Ren sat on the couch of the lounge at LME scrolling through his emails as he waited for Kyoko to show up.

"Hi Ren!"

Suddenly Maria was in his lap giving him a hug.

"I heard you are going to be leaving us for the US." She said with a pout.

"Don't worry, I'll still call you and email you." he told her with a smile.

"You better or I'll have to go there myself. So are you waiting for big sis?"

Ren was surprised, how did Maria know?

"You know Ren…." Maria said deep in thought, "I think I'm okay if you and big sis were to get married."

Ren couldn't believe what he was hearing, did he show how much Kyoko meant to him to everyone that even a child could see it.

"I mean" Maria continued, "I was going to marry you, but if you can't wait to get married, big sis is the only other woman I would approve of."

He wasn't sure what he should say, he felt awkward having a conversation like this with a child. "What are you doing here today anyway?" he asked trying to change the conversation.

"Oh, I was at the school and figured I'd go see grandpa before going home."

"Maria! Tsuruga!" Kyoko greeted them with a bright smile.

"Big Sis!" Maria shouted and scrambled off Ren's lap to run and hug Kyoko. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh I was just dropping by after the cast meeting to see if there were any Love Me assignments. What are you two up to?" Kyoko asked.

"Nothing much, I was just telling Ren…." Maria answered, but Ren was out of his seat and between the two before she could finish.

"I was going to ask Maria if she wanted to go out for a milkshake." Ren told her, it was the first thing he could come up with.

Kyoko smiled, she knew that she had to keep their feelings behind closed doors due to both of their circumstances. "Well you two have fun." She said and saw the look in his eyes turn apologetic.

Maria ran to Ren and grabbed his hand, "Come on Ren, lets go to the cafeteria." As she pulled him away. "Bye Big Sis! I'll see you later."

Kyoko smiled at two of her favorite people walking away, Maria chatting with Ren happily and figured that she would go on and see if there really was something to do at the Love Me division since she and Ren wouldn't be spending time together.

Kyoko walked down the hall with the paperwork that she was asked to deliver to the music division thinking of the look that Ren had given her as they walked away. He had looked so sad and sorry that he wouldn't be able to spend time with her like they had planned. Though she didn't fault him, it wasn't like they were dating for real. She then remembered their heated kiss at the TBM and her hands flew to her face as she felt it heat up, forgetting she was holding a stack of papers they scattered to the floor. She scrambled to pick up the strewn pile.

"Oh Ms. Mogami! What happened?" She heard down the hall and looked up to see Mr. Yashiro quickly walking her way.

"Oh, I just was clumsy and dropped these."

He knelt down to help her collect the pages, and handed them to her when they were all picked up. Kyoko noticed that he looked tired, the prep for Ren going on location to shoot was probably taking it's toll on him, not to mention the help he had given her a couple days ago when the elevator incident happened. "Are you doing okay Mr. Yashiro?" She asked concerned.

"Yeah, I just heard from President Takarada that Ren leaves tomorrow for his new project so I've had to cancel some things and rearrange his schedule a bit." He answered running his fingers through his hair.

Kyoko was surprised, Tsuruga wasn't supposed to be leaving so soon. She suddenly felt even worse that she had missed the opportunity to spend time with him earlier.

Yashiro was confused when he saw Kyoko scrambling in the hallway picking up scattered papers from the ground, he had thought that she and Ren were supposed to meet and spend time together from what he understood from Ren. "Kyoko, what are you doing here? I mean, didn't you have other plans." he asked trying to figure out what happened to their date.

"Oh, ummm…." Kyoko was trying to think of an excuse off the top of her head. "Well, the cast meeting ended and it was to early to go home and help at the restaurant, so I decided to come here and see if anyone needed help from the Love Me section."

Yashiro knitted his brows in confusion, what happened to Ren? "Have you seen Ren? I need to let him know of the change of plans in his schedule."

"Oh, I saw him. He and Maria went to the cafeteria for milkshakes." she answered with a small smile.

Yashiro realized that's why the two weren't together was because of Maria and they had to change their plans. He smiled thinking of a new plan for them to spend time together before he leaves to the US. "Ms. Mogami?"

"Yes?"

"Do you think you could do me a favor?" he asked trying to hide the look of joy on his face since formulating a plan for the two.

