The Eyes of a Boy

Summary: The Shaman Fight is over, but is Hao really dead? Yoh doesn't think so, which in extension means neither does anyone else. With the unwilling Lyserg and uncertain but willing Tamao leading the way, Yoh and friends manage to locate the bleeding, fading, Hao Asakura on the outskirts of the Patch Village. The question is no longer whether or not Hao is alive, but if Hao can live a normal life after all that he's done. Is it even possible to form bonds of friendship and trust with those he'd once tried to kill, or will their inability to see past the older Asakura brother's misdeeds push him even further away?

Anime/Manga: Shaman King

Pairing: Yoh/Anna

Genre: Romance/Angst/Hurt/Comfort/Humor

Rated: M for Mature Content

WARNING: SPOILER ALERT FOR ANYONE WHO HASN'T "READ" THE "MANGA"!

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Chapter Four

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Hao had woken up during the flight, right around the time Anna herself had fallen asleep. He did nothing, looking to see that his brother too was awake. He watched as Yoh quietly got up from his seat and moved to the seat beside Hao who was sitting up carefully, trying not to upset his injury.

"Sorry..."

Hao raised a brow. "Are you apologizing for the uncomfortable plane ride, or cutting me down and sending me plummeting to what should have killed me."

"Ah...almost killing you," Yoh smiled sheepishly, "Sorry."

Hao shrugged, "I think I tried killing you first,"

"Hehe,"

"...why did you come looking for me?"

"You went looking for me too..."

"Hm?"

Yoh smiled, "Not for the same reason, mind you. You were out to kill me, but that doesn't matter. I couldn't leave you. I couldn't sleep after the fight, I kept thinking about you, and I knew you were alive."

Hao smiled softly, sighing, he glanced out the window. "By any chance, did you come across Opacho?"

A small frown met Yoh's lips as he shook his head, "I did look for her, but she was already gone."

Hao didn't say anything to that, and Yoh didn't continue the conversation. It would take time for either of them to feel completely comfortable around one another, and they both knew that.

It would just take time...

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Ren sighed irritably from where he sat by Horo Horo. "I'm going to check on Anna and Yoh, and then check in with the captain to see how much longer we've got to go." He told his Ice friend as he stood up and stretched.

"Right..."

Before walking up front, Ren glanced around at the others, finding everyone but Horo Horo and himself asleep. He wondered if it was wise be sleeping so peacefully, but let it go and turned to make his way to the first-class seats.

Now, his prepared reaction was set for entering to find Anna awake and perhaps even Yoh awake with Hao sleeping soundly and danger free across the aisle from them. However, upon entrance, he was forced to depend on his shocked reaction and the muscles in his mouth that seemed to be good at only opening and closing his mouth in a repetitive motion. "Ah...what..."

The two boys his age turned and faced him simultaneously, Anna was sleeping peacefully while they had apparently been up talking quietly amongst one another.

"Ren...come join us."

Ren blinked a few times, wondering if Anna had woken up long enough to slap him into another world or a paradox. "Are you crazy Yoh?"

"Shhh~!"

Both Hao and Yoh glanced to Anna who had stirred a bit, Hao spoke normally, in his calm tenor, turning his attention back to Ren. "We aren't doing anything wrong, so come join us. We're just sitting here, talking occasionally, can't be any more boring than the excitement taking place in the second-class compartment."

His sarcasm was obvious. Ren watched Yoh chuckle a little beside Hao before sighing and resigning himself to the seat across from the two of them. "If Anna wakes up, you both know you won't get out of anything less than a yelling, yes?"

Yoh shivered, but Hao just shrugged, "I don't recall ever being afraid of Anna."

That was true. Ren wasn't afraid of the brash, blonde either, though...she was extremely abusive when guys did something she didn't like; still, he couldn't say he was frightened.

"Ren, how are the others?"

"Sleeping, all but Horo at least."

Yoh frowned, "I'm tired, but at the same time, I'd rather not sleep on a plane. Last time, we were rudely excused from the plane without so much as a real warning."

"I thought it was rather cute...like a little game of "don't hit the ground to hard"."

Yoh pouted, "Yeah, but you had your Spirit of Fire there to just fly you around everywhere. We had to do spirit unity all of a sudden and figure out a way to not die..." Hao chuckled, though now it didn't really reach Yoh's ears. He realized almost immediately what he'd said wrong and blanched, "Ah, sorry Hao. I forgot."

Ren frowned, "What?"

Hao looked out the window and sighed, "SoF won't answer to my calls...I don't know what happened to it...and on top of that, worse even...Opacho."

Ren looked thoughtfully down at his hands, "The little bouncy girl always hopping along after you?"

Hao nodded, "Her name is Opacho,"

"I see, I haven't seen her around since she ran off during yours and Yoh's fight."

Nodding again, Hao turned his attention on Ren, "I was already told as much by Yoh. She ran away...I scared her. Opacho has been with me since I found her nearly six years ago in Africa."

"How old is she?"

"Two," he answered Yoh's question and watched the two boys as their eyes widened slightly.

"Two? How did you find her?" Ren questioned the fire Shaman curiously.

Gazing down at his hands, Hao thought back to the day he first came across the little African girl. "She was dying...of famine, and disease. I remember, they discarded her from the village because she wasn't going to make it. I don't know what made me take pity on her, but I pushed some of my own Furyoku into her body. Not enough to hurt her frail body, but enough to get her respiratory and body working again, and to heal some of her bodies' inner quarrels. I fed her, bathed her, raised her...I even named her. Originally, I named her Ohachiyo...but after some time, it became apparent that she couldn't quite pronounce the name right, and she continued to call herself Opacho in the third person. It was a few years of training the little girl and collecting followers, I realized, I'd begun to love the child. She was, in many ways, my daughter. I had taken her in, took care of her. She is probably the only one I'd ever risk my life to protect. I let myself get blinded with power, my goal and exterminating humanity...I lost Opacho..."

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Me: Here is chapter four, sleepy time she comes. Tell me what you guys think! LOVE YOU GUYS~!