Shaman king

Chapter 1

To change Fate and embrace a new life

It was cold very cold outside in the forest of the Asakura estate. Yoh Asakura was outside collecting firewood for himself at the tender age of seven years old. The young boy was clothed only in a white kimono to help gather his furyoku. His grandfather Yohmei Asakura was nearby their campsite meditating again. The age old short man was sweating not by the small fire, but what he saw in his divination and gasped for breath. "No this can't be I must warn the others!" He shouted and ran in the direction of the Asakura household for dear life. 'Why would he show himself now?!' Yohmei pondered in the midst of his run to make a Shikigami; to tell Yoh when he returned to the campsite to stay there and train.

'This is so not fair why do I have to collect firewood? I'm only seven years old about to be eight in a few months.' Yoh grumbled in his head struggling to hold the pieces of wood that stacked an inch over his head. If only he could make more than three Shikigami at a time. It was still early in his young shamanic life and he had little furyoku at the time.

When the young shaman returned to the campsite he was a bit surprised that his grandfather left him. It was only a tad surprising since his grandfather tended to leave often. With a bored sigh Yoh set on a log of wood while throwing pieces of wood into the campfire. A Shikigami came flying overhead of trees and landed in front of Yoh and gave him Yohemi's message. After it gave Yoh the message it disappeared it was a way of coining the term 'message in a bottle' but instead of a bottle you get a Shikigami.

The young shaman looked up to the night sky spotting the various stars that illuminated the world. He could only make out a vague constellation. It was the Phoenix constellation shining.

"That is so cool! some day I want to be a star just like that too," Yoh smiled brightly at the constellation kicking his sandals into the grass. The boy continued to wait for thirty minutes before standing up from the log and stretched his arms to the sky. "Can't be Shaman king just by sitting around got to work for it," he chuckled as he began to do twenty squats. Mentally counting off the numbers in his head and after five minutes of light squatting the boy transitioned into doing ten push-ups. In the midst of his last push-up Yoh heard an unfamiliar noise in the bushes.

Getting up from his push-up Yoh slowly backed away from the campsite. He knew calling out to whatever it was in the bushes would alert whatever was in there and attack. He knew it wasn't a spirit because spirits could not interact with nature at least to his knowledge. 'Okay gotta stay calm and cool.' He told himself quietly leaving the campsite before the unknown thing could attack him. Unfortunately for Yoh the unknown thing that came out of the bushes wasn't just a thing, but were actually a pair of Oni.

The two Oni were hot on the trail of the shaman boy and were practically licking their hungry chops. Yoh continued to run faster not turning around to look at what was following him. While running Yoh had grabbed a few leafs and coated two with Furyoku forming two Shikigami. He specifically made two to try and fight off whatever it was that followed him. The two Shikigami were mercilessly slaughtered by the two Oni and only served as an appetizer for the main course.

'Whatever is following me is strong. I can feel that my Shikigami were destroyed and I know this isn't Grandpa's doing. So what is going on?' Yoh questioned in his head confused by the situation. Ten minutes later in Yoh's frantic run he stopped in front of a large cave and panted heavily. That run was taxing on the boy along with making his two Shikigami. "Oh great is that Yomi cave? Grandpa told me to never go in there. He said it's to dangerous, but it is dangerous out here oh man what to do?" Yoh grabbed his head pulling on a few strings of hair. This night was becoming a hassle.

"Finally we've found you boy!" The two Onis shouted coming out of the trees with ravenous looks of hunger on their faces. Yoh turned around at hearing the Onis and gawked at the sight of them. They were huge in least in terms to his small height. The two Oni were purple and had jaws bigger than sharks. No wonder his Shikigami were gone those two behemoths probably ate them.

"U-Umm... what do you two want?" Yoh bravely asked the two Oni trembling in his sandals praying for his grandfather to show up soon and beat these monsters. The Onis only growled menacingly in response to Yoh's question as their stomachs grumbled. They were hungry and this boy was going to be all the sweet nourishment they needed, plus he was a Shaman an even tastier treat. Yoh gulped down a lump in his throat and slowly staggered back towards the cave of Yomi.

