Reviews:
Krazynkuki: Yay! Well, sure thing, since I'm updating now. Sorry it took me so long though! I'll try not to take so long for my next update.
FantineRose: thanks a lot! Hmm, good!
And thanks again, I hope I don't disappoint!
Thunder of Friendship: ahh, I do like this chapter a bit. Thanks a lot, I guess that's what happens when I think of stories that I have no plans for. Well, I have an idea sa to what I want to do, but I don't know how to end it, you know? Well, Yoh really trusts Hao in this story. No worries about that, I'm about to stray from the manga very soon.
SK-fan7: it's okay, don't worry about!
Your English isn't bad. If I can understand what you're saying, it's pretty good! And you're flattering me…
Thank you! Well, I hope you like this next chapter then! Hmm.. well, I think Hao seems kinda OOC though. But of well. Ah, well, yeah, Yoh has to choose between his friends/family and Hao! Ohh, I hope I didn't make you wait too long. Anyway, enjoy!
Zaza98able: No, it's fine, I totally get it!
I remember at one point while reading the manga, I was practically screaming at it to go fast or go to a part about Hao or Yoh. Yeah, the manga does get boring sometimes, but it was still really good! I love how Hana is a good mix of Yoh and Anna, and I love Yoh to bits. Hao's just… beyond words for me… I love those three!
:P
Haha, I steal my brother's food… yeah, he gets mad at me too. Lol, you sound so happy. Hmm…. Well, it's not good that they laugh at the stuff you write, but what a relief. I thought I might have written something strange…
Well, yeah. Lol, modest, aren't we? Just joking. You know, you already said that word said sorry once, you can say it again. AND DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT!
A/N: I'm sorry if there's any spelling mistakes. It was really cold when I was typing this one out, so I wrote it wearing gloves. Even though I've proof read it a few times, there still may be a few mistakes in there.
Moonlight Dream: "secrets."
The magic of love is moonlight;
I pray to an asterisk for lover's magic.
The city lights shine on me alone;
I've got a bittersweet twinge in my heart, but...
Woo, this is a love song...
Woo, sing in the moonlight…
I was floating in space. Everything was empty. I didn't know where I was. But for some reason, I felt a strange and eerie calmness. Some how, it turned out that I was in the ocean. A whale swam by, I followed after it. Slowly, more things came into this strange… "world." Ships appeared, and I didn't know if I was on the surface of the ocean of below it. Then, the Earth appeared under the ocean, and I began to see other life forms.
It was all so confusing, but it made so much sense… this was the history of the Universe…
A night sky appeared, a skeleton flashed by, there were many images, aliens, water drops, twin babies, faces… so many faces… and then, I was on the shore. I was above the ocean, standing on the sandy beach, staring out into the horizon. I walk towards the water's edge, and just as the water touches me feet-
"We'll create a world together. A world of our own."
I open my eyes. My breathing is ragged and I'm sweating. Looking around, I see that I'm alone. This room… where am I? "My friends…"
But then a few images flash before my mind again… "what… what was..?"
The images stop appearing before me. It's like some kind of a slide show in my head that just ended, but then I remember the dream I had just woken up from. I remember how it ended.
"We'll create world together. A world of our own."
A voice. That dream just now had ended with someone telling me… telling me something. The words sound so clear in my head, but I can't speak them out. Something's weird… something's… changed.
"What… what was that…? Where am I?"
"You finally woke up."
At that I glance to the side and I see Silva sitting there. He seems to be the only other person in the room. He smiles at me and welcomes me.
"You are in Patch Village. In the sacred country of the stars, where the Great Spirit is celebrated."
I… then I-I made it. I… I made it to the village, but where are my friends? Where's everyone else?
"Yoh, I congratulate you for getting here," Silva says.
"What was… all that…?" I ask Silva. He smiles at me and offers me some… soup.
"Drink this. There's nothing like good banana and fish soup after having visions." I take the cup from him.
"Visions?"
"You saw it, didn't you? The memory of the star that lies within you," Silva asked. I gave him a look that told him that I was utterly confused. He gestured for me to follow him, so I did.
"You received the Great Spirit's benediction Yoh. The Great Spirit accepts you," he said. We walk through a door, and we're outside now. I look up at what Silva seems to be staring at and I see huge mass of spirits… souls… all linked together and combined as one. So that's what the Great Spirit is. It's the innumerable souls all linked together. The souls of everything that ever came to be…
As I stare up in wonder, Silva starts explaining that the Great Spirit was where all souls came from and where all souls returned to. He told me more and more about the Great Spirit and the things that the Shaman King could do with such power, but we were interrupted. It seemed that Horo had just woken up as well.
