I'm back, my lovelies! Thank you to all who reviewed and suggested Truths and Dares! I hope that you're enjoying the story so far, and that this won't disappoint you. I do not own Skip Beat, but please enjoy anyway!
Ren… why must you make me up the rating?
Ren flipped his phone shut and glanced over at his manager, who was staring at him with expectant sparkles in his eyes. "You told Mogami-san that my evening was clear?"
Yashiro blinked, thrown for a loop. "No, I've not seen her today. But you only have a tabloid meeting this evening that can be rescheduled, so you could be free if you need to be."
"Then why…?" The actor furrowed his brow. "It's unlike her to assume that I'm free."
"That is weird. Perhaps she's remembering that you rarely have too much on Sunday evenings?" The manager's sparkles increased.
"I can't recall ever telling her that." Ren sighed, and shook his head. "Rearrange things, will you? I need to investigate something." She had called him by his first name, spoken informally – she'd used slang, for heaven's sake – assumed something about his schedule, pouted verbally (How was that even possible?), and twisted his words so that he couldn't refuse. Something incredibly strange was occurring; perhaps the president had given her a new assignment? No, she would've mentioned that… unless she'd been told not to tell him. Or maybe…
As Ren's internal musings continued, Yashiro adjusted the schedule. "Yes, I'm sorry. Something extremely time-sensitive came up…. Yes, he can do it that day at four. …Thank you. Goodbye." He adjusted the calendar, and then glanced at Ren. "You're good." He smirked when the younger man did not respond, still absorbed in his own ponderings. Kyoko-chan must've said something truly odd over the phone. Perhaps… perhaps his hopes were finally coming to fruition? Had she dropped some sort of hint to Ren, and then invited him to dinner? He nearly squealed at the very notion, but instead decided that it was high time to reign in his sparkles before any got stuck to Ren. It would do nothing good for his image if he had bright pink sparkles stuck to his sleeve.
"We only have the photo shoot left, yes?" Ren inquired, picking up his pace. He'd have to hurry – Kyoko was with Maria, and that meant that President Takarada would be there, too. This thought brought Ren to an abrupt halt. Of course! It might not have been an assignment, but between the two Takaradas… he knew that they would never hurt her, but Maria might have convinced Kyoko to call him by his first name, and the president might've told her how poor Ren's eating habits had been before he'd gotten a manager.
"Er – yes," Yashiro replied, giving Ren a gentle prod to get him moving once more. "It shouldn't take more than an hour, so you'll have more than enough time to change at home before going to see Kyoko-chan." He inwardly grinned when Ren sped up at these words.
"And Maria-chan, and the president," Ren added. "Mogami-san's having a sleep-over with Maria-chan tonight at the president's mansion, and they have invited me to join them for dinner."
Yashiro wilted visibly. If Maria was there, all lovey-dovey moments would be banned; the young girl's crush on Ren was no secret, and she was, after all, young. It would not do for her to witness the surge of emotions that Ren was sure to display when he finally confessed to Kyoko. Then another wire connected in Yashiro's brain, and he perked up once more. The president would be there! Perhaps he could get the two girls excited about some sleepover game before Ren got there, and then Maria would convince Ren to play! What if… Yashiro gasped. What if they played Truth or Dare, and Ren had to kiss Kyoko? Sure, it sounded like a cliché for some sappy romance, but he wanted some sap to occur – he'd waited for ages, darn it, with little to no action! He couldn't wait to see it!
Ren watched with mild amusement as Yashiro went through a cycle of emotions, finally deflating as he realized he was not invited to watch the events unfurl, and then bounce up once more as it occurred to him that the president would probably get everything on tape. The younger man sighed. He was going to have a rough interrogation the next day; that much was assured. For now, however, he simply decided to ignore his emotional-roller-coaster of a manager and perform his best at the shoot. The sooner he completed his duties, the sooner he'd get to see Kyoko – yes, they'd been speaking on the phone with greater frequency of late, but it had been far too long since he'd spent an evening with her.
