The Meeting
Hi. Sorry for the wait. I don't really have a good excuse this time. So the truth is, I forgot. That's the plain and simple truth. You guys must really be getting fed up with me. I'm really, really, really, really sorry!
Zeke is back. After his fight with Yoh he recovered at a street boys hospital, then escaped with a mask to hide himself from the world. Fonix has accepted Hao's demon side and the two of them have told their hard life stories to each other. Hao has introduced himself to Yoh as his guardian and now rescued him twice. Hao also gave Yoh half of a ying-yang necklace, which he has been instructed to never take off, and kept the other half for himself. After Hao's not so smooth going second rescue Hao was left injured and unconscious. Hao's luck with doctors showed itself once again as Hao came to be tin he care of the one and only Dr. Faust. Also he was surrounded by Yoh's friends and family who hate him. Hao then made his second escape of this story, but left a note for Yoh to meet him 'in the field, alone' I he wished to talk a little more.
Now the story begins.
Hao opened his eyes, which felt s if they had just opened from sleep and looked at his surroundings. He was standing in the middle of a wide path. A path that was framed by free fall cliffs that led to complete blackness. How he knew that Hao wasn't really sure. He couldn't see clearly down each side, for he was in the middle of the path and his feet would not move from the spot. Stranger yet, Hao was in his demon form.
Suddenly Hao was moving and was getting progressively faster. But Hao's feet weren't moving, the ground was moving under his feet! Hao couldn't fight it so he didn't try. Hao let the ground take him down the path and through a city. Something was different about this city though. It wasn't like the modern cities, given it did have some small similarities. Hao realized then what was so different! It was like a city from his second try at life, from 500 years ago. Hao zipped through the city to come to the gates of a huuuge castle. Here he stopped for half a minute, then the ground brought him inside.
Once inside a ball/throne room the ground stopped moving him. Hao, being a half-bread, had been hurt by demons many times before and was in no hurry to repeat the painful experiences. However, now his own feet were bringing him towards the demons. Hao was panicking! Though it didn't show. He seemed to of lost all control over his body, even his face muscles! Outwardly Hao looked calm, strong and confident. Mmm… this was odd. As Hao got closer to the demons a sense of calm started to come over him. Once he stood before the three demons, he was completely calm. The demons stood on a platform half a meter higher then the floor that Hao stood on. The two demons on the sides, both male with blurry faces, bowed lightly to him, and the demon in the middle, a female also with a blurry face, Hao somehow knew they were smiling at him. Once the demons beside the female straighten again, the younger male demon, on the right said warmly, "Welcome Pr…"
Hao awoke suddenly; Yoh was coming!
Hao could sense Yoh's presents come towards him, but the extra warning from Fonix was nice. Fonix had been sent to keep a look out for Yoh. If Hao could sense Yoh why was Fonix sent to keep watch, you ask. Well that's because Fonix was in a chatty mood and Hao wanted to get at least a little sleep. Hao hide in the surrounding trees with Fonix and waited for Yoh. As Yoh entered the clearing Hao looked carefully for Amidamaru, Amidamaru was a samurai after all and could hide his presents. By the time Yoh reached the center of the clearing Hao had determined that Amidamaru was not here. Yoh called out, "Guardian! My Guardian, I came to talk to you!" Hao waited for Fonix to get on his shoulder before coming out and saying, "So you have more questions… You came alone, right?" Once Yoh had answered 'yes' Hao continued to walk to the north side of the field where a big bolder sat. (Hao came out from a west direction, and Yoh from the south.) As soon as Hao was seated and facing Yoh Hao patted a spot on the bolder, inviting Yoh to join him. When Yoh had joined his guardian and his guardian's sprit on the bolder and was comfortably seated Fonix jumped into Yoh's lap and demanded to be scratched behind the ear like Yoh had done when they first met. Yoh did as he was bid. "Well. Now the your needs are meet." Hao said sarcastically to Fonix.
