Special thanks for littlehughesy, tigerdc101, Wjl, lil whit, Insena, AlmostACupcake, Chaotic Angel7, lasaints2015, anaismaxie452, haelavel, fyd818, .1, .specialist, Serenity Ma Sogni, kitten100, RaeDawnxx, freyasakura, midnightnova242, TrulyWicked365, Lithtys-chan, AnarchyMaelstrom, Autumn Amber, and several guests for faving, following, and reviewing the previous chapters.

Also, thanks again for leavesfallingup, Cocloud, cdong15, muchachomomo, Miz Weasley, Pannacotta, violamokona, and onliafaze for being my loyal reviewers. I'm really sorry for taking so long to upload this chapter. Enjoy!

Pannacotta: I did a review on Chapter 7 after reading your review. As much as I admit that you have a very good point, it always drove me to a writer's block whenever I want to change it. So, sorry :( But I really appreciate your opinion, thank you very much.

Disclaimer: I do not own Skip-Beat! and its characters. I only own my OC.


Chapter 8: The Mention of Family

"So Kuon, why haven't you let me know that you're dating my other son now, hmm?"

Kuon blanched. "How do you know?"

"I have my confidential resources," the other end of the phone retorted.

"Let me guess," Kuon sighed. "The boss? Seriously, Dad, that's a breach of individual privacy."

"As parents, I have every right to know things that happen in my child's life. Ain't that natural?" Kuu asked. Kuon could feel his father pouted on the phone, at his home in Los Angeles.

He groaned. "Dad, for Christ's sake! I'm 21 and you're still treating me like a kid?"

"It's not about you, son," Kuu answered. "I know you're 21 already; don't you think I will ever forget your birthday, but the whole matter we're talking about involves my other son, who to my knowledge is still under 18. So? What are you guys up to now?"

"We have a shoot together on Monday for a PV."

Kuu gasped. "Don't tell me it's a PV for a singer named Fuwa Sho?"

"Did the Boss tell you that as well?" Kuon asked warily. How much has the President told him?

"I have my suspicion," Kuu said. "I saw her completely shocked out of her mind when she saw the news mentioning this kid, and her expression was a horrified one. And I'm really sure you were totally disgusted at the fact that you're going to be in a PV, even if you're going to do it with her. Is he that bad?"

Kuon snarled. "Worse than you can imagine. He brought her to Tokyo just to make her slave herself for his sake."

It was silent for a moment before Kuu retorted grimly, "Remind me to have a talk with him when I visit Japan again. I have to let him hear a piece of my mind. By the way, your mom misses you. She's going to kill me if she knows I'm on the phone with you while she was at the studio."

The younger man smiled. "Yeah, I miss her too. Tell her I say hi and that I will work hard to go back to America for a visit as soon as possible."

"When you go back here, make sure to bring my other son with you, alright? I miss her."

Kuon hummed his okay. Kuu continued, "And her cooking," making his son groaned in agony.


That conversation happened on Saturday, right before Kyoko came for her now daily visit to Ren's apartment.

She was elated when Ren told her about a possibility of Kuu visiting Japan in the near future, horrified when he told her that Kuu had known about their relationship from Lory, and chuckled when he, with a pale face, mentioned about Kuu missing her cooking. All of those happened while she walked back and forth in the kitchen, each hand occupied with something.

Ren enjoyed the views, nonetheless. And being the foolish lovesick man he was, he found every expression of her alluring. However, he did realize the risk of doing something she was not prepared yet (like fully unleashing the Night Emperor, for example), which may include getting himself stabbed by a knife or setting the whole apartment on fire.

Kyoko's smile suddenly fell as she was reminded of something. Ren noticed this, and gingerly he lifted her face so that he could see her face to face. His heart broke when he saw her with a sad frown and tear-glistened golden orbs. He turned off the burning stove, and then hugged her, trying to comfort her from anything displeasing her.

"What's wrong, Princess?" he asked in a low voice, nuzzling her crown.

Kyoko shook her head and forced a small smile on her face. "It's nothing, Ren-san. It's just that when we talked about Fa-… K-Kuu-san, it reminded me of that acting lesson I did for him. Remember? The time when I acted the 10 years old you."

He chuckled at the memory. That time he had been shocked out of his wits when he had seen Kyoko acting like a boy that had looked too much like him, and had been surprised more when she had called him by his first name, without any suffix. When he had thought that nothing could possibly have surprised him more after all those, Kuu had had to arrive on the scene, calling her by his real name. Ren still could remember Yashiro's gob smacked face when the whole situation had unfolded in front of him.

"That time," Kyoko continued, "it was the first time for me to feel loved by 'parents', even when I did things wrong. And it made me wonder if my real father would love me like that, or what would happen if my mother actually loved me…"

Tears began falling from her eyes, and Ren hugged her tighter, keeping silent to let her pour out all her discomfort.

"Kyoko, it's alright," he whispered when she had calmed herself down even though still sniffling. "I've never met a more wonderful person than you. If your mother doesn't love you, the fault is with her, not you, Kyoko. It's her lost."

