Chapter Text
Prologue
The night we talked at the star gazing spot I told you about the night I was reborn. But there is more to the story, elements I haven’t even told my Yoh about.
“I'm dancing with my demons,
I'm hanging off the edge.”
I told you how Mother Keiko and Matamune had begged me to stay. Their pleas were heartfelt and I could sense wholeheartedly that they were true. I agreed to leave my newborn body in their care because I wanted to give my newborn self the best possible chance to survive. But that was all it was going to be. When the time came and I was strong enough to do so, I was going to leave with the Spirit of Fire. I did not anticipate that something else would make me want to stay.
“Storm clouds gather beneath me,
Waves break above my head.”
I can remember the moment my consciousness became aware of there being another. It felt warm, calm and safe. Those feelings were echoed all around me, eclipsing me. My soul whole. I later came to realise that’s how my twin was feeling, and though his thoughts were not in any way coherent in language, those infancy thoughts were simple. Made up of love. Innocence. Pure. It’s easy to forget that we all begin this way. No presence of pain, anguish or torment that most people feel later in their lives.
“Headfirst hallucination,
I wanna fall wide awake now.”
I had found a way to reincarnate with the Spirit of Fire. Its instructions were clear, and at the moment of my rebirth, it snatched me away from my new birth mother. Our mother.
"You tell me it's alright,
Tell me I'm forgiven, tonight.”
I remember how she held up her hands to the Spirit of Fire, and I could hear and feel her raw emotion. Without saying a word, she was asking for my spirit to hand me to her. Of course, it did not and awaited my command. I think it could sense how I was wavering. I think Mother Keiko believed if she held me, nursed me, raised me, somehow this would change my fate. Arrogantly I decided to use her trust in her motherly instinct against her and I commanded the Spirit of Fire to hand over my newborn body into her arms.
“But nobody can save me now,
I'm holding up a light.”
What only felt like moments later, a new overwhelming feeling of security washed over me, as another baby was placed in my new mother’s arms. I watched how wails turned into calm contemplated silence as I saw the face of my twin brother mould into the same innocent and pure being I had sensed the whole time we had been together. I heard Keiko whisper his name lovingly to him, and I learned for the first time the name of the other half of my soul.
“Yoh.”
“I'm chasing out the darkness inside
'Cause nobody can save me."
My brother and I were only together on Keiko’s chest for moments until Keiko and Mikihisa were advised by Kino to separate us out of fear of the baby’s close proximity to me. What followed was a few hours of… what I could only describe as a harrowing uncomfortableness.
“Stared into this illusion,
For answers yet to come.”
From that moment onwards Yoh was inconsolable, concerning his mother and Kino to believe he may have suffered a birth related injury or defect. My useless infant body lay alone in a bassinet as I watched Yoh’s parents try everything to soothe him. The Spirit of Fire had not left my side from the moment my new body came into the world. That was when Matamune came into the room and he came over to look at me. I saw a kindness and warmness in his face.
“I chose a false solution,
But nobody proved me wrong, no.
Headfirst hallucination
I wanna fall wide awake
Watch the ground giving way now.”
That was when Matamune walked across the room to Keiko, who looked desperate to soothe her new baby’s cries, and he gently placed his hand on her arm. It was then they all turned in my direction, and I could not believe what they did. They put the baby in the bassinet beside me.
“You tell me it's alright,
Tell me I'm forgiven, tonight.
But nobody can save me now.
I’m holding up a light.
I'm chasing out the darkness inside
'Cause nobody can save me.”
As Yoh and I were now laying inches away from one another, I gazed at this infant who was staring directly back at me and suddenly we were whole again. I watched and sensed the relief wash over his little body as he passed out, exhausted from all the wailing. From that moment, I knew, deep down. My fate was changed.
“Been searching somewhere out there
For what's been missing right here."
The months that followed my brother and I grew stronger every day. I hit milestones early, as I pushed my juvenile body to mature enough for me to carry out my plan to leave. I spent time observing my other half struggle to catch up. As I began walking, he began crawling. And everywhere I would go, he would follow. As we spent every night together from the moment we were born, I found myself watching him sleep. How angelic and pure he was… I saw something in him that seemed unfamiliar and yet familiar at the same time. Sometimes it was like looking at a version of myself that might have been. Other times I just saw pure joy and love reflected back at me. I then realised I was just soaking him in, trying to memorise every moment, every detail. How he would instinctively reach out for me in his sleep and clasp my hand, blissfully unaware of who I really was. To him I was everything.
