Watch the last episode of Shaman King before you read if you haven't. This happens immediately after. And read the manga for more details.

He gasped awake, a hot pain throbbing from the middle of his chest to the end of his abdomen. For a moment, he lay there, fighting the pain, until instinct told him to respect it like he always had so many hundreds of years ago. He looked at the blue sky, admiring the beauty of nature that those humans were destroying with no remorse. Another wave of pain swept through him, and he groaned aloud as he gripped the grievous wound that was etched into his torso. He reached deep inside for his ability to teleport in a burst of flames. Nothing happened. He frowned, and tried again. To no avail.

"Nanda kore wa?!" he exclaimed, inwardly. The flowing spiral column that was known as the "Great Spirits" was still visible, albeit a considerable distance from where he was lying.

"Ore no chikara..."Great Spirit

His powers appeared to have been lost, or at least considerably lessened when Yoh had sliced clean through his protective seals and barriers, even defeating the Spirit of Fire's vain attempt to block the double medium sword that had determined the end of the battle. He remembered staring blankly in shock and disbelief, pupils dilated, as he felt the Great Spirit disintegrate before him in a spectacular explosion which had sent him flying out of consciousness. And out of everyone's sight, including that pesky green-haired dowser who just happened to be everywhere Yoh and his gang were, and who had a bitter vengeance against him.

"Great Spirit." He tried to summon his loyal companion, hoping to see the familiar shimmering almost robotic orangey red figure towering over his broken body, waiting to pick him up in its soft hand and fly away with him in it. In vain, it seemed. Impossible, he thought.

"Great Spirit."

Nothing.

"Great Spirit, heed my call." He once again tried to integrate the Great Spirit into the physical plane using oxygen as a catalyst.

He was getting desperate, and he knew it. A sense of doom filled him as his guardian from hell failed to respond the third time. He gave up, and lay back against the grass, trying to will the pain away so he could get to his knees, at least. He dared himself to look down, to assess the extent of his injury. A deep cut ran through the middle of most of his torso, stopping a little way above his navel. It didn't appear to be bleeding that profusely, but mauve still oozed slowly from the line, staining his now not-so-white poncho. He tried to push himself up to a sitting position, putting his hands on the ground. White hot pain shot through him and he abandoned the effort with a harsh cry of frustration and agony. His muscles rippled as he fought from screaming with the effort. Why was he so weak? Why?!

Despite himself, he felt a tear force its way out of the membrane of his right eye. He had lost everything; his comforting and warm companion, the Great Spirit, and more importantly, a large portion of his power. He even doubted his ability to read minds, although he could do without that. The filthy thoughts of those disgusting humans were more than enough to make him blanch every now and again. The tear rolled down the side of his cheek and hit the grass with a gentle rustle. He, Asakura Hao, the Buddhist monk who conquered death, was weeping! He, who survived through the millennia and made everything possible, was crying! What had Yoh done?! Why was he… feeling? Even before, Yoh had managed to stir up the emotion of hate and anger when he somehow regained his soul and rose again to win the fight. Even Opacho had run away when she realized that Hao was no longer "her" Hao-sama. Doush-tan?!

With a last effort, and a determined cry, he pushed himself up to lean against the conveniently placed oak tree that was shading him from the rays of the sun. What was he to do now? Rid the world of humans? Yoh had explained very clearly his disapproval of killing and why the world had to be filled with humans. Even his best friend was a human! Now that he thought of it, Shamans were humans as well. They just happened to be able to see spirits. What made them any different from human beings when it came to destroying the world? They still used cars. 

They still used electricity. They still relied on those disgusting coal power plants that spread poison to the air and killed everything it came in contact with. Maybe… maybe they weren't so bad after all.

"Nani?!" he exclaimed again. "What was he thinking?! Were these thoughts even normal?! Humans weren't so bad after all?!"

A wet feeling sensation spreading across his chest brought him back to the world. The blood had made a huge patch on his poncho, and was spreading, at a faster rate, or so it seemed. With a groan, he pulled the long article of clothing over his head and held it against his chest, hoping to staunch the bleeding. It helped. Slightly. He needed to get out of here. He needed to meet with Yoh and explain what he had figured out. That look of hate on his twin's face as he charged up toward him with his double medium was positively frightening. That's why he needed to dispel that emotion from his other half. To stop the legacy of killing from happening again. He had lost the will to kill anymore. He had lost the drive to destroy. He realized what he did was wrong. All that harassment of his brother before the final match itself. Then, the taking of his twin's soul and the assimilation of it into himself.

He looked around for anything that would nourish him. Great. An orange tree stood nearby. Oh well, that would have to do for now. Perhaps some citrus would help him regain his teleportation ability. Because he wasn't going anywhere far for now. Not in that state.

