Title Broken China
Author Kyrie Sanctus
Rating PG-13 for Shounen-ai situations.
Begun September 27, 2003
Finished ?
Chapters 8?
Synopsis Unfortunately for Ren, Jun has invited Horohoro to accompany them to China. But perhaps, Ren's disgust at this situation is just a cover up for the feelings he hasn't realized he could have for the shaman of ice? A bit plotless, just a device for fluff. HoroRen.
Comments Well, the title does NOT refer to the many plates I've broken in trying to come up with an idea for a HoroRen story good enough to post on Instead, it's about China. You know, the country? Broken. Not literally broken, but rather.. .. It's symbolism! Ren's feelings about Horohoro going to China with them are like.. Mixed, you know? The inspiration for this came from me buying a Chinese dictionary and looking up the word 'peach.' Yep. That's how it all got started.
Dedications This goes out to all of my reviewers who have been with me through the beginning and hopefully don't hate me for waiting a year to update! XD
Disclaimer I own no rights to Shaman King, it's plots, or it's characters. Those are all belong to the masterful Hiroyuki Takei. However, I do own the Chinese dictionary used in making all of these pretty Chinese words possible!

Broken China
Dance Seven: Working Chinese

(---(...)---)

"Well, the snow has cleared up," Horohoro analyzed as he stepped outside the cabin for the first time since he'd ventured out to find firewood, which had been almost 2 days ago. (They'd found the stockpile of wood outside the cabin the day before; Ren smacked Horohoro for overlooking it.) The snow had stopped floating down onto the ground, and he could swear he could see a little bit of sun poking out from behind the clouds. He stretched, getting a good inhalation of fresh air before turning back around to Ren, who was situated in the doorway, leaning up against the frame.

The Chinese eyes he met were hard, as usual, but not angry. "That's good news," he said flippantly, adding a little bit of his natural Ren sarcasm with it. "Maybe we can get out of here and finally get to our destination. This little trip of ours has gone on long enough." He was about to turn and walk away when Horohoro grabbed his arm. "Hn?" His grunt was a question.

"Why don't you come with me?"

"Come with your where exactly?"

"To play in the snow, where else?" Horohoro thumbed back at the white scenery behind him. His blue eyes were expectant, anxious and waiting. For a moment, he reminded Ren of a small puppy tugging on it's owners pant leg. "C'mon, please?"

Ren rolled his eyes and tugged his arm away, stepping inside to get his coat and scarf. When he returned, his hand was quickly snatched into that of an Ainu, and he was tugged away, nearly tripping over himself. "Kisama! Stop running! The snow isn't going to melt before you get there!"

The taller boy stopped suddenly, the smaller slamming into his back. "KISAMA! Why did you stop!" He peered out from behind Horohoro, his eyes widening. "Oh."

The reason had been the beautiful view overlooking the small cliff they'd found themselves on. The snow had blanketed all of the land, and most of the mountains they could see in the distance. Even the once-lush greenery was covered in the fluffy white stuff.

The smile on Horohoro's face was evident as he spoke. "Na, Ren?" Another grunt. "You wanna try that kissing thing some more?" He almost giggled until he was shoved from behind, rolling down the not-so-steep hill they'd been perched on.

By the time he rolled to the bottom, he began laughing, only to be belted by a few snowballs, which were accompanied with Ren's voice yelling his ever-popular 'Kisama!'

If it's a snowball war he wants, it's a snowball war he'll get! Horohoro scooped up as much snow as one hand could handle, patted it into a perfect ball and tossed it as hard as he could at Ren.

For a moment, the snowball onslaught stopped, and Ren rolled down the hill, finding his landing right on top of the Ainu at the bottom.

As they collided with the resounding 'umph,' Ren scooped up a handful of snow and dropped it in Horohoro's face. He was about to roll off when he felt the hands of the one he'd squashed holding him down. The ice shaman shook his head violently, clearing the snow out of his visage. He then grinned up to him.

Without another moment's notice, Horohoro had kissed Ren again, and Ren was hardly complaining. It was just like the previous ones--chaste, but long, and filled with love. After a moment or two, the one on top broke the kiss, looking down into the blue eyes beneath him. "What does all this mean?"

The ice shaman smiled and grabbed the wrists of the one above him, using that leverage to flip them over, rolling on top of Ren. "That means I like you." He kissed him again, more quickly this time. "And that means... I hope you like me back." He bit his lip, waiting his response.

Immediately Ren wanted to push the big lug off of him and run to the safety of the cabin. However, this was an impossibility, because even though he was smaller, he was much stronger, but his wrists were being held captive and his legs were in no position to push anyone off, considering that Horohoro's legs had been wedged between them. His face flushed, and he turned his head to the side, spitting out his words as if they were a foul tasting food, although that did not cheapen the meaning of the words "I like you back."

Seemingly, that was all Horohoro needed to hear to release him, and he placed a kiss on Ren's cheek before hopping up and stretching again, more out of conditioned reflex than need. "Let's go look around before we go back. Just make sure to avoid frozen lakes this time."

(---(...)---)

It was after dark before they returned, both a little bit wet and a little bit tired. They stripped themselves of their wet over-clothing and had excused themselves to change. When they stepped back out, Jun was on the couch. "Good news, you two. It seems there'll be a bus coming by in the morning. I can't believe we had to wait out here this long. Anyway, I think I'm going to retire for now. There's still some soup in the kitchen if you're hungry. Goodnight."

"Goodnight," they responded in unison, looking to each other as they did so with confused expressions.

As she retreated, giggling, Horohoro flopped onto the couch, Ren sitting beside him. "We should go to sleep as well. I don't want to miss the bus out of this wretched hole." He grabbed the blanket and pulled it down over the both of them, flattening the Ainu's hair.

As the elder boy surfaced from drowning in the fabric, his face was met with Ren's. "Oh, goodnight kiss?" It was more of a statement than a question, though, because he didn't give a moment to respond, pressing his lips neatly to Ren's.

It was their fourth kiss and it was becoming almost too natural.

As they parted, Ren let himself lay across Horohoro's lap, his face finding refuge in the ironically warm ice shaman's neck, pulling the blanket up and around them.

(---(...)---)

A/N: Is shot. A lot. By you guys. XD

I deserve to be shot, really. I have this knack for starting things that I never finish. So, I'm on my knees begging for your forgiveness! ;o; I've been through so many fandoms since the last time I updated it's not even funny. (As a matter of fact, this chapter was extremely difficult to write because... I'm so into a Star Wars fandom right now.) w I hope you'll forgive me and take this chapter as an apology!

I'm surprised I could even keep this chapter as in-character as it is. XD

I'm going to try my hardest to finish this, so please, don't give up on me! I'M BREAKING THE HABIT! And I can do it with your support! So keep reviewing, and I'll keep loving you for it!

My separators WERE little Harusames, but SUCKS and won't let me use them. So instead, I'm just using the TIE fighter ones I use for my Star Wars fics. XDDDDDD