Chapter Eight: In Which Ren Develops a Little Dude in His Head
Sorata found Kyouko wandering around in a daze. The listless expression on the young woman's face was one that Sorata could honestly say she had never witnessed. She had seen Kyouko when she was incredibly angry, muttering to herself and completely absorbed in her own world of vengeance. She had seen Kyouko when she was extremely worried and preoccupied, playing out numerous situations in her paranoid mind and completely disconnecting with reality.
But Sorata had never seen the type of distracted look that currently dominated Kyouko's features. She studied the young girl, trying to figure out exactly what sort of state she was in. Kyouko definitely wasn't angry. There was no tangible presence of rage that flooded the air around Kyouko like a bag of spilled marbles when she was furious at someone or something. She might be a bit panicked, but that didn't account for the entirety of whatever thoughts preoccupied her.
Curiosity got the better of the middle-aged manager. "Kyouko-chan?" she called out. Kyouko didn't respond right away. Sorata stopped keeping count after she had said the girl's name about twenty times. She did, at least, manage to break through Kyouko's foggy barrier of thought through continual effort.
"I'm sorry, Sorata-san, did you say something?"
"I was just trying to get your attention, Kyouko-chan," Sorata replied, rather kindly, considering how hoarse her voice had gotten.
"What is it?"
"Well, it's time to go," Sorata said. "And I was wondering why you're so distracted, Kyouko-chan."
"Um," she began nervously. Sorata watched her intently. "I have a… a date… for the wedding."
Sorata blinked, quite frankly rather surprised. "Who?"
Kyouko opened her mouth but words didn't come out right away. She cleared her throat and tried again, managing to choke out, "Tsuruga-san."
Astonished did not even begin to describe Sorata's reaction. She was quite sure that her eyebrows would fall off if she raised them any higher. And now she realized the other emotion mixed in with Kyouko's distracted panic had been shock.
"Tsuruga-kun asked you?"
Kyouko seemed relieved that her response only required a nod this time.
Sorata grinned at her. "Well, now all you need is a gift and a dress," she said brightly, knowing that a change of topic would probably help Kyouko adjust. "Do you have any ideas of what you'd like to get Ogata-kun?"
She shook her head.
"Well, you'll think of something."
When it came to Yashiro, his manager and friend, Ren had a bit of a vengeful streak. Ren grinned stupidly as they drove out of the studio parking lot and refused to tell his manager why he was "smiling like a bastard."
"This is incredibly unfair, Ren. I do not appreciate it," Yashiro insisted adamantly.
Ren simply smiled and kept his eyes on the road.
"How am I supposed to adequately be your manager if you do not tell me important things such as the reason for your excessive joy?" he said impressively.
"How was Kotonami-chan?" he dodged.
Yashiro sighed, distracted for the moment. "She says that everything is all right, but I don't know. I swear, I didn't think there was a girl scarier than Kyouko-chan, but I think I've found her."
Ren laughed.
"Which reminds me," Yashiro said, "is the reason you're so happy because of Kyouko-chan?"
He was ignored, much to his dismay.
"Really, Ren," Yashiro said. "I'm not trying to pry. I'm being quite serious here. You need to start taking better care of your personal life. And don't think that our conversation from this morning is over. You absolutely do need a date for Ogata-kun's wedding!"
Ren slowed down and pulled his car over to the curb in front of Yashiro's apartment complex. "I've taken care of it," Ren said so quietly that Yashiro had to strain to hear. "I'll see you tomorrow morning at eight."
The actor stared at Yashiro so blankly that the slightly older man was unable to do anything other than close the car door behind him and watch Ren drive away into the dazzling Tokyo lights.
"What the hell does that mean?" he cried to no one in particular, perhaps the heavens.
Ren sighed as he zipped through traffic-congested streets. His euphoria was starting to wear off.
"I think there's a way you can make it up to me."
"What is it?" Kyouko asked excitedly.
"Do you have a date for Ogata-kun's wedding, Mogami-san?"
"No," she admitted softly.
"Be my date."
Her jaw dropped a centimeter or two and she struggled to hide it. "Your… d-date?"
Ren had known that he had made a mistake the minute the words "be my date" had left his mouth. But there was no undoing what he had done without hurting Kyouko. "Please?" he said quietly. He grappled for something else to say. "It… it would be good publicity for Duty Binds Us," he added.
"Yes, that's what Moko-san and Sorata-san said," she replied.
He puzzled over her words as she thought of what to say next. Kanae and Sorata were talking about him and the wedding with Kyouko?
"Yes, I suppose it would be a good idea for us to go together," she said at last. She smiled. "And it's a relief to be going with you, Tsuruga-san. I just remembered this morning that the wedding was this Friday and I was panicking…" She trailed off. "Arigatou, Tsuruga-san." She bowed her head in his direction.
If she had been looking up at the time, she would have seen Ren blush a bit. "Then I'll come pick you up at three o'clock on Friday," he said awkwardly.
"Okay."
"Yeah."
"Sounds good."
"Bye."
"… bye."
Ren was starting to feel uneasy as he pulled his car into the lot outside his apartment. Why did he deserve to feel so happy? And he still didn't know if Kyouko had any feelings for him other than respect—and maybe fear.
