Disclaimer: I don't own Shaman King, if I did Hao would be shaman king and Yoh would be his queen.
Warnings: This is gonna be yaoi so if you don't like, get the hell out now. Twincest, swearing, violence. Any questions? Flames have the power to ruin my mood for a week and my friends say I'm pretty scary when I'm angry so just don't. If you don't like the pairing, why are you reading this?
A/N: I know I should be updating my other fics, but this one actually has an ending, not to mention an outline already written out, so updates should be kind of regular...hopefully. Enjoy the fic!
Default chapter: Something Wicked This Way Comes
He tried to slow his breathing; he knew if he wasn't perfectly quiet they would find him. He couldn't let that happen, mommy had told him to run to a place where they wouldn't find him. He hadn't wanted to but she'd sounded so scared.
From where he hid he could hear yelling. He resisted the urge to move from his spot to see what was going on.
A scream rang through the air, the sound making his hair stand on end. It wasn't his mothers voice, at least he didn't think it was.
He heard voices, they weren't his parents.
"Where is he?" someone asked harshly so close that Yoh had to clamp a hand over his mouth to keep from gasping. Someone replied to the voice, too far away for Yoh to make out what he was saying.
"Find him!" another voice said urgently. "We can't allow any of them to live." They moved away and everything was silent. After a time he made his way back to the camp his parents had made for the night. It was pitch black in the woods and silent as the grave. Shivering, he sniffed back tears.
He couldn't believe his eyes when he came upon what was left of their camp. Scorch marks covered most of the trees, nothing but cinders remained of the shelter his father had made for his mother and him to sleep in. But the sight that made his big eyes well up with tears was his parents broken and bloody bodies. Sobbing he ran to his mothers still form and buried his face in her ruined kimono top.
"Yoh, don't cry baby…"
Yoh looked up in surprise at his mother's voice; they were both standing right in front of him! But how could that be? He looked down at the figure he was still holding onto then back at the version before him. Without another thought he stood and ran into the outstretched arms of his mother. She had kneeled down and embraced her son while his father smiled down at them.
"It's okay, Yoh," his father said also kneeling down so he was eye level with his son. The two ghosts held their little boy for a few moments longer before his father cleared his throat and moved away. Yoh's mother also let go.
"Now Yoh, there's some things mommy and I need to tell you before we have to go."
"Go where?" he asked.
"Away," was all his mother said. She sat down on the ground and pulled Yoh into her lap. His father was looking for something it seemed. Yoh didn't really know what. He buried his face in the soft folds of his mothers dress and she stoked his hair murmuring softly to him.
"Yoh."
At his father's voice Yoh lifted his head to look at his father who was holding something. "This is yours now," he said handing Yoh a small box shaped locket. "Here." He took the chain and hooked it around the small boy's neck. Yoh looked at it curiously.
"What's in it?" he said noticing a lock on the outside of it. In vain he tried to pry it open but it wouldn't budge.
"There's some important numbers in it, along with a picture of our family, including your brother." Yoh looked up at his mother curiously at the last part.
"I have a brother?"
"Yes, his name is Hao, you're twins," his father said. "We had to send him away to protect you both."
Yoh was about to ask another question when he heard a strange noise like a bell. His mother stood up setting him down gently.
"It's time for us to go now sweetie," she said softly. Yoh looked up at both of them in alarm and hugged both their legs.
"No! I don't want you to!" he cried. They leaned down and hugged him again. Yoh realized that he could see right through them and they were fading.
"We love you honey," his mother said.
"Be brave son," his father added. Then they were gone and Yoh fell down on the ground wailing.
Yoh woke up with tears on his face. Wiping his eyes he sat up slowly and looked around his make shift camp. It was still dim, maybe an hour or so till dawn. Yoh debated going back to sleep but finally sighed and stood up stretching.
"Amidamaru?" His soft question was directed at a memorial tablet set on the trunk of a fallen tree. No one answered and Yoh smiled softly, the spirit was probably…actually he didn't know what Amidamaru did inside that tablet. Did ghosts sleep? After pondering this for another minute Yoh decided to ask his spirit later and opted to go for a short walk in the woods.
It was peaceful underneath the trees. A few birds were singing and insects buzzed. It was a little early for anything else to be up. Yoh stretched as he made his way to a stream he'd found the night before. The water was clear and cold as he took a long drink from it using his hands as a cup. Next he splashed his face to wash it shivering slightly as the cold liquid dripped down his neck. He used the front of his shirt to dry his face with then stood up finished.
Something was wrong.
