Disclaimer:I don't own Skip Beat! Manga and Anime and its characters, plots, rights or whatever... Same goes for Ai Hime: Ai to Himegoto Manga...

I am so sorry for the late update. I have a lot on my mind. I feel like I'm trying to do a lot of things at the same time right now so I'm having a hard time focusing on just one and finishing it quickly. I really am sorry... And for Lechat23 whom I promised a oneshot crossover of SB and LSL. I'm sorry it's taking so long. It's halfway there, I just need to finish it. Well, I hope you enjoy this chapter everyone! ^_^

Recap:

"Chemistry out of screen?" Hiou asked.

The director's eyes widen for a second and then he said, "Ah! I need to get going. I'll see you all soon at the set." He excused himself and escaped from the room. Everyone who was curious about what happened to make the director see the chemistry out of screen stared at the two leads. Kyoko's cheeks were painted pink while Ren had a blank face. Ren cleared his throat and bid his farewell to all of them and told them that he had to go to his other jobs.

Kanae took pity and rescued Kyoko from the awkward moment. They all broke up, said their goodbyes and went about their scheduled jobs for the day. Their curiosity would just be satisfied another time.

The Great Escape

Chapter 25:

Don't wanna break your heart

Wanna give your heart a break

I know you're scared it's wrong

Like you might make a mistake

There's just one life to live

And there's no time to wait...

Three days after the read through of Kyoko's debut movie, they began filming the scenes they could film inside the set. They had build a set that looked like the inside of the apartment from the manga. They also had to film fast because of the season. The timeline of the film was more than a year, so they had to film the winter scenes while it was still winter. But director Ogata didn't want to film straight deep into the story before giving the two leads time to build and develop their characters while filming the first few scenes of the story.

Over the three days before the filming, Sawara and Yashiro had collaborated in rearranging their charges' schedules. Now, it was after lunch and Kyoko and Ren already went through hair, make-up and changed into their costumes. They were going to shoot the apartment scenes in chronological order of the movie. The first scene was a short one, the scene where Mao just moved in and she was saying goodbye to Jin who was off to his work.

They were at their respective places near the front door and Kyoko was smiling at him. Ren noticed it was a Setsu-like smile. He couldn't help raising his eyebrow and his lips from curving up into a crooked smile. Kyoko's eyes sparkled and he knew Setsu was just under the surface.

"I get to call you nii-san again." She answered huskily to his unspoken questioning of his eyebrow.

So that's what it was. Ren thought, now fully smiling.

Then, the Setsu-like smile and sparkle in her eyes vanished showing the real Kyoko. "Although, I thought I was going to call you Oji-san since you are my Oji-san."

"Hey! I'm not that old." Ren growled with a scowl. Kyoko's smile widened even more and tried to stop the giggle that came out.

Ren couldn't respond because the director called for them to get ready to start the practice scene. The director called 'action'. They started acting it out and it was going well...until, she accidentally called him Jin-oji-san, instead of Jin-onii-chan. Ren glared at her. His face was a mix of the demon lord and emperor of the night. Kyoko froze.

"I...am sorry." She said as her head leaned to one side.

Ren would have forgiven her right away but a smile bloomed in place of the pleading face. Kuon came out instantly.

"Oh, you'll pay for that." He narrowed his eyes, smiled that predatory emperor smile.

Kyoko's eyes widened and her instinct told her to run as he lunged for her. She fled to the living room and ran behind the couch so there was something between them that will keep him at bay.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean it! It's because of what we talked about before the scene!" Kyoko reasoned to Kuon while they were circling the couch as he tried to catch her. He went to one side, she went to the opposite to get away from him.

Kuon finally had enough and lunged straight at her jumping on the couch. He captured her with his two long lean arms behind the couch, pulled her in and she tumbled on the couch. He then pinned her under him and started tickling her. Kyoko burst out laughing filling the whole set.

"Stop! Please! No...more!" Kyoko pleaded between laughter as tears fell from her eyes because of laughing so hard.