She sniffled again. "I even don't know whether I actually have a father or not. What kind of person was he?"

"Did your mother mention something about him?"

Kyoko shook her head. "She always said that he was no longer with us, so I always assume that he has passed away. But when I ponder about it again, it might not be like that. He might still be alive, but decided to leave my mother and me. And when I think about it that way, I'm always left wondering if he loved us…"

"Shh, Kyoko," Ren shushed her when she started sobbing again. "I'm sure wherever he is; he always wishes the best for you. Okay? You've been a very good girl so far, he will never hate you."

The rest of the night was spent with them holding each other, dinner forgotten for Ren's delight, although he had to pay the consequences during breakfast the next morning.


Monday had finally come, and so far, no sighting of Sho for Kyoko.

Asami officially announced the cast for 'True Reflection' PV on Friday, which included Kyoko, Ren, Kanae, and surprisingly, Uesugi Hiou. Of course, Mimori and Sho would be credited as well for some of the flashback scenes taken from 'Prisoner'.

To Yashiro's irritation, Ren and Kyoko's relationship did not progress at all (to him, at least). Ren handled Kyoko like the most important, fragile thing that needed the utmost care. It was understandable for Yashiro that Kyoko was a special case (she was in LoveMe section, afterall), but he just could not take it anymore.

Therefore, he was glad that it was Monday.

On Monday morning, he, Ren, Kyoko, and Kanae came together from LME to Queen Records with Ren's Porsche. He had insisted for Kyoko to take the passenger seat instead of the back seat, but she had persistently refused to do so in favor of Kanae. Yashiro almost could swear that he had seen the ravenette smirked in victory at Kyoko's antics.

However, when he reminded himself about what would happen during the shoot, he pacified himself enough to just went along with the actor and actresses without pouting like a child.


Without the others knowing, Kyoko's demons were holding a special meeting to anticipate meeting Sho during the shoot without provoking Ren's anger.

"But why not?" Demon B asked. "I love it when he's angry. I feel energized whenever he has that dark aura around him."

Demon C chirped in. "That's right, that's right! The angry Kuon is our savior, remember? He's the only one who can repel the Beagle."

Soon, support for the dark Kuon filled the 'meeting room', until Demon A slammed the table in exasperation. "Silence!" she shouted, and the whole room became silent. "The purpose of this meeting is to concoct a plan to kill, or at least humiliate Shotaro! Not to worship the Demon Lord!"

Demon D nodded. "Why of course! That jerk Shotaro's made Mistress suffer too much! He broke her heart!"

"He made Mistress not have any friends!" Demon E added.

"He called Mistress plain, boring girl!" Demon F said.

"He deceived Mistress and made her into a slave!"

"He stole Mistress' first kiss! Yuck!"

"The point is," Demon A butted in, "we have to make him suffer enough that he knows better than to mess with our Mistress! Any suggestion?"

Demon B stood up with a raised hand. "I propose for Mistress to be lovey-dovey with Kuon!"

All of the demons gasped in horror. Demon F choked, "Are you crazy?! You want us to get killed?!"

"Eh?"

"If Mistress is lovey-dovey with Kuon, he will become very happy that he emits those holy rays with that dangerous smile of his!"

Demon B gasped. "Oops, forgot about that," she said sheepishly. "But if she is lovey-dovey with our Lord, Mistress can show Shotaro that she's moved on and of course thought that Tsuruga Ren is a better man than him! It will definitely piss him off!"

Some demons nodded in agreement. Demon D retorted, "But if we and Mistress don't play this right, Kuon's wrath will be directed to Mistress! That's scary!"

"Okay, the point is, this approach is too risky," Demon A concluded. "Any other less dangerous suggestion?"

"Mistress should not address him in any way!" Demon C contributed. "Make him feel like an insignificant being!"

Demon E shook her head. "He'll just chase Mistress around, corner her into a quiet place, and intimidate her."

Once again, some of the demons nodded their head in agreement. Demon C was pissed off. "Then what do you propose Mistress should do?"

"Why can't we just stake him to death?" "Throw him into the sea?" "Throw darts at him?" "Strip him in front of the other crew?" "Let Natsu or Setsu toy with him?"

All ears perked at the last suggestion.


To the demons' dismay, their grand plan had to be put on hold as Sho would not come to the studio until halfway through the shoot.

Ren repeatedly glanced warily at his girlfriend. He was sure he had felt her gaped blankly for certain amount of time, when suddenly she had slipped in into another persona he was not sure who between Natsu and Setsu.

However, Kyoko came back as soon as Asami entered the room without Sho or Shoko. He sighed inwardly. So that brat still has that much effect on her, huh? I still have a long way to go before I can completely erase him from her mind.

On the other hand, Kanae was in her own internal turmoil. She had sat herself next to Kyoko, and so far had endured herself to see her best friend and Ren interacting more familiarly with each other. Kanae at the moment honestly did not know whether she should be happy for Kyoko or extra jealous that her entire focus was directed to the tall actor.

