DISCLAIMER: Full credit goes to Nakamura Yoshiki, the creator of Skip Beat, Emily Bronte's Wuthering Height's, and Yoshishige Yoshida's Arashi ga Oka. A full bibliography of works cited will be included with Chapter 10. The only thing I own is the character O'Hara Cho (an OC).
My thanks to the wonderful OnePlotThickens for their help Beta-ing this story.
They've helped to give it a finesse I couldn't achieve by myself.
STORMY HILLS
10| Festivity
"He's summoning my mother to him!" Young Kinu cried to Yoshimaru. They had been transporting Lady Kinu's coffin down the mountainside, hoping to rebury her with Kinu's father before leaving the dreaded mountain behind them. The cousins were hoping to make a new life for themselves in the busting streets of Edo, finding it too painful to reside in either the eastern or the western houses.
Yoshimaru, having severed Onimaru's sword arm and left the man to die on a mountain rage as the latter had succumbed to the legend of Yamabe men transforming into serpents, could not believe his eyes. The horse that had Lady Kinu's coffin strapped to it bolted, fleeing to Onimaru's side. After all they had gone through to oust him from the eastern house and Lordship mantle, and to rescue Lady Kinu's remains, it had all been for nothing.
Onimaru and Kinu would not be parted.
Struggling with his beloved Kinu's coffin, Onimaru shambled away. Yoshimaru and Young Kinu observed poignantly as he travelled further away. It wasn't long before the mists shrouding the stormy hills devoured them completely.
She really was a vision to behold, Hidehito thought smugly to himself, with her long, floating dress sweeping against the floor. Kyoko had allowed him to arrange a pamper session for her at a salon, where the employees had fussed and clucked, squabbled over the best dress and matching pair of shoes to put her in, and plumped for a wig of mesmerising blonde waves instead of styling Kyoko's short hair.
Kijima hadn't minded either way, and Kyoko was happy enough to play dress-up; she'd admitted feeling spoilt for choice, and more than a little like royalty for the attention that was being showered on her appearance. Attention that she never usually received except from a professional standpoint. The costume department of any project an actor or actress was working on liked to be thorough.
Hidehito was stunned at her transformation nevertheless, as Kyoko became a cut and polished diamond splendid enough to be the centre piece of a crown. She normally wowed people with her acting, but he couldn't help but feel that if appearances and her own confidence played a greater part in her life, Kyoko would be breaking hearts left and right while she tried to glue her own back together.
He nearly snorted. Perhaps that day would be soon; Tsuruga hadn't stopped side eying them since they'd traversed through the entrance of the party's venue. Kyoko had taken Hidehito's proffered arm, daintily smiling for the photographer hired to capture the night's memories- which in turn could be vetted for use in the media. He had glibly waved to those who had stopped to stare, a grin stretching his features. Then he had looked to Kyoko, and saw that she too was smiling from enjoyment; a certain gleeful spark danced in her eyes.
Tsuruga Ren was enraged. Cheekily, Hidehito waved directly at him with a mocking smile.
They had mingled with the staff and cast, receiving compliments (some of them positive and others thinly veiled remarks), and exchanged their own comments to those they conversed with. Kyoko excused herself to go and powder her nose, and Hidehito delved into conversation while waiting for her to return.
Out of the corner of his eye, Hidehito saw Tsuruga move conspicuously through the crowds and originally thought nothing of it. Then his brain seemed to click through gears as quickly as his sports car and he hurriedly made an excuse to run and find his date for the night. Weaving his way through the crowds and ducking out of potential conversations to the extent where he could be considered rude, Hidehito rushed to the venue's bathrooms.
Cornered by a large ornamental vase, with her back to the wall was Kyoko; Tsuruga Ren leaning in over her threateningly.
Hidehito could catch a few words uttered in a positively lethal tone; "- you do know what it means when a man buys a woman clothes, Mogami-san?"
Kyoko was quivering. He had her pinned against the wall, caged in by his lean arms so that she couldn't duck away. She couldn't answer for being so frightened. Hidehito clinched his jaw, gritting his teeth and clenching his fists as he strode towards them.
"It means that I'm allowed to treat my precious people," He ground out, one hand grabbing Tsuruga's wrist. "Honestly, you must think all men- especially myself, to be nefarious, Tsuruga."
Ren straightened, affronted, and snatched his arm from Hidehito's wrist. Kyoko moved closer to the latter, her hands seeking his tailored jacket as she tugged herself behind him as though he were a shield. The two men eyed one another, figurative sparks shooting between them as their intense glares met. Kyoko's gown and wig, serving as her armour for the night as she had created a carefree socialite version of Mogami Kyoko to embody, were ineffective without something to deflect those who would wish to tear her confidence apart.
Kijima-san had asked her to trust him, and though she had been regaled with tales of his playboy status, a large portion of her believed in him. Despite being an actor, he didn't hide behind masks; he was forthright, and willing to keep away from scandal- though he was never discreet about what went on in his private life. Notoriety had made him a flirt, but she couldn't help but feel comfortable with his rakish charm. It was as harmless or as meaningful as one made of it.
