Disclaimer: All aspects of Skip Beat! belong to Nakamura Yoshiki-Sensei. The storyline in this oneshot, to my knowledge, is mine though.

Summary: Some new insights with lots of laughter. Ultimate pairing: Ren/Kyoko.

Author's Note: I know that it will seem quite unbelievable to find the girls in such a state, but this scenario tickled me, and it begged to be written down. This hasn't been edited, so please let me know if there are any grammatical errors, and I will make any appropriate changes. Anyhow, I hope you all enjoy this fluffy oneshot!~
-TT


Bushy Dog Tail

Staring in disbelief at the sight in front of him upon entering the LoveMe room, Ren had to ask, "What exactly are you girls doing?"

Gasping for breath, an extremely flushed Kyoko answered from a massive pile of arms and legs, "Oh, nothing! We were just experimenting!"

How was physically being part of a human barricade an experiment? Ren blinked, thoroughly confused. "Am I interrupting?"

Maria's tangled hair covered her entire face as she attempted to wriggle out of the mess, "Ren-sama! Not at all!"

A strangled voice cried from the bottom of the pile, "Mou, let me up! I surrender!"

Kyoko cackled as she addressed her best friend squished underneath her, "Are you sure? I'm sure I haven't found all the spots yet!"

Kanae growled, "Oh, no you don't!" Kyoko screeched as Kanae rolled over to attack her instead, "Take this! And that!"

"No! Haha! Wait! Ahaha! Stop! No, Maria, not you too!" Kyoko's voice began to break as laughter bubbled through her lips. She could only defend herself in vain.

Kanae grinned evilly as the positions were now switched, "See, you're laughing! So you're enjoying it, right? Just like how I was?"

Ren could only stifle his laughter while watching what was unraveling in front of him. Seeing two of the most promising rising actresses and the LME president's daughter tangled in a messy heap, tickling each other on the floor of the LoveMe room was befuddling but nonetheless an amusing sight. As entertaining as it was, Ren really didn't want the attention to be turned to him. He waited patiently until all three girls finally broke apart, panting, exhausted from their activity. Occasional chuckles or gasps of breath were the only sounds in the room. As they all lay sprawled on the ground, Ren felt as if he had been completely forgotten.

The silence lasted until Kyoko caught a shoe at the corner of her eye. She squawked and rolled over to begin kneeling in apology,"Tsuruga-san!"

"Hello, Mogami-san," he replied good-naturedly from his seat.

Maria was the second to recover. She picked herself up and rushed forward, "Ren-sama!"

Ren picked Maria up so that she that she could sit on his knees, "Hey, Maria. I see you were having fun!" He then turned and addressed the third person in the room, "Good afternoon, Kotonami-san."

A glare was his only reply; Kanae did not need her rival to see her in such a useless state.

"So what were you three up to?"

Kanae coughed and sent a glare to both Maria and Kyoko.

In return, Kyoko smiled apologetically to Kanae, but decided to explain—it really was a weird situation to walk into, "Well, I was with Maria when I entered the room. We found Moko-san already here and I was elated! Since I hadn't seen her in nearly a month, I was going to give her a huge hug, but then she escaped. It wasn't even a hand to my forehead; she just…dodged me…"

Her expression was pitiful as she trailed off after her last sentence when she recalled that one moment; however she continued, "But I hadn't seen her for a month! So Maria suggested that we corner Moko-san, and we managed to do it! But then, as I hugged her, she suddenly started laughing!"

A bitter voice bit out as Kanae finally sat upright, "That's because I hadn't prepared myself mentally yet."

Kyoko grinned, "Fine. But through that, I realized she was super ticklish at her neck because apparently my hair was, quote on quote, 'tickling her'."

Ren quirked an eyebrow—her hair could be used as a weapon for tickling? Mental note to self: As lovely as Kyoko's hair is, it can be dangerous.

Continuing with her explanation, "So then I really wanted to know where else was she ticklish, and I was experimenting! The experiment was in progress when you walked in."

He couldn't help but smile at the adorableness of Kyoko's thought process, "I see. That makes so much more sense now!"

Smiling bashfully, Kyoko asked, "What did you come here for, Tsuruga-san?"

"I just wanted to ask whether or not you were done for the day."

Kyoko finally stood up from her kneeling position, "Oh, yes! Maria and I came in to retrieve my bag, actually."

"Do you have plans later?"

"Not in particular, why?"

"Because I—" His words were cut off by a terribly sudden vibration that shook Kyoko from head to toe. When Kyoko flipped open the screen to answer the phone, Ren could hear his meddling manager's voice drifting through the receiver—Yashiro really wanted him to eat dinner with Kyoko. Although he could not hear the actual conversation, by the way Kyoko was shooting him death glares, Ren knew the gist of the exchange already.

With a final "Yes, definitely! Goodnight, Yashiro-san!" Kyoko snapped the phone shut, she addressed him curtly, "Tsuruga-san, you didn't have lunch?"

The silence that met her question answered her. Kyoko's eyes narrowed further, "Yashiro-san asked me to ensure that you eat a proper dinner."

Maria looked up at Ren's face, "Ren-sama, you skipped lunch?"

Ren sighed, "I was overloaded with work, so yes, I did skip lunch."

"Then you should definitely have dinner! Oh, I know! Onee-san is an excellent cook, so she wouldn't mind making you dinner, right?"

Grinning, Kyoko shook her head, glad to have another conspirator on her side, "Of course not!"

At the side of the room, Kanae was looking on this exchange with a curious expression on her face. It was an expression that was mixed with annoyance and envy with a hint of despair—she had wanted to have dinner with Kyoko, but with Maria present, she would be fighting a losing battle. She could only sigh as she waved goodbye to her best friend who, in turn, left with her rival.

In the hallway, as they were heading toward the underground parking structure, Ren eventually could not hold it in any longer, "So your hair was tickling Kotonami-san?"

Kyoko blushed, "I guess so."

Ren chortled, "It's kind of unbelievable."

"Well, not really. I mean, hair is just like animal fur! I used to tease Shotaro," a black cloud descended over Kyoko's head as she thought about her idiotic childhood friend, but she continued as it would be impolite to suddenly stop in the middle of the sentence, "about the neighborhood dog's super fluffy and bushy tail, gently swishing along his neck, and he'd be fidgeting all over the place!"

When Sho's name had been mentioned, Ren's smile had frozen; however, as the thought of an extremely fluffy and bushy dog tail swishing across his own neck struck him, he instantly shuddered.

This detail did not escape Kyoko's eye, and it quickly dissolved the black atmosphere surrounding her. The question was inevitable, "Tsuruga-san, are you ticklish?"

The slight edging away and pointed stare answered Kyoko. Little did she know that this tiny information would become one of the greatest convincing mechanisms up her sleeve in the near future.


Author's Note: And this is it! My second fanfiction has come to an end. –bows– For those who were wondering, I was highly tempted to include a scene where Kyoko tickles Ren, but at the current stage of their relationship, I did not believe it to be extremely fitting (sudden body contact between the two would be slightly out of place/OC). Anyhow, I hope it had been as enjoyable reading this as it was for me writing this oneshot! Have a wonderful rest of your day!
-TT