-Oxford - Wednesday: Part 40-

The trip back to the hotel was rather uneventful. That had been a bonus for Kyoko if she could have gotten out of the sourness that was wrapped around a certain male actor. No perhaps sour wasn't the correct word at all. He did sit at a distance instead of right at her side which part of her was thankful for and the other really wished he had chosen to sit closer to her so she could steal his coldness that he always seemed to have come off of him. 'Unhealthy lifestyle I'm sure' she mentally thought as she opened a bottle of water and poured it to a napkin, she had already put Miroku's number into her phone so there was no real reason to keep his number on her hand.

No perhaps the most interesting part of her was how Ren had handled the reporters outside when the hotel car had pulled up. She expected she would have to play the proper young lady that Grandma Leiko and Aunt Mary both insisted one directing her on being. You didn't answer questions unless by not answering them it could cause more problems. You smiled and waved but most of all you allow the guards or security take control over the thing. What she had found the most interesting was that most of the questions that were being shot were not directed at her at all but at Ren Tsuruga and his relationship with her. She wanted to ask why they had not bothered to ask her but the more she thought about it the more it made sense to her that they would go to him about it. Royalty and Nobility from what she could recall almost never spoke about their relationships, not unless they were making a show of themselves. They were private and only corrected things in a very neutral way, even if they didn't like the person. They would never come out and say it in so many words. No, they quietly put up with it because they were a symbol of above it all. 'Annoying as it may be' she thought to herself.

Kyoko eyes trailed over towards Ren who was staring out the window, still heavy with annoyance that wasn't directed at her from what she could tell so she would simply allow him his peace of mind. It couldn't be easy to all of a sudden be playing host with five additional males that he didn't know at all. Well, she really didn't know them either but she didn't really feel uncomfortable around them. No, if she had to choose she supposed she would be able to get along with Miroku and even Shizuru who kind of reminded her the men that were now apart of her life. Her cousins or she supposed in Japan she would be referring to them as her brothers. He just gave off that feel to her of an overprotective big brother when it came to the other four. Sighing softly she looked down at her phone and texted Miroku to give her number to the other four. She then contacted her lawyer so that he could arrange to add the five men to the guest list for the VIP floor before leaning back in the seat.

Ren turned his eyes towards her as she sighed, his eyes trailing down towards her right side. It had to admit she was rather amazing when it came down to it, to act as if she wasn't hurting. 'I didn't make it any easier earlier' he thought as his eyes turned back out towards the window. He couldn't help but feel like it was nice, he never felt so free of his burdens as he did at the moment she threaten to tell her father. Not that he was exactly happy with the outcome of that the whole thing but it was quickly becoming a memory he didn't want to let go. 'Yet she's hurt and I wasn't careful.'

He stared at the reflection in the glass window, always he saw the blonde hair man with green eyes that looked like him. His other self, his true self, all the darkness he was locked inside of the man that only he could see. 'Does it really matter? Not once did she cry out.'

Ren's eyes darken slightly as he stared at the part of himself he didn't want anyone to ever know about, he couldn't deny he was right. 'I should have known better though, she pushes herself too hard. She always has.' He said thinking about the little girl who felt she had no choice but to get perfect scores. In his mind, she did fit with T family. Kouki worked himself to the point he was always away from his daughter, even before Lina had died that had been the case. It wasn't that he didn't love his little girl, but to him, the world of business was just who he was. Maria was still young yet like with Kyoko she already had a good idea of how the world work. The difference between them was Maria didn't want to make everyone happy, she only wanted to make people not worried about her, that she was alright being without her father but she missed him and her mother. Yet he had no idea how to fix that either. Then there was Lory, that man pushed love on everyone at LME and outside of LME when he could, it was part of even getting your foot in the door. You needed to love and be loved. 'I'm loved plenty' he thought bitterly.

'Not by her though' his eyes turned to look at Kyoko before he mentally sighed.

'She trusts you so much she made you sign a contract' his eyes turned back towards his refection. He couldn't deny it, all they had was that contract and her claims that she trusted him. 'Yet wasn't it done out of fear for my career?' he had no real answer to that because he wasn't really sure anyone.

