Disclaimer: I don't own Skip Beat!

CHAPTER 2: Before the Sun Rises – HER

Her sleeveless dress was billowing in the wind. "I've been here before," she thought. The only source of light was the moon's luminescence shining down upon her. The night breeze blew through her hair, she shivered, goosebumps dotting her flesh.

When the wind whipping through her hair finally died down, she took in her surroundings, and could hear ocean waves crashing below. "I know this place," she said internally, scrutinizing her surroundings.

She was standing on a cliff but not at the edge, instead there was a figure standing where she normally did. "Tsuruga-san?" she thought. She looked closer and saw it wasn't quite him.

The figure had the right height and bone structure though. She took in the blonde hair and green eyes, barely distinguishable in the moonlight, "Corn?" She thought. "Corn you came back," she exclaimed, calling out to him, but no sound came out.

He was just standing there in Ren's form like he had looked when they met on Guam. This time, however, he had a melancholy smile on his face. She took a few timid steps towards him. She had an inkling of what was going to happen next, so she tried to tread softly so as not to startle him. She continued slowly as if approaching a cornered animal.

He raised his right hand, as in goodbye, and pushed off from the ground falling to the dark abyss. She was already sprinting towards him before he leaped. "No Corn don't leave me," she tried to scream. She didn't hesitate and jumped after him. Grasping for him, her arms reached nothing but darkness.

Kyoko woke up with a start, from her bed. She was sweating and panting from the exertion the dream had had on her. Tears instantly filled her eyes and trailed down her cheeks. "Corn, where are you?" she thought, as she sobbed into her pillow to muffle the sound. She didn't want to worry her landlords. After her tear ducts ran dry, she felt refreshed and started analyzing her dream.

This was a recurring dream she had been having since she left Ren on Guam. The same questions always flooded her mind. Was this a premonition? Did he need her? Why was the dream reversed? It had always been Ren beckoning to her, telling her to stay away from the edge. These days Corn and Ren have begun to overlap in her dreams and her heart, as if they were the same person. "Corn, that baka" she thought, it's because he used Ren's body that she's so confused.

Or was her subconscious finally trying to tell her something. Were they the same person after all and she's being tricked like an idiot? She placed her hands on her temples and rubbed them as she felt a headache coming on.

Meanwhile, the Kyoko grudges in her mind, were rooting for their mistress to finally make the connection. That man has been playing her all along, if only she would bring herself to acknowledge it. They've been cooped up for so long they needed some release.

Kyoko's phone vibrated, saving her from thinking too hard. She read the incoming text, "Good morning Mogami-san, I have a few errands this morning so I will meet up with you and Yashiro at lunch time." A heart emoji was included in the message. She smiled with a warm blush settling upon her cheeks for a few seconds. Then her face darkened. What's this heart supposed to mean? This playboy messing with her feelings and giving her false hope. Settling her nerves, Kyoko responded with "Ok, see you then, make sure to have a nutritious breakfast!"

She wanted to crawl into a hole as she read his response text "Yes, Mom!" She knew he was teasing her from last night but even so she still felt so embarrassed. Who did she think she was his nagging wife? She needed to focus and get ready for work. Perhaps she can add this to the list of things she can sort out with Moko-san. Moko had a knack for reading between the lines of Kyoko's jumbled thoughts. Her grudges giggled with glee, they knew Moko-san can stir things up.

Just as she was finishing up breakfast, there was a knock at the back door of Darumaya. She opened the door and found Yashiro standing there. "Good Morning Yashiro-san" she said bowing towards her manager. "Would you like to have breakfast?" she asked, gesturing for him to come inside. Yashiro bid her and the Darumaya couple good morning but declined stating that he already had a healthy breakfast.

They needed to run along because he had a meeting scheduled with the president first thing. As they started to drive, he went over her schedule. She had love me duties in the morning and then they would be meeting up with Ren for lunch at LME's café if that was ok with her. Kyoko nodded her assent. She also had a sacred lotus reading, then a promotional photo shoot for it, and after that her love me duties at TBM.

"Ren did say you guys were having dinner tonight, " Yashiro mentioned, keeping his cool. He snuck a glance at her and saw her blushing. His inner fangirl was doing summersaults at the prospect. There was slow progress between his two charges that he thought he would be old and gray by the time they acknowledged each other.

"So I will drop you off at his place after TBM, Ok," Yashiro continued. He told her that Ren would get home first to prepare. Ren left him no room for teasing. Yashiro swore he was talking to demon lord over the phone, he shuddered, thinking of Ren's maximum gentalmanly smile. Yashiro didn't want to push his luck.

Kyoko started feeling nervous at the thought of coming face to face with Ren again. What did he want to talk to her about tonight? She needed to come up with some excuse to get out of this. But if he's having trouble like before during Dark Moon and while playing BJ then she absolutely couldn't abandon him. Her eyebrows twitched as her thoughts turned ugly. Why can't he just call that despicable girl he loves to help him? Recalling the incident with Kimiko. How could he love someone so deceitful? Who was she to judge though, love is blind, the heart wants what the heart wants. But why her, she thought, she has been by his side for the past year.

Maybe she has him under a spell and all he needs is true love's kiss. Her face started flushing as she imagined her, his knight in shining armor and a delicate Ren set upon a bed in a deep sleep. She imagined herself clad in gold armor, leaning over, prince Ren to place a kiss on his fair lips. She shook her head to erase the images flowing through her mind.

Kimiko's face holding up her pinky ring replaced her lovely images. A pinky ring only meant one thing a promise for future love. There is a legend of the red thread of fate between two soul mates tied at their fingers. No matter what obstacle, across space and time, the lovers will eventually find each other. The thought of Ren giving Kimiko such a ring, crushed her.

What just happened. "Ky – Kyoko chan," Yashiro stuttered "Is everything ok?" His voice pulled her out of her thoughts and she managed a small smile. "I'm fine, just thinking," she said. He let it go for now since the menacing aura disappeared as quickly as it came. He thought, maybe it was just my imagination.

To fill the silence, they talked about nonsensical things for the rest of the ride. Mainly Yashiro doing recon on Kyoko's likes and dislikes so he can pass on the info to Ren. He had deflected her question about why he needed to know so much by saying a good manager knows many things about his charge.

AN: Thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed chapter 1. I hope this one flows better. I will be redoing chpt 1 in 3rd person since I'm in the habit of bouncing back forth. I wrote that on my PC and when I read it on my phone I found it long. I hope this is an improvement as I did it all on my phone. Again, I apologize in advance for my grammatical errors.