And now, for something a little different...

"As soon as Yoh comes to get us out, I'm going to send him to Heaven!" Anna grumbled into her cupped palm. She sat on a pile of old, moldy newspapers and for the past hour and a half, had been complaining, threatening and yelling non-stop. It was beginning to irritate Manta and Ryu, but they said nothing.

They were hauled up in a dark room, about a nine by three feet rectangle, piled high with old newspapers, which they used as chairs. Rats and such skittered across the dirty wooden floor, making Anna a bit nervous. She had always hated the dirty critters and her fingers were itching to clean the place up herself, or make one of the two boys do it. There was also a spiritual barrier placed on the walls. Whoever put them in there certainly didn't want them getting out.

When Yoh had disappeared back to the room he shared with his wife, something broke through the wall and grabbed all three of them at once. They were carried into the woods behind the hotel, where they were promptly gagged, blindfolded and bound. Neither of the three had been able to get a glimpse of their captors--they moved with that much speed--but they were able to get a good whiff of them. Manta even through up around his white gag--the scent of rotting meat left out in the sun too long was enough to make all of their stomachs queasy.

Then they had ben dumped in this dump. That was about two hours ago.

"This place gives me the creeps! What if one of the rats has rabis? What if they bite us! I hate rats..." Ryu shivered and pulled his knees up to his chest, far away from the floor. His newspaper stack wobbled a bit, but didn't fall.

"Oh, shut it already! I'm sick of hearing you complain!" Anna threw back, closing her eyes as if to calm herself down. She crossed one leg over the other, shifting a bit to get more comfortable.

"I'm sick of hearing you bitch and moan, too, Miss Anna! You've been doing nothing but complain for the past two hours!"

"I'm a woman. I'm allowed. Now why don't you focus on getting us out of here instead of yelling at me," steam blew out of Ryu's ears as he sat back heavily on the papers. He looked over at Manta who was curled up into a ball in a corner, muttering. "Unless, of course, you have a deathwish."

That shut the black-haired shaman up right quick. He sighed in defeat and turned to look up at the dry-rotted ceiling. "I wonder why they captured us..." he mused out loud. Manta hissed and started shaking. "What's wrong, little buddy?"

Manta was off his stack of papers like a rocket and clinging to Ryu's white shirt at mach one. "A rat just climbed down my pants!" he shrieked, still terrified. The other two shamans couldn't help it: they started laughing. And laughing. And laughing. In fact, they were laughing until the door to their right crashed open, lighting up the room in a rectangle of yellowish light. Someone stood in the doorway, looking at the three captives.

It was tall. It had glasses. That was all Anna could make out from her position in front of it. The light behind was blocking her view of any details.

"So these are the three?" the thing said. It had a low, rumbling voice, like it was being expelled directly from the chest. A shadow stepped up beside the man (it was clear now which gender the previous "it" was).

"Yes."

The weight of the man shifted so he was resting on his left leg. "Are you sure? They look kind of scruffy..."

"Yes."

"Very well, then. All of you, out! Now!" he barked, turning to walk out the door. The three people inside glanced at each other, but slid off the stacks of rotting newspapers and followed out the door.

o.O;;

The "office" of Cathedral Yusha was nowhere near an office. It was cold and dank, smelling faintly of dried blood. Chains hung on stone walls; granted, they were highly polished and they didn't look used, but it didn't stop the shivers that coursed up and down the captives' spines. There was a desk in the back of the room with nothing on it but a knife--a fancy one, but a knife nonetheless. Manta stayed behind Ryu's legs as much as he could, hoping the tall people would just forget about him if he stayed quiet long enough.

"What do you want with us?" was the first thing out of Anna's mouth once the door was shut behind them. There was very little light in the room so they still couldn't see much of the man who had led them out of the other room, except for the fact he was very tall, had glasses, and was extremely pale. Crossing her arms, the irritable Itako stopped walking.

