Don't own any of them, wish I did, making no money off this. Enjoy – and remember, reviews always welcome! To the lovely Yami no Kazi, Red Asatari and sprit dragon who kindly reviewed the prologue, thank you for your kind words of encouragement, and I hope you enjoy this chapter too.

Chapter 1 – Don't Go Where I Cannot Follow

hikisakareta futatsu no kokoro
yukiba no nai omoi ga mune o shimetsuke
naze kono toki ni deatta no ka to
toikakeru sube wa
saeta kage ni chiru

Two souls torn apart,
Feelings of nowhere to go strangle my heart.
Why did we meet this day?
The way to ask this question
Vanishes into clear shadow.

- Northern Lights, Hayashibara Megumi

A year ago, at the conclusion of the first Shaman Fight...

"Faust! Can his body handle that much Furyoku?" screamed Ryu over the shrieking of the winds and the Great Spirit as the battle raged above their heads.

"I don't know!" hollered the necromancer. "He is considerably more powerful than he realizes, but there's only so much a human body can handle. And so much energy all at once…."

Ren struggled over mouthing something. "What?" screamed the group.

"I said, he'll be fine! I didn't give him my Furyoku only to have him die!"

Horohoro clutched at his head. "Not everything is about you, you arrogant Chinese idiot!"

Anna's hands dug deeper into the dirt. "Shut up. All of you." They could hear Hao's maniacal laughter and Yoh yelling something in reply. For a moment, nothing in the world seemed to be moving. And then Yoh's blue blade sliced cleanly through Hao's Oversoul…and into Hao. Both Spirit of Fire and Hao fell backwards in what seemed like slow motion, and on the latter's face was an expression of blank, blank surprise. He mouthed something, reaching out towards Yoh, who stretched his hand out in return as if trying to reach his brother. But his fingers closed on thin air as Asakura Hao disappeared into the blinding light of the Great Spirit.

An agonized cry of despair ripped through the air. But it didn't belong to the person it should have, though the voices were eerily similar.

"HAO!"

As with most things he did, Yoh plummeted from the sky with surprising grace. His body was limp and gently curled up, his limbs were relaxed, although he seemed to be holding on to his weapon with admirable tenacity. His hair whipped about his face, shielding it from view. A blue glow suffused his falling form as Amidamaru, loyal to the last, endeavored valiantly to shield his master from hurt, but it was obvious to all that his efforts would be in vain.

"Faust! Ike!" ordered Anna. But Ren was faster still, Bason's Great Spirit Form already hurtling upwards towards Yoh's falling body. The massive fist that could punch through buildings closed gently around the unconscious youth as everyone else breathed a sigh of relief, but that relief rapidly evaporated when they got a glimpse of the limp form that Bason laid gently on the ground. Faust was at Yoh's side immediately, slender fingers working furiously as Eliza silently passed him various instruments from his ever-present doctor's bag.

Horohoro swallowed worriedly. He had never seen Yoh look like this. In all the hardships they had experienced on their way to this place, culminating in this awful day, Yoh had been their merry band's rock, the ever serene constant that soothed frictions and revived flagging spirits, that gave them renewed strength in their limbs and in their hearts even under the most impossible of odds. Even when he was…well…dead, they had felt Yoh's presence in their hearts. But this was nothing like that. This was much, much worse. An awful ragged emptiness that just seemed to scream out in all its wrongness because it was so silent, a yawning void that seemed to swallow all traces of warmth from the Ainu shaman's blood. His legs actually wobbled and he sat down on the grass abruptly.

"Hao…Hao…why?…" mumbled Yoh in semi-delirium. His face was flushed and feverish as he bucked under Faust's ministrations. Silva and Ryu, who were doing their best to hold him down, one on each arm, flinched upon hearing those words from Yoh, but Amidamaru's strong arms never wavered from their lock on the boy's legs.

"Faust! What's wrong with the master?" asked Ryu worriedly, catching and pinning Yoh's arm again as it sailed past his face.

"Hold him down!" snapped Faust, filling a syringe with morphine. "I don't know, it may be a reaction to the overload of Furyoku."

Ren was standing off to the side, arms folded tightly, eyes fixed unblinkingly on Yoh. Despite his outwardly calm appearance, a careful observer would have noticed the tremor in his tensed muscles, his too frequent blinks and the way he had to clear his throat before he spoke in an even hoarser voice than usual, "Why would that still be affecting him? We all have our Furyoku back, and it was for a minimal period of time."

