Japan's Most Wanted

by quite-a-riot

It's that time again, and Japan's most desirable men have been chosen! But this year, there's a photo shoot involved, and Ren has to suffer through his co-worker's idle gossip...about Kyoko. Until she shows up too...which only fuels the flame... Set in an AU branching from Ch. 273.

11. California's Most Adaptable

SPOILER ALERT FOR VIOLET EVERGARDEN: If you haven't watched the show and intend to, do so before reading this. I go into detail of the major emotional impact of the show and it WILL ruin it for you. Plus, you'll get it better. If you have no interest in watching that show, or already have then please proceed!

Also, just so y'all know, I have never been to California, or gone skydiving, though I have tried my best to do my research and not include anything too glaringly wrong, so if something jives wrong with your personal experience, please do tell me so I can fix it! I hate when I come across stuff I know is wrong when I'm reading, so I'd rather correct it and keep you from being pulled out of the story.

Now, without further ado, the monkey of a chapter that is finally off my back.

Enjoy!

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July 29, 20XX, 9:15am, Los Angeles, CA

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Julie Hizuri's ruby-red Cadillac Escalade inched off the crowded freeway onto the Los Angeles International Airport exit ramp in solemn, melancholy silence as the occupants of the back seat clutched each other's hands, radiating gloom and depression.

"Come on kiddos, it's not as bad as it seems. You'll be back together in no time. Six months will fly by," Kuu attempted, trying his best to lift the miasma a bit from his place in the driver's seat (they'd had to pull over and switch drivers when Julie couldn't see the road through her tears).

Kyoko made a herculean effort and managed a smile for Kuu's sake. "You're right. I'm sure we'll hardly notice the time flying by, we'll be so busy with work."

Kuon stayed silent, taking the opportunity while Kyoko was concentrating on his father to drink in the sight of her profile like a man embarking on a journey to a deserted land devoid of warmth or company. For days, the only way he could find to quell his gradually rising anxiety and sorrow at the thought of six months without her was to see as much of her as possible.

His eyes raked over her face for the millionth time, noting the sadness behind her smile and the defeated angle of her shoulders. At this point, he knew her silhouette so well, he could probably give even her perfect visual perception a run for its money. She lifted her hand to tuck a wayward strand of hair behind her ear and he was drawn to the motion like a moth to light, re-memorizing the shine and sharp curl at the end of her hair, which was still tinged slightly red from the temporary dye she'd used for the party.

She was wearing the earrings he'd gotten her the day after the party. Pride surged in his chest, just barely holding the encroaching loneliness at bay. Two round, brilliant-cut diamonds, each cradled in a delicate, dangling platinum infinity symbol, caught the light streaming in from the window and threw tiny rainbows across her neck and shoulders.

He'd told her they were a physical reminder of his belief in her infinite potential, but really he just wanted to cover her in diamonds and they had seemed like a nice way to start.

He smiled slightly remembering how quickly the video on his phone of her sleepy ramblings had demolished her protests. Now that he'd found a way to trick her into accepting his gifts, the list in his head of things he planned to buy for her had grown so much he had just started ordering gifts the minute he thought of them. Thankfully, his mother was on board with hiding them all in the house next door (that is the one she'd bought for Kyoko that she still didn't know about) until he got back.

His smile faded again as he remembered just how long it would be before he would lay eyes on her again.

Kyoko noticed him staring and flushed pink, but didn't say anything, instead taking the opportunity to stare back. Kuon's blond hair, bleached again for the flight home, had her twitterpated little heart composing Disney-esque songs and her stomach muscles clenching. As a sultry brunette he was panty-droppingly gorgeous, but as a blond, he was her Corn; in her eyes, an ethereal fairy prince beat out a senpai superstar every time.

Not that she'd ever tell him that.

"I'm going to miss you so much," Kyoko said mournfully for what felt like the thousandth time, but was really only the second. She'd said it so much in her head, she couldn't tell the difference anymore.

Kuon let go of her hand to put his arm around her shoulders and pull her against his side. "Me too."

Suddenly sounds of dramatic sobbing burst from the front passenger side of the car.

"If I t-t-told you I only had a w-w-week to live, would you c-cancel your fl-fliiiiiight?" Julie wailed. "Why do you have to keep l-l-leeeeeeaving me?!"

The Hizuri males rolled their eyes.

Kyoko's eyes, on the other hand, teared up in sympathetic response. "I know it's not nearly enough to fully console your loss, but I will do my best to act as your placeholder child until he comes back!"

"Oh, Kyoko! Only you understand me! I'll do the same for you! I'm going to make sure you're so thoroughly occupied that you won't have time to miss him!"

"Me too," Kuu added. "All of the Hizuri family knowledge and skill is at your disposal now, so we're going to spend every moment of your freetime polishing your skills until you can even outshine Kuon!"

Tears busted out of the shoddy jail Kyoko had been desperately imprisoning them in and rolled down her cheeks. "That's so generous of you! I don't come close to deserving all you've already done for me!"

Kuon harrumphed quietly into Kyoko's hair, his arm tightening around her. "At least you guys have each other…" I'll be all alone in Japan. Just me and my super manager. And the Boss.

Not that that was so different from how it used to be...but he'd grown used to Kyoko's warmth.

It was going to be a very cold autumn and winter without her.

Before the sad little family could do more than wipe the tears off their cheeks, they had arrived, pulling up to the drop off area. Kuon reluctantly planted a soft kiss on Kyoko's head and began to untangle himself from their sideways embrace.

When he'd agreed to let them drop him off at the airport, he'd gotten an assurance that they would all stay in the car to keep his secret from getting out, but if circumstances were different, he wouldn't have settled for anything less than the whole lot of them coming with him all the way to security. Every minute together had grown exponentially more precious as they dwindled in number.

It really was astonishing. Before returning home, he never would have thought he'd be reluctant to leave LA ever again. Kyoko had swept away so much of the darkness that had haunted him that he barely recognized himself.

With leaden limbs and heart, he exited the car, grabbed his suitcase from the trunk, and circled around to Kyoko's window, knocking lightly on it as he tugged a hat snugly over his distinctive hair. She obediently put the window down and leaned out of the luxury SUV.

Kuon cradled her cheek with his hand and kissed her firmly, struck by how far he and Kyoko had come since he'd seized their first kiss as Corn in Gwam. He drew away after tasting the salt from her tears on his lips, his eyes suddenly burning. "Goodbye. I'll see you at Christmas."

"Goodbye," Kyoko whispered back, another tear rolling out between her glistening eyelashes.

Kuon stepped backward, taking one final mental snapshot of Kyoko's hair floating around her face in the wind like a sunlit halo before he dropped his hand, turned on his heel, and entered the airport. He'd only made it about halfway to the departure check-in terminals when he heard her voice crying out behind him.

"COOOOOOORN!"

He spun on his heel, dropping his suitcase just in time to catch Kyoko as she flung her arms around his neck. His eyes went wide as she dragged his mouth down to hers and kissed him desperately.

It didn't take more than a startled second for him to reciprocate in kind, high on the desperate need to stave off his impending desolation for just one more minute. Her fingers pushed off his hat and dove into his locks, clutching and reclutching them frantically as she rose on the tips of her toes and leaned into him. His arms tightened around her, fitting their bodies tightly together as he lifted her several inches off the floor.

Neither one of them noticed the curious, fascinated gazes of the other commuters rushing to make their flights. It wasn't every day the average commuter got to witness two attractive, top-tier actors working their hardest to show their love the only way they knew how...and what a show it was.

That night, all over the country (and select places around the globe), witnesses wistfully told the story of two lovers they'd seen parting at the airport like it was a scene right out of a movie...despite one of them, unfortunately, being named after a vegetable.

After what felt like forever, yet nowhere near long enough, Kuon reluctantly loosened his arms and Kyoko fell limply back to her feet, panting slightly.

"I love you," Kuon whispered. "And there will not be a single minute while we're apart that I won't miss you or think of you."

"Do you promise?" Kyoko sniffled pathetically. She'd tried so hard to be strong and not blubber, but watching him walk away without looking back had broken down all of her carefully prepared safeguards and sent her sprinting unthinkingly after him. "You won't forget all about me and fall in love with someone else, right?"

He pulled her into another tight hug. "I promise. I couldn't forget you if I tried. But I'm gonna be going insane thinking about you in this snake pit without me, so don't you dare let anyone so much as touch you while I'm gone."

"I promise I'll sic Dad on anyone who tries," Kyoko laughed wetly with her cheek pressed against his chest. She could hear his frantically beating heart and sighed contentedly. "And I swear I won't take off your necklace until I see you again. Not even to bathe."

"Good. Wear the earrings while you're at it and send me a picture from the tub."

Kyoko blushed from her ears to her chest and pushed away from him, verbally scolding him to hide her embarrassment as he grinned his face off.

"And d-don't you d-dare forget to eat!" she deflected. "If you won't do it for yourself, at least do it for me. Your fans will murder me if I let you waste away to nothing."

Kuon laughed, his eyes crinkling as he smiled down at her. "I promise I'll eat enough to get me to Christmas. After all, I have to deliver your very expensive gifts in person."

Kyoko's eyebrows snapped downward, distracted immediately from the topic of his eating habits as he intended. "More gifts?! I told you the earrings and new phone counted for Christmas and my birthday this year! You can't buy anything else! You've already spent way too much on me!"

"The smartphone was really just a gift for my own convenience. Your old phone has terrible reception on international calls. And I told you, you already gave me permission to buy you whatever I wanted, so that's what I'm going to do."

Kyoko pouted. "You're never going to let me live that down."

Kuon put a hand on her head. "Nope."

They stayed that way in silence, just gazing into each other's eyes. Then Kuon sighed and glanced over her shoulder through the glass wall dividing the sidewalk outside from the high-ceilinged airport lobby...

...to see his tear-stained mother standing outside the car, waving her purse around as she argued hysterically with two airport security people!

"Shit! You need to go! Mom's making a scene."

Kyoko's head snapped around and her jaw fell at the sight of Julie Hizuri swatting at airport security with her Birkin bag. She reacted immediately and took off running, only stopping to glance desperately back at Kuon once, right before she hit the automatic doors.

"I'll text you when I get to Japan!" he yelled at her when their eyes met for the last time.

"I love you! Have a safe flight!" she yelled back with a wave before she darted out the doors.

Kuon stayed just long enough to watch her go into full dogeza mode in apology to the thoroughly confused LA International Airport officials before he turned away to look for his hat. He shoved the beanie haphazardly over his hair and muttered to himself as he hurried toward the kiosk to check his bag.

"Fuck, I already miss her."

---

August 1st, 20XX, 6:03am Beverly Hills, CA

---

Kyoko reached a hand out of her enticingly warm bed to turn off her alarm, but couldn't find it. She searched blindly in vain, stubbornly refusing to open her eyes until the last possible moment.

Kuu and Julie had taught her how to play poker the night before and they'd had such a good time making up random characters with fake tells to cover their bluffs that none of them had noticed it was morning until it was too late...or rather, early.

Kyoko's sticky eyelids and aching limbs told her that she hadn't been asleep for more than four hours at the most, but the damned ringing from her alarm wouldn't stop.

Wait...ringing?

Kyoko's eyes popped open and she sat straight up in the frilly four poster bed Julie had prepared for her. She frantically looked for the retro pink alarm clock that had come with the room and found it lying in two pieces on the floor...next to her phone.

Which showed a missed call from Tsuruga-san!

She had missed his very first international food check up call!

SHE HAD ALREADY UTTERLY FAILED HER FIRST MISSION AS A LONG DISTANCE GIRLFRIEND!

Kuon's Kyoko mentally smacked her upside the head. "Stop being an idiot and just call him back."

Kyoko leapt out of bed and scooped up the phone, heading to the bathroom and relieving herself before putting the phone on speaker and hitting the redial button. She propped the phone up against a bottle of lotion off to the side and filled the sink partway with water as it rang. She had just splashed water on her face (managing to completely soak her pajama top in the frenzied process) when the call connected.

"Well hello there. I thought you had forgotten about me," Ren's voice teased her.

She smiled at the familiar sound, eyes shut tight against the water running down her face as her hand searched for a towel.

"Hi! I'm so sorry! Your parents and I were up late playing cards last night and somehow I murdered my alarm clock in my sleep." She found the towel and wiped her face, looking in the mirror to see her top plastered to her body from the water. Her nose wrinkled as she patted herself down with the towel and tried to pluck the thin fabric away from her skin. "Your call woke me up."

"Do you want to call back when you've had time to regain consciousness? I can get started eating in the meantime…"

"No, I can talk while I get ready." She replied, leaning closer to the mirror to see if her eyes looked as red as they felt. They did. "You just start eating. What did you get?" She pulled the headband she wore to bed off her head and started raking a brush through her hair, the stray water from washing her face helping to tame her bedhead.

"Following your exacting instructions, Yashiro got me a steak salad the size of Canada. There is no way I'll be able to finish all this." To Kyoko's discerning ear, Ren sounded distracted and kind of excited, which was a welcome change to his usual queasy, annoyed undertone when it came to food.

"Well, eat what you can," Kyoko replied, grabbing her toothbrush and toothpaste off the little shelf next to the counter. "Steak salad sounds good actually. There's a place near Daruma-ya that makes a really good one with soft-boiled eggs and spinach." She shivered. Her wet top was making her nip in the air conditioning. It had to go. She pulled it off and reached for the towel again to dry herself off.

Suddenly there was a loud hacking sound from her phone. She instinctively looked at her phone in alarm, even though she knew all she would see is his name, afraid Ren might be choking to death...only to see the man himself, his eyes wide and locked just below the camera that was capturing him as he coughed and reached for his water.

Kyoko froze as her mind struggled to connect the dots her eyes were showing her.

There was a video of Ren on her phone.

Which meant the call she had returned was a video call.

Which meant he could see her too.

And her phone was pointed right at her very topless self!

Kyoko shrieked and jumped out of the frame, her arms tightly holding the towel over her chest. More coughing came from the phone and her worry overcame her embarrassment.

"Are you okay?!" she yelled, as though she had run into another room instead of two feet to the right.

"Are…*cough*...you?" he replied, gasping in air.

"I'm not the one choking to death! Why the hell didn't you tell me we were on a video call?!"

"It was..." he paused to drink water and let out a series of shallow coughs before finishing, "...funny. And it was fun to see you that unguarded. But I didn't think you'd start stripping!"

"My shirt was all wet!"

"Yeah. I noticed." Ren sounded smug. He didn't even try to hide his broad smile.

Kyoko thought about what she must have looked like with the silky nightshirt plastered to her chest in all its wet, nipping glory. "Oh my GOD! You basically saw everything before I even took off my shirt! If you hadn't choked on your food were you EVER going to tell me, you pervert!?"

"Hey, I resent that. I'm pretty sure I'm no more perverted than any other guy. There is not a straight man in existence who would pass up a chance to look at his girlfriend topless. That being said, I definitely would have informed you that you were on a video call if I had been able to swallow that mouthful through my shock."

"After how long?" Kyoko cautiously leaned back around the edge of the phone until she could see his face.

Ren chose that moment to take another bite of food, pointing to his mouth with an innocent expression instead of replying.

"Well, at least you're eating…" She muttered with eyes narrowed into accusatory slits. Ren swallowed and smiled.

"If you give me a show like that again, I'll eat this whole damn salad."

Kyoko's face blossomed bright red. "Ha. Ha. Very funny."

