See I'm just too scared to tell you the truth
Cause my heart ache can't take anymore
Broken and bruised longing for you
And I don't know what I'm waiting for

Kyouko held her breath when she heard the door reopen and footsteps approached her. She cursed herself for not leaving the room, now she would have to face his rejection again. There was pressure on the edge of the couch as he sat beside her. He must have believed she was sleeping because he rested his hand on her waist and leaned in kissing her temple.

"I'm sorry." He whispered before breaking contact as quickly as he could. Kyouko waited for him to say more, hoping he would explain what had happened. When no more words came she sat up abruptly startling him.

For the longest moment they were caught in each other's gaze, dangerously close to being pulled back together to finish what Ren had ended. Kyouko hated the feeling of craving his touch, but knowing he didn't want hers. She would rather be repulsed by his presence then drawn to the warmth of his skin. Reluctantly she tore her eyes away from his and searched the room for anything that could make the situation less awkward.

"What's that?" She pointed to a Styrofoam box set on the coffee table beside the couch.

Embarrassed Ren picked up the box to offer it to her. "My lame attempt to apologize. I don't really know how to fix what I've done." Refusing to make any kind of contact she gingerly took the box, more for something to do than to accept his apology. "I'm sorry, Kyouko."

Kyouko flinched away from the sound of her name leaving his mouth. It wasn't fair that his voice could still make her insides swarm with love fairies, even after he had been so cruel. He was worse than Shoutaro had ever been. To distract herself she flipped the top open on the box to find hamburger steak with an egg on top. Were there no tension between them she might have teased him by expressing her hopes that he hadn't cooked it himself.

"It's your favorite right?" She clenched her teeth together her hurt morphing into anger. He thought he could buy her forgiveness with a box of food? "I'm sorry. I should never have kissed you like that." Ren knew he was being an asshole, but he was hoping he could salvage the situation. He wasn't sure how but he knew he had to make it seem as though he had simply gotten carried away in the scene. He didn't like tricking her but if he had to convince her that it had been Ryuunosuke kissing Momiji to make her trust him again, then that was what he was going to do.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Kyouko asked gripping the box. He was sorry for kissing her? Not for rejecting her and leaving her alone, but for finally giving her what she wanted. She wished he would have come back and continued. Maybe a piece of her had hoped that he'd only left to make sure there was no chance of anyone coming in and catching them. Or that he needed to get protection, or to collect his thoughts. She wanted him to feel as overwhelmed as she did, but why would he? The playboy had, had dozens of women, each more beautiful and experienced than she ever would be.

"Kyouko, please don't hate me. I'll do whatever you want. I know this isn't enough, but ask me for anything and it's yours. I'm willing to do anything to prove that I'm sorry, and that I'll never do anything like that again." She listened to his promises in silence, her rage growing with every syllable he spoke.

"You're so full of bullshit, Tsuruga-sempai." The wicked mocking tone in her voice filled him with fear but at least she was speaking to him. He hoped that was a good sign and was willing to accept any punishment she gave him.

Unprepared for the force he fell backwards on to the floor as Kyouko smashed the box of food in his face.

"What I want is to never have to see your face again. I wish that I could erase your voice from my mind, scrape the feeling of you off of my skin!" She screamed jumping off the couch and stepping over him towards the door. "I have done everything to try to be what you want me to be, and I'm tired. You're the worst. Out of everyone who has ever hurt me, you are by far the most despicable one. Treating me as if I were something special to you. Making me believe and hope again. All along all you really did was lie to me because I was never the one you wanted." Blinking back her tears she gave him a look of disdain. "Don't speak to me outside of work. I don't wanna be your sister, or your kohai, or anything else like that."

Before she could make her exit a hand clasped around her arm pulling her back to him. The sight of egg yolk and sauce dripping down his face might have been laughable in another situation, but as they were Kyouko could only think that he looked pathetic. A hopeless man who had never been in love with anyone and probably never would learn how.

"I never wanted you to be my sister. You did that all on your own." Ren said fearing that if he didn't explain, she would leave and he'd never be allowed near her again.

"Let go." Kyouko seethed trying to pull her hand out of his grip. She wished her grudges would attack him but they had never worked when he was involved. The stupid creatures either coward in fear of his smile or worshiped his demonic aura. "Let go of me, Tsuruga-san." Her demands only made him tighten his grip.

"Kyouko, listen to me." Kyouko managed to avoid his other hand when it tried to wrap around her waist to bring her to him. "Kyouko, please."

"You're hurting me!" He loosened his grip and she snatched her hand away backing up. "Don't speak to me outside of work."

Kyouko ran to her dressing and shut herself inside. Not bothering with the lights she sat on the floor willing herself to cry but finding that she couldn't. She wasn't sure how much time had passed before the door opened and her heart skipped hoping he had finally come to find her. The lights blinded her and she had to blink to make out the feminine figure entering the room.

"You look like hell." Kanae said closing the door behind herself. "What's wrong?" She crouched in front of Kyouko worry evident on her face.

"Tsuruga-san kissed me." In spite of her broken heart her face colored at the memory of his lips on hers.

Sighing Kanae stood back up, "Is that all?" She walked over to her side of the room to gather her normal clothes.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kyouko snapped wishing Kanae would be a little bit more sensitive to her feelings.

"Nothing," wary of the dark aura now surrounding her friend Kanae explained. "Weren't you practicing for the scene?"

