Disclaimer:::
Shaman King iz not mine. I only own the rest of the world! Muahahaha! Thank you Hao-chan!.. =P
Warning:::
Spoilers on Hao's identity. Written based on the anime only. I have not read the manga at all.
Legend:::
(.…bla bla….) Is thoughts
"….bla bla…." Is normal speech
{….bla bla….} Is notes/signs/etc.
Summary:::
**AU-ish** What if Hao and Yoh weren't separated since birth, but only 5 years after. But due to certain reasons, Yoh doesn't remember this.
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(This takes place after the preliminary rounds and before they went to America.)
Chapter 4
'Tap'
'Tap'
'Tap'
13-year-old Asakura Yoh walked down the corridor of the house with his feet sounding noisily against the hard wooden floor. Stretching happily, he yawned widely and sighed contentedly at the wonderful music with headphones stuck to his ears.
It was a beautiful afternoon. The bright sun hung brightly in the clear blue sky. Oblivious to him, the yellow birds sang their own melody as they flew freely under the day's watchful eye. The warm breeze blew against his dark brown shoulder-length hair and Yoh almost giggled as a stray strand tickled his nose.
Yoh tied his wild locks up into a high ponytail and sat down fanning himself. Trickles of sweat ran down the side of his face as he fanned harder trying to cool himself down. It was beginning to get warmer as the sun continued to shine mercilessly.
With the loud music banging in his ears, Yoh closed his eyes as he lay down on his back and was soon lost in his own dream world.
"Yoh!"
Yoh began to hum softly to the tune of the music.
"Yoh!"
The song was a lovely tune. So relaxing……
"YOH!!!!!"
"Aaaaaaaa!!" Yoh yelped as his headphones were ripped away from his head and he was slapped awake by a familiar hand.
The weary shaman opened his eyes and sat up in a hurry, only to be greeted by a furious and terrifying Kyoyama Anna. Her eyes gleamed with unnatural light that promised revenge for being ignored completely. Yoh cringed and shuddered at the sight of the blond tigress. He began to sweat harder and somehow he knew it wasn't due to the weather. Yoh silently muttered a prayer to whatever gods that was listening to spare him from Anna's wrath.
"A-A-An-n-na..ha-ha." Yoh stammered scratching the back of his head sheepishly.
Anna was still giving him a murderous glare. Her eyebrows twitched in annoyance and her lips curled up in a sneer.
"Ha. Ha. Ha. Yoh. Get up now! You're due for 5 km's worth of run. Don't come back until you're done." Anna stated crossing her arms across her chests expectantly and tapped her right foot.
"Awww.. Annaaa…"
"7 km."
"Annaaa.."
"10 km."
"……." Yoh did something wise by keeping quiet.
"Yoh…." Anna's voice was getting darker by the second.
"Hai! I'm going, I'm going." Said Yoh with tears flowing like a river. (Waaaaa..I don't want to..) T___T
Yoh walked towards the door with his future wife following closely behind like a prison guard. Yoh felt like a prisoner on death roll.
Anna waited as Yoh put on his favorite pair of wooden clogs at the doorway.
"Bring me something from the Highland Garden as proof. And don't try to trick me. You'll know what will happen if you do." Anna ordered.
"H-hai….." Yoh stuttered remembering what happened the week before. He had tried to cheat in his rounds and after that he couldn't move his limbs for days.
Once out the door, Yoh tried for one last time to bargain for less run length. However, as if sensing this, Anna slammed the door shut in his face, leaving him gaping for lost words.
"Waaaa…." T___T
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(A flower.)
(I think I'll get her a flower.)
(Geez. I sound like a nervous boyfriend trying to get his girlfriend a gift.)
(Who am I kidding? I'm engaged.)
Spirals appeared in Yoh's eyes. He had reached his limit of number of thoughts per day. Sitting there underneath the big oak tree, Yoh rested his tired exercised body. Vaguely he wished that his best friend could have kept him company. It'd be nice to have someone to talk to. But Manta had a tuition class. So here he was alone.
"Well, I guess I should be getting back." Yoh said out aloud stretching his exhausted muscles. Yoh yawned and headed towards the bush to his left.
The Highland Garden is a place filled with beautiful flowers and lush green trees. Yoh picked a bunch of flowers as golden as the sun and in his opinion a color that reminded him of a certain icy blond. It was his proof.
His mouth curved up in a slight smile as he hugged the flowers to his chest and started his run back home.
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(I wonder if Ren's there yet.) Yoh thought as he waited at the traffic light. There was supposed to be a get together at the house tonight. (I can't wait for dinner.) Yoh thought drooling.
The traffic light blinked green. The boy straightened his body and proceeded to cross the road. It was getting dark fast as the sun had begun to set below the horizon.