Meanwhile, back at the Takarada mansion, Annabel was raising – well, she was causing an awful lot of chaos, which Lory was all too pleased about. He'd taken it upon himself to give the girls and snake an impromptu tour of the mansion, and had insisted that the girls try out each and every room they came across. Hence, Annabel was hanging upside-down from a tree by her legs, holding an in-depth conversation with what appeared to be a vibrantly purple monkey. Maria looked on in slight amusement and deep worry as the girl inhabiting her onee-san's body flipped from the thankfully not very high tree and landed in a crouch. Annabel then grinned up at Maria, straightened, grabbed her hand, and raced off through the mini-jungle with her in tow. Lory snickered. Kyoko had interpreted Annabel just as he'd hoped – fun-loving, impulsive, casual, and wild. He happily imagined what Ren's expression could be upon meeting this new incarnation of his beloved while Annabel rode Maria and a tiny blue monkey around piggyback-style. The monkey then proceeded to throw banana peels at Natsuko, and Lory deemed it time to move to a different room. Annabel saluted the monkey and marched out into the hallway, Maria still clinging to her shoulders.
"Where to now, prez-oh-ma-prez?" Annabel asked, shooting him a cocky grin and popping one hip to rest her hand upon.
Lory nearly snorted. He was sure that, had Kyoko been able to escape Annabel's influence – some part of his brain registered amazement that she'd come up with such an easy-going character so quickly, and acted her so well – she would have been in a dogeza to apologize for the cowgirl's informality. "On to the room that is right up your alley, figuratively speaking!" He marched down the hall, climbed up a rope ladder from a pirate day, and flung open a door with a cow-skull handle.
Annabel gasped. "It's just like ma home!" The room was deceptively large to the point that it appeared to house an entire farm, stereotypical cornfield and all. There was even a gray-and-black speckled horse, quietly grazing on the grass around the farmhouse. Annabel slowly bent her knees, her eyes fixed on the horse, and let Maria slide softly to the ground. Then, continuing her slow movements, she stood and quietly walked over to the horse. It whinnied softly and raised its head to look at her. Maria watched in something akin to a quiet awe as Annabel quickly made friends with the horse, touching her forehead to its, and softly blowing into its nostrils to allow it to accept her scent.
"Her name is Arwen. It means 'noble maiden,'" Lory smiled.
"She remind me of Jingles, ma horse back home. You're a beauty, Miss Arwen, a true noble," Annabel smiled, smoothing down the horse's mane. Arwen butted the girl gently with her head, a sign of affection. "You're tired, now, aren't you, Miss? You look like you've had a rough time of it."
"I found her at a closed-down circus in my younger days. She used to be a spitfire, but now she prefers to take it easy. I'd have her outside, but it's raining today. It isn't good for her system anymore," Lory explained, taking his granddaughter's hand. "Would you care to have her walk with us while we take a look around the room? I'm afraid that her bones are too frail for a rider anymore, though."
"Well, that's a cryin' shame," Annabel sighed. "I feel for you, Miss Arwen. Come along, now. We'll take your pace."
Maria was having a bit of difficulty reconciling this girl with her onee-san; they were so different, yet so similar. She did find it amusing, however, that the only one to whom this girl showed any sort of formality was a horse. She queried about this.
"Well, horses are smart, see? If ya don't treat 'em right, they know it. So it's best if ya act formal at first, and get friendlier with 'em as time goes on," Annabel explained, one hand in Maria's and the other buried in Arwen's mane. They made a single loop of the farm room, Annabel telling wild stories all the while – ones that she had adapted from the films and dramas that taisho liked to watch on occasion. "…and then the cat got caught up in the tumbleweed! You could hear the mewls for miles. Ma big brother had to cut him out with the sheep shears. He nearly took off poor old Fuzzbutt's tail!" She paused, and then suggested that they cook dinner in the farmhouse. Maria agreed; Lory called for the ingredients. They had a wonderful time, though a few small mishaps – overturned flour bags, for instance – occurred. Sebastian then removed the dishes to a dining hall to keep warm. Lory then decreed that they'd spent enough time in the farm room.
Annabel said a long, animalistic goodbye to Arwen before they walked out the door – they'd completed their circuit of the room, after all. Just outside the door, as they were slipping down a psychedelic slide to the next level, she asked, "Weren't we playing a game?"
Lory sat up, wide-eyed, as they landed in the ball pit at the end of the slide. "Oh! But of course! Let us continue!"
"Yes! Truth, Dare, or Joint Dare, Grandfather?" Maria grinned, glad to have common ground once more with this new incarnation of her onee-san. They climbed most ungracefully out of the ball pit.
"I say… Joint Dare!" Lory declared.
