My Important Man

Disclaimer: I do not own SkipBeat or any of the characters from the original story.

Takarada Lori's plan is working. Kyoko is being exposed to a side of Tsuruga Ren that she never imagined, and she's fascinated. Will fascination become infatuation? And could infatuation become love?

Chapter 1 – A Very Terrifying Man

Setsu stood in the middle of the sidewalk in front of Jean d' Arc and relived the last few minutes. Her "brother," Kain Heel, had resorted to getting his way with the most devastating, debilitating, puppy-dog eyes she had ever seen. Right now he was in the store returning only seven of the nine additional pairs of leather pants that he had purchased for her. At 18,000 yen per pair, it was ridiculous! But he had manipulated her so easily, and she couldn't say no.

"I like spending money on you rather than on myself," Kain declared stubbornly. And then he had given her that melting, sad look, "Are you going to take away my only joy, besides acting?" For just a moment Kyoko slipped in. Her mother, and even Shotaro, had always cared about themselves and what she could do for them. But here was Tsuru… no, it's Kain… here was Kain saying that his only joy was to make her happy. Those words touched something in her vulnerable heart, and a seed was planted.

She had given in; first agreeing to two pairs, and finally to three pairs. He was in the store now, and she actually missed him, even so short a distance away. At first the character of Kain Heel had been terrifying. But now…

What kind of sibling relationship is this? The younger sister, coaxing and teaching the unreasonable big brother; I imagined big brother was the totally cool, totally perfunctory, but very kind to his sister, liberal and tolerant mature man… like a guardian. He doesn't hold back on anything with me. He moves around without a plan. And on top of things, he acts like a baby. When he emotionally depends upon me like that… unwittingly… unwittingly I'll think… Setsu, at that moment, looked like a young girl who has just seen a cute puppy being given away in front of a store… she wanted to pet and cuddle with the puppy… He's cute! Darn!! I want to make him show me more baby faces!!!

She hugged her imaginary puppy, but a part of her was aware that he was a man, a big, tall, handsome man; not a puppy. Kain approached me with that crying face… with that physical frame… That has to be against the rules… ahh… I want to… ugh… I want to see more! I want to see more of how Tsuruga Ren will react to my dialogue and actions!

Kyoko was totally unaware of how beautiful she was at that moment, as she allowed herself free reign to revel in her experiences with her sempai. In her tight, stylish leather ensemble; with her perfect posture; and with an unguarded face that communicated… infatuation… she was like a beacon, attracting attention up and down the busy street. Though some older people might look askance at her current costume, every man who was within visual distance saw her and fixated on her. Not all of the attention was safe, however.

This feeling… I remember… I experienced it not long ago… this is the feeling of belonging… of being loved… This is the feeling of being invincible, because I knew that Otou-san loved me. Her look a moment ago had been beautiful. Now her new expression transformed her, unwittingly, into the Princess of the Faeries. If only Ren could have witnessed it.

Kain was in the store, gruffly returning the seven pairs. At least I got her to change out of that mini-skirt… not that she doesn't look incredible in those leather… STOP! He growled at himself, almost causing the poor, frightened store clerk to run away in abject terror. She hurried to make the transaction, anxious to get this tall, dangerous man out of the store before he went on a killing spree.

A large hand clamped down on one of her shoulders. For just a second she reacted to that hand as Kyoko, but then she became Setsu again. It was all right for Setsu to have physical contact with her brother, after all. "You're back. Did you apologize to the shop?"

Setsu tensed as the wrong voice, a different voice, answered, "Uh-uh. I didn't apologize. Because we didn't do anything wrong." A mop of long, straggly hair settled on her shoulder, and the rough, sneering face of a hoodlum came into view over her shoulder. Had she been Kyoko, she might have panicked. But she was Setsu… Setsu, the sister of the most dangerous man imaginable.

Another voice, followed by another tall body, stepped forward on the other side. Then two more snide, arrogant voices spoke up behind her. "It's a restaurant, but their rice isn't plump. Imagine that! Who can blame the angry guests for getting violent?"

"It's terrible. Isn't it a fraud?" A cigarette-smoking punk mocked.

"The owner can't complain, no matter how many teeth he lost." A man with a yarn cap added.

They were surrounding her now, grinning hungrily; their evil intent clear. "So we're going back there to eat again. You wanna come? Our treat."

The men looked her over, ravenously. "After that, we're going to take you to a nice place."

Setsu looked past them and saw a dark, forbidding presence step out of Jean d' Arc. She smiled the smile of someone who owns the world. "… I guess… Okay"

"Really? Yay!" Mop-hair hadn't expected this to be so easy. "I knew that a hot girl like you would say yes! I love hot, pretty girls!"

"Me too! Me too!" Yarn cap said enthusiastically.

Setsu looked at the two others tolerantly, totally relaxed and un-intimidated. "It's okay with me," she looked up at them with an expression of amusement, almost pity. Something about the expression made them blink, and start to question the situation. But it was too late, "Sorry, but if you really want to play with me, can you get permission from the person I'm here with first? From him?"

