Hello hello! I am back! I don't own Skip Beat, but I hope you enjoy this 6000-plus word chapter, courtesy of moi. Oh, and I can promise that there's not a horrible cliffhanger at the end (for once). But no, the story is not done yet.

I AM SO SORRY ABOUT HOW THIS CHAPTER WAS PREVIOUSLY POSTED. I had to switch formats for publishing and the website rejected my new one.

Kuon shifted his grip on his phone and sat up straighter, speaking in his mother tongue. "Mom? Are you still there?"

This question was met with a minute of dead silence, followed by a hushed whisper of, "...Kuon?"

"Yes, it's me. I'm sorry that-" His apologies were cut off by her sudden, earsplitting shriek, calling for Kuu to get on the other extension. The next few minutes were mostly teary ramblings and affirmations that yes, this was her baby boy and no, he wasn't dying and yes, he was calling of his own free will and not because the boss was forcing him to call. Eventually - out of nerves or genuine mirth, he wasn't quite sure - he stopped trying to answer their questions and just started laughing. His father's hearty chuckle soon joined in, followed by his mother's half-hysterical giggle. He could picture the tears streaming down her face as they always had when he'd done something that was both incredibly dangerous and ridiculous (yet somehow managed to make it out alive); his father probably had one arm around her as he laughed against the top of her head.

All three were oblivious to Plagioclase the whale, who was swimming through the air behind Kuon's head, proclaiming his message of love. (If he were able to see such specters, Lory would have gotten along fabulously with the whale.)

Once they had all quieted, Kuon continued, "I'm sorry that it's taken me so long to call. I didn't mean to shut you out so much."

"It's fine, son," Kuu chuckled. Kuon could imagine his father ruffling his hair in the way he had when he'd been young. "You've called us now, and that's all that matters."

"Well, I'm not forgiving you!" Julie huffed. "At least not until I'm allowed to see my own son again! When are you coming home?"

"I'm sure that if you told boss that I called you, he'd lift the ban." As Plagioclase had promised with his motto of, "It's okay; I still love you," everything was fine. Why had he been so afraid to call for so long? Had he really expected his parents to shun him? "I'd really like to see you, too."

"Then it's settled! We'll call the kidnapper and come visit you right away."

"But no matter how we schedule it, we can't get away for at least three days," his father intoned, disappointed. "And I get the feeling that our workaholic son wouldn't be too happy with us if we skipped work just to see him."

Kuon laughed, but did not argue the point as his father excused himself to go ask their managers to rearrange their schedules. "Well - answering your question from before - there is someone I'd like to explain everything to first, so I won't be coming home for a while. She - well, I've got a reason to stay."

"Oh? Who?" Julie's interest was piqued. "Who are you planning to - wait, do you mean everything everything?"

Kuon winced. Maybe I shouldn't have let that slip. "Yeah… unless you have an objection?"

"Y-You mean that you're going to tell someone who you are? T-To tell them everything?" His mother was an odd mix of teary and over-enthusiastic, much like a cat witnessing her kitten kill its first catnip mouse.

"Yeah, plus a little beyond that." Ah, well. Might as well see how deep the rabbit hole goes - or where the faerieland bridge takes me, as the case may be.

"Beyond…?" He vaguely wondered if she was furrowing her brow as she always used to when he posed a particularly ridiculous question. "What do you mean, Kuon?"

"Well, it's… it's complicated." He cleared his throat. "H-How are you and Dad? Has everything been going okay over there?"

As Julie is Kuon's mother and therefore not easily diverted, she was not fooled by his feeble attempt to change the subject. "We're both doing wonderfully now that our darling son, who abandoned us for so many long years, has finally come back to us by using one of the wonders of modern technology. But why is the explanation of whatever 'beyond' you mean complicated?"

After taking a moment to work out her convoluted syntax, Kuon replied, "It's nothing really to worry about. I just have something extra to explain to her."

"'Her'?" He could almost hear the smile in his mother's voice. "Could this 'her' happen to be the girl your father calls the 'other Kuon'? Should I expect grandbabies soon?"

"Mom, we've been verbally reunited for just over ten minutes and you're already teasing me." Kuon sighed, but smiled. Why had he been worried about calling? What had he expected to change?

"Is it so wrong for me to want to know what's going on in my baby's life?"

