H o s h i - g a - H o s h i i - d e s u

"I want the stars"

by Lucathia

chapter 31: family reunion

Yoh's smile broke the tension in the air.

Ren, who had stopped eating to wait for Yoh's reaction, brought his chopsticks to his mouth, though his attention was now focused on the five in the doorway and not on his food. Horo Horo, stunned at the sudden appearance of Yoh's family, quickly hid half of his blushing face with his bowl. His chopsticks clattered against his bowl as he pushed the rice into his mouth.

Manta trailed behind the pink-haired girl.

Click.

The door shut behind him as he glanced around nervously before climbing back into his seat.

They had all seen Yohmei, Kino, Mikihisa, and Tamao before, but who was that lady with long black hair standing next to Mikihisa? If they looked really hard, they could see the resemblance between her, Yoh, and Hao. If they really, really thought about it, she actually looked like an older, female version of Hao. She even reminded them of Sora a bit.

They quickly made the connection in their mind.

This could be no one other than the twins' mother.

Horo Horo's mind was immediately filled with thoughts about how lucky Yoh was to have such a pretty mother.

Ren, on the other hand, was wondering what in the world was drastic enough to invite Yoh's mother into the picture. He had crossed fire with Yoh's father plenty of times, yet he had never laid eyes on his mother before today. One would think that she didn't even exist.

Dinner resumed, now with five more people. Anna's pointed look made Yoh quickly head to the kitchen to bring out more bowls and chopsticks for the newcomers.

As Yoh left for the kitchen, the pink-haired girl named Tamao timidly spoke up. "Anna-sama, I asked Yohmei-ojiisama, Kino-obaasama, Mikihisa-ojisama, and Keiko-obasama to come as you requested."

Anna nodded slightly, letting Tamao know that she had heard her. When Yoh came back into the room juggling five extra sets of bowls and chopsticks, the pink-haired girl quickly averted her gaze to stare at the ground.

"Where is she?" asked Yohmei. Yoh's short grandfather had his arms crossed, his expression serious. Yoh's grandmother Kino stood by Yohmei's side, silent but equally inquisitive.

"Not here yet. But she will be here soon," replied Anna.

"My sister...I haven't seen her since she left for America," murmured Yoh's mother Keiko quietly.

The three of them, Manta, Ren, and Horo Horo, finally understood that this was going to be one huge family reunion. Manta quickly counted the number of Asakuras in the room at the moment. Five. If he counted Anna, who was Yoh's fiancée, and Tamao, who was Yohmei's student, as part of the Asakura family, that would make seven. After Sora and Tsuki's arrival, that would make nine. It was going to be one huge awkward situation for them.

They were outsiders, after all, outnumbered nine to three. If Hoshi had been there as well, they would have been even more outnumbered.

After an extended period of lost contact, how do conversations start again? What could the first words exchanged upon reunion possibly be?

Sora wasn't even thinking about the possibility of meeting her parents, her sister, and her brother-in-law at the moment though. She was bringing Tsuki along to dinner because she wanted news of Hoshi. She wasn't going there to confront her parents.

However, when Manta opened the door for them, she had a sudden feeling that she should turn around and head back to her rented house. Something wasn't quite right. The short boy smiled nervously at her, causing Sora to clutch Tsuki's hand a tighter.

"Yoh-kun has already brought out extra bowls for you," said Manta as he stepped to the side to let Sora and Tsuki enter. "They've been expecting you."

They? Did "they" refer to her nephew and his friends?

The short boy closed the door behind her, letting her take the lead. She could feel his eyes on her as she headed towards the dining room.

When she was finally standing in front of the doorway leading to the kitchen, she paused. Her feet felt like they were rooted into the ground. She could still feel Oyamada Manta's gaze on her, as if willing her to go in. It only made her more nervous.

Tsuki glanced up at his mother, curious about the sudden stop.

"Aren't we going in?" asked Tsuki.

"I..." Sora stopped. Why couldn't she make her feet move? She had no explanation. Was there any reason to fear going in and having dinner with her nephew? What was she afraid of? What was there to be afraid of?