Faust barely looked up. "Yes, but so much power all at once…and the strain he was under to control and focus it, and to use it effectively…and then the mental shock of killing his own brother…."

"Who was a murdering lunatic," spat Lyzerg with sudden vehemence. "Yoh wouldn't be feeling guilt about that, surely. I thought Jeanne-sama would be the chosen one to end Hao's life, but instead my dowsing instincts were right – Asakura Yoh was the one with the strength to defeat Hao and avenge my parents."

Anna had been sitting a little ways away, a pale, fragile figure staring fixedly at Yoh's face, Manta on his hands and knees close to her, peering worriedly around Faust's lanky figure to try and catch a glimpse of his best friend. Now she suddenly leapt to her feet and delivered a roundhouse slap to Lyzerg that echoed throughout the glade. The stunned dowser clutched his flaming cheek where Anna's hand – and her flying beads – had impacted his face. "Itai! What was that for?"

"Your self-centeredness is unbelievable," Anna gritted out through clenched teeth. Everyone unconsciously took a step back from the enraged itako. "You think he killed his own brother for your sake? Out of some pathetic desire for revenge? His own twin? The other half of his soul?" She gestured angrily towards Yoh's prone form. "He knew all along what was at stake if he failed…but he also knew what the consequences of killing Hao might be. He accepted them because that's what he does, without thought as to his own well-being." Her voice broke for a moment. "A soul cannot exist torn apart. Why do you think Hao wanted Yoh back so badly? With the half of the soul that Hao was carrying lost…Yoh…Yoh might…I can't lose him again…."

To everyone's shock, the frigid Anna Kyoyama was crying. Tears that had refused to fall until now were streaming down her face as she gasped for air. Her vision blurred, and refocused, and blurred again as she gave in to her grief, and anger, and fear.

"Here, Anna-san." Surprisingly enough, it was little Manta who dared to approach her. He held out a slightly grubby handkerchief, but she took it gratefully. "Yoh-kun will be all right, you'll see. He's strong, stronger than any of us could ever imagine." Manta hesitated for a moment, searching for the right words. "Yoh has this…this power…that makes him able to rise above it all. I believe in him. You taught me that."

"Indeed," said Ryu softly. "I too, believe that the master will be all right. He would not leave us like this, not without a plan."

Faust was barely listening to the conversation as he stood up abruptly with a now unmoving Yoh in his arms. "I must get him to the local hospital where I can monitor him. Horohoro, you're coming with me." The Ainu looked up, startled, then grabbed his snowboard and hurried after the lanky doctor.

"What? Why him?" Ren snapped.

"Because Patch Village is in the middle of a desert and they are unlikely to have enough ice on hand to get a bath going for Yoh. He's burning up, I need to lower his temperature quickly," replied Faust. "Mephisto-E!" He leapt lightly up onto his Oversoul, followed quickly by Horohoro, and in an instant, they were a speeding dot in the sky. All the shamans twitched as they felt a ripple run through the ether – Faust was evidently pushing himself to his limits to get Yoh to the hospital as quickly as possible.

"Well," said Chocolove finally, "I think we should join them as quickly as possible." The group nodded, and Ryu walked over to Anna. He crouched down by her, murmuring something into her ear that the rest failed to catch, but it seemed to calm her down, and she stood up resolutely.

"Let's go."

The group attracted awed stares, and whispers, and assorted hangers-on as they ran through the village towards the hospital. "Those are the ones who defeated Hao?" "Children?" "Amazing, which one of them is the leader?" "Must be that one with the scowl, he looks scary even though he's small." "Wasn't there another boy? One of the Asakura clan, I heard." "So who's going to be Shaman King?" They ignored them determinedly, pushing through the crowd to get to the front door of the very small Patch Village Hospital.

"Silva! Where would they be?" demanded Ren.

The priest frowned. "Probably the E.R. This way!" A startled nurse pointed dumbly to a door in response to a hurried question from Karim and they burst in en masse, with some struggling and muffled curses as Ryu, Lyzerg and Ren managed to get stuck in the doorway as they charged through, only to be kicked out of the way by an irritated Anna.

