A/N: This is my first Skip Beat! story. Please let me know what you think. Thank you!

The Meeting of the Minds

Chapter 1:

The Plan

It was a strange thing. A mutual agreement. By scholars, it was called "the meeting of the minds or consensus ad idem." To twenty year old, Kotonami Kanae, it was just trouble.

She watched as the bespectacled wearing man walked over to the place she felt was safe from her best friend. It was not much but it was a quiet corner where she could sulk in peace.

"Did anyone follow you?" she asked as the brown haired man slid slowly into his seat.

He could not help but to feel uncomfortable as the raven haired woman glared at him. "I was not followed." he said as he looked over his shoulder just in case someone was watching.

"Mo, why did you ask me to meet you anyway?" Kanae asked, with a fierce glare.

Yashiro sighed. He knew this would not going to be an easy task but he could no longer stand aside and watch his best friend make a fool of himself. After three years of watching Ren torture himself, he finally had enough. He was going to do the thing Ren was afraid to do. He was going to expose Ren's real feelings to Kyoko whether he wanted to or not.

"Kotanami-san, I asked you here because I need your help."

She wasn't sure if it was the tone of voice or the way he asked that caught her attention. She was familiar with Yashiro only in passing. He was the manger to the country's best actor and they were from the same agency.

"What is it?"

"A proposal of some sort. Kotanami-san how would you like to help me bring two clueless people together?"

Kanae thought for a moment before she leaned against the wall. Her blue eyes were thoughtful as she mulled over his words. It only took a moment of silence before she spoke.

"What do I need to do?"

He smiled before pulling out a small notebook.

"Kotanami-san, if you could read over this then..." he squeaked as the raven haired woman grabbed the notebook from his hands and flipped through the pages.

An cold look emerged from her eyes as she she snapped the notebook closed and looked back at the man.

Yashiro cowered in fear. She wasn't supposed to have taken the notebook away!

"It is about time someone stepped in to help the idiots." she commented before rising to her feet.

Yashiro stiffened as her words reached his ears. He knew she had a photographic memory but he had no idea it worked that fast.

"Kotanami-san, I.."

"Leave it to me." she stated before turning her back on the man. Her pink LoveMe uniform gleamed in the light as she began to walk away.

"Kotanami-san?" Yashiro whispered as he watched the woman walked away. It was strange to see her go. He only knew Kanae in passing but he had always thought she was the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on.

He sighed. He needed to call the president's to let him know that Kanae was now in on the plan.

"Mogami-san! Come in! Come in!" the lively president of LME called as the orange haired woman stepped into the office. She was not surprised to notice warm sand under her feet as she made her way to the chair.

Today, President Takarada was dressed as an Egyptian Pharaoh. His golden encrusted sword gleamed in the light as it sat upon the desk proudly.

"Kyoko-chan, how has your day been going so far?" the Pharaoh smiled.

Kyoko couldn't help but to smile back at the man who had changed her entire life. If it had not been for the President then she would have still been a no talent, unattractive, plain gi-

"The reason I called you here today is because I would like to speak to you about a script."

Kyoko's golden eyes lit up happily. A script?

She wandered the halls as a large smiled lived upon her face. She was finally breaking out of the antagonist type of role she hated. Sure, she was somewhat known for those type of roles but that did not mean she liked to play them.

She had just wondered into the lobby when she noticed him. Her sempai!

"Tsuruga-san."she whispered.

By some miracle her words seemed to reach his ears and he looked over at noticed her. Time seemed to stop as she could do nothing but watch as he walked slowly in her direction.

Her heart thumped in her chest as he got closer. Why was she feeling this way? Did she have too much food at lunch?

"Mogami-san, I-"

A movement from behind the dark haired man caught her eye as the person she had been looking for came into view. "Moko-san!" she screamed before dashing over to Kanae and enveloping her in bone crushing hug.

"Mo, I just saw you twenty minutes ago. Now get off!" Kanae snapped as she tried to push the excited woman away.

Ren could only watch as the woman he loved hug her best friend. It was endearing to see how much she loved her friend. A part of him wondered that maybe someday, she would love him just as much.

"Ren, your face is slipping." Yashiro said with a smirk as he watched the scene before his eyes.

He was proud of the plan he created. Now all he had to do was implement it.

"Moko-san I missed you!" Kyoko whined before finally letting go of her angry friend.

Kanae glared at the woman until she noticed a small audience had formed. This was not good.

"Moko-san, I have the rest of the day off! Do you want to go have ice cream?"

Kanae sighed before looking back at the brown haired man who was watching nervously. Kanae smirked internally. She was a born actress. She could pull this role off in her sleep.

"Mo, I think I may be busy later."

"But, Moko-san, I.."

"Mo, not right now." Kanae said before walking over to where Ren and Yashiro stood. She could see the way Yashiro's eyes widened as she got closer. Good he was afraid. She liked fear. It meant he respected her.

"Moko-san, what are you..."

"Tsuruga-san, are you going to be busy a little later?"

Dark eyebrows rose in surprise at the woman's question. He assumed that Kanae absolutely hated him with a passion. She never really spoke to him when Kyoko was around. It was always a nod of acknowledgment.

"I suppose. I do not k-"

"I checked your schedule. You are free for the evening." Yashiro cut in quickly before turning to the frozen statue named Kyoko.

"Kyoko-chan! How are things going?" he greeted as he stood next to the still frozen woman who was watching the scene of Kanae and Ren with avid interest.

"F-fine, Yashiro-san. Thank you." she greeted politely. Her golden eyes were locked on the exchange between Kanae and Ren.

"Kotonami-san must really like Ren, huh?" Yashiro remarked as he watched the exchange. If he didn't know better then he would have fell for the act too. It seemed Kanae was the best choice. She really was a gifted actress.

"If it is not too much trouble then would you like to go out this evening?"

Kyoko could feel her heart explode in her chest as she watched her best friend ask her sempai out. It was strange that she did not know that Kanae had been interested in Tsuruga-san the entire time. How could she have missed that? She was a terrible best friend!

Ren hesitated. He was fairly positive that this was some type of trap. He knew Kyoko would be devastated if he turned down Kanae even though he was not interested in her.

"I suppose that is fine Kotonami-san."

A small smile lighted her features as she leaned close and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "See you tonight Ren-kun." she said before walking seductively from the room.

Surprise etched his features as he watched the raven haired woman walked away. He looked over and noticed the two people closest to him looking back at him in surprise.

Good. They were as surprised as he was.

"Did Kotonami-san just..."

Ren sighed before raising a hand to his forehead. He could feel the headache coming.

"Mogami-san...what did you want to...?"

Kyoko had disappeared.

"Your face is slipping again Ren." Yashiro smirked as the initial surprise of Kanae kissing Ren dissolved. He could see this was going to be a very interesting week.

From his 22nd floor office, the Egyptian Pharoah laughed as the confused man walked into the elevator with his devoted manager at his heels. He knew it had been a great idea to invest in a secret sound system so he could spy, I mean, watch the people in his company.

"Oh, Ren. It only gets worse from here." he smirked before turning to his manservant.

"Sebastian, call Kuu! I think we are going to have a wedding soon."