I'm sorry I've been away for longer than normal, work load intensifying + a case of the sniffles meant I had absolutely zero creative energy for a while there. But it's all better for the time being and I hope this chapter makes up for the delay!

Once again I'm overwhelmed by the awesomeness of you guys. Thanks so much for your reviews and kindness- it sure is inspiring!

Enjoy! :)

Chapter 12

Yashiro tried not to fidget nervously as he sat in the President's office, he tried and he failed. The bespeckled manager couldn't shake the feeling that he was about to be involved in some sort of conspiracy. The idea seemed ludicrous and yet he couldn't help the shudder that went through his spine as the President sat in silence before him- stirring a cup of tea so slowly that it seemed to Yashiro he must've been testing out a new torture method.

Meanwhile his thoughts kept drifting back to what he'd witnessed earlier on. Kyoko and Ren...something was definitely going on between the pair and Yashiro was feeling increasingly frustrated with not knowing anything. That was the opposite of a manager's job description!

"I'm sure you're wondering why I've called you here so suddenly Yashiro-san" The President said calmly, resting his elbows on the desk, his fingers entwined. "I have a matter of great importance I needed to discuss with you and it's something I feel can no longer wait. Would you like some tea?"

Yashiro blinked, wondering if he'd misheard "Pardon?"

The President smiled innocently, as if he hadn't been talking in such a serious tone moments before. "Forgive me, I forgot to ask when you came in, would you like anything? Tea? Coffee?"

Yashiro felt like his heart was about to give out, either that of he was going mad. Somehow, somehow, he was able to pull himself together enough to decline "Ah n-no thank you. Did you say you had something of great importance you needed to discuss with me?"

The President was now taking the longest sip tea Yashiro had ever witnessed. Either that or time had slowed down. It was almost as bad a torture as the incessant cup stirring. WHAT IS HAPPENING?! The poor long-suffering manager thought. Once again he managed to keep up a facade despite the fact that he was visibly shaking from repressed confusion and frustration. Yashiro looked up when he heard the cup placed back onto its saucer.

"It's regarding Ren Tsuruga and Kyoko Mogami." And just like that, Lory threw all the cards onto the table. It was the mention of those two people that had Yashiro's tortured side quieten and his inner fan girl pipe up and listen intently. "I brought you here to discuss the matter of media protection for the pair, should their relationship become more intimate in nature."

Yashiro blushed "And why do you think that would be necessary Sir?"

Lory leaned back in his chair and his eyes bore into Yashiro's. It was in that moment he realised just how the President had become such a powerful figure head in the Entertainment world.

"You surely have realised the change in the way they act around each other recently, I must admit that I do have something to do with this. Recently I have helped place them in situations where it could be easier for their mutual feelings to become more apparent." Lory neglected to mention the extent that he had done this, but rest assured he was grateful for the amount of connections he'd made over his long-spanning career. He hoped Ren would never find out he was responsible for the damage to his car (though technically somebody else had done the dirty work for him and the hotel staff had covered it up well enough).

Yashiro's immediate reaction was glee; pure, unadulterated happiness for his charge. If the President believed that the number one member of LoveMe had feelings for Ren, then there could be no denying it. All this time he had watched Ren suffer in silence, always denying his feelings, never revealing them to the one who mattered most in his heart. But now...now Kyoko had feelings for him too! It was almost perfect, but not quite.

Yashiro thought, for a moment, to ask the President why. Why did he step in to help them now? The question died on his tongue, as he was quite sure he knew the answer. Ren and Kyoko definitely held a special place in the Presidents heart and everyone knew how much Lory supported love and happiness. The idea of two people he held dear finding happiness with each other was one he couldn't ignore. Yashiro understood it, he felt the same way.

So instead of questioning Lory's motivations he sat up straight in his seat, adjusted his glasses and met the Presidents gaze with a confident stare. The stare not just of a true manager, but of one ready to protect his family.

"What do we have to do?"

Kyoko felt her stomach twisting into knots, realising how often that had been happening in Ren's presence recently. But this was a new level of stomach-twisting, sitting in his apartment, the script for Entanglement resting on the coffee table in front of her. It seemed to Kyoko more of a ticking bomb than a script for a romantic drama. Neither of them had said much since he'd asked her back to his for a late dinner and when they did talk it was about anything but the scene she was stuck on. Her first on-screen kiss.

It seemed odd, considering how open and honest they'd been with each other these past few weeks. She knew why she felt awkward around him, but didn't know why Ren would feel so awkward around her. She supposed it must be a childhood-friend thing, the idea of thinking about someone you'd known for so long doing intimate things with another was indeed strange as well as embarrassing, so she didn't ponder more on the matter.

