Authors Chat: I took a short break yesterday to write a one-shot called Blow Out the Candle. It's rated K, so it's safe for everyone (sorry y'all, nothing hot'n'heavy there!) . I'm allowed to plug my own work in other fanfic, right? ^_^;; Go read it! Read this chapter when you get back!
I would greatly appreciate your comments and constructive criticism!
That being said, italics text are direct thoughts of characters, text is in quotes, noises are done with asterisks.
DISCLAIMER: Skip Beat! and it's characters are not my original creation, they are owned and created by Nakamura Yoshiki.
Story Timeline: Y'all know the timeline by now. If not, go back and read it in an earlier chapter! (taken out for length).
Playing With Fire
Act 22
Kyoko stood in front of the mirror in the bathroom. The steam from the bath had seeped out the cracks of the thin door separating the bathing room from the WC and had settled on the mirror. Through the thin layer of fog, Kyoko stared at her small, hazy form. In particular, her neck. The light pink mark showed the hickey Ren had given her was almost gone. Another day or two, and it would be gone for ever.
It made her somewhat sad.
This hickey, she gently touched her neck, is the first thing anyone's given me just because I'm me… Well, not really true… Taisho gave me a daruma last year… and shoes for my birthday. And Kanae-chan gave me make-up! She smiled happily, and Tsuruga-san gave me The Queen. But… but that doesn't count. It was for my birthday after all…
She wasn't even convincing to herself though, so why did she feel a sense of loss at the fading mark on her neck?
As she started to drop her hand, her fingertips brushed against her neck. The sensation was very much the same as when Ren had been running his hands over her…
Kyoko closed her eyes and gently ran her hand along her neck and down over her collarbone. Her small hand traced the path of which Ren's hands traced, eliciting warmth from her skin where he had touched. It felt so good.
Aak! No! What are you doing Kyoko!?! She immediately dropped her hand, shaking it as it fell as if to shake off the unwanted sensation. She felt silly, yet she was blushing.
What did this mean? She didn't feel right, and her cheeks were flushed. Was she getting sick? That must be it…
I'll make sure to bring an extra sweater to the set tomorrow and get a good night's sleep tonight.
She nodded to herself happily as she dressed and headed back to her room and laid out her futon.
She climbed under the covers and shivered. The covers were always chilly when first crawling in. As she dozed off, the final thought flitted in her mind.
Well… the bed was warm when I crawled in with Tsuruga-san back then…
…
Ren stepped out of the shower room feeling a little faint. He had stayed in too long, trying to wash away all the lingering emotion he was fighting with after he had dropped Kyoko off at the Daruma-Ya. He had been so caught up in thought, he was nearly hit at an intersection. That had been his clue to go home and stay there and stop driving around aimlessly.
When he had got there, he crawled in bed thinking to fall asleep and escape into dream. When he finally drifted off though, he saw only HER in his dreams. Writhing beneath him, moaning pleasure at what he was doing to her in his dreams. She even smelled so good in his dreams.
That was when it hit him, and he woke up. His sheets still held her smells in them. It wasn't laundry day, but he needed to change his sheets and get her smell off of him.
He took one final deep breath where her head had lay on his pillow, felt his heart thump hard, and climbed off the bed, ripping the sheets off as he went.
The top-sheet and blanket flew halfway across the room and landed in a heap. Ren leaned down over the bed and pulled the corners of the fitted sheet up hard over the edges of his bed. His mattress shook and flexed as he jerked the sheet off the bed then shook the pillows from their linen casings.
He flung them across onto the growing pile of bedding, and as a pillow case flew past his face, her scent assailed his senses again, causing him to reel dizzily.
What was he angry about? He didn't know, but recognized that it was anger taking him at this moment, causing him to be so violent about his bedding.
He grunted, ran his hand through his hair, and dropped it to slap against his thigh heavily.
He had to do something. He had to wash her scent from his skin and mind.
So at an ungodly hour before dawn, he turned on the shower as hot as he could stand and stayed there until he could no longer think clearly from the heat and exhaustion that overtook his mind.
Ren grabbed his towel from the hook on the wall and ran it over his head a few times to take the excess moisture from his hair, then tied it around his waist.
He walked over to the mirror and palmed away the fog to look at himself in the mirror. There was no doubt about it, he didn't have the composure to look like Tsuruga-Ren nor the energy to care. It was a good thing his shooting for BJ didn't require Tsuruga Ren's stony expression.
It was ALSO a good thing he wore black mock-necks for his role as BJ too. His collarbone and left peck was heavily colored with hickeys making it almost look bruised. When had she done that?
Ren thought hard, going over everything that had happened in his mind, unconsciously using the desire to remember when she had given him the hickeys as an excuse to remember her and her touch.
That's right… it was right before I lost control.
He remembered still being in his role as Katsuki when Kyoko… no, Natsu, began removing his shirt and kissing him. She had ran her hands over him possessively, and he remembered the feeling of wanting to BE possessed by her. Completely.
