Just a note before you read, this is set at an unspecified date in the future...not Rip Van Winkle far, just not now ;) Also, I do not own Skip Beat!
"Don't look at me!" Kyouko said, turning away.
"Why?" Ren asked.
She could feel him grinning at her, see in her mind's eye, the corners of his mouth slanting upward. "Because!"
"That's not a very thorough explanation," he countered.
She could feel his body heat, see his shadow looming over her, devouring her own in a cloak of darkness. That was why she called him the emperor of the night, that quirk of the lips, that heat, that overwhelming darkness, clouding her mind, concealing from her even her own thoughts.
If she had been able to process said thoughts, maybe she would have been assured by the appearance of the emperor, but her mind was too scrambled for that, and all she knew was that she couldn't dare let him see her face, or it would give it all away.
He leaned in until she could feel his breath on her ear. "Care to elaborate?"
"No!"
"It seems I'll have to find out myself then, won't I," he said, beginning to circle around in front of her.
She covered her face with her arm, the jacket and purse which were hanging from it, blocking it entirely from view.
He was separated from her by a curtain of fabric and leather. He'd been caught up in teasing her. Her reactions were too cute, but now, he was beginning to seriously worry. Why was she so desperate to hide her face from him? Had he done something?
He'd thought that he'd been making progress lately, if only a little. She had been growing slightly less reserved with him. She allowed him to call her by her given name, accepted rides more readily, and asked more personal questions. Maybe he was reading too much into it. Or, maybe it was because of those things. Maybe she wanted to retrace her steps and keep him at a distance.
When Kyouko didn't hear anything, she lowered her arm, just a bit and looked over at her now, silent pursuer. He was standing there in front of her, eyebrows furrowed. He seemed lost in thought.
Suddenly, he came back to himself, and their eyes connected.
She shrieked, threw her jacket and ran.
The jacket landed on his head. He wrenched it off, but when his vision cleared, she was gone, the swinging doors of LME, the only evidence of her escape route.
She ran down the crowded street, her breath trailing behind her in a cloud of white mist. That was probably the dumbest thing she could have done. Short of actually showing her face, running away like that was the most obvious thing she could have done. And now, she was aimlessly wandering the street, sans coat. No wonder people had begun to stare at her, or rather at something just behind her.
"Man, you're fast," panted a familiar voice.
Kyouko froze, but did not turn around. Kaene's words replayed in her head, "When you're not in character, everything you're thinking shows on your face."
"I won't look, so just don't run away again," he said, his voice coming closer.
She nodded her head. At least he wasn't the emperor anymore. He wasn't even his usual cool, calm and collected self either, and it was her fault. She wanted to turn around and bow in apology, but then he would see her face.
She felt the weight of her coat as he draped it over her shoulders. "So can we talk as long as I don't look at you?"
"O-ok," she said.
They turned and began walking back in the direction of LME, Ren walking just behind her, so he couldn't see her face as they walked.
"Did I do something?" he finally asked.
"No!" she said, looking up at him for a split second, before quickly turning away.
"Then why won't you look at me?" he asked.
"Because," she said.
"We've been over this," he said. "Remember? I need a little more explanation than that. Please, Kyouko, if I've upset you, just tell me."
"No, you didn't!" she said. "You could never upset me."
He let the exaggeration slide. He could recall plenty of times when he'd upset her. The day of his challenge on the set of Dark Moon featured prominently in his mind. He remembered the way Kyouko sat, curled up, knees to her chest, back to him, the nape of her neck deliciously exposed. It was the same as tonight. Even through her thick winter coat, he could see the same silhouette.
"If I didn't upset you, then tell me why you won't let me look at you," he said, "And 'because,' is not an answer."
"That's— I— Mouko-san said that—"
"Deep breath," he encouraged, placing a hand on her back.
"It's that!" she said, tensing up. "I can't look at you when you do things like that!"
He removed his hand. "But earlier, you told me not to look at you before I even came near you."
"It's that too!" she said.
"What?" he asked.
"Never mind. Please just forget it," Kyouko said, increasing her pace. They were nearing LME.
He sped up and grabbed her arm, halting her, before she could burst into speed-demon mode and escape. "Kyouko, I can't just not look at you."
