Okay, everyone! I managed to make it in time for another update!
God, I've got all my other stories that need to be updated and yet for some reason I just seem to be obsessed with this story. I mean, even I am anxious to see if it'll proceed smoothly.
But enough of my ranting. Enjoy the next chapter!
CHAPTER TWO
It was quiet. Quiet and chilly. The sun had set a few hours ago, allowing the moon to take over for the time being. But he didn't mind.
In all truth, that was the very reason he was here. The cold left him utterly unfazed, meaning that he could stay there all night long if he so desired. The night had always seemed so inviting to him. The peacefulness and the beauty of it. It fascinated him.
Especially those shining, little dots that came along with the night. But tonight even that seemed to be against him.
Here he was, sitting under that tree for hours straight and just when he had finally started to feel at ease, those damned clouds simply had to come along.
Letting a sigh pass through his lips, he leaned against the trunk, chin slightly tilted upwards and dark brown eyes glaring at those grayish clouds for all it was worth. Yet, for some reason, he couldn't bring himself to be annoyed.
Even those plain, ordinary dark clouds, seemed so intriguing. It's not that he hadn't seen clouds like those when he was at Izumo. No, in all honesty, he had spent quiet an amount of nights when he'd feel restless, just like tonight, by simply lying on the soft grass of their garden, gazing at the starry sky.
But for a reason he couldn't quiet place his finger on, he had never felt so relaxed in his homestead. He hated to admit it to himself, but he felt suffocated in that place. It was only when he had moved here at Funbari two years ago that he realized with a start…
He could finally breathe again.
But that never made any sense to him. Why was it that he felt more content when he was away from his family? And he knew that it wasn't one of those rebellious states that all teens seemed to grow through. He just felt irritated whenever he was around them.
"I knew I'd find you here."
The corners of his mouth tilted upwards ever so slightly. He didn't have to turn around to know to whom that voice belonged. He had never expected to run into him of all people though. Well, not that he minded. He had been brooding over such bitter thoughts for quiet a while now, he could really use some distraction.
"Not that I can say the same for you."
He heard his companion chuckle, a slow, relieved sound that revealed to him everything he needed to know. A tiny little smirk made its way onto his face. When the other boy walked over and flopped down next to him, only then did Hao tilt his head to the side to look at him for the first time.
"You ran away, didn't you… Ren?"
He watched as an almost identical smirk graced Ren's features, his own eyes twinkle with amusement, knowing from the other's reaction that his guess was precise.
Ren huffed, hands coming up to rest behind his head as he leaned his back against the tree trunk, onyx eyes glowing mischievously. "You didn't expect me to just sit there and allow that blue haired demon to make my life a living hell, did you?"
A rich laugh passed through Hao's lips at the boy's words. Certainly. He knew first handed that Tao Ren had few to nearly no weaknesses… but patience? Oh, yes. That was definitely something that his fellow friend lacked.
"Come on, Ren. You know that you're just exaggerating. Pirika isn't all that bad. It's actually thanks to her that you've reached such a remarkable state in your shamanic abilities."
Ren's face scrunched up into a grimace, like he could really do without the reminder, before his eyes fluttered close, a gesture that Hao had come to recognize a long time ago as a sign of defeat.
"Does that mean that you feel the same way towards Anna?" Ren said with a small hint of arrogance in his tone, reopening his eyes the moment the words had left his mouth, intent on seeing his companion's reaction.
Hao couldn't help but grimace, mimicking Ren's previous expression, at the very mention of the itako's name. "Surely Ren, you can not compare two entirely different situations. The only thing that those two have in common is their disturbing passion when it comes to our training."
"And they were kind enough to demonstrate that virtue countless of times. It's just that Pirika is so… whiny." Ren concluded, searching for a proper word that best described the blue haired girl.
"You wanna trade?" Hao asked with an all too eager tone, watching with obvious amazement as his counterpart sat up abruptly, black eyes wide with a few traces of fear. 'Yes.' Hao thought to himself, 'Anna has that effect on people.'
"Hell. No." Ren shot back, making sure to drag each word to get his point across, and emitting a mirthless chuckle from Hao. "That's what I thought."
A momentary silence enveloped the two shamans, not an awkward one though, before Hao spoke again, "I'm actually surprised that Horohoro stayed in China, while you came to Tokyo. Ever since your engagement with his sister was scheduled, you two have been pretty inseparable."
The Chinese shaman gave a nonchalant shrug, arms folding over his chest. "Pirika would explode if both of us were to disappear without telling her like that."
A devilish grin spread over Hao's face. "So in other words, you intentionally left him behind so that Pirika could take out her anger on him instead of you."
