Chapter 29: Kiss of Fatality


"And I know that it's complicated
But I'm a loser in love
So baby raise a glass to mend
All the broken hearts
Of all my wrecked up friends"

--Lady Gaga. "Speechless"


"This…this is impossible," said Rei shakily after recovering from her initial shock. "You can't have slept with Tyki. You hate him. And you wouldn't do that—not when we're dating! And Tyki—Tyki, you didn't sleep with her, did you?"

"Not that I recall…" said Tyki uncertainly, looking at Kate. "Not unless I was flat-out drunk…"

"You were!" wailed Kate. "That's why you don't remember!"

"…But we've only been dating for a week—you couldn't possibly have…" said Rei faintly, feeling nauseous. "Kate, please, say it's a joke—"

"First things first," said Lavi calmly, sitting Kate down in a chair and looking steadily at her. "Was this before or after we started dating?"

"…After…" sobbed Kate.

Lavi looked absolutely pained at this.

"…Was it before or after Tyki and Rei started dating?" Lavi managed to say.

"…Before," was the muffled answer.

It seemed that Lavi could not bring himself to look at Kate. His green eyes left her face and stared into space—pain and shock was spread over his attractive European countenance.

Rei didn't know how she was supposed to feel. She could not help but be relieved that Tyki hadn't slept with Kate after Rei and Tyki had started going out, but at the same time, Kate and Lavi hadn't started dating until after Tyki met Rei, which meant that Kate must've been one of Tyki's nightly appointments or something…

"I'm…I'm going out for some air," said Lavi, his composure seemingly in place.

He walked out of the laundry room, shutting the door behind him, which only caused Kate to cry even harder.

Rei sighed and made her way to Kate, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"He h-hates me," cried Kate. "I-I knew I shouldn't h-have t-t-told him…"

"…He doesn't hate you," said Rei quietly. "He's just shocked. Kate, why?"

"W-why what? W-why did I cheat on L-Lavi? O-or why doesn't M-Mikk remember?"

"Both, really," said Rei patiently. She knew she could not afford to be angry with Kate at the moment—though Rei was upset and disappointed, knowing that her closest girl friend had actually bedded down with her boyfriend, she could see that Kate was feeling unbelievably guilty, and Rei had no desire to rub salt on the wound.

"I-I originally c-came to w-work with him b-because I-I heard Mikk was working w-with him…" said Kate. "I…I liked Mikk…"

This particular statement caused Rei's heart to sting with jealousy—Kate liked Tyki? As in…like liked him?

"When L-Lavi asked me out a-after our second date, I w-wasn't too sure…he's so much younger than me…" said Kate, drying her tears on her arms. "But I-I said y-yes, because I c-could see that M-Mikk wasn't interested in me…"

"I beg to differ," muttered Tyki under his breath. "I only backed off of you because Bookman liked you…"

"Tyki," said Rei through gritted teeth, feeling worse by the second, "if you don't shut up, I will castrate you."

"I'm sorry, R-Rei…" said Kate, fresh tears leaking out of her brown eyes. "I'm an a-awful person…"

"Well, why doesn't Tyki remember?" said Rei, unable to look at Kate in the eyes without feeling some animosity.

"I-It…I saw him at a bar…maybe a few d-days before my first shoot with L-Lavi…and he seemed a…a bit upset…and by the looks of it…very drunk…s-so…"

Kate let her voice trail off as her tears fell down onto her clenched hands. Rei heaved another sigh, standing up.

"…I think I'm going to go find Bookman," she said. "It's probably better if I'm the one who talks to him…"

"Rei, I'm s-so sorry," said Kate tremulously.

"I…I can't say it's okay," said Rei with a pained smile. "I really can't say that. But…but I'm not really, really angry at you, okay? You…"

But Rei couldn't bring herself to say that Kate shouldn't feel guilty—even though Rei and Tyki hadn't been going out at the time, Rei was still jealous. And angry.

She simply shook her head and headed for the exit. She paused right before she left.

"Tyki…" she said quietly.

"…Yes?"

"I…"

"…You don't need to say anything," he sighed. "I know you don't believe me—you think I remembered that I slept with her. But I don't. Honest to God, I really don't remember. I'm guessing that that doesn't excuse me any, but…"

"It doesn't," she said, closing her eyes. "Sorry."

