CHAPTER 52

I do not own skip beat! Yoshiki Nakamura does.

The Christmas ball

Part 5

- like a fairy tale-

WARNING: Fluff and risk of rotten teeth ahead, proceed with prudence.

The more consequent interlude was finally there and people dissipated from the dance floor in flood of mixed feelings of relief for the timeout and shocked disappointment they couldn't continue. Some were apparently come prepared and trained for a very long dancing night and didn't even want to grab a breather in-between.

Still, most dissipated with giddy talking about the dances and partners they had met before fluttering to the buffet in wait of the eminent cake.

Yes, to Maria greatest disappointment she had been discovered by a lot of people thus the lack of need to wait for the end of the game to serve her birthday cake.

The cake came pretty much as soon as all people had left the floor, the timer for the game still on making the need to press things a little more but to Kyoko it happened as in idling motion. She took Maria aside and as discreetly as possible gave her the present, a beautiful dark nighty dress from the teenage side of Jeanne-d'Arc brand she had bought and twisted a little for her because she just didn't find it acceptable to wait for later for her.

But just after it she realized time had passed and it was already hazy in her mind. All of the people were passing near her, they were laughing, eating the cake but it was all a blur of colours glazing in front of her eyes.

The sounds quenched in her ears as if they were coming from afar.

Her mind showing images in her head on repeat made her unable to focus on the present. She was lost on the tiny precious previous moments of her in his arms. She felt wobbly and floating.

She suddenly felt like sitting down and heavily supported herself against a wall, unaware she was still breathing laboriously or that at another corner of the ballroom, someone somewhere wasn't really in a better state.

…

Conscious he had to congrats Maria but just barely, Ren pressed his hands into the sill of the restroom washbowl and his fingers gripped the edge with tension.

What the hell was that?!

How was he supposed to keep his cool after something like that? The way he had felt, the warm, her touches against him. He was agonizing in his own desires.

His mind raving, putting every touches, every situation, every moment in perspective. Reliving them again and again, imagining each time it would have go further, he would have done something, said something. Yet incapable to find any default in the perfection those dances had been. To find something to critic would be like blaspheming those, corrupting them. Even if his heart longed for more. He laughed inwardly. He wasn't making any sense. First he wanted more. Then he was worshipping the moments.

He put his forehead on the sink's mirror and his loaded breath clouded it instantly. He didn't thought it could be that hard. That straining for his heart.

He removed his mask temporarily and splashed water on his face with a groan. What was it that made it so different? Why was he so turned on?

It wasn't the first time he was spending time with her damn it! The painting day had been rationally more racy.

Then why? Why?

Intense shining eyes swirled as they danced back in his foggy mind.

Her eyes. It was her eyes.

Though the gold had been hidden behind lenses, her eyes had blazed all night and right through him as they danced. There had been no shame, no shyness, and no annoyance in them. Only joy. Warm.

He even dared to say they had looked tender as they had stared into his.

Again. Again. This new assumed affection and boldness.

That's what got him.

She didn't shy away from showing affection. She didn't keep him at arm-length as in the past. She didn't hesitate to be in his company. She didn't freak out at his touch. No more.

She didn't hesitate to affirm her opinion, her time in the States had apparently permitted her to affirm herself.

This confidence. This new charm and standing she expressed in her acts and opinions.

Intoxicating.

Each new veil he removed as he learned to discover who she now was made him crave her more.

He found he was able to let himself be by much further extends. He would tease her and she would take it in strides, teasing him back on something else but she would notice it. She didn't balk. She wasn't shocked. She was laughing with him, snorting at his silliness. But not pushing him back.

She still didn't catch it was flirting but he supposed it couldn't be helped.

But.

No outrage. No distance. No disgust.

Just, laughing. Laughing together. And this new exhilarating proximity.

He splashed more water on his face before laughing aloud. He was losing his shit there.

He felt completely inebriated with this new reality. Drunken by the excitement he was feeling.

Get a grip

And later as he made his way back and delivered his gift to Maria he idly wondered if one could die from too much flutters of the heart or too much quivers running down a body.

But since he was already drunk he fully intended to make the most of it.

The pendulum soon rang half past eleven and Ren smiled as he made his way back to the dance floor. There was one hand he wouldn't let go.

At least for tonight.

The two first songs of winter theme, winter ball dance and first winter, came and passed in a fuzzy as he abided for his time. Twilight Serenade started and having moved closer to her in the twirls of dancers he was able to notice the dreamy eyes she sported as the song hummed its melody. Straight to la-la-land he thought with a fond smile.

