Ring Ring! Ring ring!
Mogami Kyoko, aspiring talent, debuting actress and member of the exclusive, neon-pink-clad LoveME Section, fumbled for her mobile.
Ring Ring! Ring Ring!
"Alright, alright, damnit," muttering under her breath, she unearthed the phone from the entropy that was her handbag and glanced at the screen. Number Withheld. Frowning (whithheld calls were always a bad sign), she pressed a button and tentatively placed the speaker to her ear.
"Moshi, moshi."
There was a pause.
"Kyookoo-chaaan!"
The girl froze. Her short hair stood on end and goosebumps flew over her body. Little wavelets of anger rolled off her tense figure and a passing businessman shuddered and murmured a quick prayer.
"Kyoooko-chaaaan! How about a date?"
Mogami's expression twitched.
"Kyooookkoooo....."
"DAMNIT you STUPID BEAGLE! I'm HANGING UP!"
And she was about to, when Reino's voice, made deceptively small by the telephone, said quietly, "Or, I'll come to find you."
This would not do. The redhead cursed, took a breath and faced the deadly dog onslaught. "Like HELL you will!" Okay, so her original tactic of diplomacy had gone down the drain. She didn't particularly care.
"I must say... your landlady is very hospitable..."
"You what?!" This could not be happening! How the hell did that stupid hentai beagle find out where she lived? The bastard! Kyoko suddenly had the urge to drop kick him to Europe.
"You'll need to come back sooner or later. And if you prefer our rendez-vous to be at a more suitable location... " A chuckle, "I'll come to where you are."
"Nu-huh, no way. You don't even know where I am! And I'm NOT about to tell you!"
Another chuckle, "Oh but you forget, Kyoko-chan, that I have something precious to you... a part of your soul, if you like. With it I can pinpoint your location quite accurately..."
Kyoko swore. That darn pervert had kept hold of her demon. The bastard had lured it out, mentioning a certain Fuwa Sho...
One promptly popped over her shoulder and leered at her. Calm down, Kyoko! Deep breaths... Pure thoughts...
"What's with you, all of a sudden, you pervert? When did you suddenly become so forward? You prat."
"Nyaaaw, Kyooko-chaan you musn't say such things to one who has a part of you. I'll kiss it. I swear I will." A giggle.
A tsumani of despair washed over her, and left the faint (if imaginary) smell of rotting fish.
"...Are you drunk?"
"Drunk?? Noooo... nooot at aaalll..."
"I'm hanging up."
His protest was cut off. She did not have the time to be arguing with that stupid man. What a nightmare! She was tired, and she couldn't risk going back to the appartment, and now she kept getting this sickening, slurpy feeling that rotted her soul. Beagle was sexually abusing her demon, no doubt. Suddenly, Kyoko was too tired to care.
She turned around and walked back to the L.M.E. building. She could probably stay there for a few hours until she got noticed. Besides, she wanted a glass of water.
As she strode through the big glass doors, a chill like an ice cube slid down her spine. The hairs on her neck prickled and one of her demon apparitions pointed and growled.
Fuwa Sho.
Mogami Kyoko, a girl who still absurdly clung to the fairy princess dreams that girls usually grew out of when they grew out of nappies, turned into a demon machine. As she remembered how that moronic, cocksucking...unspeakable...called Shotaro stole her first kiss, her volcano of anger exploded, and the demons were let loose, surfing on the rivers of lava that burned down her 'pure Kyoko' resistance like Vesuvius took out Pompeii. The atmosphere suddenly darkened. A storm cloud or two began to form above the roof. The less-perceptive humans in the room shuddered at the rising levels of malevolence, and those unlucky enough to be more preceptive started backing away from the epicentre of evil. Kyoko turned her demmonic stare onto the sickeningly swaggering singer.
'Don't even think about it as a kiss. Erase it from your memory.'
'Okay! I'll think of it like an anteater....'
All of a sudden, the darkness dissapiated. The little demons didn't even have time to look shocked before they were snuffed out of the visible plane, and forced back into the Pandora's Box inside Kyoko's heart. People breathed again.
Sho approached the girl, smirking, completely oblivious to the change in mood.
"Kyoko. Long time no see."
"Sho."
Shocked, he stumbled a few steps back. This was impossible. How could she...?
"It's been a while."
How could she smile at him so naturally? It's like he hadn't stolen her first kiss on Valentines Day. Like he hadn't embarrased her in front of her colleagues from Dark Moon.
"I must be going now. Good-bye."
