H o s h i – g a – H o s h i i – d e s u

"I want the stars"

by Lucathia

chapter 45: finale, the star among us

Hoshi didn't come back.

Time passed in his absence.

Everyone resumed their normal lives. Tamao finally moved over to Funbari Onsens as she had planned. She took Tsuki to elementary school, allowing Yoh to get to school on time. Yoh continued attending school with Manta and Anna as if nothing had happened. When Tamao graduated from elementary school, she still insisted that she take Tsuki to elementary school. Ren went back to China with Jun, taking a black kitten along with them. Horo Horo returned back to Pirika. Sora continued cooking for the inn even when Ryu returned back from the culinary academy.

When Ryu had first seen Sora, he had produced a bunch of flowers out of nowhere, claiming that Sora was "beyond beautiful." Sora raised her eyebrows and laughed slightly when Anna slapped Ryu into oblivion.

"Don't you dare touch her," warned Anna.

Sora had thought that it was all very amusing. She then commented that she was too old for a nice boy like Ryu, which had made Manta snicker and Ryu blush madly for the rest of the night.

Nevertheless, life was mostly normal. Yoh and Tsuki finished the earrings the night Hoshi had left. Each of them carried one of the earrings around with them, hoping to be able to give it to Hoshi the moment he came back.

Yoh's grandparents and parents visited Funbari Onsens a few times, though they didn't know any more about Hoshi than the residents at Funbari Onsens knew.

Sometimes, Yoh wondered if "Hoshi" had only been a figment of his imagination. After all, he had only seen him for a few hours before he disappeared again.

He fingered the earring in his pockets as he walked to school.

Sora, though not much of a singer, hummed to herself while preparing lunch. She brushed her hair out of her face with the back of her hand while she leaned forward, squinting at the orders that one of the customers had made. The order was scribbled on a narrow white piece of paper that was tacked on the wall.

"Hm, curry bread? I don't think we serve that," she said to herself. She wondered why Ryu had written that order down when he knew that they never made curry bread. If the customer really wanted curry bread, then he or she would have to wait a long time, since Sora would have to make everything from scratch. Shrugging, she decided to make the best out of this weird situation.

A smile tugged at her lips as she went searching for the flour. If her memory served her right, she remembered how delighted Hoshi had been when she had made curry bread for first time. He had taken one bite out of it, before hurriedly finishing the whole thing and asking for more. She shook her head, her eyes dancing. That was actually one of the rare moments when Hoshi actually acted more like what his appearance implied—a growing boy.

After gathering the flour and other materials, she poured the flour into a large bowl and added some water. While she kneaded the dough, she heard the door open. It was probably Ryu, coming in with more orders and stopping by to help her. His footsteps were surprisingly light though.

Sora continued kneading the dough while she spoke. "This is the first time I've ever gotten an order for curry bread. It's going to take awhile, since I have to make everything from scratch. By the way, can you hand me the rolling pin?"

When she didn't hear him move, she assumed that he had forgotten where the rolling pin was.

"It's to the right next to the counter," offered Sora. Right after she said that, soft footsteps moved in that direction.

She paused in kneading the dough temporarily to tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear. Her hair seemed to like annoying her today. It kept escaping from her hair tie. She continued kneading the dough.

When the footsteps approached her and a hand offered her the rolling pin, she took it and placed it next to the bowl.

"Thanks, now do you want to help me with the bread or do you have more orde-" She had been turning around while she was saying this. The moment she finally saw who had actually handed her the rolling pin—it wasn't Ryu, as she had initially assumed-her question died on her lips.

An amused smile adorned the face of the boy who was standing across from her.

"Tadaima," he said.

"Okaerinasai," replied Sora immediately, a smile appearing on her face as well. She quickly wiped her hands on her apron and enveloped him in a hug. Since she was taller than him, his face was pressed against her shoulder as she said her next words. "Your curry bread is going to take a while. Why don't you go visit the others at school?"

She smiled as she said those words. She should have suspected that he was the one to place that order.

Tsuki stared at the paper in front of him as he fidgeted in his seat. His assignment was to write about a family member that he looked up to. The very first name that had popped up was, of course, Hoshi-niichan. But Tsuki wasn't sure if he should write about Hoshi-niichan, because Yoh-niisan might get sad knowing that he hadn't written about him. After all, it was Yoh-niisan who had looked after him ever since Hoshi-niichan had left to become Shaman Kingor whatever it was called. Tsuki sighed as he tried to decide who to write about. Yoh-niisan was very funny and more easy-going, but Hoshi-niichan was much more fun to tease and just kind of seemed cooler.

He frowned. He couldn't decide!

