Sister
By: Aviantei
[Twelve Shots of Summer: Another D8 12-II/12]
[Parameters: "Dissonance"]
It wasn't often that Opacho went to talk to Hao-onii-chan on her own, though it wasn't for a lack of interest. She still didn't understand everything that had led up to it, but Opacho knew that Hao had saved her, then committed to raising her, so he was someone she had a great love for. Still, with Hao having become the Shaman King, she couldn't always stay with him. Aviantei-onee-chan had wanted Opacho to have the chance to grow up outside of the Shaman Fight, which meant Onee-chan would worry if Opacho spent too much time in the Great Spirit.
But, still, there were times when Opacho knew she could make an exception.
"I think it's been a while since I've seen you look so worried," Hao said, with just a lilt of teasing to his tone. Now almost ten, Opacho pouted at him, and he gave her one of his usual smiles. "Sorry. I've gotten so used to teasing Aviantei, so it slipped out." At the mention of her older sister figure's name, Opacho slumped a bit, tucking her knees against her chest. "Are you worried about her, then?"
"Kinda." The truth was that Opacho didn't know what she was feeling. She was happy, because she loved living with Aviantei-onee-chan and the others, and she also enjoyed going to school, since she had nice friends there, even if it was hard sometimes. But all of those things were stuff that Opacho had gotten used to over the years. "Things are gonna change again, right?"
Hao hummed, patting Opacho's hair. Sometimes she thought that maybe she was getting too old for the gesture, but the comfort felt nice enough that she couldn't bring herself to care. "Well, yes. Something like this is going to make everything very different." Opacho bit her lip, but Hao continued, "Though what's not going to change is that Aviantei is still going to love you as much as she always does."
Opacho shouldn't have needed the reminder, but she did anyways. Aviantei-onee-chan was just as much of an important part of Opacho's life as Hao was, and she'd taken care of Opacho ever since the end of the Shaman Fight, almost taking the role of her mother. Aviantei-onee-chan had always taken time to spend with her, too, but Opacho still worried that might change.
After all, taking care of a baby would take up plenty of time.
"Are you worried, Onii-chan?" Opacho asked, and Hao's hand stilled for a moment.
"…Perhaps more than I'd like to admit," he said, and Opacho glanced up at him. "Aviantei is important to me, of course. But I suppose I'm still much more worried about what's to come. I know she doesn't want to make her children go through what she did, but the Flower of Maize will be coming up, too." Opacho frowned; she'd seen plenty of visions of what was to come, and, more often than not, they involved a child with deep golden eyes and Aviantei-onee-chan's face shape, and there didn't seem to be anything they could do to change that. "But I suppose that doesn't answer your real question, does it? When it comes down to it, I am a little sad. It would've been nice to have this moment with you and Aviantei myself. But, in the end, I know we'll all still be connected, so it'll be okay. You two did promise, after all."
It had been years since that promise had been made, and Opacho had been so young that she almost didn't remember it. But Onee-chan had reminded her when asked, and Opacho stuck by it: that she wanted to stay with Hao and Aviantei both, for as long as she could. That sentiment hadn't changed as she'd gotten older, which was part of what was making her worried.
What if Onee-chan having a baby makes her change her mind?
Opacho didn't like the possibility.
"You know, I bet if you ask Aviantei, she wouldn't be upset," Hao said. Opacho bit her lip, wishing she could run away into Mama's fluffy comfort. "Hm, maybe I don't have much of a right to say this, but talking about your feelings to the people you care about is an important skill, Opacho. Aviantei loves you; she'll be glad to listen and follow through on what you want." Opacho sat there for a while, in thought about the present and future both and what her place would be in it. "Well, I suppose you already know that, don't you?"
Opacho did; Opacho had always known. Between the kindness that that Aviantei-onee-chan had shown her and the glimpses of a future where they were together, Opacho had felt safe. And in every vision she'd had, Opacho had never once seen Onee-chan leaving her behind in favor of whatever new family she'd made, because Opacho would be a part of that family, too.
"…I want to be a good big sister, too," she said, and that decision helped to quell the fuzzy feelings of upset in her heart.
Hao chuckled and patted Opacho's head, just as he always did. "That's the spirit."
Because when that child with their golden eyes would leave to participate in the Flower of Maize, Opacho would be right there with them.
[Author's Notes]
In case you were wondering, this one takes place a handful of years before "Observer," so yeah, do with that what you will.
Thanks much to She Who Loves Pineapples for the reviews on the last shots and the general support over the T-Sauce season! I've super appreciated reading your thoughts across these one shots, so it's been a delight!
And so, the final piece of this collection is here. I wanted to both write about an older Opacho and maybe do some teasers for my vague Flowers/Super Star ideas? So here it is! I'll def play around more with older Opacho in the future, but until we get a more complete version of the sequel canon, I'm gonna hold off on going overboard for the time being.
As mentioned before, I'll probs hold off on adding anything else too big to the Aviantei timeline until canon fleshes out more, but I may add more ideas to this one shot collection in the future, so keep an eye out for it here! And one of these days I'll write that XKL-verse idea for Ivy and Hao, but for now I'm going to concentrate on working on the handful of other fics I've started already. Either way, Shaman King is a series I adore, and I've loved getting to spend so much time with it through the world of fanfic and with you all. Do go ahead and check out the other writers in the [Twelve Shots of Summer] community, because they are amazing.
Thanks very much for reading,
-Avi
[08.21.2021]