Hao couldn't sleep the past two weeks. Usually, he would fall asleep easily, surrounded by Yoh's thoughts of toys and the seagulls they've seen the other day at the beach, but these days were hard. He would sleep in the afternoon and not in the evening. Keiko and Mikihisa always tried to get the boys tucked in their cot by half past seven, but Yoh would often fall asleep around nine, while Hao stayed up. He didn't make the slightest sound when Keiko or Mikihisa came or left, and he pretended to be asleep.
He couldn't shake the image from the beach out of his mind. Was having a family changing him? How was this any different from his Patch family? They were just as affectionate and caring as the Asakuras. They always cared for little Hydro and brought him up to be a future officiant, something they definitely came to regret later. Hao actually liked being called Hydro. It was quite similar, and with hydrogen being highly combustible, just like the fire he liked.
Funny, how things evolved. He remembered being afraid of fire as a small child. He thought of his mother, his actual mother's caring voice and gentle hands as she taught him to make and care for fire.
"Fire is a good servant but a bad master," she would tell him and Asaha would nod, keeping a respectful distance from it.
Oh, how things changed so quickly. The fire that he was scared of killed his mother. Wasn't that supposed to make him more afraid? Instead, it consumed his mind that he would make humans pay in the same, torturing way they murdered his mother in. That's why he went after the Spirit of Fire. That's why his Hydro name really fit him.
So why was it different with this family? There were members who wouldn't hesitate to kill him as a tiny, helpless baby, even now, they still suspected him of wanting to burn down this whole place. Ha! As if he would want to burn down the place that provided him with food, clothes and other enrichment until he was old enough to join the Shaman Fight.
Hao curled his tiny hands into a fist. No, he wasn't changing. This just couldn't be happening. But the Spirit of Fire that wasn't gaining on strength, that still stayed in its cute, base form, was the perfect example of that. Hao wasn't feeding it souls, and therefore, the spirit wasn't growing. It was almost useless. It wasn't even big enough to take him into its palm anymore.
Hao turned his head to look at Yoh. The two of them still shared the same crib, but it was a much bigger one. It was a cot now, and their parents chose it so that each twin would have their own space. Needless to say, it took a lot of space in the room. Yoh was sleeping peacefully now, and his chest rose with every breath.
Hao stood up. He knew where he would find food for the Spirit of Fire. And he had Yohmei and Mikihisa to thank for that. Hopefully, no one would wake up this time.
He had the Spirit of Fire bring him out into the woods. They sneakily avoided the statues Conchi and Ponchi resided in, and they headed to the place where Yohmei took them a few weeks ago in hopes to start teaching Yoh some basics of shamanism.
The wandering spirits were still there. If the Asakuras didn't bother doing something about them for the past 1000 years, it was unlikely that they would in a few weeks now.
The Spirit of Fire set Hao down in the middle of the forest. It had rained the previous day, so his feet landed in mud, and he looked down with disgust. He would need to wash them before coming back home.
It didn't take long at all for the spirits to gather. They floated around, some menacingly, some just with a curious head tilt, but they would all meet the same fate.
"Feast," Hao said, watching as the tiny Spirit of Fire turned the scene into chaos. It gained on size with every soul it devoured, and it grew significantly once it was done feasting. No soul was left in sight, and that was only the small forest in the vicinity of the Asakura house. Now, Hao could be satisfied. He could fit quite comfortably on the Spirit of Fire's palm. The only downside of this would be not being able to show him around the house anymore. Yoh loved the red glow of his body, and was very curious about the fire, but he would need to sacrifice that sight for now. If Hao showed that the Spirit of Fire gained on size, everyone would immediately assume that something was up. And they would be right.
Realizing that this was everything he would get for the Spirit of Fire that night, Hao turned and started walking to the house. He could've had his spirit carry him, but his feet were already dirty, and he didn't mind. As he felt the dirt and leaves under his feet, it reminded him of the strange Heian era days before he was taken in by Tadatomo.
The night was quiet, and then he got to the road and everything went to shambles.
"Hey, what's a kid doing here?" a man, seemingly in his sixties, asked. Another man, around the age of the first one, shrugged. They seemed to be a little tipsy, but Hao knew that they still had enough common sense to wonder about a toddler, alone, in the middle of the road.
Fools , he thought.
"Where is your mummy?" the first man crouched down to see him better, and asked.
Dead , Hao thought bitterly, and stayed silent.
"What a little champ, all alone and doesn't cry even a little bit," the other man commented, and Hao raised an eyebrow at him.
"Where do you live, little one? We're going to bring you back to your family."
Hao remained stubbornly silent. That was the last thing he needed, for two strange men to bring him to his family.
The second man shrugged.
"The kid obviously doesn't know how to speak yet," he reasoned. "Let's bring him to the police station, they can contact his parents if they're looking for him."
Hao didn't know how he could get from one bad option to an even worse, but the police station sounded like a BAD idea. That couldn't happen. When the two men were discussing what would be better, he turned and started wandering away, preferably to the nearest cover.
Until a hand wrapped around his wrist and stopped him.
No, Hao wouldn't let that happen. The Spirit of Fire sprang into action and burned the man's entire arm. He screamed.
"Hikaru! Are you alright?" the first man ran to them, and Hikaru held his arm up, hastily removing his shirt. Hao didn't burn it all away, just enough to force him to let go of him, and now he didn't hesitate. While the two men were distracted, he had the Spirit of Fire bring him up and to the Asakura estate.
Hikaru wrapped his shirt around the burn.
"What the hell happened?" he asked through gritted teeth. "Was that the toddler?"
"I have no idea… maybe we shouldn't have had that last shot."
Hikaru looked around.
"Where is he?" Both of them looked for Hao, and the other man shrugged in response when he couldn't spot him.
"I guess your scream scared him off?" he suggested, and Hikaru laughed, almost hysterically.
"Great! A damn toddler and we can't find him," he said, covering his face.
"Let's get you to the hospital first, then we can go report a missing child."
Hikaru nodded, and his friend helped him up to his feet. In the morning, no one would find a single child missing from their homes, and the two would be left wondering if that was all just a drunk dream.
Hao washed his feet up in the pond. The koi carps curiously swarmed around his feet, and he kicked to have them leave him be. He was annoyed.
Annoyed that he had let himself be caught and almost taken to the police station as a missing child. That wouldn't end well for him at all.
The Spirit of Fire brought him back to the room and into the cot. He was almost too big to fit into the small room, and it would be troublesome to sneak away for more night adventures in the future, not if his spirit threatened to destroy the house.
Hao lied on his back. He burned that man's arm to defend himself. He could've killed him if he so wished; he was powerful enough to kill both if the situation called for that. So why did he feel so bad about burning a stranger's arm, an injury that he would most probably recover from without any scars?