"No, seriously. That actually sort of made me feel hungry," Ren took another bite of salad, larger than the last one, as if illustrating his point.

"Well, there's no way in hell that's ever happening, so dream on."

Ren shrugged. "Never say never…"

"That's it, I'm going to get dressed. I'll talk to you tomorrow, perv," she cautiously reached around the edge of her phone to hit the end call button.

"WAIT!" Ren's yell stopped her millimetres short.

"What?"

"There's something I should...um...no. Never mind. I just wanted to say I love you! Have a good day!" he finished sweetly.

"Just finish your dinner and go to sleep, Ren!" she yelled back, still flustered, before smashing her finger down on the 'End Call' button.

Once she had determined that the call had definitely ended, she dropped the towel in her arms, revealing Ren's pendant stuck to the still damp skin between her breasts. What was so great about topless girls? She didn't get it. Still blushing fiercely, she turned to the mirror and objectively looked at herself.

Her boobs weren't that big, and her arms made little creases where they naturally fell at her sides. She clasped her hands over her stomach without thinking, falling into her Okami-san stance, which looked even weirder.

She wrinkled her nose and dropped her arms, then tried a Natsu stance, with one hand on her hip. That looked...sort of better? But weird with her pajama bottoms on. She looped her thumbs in her silky matching shorts, whipped them off, and tossed them on the pile with her wet top, then struck a model pose again in just her lace-trimmed underwear.

Now the image looking back at her had a totally different vibe. She looked almost...sexy. Her blush increased, but she turned sideways and tried another pose, resisting the nonsensical urge to hide her nakedness from herself.

Overall, the effect wasn't bad. All the exercise she'd gotten as Momiji had given her slim figure definition and made the curve of her butt and hips more pronounced. She lifted her arms and stretched, clasping them behind her head, which stretched out her torso and made the skin across her tummy more taut and defined...but it made her boobs look even smaller. Frowning, she clasped her hands in front of her instead and pushed her breasts together to create more cleavage.

That looked a lot more...seductive. It sort of reminded her of something that Setsu would do…

All it took was that thought and Setsu took over her face, a bored, but sultry look chasing away her blush. She ruffled her pushed back hair then grabbed one arm with the other hand, squishing her cleavage into existence again as her head tilted in Setsu's signature way.

Mmmm, Niisan would like this, wouldn't he?

Before Kyoko realized what she was doing, she had taken a dozen or more pictures of herself with her new phone. It took her awhile to get the hang of trying to pose and shoot a picture at the same time, but the last couple of shots did end up looking a lot like a sexy version of Setsu despite the lack of wig and makeup…

HOLY CRAP, THAT'S WHAT SHE WAS MISSING! MAKEUP!

Kyoko pulled open a drawer of the cosmetics Julie had filled the bathroom with and breathed in the intoxicating scent of powder and foundation. For a moment, her hands hovered over the untouched treasure trove, her self-imposed frugality keeping her from diving into the luxury cosmetics with both hands.

If she hadn't been channeling Setsu at the time, she probably would have had the willpower to resist. However, Setsu never denied herself anything she wanted unless her Niisan told her she couldn't...which, of course, he never did. Giggling a little, she snatched out product after product, combining Setsu's usual liquid eyeliner and bright eye shadow with a luscious purpley-red lipstick.

And, as everyone knows, if you give Setsu makeup, she's gonna want a hot outfit to go with it, so the next thing Kyoko knew, she was pulling out ero-kawaii panty after ero-kawaii panty and trying them on, taking pictures from every angle she could manage on her own.

Which incited Natsu's competitive fashionista spirit.

Then Kyoko was digging through her (at this point weirdly extensive) lingerie collection to find something that would look good on Natsu and changing up her makeup.

Pausing in her dress-up frenzy, she flipped through the pictures she'd taken. It was really amazing how hot she looked in so many of them. Kyoko felt sort of detached from the whole experience, happy to watch in morbid curiosity as Setsu and Natsu experimented with her body. It was like they were the ones giving her a makeover. Which was kind of fun…

She caught sight of her expression in the mirror and her eyes went wide.

"OH MY GOD WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME!?" Kyoko shook off her characters and clicked off her phone, throwing it away and onto her bed in disgust. "I can't even fall back on the excuse that I'm developing Setsu's character since I'll probably never play her again! I know it's not like I ever plan on sending those pictures to ANYONE, but when the hell did I turn into this person?! I'm sorry, Ren, I'm no longer a pure Japanese maiden!"

"Niisan doesn't want a pure Japanese maiden," Setsu scoffed into her mind. "And neither does Ren...he wants to look at you without your clothes on, remember?"

"Oh please," Natsu chipped in with a roll of her eyes. "He wants to be the one ripping them off her."

Kyoko slapped herself on both cheeks as hard as she could and focused on the pain.

Trying her best to forget how silly and stupid she had been acting for the last couple of hours (becuase YES, she had somehow wasted two full HOURS taking pictures of her mostly naked self like some kind of slutty narcissist! LIKE A NARCISSLUT!) and pulled on the first clothes she found. She wiped off her most recent lipstick (a shade Natsu had immediately claimed as her own), thankful it hadn't had enough time to stain her lips, but couldn't bring herself to waste the eye makeup. Instead, she brushed her hair a little and applied some lip balm before racing out of her room and down to the kitchen.

Kuu was already there, prepping ingredients for his usual breakfast of champions in designer sweatpants and an old t-shirt with the faded logo for an LA high school. It didn't take much deduction to realize it was probably from Kuon's old school. The doting-to-the-point-of-idiocy father looked up at her and let loose a smile that lit up his handsome face, only twitching slightly when he took in how much just wearing simple makeup could change her face.

"There's my beautiful girl! Grab a knife and start cutting up onions! This morning we're doing quiche!"

Kyoko grinned at the neat row of already crust-lined pie plates waiting for filling and skipped to the knife-block.

"Sounds great, Dad!"

They started chopping companionably, the sounds of their knives falling into a steady rhythm as they settled into the comfort they both found in cooking.

"So, in a couple of days, you and I are going on a talk show together," Kuu said nonchalantly, finishing the mountain of mushrooms he'd been chopping and dumping out another container full of fungi.

"Really? Why?" Kyoko replied, serenely dicing her seventh onion on the outside, but freaking out on the inside.

"It's Kuon's idea. He wants people to know you've got friends in high places so no one messes with you while you're here, so I set something up."

"Okay...if you think that's necessary. I'm just surprised anyone from the media here would be interested in interviewing me. It's not like anyone here even knows who I am."

"But they should! And that's what Eltra told them when he booked it. Plus, since my newest movie hit #5 at the box office last week, I've got a little expendable publicity to lavish on my adorable daughter."

"Kuon's grandpa set it up?! I keep meaning to ask about him! Is he in LA now? I need to thank him personally for promoting me for the role of Violet. I'm so deeply indebted to him!"

Kuu smiled at her. "Trust me, he wants to see you very much as well, but he's out of the country at the moment and we don't expect him back until Christmas. He was devastated that he couldn't be here for Kuon's visit, so he blocked off two weeks for Christmas to make sure he could be here right at the start of his next one."

"Well, that's just one more reason to look forward to the holidays, isn't it?" Kyoko beamed. She grabbed another onion and started peeling it. "I'll have to remember to get him a gift to thank him for all of his help."

"Speaking of which, you turn eighteen on Christmas this year, right? What do you want for your birthday?"

"NOTHING!"

Kuu jumped at her sudden exclamation, dropping an eggshell into the massive bowl he was cracking them into. His eyebrows furrowed as he fished it out. "What? Why?"

"You and Julie already spend way too much money on me! I couldn't possibly accept anything else! And if your everyday gifts are so exquisite, I don't even want to think about what you'd think up for something as monumental as my eighteenth birthday!"

"Aw, come on! We love spoiling our kids! It's a parent's greatest joy to give to their children everything they can and watch their eyes light up with joy. And we aren't even allowed to acknowledge that we're Kuon's parents! We have a lot of pent up parental love built up and you're taking all the fun out of it." Kuu pulled out his sorrowful Saint-Bernard eyes and Kyoko felt her will power crumbling.

"But...I'm not really your...daughter."

"As far as I'm concerned, you're just as much my child as Kuon is. And I don't need to wait until he makes it official," he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. "To treat you as such."

Kyoko's face went cherry red. "Um...what did he tell you?"

"That's a secret," Kuu replied, glancing down at her.

Kyoko tried out her own version of puppy eyes up at him. "Pleeeeease? Can't you tell me?"

Kuu's heart melted immediately.

"Well, he said that he's…" he started to answer automatically before catching himself. "No! I really can't tell you! Put that bewitchingly innocent look away for the perfect role and finish up the onions. These eggs aren't going to scramble themselves!"

Kyoko pouted. "I guess puppy eyes only work if you're really a Hizuri."

Then you're definitely one of us, Kuu thought. "Don't worry, I'm just particularly immune, since they've been tag-teaming me since Kuon was born. You just wait to try that on Kuon. He'll be putty in your hands."

Kyoko smiled at the thought. "You think?"

"Definitely."

A loud scream of excitement alerted them to Julie's descent to the first floor and she ran full speed down the stairs.

"OH MY GOD, KUON CONFESSED HIS LOVE ON LIVE TELEVISION!"

Kyoko and Kuu blinked at each other before simultaneously turning to stare at her in bewilderment.

"WHAT?!"

Meanwhile, Ren stared at the dark ceiling above his bed unable to sleep and feeling guilty.

"I really should have told her about the interview…oh well. At least I didn't say it was her..."

---

August 10th, 20XX 9:14am Perris, CA

---

Kyoko looked out the open door of the airplane at the patchwork of fields below and wondered at what point her life had taken a turn toward insanity.

Was it the moment Sho had asked her to Tokyo? Or maybe the day she'd started working at the Darumaya?

Or the day she'd met Ren?

Of course, thinking of Ren caused her mind to veer back to The Interview. Or Confession-Gate as some of Ren's American fans had quickly dubbed it. It felt like it was all she'd thought about for the last ten days. Thankfully, he hadn't said just who he was in love with on live Japanese television, but now the world knew for certain he was, in fact, head over heels in love with someone, and they couldn't get enough of hearing him say it, if the ever growing views on You Tube were any indication.

The air whipped briskly past her face and pulled her attention back to the task at hand. She didn't have time to worry about her secret boyfriend's inability to keep a fucking secret. She had more important things to worry about.

Like how far away the ground looked.

"Alright Kyoko! You can absolutely handle this solo. You just have to do it just like we did the last one, but without going tandem with me," Claire, the shorter of her two trainers and current Jumpmaster, yelled over the roar of the plane engines, despite the fact they both had mics and headphones on to facilitate communication. "I'll be right behind you and will help you with the timing just like before. Are you ready?"

Kyoko looked up from her contemplation of the ground thousands of feet below and summoned her fighting spirit.

"Hell yes, ma'am!"

"ALRIGHT! That's my girl! Let's kick some high elevation ass!" Claire cheered.

Kyoko saluted her jauntily (Claire was ex-military, like her character Violet, and insisted Kyoko do it as much as possible until she could salute in her sleep) and waited until she could just see the giant X of the landing mat in the distance before she flung herself out the opening in the plane, closing her eyes briefly as she pulled her limbs into the sides of her body and used her head like a bullet through the air pushing up on her. She opened her eyes, protected by thick goggles, and focused on the hazy ground far below her.

"You're doing great! Don't forget to breathe!" Claire's voice was crystal clear through the tiny speaker in her ear as the stunt professional and skydiving enthusiast pulled into her peripheral vision. "Now, start spreading your limbs to slow yourself down like we did on the other dives."

The air whooshing past her made it hard work to spread out her arms and legs, and felt like it pushed her backwards up into the air for a second before she adjusted to the new feeling. Then she carefully arranged her body in the arch position she'd been taught; head back, hips forward, legs at 45 degrees.

"Good! Concentrate on keeping that form. Okay, now, tell me when you think we should deploy the canopy."

Kyoko, listened intently as the Dytter altimeter strapped to her chest beeped a few times. Then she grasped the t-shaped handle attached to her harness and yelled, uncertainly, "Now?!"

"Yes! GOGOGO!"

Kyoko pulled the handle and braced herself for the bruising jerk of the harness against her shoulders and hips. The parachute unfurled above her and then she was drifting. Beside her, Claire was whooping.

"WHOOOOO! You did it! All by yourself!"

Kyoko laughed and yelled to the sky, "I DID IT!"

"Now switch gears and start thinking about your landing. Use your toggles to steer yourself to your destination. I'll be right behind you!"

"Okay! I'm gonna nail it this time!"

"Then don't let me down!"

Kyoko gave a tug on the handle above her left side, tilting the white fabric above her enough to catch the wind and pull her sideways through the air. It took a strange combination of strength and delicacy to fight the wind and end up where she wanted to, but after ten or so jumps strapped to Claire, half of which she was in control, she could already feel the motions becoming familiar, despite her extremely sore muscles.

She had thought she was in pretty good shape before she started training with her new favorite adrenaline junkie couple. It turned out, her body didn't know the true meaning of 'in shape'.

"Alright, this is your target assist, checking in," another familiar voice, Claire's wife Riley, crackled into life in her ear. "You're coming in straight and true, just keep the eastward ground wind in mind and you should come in right on targeeeet...NOW, flare your canopy!"

"Okay!" Kyoko yelled back, pulling on her toggles accordingly so that the parachute slowed her down even more.

"Get ready to roll and cutaway!"

Kyoko took a deep breath and prepared for impact as the giant white mat with a red X on it rose alarmingly quickly under her feet. Right before she hit, she pulled her cutaway handle and clumsily ducked into a Parachute Landing Roll, banging her shoulder on the ground a little harder than she intended in the process.

Breathless, she came to a stop and tried to stand, arms outstretched in an O of success above her head, but her legs quivered and gave way, sending her falling onto the mat again.

About twenty feet to her left, Claire gracefully came to a running stop and cut her chute. Riley, a tall, willowy brunette, ran over to give Kyoko a hand up with a laugh as the girl struggled to untangle her goggles from her hair.

"That was great! I'm so impressed with the progress you've made today!"

"Yeah, everything went well but the roll. I think I can get it on the next run though!" Kyoko replied, trying again to stand...with limited success. Embarrassingly, she seemed to be caught on her hands and feet, her butt sticking straight up in the air, without the strength to push up from there. Riley let out a hearty laugh.

"No, I think you're done for the day. Your body is at its limit. Anything more than this would just be dangerous. We'll keep working on Western fighting stances and styles over this week and do some more jumping on Monday when you're fresh." Riley grabbed her by the arm and carefully helped her vertical again, laughing at how red her face was from the blood pooling in her head where it was nearly touching the mat.

Kyoko sighed. "Yeah, okay…I was so close to nailing it that time though!"

"Seriously, give yourself a break! This is your first day and your first solo jump, but you're already hitting your marks! That's unprecedented! No matter how meticulous your abilities, your body can only adapt so quickly. Your driver's waiting in the parking lot, go pick up some grub and go home to rest. Start chipping away at those action movies we assigned you if you need something to work on."

"Yes, ma'am!" Kyoko replied, bowing slightly and almost losing her balance again. Riley thwacked her lightly on the back of the head.

"Save that Ma-am shit for the Sarge. I'm just Riley."

"I feel I must remind you, I'm not a Sergeant anymore either, dear," Claire pointed out, reaching up to hook her elbow around Riley's neck so she could reach her cheek to kiss it. "But you can call me ma'am any time you want."

