Pairings: KyokoxRen, Minor KyokoxShou and KyokoxReino.
Disclaimer: Don't own Skip Beat, boo hoo hoo ):
Author's Note: I've been getting a lot of PMs about updating this story! I'm sorry that I haven't touched it ever since rewriting the chapters I had posted previously! Since I finally have spare time, I promised a few people that I would update this one first. So, enjoy the chapter, okay? (:
On a different side note, I finally got to watching Vibe's competition! Damn, Academy of Villains and The Company killed it! Of course, I'm biased towards The Company, but even I had to admit that their energy is no joke. Akashi Breakers was also damn full of energy. I love energy! Anyways, they're my inspirations in the dance life, including Cookies. (: Of course I'm a total noob compared to them, still I enjoy dancing hip-hop. Teardrop Dreamer even got me into a little k-pop dancing too, but she's the expert. Sorry I'm totally off-topic.
Rating: Rated T as of now but is completely subject to change ;3
Chapter 6
Full Summary: Kyoko is an international criminal. She had stolen all three of the Lory heirloom weapons: Setsuka's Chain Whip, Natsu's Glass Blade, and the Cursed Spear of Mio. There are currently three people assigned to arrest and retrieve the treasures back from her: Shou, the information seducer, Reino, the psychic phenomenon, and Ren, the master detective. Who will be the first to find her?
"Once upon a time," Lory said softly as the child in his laps curled towards him. "There was a man whose greed went beyond what the natural earth could hold. He already had what most could only dream of—riches made of gold and silver, a successful company, and a most loving family. However, for that man, it was still not enough to quench his thirst for more and more."
"Oh, is that so? What could possibly be next, grandfather?" Maria sighed sarcastically. "I've heard this story a gazillion times. Tell me the one with Prince Corn!" Her eyes sparkled at the thought of her idol. "Pleeeease?"
With a playful roll of the eyes, Lory smiled and kissed the girl on the forehead. "That man, one day, decided to go on a round-trip vacation to the most historical places on Earth. One was London, another was Beijing, and the third was the bay of California. In each place, he found a beautiful antique in which he bought in order to create a collection of souvenirs, finding only the most expensive to take for himself. After having taken all three area's best weapons, he returned to Japan in order to place them into a vault for safekeeping. However, after having returned to the colossal Asian island-"
"I want Prince Corn!" Maria nearly screamed at the top of her lungs in order to make her point. "That story is soooooo boring! Maria does not want to hear it ever again!"
"Okay, okay," Lory smiled tiredly. "You won't hear a thing about it again."
"I'd much rather listen to the adventure of Corn and his princess! Though, can you leave out the bad ending and change it to a happy one?"
Lory only shook his head and shrugged his broad shoulders. "But the bad ending is how it goes."
Maria pouted. "It's just a story, can't you change it?"
"Perhaps in the future," the old man smiled down at his grandchild.
Kyoko was thankful for the fog that had settled in the forest. After having disappeared into the trees as quick as lightning with her rope hook retractor (she had quickly thrown the hook onto an extremely high branch and had pulled the two of them upwards at the same time Ren had shot his gun), they were both currently taking refuge in the canopy far from where they were last seen.
"Ah," Kyoko sighed as her hand held her shin tightly. Had she not pulled herself up quickly, the bullet would have hit her chest instead. In that small time frame the detective had managed to shoot her shin, thankfully missing the bone and instead wedged itself deep inside her calf. Her fingers pressed on the wound as to ease the tremendous pain. "M-Moko..."
"You really are a pain today," Kanae shook her head and pulled out a pair of latex gloves and a handkerchief. "Bite on this. It's not going to feel fantastic."
Grimacing, the infamous thief placed the fabric into her mouth and clawed her hands into the bark. "Ready," she said in a muffled tone.
Kanae immediately started as she whipped out a scalpel. Uncapping the miniature knife, she quickly slit a deep cut into the bullet hole, causing Kyoko to tear up at the murderous pain. Her fingers pulled open the injured woman's flesh mercilessly, causing her partner to arch her back and throw her head in pain. Keeping the bloody opening wide with one hand, she quickly took sterilized wipes to clear the blood, the alcohol making Kyoko feel as though her wound was on fire. Her teeth were biting on the cloth so hard that it felt as though they were almost about to shatter beneath her gums.
"Just another minute, don't break your teeth," Kanae said monotonously as her fingers slipped inside the bullet hole to search for the intruding metallic piece, pushing aside the tissues of clotted blood and flesh.
Kyoko was sweating bullets herself. "Mmph," she whimpered as she felt the piece inside her calf nudged deeper into her muscle at the touch of her companion's fingers.
"I found it. Hold still," Kanae whispered as she took her fingers out. Pulling a pair of long tweezers out, she inserted the tool into the calf where her fingers had made the area clear for the process, and the tips immediately clung onto the bullet. "Be still," she scolded, noticing Kyoko's incessant trembling.
