A/N: Some PWP RenHoro drabble I wrote while taking a break from my main project at the moment. I thought I'd go ahead and upload it regardless :p

It was a dark winter's night when the question came. He and Ren were sitting on the roof of the onsen – a haunt they had both come to appreciate of late. When it was said, Horo was resting back on the fire-red tiles, hands behind his head and gazing at the sky with intrigue. Ren was squished up against his side, for body warmth, huddled in the oversized form of Horo's jacket against the cold, eyes fixed firmly on the ground far beneath them.

It came like an arrow through the fog, spoken decisively in the silence that hugged them tight. It permeated the air like a firecracker in No Man's Land, and made both of them quiver a little at the sound.

The question came from Ren's lips, soft and trembling. His tone was imploring, but perhaps a little shy of the response he was to receive. His voice was like the first bird of morning brave enough to break into song and announce the dawn, while his kindred remained silent.

It was almost indiscernible, like the stars they were so desperately trying to see through the clouds that shrouded the sky this chilly night. It illuminated them on that rooftop, so completely exposed to everything else around them, as though the moon had wrestled her way through the prison clouds and shone a single ray right upon them.

The question was this: "Do you... notice anything different about me?"

Horo turned to face him with a small smile, eyes following seconds after his head, still determined that there were stars to be seen yet. With a playful amusement in his intonation, he answered, "What do you mean, Ren?"

He watched Ren for a while; he was still, as though he had been frozen there by the piercing chill whistling by, and offered no response. Horo gauged the sincerity in his golden eyes, veiled ineffectually by his violet hair. Those eyes were fixed firmly beneath him, not a hint of light-heartedness about them. Because, as he often fought to tell people, the great Tao Ren did have a mischievous side.

He diverted his gaze back to the clouds that drifted by with the swift sweeping of the wind. They were hardly fit to be called clouds, he mused to himself. More like slivers of mist, a delicate mask for the sky that seemed too reticent to make an appearance tonight.

"I dunno... have you had your hair cut? Been working out?" Horo joked, finding humour a suitable defence for this situation he otherwise had no idea how to approach.

Ren shook his head subtly, with a hint of exasperation. The purple locks that fell over his face trembled as he did so, casting strips of shadow across his perfect cheeks. "I don't mean like that... Boroboro."

Horo nudged him gently at the sound of the nickname he detested. Ren swayed precariously with the motion, but didn't react. Horo wondered if he'd jabbed him a little too hard.

"I don't mean... physically." Ren spoke softly, still not daring to make eye contact with the Ainu.

"So, what... you mean, as a person?"

Horo caught a small nod of assent from the corner of his eye. Horo let out a breath, watching it crystallize in the air and form a stream of vapour in the darkness. He swore he saw a glint of a star in the haze, and looked up with anticipation. He was disappointed quite quickly, with nothing more than clouds to be seen. Choosing his words carefully, he began to speak again.

"Ren, you've been changing since the day I met you. There was a point when you were changing so often I thought that if I looked twice, you'd be different each time. You've been growing up – we all have. You're more mature than when we first met."

Ren shifted uncomfortably, making the tiles beneath him rattle with portent.

"But that's not what you wanna know, is it?" Horo sighed with frustration – not at Ren, but at himself, for not understanding something that was most probably blatantly laid out in front of him. "I remember when we first met, you were so full of anger. It seemed for a while that was all you were capable of, and I think you believed that too. Which is what made you so desperate to change yourself, and stop that hate from consuming you." Horo glanced towards him. "Am I on the right track?"

Ren hesitated, then nodded.

"I watched you grow stronger every day, both as a fighter, and as a person. With you, the two were always linked. I thought I'd seen every side of the proud Tao Ren, 'til the day we fell in love."

Horo smiled. In the darkness, he could just make out the pinkness spreading across Ren's cheeks.

"That was the day when I found out the thing that's made me happiest. In my whole life, that's the thing I'd choose. From then on, each day I found out a little bit more about you, sides of you I never thought I'd see. And with each new discovery, I began to love you even more."

Reaching out surely, he placed his hand upon Ren's petite fingers, so soft to his touch, it felt like he was stroking clouds. Ren risked a glance at him, the first since they had sat themselves down that night.

Suddenly, Horo swung his legs forward, body following with grace. "Look," he announced, pointing a finger upwards. Ren followed his gaze to the sky, where a single star was shining through a gap in the thick smog, bright and triumphant, as though celebrating its conquering of the darkness that threatened to engulf it.

"That makes me think of you," Horo grinned, squeezing Ren's hand in his own. Ren gripped back, looking at him with those piercing eyes, beseeching him for more. Horo chuckled at himself, feeling a slight sense of embarrassment overcome him. "The way the sky's so dark and unclear... yet that star is brave enough to stand out above the rest and shine proudly through the uncertainties that surround it. That's just like you."

The lovers remained silent, drinking in every single second of that star's valiant defiance. Fingers entwined together, they held on tightly, as though afraid of losing the very moment that embraced them. The clouds began to converge on the plucky little star, but it did not yield. Creating a void around itself, it survived on while the elements that threatened it passed by without effect.

"I want to spend the rest of my life discovering new sides of you, Ren. No matter how much you change. You'll always be mine."

Ren shuffled up closer to his side, spare hand clutching at his clothes and head disappearing into his chest. Muffled by the fabric that buried him, Ren muttered in to Horo's skin. "Thank you, Boroboro."

Lysha
06/07/09