Disclaimer: Don't own, not making any money off of

Tsuruga Ren's Apartment
1915

She was over an hour late.

And he was not pacing. He was … taking laps. Around his living room. Perfectly normal way to get in some exercise before a meal.

While it was true Kyoko wasn't always on time when she prepared his meals, that was only because she was often early. Kyoko's insistence on professionalism even when cooking meant "late" never happened.

In any other circumstances, Ren would be worried that he'd moved too fast and frightened her off. However, Kyoko had a role to research; she was interested in him for professional reasons, not personal ones. As much as that rankled, her commitment to the role translated into commitment to him. Sadly, Ren was so desperate where Kyoko was concerned that he'd take what he could get.

Well, not everything he could get, Ren thought ruefully as he recalled the previous night. Kyoko was tenacious when undertaking research. Persuading her they didn't need to have sex right way was one of the hardest things he had ever done.

(Considering his libido was on overdrive, Ren immediately wished he hadn't included any variation of the word hard in that thought.)

Last night, he had been tempted to say I have a headache; instead he settled for the almost-as-trite I'm tired.

Admittedly, it had the advantage of being true. The part about not being up to "performing;" that had been a flagrant lie.

(Much to his consternation, Ren's libido latched onto the word 'up' as a suggestion. His pacing increased to the speed of power-walking. It was fortunate he had such a large, sparsely-furnished living room. It was also a good thing his carpet wasn't of the plush variety or he would have carved a well-travel trail into it.)

I want you. I want to date you, I want to be seen publicly with you, I want every other man to know it's hands off because you're mine was what he wanted to tell her last night. Research for her role or not, he imagined there would be nothing left but a Kyoko-sized hole in his wall if he said something so possessive. She was trying to convince herself that being with him a few times wouldn't be a horrible thing; his thoughts ran along the lines of rings and white dresses and red kimonos and 2.3 children.

There were also practical considerations of an immediate nature, such as the fact Ren didn't have condoms on the premises (it wasn't as if he'd needed any during the last several years) and he was damned sure birth control never crossed Kyoko's mind. Fairies probably didn't have to worry about consequences such as diseases and babies, he dryly noted to himself. It didn't mean something couldn't happen tonight, it just meant intercourse wasn't possible.

(Ren thought using clinical words like intercourse would calm his libido down. Ren's libido thought that was a pretty amusing assumption.)

When his phone vibrated, Ren gave a credible imitation of Kyoko's phone-answering skills by nearly jumping out of his skin. Bracing himself for a cancellation, Ren fished the phone out of his pocket and tapped the screen to view the incoming text message. To his surprise, it was a terse missive from his agent.

Done shopping. K on way down. Don't let her out of your sight.

The doorbell rang before he had time to be puzzled at Yashiro's cryptic final directive. Dropping the phone on the low table in the living room, Ren ran his fingers through his hair nervously before moving towards the door.

All he saw at first were bags, stuffed full with every type of healthy food imaginable. "Kyoko-chan, you should have called me. I was worried when you were late."

Bags and all, she was on the floor at his feet in a carpet-hugging bow. "I'm so sorry Yashiro-san made me shop for all-healthy food because you would need your stamina after so many years of abstinence and I would have to forgive you for not being as good as your publicity suggests but it's all because he's such an awesome manager that people think your pathetic life is at all enviable! If your fans had one iota of sense they would pity you instead—"

"Please, get up," said Ren with a polite, professional smile that managed to be icy and condescending at the same time, completely destroying the poor girl's confidence and self-esteem. "You're crushing the food."

"Tsuruga-san?" came a distant voice, muffled by the door. "Are you there?"

Ren blinked as his fantasy Kyoko evaporated. No, we're not like that any more; we haven't been like that in years. I'm her boyfriend now, I don't have to be professional. I can be supportive and understanding even though I really have been worried sick..

Taking a deep breath, he opened the door.

She was not overloaded with bags. The two that dangled from her hand were emblazoned with the logo from the exclusive (and secret) store on the top floor, the one she refused to shop at unless it was an emergency. Ren winced a little, knowing Kyoko hated going there. Covering his unease with a polite smile, "Kyoko-chan, you should have called me. I was worried when you were late."

