Disclaimer:::
Shaman King iz not mine. I only own the rest of the world! Muahahaha! Thank you Hao-chan!.. =P
Legend:::
(.…bla bla….) Is thoughts
"….bla bla…." Is normal speech
{….bla bla….} Is notes/signs/etc.
….bla bla…. Is memories
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Chapter 5
The world was dark but it was safe. Safe and warm. Then the voices came. They were like whispers yet they echoed around him. An angry shout. And then a grave reply.
"You!"
"Asakura, you disgust me. You would risk murdering an innocent child."
"It was in order to stop you!"
"So it is for your own sake and honor."
"No!"
"To think that my descendants would turn out this way. It shames me all too greatly."
"There was no other choice!"
"There is always another way."
"There was not!"
"Foolish children! You act too much and you think too little! Who knows what else you would do. Who knows how far you would go. You do not deserve the child. That you do not."
All of a sudden, he felt a rush of air. Cold fluid filled his heavy lungs and froze his wet skin. How he hated it. He longed for the lost warmth. A shrill cry signaled his discomfort for his new world. One which is bright and strange.
And then, he was saved. Strong arms lifted him and encircled his body in a soft embrace; soft and warm. It shielded him from the light and the world was dark again.
"What are you doing? Leave the child alone!" came a desperate cry.
A warm smile. Then a voice answered, as gentle as the breeze caressing his skin.
"Yoh shall be with me. And forever he shall be."
Yoh's eyes snapped wide open. His breathing was labored and a bead of cold sweat trickled down the side of his face. The sheets on which he laid upon were wet with his perspiration. That voice in his head, it still resonated in his skull and sent a shiver down his spine. Who was it? Whose voice was it that was so strange yet so familiar to him? Was that a dream? A vision of the future? Or of the past? Yoh didn't know, and he wondered if he'd ever find out.
His head throbbed painfully as he tried to sit up. The pain seemed to lessen a fraction after he did. However his efforts were quite wasted when he was knocked back by something and he almost cursed out loud in frustration. Looking up he realized that that something was actually his main spirit. His sobbing main spirit.
"YOH-DONO!! SESSHA IS SO GLAD THAT YOH-DONO IS ALRIGHT!!" Amidamaru wailed loudly and hugged him.
"Amidamaru! Wha~?" Yoh said embarrassed and confused, looking around.
White walls met his eyes and for the first time Yoh realized that he was in a hospital. How did he get here? Why was he here anyway? Yoh guessed it had something to do with his tremendous headache.
"Am-"
"Yoh!"
The startled shaman looked towards the doorway of the room. He recognized the voice, it was the tone that was unfamiliar. Anna stood there with a concerned look on her face, breathing hard and gasping for air. When she saw Yoh, apparently well except for a few bandages, she straightened her composure and left. Now, Yoh was ultimately confused.
"Yoh-kun!"
"Danna!"
"Manta? Ryuu?"
Yoh spared them a glance. Manta and Ryuu looked terrible. Their clothes were disheveled like the kind that you've slept in and their eyes seemed dark and tired.
"Um…Did I miss dinner?" Yoh asked nervously trying to lighten up the atmosphere.
"Dinner?!" Manta and Ryuu shouted together in disbelief.
Then they looked at each other and laughed tiredly. Nothing can be wrong in the world when it comes to Asakura Yoh it seems. They started to relax a bit; Manta took a chair next to his hospital bed and Ryuu sat down on the opposite side.
Sighing, Ryuu handed him his pocket mirror and Yoh took it with a questioning look on his face.
"Just take a look." Ryuu said while gesturing his hand at him.
Yoh shrugged and looked into the mirror. He nearly dropped it in surprise. The boy that looked back at him had bandages that covered up his forehead and most of his head leaving a few hairs jutting out here and there. He had bruises on his cheek and a broken lip. A curved wound trailed inches from the bottom of his left eye ending next to his lips like the path a bloody tear.
