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Back! Since yesterday I found myself mentioning a lack of inspiration regarding this fic, I started really putting more thought into what was going to happen. Thanks to that, there's actually going to be a plot. Who would've thought it? I'm going to try to get chapters out as soon as possible, seeing as it may actually BE possible now. Yay for directional plots!! Now to actually write everything out…

DISCLAIMER: If I owned Shaman King, I'd mix up Yoh's playlists a little bit. Toss in some interesting stuff OTHER than 'Soul Bob' or whatever the hell his name is.

With patience deep, you lay in wait

For one who suited all your needs

Or someone close, at any rate

To plant within: your evil seeds.

Was I to know what was to come?

Was I to know of blackened hearts?

Upon my heartstrings played a strum

That's when the loving feeling starts.

I followed you and all your sin

Though I knew not wherefore you led:

To do to me as done to kin

To leave me broken, doomed, and dead.

Hao was a man who knew what he wanted in life, and more often than not, it showed. He turned heads. People worshipped him. They loved him, for reasons unknown to them. Hao wasn't sure why he failed to capture the attention of people like Manta, but he had his own theories.

Hao, in a way, had not lied when he said that he did nothing halfway. It also meant that he planned nothing half-assedly. He had not come to such a backwater school as this one for no reason at all. It was quite the opposite, in fact.

Hao was looking for souls to devour.

A strange pastime, to be sure, but beggars can't be choosers. Naturally, the only souls worth having were the souls of shamans. For some reason, normal humans were disgustingly bland. Shaman souls had a wonderful tangy flavour. It was Hao's style: first he'd come to a new town and seek out any kind of reaction from a body of condensed spiritual power. Hao had managed to narrow down the location of the most powerful reaction to one homeroom class. As soon as that had been determined, he had sent in the forged transcripts and been readily accepted to the school. Then he had hacked into the computer system of the school and messed around with his schedule until it matched that of the person he was seeking. He hadn't really known or identified the shaman until he'd walked into the class. The instant he saw Yoh's face, it had clicked. This one was the one. There was little room for doubt. In time, Hao was going to gain Yoh's absolute trust and then, once the he had been cultivated and trained enough to have a strong spirit, he'd take his soul and integrate it with his own. The people who became exceptionally strong generally became his followers instead of being eaten. The eaten would be translated into spiritual energy, which would in turn benefit Hao and make him much stronger. The plan hadn't changed for a long time. Eating souls also proved to be very good for physical appearances; Hao had been alive for a thousand years so far and still looked the same as he had looked the day he had first learned of the benefits of ingesting shaman souls.

He was grateful that this time around, the shaman in question was a very easygoing person. It made it a lot easier to assume instantaneous friendliness. Those sorts of people were usually the biggest suckers.

Hao smiled and looked up at the stars. He held this town in great esteem. So many lights were shut off at night to conserve electricity that the stars shone with their full glory all night long. It was breathtaking. Hao stopped dead on the sidewalk in order to avoid walking straight in to a telephone pole or something equally uncharacteristic of him while gazing at the brilliant sky. All that this town needed was a centuries-old graveyard.

Right on cue, two blocks later, the longed-for cemetery came into view. Hao smiled. This place really did have everything. But – what? That was insane. There seemed to be a large, living, breathing mass sitting on one of the taller headstones. Hao's smile faded. Why did humans always get to the good parts of life before he did? Looking closer, Hao blinked in surprise. It was no normal human at all. It was Yoh. Hao's suspicions, iron as they already were, officially were set in stone. For the most part, shamans were the people the most in touch with nature and with the dead. Yoh's actions fit the bill perfectly. His very nature, paired with his abnormal pastimes, sealed it. Hao ventured closer to the boy who stared openly at the sky, unblinking. Yoh didn't move. Hao rightly supposed that he was lost in thought.

Hao took a few longer strides forward. He could now very faintly hear the beats of some popular new song playing, tinny and shrill from the distance the waves had to travel. Still, Yoh didn't hear him, didn't notice him, and didn't turn around.

Hao was directly behind the other boy. He could have breathed and the breath would have ghosted over the slim shoulder. Hao was a little bit astounded at how unbelievably out of it the child in question really was. He extended a pale hand to gently rest it on his left shoulder.

Yoh didn't jump a foot in the air, to his credit. His head turned slowly to look at Hao. For a few elastic seconds, their eyes met. Hao felt a little strange, being under the piercing gaze of swirling dark eyes so like his own. It was a little unnerving.

"And?" he said.

"And what?"

Hao laughed inside. "What are you doing here, of all places, in the middle of the night? Surely your family is worried about you?"

Yoh had an unconsciously surprised face on, clearly showing that he hadn't even thought for a second that any family of his might be worried. Hao wondered what kind of home life the boy had. No family was the best kind of family, seeing as it made Hao's job a lot easier. It was always easier if no one was there to look for the missing people once they vanished.

Yoh turned back to the sky and began to speak. Hao had heard all of Yoh's words before, but in his own head. Why, even the bit about the lights going down in the city so that the stars were clearer had been reproduced, right here, from a stranger's mouth!