"It's that too!" she wailed.
"It's what?" he asked. He was growing ever more confused and frustrated.
She finally looked at him, tears rimming her eyes, threatening to spill over. "It all shows on my face, right? That's what Mouko-san said, anyway. When you call my name, when you touch me, even when you don't touch me. It's obvious, right? I thought that if you didn't look at me, you wouldn't notice, and things could, at least, stay that same, but I ruined it, right?"
"Wait a minute. Slow down," he said, hope soaring in his heart. He'd been burned by wrong assumptions before, though. He wanted to be sure."What do you mean?"
"I'm so sorry," she said, tears now streaming freely down her face.
He couldn't take it any longer. He pulled her in, and crushed her against his chest in a tight embrace. "Why are you apologizing? You have nothing to be sorry for."
"Ou ca fee?" He could feel the heat from her breath, as she asked her muffled question against his chest. He could not, however understand it.
Reluctantly, he made a little space between them. He wanted her close, but also wanted her to be able to breathe. "What was that?"
"You can't see?" she repeated, this time audibly.
"See what?" he asked.
She turned her face away. The rest of her face was beginning to match the redness of her recently smashed nose, lips and chin.
"Kyouko, see what?" he demanded. He wanted her to say it.
"Never mind," she said, growing even redder. "If you don't see, then it's fine. I was worried for nothing."
"Kyouko, what were you worried I'd see?" he demanded again. "The way you look at me?"
She colored and nodded.
He locked eyes with her before continuing."Does this mean I have a chance?"
"W-what do you mean?" she asked.
"You're telling me that you notice me, right?" he asked.
She blushed. He took it as a yes.
"Then, does that mean I have a chance with you?"
"Eh?" she shrieked. "With me?"
"Who else?" he asked.
"Th-that high school girl," Kyouko offered.
Ren sighed. He knew he should have cleared that up when he found out that Kyouko was Bo, but it had been difficult to explain. How was he supposed to just say, "By the way, the high school girl I told you about when I thought you were just some guy in a chicken suit is you," let alone, while she was clinging to his feet, bowing, bawling and apologizing?
"Kyouko, what grade where you in when I told you about that?"
"First year in high sch—" A look of comprehension dawned on her face. "No. No way. Impossible! You hated me back then!"
"I never hated you," he said. "I hated your attitude toward acting, but I never hated you."
"But—"
"So, do I have a chance?" he asked.
Kyouko nodded.
He grinned as they drove down the dark streets of Tokyo. Part of him felt extremely content, for the moment, but another part was tense, waiting to find out that there had been some horrible misunderstanding, and that he had completely misinterpreted Kyouko's words, or vice versa.
He nearly ran them off the road when the girl in the passenger seat let out an unearthly cry.
He pulled over. "Kyouko, what's wrong?"
She looked up with wide, horrified eyes. "I tried to get you to seduce me."
Ren looked at her blankly.
"I didn't know it was me! I would never have told you to do that if I knew it was me! Never! Not in a million years!"
It was Bo. She was talking about the time Bo had told him to seduce the high school girl.
He expected this sort of response from Kyouko, but he still felt a small, stabbing pain, being told by the girl he loved, that she never ever wanted him to seduce her.
The emperor recovered first. "Since you didn't know, I was going to let it slide, but should I take your advice?"
Kyouko looked at him with her best impression of a rabbit about to be devoured by a lion.
"Guess not, then," he said, returning to himself, as he pulled back onto the road. "I'll take you home."
Ren pulled up to the curb to let Kyouko off, as usual, but even after they said goodnight, Kyouko stayed seated. She kept glancing up at him, as if she had something to say.
"What is it?" he asked.
"It's nothing, I just—" she stumbled over the words. "Did that thing you said earlier, um does that mean you l-like me?"
"Yes," he said, unreservedly.
"Good," she said. Her face flushed, her lips curved into a smile, and she finally left the car. "Good night."
He watched her wave to him from the door as she stepped inside.
"It means more than that, Kyouko" he said, to her distant form. "Much more."
AN: It's amazing how the creative juices start flowing when you have projects and tests coming up! Thank you for reading! Leave me a review if you'd like to let me know what you think.