Name : Pure Little Angel
Author : Rain on Your Back
Disclaimer : Shaman King is not mine...
Pairing: Mentionned MarcoXMeene... And, well, some strange thoughts of Hao on Jeanne. That being the main event here. %)
Note: This is more of a character study than an actual pairing... 1000 words! %)

She touched me.

I guess I felt that way because I was, for the first time, seeing real purity.

I watched that purity, that heart which seemed to be made of stone, and yet bleed every single second. I think I've never seen an angel like this one. It's like she walked down from heaven to the earth ground... But she's only here for a small time. I shall help her fly back to her home. And...

That's beside the point.

I watched, with the serious that I never really show to anyone – they wouldn't understand. Her every step is slow, as if measured. It's like she knows I'm watching her, analyzing her, observing her... Maybe it's because she felt my gaze that she has never showed weakness. Never. And I guess that's why she so often hides in her sarcophagus. She surely has weaknesses. The point is to hide them. And not only from me, but from her men also. She is the messiah, the savior: she cannot fail them. Or can she?

I always had interest in angels. Breaking them is always a great fun. And this one... This one is perhaps the purest. This angel... Is a lie.

She hides behind that Iron Mask, that useless persona she created to match their image of the Iron Maiden. The perfect Iron Maiden. Long ago, she chose this path and this mask. She hid behind it, day and night... Until it overwhelmed her. Now no one remembers who she started as, and she comforts them in that direction. She makes them believes that she is a rock, unbreakable, unreachable. That she is ice. That she is not really living (because life means death coming and thus an end).

She wants them to think she is eternal.

He chuckled.

Such a young warrior and yet such a smart liar.

She tells them the lies they want to hear, need to hear – those weaklings never cease to amaze me, because, even broken and destroyed, an angel is all they need to stand back on my way – but I have to hand that to them: she is good at lying. She makes them believe that she will always able to do and be what they need. Surprisingly, she never failed that. She shall never fail them. Until our destined fight, of course.

When they break and fall on their knees, ready to give up, she appears, and stands - even for a very small moment - to bring them hope and courage, just enough to help them stand again. When their memories hurt and they scream for an end, she embraces them with all her might, takes their fears on her soul. She is always there for them. Always.

However, it seems to me that, after all those years with her protecting them, they forgot that she is the child and they are the adults.

And I see what they don't, in their small X-Laws minds. I see that as soon as they look away, as soon as they don't need her anymore, she shivers, she trembles, she cries and she bits back screams in her throat. As soon as they are alright again, her confidence melts and she collapses, hurt, broken.

All of that for them. Of course, for them.

Pure little angel...

Another chuckle echoed in the dark, empty room.

And then I wonder... Wonder how long she will last. How long till her wings break against the storm that I am, how long till she finds herself on the ground with no strength left, not even the one she uses to pretend. Till they finally see what they have done. If they are still alive, that is.

I guess that would be purity, too.

The purity of her nude, naked soul. Cornered, crawling, and for the first and last time helpless. I guess I shall applaud her then, as the marvelous actress she is breaks and reveals the real person she is. The one who is still a mystery to the world.

And to me.

Is the Iron Maiden strong? Yes, she is. But is Jeanne some berserk? ... Or just a tiny child scared of losing? That would be amusing. Are she and I the same?

I don't think so. After all, how can an eleven years old lost girl look like a thousand years old omnyouji?

I have every right to mock her, but there are things even I can't deny… Until now, she played her role perfectly, covering the almost non-existent traces of the real her so well that no one but me ever saw them, and now even me cannot find Jeanne in that endless game we are playing. I think she cannot either, in fact. She's the actress who took her role so seriously that she even forgot she was merely acting. Forgot. But for a brief time, that is for sure. I shall not kill her without knowing how she is when being herself.

Another day passes by in that never ending tournament. I watch her hide herself, such a pure little angel. Hiding herself so well that almost everyone forgot to search her. Almost. I'm still looking for her.

But I can't stop myself from thinking of what would happen if that icy angel melted away, leaving only the girl behind, on her knees, crying, alone, without spirit or followers… What an amazing sight that would be… Well, we will soon see.

He heard his Oracle Bell ring. Looking on the name of the opposite team written on it, he raised an eyebrow. Chuckling, he looked downwards, on some silver-haired girl.

To reveal herself, she just needs the right moment...

He slowly tore his gaze away from the white teen, looking with mild amusement at some blondie, his girl and their pitiful friends, whom her pride make herself call followers. Pitiful.

The right motivation...

He smirked wickedly, his face turning into a sneer.

And of course, the right mastermind.

Oh, I can't wait…

Jeanne : ... *looks at Hao* ... *frightened*

Hao : ... Do I scare her? RAIN! I SCARE HER! %)

Rain : I SO don't care. ... ... Why did I have to make a psycho out of Hao-kun... T.T