Hao shook his head slightly when Yoh stopped talking. "Thought so," he said softly. "You're one as well, aren't you?"

Yoh wasn't particularly good at hiding the fear in his voice. "A what?"

"A shaman, of course."

Hao was having fun with this. Yoh looked like he was about to have a panic attack, or the closest expression to it that his face could twist itself into. It was all he could do to not laugh aloud. . "Depends on what you mean by that."

"Let me put it this way. Can you see spirits?" Hao asked.

"Yes," Yoh said.

"Can you hear spirits?"

"Of course."

"Can you touch spirits?"

"… Yes."

"Then you," Hao said simply, "are a shaman. I'm one as well, and it seems you have quite a bit to learn on the subject."

Hao was delighted. No prior training? No other masters? No knowledge about the shaman world at all? This was priceless. This was beautiful. Often enough, the shamans that Hao hunted down for their souls had already been taught some of the basics, at least. Mostly only the strong caught Hao's attention in the first place, and usually if they were strong, it was because their powers had been refined through training. By that time, the shaman's powers had already begun to shape themselves in whatever form their teacher also possessed. In order to get the most you could out of eating their souls, the victim had to have powers as close to your own as possible. It was like trying to take a meticulously crafted ring and changing it into an earring with a completely different design. It took long, hard work, and often wasn't worth the trouble it presented.

Now here, here in front of him, was an exceptionally strong beginner with powers that had yet to take on any form at all. If Hao himself were to teach Yoh, then his powers would be a dead-on match. It was too perfect. This was going to prove to be one of Hao's more profitable ventures.

"'T-to learn'? Is there a lot to know?" Yoh asked.

Oh yeah. One of Hao's considerably more profitable ventures.

Hao laughed quietly. "Naturally. In fact, I think that I, being the senior shaman of the two of us, should be the one to teach you the basics, and perhaps a bit beyond just those." Yoh looked alarmed.

"But why should I want to learn shaman stuff at all? What if I really don't care one way or another?"

"Because, Yoh, shamanism is much more interesting than quantum physics or calculus, despite being harder than the two of them combined. It's something that is rewarding both right now and later in life. It's the thing in your blood and very soul that makes you far more special than those who don't share your abilities. It's the thing that leads you to live the way you do. It's why you and I both gravitated to a cemetery like this for the exact same reason."

"To look at the stars?"

"Precisely."

Yoh breathed in wonder. Whatever it entailed, it sounded wonderful. And Hao, the one person who really caught Yoh's attention, was fully capable of teaching him? Yoh's heart skipped a beat or twelve. "Please… teach me, if it's not too much trouble."

Hao smiled a brilliant smile for the other boy.

"I'll teach, as long as you are willing to learn." And with that, he leaned over, brushing his lips over Yoh's for the briefest of instants. "Do your best, Yoh."

Yoh sat there, staring into space with shock. Had he… just been… kissed? Oh dear. This could pose problems for Yoh's masculinity.

Yoh sat by the window in his home. Anna had left that morning to pay a visit to her adoptive family, the Asakura family. She wasn't supposed to be back for a week and a half or so. Yoh had never quite been so grateful for the lack of bustle in the house.

He ran a finger gently over his lips and shuddered at the sensation.

Had Hao really kissed him, or had it just been a brief moment of fancy? It was unthinkable. They had only met that morning, and yet… There was little mistaking that lightning bolt of emotion that he could distinctly remember coursing through his body, all the way down to his cold, freezing toes. Yoh wore sandals, regardless of what season it may or may not be.

The feeling, though only in his memory, coursed through his body once more. Hao really WAS something special if he could do this to him. Yoh bit his fingers unconsciously. Uncertainty was the one thing that Yoh hated most of all, and damn if Hao didn't personify every aspect of it.

And what did he mean by "shaman"? Yoh had looked up the word as soon as he'd gotten home. Supposedly, it meant, " a member of certain tribal societies who acts as a medium between the visible world and an invisible spirit world and practices magic or sorcery for healing, divination, and control over natural events", or at least that was what Noah Webster, lexicographer, thought it was. It was usually best not to argue with the dictionary. The 'medium' part Yoh could understand all too well, but magic? Sorcery? Healing? Divination? Yoh would never be able to do that sort of stuff in a million years. Half of it was junk that wasn't even supposed to be possible.

Yoh smiled suddenly. In retrospect, seeing dead people was supposed to be impossible, too.

The boy examined a paper cut on his right index finger that he had gotten earlier that day. It had been bothering him a lot, and if the dictionary said he could do it – well! Anatomy had been one of the more interesting classes that Yoh had taken, so he pictured in his mind the complete anatomical makeup of his finger.