"Rei—"

Rei left without hearing the rest of Tyki's sentence. She gritted her teeth and massaged her temples as she walked down the hallway, trying to find Lavi. She knew she wasn't supposed to be upset as Tyki—they hadn't been dating, so it was the past, just a nightly appointment…

But at the same time, it wasn't a nightly appointment. Nightly appointments were almost figments of her imagination, to come and go, never to come back, except for that one particular one…

But Kate was there. She was still there, would be there for a very long time, considering that Rei thought of her as a friend, and Tyki and Lavi were basically "best friends." And if Kate and Tyki had slept together, then what if that old spark came back? What if Rei and Tyki got in a fight—would Tyki go find Kate?

Tyki screwing Kate would be so different from his finding a random girl in the street because Kate was a friend, a colleague—it was likely that Tyki felt something more for Kate. After all, Kate was beautiful, smart, confident, and good for Tyki's image…and even Tyki had just said that he would've gone for Kate had Bookman not first laid his eyes on her…

Rei found Lavi at the end of a corridor, leaning against a wall and looking out the window. She approached him silently; as she grew closer, she realized he was smoking a cigarette.

"Bookman," she said indignantly, reaching up and plucking the cig out of his hand, "it's a nonsmoking hallway…"

She dropped the cigarette to the ground and stepped on it, dousing its heat. She then looked up at Lavi, who was staring at her with a peculiar expression on his face.

"Hey," she said gently, "I know you're shocked…but Kate, she—"

Lavi grabbed Rei and held her tight to his chest, his lips finding hers as he kissed her passionately. Completely winded, Rei took a step back, which propelled Lavi to push her up against the wall, trapping her with his arms and his mouth. He was surprisingly strong.

Rei pushed against his chest, finally managing to break off the long and ardent kiss that caused her heart to unconsciously palpitate. Breathing harshly, all she could do was stare at him for a few seconds before launching her harangue.

"Are you insane?!" she said disbelievingly. "Just because—just because you hear that they've slept together—don't mess with me, Bookman!"

"It was a kiss!" snapped Lavi with uncustomary fury. "Yeah, that was a freaking kiss—they had sex—they slept together—how am I supposed to feel about that?! Right, she cheated on me with your boyfriend—doesn't it make a lot of sense if, I dunno, we just shagged and made ourselves feel better about the entire ridiculous scenario?!"

"Kate feels awful!" said Rei desperately. "She feels so bad, she really loves you, Bookman. Back then, she didn't know what she was thinking—"

"Why aren't you angry?" said Lavi angrily. "Why are you even defending her?! I could understand if you weren't angry with Mikk, but Kate?! Kate slept with your fucking boyfriend! Willingly! While he was drunk!"

"Of course I'm angry!" retaliated Rei. "I—I'm pissed, but I don't know who I should be pissed at!"

"Kate, of course!"

"But I can't be angry with her! Just…she's my first girl friend, Bookman, and I know that she really wouldn't ever have done if Tyki and I had been dating—"

"I've always known she'd fancied him," said Lavi coolly. "She often talked about him earlier—saying how hot he was, how dreamy—I should've known from the beginning—"

"Please!" said Rei, leaning heavily against the wall. "She liked him initially, Bookman—it just happened, she saw an opportunity—and she didn't know she was in love with you back then! She—"

"But we were dating!"

"I don't know, Bookman!" said Rei, bringing her hand up to her face. "I don't know how I feel, but I just know that I don't want you and Kate to break up—"

"You don't want us to break up because you're scared that otherwise, Mikk might fall for Kate."

The words stumped Rei, and she stared at Lavi. He could see through her so well.

At her silence, Lavi gave a sardonic chuckle.

"Bull's-eye, eh? Shoulda known. It's all human nature, Rei. Everyone's selfish. It's not a crime."

He let out a breath, bringing a hand up to Rei's cheek. There was a silence as Lavi simply traced his hand up her cheekbone, to the corner of her eye, then back down her chin. Rei could not move. Would not move. She didn't know what she was supposed to do. She could hear the sadness in Lavi's voice, the pain, and at the same time, she could hear her own fears and anger in her voice as she spoke…

"You look really, really nice," he said softly, his hand trailing down her chin to her neck. "…Sometimes I don't know why Mikk doesn't treat you better…"

"He treats me fine," said Rei, bringing up a hand to push Lavi's away. "He treats me fine, and he was drunk, it's not his fault—"

"You don't seriously believe that, do you?" said Lavi almost condescendingly. "He doesn't treat you 'fine.' He's moody, and he lets it out on you. And even though it might not have been his fault—the thing with Kate—you still think it was. Don't try and play innocent, Rei. I know you—I know people—better than they know themselves. I also know that right now, you're wanting to kiss me as bad as I want to kiss you just to get back at them."