Ren flashed him an all too sinister, toothy smirk. "Well, something along the lines of that." Hao couldn't suppress himself but laugh out loud at the other's antics. Well, he highly doubted that Horohoro would remain all alone with Ren's family and Pirika for much longer anyway.
Ren moved his head to the side, watching with mild interest as his spirit, a massive Chinese warrior, chatted with the other ghosts of the graveyard below, an idea crossing his mind. "How about we have a fight tomorrow? Pirika said that I should focus on the physical training for the time being, therefore wouldn't let me have a real battle with Bason. Honestly, I don't even know why my family allows her to do as she pleases with my training."
"That's probably because they approve of her teaching methods. It's pretty much the same way with Anna, actually." Hao replied, his lips twitching into a small frown momentary before it vanished, "As for the battle, that's fine by me. Spirit of Fire was getting restless as well."
"Of course, you better not think that it will go exactly the same way as the previous time." Hao chuckled, a smirk adorning his features as he stood up and dusted off his clothes. He glanced one last time at the midnight sky, catching a brief glimpse of the white sphere that was the moon before it disappeared behind the clouds again.
"Wouldn't even dream about it, cousin."
*)&(*
Living entirely on your own definitely had its privileges, such as not having a curfew. This was exactly why he had taken the long way home. Even though it was already way past midnight, he didn't feel like going back to the onsen just yet.
A tiny smile crept onto his face at the reminder of his conversation with Ren. He certainly looked forward to their fight. He hadn't been able to see his cousin for more than three months. His aunt, Ren's mother, was a very stern person when it came to her son's abilities. Actually, the exact opposite of her sister, Hao's mother.
The Asakura and the Tao family have been the strongest clans among the shamanic community for centuries, actually from the very moment that shamans were born. Due to that fact, both families decided it'd be best to unite those two clans. It was decided then, that his aunt was to merry the son of the Tao's family leader.
Therefore, as the only male heirs to their families, Ren and himself were supposed to meet the expectations and standards that their clans had set for them. Unlike her sister though, Asakura Keiko, his mother wasn't the type of person that would push her son to his limits. In fact, Keiko had never even scolded him, not once. That was his grandparents' job.
He didn't mean to boast or anything, but it was a given fact that all shamans in the entire world were aware of his power. A power that was unimaginable and had no match.
Hao Asakura was the only shaman able to control one of the five elemental spirits, the Spirit of Fire. Ren was second after him with his powerful warrior, a fact that always seemed to displease the other boy, but only because his pride was usually the one to take the damage.
But Hao was getting tired.
He had managed to gain the title of the greatest shaman at the way too early age of eight. But as the years passed, something seemed to change inside of him, something just didn't feel right anymore.
Two years ago, when he was eleven, that something finally reached its limits and snapped. Not able to take it any longer, he moved out of his family's residence and came here to Funbari.
But surprisingly enough, he still felt so apathetic.
He was only two blocks away from his home, when a startling banging sound brought him abruptly out of his thoughts.
Blinking a couple of times, he turned around when he realized that the sound had come form the house he had just passed. His eyes went wide however, when a person ran out of the said house and straight… into him.
The force of the collision sent both of them backwards, an involuntary 'oof' escaping his lips as he landed on the ground. Hand coming up to clutch his aching forehead, black eyelids shot open in a deadly glare.
"Bloody hell, watch where you-…" His sentence was left hanging in the air once he caught sight of the person across from him. His dark brown eyes connected with those light brown ones of his double. And for a moment, when they blinked at the same time, Hao thought someone had placed a mirror in front of him.
But he quickly dismissed that thought when he observed the nearly unnoticed differences.
Same auburn hair but shorter than his own. While his went past the waist, his look-alike's reached the length of the shoulders. He wasn't sure, but he got the impression that the boy's eyes were a softer shade of brown, in contrast with his own that was the darkest.
His gaze then landed on that ugly, red mark on the boy's cheek. Was that…? Yes, it seemed like finger marks.
But when the door of the house opened for the second time, the boy's eyes doubled in fear. He stood back to his feet quickly and started running just as a man emerged from the house.
"Brat! Come back here!" the man shouted, hazy green eyes following the fleeing form of the boy before a smirk made its way to his face.
"You'll come back, you always do. Not that you have anywhere else to go." he spat angrily. His eyes then landed on Hao for the first time, who still hadn't moved from his position on the ground and they narrowed instantly.
"What you looking at?" the man snapped and Hao's nose wrinkled in disgust. That man's foul breath reeked of alcohol.
Deciding that the child didn't deserve his time, the green-eyed man turned on his heels and went back inside the house. 'Probably to get even more drunk.' Hao concluded.
The thirteen year old stood up, dusted off his clothes and after glancing one last time at the man's retreating back repulsively, he took the way home.
