Disclaimer : I don't own Skip Beat !

Chapter 3 : When the time comes to shine

"Y-You might what?" Asked a frightened Kyouko. It was never a good sign when he became the Emperor of the Night.

"I might tell you about a few things you should look out for, as well. Like, about how it is dangerous to suggest you are immune to the things I might do to you." He had said that in such a husky voice that Kyouko had to gulp a few times before being able to speak again.

'What, is he going to torture me?' She thought, afraid that he might chop her down into pieces, then cook her into the very pot he burnt himself with earlier. "W-What do you mean, the t-things you might do to me?"

Ren suddenly flashed her a smile that got her completely paralyzed. Wait... Didn't this remind her of a previous situation? But they were acting at this time. She was playing Mizuki, while her teacher, Katsuki, was being acted by Ren. He had toyed with her the same way he was now. Did he mean that it was dangerous to stay alone at a man's place, then? But she had done it a couple of times already, so why was it now a dangerous thing to do?

"B-But, Tsuruga-san, I'm here for a certain reason, you know? It's not like I'm going alone to a man's house for nothing!"

Ren stared at her in surprise. So she did get a hint about the things he could do to her? That was something he hadn't expected, and it ruined his fun. "I get it. So, unless you're here to lecture me about the way I'm dealing with women, - which, by the way, I find a bit too exaggerated in your speech -, maybe we could go back to the main reason why you're here? That is, of course, if you don't have any hidden motive behind it."

"...!"

The shock on her face was priceless, Ren thought. Well, she did deserve a small punishment for scolding her senpai on this matter. He chuckled as she yelled at him for suggesting some irresponsible (and immoral) things. The evening passed by, and it wasn't until Ren was driving her back home that the topic of the drama they were in arose.

"So, Mogami-sensei, are you as confident in your role as you are in your cooking skills?"

Kyouko froze. Where did that question come from? They were fine a minute ago, talking about some good and simple recipes she had taught him, so why was the topic directed toward such a sensible subject?

"Mogami-san?" Ren looked briefly at her, wondering what was taking her so long to respond.

"W-Well..." She started, fidgeting her fingers in what seemed a painful way. "This and that are a different story. I, hum, I may have some difficulties building up my character."

"Why, I thought you loved fairy tales, so you should be able to picture a fairy, shouldn't you?" Ren was a bit surprised when he saw her blushing. He heard her mumbling something.

"What was that?"

Kyouko took a deep breath and repeated what she had said, aloud this time: "It's not with the fairy part that I'm having difficulties. It's... It's with the romantic one." She looked at him with such desperate eyes that he had to muster all his willpower to bring his attention back to the road so he wouldn't send them to paradise too soon. Well, he felt he would go to hell within a few weeks because of the drama, but that wasn't a reason to kill himself beforehand. At least, let him go to hell when he had done something worth it, like kissing her for example, and not for some stupid car accident. His thoughts back on track, he continued the conversation:

"I see. You still haven't recovered the feeling, huh..."

The coldness in his voice reminded Kyouko of her previous imagination of his reaction when he'd learn that even though she had been in the Love Me section, she hadn't improved at all.

"I'm really hopeless, aren't I? Not being able to express such a simple feeling." She looked down at her lap, hands clipped together, waiting for the scolding.

"A simple feeling, really? I don't think it's that simple, otherwise it wouldn't be so hard to deal with." His eyes softened, as a pained expression slowly appeared on his face.

Kyouko immediately regretted her words. She knew he was having a hard time with the girl he loved and yet, she made such a comment!

"E-Er,... I didn't... I mean... I didn't mean to say it was a simple feeling to deal with! But surely, love is something people should treasure. Don't you think so?" 'I don't', she thought. Her smile looked fake, and soon it was nothing more than an apologetic grimace. She dropped it then. "Yeah, as if." She couldn't tell him those words, it sounded too fake, even to her own ears.

"You sure feel bitter about this. Isn't there any way for you to see it under another light? Will it always make you remember about that Fuwa guy?" Kyouko shot her head up in surprise. Was that her, or Ren's voice seemed almost... almost pleading?

