-Oxford - Sunday to Monday-

Sunday - End

Ren watched his mother leave, "Thank you Mr. Tsuruga. I believe a dark cloud has lifted from her heart." she turned to look at him, he caught the smile on her face. "Sweet dreams, I shall see you tomorrow for dinner." His breath caught in his chest as she followed suit. He watched as she opened the door, grabbing onto Ruto's arm he caught Ruto's eyes looking at him he gave a slightly nod of his head, her eyes trailing towards him for a moment her smile disappeared for a moment before returning as she looked up at Ruto, who placed an arm around her as she closed her eyes, slowly falling asleep standing, Ruto looked down at her and picked her up with ease.

"Thank you Ren-san." His eyes turned towards the girl in his arms "She's been trying to figure out how to heal that woman's heart. It seems now that it's over her body has demanded the rest she didn't give it the night before." With a nod of his head, he disappeared back into the hall, the door shutting behind him.

He didn't know how to respond at all, 'Maybe she hates me a bit less now..' why he wanted that he didn't know or understand just like he couldn't understand why his breath caught in his chest when she smiled at him. "Must be I don't know how to deal with someone like her… no one has ever said they hated me before. Showed me yes but said it without a hint of jealousy or lust?" he frowned into the garden as he pulled out his cell phone.

Dialing the man he had to speak to now, now that he wasn't sure if his cover still remained. 'Would it be so bad if she did know?' he felt the stab of pain his chest, 'She might not even put up with presence.' his chest hurt so much but he was able to push aside when he heard Lory's voice.

"Ren, what do I owe the pleasure of such a late call?" Lory sounded tired but he paid the man no issue.

"Tell me, does she know."

"You are going to have to give me more to work with than that Kuon. It's late and I had a thing with my daughter earlier because of a certain young man." No he had an idea what it was about but he worried about his little girl, she hadn't slept much last night from what he had been told by Ruto, for that matter either had Ruto had been with her last night. From what he gathered today had not been much better with Juliena.

His eyes narrowed as he tsk at him, trying to keep his emotions in check when you were worried about things blowing up in her face was not an easy task, "Your daughter, does she know who I really am?"

"I've not said a word. I doubt your mother said anything to her." No, she might talk about Kuon but she would not say Ren was her Kuon. No matter how badly she wanted too, she accepted it deep down. She knew it was the right move it was the lack of communication, it was the lack of not being there when he had left, it was the lack of not being told by her son himself but by Kuu.

"Kyo knows too."

"Yes her godmother does indeed know after all Kyo is a dear friend of your mother's. She would, of course, know what you look like, you wouldn't be able to pull it over her eyes, not someone who's watched you grow through at your mother's side. Yet give her a bit of credit, she does her best to keep your mother from bursting into tears every time she sees you at one of these shows." He sighed heavily "We all understand the reasons for your choice."

"She's not hurting as much anymore I don't think," he said softly to Lory.

"You spoke to her?" He would never have thought he would speak to his mother, this was great news!

"Your daughter came and got me. Asked me to speak as a son to her, to ease her pain. Yes, she knows who I am but for anyone who may have been looking, I guess it was more of an act." There had only been one witness but he figured it best not to say that to him.

"Ah. I see. Kyoko has an amazing ability, doesn't she? She knew that Juliena needed to hear from her son but couldn't figure out a way. Yet she figured out a way and she doesn't even know she got that boy to talk to his mother to put her mind at ease." He chuckled "

No matter how he thought about it, Lory was right. Without her knowledge of what seemed like an act, she had indeed gotten him to speak to his mother. 'I didn't even know that was her plan at first and I blindly followed her without question when she told me too...'

His mind moved back into Lory's conversation, he almost regretted leaving his own thoughts, "You know? She can play the koto amazing skills not an easy thing to learn either, she can play the flute not as great as her koto skills but still amazing. Then there is the fact she's brilliant too you know. High marks just like her brother. I was never that smart. She's learning two languages at once right now too. Do you know how hard it is to learn two languages at once? Well, I'm not surprised by that either. I mean Kouki knows several languages too. Still let's not forget she can cook, clean, sew... "

Ren sighed "I get it your daughter is amazing" he rolled his eyes "If you are done pretending to be my father I am going to go to bed actually even if you aren't done pretending to be him I'm hanging up."

