Disclaimers: I don't own Skip Beat! or Pride and Prejudice. Also the names Teru and Anise are borrowed from the mangas Dengeki Daisy and Barajou No Kiss respectively, because I suck at coming up with Japanese names.
Chapter One: News
Jelly Bennet surreptitiously eyed her husband Lory who was currently unnaturally immersed in the latest edition of Meryton news. Jelly continued to obnoxiously stare at her husband from her couch across the way until he felt he could stand it no longer.
"What?" he Lory sighed.
"You know what; don't give me that, Darling."
Jelly knew that her husband was as at least as calculating and skilled in the practice of manipulating people as she was. At not hearing a reply, she continued, "If you are reading that paper only just now," (Jelly loved to claim to be the first to know about anything that was going on in town, particularly if it had to do with men) "you must realize that someone has already perused its contents and has found out all there is to be known that could possibly apply to people like us in a situation like ours."
Lory did not like where this was going, he had been down this road before, and somehow he ended up where he had started from. He took the bait again, "People like us…a situation like ours?"
"Precisely, Darling; do not pretend to be unaware of the fact that we are the proud parents of five yet unwed children, GIRLS, I may as well add. We have not much money to divide among them if you die…and you MUST die. I may go soon; my horrid nerves will someday upheave and overtake me, but your death will be the one that counts.
Lory nearly rolled his eyes at his wife's depiction of the family's plight, but he really did understand the magnitude of the situation his girls were in. Being the man he was, and knowing the kind of woman his wife was, Mr. Lory Bennet had already taken the liberty of searching the contents of the latest paper to glean any news whatsoever of any possible suitors for his daughters. He had already found that a certain Yukihito Bingley was to rent the not-so-far-off Netherfield Hall and had intended to pay the eligible young bachelor a visit the very next morning. But, being annoyed with his wife's nervous habit of killing him off every time she mentioned the fragile state of their daughter's future financial security, he decided then and there to go visit Mr. Bingley in the morning, and not tell Jelly until he was good and ready.
After his long silence, poor Jelly felt rather provoked and fully justified into the following violent actions. She gathered up her skirt about her, pulled her legs onto the little pink couch she was sitting on, sat up on her haunches, and proceeded to launch herself at her husband. As used to his wife's crazy antics as he was, he was still caught unprepared as his petite wife came flying toward him, pinky out, screaming, "ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME?"
Upstairs, three of the Bennet sisters were calmly and amicably discussing the latest news their aunt had given them about a rich young man who had just moved into their neighborhood.
"Did she say he was handsome?" Anise, the youngest of the three there asked with an earnestness that was somewhat disconcerting to the other two girls present.
"I could manage even if he were one the more unfortunate-looking men in existence, I mean, if he's as rich as everyone supposes he is," laughed Momose.
"I thought you said you would only marry your 'dearly beloved', you told me riches had little to do with it," said Kyoko, oldest of the three.
"True, but in times of trouble…a girl's got to do what she can."
"How lovely, now Mother's really rubbed off on you," Kyoko teased.
"What can I say, I'm her favorite, I heard her say so myself," beamed Momose.
Kyoko and Anise looked at each other and shook their heads simultaneously.
At that moment, Kanae, the eldest of the Bennet sisters walked into the room. "What is all this racket about—wait—let me guess—a man!" she exclaimed with biting sarcasm. Being the oldest unmarried sister of five had definitely taken its toll.
"Of course," Kyoko smiled.
"Ha, I knew it. There are only a few things that would cause Mum to poke Father's eyes out for."
"She poked his eyes out?" cried Anise.
"How can you be so calm?" Momose looked at her eldest sister in horror.
Kyoko was already out the door and a third of the way down the staircase. When she reached the halfway point, Kyoko let out a gasp upon seeing her mother straddled across her father's back, pulling his hair and shouting.
And she thinks her nerves are frazzled, Kyoko thought wryly.
Torn between amusement (not many young ladies in the whole of England could put claim to finding their mothers in the position her mother was in) and dismay, Kyoko felt that it was her duty to stop the abuse of her beloved father.
"GO SEE MR. BINGLEY! GO SEE MR. BINGLEY! GO SEE—"
"Mother?" Kyoko interrupted.
"Yes, dear?"
"What are you doing?"
"I'm persuading your father to visit our new neighbor."
"Neighbor? Have you not heard there is more the one occupant to be at Netherfield these days?"
Jelly stopped mid-yank in Lory's hair, "Bless me! Are there more men?"
Kyoko suppressed the urge to roll her eyes (for if there was one thing that was not tolerated in Jelly's household, it was eye-rolling, despite the fact that Jelly herself had a rather hands-on approach to anger, as was the case now) at her mother's absurdly uplifted expression, "No Mum, Mr. Bingley has two sisters with him."
At hearing this news, Jelly visibly deflated.