She leaned forward and looked past them. Confused, they followed her gaze, and froze.

Setsu's voice was both amused and cold as she spoke again, "My important man."

Two of the men were actually in physical contact with her at that moment, so she felt their shudders of fear as they beheld the devil himself staring murderously across the short distance. But none of the four could make their legs work.

Setsu smiled provocatively at her brother and stepped easily out from under the hands that had been placed on her shoulders to restrain her. "Ani, these boys want to take me someplace and play. What do you think?"

There were no puppy-dog eyes now. There was no affectionate, cajoling, or gentle look. Those belonged to Setsu. Kain Heel, the Actor X who would soon be playing a serial killer, looked at the four shorter men emotionlessly, like an exterminator casually eyeing the infestation he was about to eradicate. He stepped past his sister and right up into the faces of the four men. They flinched as he took the one punk's cigarette. A moment before that they had looked tough, frightening, intimidating. Now they looked like truant schoolboys. Their eyes tried to look anywhere but in the devil's face. He walked around the quartet, blowing smoke into their faces as he puffed at the cigarette.

"Ani, they told me that they beat up some restaurant owner because they didn't like his rice." Setsu was still Kyoko, and Kyoko loved both the Daruma-ya couple and the Fuwas. She had no tolerance for that sort of activity from worthless punks. "Don't you think that they should pay for damages?"

Kain looked back at her, and for a moment the affectionate look came back. It was gone as he faced the punks again. "That seems reasonable," he growled. They were his first words since leaving the store, and his gravelly tone sounded like the dragon's whisper*. The men flinched, but still couldn't move. "What restaurant did you go to?"

When the men didn't respond, Kain gave a guttural growl, like an angry mastiff. Mop-hair answered, his voice several octaves higher than normal, "Bist… Tokyo Bistro!"

"And how much damage would you estimate that you did?" Kain leaned close, his hot, smoky breath blowing across mop-hair's clenched jaw, "Now don't undersell yourselves; I'm sure that even punks like you did a fair amount of damage. How much?"

Ten minutes later the restaurant owner's wife looked up angrily as another set of punks walked into their restaurant. "Go away," she spat out as she tended to her husband's bleeding face. "Haven't you all done enough?"

"Ma'am," the pretty, punk girl said in a kind voice, "We weren't with them. We would never do anything like this…" She looked around the small restaurant, saw the overturned tables, the broken display cases. "We are here to help."

The poor restaurant owner could barely see through blackened eyes. But he saw the girl's sincere, golden eyes and reached out a hand to stay his wife's angry response. The Okami-san of the little restaurant let a sob escape her lips, and Setsu quickly stepped in to hug her. "It's okay. Those punks will never come here again, and Kain made them give all their money for damages. So please, let us help?"

Kain stepped forward, trying to appear as non-threatening as possible as he extended a large stack of yen-notes. "This probably won't cover everything, so I'll throw in a little of my own. I just happen to have a little extra after taking my little sister shopping. Now, where's the broom?"

Forty-five minutes before, a gang of four punks had maliciously wrecked the little restaurant and beaten up the owner. Now two more young people, seemingly punks themselves, judging from their appearance, were busily cleaning. As the Okami-san of the Tokyo Bistro watched the odd pair work, she couldn't help but think, "Only in Tokyo."

As Setsu applied the mop to the areas that Kain had swept, she came close to him and muttered, "I should have let you kill them, Kain. Punks like that don't deserve to live."

Kain reached out a large hand and used a gentle thumb to wipe the tear out of the corner of one eye. She flinched momentarily, and then relaxed with the contact and let her head rest on his hand. After all, it was only Setsu and Kain, so contact was acceptable… right.

Ren stepped out of the store ten minutes later to call Takarada Lory and explain the situation. "Don't worry, Ren; I'll make sure that his doctor bill is taken care of. You do realize that you've slipped totally out of character, don't you?"

"I don't think so. Kain will do anything and everything for his sister. Setsu wanted to help the couple, and Kain can't tell her no. It may make him look foolish, but that doesn't matter as long as Setsuka is happy."

Ren hung up and stood on the street for a little longer. He couldn't get Kyoko/Setsu's words out of his mind. My important man. My important man. My important man. He smiled a very un-Kain-like smile and headed back into the store.

Lory the Schemer looked at the phone and chuckled. This was all going better than he had ever imagined. For Kyoko to manipulate Ren so freely meant that she was beginning to relax with him. Maybe his favorite LoveMe member had hope after all.

Notes: I clicked on the OneManga link this morning, not expecting to see any updates. I was so pleased to see that chapter 157 was already out, and even more pleased with the update. It wasn't what I'd envisioned, but it was even better. The first outfit she picked was hilarious… of course, if Lory saw it…

*In an old fable, when a person hears "the dragon's whisper" it is the signal for his impending death.

Next chapter: The Many Faces of Kain.

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