Chapter 7 – True Nature
The shooting started that weekend. Most of the scenes that Kyoko was playing were the sweet, shy Masami. This Masami was new in town. She got a job at a local bar/diner which was the local police forces' favorite place to unwind and eat when they could. The food was good and fast and the owners were retired cops.
She was wearing a light blue button up blouse with sleeves rolled up around her biceps, black cotton short shorts with a black apron around her small waist, light blue Converse finished her look. Her hair was long and black in a high pony tail, bobbing around as she walked over to the table.
"Welcome, officers. What can I get for you, today?" Masami asked with a bright smile. Abe answered. Abe was Satome Kyou's partner. He was older but still young enough to deal with the troubles today or so he constantly told Kyou. He was about as tall as Satome but built like a truck. He was half Japanese and half German making him look menacing.
"Sake, Oonishi-chan, and some oyakodon, please," Abe requested. Masami looked over to the younger detective, and Kyou nodded in agreement. Abe watched as Masami walked away, taking special notice of her backside. He hit Kyou's arm with the back of his hand.
"That's what you should be looking for. What I wouldn't give for some time with her," Abe said lustfully making Kyou laugh.
"I know you wouldn't give your wife, because you'd shoot anyone if they ever looked at her the way you looked at the young waitress," Kyou said humorously.
"Damn straight, that means you too, pretty boy," Abe threatened. Masami came by and brought them their drinks. Kyou looked up at her with a small smile, and she responded with a friendly but professional one. She didn't give him a second look beyond that, but quickly spun around on the ball of her foot and walked around to serve her other customers. He liked how professional she was, and she was definitely nice to look at.
"If it happens, it happens. Right now, I'm going to continue down my path and see where it takes me. If something happens with her," Kyou's smile turned into a knowing smirk, "well, I won't argue." Abe laughed, and Kyou followed suit.
In the back room, Masami was busy cutting up vegetables with a large knife. The veggies were cut quickly but very carelessly with a little too much force.
"Cut." Director Nakamura walked onto the set over to Kyoko. "These are still a little too nice, Kyoko-san. You need to be reckless with it. Don't use your other hand, chop them up, we are supposed to see that deep down there is something darker inside of you. Your expression and body language is wonderful, stay sweet and shy, but let a little bit of the soulless Masami out when you are cutting up the food," Nakamura explained again. Kyoko nodded and cleaned up the area with another set of wasted veggies. She was hoping she could take them home, so they wouldn't go to waste.
The third take was the last. The carrots and eggplant were such a mess. There was tiny pieces and large pieces all mixed together. It would take forever to cook them and some would overcook and others under. The professional chef inside of her screamed at her horrible cutting job, but it was what they wanted. They were able to continue the rest of the day without another NG.
Two weeks have gone by and a trend started to happen. Ren or Yashiro would ask Kyoko what she was up to, and she would decline whatever they offered. Ren wasn't sleeping very well as new thoughts emerged every time a new photo appeared in the paper. He couldn't even drive her to the shoots as Isao would constantly pick her up and drop her off.
Ren was sitting in his dressing room brooding with Yashiro ranting about Kyoko's involvement with Isao but with more irritation than malice.
"Doesn't that man work? How much free time does he have? He is everywhere with her! Kyoko, who is new, doesn't have that much free time. How is he helping her career?" Yashiro ranted. Ren was looking at a picture of them walking out of a movie promo. She was smiling at the ground blushing like a woman in love. Isao looked pleased with himself as always. That was probably their fourth or fifth date in three weeks! Ren stood up dropping the paper into Yashiro's hands. Yashiro looked at the picture and sighed. He tossed it and turned out the lights as they left the room.
It was around 5pm once the movie shooting finished. Kyoko walked out of her dressing room just as Ren and Yashiro were passing by.
"Kyoko-chan, would you like to have dinner?" Ren paused as Yashiro asked in vain for the umpteenth time. He didn't have anything till 8 o'clock tonight anyway. Saturday nights were very popular with late night interviews. However, Kyoko bowed in apology.
"I'm afraid I'm going to have to decline, Yashiro-san." Kyoko looked so sad and distraught. Ren wanted to steal her away from her fate, to be the one to take her out every moment they got instead of that camera hog. He missed the dinners she made him, and the time they spent together outside of work.
"How about a ride home then?" Ren offered. He had to try.
"Ah, I have one thank you," she replied with the usual answer. This time the ride was impatient. Ren looked up right as Kuroski was walking towards them. Kyoko didn't notice since he was coming from behind her. Ren observed him wink and ogle a woman passing by and then slide his left arm around Kyoko's shoulders like nothing. He saw Kyoko visibly stiffen the moment she felt his arm around her. Kuon wanted to grab him and beat his face in; however, Ren simply smiled and introduced himself.
