(disclaimer)) see chapter 1; me no own.
warnings: see chapter 1
a/n: First of all, I'd like to apologize for my lack of updates for those people who knew my old account and habit of updating every other day. School's been (insert creative language here). Also, if anyone notices spelling/grammar errors feel free to tell me, and please correct usage on limited common Japanese terms. I'd like to thank my reviewers; you guys are awesome, ya'll get cookies.
lady kina: thanks muchly
galliechan: that is for me to know and my brain to debate on. thankiees
lost to reality: ah, that happens quite a bit. there aren't a large diversity of subjects for this particular work to write about, but on the other hand, great minds think alike. (-drags you to the land of bunnies-) thanks
elizibethkei-elricasakura: thank yas, and nps. lol, finding him shouldn't be too hard, try your local candy store.
PirateCaptainBo: awwes, thank you. haha, that is for me to determine and you to umm. guess?
neko-lea: haha, thanks. im telling him im telling him
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xxxx
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I have been and am unsure of many things in this trivial game of life. In fact, I am not completely objectionable if one tells me my whole life has been a lie, but there if there is one thing I am absolutely certain of, that is my name. My name is Hao Asakura, no questions asked.
However, no one knew that except Spirit of Fire, Niwi, Lilirara, Opacho, and 'them.' It was a closely guarded secret. To anyone that asked, I was Moki, the nephew of my caretaker Niwi and cousin of Opacho, regardless of the fact that we shared no common physical attributes. "Hao Asakura" was to have died in an orphanage fire ten years ago. And yet this spirit..
"I.." I didn't know what to tell him. Should I ask the spirit, namely addressed as Amidamaru, who exactly he was? I wanted to know how he could tell who I was. I wanted to know why he said I seemed familiar, because he too seemed..
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
I nearly jumped out of my seat at the rather loud intrusion of thought. I turned around to see my seating neighbor out of that musical trance, fully attentive and seemingly panicking.
"Master Yoh! What's wrong?" The ghost seemed like he was caught off guard, yet with an expression that the scenario was all-too-common.
"The... the.. my headphones.. its.. the.. BATTERIES ARE DEAD!"
I wonder why I have the same last name as this idiot.
"Calm down, there's another radio on your right side with headphones. Or, you can read the magazines below your seat. There's also television to keep you entertained," the spirit explained, pointing out the various features, trying to keep enthusiastic about each object although I could tell he clearly found those matters disinteresting.
"But the batteries.. Bob.." He whined, pouting and crossing his arms.
"It's not the end of the world." The spirit presumed reasoning with him was pointless. I just stared at the whole scenario with a bemused look. "Well, I'm going back to my tablet now.. better-"
"Hey," He face suddenly lit up in confusion. "How did you get out of your tablet anyway?" He looked down to his pocket, the tablet half-way inside the pocket and yet still hooked onto the belt.
The spirit simply said "why don't you ask your seating buddy," before disappearing into the tablet.
Well, fuck. What was I supposed to say?
I looked up at the seemingly shorter boy, who had a confused look on his face. In a split second, it seemed as if he had finally noticed me. He broke into a wide grin, "Ohayo! I'm Yoh Asakura, it's good to meet you! What's your name?"
Asakura... so he doesn't deny it. There are only two existing Asakura lines by my knowledge and research; one of Japanese descent and one of Native American descent, and the two intervene. This person was definitely related to me in some way, if the name is not false; though I must say I am not too sure if I am happy about the fact that I'm related to this guy who might have mood issues.
"It's good to meet you too," I guess. He seemed to completely forget about the whole Amidamaru-incident, and I'm glad he didn't ask anything; I would not have been able to explain it at all. I let out a breath I did not realize I was holding and said to him, "My name is Hao Asakura."
I bit my lower lip, wondering if he saw the faintest trace of recognition in those two simple words, like I had upon his. One would not call it recognition, but there was no word to describe a faint memory of that familiarity. It was a strange feeling when the samurai ghost and he had spoken the names, like I was supposed to know something that I had long forgotten. Like I was supposed to search for something I had lost.
"Hey, we have the same last name." He realized after a few seconds. I take it he has low blood pressure, yet that would completely contradict his seemingly hyperactive nature from what I have witnessed so far. "You look a lot like me too. Maybe we're related?"
