Chapter 8

Disclaimer : I Don't own Shaman King!

Thought / Dreams / Event from the past

'Telepathic voice'

-Telephone-

Letter

"Dialogue"

Emphasis

Dangerous tone

"Ah, I can finally enjoying being myself again . . . No need to hide my Intelligence, no need to constantly holding back my power, and no need to care about what I'm wearing anymore . . ." Yoh said happily

"You are right, we can enjoy being ourselves again . . ." Hao said in agreement.

"Comfy?" Matamune asked in amusement as he looked at the Twins from a branch of the tree above them, smoking on his pipe.

"Very!" Yoh and Hao answered at the same time, too lazy to move.

They were currently laying on their stomach, face to the side and facing each other, under the shade of one of the trees surrounding the clearing they had found for their new home. They had found a nice spot and had finished building their house with their power, the house was comfy even without the electricity, and the house was surrounded by forest, so they didn't have to worry about people seeing them doing something unusual like talking to a Spirit.

"But really, no matter how many times I see it, your true forms are just so exotic, Hao-sama, Yoh-sama." Matamune commented calmly.

Yoh chuckled as he opened his eyes to look at Hao, who also had opened his eyes and was staring like back at him. Hao's eyes had gone from black to fire red, and not only his eyes, his hair had changed colors as well, pure shiny black instead of reddish brown. Long Nine Fox tails were coming out from his tail bone, all of them were as white as snow, aside from their tips, the tips of Hao's tails were black, as black as his hair. Hao's ears had been replaced by Fox ears, as white as his tails with black at the tips, really opposing his black hair.

Yoh was also looking different, his eyes were turquoise in color instead of his usual onyx, and his hair was as white as snow instead of dark brown. Long Nine Fox tails were also coming out from his tail bone, the color of his tails were the exact opposite from Hao's, his tails were mostly black and only turned white at the tips, just like his ears.

"I wonder, would anyone recognize us if they see us like this?" Yoh asked curiously.

The reason for their color change was because they were in their true forms, the form of a Ninetails. They were normally using their Human forms, in order to live among humans without causing any unnecessary fear. But even without them showing their true forms, people already fear them for their ability in communicating with Spirits.

"Who knows?" Hao asked calmly, his tails moving up and down once as he thought about the possible reaction they would get, "With our face and voice, they might recognize us, but they might think that we are not us, just some Mystical being with similar face and voice".

"Well, it's not like they could see us when we are like this." Yoh said as he closed his eyes and enjoying the sunlight that had managed to get pass the leaves of the tree, "They could only see us if we want them to, even Matamune wouldn't be able to see us when he was alive if it's not because he has some of your power in him".

"Right." Hao said in agreement as he closed his eyes, "Matamune, wake us up if you feel something unusual, will you?".

"Leave it to me, Hao-sama." Matamune said calmly, "Just enjoy yourselves".

"Thank you, Matamune." Hao said with a smile on his face.

"We are counting on you then, Matamune." Yoh said sleepily, he was already on his way to the dream world.

Just then though, Yoh's and Hao's ears twitched as they picked up something in the air, causing them to groan in disappointment. They opened their eyes and get to their hand and knees before standing up and stretched themselves, even though they still want to lazying around doing nothing, they had to get up, "So much for enjoying ourselves." They muttered together.

"That's too bad." Matamune said as he hopped off the branch and walked to beside Hao, "Shouldn't you change back into your Human forms?".

"We should." Yoh said with a nod.

"But I think it's alright for Luchist and the rest to know." Hao said in thought, "I mean, they said that they want to be here with us, it would be better if we tell them so we won't have to hide out true forms all the time again".

"I guess you are right." Yoh said in agreement, "But we better greet them in our Human form, in case they couldn't recognize us and attack us instead".

Hao raised an eyebrow, "Didn't you wondering about whether anyone could recognize us or not?" He asked calmly, "Why don't we try to see if they could recognize us? It's not like we couldn't protect ourselves in case they do attack us".

Yoh smirked mischievously, "You are right." He rubbed his hands together, "I bet their reaction would be funny".

Hao and Matamune chuckled, "I bet you hide this side of you very well from your friends, don't you, Yoh-sama?" Matamune asked in amusement.

"Yoh can a be prankster when he want to be." Hao commented fondly with a shake of his head.