"No more calling me Oji-san?" Kuon paused in tickling her but his hands were still on her.

"I promise!" She said as she tried to catch her breath.

"I'm glad you learned your lesson." Kuon smirked at her.

When the cloud of their fun dissipated they realized the camera was still rolling and was capturing them and everyone on set was stunned, mouths open as they stared in surprise at the two. Kyoko blushed and Ren for the first time felt terribly embarrassed at his lack of professionalism and self-control. He helped Kyoko sit properly on the couch and then he stood up and faced everyone.

"I am very sorry for my behavior. It won't happen again." He apologized with a bow.

Everyone woke up from their daze when Ren straightened up after his bow and apology. They couldn't believe what they saw when they looked at him. His cheek looked warmed and a bit pinkish. THE Tsuruga Ren was blushing in front of them. They momentarily forgot what they had witnessed before and were stunned again.

Director Ogata recovered from his shock of the sudden turn of events of the scene they were practicing but he smiled now.

This was what I had a glimpsed of at Karuizawa. He thought. That was just the tip of the iceberg. And now, I will see it unfold in front of my eyes through this movie!

He shouted 'cut!' for the entranced cameraman who was still filming them. He woke up and stopped filming. Director Ogata went to his two wonderful leads with a bright smile.

"It's okay, Tsuruga-san. That was only a practice and the very first scene we did. It's nothing to worry about." He reassured them. "And I am very glad you are well connected to your character. Jinya is like that when Mao-chan calls him cute."

Ren was glad for the excuse the director had freely given to explain his actions for the whole crew and staff present because he didn't have any acceptable explanation for them. Kyoko was still deeply embarrassed she wanted the floor to open up and swallow her. But she felt relieved that she hadn't made a bad first impression of her professionalism to this new co-workers in creating her movie debut.

Kyoko stood up too and apologized to everyone present for her inappropriate behavior with a lot of bows and apologies to them. The director assured Kyoko it was okay. The two leads sober up after that and put their game face to show their A-game performance. The rest of filming were easy breeze. They nailed each and every one with few NGs which were not of their causing.

It may have looked pretty easy in the eyes of everyone on set how Kyoko acted those scenes but Kuon knew how hard it was for her. The scenes required the love emotion. Hiding her feelings for her uncle and trying to suppress it and not let it grow. It brought back memories she wanted to remain forgotten. Kuon had already conquered his demons but she still had hers haunting her. But Kyoko was not having a hard time because of the reasons Kuon was thinking of.

True, she had to browse and relived in her mind the memories she had with Sho so she can use it as example. But in the end she found out it was very different from how she perceived Mao was feeling. She realized Mao felt like how she felt after Ren's kiss on the cheek on Valentine's day last year. But Mao wasn't kissed on the cheek just like her, but on the lips...for real. She envied Mao for having the courage to fight what she felt and tried to function normally when she could not function well after that unexpected kiss on the cheek...not even a real kiss.

But she still struggled to express how Mao slowly realized what she really felt about Jin. It was a little too similar of how she was starting to feel for a certain 190 cm tall, blonde hair, blue-eyed someone. She didn't even want to think about it. But unfortunately for her, it was her job to think about it and figure it all out so she can use the knowledge and emotion to properly do her job. And that was just the problem. That was what giving her a hard time.

The next day, they filmed how Mao got sick and Jin taking care of her. Kyoko was not so fortunate when they filmed their first of many kissing scenes. It wasn't the first kissing scene in the movie but it will be the first kissing scene they were going to film. It was the scene of Jin carrying her to bed with only one arm around her waist and punished her for not resting already by feeding her medicine through a kiss. That scene went well for them because Mao's reactions were like Kyoko's. Her luck continued when they filmed the scene where Jin changed her wet pajama top with his shirt and they only showed Jin opening one button of her pajama top and then opening the buttons of his shirt and shrugging it of his shoulder.

