I'm glad everyone enjoyed the last chapter. Hopefully you'll enjoy this one too :)

It was mentioned that I've never done Sho's PoV yet, so here it is! What better time than when he's scared witless by Kyoko's mood swings? Ha ha ha ha ha.

This one's dedicated to alphaomega1st who gave me my 100th review. (Of course, that wouldn't have been possible without the reviews of everyone else so thanks to you too! You will all get mentioned.)

Short chapter today. Am ill and there's nothing much planned.

Advent '08

December 10th - 15 days to go

Once again it had snowed during the night. Luckily for Kyoko and the other actors and actresses Haruki had decided that today they were going to shoot all the indoor scenes for the video. They were all very grateful for this.

Gathering in the spare classroom that had been allocated to them they waited for the crew to set up and finish getting everything ready.

Kyoko had already been through wardrobe and make-up and was just trying not to move very much in case she wrinkled the costume or just generally ruined the outfit. It had happened before and she was not taking any chances with it.

She tugged on a lock of her hair as she watched the crew rushing backwards and forwards and the actors and actresses milling about chatting with one another. They kept shooting her glances but she ignored them.

Instead, she thought about what happened yesterday and her talk with Ren.

She had asked for help and he had sat down and taken time out of his busy schedule to do so. She was touched.

Nobody had taken time out of their own lives to teach her anything when it wouldn't help them or when it wasn't their jobs. Sho's parents had taught her but only because they were planning for her to take over the inn for them and marry their son.

They weren't trying to help her, they were trying to raise someone who would be a perfect wife and who would rule things exactly the way they wanted.

She wasn't exactly angry at them for it. She even understood why they did so…sort of.

Her teachers helped her because that was their job. Heck, even those at L.M.E. only helped her and taught her because they were paid to…

But Ren hadn't had to do anything. He could have said something nice and meaningless and then walked away.

But he didn't.

He had let her tell him her worries and her secrets and he hadn't judged. Yes, okay, he had laughed but she couldn't hold that against him because she had laughed with him as well.

She was going to try his advice. He had said it was what he did at times when he couldn't get the emotion down and he was right, if it worked for him then surely it would work for her.

She had started to wonder about who he thought of when he did have to act but quickly caught herself. It was rude to speculate on someone's private feelings. Especially the private feelings of so great a man.

Eventually the crew were ready and the students placed in their positions. Kyoko breathed deeply to try and calm herself. She had to get into her zone before Sho came in and she became to irritated with him to act like she was in love.

Closing her eyes she focused her mind on Corn and what she could remember of him. The scene slowly unfolded from her memory, the sparkling water, the sunlight filtering down through the leaves and tainting the shadows green.

She smiled as she remembered. The sun had been warm on her skin and she had been upset but he had taken that away. He had shown her a secret; the he could fly. And she had kept that secret, still kept it to this day.

She focused on how she felt when he told her that he would tell show her his secret. Filled her entire body with how she had felt when she was finally entrusted with something so important.

Letting out a slow breath she opened her eyes, a small smile playing along her lips. She felt calm and at peace.

It was not a moment too soon as Sho strode through the doors a second later.

Haruki directed him to the position he would be in and what she wanted the shot to consist of. Nodding he glanced sideways at Kyoko but she was too happy to be annoyed by his presence.

Seeing that her expression didn't change from the dreamy look she was wearing, he frowned slightly and went to his starting position. The set fell silent before Haruki called action.

---/---

They were taking a break after the first few hours of shooting. Kyoko was standing off to the side and drinking from a small bottle of water.

Ignoring Sho and pretending he was Corn had become more difficult the further into the scene they got. Sho was always there, pushing into her senses, demanding attention and it really took a lot of her concentration to stay in her zone.

By the end of the scene she was practically forcing the emotion out and it had shown in her work, though it would take someone who knew Kyoko very well to see so.

Unfortunately for her, Sho did know her well. He had been confused at first when she didn't react to him like he thought she would.

Confusion quickly turned to annoyance though when she refused to acknowledge him. He was acting and acting beautifully but at the same time he was needling her to pay attention to him. It was the least he deserved, he thought, especially after what she had done to him yesterday.

He deserved an apology at the very least.

Now, he was just waiting until he had his chance to spring something on her and make her see him.

Kyoko shivered and glanced around trying to pinpoint the evil thought waves that were being aimed at her.

She was distracted by Haruki who made her way over to talk to her.

"Kyoko-chan? Can I talk to you a moment?"

"Of course, Asami-san. Is there something the matter?"

"Well, no." Haruki looked a little embarrassed. "I'm glad that you seemed to have gotten over whatever mindset you were in yesterday."

Kyoko blushed. "Y-yes," she stuttered in embarrassment. "I actually wanted to apologise to you about that."

Haruki smiled. "I don't think it's me that you should be apologising to."

"What do you mean?"

"…nothing. Actually. There was a reason that I came over. You do seem to be projecting a better image but…it's not exactly the image I had in mind."

"Oh?"

"No. It feels…a little too innocent for my liking. Your character is innocent, don't get me wrong, but she also knows what is happening and who she is in love with. Do you think you can do that?"

Kyoko frowned. Could she change now and still be able to ignore Sho? The only reason that she had managed to last thing far was because she was thinking about Corn instead of him.

"I-I'll try, Asami-san. It's just…I got some advice off a really good person yesterday and it might take me a while to work out how to deal with the problem with my performance."

"Oh? Advice? What was it?"

Kyoko thought about it. Could she tell the director about Ren and how he used this advice? She frowned. Haruki was a director and Ren had told her something that felt private. She didn't want to start any rumours that might be detrimental to his career.

Rumours that said he couldn't act certain things.

Maybe if she said what the suggestion was but left Ren out of it? That might work.

She tuned back to reality.

"They said that if I was having problems showing that I was in love with someone then I should just pretend that they are the person that I'm really in love with."

"That's good advice. Is that how you've been managing to act this morning?"

"Yeah. I've been thinking back to when I was a child."

"Ah. That explains it. That's why the performance is coming off a little too innocent."

"Really? You think that's it?"

"Yes. Is there anything else that your friend said?"

Kyoko thought about Ren and the conversation that they had had. About how he had treated her then. Most of all she thought about how he had laughed so openly, without holding anything back from her.

"That's perfect."

Kyoko blinked. "Huh?"

"That expression you just made. That's exactly what I was looking for. In the next scene just think about whatever you were thinking about just before and it'll be perfect."

She smiled at Kyoko before walking off to go and speak with some of her crew.

Kyoko stared after her. She wanted Kyoko to think of Ren while she was acting as a couple?

Why on earth would she want that?

Had her expression really been that good?

Kyoko thought about this, her mind racing. What did it mean? Did it mean that she was…?

No.

No, that couldn't be right. It was respect. She had respect for Ren and that was it. The director was confused on the expression.

But if she wanted Kyoko to look like that during the next scene then who was she to argue? At least respect for Ren was easier to tap into then trying to come up with someone else that she could pretend and block out Sho.

Like I said. Short chapter.

The shortest one so far, actually.

Not much happened but there was emotional development and tomorrows chapter won't make sense without it. (You'll see what I mean.)

Oh, Sho…

:D

A lot happens tomorrow and I'm looking forward to writing it. I hope you're enjoying it so far!

DS