Disclaimer: I do not own Shaman King
CHAPTER TWO – Detention of Death
That afternoon Horo Horo found himself back in Mr. Silva's room for detention. Ren was already there, sitting with his arms crossed in the back of the room. Horo walked over and sat beside him.
"What's up?" he asked by way of greeting.
"Detention. Duh." he growled, glancing at Horo through the corner of his eye.
"So, how was you're first day, overall?" he asked.
"Did the gods send you to torture me?" he sighed.
"Hey, I'm just being polite!" he said defensively.
"Uh huh, riiight." Ren said sarcastically.
"Hey, how about after detention I show you around town?" Horo offered, undaunted.
"You are very persistent, aren't you? I have to go home." he said.
"Then come over to my house later." he tried again.
"I have things to do at home." he sighed.
"Then eat lunch with me tomorrow." he said.
"Fine, as long as you shut your trap." he growled. Hao entered at that moment, waltzing in like he owned the place.
"Horo? What'd you do? Late to class again?" he asked in his cocky manner.
"Nope." he answered, trying to avoid telling the real reason.
"Bet you did. You did, didn't you?" Hao accused.
"Whatever you say, Hao." he answered Hao took a seat on the far side of the room and they served the rest of their time and went their separate ways.
The next day, Horo sat in Mr. Silva's class, an empty seat beside him. He glanced at the clock again. It was one hour before lunch and still no sign of the arrogant Chinese. Five minutes later, Ren walked in and handed a late pass to the teacher. He went and sat in his seat, the eyes of the whole class upon him.
The reason for this was that he was beaten and bruised horribly. He had a split lip, a black eye, bruises, scrapes, and poorly tended wounds that still bled. The lesson continued and slowly the students brought their eyes away.
"Ren, what happened?" Horo asked in concern.
"Nothing." Ren answered with his eyes on his desk.
"Nothing doesn't beat people up." Horo pointed out.
"So what? It's my business." Ren hissed.
"Who did this?" he insisted.
"Just drop it and leave it alone." he said with finality. Horo Horo nodded in acceptance though his mind did not drop the subject.
'Maybe he pissed someone off. I wouldn't be surprised with his attitude. But it doesn't seem that way...' he pondered this new event until the bell rang for lunch. He smiled and waited for Ren to finish carefully packing his things into his bag. They stopped by the lunchroom for Ren to whip up some eggrolls and headed outside.
"Where are we going?" Ren asked.
"When it's nice out we eat outside. Over here." Horo said, leading the way to a clump of large trees, under which the whole group sat.
"Guys, you all know Ren. Ren, this is my sister, Pilika, Hao and his twin, Yoh, Yoh's fiancé, Anna, Jeanne, Lyserg, Mari, Macchi, Kanna, Chocolove, Ryu, Tamao, and Manta." he introduced them.
"Oh, it's the guy with the stick up his ass that got you and Hao detention!" Pilika exclaimed, oblivious to her offensiveness. Ren frowned slightly and sat against a tree farther from the others. Horo sat beside him quickly.
"So, who beat you up? I have got to congratulate the lucky bastard!" Hao laughed menacingly.
"Hao, shut up." Horo said half-heartedly. The others began to laugh hysterically as Hao began to make fun of the Tao, who took it without a word and simply continued eating. As Hao continued, Horo realized that this was no longer the good-natured teasing they all endured every day, but a purposeful picking on. Ren sat facing away from the others and kept his face fixated on the ground, taking the ridiculing wordlessly.
"Yeah, he brought his mother to school the other day, and boy, she was a looker." Hao laughed.
"Oh, yeah, well your head is so big, it's a wonder they don't call you the elephant man. Why don't you just roll over and die? You're so vain about your hair, you spend two class periods in the shower after gym and they had to move gym to the last class of the day. You're worse than a woman and you act really gay. Why don't you just ask Yoh to dump Anna and run away with you? We all know you want him, you fucking gay bastard, and we all know you want to be a woman and you would be on the bottom!" Horo snapped. Everyone hushed and the uncomfortable silence took over.
"Oh, so it's not funny when it's Hao being bullied, only when Ren is? You guys make me sick!" Horo said disgustedly and dragged Ren off by his wrist.
