Hello, and welcome to my first Skip Beat fan fiction! I hope that you enjoy it, and please forgive any and all OoCness.

If I owned SB, would I be writing a fic about it?

Yeah, probably, just to see people's reactions… but I don't, so I'm not. :( Please enjoy anyway!

"Welcome, Kyoko-onee-san!" Maria beamed, flinging open the door to the Takarada mansion. "Please come in, and make yourself at home! Oh, let me get you some slippers!" Kyoko grinned as Maria bounced around, searching for slippers in Kyoko's size. She had the day off today – a mandatory holiday as, according to the president, she had been working far too hard – and, as the Darumaya was closed for the week and she had not had to work, Maria had invited her to spend the night. The Takarada mansion was every bit as outrageous as would be expected of the LME president, and shall therefore not be described here, due to lack of space and time. Let it just be said that there were, that evening, many owls flying around the entrance hall.

"Thank you for inviting me, Maria-chan," Kyoko grinned, bowing and accepting the shockingly pink guest slippers (no doubt the president's doing) that her honorary younger sister handed her.

"I'm so excited that you could stay the night!" Maria squealed, grabbing Kyoko's hand and dragging her on a grand tour of the mansion, ducking under low-flying owls. "We can make voodoo dolls and talk about curses, and dress up – and whatever else we can think of! Grandpa said that we can use anything we like, within reason, of course."

"Of course," Kyoko nodded in agreement, overwhelmed by the sheer size of the building in which she was to spend the night. Maria led her from room to room, explaining what and where everything was.

"Oh, and Grandpa brought home Natsuko for us to play with! You'll get along once you get to know her. She likes people, and isn't remotely dangerous. See, here she is!" Maria pointed; the snake was basking in the warmth of a heat lamp in one of the jungle-themed rooms. "Natsuko, I've brought a friend!" Thus, Maria reconciled a slightly protesting Kyoko with the snake. Soon – and through no small effort on Kyoko's part to resist initial screams – the two got along as promised. Natsuko joined them on the rest of their journey, looped over Maria's shoulders and around Kyoko's waist.

"…And this is my room!" Maria declared, flinging open a grand set of double doors, which were crossed over many times by odd symbols. Kyoko exclaimed happily; the room was full to bursting with magical artifacts and ingredients, mixed with what was no doubt Lory's taste in fluffy, frilly bedclothes, furniture, and rugs. The elder girl allowed herself to be pulled into the room by Maria, Natsuko flopping off of them and onto the floor. The snake then slithered over to her favorite rug, and settled into the groove she had made by sleeping there many a night.

"Wow," Kyoko breathed unthinkingly. "Maria-chan, your bed is almost as big as Tsuruga-san's!"

"How do you know how big Ren-sama's bed is, onee-san?" Maria asked, not sure whether or not she should be suspicious. This was her onee-san, after all, and she would never do anything that such a statement could suggest. (Lory, had he been able to hear his granddaughter's thought process, would have wept for her lack of innocence.)

"Oh," came the partially-careless reply, "I was his fill-in manager once for a Love Me assignment, and he caught a cold, so I had to take care of him. Ah!" She clapped her hands suddenly, pulling herself out of the mansion-induced trance. "I know! Maria-chan, will you help me scold Tsuruga-san so he'll eat and sleep properly? If we combine our efforts, he might actually listen!"

"Of course!" Maria beamed, and the two began making plans. How could she have doubted her onee-san, who only had everyone's best interests at heart? "It's around lunchtime, why don't we call him now?"

"He might be working," Kyoko nodded, "but we could leave a message to remind him to eat. At the very least, we can ask Yashiro-san to pass on our message."

"Do you have his number, onee-san?" Maria inquired curiously, tilting her head as Kyoko rummaged around in her bag for her phone.

"Uh-huh," she replied, setting aside some curse dolls and a pair of needle-nose pliers before once again diving into her bag. "I got it when I needed some advice on a role."

Maria was about to inquire further when her attention was diverted by yet another strange inhabitant of her onee-san's bag. "Is this… bubble wrap?"

"Yup!" Kyoko laughed, glancing up at the air-filled plastic in the younger girl's hands. "I keep it in there so I have a form of stress release, should I run into anything… unpleasant." Her aura darkened momentarily, and she found her phone – as if the darkened mood had called it forth. This, of course, instantly dissipated the mood, as she remembered her purpose for locating her phone in the first place. "I'm dialing, Maria-chan," Kyoko informed her, and then set it on speakerphone.

