Disclaimer:::
I'm running out of ways to tell you something you already know.
Legend:::
(.…bla bla….) Is thoughts
"….bla bla…." Is normal speech
{….bla bla….} Is notes/signs/etc.
….bla bla…. Is memories
To BOIYA for helping to inspire me with doujinishi-therapy. ^^ Thank you so much.
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
Chapter 8
Time slowly trickled by.
Obsidian onto midnight.
Hao gazed into his widened eyes. He knew those eyes reflected his very own and yet they held something in them. Something else that his lack. That hidden spark, he had found it fascinating but could not quite get a real hold on what it is.
Asakura Yoh, he was his little brother, his only twin, his beloved son, his destined enemy. Yet the person before him, stared at him with the eyes of a stranger. Hao realized it then, realized that Yoh had not recognized him.
A wave of despair washed over him for he had held great hope within him. Hope that Yoh would remember once he saw him.
But then, perhaps it was too much to hope for.
His little brother looked at him with the puzzled face of someone who is curious and a bit confused. Not one of he who has remembered the years he had spent with his twin.
"Yo…" Yoh said uncertainly with a nervous grin on his face.
Hao blinked.
"Yo…" he answered in return.
"Ano…are you…" Yoh slowly said with widening eyes.
Hao gaped at him in surprise. Could it be? Had he been wrong? Had Yoh really remembered him after all? He looked on as Yoh frowned in concentration, his fingers pinching his forehead.
"…the new housekeeper Anna had been thinking of getting?"
Hao nearly fell to the floor. Quickly recovering his composure, he shouted an exasperated "No!"
"…the TV repairman?"
"No!"
"…the 'Onsen' cleaner?"
"No!"
"…a door-to-door salesman?"
"No!"
"…the pizza delivery guy?"
"No!"
"I know! You're my long lost twin!"
"N~~What?!!"
"Kidding kidding…hehe…I can't help saying that since I realized that you looked a lot like me. I could never be your twin brother." Yoh said and then laughed not knowing what his words had meant to the other boy.
"Oh…" Hao's once high hope, if it was possible, dropped a further thousand meters. Trying to keep a straight face, he choked out a strangled "I see."
Hao kept a blank face as he got up and he went into the adjacent bathroom, and shut the door with a loud slam.
All was silent for a moment.
Yoh looked at the closed door of the bathroom in confusion. Slowly, wincing at the sore ache in his arm which was in a neatly tied sling, and the dull throb in his thigh, Yoh began limping in the direction of the boy who had suddenly left.
Yoh knocked slightly on the closed door, worried if he had unintentionally offended the other boy.
There was no answer. Sighing, Yoh slid down with his back against the wall and sat on the cold marble floor. He could do nothing else but wait.
~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~
Hao peered angrily into the bathroom mirror. The boy who looked back at him had furious eyes that shone in frustration and clenched teeth that ground together in fury.
His hands gripped the sides of the sink below as he forced down the tears that threatened to surface.
"I could never be your twin brother."
Yoh's voice taunted him in his mind.
He watched his own reflection blur as his eyes began to become misty at the edges. Not wanting to see his own helpless and fragile state, Hao shut his eyes tight and gave out pent-up growl. He was losing control of himself. He hated feeling this way. He hated not being in control, he even feared it.
He was Asakura Hao. Asakura Hao does not lose control. Asakura Hao is always strong. Asakura Hao does not need anyone. And Asakura Hao would never cry because of something somebody said.
Hao brought his head down onto the mirror, hard, shattering the glass with a loud crash.
His little brother apparently heard him and began knocking rapidly on the door, shouting words of worry.
But to Hao it was like a mere buzz in the background as he lifted his head and brought it down again onto the broken mirror repeatedly.
"Ch'kuso! Ch'kuso! Ch'kuso!" He shouted out with each impact against the glass.
Each contact with the broken mirror sent agonizing vibrations throughout his head, numbing his thoughts and Hao welcomed the distraction with open arms. It was as if he was trying to beat his memories out of his mind.
(Damned memories. Shatter like the mirror.)
(The pain. It stings. It hurts.)
(But compared to the ache in my chest, it is nothing.)
(I do not want to remember. Let me forget. Let me forget.)
(Damn you Yoh. I hate you for doing this to me.)
(Why couldn't it have been me who had forgotten?)
(I don't want this.)
(Damn it.)
