Summary: Character Death. "Everything will work out" was his motto. But this important moral was thrown out the window as the most powerful shaman came back into his life. The elder Asakura, however, remember only three things: his family, his shamanic superiority over other shamans, and his loneliness.
Please do not disregard my spelling and grammar mistakes; I want to correct them since I've seen some with bad grammar mistakes and the sentence end up meaning another thing. I don't want to confuse my readers. If I got any important information wrong, please inform me of that as well; that includes the Japanese.
Disclaimer: I own nothing except the plot line, though I wished I own Shaman King.
Blah blah - narration
"Blah blah" - dialogue/monologue
Blah blah - thoughts
Nantoka Naru
Epilogue
It's been a year since that incident. Hao is living with them now, and everybody else chose to stay for the eventful everyday (they still have to pay the rent, of course).
This day, the group traveled to Hokkaido where Horohoro and Pilika had buried Ryu and Tamao. The next day, they'll go to Izumo. On Hao's Spirit of Fire, they can get there in one day.
The graveyard where their friends were buried is a small one. It is out in the wilderness, a good hour walk away from the nearest small village. Spirit of Fire dropped its master and his companions down beside the graveyard and dissipated, awaiting its next task.
"Not even their spirit is left…" Hao said regretfully. He quietly laid the wild flowers down on their small grave. "Not one trace of their existence…"
Yoh came up and put his arm around his shoulder. "That's not true, nii-chan." Hao turned to his otuoto. "They're existing right here," he points to the graves, "and living right here." The younger twin points to his heart, then Hao's. The older shaman smiled and nodded.
Ren made a face. "Oh stop this mushiness." That sentence got him a hard bop from Anna.
Horo turned and made a face at Ren. "You're just saying that because you felt the same way." He smirked.
"What!" Ren, flushed from embarrassment, took out his Kwan Dao and charged at the Ainu. Horohoro was ready for the Chinese shaman this time, and took out his snowboard. He wasn't, however ready for the pendulum that circle him and Ren. Apparently, neither was the saffron-eyed shaman, as the wire tightened and both were pulled together, their heads smacking into each others.
Lyserg then pulled his string back. "Stop this nonsense. We should respect the dead. At least act more decent in front of their graves."
Jun nodded in agreement. "Ren, as your sister, I am ashamed." She looked over to her kung-fu master mochirei who is paying respect to the graves with the other spirits.
Pilika also nodded. "Nii-chan, you should be ashamed."
The two shamans bowed their head darkly and joined with Faust, Eliza, and Manta to pay their respect, but not before they glared at each other.
Yoh then turned to them. "Let's go eat now, shall we?" Everyone agreed.
As soon as they got out of the graveyard, Horo and Ren are at it again.
"Come on, Ren, let's finish what we started." Horo taunted.
Ren snorted. "So immature, baka Ainu. All you ever think about is fight."
Horo is angry at being called a baka, but he held it back. "Hmph, you're just scared 'cuz I've been practicing harder than you, and you think that you're going to lose. I bet you were relieved that we didn't fight inside the cemetery."
Ren held back his urge to kill the blunette. "Why would I be scared of dim-witted sorry-excuse-for-a-shaman like you?"
Horo smirked. "At least I don't look or fight like a girl."
That pushed the purple-haired shaman over the edge. "I'll show you, you pedophile freak!" He took out his Kwan Dao yet again and called Bason.
"Who are you calling a pedophile you pathetic spoiled brat!" Horohoro took out his snowboard and called out his Koropokkoru spirit.
Before they both had a chance to do anything, though, two strong hands grabbed their heads and lifted them off the ground. Jun sighed and went to her little brother. "Don't you guys have enough yet?"
Ren pouted, something that he doesn't usually do. "But Nee-san, he started it." He talked in a childlike tone, surprising Jun as she told Pailong to put them down.
"That's no excuse for your childish behavior." Pilika came up to them. "Nii-chan, you come with me up front."
Yoh and Manta are chatting up front as Hao summoned the Spirit of Fire. They looked back as they hear a gradually louder "ow, ow, ow, ow, OW, OW, OWOWOWOWOW!" as Pilika dragged her brother up in a net, the older Ainu making dangerous fiction with the rocky ground. Smiling softly, they got up onto the Spirit of Fire, and as soon as they did, flew off in the direction of Izumo, way down south.
