Shaman King Fan Fiction ❯ Ivy, Shaman Runaway ❯ Es Siempre Acerca De Mi Hermano ( Chapter 67 )

 

Es Siempre Acerca De Mi Hermano

The whole earth seemed to be crying. I was crying, Anna was crying, Ren, Jun, Ryu, Horo, Pilika, Tamao, Morty, Jocko…we were all sobbing loudly. All except Hao.

 

My brother sat there with her body in his lap, stroking her hair, quietly letting a small stream of tears flow down his face. I think I cheered him up as I reminded him that Ivy's last words had been that she loved him.

 

It would have cheered me up if her last sentence had been directed toward me, but no…the last word on her dying lips was his name. I was so jealous, but I didn't dare say anything. Hao was the one suffering. I still had Anna to fall back on. Hao had no one. He officially had no reason to live.

 

Hao's followers soon came—Luca and Opacho, I think is what they were called. Hao carefully handed Ivy's body over to me as if he was trusting me with his own life. I suppose, in a sense, she had been his life. He followed his two teammates back to their camp, but he kept looking back, as if someone had tapped him on the shoulder.

 

He sadly smiled back at us one last time before he walked off beyond the horizon, and for once he actually looked his age. He looked old and worn, like his body as well as his soul were thousands of years old.

 

Ren glared after my brother's retreating form while he brushed tears out of his eyes. I really didn't want to know what Ren was thinking about Hao…I could tell from the look on Ren's face that murderous thoughts were going through his head. I took Ivy's body over to Ren and let him carry her into the Church. I stayed behind outside in the rain.

 

“The funeral will be…not today, not tomorrow, but the next day.” The pastor announced as he took the body off to be prepared for burial.

 

I sighed as I propped myself up against the Church. I didn't care that I was getting wet. My clothes were already wet with blood. Quarts, pints, and gallons of Ivy's blood. I stopped to think of how Hao had even more blood smeared on and soaking into his very skin. It had to have been impossible to lose that much blood. Ivy's small body couldn't have contained that amount of liquid! But still the blood was there, and I could tell it would stain horribly.

 

I suddenly felt the urge to hit something. It wasn't fair that Ivy had died! I soon found myself doting on silly little details surrounding her death. `I can't believe she kissed us both when she was in the process of dying! The both of us; one right after the other! He was the last man she ever kissed! He was the last word she ever spoke! He was the one who held her as she died! He was the one who killed her!! It's not fair! It's always about my brother! Always about Hao!' I bit my lip to try to hold in the angry tears. A strange taste entered my mouth when my teeth touched my lips. Blood. Not my blood, but someone else's. `The kiss…she was even coughing up her own blood…there was blood all over her mouth…'

 

`It was your fault she died.' One thought rung out in the hollow halls of my mind. `It was all your fault.'

 

I buried my face in my hands and sobbed. “Oh God Ivy! Why?! Why did you do it?!” I didn't bother to wipe away the tears; there were too many of them. “Why did you go and get yourself killed protecting me?! It's not fair! We were going to get married! We were going to settle down and start a family! We were in love! It was all so simple; you had chosen me over Hao, and we were getting married! Why did you do it?”

 

“Because I love you.” I watched as a ghostly form sat down next to Yoh and put her arms around his shoulders. “It's me…”

 

Raphael nodded in agreement.

 

“But if I'm here, how can she be down there?!” I looked around at the three angels, begging an answer.

 

“You were there when this happened. You are here, but you were there.” Gabe explained, but as usual made no sense.

 

“Raphael?” I looked to the redhead for a translation.

 

“Doll, not even I understand exactly how it works. What you're seeing is happening now, but somehow you are here and there at the same time.”

 

Michael smiled warmly at me and tried his hand at explaining. “This is a phenomenon that should be classified as `anything can and will happen in Heaven.'”

 

I nodded and returned to watching the screen.

 

“I died protecting you because I couldn't stand to see you dead.” , the other me continued.

 

“Oh Ivy…now what am I going to do without you?” I could feel a strange presence beside me, but there was no one there that I could see.

 

“You'll go on living. Forget me Love. I am but a pale ghost of who I was. The woman you fell in love with is already dead and gone. I love you…goodbye Yoh.”

 

I had distinctly heard that. Someone was there. Someone had to have said that. And that someone was: “Ivy…” A ghostly pair of lips gently caressed mine. The only thing was, no one was there; not a human or a ghost. And suddenly the presence I had felt before was gone. “Oh Ivy…”

 

`So he couldn't see me, yet he could sort of hear me.' “Why exactly was that?” I looked up at the three men surrounding me.

