Hello there, thanking for clicking the link to this story. I'm glad you all have returned! Anyway... On to the story, ne?

Together again

KawaiixKisses

(Muah)

... is mine.

Kyouko

I loved him. At one point in my life he was the center of my world, the very reason I breathed. He was everything to me, everything I could ever possibly hope for. While it hadn't looked like it, I was positive he and I would be together forever. We'd live peacefully in Kyoto where we'd get married, have children and finally grow old together – it seemed like the ideal plan. I was well aware of the fact that it would be hard to claim his heart as my own, but he was worth it, Shoutaro was worth my effort. I just had to be patient. I had to give him time because I knew that one day he'd see that I was perfect for him. That's what should have happened anyway.

I had always known he wanted to become a pop star and I had truly believed in him. My Shoutaro had talent, potential and star power – I knew he'd make it. While it saddened me, I was willing to let him go away to Tokyo without me; I would be waiting for him in Kyoto. I'd go to all of his concerts and buy all of his albums; I'd be the best at making him happy and adding to his success as an artist. I was greatly surprised when he asked me to accompany him to Tokyo. Being the optimist that I was, I assumed that meant he realized just how much he needed me, that he understood that I was important to him and that fighting it – trying to escape fate – was futile. I wasn't at all upset about missing the opportunity to attend high school; instead I was perfectly content with working three jobs to support his career. None of that mattered to me, or at least they didn't matter as much as his happiness did.

Endlessly I worked, fighting hard for him, for us. I truly believed that it would all pay off and he and I would be happy together once his career took off. But then, he started staying out later than usual. I asked him about it and he told me he was practicing with his label. I accepted that answer and allowed myself to believe still that it would get better. Then it got to the point where he wouldn't come home for days, then weeks at a time. Of course, being as stupidly in love with a fantasy, I continued to believe and work tremendously hard for him, giving him every last dime I had. Then finally, he left me. Just like that. He was gone. I wasn't good enough for him. I didn't 'fit in' with his new lifestyle. I was just a reminder of the life he didn't want back in Kyoto. He didn't want to get married, have children and grow old with me – or with anyone for that matter. I wasn't important to him as he was to me. My happiness was not as crucial as his own.

It was devastating. My heart broke into a million tiny pieces that day as he publicly dumped me. I couldn't understand it – why wasn't I good enough? Why was my love and devotion to him not enough? He said I was plain and boring. Plain and boring. The words stung. How could he? The person who was supposed to know me best, how could he say such things? I guess he never really knew me; after all the years we spent around each other, we were still strangers it seemed.

I pledged revenge against him that day, swore in front of many on lookers that he would pay for how he humiliated me. I would rise to the top, trample over his fame with my own and make him wish he had never met me. Yes, it was a good plan. I had to get scouted first and that was something I was not willing to wait on so instead of waiting for talent agencies to find me, I found them. LME. It was perfect. LME rivaled the talent agency Shoutaro worked for, it was as if I would be adding insult to injury - which really wasn't too bad of an idea. After getting accepted into LME, ironically I became acquainted with the one man Shoutaro hated above all else - Tsuruga Ren.

He hated me at first and I couldn't understand why. Every time he looked at me, his eyes would narrow and his nose wrinkle just slightly, unless of course he was giving me that scary fake dazzling smile of his. But as time went on and he truly got to know me, he began seeing me in a different light, we were almost friends. It wasn't long before Tsuruga adopted me as his kohai and with his help my career as an actress began taking off i ways that I never dreamed possible. Before long I was being recognized as a decent actress, someone the Japanese people should look out for. Even though I swore revenge against Shoutaro, even though my vendetta against him was strong at first, I felt myself slipping. No longer was I doing things for everyone else, I truly felt like acting was just for me. True, I had only begun acting because of Shoutaro but it was still something that belonged to me, something no one could take away from me. Finally I felt like I had something that was my own, something I did because it made me happy. After that revelation, my need to surpass Shoutaro decreased and slowly all the feelings of love/hate disappeared - that didn't mean however that I wouldn't enjoy bickering with him from time to time.

It wasn't until his lips met mine for the second time in my life that all of those feelings came rushing back. It was like reality knocked on my front door and slapped me in the face once I opened it. I wasn't over Shoutaro, I couldn't possibly be. Not when I had wanted him to kiss me. Not when I couldn't resist kissing him back. I remember it perfectly even to this day. I can still feel the way his lips moved over mine, coaxing small moans of approval from my throat. I can still feel his hands in my hair, pulling my face closer to his and making it impossible for me to pull away even if I wanted to. The taste of his mouth, the warmth of his body... I still remember. I liked it. I didn't want to stop. But once again reality slapped me, sending my eyes open. What was I doing?

