Chapter 37

'Hao!' All of them exclaimed.

'I'm over here.' another voice interrupted and they froze. They slowly turned to the limousine and saw another Hao standing there waving cheerfully at them.

Horohoro rubbed his eyes and looked at the waving Hao before looking at the tied up Hao.

'REN! I SAW TWO HAOS! THIS WORLD IS GOING TO END!' Horohoro exclaimed and Ren smacked him in the head.

'Urusai, there is no such thing as two Haos! One of them must be Yoh!'

'I'm right here guys.' Another voice interrupted and they turned to the taxi and saw the other Hao carrying Yoh on his back.

'Yo!' he grinned and waved to them as Hao who was carrying him walked towards them. All of them stared at him in disbelieve.

'REN! I SAW TWO HAOS!' he said and the next thing he knew he was being knocked unconscious by Ren.

'YOH! WHAT IS GOING ON?!' Ren yelled as he took out his Kwan Dao and pointed at Shiro's direction.

'Calm down, Ren…'

'D-Danna, what happened to your leg?' Ryu asked.

'and how come there were two Hao-samas, Yoh-sama?' Macchi asked.

'We weren't seeing things are we?' Mari asked.

'We'll explain everything later. Right now it's best you all go and serve our guests.' He said and turned to the Yoshifumi's.

'No way…He was your supposed real brother?!' Horohoro pointed towards Shiro who gave him a blank stare.

'Well…yeah…'

'That's impossible! He's so antisocial and quiet! Look! He won't even smile at anyone!' he said as pointed directly at him.

SMACK!

'I'll be going outside.' Shiro said and left.

'Ouch…even his slap is more painful than your fiancee's slap.' Horohoro clutched his cheek.

'Serve you right Boroboro.' Hao said and snickered.

'It's Horohoro!'

'You're really are something Hao. You turned him into your guinea pig.' Ren said and smirked.

'What's that supposed to mean?'

'Hmph, he wouldn't refuse to speak to anyone out of no reason. The only logical reason for his antisocial behavior is because he already knew he wasn't welcomed here. In other words, he already met us. If I wasn't mistaken, from the beginning the Hao we met wasn't you, it was him.'

'Yup, that's right. You're pretty sharp Ren.' he said and Ren smirked in response.

'With all the hatred we shown on him who we mistaken as you, it wasn't surprising he refused to interact with any of us. That way, he would always remain attached to you. A good deal isn't it?'

'I wouldn't totally agree on that one. Shiro might not interact with most of you but he still interacts with Tanma and Yoh. Plus, I don't have the ability to control him. That's why it wasn't impossible for him to not get along with you unless you never wanted to get along with him.'

'By the way, what is your family doing with the guest in the other room? Why wouldn't he let us in?'

'They wanted to pick new names for Shiro.'

'Pick new names? Why would they--'

'That's because the name Shiro was given by me. His other name Yuuji was given by the Yoshifumi's so in a sense, he didn't have a name because he was never born 15 years ago. He only came to life after Yoh inflicted the final blow on me.' Hao explained and they stared at him incredulously. Just as they were about to shoot him with many questions...

ushi tora no kanata yori umareshi mi nareba

yami no uchi

iku-dama, ashi-dama, shini kaeshi-dama

'Did you hear that?' Horohoro asked as they listened attentively.

oni mochi ni kazari aka iro no tate hoko wo matsure

'That sounds like…'

oira ka ni mukaibi tsuke yaki shirizokete

yami no uchi

'Shiro…'

uzu no ki, hiiragi, nuritenoki

ri ga hi ni otsureba kuro iro mono matsure

'Manta, could you push me to the garden?'

'Oh…okay.'

'I'm going with you.' Hao told him.

'Me too.'

They all turned to Ren who was drinking his bottle of milk. He placed the now empty bottle on the table and wiped his mouth before turning to them and said...

'I'm not really interested but I'll go.'

mahoroba wa "yasuraka na ramu" kashin fuu

ayakashi tote to hore totemo kakutemo

Meanwhile, Sara was having her meal with Yukino in the dining table.

