[Shaman King] Hoshi ga Hoshii desu * chapter 20: identity

[lucathia]

Title: Hoshi - ga - Hoshii - desu
Chapter: 20/45

Author: lucathia_rykatu
Email: rykatu@yahoo.com
Series: Shaman King
Rating: PG
Genre: General
Feedback: will be highly appreciated
Spoilers: end of anime
Disclaimer: Shaman King belongs to its rightful owners (which does not include me!)
Archive: livejournal / fanfiction.net

Summary: "I want the stars" -- An amnesic Hao only remembers that the word "Hoshi" is special to him. Found unconscious in America, Hao takes on the name of Hoshi and eventually returns to Japan. This is his story after the anime.

-----chapter 20: Identity-----

Thump.

Thump thump.

What was that noise? Sora took in a few deep breaths, her heart pounding way too quickly. She had to calm herself down somehow.

Thump.

Thump thump.

It was an easy thing to say, the fact that she needed to calm down. But it wasn’t an easy thing to do. Just saying, “Calm down,” to herself didn’t help calm her nerves. Her heart was still pounding and pounding and pounding. Still too fast.

Her nervousness wasn’t unexpected. After all, this day was the day that she had both dreaded and looked forward to for the past seventeen years.

The birth of her first son, Asakura Hoshi, was one of her greatest joys in life. She had discovered when Hoshi was still a toddler, that unlike herself, he was able to see spirits. It was Autumn then, and her son had been happily jumping under the brown leaves of the trees. She had smiled gently, cherishing her son’s cheerful laughter. However, her smile quickly turned into a frown when Hoshi stopped laughing and jumping around.

At that time, she asked him what was wrong.

Her toddler son looked up at her with sad eyes. He then pointed a shaky finger at the crackled, brown leaves.

“Kaasan, why are they dead?”

Sora had been confused. Was her son asking her why the leaves were dead? It was Autumn, and the leaves were bound to fall. Her son quickly answered her question however, with a statement that surprised her.

“The little people holding the leaves...they’re not moving.”

Her heart had started pounding and pounding and pounding. It was then that Sora discovered that Hoshi had a connection with the spiritual world. She, herself, was only a normal human being. But Hoshi, he was different. He was a shaman, and as a shaman who carried the Asakura blood, he had every right to be acknowledged as a descendent of the Asakura family.

Although Sora had already decided that she would return to the Asakura family, it was then that her resolve became firm.

She would definitely return to the Asakura family, for she needed to demand for her children to be acknowledged as Asakuras.

-----0-----

After the phone call, Anna returned to the front of the inn only to see Yoh and Tsuki having a staring contest. Immediately, she became irritated. Here was another free loader in the form of an immature boy. Her inn wasn’t a charity service!

She sighed as she walked outside to put up the “closed for the day” sign.

When she entered the inn again, Yoh and Tsuki were still at their staring contest. Anna frowned.

“Don’t forget you have training first thing in the morning, Yoh.”

Yoh blinked. “What?”

Tsuki immediately noticed Yoh’s slip and started grinning. “Yoh-san lost! I won!”

Anna couldn’t keep the slight smile off her face as she neared the counter, all the while hearing Yoh’s claims that Tsuki hadn’t won fair and square.

-----0-----

Sora’s resolve to return to Japan almost died along with the deaths of her son and her husband. To this day, she regretted that her deceased son Hoshi had never had the chance to meet his grandparents. She regretted letting her son and her husband leave. She shouldn’t have let them leave, that day when they received the letter addressed from Hao...

For when they left, they never came back.

Sora hadn’t kept in touch with the Asakura family in the seventeen years that she had been away. But she had read about him in one of her books. Asakura Hao. Yes, she had read a tiny excerpt about him. She learned as much as one could learn about the Asakura family from the old records and books. With her inability to see spirits, knowledge was the next best thing she could attain. When Sora had first read the excerpt about her ancient ancestor, she had been surprised that someone such as him was part of her family.

She, herself, had only been a little girl when she had chanced upon that excerpt. She had stood upon a stool in order to reach one of the higher shelves. Taking down an old, dusty volume, she had carefully blown the dust away. When she tried opening the book, the book fell open to a page on its own.

That was where she found the excerpt on Asakura Hao.

The book was surprisingly vague about her mysterious ancestor. The excerpt only held a grand total of three sentences. She couldn’t remember the exact words anymore, but it had said something about Hao being a tall, powerful shaman who was a disgrace to the Asakura family. He was so powerful that he was able to reincarnate, but he had been sealed at one point. He was bound to return though. Sora had blinked when she had read those lines. A powerful shaman, but still a disgrace to the family? That was like the reverse of her own situation. She was a weak shaman, so she was a disgrace to the family. Actually, it was more like...she wasn’t even a shaman.

Hao was entirely different though. He was powerful. He had power. Yet he was still a disgrace. Immediately, Sora had been intrigued by her mysterious ancestor. She wanted to find out more about him. She began flipping through all the other books in the room, but she did not find out any more about him.

Except for those three lines in a book stuffed away on an almost out of reach shelf, Hao was nonexistent.

