Thank you everyone for reading. This story starts at the end of chapter 267. It is written as one complete story, but at the end I felt that I might want to write more chapters therefore the status is in progress.

It is my first fan-fiction ever, so please feel free til grill me like Ren does Kyoko ;-)

I do not own any of the Skip Beat characters or the story, I am just a mere fan.

"...wood half burned is easily kindled. Even if it were a man who you swore revenge against, no would be surprised if you feel in love with him again."

Even though it had been several minutes since the car had stopped none of its passengers had yet opened a door to air out some of the heavy feelings inside the vehicle. It was like the words echoed inside the walls of the car and amplified the silent response the longer it went on.

Yashiro could see the hurt expression on Kyokos face in the rearview mirror, he did not want to interfere in something that so clearly did not concern anyone but the two of them. Yet he felt like he had to just to break the awful silence soon. Then kyoko spoke.

"Are you serious?" Kyokos voice sounded sad and hurt but there was also a hint of something else. Ren seemed to have noticed this as well, while his expression was still cold he moved himself a bit in the seat to face her more.

"Why else would you keep letting this man be such a large part of your life? Calling you, you wait for him to show at your house - you have let him kiss you twice now." Just thinking about it made his expression even colder. He did not want behave this way, but it hurt him so much that he could not breach her walls and be anything more than a senpai, while this guy who walked right over her, used her, demeaned her had such a special place in her heart, that he had free access to go inside these walls as he wished. It hurt so much that this was the only way he knew how to behave without losing it.

Kyoko was dumbfounded by this question. Shotaro was not a large part of her life? He occupied such a small piece of her mind, she did not love him and neither did she hate him, but without him she would not have been where she was today. Kyoko did not want to let go of that, she wanted to use all of her past to become an actor good enough to work alongside Ren and Moko.

"I take your silence as your answer." Rens cold voice pierce Kyokos mind.

"No, I.. you are wrong…" Kyoko managed to stutter, she did not know how to explain this to him, the cold look in his eyes felt like a billion sharp knives piercing her heart.

Ren ignored her answer. "I think we are at your shoot, you should not make your colleagues wait." he wanted her out of the car.

This was Yashiros que to open the front door and go out of the car to let Kyoko out, it was nice to be out of the car and he felt it would be best if Kyoko also got leave the confinement. However when he opened the car door she did not move, instead she kept look at Ren who did not look at her anymore.

"Are you a complete idiot?!" It busted out of her. Before she was hurt, but now she was pissed in addition, he had the audacity to question her about Sho but would not even listen to her answer? Did he not even respect her enough to listen to her answer?

Both Yashiro and Ren looked shocked at her outburst, but before any off them could say anything she stepped out the car.

"You might be my senpai but you have no right to assume what I feel! Especially when you fall for girls like…" Kyoko stopped herself, she had made a promise that she would not tell Tsugara-san about Kiminko. Instead she turned to Yashiro.

"Thank you so much for the ride Yashiro-san I am very grateful that you picked me up, I can walk to the shoto from here." Then she left them without another look at Ren. The two men looked after her as she walked away with an amazing speed.

"You know Ren, despite your looks you really know how to make a woman run away." Yashiro looked at Ren in rearview mirror, he looked tired as he left the car to move to the front seat. Ren normally always sat in the front seat, but insisted on sitting in the back seat because they were picking up Kyoko. Yashiro knew how much he had looked forward to seeing her, he therefore decided not to pester him further about what had happened. Especially since the man now sitting next to him had a very pained expression.

They were about halfway to Rens shoot when Ren spoke up.

"I am the worst aren't I?"

"Well you are definitely not the best, but I get seeing the girl you love with someone else is hard." Yashiro really wanted to ask about the kiss and picture but he did not want to remind Ren of it again.

