Chapter 12: And This Is

Haru glared at the spot where Hao had been standing and thought, he's starting to piss me off, Haru sighed and made his way back to bed and sat down and tried to think about what he could do. Hao's offer of revenging his parents was tempting but he didn't like the idea of being powerless because he no longer had a weapon or a spirit, well not quite powerless Haru thought with a wry grin as he fingered the amulet Hao had returned. He couldn't leave because that would mean leaving Zhou, equally he couldn't beat the crap out of Hao and make him relinquish Zhou because he wasn't strong enough, not yet anyway. So at the moment there was nothing he could do about his situation, he would just have to go along with whatever Hao had planned.

At that moment the door to Haru's room opened and Luca stepped back in, he scanned the room quickly and when he didn't see Hao asked Haru, "Has he left?"

Haru nodded then lay down on the bed; for some reason he felt tired but he couldn't figure out why.

"Well I see Hao at least undid the damage he created" Luca observed as he saw that Haru no longer had any wounds, "There's no point in you just lying there you may as well get up and walk around, I would introduce you to everyone but I have some matters to look into. We've rented out the entire hotel so anyone you see should be part of the group, you should go and look for Opacho" seeing Haru blank face Luca added, "He's the small African child you saw come in with Hao, he gets along with everybody so he should be able to introduce you, there are some clothes and things in the closet over there" Luca nodded his head to Haru and left.

Haru stayed on the bed for a few minutes and then abruptly swung his legs over the side and got up. He made his way over to the sink and filled it to the brim with ice-cold water and then dunked his head in it to try and wake himself up, it seemed to work so he grabbed a towel and started drying his hair as he made his way to the closet that Luca had indicated to earlier. After sifting through the clothes there he finally selected a clean pair of blue jeans along with a black T-shirt that had picture of a shark on the back underneath the words "Bite Me" he pulled on some socks and found his trainers in the lower compartment of the closet but he couldn't find his coat anywhere, he shrugged and left his room.

"Come on I thought you wanted to get stronger?" Kanna taunted Mia as she collapsed on the ground from exhaustion, "You telling me that's the best you got? How the hell did you make it past the preliminary's?"

Mia scowled and pushed herself up onto her feet, ever since she had joined Hao and told him she wanted to get strong enough to beat Haru it had been non stop training every morning from either Kanna or Peyote and Mia had come to despise them both.

Peyote constantly beat her into the ground because Hao had told him to work on her endurance. At first Mia had done quite well against one of Peyote's little skeletal minions but then he had two them of them gang up on her and she had found herself getting hit from behind every time she started an attack, Mia had complained that this was unfair and in response Peyote had added another of his skeletal dolls into the training until Mia was spending more time flat on her face then on her feet, she'd since learned to keep her mouth shut.

Kanna was no better, she would have Mia run 10 mile laps everyday no matter where they were staying; this apparently was to improve her stamina and her speed because whenever Mia started to slow down Kanna would have Ashcroft (her guardian spirit) hit her with his spear until she started sprinted full speed again. There was also the fact that Hao had replaced her lightweight aluminium razor rings with steel ones of the same size but filled with lead so that they were twenty times heavier than she was used to.

"Come on get up, how do you expect to get better with that lazy attitude, Ashcroft get her moving" Kanna barked to her guardian spirit who picked up his spear whacked it across Mia's back with a resounding "Thud" which sent her sprawling across the ground, angrily Mia pushed herself back onto her feet and started running again, a cold determination in her eyes as she pushed herself on. She finally made it back to the hotel and Kanna eased up, "That's enough for today, although you barely did any work we've run out time, so I suggest you get some real food not the fast food crap, you need to build some muscle" with that inspirational message Kanna turned on her heel and walked off to her room, leaving Mia to collapse on one of the seats in the hotel lobby. Mia took a deep breath and released spirit control and Kira appeared in front of her.

"Are you all right?" she asked worriedly

Mia just nodded her head; she was too exhausted to say anything

At this point Bill walked round the corner and saw Mia. Bill was well over 6foot tall and was wearing his usual American football uniform with the spiked shoulder pads and red helmet that covered most of his face, he had the potential to be really intimidating; he looked like the type of guy who would have fun picking on someone when they were down. However his personality was the complete opposite; he couldn't stand to see other people being picked on and always tried to help others when he could as long as it didn't get in the way of Hao's plans, he also had a great sense of humour and just by hanging around he had the ability to cheer people up when they were depressed.

"You all right kid" Bill said as he made his way over and sat down on one of the seats that groaned threateningly but managed to stay in one piece.

Mia nodded her head again, she usually hated it when people called her 'kid' but right now she was too tired to be angry.

