Thank you everyone that has taken the time to read, favorite, follow, and review Laser-Tag Love. I am very grateful and glad that you are enjoying it. I truly love you all!

I welcome all constructive criticism.

Here is chapter twenty-two. Chapter twenty-three will be posted in two weeks.

Disclaimer: I do not own Skip Beat or any of the characters from it. Skip Beat is the property of Yoshiki Nakamura.

Kuon's Explanation

Kuon, Kyoko, and Takarada watched as Shoko half dragged Sho out of the restaurant. The two security men following to make sure that Sho didn't cause any more of a disturbance.

Once Sho was out of sight Kyoko sighed and got control over her body from Mio and Natsu. She then turned to Takarada and was about to bow and apologize to him but Kuon stopped her. She looked up at him confused.

"You don't need to apologize for that person. He was the one that made a scene. You handled it wonderfully."

Kyoko blushed very brightly at his praise and sat back down. She looked at her hand not knowing what to say since Kuon wouldn't let her apologize. Kuon sat down too. He took Kyoko's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.

Takarada looked at Kyoko with a thoughtful expression. "Mogami-kun?"

Kyoko looked up. "Yes, Sir?"

"Would you mind telling me about what just happened. Or perhaps I should say why it happened." Takarada voice was firm but kind. 'I have a feeling that this will be similar to when I asked her about her mother but I still need to know. If Fuwa Shotaro is constantly doing things such as this to her I need to know so that I can put a stop to it. I will not alone anyone to hurt my Love Me girls.'

Kyoko looked down at her lap again. She sighed and looked back up. "Fuwa Shotaro and I grew up together. We were childhood friends. I lived with him and his parents because my Mother..." She trailed off when she mentioned her mother.

Kuon sent a look at Takarada that basically said, "you had to ask her didn't you?" He let go of Kyoko's hand only to put an arm around her shoulders. "It's okay, Kyoko." He whispered in her ear. "I'll tell Boss. I know you don't want to."

"But..."

Kuon shook his head. "Let me handle it."

Kyoko sighed again and nodded.

Kuon turned back to Takarada who had an eyebrow raised. Kuon took a deep breath and told Takarada about Kyoko's childhood, why she came to Tokyo, and what made her swear off of love.

Takarada was thinking throughout Kuon's story. 'Now I can truly understand why swore off of love. I thought that it was mainly because of her Mother but I think Fuwa hurt her just as much if not more. How could people do that to her? I'm going to have to think of something to do about Fuwa. Kyoko really doesn't need him to constantly bother her.'

When Kuon was done talking Takarada nodded in understanding. 'This explains why Mogami-kun and Fuwa don't get along. Which partially explains why Kuon doesn't like him.' "What else?"

Kuon frowned and Takarada. 'What does he mean 'what else'?' "What do you mean, Boss?"

Takarada glanced at Kyoko before clarifying his meaning. "I mean, you didn't fully explain why you don't like Fuwa. I know what you told me was most of it but there is still some that you aren't telling me. I want to know what it is."

Kuon looked at Kyoko and she looked right back at him. 'Should I tell him that Kyoko and knew each other when we were children?' Kuon thought. 'Well Mom and Dad already know. I suppose I'm fine with telling Boss as long as Kyoko is, too.'

Kuon changed his expression to a questioning one and after a minute Kyoko gave a small nod. He smiled at her.

"Well Boss the answer to that is relatively simple. Kyoko and I knew each other when we were children."

Takarada raised his eyebrows. 'Well, I certainly wasn't expecting that.' "How did you two meet?"

"I was in Kyoto with Dad for one of his movies when I was ten." Kuon continued the story of how he and Kyoko met. He looked at Kyoko and smirked before going on to tell Takarada why he didn't like Sho. "Kyoko talked about Fuwa all the time. He had a very special place in her heart. It honestly made me jealous. I had never met him and already I didn't like him.

"When Kyoko and I met again Fuwa still had a special place in her heart but for a different reason. As I told you earlier Kyoko and Fuwa both used to yell at each other. Fuwa was trying to get Kyoko to yell at him that way today. I suppose to show that he has the biggest place in her heart.

"Fuwa doesn't like me anymore than I like him. Though at first it was because he could never be got the top spot in the polls for the most attractive man in Japan. When I first saw him in person he decided to pick a fight with me." Kuon's smirk turned dangerous.

'I had feeling that might be a case.'

Before Takarada could reply Kyoko spoke, "you never told me that."

Kuon looked at her. "I didn't need to. He was just being a brat. He can't do anything to me or my reputation. So don't worry."

"When did that happen anyway?"

"It was about the time you had the Love Me assignment with Ruriko."

"Oh."

"So this along with the fact that Fuwa still played a big part in Mogami-kun's life made it impossible for you to even pretend to get along with him." 'I can't say that I blame Kuon for the way he feels. I dislike Fuwa Shotaro just as much as he does.' Another thought struck Takarada and it made him smile evilly.

Kyoko and Kuon noticed and slightly shuddered. 'This can't good.' They thought at the same time.

"You do realize that you just as good as told Fuwa that he doesn't have the biggest place in Kyoko's heart now, right?"

Kyoko tilted her head to the side and asked, "what do you mean?"

"Kuon, you said, 'I will not let you continue to yell at and verbally abuse my girlfriend.'

Kuon swallowed and tightened his arm around Kyoko's shoulders as she turned a very bright red.

"You told him that you two are dating. You know he will try to do something with this knowledge about your relationship."

"So, what do we do?" Kyoko asked in a very quiet voice trying to keep from panicking.

'I get to through that party I've been wanting to but Kuon wouldn't let me. I bet contact Yashiro when Kuon and Kyoko leave.' "We are going to have to have to make your relationship public. I know that you wanted to keep it secret longer." He added quickly when he saw Kuon's expression. "However this would be better than letting Fuwa sell this information those tabloids that are best avoided. By doing this we will be able to control who prints what. It's the best option."

Kyoko was frozen. 'OH, NO! Everyone is going to hate me! They'll say that I'm not good enough for Kuon. Well Tsuruga Ren as they know him.'

Kuon felt her stiffen. 'This isn't good. I bet she is thinking everyone is going to hate her and say that she isn't good enough for me. I thought that I was making progress in getting her to stop thinking that way.' He leaned closer to her and whispered. "Kyoko, are you okay?"

She jumped and turned fear filled eyes toward him.

Kuon smiled at her reassuringly. "It will be okay. Nobody will say anything bad about you and I won't let anyone hurt you. Boss won't let anything happen either."

Kyoko still looked scared but nodded.

Kuon turned back toward Takarada. "Alright, Boss. When should we do the press conference?"

Takarada smiled. "I'll get everything arranged and pass the information on to Yukihito. He'll get both of your schedules arranged for it." Takarada looked at his watch and waved the waiter with the bill over. "You two should be heading to LME if you two want to be able to catch Kotonami-kun."

Kuon nodded as he pulled out his wallet. He gave his card to the waiter to pay for his and Kyoko's part of the bill. After he got his card back he and Kyoko stood up to leave. Kyoko was still in a bit of shock as so she wasn't paying much attention to what she was doing.

"Sebastian should be waiting out front to take you back to your apartment so you can get your car."

"Thanks, Boss." Kuon said before he lead Kyoko out of the restaurant.

I'm sorry that this chapter is a little short. I'll make it up with chapter twenty-three.