The next day, the group landed just outside Izumo. They headed toward the direction of the Asakura estate. The large door opened suddenly and Mikihisa stood there. "I thought you guys would come."
Hao, who was in the front with Yoh, Manta, and Lyserg, fidgeted. "I…Uh…" he and Mikihisa hadn't met since the last time in Tokyo.
Mikihisa threw a quick look and his eyes softened, even though the mask doesn't show it. "Come on," he said gently. Hao looked up, hesitated, and nodded, following his younger brother.
"The cemetery's in the back, as always," the raven-masked man explained as he took the group inside. "Did you guys eat yet?"
Anna nodded respectfully. "Hai, ojii-sama. We ate just before we left."
Mikihisa led them to the back and turned to leave. "You are not coming with us, Mikihisa-san?" Jun asked, noticing his turned back.
"I've already paid my respect. I'll leave you young people alone." Then he left. Hao stared after him for a while, then followed the group.
"Whoa, this is huge, Yoh." Horo looked at the vast land spread before him.
Yoh looked over at the cuious Ainu. "We have a large family." He smiled.
The group stood at the graves with the names Youmei, Kino, and Keiko engraved on them. Anna went and put flowers down on Kino's grave, while Yoh did the same for Youmei and Hao for Keiko.
"Okay, we'll have a picnic here." Anna said as she turned to the group after each had paid their respect. Manta's eyes bulged. "He—Here? In the cemetery."
Yoh gave his best friend his lazy smile. "It'll be like eating with them." He indicated his family. Several of his ancestors had yelled at Hao when they first came, but after some explaining, they just accepted the truth quietly, relived at the change.
So Anna ordered the guys, excluding Faust for he is in a wheelchair, to set up the cloth for picnic while the girls, other than herself, got the food ready. Hao felt something near, but when he stood up to inspect it, Anna threw the core of an apple that she was eating at him. "Don't wander off until you're done."
"Hai, Anna…" Hao bent down to work. Yoh told me that I asked Anna to be my wife; what could I have been thinking when I did that?
Finally, all said and done, the group got down to eat. With Horo constantly trying to put mustard in Ren's milk, the said Chinese shaman trying to avoid that, Pilika talking amiably to Jun, Eliza feeding food to Faust, Yoh listening to his music and taking a nap as Manta talked with Lyserg while Anna is reading a book that she brought, Hao was able to sneak away and head toward the familiar presence that he felt.
As he approached a more secluded area, he saw, sitting under a tree, the familiar form of a short girl chomping on an unfamiliar fruit. The girl looked up and, seeing who is approaching, jumped up excitingly. "Hao-kun!"
Hao waved a hand at her, "hello, Opacho-chan." He smiled at the sight of his friend. "What are you doing here?"
Opacho went back to eating her fruit. "Waiting for Hao-kun." She said simply. "Opacho knows that Hao-kun's twin brother will come back here to visit his family, and hoped that Hao-kun will be here as well." She then smiled proudly. "Opacho practiced a lot after Hao-kun left, so that when Opacho sees Hao-kun Opacho wouldn't accidentally say 'Hao-sama'." Then she turned her attention back to her fruit.
Hao was slightly, only slightly, taken aback when he saw the fruit this time. What is it this time? He seems to be distracted by those things a lot. The fruit this time is pink in a cube-ish shape, with white stripes running vertically down the fruit. The inside…is purple. A deep, almost blackish purple. Lime yellow dots are in the purple part of the fruit. Just looking at it makes Hao lose his appetite, but of course he wouldn't say that to the girl. Shaking the question as to whether the thing's even edible, he smiled instead.
"I told you we'd meet again. This proves that we're true friends."
Opacho nodded. "So, has Hao-kun reached the end of the road that chooses his life yet?"
Hao took a glance at Yoh's group, in the distance, and turned back. "Yeah. Have you?" he inquired after the small girl.
His friend was thoughtful for a moment. "Opacho doesn't know. Opacho had spent many of her life with Hao-sama, and now that Hao-sama is Hao-kun, Opacho is not sure if Opacho is living the life that she chose."