"I don't want this." Hao muttered tiredly as he finally stopped, having drained himself of energy and let himself slide down to the floor that was covered with water, glass and blood.
As he sat there silently brooding, the knocks on the door became more frantic and panicky. His tears still flow even as he smirked.
(He probably thinks I've killed myself.) Hao thought.
Losing his smile, he uttered a soft "Baka." as he hugged himself tighter with his head between his knees.
Then the knockings stopped and Hao briefly wondered if his little brother had given up and left him for dead. It was what he would have expected from anyone.
All of the sudden there was a loud slam and the bathroom door literally came crashing down on his expectations with Yoh lying on top of it. Hao could only blink in surprise as Yoh slowly searched for him through the dust which had accompanied the crash.
"Hey you! Are you ok?!" Yoh shouted out frantically.
"Go away. Leave me alone." Hao ordered, becoming angry all over again.
"What in the world are you talking about?" Yoh answered to what he thought was an absurd demand.
Hao watched as Yoh clumsily stumbled through the broken glass. Yoh stopped suddenly, gaping as the dust finally settled and revealed Hao's disheveled state for him to see.
Hao didn't need a mirror to know he looked terrible and even frightening. His long wet hair hung down like a black veil covering his face. His pupils were pinpoints and his mouth was slightly open as he gasped silently for breath. Dark red blood ran down from his damaged scalp in a single river across his left eye, mingling with his salty tears. His overall appearance was like one of the spirits in one of those idiotic human horror-ghost movies that Opacho had dragged him to go watch.
"I said leave!" Hao thundered. He didn't want Yoh to see him like this, like a useless weak child. And when he gave orders, he expected them to be obeyed.
"You idiot. What did you do? Your head is bleeding." Yoh said ignoring him and proceeded to examine his injury.
"LEAVE!!" Hao exploded furiously at Yoh. Even the most dimwitted of his followers would have wisely scurried away in a second.
But Asakura Yoh, his foolish little brother, he just blinked at him and did the most unexpected thing Hao could think of.
Yoh's lips slowly curled up into a firm, but reassuring smile.
Still smiling, he shook his head from side to side and he voiced out in a playful but clear tone.
"Iya~~da."
In Hao's mind, the image of young Yoh overlapped with the present one.
And to Hao, that was when everything made sense.
~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~
"Dõzo yoroshiku. My name is Asakura Yoh."
"I am Asakura Hao."
A short pause.
"Asakura?"
"Yes, I am from the clan too."
"Cool."
Silence.
"Ne, do I know you from somewhere?"
"Why do you say that?"
"I had been thinking. Your voice, I know I've heard it before. And your name is very familiar…"
"It doesn't matter... Not anymore."
~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~
(I've been so selfish. I've been thinking of myself all the time when what I should have done was think of my little brother's needs. I've been so busy thinking about the past Yoh when I should be worrying about the present one. That is it then. I won't care about the past anymore. It won't matter to me if he remembers me or not. It wouldn't change anything. What matters now is the present. I won't care if he'll hate me like those people would want him to. I will do my best to train him to be a great shaman and I will take care of my little brother in any way I can. Just like I promised, to Yoh and to Katherine.)
Hao finally allowed himself a true smile after that decision he made. He felt as if a huge burden had been lifted off his shoulders. He hadn't smiled like that since Yoh was taken from him.
But then his smile turned into a frown as he grimaced in pain at Yoh's rough and clumsy handling.
Yoh was trying his best to bandage up Hao's bloody forehead. But considering the lack of help from his broken arm, he was having a hard time doing so with only one hand.
Hao had wanted to do it himself but Yoh insisted on helping him. After all he was in his debt for rescuing him, Yoh had said. Hao gave up trying to convince his brother otherwise and just sat on one of the chairs in the room while Yoh fetched the first aid kit.
It was nice that Yoh was treating him for a change. Hao was usually the one who's doing most of the bandaging. Not just recently but also when they were young. Yoh was attracted to trouble like bees were attracted to honey.
However, he began to regret doing so as he howled in pain for the second time when Yoh dabbed too much iodine onto the deep gash on his forehead.
"Oops?"
Hao snatched the iodine away from his little brother lest he made his wound worse than it already was and handed the bandages to Yoh thinking it would do no harm.
An hour later…
"I fhink I'll hafe tho feach youh shome bfasic healfing skhills firsh." Hao managed to say through a mouthful of bandages as he surveyed the room with only one eye while trying to desperately breathe through the thick bandages over his nostrils.
