What happens when Ren comes face-to-face with his super-realistic miniatures? Will he be angry or will he find it hilarious? What is the doll 'whimper' and why is Kyoko so afraid of it? Just a little bit of humor. I had lots of fun writing this, so I hope you enjoy reading it!
Disclaimer: Skip Beat is owned by Yoshiki Nakamura, and I think it is an amazing piece of work.
CHAPTER 1: The Creepily Realistic Dolls
Ren held out his arms in anticipation of their customary hug as Maria squealed in delight and ran up to him, ecstatic to find her crush sitting in her grandfather's lounge when she returned from school. Scooping her up, Ren listened with an amused smile as she excitedly told him of the spell she used to torture the ignorant teacher who scolded her for not doing her homework.
"The teacher was so terrified she agreed never to give homework again, and if she dares break her promise, I'll curse her with my voodoo dolls!" Maria chuckled evilly, relishing the idea, her mind no doubt planning more excruciatingly painful tortures for the unfortunate teacher. The phrase 'voodoo dolls', however, diverted Ren's attention, as he recalled the incident with his beloved Kyoko a few weeks back, when the President had sent her to pick him up on his first day as the short tempered British actor Cain Heel. His mind was still reeling from that conversation.
Ren could only stare in shock as Kyoko joyfully burst into an in-depth explanation, describing his measurements in minute detail, the proportion of his head to his body, upper body to lower body, shoulder to elbow, elbow to wrist, the angles of his shoulders to his hips, and the muscles and bones that make the entirestructure possible. His carefully constructed Kain Heel persona collapsed in the face of such a startling revelation, and even his Tsuruga Ren mask slipped for a moment.
Taking deep breaths, he tried to calm down and collect his thoughts. When he finally found his voice, he stammered "When did you take such detailed measurements without me noticing? And why on earth do you need them?"Kyoko paused, aghast, realizing that in her excitement she had blurted out much more than necessary. Falling flat into a dogeza, she burst into tears, apologizing for everything she could think of, sniffling as she explained how voodoo dolls had become her new hobby after Sho's betrayal, how Maria had admired her skills, finally admitting sheepishly that she had made dolls in his likeness as a gift for Maria.
Shaking himself from the flashback, Ren questioned the child in his arms "Mogami-san mentioned that she gifted you some handmade dolls. Would you show them to me?" He put on his most winning smile, and Maria melted like butter, willingly leading Ren and Yashiro up to show them her Ren-sama doll collection. The two grownups shuddered in horror upon entering her darkened room, the acrid smell of sulphur burning their nostrils. The walls were adorned with pentagrams and complicated runes, and the bookshelf was filled with row upon row of musty, leather-bound books containing all types of hexes, curses and ancient tortures. Suspicious potions and black magicartifacts were scattered about. Maria's gigantic automated spider sat in the far corner, along with her latest addition, an even larger remote-controlled toy crocodile capable of crawling, swimming (the toy was waterproof), thrashing tail, growling and biting.
She guided them inside, alerting them to the traps she had set up to punish trespassers. She pointed towards the far wall, and the grownups stopped still, astounded. There, sitting on a small shelf, beside a couple of Ren's photographs and posters, were a dozen or so small Ren look-alikes, dressed in his favorite brand-name outfits, all wearing his trademark gentlemanly smile.
"Aren't they wonderful?" Maria cried, as she directed the stunned Ren and Yashiro towards a pair of punishment chairs, complete with chains to bind the occupant's arms and legs. "Onee-sama is so smart and talented, and she has a real aptitude for the occult!" she gushed, taking the Ren dolls off the shelf and handing them to the flabbergasted actor, all the while listing the benefits of handmade voodoo dolls over mass-produced ones, and the advantages of cloth materials over beeswax. Ren inspected the dolls carefully, turning them over in his hands as he tried to make sense of the absurdity of the situation. The dolls were creepily realistic, not a millimeter out of proportion. Marveling at Kyoko's prowess and the accuracy of her mental Tsuruga scale, he received another shock at Maria'a next words "I love these dolls, they are so much better than the ones Onee-sama has."
"Mogami-san keeps some for herself?" he enquired, pleasantly surprised. 'Interesting', he thought. Kyoko had conveniently neglected to mention that she had her own dolls as well. He wondered what it meant. Maybe it was a sign of affection, possessiveness even. Could it be that she wanted a part of him for herself? Ren watched Maria cuddle with the dolls and wondered if Kyoko did the same. Maybe she hugged them, kissed them, cuddled with them, maybe even kept them beside her pillow when she went to bed…..
