Sorrowful Seraphim: YAY! I'm back! Just so you know, this chapter is LONG, so you better be up for A LOT of action-packed, yaoi-filled paragraphs. This is the part where the plot begins to thicken, the mysteries start unraveling, and the turn of events is initiated. And I'm not even half-way through the story yet…I really hadn't planned it to be so long, but my reviews keep pouring in, so I'm planning on stretching this story to it's fullest!

Disclaimer: Same as always.

Warnings: Okay, YAOI, LEMON, VIOLENCE, DEATH, MORTAL WOUNDING, AND BETRAYAL ENSUE WITHIN THIS CHAPTER!

YOU

HAVE

BEEN

WARNED

AN: The beginning is still Ren's POV

I was frozen. Horo had just been near death, and now it looked like he'd just taken a walk in the park. I stopped moving and lowered my kwan do, unsure of what was currently happening.

Suddenly, Horo looked at me. "Ren! What are you doing! Attack him!" That snapped me out my daze. I perked up and turned my attention to Ashil, who had the same expression of surprise as me, and as I noticed when I looked around, Lyserg and Ryu as well.

I took advantage of his lapse in concentration. Before he realized what was happening I'd already attacked, knocking him of his beast and shattering his oversoul.

He fell to the ground, but immediately stood up. I smiled, thinking we had him. Thinking. But he started laughing instead.

"Ren!" Horo and Lyserg screamed my name in unison, and it was then I noticed the shadow looming over me. The hit was hard, but I managed to block its full impact. Impressively, despite my quick reaction, I felt my body being flung through the air, only to land in a strong pair of arms. Horo.

"Ren, are you okay?" He asked me worriedly. The expression of concern on his face was startling. I remembered the kiss, and nodded, attempting to smile back.

He gently sat me down, and it was then I noticed the sharp pain in my left ankle. I winced slightly, earning another gaze from Horo. I signaled I was okay, and he stood back up, facing the looming monster.

Suddenly, as if the heavens themselves had opened up, a bright light emerged from the sky. Ashil, now on top of his oversoul once more, stared in awe. A beam shot out, faster than any reflex could catch.

That was the end of Ashil.

It struck him, and went directly through his chest, his eyes wide with fright. I almost could have sworn I heard him whisper 'Hao-sama' before his oversoul exploded, taking his body with it.

Left in the reverberations of the assault were a group of people, angel-like oversouls suspended above them. The four of us stared on in shock as the leader of the group, a blond man with glasses, spoke in a commanding voice.

"You four have just witnessed the treachery of Hao. We are the X-Laws, sworn to kill the demon himself, and under the rule of our great Iron Maiden Jeanne, we shall." He paused to take a good look at each of us, his glance stopping for a moment longer at me. I looked him straight in the eye.

"It would be wise to join us, my allies, and fight for the side of justice. If you do not, we shall consider you our enemies." He hesitated as if questioning what he was about to say next. "It seems a member of your group is missing. Asakura Yoh, correct?"

I'm almost positive it was Lyserg who nodded; he was acting a bit strange. Regardless, the man continued, but this time, his voice was incriminating and dark. "Am I safe to assume he was captured by Hao?"

I looked down, unable to answer, but I pretty sure I didn't to. He sighed. "I can't say it wasn't expected." I shot daggers at him. He obviously knew something we didn't.

"You don't know?" I shook my head unconsciously. He smiled apologetically. "Well, I'm sorry to inform you that Asakura Yoh was hiding many secrets from you." No, Yoh would never…

"One being the fact that he is Hao's descendent." My blood ran cold. Impossible. "Two being he is Hao's twin brother." I could have sworn my heart stopped. The next thing I knew, Lyserg was having spasms, yelling and screaming and cursing at the top of his lungs.

Horo simply stared as if dumbfounded, and Ryu had apparently fainted. I didn't know what to think. He couldn't possible be telling the truth, but I could find no hint of deceit on his face.

"What is your answer to our proposal?" I couldn't respond. But Lyserg seemed to have no problem.

"We accept." My mind finally came out of shock. "What! WE do not accept! You can't make that decision for all of us, Lyserg." He glared at me angrily.

"What are you saying, Ren? Are you going to ally yourself with Hao now? Are you actually going to continue to support Yoh now that you know he's been deceiving us!" He growled threateningly. "Well? Because if you are, then I won't hesitate to fight you."

"Fine," he stomped over the group and turned to face me as I stood up. "Because I won't hesitate to fight you either." We didn't break our gaze until the blond man spoke again.

"It's a pity all of could not accept our justice today, but we will try again soon. You will be given another chance to redeem your sins." He adjusted his glasses arrogantly. "But I assure you, if Asakura Yoh was not allied with Hao previous to his…'kidnapping'….then he most certainly is now."