"Woah~" was all Yoh could say.
"You missed a one way trip to heaven my friend. That's what you missed." Manta told him.
Yoh looked at his best friend, to his companion and then to his spirit. All of them sported forlorn faces as Manta began telling Yoh what happened the day before.
"Maa maa, I'm still alive, aren't I? Don't look so glum guys. It's gonna be ok. I'm a fast healer. I'll be alright sooner than you can say Shaman King." Yoh said trying to cheer them up after Manta finished with his story.
"Shaman King."
Yoh glanced back at the doorway at that deep voice, and saw the familiar form of a certain Chinese shaman whom he had helped just weeks before. Tao Ren stood there with folded arms leaning against the doorframe, sporting a look on his face that is a mixture between surprise and relief; surprise because of how Yoh could have easily died and relief that he hadn't.
Yoh smiled and said. "Well, maybe not that fast."
"Hnn….how can you be so careless, Yoh? I mean this is something I would expect of…"
"HORO HORO! HE HAS ARRIVED! AND HE HAS PRESENTS FOR THE VISIT!" came a sudden shout, which in Ren's opinion conveniently finished his sentence for him.
A blue-haired shaman came barging into the room, after announcing his own arrival, with a basket of oranges in his arms, panting loudly as if he'd just finished a 100-meter race. Horo Horo proceeded to knock Ren over when he hastily made his way towards the injured boy in bed.
With the oranges swaying in his arms, Horo Horo began shaking a finger at Yoh as if to point out how stupid he had been.
"YOU IDIOT! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?! GOT NOTHING BETTER TO DO THAN KISSING TRUCKS FOR FUN?! YOU SCARED THE HELL OUT OF ALL OF US! YOU WERE THIS CLOSE TO FLOATING NEXT TO AMIDAMARU HERE!" Horo Horo shouted dramatically as he pinched his fingers together closely to stress his point.
"H-horo Horo, calm down…"Yoh said sweating nervously.
"CALM DOWN?! Y~"
No one knew or ever will know what Horo Horo was about to say because an angrily irritated Tao Ren knocked him unconscious with just one punch.
"I wonder if Horo Horo needs to share a hospital room with me after this." Yoh wondered out aloud jokingly.
"Nah, Pirika would come and nag at him in front of everyone." Manta said.
"Oni-chan! You got knocked out in a single blow? You need more training!" Ryuu puckered up his lips in a pout and pitched up his voice to try and imitate Pirika's expression.
"It'll be too embarrassing for him." Yoh agreed laughing.
"He'd never want to remember any of that at all." Ren added.
Yoh froze at that. A sharp pain entered his skull as the words echoed in his mind in a totally different voice. One which he thought he recognized.
"He'd never want to remember any of that at all."
(What? Ji-chan? What's happening to me?) Yoh thought confused amidst the ache in his head.
The pain and confusion must have reached his face because Ren noticed it and gave him a curious look.
"What?" Ren asked.
"Nothing. It's just this weird feeling of déjà vu. " Yoh said hurriedly not wanting to worry his friends more than they already are.
Ren looked suspicious but said nothing.
"I'm sure that's all it is. After all this never happened before, right?" Manta said.
A silent pause.
"Right."
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"Alright. Take deep breaths. Good."
Dr. Audrey Goh smiled at her patient as she set down her stethoscope on the table. The handsome young boy glanced back at her with beautiful black obsidian eyes and smiled sweetly in return.
(Ah… That smile of his could warm the coldest of winters.) She thought not realizing that someone else had also thought of it once, a long time before.
Audrey was in charge of the boy ever since his friends brought him in battered and bloody into the emergency ward. An accident victim they said. She had worked hard to keep him alive. He had barely made it through. It would be nearly two weeks before he would make a full recovery, miraculously without any scars to prove his tragic encounter at all. During that time his friends visited him almost every single day. Audrey was glad she was able to save his life. Clearly he is most precious to those who know him.
