Final Lesson: Revealing the Act

After an hour at her favorite café in downtown Tokyo, an order of hamburger with a fried egg, a small side salad, three cups of coffee, and a hot fudge Sunday, Kyouko was positive that her suspicion was dead on. She had no idea how she'd picked up on it—the act was impeccable—but she had and she fully intended to use that to her advantage.

Their second stop was an amusement park that was open 24/7. The man beside the actress paled slightly, but didn't object as she started dragging him around to the various rides and attractions. His face was more than a little green after the park's main attraction: a roller coaster that went up until the people on the ground looked like ants and then immediately went down again. The whole ride consisted of ten such hills and valleys and traveled at a speed of 70 mph. Kyouko had loved every minute, but her companion had discreetly disappeared to vomit into a trash can. He should've looked for one farther away, she mused, wincing as the brunet heaved yet again into the trash can beside a park bench.

Five minutes later, he "reappeared" but didn't complain as Kyouko continued to drag him through the amusement park. For the finale, they rode the Ferris wheel and admired the view of the city. He thought that was the end of the day, but she wasn't done yet.

"Where are we going?" he asked as he realized she wasn't headed home.

She shot him a smile. Kyouko had managed to surprise him for once. "You'll see." She took a left at the next street light, and then a right at the next stop sign. Kyouko kept her eyes trained on the left side of the road, and slowed as she spotted their destination. She parked a few feet from the entrance of the small park, and got out. She'd made it to the top of the jungle gym by the time the brunet had gotten out of the car. He walked slowly to stand in front of where she sat on the top.

Kyouko turned her face to the sky and watched as a single snowflake floated down to earth. Soon, more came until it snowed lightly. She snuggled deeper into her coat and looked down at the man.

"How long have you know?" It was obvious the actress knew since this was the park Kuon had taken her to after their first Valentine's date at the amusement park they had just left.

She grinned down at her grumpy fiancé. "Since I went back to get my purse. I've known you for years, Kuon. I know your voice. I've been wondering though, who was the other actor?"

"You've known that long," Kuon asked slowly, left eye ticking, "and you still dragged me on that rollercoaster twice?" He'd upchucked for fifteen minutes—each time—into that damn trash can.

She drew her left knee up and loosened up the laces on her sneaker. She kicked her foot towards the brunet. She was too high up to reach him, but her shoe wasn't. It shot off her foot like a rocket and hit him square in the nose. Kyouko had to smile as he stared incredulously down at the small sneaker in his big hands. Her smile didn't last long though.

"That's for letting me think I'd been dumped for work, you big idiot! I thought you'd be in character right now, making eyes at Kagesawa!"

As he looked up at her, the actress dug the small box of chocolate she'd made for him out of her purse and pitched it at his head. Now that the pleasure of being able to actual spend Valentine's Day with her fiancé had worn off, she was pissed as hell that he'd made her miserable for most of the day because she thought she wouldn't be able to spend it with him.

Kuon caught the small projectile with his offhand and looked at Kyouko as he realized his mistake. He didn't have to give her a legend to make her happy. He tucked the chocolate into his pocket and tossed his fiancée back her shoe as he started to climb the jungle gym. She stared at him, but didn't move even when he reached the top. The amber eyed woman didn't reaction as the man scooped her up and set her in his lap. She just watched him, her expression closed.

He hugged her close, and leveled his mouth with her ear. "I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking. I was trying to make you happy." As he drew back, he noticed a silver rectangle in her hands and was blinded as the flash went off. "Did—did you just take a picture of me?"

"To commemorate the stupidest attempt at romance in history." She smiled at his dumbstruck expression, and kissed him. "I forgive you, but only if you promise not to renew your contract for another season of 'It Takes a Village'." She saw the look on his face and scowled. "You already promised another season, didn't you?"

Kyouko saw his defense formulating in his eyes before he said a word. "Yashiro and the president both insisted on doing the next season and I didn't see any reason why not to."

"And you didn't even think to tell me."

"You've never made an opinion one way or the other! I didn't think you cared."

She rubbed her temples. She wouldn't bite his head off. She wouldn't bite his head off. Oh, she was going to bite his head off. "You could've asked! Of course I care when you're costarring with that man-stealing Kagesawa!"

"Man-stealing," he repeated before laughing so hard they almost fell off the jungle gym. Kyouko stared at him before jabbing him in the stomach. He wheezed to a stop and gave his fiancée a dirty look. "You didn't have to hit me. It's just—Kagesawa Ai's not a woman."