I shrugged. "I've never seen you before." That was a lie. He did look familiar, but I could not piece together any recollection of my memories. He looked at me strangely, as if trying to figure out something. I could always read his mind; but with my sensing of that large furyoku capacity of his, I was not too sure upon whether or not he would notice my presence. I'm not a fan of long and tedious explanations either.
"I'm pretty sure I've seen you before somewhere though," Yoh had a thoughtful expression on his face, lips slightly pouted and eyes of an onyx hue inspecting my features. Those eyes were so similiar to my own.. I daresay that if his hair was longer and his height rose by an inch or two, we could pass for twins.
"Maybe it's someone else. Long hair this style isn't too uncommon." I replied, trying to piece some things together. I did not enjoy my confused mind. How did I know this person's name wasn't fake? How did his spirit know my name? Why did he not mention anything about my being a shaman, which could be easily detected with his mysterious massive amounts of furyoku?
"No, I'm sure it's you. Hao.. it brings something in my memory." He said after a while. I frowned in puzzlement; it was the same here as well- I felt like I was attached to him. His name and voice spark something in the back of my head, but they are memories that I cannot recall although I should have been able to. All of the life I remember, he was not in it. And yet...
"Oh well, let's not worry about the past. Everything will work out eventually." He smiled. An innocent and carefree smile, that gave me a warm feeling inside. Why I felt so, was something I am uncertain of. "I guess my batteries dying wasn't that much of a bad thing, now I can get to know you better."
"Do you..want to?" I didn't know how to react at that. In school, the students usually ignored me and I was fine with that. The teachers never asked for any memoir-like projects or an autobiography/introduction essay/letter. No one really cared who the hell I was, and I didn't give a dam.
"Well, why not?" He continued that silly smile. "What's your favorite food?"
Well, might as well. Maybe this was why Niwi wanted me to go take public transportation service, to get to know some other people and make friends other than those I live with. Either way, I reminded myself to thank her later. Yoh's childish charm is simply irresistible.
"Personally, I like oranges." He said, leaning back into the chair, tapping the bottom of his lip with one finger, a delighted expression coming on his face. "They're colored orange, and they're so sweet! Funga fufu."
Phunga fu-what? Sounds to me like some variety of dango. Or perhaps a long-lost name of a vaccination. Or perhaps..
"That was quite random," I noted. I decided that I really didn't want to know.
"They're juicy too. They're so round but some of them have funny shapes. The colors are different oranges too. A bit squishy..." he trailed off, as if he could just sit there and converse all day about the characteristics of a fruit. Emphasis on the world fruit.
"I like bread, for the most part," I interjected, not really wanting to hear about his description of oranges. Personally, those things are too acidic for my tastes.
"There's a deli near school that sells bread that smells like oranges." Yoh noted. "I don't know how that's possible, as orange is not on the ingridients list, but it smells exactly the same! The color-"
I inwardly groaned, slowly sighing and leaning my head back against the seat. I'm not fond, at all, of rants.
I silently thanked the pilot when there was an announcement that the plane was taking off, and all passengers were supposed to strap on their seat belts (along with other rules and regulations, smoking, bathroom, etc). Yoh had finally stopped blabbering about how it was strange that some oranges were harder to peel than others when both were of the same manufacturing company, and how some oranges depending on where they're grown affect your digestive system. I didn't really want to intake the information on the latter part.
"Seat belts on" he mumbled, fumbling around for his. "Ah, there we go." He put it on and at the soft "click," he suddenly turned to me and announced in a rather monotone voice (though I don't see how monotone voices seemed possibly with his personality) "Stayed up all night. Sleepy. Wake me when there's food."
Before I could respond, the boy had already fallen asleep, a slightly amused smile upon his lips. I just stared at the strangeness of it all, shaking my head and pulling out my bag from under the seat. I withdrew the notebook and figured that I had nothing better to do, as I felt the presence of Spirit of Fire to be occupied and to disrupt him would be rather rude.
Continuation- it is 12:03 pm, on the plane.
This kid called Yoh Asakura. Strange but familiar. Has an orange addiction, possibly unhealthy. That is all.
I frowned, wondering what the hell was wrong with me. It was a record for the shortest entry since the time I started developing an interesting in one-word entries. I couldn't bring myself to write about my investigation of the plane, or the take-off (I unbuckled my seat belt, not really fond of nnecessary restraints), or even his strange samurai spirit. Just him.. which brings me to think of what the spirit had said.
