Always With You

Disclaimer: I do not own SkipBeat or any of its characters

Chapter 10 – Like a spring breeze

Takarada Lory, dressed as one of the three musketeers, sat back and watched Kyoko with fascination. Her face was contorted in worry and she had abandoned her normally perfect posture to sit with her knees clasped to her chest.

"Mogami-san, you need to relax." He tried to use his deepest, most soothing voice. It wasn't working.

"But what if she doesn't like me?! What if she takes one look at me and tells me that she never wants to see me again? What if…"

"Kyoko!" Lory broke through her rapid-fire panic-stricken monologue. "You and Julie-san have been emailing back and forth for almost a year now. She likes you. In fact, she's flying all of the way to Japan just to spend time with you."

"I should have gone to the airport to meet her. What if…"

"Chiori-san is perfectly capable of helping Julie with her bags. Besides, she really wanted the job. You are too busy to act as a temporary manager. You are also too recognizable after all the recent publicity."

The conversation was interrupted as Takarada's stealthy butler appeared and announced Julie's arrival.

Kyoko stood, her trembling hands clasping and unclasping as the door opened and Julie Hizuri swept into the room. Before Kyoko could say a word she was wrapped in the older woman's arms for a soft, motherly embrace. "I'm so happy to finally meet you face-to-face, Kyoko-chan."

Tears pricked Kyoko's eyes as she basked in the warmth of a motherly embrace for the first time in her life. "Okaa-san."

Chiori and her mother had been fans of Julie Swan's clothing and makeup lines for years. She had known that Kyoko and Hizuri Kuu's wife corresponded, but she had never made the connection. Now as she watched the touching scene she felt a mixture of awe and envy.

After a long, comfortable hug Julie released Kyoko. She put her hands on the girl's shoulders so that she could observe her at close range. "Well, the first priority is to do something about these god-awful uniforms. Lory, you old clothes-horse, you ought to be ashamed of yourself!"

Kyoko and Chiori's eyes met and they grinned. Excellent! Wait until Moko-san hears about this!

* * *

Julie had fashion-design connections throughout the world, so she called in the cavalry. An hour later all three girls were being measured by one of Japan's top designers and her staff. Lory, who was seated next to Julie, slipped her a folded note.

She read it and looked at Lory with raised eyebrows. "So you think that this young man's looking to cause trouble?"

"What else?"

"Can you get me on the show?"

"Already taken care of. Rumiko fell all over herself re-arranging her guest line-up so that she could fit you in."

"Thank you, Lory. Just one more thing to take care of."

"He said that he can be available to meet with you at 6 p.m. today. You can use my office."

Julie looked up at the eccentric President of LME affectionately. "You've always been there for our family Lory. Thank you."

"Save it. I'm still waiting for you to leave that overgrown garbage disposal of yours and marry me."

Julie laughed softly. "Lory, you know that I could never be married to a man who has more clothes than I do."

* * *

Maria arrived in the LoveMe room straight from school as usual. When she saw the new designs for the LoveMe uniforms she had to have one too. Since she was always visiting with the girls anyway they supported the idea. While she was being measured the three young ladies went back to their latest task.

Director Kurosaki had contracted with LME to have the LoveMe girls read through the Always with you website responses. Their job was to reply when practical, and to sort the emails and chats for good ideas. Julie joined them, and soon all four were laughing and having a great time. The crude and inappropriate comments were promptly deleted. But the majority of submissions at least had some entertainment value. Kanae wheeled over a whiteboard and the girls started keeping track of certain types of submissions for the fun of it.

The room was filled with joking and laughter when Ren stepped through the door. He froze when he saw his mother sitting among the girls. His eyes were unguardedly tender as he took in the scene. Kyoko looked up and everything else disappeared for a moment in her mind. Lately she was becoming less and less immune to "that look."

Julie was the first to notice Kyoko's distraction. She followed Kyoko's gaze she saw her son in the flesh for the first time in over six years. Her throat choked up and her eyes watered. It took every ounce of control she possessed not to jump the table and hug her tall, handsome son.

Between Ren, Kyoko, and Julie's internal struggles there was a definite air of tension in the room.

Then a little blond yelled, "Ren-sama" and hurtled across the room. The seamstress who was fitting her was too late to yell a warning. Maria took a flying leap into Ren's waiting arms and both of them suddenly yelled, "ouch!"

