Disclaimer: I do not own Shaman King… T.T
MeeLee: alright, keep on guessing… Do update your fanfict soon and don't keep me in suspense…
Lady girl: wow! Thank you so much for reviewing again, it's nice to know you enjoyed reading this fict…sorry about the length of the chapters, but I'll update pretty soon
The Beauty of Silence — Chapter 4
Pilica went hysterical after hearing that the hearing impairment caused by brain damage may be permanent. She tried to beat the doctor into confessing that it was a joke, that her onii-chan was well and none of these was real. Anna did nothing much to help, while Yoh just let Pilica cool down and face facts at her own pace. Seriously, Ren found this huge din a tad unnecessary. The doctor only said 'may' not 'will', so chances may be that it'll only be a few days before that Ainu regains his hearing, though such miracles rarely happen. No matter what, he'll do his best to help, such as contributing towards the medical fees, even though he won't let his concern show.
"It's all your fault! If you hadn't made onii-chan go out to buy milk for you, NONE of these would have happen! I'll…I'll…make you pay somehow!" Pilica shrieked into Ren's ears before continuing to cry. Bason immediately stood in front of his Young Master to defend him, but Ren waved him away. It's true, thought Ren secretly, if I hadn't been so insistent to get the milk, if I hadn't been the arrogant brat that Horo always told me I was, perhaps all this troubles would not have surfaced.
Going home took a monstrous effort, for Pilica continued to cry and refused to leave her brother's side when visiting time was over. Horohoro had reassured her, time and again, that he would not commit suicide overnight or something like that, but Pilica was still not convinced. In the end, Anna had to take hold of her firmly and steer her all the way out, where Ren's chauffeur and car was awaiting. It took another half an hour before Pilica would go into the car owned by someone who had, in her opinion, just harmed her dearest brother, and it was very late when they finally reached home.
Ren went straight to his room the moment they arrived at the inn where they currently lived in. Now that the Shaman tournament was over, there had been a new craze. Weekly, even daily, there had been challengers to battle with the top few teams in a bid to gain fame if they win. So far, none of the challengers have succeeded, and the waves of battles continued. This spelled bad luck for Yoh, for Anna was determined not to let the Shaman King and Queen be shamed with his defeat, thus the harsh training sessions did not cease to exist even after Yoh had successfully became the Shaman King. However, according to Anna's rules, those teams were first required to defeat Ren's team before they were allowed to even post their challenges to Yoh, thus making Yoh's training look as if it was in vain, for no one had yet managed to go past Ren, Horohoro and Chocolove.
Horohoro… I wonder how you're coping now… Perhaps it's my fault after all…"Young Master, are you still thinking over what Ms Pilica said? You shouldn't let those words bother you, you know. You couldn't have known what was about to happen," Bason, in his spirit ball mode, piped up.
"Of course I'm not thinking about that. Why should I feel guilty for something I did not cause? I was just thinking about how inconvenient all this is for the team when we fight, that's all. I'm going to sleep now," whether or not Bason saw through all these lies, Ren would never find out, for all the spirit did was nod in a knowing way before disappearing.
The stars are so pretty tonight; I wonder why I've never noticed them before. The dots of diamonds glittering upon the ebony night sky gave Horohoro's imagination free rein, and they were working overtime. Every visible constellations, as it seemed to him, was depicting scenes from the past few months and the battles they have gone through. As he gazed out of the window, with Koloro perched on top of his head, he wondered if he could ever compete in a Shaman fight again. Not being able to hear would give his opponent an unfair advantage, and Horohoro seriously hoped that all this would just be temporary.
None of the doctors or his friends had mentioned this to him yet, nor would he be able to hear them even if they did, but Horohoro knew that he's totally deaf at the moment. He may not be that intelligent, but this fact isn't all that hard to guess out. For a brief moment, he wondered how they would break the news to him. In the form of a post-it note on his bedside? Imagine this note stuck on your bedside table:
We don't know how to break this news to you gently, but you're currently deaf and we don't know when the condition will improve.
Horohoro smiled inwardly at this thought before sighing. He didn't know how long he could keep up with all this silence before he finally snapped. Trying to think of happy-go-lucky, or immature in Ren's opinion, words to say had used to be his forte, but now he was getting tired of even trying. Perhaps I should take distressing lessons from Yoh. His friends had arranged for him to be placed in a private ward, making even lonelier than ever. He grew up with many people around him, and couldn't bear the thought of being alone for even a day. At least there's still Koloro, I should be grateful. I wonder how's Pilica right now…
It wasn't long before Koloro started jumping up and down upon his head; frantically grabbing his attention to remind him it was bedtime. The moment he looked towards Koloro, his guardian and friend curled up and snuggled on the pillow, using her leaf as a blanket. Horohoro threw another glance at the stars in the sky before settling for sleep. Stars are really beautiful, now I finally know why like Yoh; Ren loved gazing upon the radiant stars secretly at night. Perhaps one day we'll be able to do some stargazing together…
Author's note: Well, that's all for chapter 4… As usual, please remember to review XP
