A/N: Hello Everyone. I think about three days ago I got another random review of the fanfic and to be honest I had not intention of writing this again but somehow it managed to creep into my thoughts again. I have changed a major plot point in order to take the story to the direction I wanted it to take. Kyoko and Kuon never met as young kids. I want this to be less burdened with their past encounters, mostly because that was something I had a hard time writing about hence deciding to drop the story altogether. But I have learned that I should continue with a plot that makes more sense to me.

I hope you guys would give this story another chance and read from the beginning. I improved and edited a lot of parts that were uncomfortable. Thank you guys for reading it even after all this years. Enjoy :)

I do not own Skip Beat or any of its characters.

Chapter 19

Kanae was wide awake in her room, under her thick blankets. She was worried for Kyoko, worried for her loneliness. She just hoped she was okay and Kuon was nice to her. Her boss was very nice and so it was safe to presume that his brother was also a good man.

Suddenly there was a knock on her door. She somehow managed to say, "Come in, Its open."

Jude was standing outside her door with two mugs and the smell was divine. Kanae shot up from bed and went to her in hurried steps.

"Can I come in? I made coffee", Jude said.

"Of course Jude-san. Please come on in, but how did you manage to do all this and you shouldn't have strained yourself", Kanae said.

"Oh! I didn't do it all by myself, Yuki helped.", Jude said smiling and sitting down in the living space.

"Yashiro-san?"

"Yes. Can I tell you a secret? Yuki made "too" much coffee and then asked me to share it with you. He is still working."

"Well he certainly makes good coffee. Its almost as good as my sister's.", Kanae smiled.

"Hmm, apparently Yashiro blood has something to do with all this. Dad says the whole family has an inborn talent of good cooking, they are born with it. My dad, Yuzuki oji-sama, Yuki... they all are great cooks. Me and Kuon somehow managed to jump out of that gene pool. I learned from Dad and Yuki otherwise I wouldn't even be able to feed Sato-san, my husband."

Kanae smiled. She was beyond grateful. She wasn't scared anymore and it was good to talk. Who knew Yashiro-san was so talented and kind. She was lucky to have him as her boss.

Jude really liked Kanae and hearing all about Kyoko also made her very curious about the younger Tsubasa. She seemed like a really well behaved child.

"Kanae-san, will it be okay to call you Kanae? You can also speak comfortable with me, just call me Jude."

"Oh no Jude-san! You are the eldest in the family I cannot possibly call you without any honorific.", Kanae said, flabbergasted by the sudden proposal.

"Okay then you have to call me Nee-san. I insist", Jude was a Hizuri after all. She wanted to help her brother but more than that she really wanted a sister and Kanae was too good to pass up.

Although Kanae was quite uncomfortable, she didn't find it in her heart to refuse Jude. Thanks to her the storm wasn't getting on her nerves.

"Okay then, Nee-san. I accept your request", Kanae said with a smile.

"Then tell this Nee-san about your Boyfriend immediately. Its been ages since I had someone to talk to like this.

"Hehehehe, I don't have a boyfriend. I never had one and don't want one either. I just want to work and take care of my family.", Kanae said smiling.

"EHHHH?! But you are so pretty! I will set you up with someone... there is this friend of my husbands..." But Jude was interrupted by a very red Yukihito barging into the room like a man possessed.

"NEE-CHAN! What on earth are you doing here! You haven't had your medicines yet!", Yuki almost shouted.

"Jeez pipe down will you? I took my meds. As I was saying Kanae, how about dating huh? What do you think?", Jude said, Unfazed by her boiling mad brother next to her. She needed Yuki to hear Kanae's opinion as well. A relationship can't be one sided.

"Really Nee-san, I don't want to date. I am not looking for a relationship right now.", Kanae said.

Yuki looked at her surprised at her statement. She didn't want to date?

"Is there any particular reason, if you don't mind me asking.", Jude asked sounding concerned.

"I just don't think I will ever find someone trustworthy or compatible with my temperament. I am quite rigid and straightforward, if I say so myself. I don't think there will be someone who would want to face me head on"

"If someone like that wants you? What would you do?", Yuki said, suddenly approaching her.

"What would I do? I don't know. I guess I will be honest and say what I really thought of him as a partner. Its not always enough to have the right person. The time has to be right as well."

"With the right person, every moment of your life should seem right. Am I wrong?", Yuki said while crouching down in front of Kanae's chair.

"You might be right, but I don't think I have enough luck for that", she said while looking at his eyes. They were such warm brown... almost like Kyoko's gold.

"How about me? Will I be enough for you to consider trying?"

