, which you turned to adjust the temperature. There were indentations on the surrounding marble walls for him to place items in to use for washing such as soap and back scrubbers.
He looked around and noticed that on the far right side of the room, somewhere nearby the door, there was the toilet, which had a silver rack on its left side to store toilet paper and other such things. On the right of the toilet there was a sink made out of white marble that had silver turners to adjust the water temperature and the faucet was made out of silver as well. There was a urinal on the right side of the sink that was made out of white marble, and a holder for toilet paper made out of gold on the right side of it.
When he turned towards the center of the room, there was a giant pool sized hot tub that grew deeper the closer to the center you went. It was surrounded by giant squares that were made out of gold, 1ft.x1ft. in size each. There were at least 30 taps surrounding the pool, that when Yoh tested spurted out different types of soaps with different aromas and colors, and different types of bubbles. The taps were made out of silver, and were encrusted with different types of stones and jewels.
He tried a few more taps, and it seemed that you could adjust the temperature of the hot tub so that it was the temperature of a swimming pool, hotter or colder. There were golden taps that sent out sudden bubbling spurts of water, which caused Yoh to giggle. There were some ruby and amethyst taps that caused there to be glittering lights that shot out from nowhere, and allowed you to adjust the normal lights.
There were towel racks nearby which held, guess what: TOWELS!
The walls themselves were encrusted with gold and silver, different types of rocks and jewels scattered around as well. There were four diamond squares, one on each side of the hot tub, that when you pressed lit up and caused part of the ceiling to be removed, allowing those who sat in the hot tub to view the stars (if it was daytime, you were able to see the stars on the other side of the Earth).
All in all, he made the assumption that the bathroom itself had to be bigger than the size of the entire old inn he had been using as a house to live in with Anna in Funbari.
It was a bit too extravagant for what Yoh considered to be normal bedroom arrangements.
Yoh called over one of the many spirits that usually followed him, a water spirit in fact, which just happened to be nearby.
"Why are the rooms so overly extravagant?" Yoh asked the spirit.
Yoh waited a moment as the spirit whispered something into his ear.
"Ah! Sou ka! So Ojii-san informed the people here a few months ago that I would be coming and to set up a room for me! And he told them that I won the Shaman Fight that started over once Hao was defeated. Hmm... so he also told them that I'm the Shaman King, eh? Well that would make sense then, since the Principal is a Shaman, and I don't know who else are Shamans in this school.
Ah... so that would explain why the Principal was trying to be so polite to me, ne?
Sou ka? Arigatou na!"
Yoh then waved off the spirit, and walked back out through the bathroom door, back into the hallway, and went through the other door.
Yes, Yoh had become the Shaman King. After Hao had been defeated, all of the Shamans had returned back to their homes, since there was no way that the Shaman Fight could be resumed after the mess that Hao had created while trying to get the Great Spirit. Soon after, the oracle bell began ringing, with the message that the Shaman Fight would start over again, since there needed to be a new Shaman King, due to the fact that no Shaman King had been chosen earlier. After numerous fights, since everyone who joined had to start over with a clean slate, they quickly made their way to Patch imura.
After Yoh fought with a countless number of his friends, and defeated his competition in the final round, he had been named Shaman King, and had been given the Great Spirit. After that, various things had happened, and he barely had a spare moment, as he had duties to fulfill as Shaman King. And Anna continued to train him, making sure that no competition could come along and take his title as Shaman King.
The door he entered through turned out to lead to the living room. There was a big screen 36"x 36" TV on the middle of the left wall, which sat upon a tall table, with an area with cabinets around it to store tapes, DVDs and CDs. Across from it, a few feet away was a large red sofa that looked soft and comfortable. On either side of it were square tables with small metallic lamps, with white lampshades, with room for a person to place drinks or food.
To the right and left of the sofa were dark blue, high back chairs, which closed off the area in the form of a square. In the middle of the square sat a square dark brown wood coffee table that was a relatively large size. There was room between the table and the TV for people to sit or lie down comfortably. There were large windows on the wall across from the doorway. In front of it sat a window seat with pillows and blankets. There were two chairs on either side of it that were light blue, allowing you to sit and look out at the marvelous scenery above and below.
On the left side of the doorway, there was a wall a few feet long that was cut off, revealing a doorway, with no door, that led to the kitchen.
In the middle of the kitchen there was a light colored rectangular wooden table. The table was surrounded by 6 chairs, two chairs on the long sides, one chair on each shorter side. Five metal wiry lights hung low from the vast ceiling, the lone, curved lamps were a dark blue, with adjustable lighting. There was a creamy yellow wall that ran 3ft. along the left side of the entryway. White countertops and cabinets surrounded the kitchen. They began right after the wall ended.
The dishwasher was right below the first piece of the countertop. In between two countertops, on the wall across from the entryway, was where the oven stood, with four circular bright lights above it. The oven's surface was flat, along with the oven burners. There was a convenient little electric clock attached to it, the numbers a light green. The knobs to set the temperature were below the clock, behind the burners.
On the countertop to the right side of the oven there was a toaster and a microwave.
A few feet away, on the right side of the countertop on the right side of the oven, there was a metallic refrigerator, the freezer on the left side, the refrigerator on the right side. The fridge had two long doors. On the front of the left door there were little spouts that shot out water and ice, both crunched and solid ice cubes.