Horohoro looked up with a harassed expression. "About time you guys got here, could one of you hold his legs down?" Water splashed onto the floor as Yoh struggled again. The Ainu's arms were submerged in the icy bath up to his elbows as he tried to prevent Yoh from moving. Faust had an arm around Yoh's shoulders as the other hovered above Yoh's chest, a green glow emanating from his fingers as he attempted to get a reading on Yoh's temperature. Ren immediately stepped forward and plunged his arms into the water, gritting his teeth at the sudden numbness that worked into his fingers, but he couldn't prevent a yelp from escaping as Kororo sent another mighty gust of ice and water blowing past his ear.

"The sedative must have worn off," Tao Jun murmured worriedly, having been told the story in gasps and spurts after joining the group in their pell-mell flight to the hospital. "Come, the rest of you, give Faust room to work." Faust spared her a grateful glance as she efficiently shepherded the stunned teenagers out of the room, then turned his attention back to Yoh.

"Kisama, Yoh, stop struggling! We're trying to help you!" Ren barked as Yoh twisted in the bath again. The clothes, which Faust had evidently cut off him, lay in a sodden pile on the floor, and the boys were having difficulty holding on to their naked, wet friend.

Amidamaru materialized suddenly. The samurai looked like he had died again. His normally tanned skin was chalky white, and his eyes were like two dark coals sunk into his head, a heavy bleakness hanging about him like a shroud. He ignored the startled looks the other occupants of the room were shooting him, with eyes only for his lord and master. "Yoh-dono..." It was a whisper of terrible loss that weighed upon the hearts of all who heard it, and yet…and yet something about it seemed to calm the target of his attentions. Yoh slowly relaxed, his body floating calmly in the water. Horohoro and Ren gradually relaxed as well, carefully removing their arms from the water and shaking them vigorously to get the blood flowing again.

Faust arched an eyebrow. "You seem to have a comforting effect on your master, samurai. Here, come help me - fifteen minutes more, I think. I'm going to see about getting him admitted. Horohoro and Ren, keep an eye on Yoh and come get me if anything – and I mean, anything – changes. Oh, and I think you can let Kororo rest now." He exchanged places with Amidamaru, the spirit now being the one to support Yoh's head above the water, then straightened up slowly and walked out of the room, only the slowness of his footfalls betraying how tired he was. Kororo floated quietly over to Horohoro's shoulder, and he patted her absently. "You did well, Kororo."

The two boys stared at their friend. And then at his guardian spirit. And then back at Yoh. Neither said anything, mainly because neither knew what to say at this point. Finally, Horohoro cleared his throat. "So…you think he's going to be all right?

"Hmph. You heard what Anna said."

"Feels different than when Hao took his soul though, doesn't it?" Horohoro grimaced. "Kuso. What a crappy day."

Ren bit his lip. "Yeah. I think Yoh's soul might have been wounded when Hao's was killed. The other time, it was only Yoh's body that was dead." The Chinese shaman was having trouble preventing himself from screaming at the thought that the essence that made his friend all that he was might be on the verge of flickering out. Like a wind dying down…a flame dying out….He shook himself, mentally swearing. Yoh couldn't die! They hadn't finished their fight yet. They hadn't figured out who would be Shaman King. They hadn't…he hadn't yet told Yoh what the Asakura had come to mean to him.

"Seems so pointless now, doesn't it?" asked Horohoro, breaking into Ren's reverie. Ren started. The Ainu's voice seemed to be cracking. "You know, the whole Shaman King fight. What's the point if it means losing Yoh?"

Ren was silent. It seemed like an eternity before Faust returned. "We're going to take him out now and get him to a room. Step aside please?"

For a week, Yoh lay in the hospital unmoving and unresponsive, a waxen figure that yet seemed to be burning from within with a mystical fire. He was losing weight, and the bones of his face were starting to become more prominent, giving him a strangely ascetic look. His skin was finally cool to the touch, but anyone approaching could feel a strange heat coming off him in waves. When they finally managed to reach Asakura Yohmei back in Izumo, the old man could shed no light on his grandson's condition. Faust would check on Yoh regularly, and his friends took turns sitting with him, Manta especially. The little human would talk softly about the things they had done and seen, and about the weather outside, and about whatever new things he had read up on via the Internet. Silva sometimes came with him. Horohoro would pace about the room, casting occasional hopeful glances at his friend, sometimes asking random questions, then biting his lip and turning away when there was no answer. Ren preferred the night shifts, and would sit there stiffly, arms folded, his searching golden gaze unwavering, as though he thought he could call back Yoh's spirit simply by sheer force of will. Bason would sometimes accompany him and try to get Amidamaru to take a break, but the samurai would always refuse with a curt shake of his head, eyes never moving from his master as he knelt by the bed.