"Ren!" Yoh stumbled into the room, amazed by the sight of the purple haired shaman sitting patiently in his living room, arms crossed, eyes closed. He was wearing his greenish yellow suit with matching shorts again.

"Ah."

"What are you doing here?"

"My sister sent me over with some abalone." Ren replied begrudgingly.

"You came all the way from China for that?!" Yoh laughed, and put his hands behind his head. "You love her a lot, don't you? Flying all the distance for her. Haha, I swear you've gotten softer and softer ever since we've met."

"B-b-Baka!" Ren blushed, his hair shooting up. "You better cook me a good dinner, after all the effort I took coming here. Oh, and by the way, Anna's in the kitchen chopping things up."

Yoh's eyes widened.

"Nani?!" he rushed to the kitchen and pulled open the door, groceries in hand. The girl in the red dress was calmly chopping the abalones while casually eyeing a cookbook. His eyes nearly popped out of his head! Anna cooking?!

"Anna…"

"You're late. Get a knife and come here."

"Hai." Yoh snapped to attention and appeared beside her in an instant.

"Make me a good dinner or omae wa korosu." (I will kill you.)

Yoh's sweat dropped and he took over quickly, chopping the abalones and some scallions with his other hand.

"Hai desu! Gomenasai!"

"Don't forget the fish sauce." Anna slammed the door shut behind her. Yoh sighed in relief. He prepared the food with utmost care and eventually placed the fried abalones on the table as well as other side-dishes he had cooked to complement them.

"Konban-wa!" Manta burst in through the door. He blinked his eyes in surprise.

"Ren-kun?" he inquired. The Chinese boy nodded to him.

"Damare." Anna said, in an icy tone. "Sit down."

Manta dived for his seat.

"Itadakimasu." They dug in.

As they ate, Manta's mind began wandering.

"Yoh-kun."

"Hmm?"

"Iie…"

"Ah, Manta. Nan desu ka? Omai daijoubu?"

"Hai…" Manta looked down, unwilling to ask the question that he had so fervently wanted answered. "I wonder what happened to Hao."

Anna raised her eyebrow.

"How dare you say his name in this house?" She retorted. "Get out."

Everyone sweat dropped.

"A-Anna." Yoh tried to pacify her. "It's alright… I-ugh!"

He was cut off as his fiancée delivered a slap to his left cheek.

"I wasn't serious. Don't be so gullible." She commented. "Omaih." She pointed to Manta, who was poised for a quick getaway. "Sit down. It's rude to stand when people are eating. Answer the question, Yoh."

Yoh grinned, the imprint of a palm still clearly visible on his cheek.

"I don't know, Manta-kun. Maybe he got destroyed with the Great Spirit."

"Do you hate him?" This was Ren speaking.

"Iie… Koitze wa ore no onii-san." (He is my older brother.) "How can I hate him?"

"You're soft Yoh. Always too soft." Ren said. "You realize that he tried to kill you, and didn't think twice about it?"

"Yeah…" Yoh replied absent-mindedly, his mind obviously somewhere else. Ren and Anna sighed almost in unison. How he could live with himself was beyond understanding.

"What's on your mind?" Manta asked. Yoh was being himself again, away from the world, while chewing on the piece of seafood.

"Betsuni." (Nothing.)

There was a loud bang and the paper walls were illuminated as the group realized that there was a fire in the garden.

"Yoh, Ren. Get the fire extinguisher." Anna took command. "Manta, open the door." She had her beads ready, for what reason no one knew.

Manta slid open the door in one swift motion, closing his eyes as he did so. Anna's look of conviction suddenly changed to that of surprise. Her mouth gaped open at the sight before her, and her knees buckled, before she took control of herself and sat on a nearby cushion.

"Get out of the way!" Ren yelled. He and Yoh appeared round the corner carrying a hose. Their eyes widened and their pupils dilated as they realized the situation.

"Bason!"

"Hai, Bocchama."

"Amidamaru!"

"Yoh-dono. I am ready."

The spirits were poised for oversoul when suddenly the figure at the door dropped to its knees and stretched its hand out weakly.

"Y-Yoh…" it called faintly, and collapsed upon the threshold of the door.

Yoh stood at the middle of the room, hand hung limply at his side, carrying his sword.

"GOLDEN CHUUKA ZAN-"

"Yamenasai, Ren." Anna blocked his path.

"Nani?! Koitze… Koitze…" Ren stammered. "Koitze wa oretachi no teki desu!" (He is our enemy!)

"Not now he isn't." Anna replied coldly. "The fact that we're standing here alive proves that. Help me with him. Manta, stop hiding and come help me put out this fire. Yoh."

The younger Asakura stood there in shock, not bothering to respond to Anna's call. This was… this was his other half… the one who he had dealt a lethal cut at the end of the battle. What was… what was he doing here?!

He was brought back to his senses by a sharp left handed smack on the face by Anna.

