Alrighty then, here it is! the beginning of the much anticipated (well, anticipated by me) multi-chapter Skip-Beat fic. I swear you guys, i'm so stoked for you to read this. So... where to start.

eh, i'll disclaim it i guess. I dont own Skip-Beat, or the Skip-Beat characters, however, i cant say the same for Skylar and Kaylie, since i do own them.

hope you enjoy it! :)

Kyoko sat on the curb, excited beyond belief. Today was the day her landlords would be receiving the two American students from the exchange program that they had joined. For a full year they would be staying with her, one for art purposes and the other for film. She was so excited she could scarcely stand it, staring at every car that zoomed by.

Finally, a taxi pulled to a stop in front of her, and she stood happily. The back door opened, and she heard a cheerful voice thanking the driver in Japanese, although with a very obvious accent.

Suddenly a long leg emerged from the car, followed quickly by another, and a girl slid out of the cab. She was much taller than Kyoko, with a height just a couple of inches shy of tall enough to rival Sho (who stood at 5'11). She had very long brown hair that hung down the length of her back, nearly to her waist. Bright blue eyes gazed at Kyoko from underneath long eyelashes, and bangs were swept over her right eyebrow. Her nose was straight, with a rounded off tip and her lips were full and pink, and pulled back to reveal dazzling straight teeth and cute dimples. She wore a black leather bomber jacket over a white tank top paired with gray skinny jeans and black biker boots, along with an acoustic guitar case that was strapped to her back.

Behind her, another girl emerged from the cab. She was much shorter than the first girl, more Kyoko's size, with short brown hair with purple tips that tapered shorter in the back and longer in the front, although not even the longest piece was long enough to touch her shoulders. She had bangs that swept to her left, but barely scraped her eyebrow. She had big, enchanting green eyes, although her eyelashes were rather short. She had a straight nose and full lips, which pulled back to reveal a slightly crooked, although cute, smile. Freckles were splashed over her nose and her cheeks had a slight flush. She wore a black t-shirt and a white flowy skirt, paired with a pair of converse.

Suddenly the taller of the two began to speak. "Hi! You must be Kyoko. I'm Skylar, and this is Kaylie."

"It's very nice to meet you!" Kyoko replied, bowing immediately.

"Oh, you don't have to do that if you don't want to. I mean, doesn't it hurt a little bit to be hanging there so ramrod straight?" Skylar asked, grabbing Kyoko lightly by the shoulders and pulling her back to a standing position.

"Um, no…"

"Well, you've probably been doing it a long time anyhow." Suddenly she smacked her palm against her forehead. "Bags! How stupid of me."

However, before she could turn around and get her luggage, Kyoko had already grabbed all of it and was beginning to haul it back to the house.

Suddenly somebody grabbed her by the shoulder and took the bags. "No. I'm staying at your house in your room for a year while you feed me and allow me to use the facilities. I can at least carry my own luggage."

"Likewise," Kaylie said, smiling.

Kyoko looked at them, bewildered, but nodded and gave the luggage back without a fight.

After all of it was carried upstairs, the girls sighed, happy with the work they had done.

"So, Kyoko, do you have a plan for today? Because we're horrible planners, ourselves," Skylar said, to which Kaylie nodded.

"Well, I have work today actually…"

"Oh! Well, would you mind if we joined you? After all, we are here for the program so we need to spend some time around film studios and agencies," Kaylie asked.

"Of course, but it isn't a paid job…"

"Oh, is it that Love Me thing you told us about over the phone?" Skylar inquired.

"Yep."

"Well, we can volunteer! It'll be fun."

"Okay, well, Tsuruga-san will be picking me up shortly, so we should wait outside…"

"Okie dokie! Who's Tsuruga-san?"

"Tsuruga Ren. He's the most well-known actor in Japan."

"Oh, alright, so his name's Ren then? I kind of like that name," Kaylie told Skylar.

"Eh, you would. Anyway, what kind of car are we looking out for?"

"It's a sports car."

"Ooh!" Kyoko's companions cooed in harmony, causing Kyoko to smile happily at them. Suddenly, realizing a question she had wanted to ask, she turned to Skylar and wondered aloud, "If you don't mind me asking; how tall are you?"

"Hmm? Oh, 5'9. For a while, everybody wanted me to become a model since I'm over the height limit which is like 5'7. But I never really wanted to. I figure it would be bad if I starved myself like they usually do; and worse if I were to die from it."

"People actually do that?"

"Oh yeah. Anorexia, man. Jesus."

"And they don't eat?"

"Well, they eat, but just tiny amounts of food. Otherwise they just skip a bunch of meals, get mad at themselves if they eat too much in one day, count calories like crazy, and cut up their food in tiny little pieces so it takes longer to eat."

Kyoko absorbed this information, sticking each and every tidbit to her senpai.

Suddenly a car pulled to a stop in front of them, causing Skylar and Kaylie's eyes to bug out.

"I am in love with this car," Skylar stage-whispered to Kaylie, who nodded enthusiastically.

With that the driver's seat door opened, and Ren slid out, stretching himself to his full height.

