A/N: Hello everyone!! This is the beginning of my little foray into the "Plot Bunny That Wouldn't Go Away". Now some of you might be a little put off by the title, but I am using Affliction with the definition as stated on :

"Affliction suggests not only a serious misfortune but the emotional effect of it."

As for timeline, this happens shortly after Vol. 12 in the Manga…right after she helps Ren find his "Katsuki" for the Dark Moon arc. After that, my story kind of wings off into it's own little universe, but faintly references to other events in the manga farther on. Well, y'all will see. I just wanted to give you a starting point in the world of Skip Beat!

HUGE KUDOS TO NIMBLNYMPH FOR HELPING ME OUT OF MY SLUMP!! glomps

And as always, I do NOT own Skip Beat, or any of the characters. I just need to write this story so it can get out of me noggin! Onward with the trial run of Affliction:

The announcer's voice continued to drone onward from the stage as a figure made its way toward the dressing room at the end of the hall. It pushed open the door and waddled across the floor to the oversized storage locker. The metal of the door screeched as it was pulled open, nearly drowning out the announcer's booming tone.

Gasping, Kyoko took a deep breath of fresh air and shook out her sweat-dampened hair. It got so hot inside the chicken costume that she always looked forward to the first breath of air against her face, scalp and lungs. She placed the head of Bo the Chicken on the upper shelf inside the locker and proceeded to remove the rest of the costume. Once she had her sweats put away and her street clothes on, she checked the time out of habit before realizing that she wasn't in a hurry tonight. She took the time to splash a little water on her face from the bottle that had been sitting in her bag all day. It was tepid at best, but it felt like heaven compared to the heat in that chicken suit. She ran an impatient hand through her hair to work some of the water into the strands to cool her scalp before grabbing her duffle bag and heading for the exit.

Once outside, she paused in the early evening light to stretch her arms above her head and sighed. There weren't a lot of people around at this time, seeing as the majority of them were home with their families eating supper and getting settled in for the night, so she enjoyed her brief moment of pseudo-solitude. Her life seemed to be filled with active, noisy people, and especially so with the variety show. That audience was always cheering, jeering, and just plain out yelling at whatever act or guest appearance they had…or at whatever antics "Bo" happened to come up with. The costume helped to a certain extent to muffle the racket, all thanks to the very padding that left her sweaty after wearing it. It didn't help with the truly stressful part of the job though, which were the fickle demands of the crowd. Ever since she joined on to play the part, she had become more appreciative of the efforts that actors went through on behalf of their art.

She stepped out from the shadow of the L.M.E studio building and walked to where her bike was kept. It was hard to believe that only a year ago she was a naïve little girl who had mocked those in the entertainment industry. And it had all been to foolishly try and support Shotaro… that good for nothing waste of space! It was a night and day difference from being Kyoko, Sho's number one fan, to Kyoko, L.M.E. Agency employee. Damn Shotaro….telling his bitch of a manager that she was only his housekeeper. And that she had been the only one stupid enough to go with him to Tokyo! Why hadn't she known then what she knew now! She ground her teeth together as she sped off down the streets in an effort to control her temper. She had to relax and not think of him, or his asinine antics, or his crappy treatment of her. Argh!! She forced herself to count to ten and just breathe.

Still, it galled her that because of that bastard and his abandonment of her, she had gotten to where she was today. If he hadn't, she would still be cooking, cleaning, and doing anything he asked in order to make him happy and to make sure his universe stayed intact. But then he'd dumped her like last week's trash with one little challenge that he was sure she'd never rise to.

Well, he had been wrong, like he had been about so many other things, Kyoko thought as she pedaled through the streets of Tokyo. She had not only risen to the challenge, but she would like to think that she was making something of herself. She was surviving somehow and slowly advancing on her quarry by working at the L.M.E. Agency. As a member of its exclusive (and slightly eccentric) Love Me Group, she had the role of Bo on the variety show. She also had the part of Mio in Director Ogata's new production, Dark Moon. But the biggest highlight of her new life was being able to go to high school. In addition to school and acting, she also worked part time at Darumaya. Her days were packed full from the time she got up in the morning to the time she finally collapsed at night, but she wouldn't have it any other way.

