"Na, Ren… I know we haven't really been the greatest of friends and that this plan has sprung us into something we both really didn't want, but I think that we should hang out more after school. Partly because it'd look more realistic to Yoh, and partly so that we won't feel awkward while we're acting… So, what do you think?" Horo grinned, turning to face Kiyay, who was curled up at the foot of Horo's bed. Kiyay blinked and yawned, showing off her set of baby-teeth before curling tighter and falling asleep.

"Nice to know I have your support." Horo commented dryly.

Horo sighed and faced his mirror again.

Seeing his only other option, Horo took a steadying breath and called Ren.

"Moshi moshi."

Horo froze slightly, before taking another breath and speaking in what he hoped was his normal voice.

"Hey, Ren. I was thinking, for this thing at Yoh's that is… that we should like… dress similar… Just to add to the… impression… You know…"

Ren was silent for a few moments.

"Okay. Pick a colour."

Horo grinned.

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Ren grimaced at his reflection.

"This is moronic…" he muttered, before speaking in a louder voice, "Bason, I need your opinion."

"Bocchama?" Bason appeared out of thin air in his flame ball mode.

Ren gestured to his own reflection.

"Bocchama looks different, but not too different to be uncanny." Bason replied and Ren scowled.

"I look ridiculous."

"Nonsense. You look excellent, as usual." Bason argued.

"I look like a clown."

"…"

Ren glared at his ghost, who yelped and retreated into nothingness.

Ren 'tsk'ed and glared at his reflection one last time before leaving his room.

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"How about this one?" Horo asked, holding up a pair of jeans.

Kiyay blinked, which Horo had taken to be her way of shrugging, seeing as cats usually didn't need to blink much.

"Not very decisive, are we?" Horo teased and Kiyay glared at him.

Horo jumped out of his skin at the sound of his doorbell and glanced at his wall clock.

"Kuso!" Horo hissed, "Be right there!" he yelled, running into the hall.

When the door opened, Ren raised an eyebrow at Horo, who was wearing tatty grey trousers and no shirt.

"I know," Horo groaned, "But I don't have anything red other than a really old pair of boxers!"

Ren rolled his eyes and held up a carrier bag that he'd brought with him.

"Horokeu, I think I know you too well."

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"How about this?" Horo turned around, holding a small leather shirt.

"Too tight to look normal on you." Ren commented from the foot of the bed, absently stroking Kiyay, who had crawled into his lap as soon as he sat himself down.

"Kiyay?" Horo asked, demanding a second opinion.

The hybrid merely mewed at him and continued purring, her yellow eyes closed in contentment.

Ren smirked at Horo, who had turned back to his wardrobe and was muttering things about conspiracies and how he should have named her Merumo after all.

The phone rang, and Horo answered.

"Hey, Yoh. Yeah, spanner in the works over here. Erm…" Horo covered the receiver with his hand and spoke to Ren, who was now at his wardrobe searching through it. "How long should we be?"

"We're getting the next train." Ren replied without even turning around.

Horo relayed this to Yoh, who asked them to not be any later.

Horo hung up and stared at Ren, who had handed him a plain black shirt.

"Bleh! Ren, this was my training shirt!" Horo whined.

"You can barely recognise it," Ren shrugged and turned to Bason, who was being swiped at by Kiyay. "Bason?"

"Bocchama Horokeu would look very himself." Bason agreed, and dodged another swipe.

"Then it's settled." Ren smirked.

"You don't exactly look normal, Ren. Since when were you into tight black trousers and not those poofy ones of yours?"

Ren didn't answer, but instead told Horo to hurry up and that he'd feed Kiyay for him.

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Horo stepped out of his bedroom and Ren looked up from the couch, where he was lounging with a full and sleepy Kiyay.

"See? I was right." Ren leered, "I knew you'd fit those baggy jeans of mine. Good thing they're red, too."

Horo nodded, still a bit wary of being near Ren.

'But,' Horo reasoned, 'he's acting normal, so maybe he wasn't totally himself earlier… yeah, that's it!'

Ren smiled and linked his arm with Horo's, who flinched slightly.

"Ready to go, ai?" Ren asked, putting hard emphasis on the last word.

"I sure would, koi." Horo replied, gritting his teeth.

