"Now what was it earlier bout Kyoko not even knowing if we've kissed or not? Thy were now sitting at the bar and sipping tea that Ren had made because Natsu 'doesn't do things like that', but she wanted something to keep her up because Kyoko's body was fighting to sleep. But coffee was too strong, so tea it had to be. "Because that seems a little farfetched. Especially considering work."
"Alright, onto that beginning. Now keep this in your head: I am a character. She designs us and lets us take over her body for the purpose of acting, but also uses us when she thinks she can't handle some certain situations and thinks she needs us."
"How much control does each one of your...souls...have?"
"Pretty much all of it. Complete control."
"Wait, you have free reign over her at times?"
"In a way. She calls each character a soul on their own. You've got me, Setsuka, Mio, A-kun, Flora, Kuon, and a couple others in the works at her disposal."
"'Kuon'?"
"Hizuri Kuu's son." Ren motions for her to continue on that point. "Kyoko was given an acting lesson from Hizuri Kuu a while back and she did so well that he praised her rendition on his son. They connected so well that short time he was here in Japan that he urged her to call him 'Father'. It was practically insisted, but it brings her joy, having that ability and every tie she gets to use it. I don't know why though. The grudges won't talk about it and it was before any of our times."
"Her, uh, father...wasn't around when she was little. I never heard anything about him."
Natsu looks at Ren like a new source of information. "And her mother?"
Ren's hand tighten on his cup as he stares daggers into it. He takes a breath in. "She wasn't what one would call a good mother," he says guardedly. Ha. That hardly covers it. That would be but the tip of the proverbial iceberg right there. You can do it. Say it. Say 'Mogami Saena is a bitch who didn't want her daughter and didn't deserve to have Kyoko as her own'. "She would be a major part of the reason that Kyoko is such a diehard perfectionist."
"Really? Huh. And here I was thinking it was a blood-tpe issue. What else can you tell me about her? Kyoko's mother, I mean."
"She abandoned Kyoko when she was six at the Fuwa ryokan and never looked back. She was already enthralled with that guy at the time, but this broke her heart more than she ever let on. What Fuwa did on her heart was child's play in comparison. He doesn't even like her mother fro what I can tell."
The air is tense with the aura coming off of Ren in waves and Natsu can feel that any more pressure in that area would shatter it all for him like a glass bubble, and she wasn't in the mood for broken glass tonight. So she does what any normal person would do and sidesteps the catastrophe to be. "So...about Kuon, 'Father's son'? She still has the character soul for him in here."
"Is that so."
"Yes. He cane to her when she was making me, I think. I was barely put together before she got herself over to your place and learned how to make me move. I suppose I should thank you for that since she is so naturally stiff." Natsu gets up from the stool and walks over to the fridge. "Anyway, Kuon pops up when she is discourages and needs a 'we-can-do-it!' attitude."
"How is she when you take over?"
She looks into the fridge. "Don't you keep anything good in here? All I am seeing in here is health-nut crap, and I get that enough from my mother," she half-whines.
"It's probably stuff she picked out. I get that kind of stuff wth Kyoko. Well, she picks it out and I just buy it."
"Maybe if you ate more in general and got her off your back, you would have more things that you could just munch on."
"I don't need or want her off of my back, remember? And for your information, I do. The junk food stuff that I don't think she would like me eating is on top of the refrigerator." He points from his seat and she just looks up.
"Like hell I'm going to be able to reach that." She looks like she's just going to walk away when she asks, "what do you have up there?"
"I dunno. American snack cakes, pocky, hi-chew, those little panda cookies that Maria gets sometimes from that person that's always with the president, maybe a couple bags of chips? Maybe even chex-mix that the president gets once in a while." Although it is better than if mom would ever try, dad can't do anything half-way. I got three whole tins from Lory when he was attacked by them, so I gave one to Yukihito.
Natsu sighs tiredly and shakes her head in a way that makes him think that Kyoko has come back until she speaks. "Dammit." She grabs a chair and before Ren can think about her actions, she has climbed on top of the taller, made-for-his-height counter.
"Hey!" He dashes to her in an instant. "What do you think you are doing up there? Are you out of your freaking mind?" He reaches for her, but she keeps on going to the fridge with him as a spotter and reaches into the cabinet.
"No, I'm not. I've got the munchies. Want anything?" She looks down at him with a smile.
He sighs, giving in. "What is even up there?"
"Well, you're right about the snack cakes, pandas, and hi-chew. It's strawberry too! My favourite!"
He thinks on it a moment, wondering if the same would be applied to Kyoko too. How close are these characters to her? "What snack cakes are there?" It takes a while to get settled again with the talk of favourites and different snacks, but he tells her not to climb the counters again.
"Well, it's your fault for having everything so freaking tall. Would you feel better if there was a character who has had a lot of balance training? More than Kyoko at least?"
"Not particularly. And you till haven't gotten to how that all works anyhow."
"Oh riiight. Okay, I'll take your questions then I guess because I forgot where I left off and where I was going."
"What happens when you take over at a job?"
"Kyoko lets us take over the driver's seat. She's still there at the back of her head, but she isn't really in control unless she lets us slip." Ren looks sceptically at her, so she looks for an example he might understand. "Like when you were Cain after the leech called and you guys were on the bed? Total flip out."
"Really?"
"Uh, yes? I mean, she was wailing apologies at you the whole time at the top of her little lungs. Super annoying."
"You were there?"
"We all were, but the others don't really care, like Mio. I tried helping Setsuka after I saw what she did to your neck the first time, but Kyoko was distracting. But it's not like we're sitting there always. It's just on things like acting, like if she needs to borrow something, like a Natsu-like walk for Setsuka. It's just tweaked a bit for each character."
"But her eyes didn't even let anything through."
"Well, yes. Setsuka was in charge," she says it like it was obvious all along.
"But her eyes didn't even flinch!"
"I'm not sure how you knew that because your eyes were partially closed during that time," she smiles kind of teasingle. "But yes, she was there screaming about the purity of Japanese women, then cursing Europeans and their displays of affection and how it's not right and proper, and then went on a rant about Setsuka's unhealthy relationship with her brother before the apologies set in again." Natsu cringes at the memory. "That one sure does like wailing on and on in a vicious cycle."
"Okay, so times like that she is there, but not present to outer people?"
"Yes."
"Then is she there now?"
"No. She is too tired to be here."
"How do I know that for sure?"
"I'll prove it to you if you trust your reflexes." Natsu closes her eyes, letting out a breath. "It won't be long or I won't know if I'll be back. Just do not act like Cain. You do, and I'm sure Setsuka will march her way out here next time."
"Trust my what? What do you mean, 'back'?" Suddenly, like a puppet with cut strings, Natsu falls sideways and Ren catches her right before she falls off the stool. "Natsu? Hey, Natsu!" He stares down at her face and slowly she starts shifting. Her brows come together and her eyes open slightly, like a child that's been passed out for hours. A little yawn graces her lips as her golden eyes look questionably at Ren as they focus.
"Tsuruga-san?"