'Only one option left.' Yoh thought in his head and pulled out the last leaf hidden away in his kimono and channeled Furyoku into it making another Shikigami. The two Oni patiently waited for Yoh to make one after all he was just serving them another appetizer and why rush such good food.

When the Shikigami was created Yoh told it to go to the Asakura household find someone anyone with high enough Furyoku to get rid of these Oni. The Shikigami flew off into the sky as one of the Oni it being the smarter one of the two chased off after the Shikigami snack. The Oni left with Yoh licked its chops again and made a rabid dash towards Yoh slamming him inside the cave of Yomi. The sounds of heavy bloodcurdling screams could be heard inside of the cave.

"How small," was the statement made by a young boy seemingly floating in the air above the cave of Yomi. The boy looked very similar to Yoh except he wore a large poncho over himself and held within his left hand the Shikigami meant for the Asakura household. The boy had also destroyed the Oni chasing after the Shikigami in one fell swoop as he landed on the fresh ground outside the cave of Yomi. To the boy's surprise Yoh staggered out of the cave bleeding from every inch of his body.

"Haha I-I beat the stupid t-thing..." was Yoh's last sentence succumbing to the pain of his injuries and coughed up blood. The boy who had just watched Yoh staggered out of the cave was impressed and walked up to Yoh inspecting his injuries with a callous smirk. 'He's definitely going to die if I do nothing and stand here. Hmm... my precious other half I need you to get stronger much, much, much stronger than this. So I'll save you this time.' The twin similar to Yoh picked him up and entered Yomi's cave as plumes of smoke could be seen in the distance in the direction of the Asakura household.

'W-What is this? am I dead? I must be dead that Oni did hurt me a lot and blood. All my blood... maybe I'm going to Heaven, but I hear you have to do good things to go there. Was I good in life? well I did steal cookies from the cookie jar, I rarely trained and slacked off. I destroyed Grandpa's vase one time... yeah maybe not heaven material.'

Yoh thought as he opened his eyes to a sight of wide dark canyons and bleak mountaintops what really surprised him was another boy who looked so much like himself fighting off monsters. Was that boy a cooler version of himself? slowly standing up on to his feet Yoh took in more of his surroundings. Where ever he was it surely was not the Asakura household this place practically reeked of blood a fact made evident by an Oni who had its stomach completely ripped out. Yoh widely blinked at the sight and held his stomach feeling the intense urge to regurgitate and he did away from the dead Oni.

"Hey your finally awake good my precious half," A voice said to Yoh as the young shaman looked around trying to find the source of the voice. At doing that it made the voice chuckle as a giant flaming sized hand slammed in front of Yoh knocking him off his feet and rolled comically into the dead Oni's face.

"T-This is so gross yuck!" Yoh exclaimed jumping away from the Oni and wiped himself off as he looked at the flaming hand to a giant sized monolith like figure whose whole body radiated flames. Yoh scrambled away from the giant which made the voice chuckle again and told Yoh to look up on to its shoulder. Yoh followed the instruction and felt his jaw hit the ground there was a boy who looked exactly like him on the giant's shoulder.

"Hello how's the weather down there?" the boy asked Yoh with a sardonic smile on his face.

"T-The weather is w-warm," Yoh replied with a small stutter almost peeing on himself from fear of this massive giant and the boy who looked so much like himself. The boy who looked like Yoh told him to climb on to the giant's hand. Yoh merely blinked at hearing that and shook his head.

"T-That thing is going to e-eat me! oh man I-I knew it Grandpa was saying he would find someone to replace me a-and this thing is going to eat me alive!" Yoh rolled across the bloody ground frantically shaking like a leaf. The twin who looked like Yoh sighed and dismissed the giant to land beside Yoh and kicked him in the stomach.

"Stop being stupid and get up. The longer you lay here the worse your chances are of going back to your body Yoh-kun," the boy told Yoh who held his stomach in pain with a slow nod of the head. Yoh got back up on to his feet and rubbed his stomach in pain while the boy walked ahead making Yoh run after him. Ten minutes later in their walk Yoh kept gazing around restlessly spotting rotting skeletons, spirits fighting with the other, Onis eating the other like wild beast.

