You'll Choke On Those Words

Dengon Mitsukai

Yeah, okay, so right NOW it seems stupid, what Ren did. Hey, give it a chapter or two and maybe it'll make sense. I really loved all the kind reviews, thank you for the abundance of support. I hope you enjoy this next chapter; it will incorporate Hao-sama, yess! Everyone loves Hao a little, even if he is evil. He's sexy-evil!

Disclaimer: Although I love the series Shaman King, I don't own it (Kuso!).

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Chapter Three: Things Always Turn Into Something Good (Maybe)

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Ren hated the train station. He hated the smell, the sounds, the newcomers, the bystanders, and the ones moving on without a care in the world. Everything was hustle-and-bustle, rushed as if there were no time to slow down at all, as if everything would eventually pass by and that could simply not happen. Train stations were a portal aiding to Japan's short-attention-spanned generation. Trains themselves were vile, and most people going on trains were either arrogant or snide.

Not that it mattered, for Ren never went to train stations. He had nowhere to go, no one to receive, and it wasn't the kind of place you just went to hang out. After all, things needed to happen! Everything must be working and correct in order to reach your destination. Heaven forbid it take you more than 10 minutes!

Nevertheless, since Ren had lost his reason to further ignore the existence of Yoh's twin Hao(Horokeu), which he had done ever since he'd moved to Japan, Ren found himself ironically sitting in a train station. His life had stopped, yet he watched other's fly by, they themselves unaware of the magic of the train, chauffeuring their ignorant minds to and fro, altering their personalities to fit that of a train: one-tracked and destination-minded, only stopped every-so-often to pick up fuel or to catch-up on the latest pop-culture news about L'Arcenciel's newest tour, or BoA's newest single.

Ren looked wryly around the station. How hard could it be to find your mirror image? Actually, Ren had never seen Hao… or heard much about him. He lived out-of-country, and was currently residing in North Korea according to Yoh. After all, the Asakura family was a divided one: not, however, as dysfunctionally divided as that of the Tao's. But, being that Hao was Yoh's identical twin, this he knew, they couldn't look too different, and he supposed that Yoh should have found him by now.

Yoh looked down at his Chinese friend, glancing once more around the train station. He elbowed the slender boy, pointing towards the E train, and whispered, "That's Nii-san."

Ren's eyes followed Yoh's outstretched fingers, stopping short on a boy who indeed looked similar to Yoh; however, seemed so very different. For one thing, Hao's hair was a deal longer than Yoh's. His wardrobe consisted of black pants with a black belt, and a black V-neck t-shirt with a mesh netted t-shirt underneath, poking out a few inches more than his t-shirt sleeves. Both were fitted, showing off his actually muscular chest. Muscles were one thing Yoh had almost none of. And Hao… Hao seemed to be identical physically to Yoh in every way, and his inverse psychologically every other. Appearance does say much about a person, and Hao's clothing choices contradicted Yoh's on every level.

Ren looked at Hao. He was certainly attractive, and at the moment he was blinking around the train station, apparently confused by the haphazard passers-by and the loud, low rumbling of the trains coming to a halt mixed with the screech of trains returning to motion. Hao was as unfamiliar with train stations as Ren himself was, an exciting thought. Maybe this Hao would be the perfect friend, possibly even better than Horokeu. He was hard pressed to say so, but maybe… maybe Hao was the antidote to a week's worth of sicknesses.

Yoh waved over his aniki, and the longer-haired boy looked over and nodded, walking over with what few belongings he had carried with himself. Up-close, Ren noticed Hao's lip was pierced and his ears were as well. Hao looked at Ren, and their eyes locked for a moment before Yoh quickly said, "I'm going to bring the car to the entrance, you guys meet me there."

Hao nodded at his brother, looking back the Tao before him. Ren was trying to blow off the feeling bubbling beneath him, suppressing his excitement and curiosity. Hao looked Ren up and down. Ren was wearing a pair of blue jeans, not too baggy and not too tight, with a black fitted t-shirt underneath a white polo, the collar up and his black sleeves showing considering they were a few inches longer than the sleeves of his polo. His polo was unbuttoned down to where his pectoral muscles began. He was wearing a hemp necklace, as well, and his ears were gauged. Hao smiled at him, intrigued. Who the hell was he, anyway. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Asakura Hao."