"So you didn't do this just to be the one to take the clothes off? I know your type-"
"Mm, I like to think I have a little more class than that, Tsuruga. It's Kyoko's choice whether she wants her lovely dress to hit the floor at all, not mine," Hidehito sneered, and Kyoko felt herself redden. "Other than that, no. I wanted to see my co-star embrace her new'y found confidence."
"Co-star?" Tsuruga echoed, and Kyoko wished the luxurious carpet beneath her stilettos would swallow her up and spit her out far far away from the Dark Moon afterparty. Preferably in another country, or another dimension free of her raunchy scene in Stormy Hills if possible.
Kyoko cleared her throat; "Kijima-san and I have been working on a remake of 'Arashi ga Oka' together as the lead characters. Directors Ogata and O'Hara believe it will be ready to be televised in a few months, should post-production go okay."
Ren seemed placated with her answer, nodding and stepping away from the couple. Kyoko willed herself not to release a sigh of relief, having dodged that issue for now. She was sure that he wouldn't allow her to escape LME's lobby in the following days without fully explaining the extent of her project.
Months later, when watching the television premier of Stormy Hills, Tsuruga Ren would rage over the sight of Kijima Hidehito's hands devouring the supple bare skin of Mogami Kyoko as onscreen, Onimaru and Kinu allowed themselves to become ever closer. The cleverly arranged shoji panels the set consisted of masked most of the scene's action, and the camera had focused in on the pattern of a mythical serpent as it penetrated and coiled its body through inky bursts of mist- but it was unmistakeable.
Kinu had given everything to Onimaru.
It was likely that Kyoko would do the same for Hidehtio. The little girl he had known from Kyoto had fallen for someone else, and like Mitsuhiko, Tsuruga Ren had lost although he had initially won.
[STORMY HILLS - END]
Author's Note
I really love rare pairs, okay. So, I indulged myself and wrote this one. Sometimes I really love stories where Ren and Kyoko struggle to get together but have their happily ever after, and other times I'm desperate to read anything but that.
The amount of Kyoko paired with other characters (that also aren't Sho) stories are few, so I decided to create my own addition. Kijima was my first choice; I like that he's the anti-Ren. He's a bit of a cad, but he would be able to show Kyoko how to love herself and others again far better than Ren or Sho in my opinion, even if it wasn't the happily ever after we all know she'll probably end up with.
Arashi ga Oka helped me along the way, as I had planned for Kyoko and Hidehito to act out Wuthering Heights. That there was a Japanese "version", so to speak, fell in my favour. I used the two to craft the story. The full movie, in two parts, should be available still to watch on YouTube and it's well worth it. You can tell it belongs to the 80's, but its flipping brutal and weirdly explicit in a way that adaptations of Wuthering Heights have never been for me, even the 2009 version I usually swear by! (Though Tom Hardy plays a cracking Heathcliff~!) You've been warned in advance if you do want to brave watching AgO.
Truthfully, this story turned out a lot more mature and melancholy that I anticipated. I was aiming for a T-rating, but that went down the pan. I didn't really have a happily ever after planned either, so I decided to leave it bittersweet.
My thanks, eternally, to OnePlotThickens for their help Beta-ing this story. Honestly, I can't thank them enough. I literally end all of my PM's to them with a thank you. I need to be stopped.
I thank you all for reading this, and don't hesitate to review or PM me what you thought!
-Yuilhan
Musical Inspiration
"Catherine My Angel" - Ruth Barrett, 'Wuthering Heights OST (2009)'
"Wuthering Heights" – Kate Bush, 'The Kick Inside'
"Broken Machine" - Nothing but Thieves, 'Broken Machine'
"Heathcliff's Revenge" - Ruth Barrett, 'Wuthering Heights OST (2009)'
"Starlight" – The Supreme Lovers, 'Starlight – EP'
"Lovers" – Ruth Barrett, 'Wuthering Heights OST (2009)'
"Eternal Youth" – Rude, 'Eternal Youth'
"Papa Loves Mambo" – Perry Como, 'Pure Gold'
Cast
Catherine Earnshaw/Kinu – Mogami Kyoko
Heathcliff/Onimaru – Kijima Hidehito
Hindley Earnshaw/Hidemaru
Mr Earnshaw/Lord of the Mountain
Francis (Hindley's wife)/Shino
Hareton Earnshaw/Yoshimaru
Edgar Linton/Mitsuhiko
Isabella Linton/Tae
(Young) Catherine Linton/ Young Kinu
Bibliography
Arashi ga Oka, dir. by Yoshishige Yoshida, (1988)
Bronte, Emily, Wuthering Heights, (London: Penguin Classics, 1847; 2003)
Nakamura, Yoshiki, Skip Beat, (Tokyo: Hakusensha, Viz Media, 2002 – Present)
EDIT [10.09.2017]:
Shout out to and all of you who reviewed this story during the time I was posting it, especially brennakai, Skeek622 and Felicity Dream! So far today as I prepared to post this, I've been doused by heavy rain, had to play Taxi driver, and have injured my foot by slipping down a staircase. Hopefully Chapter 10 isn't as much as a disaster as I've been at the moment...