Disclaimer: how I wish I could own this. Sadly there is only one author and she's amazing. I don't own Skip beat!

the idea struck me at work the other day and I had to write it. Hope you like it! The question is, if asked, how would Kyoko explain what happened in Guam?

Truth Lie Truth

Kyoko didn't know how it happened. One moment she was talking about her violent mission with her LoveMe coworkers as vaguely as possible, and the next they were demanding to know exactly who it was she met in Guam who made her blush so much! She just had to fall silent while thinking of Corn and that kiss at sunset.

"Spill it Kyoko," Moko-san demanded, not giving her an edge. "Exactly what happened in Guam? Who did you meet and what happened?"

"It must have been good," Chiori-san stated evenly, more interested in mischief than in anything else. "You're bright red. Are you in-"

"NO! I'M NOT!" Her denial did not help matters in the slightest. "I'm not leaving the LoveMe section!"

"Seriously?" Her best friend wanted to groan at the statement. "Geeze! As much as I hate lovey-dovey stuff with my family, I still want to get out of this pink curse! Just tell us what happened!"

"Or we'll keep you here and talk about our ex-boyfriends. In detail. All night." LoveMe#3 didn't understand how little love experience her cohorts had, but the threat was good enough.

Shaking slightly, Kyoko struggled to come up with some kind of answer. She couldn't just tell people about her fairy prince! No one would believe her! She wasn't even sure if Tsuruga-san completely believed her and he listened to her the most about it. The time she tried to tell Shoutaro when they were kids was a disaster so she rarely spoke about her cherished fairy friend. At least Tsuruga-san listened all the way through and only laughed the one time.

She had to come up with something else though for these two. As much as she hated lying, she seriously doubted they'd believe her if she talked about fairies. Finally an answer came to her, and she took a breath to lie better than she ever had in her entire life. Hopefully every man she would offend wouldn't be mad at her.

Ren was standing just outside the LoveMe Section door, listening to the three of them with severe curiosity just a minute before Kyoko started her explanation of what happened in Guam. This… could be amusing… As soon as she started talking, his heart stopped.

"I met up with a childhood friend on a beach there shortly after arriving," she started. "I hadn't seen him in over ten years but I recognized him instantly. We spent the rest of the afternoon together, talking, and he promised to see me again… with a kiss."

"A kiss?!" The other two girls nearly shouted out the answer in surprise. Ren was stunned that she admitted that much to them. How long would it take for them to- "Kyoko! Who kissed you?! Who is this friend?!"

"Hizuri Kuon."

He stopped breathing. Did she really figure that out on her own? How?! He hadn't said a word! Kyoko was way smarter than she gave herself credit for if she figured that out so quickly. Wait… there was something weird with her voice…

"Who?"

"Hizuri Kuon. You know, the son of Hizuri Kuu who I took care of during his stay in Tokyo."

"Never heard of him."

"Ah, I don't think he's in the entertainment industry," Kyoko amended quickly, sounding flustered. "Not that it came up. He's an American, so he doesn't understand the meaning of kissing in Japanese culture."

'HA!' Ren scoffed mentally at the statement, knowing full well what it meant to Kyoko at the very least. He had over five years of Japanese indoctrination to teach him at least that. Kyoko freezing whenever he got too close would have taught him even if the rest of the culture hadn't. He had to find a way to see her face and figure out what she was really saying.

"How do you know him?" the new girl asked, really curious. So was he. How did she know? "Did his father-"

"No! His father didn't do anything! I wasn't even sure they were related until I saw him on the beach! Hizuri isn't that uncommon a family name." Okay Kyoko, move it on. "Kuon and I met when we were little! Completely by accident! I ran into him on the side of a river in Kyoto one summer when I was six and we just became friends."