“I've been searching somewhere out there,
For what's been missing right here.”
As my body matured, the time came and went to go out into the world alone. I told myself I’d stay for just one more milestone. Then that new milestone came and we were onto the next one. As time went on and my life became brighter, I noticed my world becoming quieter. Before long I realised, I was going to need to make a choice. Leave with The Spirit of Fire and begin to grow my power, or stay with Yoh. If I stayed, I knew one day I would have to tell him who I really was. I had played out the conversation countless times in my head. He was my innocent little baby brother. Would he be afraid of me? That’s what scared me the most. The more I thought about it, the more obvious the answer became. I wanted… no, I needed more time. I knew in order to stay, The Spirit of Fire would have to go. There was no other way of proving to him, to everyone, I would never hurt him. Or anyone.
“I wanna fall wide awake now.”
As Yoh started to come of age, he began to learn about our heritage, our bloodline and our purpose. Kino and I had talked in private about how to tell him about me. Kino began with teachings of the sacrifices of his Asakura ancestors, my descendants, that came before. It was left to me to decide the right time to tell Yoh about how we fit into that story. In hindsight, I probably built it up too much in my head.
“So tell me: it's alright,
Tell me I'm forgiven, tonight
And only I can save me now”
But something else was bothering me more. If Yoh was to accept me, what then? Was I then supposed to spend a millennium searching for peace, for freedom from my torment, just to lose it again a mere few decades later? Yoh had saved me, but how was I going to do the same for him? I became obsessed with the idea of the irony of it, for a mistake to change my fate, my life, to find happiness unexpectedly just for death to take it away from me. It began to twist me up inside. How pathetic I must sound... but Yoh was so easy going, so blissfully ignorant and naïve. The magnitude of what I had to tell him weighed heavy on me. So much so, it was Yoh who brought it out of me one day. He could tell there was something on my mind. Even for such a small child, his empathy was so whole it was unbelieveable. And I wanted to be free, to tell him everything. I was desperate for him to understand. I should have known all along that if anyone would understand, Yoh would.
I knew the only way to get what I wanted was for Yoh to become the Shaman King.
“I'm holding up a light,
Chasing out the darkness inside
And I don't wanna let you down,
But only I can save me.”
I told him everything. Who I was, how we came to be, and my plan to train him to win the Shaman Fight and become King. Then I would follow 500 years later. We could be together, immortal, infinitely powerful for eternity. It seemed too much for a child to understand. It felt like my whole world was about to collapse around me. Although freeing it was to finally let it out, I felt uncomfortable with the not knowing what he thought in that moment. My abilities to understand his true feelings had been lost to me long before.
But what he said to me will never leave me for as long as I live.
“We’ll do it together. We’ll be together. That way, you won’t ever be alone again.”
“You’d do that for me? Why?”
“Because you’re my big brother, that’s why.”
He made me promise I would never kill again. A promise I have kept to this day. And I was forgiven, accepted, loved unconditionally. Happy. For the first time in all of my lifetimes.
So you see, it was Mother Keiko and Matamune who stopped me from leaving.
“Been searching somewhere out there.”
But it was you, Yoh, who made me stay.
“For what's been missing right here.”
Chapter One
“New Divide”
Part 1
Anyone who stepped foot inside the Patch Village bathed in an atmosphere of child-like excitement for what was to come - for just accomplishing the task of locating the refuge of the Patch Village felt like an unified victory for every contestant in the Shaman Fight.
Yoh and his friends buzzed amongst themselves, joyous that their search was finally over, and they planned to take advantage of the few weeks they had left before the Shaman Fight was in full swing.
Yoh had been surprised by the arrival of Manta, Anna and Tamao – (even though this of course meant Yoh was in for more vigorous training and he wasn’t going to be able to relax for long) but seeing their faces made him feel more at ease. Anna took the first opportunity to talk to Yoh in private about the reason they had followed them to the village, whilst the other friends continued to explore their new surroundings.
