Prisoner
4th Chapter: missing you
M
disclaimer: Skip Beat is not mine. This is a fanfiction
"Kyoko-chan? What's wrong?" Director Ogata asked the girl sitting beside him in the two-seater company bus, oblivious to the fact that she was currently preoccupied with her personal thoughts…
What? Why did I expect individual vans to come fetch us?! I should've known that they'd use the company bus to transport ALL the actors to Shinobu Island. Ah! again, why is he sitting behind me? Breathe Kyoko, BREATHE!
Just then, she felt a puff of air against the back of her ear which sent shivers up her spine. Kyoko fought the urge to turn around, she knew it was Shou: bored… playing games… rotten.
"Kyoko-chan, you look sick… we still have two hours till we reach the location. Do you want to make a pit stop?"
Kyoko felt bad for the director, he shouldn't be worrying about her, "No Ogata-san, don't worry about me, I'm a big girl."
"But still, you don't look so good." Director Ogata stared at Kyoko's pale face,
"No, by the way," she managed to stir the topic in a different direction, "Tsuruga-san, do you think he'll make it tonight?"
"Certainly, the commercial shoot was supposed to last until tomorrow afternoon but he requested to take no breaks for it to finish earlier."
"Sounds just like the Tsuruga-san we know." Kyoko said in a dejected voice.
"Yes, but I think this project is important to him more than anything else." Director Ogata said knowingly.
'Moko-chan… what should I do with this unbearable situation?!' Kyoko thought and at that very same moment she felt a gust of wind against her ear… again.
Shou Fuwa was really pushing his luck. Kyoko was doing everything in her will power to act professional and lady-like, her company, LME, trusted her with the project after all and she's gonna make them proud, even if it meant bottling all her irritation and anger in... but he was just too set on ruining her day.
"You can't blow this up huh?" the blonde demon, aka Shou Fuwa, sat down beside her while director Ogata moved to sit with Miss Woods or Ten-chan as she'd insisted to be called, to talk about costume and hair styling.
'Ignore…' Kyoko thought,
"So… the arrogant Tsuruga Ren's M.I.A huh?" he crossed his legs, a way to tell the world how he's the boss.
Kyoko snapped, he can insult her as much as he wanted but he can never bad mouth Tsuruga Ren in her presence, "Don't even start you monkey."
"You know I thought you've changed, turns out you're as gullible as ever… if anything you're more gullible."
"Oie, Shoutaro. Could you go back to where you came from? Director Ogata'll come back any minute now." Every word came out evenly as she said them.
"As I was saying," Shou ignored her previous comment, "high flying men like Tsuruga Ren are what you call 'predators'…" Shou said in an all-knowing fashion, arms crossed, eyes closed but he knew he got Kyoko's attention.
"You make him sound like an animal! He's not like you or any other crappy men."
Shou flinched but retained his composure, "You got it all wrong, what I meant was an artist like Ren preys on 'any' kind of maiden who gets the chance to be close to him, he uses them as inspiration- for a while… then discards them." He paused then took a glance of Kyoko who was frowning angrily at him, "You're just one of the few 'inspirations' he needed to get into character… the scary thing is," he paused to make sure that Kyoko was looking into his eyes, he wanted her to believe his final statement more than anything, "Class A actors like him, might not even know they're doing it. He's showing interest in you now because he's curious. When he's done with you—well, you know how that goes."
Reaching Shinobu Island wasn't as eventful as Kyoko had imagined, the upside, the place was every bit the paradise it was as described in the script and the view of the sea was fantastic.
Her solemn mood was partly because of the event earlier with the devil, which probably ruined her mood entirely. Even though she looked angry and irritated… and unaffected, Shou Fuwa's words hit the spot. Why? Because not only did she believe in the saying 'it takes one to know one', but also because she's experienced being 'used' first hand.
The irritating thing is that it took Shou Fuwa to remind her of how she should be locking up her heart. To point out that she's becoming 'undone' by Tsuruga Ren.
"Here, let me help you with that." Shou appeared behind her wearing his arrogant smirk and started to pull her luggage from under the dozens of luggage owned by the staff and crew.
"What game are you playing?" She looked up at him suspiciously, letting him pull her stuff from under the pile of bags.
"You really need to relax Kyoko."
"So far you're not a Saboteur, but you're not 'nice' either, and we also had that 'bet' that if I don't make it to the top I'll spend the rest of my life in your parents' inn… so what is it that you're up to?"
"What indeed?" Shou said cryptically, "Okay so you caught me," he began with his 'defeated' look, Kyouko eyed him carefully while taking her suitcase from him. "I need you to run lines with me."
"You mean practice?"
"Yes."
"Uh…"
"Come on, as a professional actress shouldn't you be giving me advice. This is your series after all, don't you want it to be perfect?" the word cleared her brain and brought a fierce look in her eyes,
"Yes, you can't screw this up for me." She was in her committed-actress mode, "Let's meet after dinner." She said with more conviction, all previous precautions forgotten, no longer wary but alert. One thing she can't let Shou do is screw up her first starring role project. Even if it meant teaching him herself, then she's going to do it!
Thanks for the support! Next chapters are up for re-checking and then I'll be uploading them.
RxR much appreciated. Tell me what you think!