They walked to the train station in silence, though tension was thick in the air.

Ren's golden eyes scanned the timetable which was posted to the wall, looking for the time of the last train and calculating when he'd have to leave the Asakura house.

"Erm… Ren…"

Ren 'hmm?'ed and his eyes flicked over to Horo, who was rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

"Well… you know what happened at school today? … That was just for appearances, right?"

-+flashback+-

Ren pushed Horo against the desk and stood as close to him as possible without his upper body actually touching him, their faces mere centimetres apart.

Ren smirked seductively at Horo, who was too rattled to move or react.

"Let's make this more obvious… shall we?" Ren murmured before pressing his lips against Horo's…

-+end flashback+-

Ren blinked, trying hard to keep his poker face. He lowered his head slightly, just enough so that his bangs would cover his eyes and took a few steps toward Horo, who flinched but didn't retreat.

Ren pushed him against a pole, much in a similar fashion as that afternoon, and raised his head to look right into the terrified Ainu's eyes.

Ren broke eye contact to look at the zip of Horo's coat. He smirked slightly and pulled the zip down, showing off a bit of Horo's collarbone. Ren brushed his cold nose against Horo's neck and quietly told him "Maybe it was… maybe it wasn't…" before gently touching his lips to Horo's skin.

Horo shivered.

"Hey! There's the train!"

Ren moved away, his poker face back in play, and turned around before grimacing and rubbing his mouth with a tissue.

The rest of the trip was silent, both of them staring out of the window at the passing streets of Funbari.

"Still not got any lenses, Ren?"

Ren blinked and suddenly hit his head against his hand.

Horo sweatdropped, "Something I said?"

"I forgot to order the new lenses." Ren muttered, "And I left my phone at home."

"Just order them tomorrow or something." Horo suggested, trying to stop Ren from hitting his head on nearby objects, "Anyway, I think the glasses make you look h -- er… cool." Horo finished lamely.

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When they were just in front of the En Inn, Ren stuck his arm out in front of Horo to stop him from walking further.

"We can't just walk in. It doesn't make us look together." Ren said when Horo gave him a questioning look.

Horo nodded and was about to hold Ren's hand when he felt something move in his pocket.

"Ren…"

"What now?"

Horo gulped. "There's something in my pocket."

Ren blinked a few times.

"Something alive." Horo added, his voice shaking.

Ren reached into Horo's pocket and rolled his eyes, taking out a very ruffled Kiyay.

"What the?! Cheeky thing must've jumped into my pocket before we left!"

"No, really?" Ren muttered sarcastically, smoothing out the kitten's white and red fur. "Not much we can do about it now, you'll just have to make sure you don't forget her."

"Yeah… Anyway. I'll hold miss Great Escape and you can… holdmyarmorsomething."

"What?"

"You know what I said!" Horo snapped, taking Kiyay from Ren.

Ren smirked and put his arm through Horo's, and they continued into the Funbari Onsen.

"Hey, glad you made it in the end" Yoh grinned, letting Horo and Ren in.

"Yeah, sorry, but there's an extra mouth to feed." Horo indicated Kiyay, "The little rascal stowed away in my pocket."

After removing his boots, Ren took Kiyay from Horo so that the ice shaman could remove his own footwear and went into the living room.

As soon as she was put down, the curious kitten started scampering around and sniffing the air, sometimes tripping over her own paws.

"That thing better not leave messes on my tatami, or we all know who will be cleaning it up." Anna warned Horo, who had finally struggled out of his vans.

"Nah, she's housetrained. If she starts mewing at you, that's when we need to worry!" Horo laughed, sitting next to Ren, who tried not to twitch in annoyance.

"So… Is it true or was Hao pulling our legs?" Manta started, smiling at Horo and Ren in a way that said 'Go along with it or I won't be afraid to borrow Mosuke's hammer!'

Ren nodded and continued sipping his milk, whereas Horo grinned sheepishly and rubbed behind his head.

"…Well, enough of awkward silences!" Ryu chuckled, "We have dinner to eat!"

The rest of the evening passed quite quickly, and everyone thought that Horo and Ren had been able to convince Yoh that they were really dating.

Ren managed not to murder anything, even when he had to do everything with Horo, including sleep next to.

