Chapter 7

Disclaimer : I Don't own Shaman King!

Italic stands for thought / dreams/ event from the past

[Stands for voice from the past]

-Stands for telephone-

Underline stands for letter

"Quote stands for dialogue"

Bold stands for emphasis

Bold italic stands for a dangerous tone

A Break . . . or not

Hao stared at the house in front of him with open mouth, Yoh had taken him to his family's house in Izumo, and the house was even bigger than Marco's Mansion. "Amazed?" He turned to Yoh and blinked his eyes, he was still in shock that Yoh's family's house was so big. He know that Yoh was rich, but he never expected Yoh to have a house that was bigger than Marco's Mansion. Hao nodded his head in answer to Yoh question, because he was still in shock to answer without stuttering.

Yoh smiled at him, "Come on in." He said before went ahead and unlocked the gate door before walking to the house, Hao following behind him. "My family already owning this house for a few generations already, and in the past, the Asakura was a big family who trained many people to become a fighter, so it's no wonder that the house is big." He looked at Hao sadly, "Too bad that there's only me in this family now, the house is too big for me".

Hao raised an eyebrow, "If it's too big, why not moving to another place?" he asked curiously.

Yoh chuckled softly, "I already moved to Tokyo, but I sometime come here to clean the house and making sure the house is still in good condition." He replied in better mood, "I only come here now because this is the best place for us to hide from Marco for the moment, we will move back to my house in Tokyo once our problem solved".

Hao nodded and wait for Yoh to unlock the door to his house, as he waited, he saw a motorcycle headed their way. "Yoh." He called to warned the man.

"What is it, Hao?" Yoh asked as he turned around and saw the bike, "Ah, the Express Mail." He said and walked to Hao's side and placed a hand on his shoulder, "It's alright, no need to be so tense".

"They won't attack us?" Hao asked in worry.

"No." Yoh answered shortly as the bike stop and the rider walked to them.

"Express Mail from Mr. Tao Ren to Mr. Asakura Yoh." The person, male from his voice, said as he offered the package to Yoh, "Please your sign".

Yoh smiled and signed the paper on the package before the man rip the paper from the package and left, Yoh then walked back to his house and entered it, "Come on in, Hao." He said when the boy hesitated.

"What is that?" Hao asked curiously as he entered the house.

Yoh closed the door behind Hao and locked it, he then headed to the Living Room and placed his bag on the floor before sitting on the sofa, he gestured for Hao to do the same. "It's a package from my friend in China, something that will help me." He explained as he ripped the wrapper.

Hao sat beside Yoh and eyed the package curiously as Yoh opened the box, he blinked when he only saw many shreds of paper inside. "Why there's nothing?" he asked in confusion.

Yoh smiled and reached his hand into the papers and pulled out two things inside, he raised an eyebrow when he saw the other item, it's an envelope. He shrugged and put it aside before looking at the other item, it's a CD with a picture of Chinese Landscape. "Nice cover." He said to himself with a grin before reaching for his travel bag and pulled out his laptop.

Hao watched curiously as Yoh turned on his laptop and inserted the CD, he was surprised though when he saw what was inside the CD. "Isn't that . . ." he couldn't finished his question due to his shock.

"Marco's dirty little secret?" Yoh asked with a grin, Hao nodded, "Yeah, I asked for Ren's help to get information out of Marco's database, he is a talented hacker, so he could get in and out of Marco's database without detected. Unfortunately, the only information inside Marco's database is about the experiment about creating Living Weapon, he couldn't get information about who is this Living Weapon." He looked at Hao with a sad expression, "That's why I was so sad and shocked that you are the so called Living Weapon, Hao".

Hao looked at Yoh's sad expression and felt his chest become heavy again, he forced himself to smile at Yoh, "But I'm free now, and we will get Marco arrested for what he did." But then he remembered something that make his smile disappeared, "But then I have to get arrested too, for I had killed so many before you came".