"You love me anyway." Yoh stuck out his tongue before looking up when Lucifer, Luchist Oversoul, flew passed them, "It seems that they missed us, would you please, Hao?".

"Sure." Hao answered as he picked up one of the fallen leaves to make a Shikigami, he sent it out to guide Luchist and the rest to his place.

Not a minute later, Lucifer flew back into their place and landed, Hao dissipate the Shikigami and walked over to Yoh. Both of them crossing their arms with Matamune standing between the two, their tails were lowered to the ground to make them looked less hostile.

Luchist was the first to climb down from the Oversoul, followed by Opacho, Kanna, Macchi, Mary and then Peyote and Zhang Ching at the same time. "Where's Hao-sama?" Opacho asked Luchist with big eyes.

They couldn't see Hao and Yoh yet because they still didn't want to be seen yet, Yoh nodded at Matamune with a mischievous smile, Matamune smirked in answer. "Where do you think?" Matamune asked them, gaining their attention.

"Woah!" Macchi called out in surprise, "This is the first time I see a Nekomata".

Luchist looked at Matamune, "Hello there, do you know where Hao-sama is?" He asked as he looked around, "I don't see anyone around here".

"There's someone in here." Yoh said with mirth as he finally let them see him, or more precisely aware of his existence, at the same time as Hao did.

Ninetails were the strongest among other Mystical Creatures, they were born by the Energy of Nature and have the strongest Magic, well, in most case since Hao wan't born Ninetails. Different than other Mystical Creatures, like Nymph, Werewolves, and so on, Ninetails could make themselves invisible to the eyes of Human and living Animals simply by Will, humans and living animals wouldn't aware of their existence even though they were in the same place and standing right in front of them. The other Mystical Creatures could see them just fine, because they were already aware of the existence of Ninetails to begin with.

"What the?! Who are you?!" Kanna asked in shock as she stepped back in surprise, the rest were staring at Yoh and Hao with disbelief.

"What are you?" Macchi asked after rubbing her eyes to make sure she weren't see things, "Coming out from thin air like that . . .".

Yoh burst out laughing, "They were gaping like Goldfish!" He yelled in between his laugh, "It's never cease to amuse me how humans can make that kind of expression simply seeing us." He then looked at Hao, "So far, the only one who didn't gaping like Goldfish when they saw me the first time was you, Asaha".

"Yes, you were the one who get surprised that time, weren't you?" Hao asked with a smile, "Because it's the first time someone can see you without you showing yourself".

"Right." Yoh grinned before looking at Luchist and the rest, "You really couldn't recognize us?" He asked cheerfully.

"Eh, recognize?" Peyote asked in surprise.

Opacho looked at them and then moved forward to Hao, she squinted her eyes before gasping out loud, "Hao-sama?!" She asked in disbelief, "Is that you?!".

Hao chuckled, "Yes, it's me." He said before wrapping one of his tails around the small girl and lifted her up to him, "Surprise, Opacho?".

Opacho beamed at Hao, "Yes! Opacho surprised!" She chirped happily, "You look beautiful, Hao-sama!".

Hao smiled and picked her up to hug her, "Thank you, Opacho." He said before looking at his still gaping followers, "Is it that shocking?".

Luchist nodded as he stared at Hao from head to toe, "If you are Hao-sama, then . . ." He looked at Yoh, "You are Yoh-sama?".

Yooh nodded, "I am." He answered calmly with a lazy smile, "I'm guessing you are wondering what kind of creature we are, correct?" They nodded, "We are what known as Ninetails, although not many aware of our existence aside from the other Mystical Creatures, a Fox with Human appearance and have Nine tails".

"This is our true form." Hao explained, "The one you saw all this time is our Human form, a form created by Magic".

"I guess . . . we need time to get used to the idea that our Hao-sama is not a human." Kanna said with a sheepish smile.

"Well, you can get all the time you want." Yoh said happily, "We are going to stay here and in this form for a long time, unless we need to appear in public in our Human form".

"As long as you don't mind staying with us, it's alright for us." Hao said with a smile as he let Opacho get back to her feet, "Get some rest, I'm sure you are tired." He motioned to the house, "You can use any room you want, aside from the one at the highest floor, it's ours".

They nodded and began walking before Luchist stopped and turned to them, "Hao-sama, there's something that you have to know." He said seriously.

