So… this is kinda my version of the continuation of chapter 200. Yeah, I know the mangaka's continuation is definitely way better, whatever she should choose to do with it. But then there's FF, which you can write whatever your fangirl-inner-self wants to write XD For those of you who haven't read chapter 200, it doesn't matter. I'm writing things my way after all, so you don't have to bother to link this canonically to the original plot.

She never wanted anyone to know about her love for Tsuruga Ren, so 'upset' was merely one thing she felt when the President found out. Fear was another. And the deal in exchange for his silence...? It hurt her.

Click. Click.

Her flats tapped erratically on the granite floor, following her body as she paced like a nervous candidate before the results of an exam. Only exams had never given this much pressure before, and this was coming from a girl who would do anything to score well and please her mother. Orange locks fluttered gracelessly as she shook her head frantically.

There was no special reason for the President to summon her. Maybe he was just going to ask her about how Tsuruga-san was doing, since she had called the agency up before concerning Tsuruga-san's strange behavior after all. There was always a chance that the annoyingly perceptive bearded man had noticed nothing. Nope, he had removed his sunglasses yesterday while dressed up as a self-righteous construction worker, and had given her a single knowing look before promptly leaving. And sending her into a silent cardiac arrest for the rest of the day as Setsuka.

She groaned inwardly. Even in her ears, her argument with herself sounded lame and empty.

Kyoko's pulse raced, and she could feel something akin to heavy, poisonous lead settle in the depths of her stomach. What was the President going to do with her? If he knew the dreaded truth, and it was very likely he did, he was definitely going to tell Tsuruga-san about it, as her twisted imagination had supplied back then. If she allowed this to continue, then yes, the events of said twisted imagination was going to play out unstoppably in real life like a morbid film record.

"Mogami-san's object of affections is me?" Tsuruga-san's dark eyebrows rose elegantly, and he glanced at the President. "Is this a joke?"

His informer folded his arms with the air of a self-known veteran. "No, for I am never wrong. I can't believe it myself."

Kyoko flinched when Tsuruga-san now looked at her through sardonically amused eyes. "After going through the events of your previous misfortune with Fuwa, you mean to say that you learnt nothing?" His voice came out in a derisive drawl, and she could feel daggers piercing her chest with every calmly spoken word. "Moreover," he added slowly, as if the line cost him as much disgust as it cost her pain, "Your target is me."

She cringed.

He leaned down to her, head tilted slightly as a long, slender finger pointed lazily at her. "Are you that foolish? Or a masochist, perhaps?"

"No… no," she choked out desperately, hair sticking out in terrified spikes.

"Didn't you swear to me before," he sighed dejectedly, "That you would defend you chastity with your life? Or was that just a lie?"

She blinked frenziedly, trying to avoid the narrowed dark eyes. "I don't know what you intended, but I do hope that protecting your chastity means more than just keeping yourself from kissing a man," he continued unhurriedly. Not for the first time, his tall form suddenly appeared very intimidating.

"No, it's not true!" she squealed, unable to keep silent any longer. Her face was a crimson, pained mask. "I know that dating can lead to very… wicked emotions, and when I'm overwhelmed by them the purity will be gone as well!"

"So you understand that much." Suddenly, he no longer towered over her, but appeared to be far, far away- somewhere she couldn't hope to reach. "And yet you attempt these toxic emotions of yours on me."

"No!" She blurted loudly again, hands waving comically before him and her face so red she resembled a tomato. "I'm not attempting anything on you! I won't attempt anything!"

"How terrible…" There he was again, his head shaking regally with an injured, dignified air. It was as if he barely heard her defensive exclamations, so wounded was he. "I feel so betrayed. You are such a fickle, frivolous child."

Nooo!

"I'm disappointed," he said, giving the finishing touch to murdering her heart. Inner Kyoko shriveled and sank. He gave her one of his trademark gentle looks, the one that usually melted her into a blushing puddle, but not this time. And then… "I'm disappointed."

HE SAID IT TWICE!

Why did her imagination have to be so active and so… possibly spot-on?

