Chapter 5: When at fault, apologize.

Author's Notes:
- I really went overboard on taking my liberties with their personalities on this one. But I really I didn't want to make this story any longer than it already is. Ah well… it is fiction.

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Ren slowly turned to Ishibashi Hikaru, who looked like a rabbit who was going to be pounced on by some wild predator. "So when you said that it been since the first episode, you were talking about Bo?"

"What else would I be talking about?"

With his temper calmed and his head and BJ tucked in back at the back of his head, he reverted back to his usual personality and stammered, "I thought that the two of you are… you know…"

"What?"

"You know…"

"No I don't know."

He gave out a short laugh before answering, "Dating." This guy is a lot like Kyoko. Only… uglier. And not his type at all.

"Pfft," the blank-face idol who has just been the object of his misplaced rage, sputtered out in laughter. "Tsuruga-san, you know Kyoko the most. Does it seem like she's the type to go out with anyone that easily?"

He had a point.

"Besides," he shrugged. "It looks like I've been dumped before I could even do anything. It's probably because I'm so short."

"No…" Ren raised his hand to stop the idol from going into pitiful mode. "I don't think it has anything to do with that."

"And anyway," Ishibashi-san leaned against the dressing table. "It looks like you're the one in love with her. But it wouldn't be Kyoko-chan if she recognized it unless you come out and say it directly to her." Then he jokingly pointed a finger at him. "It pisses me off that us mere mortals don't stand a chance when we have someone like you to go against."

Ren looked at him with a deadpan expression on his face. "You make it sound so…" But then again, Ishibashi Hikaru is a natural host of a light-hearted variety show. He has already mastered the ability to break the ice with anyone.

"Seriously," Hikaru continued, sighing. "Kyoko-chan is a really nice girl. You make good with her or else – I may not look it, but I can hold on my own in a fight."

Ishibashi Hikaru is really as nice and as kind as they say he is. And his threat didn't look or sound like it was something he can live up to. Guilt flooded Ren and he started to apologize.

"You don't apologize to me. You apologize to her. I'm sure that after she's calmed down, she'll probably be forgiving towards you that you don't have to get on your knees."

Ren smiled wistfully. He is still the person who knows Kyoko the most. She is brave, temperamental, and knows how to hold a grudge. He KNOWS that he might just need to get on his knees while making an elaborate apology when she asks for it – just as she is compelled to do when he resented her for lying about Fuwa Sho's PV.

Well… his knees could take it.

* * *

"Ren," Yukihito scolded his charge as they reunited outside the dressing room. "You should really watch what you're doing. You still have an image to maintain so please do not pick fights anywhere." They started walking towards the parking lot.

Ren smiled good-naturedly. "I'll remember."

"Seriously…" Ren looked at him suspiciously. "It's good that Ishibashi Hikaru-san was so good-natured about the whole thing…

"'It wouldn't be good for Tsuruga-san's image to have it known that he picks fights. And not good for mine that I almost got my ass kicked and had to be defended by a girl who just dumped me.'

"…he said. He's really a nice guy. If it were another celebrity…" Yukihito remembered. He turned to the man who caused unnecessary panic in his mind with annoyance. "And what about you??? How are you going to make up with Kyoko-chan on this one? Anyone would have a hard time forgiving you after what you just did." He stopped as Ren picked up a piece of paper that was stuck on his windshield. He peeked over his Ren's shoulder and read:

'I am going to be in at the roof of the LME building at 3:30. Let's settle this like men. I'll be leaving at 4:30 because I have a shoot to go to. If you don't show up, you might as well forget that we're senpai and kouhai.'

"Wow!" Yukihito exclaimed. "A challenge letter! But why 'settle this like men???'" He suddenly had visions of Kyoko running around in a yanki outfit with chain knuckles and a katana. "The second person to ever stand up and challenge Tsuruga Ren and it just happens to be a girl!"

* * *

He visualized the first idiot who ever challenged him and had greater joy imagining him splatter with blood. "Those two really make an interesting pair, don't they?"

It annoyed the hell out of him that he just compared the girl he loved more than anything and her biggest rival to that girl. It just proved that they are more connected than ever. And considering the humbled position that he was in right now, that was the last thing that he wanted to acknowledge.

"So where are we going now?" Yukihito-san inquired once they have settled inside the car and Ren started the engine. "We don't have anything else until 7PM for that photoshoot. You're supposed to be in 'that' movie shoot, but that's still cancelled til next week, which is why you got to guest in Bridge Rock."

"Good thing too," Ren sighed as he pulled out of the parking slot, fully intending to drive straight to LME. The enormous joy of a little thing like being in a senpai-kouhai relationship with Mogami-san was in danger.

"You stay away from me until I'm ready to talk to you again!" she shouted at him.

At least… she's ready.

* * *

What the hell was she thinking??? A depressed Kyoko thought as she sat down on the floor of the roof.

