Hidden in Plain Sight

Disclaimer: I do not own SkipBeat! or any of the characters from the Manga.

Summary: LME has seen better days; Kyoko was forced to return home by her mother and Tsuruga Ren has gone back to the States to resume his true identity. So who is the new kid making entertainment news… and why is Saena so angry?

Chapter 10 – Enter the Hunter

Kuon sat back and smiled, allowing the California sun to warm his face while he listened for the thousandth time to the single song on his new iPod. Despite the haunting words and the sadness of much of the content, the ending made him smile almost beatifically. The female voice also soothed his lonely soul. He had never realized that Kyoko had such a voice. It made him wonder why she had never auditioned as a singer. But even if her voice had been terrible, he would still have listened to the clear message of her song: she was accepting his heart and his love.

Now if only she were there with him. Lory had assured him that all was well, but he wouldn't disclose her location. Even Maria, who had always been his staunchest ally, had been strangely evasive. He understood their reasoning, but he couldn't understand why they wouldn't give him even the slightest clue.

Well, he thought to himself, If the Boss says that she is safe, then I need to trust him.

He wouldn't have felt that way if he had only known where she was at that very moment.

oOoOOoOo

Da-dum da-dum da-dum da-dum da-dum-de-dum-dum-dum dum-de-dum

Sho paused in his progress up the aisle of the large auditorium and scowled back up at the stage, sensing that he was being ridiculed. The music had exactly matched his pace. He found the little guitarist and glared, but the small young man seemed to be in deep concentration, scanning a music score. Sho looked down, then looked up again quickly… and saw no alteration in the boy's manner. Grunting quietly, he began walking away again.

Da-dum da-dum da-dum da-dum da-dum-de-

Sho wheeled around and glared, shouting, "Stop that!" Everyone on stage looked up in surprised alarm. The boy, Z, looked up more slowly, looking wide-eyed with bewilderment.

"Is something wrong, Sho?" The boy asked with a look of absolute innocence. The two musicians seemed to hold a staring contest for a full minute before Sho wheeled again and walked much more quickly up the aisle and out of the auditorium.

The set faces of the other musicians on-stage dissolved as one-by-one they began to laugh. Kajehito Kazue, Fuwa Sho's base guitarist, shook his head in amusement and wonder, "Kid, you've definitely got some big ones. I've seen that boy's temper, and I'd advise you to tone it down a bit."

Z stood and stretched, rolling his neck and extending his arms far out to his sides with a groan. Unrepentant, he said, "Hey Kazue, let's run though 'Water Nymph' again. I'm not happy with my fingering on the middle stanzas."

Kajehito Kazue glanced around at the other musicians in Fuwa Sho's band. They weren't disloyal to Fuwa Sho, but they didn't mind seeing him suffer a little either. He had been in a foul temper for over a month now and they had borne the brunt of his anger. If this little guy had the guts to challenge their leader, then they weren't going to get in the middle of it. Besides, Fuwa Sho needed to learn a little humility.

Z and his group, Slow Rising Storm, had been a big surprise when they had arrived four days before. The lead singer, Aoki Miyoko, was both beautiful and talented. The drummer, Ryuichi, was excellent, as was their bassist, Kimiko. Miki, the keyboardist and sound specialist, was especially cute… Kazue was hoping to get to know her better. Still, the big surprise had been the seemingly wimpy lead guitarist. He may have been small, but that boy was born to play. Even Fuwa Sho had been forced to admit that Z was gifted, even by his strict standards.

It hadn't started out well. Fuwa Sho had been in an especially bad mood that afternoon (nobody could have guessed that it was because his digital set-top-box failed and he had lost an entire season of his favorite variety show). When Shouko Aki led the new group in, he had sneered and then ignored them. When Shouko began to show irritation, he had finally looked up and had been shocked to realize that one girl looked almost exactly like Kyoko… but when his searching eyes found the differences he had only sneered and turned his chair to face away from them.

In the ensuing silence a tight voice growled, "Neko ni koban" (has the same meaning as "casting pearls before swine.") There was a collective gasp and Sho had slowly turned to find the speaker. The others wouldn't meet his gaze, but one young man… more of a boy perhaps, stood his ground and met his eyes with a fierce glare of his own.

Sho stood to his full height and sneered as he approached the much shorter boy, but the boy's disdainful gaze never wavered once. "Repeat that," Sho said in a deceptively calm voice.