Monday

Laura stared at the two men who had entered, they both rather good looking but her eyes were sent on the taller of the two. Maria who had been helping Kyoko cup up Tonkatsu strips for the Katsudon quickly put her knife down and was out of the chair running exactly to the taller of the two. "Ren-sama!" Maria called out in Japanese. Ren had quickly picked her up with her first jump at him and held her firmly in his arms.

"Oh, he's going to be great with kids." Laura watched him like she was debating if she should keep him or release him back into the wild.

Amanda coughed, "He's also the one that Kyoko dislikes so he's not likely that good with women, Laura."

David couldn't help but snort at that comment, "No one could handle Kyoko though" his head turned towards the girl who stood in the kitchen head had felt something crawl around his legs but he had come to understand that Kyoko had some supernatural power. "Mercy! I say that with all the love of my heart. No one could handle Amanda either!" he grunted as he was elbowed in the side by her. "Mercy… so much mercy."

Amanda huffed leaning on her elbow, "It's not that no one could handle us. It's that we don't accept losers." she said closing her eyes "Unlike a certain other half of mine does."

"Aw come on, that last one wasn't that bad." Ren looked at his Manager, it was clear that neither of them knew if they should be moving towards the table at this point and time. Not only that but he was well aware that Laura had been watching him. He had glanced towards Kyoko for a moment but she seemed busy.

Laura, "You mean Model Phoebe or Makeup artist Phoebe?" her eyes finally leaving Ren to focus on her younger brother.

"Ah… which one was the last one?" he asked Amanda who sighed heavily. "Ha just joking, Makeup artist Phoebe. Then she found out how old I was," he said hanging his head.

"Yes, she did get points for that at least. I just wish you would stay within our age frame you know maybe six years older, I mean you have that limit for not dating anyone not older than fifteen is it really that hard to not add one for older women. I mean at least right now? Don't you think her being 26 years old was a bit much?"

Yashiro clearly his throat "Is this a bad time for us?"

David looked at the man who joined them, "Sorry we're just used to family time being kinda like this." He motioned towards Kyoko, "She cooks unless she's busy with school or her lessons which happens most school days. We argue" he motioned towards Amanda, "and she's just being a sour sport cause her teammate is not with us." Yashiro shrugged his shoulders and the two of them joined them at the table, Maria now sitting in Ren's lap and Yahiro to his right.

Laura looked at him "Michael is at least well behaved." she said with a roll of her eyes "and he has a plan for his life. That isn't just about finding a wife and making babies."

David "In fairness, we all have to make babies. Mom wants an even number…" Laura and Amanda both looked down sighing heavily. "So in that respect, I do have a plan for life."

Maria looked at Ren to explain a bit more than what had been said "Grandfather and Mary both made us all promise to have kids one night. Well, actually we had to promise to make the boys and girls numbers even."

Ren had no idea what to say to that, the fact he didn't think it was even possible to do that unless you stopped at one or maybe two. Yet if he recalled correctly the royal family had a total of seven children. Still, his eyes trailed back towards the petite girl in the kitchen before looking back at the others. If he took into account Kouki, Maria and Kyoko then that ten people who had to make an even number of boys to girls. He didn't want to think what the next generation was going to look at. Well, Maria would be the oldest he supposed.

Laura smirked "So handsome number one…" her eyes trailing over Ren for a moment "How would you like help even the numbers?"

Yashiro looked at Ren, it wasn't uncommon for women to hit on him but that had to be the first pick up line that was about starting a family. 'This woman didn't move slow does she?' However, Ren was smiling his normal gentleman smile.

"I'm afraid at the time I will be unable to offer my services."

Laura smirked softly, "at the time? So perhaps later?" she jumped slightly as her plate was set on the table, harshly. David and Amanda were trying to hide in the laughter that they clearly wanted to release but at the moment we're holding it in. Laura looked at the Kyoko giving her best innocent smile "Yes Kyoko?"

"Stop teasing him" she turned and went back to the kitchen. Ren's eyes followed after her before setting back on the woman in front of him. Maria leaned against his chest. She was pouting but clearly not upset about what had happened.

Yashiro stared at her for a moment "So you were teasing Ren?"

Laura frowned "well it's not like he's not cute… actually, he's dreamy but he's still a baby." Ren couldn't believe his ears and Yashiro wide mouth in shocked as he looked back and forth between them made it clear he couldn't believe it either. Amanda and David began to laugh no longer being able to hold it in.

