Warning- change of POV for this chapter!

Possession – Chapter 10

x Horohoro x

Man I'm such a jerk. I can't for the life of me think of why I didn't keep in touch with Lyserg. I wished I had now, not that it makes any difference.

Worse, I shouldn't have dumped on him about that thing with Ren. The guy has enough problems to deal with. Man he looked really bad when his royal evilness showed up. He just kind of clamped up and that haunted look on his face made me sick to look at. He looked so… defeated? No… resigned maybe. Like he didn't believe we could ever help him. I couldn't take looking at him like that anymore, and I figured he didn't want to talk anymore, so I left.

I'm such a jerk.

I went straight to the kitchen where I knew I'd find Yoh stuffing his face. I wasn't expecting to see Ren there and my gut gave another little nauseous twitch, but I ignored it.

"We have a small problem." I told them.

"What? Not enough snow bunnies to keep you warm at night?" Ren asked. Dammit, I wish he would stop harping on that.

Ever since that kiss -no scratch that- even before that kiss he's been nagging me about the groupies that worm their way into my room. I don't invite them. Really! And it's not like he hasn't had offers himself. At that moment my mind had the very bad timing to wonder how many of those offers he'd accepted.

Shaking my head free of those thoughts, I ignored my business manager for the moment and focused on Yoh. "Hao's not that broken up about not getting his body back." I told them. Ren looked surprised and a bit worried but Yoh looked like he'd aged ten years before my eyes.

I hate it when he looks like that. He only gets that way when the full weight of his responsibilities catch up to him. I felt bad giving him another responsibility.

"He plans on using Lyserg." He said and there was that resigned look again. Did I miss some kind of memo that said we were all supposed to look like we were doomed to a fate we couldn't escape?

I didn't say anything but he nodded as if I did. "I knew the moment I saw Hao in him. He's meshed himself completely within Lyserg. There's no way we're going to be able to get him out without his co-operation."

Amidamaru materialized in the kitchen "We may have to use his body as a lure to draw him out instead of a bargaining chip to surrender his goals." The samurai ghost said.

Ren snorted "He's not a big enough fool to fall for that. Lyserg may end up getting his way in the end." The Chinese shaman said and I was surprised to hear a touch of resignation in his voice. I really need to get a hold of that memo. And burn it.

And just what did they mean Lyserg would be getting his way? What way? And then it hit me "We can't kill Lyserg!" I yelled at him. How could they even think that? Didn't we already do enough to him by leaving him alone?

"I didn't say kill him, but we won't be able to fight Hao and keep Lyserg from hurting himself as well."

"I don't think we need to worry too much about that" Yoh interrupted, "Hao won't let anything happen to that body. He needs it too much."

Well that made sense. Giving the two of them a half hearted grin I even added. "He might even be a bit jealous. I jokingly asked Lyserg if he wanted to go on a date and Hao jumped right out and told me he'd kill me, that Lyserg was his and that he found him entertaining."

I was rewarded with two shaman and one ghost face gaping at me in shock.

"And just what were you doing asking Lyserg on a date for? Four girls in your bed at one time not enough anymore?" Ren asked snidely.

I really wish he would let up about that. I couldn't complain too much though because it cheered Yoh up. "Whoa! Four girls? You've been holding out on me!"

"I have not! It was just one time and it wasn't my fault! Ren I told you that before." At that point Ryu, Manta and Choco came in.

"What's all the yelling about?" Ryu asked.

"Horo had four girls in his room at one time!" Yoh told them excitedly. "How did you do it?" he asked at the same time two other voices asked "Really?"

"No! Well, yes. See they were snowboarding fans…" I explained while I heard Ren cough something that sounded very much like 'snow bunnies' into his tea. Ignoring the jerk I continued to try and explain. "There was this party and… and…" I faltered when I saw their looks of virtual hero worship. "and… well they kinda bribed their way in to my room… and… and it was only one time!" I finished lamely not wanting to get any further into it. I swear to you, I could actually see little hearts dancing in Ryu's eyes. It was really creeping me out.

Getting pissed, I turned and stormed out. Why did Ren have to keep bringing that up? At that moment the house was far too crowded and I needed to get out. I left with only Kororo as company.

"Jerk" I said knowing she would listen. "You were there, you know nothing happened right? Jeeze what is up with that guy?" my spirit ally gave me a supportive look. She knew the truth. Come to think of it, why did nothing happen? When I came in and saw them there I was all ready to give them what they wanted and then I lost interest when Ren barged in.

Aw man, maybe I really did like Ren. I tried to picture what it would look like if it were him waiting for me, but the image just skittered around in my head like a scared rabbit. Putting the idea aside, I walked around to clear my head and had dinner out since I wasn't ready to sit at a dinner table and discuss my sex life. Especially with Ryu and those heart eyes. Ew.

I didn't make it back until after ten and I was surprised to find everyone in bed. Guess jet lag could do that to you. I'd gotten used to traveling over the past few years so I was fine. Still, I supposed it would be smart for me to get some rest.

I made my way upstairs to find where I was supposed to sleep, but I got distracted by a noise from Lyserg's room. Thinking that Hao was giving him more trouble, I went in without knocking and got the shock of my life.

Hao was bothering him alright, but it was a definitely different form of bothering.