"EHH?!"

"Kanae-san, I want to date you with the intention of marriage." Yuki said with all the conviction he could master.

Satoshi was hard at work. He was almost ready to lead a second life with Kyoko now as he bought a new house far away from the city. It was a good place to raise his family with her. He needed them both, Jude and Kyoko. If he was careful and precise, nothing could get in his way. Now once this blasted rain stopped, he could get on with his plan.

Fuwa Shotaro was bored…. Okay, bored would be an understatement. He was bored as hell. What's worse was he couldn't find anything good about this weather and Mimori.

Shoko, his assistant, wasn't here to keep him company and he wanted to whine.

What was more horrible was that he missed Kyoko like crazy, especially now. Relationships aside, she was his best friend and to tell the truth he did love her, but not the way she loved him.

Sometimes he was glad that Kyoko wasn't very seductive or attractive and he didn't have the urge to kiss her or move things more forward. That way all their memories good or bad, was something he cherished, he didn't defile her and he at least left her intact, apart from her heart of course.

"You are a selfish bastard Sho." He whispered to himself while he was looking out of his penthouse towards the pouring rain.

He was sure he could never fall for someone, because he had the perfect girl who loved him but he failed to fall for her. There wasn't someone he could give himself to. Not a single person.

He looked himself in the mirror and sighed. "So, it's just you and me then Sho… till death do us apart."

Far from his house, in the Takarada mansion, Jude looked at her reflection and sighed. "It's just me and you again then"

The weather forecast suggested that the typhoon may not hit Tokyo and might change its course, it was a probability and both Kyoko and Kuon wanted to hold onto that hope. The weather inside Kuon's condo was becoming thunderous and it was hard to decide which was worse, the typhoon or the tense atmosphere.

Kuon was, well keeping to himself. He couldn't sleep. He knew deep down that he crossed a line today. He might not be able to recover from this incident. He laughed darkly to himself. He was acting on pure instinct with her. there was no other explanation or reason. Something about he called out to parts of him that he tried to seal off. He urge to dominate, consume and corrupt her was overwhelming. In the middle of the whole ordeal he thought of ways to drive her away. He acted that way deliberately in the beginning. But having her so close to him, pressed against him felt so right. She smelled like strawberries that incited him to bite into her skin. What was happening to him. He hardly met the girl enough times to feel this way. He actually never felt this way towards anyone before. Sure he indulged in women before, but there was not an overwhelming need. there was no need whatsoever.

But he was sure this was enough to make the girl run for the hills.

Kyoko was scared for about 5mins, the next 10 mins she cried because of the anger and frustration she felt due to his behaviour. Then the next 10 mins she calmly sat down and thought the whole incident through. She knew perverts or she has dealt with perverts before. Hizuri Kuon wasn't a pervert. He acted like one but his hands never strayed nor did he actually intend to do so. He was trying to scare her off and she even agreed. But now that she though about it, she was thoroughly manipulated and this should not be tolerated. She has to stand up to the Demon Lord! Otherwise what hope does she have for defeating Shotaro!

So she marched towards his room a 3rd time that night and saw him sitting down in his bed in the position she left him in. She stopped near the door so that she can make a run for it the moment he tries something fishy.

"I won't Quit!", she voiced her resolve strongly.

Kuon snapped from this thoughts and narrowed his eyes at her.

"Pardon? You won't quit?"

"No! I will not be manipulated by your dirty tricks. I might not have enough experience when it comes to men but I won't stand for you to treat me like a puppy!"

"Bunny"

"What?"

"You are not a puppy, more like a bunny and you better run before I sink my teeth in you", Kuon growled while giving a murderous smile. This special smile was reserved for bastards he crushed beneath his feet.

Kyoko looked unfazed.

"I want to call a truce", she said.

"A truce?"

"Yeah, Give me two weeks. If in two weeks I cannot fulfil Kuu-sama's wish then I will leave on my own and its my defeat."

"You wouldn't be saying that if you knew about Dad's real intention."

"Whatever it is, as a parent he wants the best for you and my job is to see to it that you are eating properly."

"Are you sure you can do that when I will actively try to drive you away?", Kuon crossed the room and reached out to her and Kyoko stepped back.

"See? You are so scared that you can't even stay relaxed around me anymore.", Kuon said with a smirk.

"I wasn't relaxed around you to begin with. I would carry out my duties and stay out of your hair. I would appreciate if you would do the same."

"I don't think I will do that. The longer you are here the worse my parent's imagination will run. I can't have you here for 2 days, let alone 2 weeks."

