-Oxford - Thursday: Part 6-

Todoh Susumu hadn't moved from the young man Miroku's side. It didn't miss him that the young man was worried, yet whatever was going on inside that room was beyond either of them. He had to admit it troubled him slightly that whatever was going on in there. Yet what would Kyoko do with Maria there? Surely she wouldn't do anything criminal. 'It's not like his blood doesn't run through her veins' not that he knew much about her biological father or why he had turned to crime in the first place. Everyone had a story, that was the one thing he knew for sure. So there was a story why Kyoko was so insisted on Reino's help for something he didn't believe in but she was so sure about it. His eyes narrowed slightly as he thought about it again 'If I don't know, I can not give her guidance.' He sighed 'Then again last night she wouldn't listen to me so I had no choice but to take the matter into my own hands.'

Susumu had hoped of course that Reino would see the cost, it was an unreasonable amount of money, no one would normally agree to it, but he had no issues he had. 'It's illogical to believe in such things as supernatural healing. The idea of grudges?' Even when the lights flickered it had not gone unnoticed by him that it seemed to be the cause of Kyoko, but then again her mother had an ability to make people freeze as if they were frozen, to chill the air around people. He supposed it wasn't unreasonable to believe that someone could make a room seem darker.

"They've been in there a while haven't they?" Susumu turned his gaze on the young man once more before looking down at his watch.

"It hasn't been that long at all." Though he had to admit ten minutes was longer than he was truly willing to allow her to be alone with a man he was pretty sure was a fraud. Then again Ruto was in there, that man would likely not allow anything to happen. Not with both of his young charges in there.

"Long enough..." he crossed his arms staring at the door as if he could see inside of it.

Susumu could tell the young man was getting anxious but he couldn't understand why he was. The door opened and he watched as Miroku rushed forward, he pushed between the door frame and Kyoko. "I know," she said softly causing his head to spin around to look at her for a moment. She watched as Miroku turned back towards Reino who gave a small nod of his head.

Maria looked at the little grudge that was floating just above Reino's head. "He understands our position is all, right Aunt Kyoko?" She looked down at the little girl whose hand she was holding and smiled softly.

"Yes, I think he understands very well." She said turning her eyes towards him, "I think we can truly move forward now that there are no more lies between us."

Reino's eyes turned towards her, 'Well there is still a few' he thought bitterly, 'Like apparently I am falling in love with someone surrounded by truly dangerous people.' And the thought that her father might just be as dangerous terrified him deep down. If he had people like Ren Tsuruga who he knew just by looking at him that he was dangerous. That she had Tomi and apparently this Ruto. His eyes turned to look at the dark skin man 'Who might have powers of his own.' What did it say about the other people who gathered around her? 'Does Natasha have this sort of power? Could she have this sort if she had not been... broken due to that man?' There were too many questions and not enough answers he had to talk to someone. Yet right now he wasn't sure who he could talk to, his own mother would never talk about this sort of stuff. Boris and Vas would just draw their attention to her and that would only make Tomi mad, 'Or is it Tod now?' He needed fresh air and time to think, "Let's head out..." maybe he could locate his journals from when he was younger. That would help him.

Kyoko closed her eyes she felt awful about what she had done. Not as bad as when she had used Ren though and that struck her as slightly strange but perhaps it was the fact that she accepted that she was a monster now. Where before she was still resisting it, but now the game was in full swing, as soon as it seemed she was unprotected she was sure she would see that police officer again. She mentally shuddered and had to fight to wrap her arms around her, "See you tonight..."

Miroku eyes narrowed as he looked at her, he opened his mouth but Reino placed a hand on his shoulder and he looked at her. "Indeed, I will see you tonight." He found himself smiling as he looked at her surprised look. "I am looking forward to dinner actually," he said looking towards Miroku, "We should use this to build our friendships." The funny thing was he found himself truly believing that his eyes trailed up towards the little grudge that glared at him, "Come along" one would think he was talking to Miroku but the two who could see that little grudge hang it's little head as it trailed after him knew the truth.

Susumu watched the two young men walk down the hall, before turning his attention to Kyoko "Is there something I should be made aware of?" He said looking at her carefully, "It would be protected."

Kyoko shook her head, "No, there is nothing for you to worry about besides... you could say the less you know the better for you." She said thinking about the fact, "Besides also according to the law whenever there is a third party included such things would no longer be protected, we only get away with it some due to the fact I'm still legally a minor." she smiled softly "Anyways, it's fine, there are no crimes being planned. Not that I would tell you if there was, because then you would be completely useless as my lawyer afterward."

Susumu sighed he should have known that she knew the law or at least enough of it. Her mother would have expected such things from Kyoko when they were still parent and child. "Very well I will not push the matter." He said simply holding out a folder to her, "This is the contract you will hold with R'Mandy." She looked at the folder for a moment before opening it up, "You will work solely for Francis Mandy or Ryu Mandy" he said simply, "Everything will need to be approved before it is allowed to publish, this is more due to your position than anything else. You will start from the bottom and work your way up." He tapped the folder inside for a moment. "There is a second documentation that you will need to sign, your father has already approved of your new stage name."

