I have gone back to merge chapters and correct some mistakes. The first part of this chapter was already posted once. When you don't want to reread it just start from the *SLAP*

Chapter 11 Borrowing skills


As I walk into the studio Fuwa is nowhere to be found. I assume he is in his dressing room for make-up since I am a little late. The script for Tragic Marker arrived a day later than expected because of a communication error so I had to pick it up before work today. Now, I have to find director Kurosaki to apologize.
But Kurosaki finds me first and startles me with his greeting.
"Good morning, Hana-san."
"Good morning, director. I apologize for my tardiness."
"Good, now hurry. Your dressing room is over there and the make-up artists are waiting with your costume."
I bow and walk to the door he pointed out. There are two women waiting for me, one holds a leather dress. The moment I come in the dress is pushed in my hands and the woman walks out. As I step behind the curtain to change the other woman asks if I want a wig.
"I hadn't heard of a wig?"
"No, but Fuwa Sho just decided he 'needed' you to have red stripes in your hair. I have temporary hair dye, but if you don't want to…"
"It's alright, I don't have another job until the new year." I tell her as I sit down in the chair. She nods and gives me a cape to protect the dress.
"The dye will come out if you wash your hair, but it can take up to ten times to remove everything."
"I have three weeks to wash it out, so that won't be a problem." I joke. "But why the sudden change?"
She grimaces.
"I heard Sho and the director have a fight, so Sho is demanding things the director can't turn down just to upset him. Luckily most of his, 'requests' are turned down by Shoko-san. But she couldn't find a reason why this was unnecessary, since Sho said it could be a reference to the fire in the song."


Half an hour later I come out of the dressing room, and this time Fuwa is standing with the director. Since we will be shooting the lovey-dovey kind of scenes first I decide to slip half into my role already to make it easier. Kyoko told me he isn't a good enough actor to cover his true feelings, so I better not make him angry before he needs to be angry.
For now I switch to my own Okami-mode. Then I see that Fuwa isn't really paying attention to Kurosaki anymore. His eyes observe me from top to toe. Since I am not in an old-fashioned dress Fuwa doesn't even recognize my Okami-walk. Well, whatever works for him.
"Hey, you are Hana-san?" He says and I have to stop myself from rolling my eyes, does he really flirt with every woman he sees? Instead I just nod and look to Kurosaki.
"I look forward to working with you. If you need anything, just ask me, I know the way here." Fuwa continues.
"Thank you, Fuwa-san, I also look forward to working with you." I say as if it is a dream come true. Kurosaki gives me a strange look but I ignore that for now.
"Oh, you can call me Sho if you want."
He says it to flirt, but I am reminded of my own way of asking people to call me Hana. Then I snicker, if he doesn't like it I could use it to annoy him a bit already. If he doesn't mind it states I don't want to get too close, which is also fine by me.
"I couldn't Fuwa-san, after all I don't really know you."


The first few short scenes are easy, Fuwa just needs to flirt with me and I encourage him with little winks. I never drop the Okami-walk, maybe he notices because he is looking at my legs quite often. But it is not enough for this scene. It is supposed to be the scene where the first cracks in the relationship are becoming evident. His friends, played by the band, are over and I am waiting on them. He has to look a bit thankful, but not really in love anymore. My character is getting a bit annoyed and I am too. Fuwa doesn't even look at me, used to being waited on.
"Cut, Hana-san you are not supposed to flirt."
Director Kurosaki seems to be angry before he catches himself and is just looking annoyed.
I sigh, but don't bother to disagree. I know I shouldn't flirt, but how can I get his attention otherwise. Looking at Fuwa I can see the hint of a smirk on his lips, is he really thinking he is doing better than me?
"Fuwa-san you have to get your act together. It is because of you that we have these retakes."
"How is it my fault that Hana doesn't know her role?"
"Because you don't follow the script. She is trying to get you to follow it, but you still keep acting like she is just a waitress."
I sigh, from the weariness of the director's voice, and Fuwa's defensive stance I guess this is going to be a long argument.
"That is the point, right?"
"NO! She is supposed to be your girlfriend, so at least show a little gratitude. Hana-san, I am sorry to bother you so much, but can't you think of a way to help Fuwa-san that won't change the script?"
As Kurosaki turns to me he looks apologetic and at desperate.