Most of that phrase confused Hao, what's with third person and all, but he smiled. He does understand one thing. "Wait."
Opacho watched as her friend went down to the main part of the cemetery, and saw him join Yoh and the others, some yelling on Anna's part, then everyone went back to what they were doing. Then she saw Hao gain their silence and said something. The group's reaction was in unison, from shock to confusion. Then Yoh smiled and said something, and everyone said different things. They all turned to Anna, who said something, and they went back to what they were doing. Opacho finished her fruit and got another one from the nearby tree as Hao approached.
"What was Hao-kun doing?" Opacho asked as he bit into the fruit. Hao looked at the fruit blankly with an expression of 'where did she get that?' before breaking into a smile. "Opacho-chan," he addressed the younger girl.
"Hmm?" She answered with a mouthful of the 'thing'.
The older shaman bent down. "Would you like to come home with me?" he asked.
Opacho's eyes widened. "Really?" she questioned, unbelieving.
Hao stood up and frowned. "What? Don't want to?" he said, slightly bothered.
The little girl jumped up and down in excitement. "Of course Opacho wants to. Opacho thinks that Opacho's path of life is to follow Hao-kun and Yoh-kun." As Hao smiled, Opacho suddenly remembered something and went up a nearby tree. Confused, Hao followed.
"Catch these please, Hao-kun." Hao barely had a time to respond before a blur of pink came down and he caught it hastily. On a closer inspection, he sees, incredulously, that it's the fruit that she was eating. So that's where she got them.
The next five minutes involves Hao watching in terror as Opacho proceeded to throw down twenty more of those. She clampered down afterwards and looked in satisfaction. "That should be enough. Opacho will give those to Yoh-kun and his friends as presents for letting Opacho stay with them."
Hao smiled bitterly. "O-Okay…" then he puts the fruits down and puts Opacho on his shoulder. He picked up the fruits and walked toward the direction of the group.
Getting twenty-one of those resulted in the dinner back in Funbari Onsens consisted of an entire full-course meal made of the white-striped pink fruits. The messes of pink, white, dark purple, and little yellow dots resulting in most of them losing appetite.
Ren is surprised that Jun can actually whip up something with those things, while said sister looks proudly at her creations. Lyserg has on a polite, accepting face while on the edge of barfing. Yoh's smile twitched and Manta scooted a little distance from the table. Anna just stared, hoping that it'll burn, while Faust pondered over whether he had seen this fruit in his 'doctor's guide to all edible and non-edible food' as Eliza edged closer to her husband. Hao just looked at the thing, wondering how Opacho can eat it. Pilika's face paled at it and Horohoro…took a huge spoonful of one of the dishes as Opacho proceeds to start eating. They had all said 'Itadakimasu' but no one else took anything. The group stared at Horohoro.
"What?" the Ainu looked at the group. "It might just be like the time when Yoh tried to cook us breakfast—mmm mmf mf mmf mmm…" Yoh, who just happen to sit next to the blue Ainu, quickly put up his hand to cover his mouth.
Anna glared at Yoh. "What do you mean?" the question was directed at the older blunette.
"Well," Horo pried Yoh's mouth away and jumped back when the short-haired brunette attempted again with a I-don't-want-to-die-yet look that the Ainu didn't notice. "The day when Hao came, Yoh had attempted to make a stew for us for causing us trouble, but you know what the original color was?"
Anna suddenly didn't want to know. Silence, as Opacho, oblivious to others' rejection of the fruit, kept on eating. After a moment, Ren told the answer that no one else asked for. "Greenish-yellow with red dots in them."
"No," Jun cut in to counter her brother as the others pondered, not remembering any greenish-yellow stew that day. "It was Pink poka-dotted yellow. Ren, have you forgotten its color since it was a year ago?" she argued.
Yoh, who finally managed to cup Horohoro's mouth, was aghast as Ren and Jun started recalling the incident as well. "It was a rich tanned color, remember? There was nothing wrong…" But Ren cut him off.
"No, nee-san. It was greenish-yellow to start with, and when it got burned once that baka Ainu disturbed us, it turned pink poka-dotted yellow, then bluish purple, then maroon colored with green stripes, then…"
Jun puts her right fist in her left palm. "That's right! When we finally calmed it down, it was a rich tanned color, just like Yoh said. Horo ate it, so we did too, and it was good so I decided that it can be served for breakfast."
