The tumble glass, full of ice, could barely hold an adequate amount of his strongest brandy. The same brandy he had learned to love while self-pitying his failed Katsuki. Even drinking slowly, the liquor wasn't nearly enough to wash off her verbal attack. Ren sipped as if everything were normal, but he could feel her worried stares on the back of his neck. Kyoko was probably panicking at why her senpai seemed so distraught.

"I would never fall for my senpai's handsome looks! Never fall for my senpai…never..never…"

Nervously breaking the silence, she spoke first. "Tsuru-"

"Ren, Kyoko." He interrupted quickly, more forcibly than he intended. His voice softened, but instead of turning around to face her, he poured himself another drink. He spoke, before he downed the drink. "I told you…call me Ren."

Putting the cup back, he returned to the table. He kept his face neutral as he stacked the dishes on top of one another. Ren made sure to avoid her eyes as discretely as possible.

"You seem to enjoy this movie Kyoko-chan. I'll clean up while you watch." As quietly as a ghost, he returned to the kitchen to wash the scraps away over the sink.

His words weren't harsh. To the untrained eye, it'd be considered as kind. He didn't give any forceful sun-like smiles. He didn't trigger any of her demons. Even with that though, Kyoko knew that Ren wasn't in the mood to continue the conversation further. It was almost as if he was hurt by something, rather than angry. She reluctantly let him clean by himself and turned back to his television, trying not to spy on him as he turned exited the room with all the used plates.

It wasn't hard to focus on the movie (it was one of her favorites), but she had a nagging feeling she had said something wrong to the actor. She wracked her brain over the conversation. Perhaps Scar or Geston would have been a better comparison than Jafar, who was old. Ren was only in his early twenties. Saying he was like Jafar was probably too much for him. When the right moment arose, she would definitely offer him to rescind her right to call him by anything other than Tsuruga.

But it wasn't like Ren to be down at a comment like that… Then again, it wasn't like her image of Ren to drink, especially what seemed like so much. It wasn't the first time the actor forced her to change her mental image though. He had smoked like he was born doing it, fought like a true street warrior, and frankly surprised her at every turn with new hints of his talent. Maybe while living or filming in another country alcohol was freely available to him, and he had built up his tolerance while learning to enjoy the beverage for simply its taste? The French love to smoke and drink. She pondered the thought of a French Ren.

He returned and went straight to the cabinet for a third glass. Kyoko pursed her lips as her senpai poured himself another cup, watching him from the corner of her eye. Although he stood directly in front of the discreet liquor cabinet; she could tell with a keen eye how much had made it past his glass. When she had originally walked to the kitchen with the bottle on display, it had barely been opened. Now it laid below the halfway line. While Ren was the very definition of controlled, he steadily drank the contents faster than she thought was wise. He had several more drinks than the average man could handle. Still, he was perfectly balanced, and showed no effects from the firewater.

Working directly under the Fuwa Inn's okami matron, she had her fair share of entertaining guests who have had imbibed more than their tolerance. As an okami in training (although she didn't know it at the time), the Fuwa head mistress expected her to handle all guests with dignity and honor. It was not something all the guests, especially the intoxicated businessmen, always returned. She had cleaned many messes because of them.

The glass tumbled out of his hand, catching them both by surprise. It shattered into large and small fragments, littering the bamboo floor.

"Don't move Kyoko. I got it." Ren said smoothly, as he bent down and started picking up the largest glass shards. Instead of obeying, she jumped up to her feet and ran to the hallway closet. "It's not safe to pick it up by hand Tsuruga-san! I'll go get the vacuum!"

"No need," Ren continued to pick up the pieces while calling after her, with no avail. "I can get most of the pieces…Ah!" He pulled back and dropped the picked up debris. One of the jagged shards caught his skin. While not deep, the cut was enough to blossom red; drips of blood coming from the wound. Ren watched the crimson fluid puddled in his hand, missing the return of her hurried feet over the hardwood.

Holding up the vacuum with accomplished pride, the young actress announced her return arrival with cleaning determination. "I have the…" Kyoko stopped dead at the sight of his injury. She dropped the vacuum immediately and almost teleported to his side. "Your hand Tsuruga-san! We have to clean it!"

Carefully cupping under his hand and leading him back to the table, away from the scene of the accident, Ren and Kyoko bickered lightly over the severity of the wound and the treatment it would need. Once she had him in a proper sitting position, holding a napkin to soak the blood, Kyoko ran for the first aid kit in and returned in a flash.

With attention and gentleness that never failed to surprise him, Kyoko small hand cupped his. The large difference in their sizes made him smile lightly, as she pulled the napkin away from the cut. With the blood mostly sopped away, she could get a clear view of the wound, long and thin across his palm. With one hand, she nimbly opened the first aid kit and pulled out an individual alcohol pad. Tearing it open, she pulled his hand closer to her.

"Ah! That hurts!" Ren swore lightly, surprising his nursing kohai. He tried to pull his bleeding hand away, but Kyoko kept just a firm enough clutch to keep it immobile.

"Hold still, it won't hurt as much…" Kyoko said huffing, dabbing the alcoholic pad onto the shallow bleeding gash.

"If you'd hold still, it wouldn't hurt as much"

Catching the echo of the television, Ren laughed richly. It warmed up the room, however brief. Kyoko, deeply involved in her temporary nursing role, missed the nearly matching line she had said to the movie.

It wasn't until Ren face morphed into an irritable look, and he pulled his hand away while reciting the next line, did something click. "Well if you hadn't have run away, this wouldn't have happened."

"If you hadn't frightened me, I wouldn't have run away!" Kyoko replied back in surprising rising tension, slipping unconsciously into the role of female protagonist.

"Well you shouldn't have been in the west wing!" The actor shouted back, banging his good hand against the table in emphasis.

"Well, you should learn to control your temper Ren!" Kyoko shouted irately, leaning over Ren's side of the table and breathing harshly. The truth of her words shocked him. Ren's eyes were wide and bewildered at her passionate performance. Yet, she had said his name? She started back on taking care of his wound, as he doubted himself. "Now, hold still. This might sting a little."

Once the wound was properly cleansed, Kyoko took and put the medical trash to the side to throw away later. Pulling out a plaster, she began to position the band-aid and stuck it on in a way Ren would have little interference with moving his hand.

"I'm sorry about that Tsuruga-san." Her head was down in shame, as she finished up. "I didn't mean to yell…I was just caught off-guard."

Ren's deep warm chuckle lifted up her head, catching her by astonishment. "That's perfectly okay. I wanted and expected you to respond with Belle's lines."

"How did you know I would respond like that…?" She asked quietly, standing up to go and take care of the broken glass.

"Well…" Ren paused, "the first words that appear in your mind…it would naturally be the one you're used to, right Kyoko-chan?"(1)

She smiled lightly, as she started cleaning up the pile of glass.

In case you're curious and just can't place it, chapter 18, page 30-31