Seeing that his wife was distracted, the effectively abused Lory used this chance to make his escape. He flipped his wife onto her back and quickly exited the room to escape to his office, where the females of Longbourne were not permitted to enter, and nurse his wounds.
Scarcely noticing his departure, Jelly sat up slowly and twisted her neck from side to side, cracking the bones in her neck, and wondered at the girls' source for information.
"Aunt Juli told us about Mr. Bingley and his two sisters. She says the elder one is already married; she is Mrs. Hurst and her husband is uncommonly fat. I do not know the given name of either of the sisters yet," Anise, who had been sitting at the top stair all this time, reported.
Tired of talking and hearing about men, Kanae who had been upstairs still laughing with Momose about their mother's passionate, but thus far fruitless career in matchmaking for her daughters, deigned to come downstairs.
"Mo! Where is Teru all this while? She is such an outcast."
Kyoko frowned at Kanae, "Don't be unkind; every one of us has our eccentricities."
"Yes, but poor Teru seems to have six too many," sighed Jelly. Jelly wondered if she would ever marry off her youngest daughter. Only time would tell; after all Teru was only thirteen, and if all went well for her sisters, she could stay with one of them.
Not knowing what to make of their mother's unexpected remark, Momose and Anise looked at each other with raised eyebrows and then each gave a soft, guilt-filled giggle.
"Really mother…" said Kyoko, not amused.
Though she had made enough mistakes in her nineteen years, though she had her faults, disloyalty was not one of them. Kyoko had a quick tongue, but did not delight in taking jabs at people with it…well, not unnecessarily anyway.
Kyoko cleared her throat when Teru herself appeared at the parlour's entryway looking upon the assembly that was her mother and sisters.
"I sneezed," she said awkwardly.
An even more awkward silence followed this statement.
"And?" Kanae prompted with an uplifted brow.
"Someone must've been talking about me. I read somewhere that's how it works in Japan."
Momose took a discreet look around the room, gauging her sisters' expressions. From this inspection, she could infer whether it would be tolerated to laugh or simply remain silent. Kanae looked exasperated, Kyoko patient, and Anise looked on the point of passing out from the laughter she was bravely trying to hold in.
Jelly intervened, saving Teru's sisters the trouble of making any type of response.
"We were not speaking of you, dear; however it works in Japan, it does not signify here in England. We were speaking about a suitor for your sisters."
Kanae's look changed from one of exasperation to absolute disgust. "Mo! I'm going upstairs."
Desperately grasping at an attempt to derail her mother's overly-discussed topic, Momose cried,"Wait! Anise and I are going to Meryton for ribbon, you could come too, if you'd like," she offered.
"Not for all the officers in the world," Kanae winked knowingly, then turned and went up the stairs.
"What a cow," Anise muttered.
"Well, I can come, what about you, Teru?" Kyoko asked.
"Well…I suppose I can finish my book, 'Burial Rituals of Newly Discovered Peoples', when we get back."
Momose and Anise turned to each other again with a look of disgust mirrored on their faces. Neither of them had any interest in such things. Teru would never find a bachelor at this rate. Oh well, every woman for herself; but when their time rolled around, they wouldn't be found with their nose in some obscure patch of a book, that was a nearly guaranteed way to miss out on any opportunities.
"Well that's settled, now isn't it? Seeing as you girls haven't a care about your unsettled future, despite your father's certain removal from this earth, I shall betake my much-harried nerves a rest while you all go prattle about town." With that slight tirade, the girls' mother removed herself from the room.
Not a bit sorry for her mother's gloom and despair, Momose said brightly, "Alright, let's everyone meet back here within a quarter of an hour. It's early yet; even walking to Meryton we still will have more than enough time to 'prattle about town'," she ended the sentence in mockery of her mother's so-called righteously martyred tone.
With that, the girls rushed up the stairs to their respective rooms, put on their respective shoes, shawls, coats, (it was a mid-spring day and the weather was fair and mild, whether to wear a coat or shawl was up to each person's tolerance for cold), and bonnets, and met downstairs again in the parlour as previously agreed upon.
Seeing themselves all ready and set for their vigorous walk, Kyoko led the group forth with a jubilant cry of, "To Meryton!", and the four girls swiftly set off.
alrighty, this is my first fanfiction…
this may be a bit ambitious, but being a huge fan of both Skip Beat! and Pride and Prejudice, i wanted to make something that combined both of my favorites. i sincerely hope you enjoy this combination. i will do my best to update once a week—it may be sooner than once a week, because i have a tendency to throw everything on paper and work it out right away, but we shall see…anyway, i'm sick with the flu and feeling somewhat creative right now, so this story is a result of my illness…no, wait, i meant creativity! this is going to be a rather long series and i would be grateful for any reviews you may have to offer along the way—good, bad, or ugly.
nice to meet you i,
Amtheoneuwant