Chapter One: Lacking in Value

One hand on the bullet train rail, the young main glanced back at the city he had grown up in. He had not always hated it here, but years of forced expectations and ever-tightening restraints had grown a deep-rooted fear of suffocating. For all their praises over his slightest accomplishment, for all their indulgences of his every whim, for all their unconditional love, no one here had ever really cared about what made him proud, about what he loved. Well, almost no one. Regardless, if no one was ever going to attend to the one dream he truly carried, he would do what was necessary himself to accomplish it. All in all, it was past time to leave. Smirking, he ran a hand through his newly dyed blonde hair as he pulled himself into the bullet train and walked back to his seat. Still, as the train took off and the scenery blurred past one last memory caused the dissolution of his smirk.

"Kyoko, I'm leaving." Kyoko, still reeling from her beloved Sho-chan's new hair color, at first did not comprehend his words. Knowing his childhood friend well, Sho waited. A small smile flickered across his face at the play of emotions on hers.

"Where are you going, Sho-chan?" she innocently asked, still gazing at the blonde locks in wonder. 'I bet anything she thinks I look like a fairy prince,' Sho thought to himself at the sight of her Lalaland expression.

"I am going to Tokyo to be a singer. I sent in my demo tape a while back, and Akatoki Agency is signing me. They will also be providing me an apartment, until I find something I like better. Anyway, I need-" here Sho was cut off as Kyoko at last understood what was going on. A brilliant smile lit up her normally somewhat plain face as she began literally jumping for joy. Looking at her now, even Sho could practically see fairies and fountains dancing in flickering lights amidst rainbows, so prevalent was her uplifted mood. Kyoko started exclaiming how she had always known how great he was; she knew he could do it! She would go pack her bags to follow him immed- but now it was Sho's turn to interrupt.

"You can't go," was stated point-blankly.

"Eh?"

"I said, you can't go. You'll only mess up my image. Originally, I thought about bringing you along to support me, but turns out I don't even need you for that. Akatoki is giving me everything I need."

By now Kyoko had calmed down considerably as she reflected on his words. At last she quietly, almost as a question, stated, "There's…nothing I can do."

Sho laughed. "Did you seriously think there was anything someone like you could do to help someone like me?"

"But…then why tell me this at all?" Kyoko's eyes began tearing up and, somewhat predictably, Sho's own eyes went wide and he froze. To his relief, the somewhat stricken face blinked, blanked, and then cleared. Relaxing, Sho continued.

"Oh yeah! Almost forgot. I need you to hold off my parents for a while, like a week. Make up some excuse to them. That will give Akatoki time enough to find a way for me to get by without parental consent. They're good at stuff like that."

Kyoko stared at Sho expressionlessly for a moment, before quietly murmuring, "Okay." He heard her, but didn't bother with a response. After all, he knew she would do it. Helping him was her only use in life…the only thing notable about her otherwise bland life.

As the intercom announced the arrival of the train in Tokyo, Sho laughingly departed. "Hmph,' he considered briefly, 'now that I'm gone I wonder what she'll do? She was the only one who ever cared about what I wanted out of life, but that's all she cared about. Probably living her life through me or some stupidity like that. Ah well, okaa-san and otou-san love her. She'll be fine. She would have never been happy in Tokyo; she's just too simple. Far better for her sake, too, for her to just stay here.' Suddenly, a thought struck him. 'Dang! Who's going to buy my pudding?!'

Meanwhile, back in Kyoto…

"Sho-chan is helping a friend who got injured," Kyoko told the only parental figures she had most of her life.

"Sho? That boy of mine is willingly helping someone? Try again. Why would he do that?" snorted the taisho. He loved his boy, but he suffered no illusions as to his character.

Thinking quickly, Kyoko realized there was only one thing that would motivate Sho to act in such a way. Her heart inwardly twisting, she nevertheless did what was necessary to convince the Fuwas of her lie. "But, taisho-san, it's true! Jones-kun is new to Japan, and his parents are out of town, and only his sister is there to help him. Plus, she can't speak Japanese very well and has difficulty obtaining medicines and such to treat him. So, Sho-chan volunteered to help."

At this, a knowing glint appeared in Fuwa taisho-san's eyes. "This Jones-chan…what does she look like?"

"Unnn…" Kyoko pretended to consider for a moment, "blonde, blue-eyed, pretty and petite," she finished.

