Chapter Text
“Too slow.”
He increased the speed.
“Too fast.”
He decreased the speed.
“To the left!”
He went to the left.
“His left!”
It’s the beginning of the second week since she had started Yoh’s training using the Chō-Senjiryakketsu (aka Hao’s book) and he was a mess. He just didn’t seem to understand certain concepts and she’d try various methods to make him comprehend the book. She made him read it, but he kept falling asleep. Then she tried reading it to him, but he kept making her repeat almost every sentence because he just didn’t get it. So now she had him practice the theory while she yelled at him what to do because he just didn’t seem to get it just by studying it. And there was still no improvement.
She read that book in a few hours and got everything and yet somehow her fiancée needed weeks to understand it and they didn’t have that much time. I mean she still had him do advanced ultra hell training, but that on its own wasn’t anymore enough.
And let’s not start on Faust and Ryu. They were just even more of a mess but she was sure that if Yoh would get it, they would soon follow. So she was focusing on him for now.
“Right Yoh, THE RIGHT, and less speed for that!” She yelled getting up from her spot on the picnic blanket.
They were somewhere in the desert, behind some big rocks, creating a secluded area for their training place. They had run out of supplies so she sent Manta to get more water and lunch to which he happily agreed to. Nowadays Anna’s level of anger was so high the little human struggled to be close to her without fearing she’d grab him any moment and throw him at Yoh…which happened at least once in the first week of training. Manta was lucky Yoh was just daydreaming and not in the middle of an attack when that happened, so he just managed to wake him up…or well actually knock both of them off for a couple of minutes before Ryu shook them awake just before angry Anna was marching towards them.
But coming back to the present, Anna was once again raging while Yoh was trying whatever he could to translate the knowledge of the book into fighting. But even he realized he was failing miserably.
Yoh would have felt pretty bad, but he couldn’t focus on that when all he’d heard in the past week was Anna’s yells. He did miss her dearly while she was away, but he wished he could just give him a break. All the yelling and instructions weren’t helping. Like at all.
He just had to remain calm.
“YOH THE LEFT, LEFT!”
Everything will work out, he’ll somehow understand.
“YOH, YOU’RE TOO SLOW ON THE RIGHT AND TOO SPEEDY ON THE LEFT, I TOLD YOU THE OTHER WAY!”
How come she didn’t lose her voice by now was a miracle to the whole team Asakura.
“YOH, ARE YOU EVEN TAKING THIS SERIOUSLY?!”
That’s it.
Yoh stopped mid attack and signalled everyone to break while he started walking away, however, the abrupt halt threw off guard his team. Ryu was flying preparing to counterattack, so he had to change direction last second to avoid hitting his friend and instead flew into a rock. Faust was a bit better and just cut off his oversoul, but that took some effort and concentration, making him pass out. Oversoul broken, Amidamaru floated not too far behind Yoh.
“YOH, WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU ALL, I DIDN’T SAY TO STOP?!” Anna yelled and started walking towards her fiancée, aura crackling with anger.
Meanwhile, Yoh had dropped his sword dramatically and was also walking towards Anna, feeling rather irritated with her behaviour.
Ryu managed to peel himself off the rock in time to see the two teens meet halfway and prayed – he’d seen Anna angry and that was scary, but he had never seen Yoh and he looked very much the opposite of his usual calm self. Two angry powerful shamans really felt like a sign to just drop everything and run, but that might draw their anger on him, so Ryu sat down awaiting instructions, trying not to stare too much. And pray for himself and Yoh – he’d never seen him disobey Anna.
Amidamaru just watched the scene unfold fearfully, knowing he should stay away for now, especially if he wanted to not be sent to the depths of hell.
Anna stopped right in front of Yoh, crossing her arms and glaring daggers. To her surprise, he actually dared to stare back, his usual calm self seemingly replaced by an anger to match hers. But that only made her more furious.
“Yoh, we don’t have time for you to throw a tantrum because you can’t get simple commands. Go back and just follow my instructions.”
“No.” He also crossed his arms keeping his gaze on her.
“Yoh, don’t make me repe…”
“I am not throwing a tantrum and I am taking this seriously.”
“Well, it’s definitely not sho…”
“I just don’t get what you mean and all your yelling is making it worse!”
“Would you stop cutting me off?!” She took a step closer, dropping her hands around while they closed into fists - the audacity of Yoh to just cut her off like that!
“No, I won’t! Because you keep cutting me off with all the instructions!”
“If you would just listen…”
“I am…”
He cut her off again, did he have a death wish?
“…you would know what to do and this…”
“It’s not helping, your instructions don’t make sense!”
Yoh was really asking for it.
“…this wouldn’t take this long!” Anna yelled in his face and prepared to strike him with her hand.