"Tsuruga...-san?" He didn't dare to look at her, for his face kept slipping. He hadn't succeeded in shutting his damn mouth, too! He had let this supplication pass his lips, and he had no way out of it, now! Or had he?

Ren stopped the car since they had reached their destination. He then turned to her with the most composed face he could muster:

"Mogami-san."

"Yes, Tsuruga-san?" His sudden seriousness was making her uneasy.

"I'll be honest, I really like you. In a professional way, that is. I know you have the potential of a great actress, but this is tying you down. If you cannot perform in this drama, then I don't think you'll be able to achieve the great things you could do. You must absolutely feel the love that your character has for mine. If you don't, then it would be better if another actress had your role."

Kyouko couldn't help but gape at him. Did he really say he liked her as an actress? So... She really wasn't hated by him as she had began to suspect? But then again, he sure would be disappointed in her if she didn't overcome this. The question that remained was... How? How would she get rid of this obstacle?

Ren continued, wanting everything out.

"I think I can be of some help, here." 'If I can't revive your feelings of love, I can at least pretend to.'

"Your character is awaking to love in this drama. So it's not like she's experienced with this kind of things. That's all the better for you. She just has to fall in love with my character."

Hearing this, Kyouko froze. He couldn't... No, he wouldn't...

"T-Tsuruga-san... are you... a-are you implying that I should fall in love with you?"

"Good Lord, no! I wouldn't imply that! No, what I meant was that if we play our characters on some training sessions, we could create such a vibe between them that expressing love shouldn't be that hard. The more they interact with each other, the easier it will become for you to display loving feelings. What do you think about it?" Ren asked her, hoping she wouldn't see the hidden motives behind his proposition. For God's sake, he was only human, so how could he let such an opportunity pass? He knew she wouldn't fall in love with him. But if he had the chance to woo her through acting, then no harm could be done, right? He would try his best to make her feel his love, under the cover of his character. That way, even if it meant that after the drama ended, he would feel more pitiable than now, at least he would have tasted some happiness without feeling guilty. She couldn't be his, but her character had to, so why not use this chance?

"I-I think that it's a rather good idea... Actually, I had wanted to ask you the same thing, but I was afraid of being a bother to you. Are you sure that I won't be imposing on you? After all, this is all for my sake." Kyouko was so embarrassed that she couldn't look at him in the eyes. Was he really willing to go out of his way just to help her once again?

"You won't, I promise. Besides, I wouldn't mind returning you the favor you did me with Katsuki. Without you, I think I would have been in a pinch back then." He smiled at her. That was a true, dazzling smile, the kind that had Kyouko's demons defeated in an instant. Their poor owner felt her strength leave her as his radiance hit her.

"W-Well, I guess it's settled then. When should I come over for our first practice session?" She asked in a feeble voice.

Ren thought about it for a moment, then answered: "I'll let you know as soon as I get a hold of Yashiro-san. We should meet on a day I finish work a bit early so that we won't have to practice too late in the night. I guess I'll see you around at work, then."

She opened the door as she nodded to him. Once outside the car, she bowed, thanking him for the ride and for his help with the drama.

That night, neither of them got to sleep much. One kept thinking that he was a real masochist to actually propose more occasions to be tortured, while the other was scared as hell of the reaction her body had had when Ren had hold her. She tried to convince herself that it was a normal reaction, that any woman would have felt that way in her place, because that was Tsuruga Ren, the co-star killer. That was attraction, not love. The first, she could handle, after all who could stop that kind of things? The man had a gigantic sex-appeal, and unless she had lost all of her five senses, she couldn't fight against that. But as for love... That was an entire different story. She simply couldn't allow herself to fall in love again. Ever.

Kyouko sighed heavily. She'd have to be very careful in order to stay safe. She'd have to put down some of her defenses to be able to express her character's feelings, but she'd have to watch out for sneaky traps like body contacts. Those made it easy to mix up attraction and love. Still agitated, she dived into sleep. Needless to say, her dreams were filled with some angry, then smiling, then disgusted, then pained Tsuruga Ren.

