A/N: As usual, I don't own Skip Beat. The day I do is the day hell freezes over and has a tea party for everyone.
The Only Exception
For once, a day at LME had passed without incident. At least, it had for the Talent Section. The other sections had not been quite so lucky. The Acting Section had a publicity nightmare to deal with—one of their rising stars had actually hit another actor from a different agency. One of the Music Section's artists had lost the score to his new song and the whole section had spent hours looking for it before it was found...in the artist's messenger bag. And the Modeling Section had been quite frantic earlier in the day as a model had threatened to quit a very important job if certain…demands weren't met. Of course, President Takarada had sent her packing once he heard of it. And the Love-Me Section…well, that section was in a league of its own as far as drama is concerned, so we'll just let that be. But so far, the Talent Section had escaped its usual excitement. Sawara Takenori hoped and prayed it would stay that way. Unfortunately, such a ridiculous wish would never come true.
The employees of the Talent Section first sensed their doom in the sound of an elevator. As they paused to listen, they realized it wasn't the sound of the elevator that had spelled out their doom. It was the voice inside the elevator that had. Somehow, after many dealings with the Love-Me Section, the employees of the Talent Section had developed the ability to sense the location of any Love-Me member within the building. And then take the appropriate evasive maneuvers. But, for some reason, they had missed the presence of Love-Me member number one stepping into the elevator. The elevator that was heading to their very floor. Everyone leaped up to escape, except for Sawara-san. He knew there was no escaping Hurricane Kyouko. Ever. As the elevator rose closer and closer to the Talent Section's floor, the escaping employees sensed a peeved aura. The peeved aura of Mogami Kyouko. All of them turned to their boss, saw the resignation in his eyes, and reluctantly returned to their seats, also resigned to the lot fate had cast them. By the time the elevator had dinged its arrival and opened its doors, every employee was back at their desk, continuing with the paperwork that had almost been abandoned in the impending storm. Mogami Kyouko, even if she had been paying attention to her surroundings, wouldn't have noticed anything amiss. But as it was, she was frantically trying to set a certain Tsuruga Ren straight about her love life.
"Tsuruga-saaaan!" Kyouko whined to her mentor. "You know that I've sworn off love! So stop teasing me about the possibility that I might fall in love with one of my costars! You're just being mean and you know every single word you just said is untrue! Take it back!" stormed a fuming Kyouuko as she stepped off the elevator, Ren trailing right behind her.
Ren's face fell slightly at the adamant reminder that she had sworn never to fall in love again , but he quickly schooled his face back into a teasing expression. Honestly, as one of Kyouko's costars, he had hoped she would've gotten then hint. That is he faintly hoped she would. Oh, who was he kidding, such a subtle hint had no hope of getting through to her, but who can blame him for trying?
After a moment of silence, he laughed and said, "You never know, Mogami-san. Stranger things have happened than a girl falling in love, I imagine. Even one that's sworn off love completely."
She swung around to reply, but before she could Maria-chan's voice sadly resounded in the hallway. "Onee-sama, does that mean you don't love me?"
Kyouko slowly turned around, apprehensive to see what was surely Maria's hurt face. Maria's eyes were glistening brightly with the tears she refused to cry in front of the idol who had told her crying would never help. Kyouko rushed to Maria and enveloped her in a hug.
"Maria of course I love you. My little sister will always be an exception to my ban on love. Always, always, always, no matter what," Kyouko whispered softly.
"You promise?" Maria whispered quietly back.
"I promise."
Appeased, Maria-chan let Kyouko out of the hug. And instantly her eyes hit Ren and the young girl quickly ran over to her other idol and jumped into his arm, already chattering away about her day.
As it just so happened, Kotonami Kanae was walking down a nearby hallway as the prior scene unfolded. "And what about me?" Moko-san demanded just as Maria-chan jumped into Ren's arms. "Doesn't your BEST FRIEND also deserve to be an exception as well?" the actress asked huffily.
"Of course, Moko-san!" Kyouko squealed as she launched a tackle-hug at her friend. "Of course I love you, too!"
As usual though, Moko-san deftly dodged Kyouko's attack and a game of attack-and-dodge began between the two friends. Although Moko-san's face looked peeved, her eyes absolutely smiled, happy that her best and only friend had once again said she loved her. Ren watched this game of cat and mouse with a small smile on his face. Maybe he could create a small crack in her walls with this information.
"Mogami-san," Ren began. As her name left her beloved mentor's lips, Kyouko instantly froze in halfway through her newest attempt to tackle-hug her best friend. She fell to the floor, and from there she asked, "Yes, Tsuruga-san?"
Ren walked the few steps to her and helped her back on her feet. Then he said, "I was actually under the impression that there were a few more exceptions to your ban."
"Eh? What do you…YOU'RE RIGHT! HOW COULD I HAVE FORGOTTEN?" Kyouko screamed as the realization hit her. "STUPID, STUPID, HOW COULD I HAVE mmff…" she trailed off as Ren covered her mouth with his hand.
"Are you quite finished, Mogami-san?" Ren asked politely. Her face beat red with embarrassment, she nodded affirmatively.
Ren removed his hand and asked, "Now what were you just saying?"
Fidgeting, Kyouko said, "Well, it's just that I forgot to mention that I love Okami-san, Taisho, and Otou-san." Counting on her fingers, she continued, "And of course I love Mio, Natsu, Kuon, and Setsu. And I don't doubt that when I meet Julia-san I'll love her, too. I can't believe I almost forgot so many important people!"
"You know, Mogami-san," Ren began, "you have quite a few exceptions to that ban of yours. Can it even be considered a ban with so many exceptions?"
The air around Kyouko darkened with frustration. "It's not my fault!" she said vehemently to the ground. With her arms crossed, she looked to her right, kicked the ground with a pout, and said, "How in the world could I NOT love them?"
Ren just chuckled and patted her head. She was a step closer to admitting that she could still love and trust people. And, hopefully, that one step would eventually let her say that he was an exception as well.