Disclaimer:::
I don't own anything bla bla bla…
Legend:::
(.…bla bla….) Is thoughts
"….bla bla…." Is normal speech
{….bla bla….} Is notes/signs/etc.
….bla bla…. Is memories
*…bla bla..* Is sound effect
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Chapter 9
Day 1
It had been a long time since Yoh had had a dreamless sleep. He gave a big yawn as he lifted his good arm up and stretched lazily. The morning birds began to sing as the first sign of daylight began to stream through the partially closed curtains of his room. The smell of the fresh morning air filled his lungs as he took in a deep breath and sighed happily.
Pulling the covers nearly over his head, he began to slowly drift off into sleep again. The impatient shouts of "Yoh-sama! Yoh-sama! Get up! Now! Now!" were ignored and were mere murmurs in his sleepy ear. The bed was pure heaven, warm and soft, and Yoh wanted nothing else than to lie there for the whole day.
However unfortunately for him, someone had other plans that didn't involve lazing around in bed.
After a few hasty knocks on the door, the little bushy-haired shaman burst into the room and leapt onto Yoh's bed. There, Opacho jumped up and down, shaking the whole bed like an earthquake, making it impossible even for Yoh to ignore.
"Get up! Hurry up! Now!"
Yoh winced at those words. "Opacho~Ten more minutes! Ten more minutes!" he protested, covering the blanket over his whole head.
"No!" the young girl said annoyed.
"Opacho~please?" the shaman begged.
"Hao-sama will be angry with Yoh-sama." Opacho warned.
"Mhmmm…"Yoh mumbled out from under the covers.
"Don't say Opacho no warn Yoh-sama."
"Zzzzzz…"
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Yoh ran down the steps towards the dining hall in a hurry. He grinned happily as he rounded a corner and into the hall.
When he approached the table in the middle of the room, he saw a plate on top of which were several pieces of toast and also some sandwiches.
Hao was sitting at the head of the table, sipping quietly on his glass of milk while reading the newspaper. On his right, Opacho was munching noisily on a cookie obviously enjoying it.
"O-hayo!" Yoh greeted.
At his sudden greeting, Hao looked up from the newspaper in front of him and stared boredly at Yoh. Opacho paused her bite into the cookie and looked at him too.
"O-hwawo!" Opacho smiled through her mouthful of cookies.
"O-hayo." Hao said returning his gaze to the morning paper.
Yoh approached the table and sat down on Hao's left, opposite Opacho.
"Uh..sorry I'm late." Yoh said apologetically, scratching the back of his head.
Opacho gasped as she suddenly remembered his tardiness and her eyes widened uneasily. Slowly she averted her gaze towards Hao with a tremble.
Hao looked up again at Yoh and put one of his elbows onto the table, his head resting on his palm.
Yoh gulped and waited for him to announce his punishment. Hao's thoughtful expression made him very nervous and Opacho's earlier warning came to his mind.
A moment or two went by and Yoh began to sweat despite the fairly cool morning air.
"It's alright." Hao suddenly said giving him a big smile.
(Whew.) Yoh sighed in relief.
As he blissfully ate a piece of toast, he was unaware that Opacho was giving him a look that simply said,
'You're doomed'.
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"Since your arm is not yet completely healed, I shall first test and train your shamanic abilities. And~"
*Thwack!*
Hao gritted his teeth as he slapped his palm on the back of his twin's head in annoyance. The boy had been daydreaming all morning and they haven't even started anything. He now had a new earned respect for the blond-haired Itako. If Yoh had been one of his men then Hao would have killed the lazy bloke within a minute.
"Itai yo!" Yoh protested scratching the back of his head painfully.
"Then listen when I give you instructions." Hao said with a dangerous tone in his voice.
"Hai!" Yoh squeaked.
"To your right is a path to a river." Hao said lifting his arm slowly. His fingers point to a clearing in the forest. "There, there are many stones. You are to collect ten stones of the exact same weight and bring them to me."
Yoh gave him a puzzled look. This was almost as weird as catching butterflies. Hao handed him a black bag and nothing else.
"Aren't you forgetting a scale or something like that?" Yoh said grinning at him.
