Disclaimer: Shaman King does not belong to me, and will never belong to me. What a shame. Sue me for the hole in my pocket. It's bigger now. And oh...there's another hole! ^-^

Note: My first story, to be written in chapters. Now, it might be fair to warn you guys that I've practically never try to write anything chaptered. only one-shots. o_o So if this sucks, feel free to blast me! Of course, constructively.

And Yoh, Anna and Hao were much older in this fic. Say...19? Yup, 19. Nice age, mature but not too old. As in, they were still teenagers! Yay! ^-^ Perceive Yoh and Anna to be much more affectionate towards each other at this age. If not, you will be ripping my head off for writing them in such an OOC way.

If I Could Change The World
written by: da*mouse

Prologue: Nightscape

He was running.

It was dark, damp and foggy. He could barely see where he was going. But still he kept running. He knew that he had to. Keep going. Just keep going.

Something was wrong. Terribly wrong.

It became darker still. Even his own fingers were lost to him. All that remained with him was the ragged sound of his own breathing. He was reminded of his training in the dark cave, all those years ago. He remembered then it was important to keep his sanity.

And he must do the same, right now. He must find her.

He didn't know how long had he been going on, when suddenly, the darkness vanished, illuminated by light. He blinked at the sudden change, shielding his eyes.

Then he saw her. Standing at a far end. Relief washed over him as he advanced towards her.

But she held up a hand. "Don't come any closer."

He stopped. Confused. Then she turned away from him and began walking.

He took a step forward.

She whipped back, her eyes blazing. "I said. Don't. Come. Any. Closer."

He shook his head. "An..."

"Don't!" she screamed.

Behind her, something rose. Something bright, pink and huge. The Spirit of the Fire, he immediately recognised. And laughter was heard. Evil laughter, tinged with triumph. Familiar laughter, mocking and condescending.

He could feel his anger rising. He knew who was it. He knew...but she...? He averted his gaze to her. And he couldn't believe what he saw.

She was walking towards him, the other him, and a huge wall of fire. Panic and horror enveloped him.

"No! What are you doing?!" He yelled, beginning to run towards her. But the figure on the fire spirit held up a hand, and he was knocked backwards. Still, she continued her descend into the fire.

"Little brother. You've lost. You've lost her!" The hated voice began speaking. As he watched helplessly, she was consumed by flames, engulfed in them.

"No! Noooooooooo! Anna! ANNA..........!!!!"

-

"Yoh! Yoh, wake up!" He could feel someone shaking him, hard. "Yoh!"

He opened his eyes, and saw the familiar face, blonde bangs obscuring dark eyes. His fiancée looked at him, a worried and perplexed expression on her face.

Anna. He was overwhelmed by relief, and immediately sat up, pulling her into his arms. "Anna..."

She was surprised by his sudden embrace. Her arms went around him, patting him reassuringly on his back. "It's all right. It's just a dream."

But it was so real...so real...I was losing you. I've lost you. To him...

"I know. But it was..."

"Scary? Real?" She finished for him. He nodded. She raised an eyebrow. "I'd say. You were yelling loud enough to wake the dead. But dreams aren't real, no matter how scary they are. You're awake now. Everything's fine."

"I know." He now felt a little like a child, having to hear all those words from Anna.

"Go back to sleep. I need to sleep as well." She released her arms around him, and stood up, preparing to leave, and go back to her own room. But his hand caught hers, and pulled her back to him.

"No. Don't leave." I can't let you leave right now. I know I am acting like a child, I know it is very unlike me, but I need to have you with me, so that I know you are safe. So that I am able to sleep. Or else…he thought of Anna disappearing into the fire. The scenario, his helplessness, still troubled him. There's absolutely no way I can sleep tonight.

Her first instinct was to berate him for acting like a child, and to have him sleeping by himself to get over his silly fear. She wasn't about to give in to him, she rarely did. But then, she had a good look at him.

His dark eyes, partly covered by his dark bangs, were pleading, and haunted. Fear and apprehension still lurked in the depths of his eyes. She had never seen him looked so afraid before.

"Stay with me, please, Anna. Please? Sleep with me tonight...?"

No matter how fake dreams may be, his nightmare had scared him incessantly. Anna softened. Maybe it wouldn't hurt, just this once.

"Yes."

-

Unseen, a dark figure observed the couple.

Yoh laid back onto his tatami mat, and Anna laid down beside him. His arm immediately went around her waist, holding her. Never letting her go...he watched, his eyes dark.

The corner of lips lifted in a sardonic smile. "No matter how hard you try to hold on, you will lose her. And everything else. You'll regret the moment you had the thought to try and stop me. "

"Enjoy your life, and your pretty fiancée, while you still can. Dreams are not real? You're going to find out, just how wrong you can be..."

"I'll make sure of that. Oh, I will. Rest assured I will, little brother..." Asakura Hao lifted his head, and laughed.

-To be continued-

*

da*mouse ®
posted 8th June, 2003
10.42 a.m.

Now it's psychology that is driving me nuts. Blah blah blah blah.

Urm, yeah, the OOC-ness...ok, so Anna probably wouldn't hugged Yoh, but just slapped him and told him to grow up. HOW CAN ANYONE BE THAT HEARTLESS!?!? I don't care...I'd say she would've hugged him. So she did! Wahahaha!

Maybe psychology is really driving me psycho.

Anyway, do comment/flame/review/whatever, and tell me whether should I continue. Yeah, the works.

And tell me what can I do to keep the characters more in character.

*MODIFICATION 09/06/2003 – Anna being gentle is maybe toooooo OOC. So no, now she didn't brush back his hair, in such a gentle gesture. Maybe later, folks. ^-^ And I added a little in-depth to Yoh's fear. Okay, so it was a sentence, but still….!