It sounded as banal in real life as it had in his fantasy.

"You could have at least told me you were upstairs." I sound like I'm scolding her, stop it! "I would have come and helped."

She scuffed her foot against the floor like a school girl, which again reminded him of her general naivete and innocence. Twenty-one, and I feel like a dirty old man. "Yashiro-san said I couldn't go to the usual store. Not for a while, anyway," she said. "There's been too much publicity since this afternoon."

As planned, thought Ren. "Let me take those for you."

Instead of relinquishing the bags when he tugged on the handles, Kyoko tightened her grip. "I have to pay you back," she insisted, sounding aggrieved. "They wouldn't accept any money from me."

"Kyoko," sighed Ren as he firmly pulled one, then the other bag from her. "You're on my tab there, of course."

She looked shocked. "But, won't they think..."

"That you're my girlfriend?" asked Ren, keeping his tone deliberately light. "I certainly hope so. Isn't that what we decided?"

Truth be told, it was what he decided. Kyoko eyed him askance but didn't bother to correct him.

Relieving her of the bags revealed something disquieting. She was wearing an oversized coat. No, not oversized; it was a man's coat, one that hung loosely on her small frame. Ren's mind immediately flew to her most recent role, her research and why she might be wearing some other man's coat. He dropped the bags without ceremony, gently covering her shoulders with his hands. Her movement towards the fallen bags jerked to a halt with his touch. "Take your coat?" he asked, making sure his voice was at its most polite.

She shivered under his fingers, her shoulders hunching, but obediently shrugged out of the coat. Ren breathed a silent sigh of relief. She wore the pink jumpsuit underneath. She wouldn't wear that to an assignation unless she was given seduction as a LoveMe project.

Of course, that begged the question of why she wore it here when she was trying to convince him to have sex with her. It made him wonder if, even after everything he said last night, she still considered sex with him to be more research than relationship.

Feeling a little like a butler, he folded the coat over his arm.

The front of her jumpsuit was stained with – grease? There was even a smudge of it on her nose. She looked adorable. He barely refrained from telling her that. Instead, "What happened?" Ren asked.

"Um, the press figured out where I lived," Kyoko mumbled, her tone abashed.

"What?" He hadn't expected that, and immediately realized he should have. Kyoko's living arrangements were far too unsecured for a public figure. It was amazing she hadn't had trouble with the press before tonight. "Are you all right?"

"Oh, yes, they didn't see me! Yashiro-san came and got me."

The coat was Yashiro's. Ren was equal parts relieved and annoyed. "You should have called me, Kyoko," he said again, irritation making him sound less stilted this time.

"No, no, it was crazy there, they would have recognized you—!"

"I am an actor. They would have only recognized me if I wanted them to."

It was the wrong thing to say. Kyoko drooped still more. "I have so far to go before I catch up with you!" she said mournfully. "I can't even act well enough to deceive photographers! I'm not fit to play the role of your girlfriend yet!"

The only reason Ren didn't slap his forehead in frustration was because his hands were full of coat. "It's not a role, Kyoko-chan, remember? Since there isn't any security at the restaurant, perhaps you should stay here from now on?" Careful, now. Don't get greedy. (But time is running out). "I mean in the spare room, of course, where you've stayed before," he added hastily.

It said something for Kyoko's state of mind that she seriously considered the offer. "Won't that be worse? You're the one they really want to get pictures of. What if they follow me here?"

"Most likely they're trying to get pictures of us together. We may need to re-release some publicity stills of Dark Moon to hold them off. There's a risk, yes, but I've lived here since I was sixteen without being discovered. It's safe."

Kyoko appeared impressed. "That's amazing! It only took them a few hours to find me!"

Hizuri Kuon owns this flat, not Tsuruga Ren. Unless they put together the pieces of his life that tied Kuon to Ren, the gutter press would spin its wheels looking for a phantom.

Kyoko picked up the bags from the floor, vanishing into the kitchen while Ren hung up the coat. When he tried to follow her into the kitchen, he was rebuffed. That was normal; she didn't like it when he helped her cook. On the rare instances when he insisted, however, Kyoko usually relented.