"What is it?" Hao asked calmly.

Luchist then told him about what had happened in the Patch Village, "We have to be careful in case they decided to attack us." Luchist said after he finished retelling what happened.

Hao smiled, "Thank you for telling me this." He said as calmly as ever, "But there's no need for you to worry about us, we are stronger than them." He then looked at Yoh, "At least we don't have to worry about your friends attacking you".

"Yup." Yoh agreed as he stretched himself again, "Well, I'm going to lazy around again." He said before flopping down to his previous spot. Hao waved at Luchist before following Yoh, with Matamune deciding to sleep on Hao's other side this time.

XXXXX

"Man, flying at a long time is really tiring!" Horo Horo said as he yawned.

Yoh's friends and family had arrived in Japan, aside from Chocolove because he decided to return to his home in New York, the Asakuras then went back to Izumo while Anna and the rest went back to Funbari Onsen.

"This place is dusty." Anna commented as she opened the front door, "Horo Horo, you clean the onsen. Manta and Ryu, you go and buy groceries. Ren and Faust, you clean the house." She ordered them with a glare that practically saying, 'disobey me and you know what you will get'.

They gulped, "Let's go, Manta!" Ryu yelled as he dragged the small boy out of the inn.

"I will go clean the Onsen!" Horo Horo yelled in fear as he run to the Onsen's direction.

"I will start with cleaning the kitchen." Faust said sleepily before he and Eliza went to the kitchen's direction.

Ren sighed, "Fine, I will start at the upstairs." He said as he went upstairs.

Ren had just finished cleaning his room (he thought that since he had to clean the Inn anyway, why not clean his room first?) when he caught a sight of Yoh's open door. The rest had closed their room before going to America, so the fact that the door of Yoh's room opened struck him as strange. He put down his cleaning tools and walked to the door, his eyes widened immediately. The futon was made and all, and everything looked as if nothing had change, but the room was clean!

Yoh came here? Ren thought as he went into the room, he looked around and noticed something else, the door to Yoh's wardrobe was slightly ajar, he narrowed his eyes and opened it. His eyes widened again, all of Yoh's clothes were gone, along with his other belongings, and a piece of paper was placed inside. He picked it up and looked at what was written on it.

Hey, Minna (Everyone)!

I'm sorry if you are worried about me, but I'm alright, Hao saved me and we are going to stay in a new place where we can just living in peace. And, don't worry, Hao won't kill anyone anymore, so rest assured, okay? Please tell Amidamaru that he can move on if he want, or he can do whatever he want.

Oh, and one more thing, this one is for Anna.

I'm sorry, even though I promised that I'm going to be the Shaman King for you, but I don't think it's fair of I continue participating in Shaman Fight. You said that I have to be the Shaman King to give you an easy life, well, I don't have to be a Shaman King to give you an easy life, actually. I will explain more when we meet again in the future, so please forgive me for breaking my promise.

Yoh.

Ren's eyebrow twitched, Typical Yoh, so easy going, he thought with a sigh as he closed the wardrobe's door and walked out of the room, Now, how should I tell this to Anna without getting slap for unknown reason?

XXXXX

"Hao-sama, Ohayou (Good Morning)!" Opacho chirped happily as soon as Hao and Yoh entered the Living Room.

"Ohayou~" Hao replied sleepily while having a hard time opening his eyes.

"Ohayou, Minna." Yoh greeted the rest with a sleepy smile.

"Hao-sama." Kanna called out from the Kitchen, "I'm sorry, but how do you cook here?".

Hao yawned and walked to the Kitchen, "Look, there's stove over there, put the woods inside and light it up." He explained sleepily, "The oil is in that bottle and the water is in that one, all the cooking utensils are in that closet." He pointed at the stuffs before blinking awake when he got drenched so suddenly, he turned around to see Yoh grinning with a bucket in hands. He growled, "Yoh, you . . ." He hissed in anger as his tails raised in a shape of a fan and the end of his tails burning with black fire, Yoh grinned before turning around and ran out of the house, "Get back here, you naughty Fox!" He yelled as he gave a chase.

"They are surprisingly acting like children." Peyote commented before blinking his eyes when he heard animal's growl and yip, "What was that?" He asked in surprise as he walked to the window, only to gasp in shock.

"What's wrong?" Mary asked as she and the rest also going to the window, they looked out and gasped in shock as well.

