A/N: Hey! As I promised, "Fearless" continues again! I know I took forever, so thank you all for waiting. And no one will die in this, I assure you. We all need a little fluff in our lives. ;D Also thanks to rhiannon-chan, my awesome rant buddy and cheerleader and Lazy-Envy a.k.a Eve-chan for her awesome artworks that inspired me.

-Disclaimer: Don't own, just borrowing. No copyright infringement intended. No money being made or sought whatsoever.

-Summary: Erm... no. I don't want to summarize this chapter for a reason.

CHAPTER VIII: Fearless.

March 2nd, 2007.

Somewhere high above China.

xxx

"So, Yoh-san and Anna-san are coming home? That's very good news."

She said cheerfully.

He folded the letter, written in Tamao's neat handwriting, and put it back in the envelope with a sigh.

"The idiots are inviting me there. Guess I can't deny them."

"You shouldn't. They are your best friends, after all. And I think," She paused, dreamily, "You should bring him along."

He looked at her grinning face. Yes, she had somehow read his mind. Again.

"Yes, I suppose."

Men, who was sitting on her lap playing with a lock of her hair, looked up at him innocently.

He leaned over and lifted his son up from her, which he could tell surprised her a little. She was startled when he stood up with Men in his arms, and put his hand lightly on the top of her head.

"Happy Birthday."

"Thank you."

She looked up and smiled that beautiful smile.

March 9th, 2007.

Funbari Onsen.

xxx

The visit to Funbari Onsen turned out to be quite normal.

First, he caused quite a riot on the street with his massive carriage. But what shocked his friends the most was the fact that he had a son.

Lyserg pulled a detective performance and hinted who the mother was with an annoying smile on his face.

Horohoro was still a big idiot.

Still, he must admit (well, internally) that he was quite impressed by Hana. As little as the boy was, he still has an imposing presence, probably inherited from his mother. But there was also something else radiating from this brash behavior. Sadness, loneliness. However, those thoughts were quickly swept from his mind, because Men had just called Horohoro 'baka'.

Yeah, his son had made him proud even as a 2-year-old.

xxx

Hana was truly a brat. What kind of child would kick his father straight in the leg when he had just come home after being away for 6 years?

To be fair, maybe Yoh really needed a kick for his appearance.

He had grown his hair long in a way that resembled his brother's, which made him look all the more idiotic, especially when he had that goofy smile on his face. And what was with the star-shaped earring that had been Hao's on his belt?

xxx

But after all, nothing seemed to have changed. The morons were still moronic. Anna was still scary. Manta only grew one more centimeter in height after 6 years.

Somehow, between this whole mess, he still felt at home with them.

She called him precisely at midnight despite the different timezones. She was talking to Men, and she must have said something endearing to him, because he was giggling in a manner that one could never imagine a Tao would have.

He took the phone after Men had crawled under the sheets and slept, maybe because she had told him so.

"I guess he had quite a good time today."

Her voice was low and soft and he sighed a little.

"He called Horohoro 'baka'."

He said bluntly and she chuckled.

"You must be very proud," She said amusedly. "Good night." And she hung up, knowing he wouldn't wish her back.

That night, he found himself asleep rather easily, even if the blanket smelled a little like Conchi.

June 12th, 2012.

Somewhere high above China, but a bit lower.

xxx

The house was strangely quiet. He was sitting on the couch reading a book, and didn't look up when she sat down casually beside him.

"He had just set out. I think with Bason and Shamash, he will handle himself just fine."

He just hmphed in response. He definitely didn't watch the way the sunlight fell on her hair as she stood up to pull the window curtains closed. Definitely not.

She ran her hand across his cheek just lightly before dragging her slender fingers tenderly in his hair. She never showed affection, at least not under the daylight, so the movement surprised him a bit. But then he was leaning over her and feeling her all cool and soft under his fingers, and he figured he didn't really care that much.

June 13th, 2012.

