I loved writing this chapter!
I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it :D
Also thank you to everyone who reviewed; I hope this lives up to your expectations.
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Notes; wont write less-than signs, so I can't write Hearts. I have substituted them for
*v* = heart.
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She looked up at Ren, trying to decide how she felt, and found him watching her with his fake gentleman smile.
She dropped the knife she was holding and cowered. What had she done? Was he angry at her for yelling at him the night before?
Too many questions.
She sat in a heap on the floor, her legs unable to support her any more.
Staring up at him she waited for him to talk.
Chapter 4; When all is said and done
Ren had turned away from her as she cowered. What was she afraid of? He was smiling at her – he had decided that being a gentleman would make the atmosphere in the house more bearable, but it seemed that didn't work on Kyouko. She knew his true nature.
He had almost jumped up in alarm when she dropped to the ground, but checked himself, as he realised she was just being eccentric, and looked at her expectant face.
He let out a long sigh. He was going to have to explain himself.
They sat at the table discussing everything. He held nothing back. Kyouko had been his saviour many times and she deserved to know the truth.
He had to pause several times to collect his thoughts, preventing himself from breaking down at the painful memories. Reliving his past was something he did not want to have to do, and it often haunted his dreams, but it was necessary; there was no other way to tell the story in full.
Kyouko didn't interrupt. Determinately sitting patiently, waiting for her childhood friend to explain, she refused to allow her emotions to show on her face. Not wanting to break his concentration, she kept the guilt, pitty, hope, confusion, enlightenment, anger, and fear as an inner turmoil, thankful that her acting skills had improved enough to hide her usually expressive face.
Ren was grateful for her lack of interruptions, although he wasn't sure how he felt at the determined to listen properly attitude both her body language and face were showing.
Still, the support she gave enabled him to finish.
Afterwards, they they sat in silence for a little while, allowing the new information to sink in, until Kyouko suddenly remembered that she was halfway through preparing breakfast, and stepped back into the kitchen to calm herself down.
The silence grew until Kyouko broke it with something Ren did not expect.
"Can I call you Kuon?" she asked timidly.
"Of course, Kyouko-chan. You are my childhood friend. You may call me anything."
The idea of denying anything of this girl who had become not only his friend, but also his saviour and loved one, was incomprehensible.
The honesty and care in his voice made Kyouko blush, as her grudge demons once again got drained of all energy.
She started panicking. The locks were breaking. She couldn't allow that to happen. Not again.
Seeing the distress in her, Ren thought of Sho and an angry aura swept around him, causing Kyouko to have to catch her escaping anger probe, before it attacked.
"Why are you angry?" she wailed at him. She had thought they had just made up, so why had his mood suddenly worsened?
Ren checked his anger, but Kyouko had already noticed. What could he tell her? He certainly didn't want to remind Kyouko of him.
He decided to wind Kyouko up about Bo; after all he had been angry about that, enough to make Kyouko cower in fear. Also, he felt that telling her off usually seemed to put her at ease, so he started berating her.
"Mogami-san, don't you have something you wish to tell me?"
"Tell, sempai?" she whimpered
"About a certain chicken?"
She froze. He knew about Bo.
"I AM SO SORRY, Tsuruga san! I know you can't forgive me so just cook me and make me into soup!" she then proceeded to climb into one of the giant cooking pots.
Ren couldn't help but smile at this, as he responded.
"Sorry Kyouko-chan, I am not angry with you"
"You are! My anger probes came out," but she realised then, that they were no longer attracted to his feelings.
"You are really not angry with me?"
"I'm not. You have apologised so frankly, and since I too have kept things from you, I have no right to be angry at you." He didn't add that he wasn't sure he could ever be angry with her for long, since he loved her too much.
"Actually, I wanted to thank you. You have helped me out in many situations, when my pride was too great to ask others for assistance. I hope I can continue to confide in you … so you can come out of the pot now. I will not cook you today."
"Oh." He had his genuine smile on, and was actually being honest with her, as he had been with Bo.
"….."
"….."
"….."
"….."
"Kyouko-chan?"
"Uhmmmm, Kuon? I… I can't get out."
He tried not to laugh. He really did try, but to no avail.
Actually, he laughed so hard that he rolled on the floor, temporarily losing his gentleman's image.
She tried to glare at him, but gave up into giggles, which echoed in the giant pot, causing Kuu and Julie to decide they couldn't pretend to be asleep much longer.
Finally getting up, they entered the kitchen ten minutes later to find their son gasping for breath on the ground, a wide grin spread across his face, and Kyouko still inside the pot.
They looked between the two, who hadn't noticed the new arrivals, and felt like laughing at the situation they had ended up in.
At least, they did until they realised what Kyouko was saying.
"Kuon? Kuon, that's enough now. Help me out, will you?"
'Kuon'? Was it really Kuon? No, that was definitely Ren Tsuruga. He had recovered himself and the mask was back.
Their thoughts of laughter turned into hope, disappointment, and confusion at this.
Julia was staring at them with tears in her eyes; Kuu with a fond smile.
"Come here then, I will get you out" Kuu had stepped forwards, and had beaten Ren to it.
Looking amused at Ren's jealous regret, Kuu scooped her up and placed her back on the kitchen floor.
By this time it was already mid afternoon, and Julie suggested they turn Kyouko's beginnings at breakfast preparation into Lunch.
The men stepped forward to help; after all, cooking was a family activity in the Hizuri house.
Kyouko had other ideas. Remembering Ren's last attempt at cooking the Maoi Omu-rice, she kicked him out of the kitchen.
Julie protested until Kyouko explained that it was only until they had time to teach him properly; she was hungry, and wasn't willing to waste another second.
Kuon was given the task of laying the table.