"I will not quit, deal with it", Kyoko said with conviction, her eyes simmering pots of gold.

"Okay, I hope you are ready for a lot of torment and not the high school childishness. Because I will do whatever I please with you from now on, Kyo-ko", Kuon said.

Satoshi was very busy plotting how to get his hands on Kyoko. But at the moment he had to give all his attention to Jude who was busy trying to make him something. He came back to the empty house after he had a good plan to execute to find his wife waiting for him like she always does. She came back even though it was raining so much in the morning. Well to tell the truth, she sucked at cooking. How they managed to stay alive up until now was the bigger mystery and for the life of him he couldn't refuse her. Luckily the storm has stopped for some time now and the streets are becoming busy with life.

'Wonder where Kyoko-san is...' 'BOOOOM!'

His thoughts were interrupted by the loud noise and it was coming from the kitchen. he rushed there afraid that there was fire and Jude was trying to blow up the house.

Surprisingly, nothing was on fire but the microwave oven was somehow on the floor and Jude was staring at it sheepishly.

"Sorry", she said with remorse in her voice.

"Its okay Hime, but more importantly are you okay?"

"Yes! But there is no food for dinner"

"We are going out, get your coat"

Jude smiled happily, it had been a very long time they were together like this. She almost skipped her way to her coat.

Satoshi sighed. "Troublesome women. I just cannot wait to get married to you Kyoko", he muttered under his breath.

The went out to a famous Italian restaurant. Jude was too much giddy for some reason. She was radiating and if Satoshi had paid enough attention, he would've noticed that his wife was attracting a lot of attention.

She was a Hizuri after all, her genes were programmed to be attractive.

Shotaro was bored out of his mind and hungry. Contrary to popular belief, he was good at cooking, his mother was always trying to keep Kyoko by her side and by default he tagged along. He will never admit it though but he kind of felt a connection to Kyoko in case of learning cooking. She was better than him in a large margin, but he still treasured the memories. Just failed to treasure the girl in it.

He walked into a random restaurant and immediately his eyes found her. By the farthest corner of the establishment. He was stuck, as if seeing something enchanting for the first time.

Her eyes and hair were plain black. But she had foreign blood in her, he was sure. He numbly sat down in a table and watched her, talk-eat-smile to a man in front of her.

Wait! A man.

Sho hid his face in a menu and stared hard.

Boyfriend? Brother? No... something seems off.

Then he noticed the shiny ring in her finger. She was married. Hah! Just his luck, a married women. That lucky bastard.

But he couldn't take his eyes of her. He ate in silence, always watching, always paying attention until the couple left.

When she was out of Sho's sight, he was feeling surprisingly empty, like the brightness of the world dimmed a little. Well, strange things happen in life. He who was sure that his heart cannot skip a beat for anyone in the world because he had the perfect girl with him all these years but failed to be in love with her, Had fallen for a married stranger in the first sight.

He almost laughed at the cruelty of his fate.

Jude was walking away oblivious and always trying to get her husbands attention, always trying... always loving, undauntingly, unconditionally, for the hope that, for the believe that he was the only one in the world who could feel love for her.

She considered herself lucky to have him as her husband.

Unknown to her, she had left a man inside the restaurant who could willingly give her all she wanted in life and more without asking. All the love a man could posses, all the attention in the world, all the time in the world would not be enough for him to be with her. She didn't know that she had left her luck in that restaurant.

She had left the attention she always deserved in that restaurant. For he was just a stranger and her eyes were always for Satoshi.

For he, the stranger was born a decade too late for her.

Satoshi looked at his cellphone for the hundredth time, he took a picture of Kyoko secretly and it was his ultimate treasure.

"What are you smiling at like that, honey?" Jude asked while entering his study room.

He was so startled that he dropped the phone and soon became very flustered.

"Nothing of importance." He said while getting up from the chair. He bent down to get his phone but Jude beat him to it. Satoshi's breath caught in his throat.

Jude smiled and gave it to him without a glance, he took it from her in shaky hands.

'That was close,' he thought.

"Since you don't seem that busy, mind coming with me to see Kuon? I hope he and Kyoko-chan are doing fine."

"Kyoko-chan?" Satoshi asked, dumbfounded.

"Oh yes, Kyoko-chan….." Jude then proceeded to inform her husband how that situation had come to be, and listening to her, Satoshi's blood ran cold.

It was like everything was against him. Of all the people she could work for, it had to be KUON? By the sound of it, the whole Tsubasa family was deeply related to the Hizuris.

Moreover, if Jude is correct, Yukihito was in love with Kanae and no way in seven hell was Lory letting this go.