Unfortunately, Kyoko's luck ran out when they had to film the second kissing scene and she was not looking forward to the scene because she had to slap Jin, who was played by Ren, her husband, for changing her top and seeing her hald-naked body. Just when she thought it couldn't get worse, she had to think of the siphoning anteater so she could act the scene properly with the right balance of anger and embarrassment into the slap. What was beyond worse from what she thought was already worse was that she had to slap Ren twice.

And it was all her fault! Because she had slapped him with more intensity and anger than embarrassment in her expression in the first take. Luckily, Ren was a seasoned actor and he knew how to act slapping scenes. The sound effect of the slap in the finished movie was just amplified and from experience, he timed his turning of his face to when she would slap him and the impact of it wasn't like the real slap. But Kyoko was still filled with guilt over it. They finished the scene a second take and Kyoko profusely apologized to Ren who obviously was assuring her he was fine and that it didn't hurt him because he was turning his head the same time she slapped him.

They filmed all morning and in the afternoon, Ren and Kyoko went their separate ways to their other jobs. And when Ren got home at eight o'clock in the evening, he was confused why the house was still dark. He slid the door to the entrance hall and took off his shoes and opened the door to the living room. He turned the lights on and was greeted a loud chorus of "Happy birthday, Kuon!"

Lory, Maria, Sebastian, Taisho and Okami, Kanae, Yashiro, Namiko and Ryuu were there lined up greeting him happily and popping confetti. And in the middle of them was his beautiful wife with a smile that could lift him up to heaven. His face broke into a mirror of her smile. He floated to her because he didn't remember commanding his feet to walk. He was suddenly in front of her, gathered her into his arms and without thought, pressed his lips to hers. It was sweet, gentle and at the same time earth-shattering.

"Thank you..." He whispered to her after he pulled away and he had the pleasure to see her blush and her eyes in a daze. Then, he remembered they had an audience. He turned to them and thanked them too.

"I'm so sorry about this morning." She apologized to him again for the hundredth time.

"Just forget about it, babe. All in a days work, okay? It's what we do." Kuon assured her again.

They all went to their beautiful dining room where the food was served. Taisho and Okami brought two trays of sushi and rolls. (yum! I'm drolling just thinking about it.) Kyoko made very healthy Onigiris, her husband's favorite and cooked a whole array of Kyoto style dishes. Their kitchen and dining room had an open floor plan and from where he was standing, he could see a whole mountain of food on all their kitchen counters. Kuon's mouth dropped open.

"Who's gonna eat all that?" He asked in disbelief as he felt his stomach turned a bit.

"ME!" His father happily bellowed from what he could tell was the bedroom on the first floor.

"Dad?" He turned to the direction of where his voice was coming from.

His father appeared from the bedroom followed by his mom. They were both grinning at him. Julie ran to him and threw her arms to hug him tight.

"I missed you!" She kissed him on the cheek.

"Do you really think we'll miss our son's birthday now that he's come back to us?" His dad said and then took a bite on one of Kyoko's healthy onigiri from a plate of them in his hand.

Kuon could only smile in joy and happiness as they brought out the cake with candles for him to wish on and blow. It was the greatest birthday he had in his entire life and he was sure it will continue to grow from now on. The only problem he had was to make his wife fall in love with him. No big deal...not. It was a very big deal but he'd take what he could. But he knew he already got more than he deserved: the woman he loved as his wife, his loving and supportive parents and extended family and now, the gift of fatherhood from his growing baby in the womb of his beautiful wife.

As long as Kyoko was happy with him, he would endure until that most wonderful day come because he would not stop trying to show her his love and to try to make her love him. But for now, the gifts he had received were three books called Being a Great Dad for Dummies, Dad's Guide to Pregnancy for Dummies and The New Dad's Survival Guide: Man-to-Man Advice for First-time Fathers. Kuon glared at the smiling Yashiro and Lory who had given him the books for Dummies. But he was still grateful for their thoughtfulness and he told them so.

His mom and dad stayed at the extra guest room above their garage after the party ended. They argued that they should stay in the room on the first floor but the older Hizuris insisted that the newlyweds should have the house to themselves.

