Here's the new chapter! I'm really glad, because it only took about five days. I hope y'all like the update! Let me know!

Disclaimer: I have absolutely nothing to do with owning Skip-Beat! although I wish to god I did.

A Good Dinner

By PhoenixTorte

Kyouko happily accepted the bottle of water from the staff member. "Thank you for the hard work," he said cheerfully. Though he probably wouldn't have done that with anyone else, Kyouko had already shown herself to be a kind and polite young actress, and the entire staff and crew were already on good terms with her. The cast and crew were also vastly amused at her, especially when she started going on about fairies, or when she had strange emotional outbursts.

Kyouko sighed in contentment. Once again, shooting had progressed nicely. She hadn't killed Sho, and Ren didn't seem to be mad at her. She supposed that it might have had something to do with the bento that she had given him, because Ren had cheered up a lot, and Sho had gotten sulky, and went off to pout somewhere. Ren always seemed to cheer up when she did little things like that on her own. It was necessary anyway, or Ren wouldn't eat, and he would most likely get sick.

Kyouko finished getting her bag and other things, now that she was changed out of the clothes she wore for shooting. She had left the makeup on, and seeing how much Kyouko had liked the makeup and the long, wavy wig, the makeup girl had even touched up Kyouko's hair, so that it was curly and drawn back with a side bang. Kyouko couldn't help feeling like a princess, and she hummed as she walked towards the exit with a bounce in her step.

"Mogami-san!"

Kyouko started at hearing her name being called. Upon recognizing the voice, she felt a fluttering start in the pit of her stomach. Turning, she greeted the owner of the voice. "Tsuruga-sempai!" she said, with a wide smile on her face.

Tsuruga Ren smiled at the welcoming look on Kyouko's face. "Do you need a ride home?" he inquired. Kyouko immediately began to protest. Watching her flustered reactions only warmed Ren's heart even more.

"I couldn't possibly inconvenience you by making you do that, sempai," Kyouko said. "It's out of your way, isn't it?" Ren wanted to chuckle at the worried, puppy-dog look on her face, but somehow managed to hold it in.

"Nonsense," was his reply. "Besides, it would be good if we stopped for dinner right? You must be hungry."

Kyouko latched onto that as a good excuse. "Yes, that's a great idea! Sempai doesn't often eat well, so I should make sure that he has a nutritional dinner, as well!"

"Shall we go then?" Ren gestured to the exit door that they stood in front of. Kyouko smiled, and nodded agreeably. Together they stepped to the door, and Ren, always the perfect gentleman, held the door for her. Kyouko steeped through rather quickly, running into someone just outside the door.

"Sorry!!!" she exclaimed. Looking up, she saw that she had run into the one person that she hated most in the entire world. Sho looked down at her, a familiar smirk on his face.

"You should really watch where you're going," he said. "Where are you going in such a hurry, anyway?" Ren stepped out of the building behind Kyouko. Seeing his chance to make Sho jealous, he seized it.

"Kyouko and I are going out to dinner," he said. Smiling his friendly best, he laid his hand possessively on Kyouko's shoulder. Kyouko smiled at little, finding little amiss about his words, though she detected a slight underlying tension beneath his words. Seeing that little smile though, Sho was thrown into a jealous rage.

"Well, then, I should go with you, as well, as your coworker," he suggested, folding his arms.

"Denied."

Ren and Kyouko spoke at the same time. Ignoring Sho now, Kyouko flounced away with a dark glower on her face. Ren gave a polite, constrained nod to Sho, and turned to follow Kyouko, as Sho watched them get into Ren's car, he was thrown into action. He ran to his car, where his manager, Shoko was waiting to drive him home. "Follow that car," he said, pointing to the car that was leaving the lot. Confused, Shoko put the car into gear, and began following them. She was a little worried, especially since Sho had started ranting to himself, and the only words that she caught were 'damn him', 'mine!' and 'we'll see…'

Kyouko and Ren pulled into a small family restaurant that specialized in traditional, homey Japanese food. Before they got out of the car however, Ren reached over and covered Kyouko's hand with his own.

"Mogami-san, you realize that Fuwa followed us here, right?"

"What?" Kyouko made as if to look around.

"Don't!" Ren told her. "Look, you remember that plan we had?"

Kyouko tapped her fist into the palm of her hand. "Wow, I forgot about that!" She blushed. "You mean where we pretend to be lovers?"