Jelly Woods found Mogami Kyoko crouching outside the President's room a few minutes later, the girl's head bent desolately in her shaking hands as she whimpered frantically to herself. Jelly wasn't sure what the actress was saying, but she didn't miss out a few broken mumbles of "Twice… Why say it twice?" and "Why'd you tell him, Pres…"

"Kyoko-chan?" She begun, peering curiously at the sad pile of pink-clothed limbs sniveling on the floor. The petite form of the hairdresser bent to closer observe the almost unrecognizable girl. Kyoko's head suddenly popped up from her trembling palms, revealing puffy red eyes, her lower lip quivering. Woods clasped her hands together theatrically. "What's wrong?! Did someone mess up your make-up this morning?"

Kyoko flinched, and Woods could only watch on in amused awe as the actress hastily reassembled herself. Her originally tearing eyes abruptly took on a solemn look, small hand flying up to salute herself. Her back was suddenly as straight as a board, legs standing to attention together. In her bright pink LoveMe outfit, she looked hilarious with that soldierly look. "It's nothing!" she announced loudly, puffing up her chest. "I'm fine! The President wants to see me, right?"

"Ah, that's right," Woods said carelessly as she strode through the open wide doors leading to the president's office. Her perfectly coiffed blonde tresses bounced as she practically danced. Kyoko followed numbly behind, feeling small and insignificant behind the ironically shorter figure of the extravagant woman in front of her. The vast, towering doors closed as the duo entered into the refreshing AC that washed over their faces. "Darling says he has some stuff that he wants to talk to you concerning the whole BJ business."

Her guts tightened painfully, like a snake coiled tautly right before it prepared to strike- in her vulnerable, pulsing heart. "I see."

Inside, the tall stature of the President was seated nonchalantly on the couch, and she was momentarily thrown off-guard from her dread thanks to the outfit he was decked in. He was covered from head to toe in Samurai armor, and his metal-studded gloved hand played with a sneering painted Samurai mask. A sheathed katana lay elegantly next to his wooden-shrouded lap, and Kyoko prayed that it wasn't a real one. Something, however, told her that it was no plastic prop.

"Darling!" Woods called cheerily, oblivious to the misery Kyoko was in behind her. "Kyoko-chan is here!"

"Ah, Mogami-san," The President nodded kindly at the girl. "Won't you sit down?" He gestured at the seat opposite him, armor creaking at his hand movement. She tried not to blink at his mustached face smiling at her within the bounds of his head armor, and the radiant pink Sakura embroidered on the layer of cloth above his outfit.

She did as she was told, no longer feeling as self-conscious as she always did in her LoveMe uniform. Not with the President around. Woods waved at the man with a manicured hand, her eyes beaming. "I have to go now, Darling! Do contact me later!"

He waved back, the armor still creaking boisterously. Kyoko vaguely wondered how samurai fought when their outfits made so much noise. That train of thought, however, did not last very long the moment Woods left with a thundering close of the doors and a short silence ensued. Her fingers tightened over the softness of the couch she was seated on.

"Ah, Mogami-san," he smiled at her still, "Would you like some tea?"

"No, thank you." Just get to what you want to say, damn it!

He looked so woeful at her negative response that she sighed deeply before nodding. Breaking into a grin so bright it made the sun look like a shadow, the president grabbed a clay kettle from the table and poured into a bamboo cup. His padded fingers made squishing noises over the smooth surface of the container.

"So, Mogami-san," he continued, pushing the now filled cup towards her. She stared at the steam erupting in smoky tendrils over the brim. "I'm sure you know why we are here."

"Actually, I don't, sir," she said quickly, still looking at her offered cup. "Miss Woods did tell me it was to do with BJ though. Is our acting not satisfactory as of late?"

To her horror, the grin on his face only widened like a Cheshire cat at her words. "So you're going for this approach, are you?"

"I… don't know what you speak of, Sir," she answered, struggling not to stutter. No, no, no!

"I'm sure you do," Lory intervened casually. He picked up his own tea, sipping it elegantly. "But, if you want to play things this way, then I'll be more than willing to play along with you. Concerning your acting, my dear," he smirked over his cup like a very, very contented man, "It has been a little too satisfactory."

She shuddered inwardly at his words. Hastily her hands reached out to grab the cup, desperate for an anchor of some sort. "What do you… ?"

"Do you remember, Mogami-san, why I put you in the LoveMe section?"

Kyoko swallowed. "You said… I couldn't love."

He nodded. "If you don't love your fans, Mogami-san, and if you should never allow yourself to succumb into raw passion, then you can never go far as an actress. For example, think about what will happen one day if you have to act in a love drama. Can you effectively portray the image of a woman deeply in love? Or does it go against everything you believe in?"