Absentmindedly, he took out Hoshi-niichan's earring that he had kept and fixed along with Yoh-niisan. That was what was nice about Yoh-niisan. He was very considerate and always tried to make him feel happy. Tsuki stared at the earring, hoping that it would somehow tell him what to do.

"What's this? You have to do an essay in elementary school?" asked a slightly mischievous voice next to his ear.

Tsuki quickly turned around, his debate about who to write about totally forgotten.

He blinked, wondering if Yoh-niisan's hair had suddenly grown by a foot within a day, but since that was impossible, he felt a wide smile appear on his face. Besides, he knew that voice all too well.

Tsuki held out the earring towards the older boy, gladly watching as he fixed it on his ear.

Yoh was now a first year in high school. At school, he was used to being ignored. He was a lazy, insignificant student who slept in class more often than not. He never paid attention and he didn't try hard to impress the other students. He already had Anna and Manta. That was more than enough at school.

So, most people just dismissed him as a nobody.

Yoh was surprised, to say the least, when two older girls who he had never talked to approached him, giggling. He wracked his brains for their names, wondering who they were and why they wanted to talk to him.

"Hi, Asakura-kun," said one of the girls. She was quite tall. Judging by her looks, she was probably a third year.

"Um, hi," replied Yoh, not sure what else to say.

The other girl giggled as she eyed him up and down. Yoh shivered, feeling as if she was eyeing a piece of juicy meat instead. What was Anna going to think when she saw this? He prayed that she wasn't glancing this way. Even better, he prayed that she wasn't even in the room.

The first girl pushed the other girl out of the way, eager to speak in her place. "Say, Asakura-kun, do you happen to have a twin?"

Yoh blinked. "How do you know that?"

The second girl squealed, despite being pushed away. "See! I told you he had a twin!"

The two girls got into a heated argument with each other. Yoh didn't particularly want to cut into this fight that was dangerously spiraling towards a catfight, but he couldn't just drop the matter either.

"Wait, how do you know that I have a twin?" asked Yoh again, trying to get any of the older girls' attention.

They paused in their fighting long enough to give him an appreciative look-over.

Yoh shivered.

Finally, one of the girl's smiled sweetly.

"Oh, twins are just ADORABLE." They nodded their heads simultaneously, agreeing with each other. Yoh sweatdropped. He thought that this conversation was getting him nowhere, until the two girls continued speaking.

"We saw him at the office. I guess your twin is transferring in today? Why didn't you ever mention him to us? He looks like such a hottie with his long hair trailing behind him, though I must say that you're pretty cute yourself," purred the older girl.

Yoh's heart pounded quickly within his chest as he stumbled to get out of the room for two reasons. One, his twin was here. He had been waiting for this moment since forever. Two...he had to get way from those freaky girls. RIGHT NOW. When he finally got out the door, he could still hear them talking about a "fan club" or something along those lines. He seriously hoped he had heard wrong.

He ran towards where the administration office was. It was on the ground floor while he was on the third floor. He had been ordered by his teacher to help the third years decorate their classrooms for the culture festival as his punishment for being late to school. He jumped down the stairs two at a time, wanting to get there as fast as he could.

"Hey, Yoh-kun, where are you heading?" shouted Manta when Yoh passed by in a blur.

Yoh didn't stop as he yelled back, "Our sempai-tachi saw my twin at the office!"

Manta's eyes widened. "Wait! I'll go with you!"

So, the two of them ran down the stairs, even encountering Anna along the way. Who knows why they were all on the stairs that day. They just happened to be there. Together, they all ran towards the office.

"Hey, no running in the hallways!" yelled one of the teachers as the three teenagers ran past him.

"Sorry, this is an emergency!" Yoh shouted back.

They didn't see the stung look on the teacher's face for being flipped off so easily, not that it would have mattered at all to them. Nothing at this point would have stopped them from heading towards the office.

When they slammed the door open, Yoh's twin turned around in mid-speech with the principal, one sole earring dangling from his left ear.

He was back.

Yoh noticed that he was wearing the earring that Tsuki had kept. That meant that he had visited Tsuki already. Yoh reached into his pockets, pulling out the other star earring.

