"Kyoko, be careful," Hizuri Kuon cautioned as he stepped out of the limo, before reaching back in to assist a very heavily pregnant Hizuri Kyoko out. He stroked her belly gently. "You shouldn't even have come," he grumbled. "This is going to be too tiring for you, we could have just stayed home tonight and watched the awards show on the TV."

With her hands supporting her belly, Kyoko looked up at her husband in horror. "What? How could we do that? Then how would you be able to collect all your awards! I could never inconvenience you that way!" she cried, distressed at the thought.

Kuon chuckled as he placed his hand at the small of her back to guide her into the building. "First, it could be said that I'm the one who inconvenienced you since it's my child you're carrying. Second, you should know by now that I would do anything for you – you saved me, remember? And third, you say that like you're not going to be taking home a handful of trophies yourself."

As soon as they set foot on the red carpet, a herd of reporters and paparazzi descended upon them, demanding photos and wanting to know what Kyoko and Kuon were wearing. Kyoko, as always, tried to be polite and smile and pose for the photos, but Kuon could see the strain in the lines around her eyes as she smiled. "Please, it's difficult for Kyoko to stand around for too long. Will you let us sit?" Just to seal the deal, he put on his sweetest smile. It had its intended effect – the paparazzi, swooning, moved aside obediently.

"You haven't changed a bit, have you? You're still Tsuruga Ren on the inside," Kyoko teased as they found their seats.

The awards show went as well as anticipated – Hizuri Kuon and Kyoko each won five awards and were crowned the most popular entertainers and Japan's top power couple. When the pair went on stage to accept the final award (which was just something fun the organizers had cooked up during the show) the whole of Japan fell more in love with the adorable couple as Kyoko was completely flustered at receiving the award and it was Hizuri-san, his arm around her waist holding her close to him, who did all the speaking while cuddling her to his side till she calmed down.

It went well for a certain Fuwa Shotaro as well, as he received several awards: top male musician, single of the year, and album of the year. He was also named second-most popular entertainer, after Hizuri Kuon, which was to be expected since his rival's popularity had shot up when his tragic story was finally revealed to the Japanese public and he married Kyoko, another popular entertainer. He was by no means happy about it, but he had anticipated it.

On the way out of the show, he overheard Kyoko remarking to Hizuri, "Can you imagine how my life has changed since I joined LME? That was five years ago, and my life now is so different from what I ever imagined I could have." He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists angrily as Hizuri leaned down to press a kiss to her neck, right behind her ear. "My life has changed immeasurably since I met you, so I can empathize," the bastard told Kyoko, which made Shotaro want to gag. He half-expected Kyoko to shriek and push him away, but instead she raised her left hand, on which her wedding and engagement rings sparkled merrily, to caress his cheek. "Corn, I love you so much," she whispered tenderly to him, and that was it.

"Kyoko, I want to talk to you," he snarled as he grabbed her wrist and started to pull her away. At that, that bastard Hizuri growled and smacked his hand away from her, grabbing his shirtfront and bringing him close. "Don't you lay a finger on my wife," he said menacingly.

Kyoko placed a bracing hand on his forearm. "Corn, it's all right. He won't really hurt me – physically, anyway," she added as an afterthought, which caused Shotaro to grimace. "Wait here for me, all right?"

Then she turned to face Shotaro and her demeanor changed completely. "What do you want, Shotaro?" she asked impatiently.

"I want to talk to you. Please?" The last part was tacked on as an afterthought, since Shotaro figured he had better butter her up before their talk.

She sighed and started walking away. Turning a corner, they found a secluded nook and walked inside. "What do you want?" Kyoko asked tiredly.

Shotaro had had a speech prepared. It was something he'd been working on for several years now, and it was beautiful, poetic and eloquent. If he put it to music, it was likely that he would break records not just all over Japan, but all over the world. But somehow, what fell out of his mouth at the moment was, "Marry me."

"What." It wasn't a question.

"Um, I mean…" This was not the plan, he screamed in his mind, scrambling to salvage the situation. "I love you, please leave that bastard Hizuri? It's me who knows you best anyway."

"HA?! What are you saying, Fuwa Shotaro! What nonsense is this mouth spouting now?" As she said it, she had taken his cheeks in her hands and was pulling hard on them.

His eyes watering, Shotaro managed to get out, "No, Kyoko, please stop! I'm sorry! I'm sorry about everything!"

