Natsu Job

Disclaimer: Shaman King © Hiroyuki Takei

Notes: I don't like the dub anime because they change the lines. But in the English dub episode 63, you hear Hao going: "Yoh is with me and only with me." And shouting: "Yoh is only mine!" I just had to fangirl over the possessive Hao. Anyway, this is somewhere pre or post anime. There isn't a exact time for when this occurred. It's more of a relax fic of the summer. I hope I can keep this updated periodically, but no promises.

Listening to songs from anime "AIR". It gives such a nice summer feeling.

When Yoh unexpectedly stumbled into Hao's offer for handling summer tasks, he found that spending a whole summer with his twin meant getting the chance to experience a summer that he never had in his life of training.

Ice Tea

Natsu

Summer

It was every teenager's time to relax, catch up with schoolwork, and most importantly, to use that time to earn some extra cash. Part-time jobs doesn't pay enough these days, especially in addition to cram schools and other extracurricular activities. Allowances were not rising. Teenagers' budgets were going down fast. So this was the perfect opportunity to boost it back up again. Summer provided enough time to catch up on both studying and cash.

That was what most teenagers were doing all summer.

Asakura Yoh was a regular teenager at the first glance. Yet he was by far considered normal. His summer contained neither studying nor earning cash. It was a time that he dreaded.

Summer never had good things in store for him. To him, it was plain torture. Every year, there was always a training program that he must follow. Those trainings range from practices with his grandfather's leaf shikigamis to his fiancée's killer 300-miles-per week run.

This year, Anna had been kind enough to let Yoh relax and have some fun like everyone else. Of course, her standard of having relaxation isn't exactly what we would call "like everyone else". In fact, she especially outlined a daily training routine for Yoh to follow for every single day of the summer months. To be truthful, she really wasn't going to let him off at all. There was no comfort when one reached the end of her standard for relaxing.

In the previous years, she had supervised all of Yoh's training. This year was different. As one of the few itakos left under the teaching of the Asakura family, she was given the responsibility to learn all of the itakos' ways. Apparently, that includes visiting all the relics and shrines that the itakos watch over.

At first, it seemed that she had wanted Yoh to come along, bound him to her beads if she had to. But it seemed that most of the sites were strictly granted only for itakos, so she thought otherwise. Yoh, on the other hand, felt free for once. That is, until he saw the whole booklet of training activities that she left, including an application sheet to a summer jobs, each of them marked with the agreement paper to supervise Yoh's training routine.

The similarity between those jobs marked was the fact that they all required the employee to reside in the employer's home, a common summer household job. Besides that, they were all listed with chores that are very similar, if not more jam-packed, than Anna's chores. That, plus the killer training schedule that the blonde prepared was enough to topple the brunette shaman.

That morning after Anna left, Yoh found the summer job list on the breakfast table along with a few toasts prepared. Of course, next to those was a list of chores to complete that day, training exercises for the day, the thick, fat summer training booklet, and his allowance…in which half must be used to buy groceries.

Then to top it off, he found his memorial tablet…devoid of spirit. There was a tightly-bound bead ring wrapped around the tablet. They were Anna's trademark beads; the solid blue wooden beads. A tag was attached on it with a brusque note saying that Anna needed to "borrow" Amidamaru for itako purposes, and that she'll send him back occasionally to check up on Yoh's progress. She further noted, more than anything else, that she'll personally come back if he were to slack off.

That pretty much ended Yoh's entire dream of having an "Anna-killer-training-program-less" summer.

Thus that was how Yoh ended up getting off the bus alone with a map that wasn't even flipped to the right page. The blazing sun was hovering in the sky. It glared right onto him as soon as he left the shelter of the bus.

Out of all the summer jobs listed out, there was a job offer that was particularly marked with asterisks. It was laid above all the other job sheets, not that Yoh could've differentiate, but he assumed that it was the one that he was "recommended" to apply for.