"Wait!" Unthinking, he reached out, grabbing her elbow. A few onlookers looked shocked, and whispered something amongst themselves.
Kyoko turned. In her glare, Sho could see that her demons were very close to breaking out again. This was good. He decided to see how quickly he could goad them out, and fill Kyoko's head with thoughts of him only. He grinned.
"Let me drive you home."
She grimaced, "No thanks."
He doubled his grip, "Oh, but I insist."
Wrenching her arm away, she hissed, "I don't accept!"
Kyoko turned on her heel and stormed out of the building. She did not trust her resolve to hold, and if the demons broke out again, she might just end up strangling the prick. A murder conviction would definitely end her career. She winced as she thought about how disappointed Tsuruga-san would be.
Tsuruga-san! He would know what to do! Kyoko looked up at the sky and thanked any god who was out there for bringing Tsuruga Ren into the world (so strong was her convivtion that Tsuruga-san could not be a mere mortal).
After ten blocks of purposeful walking, Kyoko's confident stride had been reduced to a weary hobble. Her heels had tired out her feet, and it was very dark now. The corageous Kyoko Mogami was beginning to feel the cold bite of fear. Hadn't Tsuruga-san told her to look after herself, especially now that she was a talent?
A scary thought struck her. Tomorrow's newspaper headline flashed before her eyes - 'Young Actress's body found in Alley'...'Young girl's mutilated corpse found in dumpster'...
Step. Step.
Without pausing to think, Kyoko put herself into fifth gear and sprinted headfirst towards the vague direction of Tsuruga Ren's flat.
Tsuruga Ren was reading a newspaper when someone began to hammer on his door.
"Tsuruga-san! Tsuruga-san!"
Dropping everything, he reached the door in three long strides and, unlocking it swiftly, swung it open. Kyoko tumbled in, mid-knock, into his chest.
"Tsuruga-sa - oh."
He looked down at the girl in his arms. She craned her head to look up into his face. Hers was red, her hair tousled and her eyes wide and scared. She looked too innocent... and too tempting.
Suddenly, both realised their positions; she was pressed against his half-unbuttoned shirt, and his hands were snaking, against his will, around her shoulders. Simultaneously, the two sprung appart.
"Uh. Um." Her voice cracked, she cleared her throat, "Good evening."
He glanced at a clock hanging on the wall, 11:26.
"Almost good morning." He said, voice trembling slightly. Get a GRIP, Ren! You're a top-knotch actor - show it!
He smiled at her, once again the gracious host. "Come on in, I suppose. And do tell me why you're trying to knock down my door at odd hours of the night."
Kyoko stepped hesitantly inside, heart beating. Of course it would be beating so loud and fast, she thought, I've just run a long way... Tsuruga-san has absolutely nothing to do with it! It had nothing to do with the way his perfectly formed chest rose and fell with his every breath...
Ren was having similar problems in a quiet aside. Frantically measuring his breathing, he was trying to remember an old role of his - an english earl - the perfect gentleman.
"Here, let me take your coat."
Kyoko shrugged out of her jacket. There was something slightly unsettling about removing any items of clothing in front of him. It felt... somewhat provocative. She shook her head. Impossible. Her head was spinning with fluffy thoughts.
Ren gestured for her to come into the living room, and asked her whether she wanted some tea.
"Um, thank you..."
"I'll take that as a yes, then." he smiled, "Make yourself at home, Mogami-san. I shall be right back."
Kyoko tore her gaze from his tall, lean figure as he retreated into the kitchen and stared around at the effortlessly elegant decor. It was all beautifully matched - none of the furniture was from a set, but they all fit together like a jigsaw puzzle - and it all looked quietly perfect. Not much had changed since her last visit. A new vase had been aquired, perhaps.
Ren returned with a tray of a beautiful english tea set and some biscuits. He set the platter down on the coffee table and poured two cups.
"So." He said, not meeting her gaze, "What happened?"
"Umm..." Kyoko took a sip of the scalding liquid and felt it run down her throat, "Well, it all started at the Dark Moon filming. You know, when Miteru-san accidentally spilt fake blood all over me..."
Ren did rememner. It was one of the funniest things he had ever seen. The only thing that had been possibly funnier was the girl's reaction to it... looking for all the world like a murder victim and acting like the crazed killer. Somehow, though, Ren was pretty sure that this wasn't all. Mogami Kyoko wasnt the type to get hung up over such a small incident. He was right.
