Losing Match, a shaman king fanfic

Disclaimer: I do not own Shaman King

Teaser: Not every lost comes out without gain. Ren has a secret and Hao knows what it is. Having fun while using it against Ren, feelings he didn't know he had before began surfacing at the same time. What will they both gain in the end of this losing match? (HaoRen, Yoh)

Note: Written in 3 POV's, Ren's, Hao's, and Yoh's…mostly for comical effect, e he he he…

Losing Match

'Damn those Asakuras. Haven't they ever heard of a washing machine before?' Ren cursed to himself as he sat under the scorching summer sun. He was crouched over a large basin of water and sandwiched by a pile of dirty ponchos on one side and a pail of already washed ones on the other. Ren paused from his laborious grating over the old fashioned washboard and sat up to gaze at the unyielding noon sun. He wiped an arm over his forehead, which was already laced in sweat. Then the tight face frowned at the white cloth floating in the sparkling water.

'Now, why am I doing this again?' he thought sourly to himself as he once again recalled the reason why he was ridiculously fulfilling all of the elder Asakura brother's whims. The frown deepened on the pale face. It was his secret. Hao knew about his secret. Now he had no choice but to bend to Hao's will or face having his secret spread among his friends like wildfire, which Hao had promised to do.

Small hands gripped at the fabric in the water and proceeded to force it upon the wooden teeth carved deep into the washboard. 'How could I have been so careless?' Ren thought bitterly. 'I always brought it out when I was alone and always in the dark. It was just that one time!' Anger rushed throughout the small body and Ren rubbed faster with more strength because he knew it was the only thing he could take his anger out on.

'Oh my god.'

Hao stared wide eyed at the boy before him, laboring away at his laundry. He caught himself watching with stunned and lustful eyes as Ren wiped at this sweat and a few drops of laundry water began meandering down the smooth curves of Ren's body. He pulled his arms back and leaned on them as he sat in the shade of the porch, where he was administering the Tao at his task.

Hao was surprised. He never knew he harbored such feelings for Ren and he wasn't ready when faced with such a strong stimulation. The lean body, the smooth white skin, the parted lips from exhaustion, and the strong little hands which were touching his clothes. He crossed his legs trying to hide what he had responded with and winced when the pain of the act hit.

'Face it, you lost the moment he took off his shirt,' the betrayer in his thoughts voiced in his head and Hao grimaced as he accepted the truth. Now Hao is a very decisive person and he rarely hesitates before doing anything so when he found himself faced with such a strong urge that he had yet to understand where it came from, he asked himself, 'What is the problem here?'

'Why do you want him all of a sudden?'

The hesitating was grating on his nerves and Hao raked his very soul for the answer. The problem was definitely not because Ren was a boy. Hao had always been very open minded. You get that after living through several different eras. The problem was Ren. Ren, who was always wearing those miniature shirts that showed his toned and lean frame. Ren, who always had that cute but confident smirk on his face and Ren, who had two beautiful golden eyes that Hao wouldn't really mind drowning into forever. And there was no longer any hesitation.

Hao realized what he had been wanting all along. He pushed himself from the ledge of the porch.

Yoh crept closer from behind the house to get a better view of the two. Not that Yoh had a habit of peeping at others in secrecy. In fact, normally the boy would've been too lazy to get involved in other people's business, but this time there was something wrong. The fact that his brother was together with his friend, whom he never was close to, was enough incentive, but there was also something he noticed this morning.

It was something casual, but Yoh noticed it. When they were all having breakfast and Ren reached for the soy sauce, Hao had called over to Ren asking him to pass over the sauce. To his surprise, Ren handed it over without even using it for himself first. This may have been manners working, and probably written in some book of politeness, but Yoh knew Ren and Ren never yielded to others. Especially to someone he had verbally voiced his dislike for. There was also that look of challenge the two had exchanged for a second before Ren backed down and Yoh knew his brother must have done something cruel to manipulate his friend.

Yoh saw Hao say something to Ren and Ren nodded, his head still bent down at the laundry, which Ren never did on any normal day. Then Hao crossed his legs over his lap like a master watching over his servant and that confirmed everything for Yoh. Yoh clutched the wooden wall of his house as he thought, 'Don't worry Ren. I'll find a way to save you.'

