Chapter 2
She was amazed. Los Angeles was so laid back and her studio apartment, with the beach in walking distance, practically blew her away. She had expected the temperature to be hot in the summer, but the Mediterranean climate of Southern California was just perfect. Not too hot and not too cold for the end of summer. Even the water was still warm enough to go swimming.
After forcing herself to don her new bikini and covering her lower half with a pair of cut-off denim shorts, she took a nice long walk to the beach down the hill. At first she was a little self-conscious about the way her body looked but after all of the whistles and stares from some very nice looking, well-built young men, she had quickly shoved her bad body image out of her mind. She now knew it wasn't going to be hard at all on Tuesday when she went to model for Secrets and Cygne Blanc.
Thoughts of her new agency ran through her mind as she slathered on the sunscreen and removed her shorts. She pulled out her new script for the commercial that her new manager had procured for her and began to study.
She was halfway through the entire concept when a shadow fell over her. "Is that my beautiful daughter?" A familiar male voice pondered in excitement.
Kyoko glanced up from the script and felt a twinge of fear shoot through her. She had forgotten about him. Would he tell everyone where she was? He was Kuon's father after all. "Father?" She whispered showing her anxiety.
He sighed and plopped down on the sand next to her. "I won't tell anyone." He told her softly as he stared out at the water. "But you have to tell me what happened."
She sighed in defeat and nodded. "Can we go somewhere private to talk? I'd rather no one accidentally hears what I have to say."
He nodded. "Of course you can Sweetie."
"Thank you." She told him as she pulled on her shorts, gathered her things and stored them neatly in her beach bag and left the beach with Kuu Hizuri to his home in Beverly Hills.
It had been six months since he found her lounging on the beach and neither Kuon nor, Lory had mentioned a single word to him about her. It was infuriating. Did they do that because they didn't care or, were they worried of what his reaction would be? Well, it didn't matter anymore. He had her here with him and Julie in Los Angeles and they were getting along fine as a new little family.
Julie and Kyoko would spend their free time in their morning yoga classes and she and Kuu were working on her next film together. She had three more lined up in the wings and her first was up for a few nominations. Which was no surprise with that particular director and crew. Secrets and Cygne Blanc had renewed her contract for another four years and she had accumulated enough money to get new more roomy apartment and live comfortably. She had even had Kuu teach her how to drive and help her with picking out her first car. Things were looking up.
Over the months of endless modeling for Secrets, she had become more confident and less body conscious. Of course the background male models that she had to deal with had helped with that a bit and Julie helped by giving her a few pointers, she felt it was the least she could do to help out her new pseudo-daughter after what her son had put her through. A good relationship, lies do not make. Thought Julie wryly many times. She hoped that one day Kuon would at least attempt to fix his mistakes and tell her the truth without being forced into it.
"Takarada-sama, I believe I may have found Mogami-sama." Ruto told him sheepishly while a faint blush crossed his normally stoic look.
Lory looked up to him in hope, but was taken aback by the scandalized look. "Well? Where is she?"
Ruto sat the gentleman's magazine in front of him. There had been an article that featured several new lingerie models, their photos and interviews. It was tastefully done, but clearly not how they were accustomed to seeing the young woman whose 18th birthday had come and gone not even a month ago. "It appears as though she's modeling for Secrets and Cygne Blanc. It also seems as though she's working on her third Hollywood movie. They will be releasing her first, internationally next month for Valentine's Day and it says here," He pointed to a spot in the article. "that it will be up for a few nominations."
Lory's eyes went wide as he read the article and sighed. He was a bit upset. He didn't feel that she was in any way ready for something like this. After all, she never graduated the LoveMe Section. She couldn't even express romantic love properly. Could she? Well, from what he saw in the next photo, the signature ad for Secrets, with her male background counterpart, partially convinced him otherwise. He just hoped that Kuon didn't have a subscription to this magazine. On the other hand, there would be a lot of men buying their girlfriends this particular perfume this month. Lory needed to find out how many other magazines this particular ad was featured in. He fought back the glee. What if Kuon sees this? He chuckled. We shall see Mr. Boring.
"Ruto, I need to you to find out how many other ads she has out." He told him with mischief on his mind.
Confused, aroused, angry, possessive, those were just a few of the feelings that were roiling in the 18 year-old shell of a young man that spent his childhood avoiding and demeaning the now quickly rising international starlet as he stared at the centerfold ad of said starlet in black, lace cheeky panties, a black lace bra, silk thigh-high stockings posed flush against a well-built male model that had a firm grip on her left butt cheek with one hand, the other hand firmly pulling her leg to his hip, his face nuzzled into her neck and her head thrown back with a sexy smile. "What the ever-loving fucking hell?!"
As the young Japanese musician sat staring catatonically in confusion at the young woman in the ad, denying with all of his might what was clearly displayed in front of him, a certain number one bachelor's manager had just sat down on his sofa to peruse his monthly subscription to said magazine and enjoy his tea. Needless to say, when the tea he had been enjoying came shooting out of his nose and burning it's way down into his lungs, he dropped said magazine on the floor, cleared his throat and quickly ran to his kitchen to grab some paper towels to clean up the mess that his shock had caused. "Kyoko-chan?" He looked at the ad again and groaned. "Is that Nick-san in the background? In his black boxer-briefs?" He swallowed the nervous lump in his throat. "With his hands and lips all over her?" He groaned again and hoped beyond all hope that Ren didn't have a subscription to this magazine. It would be difficult enough to shield him from it when it officially hit the newsstands.