The excitement had made his skin tingle and his heart ache with his desire for her. She had leaned over him, straddling his hips, and ran her tongue along the stiff line of his collarbone then had proceeded to suck and bite along the wet line she had left. She marred his skin every place her lips had touched, leaving the pinkish-purplish bruises as a trail where her mouth had been.
The line of light bruising continued in an almost upside down L pattern as they ran off from his bone and down a predetermined path to his nipple.
His nipple now had distinct red teeth marks where she had bitten him. That was when Katsuki was thrown from his mind and he lost all senses, trying to fill himself up with her warmth, tying her up with her own shirt and taking advantage of her, running his mouth in exactly the places he wanted – exactly the places that would cause her sweet voice to escape from her lips in uncontrolled rapture.
He drew his thoughts away before he could remember any more as his towel threatened to come unwound from his waist as the pressure underneath it grew.
No wonder Yashiro thought I was injured. He looked down at his hand, cut-up and needing re-bandaging after the shower. Well… I guess I am injured.
Ren turned his back to the mirror and looked over his shoulder at the damage to his back. Red scratches ran down his back, three on each side of his back where her nails had raked. They had broken skin in places, but mostly they just left trails where the nails broke cells just below his skin.
Between the discoloration on his collarbone and chest, his torn up fist, and the scratch marks on his back, it was no wonder Yashiro thought he had been in a fight.
The wounds he could see would heal though, and he would even replace the mirror he had broke. If she rejected him after this though, he was sure there was no way to ease the pain he felt in his heart.
Ren sighed as he exited the bathroom and went to the linen closet to pull out a fresh set of sheets, then remade his bed and climbed back in for the last few hours of the night.
His dreams from before tormented him once again, regardless of the smell of fresh sheets, and he woke un-rested before his alarm went off. He gave up trying to sleep, got up, and got ready to go pick up Yashiro.
…
Kyoko looked down at herself and wondered absently why she was wearing a kimono.
"Kyoko dear!" Mother's was calling.
"Kyoko. We've had an honored guest arrive unscheduled. Mother has to serve the honored guests who were already scheduled. I've taught you well, so you are to be responsible for serving the honored guest in private."
"Yes Mother." Was that her voice? Her feet seemed to move themselves down the hall of the ryokan and into the mizuya to gather her utensils.
She then went down to one of their two tea rooms, entered formally then shut the door behind her.
She turned around to meet the guest.
She was now in his room preparing him tea. Why were they not in the tea room any longer?
She passed the prepared tea across to the guest.
He took the tea from her and said something. What did he say?
She looked up to meet the eyes of the guest. They were so very close. She was lying on her back with him atop of her, staring closely into her eyes.
Wait.
He leaned down and pressed his lips against hers. She felt his hand slide under her kimono. When had her obi been undone?
His hand caressed her skin and slid up over her breast, massaging her soft flesh. It felt good.
Wait.
Who was this. His eyes were familiar. She opened her eyes to look at him again. He was naked above her with his head tilted down. His soft sable hair tickled her neck as he kissed her intimately and trailed his tongue down to replace his hand at her breast.
His hand slid down pushing her kimono open at her waist… her hip… her thigh… He spread her kimono wide, and grazed his hand over her inner thigh. She shivered as his fingers slid gently across her skin, moving further between her legs.
She ached at his touch and her blood ran hot. Yes, this is what she wanted. This made her feel good.
His fingers slid across her opening and up through her delicate folds, a gentle pulling sensation as they slid over the small obstacle.
Lightning struck outside the window. Or was that inside her? Everything tingled. The tiny hairs on her skin rouse as he licked his fingers, wetting them to work and twist and wriggle between her legs.
She couldn't move. She watched and couldn't look away. You must not leave until the honored guest has gone.
He licked his fingers again, this time they were wet to begin with. Why was he wetting his fingers if they were already wet?
To taste. Who said that? To taste what?
Love.
What? She didn't understand.
His fingers pierced her gently. It felt weird, but did not hurt. Not like she was expecting. It was a little uncomfortable, but he moved gently, gently sliding in and out, bending his fingers toward her front.
Then it felt good. What was he doing to her?
She looked down to where he worked between her thighs.
He looked up to her face and *BEEEE BEEEE BEEEE BEEEE BEEEE*
Kyoko reached over and hit the alarm into silence. Just what was that dream? She could feel her cheeks were ablaze in the dark.
It had been just a split second, but she could SWEAR it was Ren's face looking up at her, mouth glistening moistly in the dim light as the moonlight spilled through the door of his room at the ryokan.
It had been so real. So… enjoyable and warm.
Kyoko's heart pounded as she looked over at the clock. It was time to get up and get ready for work. She had to be ready early to take the bike to work today. Tsuruga-san wouldn't be picking her up anymore.
Kyoko's heart ached at the thought, and she wondered if she wasn't still sick from the night before.