At that, Silva and Karim told us where everyone else was. They told us how Ryu was the first to awaken, and that Ren never end fainted. Everyone had had their own visions, their own memories of the stars within them.
I wonder what Hao had a vision of?
Sitting in the middle of Patch village, my friends and I look around, seeing the various Shamans that had also arrived at the village. Everyone looked different and I think back to when we were in Japan, only a few months ago, waiting to board the plane. It seemed like such a long time ago… As we look around, we all decide to explore a little. We walk around from store to store, seeing the various trinkets for sale and foods too (it seemed that the banana and fish soup was quite a popular item on the menus of some of the restaurants, which reminds me, I didn't get to drink the soup that Silva gave me earlier). Patch village seemed to have everything that a modern city had, except, their technology was different. Everything that the Patch made was… more than ecofriendly. Their electronics didn't hurt nature or anything. Everything was a product of their Furyoku.
Ah, wouldn't it be wonderful if everyone on Earth just made things with Furyoku? Then pollution wouldn't be such a problem.
The more we walked around, the more I started to compare everything around me with things in a normal city. Everything here worked so well, and without hurting nature at all. Why couldn't humans find a way to do what the Patch did? The world would be a much better place-
"We'll create a world together. A world of our own."
- A cold wind blew by and I shivered, hearing the words that had been carried by the breeze. Who was that? I glance at my friends, seeing if they had said anything. But Ryu and Lyserg were looking at some skeleton keychain while Horo read over a restaurant's menu and Ren scolded him for being such a pig. It seemed that none of them had said a word, but then, who had that been? I shrug to myself. It must have just been my imagination.
Sometime in the evening, Lyserg disappeared. We also met a boy name Chocolove. He explained to us what was going to happen with the next round of the tournament, but just as we learned about having to form teams of three, Ren goes and says that Horo and Chocolove are in his team. That left me and Ryu. We weren't worried though, Ryu said that we could ask Lyserg later when he showed up again. I agreed and at some point, Faust showed up with Manta. It was all very weird, meeting up with everyone again after having that weird vision. I wonder what that vision of mine had meant? The memory of the star within me…
By night, we had found a building that we could stay at. The Patch said that they had hotel-like buildings for the contestants to stay at for tonight, and that the next morning, we'd travel to the island that the actual tournament was to take place on.
That night, everyone kind of just went and did their own thing, I don't know, I guess everyone just wanted time to themselves to prepare for everything that lay ahead. I wasn't complaining though. It had been a long time since I had time to myself, and frankly I liked it. I went out, finding a spot to go to stargaze. Amidamaru floated after me, keeping me company and chatting with me while we looked for a nice place to stop and relax at.
"Yoh-dono," Amidamaru started. "are you well?"
I smile. "Of course. Why do you ask?"
"I'm worried. A lot has happened and everything has been happening very fast. I just hope that Yoh-dono is unaffected and still well," Amidamaru explained. I smiled a little, happy that my mochirei cared so much.
"Ah, you don't have to worry. I'm fine," I say. Just then, I stop walking and I point to a spot in the field next to us. It was grassy, but the green field looked very soft and comfortable. The moon cast a light upon the field, making it glow beautifully against the backdrop of the midnight-blue sky. A few fireflies flew about, adding to the dream-like setting. It was all very breath-taking and stunning. "Let's stargaze over there."
I walk over and lie down on my back, facing the stars. Amidamaru watches as I do so, making sure that I'm safe like this, that they aren't any Shamans that wanted to eliminate some competition ahead of time. We stay like this for a long time, just stargazing and occasionally talking about something irrelevant. But it was all okay, because I loved to relax like this. The silence was interrupted once though. Bason, Ren's spirit came floating by, saying that Ren had wanted time to himself and so, the spirit was without company. Seeing Bason so lonely, I told Amidamaru to go with him somewhere, saying that I'd be okay by myself. After all, Amidamaru and Bason had become good friends during our travels, I was sure that those two had more to talk about than I did with Amidamaru (after all, I just wanted to sit out here in silence, really. It'd be kind of boring for Amidamaru out here), so I dismissed the two and went back to my stargazing.
"Ah, the stars are beautiful tonight," I say as I see a shooting star fly by. Quickly, I wish upon it, hoping for it to come true.
"They are, aren't they?"
I smile, my wish came true.
I feel a pair of arms pull me up and wrap around me. My back is firmly pressed against his chest as he holds me, surrounding me with himself. He feels warm, and it feels nice sitting like this. I lean my head back all the way so that I can see my visitor, only, upside-down.
"Hi Hao."