Funbari Onsen, again.

xxx

The Asakura household was a mess. Not that it hadn't always been that way, but Tamao had managed to keep it relatively peaceful and uneventful for 11 years, apart from Hana's regular class-skipping.

But now Yoh and Anna were coming home again, and Horohoro and Tao Men were staying over, which resulted in Hana getting pissed off even more than usual, and it totally didn't help that Hao showed up in a particularly girlish yukata and declared Hana's engagement with this tough, don't-you-mess-with-me Patch girl.

It helped that the girl had this Anna-like presence with her, complete with incredible shamanic powers, which made the entire household fearful of her in less than 3 hours, but Hana didn't like being controlled, especially when he and Men were fighting and Anna the Third would always jump in and slap them both across the face for misbehaving.

But the month was going to end soon, the gang was going the reunite again and hopefully under Anna Asakura's glares, which scared even the omnipotent Shaman King himself, everything would be normal again.

July 1st, 2012.

Still Funbari Onsen.

xxx

The day of the reunion had come and everything was perfectly normal. Yoh and Anna had arrived earlier in the day; Yoh, Lyserg, Chocolove and Horohoro were lazing around as usual, Anna had already said something along the lines of, "I'm going to teach that bastard a lesson; since when did he think he could decide my son's engagement?", and Hana and Men were about to start fighting again.

This was not looking good; Anna the Third wasn't around at the moment, and Men was raising his Kwan Dao, about to form an O.S.

That was when he was lifted up in the air.

Everyone paused whatever they were doing to look at the door, all at once, and time seemed to stop for a moment. Yoh dropped one of Horo's failed products, halfway to his mouth, as Ren stepped forward, putting a hand on his wife's shoulder, who was smiling brightly at them with her son looking smug in her arms.

"Don't you look at her, baka."

xxx

The news was explosive, for sure. But he couldn't help reminding them that they were a little outdated. They had already had a seven-year-old son, after all. Hao showed up later that night, stating, "It is very surprising that you two got together. Wait, of course I'm not surprised, I am the Shaman King." and, "You're looking good, Maiden."

That bastard.

But even if he couldn't beat up Hao, Anna always could. So now Hao was laying unconscious across the room for deciding Hana's engagement without telling her.

They decided to come home early (read: right that night), which induced torn expressions from Hana. He seemed to be so joyous at first, with Men leaving and all, but afterwards he just looked like a kicked puppy. Everybody watched with widened eyes the faintly but clearly sad look Men was giving him, but then Jeanne pressed a kiss on top of Hana's head, and well, no more sadness for you.

xxx

Their traveling home was uneventful, to say the least. Men was, Tao-ish arrogance and obey-me-or-get-hurt aside, still a kid, and he fell asleep the moment he stepped into the carriage. She sat with Men's head resting on her lap, stroking his hair slowly, as the streets and dusty roads and night skies seemed to be flowing out the window. Peacefulness and happiness still felt somewhat new to her, even though she had been trying to get used to them for 7 years.

This warm, fuzzy feeling so frequently spread its way at the pit of his stomach, and Ren couldn't bring himself to say he hated it. (Still, don't ask him about it.). A Tao should never feel content, he knew, he should always want to be better and better, he should never find that anything was enough. But she was there, sitting across from him, looking dreamy and peaceful, ever so silent, ever so understanding, ever so bright. And he couldn't help it if he missed her whenever they were apart, if he longed to see her smile and hear her voice and feel her warmth. And he couldn't help it if he was no longer the fearless Tao Ren, no matter how many times Men had told him that.

Because he feared losing her.

_END_

A/N: I know I got you guys stood up for a month. I know that this was a funny-mushy mess of a last chapter. Still, thank you for following 'Fearless' till the end. Thank you for putting up with my annoying, irregular, on-and-off updating, from the very first days when my writing and grammar were still full of mistakes. Thank you for leaving reviews, adding this fic to your Favorite or Alert, for giving me criticisms and encouragements, for being the best readers one could have. Thank you.