"Holy shit; and you thought I was tall," Skylar muttered to Kyoko out of the side of her mouth.

"Sky, watch your mouth!" Kaylie scolded her, but also stared up at Ren.

"Shut up, you're just as crude as me. Anyhow, hi! I'm Skylar Lake, and this is Kaylie Harper."

"Bow you dumb shit, we're in their country, not ours!" Kaylie mumbled, pushing against Skylar's shoulders and causing her to bow, although the minute her shoulders were freed Skylar snapped right back straight again and turned to glare at her friend, who was also standing perfectly upright.

Ren smiled at the two, amused, before he bowed and introduced himself. "Are you two coming with us to LME?"

"Yep!" Skylar replied enthusiastically. "We're gonna join Love Me for the year."

"That's good." Ren turned his attention to Kyoko, and smiled happily. Skylar and Kaylie shared a quick glance, before turning to look at her as well. "Good morning Mogami-san."

"Good morning Tsuruga-san," Kyoko replied, tight-lipped.

"What's the matter?"

"Have you eaten?"

"Not yet…"

"There's a name for it you know."

"For what?"

"What you have."

"What do I have?"

"Anorexia."

"Eh?"

Skylar stared at Kyoko. "Erm, Kyoko, I seriously doubt he has Anorexia…"

"But he hardly ever eats!"

"Even so, he isn't nearly skinny enough to be Anorexic, especially if his low appetite has been happening for a long while."

Kyoko glared up at Ren, who was smiling triumphantly. "You still have to eat. We better stop somewhere on our way."

"Okay, where should we eat?" Ren asked politely.

"Is there a McDonalds around here? I swear, I would kill for a Big Mac right now after suffering through that airplane food," Kaylie suggested, to which Skylar nodded.

"Kaylie! That food is so unhealthy!"

"But Kyoko, we're young. Our metabolisms aren't going to stick around much longer, so we might as well use them while we have them," Skylar said, grinning.

"You could still gain weight…"

Skylar jerked her thumb towards Kaylie, narrowing her eyes. "Skinny over here is a complete glutton, but hasn't exercised a day in her life."

"Not true! I run after the ice cream truck," Kaylie joked, giggling.

Kyoko widened her eyes. She wasn't sure she believed them, considering Kaylie's rail-thin figure.

"Well, actually, she kind of cheats. She's a hypoglycemic. Her body burns off sugar so fast she needs to be constantly eating in order to maintain health."

"High sugar content helps," Kaylie agreed.

Kyoko narrowed her eyes, looking at Kaylie. "Then we will go to McDonalds in order to maintain your health."

Skylar smiled and secretly high-fived Kaylie when Kyoko's back was turned. Suddenly Ren leaned in beside them, and glancing back at Kyoko, asked, "What was that for? Were you lying?"

"No, but we were using the truth to help us get what we wanted," Kaylie told him bluntly.

"Yeah, because honestly, what tastes better, a Big Mac or a salad?" Skylar took his slight smile as an answer and slid in the backseat with Kaylie following. Kyoko sat down in the passenger seat and Ren sat in the driver's seat. He looked in the rearview mirror at the girls. "Do you two drive?"

"Yeah, but we don't have licenses for Japan, so our ability is invalid," Skylar said unhappily.

"I assume you don't like that?"

"Well, no. Firstly, I had to leave my baby back home, and I'm not allowed to drive here!"

"Your baby?" Ren asked, startled.

"Her Volkswagen," Kaylie informed him, not even moving her head from the window.

"Ah. Is it nice?"

Skylar smiled and was about to launch into a complete description when Kaylie interrupted quickly. "It's best not to ask."

"I see. Well, we can drive through McDonald's and still make it to LME early."

"Kay!" The two girls in the back chirped happily.

"Where's Yoshiro-san?" Kyoko asked, looking up at Ren as he pulled away from the curb.

"He will be meeting me at the agency today. He told me he had to get there early for some reason…" Although he probably just planned it this way… Ren thought, continuing to stare ahead.

"Okay." Kyoko turned to look out the window.

Suddenly the peace in the car was disturbed by a gasp from the back seat, causing Kyoko and Ren to jump, and the former to swivel around in her seat to stare at Skylar, the culprit. "We have to go to Tokyo Disney sometime!"

"Oh God, here she goes…" Kaylie muttered.

Kyoko smiled, happy that was it. "Sure! I have a day off this weekend."

"Frick yeah!" Skylar whooped in English, before covering her mouth. "I just yelled in English didn't I?"

"Yes, but that's fine. I understand English, as does Tsuruga-san," Kyoko replied lightly.

"Well, still, this is your country…"

"It's fine, I promise. Anyway, you were talking about Disney?"

"Oh yeah! I work there, you know? I'm an intern right now, but I want to be a character designer, which is kind of why I'm here."

"You're an artist?" Ren asked, glancing in the rearview mirror.

"Yep. See, I'm supposed to improve my drawing skills here by talking to artists of manga, and observing the environments around here and sketching them. So, that's what I'm supposed to do as part of this program."

