Auhtor: I put this one up here coz I don't know how to put it up on da, that's jus how it is.

Summary: Based on a fic Falconstrife86 wrote called 'The Dance' and for that I own her a lot of credit for this... thing. falconstrife86./art/The-Dance-Hao-x-Manta-22002469 - link to her story please read it, if u want to probably lot's better than mine. (she's an awsome write that's wot i fink) This is Shounen ai, or will be, yaoi, which means boyxboy, plese don't flame me for that or a lot of rabbid fangirls might attack u.

oh yeah, story, Manta has lived in US for a couple of years now and has no contact with his friends anymore. Which is... sad. Then Hao comes along and, please read if u wanna know. and yeah, will be continued and might even be put up on the da, if i figure out how it works... anyhow read an' reviw.

Början

"Oh darn it, school ended late aging!" Manta ran quickly with his backpack on his shoulder that swung to and frow every time his feet hit the ground.

'If I don't hurry up I'll miss the last train and miss the anime-show!' Funnily he smiled a little to himself, this reminded him so much about that time long ago when he had meet Yoh for the first time. He was also happy that they showed anime in the US though he would have preferred it not to been dubbed, but it was pretty okay, after all.

But suddenly he stopped, a person had stepped out of a dark alleyway. Blocking Manta's path.

"Hi there, what are ya smiling at, kid?" And two more men stepped forward, you didn't have to have a sixth sense for feeling that whatever those tugs were up to, it wasn't good.

"Going somewhere in a hurry?" The other of them asked, then the third said "Why not stay here a little bit?" He slipped his hand into his pocket and brought out a very sharp knife. Manta took a step backwards, then another one, and then he turned around and started to run. Manta had surprisingly strong legs that no one had expected but he really was fast when he had to. Yet.

"Hey! wait kiddo!" He found himself being hardly pushed up the stone wall of a house. "One sound, just one thing and I'll bleed you, really quickly and leave you here." He hissed into Manta's ear and Manta felt how he slipped the cold edge of the knife up and down his neck. He swallowed his blood running cold with fear. Yet he managed to speak.

"W-what do you want?" To his even greater fear they laughed, it sounded dark and cold. But he at least put the knife away.

"Yeah, what do we want guys?" He said to his comrades in a mocking voice.

"I-I don't have any money if it is that what you want, you can check out my backpack if you have to." It was true that he didn't have any money and if they would decide to take his bag they would soon find out that it only contained books. But the men laughed aging and Manta felt the edge of the knife wandering down his spine.

"Who said we wanted money?" One of them said and they laughed even harder. Manta gasped when he felt the knife slip into his trousers and how it started to cut through the fabric slowly, very slowly.

'No...' Manta started to visibly shake but suddenly he was dropped to the ground. He felt the smell of burning flesh and quickly spun around to see what was happening. The three men were now lying in a pile on the ground with dark smoke floating from them.

"Don't worry; I'll spare your pathetic little lives even if it is more than you deserve." Hao said as he became visible out of the dark shadows of the alleyway. He looked down at them with despice and even hate. He snapped his fingers and they started burning aging, they were shaking with pain and was silently screaming.

"There, that's enough." Hao said and the flames at once disappeared then he looked at Manta. "It was just a mild fire attack, they'll life but probably won't be very active in a while, come let's go Manta. Fire Spirit!" The spirit of fire appeared and awaited it's orders. "Take us away from here." Hao commanded and the spirit of fire nodded, then lifted him and Manta up and flew away.

The spirit of fire softly landed in an empty park, with no risk of being seen he gently lifted down Hao and then Manta. Then disappeared in a burst of flames by a wave of Hao's hand. Then Hao led Manta to a park bench and Manta sat quietly down at it, hugging he backpack tightly. When Hao saw how shaken Manta was he growled inside, he shouldn't have let those bad, those poor humans live. Not after what they had been about to and had already done to Manta. Manta hugged his backpack even tighter and tears started running down his checks as he looked up at Hao.

"I will never forgive those men." Hao said with a hard voice as he looked down on Manta but then his eyes softened, 'no use to scare him more than he already is.' "Don't worry Manta; I won't let anybody harm you, not in that way, ever." Carefully Hao wrapped his arms around him. It a second passed then Manta dropped his bag to the ground and answered the hug. He sobbed and Hao ran his hand up and down Manta's back, smoothing the boy. He tried to speak but whatever he wanted to say drowned in sobs and hiccups. "Shh, you don't need to talk, I understand." Hao said in a calm and comforting voice, one that Manta never really had heard since he was four years old. "Everything is going to work out." He said, quoting the phrase that Yoh often used to say. The thoughts inside Manta's head swirled around as he cried. But finally the sobs came with longer and longer pauses after each other and finally stopped. Manta breathed calmly now but didn't let go of Hao. But after a while he let go and tried to speak, but his voice was too hoarse. Manta cleared his throat and then looked up at Hao, though he had grown he was still a little bit shorter than Hao.

"I better go back home now, or they'll start wondering where I am."

Hao nodded and summoned the spirit of fire.

They landed outside the gates of the Oyamada mansion. They had been quiet during the flight there but when Manta opened the gate Hao spoke.

"I hate to see a lost soul fade, you should do as I told you before and leave your family. You are worth much more than that Manta." Manta blushed at the memory of their last meeting, in the house of mirrors during a carnival. Manta hoped that the evening's dim light wasn't enough to show his blush.



"And if you come with me, I can make sure that you'll meet all your old friends aging."

Manta looked over his shoulder at Hao. Even if he really did not trust the shaman the offer was really tempting, but...

"No thanks, in the end it would only mean that my father would send out people looking for me and to bring me back." He chuckled nervously, more than he wanted to admit of it was true. Hao gave him a stern look but then sighted.

"Okay, whatever, but you know I'm all ears if you decide to change your mind." Manta returned his gaze to the gate as Hao wrapped his arms around him in a hug from behind. "I almost forgot." Hao turned Manta around and gently kissed him on his lips. "A good bye-kiss" Hao took a step back and smirked. "Just 'til we meet next time." Then he turned around and walked away. Manta stood by the gate looking after the shaman, he felt dizzy. He also had a little blush on his checks as he walked inside and locked the gates.

'I really hope no one did see that...' He thought as he entered the house, little did he know about the little figure that had seen it all from her window.