One Soul

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One Soul

There was a pregnant pause, Yoh’s mind was still clouded from the presence of Zeke, and he felt his thought process take an unnecessarily long time to register what Zeke had said.
Brother? No! I-I think, I love him! But not as a brother! Definitely not as a brother! I love him as more than that…To be honest I’ve been obsessed with him almost all of my life. But I never thought that we were family…It’s so obvious though! We’re identical! How could I not have seen it? We must be twins-I suppose that’s what he meant by “other half”…But I can’t believe it! Nowaynowaynoway!!!!
He kissed me! Like a lover would, not like a brother! I saw the lust in his eyes-something more is going on here, I know it…Lord above, he-he kissed me!!

He slowly lifted his shaking hand to touch his lips, where Zeke’s lips had been. There! Right there! Something intimate, something special, that belonged to Zeke had touched him there!
His mouth went dry at the thought. He thought of the contented smile Zeke had worn when he had held his hair. Jesus, I made that smile… And with that he lost control and his mind clouded over completely.

The others looked on in horror as Yoh’s hand fell from his lips, his beautiful eyes rolled in his head and he collapsed in a heap on the dusty desert floor, in a dead faint.


The first thing he knew after that, was that his head was in his guardian ghosts lap, his hair being stroked off his face by Amidamaru’s long-dead fingers. His eyelids fluttered open and he caught sight of all his friends’ wary and worried faces. Are they afraid of me?
“Hey, guys,” he managed to croak. Anna handed him a cup of precious water as he sat up. He sipped it gratefully. They were still watching him; did they expect him to say something? What could he say?
“Do-do you care to explain what that was all about, Yoh?” Len’s voice was uncharacteristically soft. “I don’t know anything more than you do,” he replied. They all looked to Mikehisa, Yoh’s (and Zeke’s) father.

He watched them sadly, and for some reason, when his eyes fell upon Yoh, his hands clenched into fists, his face hidden behind his eagle mask.
“I am afraid to say that what Zeke said was true: Yoh and Zeke are twin brothers.” They all looked on grimly, “I shall tell you…

***flashback***

It is snowing outside the Asakura mansion an from the inside are the moans of a woman in pain, a woman in labour. Yoh’s mother. Yohmai and Kino are there by her side, as is Mikehisa.
“So, we know that they are going to be twins, and we also know that one of them will be Zeke.” Yohmai spoke sadly, yet dtermindly, “Perhaps he thinks that we will not destroy him if he reincarnates back into our family. Well, he is wrong. I am sorry that this has happened, but we must be strong.” The others say nothing, they all know this. “Unforunately, we cannot tell which of the infants is Zeke and which is our own. We must kill them both.”
Yoh’s mother whimpers, both in sadness and in pain. “I hate Zeke so much!” Mikehisa bursts out, “This should be a day of celebration and joy! Instead we must kill one of our own, my own son!” He begins to weep.
Nothing is said for a while except for the gentle encouragement of Kino whispered to Yoh’s mother.
“There will be a small moment when Zeke will be vulnerable, a tiny window. When that window is gone, well…” They all nod, “So we must not hesitate, we must strike as soon as the first is born, and then the second, too.” He finishes speaking and will say no more. Yoh’s mother sobs and then cries out and they can all see a head.
Mikehisa gently guides the infant out, for this could be his true son… But wait! Grappled onto the child’s ankle is a hand, a tiny baby’s hand, holding fiercely onto the other. Babies have little grip when they are first born, they are not yet strong enough, they all know. So, was this Zeke?

Mikehisa guides the other child out warily, he cuts both of the cords’ quickly and lays them together on a mat and wipes them off. His wife sits up, exhaustedly.
The infants are entwined, twisted together in an endless embrace, and both are gurgling contentedly. My son, he already loves his brother. Mikehisa lets out a big sob.
Yohmai sighs, and weeps internally, for he knows that none of the others will be able to do it. Oh, to see them laughing together! At least-at least my grandsons’ time in this world was joyous… And he takes the silver knife and no-one, not even the twins’ mother can look away.

