Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Shaman King!

Thought / dreams

'Telepathic voice'

[Voice from the past]

=Telephone=

Letter

"Dialogue"

Emphasis

A dangerous tone

"We have a problem!" A green haired boy yelled as he threw open the door to their hideouts.

He, along with two others, stood up, "Lyserg, what's wrong?" He asked seriously.

"The Angels! They found us!" Just as Lyserg finished saying it, a sword came to him.

Hao gasped and pulled Lyserg aside, but by doing so, he was the one who get stabbed at his left abdomen, "Run!" He yelled to the rest.

"But, Hao …" Lyserg protested but Hao glared at him, he and the rest flew away immediately.

"After them!" The Archangel in front of him ordered.

"I don't think so." Hao said through gritted teeth before he attacked them with a big Black colored Magic Ball, causing smoke to covered them, he used his Magic to create the copy of his friends and flew to a different direction, while he make the copies to flew in all direction to confused the Angels.

Just as he expected, the Angels chose to go after him than his friends, so he hastened his pace to give more distance between them and his friends. He didn't know where he flew, he thought he was somewhere above Japan, but he couldn't think about it since an attack was heading his way.

Hao avoided the attacked and stopped flying away, instead, he turned to face them head on. He figured that he would be dead, again, anyway. It's impossible to fight against that many Angels at once, he could still win if it's a one on one fight, but against a bunch of them? It's the end of him, he knew, but as long as his friend could stay alive for a little longer, until they found out the reason why they refused to pass on and hold tightly to the living, then finished whatever business they left behind and pass on, he would gladly give up his own life, well half of it anyway, since he never fully alive, with him being a Demon and all.

Much to his own surprise, he could last longer than he thought when he fought against that many Angels while being injured so badly, but the outcome was to his prediction. With him losing so much blood due to his stabbed wound, a single Light attack from the Angels hitting his chest and he couldn't move anymore.

He fell down from the sky and couldn't flap his Wings at all, he knew that it would be the end of him, and he accepted it. He didn't know what had become of the Demon that had died again, maybe this time he would return into a Spirit and forced to pass on, or maybe he would disappear into nothingness. Either way, he accepted it with open arms, at least his friends would be safe for a while. He didn't regret his actions.

The Angels seemed to be thinking the same with him, that he would be dead for sure, since they left even before he touched the ground below. He was grateful, since even though he predicted himself to be dead, but he didn't want for an Angel to be around when he did die, he didn't want for their face to be the last he seen. And … in a slim chance he could survive the fall, as long as there's no Angel around to finish him off, there's still a chance for him to heal and continue to live.

Although, it seemed that his death already written so clearly, because even when he was only halfway to the ground, he started losing his consciousness. His eyes had long closing themselves, and just before the darkness claimed him, he heard something …

"Tsubaki!"

The echoed word reaching his hearing… and the constant pain he felt in his Heart had finally subsided …

Hao's eyes fluttered open and he know right away that he had not die, again.

He sat up and looking around, he was in a room of some kind, with the room itself made using stone like modern house, but the design of the room was that of Old times, a Traditional Japan house from the look of it. He saw a curtain covering something, and feeling curious, he stood up and opened it, and he was immediately greeted by the view of a beautiful garden being lighted by Morning Sun. The serene sight had him noticed that there's something different about him, and that's when his brain caught up.

Hao looked down and touched his chest, above his heart. Aside from the pain he dimly felt from the burn he got from the Angel's Light attack, he didn't feel the same pain like the one he constantly felt.

"Ah, you are awake." A soft voice alerted him that he was not alone, but strangely he didn't feel that he was in danger. On the contrary, he felt at ease, like he finally come home.

I see, He thought as with his eyes closed to enjoy the feeling of comfort, I finally found what had me holding to life so much, I have found my … Heart.

Hao opened his eyes and turned around to meet face to face with the owner of the voice, he didn't expect himself to come face to face with a boy who had the same face as him, albeit with shorter hair. "Were you the one who saved me?" He asked after he came out of his shocked state.

The boy smiled, "I am." He said with the same soft voice, "I had figured that you are not human with your bat like Wings, but I didn't thought that we would have the same face".

"I was surprised as well." Hao said with a soft smile before he bowed low to the boy, "You have my gratitude, thank you for saving me." He said while ignoring the pain he felt in his left abdomen, his wound had not fully healed from the look of it.

"There's no need to thank me." The boy said as he walked closer and guide him to the bed, "Please rest, your wound – although healing faster than normal rate – is still not fully healed yet".

Hao did as he was told to and sat on the bed he had woken up on, he looked up when he felt movement and saw that the boy had chose to sit on the bed as well, not too far from him, only then that he noticed the tray the boy brought with him. On the tray were a bowl of warm porridge and a glass of tea, and beside them was a First Aid box.

The boy picked up the First Aid box and put it aside before turning to him and offered the tray, "If you are strong enough to walk, I assume you are strong enough to eat by yourself as well?" He asked with a warm smile.