Rei looked into his eyes, a bit scared with his serious tone. Her green eyes were reflected in his one visible jade iris, and she found herself irresistibly drawn to him in a completely mutual, vindictive manner.

She leaned closer to him, stepping on the tips of her toes as he leaned down and met her lips, engulfing her in another kiss.

The kiss drew out for more than a few seconds, perhaps up to half a minute—thirty seconds of mutual, frenzied kissing that lacked romantic passion, consisting simply of vengeful, crazed ardency that had nothing to do with loving temperaments. They broke apart simultaneously.

"I can't do this," they said at the same time.

An awkward silence ensued as they drew apart, retreating to opposite sides of the hallway.

"We're pathetic," laughed Rei weakly, resting her head on her shoulder, staring fixatedly at the ground. "We can't even kiss each other for a minute."

"That's the saddest thing of my entire life story," chuckled Lavi, looking considerably less stressed. "If I can't even kiss you, I highly doubt I could shag you."

Rei snorted. "Not that I would let you, anyway."

Lavi raised an eyebrow. "You sure about that? You know, if you really wanted to get laid, I could put in some extra effort, make it a pretty amazing first time—"

"Okay, okay, I get it, you're phenomenal in bed," said Rei, laughing. She them sobered up. "I can't betray Tyki like that. Kissing you already makes me feel like crap."

"Gee, thanks," said Lavi dryly. "I've been told I'm a great kisser too. But I guess the feeling's mutual—I feel sick too."

"Hey, Tyki said I've gotten better at kissing!"

Lavi chuckled again, then looked at her seriously.

"I am seriously in love with Kate," he said with conviction. "The news that she cheated on me…it's hard for me to handle. It might take some time for me to trust her again…but I…I don't think I'll break up with her."

Relief spread through Rei's face.

"Good," she said. "You guys are cute together, anyway."

"Hm. So are you and Mikk."

"Yeah, no offense, Bookman, you're not my type," said Rei with a grin, walking with him back to the laundry room.

"Ha," he scoffed. "You wouldn't be sayin' that if you weren't dating Mikk. So we keeping these two kisses a secret?"

"Yeah, I don't want Kate flipping out again and thinking that I snogged her boyfriend out of spiteful satisfaction…"

"Which is exactly what you did."

Rei smiled again, feeling a bit more light-hearted, and opened the door to the room to alleviate the two guilt-ridden partners-in-crime of their culpability. Little did she know that the trouble had hardly ended, and in fact was just beginning, for she and Lavi had not been the only ones in the hallway at the time.


"Listen, Rei," said Tyki the moment they were alone in Lavi and Kate's room. "I know you're angry, but I seriously didn't know…"

"I know," mused Rei, readjusting her hat. "I just can't believe you can't remember sleeping with Kate…Kate, of all people. Do you even remember when it could've happened?"

"She said something about it being before the first collaborative shoot, right?" said Tyki, thinking. "It might've been that day when I first told you about what Marian wanted in the photo shoot…remember how we sorta got in a fight?"

"…So because of that petty little argument, you got shitfaced, slept with your best friend's girlfriend—"

"I didn't know it was her! And Bookman isn't my best friend—where did you get that absurd terminology?"

"Whatever," she said, rolling her eyes and turning away. "I don't want to talk, Tyki, I'm not that happy right now—"

"But you just forgave Kate!"

"Yes," said Rei exasperatedly, "well, Kate is Kate, and you're Tyki, and it's much harder to forgive you than it is to forgive her, especially when she's crying like crazy."

"Is that what I have to do to ask for forgiveness?" said Tyki evenly. "Cry?"

"Look, Tyki," said Rei wearily. "I know it's not your fault. But how am I supposed to feel if I just found out you slept with Kate? I can't not be angry, can I?"

