I do not own Skip Beat!

Kyouko took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves before her interview with Ren. The closest thing she'd done to this was interviews to promote the dramas she'd been in, and as she hadn't played a lead before, her part in the interviews had not been the main focus. Tonight, there would be no distractions. It was her and Ren on the stage in front of their interviewer. She would have been much more comfortable if she was playing Bo tonight, as planned, but over at TBM, someone else was donning the suit as Kyouko got ready to sit in the hot seat.

She wrung her hands and looked around the waiting room. They were scheduled to go on shortly. Someone would lead them to the stage, and then they would begin.

Ren reached over and took her fidgeting hands in one of his.

"It'll be fine," he said, giving her a reassuring smile. "We practiced this, remember? They're just asking questions about us. All we have to do is be honest."

Kyouko nodded and tried to stop fidgeting. The warmth Ren was transmitting from his hand to hers helped calm her down a little.

Kyouko jumped as a knock sounded on the door and an assistant came in.

"Hello," the young man greeted. "We're just about ready. Just have to get your microphones all set up and we're good to go."

He fiddled with the small electronic devices attached to their clothes, tested them, and once they were pronounced ready, lead them to the stage.

"Hello," their host greeted with a smile, "I'm Kataoka Emi. It's a pleasure to meet you both, and thank you for giving me the privilege of conducting your first interview as a couple."

Ren smiled and returned the woman's greeting, while Kyouko disclaimed the pleasure and privilege, and thanked her for taking the time to host them.

"I see there was no exaggeration," Emi said, giving a slight laugh, "Kyouko-san, you really are as unspoiled by fame as people say you are."

"Eh?" the girl asked, coloring.

"Never mind," Emi said. "We have a few minutes until we start, so please have a seat, and let's have fun with this."

Kyouko relaxed a bit under the influence if Emi's open and friendly demeanor.

A light flashed, indicating that the commercial break was almost over.

"Do you have any questions before we begin?" she asked.

If Kyouko had any, she was too nervous to remember them, and seasoned veteran, Ren, was ready to go.

Another light flashed, indicating that they were on air and Emi pointed a dazzling smile to the camera.

"We're back on with our highly anticipated guests, Tsuruga Ren and Kyouko, giving their first interview since their agency, LME confirmed their relationship. Everyone please give them a warm welcome," she said.

The last sentence was likely unneeded, as the audience all stood, clapping and cheering their enthusiastic greetings to the couple.

Ren and Kyouko both smiled at the audience, the girl giving a slight bow of the head.

"Thank you for joining us tonight," Emi said, signaling the audience to quiet their applause.

"Not at all," Ren said, "The pleasure is all ours."

Kyouko smiled and her quiet assent.

"I'm sure everyone here feels very fortunate to have you here. Especially considering the tight lid that has been kept on information about your relationship. As I mentioned earlier, LME released a statement confirming your relationship, but I'm sure our audience will recall rumors of a romantic connection between the two of you significantly earlier than that statement was released."

A screen behind the trio on stage suddenly lit up, displaying the infamous photo.

Kyouko blushed.

"Can you shed some light as to why there was such a delay between the start of the rumors and the announcement of your relationship?" Emi asked.

Ren smiled.

"That's because we weren't dating at the time the rumors began," he said. "It was not until shortly before the announcement was made that we began seeing each other."

Emi had the same shocked reaction Chiaki had when they first told her, so they were prepared for the onslaught of questions that followed.

"But what about the picture?" she asked. "You two certainly look very intimate in it."

"That was a misunderstanding," Kyouko said, without stuttering at all, and only blushing a little. "I was originally only supposed to appear in one episode of Selling. It was an on location shoot, and at the time Ren was the only person I knew, so we sat together on the bus. I suppose I must have been overly nervous, because I didn't sleep enough the night before and ended up using poor Ren as a pillow."

"It looks like Tsuruga-san found an equally comfortable pillow in you, Kyouko-san," Emi said.

Kyouko blushed brighter.

"Well, even if you weren't dating at that time, would you say that you began your relationship as an onset romance?"she asked.

Kyouko glanced at Ren to make sure he wasn't going to speak before she answered.

"No, actually. Though we began dating after we both began our roles for Selling, we've known each other for a lot longer than that, and I think our feelings changed slowly over time," she said.

"Eh? When did you begin having feelings for each other?" Emi asked.