But to his surprise when the next song came by, Dream of fireflies, a catchy song spoking of a mix between a Christmas song and a rock one, her eyes turned even more glazy and he was surprised when her partner that kind of seemed like Hiou-kun at the time knew the song too and led her into a rhythmic kind of wild rock-style dance as the other dancers tried to acclimate themselves to this new sort of song. They still did so pretty quickly and sprout of laughs fused as they rocked on this freer song.

He laughed to himself. Since when did she liked rock? And Christmas one even. His curiosity kept growing as time passed and she showed more sides of herself.

The midterm of the theme came and he looked for her promptly but she was not found and he pawed at the ground while waiting for the second part to begin.

When it did, he had the pleasure to discover her random partner assigned was him this time. He notified one of Lory assistant he would choose her as his partner for the next and told her so as he eagerly took hold of her hands.

She shook her head at him but warmly smiled.

I had A Memory began and Kyoko let go of his hands and shouted her head to the back in laughs. It was another Christmas-rock song. Ren looked at her blinded and also a bit perplexed at this new choice.

"I'm wondering if the boss used lottery to choose the songs of this ball" he commented with an amused frown.

She giggled in return and it was such a soft tune to his ears.

"You are right" she said. "It's fun though and far from a bad taste song"

He nodded before asking.

"But how should we dance with so much change of rhythms in the song?"

"We alternate?" she proposed and he agreed.

"Take my hand" and she advanced her palm toward him.

He didn't have to be told twice. He caught the precious offer in his hands and they waltz until the end of the slow part then moved on with the dancing when it switched to a more hyped tempo.

They laughed halfway through it because it had just become too fast for them to find a dancing pattern and with most other dancers beside a few they managed awkwardly through it.

Frosty promenade followed and though it was still not really slow, the rhythm was definitively suited for a waltz. Though a cheeky bubbly one. It kind of inspired little bells and snowflakes so it was perfect.

They crossed or rather weaved the wrists together, arms in the air in a similar fashion they did during their first dance but this time only their wrists were touching and not the fingers. They swirled on the tune just like that alternating sides, cheeks burning for too much smiling, teeth showing as they smiled widely. Not feeling any tiredness. Giddy as much from the song as for the person they were dancing with. Absorbed in each other. Eyes sparkling.

At some point, the song eventually ended and Kyoko discreetly asked for her chosen partner of this theme to be him before coming back. And just like that he felt such a surge of happiness. He felt so special she was willing to continue to dance with him he wanted to shout. He pinched his lips instead.

There were only two songs left before the end of the body of the themes. Would only remain the closuring theme after that.

He didn't want it to end for though. He wanted to prolong it as much as it would be granted to him.

The following song, Old City Bar, began and he had no more time to dwell on it. He decided to satisfy himself with the present. It was a slow poetic soothing Christmas song and it was perfect. He learned Kyoko knew that one too and saw her dangling her head from sides to sides as they waltzed in a slow round.

She started to apologize when she saw he was observing her but he shook his head silently gazing at her some more and himself tilting his head to the rhythm of the song. She blushed lightly before losing herself again to the music.

His heart swelled as he looked at her and he closed his lids wanting to engrave this moment in his memory.

This instant of joyful eternity with her. He had never felt so at peace before.

…

But then it came to an end and the partners switch for Cherry orchard Breeze, the last song.

Soon enough the theme finished and Lory informed everyone they would now take the break promised though they decided to change it for a little bit longer considering everyone looked like they would enjoy a fair pause. Thus it was decided to be more around thirty minutes of interlude before the closing began. In the mean time, the guests were finally allowed to give presents if they had one. But the president still asked them to keep a part of those if they had more than one or to refrain if they could until the second part of the night if they only had one. He told them he firmly believed waiting would be more fun.

He didn't make any remark on the fact some people had given a fair share of their presents brought for Maria in the precedent break but he was pouting.

Tacking between people she hastily retreated from the centre of the room feeling completely out of breath. She swept the walls as she progressed away from the crowd, her feet a little tired and hurting by now though she was beaten yet. She eventually reached the less lightened area of the ballroom and receded through the shadows with an expulsed relaxing breath of air.

It was then her eyes glazed over the scenery taking place just the beyond the glass windows walls and doors. Her hand rose in reflex to graze the transparent glass and her eyes reflected the white magic as they gleamed with glee and delight.

