Chapter 6

Hao eyed Yoh as he walked along the inn; twitching lightly. "...Yoh." He began slowly. "What is that?" He pointed to the spirit following behind his brother like a lost puppy following a stranger. He had seen the brunet talking to the spirit before, but, he had never seen it following behind Yoh like that before.

The innocent boy blinked, looking at Amidamaru and grinning widely at himlike a little kid that had just received a bag full of candy. "That's Amidamaru, Onii-chan!" He laughed. "He said he'd help me!"

Amidamaru nodded. "I will serve Yoh-dono loyally, Hao-dono." He smiled at the little kid. Really, this had been the first time he had come across someone he could see him, and look at him without any fear at all.

It was a relief.

As for Mosukehis new master had sworn he would help him track his friend down; that his older brother would help them.

That was enough for him.

And with the world as it was right noweveryone would need as much help and protection as they could get; and since Yoh was going to take him to Harusame, the place where it had been said to have been haunted, then he would protect Yoh with his lifeerr... afterlife.

An eyebrow shot up. Protection...? Hao merely nodded. Perhaps this wouldn't be such a bad idea... Yoh could continue the little training he had received in the Asakura estate now.

"I see." He smiled lightly at his brother before turning to face Amidamaru. "Protection, huh?" He paused. "And what, exactly, do you want in return?" If there was one thing Hao knewit was that everything had a catch to it.

This couldn't be any different.

The spirit paused at that. What did he want in return? It was simple.

If Yoh was telling the truth, he would stay with him.

If they could not find Mosuke, he would go back to waiting for him the cemeteryhoping for their reunion.

"You were waiting for someone, correct?"

Amidamaru was taken speechless; how could this boy know so much about him...?

Once again, an eyebrow shot up. "I've heard a lot of things about you, Amidamaru." He shook his head; getting straight to the point. He knew exactly where to lookwhen spirits died, and if they had an attachment to something, they would remain on earth.

The question was; if Hao helped Amidamaru do this, would he go onto the next world...?

That wouldn't be very samurai-like, but, they would have to wait and see.

He turned, heading for the front door.

"Yoh, you stay here where it's safe."

His glance turned to Amidamaru.

"Follow me."

-

"How's Jeanne-sama doing?"

This was the question that the rest of the group had asked Lyserg as soon as he had left her room, and went into the living room of their living area.

He sighed and shrugged. "Not so good." He bit his lower lip; thinking about how she had gone into the iron maiden earlier. "She's... stressing her body a lot." He sighed, clenching his fists.

Marco frowned lightly at that. "She knows what she's doing." His tone was a serious one.

Venstar nodded at that. "Jeanne-sama had said before that action must be taken for what sins the Asakura siblings had committed. Murder is the greatest of all sins."

The rest of the X-Laws nodded in agreement; Lyserg, however, could only look on in shock.

What about the countless people we've killed? He couldn't help but think about that. Sure, he was in the group to look for the people who had murdered his parents; but... was this group really doing the right thing?

They were shamans themselves, weren't they...?

Marco starred at Lyserg. "We'll wait until she comes out of the iron maiden." He paused. "Until then, just wait, Lyserg." This was an order, not a request.

The other gulped, slowly nodding. "Yes, sir..."

-

"Is this it?" Hao was pointing at the rusted katana; the one that had been rumored to have been used by this spirit; this town legend.

Amidamaru's eyes widened as he starred intently at the blade. "It is!" He exclaimed. "How did you"

"It's a town legend." He looked on in a bored manner. "Supposedly, the blade was haunted, but, since spirits have been exercised, he might be gone by now."

The spirit froze at that. Mosuke... gone...?

Hao frowned, crossing his arms as he waited for Amidamaru to get over the shock, slowly glancing at the counter as he saw something shift beside it.

His frown only deepened; but he didn't bother moving.

Really, didn't people ever learn to listen to him?

- (Yoh's PoV) -

What's Onii-chan doing with Amidamaru? I can't really see from here. They're talking about the sword, but... what about his friend? I promised him that we would find his friend. I don't like breaking promises; that makes people sad. I don't like seeing people sad.

I held my breath when Hao turned. Uh-oh! If he finds me hiding, he'll get angry. When Hao gets angry, I get really scared. Hao can be really different when he gets angry... but he's never gotten mad at me before.

