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Still in shock, she let her jaw drop before muttering, "What are you doing here?"

He let a hurt look pass over his face, running his hand through his midnight black hair. "How rude. Aren't you even a little excited to see me?" Recovering, a small smile slipped over her face before she offered her hand to shake his. He obliged, smiling as well. "It's been a while, hasn't it?" He remarked offhand.

"It sure has, Tsuruga-kun." She let her bangs fall over her eyes as she whispered, "I've missed you."

He nodded, a kind look on his face. "I've missed you too. 7 months away from Japan? I don't know what I was thinking to take that job in Italy."

"But you're back now."

"Yes, I am. A lot has changed. You, for instance." Without warning, he slid his hand under her chin, lifting her face up to the light. "You've not only managed to become an actress to be reckoned with, but you've become very beautiful."

Her face turned red again. "It's just the make up."

"Are you so sure?" He released her, turning to a side, allowing Kyoko to spot his manager.

Yashiro waved and grabbed Kyoko is a light hug. "Kyoko-chan! It's been too long!"

She laughed, glad to be freed from such an awkward moment. "Oh, Yashiro-kun! What happened? You look like a lobster!" Truly, he did. The sun had not been kind enough to spare him in the least, it seemed.

He sighed. "I fell asleep in the sun last week. Not very smart. And Ren didn't even bother to wake me!" Yashiro whined.

Ren rolled his eyes. "How could I have known you weren't wearing sun block? With your fair skin, I thought you'd be on top of that sort of thing. You never forgot to remind me to wear it; shouldn't you have the same level of commitment for yourself?"

Kyoko giggled as they bickered. They got along as well as ever, clearly. It was actually very cute. They were like siblings. Most people never got to see this side of him. Ren was usually so poised and proper and serious. If he were ever to act like this in front of his fans, Kyoko knew their eyes would pop out of their heads. Everyone else only knew him as the composed, gentlemanly Ren Tsuruga. He was only himself when he was with Yashiro. Or Kyoko.

Turning away from Ren, Yashiro's eyes widened as he took in Kyoko's appearance. "You very cute in that outfit, Kyoko-chan."

She smiled as she ruffled her skirt. "Thank you very much." Out if the corner of her eye she saw Ren glare at Yashiro. This confused her but she choose not to remark on it. "Are you going to get in costume too, Tsuruga-kun?"

He looked at his watch. "I suppose I should if we want to get out of here at a reasonable time. Actually, I wanted to talk to you about something." Ren shot a glance at Yashiro, who's eyes widened again as he fumbled with his hands.

"Um," the bespectacled man mumbled. "I -uh- should go get your dressing room ready. So you… uh… can…" His words mumbled off into nothingness as he quickly left the two alone.

Ren cleared his throat, forcing himself to look directly as Kyoko as he spoke. "Kyoko-san, you do remember what today is, don't you?"

She dropped her gaze to her shoes. Of course she knew, but she decided to play dumb rather then admit it. "Christmas?"

Ren took a step closer. Now he could literally smell her shampoo. Vanilla… "Of course, but it's special for another reason."

She shook her head. "There is nothing special about this day."

"Kyoko-san, you said it best to Maria last year: everyone should be able to enjoy their birthday." Kyoko said nothing in return, so he continued. "Even if this day holds little meaning to you, it's very important to me. After all, it's the day you were born. If not for today, I might never had gotten the chance to meet you." Quickly losing confidence due to her silence, Ren cleared his throat again. "Anyway, I wanted to know if you had plans tonight. If not, would you allow me to take you to dinner?"

"Please, Tsuruga-san. You don't have to do this," she whispered to her shoes.

"But I want to." He took her face in his hands again, cupping her cheeks. "So will you go to dinner with me or do I have to kidnap you?" He couldn't help but to notice how sad her eyes looked.

"I'll go."

"Good." He let her go, grinning. "Not I have something to look forward to tonight. Now, I'll go get changed. And Kyoko-san?" She followed his voice with her eyes. "I'm very grateful you were born, at least. So try to cheer up." And then he walked off without another word.

-break-

Kyoko forced her gaze to stay firmly on her script as she heard squeal after squeal from the female crew members that could only mean Ren had finished changing. But this was easier said then done. She was strangely curious as to how he would look in the attire for the movie. He'd be attractive, sure, but it would be a different type of attractive. A more mature attactive.

