Okay you guys. I'm sorry about yesterday being a short chapter and feeling like half a day - yes technically it was just half a day but when I tried to write what happened next, nothing would come to mind and I only had a short amount of time left before I had to leave.

I thought that it would be a better idea to cut off at the interesting point than to babble on for another five hundred words or so and draw it out.

Maybe if I had more than a couple of hours to write each chapter? I don't know, it's one of the things I'll have to work out.

I have a feeling some people are not going to be pleased…(WriterofShadow - this means you)

Editors note (WriterofShadow): Yes, I hate Sho with a passion but I love your writing more. I just have the worst luck with guys.

Advent '08

December 11th - 14 days to go

Sho was annoyed.

The entirety of yesterday afternoon he had tried to get Kyoko's attention but she had never looked at him. Oh, she was looking at him but she wasn't looking at him.

It was irritating to say the least.

He had tried to show her that he wasn't that same boy. That he was a man now and someone who was trying to uncover himself and who he really was.

He had thought that she had understood as well. Monday had gone so well. He had been sure that she had seen him and who he had become…and then Tuesday had arrived and they had danced and still he thought things were going well.

Yes, she had been a little distant. He had been a little confused then. Didn't she understand? But during the shot she was entirely focused on him and he had been happy. He had thought everything was going well.

All he remembered was looking into her eyes. They had been all he could see, drowning in her gaze.

He didn't even remember going in to kiss her; he could just hear his thoughts as he looked at her. Wanting to get closer, wanting to touch her, wanting to taste her…

And then she had punched him in the stomach.

They had carted him off to the tent, winded and in pain and they had stayed with him as he struggled to breathe. He hadn't cared about that though, he had searched for her through the opening but he hadn't seen her.

She had disappeared.

When he could finally stand again he had sought for her but she was well and truly gone. He sought out Asami-san instead, wanting to know where Kyoko was and prepared to beg for her if Haruki had fired her.

Fortunately, Kyoko hadn't been fired. Haruki explained that she had just sent her to L.M.E. early to think on what she had done.

He had breathed a sigh of relief and thanked Asami-san. Grateful that he would be working with Kyoko again before the end of the shoot. He had been looking forward to Wednesday and seeing her again but even then she had been distant and in the afternoon he had never before felt that she was so far out of his grasp.

And now?

Sho looked across to where Kyoko was chatting with the director, a scowl plastered across his face. She was ignoring him completely and all he wanted was for her to look at him.

He should march over there and demand an apology for the other day. He didn't care about the apology but it would make Kyoko look at him and talk to him.

He craved her attention.

He should. He would.

Squaring his shoulders he walked over.

---/---

Kyoko was caught completely unaware when Sho strode up beside her and grabbed her elbow.

"Kyoko-chan, can I talk to you a moment? Excuse us Asami-san."

Without waiting for her reply he bowed to Haruki and pulled Kyoko away from the classroom they had been standing in and through the hallway.

Kyoko gritted her teeth as Sho pulled her into an empty room and closed the door behind them. Jerking her hand away she stared at him accusingly.

"Just what do you think you are doing? Filming is about to start."

He ran a hand through his hair and glanced away from her accusing look.

"No it's not. They can't start without the main characters."

"What do you want Fuwa-san."

Sho grimaced and tugged on his hair before he turned to face her.

"I just wanted to talk."

"Talk?" She asked disbelieving.

"Okay, fine. I wanted you to apologise for Tuesday."

"Apologise?"

"Well, yes."

She narrowed her eyes. "I'm not apologising. Not until you apologise for everything that you've done to me."

He stared at her, speechless, before smiling ruefully. He guessed he kind of deserved that.

Sighing softly he moved until he was standing in front of her. She was staring at him with so much hate in her eyes and all he could feel was sadness.

He had ignored her, not seen her when she craved his attention. And now the tables were turned.

He did not appreciate the irony.

She was looking at him. Finally. Without thinking, he raised his hand and gently brushed the back of his fingers against her cheek. She started and the hate was replaced by confusion and…was that fear?

Her cheek was warm, his skin burning at the contact.

He wanted more, he couldn't help himself. He leant forward slowly, his entire being focused on her lips, heart roaring in his ears and holding his breath.

