Chapter Rating: PG-13

Chapter Warnings: load of fluff, Spin the Bottle, vaguely possible lime, lovers' quarrel(s)

Itzika: Ren and Horohoro, from Shaman King, can never seem to do anything but fight. Why is that? Is it because they really can't stand each other? Or are they in love? I felt like taking a look at the second possibility. (They'll kill me…)

Ren: For once, you're right.

Itzika: Aaaahh! Jun, Anna, help meeeeeeeee!

Horohoro: (reads story) Wait a minute… we kiss?

Itzika: (runs away)

AMK: Itzika doesn't own Shaman King, but she does own 365 Days… so no using without permission! You don't sue us, we don't sue you. Got it?

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It went something like this every night:

Horohoro: SHUT UP, REN!

Ren: Make me.

Horohoro: FINE! LET'S FIGHT!

Ren: I'm eating.

Horohoro: I DON'T GIVE A DAMN! LET'S FIGHT! YOU AND ME, HERE AND NOW, COME ON!

Anna: You do realize what a come-on is, don't you?

Horohoro: (pauses as he translates and runs through various slang references until he finds the one he's looking for) EWW, GROSS! YOU'RE DISGUSTING!

Anna: (looks up from her magazine just long enough to give Horohoro a death glare)

Horohoro: (runs to Yoh and starts complaining about Ren and Anna)

Et cetera, et cetera.

Manta always watched from a safe distance. Once or twice, it had escalated to a fight, one that Yoh or Anna had always stopped almost immediately. Yoh didn't much care for his friends' antics, but he always took it in stride. Manta hadn't even known he disliked it until Anna told him.

But whatever the cause, whatever the events that led up to it, Horohoro and Ren would fight, every night, without fail. Every time, even when they fought physically, they used their fists. No ghosts. No help.

Things changed on Anna's birthday. She wanted to make the boys regret throwing her a surprise party. So of course, what better way to do that than by playing spin the bottle?

Except, of course, rigging it by having Ponchi and Conchi stop the bottle from below the table.

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"All right, boys and girls—" Piruka, Jun and Tamao were there too "—it's my birthday, and we're playing what I want to play." As always, Anna's expression made it clear that anyone who objected would suffer dire consequences. No one was that stupid.

"And what I want to play," and Anna pulled out a wine bottle that they had just emptied at dinner, "is Spin the Bottle."

Ren, Horohoro, and Yoh all choked on whatever was in their mouths. "S-s-seriously?" Yoh stammered. Somehow he was managing to hope that Anna ditched him for a better kisser and dread just such an event at the same time.

"Seriously," Anna declared. She set the bottle down and said, "I'll go first, since it's my birthday." She gave the bottle a quick spin. Unsurprisingly, since it was rigged, it landed on Yoh.

"What're the odds…?" Horohoro muttered. Anna didn't doubt that he'd guessed her trick, and probably Ren too. Oh, well. If they knew what was good for them, they wouldn't say anything.

Anna walked over and knelt down by Yoh. She looped her thin arms around his neck and pulled him close. Smiling, she told her fiancé, "Come on."

Yoh looked around pleadingly. No one would meet his eyes; Horohoro was too busy laughing, Ren was looking anywhere but at the love scene unfolding in front of him; the girls were giggling behind their hands, and Ryu had disappeared.

With no other option, Yoh leaned forward until his lips touched Anna's, then pulled away as quickly as he could.

Anna smiled slightly. "That's okay for now," she said softly. "Yoh's up next."

When Yoh spun the bottle, Ponchi and Conchi were directed to stop it at Tamao. At this point the shy girl ran from the room, blushing a color that made her hair look pale in comparison.

Next, Anna chose at "random" and selected Horohoro to spin next. The blue-haired shaman took one look at Yoh and raised a hand. "Uh… could I just… I don't know… kiss my sister or something?"

"NO," Anna answered calmly. "That would be incestuous. The point of Spin the Bottle is a free make-out session."

Horohoro grumbled something unintelligible and spun the bottle.