'That voice…' Sara said and exchanged glances with Yukino. Then, they both stood and went out of the room.

miyama ki ni "kochi fuki madofu" kakumo gato

asa fumasu ramu ikite mimu tame

'Anata, did you hear that?' Keiko told his husband who nodded.

'Ahh…very clearly.'

okusoko no ne no kuni yori araware idete

yahiro hoko

iro koku someta himo de shibari

sora yo kakeri ikamu kishin ni michi nakuba

Yoh and the others arrived and saw Shiro sitting on the verandah with white colored birds surrounding him. One of the birds perched on his shoulder as he gently stroked another bird that was perching on his finger. Yoh was about to go nearer when Hao stopped him. He looked up and Hao shook his head in disapproval. Just then, someone placed their hand on his shoulder and he turned. It was Keiko and the others. Apparently, Shiro's singing had brought everyone here.

sagashimi to "miyama kashikomi" waga na dzumi

kono yo naru ma wa yamu to kimonashi

ame tsuchi wo "ushihaku kami no" ara mitama

kokoro enmu yamo hitori shi omoe--

'Achoo!'

His voice trailed off as all the birds suddenly flew away. He turned and saw everyone looking at him before turning to glare at Horohoro. He slowly stood up and dusted of the dirt of his clothing.

'Gomen, did I interrupt you all?'

'Not really.' Yoh and Hao said in unison.

'Ne, Yuu-nii, how come I've never heard you sang before?' Sara asked curiosity getting the best of her.

'I don't know either.' He said and walked away.

'Shiro.' Anna called out and showed him a long list of grocery ingredients.

'I want you to buy all of them and come home in 1 hour.'

'Sure.' He shrugged and took the list.

'A-Anna, isn't the time a little bit too…short?'

'He'll be fine. He does things very quickly.' She said as she crossed her arms over her chest.

'I'll be going then.'

'Wait, I'll come with you!' Hao said and wore his shoes.

'Nii-san, I want to go too!'

'No need. You'll only be a burden if you go there Yoh.' Anna said bluntly and Yoh gave her a wounded look.

'We'll be going then.' the two said and ran out of the house. Silence then built up until...

'Ne Okami Anna…'

'What is it Ryu?'

'How are they supposed to buy anything when you didn't even give them any money?'

Silence once more engulfed the whole place…

SMACK!

'Why didn't you tell me earlier?!' Anna fumed as Ryu cringed in fear and before he knew it he already fainted.

'Anna…calm down…'

'Manta, you go and find them!'

'Eh, why me?!'

'I'll go.' Keiko told them and all turned to them.

'Are you sure Kaa-san? Nii-san might not accept your help you know…' Yoh told her mother.

'It'll be fine. Didn't you always say everything will work out?'

'Well…yes…but still--'

'Then, it should be fine.'

'Uh…'

'Don't worry Yoh, I'll go with her.' Mikihisa told his son who blinked and smile.

'Alright, be careful on the way then Tou-san, Kaa-san.'

'Be careful Keiko, Mikihisa.' Kino told them.

'We will.' They said and walked out of the house.

'Ryu, when are you going to wake up?!' Anna gave Ryu a kick on the stomach and everyone sweat dropped.

'What else do we need?'

'Hmm…I think that's all.' Shiro checked the list on his hands and scanned the contents in the trolley.

'How long did we take to pick out all the grocery?'

'We already spent a total of 31 minutes and 45 seconds. The cashier will probably take 15 minutes to scan all the ingredients so we only have a total of 14 minutes to get home in time.' Shiro said as they walk towards the counter.

'I see. So, how much money did you have right now?'

'Currently I brought 5000 yen. Why do you ask?'

'That's because you didn't ask any money from the Itako. Even though we have money it doesn't mean you can spend it so randomly.'

'Well, I am sure Luchist can help us when it comes to the finance problems. After all, he owns a huge company in England and he sponsors us with lots of money every month.'

'Well, Tanma can help Yoh and Anna when it comes to the finance problems as well. Plus…you only spend your money on buying things that were necessary so most of the remaining of your money is being kept in the account Luchist opened for you.' Hao retorted.

'Same goes for you and Opacho.' Shiro shot back.

'The total amount is 3821 yen.' The cashier said as she finished scanning the stuff. Shiro took out his wallet and gave her the money before taking the packet of groceries.

