Introduction

Ah. It's been months, hasn't it? I've been busy with school, work, life and all that stuff. Thank you to all those that reviewed.

I'm just going to say it. The last chapters were, and are, pure, solid, grade A crap. (With the exception of the second chapter, which I think is somewhat passable.) I was just reading them over, and I was shocked by their crappiness. Their blatant crappiness. It doesn't matter. I'm still going to keep on writing, and hopefully, I'll get better. If I don't...well, you guys will just have to keep on dealing with it.

Disclaimer

I don't own Shaman King.

Chapter Four - Meeting

Hao closed his eyes, leaning his head against the cool marble of the pool wall. He found that he coud think best when his eyes were closed. It was something about the comforting darkness that came when he shut his eyes, replacing the harsh lines of reality, that allowed his thoughts to come to him easier. Right now, he thought of the royal advisor. He could not recall his name, though the advisor had been working at the palace since he had been a little child. He had caught the advisor on several occasions looking at him, and he wondered what he was up to. One time, Hao looked back at him when he was staring, and the advisor flinched and pretended that he was just looking at the painting behind Hao.

For a split second, Hao had seen into the man's eyes, and that was enough to make him wary. Hao had first signed the staring off as just normal curiousity, but those eyes had held more than that.

Hao had seen arrogance and calculation in those eyes.

Now, as he floated in the warm water of the pool, he wondered what the man was thinking of. The advisor, for all his pride and worldliness, was not a stupid man. If he planned to rebel against Hao's father, which was what Hao suspected, he would have planned his strategy to the last soldier.

But then why would he be staring at Hao? Was he somehow unknowingly in the advisor's plan?

This thought made Hao slightly annoyed. He hated to think that he was being used. If anything, Hao would be the user.

A small noise made him stiffen. It was the soft, dry sound of the pool's door moving across the ground. Someone had come in.

Hao turned slightly in the water, careful not to make any noise that would tell the intruder that he knew that he was in the room. He opened his eyes slightly, so he could see the front of the pool. He listened carefully for sounds that the person was coming closer.

He heard the swish and the raspy sound of expensive fabric dragging across the ground. Whoever it was, he was not a simple thief. The sound stopped, and Hao could feel the person's presence directly behind him.

"What do you what?" Hao asked, closing his eyes again. Whoever it was, it was clear that he was not out to kill him. If he was, he would have made his move by then.

"Prince." The person shifted his position, obviously caught off guard.

"Yes?" Hao repeated.

"Prince."

"Have you decided what you are going to say yet? So far, we've been talking in single words, and I still do not know, after three sentences, the answer to my first question, which was what you wanted. Do you plan on saying "prince" a third time?" Hao asked, his eyes still closed.

The person's body stiffened in anger.

"Of course, I would not wish to bother you, Prince Hao. I just came to tell you some news."

Hao recognized the soft, oozing voice. He had heard it risen loudly in anger often in the court discussions. It was the advisor.

"Of course," Hao opened his eyes and turned in the water, so that he was facing him, "Go ahead."

"The king has had a...a seizure of some sort in the palace today. It seems that he is bedridden now."

"How unfortunate," Hao said, his face looking strangely detached, "Father seems to have been having a lot of those lately."

Ren smiled inwardly at Hao's lack of feeling. He had chosen wisely.

"Yes. Apparently, the doctors say that if this goes on, he will not be in a well enough condition to rule."

"Oh?" Hao looked up until his eyes met Ren's.

"Yes. Do you know what that means, young Prince?"

Hao blinked.

"Well, obviously, there will be a great fuss and uproar, and Mother will start crying, and Father will insist that he is well enough to rule, and-"

"You know what I mean," Ren bent down, bringing his face closer to Hao's, "One of you will have to be king."

"And by "one of you", you mean my brother Yoh and I." Hao stood up in the pool. Stepping out, he began drying himself with a towel that one of the maids had left for him beside the pool.

Getting up, Ren walked until he was beside Hao.

"You strike me as a smart young man. Clearly, you realize what your father's, the King's, sickness means for you. There will only be one successor. Only one. It's going to be either you or your brother."

"And you're saying...why not make it me?" Hao finished drying and picked up his clothes, which were in a pile on the floor. Ren watched as he put them on.

"Exactly," Ren smirked, "You are a smart boy."

"So, how would I...get rid of the competition?" Hao asked.

"Oh. That would be easy. Asassins. Poison. Snakes. There are tons of ways to get rid of him."

"Those wouldn't work," Hao said, carefully brushing off a piece of invisible lint from his pants, "There are guards everywhere, and the maids check all the food and rooms throughly."

"Oh. Archers then. They can shoot him." Ren was caught off guard. He did not expect Hao to ask him in such detail.

"Where would they stand?" Hao asked.

Ren motioned to a bush outside.

"Look out the window more carefully. There are guards behind the trees, the bushes, everywhere. Your archer would be killed in an instant, " Hao said.

"Well, there are other ways of killing him."

"Tell me them."

Ren thought for a couple of minutes. He shrugged.

"I haven't thought about that yet. I'm sure I could figure it out."

"You should have it already figured out, if you're going to do such a big thing."

"Well, I haven't, yet. Give me time. All I need is your agreement to work with me."

"But how will I know that your plan will work?"

"Why don't you try it? Try the plan, and see for yourself how it goes."

"I believe that it is important to know where you are going, before you go," Hao said, "Now, if you have nothing else of use to tell me, I suggest you leave and go advise people, which was what you were hired to do."

Ren's eyes narrowed.

"I will succeed in throwing the King off his throne, " He spat out, "Whether or not you help me. So I suggest you stop being a child, and grow up. This is the real world, not one of your play pretend games with animals. You will find, that if you do not take this chance before it is gone, someone will, and it will get very unpleasant for you indeed."

Finishing that, he turned and strode out.

I may or may not update for another few months. It all depends on the reviews. Obviously, if I check my e-mail inbox and it's filled with "New Review!" alerts, I'll feel more inclined to write up another chapter.

'Till next time, whenever that time may be.