Thank you everyone that has taken the time to read, favorite, follow, and review Laser-Tag Love. I am very grateful and glad that you are enjoying it. I truly love you all!

I welcome all constructive criticism.

Here is chapter twenty-five. I'm sorry that I'm posting it so late. I just started school again so I'm working on getting back into the routine was classes and homework. I really am sorry, please don't hate me. I'll do my best to get chapter twenty-six posted on time on the 25th.

Words written in italics are spoken in Russian.

Disclaimer: I do not own Skip Beat or any of the characters from it. Skip Beat is the property of Yoshiki Nakamura.

Kuon's Amusement

'Mo, I really want to tell Tsuruga that if he hurts Kyoko in anyway he'll have to deal with me.' Moko thought fiercely as she left Kyoko. 'But I don't have time right now. Mo. Oh well. Maybe it's better this way. I don't want Kyoko to be there when I confront Tsuruga. I'll catch him sometime when Kyoko isn't around.'

With that thought she left the building.

Kuon watched the door from the moment he sat down. ' I wonder how long Kyoko and Kotonami-san are going to talk. Given how much Kyoko is going to apologize and since it has been a while since they talked I'd guess it'll be about an hour. Maybe a little longer.

Time passed and Kuon was starting to feel a little bored. 'I should have brought a script to read while waiting for Kyoko.' He went to get a drink just to have a reason to walk around some. He went back to his table with a straight coffee. He had a swallow and looked at his phone and started surfing the web. After a while he looked at the time and received a little shock. 'It's been almost two hours. Kyoko must be telling Kotonami-san about everything. I wonder how she reacted when Kyoko told her about what happened at lunch today. Will Kyoko have told about Boss wanting her to leave the Love Me section. I bet Kotonami-san was mad if Kyoko did.' He smirked, 'I almost wish that I could be a fly on the wall to hear their conversation.'

Kyoko walked into the cafeteria, having just said bye to Moko, and quickly saw Ren. He was on the far side of the cafeteria facing the door. She smiled and made her way over to him.

When she was within speaking distance she opened her mouth but then paused. 'How should I call him?' She thought suddenly nervous. 'Lately we've been pretty much alone while we talked. Should I call him Ren? Or Tsuruga-san so people don't know? But we're going to tell the public tomorrow so does it matter? I don't want to do anything to ruin his image! OOOOOOH! What am I supposed to do!?'

Just then Ren looked up and smiled but Kyoko didn't notice. She was frozen like ice. Kuon was immediately worried. He had let Ren take over a couple minutes ago but know he shoved him aside as he got up and walked to Kyoko.

"Kyoko?" He said in a soft voice as he bent down slightly to get a better look at her face.

Kyoko blinked and looked at him with unfocused eyes.

"What's wrong?" He asked in the same soft voice as he gently lead her to the table. "Are you alright?"

"I– Well you see– Ummm." Kyoko stuttered as she tried to think of how to reply to Kuon's question.

Kuon kept looking more concerned and confused as Kyoko tried to talk.

Finally she was able to say what she wanted to. "What am I supposed to call you in public?"

Kuon furrowed his brows. "What?"

Kyoko turned pink as she started explaining. "Well it's just when we've run into each other the passed few days there haven't been a lot of other people around so it was easy to call you Ren. But there are so many people around now. Should I call you Ren or Tsuruga-san? Wouldn't it be weird if people just all of a sudden hear me calling you Ren? Won't that make them suspicious? They don't know that we're dating. But they will tomorrow. But that isn't–"

Kuon silenced her by putting his finger on her lips. He looked at her with a smirk. 'Only you would worry about that, Kyoko.' He thought with a chuckle. "Kyoko, call me Ren. It doesn't matter if other people hear or if they think it's strange, which they won't. They'll just think that we are finally dropping formalities. So don't worry about it, okay?"

Kyoko nodded since Kuon's finger was still on her lips. 'When is he going to move– uh-oh.'

Kuon's smirk suddenly looked slightly like the Emperor of the Night's smirk. Kyoko gulped.

Kuon moved his finger and put his hand gently on Kyoko's shoulder as he leaned close to her ear. "Call me Ren in public. But always use my real name when we're alone." He said in a deep whisper so only Kyoko could hear him. "I love the way my name sounds when you say it."

Kyoko turned bright red and jerked away from Kuon. She looked at him with wide eyes. 'Did he really just say that!? That isn't the sort of thing normal people should saying!'

Kuon chuckled lightly as he watched Kyoko. 'It really is too much fun making her blush. I'll never get tired of doing it.' "Do you want anything before we go to the training room?"

She shook her head unable to speak as she was trying to get over what Kuon said.

"Alright, lets go." Kuon stood up and offered his hand to Kyoko.

She hesitated and glanced around to see if anyone was looking.

"Don't worry, Kyoko. It's okay for us to hold hands. Trust me." Kuon said in a calm soothing voice.

Kyoko gave him a small smile as she took his hand and stood. They walked out of the cafeteria in silence and headed towards the training room.

They were quiet for a while until Kyoko thought of the next day. "What do you think tomorrow will be like?" She asked in a small voice.

Kuon thought for a minute before answering. "We'll be quite busy in the morning. We'll have to be at the studio we're being interviewed at early for make-up and wardrobe. Similar to when all of us were interviewed for Dark Moon. One big difference is that there will only be three people on the stage. Us and the interviewer. Another big difference is that instead of being asked questions on the Drama we will be asked questions about our relationship."

