"Ode to a Tree"

-Vx Tao Ren xV

Disclaimer: I do not own Shaman King. Enough said.

Author's Notes: Okay.. I'm going to try and finish this fic in a manner that pleases everyone. So, as a result, I've decided to write two endings, HoroxRen, and HoroxRenxHoro... Again, I don't particularly like RenxHoro, so I'm gonna try my best on that ending. So, today I present to you, Alternate Ending #1: HoroxRen! (In Horohoro's P.O.V.).. Enjoy!

---

"Ode to a Tree"

Quiet. Peace and quiet.

This is pretty weird for it to be this quiet in here. This is our room after all, Me, Ren, and Chocolove.... Me and.. Ren...

..Ren......

It's weird. I don't exactly regret doing what I did earlier.. then again, it probably just meant the collapse of our friendship. The worst that can happen is that Ren go off on a rampage and kill me. Oh well, at least I'm not confused anymore. At least I'll die happy.

For some reason, I'm not so much worried that he'll kill me, at least it'll be painless.. as painless as being killed can get anyway. I'm more worried that he'll hurt me. I guess I didn't quite think about that part before.

"Of course he doesn't feel the same way you moron!"

Oh shit.. I curse to myself.. "Did I just say that out loud?"

"Yes. You did."

 I can't feel anything. I feel completely empty, completely drained, I can feel my face pale as I realize who has just added his presence to the room.

"Oh.."

That's all I find myself saying..

"You do know that you've shot my day down to hell, right?"

Why am I surprised? I know Ren well enough by now. I should've expected him to get mad, to complain, to make me feel terrible.. it's all part of his character. It's what makes Ren, well.. Ren. I'm surprised he hasn't killed me by now. Although, with my back faced to him, he wouldn't. He wouldn't kill someone behind their back, he's proud like that. He wouldn't let himself, he'd much rather the victim know who's killing him, see the face of his murder as the last thing they ever see. And also, he'd rather them die with some feeling of certainty, as opposed to a sneak attack, not fully understanding why you're dead later. He of all people would know that feeling.

"Ttaku.." He sounds more annoyed then mad. "Of all things to happen. Right after Neesan bugs me about not having a girlfriend or something like that... Kudaran.." [A/N: How stupid..]

"Oi.. Ren.." I start to talk. I still can't face him. I don't know why. I don't even know where I'm starting with this. I guess Ren's character has had an effect on me. I feel terrible. I feel guilty. In a way I should be.. What I did was completely selfish.. I didn't think at all..

"I'm sorry..." I still face the window, staring out into the distance.. keeping my gaze as far away from Ren as I possibly can.

Silence.

I can feel his eyes on me. I used to love that feeling. Now I hate it. I hate that now all he's doing is staring at me, thinking about how I ruined his day.. How I ruined..--

"Baka.."

I can hear him pulling out a chair.

"Why are you sorry? All you did was proclaim your love for me and kiss me.."

Sarcasm. Another part of Ren's character. Although he usually sounds completely serious when he's mocking you in front of your face..

"It must have been difficult.."

What? That's not like Ren. He sounds.. soft. I wish he spoke like that more often.. But it isn't like him. Not what I was expecting. My shock is clearly shown on my face.. not like he can see it.

"Either that, or you were so overcome by your absent-mindedness that you weren't thinking.."

There we go. That's the Ren that I know. That's the Ren that I grew to hate. The Ren that I grew to envy. The Ren that I grew to to love..

"You weren't thinking, were you?!"

I can hear him bolt up out of the chair. He's yelling at me. It hurts. I should've seen it coming though. I close my eyes at the firmness of the last part of that sentence. My insides are starting to retreat.. I can feel it.

"No..." I speak with no feeling. How can I, I feel nothing. Nothing but guilt, and anger. Anger at myself. What did I say about Ren being able to make you feel like it's all your fault.. Although he's right..

"Of course not." He speaks again. "How could you have been thinking? Exactly what were you planning to do after that stunt?"

He was right, after all. Ren was always right. What was I going to do? Of course I wouldn't know. Otherwise I wouldn't be sitting in this room staring out of the window.

Silence.

I can hear him sit in the chair again.. He breathed out angrily. I can feel his gaze on me again.

"What exactly am I supposed to do after that stunt?.."

"I don't know. Get mad. That's what you usually do. Or you can get rid of your problem and kill me."

