Just Make A Wish!

Written by: Adriana Santomé -hikari-

Date: July 11th 2003

Edited: November 11th, 2003.

Disclaimer: Shaman King belongs to me, the queen of England. (sorry :P)

Dedicated: To KiráX105, I like your stories very much. Thanks for reading mine, and sorry for disturbing you on the msn while you wrote the last chapter of Endless Days (I was doing this at the time). Soooo long ago. Hehe. I'm glad I can think of you as a friend now. To my Mom, who says I must write a book or something, or else I am going to starve if I continue just watching TV and reading. To my friends, I luv ya.

Thanks: To J.Alberghini, author to Gundam Wing fic, "Pretty Baby." Your last chapter, definitely influenced in one of my dreams and I came up with this. To everyone who reads this.

Warning: This is very weird, I'm sorry if confusing.

~JUST MAKE A WISH!~

It had been yet another peaceful, warm summer day in the quiet city. The street lamps of Funbari-gaoka were already lighting the paths that were usually traveled by the pedestrians since early morning 'till the end of the day. The sun had died away slowly and was replaced by a bright, beautiful, full moon. The atmosphere the citizens breathed that day was one of calm and tranquility, now slightly disturbed by the echoes of the almost sleeping city. The night sky, usually starry, was more packed than ever with silver, tingling stars, providing the town with their own special light and glimmer.

Yet, in one of the houses, lights were on, voices still raising lively as ever. What had been the setting for a great party was now a total chaos, a battlefield after a war... The table where highly decorated dishes and soft drinks had been settled, as though they were set for a king, was now filled up with empty plates and used plastic glasses. The neatly arranged, pink napkins were now useless and stained with food. The chocolate cake with sugar glassed topping didn't last too long either... And up, still pinned into one of the room's walls, was the red, now wrinkled banner with big, bright golden letters that said: "Happy Birthday, Anna!"

::Flashback::

The motionless figure of a tiny girl was laying peacefully in her bed, covered with light blue sheets. She was curled up in a small ball as to keep herself warm. Messy, honey blond bangs covered partly her pale features. Thin, soft lips murmuring in her sleep. She sighed deeply, then her mouth formed what seemed a small, yet visible smile. There was a soft creak on her door, but that didn't seem to bother her, for her eyes were completely closed. It seemed that her close eyelids were still too heavy with sleep, she wouldn't wake up anytime soon… For unknown reasons, a chill embraced her. She stirred and pulled the sheets more tightly around her. And then drifted once more into her dreams.

But noises of someone moving around her room were soon too loud for her to bear and with great discontent, she woke up. Disgusted, she hastily opened her eyes to observe the intruder that had disturbed her sleep. She fluttered her long eyelashes as sun rays hit her directly in her face, and closed her eyes as quick as she had opened them. The curtains of the window had been moved aside and now the window was wide open, allowing the room to fill itself with light, and letting in a fresh breeze. The one person who decided this was going to be in big trouble. Oh yeah.. she was going to make sure of it.

"Wake up, Sleeping Beauty! It's a bright morning!" a cheerful, familiar voice called her.

Still hesitant, she opened her dark eyes once more as she immediately recognized the voice of her fiancé. Her lazy, goofy fiancé, she thought. She looked at his smiling face as he stood next to the window, and the blonde simply rolled over her bed.

"Go away," she hissed.

She could already feel him pouting, even with her back to him.

"Aw, Anna. C'mon, wake up!" he pleaded as sat beside her, "we're going to be late for school."

She opened her eyes and blinked. Now… she had missed up something, since when did he started liking *going* to school in first place? Oh, well… She gazed at her alarm clock on her night table, and turned angrily at the boy. "It's 6:30 in the morning. School starts until 8:00 o'clock."

He beamed at her excitedly and nodded. "Yes, but we don't want to be late, do we?" he grinned.

"You've never arrived early..." she said, sending him a suspicious glance.

"Anna!" he pouted, yet again. He looked at her intently. "It's an important day..." he muttered while looking sideways.

"Ok, ok, I'll wake up." She sighed and raised, propping herself on her elbows. "Why are you acting so..."

But she was stopped in mid question as he passed her a tray with food... and as she sat, placed the tray on her lap.

He was fast indeed.

"Breakfast," he was quick to say as she started to open her mouth for a question, "scrambled eggs, French toasts, and a glass of fresh orange juice. Don't worry, it's edible. And I didn't burn the kitchen this time." He smiled widely, staring at her.

Wait… since when Yoh had learned to cook scrambled eggs… or knew what French toast was? Why hadn't he made the usual rice and tofu?

