Chapter: 5

Kept Apart

So Different

I was taught to hate you…I was told to kill you.

I do not want to. I do not want anything more than to meet you and get to know you. Are you going to allow me that chance? The first time we have met is now, are we going to fight, or are we going to get to talk to one another. Like two vampire brothers…

Hao kept watching his twin, but the boy did not seem to want to make a move, for those matters even come close to him. The boy just shook his head, bowed his head and stepped back. It was as if he was submitting to whatever was going to happen. He did not understand, he would have thought his twin would be aggressive, would have attacked him as soon as he heard who he was…would have been more influenced by what others had raised him to do, kill him "What are you waiting for Yoh, are you not going to attack me or something?"

"Why…? Do you want me to?" The boy began to speak. His voice was soft and melodic, a voice that Hao never thought he would hear on another boy. It was so angelic…how could it belong to someone who was a killer? He relaxed his stance, but not so much that he would be vulnerable to a surprise attack from his twin. After all, this could all just be an act.

"Well, aren't you supposed to?" He asked, his voice narrowing itself low to a dangerous whisper that told his twin to stay on his toes around him. Of course, Yoh did not take to the threat. He was drawn in to it instead, a dangerous ploy that could kill him but he seemed to want to hear his twin's voice again.

"Why?" he asked again, this time more angrily "Why is everyone so bend over on making me do what I don't want to" He snapped. "And now you as well…I'd rather you kill me. It would put an end to all of this" Hao was about to say something but shut his mouth by the words Yoh had chosen to end his sentence in. He just could not really picture it. Well, he could, but he found that he didn't want to.

"Alright, let's put death aside." He said, thinking how this was somehow all foolish "I am Hao"

"I kind of guessed, Opacho told me your name" Yoh spoke as he looked down at the small girl that was still holding his hand and clinging to it.

"He's awesome Master Hao," she said with a little giggle "He won't attack you, he's pure and gently" Hao was surprised. Opacho was not usually friendly with just anyone, which meant that Yoh was a safe bet. He took this moment to look over his twin. He was wearing royal clothing, all white and black. His twin's eyes were also serene and gentle as he looked down at Opacho. His smile was wonderful as well.

He walked closer to Yoh, and grabbed his other hand "Is that so" he said in a low and smooth voice. Yoh looked up at him, his eyes widening and his heart speeding up as he looked into the fierce and seductive eyes of his twin. There was fire burning in those eyes, flames that seemed to dance a dangerous way, and wanted to play a game. His mouth suddenly went dry as he starred at his twin who looked like he was about to devour him. Hao smirked, liking that he already had Yoh so compelled and he had not even used any of his powers on him.

"Ah…" was all Yoh was able to say. He was hardly even aware of the music that was suddenly playing around them. Hao on the other hand, smirked at his speechless twin. He leaned further, his lips near his twin's face.

"Dance with me" Hao spoke, letting his warm breath to wash over his twin's face. Yoh felt himself being hypnotize, yet at the same time, he knew he was not. He slowly nodded his head and then felt the hand of his twin in his intertwined their fingers. Opacho had long ago let go of his hand and then he felt his twins other hand go around his waist. Before he knew it, he was pressed to his twin. Panic ran through him for a second.

"Ummm…I" Yoh started and then closed his eyes. He was scared in a way. "I've never danced with a guy before"

Hao smiled at him. "Just follow my lead," he said. He was going to take this opportunity to talk with his twin. "Tell me, about you" Yoh nodded his head as he started to move with Hao, at a gentle and slow pace.

"Well…What is there to know?" he asked.

"What's your favorite food, maybe?"

"Ah…Oranges" he answered with a grin. He tilted his head "Why are you not trying to kill me?" Yoh decided to ask. He knew he was too trusting of people, he knew he could sometimes be naïve, but he also knew when he was in danger. Right now though, he could not help but feel safe and that scared him a little, for he had never felt that way before.

"I don't listen to what people tell me" Hao said, his face coming close to Yoh until he reached his ear "But I've always wanted to meet you" Yoh felt himself shiver in a pleasant way, there were so many feelings running though him that he could not explain. And he couldn't ignore them either. It was like he was falling, and he was being trapped.

Yoh pulled away "I've always wanted to meet you as well…but they are going to pin us against us. I've always frustrated everyone with being carefree and acting naïve, but right now, this is dangerous. What are we going to do to stop them?" he was stopped when Hao's hand came up and cupped his cheek gently, a thumb stroking his cheekbone gently.

"We'll be fine, I just came here to meet you," Hao explained. "I wanted to know who my twin was, most of all, I want to meet the person who gave birth to us so I can know what she is thinking. " Yoh shrugged.

