AN: Just an image that came in my head after re-reading some earlier manga chapters of Ren's angst towards Kyoko. Right now thisis just a one-shot, but I may turn this into a series of unrelated drabbles about Ren/Kyoko
In his mind all he can think of is that he'll do anything to make her not hate him. So what is he to say when she's looking at him so contritely?
"So you're not...upset? That I accepted his apology?" She looks so timid, like she's the one who's afraid of losing him when he knows it is so obviously the other way around.
"It's not my business, Mogami-san. I have no connection to him." Only to you, he thinks. And if I have to be okay with this to keep you, I can do it. "I think he probably hates me more than I even think about him," he adds when she still looks at him uncertainly. She laughs at that last remark.
"That's probably true," she looks nostalgic, "he's hated you even before he met you!" She grins at him sheepishly, and he feels cold all of a sudden. He knows she is reliving some memory that doesn't include him, of the time before she gave up on love, of the time she loved someone else. He looks away from that smile, its soft corners prick at his heart.
"Does this mean you've graduated from the LoveMe section?" he asks wryly, trying to change the subject before his heart bleeds out. She frowns at the question, her brow wrinkling in irritation.
"I don't think so. The President wants me to successfully act out love first, and he probably thinks I need to fall in love for real to do that." She grimaces at that last part, like the words have left a bad taste in her mouth. It brings him selfish relief to know that though she may have forgiven that brat, she doesn't love him. The barrier around her heart is stronger than ever.
What a fool he is to be happy about that.