"Yoh…" she began cautiously, giving the breakfast a curious glance, "why are you doing this?"

"Because I want to. Now, eat before it gets cold and then get ready for school," he said anxiously, "I'll go do my 50 km jog, I already did my exercises..." she arched her brow, incredulous, "...I really did!" he said nervously.

"Yoh..." She couldn't think of a reason, a reasonable excuse at the least, for his behavior. Not that he was 'normal' anyway...

He stood up and looked at her. "When I finish I'll come back so we can walk to school together, ok?"

"...Yoh..."

"Bye, bye, now." He was already by the door. "See ya!"

"YOH!!!" she stormed, but he was out of sight.

True to his words, he was back after one hour of jogging. No more, no less. 'He is starting to get sense of time...' the girl thought. He quickly climbed the stairs and went to the bathroom to get out of his training clothes and take a quick shower. By the time he came down again, Anna was ready in her uniform, holding two backpacks, waiting for him at the front entrance. She handed him his bag and both set for the local high school.

The way to school was, as usual, quiet. And yet, it bothered Anna. She had this weird feeling, something she couldn't lay her finger on. It was something about him. He was acting... very strange. 'But we are talking about Yoh...' she thought. He had woke up at a very early hour, which was by itself unusual, made breakfast and brought it to her, and even wanted to go to school when she was usually the one to literally pull him out of bed. He did his training without even complaining... what was more worrying, without her telling him to do so... And what was it about this day? He had said it was important, she was sure she had heard him say something like that... but why was it important about this day? Wasn't it like... just another day in the month?

But what had shocked her the most that morning was... there was no noise in the inn. She had mentally prepared herself for a pair of slaps, punches and 'shut up's', and yet she found none of Yoh's lousy friends in the inn. Not even Tamao, who was bound to be doing the house chores by the time she entered the kitchen.

"Ohayou!" a shriek brought her back from her thoughts, "Yoh-kun, Anna-san!"

"Ohayou," she said quietly but kept walking. She could still hear them as they chatted but she was again immerse in deep thought. 'I am forgetting about something?'

"What's up, Manta?" Yoh saluted his small friend and laughed absentmindedly...

"Nothing... But what about you? You're not getting late to classes for once, something wrong?" his friend mocked.

"Oi, Manta! You make it sound like I'm always late..." his friend laughed at him and he joined him.

"Got everything ready?" Manta whispered and his friend nodded. "Do you think Anna knows something?"

Yoh barely shook his head and then realizing something, talked again. "Speaking of her... where's Anna?" he asked confused. Yoh searched frantically in every direction until he spotted a flash of gold and then he focused on a thin girl walking over a block ahead of them. "Hey! Wait for us!!!" He cried as he ran in her way, pulling Manta along, until they finally reached the school gates...

The day went by slowly. 'Calm, quiet, and boring...' she had thought bitterly as she sat under a tree during lunch time. So boring that she had to wake up Yoh during History class as he dozed off every five minutes.

"Kyouyama-dono," said the teacher frowning while looking exasperated from the girl to the sleeping boy, "could you... could you wake up your.. your baka boyfriend? He is disturbing my class!"

"Yes, sensei," stammered Anna as she glanced coldly at him, at which the teacher obviously flinched. She then tried to wake up the boy in front of the her curious classmates.

"Yoh, wake up!

"No, Anna, five more minutes. Too tired… from last night… you were too hard on me…"

She could immediately hear whispers in the room and her cheeks flushed. Exasperated she 'had' to poke Yoh's ribs with her elbow… hard. But that didn't seemed enough, he merely looked at her startled, smiled absentmindedly, and dozed off to sleep once more.

"ASAKURA YOH!!!!" And then, she slapped him… hard.

"OOOUUUUUUUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The scream of pain was heard in every side of the school.

The day was over. She had never felt so happy about getting home. With Yoh back to his more 'normal' self, she was finally feeling more calmed, not as much as she wanted, but calmed.

Manta had tagged along with them on their way home and the quietness of the morning's walk was now replaced by a cheerful chatting... Yoh just couldn't drop the subject on the latest Bob cd that was coming out soon while Manta, rather amused with his friend's enthusiasm, merely nodded at him. Then, somewhere in the conversation, they had agreed to go and check the cd shop sometime in the weekend. Anna, who didn't spoke a word on the whole walk, looked blankly at the surroundings until they arrived home.

"Taidama!" shouted Yoh as they entered past the door and the three of them took off their shoes and dropped their school bags.

