Disclaimer: This belongs to Yoshiki Nakamura, I'm just borrowing the characters for a little storytelling!
Note: This is my first Skip Beat and I might not be too familiar with the characters as such, but hopefully with time I'll get better!
AU Explanation: This is written with a different premise than the actual manga/anime world. It is based on the scenario that Shou has not dumped Kyoko and that he is not a famous pop star yet. Kyoko is quite different, as she has still retained her innocent outlook on love and her optimism, as I've always wondered how Ren would respond to this kind of Kyoko. Anyway, read the rest to find out what I changed!
BENTO BOX
by Yih
"I don't have time for this," Ren said, busting into the LME President's office. "I need to be on the set for Dark Moon. I'm going to be late—"
"Please Ren," Takarada said, gesturing to the chair, "sit down."
"I already told you that I'm going to be late and…" Ren's voice trailed off when he noticed that there was a young girl sitting in the other chair. What was she doing here? "I can't be late on the first day of filming, President."
"Ren," Takarada stated, "sit down."
Ren pursed his lips together, but he did as the President asked and he sat down in the chair that was next to the young girl's. He folded his arms in front of his chest and fought to keep his patience at the ridiculous situation. He was trying to manage his best without Yashiro, but the President was making it exceedingly difficult.
"As you know, Yashiro had to take a leave of absence for family reasons," Takarada said, "and you can hardly take care of yourself when your manager is looking after you, so I have assigned Kyoko-chan to assume Yashiro's duties for the meantime. That is why you have been called here. She has already been made aware of the situation and although she does not have Yashiro's experience, she will take good care of you. Right Kyoko-chan?"
The girl, who Ren thought looked way too young to be a manager for him, stood up from his seat and moved to stand in front of him. She bowed to him with grace and said, "I am Mogami Kyoko, I will try my best to take good care of you. Please guide me, Tsuruga-san."
Ren stared at her, thinking that this was going to be difficult if she turned out to be a huge fan of his, like it seemed every girl or woman was… He glared at Takarada from the side and hoped that the President knew what he was doing. Ren sighed and carefully looked at Kyoko's eyes, startled when he saw none of the worshipful gaze that his fans tended to have. Her eyes were looking at him as if he was any other person in the world.
"I suppose I have no other choice," Ren said, getting up from the chair. "I am quite busy, and I expect you to keep up with me. Understood?"
"I understand," Kyoko said softly.
Ren glanced at Takarada. "May I leave now?"
"Of course," Takarada responded with a smile that Ren was immediately suspicious of. "Kyoko-chan good luck!"
"Thank you, President!" Kyoko said, smiling and Ren was amazed at how her face was transformed. "I won't let you down." She then turned to Ren, her smile losing its brightness. "Shall we go, Tsuruga-san? I wouldn't want you to be late for your new drama. We can still make it if we leave right now."
"Come on," he said and he didn't check to make sure if she was following him or not, but he could hear her light footsteps following behind and he wasn't sure if he found her presence reassuring or not.
Who was this Mogami Kyoko?
-
He was handsome, Kyoko decided as she carefully studied his profile as he drove them to the Dark Moon set, but a little cold. She didn't know all too much about him, other than that he was the top actor at LME and that he was renown for his acting ability. She sighed to herself as she looked out the window.
She wanted to talk with him, if only to get to know him a little better as they would be working together for a few weeks, but she didn't know exactly what to say to lighten the stern silence. Kyoko hadn't wanted to bother Yashiro as he was away on a family matter, although both he and the President had told her to not hesitate if she needed to ask for advice. She would call Yashiro once she got Ren situated on the set, once there was a spare moment.
Kyoko glanced down at her notepad, where she had taken extensive notes on top of the schedule book that Yashiro had left for her. There were so many things she would need to do this morning and if she was lucky there might be five or ten minutes where she could call Yashiro to ask how she could make Ren feel more comfortable around her.
She jumped when she felt her cell ringing and she grimaced as she saw Ren glance her way. She quickly took her cell out and she was going to silence it when she saw who it was and she looked with pleading eyes at him. "Can I please take this call, Tsuruga-san?"
He shrugged. "Go ahead."
She flipped her cell open and bit on her bottom lip when she heard Shou's voice, "Where are you, Kyoko? I want my breakfast!"
"I'm sorry, Shou-kun," she said. "The President has reassigned me for the time being."