If asked, he could've sworn that the paper was never there when he first saw it. But then, being Yoh, he brushed it aside. Now, back in present time, he stared warily at the piece of paper.

Natsu Shoku

Job requirements: Workable age, able to take care of children, maintain housework, reside in the employer home, read further instructions below
Salary: Debatable
Location: xx - xx- xxx

He skimmed down pass the other factors to the task examples that the job will feature.

Task Examples:
-Groceries shopping
-Garden tending
-Preparing soumei stands
-Summer Festival stand setup
-Housecleaning
-Firework preparation
-Beach item preparation
Job available only for selected few

To be honest in all, the job description was rather plain. It wasn't laid out precisely like most others did, at least the ones Anna selected. Yoh decided that he liked the simple one better.

"Sounds like helping to take care of a bunch of kids…" He grinned. The tasks of taking care of the house as well as participating in the summer activities gave him a nice image of a family of kids and a solo parent. Maybe it's a single parent needing help to give the children an experience of the true summer feeling, something that the shaman never experienced due to his lifelong training sessions. Maybe that was why this job offer, though simple and plain, appealed him the most.

He put the thick booklet back into his knapsack and slung it over his shoulders. Then he looked around his current location. It seemed that he had reached the countryside town. He had followed the bus route that Manta planned for him carefully.

But when Manta checked the specific location for him, he had said that even if Yoh tries to reach there by bus, it would still take some walking before he could reach his destination. His friend had insisted calling a personal cab to drive Yoh all the way there, but the brunette grinned and replied that a little walking wouldn't do any harm.

The way to the destination was a man-made path that moved away from the road. On his way down the path, he found himself surrounded by trees that gave him shelter under their umbrage. He passed patches of farmlands and fields on his way. Surprisingly, the route didn't divert into any other directions.

The path was easy to follow, even though it took some hiking. Yoh found himself walking through forests and going up and down hills. The sunlight filtered in light amounts through the leaves of the trees, giving him a comfortable amount of light that was not burning his skin.

The trees became less dense the further he went. When he stepped into a now brighter sunlight, he found himself looking at a traditional Japanese house up ahead where his current path led. Casually, he made his way ahead. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that the house was surrounded by a small Japanese garden. A small stream of water flowed around the plants and over smooth rocks laid in specific areas to form patterns.

Moving through the flower-filled garden, Yoh lingered his eyes on the teahouse flowers that were still in bud forms. He was surprised to find that even the doors were made of soft wood. It seemed that the housekeepers were very determined to prevent the house from looking modernize. It was rare to see houses isolated these days yet retaining olden features.

Yoh knocked on the door and waited. There was no answer.

He raised an eyebrow confusingly and knocked again.

"Konnichiwa." He called in attempt to inform the owners. He rested a hand on the wood and reread the job sheet. This was the right place, so where was the employer? The door that he leaned on creak opened easily. The unexpected movement caused the brunette teen to fall right into the house, complete with a thud and an additional: "WHAA-!"

There was an immediate silence afterwards. Awhile later, the sound of sliding doors and footsteps could be heard.

The boy with orange headphones remained face-flat in the entrance of the door. He winced from the sting of the fall. The summer job application had slipped out of his hands. Its whereabouts was unknown to the tripped teen on the ground. Yoh decided that he didn't want to climb up right away, which he reasoned with his lazy nature that he should wait for the pain to fade before going any further.

"I thought I heard someone." Yoh froze upon hearing the familiar voice. His eyes were immediately glued to the ground. He couldn't tear his vision to anywhere as the voice continued. "I don't think you're a thief, but you're entering my house disregarding the fact that you happen to be an uninvited visitor. So why is that you're here? I'd like to know."

Hesitantly, he looked up. He eyes moved up the wooden floor to a pair of bare feet, following that was a pale indigo yukata. Before he could look any further, the person squatted down and folded his arms around his knees. Long strands of brown tresses hinted fell over the person's shoulders. A smiling face watched him amusingly, "So, would you like to answer, Yoh?"