 

They all looked confused like they didn't know what I was talking about. “Uh…Ivy, could you speak in complete sentences?” Raphael looked sheepishly at me.

 

I glared at him. “Why? Aren't you intently listening in on my every thought?”

 

He smiled wryly at me. “Very funny.”

 

“I asked why they could hear me, but not see me.” I repeated my thoughts.

 

“I'm sorry, there's static, I didn't hear you.” Raphael turned so that he wouldn't have to lie to my face.

 

“Hey, aren't angels not supposed to lie? I know perfectly well that you heard me!”

 

“Umm Ivy? Hello? You're breaking up.”

 

“What are you hiding from me Raph?!” I glared as I seethed.

 

“You know, we're going through a tunnel; I'll have to call you back.”

 

“RAPH!!” I pounced on him and started to wring his neck.

 

“Hey, Ivy?!” Gabriel was clearly nervous about me finding something out, so he tried to distract me. “After you're done ridding the after-life of that pest, didn't you want to see your sister?”

 

“Sure!” Gabe's distraction worked, and I bounced back into my seat, letting go of Raphael.

 

“I said after you finished that off!” Gabriel pointed, clearly annoyed that Raphael was still with us.

 

“Now, now, children.” Michael cooed gently at the three of us. “Behave yourselves. Look! The screen is revealing important events to us!”

 

Our attention returned to the screen and suddenly a picture of Anna appeared.

 

I watched as the pastor took her body, and something inside of me snapped. I couldn't sit there and watch any longer. I ran out of the Church into the rain. The icy water felt good on my skin. I would probably get sick and die of pneumonia if I stayed outside, but I didn't care.

 

No one would care if I died. Yoh was too upset over the loss of his dearly departed wife to notice my death. His friends wouldn't care either; they would be too busy celebrating not being ordered around anymore. Not even Hao would care enough to come after my soul to feed it to his stupid Spirit of Fire.

 

Hao was too preoccupied with planning his own death. I could see it in his eyes as he walked away, looking back every three seconds or so. He wanted to put an end to his miserable life.

 

`Maybe that's what I should do…unfortunately I promised her that I'd at least try to take care of myself. Oh why me? I knew my sister a matter of days, and then she winds up dead! My X-fiancée/X-brother-in-law is probably going to have a serious mental break down, and then he'll be as insane as his nut-case brother!'

 

“Oh Anna…My poor Anna…Please don't think such awful things.”

 

`My life has been destroyed completely ever since Yoh brought my slut of a sister home! Yet, I'm so glad I met her. What's wrong with me? I just can't hold it together anymore! Oh my God I'm going to miss her!!' I dropped to my knees into the mud and started bawling.

 

I couldn't control myself. I cried and I cried and I cried. After a few good minutes of crying, a pair of arms surrounded me in their tight embrace.

 

“It's okay Anna.” The sultry voice I had come to love whispered throatily into my ear.

 

“Oh Ivy…” I whispered, burying my face back into my hands. `Why is this happening? Do I not deserve to be happy? Doesn't any one of us deserve to be happy?!'

 

A loud thud woke me from my thoughts. I looked up in time to see a white, black, and red blur race out of the Church. The heavy oak doors closed with a thud and Anna started sobbing uncontrollably out in the rain.

 

I just starred at her for a good minute or two before I got up to go over to her. She sank down into the mud and sobbed even louder. `The death of her sister is hitting her pretty hard…' I stood a foot behind her, unsure of what I should do.

 

I finally decided that I couldn't just stand there, so I tried comforting her. I slid down beside her in the mud and held her. “It's okay Anna.” She tensed at first, but when she realized it was me she melted into my arms.

 

“What are you doing here?” I whispered back at him. I was so happy that he came, and I didn't really care why he was there as long as he was there.

 

“Uh…I wanted to make sure you were okay. I was worried.” I could just see the sheepish smile on his face even without looking back at him.

 

He loosened his grip on me and I started to panic. I turned around to face him, my face pale. “What are you doing?!”

 

“I didn't want to get any blood on you…” He gestured to his shirt, stained with my sister's blood.

 

“Take your shirt off.” I ordered.

 

“O…kay.” He blinked several times before pulling off the shirt.

 

“Now you don't have to worry about getting me bloody.” I informed him incase he though I wanted his shirt off just because I wanted to see his body.

 

“But my pants are bloody too.” He pointed out.

 

I smirked evilly. “Then take them off.”

 

“I see you're feeling better.” Yoh blushed madly. “I'll see you later.”

