Chapter 38

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.

'What do you want?'

'Why are you acting so serious? I just wanted to give you a little visit.' she said innocently.

'Actually, I'd rather not see you again Kotone.'

'That's not a very nice thing to say to your Onee-sama you know?'

'O-Onee-sama?' Yoh said and the two turned to him.

'Is that your brother? My my, he looks just like you.' She said and was about to walk towards Yoh when Shiro held out his katana and launched an attack on her. She darted to the right and successfully evaded the attack. Shiro ran towards Yoh and Manta before standing in a defensive position.

'Your combat skills have improved a lot Yuuji-kun.' She said as she pulled her cloak and threw it aside revealing her true self.

She had a long, black flowing hair that matches her eye color and she wore a black blouse and a knee-length white skirt. She smiled at them and held out a glowing crossbow attached to her hands. He pointed the arrow towards Shiro.

'Let's make a deal. If I win this battle, you'll have to come with me.'

'What if I win?'

'You won't, because I'll definitely be the winner.' She said confidently and shot an arrow towards Yoh. The arrow began to split from one into two and then from two into four and the process continues as it reaches closer to its target.

'YOH-KUN!' Manta yelled as his eyes bulged out.

'Wow! Manta look, it's like a meteor shower!' Yoh pointed at the arrows and Shiro pulled the boy out of the way before the arrow shoots him.

'Are you out of you mind? You would have been killed you idiot!' he smacked his younger twin on the head.

'Sorry, but I was too fascinated I forgot it's fatal.' He said and scratched his head.

'Yuuji, is that really your brother?' the woman who went by the name Kotone stared at the boy with disbelieve.

'What are you talking about? Of course I am his brother! Who else could I be?' Yoh pouted and the woman stared at him incredulously.

'How could you be that carefree and stupid when you're actually the brother of that devi-' she trailed off as she had just realized Shiro was just right behind her.

'That's because he's a long lost brother I just knew.' He said and sent her flying in the air. After that, he gave Yoh a thumbs-up sign indicating that the plan had worked perfectly.

['I'll fight her alone so you two get out of here while you have the chance.'] Shiro thought to the two without turning to them.

['Okay, be careful Nii-san.'] Yoh told him and ran away with Manta.

'Looks like now it's only you and me.' Kotone said as she slowly stood and threw her bow aside before holding out a sword.

Hao poured himself a cup of tea and took a sip. Opacho looked at his master worriedly.

'So, what do you want to talk about?' he placed down the cup of tea and his gaze traveled around the Asakura's who were staring at him with distrust, hatred, and fear. The Yoshifumi's had gone out when Anna suddenly banged the room door in which Hao was temporary living in saying that the Asakura's would like to talk to him. Meanwhile, Yoh's friends and the workers in the inn were all shoved out of the house by the itako and were waiting outside the house.

'Hao, we would like you to give us back what was ours from the beginning.' Mikihisa started.

'Excuse me? I'm not sure whether you're drunk or something Mikihisa but for your information, I haven't taken anything from you in the freaking first place.'

'You don't need to act like you don't know anything Hao. You know very well what we meant.' Kino retorted. Hao gave them an innocent look.

'I'm so sorry Kino but I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about.' Hao replied in a mocking tone as he placed his elbow on the table before resting his head on his palm. Yohmei's eyebrow twitched in annoyance and he slammed the table startling Tamao who stood between Yohmei and Kino.

'Stop acting like you don't know anything! Give Shiro back to us!'

'Oh…so that's what you're referring to…Sorry, I'm afraid I can't.'

'Why you-' Mikihisa gestured for his father to stop but before he could speak, someone cut off his speech.

'Asakura Hao, stop acting like a brat and straight to the point will you? I have to shove Ryu and the others out just to talk to a moron like you.' Anna said coldly.

'You can shove me out if you want. I'm sure Shiro would be very pleased to know it.' He mocked and this time Anna's hand twitched. Suddenly they heard a loud slam and a loud 'don't go in there danna!'

'Hao-nii! Hao-nii!' Yoh's desperate voice called out. As he slid open the door, he bent down and gasped for air. Manta did the same thing.

'Sh-Shiro-nii…he's-'

'-in trouble. I know.' Hao said and took another sip from his tea.

