By animeninjaNIPPON
As the days went by, and we finally made it to Patch Village, I was either too busy or too distracted to really concentrate on my inner dilemmas. But one day, as I was arguing with HoroHoro and Chocolove over the name I chose for my Shaman Team (had I left it up to my teammates, we would have ended up as "the Chocoloves" or something equally stupid), my past caught up with me in an unexpected way.
"The Tao family betrayed us…" the kid said.
That's right – kids – two of them, in fact, claiming that they had been betrayed by my family and damning my sister to Hell for it. I wasn't about to take crap, so I prepared to fight.
"Wait…Ren…" Yoh called. I told him to step back, but he tried to persuade me to hear the kids out.
"It's not your business!" I snapped, and those disputatious children responded to my presence by telling me to go to Hell.
"Stop it!"
I looked up. It was Gei Yin. She was an assassin for the Tao family at one point, but now, she explained, she had no more connection to the Taos.
"We devoted ourselves to making the Tao family great," Gei Yin said angrily. "But they did not help themselves. They abandoned their honor. The main culprit is you, Tao Ren!"
"What are you saying?" I demanded.
"You, as the successor of the Tao family…" She prattled on.
So according to her, I turned my back on my responsibility and ruined the lives of those who devoted themselves to my family. All because I didn't want to be like my father… But that was not the worst of it. As it turned out, those three made up Team Noroshi, which Team the Ren was going to fight next.
That night, I stood and gazed at the stars. They always seemed to stay strong, much stronger than humans… And always wise…
"Young Master," Bason started.
"The stars are guiding me."
"Huh?"
"I will win no matter whom I encounter." I turned to Bason. "I might require a lot of your help tomorrow."
"Yes," my spirit ally agreed.
The next day, at the time of our scheduled fight, I told my teammates to take it easy – this battle concerned me, not them.
Kalim announced the beginning of the fight, and I literally jumped into battle. I won't go into details, but I wasn't doing as well as I should have been. I thought about what they had said about my betrayal, but it was they who were stupid enough to trust my father. But I was determined, and I kept on defending, not backing down for a second. However, neither were they.
I dared them to fight with their full power. I wanted to feel the pains that they themselves were feeling. And finally, I swore to them… I swore upon Houraiken, the Tao Family Sword, that I would find a way to compensate them when I became the Shaman King. And I meant it – but I still had a long way to go…
End of part seven
Sorry for this chapter – I just had to get into Ren's head a little more. I will get to the romance soon; don't worry!
animeninjaNIPPON