Disclaimer: I do not own shaman king.

'thoughts'

"talk"

writing

XxX

When Yoh opened his eyes the next morning, he felt somewhat uneasy. He tried to shake it off as he walked downstairs, but returned when noticed how quiet the house was. Horohoro was fairly loud in the morning and with him gone, the house wasn't so noisy. He stopped walking right before he entered the kitchen. He could hear his mother talking to someone, judging by the fact that he didn't hear anyone else, he figured that she was probably on the phone.

Her manner of speaking suggested that the person on the other line was Lycan, Horohoro's father. She told him that Horohoro had gone missing and Mikihisa never came home from work yesterday. She almost started to cry as expressed her fear that Yoh might be next. Mr Usui seemed to suggest something that calmed her down because after she got off the phone, she didn't look as worried. Once he was ready to head out the door, Keiko stopped him.

"Yoh, when you come back home from school today I want you to have a friend walk you home, alright?" Keiko asked, her gaze shifting to the door for a moment before returning to him.

Yoh nodded silently before heading to school. He learned the way to the school after getting lost yesterday and actually arrived on time. Except for Mrs Shika's class, he fell asleep through the other three classes. When Yoh looked up he found Hao staring at him with an strange expression. Yoh wasn't sure what it was about, but he didn't have much time to think about it. A moment later the expression was gone and Hao was lecturing him about falling asleep in class.

Yoh smiled and blocked out the sound as he recalled the expression. What could it have meant? Hao snapped his fingers, turning Yoh's attention back to him. Hao muttered something along the lines of 'you're hopeless' and then walked to the cafeteria. Hao finished eating quickly and then headed to the principal's office, leaving Yoh to talk to Ren.

"How come Bakahoro isn't at school today?" Ren asked, attempting to hide his concern.

"Well, he never came home from school yesterday. He's been missing ever since then." Yoh replied slowly.

"!" Ren was completely silent, but his tongari grew about twelve centimeters to show how shocked he was.

"My mom doesn't want me walking home alone now. Would you walk home with me today?" Yoh asked sheepishly.

"Sorry, I can't. My sister brought over a friend last night and I have to explain the rules of the house to him as well as how to treat her." Ren said simply.

"New boyfriend?" Yoh asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Close enough." Ren replied with a smile.

Hao came back shortly after lunch break ended. They were playing dodge ball in gym class today and by the competitive look in Hao's eyes, Yoh had the feeling that he didn't want to get hit by one of those balls. It's not as though Hao was particularly strong, it's just that getting tit by one of those balls probably wouldn't feel that great. Today was a free for all, no teams, everyone against everyone.

There were ten balls, 25 students and almost everyone wanting to get Hao and his friends out, leaving little chance of Yoh not getting hit. though Hao didn't have much stamina, there had been no 'troublesome incidences' in the past and he was allowed to play. The teacher blew the whistle and then everyone lunged for the balls.

Yoh jumped out of the way when a ball came headed straight for his head. He quickly looked around to see how well Hao was doing and was relieved when he saw that nothing was wrong. Hao seemed to be having a little trouble with dodging but he was great at catching the balls that came within range. Hao was also a great shot, whenever he aimed a ball for someone, it never missed it's target.

Yoh guessed that skill, strategy and accuracy made up for the lack in strength, agility and stamina. Soon there were only five students left in the game, himself and Hao included. Yoh threw a ball and ended up hitting two of the other students with it, his first lucky shot all game. Hao caught the ball that the other student threw at him leaving only Yoh and himself left in the game.

Yoh jumped out of the way as Hao threw his ball first . What Yoh wasn't expecting was that Hao actually had two balls. While Yoh was distracted in dodging the first ball Hao threw the second ball, which didn't miss it's target, and won the game.

As the bell rang signaling the end of school, Yoh began to get worried. Ren couldn't go home with him and Hao lived on the other side of town, it would probably be too far off track for him to walk home with him. Yoh walked outside and felt a drop of water hit his nose, he looked up and saw it was raining. Yoh sighed as he watched all of the other students walk home. Yoh let the rain soak him until, strangely, it stopped. Yoh looked beside him and saw Hao standing over him with an umbrella.

"How come your not headed home like the rest of them?" Hao asked, trying not to sound too concerned.

"My mom doesn't want me to go home alone and Ren is busy." Yoh answered simply.

"Is it because of all the recent disappearances?" Hao asked calmly.

"Yes and no. Horohoro is one of the people who went missing. My mom is worried that I might be next." Yoh replied with a sigh.

"Then how about this? My dad is worried about me because I'm not exactly the strongest kid, he's probably right to be, and your mom's worried because your friend went missing. How about we take turns going to each others houses? Since it would be dangerous for either of us to go back to our own home alone, we could spend the night at the others house. We would switch every other day and that way neither of us would be alone." Hao suggested.

"Ok. Fine with me." Yoh said with a care free smile.

The two of them walked back to his house in not much time at all. When they arrived, Yoh's mom ran to the door and gave him a big hug, almost like she was worried that he wouldn't come back. Keiko noticed Hao's presence and said a friendly hello to him while giving Yoh a questioning look. Yoh sat down and explained the idea that Hao came up, Keiko face lit up instantly upon hearing the proposition. She told him that had been worried, she had to leave to talk to Horohoro's parents and unfortunately she couldn't bring him with.

She talked with Hao for a few minutes about various subjects. Yoh couldn't help but think that the way they spoke reminded him of a mother-in-law talking to the groom about the bride. He snapped out of his thoughts when the conversation appeared to be over, Keiko seemed to have decided that Hao was trust worthy. She turned back to face him and apologized about having to leave so soon, she gave him a kiss on the forehead and rushed out the door. The two of them waved goodbye as she drove away.

Yoh smiled as he turned back to Hao, offering to give him a tour of the house. He warned him that his parents room was off limits and that there were a few stray dogs in the area. Since his parents room as off limits and Horohoro's room was too messy for you to be able to see anything, especially the floor, it was decided that Hao would sleep in the attic with Yoh.

After they finished the tour and finished eating dinner, which was left on the table, they started talking. Yoh really liked talking to Hao about supernatural things. Surprisingly, Hao knew a lot of scary stories, even more than Horohoro. They stayed up pretty late trading stories about ghosts and demons.

"Hey, Yoh. Do you believe in such things as ghosts, demons, and monsters?" Hao asked with a friendly smile.

"Yea, I do." Yoh said thoughtfully. Hao seemed like the trustworthy type, maybe it would be alright to tell him.

"Hao, do you promise not to think that I'm crazy?" Yoh asked cautiously.

"No, but I won't start avoiding you if I think that you are." Hao said teasingly.

"Well, truth is that I'm as shaman." Yoh said sheepishly.

"...You were worried that I'd overreact to something like that? Personally I'm not a shaman, but I can see spirits. Was Horohoro a shaman too?" Hao asked with a curious expression.

"No..." Yoh replied hesitantly.

"Oh, he seemed a little weird to me so I thought that he might be-" Hao began.

"...He's a werewolf."

XxX

Me: Sorry it took so long to update, here's the next chapter ^^

Keiko: Please review.