Carly-chan: Hello everyone! I'm hoping to see some familiar faces here for this story, you know…some people who read my last story and want to read this one too… I did promise that this one will be less depressing and I will try my best to keep to my word on that. I promise nobody will "die" in this one…Okay? Umm…I tried to experiment with a few different styles with this story so I hope that works out. Oh! And…uh…SGCred This chapter is dedicated to you…because if you hadn't reminded me this would never ever have gotten done and that would have made me sad because I've wanted to write this for a while, I know your busy but I hope that you will get the chance to read this… thanks! Well…Onto it then!

Disclaimer: I do not own Shaman King, and I probably wont own anything else I talk about in this story in the future, I only own my character Lea.

A Clash of Gold

Ren stared down into golden eyes as they peered back up at him, no doubt thankful yet wondering who this person might be. These two sets of eyes were so similar to each other. These were a pair of eyes much like Ren's except softer perhaps. How had the two of them gotten into this situation?

Lea POV

I stand in front of the full body mirror on the far wall of my room as I stare into it, harsh golden eyes stare back at me, eyes that seem to pierce through my very soul. It seems that this girl in the mirror isn't really me, this beautiful girl with her silky purple hair that drops down to her hips in large curls, that look of frailty about her but something that says she could fight well enough if needed and those eyes, those piercing eyes. Those eyes are not mine, they couldn't be my soft happy eyes. In a sense nothing here is mine, this home this family, for some reason I doubt this body truly belongs to me, nothing is mine here except for this mind of mine. I know that these kindly parents of mine aren't my real parents and that this isn't where I truly belong yet, still I smile. My smiles aren't fake, it's just that I can't help but to smile no matter what, no matter what this smile remains plastered on my face.

My darling parents still have no idea that I know their little secret of how I'm not really theirs. I often think of running away to find a place more like where I really belong. However something deep down inside of me always warns against that, that no good would come of it, it's as if whatever it is down deep within knows this from experience. Despite all of these thoughts of not belonging and running away I still somehow manage to stay happy and innocent in this world. Even when some sort of pain or sadness or perhaps the feeling of longing that seldom ever comes threatens to awaken within I still somehow remain innocent in this hectic, crazy world, it's as if no matter how hard I try I can't be anything but innocent and happy, I have come to terms with the fact that this is out of my control and I cannot do anything to stop the happiness from overflowing in my heart although my soul cries out for answers, the truth as to where I truly belong.

I seem to have become entranced by the seemingly foreign eyes in the mirror. As I stood, there was only silence around me, nothing to break my gaze away from those eyes, there usually weren't many sounds out here where I lived, I live out 'in the middle of nowhere'. There is a town nearby but it is very, very small, only about fifteen people live there, I live on the outskirts of that tiny town near a forest, that was my wish and my parents granted it for me. My parents give me everything I want, they don't seem to get much for themselves though. I sometimes wonder where they get the money for all of the things they get me, they don't have very well paying jobs, they never have.

They told me once that we used to live in the city when I was younger and that as soon as I was old enough to have clear enough thoughts about the world I started to beg to move away from the city to be closer to nature, so they had a house built out here as soon as they could afford to. That's what they tell me at least, I can't remember anything before I was eight years old, I was already living out here in this house by then so I wouldn't really know. Despite my suspicions I can't help but to smile, despite my suspicions I can't help but to love them, to let the love flow through me and outward extended as my very being.

The rustling of the nearby tree frees me from my trance like state. Is it the wind, no, there is no wind out here tonight, the skies are calm and peaceful as the stars shine brightly through the few clouds in the unpolluted country sky. I cautiously approach my window and then quietly slide it open as to not wake my parent or scare away whatever is out there. Hesitantly I thrust my head out the window, just slightly enough for me to glance around. I see no one there but still I sense a presence… there! Someone is hiding among the tree's branches, I can't see their face through the darkness, it looks shadowed to me. All In can make out of them is their figure, they seem to be…. a male. "Hisamu Lea…" His voice seems to float to me on the newly come fresh breeze of autumn air.

"Y-Yes that's me." I stutter out, who could this person be and what do they want from me…also why does he know my full name… that's something not many people know about me.

"Have you ever wondered if you weren't Hisamu Lea?" He asks me, the question seems so random. Not Hisamu Lea, have I not always been Hisamu Lea?

"If I were not Hisamu Lea…who then would I be?" I question him, I try to dig deep to find his true intention but he hides it very well.

