"Ow! Why the hell did you slap me?" Sho clasped the side of his face, standing to peer at his reflection in the mirror.
"You kissed me, you idiot!"
He crouched in front of her, golden eyes blazing and one hand cradling his cheek. "The dog did, not me!"
Kanae crossed her arms and made threatening motions toward his balls with her foot. He scampered backward, grabbing the soaked white t-shirt off the floor and wrapping it around his waist.
"Why aren't you unconscious?" she asked, trying to rub off some of the long brown dog hairs stuck to her arms.
"Hell if I know!" He stood awkwardly, his feet too close together and his jaw moving like he was chewing on the inside of his cheek. "Why are you the only one that fixes it?"
"Oh ho! No you don't. Don't you dare try and make this my problem." Kanae stomped out of the bathroom and grabbed her phone off the ground by the futon, waving it at him. She dialed the police, making sure he saw clearly each number she punched.
"You think I'm lying? You think I didn't try kissing someone hotter?"
The call connected. Kanae's stare was razor sharp, daring him to say one more word. His eyes darted from her face to the phone.
"Tokyo Police Dispatcher, what is your emergency?"
Kanae waited. Sho raised his hand, mouthing okay, okay. She sneered at him, but relented, not really wanting to deal with police at 1:30 AM. "I'm sorry, the small child in my home accidentally dialed you."
Sho made a face at her. The dispatcher spoke curtly. "Ma'am, this line is for emergencies only."
"Yes I know. He is a very stupid child. I'll keep him on a shorter leash." Kanae hung up, enjoying the outraged look on Sho's face. It made him look almost like a carved stone god—not that anything about him was the least bit divine.
Kanae ripped a damp towel off the back of the door and threw it at him. "Cover yourself."
He leered at her. "As if I care if you see me."
"Funny. You seemed awfully anxious to kiss me earlier." Kanae stormed into the kitchen.
He followed, not that there was any other place for him to go. "I didn't really have a choice. I was a fucking dog."
"Go kiss someone else! That big boob girl always hanging in the background of your tabloid photos. She looks hot to trot."
"A Sho Fuwa fan, are you?"
Kanae flushed bright red. The photos were ones Kyoko had used to collect and slowly shred. Kanae had examined them more to try and understand her friend than learn about Sho Fuwa, but explaining that would put Kyoko in a difficult spot. Something told her her friend would not like having Sho know just how much she used to obsess. "Never," Kanae simply said, through gritted teeth.
It wasn't enough. Sho sauntered across the tiny room and leaned up against the kitchen counter, blocking the knife drawer with his towel-clad hip. He tossed his wet hair back, smiling strangely at her.
"Are you constipated? Did you eat some dog food?"
"What?" Sho bolted upright. "No, that was my—"
"If you say sexy face, I will laugh at you so hard—"
"Well it worked on lots of other girls!"
Kanae crossed her arms. Why did it seem like he filled up her apartment even more as a human even though he was half his size as a… werewolf? "Then I repeat my statement. Go kiss one of them."
"I can't!" For the first time, Sho dropped his mask. The arrogance slipped away, revealing confusion and pain. She faltered. Then he spoke. "It only works with you," he said, spitting out her pronoun.
Kanae bristled. What was so wrong with her? She was a top notch actress—on the make, still, but earning enough to afford her very own apartment in Tokyo. Without a roommate. She had a best friend, and two outstanding pairs of jet black high heels (and one hot pink stiletto missing its mate). "Sorry I don't meet your standards. Good thing you don't meet mine, either." She dug in her fridge and pulled out a bottle of milk tea, reveling in the crackling twist of its cap being sundered. "I prefer my men human."
"Picky," Sho said, but he faded a little, the arrogance armor still shed. He turned from her and wandered over to collapse on her futon. She winced at the damp spot she could envision growing beneath him. "It's not like I picked you. It's not like any of this is my fault."
You'll do. The old woman's creaky voice came unbidden to her mind. "How did this happen to you?" she asked, letting her curiosity win over her desire to force him to wallow in self pity. "Were you born this way?"
"Me? Born a werewolf?" Sho spread his arms wide, as if his presence alone disproved her statement.
Kanae rolled her eyes. He filled in the silence. "It was my gran." He pushed on, his words starting to tumble out of his mouth with growing impatience, rolling forward with his spine as he curled down around his knees. "She's... different. Always had some sort of strangeness to her, like she was connected to something bigger." Kanae thought of Kyoko, the only person she'd ever met that could be described in that way. "She came to visit with my parents. Checking in on me that's all. But she kept poking her nose in, asking all kinds of questions, and got these ideas in her head that I was causing trouble and that I needed to be taught a lesson. Apparently when she said Be A Good Boy Or Else, this is what she meant."
The only answer Kanae gave him was a raised eyebrow. She knew how Kyoko reacted to him—and she'd glanced over enough tabloids to figure the truth was even worse than what little bits Kyoko had let slip.
"Fine, alright. I haven't been perfect. But—" he beat gently on the bare skin of his chest "—this bad? I can't even kiss anyone without turning into some giant beast!"
Kanae smirked. "Bet that ruins the mood."
"Hell yes it does!" Sho flopped back again. Kanae shook her head in disbelief. He rose and looked right at her. "But that's not even the weirdest thing. The weirdest thing is that the girls don't seem to remember."
It was Kanae's turn to throw her arms wide in disbelief. "Now I know you're lying. I would know if that was a thing."
Sho stood, catching his towel just before it fell. "But that's just it. You're different. You remember me after I kiss you. You have to help me."
Kanae scoffed. "Sounds like you need to help yourself. You're not going to die if you can't kiss girls."
Sho groaned. "What kind of rockstar am I?"
"From what I've heard, a terrible one," Kanae muttered under her breath.
He heard her and shot her a wounded look. "Then you haven't heard enough. I'm the best there is."
"You're a selfish idiot who thinks kissing is the path to stardom." Kanae walked forward, stabbing him in the chest with her finger. "Sex—love, even!—has nothing to do with fame. It's. All. Skill." She punctuated each word with a stab.
Sho looked at her funny, his eyes wrinkled and his lips curling in. "I never said anything about love." He looked down at her finger and then back up at her now-pink face. "God, you aren't one of those that thinks you can only kiss someone you love, are you?"
Kanae refused to take even a single step back. He read it in her eyes anyways, the twist of lips growing into a smirk. "You are. Holy fuck. You're a virgin just like Kyoko aren't you?"
"What does Kyoko have to do with any of this!"
Sho's eyes widened. "You know her?"
"Out." Kanae's finger turned into a flat-palmed shove. "Out now." She pushed him backward, grin and smirk and falling towel and all until he was in the hall laughing at her. "I hope you get arrested for indecent exposure!" she yelled as the door shut.
"So you were looking," she heard him say through the door. Kanae roared in exasperation and collapsed onto her futon—right into the soggy spot.