I pulled away from him suddenly, my brain finally processing my grave error. His eyes opened slowly to look at me, his brow arching in confusion. I shook my head nervously, my voice failing to give him a decent answer. Taking that as an okay to continue, he moved in closer to me, fully intent on kissing me yet again but I pulled back before he could.

"What's wrong?" he asked finally, pulling away from me.

"It's... it's nothing; I'm a little tired."

He gave me an odd look, one that probably meant he knew I was lying. I was grateful though that he didn't comment as I stood up and hurried away. I remember thinking that kiss couldn't have meant anything to him - he was just feeling lonely. That's all. What would Shoutaro have wanted from me? Certainly not anything romantic. While I did feel sorry for him, I wasn't about to allow him to abuse my emotions nor use me as a way to make himself forget about his troubles, not like that anyway.

Shoutaro

So maybe kissing her was a mistake. I'll admit that. But did she have to act like that? How was it that she thought she could just ignore me in my own house? If I wasn't sure if I knew her or not before, I was certain of that now. She had done everything in her power to avoid being alone with me ever since that point. In fact if she could avoid being in the same room as me period she would. She at her food as quickly and politely as she could at breakfast, lunch and dinner simply to avoid me. If she thought I was going to sit next to her somewhere she'd I'd either leave the room or sit some place else. Honestly she behaving as if I had the plague or cooties for godsake. That wasn't all though, whenever I tried to speak to her she would act as if I wasn't there, as if she hadn't heard a thing. By the end of the week she had really started to get on my nerves.

"Don't pout so much, your face will get stuck like that," Shouko said to me one afternoon.

I hadn't known I was pouting at the time, but that didn't stop me from frowning on purpose in her direction. The blonde merely smiled at me as she continued packing her clothes into the suitcase. We were leaving that day. The word of my mother's death had quickly caught Japan's attention and word was spreading like wildfire. Though it had only been a week, Shouko had arranged for an interview for me to do about my mother's death. I would have killed her but I did need to get out of Kyoto. Everything there just reminded me of her, made me think more, not that the interview would help any. But it was better that I got back to work, continued promotions of my latest single 'Trouble'. Some may think my getting back to work so soon meant that I was unable of feeling anything, that it was ridiculous, but that was just my way of cooping, of dealing. Working would help me forget everything.

"Who's pouting?" I asked her, sliding my hands into my pockets and allowing my face to return to it's usual "Fuwa Sho" state.

"You."

I ignored her.

"You've been acting weird lately. Frowning at nothing, throwing mini-tantrums and I know it isn't because of your mother," she continued, moving closer to me.

I turned my face away from her like a child, pouting at the floor. "I don't know what you're talking about Shouko. Just hurry up and finish so we can get out of here."

"It's Kyouko isn't it?"

"Who's Kyouko?" I asked blandly moving away from her and towards the door to leave. I didn't feel like talking about Kyouko, it would only send my blood pressure up and it was imperative that I didn't stress too much, its bad for my complexion.

Her hand latched around my wrist however, preventing me from going anywhere. "Look at me, Sho."

"What?" I snapped, turning to look at her and snatching my wrist away.

"You can talk to me. I'm here for you. You know that, ne?"

I stared down at her, watching her brown eyes as they searched mine for answers. I guess in some way she and I were friends, at least she tolerated me. But could I trust her? It was hard for me to open up to people, even those close to me - today it's still the same way. I couldn't quite bring myself to tell her that my head was spinning out of control because a certain ginger-haired female wouldn't stop avoiding me. How did I look tell her of my 'girl problems'? It was ludicrous that she even considered the idea that I might open up to her. The inner dwellings of my mind were mine and mine alone - I didn't want to share them.

"Whatever, just hurry up, okay? I'd like to get out of here soon."

She looked at me for a while before letting out a small sigh. "Hn."

That was all that was said between the two of us before I walked out of the room.

xxx

It had been a few days since I had left Kyoto. I said farewell to my father and even the annoying girl at the front desk, I hadn't bothered to say anything to Kyouko though. She wouldn't have anything to say to me anyway. I had just finished doing another interview - Shouko had obviously lied about there being only one - and was laying on the couch in my living room. For the sake of conversation, I will admit that I was watching TV that night - though the idea is still lame. I skipped through the channels, completely bored by what was showing up on the screen until an image of her flashed by. Quickly, I changed the channel back, my eyes studying her polite, yet sad expression.

