Chapter 4

The pendulum swung over an area, then stopped.

"That way." Lyzerg said, pointing towards the west. "About a-day-and-a-half walk from here."

Ren stared down at the map they had again. They had bought it at the last town and it had proven its use to them. It had helped them locate Yoh, and calm Ren's worried heart. He had been having a sleepless night worrying about Yoh. Now he knew that he was able to do something and that was better than sitting around idling.

"Okay. Let's head there and rescue Yoh from Hao's evil cluthes!" Ren said out loud, although in his heart, he wondered how they were going to knock Hao down in the first place. Well, as Yoh always said, everything would work out in the end. Ren smiled. Thinking about Yoh always brought him a soothing feeling, making him feel at ease.

Ren glanced at his teammates. All had a determined expression, intent on their task of looking for Yoh. They set off in the direction Lyzerg had pointed out, hopes high on that the first step of their mission would succeed: Finding Yoh.

Meanwhile, Opacho had returned to Hao's side. Hao was sitting outside his tent, looking at Yoh's tent.

"Hao-sama… Are you really going to kill Yoh-sama's friends?"

Hao turned and looked at the short, dark-skinned girl, seemed to contemplate his answer, then continued to stare ahead. He replied, "Killing them? Well, I did not actually plan to do that. I just wanted to watch Yoh's reaction to that…" Hao grinned, then continued, "However, if he appears to be rather uncooperative, I may kill them. So, their lives shall depend on him."

All was silent for a moment, then Hao asked, "Opacho… do you like Yoh?"

Opacho nodded. "I think Yoh-sama is very nice, even though he is not as great as Hao-sama."

"Well, he is a valuable part of me, after all. It is only logical that you like him."

The tent-flap they were both watching opened. Hao got up from his sitting position, dusted himself, and said, "Finally, it seems that Yoh is going to make a move."

Yoh had decided to take action. Hao would most probably have hidden the tablet in his tent, and that was where Yoh would go. If it wasn't there, then, well… he would think of something else. If it was… he would think of how to reach it. Hao would be there too, most likely watching over it.

Yoh poked his head out of the tent, then glanced left and right, trying to see which was Hao's tent. It had to be the biggest one, so Yoh headed in that direction.

Upon reaching it, he glanced left and right yet again, making sure no one was around. Why am I doing this so secretively? It's not like I am a criminal or convict or some sort of shady character… Ah, well…

Yoh pulled open the tent flap. On a small table in a corner of the tent, he saw a tablet. There! He thought. Excitedly, he took a step forward…

…And fell into a hole of what he initially thought was solid ground.

Yoh grimaced as he got up and rubbed his behind. Hao was up to his weird tricks, as usual. Yoh just wished that his tricks weren't so painful.

Just then, a shadow fell over the opening of the hole. Yoh looked up and saw Hao grinning down at him. "Boo!" Hao gave one of his irritable smiles. Speak of the devil. Well… how could I have fallen for the oldest trick in the book?

"That's because you're naïve, otouto-kun. Well, don't they say that the simplest tricks are the most effective ones?" Hao chuckled. "I knew you were coming. You're SO predictable."

With that, Hao walked away from the hole, with Opacho following loyally behind, leaving Yoh to find his own way out of the trap that he had blindly walked into.

Approximately one hour and 15 minutes later, Yoh was sitting beside that deep hole and panting rather heavily. It had taken him a while, one hour, to be exact, to realize that Hao had put footholds and handholds in the pit. Then it took him another 15 minutes to locate exactly where they were and make his way out. He hated the fact that the pit was so deep, but he was starting to like his elder brother's weird sense of humour. Yoh felt a grin spread across his face. He felt that he wanted to know this brother of his better. They had spent so many years apart and now that they were together, Yoh felt that they could make up for the lost time.

Hao was standing at the doorway. He smiled when he heard Yoh's thoughts. Wanted to know him better, huh? Well… that won't be that It seemed to be an insult to his great name.

Yoh suddenly remembered that Amidamaru was what he set out for. He rushed over to the table and grabbehe couldn't understand himself, how could he expect someone that… dense and stubborn… to understand him?

Hao decided to announce his presence. "You are slow. Taking so long to climb out of one small hole like that"

Yoh gave a start. Then Hao's words came back to him. Slow… Small hole… the words echoed in Yoh's brain.

"I am sure all my comrades would have taken less that 30 minutes to get out. Even Opacho would have been capable of that easy feat."

Yoh fell back onto the floor. He knew Hao and his comrades were all better than him. Hao did not have to rub it in.

"Well, at least you managed to get out. You've earned your prize."

Yoh stared at him like he was speaking Greek or something. "Huh?" was all he could say.

"What you were here for in the first place." Hao gritted his teeth. He was getting impatient. He couldn't believe that his other half was that dense. Sure, he knew Yoh was dense, but he didn't expect it was that bad. It seemed to be an insult to his great name.

Yoh suddenly remembered that Amidamaru was what he set out for. He rushed over to the table and grabbed the tablet. A flustered samurai appeared.

"Yoh-dono! What happened? It was so dark and scary in there!" Amidamaru wailed while clinging on to Yoh, as if for dear life.

Glancing at Hao, Yoh replied, "Erm… Hao kid – I mean – brought us here."

Before Amidamaru could speak, Hao interjected, "I am so sorry to interrupt this very touching reunion, but I would very much appreciate it if I could have my privacy back. If you don't mind…" Hao gestured to the open tent flap.

Yoh got the idea and brought his still-wailing spirit guardian out. Then, he headed back to his temporary tent, intending to bring Amidamaru up-to-date on the recent events.

This authoress has a block and will not be updating anytime soon... suggestions are very much welcome though

Will have a really gigantic problem updating until I get the plot roughly fixed out in my mind.. I have learnt my lesson of improper planning...

And once again, thank you for all those reviews! )

Exploded Toilet Bowl: eh... I know it's still very short.. but at least this was a longer chapter than chapter 3! haha.

To the rest of the reviewers: thank you once again!