Chapter Text
Funbari was Yoh's chance for a fresh start. No one knew the name Asakura there. No one knew he was born with the ability to talk to ghosts. He could pretend to be normal here. Well normal was a stretch because he would always be different, and people would always fear what they did not understand, but he could be as normal as was possible for him.
Yet despite his desire to blend in, to make friends, the cemetery atop Funbari Hill kept calling to him. The view for cloud watching and star gazing was better then at the old inn he was living in. Plus the spirits who inhibited the inn were content with their afterlife. They didn't yearn for anything, or crave an adventure. In the cemetery though, maybe he could find a spirit to join him, to fight beside him. If not. maybe he could at least help some of them find peace and pass on to the Great Spirit.
It would be fine as long as none of his classmates noticed. All of the spirits had long since passed away. This cemetery was a relic to Funbari's long past. It had long since welcomed new inhabitants onto it's hallowed grounds. None of his classmates should have business here, unless they were trying to escape like Yoh. He should be safe, but he wasn't.
Someone, wearing the uniform of the school he would attend starting tomorrow, was in the process of cutting through the cemetery.
Yoh's back was too him, but Teori was telling him everything the kid was saying. In a motion he had done countless times, meant to look like he was simply adjusting his headphones for comfort, he pushed them securely over his ears.
With his eyes downcast, but Teori's hands always in his field of vision, he began to polish the memorial stone in front of him. The name etched into the black stone was 'Amidamaru' and he had been a samurai. There was no way he could convince the newcomer he was paying family respects, but maybe he could lie and say he had a fascination with the life story of this particular samurai. And maybe, if he was lucky enough, the boy would just leave convinced he had imagined seeing another in the cemetery.
Teori indicated the boy was getting more and more nervous, and refusing to continue on his way.
Yoh couldn't keep up this charade. He had to acknowledge the boy. The last thing he wanted was the boy reporting suspicious activity, and the cemetery coming under a watchful eye. He wouldn't be able to find a guardian spirit that way. He couldn't fail in his promise to Matamune or Anna. He had to figure out this whole shaman thing so he could be Shaman King, even if all he craved was to find friends who accepted him for who he was, imperfections and all.
Yoh made a show of stretching and turning around. He let his eyes widen as they fell on the boy and reached up to take his headphones off his head.
“Sorry, I didn't hear you,” he spoke.
The boy froze, uncomfortable. It reminded Yoh of the first time Anna jokingly asked if he was deaf, and he said yes. But this boy wasn't like Anna, was he? Yoh had chalked up all the weirdness between him and Anna as well being related to Anna's reishi, and his grandparents plans to marry them in the future.
“Can I help you?” Yoh asked, when the boy still hadn't responded.
The boy started scrambling through his bag, pulling out a pen and paper. Yoh cocked his head. He couldn't know surely? Everyone always feel for the old 'I'm listening to music' bit even when it was obvious the headphones were not connected to anything.
Similar to Tamao, who traced out messages on her kokkuri board, the boy thrust a notebook into his hands with a message.
“Okay,” Yoh replied, taking the paper and turning it to angle the moonlight onto the sheet.
I'm sorry I didn't know you were deaf. That was rude of me even though you didn't know I was yelling at you. I took a shortcut and you scared me because no one is ever here.
“I was just listening to music,” Yoh deflected, “And I was just cleaning up this guy's grave as a tribute to him.”
“Oh okay,” the boy said, hesitantly, backing away, “well bye.”
Yoh's eyes narrowed on the boy's retreating back. He hadn't believed him. Perhaps the boy was a shaman too who was also trying to hide it?
“You literally could have picked any other memorial stone in the cemetery and the kid would have bought it, but you had to pick Amidamaru's,” Teori signed as a ghost materialized laughing.
“What do you mean?” Yoh asked.
