Title: Possession

Author: Ah Hael

Genre: General, little angsty, eventual romance

Rating: M

Pairings: Hao x Lyserg, Yoh x Anna, Horo + Ren

Warnings: Violence (murder, abuse and rape)

Spoilers: Takes place a decade after series end

Summary: Hao is long gone and Lyserg has moved on with his life. A shaman of all people should know life doesn't end at death.

Disclaimer: Nope, not mine. I checked, definitely not mine.

Notes: I truly don't know what possessed me to write a Shaman King fic. I have enough trouble with the ones I already have unfinished. It's just foolishness on my part to start a new one.

Possession – Chapter 1

I don't know when I first noticed something was wrong. Not in time to do anything about it, that's for certain. At the time I had my mind on other things but I should have known better.

I had been studying hard to become an attorney and was occasionally working as a consultant with the police. My father's reputation had been passed down to me and I couldn't bring myself to say no whenever they called on me to aid them in solving a crime.

Indeed, my father's old cop-friend Benny who still came to check up on me weekly even though I'm an adult is still trying to talk me into becoming a cop.

Thank you, but no. The X-Laws were as close as I ever will be or ever want to be to that type of law enforcement. No I'd much rather fight my battles with evil in the courts thank you.

The first time I suspected anything was wrong was with a couple of murders.

I had finished my morning run and conveniently took the way that led me past a small family owned grocery store.

Okay so maybe it wasn't that convenient or coincidental at all. Mr. and Mrs. DeGuseppe who owned the store had a son Tony that could stop traffic with his looks. No matter what path I took for my morning run, I always found myself passing by their store on the last blocks to my home. Sometimes I would go in to get a juice or water but this morning I chose not to. Tony was setting up a fruit display so I didn't have to go in to catch a glimpse of him.

What? Yes I like men. And no, that wasn't an easy conclusion for me to come to. I cost me my friendship with Yoh and the others.

We all used to try and meet together for the summer and talk about what happened to us over the year. The first year was great. So was the second. By the time we were sixteen all the other guys were talking about cute girls they knew or dated. I couldn't think of anybody so I just said I still thought Tamao was cute and left it at that. When we were seventeen was when I first started to think Yoh was cute. Big mistake because by eighteen Anna had figured it out and I haven't been allowed to see him since.

I tried to date girls, but the whole experience just left me feeling flat. I even tried to date Jeanne, but it felt like I was out with my sister or something. I was in my second year at university when I accepted my first date with a guy.

Personally I still don't know why Anna felt threatened me enough to not let Yoh near me again. If anyone was a threat to her it would have been Tamao.

I wasn't kidding when I said she was cute. The sweetness that girl has on the inside has completely caught up on the outside. She's gorgeous enough that even I notice. All that scowling Anna's so fond of only makes her look like a bitter old hag.

Oh she wasn't open about keeping me away from Yoh. It was just that every time I tried to arrange some time to visit Yoh would be "busy" or "training". No one else had any trouble getting to see him, just me. It got to the point were none of my phone messages or mail got a response. It didn't take a PhD to figure out why.

But I digress. I was talking about murder.

I was within sight of my house when I noticed Benny waiting at my doorstep.

"Good morning Benny." I greeted walking past him to unlock and walk in my house leaving the door open for him to follow. "Would you like some tea? Coffee maybe?"

"Uh- no thanks kid." He was still behind me so I didn't catch his expression but I did catch the tone.

"Need my help with something?" I asked getting straight to the point. We were practically family so I wasn't going to waste both our times with too many courtesies.

"Well normally we wouldn't ask for your help right away but I thought you might be interested in this one."

Ugh. What kind of crime would interest me? "Why?"

He watched me for a few uncomfortable seconds as if rethinking his reason for coming then finally, "It reminds me of your parents' death." He answered getting to the point just as quick.

I gaped at him for a few moments. "How?" There was no way. Hao was dead and there was no other Shaman that powerful not even Yoh.

Benny fidgeted a little more before answering. "It was a fire again with no known cause. It just seemed to take over the whole house at once. The young couple inside it was like your parents doing those things I don't understand."

'Things I don't understand' was Benny's way of saying they were shamans. He never bothered to understand how my father and I did the things we did and he just called it those things he didn't understand.

"Impossible. The guy who killed my parents is dead. I was there when he died." I stated firmly. There was no way he could still be alive. I felt him die as well a saw it.

"I know you already told me that kid, but I'm telling you I got the same weird feeling walking on the crime scene as I did that night. Maybe somebody is trying to take over that Hao guy's work."

I shook my head at him. "Impossible. The only one that comes close to Hao lives in Japan. Who was the victim anyway?" I asked. I knew some of the people in town who fancied themselves skilled in the occult. Occasionally, if the person had any real potential I'd guide them in the right direction. Most times they were just fools who read a book or two and thought they were experts.

When Benny told me I almost fell over in my chair. Macchi and Nichrome? I didn't even notice their presence in the city and now they were dead? I felt torn between surprise that they were here and revulsion that they were a couple. I guess even former minions of evil need love too. Gross.

Benny wasn't wrong about the feel of the place though. From the minute I stepped out of the car I felt on the alert. There was indeed a horrible sense of deja vu about the place. I could feel the residual power of a shaman battle.

Rubbing my hands up and down my sleeves to dispel the gooseflesh, I pulled out my crystal pendulum and tried dowsing for the cause of the fire.

The crystal swung around in a circle and kept swinging. It wouldn't stop in any direction.

"Is it supposed to do that?" Benny asked from behind me. "I never saw it do that before."

Neither had I. "Morphine?" I called asking to see if she could aid the dowsing. As soon as she entered the circling stopped dead with the pendulum pointing straight at the ground. So much for that thought.

Benny looked at me for an explanation. "I don't know. It's like whoever caused the fire is hiding themselves somehow." I think I managed to hide the cold lump of fear that was settling in my stomach. Hao could hide himself if he wanted to but I still refused to believe he was alive. Perhaps one of his little henchmen had delusions of rekindling the old days?

I gave Benny a few names of other beginner shamans in the city and the names of a few of Hao's old cronies that might be in the area. If someone was trying to follow in that pyro's footsteps they would most likely be looking for allies and that would be as good a place to start.

Whoever it was, I thought while looking over the damage one last time Macchi and Nichrome certainly didn't support them.