She deliberately left out that she was taking over for Yashiro, although it was only a matter of time before Shou found out Tsuruga Ren. Kyoko mentally groaned when she thought about how he would react when he realized she was working for his #1 rival, even though Shou had barely started in the idol business. He still had a long way to go and she had to do what she needed to do to help him on his road to fame and that meant she couldn't always be at his side.
Shou was actually the only new talent that had a manager and Kyoko wasn't really getting paid to be his manager, but she did get paid for doing odd jobs for the other managers and she was going to be quite a bit to cover for Yashiro while he was on leave. For the money she was earning right now, she would be able to pay rent and put food on the table for a few weeks without having to worry! It would be such a relief…
"Why didn't you tell me?" Shou yelled. "I was looking for you this morning. Why didn't you leave a note at least?"
"I did," Kyoko said calmly. "I left it with your schedule for the day on the table. I didn't have time to make breakfast. I'm sorry."
"Kyoko—"
"I'm really sorry, Shou-kun, but you need to leave in 15 minutes for your training session with the vocal coach. Please don't be late. I need to go for now and I don't know when I'll be home. Pick up something to eat at the convenient store, okay?"
"You're the worst!" Shou exclaimed before he hung up on her.
Kyoko pressed her forehead against her hand, wondering how she was going to make it up to him, if he even would forgive her for working for Tsuruga Ren and not telling him upfront. Shou wasn't practical at all, she thought with a fond smile, but he was her dearest person.
"I'm sorry," she murmured. "I won't take anymore personal calls during work."
When Ren didn't say anything, Kyoko carefully snuck a peak at him and she couldn't tell if he was mad, annoyed, or feeling anything at all. His face was like a marbled statue, beautiful and emotionless. She wondered if he ever smiled and she almost giggled at her silly thought. Of course he did! He was an actor!
Kyoko slipped her cell back into her pocket and resumed staring out the window, watching the scenery and the other cars passing by. She decided then that she would like to see his smile, if only to know what it would be like to be smiled at by someone like him.
Would it make her heart skip a beat like it did when Shou smiled at her?
-
"Tsuruga-san," Kyoko called, waving at him enthusiastically from the side where the stage hands and extras were, "do you have time for a break?"
Ren glanced down at his watch. "Maybe ten minutes."
"Do you have time to eat this?" she asked, pulling out a bento box from a brown paper bag. "I know it's not much, but you missed lunch break and you didn't get a chance to eat."
He took the offered bento box and opened it, surprised find that it looked homemade.
"I hope you'll like it," she said. "I don't cook that well, but it should be edible enough."
Ren hadn't really been all that hungry, but the food made him recall that he hadn't had anything to eat all day. He took a piece of the sushi and popped it in his mouth, not really expecting much, but it was delicious. He rarely had any homemade food and this was a nice change. He swallowed the first bite and quickly ate a few more bites before he heard his name being called by the director.
"You better go," Kyoko said, taking the bento box from him.
He was about to thank her for the food when she lifted her hand and touched his face. Ren was startled at how good it felt to have her fingers against her skin and how pretty he thought she was when she beamed up at him like she had earlier in the day at the President.
"You had some rice on your face," she said, tilting her head as if inspecting him. "You're all clean now. Do your best, Tsuruga-san!"
"Mogami-san?"
"Yes?" she said, her face still shining with her smile.
"Thank you for the bento."
"You're welcome!" she said. "If you like, I can make you a bento each day."
Ren stared into her earnest eyes, thinking that even though Kyoko was too young to be a manager, it wouldn't be that awful to have her be his manager while Yashiro was gone. It was kind of sweet to have someone like her taking care of him. He smiled, thinking at how easily he was getting swayed by a simple homemade bento, but it was still something different and special.
"If it wouldn't trouble you too much…"
"Not at all," she said, her eyes wider and even brighter than before. "As long as you don't mind eating them."
"I don't mind."
And strangely he didn't. Ren watched Kyoko skip away with her light, bouncy steps, wondering exactly how much further she was going to worm her way into his life. He chuckled a little to himself.
He would look forward to it.
The End.
Please review as it's your only chance!
A/N: Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed my first Skip Beat! fanfic... I'm not sure that it turned out all the well, but I hope it was a pleasant read nonetheless. I would really appreciate reviews beause it's nice seeing what my readers think. If you have a question, I will definitely respond. Ja ne!