Chapter 11: New Offer
Opacho watched as the Spirit Of Fire (SOF) fist pummelled Haru into the ground and winced as he heard at least three bones snap from the force of the impact. Opacho turned to look at his master and saw that he still had the same dark expression on his face, this made Opacho uneasy because he had never seen Hao angry, it was slightly unsettling,
"Why is Hao angry?" the young child asked
Hao didn't answer for a moment and Opacho had to repeat his question before Hao responded,
"Don't worry Opacho I'm not angry, merely aggravated, however…" Hao's face relaxed into an easy grin that was strangely similar to Yoh's "… I have what I came for and that is what matters, Opacho would you go and pick up his coat and weapon, I shall want to examine them later. Now then where are the Hanagumi?" almost as soon as Hao said this he heard arguing from the ridge above him and sighed, "Will those girls ever get along? Oh well, come along Opacho it seems as though I shall have to break up yet another one of their fights". Hao jumped back onto the SOF shoulder and was followed immediately by Opacho who was struggling somewhat with the heavy coat, the SOF began to rise towards the ledge where the Hanagumi were arguing before Opacho coughed slightly and said "Master has forgotten something"
Hao turned to look at his little companion and saw him indicating to a large crater.
"Hmm what? Oh yes, we wouldn't want to leave behind our new guest would we? SOF pick him up, he seems slightly incapable right now"
The SOF bent down and picked up the unconscious shaman, whose head hung limply on his shoulders causing his hair to cover the front of his face.
"Now then I assume we have everything yes?" Hao looked towards Opacho as he said this and the child offered no complaint. "Good let us continue then"
The Hanagumi plus Mia had been wandering around in the wilderness for about an hour and a half. Kanna had been leading them with the map in front of her face for nearly the entire journey and kept yelling at people to shut up so she could read the "Completely Pointless and Bloody Stupid Map".
Kanna's behaviour was really starting to get Mia's nerves and she was wondering how Macchi and Mari could stand her, they just kept plodding along behind the taller blue haired girl and talking to each other, only reverting to whispers when Kanna yelled at them. Mia checked her watch and saw that they had been lost for nearly two hours now and it was getting dark and Mia did not want to camp out here tonight. Mia decided she would try reading the map for once after all it can't be that hard can it? Mia thought to herself and she walked right up behind Kanna and peered round her shoulder to look at the map and saw that Kanna was holding it upside down.
"Um Kanna, do you know how to read a map?" Mia ventured quietly
The blue haired Kanna whirled round to face Mia with a look of fury on her face,
"Of course I know how to read map" she snarled.
"Then why are you holding it upside down?" Mia asked trying hard not to grin
Kanna blushed slightly at this but her look of fury remained, "Well if you think it's so easy you can do it then!" and Kanna threw the map and small brown haired girl who caught it with ease. Mia laid the map on the floor and took a good look around her and then at the map again. She groaned as she realised that they were 10 miles from where they were supposed to be and that it would take them the rest of what was left of the day to get there. Mia pointed this out to the Hanagumi and suggested that they go back to the town and stay at hotel instead of looking for this "Hao guy" but the other three girls would have none of it and they adamantly refused to even consider turning round.
"Master Hao told Hanagumi to meet him in valley so Hanagumi will meet Hao in valley"
"Yeah, we can't turn our back's on Hao" Macchi piped in
"Not if you want to live anyway" Kanna added darkly
Mia looked at Kanna for a minute to determine if she joking but she remained straight faced and this worried Mia slightly; she had no idea who this Hao was, she just decided to tag along with these three because it had seemed like fun at the time, but now she wasn't so sure.
"What's so great about Hao anyway?" Mia asked casually, she regretted asking almost instantly because of the uneasy silence that followed her question; it was as though she had just crossed some sacred line.
Finally Kanna pulled out a cigarette, lit it and then replied, "We owe Hao our lives, without him none of us would be here today"
"Oh" Mia couldn't think of anything else to say and she looked down at the map again and the uneasy silence continued.
"Does Mia know how to reach master Hao?" Mari asked, Mia blinked and was tongue tied for a second before she could answer "Wha? Oh yeah, we just head down here and we should come to the valley".
The group started walking again and after a few more minutes they were arguing again as though nothing had happened although now it was because it was getting too dark to see where they were going and they kept bumping into each other.
Hao rose up from the valley on the SOF shoulder with Opacho right alongside him and Haru clutched in the giant spirits hand as they focused in on the angry cries that were coming from the valley ridge and Hao was quite amused by what he saw; it was pitch black but Hao had perfect night vision and had therefore had no problem seeing what was going on around him, you pick up those kind of skills when your over a thousand years old. The Hanagumi however were not so lucky and they continually bumped into each other and other things on the trail as they tried to make their down. Hao watched this for a few minutes before he noticed that there was someone else with Hanagumi. It was a girl who seemed to be the same age as Macchi and Mari although she was slightly smaller than them and she was vainly trying to read the map in front of her by pushing it as close to her face as possible. The girl looked oddly familiar but Hao couldn't seem to place her.
"Opacho do you recognise that girl down there with the Hanagumi?"