A few feet away from it there was a small closet like pantry that held cleaning supplies and extra paper towels and such.
To the right of the entryway, on the far right wall there were three large windows, which also had a magnificent view of the gardens on the school grounds.
"Sugoi!" Yoh cried in awe.
He then headed back into the living room, where he had spotted yet another door. The door itself was in a small alcove on the right side of the room. Opening the door, he felt his jaw drop.
All he could do was gape.
No thoughts seemed to be able to enter his mind, which now seemed to have frozen in shock.
Inside of the room, which was humongous by the way, the walls were covered in giant bookcases. In the center of the room there were rows and rows of bookcases, which were already filled partially with his scrolls and books, some which seemed unfamiliar to him. There were ladders that were leaning against the bookcases along the walls of the room. These ladders could be pushed back and forth, since the ladders were attached to the floor and the ceiling and had wheels attached to them, allowing one to search through the higher levels of the shelves, and search for books quickly.
He had read most of these huge novels already.
Along some of the walls there were various scrolls, some with artwork on them, that would have written on them poetry, or have prophecies and other such tales. Most of these he was expected to memorize, both as the Shaman King as well as the last generation of descendants in the Asakura family, so therefore the heir to their name, power and knowledge. However, some of these books he read for himself and for his own enjoyment.
All of the work he was required to do got tiring, really.
Here he had hoped to live out his dream of living a lazy life once he became Shaman King, but now he was forced to do even more work than what he would have ended up doing if he had never joined the Shaman Fight.
But, being Shaman King had its perks and quirks, and having joined the Shaman Fight had been very beneficial, not only for gaining friends, but also for gaining experience and for gaining more power in fuuryoku along the way, right until the end.
He also would've never learned certain things about the Asakura family, his twin and the other half of his soul Asakura, Hao, and about himself if he hadn't joined.
So in the end, all of this extra work was worth it.
But there were times when he really did ask himself why he had even bothered.
For the past two years he had been following through with his requirement as Shaman King to travel around the world. He had visited Shamans from all sorts of countries, and had learned about their different languages and cultures, as well as their skills. He had visited some friends along the way, like Tao, Jun and Pilika. It had been extremely fun, with the added bonus of getting away from Anna and her training for two years straight.
As soon as he had returned, she had dragged him off to work on his training sessions again. He had only been home for three days when his parents had stopped by for their visit, before she told him that he was going to a new High School in Kyoto, before she had kicked him out. That was probably how she had packed his bags so quickly while he had been on a walk and returned home. He had never really unpacked them.
After all, he had only been back for ten days, and the inside of his suitcases were endless.
He could almost picture himself as Mary Poppins, no matter how scary of a mental image that was.
Off on the left-hand side of the doorway, on the left wall, there were a pair of clear glass doors, that almost looked like crystal, with thin pieces of white wood outlining them, that had handles that curved (like this: ), and had a large diamond on the circular piece of the handle. The circular piece of the handle faced the opening of the doors, where the two glass doors met. At closer inspection, he realized that the glass doors led out to a wide balcony. He had yet another amazing view of the garden, being three floors above the ground. The balcony was made out of gray stone that had pieces of white marble decorating it slightly, covering the edges of the balcony.
There were two small chairs on either side of the balcony. There were two marble statues attached to the outside of the building on either side of the balcony that were shaped like solid spiral swirls, one on either side of the balcony. There were also two small roman like marble pillars that had tiny diamond placed together to form a sphere, an occasional ruby, amethyst, aquamarine or sapphire placed within the mass of diamonds; one sphere attached to the surface of either of the small pillars.
Yoh sighed in satisfaction as he made his was out of his makeshift library, into the living room, and headed back to his bedroom.
He found the arrangement of the rooms rather strange, as he would have preferred to have people enter through the living room, rather than through his bedroom; especially if it ended up messy; but there was just so much he could ask for. It was more than enough to have the amazing bathroom, living space, and balcony that allowed him to have a spectacular view of the outside world.
Having access to the outside world is what every Shaman needed.
Once Yoh reached his bedroom, he took yet another look around the vast space.
One of the things he was unaccustomed to was having an actual bed. He had always slept in a futon, from what he could remember. He supposed if he became too uncomfortable with that fact, he could always create a makeshift futon to sleep on, but he highly doubted that that would happen. The bed looked like it would be extremely comfortable to sleep on, and be a lot more comfortable than sleeping on the floor.
While looking around, Yoh noticed something that he was surprised he hadn't spotted before.
It was a large black duffel bag.
"Nani? Where did that come from? I wonder what's in it?" Yoh whispered to himself quietly.
He glared at the bag suspiciously as he slowly crept forward.
Looking around, he was saddened by the fact that he could find nothing to prod the mysterious bag with.
So, he settled with his foot. His leg was long, and he figured he could afford to lose it, rather than losing a precious hand instead.
'Hmm, I wonder if there's something inside that will bite?'
At this thought he sweatdropped.
'There wouldn't be anyone who would send me something extremely dangerous that would try to kill me and eat up my remains, is there?'
A long list of people appeared in his head, one by one, most of them Shamans that he had met previously, many of them who would do anything to get his title as Shaman King, or some that held some other type of grudge, like any of Hao's surviving followers.
"Never mind... Screw that thought!" Yoh said out loud.
Finally, Yoh gave up on trying to guess what it was and decided to use drastic measures.