"Okay… go back to the costume room we were in before and dress up in matching outfits with Natsuko – but not fitting with today's theme!" Maria beamed; the snake in question (who had been waiting for them outside of the farm room) came slithering down the slide at the mention of her name, careful not to look any of them in the eye. Her duty of the day, after all, was to play the basilisk – though, personally, she preferred curling up on a hearth rug like Nagini.
"With pleasure!" beamed the eccentric president. "As much as I love being Dumbledore, these robes are a bit hot today."
"I noticed him sweating," Maria confided to Annabel as the elder girl gave her a boost through one of the parts of the hall's obstacle course. "Grandfather hates to admit that his costumes are sometimes out-of-tune with the weather."
"That was mighty kind of you. It gives him a way out without losing face," Annabel replied, flipping herself over the obstacle in a way Setsu had told her Cain once had as BJ. As Kyoko had grown more accustomed to acting a (slightly) wider variety of roles, she had also gotten more used to creating characters quickly. Whenever a new assignment came up, she would immediately call a Kyoko meeting in her mind, and all of her characters, grudges, and angels (now two in number) would gather to help with the creation and briefing process for who to avoid, who to treat kindly, who to insult, and who to treat with respect. The entire briefing took perhaps three minutes; the creation process, which happened prior to the briefing, took about fifteen. This mainly consisted of going over the information provided, adding to the knowledge she had about the real world, and then adding personality quirks. The background mostly filled in on its own, as new questions appeared in her mind or in the outside world. Sometimes these questions were brought to an emergency meeting, and could take several hours to resolve. Fortunately, these meetings were not mandatory for whichever Kyoko was currently driving her the boss Kyoko's body, so they did not overly interfere with her daily life – unless something truly bizarre came up, resulting in the girl's odd, occasional freezes and pauses, both as herself and as her characters.
The three humans and lone snake returned to the dressing room, and Lory disappeared into its depths with Natsuko. "I shall return!"
"Have fun, Grandfather!" Maria called after his retreating form. "Good luck, Natsuko darling!"
"Dare," Annabel stated, glancing at the time. Natsu had an idea, and Annabel wanted to twist it to her own definition of fun.
"Huh?"
"I choose Dare. It's ma turn, and it'll take a while for the prez to change, so I don't want us to get bored during the wait."
Maria also glanced at the time. It was seven ten; Ren-sama should be here any minute, as he was never late. A plan hatched in her brain, and she told Annabel her Dare. The elder girl grinned. This should be fun.
Ren straightened his shirtsleeves and knocked on the door of the Takarada mansion, not entirely certain what would await him beyond the giant, golden doors. Sebastian opened the door a few seconds later and showed him inside; Ren placed his shoes next to Kyoko's (Sebastian remained impassive) and took the offered house slippers. After a rather confusing trek though the mansion, he found himself alone outside of one of the costume rooms, with an oddly familiar beat pulsing through the door. It reminded him of his homeland – country music? American country music? His father loved country music, so he had as well; but it was out of place here. It didn't even match the theme of the day! Shaking his head slightly to clear it, he pushed open the door. What he saw caused his mouth to fall slightly open, despite his valiant efforts to keep it shut.
Annabel paused in her wild, almost tribal dance and met his eyes, confirming in his mind that this was indeed his Kyoko… at which point she cocked her hip to one side, rested her hand there, and winked at him. "Howdy, cowboy. Ya come for the rodeo?"
Kyoko – pure, demure Kyoko – had winked at him and asked if he was here for a rodeo… dressed in not much more than what she wore as Setsu! "Mogami-san, wha-?"
"Nope!" she beamed, and the paused again as the music went to the chorus. "Oh my god! This is my song!"
"Pardon me…?" He blinked, and realized that she was translating the lyrics.
"Come here, boy, I wanna dance!" With that, she grabbed his hand and began spinning around with him, pulling him into what can only be described as lighthearted insanity. He swallowed; he knew this song – how far would she take the next set of lyrics?
His answer came in her kissing the left lapel of his shirt; part of him wanted to wilt from disappointment, but her exuberance was catching, so he simply enjoyed dancing with her and being able to freely touch her. The chorus repeated; she kissed his right lapel. He swallowed again as the chorus began to play the final time; would she…?