She soundly pushed the handle and rushed outside silently. She needed to go there.

Her boots clattered on the long pavement path still mostly cleared that led to several benches near the end and a patio. She carefully took the softly lighted path to not slip but was soon distracted and lifted the nose in the air to bask in the glory of snow as she grasped the full view of thousands of iced fluffy crystal-coloured flakes falling and wafting down.

Barely holding her laughs of allegress, she twirled around dancing alongside the snow-fairies out there giggling near her and walked in the soon crunchy-soft white ground the snow was slowly making it to be. Flakes fell all around her and on her and it was frizzing but she didn't care and only stopped whirling when she caught sight of a bench beside her and decided to sit down.

Then she sighed blissfully. This had been an eventful evening and she was glad she was able to expulse a bit of the tense energy out here. She hadn't planned she would dance so many times with Ren. In fact, she hadn't thought she would even dance at all with him. Still, no matter how much her heart was squeezing at the moment, she couldn't bring herself to regret it. It had been a wonderful ball for her thanks to him.

She closed her eyes and let little flakes of snow fall on her lids as she tried to regain and capture the recent events of the night so that she would never forget about them. Her precious seconds of eternity.

She was distracted from her thoughts when she felt cold water running down her neck and realized the snow on her head was melting down.

She briefly thought about it. Then decided she didn't care and removed the drenched wig and cap. She hadn't been here to win anyway. Just to have fun.

Her long light hair dropped in cascade in her back and on her shoulders and the flakes started to fall on her true locks instead but at least her head wasn't cold or humid anymore. And she wasn't soiling the wig either.

She lounged there on the bench under the spots lights letting albescent snow fall upon her and she breathed in the frosty air of the night.

Faintly her ears caught sound of the clock striking midnight but it was weak from where she sat and she was so lost in her own mind she didn't pay much attention to it.

…

Ren was looking for Kyoko but he had lost sight of her when she went for her next partner earlier and wasn't able to find her after that.

The pendulum stroke midnight as he was roaming the crowd with his eyes once more but he thought with a start that he might not have searched at the right place.

It was still only a gut feeling and very presumptuous from him but he had got the feeling she was less fond of people than in the past. Or maybe it would more corrected he had got the feeling several times she now largely preferred to be alone or just a few people nowadays. She didn't tell him of course. But she was doing a lot all on her own and even through the sparse calls they had managed these last years before her return he had noticed she was often alone or with one or two friends. Very rarely more.

He could be wrong, it was all guessing after all those years passed without seeing her.

But of he was right-

He found her. It seemed he still didn't suck too much at understanding her.

There. Outside on a bench, her very own hair flowing in the wind and covered in snow. Like some ethereal vision in the soft lights. A magical apparition glowing thanks to her long now familiar golden hair.

It was mesmerizing.

His feet raced by themselves as he handled his package and slipped through the gap of the opened glass door before stalking to her in a daze, his lashes fluttering away the flakes falling.

He made it to her soon enough but seeing she didn't notice him as she had the lids closed he took his time observing her face.

"What are you doing here, sitting like angel in the snow?" he eventually asked her.

She jumped so high she fell off the bench and some curses followed.

"Damn it Ren. Don't sneak up on me like that!" she said.

He chuckled at her grumbles and apologized as he helped her up.

She shouted him an half-glare and they both sat back on the bench as Kyoko explained she had just wanted some fresh air after all the dancing.

He nodded. It's true it was rather uplifting after the warm of the ballroom and the exercise they just performed. He turned toward her.

"Kyoko?" he called to catch her attention and she who was looking at the sky full of flakes falling shifted to look at him.

"Hmm?"

"Happy birthday" he softly told her with a broad grin before bringing out what he was hiding behind his back since he approached.

She groaned audibly.

"I had almost forgot"

"I wouldn't have let you"

She eyed his lap where laid the presents he had just brought out from behind him. Yes with a "s", there were several. She didn't even how he had managed to hide it from her sight when he came near her.

She pinched the corner of her bottom lip, resisting very hard to not glare at him.

"Rennnn…Why are there several gifts?"

"There are only two" he corrected with an amused tone.

This time she did shoot him an unimpressed look.

"It was the bare minimum" he stated shamelessly. "One for your birthday and one for Christmas" explained Ren. "I already hold back a damn lot. So don't you dare say anything or I'll buy you the triple next year" and he answered her nonplussed look from just before with a stubborn one of his.

