The following morning, Kuon started packing his bags. Kyoko disappeared to the guest bedroom to unpack more of her things, leaving him to empty his underwear and sock drawer into his suitcase and pick out no less than two dozen outfits and pack them as neatly as possible so they wouldn't wrinkle. He sighed as he looked over his half-empty closet. She just moved in, and now she gets to live here alone. God I fucking hate this.
Everything in him was screaming at him to stay, but he knew that if he didn't go, it would amount to career suicide. He sighed, thinking of the wedding he intended to give her in a few years' time, and the life they would have together. That necessitated money, a lot of it. He had promised the Taichou that he would provide for Kyoko, and he meant that, even if she would eventually be more than capable of providing for herself.
About two hours into his packing, Kyoko poked her head into the room. "How's it going?"
Kuon sighed and ran his hand through his hair, irritated. He looked at the bed full of open suitcases. "About as good as it can go, Princess."
She crossed the room and hugged him. "Do you want to take a break and eat something?"
He kissed the top of her head. "Please get me out of this fucking room."
She giggled and he followed her to the dining room where she had set lunch out. They ate in silence. She finished first, as always, and set her hand over his.
"Are you okay?"
He shook his head. "This is supposed to be the biggest move of my career, and I feel like I'm going to prison. I hate leaving you like this."
She squeezed his hand. "Kuon, look at me."
He looked at her eyes, and she smiled. "I'm going to be okay. I'm not alone. I still have plenty of friends here. The Ishibashis will take care of me. I can have lunch with Chiori. Maybe they'll even assign me a new manager soon." She gestured at the apartment. "I'm much safer living here, and I would be surprised if President Takarada doesn't have Ruto tailing me or something to keep an eye on me."
Kuon almost smirked at that last point; he knew for a fact that Lory would have Ruto tailing her, because he had asked that of him. At least for while he was gone. After the events in Karuizawa, Kuon had been extra on edge as far as her safety was concerned. Now that he and Yashiro were leaving the country, and would be unable to protect her, he wanted at least something in place for her. Lory had been only too happy to oblige him.
Kyoko rubbed the back of his hand with her thumb. "I just don't want you to worry. I want you to go to the US and be able to work hard."
He took a breath and nodded. "I'm going to do my best, Princess. I promise."
Kyoko cleaned up their dishes and then they went back to the bedroom. They packed up the rest of his things. Kyoko pointed to a small bag. "This is your carry-on, right?"
He nodded.
She smiled. "I hope you have something fun to do. It's a long flight."
Kuon opened the bag and pulled his script out. He wiggled it at her. "10 hours is a lot of script reading time."
She laughed. "I suppose it is."
Kuon handed the script to her and went to the bathroom. "I forgot my contact solution. I'll be right back."
Kyoko quickly pulled something out of her skirt pocket and pressed it in between the pages of the script and put it back in his bag. When he returned, he packed his contact solution in his toiletries bag. They zipped up all the bags and set them against the bedroom wall.
Kyoko pulled her phone out of her pocket. "All of that done by 3:30. Not bad."
Kuon hugged her from behind and kissed the top of her head. "Couldn't have done it without you."
She cuddled into his chest. "Is there anything else you need to do?"
He shook his head and whispered to her. "No. I'm all yours until 6:00 tomorrow."
Kyoko turned around in his arms and pulled him down for a kiss. "Good."
They spent the remaining time before dinner sitting on the couch, cuddled under a blanket, watching TV. Kyoko sat in his lap with her head against his chest, listening to the steady beat of his heart. Her own heart was being held together by a thread in her chest as she took in his scent and his warmth, both of which she would be losing in just a few short hours.
She shut her eyes as his thumb brushed a tear over her cheek. He tilted her chin up with his fingertips and kissed her. He kissed the tear tracks on her cheeks and rested his forehead against hers.
"I miss you already."
She broke. "This really sucks. I don't want you to worry about me, and here I am, unable to keep it together."
He hugged her. "You don't have to keep it together, Princess."
But she did. He would be gone soon, and then she would have to solve her own problems. There was no time like the present to start doing that. She wiped her eyes and made to get off the couch. He held her tight and wouldn't let her up. She smiled.
"I have to make dinner, Corn."
He considered that for a moment. He thought about ordering out, but this was one of the last homemade Kyoko meals that he was going to get for a very long time. "Can I help?"
She kissed his cheek. "Okay."
They went to the kitchen and Kyoko pulled the ingredients out of the refrigerator. Eggs, onions, carrots, peas, mushrooms… ketchup. He watched her get the rice maker ready and started laughing.
"So we're doing this, huh?"
Kyoko beamed at him and flexed her arm. "Let's do our best, okay?"
Kuon pulled the wok out of the cupboard. "No better time to tackle this monster."
Half an hour later, Kuon passed Kyoko the ketchup bottle. "Final ingredient, magic from the girl I love."
Kyoko blushed. "Is that why you made me write on it last time!?"