"Night and day," Riley replied with a fond smile. "But first let's help our little Bambi here out to the car."

Claire nodded and the two of them took places on either side of Kyoko, lifting under her shoulders until her feet dangled off the ground.

"Hey! I can at least walk...with your help! Put me down! THIS IS SO EMBARRASSING!"

The couple ignored her and steadily walked the hundred or so yards to where a shiny black car awaited Kyoko. The man behind the wheel looked up from his perusal of the news on his phone and fought to keep a straight face. Driving around his boss' new daughter was certainly never boring. He stepped out of the car and obligingly opened the back door for them. "All done for the day?"

"Are you in on this too!? I told you I don't like sitting in the back with no one in the passenger seat! It feels weird! At least let me sit in the front with you!" Kyoko wailed as she was heave-hoed onto the pristine leather seat.

"Sorry miss, take it up with the boss. You've gotta learn how to behave like a celebrity at some point. And it's safer for you back there."

"Get her a Big Mac and put her to bed Jackie boy! Doctor's orders!" Riley (who actually did have a doctorate in medieval history) crooned as she shut the door on her trainee's pouting face.

Kuu's handpicked chauffeur/bodyguard/temporary manager for Kyoko, Jackson O'Neill (Jack for short), rolled his eyes and got into the driver's seat, quickly locking the doors to keep Kyoko from jumping out and into the passenger seat before he could get the car moving. "Where to, miss?"

Kyoko tried the door, wrinkled her nose at the rearview mirror and sighed. "Well I don't feel like going home yet. And I suppose I should eat something...so, where would you suggest? The place you picked last time was good."

The middle aged chauffeur carefully checked his mirrors and pulled out of the parking lot. "Well, we've got a two hour drive before we're back to Beverly Hills, but we could stop and eat at this Mexican place I know of in Moreno Valley. And then, if you're up for it, you can practice driving a bit on the way back."

Kyoko perked up. She'd only had her permit a few days, but she already loved driving practice. "Mexican food? I don't think I've ever had that before!"

"You're kidding! Alright, that's where we're going then." He pulled to a stop at a red light and quickly entered the pertinent information into his GPS.

Half an hour later, Kyoko stared down a hard shell taco while her driver fought to control his laughter.

"How the hell are you supposed to eat this thing?" She had already determined this was one of those foods you had to eat with your hands, but every time she tried to tip the taco to put it in her mouth the filling fell out the side and she had to stick it back in and start over again.

Jack eventually took pity on her and demonstrated. Once that matter was settled, the meal concluded without mishap and the drive back to Beverly Hills was a quiet one. This was partly due to the fact that Kyoko totally forgot about her driving lesson and fell asleep not ten minutes after they got back in the car.

After Jack parked the nondescript black sedan as smoothly as he could in its spot in the Hizuri garage, he sneakily took out his camera and took a picture of the girl curled up in the back seat sound asleep.

A few minutes later, Kuu Hizuri, visiting the set for his new movie to meet the cast, checked his phone and broke out into a huge grin.

"Who wants to see an ADORABLE picture of my little girl?!"

---

August 17th, 20XX 5:34pm Tokyo, Japan

---

Ren glared at the stacked up leftover takeout containers in his refrigerator.

Then, in a fit of rebellion, he grabbed only a bottle of water before closing the door again.

He had a good excuse ready if Yashiro questioned him. After all, the few blessed evening hours of free time he'd been gifted were due to one of his co-stars getting food poisoning. Anyone would be put off their dinner by that, right? Not that he ever needed a reason to be put off by dinner.

While he definitely didn't feel like eating...he just didn't know what else to do with his time. It had been so long since he'd been home before dark that he was at a loss. He checked his watch (working now and set to California time, since Kyoko had insisted that he finally get Rick's timepiece fixed) and sighed. It was still the middle of the night there, so he couldn't call Kyoko without waking her up.

He took a sip of his water and flopped onto the couch, stretching out his neck with a series of satisfying pops.

As always, his apartment was way too quiet. He missed the random little noises Kyoko made when she was cooking in his kitchen, or the conversations they held between the rooms when she was bursting to tell him about something, but insisted he sit down and rest while she cooked. He was tempted to call out a question to the empty room, but knew the lack of response would just make him more depressed.

He picked up the remote and opened up Netflix without thinking, perking up a little when it reminded him he hadn't finished his research for their new role yet. He had at least six more quality hours of time to kill with that! He selected the next episode of 'Violet Evergarden' from his 'Continue Watching' menu and slid off the couch onto the floor, pulling a notebook and pen out of his briefcase to take notes. Normally he didn't watch previous film source material for a part, but since fans would expect him to be similar to the animated version of Major Gilbert Bougainvillea (and Kyoko had already watched it), he'd made an exception.

He'd only made it about halfway through the show, but it was pretty good so far. Kyoko would make an incredible Violet, and from what he saw of the Major, it was a good fit for him too, but what most struck him were the similarities between his character's relationship with Violet and Ren's with Kyoko, not the least of which was their age gap. Even the distance, yet closeness between the characters in the flashbacks reminded him of the months he'd loved Kyoko without knowing how she felt back. He made a mental note that Katsuki's expressions would work on Gilbert as well...though softer.

He took notes on what he thought the Major's character was probably thinking and any random details that popped up in his few conversations. The only glimpses of Gilbert the audience had were in flashbacks, and they didn't reveal a lot, so he knew he was going to have to pack as much context into his acting as he could to get their relationship across. But he also had to be careful not to give too much away until what was sure to be a big reveal down the line.

Overall, the main storyline following Violet was developing nicely and was quite sweet, though not normally what he would choose to watch. If he had time to watch television for pleasure.

At least, that was the mindset he had going into episode seven.

Which is when the show ripped his heart out of his chest, squeezed in mercilessly, and stomped all over it.

Without realizing it, he had stopped writing and his eyes were tearing up. Watching the writer character deal with the death of his daughter, as Violet desperately tried to help him finish his play, awoke feelings of guilt he didn't know he had.

Is that what his parents felt like when he left them?

Ren shook himself. That was ridiculous. They had known he wasn't dead. It was nothing alike. The show just had good writers who used universal themes.

But, no matter how much he denied it, that guilt still stuck with him.

Then the second whammy hit him when they finally revealed that the Major was missing in action and Violet went into a tailspin.

He'd been subconsciously associating Violet with Kyoko so much that he almost couldn't breathe watching her desperate denials. Then the streaming site automatically went on to the next episode and the full relationship between Violet and Gilbert was finally revealed.

Completely engrossed in the show at this point, he totally forgot about his notes, each tight-lipped, tortured look Gilbert gave Violet and her oblivious responses stabbing familiarly into his heart. Every fight scene he held his breath, wondering if it would finally lead to the bloody scene on the stairs that had been hinted at so many episodes before. The episode ended with a shot to Gilbert's head and Ren frantically reached for the remote to start the next episode. He knew it didn't end there. The Major didn't die yet! The stair scene hadn't been explained yet!

Then, as the story progressed through their war-torn agony, he felt his stomach drop, unable to separate the image of Violet desperately refusing to leave Gilbert, as her body fell apart, from Kyoko's tenacious treatment of him when he was sick, working just as desperately to move around a man twice her size. Violet's arm was blown off by a grenade and Ren saw Kyoko as Setsu being pushed to the ground by the idiots who had tried to pick her up all those months ago.

At that time, he had been able to do something and it had still made his heart stop in his chest. Gilbert, on the other hand, couldn't even move and he'd had to watch the beautiful, fragile girl he loved get blown to pieces before his eyes because she wouldn't leave him to die.

Tears gushed from his eyes in frustration and he knew before it was explained that Gilbert had sacrificed himself to push her to safety, because that's what he himself would have done. He sniffled and wiped away his tears with tissue after tissue, embarrassed that he'd been so carried away.

Assuming the worst had passed, he pushed away his box of kleenexes and refocused on the screen only to see Violet attempting to commit suicide in her misery over his loss.

He quickly grabbed the box again and his phone, dialing Kyoko without another thought.

"Hello?" a sleepy voice answered.

Ren's heart squeezed in his chest.

"Ren?"

He cleared his throat and sniffled, trying to get his voice under control enough not to worry her.

"...Kuon? Is everything okay?!"

"Yeah," he finally answered thickly. "I'm sorry for waking you up. I just really needed to hear your voice. I'm good."

"Oh. Okay...are you sure? You sound like you're crying…"

"No, really, I'm fine. I just…" lost my shit because of a cartoon and needed to make sure you weren't trying to kill yourself. Yeah, there was no way he could say that.

"It was just too much all of a sudden?" Kyoko said with a surprising amount of certainty. Ren let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding.

"Yeah. Sorry, I feel so stupid right now."

"No, you're not stupid. Well, idiotically overscheduled and lacking sleep and sustenance, but other than that not stupid. Are you feeling better now?"

Ren laughed humorlessly. "Not really."

"What can I do?"

"Promise me that if I ever die, you won't do something stupid like kill yourself. No matter what, you have to keep living." Ren felt the words leave his lips and immediately wanted to suck them back in. What the fuck was wrong with him? Who said something like that out of the blue?!

Silence rang out over the line as Kyoko adjusted to the abrupt curve the conversation had taken.

"...you're watching the show aren't you?" She didn't need to specify which show.

"...maybe."

Kyoko huffed out a sigh. "God that episode just hits you right in the feels, doesn't it?"

"Promise me, Kyoko." Ren wouldn't be deterred. Especially since she'd already guessed why he was acting like a weepy child.

"Sure. As long as you promise never to throw your precious life away saving mine," she retorted.

Silence reigned again.

Touché.

"So, do you think he's really alive? The Major, I mean," Kyoko eventually asked, settling back into her bed when it was clear that neither of them were going to test the unyielding opinion of the other.

"No. If he was, he would have come to find her. He's either dead, or bolted to a wall screaming in agony," Ren said darkly.

"Hmm...maybe. But what if he's imprisoned in a refugee camp somewhere, or in a coma, or has amnesia? Have you gotten to the last episode yet? Because I really hope it's him opening the door in the end. That look in her eyes couldn't be for anyone but him...I know it." Clearly, Kyoko was identifying with Violet as much as he was with Gilbert. That made him smile a little.

"No, I haven't. I'm not sure I want to keep watching now."

"But you have to! The last episodes are so good! They're some of the most important moments for Violet as she discovers what the feelings in her heart mean. You'll just have to cry through it to the end like everyone else. Even Kanae cried during Anne's episode. And then there are the specials. They're incredible too."

"...I'm not crying."

"Um, you aren't dead inside, so of course you are."

"..."

"I'm going back to sleep. Wet some tea bags and chill them in the fridge to put over your swollen eyes. I'm sure you've got work in a few hours that you don't want to look like a crybaby for. I'll talk to you in a few hours."

"I'm not crying!" he snapped before backing off. "But sorry again for waking you up. And thank you. I love you."

"Love you too. Don't forget to eat."

Kyoko hung up abruptly, leaving Ren looking at his dark phone. Then he sighed, went to grab a random container of leftover food from the fridge, and selected the next episode.

And, thanks to the tea bags, not even Yashiro noticed he'd spent the whole night weeping like a hormonal teenage girl.

---

August 30th, 20XX 7:13am Beverly Hills, CA

---

Kyoko walked down the hall of the Hizuri mansion without looking up from her phone.

Luckily, her body knew those halls inside and out from many hours of model-walking practice with Julie and Kuu's impromptu movement classes, because no matter how much she wanted to, she couldn't tear her eyes away from the message in her inbox.

From Sho's manager.

As her expression grew more and more troubled, her feet found their way into the large family room (different from the living room in that it had a TV and comfier lounging furniture, according to Julie) and flopped down over the arm of the couch, her legs dangling in the air.

She didn't know what she should do and it was starting to eat at her.

Dammit, even when Sho wasn't blowing up her phone with arrogant messages or randomly stalking her, he still found some way to interrupt her peace of mind.

Inside Kyoko's head, her chibi-council gathered at their round table, many still half asleep.

Kuon's Kyoko-chibi, wearing her new gold slinky dress, tossed her raven locks and pounded a gavel on the table.

"I hereby call to order the second Sho-centric meeting of the Kyoko-chan-Character-Chibi Council. Is everybody here?"

"Bo's not here yet!" piped up the smallest of their group, the six-year-old chibi version of Kyoko perched atop a booster seat covered in heart and star stickers.

"That's fine, isn't it? The chicken isn't good for anything but witty one-liners anyway…" remarked Natsu-chibi as she filed her nails.

"Not true!" Six-Year-Old Kyoko argued. "He gives great advice too!"

Angel-sama-chibi cleared her throat. "I suspect our dear Kyoko doesn't feel in a comedic mood right now, so he's not going to show up any time soon. Or he's pouting since she had to resign the role. He was her first paying character after all..."

"Lucky cock," Setsu-chibi spat with a smirk. "These meetings are boring. If Nii-san isn't the topic of discussion then this is just a waste of my time."

"Not like you have anywhere else to be. You're as irrelevant as Angel-sama, Mio-sama, and I now," Momiji sulked, dropping silently down from a hole in the ceiling into her chair. "At least Box R might get another season, so Na-chan's still got skin in the game."

"You're late," Kuon's Kyoko chastised. Like Ren, she valued punctuality very highly. "And you know Kyoko values every insight her characters bring to her decision making process! It's how she forces herself outside her comfort zone."

"Aaaand speaking of people forcing her outside her comfort, we should probably get to the main asshole that brought us here today," Setsu drawled. "What's she gonna do about this concert invite? Anyone got ideas? My vote is still to kick him in the face."

"Or," Natsu started, getting a little excited, "She could go to the concert, seduce him, and then take embarrassing pictures of him to leak to the media before dropping him like a has-been rock. That would also get Ren all fired up...he might even kill him...that sounds like it'd be a show worth watching. At least a level four."

"Or, you could sneak into his bedroom with a knife and-"

"NO! Don't kill Sho-chan!" Six-Year-Old Kyoko-chibi wailed, interrupting whatever hellish torture Mio-chibi had been about to describe. "Go hear him sing! He wrote all those pretty songs for you, didn't he? That's the nice thing to do!"

Young Kuon shrugged. "He did apologize sincerely. You have to forgive him sometime."

"No, you don't," Angel-sama seethed. "That demon broke your heart and tried to ruin your life. Some beings in this world are below forgiveness."

"Jesus, some angel you are," Setsu mused, picking through Natsu's collection of nail polish spread out over the table and finding nothing to her taste.

"Well, I think we should go too. It's the mature thing to do," Kuon's Kyoko interrupted to keep the peace.

"It's the honorable thing to do," Momiji agreed. "Even when your man goes to another woman, that doesn't mean you should behave as a petty child."

"HE IS NOT HER MAN!" the rest of the chibis shouted as one. Momiji's hair blew back with the force of their negation.

"I didn't say he was. Have some dignity. You're all so over dramatic."

"Says the girl who nearly stabbed her crush's girlfriend in the face because the girl was a prissy moron," Setsu cackled.

"That bitch deserved a knife in the face. If it wasn't for my lord, she'd have gotten it too," Momiji muttered darkly.

Kuon's Kyoko rubbed her forehead with one hand. "This is getting nowhere…"

"What's wrong, hun?" Julie's voice rang sweetly out from above her and Kyoko's hand twitched, dropping her phone directly on her face.