Yoh frowned trying to place what had caused his sudden feeling of unease then his eyes widened as he figured it out.
The entire forest had gone silent. Sensing the energy behind him Yoh turned around just in time to duck a swing from a glowing sword. It was close though. Time seemed to freeze as he drew his own katana and sliced at the body in front of him, the white trench coat was an easy target.
Blood spayed in a line down the woman's stomach as she let out a small 'oh' of surprise. She leaped back clutching her wound with one gloved hand. Yoh got into a defensive position looking around for any more threats. He sensed no one else though even when he spread his senses to the fullest, about a half a mile in all directions.
He had to pull his mind back however when the woman came at him again. Instead of blocking her attack with his sword Yoh dodged opting to leap into the branches of a nearby tree instead of hurting her again.
"I don't want to fight you," he said as she turned to look at him wildly.
"Silence demon spawn!" She pulled a revolver glowing green with furiyoku and shot at him wildly. He easily dodged her shots.
"You're bleeding, you need to get that wound looked at," he tried to reason with her. She wasn't listening. He leaped down to the ground still dodging the bullets. Running towards her he knocked the gun out of her hand and into the air. In a flash he'd sliced it in half. The woman watched as the two pieces landed on the forest floor.
"Why are you doing this?" he asked. "I don't even know you!"
"It is the X-laws sacred duty to route out evil and stop it before it spreads," she stated coldly launching at him again with her sword. She managed to get a blow in cutting Yoh's arm. He winced in pain and leaped backwards trying to get some distance between them. Suddenly she was behind him. Before he could react she sliced into his back. A searing pain lashed from his shoulder blade to his side. He dropped to the ground in agony. He heard footsteps in front of him and looked up at her. She was holding another glowing gun right in front of his forehead.
"This is for the best."
She cocked the gun. Something welled inside of Yoh, an anger that he didn't know he had. Maybe he'd just suppressed it for too long and it was finally coming to the surface. But he'd never felt this rage before, it was like it was someone else with him. He gripped his katana and without really looking thrust it through the woman's chest piercing her heart and killing her instantly. Gritting his teeth he wrenched it out of her. She slumped to the ground before him lifeless and lay face down on the earth. A large pool of blood soaked into the leaves and plants.
Yoh could only stare in horror at what he'd done. The large wound on his arm and back still hurt but he didn't really notice. All he could do was stare at the body in front of him. That's how Amidamaru found him nearly two hours later, covered in blood and gore holding his katana like it was an alien object.
"Master Yoh?" he asked tentatively ignoring the corpse but worried about Yoh. He'd seen many a dead bodies while he was alive; the blood of hundreds was on his hands. But Yoh had never killed anyone before, not ever. Even after the X-laws had been after them all this time he'd never had the heart to kill any of them.
Yoh looked at him, but he wasn't really looking at him more like through him. "Amidamaru…I k-killed…" Amidamaru went and put his ghostly arms around his young master trying to comfort him. Yoh buried his face in the samurai's chest and shook. He wasn't crying, not yet, he was still in shock.
"Come on," Amidamaru said, "Let's go. That wound on your back looks bad." He led Yoh back through the woods to their campsite.
"No!" Hao sat up in his bed and gasped in pain. His back and arm felt like they were on fire. Was it the dream? No dream he'd ever had before could cause pain like this.
He brushed his long brown hair out of his eyes and sat still waiting for the pain to go away. It lessened to a bearable point after a few moments.
Knowing he wasn't going to get back to sleep despite the early hour, Hao got up from his bed and went to his open window. Painfully he stepped out onto the roof and looked out over the town to a nearby hill. He knew by now that what he'd seen had actually happened. A boy he didn't know (he always forgot what he looked like as soon as he awoke) had just killed a woman. It almost felt like he'd been right there with the other boy to deliver the killing blow. It had felt…good defeating the enemy.
Hao sat on the roof scanning the horizon. He shuddered in the cool morning air and looked out towards the forest covered hills. Now he could think of all the questions that plagued him about the boy. Who was he? What did he look like? Why did Hao have dreams about him every night? Why were the X-Laws after him? Round and round the questions swam. Hao's eyes unfocused with the intensity of his thoughts so he didn't notice when his spirit ally appeared at his side. A loud chirping noise broke him out of his contemplations.
"Spirit of fire!" he smiled at the toddler sized flame. It nuzzled his hand and he stroked the warm head absently.
The phantom pain in his back faded as the sun came up. But somewhere there was a boy who's pain hadn't faded, who was coming this way. And Hao knew trouble was following closely behind him.