Kyoko's POV
"Do we have to get this dressed up?" Yuki asked, glancing in the mirror with a disgusted expression. He was in a short sleeved white dress shirt, a pale green tie, black pants, and black loafers.
After talking with Dad a little two days before, we had agreed to dinner with the whole family. Lord knows why, he wanted it to be a formal event.
Kuon rolled his eyes. He looked exactly like an older, blonde Yuki, except, he had a dark blue stripped tie. "If you want to complain, do it when your grandfather's present. He's the one who decided it."
Aoi scowled at the two. "What's wrong with dressing up every once in a while?" she asked, gesturing to her baby pink, strapless, knee-length dress and white flats.
"Aoi's right. And Yuki, this is good practice for becoming an actor as well. Do you see your father or me wearing jeans to a movie premier or a celebrity event?" I asked him, sternly. He grumbled, fingers twitching towards his tie.
I chuckled. "It's only for an hour or two, Yuki. It's not like we're making you were this kind of stuff every day," I said gesturing to my own Persian blue, ankle-length halter dress and my 3-inch black strappy heels.
"But, Kaa-san, it's still one to two hours. And how do you know that Ryuuya jii-chan's wife, your step-brothers, and half-sister will like us anyway?"
I sighed. "I don't, but, while my father is at the table, they will bite their tongues. I can bet my whole life saving that my step-mother will not approve of your father, Yuki. And if they've heard about you, they will definitely try to raise hell behind your father's back. Now, no matter what they say, neither of you two will harm them. Is that clear?" I asked them.
They nodded, with sour expressions.
"But if any of them make a move for us," Yuki said.
"We will retaliate," Aoi finished.
I smiled and hugged them. "I know, I will too." I chuckled. "It sounds like we're preparing for a treaty meeting between two warring countries."
Kuon chuckled. "That's what we're basically doing. You're the daughter from the first marriage, thought to be dead for 34 years, Kyoko. It must have been a shock for Ryuuya-san's family."
I shrugged, and glanced at the clock. "We better start heading out," I said heading towards the garage. I grabbed the keys to the Yume-san's black Mercedes, unlocked the car, and slid into the drivers' seat.
"You learned how to drive?" Kuon asked, genuinely surprised.
"How else was I going to carpool? I may not have my own car, but I know how to drive," I said, starting the engine. Yuki and Aoi hurriedly climbed into the back seat and buckled their seatbelts. I opened the garage door and started pulling out.
"Watch out!" Kuon yelled, and I immediately slammed on the breaks. The car came to so sudden a stop the seatbelts locked, the car's occupations were flung forward.
"What the hell was that for?!" I screamed at him.
"I wanted to test your reaction time," he said innocently.
The three of us smacked him on the back of his thick head, and I started pulling out again, this time without interruption.
The streets lights of LA glittered like stars as we drove past them. Surprisingly, the roads were not very busy, so it didn't take long to get to Dad's house, er, mansion. I parked out front and turned off the engine.
"Well, at least it's smaller than the president's," I said, getting out.
Kuon chuckled. "Any mansion is smaller than the president's, Kyoko. You could probably call it a palace."
"Let's just get this over with," Yuki grumbled, heading up the stairs. The rest of us followed a bit more slowly. Yuki tapped his foot impatiently, waiting by the door. I shot him a disapproving look, ringing the doorbell.
It wasn't long before the door was flung open to reveal Dad, dressed in a black dress shirt and black slacks.
"You're early, Kyoko." He glanced at Aoi and Yuki. "You must be Aoi and Yuki. It's a pleasure to meet you," Dad said, bowing.
They returned the bow and smiled. "It's nice to meet you as well, Ryuuya Ojii-sama."
"No need to be so formal. None of my other grandchildren," he added, grumbling.
Yuki and Aoi grinned. "Hai, Ryuuya Jii-chan!"
Kuon and I sighed. Those grins meant trouble, and they were planning on raising hell if someone disapproved of our little family even the tiniest bit.
"Now, come in. Come in. Alisa, my wife, just finished cooking dinner, and the rest of the family should be arriving shortly," Dad said, ushering us in and towards the dining room. The table was set for 16, with enough food and then some. A charming middle-aged woman, whom I presumed to be my step-mother, was seated at the head of the table. Her eyes were twin emeralds framed by strands of graying black hair. Even in old age the woman was stunning. She smiled at us warmly.
"You must be Kyoko, Kuon, Aoi and Yuki. It's a pleasure to finally meet my step-daughter and her own family," she said, standing up. "I'm Alisa. You can call me whatever you like. As long as it's appropriate. My two boys, Kevin and David, always give me a bad time about telling people to call me whatever they like," Alisa said, rolling her eyes. I smiled. She seemed like a kind and humorous woman. My smiled dropped, realizing, it might only be an act.
"It's nice to meet you as well, Alisa," I said, shaking her hand. "I'm Kyoko. This is Kuon, my fiancé," I said placing my hand on his shoulder lightly. "And these two," I said, placing a firm hand on one of their shoulders. "Are my son, Yuki, and my daughter, Aoi."
