Okay, so here is another chapter. I was going to make it two chapters but it was simply too short to cut in half, so I made it one extra long dose. Now for those of you who wanted to see Hiou and Kanae kiss then here is a little present for you. Thank you so much for all the alerts, favorites, and reviews, they mean so much to me. I hope you enjoy.

-LIA

Chapter 12

Dawn

The next day came by in a flash. Kanae awoke first some time around dawn, lingering in her bed for only a few moments more before standing up and changing into a pair of black yoga pants, a blue sports bra and white tennis shoes, her hair tied up in a high ponytail. She needed to exercise.

With that in mind she went downstairs and out the front door to the trail she had walked through before, and began a steady jog from there. She jogged for a good hour or so, stopping only once or twice to drink some water, then sprinting for a minute or two before falling back into a steady jog.

She arrived back at the villa with a sheen of sweat on her skin, satisfied with the familiar feeling after a good work out. She went inside to find Hiou in the living room, his script in hand.

He turned from his script at the sound of Kanae entering the room, his face expressionless as he looked at her, then turned around again.

"Welcome back." He said simply.

He had woken up and gone down to make breakfast as usual, however when he saw that Kanae had not gone down yet he went upstairs to wake her. When he found her not there he searched the rest of the villa. When he couldn't find her he became worried. Where was she? He wondered.

He tried to calm himself, telling himself that she had probably just gone somewhere nearby, that she would be back soon. He tried to focus on memorizing his lines, however found it a helpless task. His mind simply couldn't grasp the words.

He had waited for over thirty minutes and was about to set out to find her when she entered the room.

He wouldn't admit it, but he gave a small sigh of relief in his mind to see that she was all right. It may have been a small time period in which she was gone, however her absence left a mark on him. Was it his feelings of worry over his co-star . . . or was it his old crush resurfacing?

"Thanks." Kanae answered coolly. She went upstairs without another word and went to her room to take a quick shower. As the sweat was washing from her skin she began to think.

She felt a small pang of something, was it hurt, coming from her chest when she saw Hiou. He was indifferent. He hadn't been acting like that the day before. He had paid attention. She shook her head. He was acting. She tried to convince herself. That is why he was acting like that. Of course he wouldn't be worried about me being gone for an hour. He knows I can take care of myself. She tried to convince herself.

Kanae didn't know it, however she had been somewhat hoping that Hiou would be even the slightest bit worried.

But for the moment she ignored this and instead finished her shower, changing into a pair of dark blue jean shorts, a white tank top, a loose black jacket and brown sandals. She went downstairs and served herself a bowl of cereal, quickly eating that and going back upstairs to her room to study her lines. However this was pretty pointless, since in about ten minutes she had memorized the entire script, cover to cover.

This was the one time in her life Kanae had ever cursed her incredible memory. She lay down on her back for several moments, and then went back downstairs.

Hiou was still in the same place she had seen him last, holding his script in his lap and staring at it intently. She sat down across from him.

Hiou looked up to see Kanae glance at him. He looked back down at his script, and then spoke.

"'What are you doing here?'" He began, then paused, waiting for Kanae's line. Kanae followed his lead, saying the next line flawlessly as though she had rehearsed it hundreds of times, not the few times she had just done.

"'Can I not be in my own house?'"

"'This isn't your house.'" Akira said with a sneer.

"'As long as our parents are married, it is as much my house as it is yours.'" Michiko answered.

"'Such rubbish coming from the mouth of filth.'"

"'Should I remind you that I am your older sister, and you have to respect me?'"

"'You cannot demand respect.'" Akira raised his eyebrow and shot the comment that he knew riled this girl up more than anything. "'But I guess it's this barbaric quality my father found interesting in your mother. Like mother like daughter. Otherwise no one would ever spare a glance at that whore.'"

He would visibly see the hate in her eyes. Yet he simply smiled. He loved to rile up this barbaric creature before him more than anything else.

"'Don't you dare talk about my mother that way.'" Michiko said menacingly.

"It's the truth, isn't it? Your mother is a whore. A whore that somehow managed to fool my father into marrying her.'" Akira said, taunting her more by deliberately drawing his sentence longer.

"'My mother is not a whore.'"

"'She's not a whore when she worked as a stripper? How can you explain this logic?'"

"'She did that to raise me.'"

"'To raise you by becoming a whore?'"

"'She left that job long ago!'"

"'It still doesn't mean that she is clean.'"

With that Michiko stood from her seat, walked over to Akira and slapped him across the face.