Running around in the clearing were two big Fox with nine tails, as big as a horse, one of them was white while the other was black, only the tips of theis ears and tails were in the opposite color of the rest of their bodies. The white one was giving a chase to the black one before the white one finally caught the black one, catching the black one's neck with it's jaw. Hao's followers were worried that the black one would get injured, whoever it was, but then surprised when they heard the black one making a sound similar to laughter.

'Caught you.' Hao, the white fox, growled playfully as he looking down on Yoh.

Yoh laughed again, 'Yes, you caught me.' He said cheerfully through their Link, he the licked Hao's nose, making Hao yipped in annoyance, 'Because I let you to'.

Hao lowered his head and licked Yoh's head, on the space between his eyes, 'Yes, yes. You are the fastest.' He said fondly before pulling back, 'But don't wake me up by dropping water on me anymore, I hate it when you did it outside emergency time.' He whined to back up his dislike.

Yoh gave him a Foxy grin, 'I won't promise anything.' He said cheekily, earning an annoyed growl from Hao, 'But I will try to hold back my mischievous side'.

'Thanks Great Spirit that I don't inherit your Trickster side when you turned me.' Hao answered with a sigh.

'If you do, I will be in a lot of trouble then.' Yoh answered with a chuckle as he stood up, 'Now, let's get Breakfast'.

'Agreed.' Hao answered as they turned back to their Ninetails form, "I'm glad that we had reinforced our clothes with Magic, or they will be torn to piece already." He commented as he looked at his black colored Yukata, as opposed to Yoh's white colored Yukata.

"I like to have my Magic, it's so convenient and make our life easier." Yoh said with a big grin.

They walked into the Living Room and was greeted with wide eyed look from everyone in the house, except for Matamune, "What?" Hao asked them with a raised eyebrow.

"Hao-sama was a big Fox!" Opacho said in high pitch, "Opacho surprised!".

Hao and Yoh chuckled in response, "Sorry." Hao said in amusement, "We forgot to mention that we can turned into a nine tailed Fox as well, all of Ninetails can do it actually, not just us".

"Mary nearly got a heart attack." Mary said softly, still in shock at seeing the big Foxes.

Yoh inhaled through his nose a few times before looking at Kanna, "Kanna, your cooking." He reminded the girl.

"Oh no!" The blue haired girl gasped and ran to the kitchen right away. "I'm sorry." Kanna said sheepishly after she served everyone the slight burnt friend fish.

"It's alright." Hao answered, since he know that his followers still viewed him with respect and his opinion would be the most mattered for them, "Not everyone can cook, even all of Yoh's cooking would turn out black".

"Asaha!" Yoh gasped as his cheeks reddened.

Hao stucked out his tongue at Yoh, 'Revenge for the water earlier.' He said telepathically, making Yoh pouted at him.

"Umm . . ." Macchi raised her hand hesitantly, Hao nodded at her to speak, "I'm sorry, but I can't help but wondering why Yoh-sama calls Hao-sama as Asaha? Yoh-sama didn't call Hao-sama like that before".

"Because we don't have to hide anything about us now." Yoh answered her with a smile as he leaned his head to Hao's shoulder, "Now that Asaha isn't blinded by his hatred and we are away from those who want to kill us, we don't have to hide our relationship anymore".

Hao nodded, "That's right." He agreed with a smile as well, "Yoh calls me Asaha is because it's my true name." He said softly, "The name which I got in my first life before the Emperor gave me a new name after saving him, Yoh always called me with my true name in the past, but he had to call me 'Hao' during Shaman Fight because the situation was bad and it would raise suspicion against Yoh if he called me using my true name".

"As I said, we don't have to care about it anymore, so I call him Asaha all the time." Yoh added before straightened himself and take a bite to his food, "Not as bitter as my own cooking." He admitted in the end.

"So it's true? Yoh-sama is bad at cooking?" Luchist asked curiously.

"Like Asaha said, everything I tried to cook always turned black, like a charcoal." Yoh said with a pout, "That's why Asaha always the one who cook for us, before the whole ordeal with the Asakura Clan began".

"You said it like you had known Hao-sama for a really long time, Yoh-sama." Zhang Ching pointed out.

"Oh yes, because I do." Yoh answered shortly.