"Here." Ren walked over to where she sat, offering her the warm cup of fruit tea which he'd insisted on making her. "I've been practicing making the kind of teas you like, since you're around so often." He gave her a cheeky, crooked grin and she looked away shyly.

She took the cup, chuckling softly at his perfectionist tendencies. "Thank you." She replied as he came to sit beside her.

"I had an idea whilst making us drinks." Ren said, scratching his hair awkwardly. "But you can honestly say no if you wish." He seemed a little nervous, and it made Kyoko both want to comfort him and run away from him. She was both dying and dreading to know what thoughts were making his look so unsure. He glanced over to her and she once again found herself looking away.

Kyoko thought back to the night when his golden hair had spilled onto the floor below her and his green eyes had glanced at her. Now he sat with her, with dark brown hair and eyes. She wondered why she never really thought of it before, how seamlessly he went from one look to the next. She'd barely noticed the change the day after the masquerade party, when Jelly had re-dyed his hair.

But then she thought once more about the nature of acting, perhaps that alone was why it didn't affect her as much. She changed far more than he did for each role after all, and he was never affected by it. Maybe that's why she didn't care, or maybe it's because she simply saw him as himself no matter what he looked like.

"What was your idea?" She asked softly, cradling the tea with her hands, enjoying the warmth and support it seemed to give her. Ren looked over to her and smiled somewhat unsurely and she found herself thinking how utterly Corn-like he looked in that moment. She beamed at him whilst trying to ignore the tightening knots in her stomach. How strange it was, to go from one emotion to another in mere seconds. Nothing was constant in their exchanges anymore; the predictability was off the table, for now at least.

"Well I thought we might practice the scene you get stuck on." Ren rushed out to say all at once, the words blending into each other. Kyoko had deciphered them nonetheless and her face paled.

"Y-you don't mean we should kiss?" She choked out, trying to pretend she wasn't horror struck at the notion. She didn't want to come off as rude.

"No! No not at all." Ren suddenly felt the urge to open his apartment window and jump right out of it. He'd thought it was a good idea at first, not because he wanted to try anything with her, but because of how she'd helped him with his role for Dark Moon. He thought if she acted it out with someone she knew and felt safe around, she might be able relax a little more during the scene. "We'll stop before the kiss, it's that moment that you have trouble with isn't it?"

Kyoko wanted to point out that the reason she had trouble with it was because she was worried about the kiss, but she didn't held her tongue. She didn't want it to seem like she was suggesting anything.

"Um, yes. Yes, that's the bit I'm having trouble with." She agreed with a half-truth.

An uncomfortable silence settled on the pair, Kyoko was certain she heard a cricket chirp.

Ren sighed, a tired and resigned sound.

"Don't worry about it." He said, placing down his own tea. Regret wove into his voice, sewing itself into the dense tapestry of his emotions for the girl beside him. "I was trying to help you, with your acting. The way you did for me with Dark Moon. But I suppose that's a little different isn't it? We just role played. We didn't act out any romantic scene. It would have been...inappropriate."

For a split second, Ren was sure he saw a flash of something in Kyoko's eyes. He wondered if he imagined it.

Kyoko looked into her cup of tea; her hair covered her eyes so Ren could not see them. She was glad, glad he couldn't see the pain they conveyed.

"You're right." She mumbled quietly. "It would be inappropriate." She missed Ren flinch at her tone.

Once upon a time she would have happily and fervently agreed with him. But things were different now. She was no longer denying her feelings for the man beside her, which put her in a very precarious position.

Ren hated the sudden weight in the air, they'd been so carefree and happy the past couple of weeks (for the most part, after all he still had to deal with the fact that she would never see him in a romantic sense, considering she knew the truth of his feelings) since that faithful night at the masquerade party. He didn't intend to spoil it now.

"So why don't we role play instead? We've done it before in one of your previous lessons. Why don't we do it in character now that you're more accustomed to Yui?" He chirped casually, turning to her with an encouraging smile. She shifted nervously, knowing she would have no trouble acting with him, she'd done so before.

The difference between then and now was she didn't think she'd be able to stop acting, especially considering they would be acting romantically. The lines would blur and what scared her most was getting lost in the idea of it, of being with him. She'd done as much in her past and look where it had gotten her.

"Kyoko?" Ren's hand brushed against hers, she hadn't spoken for a while and he was worried he'd upset her again.

They both felt the jolt when their hands touched but Kyoko was the one that jerked in her seat, sending her tea sloshing out of the mug and onto her hand. She cried out in pain as the tea seared her hand and Ren rushed towards her.

"Kyoko! Are you alright?" He panicked as her face screwed up in pain and her breathing became shallow.

