Thank you to everyone who has patiently stuck with this story up to this point despite my slow updates. You may be happy to know that your patience will be rewarded. You'll find that the romance part of this story (such as it is) is going to start taking off.

Possession – Chapter 11

x Ren x

I successfully kept my expression neutral while my ribs were being taped up. It's been a while since I had broken anything and consequently I am no longer accustomed to dealing with such pain. I'm willing to admit it hurts a lot more than I remember, but a Tao would never stoop to flinching. Hsst… ouch… it's tempting though. Ancestors, I think I may have gotten soft and it's all that Ainu's fault.

Ten years chasing after that marshmallow head, keeping him out of trouble, cleaning up after his stupid antics, what else could I expect? Not surprising I've turned soft. It's only surprising that my IQ hasn't suffered permanent damage as well. Why on earth do I stay with him?

Oh that's right; I still haven't resolved that ridiculous 'attachment to friends' thing. I really must schedule some time in my PDA to take care of that permanently.

Oh all right, fine! I'm absolutely crazy about the idiot! Whenever I'm away from him for too long my stress and anxiety levels go off the scale. I'm constantly worrying over his safety and happiness, and I would rather spend a year trailing after him and his moronic groupies than go a week without him. Happy now?

Even now I worry about him. I can see his own ribs are hurting him and there is nothing I can do for him. It's an effort to keep myself distracted and avoid doing something foolish like going over and kissing his boo boos better. Which reminds me, I'm going to have to remember to reschedule that beer ad he's in. The photographer would probably have a heart attack the way he looks now.

Ouch. For a doctor Faust is unnecessarily rough with his bandaging. I wasn't one of his corpses. "Tell me why it is again that you are here?" I asked him while he finished with my abuse. "I thought the plan was to keep you and Hao's body well away from here." Instead the necromancer as well as everyone else in the house was crammed into Lyserg's charred master bedroom. I can only guess how it ended up in that state.

"I called him yesterday after our talk and asked him to get himself and Hao here as fast as he could." Yoh explained.

"And why is that?" I asked getting annoyed that at his usual inability to get to the point.

"More importantly, why did you not tell me you had found Hao's body?" Lyserg croaked out; clearly in the most pain of the three of us causing more than a few guilty looks around the room. Yoh opened his mouth to explain but nothing came out and seeing his best friend falter, Manta stepped up to explain.

"It wasn't that we were trying to exclude you, but Hao was always such a sore spot for you we thought you'd be happier if you thought… he was still… dead." His voice trailed off to a whisper as if he realized just how stupid that reasoning sounded right now.

"Yes because I'm so deliriously happy right now." Lyserg spat bitterly, and I knew my expression had nothing to do with my injuries. I saw Horo grimace as well. Unlike the others, we had a far clearer understanding of what the green haired man had endured with Hao inside him. I'm embarrassed to admit it but I think Lyserg is stronger man than I ever gave him credit for.

The simple truth is I don't think I could handle someone twisting my own thoughts against me. Not again. I know I kept up a strong façade when I finally faced my father down but that was more for Jun and the others benefit.

The truth is it nearly crushed me. There were some very real points where I was sure I was going to die, and I was going to die defying my own father. He was immensely strong, twisted and bitter and I know it was the right thing, but he was still my father. What does that say about me? Why does betrayal, even for the right reasons still feel wrong?

I've often wondered the answer to that question. The answer still eluded me while I watched Yoh place his hand on Manta's shoulder.

"I was my fault. I should have told you. I never guessed he would use you."

"What? Didn't you get my messages?" Lyserg cut in over his apology with an extremely hostile glare directed at Anna. The itako stiffened and her face twitched oddly. I could count on one hand the number of times I'd seen that expression on her face. It only ever happened when she was in the wrong and Anna Kyoyama wrong is like Tao Ren flinching. It does not happen.

"Messages?" Yoh asked stupidly. The man may be a good leader, but there were times when he could be impossibly dense. Even Horo could figure this one out. The only thing I couldn't understand was why Anna would keep something like this from Yoh.

Embittered as he was –and I cannot say that I can blame him- Lyserg pushed on. "Oh you didn't get them. What a shock considering I tried calling several times on the first day and at least twice a day since then. That was three weeks ago." He finished with a scathing tone.

