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Summary: An unexpected visitor comes near to Asakura household, paying its respects to the ones he holds dear for their happiness... but what about his...
Disclaimer: All of this characters are borrowed from Takei-san. Standard disclaimers apply. 'Reflection' by Christina Aguilera...

I am now in a world
Where I have to hide my heart
And what I believe in
But somehow
I will show what's inside my heart
And be loved for who I am

×ØØ×ØØ×ØØ×ØØ×ØØ×ØØ×ØØ×ØØ×ØØ×ØØ×ØØ×

Her footsteps began to wither, fading slowly in the darkness of the night. He creased his eyebrows as he discerned that he could no longer feel her intimidating presence and the hovering spirits around her cautious defenses.

It's time.

"We are here to talk, aren't we?" He called out with restraint in his voice. Hao stood, unmoving from his position.

A soft shuffle of a wooden sandal resonated. It grated the rigid surface beneath. Entirely concealed in the shadows, behind the massive roots of the beckoning tree, he emerged. The unruly tresses, adorned with the recognized mandarin headphones, were shadowing the swirling turmoil in the depth of his eyes.

"You were hiding from her" Hao continued, refusing to face the odd stare that his little brother had been exuding as he felt behind his back. The elongated black tendrils were swaying with the breezes. "But you can never hide from me."

"How long you've known I've been there?" Yoh spoke, a trace of uncertainty in that voice.

Hao chortled, the sound was empty to their ears.

"Stop being an idiot, Otouto." He paused as he gained one of his transcending persona, gradually turning to face his younger twin. "You do know that I have known long enough." The cleaved stained fabric whirled again in the friction of the harsh winds, accentuating the depth of their confrontation between those identical, somber gazes.

There was the deafening silence between them, stretching and undeniably tense. Amid themselves was a single thick root, the only thing that separates them.

"Congratulations." Hao commenced again the conversation, as if collapsing the stillness would be enough to break the hurdles...

As Yoh had heard those muted words, the hard stare hidden underneath the wild manes began to disintegrate into a mere pliant undecipherable gaze.

"You love her." Radiating with such curiosity that Yoh was known for, he stated it to clear the hues in the darkness.

But inside of this young, potent shaman, he had been aware of it. It was throbbing mercilessly on the back of his mind, compared to the jibes or squabbles his friends would in sue, shrugging it off as any superficial things would arrive to him. However, now that same faint instinct was now back with greater intensity. They were supposed to be identical twins too, one of the strongest connections that could be established in any kind of fraternal binds. It would not be really unexpected to find this out, right?

No matter how intensely he had tried to overlook this, it would come and be revealed with full force.

He wished she were here to make his brain function to its normal state again.

He treaded along the dewy grass, rendering that no trace of any sound came beneath his feet. There was a trace of fury and strangeness of self-reproach to him. At how he had always distanced himself away from her. He tries to reach but draws back, afraid that he might be frozen gradually by the coldness of her heart. Even though, that frigid essence of her what makes him draw nearer...for he want her to be thawed by his hidden warmth.

The dense mist that covers the land had now begun to descend, signaling the coming of the last few hours of the dark. Here he was, obscured in the surrounding silhouettes of the night. He was a cryptic onlooker to the moments that had taken place a minute ago. It happened quite quickly, as the one who stood over her startled features abruptly confined her to his embrace. He nearly lost all the discretion that he was known for, when Hao reached out to her...

He had not even done that, not even once.

Silently, the resounding voices that kept murdering him inside his head had howled something that he could--and would--never decipher in his entire lifetime. He was in deep turmoil, either to the matters at his mind or heart. He cursed himself, knowing that he could not interfere in anything that was happening there. However, there was an irritating nagger inside the back of his head, telling him to get near...

Hao snickered, aware what notions that were going through his little brother's mind.

Yoh suddenly came back to the living reality, when he took notice of Hao's amusement.

"You do not need to be jealous," The older twin asserted, as he gave his breathing mirror-like image with a tired grin. "She chose you."

As Hao said this, it was like taking out a splinter out of a blistering wound. Yes...You, Asakura Yoh, such a compassionate and sensitive spirit...so unlike the true nature of the former onmyouji....

"You never told me." Yoh retorted. Glancing with eyes trying to scrutinize his older brother behind that inexplicable facade.

"There is no reason to tell you." He replied to the young one, as Hao inclined his head to stare at the vast expanse of the midnight horizons.

"Yes, there is." Yoh insisted as he gripped upon the extensive object that he held within his grasp.

"Would it make any difference?" Hao hissed in response. Why could that dense skull of his could not comprehend that he had already has what he had always wanted? He was starting to feel the pangs of anguish deep within him,

"Yes." Yoh spoke quietly, the sounds of the foliage in the deep forest.

Hao merely furrowed his brows, perplexed at what could it be.

"It makes you human, Aniki."

At this Hao drew a deep, convulsing breath as his eyes widened. His irises were stark white with anger, taking that statement as an unforgivable insult. He paced swiftly towards him, suddenly dragging the white collar of his younger brother and met his gaze squarely.

And Hao threw a fist with a bone-jarring impact at the jaw.

The blow of his heavy knuckles was enough to disturb the nearby hooting owls residing in the wilderness, quavering every creature around their proximity.

Yoh, bewildered, was crawled upon the rigid earth as well as his eyes open widely at such movement. He rubbed the gradual rising soreness of his cheek, stinging mercilessly and began to think if his wits had been jumping in such heights as it collided to the solid trunk of the aging oak.

