Shaman King Fan Fiction ❯ Princess ❯ Chapter Six ( Chapter 6 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Shaman King belongs to Hiroyuki Takei, not me.

After a good long nap, Anna was more than rested. She ran around the house, singing nonsense songs at the top of her lungs. HoroHoro was chosen as the one to chase her down.

“Come here, you little monster!”

“Kitty kitty kitty you are pretty pretty pretty…”

“Anna, come back here! I said come back!”

“Anna wish she was a Christmas tree…”

“Anna Kyoyama, come back here right this minute, or so help me, I'm going to count to three!”

“Eat veggy-tables with every meal…”

Yoh snuck up behind Anna and tossed her over his shoulder as she shrieked with laughter. “What are veggy-tables?” he asked, hanging her upside down from his arm.

“Veggy-tables, veggy-tables!” she giggled.

HoroHoro collapsed in the doorframe, gasping for breath. “So…I guess…you found her,” he panted.

“I did, I did,” Yoh said cheerfully, holding out Anna's baby-blue suede coat. “Put on your jacket on, honey, you'll get cold.” Anna obediently slid her little arms in and let Yoh fasten the buttons over her denim jumper and pink long-sleeve shirt. Yoh adjusted her pink headband.

“Where Daddy?” Anna asked.

“Did someone call for her daddy?” Hao held out his arms. Anna ran to him, throwing her tiny arms around his neck. Yoh watched his brother with the little girl. He was handling her gently, lovingly, as if Anna was a fragile bit of glass. The toddler snuggled against him. “You ready to see a movie, lovey-chan? You all excited?”

“Iss!” Anna exclaimed, bouncing up and down. “See movie! See movie!”

“You got the tickets, didn't you?” Yoh said.

“Yeah, yeah, I did the merengue and got them.” Hao gave Anna an Eskimo kiss.

“The meringue…oh, Fandango,” Yoh said. “Which movie?”

“I don't know, something animated,” Hao shrugged.

“I no know, something Anna-made,” the toddler mimicked. She was rewarded with a kiss on each cheek by both brothers.

The whole group- Yoh, Hao, Anna, HoroHoro, Ren, Pilika, and Tamao- made it to the movie theater only ten minutes before the movie started. “Good thing I got our tickets in advance!” Hao said. He handed Anna off to Yoh, who set the three-year-old on his hip. “Four…no, five…no…ah, heck, I reserved tickets for Asakura…”

“Six adult, one child for Corpse Bride, theater 13,” the chirpy ticket girl said, handing them the tickets.

“Corpse Bride?” Yoh exploded. “Corpse Bride? You got tickets for the Corpse Bride?!”

“Cors Bride?” Anna repeated, tilting her little blonde head to the side.

Hao shrugged. “Hey, it's animated, so it must be a kid's movie,” he defended.

“It has the word corpse in the title, Hao!” Yoh screeched. “She's three! It's not going to be pretty!”

“Aw, she'll be all right,” Hao said. He tickled Anna's little tummy. “Won't you, sweetie? You're going to like the movie that Daddy Hao picked out, aren't you?”

“Iss!” Anna squealed, bouncing up and down on Yoh's hip.

Yoh winced. “Come on,” he sighed, trying to get her stop. “Let's go watch the movie.”

“POPCORN!” Anna shrieked, tugging on his shirt. “ANNA WANT POPCORN! ANNA WANT POPCORN!”

“Okay, okay, okay!” Yoh said. “Hao-“

“Go on,” his brother said. “You take the munchkin, I'll get the food.”

Anna squirmed as Yoh carried her to the theater. “Want down!” she whined. “Anna walk!”

Yoh set her down and she took off running. “Don't wander off,” he warned. “Stay with me. Anna, sweetie- no…Anna! Anna Kyoyama!” The little blonde toddler darted through the crowed, giggling. Yoh stopped. It was time to pull out the big guns.

“ANNABELLE ROSE KYOYAMA, COME HERE THIS MINTUE!”

The tiny tot screeched to a halt. She paused for a minute, then slumped back towards Yoh with her head hanging in shame. Anna stared at the ground as she walked back, and bumped into his leg.

“You say my three names,” she sniffled. “I in trouble?”

Yoh smiled as he picked her up. “Just a little bit of trouble, sweetie,” he said. Anna perked up a bit as they made their way into the theater. They joined the others in the seats at the middle of the theater. Anna started off on Yoh's lap. After a few minutes she slid off his knees and moved to HoroHoro.

“Up!” she said. “Up!” The snowboarder obliged. Then she started to get bored. Anna leaned over his arm and lunged for Ren.

“Hold Anna,” she pleaded. Ren sighed heavily, but he couldn't ignore her forever. He picked her up. Two minutes later…

“Tamao!” Anna squeaked.

“That's enough, kiddo, you need to sit down,” Yoh said. He set Anna on his lap as Hao slid into the seat next to them and the theater darkened.

“Popcorn,” he said cheerily. Anna started squealing in delight, but a couple of people started shushing at her.

Yoh hugged her and covered her mouth with his fingers. “Sh, sh, baby doll,” he whispered. “You have to be quiet in the movie. Eat some popcorn.” He popped a piece in her mouth. Anna quieted instantly, opening her mouth like a baby bird for more popcorn. She snacked quietly during the previews, and giggled at the sight of the butterfly in the opening sequences of the movie. Yoh started to relax. She was tougher than she looked, after all. He leaned back in his seat, settled Anna against him, and continued to feed her popcorn. He was lulled into a sense of false security, though, because as soon as the Corpse Bride burst through the ground, Anna started screaming.