He kissed her cheek. "I've had it bad for you for a long time, Princess."
She drew on the top of his monstrosity and then passed him the bottle. "Then I guess I need magic from the guy I love, right?"
He smiled at her and then drew a ketchup smiley face on top of the beast on her plate. They took their plates out to the dining room and sat down to eat. As they gagged their way through the meal, they laughed at the looks on each other's faces.
Kyoko choked down a mouthful of egg and then laughed through her tears. "I forgot how bad this actually is."
Kuon winced as he swallowed his own portion of the beast. "Yeah, Rick was nuts to come up with this."
Kyoko stilled. "Rick. Your friend that died?"
He nodded. "He's the one that originated the recipe. Made me choke it down when I got bullied and was trying to build me up and make me tough." His smile was soft. "I'm glad I can talk about him with you. It feels better now that I can talk about him."
They struggled through the rest of their meal, and then found themselves laying on their backs on the living room floor, holding hands and dying inside.
Kyoko grimaced as Kuon's stomach made a noise like a dying whale. "Are you going to be okay?"
A sheen of sweat had broken out over his forehead and he looked pale. "I'll live. Just… maybe make breakfast light, okay?"
She covered her mouth in embarrassment as a loud belch snuck out. "E-excuse me!"
He laughed, even though his stomach felt fit to burst. He turned over on his side to face her, and she did the same. He cupped her face and she nuzzled her cheek into his hand. He pulled her close to him. When their lips met, it was soft and slow, but it soon dissolved into a desperate need for one another. Her tongue swept into his mouth, and he shifted to pull her on top of him. His hands slid up her thighs and under her skirt to grab her butt.
Kyoko froze, remembering Kanae and Koga's tryst in Kyoto, and Kuon's own commentary of it. You don't grab a girl's ass like that unless you're planning on getting some action. She sat up, blushing. "Um… Kuon, do you… I mean…," she struggled trying to find the words, getting more red by the second. Kuon took his hands away from her butt and sat up on the heels of his hands to kiss her nose.
"Kyoko-chan, I would be a filthy, dirty liar if I said that I did not want to make love to you right now." He rested his forehead against hers. "But I don't want that decision to be made in haste. I'm leaving for a while, not dying. And there's still the law to consider." He pressed a kiss to the side of her neck. "Besides," he whispered mischievously, "How would I be able to concentrate if I'm constantly craving your body?" He nibbled down the side of her neck and she leaned back a little so he could continue to her collar bone.
"You don't crave it now?"
He chuckled, his warm breath touching the skin of her chest and making her shiver. "It's like cake, Princess. I can look at the cake. I can smell the cake. I know the cake will be delicious. Of course, I desire the cake. But once you actually taste the cake," he ran his tongue up the side of her neck slowly, causing her to gasp, "Then all you can think about is getting more cake," he growled into her ear.
She blushed. "But… um… if you've had someone else's cake… it must be hard to not have any cake at all."
The Emperor met her eyes, and her thighs clenched. "Kyoko," he slid a hand under her shirt and ran his thumb over the front of her lace bra, "All this talk of 'cake'... could it be that you're 'hungry'?" He was rewarded with a small moan as he pinched her nipple and rolled it between his thumb and forefinger. He unhooked her bra with his other hand and then flipped her so she was beneath him. He pushed her shirt and bra up to expose her small breasts and closed his lips around one of her tiny nipples.
"Ah! Kuon!"
He sucked on the tiny bead as she squirmed beneath him. He pulled away and she whined at him in frustration. She stopped as he ran his hand up the inside of her thigh.
"Is this what you want?" He traced a circle on the inside of her thigh with his fingertips. "Should I touch you?"
She hid her face in her hands, fighting with herself internally.
He peppered the underside of her jaw with kisses. "Tell me what you want, Princess."
"Please… please touch me."
Kyoko gasped as Kuon's fingertips ran ever so lightly over her panties. He pressed them against her center and took a breath. Her panties were wet to the touch, and he had barely touched her. He felt suddenly nervous. He hadn't touched a girl below the waist in years, and he didn't want to mess this up. This wasn't just some girl, either. This was Kyoko. His Kyoko that he wanted to be with for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death did they part…
"Kuon?"
He winced. Shit. "Kyoko-chan, I'm sorry." She sat up and closed her lips on his. She pulled away with a shy smile.
"We don't have to do this if you don't want to."
Kuon palmed himself in the forehead. "No, Kyoko. I want to touch you. Hell, I need to touch you. I'm just terrified that I would scare you, or that you won't enjoy it."
He watched in awe as she slid the black maneater panties down her legs. He hadn't seen that it was the maneater panties before that. Did she plan this?
Kyoko looked up at him through her lashes. "You could never scare me, Kuon."