"Stand up, Asakura. And face me." his older brother growled out, restrained hatred in every timbre of his voice. "I'm not weak." he hissed, as if the last word had been too offending.

And that pain, the sentiments of giving your entire being, heart and soul, then could never be accepted. The way that her lips grimaced into a thin line, her shadows grew dimmer...her posture threatening to tear the one who was holding her to pieces...shattering every strength that he could not muster, as she seemed to be glowing....

"How could you...." The passions were flooding, brimming...seemingly raw and painful. His face was ignited, glowering like flint against the unfathomable darkness

The youthful shaman rose slowly, constantly stroking the mandible with a cautious palm.

Everything might turn out all right for him, but it was never like that for his older brother.

His feet were planted upon the gravel, with bated breath all gone from his constricting lungs. It was quite disturbing to witness the much firmer one, of all the people, was the one crumbling down into pieces. The much full-fledged twin who must be better than the rest of them--except how he had taken the means to reach his ends--was now tattered and torn. Constantly abandoned by everyone, suffering for the consequences he had undertaken from his past misdeeds. He barely managed to save his older brother in time from those who persecuted him. As the Shaman king, he had dissipated all of his brother's capabilities and spirits in front of the Patch...A very unnecessary thing to do. In the process of his weakening, his brother had begun to be a fugitive from those whom he had harmed in the beginning. An isolated life that was always on a constant run, without anything to defend for himself.

He was always the source of that, all the cruel paths and heartaches…

"How could you call me to be as pathetic as those parasi..."

"No, you're not, Aniki..." Yoh interjected, his persona was covered in undeterminable aura that spoke volumes. "I do feel the same things too."

Guilt. Agony.

Hao drew a startled breath.

It was remarkable, when a certain regard at how each facade was so similar and indistinguishable. As this was considering another point of dimension...Both pairs of burn-out coal colored orbs were flickering, matching the unknown depths behind.

"Gomen..." Yoh scratched his head, thoughts that overcrowding his mind were creating somehow lessening with each passing minute, "Maybe, I am nothing compared to you." he remarked with a meaningful gaze.

" But it does make it more painful if you will keep on denying what you are..."

"I must." Hao sat on the ancient tree root that was beckoningly comforting for the moment. . "It is all for your sake. For my sake and..."

"For her?" Yoh steadily finished, also resting his long, tired limbs upon the ground. He was situated in an opposite direction of the older one , his rear nearly leaning upon the broad shaft.

"I could not hurt her." The reply was distressed. "No one has ever loved like her as anyone else."

You are truly blessed, Otouto....

This was the long-dormant humanity that had never been shown through anything.

This time, Yoh bestowed such elated smile that even the older one--by hundreds of centuries--was dumbfounded, as he felt its warmth.

"Yeah, I guess I'm lucky..." Bending his neck to look upon the stray pebbeles scattered aimlessly at the rocky surface beneath, steadily pondering upon that soft-spoken statement that his brother uttered a while ago. Yet he had always ended up making her aching inside...

"Did that took you a damn long time to realize?" Hao gave an exasperated breath at how can be this young man is totally impossible.

"I think yes..." Yoh heaved a regretful sigh. "But I will make up for it."

"And that is?" Hao gave a hurried glance below to look at the determination building in his face. The dewy atmosphere was clearing, as the dark firmament was starting to enlighten with subtle rays of daybreak, signaling the coming of dawn.

"I will be worthy of her..." It was inaudible, that he had hardly grasped at those earnest words.

"Well then," Hao muttered with his lids drifting, half-shut for the need of rest. "You should be going now." The vibrant colors of the landscape were starting to be illuminated with the slow increase of the rising sun. It was filling the myriad of the forest into sudden life.

A sudden thud had fallen across his lap, slightly heavy and covered with a soft jaded fabric.

"This is..."

"It's yours." Yoh got upon his feet, dusting off the adhering patches of soil in his wardrobe. "From the way you look..." He noted the tattered mantle that was clearly ill-used and the soot that had covered the visage of his older twin, taking it as as indication of having difficulty to arrive at this place. "...You might need something useful."

"She might kill you for it." Hao replied as he hovered his callous fingers over the elongated object, somehow conceiving it was intangible to him. "Giving me such a dangerous object..."

"At least not today." Yoh grinned amiably, lowering his hands over his pockets. "...I trust you with that."

"You are really an idiot, you know that, dear brother of mine?" Cocking his head to him as he gripped the unwrapped sheathed blade with his fist, he rose as well. Their faces were alighted with the first dawning light of the morning, with features of the more mature one quirked into skeptic expression.

"I've heard that from her a lot of times." The younger one replied amusedly.

Hao consoled himself with gazing at the marvelous curls of the white clouds that began to accumulate the bluish horizon. The tranquil silence had reigned upon them once again. Yet, it was not apprehensive as that previous night but rather a single image that was rare to occur....

He admitted to himself that Yoh was also a part of him....

Would it be wrong to say that he was also a piece of his younger brother?

Silently smiling to himself while grasping the rough edges of the sheath with a careful touch, he guessed that he could have the fraction of that….

….of her loving him.

Beta-Read by Syao-chan...Thanks!

Now...this was finished...I can finally end this story...Haay..Salamat.

Wait for the last...

Review please!