Ren and Kyoko settled themselves on the living room sofa, their scripts opened on the coffee table. Ren leaned forward elbows on his knees with his chin pensively resting on his hands and carefully read over the script while Kyoko briefly skimmed through hers. She had already gone over it, umpteen times sweating over all the embarrassingly emotional scenes. After Ren completed the perusal he leaned back. "Well it's pretty straight forward - nothing too difficult to interpret". He looked sideways and his eyes gleamed with mischief while he watched Kyoko squirm uncomfortably. Myriad expressions crossed over her face as in her mind she isolated each vignette with the two of them together acting all 'lovey-dovey'. Ren was fascinated by her facial morphing and broke into her thoughts with the dreaded question. "Well, where do you want to start?"

As she looked up she caught the look on Ren's face and paled.

Ren was immediately penitent. "I'm sorry! I'm just yanking your chain." He said with a chuckle. "I can't resist teasing you!" He resumed his professional persona. "So - first let's discuss what we need to do to get comfortable without it losing the freshness of the roles. You know when we improvised together for my Katsuki in Dark Moon it really helped me. How about we do the same for your Sumira? What are the most difficult scenes for you?"

A blush travelled up Kyoko's neck to the top of her head and she scowled. "As if you didn't know which part that is!"

"Well you can't say that you haven't any experience with kissing. Fuwa made sure of that!" Ren glowered with poorly concealed jealousy at the recollection. Luckily Kyoko had her face in her hands at this point and missed his exposed feelings.

"I didn't ask for that! I didn't see it coming, and I wasn't prepared to deflect it!" Her voice lowered to a mumble and she continued to mutter. "He stole my first kiss!" A vein stood out on her temple as she clenched her jaw. Experiencing an unwanted flashback of Sho's tongue making a thrusting assault on her mouth to steal the candy, which she had been eating, made her writhe in a total recall of revulsion. Why on Earth do people kiss like that? So disgusting!

Seeing Kyoko's inner rage, Ren felt satisfied that she no longer held romantic feelings for Fuwa. Well, at least she wasn't 'physically' attracted to him.

"Well, Mogami-san, there is nothing you can do about it now, and as I said before, since it wasn't mutual consent you can't really consider it a first kiss, can you?" Kyoko didn't miss Ren's tone of resignation and looked at him inquisitively. It was almost as if he was talking more to himself. He continued. "Hopefully you will consider my kiss a professional one – err I mean part of a professional improvisation." He glanced over at Kyoko to check her reaction. Gratefully she did not notice the accidental double entendre that was dangerously close to a Freudian slip. The breath he had been holding was slowly released.

Even if she didn't notice the somewhat flippant line he had given her, Kyoko wasn't looking very enthusiastic.

"You look like you're going to gallows! Am I that unappealing?"

"No! No! I just don't know how to begin!"

"Well then, why don't we just get the worst over with" Ren said dryly as he stood up. "If we practice kissing now you won't be overthinking it and you're less likely to goof up when we improvise a scene. Loosen up Mogame-san! I won't bite you!"

Ren looked at Kyoko's face trying to ascertain her mood. She felt his gaze and turned toward him and he lifted a questioning eyebrow while he reached out to take her hand and pull her up.

"Ready?"

She nodded and gave him a shy little smile and he leaned in to kiss her. She closed her eyes and apprehensively held her breath, but the kiss he gave her was soft and delicate. She opened her eyes only to find his just inches away deeply scrutinizing hers. She flinched.

"That didn't hurt did it?"

"No."

"Shall we try it again?"

Kyoko blushed and looked down. Her heart wouldn't stop thumping. "I guess so."

With the next brush of their lips Ren slowly increased the pressure and intensity. Kyoko gave an involuntary whimper as he instinctively coaxed her to open her mouth. He inhaled her surrendering breath as she released it in a rush of shuddering surprise.

The area where Ren's heart was lurched with emotion as his lips met Kyoko's for the second time. He was unprepared for this reaction. Nothing had ever felt as natural as this very moment, never had he ever felt so ecstatic. He felt his aura mingling with Kyoko as time seemed to stand still. What he thought had started as a technical and professional scene suddenly became very personal. Ren was aware of the shift for a nanosecond he closed his eyes and all his professionalism flew out the window.

