No, Himekoji Kaoruko is not an OC of mine. She's actually from Season 0, episode 19, which was about a beauty pageant. For all of those who don't know, she was basically the whole cause for the popularity contest. It came down to Anzu, Miho, and her for the finalists. She sabotaged Anzu's performance, but the real clincher was when she knocked out Miho in the final decision. Yuugi found Miho, and figured out that Kaoruko was behind it. The rest you could figure out. Yuugi beat her in a shadow game and made her think that she was some ugly drone.

This story kind of pulls her back into her old personality as the idol of Japan. She's loved by everyone again, but she didn't have someone that she herself loved. I was going to kind of turn this into a one-sided love story between Kaoruko and Yuugi. It was originally just going to be a one-shot, but now I'm going to turn it into a short story.


Himekoji Kaoruko was the siren of all of Japan. She could be seen on every street corner and ruled all of the men's hearts. She often did live appearances at concerts and only promoted the most popular things.

The red-haired woman herself seemed to symbolize beauty and perfection. From her wavy, dark red hair down to her blood-red stilletoes, Kaoruko oozed confidence. Just recently, she won a national pagent and signed off as the star in a new popular romance movie. Everything went her way, as always.

Everyone in Japan loved her. How could they not? The normal, lower, uglier people were nothing but sheep. They followed those more powerful than them. To them Kaoruko was a muse. Completely untouchable, a goddess, yet one that they couldn't resist trying to reach.

It was almost time to go on stage. Kaoruko smudged on a bit more makeup, just to be sure that any imperfection was covered. As she did, a horrible image of a zombie flashed in the mirror and Kaoruko's breath hitched. Her crimson-gloved hands clenched tightly on the edge of her vanity in a white-knuckled grip. Kaoruko forced her shimmering blue eyes shut and took a couple of calming breaths. That mummy wasn't her! She was the idol of Japan, an image of youth!

When she opened her eyes again, the haunting image was gone. Letting out a sigh of relief, Kaoruko prepared to go on stage. It has been like this for a while. Ever since that popularity contest in high school, in fact. She had won that stupid contest, but towards the very end, something happened and Kaoruko looked like a mummy. She was too shameful to show herself to others, and when the curtains lifted, Kaoruko humiliated herself by dumping water on her head. It was a disgrace!

The worst part was, Kaoruko didn't remember doing any of that. She was told later by her fan club. The only thing that she remembered was feeling so ugly that she was shamed to show her face to anyone.

"It's your time to sing, Kaoruko," her agent said, poking her dull head into the dressing room.

"I'll be along a moment," Kaoruko answered pertly. The agent frowned at the rude reply, but didn't say anything to go against Kaoruko. Nobody dared to speak against Kaoruko. Instead, the woman just spun on her heel and left the room.

Kaoruko sighed and got her feet. She managed to convince herself that the incident three years ago was a fluke. She was the most loved and beautiful person in Japan; there was no way that she would humiliate herself again. After all, image is everything.

She found her way to the stage. The open-air stage was dark, save for a spotlight in the center of the stage, waiting for her arrival. The full moon threw a white moonbeam onto the silent crowd. Even the slight breeze fell still. It was as if everything was paused, waiting for the moment that Kaoruko took her place and sung songs of spring and love and wonderful summer moments.

The only sound was the clicking of her heels on the wooden boards of the stage and the rustle of her dress as it flowed behind her like a wedding train. Suddenly, the sound was turned back on the moment that Kaoruko stepped into view. There was a collective cheer that rose up out of the crowd and spread. It echoed all around her. That cheer turned into a chant. They were chanting her name.

"Kao-ru-ko! Kao-ru-ko! Kao-ru-ko!" The sound was sweet, the most perfect thing that Kaoruko ever heard.

She put her scarlet lips up to the microphone and spoke, making the crowd cheer louder for a moment before quieting down. Kaoruko didn't mind. The only regret that Kaoruko had was that the cheer was too short for her liking.

"I thank you all so much for coming here!" she gushed. "You don't know how much it means to me to have you all as fans. It has been two years since I've become the most popular woman in all of Japan, but you guys are the real winners!" Kaoruko was lying through her pretty white teeth, of course. She didn't care about her fans at all, except as a measure for how popular she had become. "Where would I be without you? Certainly not here today, ready to sing you my newest single 'Sakura Petals on a Spring Breeze', right?"

This earned her a loud roar of approval from the crowd. The piano started to play, and Kaoruko sung, capturing everyone with her voice.

When the song came to an end, cries for an encore rose, but there was nothing else to perform. On her way to the limo, all of her male fans rushed forward for an autograph and Kaoruko acted gratified as she signed all of the things pushed at her, but she had already expected at least this much.

All of a sudden, Kaoruko thought she saw a flash of weird tri-colored hair. It was so familiar for some reason, but Kaoruko couldn't see the person anymore, so she just shrugged and slid gracefully into the white vehicle.