He was going to get exposed, badly, in every possible scenario.

He cannot leave Jude, he cannot have Kyoko.

Let's assume that for the sake of assuming, he divorces Jude and by some miracle gets married to Kyoko,

How On Earth Is He Going To Survive With Kuon Hizuri Breathing Down His Neck For The Rest Of His Life?

That guy was a monster. A real one. He knew for sure the ways he got rid of his uncle, his cousins, made an empire go bankrupt.

All because of his love for his brother.

And Jude… Jude was his own sister, imagine the lengths he would go for her.

There was no way around this.

No way.

Unless he kidnapped Kyoko and ran out of the country and declared himself dead.

Even he knew what was an impossible dream. Even he knew when it was time to abandon ship. Suddenly perusing Kyoko lost all its charm to him.

He looked at his wife who was animatedly speaking about the whole ordeal.

Satoshi Yamada decided to forgo his plans to acquire a second wife, forgo with a relationship with Tsubasa Kyoko.

But he could not forgo on the bitterness he felt.

He lost the war without even going to a single battle. Lost it all to Hizuri Kuon.

He made a vow to himself, if he cannot have Kyoko, nobody else will. Nobody. He will make sure of that.

Shotaru Fuwa was looking out of the window, Tokyo has returned to its original form but he couldn't concentrate on anything. Nothing at all.

He knew that he needed advise and he needed to speak to Kyoko as soon as he could. So basically he needed to track her down.

He was already done with the first part of the plan.

In front of him, Kanae was emitting vicious killing intent. He came to Darumaya this morning in order to speak with his best friend.

He needed to clear his head and nobody could understand him better than Kyoko. For that if he had to grovel at her feet, he would gladly do it.

It was morning and Kyoko called him for breakfast. He sat down and proceeded to eat the simple arrangements of eggs and bacon and vegetables.

"I will be coming from tomorrow. I have a prior engagement planned today." Kyoko said softly while pouring tea.

"What? Are you going on a date or something?"

Kyoko was really offended, yeah may be she wasn't going for a date but its not like she can't have dates. Kuon's condescending tone grated on her nerves.

"Yeah I have a date", she decided to lie.

DATE. That got his attention and he just filtered out that one word. DATE. DATE. DAAATEEEE! She had a date? With who? Which bastard dared to look at her? Dared to ask her out?! She was his! HIS! He stalked his claim first, he saw her first! He swallowed a growl and gritted his teeth together.

Kyoko's demons went on alert as Kuon's anger was sensed by them. They started to come out and play, basking in its glory. And for the life of her, Kyoko couldn't understand why he was angry.

"When will you come back to work?" Kuon asked carefully.

"Tomorrow afternoon."She pointed to his food, "The food will get cold." She said politely, trying not to anger him further.

Kyoko was surprised that he was being civil towards her. last night he almost looked feral, In the morning light he looked less intimidating. She really disliked him though but this challenge is not something she wanted to back out from.

Kuon had no explanation for this thoughts. He was feeling extremely possessive since last night.

Kuon wordlessly picked up his chopsticks. His mind was running 100 miles per second. He wanted to lock her in this very apartment with him, forever. The more he looked at her, the more possessiveness consumed him.

'You can just lock her in here with you, she won't be able to go to this date then. Other people won't be able to see her.' his mind conjured up ideas.

"I'll be going home after you finish." Kyoko's words snapped his attention back to her.

"I'll drop you off, the storm has let up but it's still raining." He said in a voice that made Kyoko's protests die in her throat.

She nodded instead.

Kyoko took her bag and headed towards the elevator with Kuon trailing behind her closely. One would see them and assume that the male was hovering over the female. Like a wolf protecting his mate.

Little did they know that Kuon himself was unaware of the close proximity. He was focused so hard on Kyoko that he completely missed the stares people were giving them.

However for Kyoko things were very different. She was painfully aware of Kuon, all things Kuon. His close proximity, his intense stare and his smell. He was everywhere and the walk towards the elevator through the long corridor where an elderly couple was looking at them with amusement in their eye was very very uncomfortable.

She took a deep breath and waited for the elevator. Kuon stood beside her for a change. They entered with the other two couples and even though there was enough space, Kuon's big frame made the place look even smaller.

Kyoko politely greeted the other elderly couples and was acknowledged. She then exchanged pleasantries and small talk trying to defuse the tension between Kuon and herself.

Kuon narrowed his eyes towards her behavior clearly annoyed. It was clear that she was very sweet and polite towards other people but refused to be nice towards him.

