SailorStar9: After getting Chapter 20 out, this is Chapter 21 of this fic. (Sighs) Guys and girls, is it too hard for you to leave a review, instead of just putting this fic up on your favorited list and story alerts?
Pairings: Tao Ren/Fem!OC, Yoh/Anna
Disclaimers: I own absolutely nothing, except this plot and pairing.
Chapter 21: I Have a Darkness in My Heart
Sometime later during dinnertime...
"A family is participating?" Ryu was intrigued after Manta related to the group about his and Faust's encounter with Team Enseios earlier that day.
"That's pretty amazing." Yoh noted.
"So, what?" Horo Horo pressed. "Are they like a family dedicated to fighting?"
"No, they're normal." Manta shook his head. "They're really nice to each other."
"Family, huh?" Chocolove stabbed his sausage. "They are a powerful enemy."
"The emotional bonds of a family is strong, but..." Ryu voiced.
"No, no." Chocolove amended. " "Those three are probably Team Enseios."
"Shanghai cabbages are really cheap?" Yoh mistranslated.
"Faust," Hui Ling looked at the doctor seated opposite of her. "Are we really certain Chocolove's joker virus isn't contagious?"
"Oi!" said joker protested.
"It's quite hard to say..." Faust admitted.
"Hey!" Chocolove shouted.
"How sad." Ren mocked. "The tables are turned."
"Anyway," Chocolove continued his report. "The team is pretty well known because they use their Furyoku in an unusual way." I heard that in a fight, they transfer their Furyoku to an ally."
"Wait, is that even possible?" Horo Horo asked.
"Theoretically, it should be." Hui Ling answered. "If the bonds and mutual trust is there; though, like any organ transplant operation, there's a risk of rejection."
"What are you smiling about?" Yoh looked at his best friend.
"I'm just thinking about there being a nice family team like them participating." Manta replied.
The next day...
"Too bad." Horo Horo teased when Manta dashed into the coliseum.
"It's just about to end." Chocolove played along.
"No way..." Manta whined.
"Just kidding." Horo Horo grinned as Manta climbed onto the box he brought along.
"This is a boring match." Ren snorted. "The next attack will end it for sure."
"Faust," Hui Ling cast the doctor beside her a knowing look. "You've noticed it, haven't you?"
"Yeah." Faust nodded. "You too, then."
"Indeed." Hui Ling answered, the two doctors' eyes were locked not on Maya, but on Melos.
About two days later, at night...
"This is a nice bath." Ren sighed in relief as he soaked in the onsen. "Right, Bason?"
"You're right." Horo Horo agreed. "It's a nice bath."
"Me, a cupboard!" now decked in a cupboard outfit, Chocolove punned.
"By the way, I heard some Shamans suddenly disappeared." Horo Horo stated.
"Me, a cupboard!" not happy at being ignored, Chocolove cannonballed into the water.
"Extras should act like extras and stay in the background." Ren snapped, storming out. "Who are you?" he asked when met with Nichrom.
"One of the Ten Priests?" Horo Horo gaped when he and Chocolove slid the onsen door open.
"My name is Nichrom." Nichrom introduced himself. "Priest Chrom, the overseer that you destroyed, is my big brother. My big brother is dead."
"Did you come to tell me that you hold a grudge?" Ren asked.
"No, of course not." Nichrom replied. "I only came because Nyorai-sama asked me to tell you this. I hated you so much that I couldn't stand it. But I don't have that kind of feelings anymore. You also need to be saved by Nyorai-sama, before you are crushed by the darkness." looking at his side, he walked off.
"Chrom?" Ren was taken aback when Chrom appeared in the hallway. "Why?" he summoned his guan dao.
"Calm down, Ren!" Horo Horo, with Chocolove's help, pulled the younger Shaman back.
"Look closely at him." Chocolove pointed out. "He's..."
"Silva?" Ren gaped.
In their shared room...
"Are you okay now?" Chocolove asked.
"Yeah." Ren replied. "You heard the story, right? That Nichrom guy's been acting strangely lately."
"Young Master, do you feel responsible for Chrom's death?" Bason suggested. "You are kinder than before, after all."
"That's so true..." Horo Horo stifled a laugh.
"Ren's gonna get angry." Chocolove warned, seeing the Chinese Shaman grab his weapon.
"Anyway, don't say anything to Yoh and the others about this." the embarrassed Ren ordered, slicing Bason into half.
"It'd be embarrassing if hey found you were jumpy because of a hallucination." Chocolove teased.
"Chocolove, I'm going to cut you into half." Ren snapped.
Unbeknownst to Team the Ren, a shadowy figure with red eyes was spying on them on the rooftop.