She parted the lips at a loss of words and just gaped raising feebly one hand at him in explanatory before letting it drop with a moaning sigh.

"What about the roses?" she blurted out after a while.

"I thought it would be an explanation in itself" he said with a confused frown. "Why don't you think of it as a tradition from now on?"

She wanted to strangle him and even lifted the hands in direction of his neck out of sheer frustration.

She smiled a grimace at him.

"You are really-…she started. "And yes, don't you dare think I forgot you sent me roses every year since I left, you crazy man! And each time more madly gorgeous!" She grumbled as his grin stretched and stretched infuriately higher.

"Why is it a surprise?" He said with false shocked eyes and the most smug smile he has ever sported and Kyoko squinted her eyes at that. He was so happy it had left an impression on her. He raised his right index in front of her and flakes soon started to fall on it as he started to count.

"First year, the one of your seventeen birthday, one rose. Second year for your eighteen one, two" He pulled out a second finger at that and follow the same pattern then. "Third year, three roses. Fourth one, four roses. For the fifth year and your twenty-one birthday, 5 roses. Six roses for your twenty-two birthday"

"And finally he said as he stretched the last finger of his counting on his left hand and slowly approached the vibrant scarlet bouquet to her, "Seven roses for your twenty-three birthday"

He was impossible.

"Isn't it the least?" he questioned portraying such an innocent look Kyoko didn't know if it was false or genuine though she suspected the latter.

"You are serious, aren't you?" she asked.

"Deadly so" and he pushed the regal giant flowers even closer to her.

She slowly lifted her hand and delicately took the heavy bouquet, her wrist tilting a bit before she tightens her grip.

She gazed at the claret jewel-like petals moved more than she would ever admit and unable to not melt at the sight. They were so lovely and there were even little Christmas leaves added among them for the occasion and also serving as the tie for the beautiful royal blue and gold wrapping.

He had never forgotten. Each year since she left, on the morning of the birthday she would receive a bouquet of roses delivered by a postman with a card.

She brushed one of the dense glorious petals feeling the thickness yet softness of it under the pads of her fingers.

"What sort of man sends a bouquet through the globe just for a birthday and each year at that?" she mumbled with a tone edging the fondness she felt in spite of her former thwart.

He just smiled at her. Wishing that beyond all probabilities and his good sense, his intentions would get across.

"How could I have not?" Ren mumbled at last too low for her to catch it "Be glad I didn't send you more than roses all those years"

Kyoko looked at him, appalled with the prospect and he chuckled.

"Isn't that what the friends are here for?"

Her eyes turned cold and outraged.

"I'm not here for presents, Corn!"

Damn. He had managed to really angry her. Still, he couldn't help the amusement creeping up.

"I know" he got out from the tip of his lips, the voice horsed all of sudden.

She eyed him, suspicious in his sincerity and he smiled some more.

A grin crept on her face in an instinctive reaction and she breathed the sweet smell. She didn't stood a chance against his divine smile.

"Fine fine, they are sweet" she said after a few second had ticked by and he wasn't caving.

He beamed and she groaned at the brightness.

"Would you accept the presents, now?" he asked and thought he appeared to keep his cool, Kyoko could his excitement in his eyes.

Way to play dirty.

Held in by tender amusement, she crooked one corner of her lips. He was so cute.

She nodded numbly, all spirit of scolding him vanished.

He grinned and took in his big hand the little rectangle packet wrapped in an elegant night blue paper and dropped it in her lap.

She stared at it then at him and again for a few times making snicker Ren.

Without more hesitation she delicately pulled at the fins of the wrapper on the sides and extracted a box composed of black velour fabric for the bottom and the top lid a smooth class matte silver with inscribed in golden letters Swarrfayri, the brand apparently. A little trail of deep imprinted blue weaved under it like a tread of silk and at the right corner could be found a little fairy inscribed in the same mat gold than the brand.

Accustomed to see details, she easily found a stamp stating it was a personalized boxing requested by the client.

She wondered why he went as far as personalize the box but didn't dare to comment on it when she saw his grin and clearly entertained face. He just knew she had noticed she bet.

She lifted the lid and when she saw inside stupefied her for a second.

Bedding inside was a pendant of round form, thin though not small. It was maybe three and an half centimetres in diameter. Maybe like a coin of half a dollar in the States. She didn't really know in what material it was made, she could just tell the colour was between white and silver. Again, it was matte.

