To Capture the Monster

Disclaimer: I have no legal or artistic claim to the manga Skip Beat!, nor do I have any claim to the characters therein (doesn't that sound nice and official?)

Summary: Kyoko is worried about Ren after his near-catatonic state that morning. How far will she go to help him to recover his equilibrium; and what will she learn in the process?

Chapter 5 – Which Door do You Choose?

Ren watched as Kyoko danced around the brook and the pond, much as she had as a little girl. He wondered, just as he had then, what she saw. She seemed to be communing with the wood and water sprites, or maybe she saw forest elves, or perhaps she really did speak with faeries. He smiled affectionately, You haven't changed at all, Kyoko; even after all that the world has done to you, you still haven't lost your sense of wonder.

He frowned then as he recognized the disparity of their lives. Kyoko had faced the darkness and kept her innocence. He had allowed the troubles and pains in his own world to jade him and to make him angry. In the end his transformation into his darker self led to the death of his friend.

{You're doing it again.} Rick's accusatory voice rang in Ren's eardrums. {Look at her, Kuon. She is your salvation; your talisman against evil. If you throw that away, then you have no right to be happy. Stop trying to atone for what you can't possibly change.}

Do I have the right to be happy, Rick? Kyoko had somehow enticed a duckling into her hand and she beamed at him from across the pond.

{If you don't choose to be happy, it will be your own fault, not mine. Ask yourself another question, Kuon: don't you want her to be happy?}

More than anything.

{Then I charge you to spend your life making her happy. That will be your redemption, Kuon, not wallowing in blood guilt. Make her happy.}

Kyoko skipped around the pond until she stopped to face the man who had magically returned to her life. She stopped in front of him and smiled brightly. Then she tilted her head to study him. "I miss your blond hair, Corn… but brunette is nice too."

Ren smiled down at her and something inside of his soul snapped. The chains of his past, the chains of guilt and anger and sorrow broke and fell away. He looked past Kyoko and for a fleeting moment he saw light dancing on the water, on the grass, in among the leafy trees. The glimpse was only momentary; as if he was merely mortal and unworthy of more than that glimpse. Then he looked back at Kyoko and saw the same light dancing in her golden eyes; and then he knew: she saw them because she was one of them. Perhaps not physically; Kyoko was delightfully fashioned from bone and flesh; but her soul belonged to this other world. She was only on-loan for as long as she was needed on this mortal soil… and it was him that needed her.

"I'm sorry I took so long to keep my promise, Kyoko."

"That's all right, Corn. You're here now," her eyes opened wide in the wonder of realization, "You found me and you've been taking care of me for over a year! Why didn't you ever tell me?"

"I was afraid that you would be disappointed. You thought I was a faerie prince, and instead I'm only me."

"You are a faerie prince, Corn. At least, you are like one. You're the best actor in the world, and you're beautiful…" Kyoko blushed at the realization of what she had just said. Before she could shrink back, however, Ren took her into his arms.

"I'm only flesh and blood, Kyoko, and there are things in my past…" he stiffened involuntarily, afraid to go on lest she pull away in disgust.

Kyoko looked up without releasing her grip on his waist, "Tell me, please." Her simple words, and the kind tone of her voice, gave him the courage he needed to continue.

They found the large boulder where they used to sit. Ren began telling his story, hesitantly at first, but then freely as Kyoko's large, trusting golden eyes encouraged him. She was a gifted listener, never interrupting, focused clearly on both his words and his facial expressions. Her silence, and the fact that she didn't shrink away, gave him the strength to continue until the end. When he told the story of Rick's death, her face ran with tears. When he told the story of his own despair, her hand reached out and took his. And when he told about how Takarada Lory had offered him a chance at a new life, her eyes became bright with enthusiasm. Regardless of what he told her, she always made him feel that she was on his side.

Finally, he was finished with his narrative. He felt exhausted, wrung out, lifeless; and then Kyoko stood up, moved over to him, and pulled his head to her chest. There was nothing outwardly sensual in her gesture; she was a woman comforting someone who had been terribly hurt. Ren knew this and yet his heart thrilled at the fact that the skittish, frightened girl of the past had opened her heart to him. His ear was against her chest and he could hear her heartbeat. He closed his eyes as she petted his hair and allowed her touch to heal him. If Kyoko would accept him then the rest of the world didn't matter.

