A/N: Heya peeps, me again. Thanks for all the lovely reviews I'm getting – for all of my fics – I'm glad people like them and I'm glad I can make people laugh/smile... and sometimes cry… its fun! XP Anywho, this chapter is in two parts since if I put it in all at once it would be a lil long, lol. So, R&R PLEASE! …and if ya do I might put up the next half either tomorrow or the day after! …If I remember… I'll get Kim to remind me… I'm terrible at updating XP. (if anyone wants me to update real badly on a certain fic just email me and threaten me XP.)

Married Couples

Chapter 5: Thoughts and Flashbacks 1

Ren paced the lonely streets, knowing that today he would not see any of his friends for they were at the wedding already… The wedding that they would soon find would never take place, for in the early hours of the morning, Ren had decided not to go.

This is stupid! He thought to himself, kicking a can along the sidewalk, just because I don't want to marry Hao doesn't mean I should feel bad about it! I mean, I should still be able to face my friends. They can't hate me for not marrying the person I don't love… Can they? That was the Tao's biggest worry: that his friends would reject him for following – or not following, he couldn't decide which it was – his heart.

He kicked the can hard so that it flew into the middle of the road, only to be crushed by an oncoming truck with the sign 'road traffic accidents are an increasing problem, if you see something on the road – DON'T RUN IT OVER!' stuck to the side of it.

Ren smirked at the irony, then frowned as the realisation of the fact that his petty entertainment was now gone.

He grumbled silently to himself about the simplest things, the traffic, the weather, the amount of birds in the air who's crap kept missing him by inches – anything to take his mind off the wedding.

Ren walked past the many shops that he knew so well, but the one he most frequently passed was 'Gayle's Bread-Making School', and he once recalled telling Hao how much he liked the writing on the windows since it was bold and stood out and wasn't afraid to be seen – like a Tao.

As Ren passed the bread-making school he noticed something not so ordinary… something a bit odd.

He stopped and looked at the window and at the bold writing he liked so much, some of the letters were scribbled out and Ren became angry as he read what was now left on the window:

'Gay's

r

cool'

was what it now read, and Ren knew instantly who had done it.

"Hao!" He shouted, expecting his stalker to pop out of some random bush and come on command, but of course, Hao didn't, Hao was at the wedding… the one which would never occur.

Ren sighed depressingly as he thought of the mighty Asakura, standing at the alter with a look of hope on his face, the same look of total happiness he had had when he saw Ren in the early morning in his tux, getting ready for the wedding.

"Stupid Asakura," he grumbled, feeling bad about leaving Hao to stand there, completely alone… Just as alone as Ren had been as a child when his father had died.

He shouldn't have trusted me, Ren thought back to what his uncle En had taught him in his youth, you cant trust anyone in this world but yourself…

Then another thought occurred to Ren, something he had overlooked before about the Asakura twin,

He trusts me…

Before Ren knew what was happening, he could see in his minds eye all of the memories he had – all of those that he shared with Hao Asakura… and he realised that even before Ren knew Hao, he had always been there to protect him.

FLASHBACK

A six-year-old Ren cried, sitting beneath an old oak tree that lay on the outskirts of his homes property.

"I- I cant do it!" Cried the young Tao, rubbing his eyes with the broken bandages that covered his battered arm.

Once again Ren had managed to fail his task of defeating a simple spirit hunter, and once again he had been punished.

"I'm all a-alone… I cant do it!" Ren had tried so hard not to admit it to himself, but he hated being alone, being alone scared him, it scared him more than his Uncle En and all of his spirit hunters did.

"Ssh," soothed a voice from nearby.

"Wha- whos there?" Demanded Ren, worried that it was another spirit hunter – or even worse, his uncle… Yet the voice was remarkably calming and kind.

"You're not alone, and you never will be… Not as long as you have me."

Ren span round to face not another spirit hunter, not his uncle… but a boy... another boy… like him.

"What do you want!" Ren spat, wary of his watcher.

"Only to help," the slightly older boy sat down beside him and started to fix his bandage, but Ren only pulled away.

"I don't want any help!"

The older boy paused, then smiled kindly, "it's ok, I'll just sit with you… that way, you wont be alone."

END OF FLASHBACK

Ren felt the raindrops land on his face as he looked up into the greying skies to see that a slight storm was brewing.

Ren could only feel sadness and regret at his memories, for it would be much easier to forget Hao if he hadn't played such an important role in his child-hood, since when Ren ever needed anyone, even if Ren couldn't see him, Hao had always been there.

A/N: Ok, crappy place to end it, but oh well, I'll put the next half up soon, k? And if I don't may I burn in hell for all eternity and be forced to live in a bright pink room (OH THE HORROR!). See, now I HAVE to update… coz living in a bright pink room would be suicidal… and for those of you who DO have bright pink rooms… just remember that if you kill me there would be no updates.. oO'' '':) REVIEW PLEASE!