"Well at least your getting a good workout, I'll have to tell Kanna and Peyote to keep doing whatever it is they're doing" Bill remarked as he leaned back in his chair which groaned even more threateningly. Mia's head came up as Bill finished speaking and she glared at him with all her might because she still didn't have enough strength to speak. Bill raised his hands defensively and said, "Hey don't blame me you're the one who…"

SNAP!

The chair that Bill had been sitting had finally collapsed under the weight of the 6foot plus jock and he fell unceremoniously on his back.

"God damn it" Bill shouted as fell over and then struggled to get back up. Mia finally found her voice and started to laugh.

"Well I'm glad you found it funny" Bill grumbled, "I mean why the hell has every thing got to be god damn small"

"They aren't too small, you're too big" Macchi said with a giggle as she appeared round another corner of the hotel bearing two ice creams, one of which she handed to Mia and the other she kept for herself.

"Thanks" Mia said feebly

"Don't I get an ice cream?" Bill asked in mock dejection

"Hey I've only got two hands, anyway you can get one yourself" Macchi said as she stuck out her tongue out at Bill.

"Well I can tell when I'm not wanted" Bill mumbled as he walked off slowly, just before he went around the corner he turned to face Mia again, "Keep up the good work kid, it'll pay off later trust me"

Mia was too busy eating her ice cream to reply, so Bill just shook his head and walked round the corner. Mia finished eating her ice cream and leaned back in her chair and let out a sigh of contentment.

"I thought that would make you feel better" Macchi said with a grin as she finished her own ice cream, "Now come on there's loads of stuff to do here and I don't know how long Hao's gonna let us stay"

Mia nodded in agreement; she had been with Hao for two weeks and almost everyday Hao had made them make camp in the middle of a field or something instead of letting them stay in a nice warm hotel, this was apparently to let the shaman become closer to nature but Mia personally though it was because Hao was a cheapskate, although today she had been forced to reconsider this because Hao had booked the entire hotel for them so that there were only shaman in the building and the hotel staff.

"Let's go find Mari" Macchi suggested as she grabbed Mia's hand and dragged her off before waiting for Mia to reply, "I think she was over by the pool, come on" and without further ado Macchi proceeded to drag Mia all around the hotel looking for the blond haired doll master.

The hotel was larger than Haru expected; it had four floors and in the centre of the building was a fountain of some sort and all the rooms were situated around it. Haru made his way down slowly so that he could examine the entire building which appeared to be empty. He couldn't see any signs of life anywhere, puzzled he walked down a corridor to his left and came to a set of double doors underneath the sign "BAR" Haru walked straight in and looked around; it appeared to be empty except for the hotel employee behind the bar, he turned around and was about to leave when his shaman sense picked up a trace of Furyoku. Haru stopped and surveyed the room again and noticed a figure crouched in a corner to his right. Haru couldn't tell right away whether it was a man or a woman because he couldn't see their face; the figure was wearing a sand coloured poncho decorated with green cactuses and had a sombrero on it's head and was also wearing goggles of some type and had a cloth covering the rest of it's face. There was also a guitar strapped across it's back.

Haru walked over slowly and took a seat opposite the figure.

"I assume you're with Hao?" Haru asked stoically, the figure glanced up but did not reply. "I'm looking for someone named Opacho" Haru continued unperturbed at the figures lack of response. There was silence for a few minutes as though the figure was waiting for Haru to leave, finally the figure murmured, "…lounge…" Haru nodded once and got up and made his way to the barman. When Haru approached him the barman turned and looked at Haru malevolently, "I don't serve kids" he told Haru with snarl on his face.

"I never said I wanted to buy anything" Haru told the man calmly

"Then why are you in here?" the barman growled

"I wanted to ask you for directions" Haru said in the same calm tone

"Then get a map kid" the barman snapped and started to turn away. Haru sighed as his arm snapped out and he grabbed the barman by the throat and lifted him off his feet.

"Let's try this again shall we?" Haru said with just a touch of annoyance.

"I'm going to put you down and when I ask you for directions you're going to give them to me, understand? Just blink once for yes" Haru told the barman as he struggled to speak, the barman blinked and Haru put him down. "Good, now which way is it to the lounge?"

"It's on the second floor sir, third door on your right from the stairs" the barman gulped as he backed away.

"Thank you and remember there are people who don't have my amount of patience so consider yourself fortunate." Haru told the frightened barman as he turned to go and look for the lounge.

Haru found the lounge exactly where the barman had said it was and walked in. It was a large area covered with stools, chairs, couches and the occasional table. Looking around he saw large Chinese man sitting on one of the couches; the guy appeared to be talking to someone Haru couldn't see so he walked a little closer and saw that there was a little kid sitting crossed legged on top of one stools opposite the large Chinese.