~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~
"Now listen up Yoh. I am going to be your personal trainer for one whole week."
"You are? Did Anna arrange this?"
"Sort of."
"I don't believe you."
"Why?"
"She wouldn't have agreed to it."
"I offered my services free of charge."
"Okay then, I believe you."
"……"
"Truthfully, why are you doing this? Why do you want to help me? You're in the Shaman Fight too. We may be related but I am an opponent in the Shaman Fight, aren't I?"
"I made a promise I intend to keep."
"Oh."
Yoh didn't know what to make of that answer. But he felt that he could trust Hao. So he asked no more of it.
~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~
Yoh retired early to his room after been given a tour by Hao of the house. Hao said that it was an old mansion he had inherited and that it would currently serve as their training ground for the next three days before they would leave for America.
Yoh lay in his bed thinking.
Asakura Hao seemed like a nice person. For some unknown reason, Yoh felt that he could put his life in his hands and not worry about it at all. It seemed odd that being in the Shaman Fight himself that Hao would even want to help him become stronger. Even if he was a distant cousin. What was that about his promise? Yoh became more and more curious as time passed. And then there is that group of his that he mentioned.
"I have a group of people who follow me of their own free will. They are some of the best shamans from all over the world. Currently all of them are in America except for Opacho. And these people support me as the future Shaman King. Within these three days you will be trained to be as strong as they are and when we arrive in America, I would like to test you out among them."
Hao's group sounded like strong shamans. If they all think that Hao was the one who should be Shaman King, it made Yoh wonder how strong Hao exactly is.
Nevertheless, to Yoh, it didn't matter.
"Just so you know, I am very grateful that you'd decided to help me. But I will not join your group." Yoh had said.
"Why not?" Hao asked in curiousity.
"Because I'm the one who's going to be Shaman King!"
"Hmm…is that so?"
Hao had laughed at his declaration. It was not a mocking laugh but rather an amused one.
Yeah. Hao seemed nice enough. But Yoh wondered what he had done earlier that had made Hao hurt himself. He wanted to ask him about it but then thought that Hao would like to keep it to himself. So Yoh decided to keep quiet about the whole thing. Oddly though, he had the strangest feeling that he'd find out eventually.
When Hao had finished his tour, it was already sunset. They had dinner together with Opacho in the large dining hall. Yoh had been surprised that Opacho was just a young kid about 5 years old. Hao didn't look like the type that was good with children but apparently he was.
Because from what Yoh had seen, Opacho simply adored the long-haired shaman. When they were introduced to each other, Opacho had been wary at first. She eyed him with suspicion while clinging onto Hao's leg defensively.
"Yoh better not hurt Opacho's Hao-sama."
"Now why would I do that?" Yoh teased giving her a sincere smile.
Opacho looked up at him with innocent wide eyes and then giggled gleefully.
"Yoh-sama is nice. Opacho likes Hao-sama's ot~~umph."
Yoh looked at Hao in surprise when the other boy scooted down in a hurry and brought his hands up to cover the young girl's mouth, cutting her off. He then whispered something into Opacho's ear and got up again.
Hao brought a finger to his lips and said "Shhh.." to Opacho.
The young child nodded happily and imitated him.
"What's that all about?" Yoh asked puzzled.
"Nothing! Nevermind Yoh-sama. Opacho likes Yoh-sama. We eat dinner now."
"Huh?"
"Come on Yoh-sama. Opacho cook dinner. Yoh-sama will like."
"Okay, okay. Anyway, calling me Yoh will do."
"Nope nope nope. Opacho always calls people she likes like that."
Yoh couldn't find any way to argue with the cute little kid and was therefore dragged to the dining room followed by his amused cousin who had kept silent throughout their conversation.
Dinner had been wonderful if you consider it been prepared by a five year old. Yoh hadn't the heart to leave his food unfinished so he piled them up onto Hao's plate when Opacho wasn't looking. Hao gave him an annoyed glare but managed to gulp down the meal. Opacho gave no signs of noticing that the food on Hao's plate had doubled while the one in Yoh's plate had vanished.
After the meal, Opacho excused herself and went off to do what little girls do while Hao showed Yoh to his room for the next three days.
"Tomorrow, your training starts. Make sure you are rested because you will need the energy later."
"Demo, my injuries haven't recovered yet." Yoh had said. His lazy side had subconsciously tried to find an excuse to delay training.
