Note: I do not own Skip Beat

And so thus is another chapter of Fighters!

-LIA

Chapter 14

"Tsuruga-san." I gasped.

"Tsuruga-san!" Kataoka-san said in front of me, immediately wrapping her arms around my sempai as tears swam in her eyes. I stood there frozen, not saying anything. All rage was gone, replaced with numbness. What was going to happen now? How would Tsuruga-san react? My gaze was glued to his face, awaiting his reaction.

Had I not been paying minute attention to him, I would have noticed the way he stiffened when Kataoka-san hugged him.

"Tsuruga-san! Thank goodness you're here!" I heard Kataoka-san say. "You wouldn't believe what happened! Kyoko-san, she-" she cut herself off and let out a sob against his chest. I had to admit, to anyone it would seem as though I was the person at fault.

I didn't say anything, I only watched as Kataoka-san blatantly lied in front of me.

"What is this?" Tsuruga-san said, noticing the photos on the ground.

Another sob.

"Please don't look at those! They're from my past! I was forced to do such awful things before, but Kyoko-san found this and-"

"That's not true!" I heard myself say. Both of them turned to me. Everyone had shocked expressions on their faces. Including me. I hadn't planned on speaking. It just came out of my mouth. Now I couldn't stop the next words from coming from my mouth.

"I didn't do such a thing!"

"Kyoko quit lying! Tsuruga-"

"Stop."

I turned to look at Tsuruga-san a surprised look on my face. I vaguely noticed that Kataoka-san had a similar look of shock on her face as well.

"But Tsuruga-san-"

I watched as what seemed as the impossible happened in front of me. Tsuruga-san, known as a gentleman towards everyone, pushed Kataoka-san, his girlfriend, away from him. To see this was as strange and almost impossible than to have seen him grow wings.

"Stop."

And there it was. The Emperor of the Night has been unleashed. The look was not directed towards me, but I still felt a shiver run down my spine as I heard the single word being said by him. Kataoka-san visibly shook, and was trembling in fear.

"Tsuruga-san-" She tried to calm him, but failed.

"It doesn't look as though you were forced. And even if you were, it would not happen with so many men. What you have done is inexcusable. You are not an actress. You are not worthy of the title. I suggest you walk away now, before you embarrass yourself further. But know that if you do anything like this again, you will never see the light of the entertainment business again."

There was no need to be told twice. With the speed of a small animal about to be devoured by a hungry lion, Kataoka-san fled, bursting through the door that led to the inside of the set, shaken and scarred for life.

I had watched the entire exchange with wide eyes. It had not been long, and it had not been loud. It had only taken a few sentenced from the Emperor of the Night to make Kataoka-san disappear, in what I guessed would be for good.

For a few moments we stood there in silence. Tsuruga-san's back was turned to me, and I was slightly scared that when he turned The Emperor would still be there.

But once he finally did turn, my sempai had turned back into his usual self, a look of concern on his face.

"Mogami-san, what happened to your face?"

I was brought back to my senses and remembered how I had been slapped. Repeatedly. My cheek still stung and I could feel it almost throb in pain. I self-consciously put a hand on said cheek in a weak attempt to hide it.

"Oh, it's nothing." I said, turning away.

I'm not sure when it happened but suddenly Tsuruga-san was next to me, his voice showing genuine concern.

"It's not just nothing. Let me see."

Who was I to deny him?

Slowly I put down my hand and let my chin be guided by his hand and he turned my face to look at the wound.

"We have got to get this treated now."

In what appeared to be a strange gust of wind we were now in Tsuruga-san's dressing room, and he was applying some make-up on my face after the swelling had gone down because of the ice I had held to my face before.

I wasn't currently worried about being on set at the moment. Apparently the director was stuck in traffic or something like that at the moment, plus I couldn't really think of anything when Tsuruga-san was sitting so close to me, carefully applying the make-up on my wound.

Every so often I would wince, but then I would feel Tsuruga-san be even gentler in applying the make-up. At this point I was wondering if it were possible to even be any gentler. It was as though he wasn't even applying it at all.

My heart was pounding in my chest and my face was blushing a bright red. I couldn't calm down in this man's presence. Finally he was done, and when I looked in the mirror my cheek only looked slightly puffier than normal, not noticeable unless you were paying extremely close attention.