A ring and a half later, the phone was answered. "Hello, Mogami-san. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"And me!" Maria piped up. "Onee-san is spending the day with me, and then she's going to sleep over!"

"Good for you," Ren laughed; Kyoko could hear the softness in his voice, though its meaning flew over her head. "Did you call me just to tell me that?"

"Oh! Are we interrupting you?" Kyoko yelped, suddenly looking stricken. "I'm so sorry – I-!"

"No, not at all. I'm on a break." He chuckled softly when he heard Kyoko's sigh of relief.

"Are you having lunch, then?" she inquired, now stern, already knowing the answer.

He paused guiltily. Maria stared curiously between her onee-san and the phone. Why wasn't Ren-sama answering? Did he not hear the question? "Are you having lunch, Ren-sama?"

"You're skipping again, aren't you?" Kyoko sighed, a touch of Setsu in her voice.

Ren again gave no answer, knowing full well that Kyoko would see through any lie he told her, despite their not being face-to-face.

"Tsuruga-san, you have to eat! You know that you have to take care of your body for this career! You're a professional!" She waved her hands emphatically, despite the fact that he could not see her movements.

"I never said that I wasn't eating lunch," Ren informed her mildly, amused by her distressed tone – at least he had some part of her heart, right?

"Are you?" Maria inquired.

"Not right now, no," Ren sighed finally, after another long pause. "I'll go eat something now."

"Not just onigiri!" Kyoko interjected. "Real food!"

"She's right, Ren-sama!" Maria added, "That won't keep you full! You need vegetables and protein – and milk!"

"Milk?" Ren replied, humor in his voice.

"Yes! Grandpa always makes sure I drink milk with lunch. He says that it's important for a balanced diet." Maria beamed proudly up at Kyoko, who grinned in return.

"I agree," she added. "Milk is a very important part of a balanced diet. You know," he voice grew quieter, and Ren pressed the phone to his ear, "you know how we worry when you don't eat properly, Tsuruga-san."

There was a brief silence on the other end of the line; Ren was exceptionally grateful that he could not see her expression when she said that, as he might not have been able to keep up what little façade he did around her. "Alright. I'll go eat something substantial – I'll even have Yashiro-san approve it, if it'll make you feel better. I hate to make you worry," he smiled softly, adding mentally, though I am glad that you're worried for my sake. That counts for something, right?

Kyoko grinned at Maria, who then said, "Thank you, Ren-sama! Now we can have fun without worrying too much! Make sure to eat a good dinner, too!"

Ren chuckled again. "Of course. Goodbye, Maria-chan, Mogami-san."

"Goodbye!" the two girls chorused, and ended the call. Maria then launched herself at Kyoko, squealing about a mission accomplished. Kyoko beamed in return.

Ren sighed as he slipped his phone back into his pocket, and made his way over to his overly-curious manager. Yes, there would be a rather lot of teasing to undergo because of this, but it was worth it. "Ready for lunch?"

"Sure," Yashiro replied, grinning evilly. "Was that Kyoko-chan on the phone?"

"And Maria-chan," Ren nodded. "Will you pick something out for me?"

Yashiro giggled fiendishly, nodding. "Naturally. Did the two of them convince you to go eat?"

"They merely requested it. I didn't want to worry them."

"So Kyoko-chan is worried about you?" Yashiro beamed. Progress!

"Let's just get lunch," Ren sighed, and walked towards the café, leaving an ecstatic Yashiro to bob along in his wake, peppering him with questions. This led to a rather irritating afternoon for poor Ren… but that's another story entirely.

Back at the Takarada Mansion, Maria was still chortling with Kyoko over the success of their mission, while Kyoko informed her that that was the fastest Ren had ever acquiesced to eating lunch. "So it will really work better in the future if we join forces to remind him!"

"Yes!" Maria cheered, flinging her arms around Kyoko.

"With all due respect, of course, he is a professional – he needs to act more like one! Like Director Kurosaki said, your body doesn't only belong to you in this career! Tsuruga-san knows that!" Kyoko set off on one of her rants, and little hope of sidetracking her existed.

Little, but not none – this was Maria, after all, and she did have a rather quick and curious mind that tended to connect certain dots. "Why did you start acting, onee-san?"

Kyoko paused mid-rant, her face becoming suddenly very blank; the atmospheric temperature dropped noticeably. Out in the hall, Sebastian slipped away from the door to fetch Lory. He had the distinct feeling that this coming speech was something that the president would want to hear, and something that would be very difficult to extract from Maria at a later date. "Pardon me, president, but I sense that Mogami-san is about to tell Maria-san something very important."

