Hello, my darling readers (if you still exist and have not given up this story as a lost cause by now)! I have returned after a long absence due to school, minor wrist injury, and asthma. My apologies for the late update and minor cliffhanger. I'll try to leave you with a better one this time! *laughs*

I still don't own Skip Beat, but I hope you enjoy this fic anyway~!

Kyoko hurried down a hallway at TBM; she'd managed to arrive slightly early, but she wanted to make sure that she had enough time to do her stretches. The last time she'd done Bo without stretching beforehand, she'd pulled a hamstring. As that incident had been both unpleasant and inconvenient, she had since made her pre-Bo stretch a priority. Her co-workers would even join her on occasion, depending on how rigorous the show was to be that day.

"Oh, Kyoko-chan! Good pre-evening!"

"Ishibashi-onii-sans! Hello!" She stood and bowed to her co-workers. "I see that the president got to you, too."

Shinichi chuckled. "Yeah, he's practically enforcing the word, he likes it so much."

"He's such a lunatic, but we all love 'im anyway, right?" Yuusei grinned, stretching from side to side. "Ready to don the chicken suit of doom, Kyoko-chan?"

"Bo's not full of doom!" Kyoko protested, protecting her beloved chicken character as she continued her stretches. "I love playing Bo!"

"Glad to hear it," Hikaru piped up, copying her movements. "The show wouldn't be as good without you as Bo."

Instead of immediately launching into a violent denial of this compliment, Kyoko merely stilled for a moment, thoughts and memories mixing in her mind. After a few moments of awkward silence, she continued her stretches. "Thank you, Hikaru-onii-san. You guys make it really easy for Bo to go insane."

Shinichi and Yuusei gaped at each other. Kyoko had accepted a compliment - she'd deflected some of the credit, yes, but she'd accepted it nonetheless. This was a vast improvement from how she'd been just a few days ago. Hikaru grinned before remembering how his favorite chicken's day had gone the last time he'd seen her. "Are you feeling better, then?"

Her head snapped up, her cheeks coloring. "Yes! Much, much better, thank you!"

He observed her for a moment, dazed, and then beamed. "Glad to hear it!"

"Oh, yeah," Shinichi commented as they finished their stretches. "We've got something for you after we finish recording the show, so don't leave right away, okay?"

Kyoko, understandably confused and still going over memories in her mind, simply nodded before donning her costume. They would have a slight wait before the show began.

Meanwhile, Ren was slinking into Lory's office, still trying to figure out how best to reply to Maria's (and Lory's) upcoming questions. On one hand, if he were to tell the complete truth, then Kyoko would not get the wrong idea if she somehow heard what he had said. On the other hand, if he didn't tell the complete truth, then Maria's young heart would be spared much pain and Lory would have less information to use as blackmail. Unfortunately for him, a small, frilly cannonball pelted into his arms before he had a chance to decide. He chuckled despite his worry and lifted her.

"Ren-sama, did you really take onee-san to see faeries and ride the carousel without me?" She attempted to pout, but her fiendish grin ruined the effect.

He tilted his head to one side, smiling. "Now where did you hear that?"

"Onee-san mentioned it while we were burning the dolls of that idiot." She copied his head movement. "I would've invited you to join us, but you weren't anywhere nearby. He burned really nicely, though."

"That's too bad. I'd have liked to join." Lory chuckled at these words and exchanged a knowing look with Jelly. The sound made Maria realize how effectively she was being distracted; she pointed an accusing finger at Ren.

"Don't change the subject, Ren-sama! I wanna hear about your date with onee-san!"

"My… date?" Had Kyoko actually called it that to Maria?

"It was kind of obvious by the way she was blushing and stuttering and trying not to turn into a pile of happy, melty cheese." The little girl nodded. "Plus, since she's calling you 'Ren' now, I figured that you two must have gone on an official date, onee-san being so proper and all."

"She did? In… in front of you?" Was that really alright?

Yashiro, who had trailed into the office after Ren, accepted a cup of tea from Sebastian, who realized exactly how tired the overworked manager was, as Sebastian is Sebastian and therefore notices minute details. Lory then signaled for Sebastian to join them in drinking tea and watching Ren be interrogated by Maria. The aide did so, his lobster claws clicking against his shell-chair.

"Well, yeah. Why not?" Maria paused; Ren suppressed a shudder as Natsuko wrapped her way around his legs and slithered upward. She then held a light bulb above Maria's head. Bizarrely, this worked, and Ren's reasoning became clear to the girl. "Ohhh. Right. Sorry, Ren-sama, but I've decided that I'm over you, 'cause onee-san needs you more than I do. Besides, I know what I wanna be when I grow up!"

"And that would be?" Lory inquired while Ren attempted to wrap his head around the idea of Kyoko needing him, instead of vice versa.