"...and then, at the Box 'R' studio I tripped and almost broke one of the cameras. And then that darn beagle called me and said he was going to hunt me down, but I'm pretty sure he was drunk, so... anyway, then I ran into Shotaro at the LME building, and I swear I would have killed the bastard if it wasn't for your advice, so then I thought that the best thing would be to come to you, 'cos you'd know what to do, but on my way here, there was this noise and I'm sure I was going to die so I ran, and... fuck, this sounds so pathetic."
By the end of this she was huddled on the corner of the sofa, hugging her knees, a dark cloud of condensed gloom hanging over her head.
"It's not pathetic."
Kyoko looked up, surprised. She had expected him to tell her to be more resilient...or something. "It's not?"
"No." Ren took a sip of tea, "We all have days like that. It happens."
She broke into a smile. "Thank you, Tsuruga-san."
Her face was so open, so trusting, so... Ren stood up, quickly. "I'm, um, going to get some more biscuits. Hang on."
He fled the room.
Safely in the kitchen, Ren tried to get a rein on his emotions. That was too close. He slumped down into a chair. Just way too close. The way her eyes had looked so innocent, and how her thin body had curved around to face him had pushed his self-control to the limits. This was bad.
"Um, Tsuruga-san?"
He looked up, expression wild. Kyoko had walked into the kitchen to find him sitting, elbows on the table, face in his hands, with his dark, glossy hair hanging like vines across his head. The picture of despair.
She bowed, gracefully leaning forward at the waist. "Forgive me, Tsuruga-san. I did not mean to intrude. I shall be going now. Thank you for your hospitality."
Ren stood, and she straighetened up, startled. In one long stride he had her pinned against the wall, her hands captured in his above her head, his frame pressing against hers.
"Tsu-Tsuruga-san?!"
He leand closer, until their noses were almost touching. "Ren." he said, "My name is Ren. Say it. R-e-n."
"Tsuruga-san, what are you - "
"Wrong answer." He growled, and recklessly crushed his lips to hers. Kyoko first stiffened at the contact, but then her instinct took over and she leaned hungrily into the kiss, savouring the delicious moment.
With a strangled moan, Ren broke away, gasping for breath. They stood there, breathing heavily. He cleared his throat. "There is a lock in the guest bedroom. Please use it. Towels, toothbrush and toothpaste are in the en-suite bathroom. Good night, Mogami-san." then, even softer, "I'm sorry." and he swooped out of the room, leaving Kyoko bewildered. She stood, with her hand to her lips, feeling the sweet burn where his had touched hers.
He...he wanted her. Even she, the girl who didn't believe in love, had felt the desperate need, the passion in his touch. She could also tell that he had been holding this bottled in him for a long time. (This is possibly the place where Kyoko's long-forgotten woman's intuition had made an appearance, with the words 'took you long enough') He had shown the depth of his desire... and yet, why had he pulled away?
In a second, Kyoko had the answer. Somewhat angry, she turned on her heel and stormed out of the kitchen, across the hall and into Tsuruga Ren's bedroom.
He was sitting, head in hands, devastated and self-loathing thoughts swirling drunkenly through his brain. This... this was beyond bad. She would surely hate him now. Maybe not hate, but that delicate friendship they had built up was definitely dashed. He groaned quitely. The girl was seventeen for christ's sake. He had probably scared and alienated her. He wouldn't be surprised if she left, even though it was dangerous. After all, why would she stay in the appartment of someone like him?
Slam.
Kyoko had walked in, slamming the door behind her. Ren's expression was panicked. She looked fierce. He was about to apologise again when she gripped her top and pulled it in one movement over her head. Ren stopped breathing.
"Mo..."
Without pausing, she unzipped her skirt and let it pool around her feet. He felt all the blood in his body simultaneously pulse downwards. She wore a matching set of cornflower blue bra and undies.
"Mogami-san, what - "
Taking two steps forwards, she fluidly straddled him, her long thighs either side of his.
"Kyoko. Say it. Kyo-ko."
"Mogami-san, I - "
She gripped his chin, tilting his head back, "Wrong answer."
As her lips touched his, Ren knew that his resolve was on a very very thin thread. He didn't have long before he wouldn't be able to control himself. Already his hands were beginning to stray towards her magnificent legs. With all his strength, he raised his straining hands to her face and pulled back. Her eyes flashed.
"Mogami-san, this... I'm sorry, but..."
She pulled out from his grip. "You want me. I can tell. I'm old enough to make decisions for myself. And I am not about to let you walk away just because you're too damn decent.