"Snap out of it, Yoh. He's your brother, so help him."

"Ah… Hai…" he gingerly picked up Hao in his arms and gently carried him into the living room, where he placed the limp body onto the cushions that Manta had lined up ready for him.

Yoh stared at the shirtless boy lying on his floor. He noticed the deep cut etched into his twin's torso and noted with regret that it was indeed his doing. Hao's long hair, now knotted with dirt, was spread out untidily over the floor, and Yoh made effort to arrange it as best as he could.

"Faust? Get over here now." Anna spoke into the receiver. "I don't care what time it is. I expect to see you in five minutes or you can say goodbye to Eliza. I'm sending her back up to heaven if I don't see you outside the door." She banged the receiver back onto the phone quite roughly.

"Yoh, I don't know what I'm doing, but there's a reason why he came in that weak state. I don't think he's here to kill us." Manta commented. A vein was slightly visible in Ren's forehead.

"Then what's he here for? Why come all the way to pass out without even giving a proper fight?!" the Chinese boy retorted, still wary of the unconscious boy. Anna shot him a glare that could send even the most horrifying of spirits back to hell. He stiffened and crossed his arms again; leaning against the frame of the door, spear in easy reach.

"He's hurt." Anna said. "You did this, so you clean him up."

She threw a medicated cloth at Yoh, and it hit him in the face. He pulled it off with a smile, and began wiping down his twin's bleeding body.

"I wonder why his muscles are so…" Yoh commented, as he ran a finger down Hao's side, feeling his developed deltoids, refraining from touching his chest or abdomen for fear of infecting the wound. He looked down at his own body through his unbuttoned shirt and sighed with dismay. He didn't even have a six-pack, let alone deltoids! He glanced at Manta, and together both of them chuckled softly.

"I didn't become your fiancée for your body." Anna's voice made him jump. He smiled appreciatively at her and went back to his task.

"The doctor is here." The sleepy German stood at the doorway, medical bag at hand. Eliza smiled approvingly at everyone. Her smile vanished, however, when Hao gave a loud groan of discomfort as Yoh unintentionally scrubbed at his wound with the cloth.

"Shoo." Faust nudged Yoh away. "Let the doctor do his work." Yoh complied, but refused to go far, kneeling down on the other side of his twin.

As usual, Faust began muttering to himself.

"Can I do it? He's injured badly… what can I do? He's our enemy… should I really BE doing this?"

And as usual, Eliza appeared beside him, holding a syringe of anesthetic.

"Are you sure, my dear?" the spirit nodded, pressing it into his hand. "Very well. I shall treat him. Please exit the room."

"But Faust…" Ren began. "What if he…"

"The medicine will keep him unconscious for at least two days. More than enough time for me to operate and fix this. Now please." He motioned to the door, smiling sleepily as he did so.

They left, although tentatively.

"How is this possible?!" Ren pouted. "I thought we were rid of him once and for all. Well, at least for the next 500 years."

Yoh shook his head. He had no answers. Neither had anyone else.

"What do you think is gonna happen when he wakes up?" Manta said, fear in his voice. Yoh shrugged.

"Who knows?" He smiled again. "Everything will be alright in the end." The care freeness was annoying yet placating.

"You are too sure of yourself." Anna said. "The only reason why I didn't kill him is because of the way he called you."

"Huh?"

"The way he said your name. It's obvious he wasn't here to pick a fight or taunt us. His voice had defeat in it." She replied, stoic faced.

Yoh's stomach growled loudly. He rubbed it and grinned.

"I want some more abalone." Anna's eyebrow twitched.

SMACK.

"ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME?!"

"Ah… Itai…" he rubbed his left cheek. "Anna, you don't have to hit me for everything I do."

"Why not?" She challenged. He sweat-dropped.

"Hee hee…" he laughed sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. They sat in silence for awhile, each reminiscing of the past and thinking of the future.

The door slid open, the sickly smell of ether leaking into the room. Faust poked his face round and nodded.

"Operation is a success." Eliza vanished, and he smiled at them. "May I ask, though, what is HE doing here?"

Anna raised her eyebrows.

"Does it look like I know?"

"But…"

"Urusai. Stay if you want, but don't get in my way." Faust nodded, and picked up an abalone from the huge dish on the table.

Yoh knelt down beside Hao again. Faust had injected his Furyoku into the wound, causing the skin to fuse together partially and make the cut less deep. His twin's face looked so serene as he lay, breathing slowly. Yoh wondered why Hao had waited the whole week to come to Funbari. That cut had been bleeding ever since the battle ended; it must have required a great deal of willpower in order to sustain himself through the ordeal and even teleport all the way from the USA to Japan.