After all, she had accepted the media advantage as a good reason for them to go to the wedding together.
'But she was talking about you with her manager and her best friend!' argued a little voice in the back of his head.
"Yes," Ren replied. "About the publicity theory." The door man in the lobby gave Ren an odd look. He had spoken out loud.
'Talking about you,' the voice repeated as Ren crossed the spectacularly clean lobby to the elevator. The door was open and he joined an old man who had kindly held the door for him. 'Did I mention that she said she was relieved that you had asked her?'
"But that doesn't mean she was happy," Ren said, alarming the old man.
'Being relieved means she was glad, which means she was happy! I win!'
"No, you don't win."
The old man got out on the third floor. He lived on the tenth according to the glowing yellow button Ren had seen him press.
'You're running out of excuses,' the voice taunted. 'She was panicking, she said. And you were her savior.' The sickly sweet tone of Ren's new inner voice made him want to gag.
"You aren't real. So this argument is irrelevant."
'Haha. You think that's going to make me go away. Hilarious.'
"My life is horrible," Ren thought.
'I heard that. How can it be horrible if you're taking a beautiful girl to a wedding? I bet she'll catch the bouquet.'
Ren got out of the elevator and nearly ran to his apartment. Shutting the door behind him with a considerably large bang, he declared, "Alcohol. I need alcohol to fix this."
'Hehehehe.'
A few shots of scotch later, Ren decided that the most logical explanation for the voice was that he was quite simply possessed by demons. And the voice, feeling quite tipsy himself, was quite inclined to agree with him, adding special effects where needed.
Though her sleep had been somewhat restless, Kyouko was feeling considerably more like herself the next morning. It was Wednesday and since Director Hakimori wanted to focus on Lieutenant Ichirou's solo scenes, she didn't have to be on the set of Duty Binds Us until later that afternoon. Kanae was similarly off the hook and Sorata had quickly arranged for them to go dress shopping since Kanae had admitted that she too did not yet have anything to wear since Yashiro had asked her so late.
Kyouko was looking forward to their girl's day out and was thus singing in the shower… badly.
She had come to the following conclusion concerning her wedding date. Ren, being as intelligent as he was, was obviously aware of her dateless status and, being the kind senpai that he was, and knowledgeable regarding deep inner-workings of the media which Kyouko did not yet comprehend, he had thus asked her to be his wedding date out of pure benevolence. And he had obviously disguised it as a way of making it up to him so that she would not think he pitied her.
"I am so lucky to have such a wonderful senpai," Kyouko thought, reaching for the shampoo bottle. "There isn't a newbie actress half as lucky as I am."
With that thoroughly off her conscience, Kyouko felt free to really belt out the high notes of her favorite song. Somewhere off in the forests of who knew where, animals sensed a disturbance in the natural order of things.
Yashiro's watch read 8:05. It was amazing how five little minutes could alarm him so, but Ren had insisted that he would be coming at eight and Ren was never, never late.
His doorbell buzzed like an angry wasp and he hurried to answer the door. "Ren, you're late," he said, frowning.
Ren gave him a dirty look and Yashiro noticed the faint dark circles under his eyes. It was odd that Ren would have lost so much sleep, considering he had been so happy just before kicking Yashiro out of the car. It only confirmed Yashiro's suspicions that Kyouko had something to do with the entire business.
The late onset of guilt was obviously the culprit behind Ren's lack of sleep and uncharacteristic tardiness.
"Never mind," Yashiro conceded. "Let's just go."
Ren seemed relieved that Yashiro wasn't going to press him about the issue and Yashiro began to feel rather guilty himself. Was he really such a bother to Ren?
"What about this dress?" Sorata said, pointing to an atrocious glittered disaster with a plunging neckline. "It comes with its own boobs," she added, indicating the padded inserts located in what little there was of the chest area of the gown.
Kyouko grimaced and Kanae added her own disturbed look to match. "I want something… cleaner?" Kyouko said exasperatedly. Sorata had been pointing out every ridiculous dress they had come across in the store, ignoring every acceptable choice.
It was fun the first few times, but after about a hundred or so dresses it was growing tiresome.
Sorata laughed. "I know; I'm being unbearable, aren't I?" she said. "You must forgive me since I haven't gone dress shopping since my daughter was your age. They have this dance called prom in America for high school students. It's a very formal occasion. Though if I remember correctly, Sora wished she hadn't brought a date with her. Something about him being very creepy…" Sorata lost the focus of her rambling and started wandering down another aisle of dresses.
"Mogami! Here, this is perfect for you!" Kanae called.
Kyouko didn't even get a good look at the gown before Kanae shoved it in her hands and steered her off towards the dressing room. "Go! Go on. Try it!"
The fabric was smooth and soft. Just by feel alone she already liked it. It was a pity there wasn't a mirror around to see herself in it.
"Come out and show us!" Sorata urged from outside the dressing room door.
Kyouko unlocked the door and stepped out into the fluorescent glow of the store lights. She twirled once, relishing the swish of fabric that followed slowly after her. "Well?"