She stared at him. "What?"

"Kagesawa, while he plays girl roles, is a guy. Though he is gay."

Kyouko was flabbergasted, but Kuon wasn't. "Were you worried?" She didn't respond. He smiled and prodded some more. "Were you jealous, Kyouko?"

"Let me go," she said, beginning to wrestle in his grip. "Let me go, or I swear I will hurt you."

Kuon let her go, but he knew she had been jealous and it made him happy. The fact that he kept making Kyouko unhappy wasn't as comforting.

She had begun to climb down and instead of trying to navigate the web of bars himself, the man simply jumped off. She ignored him and stomped off to the car. He followed and managed to climb into the passenger seat before she could drive off. The drive was uncomfortably silent for Kuon and Kyouko drove like a madwoman. Not that he blamed her, but he did advise her to slow down once. He deserved to be wrapped around a tree for upsetting her. She didn't.

They made it home in record time, and Kyouko stormed to the garage door. He reached out to stop her, but didn't manage to grab her arm before she opened the door. She stared down at the trail of red rose petals and turned to arch a sculpted brow in her fiancé's direction. He gave her a sheepish smile, muttering a weak, "Surprise."

"Do I want to know?"

Kuon shrugged, and after a moment she decided it couldn't hurt to see where the trail led. She followed it leisurely to the dining room, and found the table set for two with the fine china Otou-san and Okaa-san had given them as an engagement present. Had the whole thing about the St. Valentine spirit been just to get her out of the house so someone could set this up? That was so cheesy and had ended so badly. Kyouko had to smile at the irony. He'd tried so hard that he'd almost made a mess of it all. And the only reason he hadn't been permanently put in her bad books was because he'd been giving her that sad pout in the car. She just couldn't stay upset with him when he used that. It was bad enough when he did it on purpose, but lately Kuon had been using it more and more subconsciously. When they had kids, she hoped they didn't inherit that pout, otherwise they were going to be spoiled rotten.

Her man came up behind her and wrapped one arm around her waist while his opposite hand took off her wig. Her hair, soft as down, spilled over her shoulders. It had grown long over the years, and she barely remembered to cut it anymore.

"Happy Valentine's Day, honey, and thank you for the chocolate," he murmured into her hair.

She turned in his arms and, for a moment, Kuon thought she might slap him. Then she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him long and hard. He took that as a sign he wasn't in trouble anymore, and returned the kiss. Only the need for air drove them apart and they grinned at each other, resting their forehead together.

Kyouko threaded her hands into his blonde hair and looked into his beautiful blue eyes set in his handsome face. He must've taken off his costume while she had been following the flower petals. "Should we just skip the food or do you want to eat some dessert?"

"I think I'll have you as dessert."

She laughed as he carried her to the box filled bedroom.

)

"I can't believe you didn't talk him out of it," Kyouko complained, dunking a French fry in ketchup. She and Kanae had decided to pick up some fast food for their girl's night since there would be no one around to tell them not to eat the French fries or greasy burgers. It had been way too long since they'd last eaten anything that wasn't remotely unhealthy.

Kanae gave her a mild glare. "And I can't believe you didn't talk Yashiro out of this inscription," she retorted, holding up her engagement ring.

"But I've got to admit he has good taste."

"Better than your man's," the silver eyed actress muttered around her cheeseburger. Her eyes closed in bliss as she chewed. "If my manager could see me now, he'd have a heart attack just thinking about how many calories are in here."

"Same." Kyouko licked her fingers and reached for her own burger. "But you can't tell me you didn't like it at least a little bit."

Kanae didn't reply in favor of taking a big slurp of her vanilla milkshake.

"So did you two do anything fun afterwards?"

The silver eyed actress choke on her drink. Once she could breathe normally again, she speared her so-called best friend with a glare. "Couldn't you have at least waited until I had swallowed?"

Kyouko shrugged. "Couldn't you have talked Kuon out of pretending to be the spirit of St. Valentine?"

"I tried. Did you have 'fun'?"

The amber eyed woman gave her friend coy smile. "We had dessert the next afternoon."

"Seriously?"

"Yep. I think I got an hour—two, tops—of sleep."

Kanae sighed. "I wish Yukihito had that kind of stamina sometimes."

"You could always have him join us in training for that upcoming marathon."

They shared a look of dread over adding insane amounts of exercise to their daily agendas, and went back to enjoying their fast food while they could.