This is a Kyoko X Ren fanfic, with a lot of Reino and otherworldliness thrown in, and a lot of the fairytale ideas were recycled and altered from Diana Wynne Jones' books, although I offer no guarantee that they will be the same. Any and all reviews and critiques (and praise ^^) will be highly appreciated.
The Usual Disclaimer: Nothing from Diana Wynne Jones nor Skip Beat! belongs to me, they belong to much more awesome people who have much better ideas than me. Now that we've got that sorted, let's read on, shall we?
The offer had come to Kyoko out of the blue. Even though she had just finished filming Dark Moon, and her portrayal of a high school bully in the drama Box-R was second to none, it still surprised her when she found out that people wanted her to act in their creations. And what a creation it was- her dream offer, to be precise- or so she had thought.
At first glance it had seemed perfect: the role of a simple fairy in the realm of magic. That was what Sawara-san had told it to her as anyway. And she, being too stupid and over the moon at her luck, had agreed without reading the script. It was only after she had started to prepare for her role, and had had to read the script in its entirety that she found out what she had bitten into. Once she read on, she found out that the fairy had a twisted complicated heart, and was loaded with conflicting emotions, many of which made her act out malevolently.
Kyoko was very confused of her own feelings at this point. At one hand she wanted to do the role. She could already see herself, putting herself through various scenarios in the fairy's shoes, wondering how she would nuance the character, the way she had observed Tsuruga-san doing. But on the other hand, she felt that she was being type-cast. The only role to date where she had not been a malicious person was the Curara CF. What if this trend continued? What if people thought that she was only suitable for darker roles, and would work herself into a corner?
Kyoko shook her head. The decision was out of her hands anyway. She had already gone and tried to plead with Sawara-san to let her back out of the role, but the veteran manager had explained, in quite an infuriatingly reasonable and calm manner, that she couldn't back out. Regardless of the accolades she was receiving, she was still a rising star, and was not yet firmly established enough to refuse a role. The media was ruthless, and if it ever caught wind of the fact that Kyoko had refused a role with Tanamori-san, an esteemed director, it would be all too easy for them to paint her as an arrogant upstart with a swollen head from her new fame. No, Sawara-san had been quite firm. There would be no backing out. Kyoko just had to learn the hard way never to accept a role without reading the complete script at least once.
However, the manager hadn't been completely unsympathetic. He had showed her a picturesque country house, and explained that LME's talents sometimes went there to clear their head and get ready for roles. He was sure that could manage to secure a room and send her there for a week, and she could work things out for herself. Maybe come up with a definite list of roles and characters Kyoko was looking forward to playing, he had suggested. Sawara-san had promised that he would looks over the list, and if anything suitable popped up, he would try and get her cast for it. One fluffy role against so many dark ones couldn't possibly do any harm to her, and would only increase her repertoire and experience.
This suggestion had cheered Kyoko up considerably. After all, one week off was better than nothing. Both Moko-san and Tsuruga-san were busy filming their own respective projects in foreign countries, and the landlady and landlord of Darumaya had hired a lot of seasonal help since Kyoko's schedule was ever-changing, so they wouldn't be needing her. And if she got that week to make a wish list for her dream roles and relax… what could possibly be so bad about that?
She snapped back to the present, which was her riding a van out to the countryside with a few other people who would be staying at The Resort, as it had been jokingly nicknamed many years ago. Soon enough, the van stopped, and everyone and everything tumbled out, in a hurry to stretch their legs. For Kyoko and The Resort, it was love at first sight. The Resort was nothing fancy, no architectural marvel, nor an aesthetic piece de resistance, which was highly unnatural, seeing as how the owner of the place was President Takarada. Instead, it was a big functional stone and wood building, with lots of wings and big windows and lots of lush green land surrounding it. But The Resort radiated waves of homecoming, of comfort. It felt like stumbling into a mother's arms after a long and hard day. As if in a trance, Kyoko picked up her bags and started walking up to the house. She stopped abruptly, her trance broken by the hairs on the back of her neck rising, and her little demons stirred. But she brushed it aside. Nothing and no one was going to spoil her magical week with The Resort.