Disclaimer: I do not own Shaman King
CHAPTER FIVE – Evil Never Sleeps
The night turned out to be a long and sleepless one for Ren, memories and threats plaguing his thoughts. Eventually, however, exhaustion won the battle and his body fell into the realm of dreams.
The next morning Horo found himself making pancakes, flapjack style. This proved a more difficult feat than he originally expected, however, and he ended up ordering food service after a few hours of scraping pancakes off the walls and ceiling. He lay out the feast on the bed and sat cross-legged, simply watching Ren as he slept.
'How lucky I must be to have someone as beautiful as him.' he thought wistfully. Suddenly, Ren's breathing quickened and he jerked a bit, sweat accumulating on his forehead.
"Ren! Ren, wake up!" he yelled, shaking him. His yellow eyes snapped open and he shrank back in terror, curling up in a protective ball.
"Don't! Please don't!" he begged pitifully.
"Don't what? Ren, what's going on?" he asked gently. Ren stayed silent and eventually sat up, acting as though nothing had happened, though every now and then he glanced warily at his lover.
"Ren, I think it's time we had a talk and you told me the truth. The whole truth. I think I at least deserve to know what's going on between you and Cole." Horo Horo said, staring unwaveringly into the cat-like eyes. Ren swallowed and looked down at the suddenly interesting sheets, and nodded.
"Cole is... my cousin. He fell in love with me, apparently, but you know what 'love' is like in my family. It soon grew into an obsession. He followed me, watched me, and finally I found out that he'd put up video cameras in my room and bathroom. Well, you know me and my privacy thing, so I told him to fuck off. I thought he was over it, but it seems he's been waiting for revenge.
When you told my parents, they must have sent him here to get rid of me. They could never accept someone so weak as their own; they probably didn't want me to live on with the name of Tao. When he dropped me into the pond, he told me that he would come for me again, but that if you interfered, he would kill you. I... I couldn't let that happen, so I treated you like scum. It was the only way I could think of to get you out of harm's way. I had hoped you wouldn't come back for me, but you did. While you were gone, he... he... you know..." he said, a deep blush rising to his cheeks, and he looked down, biting his lower lip and unable to make eye contact.
"He... what?" Horo was clueless. Ren mumbled something incoherent.
"Huh?" the Ainu asked.
"He raped me..." Ren hung his head in shame.
"Ren... I'm sorry! I should have gotten there sooner! This is all my fault!" Horo said, pulling his lover into a tight embrace.
"Horo, stop it! It's not your fault! What's with you and blaming yourself?" he asked, glaring into blue eyes.
"Well, I thought you would blame me... It just seems as though everyone always blames me for anything that goes wrong. They automatically assume that I'm going to screw things up. My parents always expected the worst from me, and blamed me for everything, even if Pilica did it. Then you always seemed to blame me when we fought..." he said.
"You are an idiot. I never expected anything from you, good or bad. You're just... you. Sure, sometimes you jack things up, and I'm always acting perfect, but you know people, and I never will. I fought with you because I was jealous. You had loving family, friends, and no real expectations, whereas I was always expected to be perfect. Always held to high standards and beaten if I didn't meet expectations. I wanted you to feel like I felt; angry, hurt, and useless. Like you told me, no one's perfect, but maybe together we can be." Ren said, and then laughed.
"What are you laughing about?" Horo asked.
"It's just; I just made up that whole corny speech. How cheesy can this get before we die of the sappiness of it all? It's just like a frickin' fairytale, only gayer, literally." Ren explained. Horo Horo remained silent for a moment before cracking up with laughter as it sank in.
"I guess now is when we live happily ever after." he joked, chuckling. However, the smiles were wiped off of their faces completely when two angry teens entered the room.
"Oh, I think not. Now is when the true hero of the story comes back into play to reclaim his only love from the villainous blue-haired Ainu that screwed around in his business. I guess I aught to thank you for giving my Renny his ability to walk back, but now is when I am going to have to take back my love." Cole said dangerously, a dark ferocity burning in his eyes.