"The pins, Maria-san," the seamstress groaned. That and the look on Ren's face was enough to set the girls to laughing all over again.

"I'm sorry, Ren-sama," Maria said with her eyes downcast.

"Don't worry about it, Maria-chan. What is this that you're wearing?"

"Oh! Julie-san is having the LoveMe uniforms re-designed. I'm getting one too!"

Kyoko, freed from "that look," stood and bowed to Ren, "Tsuruga-sempai, I am honored to introduce Julie Hizuri, also known by her professional name, Julie Swan."

Julie spoke up, "Actually, Kyoko-chan, Ren and I have already met. Don't forget, Ren's a model as well as an actor."

Kyoko had been looking forward to introducing her surrogate mother to Tsuruga-san for some reason she didn't understand. She looked over at Julie and back to Ren. He could see the hurt in her eyes as she so softly said, "Oh, Tsuruga-san didn't tell me…"

"Actually," Ren interposed quickly, "I'm surprised that Julia-san remembers me. That was many years ago when I was still trying to get anyone to notice me."

Julie saw what was happening and quickly played along, "Of course I remembered you. Kyoko, you should have seen him; he was all awkward and gangly back then. But, boy was he ever cute!"

All of the girls, except Kanae, giggled at the Julie's description of Ren as a teen. Julie was having fun with her descriptions and simply ignored Ren's pointed stares like any good mother would.

Kotonami Kanae had been standing to the side by the whiteboard from the time that Ren had entered the room. From her unique vantage point she had seen more in the passing expressions than anyone else realized. An incredible memory was not Kanae's only skill; she also possessed a keen analytical mind. It was on full-alert now, processing everything that she had seen and what she already knew. In a surprisingly short time she had the answer.

Unaware of the raven-haired girl's deliberations, Julie grinned, "Well, Tsuruga-san, you may have been cute, but right now you're losing."

"Losing at what?"

"Marriage proposals!" Maria blurted out while the harried seamstress tried to get her to hold still.

Ren raised an eyebrow at the girls for an explanation. Kanae always loved to see her competitor for Kyoko's affections bested, so sh explained. "We're going over the emails and chats on the Always with you website. There have been forty-three marriage proposals. Kyoko is currently in the lead with twenty-four to your nineteen."

Ren smiled benignly at the blushing Kyoko. He bowed and said, "And have you considered your response to these marriage proposals?"

Just at that moment Yashiro walked into the room. "Marriage proposals? Who's getting married?"

Again Maria blurted out the answer from the corner, "Ren-sama and Kyoko-chan." (of course she didn't mean it quite like… oh, you understand)

Yashiro looked excited and blurted out, "You finally proposed to Kyoko?!"

The room became totally silent. Kyoko turned bright red. A very flustered looking Ren bowed and hurriedly guided Yashiro out of the room. In their wake one word hovered in the air; a word that not even Kyoko could completely ignore: finally.

Recognizing the need to redirect everyone's thoughts, Julie spoke up, "I have an idea: why don't you girls come to my suite and we'll all have a sleepover."

Kyoko and Chiori were instantly on-board. Maria was pleased when she was told that the invitation included her. Kanae pretended to balk, but allowed herself to be persuaded with very little fuss. I'm only doing this because I want to keep an eye on Julie-san. Am I right about who she really is?

* * *

They left at 6:45pm, after Julie returned from a private meeting.

The limo did a circuit of the city in order to swing through and allow each girl to get what she needed from her home.

Kanae had the limo park behind her home so that she could sneak in and out. In less than five minutes she was running back, a small herd of wild children fast on her heals. As soon she was in the car she yelled to the driver, "drive as if your life depended on it."

Chiori's mom was beside herself with pride when she found out who her daughter was with. The normally dignified lady was all fan-girl with Julie-san.

Maria had her necessities brought directly to the hotel.

Kyoko invited everyone in to meet and greet Taisho and Okami-san. The two ladies warmed to each other instantly. Taisho was unable to maintain his stern look in the face of Julie's beauty and vivacity. Kyoko carried out a surprisingly large case along with her overnight bag. She had a winsome smile on her face, but she wouldn't discuss the contents of the case.

Notes: I know that this is kind of a "fluff" chapter. Ever since I first read the manga I have wanted poor Kyoko to have a good mother-daughter experience, so please bear with me.

You'll have to keep reading to find out if Ren allowed Yashiro to live.