"Mmph," Kyoko muffled. 'It's hard to be still when someone is taking a fucking bullet out of your body without any numbing for the pain!'
And with a quick pull, Kanae tweezed the bullet out from Kyoko. "Ugh," she shivered at the bloody sight. "Good thing it was just a piece of metal. If it had been one of those gunpowder ones or-"
Spitting out the cloth on her mouth, Kyoko bellowed. "Just stitch it already!"
"Alright, quit yelling already," Kanae sighed as she pulled out her stitching kit. "First off, where's the handkerchief? You'll have to bite it for this process too."
"Right here," Kyoko mumbled as she reluctantly put her hand down to grab the cloth from the bark, only the little pink handkerchief wasn't there. "Or it was here?"
"It fell." Kanae made that a statement, not a prediction. "Well, try not to bite off your tongue in the process. I'm going for it."
For the next couple of minutes, the canopy was filled with the horrendous screams of an unfortunate international criminal.
Ren and Reino were hiking up a trail after the ordeal, tired from having searched for the two crooks for the past couple of hours. The fog was thick, Reino's ESP was on low energy, and honestly they had no idea where they were.
"From what power I have left," the psychic breathed slightly heavily. "We've actually been walking around and going in circles."
"Shit!" Ren cursed, kicking at a nearby tree, causing a few leaves and twigs to tumble down. "Of all the situations to get caught in..." he mumbled when suddenly something with weight fell on top of his head. "What's this?"
"Did that really just fall from the trees?" Reino held back a laugh as his eyes lingered on the sight. "It's bright pink and lacy. You could almost mistake it for a pair of panties."
"Which you almost did," Ren stated dully.
"Ahem, of course not," the other said unconvincingly before something snapped in both of the detective's minds. "Wait...that isn't yours, right?"
"Of course not!"
"Then it must be someone's."
They both looked each other in the eye.
"Kyoko!"
Meanwhile, Shou was inside his hotel room, sitting on the sofa watching the latest news while Shouko gelled his hair nicely.
"I have a feeling it'll take Kyoko a while to come to this city," Shouko muttered after having heard what Shou had found out so far. "You'll definitely have plenty of time to prepare, even if she comes here as the second destination instead of the third. At the very least, you'll have one weeks' worth."
"Indeed," the blonde detective stroked his chin. "But how to come up with a plan that could catch her? I don't have a lot from my agency with me here."
"On the contrary," Shouko interrupted. "There's me. I'll come up with something good, Shou. Don't worry, and allow me to aid you."
"Of course," Shou smiled. "You aren't just a simple genius after all. You're the mastermind when it comes to traps, aren't you, Shouko? Your airport strategy gave me enough time to steal a kiss. Reino and Ren haven't even touched her skin yet! You're the only one I can really count on."
"That's pure flattery," the woman blushed. "And besides, I have a feeling that Ren..."
"What was that?" Shou asked, not having heard the last part as he was too engrossed in one of his own interviews. "Man, they zoomed in too much. My face is beautiful, but honestly you can almost see every pore in this shot."
"Nothing," Shouko whispered as she continued combing through his hair.
"Kyoko," Kanae whispered as she soothingly rubbed her partner's back. "Kyoko. You okay?"
"My teeth are going through some nasty pains from all the gritting," the orange-haired woman replied, rubbing the side of her jaw softly, her palm rubbing the skin up and down repeatedly. "That Ren..."
"We should have ran before he pulled the gun out," the raven-haired one sighed with a roll of her eyes. "Are you that much in love with him?"
"Love?" Kyoko gasped. "Kanae!"
Flinching at the rare sound of Kyoko calling her by her actual name, remorse rushed through her mind. "Okay, okay, sorry for bringing that up, but honestly that's what it looks like to me."
"You already know what love did to me. You already know what Corn did to me! It's the whole reason I'm trying to get that stupid dragon shit anyway."
Kanae laid straight down on the branch, shifting her body uncomfortably. "Can't you just forget about Corn?"
Quietness dawned for a moment.
"If I did, then would everything we've done have been for nothing?" Kyoko grimaced, her fists clenched by her sides. The rustles of the leaves beside their bodies were the only sounds now as silence enveloped the two.
Slowly, Kyoko opened her lips. "...You're not just helping me out because we're great friends. I know you need those wishes just as much as I do."
"Even if that's true..." the raven began.
"It's alright. I'm sorry, Moko..."
"No, I started it. It's my fault."
Kyoko shook her head as she sat up straight. "You get some rest. I'm going to move around a bit to clear my mind... If anything happens, just communicate through the walkie-talkie and GPS tracker." With that, the international thief threw her harpoon to a far branch and swung the way out of her companion's sight.
Kanae sighed as she closed her eyes.
Kyoko was once so pure, the accomplice remembered. The two would have never dreamed of becoming such criminals as they were now... "Until Corn came," she mumbled under her breath, feeling a tear slip past her guard. "It's all his fault."
"If only Corn and Kyoko never met...then Kyoko wouldn't be in such tremendous pain."
