Chapter 5

Maria spent days looking into how to get them together. Kyoko was easier to follow than Ren was. She never saw Ren very often, but she never tried to seek him out before either. The man was never around LME, at least not for these past few days. She was able to follow Kyoko much more, and she figured if Ren loved her he will pop up sooner or later.

With Kyoko, her attendance has increased within LME since she isn't required on Dark Moon as much. So that left Box R and school that she disappeared to. She found out that Kyoko wouldn't go to school if Box R had a full shooting starting early in the day. If she is doing something for only an hour or so she will go back. Kyoko will also spend about two hours at LME if all she did that day was go to school. Otherwise, she will go straight home.

What she does at home Maria found difficult to figure out. She couldn't go there since she was unescorted and the shop was so small that she would be easily spotted. So on one Thursday afternoon she asked if they could play again.

"I'm sorry Maria, I can't tonight. I have a show tonight, how about tomorrow night?" She said apologetically. Maria thought hard about what she was doing but she couldn't remember her having to shoot at night.

"Is Box R doing something special?" She asked curiously.

Kyoko pressed her lips together and slightly looked away then back at the little girl. "No, it's for… another show. I have about an hour till I need to be there. I'm here to check the audition boards to see if there was anything new. Want to join me?"

Maria was a little stunned to find that she had another show and filmed at night. What was she doing tonight? Another show? Was it new? Finally she shook her head, and Kyoko nodded.

"Okay. We'll spend some time together another day then. Be good, Maria." Kyoko walked away and Maria decided to head upstairs to see Uncle but unfortunately he had already left for the day. She wanted to look through his files or on the computer to find out but her grandfather has told her never to through other people's things and to be honest she was a little worried if she could find anything in this mess that Sawara called a desk.

That left only one thing left to do… follow her.

Maria changed out of the frilly dress and into a pale yellow t-shirt with a bright blue flower on it and shorts. She also put on a small tan cap so she wouldn't be noticed. When she went to find her big sister and she wasn't at the audition boards, she panicked a little.

What if she already left! I'll never find out what she is doing. Maria ran around the area where she was most likely to find her. She went upstairs to her grandfather's office, to Sawara's again, then to Yashiro's dusty never used desk. Even the LoveMe room was empty and from the looks of things she hadn't been in it either. As she was about to give up hope, she found her in L.A Hearts eating a light dinner.

She tried to stay hidden since being noticed right now would defeat the purpose of the disguise. After almost 15 minutes of pure boredom, she finally moved. Kyoko paid for the meal, gathered her items and Maria hid behind every person, plant or inanimate object she could. She thanked the spirits that be that Kyoko wasn't riding her bike today.

Maria found herself at TBM studios and as soon as she walked in she saw posters of what they filmed there which were mostly talk shows and variety shows like Kimagura Rock. It was one of the LME shows that she actually watched of her own accord. Well she did like watching anything that had to do with her sister and Ren but sometimes she didn't understand them.

This one was a lot of fun though. They tried to make it into a talk show and a variety show at the same time and the games they played with Bo were funny. Now that she was thinking about it, it was being shown tonight. She looked up at the clock. It was coming on in about an hour actually.

It would be so much fun to watch it in person than on television. She sighed. Now was not the time for that. Perhaps she can ask to come and see it another week. Right now she had to find Kyoko. She looked around and realized that she lost her. She was lucky enough to see that she was in one long hallway; however, the moment it ended, there were three hallways she could go. Maria started to panic a little and went down the shortest hallway, the one right in front of her.

It was simply offices and most of them were empty. Going back to the cross road, she looked to the right which seemed like more rooms but to the left sounded loud, more like that of a shoot. She went left and peeked into every door she found in hopes of finding Kyoko. She tried not to look lost. She didn't want someone to talk to her. While she was use to being alone in a massive building, this one she didn't know and they didn't know her.

Her heart was hammering as she still couldn't find her. She was starting to wish that she had taken a cell phone. At least then she could call for help if she couldn't find Kyoko. There was a large dressing room with three boys, the three that hosted the Kimagura Rock show. They were talking and laughing about something. Bo wasn't there or at least a fourth man that would be Bo wasn't there. She left and continued through the building looking and hiding where she could.

Finally, she passed a storage location and spotted her. Maria was so relieved that she didn't think and instantly ran up and wrapped her arms around her.