"Quite the sight isn't it Yoh-kun?" the twin asked him with a small smirk inwardly pleased how his weaker twin was adjusting in Hell. He knew how hard Hell was on souls especially young souls like Yoh with weak constitutions and low Furyoku. It was even more satisfying that Yoh did not lose his body or the memory of himself oh yes his weaker twin was going to be stronger indeed.

"I-It's actually kind of sad to be honest," Yoh replied catching his twin off guard by the answer. No one ever said that Hell was sad the coins people or Onis termed it was enduring, hellish, painful, and with no hope for survival. Sad was never an answer anyone gave Hell.

"Why is it sad?" The twin questioned piqued by Yoh's response and crossed his arms under his poncho. His weaker half sure was interesting very interesting indeed.

"Well to be honest I-I don't really know why it's sad." Yoh answered making his twin look-alike deadpan. "I mean it is sad that us two kids are here I'm guessing this place is Hell. Grandpa and grandma told me stories of what Hell would look like. Look around us," Yoh gestured to the Onis fighting a tall man wearing some sort of mask with a glowing staff his gaze so concentrated on the Onis in front of him. He had not noticed two kids wondering Hell and had been assigned a duty to kill the one who betrayed the Asakura family.

The twin nodded watching the Onis fight and other restless spirits not finding why it was sad, but his weaker half must of had a point.

"I see," was the twin's reply and kept on walking beside Yoh.

"I'm sorry, but we've been walking like this for what feels like hours. I'm Yoh Asakura and what is your name? because you look a lot like me and I don't want to call you my name because that's my name," Yoh greeted his twin with a small chuckle his hand extended out to his twin for a handshake. The twin blinked at Yoh he wanted to know him? that was what it looked like from the gesture.

"I-I don't have a name," the boy lied easily not going to tell Yoh that his name was Hao Asakura, though he did accept the handshake. It was in a way unfortunate that he could not tell his twin his name. Since Yoh did try and get to know him, but it was a fruitless endeavor since the older twin could read Yoh's mind. Which he did earlier, but found that his weaker twin's mind was calm and gentle like the breeze there was nothing in the boy's heart that reeked of evil intent or lies.

"T-That's sad hmm... i-if it's not to much trouble could I call you Hao?" Yoh asked his twin who all but stopped in his tracks at hearing his name. A million thoughts ran through Hao's head would it be fine to tell him his name? should he just kill Yoh and accept the loss of his twin not growing stronger for one day unification? no that plan was beyond dumb even for the master of elements himself.

"Why do you wish to call me that name Yoh-kun?" Hao asked with no sense of worry in his voice. His younger twin was a perplexing cube that he was going to figure out over the course of their time in Hell.

"I-I want to call you that name b-because m-my mother two years ago told me one of the greatest shaman in my household was named Hao Asakura. It was said that his strength was so impressive that he could shake mountains and control the sky. Y-You seem like the kind of u-umm... guy who could do that too, since you beat all those Onis easily with your giant..." Yoh responded with a mild blush of embarrassment. The young shaman despite knowing how bad Hao was said to be respected his ancestor's strength. Even if the stories about Hao were true and his reign of conquest of the Shaman tournament were for not.

Yoh believed in a philosophy of his he made a year ago when his grandfather told him about the Shaman king; anyone who could see spirits were not evil in his books. He knew that talking about Hao was forbidden around his grandfather and father for some strange reason. So what was the harm in talking to someone about Hao who could potentially be his friend outside of the Asakura household even if they were in Hell?

Hao for the most part was left flabbergasted by Yoh's response yes it was all true he indeed was Hao Asakura and tried to become Shaman king twice. Now a third time for this 500 year mark coming within the next few years, but what shocked him was that Yoh respected him. Despite knowing the crimes and sins he had done his younger twin showed that he did not believe in stories, and was going to give him a second chance. Even if his weaker twin was unaware that he was talking to his respected ancestor.

"That is quite the tale Yoh-kun. Go ahead you may call me by that name," Hao replied to his twin who smiled at hearing that. Hao had to look away from his younger twin's smile it was so warm and gentle. He needed to find the exit out of Hell fast! otherwise he knew his plans for the future might be deterred the longer he stayed within close contact of his twin.

