DISCLAMER:

I certainly do not own anything Skip Beat! related. I lack the narrative talent to come up with such vivid characters, they and their main story are property of wonderfully talented mangaka Yoshiki Nakamura.

~~~ MON.17.05.15-22:00 ~~~

The evening was quiet when the car pulled down and stationed in front of the restaurant.

"So tomorrow is our last day then…" she smiled.

"Yeah." he smiled too.

"It's weird."

"It's scary."

"Oh my god" she blanched "I'm sorry! It's not the same for you of course, because your career is at stake!" she somehow mimicked a dozega, in the car "I'm so insensitive!"

"Please, please, Mogami san" he chuckled, "don't worry about it."

"I was just thinking…" how silly of me "I'm kind of going to miss Setsu somehow…" she looked down at her hands "and Cain too." Of course it's not the same for him…

"Mogami san…" he trailed his voice. She didn't dare look up. "We have never addressed… hum" he cleared his throat "I mean, we will need to talk about it." He paused. "Our act, there are things I should… huh, clarify, things I want to explain."

She was still looking at her hands. She had an idea, what he was referring to. His acting of Cain had been as intense as his acting of BJ, and some part of it, she'd come to think, was dug from the deepest confines of his being. Of course he would need to clarify that it didn't have anything to do with her… Stupid. She didn't need to talk about that. She didn't want to hear him say it.

"Tomorrow, " he started again, but she cut him.

"Tsuruga san." she looked up, timidly "You don't have to explain anything. I'm only glad for a job well done, and the movie is such a huge success! I…" she shook her head "What I mean is, I've always been grateful, every time I was lucky enough to work alongside you, I learned so much, and this time again, I was able to…" she blushed "once again I was able to go beyond myself." she nodded, and smiled "For that, I'm very happy… And proud, that I was a part of it." Never mind the sexy image of Setsu, that she would have to answer for, it was worth it, she thought. "You don't have to explain anything."

"And I mean to say" he spoke softly "I will miss Setsu too."

They smiled at each other and stayed silent like that for a minute. He was so nice, the way he took the time to check on her, it made her feel warm. She wanted to reach out to him, cuddle to him, and seek his warmth. She refrained from it and begun showing signs of uneasiness.

"Well, good night then." he finally said.

"Good night, Tsuruga san, see you tomorrow!" She hopped out of the car and waved lightly before shutting the door, avoiding his kindly gaze.

Hah! She was just so emotional! She had to remind herself constantly that she was not in a relationship with this man. Ever since she had accepted her feelings of, well… hum love, for him, she couldn't help but misinterpret every single innocent smile and look from him as a token of his affection. She had gotten way too comfortable with him, too. Crying in his arms when she thought he was Corn, straddling him as Setsu and biting him. She cringed. Well it was all because of the Heel siblings, and the Heel siblings were about to meet their final cut. Tsuruga san was going to reveal himself.

She walked towards the house to the sound of him driving away. Reveal himself… She walked slowly, lost in her thoughts. Was he trying to say something in the car? She realized she'd cut him off again. That was her auto defense mechanism against him. This man always says the most embarrassing things, and like it were nothing!

And why was it that lately, she was confusing Tsuruga san with Corn so much? Well, huh… She knew why. The cause of the whole problem originated in the way that mischievous Corn had taken the form of her loved one! It was so unfair that his magic allowed him to extract that kind of information from her mind. It's not easy, forgetting your first kiss, when the person you shared it with is a lookalike of the person you love… She sighed and stopped in front of the door.

It wasn't so much Tsuruga san, but more Cain, actually, that reminded her of Corn. The way he treated her as Setsu… Silly, silly me. She was going to miss that the most, for sure.

She opened the door and headed to her room. The owners were already in bed since it was fairly late and she walked quietly.

She felt so much treasured by Cain… Corn made her feel the same way, even when they were kids. And now, she was mixing up these feelings with Tsuruga san! That was bad. But Cain's playfulness, his puppy eyes, his care for her, all of it made her feel special. Both he and Corn had… confessed to her. She stopped in the middle of the stairs and clenched her purse just thinking about it. Corn's radiant smile… Corn loved her… She started walking again.

This Corn… in Guam he really played a trick on her! But he was still the same Corn. She blushed as her mind wandered to Corn and her childhood memories. Corn. She remembered the way he said his name.

Corn. She heard it again, but this time, the name that resonated in her mind was spoken by Hizuri Kuu's voice. Corn. She froze. Huh? Where was this coming from?

For some reason, her heart was beating when she opened the door to her room.