"What kind of questions?" Kyoko's voice gave away how nervous she was feeling about the interview.

Kuon squeezed her hand in reassurance as he answered, "Standard ones would be 'how long have we been together', 'how serious we are', 'if we're living together'. There will be others but they vary depending on the one doing the interview."

Kyoko was quiet as she thought about what Kuon said.

The reached the door to the training room. Kuon pulled out the key, that Sebastian gave him earlier while they were waiting for the girls after paintball, and unlocked the door. They walked in and Kuon shut and locked the door behind them.

He looked at Kyoko and saw that she was a little pale. "Hey," he said pulling her into a hug. "Don't think about it too much. I'll be with you the whole time. Everything will be fine. I won't let anything happen to you or let anyone say anything bad about you. Trust me."

Kyoko wrapped her arms around Kuon and let her anxiety slip away.

After a few minutes she pulled away and said, "Let's start practice. I feel better but I think I need a bit of a distraction."

Kuon smirked, "as my girlfriend commands."

He walked over to the table and picked up the whiteboard and marker. He wrote down three Russian words and then handed the two items to Kyoko. "Will you be able to get them all right again after a week?"

Kyoko's eyes gleamed at the challenge and she quickly took the board and marker from Kuon. She sat down and started writing.

Kuon sat down next to her and waited. After a minute or two Kyoko handed him the board. He looked at it and smiled.

БЕЖАТЬ – Run

ЖДАТЬ – Wait

СТРЕЛЯТЬ – Shoot

"Wonderfully done." He said before kissing her cheek. "You got them right."

"I tried to think about them for a while everyday so I wouldn't forget them." Kyoko said as she turned slightly pink.

'She put her heart into everything.' Kuon thought fondly. "Can you still pronounce them properly, too?"

"Run," Kyoko hesitated a bit when she spoke but Kuon nodded at her to show she said it correctly. "Shoot." Again Kuon nodded, smiling at her. "Wait."

Kuon pulled Kyoko into a hug. "Well done, Kyoko. You have earned a prize." Before Kyoko could say or do anything Kuon kissed her.

Kyoko turned pink before she kissed Kuon back. It was a short kiss but they both enjoyed it.

Kuon was smiled while Kyoko tried to get her blush back under control.

"Are you ready to learn some more?"

Kyoko nodded her head ready for the new challenge. Kuon laughed a little and wiped the board clean. He started writing again. When he was done the board read:

ЛЕВЫЙ – Left

ПРАВЫЙ – Right

ЯСНЫЙ – Clear

Я ЛЮБОВЬ ВЫ

"What does the last one mean?" Kyoko asked as she looked at it.

'Sorry, Babe, but you won't find that out until later.' Kuon thought with an amused smirk on his face. "I'll tell you when we are done practicing for the day."

"But–" Kyoko started and then stopped when she saw Kuon's expression. 'I'm not sure I'm going to like this very much.' She thought slightly scared. "Alright. So how do I say these ones?"

They spent about and hour on the words. Making sure that Kyoko could say them properly and remember which one was which.

The Russian words had been rearranged and were missing their translations. Kuon pointed at one randomly. "Translation?" He asked.

"Clear."

"Russian pronunciation?"

"Clear."

He pointed at another one.

"I love you."

Kuon smiled. 'I love you to, Babe.' He kiss Kyoko's temple. "Perfect."

"But what does it mean?" Kyoko asked in an exasperated voice. "It's weird saying something that I don't understand at all. Why won't you tell me what it means?" She looked at Kuon with an annoyed expression.

Kuon had to fight back a laugh. 'It's fun getting a rise out or her. Almost as much as making her blush.' "I'll tell you after we practice with the guns and vests a bit. Just be patient for a bit longer, okay?"

Kyoko huffed but nodded.

Kuon smiled at Kyoko and then got up. Her reached down to help her up and then lead her to the laser-tag equipment.

They both put on their vests and turned on their guns.

Kuon glanced at Kyoko. 'She really is beautiful no matter what.' "Okay, you know how to hold a gun properly mainly thanks to the paintball games we played this morning. So let's practice at aim at specific sensors on the vests. Let's see." He looked at Kyoko's vest while he walked around her. "There are five sensors on each vest. Four in the front and one in the back. The one in the back will be hardest to keep hidden while we are moving. Why don't we start with that one?"

Kyoko nodded with an exited smile on her face. 'This is going to be SO much fun. I really can't wait for the actual event.'

They practiced for about forty-five minutes. They would have practiced longer put Kyoko's stomach started growling making her blush

Kuon laughed when he heard the noise and saw Kyoko's face. "It sounds like I've overworked you." He turned off his gun and put it back on the table. "Let's stop for the day and go have some dinner."

"Okay," Kyoko said as she too turned off her gun. "What do you want me to make tonight?"

"Nothing."

Kyoko looked at Kuon confused.

"I love your cooking, Kyoko. However I don't want you to cook tonight. You should just relax. We can order something."

Kyoko looked like she wanted to argue so Kuon quickly kiss her. "No arguing." He said when he broke the kiss. "You're sore from the paintball so I want you to relax tonight."

"Okay." 'I don't feel like arguing right now.' Kyoko took off her vest and set it on the table.

Kuon followed suite. He then cleaned the whiteboard.

"So what does I love you mean?"

Kuon looked at her with a tender smile on his face. "Say it one more time." He said quietly.

Kyoko was bemused but said it again. "I love you."

Kuon walked up to her and pulled her into a gentle loving hug. "I love you, too."