"And she wonders how I can puppy-dog pout… I learned from the master," he muttered.

"What was that, my little rascal?"

He grinned, wondering why he felt about twelve years old. "Nothing, Mom. I was just about to tell you more. You see, I've met her before as Kuon."

"Then won't it be easier to tell her?"

"Harder, actually. She knows me as a faerie." In response to his mother's sudden gigglefit, he added, "In her defense, she was six at the time." Although she was still convinced of it in Guam… maybe I won't mention that yet.

"I bet she'll be thrilled to find out that you're her mystery faerie! She might fall right into your arms."

"Mom, please tell me you didn't just try to wink at me over the phone." ...Please don't get my hopes up.

"I must not tell lies." He heard her laugh. "So ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies!"

"You've been re-reading the fifth book, haven't you?" He'd almost forgotten that it was her favorite series…. "What number of read-throughs are you on now?"

"About seventeen, I think. I've been busy lately, so I've not been able to get it up to eightteen." She sighed; the sound echoed in his ear. "But I really do think that the other Kuon - from what I've heard of her from Kuu - will be thrilled to find out that you're her faerie. So don't be nervous."

"I'm not nervous, Mom."

"Liar." She was amused at his expense; he'd missed those days.

Before he could retort, his father's voice crackled over the phone again. "Prepare yourself, son! We're going to come in three days, so do whatever you have to between then and now so we can spend some time with our son."

"Which one?"

"Why, both of you!" Kuu declared, catching onto his biological son's line of thinking. "And at the same time, if I can wrangle it!"

Kuon let out a harsh laugh. "I think the together bit depends on whether or not she'll still be willing to speak to me."

"Huh?" Munching sounded in Kuon's ear; his father had obviously gotten something to eat when he'd gone to call their managers.

"I'm going to tell her who I am."

His father let out a low whistle. "...Wow. Boss was right."

Kuon blinked. "Wait, what?"

"Not that I wanted to believe him, of course, because it'd mean that my son was stealing my son from me! Not that I'm surprised, of course, as she obviously had a bit of a thing for you when she was cooking for me -"

"What?" His mind was reeling. That couldn't be possible, right…?

"Yeah. I was trying to infuriate her and said some awful things about you which of course I didn't mean, but she reacted really strongly to the point where we actually got into a fight of sorts. I lost, but got to eat her food, so I guess I won in a way." His father paused, not knowing of his son's confusion, before continuing, "And then she was all beet red and apologetic the next day! But her food's phenomenal. Have you had any?"

Kuon snorted. "'Course I have. She insists that I don't eat properly - and then my manager connives and guilts her into coming over here and cooking. I don't mind - I mean, I'm grateful and happy to see her - but I wish that she wouldn't feel obligated."

"But have you been eating properly?"

"Do you really think that she wouldn't badger me to eat healthily?" Kuon raised an eyebrow. "She had me take videos of myself eating while I was abroad so she could be sure that I was eating proper meals."

"You two sound so adorable," Julie sighed. "So when can I expect to see my son and future daughter-in-law wed?"

"Mom, we're not together."

"Yet."

"I don't even know if she'll still be talking to me by the time you two get here!"

"She'll be perfectly fine with the fairy thing, Kuon." Julie grinned, though Kuon could not see it. "So hurry up and tell her so I can come meet this girl both of my men love so much!"

"But- I - it's not that simple to tell her!" He was struggling with his words, unused to speaking his native tongue. "Imagine if you were a seal - you'd just go right up to a dog and say, 'Yo, land dog, I'm a water dog!' No! It's not that simple, especially if you've been masquerading as a land dog for years! I mean - geez!" He then proceeded to huff, dropping his head against the back of the sofa with a fump.

Kuu chuckled. "There. That sounds more like my brat of a son."

And together they laughed.

Kyoko, meanwhile, was switching back and forth between two vastly different emotions. One half of her was dancing around singing Disney songs; the other half was in a state of horrified panic and was curled up in a ball on the floor, rocking back and forth at great speed. Any normal human being would have been reduced to standing (or sitting) in a stupor by this clash of desires; as Kyoko is Kyoko, however, and is therefore by no means a normal anything, she was attempting to do both things at once - and nearly managing it. The end result, in short, was that when Kanae emerged from her bath, it was to find Kyoko alternately dancing from joy and curling up in despair - before nearly flying over to her bag to locate her Corn stone, only to drop her bag as if burned by some magic spell - and then repeating her earlier actions. May it be a point in Kanae's favor that she was not overly surprised by this sight.