Lyserg was kneeling on his floor, his eyes were closed and his expression was one of pleasure. His legs were straddling some unseen (though not at all mysterious) presence. Just because nothing happened that night with the four girls, didn't mean I wasn't more than experienced enough to recognize the rocking of his hips for any other activity. Still, that wasn't even the strangest part.

He was still fully clothed and there was something odd about his demeanor. I know I had made a sound of surprise when I entered, but he didn't stop. I even started to apologize, but he acted as if I wasn't there. It was then that I put together what he had said earlier. 'Don't touch me Hao. Not now, not in my dreams. Not ever.'

Hao was in his dreams? Judging by the expression on Lyserg's face, it must have been one hell of a dream. Ugh, I can't imagine how I'd feel if I woke up from a wet dream only to realize it was someone like Hao seducing me. Yuck.

I tried to give Lyserg a hard nudge to wake him, and got thrown into the wall for my efforts.

"Kororo!" I called and tried using my oversoul on him but he didn't budge. Not even from my hardest punch. It was like he was a five ton statue that was bolted to the floor. I shot ice shards at where his invisible 'lover' would be and only ended up putting holes in his burnt carpet. I wanted to yell, but I didn't want to wake up the others. I figured I could at least save some of his dignity by not having the others witness it.

Desperate, I ran to the kitchen and found Ren raiding the fridge for milk. "What are you doing up?" he asked me, but I ignored him. Instead I rifled through his cupboards frantically until I found a large bowl and filled it with cold water all the while ignoring Ren's questions.

Dashing back upstairs, I slopped at least a third of the water on myself, but I ignored that too. In his room, I threw the water at Lyserg hoping to get a reaction. Annoyingly, the only reaction in the room was Ren's gasp when he saw a soaking wet Lyserg making love to nothing.

It didn't take him long to put together what I was trying to do and he immediately summoned his oversoul to stab at the floor. "You don't think I tried that already?" I whispered sarcastically.

"We need to wake him up." He hissed back.

"Well duh. I've already tried everything I can think of. Oh, and don't touch him unless you want to get thrown into the wall." I cautioned, seeing as he was looking like he was going to try slapping Lyserg awake.

He stood there thinking for a moment and I tried not to notice the way the sleeping captive's pants were turning into moans. "I have an idea. Morphine." He called quietly. I wasn't surprised that she almost appeared instantly. I could tell by her tiny face that she was extremely worried about her ally.

"We've been in Hao's head before. Remember?" he asked and unfortunately I did. I wasn't looking forward to repeating the experience. He turned to Morphine and asked. "Is there any way you can work with us using your dowsing skill to help put us into Lyserg's dream?"

The tiny fairy seemed to think it over and nodded slowly as if unsure of her answer. Not comforting, considering I had no idea how we could pull off something like that. "Can we do that?" I asked him.

"Astral projection." He answered I knew I was going to die. I never really attempted projection because I sucked at it. I had little control over my spirit once it left my body and a part of me was always terrified something would happen to my body while I was out of it.

It took a few tries, but I eventually got out of my body and Morphine was there waiting for us to guide us into Lyserg's dream. I guess Hao must not have anticipated this type of attack, because Ren and I made it in with little effort.

I got the second eye opener of the evening. I had already known what to expect from what Lyserg looked like in his room, but seeing him astride Hao, -not the Hao we knew but the first Hao from a thousand years before- and getting the shagging of his life was still a surprise.

Strangely, I didn't have anymore trouble picturing having sex with Ren. But now was not the time to think of that.

I had to fight a small wave of nausea when I heard Hao's murmured words drift up to me. "… we could be together forever my sweet. Wouldn't that be wonderful?" Lyserg smiled at him deliriously.

My god what a creep. Time to put a stop to this "Get away from him Hao!" I yelled while Ren added "Just when I thought you couldn't sink any lower."

To say Hao was Livid was a big, BIG understatement. Sparks actually shot out of his form and he threw a dazed Lyserg off of him. "You dare!" he screamed as us. Honestly, he was practically foaming at the mouth and if I was in my body at that moment I would have needed to clean my shorts.

He reached out to us with impossibly long arms and somehow we became like two tiny action figures being crushed in his grip. Damn dreamscape, anything could become reality here. I felt one of my ribs crack under the pressure and I looked over at Ren to see he was just as helpless. I was trying to come up with something when Hao suddenly dropped us.

Lyserg was standing behind him, fully clothed now, and spitting mad. "I told you not to touch me ever again!" he yelled and whipped his pendulum at Hao.

Yoh's brother still had the upper hand in this setting and stopped the attack with ease. I was trying to stand up and get ready for an attack of my own, but the bastard back handed me with those dream enlarged hands of his and somehow actually knocked me back into my body.

A few seconds later I heard a soft grunt next to me and knew that Ren had been sent back as well. Another few seconds and Lyserg gave a wet cough spitting up a bunch of blood while he was at it. I tried to reach over to help him and was stopped short with searing pain. The bastard actually broke my ribs? How the fuck did he do that?

"Are you okay?" Ren asked me gently and I realized I had just said the last bit aloud. I nodded at him and we both turned at the wheezing sound our host was making.

It took a moment, but we both realized it was laughter. There were tears falling freely from his eyes and he was looking at us with the first smile I'd seen since our arrival.

"Thank you for saving me."

tbc