Chapter 3: Crouching Ren, Hidden Jun
The sunlight was streaming through the blinds and several song birds were perched outside, singing praises to the dawn. The boy rolled over and curled into a tight ball, refusing to admit defeat and awaken to the new day. He was dreaming about that damn headphones boy, stupid carefree Asakura Yoh. How dare he make a mockery of him, the illustrious heir of the Tao Family? One day, he'd find that sniveling brat and his stupid samurai ghost, and he would enjoy slicing him in two with his mighty kwan dao.
"Good morning, bocchama!" A chipper voice announced and the boy was acutely aware of the soft glow near his face.
"Go away, Bason," he waved a hand at the red spirit flame.
Undaunted, the ball of light resembling a Chinese warlord in a round helmet flew in lazy circle around his master's head.
"Wake up, wake up, the sun is shining out," Bason began in a singsong voice. "It's time to greet the day--"
He was cut off by the suddenly looming form of his master, Tao Ren. The boy's golden eyes were squinted against the light, but they were menacing all the same.
"If you sing again, I will kill you... Again..."
"F-f-forgive me, bocchama," the spirit flame trembled. "But it is time to wake up. You must begin training for the preliminaries--"
"I know that!" He practically snarled, as if he were a ferocious tiger, but he quickly regained his composure once more. "Don't you worry. Soon, I'll have that Asakura Yoh's head on a silver platter. We just have to wait and bide our time. The opportunity will present itself eventually."
"That's it, bocchama!" Bason smiled, though it was difficult to tell. "I am truly blessed to have a master as power and cunning as you."
"You should feel honored," Ren grinned arrogantly as he threw the sheets off and strode toward the closet where his red house robe was hanging on the knob. He slipped it on and proceeded toward the kitchen, his faithful spirit trailing behind him.
The thirteen year old boy shuffled toward the table and sat down, his eyes still clogged with sleep. Patiently, he waited for Jun to place his breakfast on the table before him. He waited. And waited. And waited
"Nee-san? Where's my food?" He rubbed at his eyes, regaining his vision.
Funny, he could usually smell the warm aroma of coffee and rice as soon as he woke up, but not today. He blinked several times and looked toward the kitchen. It was as empty as a graveyard.
"Nee-san? Where's breakfast?" He called impatiently.
Sighing, he jumped off the chair and marched toward the kitchen. Strange. Except for a single coffee mug sitting forlornly in the sink, none of the dishes had been soiled.
"Why hasn't nee-san made breakfast yet?" Ren wondered, feeling worried that something was wrong. Jun was always up before him with breakfast ready as soon as he woke up. It wasn't like her to break such a familiar habit. Maybe she was sick?
"What's wrong, bocchama?" Bason floated to his master's side.
"Nee-san hasn't made breakfast," he scratched at his black hair in confusion. "Something's wrong. I can feel it."
Ren hurried down the hall to his sister's room and gently knocked on the door.
"Nee-san? Are you awake?" He waited for a replay, but none came. "Nee-san? Are you feeling well? Can I come it?" Only silence met his ears. "Nee-san! If you don't answer, I'm coming in, all right?" He said, but he couldn't keep the note of worry out of his voice.
Silence. Ren was feeling panicked. He grabbed the doorknob and swiftly opened the door, only to be met by an empty bed with meticulously folded sheets.
He half expected to find his sister deathly ill, or murdered perhaps, but not vanished.
"Nee-san?" He called into the darkened room. "Nee-san, where are you? Is this some sort of game?" He checked behind the door, thinking that maybe she was playing some practical joke on him, even though it wasn't in her nature to joke around. Ren checked the closet, the bathroom, even under the bed, just to be safe. It was as he feared. His sister was gone.
"Nee-san!" He ran out of the room and began checking all the closets and any other rooms he had neglected to investigate.
"Bocchama! Whatever is the matter?" The spirit flame floated questioningly near his master's head.
"My nee-san! She's gone!" Ren grabbed Bason and held him in a deathlike grip. "I can't find her! She's gone!"
"B-bocchama, you're hurting me," the spirit flame said, tears welling in his eyes.
"Where could she be? Where could she be?" Ren shook his mochirei back and forth furiously.
"P-perhaps, you should ask P-Pailong where y-your nee-san has g-gone," Bason struggled to say, growing dizzy from his master's punishment.
"Of course!" He dropped the hapless spirit flame to the floor, Bason's eyes swirling around in his head. "That stupid stiff must know where she has gone."
He ran to the coffin and pounded on the lid.
