Going Home

"Hey, Yoh, you better be awake."

"I'm awake." Yoh assured him. "Is Horo?"

"Is it possible to sleep when it's this cold out?"

"Hmph. This coming from the proud Ainu of Hokkaido."

"Shut up, Ren!"

"Guys, shh! Do you want to get caught?"

Horo sighed and shifted again, clutching his rifle tightly to his chest. "Why are we the ones who have to do this?"

Ren rolled his eyes in annoyance. "It's our job, baka."

"I don't remember writing a resume," Horo grumbled, unhappily. "I don't remember asking for this job either."

Ren sighed and rolled over again, peeking over the small ledge that fenced the roof, seeing that the coast was still clear. "None of us want to be here, Horo." He hissed quietly.

"Then why are you here?" Horo answered quickly. "You're the only one who has a choice, go back to fucking China!"

Ren narrowed his eyes before settling back down in his former position, laying down on the roof top and holding his rifle up against his chest. "There's no point."

Horo was about to answer but Yoh stopped him, putting a hand against his chest and giving him that look that told him to keep quiet. "Look guys, the important thing is just to keep calm, do our job, and survive, okay?"

Horo sighed and lay down again. "Okay."

The silence was unbearable, all they could hear was each other's breathing and their own heartbeats. Every once in a while Ren checked the area again, reporting that he couldn't see anything. The slightest sound made their hearts leap into their throats and choked them, barely able to keep down a startled gurgle as their chests suddenly heaved with rapid breathing.

Ren slowly turned to peek over ledge of red bricks and down at the streets, he sighed in relief. "It's just a dog." He said with a nervous chuckle as he laid down again.

After calming down, Horo scoffed in annoyance. "War is the most racist thing ever! Seriously! Killing people just because they're Japanese."

"Don't you talk to me about racism," Ren growled. "I'm fighting for a country that isn't even mine, and those assholes back at the camps are always pushing me around and calling me a chink. I wouldn't mind killing a few of them off, but then they'd probably claim I was a spy and have me executed."

Yoh looked sadly at his friend. It was true that Ren had been very poorly treated by the other soldiers, maybe they were just angry that he had a choice to go home yet decided not to, while they would all do anything for that chance. Whatever the reasons, he'd been picked on since day one, he wanted to tough it out, but Horo and Yoh decided to go talk to the General about it.

He just shrugged it off and said: "Well, he is Chinese."

Yoh remembered seeing how red Horo's face had turned then, they were both absolutely enraged. Not only did the General not care that Ren was facing abuse, but he was going to try to justify it by pointing out that he was from a different country!

It seemed there was suspicions and rumours flying around that Ren was a spy for the Americans, which was why he was staying in Japan. It just didn't make sense to them why someone who was so important and wealthy, and the heir to an empire such as his family's, would choose to stay in a country at war and willingly fight.

He didn't outright accuse him, but he made it pretty clear that he believed that rumour, and had kept a very close eye on Ren ever since.

They had told Ren that they went to see the General about how he was being treated, Yoh wanted to keep the little part about him being a spy out, but Horo just blurted it out and had a good, fuming rant. Ren had only stared at them in shock for a minute before silently getting up and leaving the room, not so much as a word was heard from him until later that evening. By then he had raw, bloodied knuckles, and a brand new, humungous hole had formed in the wall next to his bunk.

"You think Chocolove's out there?" Horo asked quietly, shivering lightly from the cold. " . . . You think he's okay?"

"Don't worry, Horohoro," Yoh assured him, thinking of the friend they had left long ago in America. "Things will work out."

Ren scoffed. "Is that the only thing you know how to say?" He didn't wait for an answer, rolling over to scan the area again instead. "God, it's way too dark, I don't know how we're supposed to see anything at this time of night."

"What I wouldn't do to sleep in my own bed back at home," Horo groaned. "Wake up in the morning and watch Saturday morning cartoons with you, and then teaming up and attacking Ren with pillows, and hiding all his precious milk from him."

Yoh chuckled. "Yeah, I miss that . . . "

"Could you both just shut the fuck up?" Ren growled, shifting to get comfortable on the hard surface he was laying on.

Yoh sighed and turned toward Horo, about to crack a joke to cheer him up when he saw something that scared the hell out of him--a glowing red dot in the middle of his forehead.

