DISCLAIMER: Skip Beat! belongs to Yoshiki Nakamura

~ It Comes and Slowly Stains My Heart ~

"Hmm..."

Reino paused outside a storefront. One spot on the glass of the shop's show window was imbued with a much higher concentration of human desires than the rest. Even stranger, it seemed that the intense longing for a certain item belonged mostly to a single person.

Reino cautiously stroked a fingertip over the glass, using his psychometry to discover the identity of the person who stared covetously through this window on a daily basis. The feelings and memories that had seeped into the window's surface were so powerful that Reino was disappointed to learn that they came from a rather plain-looking girl who paused in front the store for a scant few moments each day, as she passed by it on her way from her first job to her second. She would stare at the makeup on display, almost giving in to the temptation to just go in and buy it, but reminding herself that she couldn't waste money on things like that when she needed all of her money for-

Oh?

Reino smirked to himself. Suddenly the girl was much more interesting to him, after all.

As usual, Kyoko paused to stare at her beloved Odette, wishing to take the tragic princess home with her but knowing that it was a luxury she could not afford, especially since she would likely never use the contents of the bottle.

Unlike other days, however, today she was broken out of her trance not by her own scolding thoughts, but by the arrival of a stranger who gave her an odd look before disappearing into the store.

He was handsome, her traitorous mind dared to think. But not as handsome as Sho! she corrected herself in her mind, shaking her head as if to dislodge the previous unwanted thought.

"Here," said a voice next to her suddenly, startling her out of her thoughts.

Oh no! How long have I been standing here? I'll be late!

Then she noticed that the person speaking to her was the guy from before, the one who had given her that strange look when he'd seen her staring in the shop's window. She wondered why he was standing here speaking to her now.

"Hold out your hands," he said.

Accustomed to following orders, Kyoko did as the stranger bid without thinking. He placed an object in her cupped palms, something smooth and cool. When she looked down, she saw that she was holding a glass swan - her coveted Odette.

When she found her voice, she stammered out, "I- I can't... accept this."

Reino hadn't anticipated this reaction from her. He thought she'd be overcome with joy to receive the object of her desires... or at least show some gratitude, instead of rejecting his gift!

"Why not?" he asked, crossing his arms behind his back when she tried to hand it back to him. "You wanted this, right?"

"I can't just accept gifts from a stranger!"

Huh. What a weird girl.

Most girls would have no problem accepting a gift from a random attractive guy, even if they already had a boyfriend.

"Then accept it as a token of apology," he said.

"Apology for what?" the girl asked, nonplussed.

"This," Reino intoned, and he leaned down and kissed her.

Kyoko didn't know what to do. She was a ball of misery. She'd had her first kiss - which she'd been saving for Sho! - stolen by some random guy on the street, and on top of that she still felt guilty about keeping Odette, even though the guy had apparently bought it specifically with the intention of giving it to her.

She'd hidden the bottle in her dresser under some of her clothes, so that Sho wouldn't see it, because if he ever did see it, he would surely ask her about it. And if he asked her about it, she wouldn't be able to lie to him, not right to his face, and then she would have to tell him her other secret... but she couldn't tell her beloved prince that she'd been kissed by some random guy on the street! In broad daylight! Just so he could give her a bottle of lotion!

Wait. Why had that guy wanted to give her the Royal Snow, anyway? Because he'd seen her staring at it in the window? But people didn't normally go out of their way to buy things for people that they saw staring in shop windows, especially something so expensive...

Maybe... maybe he thought I was cute?

It wasn't an unreasonable assumption. He had kissed her, after all.

Kyoko went to her dresser and carefully extracted the glass swan. Her precious Odette was the first-ever gift she'd received from an admirer! It was so odd to think that there was a person in the world who had a crush on her, and wasn't Sho. Her feelings toward the mysterious stranger were softening a bit, but she still had no idea who he even was.

Next time I see him... if I see him again... I should ask what his name is.

She had still not run into him again by the time Sho's promo video for "Prisoner" was released. One of the actresses had canceled on short notice and Kyoko had filled in as one of the angels in the video - even though she had never acted before in her life, but Sho had been desperate to get the video released on time.

It was late at night and although she had the TV on, Kyoko was only half-watching it as she waited anxiously for Sho to arrive. He'd promised to bring her a copy of the video tonight so that she would be able to watch the finished version with all of the special effects.

Her happy bubble was burst upon her prince's arrival, however.

"Kyoko," Sho growled, slamming the door behind him.

He looked absolutely livid. What could she have possibly done that made him so angry?

Sho slapped a tabloid newspaper down on the table in front of her and snarled, "Why the hell is there a picture of you kissing the lead singer of Vie Ghoul?!"

~end~