In between the two was a Chinese checkerboard and it appeared that the small child was losing. Haru assumed that this was Opacho and started to make his way towards them but before he could get close enough to start a conversation was halted by the spirit of a giant Panda which rose up on its hind legs and toward above Haru and started growling threateningly. Haru ignored it and stepped straight through it.

"What is it Shion?" the large Chinese man asked a he turned his head to look at the fearsome spirit and he saw Haru walking toward him. "We have an uninvited guest Opacho"

"I was told to look for someone named Opacho, I take it that would be you?" Haru directed his question to the little African child on top of the stool who nodded and replied, "What does stranger want with Opacho?"

"Firstly my name is Haru, I suppose I am the newest member of Hao's group. I was told by Luca that you would be able to introduce me to the rest of the group.

Opacho nodded when he heard this and said something quickly in Chinese that Haru was unable to pick up. The large Chinese man chuckled to himself and stood up and offered his hand which was five times larger than Haru's. Haru took and the Large Chinese man introduced himself.

"My names ZanChin, Opacho tells me that I am supposed to introduce myself in a fashion that you'll recognise.

In response to this Haru let go of the large mans hand and gave a slight bow and said in Chinese "I am pleased to meet you and you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover"

ZanChin raised his eyebrows and said, "Impressive, have you been to China before?"

Haru straightened up and answered "A few times, my sister use to work there so I had to pick up the language"

ZanChin nodded at this and gestured to something behind Haru, the large Panda spirit that had tried to halt Haru before came strolling up to its master on all fours. "This is my spirit partner Shion, don't let his appearance fool you he's not as harsh as he appears" ZanChin gestured to the checker board behind and asked, "Do you play? Opacho hasn't been able to give me much competition lately"

"Opacho has won three times" Opacho said indignantly.

"Yes but we've had 12 games" ZanChin reminded him, he turned back to Haru, "well how about it?"

"I'm afraid I don't know how to play" Haru admitted in an uninterested tone

ZanChin frowned and turned back to Opacho, "Well I guess I'll just have to keep playing …" Opacho quickly cut in, "Opacho must introduce Haru to everyone, Opacho has no more times for games" and the African child abruptly jumped off the stool and started moving towards the exit. ZanChin chuckled again but offered no compliant and he sat himself down on the couch. Haru stood where he was for a second, until Opacho called out to him from the doorway, "Is Haru coming?"

They made their way around the hotel slowly, checking to make sure that they didn't miss anyone, in that time Haru came to learn a lot about Hao and how he had saved each of his followers from whatever their situation happened to be. Normally Haru disliked people who continuously talked but there was something about Opacho that stopped him from becoming annoyed. It wasn't the fact that he was a child; Haru had met enough children to know that he could easily become annoyed by their slightest actions but this didn't seem to apply to Opacho. Haru thought about it for a while and decided it was the fact that although Opacho was a child he had the ability to be extremely responsible and didn't talk about pointless topics but had the ability to include anyone in a conversation.

Opacho led Haru outside and then round to a side of the hotel and they came to a type of sports/recreational area; there was a relatively large pool placed against the wall of the hotel with a few deck chairs which at the moment were empty. There were three girls standing at the edge of the pool looking up at one of the windows on the fourth floor of the hotel that was just above the pool. Opacho walked up to a girl that had long blue hair and was wearing a black tube top, "Kanna, Opacho needs to…" but the girl just ignored him. Opacho tried a few more times and then started poking the girls leg until she looked down at Opacho with an angry look on her face which disappeared when she saw it was Opacho.

"What do you want Opacho I'm kinda waiting for something here"

"Kanna Opacho needs to…"

"Yipeee!"

A red haired girl dived out of the fourth floor window and did a few somersaults before she grabbed her legs and did a cannon ball into the pool completely soaking all of those by the poolside, Opacho however was shielded by the much larger Kanna and as a result only got his feet wet, Haru had still been standing a little ways away from the pool and therefore remained perfectly dry, he decided to stay back for a little while longer because it seemed that the blue haired girl was about to go totally berserk.

"Macchi what the hell did you do that for!" the girl named Kanna stormed at the red head as she climbed out of the pool.

"It was fun, besides you're the one who dared me to do it" the girl called Macchi said as she grabbed a towel and started drying herself off.

"I didn't tell you to get us soaking wet!" Kanna cried in outrage

"I know" Macchi said with a big grin on her face

"Mari is not happy" said a blond haired girl as she started to walk menacingly towards Macchi, who gulped and started to back away, she turned to the third girl who had been standing by the pool and had not yet spoken, "Come on Mia you thought it was funny didn't you?"

"Yeah right up to the point when I got soaked!" the brown haired girl stormed. Haru thought the girl looked familiar but he couldn't place her because her back was towards him.

