Return to the Water's Edge

Kyoko watched the sun set over the waves. She'd been sitting on this rock since she left Sho's room, watching the tide come in and go out again. The waves seemed to ebb and rise with the thoughts in her mind.

Corn is Ren. Ren is Corn.

Was it a strange joke? But then how did he find out about Corn's appearance? She'd never described him in detail. Although he did have the best chance of imitating Corn of anyone alive, since the only time she'd seen Corn grown up he'd taken the form of Tsuruga Ren.

Kyoko paused.

Corn had so perfectly imitated Ren's physique. His voice. Even some of his gestures. It was likely Ren had fairy ancestors. It would explain everything. Mostly. But what if it wasn't Ren who wasn't who she suspected? What if it was…?

Kyoko shook her head. No, Corn was himself. He had to be real. Corn's fairy magic had helped her survive all these years. It was alive in the Corn stone. And then he'd come back to her, and she'd freed him - well, the High Priestess had - and he'd flown! Kyoko touched her lips. He'd flown.

But why would Ren pretend to be Corn? Maybe it was for a role- some kind of Russian movie, like Sho had suspected. And he just hadn't told her about it yet. And he showed up here to surprise her with the new disguise, like he'd surprised her with Cain Heel. That made a strange sort of sense. Right?

Kyoko plopped her head in her hands, massaging her temples. Her brain hurt. He'd promised to be here tonight. The best thing she could do right now was to stop trying to figure it out herself and wait.

An hour later, Kyoko was leaning back against the bolder, looking up at the stars as they started to show through the dusky evening light. She felt him draw near and closed her eyes, her emotions a sudden rush of anxiety and expectation.

"...Ren?" she asked, quietly.

She felt him pause beside her, even his breath stilled. He reached over, his fingers hesitant and light as they brushed back a strand of her hair from her face. "Yes."

Kyoko shuddered at the single syllable, bracing herself against the steady rock.

"And no," he continued, walking around to stand in front of her. Kyoko looked up at him, her eyes wide with confusion. "Please don't run," he said softly. She shook her head, sinking to sit on the soft sand. Her mind was spinning. Corn is Ren; Ren is Corn. Ren is…? She struggled to meet his gaze, tearing her eyes away as she tried to make sense of the few words he'd said.

He sat down beside her, then in one motion pulled her into his lap and wrapped his arms around her, burying his face in her shoulder. His warmth surrounded her. Her mind flashed back to when she'd been disowned by her mother and found herself wrapped in his arms, finding peace. She smiled sadly. She'd thought he was Corn that night, too. She felt tears gather in the corner of her eyes. How many important moments with him had started with her mistaking him for someone else? Was that why he had shown up this way today? She wanted to shout and cry and demand answers - but she sat still instead, laying her hand on top of his. She squeezed his hand.

"Tell me," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. She felt his chest move as he sucked in a deep breath, then slowly released it, tickling the hairs on her neck.

"My name is Kuon," he started. "But you couldn't say it, so you called me Corn."

Her hand trembling on top of his, she looked out over the depths of the ocean as piece by piece he wove his story. A lost boy forced on a trip by his father, meeting the first person who saw him as him, who believed in him, who needed him - not his family name. She freed him with her joy and faith. She had been his fairy princess just as certainly as he had been her fairy prince. Kyoko's mind was numb at the impossibility of it all, her finger tracing small circles on his palm as she listened to his memories of their hamburger rocks and sunshine.

Kyoko wanted to interrupt; she had so many questions, but his words ran over their entwined bodies like a spell, holding her still as his story grew darker and colder. The years since he'd left their secret stream had been hard, stealing the light in his eyes. He didn't give details, not yet, but she could hear a desperate edge in his voice when he spoke of being haunted and chased, of striving and failing, of rivalry morphing into bitter hatred that made her blood run cold.

"Then Rick found me," he said, his voice tender for the first time since he'd spoken of leaving Kyoto. Her hand clenched over his tightly in hope. "He taught me strength, like you taught me hope." He fell silent, the only noise the waves crashing against the shore. She waited, her hand still gripping his. The silence grew, becoming harder to break. She loosened her grip on his hand, seeking to turn and look at him, but he gasped and grabbed for her, clenching her hand in both of his as if he were drowning. He had pulled away slightly and the cool evening air brushed against her shoulder, making the dampness where his face had rested unmistakable.

"Are you… crying?" she said in a whisper, desperately wanting to turn and face him but unable to move inside his grip. He shook his head slightly, but didn't speak. "Ren," she said, then stopped. "...Kuon. Let me see you." He shook his head again, but she pried her hands out from under his and pushed herself around, his hold on her willingly loosening with each movement.

She turned to sit sideways in his lap and clasped his face in both her hands. Kyoko gasped, her own eyes watering as she saw the pain and loss suffusing his face even in the dim moonlight. She felt her own emotions rise in answer, her eyes filling with tears of empathy and regret for not knowing everything sooner. A sudden instinct overcame her and she leaned into him, lightly kissing away the tears at the corner of his eyes. He shuddered, his eyes closing. She kissed his cheeks, wanting to erase everything, and felt his features relax beneath her touch. He rested his forehead against hers, his breath slowing.