Maria thumped her fist against her chest proudly and declared, "I'm going to be fire! It's a strong, independent element that don't need no man!"

To everyone's credit, they managed to keep straight faces for all of eight seconds before dissolving into their various forms of laughter (except for Sebastian, as he is Sebastian and therefore can remain expressionless even in the face of the most absurd statements). Ren had the presence of mind to set Maria on the nearest seahorse chair before his amusement made itself known. Yashiro chuckled while handing a pile of napkins to Jelly, whose tea had come out of her nose at that statement. Natsuko was a writhing pile of serpentine mirth upon the floor. Finally, Lory recovered enough to choke out some words.

"If that is what you wish, my darling girl," he managed between guffaws, "then I shall find the finest fire-trainers and costumes available for you."

She grinned, despite the slight ache in her heart. How's my acting, Ren-sama? Did you believe me? Lory held his arms open for a hug; she launched herself into them. I might not fool Grandfather - he always knows about love - but I can fool you and onee-san. Besides, it's only fooling for as long as it's true. I'll be burning bright someday. She switched over to Jelly's lap, a portion of her mind - the part not fighting off her heartbreak - wondering when Grandfather was going to get hitched to the young-looking woman. I'll be alright. This way I won't lose anyone.

Yashiro checked his watch before getting to his feet. "Sorry to laugh and leave, but we should get going if we want to make the next job."

Lory placed a hand on Ren's shoulder as the actor began to stand, halting his movements. "Yes, sir?"

Any earlier levity was gone from the president's face. When he spoke, his voice was low. "Ren… what exactly did you do to her, to make this much progress after nothing for so long?"

He chuckled. "I simply made her an offer she can't refuse, not now nor then nor ever."

"An offer she can't refuse? What are you, a mafia don?"

He smiled, bowed, and turned to leave, but did not elaborate further. Lory did not need to know any more than he did unless Kyoko was willing to share the news - from what he'd heard, even Maria had an incomplete picture. The day was sacred to him, and would only be shared with the rest of the world if she was ready for others to know. If and only if… the 'if' of them ever became 'when.'

Lory attempted to exchange a knowing look with Jelly, but was distracted. Jelly and Maria were chatting happily about carousels and the responsibilities of being fire - and were debating the compatibility of the two (faeries were not discussed, as faeries are obviously compatible with both). His gaze softened; he signaled for Natsuko to take a picture with her miniature, tongue-operated camera. He continued to observe the two until he realized that he (and the authoress) had forgotten to tease Ren mercilessly about his love life. Thus his moan of utter despair interrupted that happy scene, and Sebastian was required to bustle about and help his boss make various preparations for future teasing.

Meanwhile, Bo was in a bit of a pinch - literally. Kyoko couldn't feel Shinichi's pinch through the Bo suit, of course, but Bo certainly could and thus made a rather exaggerated fuss over it. This fuss, of course, resulted in much dramatic flapping, plonka-ing, and squawking. The audience roared their approval; this approval took the form of laughter when Bo parried the offending bobby pin with an oversized, inflatable pool toy shaped like a banana. Hikaru and Yuusei were left to squabble over an enormous paper boat. The guest, for his part, was left to imitate a fish as best he could. Had she been asked what game they were playing, Kyoko would not have been able to answer; Bo had started some chaos, leaving her consciousness to trail along after him.

The chicken in question had decided that doing an impression of a snake waving would be the best way to win this game (appropriately titled Object: Random). Bo appeared to transform in substance, now made of wiggling, curvy rubber instead of cloth and false feathers. The guest began laughing, which of course set everyone else off again. Bo bopped each Ishibashi on the head with the banana before striking a victorious pose. He then knelt before the guest and yielded his pool toy much in the way a knight might have yielded a sword to his king. The guest did his absolute best (and failed miserably) to keep a straight face while taking the pool toy from Bo. He then tapped each of Bo's shoulders with the toy, knighting him. Bo responded by letting out a rather loud cock-a-doodle-doo, calling that segment of the show to an end.

"Have you enjoyed your time on our show today?" Hikaru inquired of the guest, wiping sweat off of his brow.

The guest, panting slightly, nodded. "It's been a wild ride. To be honest, I hadn't expected a guest appearance to be so… strenuous. I fear that I might be out of shape!"

"Nah, you're fine. No one can keep up with our resident rooster," Shinichi laughed, jabbing his thumb over his shoulder to where Bo was entering with tea for everyone. Bo had the presence of mind to set the tea down before throwing his wings up into the air in a mockery of shyness.

Yuusei gave Bo a light slap on the tail feathers, eliciting an undignified squawk from the aforementioned bird. "No one like 'im."

The guest chuckled. "Then I suppose I shouldn't feel too bad, after all - and thank you for having me."