'Ignorant, foolish humans. The only thing you know how to do is corrupt the earth and each other.' Hao thought, his mind going back to that red mark on the other boy's face, knowing well enough that it would develop into a nasty bruise in a couple of hours.
His eyebrows creased into a frown at that thought for some peculiar reason. 'Filthy beings.'
*)&(*
A long, exasperated sigh passed through her lips. Disappointment was clearly evident on the girl's face as she tossed the coin to the side. She had been trying the fortune telling for hours but nothing had come out of it.
Two small animals were floating at either side of her, gazing with worried eyes as their friend lowered her head, pink strands cascading down her face.
"Still nothing?" the raccoon questioned softly, not wanting to upset her further and earned a weak shake of the head from the girl.
"You shouldn't lose your faith Tamao. Perhaps you couldn't get a result simply because Hao-sama won't be in some kind danger any time soon." the second animal, the fox, said in an attempt to cheer her up.
Tamao raised her head, a small smile tugging at her lips as she looked at them. "Thank you, Ponchi, Konchi."
The animals beamed at her, happy to have achieved their goal. Suddenly, they blinked. They shared a glance between them before looking back over at their friend. "Tamao?" they asked in unison but received no answer in return.
The girl just stared somewhere in space with an unreadable expression on her face. Her usual bright pink orbs seemed to have lost their twinkle and were a fade, dull shade of their old pink.
And then, Tamao opened her mouth.
Both Ponchi and Konchi blinked in puzzlement, not making any sense from the words that spilled out of the girl's mouth. Acting quickly, the raccoon grabbed a sheet of paper and with a wave of its hand, the words that Tamao spoke appeared on the paper more and more words writing themselves as the girl went on.
And just like that, it was over. Tamao's eyes went back to normal before she blinked a couple of times. "Wha-? What was that?" the pink-haired girl asked dazed, looking around the room for a moment as if she couldn't remember where she was, her eyes soon landing on the two spirits.
"Ponchi? Konchi? What happened?"
The raccoon looked uncertainly over at the fox, silently asking for assistance and earned a hesitant nod in return. With a sigh, the raccoon passed her the paper, not needing to explain further.
Tamao blinked at first, a horrified expression taking over her features as she read the content of the paper. Did she actually say all that?
Not allowing herself to dwell on it, she was instantly to her feet and out of the room. She ran through the household as fast as she could, feeling her spirits float behind her mutely. For the first time, she actually cursed the Asakura estate for having to be so huge.
When she finally reached her desired destination, she slid open the door and marched inside, the urgency of the situation making her forget her manners.
"K-Kino-sama…" she managed to breath out while taking in deep gulps of air, pink eyes instantly landing on the sitting form of the elderly woman that was her tutor.
The woman raised her head, eyebrows furrowing in disapproval at the girl's violent intrusion. "What is it, Tamao?"
The girl gulped, cheeks matching the color of her head from the embarrassment. "Uhm, Kino-sama… I was d-doing my daily f-fortune telling a-about Hao-sama's well fare, when I got this s-strange prediction."
"Oh? Strange prediction? Let's hear it then." Kino said, her tone revealing that the girl had now her full attention.
Tamao gulped again. With shaky hands, she raised the piece of paper in front of her face and with one last glance at the elderly woman's direction, she begun reading.
"They are fading…" she paused for a second and watched in her dismay as Kino frowned, "The Dark one is slowly being devoured by inanity's jaw. And the Light one is beginning to fall apart. The time has come for the soul that was torn in half. They must not lose sight of their path, the Dark and the Light one. For fate has bestowed them with a great future and an even greater purpose. The time has come for the two to be reunited at last. The time has come for the two to merge as one."
Her hands were still shaking when she lowered the paper, pink eyes staring anxiously at the hunched form of her tutor, wanting to know if any of these made sense to the woman.
"K-Kino-sama?" she questioned uncertainly.
Kino however didn't seem to pay attention to her, she was too engrossed in her thoughts. What was the meaning of this? And why now?
"The soul that was torn in half…" Kino muttered quietly. The gears in her mind started twisting and turning, suspicion surging through her, but refusing to settle down.
"Tamao." the woman announced in resolve, making the girl stand straight, "Tomorrow you'll be leaving for Funbari. I have a feeling that Hao will be in need of your predictions soon. And tell Anna to come with you. I think she was away from her fiancé for long enough."
Tamao just stared at her, pondering the meaning of her words. "As you wish, Kino-sama." she said after a moment and with low bow, she stepped out of the room.
Once the door was securely closed, Kino allowed a weary sigh to pass through her lips. "Good grief. What has that boy gotten himself into this time?"
END OF CHAPTER TWO
Hehe, I hope this chapter wasn't too confusing.
Well, things will be getting more interesting from next chapter!
Please review! ^^