Which was why today was such a rare day; she'd finished with the Variety show; had the night off from work at the inn; she didn't have to be on the set of Dark Moon until tomorrow morning, and she was on a holiday from school. The night was entirely hers to do whatever she wanted. She raced through the streets of Tokyo, eager to get back to the inn and start enjoying her night off! She already knew how she was going to spend it and that was by pampering herself. Something she hadn't done in a long time (if ever). She could hardly wait to slip on some soft cotton pajamas after a long soak in the bath. She would break out her secret guilty stash of bath oils, facial masks, scented lotions and the pedicure/manicure set that she had bought after her transformation P.S. (Post-Shotaro). She would relax in her room with a movie about a princess that gets to live happily ever after (something she still indulged in as well) and a warm cup of tea.

After all, it was something she deserved after those years of catering to him. As her eyes narrowed and her feet began pedaling even faster, small black smoke-like entities curled from about her darkened aura. Her grudges were still alive and well, feasting on her hatred of the man called Shotaro Fuwa. They cackled maniacally as they bobbed and weaved around her. The humorless grin on her face was more just a baring of teeth as she growled aloud her rage. "Damn that man to the blackest pit of hell!" She shouted into the air.

"Hey! Up yours too, lady!" A young man on a bike shook his fist at her as she careened past, lost in her thoughts.

She should never ever forget the reason she was in the game. She was usually too busy to think about it, didn't have a lot of the time during the day to nurture her hatred and feed her grudges. She needed to succeed, to rise in the ranks, and take Sho Fuwa down!!

And there was no better way to do that than by joining his rival agency and teaming up (indirectly) with his ultimate competition, Ren Tsugura. Working with him on a daily basis had showed her that he wasn't just another pretty face, but rather a very mature man that hid his emotions. Granted, at the beginning her feelings toward Mr. Tsugura were hostile… but they'd gotten a little better. There had been several occasions in the past where it had been hard to tell if he or Shotaro ranked higher on her hatred scale. Mr. Tsugura was always so condescending, rude, and arrogant. In her opinion, dog barf had more redeeming qualities than either of those two.

Gradually though, and through the surreptitious use of the Bo costume, she got to see a side of Mr. Tsugura that she'd never even known had existed. Also, she kept getting thrown together with the dark haired actor (against her will) time and time again by the Fates that always conspired against her. At first she resented it, but over the past few months she's found herself even enjoying her days at the Agency, despite the crazy and flamboyant President Takarada. She even looked forward to working with Mr. Tsugura on the Dark Moon set.

And who could forget the night he found his 'real Katsuki'? Kyoko blushed, remembering how he had schooled her with his acting ability, and cursed her overactive imagination. Imagine, Mr. Tsugura wanting to kis-"
"Are you going to sit there all night and catch flies with that open mouth?" A harsh voice asked.

Surprised, Kyoko jumped and stuttered, "T-taisho! I'm sorry!" She looked around and sure enough, she had biked to Darumaya lost in her thoughts and now sat outside the inn where Taisho had caught her staring off into space, still perched on her bike. Blushing even worse, she scrambled off, locked it up and reached for her bag.

Taisho didn't say another word, only wandered back into the establishment. Chagrined, Kyoko sulked through the door, kicking her shoes off at the entry and slid into slippers. She wandered upstairs to her room, all excitement for her evening ruined as her thoughts turned back to Taisho.

The older man hadn't treated her quite the same since she had cut and dyed her hair to go join L.M.E, and she regretted that change in their relationship. She looked up to Taisho; he was like a father to her, something she was lacking because she could never return to Kyoto or to her parents. She couldn't stand having him disappointed in her. She'd gotten enough of that from her mother.

