I don't anything that has to do with Skip Beat! whatsoever. All rights belong to Yoshiki Nakamura. If the story and characters belonged to me, Ren and Kyoko would've been married for a long, long time now. The plotline of this story is the only thing I own.

Please Enjoy!

Prologue

The wind blew steadily, whipping my golden hair into my face. It made it seem much colder than it really was, and it was cold enough without it. I'd heard there was supposed to be a bad thunderstorm, and possibly a tornado, the reason why most people remained indoors. The only ones who weren't indoors were either really brave or suicidal,wouldn't mind getting drenched, or had no place to go, like me. It was just my luck that the owner of the sushi restaurant I'd been staying with happened to hear the rumors about me that were spreading like wildfire. Well, to be honest, many of them, however, were true. I'd been kicked out immediately, forbidden to ever come back again, even to get my things. So, there I was, no money, no food, nothing. I'd been wearing the same gray t-shirt and jeans for the past three days. My hair was a tangled mess. When the wind died down a little, I heard a sound. I quickly turned my head to the right. It was silent, well, except for the wind rustling the leaves of the tree I sat against and the howling wind, of course. I must have imagined it. Then I heard it again. I was sure of it this time. What I heard was footsteps, and they were getting closer. Eventually they were close enough so that I could hear voices. They were laughing. What are they doing here out in the middle of the park? I thought.

"Hey, don't you think we should go now? I heard there was going to be a storm, a real bad one too." The dark-haired man said.

"No. I need to talk to you now. It's about you-know-who." said the taller man. His voice seemed really urgent.

Just a little wind? Baka! It was almost impossible to hear anything over the roar of the wind, which was getting stronger by the second.

The men started talking again.

"What's so important about him that you have to tell me now?" You-know-who? They were all alone, well, except for me of course, so why 'you-know-who'?

"The entire gang was wiped out."

"Wiped out?! Seriously?! The whole gang?! By who?!"

I already knew the answer, even before it was said. I tensed.

"Some guy named Corn." The tall one spat. Wrong. I thought. It's Kuon, not Corn.

The other man stopped walking and stared at him. He started shaking. Well, here it comes. I thought.

"C-Corn? D-did you just s-say C-corn?" The man blurted out, then broke out in spasms of laughter. "You've g-gotta be kidding me! What kinda name is C-corn?!"

"It's his name, obviously!" The man shouted angrily. "Now quit laughing! Don't you see what this means, you asshole?! All our friends are dead!"

".....What?" The other stared incredulously.

"What's with that look? What the hell did you think I meant when I said they were wiped out?!"

"That guy...he killed them? All of them?"

"That's what I said, isn't it?!"

"Joe,Mark,Thomas, they're all...dead? Are you sure?"

"Sure as hell. That guy killed them all. I was there. I saw it."

"What if that guy saw you?! What are we gonna do?!"

"We're gonna get that bastard back, that's for sure."

"But how? You just said everyone's dead!"

"I don't know! We'll think of something! Hell, we'll call the other gangs in!" The tall man shouted, loud enough to hear even over the howling wind. The men continued talking, but much quieter this time, so it was impossible to hear over the wind. I strained to listen, and the wind soon died down again so that I could hear.

"It's not only the guy's name that's weird. I heard he was only seventeen. Seventeen!"

"Seventeen?!"

"Yeah, and he's already such a kick-ass fighter. We'd need everyone-and I do mean everyone's-help. He won't go down that easily. That I know for sure."

"Yeah and then..."

It was impossible to hear what they were saying because the wind had begun to pick up again almost immediately. I groaned and stood straight, stretching as I did. "I'm really not in the mood for this right now." I whispered. Not that they would be able to hear me over the wind, anyway. Besides, it would be much less time-consuming to get rid of just these two than it would be to deal with all the others. I waited for them to come close enough. Then stepped quickly around the tree, facing them directly.

"Didn't your mothers tell you it's impolite to talk about people behind their backs? If you want to say something, say it to my face." The men both froze.

"What's with those expressions? It's your own damn luck that I just so happened to hear your little conversation."

Just then, a single bolt of lightning illuminated the sky.

Why? Why was I bringing up painful memories? I asked myself. My hand was clenched in a tight fist on my lap and my shoulders were shaking. What was I even doing before I started daydreaming? I looked down. Oh, right! I was memorizing my lines. I must have noticed the similarities between B.J and...Wait, what time is it? I glanced down at my watch.

"Well, better get to work if I want to keep the name of 'Never Late King!'" I told myself.

Well, how is it so far? A little constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated!

This is just a little off topic, but don't you hate it when you're forced to read some long, drawn-out book that's ridiculously BORING? I certainly do. The only thing I hate more than a long, boring book is a super-short, really great story. I hate it when I REALLY get absorbed in the story when it suddenly ends almost immediately after it started! I'm sure some of you agree with me, no? That's why I'm doing my best not to make my first Skip Beat fic fit either one of those descriptions, but I could really use some help here! I've gotten some serious cases of writer's block in the past, so a lot of my stories (not on FF!) are either great but REALLY short or I never even finish them at all!

So please, help me out a little here. If you ever have any ideas or advice, please contact me. I'm already having difficulty with Dark Shadow, and I've barely even started! Your help would be greatly appreciated!

Click the button. You know that you know that you know that you want to. (LOL) ^-^