Chapter 2

Yoh walked along the street while singing the song he was listening to with his orange headphones.

'I'm not ready to lay,

I'm not ready to fade,

I'm not ready to die,

I'm not ready to lay,

I'm not ready to fade,

I'm not ready to die,

I'm not ready to die'

"Hello, my little songbird". Yoh whirled around to see himself face to face with two cloaked people. The cloaks were red with black flames at the bottom. On the back of the cloak was a weird symbol which looked like a snake curled around a skull. "Who are you?" Yoh asked nervously. The cloaked man studied Yoh for a second then replied "I can't tell you who I am but you need to come with me". "Ok" Yoh chirped "but I have to be back home in an hour". "That's fine, please follow me". Yoh followed the man into an old shop which looked like it had been closed for months. "So what do you want" Yoh asked. Click. Yoh froze as he heard the door lock. "Our master wants you" the woman replied. "You will come with us now" shouted the man and he lunged at Yoh.

I dived out of the way as the man lunged at me. I rolled over and scrambled over to the stairs. I thundered up the stairs, my heart pounding loudly in my chest. I could hear them clattering up the stairs behind me. I spotted a door and quickly dived through it. I found myself in a stockroom. There was a window that overlooked the busy street. I rushed over to the window and opened it. The only way down was to jump. BANG! The door swung open revealing my pursuers. I gulped, ran forward and jumped.

Hao yawned as he and his followers wandered around the village. Opacho; a small African girl dressed in an orange poncho, walked with Hao. Hao was wearing a white poncho and his favourite red star trousers. His long chestnut hair swayed gently against his back. "Hao sama". Hao looked down at the small girl. "What is it Opacho?" Hao asked in a bored, thoughtful voice. Opacho looked up at Hao then asked "when is the next shaman fight?" Hao smiled at her before saying "tomorrow". A loud scream captured their attention. They looked up to see Yoh Asakura, Hao's 'other half' jump out of a window. He hit the ground with a loud thud and gasped in pain. Quickly he got up and started to run away from the building. The door of the building was ripped open and two hooded figures came running out. They spotted Yoh and sprinted towards him. Hao watched Yoh jump a somersault in the air to avoid being grabbed by one of the people. Hao #!*% his head. He had never seen these people before and didn't think that Yoh had ever met them either. "Yoh" a voice screamed out, startling both Yoh and his attackers. Hao turned his head to see the blue haired Horohoro and the purple haired Ren running to Yoh's aid. As the Snowboarder and the Purple shark arrived the two cloaked figures fled. "Are you ok Yoh?" Horohoro asked with a worried tone in his voice. "I'm fine" Yoh lied before fainting. Ren only just managed to catch him. Hao watched them carry Yoh off to the patch hospital. "What was that all about" Opacho asked nervously. "I don't know" Hao replied "but I will find out.

The rain poured onto my face and I could hear pained screams in every direction. Slowly I turned around. The fire blazed, burning up the forest. Someone stood in front of the fire. I watched him turn around to look at me before extending out his hand. Yoh jolted awake, a scream locked in his throat. "Calm down Yoh" a soothing voice snapped. Yoh lay back down and turned his head to look at the golden eyed Chinese shaman sitting next to him. "Ren?" Yoh asked croakily. Yoh's eyes darted around the room he was in. "You're in the patch hospital. I and Horohoro took you here after you collapsed" Ren huffed. The memory of the morning rushed back into Yoh's head. Yoh yawned before closing his heavy eyes. He heard light footsteps fading away and a click of a closing door. Once again Yoh let his thoughts wander. 'Who were those people? Who is their master? What do they want with me? Slowly Yoh felt himself drifting off into an uneasy sleep.

The next day Yoh was discharged from the hospital. Yoh and his friends made their way to the arena to watch the next battle between team Star and their unfortunate enemies. Yoh watched as Hao summoned the Spirit of Fire and instantly burned the shamans to death. The flames reminded Yoh of the burning forest from his dream. Yoh sighed. He couldn't get the thoughts of those cloaked people out of his head. Quickly Yoh told his friends he was going for a walk and then ran out of the stadium and into the forest. As he ran he could faintly hear loud footsteps following him. Yoh continued running until he reached a waterfall. He sat down on a rock and let the rushing water calm his troubled mind.

The sound of a twig snapping made Yoh look around. Hao stood directly behind Yoh, a smirk plastered on his face. Yoh sighed and turned to look back at the waterfall. After a few moments of silence Hao suddenly asked "So what are you doing out here?" "Thinking" Yoh replied. Hao #!*% his head. "About what" he asked innocently. Yoh slowly got up and turned to face Hao. "What do you want? Why did you follow me?" Hao's smirk got bigger. "I want to know what is going on with my precious other half. I wouldn't want you to get killed before you join me" he sneered. Yoh looked him in the eye then snapped "I will never join you" then stomped off.

Hao grumbled to himself. Yoh had never snapped at him before. As he remembered what happened he growled, annoyed at Yoh. 'He wouldn't tell me what is going on but I will find out soon enough' Hao thought to himself. "I wonder if those cloaked people had anything to do with it" Hao asked aloud. Suddenly he heard loud laughter behind him. Hao whirled around but there was no one there. "What is going on?" Hao snarled at the forest before turning and slowly walking away.