"Your body's training can wait. For now, your mind and soul is more important."
"Then I'd better get some rest." Yoh sighed in defeat.
"Make sure you do or you will regret it. What Anna-san has done so far for your training will be nothing compared to what I have in plan for you. You'd best prepare for the hardest week of your life."
Yoh pulled over the covers of his bed and sighed in dread.
Anna has finally met her match as the person Yoh is most afraid of in his life.
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
A totally Hao and Yoh chapter. ^^ (well… + a bit of Opacho anyway)
If you didn't catch what Hao had said, the line is "I think I'll have to teach you some basic healing skills first." ;;
Yes yes I know…Major OOC-ness. Gomen…heehee =P
Thank you to everyone who reviewed! And special thanx to those who confirmed for me, my questions.
Many thanx to:
Kitsune Asakura, Goku-chan2002, mi-chan, RuByMoOn, Riku, piti opacho, Hao-sama rulze the world, Desert Star, Hirame, KiraX105, Mashou no Tenshi
Anime Girl ://: Yes yes, You got it correct! ^^ Is it really confusing? ;;
Hikaru ://: Gyah~~Gomen gomen for my lateness…I'm beginning to run out of ideas. Thanx for the suggestion about making Yoh command the SOF. We must share the same mind coz I have already planned to make it so. It affects my ending a lot. Oops, shouldn't have said that ^^;; Shh..don't tell anybody. ^__~ But I don't think I'll make Yoh command the Spirit of WaterIt doesn't run well with my story… Ah~ yes, I do think Yoh is like the water now that you've mentioned it…Thanx again
Sweet Anime Fan ://: I'll be sure to thank sugarfree for you! And get well soon!
baka_cupid ://: Eh~ itz my own fault for updating so slowly~ I'm just glad that you're still interested in reading thiz fic. ^^
Amethyst Bubble ://: Gomen gomen for being so late desu!
Kage NoTenshi ://: Oh dear tenshi-san I've written this twice already…This fic will NOT be shounen-ai. So don't worry if you're not into it..* I'm cool with fanart. I welcome them with open arms ^^
AnnaYoh ://: Mochiron desu! I would love to review your fic! Hurry up and post it! ^^ Tell me when you do.
winky golden ://: I make them up on my own! ^^ Glad you like them.
Kaori ://: Wai~~hello there Kaori-san! I liked the drawings on the PBBS that you drew!
Eriks ://: "Sometimes the world is full of unnoticed things, that we never give them a second chance to observe." Conan Doyle. Nice quote desu. I like quotes too. (See my bio page ^^;;) Nop, I've never played FF9. Only FF8. (And I still haven't finished it )
Kary-Malfoy ://: Why what? @__@;;
boiya ://: I see. Yeah, Sugarfree-san is the best! I love the drawings she made! Yup yup. I saw Yasha's translations of Hao's interview from the character book. Hehehe. I bet a fanfic is swimming in your mind right now bout the bride thing ^^
unpredictable.l ://: Oh~um…Imagine they were enchanted butterflies then. ;; Uh~like I said it was crap that came out of nowhere. And I wanted it to be funny so…yeah…butterfly crap.
Yeah. It's cool…go ahead and write the songfic.
unpredictable.l ://:How are you doing now? -__- Thanx! Yeah I'm proud. But I'm more grateful than proud. It's becoz of you reviewers that I got reviews right? ^^ Thanx for reviewing twice!
Phoenix Charmer ://: Thanx and your stories aren't crap desu ;;
Rings Of Saturn ://: Heehee. Sorry to burst your bubble. Yoh didn't remember Hao. But don't worry coz Hao-sama is a tough guy, he can handle it. I'll see what I can do bout the past thing. ^^
An ze question iz…Is Opacho a girl or a boy?
Actually I thought Opacho is a boy. Then I read somewhere (I forgot where) that Opacho is a girl. So I don't really know now. Anyone has any proof that Opacho is a boy or a girl? Plz tell me. Anyway, this doesn't affect story so I'll just make Opacho a girl.
As an afternote, I would like to comment that Opacho may be some subspecies of shark. ^^;; (refer to manga 26) Hehehe…**just kidding**
Quote of the day:
Tao Ren, he says
Three glasses of milk a day, keeps the scary-blond-necromancer-doctor away.
O' genki dashite!
~¤CF¤~