A/N: YAY! We got this finished... *_* Finally...

"And now..." Horo started, with a satisfied grin. "It is COMPLETE!"

HoroHoro, speckled with white paint, threw his broad paintbrush into the now empty can. He smiled to himself as he surveyed his handiwork. He had decided to repaint the room, simply because well, Horo was a good person! Really. He picked up the six brushes he had somehow found necessary to use, and continued to look around.

The blue-haired freshman practically waltzed into the miniscule kitchen, and tossed his brushes in the stainless steel sink. He quickly washed them all and left them on the counter to dry. He went to the restroom, making a face at his paint-covered self in the mirror, and then smiled. Perfect.

The teen rushed back to his room to tidy up a bit. In other words, he shoved everything underneath his desk. He looked over his room a final time before closing and locking the door behind him.

"This time, it's my turn to find you, Tao Ren!"

And so, Horo ran down the hallway of the dorms in St. Michael's Art Institute.



However, in the library, an unsuspecting Tao Ren studied his lines carefully, every now and then making small notes to himself in the margins. Other books -- those were for his main classes -- were scattered haphazardly over the table as Ren studied the fine arts. If he didn't have a roommate, he could've studied in a more comfortable environment—such as his welcoming room.

Instead, he was stuck in this dusty-smelling maze of books, where people left their trash on the tables and wrote like mad. Even worse was the hawk-like librarian and her aides, who glided everywhere in their faded brown uniforms—hoping to catch someone doing something wrong. A horrid place to be—he hated studying here and would never have to if it weren't for the blue-haired roommate. For that matter, if he didn't have a roommate, his walls wouldn't be blue, his day wouldn't have been interrupted, and he could've had a relatively relaxing day.

But all this was interrupted as Horo thrust open the heavy, ancient door to the library— which moaned as it slowly slid back to its place. An indentation would've been there if the walls weren't a mix of black marble and oak.

"HEY-" Horo was quieted almost instantly by at least a dozen angry glares, a couple of people grumbling about how he should know better, and still others made a shh-ing sound at him. These sounds seemed to be magnified in the open area—the high ceilings were designed to amplify the sound so that the statements of annoyance seemed to be from hundreds instead of about twelve. He frowned, mumbling a quiet apology that hung in the air, and set forth to find Ren.

After all, where could Ren have gotten to with all of those books?

Ren had looked up, annoyed by the sudden outburst, wondering what kind of idiot would make that much noise in the library...but of course, it was the same idiot, who had destroyed his room. The same idiot, who had put him off his schedule, thus ruining his day. Ren hid behind his script, trying to ignore his annoying roommate. However, it was at this very moment when Horo, with a hushed greeting, flopped down in the crimson seat beside him.

Ren simply ignored him, continuing to flip through the frayed pages as he frowned at the graffiti scribbled onto a picture of "Birth of Venus." Apparently someone thought it would be funny to deface the goddess by writing: "Nude chicks are hot!" on her breasts.

"I finished repainting the room." Horo stated, carefully choosing his words.

"Did you now?" Ren said, dismissively staring at his offending script without making eye contact. Perhaps that would make him go away, and let Ren get back to what he was doing in the first place—studying.

"I have proof! See?" He pointed towards his face, which was splattered with white paint. He tapped Ren on the shoulder when he didn't look up. Ren sighed, annoyed, and looked at him angrily, slightly noting that there was some white paint chips on his shoulder—contrasted brightly with his dark attire.

"You'd better not gotten anything on my bed." His look, mistrusting, was aimed at Horo for one moment, and turned back to the absurd and rambling book. It was a good thing at least, that the job had gotten done. Though there was always a chance of failure or mistake—which his gut told him was bound to happen.

"I didn't. I promise. Don't you want to at least SEE my masterpiece?" Horo sulked; his attempt at conversation was failing very quickly...

"No." Ren quietly replied—he witnessed the effects of the echo second-hand and did not plan to do so first-hand. The Tao continued to avoid Horo's pleading eyes. "Besides, you just painted a room white."

"Yeah...but it took me a long time!" The Ainu sulked even more, getting tired of this whining anyways. His roommate was so...ugh. Nothing like him at all, which is what he didn't expect or brace for. It was almost disappointing.

"So? It was your fault in the first place." Ren replied, indignantly—he too was bothered by this cycle: "I whine, and then you dismiss me. Then we do it again!"

"But I did what you asked me to do!"

"But I haven't seen what other catastrophes you've done to my room yet, have I?" Ren argued back, coolly setting his book aside, ignoring the dust that emitted from it.

"I didn't do anything to YOUR room! I repainted OUR room!"

Ren stopped the conversation there, choosing to remain silent as he turned angrily back to his script. Why Horo had even come here was a complete and utter mystery to him. So far, he had seen that Horo had NO artistic talent, brains, or any of the requirements that the school had set for it's students.

Horo sighed loudly, and put his head on the table tiredly, watching as Ren took notes on rather boring things...intonation here, tone there, mood, gestures. He picked up one of Ren's textbooks and flipped through it noisily, dismissing it with a heavy sigh, and then he picked up another one, repeating the process. Ren glared at him as the Ainu sneezed from the age of the books.

"Stop it." At this, Horo put the book back on the stack, staring at the shorter boy. Ren flinched slightly, and then stared back at Horo. "Why are you here, anyway?"

"Waiting for you to finish." Horo replied matter-of-factly.

"Wait somewhere else then."

"No thanks."

Ren frowned at this, and then read for a few minutes of uncomfortable silence. After a few more minutes, he stood up. "Fine. I'll leave then."

"No! No, it's all right! Stay."

Ren looked at him curiously. Horo grinned, resting his head in his hands almost boredly. "You're fun to watch." He stated, and it was true. Ren was interesting to watch. Especially now. Ren's ears were a dark shade of pink...though he wasn't sure if it was from anger, or if he was actually blushing. Most likely the former. But Ren remained silent, and turned back to his studies.

Silence hung through the air for a moment or so, the tension between them almost visible. Horo sighed, fidgeting in his seat a bit, then drumming his fingers on the library table.

Tapitty tap tap.

Tap tap tap tap.

"Why won't you go away?" Ren glared at him once more, standing up, closing his books as he did so.

"I don't know." Horo blinked, uncomfortable under Ren's harsh look.

"Leave then!"

"Fine!" Horo stood up and slammed the chair back under the table, looking disappointed. "Why should I be nice to you anyway!"

"I don't NEED people to be nice to me."

"Fine then! Just be LONELY for all I care!" Horo stormed off, slamming the library door with a dignified snort. The librarian scowled at Ren, who glared right back and left the library in the other direction.