Chapter 6

Japan's Number One Bachelor Married to Number One Sweetheart, was the headline in all of the gossip magazines and entertainment news shows almost a month ago. The articles went on to tell about how they had been married an undisclosed amount of time and the happy couple was expecting their first child. Kyoko and Kuon had both decided to keep the sex of their son out of the news and between themselves and the grandparents. The fans had taken the news surprisingly well and both were getting more offers to model and star with each other. Yashiro was being inundated with offers for Kyoko to model maternity wear and she and Kuon were receiving many opportunities to star in commercials that featured couples items.

At five months, Julie and Kuu had finally been able to clear their schedules enough to come visit their two favorite children. Julie was beside herself with excitement. Not only did she get to finally see her son in the flesh, she would at last get to meet her brand new official daughter.

"You don't think Kuon will be angry with me, do you?" She asked Kuu in worry as she bustled about the suite they had reserved at their favorite hotel for the visit. "What if Kyoko doesn't like me? Oh Kuu what do I do?"

Kuu grabbed her by the waist as she passed him for the umpteenth time and pulled her into his lap. "Julie... Settle down. You're worrying about nothing. Kuon will be happy to see you and Kyoko will absolutely love you." He kissed her temple. "Trust me." He blew a raspberry on her neck and she giggled.

"What if they find out?!" Yashiro paced back and forth in Lory's office worrying about Julie and Kyoko.

Lory huffed. "Well if you don't stop acting like a cat in a room full of rocking chairs, they most certainly will find out! Now sit down and stop thinking about it. Don't you have other things to think about right now?"

Yashiro sat, pulled out his planners for Kyoko and Kuon and started thumbing through them as he had been for the past two months arranging everything so the parents could take time off for the birth and first few months of their new baby's life. It was LME policy to give the Mother and Father Maternity Leave time of six months. That meant that at the end of next month Kyoko would start her leave and Kuon had the option to join her. Yashiro almost had her schedule cleared and now he was working on Kuon's.

"So how much of Kuon's do you have left?" Lory asked as he was flipping through Kyoko's schedule after Yashiro handed it to him.

Yashiro sighed. "His dramas start their seasonal hiatus in July and he only has a few modeling shoots for R'mandy after that. They say they're willing to work with him by moving up the shoot dates and combining a few of them."

"Wonderful!" Lory clapped. "I wasn't sure we could do it."

Yashiro smirked. "Small price to pay for all of our hard work."

Lory agreed. "Do you think it will be a boy or, a girl?"

Yashiro went all googly-eyed. "I think it will be an adorable little girl, that will look just like Kyoko-chan."

"Hmm... I think it'll be a girl too, but I think she'll look like Kuon." Lory told him.

Yashiro froze at the thought. He just couldn't picture a female version of Kuon, with his angry smile. Yashiro shivered at the thought and blocked it out of his mind like most do for traumatic experiences.

Even at five month's pregnant and being a graduate of the LoveMe Section, she still found herself relaxing and spending time with her best friends in the LoveMe locker room. Very much like Kuon, it became her second home, which is why she was sitting on a plush pink sofa stitching a little toy puppy while Kanae and Chiorin were sorting through a box of heart-shaped decorations and dividing them by the many colors they were available in.

"Oh!" Kyoko yelped in surprise.

Kanae and Chiori whipped their heads to her direction to see a widely smiling, practically glowing Kyoko.

"Are you okay?" Chiori asked with worry.

Kyoko nodded and smiled. "Quick." She waved for her friends to sit on the sofa with her. As they sat, one on each side, she grabbed each hand and placed them on her little belly, to feel the baby kick. Thump, Thump, Roll.

"Mo! It's about time the little parasite started moving around." Kanae told her with a smile.

"Doesn't that feel strange?" Chiori asked.

Kyoko shook her head. "Well... Yes and no. It does feel a little strange, but at the same time it's the best thing in the world." She beamed, not offended in the least with Kanae's pet name for her little fairy prince and yes, he was her little fairy prince now because Kuon had graduated to Emperor, but I digress. Kanae had titled the infant as such due to her view on pregnancy and the similarities of having a parasite and Kyoko had thought it was sweet that her Moko-san already had a term of affection for her future godchild.