The next days passed without Kyouko really noticing. She was feeling like she was engulfed in something so big that she couldn't even guess what it was, and that scared her a bit. She felt pressured, and it was a relief to free herself from that by acting out Natsu, or playing a gentleman Bo. When she had met with Kanae, they had talked about her role so much that she had felt exhausted even without trying to act her part. That didn't stop her from noticing her friend's odd behavior, though. She had kept hinting some things at her, but Kyouko didn't know what she was getting at.

Finally, the day when they had planned to do their first training session came. Kyouko was waiting quietly at the entrance of the TBM building for Tsuruga Ren to pick her up. They would eat at some restaurant and then head to his apartment. For some reason, Kyouko wasn't very enthusiastic about the whole thing. She had a feeling things could turn out badly, although her doubts didn't have any ground. When they settled themselves in the living room, Kyouko opened her script, scanning through the first pages in order to remind her some details about the beginning of the two main characters' relationship. She then turned to her partner, who was waiting patiently for her to be ready.

"S-So... I guess we should start getting into character..." She proposed, rather uncertain as to how things would go from here.

"Sure. I'm supposed to be a very depressed man at the beginning, but you are the light that suddenly shine upon me, in a rather interesting way. So I think I'll start with getting intrigued by you, your being as well as your temper. That means that I have to observe you a lot, so you will do most of the acting for now, I'm afraid." Ren felt really relaxed, mostly because this time he had a good reason to be staring at her without her finding it weird.

"R-Right... Just give me a minute, then." Kyouko closed her eyes. She was a fairy. She could feel the energy flooding through things, and she always felt light because gravity didn't apply much to her. Sure, she had wings, but it was the way she interacted with the air that made her feel so light. Harmony was her home, and she was part of the nature. But she had fallen into the world of mankind from her own world, so she felt a bit lost. And down-right pissed.

Kyouko opened her eyes, and, after having glanced around her, glared at Ren.

"So, this is where you live? That's creepy." She had said it with such contempt that Ren had to get a grip on himself before he'd burst out laughing. Quickly getting into his own character, he responded to her provocation in a half-hearted voice:

"Well, I admit it's a bit dark, but I'm not much into decoration." In the script, his apartment only had gray walls and a white cellar. Sure, his furnitures weren't of the same color, but one couldn't say that black, dark brown and beige were joyful colors if associated together.

"It's not only about the decoration... This place gives off a depressing vibe. It feels so... empty!" Kyouko had gotten up, and was pacing back and forth, her arms widely spread, as if she was trying to brass the air. She looked uneasy, as if the atmosphere was oppressing her. 'She's quite good', Ren thought. 'Let's see where we can get tonight.'

"Well, sorry for being a depressed man." He began to sulk, as if he was remembering his poor life. A bit taken aback by his empty expression, Kyouko decided to shake him a little.

"Humpf! Since you are the first person I met when I arrived here, I'll stay with you until we find a way to send me back home. But I can't live here if things stay like this! I guess I'll just have to cook something to liven up the atmosphere. I may not look like it, but I'm a great cook!"

Ren almost choked on his saliva when he heard her say that. For a moment, Kyouko thought he wasn't acting, but then he stared at her with big surprised eyes, a small glow appearing in them.

"Y-You what? No, wait, what did you say? You can't stay here! I have been forced to believe you when you said you were a fairy from another world, but me accepting that fact doesn't mean I'm accepting you in my life! I don't want a complete stranger, - who is not even human to begin with -, living with me for who-knows how long! There's no way I would!"

There it was. Anger. For the first time in a very long time, he felt it again. He hadn't even realized that being angry could make him feel so alive! He almost calmed down immediately, surprised to have used his voice with this kind of tone. It was as if he had rediscovered his vocal cords. He touched his neck, as if to verify they were physically here.

Kyouko gave him a mocking smile. "Why do you care? Weren't you sick of this life already? So why would it bother you if a complete non-human stranger barges into it? You should continue living your poor life, and when you have enough, just go die already. There's too many humans in this world as it is." She put both her hands on her hips, waiting for a reply.

Ren made an incredulous look. "Hey, aren't you supposed to tell me not to die? Aren't you supposed to be kind?"

She snorted. "Well, I am kind, since I'm not forcing you to live in a world that makes you feel like shit. But if you want to know how it is to really live, then I'd advise you to wait and see how many things you missed out until now. As a payment for living here, I'm willing to show you." Kyouko held out her hand, smiling.