"Nothing!" Kyoko retrieved her device, closed out of all her apps, and tossed the phone over her head onto the couch cushions. Banishing the characters in her mind back to their separate apartment suites, she smiled convincingly up at who was quickly becoming her favorite partner in crime. "What do you have planned today, Julie-sama?"

Julie grinned and waved a hand at Kyoko. "Oh stop. You know I get all flustered when you call me that!"

She did. That was why Kyoko had done it. In order to distract her.

(What she didn't know was why...which had to do with Kuu, an experimental phase of their early sex life, and a story that would kill Kyoko stone dead with embarrassment if she ever heard it in its entirety.)

"Fine, Julie what wonderful adventure are we embarking on today?" Kyoko corrected with a genuine smile, glad to have a distraction from the stupid message sent by her stupid childhood friend's stupid manager.

"I was thinking we could try every ice cream place in town and rank them from best to worst! I have a quick Zoom meeting with my design team in New York in about ten minutes, but then I'm free until my facial at two. That's when you have weight training with Riley and Claire too, right? I figure if we start now, we could knock out six or seven before dinner and Kuu can join us for another four or five after!"

Kyoko laughed and sprung up from the couch. "Sounds great to me! I'll go get dressed while you have your meeting and meet you in the front drive."

"Sounds good! And wear something appropriately snooty, we're gonna need to cut some lines if we're going to make a dent today!"

Kyoko giggled again and turned back to wink at her fairy godmother. "Gotcha! I'll be snooty personified this time, just you watch!"

Julie tilted her head to the side and pretended to contemplate it. "I don't know. You only got a C+ last time. Your past track record doesn't offer a lot of support to your claims…"

"Well, last time, it wasn't food we were hunting! Trust me, this time, I'll be the most stuck up rich girl you've ever laid eyes on!" she declared with a fist held to her chest in pledge.

"Alright then! Crush me under your unwarranted sense of entitlement!" Julie cheered, shooing Kyoko up the stairs and out of sight. Then, quick as a whip, she leaned over the couch and scooped up Kyoko's forgotten phone.

Guessing her passcode was a cinch (Kuon's birthday...conveniently the same one Julie used) and she frantically searched for anything that would point to why Kyoko had been staring so solemnly at the device for more than ten minutes without realizing Julie was watching her from above. Her salvation came as the phone vibrated (strongly enough to make her hand numb) and a little notification popped up next to her messaging app.

Julie tapped on the app in question with a manicured finger.

Luckily, she could read Japanese pretty well, because once she saw what was written there, the issue became glaringly obvious:

Shoko: Sho wants to remind you that he's going to be in LA for a concert on the first of September and he will leave two front row tickets and backstage passes for you at the willcall office. The show starts at 9.

The message that had just come in was right after that:

Shoko: He really misses you, you know. He's been looking forward to this concert for months because he might see you. Will you please come?

In the bar at the bottom of the app, Kyoko had typed a reply to the first message, but hadn't sent it...yet.

Shoko-san, I don't think it's a good idea if I go. I doubt he really cares whether I'm there or not.

Julie battled with her conscience for all of three milliseconds before she cleanly deleted the newest message from this 'Shoko' and closed the app. Then she called her secretary, who in turn called her travel agent, Kyoko's trainers, and her favorite day spa.

"Kyoko, honey, change of plans!" she yelled up the stairs. "There's a problem I need to deal with at the east coast studio. Pack a bag for a weekend in New York!"

Julie was nothing if not devoted to giving her son everything he ever wanted.

It was, admittedly, her most glaring flaw (and shining attribute) as a mother.

---

September 14th, 20XX 7:32pm, Tokyo, Japan; 2:32am Los Angeles, CA

---

Ren obsessively checked his phone again and frowned when he saw the time.

His eyebrows drew downward when he confirmed that there were also still no missed calls.

He looked back to the now lukewarm bowl of soup in front of him and sighed.

Maybe he should just eat without her. The thought of skipping food altogether crossed his mind, but he had made her a promise, so he picked up the bowl and stuck it in the microwave. While it was reheating he obsessively checked his phone again, clicking on his messaging app to make sure he hadn't missed a notification.

Kyoko was more than half an hour late to call him and it was making him itchy.

True, he knew modeling gigs like the one his mother had lined up for her were at the whim of the photographer, so it wasn't like she could control how long it took, but it was 2:30 in the morning in LA! Even for a night shoot, that was pushing it more than a little far.

It had seemed like fate (or his incredible manager's skills) that his schedule allowed him to break for dinner earlier, since otherwise he'd be at his own night shoot when they normally talked, but it was looking more like a missed connection every second that passed. At this rate, he would have been better off taking a nap than waiting around for her. And, if he was being honest, a nap sounded pretty fucking great.

Yashiro had done as instructed and scheduled him tight from dawn until eleven, usually leaving only enough time to eat with Kyoko at the end of the day untouched before shuffling him off for one more photoshoot, or interview, or CV. Only some days (usually ones that didn't include any Kyoko time) did Ren ever regret what he had willingly imposed on himself. But that didn't mean he didn't live in a constant state of fatigue as a result. It was only his incredible discipline and acting abilities that kept anyone from noticing he was more often than not, dead on his feet. The upside was that he didn't have time to miss Kyoko before he went to sleep. He was usually dead to the world before his head even hit the pillow.

Once he'd even fallen asleep standing up in the shower, and was rudely awakened an hour later as the hot water ran out.

Maybe she just crashed the minute she got home… he mused. Modeling took a lot more energy than everyone thought. He was sure she was exhausted.

He refused to indulge the other thoughts swimming at the back of his mind. Thoughts of what the wrong kind of photographer in the right kind of situation would attempt with a young model.

The microwave's ding echoed in his empty kitchen and he took the bowl back to his coffee table, settling back against his couch on the floor and reaching for his spoon.

Just as he slurped up a spoonful, the telltale digital tune he'd been waiting for rang out from his cell. He dropped the spoon with a splat back into his bowl and dove for his phone instead.

"Hey, it's about time." He frowned when he realized it was just a phone call and not a video chat. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah," Kyoko replied, stifling a yawn. "I just got home. The photographer was super picky. I had to go through shoots in like ten outfits before he was satisfied, so we went waaaay over on time. I'm totally beat. But, he said he got some amazing shots, so at least that's good, right?"

"Sounds like a job well done. I was just starting on dinner. Do you need me to send you a picture of my soup?!" he joked.

Kyoko laughed wearily. "Nah, I have to change and take a bath while we talk, so I'll just have to settle for listening to you eat tonight."

Ren obligingly slurped his soup loud enough for her to hear. "Ah, so that's why you didn't call on video."

"Yeah. I hope you don't mind," she chuckled faintly.

Ren swallowed another mouthful of lobster bisque. "Of course not. Do what you need to. I'm just happy to hear your voice."

They each went about their business in companionable silence for a few minutes until Kyoko happily settled into her bathwater with a sigh.

"So how was your day?"

Ren did his best not to picture her naked in a steamy tub of hot water...and failed miserably. "Well, it's not over yet, I've got my own night shoot after I'm done talking with you."

"Really, what are you shooting?"

"It's a commercial for another new club downtown."

"Oooh, let me guess...you're the mysterious guy in the corner booth that sends the quiet girl at a table of party girls a drink! And then you ask her to dance...and you leave in the same cab?"

"...it's uncanny how you do that."

Kyoko laughed. "Please, that much is obvious. How many people did you say were at that last club opening just waiting to get in? The line was around the block, right? That's just the way producers think: if the formula works, why change it?"

"'Cause it's boring and generic? Oh well, it pays the bills. And at least this time I get to drive a fun car at the end instead of just getting suggestively into a taxi."

"Which car? Anything I would recognize?"

"It's a…" Ren rubbed his eyes and screwed up his face as he tried to remember the model Yashiro had dangled in front of him to get him excited for the job. "It's a new Corvette I think. Coming out next year."

"...I don't know why I even asked. I have no idea what a Corvette looks like…" Kyoko admitted sheepishly.

"Sure you do. Dad's got a few Vettes. I know you remember the purple and black one we drove home from the party because you woke up as I was pulling you out of it and couldn't shut up about how much you liked it."

"OH! You mean Duchess of the Skies is a Corvette?! Corvettes are really pretty! I see why you're excited to drive a new one."

"...Kyoko, just curious, but how many of my family's cars have you named so far?"

"Um...Dad is taking me out in a different one each time until I get to see them all, so I think maybe...ten or so now? He really liked what I came up with for the little red one."

"Coincidentally, also a Corvette. What'd you name it?"

"Dash! It suits it, doesn't it?"

"...you know, it really does." Ren didn't mention that that particular car was the one he used to borrow when he went street racing with his friends. He cringed thinking of what those guys would have thought of naming a car anything.

They conversed in that comfortable, meandering way for an hour or so as Kyoko finished her bath and settled into bed. Ren was just finishing up a tangent about one of the actors on set who pissed him off (because the lazy brat wasn't even trying to get better!) when he was met with silence instead of her usual perky affirmations.

"Kyoko? You still there?" He looked at his phone to see if it was still connected. "Did you fall asleep?"

He listened carefully and could make out her even, heavy breaths. "Well, I guess I'll say good night then…"

He started to hang up the phone, but heard a faint noise coming from the speaker, so he quickly put the phone back to his ear. "Did you say something?"

"Mmmm...Ren, don't stop…" Kyoko's voice was muffled, but it sent a thrill up his spine.

He'd only heard her use that tone once before: on the balcony at that party. While he was…

Is Kyoko having a sex dream?! While still on the phone with me?!

Ren licked his lips and briefly contemplated his options before eventually giving into his curiosity and resigning himself to an afterlife in hell.

"Does that feel good?" he murmured into the phone, drawing his knees up and leaning forward over them.

"Yeeeeeees," Kyoko purred, a little clearer than before. "Do that again."

"Do what again?" Ren grinned. There was no way this was really happening. He had to be hallucinating due to exhaustion from overwork. It was the only logical explanation for the pure sex his innocent, prude girlfriend was dripping from her sweet little mouth.

"That thing...with your tongue…" her voice gasped.

Aaand that was when he kissed goodbye his sanity as he got painfully hard, embarrassingly quickly.

Logically, she had to be referring to some kind of nipple play, given her limited experience, but his mind immediately went much further south. "Or I could show you a better use for my tongue. Take off your underwear."

"What...will happen if...I do?" Kyoko's sleepy coquettish question had his hips shifting and his legs stretching out in response.

Ren licked his lips. "I'll leisurely kiss my way down your body and then eat you out until you're begging for me to fuck you...would you like me to do that?" His face flushed as the words left his mouth. He hadn't had much practice with the whole dirty talk thing, despite his past relationships, and he never thought it would be something Kyoko would be into, but the fact she was asleep took off a lot of the pressure. "Would you like me to pull your thighs over my shoulders and bury my face between your legs until you're screaming my name?"

"Aaaaaaah…" Kyoko moaned. He could practically hear her body shivering in response. "I...want..."

"Yeah? What do you want, Kyoko?"

"I want you to do that…all of that...pleeeease…"

Ren's eyes closed and he groaned, a wave of heat rushing through his body at her pleading voice begging him to violate her. His fingers twitched.

"God, me too. I want to do all kinds of indecent things to your gorgeous body. I want to feel you tight and wet around my fingers as they curl into you. I want to feel your hot little hands on my body, and hear your voice moaning my name."

"Reeeeen...aaaah...mmmmm...God! That's soooo…."

Ren swallowed hard and chuckled slightly hysterically to himself, muttering under his breath. "Wait until you know what it actually feels like...whatever you're imagining, isn't even half as great as the real thing. I promise."

"Real...thing?' Kyoko gasped.

Ren sighed. "You're dreaming, sweetheart. None of this is real."

"Oh...well that explains the castle…and horse..."

Ren fought not to laugh. "There's a horse?"

"Yeah. And a giant pudding!"

This time he couldn't suppress it, the laughter rolling out of him uncontrollably in baritone waves.

"Hmmmmm...love it when you laugh…beautiful...like Odette...or ripe fruit...or sunshine."

Ren managed to get his laughter under control, but couldn't help grinning widely. "Thank you. I love your laugh too."

"If this is a dream...can I do...whatever I want?"

"Sure, why not?"

"No consequences?"

"Absolutely. What do you want to do?" He held his breath, wondering what she would say. Did Kyoko have even naughtier depths? Maybe she had twisted, kinky dreams deep down inside her that she was too ashamed to reveal…but that he could use to lure her more quickly into his bed the minute she turned eighteen.

"Ah wrm taauht derinter grrm perder…" It sounded like she had turned her face into her pillow.

"Sorry, can you repeat that?" Ren coaxed gently.

"I said, I'm gonna eat the whole pudding!"

Ren didn't keep track of how long he laid on his floor laughing after that, but when Yashiro found him a couple hours later, he was curled up in a ball, asleep, with a grin still on his face.

---

September 16th, 20XX 9:45am Los Angeles, CA

---

Kyoko took a deep breath and let it out.

Then she took another deep breath and let it out.

…

Then she took another deep breath.

"You know, at some point you do actually have to pull the trigger to fire it," Claire yelled drily from behind a partition of plexiglas on her left.

Kyoko blushed and offered her a weak smile. "Sorry. It's like popping a balloon or ripping off a band-aid. I know it's coming, but it makes me anxious waiting for it and then I can't bring myself to just do it already!"

Claire sighed as Kyoko locked her muscles in place with her arms straight out and her shoulders up around her ears. Her eyes were squinted so much they were practically closed.

The ex-army sergeant stepped behind her and lifted the ear protection off of the girl's head to speak to her.

"Okay, stop. You're going to injure yourself if you keep on like that. Set the pistol down for a second."

Kyoko gingerly set the WWI era replica firearm she was holding on the shelf in front of her and stepped away from it.

"Okay, shake it out. You're way too tense, soldier!" Claire barked, slipping into commander mode. Kyoko complied, rolling her neck and loosening her tight shoulders. "You're far too afraid of the weapon. It's just a piece of metal. It's not going to bite you."

"But it's a gun! They kill people all the time! They aren't even allowed in Japan! If I'm not careful I could seriously hurt someone!"

"Then be careful. Don't point it at anyone and follow the rules I outlined for you. Water kills people all the time too, but you aren't afraid to get into the bathtub, right? Plus, you need to fire each of the firearms they'll be replicating for the show at least once so you understand your body's reactions. The director was adamant that he wanted it to look as accurate as possible right?"

Kyoko bit back a juvenile rebuttal and nodded.

"Okay. Then that means you need to know how much kickback to show from a pistol versus a rifle, and the limitations of trying to fire one with one hand, or trying to reload in mid-battle. And the first step to all of that," she lectured as she picked up the pistol and held it out to her. "Is taking the first shot."

Kyoko hesitantly took the gun from her and was once again surprised at the weight of such a small object in her hand.

"But...it still just scares me…" she admitted quietly. Learning to shoot a gun wasn't nearly as much fun as the wire work practice she'd done the day before. Running across the surface of a pond was hands down the coolest thing she'd ever done, and she couldn't get enough of it. This, on the other hand...not so much.

"Don't focus on your weapon. Focus on why you're firing it. Take your stance again, but keep your muscles loose. Now, focus on the target. Why does Violet fight?"

"It's all she knows. She was raised to be a weapon." Kyoko's response was prompt and steady.

"Why? As a weapon, how is she used?"

"To fight and win the war."

"And to protect people, right? Most of her scenes are with Major Bougainvillea right? She wants to protect him, right?"