"My name is Amidamaru."I am one of the guardian spirits for Yoh Asakura."
"one of the guardian spirits for Yoh Asakura."
"one of...guardian spirits..."
My eyes widened in realization, turning to view Yoh's form quickly. Did this mean the boy had, possibly, two or more guardian spirits? That was... not logical. The samurai is a fighter spirit, but his furyoku was just slightly higher than that of an average spirits'. I frowned, in puzzlement.
Lilirara, Niwi's cousin, who often came to our house to visit for business reasons, had multiple spirits. She explained that by having multiple spirits, either the shaman's furyoku rapidly depletes when using them at once, or said shaman could use them separately at a lower furyoku cost. Shamans had to bond with their spirits to a degree that the spirits will not feel jealousy over another to cooperate, and much complicated things which hurt my head. However, the keeping of more than one guardian spirits required quite the amount of patience and devotion. Yoh just didn't seem to me like he was the type of person to do anything fully; more like the type of person to do something half-assed then give up. But hey, what do I know.
I mused over this for a few minutes, although it hurt my brain terribly (not much of a thinker towards these things,) before jerking my head up to the smell of food. I hadn't eaten all morning (that donut didn't count, sweets always somehow manages to disappear before the substance actually hits the stomach). Oh, that was fast. I could have sworn not even ten minutes had passed before takeoff, yet lunch was here so soon. I glanced at the front of section C, which had a large screen displaying the times (timezone difference and all) around the world. Exactly five minutes and twenty seconds had passed since the official takeoff announcment. I looked back at Yoh, pretty sure he wouldn't get much sleep anyway.
I leaned over and poked his shoulder a few times. I didn't really know how to wake people up. At Niwis', I always was the first person up on weekends (and I'd try to tip-toe everywhere, careful not to wake others), or the last person on weekdays (I don't fancy getting up early for the absurd education project called school).
"Ow," he muttered. I narrowed my eyes as it seemed like he went back to sleep. I frowned in aggrivation, before the pokes became rather vicious jabs and of the sorts.
"ANNA I'M UP!" He suddenly bolted upright, with such speed I didn't see it coming. I jerked back my hand, staring at him oddly. He seemed torn between a state of panic and horror, before blinking and looking around at his surroundings.
"What was that about?" I asked nonchalantly, feeling that I had probably bought up something he wasn't too fond of. Anna... name was slightly familiar, but no more to me than his own. She was; a past girlfriend maybe?
"Oh nothing, you told me to wake you up," I simply explained, pointing to the few employees walking about pushing trolleys. "Food's here. You didn't get much sleep, but this is your only chance to eat all of today. Next meal they have is tomorrow's breakfast before the plane lands."
"Not that," he grumbled, rubbing right arm. "Why'd you have to poke me so hard?"
"Well, how else was I supposed to wake you up?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Oh I don't know, tap me lightly or something?"
"I tried that. Didn't work," I said simply.
"Oh, must be really tired then." He mumbled.
"By the way, who's Anna?" I smirked. I had a feeling that this was a touchy subject for him. My suspisions were confirmed as Yoh seemed to wince before flashing a look of pure horror. Oh, how this amuses me.
"Just a friend of mine," He said, sighing slowly. He seemed to have this undetectable look in his eyes, perhaps of hesitance; I was sure there was more than what he let on.
"Just a friend?" Emphasis on just. "You seemed to be.. disturbed of this presence from the way you sounded waking up like that." Oh, this was so fun. for some strange reason I did not know, seeing him nervous was highly amusing. He was pouting, eyes darting left to right and face slightly flushed.
"Well, she doesn't think so," He muttered.
"She doesn't like you, is that the problem?" I reasoned. That would be a good reason for anyone to get worked up over, but Yoh didn't seem like the kind of person to do that.
"Err, a-actually," He stammered, still with the expression that he should run somewhere and hide. "she's my s-s-supposed fi-fian-"
"What'll it be?" The employee, rather short woman around her late thirties or early fourties with auburn hair pulled back in a bun, asked in a tone of obvious disinterest, pointing to the trolley with an expression of i'm-only-doing-this-because-its-my-job-now-hurry-up-and-stop-wasting-my-time. Damn, I wanted to know what Yoh was trying to say. Hmm, something that scares you out of your wits yet you consider a friend? Fian...