"Ah, um, It's hard for me to say when exactly they changed for me," Kyouko said, blushing brighter with every word. "But it's true that I've had profound respect for Ren from the first time I ever had the pleasure of seeing him act. Then, as we got to know each other, he just became a bigger and bigger part of my life."

Emi smiled at the girl. Though her words alone might have seemed bland or devoid of feeling, the way she blushed as she glanced at the man to her side, and the way her hand never left his showed that her feelings went deeper than her words could express.

"What about you, Tsuruga-san?" Emi asked. "When would you say your feelings for Kyouko-san began."

"I would say that Kyouko gave a very accurate representation of the development of our relationship," Ren said. "It began with mutual respect, which developed into friendship, and I can hardly say when that friendship turned into love. The more I got to know Kyouko, the more I cared."

"But there must have been a time when you realized that you felt more than friendship," Emi said, staring them both down.

"I suppose I realized it when a friend tried to point out the love in my own life," Ren said, giving Kyouko a significant look.

"Oh?" Emi asked.

"It was around the time the scenes we were filming for Dark Moon were getting very intense and Katsuki, my character, was having to portray a love of equal intensity," Ren said. "That friend told me that when you love someone, just a few words or a seemingly insignificant action on their part can make you happy. For me that person was Kyouko."

"So you've loved Kyouko-san as long as that and you just recently started dating?" Emi asked. "Why did it take so long?"

"It's meaningless to begin a relationship if both parties are not ready," Ren said.

"Eh? It sounds like it was a one sided love," Emi said.

Kyouko did not like the way Ren was being teased just because she hadn't had the ability to love.

"It's not that it was a one sided love," Kyouko said, blushing. "I was just extremely slow to acknowledge my own feelings. When the other party is someone you respect and look up to so much, someone you have been so used to viewing only in one capacity, the idea that they could have other feelings for you seems too good to be true."

Ren smiled at Kyouko adoringly and squeezed her hand.

The entirely of the female audience swooned, and even Emi blushed slightly.

"You seem to be entirely aware of your feelings now," Emi said, recovering.

"I am," Kyouko confirmed.

"Up until quite recently though, there seemed to be rumors that your feelings were wavering between Tsuruga-san and Fuwa Shou," Emi said.

"We were never anything more than childhood friends," Kyouko said with a bit more force than intended.

Emi smiled.

"Originally, Fuwa-san was invited to join us," Emi said.

Kyouko kept her face carefully blank. She had not been informed of that.

"Unfortunately, it seems he is busy, hard at work writing songs for a whole new album," Emi said. "He did however give us a statement. Would you like to hear it?"

Kyouko tensed. She had no idea what nonsense Shou could have said. He had been very angry when he'd stormed out of their meeting together. He could say some very damaging things if he wanted to.

Kyouko put on her professional smile however, and responded, "I'd love to."

Emi smiled back and pulled a sheet of paper forward from the back of her stack of notes.

"When we spoke to Fuwa-san, he told us, 'Kyouko was a very important part of my early life, and though we have unfortunately fallen mostly out of contact since we both joined separate sectors of the entertainment industry, I hope our friendship will continue and that we will encourage each other to do our best through our friendly competition. I wish her all the best in her career and in her relationship,'" Emi read.

Kyouko was dumbfounded, and it showed on her face.

"You look surprised, Kyouko-san," Emi said. "Were you expecting something else?"

"Ah, um, I am a little surprised," Kyouko said. "I wasn't expecting something so nice— I mean, usually he's more teasing toward me. It doesn't sound like the boy I grew up with. But, um, I'm very touched by his kind wishes."

Kyouko plastered on a wide smile. She truly didn't know how to feel about the statement. It was a complete 180 from his behavior the last time she'd seen him. It was hard to believe that he could become so gracious in such a short space of time. She pushed her confusion aside and decided to find out whether she believed him or not later. For now, she smiled and waited for the next question.

"Well, then, there you have it," Emi said, facing the camera again, "the true connection between actress, Kyouko and singer Fuwa Shou. We'll be back with more about new couple, Tsuruga Ren and Kyouko after a word from our sponsors."

The cameras stopped rolling as the commercials played. Emi smiled out at the audience. Kyouko's heartbeat sounded in her own ears.

Ren gave her hand a gentle squeeze and she looked up at him. He was smiling encouragingly.

She could do this. Ren was with her.

AN: This chapter is longer than usual and I still couldn't fit all of the interview in it! Oh well, more to look forward to? ;) Thanks for reading, reviewing, subscribing etc. Feel free to leave me a review if you'd like to let me know what you think :D