"Should I even bother to ask?"

"Moko!" She bounced to her feet (having just been in the rocking-on-the-floor portion of her emotional instability) and threw her arms around her best friend. "I was thinking that we could start with doing each others' hair or having a pillow fight or -"

"Explanation first, girly sleepover crap second."

"But Moooookoooooooo…." Would a puppy-dog pout work on her? Probably not, with her family….

"We made a deal." Kanae crossed her arms. "Or are you going to break a promise to your best friend?" She winced as she said this; though she knew it was necessary, a small part of her felt awful for consistently manipulating her best friend.

As the faerie-obsessed girl was at first too conflicted to explain, a certain cowgirl took over the driver's seat. Please take a moment, dearest reader, to appreciate Kanae's confusion when Kyoko's manner suddenly changed from her normal self to a country song's idea of a girl.

Annabel stretched her arms and tossed Kanae a grin. "Heya! Sorry for th'switch, but th'boss Kyoko is in too much of a tizzy right now t'splain herself to ya real well, so I thought I'd pop out 'n' do her th'favor. I'm Annabel, by th'way - Annabel Cooper." Her hand grasped Kanae's and gave it a firm shake.

Why? Why the hell can't you just tell me as yourself? "And what corner of her mind did you crawl out of, may I ask?"

"Oh, I'm from the sleepover with Maria-chi that kinda spiralled into this whole fabulous fiasco," Annabel returned with another grin. "Y'see, it was when Maria-chi invited cowboy over -"

"Cowboy?" Kanae echoed, amused incredulity dripping from her voice. Are you telling me that you have a character who refers to that guy as 'cowboy'?

"Oh, right, ya prob'ly know him as Tsuruga-kun. But anyway," (Kyoko's grudges took the opportunity to start singing a certain song by a band named after a type of trip) "since ya wanted th'full story, I might as well start from th'top, right?"

"Right…" Kanae shook several notions from her head and twisted her damp hair up into a messy bun. "So it all started at the Takarada place?"

"Yup! By th'time I arrived, Truth or Dare had already started -"

Kanae groaned. Truth or Dare, as a general rule, never ended well.

"-and after a bit of chaos 'n' explorin', we invited cowboy over to join us for dinner. He never eats on his own 'n' all that, y'know." There was a touch of fondness in the cowgirl's voice that both frightened and frustrated Kanae, who made a motion indicating that the other girl ought to get on with her story. Annabel complied. "So - yeah. Cowboy came over 'n' we made him eat a touch o'dinner, and after that we continued th'game from before - Truth or Dare, I mean. 'N' pretty close to th'end - when I'd zipped back to th'meetin' room - cowboy made th'boss Kyoko an offer she just couldn't refuse."

"And that would be…?" I swear, if it's some other sappy fairy tale-type thing….

"Oh, th'usual sap stuff. Offerin' t'treat her like a princess 'n' be her prince." Annabel rolled her eyes. "Took that awful month for th'boss Kyoko to cave 'n' agree."

Of course. "Could I talk to her for the explanation of the actual day? Is she calm now?"

"Sure thing. Just give 'er a sec - Mio 'n' Natsu are workin' their calm-yer-butt-down shpiel on her right now. Ya oughta be glad that I'm th'one who clawed her way out t'explain it to ya - Setsu was rarin' t'have a go at ya for all th'stuff ya've said 'bout her nii-san." Her head gave an odd little jerk. "See ya!"

Setsu…? Probably another character from that night. "You good now?"

"Y-Yes… I'm sorry about that, Moko." Kyoko was blinking at her, as if to straighten out her thinking process. "I just needed a minute, and Annabel seemed the safest one to send out here."

"I'm not even going to pretend to understand what just happened - no, don't try to tell me, I really don't want to know." She held up a hand to prevent further discourse on the subject. "Just explain what happened yesterday."

