A/N: Again, THANKS KIGEN WITH MUCH LOVE! And also a big thanks to the people who read this and/or reviewed. The review replies are at the bottom of the chapter. This is, again, a slow update. I am a slow ass. And lazy. And dead tired from school. And maybe I'm just procrastinating. Just maybe.
Disclaimer: Characters are from Shaman King. They do not belong to me.
Warning: Yaoi (boyxboy), implied sexual content, AU, angst of some sort, dry humor
Spoilers: Not much, just the parts about Lyserg's past and Hao's personality overall.
Summary: Hao, come here, let me slap you, and then I will tell you why you made Lyserg cry, yet again. (Warning: Yaoi, HaoxLyserg)
Because I listen to music when I write: Joe Hisaishi - A Summer's Day ; Inuyasha - Fukai Mori ; Theme music from Lemony Snicket's ASOUE

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'The Moon, the Wolf, and a Pond'

By Crimson Nightmare

"Sometimes I'm confused by what I think is really obvious. But what I think is really obvious obviously isn't obvious..." Michael Stipe

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Chapter 3 - Confused Hao and Lyserg, not confused everybody else

Lyserg POV

I awake with a gasp, tearing my consciousness away from images of deep water, bleeding moonlight, and black, flowing hair. A few moments later I realize why I discerned the water from my dreams to be sea water - I was tasting my own tears.

I leave the bed for a shower, more than ready to peel off my sweat-drenched t-shirt and shorts.

It is dawn.

Dawn is a colorful time. The sun crawls out from behind the black shadows of mountain tops, and with its appearance, red, gold, and a phantom touch of purple are unleashed by it. I paint a sky in my dreams, yet it always turns back into night. It starts out with a few strands of long, black hair. After that, a blinding fire would burn my painting; and then we drown. We drown in a pond of moonlight that tastes like sea water.

I wipe furiously at my eyes as hot, nearly scorching water drenches my hair. I repeat to myself, that if I stay awake, it would be dawn soon. Then, I would be able to witness how dawn overcomes the night, and advances into midday, where the sun shines brightly, and Yoh would spit out his coffee when he realizes he's fallen asleep during training yet again.

Yoh is like the sun. I can hardly sever the connection between a warm, happy day and his big, goofy smile.

It's going to be alright.

"Ohayo, Yoh." He stumbles out of his (and Anna-san's) bedroom, rubbing his eyes sleepily. I greet him as I come out of my morning shower.

"N-mya? Ah, ohayo, Lyserg!" he chirps sleepily with a big grin, and then turns to enter the bathroom before he smashes into the wall in front of his face.

I had pulled on a pair of black shorts and pick out a white collared shirt, and was happily energetic and ready to embrace the brand new day. Just then, my seemingly warm dawn turns into night again.

Hao sits outside my window, humming a song. He stares up at the sky, and blows a small ball of burning leaves toward the coming of dawn.

Hao POV

I thought I am beginning to hate reading Lyserg's mind every time I am near his presence.

The things I see. Destruction. Corpses. The sounds. Screaming. Crying. The taste. Tears. Blood. The hell-depth feeling of utter helplessness. I abhor it. Yet I come back, every other night, to satisfy my curiosity. I find my younger-self in his dreams every time, terrorizing his world over and again.

I can't help but wonder. Was I really that horrifying? Will I always scare him like that in his dreams, even though he told me he is getting over it?

I hate reading his mind. I hate it. But the person I end up hating is not Lyserg.

He greets my brother with a small, delighted smile. And I hear his mind speaking, softly, of the sun, a warm day, and Yoh's comforting smile.

The person I end up hating is not Lyserg. It never is Lyserg.

The person who makes Lyserg cry every night is not Lyserg after all. Never just Lyserg.

"Why are you burning the leaves when you did not rake them into a pile? If you end up burning the inn, you will have to be my slave for an eternity, Hao."

I smile, blowing out the fire on the end of my fingertip. Leaves all around me burn to ashes before they land on the old, cracked cement ground. "Anna-san. What a pleasant surprise."

"Ah." the little girl holds herself up like a respectable queen. I like her. I've always had a crush on her. The way she slaps me reminds me of my mother from my very first lifetime. It always makes me laugh.

"You are reading into other people's dreams again, Hao. Have you no respect for privacy?" Anna comments with little emotion, and watches me play with fallen leaves boredly.