"Wake up, you good-for-nothing corpse! Where is my nee-san?" He folded his arms over his chest, waiting impatiently for the kyonshii to emerge. But nothing happened.
"Kisama!" Ren grabbed the edge of the lid and flung it to one side, only to be met with the smooth red interior of the coffin. It was empty, just like nee-san's bed.
"Pailong is gone, too?" He continued to stare at the empty coffin in horror. Bason floated slowly toward his master's side. "Nee-san. You didn't abandon me, did you?"
The boy slumped to his knees, still staring in shock. How could she do this to him? Out of all the members of his family, Jun was the only one he could ever trust, the only one he ever cared about. Could she really abandon her only brother, the only one she cared about as well?
"This can't be" Ren stared at his hands clenched tightly in front of him. He was on the verge of tears. "Nee-san wouldn't abandon me. I know she wouldn't"
"Bocchama, perhaps she just stepped out for a bit--" But the spirit flame was cut off by a piercing wail that could probably be heard halfway across Tokyo.
"NEE-SAAAAAN! WHERE ARE YOOOOUUUU?"
The sun had already risen and the streets were crowded with people hurrying to work and school. The city was alive with the pulse of pounding feet on pavement. The people were like the lifeblood of the city, guiding its growth and development. Two figures were flowing along with the rest, enjoying the cool autumn breeze wafting through the streets.
The girl in the green sun dress paused for a moment, as if listening to a voice on the wind.
"What is it, Miss Jun?" The tall man in the black leather jacket asked.
"Oh, nothing," she shook her head and smiled. "For some strange reason, I thought I heard Ren-kun calling me. I hope he found that note I wrote for him. I was in such a hurry, I'm not sure if I pinned it to the fridge or not."
Pailong laughed. "You two share such close bonds, I wouldn't be surprised. But I'm sure he's fine. He's gone traipsing about Tokyo all by himself looking for Asakura Yoh, being left home alone should be a piece of cake."
"I don't know" They began walking again. "Ren-kun had suffered a bad case of separation anxiety as a child. I'm not quite sure if he ever got over it."
"What do you mean?"
"When we were younger, we once shared the same room because the Tao Mansion was such a big and scary place for two small children. Then, when Ren-kun turned five years old, our father sought to separate us, so that he could concentrate more on his training. For many nights, Ren-kun would sneak back into my room, but Father punished him severely. Eventually, he stopped trying to come to me, but I could hear his wracking sobs down the hall each night. It must have been terrible for him, for such a little boy to be trapped in a huge dark room all by himself."
"Oh," Pailong's face fell. "I see. So many terrible things. It's no wonder he turned out the way he did."
"That's why I hope he found that note. At least he won't worry about us if he realizes we're just going out for the day."
"I'm sure he saw it." Pailong smiled.
"So, what do you want to do first?"
"Huh?" He gave her a vacant look. "Well, gee, I dunno. What ever you want to do."
"No, no, no! This is your special day. We have to do whatever you want to do."
"Well, I don't really know what I want to do," he scratched the back of his head and laughed heartily.
"What did you like to do when you were alive?" She pulled her purse strap higher on her shoulder.
"Lots of stuff. I just don't know what I want to do now." He looked skyward and watched as a large crow soared overhead to disappear behind some buildings. "Let's just walk around some more. I'm sure we'll find something."
They continued walking. Pailong watched the people of various ages and nationalities walk by him, as if he were invisible. He smiled to himself. He was just another anonymous face in the crowd. They had absolutely no idea who or what he was, and that made him happy. Jun was right; no one seemed to recognize him.
He sighed, finally able to relax. The air around them was filled with the buzz of conversation, shoes pounding on pavement, merchants hawking their wares, trying to convince people to come take a look around their stores. Soon, Pailong's keen ears picked up another sound. He paused outside a shop window and peered in, not noticing that Jun was still walking away.
"Pailong, perhaps we should--" She looked to her right and noticed her tall companion was no longer by her side. She quickly turned around and noticed that he was standing in front of a shop window a few feet back, seemingly mesmerized.
"Pailong, what are you doing?"
"Do you hear that?" He asked, his eyes closed.
Jun listened closely. She could hear a sweet ambient melody coming from within the shop. She looked up and the painted letters on the window and gave a small gasp of joy.
"It's a music store. They sell all sorts of CDs, cassettes, and records. Do you want to go inside?"
"Why not?" Pailong smiled and the entered the store.