“But it takes this long because it doesn’t make sense!” Not only did Yoh raise his voice back at her, but he also dodged her attack with ease, his eyes looking daring at her.
Anna froze because she wasn’t used to him getting this riled up, snapping at her and avoiding her attack at the same time. Ryu had to blink a few times and checked his ears to make sure he was still hearing well. Even Faust woke up and stared surprised at the confrontation happening not too far away from him – he hadn’t seen Yoh this angry since their first-round fight. And he was pretty sure this was a different form of anger, yet as uncharacteristically for the boy too.
Amidamaru paled and prayed. Like Faust, he’d never seen Yoh-dono this riled up since the Faust fight and yet this time his anger felt different. He just hoped his master knew where he was going with this. He was impressed he stood up to Anna, he hasn’t done it since he brought home the oracle bell and fought about Silva. And he knew Yoh was struggling and wanted to learn, but Anna’s methods, unlike before just didn’t seem to work this time. So maybe the fact they were somehow talking about it will help…
“HOW DARE YOU!” Anna snapped furiously and prepared to hit him with her legendary left.
…or not.
Her palm flew, eyes burning with rage and yet he dodged it with so much ease he didn’t even break eye contact. Everyone collectively gasped and paled.
Anna didn’t expect to miss so she almost lost her balance and yet, despite his anger, she noticed in the corner of her eye that he did put his hand on her shoulder to help steady her.
The contact made her freeze and was ready to retaliate, but his voice stopped her.
“I’m not here to fight you Anna, I just want you to understand this is not working and we’re only going to be wasting time if we keep doing this.” Yoh dropped his hand and his angry gaze ever so slightly softened as he added. “And the yelling really doesn’t help or hitting me, I already know all your moves by now.”
His last words made her anger skyrocket because how dare he stop her moves in front of everyone and admit he knows them!? And yet, she didn’t retaliate because the same words also made her realize something.
Despite her blind rage and instinct to immediately hit back, some rational part of her reminded her that it was more important to focus on listening to Yoh than expressing her anger at him. As hard as it was to admit out loud, Anna allowed herself to acknowledge that Yoh was right, her training wasn’t working, and they were wasting time they couldn’t afford wasting.
So she tried to hang on to her new idea which would teach him a lesson to disobey her anyway and hopefully actually learn something than mimic her anger issues surprisingly well. She had to try another method and thanks to Yoh and his newfound attitude she got an idea of how.
“Ryu, throw me your sword.” She yelled taking Yoh by surprise because she broke eye contact, suddenly ignoring him.
“But Anna what do you…”
“Ryu, sword, NOW.”
“Yes, Anna.”
Ryu wasn’t Yoh, he didn’t feel like confronting Anna, like ever, so he immediately obeyed, throwing the sword.
Anna caught it and took a fighting stance, pointing it at Yoh. The boy’s anger had almost disappeared, now being replaced by astonishment.
“Let’s see if you know these moves, Yoh.” Anna taunted and before Yoh barely had a chance to dodge, she was attacking him.
“Anna, I already said, I don’t want to fight you!”
“You said you know all my moves, prove it!” She dared him, also using her shikigami to attack, sending Yoh flying next to his sword.
“Anna, stop it!” Yoh yelled annoyed.
“No.” She replied lounging for him and Yoh grabbed his sword blocking the attack as he quickly oversouled.
“Anna!” His eyes widened upon feeling her furyoku raise.
“What is it Yoh?” She taunted jumping away as he pushed back. “I’m not yelling anymore.” She circled around him, calculating her next move. “I’m doing what you wanted. I changed the training, now stop complaining and fight me back!”
She was fast for someone who just picked a sword, but Yoh was faster. He dodged and jumped behind her, but barely got a chance to attack her as he found himself flying, till he hit a rock and fell down. He forgot to consider the shikigami.
“Yoh, you better not keep yourself from attacking me just because it’s me. Pay attention to my moves and to your own and if you want me to take you seriously, you better take my training seriously too.” She said with a serious voice, mouth a thin line, her breathing rather raged.
Yoh got up and their eyes met. He knew she was serious and she won’t back down. If he got upset over her insinuating he wasn’t taking it seriously, she also got worked up by him telling her her training didn’t work. And she sure had a lot of anger she needed to get out. And he needed to learn those new techniques if he wanted to stand a chance in the next round.
So he took a deep breath and nodded her way, his eyes sparkling with determination. If she wants a fight, she will get a fight – after all, he was still riled up himself and could use blowing up some steam. Of course, he would try his best to avoid hurting her even the slightest which he was sure she wouldn’t give him the same courtesy, but she was she and he was him. And he wouldn’t have it any other way.