Both their jackets hung heavily on the coat rack, weighted by the sleet that stuck to the material. Two pairs of damp shoes dried by the doorway. Their socks and day clothes spun in the fancy western dryer the famous renter owned, drowned out by the sound of the furious Tokyo storm and the sizzle of the makeshift, cooking dinner.

Ren stood in the expansive living room, filling the glass with a few small ice cubes and some of his finer brandy. In his other hand, he held his cell phone close to his ear. His manager's pleased cries would be hard to explain if the young cook heard, so the well known actor lowered the volume until even he was barely able to hear the other line.

"So you're saying Kyoko-chan's cooking dinner and you got her to agree to stay the night? Ohh! Watch out Kyoko!" Yashiro started squealing again, causing Ren to take another sip of his stiff drink.

"Yashiro … I'm simply letting you know that I may be a bit later than usual tomorrow in picking you up. The storm made the roads really dangerous, and the chunks of ice are getting rather large. I can't drive in this, and I wouldn't allow anyone to walk in this weather." The actor said smoothly, behaving the more responsible of the two men.

"What about Fuwa-san?" Yashiro asked mischievously, baiting his charge.

The tinkle of frozen water against the cup was the only response.

"Ren, this is your chance! Don't let this one go to waste! A cold night, a kotatsu table, an attractive man and his freshly legal crush…"

"Kohai, Yashiro." Ren interrupted, chiding the meddlesome man. "His LoveMe member number one kohai."

"'His'? So you'll admit she's yours then?" Yashiro said happily. Ren could picture the pleased smile on his manager's prying face.

"I don't own a kotatasu table." Ren said quickly, changing the point of conversation. His purposeful mispronunciation did its job. He knew Yashiro was a stickler for proper Japanese.

"Ko-tat-su table Ren. A low table with an electric foot-warmer underneath. Don't tell me you haven't sat around one with your family on chilly nights?"

"I don't own one." The actor said haphazardly, neatly ducking the question.

"There's one in the storage room." Yashiro said simply, catching the other line in astonishment.

"Why would there be a kotatsu table in my storage room Yashiro-san? And why would you know about it?"

"You've a kotatsu table Tsuruga-san?" Kyoko repeated in pleased surprised, from the doorway of the kitchen. Catching the actor off guard, he quickly shut the phone and dropped the glass on the table with a loud clunk. Luckily the glass was empty, so nothing spilled on the surface. Still, he made a grab for the cup to stop it from falling to the floor.

"Ah, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you Tsuruga-san." Kyoko said, quickly apologetic. "I was only going to ask if whether you'd like fried rice or not."

"You didn't startle me Kyoko," Ren lied smoothly, rotating around. "and I thought we had cleared the naming business up."

He turned to the door, and took in the small teenager's appearance. His button shirt dwarfed her petite frame, falling right along her knees. She hadn't had much to change into in her bag, only her gym shorts. While not short, they were easily hidden by the shirt he gave her to keep dry while her clothes washed. The plain cream apron she used to cook, as well as her still lightly wet hair from the storm, gave her the appearance of a lover making breakfast, fresh out the shower.

She was caught by surprise by the warmth of his true smile. Unsure what brought it on, Kyoko blushed and looked away from her senpai. The smile he could give, without pretenses, never failed to remind her why he was called the 'co-star killer.' His expression could be one of a master con-artist, wooing unsuspecting women's hearts with little more than a glance.

"Sorry…Ren."

He laughed lightly, without mirth, which caused her to look back up at him. His smile caused her to hesitantly return her own. "I prefer plain rice Kyoko-chan. I'll go get the kotatsu table, while you finish up then."

Discreetly grabbing the phone, while Kyoto returned to the kitchen, Ren redialed his manager's number. He walked to the last room of his apartment as the phone rang a few times.

"You hung up on me Ren." Yashiro said as a way of greeting, expressing his pout through his voice.

"Well, we should return to the topic at hand. How do you know I've a kotatsu table?" The actor said, turning on the light of the storage closet. Just as his manager said, the fully assembled piece of furniture sat in the back of the collection room.