Yoh didn't telephone people often, but he wanted Ren to know everything that had happened. Once Ren picked up, he started talking about how his brother had become the Shaman King and remembered his past. He talked about how the Patch referees had received so many complaints about Hao becoming the Shaman King that Goldva finally relented and asked Hao what the Great Spirits' will was. When Hao consulted the Great Spirits that was residing in him, he had frowned and said, "It wants me to go live a day with all of the people who have sent complaints and show them how I've changed. My gosh...the Great Spirits is CRAZY. That's not doable." But after he uttered those words, he had retracted them, saying that if he couldn't convince this handful shamans to trust him, then how was he supposed to take care of the entire world? With those words, he had set out to meet all of his former enemies. And by the Great Spirits, he had A LOT. Yoh wryly mentioned to Ren that Hao still wasn't finished with all the people who had sent him complaints. Some people had taken him more than a few days to convince. Right now, he was just registering for school, planning to juggle school, family, and being the Shaman King all at once.

Ren laughed over the phone. "Imagine that...filing a complaint about the Shaman King only to have him appear at your doorstep. Maybe I should have filed a complaint too to make him even busier."

Yoh felt a wide smile spread across his face and a warm feeling bubble inside of him. He picked at the cord of the phone as he spoke with Ren. "Man, I should have done that! Then he would have visited sooner. Never mind all that talk about Hao's adventures. Let's talk about something else. Remember when I first met you a while back?"

Ren nodded, not really knowing where Yoh was going with this abrupt change in topic. But, he wasn't left in the dark for long. Yoh continued to speak as his eyes followed a certain, laughing twin brother of his who he was overly glad to have back in his life.

"You said that 'there are no stars in Tokyo.' And then you asked me if I agreed with you. Well, here's my answer now. No, I don't agree. There's a star right in front of me at this very moment. My brother. Our Shaman King. Don't you agree?"

When Ren didn't say anything in reply, Yoh continued speaking.

"He shines so brightly. He's like the stars that watch over us. He's a wonderful Shaman King."

The topic of discussion between the two boys, as if he knew he was being discussed, turned towards Yoh with a raised eyebrow. His earrings glittered under the moonlight. Yoh waved at him, complete with a few gestures that seemed to usher his twin to continue doing whatever he had been doing.

He smiled and Yoh could have swore that the night suddenly became brighter.

Like the name he had taken on, it had taken Hoshi a long time for his light to reach them. Granted, it hadn't taken light years, but it had taken more than 1000 years, which was a long time in the human perspective. But no matter what, Yoh was happy that his light finally did reach them.

He lay on the soft grass with his eyes closed, enjoying the night breeze. When he opened his eyes, they had already adjusted to the darkness of the night.

It was pitch black, but it didn't matter.

He could see.

The twinkling stars dotted the night sky. They were tiny dots of light, but he knew that their presence was anything but tiny.

This entire world...was his.

He reached out with his hand, as if grasping the stars in the palm of his hand.

He wondered if he had lived up to his second namesake.

Did he shine as brightly as the stars in the night sky?

"Hoshi-niichan! Looking at the stars again?"

He glanced towards Tsuki without sitting up, smiling slightly at being called that name. He would probably always be "Hoshi-niichan" to Tsuki. Laying here, he could still pretend to be that boy who had been so wholeheartedly accepted into the family. He could once again be Hoshi, and push the thoughts about being Hao, the Shaman King, aside for a few peaceful moments. He spotted the exuberant face of Tsuki and the smiling face of Yoh.

"Care if we join you?" asked Yoh.

He shrugged.

Tsuki and Yoh plopped down on both sides of him, laying comfortably on their backs.

Together, all three boys spent the night gazing at the stars.

Together, the wind gently played with the boys, caressing their faces as they fell into peaceful slumber.

Watching on the side like the wide, encompassing sky that her name alluded to, Sora was careful not to wake them when she saw that they had finally fallen asleep. Silently, she covered her children of the night with warm blankets. A smile tugged at her lips when she saw Tsuki rubbing his nose, Hoshi snuggling into the blankets, and Yoh grinning in his sleep. She leaned down, her long ponytail almost tickling their faces.

"Thank you," she whispered.

When Sora left the boys' sides, a soft reply could be heard.

"No, it should be thank you."

He was no longer alone.

The End

A/N: My last author note is pretty long, so it can be found at:

www (dot) livejournal (dot) com (slash) users (slash) lucathia (underscore) rykatu (slash) 13531 (dot) html.

The link can also be found in my bio. I posted a little questionnaire about this fic at my livejournal too, so please answer those questions, ne?

Thanks for reading and please leave a lasting review!

Next chapter: no next chapter...but please read my other fics instead.

(March 29th, 2008: I finally finished replacing all the dividers and also made some grammatical edits along the way. I fell asleep by the time I got to the later chapters, so if you still see any glaring errors, please let me know. It's been 3 years since I completed this fic, but I've noticed that people are still favoriting and putting this fic on alert. Is there any interest still in seeing a few sidefics or a short sequel? I have ideas about Hao's job as Shaman King...)