"Hello Yoh."
Seeing Hao like this, in the field and looking as handsome as ever, I feel an aching in my chest. The feeling tells me that I have longed for him to hold me like this in real life for a very long time. We have been like this many times before, but never in real life, only ever in my dreams. But thinking about this now, I wonder why Hao wasn't in my dreams when I wanted him to be.
"What's bothering you?" Hao asks, sensing the sudden change in my mood. It was very slight, but he still noticed it.
"Why weren't you in my dreams last time?" I asked. He shrugged. When he didn't give me a real answer, I wondered how he even found his way into my dreams in the first place. I wondered a lot of things about Hao, but this was one of the bigger questions. A silence passed, and I dropped the subject. I didn't really want to talk about sad things during such a nice moment.
"So how was your first day in Patch village?" hao asked me after awhile. I stop staring at the stars to watch look at Hao, tilting my head back again.
"It was interesting. I met a lot of new people today."
He smiled at me, "and how do you feel?"
I quirk an eyebrow, "what do you mean?"
"After your vision, how do you feel? Different? The same?"
"I feel, different. Just a little, but I know I'm different now."
"How so?"
"Something… I think something inside me woke up when I received the Great Spirit's benediction. The vision… the words… there was something strange about it all. But it all made sense when I was dreaming it, or hearing it. When I woke up, everything, all my senses, it all felt different."
Hao's eyes widened for a moment, but he made no other signs that he was surprised. I watched him, curious. Had I said something wrong…?
"I see," he replied after awhile. "You heard something too."
"What do you mean, Hao?" I ask. He gave me another smile.
"I've asked many people about their visions before. They all said that they could see, smell, taste and feel whatever was going on. They were visions from the Great Spirit itself after all, but…"
Hao trailed off.
"But what?"
"Rarely does anyone ever hear a message from the Great Spirit itself. Tell me Yoh, what did the Great Spirit tell you?" Hao asked. My eyes widened in understanding. Was it really so special to receive a message from the Great Spirit? If Hao was surprised, then I'm sure it was a big deal.
"Something… I can't quite recall. I mean, I can, but I can't say the words themselves," I frown. He pats me of the head, telling me it's okay.
"What about you?" I ask. Hao looks at me funny.
"What was in your vision?"
Hao laughed. I didn't know what was so funny, but I joined in anyway, it was because Hao's laugh was so mesmerizing. It made you want to laugh too, Hao just had that something about him that drew me into him, that made me want to be near him, that made…
"Many things happened in my vision, but I'll tell you a secret," Hao said. I waited for him to continue.
"The Great Spirit spoke to me too." This time, it was my turn to stare at him surprised. I leaned back into Hao's chest, no longer tilting my head back to see him.
"I can't say the words either. I wonder why," Hao added after a minute. I nodded, feeling him rest his chin on my head.
"Well, would you like me to let you in on a secret?" Hao asked. His tone seemed to have changed.
"What is it?" I asked. This time, I turned around so that I wouldn't have to look at him upside-down. The expression on Hao's face looked really serious.
He leaned in close to me. "It's a really big secret, and there's a lot of other secrets that come along with it."
"Tell me," I beg him. I feel like a little kid who's curious about a secret his parents having been hiding from him. Hao comes closer still, an inch separates our faces. Somehow, this feels familiar, it's like, déjà vu… I like the feeling of having Hao so close to me. Inside, I yearn to have him even closer to me. There's this bittersweet twinge inside my heart, telling me to stop, but telling me that I want this. Slowly, I lean in too.
Our lips brush against each other's, I feel an overwhelming sensation spread from my lips to the rest of my body. Suddenly, I'm aware that Hao's hands are on me too, touching me and roaming all over my body. It's then, when I'm so lost in this feeling, in his touches and in his kiss, that he chooses to speak.
"We're twins."
A/N : Oh psh, Hao. Like we didn't know that already ? ahaha, I just needed to get the fact that Yoh didn't know out of the way so we could move on to better stuff. Well, at least Hao and Yoh kissed (kinda)!
Well, hope you enjoyed it! If everything goes as I have sort of planned, then you guys will get to see someone else's POV aside Yoh's next chapter. :)
So, please review?
Oh and here's something kind of pathetic: the part at the end of this chapter was inspired by a drawing I did. Um, drawing fanart for myself, i find, pretty sad. Anyway, here's the picture if anyone's interested:
h t t p : / / w w w . f l i c k r . c o m / p h o t o s / 5 9 9 9 7 7 7 4 N 0 2 / 5 4 8 0 0 2 3 4 2 9 /
*Updated: the link above should work now.