"Come now, my dear. Must there be so much animosity? I merely wish to help you," he sat down at the desk in a revolving leather chair (Corinthian leather, mind you). Anna still hadn't moved and Manta clutched Ryu's leg even harder. i Where's Tokagero when you need him! i0 Ryu silently prayed that his spirit ally would come to their rescue any minute. "It's no use, Ryu," the man said, not looking up from the top of his wooden desk. Lengthy fingers idly fingered the polished knife. "Spirit barriers have been set up all through the compound. None of your dead friends will be getting in anytime soon."

Bakuto no Ryu gasped and backed up a few steps, tripped over Manta, and went sprawling to the floor in a heap. Pointing at the man behind the desk, he managed to stutter out "W-w-w-what...h-h-how...get out of my head! " Anna looked at him funny.par

"Ah, but how can I, when your thoughts are so clearly projected? But let's skip that part, as I'm sure the readers are wondering who I am, as are you three."

"Yeah!" Manta yelled, coming to stand beside his Itako friend bravely. "Who are you?"

"I am Cathedral Yusha, Necromaner extrordinaire. You want your daddy back? I'll do it! For a fee, of course," he didn't seem to notice the stares he was getting from his captives. Of course, this man probably wouldn't care either way. He was the kind of person who said "screw you" to someone who said "you talk to much" or "you're a jackass." A lightbulb lit up somewhere in the room--as if someone finally realized that the lack of light was killing Anna's, Ryu's and Manta's eyes. They finally had a good view of their captor.

Yusha's skin was powdery white and completely flawless. He had wavy black hair that reached his shoulders--and not a single strand was out of place. His business suit was crisp and pressed, like any good businessman, but he looked like a total nerd with his wire-rimmed glasses. His eyes were a dull green. That was really all the teens could see. No ears, arms, legs or feet.

"What does that have to do with us?" Anna demanded in her bossy voice. Her icy black glare turned to Yusha, who flinched not. The hair on the nape of her neck was beginning to stand on edge. She was nervous, though she would rather die than admit it. Something about this man was familiar...and it chilled her to the bone.

"Yes, yes. I'm getting to that. Patience is a virtue, you know," he waved his hands frantically in the air as he talked, like he was shooing away a fly. "Of course, Izanami was never good at waiting..." he muttered, almost as an afterthought.

"Who's Izanami?" Manta asked curiously. For a moment, he forgot that this man had kidnapped them.

"Ah, you will see, all in good time, my short friend."

"HEY!"

--;;

As Yoh tramped through the forest, it finally dawned on him that he had no idea where he was going. Clutching his right shoulder, he stopped in the middle of a clearing, looking around for some sign that might point him in the right direction. There was nothing. Sighing, he plopped down on the grassy ground and took his hand off of the wound on his shoulder.

The Dracula-zombie thing had finally managed to injure him about fifteen minutes later. There was a deep gash on his shoulder. After that, the thing just exploded. Not a-thousand-and-one-bug-guts exploded, but it just desintegrated into a million pieces.

'Lord Yoh! You must go get that wound treated!' Amidamaru begged.

Yoh waved it off. "It's just a scratch. Hey, you!" a ghost froze a few yards away, shoulders bunched up by it's head. Slowly, it turned around, amorphous sweat dripping down it's forehead. The Shaman King immediately jumped to his feet and rushed over to the spirit, who kneeled. Well, that made Yoh stop. It took him a minute to figure out why the ghost was kneeling. Then: Sometimes, I hate being Shaman King...

"Get up, get up! I just need to ask you something," it was a female ghost with long orange hair and an old-fashioned Sakura kimono. Her eyes were still wide with fright, but she swallowed hard and nodded, rising to her feet. "Did you see three people come by here? One had shoulder-length blonde hair with a red dress, one was really, really, really short," he dropped his hand to about knee level. "And the other had ridiculously large, poufy black hair. Did they come by here anywhere?" breathlessly, he stared at the spirit, heart beating with the prospect of a clue.