“Amidamaru was known as the fiend. In his last day alive it was rumored he killed hundreds of people after betraying his lord. All the locals are terrified he's a vengeful spirit who will bring misfortune on them if they upset his spirit. While it's true he killed countless, now he does nothing but sit on this hill and brood. The people have nothing to fear, not that they have ever realized that.”
“Isn't that even more reason to take care of his stone though?”
“Would be, except they all think touching it will invoke Amidamaru's anger.”
“That's silly,” Yoh stated. “Do you know what Amidamaru is brooding about?”
“No one knows. Amidamaru hardly talks to anyone. Just sits on the hill looking out in the distance waiting for something.”
“Guess I have no choice but to figure out what it is and help him. It's my duty as a shaman after all. Plus I made a promise to a spirit I don't intend to break,” Yoh finished, clutching the bear claw necklace around his neck.
“Ah man this is going to be good,” the ghost chuckled.
“And if anybody else needs help around here, I'll help them too. Feel free to spread the word,” Yoh called as he made his way to exit the cemetery.
Yoh wasn't sure if it was a blessing or a curse when he laid eyes on the same boy from the cemetery in his new class. The boy's eyes were blown wide as a few kids next to him were hiding snickers behind their hands. School was already off to a great start.
Yoh only had himself to blame, but he still wished it would have been different. That he wasn't so different. He was long practiced in the art of pretending to be mute, and this school would be no different than the elementary school he had attended in Izumo.
Yoh could feel the boy's eyes on him throughout class as if trying to figure him out. He supposed he did owe him an explanation. Pretending he could hear in the cemetery and then refusing to talk in class.
He had planned to introduce himself to the class but something had stopped him. Something in his head saying all his classmates would stare at him like the boy had last night. They were still staring now, but these were the stares Yoh was used to. Last night had been a stare of pity, and it had burned. He didn't need anyone to feel sorry for him because of what happened. Yeah it sucked initially, but he was fine now. He was fine with the way his world was now. He didn't need others deciding that for him.
Yoh left once classes were over, and he felt the boy's eyes continue to follow him. Good. One look at Teori confirmed the boy was attempting to tail him. Yoh would rather have this conversation somewhere private than in the middle of the classroom. At least he had pegged the boy as having a burning sense of curiosity.
He stopped at a bridge and began to count the seconds in his head. It wasn't long until the boy began to pretend he was going the same way and it was a happy coincidence they ran into each other.
Without taking his eyes from the water, Yoh greeted him, “Sorry about everything. You were right.”
“I-I was right!?” the boy spluttered.
“I'm deaf. I was just trying to pretend I wasn't? How did you know though.”
“This is a trick,” the boy muttered.
“It's not,” Yoh answered.
“You're not even looking at me!” the boy was frantic.
“Oh,” Yoh turned to him, “sorry I thought you knew. I was looking at my interpreter.”
“You're... interpreter...” the boy spoke slowly, eyes squinted as he stared out across the water.
“Maa, I'm just making this worse and worse. My name's Yoh Asakura. It's nice to meet you.”
The boy wasn't paying attention, but instead pointing out across the river stuttering out a message.
When Yoh turned with a perplexed look Teori was signing the word ghost.
Yoh wiped his head around back to the boy, “I thought you couldn't see them?”
“You can see it too? I'm not crazy?”
“Come on let's go somewhere else,” Yoh grabbed the boy's wrist, and dragged him off the bridge towards a secluded embankment. With a quick sign with his free hand he instructed Teori to disappear for a moment until he got everything under control.
“So um –“ Yoh began.
“Manta. Manta Oyamada,” the boy, Manta, supplied.
“Manta, you weren't seeing things earlier. This is Teori,” Yoh gestured as Teori appeared next to him, “and she is a spirit. Usually normal people can't see spirits, but for whatever reason I guess you can now.”
Manta scooted back muttering, “I must be dreaming,”
“Don't worry she's harmless. Actually most spirits are. And for the small percentage that aren't, we'll it's my job to take care of it as a shaman,”
“A shaman,” Manta echoed, as he pulled out and began riffling through the large book he carried with him.