It does, she clenched her fingers over the warm wood of her cup, I don't want to fall. I don't want… Tsuruga-san to hate me.

"Your latest job," he put down the cup onto the table once more, eyeing her seriously, "was to play a sister with a brother complex. And I must say you did it spectacularly, Mogami-san. The passion… the love… it was all there."

She smiled weakly. "I'm glad to hear you liked my acting, sir."

"I loved it." Hints of his playful, knowing grin was starting to form back onto his face. He leaned back, picking up the colorfully painted mask once more and glanced mindlessly at it. "I felt it was well-done. True, it wasn't perfect. After all, you slipped now and then and allowed Mogami Kyoko to come in. Didn't you?"

Her heart lurched so violently in her chest she was almost shocked he couldn't hear it. Her tongue seemed to have knotted in her mouth, unable to unfurl itself and form words. She could only stare at him, and wait…

The smile had turned less playful and become gentler. "Why do you think I know this, Mogami-san?"

She felt her mouth unconsciously open and form words. "Yesterday… the construction worker… you were there."

What am I fricking doing? Shut up, Kyoko!

"Aah," Lory said softly. He chuckled light-heartedly. "I guess the uniform kind of gave me away, didn't it?"

She didn't reply. After all, she was too certain everything was obviously portrayed on her face; the wide, terror-stricken eyes, her loosened mouth and her erratically racing pulse.

He saw it and he placed his gloved hand on her trembling shoulder. "Don't be afraid, Mogami-san."

Somehow she got her senses back. His reassuring touch only made her angrier. What did the president know? Was he there when Sho the bastard had left her? Was he there when she had sacrificed everything for Sho only for the singer to throw it all back in her face like it was some kind of joke? Well, the president would certainly be there when Tsuruga-san did the same to her; to ruthlessly cut off all ties with her because of the same poisonous emotion flowing through her veins like toxic.

"I am not afraid," she insisted, meeting the president's gaze head on. "I told myself I would never be afraid again. That's because there will be nothing that will happen to make me afraid."

"I don't know what exactly happened to you before, Mogami-san," Lory said kindly, "But I do hope you will not throw everything away for a single man."

"What do you mean?" I am doing absolutely nothing for Sho!

"You let a previous man in your life control everything you do, Mogami-san," he replied sternly, although not without sympathy. "Entering the showbiz, being unable to find in yourself the passion that is a true actress, and now to deny the opportunity to love again."

The cup fell from her slackened fingers and landed on the smooth floor like a broken marionette, shattering upon impact and its contents pouring unstoppably out like the emotions she could not control within herself. Both of them, for a long while, stared soundlessly at the green smears of tea staining the polished ground.

"Do you," Lory continued softly, in the kind of heart-stirring voice that maintained the mysterious spell overtaking Kyoko, "think I didn't notice? Setsuka is a character that is used to her brother's constant affections. You created her this way. She is, as you said before, cool. For her to look so consumed by unbridled passion and for her to blush so openly in her brother's arms… that is not her. That is you, Mogami Kyoko."

There was a short pause, where Kyoko's face was an expressionless mask. Inside her mind she could only go, he knows! Holy samurais, he knows! I'm doomed! Please don't tell Tsuruga-san! Please! Pleaseeee!

"It isn't me," she finally spoke bravely. "At least, I won't make it me anymore. So please, just forget what you saw."

Lory sighed, shoving the mask onto the table with a resounding clunk. "Why do you choose not to embrace this part of yourself, Mogami-chan?" She did not fail to notice the change of the suffix he addressed her in. "I think it is wonderful that you can find this change within yourself."

Of course you do, you love-crazed pervert! She bit her lip so tightly that she almost swore she drew blood. There was nothing she could really rebut to that statement, not with the President, who would never understand. She could choose to 'embrace' it if he wanted, but Tsuruga-san would hate her for it and in the end the one getting hurt would be her once more. She would be the one who had gone against her promise to him to protect her chastity. She would be the hypocrite.

Her teeth released its hold over her lips and she forced out a single word. "Please…"

Lory looked at her sadly, taking in the desperation painting her pretty features. It was clear she had no idea how delighted Ren would be knowing that his long-time feelings were finally being reciprocated. Just like him, she was being consumed by the doubts and pain from her past. The two of them were far more similar than they knew.