"She is never going to speak to me again." Ren looked completely empty, he was sure that he had finally managed to drive her away. Maybe that is what he wanted? He had gotten too greedy lately when it came to her, their play as Cain and Setsu, the wine jelly, he even stole a kiss from her as Corn. Somehow he had managed to believe that he had a chance. That his existence had become something special to her, that maybe when she was ready to love again she would look his way. Seeing her laughing with Fuwa had made all of this hope go away, because despite everything he had done to her this man was still so close her. Yes maybe it was a good thing that he had pushed her away, because if he had even the slightest bit of hope that she would one day look his way - then he would wait for her forever.

"I do not think that is the case." Yashiro said. "You just need to man up apologize and be honest with her. When you show your true feeling like today, even though I don't think you were in the right, Kyoko-chan responded to you as a person not a senpai."

"Yashiro I do not want to push her for something that she is not ready for."

"Okay, but if you treat and protect her like a Kohai then you will not get any closer to her. That Fuwa-boy surely do not put up a front with her and you can see that it is working. You would…" Yashiro's rant was interrupted.

"What did she mean when she said especially when you fall for girls like?" Ren looked puzzled, what Yashiro said made him think of the meaning behind her words.

"I think I know what she meant." Yashiro answered, as he parked the car in front of the studio. "However Ren work is calling and Kyoko-chan would definitely not forgive you if you let her get in the way of your work."

- at Daruma later the same day -

Kyoko threw herself onto the futon she did not have time to pack this morning. It had been a horrible day, even though they only practiced some of the combat scenes, she had not been able to get into character properly. Luckily the producer and director was not there for the practice, it was just an instructor that cared more about the material arts than the acting, but tomorrow it was the real deal and she would have to pull herself together.

After looking at the ceiling for a while, she went over to corn but decided against using him, for some reason she felt that the magic of the stone would not apply to this situation. Instead she wandered around the room not knowing what to do. She kept hearing Tsuruga-san accuse her of being in love Shotaro and him deining to listen properly to her answer. Over and over again she had tried to reason why he would react like this, but she kept coming up empty handed. At some point she had actually been so shameless to consider if Tsuruga-san had feelings for her - this was of course completely crazy, not only did he love someone else, there was also no way he would ever consider her as anything but a kohai and even if she could look past that it would still make no sense for him to talk about her loving Shotaro.

The pain in her chest was getting unbearable. She knew that he could never look her way and she had decided that she would just treasure her love for him all on her own. Yet she felt awful and frustrated.

After walking around her table a couple of more times she decided to go downstairs and offer to help the owners. They refused her first but after she kept insisting they let her work. This turned out to be a good decision for both parties as a large group of drunk businessman walked into the establishment shortly after. They managed to keep Kyoko plenty busy until it was close to midnight.

"Thank you for your help Kyoko-chan, I am so sorry to keep you up this late, you can go to bed now." Okami-san said as they were finishing up.

"That is no problem I am happy to help." Kyoko smiled at Okami-san, but the thought of going back to being alone with her thoughts made the pain in her chest return. After thinking a bit Kyoko said: "Okami-san I think I will go out for some fresh air."

Okami-san looked worried at her "Are you okay, it is almost midnight?"

"Yes, don't worry I will not be out long, I just think I need some fresh air before I can sleep."

"But…" Okami-san started but got interrupted by Taisho who had just entered from the kitchen: "Fresh air is always good when you have something clouding your mind. It blows the clouds away. Lock up when you get back." With a small nod he and Okami-san left for bed.

Kyoko was grateful for what Taisho had said, she was simply not ready to go to sleep. On the way out she took a look at the clock hanging on the wall - 23:53, it was almost a new day.

"Tomorrow I will have peace in my mind." Kyoko said to herself as she put her jacket on and went outside.

*Clonk* Kyoko walked right into something tall and hard. She looked up.

"Tsu...ruga-san..?" What was he doing standing right in front of the door to Daruma?