Yoh frowned at that and sighed, "I will think of a way so that you wouldn't put into jail as well." He promised before he ejected the CD, he turned off his laptop and put it and the CD aside. "For now, let's see what Ren sent to me." He said as he reached for the gold envelope, he opened it and saw an invitation, or something that looked like an invitation, because it's Ren's style of invitation.

Yoh, you better come to my 19th Birthday Party at Tao Restaurant next week, or I will hunt you down.

Ren.

Yoh chuckled as he read the short invitation, "Same old Ren, never bothered to write a long text if it's for his friend." He commented before looking at Hao, "Do you want to come with me?" he asked with a warm smile.

Hao looked at the invitation with a frown, "Why was your friend threaten you like that?" he asked in confusion.

"It's just because he is Ren, to him, I'm more a rival than a friend." Yoh answered fondly, "So, do you want to come with me?".

Hao looked at Yoh and nodded, "If you don't mind." He said with a smile.

Yoh grinned widely, "Of course not." he said cheerfully and stood up, "Now, let's get you settled in this house and sleep, we both need to sleep after our long travel".

They were getting ready to sleep, Yoh had prepared a spare room for Hao to sleep, but the boy insisted that he want to sleep in the same room as Yoh, so Yoh settled with preparing another futon in his bedroom.

"Yoh . . ." Hao asked quietly after some time, in case Yoh was already asleep.

Yoh hummed as he turned around to face Hao, "What is it, Hao?" He asked with a smile.

Hao didn't turn to face Yoh, "Where should I stay after this problem solved?" He asked softly.

"Do you know where your family is? Where's your home?" Yoh asked as he leaned up on his elbow.

Hao buried himself further into his blanket, "I don't have any." He said in whisper, "My Mother died because she got a heart attack when I was 7, I then taken into an orphanage since I have no other relative, Marco then took me from there at 10".

Yoh didn't say anything for a few seconds, when he answered, his voice was filled with sadness, "My parents were died in a car crash, I was still 5 years old when that happened, but I remember my Grandpa said that I would have a Little Brother if the crash didn't happened".

Hao finally turned to Yoh, "The baby died?" He asked.

"Noy even born yet." Yoh answered with a sigh.

Hao looked at Yoh with a sad expression, "Where's your Grandpa?" He asked since he didn't know what to say.

"Both him and my Grandma died around 6 years ago, killed by Grandpa's old enemy during his time as a Bounty Hunter, the criminal managed to escaped from the jail and then killed them when they were in the town." Yoh answered, "Uncle Yohken then took me in under his care and taught me Martial Arts as well as how to use many different kind of weapons at my request." He smiled at Hao when the boy looked shocked by the information, "Being a family of Bounty Hunters, it's always dangerous no matter who they are. Even if I'm not a Bounty Hunter, many criminals would still attack me just because I'm an Asakura, my family is hated by the criminals after all".

"So, you decided to following your family's job? A Bounty Hunter?" Hao asked curiously.

Yoh grinned and nodded, "As a side job though, my main job is as a hunter who hunt down rabid animals." He explained, "I would only doing some Bounty Hunting when I was short of money, which was not that often, and when I did, I would always hunt for those of high class so I would get plenty of reward as well".

Hao blinked, "Are you really that skilled?" he asked in surprise.

Yoh chuckled, "The most skilled among Bounty Hunters, but I'm still pale in comparison to you." He said cheerfully.

"Only because I'm a Living Weapon." Hao mumbled to himself.

"Hao." Yoh called out to get Hao to look at him, when the boy looked up, he smiled, "About your earlier question, you will find your home sooner or later, because Home is not just a place to stay, but where your Heart hold dear and where you could return at any time." He reached forward and ruffled Hao's hair, "For the time being, you will stay with me".

Hao blinked again before smiling happily, "Okay. Thank you, Yoh." He said before turning around again, "Good Night, Yoh".

