A/N: So I did have one comment saying that I should go ahead and end this story…but honestly I'm enjoying writing it and I'm not done with it. I'm sorry if you are no longer enjoying it. Thank you for those of you that are still reading and enjoying. :)

Family

Kyoko sat on the sofa drowsily, leaning against the tall, solid man beside her. Every breath she took ingrained her scent more deeply into her brain. One of his arms was draped around her while the other clasped her hand. Her head rested against his chest where she could vaguely hear his steady heart beat. On the television in front of her, she could see herself as Natsu, her cold eyes fixed on a smaller girl who was talking to a boy. As Natsu sauntered over, Kyoko could remember her early morning lessons in modeling.

At a loss of how to deal with the director who continued to give her NG's, she had gone to Ren. She stood outside of his building for an hour, shivering and stepping back from the road when cars would pass, hoping they weren't serial killers or rapists. She was just planning on trying to go inside when Ren's car pulled up to the side of the sidewalk and jumped out of his car. "Kyoko!" He immediately noticed her shaking frame and jerked his jacket off, throwing it around her and holding her. "You're shivering." He whispered, leading her to his car and placing her in the passenger seat, then jumped into the driver's seat. After parking and leading her up to his apartment, covering her with a blanket, and pressing a cup of instant coffee in her hands, he had finally begun to scold her for standing around alone at night and pressed the key to his apartment into her cold hand. "Keep it." He told her firmly when she tried to protest. "You're always welcome here. I want you to have a key just in case you ever need somewhere to go and can't reach me. Okay?"

After explaining what she wanted, he had happily begun to teach her all about modeling, and the image of him doing the female version of the catwalk in his hallway appeared in her mind, causing her to giggle beside him. He glanced down at the girl beside him. "You promised never to bring that up again." She could hear the amusement under the scolding and she giggled again.

As the episode ended she slipped out from under his arm, tugging at her tight black miniskirt to hide her underwear. He smiled, trying not to stare at her thighs as she made her way to the kitchen to make dinner. She had removed the long blonde wig and the piercings, but he had to say he was enjoying the view of her stomach and legs. He sighed. 'I should probably get her some new clothes.'

Kyoko placed a plate of food in front of her 'older brother' and sat across from the scary looking man who smiled kindly up at her. "Thank you." He reached out and took her hand, pulling her into the chair beside him. The two had decided not to stay in character while in the hotel room together, mostly because Ren was afraid of what would happen if 'Setsu' was the one in charge of his usually shy girlfriend, and so they had shed the characters quickly after moving to their double room. "After this, I have somewhere I need to go." She looked up after taking a bite.

"Okay. Where?" He grinned playfully.

"You'll see."


Setsu crossed her arms and tapped her foot, sighing impatiently. 'Where's big brother?' After seeing him with ten pairs of the same pants, she had argued with him in the street until he agreed to take all but three pairs back. Standing in the street, she smiled a little. 'He's such an amazing actor. I've never been so excited about acting…' Her thoughts trailed off when someone touched her shoulder. Jumping a little, she brought Setsu back to the surface. "Hey. Did you apologize to the people at the store?" She froze when the man with his hand on her shoulder wasn't her brother, swallowing hard when he wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

"Heh. No of course not! It wasn't our fault that the rice wasn't cooked. They can't blame us if the customers go beserk. The shop owner didn't complain, even though I broke his teeth." Kyoko felt her heart speed up at the soft threat in his voice and the way he tightened his hold on her, grinning at the three other guys now surrounding them, grinning at her. Another one slid up to her, his hand on her lower back. She fought the bile rising up in her throat.

"Hey, how about you come with us and we'll find something to eat." His hand slipped lower and he caressed her lightly, and then squeezed her butt. "After that, we'll take you somewhere nice." His slimy voice engaged her gag reflex again, but out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of a tall figure dressed in black. Inwardly grinning, she gave a half shrug.

"Fine. I don't mind."

"I thought a girl like you might say that." The man with long, stringy black hair with his hand around her shoulder smirked.

"Heh me too." The one with a hat stepped forward. "I love obedient, cute girls." She felt the anger from a few meters away and smirked.

"I don't mind if you want to play with me…but you'll have to ask my important person." She spoke up a little. "Him." She turned and gestured to her quickly approaching 'brother.' "Hey. These guys want to play with me. Is it okay, Nii-san?" He glared down at the men touching his girlfriend, his eyes boring holes into the hands on her shoulder and the one hidden behind her back.

Feeling the rage surge through his system he watched as one of the men sighed. "Nii-san? Crap. If it was her boyfriend, he might lend her to us. But if it's her brother, he probably won't do it to save himself." Ren clenched his teeth, determined not to let his rage show.

'Never. I would never let you touch her.'

"Nah. They're all the same. He just wants to protect himself." Ren glanced at Kyoko who was watching him, and he realized that she was waiting for him to do something.

'She trusts me. She's relying on me to take care of her.' He watched in open disgust as the man with stringy black hair approached him with a smirk.

"Hey 'Nii-san.' This is for your own good. Let us borrow your sister."

Ren clenched his fist around the handle of his bag, taking a deep breath, noticing the anxious look on Kyoko's face. "Setsu." He stepped around the man and reached out his hand, taking hers and pulling her gently. He caught the relief in her eyes and fought the urge to pull her into his arms. "Let's go." He told her gently.

As he turned, he heard one of them mumble something in amusement and, dropping her hand, he dodged to the side, glancing out of the corner of his eye past the man's fist to make sure he hadn't touched Kyoko.