"HYAAAAAAAH!" Yoh cried out as he jumped into the air.
As soon as he landed on the duffel bag, he threw numerous punches and kicks at it, eventually getting tangled up in the duffel bag and had to try futilely to wrestle his way out. Realizing that nothing was returning the blows from within the bag, he noted that he must have looked pretty stupid while he was trying to beat the crap out of the bag with no suspicious creature. Well, better to be safe than sorry.
Yoh leaned back and breathed in a sigh of relief.
Finally, he noticed a note that was attached to the now ruffled up duffle bag. He reached out and grabbed the letter and smiled after he finished skimming the message.
Dear Yoh,
By now I'm guessing that you've realized that you are currently attending a boarding school for all boys. If you hadn't already realized this, then consider the shock that you're feeling now the proof that you've been informed. Also, if you hadn't already realized what type of school you are now attending, then you are a complete idiot, and I will have to come over myself and beat some sense into you, along with some more training, including mentally.
However, I doubt that you are that foolish.
And now I've wasted precious time in writing this piece of information that I could've used for much more important things. Congratulations! Feel special that I've spent my time on you like this, as it won't be happening again anytime soon.
In this bag are more of your possessions. I didn't consider you reliable enough to carry this all of the way from Funbari to Tokyo. Besides the fact that you probably got lost along the way, I highly doubt that lugging another bag with you would've helped you in any way, shape or form.
In here you should find more clothes, scrolls, books, CDs, etc. that you might need. Since I'm guessing that you haven't checked the suitcase you've been carrying along behind you, either,-
At this Yoh chuckled.
'Anna knows me too well. Or at least my usual habits.'
-it has similar items in it. You should find that you won't have trouble locating any of your possessions, as they are all packed in these bags. I had a special spirit transport them over to you.
As for Amidamaru, we'll see just how well you can do without him for a little bit before we decide anything.
Yes. I have my ways of knowing exactly what is going on in your location, and with you, which I will not tell you of. Hi-mi-tsu.
Anyways, Manta, Amidamaru, and Ryu are yelling at me from somewhere in the house to tell you that they say 'Hi, good luck, and that they miss you.'
They will receive severe punishment once I'm done writing to you, for yelling at me and ordering me around.
Yoh cringed at the very thought.
He pitied his friends and their well being at the moment.
So, keep up with your training. Keep up with your responsibilities. Because if you don't, the consequences will be severe.
Yoh cringed at the obvious threat of 'punishment' from Anna.
Good luck. I miss you too, but if you tell anyone that I said that I will kill you!
Ja ne!
Kyouyama, Anna
'Amidamaru...' Yoh thought to himself sadly.
He was really feeling depressed without the samurai spirit around. Hopefully Anna would return Amidamaru to his side soon. She had been hinting at it in the letter, after all.
Yoh spent the rest of the night searching through his suitcases, putting everything away, and looking through the box full of books and school supplies.
Yoh smirked at the outfit that he had pulled out that he was preparing to wear for the next day.
There wasn't any type of school uniform...
So he might as well have fun with what he picked out, ne?
(The next day)
'I wonder how my otouto is doing...' Hao thought to himself.
Hao was surprised at the words that were being spoken in his mind.
After all, he hadn't seen the other boy since the end of the Shaman Fight, when he had been defeated...
"Ha! Not defeated! For they could never defeat the Great One! That was just me not being careful enough!" Hao shouted, cackling maniacally.
He slightly cringed at the words he had spoken out loud.
He had sounded too much like an egotistical bastard for his own taste.
However, he couldn't have anyone think that he had made a careless mistake.
'I have a reputation to uphold, after all,' he thought to himself sadly, before brushing those thoughts aside like one would with a speck of dust on their clothing.
"Did I just say that out loud?" he asked the rest of the class, all of which were staring at him like he had grown a second head.
'Ha! I don't have a second head, but I do have a second soul, whose name is Asakura, Yoh!'
"Just what, exactly are you looking at?" Hao growled.
The rest of the class quickly looked in every direction but at him.
Hao sighed in exasperation.
He was surely going insane.
That is, if he hadn't already lost his mind in some dark abyss.
"Huh. I wonder how Yoh is doing," Horo Horo said.
'How coincidental. That boy's just voiced my exact thoughts,' Hao thought to himself in amusement.
"Strange that you've brought him up now, seeing as how we haven't spoken of him in a while. However, now that you mention it, I'm curious as to how Yoh's doing, as well. It's weird how I haven't had a single thought about him in years," Ren muttered.
"Mmm..." Hao agreed, trying to hold back the laughter of complete amusement that was making its way up his throat.
"And what exactly do you find so amusing?" Ren asked with a touch of annoyance.
"Nothing!" Hao replied cheekily, winking slyly at the other two boys.
A few minutes later the nurse found a series of students in her office with a serious case of nosebleeds and dizziness.
"I haven't been checking up on him, like I did during the Shaman Fight," Hao told them.
"You do remember that there was a second Shaman Fight, ne?" Ren asked Hao.
At this, Horo Horo became ecstatic, and started to bounce around in his seat.
"Yup! Ren was Yoh's rival in the final round. And then Yoh won and became Shaman King! To think that that was three years ago, when we were all 13 years old," Horo Horo said excitedly.
Hao finally followed through with his previous urge and burst out laughing.
Horo Horo pouted.