Shaman in all shapes and sizes could be found rubbing elbows with each other in the Main Street of the Village, and the shops and cafés were full of eager customers. The scene before them could almost be mistaken for a tourist vacation destination, and it was like the Shaman Fight was a distant forgotten memory.
For a moment, everything was peaceful.
It wasn’t long before that feeling was cut short. An ominous and striking phenomenon appeared - cutting the atmosphere like a swift slash of a blade - as a scorching and electrifying lightning spectacle suddenly filled the skies. Every eye was drawn to it and in the same second it appeared it was gone. Confused and worried looks were exchanged between every shaman in the village, and a chorus of slight panic arose.
“What was that?” exclaimed Manta, searching the crowds for his friends. He lay eyes on Ryu, HoroHoro and Ren who looked as though the blood had drained from all their faces. Manta made his way swiftly over to them. “What happened?”
“We don’t know,” answered HoroHoro, his voice soft and weary. “But we felt it.”
“We all did.” added Ryu.
“What – felt what?” worriedly asked Manta.
“Something’s changed,” came a voice from behind them. Manta spun around almost in mid air to see Anna, Tamao and Yoh standing there. “Our sixth senses all felt it.” Anna finished, placing one hand on her hip and the other clutched her beads.
Yoh’s lips were pressed in a hard line and his eyes were fixated on the sky. He could feel a deep throbbing in his chest, one that he could only remember feeling a long time ago. It was like there was an absence in his heart. He was unsure if it was the same feeling everyone else was describing. But it hurt. It felt like a grief had suddenly struck him. Against his better judgment, he decided not to say anything to the others.
There was a pause. “Well what ever it was, it’s gone now.” said Ren. “Let’s head to our quarters, it’s about time we got settled in.”
There was a murmur of agreement amongst the friends as they all began to make their way to their stationed living accommodation.
Suddenly a harrowing wail could be heard somewhere nearby, and the group simultaneously spun around on the spot and hurried back towards the Main Street area without hesitation.
In the clearing all eyes fell on Opacho, who stood alone surrounded by a huddle of concerned shaman. Some Yoh recognised as being Hao’s followers, others were just onlookers who were concerned for the child’s welfare. Yoh and his friends couldn’t quite work out what was going on, until the words she was screaming out rang across the crowd and echoed in Yoh’s mind like a ricocheted bullet:
“HAO-SAMA!”
Stunned, Yoh and his friends didn’t know what to do. They just planted themselves there, staring at the scene before them, but no one was more desperate for answers than Yoh.
They watched as Luchist appeared from the crowd and tried to calm the hysterical child, who by now had become so distraught she wasn’t even making any coherent sense.
“I wonder what’s going –” began Manta, suddenly dumbstruck to see Yoh was already half way across the square and headed towards Opacho and Luchist.
Yoh could feel Anna’s eyes burning into the back of his skull, but he needed to know. Luchist’s eyes narrowed when he saw Yoh approaching, but he did not say a word.
Yoh knelt down beside Opacho and tried to give a sympathetic smile to mask how he really felt - worried and afraid for what Opacho was going to say.
Opacho finally opened her big glistening eyes and looked up at Yoh, she couldn’t get her words out as she continued to sob.
“Hey, Opacho, it’s okay.” smiled Yoh. “Take a deep breath for me, alright?” said Yoh as softly and reassuringly as he could. Opacho responded by taking in a long inhale of breath and then she managed to squeak out:
“Opacho saw Hao-sama disappear – and – and – and – Opacho – can’t – can’t – can’t – “ her eyes began to fill up again as she began to sob, “Opacho can’t feel Hao-sama!”
A wave of alarm washed over the crowd, especially affected by Opacho’s words was Luchist – who looked like he had just been punched in the gut. Yoh exchanged a glance with Luchist and the ex-X-Law leader looked harrowingly back at Yoh.
“Can’t feel him?” whispered Yoh, the words felt alien on his lips. His mind buzzed with questions, questions he knew the 3-year-old couldn’t answer. Yoh blinked hard and realised Luchist had ushered Opacho away from the crowd and he, along with all of Hao’s other followers present, had left as quickly as possible.
