For All Your Troubles
It was a seemingly normal day. The sun was high in the sky and birds were singing prettily. Kyoko had left for a new film as offers had been flooding in after the director of Dark Moon invited one of his friends to view a scene. It was a triumph of gargantuan proportions. One of the people most proud of her is Kanae, though she is feeling somewhat lonesome because of it.
Kanae sighs and twirls the straw in her milkshake. She and Kyoko had planned to meet but Kyoko had cancelled two days earlier due to work. She had shrieked her apology repeatedly over the phone and almost deafened her. Kanae had lied and insisted that it was alright and that she wasn't disappointed. Unfortunately for Kanae being alone is the least of troubles.
High-pitched screams fill the air. In fright, Kanae jerks upright. Her eyes scan the area quickly but she sees nothing of any consequence. She slumps against the chair and takes a sip from the straw. Her eyes dull and she sighs discontentedly. She crosses her left leg over her right and squints up at the bright sky. It isn't usual for there to be such light in a city like Tokyo. The pollution usually coats the sky with greyness and contamination that makes everyone choke.
The chair next to hers crashes into her. Her milkshake topples off of the table and shatters on the ground. Some icky sticky remnants of the mixture have splashed on her skirt. She groans unhappily and takes a deep breath to compose herself. As an aspiring actress it wouldn't do her much good if she threw a fit and was labelled as a diva. Just as she almost reaches that level of calm necessary to speak to the person an arm drapes over her shoulder.
At once Kanae stiffens. Slowly, she turns to glare at the person. He's blonde and wears jeans, a leather jacket, sunglasses and a hat. Her gaze is met by the back of his head and she takes that opening. With a loud crack she hits him over the head. He sags in his seat for a moment but soon moves to become upright again. He shakes his head to clear his mind.
By now Kanae's hands have become tightly enclosed fists. She's more than ready to strike at him again and is just waiting for him to challenge her patience once more. He continues to stare ahead of himself with the utmost concentration – much to Kanae's chagrin. He soon realises that he won't help his cause by acting so suspicious. He turns to explain himself just as Kanae launches another assault. Her fist collides with his nose and knocks him from the chair.
He yelps as his back strikes the unforgiving concrete pavement. His back arches off of the ground as he clutches at his nose. Kanae snatches her bag and prepares to leave when she catches sight of him from the corner of her eye. She pauses and stares at him. His sunglasses flew off of his face as he fell from the chair. Now that she knows who it is her actions don't fill her with as guilt as they had begun to.
Kanae strides over to him and nudges his side with her boot. He stops rolling around like a fool and glares up at her. She returns his glare ten-fold and kicks at the ground. He flinches and looks away from her like a petulant toddler that was throwing a temper tantrum. She rolls her eyes and turns to leave when he catches sight of his worst nemesis – the fangirls. He leaps to his feet, forgetting his injured nose, and captures Kanae in a tight embrace.
She struggles against his grip but he's too strong. He uses her struggles against her and turns her around to face him. With the threat of being kissed to shut her up so realistic she decides not to scream. Her eyes turn to the hordes of fangirls lining the street and she smirks.
"So, the great Shō is afraid of his own fans,"
"I am not," he hisses quietly. "At least I have fans."
"Too scared that they'll turn into stalkers? Or do you just run from every girl that you see?" Kanae prods. "Here I thought that the great Shō was afraid of nothing."
"I am afraid of nothing. I can do anything," he growls, adamantly. "I could sign their stupid autographs and take pictures with those losers if I wanted to. I don't do it because I have better things to do with my time."
"Such as perversely latching onto a young woman?" she asks.
Shō's face turns bright red from fury. His grip of her arms tightens and she struggles not to wince. He pushes her away and scoffs in disgust. He sneers and steps back from her. One of the fangirls notices him and runs to him – starting a stampede. He stares at the oncoming girls in horror when Kanae grabs his wrist. She drags him into the café and leads him into a storage room. The door slams shut behind them and the stampede passes them by.
"You saved me…" he mutters.
"Don't thank me," she scowls. "I was only doing this to avoid being questioned over how close you were to me."
"So let me out. They've gone now and we don't have to see each other ever again,"
Kanae's hand closes around the handle. She turns it but the door remains closed. Her eyes widen in horror and she looks to Shō in horror.
The janitor whistles as he rummages about in the tiny storage room. Shō and Kanae trudge towards the exit tiredly. Spending the night in that cold and cramped room was not a pleasing experience. There wasn't enough space for them to move and they had to sleep standing up. When they reach the door Shō yawns and stretches.
He catches Kanae's wrist as she tries to keep walking. "You didn't have to do that for me… It was uncomfortable and cold last night, but… I've still got money and we missed dinner,"
Kanae raises her eyebrow questioningly. "I was trapped with you for half the afternoon, all night and up until ten in the morning. I missed dinner and breakfast and all I had for lunch yesterday was a third of the milkshake that you made me spill. Do you expect me to be happy that I'm only getting a small snack for all my troubles?"
He stares at her in silence to which she sighs and rolls her eyes. "Fine, let's go,"
Author's Note: Well, I've wanted to do a couple fanfiction for these two for a long time. It was actually last year when I first got the craving to do this and I finally have. It isn't very couple-y. It isn't very romantic. It isn't particularly serious. I'm wondering if this could be considered 'crack' as it seems really idiotic to me. Anyway, thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed what you read. I apologise if you didn't enjoy this.
Inspiration (songs I listened to whilst typing) – T-ara = Day by Day.
I do not own Skip Beat or any of the characters mentioned. I only own the plot.