Happiness

What a dump. What a creepy place, just like the ones they use in scary movies. Who knows how old it is, how many years ago it was abandoned by its owners, does whoever owns it now even know they own it? It could be one of those houses that was inherited without knowledge and then forgotten. Maybe it doesn't even have an owner.

I'm extra quiet, though I'm not sure why, I know the one that's hiding in this place knows I'm coming, and most likely knows I'm here already. It just seems like a single footstep is like banging on a drum, the eerie silence of the house seems to get totally shattered by the slightest sound.

I glance at the furniture as I pass it, I've never actually seen any of the furniture before. Each and every item of the house has been draped over with white cloth, making it seem like even the furniture has died and become ghosts. Maybe if I was one of those people who were afraid of ghosts I wouldn't even come near this house, it practically screams 'haunted!' in the face of whoever looks at it.

Maybe that was why it was chosen.

The floor creaks beneath my foot, echoing throughout the emptiness, and for a second I feared the floor might collapse beneath me. But it didn't, and I cautiously continued to the stairway. I delicately touch the dark cherrywood railing with my fingertips, observing the small amount of dust that clings to them when they pull away.

Looking up to where the stairs lead, I can see the walls painted with the slivers of sunlight that sneak between the boards covering the window. I don't even notice the shadow until it's moved and disappeared, pulling its owner into the darkness with it.

I sigh heavily, hide-and-seek is it?

It seems kind of strange, the thought that to some this is a place of terror, but we've somehow turned it into a playground. The stairs creak loudly as I make my way to the top, sneezing lightly at the excessive amount of dust in the air.

Really, I shouldn't be here in the first place. If the others ever found out . . .

They probably wouldn't be my friends anymore. Lyserg would strangle me, and Ren would put me through God knows what awful tortures before burying me alive in the back yard.

. . . Not that I don't deserve it.

Conflict of interest, conspiring with the enemy, playing both sides, it's a crime, and my own friends are the victims. Will they ever find out? Will they abandon me? Will they hate me? Will they hurt me?

"For someone so stupid, you sure think of trivial things that are far too complicated for you." His voice echoes through the house and I can only vaguely hear which direction it's coming from. "You really shouldn't think so much, you might burn out your last brain cells."

"Would you care?" I snap back.

"Hmm," He hums in interest, seemingly having fun teasing me. "Maybe."

"You never change." I mutter under my breath.

"Not true," He retorts in an all-too-amused tone. "You're a bit of a new developement, wouldn't you say?"

I scoff a little, reaching the top of the stairs and leaning against the railing, half-heartedly glancing around in the chance I might see where he's hiding. "So I'm a 'development'?"

"Isn't love always?"

His answer stuns me, and I do that thing I always do when I'm surprised; I just kind of freeze and stare off into space, re-playing the statement in my head over and over again. While I'm busy being brain-dead, he chats away merrily about how humans are stupid and expect that love is going to hit them like a lightning bolt the instant they lay eyes on their soulmate. He believes that before the lightning can strike, you have to create it.

Flames flicker around me in the darkness, and I see a faint outline of him by my side. I turn to face him, smiling warmly at the hand that's outstretched to me. I place my hand in his and he takes hold, pulling me closer until our chests are right up against each other, entwining my fingers with his.

I inch my face a little closer to his. I want to kiss him, but I'm shy, and I don't know if I should. He chuckles quietly at my innocence again and brings our lips together carefully, kissing me so gently it's like he thinks that I'm made of glass. I smile a little, and when I open my eyes again, I see he's smiling back at me softly.

"Did you miss me?"

I nod my head a little bit, the latest cram of problems back at home and his 'business' he has to attend to has prevented us from seeing each other in nearly two weeks. A two weeks which I've spent moping around the house and earning odd looks and several people asking me: 'Are you alright, Horohoro?'

"I wanted to come," I whisper quietly, closing my eyes as he wraps his arms around me and pulls me close, letting me rest my head against his chest. "I just couldn't find a way to get out by myself, and if I could, you were away." I sigh a little in content, I like it when he just holds me like this, and it's not something he does very often either. I grab one of his long strands of hair and twiddle it between my fingers. "Did you . . . miss me?"

"Maybe a little . . . " He answers with another amused chuckle.

I frown a little in confusion, but then smile again. "You're in a good mood."

"Mm-hmm." He brings up a hand and brushes my bangs from my eyes, delivering an equally unexpected and surprising kiss on my forehead. "Did you know that you were followed here?"

I blink. "What?"

He chuckles. "I guess you didn't."

I blinked again, lifting my head from his chest to look him in the eye. "I was followed?"

