Author's Note: Finally, a new RenxHoro fanfic! It's been a while, and I've missed the genre so very much! I think since I last wrote, my writing style has changed a lot (and hopefully, matured). For a change, I don't really have much to say at the moment, except for extending my huge thanks to all the people who have helped me plan/proof/beta read this fic. I couldn't have done it without you!

Important: This fic is entirely alternate universe, so expect a few surprises! It also contains shounen-ai, and some adult themes.

He could walk for miles. On and on, feet pounding furiously at the pavement beneath him. In this drunken stupor, he could walk forever.

Usui Horokeu (Horohoro to his friends) was nineteen years old, and carried the world on his young shoulders. Despite his age, he was weary of his existence. He had no desire to die – he had grown tired of that idea a long time ago. Now all he had left was a desire to escape. That was why, more often than not, he was to be found drowning his sorrows in a bar somewhere in the bustling city, and then walking to its outskirts to stumble through its forgotten streets.

And that was the very place he was to be found at this moment, walking at a fury-fired pace through an old industrial estate, a ruin of the modern world. The sun had set long ago, and was giving over to the chill of the twilight glow, making the buildings around him seem like huge skeletons looming over the dirt track on which he walked. Some of the buildings had windows punched out, making the gaping spaces where they once were akin to deep-set eyes, focusing upon this lone figure that travelled – a little unsteadily – in their midst. Occasionally, the exhausted remains of a truck appeared on the horizon, large and somewhat terrifying. Like a creature from a nightmare, bruised and rotting slowly, it materialised on the edge of his wavering vision. These inanimate entities were the only things around. Not once during one of these walks had Horo encountered another human here. Even the rats stayed out of this place, with no obvious food source to draw them there. And so the wind was left to rattle ominously through the hollow shells of the factories and office buildings that once stood here, now looking even more repugnant than when they were first built.

What Horo really wanted was nature. He wanted to be surrounded by giant oak trees and lush green grass, with the smoky smell of autumn enveloping him like a comforting blanket. He took a deep breath, eyes closed, half expecting to be able to catch that scent on the wind. Instead, all he got was a mouthful of stale, pollution-ridden air that made him choke and splutter. No matter how far he walked, he would never reach the countryside. At least, that was how he felt. He lived so far into the city, almost every spindly little tree around him had been planted by humans. There was nothing natural, nothing fresh...

He looked up to the sky just in time to see a flock of birds pass over him. It almost brought a smile to his face. He watched them spin and somersault around each other as they flew right over the path he was travelling, wings stretched out proudly. They disappeared into the half-light, and his smile faded. He passed another stark, skeletal building.

Horo never drank himself to the point where he couldn't control his own actions; what he sought was the ability to lose his sense of awareness, to lose himself in the desolate places that he wandered to. As he looked around himself, he realised that he had achieved just that; he had lost reason and with it, the ability to choose. Though all of the buildings here looked so similar in their monstrosity, there was a certain sense of dead silence here that he knew he had never come across before. He halted dead in his tracks for a moment, and drank in the feeling. The building he stood before was not remarkable in any way, sitting in the same desolate state as all the others nearby. But there was something about where he stood, a feeling that felt as though it would be lost should he take another step in either direction. It was a feeling of emptiness, nothing more. A feeling of... nothing. Horo squeezed his fingers tightly into his palms and closed his eyes. Yes, this was the feeling he craved. Nothing to think, nothing to feel...

As Horo stood, facing this building, breathing in deeply as though he were trying to inhale the whole experience, he slowly became aware of something else, something more acute. A voice...

It was gentle and unwavering. It was singing. Horo's eyebrows knitted together in confusion as he opened his eyes and glanced around himself. There was certainly nobody around him, probably not for at least a mile, in any direction. And yet... there was definitely someone singing. As Horo listened, he became all the more sure of the fact. Focusing on the calming melody, it became apparent that what he could hear was someone singing a church hymn.

For a brief moment, he was transported to the rural parish of his childhood, where he had heard so many hymns like this before, where his parents had sang praises routinely every Sunday, where his four-year old heart had barely been able to comprehend the 'glory of God'...

Almost subconsciously, he took two steps forward. The singing seemed to get louder. The voice seemed, oddly enough, to be coming from the building right in front of him. The prospect of this drew Horo even closer, the door of the wretched old building firmly in his sights. The voice reverberated in his ear drums, pitch-perfect and almost soothing. A great desire to find the source of that wonderful sound gripped him. He reached out to take the handle of the door in his grasp. The door was as normal as it could be, which somehow made it all the more strange. It looked considerably fresher than the rest of the rickety old structure. Horo pulled down on the handle, and suddenly, the words of the hymn became clear.

“While I draw this fleeting breath, when my eyelids close in death...”

The voice continued on, unfaltering, as Horo stepped into a vast room he didn't think the building capable of holding. The missing windows let the dim dusk light stream into the otherwise pitch-dark room, making flecks of dust dance like fireflies in their wake. As Horo looked around, he thought it to be more of a hall than a room, considering its size. Around the edges of this space were relics from when the building was once used for industry; old crates and dusty boxes gathered in tall piles dominated the walls and blocked the view of the lower windows. He came to realise that the windows letting in light were in fact second-storey ones – the floor seemed to have crumbled away, leaving anyone on the ground floor with a direct view of the neglected old roof. At last, his eyes settled in the centre of the room. Somehow, what he saw, he almost expected. An assembly of mismatched church pews, styles and designs abundant, were gathered together, laid out in neat lines. All of them faced an altar, consisting of a statue raised on a structure of low-lying crates. The statue was hard to distinguish for Horo, due to the distance at which he stood combined with his already slightly blurred vision. The only way to see it was to get closer.

