Disclaimer: I love Skip Beat!, but that doesn't mean I own it. Pure fan love here.
Story: Kijima was just looking for a little fun. And somehow, it all turned into a learning experience and he wasn't quite sure he qualified as a teacher. And yet, Kyoko on the other hand, seems to be an eager student.
Set somewhere after chapter 101, with some previous scenes beforehand being switched in time.
Spoilers: Yeeeessss. Yes, yes, yes. Beware?
Warnings: Hm, I need to think about this time.
Pairings: Kijima/Kyoko, side-Kyoren, side-(very downplayed XD) Kyosho, one-sided Hikaru/Kyoko….and we can't ignore one-sidedness from strange Reino, eh?
An Education
Chapter Eleven: Papa's Not Here to Preach
Kijima hadn't expected anything unusual to happen that morning. He had eaten some leftovers of one of Kyoko's sponge cakes for breakfast, had a call from his manager about a reminder for the TV spot he had to do to promote an upcoming movie he was going to be in, and then got ready for the day.
He had not expected the Kuu Hizuri to be waiting for him at the TV station.
"Kijima Hidehito?" the man questioned seriously.
Swallowing nervously, he gave a quick nod and smiled hesitantly.
"Ah yes, that's me…"
"Good, good. Kijima-san, if you will, if you had time I'd like to discuss something with you. Someone actually," Kuu gave him a sharp smile that made Kijima tense.
"Of course. Lead the way, Kuu-san," Kijima's smile was shaky.
Kuu nodded and began to walk in a certain direction, and Kijima reluctantly followed the older actor. When they came to a stop in front of a door to an empty room, Kuu glanced at him and went inside first. Steeling himself, Kijima went in after.
"Kijima-san, please. Sit down," Kuu gestured to the couch and Kijima sat down immediately.
Kuu, however, didn't sit down. Instead, he traveled over to a dresser and opened a drawer. Pulling out a bottle and two shot glasses. He filled one up to the brim.
"Drink?" Kuu offered, genially smiling slightly.
"No thanks, Kuu-san," Kijima eyed the man warily.
Kuu's smile suddenly seemed much more dangerous.
"I insist."
Kijima's fingers twitched. "Alright then. One glass shouldn't be too bad," his smile strained.
Kuu handed it over and Kijima downed it in one gulp to get it over with.
"I hope you don't mind, but I filled your drink with a truth serum," Kuu suddenly said nonchalantly.
Kijima fumbled with his glass in shock, almost dropping it.
"W-what? Why would you do that?!"
"Oh, I just have questions for you," Kuu waved a hand, his smile deceivingly friendly. "Very important questions though. Ones that needed to be immediately answered."
"Is this about Kyoko?" Kijima bluntly asked.
Kuu raised an eyebrow. "And how would you figure that?"
"The only thing the two of us have anything in common, and I'm not even going to think about acting since I'm sure I wasn't even on your radar on that subject prior to meeting Kyoko, would be her."
"Smart boy," Kuu murmured, pouring himself a drink before going over to Kijima and sitting on the coffee table in front of him and staring into Kijima's eyes. "Let's start, shall we?"
Kijima only narrowed his eyes, though he'd already started feeling woozy and lightheaded.
"Who are you and what do you do?" Kuu tested out the serum.
"Kijima Hidehito, 24 year old actor and chemical engineering major," he said frankly and probably ready to lay it all out and not leave out anything while being truthful. Kuu Hizuri seemed like the type of man that would be thorough in his investigation and be the kind of guy that would find out anything and everything anyway. It would probably be best to save the man some of the trouble and get on his good side, if he could.
Kuu made a noncommittal sound before placing his glass to the side, and leaned forward while placing the tips of his fingers against each other in a steeple in front of his face.
"How do you know Kyoko? How long have you known her? When did you meet her exactly?" Kuu asked stoutly, voice absolutely as serious as his face.
"I know Kyoko through work first," Kijima admitted. "We became closer and now we hang out outside of work too. I've only known her since I joined the cast of Dark Moon, so maybe a few months. I first met her through my introduction to the cast."
Kuu didn't say anything for awhile, staring searchingly at Kijima. And then the man spoke deliberately and softly, but he didn't need to be up or speak in a stronger voice to get Kijima all worked up, what with his words doing so for him.
"How close are you two?" Kuu didn't look away from Kijima's eyes. "What are you exactly to her?"
Kijima just stared in shock at the other for a moment, brain scrambling and trying to find an answer for the well-known actor…but nothing was coming to mind, that was appropriate.
"Well?" Kuu became impatient.
"We're…close. I'm her sempai of course, but we don't solely focus on acting with each other. We go out to eat, visit with friends, and do things as friends. I guess you can say I'm…like her guy best friend," he was so not mentioning what he and Kyoko did with each other. He had a feeling he'd get murdered…
Kuu frowned, but thankfully looked like he wasn't going to push further.
"Fine," Kuu hmmed. "Then what are your intentions towards her?"