Once more underscoring that this night was not normal, Kyoko refused to relent. Instead of simply parking himself against the kitchen counter the way he had the previous night, Ren just-as-uncharacteristically backed down. I don't want things to change between us, she'd said, but they were both being awkward and jumpy. Giving her a little space would make them behave more normally around each other, or so Ren hoped.

Banished from his own kitchen, Ren set the table before slumping onto the living room sofa. Gloom radiated from him. He was terrified that everything was going sideways. The sensation intensified when Kyoko finally emerged after nearly an hour. Since she insisted on simple Japanese fare, cooking usually didn't take more than thirty minutes. The meal was typical: miso soup, a pickled cucumber salad, some chilled tofu. The one atypical dish was toriniku no tatsuta-age. It was a time-consuming chicken dish that had to be marinated in a soy mixture before being breaded and fried. It always reminded Ren a little of chicken nuggets. On the rare occasions when Kyoko made it, she usually came into the living room while it marinated. Meat two nights in a row; Ren wasn't sure what that meant. Perhaps Kyoko really did think he needed stamina?

Considering how suggestible his libido was, she was probably right.

Normally conversation flowed easily between them as they discussed roles and people they both knew, but tonight the meal took place in near silence apart from the clacking of plates and cups. It felt like an especially awkward first date, which was absurd for a number of reasons. For one, Kyoko had been coming over for months to eat with him without any hint of discomfort on either side. For another, Tsuruga Ren didn't have awkward dates, first or otherwise. Awkward social situations didn't exist for Tsuruga Ren; it went against everything grafted onto Ren's gentlemanly personae. And while awkward social situations may have existed at one time for Hizuri Kuon back when Hizuri Kuon existed, that didn't extend to his relationships with members of the opposite sex. Women came after him, often with only one thing in mind; there wasn't anything to be awkward about when both people were on the same (albeit shallow) wave length.

Even after they cleared away the dishes together, the tension was a living thing between them. They sat as far apart on the couch as they could, both unsure what to say or do. In desperation, "Let's watch T.V.," Ren finally suggested.

Nodding silently, Kyoko picked up the remote and turned on the T.V., automatically tuning it to the show she usually watched at this time.

Japonet Scoop Broadcast
2230

"Welcome to Japonet Scoop, the show where you see what everyone's talking about before they talk about it! We have a full agenda tonight. First up is Amamiya Chiori, star of the hit new drama School Ties—"

(The rest of the opening spiel went unheard as Kyoko jumped up. "Chiori-san! They're interviewing Chiori-san!"

Seizing an opportunity to make the conversation more relaxed than it had been, "Isn't that the show I helped you with a couple of months ago?" asked Ren. "The one about the murder at the American high school?"

"Yes, but she's the star! I only started filming my part last week. It was fun! We did the flashback scene, where I was the homecoming queen! They gave me a dress with sparkles and a wig with long blond hair—"

"And a tiara?" asked Ren, daring to tease.

Kyoko pouted. "No, the director said it was 'too much'."

On the screen, the glaring pink background with the white balloon type proclaiming Later — Shocking news about Ren? somehow went unnoticed as Kyoko continued to talk about her almost-fairy-princess outfit and Ren, hugely relieved to be in a normal conversation with her, egged her on with questions.)

"We're back with Amamiya Chiori, star of School Ties. Chiori-san, welcome."

"Thank you for having me," said Chiori with a shallow bow from her seat.

("Ooooh, look at her eyes! She's wearing new make-up!" exclaimed Kyoko. "I'll have to ask her about that tomorrow!")

"Your co-star is Kyoko-san of Box R fame, correct?"

"Kyoko-chan is one of the co-stars of the drama, yes. This is a different type of role for her," Chiori graciously allowed. "She plays a nice girl that gets in over her head. I'm the police detective she went to school with."

"Of course, Kyoko-san is on the minds of many people right now—"

"—which we'll discuss later in the program," said Chiori with a charming smile as she looked directly into the camera.

There was a fractional pause before the presenter went on to ask another question about the new production.