Yoh shook his head in amusement before went to sleep himself, "Good Night, Hao." He said back and closed his eyes.

XXXXX

"I hate jetlag." Hao complained as soon as they climbed down from the plane.

Yoh chuckled in response as he pulled a sleepy Hao to the exit of the airport, "You will get used to it eventually." He said cheerfully, "If you want to stay with me after all this solved, then you will find yourself traveling a lot".

"What?" Hao asked in disbelief, "That's mean that I will get this sore, tired, and sleepy often?".

Yoh looked at Hao's expression and laughed, "That's right." He confirmed before looking ahead, he saw one of Ren's employee in the parking lot, standing beside a red car. Yoh blinked, it's rare that Ren would send someone to fetch him, or other people for that matter, he would just let them to get to the place by themselves.

Yoh looked around and saw a restroom sign, he then pulled Hao with him to the rest room. Without a word, Yoh removed his backpack and opened it, then he pulled out a gun and a dagger before handing them to Hao.

Hao accepted the gun and dagger with confusion written on his face, "For precaution, it's rare that Ren would send someone to fetch other people, so I want for us to be ready for any situation." Yoh explained as he pulled a pair of daggers for him, Hao nodded and slipped the gun and dagger in the secret pockets inside his coat.

Yoh nodded in approval before slipping his weapons in his secret pockets inside his jacket as well, he closed his backpack and wore it again. He offered a hand to Hao with a smile on his face, "Calm down, I said that it's for precaution, it doesn't mean that something bad will surely happen." He said as he noticed Hao's tense posture as he accepted Yoh's hand.

Hao looked at Yoh's warm smile and smiled back, relaxing himself as he did so, "Alright." He said with a nod.

Yoh grinned and they walked out of the restroom before heading for Ren's employee, the man bowed to them and opened the car so they could climbed in.

The ride was silence since both Yoh and Hao didn't want to talk, they simply enjoying each other company. As soon as they arrived at Tao Restaurant, Yoh's suspicion deepened at the number of guards Ren stationed around the restaurant.

Sighing, Yoh get out of the car and waited for Hao to get to his side before walking into the restaurant, as soon as he stepped inside, he was confronted by many reporters. "What is this?" He asked them at the same time as he hide Hao from the cameras, he could felt Hao clutching to his clothes.

"Mr. Asakura, are you here to help Mr. Tao Ren about the threat he received last week?" One of the reporters asked as she shoved a microphone to him.

Ah, so he received a threat, huh? No wonder he prepared a strict security around the restaurant. Yoh thought to himself as he caught a sight of Ren covered his face with his right palm and sighed while Jun and his other friends chuckled. Yoh smiled before looking at the group of reporters, "What kind of friend would I be if I wouldn't help my friend out with his problems?" He asked them before pushing passed the crowd to his friends, all the time making sure Hao's face didn't get caught in the camera, it would be troublesome if Marco found out that they were in China, thankfully Hao was smart enough to cover his head with his coat's hood.

"I'm sorry about that, Yoh." Ren, his purple haired friend with piercing gold eyes, said in a form of hello as soon as they get within 1 meter range, he was wearing golden and black colored Chinese outfit.

"No problem, Ren. Nothing that I'm not used to anyway." Yoh replied as he walked to a young woman with golden hair and brown eyes, she was wearing a short blue jeans, a black t-shirt under a red blouse, and a pair of black boots completed her outfit, along with a small red bag resting on her left elbow. Yoh smiled before he hugged her with his right arm and kissed her left temple, "Long time no see, Anna." He greeted warmly, "You are also beautiful tonight".

Anna smirked before reaching her right arm to behind Yoh's head and kissed him full on the lips, "You should greet me like that, moron." She whispered and resting her head on Yoh's shoulder, "Long time no see, Yoh".