"I think she wants everything to get father back, but then again, I've learned that she can lie" Yoh explained "She'd want me to help her and play on my guilt" Hao nodded his head. They stood there in silence for a moment, looking each other over and then Yoh gasped.

"Yoh, where are you!" Anna called out again. She was heading up stairs.

"You better leave" Yoh said. Hao nodded his head.

"We're still in disguise," Opacho said, making herself known again. "We'll be fine, and we'll be able to leave"

"You two are going to return Horo and Manta right"

"But of course, I'd hate to be living their life for much more. I'm glad I don't have a sister," Hao muttered angrily, remembering how that blue haired girl had treated him all day. Yoh shook his head and jumped slightly when Anna called out again.

"YOH!" she snapped, and saw him at the end of the hall with Horo and his human friend Manta. She walked over, giving the others piercing looks before she grabbed Yoh by the arm "You have hosts to greet, so come on." She pushed Yoh back towards the stairs so he could start heading down. She sighed and turned to Manta, "You may join him if you want as well" and with that she left.

Both Hao and Opacho waited until she was gone. Hao was glad that she had not noticed the knocked out blue haired girl. Opacho was always quick on hiding things.

"She's a dangerous witch," Opacho muttered "Her past is dark, her birthing is dark, she's at a high level and pureblooded"

"Does she worry you, with your own status?" Hao asked her slowly. Opacho was no longer a just a pureblooded witch, but a vampire as well and with her own unique powers. Opacho shook her head, knowing that Anna had not even seen through their disguise. Hao sighed and looked down over the balcony.

"I am not staying here," he said. "Let's go back to the mountain, and bring the others back. I am going to place them under my mind control so they can be my eyes to this palace," Hao said. Opacho nodded and watched as Hao snapped his fingers and they were back in the mountain. Hao was not only a full-blooded vampire; he was strangely enough powerful and different from any other vampire. Other vampires ran away from fire, Hao danced with it.

As soon as they reached the mountain, they entered the cave again, to find Manta awake now, struggling to wake up Horo, the blue haired vampire. "STAY AWAY!" he yelled when he saw them walk in back to their normal forms.

"For such a small human, you can be really loud," Hao hissed.

Yoh walked down stairs again, and was immediately greeted by a couple. One was a tall red head, and the other was a short blonde-haired person. Both males were from kindom far from here, so there was only one reason why they might have come here. They were looking to mate with him, to be part of his kingdom or body, but nothing else. "Prince Yoh, never would I have thought that you'd be back here in Izumo" The tall red head said, a want to be innocent smile on his face.

"Ah" Yoh said, tilting his head to the side and said "and you are again? Sorry, I kind of forget people" Yoh looked behind him just to make sure Anna was not there.

"That's alright" the red head, said, a little irritated but he hid it well. "I am named Flames"

"I'm Current," The blonde-haired person said, shoving the red head away. "It's nice to see you prince" Flames and Current, odd names.

"Ah, is nice to meet you two" Yoh said and then turned when someone else was getting his attention, a woman with long purple hair.

"Prince Yoh"

"Hello" he said.

"I'm glad you returned." Everyone seemed to be.

"Yes, I'm sure" Yoh smiled. "Please, go on and enjoy yourselves." He said and they nodded and went on. People were still sending him looks. Yoh sighed, and then he noticed his mother. He walked over to her and stopped to the side of her, waiting for her to finish talking with her the other people.

"Is something wrong Yoh?" She asked when she was done. Yoh shook his head.

"Just, these parties take the energy out of me" he muttered and looked outside, to the ending day and the dancing clouds around the moon. His mother sighed and brother, her arms around her son's shoulders and pulled him to an embrace.

"You know some day, you are going to be the ruler of all this land" Yoh just spaced out as he said.

"Yes, at the expense of my twins dead body" Keiko felt the words stab her in the chest. She pulled away, and pulled Yoh towards the table. There, they were serving chilled blood in tall wine glasses.

"Please, no more of you not wanting to kill no one. I'm sure that everything will turn out fine." She said.

"How do you figure?" Yoh asked.

"Because, if you get married to Anna soon, your twin will have already lost the position, For the one with mate is you and not him and oversees every other rule!" She explained, not really noticing Yoh's startled look "You know, when you told me that you did not want to fight your twin, I had to think of a way to make all this work without blood being spilled. I had to find a way for you not to have to fight him, and that was it!" She said excitedly.

"What?"

