Thank you to my beta IIMissMysteriousI for helping edit this chapter.


Saturday night she appeared on his doorsteps voluntarily.

It was the first time he saw her since their confrontation-if he could call it that- at LME.

Ren had been angry and he had released her from her job even before Yashiro was fit to work.

His heart would've leaped with joy if hadn't it been for her state.

She was trembling, having gotten wet in the rain, and her eyes were brimming with barely contained emotion- it relieved him, in a way. If Kyouko was feeling things, it was fine. It was when her eyes went black that one must worry. This, he could bring her back from.

She needed comfort, and he was willing to provide it to her without a doubt, but some part of him wondered if she would truly accept comfort from him.

She'd been ignoring him for so long, what made today different? What made her want to acknowledge his presence?

Ren shook those thoughts out of his mind. He could take care of his broken heart later. Now, at this moment, all mattered was her and her needs.

It had been half an hour since she entered his apartment and they hadn't exchanged one word more than necessary.

He came to the living to find her in his shirt- the one he'd given her to change into before he went to make coffee and she had surprisingly, accepted silently. She was working on autopilot, it seemed.

Any other day, he would have lost his head if he was greeted with this adorable sight of her in his shirt, long enough to reach her thighs. Today, he dismissed those thought before they could even occur.

Her. His focus needed to be her.

"Here," he handed her the coffee cup.

Kyouko gratefully took it.

He waited patiently for her to say something and for the longest time, she didn't, mechanically sipping her coffee.

Finally, she placed it on the table and looked up at him. "He confessed to me," she said.

It didn't take a second for Ren to catch onto who he was.

Sho Fuwa.

Unconsciously, he clenched his fist. After all this time, this was what she had come to tell him?

What was this, an elaborated torturous rejection?

He'd already gotten the message, hadn't he?

Running from him post the kiss, avoiding him; it was clear his advances weren't welcome.

Yet, somewhere in him, there had been hope.

Hope that she wasn't running from him because she didn't feel anything, but because she felt something.

He was hoping for nothing.

"And?" He wouldn't lose his temper. He wouldn't lose his temper. He repeated to himself.

She didn't answer.

"Congratulations are in order, I suppose?" Bitterness seeped in his voice.

It got a reaction. Her head snapped, eyes connecting with his before immediately looking away.

"What are you talking about? Tsuruga-san?"

"He confessed. You said yes, right? Of course, you did. You still love him. Always will," he tried to be nonchalant, careless even, yet his own mouth betrayed him, "I wish you would have just informed me sooner. Wouldn't have gotten my hope-"

"Are you mad?" She cut him off. Some of her usual spirit had returned with her anger. "I said he confessed to me. Not I confessed to him." She was livid. "What do you mean always? I have never ever loved him."

Ren was stunned. Utterly stunned and happy.

All his crashed hopes, the pool of despair and anger he was slipping into, disappeared instantly.

"Never?" He questioned.

"Never," she shook her head, calming down again. "For years," she continued, "I thought he was the one. My prince charming. My destiny. And then, it was only when he said those words, it was such a shock. I didn't feel anything. At all. There was no anger, no triumph, not even residual feelings. I spent so much time getting revenge on him because he betrayed me. And he did, he did betray me. But it was the betrayal of someone I considered my friend. Not from the person I loved. I finally realized, I never actually wanted to hear those words. Not from him."

"Who do you want to hear it from?" Ren couldn't tell what devil possessed him to ask that question.

He was dying to have his heart ripped out, wasn't he? She would reject him, of course. Not loving Sho didn't equate to loving him.

Suddenly, he noticed the tiny hint of pink tinting her cheeks, the redness on the tips of her ears and the death grip she had on the edge of his shirt.

"You," she whispered.

Kyouko finally found the courage to look at him.

Ren hadn't thrown her out after her confession. It was a positive sign, right?

Sho's admittance of his love for her had opened her eyes.

Sho's word was the one which had once hardened her heart, plummeted the remaining of any confidence she had in herself after the way her mother treated her.

She was unlovable; she had forced herself to believe it.

When Sho had ambushed her, declared he wouldn't lose to Tsuruga Ren, something in her snapped.

Her biggest wall was broken.

She wasn't some poor helpless girl who was incapable of being loved by others. She deserved love and bastards like Sho, who only noticed someone after they had changed and gotten interesting didn't get to tell her that.

She wouldn't be afraid anymore.

Foolishly, she had thought she was okay with loving Ren from afar.

Then she had kissed him and naturally, she panicked.

Ren had tried so much to discuss the matter with her and like the coward she was, she ran.

Kyouko forgot the most important thing. Ren wasn't Sho and he would never use her feelings.

He would let her down gently, and she could move on then.