"Tell me," she whispered, her breath warm on his face. He nodded, leaving his forehead pressed against hers.

"He taught me strength," he said again, his voice shaky. His hands gripped his own knees. She reached behind her and picked up each of his hands, wrapping his arms around her. She lay her head down on his shoulder, wrapping her own arms around his chest.

"But I didn't know control," he finally continued, cinching his arms around her. "I took the power he taught me and went beserk, paying back evil for evil. He tried to stop me, to hold me back, but I was too far gone- and it cost him his life." Kyoko tried to hide her sudden intake of breath but knew he could feel it. She rubbed her hands on his back. She wasn't leaving. She knew this darkness; she'd seen it in Cain. He was finally letting her in. All this time she had been right; there was another role within him- only it wasn't a role. It was Kuon, and he was still lost. It was her job to protect him and pull him out.

No, she thought to herself. Not my job. She squeezed him tightly, clinging to him. My joy. My desperate joy.

"Tell me," she said firmly. She would know him. For the first time, she would know him.

He shuddered in her arms, then gave the smallest of nods, his head barely moving as his hair brushed against her cheek. The story came in sudden stops and starts, his pitch low and hushed as if speaking the words aloud could break him. He told her of a bloody fight- a chase- Rick's unheeded warning- his need to destroy the enemy- and then the car. She felt him growing cold beneath her and remembered Katsuki and Ren's paralysis after the car accident. Kyoko squeezed her eyes shut in grief as the depth of his trauma washed over her. " Oh Ren…" she said softly. "It's not your fault." He was shaking, his hands clutching her sides tight enough to bruise.

Kyoko took as deep a breath as she could within his binding embrace, beginning again. "Kuon," she said softly, turning her face so she could whisper into his ear. "It's not your fault." He let out a giant sobbing breath, his neck muscles straining as he held his head upright. She whispered again into his ear, her breath moving his fine blonde hair. "It's not your fault, Kuon." She let herself say his name slowly, carefully. Purposefully. His head dropped to her shoulder, his body shaking as he cried silently. She held him tight, rocking slightly against him in unconscious comforting movement.

Slowly, his sobs ceased and his body stilled. She sat still, willing to wait the whole night - her whole life - if he needed her to. Only when she felt his body warm and his chest rising and falling slowly beneath her did she pull back slightly. She wanted to see his face.

His eyes were closed, his head resting back against the stone they leaned against. His soft blonde locks were luminous in the cool moonlight where they fell across his face. She brushed them to the side and his eyes opened, glinting green. He didn't speak, clasping his fingers together behind her back. Kyoko smiled sadly at him, her fingertips resting lightly on his cheek.

"You should've told me sooner," she said quietly. Kuon's expression didn't change as he shook his head slowly. "Why… Kuon? Why hide?"

"I couldn't lose you again," he said simply.

Kyoko took a deep breath, holding his face in her hands. "Kuon," she said, forcing him to look directly at her. "You never had me. I want to know… you."

"I'm not Kuon anymore," he said, his eyes desperately serious as he stared at her. She felt him squeeze her reflexively, then start to release. She shook her head and let go of his face to wrap her arms around him, forcing him to hold her close.

"You've never not been you, inside. Let yourself be you with me," she said, trying to pour her hope and trust in him into her words. "It's just us." She paused, a secret smile flitting across her face. "Two kids by the water, in our own secret world."

Kuon pushed her back away from him and she shook her head, refusing to look at him. She didn't want to risk seeing his features closed against her request. If he tried to fall back into Ren… she'd fallen in love with Ren, but now, knowing that he wasn't all of him, she couldn't accept it. "I want all of you," she whispered, clutching his shirt in her fists. He nudged her again and she looked up with a shaky sigh.

He was beaming at her, his eyes glistening with unshed tears and a look of true joy that she hadn't seen since Corn leapt over the stream to make her smile. She blurted out a laugh of delight. "Corn-" she started. His lips sealed the rest of her words as he pulled her in for a kiss. She could feel his hands trembling on her back as their lips melded. She felt about to burst; her hands let go of his shirt and she pulled him in tight, pressing herself into him. He was here. Corn. Kuon. Hers.

He broke their kiss with a hushed breath, wrapping her into a tight embrace. She rested against him, her hand slowly tracing over his shoulders, his jawline, playing with his hair, following the line of his collarbone. They rested in one another's arms, her hand ceaselessly rejoicing in the feeling of his true self holding her. The light touches eased and comforted each of them until their breathing slowed and Kuon and Kyoko fell into peaceful sleep in one another's arms.

A/N: CUE THE CHORUS OF AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW. And because it's me, I really want to write a lemon for this. HAHA. EMYM-Makes Me Want You coming soon for this chapter. Can't leave fluff well enough alone...