"H-Hao…" Yoh named wearily.

The said boy retained his smile.

"That doesn't answer my question, but I'm fairly certain that this does." While speaking, he lifted the job application and waved it carelessly with one hand. His closed-eye smile changed a few degrees. His eyes opened slightly, edging his smile closer to a smirk.

Yoh digested this. It wasn't hard to put two and two together. He instantly straightened himself so he was nearly on all fours and meeting Hao in the eye. He exclaimed, flabbergasted, "M-Matte, you're the owner of this house?"

"Apparently so." The older twin returned to his pleasant smile. "From this, I believe you are my new employee."

Yoh's image of a family with a solo parent and children cracked.

"Why does this happen to me?" Waterfall tears flowed down the younger shaman's cheeks.

Hao laughed amusingly and extended his free hand to the boy. "Don't be so upset Yoh. Come in."

Yoh eyed the hand half suspiciously before taking it, letting Hao help him to his feet. He slipped off his sandals by the entrance and followed his twin. They walked through the cream-colored hallways and arrived in a fashionably modern kitchen. The floor was covered with faint blue and white colored tiles.

There was a wooden counter that separated the kitchen from the glass breakfast table. Sitting on one of the tall white stools was Opacho. The African child turned her eyes away from the sheet of paper on the table when the two entered through the shoji doors. "Hao-sama?"

She turned her saucepan eyes to Yoh and blinked, but she didn't show any other forms of being surprise. Instead, she hopped off the chair and smiled towards Hao. "Is Yoh-sama staying with us?"

Hao gave another one of his closed-eye smiles. He left Yoh standing by the sliding door and moved behind the counter to fetch glass cups from the cupboards. He then move on to the pitcher of lemon ice tea to pour into the two glasses. "It would seem so, Opacho. Yoh will not only stay with us, but he's here for work too!"

Yoh paused, holding enough time for Hao to return to the breakfast table and set the two cups down. He blinked back to reality only after Hao sat down. "W-wait a sec! I didn't even say I'll work for you yet!"

"No, you didn't." Hao nodded in agreement, looking towards nothing in particular. "But you fulfilled your part of the contract. You're bound to me for the entire summer."

"When? I didn't sign any contract!"

Hao sighed, slightly annoyed. Doesn't his twin know that if he didn't read the instruction carefully, others can take advantage of him? He pushed the summer job form towards an empty seat next to the untouched glass of ice tea.

Of course, he smiled, that's also why Yoh is so fun to manipulate. He watched amusingly through half-lidded eyes as his younger birth sibling sat down uneasily across from him and skimmed down the paper. He had taken a sip from his own glass of ice tea when Yoh noticed the contract fulfillment.

"I didn't see it before!"

"Those applying for the job may be subjected for immediate employment if selected for the job." Hao recited with closed eyes. He shook his glass lightly to clink the ice cubes together. "The fulfillment for accepting the job is done by simply arriving to the employer's house. The subject of whether the job will be granted or not depend on the response of the job employer."

"But - wait - how?" Yoh stuttered.

"I can tell apart that itako's training program right away, it wasn't difficult. It's the only list which covered enough to be made into a book. I pulled some strings here and there, but overall not much." The older twin smirked. "The final decision of choosing this job was actually made by you."

Yoh frowned, but deciding that he couldn't do much else, pouted. He rested his chin on the table in defeat.

"Yes, yes, I wasn't so specific in that. But you know it's really nothing that a paper can fully describe." Hao answered his thoughts easily. He cracked open his eyes that twinkled when they saw Yoh's expression. "Don't be like that. Isn't that what your fiancée planned for you anyways?"

"Yoh-sama should be grateful that Hao-sama allowed him to be selected for the job."

The younger Asakura only tilt his glass to clink the ice cube together.