Ren hesitated, and she caught her chance. Slowly, almost erotically, she leaned down to brush her lips against his ear. "Ren..."
He couldn't stand it. She was so close. He turned to her and imprisoned her lips in his, lest she said any more to drive him wild. His resolve broke, shattered, and, as he slid his hands up her thighs to cup her ass, methodically ground itself into a fine dust.
Kyoko squeaked as he flipped her over and onto the bed, looming over her. He traced his fingers down her soft skin, from her neck, to her breasts, down her stomach and along her abdomen. These kisses were smouldering hot, like swallowing live embers. Each one throbbed through the girl and she felt, for the first time, a burning desire. An ache in her bones, only for him, only for the glorious man above her. Trembling hands fluttered to his shirt and clumsily undid the buttons. She struggled a bit with his belt, but he pulled his lips free for a few seconds to yank it open. Sudden desire gripped him and he reached to her front and ripped through her brasiere, making her gasp softly. He trailed his mouth to her nipples, delicately sucking on each. Kyoko rose and fell with the movement of his tongue.
"R- Ren..."
Understanding her tone, he flipped them over, pulling her on top of his overheated body. She glanced at his wide, excited eyes and slid down, pulling his trousers from his long legs and flinging them into a corner. She looked up. He was big, she thought. Christ, Boy Scouts could camp under there...
Suddenly, She was beneath him, and his mouth was exploring hers, as his hands were exploring lower. Kyoko felt a mischievous smile pulling at his lips, and -
"Mmm-ah! R-Ren!"
Swiftly, he had thrust his fingers into her pants, and she cried out in ecstasy. He moved them and Kyoko arched into him, gasping his name.
"What an interesting reaction..." he mused, pulling her pants off altogether and stroking the inside of her thigh.
"Ren... You... Please..."
He nodded, needing release as much as she did. He quickly reached to the bedside table, rumaged briefly around and pulled out a condom. Kyoko eyed it with aprehension, but thought it for the best as he rolled it onto his impressive length.
"Kyoko, are you sure?"
She merely squeezed his shoulder, meaning keep going.
He positioned himself, and stopped, "Kyoko, do you - Mm!"
The girl had thrust her hips up to meet him, taking him all in at once. There was pain, yes, but the sheer pleasure that flowed, unhindered, between them was staggering. She whispered, "Move." and he obeyed.
They rocked, slowly at first, then growing faster with each push. She was breaking up into a thousand pieces, falling down in a shower of stars, being held by the man she loved, the only man that would ever capture her heart like this. For those beautiful moments, she could believe that Ren loved her as much as she lived for his touch. He would be all she would ever live for. Forever.
Morning came as morning does.
Mogami Kyoko was deliciously sore. She liked it, though. The feeling proved that last night was more than just an elaborate dream. She could still feel where his fingertips had sunk into her skin, leaving sweet burning marks. Something about that wild, unrestrained, almost savage side of Tsuruga Ren sent thrills up her spine. She was sure he would never be as unrestrained as that again, and this somewhat saddened her. It was a fantastic feeling, that she had brought him to the limit of his self-control. She looked tenderly at the man lying beside her, his head level with her heart. She smiled at his sleeping face...
Corn?
She closed her eyes. Impossible. She opened them again.
The resembelance was uncanny. In his peaceful state, Ren looked so much younger. Could he indeed be Corn?
Rubbish. Kyoko minutely shook her head. He would have told her. He wouldn't have let her feel so alone, when he was right there beside her. Surely.
"...Kyo..ko..."
Her sleeping love mumbled in his sleep and drew his arms tighter, embracing her.
"...I love you..."
She smiled. Of course. She was being silly. Ren wouldn't...
Gold. A flash of gold hair. She blinked. A few of the roots of Tsuruga-san's beautiful raven-black hair were gold! The same colour of her long lost companion's namesake.
Impossible.
"You! You!"
Kyoko flew out of the large, comfortable bed in a fury, flinging the sheets everywhere and breaking his grip around her.
"You! You - you knew!" She shriekered, pointing at the dewildered actor, "You bastard, you knew all about it and you said nothing!"
"Kyoko, what are you talking about?" He leaped out of the bed and tried to hold her, but she slapped his hands away, flinching back.
"You knew!" She yelled, "You knew that I was waiting for Corn! You knew how much he meant to me! You knew how bad it hurt me when he was gone!"
