-Oxford - Wednesday: Part 14-
Kyoko had moved towards Ren stopping in front of him as she looked down at him. Kyoko, "Please forgive me." He didn't have much time to question what she was apologizing before she had lean in kissing him so close to his mouth he was in a state of shock. Everything in his world stopped for what felt like ages, to the point he couldn't pull her even to him. Yet that didn't change anything in his mind, that if her kissing his cheek had made it near impossible for him to sleep for one night, he didn't want to know what this would do to him. His heart felt like it was going to burst right there and then. All he knew was at that moment he never felt so warm. Yet as his mind slowly began to unfreeze to acknowledge he stared at her face. She was sad and he wanted to pull her to him, to hold her close to let her know that it was alright. That if it was her, she could use him however she needed. The fact that this knowledge didn't bother him only caused his mind to spin even more. He always hated people using him for their own gain, yet he couldn't hate her. All he wanted was for her to see him and if that meant being used by her so be it.
His heart ached as she turned away from him, "There. Report it."
Ren wanted to reach out or her but something was stopping him. Something he didn't understand but he didn't move as she walked out of the room. Everything in the world seemed to darken around him. His mind quickly catching up to what was going on, allowing him to really think about how Ruto had looked him in the eye before following after Kyoko. How General Brown seemed worried about what this would do to him. Yes, he knew that Kyoko was using him for her case and he could understand how the man thought he would handle this badly but he couldn't handle it badly because he was useful to her even if it was just in this small way. No, what was troubling him was how Keiji didn't seem bothered by her actions at all, that he didn't seem jealous over it either. 'What is wrong with this guy?' his eyes slowly began to turn towards the boy who seemed amused by the whole thing.
"Shouldn't you be bothered by what she just did?" Ren asked staring at the man who sat on his side. He could not see any ounce of jealousy or even being upset at all on Keiji's face. Which made him only think of how he would have acted if it had been him. He would have been burning with rage. 'She's not an actress so there is no reason for her to have done this... is it even possible for a man not to grow jealous when the woman they loved showed that sort of affection towards another?' He couldn't think of a single example, Kuon's own father had been jealous whenever his mother had acted with another person, he always worried she might fall in love with her co-star and she always waved it off as not being possible and ease that jealousy. Yet Kyoko hadn't done anything to show Keiji he was her only one.
Keiji smirked as he looked at him, "Why would it bother me?" he lifted his leg up on the bed as he stared at Ren clearly expecting him to explain himself. Yet how could Ren do so? He wasn't even sure why he was upset that this didn't bother the younger man. So he sat there quietly instead, allowing his own mind to race before being pulling back towards Keiji, "It's pretty simple..." Ren watched him lay back on the bed, lifting one of his legs onto the edge of the bed staring up at the ceiling. "You can't replacement me in her heart." He watched as something seemed to cross the younger man's face before he seemed to be holding back his laughter, "So that's what you realized huh?"
General Brown raised an eyebrow looking at the two young men on the bed, he had heard Keiji words and that bothered him. The fact that the boy realized something that Kyoko had figured out, perhaps having a better idea of what she was planning could help him. "What did she figure out?" Even Ren wanted to know exactly what it was that Keiji had realized that neither one of them seemed to know.
"Nothing important to this case." Keiji lifted himself up onto his elbows to look at General Brown, "We have a bigger problem though don't you think?"
The older man sighed heavily as he leaned on both his legs looking at the both of them, as if judging their characters at that very moment it was very unsetting but neither of the boys budged and neither did he. "Yes…" he said after a moment. He turned towards the desk shifting a few articles "If it's common knowledge that you Keiji are close to her you have been since she came into this world." Not exactly a lie either, he was older than Kyoko, so he had chosen his words carefully due to this. "I will have to make a report what she just did to Mr. Tsuruga it will most likely push the case forward, maybe even official. They will think she is a very loose woman, why she wants that I don't know. I dare not ask for that matter." he didn't understand her plans fully only that she was trying to get Heth out of the shadows, using herself as bait.
"What about her Lawyer, do they know what she's doing?" asked Ren clearly she would have one assigned to her by now. General Brown stared at him, the look he gave Ren made it clear that he had no right to ask him such questions. Ren couldn't be sure if it was because he didn't know and was not sharing or he did know and he wouldn't share regardless no matter how much he attempted to get the man to tell him. So he dropped it, at least with him.