Impulsively, she had walked out on Sho and ran in midst of the heavy downpour to Ren's home.

Now, she was here with her heart bared to him.

Ren sat opposite her, frozen.

She couldn't detect any emotion on his face and she wondered if he was contemplating the easiest way of letting her down.

Tears formed on the corner of her eye and she squeezed her eyes shut to control them.

Damn.

She wasn't supposed to cry. She wasn't going to cry.

His response had told her all she needed to know.

"It's okay. I understand," she ducked her head when she couldn't control the tears that started to leak without her permission. "You don't have to say anything. I know you don't feel that way. I-I " her voice cracked, "I hope w-we can get past this. We will still be friends. Were we even friends? Anyway, I hope you would still c-cons-consider me your Kouhai after all this." Frantically wiping the tears way with her left hand, she stood.

"I should go. I'm sorry. I won't disturb you anymore." She didn't look at him and started walking towards the door, blindly reaching for the door handle through her blurred vision.

Large hands clasped over hers, and she found his deep voice behind her, "You're going to go outside only wearing my shirt? Forgive me, but I can't allow that. No one else should get to see you like that." His voice suggested the idea irritated him.

Gulping, she pleaded, "Please, let me go. I don't care anymore."

He turned her around in one swift motion, his right hand resting over her head on the door, while the other was on her shoulder. "You really think I am ever going to let you go again?"

She didn't dare look at him, keeping her vision trained on her feet.

Why was he being so cruel? She had been positive he wouldn't play with her over something this serious.

She heard him sigh. Gently, he placed his hand on her chin and titled her head upward. "I'm not playing with you," he said.

He gave her a hopeful smile, wiping any remaining tears on her cheek with his finger. Hoping for what? "So, tell me properly. I don't want to assume. I wouldn't be able to take another heartbreak after this." He pleaded, "What are the words you want to hear from me?"

Something in his voice, his whole demeanour gave her the courage and she said those words she had considered taboo for so long.

"I love you," she said softly, hastily adding, "That's what I want to hear."

"And you want to hear those because you feel the same?" Ren asked carefully and she wondered if her senpai was just being mean for the sake of it.

"No," she said defiantly, turning her face away from him.

"Kyouko," he warned, his use of her first name getting her attention.

Pouting, her heart beating dangerously fast, she glanced up at him through her lashes, "Yes."

"Yes what?"

She gritted her teeth. "Yes, I love you. Happy? You've embarrassed me enough. Just let me go." Her dried tears returned with full force. "I didn't expect you, of all the people, to be so-so..."

She trailed off when she met his gaze and saw his heavenly smile.

"Don't do that. Don't look at melike that."

"Like what?" he asked.

"Lik-Like..." she couldn't find the words and the one which came to her mind has always been nothing but her fantasy.

"Like I love you?" he voiced gently. "I'm sorry but I can't grant this one request of yours. Because I do. I really love you."

Violently, she pushed him away or tried to.

"Don't joke about this thing," she pounded on his chest when he didn't budge. "Don't-"

She was unable to continue, for Ren pulled her into the most passionate kiss of her life.

And then he was everywhere, unyielding. His hands squeezing her waist, she could smell him, feel him and it was too much for Kyouko. Before long, she was kissing him back with just as much fervour as him.

When they pulled apart, they were both in a daze.

"Why-Ho..."

He had rendered her incapable of forming a coherent sentence.

Slowly, it registered in her thick head. She couldn't deny this.

He had poured all his emotions into the kiss, expressing what he couldn't with words.

Blushing and mind blown, she was satisfied to see he wasn't in any better state. "Sorry," he apologised, not looking sorry at all and instead grinning boyishly, "Should have asked for permission first."

"Why didn't you say so from the start? Why did you become a statue when I confessed?" She accused. "You trickster. You just enjoy playing with me, don't you?"

He pulled her into a hug, resting his head over hers. "Imagine the person you have loved hopelessly for over a year, absolutely sure your feelings won't be returned, confessing to you. I was too happy and too scared to even emote anything." He was disarmingly honest with her. "I thought it was all a dream, especially since you have been ignoring me for so long."

She clutched his shirt tighter. "I'm sorry. I was such a coward. I won't do it again. "

He tightened his grip on her. "You better not," he agreed.

Wait.

"Over a year?" She asked amazed.

"Yes, since Dark Moon. Maybe even way before that," he said.

That long? Kyouko felt ridiculously giddy. The high school girl, it was her, wasn't it? They wasted so much time.

She wriggled out of his grasp. "You really are slow," she said incredulously.

Narrowing his eyes at her, Emperor of the Night looked down upon her, causing Kyouko to regret her words.

"I will show you how slow I am," the emperor promised.

A horrified scream rang through the whole apartment.