The boy sneered back, "You heard me the first time… or perhaps your poor musical skills have so far dulled your hearing that you are unable to hear?"

Shouko Aki and the Kyoko-lookalike both stepped forward as if to intervene, but neither male took any notice. Sho's eyes tracked down to the guitar case suspended from the boy's hand. He read the "Ibanez" plate near the handle and grinned. "My poor musical skills, huh? I'll tell you what: why don't you and I have a little guitar contest. If you win, your group will tour with us. If I win, then I get your guitar and you and your pathetic little band will slink away like the posers that you are." He quirked a challenging eyebrow, "Are you up to the challenge?"

The hot girl stepped up and faced the boy, "Z, you can't do this! You're good, but you've only been playing for eight months!"

The boy named Z never let his eyes leave Fuwa Sho's. There was a fire there, and something else too; something that seemed both familiar and disconcerting to Sho. "Don't worry, Miyoko. This will be fun. Fine, Sho; I'll take your challenge. Would you prefer everyone else to leave in order to spare you the humiliation?"

Even Sho's own band members tensed at the boy's casual usage of Sho's given name. His accent was clearly western. The boys felt a little sorry for the little dude. He must not understand Fuwa Sho's status in Japan's music industry. The two musicians separated to their respective groups. Every eye watched the boy named Z. There was a little bit of alarm from Sho's camp when several of the musicians recognized the grizzled older man who was talking to Z as Simon Matthews, once an icon in the world of guitarists. Kajehito Kazue tried to point this out to Sho, but Sho was already too busy basking in this opportunity to humiliate the presumptuous little punk.

They returned to center stage and faced each other. Sho felt a surge of irritation when he recognized Z's guitar as an Ibanez AT300 Andy Timmons Special. His own guitar was also an Ibanez, but not quite as good. He would have to go and buy a better… but then again, he was about to own this guitar… so no worries. "Since neither your group nor my group can be counted on to judge fairly, I've asked the producers to come down for a few minutes. They'll decide who is better." Z nodded without the slightest appearance of concern. Sho smiled hungrily, "I'll play something and you'll try and duplicate it. Then you'll take the next round… assuming that there is a next round and we don't kick you off of the stage immediately. We'll try seven rounds and then allow the producers to decide. Are we clear?"

Z quirked his mouth and shrugged his shoulders. In truth, Kyoko was filled with trepidation as her own foolishness. She had allowed Z to take the lead and had failed to restrain his audacious, never-say-die attitude. Now she was risking Takarada-Shacho's guitar and her group's prospects. Her only hope would be to play with every bit of skill she… or rather Z possessed. Z had made amazing strides under the tutelage of Simon Matthews and now it was up to him to dig them out of the hole they were in. She did have one other hope: she knew what Sho liked to play better than anyone and she had made a point to learn every nuance from Simon Matthews.

Sho launched into his favorite riff from his younger years. He had played it many times to impress his fellow students… mostly the girls. The only other person who played it anywhere near as well had been Kyoko, before he had bullied her into quitting guitar. As he played he looked over at Z, expecting worry or even fear. Instead the boy looked like he had just won the lottery.

He finished and Z immediately launched into his rendition. Sho had deliberately altered his pattern from the original. As a young teen he had misread one score, liked how it sounded, and made the alteration into his own. If this boy knew the original he would almost certainly miss the alteration. Sho was impressed with the boy's skills immediately, but he knew that the alteration was coming and… and Z copied Sho perfectly! When he was finished, Z's group, Slow Rising Storm, began applauding and whistling until Sho glared at them.

Z raised his own challenging eyebrow and launched into one of Sho's own songs. Sho couldn't believe that the boy was actually arrogant enough to play one of his… but then the boy began altering the piece. The producers and Sho's own band concentrated as Z altered and improved the song. Sho ground his teeth in irritation at this boy's audacity, but even he thought that there was an improvement. When Z had finished there was a moment of silence as Sho prepared to play. Z spoke up and humbly said, "Simon is the one who suggested the changes, not me. I'm nowhere near ready to improve a song of that caliber."