He told me to stay at home, but... I don't want to be alone. I get sad when Onii-chan's not with me... he always leaves at night, but, he never tells me why.

But, I wanted to see Amidamaru some more! He's fun to be with. I hope he finds his friend soon... Not being with friends and family is really sad. I wish I see Aunt Tamao soon. And Aunt Anna, too. They were really nice. I miss them. But Onii-chan says that we'll see them again someday!

I like being with Hao, though. Being around him makes me really happy. He's the best big brother ever!

I still feel really weird when I'm around him... kinda like how I feel around Aunt Tamao and Aunt Anna... But it feels better. Kinda like how you feel when you find something really nice; like when 'Kaa-chan makes me hot chocolate on a cold day.

I frown and listen to their conversation. What are they talking about? Amidamaru sounds really sad... I hate it when people are sad...

I wonder if Hao will keep playing those games with me... I can do Hyoui Gattai now, which is really cool! For some reason it makes me really sleepy... But it's still fun! I want to do it again today!

I blink when I suddenly feel strange. Like I'm about to sneeze.

I quickly cover my mouth. If I sneeze, they'll catch me!

- (Normal Point of View) -

When they heard the boy sneeze, they both turned; Amidamaru smiling slightly.

Even during the harshest of moments, Yoh was still brining a smile on the ancient spirit's face.

Yoh... was definitely something else.

Hao rolled his eyes, smiling slightly as well. "Yoh, you can come out now." Really, he had known that Yoh had been following them all along. It would only make sense... Yoh didn't want to be separated from his twin.

He heard a sniffle, Hao's slowly frowning. "Yoh?"

Yoh slowly came out, tears filling his eyes. "Onii-chan..." He began slowly. No, this was definitely not good. Little kids did get upset more easily than their elders; and Yoh was clearly afraid that Hao would be upset with him. "I'm sorry."

The older one soon his head. "About what?" He brought his brother into an embrace, rubbing his back in a comforting manner.

Yoh bit his bottom lip. "Are you mad?"

Hao blinked. "...No." He laughed lightly. "Why would I be angry with you?"

Yoh sighed. It was merely the fact that he had never disobeyed his brother before that made him scared.

Hao continued holding onto Yoh, picking him up as he faced Amidamaru. "Wait here." He said sternly. "If your friends still here, he'll appear by nighttime."

Amidamaru's eyes widened once more. Today was just full of surprises for this spirit. "How do you know all this?" He had to ask that question.

Hao merely smirked widely, turning his back on the spirit. "It's simple." A pause, he began to walk away, still holding Yoh close to him, who was smiling slightly at this point as he enjoyed the warmth he was receiving from his brother. "I know everything."

Yoh waved at the spirit. It was amazing how children's emotions could change so easily. "Bye bye, Amidamaru! I hope you find your friend!"

Amidamaru couldn't help but smile once more.

...I hope so too, Yoh-dono.

-

HoroHoro and Ren were currently walking together; making sure that they got what they both needed.

Again, the streets were empty. Ren had refused to go out during any other time; perhaps this merely had something to do with insane obsession with 'darkness'.

...Then again; this was safer... the chances of being caught as Shaman was more slim when they traveled at night.

For the first time since they had met; HoroHoro had volunteered to do the shopping. Ren, of course, had twitched profusely, claiming that he in no way would go alone; his kitchen was organized the way he wanted it, and, it would stay that way.

The Ainu boy twitched. "You didn't have to come with me, you know." He grumbled, his arms crossed.

Ren shrugged and smirked slightly. It was amusing, seeing HoroHoro like this. He got so angry over the smallest things... "Of course I did." He glanced at the other boy. "Knowing you, you'd end up getting the wrong thing. I don't need my things being disorganized." He shrugged.

HoroHoro twitches became even worse. Was Ren trying to call him an idiot! "What are you trying to say!" He demanded.

"...You should have figured that out." Ren tipped his chin up slightly, as if mocking him; egging him on. "...Oh, right; you wouldn't figure it out, would you?"

The blue-haired boy pulled out his snowboard, preparing to fight. "Are you asking for a fight!" He demanded; his faithful spirit appearing by his side.

Ren smirked, grabbing his glaive. "Considering how our last fight went; this one should be easy as well."

The Ainu frowned deeply. "This time will be different! I'm stronger than the last time we fought!"

