Chapter 9

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

Theory and Hope

The rest groaned as soon as they digested what Yoh had informed them, "You are right." Ren said in frustration, "But we couldn't go without a single Asakura in the Selection".

"Maybe Yoh-kun need to be the Candidate again, we are all still in age range after all." Lyserg suggested.

Yoh shook his head, "No, I'm already chosen twice." He reminded them, "You all could be the next Candidates because you are only got chosen once, but I'm twice already".

"What does that mean?" Hao asked in confusion.

Yoh looked at Hao with a small smile, "By the Law of Athena, a Candidate could only be chosen twice, no matter what position it is." He explained slowly so Hao would understand, "I might be able to help out as the Former Adviser to help the next one, but still the Candidate from the Asakura Clan would be none".

"What if . . ." Jeanne mumbled in thought before looking at Yoh, "It had been nagging me since the first time I seen Hao, but could it be that he is your relative somehow?" She asked seriously, "I had thought about the Asakura's Candidate problem for a long time, since I know that you have no younger relative within the age range left in Asakura Clan. Lip and Rap only 10 right now, they don't even have the same quality of Wisdom as you do, any other possibility had not been discovered yet, so they couldn't be presented as Candidates yet." She looked at Silva, "I, Silva and Yohken had been secretly gathering information about Hao's background." She then looked at Yoh, "We found that Hao was not really Marion Phauna's Son, she found him as a baby. She was a Midwife and an Obstetrician before she died 6 years ago . . . what if . . ." Jeanne bit her lower lip as she couldn't continue.

They looked at Jeanne for a long time and waiting for her to continue, but she couldn't, they then looked at Silva to see if he would continued for her, but he couldn't as well since he was unsure whether it's wise to say it or not.

Fortunately, Yoh caught what the rest of her unfinished words, "You mean . . ." He drawled catching their attentions, "There's a possibility that Hao was my unborn Brother?" He asked calmly, that thought was always in his mind, but he didn't dare to hope for it to be true.

Jeanne nodded, "Yes." She said softly, "Keiko-sama's pregnancy already reaching the ninth month, she could gave birth any time if not for that crash".

"From what Yohken told us . . ." Silva opened his mouth at long last, "Marion was working at the Hospital where your parents were sent to during the time, and the next day, she said she found a baby at the front of the Hospital." He looked at Hao and Yoh, "This had been nagging me since the first time I saw you, you looked so much like an Asakura to be just a random child. Yohken told me that Keiko was still alive when she arrived at the Hospital, albeit barely, but she died a few hours later due to losing so much blood and over exhaustion".

Hao was frowning in confusion, "And . . . ?" He prompted.

"And . . ." Yoh said before Silva even could open his mouth, "With me being only 5, Silva and Yohken to busy to be raising a baby, and my Grandparents to old to even fully raising a 5 years old boy, even more so a newborn baby . . ." He looked at Hao, "Mother might already thought about all this and asked for Marion to help her gave birth to you and help her raise you, which could only by her telling people that she found a baby. It's a dangerous think to let people know that you are raising a baby from the Asakura's Main Family, since our enemies might come to kill her and you without Yohken or Silva could get their hand on you".

Hao blinked as he understood what might happen, "My Mother, Marion, planned to raise me up a bit until you or Silva or Yohken could take care of me, but then she died from Heart Attack before she could even contact any of you?" He guessed.

"That's the theory." Jeanne said with a nod of her head, "And if this theory is correct, and I had a nagging suspicion that it is . . . Hao, you are an Asakura, Yoh's Little Brother".

"Is there any way to proof it?" Hao asked hopefully, even with all the information he heard about Athena and all, he was still wanting to be a real family with Yoh, so this information really raise his hope so much.

"We could take DNA Test." Yoh said with a smile, "But seeing how we look so much alike, the theory might be right".

"Then, then . . ." Hao bit his lower lip, "Could we do it soon?" He asked hopefully.

"Hmm, since we are still in this kind of situation . . ." Yoh muttered, "We need to wait until the mission a success before we take the Test".

"We could ask Yohken, he is a member of Athena and he already know about Hao." Silva suggested with a big grin of excitement, "He is a Doctor, I'm sure he could do the Test for us".

Yoh grinned as well, "Where is he now?" He asked excitedly.

"In the Kyoyama Hospital." Anna answered, "He had just been transfered there from Tokyo since we are short of hand, I could arrange the meeting for you".

"Thank you, Anna." Yoh said with wink, "You are the best Fiancee ever".

"Sweet talk, aren't you?" Anna asked with a smirk. Yoh laughed in answer, while Hao's eyes widened over the fact that Yoh had a Fiancee already.

Ren leaned away from Long's side, "Well, with this mission in our hands, we might couldn't hold the usual tournament right now." He said calmly as he looked at the rest, "But!" He growled as he glared at Yoh, "You owe me a match, so you better bring your Harusame with you".

"Harusame?" Hao asked Yoh curiously.

Yoh grinned, "Harusame is the sword that had been used in Asakura Clan from generation to generation." He explained as he stood up and pulled out something which was wrapped in cream colored cloth, "Harusame was actually a sword used by the Ancerstor of the Asakura, Amidamaru the Great Samurai, from 600 years ago. The same goes with Ren's Kwan-Dao, it's from his Ancestor, Bason the Chinese Warlord, from 600 years ago as well".