Lory looked up from his novel. "You mean she's going to tell Maria about her feelings for Ren?"

"That may be related, sir, but I doubt it. Maria-san just asked Mogami-san why she started acting."

"I'll come at once," Lory decided, putting his bookmark in place and swinging his cloak around his shoulders. "They are in Maria's bedroom, yes?"

"Yes, sir." Sebastian then followed the president down to Maria's room, just in time for Kyoko's slow recovery from shock and mental self-inspection.

"Are you sure that you want to hear this, Maria-chan?" Kyoko asked. "It's a very long story."

"I'm sure."

"Then you need to pinky swear that you'll never tell anyone – even President Takarada. I've never told anyone this before, not even Moko."

"I won't tell a soul!" Maria vowed, linking pinkies with her honorary elder sister; she was quite honored to be told something that even Moko didn't know. "Please, onee-san!"

"I guess that I'll have to start from the very beginning," she said, a sad smile on her face.

"When's that?" Maria inquired.

The elder girl sighed, "Maria-chan, you know that I'm not on good terms with my mother, correct?"

Maria nodded. "And you said that you don't have a father."

"As far as I've been told, yes," she affirmed. "I never knew my father. I don't know if he died when I was too young to remember it, if there was a divorce, or if I was born out of wedlock. I was never told anything about my father, save for the fact that I didn't have one. I don't even know if Mogami is my mother's maiden name, or even her real one."

Maria blinked, noting the pain on her onee-san's face, and nodded encouragingly.

"When I was first taught how to use the internet, I looked up my mother's name, trying to find out more about her, so that I could please her – I never could satisfy her expectations, you see, and my uselessness disappointed her – but I couldn't find anything. Looking back now, I have to wonder if 'Mogami Saena' was a name that she just adopted long enough to find a place to dump her unwanted child." A slightly bitter laugh escaped her lips; the look in her eyes had Maria on the brink of tears.

"That's not it, onee-san, I'm sure it's not! She couldn't have not wanted you!" Maria insisted, gripping Kyoko's slightly shaking hands in her own.

Kyoko's laugh grew harsher. "I thought that was what you hated most about adults, Maria-chan."

"Huh?"

"Empty words."

There was a brief silence; Maria stared at Kyoko. Did Kyoko honestly believe that her mother didn't want her? That couldn't be possible – after all, Maria's father had still loved her, even after the death of her mother. To think that anyone couldn't love her onee-san was… well, it seemed too impossible for words.

"I've not heard them before," Kyoko continued, more softly, "but I can seem them as empty nonetheless. I found out when I was a bit younger than you are now that my mother didn't want me. I overheard her talking to Fuwa-okami-san," here she paused, noting Maria's confusion. "Ah. When I was young, my mother rented a room at the ryokan of a family called Fuwa. When she went on business trips, I stayed at the ryokan. One day, she left… and never came back." Kyoko swallowed, a lump forming in her throat.

"B-But maybe something just happened to her, and she couldn't come back! Maybe she lost her memory somehow!" Someone not wanting Kyoko as family was unthinkable… it couldn't be true…!

"I appreciate the effort, Maria, but I know the truth. I told you that I overheard my mother talking with okami-san; I was shocked by what I heard, and asked my mother if her words were true. She told me…" Kyoko closed her eyes, her expression tortured. "She told me that her life would have been a thousand times better if I had never been born. She told me that I was a useless child, and it would be better if I didn't exist. She told me that no one could love such a boring, pointless existence, especially not her…. If I had no abilities of any sort, she said, if I was not intelligent, then I was no daughter of hers. If I could not fulfill her expectations, then…" her voice dropped again, softer than ever, "…then she said that I was better off dead."

Maria said nothing; what could anyone say to such an announcement? Outside the room, slumped against the wall, Lory sobbed silently.

"I tried, Maria-chan, I really tried to do what she wanted me to do. I tried to get one hundred percent every time, tried to have talent at anything. I could not meet her expectations; she grew more vocal and even slightly physical with her displeasure. I apologized; I think that was when I learned to do the dogeza. Then, one day, she simply left, leaving me with the Fuwas as guardians. I haven't seen her since." Her head dropped forward slightly, blocking her tortured expression from Maria's view. "Come to think of it, she's probably the reason I latched onto Sho so hard. I wanted any sort of affection, and seized upon anything vaguely resembling it."

