I've realized that I like to write out of Ren's point of view more than Kyoko's.

Has anyone else noticed how Maria is usually wearing princessy outfits? For some reason I started to think about that as I was writing this chapter. I also discoverd that tear is one of those funny English words that has two different pronunciations and those pronunciations have different meanings.

About half way through this chapter I realized I could take another route with this story. Where Kyoko gets kidnapped. But that would leave the drama unfinished and the story wouldn't end where I want it to so I decided against it.

Disclaimer's apply

Chapter 8 Games

It's 11:30, why aren't they here yet? Maria-chan was waiting at L.M.E. impatiently for Ren and her 'bug sis'. Actually she'd been waiting since yesterday when her grandfather told her that the two would be taking her out into the country instead of him. Outside of her family they were her two favorite people. It wasn't noon yet but she was hoping they'd be early. It only took an hour to get there so they would have the whole day to play and she could show them all her favorite spots.

It was about ten of noon when Ren arrived at L.M.E. He had just dropped Yashiro off at home as the manager had the rest of the day off. He was looking forward to the rest of the day but at the same time he was nervous. Could he keep himself in control?

"Good afternoon Tsuruga-san." Looking around to find Kyoko staring up at him after his previous thought was not the healthiest thing for him. And was only a premonition to what the rest of the day was going to be like, of course he didn't know that. "Are you heading up to the president's office?"

"Yes, I'm sure Maria-chan is waiting anxiously for us." Together they walked up to the top floor to pick the little girl up.

"Mr. President, Ms. Mogami and Mr. Tsuruga are here," announced his door man.

"Yes, let them in." A crooked smile crossed his face. They're arriving together. As the door opened Maria jumped on Ren and begged him for a hug. Kyoko stood by watching them with a smile on her face. What the president didn't know was that she was thinking about the time Ren had been playing with Titto during filming.

"Big sis!" Maria leaned over from Ren's arms to give Kyoko a hug. As Kyoko hugged back the president had tears in his eyes. They were all growing up and wouldn't need him for much longer. I'm gonna miss it when they are no longer dependant on me.

Ren noticed the look on the president's face, "Mr. President is something wrong?" He wasn't sure if he wanted to ask but he figured it would be impolite not to.

"You kids…sniffle….go have fun….sniffle…" They walked out without asking anything more, they knew the president was eccentric and didn't want to know what was on his mind.

"Do you think grandfather will be all right?" Maria asked as Ren put her down.

"Yes, I'm sure he'll get over whatever it is soon enough." Ren grabbed her hand and they walked out to his car.

In the car Kyoko sat in the front seat while Maria sat in the back. She chatted all the way to their destination. Once in a while she gave Ren directions as he had never been to where they were going to before. For a while the two girls talked about curses and dolls and Ren didn't even bother trying to understand what was going on. Eventually Maria told him to turn down a long windy dirt road. For about three miles there was just meadow on each side of them and then over a hill there was a line of trees. Once they got to the top they could see behind the trees. They were going to a mansion.

"Wow!" Kyoko exclaimed. Of course, it does belong to the president after all. Ren thought to himself. "It's huge," the building had one floor but was sitting on the lake front. Attached to the house there was a dock reaching out into the water. There was a wooden patio with no walls and only support beams to hold up the roof. To Kyoko the building looked like a party house.

"When grandfather had it built he wanted to make sure it wasn't too big. So he only had one floor put in, the original design had five." Kyoko just gaped at the little girl in amazement.

When they finally reached the mansion Kyoko and Ren both stared in amazement. Maria quickly hopped out and ran up to the door. Ren slowly followed her and noticed a key pad on the door. The child quickly entered some type of code to unlock it. They stepped in and the house looked even bigger on the inside then it did on the outside. Ren was about to take off his shoes when he realized that Kyoko wasn't with them. "Maria-chan, where's Ms. Mogami?"

"Hmm, um I don't know." They walked back outside to see her sitting shell shocked in the car. Ren couldn't help but snort looking at her expression and walked up to the car door and opened it.

"Ms. Mogami, you can get out now." She showed no signs of acknowledgment. Maria stood by not knowing how to get her 'big sis' out of the shock either. "Ms. Mogami," he waved his hand in front of her face but she still didn't move. Ren's head had moved close to hers trying to snap her out of her shock. "Hmmm," a sly smile crossed his face as he said " Fairies, I think I see fairies over there in the tree line." Kyoko jumped and tried to start looking for the fairies but hit her head on something hard.

"Ouch!" She looked up to see Mr. Tsuruga holding his own head. When she had hit him his head went up and hit the frame of the car. She quickly got out of the car and did a dogeza. "I'm so sorry Tsuruga-san!" she wailed.

Ren's head was pounding but Maria had given both him and Kyoko an ice pack to dull the pain. "I'm so sorry Tsuruga-san," she'd been apologizing for the past half hour.