"W-Well…." Thus, as ketchup comes from a squeeze bottle, Kanae coaxed the story out of Kyoko - haltingly, then in a gush. She told her best friend nearly everything she could remember, from the phone call when she accepted his offer to the point where Kanae herself had intercepted them that morning. She told of her wild fantasies and imaginings combining and becoming reality. Of the odd parallels between him and her fairy prince - of Corn, the stone and the faerie, in Kyoto and in Guam. Of communing with the faeries and eating her favorite food for lunch; of dressing as faerie royalty and acting the part. She told of the millions of details, big and small, that had been worked into the day - of the Disney mix he had blended just for her, of his singing along to it with her. The carousel, the pseudo-courtly speech, the fact that she got to keep the make-up and costume, their encounters with the various people, their dance together, the potato pancakes, his crowning of her as the princess of Cor Meum… her acceptance of the second half of his offer… their royal portraits and his insistence that the magic mirror wasn't broken when it only showed her… their dinner at his place… their goodnight… everything.

Kanae stared at her friend, mouth hanging slightly open. She spoke with an exhale, "Mo."

"Moko?" Kyoko glanced up at her friend, fear in her eyes.

"What?"

Her voice was small. "Do you hate me now?"

"Why would I hate you?" She rolled her eyes. "You went on a date. You panicked over it as expected. You told me about it in excruciating detail. Whoopty-freaking-do."

"So you don't hate me?"

"We already covered this. I am not going through that again." Breathe, Kanae. "Look, outside of - I don't know - wrecking my career or murdering my family, there's very little that you could do to make me hate you. I'm too used to your insanity by now to ever - get off of me!"

For Kyoko had, of course, launched herself at her best friend. "I-I-I was j-just so scared that y-you'd hate me for becoming a s-s-s-stupid woman again, and - and - and I don't want to be like that again, but I don't want to not be near him, and I'm so disgusted with myself and - and -!"

Fwap.

Kanae lowered the floor cushion with which she had smacked her friend across the face. To her surprise, far from having calmed her friend, the impact had brought a devilish smile to Kyoko's face. She realized why a second too late to duck the cushion the faerie-obsessed girl swung at her.

"Pillow fight!"

"Mo, that's not what - oh, take that!" Thus, a brief insanity break ensued as the two girls had a pillow fight. Many flying floor cushions later, the sweaty pair lay panting on the floor of the apartment, laughing.

"I finally got to have a pillow fight!" Kyoko beamed at her friend, eyes sparkling.

Kanae brushed the sparkles off of her shoulders. "You do realize that all I was trying to do was calm you down, right?"

"...Maybe."

"You're lucky that all the floor cushions are out of reach."

"I'd get one for you, but they're all the way over there," Kyoko yawned, pointing across the room. "What were you going to say, by the way? I'm sorry for interrupting you."

"Huh - oh. Right." Kanae gave herself a little shake and hoisted herself up onto her elbows so that she could better look at her best friend. "As for your worry over becoming a stupid woman again… answer me this: are you going to let it take over your life? Are you still going to enjoy acting and spending time with your friends and pseudo-family if he's not there at that specific time, or are you going to mope about him not being there?"

Kyoko was nonplussed. "I'd still enjoy myself, of course! Why wouldn't I?"

"Then you'll be perfectly fine, so stop worrying. If you get too deep into it and start babbling about him too much, then I'll just drag you over here and smack you with another floor cushion."

"...Really?"

"That is what best friends are for." She rolled away from yet another hug. "Anything else you're internally spazzing about?"

Yes. No. I don't know. She smiled her best sales-woman smile. "Nope! Not a thing!"

Fwap. Kanae had rolled within arm's reach of another floor cushion. "I am not going to be fooled by that smile of doom again. Spill."

Kyoko tossed the cushion back to her friend. "What are you talking about? I'm f-"

"No."

"But I'm -"

"No."

"B-"

"No."

Kyoko sighed, defeated by the icy gaze of the girl she had claimed as her best friend. "It's just… I'm confused," she admitted, voice small.

"About what?" Kanae inquired, sitting up properly on the floor cushion.

Kyoko fetched one from the far side of the room and hugged it as she sat down facing her best friend. "I don't know what I want, is all."

The longer she talks, the more I feel like we're in some shojo manga.

