Hello there! I know, I know, it's taken me a while to get back to this. I wasn't sure how to continue - where to go after chapter one. Also I wasn't very motivated to continue on. This may not get as many hits as my other stories (i.e. CME and AFL) but I'm going to continue it with as much passion as I devote to my other tales. Anyway, enough from me. Enjoy onegai!

Together Again

KawaiixKisses

Mother

Shoutaro

The ceremony was painfully long, everyone drawing out their farewells with tears and sobs. My father was the one who surprised me the most however. He hadn't stopped crying since the day had begun. No, it was body-shaking, breath-taking sobs, they were silent tears. I had never known my father to be an emotional man, he usually opted to leave explaining his feelings to my mother. I had known that my father loved my mother dearly, but seeing him then, crying as he was made it all the more real.

"So you're really gone then," I whispered, setting a white rose down beside her picture once everyone had left.

Her image was silent however, giving me no comfort at all. I stared at her for hours probably, burning the image of her smiling face into my memory. Even then, as my brain processed the fact that she was gone, my heart still wasn't ready to believe it. I kept waiting for her picture to talk to me, to tell me that I was dreaming, that none of this was real and I'd wake up in my bed back in Tokyo. No such thing occurred but for hours I kept wishing, hoping that it would.

I wasn't ready to give up my mother. There were still so many things I had to tell her. I wanted to show her how successful my music career was. I wanted to take her to Shanghai for her birthday this winter like she had wanted. I wanted to tell her that I loved her. But I was never going to get a chance to do any of those things – I had waited too long.

"Oka-chan… I'm sorry," I said softly to her image, my eyes trained on her matching blue orbs.

I missed her already. I felt so lost, like a part of me had been torn out, as if I was missing a page in my life's book. What was I supposed to do now? While it hadn't looked like it, my mother was everything to me. She was the one person I knew would always love me. Even after everything I had done, all the hearts I had broken and lies I had told, my mother would still love me. I was an angel in her eyes and nothing I could possibly do would ever cause her not to love me. Even though I hadn't seen her in years, she still wrote to me because she loved me.

I'd give anything to hear her voice at the moment. Anything to hear her call me 'Sho-chan.' Knowing she wasn't some place on this earth was devastating.

I hadn't even noticed that I wasn't alone anymore, I was far too wrapped up in my self-pitying.

"Shoutaro."

Suddenly I met the honey gaze of the woman my mother wanted me to be with. Kyouko.

Her delicate hand was placed on my shoulder, her eyes filled with concern. Despite the bickering that she and I went through, I wasn't surprised to see her there. Even though we were 'sworn enemies' I had always known that deep down, if I ever needed her, she'd be there for me – just as I'd be there for her.

She was my oldest friend. The person who knew me best in this world. She knew what to say to make me happy and what to say to tick me off. She knew what I liked from what I didn't. She knew when I was bluffing from when I was serious. Ups and downs. Flaws and perfections. She knew them all. No one else would ever know me the way Kyouko did.

Everyone knew me as 'Fuwa Sho' the pop star or 'Sho' the high school heartthrob. Only she knew who Fuwa Shoutaro was. Only she knew me and still sort of liked me.

I stared at her for a while, studying the planes of her face. She had definitely grown since we were children. No longer did she look like the girl who clung to me mercilessly, showering me with unwanted love and always hanging out at my house. She looked like a woman I couldn't recognize. A stranger, who coincidentally couldn't stand me, but was there now, comforting me because she knew I needed her.

I wasn't sure when it happened or how it started out, but all of a sudden she was wrapped in my arms, her body being crushed to mine.

I buried my face in her long, auburn hair, taking comfort from her smell. The feel of her body pressed against my succeeding in calming me slightly.

I could feel her hesitating at first, as if unsure of how to respond to my sudden actions. I didn't care though; as long as she allowed me to hold onto her for a while then it was okay. But she relaxed eventually, her hands sliding up and down my back, just as my mother used to when I was young.

I held her close, listening to her as she began humming softly to me.

"You'll find love and you'll find peace – and the you you're meant to be," she sang softly to me, her fingers sliding gently through my hair.

I needed that. At the time, she was unaware of how her simple words impacted me. How her touch soothed me. She had no idea at that time how much her being there meant to me. A flood of emotions rushed through me, some of them I couldn't even identify.

