Chapter 27

She was a little upset. It seemed as though Kuon was stepping away from her. She hadn't seen him much since White Day and it was compounded by the fact that Kuon hadn't even got her a gift, then there was the little bomb Sho had dropped in her mind. She was starting to think that he was growing weary of her. There was no way for her to check to see if he'd dropped out of the tournament. That wasn't something that anyone would share with her, and she could kind of see why.

Because of all of the stress of wondering about her own love life and Kuon basically avoiding her, she decided to do a little more research into the information that Maria had discovered. If she had to marry a man she had no interest in and didn't love, she was going to make damn sure that he better be able to hold his own around her. She was not going to have a weak man in her life, that thinks he can do what he wants.

Now, if one were to actually look into Kuon's thoughts, they would discover that he was not intentionally avoiding her. Well, maybe a little. He knew the rules of what was leading up to that fateful little game he was to participate in, and he most certainly knew that if he spent a large amount of unsupervised time with her, he definitely wouldn't be able to control his baser, more primal urges. He didn't want to marry her by default, because he was careless. He wanted to be worthy of her, and prove the fact. He didn't realize that she was having doubts about his feelings, he wasn't aware of the horrible little seed that Fuwa had planted in her mind, and he certainly didn't know that she wasn't allowed to know who would be participating in the games. The only reason she knew he would be, was because he'd told her. Her mind was a mess.

"She's increased her training, and the level of it." Kotetsu commented to Lory as they sat and drank their tea.

Lory glanced up at him in curiosity. "Any idea why?"

Kotetsu shook his head. "No, but I can say that she is very close to Lord Kuon's level at the moment. I suspect if she chose to, she could surpass him easily in testing."

"She hasn't been documenting it through testing?" He asked a little surprised.

He shook his head again and took another sip of tea. "I can only guess that she hasn't because she doesn't want it known. I can't imagine why. It's a really big accomplishment."

Lory sighed. "I can imagine why. I've been told that Maria has been researching ancient history in her spare time."

Kotetsu's eyes went wide. "You don't think..."

Lory smirked and nodded. "That girl would do anything to protect her Onee-sama. I suspect that Kyoko-chan will invoke the old rules at the tournament. Although, I can't imagine why. Kuon hasn't pulled out of the tournament."

"Perhaps they had an argument? I've noticed that they stopped training together, recently." Kotetsu suggested.

Lory sighed. "It's possible." He commented, wondering if that were indeed the case. Wondering if he'd made a grave mistake by putting them together as the Heel Siblings. He sincerely hoped not. He really didn't want to be the one responsible for ruining a budding relationship by putting them in a situation that could possibly destroy something so new. He groaned inwardly at the thought. He made mental note to question Kuon on the subject later, not that he would be very forthcoming about anything like that.

"So are you really going to do it?" Maria asked quietly, not wanting anyone to know what the subject of their conversation was.

Kyoko nodded. "I think I'll need to." She wasn't about to let Maria know of her innermost fears and thoughts on the subject.

Maria pouted a little. "What about Kuon-sama?"

Kyoko sighed. She knew that subject would come up sooner or later. She gave her a weak smile. "I suppose it won't matter if he makes it to the end or not. He'll be able to defeat me if he wants. I'm training to make sure that anyone that makes it to the end will either have to completely incapacitate me or nearly kill me if they wish to be king. I will not allow anyone that wins the tournament, to use me as some little weak trophy wife. They are going to have to prove they're serious about all of this. It's not just a game to me... It's my life."

Maria nodded in understanding; however, she really didn't understand completely what Kyoko was thinking. Kanae and Chiori did. They both had tried to console her when she'd mentioned the fears that were growing in her mind. So evil had those thoughts been, that they were causing her beautiful white wings to grey and her armor had gone back to the ominous skeletal black. She was thankful that Uesugi-dono hadn't mentioned that little tidbit to anyone, and thankful that her horns and tail had still not resurfaced. He was just thrilled to watch her train, not that he'd told her that.

"You can't do that!" He insisted.

Lory shook his head. "She will be going with you to Guam." Lory told him with finality. "Is there a reason why you don't want her there? Did you two have an argument?"

Kuon sighed and shook his head. "If you send her, I'm not sure how things will turn out. I..." He groaned a little and Lory saw a slight blush on his cheeks.

Lory narrowed his eyes. No way... Lory sighed. "What if I make sure that the two of you have separate rooms? Would that help with the little paper string that's tethering your resolve?" Lory finally teased.

Kuon rolled his eyes. "I-It's not like that!" Well, maybe a little. A tiny voice in the back of his mind acknowledged.

Lory sighed and looked at him pityingly. "Kuon... Have faith in yourself. I trust that you won't allow anything to happen that shouldn't. If you step back from her right now, you may regret the results." He warned, knowing that had been the exact case this past couple of weeks. If Kuon didn't stop behaving foolishly, Kyoko may get the wrong idea and give up on him completely, especially considering the information that Kotetsu had leaked to him.

Kuon was a little puzzled when Lory opened a large book in front of him, tapped the opened pages and walked out of his office, leaving Kuon alone at the small table they'd been sitting at. Kuon furrowed his brow and looked down at the newly translated old texts. It was the rules and regulations to the original tournaments. Not only that, it would appear that the rules had never really actually been changed, only faded out and gradually replaced. So, if one were to invoke the old rules, no one could really complain about it. They would have to be honored.

"Why is he showing me this?" He mumbled, then remembered what Lory had said to him about stepping back from her like he'd been doing. His eyes went wide at the revelation. "Does she think I withdrew from the tournament?" He groaned a little. He really needed to fix this, let her know that he still cared about her, that he still loved her. He didn't want to have to fight her for her own hand and he certainly didn't want the other final contestant to harm her.

He raked his fingers through his hair. "How in hell am I supposed to tell her that I've been doing that to keep myself from taking advantage of her, without making her want to run in the opposite direction screaming pervert?" Well, it really didn't matter how he did it, he would have to tell her soon or everything would quickly go south as far as their relationship was concerned.