I have to find a way to force him to look at me, and later I will have to find a way to make him angry… it really is as Kyoko said, he is only good at reacting. Think Hana, think…
If it was someone I really knew I could mention a real life, wait…
He did come for Kyoko in Karuizawa so he probably…
"You know Fuwa-san, we could play a game. I think I can manage to wink to you ten times, without the camera's catching it. If you manage to catch seven or more, and reply with a smile, I will give you a hint that will make it easy for you to make the script close to reality later."
As I say it I see the wheels in his head turning. He probably thinks I am flirting with him, well… as long as it works.
"Okay, and if I catch all of them? Will you come over for the next party?"
I turn, deliberately not answering that, and step just behind the door to the set. A few moments later director Kurosaki calls action.


"Hana, you still didn't tell me…" Fuwa drawls as he walks to the table where Kurosaki and I are talking, and hiding from him.
"I will tell you in the next scene." I say which confuses him, but Kurosaki just told me he wants to do the fighting first. If we go outside a bit later there will be more of a crowd to make it more realistic.
"Actually, we can start now if you are ready." Kurosaki tells us and we all move to the set again.

"Okay, this is the fighting scene. As you know there will be no audio from this so I don't mind what you are talking about, as long as I get a good fight on tape that is."
I nod and turn to Fuwa. He takes his time to get to his place, and turns to me. I can see he is a bit annoyed already since I still didn't give him what he wanted. He really is a child.
"Action"
"Okay, can I now hear that hint?"
"Notice what someone does for you. Basically act the complete opposite of what you did before I started the game. I know it is difficult to imagine for you, since you are spoilt, but not everyone is happens to be a waitress."
He blanches at my words, and it takes a few moments before he reacts.
"I know not everyone is a waitress. And if that was everything can you just start with your job?" He asks, with a blank face. The only thing that betrays him really is his unwillingness to react to my jab about him being spoilt. Well, since that didn't work I will just have to react to his 'insult'.
"I am doing my job. I have been doing my job since I walked in, which is more than you can say."
Now I got him, till now he was just uninterested but he is glaring at me.
"Ha, you are lying. You can't be acting since you came in. And you are playing games while acting."
"The game was for your sake. And do you really think that I normally walk like the perfect Okami-san? It is a freaking hard thing to do!"
"You can't walk like an Okami-san, you are too fashionable for that."
I don't react except for giving him a questioning look.
"I mean, only plain, boring women ever…" He starts before I interrupt.
"Who are you calling plain and boring? My parents own a hotel. I worked there since I was young, and my friend who taught me the traditional customs is the most interesting girl I ever met!"
"You can't help who your parents are, but I would dump that girl as soon as possible if I were you. She will only…"
"I know what you did, you…" I yell, stomping towards him.
"You know Kyoko?" He asks, half surprised and half annoyed.
"No, that's why I have been copying her walk the whole day." I answer sarcastically.
"Why would you bother copying such a plain, boring maid?"

*SLAP*
Although the sound echoes a bit through the studio Fuwa didn't feel much. I hate the fact that I still have to film with him for the rest of the afternoon. I would have loved to see him with my handprint. As I look into his eyes I only see surprise and no pain at all. Cursing silently I force myself to focus on the scene again.
"Fool yourself as much as you like but don't insult her ever again." I spit and turn to stalk away from the set.
A sneer stops me.
"You are just as weak as she is, and I know you are only jealous that she is mine."
"If it wasn't for the filming I would have beaten you to a bloody pulp the moment you insulted her. But unlike you I am a professional, so please stop tempting me before I ruin the video."
I make sure my face looks like a sweet girl, and my voice sounds sweet as candy cotton on the last sentence, but the brat won't mistake my words as an empty thread for a second. I hold his eyes for a minute and then turn away and walk out of the set.


"Hana-san, can I come in now?"
It is the second time the makeup artist tries to come in. Last time I told her to help Fuwa first, but I fear that won't work this time. I am dying to hit something, the fight with that brat got me more than I thought.
"Hana-san, if you want… can show me how you fight? I made them clear some space…"
In the next moment I rip open the door and walk to the set. Kurosaki walks after me and I thank him as I see the rather large open space where the couches were before. Actually I am surprised he remembered that I practise show fights to lose my anger.
"I can be your opponent. As long as you don't hurt yourself."
Turning towards Kurosaki I notice he is a bit tense, probably Fuwa is getting on his nerves too. I nod and take a fighting pose to tell him I am ready. He signals a stagehand to be the referee. As the guy comes closer I state a few rules to make it more fair and safe. I still have filming to do after all.
"No punches or kicks on the face, no nails, and the first to stay down loses."
"So we can use headlocks to keep the other down?" Kurosaki asks, which I confirm with a nod. He removes his watch before telling the me and the referee "We have ten minutes."
The moment he stops speaking I am running towards him. He dodges and tries to grab me, but he has two handicaps.
I already know his fighting from that day in the park, and he doesn't really want to hurt me because of the filming. I turn his hand on his back but he steps on my toes, forcing me to loosen my grip a bit and he is free. From the corners of my eyes I see Fuwa come in but then the fight takes my attention.