Anna appeared by Yoh’s side, who was still kneeling on the ground. Yoh noticed that deep empty feeling in his chest was getting worse with every passing moment. There was only ever one other time in his life he felt grief like this, and that was when Matamune lost his life. But this feeling cut deeper. It was like he was missing part of his soul. Yoh noticed something fall to the ground in front of him. He realised it was a drop of blood. He lifted his hand to his face and discovered his nose was bleeding.
“Come,” said Anna, firmly.
Yoh wasn’t sure how long it had taken them all to arrive back at their accommodation block, the short walk there felt like a blur as a frenzy of questions swirled in Yoh’s mind. Yoh couldn’t explain this longing he felt, and he didn’t know how to put it into words to explain it to the others. Yoh barely knew Hao, they had only met a couple of times. Why did he find himself so desperately worried about Opacho’s words? What had happened to Hao?
"Is he dead?”
Those were the only three words that he could coherently think aloud in his mind. Those were the only three words that seemed to matter.
Yoh and Anna followed by Manta and Tamao entered the building and shuffled into the main communal living space. Not far behind them was Ren, HoroHoro and Ryu.
Yoh’s blood suddenly ran cold and his breath left his lungs when he saw what was before him.
Hao was sitting crossed legged on the floor in the corner of the room, reading a book. He was barefooted and looked relaxed and casual. And the most bizarre thing about what they saw in front of them was Hao was wearing an orange and black floral Hawaiian shirt.
The group froze. Hao looked up from his book and locked eyes with Yoh. Yoh watched as an unfamiliar welcoming smile spread across Hao’s face, he almost looked as relieved to see Yoh as Yoh was to see him.
“Yoh,” Hao breathed, the syllable rolled off his lips with a sigh of relief. “I had the most bizarre feeling whilst you were out…” Hao suddenly trailed off when he took notice of all the other bodies standing in the room. “Who are your friends? And when did you change your outfit?” Hao got to his feet. It was now noticeable that Hao’s nose was bleeding too. Hao noticed Yoh looking at him closely, “Oh yeah, don’t worry I didn’t get into any fights in the 10 minutes you were gone.” Hao beamed a smile at him, laughing slightly. “It just came on suddenly – hey, wait a second – is your nose bleeding too?” Hao approached Yoh to inspect him, but Yoh recoiled away, his eyes were still fixed on Hao’s every move.
Hao could sense the atmosphere in the room and suddenly realised he was the only one doing all the talking. His brow furrowed.
“Okay, is someone going to tell me what the hell is going on?”
Part 2
Hao was met with an uncomfortable silence from the entire group that stood before him, and he was beginning to lose his patience. He scanned the faces of those standing behind Yoh, and his eyes focused on HoroHoro and Ren - who were standing shoulder to shoulder, looking equally dumbfounded. Ren looked the most pissed off out of the two.
"I know you," he said to HoroHoro, "You were Yoh's first opponent in the preliminaries." Whilst keeping his eyes focused on Hao's expression, and purposely avoiding Hao's questioning words, HoroHoro leaned forward and whispered to Yoh,
"Why does he hardly recognise us? It's like he's forgotten who we are."
Hao blinked. Then Hao turned his attention to Anna.
"Are you just going to stand there?" He said staring straight at Anna, the inflection in his voice was like he was desperate for someone to finally help him make sense of what was happening. Hao began to feel uneasy and lose his cool slightly as he noticed that uncomfortable painful feeling he felt in his chest earlier suddenly return.
"I don't know who you think you're talking to, or what you're doing here, but the jokes over now. So you can get lost." angrily snapped Anna. Hao almost looked physically pained by Anna's words.
The awkward silence grew again, and Yoh watched as the familiar face before him moulded into an anguished and confused expression that stared back desperately at Yoh. Those were the same dark eyes he's seen before, but they were softer than he remembered, and it was plain to see that this was definitely not a joke.
"Opacho." Yoh said finally, breaking the icy tension. "She's looking for you."
All eyes watched as Hao didn't falter, he just seemed even more confused by Yoh's words.
"Who?" Hao replied.
