WARNING: Contains spoilers for the end of the manga. Also contains, sexual references, Guy on guy love. Don't read it if you don't like it.

Summary: Several years have passed since the Shaman Tournament. Ren wonders whether he has made the right choices since then.


Chapter 1

Ren Tao sighed, and tapped his pen on the desk. This is what his life had become, a business man, a family man, who spent hours dedicating himself to his studies, in order to keep the Tao name alive. He was married now, to Jeanne D'Arc, or also known as The Iron Maiden. After the Shaman Tournament, Ren had decided to go abroad and attend university, also in this time he married his wife, and they had a child.

Ren had finally got what he wanted, a family. Ren glanced at the clock, it was coming to twelve a midnight, he massaged his temples and threw his pen back down on the desk. It was pointless, he had been working all day on these damned accounts and nothing was adding up. Jeanne and Men had long gone to bed. Men, was Ren's first child, a little boy. It was one of the happiest days of his life, when he was brought into this world. He finally got what he wanted, a family. He promised to be a great father, a proper Dad, one to be proud of. He would teach Men the proper values of life, and make sure that he had a better childhood, than the one he had.

But in the bottom of Ren's heart, he felt something. He felt emptiness. He had worked so hard on getting his own family, and now that task seemed to be complete, but there was something missing.

He loved Jeanne, he truly did. She was strong woman, she has values, courage, she has ambition, and she also shared some of the same emptiness that Ren had, she was orphaned, she too never had a proper family so this was something new to the both of them. She strived to be the best that she could possibly be, and she was smart too. They only ever had sex once they were married. She believed in saving herself, until the night of their marriage and Ren respected her for that. She was everything that a certain hot-headed, rude, loud-mouthed, annoying, Shaman wasn't, but why was he in his mind.

It was true, that he shared moments with Horo, back in the tournament. They both denied their feelings for each other but each night it was always the same result. Harsh, hard, sex. It was a fight for dominance, a fight to see who would be on top. They'd grab each other, pin the other down, pull at their hair, rip the clothes off. Ren loved seeing the Ainu writhe underneath him, scream his name, the heavy panting, the sweating, the hungry kisses.

Their night time activities were always kept secret. Nobody was allowed to know, they knew that their friends would be disgusted in that type of behaviour, and their families would most likely disown them. The both of them would sneak off to find an empty to room, to be sure not to disturb Joco. During the day time they would fight and argue as always, by night, they still had the same fighting energy.

Ren's feelings for Horo were deeper then he let on. When the Shaman Tournament came to an end, and Hao was defeated, they each went their separate ways. They both agreed it was the best, but he could see in Horo's eyes that he was hurt.

Ren then travelled to Europe to study at university, this was where he met Jeanne. It was convenient for him to start a family with her, they were both strong shaman, and she was certainly a woman worth marrying into the Tao family. He believed that he loved her, to a certain extent, but it was a different kind of love of that he had for Horo.

They rarely kept in touch, a part from the odd letters to one another, to see how the other was doing. They also met up last summer, when the group reunited for the first time in years, this was when Horo first saw Men. He was shocked to at least, but he could feel the atmosphere tense around them, Horo had no kids, and no wife either.. had he been waiting for Ren all this time? Ren shook the idea out of his head. It was too late now, they had to move on.

The room soon filled with cries from the baby monitor. Ren looked over to the monitor, before standing up and quickly made his way down to Men's room before he woke Jeanne. Ren walked over to Men's bed, and picked him up. He rocked him his arms, shushing him him once again, trying to get him to fall back asleep. Ren looked to the crying boy, and sighed deeply. This was where he belonged, wasn't it?

After what seemed like an hour of settling Men back down to sleep, Ren lay the boy back down in the crib. A crack in the floorboards, made Ren aware that he was no longer alone. He glanced over his shoulder and noticed his wife standing at the door in her night dress, looking rather tired and exhausted, he gave her a sympathetic smile, and whispered, "I just got him back to sleep.." He walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her.

Jeanne smiled and rested her head on Ren's chest, "You should come to bed, honey.. You shouldn't stay up all night working."

Ren looked down to Jeanne, and kissed her softly on the lips, "I was just on my way." Jeanne looked up to Ren lovingly and returned the kiss. She glanced over to Men's crib, before taking Ren's hand as they both headed towards their own bedroom.


AN: Here's the first chapter, may take some time updating this one.