Hao looked over at his younger brother. "That's a lot of color change there, otouto."
Lyserg smacked his palm on the table. "That's not the point there."
"The point is," Faust aided, "that we all put a whole bowl of that thing down our stomachs."
"I didn't." the onmyouji said calmly.
Anna quietly stood up and walked over to Yoh, who is now suffocating the blue-haired shaman with his hand over his mouth. "Yoh…"
"Ehehehe…Yes, Anna?" by then, Pilika had managed to stop Yoh from suffocating her brother, Manta had fainted from the thought of putting a bowl of that 'something' down his stomach, and Opacho had finished half a plate of everything, now watching the scene with undivided and curious attention.
Anna punched Yoh roughly so that he stumbled through the door and smacked against the wall, the blow rendering him unconscious. "It wasn't enough that you put that shorty into the water used to boil the egg, you had manage to make a stew that changed color until it looked edible?" She went back to her seat and started staring at the half-eaten dishes, hoping again that they'll burn.
Horo then proceed to put the spoonful that he got earlier into his mouth. The rest of the group stared at him. "It's not that bad. Here, try it." The Ainu then shoved a spoonful down Ren's throat, the Tao happening to sit next to him.
The Chinese shaman choked at the sudden intake and was about to kill Horo when he paused. "This really isn't that bad." The two then went on and got more.
The rest looked at one another, except Yoh who is unconscious and Opacho who is staring at the unconscious Yoh. Then Lyserg and Jun bravely got a spoonful themselves.
"Well, I'd say it's passable for food." Lyserg commented thoughtfully.
Jun chewed on the substance. "It'll need a little more flavor, but not bad."
Whoever that are left eyed one another and, throwing away whatever's left of their sanity, dug into the atrocious thing. It's not bad, they decided, but the look needs to be worked on. This thing can very well be mistaken for something poisonous.
Yoh lies unconscious through the whole meal.
Hao sat on the hill in the cemetery, gazing over the city. The afternoon wind softly graced his calm features as he leaned back against the tree he's sitting under. He heard someone approaching but didn't turn. He doesn't need to turn to know who it is.
"Hey, onii-chan." The short-haired brunette came up next to his twin and sat down beside him.
"Hello, otouto." He glanced toward his younger brother. "What are they doing?"
"Well," Yoh lied down on the grass, "Ren is chasing Horohoro around, apparently about something Horo had said. Anna is watching her soaps, Lyserg went to buy who-knows-what he wanted, Jun and Pilika are making dinner. Manta is talking to Opacho, seemingly glad to find someone around his height. Faust and Eliza are strolling or whatever in the park."
"I see…" the short response was followed by a comfortable silence as they looked over the city at the reddish-orange sky of the afternoon. After a while, Yoh broke the silence.
"Hey Hao?" he called.
"Yeah?" the older shaman responded plainly.
Yoh fidgeted a while, contemplating whether to ask. He gave in to curiosity in the end. "Do you…still want to kill all the humans?" he asked it. The younger brunette hopes that it doesn't trigger something.
Hao was thoughtful for a while. "I'll admit that I'm not exactly fond of them," he started, and Yoh's face changed color. Hao quickly continued, "but the thought of killing them never crossed my mind. I can learn to block out their thoughts now, but that needs concentration, and I can't do it all the time, so when their thoughts pile in, it's kind of irritating. I assure you, though, that I won't kill them. You don't want me to kill anyone right?"
Yoh slowly nodded. "Then I won't kill anyone if I can help it." Hao said, satisfying his younger twin.
Another silence ensued before Yoh ventured another question. "Do you…wish that you could get your memory back?"
Hao didn't even think about this one. "I am content the way I am now." That is all Yoh needed. He smiled. "Well, if you want to survive in our house, then you should follow the rules." He said. Hao turned. In his one and a half years living there, he's never heard of the rules.
"And what would they be?" he asked his otouto.
Yoh held up one finger. "One, smile more," his brother did just that. "Not a problem."