"'Kuon'?" Her friend stretched out his name just as he managed to silently edge the door open wide enough to see them. Kyoko was cornered by the other two, with a slightly panicked face. There were a few small signs telling him everything. A shift in her gaze, sweat on her face, hands that begged to move…

She was lying! Or at least thought she was.

Lying by telling the truth he was trying to hide. Oh the irony. It took all his control not to laugh as she kept on going.

"Well because he's an American, Kuon really hates it when I try adding an honorific. It was only because I insisted when we were kids to be called Kyoko-chan that he didn't just call me by my name when we were little. He brought that up in Guam and asked if he was allowed to now even. It was kind of cute."

Cute? She thought he was cute? Ren covered his mouth tightly as he took a step away from the door so he wasn't heard. He was definitely grinning like a madman now. Her friends sighed. "Only you would think something small like that was cute."

"How old is he anyway?"

She had to look up for a moment to think. "About Tsuruga-san's age I think. They looked the same age at least."

A smothered snort escaped him, barely contained by his hands. They looked exactly the same minus the coloring. Smooth Kyoko. Smooth.

"What does he look like?"

"Tall, blond, green eyes, but otherwise, a really handsome, proper Japanese man. He inherited a lot of his father's features, but must have gotten his hair and eyes from his mother. I haven't met her yet…" He could see her looking up in thought, making her lie even closer to the truth by the second! "I really liked the way he smiled though. When we were kids, he had a really light laugh that made me feel better in an instant. Still does."

If Ren had the usual control of his face, he would be able to stop the blush coming to his face. She liked his laugh? He had a feeling she liked his smile, just as much as he loved hers, but it was really hard making your laugh sound different. He was very close to laughing now anyway.

Her comrades stared at her for a moment and sighed knowingly. "Kyoko, you sound like you're in love."

"EH?! NO!" Immediately she jumped to her feet and defended her position as a mere friend to 'Kuon' (who was still just outside the door listening and trying hard not to laugh at the irony here). "Kuon is just my friend! I only knew him for a few days when we were little and it was pure chance we met up again! He's my precious friend who helped me when I was down and whose memory encouraged me to get back up and be happy ever since! He never-"

"He kissed you Kyoko-san," the new one stated evenly. "It's pretty clear to me that either he likes you, or he's a playboy."

"He's an American who doesn't know Japanese manners! I had to explain honorifics to him when we were kids! And I spent twenty minutes telling him why I couldn't just kiss him when we met up again! It's not love! Not romantic love at least!"

Ren really didn't know whether to laugh or not now. He had confessed as Corn, and was rejected nicely like a child. Not like he expected much (totally deserved the less than satisfying peck after bullying her into it like that) but could it kill her to be a little more shy about it?

"He still kissed you," her friend pointed out. "I'm pretty sure even in the US kissing on the lips means romance."

"Think she unconsciously shot him down?" the new one asked flatly.

"Why not? She makes a habit of it daily." So she had noticed… Ren nearly slipped an awkward laugh this time. Kotonami was quite observant when it came to her best friend, and anyone who possibly got in the way.

"Eh?" Kyoko cocked her head to the side innocently at the comment. "What do I do?"

"Never mind. Look, Kyoko, this guy, does he make your heart flutter or-"

"I know very well what it feels like to be in love Moko-san. What I felt for him wasn't romantic. Kuon is just a good friend! He cheered me up when I was little and I returned the favor! He's a lot more like a prince than my last childhood friend." The last sentence was almost too low to hear, but Ren heard it anyway, warming his heart to no end. He decided to leave before he heard her compare him more to a brother and bury herself deeper. She already lied with the truth and complimented him more than he could dream. What more could he want?

There was something he wanted more. He wanted to tease her about it. Still waiting on Yashiro, Ren found his way back to the LoveMe section just seconds before the girls took off. Kyoko was the last one out of the room, breathing out a relaxing breath as if she barely survived something mildly terrifying. Time for round two. "Hizuri Kuon?"