This was something that Ren and Kyoko had to solve between themselves. He, Lory, could drop in a small interfering hand, but pushing them together forcefully would only make things worse. They had to come to terms to each other by their own will. It was, he decided, time he added a small bomb between them. This bomb could blow up and destroy what they had, or it would detonate the hidden emotions they had for each other and allow it to finally come to light.

It was up to them.

"I won't tell Ren," he spoke at last. "Under one condition, of course."

Her face brightened. "What is it? I will do anything! Do you want me to scrub the floors? I'll do it! I'll do all the LoveMe tasks! I'll do anything!"

He waved the torrent of words off, his armor swishing the air ominously. She immediately shut up.

"Oh, no," he announced with a calmness he did not feel. This was it; he was so excited he could barely keep still. If this worked out, the drama would be more intriguing than Dark Moon. By some chance that it succeeded in bringing them together he would be sipping wine triumphantly with one of his best achievements yet. Damn, he would deserve a Nobel Prize for this!

"I want you to, by the end of this month, make sure that Ren falls in love with another woman."

There was a long stretch of silence. The temperature seemed to have fallen by a few degrees, and Kyoko's back was so rigidly straight it looked as if someone had rammed a rod up her spine. Her countenance was fixed and wooden except for her eyes- they were saucer wide and her pupils seemed have dilated.

Why was the President doing this to her? Even worse, she couldn't protest that he was doing this on purpose to hurt her; after all, had she not insisted to him just a few seconds ago that she was going to see to it that she would no longer feel anything for Ren? So the president was mocking her, wasn't he? And yet, what made it more painful was that she was falling into his trap.

Hurt and pain threatened to engulf her.

The mere idea of Tsuruga-san with anyone was excruciating. She was no stranger to this pain- watching Sho in embraces with schoolgirls back then never lost the kind of burning impact on her. While she didn't like Sho anymore, the emotional scars still remained ingrained on her skin. And now they were being callously cut open once more.

He raised his eyebrow at her reaction. "You don't like it? I don't think I'm being too unreasonable here. After all, you were the one to tell me so strongly that you won't make that side of you you anymore. From now on, it's all Setsuka, right?" Lory glanced blandly at the spilled tea on the floor. "I'm only trying to help you here. If you can allow yourself to succeed in bringing Ren with another woman by this month, then I will conclude that there is nothing to tell Ren. After all," he smiled slightly at her, "a woman in love will never push her man to another woman."

"Say no more." Her voice was deadly quiet. "I accept your terms. The end of this month?" She lifted her face to look confidently at her employer, a cat-smile curved on her lips. For that moment, she looked more like Setsuka, certain and cocky, rather than Kyoko. "I'll do it before that."

Stupid, stupid, stupid was the only thing going through Kyoko's head as she sank headfirst onto the table in the LoveMe room. She wanted to shrivel up and die on the spot. Making Tsuruga-san fall in love within one month? It was impossible! He might not like her that way, but that didn't mean he would like other girls like that either! She knew that he was famous for being a bachelor, and an untouchable bachelor at that.

Still, if she was being honest with herself, she obviously didn't want him with anyone else. It would be like someone taking a knife and running it through the scars on her flesh, making them more agonizing and swelling up to the point that it would certainly never be healed for the rest of her life. How was she to put up with it? To watch Tsuruga-san with another woman, to smile sweetly at him as if all was well, and to congratulate the woman sincerely. Could she do that?

But she had weighed her options. If Tsuruga-san knew about the truth concerning her feelings, she could kiss their friendship goodbye. Kyoko couldn't even abide the idea of being hated and abhorred by Tsuruga-san. At least if he was with another girl they could still be friends. A strained friendship it would be on her part, but still a friendship. Besides, now to think of it, what could she give the top actor in Japan? Even Sho hadn't wanted her; why would Tsuruga-san, the no. 1 man in the entertainment industry? She was plain, she was a really boring individual, she was too reckless and if she listed out any more of her flaws it would be next year by the time she was finished. With another girl he would be happier; the girl would have to be pretty, and she would have to be extremely talented to match Tsuruga-san's status. Kyoko nodded bravely to herself as she ticked off the expected characteristics of the female candidates.

She tried to ignore the sting of the tears pooling her eyes.

But she knew she had to be strong now. This wasn't just for her; it was also for Tsuruga-san. He needed a good woman, and she would find him one because love was supposed to be selfless.

