Disclaimer : "Skip Beat!" belongs to the author Nakamura Yoshiki. You know, the one who toys with our nerves!

What if?

~~~~~ Chapter 1 ~~~~~

"We'll have to do that again," Kijima teased as they separated, "It turned out so much more fun than I had anticipated!"

Oh I bet you had fun, Kuon thought bitterly, and he smiled politely. He had let himself be tempted by the opportunity of a night out with a friendly coworker. Kijima was a good colleague; he was the kind to avoid complication rather than provoke it. Though he was a bit of a gossip, Kuon trusted him enough. He had so much on his mind he kept getting lost in thought, so going along with Kijima's distraction hadn't seemed like such a bad idea at the time.

Little did he know that he would be harassed by an old acquaintance. The woman had just crashed their party, eyed him all night and taken advantage of his carelessness to force a kiss on him. He was so mad at himself.

"Hey, Tsuruga-kun," his companion added, "Don't beat yourself up, you handled it the best way you could".

Of course he had rejected her. Politely and coldly enough, he hoped.

"I hope you're right," he said. After all, not much more could be done in such a situation, "Good night, Kijima-kun."

"Good night, see you around," Kijima waved farewell with his usual relaxed smile.

A really pissed off Kuon sat in his car and just waited for his anger to subside. He inhaled deeply, trying to calm himself down and think it over rationally. How could he have let that happen? Walking into a door was a reasonable embarrassment, compared to this. He really was the only one to blame too; how could he let his guard down and let himself be surprised to that extent? He had to get a hold of himself, he couldn't allow things to keep getting out of hand. He needed to do something.

He had already gone two weeks without seeing Kyoko, and over a month had passed since the official date for "White Day". This year was the first time he was actually concerned about the whole event. Deciding what to do for this occasion was turning out to be one of the biggest challenges he had yet encountered in his life.

Kyoko was the one; he loved her with all his heart. But she was a special case. She had obviously not expressed romantic feelings for him at Valentine's – though he couldn't shake the feeling that he got special treatment. But she resented love so badly, the gelée she gave him probably came more from her sense of propriety than anything else.

And so, he hid his feelings at Valentine's. She needed him to, then. What did she need now? He didn't want to burden her with his selfish feelings prematurely, but... Would there ever be a right time? He wasn't sure how it worked, but according to what he read, the Valentine's chocolates and White Day gifts were supposed to express one's feelings.

With that in mind, giving her one of his standard gifts was out of the question. He didn't want to pretend like it was nothing special. She herself didn't give him her standard chocolate, and there was nothing standard about what he felt for her. He had realized from the start that there was only one thing he had that should be hers. Something he should have given her a long time ago, something that didn't have a price, the thing that best reflected the feelings in his heart. The one thing he most wanted her to hold, the one thing she deserved: the truth.

He hadn't foreseen though, that the more time would pass, the harder it would be. So much had happened since White Day. Their meeting in Guam, and the words they exchanged. The kiss they shared. Even the tears she shed a few days later, all of it was torturous. With his decision to tell her the truth always present in the back of his mind, he'd tried to convince himself it didn't matter if he made it related to White Day or not. But if he didn't use White Day as an excuse, then he wasn't giving her anything as a return gift for her Valentine's dessert! He couldn't let that happen.

So he tried to reason that he was waiting for the right time, a sign maybe, that she would be ready… but how long was it ok to wait? Would she ever be ready? He didn't want to bother her before her big audition either, and he realized he was just scared. Maybe it was too late already, maybe he had waited too long. He remembered the picture Lory showed him and gritted his teeth. Why were both Kyoko and he getting kissed by outsiders? Would they ever get to share their own once-in-a-lifetime kiss?

He was getting greedy. He wanted to hold her and feel her. He longed for another chance to taste her lips… He wanted to tell her how much he loved her and… he sighed. Whichever angle he tried to contemplate the situation from, he was going to have to tell her. She was clever enough, she'd probably figure it out with the smallest hint... He would definitely break her heart by revealing how he'd just lied to her for so long. She was going to be so disappointed. For he was not only confessing his feelings, he was also telling her that her one experience with a fairy had been a deception all along.

He looked at his reflection in the rear view mirror. He just needed to take off his wig, his contacts. His necklace. It would be easy to shed his Ren shell. He sighed. Still no news from Yashiro? He reached for his phone and activated the screen. 7 missed calls, he read.

What?

Hardly 5 minutes had passed since he had last checked his phone. What's going on? Was Kyoko ok? A feeling of dread seized every part of his body as he anxiously dialed back.

oOo

I can't believe it. Or did she just not want to believe it? Kyoko didn't know, but it made her furious, and it hurt like hell. That much she knew. It was a nightmare. Just the mere possibility of that person being… No. It can't be. It was impossible. But that girl seemed to be a master manipulator. Morizumi hid her true colors so well that she was apparently able to get the attention of the men she targeted… And that girl's manager had also mentioned some sort of a romance? Which Yashiro-san didn't even contradict!

She wanted to pepper him with questions after the whole episode… But everyone, starting with Yashiro-san himself, had been way too concerned with her own wellbeing at the time. It would have been totally out of place to start asking questions about Tsuruga-san. Well, Tsuruga-san knows better than that anyway, she reassured herself. If his hatred for Sho was any indication, he was able to discern the true worth of people. He's a good judge of character. Plus, he hated those who didn't have respect for their work. Was Morizumi-san a good enough actress to fool even him about her work ethic?