He was so close. So close to owning it all…

He could feel her own breath ghosting across his lips. Just that little bit further…

Kyoko jerked away. "What are you doing?"

He tensed, caught in his moment of weakness. Straightening slowly, he averted his eyes and covered his mouth with his hand.

What was he going to do now? He couldn't let her see how close he had been…to kissing her? To breaking? He wasn't sure anymore. Everything was all one jumbled mess and he was drowning in it.

Reaching out, he clutched at anything that could help him get through this.

Dropping his hand he smirked at her.

"Wasn't it obvious? I was practicing. I have to work myself up to kissing someone like you and meaning it. Don't tell me, you were fooled? This acting thing is even easier than I thought."

He kept the sneer in place even as he was screaming at himself mentally. He watched as her eyes flashed with hurt.

Then she started to tremble with fury. She opened her mouth as if to scream at him but nothing came out. He kept the sneer on his face, challenging her, too proud to show how terrified he was of her at this exact moment in time.

They stayed locked in that tense stand-off until Kyoko stormed past him and out of the room. She slammed the door behind her and Sho could hear the wooden frame cracking and splintering.

It was a few moments before he could actually breathe again, his breath coming in harsh shallow pants. He clutched at his heart and sank into the nearest chair. Groaning he dropped his head to the desk.

He had been so close. She had been looking at him.

"Damn it."

---/---

Kyoko was still fuming when she arrived back at the set. Those who were in her way quickly moved out of it and stayed away, giving her a wide berth. Kyoko didn't notice; she was too focused on what had just happened with Sho.

She gritted her teeth, her anger increasing.

How dare he? How dare he talk to her that way? And what he had said? He would pay. She would show him just who she was now and how much she didn't need him anymore.

By the end of the day was out he would know, without any shadow of a doubt, how much she hated him at this precise moment in time.

Reigning in her emotions, she condensed them into a small ball, not letting them show on her face or in her body. She was going to out-act him and that would be the least she was going to do.

She wanted him to hurt.

---/---

Haruki had been nervous when Kyoko had stormed back into the set.

She had watched as every member of her team got out of the girl's way and stayed out of her way.

Cursing Sho she had wondered at just what he had done to create that kind of reaction in Kyoko in so short a time. The boy was a master at pissing her off.

He had come slinking in ten minutes later, looking a little morose but otherwise unharmed. She had breathed a small sigh of relief at that; she did not want to contemplate the costs of postponing the shoot if Sho had had to have an extended stay in the hospital.

Kyoko had ignored him and Sho was staying out of her way, trying not to draw any attention to himself, which was a little odd.

Despite all this, when she called action they had acted perfectly together. The kiss between the two was sweet and held real feeling behind it. She was both amazed and a little curious at just how Kyoko had managed it.

After she had called cut she went over and caught Kyoko's attention.

"Kyoko-chan! That was perfect."

"Thank you, Asami-san."

"I was just wondering, before when you came back from your talk with Sho-kun, you seemed a little…angry…" A dark expression came over Kyoko and Haruki hurried on. "But you pulled yourself out. How?"

"Well. I just took the advice of a very good friend." Here Kyoko glanced off to her side briefly before she looked back and smiled at Haruki. "I wasn't feeling a lot of romantic emotions so, instead, I just thought of someone that I did like whilst acting."

"Ah. Well, either way it was perfect. Thank you for working with me Kyoko-chan."

"Thank you for choosing me Asami-san."

Kyoko bowed to her and then left the set so that she could get to L.M.E.

When she had left Haruki looked over to where Kyoko had glanced. Sho was standing rigidly straight, his back turned towards her. From how close he was it was obvious that he had overheard everything that Kyoko had said.

She sighed silently. Poor Sho, to learn that someone had done something like that to him? She hoped that he was going to be okay for the scenes that they were shooting in the afternoon.

*face palm*

This is why I haven't written in Sho's PoV before. It makes everything complicated and all messed up.

Woo! Only a fortnight left to go! For those of you still having classes I feel your pain.

Ok. There's a few shorter chapters coming up, I think. But…looking at the plan…it should start to get better on the fifteenth.

Again, I'm sorry about last chapter.

DS