Additional Author's Notes: This was written a little more than a month after I wrote the other side of the story. I got the impression that the previous story was a little too one-sided and opted to take another look at it from a different perspective. Being able to see the same story from multiple points of view is one of the benefits of long term role-playing. It also enables me to assert the fact that I am not the main character. More often than not it seems like the other characters have been conspiring against me with my friends behind my back anyway.

Disclaimer: Although the severely warped and twisted imagination is my own, Shaman King and its characters are the property of Hiroyuki Takei. All original characters are also the property of their respective creators.

Author's Notes: This time around I will be revisiting the events dealing with when Crystal and Hao were coming to terms with their feelings from a more Hao centric perspective. After all, he certainly had plenty to say about it.

Side Story 01b -- Defining Moments

In the years that had passed since the unexpected conclusion of the Shaman Fight, Hao had settled into the mindless tedium of living at Funbari Onsen with his younger brother and his brother's charming, yet exceptionally mild mannered fiancee. The newly restored Inn also served as a second home for several of Yoh's friends who had become frequent freeloading house guests. Of course this was only tolerated as long as they were willing to put up with taking orders from Anna to help out around the Inn by doing the grocery shopping or performing various acts of manual labor. Inevitably their most frequent visitor was Horohoro.

Then one day a pair of unexpected visitors arrived from quite a long distance away. That the two shamans accompanied by a waterfall spirit and a spirit that looked to be a mix between a wolf and a fox had arrived together was not surprising. The two girls had spent a good amount of the Shaman Fight traveling together for a variety of reasons that Hao wasn't personally familiar with. Still, Cat and Crystal had accompanied each other quite often enough that it seemed perfectly natural that they would arrive on Yoh's doorstep simultaneously. It was also quite likely that they had come together deliberately, possibly to make their visit a little less awkward than it might have been for one of them alone.

Needless to say, their arrival had provided Hao with some much needed entertainment. He was, however, caught momentarily by surprise when he found himself on the receiving end of a hug from Crystal which seemed strangely out of character on account of the fact that he knew she had given the idea some thought back when he was still able to read minds accompanied by the qualifier that she would never actually do it. Then again, it was entirely possible that the one she was trying to convince by thinking that was herself which just raised more questions. There would be plenty of time for that later which meant that for the moment he was able to regain his composure almost as soon as he had lost it. He concealed a hint of a smile behind his more typical look of amusement and tried not to sound overly smug knowing that the girl in question was probably already going to be off her guard when her mind finally managed to get caught up with her actions which meant that at the very least he could have a little fun messing with her.

"I knew you would come back eventually."

Crystal quickly took a step away from him and looked much more surprised than Hao had only seconds before her. She had already begun contemplating her actions with considerable confusion. Hao thought it was rather cute.

At first Crystal became distant. Even when Hao found himself alone with her she seemed to be on her guard. Hao hadn't meant to make her uncomfortable and mostly left her alone during the days that followed except that she seemed to have chosen the same spot by the river to do her stargazing at night that he had. The first night that it happened Hao decided to just pass it off as a mere coincidence. The second night he decided he might as well call her on it.

"Why did you pick this spot again?"

"Because I happen to like it here," Crystal answered him without hesitation. "And you know as well as I do that this is one of the best places to watch the stars from."

Hao wasn't about to argue with her about that. After all, it was very obviously true or he wouldn't have kept coming back to it.

On the third night something different happened. On the previous two nights Crystal had left for Funbari Onsen when she felt herself become too tired to keep up with her stargazing. This time, however, she simply let herself doze off on the grass by the river without a second thought. This fairly insignificant act caused Hao to reconsider the seemingly unlikely situation that he had gradually become aware of after Crystal's arrival just a few days before.

She trusts me, he reminded himself. And it's entirely possible that she still likes me.

Even if Crystal had gone on with her life over the past few years it didn't alter the fact that a connection existed between them. In the past it would have been easy enough for Hao to simply overlook it because he had been preoccupied with other things like creating his Shaman Kingdom and eliminating humanity. Now, however, there was very little to prevent him from being receptive to it. Unfortunately, Crystal still seemed to be in denial about it and that was going to make it a sensitive topic to bring up in conversation. Still, there was a part of him that wanted to talk about it.

As he watched her sleep he noted how well Crystal seemed to fit into these surroundings. A little while later, after she had managed to wake herself up, Crystal would provide him with the opportunity to discuss precisely what had been on his mind for the past few days. The outcome of that conversation would turn out to be surprisingly favorable.

The following afternoon Hao retreated to the roof of Funbari Onsen to get some time to himself. After all, most of the usual patrons of the Inn were generally more inclined to adhere to the laws of physics which meant gravity would discourage them from following him up there and those with the means to follow him were being kept busy by the charming Inn hostess. He had to hand it to Anna--she really did fit the profile quite nicely. Of course that obviously wasn't what he had gone up there to think about.

A lot had changed since the tournament. Hao couldn't deny that. He had done some terrible things and hurt a lot of innocent people in the past. Even if he had come out of it and learned the error of his ways that didn't alter what had happened. He, of all people, knew just how fickle the human heart could be. In a very general sense, Crystal still came off as being relatively innocent although unlike others with similarly seemingly misaimed trust it wasn't as if she seemed hopelessly naive about it. She was fully aware of the danger, but she was also confident in her intuition even as she went to extraordinary lengths to deny it.

Hao really wasn't sure whether or not he deserved to be around someone like that. Still, there was certainly a part of him that wanted her to like him. Perhaps he was still being arrogant and selfish, but it wasn't as if he couldn't be mature about it. He had already hurt enough people. That wasn't the kind of life he wanted anymore. More than that, he realized that for some reason Crystal seemed happy when she was with him and he wanted to keep it that way.

Hao knew he couldn't offer her a normal relationship, friendship or otherwise, but then looking into the distance he figured that probably wouldn't make much of a difference to her. An Oversoul with the distinct silhouette of a blue dragon with silver wings was streaking across the sky with an unsurprisingly familiar occupant at the heart of it. Indeed, the concept of "normal" hardly seemed to be relevant to her. At least that would make things a little bit easier for him.

"Very well then," Hao decided. "Two can play at that game."

Side Story 01b -- End

Additional Author's Notes: There is one more side story that I am inclined to submit after these. I think I'm probably going to want to wait on that though.