Hao nodded and accepted the tray, "Thank you." He said softly and placed the tray on his lap, he looked at the boy, "I apologize for my rudeness. My name is Hao. Would you mind if I ask yours?" He asked politely.

The boy laughed, "Oh, please, throw the formality away." He said before grinning widely to Hao, "My name is Asakura Yoh, you can call me Yoh".

Hao smiled back and nodded, "If you would like that." He said and looked at the porridge on his lap, hesitatingly, he took a spoon of it and ate it. He smiled at the warm he felt, he had never really eaten warm food before, only something he manage to steal, like bread and boiled egg, and they were not warm. Something then caught his attention, he looked up at Yoh to voice his question, but the boy was busy with something he recognized as a mobile phone.

Yoh seemed to feel his gaze because he looked up to Hao and rose an eyebrow, "Um, how did you know that I would be awake?" Hao asked the question that had caught his attention, "If you were simply coming here to check my condition, I figure that you would only bring the First Aid box with you, and not with the food as well".

Yoh shrugged, "You could say I had a feeling that you would be awake." He said nonchalantly, "I have a strong Sixth Sense, so I guess my feeling about something is quite right, so I decided to bring a warm food with me for you in case you are indeed awake like I felt you would." He smiled at Hao, "Turned out to be a good thing, right?".

Hao blinked, "Sixth Sense? You could see Spirits then?" He asked curiously.

Yoh nodded, "Yes." He answered shortly and went back to messing with his phone, "Eat up, I will change your bandage once you are done".

"Ah, yes." Hao answered and continued eating the food that had been generously prepared for him.

Hao finished his food and drank up his tea, he then stay still to let Yoh change his bandage after cleaning his wound with some disinfectant and applied some salve to his burn wound. Yoh then left the room to put the dish and the First Aid box away, and after a minute or so, walked back into the room and sat on the bed beside Hao.

"Well, now that the bandage had been changed …" Yoh started with a smile, "Could you tell me what exactly you are?".

Hao nodded, the boy had saved him despite knowing that he was not human, so he figured he could tell the boy what he was and left the rest to fate. "My kind is known as Demon of Heart." He started slowly and waited to see what kind of reaction Yoh would make hearing the word of Demon, but the boy simply nodded to let him know it's alright to continue, "We are a being of Darkness, um … we are originally a Spirit of the dead people, but there's still something we had to do and refused to pass on. Eventually, our Will to stay had pulled the power of Darkness into our Soul and we are reborn as a Demon".

Yoh blinked, "I thought that the Spirit of people who have something left to do would stay in the Living World as a ghost." He mumbled before looking at Hao, "So, you have something left to do and unable to pass on, if you finish this business, are you going to pass away to the Afterlife?".

Hao nodded, "Yes, no one knows what would really happen, but I think that it's like that." He answered.

"Well, why don't you tell me what you need to do then? I will help you out." Yoh offered with a grin.

Hao shook his head, "No, it's not that simple." He explained, "It's true that we could pass on once we do what we need to do, but the problem is … we don't know what it is, we don't remember".

"You don't remember?" Yoh asked in surprise.

Hao nodded, "The price of gaining a new life, the memory of what we need to do, the one thing that make us holding to life so much that we pulled the Darkness into our being, had been hidden away from us." He explained as best as he could, "The only way for us to know the Key to that memory, the Key for us to know what it is that we need to do …" He touched his chest, " … is our Heart." He looked straight to Yoh's eyes, "When we first being born as a Demon, we would feel a pain in our Heart, always there until we find the Key. This key, normally is a human … and so, we call this Key as our Heart, because the pain will subside once we find the Key, like we had finally found the Heart we need to fill the emptiness inside".

Yoh looked sad, "You are in pain then?" He asked in concern.

Hao smiled, "The pain is always there, so we ended up getting used to them." He shrugged, "But I don't feel it anymore, when I heard your voice before I fell unconscious".

Yoh's eyes widened, "Are you implying that I'm your Key? Your Heart?" He asked in shock.

Hao's eyes softened, "Yes." He said in whisper and looked at his lap, he was afraid of what was going to happen now, "As long as we stay with our Heart, we would eventually remember what we need to do, so that we could finally pass on to the Afterlife … so, would you let me stay with you?".

Everything was silent, the only sound he could hear was Yoh's breathing, since he didn't dare to breath in anticipation of Yoh's answer. A pair of hands comes to rest on his own hands, he looked up to see Yoh smiled at him, making him feel so warm inside.

"I will be happy to have you here with me." Yoh answered softly, "I live here by myself, so I was a bit lonely".

Hao's eyes brightened with hope and happiness, "Really?" He asked softly.

Yoh grinned, "Yeah." He answered with honesty in his voice, "Really".

Hao smiled in happiness, "Thank you." He said gratefully.

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To be continued …

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