"...Why did you do that?" Ren asked when they were in the building, viciously jerking his hand away.
"Because you needed me. That's what friends are for, and you can always trust me to be a good friend!" Horo answered plainly, as if it were the most obvious answer in the world.
"But they're your friends, and I'm not your friend." the Chinese stated coldly.
"Of course you are! Don't worry about them, we always work it out in the end, that's what friends do." he said.
"I'm not worried about them, and I don't see why you want to be my friend." he replied.
"Because everyone needs a friend to watch their back." he explained.
"I don't need friends, and I don't have friends." Ren said stubbornly.
"That attitude must run in your family." Horo mumbled under his breathe.
"By the way, what did your sister mean when she said I got Hao and you detention?" Ren asked.
"Oh, well, I, uh, she, see, I sort of talked to your sister after class because you didn't deserve your detention, and she gave me one, but Pilika always over-exaggerates." Horo Horo answered.
"Why did you do that?" his eyes narrowed dangerously.
"Well, because you're my friend and that wasn't right." he said.
"Kisama! (1)" Ren yelled and hurried off to music class.
"What was that about?" Horo Horo wondered out loud and hurried after him. Once again, Ren had occupied his favored seat so the Ainu was forced into the seat between him and Hao.
"Hello, class. I expect you all to be on your best behavior today, and no fighting over instruments. I have two of each kind, and there are the qin, sheng, pipa, xiao, and di. Here is a very simple scale; can anyone tell me how it differs from the Western scale?" Jun asked. No one moved and she continued to scan the class.
"Ren? I know you know, why don't you explain it." she said, staring intently at the silent boy. Once again attention was drawn to him and they stared at his beaten form.
"...It only has five tones, instead of eight..." he said clearly.
"And?" she pressured him.
"...Melody is the main element of it, rather than harmony..." he continued.
"Good. Now, since you can already play all the instruments, you get to choose last. Horo, you choose." she called on him.
"Sure, I'll take the pipa." he said politely. She frowned and handed him the instrument, then continued until the whole class had an instrument except for Ren, who was left with the last qin.
"Alright, now that we all have instruments, we'll start. Ren, demonstrate." Jun ordered in a fake sweet voice.
"Hn." he grunted and quickly played the instrument, his skilled hands weaving about the strings. The song filled the room with a sense of sadness, and some girls even began to cry as the song concluded.
"Hmm..." was all Jun said, and class continued with her picking on him for everything. After class, Horo stopped at Jun's desk again.
"Yes, Horo Horo?" she asked in an annoyed tone.
"How come you were picking on Ren when he obviously doesn't like it?" he asked defensively.
"That is none of your concern. It is between him and me and you have no right to muddle in family affairs. Believe me; it's dangerous to be friends with a Tao. You don't want to get mixed up in this." she advised gravely.
"Huh?" he looked confused but settled to leave before the bell because she sure wasn't going to give him a pass. Once again his day became normal and boring and he snoozed through the rest of school. Outside of school, however, trouble headed his way. Out of nowhere Ren stepped out from an alley, a dagger glistening in his hand. He held it to Horo's neck and whispered in his ear.
"Don't say a word, and you won't be harmed, okay?" he waited for Horo to nod before continuing.
"Look, I don't want or need friends, got it? So just back off from me and my sister. We handle our own problems and business, so keep your nose where it belongs, out of Tao family business. If you so much as breathe a word of this to anyone or get in my way again, I will kill you. Capishe?" another nod.
"Good." and as suddenly as he was there, he was gone. Horo rushed to his house warily, expecting someone to jump him any second. When he got home, his mother had just got off the phone.
"Horo, honey, get your nice Ainu clothes on! We've been invited to dinner by Tao En. This could be my big chance for a promotion." she said excitedly.
"TAO! WE CAN'T GO THERE! MISS JUN AND REN HATE ME!" he shouted.
"Now, Horo, that's not like you at all. Maybe you just need to give them a second chance. We're going anyway, whether you like it or not." she said firmly.
'I'm so dead...' he thought as he ran to slip on the traditional Ainu dress required for this important dinner.