A/N: So this chapter seems like it took a REALLY long time to write...but it didn't really...and it isn't very long. So I don't know why it took me so long to write, possibly because I have been doing homework and studying (2 languages + 2 English classes= lots of work) and READING! I miss reading for fun, so I am determined to do it more. Mostly because I love it...partially because really great writers are usually avid readers, and I want to at least be a good writer, so hopefully if I read A LOT I will...get...better...yea...

So anyway, for those of you who care about my (sort of) personal life, I just finished "I Capture the Castle" by Dodie Smith, which was brilliant (And I want to do a Skip Beat FF sort of based on it soon), and Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins, which was...okay. I enjoyed the first two books in the Hunger Games trilogy more, and the ending seemed rushed...

Anyway, I just started "The Fault in Our Stars" by John Green (Thank you to my best friend who lent me her autographed copy!) and have been watching his Youtube channel which he does with his brother. I find them both very funny and also quite clever, so I recommend his books. So...that's what I've been doing. Now on to the story. (For those of you who cared enough to read. For those of you who didn't...well...sorry to have made it harder to get to the actual story.)

%%%%I sometimes forget to say this, so I do not own Skip Beat. I'm saying this so that people won't sue me, not because I think any of you are stupid enough to actually believe that I, an American teenager with dubious Japanese skills and nonexistent art skills, am the writer and illustrator of a Japanese Manga.%%%%

Backtracking (to Natsu)

Kyoko stared at herself in the mirror, depression hanging around her like a fog. Her general store and outlet clothing and drug store cosmetics had done nothing to give her the fashionable look she had been hoping for. She sighed softly and checked the clock. 'Even if I had fashionable clothes or expensive make-up, I wouldn't have time now.' She placed her phone in her purse and threw it over her shoulder, taking some small comfort in her new shoes, a gift from the Okami-san and Taisho. She had been working on a wire cage for the Princess Rosa jewel, but hadn't quite finished yet, and she didn't own any other jewelry, so they were truly her only fashion item. The Okami-san wished her good luck as she left, and Kyoko waved goodbye and hurried out the door.

Mentally checking to make sure she knew her lines, Kyoko thought about Natsu as she made her way to the set on foot. Ren would have given her a ride, but she felt bad asking and didn't know his schedule. Since she was always loath to bother him, she had kept silent on the matter and decided to walk, hoping that her new heels didn't give her blisters. 'I know my lines.' She realized irritably. 'I just don't know Natsu…'

"Cut!" Kyoko looked up in surprise at the loud voice of the director, freezing in place. The other girls rolled their eyes and sighed softly.

"How did we get 4 NG's where we are just standing around talking!" One of them cried, placing her hands on her knees with a groan.

"Um…Kyoko-chan?" She jumped and turned around.

"Yes?"

"I know I've said this before…but try relaxing a little. I know I said I want you to be like Mio, but I only really need Mio for when you are bullying someone. Other than that, just act like a high school girl and remove all traces of Mio." Kyoko's eyes widened. "Okay, lets try this again."

'I…I wasn't acting Mio!'

They moved into places, but not twenty seconds into the filming, he called cut again. "Kyoko-chan! It's still no good! You can't get away from Mio!" He sighed in irritation. "Everyone, take a five minute break. Kyoko-chan, come over here for a minute." She tried to ignore the obvious irritation of the other girls. As she walked over, she caught their whispers.

"A one-trick pony." One of them muttered, making her flinch and hesitate for a moment, some strange sense of morbid curiosity making her want to hear more.

"Right! She's probably not a talented actress at all. She just got a role that she was able to portray and sell to the public."

"Let's go get a drink while we wait for Mio." They laughed softly and sauntered away and Kyoko hurried over to the impatient director.

He gave her a partially sympathetic look and began in an understanding tone. "I understand that you are still filming for Dark Moon, and that you are having a hard time letting go of Mio, but it is making you seem out of place with the other girls. I don't feel like you belong together." He tried to explain as his assistant appeared beside him.

Kyoko looked up at him shyly, hoping he didn't take offense. "Um…Director…I'm not acting out Mio…at all." He stared at her in blatant surprise and disbelief.

"Wow…you must be quite into your role if you are acting her unconsciously." He muttered.

"No! I'm not acting her at all. I'm just acting…like I act all the time." He raised an eyebrow.

"Right now?"

"Yes!" She assured him, not sure what was going on.

The assistant suddenly spoke up, his fist in his open palm accentuating his discovery. "Kyoko-chan, can you please say 'please take care of me from now on.'"

"Um…of course." She bowed at the waist, keeping her hands together and looked at the floor. "Please take care of me from now on."

"There it is! The perfect manners, the polite bow! The way she keeps her head down…all the manners of a rich young lady." Kyoko straightened in confusion. "Even now, her posture is perfect…no one stands like that anymore!"