"I know, isn't it great? I still have to talk it over with Anna, but I'm sure she as well will be thrilled to find that you and she are going to be married in a week's time" Keiko giggled "I've always loved weddings, and I can't wait to see the two of you get married."

"Mother"

"Sweat heart" his mother said pulling him to an embrace "There is no need to thank me, you and Anna being together is enough. You'll finally have a mate, and I'm happy" She smiled. "Your father won't get his way either."

"Mother" Yoh tried again, but his mother just pulled away, kissed him on his forehead and patted his shoulders.

"You'll be fine now Yoh"

"Queen!" Someone called her attention again and she turned it to them and walked on with them. Yoh shook his head, his eyes wide.

"Mother!" he called out again, but she was gone already. No…There was no way. She had just not said that. There was no way that he was going to marry Anna. If there was one thing, Anna had never been someone he thought of like that. She was more like a sister. He did not expect to marry her so soon he knew he might have. However, he was hoping for that to change, and that he could avoid it somehow. But now…

'No!' He thought 'I don't want to, I don't' he shook his head and walked through the crowds, back up stairs. He wanted to see Hao again. As he looked around, Hao was no longer there. Yoh, frustrated, left to his chambers and silently cried.

I need to escape. He thought. Walking over his table, he saw Admidamaru's card. He had helped him escape before, and now he was trapped. How can I free him to escape…what do I need to do to break Anna's hold!

This was just so frustrating!

Manta fell silent.

Hao sighed. "I'll say this once" He said, changing the language he was speaking in and got inside their heads "Protect Yoh, and be my eyes to that palace," Something told Hao that things were going to get harder from here on out. He could not place it, but the sad colors that colored the sky at day and at night, spoke it all.

If, for some reason, he and Yoh were going to be forced to fight, he was not sure what he was going to do. He had not expected to like Yoh right of the bat, when they had barely just met. Granted, he could kill Yoh if he so much as wished it. However, he did not. He had nothing against Yoh, It was more like Yoh was a part of him, and he was a part of Yoh. Maybe it had to do with them being twins, but something told him that it ran deeper.

The blue haired vampire nodded his head; his memory vanished of how he had gotten here, and who was speaking, as well as the short blond haired boy. Hao sent them back then. Opacho watched him do all this and did not speak a word. Silence right now seemed so right.

'There has to be a way to end all of this,' Hao thought. Something…and that was when it hit him. He needed to go back to the root of the problem. Opacho watched her master stand up and start walking out of the cave. She ran after him. "Lord, where are you going!"

"Opacho, we're going to visit someone"

"Huh" Opacho said, "You know someone here, master?" Hao did not say anything, flames licked their way around them and soon they were taken to a new place. A small hut outside in the outskirts of Izumo. As he did this, he let his fire sing across the valley of the mountain there in the centre of Izumo.

"Yes" Hao spoke "And it's time we made ourselves known" he sat down, and waited.

The smoke was thick and black, hiding the light of the moon in the sky. The people that were inside the palace having fun had not noticed the danger that they were in yet. Yoh, on the other hand, had the chance to glance out of the window and noticed the orange, red, blue, and yellow flames. He had never seen such a beautiful sight as it engulfed the tall mountain in the centre of Izumo. "Hao" Was all he whispered.

His tears seemed to dry and he knew that there was still hope. In a way, maybe this was their war. They were going to have to face this together. Yoh just blankly stared at the flames lick, and dance through the mountain. With his shark hearing he could hear people eating, talking, and laughing, enjoying themselves.

For a moment, he wished that they could feel his pain.

He hated them.

He hated them, but then, he could not be Yoh, if he did. It was not up to him to judge them, but he still had resentment placed there from them, since he was a child. Instead of them planting hate for his brother, they made him not want to be near them.

Not his mother.

Not his grandparents.

Not anyone.

"Yoh!" Anna stumbled into his room, a glare on her face "We need to go back to the celebration, you are the reason for it, you can't stay here…" She trailed off when she looked out and saw the flames. "Yoh" She said, "Get away from there" She pulled him back in.

"Huh, why?" he asked, acting clueless as he always did "Anna, that is fire isn't it" She nodded her head.

"Let's go warn the others" He nodded, and she ran out. Yoh watched her leave, and soon the happy smiling party turned into turmoil of screams as every vampire rushed to make the flames disappear. Yoh had to wonder what Hao was after now. Was Hao going to come and kill him, or was he also after their mother's head. He had not called her mother.

Yoh sat there. Maybe now, I can put off having to marry Anna.

"STOP THE FLAMES!" Vampires yelled. Children were hidden from the city, and they were all set to work on making the flames disappear. An old man with patches of white hair on the sides of his head looked at the flames and shook his head. "Who could have started such flames" Tamamura who had ran out along with Anna stopped by him.