"I… I do want to be happy - but I don't really understand what happiness even is! I thought I knew for a while, but now I'm not sure…. And I do trust him to treat me well, should the impossible ever happen - I mean, he does already, to a ridiculous point - it's just… I trust him, but he's still a guy. I just don't know, Moko… I… I want to be happy and -" she paused, clutching her floor cushion more tightly to her chest, and made an odd gulping sound, trying to force the words out - "I w-w-want to be… w-with him, but… I don't know if I'm ready. I mean, I'm still so broken, and…." She trailed off, leaving her friend to stare at her, dumbstruck by what the girl had finally admitted.

"So," Kanae blinked, absorbing the information and using her acting skills to hide her intermingled relief, shock, and mild disgust, "tell him that."

"Huh?" Her grip on her floor cushion slackened.

"When the time comes, tell him what you just told me - you trust him and want to be with him, but you're not sure if you're ready. If he's worth your time at all, he'll understand. If not, I'll work with you and Maria-chan to come up with the best curse possible. Deal?" She held up her hand.

Kyoko clasped it with one of her own, a small, reassured smile playing around the corners of her mouth. "Deal."

"Good. Anything else?" Kyoko shook her head. "For real?" A nod. "Okay, then - one last thing before we do whatever sleepover stuff you want."

"Yes?"

The elder of the two girls grinned, a teasing tone entering her voice. "I promise not to spoil your future kids - that's the president's job. I'll just be the fun almost-aunt they stay with when you two go out on dates, if my schedule allows."

"MOKO!" Kyoko yelped in scandalized tones.

"That's what you get for making me listen to sappy love problems!" She was laughing as she dodged Kyoko's indignant cushion-toss in her general direction. "Now, what do you want to do first - hair, or blind makeovers, or what? I'm guessing that you want to avoid Truth or Dare."

At which point Kyoko (as she is Kyoko and therefore ridiculously excited by such events) let out a ludicrously large gasp and was rendered speechless by her joy - resulting in Kanae smacking her in the face with another floor cushion to return her to her senses. Kyoko did not mind overly; after all, a floor cushion to the face is much easier to deal with than even more mind-bamboozling realizations… and she still had quite a few wires to connect.

"C-Can we do hair first?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you want. D'you want to do mine first or should I do yours?"

"I-I want to play with yours! Please?" She clapped her hands together, looking at her best friend with eyes brimming with the type of hope that glows a dull orange.

She turned so that her back was towards her best friend and undid her messy bun, slipping the hair tie around her wrist. "Yeah, yeah - just please, no pigtails. I don't do pigtails."

"No worries! I shall give Moko a French braid worthy of an empress!" Her fist made a soft thump as she put it to her chest, emphasizing her declaration.

"Have you ever done one before?" The raven-haired girl inquired as the said tresses were given over to the mercy of the other girl.

"No, but I know the theory - oh!" The strands slipped through her fingers. "Moko, do you mind if I take pictures so I can remember my first-ever sleepover?"

A brilliant, fiendish idea dropped into Kanae's mind. "Not at all - actually, that's a great idea. Here, give me your phone - I'll take one now." Kyoko obliged, beaming, and began her working with the strands; Kanae, with a grin of her own, opened the phone and snapped a shot of the pair of them. When she opened the "saved" photos to look at it, however, she discovered something else.

"Do I even want to know why you have a picture of a sleeping Tsuruga and a stuffed sheep?"

"Probably not," Kyoko quipped, fingers working at Kanae's scalp.

"Are you going to tell me anyway?"

"If you want me to, Moko."

"Sure, why not - it's not like I'll be moving anytime soon." And so Kyoko explained how she came to have that picture - which in turn led to Kanae questioning why that man spent so much time in the LoveME room. "It's not as if its garish colors make for a particularly calming environment."

"It is kind of weird how much time he spends in there, when he's got time off. I wonder why…?" Her fingers were moving more quickly now; she slid in a few strands from the base of Kanae's neck.

"Probably to see you - ow!"

"Sorry! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to pull on your hair, I just -"

"Were startled. Yeah, yeah. But still, that's probably why he drops by so often." She could not resist a snicker.

"Moko!" Kyoko whined, twining her friend's still-damp hair into a slick braid. "Stop teasing me!"

"Hey, it's not often I actually have something good to tease you about. Be glad that I'm not going on about your fairy prince - mo, be careful! I'm going to be bald!"

Kyoko's face was a brilliant red. "D-Don't mention Corn! It'll make me even more confused!"