"I just think you're overreacting," he said tersely. "I mean, hell, you saw me and that one girl back in Japan—"

"Oh, so because I've already seen you screwing another girl, this isn't supposed to make a big impact on me?" said Rei acerbically. "How about I just go make out with say—Lavi—in front of you and see if you make a big deal out of that—"

Tyki grabbed her and pushed her down on the bed, his golden eyes flashing.

"Don't," he said in a deadly voice, "even consider Bookman."

Rei's stomach lurched uncomfortably, and she refrained from stating that she and Lavi had already kissed just to get back at them.

"I won't," she said. "Who's the one overreacting now?"

Tyki just looked at her strangely, then kissed her fiercely as he pushed her fully down on the mattress, his hands sliding down her hips to her bare thighs, rubbing against the skin. His kiss was harsh and possessive, his touch rough and jerky, unlike his normally suave manner. Rei pulled away unconsciously, feeling uncomfortable with his forcefulness, but he took her back and slid his hand up her thigh, capturing her lips and forcing her in place.

His other hand pulled up the hem of her shirt, tracing his fingertips over her stomach and further under the thin cloth. She jerked back, her hat falling off messily as she struggled to escape his grasp.

"What are you doing?" she said with shaky anger, sitting up to face him. "Why—why are you being so—"

"You were fine with it back in the laundry room," said Tyki testily. "I'm just—"

"For your information, Tyki," said Rei coldly, "I don't think making out with me is the best idea right after I found out you shagged my best friend."

"I wouldn't shag your little friend Walker—"

"Kate, you idiot!" said Rei furiously. "Don't touch me—you're completely overreacting just because I made a snide little joke about me snogging Bookman—which wouldn't even be a big deal!"

"It wouldn't be a big deal?" said Tyki skeptically. "You really think that you kissing Bookman isn't a big deal?"

"Well seeing as you've bedded down with every woman possible, I don't think that it is."

Tyki brought a hand up to Rei's cheek, stroking it gently.

"I beg to differ," he said softly, and his voice was growing lethal. "I see that as a very big deal, Rei—I don't like to share the things that belong to me—"

"I've been demoted to a 'thing' now, have I?" she said through gritted teeth.

Tyki let out a weary sigh, cupping her face into his hands and kissing her very gently, a stark contrast from before.

"You are…" he said quietly, "you are more important to me than you'd think. And I am much more jealous of others…than one would expect…if I even imagine someone touching you, I feel so…"

Rei's stomach gave another unpleasant lurch. Shit.

"So don't joke around about that," said Tyki tiredly, resting his forehead against hers as he played with a tendril of her hair. "I don't want to see the image of you kissing Bookman or Kanda or anyone else…just me."

"You are…strangely possessive," said Rei, shifting uneasily. "I thought you Europeans were much more lax about physical touch—"

"Hah," said Tyki acidly. "Not when it comes to you. I'm very possessive of you—I hate sharing, and you're something I just can't stand to share." He leaned in and kissed her again, this time a bit more urgently.

"Let me guess," said Rei as they broke apart. "You skipped out on your meds again."

"Isn't that a good thing?" he said, kissing the corner of her mouth. "Then I can just run back to you to distract me from taking those awful pills…"

Rei gave a sigh, wrapping her arms around Tyki's neck and kissing him fully. He pressed her back down on the mattress, satisfying his physical wants, as Rei responded fervently.

She felt a bit guilty. She had underestimated Tyki's emotions toward her—she had thought that he was very nonchalant with their relationship, seeking her out only for physical touch and not for anything deeper. But his words seemed genuine, to say the least…and she realized that if he found out about Rei and Lavi's two vengeful little kisses, he'd be…angry, and would most likely flip.

So good thing she and Lavi had decided to keep it their little secret. Hopefully Tyki would never find out.


"Kate!" said Rei frantically. "The extensions, the extensions!"

"Here, here," said Kate patiently, handing the black extensions to the hairdresser who was currently working on Rei. "Now, dear, why don't you close your eyes, count to a hundred, and not struggle? The team can work on you a lot easier if you don't make a mess of things."

Rei took a deep breath, thinking over what she was supposed to say to the press. She hated the cheesy answer that Kate had told her to give—it was exactly what Rei didn't think, because she actually thought the paparazzi were a bunch of lying, gossiping jerks who liked to ruin celebrities' lives…if they wanted to ruin someone's life, they should've ruined Aiko's. That would've made Rei's life.