They smiled politely. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Grandmother Alisa."
She smiled. "Why don't you all take a seat?" Alisa asked, gesturing to the chairs.
"Don't mind if we do," I said, going to pull out a chair. I was surprised when Kuon pulled it out before I got the chance to. "Thank you, Kuon," I said, sitting down.
He flashed a quick grin. "You're welcome."
Kuon's POV
I wasn't surprised to see a famous face or two at the dining table. What had surprised me was seeing a retired actress by the name of Monica Shields. It turned out she was married to Kyoko's oldest step-brother, Kevin. I decided not to mention my previous association with Monica, but I overlooked the fact Kyoko could read me like an open book.
"Do you know Monica, Kuon?" she asked loudly. In English, of course. Everyone's, except Monica's, ears perked up at the question.
"I'm not sure. She does resemble an actress I worked with years ago, but it's quite unlikely they're the same person," I lied smoothly.
"Bull crap," Yuki said bluntly.
I smiled at him. "And why would you think that?"
He smiled back. "You always use that smile, and tone when you're lying or angry."
"Kuon, you're going to be one of us soon enough. A little blunt honesty won't hurt anyone," Ryuuya-san said, excited at the prospect of new information.
"Like Kuon said, Dad, we probably did a drama together or something. It was so long ago, I've forgotten most of it," Monica said, smiling apologetically.
Kyoko gritted her teeth. "I believe Dad said honest." She managed to sound polite and accusing at the same time.
"I take it no one has been in Japan anytime in the past 10 years?" Aoi asked, calmly taking a sip of her water.
We all looked at her blankly.
"I take that as a 'no'. There was a big fuss about 10 years ago. The first Tsuruga Ren scandal. I believe you, Mrs. Monica Shields, were seen leaving my father's apartment at a late hour. Most people assumed you were sleeping with him, and with your confirmation, people disbelieved my father's side of the story. I think I have the actually article stashed away somewhere," she added, going deep into thought.
"I take it you had a late practice session?" Kyoko asked.
"Yes, it took LME's PR department months to get that through to the public. And it's not like I could let her use the guest room," I added, quietly.
She smiled. "Not without her asking some very personal questions. I think her first assumption would have been you were a pervert," the little vixen added, quite loudly.
"Are you trying to turn your family against me, Kyoko?" I asked her, impassively.
"Maybe, I don't have a definite goal, yet."
Ryuuya-san chuckled. "She's certainly Saena's daughter with that kind of sadism."
Kyoko raised her eyebrow in a silent question. An oblivious person would have missed the underlying blood boiling rage.
Ryuuya-san shut his mouth and kept it closed for a few moments. "If you'll excuse me, I have to use the restroom," he said, not quite running, not quite walking either, out of the dining room for the first time all evening.
"Finally, the old geezer's gone," Kyoko's youngest step-brother, David, said.
I knew the evening was going too well.
"So, Corny boy, did you really not shack up with Monica or was that just to please Dad and little Kyoko?" he asked, smirking quite broadly.
I was very tempted at that moment to let Yuki do his worst to the brown haired man. "I didn't sleep with Monica, if that's what you wanted to know, David," I said, smiling gentlemanly.
"Really? Then why didn't she stay the night?" Kevin asked, curiously.
I warred with myself how to answer. I could say it wasn't any of their business but that would raise suspicions. Yet, if I told them I was trying to keep the guest room the way Kyoko had left it, things could go very badly.
"Dad probably didn't want her using the guestroom because he was trying to preserve it," Yuki said, taking advantage of my hesitation.
"And why would he do that?" Alisa asked, her face bored and lined with disgust.
"Because that's where he writes," Aoi supplied.
This was heading in a very bad direction.
"Writes? He's an author?" Helen asked, trying not to laugh.
"Yes, too bad he only has one best seller," Kyoko said, sighing. I was starting to see how my father could be fooled by her acting.
"Oh? Anything one of us might have read?" Jamie, David's oldest (15), asked, smelling a lie.
"Maybe. Have any of you read Heartache Dreams by Kyota Higuri?" I asked, playing along. I wasn't all too surprised when glasses of water and jaws dropped.
"You mean pretty boy here wrote one of the deepest pieces of writing in today's literature?" Mathew, Kevin's second oldest (13), asked in utter incredulity.
I smiled. "Well, it is a true story. I'm thinking of writing a sequel. The real life couple has gotten back together. The man mentioned something about proposing eventually, too. I wonder if he popped the question already," I added, trying to smile, not smirk.
"So who is Heartache Dreams modeled after?" Alisa asked, causally.
I smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry, but I'm not at liberty to disclose that."
"Why? Because you want to protect the couple? Or because you want to distract us from seeing the couple, is actually you two?" Kevin asked, smiling warmly.
They were trying to raise hell, and they were trying damn hard. I shivered as the room temperature dropped dangerously low.
"I think they're trying to raise hell, Kaa-san. May I cause a bit of a stir?" Aoi asked, her eyes sparkling brightly with wrath. I gulped this was going in a very bad direction very, very quickly.