"Thank you, Tsuruga-san." I said, bowing my head low as I turned to look at him.

"Your welcome Mogami-san." He answered.

Slowly I raised my head from its awkward position and glanced up at him. He was looking completely nonchalant, a blank expression on his face. But I didn't feel as though he was angry. No, The Emperor of the Night has a different feeling. More of a think-about-something-wrong-you-die kind of aura. But this was completely blank.

I began to worry. If he wasn't angry, then he must be annoyed. Of course, he must be annoyed to have to take care of a lowly kohai like me.

"I'm sorry, Tsuruga-san." I said, bowing my head once more. I couldn't even look at his face.

Ren's POV

What? I thought, looking at Kyoko sitting in front of me, her head bowed. Why was she sorry? What was she sorry for?

"For what?" I heard myself ask.

"For making you annoyed." She answered.

I stared at her for a moment in disbelief. She thought I was annoyed? I was simply worried about her and was being careful not to let my deeper feelings show and she thought I was . . . annoyed. The things this girl can come up with.

"Mogami-san," I began, but was cut off by the girl in front of me.

"I'm sorry for being such a lowly kohai and having to have you, my sempai have to take care of me for a small thing like this. I'm sorry that you had to watch such a scene. I'm sorry that you had to see that with your girlfriend. I'm sorry I'm so pathetic. I'm sorry I-" she said, going fast enough to have all of her words jumbled together and make almost no sense. But then my ears picked up on the word 'girlfriend.'

"Mogami-san."

"I'm sorry for being such a disrespectful kohai."

"Mogami-san."

"I don't deserve to be in the entertainment world, I should crawl in a hole and just-"

"MOGAMI-SAN!" I said, finally raising my voice enough for her to notice me. Honestly, where was she going to go with that sentence? I thought to myself.

She stopped and glanced upwards for a moment before looking down again.

"Yes?"

I let out a small sigh. Oh the strange things this girl comes up with. But that's one of the reasons why I love her. I was silent for a moment, contemplating how I should phrase the next words.

"Mogami-san, it's not polite to stare holes into the ground when your sempai is speaking to you."

Immediately she sat up, her back as straight as a ruler and her eyes looking directly at mine.

That's better. I thought to myself.

"I'm sorry-"

"Mogami-san." I said, giving a small warning look.

She closed her mouth and was silent, looking a bit like a sad rabbit. For a moment I had the urge to embrace her, but there was a slightly–only slightly–more urgent matter at hand.

"What do you mean, 'girlfriend'? Kataoka-san isn't my girlfriend." I asked.

"OH MY GOD I MADE YOU BRAKE UP?" she outburst, immediately followed by a deeper bow of her head.

"Mogami-san, no you didn't-"

"Oh! Of course I couldn't ever be the cause of something like that. Forgive me for being so conceited! I-"

"MOGAMI-SAN." I said, raising my voice a bit more. She stopped speaking and looked up at me, looking as though she were about to cry. Dear God is this woman trying to kill me? I thought. "Mogami-san, what in the world would make you think Kataoka-san was my girlfriend?"

She shifted a bit uncomfortably in her seat.

"Well the news, and . . ."

I gave a small sigh.

"The gossip columns that have absolutely nothing better to do than spew up lies and scandals every chance they get?" I said, slightly showing my distaste for that particular part of the news industry.

"But that picture . . ."

I paused for a moment, a bit puzzled about what she was talking about, when I remembered. That one picture that was being blown up across all of Tokyo as 'proof' of me being with Kataoka-san.

"That is a misleading picture. The angle made it so that it looked as though we were kissing, however in reality it was just us having a conversation."

She was silent, staring down at her hands as she took up the information.

I watched her for a while, trying to guess what was going on in her mind. She was completely silent, and I could almost hear the gears moving in her head as she took the information in. But otherwise I couldn't get even a clue as to what she was thinking.

She is wearing that mask again. I have come across it a few times in the entertainment industry. In fact I had that mask. It was a shield to hide away one's true emotions. Having used it for so long, if I paid close attention I would be able to notice it immediately. But since when has Kyoko had this mask? And why is she using it now? Why does she have to hide her emotions, unless-no. Don't think about that. You know that the chances of that happening are close to zero. Don't get your hopes up. It could be a different reason. I tried to convince myself. But even so I could not think of any reason for her to have that mask on.

