Chapter 3: Knowledge

Hao motioned Yoh to sit on the bed while he sat on the ground.

"Hm… So, where shall we begin? At the start? Very well."

"I shall begin with my past. I was born 1000 years ago, as you know. I have also mastered the Elements, and have control over my life. You know that my dream is to create a world of only Shamans. Imagine, Yoh! No weak, useless, cowardly humans. Only us, the shamans! Yoh, we can created that world together. Join me."

Yoh shook his head. "Never, Hao."

"No? Oh, well, as I expected. You are strong-willed, like me. Anyway, you are me, and I will claim back what is mine." Looking at Yoh's confused look, he chuckled. "Ah, well. I shall not bother much about my past. Now, on to your past."

"I shall start with the night you were born. On that night, your mother was with child, about to deliver. However, she was about to deliver to not one, but two children. Never knew, did you? Your father, grandfather and grandmother were all very worried. Yes. That night was the night Hao, the demon Hao was to be reborn. They were willing to do anything to stop my birth, and they were going to kill both the twins. You should be grateful to me, you know? I saved your life. If it wasn't for me, I would have killed you. I, of course, would have escaped.

"I was born first, and your grandfather was about to kill me. He underestimated me. I am not that easily killed. The Spirit of Fire defeated him while I escaped, unscathed." Hao smiled at Yoh's shocked expression. His thoughts were so easy to read. Right now, Yoh was trying to accept all that had been told to him.

"Yes. You know what that means. You are a part of me. I shall claim back what is mine, one day."

Hao decided to leave Yoh to sort out his confused thoughts privately. He got up, dusted himself and headed for the door.

Before he could even reach the door, Yoh called out to him. "Why did you kidnap me?"

Hao turned back and replied rather smugly,"Don't use the word kidnap. Rescue suits it better. I plan to kill your teammates. They are having too much influence on you. Now, I won't want to risk you getting killed, would I?" Hao paused, and then added, "Oh and I can read your thoughts, you know, little brother. Best keep them safe, if I were you."

With that, he strolled out of the tent, chuckling yet again at Yoh's bewildered expression.

Ren was staring at the starry night sky. His other teammates were all asleep. They had appointed him temporary leader. Of course, they had to. He was the only one suited for the job. Horohoro was to immature to handle responsibility, Ryu was to depressed about what happened to Yoh, and Lyzerg had too much anger at Hao for him to lead the team. However, Ren couldn't sleep at all. There was this empty feeling in his heart that kept him awake. He wondered what was happening to Yoh. Nothing good, he thought. With Hao, you could never know what was going to happen. Yoh could end up joining Hao. He shivered at the thought. If Yoh was gone, he felt that he could no longer have the will to live.

No. What am I thinking? Yoh isn't the whole world. We're friends. Just friends.

And what was it about Yoh that Hao wanted?

Ren couldn't fathom why Hao was after Yoh. And that thing about brother… he sighed. Ah, well, he could deal with those in the morning. He returned to his bed and started counting sheep.

Yoh woke up to find himself in an unfamiliar tent and a pile of clothes on the ground beside him. He sighed. He had been hoping it was all a dream. However, he would have to just accept it now. He wondered how Ren and the rest would deal with the news when they hear about him being Hao's twin. He was sure Lyzerg would detest him. He sighed yet again. This was going to be troublesome. He put on a white robe and wondered why no one had told him of him being Hao's twin before.

Ren… Yoh expected that Ren would be worried about him. Recently, Ren had seemed more than a friend… Yoh suspected that he had developed feelings for the other shaman. He guessed that it was after Ren's personality had changed for the better. Yoh had started liking him more and more, regardless of how icy he had been when they first met. He never expected that he missed Ren that much that he couldn't stop thinking of him. He missed Ren's retorts, his weird spiky hair… Better stop thinking. Hao did mention he could read my thoughts. He might get irritated and kill Ren straight away.

Yoh gulped and pushed down that nasty thought. He reached out, pulled open the tent flap, and almost bumped into a little girl, carrying a small tray.

The dark-skinned girl, with short curly hair, spoke, "Yoh-sama… Hao-sama asked Opacho to bring Yoh-sama his breakfast. Yoh-sama wakes up so late."

Yoh smiled and reached out to relieve the tray from her. "Opacho. You're Opacho, right?" She nodded. Yoh continued, "Thank you for bringing this to me. Do you know what Hao wants me to do?"

Opacho shook her head and replied, " Opacho doesn't know, but Opaco thinks Yoh-sama should stay here until Hao-sama comes." She studied Yoh, then said, "Opacho thinks Yoh-sama is as nice as Hao-sama, but they seem so different." With that, she left Yoh and headed back in the direction she came from.

Yoh took the tray and started eating his breakfast which consisted of toast and some orange juice. If Hao did indeed plan to kill Ren and the others, the least he could do was to return and warn his teammates about it. He definitely could not stand at one side watching the fight, not being able to help. He wanted to fight with them. The only problem was how to get Amidamaru back. Without his guardian spirit, he was utterly helpless. He admitted that he did depend a lot on his guardian spirit. All Anna helped train was his stamina, not fighting skills. He would have to find a way to get it back, and fast.

Over breakfast, he pondered on it and finally decided he would try his luck on getting it back. If all went well, he would be able to escape by that day. However, something was bound to go wrong somewhere… right?

To be continued…

Hahas.. weird chap.. Iam just repeating some parts of what was in the anime, just simplified.

I shall try to meet my target of updating every 2 weeks. It may take longer sometimes, though. Gambatte ne!

And thank you for the reviews! Keep them coming!