Ren looked down at Kyoko. Why did she have to come out right at this second? He had been just about to go back to his car, realising that he must have had a stroke showing up in front of her home at this hour.

"Morgami-san, I am sorry I was just about to leave." He said awkwardly and took a step back so she could exit the door properly.

"Why are you here?" The shock of seeing him made her forget about earlier that day.

"I wanted to.. apologize for earlier, but then I saw how late it was." He said hoping she would believe that he had not knowingly come to see her this late.

Suddenly a sound made them both jump, and Ren realised how it would look if anybody found him this late in front of a woman's apartment.

"Mogami-san I know it is late but would you come with me?" He gestured to the car. Kyoko nodded still slightly confused and they both went in. Once the car had driven around the corner from Daruma, Kyoko started to realise what was happening, shocked she looked at Ren who did not look cold like this morning, yet if she was not mistaken slightly sad.

"I know it is imprudent of me to steal you away this late, I will drive you back soon… I just wanted to make sure that we are okay." He did not look at Kyoko but had his eyes fastened on the road, this was a good thing because Kyoko could not help but to turn pink at these words. She wanted to say to him that they were good, that she had forgiven him the moment she saw him outside of Daruma, but something held her back.

"We are not okay." She said slowly. Ren felt his heart fall into his stomach, for some reason he could not make himself look at her.

"What you said today about Shotaro, do you really think that?" She asked, she had to know. Ren was silent a bit before he answered.

"It is… because I know how much that man used to mean to you." He began.

"Used to." Kyoko said softly. The softness of her voice surprised Ren and he finally turned to look at her. She looked cute with her hair in a small ponytail, she had probably been working a the shop just until he arrived, however he could not read her expression. Now that he had finally looked at her properly, he realised how bad the car was for their conversation, so he started to look for a parking lot.

"Your hair look cute when it is up." He said and almost hit a lamppost tuning a corner when he saw her reaction, her cheeks immediately became a dark rose color making her look even cuter. It is stuff like this that is giving me that false hope Ren thought as he also noted to himself that maybe it was for the better, that his hands were preoccupied by the wheel.

"Tsugara-san that is not what we are talking about!" Kyoko said flustered, how dare he make such a sneak attack on her?

"No I know, and I am sorry. I just wanted you to know that it was understandable if you feel back in love with that man." His voice hardened a bit with the words he said.

"I will not." Kyoko said firmly.

"Yes, but.."

"I will not." Kyoko repeated.

"How can you be so sure?" He asked her seeking more conformation to steady his heart.

"Because…" Kyoko paused and took a deep breath before she continued "Because I know my heart."

"And.." She said before Ren could say anything "If you want us to be okay you need to accept that." She looked into his eyes with a firm gaze that Ren did not recognise.

"I accept that." He gave in and as he said it, it felt like the many hands that had been holding a firm grip around his heart slowly one by one let go until there was only one that refused to release its grip. As Ren realised what he would have to do, he slowly parked the car on a deserted parking space.

"Do you want to get some fresh air before I drive you back?" He asked, preferring to have the conversation he needed to initiate face to face. They went out of the car and walked to a nearby tree that shielded them from potential onlookers. The air was that of a cold summer night, while it was not possible to see any stars dues to the city light, one could still feel their presence in the air.

Kyoko looked at Ren and wondered why he had proposed for them to leave the car instead of just driving her back, especially since it seemed to her that they had made up.

"Kyoko." He said and she almost jumped hearing him say her first name, she must have heard wrong, however, when she looked up at him to ask ,he had a pained expression that silenced her completely.

"I have to tell you something."

"What is it?" She asked worried about his grave look.

"I kissed another woman.. or well to be exact I was kissed." He had felt bad about being so mad at her for letting Fuwa kiss her, even though he had let his guard down as well.

Why is he telling me this? Kyoko thought trying to ignore the piercing feeling in her heart. As she looked at him slightly confused, she realised what she had let slip this morning, maybe because of what she said Tsuruga-san had realised that she knew he was in love with Kimiko and now he was telling her this, because he was worried that Kimiko would find out?