She was determined to set things right between them. She'd make a huge success out of herself to make sure Taisho and his wife would be proud of her. Punching a fist in the air, she let out a fierce, "Yeah!" She would do it! Who knew, maybe in time she could show her parents all that she had accomplished and they might…

"Forgive you?" A voice echoed in her head before chucking evilly. "This isn't one of your fairy tales, Kyoko. Not everyone can live happily ever after."

Stubbornly she shoved the little demon's voice aside, "Shut up! I will become famous-and I'll defeat Sho-and I'll prove to Mr. Tsugura that…" she left off abruptly.

"Prove to him that…what?" The voice taunted.

Kyoko had no answer for that. She wasn't sure where she had been going with that statement. She shook her head and grabbed a pair of her softest pajamas before stalking into the bathroom to bathe.

Over an hour later, Kyoko walked into her room, absently toweling her wet hair with the pink terry towel around her neck. Her pajamas were navy blue cotton pants with a lighter blue t-shirt. Her skin was rosy from the steam and smelled like the black raspberry vanilla body cream she'd slathered on. The hot water had helped ease not only her tired muscles but her mind as well. Despite her earlier debate, she'd come to a decision. She wasn't sure of a lot of things in her life, but she'd just take one day at the time. And, she reminded herself, this night was her only night off and it shouldn't be spent worrying about stuff that can be put off 'til tomorrow.

Smiling to herself, she switched on the small TV on her dresser before crossing to her desk to examine the papers stacked neatly on its surface; looked like the Taisho's wife had delivered her mail. She picked up the small stack and flipped through it; bill, bill, junk. She sighed as she found more junk mail until one plain envelope stopped her. She dropped the rest of the stack on the desk while keeping the weird one in her hand. Her brows furrowed in thought as she studied the piece of mail. It was just a regular white envelope with only her first name typed on the front in big black blocky letters: KYOKO. There was no return address or even her address, so it couldn't have been sent through the postal service.

"What in the world?" she murmured to herself. Automatically, Kyoko looked around her room, checking for an intruder. She shook her head and laughed at herself. Maybe she had a secret admirer! She grinned as she imagined a tall dark and handsome man all in knots trying to think of ways to ask her out and coming up with this idea of a letter. She would play hard to get of course, wanting to make the boy work for her time and her kiss. Then she would accept and he would pick her up in a red sports car and he'd take her out to eat at the most expensive restaurant—

--and she needed to quit daydreaming! Smiling, she ripped into the envelope to find a single folded sheet. As she read it, her smile faded, her eyes widened and the blood slowly drained from her face. It wasn't a love letter; it was something worse. It was also typed with big blocky letters and read: QUIT DARK MOON OR ELSE.

She was silent; the background noise of the TV seemed unnaturally loud and the open window was making her wary. She'd never felt this chill of fear before, the taste metallic and brackish in her mouth. Quickly, she spun to the window and closed it, pulling the drapes over the glass for good measure before going to make sure she had closed her door. Realizing she still held the letter in her hand, she abruptly dropped it and watched it as it floated serenely to the floor.

"Tonight's feature as we sign off for the evening is the brand new video from Sho Fuwa!" She heard the announcer of the show belt out followed by the screaming of the audience. Soon the strains of his new hit single started and she turned to look at the TV. Sho's face in his devil costume grinned evilly at her. Numbly she watched herself, dressed the part of an angel, choke the 'devil' and look in remorse as he fell from the tower.
For once the sight of Sho didn't infuriate her. She was thinking too hard about her special 'delivery'. What or who had sent her this note? What did it even mean? Who wanted her off the Dark Moon set? She sat down on her bed and stared at nothing. Who would do this? These questions just kept spinning in her head until she couldn't take it anymore.

"Grrraahh!!" she yelled and scooped up the letter, staring at it as if the answers would just appear on its bare surface. "I don't know who you are or what you want, but I'm not quitting Dark Moon, you hear me?" She stopped when she realized she was shouting at an empty room. Wow. She so needed to get some sleep. Kyoko folded the letter, opened the drawer on her desk and shoved it to the back. She closed the drawer once again and turned off the light before collapsing on the bed to burrow under the covers until her head was covered. If anyone asked, well… she was just cold.