There was another uncomfortable pause before Ren leapt forward, “Don’t be so pathetic, this little charade you’re performing stops now. We knew you had something planned for Yoh – but if this was it? I’ve got to admit I’m disappointed. I assumed you had a little more… class, than that.” Ren smirked. “Feigning ignorance and sudden onset of amnesia? Don’t be absurd, you expect us to believe you just because you’re wearing a stupid shirt? I assume the child is in on this whole circus as well? ” Ren began laughing, gesturing aimlessly towards Hao and then looking at Yoh. “You don’t actually believe this nonsense do you?”
Yoh had not taken his eyes off of Hao, who was also staring back at him. The two were transfixed on one another, as a new realisation seemed to be dawning on the both of them. Hao was beginning to get the picture that Yoh did not recognise him. And Yoh was beginning to understand that this Hao in front of him was agonising over that fact. But what seemed to bother Yoh more was he didn’t understand why.
Before Yoh could answer Ren’s question, they were interrupted by a new presence entering the room.
“What is all this shouting for? Yoh-dono, I did not realise you were bringing guests, I would have made more tea.”
In the doorway of the kitchen stood a small creature that looked a lot like a domesticated cat, but was standing on two legs and had two tails.
Yoh’s jaw dropped, as did Anna’s. The others looked on, even more confused by the scene playing out in front of them.
““Matamune?!”” Yoh and Anna yelled in unison.
Matamune looked puzzled, but remained calm, realising that there was a lot of tension in the room and he did not feel like contributing to it. He looked at Hao, who by now looked just about fit to burst.
“My my, there really does seem to be a problem here. Hao-dono, I have not seen you this upset for a long time.” said Matamune, sympathetically.
Matamune walked over to Hao’s side and placed the tray of tea down on the table beside him. Matamune grasped Hao’s hand and patted the back of it gently, as though to soothe him. Hao didn’t take his eyes off Yoh, but he squeezed Matamune’s hand in gratitude. Anna and Yoh blinked hard at them, as they scrambled to find words to string together to form questions.
“But – how - ?” Yoh spluttered.
“How can this be?” interjected Anna.
“I saw you die…”
“You were unreachable!”
“How can you – how could you –?”
As Anna and Yoh took turns trying to make sense of what was going on, Matamune’s attention was drawn to Yoh and the necklace he was wearing around his neck.
“Odd.” said Matamune, softly. Hao, grounding himself back into the room from the foggy daze he was in, quickly realised what Matamune was looking at. Hao couldn’t believe he hadn’t noticed it.
“Yoh, your necklace.” said Hao, gently. Yoh also snapped himself awake from the frantic frenzy that was playing out in his mind.
All attention now turned to Yoh. Yoh brought his hands up to his neck and he gently caressed the claw necklace he wore there and had always worn there since the day Matamune returned to the after life.
Matamune approached Yoh tentatively, his attention fixated on the necklace. “How could this be possible?”
Yoh smiled as Matamune came near, even under the current bizarre circumstances and the physical discomfort Yoh was feeling that was only getting worse with every passing moment – he was delighted to see Matamune again. Yoh’s eyes met Hao’s again briefly, and it was at that moment that Yoh realised that the pain he was feeling was only temporarily remedied when he was looking directly at Hao.
Matamune stood directly in front of Yoh. Yoh looked down at him as he tried to remain perfectly still. He still wasn’t sure if what he was seeing was real. Matamune was here. Hao was here, but he’s different. Very different. Yoh thought in that moment that maybe if he moved too much the walls to this reality would fall down and he’d be back in his old reality, one without Matamune. He could see in his peripheral vision that Manta was trying not to explode from the suspense and Anna, for once, was speechless. Anna was likely the only one besides Hao, Yoh and Matamune who fully understood the significance of Matamune’s apparent existence in the same place as that necklace.
The significance was: it was impossible.
Matamune slowly brought his hand up to Yoh’s necklace. When he touched it – it sent a ferocious electrifying shockwave in all directions and knocked everybody off their feet. Matamune let out a cat-like shrill as he was ejected across the room and crashed into some furniture. Yoh was cushioned by the impact against the back wall by his lightning fast ability to generate his over soul. Everyone else groaned and moaned as they got to their feet again. It was becoming clear to them all now that something really weird was going on, and their minds were cast back to that daytime lightning show that lit up the sky earlier that day. The energy they felt in the room felt exactly the same.