That stopped Kijima cold in his tracks. Aside from Mikoto, he hadn't actually talked to anyone about Kyoko and what he'd been hoping to go with her, and that was briefly. He hadn't even let himself dwell on it too much either, preferring to just avoid the issue (she hated love, what was he going to do?) or not think on it too long or too much.
"I want to be with her," he blurted out, before his eyes widened and he realized what he'd revealed. He sighed and decided to just tell the other, since it would probably be best and Kuu wouldn't hunt him down for lying or omitting truths later on. "I want to be with Kyoko, and I like being with her and talking with her and getting to be near her at all. I wish we could get together," he ended up wistfully.
Kuu made some kind of noise that drew Kijima out of his thoughts, and the older actor seemed to be looking at him speculatively. And, it could be just his imagination, but he was sure that Kuu's look seemed to have softened just a bit.
"How do you really feel about her?" Kuu asked quietly.
'I like her, I really really like her, I –'
"I'm in love with her," Kijima breathed out, staring at the ground and wondering why he had to be in love with a love-hating girl.
He didn't regret it and wouldn't have it any other way though.
Kuu hnned and suddenly slapped his hands onto his thighs. "Alrighty then! That settles it. Today, we are spending together entirely, Kijima-san!"
Kijima gawked at the other. "What? Why?"
Kuu smirked. "Because I'm going to see if you're worthy of my other son!"
"Daughter you mean," Kijima corrected, but left it at that. He supposed it didn't matter that Kyoko actually wasn't Kuu's daughter –her actual father was MIA and Kijima wasn't for the guy anyway, if he could just leave Kyoko like that.
"Daughter, son –same thing," Kuu said cheerfully. "Come along now! The drug will wear off pretty soon," he came over to Kijima's side and helped the younger actor stumble up and then slung the drugged actor's arm around his shoulders.
Kijima only mildly grumbled about his state.
"I had work, you know," Kijima snarked.
"No worries! I called and canceled all your appointments and cleared your day for you! It'll be alright," Kuu laughed and Kijima twitched.
Then again, this was going to be his father-in-law…in a weird, twisted way.
And soon enough, Kijima found himself in a karaoke bar with Kuu, and a glass of something in front of him.
"Drink, drink, Kijima-san! Let's do karaoke!" Kuu shoved the glass into his hands and took his own, gulping it down.
Kijima shrugged and took his cue from Kuu, gulping down his own drink. Sometime later, whatever it was they'd drunk had gotten them drunk quite easily. Kijima was surprised, being that he didn't get drunk so easily, but that must be one hell of a drink Kuu had ordered for the both of them.
"We're not gonna to take it! We ain't gonna to take it! We're not gonna take it anymore!"
"I love this song!" Kuu crowed happily. "Heavy metal! Hard rock! That's my thing, Kijima-san!"
"Yeah! I like Journey," he slurred, swinging his glass around and the liquid sloshing a bit. How many times has it been refilled now, eh? He can't remember…
"Just for that, I approve of you, music brother! No one here I know likes the same music I do!" Kuu roughly slammed his glass against Kijima's, causing alcohol to violently jolt out of both glasses and onto the table and their hands. "It's always this Fuwa Sho brat nowadays. He looks like a punk."
Kijima growled. "He is a punk!" he shouted, righteously moving his arm upwards and forgetting he had a glass filled with alcohol in his hand. It splashed out and over his head, drenching his hair. He barely noticed it. "You know what that shit did? I'll tell you what that shit did!"
And he started angrily, drunkenly of course, ranting to him about what Fuwa Sho had done to Kyoko, what little Kijima had done in return, and how much more he wished to just beat the crap out of the kid.
"I know, I know!" Kuu was angry of course, but he wasn't going to stay down when he could do something. "Let's prank his house!"
Kijima gained a glint in his eye. "Sounds awesome. How do we find out where and what do we do?"
Kuu grinned maniacally at his co-conspirator. No one hurt his adorable daughter and got away with it!
Leaning forward, he began whispering his plan into Kijima's ear and he echoed the man's grin. Within minutes, somehow the two had commandeered the microphone away from someone and were shouting and headbanging into it.
"We're not going to take it!"
The two pumped their fists into the air and laughed boisterously.
That said, they were promptly kicked out after that. They still laughed raucously, hanging onto each other as they stumbled out and walked precariously, though for some reason they both had ended up with their ties around their heads, like the stereotype of drunken salarymen.
"Isn't it too early to be drinking?"
"It's a couple of drunk salarymen –"
They heard a few talking like that about them and they just laughed louder.
"Salarymen, salarymen!" the two chanted, each waving a fist in the air.
"They-they really think we're salarymen," Kijima kept chuckling, as they tried to straighten up.
"Psh, 'cause we're just good like that. Fufufufu~"
"Let's go over to Fuwa Sho's house now!" Kijima gained a determined glint in his eye.
Kuu grinned. "That's the spirit! We just have to get the address."