Ren, shocked, was lost for words. He could only watch as the petite girl stromed around his bedroom, picking up various bits of clothing and hastily pulling them on. When she came across her broken bra, she gave a short scream of rage and threw it at him.
"I'm leaving. Immediately."
He broke out of the stupor as she was at the appartment door, fully dressed. "Kyoko, please, I can - "
"Fuck you!"
Slam!
In the reverbrating silence, he stood dumbfounded. An alam clock started to ring. The sound carried desolately to Ren, where she had left him, naked and exposed.
At the Dark Moon studio, very few scenes were being filmed.
There was a despair hanging in the atmosphere. Everything felt like it was underwater, slow and suffocating.
A director fiddled with a pen, randomly firing off possibilities about where he could write his last will and testament.
Make up artists used up all the black and white makeup in a matter of hours. A cleaner was pondering suicide.
Mogami Kyoko sat, legs crossed, arms folded, on a chair. She surveyed the world through glazed, red-tinted eyes. The demons in her heart were dancing quietly. Her anger simmered softly beneath her skin.
"Mo..Mogami-kun?"
She dragged her gaze up to the speaker. Yashiro cowered slightly, knees threatening to buckle.
"Yes, Yakihito-san?"
"Are...are you quite alright?"
A cold, lifeless smile. "Of course, Yakihito-san."
"Oh. Right." He wandered off in a daze, forgetting his original purpose completely.
Kyoko went back to her seething. Every now and then she would blink.
"Kyoko."
Springing back as though from an electric fence, the girl faced the newcomer.
"You... Dare to come near me again, you slimy piece of trash?"
"I do."
Ren's calm tone was decieving. She saw through it instantly.
"What do you want, traitor?"
He looked down, hands in pockets, bangs falling over his eyes. His neat black shirt was slightly crumpled, and his trousers looked like they had been pulled on in a hurry. He looked ruffled.
"I want to beg your forgiveness."
Kyoko still respected him as an actor, if not everything else. "Let's talk on the roof."
He nodded, grateful. It would be better to have this conversation outside, away from curious ears. Althoguh, by the looks of things, Kyoko's malevolent aura had temporarily turned the entire staff into vegetables.
Up in the quiet air, the girl stood with her back to him, hair blowing wildly in the breeze. She took this as a moment to calm down. She didn't want to kill him. Not yet.
"I suppose you have an explanation." She said, "Well, lets hear it."
Turning around, she froze. Ren was down on one knee, looking up pleadingly into ther eyes.
"I... Love you. I fel in love with you many years ago. With the girl who befriended a stranger. I fell in love with you again when you upturned my quiet, predictable life. I. Love. You. I kept my identity from you because not even my mother knows who I really am. She still waits for me as 'Corn'. Or as 'Kuon'"
He looked at her shocked expression gravely. "Hizuri Kuu is my father. I had to get away from his shadow. I left.. I left my life to become an actor. And... I fell in love."
He took a deep breath. "Mogami Kyoko. Kyoko." He took from his pocket a delicated golden ring with a small stone shining like a star and held it up. "Will you be my wife?"
Not even the wind blew. The sky held its breath.
She sank to her knees. Tears poured, unchecked, down her cheeks. Looking deep into his eyes, she nodded. He took her hand and gently slid the ring onto her finger, and kissed her palm. He pulled her up with him.
"That... That was a-a stu-stupid thing to do, Ren." She said, breath hitching with her tears, "Now what?"
He laughed and briefly kissed her. "Frankly, I don't care."
"...you can't tell anyone. I mean, if anybody find out, it.. it would be well, disasterous."
He touched the tip of her nose. "And we'll pull through. Somehow."
She rolled her eyes. "Riight... any cunning plans, Mister Tsuruga Ren?"
He chuckled softly, "None whatsoever, Miss Mogami Kyoko."
They laughed together, savouring the peace of the moment. It wouldn't last long, they knew. Kyoko would have to work hard to get her name in stardom, and Ren would have to prepare everybody for the monumental news. Not to mention the pains of hiding the engagement ring, and the media exposure and so on and so forth, but...
...they were together, and they'd pull through. Somehow.
GAH! They're engaged? Holy Bijeebus! That's immense! Where the HELL did it come from?! I wasn's expecting it either. Christ.
Not to mention that she's probably below the legal getting-engaged age, but, hey, please ignore that for a better story flow. :)
Okay, so they both turned out a bit OOC, but I really did try to keep them believeable.
Reviews are love. I own nothing; Skip Beat! belongs to Yoshiki Nakamura.