A/N Hello everyone, thank you for all the reviews you have left me in the past years, it really means a lot to me and I hope I won't disappoint by continuing this story. This story was never forgotten, and that is why I can promise you that it will be finished, you will know how it ends.
This chapter is extra long, hoping to fill some gaps regarding Neave and Hao's situation.
Enjoy!
"That was one hell of a team work!" Horokeu said to the group.
"But you did most of the work, Horokeu" said Soleil while gripping on his arm, "you are a true hero." She finished sighing and cuddling herself even more into his arm, which only made HoroHoro blush furiously.
"Eh, it was nothing." He said while scratching his head and looking away from her.
"Please, you wouldn't even be here if it weren't for me." Stated Ren while looking proud of himself, but knowing it was just a mask which he was putting up while trying to deal with his now confused mind. 'What was that feeling?' he thought to himself. 'Such a strange feeling, yet not new to me.'
The night was getting colder and colder, slowly getting to her bones. Her once strong pride was starting to mix with confusion and sadness. Hao was right, she was yearning to be with him, but how many times could she forgive? Many. Forget? None. This made the whole situation harder to bear. She was lost in her thoughts, lost among the stars. She tried everything to shift her thoughts from what she was feeling, but it was useless. She was never one to follow her mind, but only her heart. Which did lead her to death, twice, but nonetheless she will always choose to follow her heart.
Getting up and dusting her clothes she looked at the Hanagumi tent for a while, but the first step she took was towards Hao's tent. She didn't care about what he suggested, rather ordered, her to do. She slowly opened Hao's tent, let her robe fall on the floor and crawled on the sheets next to Hao before hugging him from behind, lightly kissing his back.
"Stop pushing me away," She said with a firm voice, "or it will actually happen for real." She felt him stir a bit under her embrace.
"There is just that much I can take, Hao. Don't let me in the darkness anymore, not again, not in this life. You owe me." She continued talking while kissing his back.
On the other side of the bed, Hao knew he couldn't reveal the truth to her, what could it possibly change? It was out of her control. Nonetheless, she'd feel even more betrayed by never having known the truth, and all those times he killed her off, would have been useless. He closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep, ignoring whatever she was trying to do.
"Hao, talk to me." She begged with a calm tone. He was not facing her, nor did he have any intention in doing it.
"The feeling, what I felt before, was not a foreign feeling to me. And I know it wasn't for you either. Yet you refuse to talk to me, while asking me to remain loyal to you after everything that has happened, to trust you." She was now furious and stood up from her laying position. She could now see his face, as her eyes adjusted to the darkness around them.
"Talk to me dammit!" she yelled furiously while pushing him in order to have some sort of reaction.
"You can't ignore me whenever you find it convenient and call me back to warm your bed whenever it pleases you!" she was literally breaking down and wanted to push him, punch him, hurt him in some way to get relief. She knew that it was not true what she just said, she knew he loved her once upon a time. Even though along the way this love became twisted and toxic without her even understanding why. But as soon as she wanted to push him again, Hao turned around and grabbed her arms pulling her on top of him. Their eyes connected, and the tension grew between them, her heartbeat was running miles, her mind became blank and all that she wanted was to be his again. To feel that she meant something for him after all, as she used to. Reading her heart's desire, he crashed hungrily his lips on hers catching her by surprise. His hands caught both sides of her face to deepen the kiss, before letting go and going for her neck. He licked ever so slightly her sweet spot feeling her shudder from pleasure.
"Stop teasing me." she sighed.
He stopped and put his head back on the pillow in order to look into her eyes, searching for her soul.
"It is something I have never told anyone until now, not even to your soul or past bodies." He said sounding vulnerable and naked in front of her. "I adore you, Neave. I adore your soul. I can't have you be someone else's." He said before kissing her again and pulling the covers on top of them before making her his.
Flashback
Hao Asakura was known for never depending on anyone's help to achieve his goals. And what irritated him the most were those pretending that he needed them, when it was always the other way around. One of the many days he spent time meditating in the forest, was meant to be life changing for him.