Annoyances aside, the purple headed boy soon fell asleep with everybody else.

Everybody else, that is, minus Horo, who's mind was still swimming with thoughts about how strange Ren was acting, and even worse, how he himself was reacting.

He was just plain shocked when Ren had kissed him at school. He was nervous when Ren kissed him again at the train station. But, he was totally unprepared for the strange flutter in the pit of his stomach that occurred when Ren had linked their arms… it was almost as if he… liked it!

Horo shook his head. He was just tired, that's all. The flutter was just nerves about whether Yoh would buy into the act. Yeah, that's it. It was just nerves.

The last thing Horo thought before falling asleep that night wasn't too reassuring. He kept repeating to himself that it was just nerves, but in the back of his mind, one phrase was always there to reply.

'I hope so.'

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Ren shivered and drew his coat closer around himself, trying desperately to just ignore the heavy rain still splashing against him.

He had become so numb from the cold that he couldn't even sense Bason anymore. Everything had blurred together. He couldn't hear the roar of the lorries and cars on the roads against the deafening rain. The bright lights of Tokyo were all mixed together in the kaleidoscope his glasses had become.

-flashback-

"It's still raining?"

After spending about 12 hours more than they had intended to at En Inn because of torrential rain, Horo, Manta and Ren had decided to get the last train while they were in the eye of the storm.

Kiyay safely tucked in Horo's warm pocket, he ducked his head and pulled his hood tighter before setting off at a jog towards his apartment, Manta at his side.

Ren watched them leave before setting off in the opposite direction, Bason following him in the straightest line he could muster in his drunken state.

Even though he could not feel the rain hitting his face, Bason quickly sobered up and caught up to his master and started babbling about why they should do that again and what gossip was circling the graveyards and which mortal was the most fun to haunt.

Ren smirked, only half listening, while the cogs in his brain worked away, devising the next stage of his plan.

"Chikusho!" Ren hissed, searching his pockets frantically. He groaned and hit his head against the door.

"Bocchama?"

"I think I left my keys at Yoh's… Kuso!" Ren swore, sitting with his back against the wall.

"Should I go and get Master Horokeu?" Bason questioned, floating at Ren's eye level.

Ren shook his head, bowing it to stop the rain from irritating him too much. "The storm will be over soon, and it's not like I've never slept outside."

"Bocchama…" Bason trailed off.

-end flashback-

Ren looked around himself dazedly. Bason must have gone off, despite Ren's objections.

Oh well. He didn't have the energy to feel angry. He felt his consciousness slipping away from him, but he didn't resist, gladly falling asleep.

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Horo found Ren exactly where Bason said he was.

The ice shaman got them both back to his apartment in less than three minutes before quickly and unashamedly stripping Ren from his sopping wet clothes, drying him off and putting him into a spare yukata.

Horo put Ren on the couch and covered him in warm, fuzzy blankets before putting the wet clothes into the washer-dryer and boiling the kettle for a cup of hot chocolate.

Horo let out a long breath and plopped into his armchair, instantly falling to sleep, the kettle long forgotten.

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Whooo! Chap 5 over:D It was a bit longer than the other chaps, which I'm happy about I'll be making the chapters progressively longer, so chap 6 will be around 3,000 without the A/N

Japanese – English

Bocchama – what Bason calls Ren, it translates to 'young master'

Kuso – pronounced "kso". Is the Japanese version of 'shit' or 'damn it'

Ai – Love. (I meant it in the Mandarin term, because Ren is Chinese, but it means the same thing in Japanese anyway.)

Koi – see ai (isn't Chinese, and don't confuse with koi as in koi carp!)

En Inn / Funbari Onsen – if you don't know these, then I worry for you. Both are names for where the Asakuras live. En Inn was what the house was called when it was an inn for travellers and Funbari Onsen is what Anna has called it.

Tatami – mats that are in traditional Japanese houses. You can guess what they are if you have watched the anime or read the manga (or both), but if you still don't know, then type it into google images or something.

Chikusho – like kuso, but stronger (but literally means beast)

Just to finish off, can we have a few more people reviewing please? Even if it's just to say 'cool fic' or something like that, and a (constructive) flame is appreciated too