In her shock, Kyoko's hands released his face and fell limply to her sides. It was the first apology she'd ever heard from him, and it had been five years. "It took you five years to say that?" she said, rolling her eyes. Then the fight went out of her, and she sighed.

"Shotaro, I'm not angry anymore. I was, for a long time, but I think that if you hadn't done what you had done, my life would have been completely different. I would have been living in your parents' inn still, a shell of a person with none of my own goals or aspirations. My whole life, this life – " At that, she palmed her belly, "wouldn't exist if it wasn't for your actions. So yes, it was horrible of you to do what you did, but it doesn't bother me anymore.

"And with regards to your other nonsensical ramblings, no, Shotaro, I am not going to leave my husband for you. You took me for granted all my life, and even if you love me now – which I highly doubt, since it's you after all – it took all of this to make you see me as a person." She gestured towards her face, which was perfectly made up, and her expensive designer maternity dress. "You broke me, and Kuon fixed me. You saw me as an object, a stepping stone for your convenience, but Kuon, even when we were children, saw Mogami Kyoko, the person. Someone I didn't even see until just recently. You may have known me best at some point, but that's clearly no longer the case. I'm someone completely unrecognizable from the girl you know, aren't I, and somehow that is the only thing that makes me intriguing to you."

She stepped closer to him, seeing his shocked and hurt face, with tears starting to pool in his eyes and on his lashes. She reached up with her hand to wipe a stray tear from his eyes. "For most of my youth, I adored you. I would have done anything for you, and I did do everything for you. But it wasn't enough for you to take me seriously, and there isn't enough left of those feelings for me to even consider your request. And for whatever it's worth, Sho-chan, some part of me will always belong to you. But that's all you'll ever have of me."

She tiptoed to give him a kiss on the cheek. "I loved you, Sho-chan. But I don't anymore. And now that I know what love really feels like, I wonder if I truly did. I really do wish you all the best, Sho-chan. I have to go now, Kuon will be worried."

At that, she squeezed his hand and left the nook, walking down the hall and back to her husband. His face lit up as he saw her walking back towards him, and he leaned down to give her a kiss, fussing around her worriedly and shepherding her out of the building into the waiting limo so that he could get some food in his wife's belly (and his child's!) and tuck her into bed.

Shotaro, on the other hand, had sunk to the ground where he stood and wouldn't get up till much later. Tears streamed down his face as he finally comprehended for the first time the enormity of what he had lost. Images flashed unbidden through his mind – him and Kyoko as husband and wife, taking care of his family's inn together. Her sweet smile beside him for the rest of his life as they grew old together, the two of them with children, all things he hadn't known he'd wanted until just then. He loved the fame that came with his job, but at the moment he would have swapped it all just to have that quiet, happy life with Kyoko. He thinks about how poorly he'd treated her – even in Kyoto he'd been so insensitive to her, flirting with and even kissing other girls in front of her even though he'd been fully aware of her feelings for him, and it Tokyo it had been much worse, just the thought making him ashamed now.

Maybe Kyoko was right, and he'd never seen her until she changed completely. And for that reason, he couldn't help but agree that he didn't deserve her, as painful as the admission was. He could only watch from afar as Hizuri Kuon, his showbiz rival since he'd entered the industry and now his love rival, lived the life that he, Fuwa Sho, should have lived. But there was no way to change that now. He could only live with the regrets for the rest of his life, watching the perfect life of the woman he'd discarded and derided from afar. And somehow, that had to be enough.

Wow, I'm on a roll here! Two fics in two days, who's proud of me!

I hope you enjoyed this short fic, and it wasn't too OOC - I tried to imagine what Ren and Kyoko would be like as a married couple (it WILL happen one day in canon! I insist!) once all the bullshit UST and existential angst is dealt with, and this is the best I could do. I'm most worried about Shotaro because I just took what little there is about how he's coming to realize his feelings for Kyoko and milked and extrapolated it as much as I could to get this. For some reason I'm super into these types of fics - I have a similarly themed fic on Yuuki and Soujiroh from HYD on my profile as well.

Please let me know what you think, and if there are any areas I should polish up for future fics, Skip Beat or otherwise. (maybe I'll do more Skip Beat fic as the manga progresses, who knows? I'm currently crazy about it and can't stop reading the Kyoko/Corn in Guam chapters) I love hearing from the readers! (It feels very weird to say my readers like I'm such a big deal, lol.)

Love,

Peachy Hikaru