For the next four months in Hell the two twins walked and talked about various topics about Shamans, family life, goals for the future (Hao lied about a lot of topics) as they finally stopped in front of a large green door with the number 4 above it. Hao had secretly lead Yoh to a door where a great Spirit was judging by the illuminating grass and forest life it had to be the Spirit of Earth. He had seen how his twin was progressing in Hell over these four months Yoh had learned Hyoui-Gattai and slowly began how to make an Oversoul.

Haohad made sure to teach his younger twin knowledge about the spirits and Spirit control, along with the elements it was not much of a surprise that his twin had excelled in wood and water along with earth. The young shaman had a natural knack for those three elements. Now was the time for his twin to become strong enough to take the Spirit of Earth for himself oh the patch were going to hate Hao indefinitely for this stunt. It was all for his younger twin to get stronger yes such strength was needed for his plans.

A large Oni bigger than before that almost toppled the size of the Spirit of Fire slept near the door. He held within his hands a large mace his red skin practically looked sunburned and made him look more intimidating to Yoh.

"O-Ok it's asleep I could clobber it with my fist or use my spirit to cut out its eyes," Yoh deliberated out loud he didn't want to kill the Oni, though he knew sometimes killing was necessary. Hao was the one that usually killed all the Onis that faced them always in a show of brute force. Yoh was the one that incapacitated them which Hao scolded him often about. Never leave your enemy wounded always go for the kill was what Hao would say.

"Hey wake up! I want to fight you!" Yoh shouted at the sleeping Oni who woke up at hearing the young shaman yell at him. The Oni yawned while getting up to his feet and towered way above Yoh and Hao. Hao only whistled at the height of the Oni and shook his head he easily took out this Oni two lifetimes ago and wondered how his younger twin would fight this match.

"So it's you again Hao dare to take the Spirit of Earth now?! well you cannot have it!" The Oni yelled bringing its mace down on to Yoh. Yoh sighed into his hand every Oni no matter who they faced always called him Hao. True the twins did look very much alike, but they were different. Yoh jumped backwards away from the strike of the mace as it crashed into the ground bringing up a storm of debris at Yoh. Reacting on his instincts Yoh released small amounts of Furyoku around himself to bring up small pillars of wood to brace himself of the rocks. The wood held up strong to the rocks as Yoh began to plan how to defeat the Oni.

'Hao told me after this Oni is beaten I can go back to being alive again. Just have to win and that's it.' Yoh told himself releasing the hold of his furyoku to let the wood sink back into the ground. The Oni cocked his fist back to slam it into the ground where Yoh was. The impact of the shattered ground made the Oni smirk feeling like he crushed through the bones of the Asakura. To his dismay once he pulled back his fist there was no spot of blood or broken bones only shattered ground.

"Where did he go?" The Oni questioned turning around in multiples circles to find any trace of the boy.

"Hey i'm on your shoulder," Yoh chuckled to the Oni as he had gripped on to the skin of the Oni and started to climb upwards. Yoh had stuck on to the Oni's shoulder because he had unified with Matamune and used their unification to jump with catlike grace; on to the Oni's forearm and had steadily climbed up to its shoulder from that point. It was an old cat Spirit he had found in Hell that was trailing behind him and Hao for the last two months. Hao had instantly known who the cat was and talked with Matamune about why he had betrayed him. Matamune apologized to his master and expressed to him the sins he felt all that time. Shortly after that the twins had Matamune traveled with them ever since.

Now Matamune was unified in Hyoui-Gattai fashion with Yoh. It allowed him to stick on to sufaces he normally could not do as Yoh continued to climb on the Oni. Hao merely smirked at the Oni's feeble expression of finding his weaker twin, but still couldn't. The Oni slammed its mace down on to the ground multiple times in order to find Yoh, but kept wasting its time as Yoh had reached the spot where he needed to be.

"Yoh you have to do this. It's the only way of living and going back home," Matamune spoke through Yoh's voice as he tried to tell the young shaman this was the only way. Yoh still hesistated at hearing it was the only way since he was at the neck of the Oni and only needed to cut deep enough to the jugular.