"Use only what you have with you." Hao told him.
Yoh let his jaw drop. "But how am I suppose to know the weight?" he whined.
"That's for you to find out. Now get going. If you do not finish your task by lunch time then you shall have to fast till dinner."
"But."
"Yes?" Hao asked giving him a glare while smiling a sinister smile.
"Ehehe. Nothing nothing." Yoh said waving his good hand in front of him.
"Itte kimasu." Yoh then said resigned with drooped shoulders and warily stepped towards the path.
"Hai, itte irasshai."
Hao greeted in return and turned to go back to the mansion when he saw their bushy-haired companion come stumbling down the steps towards the garden they were at.
"Hao-sama! Hao-sama! Opacho come to help!"
"Oh yes, I had almost forgotten. Yoh!"
The grumbling shaman almost stumbled in his steps when Hao suddenly called him. Yoh stopped and glanced back in surprise.
"Since this is your first training task, I've decided to let Opacho assist you."
"Really? That's great!" Yoh said happily.
Hao knelt down on one knee in front of the young girl so that he is at eye level with the child.
"Opacho. You are to watch Yoh at all times. Make sure that he does not even touch the stones he is to collect. Do not do anything else to help Yoh, ok?" He explained.
"WHAT??!! What kind of help is that?" Yoh shouted in protest. Not only does he have to collect stones of the same weight without any scales, he has to do it without even touching them? That is impossible.
"Hai! Hao-sama!" Opacho saluted and dragged a stoned Yoh towards the river.
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"Errgggghhh! I can't do this right!! Waahh~~~!!" Yoh wailed out with tears running down like twin waterfalls and a runny nose.
Opacho sweatdropped at the sight of the frustrated shaman.
"Yoh-sama…"
"Opacho! You know how I can do this right right? Tell me!"
"Wah~Yoh-sama! Let Opacho go! Opacho get dizzy!"
"Oops. Sorry Opacho." Yoh apologized and stopped trying to shake the information out of the poor kid.
Yoh gave out a defeated sigh as he sat down on the grassy patch close to the river's edge. Around him were hundreds of stones with different colors and sizes. The odd thing is that all of them were smooth and oval shaped. The river that runs through is crystal clear and Yoh could see a few tiny fishes swimming about. Yoh pulled his legs together to his chest and rested his chin on his knees sighing heavily again.
"Opacho think that Yoh-sama should think more." The little girl said sitting down beside him.
"Ugh..I can't think anymore. I've tried using a branch or two to lift the stones. I've tried slipping the bag under the rocks to pick them up. That might work but I still have the problem of knowing the weight. The best I can do is to estimate it but Hao wants the exact weight."
"These ten stones are the best I can come up with." Yoh added picking up the bag.
"Yoh-sama no think like good shaman. Opacho's Hao-sama can do it correct in a minute." Opacho said proudly.
"Liar." Yoh said wide-eyed in amazement.
"Opacho tell the truth. Hao-sama is best shaman in the world." Opacho said without hesitation and with admiration in her eyes.
"That's right. I am the best shaman in the world."
Opacho glanced back towards the new voice to see her most favorite person. Hao was standing behind them with a basketful of food.
"Hao-sama!"
Opacho jumped up in an instant and hugged the long-haired boy as he sat down under a shady tree behind them and began taking out some food from the basket. He placed them on a sheet he had spread on the ground.
"I brought lunch." Hao stated. "Have you completed your task?" He then asked turning to Yoh.
"Yeah I did!" the shaman answered happily handing the bag of stones to Hao.
Yoh sat down and rub his palms together in anticipation. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Hao disturbing the contents of the black rucksack-like bag by slightly shaking it. Then, Yoh could have sworn he saw the bag glow for a moment. He could even swear that he heard soft giggles coming from the bag. He blinked and then the light was gone and he could not hear anything.
Shrugging, Yoh dug into the food and gave out a loud "Itadakimasu!"
He proceeded to take a big bite out of the loaf of bread, only to bite down into something else.
Hao had taken off one of his shoes and had conveniently shoved it into his mouth. Yoh spluttered and spit out the leather mouthful in a hurry.
"Blech…Why did you do that?" Yoh said disgustedly.
