Author's Note: Thanks for all your reviews, guys! And DayDrEaMiNg-child - interesting guesses! Although, they were a little off. Don't worry, this chapter, you will find out exactly what is going on. By the way, as a side-note... I know nothing about the Ainu tribe history and customs. Well, I know a little, but not enough to write a whole fic based around it. So, for now, I hope the things I wrote here are good enough to pass - just don't trust me to take a Japanese history lesson! Again, please leave a review if you read! Thanks.

It was the middle of the night when Ren found himself in the corridor leading to Pirika's room once again.

He couldn't sleep – he was troubled. He didn't know exactly what was going on with the Ainu siblings, but he knew it couldn't be something good. Not by the way Horo had looked when Ren had seen him earlier. Both Pirika and her brother looked over-worried – concerned, withdrawn. Neither of them had shown up to dinner that night, but no one had said anything about it. Ren had just sat there, picking silently at his food as everyone else laughed and joked, ignorant to the situation. He knew how Yoh was; if something wasn't his business he'd ignore it until it was time for him to find out. He was just abiding by his morals, Ren supposed. The others just followed suit. Still, Ren couldn't help wanting to yell at them all, cursing them for being so ignorant of this whole situation… whatever it was. The anxiety in Horo's eyes had too been apparent in Ren's.

His unrest, and the fact that Horo's bed was still empty had made his curiosity get the better of him, and he now found himself passing Pirika's room, as though trying to listen out for anything more – hoping somewhat that the siblings were together, discussing this in more detail, so they would unknowingly divulge more information to him.

However, when he reached the door that was Pirika's room, he found nothing but silence. The lights in the room were shut off.

He didn't even think of going back to his own room – Ren was determined, and when he had his mind set, there was no changing it; he would chase his plan through to the end. He was going to find out what this secret was - by tonight, no less – regardless of what he had to do to discover it. Besides… he was sure he had one more place to try to look for Horo…

He reached the stairs to the roof not long after. This was the only place he hadn't tried. Ren waited at the bottom for a few moments, contemplating. He knew what he wanted to ask – it was how to ask it that was the problem. Deciding that dwelling on it would do him no good, he took the first few steps upwards. Taking a few more, he emerged on to the roof at eye-level.

It was as he had guessed – Horo was there.

The blue-haired Shaman was lying back on the slant of the roof, arms behind his head, watching the sky.

Ren took a direct and confident walk towards him, sitting down a little distance away from him.

He didn't even turn to look at Ren until he sat down. And when he did, he barely cast his black eyes Ren's way before returning them once more to the star-filled sky.

"What are you doing up here at this hour?" Ren snapped, saving himself the trouble of finding meaningful words to say.

"This is the best time to be up here," Horo shrugged, eyes fixed skyward.

Ren fell silent, not sure how to respond. He wasn't used to having his challenges met with a calm answer, especially not from Horo.

After a moment, Horo turned his head to look at Ren. "What are you up here for?"

"I…" Ren trailed off. Unknowingly, his golden eyes fell towards Horo's face. Their gazes met.

Both diverted their eyes just as suddenly, as Ren turned his face away, cheeks flushing. Eyes narrowed, he cursed himself for allowing to get so uncomfortable, like he always was… around him…

Although Ren's nature made him generally on-edge most of the time, it more so happened around Horo. He felt more need to be alert, keep a sharp tongue and stay on his guard. Deep down, he knew why. Keeping up this affront meant Horo couldn't see Ren's real feelings – that soft shimmer in his eyes…

He was spared the job of saying something as Horo sighed. "I suppose you wanna know what's going on, don't you? Well, you're the first one that's actually tried to ask, which I'll give you some credit for…"

"Wait a minute!" Ren protested, folding his arms defiantly. "I haven't even suggested such a thing!"

"Heh… you can't kid me, Ren. I know you too well," Horo said.

Ren's eyes widened, and his tense posture relaxed a little as he took in those words. He didn't dare look back towards Horo – who knew if he would get caught stealing a glance at his face…?

"So, is that the reason?" Horo questioned again.

"Yes," Ren softened a little, eyes falling to the tiles beneath him.

"Then you should have just asked me instead of creeping around me like that."