Putting a finger to her chin, the ghost thought. She did remember seeing three zombies dart by carrying something, and she remembered catching a glimpse of red. She hadn't gone near because they felt BAD. BAD was BAD, she was taught by her father, so she shouldn't go near them. Was that them? Maybe...

Nodding, the spirit motioned for Yoh to follow her. He looked to Amidamaru with hope shining in his pearly black eyes before following.

They were led into a darker part of the forest, one that teemed with evil. The ancient Samurai suddenly began to worry. He didn't know why, but he did. There was something about this forest that he didn't want to know about, but he couldn't place his finger on it. Then, it hit him like a ten ton Elephant.

'Wait, Yoh! It is a trap!'

Too late. Four Dracula-wanna-bes sprang at them from four sides and efficiently dog-piled Yoh. The woman-spirit who had been leading them fled in silence. These men were BAD too.

"Nnyah!" the attackers were blown off by some unseen wind as Harusame sliced through the air. Amidamaru had re-integrated with the sword once more while no one was paying any attention.

"It's not nice to sneak up on someone from behind, you know."

Suddenly, his day was looking much brighter as he lashed out at the zomboids.

An uppercut to the face, a slash to the wrist, go, Yoh, go! Bits and pieces of flesh were thrown everywhere as the things made their date with the butcher. Giving up the Higher Spirit has got to be the best decision I ever made! Yoh thought as he kicked another one in the side. His wodden sandle went flying off in some unknown direction when the thing grabbed on to him.

'Yoh, behind you, again!'

Not needing to be told twice, Yoh spun around, slicing the thing in half at the waist. Green, slimy blood poured out of the wound and the spinal cord just up and fell out of the back.

"Disgusting!"

Sticking his tongue out and wrinkling his nose, Yoh turned back around, waiting for any others to come and attack him. They were all dead...again.

'I have a bad feeling about this...'

"Me, too. But we have to keep going to find Anna and Manta. Now where'd that ghost get off to...?" Yoh looked around, hoping to catch a glimpse of the one who had led him here. She did not appear, though a strong, black aura was emitting from the east.

"Do you feel that, Amidamaru?" the evil aura was beginning to cascade down Yoh's back in rivulets of sweat.

'Yes, Lord Yoh.' Floating gently beside his shaman, the silver-haired samurai looked off to the east. Normally ghosts don't feel fear (unless they're around Anna), but...this...this was pure terror.

.;;

Anna sighed for the fourteenth time in fifteen minutes. This guy would not stop rambling on and on about some spirit he'd thrown back into a body to grant it a second chance at life. He had been jabbering for at least an hour now.

Manta nudged her in the side. "When's he gonna stop?" he whispered as quietly as he could.

"Yes, when will he stop? My ears are going to fall off!"

"I'll stop when I feel like stopping, Kagu-tsuchi! Be patient!"

Raising an eyebrow, Ryu looked at the other two as if to say, "Kagu-tsuchi? Is this guy on crack?"

Slamming his hands flat on the desk, Cathedral Yusha stood up and glared at Ryu. "That is the last straw, Kagu-tsuchi! If you can't remember your manners, I'm going to have to make you remember them!"

Yusha stared at each one of them, peering into their souls, drawing out an energy so ancient, so powerful, each of the three nearly died. It rumbled in their stomachs, piled in their throats and blew out their mouths so quick, you'd think you were watching everything on fast forward. One by one, Anna, Manta and Ryu slumped over on the floor. Blinking, Yusha stood up and walked over to them.

"Get up, you lazy good-for-nothings! Izanami, Kagu-tsuchi, Ryo-Wo! Awaken!"

Author's Notes: Wow! Two chapters out in two days! I think that's a record...Anyway. Now we're really moving along in the plot! We're really excited to introduce what's happening next! Please leave a review or a critique letting us know what you like/don't like, to all the reviewers! nn;

Story title: Demon's Eye by Deep Purplebpar
Chapter title: Ain't Afraid to Die by Dir en Greypar