But it was something else that grabbed her attention. On the smooth surface of the front, drawn or engraved she couldn't decipher, laid an infinity sign. Then on each side of the pendant dangled a little figurine. Little trinkets in the form of a fairy at the left that looked very much like Corn as it was holding a little blue stone and has green stone eyes and hair in a lighter tone than the silver of the body. And at the right of the pendant a white cat.

"I requested that the cat be added after I met Snow" explained Ren when Kyoko didn't say anything.

She delicately pulled out the chain from its case and took hold of the round pendant a little thicker and heavier she imagined. But just by a little.

"Turn it over "Prompted Ren when she kept staring at it in a daze.

She did so and gasped at the sight of the angel engraved in the centre of the little medal. It was middle-size one that didn't reach the edges of this side by at least one centimetre. But it was just a detail she noticed at the time. What she was really focused on was the pure white wings falling behind the feminine blue-transparent silhouette that sported amber hair and eyes.

"Is that me?" She inquired, not really believing it but not seeing any other possibility.

He chuckled at her hesitation.

"Who else?"

"Though I must admit I didn't plan your hair would have grown up so much so it's still in the pixy look you had in the past"

She blushed as he kind of just compared her to a pixy.

"Why do I have wings?"

"Open it" said Ren softly in answer.

She gently turned it around in search of an opening until she eventually found a little disparity gape going on on all the right side of the pendant between the two pieces of metal.

"You don' have to be so cautious, it's solid" Ren said as Kyoko was still barely touching the opening like she would break it at simple touch. "And it doesn't oxide so you can also put it into water or at least you don't have to remove it if you know you will be in contact with some" he stated after she had finally put her nail into the little gap.

The pendant spread open and this time air refused to make it to her lungs and her throat clamped on itself.

Inside, laying on the reverse of the front, a landscape was drawn. But not any landscape, a coloured one. With green, blue, reflects. Bushes could be seen. Water falling. Sun casting shadows.

It was a clearing. Their clearing. With the little cascade, the rocks; everything.

She didn't know something like that was possible. It looked like paint but she knew it wasn't and it was so much more clearer. Like the angel at the back, nearly translucent and yet all very sharp and identifiable.

Her eyes started to sting and her hands shook at she brushed the material which composed the wonderful landscape of her childhood memories.

But the reverse of the back was what finished her.

As letters written in a neat handwriting could be read on it and told this message: For you. My Best-friend, My angel. K.R.C.

She hiccupped a sob and bent over through her emotion. How? Why? He couldn't say that. It was like-…like she was special. How could she reason herself with those words there?

It's unfair. It hurts so much…It's so unfair Ren.

He called her his angel. Why? She didn't deserve that. She was far from it. He was crazy.

And what? His best-friend?

She didn't want that.

She wanted so much more. She wanted everything.

And yet,

Beyond common sense, all she felt at the moment was overflowing affection. Joy.

He had put so much care and thoughts into it. So much details. So much everything.

"It isn't bought like that, is it?" She mumbled after a long while in her knees when Ren started to worry and apologized if he had vexed her so she had to repeat her question a few times until he replied.

"No, it isn't. It was a personal design I asked the jeweller of Swarrfayri to craft for me. I actually sketched the clearing from memory before giving it to them to add it and coloured it in the inside of the pendant" he sheepishly admitted.

She kind of suspected it was a personal demand but to hear it still came as a shock. And to think, he even sketched their clearing.

Her throat made a gurgling sound as she moaned her anguish.

If there was one gift that could have moved her more, well, she didn't know it. If there was one present she couldn't refuse it was a souvenir of this special moment with him.

He had took the time to add Snow to it.

She snorted internally. He had even put three initials for Kuon, Ren and Corn as an inside joke.

How much more he wanted her to take? She couldn't breath. She felt like she would explode what she really felt if she just opened the mouth again.

"You're angry?" after another long while where she refused to look at him, unable to control her emotions.

She shook violently her head but kept it in her knees.

"You don't like it?" he asked then and she could hear the creeping disappointment edging close.

She wanted to laugh. And cry more.

She had never thought the day would come where another present would compare to her Corn's stone.

How could he think she didn't like it? She let out a whine of despair that came out in something in-between a maniac laugh and an agonizing cry.

After all of this. She had no chance to not like it and he should damn know it.

She breathed in and out for one minute more and she could feel the worry climbing on her side breaking a smile out of her.

"Kyoko, if you don't like it I could give it bac-

"Don't you dare!" She growled in her lap before straightening up to glare at him but he paled at he saw she had cried.