She would not try to deny that she had been extremely happy and proud of herself that Kyoko had chosen to sit with her on the back seat of Ren's car despite Yashiro's offer for Kyoko to sit on the passenger seat next to Ren. However, once they had been taken to the meeting room by one of Queen Records' receptionist, Kyoko had been totally engrossed in her conversation with Ren, unless Kanae tried to engage her on conversations, which had been all short-lived.

Kanae was also irritated at Yashiro's attempt to talk to her. He would have always found new things to talk about, although all of their conversations were more short-lived compared to Kanae and Kyoko's talks. For her, the bespectacled man was too desperate to make her not disturb Kyoko and Ren. Of course, this was not less than an insult for Kotonami Kanae, the genius budding actress.

Therefore, like Kyoko, she was relieved when Asami entered the meeting room, although with a different reason.

Not long after Asami had settled herself on her seat, the door was knocked and opened to reveal a woman in her 40s with medium-length black hair clad in a simple cashmere thick long-sleeved, turtle-necked dress and fleece leggings. Her feet were protected with high-heeled, ankle high boots.

Behind the woman, Uesugi Hiou, Kanae's co-star in her first dramas, stood. The short middle-school actor had been casted as the halfling in his younger years for a flashback scene. His manager stood beside him, bowing politely to everyone present in the room

Asami smiled and gestured towards the three. "Now that everyone's here, I think introduction should be appropriate. But first, I want to thank you for coming here and participating in this project. I really hope we can work well together.

"As I have announced last Friday, the fallen angel will be played by Kyoko-chan." Asami smiled at her, and Kyoko got up from her chair to bow. While she was doing that, she noticed that the woman she did not recognized was looking intently at her.

Asami continued, "Her sister will be played by Kotonami Kanae-san."

Kyoko's eyes widened in excitement. Moko-san will be my sister! Oh my goodness! I know I've heard this for thousands of times, but I could never tired of it! MOKO-SAN WILL BE MY SISTER! She started to drift off to her personal la-la land, amusing the others. Having known her very well, Kanae and Ren instantly knew what she was thinking about, and Kanae smirked again in victory.

Asami cleared her throat and snapped Kyoko out of her imagination. "The halfling's younger self will be played by Uesugi Hiou-kun, and the older one will be played by Tsuruga Ren-san."

The two males stood up and gave a polite bow. After they sat down, Asami gestured towards the woman. "And now, let me introduce you to Akatoki Marina-san. She's the co-owner and vice-president of Akatoki Agency, also the sister of Akatoki Agency's president. She's also the one who wrote the original story for this PV."

Akatoki Marina got up from her seat and bowed. "Pleased to meet you, I am Akatoki Marina," she introduced herself with a smile. "Firstly, let me express my utmost thank you for all of you who are present in this room right now, for your willingness to portray one of the stories I have written. I am so joyful because of it."

Does she always talk this way? Kanae thought while sweatdropping, finding Marina's form of speech weird.

"I will be present all day during the shoot as an adviser for the director, to make sure that the message of the story is conveyed thoroughly. I am looking forward to working with you after lunch," Marina continued. After that she bowed once again and sat down.

Asami nodded, then said, "And I have to inform you that unfortunately, Sho can't be here until late this afternoon because he's having an interview, but that should be alright, shouldn't it?"

I'd totally prefer him to not come at all, Ren thought grimly, his lips were pressed into a thin line, his jaws stiffened.

"Alright, this is faster than I thought it would be, so why don't we head to the restaurant for lunch?" Asami asked while standing up. The others followed suit and got out of the meeting room.

During the ride, Kyoko grew uncomfortable as she could feel Marina staring at her. Ren, Kanae, and Yashiro noticed this, but they did not know what to say. They too felt puzzled at Marina's behavior.

After around 5 minutes had passed, Marina finally spoke up. "Kyoko-san."

"Yes?" Kyoko squeaked in surprise.

"I apologize first if this may offend you," Marina said, "but can I ask you a question?"

Kyoko blinked, completely dumbfounded. "Err… Yes, of course, Akatoki-san."

Marina tilted her head a bit, her eyes narrowed slightly. "Your real name is Mogami Kyoko, am I mistaken?"

"N-no," Kyoko answered, still dumbfounded. "That's my full name."

Marina pursed her lips together. "Are you by any chance related to a woman named Mogami Saena?"

Kyoko's heart crashed when she heard her mother's name.


And I introduce you to Akatoki Marina, my own OC. She's going to play a major part in the story later on. I chose to name her that because: 1) Kyoko's voice actress in the anime is Inoue Marina, and 2) the name is the closest one to my name. And yes, Marina is the lady who appeared in the last part of Chapter 7. For the ones who guessed her to be Saena, I'm sorry to disappoint you guys.

I'm not sure about the agency Hiou is working for, but I think he will be fit for the role, so I put him in. Please correct me if he's not working for Akatoki, so I can edit it and say he's a special guest or something.

Writing the next chapters will be a bit hard for me from now on due to some circumstances, but I will do my best to upload more as soon as possible.

Please review :) Thank you!