Please forgive any mistakes here. I busted my eye on a drawer today. There is no lasting damage, but I got a nice shiner out of it. I really didn't want to miss my update, but everything is still a little blurry without my glasses. As soon as the rest of the swelling goes down, I will go back and reproof read this chapter again. I hope you enjoy the new section.
Note: I do not own Skip Beat!.
Kyoko woke to the sounds of someone cooking in the kitchen. The eye opening fragrance of coffee called to her and she wiggled against the man pressed into her back. She felt his breathing patterns change as he responded to her movements. She blushed a little as he tightened his hold on her and buried his face into the hair at the nape of her neck. She smiled and wiggled a little more when he placed a series of light kissed along her hairline. She shuddered and gasped as goose bumps ran her body at the feel of his teeth scrapping gently against her skin. Kyoko could feel the man's desires for her as Ren wrapped the arm Kyoko was laying on up across her chest to hold her close to him as he nibbled on the flesh of her neck. Kyoko folded both of her arms up to hold on to his forearm for dear life. She was being washed away in his emotions. Her heart rate and breathing nearly doubled when Ren slipped his free hand underneath the hem of her shirt to explore the expanse of the soft stomach and lower ribs. She trembled as he moved his hand lower to rub the skin right above her pants. She squeezed her eyes shut and gripped his arm as a bolt of terror shot through her when she felt the tip of his pinky caress the edge of the elastic in her waistline and slip underneath. His hand stilled in its exploration as Ren gauged her reactions. He was becoming very good at pushing Kyoko just to her breaking point and pulling her back before she fell. Each time he would get a little closer to his ultimate goal, but this was as far as he could push her today without sending her running from his arms. Kyoko let out the breath she was holding as he pulled the digit from her waistline and slid the hand under her to pull her tighter against him. He laid a reassuring kiss on the area that he had been nibbling on then took a deep breath to help cool his desires. He was sure that day when his advances didn't frighten her was not far off as she relaxed in his arms. He breathed her in and smiled into her hair as he rolled his thoughts around. Soon they would be married and he would make it so that she never wanted to leave him again.
Kyoko melted into his embrace as she tried to sort out the feeling racing around inside her. She was glad that he had not continued. It had scared her, but she did not really understand the twinge of regret that colored her thoughts. She recognized the warm ball that had developed in her stomach as a physical reaction to the man behind her, but she had not quite come to terms with the desire that had caused it. They lay together for a few minutes longer before he extracted himself from around her and placing a light kiss on her cheek. He left her with a soft whispered 'I love you' before heading off to find the bathroom. Kyoko held still for a few more moments listening to the man working in the kitchen before shaking away her thought and getting up to see if she could help him out.
Kyoko looked at the two people still sleeping on the couch before heading out of the room. As soon as she was out, Yashiro slipped into to fan girl mode and wiggled underneath his girl. Catherine snickered at his reaction and pulled herself up his body and kissed him before the squee could come out. This seemed to pull him out of the fit he was about to slip into and he wrapped his arms tighter around her and kissed back.
"I am amazed at how much enjoyment you get from watching those two grow together." Catherine whispered to her love.
"You have no idea how long I have waited for real development between them." Yashiro grinned from ear to ear. Catherine giggled at him and sifted back down so she could rest her head on his chest again. Yashiro petted her hair until Ren came back from the bathroom and Catherine slipped from his arms and down the hall. He sighed as he watched her hurried footsteps, she was so cute in the morning.
The two men joined Kyoko in the kitchen as Con schooled her on the making of what he called breakfast casserole. It was an amalgamation of bits of ham, sausage, tomatoes, hash browns, and shredded cheese held together by scrambled eggs and baked till done. He had just finished prepping all the meats and potatoes that needed cooking and was about to fix up the eggs. Yashiro and Ren nearly choked on their drinks when the stocky man pulled out the whipped cream and added it into the eggs. Both of the cooks looked at the coughing men in concern as Con whisked in the cream before pouring it over the other ingredients. Catherine chose that moment to walk up behind the two men trying to breathe their drinks. She looked at the two men in concern and turned to see the culprit sitting on the counter. She smiled and passed between then into the kitchen. She greeted her brother-in-law with a pat on the back and picked up the can and shook it lightly before returning it to the refrigerator along with a few other things that needed to go back in. She had thought about spraying some into her hand and eating it, but the blush that rushed up Yashiro's face when she picked it up made her decided against it. Ren and Yashiro decided that it had to be a family thing and took what was left of their coffee out to the table to finish recovering.
Once breakfast was done, Con stood back and watched as the four friends separated out the things they were going to wear that day and packed everything else into the backpacks that Julie had sent to them. Ren watched with guarded eyes as Kyoko tried to convince Catherine that she should carry the thick stack of legal documents that Catherine was stuffing into her bag. She kept arguing that it was not that heavy and it would be fine. Ren decided to settle that argument by taking the documents himself on the grounds that they were his in the first place. Catherine reluctantly agreed as Kyoko smiled at her victory. Ren decided that Kyoko definitely knew there was something going on, but what, he had not quite figured out. He thought about the best way to get the information out of Kyoko as they finished packing and getting ready for the day.