The other boy's smirk only widened. This was exactly what he wanted; to fight HoroHoro in another fight. Since their last fightwhich took place only a month agothey had only been training; Ren's urge for another Shaman Fight growing. If there was one thing he liked more than training, it was fighting.

And so, the two Oversouled; their minds obviously off of the fact that they were still in a public street.

...Good thing they were empty.

-

Hao and Yoh were walking along the streets; Hao still holding onto Yoh firmly as the younger of the two slept sounder; his head resting on the crook of Hao's shoulder.

The other smiled softly at that. Theses were the type of moments he loved spending the most with his brother; the only time when they could be really close.

It was the only time when he could see his brother in peace.

Sure; Yoh seem happy, but, it was clear that he was missing someone. Something important was gone from him; from Hao as well.

He sighed; wondering right then if he should tell Yoh the truth.

...It would be hard... maybe too hard. The last thing Hao wanted to see was his brother sad, or upset in any way.

He... knew that he would have to tell Yoh someday. Just... not now.

He continued walking; shaking his head. For now, I just need to concentrate on getting Yoh home. That spirit should be coming back as well soon.

"Bason! Oversoul!"

Hao stopped at that; freezing in his tracks. An Oversoul...? Wow. When was the last time he had heard someone else besides him saying that?

"Kororo! Oversoul!"

He froze in his tracks; looking over to the side.

His eyes widened.

...This was a first.

There was other Shaman in the area besides him and Yoh...?

He slowly smirked; if it wasn't for Yoh, he would have summoned Spirit of Fire, joining in the fight as well.

But, for now he would watch the fight.

If they were strong enough... well; they would have to have a little talk, wouldn't they...?

To be continued.

Author's note: First of all, go here and read: http : (slash) (slash) www (dot) fanfiction (dot) net (slash) s (slash) 2283881 (slash) 1 (slash)

Seito wrote a really beautiful one-shot as a side-story to the end of chapter three. :) Go check it out, please?

This was... a bit of a cliff-hanger... umm... yeah; sorry about that. Hopefully the next chap will actually have more plot to it.

Well, I talked to Seito about this fic, and, I since I have this all planned out, this will probably be my first priority to finish. :3 It'll be updated a lot more often!

Um, I've never done PoV's before (at least not for little kids). Please tell me what you think?

And, I'm going back to writing HaoxYoh in every chapter. I'll try to make the chapters longer so I can get everything finished before I reach fifteen chapters...

:snickers: And Amidamaru calling Hao 'Hao-dono' seems so weird. XD

As for the X-Laws... can someone say 'hypocritical' here? X3

Random note: Viz is going to release HunterxHunter, yaay!

Replies to reviews:

BBShadowCat:shrugs: I brainstorm the ideas pretty easily. That's how I update so often... Seito came up with the basic idea for this fic, though.

Um... and I just had someone die in my family. Although I don't really want to talk about that.

Chibi Atariel Tsukai: Yeah... I think I'll do it by the end of the next chapter. :) Glad you like this!

YokoYoukaiYou've never heard of HoroRen! o.o lol XD That's a pretty canon pairing, if you ask me... thank you!

Author-sama: XD lol! Thank you! Yeah... HoroRen's can be really repetitive... which is why I try to do things differently...

AsakiheYay! Glad you like it:)

Elemental-Zero:whimpers: Do I have to make HoroHoro angst? Come on, he's angsting inside, not outside. He's not the type of character to show his sadness; kind of like Yoh.

Hellfire Phoenix: Buahahaha! XD Yesh... Ren is the closest thing to being a woman in the series...

AzaleeThat's the thing; HoroHoro's not exactly an angsty character... I can see Hao taunting HoroHoro a lot, though. XD It's not as amusing as HoroHoroxRen, sadly.

I don't speak French... but I have a translating thing on my hardrive. :3 That's the only way I could have read your profile... XD

I don't think we're going to be able to talk to each other. o.O You might go online when I'm sleeping. XD

:dies: Oops... I went back and fixed it.

Seito: Is this enough HaoxYoh fluff? XD lol. There will definitely be more fluff between them at the end.

Kagome-reincarnation: Maybe... but, just think, it's fanfiction. XD I used to consider the HaoYoh pairing a bit creepy, too...

haolover9312: There in there! Yay! Glad you like it!