Kanae laughed, but did not press the matter - the last thing they needed was Kyoko getting worked up again. She let out a long breath through her nose and allowed her shoulders to relax. It had been a while since she'd let someone else do her hair - she'd forgotten how pleasant it could feel… then again, with her family, it was generally a more painful feeling. Her best friend was very gentle, in more ways than one.

"Moko, do you have a hair tie? I forgot to grab one."

"Hm? Oh, yeah, here." She slipped the hair tie off of her wrist and handed it back.

"Thank you!" A few tugs later, she announced, "You're all done!"

"I'll go take a look, then." She lurched to her feet (she had been sitting for a while, after all) and walked to her bathroom to use the mirror; when she returned, it was to a girl strung up in a peculiar predicament.

Somehow, in the minute and a half it had taken for Kanae to note that her new style was decent-looking, Kyoko had managed to both find the sole spool of ribbon in the apartment and get herself completely tangled in it. She would have looked pathetic had the sight not been so amusing.

"Mooookoooo… I'm sorry… it was sitting there, all lonely, and wanted to be played with. I thought I could unspool some to tie at the end of your braid, but…." She made a helpless gesture with her tangled hands - or tried to; she only managed to get further tangled in the ribbon. Kanae snorted and found a pair of scissors to free her friend - but first, she took another picture with Kyoko's phone.

"I swear, you get in trouble more easily than anyone I've ever met." Had it not been for the fondness in her voice, Kyoko might have thought that Kanae was chastising her. She gave a sheepish laugh (tempting the authoress to ram baa-d puns into the dear reader's brain) as the ribbons ensnaring her fell to the floor. Once she had been freed, she tied one of the shorter strands to the end of Kanae's braid and then presented her friend with her back.

"My turn!" The girl was in seventh heaven - or perhaps only sixth; after all, the night was not over, nor was she surrounded by fluff (in either sense of the term). Kanae rolled her eyes and set to putting her best friend's hair into dozens of tiny ponytails with ribbon. When she was done, she instructed her friend to look back over her shoulder - and snapped another picture.

Kyoko bounced to her feet and ran to look in the mirror - and then hurtled back at top speed to hug her friend. "Thank you so much, Moko! I'm so happy!"

"Mo, you're welcome. Get off. How are we supposed to do something else with you hanging off of me like this?" She nearly laughed at how quickly the latter sentence made her friend relinquish her hold.

"Wh-What's next?" She was beaming, eyes shining - Kanae snapped another picture.

"How about makeovers - then raiding my closet and acting characters to match? Then later we can eat random junk and crash watching a movie. My cousin gave me one you'd probably like - The Princess Bride." She clapped her hands over her ears to protect them from the squeal that emitted from Kyoko at these words.

"That sounds wonderful!"

Plagioclase the loving whale was having a grand time. Of course, he usually was (as Plagioclase is Plagioclase and therefore loves everyone and everything), but he was especially enjoying himself that evening. After all, it's not often that a specter such as himself is able to eavesdrop on half of a conversation between a newly-reunited son and parents.

"That sounds bizarre. How can you eat all that?"

Plagioclase hummed. The trio seemed to have overcome any brief awkwardness caused by separation.

A laugh. "Yeah, but -"

He got cut off; the voices on the other end of the line seemed to be scolding him; something about the late hour. Plagioclase snickered.

"Three days, I know, I know. I'll tell her by then."

Softer tones; the loving whale approved.

"Yeah. I love you, too. Sleep well, Mom, Dad."

The conversation ended. The boy - well, man, Plagioclase supposed (whales are inept when it comes to determining the ages of humans) - smiled at his phone before shutting it and standing up to walk to his sleeping quarters.

The whale smiled as only whales can. Tonight, he decided, was a good night… though the night coming within three days' time was sure to be better.

"B-But Moko…."

"C'mon, you want to be an actress, right? Give it a go. I don't care if you use one of the characters you've got already, just try it."

"B-But this is so…."

"Are you telling me you can't do this when you made me act out an alien?" Kanae demanded, pointing to her green-and-silver-decorated face. "Surely you can handle this. It's just one of my light dresses. If you want," she grinned here, a devilish spark in her eyes, "you could act like you did with your prince in the park yesterday. Or," she amended, when the grudges begged to come out, "you could show me some of Natsu's lighter side, when she's not torturing someone. I don't care. Just do something."