This is Tsuruga Ren. The most in demand actor in Japan and she frankly told him in a note that if he didn't go there in a specified time, she'd cut off the ties of being senpai and kouhai. She didn't even know his schedule and he could be working right now.

She's stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!

Even if Tusruga-san will oblige her and sever ties as her senpai, she certainly didn't. Where the hell did she get the nerve to challenge their senpai-kouhai relationship? She was the one who needed him! Without him, What will happen to the her when her source of courage and confidence disappears from her life? She was just acting on impulse based on anger and temper.

Unless that note she tuck on his windshield wiper was blown away, she would have to try to find another way to make amends with him. She didn't really want to make enemies with Tsuruga Ren who only showed her kindness and caring from the time their misunderstanding faded away.
But it wasn't like she was completely at fault here. Even if she was dating Hikaru-senpai, it's not like she should tell him. He's not really her mother or her boyfriend. There are things that she keeps to herself or just tell other people. As much as she relied on him, it's not like she has to tell him everything. She's just a kouhai and she has been abusing her position by relying on him so much. Besides, it's not like he's not keeping any secrets from her either.

She lied down on the ground as she looked at her watch. She sighed and looked up the sky. It was kind of cloudy when the sun would occasionally pop out to spray Tokyo with sunshine. It was 3:45 in the afternoon and Tsuruga-san is never late.

She closed her eyes, trying to figure out another way to make amends with him. Her head was filling with half-baked ideas when she felt a shadow over her face.

Her eyes fluttered open and she was looking into Tsuruga Ren's somber, upside-down face.
"I'm sorry," he gently apologized. He was kneeling just right on top of her head and was bent over her face.

Happiness and relief flooded Kyoko's entire being. It didn't matter that he's scary and prone to sudden changes in moods, she didn't even consider them as faults. They were just part of the things that makes Tsuruga-san Tsuruga-san. "I'm sorry too." Impulsively, she lifted her hands and placed them on his cheeks to pull him down and she kissed him on his forehead. He followed suit and gave her a small kiss on her forehead.

When he pulled his face back, Ren saw the surprised look on her face and he smiled. "Kyoko," he said, deliberately leaving out the –chan. "It's tota-"

His deliberate usage of her first name and the omission of the –chan/-san didn't escape her notice. But what the hell… he was her senpai after all. If he felt like calling her that, she was not in the position to oppose. If he was compelled to be the first boy to kiss her back, even if it was just on the forehead, that was fine too. "No need," Kyoko gave a sweet smile. "As long as you're not mad at me anymore, I'm not mad either." Then he squeezed his cheeks. "Just don't ever, ever flare up and get mad without telling me ever again."

* * *

"I still can't believe you're Bo…" He finally said after a long comfortable silence of just watching the sky. After their two-worded apology, they just sat beside one another, knowing that their fight and misunderstanding is over without requiring any explanations.

"Yep," Kyoko nodded with her usual smiling face that Ren couldn't resist. "And I know all of your secrets."

"Eh???" Ren's eyes widened. He never thought of it that way!!! He already told 'Bo' that he was in love with her. A million excuses and one proper explanation/confession ran through his head, depending on what she has to say about it.

"Well…" She stretched out her legs and balanced herself with her hands on the floor. "Only the ones that you told me." She turned suddenly quiet for a second and turned to him. "So whatever happened to that girl?"

"What girl?" He tried to play dumb.

"That girl." She exclaimed. "The one in high school who is 16 years old. Don't tell you've already found some lame chain excuse to make yourself believe that you can't be with her anymore."

"Ah…"

He forgot. This is Kyoko he's talking to.

"That would be such a shame."
"Huh?" He looked up at her, his thoughts running wild that she managed to put two and two together. She can do advanced math after all. He thinks that all he needs is one more form of encouragement and he will be telling her everything.

"I'm sure you still have some issue with the whole age thing," she said, letting her thoughts go directly to her mouth and skipping the part of the brain to filter what is being said. Something Bo would do. "You know what I think?" Without waiting for an answer, she continued. "I think she has to be a million times an idiot if she never falls in love with you. You can be a bully, highly temperamental, and scary when you don't talk…"

"Thanks…" He gave her a dry look. That didn't exactly make him sound like a good potential boyfriend.

'But," she laughed. "I think you'd be a great boyfriend to that girl someday. Because you're kind and mature and really caring about people so it would be very impossible if you don't cherish that girl with all your heart. So she would really have no choice but to fall madly in love with you."

"You promise?"

"Huh?"

"If everything you say never happens, you're a million times an idiot."

Kyoko laughed some more. "Of course, it would! Things like that happens to people like you."

"And what about people like you? Don't you want to fall madly in love with someone someday?"
"Pfft," Kyoko sputtered out laughter. "Tsuruga-san, you're really funny. Those kinds of things will never happen to me. Not if I can help it. I don't want to fall in love. I'm certainly never going to get married and I'm never going to have kids."

Lord… it was like he was back at square one…if he even moved at all.