Hao sighed dramatically and rested his chin on one palm. "Fine, fine, I'll hold my end of the deal."

"Eh?" Yoh looked up at him hopefully.

"Show me the training book."

"Ah?" The orange-headphone boy withdrew the thick training booklet and handed it over. The other shaman took it and immediately began to leaf through the pages. He skimmed through with unchanging half-lidded eyes. It took him only a few minutes to reach the end before flipping back to the front again. He sipped his beverage, now looking rather bored. "Morning runs, weight lifting, afternoon exercises, all to improve physical stamina. It'll bring improvement for sure, but it's a shame that all these hours are wasted just to bring such a little increase."

The long-haired Asakura closed the book and shut his eyes as if in thought, although Yoh doubted it. If anything, Asakura Hao was only pondering about which method would bring him more amusement. Right after thinking that, the older one of the twins opened his eyes for a simple, sincere smile. One that Yoh instantly decided that he rather not see again.

"Doing so much would waste too much time on you. You'll tire yourself out from it. I too have tasks that I'd like you to complete. Due to these factors, let's agree to ditch the book. I'll still incorporate some materials, of course, so don't start setting that itako protest on me." Hao waved a hand before Yoh could get a word out. "Being employed means that I'll expect you to do the housework, basic chores, really. I'll supply the housing and stay. I'll also provide the money if it is involved with any task. There will be allowance for you as well. You should know that this is a single-floor house. It is quite isolated from most modernize areas, which sadly isn't as far as I would've liked. The closest convenient store is in the beach town that, thankfully, isn't a tourist attraction. Now, from today on, I'll be supervising over your training progresses. You will also be responsible for various tasks that are around the house or concerning the well being of your dear ani."

"And Opacho!" The African girl chirped.

"And Opacho." The older shaman repeated in agreement.

Yoh stirred his drink suspiciously. "You're not going to use this as an excuse to make me help you for your plans, are you?"

"Absolutely not. If I wanted that kind of help, I wouldn't have put it under the requirements for summer's job."

That's doubtful. Hao is too devious, he could've lied for all I know, Yoh thought. Hao's smile dimmed. He fingered the water droplets on the edge of the glass carelessly and spoke softly, "I wouldn't lie about that, only those who sought to use things for their own selfish needs would bend that low."

The younger twin furrowed his brow worriedly. Hao had a tired look in his eyes that were cast down on the droplet of water. But he quickly discarded that when the edge of his lip curved up slyly. "Of course, there are always other tasks that I can get you to complete."

"Like what?" The boy with orange headphones sipped his drink and decided that the flavor isn't bad. It actually had a good taste to it, Yoh thought as he took a large gulp of it.

"Eating fried cicada. It's nothing unusual for the summer."

Yoh blanched.

"Opacho thinks Yoh-sama is too serious." The young girl watched the wide-eye, pale-colored shaman.

"Cicadas are plentiful during the summer. Well, if you don't want to eat them…" Hao looked aside, seemingly troubled. It was so fun to play with his little brother. "Though I doubt you can avoid it. It's everywhere around here. I think some might've even fallen in the ice tea."

Yoh choked. He turned to the side and coughed, waving his arm frantically.

"No. Wait. I brewed that drink just awhile ago. Opacho, no cicada came in here, did they?" Hao turned to the small shaman who shook her head. Smiling broadly over the table, Hao clasped his hands together. "Then don't worry Yoh! It looks like that pitcher was cicada free and – oh yes, I may have crush the poor creature while stirring the drink, but it shouldn't be harmful. I heard there are some kinds of cicadas that are very good for the body when ingested, though it's possible that they can cause some stomach problems."

Thud

"Hao-sama, Yoh-sama fainted."

"I believe so, Opacho. It's a pity. I didn't even get to tell him that the cicadas don't fly near this house."

A summer with Hao, A summer with his twin will soon prove to be the most eventful summer that Yoh ever experience.

tbc