The hours passed, and Rei's neck was unbearably stiff by the time the makeup artist was done. Six o'clock rolled around, and it was soon time for them to join the rest of the group.

"Remember, breathe," said Kate kindly as the two of them walked down the stairs to the lobby. "Smile, at all times. It doesn't matter how you smile—with your teeth, without your teeth, just as long as you look absolutely happy and unperturbed by anything."

Kate was looking splendid in a very simple way. Even though the gathering was a big deal, her makeup was very natural, with brown eyeliner, rosy blush, and coffee-colored gloss. Her glorious brown hair was woven nicely in an elegant up-do, allowing her bare back to be shown through her low-cut gold dress. She wore her six-inch heels like they were part of her feet.

Rei was starting to get the hang of "gliding" with stilettos. It was hella painful and ungainly, but she was beginning to get used to it. Sad, really. She couldn't kick anybody in these—they'd probably die.

"We're here," said Kate breathlessly, taking Rei's wrist and leading her to the rest of the group in the lobby. "Remember, Rei, you look fabulous. Beautiful. You're dressed in the best labels, decorated by the best team—you are the star of fashion, an icon. Be confident."

That was very hard. But Rei could not help but feel beautiful, feel sexy, and she smirked as she walked toward Tyki's profile in the distance.


"Tyki," said Rei's voice behind him.

Tyki turned around to look at her, blinking a few times as he realized that he hardly recognized her. Her hair had been lengthened through silky black extensions, a few loose strands curling to perfection past her cheeks. The rest had been put up into a magnificent up-do, set in place with a silver hair ornament of some sort. She was wearing a ruffled silver dress that wrapped around her waist tightly, trailing all the way to the floor. A single pendant—diamond, by the looks of it—adorned her otherwise bare neck, matching the simplistic earrings.

Her makeup was bold, contrasting with her dress. Deep, black eyeliner winged out past her eyes, giving off a very fierce vibe, especially coupled with the deep red lipstick painted over her lips. Her skin seemed tanner—she must've gone to a tanning booth—and the glow of her now somewhat golden skin had a slimming effect. She looked more European than Asian.

Tyki scoffed, his lips parting in a smirk as he surveyed her up and down.

"Don't you look fabulous," said Tyki, kissing her chastely on the cheek. "And don't I match you well."

"Your vest is silver, Tyki—that's it," said Rei wryly. "You sure I look okay?"

"Better than ever before," he said softly, inching his lips closer and closer to hers. "Just seeing you like this makes me want to take you to a very secluded area where we can have plenty of fun that doesn't involve this absolutely stunning silver dress that accentuates your curves to perfection and shows off your terribly fine legs which could be wrapped around my waist as—"

"Okay!" said Rei, flushing as she pushed his face away. "Goodness, I don't need to hear all the vulgar images going through your head."

Tyki shrugged nonchalantly.

"Hey, it's going to happen one day."

"When hell freezes over," she muttered under her breath, playing with a tendril of her extensions.

"Don't say that, darling."

"Prepare yourself for a lifetime of celibacy," she said with feigned haughtiness, leaning forward and curling a strand of his hair around her index finger. "Could you do that?"

"Dear goodness, no," he said. "We'd most definitely break up."

"So that means sex is more important than me?"

"Well, if you put it that way, no, but sex is very important."

Before Rei could dryly retort that she had no intention of sleeping with Tyki right after she'd figured out about his little scandalous affair with Kate, someone interrupted them.

"Whoa," said a voice behind them.

Tyki turned around to see Kanda, Allen, and Lenalee walking towards them. Rei waved, only to have none of them wave back at her.

"Gee," she said sarcastically, "I love being ignored."

Allen blinked a few times.

"Whoa, Rei?! I thought it was some random hot chick who—"

"Since when did you start talking like Tyki and Bookman?!" said Rei, scandalized.

"I mean, I just didn't recognize you there…" said Allen awkwardly, glancing over at Lenalee as if assuring that she wasn't offended. "Wow, nice, Rei. I'm liking the long hair."

"Makes me kinda wish I'd kept mine long," said Rei wistfully. "There's more to do with long hair…"

"That's your fault," said Kanda simply, tossing a few stray strands of hair over his shoulder. "I personally think shorter hair is better on females, but—"

"You have such a backward view on aesthetics," said Rei dryly. "According to you, men look beautiful with long hair, and women look good with cropped boy-cuts."