Or so Sora believed. For how could someone who lived a thousand years ago exist anywhere else than in books? Still, Sora’s curiosity hadn’t been quenched, so she timidly ventured towards her parents to ask them the forbidden question.

“Who’s Hao?”

Once the question left her mouth, her parents’ eyes immediately widened.

“Where did you hear about him?” harshly demanded her father, Yohmei.

Sora cringed. She understood from her father’s tone that she shouldn’t have asked the question. But she was curious, and she wanted to know. “I read about him in one of the books...”

Her father took her tiny hands and demanded her to show him the book. He began complaining that all she knew how to do was read useless books. Sora felt like crying. She didn’t want him to see the book, for she knew he was going to do something bad to it. And he did. He burned it.

Sora learned to never ask about Hao.

The next time she heard about Hao, she was no longer a child. It was a few years after she settled down in America. She had been sifting through her mail when she saw a letter addressed to her from her parents.

She hadn’t heard from them for years. She didn’t know what to expect from the letter. Were they going to welcome her back? It had been a wild desire, but the possibility was there. Sora had nervously opened the letter.

The letter was written in her father’s usual, tidy handwriting, but Sora noticed that the strokes weren’t as solid, but rather shaky, as if her father had been unsure of his words. Hao’s back. Stated the letter simply. Sora’s hope fell. It wasn’t a letter welcoming her back. Your sister gave birth to twins. Asakura Hao and Asakura Yoh...

The letter continued, but Sora didn’t want to read anymore of it. Her family didn’t even accept her, so why tell her about these familial matters? They hadn’t wanted to tell her anything about Hao, and now it was too late to tell her about him.

But, Sora had been forced to reread that letter when her son and her husband never came back.

She discovered then that the person who killed her loved ones must have been the very same shaman that she had been fascinated with when she was a young girl. The very same shaman who had three lines dedicated to him in that old, dusty book.

Asakura Hao.

She’d never forget him.

Little did she know that the shaman on her mind was currently residing in her very own house.

-----0-----

Meanwhile, Hoshi held his old clothing with a firm grip. All he had to do was turn around, show his old clothes to Manta, and his identity would finally be crystal clear to him. Tao Ren had called him Asakura Hao. It felt right...it felt like his name, but Hoshi wanted no doubts.

With that, Hoshi slowly turned around.

When Manta’s eyes landed on the clothes, Manta stood rooted to the spot, unable to say a word. His mouth became dry. He tried to make his mouth work. It was hard. But finally, Manta opened his mouth to confirm Hoshi’s identity.

-----0-----

Thump. Thump.

It must have been difficult for her nephew, Asakura Yoh, to live knowing that his own twin was a thousand year old murderer. She couldn’t imagine what kind of life her nephew led.

Thump.

And now she was about to meet Asakura Yoh who, in turn, was the twin to her mysterious ancestor.

Thump. Thump.

Sora took in another deep breath. She was here to pick up Tsuki. And in doing so, she would meet her nephew. She noticed the “closed for the day” sign, but nothing could stand before her way today. She was ready. Gathering up all the courage she had, she slid open the door to Funbari Onsens.

-----0-----

Anna was irritated when she heard the door slide open. She had already put out the sign that said they were “closed,” so who was walking into the inn right now? Couldn’t that person read? Just as Anna was about to ask the person to leave, the woman began speaking.

“I’m here to pick up my son, Tsuki. He’s here, isn’t he?”

Oh. So the woman was the little boy’s mother. That was fine with her. The fewer the freeloaders, the better.

Anna pointed in the direction of the other door.

“He’s in there playing with Yoh.”

The woman’s voice was a little shaky as she thanked Anna for the information.

-----0-----

Sora was slightly disappointed when she didn’t see Asakura Yoh the moment she opened the door. Only a young lady, who sported a very annoyed expression, was at the counter, apparently busy with some calculations. Sora calmed herself down and asked the girl about Tsuki. The girl told her that he was inside, playing with Yoh.

Her nephew.

Thump. Thump.

Sora slid open the door to the next room. Her eyes landed on Tsuki immediately. Tsuki was playing with an older boy who had his back to her. Tsuki’s eyes immediately lit up as he exclaimed, “Kaachan!” He happily ran into the open arms of his mother.

With Tsuki safely in her arms, Sora’s attention returned to the older boy who Tsuki had been playing with. Sora didn’t know what to expect from Yoh. She didn’t even know what he looked like.

Sora never ever expected Yoh...

...to look exactly like her adopted son Hoshi.

As Yoh turned around, Sora was hit with a horrible, horrible realization. Her grip on Tsuki’s hands tightened, causing Tsuki to wince.

“You’re Yoh...that means...that means...Hoshi is...”

-----0-----

Manta finally got the words out.

“Asakura Hoshi is not your name.”

Hoshi stared back at Manta with unblinking eyes. He had been waiting for this moment.

Manta continued.

“Asakura Hoshi is actually...”

-----0-----

“You’re Yoh...that means...that means...Hoshi is...”

“Asakura Hoshi is actually...”

“Asakura Hao,” finished both Sora and Manta.

Hoshi, who had finally, finally confirmed his identity closed his eyes. Sora, on the other hand, closed her eyes as well. However, a trickle of water ran down her cheeks.

-----to be continued-----

next chapter: reality