"You're going to be okay, Shoutaro," she whispered softly to me.

"I hope so."

Kyouko

It was a bright, sunny morning in Kyoto and everything seemed peaceful. Haruko had just finished taking me for a tour of my old home. I was actually surprised to see that nothing had changed, the people were the same, the locations, and everything was exactly how I left it. It felt good to be home.

"Kyouko-chan is really popular," Haruko commented as we walked into the Fuwa-Inn.

On our little tour I had been surrounded by old faces who wanted a chance to meet 'Kyouko' again. I couldn't help but wonder how greatly their view of me changed now that I was famous. Before when I was plain old Mogami Kyouko I was nothing but the bastard child of a woman who abandoned her home town. No one wanted anything to do with me. I was isolated all my life. Even the girls who once gave me a hard time in grade school were all smiling in my face, exclaiming about how much they enjoyed 'Box R' and 'Tsugumori'. It was amazing how my fame changed their perspective.

"Ha ha, yeah I guess so, huh?" I said to her, smiling softly as I slipped off my shoes and on the guest slippers.

"Definitely! I wonder how many autographs you signed today…" she said to me.

I watched as the worker fell silent, her face growing thoughtful as she possibly thought about it.

I only smiled at her, shaking my head a bit.

"How about I show you how to make sukiyaki* tonight?"

Haruko's face lit up as she stared at me. "Hn!"

"Okay, you go in the kitchen and get everything set up and I'll be right in there, ne?"

Haruko nodded her head and headed off to the kitchen, ready to cook.

I made my way over to Shoutaro's room. He had been locked up in there all day and quite frankly I was worried about him.

Lightly, I knocked on the door to his room and just as I expected there was no response from him. I took that as reason enough to invite myself in.

"Shoutaro?" I called, stepping over the threshold and into his room.

The blonde was seated on the other side, lightly stroking an old guitar of his. His blue eyes were fixed on the strings, paying no attention to me whatsoever. After our 'embrace' a few nights before Shoutaro had said very little to me and I was actually a little worried. I didn't speak though; I merely shut the door behind me and sat down across from him on the bed.

The blonde only continued to strum his guitar; lightly humming a song I could remember. We sat like that for a few minutes, neither of us speaking. I could sense him relaxing a little as the song went on, as if he was relieved to have me there with him. I never would have thought that he and I would be like that again, not after the nasty way things had ended between us.

I never really hated Shoutaro I was just heartbroken. No longer was I focused on revenge because my feelings for him were resolved, at least I thought they were. Something about us sitting together in his room, me listening and him playing his guitar reminded me of our childhood, how things used to be between us and I could feel the emotions I once held for him slowly coming back, piece by piece.

"I wrote this a while ago…" he said after a while.

I nodded my head, allowing him to continue if he wanted to.

"I wasn't sure what it meant at first – as strange as it sounds – but I think now… it might have been for my mom."

All the while, he had been strumming his guitar, humming what I learned later was the chorus. It was a pretty ballad, its notes slow and deliberate, the words catchy yet heartfelt. It was then that I remembered what a good songwriter Shoutaro was.

"And where are you now? Now that I need you? Tears on my pillow. Where ever you go, I'll cry me a river that leads to your ocean – you'll never see me fall apart…"

The look he had in his eyes that night was unlike any I have ever seen him make. He looked so broken – lost without his mother to guide him anymore. A part of me wished I knew how to fix it, how to repair Fuwa Sho. The selfish part of me wanted him back so that we could bicker. I wanted to see him annoyed, have him yell at me. I knew how to handle such a Shoutaro. But this, this was different. What did one say to a broken man? I wasn't sure, so I did the only thing I knew how to do. I stayed with him.

"I'm there at your side,
I'm part of all the things you are
But you've got a part of someone else
You've got to find your shining star"

I watched as his shinning blonde hair hung over his eyes, creating a veil to hide his broken expression. But I knew what was behind it. I knew he was fighting back the tears, not for shame, not for pride, but for denial. He still wasn't ready to admit that his mother was really gone; he wasn't ready to move on. And that was okay. I wasn't rushing him. No one was. He could take all the time he needed and no one would force him to do anything else.

"-chan?"

I looked up from him, my eyes trained on the door as it slid open.

"Kyouko-chan? There you are! I was waiting forever – "

Haruko stopped herself as her gaze shifted to the blonde beside me.