Quite dumbfounded, Ren's character shook it without even realizing. This smile was just too dazzling for him (or them : Ren and Ryu were evenly affected by it).

They kept playing for a while, and Kyouko soon realized that this role was really easy to act. She felt pretty comfortable with it, though she didn't know why. She'd thought she'd have a hard time shaking the depressed character Ren was supposed to play, him being her senpai and all, but strangely, it felt natural. Sure, she sometimes fought with Ren, but she wasn't trying to pester him the way her character did. She shrugged. This was work. She knew he wouldn't hold a grudge against her, since he didn't when she had been really disrespectful as Kuon. She stopped thinking about that and concentrated on how she should act her character's knowledge about human food and cooking tools. She decided to go for the discovering level, so she made a huge mess just to cook them snacks (she had taken into consideration that they already had eaten). This made Ren laugh a lot. Of course, he kept it for himself, since his character was most likely to panic at the sight of such a storm in his kitchen.

…...

"Moko-saaaan!"

'Damn', thought Kanae. 'Here she goes again with that lousy attitude of hers!' She prepared herself for the impact, but it never came. Kyouko had stopped a few inches away from her, and was bowing profusely.

"Thank you sooooooooo much! Thanks to you, Tsuruga-san and I are able to train ourselves before the filming starts!"

A bit exasperated by her display of affection, Kanae sighed. "Well, that's good news. How was your first training session?" At the remembrance of the previous night, Kyouko's eyes lit.

"It was great! I had so much fun trying to cook something without knowing anything! Although I must have worried Tsuruga-san at some point, because when I began to play with the hot kettle, he threw me out of the kitchen, saying he would do the cooking by himself. It's not like he can't cook anymore, too..."

Kanae looked at her friend wondering how far she would have gone if Ren hadn't stopped her. She could perfectly imagine the look of horror on his face when she had began to 'play' with the kettle. And that wouldn't have been acting, too.

Kyouko was still relating her evening when Sawara-san interrupted them, saying he had to borrow Kyouko for a while. Still smiling brightly, she parted with Kanae and followed the man to his office.

"I received a few job requests for you. Most of them are for photo shoots or commercials, so I think it will fit in your schedule, if you'd like."

"Yes, sir, I'd be delighted to accept them!" Kyouko was overjoyed at the news. She got new jobs! She couldn't wait to see what kind of jobs they were.

Sawara-san pursued: "that's probably because they released the first episodes of Box-R. Really, you impressed me there! You've only been in this industry for less than y-... Kyouko-chan?"

Kyouko was frozen, her face as frightening as usual. Sawara-san gulped, hoping it was not him that had put her in this state.

"Kyouko-chan, is everything alright?" When he put a hand before her, she jerked out of her dreamy state.

"Sawara-san... Are those all looking for a mean attitude?" Kyouko asked, really depressed at this thought.

The man was glad he could dismiss her sad face when he denied it:

"Not all of them, Kyouko-chan. Sure, there are some, but that's to be expected. But you did get jobs that don't really require a mean attitude."

"Really?" The girl looked now like she had been told Christmas had been advanced to tomorrow.

"Y-Yes... Look, I'll give you those papers, and you just check them out. When you're done, come back here, okay?" For a reason Kyouko didn't understand, Sawara-san didn't seem too enthusiastic. She quickly dismissed that thought, took the papers and walked out of the office, rejoicing at all the offers she got.

Meanwhile, Sawara-san sunk into his chair, wondering in fright at how she would find the offers that were not requiring a mean attitude. He hoped she would only look at them at home, so she'd have time to calm down before seeing him.

It was not until the end of the day that Kyouko got to look at what she'd get from the man's office. First, she only found offers like commercials that needed a villain. There were also photo shoots, requiring the same thing. She started to read the last two ones, and then froze. 'What the hell...' She stared at the paper in her hands, dumbfounded. This job was a photo shoot that would advertise a lipstick. They wanted an actress to display a sense of wickedness and a playful smile for the ad, in order to be more alluring. Kyouko quickly shifted to the last offer, very disturbed by what she'd read. But what awaited her was worse that the previous offer. It was a request for another commercial, and not only did they want a sexy actress, but they wanted her to seduce a man, all that just to promote a perfume.