She closed the door and leaned against it. Something had caught her attention, but she could not quite put her finger on it. It was as if something she had always known had suddenly decided to make sense. Sure, when father said his son Kuon's name, she heard Corn's name at first. But what did that have to do with anything? Was there something more to it? Didn't it just sound alike, because of father's accent? Yet even the impossible character description he gave her matched the Corn she knew… She remembered when she was working on young Kuon's character, only Corn made sense: "If he weren't human, I do know someone who is just like him"... She remembered the thought that had allowed her to find this character, and it brought forth one question. A question she had never bothered to ask herself: what if Corn was a human?

Staring at Tsuruga san's portrait on her wall, she felt the blood rush to her temples. He intends to reveal himself… she thought again… And suddenly the likeliness of Tsuruga san's and Corn's divine smiles came back to her too. She reached for her phone automatically. She knew exactly what information she needed to look up, to check the unspeakable thought that had just crossed her mind. If Corn was a human…

She gathered herself and walked to her bed. This is stupid. Just look him up.

She had actually never found out what had happened to Hizuri Kuon.

Tsuruga san's face, that one morning in Karuizawa came to her mind and her stomach squeezed. Stupid, stupid, stuuuuuupid! She chanted mentally, holding her phone in front of her.

She thought back to the time Kuu was there. "You did get a grasp on Kuon's feelings" Tsuruga san had said… And when she relayed that specific praise to father, he looked so shocked! "He said that?" Why would Hizuri Kuu care about Tsuruga san's opinion, and why was all this coming back to her? And most of all, why did it all seem connected somehow? "Did you use to live in Kyoto?" he asked when he picked up the stone… No, no she had to stop this nonsense, she decidedly typed the name on her phone's browser… and she kept her thumb held up over the screen. "No matter how you look at it you are actually a for-" she shut her eyes and pressed the screen, trying to shut the voice of that beagle from hell in her memories.

You're stupid stupid stupid. You're going to feel stuuuuupid. She opened her eyes and glanced at the screen as if she expected to see a horridly gore picture. Holding her breath, she peeked and saw the search results. She took a deep breath as she selected the first link. He heart was beating furiously at that point. The moment it took for the free encyclopedia page to load felt like an eternity.

Finally, she found herself staring at the picture of the child actor.

Funny how one picture can change your life, forever.

Her whole world came crumbling. She closed her eyes and opened them again. It was him, it was Corn, no doubt about it. "Thank you Kyouko chan" she remembered the sick Tsuruga san's angelic face when she was his temporary manager. She tightened her hands on her phone.

Corn was Hizuri Kuon, and Hizuri Kuon was Tsuruga Ren.

Trusuga san was Corn.

Before she even had the leisure to panic, her memories kept connecting together. That was how he was able to comfort her so efficiently when she was depressed over Corn's well being. "His wings have grown too"he'd said that time. And Dark Moon… the way he could relate to director Ogata's feelings, and then there was the Katsuki block. Of course! Father had acted Katsuki in the original Tsukigomori drama! she remembered, perplexed.

She went over the article and was heartbroken by the end of his biography. It didn't say much, but it appeared Hizuri Kuon had left the Hollywood business at age 15 after a series of incident that included a tragic death. Nobody knew where he was or what he was doing now. Tsuruga Ren debuted a year short of that. The ages, the dates, everything matched. What exactly happened? she wondered, remembering both Tsuruga san's and Corn's troubled face. This was probably the reason why president Takarada had feared for Tsuruga san at the shooting of Tragic Marker… And the incident with the car, at the end of Dark Moon... and the Omu Rice… Her heart clenched with every memory, at the thought of the suffering he had to have gone through, and that Beagle from Hell's words came back to her "The little sadness you have cannot even compare". She felt the tears roll down her cheeks. Tsuruga san… no… Hizuri san… Corn… She was overwhelmed by a sudden need to go to him. She felt such a strong connection, such empathy, she needed to do something. This was not just Tsuruga san, it was Corn! She had regretted so profoundly, that she was never able to hear of his pain as a child… "Father's hands are too big" How broken must he have been, to find himself rejecting his past to the point that he couldn't even tell her who he was? She'd wanted to help him and he never let her!

A myriad of images and sensations from Guam came to her mind, and blushing came back to her face, full force.

A final set of memories floated slowly through her straining realization. Memories of conversations she'd had, wearing a specific chicken suit. "I am not allowed to have someone that important". These memories were probably the last piece of the puzzle, along with some more recent ones, that she had been trying desperately to keep from surfacing… "I wanted to see you right away".

She had tried to ignore those memories, because there was only one condition left, for it all to make sense, but this condition alone was making less sense on its own then all the rest of it all put together. "That person is still a high school student» his voice reminded her, from the past.

The only explanation was if he actually loved her.

