I am really mad at myself for not getting this chapter out faster. I had written it one way and when I read through it, it made me really uncomfortable, more so than the last one, so I had to rewrite it. I would rather take my time to get it right then do it fast and it not be good. I hope you like it.
Note: I do not own Skip Beat!.
Kyoko shut the bathroom door and leaned against it to calm herself down. This was turning out to be the most ghastly day of her life. Not only had Ren found out her secret about Bo, now her body ignored what was normal for her and decided to start menstruating a full day earlier then she expected, but what was even worse were the comment from the cashier in the little store in Ren's building. Kyoko had been too worried about leaving Ren alone to even think about what it would look like for her to buy feminine hygiene products in Ren's body. It only occurred to her when she sat the box of tampons and Midol on the counter and the older lady checking her out shook his head.
"That's so sweet of you. Most men aren't willing to buy their girlfriends this kind of thing." The lady said as she scanned the bars on the side of the items. Kyoko had turned bright red muttered something about being a gentleman and escaped from the store as fast as she could without actually running.
Kyoko pulled away from the bathroom door and headed to the kitchen to put on the kettle to boil some water. She was sure that Ren would like a nice hot water bottle to cuddle with, that always helped with her cramps. As she walked, her imagination worked as she thought about Ren in the bathroom with those tampons. He would have to touch her so intimately, feel the soft skin in her most privet part, and slide the tip…. Kyoko shuddered as she pushed the thought away and forced herself to remember that Ren was hurting. As she came back from her thoughts she gasped to find that her problem from yesterday's shower had started to return. It surprised her that Ren's body would respond so quickly to the ecchi ideas that had passed through her mind. She reprimanded herself as she poured water into the pot to boil, how could she even think that way? Ren was suffering, already had a girl he liked, and was having his first experience with tampons. Kyoko mussed over her first experience with tampons. They were difficult at first, but one she got the hang of them, they were much nicer than those thick maxi pads. Kyoko dropped the kettle, splashing water down her front, as a thought hit her, PADS! Kyoko hung her head in shame at her stupidity. She had picked up what she was use to and completely forgot about the other options available. If she had just gotten him pads, then he would not have to deal with the tampons. Kyoko wiped up the water she spilt and went to change into something drier. This was definitely turning out to be a miserable night.
Even after Kyoko had explained how to use the tampons, Ren still had to read the side of the box four times till he figured out how they went in. It took Ren six tries till one of the little white balls of cotton would sit comfortable where it belonged. Ren shuttered at the feeling of the wad nestled deep inside of the body he was using. He was finally glad that it was in place, but he had made a terrible mess getting it in there. There was blood on Kyoko's underwear and pants from the time before he had gone to the bathroom so Ren decided that a quick shower and some clean clothing would be just the thing that he would need to feel better. The pains that Ren had come to realized were cramps had not stopped but the hot water cascading over him seemed to help. Once clean, Ren wrapped himself in a fluffy towel and went in and curled up on the bed.
"How are you feeling?" Kyoko asked as she poked her head through the bedroom doorway to check on her senpai. Her eyes fell on Ren curled tightly on the covers of the bed, still damp and wrapped in a towel.
"Like I have a pair of rabid weasels running around in my gut." Ren confessed to the pain that he was feeling. Kyoko smiled, she knew exactly what he was going through.
"I have something here that will help you." Kyoko closed on her balled senpai and sat lightly on the edge of the bed. "Sit up so you can take this." Ren responded to Kyoko soft works and Kyoko placed two small pills in his hand. Ren recognized them as the same Midol that had helped him earlier. Of course, painkillers were just the thing to stop the hyped up mustelids from eating their way out of his stomach. Kyoko retrieved the bag with her clothing in it and pulled out some clean underwear and handed it over to Ren.
"There are t-shirts in that dresser. Could you bring me one?" Ren asked as he slipped into the panties without getting up from the bed. Kyoko pulled out one of the soft shirts and gave it to Ren to slip over his head. She pulled the wet towel away and dropped it to the floor for the moment. Once dressed Ren curled back into the comforting balled position he had found. Taking pity on her poor senpai, Kyoko scooted across the bed so that she could sit behind him and placed her hand on Ren's lower back. Ren moaned lightly as she worked her thumbs into the hollows on his back just above the hip bone. The pressure felt good to Ren and he relaxed under her expert fingers. Having been through this before, Kyoko knew exactly where the pressure points that would help alleviate the pain were.
"How do you stand this every month?" Ren whines into the bed where his face was pressed. Kyoko grinned and chuckled.