Catherine gave Con a farewell hug and wished him the best as the group got ready to leave. Kyoko, Yashiro, and Ren bowed their gratitude to their host and he waved them off with warm wished and good luck in their endeavor and the group left. Catherine led them down to the bus stop that would take them to the train station so they could get back to Tokyo.
Ren felt odd walking down the street in his natural appearance. He kept expecting someone to yell his name and fans to swarm him. He kept seeing his face on papers and hearing his name muttered as people talked about the hottest news in Japan, but no one pinned that name to him as they made their way through the streets of Tokyo. His blue eyes and blond hair coupled with this height did draw glances from the passing crowd, but no more than any hansom man would have gotten. On occasion someone would stare longer at him as they studied his features, but he had slipped back into his American swagger so they quickly decided that it could not be the missing actor and let it go. Only once did someone recognize him. A little girl about six pointed him out in a very loud voice to her mother. She quickly shushed the child and explained that it was only someone that looked like him and that Tsuruga Ren had brown hair and eyes. Ren draped himself over Kyoko in a very unJapanese fashion that made the young woman blush. The mother apologized to him and pulled the child that still insisted that was Tsuruga-san away. They all laughed nervously that their cover was almost blown by the keen eyes and innocence of a child. It was quickly decided that they needed to get out of sight before school let out and turned their steps to the hotel where they would be staying for the next few nights.
A mixture of emotions ran Kuu as he hung up the phone. Lory had called him to let him know that Ren had been kidnaped. He had also informed him that he thought it was Catherine and Kyoko that had done the deed. Lory could not prove this, but all the evidence he could find led him to believe that this was true. Kuu sat down and hung his head into his hands. He had no idea what that woman was thinking. He had sent her to take care of Kyoko, not to cause such a scene with his son. He wanted to jump on a plane and go find the girl, but he did not know where to start looking for her. Kuu rubbed his forehead and got up to go give his lovely wife the news. He was sure that she would never talk to him again after this. She had been so excited when she received the Kuon doll and the letters from Kyoko and Catherine. They were both looking forwards to their children being married to each other. Julie had not met the young woman, but she could tell that she would like her from the way Kuu had talked about her.
Kuu cringed when he found Julie massacring vegetables on the kitchen counter. She had decided that she would cook for him. Kuu had noticed that she had been in a good mood for the last few weeks and he really did not want to spoil it for her.
"Julie darling, I have some bad news." Kuu decided coming straight out and saying it would be the best route. At least then she would be too upset to finish cooking and he could save his stomach the pain later. Julie sat her knife down and gave her attention to her loving husband. "Takarada-san has just informed me that Tsuruga Ren has been kidnaped." Kuu was ready to rush to catch his love as she fainted from the news, but she just gave him calm eyes and smiled at him.
"Is that so?" Julie picked up the knife and continued trying to chop up the food. Kuu could not believe that she had taken the news so well. He stared at her dumfounded as she dumped the entire mess that she had made into a big pot and added some water. He turned this over in his mind as he collected himself. The only way that she would not react to this news was if she already knew about it. And the only way that she would not be upset about it would be if she had a hand in it. Kuu closed the distance between them and turned the fire that Julie was fussing with off.
"What do you know?" Kuu asked her. Julie giggled mischievously and relayed the entire plan as Catherine had told her along with her part in it. When it was over, Kuu laughed at the cunning woman and kissed her. Not only had she helped to ensure the young actress' safety, she had kept the entire plan from him so that Lory would not know something was up when he called to inform Kuu. Even though he was an excellent actor, his old friend could always see right through him. He laughed again and turned to help his wife make something that his stomach would not hate him for later.
Later that day Lory arranged for a statement to be issued by LME about the missing actor. He claimed that the actor had been found and was safe. He explained that Tsuruga had suddenly taken ill and was carried from his apartment to see a privet doctor. He even produced a doctor that would back up his story and assured that Tsuruga would be fine after a few days of rest. This seemed to quiet some of the ruckus the man's kidnaping had cause, but the media still screamed for a statement from the missing man himself. Lory assured them that as soon as Ren had recovered from his unnamed illness, he would be happy to give them a statement. The doctor informed them that it should not take more than two weeks of rest before the actor is well enough to be seen in public again. Lory cleared the man's schedule till the first of the year under these pretexts. He was going to kill them all if they stayed away any longer than that.
Ren had no troubles when he went to his appointment with the consulate in Japan. The official that he talked with was either too young to remember Hizuri Kuu, did not watch movies, or just did not care. He got out without having to answer any awkward questions. Having finished the finale preparations for their marriage, they just had to wait till Kyoko turned 18 to go add Kyoko to the Hizuri family registry. With the last of the needed paperwork in hand, they had hopped the Shinkansen to find a nice place where they could celebrate Kyoko's birthday in quiet.