"Whaaa!" Kyoko looked down to find a frightened child clinging to her. There was a light colored hat on with golden yellow hair under it. She pulled the hat off to see her face, letting the girl's hair fall.

"M…Maria!" She bent down and hugged her. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to know where you were going, so I followed you and then I lost you and got scared." She looked like she was on the verge of crying but withheld.

Kyoko sighed. "You shouldn't do that. Please ask me next time or at least bring someone with you. What if something happened or someone took you? Do you know how much that would have hurt me?" She hugged the little girl and burying her face in her hair.

"I'm sorry, onee-sama, but I always had you in my sight. So if something were to happen I knew you were right there." She sounded so confident. Kyoko understood that to be a compliment, but she felt such pressure and feared the possibilities. It was sweet that this little girl trusted her to that degree though.

"I would do anything in the world to keep you safe and sound, but I would much rather have known you were there and walking with me hand in hand than you following me. Please don't go out alone like that again. Okay?" She pleaded. Maria nodded and Kyoko smiled. Kyoko stood back up and started pushing a large cart down the dark hall.

"So what are you filming here? Oh are you a guest on Kimagura Rock?" Maria asked and looked at Kyoko. She wasn't really dressed to be a guest star on the show. She was wearing a pair of black spandex shorts, a tight light blue tank top and a headband holding her hair back.

"Are you doing a work out video?" She asked again, and Kyoko smiled humorously.

"No, I'm not a guest and no, I'm not doing a work out video." She paused and looked down at Maria, who waited impatiently. Kyoko stopped finally reaching the end of the little hall and turned to her.

"You can keep a secret, right?" She asked and Maria nodded vigorously. She has yet to tell anyone about her plans or even that Ren and she loved each other. Of course, she can keep a secret if she knows it is one.

"Alright then," she reached into the cart and paused, "Ready?" Again Maria nodded with eager eyes.

Kyoko pulled out the Bo head dramatically and exclaimed, "Tada! I'm Bo!"

Maria's eyes went wide and she started bouncing in her spot and squeeling, "No way! Really? Really? For how long?"

Kyoko laughed. "Well, since they started actually. The original guy was sick, so they called Moko-san and me to cover. Moko-san didn't want to do it therefore, I did it. They liked me and allowed me to stay on permanently."

"Wow! So all this time it was you. Does Ren-sama know?" She asked, and Kyoko froze as she was pulling the rest of the costume out of the bin.

She replied nervously, "N…n…n…no! And he mustn't ever know!"

Maria frowned. "Why not? It's a job. He likes any work that he does. You should like all the work you have too."

Kyoko was shoving her feet into the costume while she spoke, "Oh I love being Bo. It's just…" She paused again, "I don't think he would be happy if he knew I was Bo."

Maria smiled knowingly. She knew that he would love anything she did but Kyoko didn't. "I think Ren-sama won't care. He really, really likes you, onee-sama."

Kyoko blushed. "Maria, it isn't good to spread rumors especially those that could hurt Ren-san's career." She turned awkwardly in the suit and zipped it up. She lifted the head with her wing and started to squeak as she walked.

"But it's true. He really loves y…"

"Maria!" Kyoko snapped interrupting her in mid-sentence. She took a deep breath as she saw Maria's stunned face and calmly spoke, "Please stop. He is a wonderful handsome man who is helping me by teaching me acting tricks. He might like me as a person, yes, but that's it. To say the word…" she licked her lips, "love is going too far. Love is a very powerful thing, and you shouldn't use it unless you really mean it. To say that Tsuruga Ren loves me isn't right."

Maria looked up at the half Bo/half Kyoko form, and she wanted to cry. There was pain and sadness in her eyes, her face as she spoke. Grandfather was right. Kyoko was hurting so much that she couldn't see the love right in front of her.

"I love you, onee-sama," she said quietly and right into her eyes. She watched as Kyoko stilled and her face changed. She brightened overall, her eyes started to water and shine and behind those tears was happiness. She smiled a big bright blinding smile. She kneeled down clumsily, wrapped her wings around her and hugged her as best she could.

"I think you are the very first person to ever say that to me, Maria. Thank you," she whispered into her hair and Maria couldn't help but let her tears fall. To have lived a life where no one, not a single person in the whole world has ever said "I love you" to you. Maria couldn't imagine it. It was simply beyond her.