"Yep." He nods happily. "Any second now my otouto and that Tao are going to burst through that door."

My heart stopped, I guess I was gonna be trying to dig my out of the ground sooner than I thought. "Ren and Yoh . . . ?"

"Oh, yes." He answers, his grip around me tightening. "They'll come through the door and see us, and then I'll explain to them that you belong to me, and if they aren't nice about it, then I simply won't share you with them anymore. Problem solved. I think it's something to be happy about, don't you?"

"Wait," I try to wriggle out of his hold, but his grip on me only tightens again and I realize he doesn't want to let me go. "Hao, wait." I repeat myself and he loosens his hold a little, but doesn't actually release me.

"Something the matter?" He asks, teasing me again.

I open my mouth to tell him I don't want the others to know yet, but before I can say anything, the large door on the bottom floor swings open. I stare at my two friends and the total look of confusion on their faces as they look up at us, Yoh's head tilting to the side curiously at the sight of his brother holding me in his arms.

Ren's expression, however, very quickly grows angry. He doesn't wait for explanaition, he just whips out his Houraiken and drives it into the ground. I let out a little surprised yelps when practically everything imaginable with a sharp edge suddenly shoots up out of the ground. Had Hao not grabbed me when he did whatever it was he did that prevented the weapons from piercing his feet and simply let him stand on them, I definately would've been speared. I can't believe Ren would be so reckless and attack when I could be so easily hurt!

When I look back at Ren, he looks completely infuriated, and for a second I think I know why he pulled such a stunt. Doubt crosses my mind for a second, thinking that maybe Hao wasn't actually the target at all.

He's definately caught on.

Hao simply smirks at him as the weapons fade and we drop back to the ground, but instead of letting me go, he keeps his arms wrapped firmly around me. "What's the matter, Tao? Jealous?" He sneers.

Yoh blinks curiously and an angry growl emerges from Ren's throat. "Horohoro, what are you doing with onii-chan? Why should Ren be jealous?"

Hao laughs, his evil, mocking, malicious little laugh. "Otouto, you really are stupid." He chuckles, wrapping his arms tighter and pulling me against his chest. "Poor Ren."

I look down at my Chinese friend with an apologetic look as his teeth clench tightly in rage and his eyes glare angrily at Hao, then suddenly they flick to me. "Is this what you've been doing this whole time?" He growls at me. "Him? This . . . this monster? Have you forgotten all the things he's done? All the people he's killed?"

I feel Hao's body grow tense and I know he's angry, I lay my head against his chest again. "But I love him . . . " I whisper quietly.

I didn't expect the whisper to be audible to them from so far away, but I suppose the emptiness of the old house made it echo, because Ren's expression switched again completely. He stares at me in total shock for a minute or two, I can't identify the emotion showing in his eyes, but whatever it is, there's a hell load of a lot of it.

Finally, Yoh breaks the silence with a sudden. "Ohhh!" He laughs a little nervously. "You love him! Like, love love! See, I thought you meant as, like, a friend or something but then-"

"Yoh, shut up!" Ren barks at him, his foot stamping angrily on the floor.

Yoh scratches his head, ignoring Ren's little outburst. "So . . . Hao's not trying to take over the world?"

I shake my head a little in reponse.

"Well . . . I guess everything's okay then." He grins at us and laughs his care-free laugh, and I feel Hao relax slightly. I know he didn't really care what the others thought of us, but I knew he got annoyed when I got all upset, and he also knew that blasting my friends into the next world would definately upset me.

I look at Ren with a hopeful look, but from the look of things, there doesn't seem to be any hope with him at all. He glances up at me for a second and then quickly looks away, his grip on the Houraiken's handle tightening by the second. I don't understand what's bothering him so much.

" . . . Ren?"

He ignores me.

"Ren?"

"Horo, you're pathetic!" He suddenly screams at me. "You're a little lonely and so you decide to turn to him? You've always been stupid but I thought you had more brains than to do something so God damned idiotic!"

I blink at him, why is he so mad? "B-but, Ren! He's not doing anything bad anymore, we just want to be together!"

"Together? Together? Together with Hao?" He clamps his eyes shut and his body starts shaking in rage. Suddenly he throws his sword to the ground and screams at the top of his lungs. "Where was he when you wanted to go snowboarding? And where was he when you broke your leg the same day? Where was he when your cousin died? Where was he every time you had a fight with Pirika? I've always been there for you! What makes him so much better than me?"

I blink at him repeatedly. "Ren . . . I don't understand . . . "

"Don't play stupid, Horo! You understand perfectly!" He shouts, then he turns and storms back out the door.