Three weeks? All eyes including my own watched Anna incredulously. At this point even I couldn't believe she would do such a thing. Aware of everyone watching her she set her jaw at a stubborn angle "You should have said something right away." She retorted.

"I did. You hung up on me."

"You never once mentioned Hao. I would have…" she stopped before she finished her sentence realizing that she had all but admitted that she was deliberately ignoring his messages. I glanced quickly at Lyserg and Yoh.

Strangely, Lyserg seemed more disgusted with Anna than angry, whereas Yoh looked supremely disappointed in her. "Whatever." She huffed and left the room in an effort to save what little face she had left.

I could tell that diminishment in Yoh's eyes hurt her more than she had let on. As Horo has mentioned to me on more than one occasion that I could choke to death on my own pride so I was practically an expert on wounded pride. I also could tell that it would take some effort on her part to restore hers.

The awkward tableau left in Anna's wake was broken when Chocolove let out a very noisy, very wet sounding fart. "Oops. Scuse me."

"Argah! Dude! You're supposed to be looking for the wind of laughter! Not breaking wind!" Horo protested covering his face with his sleeve.

"Indeed." I added, but I knew neither Horo nor l was fooled. We knew he did it on purpose.

There was one time during the shaman tournament when Horo and I were at each other's throats. I can't even remember what the argument was about now but our frustrations had built to point where we were ready to do something we would probably regret later when Choco farted.

Needless to say it totally diffused the situation. Later he admitted to doing it on purpose even though he considered it beneath him because his regular bad jokes wouldn't have worked and hey, everyone laughs at a good fart joke right?

He probably had to force it out, but I knew it was to lighten a very tense scene.

"I can't help it!" he protested to Horo while Choco's spirit ally Mick pretended to keel over dead from the odor "You guys forced me here on a moment's notice! All I've had in the past twenty-four hours was a couple of triple bean burritos, two chili dogs with extra sauerkraut, and some soda. Which reminds me, who's up for waffles?" he asked while several jaws dropped to the floor.

He was answered with a hoarse wheezing from Lyserg. Faust was instantly checking his injuries when they realized he's laughing. "He, he, ow, he, he cough, ow, Choco, don't make me laugh! Cough, ow it hurts!" he wheezed causing laughs and giggles from some of the others. And with that, Choco once again pulled the cork out of all the tension in the room.

Idiot.

As Lyserg's tremors died down he again smiled at Horo and I. "Thank you again for saving me. You have no idea what you managed to save me from."

"I have a pretty good idea." I told him trying to look a little apologetic about catching him in such a position. Watching him ride Hao like a professional jockey was disturbing, while at the same time left me with some very inappropriate ideas about Horo.

"No. You don't. I finally figured out what Hao has been doing to me during my sleep." He explained "He's been using my whole body much like your sister uses her Dao-shi techniques but the problem is I'm not a corpse. My living soul -especially a shaman one- gets in the way of his control which is why he has to wait until I'm asleep."

I and a few of the others nodded in understanding. What he was saying made sense. Lyserg was still alive and his body would naturally follow the will of his living soul. "It would take a great deal of power for the body to listen to the commands of another while it still had a living soul." I said more to myself than anyone else in the room.

"It does, and that's probably one of the reasons why he's not here bothering us right now. He uses up all of his strength trying to get my body to co-operate. However, if he finds a way to get me to agree to his wishes willingly…" he left the idea hanging.

So that was what Hao was doing. Dulling Lyserg's perceptions and seducing him in order to gain better control of him. Although seduction was hardly the term; more rape in a pretty package.

He must have seen my scowl because he gave me a look that almost reminded me of his old, happier self. "Don't be angry, I'm still me. If Hao had succeeded last night, chances are you would all be facing him right now and my spirit would probably be enslaved." He said it with such genuine sincerity that way I had no response. I have never been able to handle compliments or thanks very well. Growing up with constant coldness and criticism stunted most of my social skills so I just nodded in recognition to what he was trying to tell me.

