Chapter 10

T -5 Days & Counting

"Mo! Stop worrying about it! Just go with what we planned. I'm sure Tsuruga-san will understand, he's been in the business long enough to know things like this happen. He won't hold it against you." Kanae sat on the bench in her pink curse next to her friend. "Look, just be friendly. Don't flirt and make it clear from the start, your position on the date. If you're honest, the guy will understand. Takarada-san isn't going to set you up with a jerk." Kanae explained.

Kyoko sighed. "I guess you're right. Sorry, I just panicked a little. I didn't want to make someone feel horrible for going out with me. This is all just so foreign to me... You know? I've never been on a date before. I've never had anyone that actually liked me enough to ask me out."

Kanae snorted derisively. "Yeah..."

Kyoko groaned. "Alright... I've never noticed it when they did... Okay?... I know that they were now. I think I even remember some of the guys back in Kyoto asking me out. The only difference then, was that Fuwa-san kept chasing them away. I see that now. It's just all a little much to absorb and I'm having a little bit of a hard time." She sighed in defeat.

Kanae nudged her shoulder with her own. "That's why I'm here, Kyoko. I'm here to help you. That's what friends do. I may not be the greatest friend, but I'll do what I can to help you clear things up in that messed up head of yours."

Kyoko pulled her into a tight hug and Kanae yelped a little at the surprise. "Thank you so much, Moko-san! I don't know what I would do without you."

You'd probably still be focusing on that stupid jerk and wallowing in the lies he created. Kanae thought as she smiled and hugged her friend in return.

Yashiro smirked as he observed his male charge's eyes following his female charge. Kyoko-chan had changed quite a bit in the time they had known her and her most recent changes were almost like a bomb dropped in the lobby of LME. Less than a week ago, the caterpillar became a butterfly. He gave Ren an evil grin and one could almost see his little devil-chibi, smiling up at the large beast.

"Hmm, told you so." He chirped happily.

Ren looked at him confused. "What is that Yukihito?"

"I told you that girls in the entertainment industry mature quickly, but you didn't want to listen. Now Kyoko-chan has a date next Saturday with someone that Takarada-san set her up with." He turned to him. "You really need to make your move on her, before that unknown young man captures her heart with sweet words, flowers and candy."

Ren scoffed at him. "She's safe. She's got Kotonami-san on her side. She would never fall for something like that." He told him in a calm, confident voice.

Yashiro growled a little. "No... of course she won't be easy to win over, but once the young man gets a little taste, do you really think he will stop at that? They'll have their date, whatever that may entail. He'll see how wonderful she is and then suddenly she'll have a new friend in her life. Slowly that friend will start to do little, sweet things for her and she will notice. Then that "friend" will turn into something more solid and long-lasting. Then poor Ren will be stuck on the sidelines to watch her walk down the aisle in that beautiful white dress. After that, you will be nothing more than "Uncle Ren" to all of the little baby Kyoko's in her future. Is that what you want to happen?!" Yashiro finished exasperated.

Ren shocked him by giving him a genuine smile. He laughed and shook his head. "Yukihito, that will never happen." He walked away to talk to Kyoko, leaving Yashiro stunned and irritated at his response.

Contrary to popular belief, it is a scientific fact, through recent studies, that men are far more emotional than women, but just better at hiding it. This is why this particular male was, in his mind's eye, dancing, playing an air guitar, doing back-flips that turned into a victory dance that would be more appropriate for a field goal on a football field and singing "I am the champion.", yet he was perfectly calm on the outside.

He had successfully convinced her to have lunch with him, without the guise of her being concerned for his health. She was there with him of her own free will and all he had to do was ask. Which, she accepted with another of her gorgeously blinding smiles. He was far above the mere mortal Cloud 9. He suspected that it could possibly be classified as maybe Cloud 999,000? With that one beautiful smile and her acceptance, she had been able to wash away anything that would closely resemble a bad day and send him straight to the highest level of heaven possible and still be living, and leave his knees feeling like they were made of jelly. Was he still alive or, was this just a dream he was trapped in while he was in a coma, because he got hit by a car crossing the street? He covertly pinched his thigh under the table and decided that he was indeed still alive. He picked up his fork and began eating. He didn't want to ruin their lunch-date with her having to scold him for not eating.

During that hour, they discussed work, personal events and she had even asked him for advice on her current situation. He handled it gracefully, without jealousy. Yashiro would have been proud. She apologized and he told her that it was something that occurred frequently in the entertainment business, that she shouldn't feel so bad about it and that he wasn't offended in any way. There was a moment when she had gone silent and pondered something, but she was very prone to those moments, so he dismissed it as he always did.

She had plenty of time to get over her anger for being deceived by him, days ago so... this is why she was sitting on her futon, watching the prior day's videos that Kanae had e-mailed her again and smiling. How did Moko-san even do that? She was really excited to discover, during lunch, the little fact that Ren actually was wearing color contacts. She couldn't help but laugh at herself for dismissing the obvious fact before. It had crossed her mind that he wore contact lenses before, but she just shrugged it off, thinking it had been because they were prescription lenses. However, now that she put more thought into it, she realized that during the time of the Heel Siblings, he had changed in and out of them without any problem. He had actually been using the contacts that the effects department had issued him. Why didn't I realize that before? She rolled her eyes at her own, former, blindness and laughed.

She was extremely relieved that he had told her he wasn't upset with her for the blind-date she had coming up. He had actually given her the same advice as Moko-san; although, he wasn't as abrasive as she always was. Actually, she probably wouldn't have listened so intently to said advice if Kanae hadn't been that way. Sometimes he was just too gentle with her and she could guess she knew why now.

A new cloud of butterflies surged through her once again and she laughed. This was definitely different from anything she had ever experienced. Now that she knew the difference, she didn't think she would ever mistake anything else for it... ever. That feeling before was nothing compared to this. She blushed at that thought and all of the other more racy thoughts that accompanied it. She remembered Corn's kiss in Guam and couldn't keep her mind from going just a tiny step further. Yes, she definitely needed to politely turn down her blind-date and right her path to the man that she was definitely in love with.