'Aren't you going to do anything at all?' Manta said and continued gasping for air.

'Nope. It isn't necessary.' Shiro said from behind startling the two and they fell on the floor in surprise.

'Mataku...Took you both long enough to get here. Honestly, I can't believe you've just arrived.'

'IT WAS US THAT COULDN'T BELIEVE YOU'VE JUST ARRIVED!' Manta and Yoh exclaimed loudly causing Shiro to wince slightly. Suddenly, Yoh looked at his brother's clothing and gasped. There was an unearthly wound at his shoulder and blood stains covered his clothes here and there.

'Onii-chan! Your shoulder's-'

'Don't worry. I'm fine. I just need a little bandaging.' He said and walked towards Hao before taking a small sip from Hao's cup of tea. He exchanged glances with Hao for a moment and Hao immediately know he wanted to talk to him later.

'Thanks for the tea.' He set down the cup and walked out of the room.

'Nii-chan, wait!' Yoh stood and grabbed his unwounded arm causing him to turn.

'I'll help you with the bandaging.'

'It's fine. I can do it myself.'

'But-'

'It's fine. Besides, it's not the first time I get wounded.' He said but before he could leave Yoh grabbed his arm once more.

'I said, I'll help you.' Yoh insisted and for a moment there was only silence.

'Fine, but only after I'm done taking my shower.' Shiro finally replied. Yoh released his grip on his hand and gasped once more when he saw a large gash behind his back which was partially hidden by his clothing.

'Nii-san! Your back!'

'Oh, during the battle she used her oversoul to increase her running speed so I couldn't dodge the attack in time.' he said as if he wasn't suffering from any injury at all.

'That's not the point! We need to get you bandaged immediately!'

'What about my shower?'

'Forget about the shower!' Yoh pulled him by the wrist and dragged him out of the room.

'But I-'

'No but! If you don't get bandaged your wounds will get infected!'

In an instant, they were already out of the room leaving the others in silence. Hao smiled in amusement.

'Is it painful?' Yoh asked as he dabbed the iodine onto the wound on Shiro's back.

Shiro merely shook his head and the younger boy frowned in concern. He had obviously dabbed too much iodine yet his brother had not shown any reaction at all not to mention this was the fourth time already. Normally, someone would have at least hissed in pain. He remembered after the incident between Ren and his father, he decided to help Ren with the bandaging and Ren had been hissing in pain during the process. There were a few times when he dabbed too much iodine and Ren would yell 'ITAI!' at his face as he poked him with his hair. Shiro turned to him when he realized nothing had come in contact with his skin after a few minutes.

'What's wrong?' Shiro asked snapping him out of his thoughts.

'It's nothing. I'm just reminiscing about the past.'

'I see.' he said and turned away letting him continue with his work. Yoh placed down the cotton ball and started bandaging his body.

'You know, you should have let me take my shower. If you did, you wouldn't need to do the bandaging for the second time now.'

'It's fine. I was the one who said I wanted to help.' Yoh continued with the bandaging.

'Still, wouldn't it be really wasting to bandage me twice?'

'It doesn't matter. As long as you'll recover, it'll be fine. Even if we run out of bandages, we can still buy a new one.' He said and silence enveloped the two.

'Sorry about what happened.' Shiro said and Yoh immediately knew what he was referring to.

Half an hour ago after Yoh had bandaged his wounds, Shiro decided to go and take a shower but Yoh had refused to let him saying he shouldn't be taking a bath at least until later. Shiro then snuck into the hot spring later only to be caught by Yoh once again. They argued with each other and slowly it got louder which soon attracted everyone's attention. As they fought, Ryu who had been standing in the middle trying to stop the fight stepped onto something and fell down pushing Yoh into the hot spring. Yoh immediately grabbed the nearest object which was, to his misfortune, Shiro. Then, both Shiro and Yoh were then forced to take a bath by Anna. Hence, the two ended up taking a bath together at the hot spring. When they were done, Ryu, Faust, and Yoh's other friends were forced to clean the massive hot spring which had been stained by Shiro's blood.

'Just by saying sorry wasn't going to change anything.' Ren interrupted. The two turned and saw Ren leaning on the doorway.