"Hey, your soul might have been over one-thousand years old, but your body was that of a thirteen year old boy. I know this for a fact due to the knowledge that Yoh was 13 years old, and that the two of you are twins. Thus, I am the one that's correct. So, nyah!"
Horo Horo complimented this statement by sticking out his tongue at Hao, and to add insult to injury, he used his middle finger to pull down his lower right eyelid.
(AN: This type of gesture is an insult in anime. It's usually the index finger doing the pulling, but it seems more amusing to use the middle finger, instead. As I said, it adds insult to injury.)
Hao merely raised his eyebrow.
"What are you, a toddler? Sticking your tongue out like that."
A smirk then formed on Hao's lips.
"Unless that's some sort of invitation..." he added.
Horo Horo glowered in reply to the brunette.
Hao was just joking, of course. The two boys over the years had become close friends, but that's as far as the relationship went.
It was Ren and Hao who had the relationship that went further; which Horo Horo didn't mind, because he wasn't exactly straight, either.
After all, he did have a bit of a relationship with Ren.
Horo Horo mentally grinned at that thought.
That relationship was certainly interesting.
And they flirted with other guys, of course, and occasionally a girl, just of the fun of it. But since they were definitely the hottest guys around, it was hard to find anyone else who they felt was worth their time and effort; beside themselves.
Thus, this is where their relationships with each other had arisen from.
Not that they minded, of course.
But back to the topic of Yoh.
He couldn't believe that he had totally forgotten about him.
After all, he had been found by the boy, basically saved by him, and then he had allowed Horo Horo to live in his house with him, and they had traveled and fought together and against each other during the Shaman Fight.
Why were these thoughts only occurring to him now?
Why hadn't he thought about this; about Yoh, during the past 2 years when their lives had seemingly separated?
Simple.
Because he had been too busy with his own life and having fun rather than bothering to send one of his best friends a single glance; or, rather, a single thought in this case.
Horo Horo then returned his attention back to what was going on in the world presently.
Hao was busy having fun flirting with some boys who were drooling just from looking at him.
Of course, Hao wasn't seriously trying to flirt. Horo Horo had learned this over the years that he had known him. No, this was all a little game to him.
Hao just needed something to amuse himself; and sending others coy looks and sly smiles seemed to suffice, if only to see the other people's reactions.
Horo Horo would have probably found it amusing, himself, if he was the one doing the flirting.
He had to hold back a snicker at the other boys' reactions.
It was priceless.
"Huh... I wonder what happened to Yoh after he became the Shaman King?" Horo Horo asked Ren.
"Kisama! Shirimasen. He probably followed through with his dream, and has been living lazily without a care in the world, except for dealing with that blonde itako, Anna," Ren grumbled.
He hated talking about this.
He was annoyed with the emotions that he was feeling when he finally talked about Yoh.
They were like daggers that were being twisted painfully throughout his body.
If he had forgotten about the boy for two years, he could forget him for at least a few moments longer.
'I guess that I did think about Yoh once in a while. How could I not? But, I just didn't get around to writing to him or anything. I was trying to push him out of my memory, after all. After the final round of the Shaman Fight...' Ren found himself glaring at nothing in particular as the thoughts caused his feelings of rage to surface that had yet to subside.
"Geeze! Cool down, Ren. It was just a simple question," Horo Horo said defensively.
"Hmph! Whatever..." Ren replied.
Hao had grown bored of flirting, and drifted back off into his own thoughts again.
It was no thought if there wasn't a challenge.
'Otouto... Yoh, what's happened to you? I feel this piercing pain. I know that our souls are connected, and we can feel each other's emotions when they are strong or important.
Is this how you're feeling at the moment?
This feeling was even first after the first Shaman Fight.
And it wasn't my own pain.
Was it yours?
It would be easier if your emotions came with words. At least then I could contemplate it. But this... Yoh...'
Hao held his face in his hands for a moment.
He could feel a major headache coming on.
"Might as well not think about it..." he muttered to himself.
He was about to start another conversation with Ren and Horo Horo, when the sensei came in.
The class fell silent.
"Ohayoo gozaimasu. Today we'll be talking about..." the sensei continued on.
The class settled in their seats, and listened or drifted off as their Literature class began.
Twenty minute after the class began, there was a knock on the door.
Most of the students sent a silent prayer of gratitude for the sudden interruption, as they had been bored out of their minds.
"Oh, yes. Class, I totally forgot. Today we have a new student who just transferred here from Funbari, Tokyo. Please, do come in," she called.
'From Funbari?' the rest of the class thought in wonder.
In walked a boy who stood at 6'1". He had long bangs on the side of his face that were slightly pointed at the top, and reached at least 6 inches past his shoulders. His dark brown hair had natural dark red streaks scattered throughout it. His hair was pulled back into a high ponytail with a black elastic, his hair falling with a slight curve, due to the pull of gravity.
In a ponytail, his spiky hair fell a few centimeters past his shoulders.
He wore a black fishnet shirt, although only its sleeves were visible from under the white, slightly v-necked, thick strapped tank top. The black fishnet sleeves only reached to just above his elbows. The tight white tank top was cut off at the bottom, so it stopped a good 3 inches above his bellybutton.
Beneath that, the bottom of the fishnet shirt was visible, which stopped only one inch below the white tank top. The remainder of the black fishnet shirt could hardly be seen, it was like the strings of a spider web. The rest of his stomach and back were covered in thin black threads that formed the borders of 1in.x1in. diamonds.
