Author's Note: Sorry this one took me a while to put up. This is the final chapter, and my original ending sucked a little, so I rewrote it ;)
I hope you enjoy the conclusion!
Staring down into the empty milk bottle with an annoyed expression on his face, he was alone in the Onsen.
They had all left on another of those outings – 'bonding time' he could imagine Yoh calling it. He, of course, had refused them. He doubted he would have wanted to go under any normal circumstances, but it seemed that since Horo had left, he had wanted less and less to spend time with the others. He had lost his enthusiasm lately, not even being able to train as he used to. And either the others didn't notice this change in him, or they were choosing not to say anything out of respect for Ren's pride. Yet, he noted, they still found the time to badger him regarding Horo's whereabouts. All of them seemed convinced he knew – but he wasn't going to say anything. Telling them where Horo had gone, and what had now happened to him made it seem so final… as though Ren had made it happen just by speaking the words.
In his boredom, he began spinning the bottle around on the table, listening only to the sound of the clock that ticked away into the silent room. All this behaviour was very unlike him, and he hadn't expected things to be this hard. The last night the two of them had spent together made it all the more worse. Ren had prepared himself for Horo's departure, however unwillingly, and was ready to face whatever feelings came afterwards. He expected to have to fight with his own emotions, having never had the chance to tell the Ainu how he really felt. But this was far from how it happened. Knowing now that his feelings weren't futile… that there really was the opportunity for something between them… those thoughts were much, much harder to deal with. Those were the missed opportunities he had to work on letting go of now.
And it wasn't like the thought of just packing up and leaving after Horo hadn't crossed his mind – it was only when he began to mentally plan out his journey did he realise he had no idea of where to go to reach Horo's hometown, leaving him to sit around the Onsen like a puppy who had lost its owner every day for an entire week now.
"Baka Ainu…" Ren cursed under his breath. He hated the thought that someone was making him feel this way, so unlike himself, lost and pathetic. And besides, wasn't it so much easier just to hate him now, rather than to dwell on his feelings for him? Though Ren wasn't surprised that thinking this way had very little effect.
A sudden voice broke his chain of thought.
"What was that you called me?"
His back stiffened sharply. Someone was there? The others couldn't be back yet… could they?
Yet that voice… so full of cheer and so… familiar.
He was on his feet before he even managed to turn his head, sending the empty milk bottle flying off the table, to land on the floor with an echoing thud.
Someone stood in the doorway. Someone… he never thought he'd see again.
The face of the person stretched with a friendly smile, and they raised a hand in greeting. "Hey there, Ren."
He stood. Unable to speak. Unable to move. "You…" he breathed, fists beginning to clench in rage. A week's worth of agitation was boiling up inside of him, making him tremble with fury.
The person just stood there, confused at Ren's angry greeting. "Uh… Ren?"
"Baka Ainu!" Ren yelled out, hurling a fist straight at them.
The person that caught him, was Horohoro. Catching Ren's fist in his hand, he laughed, using Ren's moment of surprise as a chance to pull him close. He found no tension in Ren's body – he found only weakness, as Ren fell into his chest, crying.
Horo wrapped his arms around him, smiling, caught unawares by the unexpected welcoming of the Chinese. "You could at least be happy to see me." He taunted.
Ren pushed him – forcefully, but not enough to push him away. "Baka…" he muttered. "Can't you tell that I am?"
The Ainu laughed gently. "You sure have one weird way of showing it."
Ren pulled away a little, to see the face of the one person that meant so much to him. "Why are you here?" he demanded, almost furious. "What happened to having to stay in Hokkaido? What happened to being an elder for your tribe?"
Horo blinked at him with innocent eyes. "I said that?"
"Damn right you said that!" Ren cried, landing a somewhat weak punch on Horo's shoulder.
The Ainu laughed again, putting his face closer to Ren's. "It sounds to me like you got the wrong idea."
"What…?" Ren's eyes went wide.
"I never said I was gonna become the next elder."
"But you… you said that you were going away, and had to stay there to serve the council… It was your family's turn to provide an elder, you said!"
Horo's obsidian eyes fell to the floor. "It wasn't me… that was chosen, Ren."
"Then who was!" Ren exclaimed.
"Pirika," Horo answered simply, his voice down-tone. "She was the next one elected to the council."
Ren's eyes shot wide. "You mean to tell me… that all this time… then why were you so down about leaving, if you knew you were coming back!"
"The truth is… I kind of wanted that position. Sure, I'm happy for Pirika, and I'm proud of her, but… it makes you kinda jealous." Horo lifted his head to give a guilty smile.
"So why did you leave? Only Pirika had to be there, didn't she?"
"I had to be there for her during the ceremony, at least. I only planned to stay a couple of weeks up home to support her. But, she noticed I was feeling down, and sent me home early. She acts the more mature of us two sometimes, I'm sure of it." Horo shrugged, a grin echoing through his words. "She knew where I wanted to be."
He leaned a little closer, black eyes fixed in gold, his lips just brushing Ren's. "Here with you."
"I missed you…" Ren breathed.
"And I missed you." Horo said, truthfully.
"Just tell me you're back to stay."
"I am. I promise that, Ren. I don't want to spend another day away from you if I can help it."
"Thank you, Horokeu…"
"You don't need to thank me for anything."
And finally, their lips touched in a kiss that had been denied for too long.
As the kiss deepened, Ren found himself thinking of words Yoh had spoken to him only a few days earlier.
Maybe things like this… really were meant to be?
Emily Nash-Medlyn (Lysha)
Thursday 6th October 2005 – Wednesday 9th November 2005
Author's Note: Ohmigosh, I've never put so much fluff in one chapter XD
I hope you guys didn't mind the fluff-overload - I thought it worked kinda well ;)
Anyway... that's all for Lose You Forever! It's finally been finished. Thank you so much to all of you who have supported me during this and have made this my most popularwork of fanfictionyet. If I could ask you just to support me one last time, and leave me a review for this chapter, I would be very grateful!
Best wishes, everyone!