"There have been reports that you went to Kyoto recently - any chance you ran into Fuwa Sho?"

She sat with her legs crossed on the couch of some talk-show host, smiling pleasantly. Her ginger hair was swept up into a bow shaped bun at the top of her head, a few rebel strands of hair framing her face. The make-up artist had done well with her face, I noted. She wore a beige skirt and white top, her tiny feet adorned a pair of skin toned pumps. Ordinarily that look would have seemed boring and plain but on Kyouko it seemed to fit.

"I did. Actually he and I were together."

I listened as the audience gasped and a small murmur of gossip began. Kyouko smiled at them and waved her hand a bit. "It wasn't like that. Our reasons for being together were not romantic in nature. Actually, it was for a more sad reason."

"The death of his mother?"

She seemed surprised that the host knew of my mother's death, her hazel eyes widening slightly.

"Yes. I wasn't aware that the public knew of this already."

"Hn. All of Japan knows. We all feel for him. The death of one's mother is definitely devastating."

Kyouko merely nodded her head, her eyes sad.

"Question is, Kyouko-chan, how are you related to the death of Fuwa-san?"

"Sho and I are actually childhood friends."

The audience gasped once again.

"Wow, that's certainly unexpected. I'm guessing you were close to the family?"

"Hn. I lived with them for a time before moving to Tokyo."

"How proud they must be to have two stars from their home."

Kyouko smiled pleasantly again. "Hn. The death of oba-san has been hard on all of us. I was greatly saddened when I got the call from Oji-san."

"I can only imagine. How's Sho holding up?"

"He's strong. Growing up Sho was very close with his mother. It'll just take time for him."

The host nodded her head, giving Kyouko a sympathetic smile.

I was slightly irritated to see her face. It irked me that she had no problem speaking with other people about me yet she couldn't bring herself to speak to me. Even worse, that woman was a complete stranger, an outsider. I could feel an irritated tick working in my jaw as I watched and listened to them as they continued to converse, moving on from the topic of my mother to the new drama she was promoting.

"What's it like working with Tsuruga Ren?"

"It's nice. I learn a lot from him. I still feel like a rookie compared to him so it's nice to have someone show me the ropes."

"You two must be close, this is the second drama you've filmed together. You two also starred in a movie together as well."

"Hn. He's my senpai."

The smile she wore when they began talking about Tsuruga was greatly annoying. I hated the fact that she was so close to him. I hated the fact that he had more of a chance with her than I did - despite the fact that the score was still me 1 and him 0. I felt like if she had the choice, she'd pick him over me. The idea of another man having her irritated me. I wanted the world to know that she was mine, even if she didn't know it, I wanted the world to know. I wanted them to respect the fact that she was property of Fuwa Sho. I wanted them to think twice before daring to touch her, especially men. I needed her to understand that no other man would do her better than me - that no one would ever be able to love her as much as I did. Of course then I didn't know that's how I felt. All I did know was that she was mine and she had better act like it.

I stood to my feet, entirely bored with the TV for now. Instead, I felt the urge to speak to her. I wanted to yell at her, to tell her to stop smiling when thinking of Tsuruga, to stop thinking of Tsuruga period. I wanted her to think of me and only me because I was the only thing that should have mattered to her. I took out my cell-phone and scrolled through the contacts only to find that I didn't have her number in there.

"Shit."

Of course I didn't have it, I never had a reason to talk to her before Kyoto happened. But that wasn't okay with me, I wasn't going to just give up like that. I needed to talk to her. I needed to see her. I had to let her know how I felt, that she was crazy if she thought this was over. Weren't girls supposed to be excited about kisses? Every girl I had ever kissed had clung to me afterwards but not Kyouko. No, not her. She didn't believe in normal, in fact she was a strong supporter of abnormal. How could she act as if the kiss between us hadn't happened? Like it didn't mean anything to her. I was so angry. I felt as if I could strangle her for ignoring me. How could she not understand? She who supposedly knew me best. How could she not know that she was mine?

In response to what someone told me in a review: I too feel that the kiss acceptance was a bit soon, but for the sake of drama it needed to be done. Lol. Anyway, thanks so much for the reviews from last chapter. Keep them coming onegaishimasu! 3