AN: Whai! It's been some time since I updated, huh? O.o Well, I hope I'll make it up with this chapter!

HoroRen fluffiness begins! X3!

Chapter 10: Cuddlebuddy

"Say, that sun is shining in my eyes, could someone give me some sunglasses? Oh, wait, it's Hao's head!"

Enter the Hao-death-glare. His glare became worse when he saw Chocolove bouncing out of the house.

"Hey, guys! You know what? Hao is so bald, you can see what's on his mind!" Now, normally, nobody would've laughed at that, but since this situation was so extraordinary, everybody roared with laughter, with the exception of Hao of course. "Wait, wait! I've got another one," Chocolove yelled excitedly. "Hao's so bald, that when he took a shower, he got brain-washed!" Everybody broke out in laughter again, including Ren. Chocolove grinned at his audience. "Hao is so bald, that even a wig doesn't help!"

Stop laughter. Chocolove blinked.

"That wasn't funny, Choco," Yoh said, patting said boy on the shoulder.

They were still standing outside—most of their friends had came out of the rather large house (though no where near as large as Ren's house) and had greeted them cheerfully, Hao just standing underneath a tree eyeing Horo shamelessly still, even though they kept making jokes about his lack of hair.

He noticed faintly that the two men who had arrived, kept standing close to each other, both of them now and then brushing arms, or touching each other in an other subtle manner. Hao felt a surge of jealousy running through him—how dare that filthy Tao take his Ainu!

He didn't know why he felt so attracted to the other boy—perhaps it was his odd colour hair, or the fact that he was so carefree and happy, or maybe because he had a fiery temper. The latter was the most probable—Hao had the hobby to break people. He hadn't managed that with Horo yet, so he had to find away to do so.

The only problem was him. The Tao.

It apparently seemed that they weren't together yet, but Hao knew Horo's taste—opposites attract, like they said. Ren seemed to be a very composed guy, quiet, calm, passive. Horo was the happy, energetic one of the two and they apparently balanced each other out. Hao felt like he was kind of like Ren, only he knew that Ren didn't have that psychotic touch Hao had. Next to that, the Tao was, judging by appearance this time, completely Horo's type—smaller, slim though muscled and he had beautiful eyes.

Hao sighed—it was either choosing between his brother and all of his friends or breaking Horo.

He decided to go with his brother this time, but he wouldn't be rooting for Ren either.

Horo and the Tao both looked up as three girls emerged from the house, one of them having bright blue hair and resembling Horo a lot. She was shorter and seemed to like to wear light pink clothes. Ren blinked as she rushed towards Horo and tackling him to the ground.

"Brother!" she yelled excitedly, hugging him tightly. Ren raised an eyebrow at the display, but couldn't help be amused by the two siblings hugging, squealing and mock-fighting.

He looked over to the other two girls, who were much more calmer. There was one girl with pink bubblegum hair and one with blonde hair, a bored expression gracing her face. By the time they had arrived, Horo had pushed off his little sister and blinked at the blonde woman.

"A-Anna!" he yelled. "You're so fat!"

Ren never knew someone could fly so far from just one punch. Though he couldn't blame the woman really—it was obvious she was simply pregnant, but Ren knew the Ainu was as ignorant as a tree.

"Ouch," Horo muttered, rubbing his cheek. "Oh! Ren, you haven't met these three, right? The blonde, fa—I mean, the blonde girl is Anna, Yoh's wife, and she—" Horo pointed at the pink-haired girl. "—is Tamao, and the obnoxious blue-haired girl over there is Pilica! My little sister," he added, grinning and messing up said sister's hair.

"I take it Yoh hasn't told you about my pregnancy then?" Anna said, raising an eyebrow. Horo blinked.

"Wha! You're pregnant! Yoh, how could you not tell me about that! How the hell did that happen! When!" Yoh blinked.

"Well, I can't exactly tell you when, but I can tell you how it happe—"

"Shut up, that was a rhetorical question!" Horo huffed. Ren just looked amused by the antics and felt… something. He couldn't quite place it, but it felt sort of relaxed, comfort. It felt as though he was home, for some reason. He looked at how the idiot-Ainu was bouncing up and down and touching Anna's stomach, jumping and squealing in glee as he apparently had felt the baby move. Anna didn't seem to mind, she seemed to even enjoy it and Ren found that she wasn't as bad as the others had told him, though she did have her scary moments.