"I'm fine, I'll be fine. It wasn't too hot. Just a little." She grunted. Ren heard enough and pulled her towards the kitchen, gently cradling her hand as he held it under the cold tap.

Kyoko looked up at him after a few moments, the cool water soothing the pain of the burn. "We keep injuring ourselves around each other." She said frankly, in a slightly amused tone.

Ren frowned. "Well, it's mainly been you that's been injured. You really have to be more careful." I hate seeing you hurt was a thought that remained unsaid.

"I can't help myself around you." Kyoko blurted out and instantly realised her slip. Her breath stopped and her eyes widened. She waited for his reaction. Please, please don't pick up the meaning, I'm begging you.

Ren's hand curled around hers tighter as the water cascaded down both their hands. All that could be heard was the running tap. His sleeve was getting wet but he didn't even notice. His face was completely blank; he didn't know what to think. Surely he'd misheard?

"Kyoko..." He whispered and her heart betrayed her as it flipped, the way he said her name was intoxicating. She'd never come across anything intoxicating before, but that was the only way to describe it. She was completely captivated, just when she needed not to be. She needed to deny what she said, she needed to protect herself, she couldn't let him see.

She couldn't let him see.

But he had seen. He'd seen the way her eyes had widened when he said her name, he'd seen the blush creep across her face and the way her chest rose as her breath caught. And suddenly he remembered all the moments he'd dismissed, all the little reactions from her even as far back as when they played Cain and Setsu. It all clicked into place and he stood rooted to the spot, hardly daring to believe it.

Kyoko yanked her hand out of his grasp.

"My hand's feeling better now; they say you should only hold minor burns under a cold tap for two minutes at a time. Do you have any burn cream? I would reimburse you for it of course." She rambled in a high pitched voice whilst she turned off the tap. Ren watched her with hawk-like eyes and she pointedly ignored his intense state, vaguely aware that she was fighting a losing battle. I can't let him see.

Kyoko turned and walked into the living room continuing to ramble in an attempt to sound breezy, but instead sounding breathless and flustered. She grew annoyed with herself, thinking she didn't deserve her title of Actress. "I think the role play is a good idea, it will be a good chance for me to practice being Yui and it would be nice to be opposite a Takumi who didn't yell whenever something went wrong."

"I don't want to be Takumi." Ren replied lowly and Kyoko jumped, not noticing how close he was behind her. Ren grabbed her shoulders and span her around to face him. There was something completely unreadable in his darkened and heated expression. Or maybe it was something Kyoko didn't want to read, for fear of what it meant. "I don't want to be Takumi and I don't want you to be Yui. I don't want to pretend anymore."

"I-I don't understand." Kyoko stammered, her heart racing.

"You said you can't help yourself around me." He breathed and his dark eyes seemed to stare right through to her heart, her soul, his expression almost daring her to deny what she'd said moments before.

She swallowed; not knowing what was happening but knowing she was dangling on a precipice.

"I can't" She admitted so faintly that she was sure he wouldn't hear it. He did. She could feel his hands shake on her shoulders. She looked down, tears pooling in her eyes, and she moved herself away from his grasp once more "I can't." She repeated louder the second time, shaking her head. Her breath came out in gasps; her chin trembled as she fought not to cry.

He stepped towards her, the deep intensity gone, his countenance softening when he saw her withdrawn into sadness. "Kyoko-" he began gently but the orange haired beauty stopped him from speaking the rest of his sentence.

"Stop saying my name like that." She whimpered slightly, her voice trembling. Oh how she wanted to run. The emotions building around her were terrifying, what was worse is her resolve was crumbling by the second. She was letting him see the vulnerability- the emotions she needed to hide.

"Like what?" He asked her softly, as if he was caressing her with her words. A silent tear fell down her cheek and he moved closer to wipe it away with his thumb. She swallowed once more, fighting for the last bit of control she had in her.

"Like you..." she trailed off, she couldn't bear to say the words, the thoughts that gave her hope. But Ren understood.

And it was in that moment that the very last shred of his resolve was lost to the wind, disappearing forever.

"Kyoko" He whispered once more as he leaned forward and placed his lips on her own.

WOOOOO! You've no idea how long I've waited to write this scene! Probably as long as you guys have wanted to read it eh? XD It's funny because half way through it went in a completely different direction to how I imagined it going, but I prefer it this way. I originally had them go through the role play and kiss because their feelings were too intense. Whilst that too would have been a good scene, Ren said it best here, I didn't want their first kiss to be them in character. I wanted it to be just them. Just letting you guys in on the authors crazy mind! Haha! What do you guys think? :) review and let me know!