Yoh increased his pace wanting to reach home before it was too late. (Horo Horo would finish everything before I even reach the front door.) T__T
However, when he was at about the middle of the road, a wave of emotions passed through him in a fleeting instant. It came and went like a flicker of light but left a feeling of uncertainty within him. Yoh clutched the flowers tighter as he looked around for the source of his confusion.
There.
Yoh spun abruptly towards his right and caught the sight of long silk-like hair swirling slightly in the evening breeze. It was in a rich dark brown, only a few shades lighter than his own. Expecting them to belong to a girl, Yoh stopped in pure shock when he saw the face of the owner of those flowing locks.
Not only was it not a girl, it was a mirror of his own features. His black eyes, his curved nose, his thin lips; they were an exact copy. Stupefied, Yoh stared at the boy from across the road. Yoh watched entranced as he squatted down to speak to a child who had big wide eyes and weird bushy hair. The other Yoh gently picked the child up and sat him on his shoulders. Together they began to walk away down the row of shops, disappearing around the corner.
Yoh's eyes widened in silent anxiety and his body moved without his control based on some forgotten instinct. He can't leave.
(Don't leave me. Not again.) The words came into his head on their own.
His heart was beating furiously in his chest as he ran towards the retreating figures. He reached out his free hand towards them and his lips mouthed words that formed by themselves.
"Ni-chan..…"
Came a whisper from a memory.
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Oyamada Manta struggled with the heavy books in his short arms as he walked on his short unsteady feet. He dodged to the left and right trying to avoid the people passing by who obviously haven't noticed the extremely short boy with the enormous pile of books. Manta was burning with anger and annoyance at the girls who walked by chattering noisily about their boyfriends and at the boys who rushed past arguing noisily about the best soccer teams. He felt like exploding but in the end he let out all the steam.
(Sigh… It's not their fault I'm only 80 cm tall.) He thought sadly. Shouting at people out of the blue wasn't something that he was brave enough to do. That's more of Horo Horo's style. Speaking of Horo Horo, Manta wondered if the ice shaman had reached Yoh's house yet.
Manta smiled happily when he thought about the get together dinner tonight. So occupied was he at thinking, he almost missed the shouts of a certain dragon.
"Oi! Manta!"
Bokutou no Ryuu came jogging up to him sporting his usual white Elvis-like clothes and Elvis-like hairdo. Green, sulky Tokageroh floated along from behind in his oversized armor. Manta paused in his steps long enough for Ryuu to catch up with him and both of them resumed their walk to Yoh's house.
Ryuu helped ease the burden by offering to carry the books, an offer which Manta accepted graciously.
"Thanks Ryuu-san." Manta said relieved.
"Yo, Manta what the hell are these books?" Ryuu asked curiously lifting up the top one of the pile and squinted to read the title. With the fast disappearing sunlight, Ryuu gave up with a frustrated groan and turned to Manta expectantly for an answer.
"Ah that is just some books on you shamans. I've been doing some reading and light research….bla bla bla…"
(He calls this light. My arms are going to break.) Ryuu rolled his eyes and turned to see Tokageroh do the same. Both of them sighed as Manta droned on and on.
"You know it's interesting that there is this legend that a shaman's spirit is the strongest…..bla bla bla….double….bla bla bla….merge powers…bla bla bla…."
"Let me kill him." Tokageroh whispered to Ryuu with a crazy gleam in his eyes and his hand fingered his sword longingly.
Ryuu had to practically restrain from permitting his spirit to do so just so Manta could stop talking. Instead he laughed nervously and asked the agitated ghost to stop joking.
Like a giant and a dwarf marching side by side, anyone would find it hard to believe that they were only 5 years apart in age. They walked on passing a row of shops that were closing up for the day. Rounding a corner, Ryuu began to struggle against the weight of the books and the excited chatter of his companion.
"Hey look there's Yoh-kun! Anna must be torturing him again. I feel sorry for him." Manta suddenly said.
Ryuu looked towards where he was pointing at and saw the brown-haired shaman he knew so well.
Yoh was wearing his normal workout clothes, with his trademark headphones stuck to his head and in his hands were a bunch of pretty golden flowers. He stood there at the roadside, waiting and looked lost in thought as he stared ahead with a goofy grin on his face.
"Danna!" Ryuu shouted after him but then he was probably still too far away to hear him.
The lights turned green and Yoh began to cross the road.
Ryuu gestured to Manta to walk faster, quite a feat for his short legs.
Then all of a sudden, Yoh came to a stop in the middle of the road with his whole body looking tense. Ryuu watched on as Yoh looked around with wide obsidian eyes as if searching for something.
"What in the world is he doing?" Manta wondered out aloud and then turned around to look at Ryuu.
The tall shaman merely shrugged. He had no idea whatsoever.
Then Yoh turned abruptly towards the opposite side of the road and after a moment or two, began running in that direction.