Another blast of bright white light, and they'd disappeared.

And then there were three.

:"""""":Hao's POV:"""""":

I was thinking about the short conversation I'd had with the Ainu. I knew by now Yoh's "friends" had heard the news of his new allegiance. Whether they believed it or not wasn't my problem. Soon enough, they would see the truth.

I was staring attentively at my brother. His simplistic soul was delaying his spiritual development, and that was a problem that needed to be fixed. But I didn't think he was ready to experience the mass of knowledge I needed to "download" into his mind. It could cause him to go insane or have a mental breakdown. I looked away.

It was true. I was taking the easy way out. A more complete way to ensure Yoh's skills would be for him to learn them one after the other, but I didn't have nearly enough time to train him in each of the elements separately. I would simply have to risk his sanity by forcing it into mind.

I turned my gaze back toward him to find him practicing one of his "tricks". For days now, new powers had begun seeping their way out of him, and he'd usually come up with a way to create some kind of game out of them.

At the moment, he was content with toying with a small water sphere. I had been surprised to find he could manipulate water with supreme ease. If I had planned on training him, I would have definitely started with water.

I stood up. There was no better time than now to get this over with. But for some odd reason, I found myself reluctant to go through with the procedure. I…didn't want to hurt him.

I started to question myself. When Yoh had begun his adoration, it hadn't really affected me, but now…it seemed as if I'd actually grown attached to him. What was wrong with me? But when I looked at him, his cute smile, his puppy-dog eyes, his adorable antics, I wasn't sure I could actually risk harming him. Then, the realization hit me. Somehow, Asakura Yoh had burrowed his way past my barrier of hate and into my heart. It was a revelation I'd never expected.

I loved him.

:""""""Yoh's POV:"""""":

I loved playing with water now that I could move it at will. Everyday, I could do more, and I was having great time. But something was itching at me. For days now, I felt that Hao was hiding something from me.

He'd said I was going to start training, but he'd never shown any sign of beginning it and I was starting to get worried. I stopped fiddling with the small water sphere and looked at him.

I suddenly felt like I'd done something wrong. Hao was standing no more than three feet away from me, tears streaming down his cheeks. I hopped up in alarm. I'd never seen Hao cry, and I thought something really bad must be wrong.

"Hao? What's wrong!" He didn't speak, just continued to cry, his eyes locked on mine. "Onii-chan, please say something! You're scaring me! What is it?" I tried to soften my voice, attempting to sound concerned instead of surprised, but still, he said nothing.

I was about to try another protest, but something happened. In a moment, he had me in his arms, tightly embracing me. He was sobbing now. "O…Onii-chan?" His sobbing only got louder, and needless to say, I was absolutely terrified. Then he spoke.

"God…I love you….I love you so much…I love you, otouto…please forgive me!" He was sobbing uncontrollably and I had no idea what to do. He's just screamed his love for me at the top of his lungs. He'd just begged for forgiveness for something I didn't even know. Life was… so confusing.

:"""""":Horo's POV:"""""":Two Days Later:"""""":

Ryu and Ren had been constantly throwing questions at me since the battle had ended. Now that Lyserg was gone, we were even more susceptible to attack and we had to be careful anywhere we went.

Ren was always angry, after hearing the truth about Yoh and he kept saying I knew more than I was telling, even though I kept insisting I'd told him everything. Ryu was always crying, not wanting to believe Yoh was really on Hao's side. I wasn't entirely sure I believed it either, but after what Hao had told me, it was hard to keep my skepticism.

Currently, we were walking through a small town we had come upon. I looked at Ren, wondering what his plan was. Now that we'd lost Yoh and Lyserg our lives seemed to be falling apart.

We checked into a small hotel. It was cheap enough for us to afford separate rooms, although I wasn't entirely sure I wanted to be alone.

Dinner was quiet. Ren and I ate silently, but an occasional whimper could be heard form Ryu. I excused myself, unable to take it any longer. I'd hardly touched my food.

Walking out of the hotel's small cafe and down the hall to my room, I hastily unlocked the door and shuffled in, slamming it behind me. I let my tired body collapse onto the bed and let my depression take over.

I wasn't sure how long I'd laid there in the same position, tears streaming across my cheeks, when I heard an almost inaudible knock on my door. I ignored it at first, thinking it was the cleaning lady, but I soon realized it wasn't.

"Horo? Are you there?" Ren. I quickly sat up, wiping my face vigorously with my sleeve. I slowly sauntered to the door and took a few deep breaths, trying to make myself appear calm and normal. It didn't work.