Anna thought she had heard a little bustle inside the dinning room, but weather she had truly heard it or not, she didn't know because they were immediately greeted by a very flushed Tamao. 'As though she was caught doing something.' Anna thought suspiciously.

"Okaerinasai! Yoh-sama, Anna-sama, Manta-kun, welcome," greeted the agitated girl and bowed slightly at them. "Uh," she looked hesitantly at Anna, then turned to Yoh, "everything's ready, Master."

"Thank you, Tamao." Yoh smiled at her and the girl nodded shyly and moved sideways, letting Yoh walk ahead.

"Yoh... what is everything?" Anna eyed him cautiously as she walked by his side.

He grinned at her and held her hand. "Just follow me."

No, she didn't like that mischievous grin of his.

He leaded her into the long hallway, followed by Tamao and Manta until they were in front of the dinning room. He smiled even more widely at her, if that was possible and slid the door open.

"SURPRISE!!!" exclaimed a group of voices, startling her.

Yes, she was surprised. For once in her life, she wasn't expecting this to happen. How could she forgot? He had said it was special... Her eyes were now tempting to let the tears flow.

A special day… for her.

She was then wrapped up in a wave of warm hugs, specially from the girls. Hugs, something she had never hoped for, even thinked of receiving, for she was the Ice Queen. But those little, silly physical contacts of affection, had touched something within her.

There, moments after, she found herself in front of everyone, in front of her... Pirika was laughing with joy, the childish twinkle in her eyes, while Ryuu couldn't stop crying and muttering something that sounded like, "My mistress has grown so much..." Chocolove, was trying to make Ren smile while the Chinese boy sat there crossing his arms and frowning, his weapon next to him, ready to be used. Jun chatted with Pailong. Horo Horo was merely drooling over Tamao's perfectly arranged table, which was covered with plenty of the most exquisite dishes. He tried once, twice, thrice to take a bite but was stopped by the pink-haired girl, who quickly ran over after seeing him trying to snatch the chocolate cake. "Horo-kun, wait a little bit!" Faust and Elisa sat there looking... well, looking at each other... er, like a lovingly couple. Lyserg sat amused at the present commotion and Manta had sat next to him to admire it as well. Jeanne sat beside them, smiling, somehow she was there too. Anna smiled weakly. Yes, in front of her friends.

"Happy Birthday, Anna-chan," a voice whispered in her ears, soft and calm. She looked at him. Black met black. Drowned in each other. And everything seemed to suit well in her world.

"Arigatou," she threw herself at the shocked boy's arms.

Tears flowed. And smiles were the only thing left.

::End of flashback::

"It's a shame, you know, that Gramps and Gran couldn't make it..." Yoh, who was sitting on the polished, wooden floor, said, "I'm sure they would have loved to be here. Too bad they were running had an emergency trip."

"Yes," she whispered sleepily. She was tired, the party had lasted all the afternoon and even past midnight. She settled the gifts she received on the table and sat next to the boy.

There was something in this disaster that she liked... being with everyone... being with him... it was something... she felt happy. It struck her, she wasn't meant to be happy, but she was.

She raised her small hand to touch the silvery object hanging around her neck, replacing her famous, blue itako beads.

"Arigatou, for the necklace," she muttered as she turned to the smiling boy, "I-I liked it."

"No problem," he grinned as he scratched his head absentmindedly.

There was an odd silence between them, each looking in opposite directions, until one off them broke the gap between them.

"Anna?" Yoh asked and she turned to him once again. "Come with me." He stood up.

"But.." she asked startled, "and the others?"

"Hehe, they won't mind, do they?" he asked sheepishly looking at the scenery then back at her and offering her a hand to stand up. She looked at everyone else...

It was true, Horo Horo was already snoring loudly, his tummy satisfied; Pilika and Jun were chatting placidly; Ryuu himself, kept chatting with Faust, or at least tried to catch the doctor's attention away from his wife; Manta seemed in deep conversation with the spirits; Ren leaned on the wall, muttering something about incompetent shamans and proceeding to drink a glass of milk; Chocolove had been so hardly hit by the latter that he was now lying unconsciously on the floor; and Lyserg and Jeanne had offered themselves to help Tamao to clean the table and the rest of the room.

"No, they won't," she answered smirking and taking his hand.

"Then let's go!" he exclaimed pulling her up and running away with her.

It has so fast that she merely noticed everyone's amused expression as he turned to looked at them, well except for Horo Horo and Chocolove, and... er, Faust. Nor did she noticed Yoh winking at his small friend and Manta nodding back in understanding, as she turned back to look confused at her fiancé.