Kyoko struggled with herself for a few moments - on her, Kanae's dress was a touch lower in the front than she'd like, almost low enough for Setsu to approve - before taking a deep breath and closing her eyes. Okay, everyone, I'm going to need a mixture of Natsu, Setsu, and Annabel - plus a bit of you, Anne, before you turned evil… good. Remember, this is Moko, so no bloodshed - none, Nacchan. ...Ready? Then let's go.

Her eyes opened - not as wide as they did for her usual self, but wider than Natsu's did; a smirk tugged at the edges of her lips without reaching the center. She set her feet a bit further apart than usual; her hips listed to her left, one hand resting at her waist. The other reached up to play with her ribboned hair. When she spoke, her words were smooth and deliberate.

"Hey, Kanae."

It was this address, more than anything else, that surprised her friend. She took a quick photo before responding. "Yes?"

"Do you have a radio anywhere?" Annabel egged her on, whispering an idea into this character's translucent ear. "I want to dance."

Kanae pointed to the small radio on her shelf. "Knock yourself out."

"Don't think I will, thanks. Last I checked, concussions are no fun." Yes, that bit was Natsu - so was her walk, with a few lighter steps thrown in for good measure. The radio was on; music was found.

And she danced.

Kanae laughed.

Yes, it was an odd mixture of traditional dancing with awkward T-rex-like hand movements and random spins thrown in for good measure, but it was a dance… so she took pictures, laughing until she was on the brink of tears. How did I get stuck with this weirdo for a best friend?

Kyoko took a bow and slipped out of her character, a blush coloring her face as a grin chased it.

I don't know how… but for some reason, I really don't mind.…At which point Kanae realized how sappy she sounded and decided that, since it was getting late, they really ought to just watch the movie and go to bed. The pair removed their make-up; then Kyoko trotted off to take a quick shower, leaving the elder girl to get the room ready.

Plagioclase did not sleep.

It was not that he did not need to; he simply chose not to, not yet.

He knew that something more was to happen this night, and so chose to wait, listening to the contented breathing of Japan's most sought-after bachelor.

"Ready?" Kanae called through the bathroom door, unrolling her abnormally large futon (courtesy of her elder brothers). "The previews are almost over!"

"Coming!" A series of clunks and a lone "ow" preceded the girl from the room. "Here I am!"

Kanae did not comment on her friend's fairy nightgown, instead opting to take yet another photo of the girl before her. "I made popcorn."

"Ooh, thank you! I love popcorn!" She plopped down next to her friend, peering at the video box in Kanae's hands. "A foreign film?"

A nod. "It's supposed to be amusing - it's kind of old, so the special effects aren't that great. It should be good for a laugh."

"I hope so!" The movie began playing; they were only paying half-attention to it.

"Wait!" Kanae exclaimed, struck by an evil, awful, wonderful idea as the fairy-clad girl reached for the popcorn. The elder girl picked up a kernel and balanced it on the tip of the other girl's nose. "Puppy eyes."

Kyoko, thinking it was all in play, gave her friend her best puppy-dog eyes - the ones she had learned from Cain. Kanae snapped a picture. In the background, the movie continued to play; its words fell upon Kyoko's ears.

"...that when he was saying 'As you wish,' what he meant was 'I love you'..."

Kyoko's head whipped around, the popcorn falling into her lap unnoticed. Ignoring her best friend's confused expression, the younger of the two scrambled for the remote to rewind the movie. She could not have heard that properly. Sure, by Moko's logic, it made sense, but for it to actually be true? Ridiculous. She hit play, only to hear the same line.

She rewound it again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

And aga -

"Enough already!" Kanae snapped, snatching the abused remote from Kyoko. "What is with you?"

"Moko," she squeaked, eyes wide, "w-w-what is the likelihood that Ren has seen this movie or read its book?"

"How the hell should I know? What does it - no, don't tell me. Let me guess." She heaved a sigh. "While he was all dolled up as a fairy-knight-prince-thing, he offered you something, you replied, and he went along with it while saying that instead of yes."

A nod.

"And judging from your face, you probably said it back at some point, not knowing what it meant. Yes?"

Another nod. The movie continued playing in the background, ignored.

