Sorry I haven't done anything the past week or so. Thanks for the reviews! Hope you like the new chapter. Introducing an OC. This ought to be interesting anyway.
Disclaimer: I don't own Skip Beat!
Several months after the incident with Sho's PV, Ren was walking down the hall in the LME building. He had brought Cinders with him in a basket, and she was now following him around the LME office. After passing a sitting room, he thought he saw Kyoko walking ahead of him. Calling out, he was surprised when she didn't stop. Jogging to catch up, he put a hand on 'her' shoulder. As 'she' turned around, Ren was surprised to find himself facing a teenage boy with blue eyes looking back at him. If he didn't know better, he might have thought it was a younger version of himself. The boy smiled and said in English, "I'm sorry. I didn't know you were calling me." Ren, shaking himself out of his shock, replied, "I mistook you for someone else. It's my fault entirely."
The boy smiled and held out his hand. "My name is Matt. Matt Randal. What is your name?" Ren, slightly shocked, took Matt's hand and shook it, replying, "My name is Ren Tsuruga." Matt nodded, smiling, and asked, "Do you know where the office for the Love Me group is? I was told to report there, but I'm not sure where it is." Ren nodded and gave Matt directions. Matt gave his thanks and ran off to find it. Unnoticed, Cinders followed him.
-
Matt finally arrived at the Love Me office while Cinders walked behind him. He walked up to Sawara-san and asked, "Am I in the office for the Love Me group?" "Yes," Sawara-san replied, confused, "Is there any particular reason you are looking for it?" Looking relieved, Matt replied, "Yes, the president said that when I arrived here in Japan, I was to come directly here." "Oh," Sawara-san said, now comprehending what was going on, "You're that new kid who was transferred here from America for your debut." Sawara-san nodded to himself, searching his desk for the papers about the transfer. He found it and brought it forward, "It says here that you are to be assigned to work on a project for this month, starting this afternoon. Till then you can meet the rest of the crew here." He picked up the phone and started dialing.
While Sawara-san was calling up the other Love Me members, Matt looked around the office. His eyes wandered down until he spotted Cinders sitting near his feet, inspecting him curiously. Bending down, Matt picked Cinders up, and pet her until she purred. Smiling to himself, he quietly asked, "What are you doing here, silly cat?" Cinders, of course, did not reply and just gave him a cat-grin. Chuckling slightly he resumed looking around, tuning out Sawara-san's conversation until he heard"Ok. You'll be here in about five minutes with Kyoko-chan, right?" Then he watched Sawara-san's reactions to his conversation until it was ended with "Don't forget to pick up that extra Love Me outfit on the way in."
Sawara-san looked from hanging up the phone, and saw Matt watching him with the cat in his arms. "How did you get that thing in here?", he asked pointing at Cinders. "Oh, her," Matt said looking down at Cinders, "She was here when I came in, I think." He shrugged, not really worried about the origins of the mysterious cat. Sawara-san scowled, but shook his head. Last thing he needed today was a pointless argument about a stupid cat. "The other members of Love Me are on their way here, but I thought you might want to know more about them while you wait," Sawara-san began shuffling papers on his desk while he talked, "Kyoko-chan and Kotonami-san are the two other current members. Kotonami-san is usually strict and sometimes outspoken, but I think she is the more responsible of the two. Kyoko-chan, on the other hand, tends to have her head in the clouds. She had no idea what she wanted to do when she came here, and she has no clear goals in mind that any real actors and actresses would respect." Sawara-san seemed both apprehensive about the subject of the girls' personalities and proud.
After a few moments of silence on both sides, the door slammed open, revealing a black-haired girl and an auburn-haired girl. They walked in, the auburn-haired one smiling and dancing around. "Ah," Sawara-san said, looking over at them, "Here you are. Ladies, this is Matt. He just came from America and is joining the Love Me group." "Matt, this is Kyoko-chan," he said pointing at her, then moving his finger to the other girl, "and this is Kotonami-san."
Matt walked over and offered his free hand to Kotonami. She just looked at him and Cinders with a stiff look and nodded. Turning to Kyoko, Matt tried again to shake hands, but Kyoko had spotted Cinders. "What are you doing here, Cinders? Won't Ren be worried about you?" She reached over and took Cinders from Matt, inspecting her for damage. He sighed and ruffled his hair with his previously occupied hand. Content that the cat was happy and unharmed, Kyoko returned her attention to Matt. She smiled and asked, "How long are you planning on being here in Japan?" Matt shrugged and said, "I'll probably be here for a while. I'm not really sure." He smiled at her and she smiled at him, both of them feeling that they would soon become good friends.
-
Later that evening, Matt was at the project set with the director when he spotted Ren. He had been carrying Cinders around all afternoon, unsure of what he should do with her. He excused himself from the director's presence and walked over to Ren. "Hey there Ren," Matt said smiling and waving with his free hand. "Oh, hey," Ren said recognising Matt, then spotting Cinders said, "I had wondered where she had wandered off to. I figured she had found Kyoko-chan and she was going to bring her over later. Thanks for bringing her back." Ren smiled and picked Cinders up out of Matt's arms. Matt nodded and said, "Kyoko-chan recognized her in the Love Me office. I didn't think I would find you here, but I didn't know what else to do with her other than take her with me."
They were talking together about Cinders, when Yashiro came up behind Matt. He didn't realize that the person in front of him wasn't Kyoko and asked teasingly, "Kyoko-chan, are you and Ren having an affair behind my back?" Matt turned around quickly to face Yashiro, blushing and looking confused. Seeing Yashiro, he blushed deeper and ran off. "What did you go and do that for, Yashiro-san?", Ren asked looking annoyed, "If that had been Kyoko-chan, she would have been even more embarrassed then Matt was!" Yashiro blushed, looking down at Ren's feet and said, "Sorry. I didn't really mean to upset anyone. I was just teasing."
Ren sighed and looked down at Cinders, who he was still holding. "You would never do anything as embarrassingas that, would you Cinders?" Cinders blinked at him and shook her head as if in agreement. Ren smiled at her and headed for his car. The project's filming had finished for the day, and he had to get home for a few hours of sleep. Yashiro jogged to keep up. "Honestly, Ren. I didn't know it wasn't Kyoko-chan. I thought that regardless of how embarrassingit was she deny any relationship with you outside of work-related necessity." Ren sighed. He knew that was what she would have said in the event of such an accusation, but it still bothered him Yashiro would have even teased her about such a possibility.
After Ren had dropped Yashiro off and had entered his apartmentwith Cinders, he sighed and plopped down on the sofa. Today had been an interesting disaster. His filming had gone alright, but his social life was headed for the drain. Cinders climbed into his lap and settled down, purring. Absent-minded, Ren pet her still staring into space. He shook his head and decided his problems could wait for another day and headed to bed.
I know most of you are probably upset that I took down Gender-Bender, but I really don't have the time or the imagination to devote to such a big project. If you want it, you can use it. I really don't mind.
My ability to get on and post anything will be decreasing because my parents' computer is dead, my brother's doesn't have word, and we are going cross-country from Nevada to West Virginia. [sarcasm] Real fun here. [/sarcasm]