Turning his professional mode on, Yashiro voice became its usual assured tone. "LME apartments provide more than just the basics, so that actors with greater social lives, greater than yours I should say, can entertain comfortably." Just as fast, the manager switched to his curious teenage girl mode. "Have you found it then? Are you going to be using it with Kyoko? Hmm? Hmm?"

Refusing to be baited again, Ren punctuated his voice to signify then end of the conversation. "Stay safe Yashiro. The storm seems really bad."

Yashiro sighed lightly, disappointed at his charge's refusal to go into details. "Keep her safe Ren. Ganbatte."

Ren folded the phone and slipped it into his jean pocket. He made his way to the furniture piece, and swept the dust off it. It was of fine making, and the table showed little ware. It was heavier than it looked, but being in better shape and stronger than the average man, he was able to bring it into the living room and set the décor of the space as if the table had always been that way. Quietly, he made his way to the kitchen to watch her finish her cooking.

Kyoko blew on the small miniature saucer, cooling down the broth of the hot pot. The rice cooker finished just in time, and she just wanted to make sure the liquid hadn't had too much spice. He liked his meals more mild, Ren. She blushed at the thought of her calling her senpai by his first name, without an honorific. Playing his sister, and living together for as long they had on their assignment, had definitely changed their relationship. Their working relationship, she corrected herself.

But onii is really the best man there is… Setsu's voice crept in Kyoko's mind, assured and loving.

Well… She shook her head furiously. Kyoko would have fought the obsessed sister's character in her mind, if the actress had a proper rebuttal. Trying to clear her thoughts, she took a quick sip of the broth.

"HOT! HOT! HOOOOOT!"

They both sat at the low mahogany table, starting into the warm home-cooked meal the actress had made for the two of them. The kotatsu table heater kept their legs temperate, as the hotpot served as a welcome relief from the chilly winter storm. Kyoko had done her best to work with what he had left in his stylish but empty refrigerator. Luckily the only fresh produce in the kitchen, tofu and some frozen seafood, had been enough to make a decent hotpot.

Through the corner of her eye, Kyoko noticed how Ren developed a pattern for reaching into the hot plate.

Rice. Meat. Vegetables. Meat. More meat. Rice. Meat.

She chortled inwardly at his hotpot eating habits. It was good to see him eating, but she hadn't had more than a few small pieces of shrimp and most of the protein was gone from the pan.

The proper way, as Fuwa-san had always lectured her son Shoutaro at the dinner table, was cemented in Kyoko's mind. She could hear the loving but firm voice of her first surrogate mother. Reflexively, she repeated the words out loud, in an almost bossy tone.

"Vegetables first. Rice next. Meat should always come last."

Ren paused and looked at her, a piece of shrimp halfway to his lips. He rested the shrimp on top of his rice and lowered his chopsticks.

"Why is that Mogami-san?" Ren asked, half curious, half humored.

He had seen her watching him, and was wondering what kept her so captivated from her meal. He thought she would be happy with his above normal appetite, but she still found a way to critique his eating habits. Instead of annoyed, he felt amused and light-hearted by her motherly attention. Ren was worried she was thinking the best way to escape his apartment and tackle the bad weather to get back home. It had been quite the fight to convince her to stay the night. Domineering eating comments, he could handle.

"To insure good nutrition." Kyoko quipped, continuing to repeat after the internal monologue. She turned to him fully and shook her finger to the lesson. "Young men need their vegetables and rice to ensure health and proper growth. The protein may taste good, but you want to grow up big and strong, right?"

Clenching his fist and bringing it to his lips, Ren held back a comedic snort. It was enough to shake Kyoko out of her internal monologue, and make her pout in her annoyed fashion. The actor used his senpai voice, addressing the actress by her last name.

"Mogami-san, I'm guessing from the doll you made Maria and the fact you were able to spot me through my character, that you pay very good attention to details. Would you happen to remember how tall I am?"