The other two women were speechless and Kyouko was starting to grow worried due to their gaping jaws. "What?" she asked.
Sorata smiled at last. "Tsuruga-kun doesn't know how lucky he is."
"You're getting that dress," Kanae added, shooting her a knowing look.
The set of Duty Binds Us was buzzing with activity when Ren and Yashiro arrived. Director Hakimori waved enthusiastically when he saw the two of them walking over from the parking lot, which was not very far at all from the outdoor set they were currently prepping for shooting. Funnily enough it was a shooting range.
"Good timing, Tsuruga-kun," Hakimori said. "We just started to get the set ready for the second scene in Part Two."
"Part Two?" Ren asked.
"Yes. We got all of the outdoor scenes of Part One done just now except for the sparring scene, but I want to give you and Mogami-chan more time to choreograph that with Katashi-sensei. We want to take advantage of the good weather while it's here," Hakimori finished with a grin.
Ren nodded at the obvious logic. Now if only Hakimori could direct that logic into drawing up a schedule so that he could prepare himself for things. He thought back fondly to the organized chart Director Ogata had set up for the filming of Dark Moon.
"Well, off to wardrobe," Hakimori said brightly. "If you run into Kotonami-chan, would you tell her that I need to talk with her about her upcoming scene with Yamamoto-san. We'll be shooting that when we're done out here."
"Will do," Ren replied and turned to head off to the trailers.
Duty Binds Us. Part Two. Scene Two. It was a simple scene. There was hardly any dialogue to speak of. But perhaps that made it all the more challenging. The tension between Akio and Rin was high. Part One ended with their epic sparring match that finished with Rin accusing Akio of trying to replace Ichirou. Part Two began with Rin and Akio on guard duty, patrolling the outskirts of the base at night. They argued a little, but they were interrupted when a refugee stumbled upon them, a small child that Rin treated tenderly. That was when Akio began seeing Rin as more than just a jumbled mess of anger and torment. There was still an honorable woman underneath her barriers who was worth knowing.
Scene Two was of a lighter nature. The sun rose on the camp, banishing some of the more complicated feelings the night had unearthed. Rin was still angry and Akio was still puzzled, but the new lieutenant patrolled the ranks of his platoon as they stretched down the row of targets on the shooting range. He shouted out comments as he went along. His gaze lingered on Rin, sprawled out on her stomach with a sniper rifle set firmly in her grip.
Her bullet struck a bull's-eye with deadly precision and Akio snapped back to attention and continued down the ranks, faintly calling, "Nice shot."
Ren ran his fingers through his hair as the wardrobe assistant calmly adjusted the pins and medals on his lieutenant's uniform. In theory, the scene should be easy, but he was nervous about how he was supposed to look at Kyouko. Akio was becoming attracted to Rin and Ren wondered if he could leave off his glances at that. A simple attraction and nothing more.
His own feelings towards Kyouko were far more complicated. And he hadn't seen her yet today. He didn't know if he could cope quite yet with all the tumultuous feelings his split decision—or rather, decisions since there had been multiple situations—had caused the previous day.
He walked out of his dressing room, still feeling terribly nervous. Ren found Yashiro and Kanae waiting outside, chatting idly. He greeted Kanae politely. "Did Yashiro convey Hakimori-san's message?" he asked.
Kanae nodded. "Yes, I was about to head over there," she replied.
"Is Mogami-san here yet?" It was a silly question to ask since Kyouko was always so punctual. What he meant was more along the lines of "where is Kyouko?" And of course, she knew exactly what he meant.
Kanae laughed. "Of course she's here. She just went off to wardrobe a few minutes ago. Mogami should be out soon."
Ren smiled faintly. He couldn't repress it.
"You wait for her," Kanae said, he couldn't tell if she was being merciful or merciless—now he understood what Yashiro had meant about her being scarier than Kyouko. "I'll tell the director that you're on your way." She winked and flounced away in a swish of long black hair.
Yashiro unabashedly watched her go. "An interesting woman, isn't she?" Ren said lightly.
His manager replied with a vague, "Yeah."
"Come on, let's go."
"Okay," Yashiro replied calmly. He let Ren walk a little ahead of him so that while his back was turned, he could grin like a mad man. Kanae had told him everything. Everything.
Author's Note: Hey, Everyone. Thanks again for reading another chapter of this story. I'm excited cause this chapter will probably push me over the 200 review mark. Seriously I'm about to explode because story is already the most reviews I've ever gotten. Win! Hmm... wedding... not quite yet but soon, my dears. What else, oh something from two chapters ago reviews, when I was saying I was late because of exciting things, never answer as to what exactly that was. College stuff! And scholarships and general awesomeness. Just got back from an Open House at my future school today so I'm hanging around in my new t-shirt feeling cool now. Anyway, that stuff aside, I dedicate this chapter to my friend Kate who has finally finished the enormous 365 page historical fiction novel on the Haitain Revolution that she's been writing (and I've been editing) for this thing called Senior Exhibition. Some hard core stuff and she's going to try and get it published. So if you ever see a book called Broken Chains, read it because it's fantastic. Hehe, enough advertising. Review!