Opacho squinted into the darkness and tried his best to make something out of the gloom but all he saw was shadows, "Sorry Master Opacho cannot see it is too dark"
"Hmm what? Oh I can do something about that" Hao said genially and he summoned a huge fireball which illuminated the whole area. This caused the Hanagumi to look up and start waving at Hao and Opacho to gain their attention.
"That girl down there Opacho, the one with the map" Hao indicated with a nod of his head. Opacho squinted again at the girl but finally shook his head and replied, "Opacho does not recognise strange girl"
"Oh well I suppose we shall just have to find out" Hao then manoeuvred the SOF toward the four girl's on the ridge who backed away quickly to make room for the giant spirit.
"You are late" Hao told the girls in a stern tone
"Its not my fault, Kanna's the one who got us lost" Macchi pouted as she said this
"Hey don't blame me! That map was defective no one would be able to read it" Kanna replied defiantly
"Mia was able to read it" Mari remarked with the same bored look in her eyes
For the first time Hao focused on Mia and took in the girl in front of him; she was possibly slightly older than him but she was also shorter than she was. She had long brown hair that was done into a ponytail that reached just below her shoulders and her eyes were a bright Safire green. Hao also noticed that Mia was staring back at him with a blank expression on her face, Hao treated her to his million dollar smile which caused her blush and look away quickly.
"Ah yes we appear to have a picked up a stray shaman, Macchi is this your handiwork again?" Hao directed his question to the red headed shaman
"uh well you see…" Macchi began but Hao waved her into silence
"Macchi I have already added one new member to our group tonight I see no reason why I should add a second"
"What are you talking about Hao?" Kanna asked bluntly
"If you will draw your attention to the figure down here" Hao indicated to the SOF left arm and all four girls looked own at the unconscious Haru whose head still hung limply forwards. Hao noticed this and frowned, "Well that's no good, SOF would you be so kind as to pick our friends head up so we can see him" the SOF shook its arm causing Haru's head to roll backwards and reveal his face.
"Now then allow me to introduce you to…" Hao began but was suddenly cut off by Mia's outburst of, "Haru?"
Hao instead of looking annoyed as he should have done, appeared interested by Mia's outburst. "You know him?" he asked Mia cheerfully.
Mia nodded and replied, "Yeah I've fought him twice and I've met his sister, did you beat him up? She asked in an amazed voice. Hao smiled at this question and simply nodded his head.
"Wow, you must be really strong" as Mia said this Macchi and Mari started giggling and a wry smile made it's way onto Kanna face, Mia turned round to face them "Hey what's so funny?"
"Oh nothing" Macchi managed to say in between giggles
Hao coughed slightly and the girl's turned back to look at him, Hao waited for a few seconds before he started talking to make sure he had their full attention, "Well if you girls have finished gossiping I believe I was questioning our newest member"
Kanna who was slightly quicker on the uptake then the other girls noticed the "new member" part and asked quickly, "Does that mean she stays?"
"Yes she can stay if she wants" as soon as Hao finished speaking Macchi ran up and hugged Mia and started telling her in an excited voice about all the fun stuff they were going to do.
Haru groaned and woke up, he regretted doing so almost instantly because of the amount of pain his body was sending him; his head felt like someone had just taken a sledgehammer to it, he couldn't move his left arm which normally isn't a good sign, his right shoulder hurt like hell and something was restricting his breathing.
"Ah good I think he's waking up at last, Opacho would you go inform Hao"
Haru heard someone get up and open then close a door, he kept listening and heard the faint sound someone breathing a little way away from him, he scanned this person with his shaman senses and could tell immediately that the person was strong but that was about it. Haru decided against opening his eyes in the hope that this person would think he was asleep and leave.
"There's no point pretending, I can tell your awake" the voice responded as if reading Haru's thoughts, so much for that idea then. Haru opened his eyes and looked around, he seemed to be in a hotel room; he could see the tiny TV placed in a corner of the room, there was a balcony leading off to his left and on his right was phone with a card next to it which listed the speed dial numbers, one of which was "Room Service". Haru sat up and looked around again to see where the voice had come from, "Over here" Haru looked round and saw a man in another corner of the room; he was dressed in some type black robe like a priest he also had a black hat with a white band on it, he looked to be either in his late thirties or early forty's and he was reading a black book, Haru craned his neck to see the front cover but both covers were blank.
"I would advise against moving, you are seriously injured" the man remarked to Haru as he began to get out of bed. The remark caused Haru to pause and take a personal inventory; there was a thick white bandage around his forehead, his left arm was in a splint which explained why he couldn't move it, his chest was also bandaged but a little to tightly which was why he was having problems breathing, his right shoulder wasn't bandaged though and it still hurt like hell. Haru tried to move his right arm but got a stab of pain form his right shoulder.
"I told you not move" the man remarked casually leafing through his book
"No you advised me not to move, and having taken your advice under consideration I have decided against it" Haru told the man as he sat up on the bed, his body protested at this course of action but he overruled it.
The man looked up at Haru and seemed surprised that he was up, "Very well I'm telling you not to move"
"And you would be?" Haru left the question hanging in the air and he tried to stand up but lost his balance and fell back onto the bed.
