Author Note: Sorry for the long wait between updates, I've been sick/depressed/busy and haven't been able to get the new chapter out to you guys. I really hope that you enjoy it.

Chapter Seven – The Sweet Life

Kyoko took slow steps around Kuon's apartment. She wasn't one of those stupid girls who would open up drawers and cupboards to try to spy on her boyfriend. She even felt guilty that the world didn't recognize Kuon, or even Ren, as her boyfriend but she wasn't ready for that. She was already putting the salad in the fridge along with a light dressing and sorting to the other courses on the menu.

She tested the soup. She knew that he wasn't much of a fan of sweet things so maybe if she made the udon more on the saltier side it would help, but then too much salt wasn't good either. Kyoko absent mindedly made a rose with a daikon as she watched the soup and tried to decide what to add to it. She only hoped that she could impress him with her cooking skills.

He had taken her out to a nice formal restaurant with an amazing view.

She wanted to create just as amazing a date night for him. She hoped that everything she did would be good enough. When she was a young and foolish girl, she had loved making things with Shou in mind. She had been transported back to that time several times already, but for some reason making food for Kuon actually made her feel more confident and happier. She looked down at the dishes and grinned softly.

She looked up as soon as she heard a key turn in the lock and turned to bow.

"Welcome home," she grinned as she felt the apron brush against her legs. Would he think that this was too immature? Was she too immature or knew too little about acting to be his girlfriend? Would he become bored of her and send her away? She hoped not.

She looked up and was blinded by his smile.

Thank god he didn't have his blond hair and emerald eyes right now, she wouldn't be able to take that smile if he did.

"It's nice to see you, Kyoko-chan" Ren grinned to her as he looked around and put his bag down by the door, removing his shoes before stepping inside. "You got in and found everything alright?" he asked as he closed the door and managed to store his bag, taking out his contact case and a couple of scripts to read through.

"Of course," Kyoko grinned, "I have been here before, you know," she joked lightly as he laughed.

"I haven't forgotten about that," he nodded. He gave a soft smile, "Do you mind if I take out my contacts?" he asked, "I usually try not to but I've been told that I should give my eyes a bit of a rest, besides you'll be my cover," he joked with her.

Kyoko blushed as those emerald eyes flashed through her mind. She felt her stomach tighten and heartbeat quicken at the same time with how anxious and yet excited she was. This was going to be strange with the Ren hair and the Corn eyes. "Go ahead, I'll set the table," she said as he looked over to her.

"Do you need any help?" he offered as she shook her head.

"Don't be silly, Ku-on" she said as she blushed having said his proper name. She would really have to get used to saying it and to be careful never to say it outside of this apartment. She waited and saw him smile too so felt relieved over his reaction to it. "I wanted to make dinner for the person I care for, so I want to do it myself."

"Okay," Ren smiled, "Then I'll look forward to it. Even if you had burned it, I would still be very excited to eat it," he said before going to the bathroom and taking his contacts out, setting them beside the mirror and the sink. He ran his hand through his brown hair a few times which gave it a cute, more untidy look.

As he opened the door, he came over to her and saw her breath catch in his throat. "What?" he laughed as he saw her just staring at him with wide eyes. "It looks that bad?" he asked as she stared down.

"Of course it's not bad," Kyoko said as her cheeks turned a deeper shade of red, "It's just that now I feel so silly for not noticing it before. I mean, if I had really thought about it and not believed in the magic…"

"you would not be Kyoko Mogami," Kuon smiled before seeing the food at the table. "Is it ready?" he asked with a smile as Kyoko nodded. "Then shall we sit down and eat, Kyoko?" he asked as she looked at him with a huge smile. Those emerald eyes only reminded her with every time she looked into them that this was the man she was meant to be with.

Kyoko nodded and watched as Kuon picked up the bowl of miso soup, she picked up her own as well but just kept watching him. It was the way that his eyes seemed to float above the bowl as he drank his soup that kept her mesmerized. She was excited to see the light in them, but she couldn't help the excitement that came from knowing she was here with someone of such importance to her. She drank her own soup, it tasted good to her.

She smiled at him as he looked down showing his own sense of insecurity, something that Ren Tsuruga effectively kept hidden.

"Is it that much of a distraction to you?" he asked, "Do you want me to put the contacts back in because I can," he said as he gestured to the bathroom.

Kyoko quickly shook her head as she started eating her salad. "Please don't do that," she said trying to make sure that her posture was good and she wasn't looking into those hypnotizing eyes too closely. She looked down at his hands and watched as he ate the salad.

Good, two of the dishes had proven as effective.

Hopefully the rest of the meal would work out for the two of them as well. She would have to make sure that Kuon ate more dinners like this. She grinned at him, just watching him. "I think…" she said slowly, "can we wait until Valentines Day and maybe make it official just before then?" she asked as he nodded.