 

I got up and turned to leave, but stopped in my tracks when a soft sob echoed from behind me. Anna was back down on her knees crying again with her face buried in her hands.

 

“I'm sorry…I shouldn't have been so forward.” She apologized through sobs. “I just thought that now since Ivy is dead…maybe you and I could…Never mind it was stupid of me to even think of it.”

 

“Anna…” My heart ached for her. Hao and I weren't the only ones suffering because of Ivy's death. Ivy had been Ivy's sister after all…

 

“It's just…Am I really that different from Ivy? I could dye my hair, and I could dress like her, and act like her! Then would you want me, Yoh?” The desperate look on her face made me want to cry. “You could even call me Ivy!” She begged desperately.

 

I hardly ever got to see this side of Anna, and I had to admit, seeing her so weak and helpless like that did something to me. I couldn't get the thought out of my head that she needed me.

 

“Stand up.” He ordered, and I couldn't make out the emotion in his voice. His usually calm and steady voice was stiff and commanding.

 

I stood. He pulled me close up against his body, wrapping his arms tightly around me. “Yoh?”

 

A seductive smile rushed to his lips. It was scary how much he looked like his brother. “Why would I want you to be Ivy when I'm in love with Anna?”

 

“Y…Y-yoh?” I tried my best to refrain from crying. I swear I almost fainted.

 

I swear I almost fainted. It was a good thing that Yoh's hold was so tight on me otherwise I would have fallen over. I looked him with an incredulous look on my face, my mouth slightly hanging open. “Y—?”

 

Yoh cut me off with a kiss. It was an innocent kiss at first, but soon it turned into something more. Yoh licked my bottom lip, asking for entrance into my mouth. I let him in, and melted at his every touch. I moaned softly as his hand traveled up my thigh; I batted his hand away when he got to far up my skirt.

 

“Are you okay Ivy?” Michael set a concerned hand on my shoulder.

 

“No. I just wanna break down and cry.” I launched myself into Raphael's arms and he held me as I cried my eyes out. “I thought he said he would never get over me!”

 

“You did tell him to marry Anna. This was bound to happen sooner or later. They have a natural attraction toward each other, and it was only a matter of time before the hormones started to kick in.” Gabe tried to be comforting and supportive, but as I had found out much earlier, he wasn't a very comforting or supportive person.

 

I pulled away from her so that I could breathe. “I love you Anna. It took being in love with Ivy to finally realize that I was already in love with you.” I ran my fingers through her hair and gazed lovingly at her. “Anna?”

 

“Yes?” She leaned heavily on me with both of her arms draped on my shoulders. She looked a bit pale.

 

“Anna, I want you to marry me. I was wrong when I first broke the engagement. Can you ever forgive me and give me another chance? I love you.” What she did next shocked me. She pushed me. Yes, pushed me over onto the ground.

 

“Yoh Asakura you are the most despicable person I have ever met! Every time Ivy disappears you want to get back together with me, but once she's back you're with her! Decide now. It's her or me. You're not allowed to change your mind anymore.” She looked down at me with her usual facial expression, and as usual her mask was unreadable.

 

“You. It's you Anna. Will you marry me once the Shaman Fight is over?” I looked innocently up at her, no longer looking like my brother.

 

A smile erupted on her face, and with a small sigh of `Oh Yoh…' she was on top of me and her lips were upon mine. After a few minutes of playing tug-of-war with our tongues she pulled away from me, blushing.

 

“I'm going back inside.” I smiled down at him; both of our checks were rosy.

 

He nodded and smiled back up at me. “Tonight, would you want to watch the stars with me?”

 

“If I did then I would probably fall asleep propped up in your arms, and you would probably carry me inside, where you would probably take me up to bed with you.” I looked down at him accusingly.

 

“Probably.” He smiled his typical Yoh smile. “But once you were in my bed I wouldn't do anything to you. I'm not my brother, you know.”

 

“Probably...not until we're married.” I got up and watched as he did the same. “I'll see you tonight then.” I turned to leave, but he spoke again.

 

“We really do owe Ivy for bringing us together. If I hadn't met her, none of this would be happening. We owe her everything.” Yoh slipped his shirt back on and readjusted his headphones.

 

“Yes.” I agreed a small smile coming to my face. “We really must thank her someday.”

 

“I'll see you later Anna.” Yoh walked back over to his post leaning up against the Church. And I headed back inside, passing Ren as I entered.

 

“No more.” I sniffed. “I know I was the one who said Yoh should marry Anna, but it's hard to see them together like that.”

 

“Understood.” Gabriel nodded and the screen went blank. “We'll skip forward to the next day.”