'You can't blame everything on him though. He wouldn't have fallen if Yoh hadn't grabbed his shirt.' Hao retorted as he appeared behind Ren.

'I'm not talking to you Hao.' Ren glared at him.

'You just did Ren.' Yoh and Shiro said in unison earning a glare from him.

'So, how was it going?' Hao turned to the two.

'We're almost done with the bandaging.'

'I see…how much longer will it take?'

'Approximately 5 minutes or so.'

'As soon as you're finished you are free to do whatever you want here. After you're done with it we'll be heading back in 30 minutes.' Hao said as he stared at the clock.

'Where are you two going?' Yoh said as he poured himself a cup of tea.

'We are going back to the shrine.'

'But don't you want to stay here a little while longer?' Keiko asked disappointedly as she walked into the room. Shiro looked at her with an almost surprised expression.

'What's wrong?'

'Nothing.' Shiro said as he stood.

'Would you mind having a walk with me Nii-kun?' Shiro said and Yoh spat out his drinks.

'Nii-kun?'

'What? He's older than me right? Plus, he already told you everything so I don't need to pretend as Asakura Hao anymore.' Yoh merely grinned sheepishly as he scratched the back of his head. It's the first time he had actually heard his brother call Hao 'nii-kun'.

'So, where are we going?'

'You're both not going anywhere.' Anna interrupted the two boys who turned to them with questioning gaze.

'What do you mean?' the two asked simultaneously.

'Today we'll be going to the amusement park and Kino-sensei wanted me to ensure that you are coming with them as well.' Anna directed his gaze at Shiro who frowned.

'Sorry, but I'm not interested in going to such a childish place.'

'I knew you'll say that. Fine, I'll just use Opacho as a substitute. Ryu!' She called out and Ryu held up a trembling Opacho with teary eyes.

'Opacho!'

'Hao-sama…Shiro-sama…' Opacho wailed.

'Give her back!'

'Whether I'm giving her back to you depends on your actions and behavior. It's either you obey me, or you'll never get to see her again.'

Shiro glanced boringly at nothing in particular as he had his elbow on the windowsill of the car with his head rested on his palm. Manta and the Asakura's could only stare at Shiro in silent. The whole limousine had been silent ever since the journey had begun. The Yoshifumi's knew something really bad must have happened when they were out. They wanted to ask Shiro about it but they knew they couldn't. Not when he was radiating a deadly aura that indicated 'do not disturb or I'll kill you.' It had been so long since they last seen him with that blue aura around him.

'Ne Yoh-kun, did something happen while you're in the kitchen?' Manta whispered to Yoh.

'Yeah…Shiro-nii and Anna had been arguing…'

'We're here.' Hao told Shiro who went out of the car almost immediately. Small clinking sounds were heard as he walked away and Yoh noticed something shiny that was hanging on his waist before realizing it was a keychain. It's was one of the present that he gave him during his birthdays. However, he also noticed that beside the keychain there were two small bells and that was where the clinking sounds were emitted. However, the bells are in a terrible condition and it made Yoh wonder why his brother is still keeping it. He then watched his older brother tied his hair in a ponytail position as his gaze travelled around the place. The place was crowded and noisy as the people walked in and out of the place.

'It's too crowded.' Hao said as he stared at the place with boringness since his hatred towards humanity has already faded long time ago.

'Of course it's crowded, its amusement park you're talking about!' Kaoru said cheerfully.

'What's so amusing about amusement park anyway? It's even noisier than the fish market.' Shiro said bluntly causing all of them to laugh.

'That's because they're having a lot of fun!' Sara replied cheerfully.

'Don't worry Shiro, we know you've never been to an amusement park so we understand.' Shinichi teased and he blushed.

'Shut up.'

'Anyway, we better get going now. Not all of us here are patient people.' Hao said.

'Okay!' Kaoru and Sara replied in unison.

As soon as they entered the park, Shiro and Hao's expression become gloomier (if that's even possible.) They started walking past the crowd boringly as they listened to Kaoru and Sara who were debating on which game to play first. Suddenly, a huge crowd not far from them caught Shiro's attention.

'Nii-kun, what's going on there?' Shiro pointed at the direction and Hao shrugged.

'Who knows…probably some crappy stall with more games.'

'Games? Let's go and check it out!' Kaoru pulled Shiro and ran towards the crowd. Sara immediately followed.