"I'm part of it to study film and the things the directors do."

"She wants to be a film director."

Kyoko smiled. "Well, that will be easy enough at LME."

"True," Kaylie said, smiling.

Shortly after that they pulled into McDonald's, and after burgers were eaten and fries were devoured they finally made it to LME. The girls pleasantly thanked Ren, had a brief meeting with Yashiro, and were off.

Kaylie looked back at the retreating form of Ren and Yashiro, before looking at Kyoko. "He's cute."

"Who, Yoshi or Sasquatch?" Skylar asked before taking a slurp of her Coke.

"They have names, Sky."

"Right, right, right. Yashiro or Ren?"

"Both, but Ren in particular."

"Definitely. Kyoko, why don't you go after him?"

"Girls, Tsuruga-san is my Senpai. That is all."

"I've been to that website," Kaylie said, sniggering.

Skylar whacked Kaylie in the arm before saying, "Oh yeah. We understand. That's why he gives you rides, huh?"

"Well yes—"

"And why he stares at you."

"I didn't notice—"

"And how he smiles so beautifully at you."

"Well that's just—"

"Kyoko!"

"Yes!"

"You're making excuses."

"Because you are incorrect. I am his kohai; that is all."

Skylar and Kaylie looked at each other and rolled their eyes, but followed Kyoko up to where they would volunteer at.

"Sir, Kyoko wishes to see you," Sebastian said from the door, and waved Kyoko, Kaylie, and Skylar in.

Frankly, the girls had not expected the president in the slightest, even after his assistant.

He was all dressed up in clothing a sultan would wear, including puffy pants, a puffier shirt, and a head dress.

"Ah, Kyoko! And friends! Have a seat."

The girls did as they were told, and Kaylie whispered to Skylar, "I like him."

Skylar smiled and nodded, before turning her attention back to the president. "What brings you three here?"

"Well, this is Skylar and Kaylie. They're American foreign exchange students."

"Ah. Pleasure to meet you."

"Pleasure to meet you too sir," Skylar said politely. "Actually, we would like to volunteer for Love Me while we're here."

"Really? How exciting!"

"Yes, and we were hoping also, maybe you could help us with our assignment from the exchange program?"

"What's the assignment?"

"Well, she has to study film and what directors do mostly, and I have to work on my art and talk to manga authors and such."

"I see. Well, I would love to be of service. Firstly, though, we need to get your uniforms." Lory got up and instructed his assistants to get two Love Me uniforms. Within minutes they were back with the bright pink overalls. Once the president handed them to the two girls, he quickly ushered them out with a smile.

Down in the Love Me locker room, Kaylie asked Kyoko if the uniforms were meant to be worn as they were made. When Kyoko told her she didn't think so, Kaylie abruptly rolled up her pant legs to make them capris. Skylar looked at Kaylie, muttered, "Good idea," and rolled up her pants as well.

Kyoko sat and watched silently, before saying, "You're taking the uniforms well."

"Well, you told us they were hideous," Kaylie told her, putting her bag away.

"And also, we're used to looking back on the eighties, and asking ourselves, 'what the fuck were they thinking?' These pink overalls aren't going to faze us." Skylar shrugged, raising her hands and waving them around slightly.

Kyoko widened her eyes. "That gesture! That American gesture!"

Skylar frowned, confused. "What, this?" She resumed the shrugging again.

"Yes, that! I've seen it before!"

Skylar looked at her hands, beyond confused. "You just called this an American Gesture."

"Yes!"

"Kyoko, we're in Japan."

"Yes!"

Skylar looked around slightly, before staring at her with meaning. "There isn't an abundance of Americans running around."

"No, I didn't… Tsuruga-san!"

"What about him?"

"He did that gesture!"

"He's American?" Skylar asked loudly, surprised.

"Well, no, I don't think… He lived in America!"

"Oh. Well then. That would explain it, I guess." Skylar shrugged her shoulders and packed her stuff away in her locker, sighing happily. "Now to begin a new job."

"You aren't upset about not being paid?"

"Of course not. I wouldn't get paid at an internship, and that's where I'm going right after I go back home. And besides, I don't really have expenses for now, and I can always get a part-time job if I need money."

Kyoko looked at her, slightly worried for a second that she might be looking at a past version of herself.. "Two jobs?"

"Oh yeah. I had two jobs in high school. I really had to grind some gears for my car. And anyhow, it'll be easier, me being single and all."

Kaylie looked at her friend worriedly, but Kyoko missed it. "Right! Just don't stress yourself too much."

"Oh I won't Kyoko, but thanks!" She smiled and leaned forward to hug her lightly before clapping her hands together. "Alright then, let's get to work!"

Kyoko smiled and followed Skylar and Kaylie out, to the first day of their careers as Love Me girls four and five, and also, what could only be called a beginning of an era.

Alright, there it is! the beginning. So, since you've read this much, review maybe? :)

briefly, i'd just like to thank the incredible people who reviewed Moments In Rhythm for me. Much appreciated you guys!

Hope this one seems promising!

~Lexi