"Hadō #63: Raikōhō!" Hui Ling's lightning spell took out the Sha Wujing look-alike figure that was spying on Team the Ren. "Looks like Silva was right to warn me." she looked at the crumpled stone statue Nyorai had used her Oversoul on. "Am I too late?" she gasped when she heard Ren's yell from the room.
In their shared room...
"Hey, Ren!" Chocolove started, he and Horo Horo were pressed against the wall as they watched Ren rampage in the room.
"What's going on?" Horo Horo stammered.
"Bakudō #61: Rikujōkōrō!" suddenly, six broad stripes of light immobilized Ren.
"Hui Ling!" Chocolove exclaimed in relief at the sight of their savior.
"Horo Horo, Chocolove, get out of here; better yet, spend the night with Yoh's group." Hui Ling pointed her thumb to the hallway. "I'll take care of this. You too, Bason."
"Right..." Horo Horo nodded and he ushered Chocolove out.
"Young Mistress, please take care of Young Master." Bason pleaded and floated out.
"Ren, you'd better calm down or I'm adding a 'Sajō Sabaku'." Hui Ling warned; guessing that with the illusionist gone, the spell that was cast on Ren would take a while to fade. "Ren, just focus on me." she whispered, giving the still struggling boy a hug. "Please..." she gave the older boy's carotid pulse point a small nibble to calm him down.
"Damn it, Hui." Ren growled into her ear. "Do you really want me to lose control?"
"Welcome back, love." Hui Ling grinned.
"Don't 'Welcome back' me." Ren warned as he scooped the squealing Hui Ling into his arms and deposited her on his bed. "It's been too long, you know." he shifted himself above her.
"Yeah." Hui Ling agreed. "I sent Horo Horo, Chocolove and Bason over to Yoh for the night, you know."
"Then, we have the entire room to ourselves." Ren smirked and swooped down for a bruising kiss.
The next day...
"My light has shined upon the darkness of your heart." Nyorai declared to her gathered disciples.
"Your tricks, they're not so funny." Chocolove retorted, arriving onsite with his teammates.
"I caught this guy last night." Hui Ling tossed the stone statue she vanquished to the ground. "You guys only show these people illusions and then act as if you saved them."
"We merely expanded the darkness in your heart and show it to you." Nyorai chuckled.
"Everything is for the Shaman Fight." Silva voiced from the temple roof. "If your opponent is your disciple, then you would be sure to win."
"To win without having to fight," Nyorai stated matter-of-factly. "Don't you think that's wonderful?"
"Then, I'll make an exception in this case and yield to Yang Hui Ling's request." Silva spoke.
"A non-participant?" Nyorai mocked. "This will be an easy win."
"Ready, fight!" Silva started the match.
"Double medium?" Horo Horo gaped when the three boys saw Hui Ling pull out both her mediums and activate her Oversoul.
"Nice." Chocolove whistled when a concentrated sphere of swirling lotus petals blocked out Nyorai's three spirits' attack.
"Show me the darkness of your heart as well." Nyorai told her opponent. "I will shine my light upon that darkness. There is no human that has no darkness in his heart. 'I'm actually very jealous of my younger sister'." she pulled out the one thing Hui Ling never revealed to anyone. "You knew that your parents love your younger sister more than you, but you don't want to accept that. That's why you sealed your jealously into the darkness of your heart. Now." she had her three Oversouls release their darkness.
"Hui!" Ren shouted, seeing the younger girl engulfed in the streak of black.
"Oversoul: Senkei" Hui Ling intoned, shattering the darkness with a flood of lotus petals which then coalesced into four rotating rows of pink blades.
"That's..." Chocolove gawked.
"Senkei." Horo Horo was stunned. "Amazing..."
"Gōkei." reaching out a hand, Hui Ling then surrounded Chon, Gon and San in a whirling sphere of petal blades and shrinking the ball as her palm started closing.
"What are those guys?" Horo Horo asked, the three Oversouls' true forms were revealed once Hui Ling released her technique.
"Aren't they just stones?" Chocolove gawked.
"Looks like the truth is revealed." Hui Ling noted. "You used Oversouls on three statutes to make them look like Shamans. Your call, Silva." she released Senkei.
"You don't qualify as a team of three." Silva declared. "Therefore, Dai Rei Dou, you are disqualified for breaking the rules."
"You couldn't believe in the heart of others?" Horo Horo realized.
"That's your darkness." Chocolove stated.
"Younger sister?" Ren echoed, once Hui Ling returned to the team's side. "You never told me about that."
"It's all in the past." Hui Ling answered. "She died of cot death short of nine years ago. We've already accepted that fact."
SailorStar9: Any OOC-ness is regretted. *Sighs* Don't you just hate plot bunnies sometimes? Read and review.