The three sat there, Hao was listening to Yoh's thoughts, which was far from in-order, Yoh in a daze trying to get his thoughts in order and Fonix was enjoying his ear scratch with absolutely no thoughts going through his head. After a while Hao stopped listening to Yoh's thoughts and just waited. After a good 8 minutes Yoh's mouth moved faster then his brain and still in his daze Yoh finally asked the one question he truly needed to know the answer to, "Who are you?" "I can't tell you that." Hao responded completely calm and unfazed by Yoh's question. "Oh! R-right I knew that. T-that jus-just slipped out. S-sorry." Yoh stammered out. Hao couldn't help but smile under his mask; Yoh was cute and funny when he did this. After another silence Yoh asked, aware of what he was saying now, "Do I know the person under this mask?" Yoh looked over at his guardian, trying to determine, again, who was under that mask. Hao meet Yoh's gaze and smiled with his eyes, "Of course you do. I'm your guardian." "No!" Hao's smile faded "I know that. I mean; do I know the real you, the one underneath this mask?" Yoh revised his question and touch his guardians mask like it would allow him to gain the information he sought. Hao allowed Yoh to touch his mask he wasn't trying to pull it off after all. After a while of contemplating what he should answer Hao took hold of Yoh's hand and guided it away from his mask and back to Yoh's occupied lap, then answered in all seriousness, "Yes." The answer was quiet, just above a whisper, which Yoh's next question was not. "Then why won't you let me know who you are!?" The conversation had been, for the most part, quiet and thus Yoh last out burst caused Fonix the to jump in Yoh's lap. Hao reached over and patted his friend's head to calm him, which also calmed Yoh a little. Yoh waited for his answer, "It's not just you. It's everyone. If you knew who I am you might not let me protect you." Hao signed them continued. "Your friends and family definitely wouldn't allow me to." Yoh went silent for a few minutes again, to let that answer sink in. "Then, why are you protecting me anyway?" Yoh was back to being serious, calm and wanting answers. This question Hao didn't need to think about. "I owe you. This was the only way I could think of to pay you back." Yoh thought about this answer to. 'He does nothing but speak in riddles.' Yoh grumbled in his mind and the thought did not go unheard by Hao, who inwardly laughed.
There wasn't much light now, the blaze of colour that was the sunset was fading. "I have one more question." Yoh stated. 'I doubt that.' Hao thought. Yoh, unaware of his guardian's cheeky retort, continued, "You know a lot about Hao right?" "Yes." Hao answered not quite sure where this came from or where it was going. "Hao was actually a nice person. Those people that attacked me made him do all those horrible things. Right?" "…" Hao didn't answer this time, he just looked at Yoh asking with his eyes 'What are you getting at?' "Well then… D-do you know how some one as strong as him could be controlled?" "I see… Before I answer that Yoh. Be assured I will answer it. Let me ask you a question. Why do you care? Why do you care if Hao did what he did upon his own free will or by force?" Hao continued to watch Yoh as Yoh gave his answer. "Well, as I'm sure you know I was the one who dealt the final blow to Hao." The masked boy nodded and heard a thought shoot through the headphone wearing boys mind, 'He's not died!' This thought was quickly pushed away as Yoh spoke again. "I feel guilty for it. I never wanted to fight him in the first place. I don't think that anyone that can see sprits can be all bad. So please tell me, was Hao really at fault!?" Yoh's voice had risen a good amount by the end of his explanation. "I see. " Hao said again. Then he signed eyed Yoh as if making sure he could handle the answer he was about to give. "Hao was partly at fault… They did not tell Hao who to kill, who to use, and every step he was to take. Hao decided all that himself." Yoh seemed both relieved and saddened by that answer. "They were the one that put Hao on that path that lead to him making these decisions." "What do you mean?" "Hao…didn't really have a normal childhood. They controlled most, if not all, of Hao's childhood from the shadows. Steering him from the very beginning to eventually come to them; Hao had no chose but to be controlled by them." The Guardian spoke solemnly. After a long silence Hao took Fonix from Yoh's lap and told Yoh it was getting very late and he should get back; lest his friends and family get worried and come looking for him. Yoh agreed without argument and slipped off the bolder, said a cheeky good-bye and thank you, then headed back.
As Yoh walked back down the path leading home he looked up at the moon and thought, 'He seems so familiar. Even if I can't see his whale face, those eyes, I know I've seen them before… But it's more than just his appearance, I feel like I have this really deep connection to him.' Yoh continued to walk, watching the moon hover silently above, contemplating these concepts. At the same time Hao was watching the same moon and answered Yoh, "Yes you do know me. And yes we do have a very deep connection Yoh; were two parts of the same soul."
Two seconds after Hao's unheard, except for Fonix, answer Yoh's thoughts turn to 'owwww'. Yoh had tipped over a tree root because he was looking up and a fallen on his nose.
Well, there you go. I'm sorry about the wait again.
