Chapter 15

There was an uncomfortable feeling of dread in the room the moment Kyoko and Ren entered the studio and noticed the presence of the arrogant musician. To the three deities in the room, his very existence was offensive; however, they would not act on their primal urges out of respect for their supreme leader and the threat of punishment by said leader. At least not in the way that they truly wished.

"Kyoko... I need to speak to you." He almost sounded a little humble while having a tinge of arrogance still blanketing his tone.

"You have nothing that I wish to hear from you, Sho. You need to leave." She told him coldly and he could feel an irrational sense of dread creep under his skin. He couldn't help but have the memory of an ancient forest behind the ryokan where he grew up and the summer of when he turned seven. Back then he had every intention of following her into the forest. His mother and father had saddled him with the responsibility of making sure she was safe and out of trouble. They had told him he was a man and that was what men did. However, he just couldn't bring himself to follow the six year-old female into that foreboding location.

She would go in everyday for two weeks, sometimes crying and inconsolable, and emerge many hours later as happy as a clam. His instincts at the moment were telling him that the entity with that particular aura was very near, but his mind was telling him that it was just his nerves caused by the task at hand. He needed to apologize for hitting her or, he would never be able to sleep. He needed a clear conscience.

Never had he had these feelings around her, it was unsettling. "Please Kyoko. I really need to talk to you."

This vermin has no sense of self-preservation. Deimos relished in the possibilities. He was capable of many things that didn't require physical contact and all were very attractive options at this point. He smiled inwardly when he noticed the teen's shiver.

Aoidḗ noticed the change in Deimos and noted that it wouldn't be good if he discovered that Sho had hit her. Did this idiot have no concern for his own safety? She glanced back at Deimos once again and sighed. "Fine." She left the small group she had been with, with Sho following meekly behind her.

Aoidḗ groaned internally when the end of their conversation had been disrupted by the green-eyed, blond Greek god, disguised as a 18 year-old Kuon Hizuri. "Kyoko? I've been looking all over for you Koi." He said sweetly. He glanced at Sho with a mischievous smirk. "Who do we have here?"

She gritted her teeth and shot him a scathing glare as he snaked an arm around her waist and Sho looked on in surprise, shock, anger and jealousy. "Kuon..." She took a deep breath to calm herself and plastered on a fake, tolerant looking smile. "This is Sho Fuwa." She was upset with him for the interruption and the disguise, but she did have to admit, he did look pretty tasty.

He gave Sho a wolfish grin and chuckled lightly. "You mean the same Sho-chan from when we were kids?"

Sho's brow furrowed. When did she meet this guy when we were kids? What the hell? "Kyoko... How do you know this creep?" Wrong choice of words to use on the only being that had ever been able to calm and comfort her.

The look on her face made his blood run cold. "Sho... I think you need to leave and as for how long I've known him? Far longer than you can imagine. Don't bother me again, Sho." She grabbed Deimos' hand and pulled him with her as she left.

"What in Tartarus made you think that was a good idea?!" She hissed. "I had him under control!"

He pulled her to himself, still in disguise and kissed the fiery little goddess soundly, effectively shutting her up. He sighed as he stroked the bandage on her cheek and frowned. "He hit you... I wasn't about to allow that to happen again. He can't be trusted." His green eyes flashed with angst, anger and pain from not being able to prevent what had happened.

She sighed and rested her head on his chest. "Just... just don't get caught. I don't want Him to punish you and I don't want him meddling in our lives like he used to."

"I'll be more careful." She felt his answer rumble in his chest. "I promise."

She reached up and fingered his soft blond locks. "Hmm, I really like this new look." She grinned mischievously and gave him a peck on his cheek.

He chuckled. "I'm sure we can work something out." He gave her a quick chaste kiss. "But, we do need to get back to work." He sighed.

She nodded. "I know..." She told him as he led her to the women's wardrobe and makeup, then dropped her off.

Murmurs and whispers of Kyoko-chan's delectable, affectionate, doting boyfriend, that was not Sho Fuwa by any stretch of the imagination, spread throughout the studio during the day and firmly quashed any thought that she may have been dating Sho. Phobos could barely contain his glee at the deception and Ren remained as stoic as ever to keep any suspicions by meddling relatives at bay. Kyoko put forth some of her best acting to date and secretly awaited eagerly for the workday to end, so that she could go on a date with her disguised lover. Now that everyone believed that Kuon was Kyoko's boyfriend, why not just go with it?

He was pissed. She wasn't supposed to think of anyone but him. He was her childhood friend not that lanky, green-eyed interloper. She loved him... Sho! How could she forget about it so easily? It's not like he didn't speak the truth when he said those things, at least in his own mind. He was definitely going to put her and that nobody, gaijin in their places. He just didn't know how yet.

"Hmph, that's what it is. He's using her. There's no other way a guy like that would want her. She's too plain and boring. She's not sexy at all. He's probably just sponging off her popularity and using her to pay his way." Not realizing how contradictory his thoughts were or, how not everyone was like him.

He needed to find out who this ass with his hands on his property actually was. He needed to scope out the competition, not that he felt that Kuon was any competition for him to beat. He just wanted to put the pair in their place. Let them know how low they were on the food chain and how high he was.

Had his manager been able to read any of his thoughts, she would have thought exactly that, that he was high. It was bad enough that he had struck the girl in front of her, he had to go searching for her afterwards. Shoko hoped beyond all hope that he had given her the ointment and just left well enough alone. She didn't need any of her contacts at the studio calling about the troubles he had caused when he was out of her immediate field of vision. He may have been quite the young stud, but she was starting to doubt her thought process of giving him what he wanted to keep him happy.

Lory laughed at the new development. This was something he had been waiting for five years for. Kuon/Deimos was finally reemerging and it was all because of a certain little actress/muse. Of course he wasn't going to hinder this little charade. In fact, he was erasing all information on the boy that could be found by the simple act of a search engine on the internet. He was not about to allow this particular part of the game to end any time soon. The only thing he would leave there would be a few good head shots of Kuon Hizuri and his name for the singer to find.

Lory clapped his hands together. "Can't have him completely in the dark. That young mortal needs to know what competition really is." He smiled evilly. "He needs to learn that he won't always get everything he wants. Especially after what he did to a daughter of Zeus."