"What does it matter anyway? It's just Kyoko, a mere servant girl."

"Even if she were to announce it to the whole world about how 'evil' I am, it's not like anyone important would believe her."

= Five Years Later =

It was annoying how the roles have been reversed. In the past, she worshipped the ground he walked on and made it her business to know every little thing about him. To him, she was the little girl that he took pity on. To her, he was the world.

Now, as he hid himself behind a pillar, he knew that she is his world. The mere servant girl has blossomed into a charming woman that turned heads everywhere. As an actress, she is at the peak of her career. Magazine covers where his photos were once graced were now replaced by Kyoko's face – a face that enabled them to break record sales. Like she said, her appearance in his music video really was a mere stepping stone. In Dark Moon, she soared; much like the phoenix he now realizes her to be. Film after film, dramas after dramas and she continued to deliver. Of course, her quick ascension to fame (much faster than his despite his reluctance to admit so) spurred vicious rumors - Ones that were fed when news of her being his childhood friend, Kuu Hizuru's "daughter" and Tsuruga's Ren favored kouhai were brought into the limelight.

During that time, he had ignorantly still believed that she was still chasing after him. He had believed that he was still the most important person in her heart. The enormous threat that was Tsuruga Ren had not registered. That was mistake number two. So, he continued his plans with furthering his career without a single clue about her life then.

That was two years ago.

While he liked watching TV, he was never a fan of entertainment news. He had seen his existence as the eventual top entertainer so news about others in the industry was useless and a waste of time. Anything regarding his career would be reported by Shoko anyway. Of course, he could have never predicted Shoko did not know he honestly NEVER keeps up with the industry. She had thought that her duty was only to inform him of news regarding his career. Of course, some fault did lie with him since he had very sternly mentioned to her that his personal life was none of her business. The little threat that he would have found a new manager if she continued to be meddlesome probably prompted her in keeping all news about Kyoko from him. She also had honestly thought he already knew the news about Kyoko considering her face was literally plastered over billboards, walls if not magazines. He never suspected that inside those magazines, there was news aside from her rapid rise in the entertainment industry. If he knew, he would have stormed LME, dragged her out and demanded answers.

She left Japan and went to America to advance her career.

That was two years ago.

Everyone who was close enough to get a glimpse of his true character would know that he was egoistical. So, while he proclaimed Tsuruga Ren to be his ultimate rival in his rise to the top, he never bothered with news about him. After all, the famous bastard had a squeaky clean record when it came to scandals and all magazines ever do is praise him to the skies. Why would he bother then? He only ever bothered with the monthly popularity poll. That was mistake number three.

If he even bothered to flip through just one magazine that featured the famous bastard's interview, he would have known that said asshole left for Japan to America just a month after Kyoko did. He would have known that Tsuruga starred in local films and dramas by coming back every few months. He would have realized that there were rumors going around that Tsuruga's only staying in America because he had a girlfriend or lover there. He would also have known that everyone had started connecting the dots to Kyoko who had starred aside Tsuruga in all (a substantial six in a span of two years) but two of his romance orientated films and dramas.

But, for once, after all his hard work, the only thing he realized was that he finally managed to emerge top in the popularity poll with Tsuruga finally being the runner-up.

That was a week ago.

And that seemed to finally open his eyes. At first he was ecstatic with unadulterated joy. Hours later, when he came down from his euphoric high and finished indulging with ego-boosting self praise, genuine curiosity started to set in. Why had that bastard finally lost? Aside from the fact that it was because he was infinitely superior to Tsuruga, maybe it was because he did badly on some drama or film? This he HAD to know. Filled with sadistic anticipation at the possible news of the bastard's decline and humiliation, he hollered for Shoko to demand an update. That, was when everything went from heaven, and straight to hell…

"SHOKO! COME HERE! IT'S URGENT" Sho hollered.

"What? What is it? Are you sick?" A flustered Shoko rushed into the musician's room.

Upon looking at his laidback form lying spread-eagle on the sofa, Shoko let out an exasperated sigh. Really, this boy never seems to get the idea of what exactly is an emergency.

"Right, What is it now? Does your hair or clothes need fixing?"

Shooting a sidelong glare at her sarcastic tone, Sho flipped himself over on his stomach and drawled "No! I just wanted to know what Tsuruga's been up to. Did his recent drama or film turn out to be a flop or something? Quick, I want to know the juicy bits!"

As Sho practically vibrated with anticipation inwardly, Shoko shot him a weird look.

"Nothing of the sort has happened. Why'd you ask? Besides, I thought you weren't interested in these kind of things?"

Sagging visibly with disappointment, Sho ignored her question and shot her another himself.