"Yohmei," Anna started. Tamamura gasped loudly.

"Those are Hao's flames. I saw them only a few times before, but those are his flames!" She was shaking, and her red eyes trembled.

"Flames? A vampire would dare not touch such a thing!" Yohmei argued.

"When I say that Hao is not a basic of the block vampire, it is true. There really is no way to control him, fire loves him. He's like the flames favorite child" Tamamura shook her head "I have to stop those flames! Hao also needs to be found. He can't be allowed to do this" Tamamura ran out of there and towards the mountain. Anna was about to go, but stopped.

"So, that is why she wanted me to train her in dealing with a man, but just what kind of demon is Hao" Anna muttered, and turned to Yohmei.

"I wouldn't know, but wonder later" he told her "Go and help her put down the flames" Anna nodded and ran after Tamamura.

Anna gasped as she ran; houses were already put off fire. She sped up her running and caught up to Tamamura who had also stopped at the edge. Being able to move fast was taught since small, no witch had to take crap from a vampire. "Umm, what do I do?" Tamamura said shaking her hands. Anna rolled her eyes.

"A water spell, Tamara, A water spell," She hissed out. Tamamura nodded her head as she looked at Anna.

"Right, I can do that"

Both clapped their hands together, and chanted. Their hands glowed "Cloud above, hear our plea, cry for our lands pain, cry for the pain of our land!" and before they knew it, rain was falling down on them in thick curtains of it. A cold shill ran through the air as winds moved the water towards the flames, and gently, slowly, and carefully each flame died out into a thick grey smoke. It assaulted their noses, but it was not so bad.

Back near the palace, Yohmei nodded his head. It was taken care off. Kino, his wife, walked over to him and sighed. "We are all to head home now" he nodded.

Yoh, still looking out the window watched the rainfall and sighed.

At midnight, after everyone was back home and asleep safe in his or her beds. Yohmei could not sleep, knowing that Hao was somewhere out there. Yoh could be in danger now, it was better that they started rushing things. He got out of the palace and transported himself to the outskirts of Izumo, to the small cavern there. Maybe, call it an instinct, but something told him that he needed to come here, and he was never to deny the gut feeling.

Once he was there, and opened the door, everything looked empty. Maybe, he had allowed himself to age so much over the years. He had allowed himself to start dying inside, because leaving life for so long was so tiring. A Vampire was ageless, as long as he was happy, but sadness could age a vampire beyond.

He had started to die on the inside, and so had his wife. It was just life was so miserable. He always went by what he thought was right, never allowed himself to believe anything else, and his life had always been a formal ball in summer. "I can't wait for all of this to be over" he muttered to himself. Suddenly there was a maniacal laugh that came from behind him and his eyes widened in shock.

"Are you already that tired old man," The voice was mocking.

He turned around, and what he saw was not really, what he had been expecting. Maybe, for a moment, he had expected someone that really looked like a monster. However, the one that stood there was a boy with long hair, a white poncho over his shoulders, and an indifferent look on his face. The face that was so much like Yoh's but this one…looked more dangerous in a way. "Hao" he spoke. Said boy shook his head.

"We need to talk" Hao said, his eyes narrowing.

"No, we don't. Go away."

"You won't even give me a chance?"

"After that fire stunt that you pulled"

"It was a cry for attention"

"You call that a cry for attention"

"WHEN YOU DECIDE THAT EITHER IT'S ME OR MY TWIN THAT DIES, YES, THAT IS MY CRY FOR ATTENTION!" The words were snapped so loudly that they shocked Yohmei greatly.

"You deserve to die!" Yohmei growled the first thing that came to his mind. Hao paused, his eyes getting an odd look.

"Is that all you can think about, ending someone's life for your own befitting rules?" Hao growled. "You are just like that man that claims to be my father, and you are just like that man who calls himself my grandfather"

"Rules, customs, it's all tradition"

"A lousy tradition"

"You are the first born Hao, your twin will fight you and be victories!" Hao scoffed.

"Gentles as a breeze, I doubt Yoh would hurt me if he didn't have a real valid reason to do so" Yohmei's eyes were wide. He growled, and decided to attack Hao, but as he tried to come near the boy, a wall of flames came to surround him at all ends. "You are not going to force neither Yoh nor me to do anything anymore!"

"Damn you brat! I can't wait until you die!"

He blinked his eyes.

Hao was gone.

Thank you to all who reviewed, and I know I haven't update here much...But i was really not sure how to continue it. I hope that you guys liked it thought.

Please review.