Ren looked up at him. He was smiling, intent on striking up a conversation with him. "Same. Tao Ren."

Hao turned and the two started walking towards the exit. "I thought you looked Chinese, but this is incredible. Are you seriously from the Tao family? Your family is infamous all across Korea, and I'm sure you get a lot of crap from the morons in Japan."

Ren smirked. Hao had spat Japan as if it were more of a curse than a home. Perhaps this was why he was always away, and also perhaps why he had chosen Korea of all possible places. "Yes, I'm seriously a Tao. Not that it's a great blessing…" Ren rolled his eyes. "I'm sure you can imagine."

It was so easy to talk to Hao. It was as if they'd known each other already, as if it were more of a reunion than an introduction. Hao snorted. "Hn, I can't begin to imagine. I'm just a small-town boy, I guess. You should know, being so close with Yoh." Hao turned and studied Ren. "I'm surprised you'd hang out with the likes of him."

Ren looked at Hao, slightly taken aback. Was he saying Yoh could do better? Or possibly that Ren himself could do better? Ren rubbed the back of his neck guiltily. Until recently, he really hadn't been so close with Yoh. He'd been closer with Horokeu than with anyone else. But now he'd gone and lost Horo, and now he had to deal with what he could find. Actually, Yoh's interests and Ren's interests were merely bisecting each other at the moment, and secretly Ren daily prayed it wouldn't last much longer. "Yoh's a good friend."

Hao shrugged. "Yoh's a good kid. He studies and goes to bed by eleven. He… seems a little boring for you, is all. You look like an adventurous person." Hao looked down and grinned.

Ren's cheeks flushed involuntarily. Hao was insinuating that he was more experienced than Yoh, most probably in more ways than one. Was he hitting on Ren? Or was he just saying that he was un for an adventure, and that if Ren was the type of person to hang out with Yoh than he obviously wasn't adventurous. Ren looked down as well. "He knows how to have fun. Usually he's with Anna. I used to hang out with a boy named Horokeu... but that went to hell. I've been waiting for a good adventure." Hao looked slowly up at Ren, who was grinning at him. Well, if Hao wanted an adventure, maybe he'd be able to give him one.

Hao laughed. "Oho! So the Tao family offspring thinks he knows more about adventures than me? Well, let's just see if you know what you're getting yourself into." Suddenly, Hao's similarity to Yoh took a slightly colder turn, as he sadistically yet sensually whispered, "I'm not sure you can even handle me."

Ren blushed, averting his attention to look for Yoh's car. What was that all about? Hao's voice had gone from one of identical warmth to his twin's to something Ren couldn't even describe. Yoh definitely never sounded as… animalistic as Hao had, just then. But there was something strangely arousing about it, something that made him want to get to know the older Asakura. It was aggressive… but it was so damn sexy, the kind of sexy he'd never felt around Horokeu, or anyone for that matter.

Yoh's white Ford mustang pulled up to the curb, as he motioned for Hao and Ren to climb in with him.

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Several weeks passed, and Ren and Hao grew closer. The two had become friends, and the strange part was that they were even closer than Ren had imagined they'd be. Slowly, Ren's classmates had forgotten the incident between himself and Horokeu, and even his close friends such as Anna and Manta had returned to talking to him. Things were running as smoothly as ever, and to top it all off, he had Hao now!

However, with Hao's apparent closeness, Ren found himself missing Horokeu slightly more than normal. Hao was a great person, and he too was amazingly attractive and funny… but it really wasn't the same. Ren wished he'd been able to gel things over with Horokeu first, he wished he'd been able to work things out, but he'd never been given the chance and he feared he never would.

It was a Thursday afternoon and Ren was sitting on Yoh and Hao's couch, watching some show that Yoh had chosen, when Yoh had hopped off and ran into the kitchen for a glass of water. Hao turned and looked at Ren, who was sitting beside him, asking quietly, "Ren-sama, what do you think of me?"