However, as soon as they glided through the crowd and arrived at the front, what they saw was something totally unexpected. A boy was being beaten up by a group of tall, strong men and a girl could be seen at a side with her long, straight silver hair was covering her face. She was sobbing as she was being held by one of the men that was slightly bigger size than the others. He was probably the leader of the group. Sayuri who arrived and saw the event that was occurring immediately covered Sara's eyes. Knowing her mother was there Sara turned and held onto her mother tightly.

Suddenly, the girl managed to break free from the leader's iron grip but before she could run the man grabbed her arm and slapped her so hard she fell on the floor. The leader raised his hand once again but this time with a steel pipe on his hand and was ready to land a hard blow on the girl. The girl brought her arms up to defend herself.

A startled yelp resounded in the air followed by many gasps. Shiro was now standing in front of the man with his hand grabbing the wrist of the man effortlessly stopping his impending blow. Not only the audience, his comrade and he himself were also shocked and couldn't believe what they were seeing. A boy even younger than the one that they had beaten was preventing him, the almighty leader of the group from budging with only one hand. Shiro looked up to the tall man with a cold expression.

'Please stop this fight. We're in an amusement park, not a wrestling arena.'

The man looked at the boy in disbelieve.

'Who do you think you are?' he raised his voice thinking it would scare Shiro away but it had given the opposite effect. Shiro's expression became colder and the man began to sweat despite the cold wind blowing. Of course, the man was not going to show him that he was frightened. He raised his free hand and attempted to hit Shiro.

'What an idiot…' Hao and Yukino said in unison as they shook their heads. Yoh and the Asakura's blinked at them not knowing what are they talking about. It didn't take them long to find out why though…

Shiro caught his other hand and lifted him up before throwing him down on the floor with ease. After that, he stepped on his manhood and the man screamed in agony.

'You were saying?' he asked as if what he was doing were really normal.

'Ouch. It must have hurt a lot.' Yoh said as his manhood turned limp.

'Not to mention he was wearing sandals…' Manta said as his face turned pale.

'ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?' he yelled.

'No. In fact, the one who's insane was you. Who in this world fights in an amusement park anyway?'

'WHY DID YOU CARE?'

'That's because my mood had been terrible and you've just made it worse. Now apologize and leave.' He said and gave his manhood a kick.

'Arghhhhhhh! You're f******g crazy!'

'That's not apologizing. That's cursing. Do I even need to teach you how to apologize?' He said and this time he kicked him in the stomach.

'Well, in order to apologize, you need to tell the person I am sorry I hit you and I won't do it again. It's as simple as it sounds so go and apologize.' He said and gave him another kick.

'LIKE H*** AM I GOING TO APOLOGIZE!'

'Pardon me?' he glared at him and his body started radiating a deadly aura.

'ALRIGHT! I'M SORRY! I WON'T DO IT AGAIN!' he said repeatedly.

'You're apologizing to the wrong person.' He said through gritted teeth and the man quickly ran towards the two and knelt in front of them before bowing at them repeatedly.

'I'M REALLY SORRY FOR HITTING YOU AND BULLYING YOU! SO PLEASE ASK THAT FREAK TO LEAVE ME ALONE!' he said and received a smack on the head.

'Don't say it so loudly in front of a girl you idiot.' He said as if he was an adult teaching a five year old how to behave.

'I-It's okay! W-We forgive you!' The girl stammered.

'THANK YOU!' the man said and shook her hand before running away like a bullet train. Shiro turned to his other comrades and smiled at them. All of them immediately went towards the two and did the same thing except that a few even kissed the girl's shoes.

'WE'RE REALLY SORRY! PLEASE FORGIVE US!' they said repeatedly.

'I-It's fine. Y-You can leave.'

'THANK YOU!' all of them exclaimed in unison and bowed a few times before running away as well. The crowd then dispersed and everything was back to normal.

'He's scary…' Yoh and Manta thought among themselves.

'Let's go. We don't have all day.' Shiro walked away and small clinking sounds were once again heard as he walked away.

'Yuuji?' the girl called out in a surprised tone and Shiro blinked before turning back to her with a surprised expression. The two made an eye contact and they looked at each other in surprise.

'Karin?'