"He is the most important thing in the world. No matter what, she has to protect him and help him win every battle so he can always come home safely. He must come home safely," Kyoko answered without hesitating.

"Okay, then focus on the target and imagine it as a threat to the Major. The gun is just a tool you can use to protect him." Claire placed the ear muffs back over her charge's ears and stepped back.

Taking one last deep breath, Kyoko closed her eyes and focused on falling into her Violet character. The emotions melted off her face as she pictured the green of the Major's eyes and the broach he had given her. One of her hands went to her throat where she imagined it nestled in the collar of an itchy wool uniform shirt.

When she opened her eyes, she could only see her target. The gun in her hand barely weighed a thing, more like a toy than a weapon. It didn't feel like enough to stop the enemy, but it was what she had. Without hesitation, she took a deep breath and squeezed the trigger as she exhaled, her braced legs helping to take in the shock that ran back up her arms.

She didn't stop after the first shot, firing the rest of her clip at an even pace until her arms barely moved from the kickback, then she carefully set down the gun and removed her ear muffs.

"Well done," Claire praised. "You even managed to hit the target with some of the last ones, Kyoko."

Kyoko jumped when she heard her name and snapped out of her Violet trance. Looking back at the target, she dropped into a squat, pushing out all of her breath.

"Oh, that's good," she said faintly, feeling a little ill.

Claire picked up the small pistol, checked the clip to make sure it was empty and started policing her brass, (that is, picking up the shell casings littering the shelf and floor). "Okay, now let's try it with one hand and then we'll move onto the rifle."

"Okay," Kyoko agreed shakily, standing up again. She closed her eyes and centered on Violet.

Then she opened them and confidently held out her hand for the gun once again.

---

September 19th, 20XX 10:12am Los Angeles, CA

---

Kyoko gestured to her left at a short low building and smiled back at the stoic woman trailing behind her.

"And, this is the cafeteria if you don't have enough time to go off the lot for lunch. They actually have really good food, though I don't personally care for their burritos," Kyoko chirped.

Kanae Kotonami (she was still trying to get used to everyone in the States switching her names around) quirked an eyebrow and leveled a cool glance in the direction Kyoko had gestured. "What the hell is a burrito?"

"It's a Mexican food. They're not bad, but I think you'd probably prefer a fish taco from one of the food trucks...less calories. Anyway, that's the quickie version of the studio tour! We didn't hit all the fancy stuff the real tour hits, but most of that's for tourists anyway."

They headed toward the parking lot. They were meeting Julie for lunch after Kanae's tour and it was quite a long walk back to where Jackson was parked. He would have happily picked them up, but Kanae had insisted he park far away and allow them to walk. With the portion sizes she'd encountered in America so far, she needed every moment of exercise she could get.

"Kyoko...aren't you not even filming yet? How the hell do you just happen to know your way around the exact studio where I'll be filming?" Kanae asked carefully in English, focusing on imitating Kyoko's American accent.

"Oh, that…" Kyoko smiled proudly at her, tucking her now shoulder length hair over her ear (she was growing it out for Violet, since it would be harder to keep a wig on during her fight scenes). "Actually, I know all the studios around here. My training is pretty spread out over the week, so I had quite a bit of extra time on my hands. I asked Dad, Julie, Riley, and Claire if they could hook me up with some low level jobs at as many studios as they could to keep me busy. I don't have a work visa yet, but since I'm underage, I can work under my student visa if it's under a certain salary cap...or they pay me under the table in cash. It's been really interesting actually. Let's see...I've been a grip, a body double, an extra for lots of things, and a production assistant a couple of times. It's honestly not that different from being a Love Me Member. I just had my friends' contacts give the HR person at each studio my resume and tell them to call me if they needed a sub for anything I was qualified to do. Once you get the rhythm of it down, the studios are all pretty much alike. They just have different layouts and vibes."

Kanae hid her admiration behind a carefully disinterested face and a light hum. "Well, it's good to know you haven't let your new connections go to your head. You're just the same as always."

"That's not true! I've grown a lot. You should see my parachuting skills! I can drop into a roll from pretty far off the ground now and land on my mark every time! And I can shoot a rifle one-handed convincingly too!"

This time, Kanae couldn't keep her shock off her face. "You learned how to skydive?! When does Violet even do that?!"

Kyoko gave her a confused look. "Were you gone the day we watched that episode or something? She goes to write the letter for the soldier who gets attacked in the woods and ends up parachuting down to take out his attackers. It's one of the most complicated scenes I have to do, since they want to do it in as few takes as possible. And they want to keep the camera up close on me the whole time, so I can't use a double. It's crazy! Our director is very dedicated to accuracy."

"No kidding. He's making you learn how to fire a real gun too?!"

Kyoko nodded. "Yeah, a few different kinds of firearms actually. And I have western fight choreography and knife-fighting training most days too. At first I thought six months was an insane amount of time to train, but it's been flying by. This week I get to start on learning the actual choreographed sequences for the show, and Claire is teaching me all kinds of real self-defense techniques too!"

Kanae watched her best friend's eyes glow as she talked about her training and smiled sadly. "You really love it here don't you?!"

"It's wonderful!" Kyoko smiled widely. "All of the specialists and crew work so hard for their craft here. It makes me want to do my best too. Everyone is a lot less polite than Japan and more touchy feely, but I find I don't really mind it. It's gonna be pretty weird going back to referring to everyone by their last names when I have to go home."

"Well...I hope the actors are as diligent as the crew. I'm so sick of stuck-up guys and their inability to focus on their work. It seems the older I get, the worse they get," Kanae griped, thinking of her new co-star, who had already tried to hit on her at the first script reading.

"That, unfortunately, is the same here. But there do seem to be more diligent actors here than there are at home. I think it's because they have to work so hard to get hired. There are so many more aspiring actors here to choose from, so lazy actors don't make it very far. But that just means there are more back-stabbers and liars too. I heard about this one actress who got tied up and thrown into a closet so she couldn't audition for a part. That kind of stuff is just crazy!"

"Really? Crazier than drugging someone and nearly tossing them off a balcony to get a part?" Kanae said sarcastically. Kyoko's response was a weak laugh.

"Well, Morizumi-san had to learn tricks like that from somewhere. She did work here for almost two years."

Kanae furrowed her brows. "I'm assuming the Hizuris are taking steps to keep you safe though, right?"

"Of course! I've got Jackson-san, who you met in the car, and Dad did that interview with me back in August, so people sucking up to me is a bigger problem than anyone trying to bully me." Kyoko intentionally didn't mention the increase in paparazzi that followed her around now thanks to that interview. She didn't want to worry Kanae.

"That's good. I swear, your luck is the eighth wonder of the world. Who would have thought that cooking for Hizuri Kuu would lead to this?"

Kyoko guiltily averted her eyes. She was sure the fact she was dating their son had at least a little bit to do with why Kuu and Julie were so zealous about treating her like family, but there was no way she could tell Kanae Kuon's secret without his permission.

"Speaking of which, how does Mr. Perfect feel about you getting so close with him? He doesn't seem like the type to share," Kanae mentioned, breezily, as though she weren't dying to hear how their relationship was surviving long distance. "Do you hear from him often?"

Kyoko went completely red from forehead to shirt collar, sparking Kanae's already avid curiosity. "He knows Kuu is like a Dad to me, so he's fine with it. And we talk every day...plus he's been, um, texting me a lot lately…"

"Texting?" Kanae asked, noticing the weird intonation she'd put on the word. "That's good isn't it? He misses you. So why does that make you look like you forgot to put on underwear this morning?"

Kyoko flinched, playing with the screen of her phone. They had been speaking in English to help Kanae practice, but she abruptly switched to Japanese. "Well...if it was just regular texting I'd be overjoyed. But...um...it's, well…"

Kanae sighed, also switching to Japanese. "If you can't talk about it, just show me."

Kyoko's eyes went wide and she clutched the phone to her chest with the fakest smile Kanae had ever seen. "Oh. No. That's not necessary. They're not that interesting, I'm just being silly!"

"If you don't show me what has you so upset, I will not speak to you the entire rest of my trip," Kanae threatened. It was 100% untrue, since she was actually incredibly relieved to have someone who spoke Japanese (and knew her) to help her navigate the intimidating Hollywood social landscape, but for now, her overzealous friend didn't need to know that.

"But Moko-san!" Kyoko shifted on her feet, playing with her phone again.

Kanae darted a hand out and grabbed the phone from her, ducking between two cars for a modicum of privacy. She was thankful it was the newer version of her own phone, so she was able to navigate it fairly easily. She popped open the messaging app, while expertly avoiding Kyoko's attempts to steal it back. She didn't have to find Ren, as the messages up on the screen were obviously the ones she was being squirrely about, even if Kyoko had him labeled as 'Corn' in her phone, for some reason. But that was something to investigate another time. Because the content of those messages took center stage.

Kanae's eyes went wide as she read the last couple of texts and forgot to evade Kyoko as she snatched back the phone. "Holy shit! Tsuruga-san's sexting you!"

Kyoko looked like she was going to cry. "Hey! Those are private!"

"No shit! Are you okay with this? Have you been...returning the sentiment?" Kanae said awkwardly, uncomfortable barging into her friend's sex life, but concerned about the possibility her older, looks-like-a-sex-god boyfriend was pressuring her.

"Um...I'm working on it...I just never know what to say. But...I don't dislike it if that's what you mean… It's kind of exciting...and hot." Her blush intensified.

Kanae stared at her in shock. "Who are you and what have you done with Kyoko?"

The other girl squirmed. "I'm still me. I've just been thinking that it's maybe not such a bad thing to be a little less...pure."

"Well, it's about freaking time! Welcome to the wider world," Kanae proclaimed, switching gears now that she knew Kyoko wasn't being pressured into something she didn't want. Kyoko nearly got whiplash trying to follow her friend's 180° turn in tone. "How far have you guys gotten? In person, I mean. A? B? I'm assuming you haven't made it to C yet or you'd have no problem replying to texts like that..."

"A, B, and C?" Kyoko asked, confused. She vaguely remembered girls in her middle school talking about A, B, and C that way, but had never been included in the conversation enough to ask what they meant.

Kanae bit back a surprised retort that would only hurt her friend's feelings. She would have sworn you couldn't get out of a Japanese middle school without at least learning that. "A is kissing, B is touching above and below the belt, and C is going all the way."

"Oh. Then, um, B."

Kanae smirked. "North or south?"

"North! Only North!" Kyoko squeaked. "...mostly. He's touched my...butt a couple of times though."

"But no fingering or oral?"

"WHAT THE HELL IS FINGERING?!" Kyoko had a vague deja vu moment, like she couldn't quite remember something from a dream, but it was soon washed away in her embarrassment.

Now it was Kanae's turn to blush slightly. "Quiet...we're in public! ...you should just look it up. That's what the internet is for. But if you don't even know that, how have you been responding to his messages?"

"I haven't, okay! Not like that! I've just been giving him general positive responses to...show that he can keep sending them…if he wants"

"Well, that's no good! If this goes on too much longer he's gonna think you're some kind of tease! Or that you're just humoring him."

"What?! But that's not true! I just have no clue how to respond to something like that! What if I say something totally incorrect?! Or I'm really terrible at it? I can't even type some of those words in the privacy of my bedroom without freaking out and dropping my phone!"

"But you said you guys had done stuff. So it's not like you don't have some practical experience."

"It's not the same at all! When we're together it just...happens. He knows what he's doing, so I just have to make sure I stop him if it's something I don't want. And asking questions is a lot less embarrassing in person…"

"Then, maybe you shouldn't encourage him to sext at all. Or you could have phone sex instead."

"Like talking on the phone? Saying stuff like he messaged?! NO! Nononononononono. I am definitely not ready for that."

"Okay, well, then...do you want me to help you with what to say?"

Kyoko's eyes went dewy with appreciation. "Really? You'll help me?!"

"Only until you get the hang of it yourself! It should really just be between the two of you."

Kyoko nodded. "Of course. I'll also do my own research and try to get better that way. I just need a little help getting started. This is all so new to me."

"Good. A girl shouldn't be ignorant of this stuff. That's how you end up in dangerous situations without realizing it."

"How do you know so much, Moko-san?" Kyoko asked innocently.

"I fooled around with a couple of guys in middle school. I wanted to be able to act out a love scene realistically so I acted like I was interested in them. I'm still a virgin though. That's something I wouldn't do with just anyone, if ever." She shuddered. "The last thing I want is to ever have kids."

"Well...I do want kids someday, but before that, I also think...I'd really like to, um, to go to C. If it's with him."

"Yeeeeah, I don't think there's a girl in Japan who wouldn't," Kanae snorted. Then realized the implication of her statement. "Except me! I definitely do not feel that way about your boyfriend! He's just...not my type."

And she wasn't lying. She had more of a weak spot for the innocent types. She'd decided long ago that she must be an S, because watching a boy blush and stumble over his words in response to her attention never failed to peak her interest. It was one of the reasons she liked spending time with Hiou-kun. Despite his attempts to hide it, he always acted earnestly, whether in his career or his personal relationships. It was ridiculously cute. If he was a couple years older, he would be a serious distraction.

Who knew, maybe he still would be someday. But for now, she had work to focus on. And Kyoko. Who was laughing at her.

"Oh, don't worry. I know you're not remotely interested in him. Or guys at all right now. But I'm so grateful you're willing to help me. I just couldn't bring myself to ask Julie…" Kyoko was almost as close to the older woman as she was with Kanae, but asking your boyfriend's mother how to verbally seduce him was just...wrong. In so many ways.

"Yeah, I can see how that would be a bit awkward. They're like your surrogate parents after all," Kanae agreed, thinking about her own family. The very idea of bringing up her sex-life to any of her family made her want to puke. And then skip the country. And then puke again. Her older sister had once caught her trying to take a sexy selfie with her phone and she had been the butt of their jokes for a solid six months. "Oh! You know, you have another option if replying to his messages with words is too much for you at first."

"What?" Kyoko asked, cocking her head. They were only a few yards from the car now. Jackson promptly exited the car and stubbornly held open the back door for her despite the fact she'd asked him to let her open her own door if he was going to insist she sit in the back.

"Pictures. Nothing gets a guy hot and bothered like a sexy picture." Kanae grinned thinking about it. She wished she could see the calm and collected Tsuruga-san's face if he ever received something like that from Kyoko. She couldn't even picture him getting flustered, but if anyone could bring that out in him, it was Kyoko.

"That...I think I could handle that…" Kyoko said, remembering the folder in her phone with triple password protection on it.

Jack cleared his throat, unable to understand what the two teenage girls were saying in their native language, but guessing from their tones and Kyoko's blazing face that he didn't want to know. He hoped he had a few more years before his own daughter had discussions with expressions like that. "Where to?"

Like flipping a switch, Kyoko plastered on a bright smile and her face returned to its normal color as she switched to English. "Back to the house please! We're meeting Julie there before we all head to lunch!"

Kanae bit back a laugh at Jack's double take from Kyoko's abrupt switch in demeanor. She almost took pity and warned him, but slid into the car silently instead.

You never fully get used to it. She's just that good, she thought smugly. Her best friend was one of the best after all.

The thought stirred the usual competitive response in her.

Time to get back to work. I refuse to be left behind!

---

September 20, 20XX 2:30pm Beverly Hills, CA, 7:30am Tokyo, Japan

---

Julie trotted down the stairs and strode straight through the kitchen to the back door. With a smile she slid open the wide glass doors and carefully navigated the cedar deck boards with her sky-high stilettos.