"Didn't I say no lunch if you don't complete my task in time?" Hao said boredly as if explaining to a child.
"But I did what you asked." Yoh defended himself.
"No you only managed half of it. In this bag there are three stones of a same weight, four of another, and three of a different weight. I must say I am impressed that you managed to do this by estimation alone. You've got what it takes to be a good grocer if you fail to be a shaman." Hao taunted as he laughed out loud.
"That's not funny Hao." Yoh said almost sulkily throwing his boot back at him. "And how would you know anyway? You just jingled the bag. You didn't even use a scale to check."
"I have my ways. Now you better start thinking on how to complete your task. Or you'll miss dinner too." Hao said casually biting into some juicy-looking grapes tempting him.
*Shock* "This must be a nightmare." Yoh muttered to himself. His stomach growled in agreement.
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Two hours later…
"ZzzZzzZZZzzzZZ…"
Yoh had fallen asleep while thinking.
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"……and then there was going to be a war. The emperor ordered all able-bodied men to enlist into the army even though there was little chance that they could win. But there was one man who had an accident and broke one of his legs earlier that day before the order was announced."
"Broke his leg? Owie…that's bad." Yoh said.
"Yes it's bad. But it's also good."
"Good?"
"Because he had a broken leg, he need not enlist into the army."
"Oh! Then he no need to fight? He no need to get hurt?" Yoh felt relief for the man.
"Yes, that's right. If you view things at a different angle, problems can become problem solvers."
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"If you view things at a different angle, problems can become problem solvers."
Yoh woke up with a start as the words echoed in his head.
"Gyah~I've been so stupid!" Yoh shouted out smiling. He quickly rushed to the riverside clutching the now empty bag while Opacho who had been playing nearby approached him with curiousity.
Yoh grinned. He had it all figured out. Hao and Opacho had given him clues that he had not noticed earlier.
"Use only what you have with you."
(What I have are my shaman powers. Hao wasn't talking about the bag.)
"Yoh-sama no think like good shaman."
(I haven't even thought of using my powers.)
"Make sure that he does not even touch the stones he is to collect."
(I've been thinking of it as a handicap-something that will make it harder for me to complete the task.)
"If you view things at a different angle, problems can become problem solvers."
(But it wasn't a handicap-it had been a clue. If I used my powers, I wouldn't even need to touch the stones.)
And the glowing and giggling bag hadn't been his imagination.
Yoh stood still his legs dipping into the cooling waters. Silently, he focused on summoning the spirits of the stones.
Brownish circles of light filled the air along with tiny giggles. The tiny spirits of the stones floated in the air gently swaying in the light breeze.
{Hello.} A spirit nearby greeted.
"Yo!" Yoh said smiling and immediately began his survey of the stones' weight.
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"Uh…sorry. You're too heavy."
*Thud!*
Yoh was knocked on in the head by the stone he had rejected.
{I'm not overweight!} The spirit shouted angrily and plopped into the river with a tiny splash.
Yoh looked at the other spirits in a daze.
{Don't mind her. She's sensitive. Thinks she's fat.} A spirit shrugged.
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By the time Yoh picked out ten stones of the same weight and asked them into the bag, he was exhausted from leaking out the furyouku to maintain the summoning but he was happy.
At least he won't be missing dinner.
His stomach growled again in agreement.
"Yay! Yoh-sama did it!" Opacho cheered happily.
"Yeah I did." Yoh grinned in return.
"Hmm, took you long enough." Hao sneered.
"Well, sorry for being slow." Yoh muttered handing the bag to Hao for inspection.
Hao laughed at Yoh's annoyed face and held the bag loosely on his two hands. A bright light shone immediately.
"You see Yoh, if you view things at a different angle, problems can become problem solvers." He said as brownish light emerged from the bag and danced around him.
"Yeah…" Yoh looked in awe as Hao summoned the spirits effortlessly. He wasn't even breaking a sweat when they fluttered around him giggling and playing.
"Wait a minute. What did you just say?"
"What did I say?"
"That thing bout problems?"
"Forget it. Come on. Your turn to prepare dinner."
"Oh okay." Yoh said shrugging at the change of subject.
