^_^  Thanks for the reviews!  Anna was in character?  I have no idea.  I have close to no access to this series.  Okay, only one person didn't say they wanted a Yoh POV, so I started it and glared at the comp screen and banged the keyboard…and Yoh refused to tell me anything.  He's more stubborn than Anna and possibly even harder to fathom.  But I tried.  Thus, this chapter. 

            I once told Manta that one of the advantages of keeping a ghost around 24-7 is that Amidamaru comes to the bathroom at night with me when I'm scared.  "But he's the ghost!" shouted Manta in response, failing to find any logic in my point.

            I laughed it off; Manta always overreacts.  Besides, Amidamaru's escort was a one-time thing.  I don't usually get scared of the dark; it had been during a really big storm. The house had creaked so much I thought the room was about to fall in. 

            Now, though, I don't like getting up at night alone.  When I joked about it, I never thought I'd actually honestly feel that way.  What's changed since then?  One word: Anna. 

            Yeah, I admit it.  I, Asakura Yoh, who has faced down powerful shamans and furious spirits alike, am deathly afraid of a certain girl my age.  Okay, maybe not deathly afraid, but I'm certainly cowed.  That girl slaps harder than that affixed ghost of the billboard painter I met when I first came to Tokyo.  I bet she practices on rocks…  Hold on, you didn't hear me just say that, okay?  Please?  If Anna finds out, she'll kill me, or worse, make me to train more. 

            Sometimes she makes me feel as if I should be calling her "Lady Anna" the way Amidamaru calls me "Lord Yoh."  I bet if I ever become the Shaman King, she'll be Shaman Empress.  If — no, I suppose it's when — we get married and have kids (mini-Annas!  I think I'm going to cry; one is more than enough), I'll be the head of the family, and she'll be the neck.  The neck, after all, is what turns the head.  Ah, you get the picture. 

            And ever since Anna showed up in Tokyo and moved in, I tend to take some sort of supernatural attendant with me if I get up at night.  I know they're not much in terms of backup against her itako powers, but just having another presence is comforting.  I hate being alone when Anna materializes out of the shadows, her apathetic yet icy gaze fixed on me.  It makes me feel like she just caught me doing something I wasn't supposed to, even if all I wanted was a drink of water, or when all I want is to listen to my music and laugh because I'm alive. 

            That sounds kinda shallow if that's all I really want.  If you think about it, though, it's not.  I've learned to savor the simple pleasures of life; I don't kill myself striving for some impossible, complex happiness.  Nope, I'm perfectly satisfied with good music and a cool breeze. 

            I told that to Anna yesterday and she made me take another few hours away from my precious records to train. 

            Sometimes I wish she'd leave and let me live how I want, but to be honest, the way I want to be includes having her around.  For me, one of the worst things that could possibly happen is a change in routine.  I like things to stay the same and predictable so I don't have to worry.  Life is not meant to be lived in perpetual worry.  Therefore, in a way, Anna is both the best and the worst thing that ever happened to me. 

            It was hardest at first.  She was something of a bombshell for my existence, dropping in one day and dictating the course of my life.  Training was the biggest change for me.  Yet, it's nice having her around because everything becomes part of a routine.  I know what my chores are, what she expects; and if I do anything else, she inflicts pain.  It's really quite simple. 

            She says she wants just to be the wife of the Shaman King.  That sounds kinda shallow.  I'm pretty sure there's more. 

            Honestly, if she's so worried about marrying the Shaman King, she should just find some really strong shaman instead of spending so much time training me.  It would be way easier, right?  I guess she's just hard to understand.  I think all girls are like that, what with their roller-coaster mood swings and double meanings in their words and hidden feelings.  It's enough to drive a guy over the edge.

            The really strange thing is that she reminds me of an affixed ghost.  (Please don't tell her I said that!)  She's got that hard outer shell that can seem almost vengeful at times.  But affixed ghosts remain in the world because of a strong emotion, usually grief or confusion or hurt.  What does that say about Anna? 

            Heh, Manta'd probably be going insane now, aggravated by my amateur theorizing and philosophizing.  He gets so worked up over things.  But he'd probably be right.  Anna's not a ghost; my job isn't to figure out her grievances and unresolved disappointments and solve them for her.  (Girls are so much harder to deal with than unhappy spirits.) 

            It can be rather frustrating, and sometimes I wonder if my family knew what they were doing when they arranged our betrothal, especially when she's angry with me. 

            And then there are times like yesterday when I brought her a bunch of flowers I had gathered.  She didn't scoff at their lack of arrangement, didn't act disgusted because I had forgotten to brush off the ants.  Instead, her eyes went soft, and then she looked at me as she gathered the blossoms in her hands.  I think she smiled.

            Maybe my family did know what they were doing.

~~~

            Hiroyuki Takei once said that Asakura Yoh is the hardest character in the series to draw because it's very difficult to grasp his outlook on life.  I found that Yoh's like that in writing too.  So apologies if he's not perfectly in character.  ^_^  Let me know in a review, K?