"He's been like that the entire time," Manta said worriedly to Anna one morning at breakfast. "Can a spirit feel pain? He hasn't spoken a word to us since the fight, and he hasn't moved from that position at all!"

Anna was silent, barely picking at her food. She had dark shadows under her eyes, which were still puffy from crying. Tamao bit her lip, knowing full well that Anna had spent half the night up trying to summon Yoh's spirit in case it had simply gotten lost. It was Bason who finally spoke up, "As a spirit, we do not feel pain…but we can become worn out. Still, no physical pain could compare to that in his heart. He has taken a vow to wait by Asakura Yoh's side until his master awakens…or…." The spirit hesitated visibly before going on. "He will not get up until his master bids him to. For Young Master Ren…I would do the same."

Ren started visibly, nearly spilling the bottle of milk he had been toying with. "Bason…."

The spirit colored slightly, discomfited. "Apologies, Young Master, I…" and the rest was lost as Bason disappeared, presumably to compose himself. Ren sighed and stood, excusing himself. He was going to go check on Yoh…and then, he decided, he was going to take a walk in the forest. Surround himself with leaves….

The leaves rustled outside Yoh's window. For some reason, the sound caught Amidamaru's attention as nothing else had. Ren had come, sat for a while, and then left, casting a worried backward glance at the samurai, but he had barely registered it. The sound of the leaves was different though. Soothing. Familiar. In a momentary flight of fancy, he allowed himself to imagine he heard his master's voice in the leaves. Wasn't that what Yoh meant? Leaf? It was an appropriate name, he had always thought, for this boy who seemed to drift as lightly as a leaf carried by the breeze. Leaves were the promise of life, and renewal, and rebirth, and his lord had given him all that from the day they had met on Funbari Hill. And in return, he had sworn always to follow him, sworn never to leave his side. The samurai lowered his head miserably. But what if you had no idea where your master was? What was the honorable thing to do in that case? And he was suddenly struck by the realization that the wind through the leaves was just that, an empty noise. His master was lost to him. He would never again hear that gentle voice again, warm and accepting and full of laughter. Never again feel the wonder of becoming one with that bright spirit. Never again watch him sleeping peacefully in the moonlight and wonder anew at the innocence that lit him from within.

Amidamaru wept. His stoic samurai façade cracked about him and came shattering down in pieces as he cradled Yoh in his arms and rocked him as one would a child. Why could he not call his master back this time? He had done it once before, refusing to give up on him, certain that his master's soul could hear him, feeling with a certainty beyond doubt his master's spirit. But this time he had searched, and called, and listened in vain for a reply. "Yoh-dono…" he wept into the dark, tangled locks. "Please come back. Or if you must go, take me with you. Amidamaru will go anywhere with you, even if it is to the depths of the underworld. I fear nothing as long as you are safe. I will do anything you ask of me. Please…." His voice was barely audible as he whispered, "Just don't go to this dark place which swallows up your light, this…nothingness where I may not go. Please don't go where I cannot follow." He pressed his lips to Yoh's forehead, then rested his cheek against the spot his lips had touched. It felt cool and empty to the touch, the way a house feels after the occupants have gone. "Yoh-dono…."

He did not know how long he had sat there with his master in his arms. It might have been minutes…or hours…or days. The only thing he registered was that the sun had set and the stars were starting to emerge as he heard a voice he had never expected to hear again.

"Amidamaru." Yoh licked his dry lips and coughed. "Where am I?"

Oyamada Manta says:

Thank goodness Yoh is awake! But what happened to him? Will the Shaman Fight continue? And will Ren find the courage to tell Yoh how he feels about him, not to mention…what is it that Ren feels? But wait, there's Anna to think about, and Amidamaru, who has just called his master back when no one else could! Shaman King: Do You Believe In Destiny: Chapter 2: Song For The Lonely