It took some time, but they managed to head over to the Akatoki Agency building, where Kuu used his fame and reputation to get in, finagle some people and get the information he wanted. Soon enough, he was back with Kijima outside the agency, and in full possession of Fuwa's address. Without further ado, the two still drunk men headed over to the newly purchased Western-style mansion the singer now lived in.
"He's really arrogant, this brat!" Kuu huffed as he began working on breaking into the home.
"He is, he is!" Kijima nodded excessively.
Kuu managed to finish and they broke into the mansion without further commotion.
"N-nothing illegal!" Kijima wagged a finger at Kuu, trying to be stern and warning him. He just looked silly and was too drunk to be taken seriously.
"Breaking and entering his home is already illegal," Kuu snorted. "Let's just go wild."
Kijima shrugged and decided what the hell.
Therefore, they just went off to cause some well-earned (on Fuwa's part) damage to the place. Kuu was starting to spray some words on a wall near the living room, in which the spray paint he picked up on the way to Fuwa's place was a bright red color, being used to spell out "I KNOW WHAT YOU DID –"
"Was that 'last summer' or what?" Kuu stopped, muttering to himself.
"Isn't that a movie or something?" Kijima asked, spraying silly string all over an area as he entered the room. He then promptly threw some toilet paper all over the place, teepeeing that area too. "And I don't exactly know when that Fuwa punk tossed Kyoko aside. I don't think it was last summer though."
"Bah! I've gotta take a piss," Kuu snorted, leaving the sentence as is and only finishing it off with a period.
"He's got a pool in the back," Kijima commented without care. "I took a piss in it."
"A pool in the back, you say," Kuu grinned naughtily. "Excellent."
And Kuu promptly marched over to where it was, found it quickly, and relieved himself.
It had been a very odd day, but Kijima couldn't say it had been too bad. Besides, he got to further have a chance to mess with that Fuwa punk, so all was well in his book.
Now that it was near the end of their time together, Kuu and Kijima shook each other's hands good-naturedly and even exchanged numbers.
"If you don't mind, I would be very appreciative if you would call every so often to tell me how Kyoko is doing and update me on her wellbeing," Kuu requested.
Kijima gave him a reassuring smile. "Of course, Kuu-san. I'll make sure to send some pictures and videos too. You should get her number too though."
Kuu waved him off. "I will. It's just she'll probably censor too much of herself and keep things to herself I'd like to know. Besides, you're close enough to her to know or figure it out, even if she does hide it from you."
"In that case, may I request something as well?" Kijima brought up out of the blue.
Kuu raised his eyebrows, but nodded in consent.
"It's nothing bad or anything…just, I'd be grateful if you could talk to Kyoko somehow and reassure her of some things." And Kijima explained all those odd reactions and why Kyoko kept getting dejected around Kuu for seemingly no reason, and Kuu finally understood while being fondly exasperated.
Oh, his adorable little girl…
"Yes, I'll definitely make sure Kyoko understands that she'll always be my child, no matter what…Even if I declare her suddenly not my pupil, graduated from my teachings, etc. etc." he rolled his eyes affectionately. "Seriously, that girl…"
"She can really take drama to a new level," Kijima grinned in amusement.
And so, on their last night together, Kuu did his best to take those silly notions away from Kyoko and reassure her of his commitment to her, while enjoying her "Sponge Cake of Ulterior Motives" (he strongly believed there were capitals in that title) that she made just for him.
And when she said "Goodbye, Father" in English the next morning as he was about to leave in the airport, his eyes inwardly teared up and he mentally cooed at his baby.
He would later have to blissfully ignore the ranting of President Lory, as the man called him up and lectured about having kidnapped and attempted to smuggle Kyoko on board the airplane to take her with him to America.
Kuu would just have to be content with the surprised (but happily received) gift of photos and video of the incidents at the airport from Kijima.
Started 7/15/13 – Completed 12/24/13
A/n Argh, you can blame Kuu for how long this chapter took! He wasn't cooperating, and refused to lend his voice to the chapter until I made sure it was absolutely perfect. And then I haven't been catching up to the Skip Beat! Chapters, so I kind a lost interest in the fandom for a bit –I was happy to see that they finally added Kijima's name to the list here. I'm also not hopeful for another update soon, since I'm going on a two month assignment for work, so I don't know if I'll have time, guys. Sorry! I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter and please review!
To vampgirliegirl Sorry the update took so long :)
To Guest1: Thank you! I hope you liked what happened in this chapter!
To Guest2: Don't worry, I'll keep going, even if it takes a long time :D
To Voidy: Yeah, I got ya :) Work is starting to be a drag for me too. Glad to still see you around. Hope you're still enjoying the story. And as you can see Daddy Kuu definitely made an appearance XD Love ya too!
To SkipBeatFan: Sorry it's been awhile! I hope to keep providing the Kijima/Kyoko action for a long time!
Citations:
1. "We're Not Going to Take It" by Twisted Sister
2. "I Know What You Did Last Summer" movie.
3. "Papa Don't Preach" by Madonna, for the title.