His hopes plummeted to the floor with Maria's next statement. "Yes, Onee-sama has her own dolls, but none of them have nice faces. She uses them to scold herself when she behaves unprofessionally." Yashiro winced at her blunt statement, watching his charge's face fall. He had also been on cloud nine, mistaking the dolls as a sign of attraction, an indication that she saw him as a man, and hopefully as a love interest. A soft sigh alerted him that the President, who had joined them sometime during the conversation, was similarly disappointed. Today's theme was Ancient Rome, so the President was dressed as Julius Caesar, complete with bronze sword and crown of olive branches.
"This couple is hopeless" he whispered to Yashiro. "Even the Heel Siblings could not make her develop romantic feelings. Ren is simply too reserved. If he continues to restrain himself, he will lose her to someone else. Forced treatment* is the only way to deal with LoveMe number one!" Yashiro had no idea what the President meant by 'forced treatment', but he knew it could be nothing good.
Just then, Lory's aide entered quietly, dressed as a roman scribe, and whispered into Lory's ear. The President immediately cheered up, clapping his hands in delight. "Perfect timing! Bring her up immediately!" The aide nodded and bowed, leaving the room as silently as he had come.
Ren threw him an interrogating glance, but any questions he might have had died in his lips as the aide re-entered, leading in the love of his life, the doll-maker herself, Kyoko Mogami. Completely focused on avoiding the traps and navigating through Maria's room without significant loss of limb (a rather difficult task, as many unfortunate maids had discovered), the petite actress failed to notice the people gathered till she was right beside them. Releasing a sigh on making it across the tomb/prison/dungeon in one piece, she finally took in the situation before her. Maria was chatting excitedly with a very uncomfortable Yashiro-san, while her friend senpai was examining something, his brows furrowed in concentration. Eyes widening in horror, she realized that in his hands was a Ren doll. She looked around. Sure enough, the dolls she had given Maria were scattered about, in plain sight.
She had known, the moment she let slip his measurements, she had a premonition that she would have to show him the dolls one day. In fact, she had been surprised he hadn't asked to see them that very moment. Perhaps he had presumed that she had none with her at that time. After all, he couldn't possibly know that she actually carried a few Ren dolls in her bag all the time, just in case she needed a quick scolding at one of her jobs.
"Ah Kyoko-chan, so nice to see you, we were just discussing your um… handicrafts." Yashiro was unsure what to call them, but he was desperate for a change in topic, as Maria's discourse on sixteenth century witch burnings was detailed and gruesome, and the evil expression on her face was absolutely terrifying. Ren gathered himself, and decided to pursue the topic. "Yes, they are quite….impressive. However, Mogami-san, you failed to mention to me that you had your own dolls of me."
Kyoko gave a shaky laugh. Dead. She was dead. Hopefully they would give her a nice burial after the Demon Lord was done with her. "Haha, it completely slipped my mind!" she stuttered awkwardly, trying to act normal and failing miserably, "After all, I have so few dolls compared to Maria-chan…."
This was Maria's cue to jump in. "Yes, Onee-sama gave me so many dolls! She even made new faces for the ugly ones! See, like this!" To the shock of the men, she grabbed a nearby Ren doll, the one dressed in his famous one-of-a-kind white Armani, pulling out the face to reveal another face below it. The audience was flabbergasted, even the LME President, who had seen several strange and exotic things in his lifetime. Ren recovered first, delicately taking the detachable face and the doll's original version in his hands. Examining them closely, he realized that the 'face' was actually rather like a mask, but it fit perfectly seamlessly over the original. The new face was pleasant, smiling a gentlemanly smile that seemed to make it sparkle. The old face however, was a completely different matter. It was wide-eyed and faintly blue, its mouth open in- what was that expression? Was it shock? Fear?
Seeing their stunned expressions, Maria explained, "This is 'Ren scared stiff of Kyoko.' You see, Onee-sama was unhappy that Ren-sama tricked her on the Ring-doh set, so she vowed to improve her skills so as not to be tricked by Ren-sama again. This doll represents Ren-sama's terror when Onee-sama gets her payback." Yashiro's jaw dropped. Ren stared, astounded, but years of acting enabled him to quickly recover his composure. The President was similarly stunned, and then burst into loud laughter.
Meanwhile, Kyoko cringed as she watched their changing expressions. She had noticed the short moment when her senpai's gentlemanly façade had dropped, shock written all over his face. She was in big trouble now, so the only thing to do was explain, and hope he didn't denounce her as his kouhai. Taking a deep breath, she fell flat on the floor and began, "I'm very, very, very sorry, Tsuruga-san. I had blurted all those awful things because I did not know you very well, and thinking back I realize how silly I had behaved. I got all riled up at your supercilious attitude, your teasing and deceptive words, and thought that you were a bully who would fill my LoveMe book with minus stamps… Ah, gomen, gomen, I didn't mean to say such rude things, forgive me senpai, please forgive me, please… I'll do anything, I'll accept whatever punishment you see fit, you can chop me up or slice me into little bits, just don't say you never want to speak to me again!" she babbled incoherently, tears streaming down her face.