Three spins… four… nearing five, and still going. The writing was blurred together, the wax seal looked perfectly round… and then the bottle stopped. No skidding, no slowing, just… stopped. Pointed at Ren.

Horohoro and Ren looked at each other, then back at the bottle, then back at each other. As one the two shouted "NO WAY!" Horohoro dove backwards and slid behind a chair; Ren backed against the wall with a look of horror on his face.

Anna shot them both a death glare.

Yoh decided to join the game and grabbed each friend by the collar. "Oh, come on, guys, it's just a game!" He made sure Anna couldn't hear and added, "Besides, she'll kill us if we don't."

Horohoro looked at Ren. Ren met his eyes. They both leaned in until they were only inches apart, then jerked back.

Jun had by this time decided that it would be fun to watch Ren kiss another boy, and had joined the campaign to get them together. She was gripping Ren's shoulders tightly, forcing him towards Horohoro, while Piruka did the same with her brother. Both sisters were grinning wickedly.

Ren and Horohoro struggled wildly, but in the end they were brought together and their lips were made to touch. Jun and Piruka held them there, as Ren and Horohoro's faces grew red. Finally, the girls released their brothers.

Anna was silent for a long moment. Then, as though solely to add insult to injury, she announced, "I could swear I saw tongue."

Ren and Horohoro turned, if possible, even redder. Completely unified in their train of thought, both yelled, "NOT ME!"

Anna looked over at them, hard. Both, for once, met her gaze without looking away. Anna raised an eyebrow and turned back to the wine bottle. "Well, one of you is lying," she said with a shrug.

Jun was giggling behind her hand. Controlling herself for a moment, she blurted out, "Actually… I think… they both are!" She and Piruka dissolved into laughter.

Ren was by now a shade of red that would have shamed a tomato, and Horohoro had long since disappeared under the table in the next room. He looked out only once during the remainder of the game, and looked at only one person.

Ren looked at him many more times than once.

"You know…" Horohoro said to no one in particular as the others were going to bed, "that kiss was… kind of… nice." In truth, he'd actually enjoyed it. But he'd never admit that out loud.

That night, Ren was seated on the balcony outside his room, staring up at the stars, when he heard a sound from the balcony a floor down. Looking over, he saw Horohoro leaning over the balcony looking up at him. Horohoro grinned up when he met Ren's eyes. Ren looked away in clear dismissal.

Horohoro's face fell; it seemed Ren's reaction to the kiss had been genuine, whereas his had been instinct. He drew away from the railing and turned to go inside.

Ren was in his way.

Horohoro faltered, startled. When had Ren—But it didn't matter. Ren didn't feel anything. Horohoro started to push past Ren when he felt the other boy grab his arm. Startled, the blue-haired shaman looked down a scant few inches into Ren's eyes. Ren met his eyes and almost defiantly pulled Horohoro down and kissed him.

Startled, Horohoro's lips opened just enough for Ren's tongue to slide inside. At that point he gave up all pretense of hating the other boy and picked him up, setting him down on the bed inside so that they were at eye level. The smaller gripped his shoulders, forcing him to come back into the kiss.

Ren had liked playing Spin the Bottle, too.

---

Itzika: Well, I'm ending it there since—as anyone who's read Day One knows—if I try to do a lime, one of the partners ends up a total hentai, and I prefer commitment to fax anyway. It means something.

Horohoro: We're still gonna kill you.

Itzika: Damn it Jim. (Inside joke…)

Ren: Do you want to take the first strike, or should I?

Itzika: (smiles wickedly) How nice, stepping aside for your lover.

Ren and Horohoro: (both charge Itzika)

Itzika: And you even think alike! (starts running) Next up, I get revenge for Darien always making Serena sad in the SuperS series by pairing him with Andrew!

AMK: Review, or suffer the agony of… NOT SEEING YOUR FAVORITE PAIRINGS! And Ren and Horohoro, stay the heck away from my sister! Or else…

Itzika: Or else she'll do a 365 Days too. (runs away again, this time with AMK following)