He wore low-rise black jeans. The jeans hugged his hips, and grew slightly longer the further down they went, with a slight flare starting from the knees to the ankles. From the knees to the ankles of the jeans there were also flame designs. On his feet was a pair of clogs, leaving only the front of the top of his feet covered with the black material. The bottoms to the clogs were a whitish-tan color (, and had a height similar to his sandals).
The boy had what was similar to a light blue bell ball belly button ring, which, as the name said, was in the shape of a medium sized ball. He wore a pair of diamond stud earrings in the top of the cartilage of his ears. Below that, there were two small silver hoop earrings.
The boy was extremely muscle toned, and had a six-pack of abs built into his stomach, which were easily visible through his tight shirts. The exposed skin was a gorgeous golden tan.
The boy had beautiful onyx colored eyes, the dark color truly complimenting his appearance.
Everyone stared at the kawaii bishounen in silence.
"Gomen ne! I kind of got lost along the way!" the boy said, scratching the back of his head nervously.
"Well, why don't you come in and introduces yourself," the sensei said, shock causing her voice to shake slightly.
(AN: The sensei isn't shocked by him getting lost, by the way.)
"Oh! Hai!" the boy said, before stepping fully before the rest of the class.
The students felt their jaws drop in surprise. His voice was beautiful; feminine with a masculine hint to it.
"Watashi wa Asakura, Yoh desu. Yoroshiku."
Hao, Ren, and Horo Horo felt themselves gape.
This person was Asakura, Yoh?!?!
He looked so different.
The rest of the class was shocked.
Hold on, Asakura? Like Asakura, Hao?
No one seemed to recognize Yoh to be the Shaman King, which suited Yoh just fine.
"Ano, excuse me..." the sensei cut in.
Yoh turned to her with a questioning look.
"Nani?" he asked sweetly.
"May I call you Asakura-sama?" she asked meekly.
A look of shock crossed over his face briefly.
"Ano... hai... if you'd like to, you may," Yoh replied.
There was coughing heard from the rest of the boys in the class.
Yoh looked over and made a face of disgust as he saw the drool streaming down their chins.
Yoh looked around the room, and his eyes locked onto Hao and Ren.
He jerked slightly in surprise.
A dark look passed over his features, and for a moment his eyes shone with hurt as a small, uneasy frown formed. Then his features became impassive.
"Ano... Asakura-sama?" the sensei asked Yoh.
"Hmm?"
"If you'd like, there's an empty seat by the window in the second row that you may use," the sensei offered nervously.
"Hai. Arigatou," Yoh replied quietly, with a small smile gracing his features.
The sensei let out a sigh of relief.
Yoh quickly stormed off to his seat, every part of him looking to be on edge.
Hao jerked in shock, a hiss escaping his lips as Yoh strode past him.
He could feel the strong waves of emotion rolling off of Yoh.
Pain.
Shock.
Confusion.
Anger.
But the hurt that was there seemed to be so strong that it was drowning out the rest of the emotions.
But then, Yoh felt-
'Hollow,' Yoh and Hao thought simultaneously.
'That's how I feel,' Yoh thought to himself, the voice in his mind holding enough ice to cause the listener to feel chilled to the bone.
'Here I haven't spoken or even heard from those two in over 2 years. And now, here they are, in Japan. Hao I can understand, seeing as we didn't have the best of relationships. And when we defeated him, he was left extremely weak for some time, and had to rest, laying low for a while in order to regain his strength.
But as my aniki, he could've at least have had the common courteousy to tell me that he was alive!
I knew that Ren was all right because of the letters that I've received from Jun that included some updates about what was happening with Ren.
Jun said in one of her letters that Horo Horo was going to the same High School as Ren, so...'
Yoh slowly looked around the room for Ren, and once he found him, he used Ren's location to find Horo Horo.
After all, the two were friends, so they'd probably stay close to one another.
Finally, his eyes located their target.
As if feeling the brunette's eyes on him, Horo Horo looked up and flinched.
Yoh's eyes locked with those of the blue-haired Ainu, who was sitting a few seats away from Ren.
Yoh then looked away, leaning his elbows on his desk, and resting his head in his hands, turning to look out the window.
Guilt seeped into the three other boys' minds.
"Shi-it...!" Horo Horo muttered.
Yoh continued to ignore them for the rest of the class, lost in thought.
'They could have at least written to me. They were in Japan, damnit! I mean, if Bason could make it to Funbari from China in a matter of hours, it shouldn't be so hard for them to pick up a piece of paper and a pen, write a small letter, and go to the post office and send it to me!
Why should I have tried to write to them, if they had no intention to try and contact me?
However, even if I had wanted to, I was incapable of doing so, since I didn't have any forms an address for where they lived; especially since Ren moved out of his place a while ago, and didn't find it the slightest bit important to tell me.
They, however, knew where I lived. Anna would have been able to forward the letters to me when I was traveling.
None of them even thought about trying to contact me, and that's what gets me.
I thought that we left on good terms.
Oh well...
Not so much I can do about that now...'
Yoh sighed to himself.
Where was that usual 'nantoka naru' of his when he needed it, eh?
All of a sudden he felt the sensei's presence next to him.
"Nani?" he asked her boredly.