Why, she thought bitterly, am I constantly giving up everything at my expense for the men I like?

It wasn't completely at her expense, she reminded herself. Between the two –Tsuruga-san finding out about her feelings or him dating another girl- the former would definitely be more painful. She would have to live with his constant disapprobation in her for the rest of her life and endure being ignored by him or she could still be friends with him and watch him with a happy love life. Just not with her. But he would be happy. Which would be more important. Right?

As usual, her mad imagination chose at that very second to stir and kick up in full gear.

"Tsuruga-san!" Kyoko called cheerfully as she made her way towards him. "Would you like me to cook dinner for you tonight?"

He looked down at her warmly, a small smile on his soft lips. "That is very kind of you, Mogami-san, but I already have someone else to cook for me from now on. And can I say," he gave her a full-on dazzling smile, making her blink blankly, "that she cooks so incredibly well? So much better than you did. I hope you don't mind my saying so."

Kyoko felt as if a rollercoaster had run over her. "Not at all, Tsuruga-san."

Out of nowhere, a blonde, buxom woman abrutply appeared, slinking her arms seductively around Tsuruga's toned shoulders. "Ah, A-chan," Tsuruga-san said calmly. "You're here."

A-chan? A-chan? When since did Tsuruga-san call anyone by 'chan'?!

Kyoko flinched as A-chan turned her head cockily towards her, giving Kyoko the perfect view of her gorgeous baby blues.

"I must thank you, girl," A-chan purred, a winning smile donning her lips. "For bringing Ren and I together. Look…" The woman tugged at Tsuruga's collar, flipping it down to reveal a dark, almost swollen mark on the side of the slender column of his long neck. "I've already marked him as mine. Right here."

Kyoko was brought back from the lands of imagination as she flung her rug sack onto a nearby chair violently. It bounced vigorously onto the plastic of the seat, its contents threatening to spill out. She glared at the sight as if it was her biggest enemy.

"Get lost, A-chan!" She shouted, her voice nearly cracking with hatred. "You don't know anything!"

"Mogami-san?"

Oh no. Oh no. That deep, amused voice was all too similar, judging from the fact that it had just been inside her warped head a few seconds ago. She hastily dropped her antagonistic stance towards the chair and slowly turned around, heels dragging along the floor at a snail's pace. Her stomach clenched and unclenched.

Standing at the open door of the room was the real Tsuruga Ren and Yashiro. She must have been too immersed with fighting an imaginary someone in her head to notice their entrance.

Kyoko felt like diving head-first into a hole on the ground. If there was one, anyway, and inwardly she lamented like a spoiled child at its absence.

Tsuruga-san's long eyebrows were raised in amusement, his dark, beautiful eyes twinkling with a mixture of humor and curiosity. Beside him, Yashiro looked as if he wanted to laugh but didn't dare.

Just looking at Tsuruga-san sent memories she didn't want to recall. Her hands... running down the toned warmth of his hard, sculpted body, her mouth slanted against the side of his long, smooth neck. His weight holding her down later on... the long legs on either side of her shivering body as his smothering, perfect lips approached the curve of her trembling breast. It had all been a professional act, nothing outside of work, but her traitorous heart refused to take it as what it was supposed to be. Right now, gazing into his gentle expression, it was taking every single acting lesson she had received not to blush.

"Tsuruga-san, Yashiro-san," she bowed politely, praying they would forget everything they had seen just now. "What brings you here?"

"I happened to finish shooting early today and thought I would drop by," Tsuruga-san said, smiling softly at her. It was as if all those sexual activities between them had never existed from the way he was behaving. And technically, it hadn't. They had happened between Setsuka and Cain, not Ren and Kyoko. "Would you like to have lunch with us?"

"Of course," Kyoko beamed, forcing the rational side of her away. Yes, she knew she had to stop having lunches with a man she was supposed to forget. But this was simply a senior-and-junior lunch, she told herself sternly.

"That's good," He smiled gently at her, ignoring Yashiro's wide grin. Meanwhile, Kyoko struggled not to wince at herself. Was she so into him that she had begun to imagine things? It was almost as if happiness had lightened Tsuruga-san's dark obsidian eyes at that very heartbeat when she had agreed.

What a lovesick fool she was.

"By the way, Mogami-san," he continued curiously, his head tilting to one side, "Who is this… A-san you were so angrily referring to just now?"

Shit.

-PPWSOT