This be the next chappie!! I had so much work this week I was literally buried under it. I've only just started digging my way out. Thank you to all those people who reviewed; it's you guys who make writing worthwhile.

Disclaimer: Belongs to Yoshiki Nakamura.

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CHAPTER SEVENTEEN!!

Twenty second ago, Ren had been happy. Kyoko was safe and asleep, his dad was in the bedroom, and his mother had stayed up to talk to him. She'd said she'd watched all of his movies, seen all of his interviews, and she was proud of him. Julie also said she approved of Kyoko with a knowing wink. Ren had blushed at that. Then she hugged him, and he was glad, because it had been such a long time since they'd seen each other. She gave him a little kiss on the cheek, just as she had when he was little, and he smiled at her. And that had to be the exact moment Kyoko walked in.

Of course she'd assume something was wrong. Any normal person would. Ren knew she'd take it badly; she'd think he was cheating with her adopted father's beloved wife. He expected screaming, crying and demands to know what the hell was going on. But Kyoko was never like the other girls; it was one of the reasons he loved her; and she just stood there, excused herself and walked out of the room before he could explain.

Now he ran after her. He had to explain, or she might cut him off altogether, like she did Sho when he broke her trust. He wouldn't allow that to happen, not after all this time; it would be too cruel to be rejected over something as happy as being hugged by your mother. Ren reached out and grabbed her arm, forcing her to a stop. They were now standing in the hallway, away from the dining room, almost at Kyoko's room, in fact. Ren was glad his mother had stayed away; she would help explain afterwards, but now wasn't the right time. Now was for both of them.

"Kyoko, it wasn't what it looks like." He said staring into her totally emotionless eyes and willing her to believe, "There is a reason."

Suddenly, Kyoko's mask broke. It started with a tiny glimpse of hurt in her eyes, which she tried to blink away, but it spread over her face until it was the most heart-wrenching thing Ren had ever seen. Kyoko had wet eyes, but was not allowing any tears to fall.

"Tell me." She said, begging. "If there is a reason, tell me it. Just give me something."

And now the tears fell, but she dashed them away with her hand, staring up at him with determined eyes. She just needed a plausible explanation, and she'd believe it. Ren hesitated. He couldn't make up a lie; she'd find out eventually and it would hurt even more. Now was the time to tell her the truth. He would have to tell her who Kuu and Julie really were, not her parents, but his. Although one day he intended that they should be hers too. He sighed.

"Come back to the kitchen, Kyoko, and sit down. I'll explain there."

And she followed him, without a word.

Julie rose from where she was sitting on the couch, took one look at Ren's face and said, "I'll go get Kuu."

Ren nodded his thanks. Kyoko looked a bit worried, a bit confused, but a little relieved. Apparently he wasn't acting like a guilty person. Who invited their mistress's husband to sit up and hear an explanation about why you were kissing them when caught?

Kuu walked into the room, bleary eyed, holding Julie's hand. He had always been quick to sleep. Looking at Kyoko's tear strained face, he was immediately more alert. Kuu glanced a quick question to Ren, who answered it with a tightening of his lips. With a worried little grimace, he walked over to sit on the couch by Kyoko, the only person she'd probably allow contact with at the moment. Well, looks like it was time to make a clean breast of it.

"Ok Kyoko, this may come as a shock, but…" He swallowed, wetting his lips nervously, "But Kuu and Julie are…They're actually…"

She was staring at him. Those eyes… she'd probably hate him now. But he didn't have to mention the fact that the Fairy Prince she'd loved, because she had loved him the way innocent children did, was actually him. He could save that for a time when they were closer, preferably when it wasn't technically morning and he'd had time to think. Maybe the best thing would be to blurt it out all at once, like ripping off a band-aid. He felt incredibly nervous, but if he didn't say anything now, he knew his mother would, and it should really come from him.

"Kuu and Julie are my parents." Ren said, steeling himself. Kyoko's profoundly shocked expression did not bode well.

"I used to live in America with them, but I moved back here to Japan to become an actor. Lory came to get me, as he's a friend of my family's. That's the reason you thought we looked so similar. It's hereditary. I'm sorry about not mentioning it; I didn't want people to think that I was living off my father's fame. About that thing in the kitchen…" He faltered. Now that he'd started talking, it seemed difficult to stop. "Well, I haven't seen my parents in four years, except that little jaunt last year with my father, so mother just felt a little emotional and hugged me… And then you came in and I suppose you got the wrong idea…"

Ren decided it was high time to stop babbling and figure out exactly how Kyoko felt about this latest development. If he was lucky, she only wouldn't talk to him for a month.

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Kyoko sat stupefied as she heard Ren's explanation. It was hard to take in; Kuu and Julie were his parents? The part of her brain not totally stunned told her that it was entirely possible; only people as good-looking as that could have a son as handsome as Ren Tsuruga. That would mean that when she was acting for Kuu, he was actually pretending to be a younger Ren. She remembered Kuu's rant of his perfect son; beautiful, kind, diligent, manly, strong, good reflexes and above all, smart. Well, it certainly fit her Ren. Wait, that would mean he wasn't Ren he was…

"So, that means you're actually Kuon Hizuri?" Kyoko said bewilderedly, the first thing she'd spoken in some time.