"Of course I know Tsuruga Ren!" Isao bellowed with a large smile. He took his arm from around Kyoko and held out his hand for a shake. Normally one would bow in greeting but Ren didn't mind, having grown up in America, plus he was thankful that Isao was no longer touching her. The only difference from a Japanese hand shake and an American one was the strength you put behind it. The stronger the shake in America the better, in Japan it didn't matter. Ren couldn't help himself though, he took his hand and squeezed till he felt something pop and then let go.
Isao tried to hide the pain and light shook his crumbled hand hiding it behind his back as he mentally checked to make sure it wasn't broken.
"It's an honor to meet you. I've heard a lot about you from Kyoko here." Isao wrapped his arm around Kyoko and gave her a little squeeze with his now functioning limb, in effect pulling her closer to him. Ren notice her grimace but force a smile as she was pressed against him. His eyes narrowed for a micro second but came back with his gentlemanly smile. I should have broke his hand, he thought maliciously.
"It is a pleasure to meet you as well, but Mogami-san hasn't said much about you," Ren commented deliberately making Kyoko blushed, but it didn't seem to sway Isao.
"That's because we only started seeing each other and don't know anything yet. We still have plenty of time to get to know each other." He stretched out the word plenty as his hand started moving down to her waist. Ren's eyes couldn't be pulled away, and he cursed himself for falling for such an obvious taunt. Kyoko, however, acted fast and pulled away, grabbing his hand and holding it so it wasn't touching her so personally.
She bowed to them, her voice frantic, "Well we shouldn't be taking up your time. Please have a good night, Tsuruga-san, Yashiro-san." She turned and pulled Isao away from them. Ren watch her walk away, well almost run away while dragging along a grinning Isao. Isao turned around and walked with her hand in hand out the door.
Kyoko felt the demon king's aura dissipate the further away she got, the weight on her chest started to ease, and she could breath normally again. She hated having to say no to them all the time. She wanted so badly talk to Ren and make sure he was alright. He's been looking worse and worse every time she saw him, but she never found a spare moment. Between working LoveMe jobs, filming the movie, being Bo, working at Darumaya and "dating" Isao, she couldn't find a moment to spare to find out how he was doing.
She had asked Moko-san if what they were doing was normal. She agreed and told her that she was doing well with her dating, so Kyoko continued to go along with what Isao wanted to do. They've only went out on true dates a few times, every other time were small meetings. Tonight, they will be going out again. She was dreading it each time they were going out, because every single time, he would try and kiss her when they were alone. Since she wouldn't, he would take advantage of the camera and kiss her where she couldn't refuse.
Isao was driving her home, so she could change for their "date". They were to have dinner then go to a party that he was invited to.
"The party is at a friend's studio, and I want to make sure we are the talk of the room. Where something sexy for once, none of this cute shit you've been doing," Isao ordered coldheartedly. Kyoko was going to mention that she couldn't be sexy but didn't say anything. She found out about his true self a few dates ago. When they were being interviewed or in the public eye, he was as sweet and charismatic as most stars, but when they were alone he tried to get physical and he got frustrated and angry with her when she told him no. She was lucky that each time was when he was dropping her off at her place and could escape quickly.
They arrived at Daruma-ya's, and she ran upstairs. He chose to stay in the car with his music blaring. They had a lot of time, and he told her if he didn't approve he was going to make her go back and try again.
"Stupid mean jerk," Kyoko grumbled as she shifted through her closet, jerking the hangers to the side trying to find something "sexy." She pulled out a long black skirt with a slit that only ran up to her knee. She shook her head and pulled a cobalt blue mini skirt. She tossed that one to the side as a maybe and then her fingers brushed against a plastic bag. She hesitated looking at the black dress bag. Inside was a dress she would never have picked out herself.
It was Natsu's dress and everything about it screamed her. She had to wear it for a school dance in Box 'R'. Apparently, it was designed only for her and fit her so well that they gave it to her as a sort of a "job well done" gift. She kept it in the back of the closet not really believing their comments on how it looked on her. "Sexy" was only one of the words that were used to describe her in that dress.
Kyoko took much longer than she thought, she used the makeup that Moko-san gave her and styled her hair in true Natsu fashion. She had to use a thong because the slit in the dress was so high that nothing else would do. A bra was out of the question but luckily the dress had some support to give a nice curve to her chest.