'Still, why do you spend your money on something so irrelevant? You've never spent more than 2000 yen at once.' Hao said and shook his head.

'It's fine. I hardly spent my money on buying stuff anyway.'

'Of course, you're always wearing the same old clothes and using the same old stuff. If we don't need to eat in order to survive, you probably wouldn't have bought anything at all.'

'Hey.'

'Alright, alright, I'll stop.'

'Anyway, we need return to Funbari inn or else Anna will get--'

Crash!

'Shiro!' Hao ran towards the boy.

'IIIItai…' he rubbed his head as he stood and picked up the stuff that fell out of the grocery package.

'S-Shiro?' Keiko called out and he looked up.

'Oh, it's you two.' Shiro and Hao said in unison.

'You bought the groceries already?'

'Umm…yeah.' Shiro replied hesitantly.

'H-How did you manage to buy all those when you didn't even have money?'

'We have our own ways.' Hao said and walk passed them.

'Let's go Shiro. The itako would get angry if we didn't get back in time.'

As they walked away, Keiko lowered her head in sadness. Mikihisa placed his hand on her shoulder and she looked up and smiled. Her husband is always there to support her.

'Excuse me?' Shiro interrupted startling them but they managed to remain their composure.

'I know I'm not supposed to ask but...where are you two going?'

'Actually, we're here to give you the money to buy the...groceries.'

'I see...Do you want to go home with us then?' he asked. Mikihisa and Keiko exchanged glances before giving a nod. Shiro then walked towards Hao's side while the two watched them from behind.

'Hao-sama! Shiro-sama!' a cheerful and familiar voice called out causing Hao and Shiro to turn to the source of voice.

'Opacho?' Shiro and Hao said in unison.

Opacho hopped towards her master with a kitten running behind her. It was when she was close enough only she realized the presence of the two other Asakura's that were blinking at her in surprise. She began to stare at her master warily when Shiro smiled at her.

'Don't worry Opacho. They already knew about it.' He said as he knelt on one knee and patted him on the head.

'Eh? They knew about Shiro-sama?'

'Yes. Unfortunately they already knew about it.' Hao replied nonchalantly.

'By the way, what are you doing here Opacho? Where's Luchist?'

'Luchist is going to France to attend a meeting remember?' Hao interrupted.

'Oh yeah, I forgot about that…'

'Anyway, we should get going by now. We wouldn't want the Itako to slap us do we?'

'Okay.' Shiro placed down the packet of groceries and carried Opacho over his shoulders before lifting it up once more.

'S-Shiro, you're not telling me…you're taking him back with us are you?' Hao said and Shiro blinked.

'Of course I am. Where else would I be taking him?'

'Are you out of your mind? That Kyoyama Anna won't let her in.' Hao said sarcastically.

'But if we leave her like this she'll be very lonely. Nobody likes to be lonely and that includes Opacho and you.' he said as he pointed at Hao.

'I hate it when he do that...' Hao thought to himself and he could have sworn Shiro gave him a smug expression before turning to his back.

'That Itako is going to shove her out you know.'

'Is that so? Then I'll just stay with her outside the inn ne, Opacho?' Shiro looked up at the little girl who nodded and he continued walking.

'Mataku…' Hao shook his head before continued walking. That personality of his always reminded him of Yoh.

As Shiro and Hao walked together, they would talk with Opacho who was being carried on Shiro's shoulder. The two older Asakura's that were behind them merely watched them in silence. A few moments later they all arrived at Funbari Onsen.

'You're late!' Anna's eyes narrowed as she stared at the trembling Opacho on Shiro's shoulder.

'What is that?' she pointed at Opacho.

'She's scary…' Opacho's eyes turned teary as she said those words.

'That is not her title. Her name is Opacho and she's a human so don't call her that Anna.' Shiro retorted and glared at her.

'Oh no…Nii-san…h-he just talked back at Anna…' Yoh stammered.

'He even called her by her first name…' Manta stuttered.

'He even glared at Okami…' Ryu said nervously.

'He's doom…' all of them said in unison said as they stared warily at the two.

'He won't.' Hao interrupted and all turned to him.