“I'm a bridge between this world and the next.”
Yoh watched as Manta stopped paging through the book and stopped to read a long section about shamans before Manta looked up at him again.
“How do I know you aren't just crazy? Shaman's are a thing of the past?”
Yoh gave a pointed look to Teori and watched as Manta eye's followed his.
“There's only one way to find out,” Manta gulped, before reaching out a hand towards Teori. He watched it phase through her. Definitely a ghost or a really elaborate prank.
“You're right. Shaman's aren't really common nowadays, but it doesn't mean that we don't exist. I got a lot of trouble for it back at my old school so that's why I tried to pretend I didn't hear you at the cemetery.”
“But you didn't hear me...”
“I guess,” Yoh replied, “but Teori told me you where there, and everything you were saying. Then I turned around and saw your school uniform, and I didn't want to be labeled as the weird kid immediately. How'd you know though?”
“Know what?” Manta asked, confused. “I didn't see any ghosts in the cemetery last night.”
“That I'm deaf,” Yoh elaborated.
“From your voice,” Manta answered.
“My voice,” Yoh pondered the answered, head cocked with a hand on his chin.
He watched as Teori signed out an explanation, that over time his speech had acquired new characteristics now that he could no longer hear his speech productions to regulate them.
“Huh no one's ever pointed that out before. Here I was thinking I've had everyone fooled. Oh well.” Yoh sighed. “I know we just met, and we don't really know each other, Manta, but if we could keep the whole seeing ghosts things between us, I'd really appreciate it.”
“Trust me I'm not going to tell anyone. They'd just think I was crazy, but why were you at the cemetery last night? You aren't really trying to befriend the fiend Amidamaru are you?”
“Last night no? But after you showed up I heard from another spirit that Amidamaru is waiting for someone or something. I want to figure out what it is so I can give him the option to rest peacefully. He also seems like he would be really cool to have as a guardian ghost, but I'm not sure I'll be able to convince him of that.”
“Guardian ghost?” Manta asked.
“Yeah besides helping spirits find rest, a Shaman usually has a guardian ghost, familiar, or other type of spirit that helps them. My grandpa uses shikigami's but I've never got them to work well for me. Tamao is training with familiars, which tend to be animal spirits. I'm looking for a spirit who will help me fight. I made a promise to two very important people a few years ago and I don't intend to break it. To fulfill it, the first thing I'm going to need is a guardian ghost, and where better to find one than in a cemetery.”
“You sound like you're getting ready to fight in one of those anime tournaments on TV the guys always talk about at school,” Manta joked.
“We'll there is going to be a Shaman Fight soon. The winner gets to be Shaman King and shaped the world in their image.”
“What!?” Manta shouted, “I was joking.”
“It happens ever 500 years. The winner gets to partner with the Great Spirits, the king of all spirits, and they have influence over the world until the next fight. It's kind of like becoming a god in a sense.”
“Then you're claiming that people like Jesus, and Buddha were shaman's and they only changed the world because the won the Shaman Fight?”
“I mean it's possible,” Yoh answered. “I don't actually know anything about the previous Shaman Kings, or about the Shaman Fight. It must all be a closely guarded secret.”
“So what kind of world are you going to make if you win?”
“When I win,” Yoh corrected, “And most of that's a secret, but I will tell you I'm going to make sure no one is lonely again.”
“You're a strange guy,” Manta commented, “but I can tell you're a really good guy. I'll help you figure out what Amidamaru is waiting for.”
“Really?” Yoh asked, turning to face Manta with joy spreading across his face, “I didn't scare you off.”
“This whole seeing ghosts things suddenly is weird, and is going to take a lot of getting used too, but you seem pretty cool. Besides this is way more exciting than just studying for school all the time. But if I'm going to help you, you have to do something for me,” Manta stated.
“Sure what is it?”
“Teach me how to sign.”
Yoh's eyes lit up. “Of course!”