For those who didn't understand my shitty time setting idea, this is two years after the beginning of the manga, so Ren is 15 and most of the others are 16. I only have up to volume 7, so most other references are either from the dubbed or the subbed version of the anime, cos I'm cool like that xP
Also, in chapter six I had the line "Realising that if it carried on, he would miss school on Monday," when I had also said that Horo had forced Ren to stay home from school in that same chapter. Solution: Ren was kept home on the Friday, dumbshits! xD only kidding. But, that was what I had intended, and I'm pretty sure that most of you got it. If I had to guess, I'd say that the boyfriends thing was arranged on the Wednesday or the Thursday, but I'm not 100 percent sure, so yeah. I counted four days between my last chap and when Horo and Ren started 'dating', which means it was about three days between now and when Ren got sick, so Thursday is about right.
x - - - x
Ren stepped into his apartment for the first time in days. It was now Sunday, and Horo had kindly taken Ren off of house arrest, seeing as Ren's cold was now only a sneeze every now and then.
Ren breathed in and coughed.
'Jesus,' he thought, 'The air is dusty!'
After opening a few windows and letting the harsh winters breeze into his home, Ren set about cleaning the dust off of whatever it had collected upon, and getting ready for school the next day.
"Nine more days…" Ren murmured to himself. Nine more days and he wouldn't have to keep up this stupid plan. This game. Nine more days and he could go back to openly hating Horo, and sneering at the bluenette's every mistake.
He took extra care in packing his money and Rail Card. He'd be damned if he rode to school on Horo's snowboard again.
Ren looked around for Bason, but soon remembered that the Warlord had gone over to Monument Hill for some sort of spirit festival.
Now, with all of the dishes washed and dried and every surface cleaned three times over, Ren sat, alone, on his couch.
He wouldn't admit it… but his apartment seemed sort of… empty. Lonely, even. Which was odd, seeing as Ren was raised in solitude. It would have been funny if it didn't confuse him so much.
Maybe… he had gotten used to having someone around? Maybe, god forbid, he was craving human interaction?
Ren scowled and went off to train. What nonsense.
x - - - x
It was now the next day, a Monday, and Ren swayed on the spot stifling a yawn. He didn't know what time he had gotten to bed the night before, but he knew that Bason had been back long before whatever time he retired. His muscles ached, having never had four consecutive days off before being taken up a notch.
Even though the shaman tournament showed no signs of being continued, Ren still trained obsessively. He was like an anorexic, or a bulimic, except his obsession didn't involve food in any way.
He had to train.
If he didn't for a few days, he'd make it up. The only way to make it up and get the day's training on top of that was to work double time. So that was what he did.
The pain and occasional muscle twitches were simply punishment for being lazy.
Out of everything he could remember, training was the only thing that had ever remained constant. It was like a routine, if he didn't follow it to the letter then he'd fall into an unorganized chaos of a life.
A loud rattling shriek of worn breaks saved Ren from himself, causing him to blink in surprise, sigh and board the train.
'Just in time, too.' he thought. 'It's beginning to rain again…'
"Right, I have an idea." Horo announced, sliding into the seat next to Ren.
Ren rolled his eyes. Horo had started getting Ren's train (but from a different stop) so that they could arrive to school together, making it seem as though they were together all night.
"Enlighten me, o Great One." he replied sarcastically, not taking his gaze from the rain-streaked landscape which was zooming past.
Horo ignored Ren's comment, but complied.
"I was thinking last night-" Ren had to bite back the urge to quip at this, "- And I realised that, yeah, we may have to act like boyfriends, but if we think we're boyfriends then we'd just end up acting all nervous and awkward."
…
"Your solution being?" Ren asked when it seemed Horo wasn't going to tell him.
"I didn't get that far."
Ren hit his head on the window.
Horo stood, their train coming to their stop.
"But, I guess we could just be… friends with extras." He held out his hand.
Ren looked at it for a few seconds before standing and taking the hand in his, intertwining their fingers.
"Friends," he confirmed, "Plus."
They smiled at each other and left the train, only to be confronted with what only can be described as chaos.
- - - +
"Okay," Horo panted, "What was that?!"
Ren wiped his mouth on his sleeve.
"That, Usui, is what is known as evasive action."
"Yeah but, you kissed me!"
"It distracted them!" Ren insisted.
"They still looked pretty intent on us, I'd say!" Horo snapped.
"Yes, but they were intent on us, not killing us. Or, to be more specific, you."
"Bastard." Horo mumbled, getting a slap on the cheek for his trouble.
"Are they gone yet?" Ren asked Bason, ignoring his 'boyfriend's whining.
The Warlord nodded. Well, he nodded as best he could considering that he was just a floating head.
Ren removed himself from their hiding place, the thoroughly thought out location of the Maths store cupboard, and dusted himself off. Horo followed Ren out and shut the door firmly behind him.
"Who would'a known that fangirls were that… Rabid…" he commented, stretching.
"You wait. There's probably already a Fan Base supporting our 'Forbidden Love' as they put it."
"Huh? 'As they put it'? All I heard was mass screamings of 'moe!!!' " Horo chuckled.
Overhead, the bell went, signalling the start of lessons that day.
Ren turned to Horo and smirked.
"Have fun in Food Tech, with all of my- I mean our - fangirls, Horo."
Horo groaned. He knew he should have picked English at the start of the year. There were no girls in that class. Well, no gossiping girls anyway.
Then he realised that that was the whole reason he didn't pick English and shrugged it off.