“Anna, Anna, it's okay, it's just a movie,” he tried to reassure her.

Hao leaned over and took her into his arms. “I'll take her out,” he whispered. “You watch the movie.”

He carried the screaming, sobbing child out of the theater. There was a small park nearby, so Hao sat down on a bench. Anna draped herself over his broad shoulder, wailing. He rubbed her little back. “It's all right, sweetheart,” Hao whispered. He fumbled in his pocket and pulled out her pacifier. “You want your passie? You want it?” She opened her mouth and the sobs silences as she sucked on it. Hao stroked her tears away. “That scared you, didn't it, doll?” Anna nodded. “But you know what can help you from being scared? You can tell me or Yoh. Especially Yoh. We can take care of you and make all of the scaries go away.” He stood her up on his knees. “Now, can you give me kiss and a smile?” She obliged with the kiss, popping the pacifier out just long enough to plant a kiss on the jaw so many woman had proclaimed strong and manly.

“Aw, I want a smile, too,” he said. Hao tickled her lightly under the chin. “Can I have a smile? Can I have a smile now?” Anna's little smile turned into happy baby laughter as Hao tickled her. “All right, all right, that'll do. Want to get down and play?” She nodded, slipping off of his lap and toddling towards the rest of the kids at the playground.

Hao leaned back on the bench. He rarely thought about his past lives, but having a baby around was making him think about his own babies. Back when he was in the Patch tribe, he had had a wife. Sorsha.

She was a beautiful woman, tall with long dark hair and deep dark eyes. They had had two children, a boy and a girl. The little girl, his Kiya, died during the shaman tournament. A snakebite, Sorsha had told him. He'd been so busy with the fight that he didn't even find out until a week after his pretty little daughter had died. Of course, back then…he had been a different person. The life of a child, even his own, hadn't mattered in the course of his journey to be the Shaman King. But now…if little Anna died…he would weep. To see her active little body still and quiet, her small voice silenced- it would kill him as well.

“I'm gonna tell my daddy on you!”

Hao started. A group of six year old boys were squabbling with the smaller children over the swings. A couple of them had already given up the swings, but feisty little Anna was kicking the bigger boys in the shins with all her might.

“You mean! You mean! I tell my daddy! I tell my daddy and he beat you up! He beat you up bad! I beat you up bad!” she shouted.

“Yes, her daddy will beat you up,” Hao said, coming to stand behind the little girl with his arms folded. “You older kids need to be nice to the little ones, all right? Or the daddies and mommies will be very, very unhappy with you.”

The older kids sullenly let the small ones onto the swings. “Daddy, Daddy, push me!” Anna giggled. “Push me higher! Higher, Daddy!”

She swung back and forth, back and forth, her little legs pumping and her golden hair blowing back. Hao pushed her on the swing, enjoying her little-girl giggles.

“Anna!” The movie had ended, and he was making his way over to the park. “Anna, are you all right?”

“Catch me!” Anna shouted. “Catch me, Yoh! Catch me!”

Hao watched the emotions play over his brother's face. He could tell that Yoh was thinking of Anna…the grown up Anna. “Of course, Anna,” Yoh whispered. “I'll always catch you.”

The little girl tumbled out of the swing and flew into Yoh's arms. He caught her tightly. “Anna, are you all right?” he asked, kissing her soft cheeks and her silky hair. “You want to go home now, Nan?”

The child blinked. “Nan?” she repeated.

Yoh thought she was playing her mimic-game again. “You're a silly girl,” he laughed.

Anna stiffened in his arms. “Nan,” she murmured. “Daddy called Anna `Nan'.”

“I've never called you Nan,” Hao said.

“Not you, Daddy,” she whispered. “My daddy. My real daddy.” She turned to Yoh. “Anna want to go home now.”

Yoh took Anna's blanket out of her baby bag and draped it around her. She pressed her cheek on his shoulder. “All right, honey,” he said softly. “Let's go home.”

The others laughed and talked about the movie, but Yoh sat in silence next to Anna's carseat. She was fast asleep, her blanket covering her and her pacifier tucked into her mouth. Her tiny hand clutched Yoh's finger as he studied her little face.

“What are you going to do?” Hao asked quietly.

“I don't think I can help her much more,” Yoh confessed. “She needs a mother's touch now.”

“She obviously didn't get much of that in her own childhood,” Hao said. “She can't remember anything about her parents, except that her father called her Nan. And she talked about her uncle and the closet…”

“I never knew,” Yoh whispered. “I wonder how much of it she remembers. If she can still remember the pain and the terror. It must've affected her more than we ever realized.”

“And it might not have all been physical,” Hao warned. “It's surprising how many people prey upon children as young as Anna. She could have been molested or-“

“Stop it, Hao,” Yoh said tensely. “I don't want to think about her in those situations.”

“Just because you don't think about it doesn't mean it didn't happen to her,” Hao said. “I'm sure there's some sort of medical test-“

“I'm not putting her through that, Hao,” Yoh said. He stroked a stray strand of fine, clinging hair away from Anna's forehead. “She's just a baby. Maybe…when the grown-up Anna comes back…I can ask her- but not now.” He touched his lips against her temple. “Right now, she's an innocent child, and I refuse to take that away from her.”

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