"R-ryuu-san, look." Manta said in a horrified tone. Again, Ryuu glanced to wherever Manta pointed to. His heart almost stopped.
A heavy truck came speeding down the road at an alarming pace.
But Yoh had not seen the truck. He had not heard the desperate honks from the driver. He had not known that the driver tried to swerve the truck to avoid hitting the boy directly.
A second was all it took. It was time that Ryuu did not have enough of to save him. It was time that Manta did not have enough to even shout a warning.
"YOH-KUN!!!!"
"DANNA!!!"
Both of them watched helplessly as the collision happened and the huge vehicle hit Yoh even with the efforts of the driver to avoid him. His body flew from the momentum and landed a few feet away from the point of impact.
The driver scrambled away quickly from the wreckage and escaped uninjured except for a few bruises. Both Ryuu and Manta ignored the shouts of warning from him as they ran towards Yoh's limp and unmoving form.
The broken glass of the window shield crackled in the blazing flames. The truck lay on its side with gas leaking out from its tank. It did not take a genius to figure out what could happen at any moment from thereon.
Ryuu took battered figure in a gentle embrace and carried him carefully away from the roaring inferno while Manta quickly called for an ambulance.
In his arms, Yoh's eyes fluttered open slowly and he smiled gently.
"Ni-chan…." Yoh managed to say softly before darkness claimed him and he fell unconscious.
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"Argh."
Hao clutched a hand to the side of his head, which had suddenly begun to throb painfully. His body almost curled up as if in a desperate way to shield himself from an unknown source of his agony.
"Hao-sama! Daijoubu?!" Opacho asked worriedly, looking down.
The pain began to subside in a mere minute, and then disappeared without a trace. Hao straightened his composure and looked around in confusion. Gritting his teeth furiously at his own helplessness, the flustered shaman turned and marched away not realizing what had taken place just a few moments before.
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Beautiful golden petals played in the wind among the precious red-wine blood splattered on the ground.
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Glossary:::
Danna--- Master (What Ryuu calls Yoh.)
Aa--- Yes (Masculine)
Sorry for the long wait!! , Gomen kudasai de gozaru…
But I think I made up for that with this much longer chapter. ^__^
Sankyuu minna!! I feel so loved! Hehehe. ^__^;;
Reviewer Response::
piti opacho I was sorta aiming for that, to make it sorta blend into the original series. ^___^ And I continued! Hope U liked!
Baka-Cupid Don't underestimate yourself, I'm sure you can write something better than this. I'll look forward 2 reading it! And it's a pleasure to know how you feel. So don't worry yourself about it. As I said, blabber as much as you want. I love to hear from you guys.^___^
Chibi Dragon Konnichiwa CD-san. Don't even for once think that you're annoying. I simply adore your reviews and I would be extremely HAPPY if you would want to review every chapter I put up! ^___^
Maru Kazegami Waaa. Did it really make you cry? Hope this chap was uhm.. happier..Hehehe.
Ice-Phoenix Yup he is. ^___^ Hope u liked this chap.
tone I did it on purpose =P Hehehe. I'm glad someone else agrees with me that Hao is misunderstood. **sighs** Poor Hao-sama.
Kitsune Asakura A fox with wings. Hmm I like..**pets Kitsune on the head** Such a NICE fox to review my humble story. Here's a cookie 4 you. Baked by Hao and Yoh themselves. (It tastes better than it looks ^__^;;)Thanx =)
Checkers I'll try my best! I just wanted to practice on my Japanese though.=D Hope you liked this chap!
takoyaki U think so? Yokata! I would love to read your stories. Hurry and post them quick!
Cessniper23 Ano I wish Hao could do that too **big creepy Hao smile** ^___^;; And thanx 4 the good luck. To tell you the truth, I had no idea on how to continue. Took me a while. ^__^;;
Stardustangel U'll never know until you try! I'll be waiting to read your SK fics! ^__^
mi-chan Yeah, the twins are sooo lovable! ^__^ I have an ending planned, it's just the middle part I'm worried about **sweatdrop** Hehehe.
Jessica Hao-chan's number? I don't have it. I suggest e-mailing him. ( Yohshouldkeephishairlong@sothathelookslikeme.com) Hahaha ^__~ China? I went there once. I wouldn't recommend doing that now though with SARS flying around. -__-;;
Digi Garden They're too short O.O;; Maa I guess so. People have been saying my chapters are too short for my other fics as well. I guess I never learn, hehehe. I'll try my best! And more details? Umm I do my best! ^__^
unpredictable.l Nice to know that you're still interested ^__^. Glad you're alive to review my fic 2! ^__^ Hehehe.
Quote of the day:::
Asakura Yoh, he says….
To win respect, friends, and shaman fights…..smile always and act like an idiot. ^___~
Make someone happy by clicking the blue button below and by leaving me your wonderful words of wisdom! ^___^
To make it short, REVIEW!!!!!! =P