Bones linked together, firm walls of calcium and spongy marrow. Cushioning fat cells in each joint. A tendon attached, a few other little details like veins and blood cells, and Yoh had completed the picture. Looking mildly at his physical finger, he added the paper cut to the image, taking into account how deep it was. Now to picture what he wanted. Nerves and skin webbing across the gap to mesh themselves together in one, unbroken, healthy strip of flesh. Pain vanishing, perhaps a slight itching sensation at the rapid healing process. Everything that Yoh had heard about magic said that as long as you wanted it bad enough, it was possible. There could be no room for doubt. Oddly enough, because Yoh was in a very relaxed state of mind, it was very easy to concentrate; no stray thoughts popped up to distract him. Yoh closed his eyes so that he wouldn't look for progress. It was all or nothing. Slowly the cut began to shrink. It took seven long minutes of unbroken concentration to do it, but it had been completely healed. Yoh, however, didn't know for the simple reason that his eyes were still closed. He believed that he had made no progress at all. Yoh sighed and opened his eyes in defeat, eyes almost instantly training themselves on the spot where the obstinate cut was supposed to be.

Yoh stared for a minute or two, stretching and pulling the skin along his finger. Not a scar, not a scratch, not a break, not a drop of blood. There wasn't even a sign of the scab that had been forming already. It was impossible to tell it had ever even been there.

Yoh smiled so brilliantly that the entire room lit up along with him. He let out a glad cry and spun around in circles a few times. Overjoyed cackles could be heard outside the walls of the house, but no one was ever daft enough to stop and wonder why.

I'm a shaman, Yoh thought gleefully. And as long as I can do this, I even get to stick around Hao. There's no downside to it!! Not one!!

Yoh's excitement carried over to the next day, and it didn't go unnoticed.

"Yoh? What's got you in such a good mood?" Manta asked. To see almost any kind of emotion on his friend's face was a rare occurrence.

Yoh grinned. "That obvious? It's a secret," he said, winking. "I'll tell you someday. 'Kay?" He laughed infectiously, darting out of the room to catch some unknown person and spread the love a little.

Manta's own smile began to fade. Something was clearly up with his friend, but he had no idea what could cause such a change. Actually, no. The tiny boy knew exactly what the difference was.

Hao.

One thing had changed since yesterday morning and the mornings before that, and that was Hao. Whatever the beautiful boy had done behind Manta's back, it was enough to completely transform the personality of his best friend. Manta wasn't comfortable with change, especially when he was so excluded. But Yoh had promised to tell him later, so he'd have to settle for that.

Yoh, in the meantime, had seen Hao for a split second and had dashed through the throngs of people with the ease of any self-respecting long-time street kid.

"Hao! Wait up a sec!" Hao's head turned slightly at the sound of Yoh's voice, but of course did not stop. It was suicide to go against the flow of the other students in the cramped back halls of the school. Yoh took full advantage of his slightly below-average height and ducked through the denser areas of the crowd to reach Hao. "Hao!"

"Hey. Sorry I couldn't turn around. You look happy this morning. Something good happen?" Hao offered a small smile and a raised eyebrow.

Yoh blushed and glanced down. "Ah, n-no, not really… er, I mean yes! I – uh… Well, I went home last night after… um, yeah, and I sort of experimented a little!" Yoh couldn't help but feel that his reason to be happy was small and insignificant. Surely Hao could do the same thing?

"Experimented?"

"Yeah. Um, can you heal your own injuries?"

Hao's eyes opened wide. He couldn't have. It was impossible. There. Was. No. Fucking. Way. But still, the honest joy that Yoh had possessed when first seeing him couldn't possibly be faked so well. But was it conceivable that a raw beginner in the shamanic arts already knew how to heal?

"I can," Hao said, bracing himself.

"Well, I tried it out and it worked! I have no idea how or why, but it did! I still can't do it quickly and I don't want to try it on a larger scale wound, but it's better than nothing, right?" Hao couldn't avoid those hopeful, desperate eyes.

"It is. Considerably. You're amazing. I've never heard of someone catching on so quickly," Hao said honestly.

Yoh hopped for joy, the silly smile replaced. "Wow. Uhm, thanks." He blushed and glued his eyes to the floor again. "It felt wonderful. I really want to learn from you. I'll do what you ask of me, I swear."

Hao smiled and shook his head. "I already said I'd teach you, right?"

Yoh beamed once more and pulled the other boy into a quick, heartfelt hug before vanishing into the crowds. Hao looked after him in surprise. Everything about the boy perplexed him, but excited him at the same time. Shaking his head a last time, Hao continued on his way down the halls, wondering vaguely how he was going to get all the way back to homeroom before the bells sounded.

Okay! That's chapter two!! I just now typed this up really late and just… arrrgh. There are probably a hundred and two mistakes in here grammar-wise or something like that. Words left out, incorrect tenses… Things that traditionally make my soul cringe. I'll fix them as soon as I have a free will and the amount of consciousness necessary to successfully proofread one's own work. Thanks to those who reviewed/put this fic on their Alerts. You rock more than I can say so late at night. I love you.

REVIEW OR BE KILLED BY A RAVEN AND AN ORANGUTAN. YAY FOR POE REFERENCES. XD

Bye-bye.