Thank you to everyone for the reviews. I so sorry this chapter took so long it turned out to be bigger than I expected.

Possession - Chapter 5

Ouch.

Ow.

Ouch.

Owee ow.

Trust me, trying to eat toast when your lip has been split for the third time in two weeks is not as fun as it sounds.

I've tried and tried and tried again, but I still have yet to get a hold of Yoh. I even tried to find some of the others and failed at that. It seemed that in my absence from them they'd acquired quite the lives but no one felt the need to pass on their contact info.

First I tried Horo but I should have known from the start that was a futile effort. You see, Horo is a big time famous extreme athlete and snow boarder. When he couldn't become Shaman King to save the Korropokkur, Horohoro decided to use his athletic skill (and I'm guessing a few shaman tricks) to become the world famous "Kamikaze Horo" to help spread his cause of saving their environment.

Don't laugh. I swear to you that's the name the press has given him. And trust me it's more than a little strange to see an old friend's face on sport's drink billboard or grinning back at you from the cover of a tabloid at the checkout. Not that I'm not happy for him. I am. It's just a little unnerving at times.

Even more amazing was that Ren is his manager. I only knew that because I'd read it from the caption on a picture in a magazine of Horo with Ren scowling in the background.

So basically, it was virtually impossible to get in touch with either of them.

Ryu still lives like a gypsy in constant search for his happy place so all of the numbers I had for him were out of service. Chocolove was just as bad and there were only so many messages I could leave at Faust's clinic.

That left only one person.

If anyone could find Yoh it would be Manta. The problem with him was that he moved to the US to join the family business with his father. I tried calling the company they own but only managed to be transferred to six different people who had no clue who Manta was.

My last hope was finding him on the net and sending him an email. After the tournament I knew there were a few sites that Manta kept watch on. I just hoped if I found his handle and that the email attached to it would still work.

Still painfully munching on my breakfast I scrolled through the members of one of the larger sights. Honestly, some of these names were ridiculous. Wait, there was a promising one. The Big Hammer.

I couldn't help grin to myself which made me wince in pain at my lip. I wouldn't put it past Manta to want to call himself 'big'-anything. But since Mosuke's signature item would be a hammer, it would be a good place to start.

The stats listed a male the right age and location as Manta, but that didn't mean it was him. My dowsing skill was virtually useless when searching the internet, but I still had some instincts and they were telling me that was a good place to start. Under normal circumstances I might have been more cautious but I was getting desperate so I tried to send as innocuous a message as I could just in case it was someone else.

To: theBIGhammer

From: lysdeithel

Re: He's back

Hey Manta,

Can you get in touch with our favorite cheeseburger eating slacker? His brother is back in town and he's been giving me some trouble. Please email or phone me ASAP.

Lyserg.

"Don't let me down." I told the computer.

Just as I was logging off Benny came in to check up on me. Over the past two weeks he'd continued to cuff me to my bed at night and unlock me in the morning.

As least he upgraded to fur lined cuffs although I definitely don't want to know where he got them.

He stayed past breakfast today because we had actual work to do.

"Ready to go kid?"

"Yeah. Just trying to see if I can track down some help." I muttered gloomily.

"You still haven't been able to get that fella in Japan?" he asked already knowing the answer. We'd been through this several times over the past two weeks.

We'd been through it so much that I already knew what he was going to say next and he didn't let me down.

"I still think you should see someone about your sleeping problem. The guy at the sleep disorder clinic said he'd be most interested in seeing you. He really helped me."

I was tempted to scream in frustration. "How many times do I have to explain it? I don't need a psychiatrist or a sleep therapist. I need something closer to an exorcist. There is no way he's going to believe or understand that it's a ghost that's hurting me at night." I said through clenched teeth.

"Still, maybe they might be able to prescribe something to let you sleep without the fear of waking up covered in bruises." He tried to suggest patiently. After two weeks of waking me up after minimal sleep he knew better than anyone how moody I was getting. I swear if he brought up that stupid clinic again I really was going to scream.

"So what do you need from me today?"

"We got a missing kid. He went missing two nights ago." He said.

"What? Why didn't you call me sooner?" I asked shocked. Usually he would call me right away. The longer the kid was missing the worse his chances were.

Benny made a face and stared fiercely at the floor. "I did want to bring you in yesterday, but you were beaten so badly that day you could barely get out of bed. In that shape, I didn't think you'd be much help."

I tried to ignore the sting of his words but I do remember how I was and I suppose his worries were justified. "Still," I said irritated "who knows what has happened to him in those two days!"

Benny made another face and looked at me with a face filled with worry and remorse. "You don't think I don't know that? Besides, our investigation suggests that this is a runaway situation rather than abduction or being lost."

Leaving the rest of my breakfast by my computer, headed straight for the door only slowing down a little to put on my shoes and grab my coat. "Do you already have something of his?" I asked not bothering to look back to see if he was following. I knew he was anyway. As expected, he anticipated my question and passed me an evidence bag with a ball cap in it and map just as soon as we were seated in the car.