This was enough to bring Ren's temper back. He shot Horo a glare. "I did ask you earlier, you dolt! But you chose to ignore me."

Horo gave an embarrassed laugh. "Yeah, I suppose I did… I guessed I wasn't ready to say anything then."

"Oh, and you are now?" Ren raised an eyebrow.

"Maybe…"

"Why don't you give me a straight answer for once!" Ren yelled. Somehow, feeling angry now felt much better than feeling anxious.

Horo laughed again, nerves slightly edging his voice. "I'm just kidding… it's kinda fun to see you angry."

Ren was about to retaliate once more, until he looked towards Horo. Seeing the gentle expression on his face – still star-gazing, small smile on his lips – Ren thoughts started to slow themselves, making him realise that exploding at Horo wasn't going to help him achieve what he had came here for. Funny how Horo could always help him do that. "Ignoring your last comment…" Ren refused to drop the icy edge to his voice. "I heard you saying earlier that you weren't going to tell anyone what was going on."

"You've really gotta stop your eavesdropping." Horo grinned.

Ren looked accused.

"But yeah, I did say that," Horo continued, smile fading now. "But I want to tell you."

"Oh, am I some kind of exception, then?" Ren gave him a sideward glance.

"Where shall I start?" Horo said, blatantly ignoring Ren's last words.

Realising he was about to find out now what it was he longed to know, Ren decided not to chase his last question further. He cast his eyes out at the horizon. "The beginning would be nice."

"Well…" Horo took a deep breath. "You know I come from up North, from the Ainu tribe, right?"

"Yes…" Ren nodded, not sure where this story was going.

"In the tribe, we have a ring of elders, who kind of like, lead the others. I suppose you could call them a kind of council. Then we have the elder above them who has control over all - the council and the tribesmen. Pirika received a Koroppo Kuru this morning telling her that our leader at the moment… had passed away."

Ren heard Horo's voice falter slightly, and he folded his arms tighter around himself. "And what does this have to do with you?"

"When the leader passes away, the highest member of the council must step up to take his place. That's what's happened this time around too, and that's all been organized now."

"I'm still failing to see the problem here," Ren said, impatiently.

Horo continued, ignoring Ren's interruptions. "When a member of the council leaves, they must be replaced. But it can't just be anyone, so we have to abide by an age-old custom to choose.

"Our culture's based around nature, and we use a kind of cycle system to choose our next councillors, like the wheel of nature that turns through the seasons. The people chosen can only be from one of six families – a member of the council is chosen from each of those families, in order. So, for example, the first time a council member leaves, the Poro family are chosen. The next time it happens, a member of the Kokoron family is elected. The next time, the Roko family… you get it?"

Ren nodded, silent. These tribe customs were somewhat beyond him.

"And as you can probably guess, this time… it's my family's turn. The council mixes and matches generations to keep the blood running young as well as old. And considering its our generation's turn this time… me and Pirika are gonna be gone for a while."

Suddenly, it hit Ren – what Horo was trying to say. "You'll… both be back, won't you?"

Horo shook his head, solemnly. "Afraid not… the person elected to the council must stay in the village. After all, they need to guide the tribesmen."

Ren's head began to spin. Horo was leaving them – for good. He was returning to his family, to his heritage, to become the newest council member of the Ainu tribe… but for him to leave Ren…

He hurriedly squinted back tears. Tears of what exactly? Anger, fear… sadness?

"How… how long do you have before you go?" Ren tried to steady his voice; didn't want Horo to know he cared so much. He bent his head to ensure Horo didn't see him looking so pathetic.

"They'll need us there in ten days, so to get there in time, we're only gonna have a week to prepare. Then we leave," Horo explained, sitting upright.

A heavy, tense silence set over them as Ren thought this through and through… it all seemed too sudden. Though he was normally one to quickly come back against shocks such as this… he was finding the transition quite hard this time.

"I'm… gonna go to bed now…" he heard Horo say, before he carefully walked past Ren and descended the stairs.

Ren kept his head down so that Horo didn't see that sorrowful look in his eyes. He didn't move an inch, not even for the next few hours.

As morning broke, the rising sun reflected in the puddle of tears that lay now at his feet.

Author's Note: Update very soon!