The dress was RED. It wasn't a shade of red nor was there any other colors to it. She stepped into it, and it slipped over her body like a glove. It was made for her remember. She buttoned the two buttons at the collar of the halter top behind her neck. It was lacy until it reached her chest then blended into a solid red then again moved back to lace at her stomach. The lace was very thick in design so you can only see the smallest shadow of her natural skin tone through it. There were three straps on each side of the dress under her arms that attached to the side and crawled up her back connecting to the collar. It left her back mostly bare except for these six straps . The fabric started just high enough to cover her butt, but not enough to cover the small of her back. She instantly felt cold with so much showing. The fabric hugged her hips and butt and then fell straight down to pool a little on the floor. The skirt was too long without the heels to match it. Not that it felt like she was wearing much a skirt. The slit on her left was so high it stopped around half way up her butt hence the thong. It showed so much skin, but Natsu felt so empowered wearing it. When she appeared on set in the dress, her skin was as red as the dress. Once Natsu appeared, not a person in the room would think she was embarrassed in it.
She slipped on the 4" black heels and walked down towards the car. She stood up tall and walked around the tables to the front door of the restaurant. The room fell silent the moment she appeared. Everyone stopped eating as they stared at her. Even Taishou and Okami-san stopped what they were doing. Being a Friday night, the place was very busy, and she couldn't stop the blush and humiliation that spread across her face. Picking up her step as fast as the heels could go; she put her head down and apologized very softly to Okami-san as she passed her to the door.
"Um..." Okami-san said very quietly, but Kyoko ran out the door before anyone could say anything. Okami-san glanced at her husband with a worried look on her face. Everyone was still staring at the door.
"Eat!" Taishou shouted sternly, and the room filled with chatter once again about the gorgeous woman that left the restaurant. Okami-san was not please by some of the comments coming from the men and was thankful that her husband did not hear them.
The night air did nothing to help relieve her flush as she walked to the car. She had to practice for a couple of weeks to get use to the heels before her shoot so she walked easily in them now. She opened the door to the Jag and stepped inside. She couldn't hear the low whistle that came from Isao's lips when he watch a naked curvy leg with a fuck me heel enter his car. The rest of her followed suit and she moved to straighten the dress back into position trying not to show off the skin at her thigh. Why did the slit have to be on the left side?
"Very nice, Kyoko," he dropped all honorifics a while ago too. She felt his eyes burning holes into her body. She wanted to crawl into a hole and swore that she was going to burn this dress after tonight. She didn't reply to his comment, instead turned to buckle her seatbelt and sat there. She pulled her purse onto her lap hoping to conceal herself a little bit.
The dinner went well considering she sat silently eating while he chatted with everyone around him and flirted with the waitress. Every single man in the room couldn't understand why he would do such a thing as they kept trying to talk to her. She felt the heated gazed of everyone in room while she ate but chose to ignore it.
She thought of Ren a lot more than usual around Isao. How things would be different if he was the one taking her out. The sweet words and conversations they've had in the past. They would talk about their work and maybe she can find out more about him. She was thinking of him when they took that picture at the movie promo. How wonderful it would be if he was standing there next to her with his body pressed against her and his hand holding her waist. She blushed lightly as she drank her water. It amazed her how much she thought of him, wishing it was Ren here instead of this… this… person.
I wonder what he would think of the dress. Somehow the thought of her wearing this dress for his eyes made her smile. Maybe I won't burn the dress after all, she thought offhandedly.
Dinner was over, and they were heading to the party. He wore a light gray blouse-like shirt under an open black blazer. It wasn't a man's dress shirt like what Ren would wear, but something silky and billowy. It was truly girly. He completed the outfit in simple black slacks and black leather dress shoes. She didn't really see him as an attractive person anymore, but she assumed that he was dressed nice. All she ever saw him as was the jerk that he was.
Everything went well at the party. They couldn't stop complementing his date which was exactly what he wanted. He kept her close to him throughout the whole thing. His hand kept playing with the straps on the back while she fought the urge to throw up every time she felt his hand on her skin. She smiled and nodded at all the right times, gave short answers when addressed and thought of Ren when she wasn't being spoken too.
He pulled her away from the party earlier than expected. Hey, she was going home earlier than planned, she was thrilled! It was close to 10pm, and she smiled as her restaurant was coming into view; however, he wasn't slowing down like normal, and she watched it pass by.
"Um… you passed my place." Perhaps he didn't notice, she hoped.