Kyouko shook her head but said, "yes." No tears came to her eyes and that was more frustrating than if she were to crumble to the floor and uncontrollably spill her emotions all over. It was an odd feeling to be sad to the point of not being able to express her heart break. "That's all it was for him. I guess I was the one being selfish."

"Honestly Kyouko, you act like kissing him is the end of the world." Knowing her friend tended to overreact about those sorts of things Kanae shook her head and added. "Get over it already, the faster you do the sooner you won't have to do it anymore. That scene would be done with if you…"

"If I what? If I were a better actress? Better at pretending to not have feelings for," Kyouko gasped feeling a lump grow in her chest. She had never told Kanae how she felt about Ren. Never dared to utter the words to anyone other than the president. She couldn't even handle admitting it to herself, how could she tell other people. "Sorry."

"Kyouko?" Kanae made a move to reach for her but Kyouko shook her head pressing herself into the wall and using it to pull herself up on unsteady legs.

"You're right I can't freeze up every time I have to film an intimate scene. Ren said the same thing, you know. That I need to get over it." Quivering lips spoke the words and Kanae wasn't sure what to make of that.

"Hey," again when she reached for her, Kyouko shrunk against the wall to avoid her touch.

"I think I need some air. I'll walk to the hotel." Before Kanae could stop her Kyouko took off running.

"Kyouko!" She attempted to run after her but Kyouko was too fast and determined to get away.

"Kyouko-chan?" Kyouko heard Yashiro call out to her on her way out but she ignored him. "What did that idiot do now?" Yashiro asked himself as he stalked over to Ren's dressing room ready to berate his charge.

"Oh no you don't," Kanae intercepted the manager. "I need to interrogate him more than you do."

Koga shook his head at the situation before roaming outside to find Kyouko in tears. She had stopped just outside the door, frozen by the realization that she had no place to go and no one to call. Her two closest friends were both inside and she had no desire to speak to either of them. If it were earlier in the day she might have chanced a call to Chiori, but then there was the fear that she would say the same thing as Kanae. Phone in hand she scrolled through a list of names and shook at the thought that there was no one she could turn to.

"President?" She shook her head, doubting that love monster would have any useful advice. The tears burned a path down her face then feeling alone and forgotten.

Her fingers lingered over names of people who she might have become closer to, had she not been so absorbed in her relationship with Ren. All of the women from dark moon had been nice enough to her, but she had always eaten with Ren and Yashiro, or director Ogata. She scoffed thinking that she had told Ren things that she hadn't even told Kanae, treating him as more of a best friend than anybody else.

A sudden heat entered her from a metal object being pressed to her neck. She jumped away from the offending object with a screech. Mirthful laughter filled the air as Koga crouched down to where she had landed on the ground offering her a can of warm coffee.

"You could have burned me." Kyouko accused, to which Koga replied by tapping his bruised nose. "Fair enough." She said accepting the can and the friendship even if both would be fleeting comforts.

"Let's go get something to eat, my treat." He didn't wait for her to reply, knowing that she was going to protest he gripped her wrist and pulled her up. "You're the one who said that actors have to eat properly or they cannot be considered true professionals." Those words sounded vaguely familiar to her so she allowed herself to be pulled along with him.

Kanae glared up at the man trying to figure out if she could get away with strangling him. "I honestly don't know if I should feel sorry for you or slap you." She admitted which made Ren grateful that he was so good at lying. "You could have been nice and sweet to her but instead you scolded her for not being a good enough actress to portray love? This is Kyouko we're talking about, Love Me number one and you thought it would be a good idea to kiss her without warning and admonish her for freaking out on you!"

"You should probably slap him," Yashiro interjected not believing a thing Ren had told them. He knew there was more to the story, but thought that it would be best if Kanae heard it from Kyouko. "Then we can pity him for being such an idiot."

Ren was thrown back in shock more than from pain as Kanae's hand collided with his cheek. He supposed he deserved more than that but the one he really wanted to punish him wanted nothing to do with him.

"If it were up to me, you would never have been allowed to get so close to her. But I've seen you with her. The attention and care you give her is something that she deserves to have, and I was starting to think that you might not be so bad. Then you go and do something stupid and mess it all up for yourself! The worst part is I don't think I can fix it, only you can do that now." Kanae pointed to the door hinting at him to go find Kyouko. When he made no move to go she tapped her foot and expressed her frustration. "Mo! Go find her and fix this."

Ren shook his head with a grim expression. "Why not?" Kanae questioned exasperated to find that he was as stubborn about facing his feelings as Kyouko.

"She told me that she doesn't want to see or speak to me unless it's for work." Ren answered sullenly.

Kanae narrowed her eyes disgusted by the both of them. "You are the biggest idiot I have ever met if you believed her. Actually it's a tie between the two of you. You're both stupid and I should slap you again." Ren turned his cheek welcoming the abuse. "I'm not going to. It's bad enough I hit you the first time. If Kyouko ever found out she'd probably lecture me about it for an hour." She lifted her hands shaking her head. "It's no use talking to you. You're an idiot. She's an idiot. I feel myself going crazy from having to watch this all play out."

Turning to Yashiro she bid him 'goodnight' telling him to properly teach his charge how to treat young maidens. Then she exited the room in search of Kyouko so they could go to their hotel and sleep.

"What really happened?" Yashiro asked leaning on the closed door.