Chapter 1: Unwelcome Guest
"What about this place master?" suggested Zhou gesturing towards a large building which seemed to be an Inn despite the fact it only had two floors
"Would you drop the "master" part, I don't see why you insist on using these old fashioned titles, I have a name you know, why don't you use it?"
"That would not be correct" answered Zhou sternly
"Very well have it your way, lets go and see if they any spare rooms"
The boy marched through the rain towards the building that his guardian ghost had suggested. He was soaked to the skin and truth to tell he have stopped under a billboard sign if his guardian ghost had suggested it.
He walked up to the front door and knocked, there was no reply he knocked twice more before he attempted to open the front door, which yielded freely.
Puzzled the boy walked inside and began to take in his surroundings. It was fashioned in typical Japanese style; that is to say there was no sort of furniture anywhere since people in Japan seemed quite content to sit on the floor all the time. He then walked around a corner and realised that he was mistaken; at the back of the new room was an extremely large couch and opposite the couch was what looked liked a T.V. although he couldn't be sure because it looked older than Zhou.
"Hello anyone home?" he called. There was no reply.
"Zhou do you sense anyone in there?" whispered the young shaman
"No master no one, not even a human"
"Strange why would they leave without locking the door?"
"I'm not sure master. It does not seem to be what you would call a logical course of action"
"Indeed not but don't concern yourself Zhou I'm sure we'll find out in due time". He moved away from his spirit, placed his belongings in the front hallway and started to explore the rest of building.
"Does that mean you intend to stay master?"
"Well I have no intention of going back outside until it stops raining (roll of thunder) and it seems that may take a while". Something on the floor caught the boy's eye and he bent down to pick it up. It was a book titled "Worlds funniest jokes"
"May I suggest master that you take this opportunity to get some rest, I shall alert you when the owner returns"
"All in good time my friend I wish to explore a little more, and if you call me "master" one more time I shall lock you in your memorial tablet for a week" answered the shaman while leafing through the book he had picked up.
"My apologies Sensei"
"Was that a joke Zhou?" asked the boy looking up at his companion with a strange expression on his face.
"Yes Sensei was it not amusing?" replied the warrior spirit frowning
"Well it was better than this rubbish" said the shaman indicating towards the book " I don't see how people can find this amusing" he tossed the book down in disgust and moved into another room; this one had a bed and was covered in posters of what appeared to the boy to be pictures of the same frozen Mountain from different angles there was also… "a snowboard, who would bring a snowboard to Japan in the middle of summer?" said the shaman his brow knitted with confusion.
"Actually Sensei I do believe that the altitude of the Japanese mountains ensures that…" started Zhou but he was cut short by his masters yawn.
"Whatever look I'm going to get some rest why don't you just keep look out, whoever lives here has got to comeback sooner or later"
"Sensei one thing has occurred to me, what will you tell the owners when they come back?"
" Don't worry Zhou I'll think of something, after all they owe me a favour "
" They do?" replied the warrior spirit in shock
"Yes I'm guarding their home, the least they could do is let me spend one night"
"I'm not sure that will work Sensei" Zhou started to say before realising that his master had already fallen asleep".
"I'll see you guys later, Pailong and I are going to head back to get some sleep" said the green haired Dojshi
"How can you even think about sleep after watching that movie" Cried Horo in amazement "I mean that Ninja dude kicked ass and don't even get me started on the special effects"
"Actually I found it quite boring, I don't see what's interesting about a man in a black suit beating other guys to a pulp" said Jun stifling a yawn
"Whatever, hey Ren your sister is weird" said Horo in disbelief
Jun turned around and winced as she heard the stick end of her brothers Kwan-do connect with Horo's face. When would her brother learn not to take things so seriously? She thought to herself.
"Hey dude what was that for!" exclaimed Horo
"To teach you a lesson" replied Ren with deceptive calmness
"And what lessons that?" said Horo angrily
"To not insult a Tao"
"What are talking about spike head all I said was OW!" Ren had hit Horo with Kwan-do again, with considerable more force than last time. Horo then got up and started calling Ren more names and the two would have started fighting had their friends not restrained them.
Jun sighed some things never change, she collected the door key from Yoh and made her way back to the Asakura house with Lee Pailong.
Running through the rain Jun made it back Yoh's house surprisingly quickly and had just made it to the shelter of the front door when the rain suddenly stopped
"Typical" muttered Jun silently cursing the Japanese weather.
"Is something wrong Jun" asked Pailong his voice full of concern
"What, Oh no I was thinking out loud could you please open the door. I did give you the key didn't I?"
"Yes Jun you did" said Pailong walking up to the and as he inserted the key into the door which then seemed to open of its own accord.
