AUTHOR'S NOTE: I know it's not a Transparent Wings update (that's not for another 11 days), but I finally picked up the next 3-in-1 Skip Beat Manga Volume 31-32-33 (covering the infamous Chapter 194) and Volume 34 and as I finished the last of Volume 33 I was hit by this HUGE urge to write this. It's a one shot, fairly short but the way it came together made me smile.

This isn't related to any of my other fics per se, but I could eventually see something like this coming about and it's probably been written in a few dozen other variations by other authors. However, this is my version any resemblance to stories written or not is completely coincidental. While I'm on that topic, Skip Beat! also doesn't belong to me, it's the property of Yoshiki Nakamura, I'm just borrowing it because I like to play in the world from time to time.

Thanks for reading (and reviewing if you get a chance)!

~ Yuki

Indelible Marks

"Has she ever put a mark on you that fills you body and soul for the entire time it lasts?"

Sho Fuwa jumped a bit at the question that rumbled from the direction of his dressing room door. He whirled around and saw a man he didn't know leaning on the door jamb with his arms crossed. The green gaze that touched on him sent shivers down his spine worse than the day he'd confronted Ren Tsuruga in the parking garage of TBM after he manipulated Kyoko into saying that she'd never fall in love with the actor or she would go back to his parents' ryokan as a waitress the rest of her life. A small part of him acknowledged that if Kyoko really did vanish into obscurity in Kyoto the Japanese show business scene would be struck a harsh blow, but it was far more important to him that Kyoko was out of reach for anyone but him.

"Who the hell are you talking about?" Sho growled.

"Kyoko."

The name came out as almost a purr like the voice that spoke it knew of no better word and caressed every syllable.

"What the fuck do you know about Kyoko?" Sho demanded. "Are you a stalker? If you are, stay the hell away from Kyoko!"

The blond man chuckled softly and shook his head. "Definitely not a stalker."

Sho reached for the phone to summon security and found the device snatched out of his reach as the dressing room door slammed shut.

The rock star's heart was pounding hard as the stranger in his dressing room casually tossed his cell phone onto the sofa he'd been lounging on moments before.

"Did she ever felt so strongly about you that she left a mark of her possession that lasts for days?" the man continued. "Has she ever sent a girl hitting on you flying across the floor?"

Sho drew in a sharp breath, Kyoko had always let him do as he pleased never saying a word, no matter how many girls he kissed or came home smelling like. She'd never so much as kissed him even in the days that she lived with him. She'd always sat back with that stupid smile of hers and contented herself making sure that Sho was happy and never troubled by anything.

"That stupid girl would never do anything like that. Are you delusional?" Sho scoffed. "She lets people walk all over her like a rug and never says a word otherwise."

"You really don't know her that well, do you Fuwa?" the man murmured. "You never let her figure out who she was. She was always your servant, the one you knew you could take for granted because she would never want to make her 'Sho-chan' unhappy. I find it funny now that her real self is coming out, the one you repressed so cruelly for that time you knew her, you're falling for her."

"I wouldn't fall for that stupid girl now if she was the last woman on the planet!" Sho shouted.

"Is that a promise?" the man asked. "Any brat can say what you just did. How will you pay for it if you fail?"

Sho's breath caught, the words he'd spoken to Kyoko weeks ago coming back to haunt him. How the hell did this guy know about those words, did he also know about that promise?

"On the other hand, if you say 'now' that doesn't negate the idea that you're already in love with her," the man said.

Sho glared at him.

"I see. No response," the man smiled slowly. "If you're not going to deny it then it's the same as confirming it. A pity I suppose—I was looking forward to a little more…fun."

The blonde dipped his hand into the pocket of his great coat and withdrew a stack of papers and tossed them in the general direction of the dressing table. The papers turned out to be a pile of gloss photos that scattered across the surface of the table.

Sho barely glanced at the photos glaring up at the invader. "What the hell are those?"

"They're a gift," the man smiled angelically, "as a thank you for making Kyoko who she is today."

The smile then turned dark. "They're also the closest you will ever get to touching Kyoko again," the man added, "personally or professionally."

The man left as suddenly as he came and Sho threw a brush at the door that hit as it shut and flung himself back down on the couch, barely avoiding crushing his cell phone.

He stayed there for all of thirty seconds before getting up and going to the photos strewn across the table. They were all shots of Kyoko showing her in her various roles ranging from some Japanese princess role he'd never seen to the Curara commercial, his own PV, Mio, the bullying chick from Box 'R', the photos from the Dark Moon party, a gothic punk picture from another thing he'd never seen, and more. However, it was one on the very bottom of the pile that caught and held him.

It was a picture of Kyoko just as herself with a brilliant smile that he'd never seen directed at anyone before, one that lit up her whole face as she splashed the photographer with an endless aqua blue ocean spread out behind her. It wasn't a professional photo like all of the others that much was obvious, it was just a snap shot into the life of the Kyoko he would never know.

"Oh, that's where you are! Yashiro-san was surprised you weren't already down here."

Ren Tsuruga glanced up as Kyoko bounced up from her chair in one of the waiting rooms of the television studio and smiled at her. "Sorry, I had to drop something off," he apologized, brushing a stray lock of the dark brown wig he wore out of his face.

A quick glance around told him that he was safe and he reached out and tangled his fingers with Kyoko's, hiding their joined hands in the fabric of the greatcoat he was wearing. "So dinner at Darumaya tonight?"

"Oh yes!"