Tsuki frowned, tugging his hand out of his mother's grasp.

"Wait!" Sora reached her hand out to reclaim his small hands, but he deftly avoided her attempts and stepped into the room.

Sora helplessly watched his disappearing form. She couldn't make herself follow him. Manta looked at her, giving her a nod for encouragement before he followed Tsuki into the room.

Through the door, Tsuki's voice drifted to her ears.

"Eh? Yoh-san's entire family's here!"

Sora's eyes widened. She almost fell as her feet suddenly moved, bringing her straight through the doorway. One hand held on to the side of the door, trying to hold herself upright.

All eleven pairs of eyes landed on her.

Her eyes darted around nervously as they swept over the people sitting at the table.

The boy with spiky, sky-blue hair and a towel around his forehead sat at the left. Next to him sat the boy with golden eyes and purple hair with one, stiff spike in the middle. The girl wearing a red bandana and a bead necklace was sitting next to Yoh. A pink-haired girl who was scuffling her feet sat at the right. The girl wore a simple white shirt and had a heart-shaped bag hanging from her shoulders to rest against her hips. Sora hadn't ever met the girl before, so she couldn't place a name with her appearance.

Manta and Tsuki stood at the end of the table. Why hadn't they sat down yet? Tsuki's head was turned to the side. He was observing...

A man wearing shorts, sneakers, and a raggedy shirt. He had on a funny mask with a beak. His black hair was pulled into a ponytail. Was she supposed to know who he was? He seemed sort of familiar, but she didn't think she knew anyone who was eccentric enough to wear a bird mask all the time.

When her eyes roamed to the person standing next to him, she gulped.

There stood a woman with midnight black hair past her waist. She was wearing a blouse and a long, beige skirt.

It was her sister.

Sora's eyes couldn't widen any further.

She willed her eyes to go to the next person.

An old woman with black shades and white hair pulled into a bun. Her mother.

Her eyes darted to the right.

And last but not least, her father. The top of his head was shiny. Even though he still had some hair on the back of his head, it was entirely white.

After not speaking to her family for seventeen years, this wasn't how she had planned on confronting them again. She wanted time to prepare herself, to think through what she should say and how she should act. This meeting was too sudden. She wanted to be the one who approached them, not the other way around. She wanted to have the upper hand. She had even hoped that Hoshi would be by her side at that time of confrontation, but he wasn't here anymore. Besides, would her parents even accept him?

Standing there made her feel like a child all over again.

It was Asakura Keiko who spoke first.

"Aneki."

And so the onslaught of questions and accusations began.

Faced with what promised to be a long, heated family reunion, the three boys slipped out of the room, unnoticed by those of the Asakura family. Manta closed the door behind him, though he could still hear the voices drift through. He strained his ears to catch the conversations going on in the other room.

"You're 'kaachan's younger sister?" exclaimed Tsuki.

"Yes," came the quiet reply from Asakura Keiko.

Yohmei's statement was sharp and sudden. "You never told him?"

Sora sounded offended. "You disowned me...I can't really tell him about a family that I'm not a part of."

"'kaachan...what does 'disown' mean? And if she's your sister, then is she my aunt?"

"She is and isn't your aunt. Disown...means to be kicked out of the family," explained Sora hesitantly.

"I don't get it."

"Tha-" began Sora, only to be cut off by Kino.

"We did not disown you for no reason."

"I know that," retorted Sora. "You disowned me because I'm just a normal, human being who can't even see spirits."

"That's only part of the reason," murmured Kino.

Sora sounded hurt. "You're not denying it?'

"No, because it was for your own good-" started Yohmei before Sora suddenly cut him off.

"For my own good? How in the world did I benefit from that? My poor sons never knew their family!"

"We were trying to protect you from Hao!" exclaimed Yohmei.

Silence.

"Yoh, can you please take Tsuki somewhere else?" asked Sora quietly.

Footsteps.