Great. Why did I insult him? He's definitely going to kill me now.

"I can't kill you. I need you to be alive."

What?

"If I kill you, then what would everyone else think? They'd ask me why. Then I'd have to say, 'I killed him because he loved me.' Isn't that a nice response? Not to mention, without you, our team is incomplete, then there's no chance of me becoming the Shaman King."

Of course. Ren would never actually return my feelings. But now at least I know that I'm not going to die. Not by his hands anyway. But living may be worst. Now I have to live with what I did. Live with having to face him day after day. I don't think I'm strong enough to live like that. I'm not strong enough to do anything.

"Now what?" I ask. I don't expect a response. He obviously doesn't know. I want to leave, but I can't.. he won't let me. I have to stay with him, bearing these feelings that won't leave. I don't want them to leave. I don't want them to stay either.

"Things won't be the same." I start. Maybe I can persuade him to let me leave. If I can persuade him that it isn't worth having me stay, then I can leave, maybe help find a replacement..

"Of course they won't."

"You'd be better off if I weren't here." I still stare out the window. "I'd be in your way. Every time I look at you, you'd be uncomfortable. You'd probably be distracted during fights. You'll start thinking about double meanings in everything I say, thinking about what else I could possibly mean.. And besides.. I'm weak."

"Of course you're weak."

"Nani?!" I shoot my head back at him in anger. I don't know why I'm angry at him, even though he's right. It may just be the fact that he agreed with me in such a way.. 'Of course you're weak'.. that bastard..

He's smirking at me. Not the usual, 'What can you possibly do?' smirk.. it's more of an 'I told you so' smirk.. I've never seen Ren with that expression before. He's resting his cheek against his fist, with his elbow rested on the desk... with that strange smirk. An expression of puzzlement comes across my face as a stop my attempted attack.

"Now you're not."

Huh? What the hell was he talking about?

"Now there's no way for anyone to call you weak. A second ago they could have.. but not now. No weak person could have confronted someone they loved, confessed it, acted upon it, and still had the ability to look that person in the face later."

He's still smirking.. That bastard set me up! He insulted me just so that I would turn around and attack him!

My body relaxes as I stand there blankly. Looking at Ren sitting there.. smirking in satisfaction. Now that's a smirk that I recognize.

He gets up from his chair and starts walking towards me. In front of me. He's never voluntarily been that close to me before. His expression becomes more serious.

"Of course things won't be the same. How could they be? But we aren't so weak that we would give up. That's been proven."

I'm not quite sure if those could be called words of encouraged. Ren isn't exactly the type of person that would encourage anything. But I feel reassured and stare directly at him, I feel a bit more confident about this, and it probably shows. That's another one of Ren's qualities. No matter what he said, you had to believe in him.

"All we can do is stand, and walk forward. Things won't be the same, but who says that they would be so different that we can't keep going? Who says that we couldn't try?"

I can see a small smile on his face with that last part. And I believed. I've always believed in Ren, and now I do even more. If Ren was willing to keep going, I had no reason not to. I would be weak after all..

"Ah.." [A/N: Yeah..] I sound confident. I am confident. For a minute I had forgotten what had happened today. The only thing that I knew was that it would all be okay, that it would work out.. that we would work it out..

After a satisfied smirk reappeared on Ren's face, he closed his eyes and backed away, heading for the door. Just like any normal day.

Just before leaving the room, Ren said one final thing..

"Besides.. it's not like anyone else knows, right?" He turns the corner and walks away..

I laugh it off. "Yeah.." A smile returning to my face. As my oracle bell rings, I head out the door, although not before looking out the window one last time.. thinking about what Ren had said..

'Tatte aruke, mae susume..' [A/N: "Stand and walk forward.."]

I don't have any regrets.

---

Owari desu!!!!!

Pardon my Fullmetal Alchemist reference. I couldn't help but use Ed's quote from episode 2, "Tatte aruke, mae susume.." (of course, I had to leave out the part about the leg.. hehe).. That quote seemed to fit in here perfectly. And since Ed's seiyuu is Paku Romi, I was able to picture it perfectly in my mind. Anyways, this came out better then I had planned it to. I hope you enjoyed it! I definitely think that this is one of, if not the, best chapters in this fic.

Please review! Sankyuu for reading!! ::waves::