Gayle King leaned against the edge of the little kitchen table in their hotel room. She was looking at the document that Kendi Brown had pushed through using his position to make it official without truly making it official. It was clever but it was all for Lady Kyoko's lawyer Todoh Susumu, that man was an outsider even if it was for one of the Queen's family members. "Do think it was really wise to do this?" she said looking towards the dark man who sat across from her at their table.

"You know what that girl has been through." He said simply not bothering to look up at her. He knew very well that King was not pleased with how quickly that Kyoko had mingled herself so tightly around not just the Crown but the future of the Crown as well. Yet it wasn't their place to say anything and no matter how he looked at it, Kyoko reminded him of the Queen Mother in her younger years. No, they were different but if you just looked at those two she fit in a lot more than the Queen and the Queen Mother did together.

"I just don't like it." She said putting the document down on the table next to her, "I mean who in their right mind can go through that shit and not be fucked up?" she said looking off in the distance. It was a fair question. A really fair question at that, but again that was not their place to judge. "Doesn't it bother you at all?"

"Not really, she's not the first to be brought under the Crown as a member of the family with the truth of her birth being hidden from the official historical records." He said simply looking back at her, "Besides I like the kid." Her eyes turned towards him in disbelief, he held his hand out for her some, "I know I haven't known her long but like you said, someone doesn't go through even half that shit and comes out without any scars. She has the scars but she's not letting them take her down, fact..." he tapped the paper in front of him, "She's putting herself at risk and making sure that it doesn't reflect badly on us. Any of us." He could tell King was thinking this over and sighing softly in defeat.

King, "Alright, I get that. Yet what will do if she begins to drown?"

"Follow our orders, if she becomes a risk to the Crown, we take care of it. Like we always have and always will. We are loyal to the Crown. Only to the Crown." He said standing up, "Unless we become a Banshee and then it depends on things." He said thinking about Ruto who was loyal first to Lory before the Crown. He smiled some, "But if it was me and I was given a choice where I would be placed as a Banshee, I wouldn't mind becoming hers."

She shook her head slightly, "I think their family Banshee might have a problem with that."

"Oh, he would, trust me." His eyes turned towards her phone as it started to go off before looking towards the clock. It was late, most places wouldn't be calling this late at night. She lifted it up and stared at the number but she didn't know it. She shook her head slightly showing she didn't know "Answer it." He placed a hand on top of her own, "Put it on speaker." She nodded before shifting herself.

When she answered it sounded like someone who had just come rushing towards her phone, her breathing slightly harder. "Yes? Hello? Who is this?"

"Hello, Commander King? This is Officer Jia Mianju." She tilted her head looking towards General Brown looking rather disgusted but when she spoke she seemed more annoyed still a bit out of breath but not like when she had first answered the phone.

"Right, Officer Mianju I don't know how you got my private number but it's late. What is this about?"

"Yes sorry forgive me for calling so late. I just thought because you are part of the Protection Command that you really should be informed. We got a report not too long ago. That Lady Kyoko seems to be dating Ren Tsuruga and you said that without proof of their relationship."

"I know what I said. Did you get the kind of proof you are applying."

"Not really, but our office did get a call about improper conduct. Between her and another person, while she was on a date with Mr. Tsuruga." Her eyes turned to look at General Brown he shook his head and she closed her eyes.

"Send me what you have, I'll look at it." she paused for a moment, "Thank you Officer Mianju." She hung up after he said his farewell and gave a promise to send her a file attachment to her email it wasn't her real one of course. It was secure but it was not on their private server for the Ankou. Her eyes turned towards General Brown, "How did he get that information?"

"I don't know, it shouldn't be possible." Even if the news media they had no reason to send it to the Police. Even if it was improper conduct it was possible for someone standing off on the sidelines to have done it. Yet why didn't it come up? His eyes turned towards the laptop. "If it was really filed, you would of gotten a ping right?"

"Theory wise, yes." She said crossing her arms as she stared down at her feet, "But I don't think they want me there. They might not be putting it on the books either. They didn't release the images that Heth put on her either." she looked up at him, "They are sour about the kidnap but would they really side with a criminal?"

"Society standards. Boys will be boys." She rolled her eyes, "I didn't say I agreed with it."