They were getting along so well, and it felt so natural to be together, that it wasn't until they sat down at the table to eat that they noticed Maria and Lory's absence.
Before anyone could get up to go and look for them, Kuon remembered the envelope he had found while laying the table.
He read the letter out loud.
" *v* My dearest friends *v*,
Maria and I are going on a day trip. We will return in the evening after dinner.
We are going to have some lovey dovey family time *v*.
I hope you do the same, otherwise I will be very sad :( .
So lots of hugs and kisses, and spread the love!
*v* xxx Lory"
Kyouko felt embarrassed. Having grown up in Japan, she wasn't used to such open shows of affection, although she didn't expect much less from the president.
Also, she realised that she had been intruding on family time. She wasn't related to them and had been impertinent enough to think she had the right to be there.
Ren looked exasperated; both at Lory's incorrigible attitude, and Kyouko's sudden change in mood. A gloomy cloud was hovering over her bowed head.
Kuu on the other hand, having a similar ability to love excessively, grinned. He scooped his wife into an embrace, and the two soon became unaware of the atmosphere in the rest of the room.
Sighing, Ren picked his plate up and invited Kyouko to come eat outside.
The weather outside was perfect. Warm, but with a slight breeze, and it had just rained. Water droplets were shining, sparkling on the plants.
It didn't take long for Kyouko to forget her worries, and get lost in her fairy world. She didn't even remember that she had been hungry.
Ren was watching her with such love in his eyes, that Kyouko would have been glad that she hadn't seen it.
She knew everything, even the parts about his life he was ashamed of; afraid of, even. Yet here she was, acting like before. No, closer than before, since she had dropped the 'san', except when he was angry.
He hoped, even though he knew he shouldn't be allowed to hope. He hoped for a future with her by his side.
With this thought he moved forward to tell her; to hug and kiss her as his parents were doing; as he had for so long wished to do, but stopped.
She had absorbed a lot in the past few days, and he knew that love was a difficult topic for her.
Afraid that she wouldn't cope with the extra knowledge, he put that thought aside to act on at a later date, and did the next best thing.
He stepped into her world.
Fairies were dancing everywhere.
Every time they landed on a leaf, it would shake off a droplet of water, causing it to fall, scattering the light into a rainbow of colours.
Every time they flapped their wings, it ruffled her hair in the slight breeze.
Fairies were always so kind to her. Their colourful little faces grinned cheerily up at her, as she swirled and danced amongst them.
She hadn't seen so many out at once since Corn, her fairy prince, had played with her by the river in Kyoto.
Ren had tried to explain to her that Kuu was a fairy only in the meaning of immortal butterfly; an Actor, a human. That he was only a fairy king by being the best actor in the world.
Kyouko knew otherwise. Why else would all the fairies come out to greet their prince, if he wasn't one of them?
That was when she noticed him. Corn was with her. A Corn with brown hair, and brown eyes; Kuon.
She smiled up at him, and accepted his offered hand. Together they danced back to the table where their food awaited them.
Treating her like a princess, he helped her to sit and kissed her hand, before releasing it to sit opposite. For once he was really hungry.
The rest of the afternoon was lost to them as they absorbed the outside atmosphere, taking strolls in the garden and chatting aimlessly.
Only one serious topic came up, and that was Kuon's parents. He wasn't yet ready to remove his mask, but he didn't want to go back to not knowing his parents.
He loved them, and he knew the distance between them was breaking their hearts.
After discussing it carefully, they decided that continuing as they had been all day was the best solution. He could act like Ren, but respond to Kuon, and call his parents properly. At least he hoped he could; that bit he was a little nervous about.
They wanted Kuu and Julie to be happy. It was not just Kuon, but also Kyouko who loved the couple who had become parents to her.
Washing the dishes, they didn't speak much. (Kyouko had got Ren to help her since she didn't want to get stuck inside the pot which she couldn't reach the bottom of)
Kyouko had commented amusedly about how the food seemed to magically disappear and how he and his father were complete opposites in that respect, but he hadn't replied.
She had forgotten what Kuu had said about him being force fed as a child. Julie, although sweet, was a little ditsy and had not realised that Kuu's ability to eat so much was not normal.
The subjects of their thoughts finally separated themselves and cautiously came over to talk.
Kuu broke the silence.
"Kuon?"
Kyouko felt him freeze beside her. Maybe he wasn't ready for this, even though they had decided on this in the garden.
He was looking at her pleadingly; fear, confusion, and desperation all visible in his eyes, although he had tried to keep his face blank.
Trying to find a way to help him, a sudden thought came to her.
She blinked, and when she opened her eyes, young Kuon was looking back at him, mischief in her eyes.
She turned around to face her father.
""Yes, Father.""
It was not just her voice that had spoken.
To Kuu and Julie it was a strange and slightly comical sight.
Kuu had called out to his son, not knowing if he would be able to respond, but hoping that it was not only Kyouko who was permitted to call him by his name.
They had watched as his shoulders tensed, and tried to be patient, waiting until they had an answer before allowing themselves to feel hope or disappointment.
Instead they felt surprise.
Their two children had seemed to glance at each other, then, without discussing, they had acted simultaneously.
""Yes, Father.""
They both turned, fully in character as Kuon.
Both were acting. Ren had seen Kyouko's transformation and with the relief of her emotional support, an idea came.
He was not ready to be himself for his parents, but here was nothing stopping him being the Kuon Kyouko had created.
And that was how the tension was broken. The trauma had not been healed completely, but they were at least able to have the parent child relationship they had all been wishing for.
Kuu laughed briefly at how identically mischievous his children looked, before bursting into tears with his wife and the four of them ended up in a huge bundle of hugs; no-one was quite sure who hugged whom first, but it didn't matter.