I'm so sorry that it's taken so long for me to post another chapter. I've been super busy lately, and I actually wrote the majority of this chapter almost right after posting the last chapter. Unfortunately, I never got around to editing it until now. I have plans for where the story is going and how I'm going to end it, so hopefully this story will be finished at least by the end of this year if I update better. I have hope that I can update quicker starting in two weeks when I start to have more time on my schedule, so bear with me on these slow updates for a while until I have more time to write (really soon). Thanks for your support on this story, and I hope you like this chapter.
Ren acted like a true gentleman as he opened the passenger door for Kyoko and shut it behind her once she was inside the car. When he got into the other side of the car, he drove off, not bothering to see if Sho was following or not.
"Um, Ren-san? Don't you need the directions to the Darumaya?" Kyoko asked, unsure of how Ren was driving in the correct direction of the Darumaya even though he had never been there before.
"Oh! Yes, Kyoko-san, that would be very helpful," Ren replied even though he had already been driving towards the restaurant. He had driven her there so many times that he had memorized how to get to the Darumaya, but Kyoko didn't know that.
Once Kyoko had given Ren the necessary directions, it was silent until Kyoko spoke out. "Thank you for offering to drive me to the Darumaya. I would usually walk or bike back, but today you've saved me the trouble! I'm sorry for the inconvenience!"
"It's no problem at all, Kyoko-san. I do worry about when you walk or bike home by yourself though. You're one of the top 10 actresses in Japan, and I don't see it as very safe for a famous celebrity such as yourself to be out in public biking to her jobs…"
"Don't worry, Ren-san! No one can notice my face on the streets anyways! I never ride my bike when I'm in character, so no one is able to recognize me!"
"I still worry about you, Kyoko-san. Please reach out to my manager or I if you really need a ride home."
"Thanks for worrying about me, Ren-san," Kyoko responded with a smile.
...
Once they arrived at the Darumaya, Sho pulled in behind them. He met up with the two, and the trio entered the restaurant, quietly shutting the door behind them as to not wake up Kyoko's landlords.
"You two can sit here at this table while I make our dinner! Do you have any preferences as to what I should cook?" Kyoko asked.
"Anything will be fine," Ren replied before Sho could respond. Kyoko turned to leave the room but was stopped when Sho called out her name.
"Kyoko! Wait!"
"Yes?"
Sho fished out a small lilac box from his pocket with a white bow on the top.
"I wanted to give this to you," Sho held out the gift for her.
"Oh no, I couldn't possibly take something so fancy looking-"
"Please, Kyoko," Sho interrupted her.
"It's not any special occasion, and I don't see any reason for you to give me a gift-"
"Just take the box, Kyoko."
Reluctantly, Kyoko took the box and fumbled with it in her hands, unsure of what to do with it.
"Open it," Sho said to stop her fidgeting. As Kyoko opened the lid of the box, her eyes sparkled at the trinket inside. Inside of the box on a small cushion sat a delicate silver charm bracelet with charms to represent all of the famous princesses. Kyoko lightly caressed the ruby rose, a crystal slipper, and a blue fairy before remembering that she was not alone in the room.
"Why did you feel the need to give me this? It's not any special occasion..."
"I know that you like fairytales, so when I saw this, I knew I had to give it to you. I would be very grateful if you would accept it," Sho grinned.
"I feel bad about accepting such an expensive gift, but I wouldn't want to insult you by not accepting it. Thank you so much! I don't know what I can do to repay you," Kyoko said. She smiled at Sho before turning away to go to the kitchen and cook dinner. She didn't manage to catch the smug look on Sho's face towards Ren who had an entirely neutral expression to hide the anger flowing through his veins at Sho's gift. After Kyoko left, Ren mumbled, "I've wondered this whole time how you finally got her to forgive you for treating her as horribly as you did."
"What are you talking about? I didn't hurt her."
"Then who's the one who asked Kyoko to come with him to Tokyo so that he could use her as a personal maid as he sought a singing career?"
"That bastard, Reino, did," Sho said. Ren was surprised at the new information he had learned but didn't show it on his face.
"Now why are you going after my Kyoko, Tsuruga?" Sho asked.
"She is not your Kyoko. It's not like you're married to her, Fuwa," Ren responded.
"Well you aren't anymore either," Sho smirked. Ren's mouth gaped open. Did Sho know why Ren had been brought back two years into the past? He needed to test his theory out.
"Well if I was still married to her like I was before some curse brought me to this place where no one remembers my wife and I getting married, then I would surely treat her with more respect as a person than you ever could. I would never throw away such an amazing lady as Kyoko, not like someone else I know," Ren tried to rile up Sho. Sho took the bait as he blurted, "I didn't know that this transformation was hiding inside her this whole time! She never showed me this badass side of hers when she lived with me as a child! I would have never thrown her away if she had been like this from the start!"
