Disclaimer: I don't own Skip Beat.

Note: This story was inspired by the last page of the first chapter of Skip Beat. I really love Kyoko's expression there and you can pretty much consider it one of her main expressions in this story.

Faces in the Mirror, The

Because of a few words from 'Corn', Kyoko lived her life just a bit differently. Things still fall apart in Tokyo with Sho, and when they do, Kyoko realizes she's not much more than an empty shell.

Now, she's determined to find the real girl hidden behind the faces in the mirror.

Prologue:

Self-Reflection

The Cat's Meow. It was considered one of the coolest joints in the southern part of town by anyone in the know. Low lights and soft jazz, a smoky room and murmuring voices; the perfect place to go when you just needed to relax and let your come loose tie. Most of the people there were with company, chatting amicably in one of the booths or at a small table. A few people though were alone; one such person was a young lady by the name of Mogami Kyoko. Sitting at the end of the bar where she went unnoticed by the unobservant eye, she heaved a silent sigh as she lazily stirred her soda with a straw.

"Been a long day, Miss?" the bartender, a young man in his late twenties asked as he polished an already clean glass to keep his hands busy while the bar was quiet.

"More like days," Kyoko replied reluctantly after a slow sip. She wasn't much in the mood to talk. Not that she'd been in much of a mood to do anything recently. In reality, it's more like she didn't know what to do, not anymore that is.

Sensing a story behind the cryptic words, the bartender held the glass up to the dim light to check for any spot he might have missed. It was part of his job to listen to people's tales while convincing them to take another drink or three. Some might call it devious or unfair, but he had to pick up a few extra bucks somewhere. Unfortunately, the girl was dry. He'd offered her an alcoholic beverage when she'd come in, but she'd refused claiming she'd rather not have anything to do with the cursed stuff; not to mention that while graduated from high school, she was still under age. It was a lot harder to convince someone to buy a few more drinks than they'd planned on when they were high and dry instead of drunk. Still, it couldn't hurt to try.

"Work troubles or perhaps a man is making you this gloomy?" he replied momentarily as he returned the glass and picked up another one to polish, a habit he'd picked up from his mentor who'd taught him that a bartender should never be still. Being still made people uneasy and less likely to stay around and buy that extra drink or give slip to some juicy piece of knowledge they otherwise wouldn't have given. Perhaps though, he'd picked the wrong words to speak as the atmosphere around him seemed to grow slowly colder and colder.

Glancing over at the woman, his hands stopped of their own accord while a chill ran down his spine. Kyoko's eyes had become fields of honey colored ice as her gaze seemed to bore a hole through the part of the counter she was staring at. The bartender had seen some bad reactions in his work to questions he'd posed, but never quite like this. "Miss?" his voiced quavered, but to his relief he didn't stutter.

Blinking, Kyoko's expression softened fractionally as she took another sip. "Ah, my apologies." Lifting her glass, she swirled the liquid inside around, listening to the soft clink of the ice inside as it grazed against the glass. "You just reminded me of something unpleasant."

"Then I should be the one apologizing, not you," the bartender said smoothly, his composure having returned with the calming of Kyoko's emotions. "I didn't mean to bring up any bad memories." Shaking her head lightly, Kyoko set her glass back on the counter with a soft thud.

"It's alright. You couldn't have known." At the sight of the sad look that came over her features, the glass nearly slipped from the bartender's hands. It was as if he was drawing a knife through an already bleeding wound. Putting away the glass before he could actually drop it, he took to wiping down the bar with long, sweeping strokes. Was he getting tired or sick? Normally, no matter what kind of face or reaction a customer gave, it never fazed him.

"Do you suppose talking about it to someone could help?" he eventually asked after confirming that he wasn't coming down with something and that it wasn't too late into the night either for him to be feeling tired. The silence dragged on for so long after his question, the bartender began to believe that the young lady would never speak when her voice, quiet but carrying, reached his sensitive ears.

"Have you ever had the rug ripped out from underneath your feet? It's a rather unsettling feeling if you haven't." The bartender remained quiet as Kyoko stirred her drink contemplatively. "Most of my life, I came to believe that things were going to go a certain way. Then, with just a few sentences, everything I knew was taken from me." Finishing off the rest of her drink, Kyoko pushed her glass away. The hard look had returned to her eyes. "Now, I hardly feel like more than an empty shell. I'm not even really sure who I am anymore. When I ask myself who is Mogami Kyoko, I don't have an answer."

Breaking the rule his mentor had taught him, the bartender stopped everything he was doing to just stare at the girl in front of him. Maybe it was because she wasn't drunk, or maybe it was something else entirely, but the chilling conviction of her words left him feeling like he was intruding on private ground. Blinking and shaking his head lightly to regain his senses, the man realized it would be better to let sleeping dogs lie.

"I'm sorry to hear that. Would you care for another drink?" he asked as he noticed a man sit down farther along the bar. Pausing for a moment, Kyoko shook her head and reached into her pocket. Placing the change for her drink on the counter, she gave the man a wry smile.

"I appreciate the offer, but I should probably get going." Picking up the money, the man nodded and placed it in the register as he watched the girl's receding back while she made her way towards the doors. Heading down the bar, he wished the girl luck as he smirked at his new customer, Sawara Takenori. A semi regular, Sawara always had some sort of interesting story about the chaos of being a manager for new talents in the show biz industry at LME.

"The usual tonight?" the bartender asked as he pulled a glass out from beneath the bar. Nodding, Sawara reached up and started to loosen his tie. It had been a long day getting ready for the up and coming auditions that LME held twice a year. When his drink appeared in front of him, Sawara raised it in the bartender's direction before taking a sip.

"Fast as usual Eiji."

"Haha, but of course," Eiji, the now named bartender lightly laughed. "What kind of a bartender would I be if I made my customers wait?"

*%%*

Outside The Cat's Meow, Kyoko pulled her jacket around her a bit tighter. Winter hadn't quite released its grip on the world even though spring had started to arrive. Walking down the slowly emptying streets, Kyoko sighed. Was this really what her life was going to turn into? Spending her days working her three jobs and occasionally going out for a soda when she became too depressed? It just didn't feel right. Reaching into her pocket, she squeezed the purplish colored rock she kept there, her thoughts wandering to the person who'd given it to her.

"Corn…" she murmured softly to the cool night air. Corn was a boy she'd met years ago when she still lived in Kyoto as a little girl. It had been years since then and she'd come to realize that the boy's name couldn't have really been Corn, but as she didn't know his actual name, she'd continued to refer to him by it. She'd also come to terms with the fact that he couldn't have possibly been a fairy like she'd thought when she was younger either, but neither of the realizations kept him from holding a special place in her heart that not even the cause of her current predicament, Fuwa Sho, had been able to enter.

Stopping under a streetlight, Kyoko pulled the stone out and held it up to the light, smiling gently as the color changed before her eyes. Whenever she was down, the stone always seemed to help cheer her up.

"You were right back then you know," Kyoko spoke quietly to the stone as if it was the boy himself. "Remember, when you told me I shouldn't live my life solely to please others? I tried to listen, but if I'd done a better job of it I certainly wouldn't be in the mess I am now. Still, it could be a lot worse if you'd never said anything." Putting the stone back in her pocket, Kyoko glanced up at the star filled sky. "Maybe it's not too late to try again…"

*%*

Reviews are appreciated.