"If it isn't the mighty Hao Asakura." A sultry voice caught by surprise the great shaman which was deep into meditation, not expecting anyone to find his spot in the woods. Opening one eye, he saw in front a him a pale white-haired woman, with gracious features that could make any man fall in love with in a second. But for him, there was no other woman than Neave, and calmly he closed his eye trying to continue his meditation.
"It is not polite to ignore a lady, Asakura." The woman continued while going around Hao, who was keeping his meditation position.
"Or maybe this lady might need to offer something in exchange such that to make herself noticed?" she whispered seductively while stopping and getting down at his level so as to face him. Hao opened both his eyes and started to analyse the woman in front of him in a better way, noticing how her features were resembling that of a fox.
"Kitsune-tsuki." He stated without filching, the person in front of him was a beautiful woman possessed by a spirit of a demon fox, which lure men into granting them wishes in exchange of favours. Yet he failed to understand why would the fox think it could offer him anything, thus continued to ignore it as if it were not there. This made the spirit get mad, and a frown appeared on the face of the beautiful woman.
"I see, your heart is faithful to her." She said smirking while rising and getting close a tree and lightly scratching away part of the bark as to calm down its nerves.
"But it doesn't mean your heart does not desire anything else." The fox continued ever so slyly, not facing the shaman anymore.
"You have wasted enough of my time, useless creature." The shaman said while getting up and starting to walk away from the fox. The woman didn't even flinch to this clear refusal, but instead proceeded with a menace, since no one ever dared to refuse it.
"Even the great Asakura has a weak spot, and I know yours. It's a pity that you would prefer to insult my existence rather than having a taste of what my power could offer you. But no fear, you will get to taste it, but not as you'd expect." The only response the fox got from Hao was a small chuckle.
"I pity creatures like you." Was all he said before setting the fox on fire.
"Your heart yearns for the one you love, but her heart will no longer yearn for yours once she will be under the spell of a pair of golden eyes. Long you will be forgotten. Her soul mate will be all she will see. Mark my words, Hao Asakura."
And with those last words the fox disappeared into thin ashes which the wind gently blew within the forest.
End of Flashback
This was the third time Hao has found Neave's soul, he searched the world for her every single time, never letting go of her until he was obliged to; he couldn't resist letting her be somebody else's. It was the third time he was trying to save her without having to kill her, to cherish her and keep her by his side. It was the third time he was trying to break the curse, and he hoped that this would have been the last time he would have to relive this pain.
"I will not let you leave, Neave. Not anymore." The shaman said while caressing the hair of his past life wife. "You are mine, regardless of the misery the spirit has put us through." And with that Hao fell asleep next to Neave, leaving his guard down for the first time in ages. And it was exactly what Neave was hoping it would happen without even having it planned, thus getting her chance to escape. She was no fool, she knew he would catch up with her sooner than later, but she preferred to have her chance to reach her friend, even if it meant just trying. But more so, she wanted to know what those eyes meant for her, and if Hao wasn't going to tell her, she will have to find it on her own.
Silently she rose from the bed and got her robes which were tossed on the floor from the previous night; while exiting the tent she sees that Opacho noticed her.
"Miss, you should not do this." She said in a low voice, disappointed seeing that Neave was leaving her master.
"I will be back sooner than you can imagine. Take care of him for me." Neave said approaching the little girl and kneeling before her while caressing her hair. And with a last smile she used her oversoul to have Silver as her wings and flew away.
"Let's play a guessing game!" shouted Soleil all excited, while Horokeu followed her idea with the same excitement. Victoria and Ren did not seem as happy about the idea, but let the shamans go on for a bit.
"I spy something brown." said Ryu with his hands in his pockets while walking alongside with Horokeu and Soleil.
"It's a mountain!" said Horekeu excited, to which Ryu also replied with the same enthusiasm that his friend that managed to guess from the first shot.
"Nice job! And you got it from the first shot!"
"My turn!" shouted Horekeu, "I spy something red." at which Soleil instantly grew red thinking he was referring to her hair.
"It's a rock!" Ryu replied, to which his friend excitedly agreed with him. Soleil was deeply disappointed and started to slow down getting behind the group next to Victoria.
"Enough! We get it! The landscape will not change anytime soon!" Ren retorted clearly annoyed by his friends.
"What are you thinking about Victoria?" Soleil tried to start a conversation with the silent shaman, but it was useless since she was too deep in her thoughts to even notice the red head girl next to her.