At that, he swallowed his own fears and kissed her. He laid her back down on the floor and slid his hand to the apex of her thighs. She let out a tiny gasp when he touched her. When she showed no sign of rejecting his touch, he recaptured her lips, and she moaned into his mouth as he increased the pressure of his fingertips. Her hips rolled forward, seeking his hand, and he responded in kind, his fingers moving quicker around her tender bud. After just a few minutes, her hand fisted the back of his shirt and she cried out against the side of his neck as the pleasure blinded her. Kuon gathered her to him, resting his head between her neck and shoulder.
"Are you okay, Princess?"
She nodded, her face covered in a light blush. "Are you?"
He kissed her neck. "I'm fine." Just extremely "hungry" for "cake", he thought in frustration. Lory's warning replayed in his head. You can't open that particular present until Christmas.
And the merriest fucking Christmas it's going to be, too, with her over 5,000 miles away, thought Kuon somberly, as he handed Kyoko her tiny black panties.
They went to get ready for bed. Kyoko took her shower first, and then Kuon took his brushed their teeth and then crawled into bed. Kyoko cuddled up close to him under the covers, and he wrapped around her protectively. Neither of them were able to truly sleep that night, but they did their best at faking it.
The next morning, Kuon's alarm blared, bringing an end to their last night together. Kyoko hopped out of bed before he could catch her. She knew that if she let him, he'd take too much time cuddling her and be late for his flight. She went to the kitchen to make breakfast, leaving him to get dressed and pack the last minute things, like his phone charger and toothbrush.
He dragged his bags out into the living room and set his sheep pillow on top of them. Kyoko saw it and smiled. "You still have it?"
Kuon nodded as he sat down at the dining table to eat his last Kyoko-prepared meal for the foreseeable future. "Of course. It's a gift from you, and it's very comfortable. I love it."
She sat down beside him, her stomach in knots. Kuon noticed that she wasn't eating, but thought better of mentioning it. They were both doing their best to ignore the fact that in less than 20 minutes, he would have to leave. He opted for putting his hand over hers as they ate. No sooner had they finished than Kuon's phone vibrated. He shut his eyes tight, took a breath, and then looked at the text.
"He's here." He, meaning Yashiro. Neither of them had ever been less thrilled about the arrival of their friend and manager.
Kyoko walked him to the door as if she were in a trance. He put his carry-on over his shoulder and pulled his baseball cap over his head. He took her hands.
"I'll call you as soon as I land, okay?"
She nodded, and he pulled her in for a hug. Their kiss was soft, sweet, and sad. Though they both knew this wasn't goodbye forever, it certainly felt like it. He released her, and she had to will herself to step back from him and let him go. She held the door open for him as he wheeled his suitcases out into the hall with his sheep under his arm. He smiled at her.
"I'll talk to you later, Princess."
She returned his smile, though the tears were starting to sting her eyes.
"I love you, Corn."
"I love you, too."
She watched him go down the hall and get on the elevator. He didn't dare look back at her; he knew he wouldn't go if he did. After she shut the door behind her, she covered her mouth with her hand, sunk to her knees, and wept.
Yashiro and Kuon checked their bags and made it through security without a hitch. He was harder to recognize with his baseball cap, sunglasses, and street clothes, and was thankful for that; he didn't feel much like dealing with legions of adoring fans at that moment. They boarded the plane and took their seats without incident. When it took off, Kuon's stomach clenched. Six years ago when he had left LA, he never thought he'd be so attached to Tokyo or anything in it. Now, the homesickness was instant. He watched the city getting smaller and smaller out the window, and then finally had to tear his eyes away from it.
He took his script out of his bag and raised an eyebrow when he found a lump between the pages. He opened the book, and a fluorescent pink something fell into his lap. When he picked it up, his lips curled into a tearful grimace. He found himself holding a tiny LoveMe jumpsuit-clad Kyoko. He caressed it lovingly with his thumb and swallowed back his tears. He checked the script for anything else. A small piece of paper was folded between the pages. He took it out and read it.
Corn,
I can only imagine that I wasn't very talkative this morning, and for that I apologize. If I didn't say much, it's because there aren't words to express how much I will miss you. I know it's probably really weird, but I made you a little Kyoko to watch over you while I can't. She can make sure that you eat right and take care of yourself and make it back to me in one piece. (Not that Yashiro-san doesn't do a great job, but… just in case.)
I love you. Have a safe flight.
Kyoko
Yashiro, who sat beside him, took one look at Kuon's face and became fixated on the entertainment section of the newspaper that he had brought. He used it to screen himself and afford Kuon some small amount of privacy.
Kuon pulled his baseball cap lower over his face and held the tiny doll to his chest as the tears came thick and fast.
Excuse me as I join Witness Protection for separating our favorite couple. :D I hope everyone enjoyed this week's chapter. We're actually coming up on the end of the story in... somewhere between eight and 10 more chapters, I believe. Not done writing it quite yet, but it's starting to wrap up. We'll see if I get it done before the year is out. :3 See you all next week! ALL OF MY LURVE - BO AND PS, DON'T FORGET TO LEAVE THEM REVIEWS!