'How do you know he won't?!' all of them asked in unison.

'Just wait and you'll see.' Sayuri said and smiled.

'Hmph…who do you think you are, calling me by my first name and bringing someone here without my permission?'

'Yes, I might have brought Opacho here without your permission but that doesn't mean you can just treat Opacho like that. Not to mention she was your ex-worker.'

'Don't you dare talk back at me! I'm your Okami!'

'Yes, in a sense you are but right now I'm not talking to you as a worker, I'm talking to you as myself and I'm telling you I don't like it when you call Opacho that.'

Anna raised her hand and attempted to slap him when he suddenly caught her hand.

'HE STOPPED ANNA'S SLAP!!!' all of them exclaimed in shock.

'You forgot something…' Anna said and her left hand twitched. She raised her left hand ready to give him the legendary left slap when he shot up his hand and caught her hand.

'I still have my left was it?' he asked and silence engulfed the place.

'HE EVEN STOPPED HER LEGENDARY LEFT SLAP!!!' everyone exclaimed in unison.

'Speaking of worker…here's your groceries.' He said and shoved the package of grocery into her hands before walking away with Opacho.

'Shiro-sama…' Opacho said and Shiro looked at the girl who was sitting on his shoulders before smiling.

['You don't need to call me Shiro-sama, Shiro will do.] he thought to her and she blinked in confusion.

[We'll talk later okay?'] he thought to her and she nodded hesitantly.

'H-He just walked away from Anna? Like that?!' Horohoro said disbelievingly.

'and he stopped his slap twice…'

'He even shoved the grocery bag into her hands…'

'He's so cool!' all of them thought among themselves.

'H-How dare he walked pass me?' Anna said through gritted teeth and a deadly aura radiated from her.

'I think it's time to run guys!' Yoh said and all of them ran away from the place.

The next day…

'Shiro! I want you to run 200 kilometers with Yoh now!'

'200?! But Anna-- '

'NOW!!!' she demanded and Yoh cried as they both ran out of the house.

'Yoh-dono…' Amidamaru cried as he was being tied by Anna's beads.

'That'll serve as revenge…' Anna thought and pulled Amidamaru into the house.

A few hours later of running…

'Ahh…I'm so tired…'

'Gomen Yoh, I didn't know it would drag you into this matter.'

'It's fin--ack!'

'Yoh!'

'Itai…' Yoh said as he stood.

'Yoh, this is already the third time you tripped. Are you alright today?' Shiro said without realising that there was a tinge of worry in his voice.

'I'm fine…but--' Yoh's voice trailed off as his stomach growled loudly. He grinned sheepishly as he scratched the back of his head. Shiro looked at him and sweat dropped.

'Yoh-kun! Shiro-kun!' a voice called out and they both turned.

'Oyamada-san? What's he doing here?' he shifted his gaze from Manta to Yoh.

'He's waiting for us. He always accompanied me when I go for my daily run.'

'Oh…I see.'

'Yo!' the younger twin greeted at his best friend.

'So, how many more kilometers you two need to run?' Manta asked and Yoh's smile was immediately struck off his face.

'118 kilometers…' he said as stream of tears ran down his cheek.

'Eh?! Wasn't it 100 kilometers per day?'

'Yes. Usually it was 100 kilometers per day but unfortunately because of what happened yesterday, Anna decided to let out her rage by increasing the distance of the run.'

'I see…it must be difficult for you both…' he said and gave an apologetic smile.

'No. I'm fine with it but for Yoh…' he turned to Yoh who was still crying.

'I felt pitiful for him…' Manta thought to himself.

Growl…

Yoh blushed furiously as Manta and Shiro looked at him with a huge sweat drop appeared at the back of their heads.

'Sigh…come on, we're going to buy you something to eat.' Shiro said as he walked away.

'Shiro-nii, no! Anna will definitely kill us!'

'She's not here so you don't need to worry about it.' He retorted.

'B-But there are spirits guarding us! They'll tell Anna everything!' Yoh countered.

'Wah! They're going to report to Anna!' Manta yelled as the spirits of Funbari Onsen floated away from them. Suddenly, Shiro chased after the spirits holding a string of beads that appeared from god-knows-where and tied them up almost immediately.