"It's called Bason-Tou." Ren said proudly as he took out his Kwan-Dao, "Now, unsheath your Sword and fight me, Yoh." He then looked at Hao, "And I would like to have a match with you later, Hao".

"Ah, I want to fight him as well!" Horo Horo exclaimed as he jumped up from his spot and looked at Hao, "Why don't we have a match later on? After this fight, since it's a waste if we miss this fight".

Silva, Anna, Jun, Pai-Long and Ryu looked at Hao as well, "I would like to fight you as well." They said at the same time, while Hao's eyes widened in shock and the rest laughed at Hao's expression.

Yoh pat Hao's back, "You will get used to it soon." He said before unwrapped his Harusame and unsheathed it, and as soon as he did so, Ren was already charging at him.

Hao watched in shock and awe when Yoh suddenly disappear from beside him and appeared again in the center of the clearing, clashing his Sword with Ren's Kwan-Dao. He was faster than when he fought me . . . Hao thought as he watched Yoh moved so lightly and so silently that he wasn't sure if he wan't imagining things, but not only that, Yoh's strength in each of his attacks were not the same like when he fought against Hao.

"Yoh had become stronger yet again, hadn't he?" Anna commented from beside him, watching the match as well.

Hao looked at her and saw that she wasn't talking to him, but to Jeanne. "Indeed." Jeanne answered, "I noticed that he had gained more speed and power in his attacks, not to mention his body moves so at ease like the flow of a water".

"Agreed." Jun joined the conversation, "Making us wondering if he trained himself secretly again." She looked at Hao then, "Considering even Hao, who had lived with him for some time now, had been surprised as well".

Hao nodded in answer, "Possibly, he wasn't this strong when we fought the last time." He answered in calm voice, but he was still in shock that Yoh managed to get that strong in just a week time since their fight.

"But Ren had become stronger as well." Silva commented before looking at Jun, "You had been training him so much, I bet".

Jun raised one of her fan to cover her mouth as she chuckled, "No, I didn't." She said with a shake of her head, "Ren did his own training since he want to beat Yoh so bad, I merely accompanied him during his training and sparring with him once in a while".

"Sure, you did." Pai-Long commented sarcastically, "To the point that I had to be dragged in his training session by you".

"Pai-Long!" Jun exclaimed as she blushed in embarrassment.

"Same old Jun!" Pirika chirped cheerfully, "I also never let Nii-chan to slack off!".

"Yes, to the point my bones nearly break." Horo Horo agreed, but his eyes never stray off from the match between the two strongest fighters in Athena.

"Chuuka Zanmai!" Hao's eyes widened when Ren used a rapid attack that would surely kill Yoh if not for Yoh jumping backwards to avoided being stabbed multiple times.

Yoh used the tree behind him as a jumping rock and charged at Ren this time, "Amida-ryuu! Gokoujin!" Hao's eyes widened even more when Ren avoided Yoh's attack, causing said attack to hit the tree behind Ren and cut clean the tree in half.

"What kind of deadly attacks are those?" Hao asked in shock and awe, "I never seen anything like that until now".

"Chuuka Zanmai is the technique used by Bason in the past, which had been inherited by the Tao for generations now, along with Bason-Tou." Jun explained, "But only Ren could use the technique so perfectly, as if he was trained by Bason himself".

'The same goes for Yoh." Silva added, "Only, no one from the Asakura mastered Gokoujin, Yoh mastered it by self-taught from the book left behind by Amidamaru".

"Amidamaru had more technique than Bason though, sadly." Pai-Long commented, "You haven't seen the Shinku Buddha Giri and Dai Gokoujin techniques yet".

"Eh? There's more?" Hao asked in shock before focusing on the match again when he heard a yell of frustration, it turned out that Ren had lost his patience. "It's a bad think to do if you lose your cool in a battle, he should know it by now if he is a Kempo Master." He commented casually.

"Yeah." Silva said with a smirk, "But Yoh had it in him to make his opponents losing themselves in their weakness, but it seems you had not effected by his gift when I saw your fight".

Hao blinked, "Because I was a Living Weapon only that time, being trained to kill expertly and so on, Marco had making sure I wouldn't have any weakness." He explained, "If I had no weakness, Yoh wouldn't be able to bring it out. But . . ." He smiled softly, "What he brought out in me is the feeling that had been buried deeply in me, the feeling that had erased from me during my training".

"And you become more Human." Silva finished for him.

"And I become more Human." Hao agreed with a nod, "Something that I will always grateful for".

The matched ended when Yoh thrown Ren to the ground and pointed his Sword beside Ren's neck to 'Behead him' if it's a real life and death battle. Then Ren, Silva, Jun, Anna, Pai-Long, Horo Horo and Ryu in turn challenged Hao in a fight, even Yoh ended up challenging the boy as well, with the outcome being all of them lose against Hao. Although, Yoh managed to landed a few hit on Hao while the rest couldn't.

Due to them having their matches, they ended up staying up all night long and sleep the morning away to the late afternoon. Then, after a quick conversation, Anna, Yoh, Hao and Silva left China to Kyoto, to the Hospital Anna owned and where Yohken was working at the moment.

To be continued . . .

Froim : Sorry it taken so long . . .

Hao : Doesn't matter, just give her review and maybe she will update soon.

Ren : But it's better don't get your hope up so : You two are meanie . . . T T Please review