"Onee-san?" Maria whimpered softly, still clutching Kyoko's unnaturally cold hands. Lory, still sobbing, silently accepted his fifteenth handkerchief from Sebastian.

Kyoko looked at her, startled. "I'm so sorry, Maria-chan! Am I unloading too much on you? Would you like me to stop?"

Maria shook her head rapidly. "If it helps any, onee-san, I'd like to hear your story. You helped me make up with Daddy, so I'd like to help by listening."

"Thank you." Kyoko nodded slightly, and continued, her expression slightly less pained now that the worst part of the story was over. "The Fuwas had a son named Shotaro. We were childhood friends, and grew up in the same ryokan. He was kinder back then; I was his only real friend when we were young, so he was especially kind to me – even if he never comforted me when my mother made me cry," her voice was now flat, dispassionate; her expression held not tenderness, not sadness – not even anger. "We were very close, and I soon declared myself in love with him. I fancied him my prince, who would come get me with glass slippers once I'd grown up. I never let him know that the girls at school persecuted me because he only talked to me, and not them; I stopped crying in front of him. Instead, I slipped down into the forest. It was there that I met Corn." She smiled now, which was a great relief to Maria.

"Isn't that the name of your magic stone?" she piped eagerly, hoping to keep Kyoko on a happy subject.

Kyoko nodded. "Corn gave me the stone. He was my fairy prince. We met, and had some good times together – he cheered me up, and he flew for me! He flew, Maria-chan! He did lots of little magic, and we became good friends. It was only for a few days, though; he had to go back to the fairy world," she whispered, sadness creeping back into her voice once more. "He couldn't stay in the mortal world for very long, and there was no way to contact him after he'd gone. I was heartbroken, and he gave me the Corn stone to cheer me up in his place. It's magic, full of his magic, and has kept me going through the years."

"Did you ever see him again?" Maria whispered, intrigued by the magic talk.

Kyoko nodded. "Briefly, when I was on location for a shoot. I was able to repay him for his kindness by helping him cast off a curse."

"What did you do?" the younger girl asked in a hushed whisper.

"The traditional method," Kyoko replied, ghosting her fingers over her lips. "I played a part, though, to follow the actor's rule of the heart and keep my promise. But then…" she paused, and blushed. "Then he repaid me for that, and vanished."

"You mean he kissed you?" Maria squeaked.

Kyoko nodded, her expression a mix of happiness, confusion, and upset. "My promise was broken."

Out in the hall, Lory's eyes widened. Kuon had failed to report that. Oh, that boy was in for some teasing…!

"Your promise?"

"To Tsuruga-san. I promised that I would preserve my purity outside of roles after the Valentine's Day fiasco."

Something connected in Maria's head. "Was your Shotaro that Fuwa Sho?"

"Unfortunately, yes."

"What happened?"

"After we graduated middle school, he decided to run away to Tokyo to enter showbiz – his parents were against it, you see. They wanted him to take over the ryokan and – though I didn't know it at the time – they'd planned for me to be the next okami-san and his wife. They'd trained me in the ways of the okami-san since I was young; that's why I sit, stand, walk, and behave the way I do. I was bred for that purpose from a young age." She paused, took a breath, and continued. "He asked me to come with him to Tokyo, and I agreed. When we got here, I worked my tail off to support him while he grew steadily more famous and more unpleasant – the latter of which I refused to see, of course, as I was an idiot. Finally, I heard him saying awful things about me one day, and – boom – all that love became hate, and the grudge Kyokos were born."

"Can we curse him later?" Out in the hallway, Lory silently agreed with the sentiment.

"We can even use the voodoo dolls, if you like; we could set them on fire," she smiled. "But really, that's probably the best thing aside from Corn that had ever happened to me at that point in my life. I swore revenge, and entered showbiz. After a certain Love Me assignment, I further swore that I would fluster Tsuruga-san with my acting – I'd been forced to act a scene opposite him, and he'd played me like a puppet. I threw myself into acting. Eventually, though, I fell in love with acting, at the training school, and decided that I wanted to act so that I could find who I truly am – and you know the story from there."

"Wow," Maria whispered, and stroked the sleeping Natsuko silently for some time.

"I do envy you a bit, Maria-chan," Kyoko announced abruptly, following her own train of thought and breaking a rather long silence.

"Eh?" Maria squeaked, startled.

"I was just thinking – you have a loving father, even if you went through a rough patch, and a doting if eccentric grandfather. There are people in your life who love you, who are proud to have you as family," she seemed almost shy saying it, as if expecting something to strike out at her. She looked vulnerable after this admission, and Maria felt what must have been the thousandth pang of sympathy in the past half hour.