"Ten minutes are up!"
The referee sounds breathless as I slowly release my hold on Kurosaki. In the same time he releases my shirt which he was trying to strangle me with. We both stand and I realise that I am not angry anymore, Kurosaki does know how to fight.
"That was a good fight, next time we should make sure we can go full out. This is the second time that you gave me a disadvantage."
"You are the one who decided to fight while we still had filming to do." I answer.
"Gah, I can see why you were chosen for this PV." Fuwa declares disgusted. I just shake my head and walk to the dressing room to get ready for filming.
"I chose her because she fits the role, no other reason."
For a moment I am tempted to stay and listen to the conversation between the singer and the director but I decide to finish this job as soon as possible.

The rest of the afternoon and evening we spent walking through the city. Every opportunity he gets Fuwa makes sneers about me.
How I am not good enough for his PV, how Kurosaki clearly chose me for other reasons than acting and, although I don't mind that particular trail since he is complimenting me in a way, how I am 'worthless like Kyoko'. I really like his reaction when I take that as a compliment.
Luckily he realises we are in plain sight of all his fans. So he doesn't really do more than whispering and grumbling, all with a million dollar smile on his face for the fans.
But the moment I hear the last "CUT" I am really happy to get as far away as possible. I walk towards director Kurosaki who is talking with Shoko.
"I am sorry, Shoko-san. It seems I went a bit far with provoking Fuwa-san."
"It's all right, you didn't say too much. He needed to be told something like that."
Shoko seems to think a bit, but then she just nods. Fuwa calls out to her at that moment so she excuses herself and we are finally free from the blond musician.


"I am sorry."
I look up surprised since I don't see a reason for Kurosaki to apologize.
"For making you act with the brat. And about the fight, I really should have considered the way it could look. I was too carefree."
"No, I want to thank you for that fight. I would have had more troubles if I couldn't have let my anger out. It is Fuwa's problem he makes more of that than it was, you should have seen my fights with Kuu or Kuon…"
I think back to those fights. I really miss them actually, maybe I can convince Tsuruga to fight...
"You could have really slapped him." Kurosaki says then, dragging me back to the conversation.
"I know I am usually really strict about people getting injured, but he deserved it." He continues softly but with anger in his voice.
The stagehand who was referee at our fight comes closer and it seems he caught the last words.
"He sure did. Hana-san, maybe you should nominate the director for that blind date thing…"
"Huh?" Kurosaki seems confused. I look at the face of the stagehand, who is a friend of Kurosaki, I learned this afternoon. He has a scheming face like he is trying to play matchmaker.
"Oh, just shut up Kaito-kun." Kurosaki then says.
"Well since you would be the only person in Japan known by Hana-san's friends. I think you have a good chance of meeting Hana-san as your bl-"
"Shut UP!" Kurosaki growls and I am on the verge of either laughing at his expression or running away with a huge blush. Then I laugh at my own absurd thoughts, but quickly stop as both men turn to me.
"Sorry, if you want I could contact…"
I try to say it normally but it sounds really forced and Kurosaki looks like he really wants to go home.
"No, thank you. And thank you for your hard work today."
I bow in response to his words and walk away, avoiding the stagehand Kaito.


I walk into the meeting room and groan as I see two faces light up. Turning to the closest I feel a familiar glare settling on my face, which luckily has the usual effect. As I sit down I look to the director wondering why he is so happy to see me.
"Welcome Hana-san, I am sorry about the last minute call. It seems that because we had to reschedule your audition some important messages got lost. I like the new look, is there any chance you can keep it for Kurosawa Chiyu?"
I run my fingers through my hair, thinking of the red strands. I actually like them too, so I answer that it probably won't be a problem.
A few more people walk into the room and then we start the cast meeting. Everyone introduces him- or herself with the character they will be playing. I manage to keep my frustration inside as Murasame declares he will be Ueno Koji, the hero of the story. Once again it seems I won't be able to avoid him much. Maybe I should go and do some research on the 'Murasame Guide to Life' if we are to work together so much… Then again, that would probably mean he wants to know more about me too, so I better keep my distance.
"Thank you all for coming here, my name is Maegawa Akio and I am the producer of this movie. I am sure you noticed that BJ is missing. For starters that is because BJ has no lines so he isn't needed at the read through. There are other reasons too and there is the distinct chance that he won't be available until March. However, director Konoe has assured me that there are enough scenes that can be done without him so we will start on schedule."
A whisper travels through the room. Are we really going to start filming without the antagonist? Only when director Konoe stands the sound gradually lessens until we can hear him and start reading.