"That sounds fine," he grinned. "Whenever you feel confident doing so we can announce it. Some couples keep their relationship hidden for years. Although I do think it would be strange if we kept it secret for a few years."

"Can I tell Father?" Kyoko asked as she saw Kuon close his gorgeous eyes and laugh a little. "He did tell me that I can phone him and he even gave me a number for an internationally dialing card so it doesn't cost much at all."

"As long as you tell him how you'd like it to remain private then that's fine, but I will tell you, knowing him, you have to have everything planned out before you can give him news like that. I can still remember him going on about how I was going to graduate from middle school, not that everyone else wasn't graduating as well," Kuon smiled before he thought about how his father had never really been able to celebrate his high school graduation. He knew that Lory would have told him the news, but it wasn't the same.

"Kuu's a good father," Kyoko said before looking down. She felt guilty that he was experiencing such guilt during their second date together. "Kuon," she said as she reached for his hand and squeezed it. "You know, it doesn't matter to me what happened which caused you to come back to Japan, I'm just glad that it did happen. Whether or not you tell me why is up to you, but let's just enjoy our time together," she tried to say supportively.

Kuon nodded gratefully, "Thank you, Kyoko," he said as he thought for a moment. "Some day soon I might be able to tell you, but not just yet. It's pretty hard for me to open that part of myself and you've seen how I can get trapped if I concentrate on it too much. So, anything that you'd like to…"

Kyoko paled and nodded. "Uh, yes…" she said as she looked down.

She really really hoped that he wouldn't hate her for telling him this. She didn't want to be kicked out of his apartment and told that she wasn't fit to be his girlfriend. This had been a secret that in the past she would have taken to her grave but he had already told her so much about himself, she had to at least show that she could reciprocate the motion.

"I have a truth to tell you and I'd really like it if you could hear me out before you say anything, I'm sorry if this makes you angry," she apologized as Kuon hummed and looked at her concerned.

"What is it?" he asked with his head tilted to the side.

"Uh…" Kyoko looked down before closing her eyes, "I've had a job for over a year that I haven't told you about," she said awkwardly before seeing Kuon continue to watch her. He had picked up his phone to search the title and she looked down, closing her eyes. "I'm the mascot for Kimagure Rock," she said as she anxiously tensed her body.

Kuon went online and searched up the name of the show before giving a long dramatic sigh. Kyoko kept her eyes closed. He was disappointed in her lying to him wasn't she.

"You know," he said as he stared at his phone, "I am really really disappointed," he put two fingers to his forehead and shook his head just as he had done in so many of Kyoko's nightmares. "I mean, this breaks my trust in this subject."

"I'm…" Kyoko squeaked before his next words allowed her to relax.

"I really did think that there were such things as talking roosters," he laughed as he smiled to her and shrugged. "I'm sure you had a good reason for interrogating me?" he asked with a playful grin.

Kyoko looked down, "I mainly did it because I didn't feel comfortable helping you as a junior actor. For some reason you liked Bo, you were honest with Bo. I didn't think you would be honest with me."

Kuon nodded, "Well, I like it," he gave her a thumbs up, "You did a great job."

Kyoko rolled her eyes, "I'm not sure if you're mocking me or not," she said before seeing that he really wasn't angry with her about it. Maybe it was because the two of them had lied with the same purpose, to protect their true identities.

Kyoko smiled weakly, she still felt guilty about it but she just hoped he wasn't angry, she wasn't sensing any anger from him at least. "So, I've got one last course," she said as she stood up to get the puddings. She came back and put a small one in front of Kuon and then watched him.

"You do know that now I can't eat tomorrow," he said as she raised an eyebrow.

"Really, because I put leftovers in the fridge and I expect you to eat them. Yashiro-san would get annoyed with me if he knew I hadn't provided you with food for a couple of days at least."

Kuon laughed before taking a bite of the pudding. He ate in and smiled at her. "That was delicious," he said as she paused, "I mean, you do realize I don't eat many sweet things and I definitely don't eat a lot of puddings but I think these were so delicious because you made them," he told her as she looked down.

Maybe that was the reaction that she was looking for, "So, you really like them? You're not one of those guys who doesn't like pudding?" she asked as he blinked in bewilderment.

"No, I'm…" he shook his head, "What do you mean guys who don't like pudding?"

"Well, some people prefer to not like pudding," Kyoko tried to explain without ruining the night by bringing up his name, "because they want to look cool to their fans."

Kuon laughed, "Wow," he smiled, "Well I never seemed to be a guy with an image problem," he laughed. "I don't care if people know I like you're pudding, Kyoko" he said as he took another bite. "Of course, even if I was a huge pudding fan, there are ways to spin it. Advertisements for example, guest spots on cooking shows, girls thinking that you have a cute side as well. I prefer to be myself, or…Ren Tsuruga," he joked.

Kyoko smiled. Okay, he was a lot better than Shoutaro.