Fuwa Sho had liked the alteration so much that he was itching to write down the change. This boy could have easily taken all of the credit, but instead he had told the truth. It amused Sho to witness such innocence. He looked at the boy for a long moment… and then he snorted… and chuckled… and then laughed out loud. While everyone stood there dumbfounded, he looked over at Simon Matthews and nodded respectfully. Then he reached out a hand to Z, "Okay, I'll admit that was good. Why don't you and your group show me what else you've got?"

There was a collective sigh of relief from various corners of the stage and auditorium as Sho took his seat beside the producers and Slow Rising Storm began their audition in earnest. It only took moments before everyone knew that they had found their new backup band.

Still, although Sho had relented during the audition, it didn't mean that he and the boy Z were destined to get along. In fact, they argued and insulted each other almost constantly. But more than one person noted that they sounded like siblings rather than enemies. They almost seemed to enjoy messing with each other. Perhaps the greatest evidence of this was the fact that Z played with the main band almost as much as he played with Slow Rising Storm. He really was quite amazing.

oOoOOoOo

Private Detective Enomoto Eiji carefully examined the photograph of his quarry, memorizing her facial bone-structure, the shape of her small, full lips, and the slight angle of her eyes. At a subconscious level he recognized her as an attractive young woman, but his concentration was on facial-recognition… regardless of her disguise.

When he had satisfied himself that he had memorized her, he lay out the other photographs one-by-one: Her role as Mio; Her role as Natsu; Her role as an angel; her role as the chef-trainee Miyoko; and a photograph of her in a traditional, very expensive kimono from some other project early in her career. This won't be easy, he thought. She looked remarkably different in each role. Even her eyes seem to have changed … as if the very soul inside her body had transformed. Still… yes! He circled her nose, her mouth, her cheekbones, her chin; these were identical in each photograph.

Confident that he would know her if he saw her; Detective Enomoto stacked the photographs and began to read through the sparse records of this young woman's life. As he read, he took notes.

A promising actress. It was actually quite remarkable, the number of roles she had played and the public reception of each character. Mogami Kyoko became Kyouko at the age of sixteen and she only acted for two years… and yet the characters she played were still being spoken of and recognized as almost iconic. There were girls walking around the middle schools and high schools of Japan who were trying to dress and walk and talk like Natsu; some were even using makeup to give themselves fake scars to look like Mio! He chuckled for a moment at that, grateful that he was single and wasn't raising any daughters of his own. He read further and made another notation.

Method Actress. He would need to read further about that, but he knew that a method actor or actress was one who became so deeply immersed into a character that the person became the character. All of the comments on Kyouko by her peer-actors and by directors and technicians suggested that Kyouko was almost frightening in her transformations into character. One ambitious newsman had even secured an interview with several bit-actors who described the day that Kyouko had "created a new and different Mio out of thin air." They spoke of how frightening the girl was as Mio, and how she had seemed almost "plain" beforehand. The transformation from Kyouko to Natsu and back was even more amazing because Kyouko seemed almost naïve and pure, while her character as Natsu was like a siren luring hapless young men onto the rocks.

Professional. Invariably Kyouko was described as: always on time, always polite, and almost always ready to work… the last detail seemed to have more to do with Tsuruga Ren than anything. She seemed to have a weak-spot wherever her fellow actor was involved.

Tsuruga Ren, a.k.a. Hizuri Kuon? This was a mystery. The man appeared to be a playboy, and yet there were no reports of scandals with young ladies, nor were there any reports of the man having any girlfriends… except that he did seem to have had more than just a passing interest in Mogami Kyoko. The proposal was dismissed by most gossip magazines as an act of kindness to save a friend, but Detective Enomoto didn't agree.

There were numerous reports of the two stars to suggest that they seemed to have either a very deep friendship or something even more. Perhaps it was something that developed over time? It was clear from the comments of technicians from a television drama named Ring Do that they knew each other at that time. In fact it seemed clear that there might have been a love/hate relationship. It was clear that something had changed or developed during the filming of Dark Moon, because there were numerous reports of Kyouko riding to and from work with Tsuruga Ren and his manager. There were also reports that the teenaged actress would scold the megastar about his poor eating habits. This suggested to the detective that there was a very deep and personal relationship indeed.

