I recently got into Skip Beat! I fell in love with the KyoRen pairing so I wanted to do a little one shot on Kyoko's feelings, just to get me back writing again. If you read my Bleach stories, you may be aware that I've had some problems with my health and university, but for now, I'm trying to write a bit more.

I hope you enjoy my first forage into the world of Skip Beat! Please review!

Thanks!

Kyoko didn't want to admit it. She locked every lock on her box tightly, and thrown away the keys. She didn't want to love again. It seemed so pointless. Why should she? She just got trampled on and left alone, like she was nothing but the dirt you'd scrape from your shoe. She knew she was better than that. She had people around her who cared for her. Moko-san had told her that friends were the family you could choose for yourself. Well, seeing as her biological family had left her, she wanted to pick a family for herself. One that would treat her like the idealistic families she saw on the television. Tsuruga-san, Moko-san, Maria-chan… they all had problems with their families, but she didn't care for them any less. They were all important to her. She didn't want to lose any of them.

But to love again in a romantic sense… that was different, wasn't it? Kyoko was scared of being hurt, but lately, she was beginning to notice the unlocking of the locks on her Pandora's box. Someone had taken the time to look for the keys and gently use them to unlock her heart. He wasn't trying the keys frantically, it seemed. The keys never snapped, but found their partner easily.

It made Kyoko nervous. Really nervous. She was scared, but he knew that. He knew her well, and was always there whenever she needed him. Her heart began to beat a little unusually whenever he was around. She could tell things were changing between them, but he seemed different to Shotaro. He was better. He gave more to her than he took from her, even things like his time. Whilst Shotaro did all he could to avoid coming home to her, Tsuruga-san found time for her. Frequently.

There's one lock left. She already knows she is in far too deep, but it wasn't possible that he, the Tsuruga Ren would want her, Kyoko, of the Love Me section. He could be unlocking them accidently, for all she knew. But Moko-san and Yashiro-san insisted he did like her in that sense, he definitely did. He had sighed and walked away and her heart had fallen. She'd been right. She had walked away and returned to her room at the Darumaya.

It was then that her phone beeped. It had received a text from an unknown number.

"Can you go to check on Ren? He left without eating. Yashiro"

A smile swept across her face. It was only an excuse to get them together in the same room, of that she was sure. However, Tsuruga-san never turned her away from his door.

Clinging to the single locked lock of the box that contained her heart, she got up and went to the shop to collect her ingredients.

She was ready to let him unlock that lock, but only if he could be the man Shotaro never was.