"Horo, look out!" Yoh shouted, placing his hand against his friend's head and shoving it out of the way, letting out a painful cry when he felt a sudden sharp pain through his hand.

"Holy shit!" Horo screamed and instantly ducked away, staring in horror at the hole that had just been shot clean through Yoh's hand.

Ren, however, instantly reacted, positioning his rifle against his shoulder as he shouted at the other two to move to the opposite side of the roof, toward where the shot had come from, to hide behind the wall there. Horo swallowed hard and started moving, his eyes open and wide awake as he scurried across the roof, pulling Yoh behind him as Ren covered them.

He had the eyes of an eagle, and if their attacker dared to even peek from his hiding place, Ren would see him. Horo huddled up against the short wall, Yoh sitting right up next to him as they tried to stop his hand from bleeding. The youngest of the three stood his ground, finger waiting patiently on the trigger.

He'd already seen the bastard, he'd let his shoulder come into view through the window of the building he was hiding in. Needless to say that it was useless to shoot his shoulder, so he waited for a clear shot at something vital.

Horo pulled his knife from his pocket and cut away a bit of his jacket, using it to firmly wrap around Yoh's hand, who was still simply staring at it in shot. He saw Ren's shoulderblades suddenly jerk back from the corner of his eye as the gun went off, there was a pause for a few seconds, and then Ren let his gun down from his shoulder, casually stolling up beside his friends.

"Got him?" Horo asked, tying the cloth tightly.

Ren nodded. "Got him." He glared at the window where the sniper had been hiding. "Asshole."

Ren felt humiliated and embarrassed everytime another sniper got a shot at him. He was probably the best sharp shooter in their entire camp, Horo right up beside him in that position, and he took a lot of pride in it, he didn't like the idea of someone else being better.

He sat down on the other side of Yoh and looked at his wounded hand. "You okay?"

Yoh bit his lip and nodded a little, wincing as Horo squeezed his hand to help stop the bleeding. "That guy probably wasn't alone." He muttered.

Horo nodded. "He's right, if they send one, there's usually others. We should find somewhere better to hide."

Ren's eyes scanned the area around him, suddenly hoisting his rifle up to his shoulder and firing at the roof of another building. "Fuck," He grumbled. "Come on, let's go. We'll find somewhere else."

XxXxXxXxX

Horo shuddered from the cold, but didn't dare say anything, now was definately not the time. Ren had gotten all serious and grouchy since the roof, he hated being gunned by other snipers, and there were enemies in the territory now, he couldn't risk being heard.

He held his gun against his chest tightly, Yoh was doing the same, though he doubted he'd be able to shoot very well, considering what he'd done to his hand. Ren was half standing, half crouching, holding his gun tightly, absolutely prepared to shoot if so much as a butterfly fluttered in.

They were hiding in the shafts underneath the train tracks that went across the main street. The tracks provided a good shelter and made them nearly impossible to see unless they were being looked for in that specific location, but it also gave them a good view and shooting range of the area around them.

Horo's body froze up completely at the sound of rumbling in the distance. "Ren . . . is that-?"

"Shh!" Ren shushed him quickly, suddenly gripping his rifle even tighter.

That was enough of an answer. They weren't just talking snipers now, they were talking tanks, they were being invaded.

"What do we do?" Yoh asked quietly.

"I said, shh!"

"Sorry . . . "

"Shh!" Ren rolled his eyes in pure frustration, peeking through the gaps in the tracks and easily seeing the tanks approaching. He was trying to think of a way to destroy the tanks when he spotted a glowing red dot flick towards him. He ducked quickly, just before the shot went off, missing him narrowly.

"Shit!" He hissed, flailing his arm to signal for Yoh and Horo to start moving down the tunnels. He heard the sniper shouting at his comrades from his spot and lifted his rifle to get him, surprised when he fell over dead before he even pulled the trigger. He turned and glanced at Horo, who smirked proudly as he lowered his gun again.

"Come on, let's go!"

The three of them tore down the shafts, running like hell as the tanks neared and they could hear foot soldiers running up the street towards them. All three of them ducked their heads and swore profusely as shots started being fired at them, Yoh running fast in the lead, Horo behind him, and Ren hurrying along behind backwards with his rifle up and pointed, trying to get a shot at his attackers.

