This Twist in Fate

Chapter Seven

A/N: Hey... im baaaakk.. sorry I haven't written in forever.. I thought this story was pretty bad but since you guys seem to like it... im baaaaaaaaaaaaaak. Hehe... welll anyways onto yohs training 0.o

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The stars glimmered in an almost forbidden twinkle, all was silent and still.. until..

"WAKE UP!!" a screeching itako bellowed as she kicked a confused Yoh down the stairs.

"mm..wahrt?" yoh grumbled, still trying to grasp what was going on.

"GET UP, we have a lot of training to do..." Anna turned into the kitchen and began rumbling through some pots.

'It better not be as early as it feels...'

Yoh gathered enough courage to lift one eye to the window, and groaned. Alas, the stars were still twinkling outside.

He heard the violent abuse of kitchenware crashing against tile.

'What 'is' she doing???' he slowly wobbled his legs that were still asleep to the kitchen. Both eyes shot up from beholding a horrific sight.

A giant mass of pots and pans, strung together by Anna's rosary, stood in a large clump on the kitchen floor.

Yoh forced a chuckle.. "Breakfast?..." he suggested meekly.

"No," she replied tartly, hands on her hips. "this is your pre-morning training."

'I don't like where this is going..' Yoh's lips began to twitch uneasily.

"You are to carry this pile on your back, run 72 miles without making a single noise from the pots and pans." Anna retorted, with a smirk of satisfaction.

Yoh pinched himself, 'this must be some kind of twisted dream...'

"What happens.. If I 'accidentally' make a noise?" Yoh inquired fearfully, carefully stressing the word 'accidentally.'

"Then you start from the beginning again." She folded her arms in finishing her explanation.

Still in a dreamlike state, Yoh's mouth dropped.. 'You have got to be kidding me...'

"HEY!.. If you don't start in 15 seconds I'm going to ad another 50 miles.. get moving!"

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5 hours later...

Yoh threw the pots onto the floor.. '72 miles...' his body screamed in agony.

He collapsed onto the floor, huffing and puffing.

'Why didn't I just say no?'

In reality Yoh probably couldn't say no if he tried, and he knew that.

He managed to hobble onto his knees, and was cast under the shadow of a lean figure, with her hands on her hips.

'damn, we have got a lot of work to do...'

She sighed, her eyes grew warm for an unnoticeable second, watching the shaman regain his stamina.

"Ok, now onto the mental training." She concluded, almost in defeat.

"Can't I get a break Anna?" Yoh looked up in despair, still dripping with sweat from the last ordeal.

"Mental Training is your break, unless you want to go back to physical training..." she trailed off.

"No...::pants:: mental training ::pant:: good..." he stood wearily to his feet and limped after Anna who sat under a cherry tree in the yard.

Yoh followed a bit confused.

"To mentally train yourself, you have to be able to control your state of mind, you can't suddenly daze off randomly when in battle, not only may it cause death, but you may lose the match."

Yoh nodded, he had begun to see the way Anna approached concepts, and for her this must be her way of showing she cared.. just a little at least.

"Now sit." She pointed at the patch of green grass in front of her.

He obeyed diligently, and stared at her for further instruction.

"Lay your head back in my lap." Anna's voice slithered out of her mouth in an airy tone, preparing for Yoh's mental training.

Yoh paused, and after a harsh look from Anna willingly obliged.

Her fingers floated lightly on either side of his head and finally rested on his chest.

"Close your eyes.." she instructed in the same airy tone. "And focus on me, and me alone."

Yoh's lidded eyes twitched in slight confusion, and creased in determination to oblige.

'Why am I even doing this?'

Anna gently ran a finger over his creased forehead, "Relax.." she gently whistled into his ear.

"Let everything go, just think of one thing only, it's hard at first, because you can't fully trust me yet." Her eyes glimmered in recollection of a similar event. "Trust Me."

"Just let all of your furyoku go into a single thought."

Yoh could hear the clacking of beads in the background but relaxed willingly, and began to oblige.

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After an hour, Anna announced his trial successful

"You can go back inside, that's enough for today." She answered in an exhausted aire.

Yoh leapt up to his feet.

"Wow Anna! That felt great!" he stretched out his arms and let a goofy grin grace his face.

"Yea.. that was.. good." Anna still sat on the floor on her knees, supporting her body with her arms balanced on either side of her.

"Oy, Anna are you alright?" he asked in a concerned tone.

"Just tired." She rose on one knee, and as soon as he heard Anna's beads click in movement, it hit him.

"You were regulating my furyoku weren't you?" he asked in a soft disappointed tone.

"You can't do it alone, not yet." She stood on both feet uneasily. "And until then... until.. until..then.." she lost consciousness and Yoh caught her before having a chance for impact on the ground.

Yoh smiled at her sleeping figure.

'You know what Anna? You never, not once, cease to amaze me.'

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A/N: How'd you like it? I thought it was alright... so please review.. ino most of you probably are like.. "Heck no I aint coming back.." but please review 2 reviews and ill update...!!!!