"Yeah, sure." She answered curiosity plastered on her face for all to see.

"Do you think you could go to Ren's place tonight and make him dinner? I'm afraid that he will not eat anything tonight once he hears his schedules been changed and will be busy getting everything ready for the trip." Yashiro told her though he knew full well that Ren had everything ready for the trip already other than some toiletries. He knew Kyoko well enough that if it came to Ren not eating she would make sure he was fed.

Kyokos nurturing nature overtook her thinking of Ren not eating, that and she was also secretly happy for the excuse to spend time with him before he leaves. "Yes! He is the worst when it comes to eating. You can count on me Mr. Yashiro!" She said determined.

"Great! I'll text you his schedule for the day that way you won't have to wait for him in front of his building." Yashiro told her putting on his gloves and pulling out his phone.

Kyoko bowed to Yashiro, "Thank you Mr. Yashiro for help picking up these papers, I really got to get them to the music department. And don't worry, I'll make sure that Ren eats, I'll even make him a breakfast that he can heat up for the morning." She told him as she hurried down the hall waving bye to him.

Yashiro smiled and shook his head thinking of Ren's face when Kyoko shows up at his apartment. They will finally get to spend a little time together before he has to leave tomorrow, "I hope Ren appreciates the lengths I go for him." Yashiro said to himself as he continued down the hall.

Kyoko looked at her phone, it was 21:30pm, he should be home already. She was both nervous and excited to see him, he would be leaving tomorrow and this was the last time she would be able to see him face to face. She squeezed the pendant that Ren gave her for strength and headed into the building and up the elevator.

When she got to Ren's door she knocked quietly, her stomach doing flips she had a fleeting thought that she might be bothering him and wondered if she should just turn around, her grudges telling her she should run, that he might be to busy to even have her over, but as soon as Ren answered the door and gave her a sweet genuine smile all thoughts left her head. Even her grudges were stunned into silence.

"Good evening Ms. Mogami." Ren said opening the door. He was relieved that Yashiro had given her the suggestion of coming to his place especially since he hadn't gotten to spend time with her in the afternoon as he had first planned.

Kyoko held up her hand which had a bag of groceries in it, "Have you eaten yet?" She asked.

Ren smiled even bigger, he could see she was nervous, her voice was quieter than usual and she wouldn't meet his eyes. Seeing her like this he would eat an entire cow for her if he had to. "I'm glad you came, I was getting hungry."

Kyoko's eyes met him and her brows furrowed, "Liar, you probably haven't even eaten since yesterday." She said sliding past him into the apartment.

"And don't tell me that you ate today, and Onigiri from a convenience store doesn't count." He heard coming from the kitchen. He couldn't help but smile even more when he closed the door, she never changes he thought.

"Well it does have rice." He told her playfully as he came up behind her while she was unpacking her ingredients.

She turned around and glared at him, he put his hands on the counter trapping her, she is so cute he thought.

Kyoko finally realized how close they were and her nerves bundled into her stomach again. She was in Ren Tsuruga's house, trapped between his arms and the kitchen counter and the Emperor of the Night was shining through. She wanted nothing more to escape, she could hear half of the grudges telling her it wasn't safe that she needed to be in flight or fight mode and in this instance flight was the best way to go. The other half had already fainted at the sight of the Emperor or was dumbfounded.

"Ms. Mogami?" Ren said his face getting closer to hers. He wanted nothing more than to lift her up and set her on the counter and kiss her, a deep kiss that he couldn't stop thinking about since he had had that taste of her in his dressing room. He wanted to run his hands up her shirt feel her soft skin, wanted to kneed her breasts and hear her moan in his ear. He blinked back the image that was forming in his mind knowing that if he were to do any of that right now she would definitely run. She was like a scared deer, any sudden movements and he would surely be alone for the rest of the evening.

Oh my god Kyoko thought, what is he doing? Instantly Valentines Day crossed her mind when she thought he was going in for a kiss but he just gave her a kiss on the cheek to thank her for the jelly.

Ren saw her eyes wide and nervous and stepped back not sure what they were even talking about before his indecent thoughts crossed his mind. He needed to say something to snap her out of it. "What's for dinner?"

Kyoko blinked a couple times, her brain trying to register what Tsuruga had said. "Ummm, Huh?"