Keiji shook his head as he looked at Ren from the corner of his eyes, "That doesn't matter, lawyers can only direct a person they can't control them." He stood up stretching slightly as he did so, "Besides we know she's not a loose woman." He grinned at General Brown "Don't we General?" Ren didn't miss the annoyance that was showing on the older man's face and he was positive that Keiji and this man were sharing something he didn't know. Something about Kyoko and he felt the darkness that twisted in the pit of his stomach wanting to be released. Keiji placed his hands in his pockets before looking slightly at Ren "Not a big deal that she wanted to have a fling with Japan's most desirable man, it was all innocent wasn't it Number One?"
Ren found himself sighing heavily, no matter why she kissed him, no matter how it made him feel the fact didn't change every interaction they had was indeed innocent and they wouldn't be able to prove anything more than that, even with her kissing him. His eyes narrowed slightly, "Yeah we haven't even kissed on the mouth." he couldn't hide the bitterness that leaked through his statement. Perhaps that's why he hadn't been jealous at all, because it hadn't been actually on the mouth. 'When did I get so jealous over a kid?'
Keiji smiled patting Ren on the shoulder as if he pitied him and that only made Ren feel more bitter towards this younger man. "Our relationship is also easy to explain away if it becomes an issue too. Arranged marriages are common within the royal family. They marry other royals or into a family with some sort of political power, riches, and so on." he said with a shrug of his shoulders.
Ren raised an eyebrow towards the young man, 'Was that why he wasn't jealous?' They weren't romantically involved it was just an accepted part of what would come? Ren looked down at his watch before grasping it, why did that just make it all the worse in his mind. As though it wouldn't matter how he felt in the end because she would always choose to do whatever her family requested and Lory was alright with this? 'Hadn't Kouki married for love?' The thought that the man hadn't bothered him further. "How can you handle so much at your age?"
Keiji looked at him before looking away, "It's expected of me."
General Brown wanted to laugh, "He's not wrong." he said leaning back in his chair as he looked at the youngest of the two men in the room. "This isn't a world most people want to even look at it. So many rather turn a blind eye living under the illusion that the world is a safe and happy place. Not that I can blame those who choose to do so. Your brother Daiki's a good example of this."
Keiji "No he sees, he just doesn't like the game." He said moving towards General Brown, "Fact it's why we choose not to give a fuck about anyone, not our blood." General Brown looked at the man slightly surprised by him. "A certain young man really opened our eyes when he ran away..." his eyes scanned the papers but the fact he wasn't bothered with it, told him that anything he saw here would be easy to access on his own. Keiji found that annoying that he would not leave something more for him to gather information on what Kyoko was facing to the fullest.
Brown smirked, "Lady Kyoko isn't your blood though."
"She's special... wouldn't you agree?" he said looking back towards the older man.
Brown couldn't help the smile that crossed his face. "Oh I doubt there isn't a single man in this world who would disagree." he said looking back towards Ren who hand was holding tightly to the wristwatch, "Some just don't understand how special yet," he said dropping his voice so only Keiji could hear him. Keiji eyes turned towards Ren for a moment before shaking his head.
Keiji "Back to the game that Kyoko is playing. What is your plan for her protection?" Ren's eyes turned back towards the two of them, whatever that had been troubling him forgotten for a moment much to Keiji's relief.
"I need to make sure Mr. Tsuruga will leave at the end of fashion week. If he refuses to do as I ask. I'm afraid I'll have to force the matter. Whatever way I have too." Ren's eyes darken as he stared at the older man in front of him. Yet General Brown was not going to budge on this matter at all. It was the only thing General Brown knew about Kyoko's plan. It was also the only thing that Keiji knew as well at the time. Lory, Maria, Ruto, and Ren had to go back to Japan after Fashion Week, to help make her more of a target. Only one of them was truly bothered by this.
Ren sighed heavily before resting on his legs, "Don't worry I'll leave."
"One more thing" his eyes turned towards Ren and he could feel the deadly force come off of Brown, "You are not to lay your hands on her. She only did that to assure that it gets the report, it was not an invite for anything more." General Brown rose to his feet "Do you understand?" Keiji leaned against the edge of the table watching Ren carefully.