"Looks like Yoh forget to lock the door again" said Jun smiling ruefully "it's a good thing I got here first otherwise Anna would have killed him" Jun then stepped into the hallway and noticed a dark rain coat drying above a pair of soaking wet trainers that she didn't recognise.
"Pailong" she whispered, " I think we have an uninvited guest"
"Don't worry Jun I'll take of it" Answered Pailong bowing as he walked away to search for the intruder.
"Master wake up" Zhou hissed in his masters ear
"Huh? What's going on?" muttered the shaman sleepily
"Master I believe that the owner has arrived, but he does not appear very hospitable you may be in danger"
"Very well what do you advise?"
"I humbly suggest that we unify so that we may deal with the problem if it arises, I also request that you let me do the talking as you do have a tendency to…"
"To what?" asked the master darkly
"Well you do have a habit of escalating problems master"
To Zhou's surprise his master laughed.
"Yes I suppose I do don't I? Very well we shall unify but I will do the talking. Don't look so glum Zhou if I didn't as you say "escalate" problems then we would both be out of shape"
"Please master try to be polite" begged Zhou as he unified with his master
"I shall be as polite to him as he is to me" was the shaman's reply.
Pailong advanced warily through the house, his senses tuned to detect anything out of the ordinary. After inspecting the kitchen and the main living area he heard a door open to his right and saw a figure outlined in the doorway of Horo's room
"Who are you, identify yourself" ordered the manservant
The figure just stared at him for a moment before asking, "are you the owner of this place?"
"No but I…"
"Then why are you barking orders as if you do?" said the intruder cutting Pailong off in mid sentence.
" I want you to leave the premises right now" said Pailong ignoring the intruders comment
"You have no right to ask me to leave" replied the intruder arrogantly
"If you will not leave peacefully then I shall be forced to evacuate you from the premises" said Pailong cracking his knuckles threateningly
"Don't bother you wouldn't stand a chance against me"
"You leave me no choice" said the manservant darkly, and he jumped forward sending a thundering left hook that should have connected with the intruders jaw; except that the intruder was no longer there. Pailong suddenly felt something cannon into his left side and was sent reeling across the floor. Momentarily dazed he looked up to see the intruder standing above him with his arms across his chest.
"I told you" was all he said
Clearing his head Pailong jumped to his feet and started a 10 hit combo attack that should have rendered all but the toughest humans unconscious, but the intruder moved swiftly and managed to evade or block each attack, coming to the end of his combo Pailong aimed a roundhouse kick at the intruders head. Instead of dodging the attack the intruder stepped forward to meet it and seized Pailongs foot an inch from his face and then threw him into the hall way.
Pailong slowly got up on his feet and from the lights in the hallway was able to see the intruder clearly for the first time and was shocked to see it was a boy that looked only slightly older than mistress Jun's brother Ren.
This can't be happening I'm Lee Pailong one of the greatest martial artists in the world, and yet this punk is treating each of my attacks as though they're nothing. I haven't been this outclassed since Yoh Asakura united himself with the spirit of my old sensei.
"Pailong be careful he's a shaman" cried Jun in alarm.
The boy suddenly stopped and looked at Jun who retreated to the kitchen, the boy went to follow her but was cut off by Pailong.
"Stay away from her" he said adopting his fighting pose and getting ready for the next attack, but it didn't come...
"Your not human" said the boy also seeing Pailong clearly for the first time; there was no surprise in his voice, it was just a statement, as though the thought that Pailong was a walking corpse was completely normal to him. Although now that Pailong thought about it he hadn't seen the boy express any kind of emotion since he had first encountered him.
"Well that makes things easier" said the boy matter-of-factly
"What do you mean" replied Pailong his voice apprehensive
"Oh nothing, I just won't have to worry about killing you now since your not even alive in the first place, alright Zhou lets finish this up I need to get something to eat"
Pailong saw in a split second what the shaman was about to do and barely had time to defend himself; as it was the force of the attack sent him crashing through the front door and out into the rain where he quickly lost consciousness.
"Now that's done lets get some food" the boy said to himself as he disengaged from spirit unity and headed in the direction of the kitchen.
"Master" said Zhou quickly
"What is it Zhou?"
"I just thought you would be interested to know that the green haired girl that ran in there a few moments ago is waiting around the corner with a knife" replied Zhou gesturing towards the kitchen.
"Well we'll have to do something about that won't we? I'll need your help for this Zhou"
"Of course master" replied Zhou bowing
"Good then get into the amulet" Zhou obliged and the boy walked up to the kitchen doorway and stopped just short of the entrance and started talking.
Author: well that's my first chapter andI have a favour to ask. I've been searching the internet andI haven't been able to find anything on any of Hao's followers, so if you could please send me any info that you haveregarding them please send it to me either in a review or an email, it will allow me to update a lot quicker.