Hello everyone. This is my first attempt at writing fanfiction, so I apologize in advance for any out of character instances. Please enjoy.
Disclaimer: I don't own Skip Beat!
Kyoko looked at the assignment Sawara-san had handed her and Moko, apparently the President was getting creative.
"In order to be a good actor you have to appreciate the work put in by the other members of the crew, your job is to be a director. Here are your scripts" He gave Kanae a booklet titled All the Years I Waited and Kyoko a sheaf of papers with a coverpage declaring To Kill an Enemy.
"Excuse me Sawarada-san, but how…" Kyoko asked.
"The cast has already been established, you have a week to look over the script and prepare for your assignment. Each cast has been told that you are the genius director Andrea Shultz from the states."
"Who's Andrea Shultz?" Kanae asked, "And does she know we're doing this?"
At this time the President made his grand entrance from the ceiling, like a spy from an old movie. "You are Andrea Shultz." He announced grandly, unattatching the rapell cable from his waist. "She is a young and amazing director. Think of it as another acting job. Your task is to create the persona of Andrea Shultz and achieve an understanding of the roles in your scripts to play them correctly. The actors you will be working with will be people you have heard of but never worked with before, with a few exceptions. The exceptions will be briefed on your experiment as it is a test of their ability as actors. Top notch actors rarely have to act under the direction of novice directors, this will be a good experience for them"
Kyoko wondered what he meant. Maybe she would be working with Kuu again! And then she became nervous, if she was working with Kuu and failed. Father would be disappointed in her. Color drained from Kyoko's face, she looked down at the script in her hands, the letters, in bold print across the front. She would do this for Kuu, she would not let him down.
"Kyoko, Kyoko?" Sawara asked her, "Can you do this assignment?" He had seen her face go pale and worried for the young actor, he knew she had a tendency to push herself past the limit of normal human breaking point and then collapse. It reminded him of another dedicated actor, Ren Tsuruga would even forget to eat.
"H-hai! I will do this assignment well President thank you!" She said with a dertermined grin while bowing formally.
"You have two days off all of your work to prepare for the shooting. The locations have already been selected, good luck", He nodded to the two girls and rappelled back up through the ceiling. Moko looked doubiously at the script in her hands. It was going to be a lot of work. Not only does she have to come up with an idea for who the other characters are, but she has to create her own character. She saw Kyoko next to her, undoubtably plotting her character already, even though she hasn't read the script or met the actors. Mokko narrowed her eyes, she would have to change her own character based on the group of actors that she worked with, damn, this was a hard assignment. She grabbed her best friend's arm.
"Come on Kyoko, let's go." Her friend looked up at her questionably. "To the park to read our scripts" Kanae clarified. Kyoko's face lit up.
"Alright Moko-chan, let's go!" I'll definitely make Father proud. On her way to the park Kyoko thought about her character, a young genius director. That would take some work. If you were a genius would you flaunt it, or be modest? Who would you be friends with, how would you speak to the actors. Kanae was thinking some of the same thing, but her focus was on the script. While in Sawadara's office she had refrained from opening her script. Now she had her nose buried between its pages, memorizing the script and taking mental notes. Her character Yumi was a young mother during the second world war. She should be strong and independent, but yet weak emotionally…why else would she wait for her husband for all those years. Unless she was emotionally dead those years. Or maybe…maybe…no, no, waiting for someone like that wasn't emotional strength. Kyoko was devoted and look what that got her. But the husband wasn't a scum bag like that egotistical yodeler. Kanae narrowed her eyes, she'd figure out Yuumi later…Now Genbo, he's a…
Kanae's thoughts were interrupted by a gaggle of little laughing children, when swerving to avoid them, she ran into a garbage can. Seeing she was at the park, Kanae found a seat, Kyoko however had other ideas. A head emerged from the bushes adjacent to the bench Kanae occupied. Her best friend's grinning face interrupted her work.
"What?" She scowled at Kyoko, already prepared to give some non-committal grunt answer.
