Mankinfan: I think you're right. :P But you know how Yoh and Co. met Hao when they were about to leave for the second round? I'll be writing a sequel to this story soon to continue on with the second round. I'll put in Hao at the very beginning. Is that okay? And I'll try to make it less AU in that one.

Ren's mind was completely blank, nothing was going on in there and nothing was being perceived. He didn't even breath. Horohoro was shocked as well, but only shocked. His mind took advantage of his body and in unconsciously kissed the younger shaman.

"Cut!" Dr. Thespian yelled. "That's good. Too good, but good."

As the tape snapped, Ren's mind came back from vacation. He used his hands to push Horohoro away and slapped him before tossing off the costume and leaving with his things. The Ainu's thoughts had just flew back to his head when he felt the overwhelming sting and he remembered what had just happened as a blush rose to his lips.

"I'll see you on Monday, Dr. Thespian." he said.

He too, tossed off his costume and donned his shirt, taking up his belongings to run after Ren. He dashed about the crowded streets, searching for any signs of the Chinese shaman. After a long while of running and calling his name, he gave up and decided to go to the graveyard to think. Horohoro sighed, looking up at the light blue fall sky. The ice shaman nearly jumped when a ringing sounded behind a nearby gravestone.

"Damn." he heard the Chinese shaman swear.

It was then the oblivious snowboarder saw Ren checking his oracle bell.

"Ren?"

The violet haired teen sighed, turning away from the elder while reading the message he was sent.

"Leave me alone." he said.

"Ren! Wait!" Horohoro said, grabbing his wrist.

It was retched out of his grip as Ren tore himself from the restraint, but the Ainu wasn't going to give up. He walked alongside Ren in a quick pace.

"Ren, please. Just talk to me." he pleaded.

The Tao stopped so suddenly, Horohoro nearly collided with the younger.

"Talk about what?" he demanded.

"You know exactly what I want to talk about."

The Chinese shaman turned away as a blush graced his cheeks.

"What about it?"

Taking in a deep breath, the blue hair teen said, "I wanted to say that I-"

"Heey!" Yoh called. "There you are. I got a match later on this week. You guys wanna train with me?"

"Umm.." Horohoro said, his confession forgotten in Yoh's presence. "I'll see you back at your house. An hour sound good?"

"Alright. I just came over in the middle of my exercise to see you. I'd better get going before Anna kills me." the brunette said. "Bye!"

They both watched his retreating back as he jogged away. When he had disappeared from their sight, Ren turned back to Horohoro.

"Continue, Ainu-baka." he said. "I'm waiting for you to recover from Yoh's random appearance."

The ice shaman snapped back to the younger male, not at a loss for words as the moment had passed, so he gave Ren one of his grins.

"Will you forgive me?" he asked.

Ren stared at him with his intense golden eyes before turning away with them closed and his arms crossed.

"I hope an idiot like you knows what it's like to be forgiven." he said.

The smile on his friend's face grew and he started to laugh. A -now more common- blush tinted the violet haired Chinese's face.

"What's so funny?" he asked, starting to walk.

"It's nothing." Horohoro said. "Nothing at all."

"If you're laughing at nothing, it clearly states you are not only idiotic, but also insane." Ren said. "You're laughing at nothing."

"What? I am not insane." the elder retorted. "I don't need a straight jacket to keep myself tied down."

All I need is you.

"I suppose that you don't need meds to keep you calm either?" Ren asked.

"Your the one that needs happy meds."

"I take mine daily with a glass of milk." the younger said sarcastically.

"What?" Horohoro asked. "You're kidding!"

"Yes, I am."

"Whoa. The world's ending." the Usui said. "Ren's joking."

Ren's closed eye twitched slightly.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" he asked.

They began their usual bickering, despite what had happened, actually, like it never happened. When they arrived at Yoh's house, he opened the door to find them still arguing and he sighed shaking his head side to side.

"Guys. GUYS." he said.

The turned their attention to him, Horohoro wondering how he got there.

"Get your weapons so we can go in the backyard and train." Yoh said, smiling.

"Alright!" Horohoro cheered. "Let's go."

Yoh laughed and guestured for them to follow. The way he walked make him a snake, if the same were said for Horohoro, it would be a dazed bird. His mind was wandering somewhere else, back to the play, back to the incident... the sun was warm, so nobody noticed the blush he had on his cheeks as he took out his snowboard. Ren stared at him as they readied themselves for a spar.

"Who wants to be on their own team first?" Yoh asked.

"I'll do it." Ren said. "Just get Ainu-baka to start paying attention."

"Oh, shut up. I'm paying attention." Horohoro said. "Ready to get your ego beat Ren?"

The violet haired teen sighed and readied his defensive position, Bason was in his Kwan dao already and he was set to battle.

"Hurry up." he said.

Yoh grinned, placing Amidamaru into Harusame.

"Let's go!" he said, launching himself at Ren. "Here I come! Shinku Buttagiri!"

Ren spun the Kwan dao in his hands and deflected Yoh's attack while retaliating.

"Golden Chuuka Zanmai!"

"Ah! Yoh!" a voice called. "What are you doing?"

A green haired person came running to Yoh, who fell on his feet with a small scratch on his face.

"Hey Lyserg. You came a little late." the Asakura said.

"Ah," Lyserg said. "I had to help put away the camera equipment. But you shouldn't damage yourself in the situation of Hao coming at the time of your weakness."

Yoh smiled lazily as he saw Chocolove had come along also.

"Hey, I hope you don't mind if I invited these two to train with us. They're in with the play." he said. "And they're in the Shaman fight."

Ren glared at them while raising his spear, as if to intimidate them. It worked. Instead, he swung it over his shoulder and parried Horohoro's snowboard.

"How's it going?" the snowboarder asked.

"Hello..." the Chinese shaman greeted.

"You wanna spar with us?" Yoh asked. "We only just began."

They shrugged sheepishly.

"Could you go easy?" Lyserg asked, looking at Horohoro's face. "I know how powerful you can be."

The Ainu, who had forgotten just recently, blushed, rubbing the sore spot on his cheek.

"Easy peasy!" Chocolove yelled.

"You fool around to much." Ren said. "I douby that your Oversoul is even sufficient to pass the first round."

The African American's jaw dropped in disbelief.

"It so can!" he said. "Just watch! Mic!"

A large jaguar growled and appeared behind him at being called.

"I forgot to introduce you to Morphine." Lyserg added.

A small pink fairy waved from his shoulder. Horohoro was about drooling over the spirit and was going to introduce his own spirit.

"I know all about you guys." Chocolove said, pointing at the snowboarder. "You, in the blue hair. You're Usui Horohoro, an Ainu, and your spirit is Kororo, a koropokkur that you oversoul into your snowboard." He turned his finger to Ren. "You're Tao Ren, a Chinese shaman, with a Chinese warlord named Bason that you oversoul into your spear thingy."

"All this information and you cannot figure out the name of my weapon?" Ren asked, swinging the kwan dao at him. "You're a joke."

"That's right!" said the other. "I will blow evil away with the wind of laughter!"

"And I plan to destroy all evil that is Hao." Lyserg said. "We all have our reasons for joining the tournament."

"Intros later, let's train!" Horohoro said impatiently. "If you're not going to oversoul then move please."

"Please go easy." Lyserg said again.

"Hao-sama. Boy who looks like Hao-sama look strong."

"Yes. But not strong enough..."

Since this is in english, Chocolove isn't as funny. -tears- I loved his jokes in the Japanese version. I bet I totally massacured him. Did I spell Kororo's species right? At least two reviews please! I only got one for the last one. I'm so sad...