"Oh? So you did know her when you were children?" Ren asked. Sho froze, having accidentally revealed his past after getting aggravated by Ren.
"If my suspicions are correct, you're the reason why my wife is no longer in my arms," Ren said before putting on a murderous aura which made Sho's throat feel tight as if it was being strangled. "What the hell did you do, Fuwa?" Ren demanded with his Demon Lord in full force.
Sho was scared by Ren's aura, but still ignorantly tried to go up against him. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"It seems like you are too ignorant to even know what someone in love will go through to get their lover back. I ask you again, what did you do?" Ren glared.
"I have no idea! If I knew what I had did to land in this screwed-up timeline, then I would have tried to land in a situation where Kyoko was already in love with me! Now, I'm stuck in this stupid world where I have to build up an entirely new relationship with her! I wished I would have another chance with her, but this is just annoying!"
Before Ren could respond, Kyoko entered the room again, having not heard their conversation at all since she had been cooking dinner and did not want to eavesdrop and be impolite. She carried in a tray of tea, coming to serve her guests. As she entered the room though, she suddenly stumbled on one of the floorboards and started to fall. She desperately tried to prevent the tea cups from spilling even though it was already hopeless, not caring one second about her own well being. Sho watched with his mouth gaped open as Ren immediately ran towards the scene to catch Kyoko and break her fall, the tea splashing onto Sho who cursed and ran to a sink to mollify his burns. Kyoko had closed her eyes when she had sensed her imminent doom but fluttered them open when she realized she hadn't hit the hard floor. She looked to see Ren above her who held her in his arms and had saved her from the fall.
"Ren-san?"
Ren started to unwrap his arms from Kyoko, and supported himself with his elbows on the floor, looking directly into Kyoko's golden orbs with his own emerald orbs hidden behind his brown contacts. He unknowingly reached his hand out to caress her cheek. He really wanted to kiss her, but he knew that he couldn't since she wasn't ready for that yet. He would ruin his whole relationship with her if he leaned in for a kiss now. Surprisingly though, her eyes fluttered shut. He touched her lips to see if he could carry out his original plan, but was shocked when her face contorted in pain
"Ren-san! You're putting all your weight on my legs! Too heavy!"
Ren immediately changed his position so that he wasn't hurting his love and decided to playfully flick Kyoko in the forehead while he was at it. Her eyes flew open to see Ren smirking above her. She instinctively pouted.
"Ren-san! Why did you just flick me on the forehead?" Kyoko pouted.
"You just looked so cute and helpless as you fell, so I instinctively did it," Ren grinned, causing Kyoko to redden at him calling her cute.
"What the hell happened?" Sho asked as he walked back in the room. While Kyoko and Ren had had their moment, he had run to the kitchen sink to wash the tea off his clothes and soothe the scalding burn of the hot tea on his skin. It had only splashed at his torso, so he had only had to wash his shirt which was currently dripping with water in his hand. He was shirtless. Before Kyoko could turn her head to see Sho's naked body, Ren positioned himself to block her eyesight. "Put a shirt on, Fuwa!" he yelled.
"What? You want me to put on this dripping shirt? I just got hot tea thrown at me and went to wash it off, and now you want me to put on a sopping wet shirt after all of that?"
Ren skillfully took off his jacket while maintaining his blockage of Kyoko's eyesight and threw it at Sho. "At least put this on!"
Sho grumbled to himself before slipping the jacket on. He was immediately pissed off when the jacket almost covered his bottom and the sleeves were too long.
Ren had since gotten off of Kyoko and extended a hand towards her to help her up. She gratefully took his hand and was able to stand up again.
"I'm extremely sorry for drenching you in tea, Sho-kun!" Kyoko bowed. "I'll go get dinner right away before I can mess something up again…" Kyoko walked away with her head bowed in shame.
When Kyoko was out of earshot, Ren continued his conversation with Sho. "The things that selfish people do to get their way..."
"Shut up, Tsuruga! I only made a wish! You're just scared that Kyoko will fall in love with me this time instead," Sho smirked.
"She would never fall in love with you, Fuwa," Ren responded with a glare.
"Well we'll just have to test that theory out now, won't we?" Sho grinned before Kyoko came back in the room carrying dinner. Ren stood up and went to the kitchen to get the dishes that Kyoko hadn't already gotten. The trio sat down, gave thanks for their food, and began to eat. During the meal, no further words were said between Kyoko's two suitors. She tried to converse with both but was powerless in clearing up the dark mood between the two men. Eventually, they finished dinner and Ren and Sho went home, prepared for the next time when they would meet with Kyoko. They would get her to fall in love with them at any cost.
I have no idea if you guys will be mad at me or not for sticking in the Kyoko fall scene in this chapter instead. I hope it wasn't too unnatural, but I needed to give Ren some hope, and this little scene popped into my head. Thank you again for supporting me in this story, and for all of my commenters I'm really grateful. You guys inspire me to write more chapters as quickly as I can.