Yoh looks confused again, and Hao doesn't look surprised, but I know that I do. I just keep blinking at the door where he just left, then I stare at the sword he'd thrown to the ground. What am I supposed to do?

Hao kisses me softly on the cheek. "Go on," He mutters. "I'd prefer you go after him and talk some sense into him rather than me just having to kill him and spend the next three months trying to cheer you up."

I nod in agreement and hurry down the stairs, grabbing the fallen sword and rushing out the door, leaving Hao and Yoh to talk alone.

XxXxXxXxX

Ren stormed down the road, fists and teeth clenched tightly, eyes glaring harshly at the ground. He walked quickly, not even sure if he was walking toward home or toward some unknown destination, but he didn't care, he just needed to get away from there.

He could hear quick footsteps behind him, someone trying to catch up with him. He heard them calling his name, and it sort of sounded like Horo, but then again, everything sort of sounded like Horo, or sort of looked like Horo, or sort of smelled like Horo . . .

"Ren!" He felt a hand grab his arm and pull him back, bringing him face-to-face with a pair of dark blue eyes. "What the hell was that back there?"

Ren brushed his hand away and looked at the ground. "Just leave me alone."

"No, Ren, talk to me." Horo persisted, bending down a little and trying to look up at Ren's downcast eyes. "What did you mean back there?"

"You know what I meant," He hissed in return. " . . . you know perfectly, God damned well what I meant."

Horo shook his head a little. "I never knew that you . . . that you felt that way . . . "

"Yeah, well, I did." Ren answered quickly.

"I'm sorry . . . " Horo muttered quietly. "I wish I could help you somehow . . . "

"Are you happy?" Ren blurted, his eyes moving to meet with the older boy's. "With him? Does he make you happy?"

"Yeah . . . " Horo nodded a little, looking at his friend sadly. "Yeah, he makes me really happy."

Ren nodded stiffly, taking his sword from Horo's hand. "Then that's all I needed to know."

His expression softened a little. Was that really it? Was Tao Ren really just going to leave it at that? "Is there anything I can do?" He asked quietly, pains stabbing through his heart just by watching the way the Tao's eyes were beginning to gloss over slightly.

"Not anything that Hao would approve of." Ren answered bitterly, his eyes locking on the ground again.

Horo sighed. "Well . . . he does make a couple of exceptions." He brought up a hand and gently placed a finger under Ren's chin, tilting is face upward. He smiled at the smaller boy faintly before gently bringing their lips together. He knew Hao wouldn't really like the idea of him kissing Ren, but he would understand . . . eventually.

A few seconds later Ren quickly pulled away, instantly turning away from the other boy and clamping his eyes shut. Horo put his hand on his shoulder in offer of comfort but Ren pushed it away.

"I-I'm going home . . . " He muttered quietly and started walking again, leaving Horo to watch him go. He took a few deep breaths, feeling his throat swelling a little bit, feeling his eyes starting to sting, feeling something inside of him crumbling to pieces.

Horo had taken his first kiss, just the way he always wanted it to be. But . . .

He glanced down at the sword in his hand.

He'd always wanted Horo to be his last kiss too . . .

He stopped walking and stared at the blade for a minute. He glanced over his shoulder and was surprised to see that Horo hadn't moved from where he stood, hands shoved in his pockets, watching the other boy.

"Horo," He called quietly. "Do I . . . do I make you happy? At all?"

"Yeah, Ren." Horo answered, smiling warmly. "You're the best friend I could ever ask for, you make me really happy."

Ren glanced back down at his sword thoughtfully and nodded a little bit. He flicked his wrist and the blade retreated back inside of itself, making the sword look like the blade had been broken right off. He nodded and started walking again, putting his weapon away and bringing up his hand to wipe away a single tear that was creeping down the side of his face.

Whatever makes you happy, Horo . . .

XxXxXxXxX

Poor Renny T-T He just wants Horo to be happy! It's sad, but romantic and kinda cute too . . . but sad v.v

I've been writing so much HoroRen that I fear I'm becoming far, far too predictable v.v So, I'm trying to mix it up a little. I mean, I have never written a story when Ren gets rejected and Horo winds up with somebody else! O.O I wish Horo and Ren could have gotten together the way we all know they should though, but it's kinda refreshing to have a little change once in a while, eh? Plus, I've had a strange HoroHao obsession lately O.O

Anyway, I hope you all liked it! I'm chalking this one up to Catherine, my good buddy and a total Hao-fanatic, I figured she'd appreciate something where Hao actually got to keep his boyfriend and wasn't dumped for somebody else lol Anyway, this one's to you, Cat! Cheers!

Oh, and who can totally relate to this story? (instantly raises hand) ME!

REVIEW PLEASE