"Then you would be yourself, your true self… Tao Lea." Tao Lea? I have no time for many other thoughts, some other thoughts intrude, they come pounding into my head, these thoughts don't seem as thoughts at all but as if they were… memories.

I see a young girl, very young… perhaps she is six or seven years old with curly purple hair, sitting upon a log overlooking a glistening lake. Could that be me ,could that girl who seems to resemble me so much really be me? A boy with hair the color of the lake's banks sits beside her. He begins to speak "Have you ever been thought about shamans…or the Taos, Lea?" The girl shakes her head as she picks up a rock and tries to skip it on the lakes surface.

So that girl was me after all. Wait a minute… the boy mentioned the Taos… The Taos…and …shaman who am I? Am I Tao Lea like this man outside my window is telling me? I remember that he's still there and tilt my head back up towards him. "I see now what you means…sir…" I voice to him, why does my voice not catch the autumn breeze and flow to him on it? "But sir what do you wish me to do about this now?"

"You have a twin Lea, an 'other half' of your soul… Your twin needs you now, this is unknown to them at this moment however. Here…" He throws to me an envelope, it sails into my hand and I stare at it with questioning curious eyes. "There is an address of a café written on a paper inside of the envelope where you can go to meet your twin, this person shouldn't be too hard to spot as they have very peculiar hair that resembles the fin of a shark. You may also sense your connection or just plainly notice the resemblance between the two of you." With that bit of a hint and the address that lay inside of the unopened envelope he leaves me with nothing more, not even a single last word.

I clutch the envelope for a moment and stare at it debating in my mind whether or not too open it. I fear for where it may tell me I shall have to go to meet this twin of mine and I fear even more finding out who my twin is, what if she is hateful and we can't get along then my trip to this place that I know nothing of yet will be in vain. As I become ever more curious to find out where this place will be I start to tear at the seal of the envelope. I finally have it open and am now unfolding a piece of paper about to see where I will have to head off to very soon. Tokyo. Tokyo? I wish it hadn't been Tokyo, that over cluttered busy place is everything I dislike in city life, isn't that what I moved here for, to get away from that life?

Tokyo, why does it have to be Tokyo. I would have gone nearly anywhere but Tokyo, that means I will have to travel from China to Japan, if my sister was raised in Japan will she even understand me when I speak? Either way I wish not to go but I can't avoid it…I can't let my sister down. If it is my fate to go then I shall go, I shall go to find out who I really am. I strongly protest going but I know that I must. I'm growing weary now, I'm quite tired and It's getting late. I shall inform my parents of my visitor and what he said and then I shall prepare to depart from this home of mine that I love, I'll leave in three days. This paper has a phone number on it so I will just call from my cell phone when I arrive there in Tokyo I guess.

3rd Person POV-Ren…

At the same time that Lea got her visit Tao Ren received a visit from a mysterious person as well. However… lets just say that Ren's visit didn't go so well as Lea's did. Ren ended up being overly offensive as he usually was and didn't get much information out of the messenger woman. The frail woman ended up cowering back in fear of Ren's violent nature. She muttered quickly the words 'go here to meet your twin…to meet your other half' before throwing his envelope roughly through the window and onto the floor.

Ren picked it up, eying it suspiciously at first, then tore it open roughly, eager to know. His eyes roamed over the paper quickly. On his letter at the top there was the address to the café where they should meet, there were also directions telling him to remain at the Onsen until his twin arrives. There was also a phone number listed there, a cell phone number that his twin would call from when they arrived. Ren merely tossed the letter aside, he'd deal with it when the time came. He was quite tired now and headed off to bed.

Carly-chan: Ok…well.. um…the first little paragraph thing (after I got done talking, yeah like the actual story… yeah…) was sort of like an introduction. You could call it 'me just having fun with different styles' because I've always wanted to write a story where I start in the middle and then go back to the beginning and build up to the middle point and then just head forward from there, I hope that won't confuse anyone. Oh and for anyone who didn't realize it…yes I did purposely call Ren 'she' multiple times in Lea's part… that was mostly to make clear that Lea has no idea that her 'twin sister' is really her 'twin brother'. I don't think I did that much in Ren's part because well…I kind of wanted to depict that Ren didn't really care so much. Ok I just wanted to clear that up just in case. As always please tell me if any characters in my story are OOC and please tell me how I could fix that.