He picked up the damp cloth again and started wiping Hao's soiled face. After a few minutes, he dipped the cloth into the bucket of warm water that Anna had brought from the kitchen and cleaned it. Hao was beginning to look more like himself now. He turned the boy over onto his side, and washed his back, which was scratched and bruised after days of leaning against the tree. He sighed. Could he really forgive Hao for what he had tried to do? His thoughts flashed back to where Hao had joined them in the bath in the USA, to when they had coffee together in Patch Village Café. To their first and last battle together as they held off Manta's father.

"Daijoubu, nii-san." He muttered, as he once again cleaned the cloth. He grinned, wondering what it would be like when his other half eventually awoke.

Manta, Anna and Ren watched silently. Faust was too busy pounding the abalone into a pulp so he could intravenously feed himself with it to pay attention. He never paid much attention to anything else but his dear Eliza anyway.

"Why are you wearing a track suit?" Yoh asked Hao. "And what are you doing here?!"

"I've lost my accommodation for the night, so I'm staying here. The fact that I will go to sleep here and know that no one will murder me shows how powerful I am."

"Don't be so sure." Ren said, having obviously eavesdropped on the conversation.

Yoh grinned as he remembered the time in Patch Village where that happened. That was the night before the battle with Manta's father's fleet of battleships. He liked his brother even more now. He never hated him. He had actually enjoyed the night where they spent, lying beside each other in their futons. The small talk before Hao fell asleep. The few minutes Yoh had spent staring at his twin's face as he slumbered. The face that was before him now.

A large hairbrush hit him on his head.

"Anna…" he picked up the black thing.

"He's not sleeping in this property with such filthy hair. Take care of it, Yoh." She left the room. "I'm going to bed. Oh, and make sure Faust pays for the food and drink he's taken."

Faust froze as he was connecting the intravenous tube to his arm. Yoh smiled at him.

"Don't worry, you know her. She's always like that." He mouthed, behind Anna's back.

"Yoh, don't think I don't know what you're doing."

"Ack!" Yoh froze as well, sweat drops visible on his face. "Sumi… sumimasen Aaah!" Anna's sandal hit him square on the forehead. Even Ren's eyes were bulging as they worshipped Anna's precision at dealing out punishment.

"I'm going to bed. Breakfast had better be ready when I come downstairs tomorrow."

"G-good night, Anna." Yoh replied. He sighed with relief once he heard her door slide shut.

"Y-Yoh-dono." Amidamaru appeared, crying a river of tears.

"Ah…" Yon mimicked his spirit ally's actions. He looked around the room. Faust was "enjoying" his meal and Ren was finishing the last of his milk. Manta had surprisingly taken over Yoh's job and was brushing Hao's unkempt tangled hair with a frown as he tried to clear the dirt from it. He dipped the brush into the water and smoothed out portions of hair that he had managed to clear.

"Manta, do you want to stay the night?" he asked his best friend.

"Kisama! What about me?!" Ren butted in, his hair looking particularly pointy.

"Ah… Hai…" Yoh grinned. "I forgot."

"Baka."

"Of course. I'm staying down here tonight so you can use my room. Oh, and can you bring down two futons please?" Ren padded up the stairs wordlessly.

"Make that three!" Manta yelled back. Yoh looked at Manta gratefully.

"Manta-kun…"

"Don't say anything, Yoh-kun. You're my best friend. Best friends help each other." Manta continued brushing Hao's hair, not looking up. A draught blew in through the open door, and Hao visibly shivered. Yoh slid it shut as Ren appeared dressed in his night clothes, easily hefting three futons over his shoulder. He dumped them on the ground and cleared his plate, sweeping loose portions of food from the table onto it.

"Ren, you don't have to…" Yoh began.

"Urusai." Ren went into the kitchen and soon Yoh could hear water running as Ren washed the dishes.

"Domo, Ren." He called softly, not wanting to wake Anna and incur her wrath.

He spread out the futons carelessly across the floor, sweeping aside his training weights to clear more space. He lifted Hao gently and placed him on the nearest futon, before drawing the blanket over his body.

"He's not even that heavy." He thought. He knelt down beside Hao again, just staring at him. It was amazing how alike they looked, apart from the long hair. He ran his hands through his twin's hair, admiring the silkiness of it. Manta had done a good job indeed brushing the long strands. He undid his topknot and ran a hand through his own hair, noticing the exact same texture as his brother's.

He sighed, and pulled his own futon so that it was right beside Hao's. He lifted Hao's huge blanket and snuggled under it, feeling the warmth that was emanating from his twin's body. He reached out and stroked Hao's arm, as if to confirm to himself that he was really there.

"Good night, Yoh-sama." Faust left to go back to his room. "I'll check on him in the morning."

Manta turned off the lights and buried himself in his own futon.

"Oyasuminasai, onii-chan." Yoh closed his eyes.

I have the next chapter on standby, but I want to know whether it's worth it continuing the story or not. This means, review please! If I get enough reviews today I'll post the other section straight away. Thanks!