"Well…" Annoyance turning to contemplation; Kyoko tilted her head a bit to think of the response to his question. "You're roughly 190.435 centimeters or 74.976 inches tall without shoes. However your favorite El Dolases shoes give you an added boost of .625 centimeters, and depending on your…"

Quickly cutting off her frightening attention to detail, he continued, "...do you think I need to grow taller Mogami-san?"

"Oh, well I suppose…" Kyoko paused, taking in the fact. Now that he mentioned it, she did feel a bit silly giving him the lecture. When she reflected on it, that speech was usually reserved for Fuwa-san's elementary school aged son. Even then, he was stubborn and picky.

"Since you only reach about here…" Ren put his hand to about the middle of his chest, which caused Kyoko's cheeks to puff in annoyance, "it's probably best if I save the rice and vegetables for you then." Her senpai finished thoughtfully, picking up the shrimp back up with his chopsticks and continued eating.

"That's not fair, you can't compare me to you!" The actress spouted, miffed at his inconsideration. He had developed a taste to teasing her, not too unlike when he had just met her. The only thing that had changed was her fierce dislike to the man. Still, he had the ability to get under her skin.

"You wouldn't take away my only small joy of shrimp, would you Kyoko-chan? After all, you won't let me spend money on you anymore. Now I only have acting…" Pulling out another perfectly seasoned shrimp, Tsuruga paused over the hot plate and gave his kohai the look. The pouty puppy dog look worked so well on her as Cain that he couldn't help but keep it.

Biting her pouty pink lip, Kyoko admitted defeat by silence. It had been quite a bit of time since she had acted as his sister, but Ren/Cain's pleading look was just as effective on his sister as it was on his kohai. Since the debacle of living together as the Heels, she had gotten use to his teasing. At least enough not to run out of the room whatever she thought she had insulted him. In response, she had gotten a glimpse into the personality of the private Tsuruga Ren, which seemed to capture a few characteristics of the characters he acted.

Sometimes when he forgot himself, Ren would slip back into Cain, and treat Kyoko as if she was the most important thing in the world to him. She didn't have the heart to correct him, as he seemed so genuine. The role of Cain gave way to the view of her senpai as more than her senior, but of someone she had become close to.

Kyoko turned to the remote behind her, sitting on the couch. "Since you've decided to eat my share of shrimp, I'll just take control of your remote."

Ren extra loud bite of the shrimp was his only his response, and she turned on the television in her weak attempt at revenge. Flicking through the channels with half interest, Kyoko's pupils grew wide as a familiar still shot crossed the screen.

A old fashioned hand drawn animation came up. The image was of a stained glass woman, raising her twinkling wand sparkling over her head. Her flowing golden hair and full emerald gown entranced the teenager as if she were a child. The narrator's low voice continued along with the story.

"…And when he dismissed her again, the old woman's ugliness melted away to reveal a beautiful enchantress. The prince tried to apologize, but it was too late, for she had seen that there was no love in his heart, and as punishment, she transformed him into a hideous beast, and placed a powerful spell on the castle, and all who lived there."

Caught by the familiar voice and storyline, Ren too looked at the screen. He paused from his meal, to listen to the recognizable tone go on with the fairy tale.

"Ashamed of his monstrous form, the beast concealed himself inside his castle, with a magic mirror as his only window to the outside world. The rose she had offered was truly an enchanted rose, which would bloom until his twenty-first year. If he could learn to love another, and earn her love in return by the time the last petal fell, then the spell would be broken. If not, he would be doomed to remain a beast for all time. As the years passed, he fell into despair, and lost all hope, for who could ever learn to love a beast?"

Parts belong to Disney, parts belong to Yoshiki Nakamura, and only the silly marrying of the two comes from me.

There will only be a second part, and I've actually written a good bit of it. I was planning on this being a one shot, but it was getting kind of long.

My muse won't shut up! I've so many ideas for stories, even ones I need to continue, but no drive to write. I used this as a sort of launching ground, force yourself to start running type of story.