No, as it transpired, she did not give a traditional mistletoe-style kiss; instead, she kissed the bare skin between his collarbones that his shirt revealed. His breath hitched; out of what, he did not know. "Play it again?" he requested weakly. She giggled and took a step back from him, licking her lips quite blatantly as Lory, Natsuko, and Maria reappeared – the former two dressed in matching swan costumes. Needless to say, the snake was mildly disgruntled, even if she was used to being dressed up on a whim. She had wings, for crying out loud, and they weren't even functional. (The functional wings, for the record, were in her eagle costume. Lory had wanted to wear matching eagle costumes, but his was currently at the cleaners, getting persimmon juice stains removed.)
Annabel stuck out her hand and pumped Ren's. "Not sure if I introduced myself. I'm Annabel Cooper! Nice ta meet ya – you must be the Ren I was briefed about during the Kyoko meeting! Did ya know that your heavenly smile – the one you give the boss Kyoko when you're actually happy – is slowly killing off the grudge Kyokos? There are only a handful left to be her heart's UV ray protectors!" She stopped speaking and moving quite suddenly, leaving her stunned audience to register what she'd revealed. Then, just as suddenly, she was reanimated. "Oops… I wasn't supposed to tell ya that. Forget it, 'kay?" She gave him a cheerful smile, further throwing Ren for a loop. His 'heavenly smile' was killing off her heart's 'UV ray protectors'? Was that a good thing or a bad thing? Why did she have names for his smiles? He seized upon the least confusing topic.
"So your name is Cooper-san?"
"Yeah, but call me Annabel. Everyone does! Plus, you've known the boss Kyoko for ages." Natsuko slithered towards Annabel and wound around her mostly-bare legs.
Unfortunately for Ren, this action drew his attention to her outfit, which he had been taking painstaking attempts to ignore. This girl was going to be the death of him – especially when the president was involved. She just had to be a cowgirl, didn't she? She couldn't've been a – a – a long-skirted prairie girl, or a well-covered Victorian lady; she had to be a cowgirl, from that single fantasy the president had discovered before Ren had learned to keep his trap shut about certain subjects. He wanted to glare daggers at the man responsible for his suffering, but he couldn't drag his gaze away from Kyoko the cowgirl. Annabel, he corrected himself. She's a character. If you think of her as Kyoko, you'll go mad. He blinked. Her fingers were playing with the rope, idly twirling the end of the lasso. Part of him wondered if she could actually use it… if so….
Maria pulled him out of his increasingly dangerous thoughts by running at him and jumping into his arms. "Ren-sama!"
"Hello, Maria-chan." He smiled at her gratefully.
"You still haven't replied to Annabel-onee-san, Ren-sama. What do you want her to call you?"
"It's fine!" Annabel laughed. "I'm going to call him whatever I want no matter what he says, so he doesn't even have to talk at all."
Maria giggled at this, and then asked, "Did you like her Dare, Ren-sama? I came up with it!"
"It was very… creative. Did you pick the song as well?"
"No, that was Grandfather's doing. I asked for an American country song, and he put that on the speakers. I wanted something that Annabel-onee-san would like."
"How kind of him."
Annabel flung up her hands to shield herself from his gentlemanly smile. "An' there's the smile that feeds the grudges! What're ya so angry 'bout?"
Ren froze, and Maria looked on in confusion. What was onee-san talking about? Ren-sama was smiling! Was this Annabel gibberish, or was this a fact Kyoko-onee-san knew? "Onee-san…?"
"What, Maria-chi?" grinned Annabel, then paused thoughtfully. "Maria-chi. I like that. It reminds me of mariachi, like a mariachi band! Doesn't that sound fun, prez-oh-ma-prez?"
"Indeed!" Lory cried joyfully, having discovered his next day's costume. "A mariachi band for Maria! Wonderful!"
"I thought so," Annabel beamed. "Hey, weren't we playing a game?"
"Yes! Do you want to play with us before dinner, Ren-sama?"
"Certainly. What are you playing?" Annabel's grin sent a rush of foreboding over him.
"Truth, Dare, or Joint Dare, cowboy?"
At these words and Ren's exceedingly blank expression, Lory was required to cough to cover up his guffaws; Sebastian appeared from behind and placed a black hat identical to Annabel's in all but color (as hers was white) on Ren's head. Lory's laughter could then no longer be covered up, and even Maria was reduced to a fit of giggles. Ren gently placed the giggling girl on a chair, and turned to leave the room – presumably to recover his dignity, or possibly destroy the hat. Annabel – who had not been reduced to helpless laughter, and had instead simply enjoyed a sight she deemed frankly appealing – acted. Within moments, Ren was at her mercy. Lory's laughter intensified, and Maria's petered away into shock.