"You should know why I read his dreams, Anna-san." I idly make a twig crack open with a touch of flames, and watch, smiling with a sigh, as the twig turns into charcoal; the charcoal breaks into ashes. "You can read minds as well, little girl. You know what I'm talking about." (1)

To my surprise, she didn't bristle this time, like she usually does when I call her a little girl. I watch with amusement as she crosses her arms to endure my obvious jests. "Hm. That also happens to mean that I know what you are thinking right now, Hao. And since you are thinking what you are thinking, you are an idiot. I can't believe you are almost a thousand years older than me."

"Ah." I laugh heartily, "I think I see a slap coming."

"...Tch. Old man...Come here. Let me slap you, and then I will tell you why've you made Lyserg cry, yet again." she says.

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Lyserg POV

I am slowly beginning to understand, why I still dream what I dream, when I thought I had taken the opposite step to get over it.

"Lyserg? Lyserg Diethel? It's you, really you, isn't it!" A passerby points at me angrily. Do I know these people? Hmm, I can't seem to recall ever meeting them.

"You ARE that bastard! Hey, hey don't look as if you're not surprised it's me! You think I'm afraid of you? You think I'm afraid of you, don't you, you little bastard!" I watch, confused, as the man turn to his companions. Have I seen him before? "Well, now, you'll get to see the powers we have!"

Ah, they're Shamans, I think. Maybe I beat them before in the Shaman fight.

"Hey, hey are you listening to me, you arrogant jerk? I will crush you! Guys, attack!"

Hmm, good, come.

Because I'm in a bad mood right now. I need the exercise.

I smile.

Hao POV

Anna has a way of telling you that she thinks it's good for you if you eat that vegetable soup, by telling you out loud that the vegetable soup that you cooked for her stinked, and that she would be punishing you by making you eat the vegetable soup yourself.

"Yoh," she slaps me and says, "is my husband. Do not go around thinking that he might be as insatiable as you." she glares at me mildly with disinterest, and crosses her arms again. "You, Hao, are a cynical old man acting like a spoiled child with too much money in your hands. Yoh's an old man that acts exactly like a normal old man. Those are completely different things."

Eh, is...is that so... (2)

I watch as she turns to leave, "Oh, and I think you misunderstood your whimpering little puppy."

Mine, huh...

"Don't be stupid anymore, Hao. It'll ruin the Asakura family's name."

She leaves, and I start laughing. Heh, such a round-about way to tell me to stop being jealous of Yoh's ability to give Lyserg comfort.

I look up at the sky again, and I smile with a small sigh escaping my lips. Wow...I really am a guilty old man, am I not?

...Well, Lyserg...Whatever shall an old man like me do with you? (3)

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By the time Hao found Lyserg, Hao had already window-shopped the entire local city hall, taken a picture with a pair of newlyweds that he passed by, petted a white kitten, and was by now eating an ice cream cone with great enthusiasm. He strolled toward the local park. In there he found a pile of unconscious shamans and a rather large oversoul fight going on between Lyserg and a little girl with pale freckles and two blonde curly pigtails.

"BWAHAHAHA! You will be caught, by ME!" the little girl yelled over-dramatically with a high-pitched baby squeak, waving a yellow toy shovel in her tiny hand, "Watch, the power of my oversoul --- Grande Hell Asphalt!"

...Asphalt? As in, the black, gooey substance that modern humans pad the road with?

And he was right. Lyserg, never being particularly powerful in the defensive side, was very quickly trapped in, behold, a live, moving goo of black asphalt. Lyserg struggled, but the more he moved, the thicker the asphalt became. It wrapped around his arms, legs, waist, and neck, holding him in the midair up straight, as the little girl glowed in her progressing victory and pride.

"Ugh, this stuff smells...I'm telling you --- hey stop laughing like a maniac and listen --- the Shaman fight is over! Why don't you believe me? Do I look like someone who would lie to you?"

"You LIE! Nee-san said---"

"Your nee-san is a bimb--I mean, she is wrong!" Lyserg gritted out between his teeth, having reached the limit of his patience, like anyone would after spending an entire hour explaining one, single point.

"Did you just say my nee-san is a bimbo!"

"Uh, I mean, you guys just didn't see the star because you live underground with the Dwarves! You can't blame me for that!"

"You just said nee-san is a bimbo, didn't you?"

"I---"

"GRANDE HELL'S ASPHALT, STICK HIM ONTO THE FLAT PAVEMENT---"

"..."