"You get used to it." Kyoko explained as her fingers pressed into the soreness of Ren's back. "The cramps only last a little while." Kyoko pulled her hands back as she remembered something. "Just one second." She got up just to come back a few minutes later with a hot water bottle. "Heat helps too." Kyoko made Ren sit up and stuck the red rubber bag against his stomach so he could curl around it again. She resumed her position on the bed behind him and started rubbing his back again. Ren was grateful that he had such a caring and understanding person to take care of him. He also noted where she was rubbing on his body so that he would be able to offer her the same comfort when she was in his position again. The two sat in a comfortable silence for a while as Kyoko worked over Ren's lower back. When her fingers grew tired, she stopped the movement and just rested her warm hands over the area she had been rubbing. Ren loved the way she touched him so freely when he was in her body. He would stand a month's worth of cramps if she would continue being this open with him when he returned to his own body. Ren sighed as his mind turned over the long day they had.
"Kyoko," Ren spoke softly into the bed. There was something on his mind that he just could not figure out. "Do you remember when I talked with Bo about love?" Kyoko pulled her hands away from Ren's back and folded them into her lap.
"Yes." Kyoko answered him quietly as she thought about the unnamed high school girl that Ren kept deigning his feelings for. Ren rolled over so he could look at Kyoko as he asked his next question.
"Who do you think she is?" Kyoko froze at Ren's words. Her mind turned over all of the girls that she could think of that Ren might like.
"Someone that you worked with?" She guessed, but she could not pull up the name of any high school girls that Ren was currently working with. Ren smiled and chuckled a little.
"She is most definitely someone I have worked with many times now." Ren grinned knowingly up at Kyoko as she tried to think of who it could be. "I see her on a regular bases." Kyoko still could not think of any one. She saw Ren quite often, but she could not remember a high school girl. Ren let out a sigh and gave her another hint. "Sometimes she will even come over and cook me dinner." Kyoko's heart lurched as a pain shot through her, she thought she was the only one that cooked for Ren. Somehow it hurt to know that someone else had been taking care of him too. Who was this mystery girl that Ren liked but she had never met.
"I thought I was the only one that cooked for you." Kyoko whispered. Ren shook his head and smiled warmly up from where he was still curled up.
"You are the only one that cooks for me." Ren chuckled. Kyoko looked at in in confusion. But he just said the girl he liked would come and cook for him. How can that be if she was the only one that fixes him meals? Kyoko turned this this over in her head for a few minutes trying to figure out what he meant by this cryptic message. If she was the only one that cooked, how could the girl he likes do it? Ren chuckled again as Kyoko's thoughts ran round and round.
"The high school girl I like is you." Ren finally confessed when he could see that she was not going to come up with the answer herself. "I love you Kyoko. I have for a long time." Kyoko stared down at him as she struggled to wrap her mind around this confession. Kyoko's grudges ran in circles screaming possible reason for her respected senpai's words. 'Was it the cramps and hormones that were making him insane?' 'Did he know what he was saying?' 'He's being mean!' Kyoko's angles had stolen the pitchforks from the grudges and were using them to pry open Kyoko's box. A few of the more focused grudges had thrown themselves on the lid to try and stop it, but they were quickly losing the battle.
"How could you say something like that?" The tears slipped from the corner of her eyes as she took his words as some kind of horrible tease. She could not see how someone as respected as the Tsuruga Ren could possibly love someone like her. Seeing that Kyoko had taken his confession as something it was not, Ren sat up and reached out to touch her shoulder.
"Kyoko, I've loved you since I was ten." This confession stopped Kyoko's tears in their tracks. How is it possible that he loved her since he was little? She met him when she was 16. Ren could see the confusion in her face and he took the opportunity to explain. "I met you in Kyoto when my family came on vacation." Kyoko tried to figure out what he was talking about. She could never remember meeting him in Kyoko. If he was ten, then she would have been six… Kyoko covered her mouth as it dawned on her. She had met a blond boy with blue eyes when she was six.
"Corn?" Kyoko breathed the name from behind the hand still covering her mouth. Ren could hear the raw emotions in her voice as he nodded his head. Tears streamed from Kyoko's eyes as she stared at him in shock and surprise.
"When I first met you in LME I did not recognize you. You had changed so much from the little girl crying by the creek. It was the stone, your 'Corn' stone that told me who you were." Ren held on to Kyoko's shoulder as she shook her head trying to deign his claims. "It was only later when you started to get over your need for revenge before I truly started to see the heart of the little girl that has made such an impression on me during the short time I visited Kyoto." Ren shifted closer to Kyoko. "I wanted to tell you sooner, but I could not without revealing more about my past then I was ready to." Ren pulled his hand from her shoulder and folded it into his lap as he dropped his eyes to look at the sheet. "I am so sorry Kyoko." Ren sat waiting for a response from the girl he loved. It was an amazing amount of information for her to process and he hoped that she would not turn him away.