"I'm off to my meeting. Don't forget to reapply your sunscreen, girls. Remember, you can still get burned, even when it's cloudy!" she chirped.

Kyoko and Kanae, lounging in the Hizuri's infinity pool on floats that looked like a giant piece of pizza and halved avocado, respectively, turned to smile back at her. Since it was still unseasonably warm for September they were using every chance to use the pool they could.

"Don't worry, we just reapplied!" Kyoko assured her. "You look beautiful! Are you meeting with the stockholders first, or the event organizers?"

"The stockholders," Julie sighed, pushing down her sunglasses and theatrically slumping her shoulders in distaste. "Then I get to play with the party planners to cheer me up! Are you sure you don't want to tag along? I'd love to have you. Both of you," she added, smiling at Kanae.

"I'd love to come, but Kanae leaves to go on location tomorrow, so I promised to spend today with her! I'll come to the next one. That's when the tasting is anyway, right?"

"Yes. You have to be there to help choose the food. I'm hopeless when it comes to picking a menu, and I want the Christmas party to be perfect for when Kuon comes back," Julie gushed. Kyoko snuck a glance at Kanae, but relaxed when she saw her indifference to the conversation. So far, they'd managed not to spill his secret, even though Kanae had been staying in the Hizuri house with her. Her best friend knew the Hizuris had an absent son named Kuon, but so far she hadn't put two and two together and figured out that Ren, Kuon Hizuri and Kyoko's weird nickname for her boyfriend were related. At least not yet.

While Kyoko was worrying over Kanae's perceptions, Julie was giddy thinking about the secret reason for the party they were planning. She wanted the party to be exactly what Kyoko wanted, since it would double as her birthday party, but didn't want to ruin the mountain of surprises her son was accumulating by accidentally spilling the beans. So, the easiest thing to do was tell her it was a Christmas party they threw every year and recruit her to help plan it.

Which was why it was probably a good thing that Kyoko wasn't coming with her to the first meeting. It would give Julie a chance to clue in the event organizers to the things they would need to hide from the starlet at all their subsequent meetings.

"Then you girls have a marvelous afternoon! If you feel like shopping, I left my card on the counter, so feel free to go crazy." She held up her hand against Kyoko's protests. "I know, you don't want to take my money, but one of these days you'll take me up on it! Mark my words!" she proclaimed to the sky with a raised fist.

Kanae let out a very unladylike snort and covered the bottom half of her face in embarrassment while both of the other women gawked at her and then laughed.

"I know!" exclaimed Julie, her eyes lighting up. "Do it for Kanae! That's an order. She hasn't had the Beverly Hills experience yet, and it's her last chance this trip! Show her how the Hizuris do Rodeo Drive."

Kyoko fell off her pool float, sputtering as she managed to get her head above the water again. "You mean...you want me to do...that?! Without you?! The hurdle is too high! I can't possibly!"

Julie's smile sharpened into something sharky. "Oh yes you can! That's your next assignment. In fact, think of it as an exam! I'll have Amy call ahead for you and I'm looking forward to a full report when I return!"

"But-!" Kyoko started, but gave up as Julie glided back into the house with a wave and a smug bounce in her step.

"So, what's the 'Beverly Hills experience'?" Kanae asked, taking a sip of her iced cucumber water.

"...you'll see," Kyoko pouted, a dark aura permeating the air and water around her. "I can't believe she expects me to do that alone! Well, you'll be there too, but STILL!"

"Okay, now you're scaring me."

Kyoko snapped out of her cloud of gloom with a reassuring smile. "Oh, don't be! Actually, you'll probably love it. It's just sort of embarrassing. And I hate that she's making me spend her money. They both already go so far out of their way to treat me like I'm a part of the family. Everything on top of that just feels like I'm taking advantage of them." Her shoulders slumped and guilt covered her like a veil.

"Well...you probably don't know this, since your mother's an evil bitch-"

"Hey!"

"Shut up. I'm right, you're wrong, and everyone you know agrees with me. You aren't rational about this. What I was saying is, you don't know this, but part of being a good child is letting yourself be spoiled. Even I let my parents bring me food and stuff sometimes, despite the fact that I'm the one financially supporting them and they can't help me any other way. It makes parents sad when they feel like they aren't needed. You're the last person in the world who would ever use someone for their monetary value, and anyone who knows you knows that, so you could stand to loosen up a bit. I mean, I get it, I'm proud of the fact that I provide for myself and the last thing I want is to be beholden to someone, but...she's your fairy godmother, right? It's her job to spoil you."

Kyoko had told Kanae all about the night of the party and she knew how hard it was for Kanae to say that with a straight face.

"Okay...then I guess we're going shoppi-" Kyoko was cut off by the jackhammer level of sound her phone made on the tile beside the pool as it vibrated.

Kanae grinned. "Is it him?"

Kyoko dove under the water and popped up next to the side of the pool, several yards away, in seconds. Kanae blinked repeatedly trying to figure out how she had teleported the distance.

"Yes!" Kyoko squealed, then fell silent as she read what he wrote. Kanae was burning with curiosity, but held her tongue. Unless Kyoko asked her, it didn't feel right to ask what Ren had written to her in confidence.

But she also REALLY wanted to know!

"Holy cannoli…" Kyoko muttered, her body hotter than the midafternoon sun could make it. Especially since that half of the pool was completely covered by a red-tinted sunshade. Right now her skin felt how it looked under that rosy glow; on fire.

"So, I take it he liked having you initiate for once?" Kanae asked with a Cheshire smile.

"Yes. He definitely….that is…it definitely worked." She turned and held up the phone, scrolling with her finger so Kanae could see how much he had written, even if she couldn't read the content from so far away.

"Damn. Doesn't take much to get him going, does it?" Kanae mused, blushing lightly. "How did he end it?"

"He asked what I would like to do."

"Ha! He's trying to make you flustered. I think it's time you sent him a picture." She finished her water, gracefully slid off the giant avocado and made her way to the side of the pool. She dried her hands on the towel there and held out her hand. "Sit on the edge of the pool and give me your phone."

Kanae messed with the filters on her camera and handed it back. Then she tugged on Kyoko's bikini, exposing more cleavage and pushing her bottoms a little lower on her hips. "Okay, push your shoulders back but your arms forward and take it from…" Kanae trailed off, as Kyoko automatically displayed her body to the camera like she was presenting a feast to a starving man. "Are you sure you haven't done this before?"

"I, uh...have been taking modeling lessons with Julie...and experimenting on my own...a little. But I've never sent him any of them!"

"...well, there's a first time for everything. I'll leave that to you then." Just a little huffy that her advice wasn't needed in this particular instance, Kanae waded over to the ladder and got out of the pool. "I'm gonna go shower. Come in when you're done and we'll go shopping."

"Okay. Change into something expensive. It needs to be branded for what we're doing. You can take whatever you want from my closet."

Kanae gave her a look. "Are you saying I don't normally dress well?"

"No. Of course not. This is just a-whole-nother level. Trust me," Kyoko sighed.

"Oooookay." Kanae was sort of starting to get excited. And not just because she got to raid Kyoko's new drool-inducing wardrobe.

Kyoko took her time taking a few different selfies before picking one to send. She grinned nervously and hit send before she could change her mind. Then she headed upstairs to get ready too.

---

Ren was just closing his apartment door behind him as his phone alerted him to a message. He stopped, pulling his phone out and racing through the passcode to see if it was her responding to his message.

Over the last couple of weeks, ever since the night she'd fallen asleep on the phone with him, he'd been sending her slightly risque text messages. It started out as nothing too crazy, just little snippets of suggestion to lure out the naughty side of her he now knew she had, like: "I had a dream about you last night and was very disappointed to wake up without your legs straddling my head." or "My shower was lonely. I wish you were here...wet and naked." or "If I sent you a plane ticket to come spend the night with me, would you use it? Fair warning, you would not be getting any sleep in this arrangement." He would like to say it was all part of his grand master plan to soften up her rigorous barriers enough to make her want to jump him the minute they were together again, but honestly, he just couldn't help it. Ever since that phone call, the box locking away his libido just wouldn't stay shut, and sending suggestive texts was as far as he dared push her.

At first, she had responded positively, if timidly, which was honestly more than he had expected. Usually it was something simple, but sweet, like: "Sounds like we might be meeting in our dreams." or "My bath is lonely too. Maybe we should set them up."

But, then she had started replying with a little more sass: "If I sent you a plane ticket to come swimming with me for a day, would you use it? Fair warning, there would be no clothes allowed in this arrangement."

And then, she'd FINALLY opened up enough to ask questions. "What else did we do in your dream?", What would we do instead of sleeping?" He had cautiously run with those as long as she kept responding, but he always kept things classy. He didn't want to scare her by revealing the crude inner workings of his male psyche.

Then, the night before, he'd sent her a text before he went to sleep. In his defense, that one had been completely free of even a whiff of sexual intent:

I miss you. I wish I was there with you right now.

And he had woken up to her first thrown gauntlet:

What would you like to do to me, if you were here right now?

What would he like to do to her? Not, what would he actually do, but what would he like to do… There was no way in hell he was going to pass up this particular opportunity. So he'd agonized over a response, trying his best to be more eloquent than explicit, but still get his point across.

If we're talking in terms of what I would like to do… I would like to lock you in your room, tie you to your bed, and take my time removing every scrap of your clothing so I can see and touch and taste every inch of you. I would like to mark you in places no one but me will ever see. I would like to bury my face in your arousal and make you scream with ecstasy as I make you come with just my fingers and tongue. Then, while you're still trembling and raw, I would like to bury my cock in your incredible body and fuck you senseless until you no longer know which direction is up and you lack the ability to stand on your own. Then I would like to do all of that again every night for the rest of our lives.

What would you like to do if I were there?

It had taken all of his courage to hit the send button on that message. But, after dithering for a full twenty minutes, he had.

And it had shown almost immediately that she read it.

Then...NOTHING FOR TEN TORTUROUS MINUTES.

At which point he'd picked up his male pride from the floor and dragged himself out of bed to get ready for work.

Even her innocent responses were better than radio silence. He couldn't shake the feeling he'd pushed her just a little too far.

So, when he heard his message alert (set to full volume), he immediately stopped his progress halfway to the elevator to check his phone. Yashiro, holding the elevator door open for him, couldn't believe his eyes. Ren never checked his phone while walking.

But Ren had stopped. And he had checked. And he had seen what he got in response from Kyoko.

He promptly forgot Yashiro was even in the building.

And also how to walk.

And think.

And breathe.

Kyoko stared up at him from his phone, flushed, dripping wet, and wearing a bikini that had haphazardly shifted just enough to reveal the edge of one aureola where her breasts were crushed together by one of her arms. He was so focused on that rim of pink nipple that at first he didn't even see where that hand was planted.

Which was right between her spread thighs. Her bottoms were so small they disappeared in the crease between her hip and thigh, with just a hint of flowered spandex visible behind her arm. Small enough that with her legs spread, one tantalizing dark curl had slipped out to accent her uppermost inner thigh. His fingers twitched as he longed to trace it back to its source.

And the look on her face. He could have borne it in silence if it weren't for how she was biting into her lip. And the hungry look in her eyes. But he just couldn't take receiving a picture of his girlfriend 100% begging him to destroy her innocence without groaning in sweet, sweet agony and folding his long body into a ball in order to put his head between his knees.

Then there was the message below the picture:

All of the above. Except tying me up. Then I can't touch you.

It was the straw that broke the sexiest back in Japan.

WHY THE HELL WAS HE STILL IN JAPAN WHEN SHE WAS LOOKING LIKE THAT IN CALIFORNIA!? WITHOUT HIM!

Ren groaned again in frustration.

Yashiro pushed back past the elevator doors and swiftly approached his charge, wracking his brain for what could have caused such a reaction. Surely, Ren must have received some sort of terrible news for him to lose his cool so completely in such a short time. He squatted down next to him in concern and his gaze was naturally drawn to the phone still resting in Ren's limp, outstretched arm. The usually stoic super manager's face went red as he saw the picture and message on full display.

"What the hell did you say to her?" he asked in a dazed voice before he could stop himself. When had Kyoko turned into a California sex kitten!? What had Ren done to Japan's purest maiden to turn her into that!? It was a picture that would haunt his dreams...in ways that Ren would definitely not approve of.

The picture went black as Ren's hand clamped down full strength on the phone, cracking the screen.

"I'm sorry, what could you possibly be referring to?" Cain Heel's voice growled from the bowed head of what had until moments ago been Tsuruga Ren. Yashiro shivered and went pale.

"NOTHING! ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! I SAW NOTHING!" he screamed frantically.

Ren's head came up, smiling an extra bright Gentlemen's Smile. "Good."

Yashiro took a few steps back as Ren stood back up. "Well, um, it looks like you're going to need another new phone?"

It came out like a question because subconsciously he was asking if BJ would be taking his life right now or not.

"No shit," Ren replied pleasantly, still smiling. He stood to his full height, towering over his manager. "You've really got to quit breaking my phone. It's getting out of hand."

"Hey, you can't blame this one on me!" Yashiro immediately argued, relaxing a bit. Then he saw Ren's face morph into a Demon Lord glare and lost the little color he had left. "No, you're right! This was all my fault, please forgive me!" He bowed slightly to get away from Ren's intense aura. "I'll get you a replacement immediately."

"Thank you." Ren replied pleasantly. "I'll hold onto this one until you get the replacement. And, if you would be so kind, please let Mogami-san know that my phone is broken and I will contact her as soon as I have a new one."

Yashiro cleared his throat. "Of course. Is there any other...message you would like me to convey?"

Ren's smile widened. "No, that will be all."

---

Kyoko and Kanae disembarked from the back of the Hizuri's custom Mustang limousine in their ankle-breaking Jimmy Choo heels and surveyed the most famous shopping district of Beverly Hills with bored eyes. Passersby stopped to look and a few pulled out their phones to take a picture as the two impeccably dressed women breezed past them and through the doors being held open for them.

"Thank you for choosing Dolce & Gabbana, Miss Mogami. Your dressing room is right this way. Can I get you anything?"

Kyoko whipped off the Gucci sunglasses that cost more than a trimester of her school fees and carelessly bit down on her plump Revlon Red lower lip. "Hmmm, I could go for a fruit smoothie. Kanae? Water?"

Kanae suppressed her urge to gawk at the unfamiliar prissy socialite dictating orders beside her (who had actually called her by her real name for once!) and hummed ascent while taking in the store. She did her best to look bored, but her heart was pounding. It was a vast, primarily white space, that looked more like an art gallery than anything else, with a beautiful painting taking up the center of the room and mannequins with clothing lining the walls, each spotlit individually. There weren't even any racks. It was simultaneously stunning and terrifying. Her pulse shot up. How did one even shop in a place like this?! She had been thrown into the deep end and suddenly couldn't remember how to swim in this vapid, overpriced pool of designer-clad celebrities. Hell, she was pretty sure they'd passed Keanu Reeves on his way out of the store they'd just dared to enter! KEANU FUCKING REEVES!

Kyoko didn't even seem to notice.

"Then Fiji water for Kanae. We would like to try on…" Kyoko trailed off as she meandered gracefully toward the wall, pointing to several dresses that no doubt cost more than both their monthly rents back in Japan combined. "Those. In sizes two and four please. Do you see anything else you like?"

Kanae tilted her head at her friend and gave her a smile as though they shared an inside joke. "That blouse looks like I wouldn't hate it."

