Disclaimer: Don't own Shaman King.
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Title: Dyed Hair
Pairing: Horo/Ren and random other pairings here and there if you read between the lines
Author: Kitchuu
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You hated him from the moment you met him.
He was ostensibly loud, obnoxious, and almost constantly happy. He annoyed the living daylights out of you while you had to work with him, and to top it all off, he had blue hair. No normal, sane person had blue hair. Hair wasn't supposed to stick straight up like that either.
You never denied being a hypocrite.
You never really thought much of him, but he was always there. Even when the shaman tournament was over. Even when he could have -no, when he should have left, he stuck around.
He kind of grew on you, the way fungus grows on rocks. Slowly at first, and then it completely surrounds you and swallows you whole.
Of course you denied it. You fought with him all the time, over the most ridiculous things ever. He's everything that you're not, and you disagree with him on everything, even though sometimes, you secretly agree.
He thinks you are in love with his younger sister.
You think his sister is horrifying, but no one must ever know this. She's a nice enough girl, but you've seen her fight, and she could probably beat you with one hand. It fascinates you, this power, because you have always been fascinated with power. That is why you admire her, but she still scares you.
Power is also what had drawn you to Asakura Hao, the teen that very nearly killed someone. The fact that he was physically fit helped. You were so very disappointed when he was tamed by his twin brother of all people. Shame that it had to be the one person you respected so very grudgingly.
You have always known that you didn't quite 'swing' the right way. Your sexual orientation has never bothered you, but only because no one has ever found out. Not your father, not your sister, and certainly not your friends. You are eighteen now, and a hormonal teenager just like them, so you choose your one night stands carefully and never see them again.
Your friends thought you were an asexual prick.
The other guys were always trying to hook you up with someone, although you specifically told them not to. They tried Tamao, Pirika, and even Anna, but she proceeded to thoroughly thrash the poor soul who suggested that.
He was the only one who never, ever tried to get you a girlfriend. You never asked him why, because you were so grateful. You weren't exactly the brightest person ever.
The first time he kissed you, you beat the crap out of him. You had been fighting about something, and you can't quite remember what anymore, but you will never forget the look in his eyes when he cornered you against the wall, and you thought he was going to hit you. But he didn't, and you let him kiss you, and it took you almost five minutes before your brain worked again.
You refused to speak to him for a week afterwards, and he avoided you anyways. No one was worried, they thought it was just another regular fight between the two of you.
At the end of the week, you went to find him, because he wouldn't approach you. He was still your best friend before anything else, and here you wondered when he had wormed his way to your heart anyways.
You found him on the flat topped roof, lying there without a care in the world. He heard your footsteps and acknowledged them, sitting up to face you.
You opened your mouth, then closed it again realizing you didn't really have anything to say. He tells you he's sorry. You call him a jerk.
Somehow, you end up together a few days later. Not just together, but together together. You had a boyfriend and it was the closest thing you had felt to love in a long time. Your sister loved you, and you loved her back, but this was different.
If someone had told you, that one day you would end up dating the same guy that had once pissed you off so much, you would have skewered them on the spot. It wasn't even funny. Looking back on it now though, you were glad, happy even, that things had worked themselves out the way it did.
Your friends are happy for you when you finally tell them. They don't think you are a complete heartless asshole anymore.
You still think though, that he dyes his hair. It is seriously unnatural.