"Asakura-sama?"
"Hai."
"Why haven't you been paying attention along with the rest of the class?" she asked with a sigh.
Yoh took a brief glance around the room, noting that just about every student had been dozing off while pretending to pay attention, or had been in a dead sleep, drool escaping from their mouths.
Or maybe this was just due to them staring at Yoh during the whole discussion.
Yoh shuddered.
'I highly doubt that any of the class was actually paying attention.'
Yoh sweatdropped at the thought.
"Because I've already read the book, sensei," he finally replied.
"Oh. But it never hurts to read a book more than once."
Yoh sighed in exasperation.
This woman was getting on his nerves.
"I've already memorized the book," he told her.
The sensei shot him a calculating look.
"Then what does it say on page 137?" she asked.
"Hard cover or soft cover?" Yoh asked.
By now he had the attention of the whole class.
"Hard cover," she replied.
Yoh sighed.
This had become tiresome.
(AN: This is what is written on page 137 in Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare. Book name: The Complete Works of William Shakespeare.)
" 'live there till I were married. – Here comes Beatrice.
By this day, she's a fair lady: I do spy some
marks of love in her.
Enter BEATRICE
Beat. Against my will I am sent to bid you
come in to dinner. [pain.
Bene. Fair Beatrice, I thank you for your
Beat. I took no more pains for those thanks
than you take pains to thank me; if it had
been painful I would not have come.
Bene. You take pleasure, then, in the message?
Beat. Yea, just so much as you may take upon
a knife's point, and choke a daw withal. – You
have no stomach, signior; fare you well. [Exit.
Bene. Ha! Against my will I am sent to bid you
come to dinner- there's a double meaning in
that. I took no more pains for those thanks than
your took pains to thank me- that's as much as
to say, Any pains that I take for you is as easy
as thanks- If I do not take pity of her, I am
a villain; if I do not love her, I am a Jew: I
will go get her picture. [Exit.
ACT III
Scene I.- Leonato's Garden.'"
Yoh continued to quote the page word for word.
" 'Urs. Yet tell her of it; hear what she will say.
Hero. No; rather I will go to Benedick
And counsel him to fight against his passion:
And truly, I'll devise some honest slanders
To stain my cousin with. One doth not know
How much an ill word may empoison liking.
Urs. O, do not do your cousin such a wrong.'"
Yoh finally finished.
The rest of the class stared at him in disbelief.
The sensei was in utter shock.
"Ano... I think you're all set with the book, then..." the sensei announced.
"Sugoi!" one of the boys at the back of the classroom shouted.
"Well, I didn't do it for fun, it was a requirement..." Yoh said.
"Who would give you such a requirement?" the boy asked.
"Ano, let's just say it's both a family thing and the duty I got after winning something..." Yoh replied.
"Why would you want to win something like that?"
"Sometimes I ask myself that exact same question," Yoh said in exasperation.
Being Shaman King could be somewhat of a drag at times.
"Well, class, let's continue," the sensei said, returning back to the lesson.
This allowed Yoh to go back to his own thoughts, while enjoying the view outside his window.
Finally, much to the relief of the students, the bell rang, signaling the dismissal of the students from their current classes.
The students escaped into the hallways, using the few minutes' time they had for a break to enjoy themselves, before they had to head to their next lesson.
Yoh found his way into the hallway blocked by Ren, Horo Horo, and Hao.
"Yoh!" Horo Horo cried excitedly.
"It's been a while! How have you been? Yoh!"
Yoh forced a smile to form on his lips.
"Konnichiwa," Yoh said politely, before passing by them, into the hallway at a brisk pace, heading towards his next class.
Throughout the day, Yoh had been ignoring Ren, Hao, and Horo Horo.
He was pissed off as hell with them.
What annoyed him even more was that after 2 years of 'dismissing' his existence, they thought that they could easily go back to the way things were previously with a mere greeting.
(AN: Except for Hao, of course, who wanted a relationship with Yoh like the one Horo Horo and Ren had had with him.)
They hadn't even tried to contact him for the past two years, and he had had no address or any other information to use to contact them with.
They had known very well where he lived.
They just chose to forget everything that had any relation to him.
Of course, he was making sure not to be rude to them.
He didn't want to make circumstances any worse than they already were.
But he wasn't going out of his way to be friendly, either.
All he did was treat them with polite indifference, as if they were strangers, or mere acquaintances.
Because after all of the things that had happened over the years of their separation, that's exactly what they were.
At least he knew that he had changed drastically. What, after traveling all over the world, becoming Shaman King, and such.
It really changes a person.
If his appearance said anything.
It was now time for lunch, and he followed the rest of the crowd to find the cafeteria.
He had started school here a week into the school year, so the other students had a week's more experience and knowledge than he had.
The aromas that hit him once he passed through the cafeteria doors caused him to moan.
His eyes lit up as they fell upon all of the food just begging to be tasted.
He had a feeling that this was going to become one of his favorite places to spend time in from now on.
Yoh then proceeded to run around the cafeteria, loading as much of the delicious food onto his tray as was humanly possible.
Yoh then found an empty circular table to sit at, and put down the tray of food that was threatening to totter over.
He drooled at the sight before him.
And it was all his.
(AN: I'm not talking about the drool, even though that's his as well. If it wasn't, that'd be slightly disturbing. It'd probably be the work of one of his lust stalkers.