"Ms. Mogami, I told you its okay. You didn't mean too." Maria wasn't sure what to do. Both Ren and 'big sis' were in pain. She decided to try and take their minds off of it. She had many plans for the day but she could add something extra. She quickly ran to the room that belonged to her in the great mansion and was back in a flash. Ren and Kyoko couldn't tell what she had with her but she started setting something up. When she was done they could tell it was a mini stage with room for her to stand behind it.

She stood in front of it and bowed. "I present to you 'The Mean Brother Show'" She quickly walked behind the curtains and they opened to show two puppets, one a girl, the other a boy. I just thought of this on the spot so I hope they like it.

The girl was wearing a maid's outfit while the boy was wearing a dress suit.

Boy: "Sister, make me dinner!"

Girl: "Y-yes," the puppet walked to the side and started moving around.

Boy: "What can I do to torture her today? I know, I'll send her into town to buy watermelons. She can only carry two, but I'll tell her to buy five! That way she will struggle trying to bring them home. Mwahahaha"

Girl: "Dinner is ready," the two puppets sat at a make shift table. The brother flew his face flat on the table and made garbling noises as if he was eating everything up. When he was done the girl just made sniffling noises. Ren let out a small laugh thinking of his father and the way he eats and Kyoko's eyes showed signs of tearing as she was thinking about her life with Shotaro.

Boy: "Sister go out and buy five watermelons. We are in need of some fruit."

Girl: "But I can only carry two."

Boy: "Did I say I cared?" And with that he walked off the stage.

The curtains closed and shortly opened back up to show a stand with a bunch of marbles and the same girl puppet as earlier standing with an older puppet, whose gender was a mystery.

Girl: "I would like to buy five watermelons please."

Other: "Can you even carry that many? I'm not gonna sell something to you if you'll just waste is by dropping it." Just then another puppet came into view wearing an all white suit with dark hair. Kyoko giggled to herself recognizing the outfit and therefore who the puppet must be. Ren remembered Kyoko's Birthday gift to Maria and stared in amazement wondering why everyone kept making miniature versions of him.

Ren puppet: "What trouble are you causing now old hag?"

Other: "Trouble? This little wench is the one causing trouble. She wants to buy five watermelons buy why would I sell that many to her when she would ruin them because she can't carry them?"

Ren puppet: "It's not your business how they get home just that you make money off them right? And she'll manage to get them home because I'm going to help her."

Girl: "Thank you" The two puppets grabbed five marbles collectively and started walking in the opposite direction of the stand. They stopped on the other side of the stage. "Well this is my home so if you'll just put your melons in the wheel barrow, I can bring them all up to the house."

Ren puppet: "If you're sure then," he put them down and walked off the stage. The brother puppet then entered.

Boy: "Watermelons? Why did you buy so many watermelons?"

Girl: "Because you told me to this morning"

Boy: "Oh, right. But I told you to only buy one. We can't eat anymore than that otherwise they'll spoil. You just wasted our money you silly girl." The girl puppet hurried off stage making crying noises and the Ren puppet walked back on.

Ren puppet: "You there, why was that one woman crying?"

Boy: "Because she's stupid and doesn't know anything." The Ren puppet reached from somewhere underneath the stage and grabbed a small bat and started beating the other puppet with it. It made the sound of dying and dropped. The girl puppet walked back on stage.

Girl: "What happened to big brother?"

Ren puppet: "Ah…. He was your brother? As the prince of this land I deemed it necessary to destroy him so that I may provide for you. Come, I will take you to my castle." And with that the puppets walked off stage and the curtains closed. When they opened back up each puppet came out and did a little bow. Kyoko was clapping earnestly, a young maiden was just saved by her prince charming making her a princess. Her favorite type of story. Ren was clapping more out of courtesy because he was still in shock at watching a smaller version of himself beat up another small person with a bat. Did Maria-chan have knowledge of his past?

Maria walked out and bowed, "Thank you very much." She noticed that neither one were using their ice packs anymore and decided to continue with the activities she had planned. "It's time for the next game!"

"What's the next game Maria?" Kyoko asked.

"Hide and Go Seek," the young adults just looked at her, it was too simple a game for Maria to play. "With a twist. Since there is only three of us it would be no fun to play it the normal way. Each of us will have a can of silly string that is a different color. We'll each be seeking and hiding. When we spot someone else we have to get them with the string before they get us. We'll start at different parts of the house and then wait for 2:30 before we start playing." She handed both of them a can and ran off to hide somewhere in the house. Ren and Kyoko looked at each other and then at his watch. They had five minutes before the game started.

Please forgive the puppet show, I needed something to make them laugh. I'm not even sure if it fits Maria's character to do something like that but I was really at a loss for something and was desperate. I needed a way to jump from one thing to the next.

I was planning on putting the whole day in this chapter but it's late and I have work tomorrow, so it'll have to wait till the next chapter.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! It is officially 2010 here.