He couldn't help but feel a little jealous. She was all bright and sunny to the people around her and that caused her to stand out in the crowd.

He was intently listening to the conversation. The couple, subsequently asked about their relationship after talking about the horrid weather.

"No, no. Please don't misunderstand, I am merely an employee of Hizuri-san, we don't share that sort of relationship.", Kyoko said while brushing off the question embarrassed.

"Oh? Is that so? Then if it's not too much prying, are you currently dating anyone? You are a very sweet child."

"I am not currently in a relationship", Kyoko politely smiled and answered.

"That's wonderful! I would love you to meet my grandson!", she exclaimed excitedly.

Before Kyoko could form a protest she turned towards her husband and said, "Don't you think it's a wonderful idea dear? She is perfect for our dear grandson.", the women smiled and turned towards Kyoko who looked like a fish out of water.

Just then the elevator dinged signaling that they have reached their destination. Kuon all but grabbed Kyoko in a vice like grip and got out of the elevator so fast that Kyoko received a whiplash.

Behind her the elderly women was so shocked at the turn of events that they just stared at Kuon all but dragging Kyoko to the parking lot.

Beside her, her husband chuckled amusedly, and when she looked at him with questioning eyes, he said, "Well that was bound to happen. While you were trying to set up a date for our grandson with the adorable young women, her companion was in the verge of exploding.", he said while ushering his wife out of the elevator.

"But he hardly looked upset.", the women was surprised.

"Well, my dear, I think it's better to give up on this particular girl, she belongs to someone else. Also that young man is not going to let her go that easily, may be never.", he said while laughing at the whole situation.

Meanwhile Kyoko found herself dragged like she weighed nothing and shoved inside Koun's car, also in mere seconds, buckled up. All thanks to the magnificent demon lord.

But the demon lord himself was outside, trying and failing to calm his nerves. What was that?! He internally screamed to himself. What the f*#k was that? Have you completely lost it? How do you explain this behaviour to her now?

He took deep breaths, deep laboured breaths and tried to calm himself. While he knew why he acted like a demented lover that doesn't even know how to process social interaction that borderline threatened to take away HIS Kyoko, he couldn't fathom that to which extent he was going to react. This was insane and pure loss of control. When was the last time he acted to irrationally? May be when he was an angry teenager.

He took his time to get in the car and prepared himself for the onslaught of Kyoko's questions. But he met with silence. He looked at her then, and found himself looking into her questioning eyes.

There was just plain curiosity and a little expression of hurt. He finally looked down to her arm where he grabbed her and fled. His hand print was showing up in her pale skin like an angry red bruise and he mentally kicked himself.

He silently reached in the back and retrieved his first aid kit and found the cool pack that is always stored regularly. He took it out and held out his hand towards her. When she showed no sign of moving and looked at his hand curiously, he grabbed hers and proceeded to press the cool pack in the bruise.

Kyoko wasn't sure how to respond to this. Outside the rain started pouring heavily.

She asked finally, "Are you okay? What was that right now?"

"Nothing, I was claustrophobic and wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. I shouldn't have dragged you so hard. I apologise.", Kuon said firmly. Even he was surprised at how easily the lie slipped out of his mouth.

But he cannot possibly tell her how incredibly possessive he felt just a moment ago, that it took his everything to not reach out and hold her close to him and tell her that she belonged to him. Why is this happening to him.

He didn't like the fact that his dark thoughts were consuming him like this. Its been years that he indulged in his more primal instincts. He was really scary as a teenager, sometimes he even enjoyed the pain he inflicted upon others and that was the more scary part. He hid this side of his personality very well because he couldn't hurt the people he loved.

He was brought out of his thoughts when he felt her touching his forehead, then his cheeks and then in between his shoulder and neck.

"You don't seem to run a fever, are you sure you will be okay to drive?", Kyoko asked him softly, with concern lacing her words.

Kuon could only nod and let her hand go, giving her the cool pack.

Somehow aware that he was doomed.

When Kyoko stepped in the small foyer of their home, she was struck with an odd feeling. Kuon was closely following behind and saw her demeanor chance in the span of seconds.

Kyoko rushed inside cause she knew who was in her house that very moment. She maneuvered herself upstairs while her grudges were basking in the glory of her rage. She slid the door open to reveal her former best friend, lounging like he owned the place.

Shotaro looked at Kyoko and knew she was pissed after seeing him. Well that was expected anyway.

He gave her a lopsided grin and simply said "Yo!" like they were still best friends. Like nothing happened.

Kyoko waited two seconds….. well for her it seemed like an eternity, and lunged.