There was silence between them when they walked side by side towards the mansion.
"You did okay today kid." Hao said ruffling Yoh's hair in a brotherly way.
"Kid? Who are you calling a kid? You're the same age as me! Aren't you?" Yoh was getting really annoyed at Hao.
He'd been annoyed a lot lately. Which was kind of strange because Yoh rarely got annoyed at anyone. He had always been able to shrug it off with a smile or a goofy laugh. Was he changing? Or was he acting the way he was originally?
Hao blinked at him and answered smugly.
"Yes and no."
"Huh? You're so weird." Yoh stated scowling.
Hao laughed at him again.
"Sankyuu na." Yoh said suddenly, giving him a sincere smile.
It stopped Hao mid-laugh.
And earned him a mirror of his happy grin.
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During dinner, Hao explained the purpose of his training. Yoh found himself paying attention for once.
"While the ability to summon spirits from natural objects is very useful, almost all shamans don't pay much attention to it because it takes a lot of time and effort to summon spirits. Leaf and stone spirits may be easy to summon but it's another thing all together with higher level object spirits. To add to that, controlling them would be problematic most of the time. And to maintain their summoning requires furyouku. But to know the technique, your furyouku level will increase greatly as you increase the number of objects you are able to summon a spirit from.
There are five basic spirits that you should be able to summon- grass(leaf), earth(stone), wood, water and fire.
Different objects have different spirits to call upon. The spirits of the leaves may be of the easiest to summon because they are very friendly and would almost always help out the shaman who calls upon them.
The spirits you've tried to summon-the spirits of the stones- are fairly easy and they are quite truthful creatures. So you should have had no problems getting their weights.
Wood spirits are a bit trickier as they are quite wise but a little stingy in sharing their knowledge. But if they think that you are worthy of that information they will tell it to you.
Water spirits are quite hard to summon because they prefer to go undisturbed and wouldn't want to be bothered with you. But once you do, they are comparatively easier to control and are good for defence.
Spirits of the fires are cunning and are one of the hardest to control. Summoning them is no easy feat either. But they have the most power of the five and are good for attacks.
These spirits are relatively small and cause less damage then your average Mochirei-main spirit. That's why most shamans just ignore this part of their powers. But as I said, it can help a lot to increase your furyouku level."
"Tomorrow, do not come late to breakfast. You will regret it." Hao added as a warning.
"We shall see if you've got what it takes to complete summoning the five basic spirits. And then some."
"O-okay." Yoh muttered tiredly. He hoped that tomorrow wouldn't be as tiring as today was. If things continue on as they were, he wouldn't be able to last the week.
"And Yoh…" Hao said.
"Y-yeah?" (What now?)
"Opacho is a better cook than you."
Yoh fell out of his seat.
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That night…
Just as Yoh was drifting off to sleep, he felt something hairy crawl up the side of his arm. Sleepily, he turned on the sidelamp to find out what it was and,
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!"
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(This is what you get for being late this morning.)
Hao grinned evilly.
Punishments are always the sweetest part of training.
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I am very very sorry about the late update. Much iz happening in me life right now. Jobs and studies and everything…which really makes me feel so tired…which also makes me lazy…which is why it's been a long time…
At one point, I lost inspiration all together to continue this fic. *Did I hear some cheers?* I wonder if anyone is still interested in reading .
Really I don't mind flames. Feel free to scold me for being so bad and making you all wait. It'd pressure me to write more.
Many million thanx to those who reviewed.
Arigatou to:
Desert Star, Amethyst Bubble, KiraX105, tone, Goku-chan2002, RuByMoOn, Reius Devirix, Mashou no Tenshi, Riku, Rings of Saturn, Loppy-Chan, piti opacho, mikaii, Phoenix Charmer, Silver, Anime Girl, Kaori, Kitsune Asakura, Hikaru, Cerridwen Aerin Ellorin, Shinigami Neko, Sweet Anime Fan, Miko-chan, Hirame, winky golden, Eriks, Ann1990
Sorry if I missed out anyone.
Quote of the day:
Lyserg Diethel, he says
Die Hao! (repeat for a hundred times)
Honto ni ureshii na,
~¤~CrImSOnflAmE~¤~