*Stars that Shine* -Tao Ren- 4 **In America!**

"Hey, Yo-Yo, did you get the same message about the second round of the shaman tournament?" Yoh-Dono asked while we were doing the 5 miles Anna-Dono instructed us to do.

"Yes, I did, even though my third match was yesterday I still got it."

"Can't believe it's in America though, it's gonna be a fun trip!" he grinned.

"But we'll be away for two whole months, and to add to that we leave in two days…"

"Don't sweat it Yo-Yo, as soon as it's finished we'll have a big coming back party!"

"Really?! I've been dying to try out this new recipe I found!" I said excitedly with sparkles in my eyes, my over enthusiasm making him sweat drop.

"Uh, but how can we be celebrating if your slaving away with the meal?"

"Oh I don't mind, I love stuff like that."

"Seriously? You mean Anna doesn't force you to do that stuff?"

"Nope." His jaw dropped.

"That's unreal!" I scratched my cheek.

"It's not that shocking is it?"

"No but… Anna does give a hell of a lot of work…" he said sadly.

"That's why I'm running, she said doing housework all day wouldn't help with training for the shaman tournament."

"Hey, speaking of, why did you join?"

"That's an easy answer, to be able to help you fight." He blinked a few times before giving a cheeky grin.

"Thanks Yo-Yo, we'll need all the help we can get." There was a few moments of silence while we jogged. "What do you think of Ren?" he suddenly asked.

"What do I think of him? Well, he comes off cold, but I think he's a very nice person. Why do you ask?"

"Heh, no reason. Just wondering is all."

"I think Ren put him up to it." Skeith said next to me.

"No, really, I was asking out of curiosity, honestly!" Yoh-Dono responded.

"Uh-huh, and I'm a wand waving, tutu wearing pink fairy."

"You are?" we both replied.

"No! Honestly you two are too much alike!"

"Well they did grow up together." Amidamaru added.

"But they could be related for all we know." At that, I remembered the boy who looked exactly like Yoh-Dono.

"Yoh-Dono? Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"It might seem like a silly question, but do you by any chance have a twin brother?"

"Hmmm….not that I know of."

"I see…"

"Did something happen?"

"You can say that, but since you don't know anything, it was probably a weird dream or something." It's not like I'm lying, I told them about me 'passing out' but I left out the encounter with that boy out of…well you know. We spotted a ghost from the Inn and we stopped in front of her and she told us to return.

"Yeah! Having a training partner makes the time fly huh Yo-Yo?" I nodded.

"Yup, but I think we need to run twice as fast to get home."

"Wha?! Man, that's so not fair!"

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"Are you sure I should be here?" I asked, sitting at Jonathan's burger joint, along with Ren-Dono (Let's just say he's there too ^-^), Ryu-Dono, Manta-Dono, Horohoro-Dono and Yoh-Dono.

"Sure we're sure!" Horohoro-Dono said assuring me. "Besides, what's the worst that can happen?" I shuddered.

"You don't know the dark depths of Anna-Dono's mind." I said eerily, sipping my chocolate milkshake.

"I-Is she really that bad?" he stuttered.

"Who knows…" suddenly Yoh-Dono's head slipped out of his hand.

"Huh? What? Where am I?"

"Dammit stop sleeping with your eyes open, it's confusing!" Horohoro-Dona yelled, I chuckled.

"You'll get to tell the difference from when he's awake or sleeping soon Horohoro-Dono."

"If he can't do that what makes you think he can survive the shaman tournament?" Ren-Dono said, with a bottle milk in hand.

"What'd you say?!"

"You heard me."

"Why you-" Manta-Dono unexpectedly dropped his head onto the table with a bang.

"What's wrong Manta?" Ryu asked him.

"It's nothing, I'm just acting all gloomy because of the fact that you all will be gone for so long. I mean, I'm not even taking part of the tournament but I get sad and worried…I'm no good…" much to everyone's surprise, I jumped across the table and sat next to Manta-Dono, and gave him a hug with tears in my eyes.

"Please, smile Manta-Dono."

"I feel the same, Manta." Ryu-Dono said.

"Huh?"

"I feel lonely leaving people like you behind."

"As soon as the second preliminary tournament ends, we'll be back here as soon as possible." Horohoro-Dono said. I startled Ren-Dono, appearing next to him.

"H-how in the hell did you do that?!"

"Do what?" I asked taking another sip from my shake. "Ow! Brain freeze!" I cried holding my head.

"I heard if you put your thumb on the roof of your mouth, it'll help." Manta-Dono said, id did and slowly, the freeze went away.

"Dank joo- Thank you Manta-Dono." I said taking my thumb out of my mouth, then glared at the milkshake. "Evil drink of doom…"

"C'mon Yo-Yo, don't blame the milkshake." Yoh-Dono said grinning.

