Chapter 8

The next few days were spent gathering everything. She wasn't really worried about most of the items but two, well four since she had to get one from each of them. Those two items were a strand of hair and their personal cologne and perfume.

Day one of collection was spent trying to figure out where each of them were this week. She got them both in the same room for that night but the rest of the week was difficult. Kyoko was once again the easiest to gather. That day she convinced her to take her home.

"I would like to go to your house, onee-sama," Maria said it, not asked as if it wasn't an issue at all.

"Um, I live at a ramen shop, Maria. It's very busy and loud. It's not really any fun." Kyoko tried to dissuade her but of course Maria was stubborn.

"That sounds yummy. Do you get to eat there too?"

"Well yes, sometimes I help out too. The Taisho is very good," Kyoko said proudly.

"Then we can eat there too. It's perfect. I would like to see where you live."

Kyoko pressed her lips together worried. "But I don't really have a TV or something for us to do."

"That's okay. We can talk or we can play with the dolls and make new clothes for them. Plus, you can braid my hair like before. That was really pretty."

"So like a sleep over?" Kyoko asked timidly.

"Yeah! Hey, maybe Moko-san can come too?" Maria said and watched as Kyoko just about shot about the room like a firecracker. She was practically buzzing with the potential. They both went in search for the raven haired LoveMe girl and found her grumbling angrily over paper work.

"Maybe we could do this another time. She is always upset when accounting asks her for help," Kyoko whispered down to Maria.

"Why?"

"Well she is very good at managing money so they ask her often but then she gets upset at how much the President spends on his costumes and his every day activities. She always says that he could do so much more with the money he spends on "silly" things." Kyoko explained but had to censor what Kanae really said since this was her grandfather they were talking about. It seems that Maria understood perfectly but she needed to get into her room as soon as possible. She ignored Kyoko's warning and poked Kanae on the side making her jump 15 yards in the air.

"GAH!" The paper work she was working on fluttered around the desk and the pencil she was using snapped in half in her hand. "WHAT," she growled turning to glare at the two girls who interrupted her.

"Hi, Moko-san," Kyoko said timidly.

"Moko-san, we want a slumber party at onee-sama's. You come too." It sounded more like an order than a request. Kanae rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"I'm busy." She grabbed a new pencil, trashing the old one and started up again.

"But we didn't even tell you when," Maria countered. Kanae looked up at Kyoko and then back at Maria.

"Okay, When?"

"Tonight," Maria answered and Kyoko gasped. She didn't think it was going to be so soon. She figured this weekend or something.

"I'm busy," Kanae replied again.

"Okay, Tomorrow night." Maria was stubborn.

"I'm busy."

Maria glared at the woman working. She wasn't going to ruin her plan. She pulled on the sleeve of her LoveMe coveralls and yanked her down. She cupped her mouth to her ear.

"I'll get you a week off of all LoveMe duties if you come tonight and get you a 100 point stamp," Maria whispered into her ear.

Kanae straightened up and looked at her suspiciously. "Three of each," she countered.

"Two!" Maria countered.

"Starting now!"

Maria shook her head. "Starting tomorrow once you complete your side of it." She crossed her arms.

"How do I know you will do your end?" Kanae asked. Kyoko had no idea what was going on but kept looking at the two girls arguing.

"I'll get it written by my grandfather and show it to you by the end of the day. If I don't get it, then you'll have to finish today's work anyway so it's better to stay and start tomorrow."

Kanae looked at her impressed. She was pretty smart. "Okay, show me the paper and I'll go." She looked up at Kyoko. She was pretty sure that Maria-chan was going to be able to do it so she smiled brightly and turned on the sappiness, "I would love to go to a sleep over, Kyoko!"

"Really?" Kyoko sprouted flowers all around her, and Kanae nodded unrealistically happy.

"MY FIRST SLUMBER PARTY!" Kyoko screamed and scared about half the accountants. She tried to throw herself to hug Kanae but Kanae quickly rolled the chair back and Kyoko fell to the floor.

"SHHHH! Crazy woman. I said I'll go but that is no reason to embarrass me like that." Kyoko started to cry and she sighed, "MO!" She helped her up and smiled softly, "Alright, get out of here. I need to finish this ghastly paperwork."

That night…

Kyoko was extremely excited. This was her first sleep over ever. Well minus the times she stayed at the Fuwa ryokan. Those didn't count. Maria did deliver whatever it was she promised Kanae, and Kanae reluctantly agreed to come tonight. It was around 7 that night by the time they came over.

The owners were very happy for Kyoko since she was so excited about tonight. They did say that they had to keep it down after 11pm since they still had to wake up and prepare for the next day.