Ren sighed again "Yeah I understand." he hadn't planned to do anything anyways. Now he wondered if he should at least had thought of wanting to do more before being told he couldn't.
Kyoko couldn't believe what she had done. To the point, she was fighting the very urge to run away. Still, she was walking as quickly as she could, trying to put as much distance between her and Ren who was still with Keiji and General Brown. Slowly she made her way outside the hotel because the place just felt too much like a cage at the moment as if the walls were going to come closing in on her and she really didn't want to have to deal with anyone she may or may not know. Kyoko didn't know how she had gotten to the small park or even if it was all that close by but it didn't matter because the moment she saw the large tree off to the distance she had a goal in mind.
Only once she was standing under it did she allow herself to fall to her knees. To allow her emotions to start to overwhelm her, she felt cold inside, dead perhaps. Kyoko wanted to scream and cry out the pain that she was feeling right now as she clenched her stomach, allowing the pain she felt around her waist and stomach to become a sort of self-punishment, she refused to cry, she refused to scream so she sat on her knees shaking like a leaf even after the cloak had fallen over her and arms began to circle around her pulling her arms free from her middle. Kyoko didn't have to look to know that Ruto was holding her from behind keeping her from causing any more damage to herself as his cloak wrapped around her like a blanket.
"Breath..." he said softly into her ear and she shook her head back and forth. "It's alright Kyoko," he said softly as she shook her head again.
"It's not... it's not alright... I used him..." she felt her whole body shudder as she tried to fight back the tears that were threatening to fall. "I treated him no differently than I was treated by Shoutaro..." she gasped as she tried to hold herself but his arms were preventing that from happening and she felt herself struggle for a moment but he tightens his hold so she couldn't move in such a wild manner. "Don't you get it Ruto? I used Tsuruga... it doesn't matter why I did it. I did it. I did it. I used him and I would do it again. I would do it again Ruto. I need to get that man... I have to get Heth. I will use whatever means I must as long as no one... has to go through what I did. As long as no one else gets hurt like what he does to people."
"I know..." he said gently.
"Maria loves Ren... Father cares so much about him. I hurt them by doing this... I hurt him. I hurt them. I thought as long as no one gets really hurt..."
"They would understand." that much he knew for sure.
"I've become a monster..." she tried to pull away from him again but he held her firmly to him. "I'm disgusting" she shouted as she tried to pull away from him once more but she didn't budge from his hold and leaned over instead. "I'm so disgusting..."
"Then so am I.," he said looking up towards the tree branches, "I've done things for the better of others in my past." He felt her still and so he pushed forward knowing that she was now truly listening to him, "Tsuruga is an actor." he said gently, "He knows it's an act, he will not think badly of you, or think of it as anything more than a role that you needed him to play to help you." he thought to push her just a little more, "You are acting in a way to Kyoko, you are playing a role to catch Heth. Then you are not a monster, you are not disgusting, the role you are playing is." he closed his eyes he knew it was safe to release her and so he did so, she didn't move she just sat wrapped in his cloak between his legs. "I've played roles in my time too Kyoko, we don't have to like the roles we are given, and while we may not be known as actors it doesn't change that's what we are doing. You want them to think the worse of you so that the case is pushed forward so that you can catch that man. If you tell Tsuruga that is your goal he will understand and gladly help you in whatever way he can as an actor."
"Ruto..." she turned to face him, "You are not disgusting, you are not a monster. you have protected my family for years..." she wrapped her arms around him tightly, "That makes you a guardian angel, not a monster." Ruto felt frozen he never saw himself as anything more than a servant to his country, to his King, then to Lory. The fact that someone could see him as not an assassin for the crown, a serviceman never crossed his mind.
'This is her power...' he thought as he wrapped his arms gently around her holding her close to him, He finally understood something that Lory couldn't understand and something he wouldn't be able to explain to Lory either. Tomi Shiro had felt the touch of a living angel that was walking among them. Someone who should by all accounts be so tainted and shattered and destroyed but was filled with such warmth and light that people couldn't help but end up being drawn to her. To want to follow her blindly and without question, if it came down to it. He also ere understood two other things as well, Tomi would be back and Heth wouldn't stay hidden for long.