Yoh smiled again before turning to the rest of his friends, "Minna (Everyone)." He greeted them with a nod of his head, "Long time no see".

Jun, a woman with dark green hair and Emerald green eyes, nodded at him, "Long time no see." She said back with a smile, she was wearing a black Chinese Dress with dark green picture of Dragon, the same with the one on Ren's clothes.

"Long time no see, Yoh-kun." Manta, a short young man who was easily mistaken as a boy with light brown hair and Hazelnut colored eyes, and Pirika, a young woman with sky blue hair and eyes, said at the same time. Manta was wearing a simple black tux and Pirika wearing a white dress with blue ribbon on her chest.

"Long time no see, Danna." Ryu, a man with black hair in weird style, said with a big grin. Like Manta, he was also wearing a black tux

"Yo!" Horo Horo, a young man with the same hair and eye color as Pirika, greeted him cheerfully while playfully punch his arm. He was wearing Ainu tribe's traditional clothes, he like to wear his tribe's clothes outside his work time. His eyes then darted to Hao, "I didn't know that you have a Little Brother, Yoh".

"Eh?" Anna pulled apart from the hug to see a small version of Yoh standing silently behind the young man, he was wearing a red t-shirt under a cream colored knee length coat and a black sports. Although his head was hidden under his hood, they could still see his face, "Who is he?" She asked Yoh.

Yoh stepped back and pulled Hao to beside him, "Everyone, this is Hao." He introduced them, "Hao, these people are my friends. Ren, Jun, Horo Horo, Pirika, Manta and Ryu".

Hao nodded at them and they nodded at him as well.

"Is he . . . ?" Ren asked but not finished his question, instead he raised an eyebrow at Yoh, who nodded in answer. Ren sighed, "You will get yourself in trouble if you keep doing something rash like this, you know that, right?" he asked as he crossed his arms.

Yoh grinned, "Since when I didn't get myself in trouble?" He asked in answer before looking around, "Anyway, seeing how tight your security, I bet the threat you received is bad?" He looked at Ren again.

Ren smirked, "The usual, some crazy person want to kill me just because I'm the Son of the Ambassador." He answered calmly, like it was no big deal at all. Well, for Ren though, it's really was no big deal what so ever since he was a Kempo Master.

"Yoh! Everyone!" A voice make them turned to the direction of the entrance to see a green haired young man with green eyes walking to them while waving his hand, he was wearing a dark green tux. "It's nice to see you all again." He said with a big grin that make him looked like a teenager.

Following behind him was a girl with a wavy silver hair and Rose red eyes, she was wearing a black and white Gothic dress with a black boots reaching her knee. "Good Evening." She said calmly with a warm smile that make her look mature even though she was only 15.

"Lyserg, Jeanne." Yoh greeted them with a big grin, "Long time no see".

Lyserg clasped his hand with Yoh, "Yeah, long time indeed." He agreed then nodded at the rest.

"It's nice to meet you all again." Jeanne said as she bowed to them, an ever polite girl she was, before her eyes connected with Hao's, "And I see that you are here, Hao".

"Jeanne." Hao nodded at him, "I ran after Yoh to be with him." He said to the unasked question.

"That's mean you are in good care, I'm glad to hear that." Jeanne said warmly before looking at Yoh, "Is this mean that He will get arrested soon?".

Yoh nodded, "As soon as I send the evident I have to the police and found out a way to make sure Hao wouldn't get arrested as well." He told the girl.

"Good grief." Jeanne said coldly.

"You really don't like him, do you?" A male voice asked from behind the group, except for Lyserg and Jeanne, making them turned around to see a man with long black hair and black eyes wearing a black tux walking to them.

"Silva." Hao get into a battle stance as soon as he recognize the man.

Silva grinned, "Calm down, no need to be so tense like that." He said with a wave of his hand, "It's not like I'm here to attack you or anything".

