Chapter 9: Pained Heart

It was about 9 o'clock at night and ever since Kyoko had returned to the Darumaya it was like she was just an empty shell ready to crack at any moment. When she was helping out with the restaurant she kept everything hidden. As soon as she entered her room and closed the door, she crumbled down to the floor against the door crying as all the pain of the event at the TBM earlier that night replayed in her mind. The feeling of her heart falling to pieces once again as she hears Ren's disappointed voice in her head. It took her a while before she could stop crying but once she does she manages to get up off the floor and walk to the window. Staring out through the window she began planning of what she should do next.

Kyoko takes a deep breath, "I can't stay here anymore… I wouldn't be able to face him anymore without my heart breaking at how much he really hates me… I need to get away until I can lock my heart up for good this time." She thought of her plan that she had just formulated. For it to work she would have to take action soon to avoid getting caught. Walking over to the bookshelf she picked up some sheets of paper, a pen and some envelopes off the shelf and headed over to the small table in her room.

She began writing a message on each sheet of paper and sealing them in the envelopes which were labelled with the name of the recipient. "I am sorry I can't say good bye to you all face to face but this is what I must do for now." She thought to herself as a tear ran down her cheek.

Kyoko then grabs her small suitcase throwing in some clothes as well as a few other things that she will need. She grabs her purse and the small coin purse beside her bed and holds the coin purse to her chest trying to hold back the tears that threatened to creep out, she placed the coin purse in her purse. After straightening a few things out to make sure she had everything she needed before zipping up both her suitcase and purse before heading out of the room and downstairs.

Once downstairs, Kyoko goes to the counter and puts down an envelope for Taisho-san and Okami-san before leaving. Kyoko exits the Darumaya pulling her luggage along with her and heads towards LME.

Kyoko wasn't too worried about anyone seeing her out at this late hour as it was a weekday and the route she was taking was well lit but out of the way where not many people walk.

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A little while later Kyoko arrived at the abandoned LME building. She enters quietly through the back door of the building just in case anyone was still there doing some late night work. She first heads for the 'Love Me' Section room, when entering she begins to feel a lot of sadness as she continues to enter the room and places 2 envelopes on the table in the middle of the room.

Kyoko places a hand over her heart, "I'm sorry Moko-san, I couldn't call to explain this but I hope you will understand why I'm leaving, maybe one day I will come back." She says to herself as she fights back tears, with that she turns exiting the room before she feels anymore regret and pain.

It was about 11 pm now when she arrives at the big steel doors leading to President Lory's office, she takes a deep breath as she pushes the door open hoping no one was around. To her relief everyone that is normally in his office seem to have already left She walks over to the president's desk and pulls out 3 envelopes from her purse, one for President Lory, one for Maria and finally one for Ren. When she places the envelopes on the desk she can feel the pain in her chest return at the thought of how hurt Maria is going to be when she gets the letter and learns that her Onee-sama is gone and won't be back for a while. But little did Kyoko know that the whole time she was in the office she was being taped by the cameras located in there.

Kyoko walks out of LME for the last time then looks back at that building, "Maybe one day I will come back once I can be a more respectable actress and when I have better control over this emotion." She thought with a hand over her heart. She turns away now heading deeper and deeper downtown to where her future will lead her to a new place and a new start.

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It was approaching 1 am in the morning when Kyoko was sitting in the loading area at the Tokyo airport waiting for her flight to come. She had already gotten her ticket and gone through security about 20 minutes previous, now it was just a waiting game for her plane to arrive.

Kyoko pulls out her cellphone from her pocket and scrolls through her contact list until she found the number she was looking for; she then hits 'call', as it begins to ring she places the phone to her ear hoping the person would answer her call.

After the fourth ring the call was answered, "Hello?" A male voice answered in English.

Kyoko smiles at the sound of his voice, "Hello Father… Its Kyoko." She replied in English.

Kuu was shocked on the other end as he hadn't heard from Kyoko for several months but he was still happy. "My girl, what a pleasure to hear from you again. Is everything alright?"

Kyoko was silent for a moment before answering the question, "No, everything isn't alright Father."

"How can I help?" Kuu says as he can tell just by the sound of Kyoko's voice that she was upset about something.

"Well Father, I'm at the airport in Tokyo right now and I was wondering if I can come stay with you for a while, if that's not a burden." Kyoko says with a lot of sadness reflecting in her voice.

"Of course you can my dear, you're my daughter and always welcome to come." Kuu says without hesitating as he was actually happy to hear that Kyoko was coming but knew something must have happened in Tokyo for her to be leaving.

A small smile appears on Kyoko's face , "Thank you Father, I will call you once I land."

"Have a safe trip my girl." Kuu says right before they both hung up.

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Just an hour after the phone call between Kyoko and Kuu, and after the repetitive fidgeting, she was thinking that once again she was running away. However this time only she was to blame knowing that she couldn't see Ren again until she was a good enough actress to make him proud. Kyoko's flight finally arrived at the terminal and she proceeds to board and take her seat on the rather empty plane.

Kyoko looks out of the plane window beside her and takes a deep breath, "Goodbye home and hello to a new start…" She thinks to herself as she gets comfortable in her seat.

Once the plane was done boarding which were only the flight attendants. Kyoko continues to watch the land below getting smaller and smaller as they ascend into the sky. She turns away from the window and pulls out her coin purse from her bag and takes her blueish stone out, holding it tight to her chest as tears fall. "Corn give me strength; it hurts just to think my love for that man was only one-sided …please help take this pain so I can lock up my heart again." She thought to herself right before she fell asleep.

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For hours now Ren had been tossing and turning in his bed, he was feeling uneasy about what he had said to Kyoko when they were at the TBM.

He sighs and rolls onto his back and looks up at the ceiling. "What should I have done? She was kissing him…" He groans as the jealousy builds at the very thought of Kyoko kissing Sho.

Just then something clicked while the whole event was replaying in his head. Ren sits up quickly, "She was crying, there's no way she wanted to kiss him and he was forcing her to the wall… I saw her wrists they were starting to bruise…" Ren drops his head into his hands, "I am such an idiot, I got all worked up and mad at what that kid said that I didn't even take into consideration Kyoko's side of what happened, instead I just cast her away."

Ren still with his head in his hands remembers what Sho said, 'She will be mine now for sure', he groans at the thought, "I have to fix this… I can't lose her not again... I must call her after my jobs tomorrow. I hope I'm not too late to fix my mistake." With that Ren tried for the hundredth time to fall asleep.