Disclaimer: If Shaman King were mine, I wouldn't need to write fanfics. If any of these songs were mine, I wouldn't be writing fanfics.

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Mou Hitori No Boku (The Other Me) – is a collaboration between Mankinfan and TheFlyingGazeebo. This style is different from the other fics! We will be alternating writing the chapters to this multi-fic, HOWEVER we will be updating on different accounts! Therefore, I will be writing the odd numbered chapters while FlyingG will be doing the even numbers! That being said, the next chapter will appear under FlyingGazeebo's name.

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You were in love with some other guy. He looked just like me.

"Are you ready? Warm enough?"

"Mm, I think I'm good."

A warm, hand engulfed another as Yoh gave Lyserg a friendly smile. For a second, the expressionless face of the smaller boy's nearly remained stoic before returning him with a small, modest one. The brief exhibit of coldness and lack of emotion was instantly forgotten as they stepped out of the tiny inn-like house Yoh lived in. It was nicknamed Flame Inn by one of the two's mutual friends, Horokeu Usui, who had commented how the place seemed loaded with freeloaders such as Ren and himself, although they tried to save room by sharing a room. The flame part came from also from Horo, ever the environmentalist, had commented how easy it would be to set the wood-based house on fire. Thus, he was banned from anything that involved combustion for weeks.

Although really, that recreational snowboarder would have been at home outside. The frost was just starting to melt on the ground, as winter was slowly saying uncle to spring. Still, it was cold enough for their breaths to make puffs of white steam, which mingled along until they became as clear as the gray sky.

And even despite the dreary day, Lyserg thought, he should be happy. After years of going through with failed relationships he should be content with what he had with Yoh. The boy was such a nice person, always considerate and thinking of your best interest. He supposed there weren't many people who were understanding like Yoh. He was being selfish by thinking he lacked something more. He was overthinking it, probably. No sixteen-year-old would get worked up like this about something so small. After all, teenagers these days were known for one-night stands and flings, right?

Like he could stomach a fling. He knew had he been interested in girls, he would be a good catch, what with this acceptance of commitment and all, but he liked long-term relationships. So many hectic things had happened with his life for him to not want to settle down and have something solid in his hands.

But things usually felt better after a walk. And it was a nice day for one.

The ground was crunchy under their feet, as if they were walking on popcorn or something. Experimenting, Lyserg stepped harshly with one foot before gently skimming the ground on his next step. This test was not unnoticed by Yoh, who chuckled warmly.

Lyserg really was quite adorable, even if he was a bit standoffish. Yoh hadn't known at first he was interested in guys (or anyone in particular, he liked life simple and relationships were anything but), but then of course, he hadn't known Lyserg was a guy at first. It was Amidamaru who had brought it to his attention that maybe, just maybe they were the same gender. Otherwise, he'd have thought the green haired Brit with a slight accent to his Japanese was a completely normal person.

Well, scratch that. They weren't exactly normal. Normal people didn't see ghosts or spirits, like Amidamaru. Normal people weren't shamans. Normal people were not medians between the spiritual world and the physical world.

Nope, not normal.

Amidamaru was his trusty samurai ghost partner. Not surprising to have samurai in Japan, but Yoh wondered if he had extreme luck to get such a trustworthy and loyal partner. Amidamaru had been wandering around aimlessly, so aimlessly in fact, that he had floated through Flame Inn's walls without even knowing it.

"Hey, this place is a place for people to stay. Wanna be my ghost partner?"

At first it was such an unbelievable request (a human seeing him and asking him to be his partner? Unheard of!) that Amidamaru had nodded dumbly before he had really understood what the lazy looking boy with antique orange headphones had said. Before long, though, the meaning of partner started to mold into the definition of 'the accompaniment to said partner to midnight bathroom trips, guide to said partner when said partner lost his way, and sane 'adult' in the inn full of children', as the Asakura parents had deemed Yoh capable of living on his own.

Of course, had Horo and Ren not stopped by, Yoh probably would have starved to death that day.

After a while, after some complications and misunderstandings and getting-togethers, Amidamaru suddenly became 'watch guard' outside a closed room where Yoh and Lyserg would emerge from later looking satisfied (and sometimes sore).

Currently, Amidamaru was floating on ahead, watching from a modest distance, as it was quite unspoken but clear that these two wanted their space from their unworldly partners. And Amidamaru was glad to comply. Even being so old in years, these two were one of the cutest little couples he'd ever seen in this thousands of years of 'living'.

A pink sparkle floated close to Lyserg's shoulder, contrasting nicely against the grassy green of his hair. The tiny pink fairy glittered close to his head before twirling in the air like a show pilot and streaking up toward the sky. She wasn't much a talker, but she found that she could communicate with her master without words. And although she wasn't a human being, she realized these two couldn't completely be themselves with a pair of eyes at them.