Macchi glanced around nervously now looking for anyway out and she Opacho who was standing just behind Kanna, "Hey! Opacho! What are you doing here?" Macchi called out hoping to distract the other girls. Her plan worked and all the girls turned round to face Opacho who was still looking slightly annoyed by the fact that he was being ignored.

"Opacho came to introduce Hao's new follower" said Opacho as he gestured behind him to where Haru was standing.

"Um who are you talking about Opacho?" Kanna asked confused. Opacho turned round and saw that Haru was no longer where he had been standing but he seemed to have disappeared.

"He was talking about me" said a voice to Kanna's right, Kanna yelped and jumped backwards and fell into the pool. Everyone started laughing except for Haru who only had a slight grin on his face as he watched Kanna come to the surface spluttering.

"Where the hell did he come from?" Kanna asked angrily as she climbed out of the pool. Haru simply shrugged and walked over to Opacho.

"Are these girls part of the group?" he asked in a bored tone

Opacho nodded and turned to face the girls again and gestured to Haru, "This is Haru, Haru has excepted Hao's offer to join Hao's cause" Opacho told the girls simply

"I wouldn't go that far" Haru mumbled under his breath

Opacho ignored him and turned to each of the girls in turn and introduced them.

"This is Kanna", Kanna was still quite wet and looked angrily at Haru, "I'd start running if I were you" she told him

"This is Macchi", Macchi was bouncing up and down on her toe's and had a big grin on her face, "Hiya, pleased to meet ya!" Macchi then turned to the blonde haired girl and whispered "L'ho detto era carino", the blonde haired girl nodded and whispered back, "Mari conviene". Kanna tutted as she heard this but didn't comment. Opacho frowned and said, "Macchi is not being polite"

Haru was silent for a moment and then looked at the blond haired girl and said, "Perché lei porta quella bambola?" both Macchi and the blond girl looked stunned for a second and then started blushing. "Serves you right" Kanna laughed

Opacho was laughing at the looks on the two girls faces, he calmed himself down and gestured to the blonde haired girl.

"This is Mari", Mari was still too busy blushing to respond to the introduction.

Opacho gestured to the fourth girl and said "This is…" but he was cut off as both the girl and Haru said "we've met" at the same time, the girl glared at Haru who just studied her for a second before he said, "Your names Mai isn't it?"

"It's Mia and you know it" the girl retorted angrily.

"What are you doing here? I thought Hao was only interested in strong shaman" Haru asked in his usual emotionless voice.

Mia fumed when she heard this but couldn't think of anything to say so she just shoved past Haru intending to storm off, but as she shoved past she got an idea and tried to push Haru into the pool, however Haru pivoted on his right foot so that Mia lost her balance and would have stumbled into the pool except that Haru's arm shot out and grabbed her wrist so that she was leaning dangerously over the edge.

"You should be more careful, if I remember correctly you can't swim can you?" Haru told her with a slight look of concern on his face. Mia gulped and nodded; she had nearly drowned when she was four and as a result had never learnt how to swim. She had also developed a phobia of deep water, although deep was anything that was above her shoulders, and the pool she noticed was over nine foot deep, funny how you never notice something like that until you think your going to drown.

Haru slowly pulled Mia back from the edge and saw that her face had gone quite pale, but now that both her feet were on firm ground her colour came rushing back and she blushed embarrassed, she shoved Haru out of the way and headed inside. Macchi and Mari followed her but Kanna stayed behind, "How the hell did you know she couldn't swim?"

"She talks too much" Haru responded simply.

Note:Italian "L'ho detto era carino" means "I told you he was cute" "conviene" means "agree" "Perche lei porta quella bambola" means "Whay are you carrying that doll"

Author: well what do you think? I'm not too sure about it myself because I haven't had a lot of time on it; my parents have decided that I spend too much time on the computer and keep kicking me off whenever I start to get a good chapter flowing.

If you think that it isn't as good as the other chapters send me a review and I'll try and improve, however I don't know how much time I'll have. Anyway sorry about the long update as I said I haven't had a lot of time and unfortunately you may have to wait even longer for the next chapter.

Wow finally some more reviewers; I thank you for taking the time to review my story:

Mikauzoran: Glad you liked the chapter, I'm not too sure about this one I tried to keep all of Hao's followers in character but as I haven't seen the entire series of Shaman King I'm just guessing, but your info helped a load, also two questions: 1) Patch village is in south America isn't it? 2) is En Tao Ren's uncle or his father I'm not sure.

Shackle: glad you liked Haru, I'm trying to make Mia more humble but her spoiled attitude is a major part of her character. Anyway as to the pairing I would like to keep that a surprise, there may be more than one though.

Shale 101: glad you liked it thanks for the review

master kenarina Asakura: glad your enjoying the story I'll try and update as often as I can