Hao got to his feet and turned around to see Matamune standing on all fours, his back arched and his fur standing on end. Hao couldn’t stop a smile from spreading across his face as he watched Matamune try to compose himself.
“I’m so glad I exist just to amuse you, Hao-dono.” said Matamune sarcastically. “But at least you’re smiling again.” He stood up and tried to pat himself down. “How terribly undignified.” he muttered under his breath.
Matamune approached the group again and observed all the stunned faces, especially those of Yoh and Anna.
“Right, I’ll make us some more tea, shall I?” sighed Matamune as he marched his way out of the room, before looking back at them all and shooting a purposeful glare directly at both Hao and Yoh. “And we can all sit down and figure this out properly, alright?”
Both Hao and Yoh stole glances at one another before nodding in silent agreement with Matamune.
Part 3
“Why does this keep happening?!” observed Manta erratically, gesturing to the large gathering now sitting calmly in a circle on the floor around the table in the centre of the room. The air was laced with an uneasiness that could be felt by everyone present, and the lingering sparks of energy from earlier events could still be felt by every shaman in the room.
The only ones not present were Ryu and Tamao. Ryu had gone off in search of Lyserg, who still had not appeared after passing through successfully into the Patch Village – and Tamao had been sent by Anna to fetch a Patch officiant.
Anna was standing at the foot of the table, her arms crossed and her eyes were burrowing into the side of Yoh’s head. Matamune was sitting calmly at the opposite end of the table, his eyes closed in quiet contented thought, occasionally drawing from his kiseru pipe. Ren and HoroHoro sat side by side, glaring across the table at the two sitting opposite. HoroHoro was trying to stifle a nervous laugh whilst Ren’s hair seemed to be getting slightly taller the longer he suppressed the urge to blurt out what he was really thinking.
Hao and Yoh sat side by side. Yoh was kneeling, his hands were gripped tightly onto his knees as he kept his gaze forward. He was suppressing the urge to turn to look at Hao sitting beside him. Hao was leaning back on his arms, his shirt hanging open as he gazed out the window to the right of the room. Hao eyed HoroHoro as it was becoming abundantly clear by the way HoroHoro was trying not to laugh that something was funny. HoroHoro noticed Hao glaring in his direction and he felt a sudden chill run up his spine.
“Do you care to share with the class what is so funny, Ainu shaman?” calmly said Matamune, opening his eyes and shooting a glare of his own in HoroHoro’s direction.
HoroHoro gritted his teeth and smiled nervously. “I – I can’t help it, it’s these long silences, they’re killing me!” laughed HoroHoro.
“Idiot.” tutted Ren, sipping his tea.
Anna slammed her hand down on the table startling almost everyone and rattling all the china. Yoh flinched, whilst Hao remained composed. He seemed to be daydreaming, or not really in the room with everyone else. It seemed Hao was no longer feeling very chatty.
“I guess I’ll be the one to address the elephant in the room, or should I say the cat in the room?” snapped Anna, staring at Matamune across the table. “How did you get here?”
Matamune met Anna’s glare with one of his own. “I could ask the exact same question to you, Anna.” calmly replied Matamune. “The last time Hao-dono, Yoh-dono and I saw you, we were leaving for Tokyo.”
“The last time I saw you, you were crossing over to the other side.” remarked Anna, Yoh seemed to wince slightly at Anna’s say-it-how-it-is attitude.
Hao turned his head to look at Matamune and shared a silent exchange with him. Although Hao wasn’t saying anything, his head was racing with thoughts, ideas and questions. Why did Yoh not seem to know him to the same extent that he knew Yoh? How could it be possible for Matamune and Matamune’s medium to exist together and they are not one in the same? What exactly was that power they all observed earlier, and what did it mean?
After a pause and a few more awkward glances exchanged between everyone in the room, eventually, Hao spoke.
“Tell me Yoh, who do you think I am?” he said calmly.
All eyes fell on Yoh once again. Yoh was beginning to hate being the centre of attention. Yoh gave Anna a sideways glance, before taking a deep breath to answer.