"Not that short."

"You look really beautiful, Matsumomo-san," smiled Lenalee.

Rei looked like she was going through a strong phase of guilt as she smiled back. Weird, now that Tyki thought about it…what was up with the sudden politeness? And…hm. Why was Kanda not matching Lenalee?

"You look amazing as well," said Rei, admiring Lenalee's looser royal purple dress that fell to her knees. "I mean, not that you don't usually…but I think purple is a very pretty color on you."

Lenalee laughed softly, causing her long earrings to dangle in the air.

"For some reason, I look better in dark blue and purple than any other color," she said. "Which is weird, since I'm so pale…"

"I think you'd look good in red too," said Rei considerately. "I think that's a universal Oriental trait, you know—"

"Kanda," interrupted Tyki, turning the attention to the males, "you look fabulous as well."

To everyone's surprise, Kanda simply smirked.

"Thanks, I get that a lot," he said. "Am I supposed to return the compliment?"

Tyki smiled. "Of course not, only polite and highly refined people return compliments to each other, so you're excused from that particular burden."

"Oi," said Rei, stepping lightly on Tyki's foot. "Are you trying to start a fight?"

"No," said Tyki innocently. "I'm just wondering why his and Lenalee's colors don't match, while Walker is conveniently wearing a nice shade of purple."

There was an awkward silence. Oh, so something had happened. He must've missed it earlier…

"Er…" said Allen, looking in between all of them. "Well, I'm escorting Lenalee for today!"

"Then…who's he escorting?" asked Tyki, pointing at Kanda.

Rei kicked Tyki lightly.

"Shut up," she said delicately into his ear. "Don't make this any worse than it already is."

"I'm not escorting anyone," said Kanda smoothly. "I suppose I could say that I'll be happy to escort Matsumomo once you two get in a fight at the gathering, like you always do. While I'm free, though, I'm sure it won't be hard to find a date."

Kanda was acting extremely strange…

"…Are you flirting with my girlfriend?" said Tyki in a deadly tone.

"Of course not," snorted Kanda. "I just blatantly told her that I'm free if she gets bored of you."

"Okay, the limo is here," said Rei, feeling more and more uncomfortable with the conversation. "Let's go, let's go…"

Tyki glared at Kanda, who simply smirked as they left. As they climbed into the limo, Tyki draped his arm protectively around Rei's shoulders.

"You're not going to get bored of me, are you?" he murmured by her ear once everyone's attention was diverted elsewhere.

"Of course not," she said, blushing slightly as he licked her earlobe sensually. "Tyki, stop, I'm nervous—"

"You know, considering what I said earlier," he said huskily, "I still really want to take you somewhere secluded—perhaps in a closet, that'd be great—where we could just have our share of fun where I'd guarantee that you wouldn't be bored…"

"You are being awfully bold for someone whom I should be giving the cold shoulder to because I found out you slept with Kate when you were drunk," hissed Rei. "Now stop, or I'll start ignoring you."

"Mean…" said Tyki childishly, nuzzling her neck. "Shall I convince you to be nicer to me?"

"OI! MIKK!" shouted Kate from across the limo. "Keep your hands to yourself! Do I need to give you and Rei the sex talk?!"

"Oh dear God," said Tyki, laying his head on Rei's shoulder. "Shut up, Kate, it was going beautifully until you butted in…"

"It will so not be going beautifully once I get my hands on you—"

"And end up snogging me instead," said Tyki quietly, amused.

"Tyki, shut up," said Rei snappishly, looking outside. "You're not making me feel any better."

It seemed that Rei's annoyance was genuine. Tyki, being the considerate gentleman he was, decided to stop it with the sexual innuendos and simply kissed her on the cheek, trying to reassure her and assuage her fears.

"Don't worry, sweet. I'll be right there with you. Don't worry."


"Tyki Mikk is a bloody liar," whispered Rei angrily to Kate as they moved around the room. "He said he'd be here with me, but no, he's glued to that Satsuma—"

"Satsuma's glued to him," said Kate calmly, handing her a glass of champagne. "And please, Rei, stop worrying—it's not his fault that you can't stand anywhere near her, and you'll do fine without him."

