Tell Me Something I Don't Know
By Starian Princess

There's a reason why we often try our best to think before we speak. But perhaps now, Hao has more reason than anyone else. What if he'd had a brief moment to speak with Anna before Yoh defeated him?

He was walking towards her, the Spirit of Fire blocking everyone else's paths and effectively keeping them from getting anywhere closer. She could hear their shouting. She could hear Yoh's shouting.

"Get away from her, Hao! Your fight is with me!" He'd never sounded so furious. It was then that she realized just how important she was to him. It was then that she realized that their enemy was taking long strides towards her, and smiling in a brazen way she might've actually liked if it had been Yoh. The problem, of course, was that it wasn't him. It wasn't her fiancé coming to her in ease as if he'd just won the battle. It was his twin brother, the one who had turned his own guardians against her- a person she was supposed to be fleeing from.

But then, there was the other problem.

For some unknown reason, she couldn't move. She simply stood there, staring blankly almost frightened as he closed the distance between them with every menacing step.

He was wondering why the itako refused to move. She clearly looked like a deer caught in the headlights of a rather large truck, which was all the more puzzling. Anna Kyouyama never looked like a deer caught in the headlights. She never got caught off guard, to put it simply.

But in a way he was grateful.

He'd never intended to give word to his spirit to land in front of her, much less to approach her in the middle of this important battle. But for some reason the moment he'd caught a glimpse of her standing behind the pillar down below, he had the sudden urge to speak to her.

'Anna probably has this effect on most people, what with the way she intimidates even the mightiest of shaman.' He laughed inwardly as he noted her now guarded expression. 'Perhaps she had been taken aback a while ago and had just come to her senses now. Poor girl.'

He finally stopped in front of her, the space small enough for him to simply reach out and she'd be in his arms within seconds. It was a tempting thought, but it wasn't like he was going to do that. No, not with Yoh watching. Well, at least not yet.

He contented himself with staring at her in mild amusement. He took in her emotionless eyes, her upturned lips, her hair moving with the slight breeze, her hands balled into fists, her well postured stance, her reddening cheeks… Hmm… Perhaps he had been staring too long.

He watched her fidget and chuckled lightly. It seemed that she was actually getting uncomfortable.

"Anna, you don't have to be frightened. I just… wanted to talk."

He had paused. In truth, he didn't know what he wanted to talk about with her. Everything just seemed so random as if another person had taken over his body, but then after he managed his next move he felt that everything was just as it should be. How could he possibly explain that to her? Maybe he wouldn't have to.

"Are you here to ask for forgiveness, and possibly have me go over to Yoh and tell him to stop this fight? I never thought you were the type who could actually admit defeat, Hao."

That and the fact that he was absolutely annoyed Yoh's friends managed to bring him back to life were the reasons for his next move.

In an agile shift of his legs, he was behind her before she could understand what had happened and he took the opportunity to rest his arms around her shoulders, effectively holding her still.

"What are you doing?" She gritted out, trying to get him off her. But they both knew that she was much too weak for that.

"Anna, I wonder if Yoh had never existed in the first place, perhaps all these friends of his would have been mine instead right?" He hissed in her ear. And when she remained quiet he continued, "If Yoh had never been born, I wonder if… even you would have been mine. You would have been my bride-to-be and as for this day, well, it would have been me fighting to save you now wouldn't it?"

His heart was pounding much too fast for his liking and he barely caught her restrained answer.

"Never. I would have never agreed to be your fiancée."

He held her tighter then, brushing his chin against her cheek and nuzzling against her neck.

"But would you have had a choice, Anna?"

She refused to answer that.

"See, Anna, that's what I like about you. Your blind devotion for my younger brother is… intriguing. I wish I had that. I wish that instead of having wanted to control the whole world and make my own for only shamans to live, I would've looked forward to coming home knowing I had a lovely fiancée waiting for me after my battles. I wish that instead of having a world probably resting at my feet, I would have had a girl holding on to my heart instead. Do you think that's too much to ask?"

This time, she did respond.

"You should ask yourself that."

"A typical answer from you, I suppose."

He smiled and very gently let her go. He expected her to run as soon as he did so but she merely stood there then turned to face him, regarding him in a possibly more open expression, a hint of pity mingling in her brown eyes.

"I'll tell you something, Hao, and you better remember it."

He nodded and she continued with a huff.

"I love Yoh. And if ever things hadn't gone the way they did now, I have no doubt that I would still love him then. You can keep asking yourself 'what if this happened' or 'what if I were different' but I think that you should just go on and live out the present. You got yourself into this; I think you should finish it."

'Heh. Tell me something I don't know, Anna.' He contemplated her words as he walked over to his spirit still fending off his younger brother- who was, by then, as angry as ever.

"Calm down, Yoh. I didn't do anything to your precious Anna. As you can see, she is unharmed." He tried to explain but it wouldn't have made much of a difference. Yoh probably couldn't hear him for he looked hell-bent on making it absolutely clear that he had had no right to go near the itako in the first place.

Maybe he'd have to learn to think before acting, much more to think before speaking. Well, that was if there was a next time.

-OWARI-