(And it's no surprise at all with that adorable personality.) Audrey thought as she smiled again.
"Well, Yoh-kun. You surprised me. Honestly I thought you would take at least a month to recover."
"I am a fast healer, Audrey-san." The boy replied politely.
"Yes, you are. Be that as it may, I am not supposed to discharge you this early."
"Please Audrey-san. You've already done that checkup on me earlier. You think I'm all healed, don't you?"
"Nothing seems to prove otherwise. But…"
"Then I'm fine. I don't even have a single visible scar on me. No need to keep me here any longer."
Audrey eyed the boy suspiciously. He sounded anxious to leave. Not that staying in the hospital is enjoyable, but he seemed like he needed to go somewhere.
Audrey sighed.
"I'm supposed to keep you here for a few more days for observation." She said sternly.
"But!" The boy's face fell and Audrey bit her lip.
"But…I suppose you're right." Audrey added.
The effect was instantaneous. Yoh's face lit up like a Christmas tree and he jumped up and down happily.
"Yeah! I'm always right!" He said as Audrey signed his release papers.
"I wouldn't bet on it. You're wrong about not having a single visible scar on you." Audrey said playfully as she handed him the papers.
"Huh?" Yoh gave her a puzzled look.
"That's right. You have one right~~here!"
The doctor reached out a hand and traced a finger to the left side of his head, behind his bangs, just above his ear. Perfectly hidden within his scalp.
"And a pretty nasty looking one too."
"Really?"
"You don't know?"
Yoh shook his head.
"Hmm, it's easy to miss it. I only found out because I had to stitch up that hard head of yours. Good workmanship I have to say. It's odd though that you don't remember getting it. You must have had a hard fall getting that prize."
Yoh didn't know what to think of what his doctor just said.
"Thank you for everything Audrey-san. I owe you my life. In more ways than one." Yoh said bowing slightly.
"You're welcome Yoh-kun. You're welcome."
"Sayonara."
"Goodbye."
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Glossary:
Sessha = I (humble form)
Sayonara = Goodbye
Yup! I'm back!
Exams are over for me! Yippie!
Thanx 4 being patient and all. Hope I won't disappoint ya …(Oh the pressure@__@;;)
I guess you could say my writing style has changed a bit…...(I tend to do that after not writing 4 a long time.)
Arigatou gozaimasu!! I can't thank u people enough for reading thiz humble fic of mine. Sessha feels so unworthy of your kind and wonderful reviews…^__^
Sankyuus 2
piti opacho, Kitsune Asakura, Jessica, winky golden, Ice-Phoenix, tone, Phoenix Charmer, Chibi Dragon, Kaymaith, Baka-cupid, mi-chan, Cessniper23, Stardustangel, unpredictable.l, Rings of Saturn, Anon, KISIEL, Chang Wumei, Goku-chan2002, Somebody, (@_@), boiya, Bratty, Ice-Phoenix, Goku-chan2002, Sugarfree, Chibi Dragon, Kage NoTenshi, Kitsune Asakura, Sweet Anime Fan, unpredictable.l, T.T , baka_cupid, sun, Kaori, Hao-sama rulze thew world, Haruka chan, Haruka chan.
Jenny //\/\// Thank you so much for the Hao pics ya sent me!! I luv them a lot! ^___^ And it's never an inconvenience. It's just that, I really sorry but I don't really understand your question…..Plz forgive me..=(…Perhaps if ya ask it again in another way….Or maybe this chap answered your question?….Thanx again for the pics…^___^
Quote of the day::
Asakura Hao, he says
Being a pyromaniac is a lot of fun but tormenting your little brother is much, much better!! o^___^o
As I write it, this is a brother fic. But if ya wanna see it as shounen-ai, by all means go ahead. I'm very open minded.
To make up for my absence, I have decided to try and update every 3 days. Keyword: TRY.
Jya ne!
~CF~