"Then get over it already. He probably knew that you didn't know, and you now have near-definite evidence that he's mad about you. Congratulations. Now are you going to be all googly-eyed and tomato-cheeked over your fairy knight, or are you going to enjoy a sleepover with your best friend?"

Kyoko beamed at her. "Of course I'll enjoy a sleepover with you! ...But could we watch a different movie?"

"Nope. You still have to see the R.O.U.S.s."

"The what?"

"Rodents Of Unusual Size."

Kyoko laughed and threw a piece of popcorn at her best friend.

Deedle-laa-doo-deedle-laa-doo-laaaaa

Deedle-laa-doo-deedle-laa-doo-laaaaa

Deedle-laa-doo-deedle-laa-doo-laaaaa

Kuon groaned, rolling over and groping around on his bedside table for his cell phone.

Deedle-laa-doo-deedle-laa-doo-laaaaa

Plagioclase swam into the room, summoned by the impending event, in time to hear Kuon grumble in his native tongue. He came to rest on the actor's right shoulder just as the man realized that the message was from Kyoko's phone and accessed it - which was composed of a long string of pictures, new ones arriving every twenty seconds or so. The loving whale felt warm inside as a brilliant grin stretched across the actor's face.

"Are these all… Kyoko? Why?" he murmured, clicking through the pictures and saving each to his phone. "Oh, she's at Kotonami-san's…. How did she get tangled in those… ribbons…?"

Plagioclase gave the man a sidelong glance as his chuckles became something deeper, melting into almost a growl. The next picture came into view, causing the man's growl to change into a smile.

"I wonder if I'll be seeing that hairstyle on her sometime soon." He clicked to the next picture - her face was bursting with enthusiasm. He stared at it for a few moments, permitting the fantasy to emerge that she was that excited about him, before setting it as her contact picture.

Plagioclase basked in the glow of the actor's smile for a moment before silently urging him to look through the rest of the pictures - all of which, the reader and this whale may safely assume, were taken by a certain dark-haired girl.

The next few pictures were of various make-up experiments, both pretty and bizarre (Kanae's alien face was not included). The next couple, however, took him by surprise. "A… who did she make this time?" And then he found the pictures of his would-be lover dancing. He could not decide whether he ought to laugh or simply stare at her beautiful awkwardness. For the sake of his sanity, his hurried to the next picture.

"Of course she has a fairy nightgown… why does she have to be so adorable?"

Plagioclase did not answer, even though Plagioclase is Plagioclase and therefore is an expert on the various forms of love.

"Oh, lord..." Kuon breathed, having come upon the puppy-eyes and popcorn picture. His head found his knees; he willed himself to take deep breaths, to calm down. He had a feeling that that face would haunt his dreams for many a night to come.

Deedle-laa-doo-deedle-laa-doo-laaaaa

His phone lit up one last time; this time, the picture had a caption. He snorted, surprised.

The last picture was of a sleeping Kyoko cuddled against Kanae's side, dreaming with a big smile on her face; Kanae was glaring into the camera, looking for all the world like a tiger protecting its sister. The caption read:

"You have been granted limited approval. Should you ever hurt her, I will plant white roses just to water them with your blood. If you want to be with her, you've got to go through me."

He smiled and replied (hoping - and as luck would have it, this is indeed what happened - that Kanae would delete their messages later), "Thank you, and I don't plan to - but if that day comes, then by all means, water a botanical garden. I hope you'll allow me to stay in her life."

Deedle-laa-doo-deedle-laa-doo-laaaaa

"Good. I will, for now. Goodbye."

He chuckled at her brevity. "Goodbye."

Plagioclase beamed as the actor clicked through the photos once more, making sure that they had all been saved to his phone, before putting the device back on his bedside table, rolling over, and falling into a slumber haunted by a certain fairy-clad girl.

And cut!

So no direct interaction fluff this time (and as promised, no cliffy), but I finally got to write the photo scene. That was actually one of the first things I planned, months and months ago, when I was thinking of random oneshot ideas. It has now become part of this monstrosity. Woot. Also, don't expect a quick update. Next week will be crazy-busy and I don't have a clue yet how to transition into the next part. See y'all next time!

I hope you enjoyed it! Thanks for reading and please leave a review for the glory of Plagioclase! :D

A thousand apologies for the previous format. *bows*