Shelves lined every available inch of the walls and formed tight little aisles. Pailong had to squeeze himself between some of the tighter spaces, but he continued looking around for where the soft melody was coming from that had drawn him to the store in the first place. He found the noise was coming from a small strange machine near the back of the store where a young woman was idly reading the newspaper.
"Excuse me?" Pailong announced and the girl looked up at him and smiled sweetly.
"May I help you, sir?"
"What's that?" He pointed to the little silver machine.
"Oh, this?" She looked at what he was pointing to. "It's a compact disk player. It's all the rage with the younger generation. See, it uses tiny compact disks instead of bulky vinyl records."
She pressed a button, and the music ceased and a small shiny disk popped out.
"Look, it's smaller and more efficient than a record. The sound quality on these babies is so clear, you'd think you were standing right there next to the band. And you never have to worry about scratches and skipping, like with records, because there are no needles involved. A tiny laser beam"
She continued to ramble on about stuff Pailong didn't understand. He took the disk from her hand and looked it over. It was silver, but it caught the light and reflected it back in a multitude of iridescent colors. He breathed in awe.
"It's so pretty," he sighed.
"Huh?" The salesclerk looked at him, as if he were crazy.
"I'd like one of these," he waved the disk back and forth.
"Well, you can't have this one," she took it from him, "it belongs to the store. But if you go in that aisle over there," she pointed, "you can find this disk and others like it. It's under 'Mediation and Sounds of Nature'. Put the headphones on, and you can listen to other songs, too."
"Thank you very much," he bowed slightly to her and made his way toward the CD rack.
"Find anything you like yet?" Jun asked while idly browsing through some CDs of traditional Chinese music.
"Almost," he smiled and stood in front of the 'meditation' section.
Picking up the headphones, he placed them on his head and began listening to the soft ambient music again. He closed his eyes, listening to the sounds of waterfalls and flutes whistling softly in his ears.
This would be perfect to help me focus my mind, he thought.
After a moment, he was aware of someone by his side, but he was too absorbed in the music to really notice. He bobbed his head back and forth to the tune as the person next to him did the same. Finally, as the song reached its end, Pailong opened his eyes and turned toward the stranger on his left.
A boy with dark hair and a pair of orange headphones on his neck, while the store's pair rested on his ears, turned and looked up at him.
"It's you!" They both cried in unison.
"Asakura Yoh!" Pailong removed the headphones and smiled at the boy.
"Hey, Pailong," Yoh removed his own headphones and craned his neck to get a better look at the tall man. "Lookin' good. What're you doing here?"
"Miss Jun is taking me out for my birthday," Pailong picked up the CD he was looking for. "What are you doing here?"
"Oh, just grabbing a new record real fast before I have to go shopping for Anna."
"I see," Pailong laughed. "Where are the others?"
"Outside at a nearby café." He grinned. "Hey! You and Jun-san wanna come join us?"
"We'd be happy to," Jun approached them with a smile on her face. "It's good to see you again, Yoh-kun."
They went to the check-out counter to make their purchases, then quickly walked across the street to the café Yoh was telling them about.
"Hey, Yoh-kun!" The short boy with brown hair waved at him. "What took you so long? I thought maybe you fell asleep listening to all that relaxing music in there."
"Naw, I was just saying 'hi' to some old friends," he chuckled as he sat down at the round white table.
Manta's mouth dropped as soon as he saw Pailong and his dao-shi. "Pailong! Jun-san! What are you doing here?"
"Miss Jun is taking me out because it's my birthday," Pailong grinned while holding out a chair for his master.
"It's your" Manta gasped. "Oh no! How could I have forgotten!" He grabbed his hair in frustration.
"Yeah, I'm surprised," Yoh laughed while taking a sip from a cup of lemonade. "The way you idolize him, I would have thought you'd remembered."
"Please forgive me, Pailong! I'll be sure to sent you a gift--"
"It's all right, Manta-kun," the martial artist waved it away. "It's nice enough just being able to see my biggest fan, after so long."
"Oh!" The short boy stared at him with eyes as round as dinner plates. "You really mean it?"
"Don't praise him too much, Pailong," Yoh grinned devilishly. "He's already going into 'Pailong Overload'. You might make him completely spaz out."
"Hey!" Manta frowned at his schoolmate while the boy only laughed.
"Yoh-dono!" The white-haired samurai appeared near his master's side, his eyes filled with tears. "How come you never take me out on my birthday?"
"Eh?" He stared at his teary-eyed ghost in confusion. "Well, when is you birthday, Amidamaru?"