Only Sebastian had seen exactly what Annabel had done, as Sebastian is Sebastian and therefore sees all. Annabel had, upon seeing Ren's intent to escape, pulled her rope from its loop on her belt and lassoed the man. She had then proceeded to reel him in, tie him up, and force him into a nearby chair. She smirked, and straddled his hips. "Ya tryin' to pull a runner, cowboy?"
She was entirely too close for Ren's comfort; he wondered if this was some sort of punishment for his earlier thoughts. Yes, she could use the rope – quite well, at that – but he hadn't expected this. His treacherous mind sank back into several hastily amended fantasies from his youth, and would have remained there had Annabel not been expecting an answer. "I needed a bit of air."
"Ya lie. Ya were embarrassed 'bout the hat."
He sighed. No matter what form she took, Kyoko could see right through him. "I—"
"Personally, I think it looks good on ya. Ya're way too formal for this li'l rodeo, unless ya want me to ride ya like a decorative pony."
"Is that my Dare?" He was acutely aware of his audience, but more so of the girl on his lap, holding the rope that bound him.
"If ya choose Dare," she smirked, "it might be."
"I do," he whispered, to avoid a break in his deceptively calm tone.
"Save a horse, ride a cowboy, right?" she laughed, but then drew back, observing him; a serious expression settled on her face, and a finger rested thoughtfully on her lips. On the next chair, Natsuko licked Maria's hand, drawing her attention to her grandfather, who was suddenly at high attention.
Annabel sighed, finger still to her lips. "Oh, but you're wearing such nice trousers. It'd be a shame to get them filthy crawling around on the floor. Your Dare is to whinny like a horse instead, okay?"
Ren replied with a soft whinny, ashamed with himself for what he'd thought she meant. Annabel may be a character, but she was still his pure, innocent Kyoko underneath.
…At which point Annabel removed her finger from her lips, moving it instead to his; she leaned forward and whispered her next words so that no one aside from her cowboy could hear her. "Next time I'll ride you for sure, okay? It's a promise!" Her tone was full of the joy that comes of mischief-making; when she drew back, she threw him yet another wink and cheeky grin. Then, with a couple of expert tugs, his bonds fell away; she looped the lasso back through her belt loop.
Ren had to admire her work; amazingly, he didn't even have any rope burn. It was Lory, however, who asked the question in all of their minds. "Where did you learn how to lasso like that?"
"Is that ma Truth?" Annabel inquired innocently, now perched on the arm of Maria and Natsuko's chair (Natsuko, during the rope display, had slithered into Maria's lap).
"Yes."
"Oh, it's really quite simple," she smiled, though it did not, for the first time as Annabel, reach her eyes. "When I was young, ma guardians gave me a very long jump-rope for ma birthday. I wanted t'make use of it, but I had no one t'turn it, so I had to come up with more unconventional uses. I learned how t'lasso things when I was trying to get the best leaves off of trees to build li'l fairy homes." For a moment, traces of la-la land appeared in her eyes, and then faded. "That's when I figured out how to use a lasso – and it's very handy. When somethin' is on a high shelf at work and I have a scarf or somethin', I can get it down with minimal trouble. It's only when I don't have one – or the shelf pulls out – that I get in sticky situations." She shrugged, leaving Ren to battle with his memory of a shelf pulling out, and what had followed.
Maria was highly impressed. "That's so amazing, Annabel-onee-san! Can you teach me?"
"Sure! The boss Kyoko could, too, if ya like, since it was technically her jump-rope."
Lory tucked this information away for future use in organizing her acting skills; Ren did the same, but for slightly different reasons.
"So, Maria-chi," Annabel smiled, "Truth, Dare, or Joint Dare?"
"Joint Dare!"
"I Dare ya to help me make sure that cowboy there eats a healthy amount of dinner." She flashed Ren a grin. He shuddered.
"Yes, ma'am!"
"Don't ya dare call me ma'am! I'm not that old yet!" Annabel's eyes flashed with something dangerous. Maria recoiled slightly.
"I-I'm sorry."
Suddenly, the cowgirl grinned and lightly poked the young girl on the arm. "Nah, I was just kiddin' ya 'round. Don't worry so much."