Hao narrowed his eyes and get ready to attack despite what Silva said, but then he felt a hand rested on his shoulder, he looked up to see Yoh smiled at him. "Don't worry, Silva isn't working with Marco." He assured.

Hao looked at Silva, "If he isn't working with Marco, how come I saw him in the Mansion as one of the guards?" he asked cautiously.

"I was spying at him." Silva answered as he pulled his wallet and handed Hao his ID card, "I'm from FBI and was assigned to observed Marco to get information needed to arrest him".

Hao's eyes widened as he accepted the card, he looked at it and indeed, Silva was an FBI member. He relaxed and handed the card back to the man silently and went to hide behind Yoh again, he didn't want to get seen in public yet, he want to wait for at least after his problem with Marco solved.

"He kind of sheepish, isn't he?" Ren commented with a raised eyebrow, "I would thought that he would be more an aggressive type".

"It's not that." Yoh said as he looked at the cameramen recording their interaction, "It's because of the camera, we didn't think there's would be reporters here, it's kind of risky for him".

"What are you talking about?" Manta asked curiously.

"About my current mission." Yoh answered with a smile.

"What mission?" Pirika asked in confusion.

"The usual, a job to put someone into the jail." Ren answered for Yoh before shooing them away, "Go, enjoy the party." He said to them all before looking at Yoh, "I will have my match with you after the party, Yoh".

Yoh nodded and waved casually as he walked to the food filled table with Hao and his male friends, his female friends were being dragged by Jun to her other friends from China to have a girl talk together. Yoh was also talking with his friends, but he would always watching his surrounding to make sure he would see anything out of place right away.

Hao, being the cautious type he was, already watching his surrounding with hawk eyes, and since he didn't need to divide his attention from surveying the area and talking with other people, he was the first one to noticed a man acting strangely. Hao turned to Yoh to warn him about the man, but he saw that Yoh was not at his previous place anymore. He looked around in panic only to see Yoh already on his way to the man, Hao sighed softly through his nose and began walking to the man as well.

Yoh was on his way to the suspicious man when the said man pulling out a gun with silencer and pointed it at Red, not wanting to take any risk and opened his mouth. "REN!" He barked out in warning tone so Ren would react immediately.

Ren heard the warning and turned to the direction he heard Yoh's voice, he saw a man with cream colored tux and wearing a black sunglasses pointed a gun at him and fired. In a flash, Ren raised his briefcase he always carried with him and blocked the bullet. He lowered the briefcase and saw that Yoh already chase after the man, Ren threw open his briefcase and pulled out his folded Kwan-Dao and joined Yoh to hunt the man who shot him earlier.

People moved out of the way from the running figures of the fleeing man, the chasing Yoh followed by Hao and then Ren. The people who were acquaintance with the Tao family were used to this kind of situation, and so they simply moved out of the way, not even a single one of them was panicking and let Ren, along his friends and family, to solve their problem by themselves.

As he run, Hao saw that the man was heading for the entrance of the restaurant ahead of them, he hastened his pace and rushed pass Yoh and jumped forward, he landed right at the entrance and faced the attacker.

The attacker saw that his escape had been blocked, raised his gun to shoot at Hao, but suddenly his gun was cut in half, he gawked at it and halted in his step due to his shock. A big mistake, because as soon as he hated, Yoh grabbed the man's hand, turning them around and locked the man's right hand in a way a police would do with a criminal. Ren, the one who had cut the gun in half with his Kwan-Dao, raised his weapon to the man's neck.

"You are arrested." Ren said calmly but with annoyance, "Why did you attack me and who ordered you?" Not like he care about the answer, he already knew the answers from his Hacking, he asked that just to follow the procedure, so no one would find out his real ability as a Hacker.

The man, despite the pain and fear he felt, smirked nastily at Ren, "You won't get anything from me." He spat, "And my men should killed your Sister already by now".

"Oh, you mean these useless brats?" Jun's voice rang coldly from behind Ren.