"Of course! It was our pleasure." Hikaru grinned before turning to the audience. "That's it for tonight, folks - thanks for watching! Tune in next week for a surprise guest star!"

"CUT!"

The four men and one rooster hurried offstage; Kyoko bowed a farewell to the guest before turning down the hallway to take the costume to its cleaning station. She did not question why she kept the suit on; Natsu knew, of course, but decided not to tell - after all, the knowledge behind the gut instinct would cause Kyoko to go over the deep end. Watching that happen in real time would be much more interesting than a minor breakdown in the Kyoko meeting room… and Natsu lived for pleasure.

Ren, as Natsu would have predicted if asked, was pacing back and forth in the hallway. Of course, 'pacing' was a bit understated; the man was a sap in love - and a very happy sap at that - and was thus bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet as he paced. Though he attempted to keep a straight face, his grin was very persistent; it insisted on creeping across his face every few seconds. He would then give his head an odd little jerk in an attempt to tame his expression, but to little avail. Ah, Ren… how sappy thou art.

He knew that he probably shouldn't even be here; he had one more job after this, some fifteen minutes away. He really shouldn't be risking being late for the second time that day. It was too much to risk someone overhearing him just to give a report - a good report, granted - to a man in a chicken suit whose name he didn't even know… but he had to tell someone about his date with his princess, and the mysterious man in the chicken suit seemed the least likely to tease him. Besides, Bo was the one who'd originally helped him realize that he was in love with Kyoko, so it was only fair that he would be told, right?

Plonka. Plonka. Plonka.

Ren turned, grinning once more, to face his romantic mentor. "Hello, again."

Kyoko blinked before shifting into the Ren's-Bo persona. "Yo. What's up? Got another problem for me to solve?" I wonder what happened? He seemed fine yesterday….

Ren's grin widened as the pair sat down. "No, actually. I've got good news for you this time."

Bo threw his wings up into the air in an over-exaggerated gesture of avian surprise. "Good news? Coming from someone as clueless as yourself? Do I need to prepare my anti-zombie plan?"

"Your what?" Ren inquired, thrown for a loop - a metaphorical one, of course, as Bo was not nearly strong enough to pick Ren up, much less throw him.

"My anti-zombie plan. The apocalypse is obviously imminent if you have good news for me - after all, you usually only come to me for romantic advice." Bo snorted. "And if you've got good news on that front, well…! The only reasonable explanation I could come up with is the apocalypse." Inside the Kyoko meeting room (as Bo was driving the body right now), Kyoko bit her mental lip, wondering what could have happened. Was yesterday just a test drive? Is he going to do something similar for his high school girl?

Ren surprised Bo; he did not unleash a gentlemanlysmile upon realizing he was being teased. Instead, he chuckled and shook his head. "No apocalypses that I know of. I just wanted to thank you for all the advice you've given me."

"Ah, so you've finally confessed your love to your high school girl! Congratulations!" ...I thought I'd gotten past being jealous.

"Um…" He rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly awkward. "About that…."

"You didn't confess, did you?"

"I did!"

"So the problem is...?"

"I may have done it in the wrong language."

...What? "So you confessed in English or something?"

"Latin, actually."

"...You do realize that very few Japanese people speak Latin, right?"

"Yes."

"Is this the extent of the good news? You confessed in a language your girl doesn't speak?" Really, Ren? Really?

"No. I'm not that hopeless." He crossed his arms; another grin crept across his face. "We spent the day together. I took her out and spoiled her like mad."

"Congratulations. You're a sugar daddy." Bo waved his wing in a circle, inviting Ren to continue speaking.

"She acknowledged it as a date," Ren announced, pride shining from his eyes. He ignored Bo's comment just as much as the authoress attempted to ignore the image of a certain homunculus crawling out of Ren's eyes.

"Yay, she said it was a date. Yippee. Happy day, hop about, squeal with glee." Bo made an impression of rolling his eyes. "And this is a big idea... why?"

"Because I also got her to finally call me by my given name, after a year of knowing her, and gaining permission to call her by her first name." Upon seeing Bo's body language-expression, he added, "She's a very proper, traditional young woman!"

A thought surfaced in her mind, but was ignored despite the best efforts of her angels. "Huh. You're finally calling her a 'woman.' Before now, you always said 'girl.' Coming to terms with reality, are we?"

Ren gave a defeated chuckled. "It's not like I really had a choice."

In the Kyoko meeting room, Setsu sneezed; Bo ignored her and asked, "Why? Did she shove her boobs in your face or something?"

This artless comment elicited a sputter from Ren and an internal protest from the boss Kyoko. "I just told you that she's a proper, traditional young woman! She wouldn't do… something like that!"

Bo chuckled. "Mind your nose, lover boy. Wouldn't do to get a nosebleed now, would it?"