"So... when do you find out if it's a boy or, a girl?" Chiori asked out of curiosity.

Kyoko froze and her eyes darted around the room as if she were searching for something. Her eyes settled on a little dot in a corner of the ceiling of the room.

"MO! You already know, don't you?!" Kanae bit out in frustration for her friend not trusting her enough to share.

Kyoko shushed both of the girls and signaled with her eyes towards the dot. Chiori understood immediately and grabbed a pink throw blanket that had been resting over the back of the sofa and tented the trio with it. Kanae got the hint and pulled out a pad and pen and handed it to Kyoko.

Kyoko giggled at the sneakiness of her best friends and handed the pen and pad back to Kanae, not wanting to leave any concrete evidence for anyone to discover. Kanae and Chiori understood what was going on when Kyoko pulled out her smart-phone, navigated to the notepad app and typed the word BOY, then promptly erased it.

The only things that would be witnessed by a frustrated Lory and Yashiro, were the squeals of joy and the group hug when the small blanket was thrown off. Ruto stood in the corner of the room chuckling under his scarves at the pair's agony.

Saena Mogami was never one to openly display her emotions after her harrowing experience of childbirth and before that she had been what one would describe as a bit of an introvert. She was also somewhat open minded and in her years of being a lawyer, had met many different types of people; however, what she was witnessing at the moment went beyond her capabilities as she watched on in horror, the appetite of Kuu Hizuri. Now she knew why Kyoko's appetite had increased five-fold during her pregnancy. Kyoko was carrying the heir to the Hizuri legacy and the appetite that came with it.

"I apologize for my father's table manners, Mogami-sensei." Kuon leaned in and whispered sheepishly.

Saena shook her head in a little bit of a haze. "No... Not at all. At least I know what's going on with Kyoko now."

They both chuckled silently.

She cleared her throat. "You do know that I'm your Mother In Law... Correct, Kuon-san? You have permission to address me as Saena..." She told him. "Or, mother..." She whispered. She and Kyoko had grown quite close over the past year and she approved of Kuon and the way he treated Kyoko. He was definitely not like Shotaro or, Kyoko's father.

Kuon looked at her curiously and smiled brightly. "Of course... Thank you, Saena-san."

She snickered. "I suppose that will work. Baby steps?" Ever since the day of the 'wedding' and Kuon's identity reveal to her, she and Kuon had made every effort to get to know each other for Kyoko's sake.

The both nodded and turned their attentions back to the spectacle that was Kuu. Kyoko smiled in satisfaction at the conversation she had overheard, gently squeezed her husband's hand under the table and leaned into his side. "Thank you..." She whispered and kissed him on the cheek when he leaned down to hear what she was saying.

Somewhere in the distant reaches of the continent of Asia sat a blond VK rocker that had leveled up in his demonic visage to Oni after hearing the latest rumor about the beautiful actress from Japan whose popularity was sweeping across the world because of her portrayals of Mio, Natsu and Momiji. He was tired of listening to the senseless drivel about the plain, ordinary, sexless girl that he'd grown up with. Why did they keep associating her with Tsuruga? The ridiculous rumors of her dating him had been going on since Dark Moon and now they were circulating that she was married and having his kid. When was the idiocy going to end? She would never do that... He smirked. She made a vow of vengeance. Never once did it occur to him the fact that knowledge of her was worldwide at the moment when his voice was only heard in Asia. Her face was in European and American magazines as a model and her talents were being recognized by many more thanks to the genius that was Lory Takarada and the talents of her skilled manager Yukihito Yashiro. She had already surpassed him the day he left for his tour back in November and never once did it occur to him that her meeting with him after that incident with her mother meant that she was giving up on her quest for vengeance against him.

Aki Shoko could only sit quietly, drink her tea and act innocently as if she hadn't heard the news or, read any of the press releases. If she ignored it... It didn't exist. She would deal with it when they got back to Japan next June. Hopefully, he would calm down by then. She snorted mentally... Not a chance. He's way too obsessed. She rolled her eyes and took in the calming scent and steam from her mug of Chamomile Tea. I wonder if I can get Akatoki-sama to issue me a tranquilizer gun... She pondered and took another sip.