Blissful Life, Not

Chapter 6 - The Wheel Keeps Turning

Disclaimer: I own nothing. If I did, the plot would have advanced quicker. It's been what, 200+ chapters and (SPOILER!) Kyoko has only just admitted her love for Ren.

A/N: Sumimasen! I had the plot planned out and everything for this chapter, I just never got around to writing it. I blame my muse. It never gives me a break. Instead of inspiration for my stories, it gives me plot bunnies that I have to write. (I wrote 46 headcanons as a JOKE. Somehow it turned into a work in progress collection of 365 headcanons and pictures as a present. -.- Then I would go prepare for bed and end up with 5-8 new ideas, 3 of them decent, and end up having to jot them down somewhere to go back to later.)

Even now, during summer break, I have no time to myself. Self-study for math, English summer homework, exercising regularly, online driving lessons, writing, I literally have to plan out my day and follow it strictly. Any free time is for relaxation. I set aside an hour for writing, half for fanfiction, the other for my novel. The only problem is that I have too many fanfiction stories to write…oops.

Kyoko tied her hair back in its usual ponytail. Settling down at the table, she scattered her books and utensils around her. She had to study. There was no homework today for Japanese Literature, which means there is a pop quiz tomorrow in class. Her black bangs kept getting in the way, one reason why she never grew them out. Sighing, she felt her ponytail end up over her shoulders again, pooling onto the table like spilled ink. Twirling her hair up in to a bun, she absentmindedly stuck a pencil or two into her hair to keep it in place. She couldn't do anything about her bangs, but she could do something about the rest of her hair.

Listening to the quiet sound of crickets, she saw the lights flicker out of the kitchen. It seemed like the taisho finished his work for the night. One light, however, shone brazenly, the loud noise of the television and the rambunctious laughter made her want to throw her head under a pillow to silence the noise. Gritting her teeth, she hunched over and got to work, flipping through the pages like a madman, her right hand flying across the pages of her notebook as she wrote pages worth of notes. A loud bang caused her to drop the book and her pencil in shock. A shadow fell over her.

"Why were you with that giant gaijin in school?" Turning around her head sharply, Kuroko looked up and saw Sho standing behind her, eyebrows furrowed, blazing dark gray eyes glaring down at her. His brightly dyed bleach blonde hair framed his face in a way where the shadows brought out the explosive anger he contained.

Straightening up, amber gold eyes glared back defiantly. She was tired of picking up all of the slack and being the brunt of Sho's ire. For years she toddled after him like a misplaced duckling, lowering herself to his mere scraps of affection. Don't get her wrong, there were many good memories as a child with 'Sho-chan,' but there were barely any with 'Sho.'

"Why is that any of your business? It's not like you to care for a plain and ugly girl," Kyoko spat out in his face, feeling smug as Sho reeled back in shock. He recovered quickly.

"I don't. You're just a maid for my family. However, you are mine, not that damn gaijin's," Sho had, by this point, lost all sense of subtlety and tact.

"Yours? Yours? Am I just a piece of property to you?" Kyoko shouted, rising up from her kneeling position. "Listen to my lips closely, Shotaro," his name spoken as if like venom, "I no longer care for you. I do not care if you leave this town like you planned to last year before I backed out. I do not care if your parents disown you. I do not care if you end up crashing and burning in failure. When you discarded me like yesterday's trash, treating my love and care as if they meant nothing to you, I am done. Have someone else be your lapdog." Her voice quietened, growing colder at every word. The air around her seemed to darken, a dark swirling purple mist surrounding her. Backing away, Sho fled.

'HEHEHE! HAHAHA! WE'RE FREE!' Little demons, miniature Kyoko spirits, flew around in a frenzy, torn up ofudas falling down like confetti. The Kyoko angels tried to rein them in, but with Kyoko's dark negative emotions, it was no use. Dozens of dark black chains, tinted a poisonous violet, wrapped around Kyoko's chest. All of that hard work Ren did in opening Kyoko's ability to love, worthless as the heavy shackles formed a nigh impenetrable barrier to the outside world.

'Oh no, what are we going to do?' An angel said. They were all really one entity, the angels, it was just easier to be separate, a bigger labor force with a shared hive mind. Their sole goal was Kyoko's happiness. Despite Kyoko's backbone, strengthened by Sho's idiocy and Ren's friendship, it wasn't enough. Sho's words had reopened old wounds, rubbing salt in the gashes left by her mother. Sho has known her for years, if he can't appreciate her, who can?

Calming down, Kyoko buried her head in her arms, sobs wracking her body. Why did it hurt so much? Why did it hurt so much to speak up for herself? Some part of her still loved Sho, a childish puppy love that wouldn't die. That love was shattered tonight, but with it, so did another shard of her heart.

Later that night, under the moonlight, Sho Fuwa left Kyoto, taking with him Fujiwara Ruri. He headed for Tokyo, he'll prove to her, he'll prove that he can make it big in the music industry, that he can be an idol.

And, in the shadows of the hallway, a figure remained leaning on the wall, eyes fixated on the open room, the sounds of crying echoing slightly towards him. He wanted to help, but if he did, Kyoko will never fully recover, she'll rely on him too much. No matter how much he loved her, no matter how much it killed him to leave her there crying, if he ever wants to rescue her from here and bring her with him to Tokyo and LME, he has to leave her to deal with this alone. He turns, heading back to room 90.

And the wheels keep turning, all the time,
No expansion or burning, not a sound,
Just a feeling of stirring, hold them down, hold them down, hold them
Down.

~ Tony Banks : "And The Wheels Keep Turning"

Even when events change, some things are inevitable. Kyoko gets her heartbroken, Sho heads for Tokyo. Things come full circle. No matter how much you try to fight it, fate has a way of getting everyone to play to her tune.

Do you know how much I enjoy seeing your reviews? Thanks everybody for sticking with me these past years.

So~ I want to recognize all my reviewers.

Chapter 1: Evelyn Thorn, 21han, .7

Chapter 2: Swt Cutie, 21han, MangaAddict300, IdiotHeiren, THE HEH HEH

Chapter 3: Caramel, EmilyF.6, Swt Cutie, 21han, BerryEbilBunny, XXAngelicDemonXX, Jenaminya, Hiken08

Chapter 4: rsrdiall, SakuraAkatsukiTaichi

Chapter 5: JeremyVD, Skeek622, Silversun XD, Guest, Melime14, Guest (2), VKLOREO23

Chapter 6: Silversun XD, Natsu Heel, Guest (3), pokeperson01

You guys gave me the motivation to keep on writing. I didn't forget about all of the users who favorite and followed my stories too~! Thank you, everyone, for giving me such positive reception for my work.

I have a poll up on how you guys want the story to go! It'll be open for about a month. After that, I'll close it and post the new chapter.

Please Read and Review!

-SilverReplay