Speaking of lust stalkers... )
"Yoh!" a familiar voice called out.
Yoh groaned.
Just as he was about to enjoy his meal.
One more thing to add to his current agitation.
Yoh looked up from his meal in defeat, slowly taking in every inch of the wonderful food and dropping the image off in his keepsakes memory box.
He highly doubted that he was going to be able to eat anything with the new arrivals around.
'Poor food... gone to waste,' Yoh thought to himself sadly.
Yoh looked up to meet the sight of the 'speaker', Horo Horo, and his two 'followers', Ren and Hao.
"Nani?" Yoh asked expectantly.
"Ooh!" Horo Horo shouted in glee.
Horo Horo picked up Yoh's fork, and Yoh suddenly found a pile of his food being whipped off of his plate and deposited into Horo Horo's mouth.
"Hey!" Yoh cried in outrage.
'Remind me to add that to my list of Reasons Why I Have To Kill Horo Horo,' Yoh added to himself as a mental note.
Unfortunately, he had to write it on a piece of mental paper, as it seemed that the mental stickys had all run out.
'Aww, and I wanted to use the color-coded ones that Silva sent to me via mental email,' Yoh whined.
"Gomen, Yoh! I was starving," Horo said with a satisfied sigh.
"So was I!" Yoh retorted angrily.
"Gomen!" Horo Horo replied, sending Yoh a sheepish grin.
"Anyway, we've come to sit here," Hao cut in.
"You don't mind, do you?" he added as an afterthought.
"Oh, no. Why would I mind? Just come steal my meal and take over my eating space," Yoh replied sarcastically.
"You sound a bit bitter, Yoh," Horo Horo said in concern.
"Do I now? I wonder where you could have gotten that idea," Yoh replied, even more sarcastically.
"Yeah. Like that," Horo Horo said.
"So, do you mind?" Ren asked, sounding slightly bored with the whole situation.
"Whatever..." Yoh replied with an annoyed sigh.
The three other boys nodded in thanks and sat down.
They got up once again and disappeared, before returning moments later with trays full of food.
'Why couldn't they have done that earlier? That way my food wouldn't have fallen victim to their crazed hunger. Or rather, just Horo Horo's, but whatever.'
Yoh looked up at the other three persons sitting at the table. Now that he was really paying close attention, he noticed that the other three boys had really changed over the years.
Hao still wore his long dark brown hair down in long spikes down his back. He wore the same type of brown pants with belts decorated with stars. He wore the same fingerless gloves with a giant star design on the back the hands, the gloves becoming wider the closer that they got to their end, which was at the elbows.
He wore heavy star dangle earrings, the white star surrounded by blue, the circular object surrounded by a red rim. The earring was completed by being attached to a red diamond shaped piece, which connected the star earring to the ear.
He wore a white, thick-strapped tank top, which had a circular neckline. The collar area of the shirt had a low-rise; the cloth-like material looked like it was bunched together starting just below the collarbone, to probably four inches down his chest. He also wore his mixed red-brown lego-boots.
Horo Horo still wore a black headband like piece of cloth over his forehead, which formed a circle around his head. The black headband piece had a thin blue design in the shape of incomplete rectangles, the shorter sides connecting the longer sides. He wore a simple dark blue t-shirt, along with knee length white shorts.
The Ainu also wore white sneakers and socks.
Ren wore tight black pants, which slightly flared at the ends. He wore a v-neck, thick-strapped red tank top. His purple hair was still in the form of a pointed spike. He wore Chinese-style, black martial arts shoes.
Ren also wore a black choker, with a small Yin-Yang embedded into the front of it.
The boys had all grown to be around 6'1" in height, and were highly muscle-toned.
Yeah, they had definitely changed somewhat over the years.
Yoh stared at his plate of food for a moment.
He picked up a bread roll and opened his mouth to take a bite out of it.
A shiver ran down his spine.
There was something nearby that didn't feel natural.
It was a new presence.
All of a sudden he felt hands being placed on his shoulders.
Spirit hands.
He could sense spilt blood coming from this person's aura.
And it wasn't blood that belonged to this person.
Yoh dropped the bread roll that was in his hands. Which fell back onto his plate with a clatter.
And he did what any sane person's instincts would tell them to do in this type of situation.
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKK!!!!"
He screamed.
Immediately, the other three boys at the table jumped up, ready to attack whatever had caused the disturbance.
Everyone spun around to stare at the person who screamed.
Which just happened to be Yoh.
"Yoh-dono!" the spirit behind him cried.
It couldn't be.
"Amidamaru?"
Yoh turned his head to the side and found himself face to face with the samurai spirit, Amidamaru.
"Yoh-dono!" Amidamaru gushed out again.
Tears were streaming down the poor spirit's face.
"Amidamaru, what are you doing here? Or I should be asking, how did you get out of Anna's hold?" Yoh asked.
Amidamaru hiccupped.
This came as a surprise to Yoh.
'I didn't know spirits could hiccup, never the less when they're crying.'
"Gomen, Yoh-dono! I have failed you! I have left your side, and made you have to fend for yourself! Not that you are incapable of such, but still. I am such a horrible mochirei! I don't deserve to be by Yoh-dono's side!"
Yoh was startled by Amidamaru's words.
"Daijoubu desu ka, Amidamaru? Tell me, what happened?"