"I know…I can't bring myself to hate it."

"It's going to be quiet without you guys." Manta-Dono said laughing.

"I wonder if I'll learn any new recipes in America…" I muttered to myself.

"You probably will." Ren-Dono said as Horohoro-Dono and Ryu-Dono started arguing on who was going to be Shaman king.

"You're from China, right Ren-Dono?" he nodded. "I'll have to look up meals from there too, then maybe you can tell me if they came out right."

"That-"

"Hey Yoyami, did you say something about food?!" Horohoro-Dono said excitedly.

"Yes, I was thinking of making some dishes from Ren-Dono's homeland."

"Can I help too?!"

"You'll probably just vacuum it all down like the bottomless pit you are!" Ren-Dono yelled at him.

"I can't help it if my metabolism is fast!"

"Maybe I can help then, by tearing out your stomach!"

"Guys come on, calm down!" Yoh-Dono said holding Ren-Dono back, while Manta-Dono and Ryu-Dono held back Horohoro-Dono.

"My…everyone is so happy today." I smiled.

"T-This is happy?" Amidamaru said surprised.

"It's in their own way, but they're having fun."

"I can see the smile in Master Ren's heart…" Bason said with tears in his eyes.

"Don't cry Bason-Dono…if you start, I'll start!" I said already bawling. This making everyone stop their fighting.

"Why are you crying Yo-Yo?" I sniffed and wiped my tears with a handkerchief.

"When I saw Bason-Dono cry, I started to as well!"

"But why was Bason crying?" Ryu asked. Bason-Dono and I exchanged glances and started to cry again.

"Dammit you two stop crying!" Ren-Dono yelled at us.

"We're sorry Ren-Dono!" we both said crying even harder.

"These guys…" Skeith said shaking his head. "But she is having fun…"

*******************************************

"It's almost noon…" I said to myself, "Will they be late?"

"Knowing those three, probably Heh, heh!" Skeith said, then from a distance, we could see them, along with Manta-Dono walking our way.

"You're late." Ren-Dono said with his arms crossed.

""Late?" it's 12 pm on the dot, that's when you told us to come." Horohoro-Dono retorted.

"Coming here early is what some people call well-mannered." He smirked back.

"You're such a prick…besides, why is Yoyami here? I thought we were all supposed to leave at the same time."

"She wandered here on her own, when I got here she was sitting on the grass over there." Ren-Dono explained.

"Really? Didn't you get any sleep?"

"Not a wink!" I said happily.

"H-How can you say that so bluntly??"

"Did you have a bad dream or something Yoyami?" Ryu-Dono asked.

"No, I was jut so excited I couldn't sleep…"

"You should take a nap on the plane kid, staying up for so long is bad for you." Skeith said.

"Yeah…okay."

"This is one sweet ride the Tao's own." Ryu-Dono said shielding his eyes to get a better view of the plane.

"We have 32 other planes identical to this one." Ren-Dono bragged.

"Good luck everyone." Manta-Dono said with a nod.

"So you're all goin' on a plane to get to America?" we all turned to see a boy that looked identical to Yoh-Dono, but with longer hair and a cloak draped around him. He had no shirt on but he had dark red baggy pants.

It was the boy from the office…

"I'll be using my oversoul." He said.

"Oversoul? That means he's a shaman." Ren-Dono muttered.

"How can you cross the pacific ocean using your oversoul?" Horohoro-Dono said.

"Well, someone with such a weak spirit cant imagine such a thing like that."

"Weak?"

"You bastard! Are you trying to pick a fight?" suddenly a force threw Horohoro-Dono and Ryu-Dono back, but they were both caught by Bason and Ren-Dono.

"So that's his spirit…"

"He is the spirit of fire, the most sacred genie in this world." The boy said.

"Stop talking like you're big!" Ren-Dono was about to attack him, but the spirit of fire punched Bason, breaking the spirit control.

"Ren!" Yoh-Dono called out. "What was that all about?"

"Thanks for taking care of Zen and Ryo." Yoh-Dono jumped back as the fire spirit lunged at him, he unified Amidamaru's soul into Harusame and attacked, but it barely made a scratch in it.

"You're still much too weak." With a swing of the spirit's arm, it sent Yoh-Dono flying back, where he skidded to a stop.

"Yoh-Dono!" I cried out running towards him, but the boy appeared in front of me before I could make it to him.

"You can't interfere yet Yoyami, but don't worry, I'll come get you soon. For now, sleep." As he said that, my eyes got heavy and I could feel him catch me as I fell onto him.

"Hao…Dono…" was the last thing I could say before his chuckle rang in my ear.

"Do you remember now, "Yo-Yo"?"