CLANK

The crashing noise disrupted her reverie. She blinked, and looked down, only to find broken glass at her feet.

"Oh no, I'm so sorry!" Kyoko bowed in shame, and as she rushed away to fetch a broom, she was stopped by a firm hand.

"Now, what's going on, Kyoko-chan?"

Looking up, she met the compassionate eyes of her landlady.

"You've been spacing out all evening," The woman commented in concern, "What are you not telling us?"

Kyoko lowered her gaze. She didn't know where to start. Her day had been so jam-packed with unexpected emotional turmoil and unexpected events. She'd told them over dinner about getting the part, but she left out the part about the threat on her life. It was hard to make any sense of it, and she didn't want to worry the nice couple more than was necessary.

Besides, she was out of danger now, and the confusion she was feeling had little to do with it anyway. Why was she not able to chase that other thought out of her mind? The fact that Morizumi san was willing to go that far should have erased all doubts about it.

"It's ok, Okami-san, I'm fine," She tried to hide the turmoil in her heart with a light smile, "There was an incident at the studio, and I was a bit shaken up by it, but everything is fine now."

Just because Tsuruga-san had mentioned a girl her age didn't mean it had to be that girl her age. But why wasn't she able to think of any other teenage girl that he could know? There had to be tons of them! Why was she unable to think of even one, right now?

"What do you mean, an incident?" The worry in the woman's eyes was blatant enough for Kyoko to realize she'd said too much already, "Were you in any danger?"

"I promise Okami-san, everything is alright," She was just so confused, but Kyoko kept that to herself as she bowed again, "Please let me clean this up."

The landlady eyed her suspiciously, "Don't worry about this, dear," she continued as she waved Kyoko away, "Why don't you go to your room and rest?" she offered kindly.

"I'm so sorry, Okami san," Kyoko responded unhappily, "You don't need to concern yourself with me, really!"

What could she say? If she did try to confide in the Okami-san, what would she even tell her? What word could she use to describe how devastated and bitter she felt? Ok, someone did just try to kill me, but that's not even the worst part. Okami-san didn't need to know about that. It's not possible. She couldn't believe it, she had to be wrong.

"Hmmm, ok then," Kyoko finally complied as the okami motioned to gently escort her outside of the kitchen.

"It's just…" she couldn't tell her about the text she'd just received from Tsuruga san either, "I mean, I'm just…" the one that was so out of character, "I'm totally ok."

Her thoughts were all over the place, she was totally going insane. A struggle was going on between divergent parts of her brain. There was a very active and persuasive faction that was set on listing all of the very good reasons why there was no way that girl was the one that Tsuruga-san liked: he could do so much better, he deserved so much better! Whether or not the girl Tsuruga-san liked was an actress, she was most definitely a very talented artist. And pretty. No, beautiful. She was probably someone he held in high esteem, or someone he could see himself acting opposite of. Tsuruga-san's love interest should only be someone generous, dedicated and sincere. All those qualities were the exact opposite of what Morizumi-san had displayed.

Well, whoever that person was didn't matter in the end. That's what the other part of her brain had decided to focus on. Whoever the girl, it was the same after all – at least for Kyoko, the results were the same. Whether or not she approved of the girl, didn't change the fact that it was someone other than herself. Considering Morizumi-san as a potential candidate had only made the fact that Tsuruga-san liked someone more tangible.

Both views made her nothing more than a powerless onlooker.

Absorbed in her conflicted thoughts as she was, Kyoko didn't exactly register how she passed the door and gave the landlady one last fake, reassuring smile. She found herself at the bottom of the stairs, staring at her phone for the hundredth time that night, studying Tsuruga-san's out-of-character text.

"I heard what happened, I have to see you."

To which she'd replied, "Thank you for your concern. I'm sorry for being a bother, please take care."

What else could she say? His text was so… to the point. Wouldn't it have been enough to just wish her well or something? He didn't even ask if she was ok, he just requested - demanded actually - a meeting. Why in the world would he even want to see her? It was so unlike Tsuruga-san. Wouldn't he usually just call her directly? She was afraid of what he might want to discuss… No, no, you know there's no way. It was the most respectful answer she had been able to give him, really. She didn't want to see him. Well, she did… but-

The bell rang at that very moment, making her jump.

Who could it be at this hour? The shop was closed already.

"I'll get it," Kyoko informed the landlady, whose head was peeking out of the kitchen entrance. The okami-san nodded in return and Kyoko opened the front door.

She stared at the heavenly vision standing on their doorstep for a second, then shut the door.

Standing outside their door had been a very blonde Tsuruga san with very beautiful green eyes. Surely, she could not have seen that right.


Note - Dear readers, thank you for clicking on this story!

You probably guessed, this would happen on the very night of the Momiji audition. Not that I expect anything like it to happen any time soon… Unfortunately!

I'm really happy to announce that for the 1st time in a while I got the help of another writer who agreed to be my beta! And no small author, if I may say ^^ Thank you so much artloife! I took in most of your suggestions (not all of them, it still has to be a bit weird - but really most of them), I feel so much more confident sharing revised work…

Hope you'll like it, and thank you for reading.