"Tch, I hope," said Rei, sipping her drink with her little pinky sticking out. "Do I look okay?"

"Marvelous," said Kate confidently. "Just remember to watch your mouth, Rei, no matter what that bitch says."

"Sure," said Rei breathlessly. "I can do that. Just don't talk back to Aiko, that's easy—hell, Kate, that's as easy as trying to stick a camel through a needle or whatever the hell the saying is…"

Rei's eyes landed on Kanda, who was surrounded by ladies, all eager to ask why he wasn't escorting Lenalee. Strangely enough, Kanda was not shooing them away. A smooth smirk graced his lips, and Rei could not help but notice that he looked, quite to the contrary, very comfortable with where he was.

"Damn, Kanda is fine," said Kate, grinning.

"That he is," murmured Rei, clinking her glass against Kate's. "But he is acting so weird—he's normally radiating the aura of 'get the hell away from me or I'll deep fry you with my sushi' but…"

"Rei, I think you should stop talking because none of your analogies are making any sense," said Kate sensibly. "Breathe a bit, calm down, and…here come the reporters."

A group was mass migrating towards Rei. She spotted Aiko, dressed in a strapless red and white dress that trailed down her legs. It was rather low cut, allowing her breasts to seem abnormally large—Rei could swear she'd had plastic surgery—and she was looking extremely smug as she clung onto a painfully disgusted-looking Tyki, who was evidently struggling to get away from her. When they were within a few feet of Rei, Tyki finally managed to break away from Aiko and stand by Rei.

"Sorry," he muttered into her ear. "Damn girl is so persistent…" He kissed her on the cheek. "Feeling okay?"

"I'm fine," she answered. She then turned her attention to the reporters and Aiko. "Is this all right?" she smiled. "Are we forgetting the restraint order for the moment?"

"Only because I'm excusing it for now," said Aiko, smiling with equal venom. "Well, don't you look lovely, Matsumomo-san, contrary to your normal self."

"Why thank you, Satsuma-san," said Rei, her smile hardening. "You look positively wonderful yourself, you know—the candy-cane costume suits you perfectly."

"Rei…" said Kate warningly under her breath.

"So here we are!" said a female reporter, beaming in front of a ton of cameras and recorders. "Joining us are Aiko Satsuma, Tyki Mikk's fiancée, Tyki Mikk himself, and Rei Matsumomo, Tyki's copartner in the shoots for Cross Marian! Also with us is Kate Schrödlich, famous female model in Europe and coincidentally Lavi Bookman's girlfriend!"

"Why am I feeling like I'm a side-note?" said Kate sweetly very quietly by Rei.

"Because for once in your life," replied Rei, still smiling broadly at the cameras, "you're not the topic of interest."

"Wow, Miss Matsumomo," said the reporter, turning to Rei. "You're looking…well, amazing tonight. Quite the look!"

"Thank you," said Rei. "I appreciate the compliment."

"So tell us, Miss Matsumomo," said the newscaster."You've heard the accusations that Aiko has placed on you—how do you respond to that?"

"I'm somewhat hurt, really," said Rei with a dramatic sigh. "I don't mean to point fingers and say that she's lying—she's such a dear, of course she wouldn't—but I definitely didn't push that girl down the stairs. She must simply have memory issues."

"Really?" said Aiko. "I beg to differ—I'm quite sure of my memory—"

"Yes, and that was so well proven by your school rank," said Rei, allowing her tongue to slip a bit. "Forgive me, Satsuma-san, I don't think I could trust you with your intelligence considering—"

"Well we all know that you were being a bodyguard for Kanda, and that is an irrefutable fact," said Aiko hastily. "What do you have to say to that?"

Rei let out another dramatic sigh.

"Yes," she said. "It's true, I was Kanda's bodyguard for a while. My father was a retired bodyguard who simply disappeared on me one day—as a seventeen year old teenager and scholarship student at the expensive Black Order High School, how could I afford to continue my education without a job? I was trained to be a successful bodyguard, so it was a logical course of action to take a job that not only was I good at, but also paid extremely well. You see, it was all done with the purpose of furthering my education, which was very important to me."

A fake tear crept up to Rei's eyes, and she brushed them away. (Kate had given her intensive lessons in learning how to cry at will.)

