Shaman King Fan Fiction ❯ Love Me Once ❯ Chapter 1: First Lie. ( Chapter 1 )

Love Me Once.

Disclaimer: I don't own Shaman King.

Anna stared at her soon to be husband. She couldn't stand him. Him or his stupid friends. He was too laid back. He always took everything in stride. It's like he never felt out of control passion for anything. ` Stupid bastard,' she thought. She sighed loudly and narrowed her eyes on Yoh. He had always made her feel out of place and just the tiny bit scared of him. He never got mad at a thing she said to him.

Like earlier.

Anna scowled as she remembered Yoh's impassive face when she had told him that to be a strong Shaman King, he must withstand ultimate pain. She told him she was going to be gentle with him and demanded that he stand him crouch position for no-less than two hours. She had waited for him to respond, to tell her off. To shake his head and tell her exactly what he wanted to do that day. She wanted him to tell her that he wanted them to be alone, to go somewhere together. But, no. He just smiled at her and turned away without saying anything at all. He went directly to the phone and called all his buddies to come keep him company. She could hear them on the phone.

*Flashback.

"Hey, Manta?"

"Yoh! What's up, man?"

"Anna."

"She's got you on a leash again, dude?"

"Yeah. Crouch. 2 hours."

"Ouch. What a witch."

She could see Yoh smirk.

"Come by."

"Most definitely, Yoh. Ja ne."

"Right, ja ne."

*End Flashback.

Her body shook with anger. So what? She was a witch. And, by any other people who had no clue what a Shaman was, he'd be a witch too. She wanted to bump his sentence up 2 more hours. But, she knew that that was only anger talking and if she did that she'd probably kill him. She didn't care one way or another. How could she love a man- live with a man, who let his friend's trash his wife like that? Anna frowned. She wouldn't. He seemed to think that she didn't care about him, only about the Shaman tournament. It wasn't about her feelings towards him. It was about everyone else's. He could be the best Shaman King ever. His family was pushing her to continue this torture. She knows it's inhuman and it causes her to look like the bitch. She knows she shouldn't care, but the feeling ate at her and she hated the way Amidamaru and Manta looked at her with disgust. Horo Horo thought she was a dominatrix in training, so it didn't bother him. He had his sister to please. He went through the same things. Ren, with his heart as cold as ice and as hard as stone probably thought she was being gentle.

She looked at the group of boys, and the girls that they let into the group. Horo Horo's sister and the pink-haired chic. She knew the girl had a crush on Yoh, and it bothered her. He responded much nicer to her and always grinned at her when she blushed. She even saw them talking flirtatiously one night while everyone was supposed to be asleep. Anna knew what it was that she felt when she saw them together. Jealousy. The green-eyed anger ate at her heart everytime she watched Yoh choose to sit next to her, rather than herself. Her eyebrow twitched and she looked down at her watch. It had been 45 minutes since Yoh had started. She began to walk toward the group, and ignored the hurt when everyone silenced and glared as she came forward.

"Yoh," she spoke softly.

He grunted and looked at her under his bangs. "Yes, Anna?"

She swallowed and looked towards her sandals. She couldn't bare to see the pity on his face. Yes, pity. She knew and he knew that she had no other friends. As a matter of fact, she had no friends. She didn't like pity, but it would always return if she remained as the "witch."

"Yoh, you may stop. I'll be going out tonight. You may have the house to yourself."

Yoh looked up at Anna with surprise evident on his features. Anna? Going out? His Anna? No, he didn't mean that the way it sounded. The Anna, he knew?

"But, Anna. It's not close to two hours yet."

"I know this, Yoh."

Yoh stood up and stretched his lean body. His eyes narrowed on Anna's face. "Where are you going tonight, Anna?"

She was silent for a moment.

""I.. I have a date. A date, tonight," she lied. "Uh, he asked me out a few days ago. So.. so, um, you have fun."

Manta snorted and Amidamaru continued to glare down at the blond girl before him. "How come you never mentioned this before?" he asked.

She scowled at him. "It was none of your business." He stared at her and she at him. Finally, he backed off with a careless shrug.

Yoh grinned at Anna. He knew she was lying. "So, where are you two off to?"

Anna didn't hesitate to answer. She'd been thinking of places she wanted to go with Yoh since the day she moved in. She smiled warmly as she slowly told him of her daydreams.

"We'll go for a ride along the countryside, near the lake. I'm packing a picnic and we'll eat next to the water and watch the stars and the moon," she replied. "It'll be so romantic."

Yoh had never heard Anna speak without malice or with a sufficient amount of frost in her voice. Maybe she was telling the truth.

"Fine, Anna. Have fun."

Anna turned around and almost ran to the house. He didn't care. Tears teased her eyelids and tried to escape, but she held them back. She'd never cry over something so.. so..

So trivial. And, a tear slipped down her cheek.

*Later that evening.

Anna stood in front of her height-length mirror. Her lips curled into a slight sad smile as she assessed her evening wear. Some may not know, but she did have more than a black dress and a silky scarf hidden in her closet. She liked to look pretty like any other girl. Not for the world, maybe. But, still. Pretty never did anything for a girl who kept it all locked up. But, she'd show those scalliwags. She'd party all night and day, call over her friends and she'd.. she'd.. she'd show them. Yeah.

Anna grinned confidently as she spread her hands down her knee-length pale yellow dress. She liked the dress because it made her blonde tresses stand out and the faint pink blush appear to be a delicately seductive rose color. She had piled some of her hair above her head and twisted it into a complicated, but adorable knot. The rest piled down her shoulders and gently flowed. She licked her lips and picked up the little tube of lip gloss. She had been going for subtly and this suited her to the max. She slid the little clear gloss across her lips and it added just the right amount of oomph. She hadn't bothered with the supposed eyelash curler.. which looked more like a torture device. Her cheeks had been brightened with a small brush of blush and her eyes darker with a light fading gold above her eyes.

She stepped back and sighed. She was finally ready. She had rummaged through her closet and found her mother's frail white shawl. She tossed it around her shoulder's, because it would make her feel safe when she pretended to be out on a fabulous date. She opened the door to her room and stepped out. Groaning loudly, she stumbled back in.

She couldn't do it. Maybe, she'd just tell them she'd cancelled. No, they'd wonder too much as of why. What was she going to do? Wander along the streets for a couple of hours? Too many scary things out there. She'd just rough it. She'd like to think that she was pretty smart, pretty calm. If she just thought about it for awhile, she was bound to come up with something. Slowly, she walked out and down the stairs to her doom.