"Sho-kun?"

"Ah, Haruko! Let's leave Shoutaro alone, ne?" I said to her, smiling softly and rising to my feet.

The worker watched him for a little bit before nodding her head and walking away. I followed after her, but not leaving before looking back at Shoutaro.

"I'll bring you something to eat when it's ready."

The male said nothing to me, nor did he acknowledge that he heard me. He merely strummed his guitar, singing out the rest of his mother's song softly into the air.

"Kyouko-chan, what's wrong with Sho?" Haruko asked me as I came into the kitchen.

I smiled weakly at her, not wanting to worry her too much. "Shoutaro's still a little upset about his mom. He'll be okay though, he's strong."

Haruko watched me for a moment, reading my face for a sign of deceit, obviously accepting what she saw there the working nodded her head and returned to the raw beef she had set out for them to prepare.

"Have you seen Oji-san?"

Haruko shook her head a bit. "Haven't seen him since the ceremony."

I let out a soft sigh. "Okay. First thing's first. We need to season the beef."

Shoutaro

I don't remember how long I had locked myself in my room for. The days just seemed to fly by, blending slowly into one another. I sat there for hours, just playing my old guitar. It was nothing special about it, it was like any other guitar I had ever owned. The thing that made it so important to me was that my mother had bought it for me. I remember the day vividly:

I had been playing some beat up old guitar a guest had left behind. It only had three strings and I could barely play it. My father teased me relentlessly about the thing, claiming that there would be no need for guitar playing when I took over the Inn. I didn't let him bother me though, I just kept on strumming that old thing, playing the music that only I understood. My mother walked in on me one day while I was out back practicing in front of Kyouko. She looked at me, her almond eyes studying my face for a while before she proceeded.

"Sho-chan" I remember her calling out to me.

She smiled brightly at me, her eyes twinkling as if she had a secret only she knew about. Then she presented it to me. It was the happiest day of my childhood and I'll never forget it.

Shamelessly I let out a small, struggled sob as the memories of my mother flooded in on my thoughts.

"Oka-chan…"

Before I realized it the tears were flooding from my eyes, spilling over and sliding down my cheeks. I couldn't stop, there was no use fighting it. I leaned my head back, my teary eyes staring up at the ceiling of my old bedroom.

"Shoutaro?" came a voice that I recognized all too well.

Quickly I regained my composer, drying my eyes on my sleeve as the door slid open.

"I brought you something to eat," Kyouko said to me, her hazel eyes watching me carefully.

I nodded, afraid my voice would betray me.

I watched as she brought in the food, a little surprised to see two plates in her hands. The actress sat beside me pacing a plate to me with a small smile.

"Itatakimasu" she said softly before carefully guiding the food into her mouth with her chopsticks.

I knew she was aware of my weakness. I knew she knew that I had been crying. I was grateful that she didn't comment on it, she only sat with me and ate, allowing me the comfort of her presence as well as the silence she offered. I needed both.

We went on like that for a while before she finally spoke.

"Yum. I haven't made that in a while."

I nodded. It had indeed been delicious. I had forgotten how good of a cook Kyouko was. The time part from her had allowed me to forget a few things. I remembered thinking at that moment that she would make a good wife.

"Shoutaro?"

I looked at her for the first time that night. "Hn?"

"You're face… its red. Do you have a fever?" she questioned, placing her hand to my forehead.

I allowed the feel of her soft hand to comfort me for a while before I removed it. "No."

I stared down at her fingers, marveling in the contrast between hers and mine. Her fingers were slender and porcelain while mine were slightly callused and tan.

"What wrong?" she asked me, her eyes searching my face.

I looked at her, watching the hazel in her eyes as it searched mine for answers. I shook my head a little, leaning in slowly.

I wasn't sure at the time what I was doing or what force was causing me to move in on her like I was, but I couldn't stop it. I wanted to see what she would feel like, what she would taste like. She didn't stop me either; she just stared up at me with parted lips, possibly waiting to accept my kiss. I watched as her now half lidded eyes slowly closed, her head tilting up slightly.

Good girl… I remember thinking.

I hadn't processed the thought until much later, long after I had pressed my lips to hers.

I do so hope you all enjoyed that. I liked writing it. I sense romance-a-brewin' lol Review onegaishimasu!