For what seemed like an eternity I watched her, having an internal battle of my own as I wondered what she would do next.

Kyoko's POV

I sat there, staring down at my hands, my mind a jumble of thoughts. Tsuruga-san wasn't going out with Kataoka-san. It was all a made up lie. I thought. It was a lie. It isn't true. A misunderstanding? I shouldn't be happy about this. I shouldn't be happy about such a thing. But-

" . . . Mogami-san . . ." Tsuruga-san said. I looked up to see him looking at me, a worried expression on his face. " . . . I wouldn't date someone who would dare hurt my precious kohai like that. Even if she was an amazing actress, I wouldn't let her do something like this . . ."

Slowly he raised his hand and brushed his fingers across my cheek. My eyes widened at the contact. His hands were soft, and warm. They were light against my skin, gentle, almost as though it were the softest of feathers. My eyes darted to Tsuruga-san's, but his gaze was on my cheek where his hand was.

There they stayed for a few moments before those brown orbs turned to look at mine.

"Mogami-san, you're a lot more precious to me than you think. Don't think you're so worthless, because you're not."

My breath caught at my throat and my heart was speeding up to a mile a minute–no, forget that it was up to a mile a second. Did I hear him right? I'm precious? Dear God, if this is a dream please don't ever let me wake up.

There we stood, staring into each other's eyes. Tsuruga-san's hand still rested on my cheek, and for a moment I wondered if all of my feelings towards him were written on my face. His mouth opened to say something, when there was a knocking at the door.

We both immediately turned to the source of the noise.

"It's time to go to set." Said a voice from the other side.

"Thank you. We'll be right there." Tsuruga-san answered. I managed to hear the person on the other side make a sort of grunt in response before walking off. After the person had left I felt Tsuruga-san's hand leave my face, and he stood up.

"Come on, let's go." He said, holding out his hand for me to take. I stared at him for a moment before taking his hand and standing up as well. For another moment we looked at each other, before simultaneously we looked away and let go.

From there I'm not exactly sure what happened. But before I knew what was happening I had arrived on set and was acting as Ash once more. Afterwards I left, and some time later that evening I arrived home, finally able to contemplate the earlier events of today.

And then another thought crossed my mind.

What was Tsuruga-san going to say before?

~O~

"Dear God." Yashiro said upon seeing the pictures.

"Now we see the proof." Kanae muttered beside him, gazing at the very same pictures and videos provided by the very scared security men from earlier that day.

"Girls can be mean." Yashiro said, continuing to look at the pictures.

"Yeah."

"But I never would have thought that she would do this."

"You'd be surprised to see what a person can do when desperate enough." Kanae answered. "Thankfully there aren't many like her. It's a good thing Kyoko is okay."

"You're telling me. I honestly did not believe she would go that far. Had I not been worried and told Ren something was up I don't want to know what could have happened." Yashiro said.

"We're very lucky that you did. But all that matters now is that Kyoko is all right, and that now we can show the world her true nature."

"How soon do you want the public to know this?"

"How soon can you make it so that everyone knows?"

"If we go now, I can have this published in a few hours." Yashiro answered immediately.

"Do I want to know how you got the ability to be able to do that?"

"Probably not." He answered with a small smile.

"All right then."

"We still have to get those two together."

"He hasn't made a move yet?"

"Knowing him, no."

"Idiot."

"I may be his manager but he is also my friend, don't call him an idiot."

Kanae raised an eye brown and looked pointedly at him.

"Even if he is one, only I can call him an idiot." Yashiro answered to her look.

"Mature."

"I am."

"We're off topic."

"Indeed."

"Get to work."

"Fine, fine. But next time you do the seducing."

"Who says there will be a next time?"

"Knowing them, there probably will."

"And if there isn't?"

"You're still gonna seduce." With a smirk slightly out of his character, Yashiro walked off with all the evidence that was on his bed tucked into a flash drive in his pocket, off to make his friend's problem go away. "If you leave then lock the door behind you; if not then you knows where the guest room is." Yashiro said behind him. No one can say I'm a bad friend. He thought as he left.

Thank you for reading, and for all of the favorites, reviews, etc. I hope you liked reading this chapter!

-LIA