David shook his head after a few deep breaths, "Sorry… My sister likes to tease guys that are good looking, she won't date anyone younger than her." He took another deep breath trying his best to keep control over how amused he had been, "She has a three-year limit, so you would have to be at least 25 years old for her to even think about dating you." Kyoko placed the rest of the plates down before looking back to Ruto.

"I'm going to get Kyo, can you get drinks ready for everyone please Ruto?" He nodded his head her eyes turned towards Maria "You are going to eat in your chair… and yes… you can sit next to your Ren." Maria nodded her head.

Ren smiled softly at the thought that she had noticed and gotten upset enough to put an end to it. 'Would it be too much to think she did it for me?' He closed his eyes trying to regain himself he couldn't let himself slip yet it wasn't long before his face was blank, 'When did I become a masochist?' he mentally sighed as he heard the door close. It hadn't gone unnoticed however, a certain manager who knew his charge better than anyone notice the difference in his smile, he just couldn't figure out why.

Dinner had been interesting and process. It made him understand one thing though, there was no way she only been a part of this family for such a short time a couple of months was not enough time to make such strong connections.

Ren leaned against the edge of his bed, another drink in his hand. It had been fun, even though she hardly spoke to him, no but she spoke to Yashiro. "Maybe she really does hate me…" he closed his eyes laying his head back against the bed, "I don't know how to handle that…"

His eyes opened slightly as he stared at the ceiling his mind recall a moment that evening.

Yashiro smiled at Kyoko, "Where did you learn to cook Kyoko?" Ren had noticed how she froze for a moment, he noted Maria eyes looking at something, something he couldn't see but Laura had spoken up.

"Kyo, I think Yukihito thinking of stealing our Kyoko away to be his bride" the older woman looked at Laura her eyes looking towards Kyoko before finally settling on Yashiro.

"Is that true Mr. Yashiro." He watched his managers face pale.

"No, I would never think to make Kyoko my bride!" The room seemed to grow darker and Maria's eyes widen as her mouth dropped open before grinning.

"Oh, what's wrong with godchild?" Kyo's eyes had narrowed looking at him.

Now that he was recalling that looked, he wondered why he never connected Kyo of KYO with Kyoko Fukumi that was on Kyoko's birth certificate. He felt stupid for that now, it made sense to him thinking about it now. He could see a bit of Kyo in Kyoko, he could also see his mother in her. "What is wrong with me?" he placed a hand over his heart, "Why do I see the only women I could trust in her?" There was more question that bothered him, why he even cared.

Kyoko stretched as she stood out of the balcony of the room she shared, her cellphone in her hand she just got off the phone with her father and she still had to send an e-mail to Kouki. Leaning over the edge of the rail she smiled looking down at the glowing lights of the city below. "So pretty…"

"What is?" She pulled herself back up over the rail to at Kyo. Was it already time for bed check? She wanted to check but knew that would be bad manners.

"Heh, the city lights… it reminds me of light fairies…" she said softly. "Lighting up the night…" she said motioning towards the skies, "seeing as we can't see the stars."

Kyo smiled softly as she walked over leaning over the rail, "Yes… I suppose you could say that the city is making its own starlight or us." she stood up pulling her into a hug, before touching both of Kyoko's cheeks affectionately. "Next time though Kyoko, when someone is asked of you that you don't know how to answer, smile and change the subject. You are too honest with your emotions.

"It's not that I couldn't or didn't know how to answer," she said softly before sitting at the chair on the balcony, Kyo took the other one watching her.

"Then what happened to cause you to freeze up?"

Kyoko closed her eyes holding the cell phone between her hands "I was thinking about why I had first learned… I didn't learn it for myself…" she said laying her chin on her knees as she pulled them closer to her chest. "I learned because I thought it was expected of me. I didn't want to be… a burden." she sighed.

"Yet you enjoy cooking, correct?"

"Oh yes, I have for many years. It just thinking about the skills I gained from doing it bothers me." Kyo smiled as she stood up.

"Kyoko then the answer is you learned from trial and error. You improved your skills and added new ones since you were born. It was something you enjoy and wanted to share with those you cared about to show them that you care." she places a hand on her cheek before kissing her forehead. "Get to bed soon. Goodnight Kyoko."

Kyoko smiled warmly at the woman, "Goodnight Kyo. See you in the morning."

"Remember we are eating downstairs tomorrow it's another early day."

A/N: Tonkatsu - Deep-fried, breaded pork cutlet.

Katsudon is pork chops cooked over eggs and served over bowls of steamed rice and garnished with scallions.