Ren worked hard on the washboard until foam spread all over the basin. He was still frustrated over not being able to think of a way out of his situation. And Hao was going too far with his advantage. Ren took one look at the pile of unfinished laundry and rubbed harder on the board. The last thing he needed was to hear his tormentor's voice.

"Ren," Hao was beside him and had that usual smirk on his face. 'The over confident bastard,' was all Ren could think of. He stood up as Hao's hand had motioned for him to do so. Ren placed his wet arms on his hips and was about to snap a 'what do you want?' when Hao's mouth closed in on his. Hao sucked hard on his lips then his tongue came in and forced its way through his mouth. Ren fought back with everything he's got as he griped at the front of Hao's shirt and it was the first time Ren realized how strong and flexible a human tongue can be. He could definitely use some practice on this.

They pulled back from each other and Ren was glad because he was playing a losing match here. They stared at each other breathless and flushed from the heat. Hao was looking straight at him with a tense look in his eyes as if he was waiting for an answer and Ren vaguely knew what it all was, the kiss, the same-sex courting, but the experience beat all common sense. When Ren caught his breath again, he flashed his usual confident grin at Hao and said,

"Is that all you can do?"

And they clashed at one another again, this time with more force than before.

Yoh fretted as he contemplated on what he should do. He was dead set on saving his friend, but he was also afraid of his brother. Even though Hao was his older twin brother, and fully blood related, he never managed to get on his good side for all these years. Yoh panicked when Hao walked over to Ren and when he saw his brother bend over to kiss his friend, Yoh almost fell flat on his face. Good thing he had a monster hold on the wall he was clutching.

Shocked brown eyes never took a second away from the scene before him. 'It must be some kind of mistake,' he kept thinking to himself, but each time he blinked the kiss was right there. When the two pulled away only to have Ren smile and pull Hao back to him again, Yoh almost gasped out loud. If the two had such feelings for each other, they surely showed no sign before.

However, watching the two together didn't seem so wrong. They became more aggressive as Hao's hands held Ren at the shoulders and Ren cocked his head about eagerly. His older brother had a certain coolness about him and was downright good-looking. Even Yoh had to admit it. It's very easy to notice on others what you don't have, especially on someone who had the exact same face as you. And Ren, Ren was just voluptuous without trying and even cute to a certain degree.

Yoh couldn't take his eyes away. The two of them together was like sex on sex. And when Yoh heard himself thinking that last thought he knew it was time to get away. He closed his mouth which had been left agape for a while and tore stunned eyes reluctantly away from the scene. Then he bent over when pain shot through his body as he moved his leg.

'Damn, why am I getting so turned on?' he blushed and quietly crawled away.

They pulled away. It was Ren who pushed him away and Hao couldn't quite understand it. Ren had seemingly been enjoying it and they were both still far from being out of breath. "I'm not doing this for free you know." His sexy shorter kissing partner leaned on him and began poking a finger at his collarbone. "If you want more you'll have to drop using my secret against me."

Hao shuddered because Ren voiced every word slowly in the voice he loved to hear, because Ren was tracing circles on his sensitive spot. 'Does Ren know what he's doing or is he really more than what he seems,' the thought flashed through his mind, but a short and impatient 'ahem' brought him out of his daze. He smiled down at his young dealer and considered his offer to be not too bad. But he wanted to provoke him one last time.

"Oh," he said, "You mean about how you cuddle a stuffed tiger in your sleep at night?" And almost magically the pout he loved to see appeared on those magnificent full lips. They parted, probably foul words about to come out of them, but Hao quickly bent to capture them, whispering a quick 'deal' before putting both of them into hot drunken drowsiness.

Yay, more sexy haoren :D Okay, I'm afraid to put 'one-shot' next to the summary because who knows what might come over me and I'll decide to prolong another one-shot again. But, in case you don't know what Ren-chan is using to wash Hao's ponchos : ) it's what ppl used to wash clothes in the olden days. If you watch Kenshin then you'll see it all the time. Don't really know how it works exactly. But don't let Ren-chan put a hole in your favorite poncho HaoHao : )