Yoh held up his middle finger along with his already raised index finger. "Two, Anna-sama's words are law." He smirked as he put his hand down. "Think you can do that?"
Hao laughed, a child-like laugh that rang clearly in the empty cemetery. "I can try." He stood up and held out a hand to his otouto. "Now if we don't get back in time for supper, we'll make Anna-sama angry for making her wait."
Yoh smiled and accepted his onii-chan's hand. Then the two went off toward the inn as the stars rose into the sky with the moon, casting their gentle glows onto the peaceful city.
-Owari-
Mochirei – primary spirit.
Nee-san/Onee-san – Older Sister
A/N: Well, that's that, and so the fic ends. HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!!
I think the epilogue was done pretty bad. The story's ending didn't go as well as I wanted it to, and I don't know how to make it better so bare with me there. (Opacho came out of nowhere, I know)
Thanks for everyone who read up to this point. I really appreciated the supports and reviews.
Final Reply for Reviews:
Lost to Reality: Yay! Kawai ninjas! - huggles- Haha I complete sympathize with you on the writer's block thing. Too many times had I need to face it... Well, here's the last chapter!
Sora no Hoshi: (oh here's a long one) First of all, I will thank you for adding my review count by one. Second, I need to say this: YOU. ARE. LAME. Not only do you lack the originality to the point where you have to use my username, you also wrote in first person's point of view as if you wrote the story that you criticized, not I. If you think that I will stop writing this story just because you wrote such a lame flame, you better find another person, preferably yourself, to tick off. I mean, if you want to flame, fine, go ahead since I said I accept flames, but DON'T USE MY NAME, DAMMIT! If you even have half as many guts in flaming as I do in writing and posting this story, you will at least leave your e-mail address so I can have some private talk with you, and the conversation will be filled with VERY colorful vocabularies (even though I am not prone to cussing, even in writing). If I truly dislike my own story, I wouldn't be lame enough to flame it, but to take it down instead. In fact, if I do not like this story, I would not have written it at all, even less posting it. You are a jerk and you are very disrespectful to all who have tried hard in order to please others and themselves. If I ever find out who you are, I'll make sure to give you more than just this piece of my mind. Go entertain yourself somewhere else and leave me and the hell alone. (-whew- that felt good)
Runelesca: Here's the epilogue, and though it's not as good as I would want it to be, I don't know how to make it better and it's at least an offical ending. I hope you're satisfied with it.
Zero Factory: Thank you! I have to admit, the slapping part came out of absolutely nowheere XD.
l2uly: Well, I guess I'm also a sadist for writing so many deaths in like...ten chapters...ANYWAYS, I like the X-laws too, but I really don't like their philosophy and weird reasoning, so...there they go. Thanks for revewing all the way until the end. Much appreciated.
Too Lazy to Sign In / InsaneBlackHeart: GLOMP! Thanks for reviewing even though you're so dead. Much thanks for the reviews!!!!
Little-Anna-Chan: Haha there goes the X-laws...I didn't really kill them but you can just say that they landed in a pile of spikes after they ran away and got trapped in a barrel filled with cement and pushed into the ocean and drowned or something...hehehe. Anyways, thanks for revewing! I love all the reviews!
demonz8000: Thanks for reviewing anyways! Yes I know the X-laws popped out of absolutely nowhere but the chapter needed them so out they pop! Thanks again for the reviews!
Musically Gone: Yes, I believe in second chances. Of course, you cannot complete that chapter without letting SoF do some good slapping on the X-Laws angel. XD. Glad you liked it. Hope you enjoyed the epilogue as well!
Whoa, so many reviewers (in my opinion) this time! I'm so happy that everyone who did stayed with me this far! Much appreciations for all those who reviewed at all (even -cough- Sora no Hoshi...) I love you all.
Just an extra thing...I don't know why, but I'm very satirical of the X-Laws. Probably the idea of a girl living in an Iron Maiden and a follower wearing short-shorts for a comfortable battlesuit is just great inspiration for humor, or even parody. Don't get me wrong, I like Jeanne, but the X-Laws logic can sometimes be so...yeah.
Wow, I'm so happy that I got this far on my first fic. :cries: Thanks for the support everyone. Well, I hope that you all enjoyed it, and please REVIEW.