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Damn it, the sun is too hot today! Yoh thought to himself. Anna had him running laps in the desert as a part of her Special Training, Patch Village Edition™. He stopped to breathe with his hands on top of his knees.
“I didn’t say you can stop!” Anna blew the whistle she had with her, she was sitting on a rock in the shade, wearing sunglasses. Yoh could stop only when she blew the whistle twice. “Where are those lazy good for nothing friends of yours?” She meant team The Ren, they should be thanking her for letting them train with Yoh, but they were late.
Yoh started running again when she blew the whistle, but he was dragging his feet. The sun was too hot to be training, it was burning… like fire. He tried to keep running but his steps got slower, he was very deep in thought. If he couldn’t survive the sun of the desert, he couldn’t survive Hao’s flames.
“What are you doing? I haven’t blown the whistle yet!” The itako exclaimed and stood up from the rock, she took her sunglasses off. “Yoh?”
The shaman’s steps became slower until he stopped completely. His eyes were lost in the rocks of the canyon and Anna could only see his back. He was thinking about Hao, his great power and secrets and how… small… that made him feel.
“Are you even listening to me?!” the blonde walked rapidly towards him and with no warning slapped Yoh hard in the head.
“Ouch!” Yoh said. He turned around to face Anna and rubbed his head, the blow hurt but he didn’t go back to run, not even when the itako blew the whistle in his face again.
“Is there something wrong?” She asked. Yoh was staying still in front of her, not with his lazy complains but serious, like she doesn’t see him often.
Yoh nodded after a moment and started walking to the rock were Anna was sitting before, in the shade. The blonde girl followed him with no objection and sat next to him.
“I don’t think I can defeat Hao, Anna,” he said, “he is so much stronger than any of us and…” he stopped talking when Anna arched a brow, he knew it was best not to make her arch her brows
“Nonsense,” the itako said immediately, making Yoh look at her confused, “You heard me right. That’s nonsense.”
Yoh blinked a few times, Anna was looking at him with no expression as usual, sure of her words. He still felt bad because he knew if he couldn’t beat Hao then… all was lost. All. “You always say that you’re the future wife of the Shaman King, if I don’t win… if I am not the next king...” the shaman didn’t dare continue. He didn’t like to think about bad things, but when the stakes were that high, he had to. What if Anna didn’t want him anymore?
“It will be you, Yoh. It will always be you,” at least in her heart, he had won already. The girl reached for Yoh’s hand, but didn’t touch it. Her fingers just brushed against his before she hesitated.
Yoh saw how she tried to reach out to him and took a chance, he was going to kiss her. He was nervous, but determined, and he leaned down towards her. Anna closed her eyes and he did the same, they had kissed once before but it wasn’t enough experience for the boy, that puckered up his lips completely.
The moment when he did this, they heard muffled giggles and a loud Sssssht!, Yoh and Anna both opened their eyes and he looked around to find the source of the sounds, but his fiancé was already summoning Zenki and Goki to destroy a pile of rocks a few meters in front of them.
“Not only are you lazy and late, you’re also perverts!”, the blonde girl yelled. Her demons destroyed the rocks, team The Ren was hiding behind them.
“Oi, oi, oi! We just wanted to give you some privacy!” Horo Horo said, he stood up and brushed the dirt off his shirt.
“Were you watching the whole time?!” Yoh yelled, he walked with Anna to meet his friends halfway. The shaman was feeling very ashamed.
“We didn’t want to interrupt the talk you were having,” Chocolove said and puckered up his lips, making kissy sounds. This made Horo Horo burst out in laughter and Yoh blush.
Anna didn’t like the joke and had Zenki and Goki beat up the two, then Ren approached Yoh.
“Way to pucker up, Asakura,” he teased, his arms crossed in front of his chest. He walked past Yoh with a smirk on his face and then spoke to Anna, “Please stop beating up my team, we’re here to train.”
“It’s punishment for being late,” the itako said, and called her demons back, “15 minutes in the invisible chair, all of you. Go.”
The blonde girl put her sunglasses on and walked back to the rock she was sitting on. She blew her whistle twice and the four shamans began training.