"Oh! Yoh-dono! It was horrible!" Amidamaru shouted, and if possible, cried even harder.
"Calm down, Amidamaru! Tell me how you've suffered! Onegai!" Yoh cried in worry.
"Arigatou, Yoh-dono," Amidamaru mumbled.
He wrapped his arms around the stunned boy from behind, squeezing tightly, as if worried that if he didn't hold on that the two would once again be separated.
"Amidamaru...?" Yoh asked.
"After Anna captured me, she made me do all of this work! I had to do training with my sword everyday. She said that she wouldn't have me slacking off! I would never think of slacking off on you, you know that, Yoh-dono, don't you?"
"Hai! Of course you wouldn't do that, Amidamaru."
"Anyway, when Manta and Ryu weren't around, she'd have me do the chores, and carry the groceries, and cook. Good thing I'm a spirit, or else currently I wouldn't have any fingers."
This caused Yoh to wince.
"Then, I'd have to get her snacks like cookies and soda and tea as she sat around watching TV. And she'd make me watch her! She'd wrap me up in her spiritual beads and have me watch as she ate all of those delicious foods. I caught a bit from the TV, but she'd yell at me and call me a slacker when I tried to watch. I mean, I couldn't exactly go anywhere when I was stuck in her hold with those spiritual beads of hers. She worked me as her slave; it was horrible I tell you! Torture, I say! Torture!"
Yoh hugged Amidamaru in return sympathetically.
"I have to go through most of that every day with her!"
Tears streamed like waterfalls down his face.
"Yoh-dono!" Amidamaru cried.
"Amidamaru!" Yoh sobbed.
"Yoh-dono!"
"Amidamaru!"
They began nuzzling each other's cheeks in a show of comfort.
"YOH-DONO!"
"AMIDA-!"
"YAMERO!" Horo Horo screeched.
Was that a hint of jealousy in his eyes?
Hoo hoo hoo!
"Geeze, the amount of affection that you're throwing at each other is sickening!"
Yup, definitely jealousy!
The two ended their comfort session, but Amidamaru continued to hold onto Yoh, his arms wrapped around the brunette from behind.
All of a sudden, Ren's Chinese warrior spirit appeared.
"Amidamaru!" Bason cried.
"Bason! It's been so long!" Amidamaru shouted.
"What are you talking about, Amidamaru? That's pathetic! You just saw Bason two weeks ago!" Yoh chastised.
"Bason! What's going on around here?!?!" Ren shouted in outrage.
"Gomen, bocchama, I have been visiting Yoh-sama continuously, whenever possible. Kororo has been, too. Amidamaru and I have even been sparring."
"Kororo! I missed you!" Yoh cried.
"Kororo!"
The earth spirit/ koropokkuru floated forward and nudged Yoh's hand affectionately with her cheek.
"Kororo! You traitor!" Horo Horo shouted.
Kororo narrowed her eyes.
Hao chuckled.
The others turned to glare at him dangerously.
"You all have such petty problems! It's funny!" Hao giggled.
"Oi! Spirit of Fire!" Yoh called.
"Hmm? What do you want with my mochirei, Yoh?" Hao asked.
A few moments later the Fire Spirit appeared.
Many people throughout the room cringed when they heard the spirit's name.
It definitely brought up bad memories.
'Hmm... I can sense that at least the majority of the students here are Shamans, but just how many are there?' Yoh wondered.
The Fire Spirit stared at Yoh incredulously.
"It's been a while! You haven't visited me lately! How are you doing?" Yoh asked.
The Spirit of Fire sent Yoh a brief nod.
"You've got to be kidding me! Spirit of Fire, you've been going off without my permission?!?! Visiting people I haven't acknowledged you to see! My hanshin, nevertheless?" Hao roared in outrage.
The Spirit of Fire seemed to glance around nervously.
"Petty problems, huh?" Ren asked smugly.
"Argh!" Hao shouted in annoyance, sending Ren a glare that would have dug his dead body six feet deep.
Yoh giggled, sending the Spirit of Fire a thumbs up.
The Spirit of Fire stared, before sending Yoh another nod, this one seeming more friendly.
But who could tell?
This Spirit of Fire, after all.
Then it disappeared in a burst of flames.
Hao was muttering something the lines of 'bloody spirits' and 'untrustworthy'.
The other three boys laughed at him in amusement.
"And you!" Amidamaru shouted at Ren, Horo Horo, and Hao, the three in question looking up at the samurai spirit. "Deserting Yoh-dono like that! After all you've been through! You should be ashamed of yourselves! I don't even know why Yoh-dono is associating himself with you!" Amidamaru growled. A look of guilt passed over their faces before it disappeared a moment later.
Yoh's eyes darkened slightly.
"I'm not, Amidamaru. I was here first and then they just decided to sit here," Yoh replied.
Ren glowered at Amidamaru.
"What are you, his guard dog?" he asked snidely.
Amidamaru's eyes began to glow red, which narrowed into dangerous slits.
However, he was cut off from giving a retort by Yoh.
"Daijoubu. Ikuzo, Amidamaru," Yoh said softly.
"Yoh-dono..." Amidamaru whispered in concern.
However, he floated away by his master's side, nonetheless.
Hao, Ren, and Horo Horo watched as Yoh walked away with Amidamaru through the cafeteria doors and out of sight.
(AN: Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it! Ja ne! Please press that lil' purple button and review! )