"Did you initiate the kiss in any way?" Kyoko asked, thinking that she could not (despite wanting to) blame Tsuruga-san for getting kissed when she herself had had two kisses stolen from that childish bastard.

"No.. well it was after I had seen the photo of you and Fuwa, and I might have had a bit to drink." Ren explained surprised by her answer and slightly disappointed by the reaction, she really had no interest in him.

"Then I do not think Kimiko will get mad." Also because she is in love with another man Kyoko thought to herself.

"That is gre… wait what? Who is Kimiko?" Ren said confused. Then he recalled that Yashiro had told him that he suspected Kyoko might think that Ren was in love with some actress called Kimiko, however, Ren had quickly dismissed that theory as there was absolutely no way that Kyoko would have reason to believe him to be in love with this actres he barely remembered having encountered. As it turned out he had completely underestimated how dense this girl was.

"The girl you love." Kyoko said unable to hide all of the pain she felt saying this outloud. Ren noticed this immediately and the hope in his heart was suddenly bigger than ever. He had to clear this misunderstanding.

"I do not love anybody called Kimiko, if I recall correctly she is just someone I once worked on a drama with? Why would you think I love her?"

Kyoko looked at him confused, she did not understand what he was saying "But she said.. and the ring.." she heard herself say.

"I do not understand what you mean, I have never given any woman jewelry - except for Maria-chan if you want to count her." He hesitated a bit before he added "and the flower ring which you called me despicable for."

Kyoko looked at him shocked before she bursted out true Kyoko style "I AM SO SORRY!"

"No it is okay, I guess it would be dispicable of me to give you that ring if I had feelings for another woman." Ren said, not really thinking much about what he had just said because of the relief of knowing why she had called him despicable.

This however started a ticking bomb in kyokos mind.

"We should head back the owners of the shop will be worried if you are out much longer." Ren said, before Kyoko had a chance to answer him. Tick-Tock

Both of them went back to the car both relieved by the fact that they had managed to make up. I will have a much easier time acting tomorrow Kyoko thought taking little notice of the ticking sound in the back of her mind. Tick-Tock

One the way back they talked about Kyokos new role as Momiji and about the shoot in Guam, they smiled and laughed in all sense it was a peaceful time. Tick-Tock

Once the back in front of the Daruma store Ren walked her to the front door, normally he would have not gone out of the car, but it had been such a bizarre day and he was enjoying spending this calm time with her just the two of them. Even thought it was late he wished that she did not have to go. Without thinking he took a strand of her lose hair from the messy ponytail into his hand. Tick-Tock

"You play a lot of very beautiful roles but seeing you like this is my favorite." he was indeed getting greedy, seeing her become flustered beyond reason was very very dangerous. Although it was distracting with that ticking noise only getting louder. Tick-Tock

"What are you talking about?" Kyoko said flustered: "Your eyes must be getting bad because you are tired." She could not help but to feel that she had seen a lot of different sides to Ren over the past 24 hours. Tick-Tock

"Goodnight Tsuruga-san" She said, not giving him an option to answer her remark, her heart could only take so much in one night. Tick-Tock

"Goodnight Morgami-san" Tick-Tick-Tock

She watched him drive away in his car. Tick-Tick-Tick-Tick..

*BANG*

The explosion inside Kyokos head was so big that it it rippled through her body almost making it impossible for her to stand.

NO WAY IT CANNOT BE.. she thought.

- Somewhere in Tokyo -

"These pictures are going to make us rich." One man said.

"You really think it is ethical to show these without consent?" The other asked.

"We are talking about one of Japan's biggest stars here, and on top of that he has never had a scandal before. Now we have him driving away with a younger actress late at night and returning with her an hour later."

"Okay I get it.. make some more research and this will be the front page next week."

"I am on it boss."