"Do you worry at all, about anything?" Maria inquired; this girl was so different from Kyoko-onee-san…
"Me? Nah. I live on impulse. It's dangerous, sure, but it's more fun than worryin' 'bout all the boundaries that the boss Kyoko deals with." She shot Ren a grin and raised her eyebrows, indicating that she knew some of what was happening to his mind. He gulped, fearing that this was going to be an interesting, challenging evening. This worry was confirmed when Lory, chuckling, herded them to the dining room, Natsuko slithering along behind them with the wings of her costume flapping in her self-made breeze. Lory plopped down on one of the benches at the table, Maria settled down next to him, and Sebastian made his presence only slightly detectable as he sat on Lory's other side – at the swan-man's insistence, of course. That left Ren to sit between Annabel and Natsuko on the other side of the table. The actor decided not to waste any brain cells on wondering why a swan-snake was at the table, or why Lory was not matching his own theme.
"An' beneath platter number one…" Annabel paused for dramatic effect, "omurice!" She giggled slightly, then added softly in an aside to Ren, "It's not Maui, though, so no worries."
He ducked his head slightly, and missed the rest of her food revelations, immersed as he was in the labyrinth of memories of that night. It was not until his plate disappeared from his placemat that he looked up, startled. Annabel and Maria were heaping generous portions of everything they'd cooked onto his plate; Maria was happily jabbering about how she hoped that Ren-sama enjoyed the food, as it had taken much convincing for grandfather to let them cook. "It was only when Annabel-onee-san commented that you liked her food best that grandpa relented," Maria confided.
"Really? Did you learn that in the Kyoko meeting, too?" he inquired of Annabel, raising one eyebrow.
"Yep!" she chirped, plonking his plate down in front of him. "I flipped through th' mental notes 'bout ya when I learned that Maria-chi wanted ya to come over, and saw that the only times that the boss Kyoko had ever seen ya clear a plate were the times she'd cooked for ya in one of her forms, and during the Maui incident." This last bit she said very quietly, but not quietly enough.
Lory beamed. He'd gotten affirmation; Kuon had emerged at least long enough in from of Kyoko to let out a cry for help, for strength. "Which is why I eventually relented! You do not eat nearly enough, my dear boy."
"The boss Kyoko worries about ya, ya know," Annabel commented in an off-hand way. "That's why she's happy whenever the Yashiro guy calls her to let her know when you've got a free evening. She hates seeing you skip meals, and that way she can spend time with ya while makin' sure ya won't die of malnourishment."
Ren mutely began eating the food, barely tasting the excellent dishes (with some odd flavor notes, since Maria had never cooked before) as Annabel's words echoed in his mind. …she's happy…she can spend time with ya…. Did she speak the truth? Yes, she was a portion of Kyoko, but she'd admitted to working on impulse – what if she'd spun some crazy tale, to see his reaction? But then, hadn't everything she'd said so far have some bit of Kyoko in it? She'd even mentioned the omurice… and it was true that his eating habits scandalized her…. "It makes me glad, as well. There's no one quite like Mogami-san – your 'boss Kyoko,' I mean."
"I dunno – I'd say that I'm like her in some ways," Annabel drawled, grinning, as she happily munched on her omurice.
"True – but you are her, after all; partially, at least." The grudges began to shrivel slightly as he returned her smile, and Natsuko slithered so that she lay across both of their laps. Then, without either of them noticing – they were, unbeknownst to them, oblivious to the world during their conversation – she wrapped herself firmly around their sides, so that they'd be unable to move more than a few inches further apart. Lory made a mental note to get more treats for his favorite anaconda.
"Yeah, according to the others, I'm the carefree one – wild child, if ya will – 'cause I'm all the fun stuff that the boss wants t'say an' do, but can't 'cause of propriety. The boss Kyoko is curled up in a corner of the meeting room, lamentin' 'bout how I'm treatin' y'all." She shrugged, taking another bite of her dinner and absently stroking Natsuko with her free hand. "I'm not really a proper one – I guess I prefer t'be more comfy with people, rather'n keepin' them at arm's length. Ya get me, right?" she inquired of Ren. "Eat."