"Corn." Kyoko spoke as his words sunk in more. Could it be, the man that she was falling for was the fairy prince from her childhood? Kyoko could feel the hinge on her box strain as her feelings leaked out from around the cracks.
"Yes Kyoko. Only it's not Corn, it's Kuon, and I am not a fairy prince." Ren looked up to meet her eyes. His tears had started to flow as he prayed that she could accept him. Kyoko's mouth hung open as she listened to him. How could Ren have the same name as her sudo-father's son? The image of Ren with golden hair and blue eyes came back to her and she could not deign that Ren was Kuu's son, the resemblance was too striking.
"Hizuri Kuon?" Kyoko breathed Ren's true name and a pained look crossed Ren's face as he closed his eyes and nodded. Ren was shocked when Kyoko's arms came down over him and pulled in into a crushing hug as Kyoko wailed about him being dead. Kyoko pulled him into her lap and her words jumbled together so Ren could not make out what she was saying over the sobs. He got the idea that she had thought he was dead and was happy that he was alive. When she had cried herself out, Kyoko pulled back from the squishing hug she had Ren in and looked down at the body in her lap. It was her body, but it contained the man that she loved. In her outburst, the last lock had shattered beyond repair and all of her feeling came flowing out.
"I l-l-love you too." Kyoko blushed as she admitted her feeling to Ren. Ren's eyes went wide as his deepest wish came true. He did not care if she was in his body at the moment, all of his hopes and dreams filled him and he surged forwards to claim the lips of the one that he loved. Kyoko's eyes widened in shock as she felt the soft lips of her body press into the lips of the mouth she was using. She could feel the emotions in the kiss, the need, the desire, and the relief. She returned the kiss and Ren twisted his fingers into the front of her shirt and deepened the kiss. The unexpected increase in weight upset her balance and the pair toppled over backwards onto the bed so that Ren pressed her into the mattresses. Kyoko wrapped her arms around him and received the love that he poured into her. Ren darted his tongue out to touch her mouth begging entrance and she parted her lips to let him in. Unlike the kiss that she had shared with Sho, this set her on fire clear to her toes. It was as if they had become one. Their tongues mingle together until they could no longer breath and Kyoko pulled back to look down at the brown eyes of the man that she finally admitted that she loved.
"Kyoko." Ren panted as he stared up at the golden eyes of the woman in his arms and it hit him. He was looking at Kyoko's face! He was back in his own body! "KYOKO!" He squeezed the girl he loved in his arms and rolled over so that she was pin underneath him. He claimed her mouth again for another passionate kiss. Kyoko gave in to him and kissed him back deeply. When he pulled back from her to breathe again he smiled at her and ran his fingers up into the hair at the side of her face. "I love you." Ren could see the hint of fear in her eyes, but there was also something else there. An emotion that he had only caught in her eyes fleetingly as she spoke about things precious to her.
"I l-love you too." Kyoko whispered and Ren beamed at her with that loving gaze that he had so carefully hidden from her until that moment. Ren shifted his weight off of the girl and pulled her up so they were lying properly in the bed. Now that they had both admitted their feelings he was not going to let her go. He was still afraid that she would run away from him and he was going to hold her for as long as he could.
Kyoko's mind reeled as her senpai held on to her. He pulled her up so she was cradled against his chest. It was not so much passionate as it was comforting, as if he feared that she would disappear if he turned her lose. Ren rolled over taking her with him as he reached to turn out the light before settling back to rest comfortable in the bed. Ren held her close, but Kyoko just knew that he would not prevent her from leaving if she really wanted to get away from him. But she didn't want to move, she wanted to be held against his firm chest, trapped in his strong arms for as long as he would let her be there. Kyoko closed her eyes and snuggled deep into the warmth that was Ren. The pain from the cramps had subsided before she had regained her body, but she was tired from the long day so she let sleep overwhelm her. She would worry about the consequences of sleeping wrapped in the senpai's arms tomorrow.
Ren felt Kyoko relax in his arms and smiled down into the top of her head. He was so happy that she was finally comfortable in his arms. Ren relaxed and breathed in his love's scent. He would be happy if he never moved again, as long as she was warm in his arms. Who knew that switching bodies was the best way for them to come together?