Winds of change

Pairings: HoroxRen, slight YohxHao

Rating: T for Teens, because of later chapters

Summary: No one knows what's heading their way, even if it's right before their eyes. They're both going through the same problems,but differently approaching their solutions. Each searching within their hearts for the right things to do with their lives.

Author's notes: This is an AU, so it doesn't actually take place in the storyline. Wow, I haven't written a Shaman King fic in so long, but for some odd reason, I still can't seem to get over this couple. And...this was a old storyline that I just twisted around a little, although I deleted the old storyline story...it wasn't shaman king though, it was for Tales of the Abyss.

Disclaimer: I don't know shaman king, although I wish I did...

Chapter one: Mysteries

The three friends sat on the school roof in silence, none of them moving…then suddenly the middle child burst out into laughter. The other two faces were priceless as their jaws remained on the ground in utter shock.

"You know no one can talk to him, I don't want one of my best friends to die just yet!" The short haired brunette nearly shouted as his older brother continued to laugh. "Hao-"

"What, is he scared?" He finally questioned as he suddenly stopped laughing and a serious look crossing his face. "Please, don't tell me-"

"Fine, I'll do it!" The bluenette shouted with a frustrated grunt. "Till the end of the school year, right? Then it's off!" His brows furrowed in annoyance. He just hated his friends so much sometimes.

"Horo, you don't have to do it, Hao's just being-" the youngest tried to defend his friend as the blue haired male gave him a death glare, mentally telling him to stop defending him because it would show that he was scared and weak.

"Come on Yoh, he's in a pissed off mood. He'll come talk to us when he's ready. Besides, he has a lot of planning to do," Hao teased before dashing off with his twin before Horo could send another death glare their way.

Tonight was going to be an interesting night, for he had to prepare himself for what was in store for tomorrow. Hopefully his teachers wouldn't give him a lot of homework. He sighed heavily to himself when the bell rang, maybe he would skip school just today so that he could gain the confidence to talk to the school-known loner.

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"Horo, father wants to downstairs…" his younger sister said softly, peaking into his room. She knew that he always yelled at her whenever she entered his room without knocking, saying that it was a man's room. "He says he has big news…"

"Go away, Pilika," he sighed out loud, scratching his head in frustration. "Can't you see that I'm doing something important right now? Tell dad to wait for awhile and I'll be down once-"

"Horokeu, get down here right now!" His father shouted, hearing everything that he said. Pilika quickly ran back down the stairs to avoid her brother's anger. "I'm giving you three seconds! Three…two…on-"

"I'm not a child anymore, dad," Horo stated, reaching their living room with a sigh. "I'm seventeen already, don't you know when to stop treating me like a kid?" He leaned against the door frame.

"You're still my little baby though…and…" he paused, trying to make it a little more dramatic, but Horo seemed uninterested in whatever his father was saying. "I'm getting remarried!" Both his kid's mouth dropped to the floor.

"What?!" Horo shouted once he regained his composure. "I thought that mom was-"

"You're mother is your mother, this woman is herself. I will never dare to compare them either, understood?" His voice was stern as he glared down Horo for even doing such a thing.

"I thought you loved her…" Horo mumbled under his breath as he turned his back to his father.

"What did you say?" The man asked in a threatening voice, now glaring at his son's back.

"I said, I thought you loved her!" He shouted, turning back around, glaring right back at his father.

"I do love your mother!" He pounded his fists onto the table as he stood in anger.

"You can only love once, dad! If you love this woman then you didn't love mother!" Horo punched the wall on his right. "You choose, father. You choose who you love…because to me, no one can take her place as my mother," his voice calmed down as he refused to make eye contact.

"I love them both, son. I love your mom, I love you, Pilika, and this woman. At least give her a chance," he sighed heavily. Horo always seemed to be able to press the right buttons to make him mad. "I'm not about to choose who I love."

"She has no chance against mom, that's for sure…" he started to walk back up the stairs. Man, today was a really bad day for him…first the dare then hearing that his father was going to remarry?
"She has a sickly child…she said that he's constantly in the hospital because of his sickness, even I haven't met him…" Horo stopped in his tracks to listen to the rest of the statement. "At least treat her with respect."

"I'll see what I can do," Horo replied plainly as he continued his way back to his room. "I'm happy for you, dad…" he nearly whispered as he shut his door. There was always something inside of him that made him not be able to get along with his father, but maybe this was the beginning to a new relationship.

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The blue haired male dragged himself to school, he wasn't even cleaned or nicely groomed. He spent most of his night and morning trying to gain the confidence to talk to him, in fact, he even had a nightmare of him.

"Hey Horo, it's day one of befriending the loner," Hao smiled sweetly. He was a little too happy, I mean, Hao was never really a morning person. "Come on, don't look like that. Is this the first impression you want to give to him? I mean, if it is, man you'll have one hell of a friendship." He chuckled a little.

"Shut up, my head hurts…" Horo mumbled, trying his best not to suddenly fall asleep. "My father just told me yesterday that he was going to get remarried…" he sighed heavily. "I'm not sure if I should be happy or sad. I want to be happy for me dad, but it makes me sad that mom's being replace."