He let out a bit of a surprised yell when he ran into Horo, who had suddenly stopped. Before he had a chance to shout or question Yoh's voice shrieked: "Grenade!"

They turned and started running in the opposite direction, not fast enough as the grenade exploded, knocking Horo and Ren to the ground and sending Yoh flying.

"Yoh!" Horo quickly climbed to his feet and ran to his friend's side, pulling at his shoulders to make him sit up and shaking him a little. "Hey! Wake up!"

Ren rushed up behind him and stared at the limp body Horo was shaking, waiting for him to respond for a few minutes and then getting frustrated when they recieved none. "God damn it, Yoh!" He snarled angrily and turned to aim for any soldiers in sight.

Horo shook Yoh violently. "Come on! Don't do this to us, man!"

"Ho-or-ro, st-o-op shaki-ing me." Yoh's words were broken and sounded like he had the hiccups as he tried to talk against the strong shaking.

"You bastard!" Ren barked. "We thought you were dead! Next time answer the first fucking time!"

"Sorry." Yoh muttered, staggering to his feet and using Horo to lean against heavily.

"We're not out of here yet," Horo muttered. "They're gonna check if they got us any minute, let's just find another tunnel to go through."

"Yeah, you're r-" Ren's sentence was cut off by the crack of a gunshot.

Horo and Yoh stared in horror as he hit the ground. "Ren!"

Horo went to rush to his side and Yoh spotted the red dot again, it quickly giving away where the sniper was. He raised his own rifle and shot him down before he had a chance to fire again.

He looked over at Horo who was again trying to shake his friend awake, even though he knew it was useless. Ren had been shot right through the head, a bullet hole straight between the eyes, and no amount of shaking would wake him up.

"Horo, just stop it!" Yoh cried, grabbing Horo's arm and trying to pull him away. "He's gone, just leave him!"

"No!" Horo protested, struggling against Yoh's pull. "We can't leave him here, we can help him! Yoh, let me go! Stop!"

Yoh ignored his friend's shouts of protests, taking a second to pick up Ren's rifle and take the soldier's tag from around his neck, before dragging Horo away as fast as he could. He didn't like the idea of just leaving Ren's body there either, but they were surrounded by enemies, and they were both going to die as well if they didn't get to another tunnel.

He felt Horo's struggling start getting stronger instead of weakening like he had expected it to,

"We can't just leave him!" Horo screamed at the top of his lungs, reaching out for their fallen comrade. "REN!"

He gripped his arm tightly and flung him around, slamming his back against the side of the shaft. "Horo, he's dead! We can't save him, and if we don't go now, we're going to die too!"

"He's not dead!" Horo protested.

"Yes, he is! Look at him!" Yoh could feel his heart breaking as he grabbed Horo's chin and forced him to look back at Ren, lying on the ground totally limp and motionless. His eyes and mouth were open and blood poured from the new hole in his forehead, he made Horo look him in the eye again. "Do you see now?"

Horo swallowed hard, his eyes swollen with tears, and hesitantly nodded. He'd never been too good at accepting death, they'd had to pull this charade with him several times already.

"Alright, now let's go."

Horo nodded again and clutched his rifle tightly, fighting back tears. Now was not the time to get emotional, later when they were back at the camp and safe, then he could get upset and cry, but right now just wasn't the time. Yoh still held onto his arm tightly as they hurried down the tunnel, limping a little as he winced from the various burns he'd recieved from the grenade.

They finally found another tunnel, this one went underground and then resurfaced under the tracks on the outskirts of the town, near the camp. While they were inside they were perfectly safe, and if they made it to the camp, they would most likely be fine.

They ran through the whole thing, finally reaching the end of it and resurfacing a good twenty minutes later. Yoh glanced over the horizon and frowned at the sight of more tanks, they might not even make it to the camp.

He gripped Horo's arm tightly and ran even more, despite being in severe pain and the fact that his heart was pumping what felt like battery acid. Looking around, he realized there were foot soldiers too, and some of the enemy were so close that they would be attacked any second.

The camp was in sight, and they just needed a few more seconds to get to it. Of course, they wouldn't be allowed that.