She didn't think Maria would last that long anyway so it was no problem to promise such a thing. As Kyoko waited for her guest to arrive, she was busy in the kitchen whipping food up for the night. She got ice cream and made several kinds of desserts. But of course they would have to eat first.

They arrived at 7 through the side door.

"Onee-sama!" Maria threw herself into her arms. After Kyoko hugged Maria she tried to hug Kanae but she dodged. So instead Kyoko bowed and smiled brightly. There was nothing anyone could do to ruin this night.

"Moko-san, Maria-chan, these are the Taisho and Okami-san of Daruma-yas." The Taisho bowed his head to the two young girls but the okami-san came rushing forward.

"It's very nice to meet you girls. Kyoko-chan speaks very highly of you Kotonami-chan, and I can see you are as beautiful as she said you are."

Kanae blushed lightly. "Thank you."

She turned to Maria and wanted to squeeze every little bit of her. "You are darling, child, all that golden curly hair and that beautiful dress. You must be Maria-chan."

Maria curtsied. "Takarada Maria. It is a pleezure to meet you, okami-san," she said cutely and the older woman couldn't help but giggle.

"Kyoko-chan said you wanted to eat here. Would you like to eat in our family dinning room or in the restaurant?" She asked. They all agreed that the private dinning room would be best. Kyoko showed them to her room but they didn't get a chance to look around. They dropped off their things and came back down. The Okami-san already set up the table for the three of them and had menus on the table for the two girls.

"I'll get the food for us Okami-san. I don't want you to bother with us and take care of the other customers," Kyoko offered.

"You should spend time with your friends. Don't worry about me or the restaurant. Just have fun." She patted Kyoko's shoulder and then held up her hand when Kyoko tried to speak again.

"No. Now still and I'll be back to take your orders. Order anything you like."

Maria didn't hold back but Kanae and Kyoko did, mindful of not being too greedy. The dinner was filled with laughter and very good food. By the time Kanae finished eating, she shed her shell of arrogance and let herself enjoy the night with her best friend and her "little sister."

They all retired to her room and then the comments started to come forth.

"That is a very messed up picture of Fuwa Sho," Kanae said. The picture had "MUST DIE" written all over it, she drew black eyes, missing teeth and horns on his face and then there were holes all over with and three darts directly in the middle of his forehead.

"You have such a nice big poster of Ren-sama! I remember that photo shoot at the beach. He was really good in that one." Maria saw the poster that was almost as tall as her sitting next to the evil blonde man.

"Aren't you afraid you'll miss and hit Tsuruga-san's picture?" Kanae asked teasingly.

"No. I've always been able to hit the person I want to hit," Kyoko said matter of fact. Maria was reaching up and pulling the darts out.

"I want to see!" she walked up and handed Kyoko the darts. Kyoko took the darts and threw them with a loud thump right back between his eyes.

"Let me try that." Kanae took the darts from the poster and stood where Kyoko stood.

"WAIT! Don't hit Ren-sama!" Maria ran to the poster.

"I won't, geez!" Kanae sighed as Kyoko walked up.

"Here, I'll take it down." They watched her carefully peal off the double sided tape behind the poster. She didn't even use thumb tacks like on Fuwa's poster. She moved to her closet door and lightly hung it there.

"Okay. It's safe, Maria. Go ahead Moko-san."

Kanae shut one eye and then threw the first dart. *THUMP* It landed on his chin instead of where Kyoko hit which was where she was aiming. She lined up the next one and…*THUMP* right on his left shoulder.

Maria laughed and Kanae glared at her for a moment. Maria put her hands over her mouth to keep quiet but her eyes were still sparkling.

*THUMP* She shot off the last, and it landed high above the poster.

"Damn. That's harder than you make it look." Kanae walked over and pulled the darts out. She walked back and handed them back to Kyoko.

"Let's see how good you are." She walked back to the poster and pointed over his right eye. "Hit here," she said and stepped back.

"Um, you don't want to come over here?" Kyoko said a little frightened.

"I trust you. Now go!" Kanae commanded and Kyoko took aim and shot. It sat perfectly inside of Sho's right eye. It was creepy. It was exactly in the center of the pupil.

"Okay, right on his tooth next to the D in this Die." She put her finger to the speck of white next to the marker she drew. The other tooth was blacked out so this would be harder… nope. She hit it dead on.

"Damn!" Kanae pulled the dart back out. "Do it again." There was no way she was going to do that…twice. She looked at Kyoko in awe.

"Wow." She was officially impressed. "If we ever have to play darts for whatever reason, you are on my team," she said as she walked back.

"Oh that would be a lot of fun!" Kyoko agreed.

The night went on and Maria forgot about her goal until Kanae saw her gift.