Ren nodded. "Most likely that guy is going to follow us into the restaurant. Shall we give him a show, and act like a pair of lovers on a date?"

Kyouko turned even redder, and began to sputter when she talked. "B-but...there's a slight problem…y-you see…" Ren watched her with concern as she struggled to get the words out.

"I've never been on a date!"

Relieved at getting the words out, Kyouko pressed a hand to her heart, her heart thumping in her chest in the classic dokidoki type of way. Ren leaned in closer, knowing that to an outside observer it looked as though he were whispering sweet nothings into the ear of the girl next to him. "Don't worry," he said reassuringly. "You've seen couples on dates, right? Just act like that, but naturally and like yourself." He couldn't help feeling a twinge of pleasure/guilt. Part of him wanted to see her acting lovey dovey over him, but the other part felt guilty at having to trick her into it. Plus, he would rather have her being romantic because she wanted to, and because she liked him. Ah, well. That would come with time.

Ren got out of the car and went around, opening the door for Kyouko. When Shoko saw who was in the car, a lot of things made sense to her. After the two had disappeared into the restaurant, Sho got out of the car. Shoko remained sitting until Sho leaned down and looked into the window. "Well, are you coming?" he asked. "I need a good reason for being at this restaurant, at this time."

Shoko smiled wryly to herself. 'Boy, you sure are worried about Kyouko, when you guys supposedly broke up' She got out of the car, anyhow, and followed him inside the restaurant.

Inside, the hostess greeted Ren and Kyouko. She showed them to a table in the back, and left them to choose from the menu. Jumping right into his role, Ren started talking.

"Kyouko-chan…" Kyouko started a little at being addressed this way by her sempai, but quickly suppressed the surprise. "You look so beautiful today…though, of course, you always look wonderful." Sho glared at Ren, as he had come in just at that line. He was just in time to see the beguiling blush that appeared on Kyouko's cheeks.

"Sempai…" Kyouko started to say, in a soft, flustered voice.

"Shh," Ren said, reaching across the table to trace the line of her cheek with his finger. "Please, call me Ren. It hurts me, when I don't hear my name from your lips."

Kyouko raised her limpid eyes to Ren's. "Ren-kun..." Kyouko was barely able to speak from the tingling pleasure where Ren had touched her. "Don't be silly. I'm not beautiful."

Ren stared ardently into her eyes. "You are so beautiful," he replied. "So lovely and wonderful that it makes my heart ache. Ever time I look into your eyes, I love you more. There is no one more perfect than you." Kyouko's heart rose into her throat. She didn't know what to say to this. All thoughts of Sho had vanished, leaving only her heart throbbing in her chest. She scrambled for words to reply to Ren's ardent love confession. Luckily, she was saved by the returning waitress.

'Whew,' she thought. 'I have to be careful. No wonder so many women fall in love with Ren when he's acting.' Little did she know, however, that it wasn't an act…

Sho wrung his napkin in his hands. "How dare he say stuff like that to my Kyouko!" he barely kept his voice down as he ranted. "She's mine, dammit!"

Kyouko, having composed herself, brought herself to look at Ren again. Luckily, they passed the conversation into lighter, flirtier topics until Ren's yakiniku and Kyouko's tempura came. "That looks really good," Ren said, of her lightly fried, golden pieces of chicken.

"Oh?" Kyouko asked. Teasingly, she picked up a piece, and offered it to him. "Try some," she encouraged. Ren opened his mouth, and Kyouko delicately placed the meat on his tongue, blushing as she realized that she was doing an embarrassing, romantic type of thing. At the next table, Sho had his head down as one fist pounded on the table. "S-sir?" one of the waitresses told him hesitantly. "Please don't pound on the tables."

The rest of the meal passed uneventfully, with Kyouko spending most of the time in a blush, and Ren did everything he could to ensure that she was. When it was time to leave, Ren paid the bill and they went back to his car. Sho, in a horrible mood, followed them, leaving Shoko to pay the bill. She hurriedly did, and then rushed back outside, where they followed Ren's car. Shoko wished that Sho would stop muttering to himself however. She was starting to get a headache at his childish antics.

However, his childish antics only got worse as Ren and Kyouko arrived at Ren's apartment. Arm in arm, they got out and went inside. Sho's eye's narrowed, as he wondered what they were up to inside the apartment…

What do you think? Is this a cliff hanger or what? Let me know what you guys think should happen...I'll take it into consideration writing the next chapter.