Chapter 16

There were twenty-two of them. One for each birthday, and each measuring 3 inches by 5 inches. Each one different from the next, yet the only unique copy of each one. All were very revealing and had the potential to make any male of the human species, between the ages of 14 and 35, particularly those between the ages of 15 and 26 to narrow it down further, (scientifically speaking of course... purely for research purposes,) react with symptoms of over-heating, heart palpitations, excessive salivation, swelling of a certain part of the anatomy, and many other reactions including, but not limited to light-headedness and swooning. They really should put a warning label on her… He thought wryly as he shifted from one photo to the next, in the small photo album.

NO ONE can EVER see these… He smirked lustily when he spied what could only be a Valentine's Day photo, or what he assumed it to be, the moment he saw her sexy pose in red thong panties and a satiny red push-up, shelf-bra with two little glittery red heart stickers pasted on her left butt cheek. The juicy little dark pebbles were strategically covered by her long, light chestnut colored, hair extensions.

I am so glad I got those couple's rings… Maybe I should buy an engagement ring soon. He pondered, swallowing the drool pooling in his mouth. No, I promised to wait until we both had a foothold in Hollywood. He reminded himself. It may be somewhat of a short wait with their talents, but it was definitely going to be an arduous one.

KNOCK… KNOCK… KNOCK…

It was somewhat comical if one were to see his reaction to his father's knock on his bedroom door. His hands fumbled the small book, nearly dropping it on the floor. In a panic, similar to a young teen sneaking porn, he quickly hid the photo album between his mattress and box-spring, then straightened his bedding so that none would be the wiser.

"Be there in a sec!…" He called out during this process.

"Take your time, Son." Kuu told him, thinking he was changing clothes or something to that effect. Absolutely not thinking that Kuon was thinking of everything from the goriest zombies to Margaret Thatcher in the nude, to get rid of the raging boner he was now sporting.

He would definitely be storing that little treasure in the hidden safe in his apartment when he got back to Japan. There is no way he would allow any random person from the cleaning service to find it. Her magazine photo spread was bad enough, he could only imagine the riots these photos would cause in front of LME if even just one of them escaped his possession. Lory might enjoy the fallout, but he was pretty sure that he wouldn't, and Yukihito definitely wouldn't. His job was going to be hard enough once they got back and everyone finally saw their rings along with her new found popularity. He was fairly certain that their fans were going to go insane.

Finally he was calm enough to answer his door… to the smugly smiling Kuu Hizuri. Kuon was comfortable knowing that his mother would never ever tell Kuu what Kyoko gave him, so Kuu had to be bluffing in order to get him to confess what the actual gift was, and there was no way in hell he would tell him or anyone else what it was. However, he honestly didn't know what to say once Kuu started nagging him for information. He couldn't say pictures or Kuu would want to see them. All he could tell him was that the gift was very special and very private and Kyoko wouldn't want him to share it with anyone.

With that, the nagging stopped. Of course Kuu understood. It wasn't like Juli had never given something that private, and she certainly wouldn't want him to share it with anyone else, especially his parents. How mortifying.

Even though she kept track of both of their travels, gave both of them charms to keep them safe during said travels, diligently lit her candles and meditated over them, there was still a significant amount of worry in her heart for her two favorite people. She was pleased beyond words that her luck charms were working better than she'd anticipated. Her sweet, special Onee-sama was doing phenomenally and she had almost as many fans as Ren-sama, both at home and overseas. Unfortunately, her spellbook still had not revealed anything new as of yet, so she had to remain contented to just hone her skills until such a time came about. However, she was starting to get the impression that she wouldn't be able to break that transformation spell any time in the near or far future, simply because spells usually could only be removed by the person that had originally cast the spell and if it was a hex or curse, it could only be negated if certain conditions were met, but she didn't know exactly what those conditions were. So… thinking about it was truly pointless now.

She let out a long, frustrated sigh, then felt the gentle caress of a small furry spider foot on her hand. "Is everything okay, Maria?" Tsuki asked with concern.

"Yeah… I'll be okay. I'm just thinking about the situation with Onee-sama and Ren-sama. I don't think we'll be able to reverse their situation any time soon." She lamented.

He perched quietly on her arm and nodded in agreement. "I have faith that you'll eventually figure something out. If not, try not to worry so much. It's been six months and they've been okay so far." He encouraged.

"I suppose you're right. I'm sure that whomever sent the costumes didn't mean for any harm to come to them or it would have happened already." She reasoned. If that was truly the case, then she really shouldn't worry and concentrate more on practice and learning. No, she wasn't going to just give up searching for a solution, but she wasn't going to make herself go insane with worry over it either.

"So?~" Juli quietly asked Kyoko with a sly smile. "Did he like it?"

Kyoko blushed fiercely, then patted her cheeks. "I'm not really sure." She sighed out.

Juli gave her a confused look. "What was his reaction?"

"I don't know." She quietly groaned. "I told him to wait to look when he was alone."

Juli giggled, and gently patted Kyoko's shoulder. "It's okay, Sweetie. You'll know soon enough." She comforted. Of course Juli had pretty much figured it out once Kuon entered the kitchen, saw Kyoko, briefly froze in place with red ears, and greeted the pair a little stiffly, then relaxed with a smile.

"Dad said dinner's ready?" He asked as he sidled up next to Kyoko to see what she was placing on the serving plates. "Mmm, smells delicious." He purred in a velvety tone, sending a thrill up Kyoko's spine and causing Juli to immediately leave the kitchen. There was no way she wanted to see this side of her son.

He glanced around to make sure they were the only two left. "I really liked your gift." He gave her a naughty grin as his fingers lightly skimmed up and down her spine.

Calm… Keep calm… 1..2...3...4...5. You already expected that the Emperor would come out to play before you gave him those pictures, Kyoko. You're an adult now, you can handle this. She pep-talked herself into calming down. Just remember the Empress. Her beautiful golden eyes narrowed sexily and a stunning smile slowly grew.

"I'm glad you liked them." She sat the plate in her hands down and turned to him, caressing up his arms to his neck. "I worked really hard on them." She purred softly.

He chuckled lightly. "Oh, I really liked them alright." He whispered closely to her ear and gently nipped.

Cough… Cough…

"I'll just uh… take these to the dining room… if you two don't mind." Kuu interrupted with a little chuckle.

Kuon buried his face in her hair and groaned while Kyoko blushed and giggled. "Dinner's ready…"