Kyoko's eyes became sparkly with rainbow delight. Kanae tensed, faeries….
"I found a fairy glen and the queen tree!" Kyoko excitedly informed her best friend. Kanae rolled her eyes. Grabbing hold of Kanae's wrist Kyoko pulled her through the bushes, miraculously free of brambles. They emerged in a clearing. A stream ran through it, clean clear water, with multi-colored pebbles at the bottom. A great old sakura tree stood on one side of the clearing, but it's branches encompassed most of the little glen's sky. It was indeed a queen tree, it's petals raining down like blessings.
Kanae grumbled, but settled herself under the tree while Kyoko continued to stare dreamily into the distance, occasionally muttering to herself. If anyone else had come by this scene they would have contacted an ambulence immediately, but for those who knew her, such behavior was entirely normal. Kanae resumed glaring at the script leaving her friend to the great cherry tree.
Though Kyoko appeared to be doin nothing, she was actually madly thinking. Just who was Andrea Shultz? She was young, not Japanese, which would be a challenge for Kyoko's traditional background. What air would Andrea have about her? She had grown up in America…Kyoko realized that Andrea could be whoever she wanted to be, she could be Natsu, Mio, Bo, anyone. Kyoko's forehead frowned. Natsu, would not be the best director. Natsu had evil donw to an art, but she wouldn't direct an amazing movie and Kyoko wanted this film to be famous; she would make Kuu proud and Sho shrivel and Tsuruga...she didn't know what she wanted to make Tsuruga feel. The idea of doing something completely foreign to her gave Kyoko the shivers. There was no room for failure, the ultimate test of how well she knew how to act, by making other people respond to her acting. Kyoko smiled, deciding on how to approach Andrea's character.
Kyoko reached up for a petal falling from the sky, smiling at the soft pink flesh between her fingers and became Andrea Shultz.
Turning and smiling at Moko, who until seconds ago had been her best friend, Kyoko/Andrea beamed.
"How are you doing there? I'm Andrea Shultz, recently from America, do you mind if I sit here?" She asked, her face open and friendly, but slightly neverous, using extremely formal Japanese.
Kanae, lifted her eyes to Kyoko's face and then looked back down at her script. "I don't mind." Andrea beamed again and settled herself under the tree tilting her head back to gaze at the petals. At the same time, the young woman dug in her bright pink pocket and produced a pencil. She studiously attacked the script, scribbling in the margins. Then turning to Kanae she asked, "Do you happen to have an extra sheet of paper?"
Kanae, decided she'd play along with her friend's act. Kanae slipped into her character as Andrea. Her demeanor changed, no longer did she glare at the script but she instead appeared curious. Flipping to the front pages of her script she showed them to her friend.
"I prefer to write in the margins and on any place I can find in the script. Sorry."
"That's alright," Kyoko's forehead wrinkled. "I think I can squeeze it in the margins, too, but there's just so much to write." She nibbled on the end of her pencil, thinking then scribbled, tilting the paper sideways for more writing space.
They sat a few moments in silence, and then Kyoko/Andrea turned to Kanae/Andrea.
"If you were Hope what would you look like?" She asked her friend.
Kanae/Andrea pondered for a moment and then pointed to the tree. "Hope, is like that tree, beautiful and everstrong." Internally Kanae practically shivered inside for saying something so corny, but she knew it was something Andrea might say. After all Andrea was a genius. She believed in success through hard work and therefore hope. Though she's never really had to hope since she's a genius…..Kanae slipped into the deeper ponderings of her own character while Kyoko stared up at the sky.
"So beautiful" Kyoko murmurs quietly to herself in a completely un-Kyoko fashion. Andrea, stands up and brushes the grass from her legs, leaving Kanae behind in the clearing, absorbed in her work. "I think it's time to meet Hope" she says, heading for LME.
So, how did you like it? A good idea huh? I apologize for any grammatical errors, punctuation is not my strong suit. Second chapter to follow soon I hope.
Love you all for reading
Barefeetinsummer