I wasted no time pulling out my pendulum and let my mana course through me and take in the emotional thumbprint on the ball cap.

The crystal practically jumped to one particular green space on the map. "Where's this?" I asked myself trying to orient our current location to the one the crystal was stuck to.

Reaching a red light, Benny looked over "I know that park. It's a couple of kilometers away from the kid's house. We looked there but didn't find anything. You sure he's there?"

My pendulum was practically glued to the map. "I'm sure." I repeated confidently.

I didn't even wait for the car to be properly stopped before I left it at a run. I could never be sure if it was experience or instinct or a bit of both that were telling me to hurry but something inside told me that I needed to move fast.

I paused long enough in my movement to let my pendulum reorient itself and point in the needed direction.

"Morphine! Can I get you to fly ahead and see what you can find?" I asked her while ignoring the sounds of Benny trying to catch up from behind.

Why bother, its just one human boy. Hardly worth the trouble. Hao whispered sarcastically. I knew he only said it to upset me. Truthfully, he didn't care if I saved the boy or not he just wanted to pick another fight.

"I don't have time to argue with you right now Hao." I snarled under my breath. I swear lately he is just arguing just for sake of arguing with no real point or purpose.

You would too if you were me. I've spent almost ten years hiding inside of you having to stomach your hypocritical Pollyanna attitude. Now that I can make myself heard I'm going to damn well say what I want. So if I think saving some idiot human kid who ran away and probably deserves whatever has happened to him THAN I'M GOING TO DAMN WELL TELL YOU!

I winced as his mental voice started to echo against the insides of my skill. Amazing how someone with no real voice can be so loud. Despite my best intentions to ignore him I still found myself answering him. "He's just a boy Hao." I said never once stopping my movement toward where the pendulum was pointing.

That earned me a snort of derision. I was just a boy when my family decided I was too dangerous and tried to get rid of me.

That made me pause for a moment. "What are you talking about?" I asked out loud then belatedly noticed some joggers on a nearby path look at me nervously. What like I'm the only one in the world who talks to themselves? Still I lowered my voice a few notches.

"Do you really think they wanted to do that? Didn't you pay attention at your wake?"

Of all the comebacks I was expecting, Hao's total shock wasn't one of them. It was enough to stop me dead in my tracks. He didn't say anything, but his surprise felt as real and a palpable as my own.

Didn't he know his family had funeral services for him? And then as if a light bulb went on over my head I realized no he didn't. It was just after the tournament and Hao would probably have still been too weak to be aware of my surroundings. In fact, I realized with growing confidence, it probably took a few years before he was strong enough to be able to follow what was happening in my life.

That still left some pretty awkward moments in my life that he was a part of, but it made me feel a bit better to know I didn't have someone hovering over my shoulder for ten years.

"Hao they mourned you. Not 'The Great Hao' but you Asakura Hao their son, grandson, brother, cousin. They were all there grieving for the person they never got to know." I could still clearly remember the sight of Yoh and his parents in tears. I never felt guiltier in my entire life. "If anyone abandoned anyone it's you who abandoned them. They loved you Hao. Regardless of what you became."

Hao was still recovering from his surprise when Morphine flew into view looking anxious. I didn't need to ask if she had found him. The expression on her tiny face told me she did and that I needed to hurry.

Breaking into a sprint I followed her to the edge of a small ravine. I hopped over the guardrail and looked over the edge. It wasn't a huge drop, but with all of the loose rocks and debris, the fall could kill a young boy. There was no sight of the kid but Morphine was hovering about halfway down gesturing at a spot almost straight under me that I couldn't see.

I gave a quick scan of the area and was relived to see Benny was the only other person in sight so a quickly used my oversoul in my pendulum to latch on to the guardrail and repel down the edge.

As soon as I was past the ledge that I was standing on I could see the kid. I felt the breath returning to my lungs when I saw him move a little. He was alive, but pretty banged up and his left arm was hanging funny. Probably broken or dislocated.

Now that I could see the drop off from a different view I could see the spot of recently loosened rock and gravel where he must have tried going down only to slip and fall.

"Benny!" I yelled up and saw the man's face peer over the edge "He's down here!" Then as an afterthought, "What's his name?" I asked, mentally slapping myself for not thinking of asking sooner.

"Jay." He yelled down already on his cell phone calling for an ambulance.

"Jay?" I called out experimentally and was rewarded with a dozy look that was part exhaustion and part pain. I swung myself to land next to him with the intent of covering him with my coat to keep him warm and realized my mistake almost instantly.

The loose rock that had made him fall was only just holding him up. The instant my weight was added they started to shift again and he began sliding.

I reacted quickly by grabbing him and getting Morphine to pull us up. Oh the paramedics were going to yell at me for moving him before checking the extent of his injuries. But that was later. This was now and the kid was safe.

Stupid fool. Hao grumbled in the back of my head. I wasn't sure if he was talking about the kid, me or someone else. I'm sure he'll argue about it later with me.