Julie took charge. "Yes, he's actually Kuon, my son. I hope you understand, Kyoko, he had his reasons. What you saw; is it really so bad, a mother embracing her long-lost son?"

She looked so piteous that Kyoko hadn't the heart to be angry at her, "Oh, of course not! It didn't matter anyway, Ren… that is, Kuon, wouldn't ever do anything like… well, you know."

She flushed. Admittedly, when she'd first walked in on them, her innocent mind had simply screeched to a halt, unable to process what her senses told her. Different possibilities, each less likely than the next whirled through her brain. He was acting, he was blackmailed, he was possessed, she was trapped in a parallel world of nightmarish dilemmas… But in the end, she'd been forced to think what any normal person would. Julie, the wife of her adopted father, was having an affair with her crush, Ren Tsuruga. It was probably the first time she'd admitted to herself that she liked Ren in a more-than-friends way.

"Of course not." Julie said in a businesslike way, her previous expression totally wiped from her beautiful face. Huh. She was just as devious as Ren, in her way. Looks like acting is in the blood.

"Kyoko, I'm sure you had a shock, but why don't we all go to bed now and talk it over in the morning?" Kuu suggested kindly, "I'm sure you'll have lots of questions."

Kyoko nodded blankly, her mind only just recovering. She muttered a 'good night' to the Hizuri family and toddled back to her room, not making eye contact with anything but the carpet. Kyoko lay down on her bed and wrapped the blankets around her like a snug cocoon. From the living room she heard a muted buzz as the family talked quietly amongst themselves. The selfish, weak part of her whined that she was always being excluded; Ren had apparently not seen fit to inform her that he was Kuu's son, and Kuu hadn't said anything either.

She heard footsteps as two people, probably husband and wife, trooped up the hall to Ren's room, shutting the door behind them. Another pair of feet moved to the bathroom and brushed their teeth, carefully turning out the light behind them. Ren, of course it was Ren, then poked his head into her room through the door she hadn't bothered shutting properly. She didn't move; she hadn't yet decided how she felt about his heritage. After a good couple of seconds, Kyoko heard a subdued sigh and her door slid shut, feet shuffling back up the corridor to the living room, when the light peeping under her door disappeared.

As she lay there in the dark, listening to the sound of city traffic that reached even here, Kyoko realised that Ren had never once lied to her. She just hadn't asked. In fact, even when she was Bo and had suggested that he'd grown up overseas, he'd actually said he lived in America. And when that evil Beagle said that Ren Tsuruga was a stage name, he had admitted in front of her that, yes, it was. It wasn't like he'd gone out of his way to deceive her. And she couldn't hate him; she knew he was, above all, a good man.

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When she got up at her usual time that morning, Kyoko felt quite refreshed. And sort of important. She was now privy to information that, she gathered, only Lory and the Hizuri's knew. Information of Japan's number one male entertainer, and sure to be their biggest ever star, which put her in a very interesting position. A more callous person would have rung the tabloids by now; even the news she was staying in his house would be worth millions. This sort of news would put her directly in the spotlight, but being who she was, she never even seriously considered it.

Walking quietly down the corridor, she saw the dark figure of her sempai stretched languorously out on the couch, and smiled. She'd make an extra special (and extremely large) meal for everyone to eat, to show that there were no hard feelings. Quietly getting to work in the kitchen, she made one of her best simple Japanese meals and had it almost finished by the time she heard a rustle from the living room. Shortly after, Ren walked into the kitchen with an incredulous look on his face, and she awarded him with a beaming smile. Now that she'd had time to think of it, Kyoko felt tremendously happy that he'd told her information that was potentially career damaging. Ren himself just looked bewildered. She told him to go wake up his parents; she'd have breakfast on the table in five.

Breakfast was dominated with embarrassing stories from Ren's youth; from the time when Julie tried her latest 'cookies' on him to when he got lost at the airport when he was seven. Kyoko had never laughed harder in her life, and was oblivious to the fact that should anyone else have looked into the room, they would have seen a happy couple and their parents enjoying a meal at home. The men offered to wash up and Kyoko gratefully accepted. Kuu and Ren really were alike, in a way; both were so polite it would've been useless to protest. She and Julie settled down, once again, on the aforementioned couch, Ren's blankets having been pushed onto a different chair.

Kyoko was still laughing as Julie mentioned the time Ren tried to cut his own hair, annoyed with his mother's idea of a 'good' hairstyle.

"I couldn't believe it!" Julie said cheerfully, "I leave for a couple of days and come back to an almost bald son! He'd cut it so dreadfully it had to be practically shaved!"

Kyoko laughed, "I'd have loved to see it! Ren when he was little…"

"Oh!" Julie remembered, rummaging around in her bag, "Here, I've got a picture of him when he was 10."

She pulled it out of her wallet, and showed it to Kyoko, and her mouth fell open. A distant part of her brain told her that this must have been what Marguerite felt when she found out that her husband was the Scarlet Pimpernel. It wasn't that there was anything wrong with the picture or the person in it; the boy was young, even ethereal, smiling a beautiful sweet smile of an innocent. He looked just like a Fairy Prince, and the thing was, she'd defiantly seen this boy before.

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Dun dun DUN!!! Uh oh!

Anyways, sorry I'm late guys, as before, homework really gets you down. (By about six feet. Just kidding!)

Please review; I currently have 195 reviews. My goal is now 250 review before I finish the story~! ^^