The two watched a foot soldier's arm fling upward, then the tiny black dot of an object fly through the air towards them. They both started running as fast as humanly possible, wanting to be as far away as they could when the grenade landed. And unfortunately, it landed within ten feet of Horo, exploding and sending a powerful burst of flame outward.

Horo screamed and fell to the ground, Yoh turned to run back to him, his eyes wide with fear. He rushed back to his friend as Horo raised his rifle and shot down, first the guy who threw the grenade, and then any other foot soldiers that were close enough to throw another one. He tried to ignore the pain he was in when Yoh grabbed his arm, hooking it around his neck and helped him to pull himself to his feet.

He could feel the burns, in his abdomen, his stomach, his chest, he could taste the blood in his mouth as he moved at a fast-paced limp toward the camp, keeping an eye out for any other nearing soldiers.

Somehow they made it to the gates and the soldiers quickly opened them, allowing them in and shutting the gates again.

"I need some help over here!" Yoh called, panicking when he felt Horo's weight growing heavier at an alarming speed.

XxXxXxXxX

Yoh sighed heavily as Horo twiddled with the tag between his fingers, having a little coughing fit every once in a while to hack up his own blood. He'd just finished having his meltdown about Ren, they got angry together, and then they cried about it together, and now they were just talking about him as Horo looked at his soldier's tag that Yoh had grabbed before their escape.

He looked over Horo's body, badly burned and wounded, covered in blood-soaked bandages. He was barely breathing, and the medics had told Yoh, but not Horo, that there simply wasn't any chance that he was going to live.

"This isn't even his country . . . " Horo muttered quietly, his wheezy, laboured breathing coming in out long and dragging. "I don't know why he didn't just go home . . . "

"You know what he said, there was no point to go back to China." Yoh answered quietly, looking at Horo with saddened eyes. "Maybe he stayed because, to him, this is his home. He's been living here with us for a long time, after all."

"Probably," Horo replied. "He was weird that way . . . " He sniffed quietly, he hated the talks everybody had after somebody died, it was so depressing. "Well . . . I guess he's gone home now anyway."

"Yeah." Yoh nodded in agreement.

"I can't wait till this is all over," He sighed, letting his head lay against his pillow and going into another coughing fit. "I can't wait to go home."

Yoh nodded again, his eyes starting to tear up again. "You should get some rest," He muttered. "The General said that you get to go home, because of your wounds."

Horo eyes opened wide. "He did?"

Yoh nodded again, biting his lip. "Yeah, and it's . . . it's gonna be a long trip, so you better rest up."

Horo smiled warmly and laid his head back down on his pillow, sighing happily. "Home . . . "

Yoh talked with him a little while longer, and eventually Horo fell asleep. He watched sadly as his breathing slowed and evened out, reaching over and gently removing his soldier's tag from around his neck, and took Ren's one from his hand. He watched his face change to one of peace and eventually his chest stopped it's rising and falling motion.

Yoh sighed and pulled the blanket up over his face before standing and turning to go find a doctor and report that he was dead.

Then the alarms suddenly went off, blaring loudly. He looked out the window and saw planes nearing in the distance. So they were going to bomb them now, huh?

Yoh smirked, and reached up, pulling his own tag from around his neck and hanging it from his fingers with the other ones, all three together.

The camp had taken a beating from last night's attack, they couldn't take a bombing. Everyone there was going to die.

He sighed quietly and headed for the bunks, going and laying in his own and looking at a photograph of him, Ren, and Horo taped to the wall beside his bed.

He wasnt going to bother running for some kind of shelter like everybody else, he was going to stay here, in his bunk, and wait. They'd all been fighting this war for way too long, sixteen months was too much, too much killing, too much brutality. He's managed to put up with it because he had his two best friends with him, and they could goof off and play around, helping him to forget what kind of a nightmare he was trapped in, even if it was only for a moment . . . But now they were gone.

He tightened the grip on the tags in his hands and closed his eyes with a deep sigh, the sound of the first bomb dropping not too far off. A small smile curled into existance at the corner of his mouth.

He was going home.

XxXxXxXxX

Geez, that was sad T-T I don't have any idea where it came from, it just . . . appeared. Anyway, I hope you liked it.

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