"Education," said Rei tremulously, "is something that not all students should take for granted. There are many people in the world who would love to have an education but don't have the money, resources, or transportation to obtain it. I knew that, and I wanted to do my best to continue my education—I wanted to work my hardest for a better learning experience. Some students at my school—Satsuma-san—they thought it was a God-given right for them to be able to learn at one of Japan's most prestigious schools, and they depended on their parents' money and influence to get them in. But I was like the bulk of Japanese students—I was a so-called "commoner" who studied and worked hard to get where I was, and there was nothing—absolutely nothing—that I would make me give it up without a fight."

There was a long and silent pause after Rei's long speech, and the reporter was absolutely stunned with her longwinded, sincere answer.

"I…I understand," said the reporter. "T-that's wonderful. I'm so glad you value education, Miss Matsumomo—and to work for Yuu Kanda—that must've been very hard on you."

"It was," said Rei. "But he taught me many things, and I believe I've come out stronger in the end."

"…So…thank you for your wonderful answer," said the reporter, truly touched. "I'm glad we've been able to see a bit more of you now…the next question is a bit more serious—many people are questioning your and Tyki's relationship, and quite frankly, seeing that Tyki has a fiancée, it would be very problematic if you two engaged in a relationship of sorts. What do you say? Where do you two stand?"

Rei exchanged an edgy look with Tyki, who nodded curtly.

"I'll take this question," said Tyki, stepping in front of Rei. He took a deep breath, then looked straight at the reporter with a smile. "Rei and I started off in this shoot merely acquaintances and colleagues. We did not plan to have a romantic relationship of any sort—I had problems, she had problems, and we'd decided to keep our work professional."

"Of course," interjected Rei, linking her arm around Tyki's, "true love has no bounds. We fell for each other."

"Really?!" said the reporter, looking amazed. "So…so you two are dating now! Well, what about Miss Satsuma?!"

"Yes," said Aiko tersely, "what about me? I am the designated fiancée, if you don't recall, and this—"

"Rei and I started going out before it was announced to me that I had a fiancée," interrupted Tyki. "I didn't know, but seeing as it was arranged, I think I would've fallen for Rei all the same. We…we're very serious about this relationship."

"Wow," said the reporter, looking between the two of them. "Well, Tyki, you have a history of being a somewhat notorious playboy—how would you assure your fans and girlfriend that you're serious this time?"

"I have nothing to assure them with," said Tyki, flashing his white, even teeth in a glorious smirk, "except for my word. I'm serious about Rei, and I am going to do all I can to make this relationship last."

"That's sweet," said the newscaster, smiling. "And Rei? What about you?"

"Well, Tyki's my first boyfriend," said Rei with a very uncharacteristic laugh. "So yes, I'm very serious."

"Really?" said Aiko, smirking in a way that made Rei apprehensive. "You're very serious about Tyki?"

"Yes," said Rei. "I am."

"I beg to differ," said Aiko, smirk broadening. "In fact, I have a rather scandalous piece of news to tell everyone."

"What is it, Miss Satsuma?" the reporter asked, looking anxiously at Aiko.

"Serious?" laughed Aiko. "She's not serious. I have proof. Here!"

A bodyguard handed Aiko a camera, and she pressed the playback button.

Rei's heart froze. She knew what Aiko was going to pull out before she even saw it.

"Serious?" repeated Aiko. "Oh, no. Matsumomo Rei is far from being serious. Here, I have it! Lavi Bookman and Matsumomo Rei—what are they doing? Ha, this is it! A kiss!"

And with a kiss, she'd die.


Free Talk:

Thanks so much for your reviews last chapter! :)

I'm sorry for the awful ending, but I wanted to get it out before I went to sleep.

I know the cilffhangers are getting old--I promise that that'll stop with the next few chapters. I'm thinking of focusing more on emotional development for the next few.

Please don't think too much about Rei and Lavi's kiss. As said a few times in the chapter, it was done out of spite, and the two of them can never be a pair. So don't think it's becoming a love...square, or something. Haha.

I apologize if Rei seems overly beautiful in the last few chapters. I'm a bit tired of it myself--I rather liked it when she was the one with the motorbike and etc...but she's changed a bit...it's okay, she'll go back to her rather messy appearance soon enough, if that's of any solace to you. :)

As always, discussion will be on my LJ later. For now, please review! :)

Thanks~

xoxo

m.n