As Kyoko let out her breath, her heart followed quickly behind as if she had disgorged it for Ren to devour. And indeed he had, for now it was entirely his, and there was no way for her to take it back from him. There was a sweet ache in that space it had left. Her open mouth invited Ren's delving tongue which sought her own to stroke and tease it. Her nostrils naturally flared to inhale and capture his essence enhanced by the heat he was generating. She was now in an altered state caused by his addictive and intoxicating pheromones. Caught in his charismatic web, her hazy thoughts struggled between doubt and trust. She wanted surrender and immerse in the pleasure he was tacitly promising, but not at the cost of losing to him. Kyoko's self-imposed rules of love were heavily ingrained and ultimately overpowered her desire. Panting heavily she gathered her remaining wits and frantically pushed Ren away. "Tsuruga-San, I can't do this!" He leaned towards her. "No! Stop! I said NO!"

The Emperor of the Night smiled hypnotically at her and gently pressed his index finger to her lips. "Sshhhh! It's ok! Don't be afraid." He whispered softly.

She coloured and hit him lightly with frustration. It took all her courage before she spoke honestly. "You're making me feel weird and I'm losing the concentration I need for my character!" As much as she wanted them, Kyoko couldn't and wouldn't let Ren continue giving her those delicious feelings. She was disappointed with herself. Yet again she had lost to his acting skills. Yes, she might be doing the most authentic act of loving someone, but it was not out of her own creation.

After making so much progress with Kyoko, Kuon forgot his earlier promise of forbearance to himself, and he surged to the forefront. He laughed and pulled her back into his embrace. "It's ok just let me lead you!" He coaxed. He began to nuzzle her, pressing small feathery kisses behind her ear and down the side of her neck. There was no way he was going to let this opportunity slip away! He had waited so long for this moment.

"NO! Absolutely not! Y..you - co-star killer!" Kyoko gasped angrily as he found a particularly sensitive spot with his tongue and she shivered as goose bumps travelled all the way down her body and her knees gave way as she melted on to the couch. Something very strange had just happened to her. Her whole body was on fire. There was just no comparison to her "first" kiss from anteater Sho to Ren's slow tantalizing persuasion.

Ren followed Kyoko to the sofa. "That's it - just relax!" Kuon whispered seductively, his voice huskily soothing and Kyoko reluctantly surrendered to the waves of pleasure running down her neck along to her spine and then pooling to a newly awakened zone. She stiffened.

"Hnng! NO! What are you doing!? Tsuruga-San!

Kuon heard nothing. He was lost in the white noise buzzing in his ears caused by the bliss of finally kissing the girl of his dreams as thoroughly, and as frequently, as he had allowed himself to imagine, since their one and only kiss on the beach in Guam. He slid his hands down her sides to her waist and ultimately to her soft derrière to pull her in closer to his aching groin. She was the most alluring drug! He moved from her neck back to her mouth and the Emperor Kuon's eyes, half closed with arousal, pierced into her own which became wide open orbs full of self-conscious shock as she recognized the familiar expression on his face that triggered another of her flashbacks to the Dark Moon party when Ren threatened to do "everything" to her. She had concluded that time was bullying, this was something entirely different!

She leaned back straining to avoid another kiss and put her hand over his mouth. "Tsuruga-San? Tsuruga-san! REN!"

Ren heard his name as if called from a long distance away and jolted as if he had suddenly returned to his body. It stunned him. He shook his head to clear it. "Oh shit!" He blurted as the full realization of his actions hit him. "Shit! Shit! Shit!" He clutched his head, panting from his residual excitement that was rapidly waning. He felt as if he had been doused with frigid water. The look on Kyoko's face further cooled his ardour.

A puzzled Kyoko sat up looking at Ren, searching his face for some clue. Who was this man in front of her? It wasn't Ren, it was some other person who was familiarly aggressive, but without the threatening violence or anger of the earlier incident as the Heel siblings. She had felt emotions blended with something primitive coming from Ren, that she was afraid to identify, that she instinctively wanted to respond to, but was too newly aware of for her to indulge. She stood up stiffly. "I think I'd better go" she said tonelessly, attempting to stifle the maelstrom of feelings in her head, heart and body. Her eyes were glistening with unshed tears from her confusion.

Ren looked at her with an expression Kyoko could only interpret as stricken. He swallowed. He too was overwhelmed and the tight ache in his throat prevented him from voicing the apology he so desperately wished to deliver. He made a motion to walk with her to the door.

"No! I need to be alone." She said rigidly. She grabbed her coat, purse and script, grasped the door latch and without looking back, quickly let herself out.