The way she froze with her back turned to him drew a smirk from his lips. Slowly she turned to face him, dread all over her face. This was just too funny. "I thought for certain your first kiss in Guam was from your fairy prince Corn. Or have I been deceived?"

As the color drained from her face, the amused actor did a mental count down. Five… four… three…

"I'm sorry!"

Wow, dogeza in three seconds. Must be a new record for her. Her words almost blended together as she apologized and explained herself rapidly against the floor. It consisted of exactly what he thought happened: the girls confronted her about Guam, somehow Corn was brought up, and she couldn't just talk about her fairy prince to anyone. Ren was a dear exception thanks to him finding the stone in that stairwell last year, which only made his smile softer on her. So she lied to her friends by using Hizuri Kuon's name and making a story that fit closely to what happened that day and nearly eleven years ago.

"That's fine," Ren cut her off at that point, squatting in front of her to get her attention and get her off the floor. "I pretty much figured that was the reason you lied to them. Please get up. I'm only teasing you. Not mad at all."

"Bully," she grumbled under her breath as he took her hand and led her to her feet. He ignored the comment, knowing he earned it, but he was still smiling because he wanted to laugh so badly.

"I'm just curious why out of all the names out there you chose his." Yes, this is what he had to know. Just what where the circumstances that made her choose his real name, out of all the possibilities out there, for her cover story?

"Um…" Blushing even more than before, the looked away to explain. "You… do you remember my acting exercise when Hizuri Kuu was here?"

He nodded. "You were told to act as his son."

"When I did that… the description he gave me to start from…" She started to fidget now, looking really small and adorable. "It was really confusing at first. But then I remembered Corn… he kind of fit it. I used him as a model."

'Ah. That makes a lot of sense.' Ren had a feeling something like that happened back in December but he couldn't bring it up with anyone back then. 'Corn' was a secret between the two of them.

"Besides," she continued, blushing even more, "when I first heard Father say Kuon-san's name, I could have sworn he was saying Corn. The names are so similar it's easy to think of him."

"Hmm… Well, I bet Hizuri-san is very flattered to be considered a fairy." Sure beat all the other things he was called as a kid. Watching how red the girl was, he couldn't help but think she was really, really cute. The instincts he developed as Cain took over without his bidding, coaxing him to get very close to her as he chuckled. He reached out to her and drew her head closer to him, pecking her head before releasing her and walking on. "You really need to stop acting so cute all the time Kyoko-chan. You'll bring out the Puck in me."

The teasing tone of his voice jerked her out of her stunned state rather quickly, letting the girl chase after him in an embarrassed temper. "What do you mean by Puck?! What was that for?! You idiot brother Cain!"

That brought back Ren's laugh, pure and honest for once. Irony continued and he couldn't start to explain what was on his mind. The truth was the lie she thought she made up to cover up the truth. Kyoko was just too cute! "What's so funny?!"

"I'll tell you when you're older." Yep, he'd tell her, after he found the courage he needed to do so. Until then, he would laugh at how she got everything right when she thought she was lying.

Plus he got a chance to kiss her, out of character, and she didn't freak out about it. He was one very happy man.

END

A/N: I thought of maybe adding a part where Kyoko cried about the real Kuon being dead and Ren thinking about further ironies and misunderstandings. He'd be comforting her twice over himself and trying to reassure her that he's alive. Just lovely. As a side note, I'd like to see Ren fall into the habit of giving her head a light kiss whenever she's just too cute because of their time as Heel siblings. They have to have something transmit from one life to the next since they've upped the PDA. It'd be awesome.

Really if Kyoko thought about it logically for a minute, she might be able to figure it out all on her own. She just needs to know the Hizuri's made a trip to Kyoto that one summer and know they were staying nearby when it happened. If she managed to make that connection on her own, it'd leave Ren with only one big explanation instead of two or three. I loved how Ren was cracking up. He needs to laugh more.

Comment, fave, enjoy! Laters.