Kyoko sighed softly, she wasn't exactly happy with the idea of a stage name, to be honest, but she knew it would be too hard to start from the bottom and work her way up and she didn't want Shoutaro to ever say that she did it with her family name. "I don't have to legally change my name do I?" She already knew the answer but still, she found herself asking all over again.

Susumu smiled warmly at her, "Yes Lady Kyoko, a stage name is just a name that you use for your performances. Rather you are using it for dancing, modeling or anything else for that matter. However, there is nothing wrong with you using your stage name but you made it very clear to me last night that you do not wish to do that."

"Yes, I just want people to see me not my family when I work with others." Truth be told minus her dancing with Keiji and this modeling contract with R'Mandy she had no other plans for anything else. Yet still proving herself by her own hard work 'and it's not like anyone notices me...' she thought bitterly 'Once the makeup is gone, I just fade into the background' she lifted her eyes towards him.

"Then as it was agreed on last night your stage name will be Kyoko Hozu," he said shifting his glasses on, "I do hope you understand that people may assume you are connected to Kuu due to this being the last name of his old stage name."

"Yes well Daddy gave him that name... and apparently My Nephele scares Daddy enough to make him agree to it..." Last night was odd indeed. Juliena had taken her father into his private room and when he came out he was pale and all of a sudden he was agreeing with her.

"She's a very scary lady," Maria said looking at Kyoko who stared at her for a moment the folder being held to her lips as she thought.

"No I think it's more that she's a force of nature..." and then, of course, she was now being expected to call Kuu 'Father' and Nephele 'Mother' it was all very disturbing to her.

Ruto eyes seemed to smile as he placed a hand on both of their heads, "She can be both. Now Miss Kyoko, Miss Maria. You have plans do you not?"

Kyoko frowned heavily, she had to go see Ren now, ask him to join them for dinner. "Are you sure you don't want to ask him yourself, Maria?"

"I'm sure. Besides it's your way of saying sorry right?" she sighed heavily as she hung her head. "Then it's your place to ask him!" She began to pull Kyoko down the hall. Depression was filling every fiber of Kyoko's being and it almost seemed as if Maria was leading a ghost that had been dropped into oil and was just barely able to stay in a semi-human form.

'I can't do this, I can't face him, he's going to be so mad. He looked so bad because of me. Maria, you are leading me to my grave I hope you know.' Kyoko mentally whined as she followed after the little girl.

How did she get in this mess? That was what she was wondering as she found herself pressed against the corner between the men and woman's bathroom trapped by Ren. Kyoko had only assisted that he eat after learning that he had not eaten at all, 'It's all Yukihito's fault' she mentally whined. It didn't help that Maria was in the restroom, she should have stayed in the restroom, then this would never have happened either. She closed her eyes as her mind replayed everything at high speed.

"Ah, Lady Kyoko" Yashiro said walking quickly towards her from where she sat. Having just spoken to Francis, him and Ruto had returned to gather Ren Tsuruga, but this was not Ren and there was no sign of Ruto either. She turned to look at Maria for a moment to see if she knew something that she was missing but she shook her head no.

"Yes, Mr. Yashiro?" She finally said as he stood in front of her.

"Please call me Yukihito." He smiled warmly at her.

"I am not comfortable with that, I'm afraid," she said softly as she looked at him. His facial expression seemed to drop and she found herself in panic mode, "No I mean, after what happened last night. I don't think it is wise." That seemed to lift his expression as he pushed his glasses up some.

Yashiro, "Yes about last night, I know this is likely not the best time. Yet could you do me a favor?" Kyoko should have known not to do it, Maria was shaking her head no, but she had just hurt this man's feelings by refusing to call him by his first name. She sighed heavily knowing she would likely regret this but gave a small nod of her head. "Well, you see Ren didn't eat this morning and he's turned down lunch too. He claims he had far too much last night."

Kyoko frowned slightly at this news, "He should eat still. Even if it's just something small."

Yashiro beamed a smile at her, "Yes that's what I think too. So could you take him out to lunch?" All of a sudden Maria was very happy with this and she had two people it seemed to beg her to say yes.

"Fine but you are coming with us." Kyoko turned towards Maria, "and this means he doesn't need to come to dinner understand?" She didn't think her heart could take trying to keep him calm around that whole bunch of people.

Yashiro "Oh you were going to invite him to dinner?"

Kyoko sighed heavily, "Yes well, it's a very large party. The family, Reino's group, I invited Kuu and my Nephele but she declined. Kuu was very saddened by this fact but apparently, she wants some alone time with him." She said putting a finger to her chin thinking about it. That just didn't seem right to her, she was sure there was more to it but she couldn't put her finger on it. "Then Mr. Susumu has been invited as well. Anyways" she said looking at him, "It means you will have to make sure he has a proper dinner tonight. He's your client, it won't do him any good if he faints. Actually, you will be at fault." she said narrowing her eyes as she looked at him. Yashiro hung his head.