"We are already live more than 1000 years old, born at the same day and around the same time." Hao said casually with a shrug, "Of course he had known me for a long time".

They blinked, "That's new." Peyote commented.

"That's aside." Yoh said as he stood up, he leaned on the table and looked at them with a big grin, "It would be bad if all of you stay here and doing nothing, you all could turned out insane due to boredom, so . . .".

"You all, aside from Opacho, will go to the town tomorrow." Hao finished with a smirk at them.

"To do what?" Kanna asked curiously.

"To get a job." Hao said calmly, smirking when his followers all jaw-dropping.

"A job?!" They asked in shock and disbelief. Who could blame them? As far as they know, Hao despised the humans so much and wanted to destroy them, and now they were told to get a job out of the blue.

"To be specific . . ." Yoh started, they looked at him right away, "Kanna will be attending High School while Mary and Macchi will be attending Junior High School, so the three of you will search for a part time job. Luchist, Peyote, and Zhang Ching will be aiming to get a full time job, the three of you already an adult, so you can get a real work right away. Unless . . . is there any of you who didn't finish any level of school before joining Asaha?" The three shook their head, "Good, so you can get a job".

Hao then looked at Opacho, "For you, Opacho, you will be entering preschool." He told her with a smile, "I know you are smarter than most kids, but you still need to learn to get along with others of your age, to get friends. While you are in preschool, I and Yoh will teach you the lessons that you will get in Elementary, that way, you will be one step ahead of everyone and will get it easy in the future".

"It's shocking to hear it from you, Hao-sama." Luchist said, voicing everyone's thought, "Normally you wouldn't tell us to get a job or joining school".

"I know." Hao answered with a nod, "But what can I say? It's the real me, what you saw all those time is a fake".

"Hao-sama." Opacho called him out, "Will they scared of me? The children in the preschool".

"It's normal for them to be afraid of you, Opacho." Yoh answered for Hao, "That's why you need to hide your ability as a Shaman, only show your true self to someone you trust the most, of course after making sure that they trust you as well and would never leave you just because you can see Spirits." He smiled at the little girl, "I'm sure you can do it".

Opacho nodded her head slowly, "Opacho will try." She said softly.

"Alright." Hao said as he stood up, "You can go after you finished your meal." He said and moved to placed his dish in the sink.

"Excuse me, Hao-sama." Kanna called out, he looked at her and raised an eyebrow, "Um, I and the girls have long since attending school before Shaman Fight, so we kind of forgetting the lessons".

"No worries." Hao said calmly with a smile, "Yoh and I can help you remember them".

"Aren't you going to school with us, Hao-sama?" Macchi asked curiously, "I mean, Yoh-sama was attending Junior High before he went to America, and you are the same age".

Hao looked at Yoh, Yoh shrugged, "She has a point, we need to attending school as well." He said carelessly, "But it's not like we need to go to school, we can continue what we did in the past, so it's your choice Hao, whether we go to school or not".

"Then no." Hao answered right away, "I have had enough with having to do the same thing more than three times." He grimaced as he remembered how bored he was in the school.

"Figures." Yoh said with a chuckle as he took Hao's dish from Hao and went to the kitchen.

"What did you do in the past, Hao-sama?" Peyote asked with interest, "Were you making paintings? I know you are good at it".

Hao nodded, "We did make paintings." He confirmed, "But we were mostly selling charms and hand made creation".

"Mary." Yoh called as he returned from the kitchen, Mary looked at him, "If I guessed right, are you good in making clothes?".

Mary nodded, "Yes." She said in surprise, "How do you . . .?".

"Your dress." Yoh answered with a smile, "I didn't see any brand name on it, so I figured you made it by yourself." He explained before pointing at the rest, "While you are out later, could you go and buy clothes for them? It's not a problem if they wear their current clothes here, but they would looks kind of out of place in the town".

"Eh?" Mary's eyes widened, "Mary doesn't know if Mary could do it alone".

"Not alone." Yoh answered with a big grin, "Asaha will go with you".

"Me?!" Hao asked in surprise as he blinked his eyes at Yoh a few times.

Yoh grinned, "Yup." He said cheerfully, "You need to get your fashion sense updated, and get used to be around so many humans once again".

Hao sighed in defeat and nodded, "I will change my clothes then." He said with a cute pout, much to the surprise of the others.

To be continued . . .

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