The man shook his head and sighed, "My name is Luca and I'm the one whose responsible for you even being able to stand up right now, do you know you nearly died of blood loss because three of your ribs had punctured your lungs? Not to mention the fact that your left arm was broken in several places and your skull was fractured"
"You forgot to mention the fact that my right shoulder is dislocated" Haru mentioned casually
Luca glanced at him for a second before replying "No it isn't"
"I think if anyone should know it would be me" Haru told Luca, "Unless you can come up with another reason for why I can't move my arm"
Luca frowned for a moment and then put his book down and walked over to Haru and began probing his right shoulder, Haru winced as his fingers hit the dislodged muscle and bone. "It would seem that you were correct, now hold still a moment" without further warning the man grasped Haru shoulder and popped it back into place. Haru gritted his teeth but didn't make a sound. Luca stepped and watched as Haru flexed his arm a few times to get the muscles moving again, Haru turned toward the man and said "Thank you"
Luca smiled at this, "well at least you know how to be polite, unlike most of the kids your age"
"Tell me how did I get here and where are my possessions?" Haru asked Luca
Before Luca could respond the door to the room opened and Hao walked in followed closely by Opacho, "Ah good he's awake" Hao grinned as he saw Haru's expression darken, "And I see he remembers me" Haru didn't bother to reply but he kept his gaze fixed on the younger shaman. Hao waved his arm towards the door and said "Thank you Luca but if you would please wait outside I would like to have my conversation in private" Luca nodded his head and collected his book and left the room closely followed by Opacho.
Hao stared at Haru for a few minutes but when the black haired shaman refused to talk Hao initiated the conversation himself, "You know I was surprised to learn how much we have in common" Haru's expression didn't change although he did raise one eyebrow slightly and Hao continued, "Yes you see people feared me for my power as well, they tried to kill me but when they could not they decided to murder my family instead, tell me how old were you when your father was killed?"
Haru blinked in surprise at the question, "How…"
"How do I know about your past? Well let's just say I have my sources, I have told no one else about your past so you don't need to worry about that. Now then would you answer my question, how old were you?" Hao said, his voice had taken on a more sombre tone.
Haru was silent for moment but he eventually replied "…five"
"And after having watched your parents die you felt no anger? No hatred? No sense of revenge?" as Hao finished speaking he noticed that Haru's eyes gleamed with malice and that both his fists were clenched, Hao smiled as he realised that he was making progress.
"When we last met I asked you to join me in return for power and you refused, this time I have a new offer; If you join me and I succeed in becoming Shaman King I will tell you who ordered your parents death and I will tell you where to find them, in short I am offering you revenge, so will you join me?"
Haru was silent for a time before he finally responded, "How do I know I can trust you?
Hao was thoughtful for a moment and then said, "I give you my word that you can trust me"
"Not good enough"
Hao smiled at this before he responded, "Are you suggesting that I would break my word?"
"Yes"
Hao laughed at the blacked haired shamans straight-faced expression, "You know if almost any of my other followers said that I would turn them to ash"
Haru didn't reply to this, he just kept his gaze fixed on Hao as though certain he would try and attack him. Hao frowned at his lack of response before saying, "Very well as a gesture of good faith…" Hao extended his right hand towards Haru and it emitted a bright flash of white light, which dazzled Haru for a few seconds, when his vision cleared Haru realised that the pain from his arm and head were gone and that his left arm was no longer in a splint, "…there I think you will find that you are able to move more freely now"
Haru stood up and flexed both arms and cracked his neck a few times before he turned back to face Hao, his expression was still blank. Hao rolled his eyes and reached into his pocket and pulled out Haru's amulet and tossed it to him. Haru's arm instantly snaked out and snatched it out of the air and he placed it over his neck.
"There now, I haven given you back your health and your amulet, if that is not reason enough to trust me then what is?"
"Where is Zhou?"
"Do you accept my offer?" Hao countered
Haru nodded his head slightly, "Yes…for now"
Hao smiled at the response and got up and started for the door but paused as Haru asked, "What about Zhou?"
"Both your spirit and your weapon are in my possession, they shall be returned to you when I deem fit" Hao said with a smug look.
"I have already said that I trust you and I have accepted your offer, what do gain by keeping Zhou and the Dragon Blade?"
Hao laughed at this and replied, "It's not about what I gain, it's what I keep. You see while you say that you trust me and you have accepted my offer that does mean I trust you. So as long as I have your spirit and your weapon I know that you will not go back on your promise, so I suppose I gain obedience, now then have a good day" as Hao finished speaking he vanished in a column of fire leaving Haru glaring at the spot where he had been standing.
Author: so what do you think? Sorry it took longer than usual but I've had a lot of other work to do, I've got my driving test tomorrow so my parent have been going on about how should be studying (like it's going to make a difference now).
To my Reviewer(s)
Mikauzoran: Glad to hear your finally out of bed, Chapter 70 was awesome by the way, thanks for the advice although I don't know if I'll have time to use it before I go away, hope you like this chapter, apart from that I can't think of anything else to say.
To everyone else: PLEASE REVIEW!