"You still haven't gone through all that yet?" She took the little box that held the make-up she bought Kyoko.

"Actually I replace it once I run out. I don't want to get rid of the first gift you gave me," Kyoko said shyly, and Kanae felt her face grow hot.

"Mo! It wasn't that special." She put the box down and Maria looked into it. She saw a small sprits bottle and pulled one out.

"This smells nice, onee-sama." Maria had the bottle up to her nose.

"That's my body spray. It's of my favorite perfume. I buy the body spray, because it's cheaper," Kyoko said embarrassed.

Kanae looked at the name and whistled. "That is a nice brand. I think that's a few 1000 yen an ounce. I'm surprised you can even get the body spray."

"Well, I use it like perfume so it lasts longer. One day I hope to buy an actual bottle though," she said wistfully.

Maria put it back right on the top of the box. The first chance she got she was going to take a little bit of it. She really didn't like taking something that she could barely afford, so she told herself that she would look into getting a real bottle of it for Kyoko later.

They started to play with the nail polish that Kyoko had and then Kyoko remembered that she had made them snacks. Maria saw an opportunity, but then Kyoko knocked it down refusing Kanae's help.

Kane stayed and finished painting Maria's tiny nails. The moment Kyoko came in with the sweets, Kanae almost had a heart attack.

"OH NO! TAKE THAT BACK! Do you want me to get FAT?!" Kanae stood up and started taking the food away from Kyoko's hands.

"You won't get fat. You can't get fat. You won't let yourself. It's okay, just for tonight, Moko-san! Please!" She was trying to keep the items while Kanae tried to wrestle it from her hands.

"No! I always eat too much around you." She finally got the food and walked out the door.

"MOKO-SAN!" Kyoko went after her. Maria quickly turned to the make up box on the other side of the table and picked up the small bottle and then she realized she had nothing to put it in.

"UGH! STUPID!" She cursed herself and then ran to her bag. There had to be a little container somewhere in her stuff. She started to look through her bag for anything to hold a little bit of liquid. She had deodorant, her shampoo and conditioner, body wash and her little scrub brush.

She froze and grabbed the little wand. If she remembered correctly, it use to hold bubble bath but was long empty. She flipped it over in her hand trying to remember how to open it. She heard foot steps in the hall and started to panic. She got it open but wasn't able to put anything in it. She quickly returned the bottle of perfume and they entered with no food and Maria with her little wand in hand.

"Oh, Maria-chan, are you ready for a bath?" Kyoko said and looked at the clock. It was a little before 10. She must be getting tired.

"I'll go set it up for you and then Moko-san can go after. Okay?" Maria nodded. Then slightly frowned, that was probably the last time she was going to be alone with that bottle.

"Let me use the restroom before you start. Where is it?" Kanae turned and started to walk out with her. As soon as the door closed, Maria rushed to the bottle and started spraying into the tube until she got a good amount into it then quickly tightened it back up.

Mission: Kyoko's perfume – Complete.

Kanae came back first and told her to gather her things for the bath. Maria was now onto step two of her plan and that was to get a strand of Kyoko's hair. While they did play with Maria and Kanae's long hair, Kanae couldn't do much with Kyoko's without the assistance of hair gel and spray so it stayed as is. Maria was disappointed.

"Onee-sama, would you take a bath with me?" She asked. Truthfully, Maria has never taken a bath with anyone since her mother died and even then it was rare. Kyoko smiled and nodded.

"Sure. Let me get my things." Kyoko left and returned with an extra towel and her bath products. They took a bath and Maria was actually surprised at how pretty she was. She was all smooth skin over lean muscle but had more curves than she let on. They played in the bath and Kyoko had a hard time washing her hair.

"There is soo much!" Kyoko laughed. When it was wet it hit almost to her butt.

"I wanted it longer but Grandfather likes to keep it this length. He says it would take twice as long to comb and fix up if it was longer and it already takes so long." Kyoko nodded as she spoke. Kyoko actually enjoyed having her hair short like this. It was just so much easier, but she did love Maria's long hair.

"All clean." Kyoko beamed at her good work.

"My turn!" Maria cheered and started to move behind Kyoko.

"Oh, are you sure you want to do that?" It didn't really bother her. Random people washed her hair all the time because of work.

"Yes! You did mine; I'll do yours, onee-sama." Maria's eyes gleamed. CHANCE!

Kyoko flinched a few times at how rough Maria was but in the end it was rather quick making her once again thank her short hair. Kyoko's hair was the last part of the bath and the last part of Maria's goal for the day.

They returned to the room and let Kanae take her bath. Maria put her things away in her bag and carefully placed Kyoko's strands of hair in a handkerchief. She took more than one just in case, and it was available.

Mission: Kyoko's Hair – Complete