"I would still much rather not kill the Oni Matamune-san... even if it is a Spirit. Killing can't always be the answer," Yoh replied to Matamune feeling his furyoku drop since he was questoning Matamune while unified. In doing that it created a disturbance in Spirit unity which if not handled soon would make them deunify.

"I know Yoh-kun, but make it quick and the Oni will have peace after all you are a Shaman," Matamune offered his last piece on that note and maintained unification with Yoh. The young shaman nodded and pulled out from the sleeve of his kimono a small knife Matamune had given him. It was still heavy in his hand so he had to make the perfect strike with this. Channeling his furyoku into the blade of the knife he made it outwardly grow in size to that of a katana. It was a skill Matamune had learned over the course of his 1000 years of life.

"Goodbye," Yoh settled any fears in his heart and slashed the Oni's neck cutting deep into the skin and continued cutting through the skin all the way to its jugular. The Oni stopped thrashing about once its neck was cut open and fell down towards Hao. The much stronger Shaman was going to have none of that and materialized his OverSoul Spirit of Fire to stab through the Oni inincerating it with its fire as he then told his OS to eat the Oni. Luckily Yoh had managed to get away from the Oni before Spirit of fire began consuming it like turkey at Thanksgiving.

"Ahh we're finally done Yoh-kun now let's go," Hao smiled evilly at the door opening it up wide as a brilliant green light poured out from the door. Yoh nodded to those words following behind Hao not knowing how his life would be changed by this time with Hao and his newfound knowledge in Hell.

One month later in the real world

Yoh groggily awoke from his slumber to the light of the outside world his eyes taking in the fresh rays of the sun. He slowly got up to his feet feeling like he had been asleep forever. "Man how long was I out? and what a weird dream?" Yoh yawned to himself glad to be alive. Maybe all of what he saw in Hell was a dream, but that couldn't be right it was to surreal and that time he spent with Hao he knew that had to be true.

"Hao! hey Hao! where are you? Matamune where are you? what's going on hey guys!" Yoh called out to them wondering where they were as the trees brustled. Yoh's danger sense kicking in as he tried pulling out a knife from his kimono, but remembered he had no weapons on him. The young shaman stood vigilant for any attack and when the person came out of the trees it was none other than Matamune holding two apples for them. While a panting Yohmei ran towards Yoh embracing his grandson in a tight hug crying tears of relief.

"G-Grandpa? what's wrong why are you crying?" Yoh asked returning the hug to his grandpa a few tears coming down his own cheeks happy to see his grandpa again after what felt like eternity.

"I'm just so happy to see you once again Yoh. I was worried sick when I could not find you at the campsite. I looked for you everywhere and asked my wife where I would find you, and she said to wait here at Yomi's cave. Boy! how did you survive being in there for that amount of time?" Yohmei questioned his grandson intensely wanting to know how a seven year old could survive that cave.

"I-I don't really know grandpa I-I just kept walking and walking it felt like forever. And, then I-I just came back," Yoh explained the words just came out of his mouth, but not by his own volition. Something was making him say those words as Matamune observed before walking up to Yoh and handed him an apple.

"Here you go master Yoh an apple. I figured you might be hungry after your trip," Matamune said while eating into his own apple carefuly watching Yoh and how he would react to the two of them being alive again.

Yoh thanked Matamune gratefully and ate the apple as his grandpa took him back to the Asakura household. He told Yoh why he had to leave because in his divination he had seen that Hao would be coming again and saw the Asakura household burn to the ground. He thought it was by Hao's doing to his shock it was done by a few humans who could see Spirits and were in some sort of subjugation to burn down the house.

"Yes that's it continue on like that Yohmei and my precious little twin grow stronger and stronger. After all do not tarnish the gifts I gave you," Hao's voice resounded high above the sky atop of his Spirit of fire as he had returned to his body. No need to give that old man an early heart attack at least not yet anyway. For now the seeds of his plan were taking root all would equate to his one desire.

Author's note: Sorry but this story is not a Yaoi. This story is about the challenges Yoh faces from Hao and how Yoh grows stronger from Hao's decisions and the time they spent in Hell. It also reflects on how Anna is willing to go so far for Yoh to become strong enough to achieve their dream with Sati's divine help. Sati may possibly be with Yoh in a spiritual sense of the word due to how close their connection will be in the story.