"Ooh; they have those potato-thingies that I don't know the name of but they taste sweet in your mouth after a while if you don't swallow it." Yoh noted, leaning over me and examining the cart. His body was practically pressed on mine. My breath hitched for no logical reason, and I felt my face getting warm. What..what the hell's wrong with me?
"I'll have the potatoes and beef curry." He seemed so much ... relaxed and playful now compared to the previous semi-discussion. I let go a breath I didn't realize I was holding as Yoh happily took the food tray and got off of me. "Ramen," I said hesitantly, taking the tray and paying no mind to the scoffing lady.
I pulled out the trays from the seats; the back of the seats not only was there a portable television but also a pull-out eating counter tray-thingie. ...thingie? Hmm, my vocabulary was seriously degrading.
"Itadakimasu!" He grinned, digging into the potatoes and curry with astonishing speed.
"Itadakimasu.." I muttered, nodding absentmindedly and eating the ramen. It was beef flavored, my second favorite ramen flavor. First would go to chili pepper, I just liked spicy things.
I didn't realize I wasn't eating for a while before Yoh gave me a slight poke and asked "Hey, are you going to eat that?"
"Why do you ask?" I shook my head to clear the random dazed thoughts that kept crawling in there. It was a fairly large bowl of ramen, and I had eaten about half. Although I didn't have a proper breakfast, I didn't eat much in general. I only ate when I felt hungry, and that was about once or twice a day. Niwi says its something about slow metabolism, but I just thought it had something to do with me being food-deprived for most of the earlier years in my life. The orphanages weren't exactly.. happy places.
"Because I feel like noodles. And it doesn't look like you intend to eat anymore of those." He said, slightly tilting his head in one of those adorable cocker-spaniel ways. So. Damn. Cute. ... I did not just think that. No, perhaps I'm delusional. Yes, delusional. Delirious? Slightly schizophrenic, that would explain it all. Or maybe this kid's.. silliness was rubbing off on me. I put the bowl on Yoh's tray and watched him dig in, muttering something about how lucky he was that I didn't have AIDS or any disease likewise.
I went back to pondering about the conversation before as he was finishing up the soup. Fian.. Fian-what? From his tone, I don't think he and this Anna person had much of a happy relationship. She seems to be the persistent type based on his first reaction. Something told me that she was an independent and strong-willed person; i don't know why, but just this feeling. Like I've known her a while. It was strange, really.
"Mmmn, that was good," Yoh disposed the Styrofoam bowl (of course its Styrofoam, it's the cheapest thing next to plastic and knowing the economy these days...) and gave me a strange look. "There's something on your mind?"
How'd he know?
"Iunno, it just looks like you were deep in thought."
So he's telepathic?
"I'm not telepathic or anything," Wow; irony. "but if you want to talk about anything it's fine by me."
"Oh, nothing much, really." I decided not to pester him about Anna. That wasn't the situation, anyway. It was that constant nagging that I should know him. And Anna. The names were not only familiar, but there was something else I couldn't identify.
"If you say so," he shrugged, grabbing the remote and flicking on the small television on his seat. "Nothing good's on," He frowned, scanning the guide. I wonder why he seemed so unhesitant; in general. Probably the person to jump into things without thinking. I didn't really like those types of people, but here was an exception.
Hell, he was the exception to everything. The exception to the fact I never talk civilly with people, never share my food with anyone except Opacho, never care to listen to, and so much more. Damn it, at this rate my reputation for being anti-social was dead. I'm not really anti-social.. okay, maybe a little, but the rank is to keep a low profile. I wouldn't want.. them.. to know where I was and be after me again.
"I'm bored." He pouted, interrupting the small silence between him and I after a few turning of on and off of the television (it remained on but unwatched in the end).
"You can listen to the radio here," I pointed to the small radio swatches near our seat armrests. "There's a few music channels, but most of them are in Spanish.. surprisingly."
"Huh.. no Bob." He pouted.
"Bob?" I questioned. Now that was one name that didn't ring a bell.
"Makes the greatest, fantastic, most amazing, awesome music ever." He pointed to his headphones, then took out a small CD-player in his pants back pocket. I silently chuckled in my mind, wondering who actually still uses CD-players with the new, rather annoying rage of iPods.