“You’re Asakura Hao.” he muttered in reply. Yoh noticed how Ren almost spat out his tea and HoroHoro certainly wasn’t laughing anymore.
“A – Asakura?” mumbled Manta.
“You’re the founder of my family.” Yoh continued. “You have reincarnated again into this life to enter the Shaman Fight with the aim to become Shaman King and create a shaman only world. We’re… we’re related.” Yoh did not look at Hao as he spoke and kept his gaze looking forward. Hao was listening tentatively, his expression never faltering, yet underneath his heart was quickening. “I… I only found out about that today, when Anna told me. And I pieced a bit of it together myself.”
Yoh lifted his gaze to look at HoroHoro, Manta and Ren’s perplexed expressions. “I was gonna tell you guys, but Anna didn’t even get a chance to finish what Grandpa sent her here to tell me, we were interrupted by that thing in the sky – ”
“Grandpa?” questioned Matamune. “Yohmei – is alive?”
Hao and Matamune exchanged uncertain glances again. Yoh tried to catch his breath and almost laughed, HoroHoro’s nervous laughter was catching.
“Of course.” replied Yoh. “Alive and well. It was Grandpa who trained me when I was a kid.”
“I – ” interjected Hao, but he stopped himself. Hao shifted his weight forward. He took out his oracle pager and began typing. It was obvious by the way Hao was forcefully tapping at the screen that he was becoming irate by the situation..
Matamune watched sympathetically as Hao furiously tapped away before turning to Yoh, Anna and the rest of the group who were looking at Matamune for answers. Matamune took a deep breath and he took a moment to think before he spoke again.
“The details in our recollections appear to be so contrastingly different that I can only come to the conclusion that we are all experiencing the effects of a time dynamic shift.” began Matamune. “Young Yoh-dono, your Grandpa died some time before you were born. I should know, because I was there.” explained Matamune softly.
Yoh shot a desperate look at Anna, who also looked more and more desperate for an explanation. The more they talked, the more confusing the situation was becoming.
The silence was broken again, this time by a voice that was furious and hollow.
“You’re not my Yoh.” seethed Hao.
Hao got to his feet, his stance was firm and livid, his hands clenched into fists. Matamune looked shocked to see Hao in such a way.
“Hao-dono…please, stay calm. We can work this out – ”
“I don’t need to work this out!” shouted Hao, storming a few paces away from the table. “Something tells me I am not welcome here.”
“Understatement of the century,” muttered Ren, receiving a harsh elbow in the chest from HoroHoro.
Yoh got to his feet. He didn’t know what to say to Hao, or to the others. He was just as desperate as anyone to figure this out. In that moment Yoh felt scared and lost, and now that Hao had moved away from him, he suddenly felt lonely. That pang in his chest returned, and in that moment Yoh realised that Hao was feeling exactly the same way he was.
“Hao…” Yoh choked out. Hao’s eyes were glistening, they were no longer soft, they were harsh and angry. Hao spun on his heel and headed towards the door. He stopped suddenly and hurled around and pointed at Yoh.
“Your Grandpa didn’t train you well, Yoh. Your furyoku level is absolutely pathetic.” Those words hung in the air as Hao swiftly made his exit, leaving everyone reeling from the scene.
Matamune sighed deeply. “He’ll be okay,” he said softly. “He just needs some time to cool down. He’s just confused.”
“He’s not the only one!” chirped in HoroHoro. “Geez, this is a lot to take in!”
Yoh flopped himself back down on the floor, he was exhausted from the days events so far, and he knew in his heart that things were bound to get lot more confusing the more they tried to figure this whole mess out.
“You’re not my Yoh”
Those words whirled round and round in Yoh’s mind like a broken record.
“Matamune, what did you mean… when you said ‘time dynamic shift’?” calmly asked Anna, she had now sat down beside Yoh and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
Matamune looked at all the faces in the room who were now staring at him, hopeful for some answers.
“It would appear that the life experiences of myself and Hao-dono do not seem to line up with what all of you have experienced up until this very moment. That, coupled with the fact that Yoh-dono is in fact wearing my spirit medium around his neck, leads me to believe that we’re in some kind of cross over anomaly of time itself. Put simply, myself and Hao-dono do not belong in your reality, and you all do not belong in ours.”