The moment I opened the door, Ren's expression immediately changed to worry. "Horo…are you okay?" I nodded, and tried to sound like my cheery, idiot self.

"Fine, Ren. So, What's up?" I grinned, unsure of whether I was convincing or not. Apparently I wasn't.

"You can drop the act, Horo. I know you're upset, we all are, so you don't have to act tough." I dropped my happy guise, and welcomed him in with a simple gesture.

He sat on the end of my bed, and solemnly seated myself next to him. "What are we going to do, Ren? Lyserg's gone and every one's telling us Yoh's joined Hao and…"

"Damare…" I looked at him, shocked he could actually tell me that when I was being serious for once. "I know we're in quite a predicament here, that we're caught in the middle of some kind of shaman war, but we've to be strong Horo. Putting ourselves down and acting as if the whole world is against us isn't going to help us. We need to help ourselves, as few of us as there may be. Who knows, we may find others to help us along the way."

If only Ren had known how true his words were then. I never knew Ren could be such an inspirational character. It's kind of funny when you think about the way he acts normally.

Then everything slowed down. It was like an eternity to me as Ren wrapped his arms around and pressed his lips to mine. I felt my face heat up but made no attempt to stop him. Why would I?

He broke the kiss and I stared at him, my voice quavering. "R…Ren…I didn't know you…felt that way…I…" He pressed his fingers to my lips, hushing me.

"I want to know the real you, HoroHoro. I want to know like nobody else does, like no one else ever will. I want to know before something bad happens and I lose the chance." I felt my heart stop as I realized what he was talking about. I smiled warmly.

"That's good, Ren, because I've always wanted to know you like that too." This time I kissed him, sucking his bottom lip and begging for entrance. He gave it to me as he wrapped his arms around my neck and pulled me on top of him.

Ren's taste was bliss to my mouth as I explored every crevice. Ren closed his eyes as he relaxed into the feeling. I broke it and heard him faintly groan with dissatisfaction. But it quickly abated when he saw me slip my shirt off and toss it onto the floor.

I went down to his neck and slowly began to kiss the sensitive area, earning a small moan from him. Without warning I bit him, and grinned inwardly when I heard him yelp. I sealed my lips over the wound, lapping the blood up, before moving back to ravage his mouth another time.

I started undoing his shirt, before sliding seductively down his arms. I came down on him, attacking his chest. Suddenly, I latched my teeth over one of his nipples. He gasped, and somehow managed to slip my headband off, causing my hair billow over my shoulders, tickling his chest.

I moved to his other nipple and ran my hand down to his thighs, causing another moan to emit from his mouth. In one fluid movement I'd undone and tossed his pants and boxers in some random direction, before taking him in and beginning to suck.

"GOD HORO!" He began to moan feverishly. I hummed deeply which only caused him to increase his volume. He began to fiddle with my pants, trying his hardest to unbutton them, but in his pleasure, he just couldn't manage.

With my free hand I offered him aid, and soon the rest of my clothes were gone as well. I took my mouth from him to his great discomfort, but proceeded to turn him over. He stopped me. "Re….Ahhhhh!"

Somehow he stopped my actions and taken me into his mouth. My world faded into pleasure as he increased his rhythm. After what seemed like a blissful eternity, he let me go. I was already panting when I heard him whisper seductively in my ear. "Now you can go." I didn't turn down his offer.

In moments he was on his back. "Are you sure?" He nodded, clenching the sheets, knowing it was going to hurt. I thrust into him.

"AHHHHHHHH!" I stopped, not wanting to hurt him. "N…no, Horo…don't stop." I hesitantly complied. I began a slow rhythm of thrusting, increasing my pace every few seconds. He began to moan as the pain dissipated and pleasure overtook him.

I added in pumping his arousal in time with my thrusts, which increased his moaning to all time heights. I felt my release coming when he screamed my name, releasing into my hand. I came a few seconds later, deep inside of him.

I pulled out of him, knowing he'd be sore in the morning, and pulled the blankets over us. He snuggled close to me and I embraced him, still panting. I noticed he was too. "Ren… you okay?"

The small boy in my arms looked up me. "No, I much better than okay." I grinned sheepishly and went to speak, but he shushed me. "Horo…I love you too."

I pulled him close, never feeling that kind of warmth before, but hoping I would a lot more often.

Sorrowful Seraphim: YAY! The long chapter is over. And….now I have to write another long chapter….O.O….Horo and Ren are finally together….Hao had a breakdown 'cause he realized his could love, and Yoh is still confused!

The next chapter will be mostly action! A lot of stuff is going to happen! So be prepared for a lot of revelations! And a lot of discoveries!