Our host finally turned back to Yoh and gave him a heavy gaze full of meaning. "Ren brings up a good point though. Why did you bring Hao's body here? It would have been safer for all if it was far away from me."

"First, because he already knows we have it, and second, because I'm hoping he'll be more willing to listen to us if he thinks he has a chance of returning to his own body."

"You underestimate him. You always did."

"Actually, I was hoping that maybe seeing it will make him more willing listen to what we have to say." Yoh explained.

"And that is?"

"If Hao wants his body back, he's got to give up his goal to become Shaman King. In this and in any other lifetime. If not," and I watched Yoh pull a pair of carefully crafted jars decorated heavily with paper charms "we will have to banish his soul."

Of course I knew what both of jars were for. When Faust had found Hao as a John Doe laying in a hospital in America we immediately moved him to the necromancer's clinic to keep an eye on him. We also spent several months plotting and planning what we were going to do if he ever woke up. The Asakura's set up a formidable binding spell and I spent a lot of time consulting with the various members of my family (both alive and dead) to make it as unbreakable as possible.

One controlled the pathway for Hao's spirit back to his body. When the spirit is separated from its living body the two are still attached by a silver cord. As Hao had said before, he should have been able to snap right back to his body with a simple tug, but we had put a major obstruction in the way. With his soul trapped outside of his body, and only a portion of his regular spiritual power, they could easily banish his soul to limbo for eternity.

The other jar contained what was left of the Spirit of Fire. Once they found Hao they knew it was crucial to find it. It was his backup storage of power and memories that allowed him to recover anything that might have been lost when he was reincarnated. Unfortunately, they weren't as considerate to it as they were being to Hao and gave it a choice.

It went against the Asakura's teachings about being friends with the spirits, but they couldn't afford to be gentle or friendly with the Spirit of Fire. They knew when they had found it they couldn't allow it to continue to be a power source for Hao. None of them were very proud of what they did to the spirit, and what was in the jar was more like a token gesture to appease their sense of right.

"He won't agree." Lyserg said flatly. "He'll see his body as an acceptable loss."

"Perhaps, but he is still a person and its human instinct to want to live. Maybe since he's lost the tournament in this lifetime he would want to live it out." Yoh responded with an odd look. That was another annoying trait of Yoh's. Ever since the tournament, he's been prone to these smug looks. Like he knows something the rest of us don't. Irritating idiots I'm surrounded by them.

"Yoh have you been using a magic 8 ball to handle your big decisions for you again?" I asked.

"Master Yoh, I'm afraid I have to agree with Master Ren. You should take this more seriously." Amidamaru warned.

"I am." Yoh assured us "That is why I know to do this." The would-be Shaman King picked up the jars and walked over to Lyserg. Mindful of the Englishman's injuries, he placed the jars on the floor near his hip.

"This? What is this?" he asked. I admit I was too shocked to say anything. What in the world was that idiot up to?

"I'm placing the fate of my brother in your hands."

WHAT? "Yoh, can I see you for a moment?" I asked between clenched teeth. It was a good thing I was injured or I would have just gone over there and beat some sense into him.

"Sure!" the jovial response made me clench my teeth harder.

It was a struggle to get up and hobble out of the room and down the stairs, but I wanted to make certain I didn't have any witnesses when I murdered him. Once we were safe from prying eyes, I laid into him.

"Just what the hell do you think your doing? Do you have any idea what you are putting Lyserg through? You are practically inviting Hao to take him over so he can escape! Do you know what he does to get his way?" I yelled. I was truly surprised to see the happy-go-lucky mask fall off and much older and worn Yoh appear. He looked like he'd aged fifty years in five seconds.

"I know, Ren. I was there."

"You what?" I'm fairly certain Yoh was not there in Lyserg's dream, so how could he know?

"Hao and I have always been connected. Any strong thing that happens to him, I can feel. Being this close to him and Lyserg, I saw the same dream you did. But unlike you, it was through Hao's eyes and I had no power to stop it." His eyes pulled away from mine clearly ashamed of his inaction.

"All the more reason not to give the binding spells to Lyserg."

His mouth twisted into a sad smile. "When I was there I caught a hint of something I didn't expect."

"…"

"I think my brother may actually like Lyserg. … In his own way."

tbc