'T-That's the same method Anna used to tie Amidamaru.' Yoh and Manta thought among themselves as they looked at the long haired shaman in surprise.

'Oi, spirits. If you dare tell anything to Kyoyama Anna I'll send you all to the depths of hell. Got it?' he said as a deadly aura radiated from him.

'Kowai…' (Notes: It simply means 'scary' but I preferred Japanese words because it sounded a little bit weird in English…) Manta and Yoh said as they blanched. The trembling spirits nodded vigorously and Shiro released them.

'So, can we go now?' Shiro asked snapping them out of their thoughts.

'S-Sure!' Yoh said nervously. Hao frowned as he read their minds.

'What's there to be so scared about? I'm not Kyoyama Anna even though I can use the exact same spells and also, I don't order people around. Mataku…I think you're both too frightened of her…'

'More like you're too brave…' they thought in their minds and Shiro sighed.

'Whatever.' He said and jogged away. They followed behind him shortly after. Silence enveloped them as they jog.

'Ne Shiro-nii…'

'Yes?'

'After the shaman tournament, you lived with Hao didn't you?'

'Yeah, why do you ask?'

'When you lived with him, did he ever torture you?' Yoh asked and his brother stopped in his tracks. Manta nearly fell out of his bike. Shiro looked at him with a very confused expression.

'What's…torture?' he asked and Manta and Yoh blinked.

Just when Yoh was about to answer, Shiro's expression suddenly turned serious and he looked towards another direction. Yoh and Manta followed his gaze and saw a suspicious person approaching them. The person was wearing a coat in which the hood covers his face.

'It's been a long while hasn't it Yuuji-kun?' the person said.

Yoh was about to ask Shiro what was going on but before he could even utter a single word his brother had pushed him and Manta into the bushes and darted backwards successfully avoiding three sharp arrows that replaced their previous standing position.

Author's Notes:

I'm so happy today because I just got the result of my test and I found out that I passed with flying colors! Hooray! All those hardwork had finally paid off...Anyway,please review and I wish you all MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! Here's an extra part dedicated for you readers...

'Shiro nii! Hao-nii! Wake up!' an all too familiar voice called out. Hao groaned and turned away from his identical twin while Shiro rose up from his bed and looked at him for a moment before toppling back to bed. Yoh pulled the blankets away from the two.

'5 more minutes...' They said and continue to sleep even without the blanket.

'Onii-chan! You're not supposed to sleep so long! Today is Christmas day!' Yoh said and Hao immediately jolted up from bed and turned to the direction of the clock. It was 25th of December.

'What's that?' Shiro looked at the younger boy having no idea what christmas day was since he had never celebrate it before.

'S***! I totally forgot!'

He stood then pulled the back of Shiro's collar and dragged him out of the room into the bathroom before slamming the door shut. Few moments later, Yoh heard a scream coming from the bathroom.

'Hao must have turned the cold water on full blast to awake him.' Yoh thought to himself.

'Are you ready Shiro-nii, Hao-nii?'

'Almost...' Hao said as he stared at the mirror for the umpteenth time.

'Come on, we're going to be the last one to wish them.' Yoh whined.

'Okay, I'm done.'

'Let's go.' Shiro told them as he pulled up his hair into a ponytail and tie it with a rubber band.

'Finally.' Yoh sighed.

The walked up onto the stage when Ren and the others turned to them.

'Took you long enough. We've been waiting for fifteen minutes.' Ren said coldly.

'Gomen Ren...I had a little problem waking them up.'

'Are you going to stand there all day?' Shiro said as he was already standing on the stage with the others.

'Coming...' Yoh said and stood in between Anna and Shiro. Silence then engulfed the whole place...

'Now what?' Anna asked.

['Yoh, your supposed to say something called speech of some sort.'] Shiro thought to Yoh.

'O-Oh yeah! I forgot...' he said and scratched the back of his head.

'Just skip the crap and start already.' Ren said.

'Okay.'

'Ahem Ahem...to all our readers of this fanfiction, we wish you all Merry Christmas.'

'Merry Christmas.' everyone said in unison and bowed.