Kyoko smiled back. "Then that blouse in a two as well and something that coordinates for her to try on with it. And any accessories you would recommend to coordinate. Shall we?" She gestured for Kanae to follow her and strode confidently to the back of the store where an attendant somehow already had the drinks she'd ordered. They entered a sleek, warmly lit room full of mirrors and draped themselves over a chaise making random conversation as attendants streamed in and hung the requested clothing on hooks nearby.

Carefully setting down her drink on a small, sculptural table, she approached one of the dresses and ran a freshly manicured nail sporting a rhinestone down the silky fabric.

"Thank you."

Like magic, as soon as Kyoko uttered those words, the attendants scattered and left the room. Kanae resisted the urge to do the same, wondering when her friend had learned to control her tone well enough to say so much while saying so little. The last one leaving the room hesitated at the door for a moment before closing it.

"I'll be right outside, just knock if you need anything," she said smoothly, pulling the door quietly closed behind her.

The two girls stood in silence for a moment before Kyoko shivered, her whole body shaking off the poise she'd been embodying.

"Oh my GOD, I can't believe I just did that!" she whisper yelled, running over to Kanae in the tiny steps her high heels allowed. "I was so sure they were gonna call me a fraud at any moment! Julie is so good at it, but I didn't think they'd believe me for a second. Isn't this CRAZY?!"

Kanae let out a deep breath and collapsed onto the chaise, taking a long, unladylike pull of her water.

"This is absolutely insane. How the hell does anyone shop like this?!" She hopped up and walked over to the slinky dresses waiting for them. "They don't even have tags. How do you know how much they cost."

"The people buying them don't care. It's all just disposable income to them. You should have seen Julie when she brought me the first time. I had to keep from freaking out as she just kept buying things the minute I put them on. All the stores already have her card on file. Apparently only tourists actually take their cards out to buy anything at these stores."

"That's the dream…" Kanae sighed happily as she fingered the silk. "One day, I'm gonna shop no where but designer fashion houses."

Kyoko snorted. "Not me. It's such a huge waste of money. But, with how much Julie has already bought me, I won't have to buy clothes for a decade, so it's really a moot point. I just have to maintain my current weight and I'm set."

Now it was Kanae's turn to snort. "Yeah, until they're out of style. God, you are the weirdest celebrity I've ever met."

"I'm not a celebrity! Not really. I just live with some."

Kanae shook her head, starting to get undressed so she could wrap the luscious garment in her hands around her body. And preferably never take it off again. "No, you're a full blown celebrity. You've even got people arguing over who deserves to date you on your fan sites."

The light, instrumental music in the background was suddenly obvious as both girls went silent. Then Kanae realized what she'd given away and mentally kicked herself before steeling herself to look at Kyoko.

Kyoko's eyes were full of happy tears and she looked just about to jump off the couch and jump at her. Only her shuffling feet in the ridiculous heels seemed to be stopping her. "Moko-saaaaaaan, you're on my fan sites?! You're MY FAN?!"

"Of course. I keep an eye on all my competition," Kanae admitted as though it was obvious. She just considered Kyoko her only real competition.

Sure, let's go with that.

"So, then you read Morizumi's blog too then?" Kyoko fished.

"Like I would read that filth. That murderous bitch doesn't deserve the views," Kanae muttered darkly.

Kyoko beamed. "Thank you for being my fan, Moko-san."

Kanae's shoulders drooped.

"Well, you're mine too, right?" She could at least admit that much begrudgingly. But she would go to her grave before she revealed that she had gotten into arguments defending Kyoko on fan sites on more than one occasion. A girl had to have a line in the sand to keep her from appearing ridiculous. "Are you going to try anything on, or just sit there while I have all the fun?"

Kyoko bounced to her feet and came to get a dress of her own. "Of course. Just be careful. These each probably cost more than a small used car."

Kanae practically purred at the thought, but loosened her grip a little. "Julie is the beeeeeest!"

Half-an-hour later (after having unwillingly charged a dress apiece and several accessories to Julie's card per her instructions and Kanae's urging), the girls started down Rodeo Drive to dominate another ridiculously empty and overpriced store. But, they didn't get far.

Kanae halted her confident steps and turned back when she realized Kyoko wasn't behind her anymore.

Instead, the usually hyperactive actress was fixed in place, the wind stirring up her curled shoulder length hair as she stood transfixed in front of a window display.

Kanae strode over to see what she was looking at and her eyes went wide. "Do you want to go in and try it on?"

"Do you think I can?" Kyoko whispered reverently back.

Kanae smiled and reached for the door.

---

Ren reached out and tucked a fallen strand of raven black hair behind the ear of the woman in front of him with a charming, seductive smile.

She leaned into his hand as she gazed up into his eyes.

Ren's hand moved to cradle her head and his other curled around her waist, pulling her closer. He leaned in, his lips inches away from hers. He caressed the flawless skin of her cheek with his thumb and a light blush broke out over her cheeks.

Flashes went off around them as the photographer captured the lovey dovey image he had been looking for.

"Yes! That was it! Take five while I check the shots."

Ren immediately dropped his hand and stepped away from the model he'd been holding in his arms with a polite smile. Before she could do more than blink out of her daze, he was walking away to where Yashiro waited.

"Do you have it?" he asked eagerly, his hand held out in anticipation.

"Yep. The IT department at LME just got it switched over for you. Try to make this one last a little longer than the last one."

Ren ignored his manager's teasing and swiped into his new phone, making a mental note to reset his passcodes as soon as he was done checking for messages from Kyoko.

But instead of a new message from Kyoko, he had one from her best friend. With one brow raised, he clicked on the message and was greeted by a new picture of Kyoko, this time glowing with happiness as she stared down at her hand. Beneath the picture was the bare minimum words required to get her point across. Kotonami-san was nothing if not efficient.

Harry Winston. Blossom. Her size is on file with them.

Ren immediately went to Harry Winston's website and typed in Blossom.

The search yielded three watches and a ring. He clicked on the Blossom Engagement Ring and smiled. The brilliant cut round diamond surrounded by teardrop diamond 'petals' immediately reminded him of the dandelion ring he'd placed on her finger so many months ago. He wondered if that was what made her like it too.

He found the phone number on the site and dialed. Yashiro followed him into his temporary dressing room, his planner in hand as he prepared to brief Ren on the rest of his schedule for the day.

"Ah, yes, hello. I would like to purchase your Blossom Engagement Ring. A woman was just in your Rodeo Drive location and tried it on, so you should have her size. Her name is Kyoko Mogami. Yes, thank you, I'll hold."

Behind Ren, Yashiro's beloved planner hit the floor in an explosion of loose leaf paper and post-its. He didn't even notice it was no longer in his hands.

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! You're proposing?!"

Ren was suddenly very glad he had been put on hold. And very worried about how insulated the walls of his dressing room were.

The answer, in case you were curious, is...not very.

---

October 31st, 20XX 6:53pm Beverly Hills, CA

---

"NO FUCKING WAY! Don't you dare leave the house dressed like that!" Ren bellowed into his phone, blanching at the thought.

"But your mom worked so hard on it! And I think it looks really good!" Kyoko argued back, glaring at him through her phone. Invisible through modern technology, her grudges swirled around her, whispering in groups as they brainstormed how they could get to him through her phone somehow.

"TOO GOOD! Seriously, if you wear that to the party, someone is going to jump you!"

"Don't be ridiculous! This isn't a private party, it's hosted by Netflix! At a hotel ballroom. It will be fine! Julie is bringing Ivan (her bodyguard), and both Julie and Dad will be there."

"It's still too risky!"

"Is this about me taking your necklace off? Because I told you, there's a little pocket for it inside the bust of the costume, so I still have it on me, and going to this party is part of my job…"

"No! Well, YEAH, I'm not thrilled about that, but this is a much bigger issue than that! You're practically running around in a bikini! LESS than a bikini! Don't you care?!"

"But I finally get to be a fairy! Not everyone gets to look like fairy royalty since the day they were born, you know!" Kyoko whined, tears gathering in her eyes as she looked at herself in the mirror again, feeling only a small measure of the ecstasy she'd started with when she spontaneously called Ren to show him her epic Halloween costume.

She looked fucking AMAZING. And Ren was being an asshat. A ridiculous, immature, unreasonable...asshat.

All the important bits were covered by the opaque parts of her leotard, and she was wearing a sheer mesh bodysuit covered in glitter and rhinestones most other places. Plus, the delicate, shard-like wings protruding from her back made it almost impossible to get a good look at her butt, covered or not.

Julie had designed the whole ensemble, collaborating with an Oscar-winning costume designer, and her brilliant team of seamstresses and dye masters had spent weeks making the delicate ice fairy cosplay confection. The makeup team alone had taken three blissful, magical hours to transform her skin into what looked like frosted glass so delicate she felt she might shatter her own limbs by accident! And Ren was ruining it! She blinked rapidly to dispel the tears she could feel trying to bust out of her eyes. She refused to ruin their beautiful work!

"I don't care what you say, since you're being ridiculous. I'm going to the party, and I'm wearing this!"

"I am NOT being ridiculous! You look like Jack Frost and a succubus' had a love child and then sent her out naked into the world to consume the male half of the human race! Nothing good can come from this! Hey, where are you going?!" Ren stupidly craned his neck (as though that would give him any different view through the video message on his phone) as Kyoko walked out of the frame.

"I'm putting on my shoes!" Kyoko yelled testily from where she sat a few feet from her phone. "They're custom made of heat formed thermoplastic to perfectly fit my feet." She walked back onto frame standing atop what looked like crystal clear natural ice formations that encased her tiny feet and swirled up from her ankles to her calves like frozen ocean waves. "THEY'RE AMAZING! AND EXPENSIVE! AND I REFUSE TO LET THEM GO TO WASTE!"

Ren was stunned by her full throated scream for a moment as he took in the whole picture. The creature before him looked so fragile it could shatter at any moment. He could swear he could actually see through her arms in places, even though he knew that was impossible. It was an incredible costume...which consisted almost entirely of Kyoko's own skin and a couple of opaque fabric panels that barely covered her chest, butt, and crotch amid the sparkly mesh.

Flesh tone fabric panels that is. When she'd first sent him a picture, he'd been sure she was standing stark naked covered in glitter! Which was when he had shut himself in his dressing room and immediately called her.

Even the lighter than air silk gauze wisps that never seemed to stop swirling around her hips were completely transparent. If he was just there with her, it wouldn't have been as big an issue…

Oh who was he kidding? The idea of anyone else seeing her like that with or without him nearby was giving him a panic attack. "Can you PLEASE just wear something else?!"

"No, I can't! Your parents are the Snow Queen and Jack Frost, so I would be ruining our whole group if I didn't wear my ice fairy princess costume!" She drew her shoulders back so far she was almost leaning backwards then straightened her already perfect ice-shard-looking tiara. He wasn't sure if it was the impossible twist of her spine, or the sharp angle of her shoulders, but it was as though she had been replaced by a real fairy, all signs of her lingering humanity dissolving into the air around her. Even through his anger, Ren had to admire that she had advanced by leaps and bounds under Julie's tutelage. Not that he would ever admit it to his mother.

Kyoko widened her eyes and leveled a surreal gaze at him from her bright green contact-covered eyes (she had insisted that all fairies had green eyes when they asked if she wanted contacts). "I'm done talking about it. I refuse to let you ruin this for me, so if you don't have something nice to say about how completely AWESOME I look, and insist on making me feel bad instead, then I'm hanging up! AND I won't call you when I get home from the party so you can see nothing fucking happened at the party and I'm JUST FINE!"

Ren glared at her. "No! That's not up for negotiation. You have to call me. I can't just drop everything here and hop on the next flight to LA to beat the shit out of anyone who touches you, so if you don't call me, I will have nightmares about all the horrible things that the men at this party were trying to do to you! And for all I know, SUCCEEDING!"

Kyoko quivered under the pressure of his rage, but stood her ground. "Then say something nice and wish me a fun time at the party."

Ren ground his teeth together and remained stubbornly silent.

"Okay then. Sucks to be you tonight. Guess I'll talk to you...whenever? I probably won't feel like waking up early for a few days after this for our usual calls, since I have a break in training, so you can expect to hear from me in...four, no five days? Or maybe longer. Depends on how many guys ask for my number tonight. I'm thinking one day for every guy..." She stalked toward her phone stand (which she purchased after she realized all their calls would end up being video chats) and hovered her finger dramatically over the phone screen in a show that she would end the call if he wasn't the one to blink first.

"WAIT!" Ren barked. "...FINE!" Then he glared at her in silence for a minute.

Kyoko dropped her ethereal fairy stance and opted for an angry Setsu instead, with one hand on her hip, her silver-plated fake nails glistening as they tapped silently against her Swarovski-crystal-encrusted bodysuit.

"...have a fun time at the party," he finally muttered, looking away from the camera.

"...and?" Kyoko prompted, her anger still simmering below the surface, but slowly being overcome by the euphoria of actually winning an argument against him.

"...and you look so ironically hot as an ice fairy princess that I would probably have bent you over every piece of furniture in that room by now if I were there, your virginity and age be damned. If you don't get pictures taken in that and give them to me for Christmas, I will never forgive you," he said clearly in a low voice still filled with anger.

Kyoko froze in place (no pun intended) as her skin turned red beneath her body paint.

"'You look great' would have been sufficient," she squeaked.

"Tch," Ren crossed his arms and glared at her, covering his still raging panic and jealousy with angry-senpai-demon-lord mode. "Calling it 'great' would be an insult to the costume designer who conceived it. It's superb. I hope you thanked them properly for preparing such an amazing ensemble for you. It's an incredible honor."

Kyoko, having regained some of her composure while Ren pontificated, fought not to smile. "Of course I did. I'm making Julie's friend bentos for the next four weeks, since she's apparently a huge fan of Japanese comfort food. And I'm also teaching her how to make takoyaki next weekend. Now, if you'll excuse me, your parents and their photographer friend are waiting downstairs to capture our magnificence before we leave. I'll make sure we set aside some copies for you." Like she hadn't been planning on gushing over them all with him the minute the photographer released them into her hot little hands.

She picked up her phone and grabbed her handbag, which seemed to melt into clear plastic icicles at the bottom and therefore had its own little stand to keep them pristine.

"Okay. Call me when you get home," Ren insisted tersely.

"Of course," Kyoko replied stiffly.

"And tell my dad I hold him personally responsible for anything that happens to you."

Kyoko rolled her eyes. "He knows. Goodbye Ren. Try not to pull out all your hair while you needlessly worry about me. I don't want one more thing to incite the fury of the women of Japan against me."

"Hey!" he yelled, just as she started to end the call, for real this time.

"WHAT?!" she yelled back. "I've got to GO!"

"I just wanted to tell you I love you, dammit!"

"Well...FINE. I love you too! Now, good night! Or good morning I guess! WHATEVER!"

Kyoko ended the video call, gently tucked her smartphone into her handbag and strutted out of the room with a slowly expanding grin.

She thought that went pretty well, all things considered.

Ren looked at the 'Call Ended' message blink several times before pocketing his phone and turning to step out of his dressing room on set. It was still early. With any luck he would have time to grab a plate and dot it with food from the breakfast spread so it looked like he'd already eaten by the time everyone got there.

He opened the door.

And was met with not only the entire cast of the movie he was starring in, but also the crew, the director, and all of the interns. Many of them held paper plates full of breakfast food, and were in various shocked, frozen states of eating it.

Ren cleared his throat and leveled a million watt smile at the group, like they hadn't just heard him have a shouting match with the mysterious significant other the daily shows were offering massive rewards to identify, and headed for the buffet.