"Guys, I'm sorry. It's all my fault, if only I were able to find a way to make it faster to the Patch Village." said Lyserg at a certain point, catching the attention of everyone.
"Nonsense! What did we say about this type of behavior?" said Ryu approaching his friend, "Let's be positive."
"Our arrival at the patch village depends on my abilities, and I seem to fail to do so. Maybe my shamanic instincts are not even leading us the right way." Continued Lyserg with a disappointing tone.
'Is this kid always going to whine? It's even worse than being a nanny, these guys need a psychologist' thought Victoria while mentally rolling her eyes. 'If only I could let Amon go and search for Silver without the SOF noticing him, but it's impossible.' She sighed while continuing to walk into the hotness of the desert. 'These black clothes surely don't help me much right now'.
"I spy something bronze-ish!" Horokeu started again the game, to which Ryu continued.
"Wait what does it even mean?"
"It's kind of a yellow!"
"So why didn't you just say so?"
"I spy something annoying" Ren interrupted the two friends, since he was fed up with all the game.
Neave has been flying for hours, going back on the tracks that Hao's team has been following in order to reach her friend. But it seemed useless, her furyoku was running out and the hot weather was not helping her either.
'That forest seems like a good place to rest for a bit and maybe start walking' Neave thought, before spotting a man with a cowboy hat sitting on to of a hill. She decided why not try and ask the man if he has seen her friend, certainly Victoria was one to be noticed.
As soon as she landed she caught by surprise the shaman which was not expecting anyone to be so close to him.
"Uhm, excuse me sir. Could you maybe help me? I am looking for a friend, maybe you have seen her..." Neave trailed off as she noticed that the man was spying on a little girl, which creep her out.
"Are you spying on the little girl?" Neave asked as she noticed the man was using a binnacle to spy on the little brunette. 'Geesh, my luck to land and ask for help to a possible pedophile.' she thought as she started to back away.
The man turned around and looked at her, sure she was good looking but what really caught his eye was her oracle. Smirking at the sight that she was indeed tired, he thought that it was the perfect moment to get it from her, rather than chasing down the kid.
"Oh great, now you're looking at me with that creepy look. I am so out of here." Neave started saying while trying to get down from the hill, but the man caught her hand and pulled her toward him. 'Ah hell, no. You are not going to touch me, you pervert.' And with that single thought Neave pushed him with her last ounce of strength, backed up by Silver, over the hill.
"Oh no. Did … "she started saying with big eyes and went to look over the edge 'please tell me I didn't kill him, please let him be alive' she hoped while looking down the hill. Fortunately for her conscience the height was not that big, and the man was just dizzy from the fall. Unfortunately for someone else he didn't fall too far from Milly.
'Oh no, now he's going after the little girl.' Neave thought as soon as she realized what she did. 'Guess I can't have my conscience deal with this. What is a little detour in finding Victoria anyway?'
"It is the right thing to do mistress" Silver said while appearing next to her. Arianrhod, was a celtic goddess which stands by the virtues of women needing no protection from men, and furthermore being a firm believer of women power.
"At least if you can't deal with your messy love life, you can at least do something good for another sister." Silver continued mocking her mistress.
"You think you're funny, don't you?" said Neave rolling her eyes, "I was going to help her anyway, it is partially my fault that pervert is down there with her now."
Hao woke up feeling the bed empty next to him. He rose in a sitting position while taking in the fact that Neave's robes were nowhere to be found on the floor.
'She didn't…' he thought while grabbing his poncho and getting out of his tent, where all the followers were already having breakfast and were ready to continue the journey. But what seemed unusual was that no one was looking at him, of fear that he might blame one of them for letting Neave go.
"Where is she?!" he raged towards them. While making a nearby tree burst into flames. Poncho scared for her life, took a step forward and tried to calm down her master.
"She will be back master" she said in her tiny voice.
Hao had lost his patience and was not willing to continue the useless discussion. 'History seems to be repeating itself' was all he could think while trying to concentrate on how to act next.
"Everyone get ready to leave. Now." he stated firmly while summoning his spirit of fire and starting to get ahead of his followers, needing to clear his head for the time being.