She felt Kyoko take a shaky breath and pulled away. No tears fell from her eyes, but they were still extremely watery. The smile weakened to a small watery one and Maria felt her brush away her tears.

"I love you too Maria," Kyoko said completely heart felt and stood up. She extended her wing and Maria took it.

"So then, are you going to stay and watch the show or do you need to return back to LME?" Kyoko paused in horror realizing something. "Tell me President Takarada knows you are here."

Maria shook her head and then Kyoko disappeared, the constant sound of squeaking feet ran down the hallway.

"Yes, it will only take a moment of his time." Maria heard Kyoko say as she walked back.

"Ah, hello, sir…Yes, she is with me," she said than pulled the phone way from her ear, and Maria could hear his voice but couldn't understand what he said.

"N…n…no, sir! I didn't, she followed me. I'm so sorry! I never meant…" she was interrupted

"Yes, sir… Of course, sir… Absolutely, sir… Okay, here she is, sir." Kyoko felt like ten years were stripped from her life as she handed the phone to Maria.

"Hi Grandfather," she said cheerily.

"Maria! I have told you never to leave the building unless you tell me and you have an adult with you. I almost had the police out there looking for you," Lory scolded.

"I'm sorry, Grandfather. Onee-sama already yelled at me about it too. Grandfather, may I stay and watch the show please, please?" She begged.

"Absolutely not, Sen-san is already going out there to pick you up. You aren't leaving the house for a week with what you did."

"Yes, grandfather," she said sadly.

"I'll see you soon, don't leave Kyoko-chan's side until he comes and picks you up."

"Okay, goodbye grandfather." She hung up and handed the phone back to Kyoko.

"I can't stay. Sen-sama is coming to pick me up and he said to not leave you till he is here."

Kyoko thought about that for a moment. "Okay, it usually takes Ren about ten or so minutes to get here from LME, but you are going to have to come to my pre-show meeting with me.

Maria actually loved that idea and was eager to go. They all went on stage and Maria was dazzled with everything. She saw the audience start to fill up the bleachers and the three hosts were there with their producer. The producer did not look happy as Kyoko and Maria approached.

"You can't bring your kid here, Mogami," he yelled, and Kyoko hung her head.

"I am not her daughter!" Maria screamed and stomped her foot. He said it so rudely to her too, not even with an honorific.

"Either way, you can't have her here," he yelled again and this time one dark-haired host spoke up.

"Uh… Producer, that's Takarada Maria, as in President Takarada Lory's granddaughter," Yuusei warned him and the mean man did a complete 180 personality check. He smiled and walked up with a good nature will.

"Ah! I'm so sorry, Maria-chan. Please forgive me, of course you can stay. Would you like anything to eat or drink? We can have you sit in the VIP room if you like," he said sweating bullets.

"No, and it's Takarada-chan to you! Why are you so mean to my onee-sama?" she yelled out angrily taking Kyoko's winged hand in hers and the producer looked up at Kyoko's shocked face.

"Onee-sama?" He whispered, "You're Takarada's granddaughter?" he gasped out.

"No, no, no. We aren't related by blood. It's a term of endearment." Kyoko turned to Maria. "Maria, he is only doing is job, and I messed up a lot when I first started here. It was my first job, so I was having trouble. He is making sure I don't mess up anymore."

"It's your first job! Everyone messes up their first time, why is he still mad at you?" She said angrily. Kyoko actually didn't have an answer for that and she hesitated answering. The three Ishibashi guys did come up at this instant.

"Yeah, producer, why are you still picking on Kyoko-chan? She is doing really well and even made the show more popular. You should forgive her already," Hikaru said and the other two were putting their arms around Bo's shoulders.

"I'm not mad. I was surprised that's all. We don't let anyone beside crew here. I was being cautious," the producer said with all good intentions.

"There see, he's not mad at me. Now I think your ride is here." Kyoko pointed to the side of the stage behind Maria. Sen-san stepped up on stage in a toga to everyone's amazement and bowed.

"Okay." Maria beckoned Kyoko down and she tip-toed up to whisper in her ear, "I promise I won't tell anyone you being Bo."

Kyoko smiled and hugged her. "Thank you. Be good and I'll see you later." Maria ran to Sen-san and turned for one last wave goodbye.

She turned back to the group and there was a very angry, wounded producer ready to snap. She sighed. Sometimes, no mater what you do, you can't change how a person feels about you.