"Excuse me. I promised someone I'd eat breakfast today."

---

November 2nd, 20XX 11:30am Tokyo, Japan

---

Ren took one look at the most recent picture Kyoko had sent him and shoved a huge bite of tempura shrimp into his mouth.

This one was the long anticipated (but not at all actually expected) shot in the bath with his necklace and earrings on. After the shock of the first picture she'd sent, he had learned to keep his cool, calm outside demeanor while looking at the suggestive pictures she now sent him daily. But they always made him...hungry.

Ravenous in fact.

He quickly closed his messaging app and turned off the phone, before shoveling three more shrimp and half a sushi roll into his mouth.

"Whoa. This is unprecedented," a familiar voice commented over his shoulder. "I don't think I've ever seen you put away food like that before, let alone finish your whole lunch."

Kijima Hidehito plopped into the chair next to his, bento in hand. Koga Hiromune followed suit, elegantly taking the chair across the round folding table that had once been Ren's oasis of solitude.

The three of them were guest starring on a teen drama for a dream sequence of the main character as she fantasized about being wooed by Japan's hottest stars. They'd been at it for hours, but hadn't managed to nail the scene yet due to the female lead getting too flustered to do her job. So far she'd forgotten her lines, repeatedly missed her blocking so that her back was to the camera, and had actually passed out when Ren leaned in to whisper in her ear, as the script had dictated. Needless to say, the young actress was getting reamed out while they ate their lunches.

If there was mercy left in this world, the afternoon would be more bearable.

Ren sighed internally, setting down his chopsticks with a polite smile. "Even I get hungry sometimes."

Koga raised a brow, breaking apart his disposable chopsticks. "Sure you do. Especially when you're trying not to think about your cute little girlfriend overseas."

Ren's heart rate doubled, but he kept his face blankly confused. "Overseas? I don't know what you're talking about."

"Pssh. Don't be cute, Tsuruga-san. It doesn't work for you. You might have been able to hoodwink the media and your fans, but Hiromune and I know exactly who you were declaring your love to on national television," Kijima hinted with a twinkle in his eye. "After all, we're quite well acquainted with the girl ourselves."

Ren's eyes darted around the corner of the sound stage set up for them to rest in, making sure no one had heard anything. There was a group of high school age girls fifty or so feet away stealing glances at them, but they didn't appear to have overheard anything.

"I would appreciate it if you would refrain from discussing this in such a public place."

It was Koga's turn to snort. "Please. If anyone knows how it is to have nosy reporters butting into your private life, it's us. Kijima's manager is standing by and keeping watch to distract anyone who tries to come over, so we've got a few minutes to chat privately. Relax."

Ren sat back in his chair with raised brows. "You're certainly thorough."

"Of course! You're pretty new to being in the gossip rags, but Koga and I have been fielding scandals for years, so in this particular instance, listen to your senpais!" Kijima joked, throwing an arm over Ren's shoulders.

Koga seemed pleased with the idea that he was Ren's superior in something, his smile growing wider. "So, now that we have an opportunity to talk, there's a certain rumor going around I'd like to confirm."

"Which rumor would that be?" Ren leaned toward them a little and felt one corner of his mouth curl up in a smirk all on its own. Which surprised him.

When was the last time he'd really enjoyed conversing with any of his male co-stars? Or the female ones for that matter?

Kyoko obviously didn't count. She had always been special.

Koga and Kijima traded a look of surprise at his willingness to cooperate, mirroring smirks lighting up their faces.

"The one saying you bought an engagement ring and are planning to propose to a certain special someone in the near future."

Ren mentally cursed Yashiro's fangirl tendencies (not for the first time), but decided it didn't really matter much at this point if they knew. If everything went as planned, everyone would know by New Year's anyway. Pride swelled in his chest at the thought. He leaned forward and lowered his voice, the other two men following his lead. "I can confirm that at this time that particular rumor is...absolutely true."

Kijima leaned back with a low whistle. "Well shit. I was sure that was bullshit."

He took out his wallet and passed a twenty thousand yen note to Koga, who took it with a catlike smile.

"Called it," he affirmed smugly. "You never would have done that interview if you weren't softening the ground for something much bigger. What's the plan? Proposing the minute she turns legal, or somehow controlling yourself until Valentine's Day?"

Ren turned red at the implication that he was proposing so he could sleep with Kyoko, but couldn't deny that he was planning on her birthday, his gaze sliding away from them as he cleared his throat.

"Christmas."

Kijima busted out laughing. "Oh my god! You really ARE doing it on her eighteenth birthday! You DOG!"

Ren should have been put out with the other actor's teasing, but the warm hand clapping him on the back was almost nostalgic. Rick used to do the exact same thing.

His heart squeezed unexpectedly in his chest.

Koga's did a slow clap as he grinned his face off. "I can't wait to tell Murasame. He swore up and down you'd never do it so soon. Definitely wishful thinking on his part."

"Definitely," Kijima agreed.

Ren groaned. "That hothead knows about us too?"

Koga nodded, still grinning his face off. "He's such a big fan of your girlfriend he's practically stalking her, so it was really just a matter of time before he connected the dots. Granted, your joint trip to America this summer was a rather obvious red flag. Just couldn't resist seeing her laying out in a bikini, huh? Not that I blame you..."

Ren glared at him with little heat. "We had to go over together for the screen test with Netflix…" he debated saying anything more, but found it was sort of relief to talk about it all, so he granted Kuon a little more space in which to brag. "...and we visited my parents while we were there. Who, admittedly, have a very nice pool," he hinted with another little smirk. He could confirm with absolute certainty that Kyoko looked hotter than either of them could imagine in a bikini.

"Where the hell is this coming from?" Katsuki whispered in his head. "Aren't you supposed to be keeping all of this a SECRET, moron?!"

"What? A guy can't brag about his super hot girlfriend to SOMEONE after months of secret dating? The world won't end if he tells two people who already figured it out, right?" Kuon argued back.

The two actors traded another loaded look, seeming to decide something in an instant as they turned matching sharky smiles back at him and pulled their chairs closer.

"Oh? Could it be that you're trusting us with the top secret past of the mysterious Tsuruga Ren? What dirty secret are you concealing? Are you secretly half-American or something?" Kijima needled him playfully in a voice so low it was almost a whisper.

Ren felt relief flood his chest as both men made the effort to make their conversation even more private. They might be giving him a hard time about Kyoko, but they also seemed to be true to their word; they seemed to have no intention of outing him to the studio, or the media.

Even though there was plenty for each of them to gain from a fall in his popularity.

That relief, (combined with the fact Kyoko had chosen at one point or another to trust each of them), made him want to tell them just who he really was.

Which shocked him for a second. Was it possible that he was actually ready to start letting Kuon back out into the world again?!

As surprising as that was, objectively, it made sense. He'd healed the relationship with his parents, and come to terms with Rick's death...and there was that other thing. The secret daydream he hadn't shared with anyone yet...in which he could announce the engagement of not Ren Tsuruga, but Kuon Hizuri to the love of his life.

And maybe that was what made him say it. Because, honestly, he couldn't think of another reason for him to spill his closest kept secret to a couple of guys he barely knew.

But, spill he did.

"All American actually. As well as half Japanese, a quarter Russian, and a quarter British."

Silence reigned for half a second.

"Holy-! Seriously?!" Kijima whisper-yelled. "Fuck! I never had a chance against you. No wonder the ladies can't keep their eyes off you. I mean, shit. That's like the trifecta of female fantasies right there!"

Koga was still blinking as he took in the new knowledge. Something in the back of his memory was slowly pushing its way to the forefront and he was struggling to meet it halfway. Then it came to him and his eyes shot wide. He scrutinized his perpetual rival's face and confirmed it immediately. "Fuck. I can't believe I didn't see it before. You're a Hizuri, aren't you? That's why Kyoko is staying with them!"

Ren blinked in panic for a half a second, staring Koga squarely in the eyes as he tried to gauge whether he'd made a terrible mistake telling them anything. But, Koga's calm deduction wasn't his biggest worry. Nope, his biggest worry was the loud mouth to his right.

"WHAT?!" Kijima exclaimed at full volume, springing from his chair. "YOU'RE RELATED TO-"

Koga and Ren each grabbed one of his arms, dragging him back down. The number one actor in Japan cursing under his breath while the number two actor slapped his hand over their idiotic companion's mouth.

"Dude, do you want to not alert everyone in Japan to his secret? Fuck. Not cool."

"Srrmry," he mumbled against Koga's hand. "Bra hrmph mm HRZZRRII!?"

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean you need to inform the whole crew about it, dumbass," Koga argued back, apparently deciphering his muffled response with ease.

Ren ran a hand through his hair, still trying to figure out how to deal with the unexpected development. And settled on honesty, for some strange reason.

"Yeah, Kuu's my dad. But Kyoko staying with them has very little to do with me. My dad adopted her into the family long before she knew who I really was, or we started dating," he laughed a little. "These days, she's more their kid than I am."

"So, what the hell are you doing in Japan?" Koga asked, his hand still over Kjima's mouth as more of a formality than necessity as the younger actor sat at rapt silent attention.

Ren opened his mouth to offer some kind of explanation but was cut off by the director's assistant calling for the actors to start the dreaded scene yet again.

Koga narrowed his eyes at the assistant and noted all three of their managers headed their way. "Okay, we should absolutely not be talking about this here. Are you free after this?"

It was clear he wasn't talking to Kijima.

"I've got another shoot at 2. If we don't get anymore NGs, then I've got a little time."

"Well then, that's what we'll do. And after that, Hidehito and I are coming over for a drink." He smiled a glittering fake smile that left no room for argument.

Ren returned it with double the wattage and a feeling of kinship. "Very well then."

Koga dropped his hand off Kijima's mouth and the two top actors in Japan stood up with a renewed sense of determination and strode off in step with each other, their long legs carrying them quickly toward their beloved work.

"Well...that went different than I expected," Kijima mused after them, before stumbling to his feet and jogging to catch up.

Twenty minutes later, the inexperienced star of the teen drama was staring into her waterbottle, trying to figure out how Tsuruga-san and Koga-san had effectively manipulated her into the best acting of her life, while the three of them were laughing as they piled into a very confused Yashiro's car.

Ren pulled out his phone as soon as the door closed behind them, feeling fifty pounds lighter than when he woke up. "Anyone want to see the ring? It's a Harry Winston."

"Quit fucking rubbing it in! ...but yes. Show us the goddamned ring already."

---

November 17th, 20XX 10:12am Los Angeles, CA

---

"Don't leave me!" Kyoko sobbed, making a mad dash at Kanae that she blithely side-stepped. The two girls had gotten very close over the time they were in Hollywood together. Being isolated in a foreign country together often did that.

But that didn't mean Kanae was going to let her best friend mess up her impeccably styled (and ridiculously expensive) traveling outfit. An actress had to have standards and stick to them. Who knew when the paparazzi could pop up? Especially around Kyoko these days.

"Don't make a scene. You'll see me again in a little more than a month."

"But it's only been a week since you got back from shooting on location! Can't you just stay a few more weeks and hang out? Then we could fly back together!" Kyoko whined with her newly patented Hizuri-style puppy dog eyes.

Kanae only slightly regretted her success in convincing Kyoko that she deserved to be spoiled once in a while as her heart squeezed in her chest.

"You're not the only one with work, you know. I can't just sit around in the sun with you for weeks on end. Filming for the next episode of Minamori Miyako starts in two days. I'm cutting it too close as it is."

Kyoko's body drooped with her spirits. "Yeah, I know. I'm just gonna miss you a lot."

Kanae took pity on her and reached out to gently hug her, cringing at the thought of the wrinkles she was putting in her new silk blouse in the process. "I'm gonna miss you too."

Especially when you make it big and move here full time. I wonder how many years it will be before I can join you, she thought, fighting the pressure of tears behind her eyes at the thought.

"Well, make sure you block off a day for me before Christmas while I'm in Japan! I'm only going to be in Kyoto for a couple weeks after my exams, but I really want to show you around before I leave again."

"It's a date," Kanae agreed. Then she pulled her phone out of her new Louis Vuitton carry-on and checked the time. "But I've got to go. For real this time."

Kyoko nodded sadly and stepped away from the car so Kanae could open the back door. "Sorry I can't see you off at the airport," she intoned sorrowfully.

The other girl just waved it off as she got in. "Don't worry about it. It's better for you to stay away from public places until the buzz from your new ad calms down a little. Who knew one little photoshoot could whip up such a frenzy."

Kyoko pouted. "I know. If I had known Julie considered a perfume ad for Dior a 'quick way to spend the weekend' I would have been way more nervous. It just sucks that I can't at least drop you off. Call me when you land?"

"I'll message you," Kanae promised. "And I'll see you in December."

Kyoko closed the car door for her and stood in the courtyard waving at the car until it turned the bend in the Hizuris' insanely long driveway, taking her best friend out of view.

A large, warm hand descended on her shoulder.

With a sad smile Kyoko turned to look up at Kuu. "You don't secretly know how to teleport overseas in the blink of an eye, do you?"

"Not yet, but you'll be the very first to know when I figure it out," Kuu chuckled, putting an arm around her shoulders and kissing the top of her head. "Julie gets back from Spain tonight. What should we make her for dinner?"

"Italian?" Kyoko replied immediately. Julie had a love of pasta that she suppressed in the constant battle to keep her body model-ready, but she always needed comforting after being away from home, so her guard was down.

"Have I taught you how to make lasagna yet?" Kuu asked after a moment of thought.

Kyoko lit up. "No! What's lasagna?"

"You'll love it! I'll go get my keys and we'll hit the grocery store," Kuu replied merrily, happy to see a genuine smile back on her face after such a gloomy morning.

"Okay, I'll wait for you out here." Kyoko tilted her head back and let the sun warm her face as she wrapped her sweater more tightly around herself against the wind. Idly, she wondered if Kuon had ever stood in the same spot and listened to the birds gossiping, or the leaves singing their whispered songs.

"I miss you so much," she whispered to the skies hoping he could somehow hear her.

Only a month and half more and she'd be with him again.

Kyoko would be counting the days.

---

*hands out big shiny medal of completion* CONGRATULATIONS! You finished the marathon that was this ludicrous chapter.

I probably could have published each of these little moments as a separate chapter, but the interlinked so much I didn't want to publish one until they were all done in case I had to change something (which I did...many times). Pretty soon it grew into a monster as more and more cute little ideas occurred to me. And honestly, it's easier just to publish the 25k all together now that it's done than try to go break it up into multiple chapters. So, thanks for sticking with it! This time, I SWEAR the next chapter is Christmas. And it's already half written, so I'm REALLY hoping I can actually get it out before New Years, because wouldn't it be awesome to read the Christmas chapter at Christmas? (it clearly doesn't take much to please me).

A quick note for those who might be confused: the A,B,C thing is actually something they do in Japan. It basically works the same way we use baseball as a metaphor for physical milestones with bases. A=first base, B=second base sand third base, and C is home. Thought about just going with the bases metaphor, but thought I'd try to be a bit more accurate for the scene, especially since they're conversing at that point in Japanese.

Thank you all for the wonderful reviews and particularly those that helped inspire sections of this chapter. I won't even try to guess how many more chapters this story will span, because that will probably jinx me into another 25k, but know that I'm working on it, and your reviews boost my typing speed by at least 20%. True Story.

Love you all, and hope you all have a happy and safe Christmas!