Disclaimer: Right, I own Skip Beat. Actually, I'm LME President, Lory Takarada and these are just synopses from my favorite otome games 3

Title: Give Me A Good Reason

Summary: Ren's giving himself good reasons to give up Kyoko, Kuon's giving him good reasons not to, and Kyoko's giving him whiplash. What happens when the only way he can keep all his eggs in one basket is to completely envelope the persona of Cain Heel, and all that that implies? (post-167)

Chapter: Two: Lots of Stars

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About seven-point-five centimeters in length, point-five centimeters in diameter... The 'filter' takes up about one-third of the length... It seems the longer, thinner types are marketed specifically with women in mind, while the shorter, darker ones are geared towards men... The feminine ones let out a very thin exhaust while the macho ones are very thick... And some come in flavors. So far, she'd been able to document orange, grape, vanilla, and melon.

Some smokers are suprisingly friendly. They seem scary, but they warmed up to Setsuka pretty quickly once they realized she wasn't trying to bum one off of them. In fact, once they learned she was only curious, they were unapologetically open about trying to poison her lungs. It surprised her that they hadn't assumed anything based upon her suggestively 'Outlaw' constitution of dress. One girl who had rocked the punk look to a 'T,' had actually looped arms with her, "Here, chiquita," the girl said with an american drawl, "take my pack. They're Seven Stars, specials. Charcoal filter. I been on 'em for four years straight, the best there is," the girl had a spark in her eyes as she looked at the glory of her soft pack, "I want you to take this, and when you feel like you want one, give yourself some alone time to enjoy it-"

"Oh! No, no, thank you, I couldn't!" Kyoko tried to pull the pack that the pretty girl was trying to stuff into her pocket with a fingerless leather-gloved hand, but to no avail.

"My favorite time to smoke is on my way home from work. When I was in New York, I'd just sit on a backstage entrance staircase and enjoy it, smooth and slow, and take in the city at night. I'd sit and enjoy a moment to myself. Of course, right now, I'm just shootin' the shit with my friends, here!" And the girl smacked the back of the leather-clad comrade standing with his profile to them as they laughed, and Kyoko giggled out of politeness, "just give yourself a minute to enjoy it!"

Kyoko smiled down at her new package of cancer sticks, counting the seven, small metallic stars printed across the top before popping it back into her bag. Moko-san shouldn't arrive for another twenty-minutes, but Kyoko felt precaution must be taken with such immoral items in her possession... Not to mention illegal!

It was great that now that all of her usual Love Me Section time could be spent walking around in Setsuka regalia, trying to find her character (as per The President's instruction). However, it also meant that Kyoko saw less of her dear Moko-san! Oh, how long had it been? It felt like ages!

How long has it been, seriously? Two full days and three nights, yes. So long... But at least she'd had a chance to speak to Moko-san the night before... But the thought of that conversation made Kyoko's brows draw together, and her teeth openly clench in pensive stillness. She recounted her friend's inquiry about her senpai, upon hearing gossip from Love Me Number Three in a chance meeting at headquarters. The topic of her senpai set poor Kyoko on edge, and as she shrank in her seat, the fear of danger grew bigger. Her anxiety was building up, and up, and up. It grew each time she blinked, and so you cannot blame the poor girl for shrieking out to Almighty Allah when her best friend tapped her on the shoulder in greeting. The scream came out so shrill and incomprehensible people walking past outside the cafe stopped to try and find it's source.

"Mmmmooooouuuuu!" Kotonami Kanae mentally chastised herself for not expecting the unexpected with her one and only best friend. She gripped her chest so tightly, so pronounced was her shock, she felt her hair stand on end for a full five seconds before falling back into place. When Kyoko sang a familiar starry-eyed greeting followed by a sweet apology for acting uncouth, her friend huffed and sat down in the seat across the ornate pink little table... Leave it to the resident fairy-tale freak to pick their lunch spot. Kanae gave herself a minute to feel reproachful. They sat in a rococo-styled cafe that screamed heart shaped beauty marks and Marie Antoinette. When a waiter walked by in full white make-up and powdered wig, it was enough to die from embarrassment... Somehow, though, looking at her best friend spread warm feelings of tolerance for all of the spritely girl's quirky hobbies. Kanae breathed in and out, and told herself there was nothing to be angry about. Then she remembered her last conversation with said girl, "Mou! You'd really ought to stop being so scatter-brained all the time! How could you forget you were on the phone with me after just a tiny screw up with your voodoo doll?"

Kyoko took a second to look honestly (and adorably) bashful before beginning her sincere reparations, "Moko-san, I didn't mean to be so rude. But I'd been working on that Tsuruga Ren-as-Katsuki doll for some time now, and to have accidentally painted such a long eyelash was so... Devastating," Kyoko breathed the last words, a look of melancholy seeping into her expression as she pictured the shell-chocked Tsuruga Ren she'd seen not once, but twice now. Though it was reflexively deemed an exorbitant reaction to such an outlandish skill, the sorrow in her face cooled Kanae's temper immediately.