She had begun calmly, but with each word the idiocy of her actions was more apparent, and her pessimistic mind thought up the worst possible scenarios. She squeezed her eyes tight shut, mentally bracing herself for the inevitable onslaught of the Demon King. He would start with the gentlemanly smile, his voice dripping with sarcasm, then he would sneer at her arrogance. Really, what was she thinking? Getting payback against Tsuruga Ren? What foolishness!
Sunk in despair, ready for her execution, she was totally unprepared for his next words, "I'm sorry." "Eh?" she asked, confused. She was the one seeking forgiveness, so why was he apologizing?
Sensing the question in her expressive face, he continued, "I treated you badly, deliberately got you in trouble with Kumiko-san, and gave you all those minus stamps. I acted like a jerk, and for that I am truly sorry. Forgive me, Mogami-san, for upsetting you so much." Taken aback by the sincerity in his voice, she hastily reassured him, "No no, I'm not angry at all! It wasn't a big deal really, at that time lots of people made fun of me and docked points for no reason. Don't think too much about it, Tsuruga-san! After all, I'm the one at fault. I'm also sorry for my vindictive thoughts, saying I would get payback and such."
"Then, shall we call it even, Mogami-san?" he chuckled. Relieved that he wasn't upset, she gave him a nod and a small smile. He responded with an angelic smile that not only killed Kyoko's grudge demons, but also caused Maria's carnivorous plants to shrivel up from extreme brightness.
Lost in their own happy world, the two were rudely jolted back to reality when the President cleared his throat loudly. So far, Lory had enjoyed his evening very much. The Ren doll situation was absolutely hilarious, and rather than blowing up in their faces, it seemed to have brought his number one couple closer. It's like killing two birds with one stone, he mused, idly wondering what had caused the normally friendly Ren to display such hostility towards Kyoko. He chuckled evilly, looking rather like his granddaughter, as he contemplated his various spies and information sources. This calls for some serious research….
Maria was relieved that her two favorite people were getting along better, despite her careless blunder. Trying to rectify her mistake, she agreed, "That's right Ren-sama. The faces after that were much nicer!" Ren raised an eyebrow. "Oh, is that so? Can you show me, please?"
Much too late, Maria realized it was the wrong thing to say. But now she had no choice. Detaching the other faces, she listed out their names. "This is 'Stubborn Pride', Onee-sama made it when Ren-sama refused to accept he was sick. That one is 'Emergency Exit', I don't know the story behind its name….."
"I do**" Ren said, not elaborating further. "And what is this one called?" he asked, pointing to a rather red-faced doll, its mouth pouting in a petulant frown, half-laughing, half-sarcastic. "That one's the 'Completely Destructive Aura' doll, a multipurpose scolding instrument!" Maria's enthusiasm revived, and she elaborated, "Look at the amazing craftsmanship! That face shows not just irritated humor and mild annoyance, but is also capable of expressing sarcasm and disdain through expression alone! No words are necessary to convey its point, one look says it all! Isn't it a work of art?"
Ren and Yashiro nodded dumbly, at a total loss for words. Kyoko seemed to have collected all of Ren's scariest expressions in the form of her handmade dolls. There is no way such a doll could be a sign of affection, Ren thought wryly. Really, I had no idea I behaved so badly with her…
Kyoko's mind was working in overdrive, desperately formulating a plan to steer the conversation into less dangerous topics. Maria, however, had other ideas.
"Onee-sama, why don't you show Ren-sama your dolls?"
Oh no. She was sooo dead….
I am really, really sorry this contradicts chapter 131.5, the truth is the site I download the manga from didn't have it ( ). I didn't even know that there was such a chapter till I received reviews for this chapter. Please forgive this discrepancy, and a big thanks to all the reviewers for pointing it out to me.
*In chapter 183, Lory despairs that his plan of forced treatment for Mogami-kun hadn't advanced. That's where I got this bit from.
**This refers to Kyoko's model training, when Ren teased her by making her pose as an emergency exit sign.
So, did you enjoy it? I loved writing this fanfic, I've had this idea in my head for months.
I tried to stay IC, but I got carried away while writing about Maria. Is she too OOC, or is she ok? She seems to talk too much, but I figured Kyoko wouldn't willingly explain her dolls to Ren, in fear of awakening the Demon Lord. Reviews, please!
Stay tuned for the next installment. I will update as soon as possible!