"Yes. Yes. I understand. So lunch just the three of us"

"Five of us, Maria and Ruto will be joining us of course." For some reason, he seemed even more heartbroken than when she had refused to call him by his first name. She just couldn't figure out why.

Ren hadn't been pleased with all when he had learned that he had been disinvited to dinner. He wouldn't have known if Maria had not let it slipped. He hadn't really touched anything at all actually other than what Maria had put on her fork. Something that ended up hurting because apparently Reino and his friends would be there. What had been a happy moment just became dark and bitter to him. So when she had taken Maria to the restroom, he had ended up answering a phone call, one that he normally wouldn't have bothered with and made his way in the other direction before walking back around. He was sure Ruto would realize sooner or later but he had to know why. Yet now that he was here he didn't know what to do as he pinned her against the corner, completely hidden from the sight of the cameras here.

She looked so scared of him and that caused more pain to his chest. All he could think about was running his fingers through her hair and holding her to him, to make her realize that she didn't have to be scared of him. 'Why does the thought she's terrified of me hurt so much?' It never bothered him before, the thought of people being scared of him. 'Why do you make me care about you so much?' He was fighting with his very inner being, he wanted to hold her, he wanted to, he mentally cut that thought out of his mind. Kissing her was not going to happen, he couldn't get lost in his role from last night. 'Yeah that's all it is, that's the reason.'

'Why are you lying to yourself?' He mentally sighed, it wasn't really a lie, was it? She was just his childhood friend, he already cared about her because of that. He got lost in his role as her fairy prince as children, after all, this wasn't any different, was it? 'Then why do you have her trapped to the point of tears?'

"Sorry, I'm sorry!" his eyes widen as she bowed her head, he wasn't mistaken she was indeed rubbing her eyes.

'Fuck' What was he doing to her? He didn't want to make her cry, that was the last thing he wanted to do to her. He placed a hand on top of her head, wanting to give her any sort of comfort like he did when she was younger. Slowly she lifted her eyes looking at him, it broke his heart to see her like that. 'How are you going to fix it now?' He had no idea what he could do, clearly, none of the things he wanted to do would likely go over well, but he did want to kiss the tears away and fighting that urge was becoming a battle all of its own.

"I know you told me to not worry about your career... but I couldn't let them say or think those things about you." She lowered her face again rubbing her eyes as she spoke. "They are still saying such awful things." She shook her head as she wrapped her arms around herself. "I just can't deal with it right now, I don't have the strength... to deal with all this right now. If you come to dinner tonight it will only make matters worse." She backed away almost as if she expected him to hurt her and his heart sank even more.

He wanted to say something more but Maria opened the bathroom door and looked between the two of them. "Aunt Kyoko?" she asked moving forward and Ren stepped back from her.

Kyoko turned towards her rubbing her eyes once more as she smiled softly, "Sorry Maria" she took a deep breath, "I'm going to need a bit more time. Your Ren didn't know what to do when I started to cry is all" She said looking more at how she looked at him.

That just made him feel worse seeing as he had been the one to make her cry in the first place. Yet clearly Kyoko didn't want Maria to be upset with him and for some reason it made him feel worse while still being happy that she was thinking about him. 'Or she's just thinking about Maria' he mentally winced at that thought, as the pain that it caused.

"Are you sure Aunt Kyoko?" Maria was looking at him, well he couldn't be surprised he had basically trapped her in a corner and then hadn't said anything because everything he wanted to do he wouldn't allow himself to do so it just became slightly energy filled to the point she had started to cry.

"Yes Maria, Your Ren is a very good person. How about you head back to the table and give me a few..." Maria wrapped her arms around Kyoko's legs hugging her. "Make sure Mister Tsuruga eats all his food" her eyes turned towards him, "and Mister Tsuruga will make sure you eat all your vegetables, right?"

Ren stared at her for a moment, it was the least he could do he supposed. "Yes, we will both be good and eat our food" he looked down towards Maria holding out his hand for her, "Come on Maria, let's give your Aunt some space to calm down. We will send Ruto to come and get her alright?" Maria frowned slightly at him before looking back at Kyoko who nodded her head, yet her smile seemed so distance so far away to Ren but Maria sighed heavily and took his hand. He didn't want to leave but what choice did he have but to do the one thing she asked of him.

A/N: Attorney-Client Privilege only applies when there isn't a third party or they aren't in a public location where they could be overheard. This can, of course, be waived in cases where you are dealing with a minor [or someone with a mental impairement] to include their parents [or guardian] but again this doesn't apply where people may hear them. That said this also can be applied to when the client Waiver of the privilege. Such as when they tell a third party the same information they had shared with their lawyer lastly of course in the case of fraud or crimes and they [the lawyer] attempts to help cover it up.