As usual, she knew he would never be forced to die his hair or wear a wig. No director would dare to make him do anything drastic that would change his image. Why mess with perfection? Kyoko froze, in mid-turn of a page, as that thought flittered across her mind.

Honestly, she had no idea about anything anymore. When? When had she started to feel so strongly about Ren? When had it grown from resentment to respect to friendship to… this? And what was this? How did she feel about him now? Kyoko had searched into her heart long and hard and came up with nothing. She didn't even have anything to base it off of. What was this feeling? This radiant happiness underlined with this burning sadness.

The month Ren had been gone were hard on Kyoko. She couldn't help but to miss him -miss him more then any person had a right to. Moko had been the one forced to deal with "Mopey Kyoko", as Maria had dubbed her. At first, Kyoko couldn't stop thinking about him. She would wonder what he was doing, if he was having fun, and if he was eating properly. She would even try calling him, only to discover that his phone had been shut down. Then she would call Yashiro. But, of course, Yashiro had his number changed for the trip! And Kyoko felt too nervous to ask the higher ups at LME for his number.

Her next tactic, after two months of no contact from Ren at all, was to be angry with him. I mean, weren't they ate least friends? A friend had every right to worry over another friend. And that other friend shouldn't try to worry their friend in the first place! Shouldn't he have the common decency to call her every once and a while? Was it really too much to ask? During this time, everyone knew the words "Ren Tsuruga", "Italy", and "Phone" were beyond taboo; they were suicide.

Of course, Kyoko was too sad to really stay mad at Ren, especially when he sent her a beautiful post card explaining that he was so busy, he rarely even had time to sleep. This worried her at the same time as much it placated her to know he hadn't forgotten her. So then she was back into moping.

About four months into Ren's trip, jobs really started to line up for Kyoko. This was when her scenes of Dark Moon were re-aired and started getting call after call for dramas. She didn't have time to mope around anymore. So then she decided it best to just forget about Ren. She couldn't afford to be sad, and Ren had said this trip could last up to a whole year! So she kept herself busy so she wouldn't get too lonely.

And now he was back.

Ren actually hadn't changed too much. Still handsome. Still hard working. Still keeping everyone at arm's length. Yup, that was the Ren Tsuruga she knew.

But Ren was right; Kyoko had changed. With the load up of jobs she successfully completed, Kyoko had grown confidence in her skills as an actress. With the time away from Ren, she had to learn how to rely on herself more, though she always had Moko and Maria. Even her appearance had changed! Her hair had grown out a bit and was now shoulder length, though still auburn. And her face, once still a bit rounded from childhood, had now visibly matured. And… okay, she would never admit it aloud, but it was pretty obvious that her body had "matured" too. It was definitely a shock when she realized that her bras were about four sizes too small. Of course, she would never have the F-cup breast that Sho desired, but she could now proudly see she wasn't so flat anymore.

With a slight blush she wondered if Ren had noticed… Then, of course, she shook her head wildly, glaring daggers at her lines on the paper in her hands. No, of course he wouldn't notice. A man like Ren was sure to have woman throwing themselves all over him all day and night. Why in the world would he notice if his teenage mentee suddenly when up a few bra sizes? If he ever was to look as a female that way, I'm sure his taste in girls would be no less then Sho's, she realized grimly. She couldn't be sure why this revelation hurt her so much. But, he does only deserve the best.

"Kyoko-chan!" She looked up to see Yashiro peeking over her script with a cocky smile. "So… I hear you have big plans for tonight." It wasn't a question.

"Yeah," she grumbled, hiding her pink face behind the script. She couldn't remember blushing this much ever before in her life, and now just look at her! She didn't like the control Ren could have over her in the least.

Yashiro looked disappointed. "You don't seem too happy about it."

She shrugged. "What's the big deal? Its just dinner between two colleagues." It felt as if she was trying to convince herself of this more then Yashiro. She repeated those words to herself in her mind again and again before speaking aloud. "I mean, its not as if Tsuruga-kun considers it anything like a date or something."

Yashiro adjusted his glasses awkwardly. "Well, how can you be so sure of that?"

Oh, that was an easy one. "Ren Tsuruga is the number one most desirable man in Japan, and has been for the past few years. If he did want to date, why would he bother with me?"

Kyoko had meant it to be a rhetorical question, so she walked away too soon to hear Yashiro whisper: "If only you knew, Kyoko-chan."