("They mentioned me!" squealed Kyoko in delight. "But why would he ask about me like that?" Ren had the first inkling of impeding doom. He eyed the remote control. However, the mention of her name on the show she used to watch as a fan sent Kyoko off into la-la land, all sparkling eyes and girlish gushing. Ren watched her indulgently, somehow missing the bright pink screen that flashed briefly before the commercial break: Up next — Natsu's revenge against Mizuki?)

"She was originally scheduled to talk about her new drama in our second segment, but since she may have some insight on the breaking story everyone's talking about, we've asked her to participate in our host chat as well tonight." (Here a picture of Ren kissing Kyoko on the cheek briefly appeared. Kyoko yelped and stared in horror as the image dissolved into a shot of the two hosts sitting at the long desk, Chiori smiling from her perch between them.) "Please welcome back Amamiya Chiori, who co-starred with Kyoko in Box R and works with both Kyoko and Tsuruga Ren at LME."

"Thank you, although I have to correct one little piece of information. My agency is Softhat. However, Kyoko and I are in a special division at LME called 'LoveMe.' I suppose you could say I'm like an exchange student."

"'LoveMe' is an ironically apt title, considering what everyone wants to discuss!" (On the screen behind the trio, an artfully-cropped image showing a close-up of The Kiss was presented, tilted against a pink background. In Ren's apartment, Kyoko clapped her hands to her face in mortification. Wincing at her distress, Ren reminded himself that the publicity was for Kyoko's own protection.) "What does the LoveMe division do, exactly?"

"It's hard to say what we do exactly," responded Chiori. "Our duties change day-to-day. There are a lot of in-character exercises to enhance our love of acting. It's essentially ad hoc training for any unusual situations an actor might find themselves in. I joined about a year ago, when Kyoko-chan and I were both working on Box R."

"We've heard the LoveMe section is quite exclusive. It's difficult to qualify for, isn't it?"

"You have to be approved by the President of LME before you can join," said Chiori with a bright smile. "The three of us – myself, Kyoko-san, and Kotonami Kanae – have had significant success after joining. Although we'll miss Kyoko-chan, membership is only supposed to be temporary."

("Noooo!" wailed Kyoko. "Moko-san must think I've violated our no-men pact! She's thrown me out of LoveMe!" Ren wondered if he could casually turn off the TV without making it look like he was hiding something.)

"The news about Tsuruga-san and Kyoko-san must have been quite a surprise."

"Actually," responded Chiori, "there had been rumors about the two for some time. I remember when Tsuruga-san had the accident during Dark Moon. We were nearby filming Box R. Normally Kyoko-chan is very professional, but she dropped everything to run to the scene. Taping was held up for quite a while." (The fact the director ran to the scene first was not mentioned, as the female host exclaimed about the romance of it all and the male host complained he wouldn't want his girl to see him in such an embarrassing situation. Ren watched Kyoko in concern. She was swirly-eyed in astonishment, amazed that anyone could misinterpret her natural concern for her sempai in such a way.)

"Kyoko-chan always knew where he was going to be, and when his breaks were so she could call him," continued Chiori. "Tsuruga-san often showed up after taping to drive her home. Although she didn't have a manager, his manager would help her with scheduling appearances and interviews. So although I understand this seems very sudden for people who don't actually know them, those of us that do aren't surprised."

"And of course, spending so much time at LME gives Chiori-san some special privileges."

"Yes, LoveMe is directed by Sawara Takenori, who is also in charge of the Talent Division there. I called him earlier to see what he knew."

"And 'what he knew' was really quite surprising!" interjected the female host.

"Yes, according to Sawara-san, Kyoko-chan and Tsuruga-san will shortly be leaving the agency—"

("Eh!" gasped Kyoko.)

"—to pursue their careers in the United Sta—"

(Ren's lunge for the remote control came too late.)

"EH! EEEEHH!" Kyoko screeched as she leapt to her feet.

Tsuruga Ren's Apartment
2300

Kyoko stared at the television's blank screen.

She had been staring at it for several minutes.

Finally, as if each tiny move pained her, she ratcheted her head around a small fraction of an angle at a time until her wide-eyed gaze crossed that of her would-be lover.

Ren smiled his most charming, most sparkling, most gentlemanly smile. "Ah, surprise?"