~~~ FRI.24.05.10-19:30 ~~~

"Are you done yet?" she whined, leaning in the door frame. He winced apologetically.

"What do you mean they changed their mind?" His lips silently worded "Sorry" as the person on the other end of the phone kept talking.

They were in the work space of their house. She had just come home from her long day of work, only to find him here in the middle of a work conversation. So she waited, lost in her reverie, looking at his strong frame and smiled internally.

She contemplated how far her love for him had taken her, and how high his love for her had lifted her.

She pretended to check her phone absentmindedly while he tried to end his business call. She took glances at him and thought. She had made another life changing discovery that morning. Should I tell him now? His immediate future, she knew, was going to be challenging enough in the coming days, maybe it was not such a good idea to put it all on him at once… She sighed as she looked at him and waited.

No matter how much she liked to just look at him, it would always get frustrating whenever anything was keeping his attention from being fully focused on her for too long. He gave her bad habits.

"Ok bye," she heard him put an end to the conversation "have a nice week too."

He hung up and looked up to her.

"Finally!" She exclaimed, hurrying herself closer to him. "I thought I'd never see get you back!" she joked as she sat on him and gave him a tender kiss which he welcomed, caressing her cheek equally lovingly.

"You sound like my mother." he replied in the same playful tone when they pulled back. "How was your day?" He put his arms around her.

"I just told you." she pouted, but right after, she laughed and gave him a peck. "I'm just so glad we get to begin our alone week!" she brushed his hair pensively.

"I'm glad we finally get our alone time too," he whispered, caressing the back of her head "one year is too long."

"Tell me about it!" she raised her eyebrows and gave him another peck "Well, no work this week!" she said, suddenly getting up "It's just you and me, let's get out of here and lock this room, I'm taking you to dinner!" she laughed, taking his hands. He got up but didn't follow.

"Hummm… I don't know..." he said, trailing his voice like a mischievous child.

Okay, I'll play she thought. "Come on Kuon, what do you want? This is our week, we are keeping everything related to work, away!" He took a step that brought him on her toes

"I was just thinking..." he took her waist "since we're throwing out work for the week..." he glided his hands along her ass. "You know, symbolically speaking..."

"You think we should have sex in here before we lock the door." she said in a faked bored tone.

"My point exactly." he was still caressing her waist, her back and her ass sensuously.

"Kuon. We have sex in here all the time."

"Yeah, so?" he kissed the crook of her neck lightly "we went to Rome last year, I thought this year we'd stay in and enjoy each other..."

"Oh, ok," she pushed him lightly feigning annoyance "let's get this over with!" she took off her dress in one move and backed him in the leather chair.

He laughed "Now, wait!"

She promptly unzipped his pants.

"Wait what? You want to fuck, let's fuck." she teased, taking off her panties.

"You could make it sound like less of a burden," he laughed as she sat on him clumsily "is this your way of turning me on?"

"Please, honey, you think I don't know?" she rolled her eyes "You're always turned on, basically, all I need to do is just be here." she smiled and kissed him softly, while his fingers enjoyed her naked skin.

"Can you blame me..."

They shared a meaningful look. There was no denying it. He had spent these past years proving to her relentlessly that she was the incarnation of attraction to him. From the very first day… She thought back to the blurry memories of what had happened several years ago, and felt worried all of a sudden.

"Kuon..." she said.

He brushed her hair.

"Yeah?"

"It's just… this year...it's going to be special, you know? It's gonna be… Different."

"Oh? Is it?"

She nodded silently. She knew she should measure her words carefully. Still, she felt guilty in so many ways, and she wanted to somewhat reassure him in advance.

"I thought alone week was just a way of not letting ourselves be over-swept by work" he grabbed her ass and brought her closer to his arousal "and… you know…." he smirked "Being together..."

She put one hand on his neck.

"It is." she said "Of course it is, that's the whole point…." she shook her head. She couldn't tell him like that, that this week, this year, was the whole reason she had instigated alone week in the first place, and that he was about to understand. He was probably about to be smashed by that fact, actually.