The next day, Kyoko received a wonderful news from the president. Kyoko had won "Rookie of the Year" from Elan D'or awards. He also informed them that there will be a small ceremony on the night of the thirteenth to receive her award with all the others that won.

Julie was so excited thinking about which of the dresses she gave Kyoko she should wear to the ceremony while Kuu congratulated her and sang praises about how talented any son or daughter of his like an oya-baka that he was. Kuon smiled proudly at his wife and told her how amazing she was. Naturally she argued she was not all that.

"Kyoko, you're only a little over a year in this business without any experience with acting before and you already won an award. Some people waited more than two years, even four years to achieve what you have achieved now. So don't tell me otherwise. We are the experts here, remember?" Kuon said as Kuu and Julie nodded in agreement. Kyoko had no room to argue with that. It was three versus one.

Kyoko and Julie had a mother and daughter bonding after her jobs that same day. They disguised themselves and went shopping. Kyoko was so relieved Julie had already picked a dress which was not overtly glamorous for the small giving of awards ceremony and they were now shopping for Julie's coming-grandbaby. They went to shop for newborn clothes and colorful swaddle blankets. They had to pick neutral colors because it was still too early to know the gender yet.

Although, Julie was the only one shopping. Kyoko just browsed the clothes and all those million things babies need. Inside the baby store, she saw cribs, changing tables, teeny, tiny clothes for the little teeny, tiny newborn babies. She saw bathing tubs, walkers, strollers, diaper bags, high chairs, breast pump... Everything!

There were all kinds of things babies need and in all kinds of different brands, designs and colors. It was dizzying. What was more was that wherever she turn to she could see mothers and sometimes father. She saw women with children propped on their hips, holding on to them like a koala and some in their stroller sleeping so peacefully or some crying so loudly. Others, she saw with toddlers wanting all kinds of toys.

And there was one she especially noticed. A mother pushing a stroller as she browsed along the diaper section. But then a loud cry came from the stroller as the little baby who looked like three months old bunched his little face and howled the place down. Kyoko felt frozen and alarmed. Every cell in her body screamed for her to do something but she didn't know what she was supposed to do. Then, the mother only smiled and made shushing noises as she picked her baby up and rocked him in comfort. She held him close to her, rocked and continued the soothing shushing sound. She also talked to him, asked him if he was hungry or in need of a diaper change. But all the while she had a contented smile on her face. It was all so foreign for Kyoko. And it was also like a cold bucket of water poured onto her.

She finally realized that in a few months, she was going to be like that mother. She was going to have a little, tiny baby in her arms. She was going to be responsible of that baby's life 24/7 for the rest of her life. That baby, her baby was going to be her life from now on.

She also realized that that image of a little boy who looked like his fairy prince father she fell in love with was not going to come right away. Her baby wasn't going to grow up overnight into a little look-a-like of his father after she gave birth to him.

She was going to take care of her little baby when it came out of her just like the woman she saw. And what terrified her was if she could do it. Could she take care of someone so tiny and fragile and precious? Could she love it like the woman she just saw or like how Julie loved Kuon on that video of Kuon's life they had watched? Or would she be like her own mother? Would she know what her baby needs when it cried?

There were a lot of questions going through her mind and she felt like she was going to faint. But when she looked down and saw the floor coming towards her face she realized that she wasn't just feeling like it, she was indeed fainting. Then, there was pure blackness.

I'd had preferred to continue and finish the whole insecurities and doubts of Kyoko and in my head there was no Kyoko fainting scenario in there. But it was getting so long and I had to end it here and my mind decided that that should end the chapter for now. Sorry. I do hope you enjoyed it. And I have to say that the Hiroshima I was talking about is coming either next chapter or after the next chapter... It usually depends on how my mind works when I actually write the chapters... So just beware guys... I don't wanna surprise you and have all of you end up hating me... :( Just saying...

Thank you so much guys for the support, for reading, reviewing, following, fav-ing and just liking/loving my stories. I really appreciate it guys... Take care and God bless... Read yah next chap! ^_^