The rest of the evening was simply a party—Ren enjoyed it again, even the female company, with the exception of Pilica who kept latching herself onto his arm and giggling about how Horo had told her that he was cute, but hadn't expected him to be this hot. Ren had blushed, but not because of her—but because Horo had called him cute. His heart had skipped a beat at the thought and after that confession of Pilica, he kept glancing at Horo who seemingly couldn't get enough of touching Anna's tummy and every time he did so, he couldn't help but smile a bit at the childish behaviour.

He had a feeling this 'crush' wouldn't go away any time soon.

"So, are you two together yet?" Ren hadn't noticed that, when Pilica had gone away briefly to see how Tamao was doing, that Hao had walked up to him. Ren's eyes narrowed dangerously at the bald-headed man.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Hao," Ren grumbled, crossing his arms and staring out the window. They really did have a beautiful view in Funbari Onsen—it was a great way to see the stars. Hao smirked slightly.

"I mean, has he fucked you yet?" Ren didn't really know how to respond, so he ignored the comment and decided to go immediately into defense-mode.

"Get away from me now, Hao," he growled. "And stay away from Horo to. If I ever find out that you touched him with your filthy hands again, I will not hesitate to kill you. That's a promise," he said, while grabbing the collar of Hao's shirt. Said boy's smirk faded.

"Do you even know who you're talking to?" he said through gritted teeth.

"Do you know who doesn't care?" Ren responded, letting go of the shirt. "I've warned you. Don't mess with him any more." Hao narrowed his eyes, but decided to leave the kid alone and go up to his room—the others were glaring at him anyway and he didn't want them to get even more angry.

It was three hours after his encounter with Hao and he found himself lying in bed together with Horo. They didn't have any rooms, so Horo and Ren had decided to sleep in the same room, in the same bed.

"Ren?" Horo asked quietly.

"Yes?"

"Do you… want to cuddle?" Ren frowned.

"What?" He could faintly see Horo blink, the light of the moon shining in his blue eyes. Ren swallowed.

"Cuddle, you know?" Ren just gave him a blank expression. "I'll show you," Horo then added, grinning slightly. Ren blinked and before he knew it, Horo had his arms wrapped around him and pulled him against his chest. Ren wasn't really protesting, but he wasn't encouraging this either—he had to try hard to refrain himself from humping the blue-haired boy. Ren swallowed again when he felt Horo tangling their legs together. "I love to cuddle like this," Horo said, letting out a deep chuckle. "I always sleep so well," he continued to mumble on. Ren felt himself getting drowsier just by his voice and his eyes slowly closed themselves—Horo was right, this was nice.

He had never been the touch-type, but he found himself liking this. It was probably because it was with Horo.

"Ren?" the Ainu asked. Ren groaned and wished his teacher would just shut up.

"Hm?"

"Are you… in love with me?" Ren eyes flew open and he found himself scrambling out of Horo's grasp.

"W—what the hell! What makes you say that!" he spluttered. Horo raised an eyebrow.

"Am I wrong?"

"No! I mean, yes!" Ren blinked. "Oh, crap…" he muttered. Horo chuckled deeply and pulled the embarrassed boy back near him, against his chest. "Do you—I mean, are you in love with me?"

"Yup," he replied firmly. Ren allowed himself to relax slightly.

"It can never work," he muttered softly. "Father… won't allow it." Ren felt Horo nod in agreement, as he felt himself getting drowsier yet again. It was amazing how the man's touch could make him feel so relaxed.

"Unless we elope," Horo suggested, chuckling slightly at the thought. Ren snorted. "Your father… isn't here right now," he added, pulling away slightly from the embrace. Ren looked at him with a frown on his face as Horo's lips came dangerously close to his.

"Horo, don't," he murmured. "If you do that, I won't be able to go back." But Horo didn't listen and instead pressed his lips firmly against the squirming boy besides him. He needed this, needed to touch him. He knew he couldn't have him, but he needed it.

Ren whimpered softly, though making absolutely no effort to push him away and, after a couple of seconds, he even began to move his mouth against Horo's, wrapping his arms around the man's neck and pulling him closer.

They pulled back, panting slightly and pressed their foreheads together.

"Ren…" the Ainu murmured softly. Ren didn't know how to respond, so he said nothing, still in trance from their previous activity. He didn't know how to feel now—the kiss, it had felt needy, as if Horo needed and wanted him. And Ren felt the same way. "Let's get some sleep," Horo continued softly, pulling the boy in another embrace. Ren complied happily and rested his head against the other's chest.

Whatever thought had bothered him about the impossibility of their relationship, was gone and he instead focused on the present.