"Eh? Then why did I win in the popularity poll? Aside from the fact that Japan has obviously caught on how I'm infinitely superior to him of course."

Sho stared at Shoko as she stiffened in shock and disbelief.

"You…You don't KNOW? I mean…I thought…You said…Oh my god! So that's why you were so indifferent! All these years!"

Getting irritated, Sho just glared at her, obviously demanding some clarification about her incoherent words.

Frustrated, she swiped a hand through her already messed up locks. Sighing she said, "You're not gonna like what you hear but here goes." Taking a deep breath to prepare herself for the onslaught of shouts of denial, she continued, "Tsuruga Ren and Kyoko-chan have taken a three months long break to go on a vacation together before coming back to Japan. They are coming back in a week."

…

Silence reigned through the room as Sho took several minutes to process her words.

'Wha…She…He….together…coming back…three months….VACATION?!' His mind was in a swirl of confusion as he tried to string those incoherent words together. What did Shoko mean by coming back? What did she mean by together? What vacation? His mind worked furiously at the possible implications of those words and his temper soared to unprecedented heights. Amidst the internal storm of fury, confusion, fear and horror, he was amazed at how he managed to blandly roll out the word that would later shock his soul into utter despair.

"Explain."

Realizing that Sho's temper was on the brink of exploding, she winced and tried to summarize everything from the start since by the look of his face, he clearly had NOT kept up with news of Kyoko-chan and Tsuruga Ren as closely as she thought he would. Otherwise, he would have taken action five years ago. All that wasted time. She did NOT want to be near him after he processed everything. She was making a run for it as soon as she relate to him the whole story.

"By explain I'm guessing you mean from the top. Everything started five years ago. If you recall, that was when the hype about Kyoko-chan started and it was at that time, the vicious rumors came about. Kyoko-chan, from what I've heard from my connections was not very affected by the impact those rumors had on herself but rather was angry about the impact they had on the roles she played. It was at the height of those vicious rumors did Tsuruga Ren step in. It was during an interview where everything started out innocently enough when he defended Kyoko-chan's ability as an actress.

Later on however, he casually revealed that he hated these rumors and those who endorse it as it hindered his efforts in pursuing the female he has desired since childhood. According to my sources, apparently Tsuruga knew Kyoko-chan when they were young and has been in love with her ever since. Of course, this information came later on when he left Japan to pursue her since initially, no one connected his comment in the interview to Kyoko-chan since no one, and including Kyoko-chan knew he was her childhood friend. It was that comment that diverted attention away from Kyoko-chan and onto him.

Anyway, Kyoko-chan herself did not catch on until possibly two years after the whole fiasco. While she had always expressed her intention to go to America to pursue her career so she can also join up with Hizuru Kuu over there, the LME crew had noted that weeks before her decision to leave, she was behaving strangely. She had been avoiding Tsuruga, who everyone knew was her most adored senpai, like the plague and whenever they met, she flushed and ran like hellhounds were after her. They also noticed Tsuruga had been trying to talk to her in a manner that was uncharacteristic of him since at times, he actually looked pained when she ran from him.

A month later, Tsuruga himself left Japan for American stating in a short press conference that he was off to America to settle unfinished business where his happiness was at stake. A couple of months later, the press put two and two together. Tsuruga and Kyoko-chan were spotted in a beach in California together, seemingly on a date. But Tsuruga never confirmed the rumor about them dating whenever he came back to Japan for his filming. But, by then, pretty much everyone knew they were most definitely together and from the looks of it, very serious about each other. Considering the number of time they starred together in films and dramas as the leading couple, fans were all over them. Only a month ago did the couple come back to Japan and finally publicly announced their relationship that had been going on for three years now and that they are going for an impromptu three months long vacation. There have been speculations that this vacation is actually an unconventional honeymoon in which they are having before marriage rather than after or that they have been secretly married in Vegas which was the location of their latest film collaboration."

Chancing a glance at Sho, she saw he was clearly shocked to his very bones and his fuse was about to blow. Remembering her previous plan, she quickly darted out of the room and slammed the door behind her, panting from her long speech. She had not let Sho get any word edgewise so she could quickly finish and get out of that danger zone. Wincing at the crash that sounded from the room, she quickly took out a "Keep out, DANGER" sign from her bag (always handy when Sho got in his explosive moods) and hung it on the door.

Man, by the looks of it, she was going to have to cancel all his appointments for at least a week.

AN: This is a two-shot. Actually it was supposed to be a one-shot but I'm too tired to write anymore. It wasn't supposed to be this long actually but *shrugs*. Next chapter is gonna deal with Sho's reaction in full, explosive detail and more. If I have time, I will include fluffy Ren/Kyoko scenes during their vacation and their POVs in another story. IF I HAVE TIME!