Ren nodded before he realized what he was doing; this version of Kyoko was drawing out his American roots; his family had always been affectionate to a fault, so Japan's tendency to avoid casual touches had been a bit of a culture shock. That was why (or so he told himself) he had such difficulty when he had to refrain from touching Kyoko. Still nodding, he obediently put another bite of food in his mouth. Her cooking truly was the best – though, he noted, he might be slightly biased. A grin crept across his face while he watched her; as Annabel, she was even more openly enthusiastic when it came to her food than she was as herself, if that was even possible. She was still very careful not to waste any, naturally, but her happy aura was more tangible than usual.
Across the table, Lory and Maria were watching with interest (Sebastian remained impassive, ate his food, and then melted into the shadows). Their favorite prospective couple had created their own little world – and Annabel was allowing this to happen. Kyoko as herself would have taken care to include everyone in the conversation; but Annabel, who acted on impulse and cared not for Kyoko's set of self-rules, was perfectly happy to carry on a conversation with the man seated next to her. Lory spoke softly, so as not to break the bubble of happiness radiating from the two – honestly, that man needed to reign in his smile a little! "Wonderful, isn't it?"
Maria nodded gently. "I feel like I'm in a Disney movie." Sebastian took that as his cue to begin playing "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?" over the house speakers.
Annabel noticed this, and started humming along and swaying as she ate; Ren smiled at this, and murmured something to her that the Takaradas did not catch. After a few more minutes of this, Maria had had her fill, and sighed loudly, "Onee-san, why don't you and Ren-sama just date already?"
Annabel turned to her, her smile still in place; the others were unaware that Kyoko was screaming at her from the Kyoko meeting room as she spoke her next words. "'Cause a, I'm just a part of the boss Kyoko, b, there's a loophole she needs some info to use, and c, she's not quite ready to face what she thinks'll be cowboy's –" At which point she gave an odd little jolt, and her gaze turned inward. She then began arguing with a voice inside her head.
"Why aren't I allowed t'say it?"
"Oh, come on! There's no need t'fret about the loophole! Once we tell him the stakes, he'll be sure to give us the info so we can get this over with! He wants t'tell anyway, an' just doesn't know how!"
"Oh, shut up! Ya worry too much! It's obvious on both accounts!"
As she continued in this vein, Lory's eyes widened. Annabel and the 'boss' Kyoko were obviously arguing over the secret of loving Ren – but what information did she need? What loophole, and for what? The last bit was obviously her fear of Ren's supposedly inevitable rejection of her love – completely unfounded, of course… but how did Annabel realize that, when Mogami-kun did not?
Annabel sighed in defeat and disgust. "Fine. Little miss prim-and-proper, worryin' 'bout images…."
Ren's mouth was slightly open after all of this; he was, the reader may see, desperately trying not to hope for what her slipped words had implied. They had, naturally, sent his mind spinning in all directions, nearly blowing away the lesson he had learned many times: Never expect anything vaguely romantic when Kyoko is involved. Sighing softly, he forced himself to review all the times he had learned this lesson, and instructed himself not to think that Annabel's words made it sound as if Kyoko was in love with him. He coupled this with Annabel's mutter about images, and added the steadfast sempai-kohai nature of their relationship. Having quenched this hope for reciprocated love, he fixed his expression and smiled at Maria. "I'm afraid that our schedules and mentalities will not allow it at this time, Maria-chan."
"Oh," she whispered, piecing things together. "I see." …and she did, more clearly than Ren himself did. "Are we continuing the game after dinner?"
"Sure!" Annabel chirped, recovered. "As soon as cowboy here finishes his plate."
In the end, it took much prompting from Maria, many minutes of chewing, and finally a nearly criminally cute puppy-dog expression from Annabel to get Ren to finish his plate. After the last had been employed, he had almost swallowed his plate in an attempt to appease her and remove the sinful expression from her face before he did something drastic. Lory smirked as he ushered them into a room full of odd props, snickering as Annabel crashed into Ren's lap when Natsuko refused to relinquish them. It was only when Annabel's hand fell to her lasso that the snake deigned to release them.
He had a few ideas of what to do with his favorite prospective couple once the game continued, and laughter bubbled from his lips, startling the others – except Sebastian, of course, who is Sebastian and therefore cannot be startled.
Yes, another semi-cliffhanger! I'm sorry… :) I didn't mean to do this to you, but this was getting too long. I guess that ups the number of required chapters!
Thoughts so far? Do you like Annabel?
I apologize for my portrayal of Ren. I'm not sure how I'm doing. -_- Is he okay, or too OoC?
Please drop me a review, preferably with something really embarrassing for Ren to do during the game.… :3