As the car pulled up to the hotel, Ren finally turned towards Kyoko. He could almost believe she was breathing if he hadn't noticed the way her lips were moving as if in a silent pray but there hadn't been any sound. He wished he had spent more time looking at her like that. "Kyoko we're here." He watched as her eyes opened slowly looking up at the ceiling of the car before she shifted her weight he could tell she wanted to grab her side and that was starting to worry him more and more. 'It wasn't that bad before' he thought, 'It seems worse somehow' he knew she would just say she was fine. "Maybe we should do this in the morning."

"No.," she said looking at him, "If he can make the pain go away. I'll need it." That didn't sound good to him at all. What could he say about it, he leaned forward touching the side of her neck and she leaned into it all he could do was worry he supposed. Lory was siding with her, did he even know or understand how badly she was hurt? "Don't worry, I don't plan to get addicted to anything."

"Who said I was worried?" He dropped his hand turning to open the door instead. He looked back inside, "There are reporters here."

"Of course there is, three Royal children, gathered together outside of the Palace." He watched her turn slightly as if testing her own limits before she took his hand and he held her out. Hotel security was good, as expected though when a member of the Royal family had been attacked even if the police seemed to be on the side of the attacker and not the victim. Ren's eyes narrowed just slightly as the five young men soon joined them. Reino was in the middle, he always seemed to be in the middle.

A young woman pushed through towards them and faster than Ren would have suspected Shizuru had left the little circle that they had made around Reino and was at the other side of Kyoko in an instance. The woman didn't seem bothered at all about this fast moment her cameraman, however, did seem rather surprised by it all.

"Lady Kyoko is it true that you were with Sho Fuwa a famous singer from Japan tonight?" Kyoko stared at the woman for a moment as if she couldn't understand the words but smiled faintly in the end.

"Oh yes. I do remember seeing him there. He was with his date. A very lovely looking woman." She hoped that was the right type of response to make but if she looked towards Ren she was sure it would look even worse, she tried to recall all the lessons that Grandma Leiko and Aunt Mary had insisted she get down quickly before she was even allowed to leave the Palace. Yet it was completely different from having people you knew asking you such questions and dismissing them in a safe setting where if she got it wrong she would know and real life where there was nothing that could be done once it was out.

The reporter nodded her head "Yes that would have been Amelia, a French Model" Kyoko smiled nodding her head slightly as the woman spoke. "Yet according to our sources, their date ended badly because of you."

Kyoko was pretty sure the only source they had was Shoutaro but she couldn't say that and honestly, this was not something she was ready to deal with. Her mind felt like it was racing even if no more than a few seconds had gone by. Yet it seemed Kiyora knew exactly what to do because he had quickly drawn the attention away from her and onto himself, "Sho Fuwa? Oh, wait I remember. If I recall he was the guy who was getting all pissy with the bartender right?" The reporter turned quickly on him and he grinned as Ren took the time to walk Kyoko inside of the hotel.

She couldn't help but think that perhaps that was why he had reacted that way. He was always the kind of person who once he got a few beers in him was less likely to understand what it meant to keep his mouth shut and his actions tended to get aggressive. She turned to look at Ren for a moment "I'm going to go up to my room, you should wait for them to be finished" she said turning to look back towards the doors. "Besides they are going to need someone from the VIP floor even if they are on the guest list. It's getting late and well won't look so good otherwise."

Ren couldn't say anything it was true and the extra measures were due to her family more than the fact that was where VIPs stayed. She placed her forehead against his chest sighing, "You shouldn't go to your room alone," from his understanding that was one of the rules she was supposed to be following.

"I came down from my room by myself. I think I can go up to my room by myself." He couldn't help but smile at the way she looked so annoyed. He knew very well it was a personality trait she had since she was a child. She had hated to be a burden on anyone. It didn't matter if she hardly knew them or not.

"Alright, but I want you to call me when you reach your room." He leaned down touching her cheek gently, "and if I think you took to long I will have no choice but to punish you."

Kyoko could feel the heat off of him, 'He'll eat me if I disobey' she whimpered silently to herself. She nodded her head and quickly left, still able to feel his eyes on her. Silently telling herself she should have asked how long was too long but not really wanting to know the answer either because she knew deep down it would only make her panic more.