"Okay. Kyoko-chan, try standing more comfortably from now on so that you don't stick out." Her eyes widened. "If it is because of your environment, it should be easy to overcome, right?" She flinched a little, then tried relaxing her shoulders and placing a hand beside her head.

"No…that's shy." The assistant said simply. She loosened even more. "That's depressed." She relaxed her legs so much that she fell sideways. "That's collapse!" She fell the rest of the way to the floor, unable to believe how impossible this was. "And that's die!" He was really getting into it while the director rolled his eyes.

"Okay everyone! Let's go to the classroom set. Let's start shooting at the part Kyoko-chan's good at."

"Cut! Kyoko-chan! That's wrong. I told you, when we are doing the bullying scenes, use Mio!"

"Um…but…unlike Mio, Natsu doesn't really dislike Chitose that much…it's like…something is wrong." She missed the angry expression on the director's face until he slammed his cone onto the desk, making her look up at him in shock.

"I'm telling you to use Mio." He snapped. "In this world, no matter what, you do what the director says. Since you can't even act properly, at least do the parts you can do correctly." She clenched her hands in her lap, swallowing hard so that the tears wouldn't fall.

"May I ask for another take?"

Kyoko knelt and rested her head on the large guest bed, allowing her mind to finally rest. She hadn't been so tired in a long time. 'Poor Ren…I hope he got some sleep.' She placed her new necklace into a small plastic baggie and closed her eyes. She had spent the majority of the morning being taught by Japan's top actor and model, her boyfriend, how to walk and behave like a model, despite the fact that she was, in her own opinion, nowhere near model material. Still, after scolding her for her reckless behavior, giving her a key, and warming her up, he had happily taught her as much as he could, partially through example. She grinned a little at the memory. 'He does a pretty good impression of a female model…' She giggled softly as she drifted to sleep against her will.

She awoke when a gentle hand shook her shoulder and a familiar deep voice mumbled her name. "Kyoko? Hey, Kyoko?" She couldn't have dozed for more than ten minutes, and it was a struggle to open her eyes. When she finally did, they were met with Ren's gentle ones. He was kneeling beside her, his hand on her shoulder, and she could just see Yashiro-san over his head. "We have to get ready." He informed her regretfully, wishing that he could carry her into his bedroom and let her sleep, preferably with him beside her.
"Oh. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to fall asleep." She mumbled, yawning and stretching. He smiled kindly.

"It's fine." He stood and helped her to stand, and she tiredly greeted Yashiro-san who smiled as well.

"Good morning Kyoko-chan. So have you finished your essential to Natsu item?" He wondered. She grinned.

"Mhm." She reached into the plastic baggie and held it up with a bright smile. "Right here." She felt a little flutter of pride when both Ren and Yashiro exclaimed over the beautifully crafted necklace, smiling a little bashfully.

"That's amazing, Kyoko-chan!" Yashiro cried. How long did that take?"

"Um…a few hours." She mumbled, staring at the carpet. She felt someone gently pull the necklace from her hand and glanced up in time to see Ren place it around her neck, his warm hands lingering at her nape. She touched the jewel with her fingertips, gingerly at first, then tracing the cool metal against her throat.

"You said you needed to go to LME first?" She nodded, and the men left the room so that she could get ready.

Natsu strode through the corridor, lifting her hand with a slight smirk and catching the hat flying through the air, then plopped it back on the stunned girl's head. Pausing in the corridor, she pulled out a comb and ran it through her hair, then pulled out a tube of lip gloss. 'Hm. It's really windy out today. My lips have gone dry.' Carefully brushing it against her lips, she puckered then smiled into the mirror. Replacing the tube in her purse, she strode out the door, stepping back when it nearly hit her, along with a familiar girl.

"Oh. I'm sorry!" With that, the girl froze and stared at her in shock. Smiling a little, Natsu brushed a strand of hair from her face.

"Oh. Good morning you two." She lifted an eyebrow at their strange, horrified expressions, then pushed the thought away for more pressing matters. "What are you two doing here?"

"Oh…um…they asked us to…um…deliver the costumes." One of them stammered. She smiled.

"Ah. Good job. Thank you." Striding back into her dressing room, she reached down to the floor and picked up her costume, a school uniform, and frowned. 'Something is missing.' Her eyes narrowed in irritation.

Natsu stepped onto the set, nodding to the cast and crew already assembled. "Hello everyone. Sorry I was late." Her 'friends' stared at her in amazement, and the director's jaw dropped. Striding up to the director, she bowed a little. "Sorry. My bow wasn't with my costume."

Immediately shaking himself from the stupor, he called for the costume manager who turned to the two girls. "Didn't you see it in the costume?"