He chooses the baby on the left… He holds his head in his hand carefully, this could be his true grandson, afterall. He places the knife at his throat- “STOP!!!” and Yohmai does stop. “Zeke? No! It is too soon! We should have more time than this!”
Zeke’s eerily mature voice rings out again, ignoring Yohmai and furiously angry, “Do not dare touch my brother!” What? Zeke was defending, not himself, but his twin? There is a flash of fire, and the Spirit of Fire, young still, appears and lifts the baby on the right into its’ arms. “Look after my twin, my blood, be good to him. I love him and have big plans for his future.” The gravity f Zeke’s words sink in. Love? Zeke can love? What plans? “You-you don’t have anything to do with his future, Zeke!” The twins’ mother cries bravely (and desperately), “You stay away from my child!” Zeke’s laugh fills the room, “Do not delude yourself, mother,” he spits.
But now his voice is soft and he directs to Yoh (who had been screaming and wailing ever since Zeke had been taken from him, and now clutches at the air for him), “Dear brother, hush.” Yoh’s mouth instantly clamps shut, though he still whimpers and sniffles and continues to reach out for his brother. “I will see you again soon, Yoh.”
The Spirit of Fire makes to leave, but Yohmai storms out in rage, “You have no right to name him!”
Zeke laughs again, “He will answer to nothing else!” and the pair leave in a flash of fire that would kill the twins’ mother, scar Mikehisa for life, but suspiciously, did not touch Yoh.

***End Flashback***

The people in the camp were quiet at first, all shocked.
“And that is your birth story, Yoh, and I shall not repeat it.” Mikehisa sounded angry again, but Yoh ignored him and just stared at the red sand at his feet. He had a lot to think about.
But then Rio spoke up, “Well that is certainly unfortunate, but you cannot chose your family, can you, Len?”
“Hmph! You most certainly cannot. Poor you, Yoh.” The others made noises of agreement, their doubts cleared up. After all, they did all trust Yoh, he was the leader of their group, he had brought them all together in his kindness. He had done for all of them something, saved them from darkness…
Though the kiss did worry them though. But if they couldn’t trust Yoh, who could they trust?
But Jocko was not convinced, “Wait! Hold on a second! Doesn’t this bother any of you at all? This is Zeke’s twin brother!” Anna, Rio, Trey, Tamara, Morty and Len looked at him in disgust. Trey spoke out with the air of someone explaining something very simple to a very stupid person, “Don’t you know anything about twins? There’s always a good one, and an evil one! I’ll leave it to you to figure out which is which.” The others laughed and Yoh looked up at them gratefully. Jocko crossed his arms, “But how do I know if I can trust you?”
Yoh looked thoughtful and then said in a matter-of-fact voice. “You don’t know, that’s what trust is all about.” Jocko frowned and then smiled sheepishly, “Y’know, I kinda forgot who I was talking to…” They all laughed. “Sorry, Yoh.”
“That’s alright, Jocko.” Yoh spoke quietly.
“ALRIGHT?! Alright?” Trey exploded, “Can’t you just lose your cool for once, dude? You make the rest of us look bad!” Yoh smiled.
Mikehisa did not. “The fact that Yoh is Zeke’s brother is not worrying, it does not reflect anything upon Yoh.”
“Thanks, Dad.” Yoh smiled.
“How dare you! I’m not finished!” Their mouths dropped open at the venom in Mikehisa’s voice, “Like I said, Zeke being Yoh’s twin and ancestor is not worrying. What is worrying is that Zeke and Yoh are attracted to each other.” Everyone but Yoh gasped and stared at Mikehisa like he had grown a second head. Ridiculous! That kiss was a bit odd, but it was probably just Zeke messing with them, trying to cause enmity in the group. And even if Zeke did like Yoh like that, Yoh most certainly did not like Zeke in any way, let alone a kissy-kissy, smoochy-smoochy, kind of way!
Yoh just stared at his father, his face dark, and then, “Don’t be ridiculous,” he whispered. “I’m not being ridiculous! Don’t you try to deny it!” He sounded almost hysterical. His voice suddenly dropped to a disgusted whisper, “I saw you, you looked at him with love and lust in your eyes. And he looked at you in the same way!” He was practically screaming again.

And then came something that not a single one of them had expected, alive or dead.