X - - - x
The day zoomed by, Horo and Ren continuously having to hide from the Ren-turned-Hororen fangirls and cursing the Asakuras in every way possible. Seriously. Ren was even caught ordering plagues of locusts to attack En Inn.
Horo breathed a sigh of relief after he entered the photography room. Wait, let me rephrase that. When he dived into the photography room, rolled under a desk and stayed there, unmoving, for close to five minutes.
Panic over, he bounded over to Ren and stole his camera, chirping that he'd take a picture and download it onto his USB in 3 minutes tops.
Quickly throwing together an impromptu composition of his matanpushi, ikupasui, snowboard and oracle pager, Horo snapped 5 pictures and quickly logged onto the nearest computer, speeding up considerably when he saw Ren staring at his watch, obviously counting 3 minutes to the millisecond.
He swiftly selected the pictures he took when one of Ren's old ones caught his eye.
Seeing his Chinese friend approaching, Horo just copied the entire folder and closed the window. Just in time too, as Ren wasted no time in ripping his memory card from the computer.
"Next time, bring your own freaking camera, Ai." he snapped, adding the last part when he saw Yoh watching the interaction intently.
Horo smiled and stood, leaning in to 'whisper in Ren's ear'.
"Boys!" their teacher clapped from across the room, "You know the rules! No drinking, eating or petting in the photography room!"
"How about groping?" Horo replied cheekily, slapping Ren's ass.
Ren, in return, squeaked (very macho) and hit Horo's arm (wow, even more macho!)
"Groping goes under petting, moron!" Ren snapped, flushing.
"And we all know who goes under Horo!" Someone piped in from the other side of the room, met with chuckles and Ren's blush deepening.
"I dunno, I'd do him." Someone else added, and Ren, having had enough, snatched his camera from Horo, his bag from his desk and whatever was left of his dignity and stormed out of the room.
X - - - x
Ren didn't return for the remainder of school, and after a bit of searching, the gang found him at the park, sat in a swing, infinite rain spilling onto his uncovered head.
They had all gathered around him, but none had been able to get him to speak. After a while, they all had one by one made their excuses and left, leaving just Horo as company. Horo knew that Ren wouldn't talk unless he wanted to, so he just picked up the thankfully waterproof camera, sat on the swing on Ren's right, and snapped away at the most random things.
"I thought I was over this…"
Horo looked over at Ren, lowering the camera from his dark eyes, waiting patiently for him to elaborate. And elaborate he did.
"I thought I was over… I… truly wanted to… kill them," he whispered, staring unblinkingly at the raindrops splashing in the puddles made by the uneven tarmac, "I wanted to torture each and every one of them until they screamed… until they begged for their lives… until they begged for their death…"
Horo's breath hitched. Ren hadn't ever spoken like this before, never this solemn. Never this bluntly honest. His shock went unnoticed as the Tao continued speaking,
"I… haven't wanted to kill in so, so long… Not since the tournament… not since my fight against Yoh… I'm… I'm scared Horo," Ren's knuckles turned white as his grip on the swing's chain increased and he bowed his head lower, Horo now unable to see Ren's horror-filled golden eyes, "I don't… ever want to kill again."
Horo reached over tentatively and placed a reassuring hand on his friend's shoulder.
Horo felt Ren's small shudders, and when Ren let out a tiny high pitched gasp, Horo knew that his usually headstrong, stubborn friend… was crying.
Not knowing how to comfort Ren, Horo sat still, his hand feeling every quake and sob.
Horo set the camera on the ground with his spare hand before grasping Ren's cold hand in his own and slowly pulling the youngest Tao into his lap.
Like a child, Ren clung shamelessly to Horo and cried silently into his shoulder, the confused Ainu stroking his purple hair soothingly.
Ren soon quietened down, quick enough for Horo to wonder if he had fallen asleep.
He checked, and Ren was not asleep, but was instead staring at what seemed to be the fabric of Horo's coat, his eyes cold and emotionless. If they weren't bloodshot, Horo would wonder if what had just occurred was real or just his imagination.
"You won't." Horo stated, feeling suddenly awkward, "You won't kill again."
"How do you know?" Ren murmured with what seemed to be an air of helplessness and inevitability.
"You've changed, Ren. It might not seem like it, but you really have." Horo smiled. "And the fact that you're worried about it supports that. You wouldn't care if you truly wanted to kill, you'd just do it and not bat an eyelash."
Ren nodded and moved himself out of Horo's lap. He picked his camera up and wiped the water from it before settling it back in its case, which he dropped into his bag.
Later, at the train station, Ren requested that Horo not tell anyone about what had happened. Horo grinned widely and reassured him that he wouldn't ever bring it up unless Ren did.
Ren nodded in thanks, and they both went their separate ways home.
X - - - x
Wows, I officially SUCK at updates XX;;;
Honto ni gomen nasai! DX I'd blame school, but half term started last Friday… -shifty eyes- so I'm gonna instead blame this on the evil that is also known as writer's block!!! I seriously only had about 500 words until tonight n.n;
I know I made Ren seem really weak and girly in this, but he's allowed to be –glare-
Moe – "mou-eh" you obviously haven't watched ouran koukou host club if you don't know what this one means. Basically, it means a nice feeling. Its like when you sit in a nice sofa and you sigh thinking 'holy crap, I'm stealing this sofa!'. In ouran, the crowd of girls screamed 'moe' when hikaru and kaoru gave displays of their forbidden brotherly love.
Matanpushi – ainu headband
Ikupasui – Ikupasi
Ultimatum time! If I don't get…. 8 reviews in a week, I'm switching back to my Naruto fic for a bit. 8 isnt even half of how many watchers there are, so if you want an update before September, review!