"Hm. How should I say…I didn't clearly look at the outfit. Maybe Natsu herself was careless and lost it." She threw Natsu a challenging look. "She should have looked harder…" She stopped as the corner's of Natsu's lips turned up, her eyes rapidly changing from friendly to cold.

"Heh. You may be right. I might not have searched enough. Maybe I should go look again." She strolled up to her friend with a cool smile, reaching out and fingering her bow. "But what if I still can't find it?" Suddenly she jerked her hand back, ripping the bow from her shirt, much to the shock of everyone. "What then?" Coldly, she dropped it at the girl's feet. "This would be okay, right? After all, we are friends…based on our shared interests. Is it no good director?" She leaned against the girl's shoulder with a sweet pout. "If it's no good, I'll look again. And this time, Kaori can help me."

"Yea…it's no good. Now Yumika looks out of place." He sighed. "Chiori, can you try changing your attitude?" As he pulled her aside, Natsu headed off to her dressing room.

"You knew about the necktie!" She stopped and turned around, looking the girl in the eye. "Why didn't you tell the director?"

Natsu sighed. "You played that prank on me. The director would have gotten angry with you, and I don't want outsiders interfering with our problems. Because we're friends, after all."

Kyoko checked her phone as she pressed the button on the vending machine. It had been two days since her Natsu transformation, and she wasn't required to be on set until the next day. Takarada-san had sent her to TBM studio to work with a group who called themselves "Bridge Rock," a group of three guys with the same last name who were somehow not related, and hosted a variety show. As part of her Love Me work, she was assisting them with some work behind the scenes. She actually was enjoying herself quite a bit. She hadn't ever had much time to make real friends, other than Moko-san, Maria-chan, Ren, and Yashiro-san, and the three older guys took to her instantly, treating her like a little sister…all except for Hikaru who was waiting downstairs.

She didn't want to say Hikaru made he uncomfortable. He was sweet and friendly, but something in his manner was different than the other two. While they seemed to dote on her like older brothers, he watched her with a strange fondness that made her want to blush and run away. He had been the one to suggest a lunch break midway through some paperwork, and she had agreed to help him, although he was paying.

She retrieved the four cans of soft drink, although she wasn't a big fan of carbonated drinks, there was nothing else in this vending machine and she didn't want to keep him waiting. Wishing that she had taken the plastic bag, and that her legs weren't so sore, she headed for the stairs, shivering at the cold cans that rubbed against her bare arms. Approaching the steps, her thoughts drifted to Ren, as they seemed to more and more frequently, which never failed to surprise her although they were dating. 'Well…dating is a strong word.' She thought with a grim smile. It was rare that they both had free time on the same day, despite the best efforts of Yashiro Yukihito, and they had never actually gone out on a real date, for fear that either Ren or Kyoko would be spotted and the press would get a hold of the story. Although their friends knew about them being together, they weren't anxious for the rest of Japan to find out. Although she understood all of this, she couldn't help resenting it a little. 'Most girlfriends get to at least talk to their boyfriends every day.' She though a little sadly. She had neither seen nor spoken to him since her surprise visit to his home a few days before. Either she would leave a voicemail, or he would, with neither of them able to catch the other at a good time. 'It can't be helped.' She told herself firmly, a little embarrassed for even thinking about it. 'We are both…' Her thoughts stopped suddenly when she felt a presence behind her, her feet at the edge of the top step. Spinning in midair, she caught Chiori's face over the coat, then grinned coolly at the dark haired girl's stunned expression. Placing a food down, she tired to hold the soft drinks and stop her fall at the same time, causing her to spin and land in a heap on the floor as her name echoed through the deserted hallway.

"Kyoko-chan!" The girl opened her eyes, realizing that she must have hit her head, then flinched at the slight twinge in her wrist. "Are you okay?"

"Hikaru-san…" She mustered al of her patience. "I just fell down the stairs."

"Oh! Of course you aren't okay! I'm sorry! Don't move!" She released the soft drinks and sat up slowly, blinking a few times.

"I'm fine." She said simply. He stood and reached out a hand, missing her flinch when she took it and pulled herself up.

"Are you sure? Do you need to see a doctor? There's a clinic in the studio if you're hurt." She shook her head, smiling a little.

"I'm fine. Actually…" She let Natsu out for a moment. "…I would really appreciate it if this could be our little secret." Which, in Kyoko's mind, translated to, 'if my boyfriend finds out about this, I'm screwed.'

A/N: As always thank you for reading and reviewing and adding me to lists! It makes me so happy when you all enjoy things I write! I don't have time to thank all of you (It is 1:33 in the morning and I have to get up at 8...not fun. I'm NOT a morning person.) but I DO appreciate it so much!

Now, a quick question that has been bugging me. What is Tumblr? Just curious. I don't understand it. Anyway, thanks for reading and such. Have nice days/nights!