"Heh. Well. If I can't get the sister, the brother will do." Kyoko's eyes widened as he reached into his pocket and then pulled his hand out, brass knuckles fitted over his hand. Kyoko looed back at Ren in shock and fear as the man came at him again and again.

'NO! Ren can't hit him! And…what if he hurts Ren?' She watched in horror as Ren dodged again. ' Why didn't I just run? I shouldn't have said things like that! This is my fault.' She swallowed hard, about to step forward when she saw the other three retrieve large canes and walk forward, grinning menacingly. 'NO!' "Cain!" She screamed, her fear coming through in her voice.

Ren grabbed the man's leg and twisted him as he came at him with a switchblade. Hearing Kyoko's scream, he turned quickly, cursing himself for leaving her alone with the other three. Seeing the two men come at him with large canes, he flipped, landing on his hand, then jumped back again and landed on his feet. As he dodged, his eyes widened at the sight of Kyoko gripping the cane of the stringy haired man as he tried to get it away from her.

"You coward!" She screamed as she managed to pin it to the ground. "You all gang up on one person! Go have a meal with your friends! I'm not coming anywhere with you!"

"Wha…get out of my way!" He snarled, jerking it away and throwing her roughly to the ground, lifting the cane over his head as if to hit her.

"Ow!" She yelped when she hit the ground arm first, scraping it raw, her side crashing behind her.

Flinching as she started to sit up, realizing that she was going to be sore the next day, she realized that the stringy haired man wasn't moving. She looked up and her blood froze. Kuon was standing over an unconscious men lying on the ground, glaring daggers at the other man as the final two backed away slowly, faces pale. Kyoko felt her own face drain of blood at the murderous expression on her boyfriend's face. He suddenly raced toward them, gripping the man's arm and jerking him away from the girl still on the ground. Kyoko shut her eyes, terrified. "Nii-san! Don't!" She screamed, trembling. When she opened her eyes again, Ren was leaning against the wall, his head down, and the other man was curled on the ground, covering his head.

Standing a little stiffly, she hurried over to her boyfriend, reaching out and touching his arm. "Nii-san?" She whispered, not willing to blow their cover. He jerked his head around to face her, eyes wide, and she recognized the tormented expression in his eyes. It had been at least a month since he finally sat down with her and told her his story, but she could remember his face, the pain there. Wrapping her arms around him, she buried her nose in his chest and felt his arms wrap around her. He buried his nose in her hair and took a deep breath, calming down, then pulled away.

"Let me see your arm." He demanded softly, and she immediately hid it behind her.

"I'm fine!" She insisted with a bright smile. "I didn't…." She broke off and whimpered a little when he reached back and grabbed it. He loosened his grip, giving her an apologetic look, and studied the scrapes under the street lamp. He glanced down at the man still cowering behind her and took her hand, reaching down to grab her bag of clothes.

"Come on." He said softly. "Let's go back to the hotel."


Kyoko glanced up at Ren as he cleaned her arm then wrapped it nervously. His eyes were still strange, but he obviously wasn't panicking anymore. "Thank you." He whispered, suddenly looking at her seriously. He knelt down in front of her, reaching out to take her hand. "If it hadn't been for you…" He broke off when she smiled at him. Reaching out her hand, she caressed his face.

"That's why I'm here…to take care of you." He placed his hand over hers, then leaned over and pressed his lips to hers, kissing her tenderly.

Pulling away after a few moments, he kissed her nose. "I'm going to go take a shower. Mind if I go first?" She shook her head, pulling away with a soft blush.

"I'll…um…just make dinner." He smiled as she jumped up and ran over to the kitchen, then headed to the bathroom.


'I can't believe I'm staying in the same hotel room with him! It's so embarrassing.' She ha stayed at his apartment a few times, but always in the guest room. She pulled the ladle out of the pot and took a sip of the soup, then added salt, glancing at the clock. 'He's been in there quite a while…' She frowned thoughtfully. 'I hope he hasn't fallen asleep in the tub…' Her eyes widened, suddenly picturing him sleeping in the shower. 'He'll catch a cold! He can't act BJ with a cold!' Ladle still in hand, she raced into the bathroom and threw the door open, jerking the curtain out of the way. "Ren!"

Meeting his startled brown eyes, she felt every drop of blood in her body rush to her face, her eyes unable to resist the temptation to glance down. "Eh…um….I…" He reached over and turned the water off, then looked over at her with a smirk.

"Are you jumping in?" Kyoko made a noise between a squeal and an eep and disappeared, slamming the door behind her and throwing herself onto the bed, screaming into the pillow.

"Oh my god! Oh…I just saw him naked! I looked at his…his…AHHHH!' She felt her brain explode, then felt a gentle hand on her back, rubbing softly. She refused to look at him, her mortification to great to even think about talking to him.

"I'm sorry." She heard amusement in his voice and felt her face get even redder. "I was just kidding." She glanced up and realized that he was only wearing pajama bottoms and hid her face in the pillow again. She heard him sigh and then felt his weight shift on top of her a little. He kissed the very red nape of her neck, making her gasp in surprise, then moved on to the side of her throat. She finally turned her face a little finally, meeting his lips with hers.

"I'm sorry." She whispered, blushing once more. He chuckled.

"You're fine." He placed the back of his hand against her hot face. "You're really hot. Are you okay?" She jerked away and buried her face again, his deep chuckle making her shiver. "Sorry. Sorry." He gave her a half hug. "Hey. If you're that embarrassed, we can always make it even."

Ren laughed loudly as his tiny, bright red girlfriend somehow managed to extract herself from him and storm to the bathroom, slamming and locking the door behind her.

A/N: Hope you all liked it. This is one of my favorite parts of the manga. :D Thank you so much for all the reviews and such!