Warnings: AU, was kinda spur-of-the-moment, angst, probable coarse language, more warnings later, I'm sure.

Disclaimers: Skip Beat belongs to Nakamura Yoshiki, Hana to Yume (Flowers and Dreams – the magazine that publishes the manga) and... others I dunno who else. Not me though, I assure you (else Shou would pop up more often, Kyouko wouldn't be so childish, Ren would have more success with her, and the art would be a LOT worse. So it's good I don't own it – Ren is too pretty!!!)

Advent
A coming into place, view, or being. In this case, a person.

Kyouko stretched happily as she sat up in her futon. It was nearing six in the morning, five hours since she had gone to sleep the night previous. And it had been a good night, such a good night! The party was contained as always, nothing wild like what she heard about at school or saw occasionally on television; it was a party of sophisticated adults after all. She thought she looked quite good in her kimono, and it didn't feel as much like work when she put on her make-up for the evening. That little bit of enchantment she pursued had come to be, just for that night.

She had also received more attention that usual. Many of the party attendees had realized that she was the girl Kuu hired; some backhanded compliments about her "cleaning up well", often coupled with comments along the lines off "why didn't she try to look good when she was with Kuu-sama?" were thrown her way. It was hard not to blush, but even if she did the make-up would have hidden most of it.

The reason for her early waking was that, sometime in the middle of the party, perhaps around nine or ten, she was informed by the matron that their VIP guest had arrived and, in favor of attending the party, gone straight to bed, as had his aide. They would be leaving early in the morning most likely, and Kyouko was to prepare their meal since the Fuwa couple would be staying up later than her and would therefore be sleeping later. Kyouko had accepted of course, and woke just when she meant to.

Dressing quickly in presentable clothes that would still be safe to cook in, Kyouko darted off to the kitchen and started preparing the standard breakfast selection. She didn't worry about any Western style dishes - after all, who would come to a Ryoukan and ask for pancakes or some such? - instead putting her whole heart into the miso and fish. A chef's talent is measured by her simplest dish, after all.

There was a quiet clack from the dining room as the door slid open; that would be the VIP then. Kyouko set everything on a tray in the most attractive manner possible before centering herself and preparing for what would likely be only an hour or less of entertaining before she was expected to start cleaning up from the evening previous.

Then she stepped out, and saw just who her VIP was.

It was him. It had only been a few days since their last encounter, that brief meeting where Kyouko had acknowledged her knowledge of who he was. He had looked so... shocked to see her, and she had been only half so surprised to see him when she had been getting water bottles for Kuu. Now, the situation was reversed. Never in a million years would she have expected... yet he obviously knew she would be there. Even without Kuu, he probably would have known.

This time he wasn't alone though.

"K- anou... Tsuruga-sama, your breakfast is ready," her eyes darted to the brown haired man tailing him. He worked with or for Kuon. It was unlikely had any idea who the man really was, but it was always a possibility. He didn't look at her for the slip, so it was unlikely.

She couldn't think of him as Kuon right then though. She was serving Tsuruga Ren and his... what had Makoto called him? An aide? Didn't celebrities have managers? Either way, Kyouko was not serving the son of Hizuri Kuu; this was not a person she had ever equated with magic, he was just Tsuruga Ren and she was just Mogami Kyouko, people who had, for an instant, seen one another. No big deal. She slipped into the role quickly, doubting that the bespectacled man even noticed the change in her attitude.

Kuon - no, Ren - smiled. "Thank you."

And, to Kyouko, it felt as though she was being thanked for much more than simply preparing breakfast.

Author's Note: In my imagination, the photo shoot ran extra late, Ren returns to spend one more night, and in the morning asks Kyouko to accompany him back to Tokyo as she had with his father. At first reticent due to her on to the Fuwa family, she also recalls how hefty her on to Ren is and how much she would like to go to Tokyo, so she accepts. Is at first Yukihito's assistant, then a minor actress (maybe in Love Me), then a proper actress, and eventually she and Ren fall in love. Or something like that.

And that's it :D Happy Christmas everyone! And happy late Channukah, too (since it ended nearly a week ago... I kinda wanna play draedle again, but I lost mine *sniff*). Boxing Day Omake will be up on Boxing Day (which is actually the day I'm doing my xmas festivities with the family... ehheh), but it really has nothing to do with the story's plot. Just a bit of fun :) (Actually, I might do a second omake... maybe) No sequels though. Anyone can play around with the idea as they please!

... And I'm going to bed now ^^" Night all!