"Yeah, whatever then, I see how that could really get to you... You must've worked really hard on it, too," Kanae gave a contrite smile to her companion, waited for a smile of equal contrition, and began looking at her menu. Little did Moko-san know that not only was the best friend lying to her about the circumstances that had caused her to not only forget she was on the phone, she was also wittholding intentions of committing an act Kyoko felt in her gut was something young, impressionable high school girls should be sharing with their best friends... But, alas, Kanae was a healthy girl who would never inhale even a whiff of smoke. Even if Kyoko disregarded this, telling her would mean an explanation, and the explanation would involve strictly confidential information set upon her by the great powers that be.

I mean, she'd already gone so far to cover her tracks, by using the eyelash incident that had happened weeks ago alone in her room as a perfect cover for Moko-san hearing her repeatedly call out her senpai's name... And then start shrieking... Apparently, she'd immediately turned her phone off, and Moko-san had been frantically calling back out of absolute fright for her friend... Kyoko knew she had put her friend through too much to just toss it all to the side now.

But Kyoko's tongue was itching from keeping so many secrets!

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Ren sat as leisurely as he could manage on the back of Lory Takarada's magnificent elephant, Hady. The President himself sat behind him, on an embroidered, velvet throne dressed from head-to-toe like an Arabian Sultan. Sure, he was used to Boss' elephants and outfits, but having to participate was something else entirely.

Yes, today Tsuruga Ren had finally caved. Over the years Takarada had sworn to one day get Ren to don a costume unnecessary for a role, and never succeeded.

But, lo! Behold, this, the glorious day that Tsuruga Ren finally succumbed to the joys of cosplay has come. To make things even better, the costume was Disney Prince Aladdin! Oh, the swooning women at LME brought joy to the maniacal man, whose smile grew wider with every fainting maiden. He almost forgot to think of what could be so important to the young actor that he'd risk his pride to attain it... But the man's face; jaw clenched in determination, eyes wary of their actions and back stiff with affliction was so nostalgically wild that Lory couldn't help worrying. It's not like he didn't know the driving force in whatever was to come, anyway.

Ren burned holes in the back of Hady's head, not even seeing the textured, almost moon-toned skin. He was lost in cogitation. In a harrowing bliss that neither starts, ends, or stops. A perpetual state of inevitability that he knew- due to his longing, his self-castigation, his fate- could not be stopped. He always knew this. And he was fine with it, fine with just watching over her as a senpai, but now... The way Setsu spoke... Like she wanted to completely possess him- needed to monopolize him, even- was too much for Ren to handle. The yearning for Kyoko to actually feel this way about him contrasting with his own acknowledgement of it never happening was enough to drown his heart in ice. Being reminded that it was only he who was longing, and also faithfully believing that he would never have what he wanted set his mind in a fog as thick as insanity. He would never... Should never... Could never embrace her like he'd dreamed only countless nights on end.

Once he'd realized this, he'd decided there was only one way out. His only hope.

With a sultry command from her master, Hady glided to the colossal cargo elevator with the grace unknown to her species. Ren took only a moment to stop his train of thought in order to worry about riding an elevator with an elephant, but they were in the sub-basement in a flash, and so Ren returned to brooding. Hady led them into the underground oasis, and kneeled down to wade in the watering hole. Ceremoniously, Lory unfurled a ladder woven from the same silk as his throne, and went down with a giddy bob of his feathered turban.

Ren followed after, congruently unceremonious in style. The man was on a mission. Lory needed no prompting, and jumped right into it, "Now tell me, why?"

"I have a favor to ask of you."

"Yes, but why?" Lory's eyes conveyed a message more vast than the entire Twilight Saga.

"I want Cain Heel to be more than a cover," says the actor, nearly shaking in determination now, "I want Cain Heel to be a character I can immerse myself in."

"Why?"

"I know it's asking a lot. I know that Cain Heel is supposed to just be a cover, but I need to separate Kuon from Cain Heel," Ren's eyes meet the President's in an unsteady gaze that falls almost immediately into frantically searching the room for his guts. Usually, Kaichou did all the talking, and he need only absorb his message (with an ulterior motive certainly buried underneath). Now, it was Ren trying to convey something. He only wished he could do so in the calm, decisive manner as the mustachioed man had countless times before. Ren clasped his hands together in a silent prayer for clarity. He raised his orison hands to his forehead, and imagined he might channel a third eye out of desperation. How could he get across how right his request was?

"Why?" When Ren's response was only a lax in his fingers, Lory's voice became voluminous enough to let Ren's mind slip, and for just a second, he thought the question came from the Gods themselves, "Why, Kuon?"

And slowly, the gallant young man freed his forehead from the pressure of his pleading fists, "I have to stay beside her."

And as the words flew out of his mouth and clung to the air between them, they both knew it to be true.

Kuon gathered his head to look his President, his makeshift guardian and family friend in the eyes. This time his gaze was steady as he silently added, "But I can only stay beside her as Cain Heel... And once that's through, I'll be through, too."

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Author's Note: Forgive me, but I couldn't resist having the innocent Kyoko dabble in some dirty. It just seemed too funny to pass up. Seven Stars are actually my favorite Japanese brand of cigarettes :]

And the Mary-Sue will be important later, guys. Sorry if you don't like her, but I found her necessary for my wicked, wicked goals.

Many thanks to Jhiz, for rightly using the word 'dizzy' to describe chapter one. I felt the same way, and didn't realize it was the fault of my writing pace. I thought it was just a new affect of my slowly dawning insanity! I hope this chapter was better!