"But this year…?" probably understanding the seriousness of what she was trying to convey, he dropped the playful tone.

"This year…" She looked into the vagueness "hah, I want to... I just…" she wanted to say so many things, she knew neither where to start nor where to stop. "Nah, don't think about it." She was turned on by the way he looked at her. The trust in his eyes was immeasurable. She moved her hips slightly "it's all in the past anyway…. Oh God…" she repeated the motion "You trust me?" she started to accelerate. She intended to get a good dose of him right now.

He inhaled laboriously.

"Oh honey, you still need to ask?" he traced his fingers down her spine and made her gasp when she felt their light brush join the shape of his arousal on her core.

"When we're done here" she said "I want to go to the restaurant and get dinner together." she outlined the shape of his manly attribute through the fabric "And talk." she freed him from his boxers "I want to talk tonight." she fully took him in her hand and pulled on him slowly. "And we'll talk some more when I get back" she whispered.

"Get back from where?" he asked, amused. "Are you going somewhere during our week?"

"Yes, I'm going on a spiritual journey." she kissed him. "And you'll be with me." She smiled enigmatically. "That's figuratively speaking, of course."

"Mmmmm…. Ok." he started to drop light kisses on her shoulder "But you sure you don't mind the chore of sex right now?"

"I know how effective you are. We won't be so late for dinner." she breathed in his ear.

"Good" he unclasped her bra "I wouldn't want to mess up your plans..." his hand was already on her breast. She kissed him languidly.

"You're not messing up anything, you're so wonderful." she kissed him again "I love you" and again "soooo much…." She looked deeply into his eyes, as he pleasured her. "You know that, right?"

He crooked an eyebrow

"…. Suuuuure" his mouth closed on a nipple.

"I'm not kidding Kuon" she forced his face up so that he'd look at her "I trust you with everything I got." she paused "And that's also the point of alone week."

He put his hands on both sides of her face.

"Kyouko. You and I are meant to be." He kissed her pointedly "Ain't nothing that can change that."

"Good." she smiled and caressed his face lovingly "good." she repeated.

She kissed him while she went on fondling him – not that he needed much foundling since he was always turned on, well, with her he was, anyway.

"So tonight, is sex, restaurant slash talk and sex again?" he asked and both of them chuckled "what about tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow…." she breathed as she begun to insert his erect member inside of her. "Tomorrow is… hum, I guess... a surprise."

Author's notes:

References for the 1st part come from chapters 19, 35, 65, 67, 92, 99, 105, 112, 200, 209, 212, 225.

So! This is a story that came to me a few months ago. It is currently running on 16 chapters and I'm working on the 17th, which is supposed to be the last. I have not yet totally decided on what exactly I wanted it to conclude with... Of course, most of it is already written, and I will try to publish the French translation before the English chapters come out, so don't expect to see number 2 before the French version comes online. Sorry! This is both a way to try and stimulate the French fandom, and a way to make it, like, "buzz", I guess.

Please keep in mind the chapters might be remodeled as I write the end of the story and advance the French translation.

I have not solicited a beta on this work. If anyone feels like participating and helping me, since I am not a native English speaker, I am very open to every opportunity.

It's usually not exactly my style to publish stuff in a rush like I'm doing now, but I was re-reading the reviews for my other two stories, and it was so heartfelt, it made me want to tease you guys. Please understand this is not yet a complete work, but you have my word it will be completed (I am not giving you my word it will be to your liking though, I have a history of disappointing readers! sorry…).

Maybe some of you already guessed what I have in mind… I'll try to keep the surprise for the others, though!

You know, I really love this pairing because they are at the same time so cute and innocent, but also they have the potential to be so steamy and wild! I was trying to find a plot that could show both these sides of them, and that's what I came up with.

I tried to keep them in character but there might be time when they become caricatures of themselves, I'm sorry about it, please bear with me, that's what happens when you use characters that have a life of their own.

I decided to ignore things that have not yet been dealt with in the manga, like white day and the Lotus in the mire. I really wanted to get this chapter out before the manga progresses and Kuon has a chance to use White Day as a coming out (which I hope won't happen, cause I'm much more in the "take your time" dynamics, but, oh well)

Also, I really know nothing about Japan and about showbiz! So, whenever there was something I didn't know, I just made it up based on what seemed to sound the less weird.

Sorry if there are inconsistencies because of that, feel free to point them out.

And of course, thank you for reading!