"I see.. well, stare at the clouds then?" I pointed at his seating, which was next to a window. The shade was down.
"I do love cloud-gazing," He smiled, as if in small remorse. Then, frowned and exclaimed, "an outrage! It's so bright here you can't even see the clouds! In fact," he pulled up the shade slightly, no more than a centimeter, and beams of light flooded in. I squinted, and he closed the shade.
"Hmm, I do suppose the people from here would look like ants." I said after a few moments, eyes adjusting from the sudden brightness to the not-so-blinding lights. "Maybe, you can read a magazine?" I pointed to the stack between our seats on the floor, right next to the emergency jackets.
He frowned immediately. "Eek... magazines.. remind me too much of Anna." He paused for a brief second, laughing nervously. "haha, she would kill me if she heard that."
Oh? "Who exactly is this Anna? You never did get a chance to tell me." Yes, it was very interesting. "And since you have nothing better to do.."
He gave a slightly annoyed glare, but didn't stammer as opposed to being caught off guard. "I consider her a close friend," so they may be a relationship item? "because she cares for me though she doesn't act it. That's just the kind of person she is." In other words, a bitch? "She's pretty independent, umm, she's trusting too."
"what's her relationship with you?" Stop with the details. I just want to know what she means to you. Just saying she's your close friend isn't enough. I want to know how close. My sensible mind has decided to take a vacation, it seemed. Why the hell do I care about this person anyway..?
"Ah, it's sort of complicated.."
"We have seventeen hours. You have plenty of time." He seemed like the type of person who would want fourteen of those hours as sleep. Personally, a few hours a day of sleep is good enough for me. I didn't really see the purpose of that state of mind.
"Well, as you can probably tell by now I'm Japanese. Our family still does the traditional arranged-marriage thing for members of the main branch, and I was arranged to be married to a girl called Anna Kyoyama. In short, she's my fiancée. I guess she plays her part because she came to like me in the way that she is supposed to. The problem is on my part, I see her as a sister at the most, but nothing more. She's not accepting the fact that I cut off our engagement roughly two years ago and sort of.. stalks me. That's all, pretty much."
I felt relieved. Don't ask why, I'm not sure myself. "Ah, I see." I managed to muster, deciding after a while that I shouldn't question him about the girl's behavior.
"Well, we do have what seems like all the time in the world," Yoh said after a while. "We never got to finish..." he trailed off with a pout, deciding on how to rephrase that sense. "Tell me about yourself," he smiled. "My family's from Izumo. I live there with my parents, grandparents and servants. Where is yours from?"
Izumo.
That's where they came from. That's where they gathered, where I hard departed them. Certainly not the fondest of memories. For all I know, he could be a spy for them.
He could be a spy for them, he could be. What is the nagging voice in my head? Yet you know you don't care. you'd tell him anything, eventually, won't you?
Please shut up, voice-inside-my-head. Go away, too. Kay thanks bye.
But I'm always here.
Okay, first I get scolded by Niwi for leaving the stove on too long, then I get overcharged for a donut, then I run into a random freaky kid with my looks and surname, who eats half of my lunch and I strongly believe he is making me more crazy than I am already, and now I have a voice in my head?
Oh please. I was always in your head. I'm your subconciousness, Hao.
Right...
"I'm guessing somewhere in Japan. It would be too much of a hassle to come to the airport we left from if it wasn't, right?" He said at my silence.
"Yea.. it is." I said quietly.
What if he was working with.. I don't want to.. can I trust..
It doesn't matter if you trust him or not. He is your weakness.
My what? Talking to myself is a bit weird..
"It's that far from Izumo actually," I found myself saying. Why am I telling him this? He asked, but still.. if he was a spy for them then that would explain everything; the sudden interest in me, the large furyoku..
but you don't see him as someone who works for them. you see him as something much, much more.
What.
Much more?
What are you getting at?
Nothing you don't know. It's only a matter of time..
Till what?
"A bit more east," Might as well, as I have started. "I live with my caretaker Niwi and my friend Opacho in Hiroshima."
If he was a spy, then it would be a matter of seconds before everything clicked and in a few seconds, it would be nice to have known the world.
The few seconds seemed like forever, as I wait for his response.