Ah ha ha...I lost my voice...
Woooo! Virtual High Five!
Anonymous Jane: I recon my Kyoko's a bit bi-polar. (Well…when it comes to Ren at least! Lol.)
Tainted Sins: Yeah I know! I couldn't get Sho in again…he just didn't fit. So sad…I could have just put him in randomly but it would never have sat completely right with the rest of the plot line.
Also I'm thinking about doing something in the New Year that carries on from the last filming episode? Just in case there are any ShoKyoko fans out there who wanted Kyoko to go with Sho…sort of like an alternate ending deal…dunno…haven't really thought it through.
Ahhh…I'm so evil!
Advent
Day 25 – MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Christmas Day
"Please…" she begged again. "Just give me a chance to talk."
Ren paused and thought about it. He nodded.
Kyoko's shoulders slumped in relief but she still maintained the hold on Ren's coat.
He was going to give her a chance to explain! To talk everything out so that it would all be okay again!
Another gust of wind blew against them and Kyoko shivered violently.
"…But not here."
Ren's voice was deep and resonating, warming her insides even though she was frozen on the outside.
She looked up at him, confused.
He gripped her gently by the wrist and dragged her away from where they were standing towards the street.
"We'll go to my place, it'll be warmer."
Kyoko let herself be dragged along by Ren, slightly stunned.
Just minutes ago she had been ready to throw in the towel, resigned to never patching things up between her and Ren.
And now he was taking her back to his apartment?!
It was all happening so fast! But for some reason she didn't mind.
In fact…she felt insanely happy.
She grinned as she shivered again.
Ren looked back towards her then stopped.
Kyoko nearly walked into the back of him and she looked at him questioningly.
He shrugged off his coat and put it around her shoulders.
"Here. It'll keep you warm."
He didn't look at her whilst he said it but Kyoko was sure that she could see a faint blush on his cheeks.
…Though that could have just been the cold.
He walked with her along the streets, his hand never letting go of her. Gradually it slipped further and further down her wrist until he was holding her hand tightly.
Kyoko bit her bottom lip.
She was holding hands with Ren!
It was more than a dream come true!
She gripped his coat tightly and grinned delightedly.
Eventually they made it back to Ren's apartment. Kyoko let the coat slip from her shoulders and hung it up on a peg.
She made her way over to the sofa and sat nervously down. Ren followed soon after and sat opposite her with his head turned away.
Neither said anything for a few moments both choosing to sit in awkward silence rather then try to start the conversation.
Kyoko started when Ren cleared his throat.
"Would you like anything to drink?"
Kyoko couldn't stop the blush that slowly crawled up her neck.
"No…no thank you."
Ren nodded and they both lapsed back into silence.
Kyoko couldn't help but feel awkward in the situation that she found herself in and started to fidget to keep herself occupied, glancing anywhere around the room apart form when Ren was sat.
Eventually she couldn't keep quiet anymore so she cleared her throat to break the heavy silence.
At the noise Ren looked expectantly over at her. She quailed slightly under his unwavering gaze.
Now what was she supposed to do?
She couldn't just ask him straight out could she?
…Well…it might be easier if she did.
She took a deep breath.
"Are you angry at me?"
Ren's reply was immediate.
"You kissed Sho."
Kyoko felt her mouth drop.
"But…but that was part of the script!"
Ren looked hard at her.
"Only because you asked for it to be put in."
"No!"
Ren raised his eyebrow.
"No? So you didn't ask for it to be put in?"
"No! I mean…well yes, but you don't know the whole story!"
"…really…then why don't you enlighten me then."
Kyoko shivered slightly under Ren's cold gaze but this was the chance that she had been waiting for, the chance to explain and she wasn't going to mess it up.
She had to do this.
Taking a deep breath she started to explain.
"Okay. It's true that I thought a kiss would be suitable in the scene, but I didn't ask for it to be put in! The director just asked my opinion so I gave it to him and he thought it was a good idea! That was all!"
"Uh huh."
He didn't believe her!
"Honestly! I didn't even know Sho was going to be in it! I found that out later!"
Ren didn't say anything; he just sat and stared at her.
"So that's what happened…I just said that a kiss would improve the scene and then later I found out that I had to kiss Sho."
She paused and waited to see if Ren would say anything.
Anything at all.
Ren kept staring at her and narrowed his eyes, thinking things through.
"But what about the other stuff that the director said…about the sparks between you and Sho?"
Kyoko blinked. Did that mean that he believed her about the kiss scene?
She hurried to explain everything else.
"There wasn't anything! The director must have got the wrong end of the stick that's all. I hate Sho! You know that."
Ren stayed silent for a minute then let out all his breath in an explosive sigh.
"Do you see?" Kyoko asked quietly.
He had to believe her.
