Pika318: Presenting to faithful readers chapter 8! Thanks for being patient with my slow updates. I just got into college and my life suddenly got way busier. Enjoy!

Chapter 8: Surprise

Six months have passed after Kyomi withdrew Hao from school and began home teaching him. Hao had already turned five. To her surprise, Hao was a fast learner and was able to absorb his lessons very quickly. It saved her a lot a trouble and time, so she was able to cope with her new duty well. He followed her to the temple sometimes and was soon able to imitate what the other temple mikos were doing. The mikos there started to like him and it wasn't long before he went there with Kyomi everyday.

To Kyomi's relief, Hao started to open up to other people and stopped talking only to various plants and animals. He still avoided older children, as he was still unable to recover from the effects of the bullying. This did not pose a big problem as not many children come to the local temple. Mokoto visited their house sometimes and Hao was always eager to meet her. Mokoto also taught Hao some things that she learnt at school and this delighted Hao a lot, being the enthusiastic learner he is, even though he was still young. This made Kyomi very proud of him.

This routine continued for a few months and Hao was nearly done with the basic lessons needed to become a proper shaman. One day, however, Kyomi stopped teaching Hao his lessons.

"Okaa – san, why are you not teaching me anymore?"

"I'm really sorry, Hao. But the ghost festival is coming up and many malevolent spirits are wandering around and possessing people. I have a lot of requests from the people asking me to protect their family members from harm and on very rare cases, I need to exorcise people, which is tiring work. Do you understand?" From experience, Kyomi knew that she had to explain thoroughly in order to get Hao to understand.

Hao nodded and smiled to show that he had forgiven her.

"Also, I have to help at the temple today. There is a lot of work to be done and I will be gone for the whole day. I cannot leave you here by yourself, so is it fine with you if you stay with your grandparents for a while?"

Hao nodded again, even though he did not really want to. Memories of the bullying at the school still haunted him and he was not yet ready to go back. But he knew that refusing would just put his okaa – san in a fix. So he might as well listen to her.

Half and hour later, Kyomi dropped Hao off at the main house and made her way to the temple. At first, Hao was still afraid and followed his grandmother everywhere. Komi did not mind at first because she was not teaching any students. She was puzzled by his behaviour though.

"Grandson, why are you following me around?"

"I do not want to be by myself, Obaa – san. Or else the older children will do it again."

When Komi heard the answer, she finally realised that he was afraid of getting bullied again. After that, she never bothered him and let Hao do what he wanted. There was no point in forcing a child to do what he did not want to do.

Break time in the school came and Mokoto, who had heard that Hao was in the school, wasted no time in finding him. After some searching, she found Hao with Senki, revising with him whatever he had learnt from Kyomi. Judging from the smile on Senki's face, Mokoto deduced that Hao had learnt many useful lessons from Kyomi. She stood by the door and waited for her sensei to be done.

"Very good. I see that your mother has taught you well. You can go now. It seems that someone is waiting for you." Senki said.

Hao looked around at Senki's comment and saw Mokoto at the door. After thanking his grandfather, he quickly went up to her, happy to see her as she had not visited for quite some time.

"Mokoto nee – chan, it's nice to see you. You have not visited me for a long time." Hao said.

"Hao – kun, it's only been a week. It's not that long." Mokoto answered as both of them strolled around the compound.

"Well, it's a long time to me…Can't you visit more often? " Hao asked.

"I can't do that. The tests are coming up and I have to practise…." Mokoto paused in mid sentence and looked at Hao. The five year old had started pouting. There was silence for a few seconds.

Then Mokoto decided that she couldn't take it anymore. Hao's behaviour was just too cute for her to resist anymore.

"I give up! I'll try to visit you more often. Is that fine with you?" Mokoto shouted in surrender.

"Yes. Can you teach me more things the next time you come?" Hao asked, a smile on his face.

"Sure, if I learn anything new. You learn things far more quickly then anyone else your age…"

Hao and Mokoto passed a few older children at this point of time. They were part of Ashiru's gang. Hao instinctively hid behind Mokoto. However, to Hao's puzzlement, not only did the older children not say anything to him, they actually looked a little depressed.

"What's wrong with them, Mokoto nee – chan? They're quieter from the last time I saw them." Hao asked once they were some distance away from the group.

"Oh, you mean that group? I guess I forgot to tell you, but Ashiru left the school. His parents just came one day, a week ago, and told sensei that they are sending Ashiru to a school in another district because his father had a job somewhere else. You do know how important Ashiru's father is right?"

Hao nodded. He heard about Ashiru's father a few times from the mikos. The mikos meet many people everyday and were very good sources of information.

"Anyway, ever since Ashiru had gone, his gang here got all depressed and lost because they always listened to him. They probably forgot about you already, so you can relax now."

The day passed quickly and it wasn't long before Kyomi came to pick Hao up. They went home together as Hao told her about Senki's approval and Ashiru's departure from the school. Kyomi listened and felt relief at the fact that she was teaching Hao the right way and that Hao did not have to be afraid of the older children anymore.

A few birds greeted Hao as they passed and soon, her son was engaged in a one – sided conversation with them. She knew from what Hao told her before that birds were very talkative animals.

As they neared their house, however, the birds suddenly flew away, as if they were scared of something. She was confused but after they went through the door, she found the answer.

"Sechii?"

Pika318: I'm done. I kind of left you with a cliffie, which may be pure torture for some people, but I can't reveal everything too quickly, right?  Anyway, review if you like this chapter/ story.