Worried looks were exchanged between the group and the silence remained as everyone hung onto Matamune’s every word.
“Hao-dono is so upset because in our reality he and Yoh-dono are very close.”
Yoh blinked hard and tried for a moment to imagine what that must feel like, to learn that someone you thought you were close to does not even seem to know you.
Matamune raised an eyebrow at Yoh, he could see that Yoh was mulling it over in his mind. The others all seemed astonished at the idea of Yoh and Hao being close in any context.
“Well that couldn’t be further from the truth,” scoffed Ren. “The Hao we know is a raging murderous lunatic, and Yoh barely even knows him.” Ren was met with another harsh elbow in the chest by HoroHoro. This time Ren gave him one back, but harder.
“Yes…” trailed off Matamune, trying to take in Ren’s words. “In fact, Hao-dono trained Yoh-dono to win the Shaman Fight.”
““Win?”” gasped Yoh and Anna in unison.
“Yes.” nodded Matamune. “And Yoh-dono is extremely powerful, as a result.”
Yoh fell back slightly and caught himself with his arms. Ren’s hair got a little pointier just at the idea of a more powerful Yoh Asakura.
“That’s preposterous.” laughed Ren. “Why on earth would Hao do that?”
“He’s… he’s not trying to become Shaman King?” muttered Yoh.
Matamune wondered if maybe he had said too much, or if he should allow Hao to explain the rest himself. He sighed sadly, drawing again on his kiseru.
“Wait a minute, Yoh is extremely powerful? Are you saying there’s another Yoh, too?” worriedly asked Manta.
Matamune thought about it for a moment before responding, “I suppose that there’s a possibility that there’s another one of all of you. Who knows? Perhaps even infinite numbers.”
“Ha ha! Just one Ren Tao is plenty!” laughed HoroHoro. He was met by a punch to the face by Ren, who garbled something about HoroHoro not taking this seriously enough.
Anna and Yoh remained silent as they sat side by side quietly contemplating all the information that had been discussed. One thought seemed to be playing on Yoh’s mind the most. If this Hao was another Hao from another place, another reality, then – what happened to the Hao Asakura from his own reality? Just thinking about Hao in the way that Yoh knew and remembered him made him wince in pain once more, and he felt that longing deep inside his soul return.
Tamao arrived back at the accomodation building, looking like she could burst from anxiety. Not far behind her was Silva, looking equally bereft. Tamao could instantly feel the awkward tension in the room and her face went bright pink. She gestured quickly towards Silva as if to say to the group, "Here he is."
Silva didn't waste any time asking questions. "I have just seen Hao with my own two eyes marching through the middle of the Patch Village headed towards Main Street. He looked like he was on the war path."
Yoh looked straight at Matamune, who was puffing on his pipe and tapping his fingers gently on his knee in quiet concentration. "That boy... How many times? He will not listen." angrily sighed Matamune. Matamune got to his feet and began to make his way to the door. "What part of "keep a low profile" does he not understand?" Matamune mumbled to himself. Yoh scrambled to his feet too.
"Matamune, wait. I'll come with you." said Yoh hurriedly. Yoh was afraid that if Matamune walked out the door he might never see him or Hao ever again. Anna gave Yoh a knowing look, but she did not say anything. Yoh took her lack of objection as reason enough to go.
Matamune paused and looked straight at Yoh, he could see the sincerity in his actions and nodded his head. "That is probably a good idea. He needs you, Yoh-dono. And I am afraid of what may happen if we cannot find a solution to this mess we are in."
"Okay." Yoh nodded, he wasn't entirely sure what Matamume meant, but he wanted to help the best that he could.
Matamune sighed deeply, he looked up at Silva and bowed his head at him to show respect before speaking, "I suppose the Patch are still one High Spirit short?" asked Matamune. Silva looked confused, but then nodded.
"Yes." replied Silva. "Hao wields the Spirit of Fire."
Matamune made his way to the exit and paused in front of the door with his back to the group.
"No." said Matamune. "The only spirit Hao-dono wields is me."
Matamune walked hastily out of the room, followed by Yoh. The others left behind all shared in one unified thought. The Hao that they knew was gone, and so was the Spirit of Fire.
End of Chapter One