Ren turned and looked at him. "You're my friend, ne?"

Hao looked at him. "Well, I'm not stupid, Ren. I know we're friends. But…" He trailed off, locking his eyes on Ren's. "What do you think of me? How do I make you feel?"

Ren sat, dumbfounded. Why the hell did Hao even care what he thought of him? They were friends, one could even venture to say best friends, and that was that, right? Was Hao seriously having second-thoughts at this stage in the game? "Hao-sama, what are you thinking?"

Hao cupped Ren's chin in one of his hands, sending shivers up and down Ren's spine. "I'm thinking…" he trailed off, running the fingers of his other hand through Ren's hair. "I'm thinking you're amazingly attractive, and I can't believe how long I've kept my hands off of you…" Hao leaned in slowly, pressing his lips against Ren's, and kissing him softly. "I'm thinking I want to know if you feel the same, " he said, after breaking their brief kiss.

Ren sat dumbfounded. He'd always known, after all, Hao was a flirter. He'd flirted with Ren at the train station when they'd met, hadn't he? And he apparently had meant it, no joke. Yet somehow, the Tao boy could not grasp the situation properly: Asakura Hao had kissed him and wanted him, not anyone else. After all the heartache he'd gone through with Horokeu, someone actually wanted him. It felt different then he'd imagined, after all, he'd always pictured Horo sitting next to him. Yet, for some reason, he didn't want to wait to distinguish his exact feelings. If he waited, he might lose Hao. Waiting was not an option. Ren blushed and looked down at his lap, smiling to himself. "In that case, I'm thinking we're on the same page here."

Hao grinned as his mirror-image entered the room with his water in one hand, his cell phone in his other hand. "Anna-chan wants to know if we'd like to go to a carnival tonight. She says you two can come, as well." He looked up at them, and upon seeing Ren's flustered smiling face and Hao's grin, Yoh raised an eyebrow. "Am I interrupting?"

Hao shook his head. "No. We're fine."

Yoh looked from his twin to his friend. They'd spent so much time together lately, and he was happy for Ren. He finally seemed happy. On the other hand, he'd definitely noticed that Hao was sexually attracted to Ren, and Hao himself had admitted that, and he hoped and prayed Ren wouldn't end up hurt. He couldn't stand to lose Horokeu and then have something happen as a result of Hao's pushy and sexual tendencies. Hao always had relationship problems, it was a part of his nature. And although they were close as twins, he found himself hoping that Ren and Hao weren't as involved as Hao would like them to be.

Yoh sighed. Ren didn't need to agony of another heartbreak. Yoh doubted Ren would be able to get around it, however, he was doing nothing to avoid it. Faking a smile, Yoh replied, "That's good. I got worried for a moment."

Hao noticed Yoh's fake smile. He was so over-protective. Why was he so unwilling to let Ren and him be together? Sure, he'd had trouble keeping boyfriends, and he'd had too many to count, and he'd usually dump them or they'd come to an agreement… but Ren, Ren was so different. He saw things the way Hao did; he was intelligent and attractive, a hard combination to beat… and now he was attracted to Hao as well.

Hao smirked. Yoh could do nothing. He would be with Ren, at all costs. He was fully aware of the threat of Horokeu, whoever that was, and he promised himself then and there that Horokeu would be dealt with, and he, Asakura Hao, would replace the part of Ren's heart that was consumed with guilt and love for Horo with love for he himself. Hao smirked deeper, looked over at Ren, and initiated conversation.

He'd never let Ren get away. Never.

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Wow, that was a crazy long chapter. But it was so good! Hoo-ray for Hao and his sexy domineering personality! Horokeu will dominate the next chapter, I promise. Sorry for the lack-of, but I needed to get some HaoRen in there for this whole thing to make sense. I promise next chapter will be ice-y… get it… get it! Heh. So I'm not funny… least I got drama and angst down. Please tune in next time and if it don't trouble you, review! Dengon Mitsukai.