He kept running past the hall and the main entrance and out onto the street. He held her tighter, unsure, and she squeezed his hand reassuringly, letting him know she was ok. They kept running until they were in one of the hills of the cemetery. Wait... the cemetery? That wasn't supposed to be a romantic scenery... 'What am I thinking?' she slapped herself mentally.

He instructed her to sit under the one and only tree in the hill, and then sat next to her. She was quite nervous in fact and began fidgeting with her fingers. She blushed deeply and thanked the skies for being so dark. 'Why am I so childish? It isn't like if was the first time I'm alone with...' Her thoughts were interrupted as she felt an arm encircle her shoulders.

"It's... it's cold out here, isn't it?" he said smiling at her nervously as she stared at him awestruck. For a good, lasting second, he thought he was going to be slapped... worse, sent flying away. And she thought that too, but...

She nodded hesitantly, and it took her a lot of her will to speak. "Why... why are we... here?" She whispered as she shifted her gaze to the sky were million of tiny, sparkling spots seemed to be playing among themselves and created beautiful patterns in the dark blue blanket. She turned to glance at him expectantly.

"I... this is... the... the best place to look at the... stars..." he started babbling in a shaky voice. One that she had only heard when he was tried to complain about trainings, but it was yet, even more nervous.

'Stars? What the hell do stars have to do with bringing me here?' she thought arching unconsciously a brow. "And?" she pushed... She was starting to feel comfortable in his embrace and loosened her body a little, to his complete shock.

"Just wait," he smiled feeling more calmed. He looked at the sky, watching closely for a sign of movement. After a few minutes, his face brightened up. "Now! Look!" he said pointing up with his free hand.

And as she looked up again, a rain of shooting stars showered the city. Each silver tear, each dying star, allowed her to enjoy the spectacle in its magnificence. And she was marveled by its beauty. Each tiny spot that had been looking back at her was now falling from the depths of space. And suddenly, all she could she was shinning white and blue. She followed the silver straps making paths along the sky, wishing to know where they led.

And then, in between her amazement and bewilderment, she couldn't help but think about him. In her fiancé, the inconsiderate oaf that just wanted anything but to sleep and hear music. The lazy, unworried boy that had made her worried sick more than a couple of times. The useless, weak shaman she had to force to train. The slack who complained childishly over that same training. The clumsy guy that had lead them into more troubles they could handle. The boy that had endured every challenge, not for his own sake but for others, for her. The careless fool with the warm smile that had affected her in more ways she had thought possible. The one with brown hair, deep eyes, and smooth hands that held her just now... Had he planned this? To bring her here just to watch this show? To share it with her? Just her? Could that be possible? And yet, with him, everything felt possible.

Yoh had just turned to look at her and was consumed by her beauty, she seemed to be glowing as the stars and moon bathed her with their light. 'She is beautiful...' He couldn't help but stare at her in full awe. He woke up suddenly from his trance and reluctantly disturbed the image set in front of him, remembering why he had brought her there in first place.

"Make a wish, Anna!" he prompted excitedly. "A wish to the shooting stars!"

"What?" she said turning to him and meeting his grinning face. "Yoh, what are you talking about? There's no such things as..."

"Just make a wish!" he urged her like a child.

She sighed heavily and returned her gaze to observe the shooting stars, they were truly beautiful. 'Not everything beautiful lasts forever,' she thought bitterly. She shook her head in disagreement with herself as she felt him grip her hand tightly, 'but we can make it last longer...' Smiling, with those of her rare smiles, she snuggled to him, tracing with her long fingers his bare chest, as he wore his usual unbuttoned shirt, and finally letting them rest near his heart.

He stiffened at her touch, it had clearly caught him by surprise, even more when she had finally relaxed herself in his arms. He felt both shocked and mystified by her. A wave of relief soon overwhelmed him and he himself relaxed while her scent impregnated his senses, soothingly. He pulled her closer to him, hugging her tightly, then been able to hear what she whispered.

"It's already been granted."

He smiled at her.

~OWARI~

A/N: Wah! I'm back to writing cra... I mean, fanfics. So yeah, here it is… Gomen for not posting it before, I know I said I would just after "Just Another Day," but I was caught up with my Spanish fic. I know, I know, it's been over 3 months, but what can I say? That was... the biggest flashback. Don't ya think? ^_~ And yes, Anna is OOC, but I realized that if she weren't, none of my fics would be romantic, at least no as sappy as I like 'em, hehe...