"You have people who love you, too, onee-san."

"Maria-chan, you don't need to try to cheer me up; listening was enough. I could never presume to be loved by anyone." Her head lowered again, her bangs shading her eyes as her fingers traced Natsuko's scales. "Maybe that's the real reason why I've sworn off love. I loved Corn when I was young, and he had to go back to the fairy world then; I still love him, and saw him again – he had to leave again, to regain his throne after I lifted his curse. I thought I loved Shotaro; he saw me as plain and boring, a girl to be used and tossed aside. I loved my mother desperately, sought nothing more than her approval; she told me to my face that she wished I had never existed. I don't want to love again; I don't want anyone I care about now to leave me, one way or another. I don't think that my sanity could take another one-sided love – and that's all that I can ever have."

"That's not true!" Maria half-shrieked, sitting up straighter. "I love you, Kyoko-onee-san, I really do, and I'm proud to call you my onee-san!"

Kyoko stared at her for a moment, her face blank with shock. Then, to Maria's horror, the tears that had been beneath the surface during her long speech began to flow freely. "O-Onee-san?"

"I-I'm sorry, Maria-chan," Kyoko hiccupped, trying to stem the flow of salty liquid. "I just don't know what to say. I've never had anyone tell me that before. They've said that they love my characters, but… no one's ever said that they loved me, Kyoko, ever in my life. I… I don't know what to say."

"You mean that Ren-sama still hasn't said anything yet?" Maria blurted, shocked. Lory froze.

"Said anything about what?" Kyoko asked innocently, failing to see the conversational connection, instead feeling exceedingly happy that, for once, her affections were returned by Maria, who was ready to consider her family. For the first time in her life, someone had told her that they loved her. For the first time in her life, it wasn't a one-sided love (as far as she was aware, at least; it had already happened, but she did not know this yet).

Maria gaped at the young woman before her. Ren-sama was obviously in love with Kyoko-onee-san – and, had it been anyone besides her beloved onee-san, Maria would've stopped the proceedings immediately – and she with him, yet the woman in question had no inkling whatsoever… and the man had not made any sort of advances. If this were a shojo manga, he would be a failure as a romantic interest, Maria decided. Of course, onee-san is dense, too, so it might work out in the end. Maybe I'll try to plot something with Grandpa and Ren-sama's manager later, after getting some info out of onee-san during Truth or Dare. In this way, Maria avoided breaking the fourth wall, instead merely taking practice swings at it with the large, sparkly sledgehammer that Lory kept in his tool room.

"Oh, nothing, onee-san! I got sidetracked." Lory sighed heavily yet silently. His granddaughter was treading in very dangerous territory.

"Oh, Natsuko's awake!" Kyoko exclaimed, allowing herself to be distracted. She would not let herself hope that Maria had intentionally diverted her. There was no way that such a mad idea could be true. Instead, she played with her adoring little sister and a giant, loving snake.

Lory went back to his rooms, deciding that nothing else of note could be gained from the conversation and feeling only slightly guilty for eavesdropping. Today, he had learned some valuable information about his first Love Me member's past – namely, information that explained why she was in that section. He sympathized with her, and felt just anger towards those who had hurt the girl who was – according to both Maria and himself – essentially family. He loved all of his employees, and Kyoko was no exception; he even doted on her a bit, as she was so desperately starved for affection – even if she would not admit that this was still the case. He decided that, in the future, he would keep a sharper eye on the news, in case any Mogami Saena happened to appear, and that he would keep an eye on Fuwa for Kyoko's safety.

Maria, for her part, vowed to ask Moko, the next time they met, to be just a little kinder to onee-san; and, if she asked why, Maria would simply tell her that Kyoko had a rougher bit of her past than what concerned Fuwa Shotaro. If she wanted further information, she would have to ask Kyoko; Maria would not betray her onee-san's confidence. She also vowed to give Ren-sama a prod or two in the right direction (onee-san was, after all, the only other woman good enough for Ren-sama), and maybe conspire with Grandpa and Yashiro-san next time. For now, she would have fun with her beloved onee-san and darling Natsuko.

Well, thus endeth my first Skip Beat fan fiction. I hope that I portrayed them alright! I'm sorry for any OoCness.

Did you know that 'darling' is an Old English word for 'favorite minion'?

Do you want a second chapter, with the Truth or Dare and its consequences? Let me know!

Please review! :D