"Yes." Ren finally conceded, "I see. I see it now. You would never go back to Sho. I guess I was just blind-sighted by everything else that had happened."
"Everything else?"
Ren nodded acting like she should know everything that he was referring to.
Kyoko was extremely confused. What else had happened?
She knew that Ren had been angry at her before the Christmas Special had been shown as he had been acting cold towards her for some time.
But she didn't know why. Could she ask him?
Ask why he had been so angry with her?
Well…she had already asked once…and she had gotten Ren to believe her as well so it couldn't be all that bad.
All she had to do was ask if Ren had been angry at her and was it all her fault.
Somehow it was more difficult the second time when she could find out that she was the reason that Ren didn't like her anymore.
But she had to do this.
Even if things between the two of them were never the same she wouldn't be able to forgive herself if she didn't use this opportunity.
"Were you angry at me? In the beginning that is…and was it my fault?"
There she had asked it!
But she didn't make eye contact with Ren until after she had voiced her question.
When she did finally look over to her she could see that he was feeling very awkward, but this time he couldn't run away.
They were going to sort this out.
"No. Well…it's…complicated. I was…a little. At first."
"Kyoko looked confused.
"At first?"
"Mmm…" Ren nodded. "When you were filming."
"You were angry…"
"I'd say a little more annoyed than angry…"
"Okay, so you were annoyed with me when I was filming? Why? Is this to do with Sho?"
"No. I didn't know about that until later."
"Then why were you angry?"
Kyoko was confused. If Ren hadn't known about Sho then, then how did he every get annoyed at her in the first place?
She kept a steady gaze upon him and he flushed slightly under the scrutiny.
Kyoko began to think that he wasn't going to answer when he finally opened his mouth and mumbled something inaudible.
"Huh? Sorry. I couldn't hear what you said."
Ren's blush intensified. He cleared his throat and looked away.
"I said…that in the beginning I was annoyed with you because I couldn't get a hold of you."
Kyoko blinked.
What?
That wasn't what she had expected at all.
"You couldn't get…" She echoed faintly.
Ren nodded slightly and kept his gaze trained on the wall to the right of him.
"Yes. You…er…phoned me. So I tried to call back but your phone was off and I couldn't get in touch with you.
I got annoyed because I thought that if you had wanted to talk then you should have picked up my calls but you never did. And then I got angry with myself for being so annoyed about such a small thing."
Kyoko blinked.
Her phone?
Had she missed a call from Ren?
She scrabbled around in her pocket and pulled out her phone. Pressing a few keys she pulled up her missed calls list.
Her eyes widened when she saw that she had indeed missed Ren's calls.
"…6 missed calls?"
Ren cleared his throat.
"Well…I thought that you were just busy so I kept trying…"
He trailed off and Kyoko blushed. Ren cared about her so much that he had kept trying to get in touch with her even when she didn't reply.
"So you were annoyed with me because I didn't phone you back? But I didn't think that you would bother with me so I didn't check!"
"Why would you think that I wouldn't get in touch with you?"
"I just…because it's…me?"
Ren looked at her surprised.
"All the more reason to get back in touch!"
"Huh?!" Kyoko was so surprised.
Ren nodded in disbelief. He gently reached forward and took her bandaged hand in his own and with the lightest of touches stroked the mascara smear on the palm.
"I was so terrified when I saw all that blood. My heart nearly stopped."
Kyoko looked at him but he wouldn't raise his eyes from her injured hand.
"It…wasn't that bad."
That did get him to look at her. Kyoko was shocked to see that he looked so pale just thinking about it. It was then that she felt the minute tremble's in Ren's hands.
She squeezed her hand reassuringly and smiled.
"I'm still here."
Ren smiled crookedly at her and sat back in his seat.
"That's right, you are…but I was so angry at Sho then as well."
"Sho? Why?"
Ren clenched his hand into a fist.
"It was one of his fans that sent the blade. All I could think about was that if he wasn't a part of this industry then you wouldn't have gotten hurt. I was also angry at myself as well. That letter was addressed to me. I should have been the one that was injured not you."
Kyoko blushed.
She hadn't realised that Ren felt so strongly about what had happened.
"I felt so guilty that it was my fault that you were injured. The next time I saw you I felt so awkward and embarrassed…"
It dawned on Kyoko.
"…The Christmas party…"
Ren nodded.
"Yes, that's right. I…er…I wanted to apologise for that. I was very abrupt with you."
Kyoko felt really awkward.
"No, you don't need to apologise. It's fine."
Ren shook his head.
"No. What I did was unforgivable and rude. It was a show of extremely bad manners and for that I ask your forgiveness. You even came to apologise to me which made me feel even worse because it was my entire fault to begin with and I should have been the one to search you out and apologise."
"Um. Sure, okay…I forgive you…but you know…you really didn't have to apologise…I don't blame you. It wasn't your fault."
