Married Life

Chapter 8: Babysitting

A/n: Thanks to Ashlyn Darke for the idea ^^

FYI: "Akuma"- Demon

"Who are you?"

Ren stared, completely confused as to why there was a child sitting on the couch, watching the television in his house. The little boy stared back, eyes wide. Then before Ren could do anything, the boy's face scrunched up, and he wailed, causing Ren to cringe and take a step back from the sound. The boy pointed a stubby finger at the actor and wailed.

"A-Akuma!"

Ren massaged his throbbing temples and before he could speak, Kyouko ran out from the kitchen towards the boy.

"Akira-kun, what's the matter?"

The boy flung his arms around Kyouko, not looking up, and pointed towards the doorway.

"Momma! A-Akuma!"

"Akuma?" Kyouko, confused, turned towards the door, where Ren stood, with a rather demonic smile on his face. She gulped and looked away, and tried to comfort the little boy.

"Who is he?"

Kyouko gripped the boy in her hands a little tighter, as if for defence from her husband's wide, rather scary, smile. Seeing that Kyouko did not say anything, Ren looked at the boy and smiled.

"Who are you?"

The boy sniffed and turned away, hugging Kyouko tighter instead. A vein started twitching in Ren's forehead.

For one, no one was answering his questions. And secondly, even though he tried to reason with himself over this, Ren was getting slightly annoyed by the attention the child was getting from Kyouko.

"Ren, will you stop that?" Kyouko hissed over the boy's head. "You're scaring Akira-kun!"

Then speaking in a normal tone, Kyouko smiled at the boy, "Akira-kun? Are you hungry?" When the boy nodded, she continued, "Okay. Wait here while I set the table for lunch." She settled the boy on the couch, increased the volume of the television, and gestured for Ren to follow her.

Once they stepped into the kitchen, Kyouko immediately bowed low and apologized.

"I'm sorry, Ren. But Akira-kun is actually my co-star in the new drama I'd just accepted. I'll be acting as his mother, a single parent. And the President feels that I should look after Akira-kun for the next two days in order to build up a better relationship… So, I'm sorry for any inconvenience caused!"

Ren sighed and ran his hand through his hair. He placed his hands on her shoulders and made Kyouko look at him. He gave a small smile.

"It's all right. I understand. Let's look at it this way instead; it's practice for the future." His smile grew when he saw a blush spread across her face. He planted a kiss on her forehead and continued, "Well, we'd better hurry with lunch before Akira-kun starts crying again."

Over the rest of the day, Ren learnt several things regarding Kyouko's co-star.

One was that he disliked Ren. The seven-year-old boy disliked one of the most respected seniors in the acting industry, Tsuruga Ren. Why, Ren had no idea. Two was that the boy seemed to be infatuated with Kyouko; the fact that Akira kept hugging Kyouko whenever he could proves it. Ren had to remind himself repeatedly that Akira was only six tin order to keep his emotions under control.

Ren learnt the third fact only in the evening, when the boy's minder came to fetch him. Kyouko invited the lady in, and brought her into the kitchen, where the two ladies discussed about Akira's diet. That left Ren and the boy out in the living room, watching television.

"Oi."

Ren looked down at the boy, and found Akira glaring at him. A vein started twitching in his forehead, Ren smiled, "Are you talking to me?"

The boy continued glaring, "No. I'm talking to the TV. Of course I'm talking to you. And stop giving that fake smile. It's disgusting."

Ren's smile narrowed an inch. He drew back slightly, surprised that the boy had the nerve to argue with Tsuruga Ren. The boy frowned, and crossed his arms across his chest.

"I'll have you know that Momma is one of the nicest ladies I've met and I don't know why she chose to marry you." Akira shuddered slightly, and Ren felt a massive headache coming. It seems that the boy had been acting the entire afternoon, pretending to be weak to get Kyouko's attention.

The boy continued, "But if I ever find out that you bully her or make her cry, I'll… I'll… I'll take her away!" Akira nodded his head in affirmation.

Before Ren could say anything, the ladies walked out. Kyouko called out to Akira, gesturing him to go over. Akira's acting face came on and he ran towards Kyouko, wrapping his arms around her legs. Kyouko laughed and ruffled the boy's hair.

"Akira-kun, it's time to go home now. I'll be seeing you again tomorrow. Would you like to go out? An amusement park, perhaps?"

Akira looked up, his face lit up by an angelic smile, "As long as it's with you, Momma, I'm sure it'll be fun!"

Ren could hardly believe how the boy managed to switch between personalities. A plan started brewing in his mind. He walked over and bent down to the younger actor's height. He smiled at him, and was responded with a glare.

"Akira-kun, that's right. I'll be free tomorrow so I can follow you both. It'll be fun." Ren's smile widened as Akira glared harder. An unspoken challenge passed between the two actors.

A match where both would fight for Kyouko's attention.

Ren felt a wave of anticipation. He was extremely interested in the boy's acting ability and was rather eager to see how the next day would go. That was the third thing he realised about Akira.

Given time and grooming, the boy had the potential to be one of the best actors in Japan.

A/n: Whoa, such a long time (to me) since my last update. Well, hope you guys liked this chapter ^^

Thanks to Ashlyn Darke for the idea. Okay, so it's not following your idea throughout, somehow the story changed halfway. Maybe I'll write one totally based on your idea next time ^^

"Time" being the one thing that I really want. I have so many ideas for story but no time to type it out! Urgh… I'm extremely behind my other stories as well. School is, well, fun but rather tiring. Thanks for your wishes guys ^^ I've made more friends now and I'm starting to really enjoy school. Hopefully it'll continue ^^

Feel free to point out any mistakes made in a review. I'm open for any constructive criticism on how to improve, so feel free to tell me ^^

Huge thanks to all my reviewers ^^