A/N: Sorry this was so long in coming. I was in the midst of my final finals! But those are all over and I'm now a college graduate! Hooray! So, now, at least until I get a job, I am free to write this fanfic!

I'm going to use the Japanese honorifics now, instead of our "miss" and "mister". It just feels more like Ren and Kyoko's voice when they use the Japanese honorifics.

It's also my birthday today! Twenty-three years old! Yay!

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Ren put a firm hand on his leg to keep it from bouncing nervously.

Calm down.

Today was the day. Kyoko and he would read through their first love scene. Well, what little dialogue there was in that scene . . .

He felt the apprehension rising in his throat.

Tsuruga Ren, Stop! If you can't make it through a read-through, how are you going to handle the actual run-through?

Ren took a deep breath.

This was just another challenge of his acting career.

. . . And I am going to meet it!

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Kyoko arrived right on time. She sat down next to Ren.

"Good morning, Mogami-san," Ren said, not really looking at her, trying even harder than usual to act casual towards his kohai. When she didn't immediately respond Ren finally took a good look at Kyoko.

Kyoko was looking back at him, her face . . . so close to his . . . her mouth spread into a slow, warm smile. Her gaze was heavy lidded.

"Good morning, Tsuruga-san," she purred.

Ren gulped. She spoke with a deep, sultry tone. He realized from the first that she was acting. He knew that, in her own way, she was showing off to the sempai she so respected, what she had learned.

Brava, Kyoko.

"How was that? My friend, Moko, helped me!"

"That was very good! I know you haven't dealt with a role like this before and I commend you for rising to the challenge."

Kyoko glowed under Ren's praise.

"Thank you, sempai."

Her bright familiar smile was more devastating to his heart than any flirtatious look.

The read-through went smoothly. Even though it was just a read-through, Ren read his part well, as did Kyoko. The two were so into their characters and into looking down at their scripts, that both were able to forget to whom they were delivering these seductive lines. Read-through for that scene didn't last long. But, therein lay the problem.

They would be doing very little talking in that scene . . .

"I need to see you again . . ." read Ren.

"Of course . . . where would you like to meet?"

"At the pavilion in the Koishikawa-Korakuen gardens. Midnight."

"There? I'm surprised. I thought you would want to meet at your place or something . . ."

"The gardens are my place . . . and that pavilion was my favorite spot in the garden. I used to go with my father . . . before he was murdered . . . I want to show it to you."

". . . I'd love to see it."

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As much wonderful work Kyoko received, she still got the usual "LoveMe" job. Right now she was mopping a corridor outside of some of the LME mainstay's dressing rooms. Someone had dropped a whole liter of Coca-Cola, which exploded on impact, leaving the entire hallway a sticky mess. Sometimes the mop wasn't enough and she had to get down on her hands and knees with a rag to pull up the residue.

Kyoko sat up with a sigh of satisfaction once she conquered another stain. She looked up at the rest of the mess she still had to clean and gave another sigh of an entirely different kind. Our heroine pushed up the hot pink sleeves of her uniform.

"Yosh! You can do it, Kyoko!"

It was such work that kept Kyoko humble . . . and she was grateful for it.

Ren's gulp—yes she did see it—when she gave him a taste of what she had learned, surprised her. Did she make him nervous? She had looked into his eyes, usually so calm, and for a split second thought she saw a flicker of the "Emperor of the Night."

A shiver coursed down Kyoko's back.

"Mogami-san?"

"ACK!" Kyoko jumped and slipped on the wet tile.

"Mogami-san, are you alright?"

Kyoko looked up to see Ren's dark figure towering over her, hand outstretched. Hesitatingly she took it. Sparks seemed to shoot up her arm as he helped her to her feet.

"From your bright attire and cleaning supplies, I'm guessing that you are in the middle of another "LoveMe" assignment."

"Yes."

"Mogami-san . . . I know I sort of asked you this before but . . ." Ren stopped to clear his throat. "Excuse me!" Ren stepped back into his dressing room and closed the door.

"Eh?" Kyoko stared helplessly at the door. "What?"

Ren was leaning on the other side of it, His face aflame. Once he regained control of himself he opened the door.

"I'm so sorry, Mogami-san! I thought I heard my cell phone go off."

"Oh! No, no, that's okay! I wouldn't want you to miss any important calls!"

"I wanted to ask you if you had ever been kissed before."

Kyoko froze, recalling her first meeting with the "Emperor of the Night."

"Do you have experience in kissing?"

"N-n-n-n-n-no . . .w-why?"

"No."

"You do realize why we have so few lines together in that one scene, don't you?"

Kyoko stood, blinking up at him . . . and then . . .

"AH!"

Just as I feared . . . She hadn't thought about it . . .