"Ah, and her, eh-" here the taisho hesitated, not quite up to questioning Kyoko over the fictitious girl's breast size. Still, Kyoko was under no delusions as to Sho's tastes. She had long ago realized his preferences, if only to compare herself and constantly acknowledge she was lacking. Thus, she understood the taisho's question perfectly, though her reply was suitably delicate for a well-raised young Japanese girl.

Eyes averted, Kyoko simply stated, "Jones-chan is certainly lacking in no area Sho-chan might pay notice to."

"Is that so…" replied the taisho, inwardly praying his son was at least being careful – he could have his dalliances before settling down and marrying Kyoko in a few years, but heaven help them all if a child was born first. Still, this sounded far more like his son than offering help for nothing, so the taisho accepted Kyoko's explanation and started her to work in the kitchen.

One week later

"Where is my son?!" yelled the okami. Normally she quite liked Kyoko, but it had been a week since Sho had been seen. The school had called to congratulate the Fuwas on their son's transfer to an exclusive high school in Tokyo, much to their surprise. When she had asked about a Jones-kun or Jones-chan, she was told there was no record of either of them. Clearly, Kyoko had been lying.

Head to the ground and eyes averted, Kyoko mumbled something unintelligible. "What was that?" growled the okami, performing a rather admirable imitation of a mother grizzly, though she was by this point far too worried-and angered-to realize it.

Kyoko, who was still looking anywhere other than at the woman who had been like a second mother to her, suddenly froze as her eyes glazed over.

"Kyoko…" growled Saena. "What have I told you about your grades?"

Face downturned, the ten-year old Kyoko whispered, "If I am going to be so proud of myself, I should at least have something to be proud of. Anything less than perfection is simply me being lazy again, and laziness will not be tolerated."

"What was that? Say it again, and louder so I can hear you!"

Still too ashamed of herself for disappointing her mother to properly face her, Kyoko continued staring at the ground as she repeated the familiar refrain once more, albeit in a slightly more audible tone.

There was a moment of stillness in the room, and Kyoko, confused by the sudden quiet, looked up to see her mother almost pounce across the room towards her. Slap! The sound reverberated around as Saena stared at the girl with a red mark across her left cheek. "See what you drive me to? Don't you dare act so arrogant and sass your okaa-san; show me respect and look me in the eye when you speak! Besides which, if you can remember my words verbatim then I would expect you to know to follow them!"

Confused and hurt, Kyoko silently remembered other times when Saena had railed against her for having the audacity to look straight at Saena's face, telling her she had far too much pride if she felt she was good enough, useful enough, to have earned the right to look her okaa-san in the eye while being disciplined. 'Which is the right thing to do? I don't understand, but…obviously I am doing something wrong. Nothing I do is ever right, ever good enough. All I ever manage to do is make okaa-san angry. I must work harder to please okaa-san, instead of angering her.'

The young girl was startled out of her reverie by the sight of her mother striding away, only glancing back to say, "Hmph, you really are good for nothing. Totally useless; lacking in manner, bearing, and beauty. Who would ever want you?" Saena closed the door behind her as she left.

Kyoko snapped back to the present moment. Recalling the last time she had seen her true okaa-san, she immediately tried to gauge whether this was a situation calling for head lowered or raised. 'Well, when okaa-san left, I had kept my head bowed, so this time…' Kyoko raised her head and looked the okami straight in the eyes as she clearly repeated the words she had earlier mumbled. "Sho-chan got signed to an agency in Tokyo and is pursuing a career as a singer in showbiz."

Silence reigned for but a moment, and then, as the more taciturn taisho simply continued to look on, the okami spoke. With eyes as frozen as if they had been carved from ice during Hokkaido's coldest day and a tone of voice so brutally barren of emotion as to perfectly match, her words rang throughout the room and fell heavily as hail upon the teenager.

"Get out."

Kyoko's eyes widened and her heart constricted so painfully that were it anyone else, tears would have been wrung out from pure sympathy for the heart. Since it was Kyoko, and she had long seen the necessity of sealing away her tears from others' eyes, those twin golden suns were the only reaction to being dismissed from the only place she had ever truly called home.

"Now! I had thought you could one day run this inn with my son, but you can't even do that. Instead, you help him leave and are even so proud of your actions as to look me straight in the eyes as you tell me! You ungrateful child, leave now and don't let me ever see your face again," came the last words from the okami.

For but a brief moment, the taisho seemed as if he would intervene, but Kyoko, accepting that once again she had made the wrong decision and must face the consequences, silently bowed and turned to leave. One thought echoed in her mind as she swiftly fled the inn without so much as a visit to her room. 'Corn…'