They looked at her direction to see all the other attackers were subdued already, two were by Jun's feet with her stepping on one of their heads, her weapons, the Twin Steel Fans called Dragon Beauty, held expertly in her hands. Two more were under the feet of a man with the same type of Chinese clothes like Ren but black and red in color, a Nunchaku was secured behind his back because he didn't even need them to knocked the attackers for he was a Daodando Master, Lee Pai-Long was his name if Yoh got it right. He had heard that Jun and Pai-Long were engaged, but he never get the chance to meet him face to face.

Yoh looked around and saw that Anna had taken care of two more attackers, who were now under her feet, a pair of Tonfa were in her hands as she was a Master of using them. Horo Horo was standing nearby with three men under his feet, his hands were on his hips, but Yoh could still see his Fighting Gloves on his hands. Pirika was not far from them, she was holding a Sniper and was pointing it at the man below her feet. Silva was there as well, with a pair of Daggers nicely gripped in his hands and two men were unconscious under his feet.

Yoh then looked at the other side to see Lyserg was pointing his Twin White Revolvers at two other men under his feet, beside him was Jeanne with her left hand on her hip while her right hand was relaxed at her side, but a Black Whip could be seen in her grasp. Near them were Ryu and Manta. Ryu was standing calmly with one foot stepping on one of the attackers, his Bokutou (Wooden Sword) held securely in his grip. Manta was sitting on the table, under said table was another unconscious attacker, how Manta was able to knock him out? The answer was a big Dictionary on his lap, a Hammer of Knowledge he said once, much to his friends bewilderment.

All of the people who knocked the attackers unconscious were wearing a bored expression.

Hao was staring in surprise at the sight, Yoh chuckled quietly while still holding the man securely, Ren was smirking before turning to the Boss, "If you want to kill someone from Tao family, I suggest you hired a more reliable people than those brats." Ren said with a confident smirk, "We are not a mere family who own a Restaurant, all of us from the Tao are Kempo Masters, never underestimate us".

"Remember that well, for we are all bored with having to take care of weaklings like you people." Yoh whispered at the man's ear before he knocked him unconscious as well by hitting the back of his neck. "They always underestimate you, aren't they?" He asked Ren as Ren's guards came to take the attackers to the police.

"Yeah, as always." Ren said with a sneer, "Why they are stupid enough to attack me or Jun is beyond me".

"Yoh." Hao called as he get to beside Yoh and hid behind him again, "Are you and your friends are these strong? I mean, you are all used with fighting?".

Yoh laughed cheerfully, "Whoever dared to be friends with us would have to be to protect themselves in any way they could, since whether they want to or not, they would get targeted by our enemies as well." He told the boy, "And whoever acquaintance themselves with us are used with this kind of sight since it's a common occurrence".

"Wow." Hao commented in awe, he never though that an ordinary looking people like them would be people who were skilled in fighting, whether it's using guns or any other type of weapons.

Ren smirked at the boy, "Yeah, and since it's already common in here, our guests never mind that much and just continue enjoying the party like nothing happens once we finished taking care of the attackers." He motioned for the other guests who were already continued chatting with their friends or eating the foods. "Unless something dangerous happen which required for them to evacuate".

"Let's go." Yoh said to Hao, "We better run and left Ren before the reporters come here, we couldn't let them record your face".

"Go to my Mansion, they would let you in without a fuss." Ren said quietly so the approaching reporters wouldn't hear him, "Remember that you owe me the match, don't you dare to fall asleep".

"Sure." Yoh said and he run out of the restaurants while the reporters questioning Ren about the event, with Hao following closely behind him.

To be continued . . .

Froim : Finally, I update again.

Yoh :Why didn't you update your stories?

Froim : My Internet wasn't on.

Hao : Update more often from now on will you? (Glare)

Froim : Yes. (Sweating) I will try.

Yoh : Review Please :)