"Hana-san, Murasame-san, could you two stay a little bit longer?"
As all other actors walk out of the room the director and the producer both get out another script. When the door closes behind the last person to walk out the director hands me the script and Murasame gets the script from the producer.
"I see you both are confused. Well we figured that since the antagonist will show up late you will want to practice the fighting scenes with someone else."
I nod at the remark, from what I saw already Chiyu's fighting is miles apart from the simple hand-to-hand combat I am most familiar with. The fact that she can freely use of all kinds of weapons makes the fighting all the more complicated. If I can't practice I will probably hinder the filming later when we are on a tight schedule. Seeing my agreement the director continues.
"We made these scripts for that purpose. All your fighting scenes are in there but we changed the character names to Antagonist, Protagonist and Female Officer. This way you can safely show your training partner the scenes without worrying about revealing too much about the film."
"Of course we still ask you to be discrete and try to avoid letting it spread too much."
Murasame and I quickly agree with that and thank them. I am already planning the coming weeks in the training centre.
"Murasame-san, do you want to practice together? Or do we figure our way of cooperating out between shooting?"
For a few seconds Murasame ponders about my question but then he shakes his head.
"I think we should figure it out when we have filmed a few scenes. I am pretty confident about my fighting anyways."
I guessed that already. He doesn't hide his violent past after all.
"Alright, was there something else director?"
"No, I look forward to working with both of you."


"NOO, you're not serious!"
"It has to be, right? I mean…"
"It definitely is. I wish I was in that section, then I could have gotten that job!"
"No kidding, I am so jealous now."
While I was irritated at first, because of the five aspiring actors and actresses, that is all gone now. Now I am just curious whether they are talking about the situation I think they are talking about. As I walk over I see that one of them is watching something on his phone. Looking over his shoulder I see a flash of pink and orange stepping into a long car.
"Is that Kyoko-chan?"
They almost jump as they clearly didn't notice me. Well, not my fault, they shouldn't be on their phone in a stunt gym.
"We think so." The girl who is closest to me answers.
"She is really lucky that she can be so close to Kuu."
"She is, I wonder when the president gave her that assignment." I answer as I gather my stuff, because suddenly I am dying to discover what the theme of the day is today.

The aide in Arab clothing tries to stop me from entering the office, but I tell him it is a matter of life or death hanging on the info from the president. As I come in the president seems to be finishing a phone call.
"Sorry, but can you please hang up? This is the second time in my life that I am facing such a major decision in front of me."
For I moment I feel bad for intruding but then I see the tv-screen depicting an otome-game and I snort rather loudly. The president immediately turns around and groans.
"Did you walk in by accident or are you two enjoying taking turns in accusing me of scheming?"
I hear sounds of agreement coming from the phone so I guess it was Kuon asking about the same shot I came for.
"I don't have to accuse you, I know you are planning something."
The president looks hurt but he finishes his conversation with Kuon before he reacts.
"Like I just told Ren, I only decided on her because she is good on cooking and from Kyoto. It was Kuu's request to eat home-cooked Kyoto-style food."
I look at him, happy that his elaborate Moroccan-style outfit can be used as an excuse for being distracted. I do not doubt that Kuu did ask for help with cooking. However, I also do not believe that food is the only reason.
"If that IS the reason why didn't you call me to help Kyoko-chan? I can cook too and I am also from Kyoto."
I smile sweetly at Lory Takarada, who winces. I know why, I didn't copy it for nothing. Julie can raise hell with only that smile, and everyone who is close with her knows that smile.
"You are training for your new role. You don't have time…"
I sigh, he is half right.
"Well then, you better hope that both Kuu and Kyoko-chan give exactly the same explanation."


A/N: Hey again, sorry for the long time between updates. I am going to try for one update every one or two weeks again, but I am not sure if I can manage. I have a lot of ideas but not much of a story inbetween... Well it will figure itself out when I restart this fanfic. Yes, I do not own Skip Beat. This is only a fanfic.
(Oh, you knew already? ;p )
Thank you for reading, please leave a review I love to read your comments.