“When I soar through tracts unknown, see thee on thy judgement throne...”

As Horo took a step, he was reminded of that haunting voice. The melody of the song was almost saddening, yet also endearing. Horo felt his heart beat firmly against his chest, as though it were demanding to understand what the sound was. The song crashed over him like a wave, and urged him closer to the peculiar set-up in the middle of the room. It was then that Horo cast his eyes upon a slender male figure, crouched at the altar's base.

“Rock of ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee.”

Horo let the last note of the song ring out and echo around him in all its perfection, before stopping just before the first of the pews and calling out gently, “Hello?”

The head of the person at the altar shot around, panicked. Horo was met with the shock of piercing golden eyes and an expression of sheer panic.

“Hey, what are you doing in here?” Horo asked, simply. He struggled slightly to get out his words – his lips didn't seem to be obeying his brain.

“Who are you?” The person shot to his feet. No sooner had he done this than he was back on the floor again, falling to his hands and knees with a cry of pain.

This time, it was Horo who was filled with panic. He dashed forwards, tripping over his own feet in a clumsy stupor to reach the young man's side. The stranger's hair was violet and unkempt in a matted mess. He wore nothing more than a cotton shift that barely kept him covered. He was now kneeling on the floor, doubled-over and clutching desperately at his sides, tears brimming in his golden eyes. Horo fell to his knees beside him with worry.

“What's the matter? What's wrong?”

The stranger spluttered with tears. “It hurts...”

“What does?” Horo reached out to place his hands on the young man's shoulders, desperate to get a better look at him. “Hey, let me see you, I-”

“No!” The stranger screamed and flailed his arms out wildly, batting Horo's hands away. “Don't touch me! Please, don't...” He collapsed back into position, tears rolling down his sunken cheeks.

Horo shot back, alarmed by the sudden reaction. He held his hands up in the air to show his obedience. “Okay, okay! I won't touch you.” His mind was at once occupied, he was overwhelmed. He felt as though it were about to flood over with this sudden intake of information. He cast his eyes over the stranger as his mind reeled over what to do. The young man was frail – alarmingly so. His wrists looked as though they could snap at the slightest movement, and his skin, so pale - an unhealthy shade of stark white. Like paper, it was taught and thin. Dark circles around his eyes showed fatigue, and his whole body had an exhausted look about it, as though it couldn't last much longer. As Horo looked closer, he noticed countless small scratches and bruises all over his body - many of them looked alarmingly similar to fingernail tracks.

Horo shook himself, trying to bring himself out of the haze that the alcohol had left him in. He needed to think straight. “Listen, you need my help. What's your name?”

The young man bent over even further, his nose almost touching the cold dirt floor. He was shaking violently. “M-My name? My name is... Ren.”

“Okay, Ren. I'm Horo. I'm here to help you. We're going to get you to a hospital or something, you can't carry on like this.”

“N-No. I'm not going anywhere. I-I'm staying here.”

“What do you mean? You're obviously not well. Don't worry, I won't hurt you, just let me...” Horo reached out gently to take one of Ren's hands in his.

Ren snatched his hand away as though Horo's touch were pure fire. His tears came faster. “I said don't touch me! Please, just leave me b-be...”

Horo withdrew his hand, his mind working over-time. “Can you stand?”

Ren's body twitched as though he was trying to get up, but he stayed exactly where he was, crouched in agony on the floor. He shook his head in response, sweat dripping from his forehead and mingling with his tears. Horo looked on with concern.

“Okay, I'm really not taking no for an answer. You're coming with me.” Horo said, with stern conviction.

“No! I'm fine, I'll be fine...” Ren's breathing became more laboured, and Horo reached out once more to take hold of his arm. This time, Ren didn't react. Horo watched Ren's chest heaving, and his eyelids drooping. Horo just managed to catch him as he passed out cold.

Without a second thought or even a moment to consider, Horo got to his feet, the broken stranger still in his arms. Though he had tensed his muscles to contain the weight of the body, he soon found it was unnecessary. Ren's form was so slight, so frail, he barely weighed more than a large house cat. As Horo stood there, alone in this foreboding sanctuary, he gazed upon the still face of the young man in his arms. Even in this unexpected slumber, he still didn't seem to be at ease.

Something was very wrong with this stranger, that would make him so very weary and cause the injuries that lay so obviously on his skin. At the moment, Horo couldn't bear to comprehend what his troubles could be. All he knew was his desire to help. And so, though his head was pounding and his heart sang out with worry, Horo grasped Ren close and began the long walk back into the city.

A/N: Okay, here's a pledge: one chapter every week. I'll do my utmost to stick to that promise! I'll let you know if I'll be any later ;)
Let me know: what do you think might be going on with Ren? I want to hear your take on things! And finally, just for reference, the hymn I used in this chapter was A.M. Toplady's 'Rock of Ages'.