TACTICAL MANEUVERS

Sure, she was scarily adept at her role; one could not expect any less from Tsuruga's protege. There wasn't anything particularly outstanding about her in terms of traditional beauty. However, she somehow managed to capture the attention of the renowned actor all the same. At first, he assumed it was because he had taken her under his wing that they spent so much time together. It was not until he deftly maneuvered himself in the way of his line of sight when she came to visit the Dark Moon location shoot dressed as her other drama's character that he got a whiff that something else entirely was going on.

Hidehito Kijima soon began to pay closer attention to the taller man's reactions when it came to one Mogami Kyoko. He was almost certain there was something other than professional concern for the young talent. If there was one thing he enjoyed more than the company of an attractive woman, it was catching the unguarded expressions on the faces of others when they thought no one else noticed. It was a game to him, and one he derived immense joy from playing.

Of course, the fact that she was reported to look exponentially more mature and beautiful was an added bonus because, well, he just had to see that.

Fate delivered her to him on the day of the Dark Moon party and who was he to argue with fate? A prime opportunity presented itself and he was loathe to let it pass him by. Jumping in feet first, he charmed his way into getting Kyoko to allow him to transform her into an unparalleled beauty just in time for the evening's event. He was greatly awarded for his efforts and thanked his lucky stars when he saw the vision of loveliness before him. If Ren was quick to spirit her away when she was simply dressed as her drama's character, he couldn't wait to see how he reacted to his entrance with this goddess on his arm.

The initial look of shock on his face upon their arrival was quite pleasing but that could easily have been caused by Kyoko's appearance; he needed more proof. Then, came the carefully guarded smile and, next thing he knew, they were separated by two different conversational groups. No matter, he is an actor after all. Time to ham it up for the crowd and see if he could work his way further under his skin. So far, the actor was doing a superb job of ignoring them, but the look of panic on the face of Ren's manager as his eyes shifted nervously between Kijima, Kyoko, and his charge, was enough to tell that his suspicion wasn't completely off-base.

He learned her naive innocence was not just a front when he attempted to lead her away to have their fortune told. Nonetheless, her vehement refusal to his suggestion of pursuing a relationship was not a huge surprise. No, the surprise came when Ren called to her and she froze in the most peculiar way; like she had been caught with her hand in the proverbial cookie jar. She looked afraid, as if she had wronged him in some way and was about to be punished for her transgression. He got this reaction from her by merely saying her name and crimson bloomed on her cheeks.

'Oh,' Kijima thought to himself. 'Well, that is interesting!'

To think, he almost felt sorry for Ren when she strongly proclaimed her maiden's vow of chastity.

He watched as she was willingly led away to interview area and a slow smile spread across his face. This was certainly more than he bargained for but now the game was doubly intriguing. It was time to regroup his pieces and plan his next moves.

Even though Dark Moon had finished filming, he found himself on set with Ren for a commercial shoot not long afterwards. Lucky for him, he was able to get his hands on Kyoko's number through the clever manipulation of third-party influence. Armed with that information, and the clever use of colored text, emoticons and animated pictures, he was all set to lay out some bait for his co-star and see what he could reel in.

He put up a decent act of indifference at first, despite the visible sweating and incredulous expression of his manager. However, Kijima had spent enough time around Kyoko to figure out how to get her to respond to his message. It was the perfect combination of cute and kitsch that she would be powerless to resist. When his phone alerted him of an incoming message, it was nearly impossible to fight back the smirk that so desperately wanted to plaster itself across his face. The speed at which they crowded around his tiny phone screen was impressive.

'Gotcha!'

The urge to laugh triumphantly was overwhelming, but he managed to keep his composure while he watched face of Ren's manager resemble that of a ripened cherry. That man really did make things way too easy, but his facial expressions were extremely amusing so it was well worth it. Ren, on the other hand, almost appeared completely devoid of emotion. The practiced smile he typically wore was gone and his face completely blank, except for the almost-missable glint of barely contained rage. Oh, this gamble had definitely been worth it and paid off tenfold.

For the remainder of filming that day, an invisible dark cloud hung over Tsuruga Ren and Kijima was absolutely gleeful. He knew there was only so far he could push the actor before he either exploded violently or shut down completely. However, he needed to get one more jab in before the end of the day. Who knew when he'd see the man again? Might as well get as much entertainment value as possible while he could.

The invitation to go out for drinks was a weak cover, he was well aware of that. Really, it was just an innocent opening before he made his final attack. Unfortunately, he was not prepared for Ren's parry and riposte. He was expecting the man to be more guarded and reluctant to reveal Kyoko's birthday. Instead, he turned it around and flaunted how much closer to her he was. Not to be outdone, Kijima countered one last time; it was a desperate attempt but he couldn't let it go just yet. Since he seemed so upset by the reply she sent back earlier, he tried to poke that particular wound again.

It was to his detriment that the other man had already learned his attack pattern and put up an impenetrable defense.

"Since I'm already using the phone, wouldn't it be better for me to hear her voice directly?" suddenly, a smug smile he never believed Ren was capable of making, formed on his face.

He gaped for a moment, before his lips quirked upward and he chuckled to himself. The game was over; time to admit defeat and congratulate his opponent.

"So, the Great Tsuruga Ren finally has his sights definitively set on a woman," he said drily. "Heaven help anyone who tries to get in his way."

The smile brightened in intensity, "I don't believe I understand your meaning."

"And, what a shame, he's in denial," he shook his head disapprovingly and turned to leave before calling over his shoulder. "Good luck with that one. You'll need it."

-END-

I CHANGED THE EVENTS OF CHAPTER 190, SORRY (not sorry): Because I always wanted to believe that Kijima was not as oblivious as he seemed and deliberately manipulated Ren and Kyoko to see if there really was an unspoken attraction between them. I thought it would be much more interesting if he knew all along something was up and decided to have some fun trying to get a rise out of Ren.

AUTHOR OUT!