Ren laughed, she was completely shell shocked from just that small encounter, he needed to bring her back to earth. He grasped her hand and brought it to his lips kissing the back of her hand. He glanced up with his eyes meeting hers. "What's for dinner? I'm hungry." He told her.

Kyoko could feel every inch of her body warm at his words. She yanked her hand out of his and turned around to set her attention back to the groceries on the counter. What was she going to make again? She thought to herself? She couldn't even remember, her mind was completely blank other than the interaction they had just shared but she knew she needed to snap out of it and give an answer if he didn't want to think she was a complete love fool idiot. "Umm, Oh! I'm going to make Yakisoba Chicken." she answered when she finally remembered what ingredients she bought.

Ren smiled, "Sounds delicious. I'll leave you to it, I'll go make sure I have everything packed." He told her and quickly gave her a kiss on the cheek and swooped out of the kitchen before she could even say anything.

Kyoko turned to scold him but all she could see was him slipping away around the corner. What the hell was that? How the hell am I supposed to do anything when he acts like that. He's like a jaguar stalking his pray. She thought getting upset with him. She grabbed the vegetables and started washing them violently.

Finished with cooking their dinner Kyoko brought their bowls of Yakisoba to the table that she had already set. "Mr. Tsuruga!" She called as she sat down on the floor.

Ren came downstairs hearing her call for him and sat in front of his food. "Ren." He stated.

"Pardon?"

"Ren, call me Ren when it's us like this." He told her. He wanted her to be able to call him Ren all the time but knew that she would be uncomfortable calling him Ren in front of others, their relationship was secret after all.

She felt her cheeks heat up and wanted to change the subject, "Eat." was all she said.

He smiled and took a bite of the food she had made especially for him. As they ate he recalled when they were filming Dark Moon and was in a similar situation though there was a different feeling of tension in the air then than now. He could feel that she was uncomfortable as she ate in silence, he wondered if he should turn on the television like before. He reached for the remote sitting in front of them "Do you mind?" he asked. She shook her head no. The screen glowed and they were watching a documentary of Japan.

"Do you think you'll miss it?" Kyoko asked. Watching the show made her wonder if Tsuruga would even want to come back. She knew he had a past in the US, she wasn't sure how much of a past but she always wondered if he wanted to go back and stay.

Ren laid down his chopsticks and rested his head on his hand staring at her. "I'll miss you more than I'll miss Japan." He told her with a straight face.

Kyoko set down her chopsticks and pushed her bowl away from her. She couldn't believe he could say that with a straight face, no wonder he was such a playboy. "I'm serious."

Ren moved to sit behind her on the couch and pulled her up into his arms resting her between his legs holding her from behind. "I am too." He said leaning his head on her shoulder.

Kyoko tried to get up but Ren wrapped his arms around her tighter. "Please just stay this way for a bit." he asked.

She gave in to his pleading and stopped trying to get up. Sitting between his legs and him holding her tight was giving her comfort. She wasn't sure how long they sat that way; she wondered if he had fallen asleep sitting up resting his head on her shoulder. She could feel the rhythmic rise and fall of his chest, his breath warming her back, thought his grip around her hadn't loosened any.

"Don't you need to finish packing?" She asked, she was starting to feel stiff from not moving and her muscles being tense holding him up.

"Already done, I just want to hold you a little longer." he told her. He could feel how tense she was and wanted her to relax. He had no intentions of trying to get anywhere with her, but he just wanted to hold her. He slid his body along the couch pulling her with him.

"What are you doing?" She asked. He could hear the panic in her voice.

"Nothing, just getting a bit more comfortable for you."

He was laying on the couch with her still between his legs but she was now resting her head on his chest. She didn't know where to place her hands and kept them tucked under her chin. She could feel his eyes looking down at her but was afraid for her heart to look at him so she just stayed where she was unmoving and staring at the wall.

Ren starting running his fingers through her hair with one hand trying to get her to relax a little, he couldn't help but grin when he heard her sigh contently. Looking down though she still looked uncomfortable he took her hand from under her chin and placed it on his chest. A few seconds later he felt her relax into his chest finally. The passionate kiss they shared was great, but this, the peace he felt at this moment holding his girl was amazing. Even Koun who was normally a rabid tiger in the back of his mind was content and happy just having her close. He wrapped his arms around her and closed his eyes enjoying the moment.