[Shaman King] Hoshi ga Hoshii desu * chapter 30: end of summer

[lucathia]

Title: Hoshi - ga - Hoshii - desu
Chapter: 30/45

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.

-----ch. 30: end of summer-----

Sora was breathing heavily by the time she rested her hands on the bark of the tree for support. She closed her eyes, trying to calm her breathing. The sun had already set and Hoshi was nowhere to be seen.

Unwilling to give up the hope that he might still be near, she let her eyes wander around the area one last time.

Tall, towering trees. Branches that scattered the moonlight. Dark shadows. Drifting leaves.

No sign of Hoshi. Not even one sign of human life.

Crestfallen, Sora dragged herself home to her lone son. Hopefully, Yoh-san and the others were more successful in their search. Inwardly, she knew that they hadn't found him, for if they had, they surely would have contacted her by now.

Yet she hadn't even heard anything from them.

When Sora opened the door to her house, a bundle immediately jumped into her arms and wrapped its arms around her.

"'kaachan!"

Sora smiled apologetically at the little boy who held onto her with a death grip. In her wild frenzy to find Hoshi and bring him back, she had left her confused son all alone at home. Feeling the tight grip he held on her, she realized that she had been a blundering mother for neglecting her own child. What must Tsuki feel with Hoshi's disappearance and her absence from the house?

"I'm sorry, Tsuki," she murmured quietly.

Tsuki shook his head, unable to speak, letting his mother's warm embrace soothe his fears.

Sora hugged her son close to her. After feeling her son's grip loosen a bit, Sora tentatively said, "We're going to go visit Yoh-san and the others right now. So, go change and come back here, okay?"

Tsuki nodded, reluctantly letting go of his mother to go to his room.

-----0-----

It had been a long, unrewarding day. Manta had stood on the bridge, watching the dark waters by himself. He had walked along the empty corridors of his cram school with not a person in sight. After all, summer vacation was ending. Cram school had been over for the day and the students had gone home to prepare for the continuation of the school year. Manta learned, once he returned to Funbari Onsens, that the others shared experiences similar to his. Horo Horo had stood in the streets, watching the light turn red and then turn green, until the people in the streets had emptied out and gone home. Ren had watched a few people visit the graveyard, bringing flowers and the like, until it became dark and the visitors dwindled.

None of them had any luck.

Anna, of course, didn't have any luck either. She had been busy tending to the inn. Since Hoshi certainly didn't stop by the inn and her customers didn't seem to know him, she heard nothing about him.

Manta had a feeling that if Hoshi didn't want to be found, he wouldn't be found. So, he was slightly surprised when he discovered that Yoh-kun actually had more luck than any of them, since he did learn something about Hoshi from the store clerk.

Hoshi had bought a tour book.

"A tour book?" asked Ren a bit disbelievingly, voicing everyone's doubt in the open. He was in the process of poking his food due to the fact that their dinner was a courtesy of none other than Anna, who had silently fumed before dinner at having to do all of the tasks around the inn by herself. They could see her twitching with fury. The only reason that she hadn't slapped anyone yet was probably due to the fact that she had been the one who said that she'd look after the inn and she had let all of them go on their searches...so she couldn't really place the blame on anyone other than herself. Still, Ren was entitled to be a bit distrusting of his food. Who knew whether the icy-hot tempered girl had finally cracked and poisoned their food so that she could smirk at them when they all turned purple in the face and withered away and died? But the fact that it was rice that was in his bowl consoled him somewhat, for he always had rice at home. Rice couldn't be that damaging, not even when it was poisoned.

Anyway...let's stay away from the interesting musings in the purple-haired boy's head and return to the discussion at hand.

Yoh-kun nodded. "Yeah, a tour book. Of Japan."

A tour book of Japan. That was...very vague, thought Manta. Even though Japan wasn't as big as some other countries such as China or the United States, it was still large enough to hinder them when they wanted to find someone who didn't want to be found. It was like trying to find a needle in a haystack or trying to fish that same, miniscule needle out of a body of water that stretched as far as the eye could see.

But still, knowing that Hoshi bought a tour book was a start, right? A small lead to Hoshi's whereabouts. But what would Hoshi, of all the amnesic, used-to-be baddies in the world, want to do with a tour book? Read it and then go on a tour of Japan?

Manta shook his head, amused at the image of Hao riding on the hand of the Spirit of Fire and visiting the temples and shrines around Japan. Of course, it wouldn't be Hao and the Spirit of Fire who went around terrorizing the monks since neither Hao nor the Spirit of Fire still existed. Rather a boy who called himself Hoshi and his loyal cat spirit would be making the rounds. Now that Manta thought about it, maybe Hoshi was doing just that. Visiting places with his spirit. It was somewhat plausible.

Manta felt an odd trust when he thought about Hoshi, even though he still couldn't bring himself to fully trust Hao. They were the same person, yet to Manta, they were still worlds apart. For one, Manta couldn't imagine Hao being a person who liked to travel, though Hao must have traveled a lot to gather so many followers.

Manta's musings were entirely correct.

-----0-----

"Hey, hear that? Someone's at the door," mumbled Horo Horo, his mouth full of food.

"That should be Sora-obasan and Tsuki-chan," guessed Manta. They had all decided to regroup tonight at Funbari Onsens to discuss their findings, so it was a given that Sora would come. "I'll go welcome her in." Manta placed his chopsticks next to his bowl and slid himself off his chair. He went out of their little dining area to go to the front of the inn.

The rest of them continued eating their meal as peacefully as they could. Ren, after observing that Horo Horo hadn't turned purple with the food he consumed, deemed the food safe and began eating. While his two friends ate and his fiancée continued to fume, Yoh began wondering how Sora would react to their lack of success.

Yoh picked the individual rice out of his bowl with his chopsticks. He had already gotten to the bottom of his bowl and the rice was getting hard to pick up. He prided himself for being able to pick up even the tiniest things with a pair of chopsticks. He was still trying to pick his bowl clean when Manta walked back into the room. The room quickly became silent, though Yoh didn't notice. He continued picking the rice one by one.

After a long silence, Yoh finally tore his eyes away from his bowl. He had to look at Sora and talk to her at some point after all. It wouldn't do him any good to avoid her gaze, so he tried looking up his aunt who he hadn't known existed until recently.

It wasn't his aunt who he saw though.

He blinked.

The five standing at the doorway certainly weren't his aunt and his little cousin.

More family.

When had he invited them over?

"I called them," came the cutting voice to his right. Yoh didn't have to glance over to know that it was Anna who spoke. Well, that made a lot of sense yet it didn't at the same time. Why did Anna call them over? They weren't needed. Not yet anyway, not until they were able to sort out everything on their own.

But at least that explained things. Yoh's lazy smile finally emerged as he greeted his grandparents, his parents, and the blushing pink haired girl hiding behind his father.

The size of their meeting had just doubled.

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

next chapter: family reunion