"Are you alright? It's a bit chilly; you know how easily you catch colds."

Lyserg nearly made a face at Yoh's comment, but forced himself to smile. After all, Yoh was just being considerate. But did he have to fret about him every single minute of the day? He could take care of himself. "I'm fine. This coat's warm enough. And it's nearly spring anyway."

"Yeah, spring!" Yoh nearly cheered. "Then after, summer." Although neither would have bothered much; they had both gotten a basic education but with life being so short (as told numerous times by the local ghosts), they rarely attended school, although Lyserg preferred to educate himself at home. With the help of the said local ghosts, neighbors rarely asked questions and Yoh was likeable so much they just let it slide.

Horo had been a self-proclaimed seventh grade drop out and was currently on a quest to at least finish grade school, as Ren had made it quite clear that he didn't like sleeping with an idiot. Horo attended school, but only to save his sorry ass from the couch. Ren had been homeschooled but the tutor had stopped coming around, seeing the dysfunction and people 'talking to themselves', but Ren had deemed himself worthy with his education and saw no need to continue.

Horo's spirit was a cute little earth spirit, almost like Morphine, except less fairy-like. Kororo usually followed her master around, but school had been boring for her, just to float around and listen to some man or woman talk on and on about things that made no sense for her (and Horo too, by the look on his face). She usually followed Morphine around when things got dull, but today Horo had secretly planned to skip school to vandalize a snow cone booth and she had come along for the fun.

Ren's spirit was human-like, like Amidamaru, but he had been a war general in China. Bason was highly loyal to Ren, as he had been a gift from the Tao family, who prided themselves on a line of strong shamans. He was rarely seen away from Ren, but he was also the second body guard to Yoh, who could become helplessly lost even with Amidamaru and two spirits were needed to aid him back home. But as Lyserg was a sensible human being, Ren saw no need to send Bason off.

And because of this lack of spiritual entities and the distance that the two that happened to be there was great, no one could have stopped the spiritual mayhem that occurred next.

No one, not even Ren, who said he never gave a damn, could have resisted stopping to look at the first lilac of spring, lonely sitting at the side of the road. Lyserg broke the hold their hands had, although he swore he heard some sort of inward snap, and bent down to look at the delicate flower. It was a washed out purple, as if the flower had gone through the gutter to get here, with a drop of snow melting slowly on its petals. A smile found its way across Lyserg's face; he liked delicate things.

"It's pretty." In his captivation of the flower, Lyserg had turned his back on Yoh, and in that tiny nanosecond, the air vibrated in such a way that Lyserg glanced behind him at the carefree shaman, sensing some kind of wrong. However, Yoh was still smiling at him in such a normal way that he thought nothing of it; turning back to the purple, Lyserg smiled again.

"It's pretty."

"It is."

Before Lyserg could reply, a pair of familiar yet foreign warm arms circled his waist and pulled him close. Startled at such a public display of affection, something Yoh wasn't widely known for, Lyserg blinked as he felt Yoh's breath against his neck.

"Yoh…?"

"I gotcha." It was in Yoh's low tenor, but at the same time, it was different. Lyserg couldn't pinpoint why he felt so unsettled so he let himself be held as he searched his mind for the definition of what he was feeling.

"Are you…okay?" It was an odd question to add, and a bit mean if you thought about it, but if it was Yoh, the boy would just laugh it off. Yoh did, but the chuckle was one Lyserg had never heard before. Finally hitting the mole on the head, Lyserg realized how he felt: there was one too many spirits in their vicinity, and without the appearance of a gaping ghost, there was only one explanation.

"I don't know who you are, but get out of Yoh's body."

Yoh laughed again, but now it was a bit more of a scathing tone; physically it might have burned, actually. "I'm never letting you go, Lyserg."

"Get out of his body."

"Never."

Struggling to get out of the arms of a stranger, Lyserg found the spirit had actually taken over most of Yoh's consciousness, because he sensed no struggle. The spirit must have subdued Yoh as quickly as it had entered.

Tired of the thrashing, Yoh turned Lyserg around so they were face to face, so close that the warm puffs of steam mingled with each other and became one single entity. Indignant to kiss a stranger, Lyserg settled for glaring. "Who are you, and what are you trying to pull?"

The Yoh smiling back at him had a strange red glint in his eyes that was akin to a consuming flame. With a mysterious smirk, the spirit moved its host's mouth. "My name is Hao and I'm here for you."

To be continued…by TheFlyingGazeebo

Note: Sorry this took so long to type up. Had a lack of ideas. Review, though, if you like! And wait for FlyingG to write the next chapter! Thank you!