"You should be happy," Yoh simply stated, popping up next to the two older males without notice. "Your mom wants the best for her husband and her kids, that's why she guided him to another woman who she knows can take great cared of them." He smiled blissfully. "No one's being replaced, Horo. Your mother's memories will always be with you…and you can create new memories with this mother. No one's comparing them except for you…so let go of the past…"

"…" Horo sighed, Yoh was right. Pilika didn't complain, she was glad to have another female in the house again. Maybe Horo was just being too selfish.

"That was deep, Yoh…" Hao stated with a soft sigh. "Anyways, here comes Ren. Now, the dare is on!" He shouted, instantly pushing Horo to the younger male.

"Ah!" Horo shouted, bumping into Ren, though the younger boy didn't budge. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean…" his voice lowered to an inaudible whisper as Ren glared at him. "You see…my friends…" Horo tried explaining, realizing that his friends were no longer there.

"Move it," Ren harshly pushed Horo away, pounding the palm of his hand into Horo's chest, which caused him to lose breath for a few seconds as well as stepping back from the impact. Ren continued his walk to the school doors as a hand tried dragging him back, but once again, he didn't budge.

"I'm just trying to be friends with you, stop being so grumpy!" He tried jerking the purple haired male back to face him, but he stood his ground.

"Why, because your other friends abandoned you? I'm not stupid, idiot," he pulled his hand back. "And trust me, HoroHoro, touch me again and I'll have you begging for your life." His golden orbs looked at Horo through the corner of his eyes.

"Oh really now?" Horo bit back and quickly reached out his hand to touch Ren's shoulder. The lower classmen swiftly dodged his touch as his fist laid inches away from his left cheek.

"You live up to your reputation…a dumb, moron, idiotic, useless, class-clown, cold-hearted, selfish bastard." And for the first time, they made eye contact for longer than just a few seconds. Eventually, a crowd grew around them as Ren continued to stay in his position. Horo smiled faintly and slowly pulled back, their eyes still kept on each other as the other students began to chant a loud 'Fight! Fight!'

"You sure do live up to your reputation as well…the school-known loner with no friends because h-" Horo stumbled back from the impact. He clutched his cheek as small droplets of blood fell to the floor.

"It's useless talking to you, Horo-baka…" In that instant, the crowd grew silent and Ren turned, walking away with a frown still plastered to his face. Suddenly, there was uproar and Horo leaped over to Ren, tackling him down before he could react.

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"They're perfect, Ren," his mother said, glancing over to the boy who was doing his homework. Ren completely blocked out her voice, he was good at that. She just continued to go on and on about the perfect kids, the perfect family…and how perfect it'd be if she didn't have a divorced family.

"You don't get it Ren, you'll be-"

"I get it, alright? I get how perfect these children are, I get how perfect this man is compared to the one that willingly left you and took your only daughter. I get it all mother…now please, I'm trying to do my homework." He sighed to himself. This was all that his mother would talk about for weeks and weeks.

"I'm sorry honey, I didn't mean to over do it…" she smiled faintly, although pain shot deeply into her heart. "I'll let you be now…" she stood to leave as she patted her only son on the back.

"I'm sorry mom…I didn't mean it like that," he roughly scratched the top of his head. "Everything's just so frustrating right now. But…I want you to know that I'm happy for you. I mean, you deserve someone to love you after having to raise someone like me." He let out a weak laugh, trying to cheer up his mother.

"It's alright, Ren. No one is as perfect as you in my eyes. Keep up the good work and make me proud, alright?" With that said, she left to her room and the house fell silent.

"I always hurt her…" he mumbled to himself with a sigh. "What's wrong with me, getting mad because she found her happiness?" He, once again, tried to concentrate on finishing his homework before letting his mind drift off.

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Bright golden eyes shot open as the shark head instantly sat up, realizing he was in the nurse's office. Next to him was the moron that tackled him, but why would he be unconscious?

"I see that you've finally woken up." The nurse didn't even turn to look at the boy. "Horo brought you in here and requested to stay by your side until you woke up, but it seems he went to sleep." She smiled faintly, still not moving her eyes from her computer.

"What an idiot," Ren said under his breath and the nurse finally turned to look at him in a confused manner. "I'll be going." He stood from the bed and bowed down before her. "Thank you for keeping me here."

"Where do you think you're going?" The sleeping male questioned, quickly grabbing the small wrist. "I stayed here next to your side until you woke up and you're just going to leave me?" He opened one eye to give Ren's back a good look.

"You were the one that did this to me anyways, idiot," Ren replied, snatching his wrist back. "And I'm sure that the only reason you wanted to stay by my side was because you wanted to sleep and skip class like the slacker you are." He grunted. "I don't have time to play games with you, now leave me alone." He walked out without anymore distraction.

Horo sighed in defeat, Ren was right…maybe he'll let the little boy win today, but tomorrow will be different. Then finally, something hit him…hard. How in the world did Ren know so much about him? He was no where near popular and…no one really talked about him because they didn't even know he existed. Then another thing hit him…he knew his name before he even introduced himself. Alright, tomorrow will be his time to question the loner and maybe finally befriending him.

Please review! Thank you! Oh, and if anyone knows what Horo's dad's name is, please tell me. I'm afraid that he'll play and important role in here and I don't even know his name. I'll update soon, hopefully...if I gain enough inspiration from the reviews...haha.