Ren's cell phone rang and he reluctantly moved back in order to answer it. "Hello… 8 a.m.?... I'll explain everything to you later, Yukihito, I promise… thank you… Umm-hmm, bye." He closed the phone and looked down at hi silently before putting it away. Then he reached out and reclaimed Kyoko's hand, "It's decision time."

"What do you mean?"

"By revealing my true identity to you, I've given you the perfect alibi. All you have to tell the reporters when we get home is that you are close to me because we were childhood friends. You can tell them that our relationship is purely platonic, and that you have no interest whatsoever in having any deeper relationship with me…"

He looked up and his eyes had an almost pleading air as he continued, "… or you can tell them that we were childhood friends who were separated by time and circumstance… and now that we have found each other again we have chosen to become a couple…" He hesitated again as he tried to look deeply into her soul, "I don't want to pressure you, Kyoko. I know how badly you were hurt and I know that love hadn't been good to you… but I'm asking you to give me a chance… to trust me like you did when you climbed into my car and took this road-trip… to trust me the way that you did when you laid down next to me…"

Kyoko realized for the first time that Ren's hands were shaking, and the realization touched that part of her that had once almost died and had only now begun to revive. Three weeks ago, even three days ago she would have shrunk back from him and rejected his offer, choosing to live alone rather than open herself up to be hurt again. But she knew now that he was as broken as she was… and that perhaps they could heal each other. Here was a man who not only wanted her love, but craved it. Here was a man who could choose any woman, and he chose her. And here was a man would cherish everything she had to give.

Having arrived at that conclusion, Kyoko took a step that she had never taken before; she stepped forward, leaned down, and kissed Ren.

Though the initial contact of her lips to his was feather light, it shot a bolt of energy through Ren's entire body. Softly at first, lest he scare her away with his ardor, he pulled her to him and deepened their kiss. When she responded enthusiastically he nibbled at her bottom lip, causing her to open her mouth and allow his tongue to follow. Kyoko didn't know how to respond at first, but the sensation was so pleasurable that soon her tongue was dueling with his. Ren's hands released their hold now, confident that Kyoko wouldn't pull away, and began to roam and caress her slender figure. Again she responded, following his lead and allowing her hands to explore the muscles in his arms, his chest, his back. Somewhere in the course of his explorations his hand found its way under her shirt to feel the taught skin over her stomach and on her back.

And then he stopped, taking deep, hungry breaths, and held Kyoko away from himself. He had to suppress a chuckle when she frowned and tried to step forward to renew her explorations, "I assume that this means that you have chosen door number two?"

"Yes! Yes! Why did you…" she blushed as she realized how she was acting. Then she decided that she didn't care, "Why did you stop?"

Ren smiled up at her from his seat on the boulder and shook his head, "I'm only a man, Kyoko, and a weak man at that. If we went much further I wouldn't be able to stop, and that's not something that we've discussed fully. Believe me, Kyoko, when the time is right I won't stop until you are fully and completely mine."

The full implications of that made Kyoko blush again, but her body was screaming for more. "And what if I'm ready for more right now?"

"Are you ready to become a teen-aged mother, Kyoko?"

Her eyes grew wide in shock… she hadn't thought that far. In truth, she hadn't thought much past the feelings that had been generated by cuddling up with him during the night. She understood now that he was protecting her once-again. Her heart grew even stronger as she understood that he loved her enough to place her before his needs. Here was a real man, a man worthy of her love.

Then he pulled her close again, and the Emperor of the Night held her eyes, "Don't worry, my Princess. I intend to take you home and make sure that you put on… and take off my flannel shirt many, many times. Now, shall we go?"

On that day, in the place where they had met and talked and formed a bond together so many years before, two broken people captured the monsters that raged inside and helped each other to defeat them. The journey back took another eight hours, but they didn't mind… this drive was taking them on to their future, a future that Ren and Kyoko could finally both believe in.

The End.

Notes: As I wrote before, this is only meant to be a short story, almost a drabble, based upon Chapters 164-168. I hope that you enjoyed. Now, I have to get back to my other stories.

Thank you for reading and reviewing. I hope that you enjoyed this short story.