And just when the fight reached climax, Hao finished the first scoop of vanilla ice-cream on his cone, and wiped his hands on a napkin. "Wow," he clapped his hands cheerfully, "Such a cool oversoul!"

"---AND LET HIM BECOME ROADKILL---o-oh, what did you say about my oversoul?"

"Hao-sama said it's very cool." Hao beamed.

And so the little girl decided that when she grew up, when she became just as tall as nee-san, she was going to marry this gorgeous prince with the melting vanilla ice-cream cone in his hand. (4)

"Hey, you want some ice-cream? I only finished the first half!" Hao chirped cheerfully at the little girl, holding out his remaining scoop of vanilla ice-cream. And the little girl quickly swipped the cone from his hand and ran away, red in the face. (She also screamed something like obtaining Hao-sama's indirect kiss was better than becoming the Shaman King)

"Ah, hi there, Lyserg." Hao beamed again, looking up at the boy trapped in the remaining asphalt that had solidified by now. Hao licked his lips with a mischievous look on his face, and cocked his head, "You know, I can look up your shorts from this angle..."

"DIE, YOU PEDOPHILE."

"Ahaha, just kidding, I was going to ask you if you want me to get you out of there but...Ah well! I guess you don't want this pedophile to help you out. I'll just be leaving then..." he turned and made to leave.

"HAO! Ugh, but how would you get me out? This thing is rock hard, and if you melt it, I'll be barbequed in the process!" Lyserg glared down at the Shaman on the ground.

"Hmm? Oh, but that's a secret, Lyserg-kun. Would you give me a kiss for this secret? Come on, you don't have to be shy, I've taken a lot more than just a kiss from you, remember?" Hao grinned a sickly sweet grin as his Fire Spirit lifted him high enough to talk to Lyserg face to face.

"...Just..." Utterly defeated by the Shaman's antics, Lyserg slumped back against the solid asphalt. "Just get me out."

"Uh-uh, I told you, a kiss."

"..."

"I didn't hear you, speak louder, young man."

"I...I g-give, dammit!" Lyserg stammered, blushing furiously (Or he could just be royally pissed at me, thought Hao). "Just...get me out of here first!"

Hao laughed, leaning close, "Ah. See? That wasn't too hard, was it?" Lyserg growled. "Hehe, just watch and learn, kid." Hao grinned as he leaned back against the Fire Spirit's palm, raising his hands, "Fire Spirit! Hisaki no Shiroi!"

"Wha-" Lyserg didn't even have time to protest. He could only widen his eyes.

There was a blinding white flash all around him.

He never could remember exactly what happened after he saw the faces of his parents turn into charcoal. And now he knew. He felt it.

The world was on fire.

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To be continued...

Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac? - George Carlin

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A/N: This chapter is very different from the first two chapters of this fic. The first two were introspection, and really, after all that inner turmoil, something external should have happened by this time. Or it could just be me, who can't stand angst long enough to worth anything.

(1) - Yes, I'm well aware that Anna in the actual manga lost the ability to read minds after Yoh defeated her Onni. I'm keeping this ability here, because it's a fanfic and in a fanfic the author's omnipowerful.
(2) - Anna's logic in this fic is not all that easy to follow. If you are not me, I'd be surprised that you understand what she was getting at. Actually, by this time, I realized that she had very little to say that was not said in the first two chapters. But someone had to say something to Hao, or he'd be in denial (or stupidity, in Anna-world) forever. And I mean forever, as in the many many life times of Hao's, since he's capable of it.
(3) - That sounds wrong. So wrong.
(4) - How Lyserg defended his man in that particular period of time in the future is another story. YOU write it. Go.

Because you were nice enough to review :)

Kigen - Squeals and tackles and snuggles with ya! Hehe, thanks, glad you like it, my awesome beta!
Leuv - Thank you! I'm glad you like the pairing as much as I do. I love the quotes too. It's a personal habit for me to collect quotes from everywhere.
Tennisstar1 - Thanks! Although this chapter had not much of any deep content in it... Hehe
FantasyFanatic1 - Yay that means I've introduced you to a new pairing! Since that was my intent, to advertise the HaoLyserg pairing, I am so happy that you've stumbled upon this pairing! Thanks for the comment. I hope this chapter wasn't too much of a disappointment!
TiffanyLye - Thanks for the fav and the comment! I love HaoLyserg as well. I wish there was more of it here on this site.

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