Ren pinched the bridge of his nose. Why had he thought that telling Bo about his date would be a good idea?

"Anyway, tell me about your date. What progress did you make, other than the name thing and her saying that yeah, it was a date?" Bo leaned forward and propped his head up on his wings. "You were all happy - I'll listen. Go on."

"Physical contact improved." Upon seeing Bo's smirk (and wondering how a chicken suit could smirk - honestly, sometimes the world acted like he was in a manga), he amended, "To a point. She no longer has a full-blown panic attack when I hug her."

In the Kyoko meeting room, Annabel giggled and commented that this gal sounded awfully familiar - but she was ignored. Bo nodded. "Yes, non-panicking touches are always good. Anything else?"

Another grin drifted across Ren's face. "She was so… happy. I don't remember the last time I saw her smile so much… probably not since we were kids."

"As kids?" The chicken tilted his head.

He nodded, but did not elaborate, still immersed in the memories of the previous day. "She really deserves so much more happiness than she gets, so much more love than she gets…. I'm just glad that, at least for one day, I could give her that much. It's… she trusted me enough to let me do even that much for her, to spoil her a little. I'm hopeless, I know… but she's worth it." He chuckled again and leaned his head back against the wall. "She's always been worth it."

Bo clapped. "An inspiring speech on love. Bravo. She's a lucky girl. Anything else?"

The actor tilted his head and looked at Bo out of the corner of his eyes. "You really are harsh, you know that? I come to you to thank you and tell you some good news, and you reward me with nothing but sarcasm."

"My apologies, my liege," Bo gasped, stood, and bowed deeply. "Bravo, O great one! Thou hast made improvement with thine fair lady. I can only hope to one day do as well as thee in the jousting-court of love."

"Your mockery is much appreciated."

"Anytime." Bo plopped down next to Ren once more. "Seriously, though, why me? I know I've given you some advice in the past, but… it's not like we meet outside of random help." He tilted his head to one side. "Can't you tell your family about her? Do your parents not approve of her or something?"

This time, Ren's laughter was harsh and forced. "No, Dad loves her… he's kind of adopted her as his second 'son', crazy as it sounds…."

"So the problem is what?"

"I...I just don't think they'd approve of me as I am now. I've changed a lot since I last saw them." His shoulders slumped.

"Well, why don't you just ask them? Your Dad seems like a good guy - he'd probably listen if you had a nice man-to-man chat about your woman."

"They live a long while away. I'd hate to have any of us travel so long for just a short chat." Even if they'd be perfectly willing… I can't quite face them yet. I'm not ready.

"Well, I'm not one to pry into family matters too much, but I think you'd be fine." Bo shrugged. Upon seeing Ren's look of incredulity, he continued, "Seriously, just call them. They'll be happy. Go. Shoo. Big bad actor such as yourself can handle a phone call." Bo flapped his wings in a shooing motion, hitting Ren in the face with feathers.

Pushing away the offending false fluff particles, Ren protested, "But-"

"You wanted to tell someone about your woman, right? There. You have something to talk about with them." Bo huffed, glancing at a nearby clock. Kyoko noted that Moko would arrive to get her soon. "Now scram. You've got another job or something, right? You don't want to be late. Get outta my sight."

Ren, too, glanced at the clock and realized that Bo's words were true. "I- alright. Thanks for all your advice, as always. It really helped me show her a good time yesterday."

Something pinged in the Kyoko meeting room, but Bo merely waved a lofty wing at Ren's face as the pair stood. "S'alright, muchacho. Auf wiedersehen, farewell, all that jazz." He watched as Ren gave a sigh smiled, and then turned to walk down the hall. After a few steps, he paused. "What?"

"I doubt you'll ever need it, but… if there's anything I can ever do for you, let me know. I'm more than willing to help."

"Yeah, yeah." Bo laughed. "Skedaddle, now. We've both got places to be."

Ren, in a moment of levity, saluted. Then he turned around and walked out of sight. Bo melted away as Kyoko watched him go. You've done too much for me already. Good luck with your….

Annabel piped up in the meeting room, interrupting Kyoko's mental sap. "Ya do realize that cowboy said that he showed his gal a good time yesterday, right?"

Kyoko blinked. Footsteps sounded around the corner.

...Huh?

That's it for this time, my lovelies! Thanks for taking the time to drop by and read this and review (hint, hint). I hope that this cliffhanger is better (read: more deliciously cruel) than the last one. A thank-you to my sempai for keeping me motivated and finding random words/facts for me! :D

Also, has anyone seen the animated movie Strange Magic? It has a lot a parallels to SkipBeat, which made me love it.

Anyway, please drop a review… as ever, there's a little prize involved if you find the reference. ;) 'Til next time, darlings, which I hope will be much sooner!