"Yoh-dono? You can't be serious? You actually forgot my birthday?" The samurai ghost covered his eyes with his arm and sobbed loudly.
"Good thing no one else can hear him," Manta whispered behind his hand.
"But Amidamaru! You never even told me when your birthday is." Yoh scratched the back of his head nervously.
"It's January sixth!"
"Well, that's only a little over a month away. I'll take you out to do something special, all right?"
"You You really mean it, Yoh-dono?" Amidamaru sniffed back more tears.
"Sure, why not? You're my best buddy, after all." He grinned.
"Yoh-dono!" The samurai ghost grabbed his master in a huge bear hug, causing Yoh's eyes to bulge slightly. "You're such a good master!"
"Not so hard" The young shaman managed to gasp.
Amidamaru opened his eyes and quickly released his master. He cleared his throat nervously, resuming his normally stoic expression once more.
"Forgive me, Yoh-dono," the samurai bowed apologetically.
"Don't worry about it," Yoh waved it off.
"So, how have things been going on with Anna-san?" Jun asked.
"Ah, all right, I guess." He smiled weakly. "She's got me on a new training regimen, in preparation for the Shaman Fight preliminaries. We still don't know when they're going to start though."
"We'll just have to wait for a sign," Jun turned her gaze toward the clear blue sky.
"But at least there's some good news!" Manta piped in. "There's a new guy staying with Yoh and Anna. His name's Ryu, and he's trying to become a shaman, but Anna just makes him do all the housework, so at least me and Yoh-kun get a break for once."
"But you can't help feeling a little sorry for him," Yoh sipped as his lemonade once more. "He thinks Anna's making him do some 'super secret training'. I don't think she thinks he's cut out to become a shaman."
"You never really know," Pailong said. "Sometimes strength can be found in the most unlikely places."
"Yoh-kun," Jun turned her attention to him once more. "Let me warn you, Ren-kun has not taken his defeat very lightly. He's been training night and day to become stronger than you. I'm telling you this because I still cannot thank you enough for what you did for Pailong and I."
"Aw, it was nothing," Yoh scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "I told you, people who can see ghosts always have a little good in them. That's why I wanted to help you, Jun-san. I knew you couldn't be all that bad, and I don't think your brother is, either."
The green-haired girl gasped slightly. Yoh smiled all the more.
"You'll see. Ren will come around eventually. Just give him some time."
"Thank you, Yoh-kun," Jun smiled shyly. "If you even need any help, don't hesitate to ask."
"Well, we'd better be going." Yoh slid out of his seat and gathered his shopping bags. "Manta and I had better finish with the shopping, or Anna will make me do the 'electric chair' for the rest of the day."
"She can be pretty scary when you make her mad," Manta laughed nervously.
"Good luck with your training, Yoh," Pailong waved at him. "Ren would be very disappointed if you didn't present him with a proper challenge."
"Yeah, he won't have to worry about that."
"Yoh-kun," Jun walked forward and stared into his warm eyes. "Please tell Anna-san thank you, as well. She also helped to reunite Pailong and I."
"I'll let her know," he gave a small smile.
"And also," Jun patted his shoulder. "I think the reason Anna-san is so hard on you is because she cares deeply about you. You know how they say, 'you always hurt the one you love'."
"I'd hate to see what she'd do if she hated me!" Yoh laughed heartily. "But you know what? You and Pailong make a pretty cute couple, too."
Jun gasped, taken aback by his offhand remark. She glanced at Pailong and noticed the deep blush tinting his cheeks.
"Well, we gotta go now. Have fun you two!" Yoh waved to them and began walking away, Manta and Amidamaru close behind.
"Good-bye, all of you!" Jun waved to them. "Take care now!"
Pailong waved to them as well. Eventually, the three friends were long gone, swallowed up by the teeming mass of people. Jun continued to stare after them for several moments. That boy had no idea how much happiness his simple act have given them. Perhaps it was destiny that had brought them together that fateful evening, but Jun felt she must somehow repay the good karma of his selfless act. Maybe someday, she would have the chance to repay her debt.
"Shall we go now?" Pailong stood over her, smiling.
"Yes, what do you want to do next?"
He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, let's keep walking and see what happens."
Jun picked up her purse and they began walking down the crowded streets once more.
Well, what'd you think? The reason Pailong was fascinated with the CD player is because he died in 1978, before CDs were around. Coming up next, Ren has to figure out a way to feed himself while Jun and Pailong have fun at the carnival. Poor Jun has never been to an amusement park before, and she's never been on a roller coaster What's gonna happen to her?