"We aren't done yet," Isao said darkly. She turned to him ready to argue but saw his eyes lingering on her revealed thigh. She quickly pulled the skirt over it and placed her purse on her lap. He smirked and pulled into a parking garage. She wasn't watching where she was, too busy looking at him trying to figure out where he was taking her. Kyoko watched him unbuckle his seat belt as she did hers and he turn towards her.
In a flash, his hand landed on her bare knee and his right arm went around the back of her seat. He leaned in and forced his lips upon hers. She gasped and tried to back away, but the car was so cramped she had nowhere to go. His lips crushed against hers roughly with bruising force. The door arm rest was digging into her back as tried to escape his attack. His hand was pushing at the cloth of her skirt, forcing it up as his hand disgustingly slithered up her right thigh. His tongue licked her lips, slime smearing across her mouth and chin. She twisted her face away, but that didn't deterred him. Isao licked and slobbered down her throat as she franticly searched for the door handle. She felt his hand switch to her inner left thigh under the skirt, creeping up her towards her core and a panicked sound escaped her lips. He thought to take advantage of her outcry and kiss her again, but she quickly shut her mouth as his lips came into contact. In her hurry, her lip caught between her teeth as he pressed his mouth onto hers, and felt her teeth cut into her flesh.
Finally, Kyoko was able to open the door and fell back not caring how she got out of the car. She scraped her hands as she landed on the rough cement. Looking back into the car, she saw him snarl. His face twisted with anger and lust. She twisted around trying to get to her feet, trying to get away. She saw a door a little bit away and ran for it, but the heels made her slow. She heard a car door slam closed and the almost soundless footsteps running behind her. She felt herself jolt backwards as he grabbed her arm. She let out a little scream as he shoved her against the cement wall. The hard coarse wall bit into her sholder blades as he enclosed around her. She clung onto her purse in front of her chest, arms crossed over it as he attacked her. It was the one thing that kept him away from her completely, and she was clinging on to it for dear life. His right hand immediately went up the slit of her dress, his hand wormed its way up her thigh. Kyoko hissed in pain as she felt him rip the worthless thong away while his left hand fisted a chunk of her hair and pulled to force her face away from the safety her bag. Kyoko tried to scream, to call for help, to do something but his mouth quickly stole away her voice.
She tried to bite him and only nipped his lip. Still it was enough to warrant his wrath. He let go of her hair and traded it for her jaw. His hand was large enough to wrap around it and squeeze hard enough to force her mouth open. The back of her head hurt as he shoved it against the stone, but his right hand grabbing her butt felt worse. His tongue took over her mouth while her underwear was hanging uselessly around her right hip. His hands were groping around every piece of revealed flesh she couldn't hide.
The only reason he wasn't at her chest was because of her purse. Kyoko could feel his fingers trying to slip between her legs, but she was successfully adverting away from his hand each time. However she could feel her skin break at each attempt, the disgusting touch was getting more and more painful.
His left hand finally left her jaw and clawed its way to the back of her neck. She thought maybe he was going to start choking her, but he proceeded to rip the buttons on the back of the collar off with a jerk. She screamed as the pain of his nails not only ripped the cloth but also ripped some of her skin. The dress slacked loose and she tightened her hold of her purse to keep the dress from falling off. It was then that her fingertips felt the slick metal of the pepper spray Ren gave her. She loosened her grip and fumbled for it. Hardening herself internally and forcing her body to relax as much as possible causing him to pull away with a smile.
"That's a good girl," Isao whispered with satisfaction and felt his fingers reaching for his goal. She was starting to panic, willing her fingers to work. Her hand pulled the cylinder free and popped off the cap. Kyoko turned her head, shut her eyes and let all hell loose. The nozzle was cut in a way that only allowed you to spray in front of you comfortably. She held down for what felt like forever as his screams filled the garage. She pushed him away and stomped her heel into his foot and twisted. If his screams became louder because of that she couldn't tell. His hands were on his face, and he fell to the ground, withering around, rubbing his red, swollen, tear filled eyes, trying to fight the pain.
"YOU FUCKING BITCH!" She heard him yell as she ran out of the garage. She was crying and trying to hold up the dress he tore. Kyoko ran for what seemed like forever. It was dark, and after a few blocks she finally realized that she may still not be safe yet. Simply because she escaped one man doesn't mean another couldn't come up and try to assault her again. She raised the pepper spray and shook it next to her ear. It was practically empty. Maybe enough to dissuade one attacker, she thought with a grimace.
She walked around the area and blinked. The area looked familiar. There on the corner was the supermarket she would often go for supplies to cook Ren dinner. She turned to her left and saw it. It was Ren's building not a few yards away! Tears started to flow again as she ran across the street and up to his apartment.