He flipped over that sheet and lifted the stapled documents detailing Mogami Kyoko's relationship with Fuwa Sho. He wrote: Lovers? Friends? Estranged? The pair had quite an interesting history: childhood friends who ran away together to Tokyo. Something happened between them after Fuwa Sho was signed and the two split. Then, about six months later, Kyouko began making her own imprint. Rumor had it that Fuwa Sho had visited her on several sets and that the two had argued loudly on each occasion. What exactly is their relationship? According to the mother, Fuwa Sho claimed that the two were now enemies… but if so, then why did he attempt to speak for her when her mother was trying to drag her away?

"Uncle Eiji, are you still working?" A young female voice called out. The door to his office was opened without knocking and a pretty teen-aged girl stuck her head in. "Don't forget that we need to leave in fifteen minutes if we are going to get to the concert on time."

He smiled at his niece and said, "Don't worry, I'll be ready." After the door shut he stifled a groan. It had seemed like a good idea to buy Namiyo three tickets to Fuwa Sho's concert for her seventeenth birthday… of course, at the time, he had supposed that either his sister or her husband would escort their daughter and her friend to the concert. How exactly did I get roped into this? Sighing like a man who was choosing his final meal on Death Row, he closed the folder. Perhaps I should call this part of the investigation and bill my clients… He smiled wickedly. He didn't like the Fukushimas. The man was low-class slime with far too much money and power and his wife… his wife and the mother of Mogami Kyoko… was something even worse. She was the type of woman who would sell her own daughter for a profit.

Once again he questioned his own motives for taking this job. He had begun his adult life on the Tokyo Police Force, but his lack of family influence and the jealousy of his peers held him back. Detective Enomoto, then Officer Enomoto, had passed every exam he took at the top of his class, but he still languished at the bottom of the promotion list due to the poor reviews of his direct supervisor, Detective Sergeant Miyami. As a rookie, Eiji had solved cases one too many times while his peers… and his Supervisor… made fools of themselves chasing their tails. In some departments he would have been fast-tracked to the top, but Miyami was a sour-faced man who had been passed over for lieutenant five times and he didn't like fast-trackers.

The final straw happened when Detective Sergeant Miyami kicked him off of a high-profile kidnapping situation when he was only hours from solving the case. Miyami took all of his notes and rushed in, botching the rescue and causing the death of the kidnapping victim. Miyami had simply shrugged and written his report, blaming Enomoto Eiji for the whole thing. Eiji didn't even stick around for the investigation. He turned in his badge that same day, cleaned out his locker, and left his uniforms in front of his supervisor's door. Enough was enough.

Many times since then he had wondered if he shouldn't have fought harder, but the truth was that he loved the freedom of owning his own business and setting his own pace. Besides, he was becoming quite well-off because of the fact that he had an impeccable record for solving his clients' cases. The downside was that many of his clients were not men and women of unimpeachable character. Still, a client was a client… right?

Eiji locked his office door and walked through the other door into his bedroom. His sister and her family had inherited the family home, but he had continued to occupy one side of the U-shaped complex. He didn't mind and they didn't mind. They were a close family and, for the most part, they got along. Unfortunately "getting along" did not extend to convincing either his sister or her husband to attend a "ridiculously loud rock concert with a bunch of screaming adolescents"… and so he became the victim of his own cleverness.

Shedding his casual clothes, he pulled out slacks and a blazer. It was hardly the appropriate attire for attending a Fuwa Sho concert, but he had learned long ago that clothing had power. He would be there as the chaperone for two very lovely teen-aged girls. They might attract plenty of male attention, but most of the males would shy away from a six-foot two, two-hundred pound man in a designer casual suit.

There was an impatient knock and a pleading call from his office door and he smiled. His niece was almost impossible to wake up on a school morning, but she was certainly worried about punctuality for this event. He opened the door to find both Namiyo and her best friend Mimiko waiting for him. He gave them a quick onceover and whistled.

Namiyo and Mimiko could have been twins. They both had long, beautiful black hair, brown eyes so dark that they appeared black, and the nubile bodies of well-developed young ladies. Tonight they had dressed in such a way as to show off everything in an evocative but still appropriate manner, thanks, no doubt, to Namiyo's mother. They were both in designer jeans and blouses that hid nothing of their form without displaying an undue amount of skin… and they were gorgeous.

Namiyo smiled brightly but Mimiko blushed. Eiji knew that his niece's friend had a crush on him and he had fun teasing her, though he did it in a safe manner… after all, he was twenty-seven, ten years her senior. Still, on a night like this, when she was dressed to the nines, it was only appropriate to give her her due: she was stunning.