Manta hurriedly scooted away from the door as it opened. Yoh lead Tsuki, pulling him along gently by his hand. The little boy looked down at his feet, confused about what was going on. Anna came through the door as well, glaring at the three "eavesdropping" boys. They weren't exactly eavesdropping though. It was the door's fault. Such a paper-thin door couldn't block the voices at all. A flustered Tamao followed Anna into the room of the younger generation. She slid the door close behind her and sat down next to the wall.

There was a long silence on the other side of that door.

And then the questions.

"What do you mean? And why bring this up now?"

Mikihisa, silent thus far, opened his mouth to answer her questions.

"Yohmei knew that-"

"Wait," cut in Sora.

Mikihisa paused.

"Who are you?"

Manta almost crashed into the ground. Even though he was in a separate room, he could imagine Mikihisa's reaction. Manta would have thought that Sora knew who Mikihisa was! Though Mikihisa's mask might be a bit confusing...

"Uh...I'm Mikihisa."

"Oh. OH! I'm so sorry...I couldn't recognize you under that mask. And you've gained some weight since I last saw you...er..." said Sora quickly.

"Uh...right. Anyway, Yohmei knew that Hao was going to be reborn into the Asakura family in time for the Shaman Fight-"

"Stop," said Yohmei steadily. "Don't go on any further.

Mikihisa's voice held an urgent tone. "No, I won't stop. I have to explain this. I have to let her understand that she wasn't the only one who was suffering. In my opinion, Keiko suffered the most. Besides, you've already started explaining. Why not tell her everything?"

Another silence.

"No more interruptions? That means I can continue again, right? Okay. As I said, Yohmei knew that Hao was going to be reborn into the Asakura family. That meant that either you or Keiko would give birth to him. After seeing you interact with your son Hoshi, Yohmei decided that you would be better off living a life of your own. Since you can't see spirits...if you were the one who had given birth to Hao, he would have no doubt killed you and Hoshi. That was his goal, to create a world especially for Shamans. If his own mother wasn't a shaman, he wouldn't hesitate to kill her. To prevent that, Yohmei banished you, which in effect, decided Keiko's fate of being Hao's mother."

Manta glanced towards Yoh-kun. How was he taking this? The grownups in the other room were partly discussing Yoh-kun's birth as well, since it was so interconnected with Hao's. Was Mikihisa bitter about Yoh-kun's birth? Manta's eyes then trailed towards Tsuki, who was sitting on the floor, hugging his knees to his chest. How was Yoh's little cousin taking this? No one had bothered to explain anything to him. Manta started worrying, wringing his hands together. But, he watched as Yoh-kun knelt down, whispering something in Tsuki's ears. Tsuki's eyes brightened somewhat, a smile tugging at his lips. Leave it to Yoh-kun to be reassuring!

The argument in the other room continued.

"Well, I can't say I'm grateful. My disownment only brought me pain. If your goals were to protect me from Hao, well, you guys failed."

"How can you say that? You're alive! Isn't that a success?"

Sora snorted. "Yes, I'm alive. But my husband isn't. Hoshi isn't either."

Manta blinked. Hoshi wasn't alive? Who was she referring to? Hao? No...it couldn't be. Hao was alive and healthy. Wait...didn't Mikihisa mention that Yohmei decided to "banish Sora after seeing her interact with her son Hoshi?" Did that mean that the "Hoshi" they were talking about really did refer to someone else? Sora's older son? Manta blinked once again. If that was true, then Hao actually named himself after Sora's first son who Sora said that Hao had killed! Was it a coincidence? Did Hao just feel comfortable with that name, or did he remember killing the former Hoshi?

Another silence.

"You weren't able to protect my family from Hao."

to be continued

A/N: Well, delays for this fic are mostly due to college (I cried over my midterms sniff) and partly due to the new story that is up. Twin Stars is an AU that focuses mostly on Hao, then Yoh, Anna, Jeanne, Ren, Horo Horo, and so forth, in that order. I was hit with the idea while writing this story, even contemplating whether or not I could incorporate it in here. But, it's better if that story stood on its own. You'll understand why...once you read it. (grins)

Next chapter: their whereabouts

Please review. :)