Kyouko stared into space in disbelief. How the hell had she gotten these kinds of offer?

"Kyouko-chan!" Said girl raised her head to Ishibashi Hikaru, one of the Bridge Brothers. He was bent toward her, a surprised look on his face. "What are you still doing here? Weren't you supposed to go home after the show?" At least, that's what she usually said when he or his brothers invited her after the show. They would go out to get a few drinks together with the rest of the staff from times to times, but Kyouko had always declined.

"H-Hum... Yeah, I was going to go, but then I remembered I just got new job offers so I was checking them out." Kyouko answered, a apologetic smile on her face.

"That's great! So, are there any interesting ones?" The girl froze at that, which made Hikaru curious. "What? Could it be that there are none? No way! After the release of your latest drama, I'd thought you'd receive more requests for alluring roles!" Double freeze. That was something the man wasn't expecting. "Hum, Kyouko-chan, are you upset about something?"

"Hikaru-san, I did receive requests for alluring roles... And that what's the problem! Why would I have to do some-something like that!" She showed him the two papers, and had so much emphasized on the word 'alluring' that Hikaru just knew she didn't like it one bit.

"W-Well, those sure are a bit... extravagant. But I'm sure you'd do well in both of them..." Hikaru said, after remembering the way she had asked him to keep her fall from the stairs a secret.

"Don't say that, Hikaru-san. I perfectly know that I'm a plain and boring woman. I wouldn't know how to act those." Kyouko hung her head, her bangs hiding her eyes. One would think she was sad, but she really was fuming inside. 'After all, this is the kind of job that women HIS taste usually receive. I'm not one of those pretty, desirable girls who have an E-cup, and I'm fine with that too. I'll show you just how good I am with only my acting skills, Shotaro!' Her thoughts (along with her rising Kyouko-grudges) were interrupted by Hikaru, who really thought she was sad. Otherwise, he'd never admit to her what he was going to say.

"That's not true, Kyouko-chan. You can be a hell of a s-sexy girl when you want to." He was beet red, but his eyes showed determination. He wouldn't leave her until he had fully comforted her and given her the confidence to accept the jobs. "Remember when you found that girl's note? Well, you may not have noticed, but you suddenly got very mature a-and... and attractive. So that's why I know you can do this!" He was so dead, he thought. What he just said sounded like a confession, and he knew she didn't feel that way toward him. But of course, Kyouko being... Kyouko, she didn't take the bait.

"What? Really?" She looked at him with big surprised eyes. That made him blush even more 'Maybe...?' And then she frowned. "But that was because I was acting Natsu without noticing. Without her, I wouldn't be able to... That's it! I get it! That's how I'm going to do the jobs! I'll be Natsu! I'll show him just what I'm made of! Hikaru-san, thank you so much! You've helped me a great deal here!" And with that she ran off, leaving a poor, poor Hikaru behind. 'So that's how it was... She was only acting at the time.' He sunk to the ground. 'And just who was 'him' referring to?' He sulked. When the other two Ishibashi brothers found him, he was still sitting on the ground, a lovesick and depressed look on his face.

Meanwhile, Kyouko was going home, laughing like a maniac. She scared lots of passers-by that night too.

When she went into Sawara-san's office the following morning, the man was really surprised at her cool behavior. Indeed, she had let Natsu possess her, and was in the mood for some fun. When Sawara-san explained to her that she had to choose between the lipstick ad and the perfume ad, she opted for the last, enjoying the fact that she would be fooling around with a man. She picked up two requests for a photo-shoot that needed a scary woman, and a mad woman (the difference between the two was thin, but Natsu knew how she would act in those. She was determined to toy with the photographer (the two offers she accepted were from the same studio, so she would just do both of them at the same time). With the commercial and the new drama (not forgetting the still filming Box-R and Kimagure Rock), she would be quite busy from now on.

But what Natsu was eagerly waiting for was the commercial for the perfume called 'Confidence'. Whoever that would be playing opposite her, she would make him grovel at her feet.

Same thing, I hope I removed most of the mistakes. Removed the annoying spaces that we have in French and not in English. I'm still begging for a beta!