Eiji stepped out and the young ladies each took an arm as they walked to his car. Glancing right and left he decided that perhaps the concert wouldn't be too bad after all. How many men could walk in with two such beauties on his arm? After everyone was seated and belted, he turned the key and surged down the road, stopping just short of peeling rubber to show off. It was amazing how having two such lovely ladies with him made him want to act like a teenager again.

They all settled in for the long drive into the heart of Tokyo. As often happened, the conversation drifted to his latest case. His niece and Mimiko were both fascinated with his work. They saw him as one of the characters straight out of the movies; solving cases, fighting bad-guys, and saving the world. He had attempted to be honest with them but their ideas persisted… and perhaps he didn't try too hard to change their views; it didn't hurt one's ego to be thought of as a hero, after all.

"Sooo… Uncle Eiji… what case were you working on today?" Both girls leaned forward from the back seat, their expressions eager.

"You know that I can't name names, ladies. What I will tell you is that I'm conducting a missing person's investigation. I'm trying to find a young lady who's parents want her home. The problem is that she doesn't want to be found."

Mimiko beamed, "That sounds like what is happening with Kyouko!" Eiji's heart leapt into his throat at her words, but she had already turned to look at Namiyo. "Have you heard the latest? I read that those jerks actually tried to send Yakuza after her!"

"Get real! How could any parent do something like that! It must be just a rumor," Namiyo replied doubtfully.

"No, I'm serious!" Mimiko protested, "The article on Kyouko's Escape site said that a bunch of Yakuza showed up at LME and tried to bully some of Kyouko's friends into telling them where she is hiding. But then somebody at LME must have some skills, because the thugs got beat up and nothing else happened."

Eiji focused his eyes on the road even as he listened for his niece's reply. She spoke again, "Wow… that's pretty hardcore, even for them. I read that they wanted to marry her off to that ugly dude for money, but I didn't think that they would go that far." She turned to look at her uncle's face in the mirror, "Uncle Eiji, you should be careful. What if you were actually asked by someone like those jerks to find someone like Kyouko? Surely you wouldn't help people like that… would you?"

Detective Enomoto Eiji was grateful for the darkness that hid his guilty expression as he replied, "Of course not, Namiyo… of course not."

oOoOOoOo

Three hours later they were in the car again, heading home. The concert had been surprisingly good. Eiji would have had a blast, but he was too distracted by guilt to really pay attention. Fuwa Sho was actually good, which surprised Eiji because he had thought of the boy as just another factory-standard cookie-cutter pop star. In reality, the boy was actually amazing. Yet it was the opening band, and specifically their lead guitarist, who had captured the two girls' attention.

"He's soooo cute!" they squealed once again, even though they'd said the same thing at least seven times since leaving the concert. Personally, Eiji thought that the boy needed to spend some time in the gym, but some kids developed later than others. One thing was for sure: that kid could play! He might have only been fifteen or sixteen, but he had some serious skills. Fuwa Sho must have thought so too because the boy also played several numbers with the lead band.

"… and he's from the United States! He's only been here for two or three months and the article said that he still made mistakes with the language. He can't even use chopsticks properly!"

"I'd love to teach him," Mimiko said huskily and both girls squealed again. Eiji rolled his eyes heavenward before focusing on the road again. The boy, whose only stage name was "Z," would probably either fade away or fly back to America in a few months. But until then he would probably become the next idol; with his image on posters on the bedroom walls of three-quarters of the teen girls in Japan… until the next heartthrob came along. Personally, he was more interested in the lead singer. First of all, she was very pretty and a great singer. But more importantly, she bore a remarkable resemblance to Kyouko. Surely it couldn't be that easy?

Detective Enomoto Eiji resolved to drive back to Tokyo in the morning to investigate the lead singer more closely. For the moment he would set the moral issues of helping the Fukushimas aside. Later, if and when he found Mogami Kyoko, he would decide what to do.

Notes: Thanks to everyone who has been reading and reviewing. It helps me to push through when my mind has taken a vacation.

Another Note: I'm not trying to make Kyoko a Mary-Sue in this story. In this story her hidden talent was music, and especially guitar. I'm operating on the premise that she played alongside Sho, but he became selfish and jealous and practically forced her to quit. That is why (in this story) she can play so well.