"You cried" he stated in horror.

She chuckled dryly at his appals. If only he knew the measure he was able to get out of her.

But the knowledge of him seeing her in that state knowing why she was in it still made a light hue appeared.

She turned her head to the side to avoid his piercing stare.

"I'm just-just…touched"

"So it's not out of sadness?"

"Of course not!"

He relaxed, visibly relieved and Kyoko sighed. Cute baka.

Ren was beginning a new sentence but something launched itself around his neck as he opened his mouth and squeezed with a fair amount of strength. So much in fact he began to cough.

He was barely realizing it was Kyoko holding him in a vice arms hug when a soft brush of lips landed on his right cheek and a blushed crept in at the new awareness of the close contact.

He brought his arms around her frame as a whisper escaped her lips.

"Thank you"

"Sure" He reflexively answered.

"Does it mean you actually like it?" he asked after a few seconds.

"Idiot" She said and finally let go.

He saw her observing the pendant again with a smile before turning back to him with the fondest expression she had ever given him. Her eyes expressing so much tenderness his heart leaped in his rib cage.

"How could I not?" she replied as she stared at him with her gaze making melt his insides.

He rubbed his neck and even cleared his throat at the attention when he remembered something.

"Ah, I forgot to tell you" he started and pointed at the pendant still clamped in her hands, "You can slither a small picture in it on the side of the inscription, there is a small line spacing to slip one"

She nodded slightly in understanding and Ren felt like there was a weird tension in the air.

"Do you want me to hook it for you?" He heard himself asked, the mouth arid.

She looked surprised at his proposition at first then smiled and clapped back the pendant for him to take.

He retrieved it from her and opened the chain as he asked.

"Which side do you want it?"

"Isn't the face the one with the infinity sign and the drawing the back? "she asked.

He shook his head, smiling to himself she did recognized the sign from what it was even if she didn't what it represented for him.

"It was conceive so that you could wear whatever side front"

She looked enchanted at the new but still asked for the sign at the front.

He drove the chain around her neck, delicately clipped it at the nape and his fingers brushed the skin there when he withdrew.

"Thank you" she said as she rubbed her nape lightly and Ren looked at her weirdly making her answer his unvoiced question.

"I'm ticklish there" she told him with a light blush and Ren resisted very hard thinking about what he could do with this information even though the images came anyway.

His lips tingled as he imagined dropping myriad of kisses there and making her squirm and moan and-

He shook his head and realized Kyoko was talking to him.

"Hmm?"

"Can I ask you a question?" She repeated.

When he nodded she opened her mouth then closed it before starting again.

"You didn't answer me earlier…Why wings? Why an angel? Why comparing me to-hu-"

He grinned.

"Because you saved me so many times. Because you were always there to bring me back from my past, my own darkness" He explained with a soft voice.

"So you are kind of an angel to me" He stated. "My angel"

She turned a deep hue and turned away from him mumbling about ridiculous men.

"I didn't do much, you are making such a big deal of just a few words" She protested as she twirled back to face him with a crimson face and Ren felt elated he was still able to produce that sort of reaction out o her and found it was even cuter than in the past.

He bent forward a bit as he retorted.

"It's not because you are blind that I'm wrong"

She gaped at him.

"You're insane" She declared.

"It looks really beautiful on you" he said eying the pendant. "Even better that I imagined"

She lifted her hands at him, speechless, waving at his form like she didn't know what to do with him and he amused him greatly.

"Am I frustrating you?"

"You have no idea"

He smirked.

"Good"

PS: Tears of joy and agony. I still have the ending part of the dance to do. I was hoping to finish it in this chapter but it's already 6k words and I couldn't even find a good point to stop so don't blame me for the abrupt of the end of this chapter. Man, that was tiring. Also I know people would have gladly make Ren and Kyoko dance with each other all night and no one else, I wanted them to too. But that wasn't possible with this sort of set up. So we couldn't have that. I hope it was still entertaining and not too far stretched from an actual masquerade. The second part of the night is coming soon.

To the ones wondering. I'm repeating myself maybe but I just got start on the teasing so better be patient and drink lot of tea to calm your nerves. I think I told all the readers at the very beginning of the fic I wasn't going to put them together right away. Remember that when you'll want to curse me. It will come. But not yet. And I won't tell you.

I hope you'll all like it. Love all of you.

Reviews are food. Feed me.

Kisses.

AUTHOR OUT.

Mimagfan.

…