I don't think I can manage to get the ShoKyoko interaction real enough…
So I'm just going to go with what I have.
Okay…This chapter is definitely a filler chapter.
I hope.
This is for milmirjia to whom I've been updating a day late every day because she's an hour ahead of me.
Sorry!
Advent
Day 11 – 14 days to go
Filming IV
Kyoko woke up with a sense of excitement settled in her stomach.
Today was the beginning of the countdown to the Christmas party. Only seven days away now!
Well…almost…depending on how you looked at it that is.
This was so exciting!
It also meant that it was four days until Ren came back!
Wait…Ren…
Wasn't there something she was forgetting?
She groaned and pulled her covers over her head as the memories of yesterday flooded into her mind.
Sho and what he had said.
…and the way her spine tingled when he whispered into her ear…
…the way her heart clenched painfully and her mouth had instantly become dry when he had leant into her, almost brushing his lips with hers…
She felt her whole body heat up in embarrassment.
Why would he do something like that?
To her of all people!
And the fact that her own body had reacted in such a way…
She was mortified with herself.
And that wasn't the half of it.
All the film crew and extras thought there was something going on between them. She could see it in their faces after the incident.
And she was sure that the director thought that they were an actual couple!
What on earth was she going to say to her friends and L.M.E?
How was she going to explain it?
Or…would she actually have to?
Nobody at the filming was from L.M.E., they were all people hired from other, smaller agencies.
She might be able to get away with this.
There was the chance that something could get leaked.
But if she could she wasn't going to think like that.
Only negative things happened to those with negative thoughts.
With that she banished all thoughts of yesterday from her mind.
Today was a completely new day. A fresh start that she would not waste.
With that she sprang out of bed and went to have a shower.
Kyoko stared at the timetable that she had been handed when she stepped onto the set.
She was being driven to a large dance studio somewhere on the outskirts of the city where she and Sho would spend the entire morning learning the steps of the dance that they were performing tomorrow.
Then they would be driven back to the ball room set where they would have lunch and practise the dance in the actual space.
During this time the instructor would correct any spacing adjustments that would be needed.
After this they would then practise the dance in costume so that they could get a feel for how their movements would be.
Mainly this last part was for Kyoko's benefit as the large dress that she had to wear was bulky and slightly difficult to move in.
She suspected that even if she worked extra hard she would be making a fair few mistakes.
It also meant that she would be spending an obscene amount of time in Sho's arms, pretending to be romanced by him.
No matter how she looked at it, today promised to be bad.
Kyoko wiped the perspiration from her forehead.
They had been dancing continuously for about three hours now with only a few water breaks.
It had been much more difficult to learn the steps than Kyoko had originally believed.
The problem that they were mostly having was she kept trying to lead.
This would earn her a rap on the back of the head by the dance instructor.
Sho just smiled.
Today he was being as annoying as ever, but this time it was because he was being so polite and gentlemanly.
Kyoko clenched her jaw.
This would be so much easier if he would act like a jerk for everyone to see.
Though it could be that he was acting like that to get into the good graces of the teacher.
It was true that he hadn't been reprimanded all day.
In fact quite the opposite had happened. Whenever he had made a mistake the instructor would smile at him and tell him not to worry.
They were over their on the other side of the room now…laughing and joking together…
Like a couple!
She took another swig of her water and sighed.
She was exhausted.
Not only from dancing but also from testing her self restraint.
She was glad for this small break just so that she could relax and not having to think about not hitting Sho for being such a jerk when he was so close to her.
Luckily though she thought that she was starting to get the hang of all the steps.
Now it was just getting them in the right order at the right time.
She capped her bottle and stood up when the instructor called her over to start practise again.
She still had two hours until lunch to get it.
Kyoko wiggled her aching feet, glad to be sitting down for more than two minutes.
Those last two hours had been hell!
After the small break halfway through the morning the teacher became some sort of sadistic monster making her repeat the steps over and over again until she got them right.
She had even made Kyoko stand in the middle of the studio to do it on her own, saying that if she was going to waste time then she might as well let Sho rest.
Kyoko had felt angry at that comment.
It was not helped by the smirk Sho kept on his face whilst he watched her repeat the dance steps.
It wasn't until after she had actually gotten the dance that she realised that all the instructor had been trying to do was explain the meaning behind the dance.
Elegance, grace and poise.
Now Kyoko could figure out why she had been so short tempered with Kyoko's bumbling attempts.
The instructor almost burst into tears when she completed the steps.
She had hugged Kyoko and from over her shoulder Kyoko could see Sho's grin slip from his face.
After that they had practised together again for the last three quarters of an hour.
Whenever they had circled close Kyoko could almost make out tears in the instructors eyes.
Now Kyoko was eating her lunch and unsure of whether she was dreading the afternoon dancing practise or not.
She wasn't completely sure.
In the end she settled for being excited.
After all, at the end of the day she would be trying out her new dance moves in her beautiful Princess dress!
It was luck that the studio that they had learnt the steps in had been roughly the same size as that of the ball room.
As such they had only had to make a few minor adjustments throughout the dance to make sure that it fitted in the space.
This consisted of shortening a few steps here and there.
It also meant that in some places they could embellish a little.
Adding a twirl or two and an instance where Sho bent Kyoko backwards over his arm.
These changes were so slight that they had finished rehearsing a lot sooner than they had thought they would be.
This allowed them to go change into costume earlier to get a little more practise time in while wearing the actual clothing before the extras turned up for the run through.
Slipping into the blue dress again Kyoko shivered in excitement.
So she had had to spend the whole day with Sho…
This dress was what made everything worth it!
It made her feel special, like she could do anything.
The dress rehearsal hadn't gone as smoothly as before.
The dress was bulky when she tried to dance in it and Kyoko had to continually shift her balance to keep from falling over.
Or tripping over the hem…
Or falling off her high heels…
All in all, difficult.
But after a few dozen tries Kyoko managed to grasp the hang of it and after the first run through without any mistakes she and Sho finished to a bout of applause from the arriving extras.
She was so buoyed up by having finally gotten it right she turned to Sho smiled and then hugged him.
There was an awkward pause when Sho stood stiffly in her embrace.
She was about to pull away, suitably embarrassed, when she felt his arms twine around her back.
Holding the hug for a moment they both gradually pulled back slowly. Sho with a look of shock on his face and Kyoko with a slight blush tingeing her cheeks.
She could not believe that she had just done that.
Clearing her throat she looked away towards the bustling activity of the extras getting ready to start their own practise.
Kyoko was so glad that nobody had seen that.
The extras had already learnt the dance steps beforehand so the rehearsals went quickly.
And with the extra dress rehearsal time Kyoko and Sho had put in everything ran smoothly.
Everything seemed ready for the actual filming tomorrow.
They had the whole day to get this shot…
Though it did seem a little excessive for five minutes worth of film.
Kyoko shrugged as she packed her stuff away in her bag, it wasn't up to her to decide how to separate each day.
She hadn't thought that they would need a whole day to lean the dance steps but she had been proved wrong there.
She left the set with her head a whirl of dance steps, her feet sore and her heart thudding painfully in her chest.
Tomorrow promised to be interesting to say the least.
Re-reading this chapter I've realised that there is no speech whatsoever. I hope nobody's bothered by that…