Thank you for reading. Skip Beat! Belongs to the talented Yoshiki Nakamura.
Ticket To Love: The Lost Years
Chapter 1
Shock
Many a night she would awaken from the horrors of that day. The only thing that kept her going when she was alone was the small, fragile life that she carried within her. It was all she had left of him that wasn't a memory.
"I miss you so much." She cried into the darkness of her lonely bedroom as she wrapped her arms tightly around her growing belly. "I hate you! Why did you have to take him away from me! What did I do to deserve this?!" She screamed at the emptiness as her tears flowed freely.
Her cries were stifled by a soft light from the hallway as her bedroom door opened and another entered the room to comfort her. He sat on the large bed next to her and pulled her into his arms. "It's okay Kyoko. Just let it all out." He told her as he stroked her hair gently. He so desperately wanted to tell her he loved her, but he couldn't burden her with that right now. She was in too much pain.
"Why Ren... Why? Why did he have to leave me behind? Why did he have to die? God, it hurts so much..." She cried painfully.
So in the darkness Ren held and comforted Hide Kyoko as he shared her pain and shed his own tears as the claws of sadness ripped into him and the woman that he loved so dearly.
Flashback:
It was a beautiful little island. All of the wonderful little shops that lined the streets and the smell of the ocean. For Kyoko and Takehiko, it was a dream come true. Kyoko felt she had truly been living a charmed life as she and her new husband stood on the corner and began to cross the street. All she could remember from that moment was the screeching of car tires, her being pushed to the sidewalk and then the sickening thud of a body being hit by a car. She didn't pay attention to the scrapes on her knees and palms, all of her focus had zoomed into a type of tunneled vision as she turned to see the broken body of her new husband laying in a pool of his own blood. She scrambled on her hands and knees to his side, screaming as she held him close, covering herself in his blood. She would later find out that he had died instantly when his neck had been snapped. No goodbyes, no I love yous, nothing... The drunken bastard had taken everything from her in seconds. He was gone... She could barely remember as the paramedics tried to pull her away as they tried to find signs of life. She remembered someone yelling to find her a translator, so they could communicate with her and attempt, unsuccessfully, to calm her. She could remember someone rifling through her bag and retrieving her cell phone and calling the first number on her call list and informing them what had happened and she could remember that barely an hour later she was sobbing heartbreakingly in Ren's arms. He had been at a photo-shoot on one of the smaller islands when he received the news and dropped everything to be at her side. Fuck professionalism she needs me. And with that thought, he would stay until she didn't, no matter how much it hurt.
Takarada Lory picked up his phone and was puzzled by the fact that Ren was calling him at such and hour. Why was he calling him?
"Boss?" Ren's voice was filled with distress and sadness. "There's been an accident."
"What happened?" He was worried that something had happened to Kuu or, Julie.
"Kyoko's husband was killed by a drunk driver..." He told him in a whisper. "I... I don't know what to do. I don't know how to help her." He could hear the tears Ren was shedding for her in his voice.
Lory sighed in sorrow. "Just be there for her. That's all you can do right now. I'll take care of everything for you. I think Alex will understand."
"Thanks Boss." Ren ended the call and continued to caress the hair of the woman that was now sleeping fitfully with her head in his lap. He sighed deeply and rested his head on the wall that the hospital room sofa was against. Why? Why did this have to happen to her? Hasn't she been through enough? He placed his phone on the little nightstand and took a sip of the cold coffee that had been waiting for him. He needed it. He felt like he had been put through an old fashioned wringer with no end in sight.
Almost one week after, Ren accompanied Kyoko home with the body of her husband, the funeral took place. With the cremation came the reality of death and all of its finality. As they placed Takehiko's ashes in the family grave, Kyoko's body could take no more and she went limp in Ren's arms. He quickly carried her to her limousine and had her rushed to the hospital. Others would follow after the services.
The doctor entered the waiting room to find a worried Tsuruga Ren pacing back and forth, raking his fingers through his hair. The doctor cleared his throat. "Tsuruga-san? Are you here for Hide-san?"
He nodded. "Her family is on their way. Is she alright?"
The doctor sighed. "I'm really not supposed to be discussing anything with you but, since you did bring her in..."
Ren looked at him expectantly.
"She's been under a great deal of stress, obviously. We gave her something to calm her that's safe for the baby and we're making sure she gets some fluids in her before we send her home." The doctor informed him. "She'll need plenty of rest."
Ren looked at him in shock. Baby? "Does she know she's pregnant?"
The doctor nodded sadly. "She was informed before she was medicated."
"Alright... Thank you." Ren told him and sat down to absorb this new information.
The first night Ren slept on her sofa, Julie and Kanae slept with Kyoko in her bed with her cradled between the two of them in a protective cocoon, Kuu slept on a reclining chair, Yashiro slept on her loveseat and Takehiko's parents Angela and Isamu slept in her guest room. Ren had informed them all the previous night of Kyoko's 3 week pregnancy and they all gathered by her side to comfort each other with the pain of his death still raw. Had the news come at any other time this would have been a celebration, but with the new bride, pregnant and despondent, they were all at a loss. Each set of parents dealing with their own pain. Kuu and Julie for Kyoko's loss, Angela and Isamu for theirs.
Kyoko emerged from her bedroom alone in the early hours of dawn, an empty shell with dead eyes, fully dressed and ready for the day while clutching a little blue stone.
Ren sat up. "Kyoko? What are you doing up so early? You should be resting." He told her softly as he approached.
She looked up at him and the emptiness frightened him. "I need to go to work." She whispered.
Yashiro stood and walked to his two friends. "No..."
She looked at him. "Yuki... I need to go to work."
"No Kyoko... You are going to stay here and rest." He told her firmly.
"I...I... I can't do this... I can't stay here, Yuki. It... hurts." She told them in a voice filled with pain.
Seeing her like this was killing Yuki and Ren. "I know Kyoko. I know... but you need to rest for the baby."
She looked at him and everything came flooding out all at once with that one little word, baby. Ren scooped her up as she began to fall to her knees and held her closely. "It's okay Kyoko. You can cry. It's okay to cry." He told her as he moved her to the sofa with her cradled in his arms and rocking her as she wept.
Hours later, mentally and physically drained, she drifted back into a nightmarish sleep in the arms of the man that loved her more than life itself.
"Ren... You should go back to Takarada-san's and get some rest." Yuki told him.
Ren gave him a stern look. "I'm not leaving her like this."
Yuki sighed. "Fine... I'll call him and have your things sent over. You seem to be the only one she's responding to anyway." He told him. He pulled out his phone and dialed as he took his phone call to her kitchen to keep the conversation private.