"You looked so beautiful in your dress as well."
Silence seemed to fall between the two as they both realised what Ren had admitted. After a moment of sitting frozen they both seemed to flush bright red and look away.
"So…um…" Kyoko started.
"Yes. And then the next time I saw you was at the showing. I was going to apologise then but it had already started and then I saw you kissing Sho and I felt so put out. But I could understand because I've had to kiss people when acting as well."
Kyoko just stayed silent, unsure as to what to say to that.
"…but when the director said that you had asked to kiss Sho…I…I guess I just saw red. I have to apologise for that as well. It was unfair on you."
"No, I understand."
Ren smiled gratefully at her.
"Thank you. I don't deserve it but thank you anyway."
Kyoko grinned.
It was finally all right! They had sorted everything out! There was no reason to have any bad feelings between them.
She shifted in her seat. Now that everything was sorted she thought that she was forgetting something...
That's right! Ren's present!
"Oh! I completely forgot!"
She ran over to where she had hung up her thin jacket and searched through the pockets. She pulled out the small gift with a flourish, much to Ren's bemusement.
"I got you a present…I…hope you like it."
She walked over to where Ren was sitting and placed it in his open hand.
"I wasn't sure what to get you and then I thought of that."
Kyoko watched as Ren slowly unwrapped his present and tipped Corn into the palm of his hand.
He stared down at it.
"I know that it's not new but I thought…I thought that you might find some use for it. It helped me through so much and I thought that you might like to have it to tell your problems too."
Kyoko trailed off when she didn't hear any acknowledgement from Ren.
"So…um…do you like it?"
Ren looked up at her with a surprised smile on his face.
"This is…I don't think that I should take it."
"Huh?"
Ren smiled.
"This is so precious to you. I would feel bad if I took it."
He pressed Corn back into her hand and closed her fingers around it.
"That reminds me, I've got something for you as well."
He moved over to the desk that was against the wall and rustled through a draw. After a moment or two he pulled out a small box and brought it over to where Kyoko was sitting.
"I took the day off to find this for you. I wanted to apologise to you and give you this."
Kyoko took the present from Ren and opened it slowly.
Inside the box was a necklace. Kyoko's eyes widened as she saw the exquisite gold chain with the stone attached to it.
"Is this…for me?" She asked breathlessly.
Ren smiled at her expression.
"You like it? It took the whole day to find the exact colour gem."
Kyoko looked closer. Then she realised, the gem in her necklace was the exact same colour as Corn.
"Oh! Thank you!"
In a spontaneous act of gratitude she lunged at Ren and caught him in a bone crushing hug.
"Thank you thank you thank you! It's beautiful!"
Then she realised what she was doing.
"Ah!"
She let go of Ren's neck and sat back, blushing hard.
"I'm sorry! I just…"
Ren blinked and then smiled.
"I think I owe you something anyway."
"Huh?"
"At the party…?"
Kyoko thought about it. What was at the party that she had missed? There was nothing.
Nothing but the mistletoe…
Oh.
Ren grinned as he saw realisation dawn on Kyoko's face.
He quickly leant in and captured her lips with his own, pressing gently.
Kyoko froze for a moment and then melted into the kiss. She felt Ren's arms wrap around her and she rested her hands on his shoulders.
This was perfect.
This is exactly how she thought her first kiss would be.
She smiled as they both pulled away from each other shyly. Ren reached down and took the necklace from its box and put it onto Kyoko.
She gently touched it and grinned happily.
Then she yawned widely.
Ren glanced at his watch and chuckled.
"It's ten past one. No wonder you're tired. Why don't you get some sleep?"
At the mention of sleep and the acknowledgement of her tiredness Kyoko dropped off almost immediately where she sat.
Slumping down on the sofa the last thing she saw before unconsciousness claimed her was the beginnings of snow falling gently outside.
Kyoko woke up some few hours later warm and comfortable.
She raised her head and glanced around, confused in her still sleepy state.
The last thing that she remembered was talking to Ren and…
Ren!
Where had he gone?
She sat up and looked around her suddenly awake. A small noise below her made her look down.
Ren was lying on the sofa, fast asleep.
She had been lying on him!
She had slept on him!
…And it was comfy…
Her eyelids started to droop again and she lay back down with Ren's chest acting as her pillow.
It might be really embarrassing waking up like this…
Kyoko smiled.
But she was sure everything would turn out fine when they both woke up together.
…after all…
It was Christmas.
Yay! Finished!
This will be the last chapter of this story; I decided not to do a Boxing Day special as I managed to get everything into this one.
Plus I felt that it would drag it out just a little too much.
This was literally the longest chapter I have ever written it's about three thousand words and thirteen pages long! All for you!
A Christmas present!
…I hope you like it!
Sooooooo?
What did you guys think?
Review please and tell me!
AND MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ONE AND ALL!