"'She sacrificed herself to raise me, and she taught me right from wrong! She taught me that sometimes in this world you have to do things you don't want to do, and as soon as I could I got a job to support her I got one, making her leave that job where dirty old men went to look at her! You think you're so high and mighty? When it is people like you; rich people that go and get pleasure over seeing women do that, then go on and call them filth afterwards? You're all hypocrites!

"'And I at the very least worked my way to where I am, what did you do? You have never worked a single day in your life–you have never seen strife, you have never lifted a finger, you have never cried yourself to sleep from hunger! You are just a pathetic daddy's boy that gets everything he wants. Without your father, you are nothing! You are just a pathetic, worthless, arrogant brat!"

By the end of her speech Michiko was breathing hard, tears threatening to come out of the corners of her eyes. She desperately tried to hold them in, as the two people stood silent, the words of the other sinking into their minds. Wounding them.

Without another word Michiko left the room, and as soon as she was out of sight, she felt hot tears roll down her eyes.

Kanae went back into the room, her expression back to normal, without any trace of the scene from before. It was as though it never happened.

Hiou's cheek wasn't red, as one would expect. Kanae had hit him lightly, barely making a sound as she did so.

Both actors were silent as the mulled over the scene.

Kanae sighed.

"How in the world can these two fall in love when they obviously hate each other?" She wondered aloud.

"They must be idiots." Hiou commented.

"Want to try it out?" Kanae asked.

"The kissing scenes?" Hiou asked.

"We might get a better feel of it if we try out the data from before." Kanae said.

"It's worth a shot."

After a moment the two were once again in their roles, waiting for either one to choose a scene.

Michiko sat down on a chair, hugging her knees. Tears were running down her face. She didn't make a sound as she cried; her pride was too strong for her to do so. She felt a presence behind her, and soon afterwards a tentative hand on her shoulder.

"Hey." Akira said, for once in his life feeling awkward and unsure of himself.

Michiko didn't answer.

"Hey, I'm sorry." Akira said, sitting down next to Michiko. She had her face turned from him, her eyes closed as she let the tears fall. She tensed slightly, surprised that those two words would be able to come from his mouth. Yet she didn't speak.

"I'm sorry for what I said before . . . I'm just not used to . . . well, this." He said, trying to find a word to describe their relationship, yet finding none to adequately describe it.

"I thought that you moved on from that. I thought that you changed." Michiko heard herself say. "How could you let them say that about me, about my mom?"

At these words Akira felt a strong pang of regret. He should have stopped his supposed "friends" from ever saying those things. He should have shut them up; he should have defended her.

But he didn't. And that was what hurt the most.

He just stood there, listening to their snide remarks that he himself would have made, had he not changed and actually met Michiko. Gotten to know her.

"I have changed. You should know that better than anyone." Akira said.

"Then how could you just stand there?" At this Michiko's voice cracked, and Akira realized how weak she truly was. All this time he had thought she was a strong woman, someone that could never be brought down. Someone he had always wanted to be. But she wasn't that. She was just a girl, hurt, and crying. Because of him.

Before another word was said Akira found himself hugging Michiko, his arms wrapped around her waist.

"I'm sorry." He breathed into her ear. "I'm so, so sorry."

At this Michiko turned, tears falling from her eyes. Before he knew what he was doing, Akira leaned forward and began to kiss the tears away, the taste salty on his tongue.

Even after the tears were gone he continued to kiss Michiko's face; her cheeks, her nose, her eyes. She had stopped crying, and instead looked up at him, somewhat surprised at how he seemed to be taller than her now. He had seemed so much smaller before. When had he grown so tall?

Without a word being said Akira leaned forward and brushed his lips against hers, just the lightest of touches, filled with unsaid words and feelings. Akira leaned back, his face turning a light shade of pink. Michiko smiled slightly, and the two leaned forward, pressing their lips together.

The kiss was slow and tender, seeming to last a lifetime in a mere few seconds, leaving the other breathless and wanting more.

Akira pressed Michiko closer to him, his arms wrapped securely around her waist as the kiss continued. Neither of the two wanted to stop; however they knew they had to because of the need for air. When they came up, they gazed into each other's eyes for a few moments more until finally Akira spoke, his voice a whisper in the newfound silence.

"Goodnight, Michiko." He whispered.

And that marked the end of the scene.

Okay, and so done is the next chapter. Now I know you must be frustrated that I left a cliffhanger, however if I continued to write I know it would become too long of a chapter, but I promise that I will try to update as soon as I have some free time. Anyways I hope you enjoy, I love all of you guys and thank you again for all the alerts, favorites and reviews. And I hope everyone a happy early Thanksgiving

-LIA