Chapter 6

One week later "Smackdown" show….

Stephanie McMahon hurries along through the arena hallways like a woman on some kind of mission. She's successfully managed both Raw and Smackdown taping time and again, but every show had it's challenges. There was absolutely no time to slack off now.

Struggling to keep up and listen to every detailed instruction coming from the ambitious young McMahon was Tomoko. Tomoko arrived backstage looking beautiful as usual. So much more sexier than the other diva's, but with all the innocence and nervousness of a rookie. Stephanie had a limo pick her up from home, take her to the airport and then had a driver take her straight to the arena. Tomoko barely had time to mentally prepare for the chaos she was in for. Shane had mentioned Stephanie would take care of introductions when Tomoko arrived at the taping. Well, if you consider "Hey guys this is Tomoko" rattled off quickly to a group of muscle bound men in tights, while literally being dragged through the arena like a freight car, than Stephanie did as Shane promised.

"John, there you are." Stephanie called as she pulled Tomoko aggressively toward John Cena who was standing near a group of other wrestlers.

When John heard his name and saw Stephanie coming toward him, he was about to roll his eyes, until he spotted the woman he had noticed at WWE headquarters a few weeks previous. Upon seeing her, he licked his lips and tried desperately to remain cool among his peers. He was John Cena after all, one of THE biggest superstars in the federation.

As Stephanie approached, Victoria came up behind John and grabbed his hand. John made his acknowledgement with a simple smile, but his eyes and attention were fixed on Tomoko.

"John, this is Tomoko." Stephanie said.

John held out his hand and as Tomoko took hold to shake it, a warmness spread through John's body like nothing he's felt before.

"Nice to meet you. Name's John."

Tomoko smiled shyly and then remembered that she had seen him before. This time though, she had a second to actually take the young man in, and quickly realized that he was a real cutie-pie. Especially now since he was standing in front of her with his shirt off.

'Starting tonight, Tomoko will be playing your personal valet." Stephanie explained. "Since this is her first night and we really haven't had time to rehearse, I think we'll just have her appear for a few seconds at the top of the ramp. Just to get the audience wandering."

John couldn't believe what a lucky bastard he was, until a nudge to the side of his ribs quickly reminded him that he wasn't really lucky at all. He turned to Victoria who literally looked like she had steam coming from her ears. John had neglected to discuss with Victoria his meeting with Stephanie the previous week. For starters, he really didn't think they would be able to find someone to play his valet so quickly, and secondly, he knew Victoria wanted that role for herself. Victoria was not used to being shown up, especially by another woman. Tomoko filling the role she so desperately wanted made it even worse, because Tomoko was the complete opposite of everything that Victoria was.

"Okay everyone, I've got to get going. Tomoko, stay with John. A writer will be by with a run down for the show to give you some direction of what you'll be doing." Stephanie placed her hand on Tomoko's arm knowing that she was extremely nervous. "Don't worry about a thing hon. You'll be fine."

As Stephanie began to leave, she whispered to John., "Take good care of her."

As soon as Stephanie was gone, Tomoko, John and Victoria stood together in what had to be the most awkward moment of silence in the history of awkward moments.

"So, Tomoko is it? Have you wrestled before?" John asked hoping that small talk would break the ice.

Tomoko shyly shook her head no as Victoria rolled her eyes.

"John, I'd like to speak with you privately." Victoria said, glaring at Tomoko as the little green monster known as jealousy slowly made it's way into her thoughts.

"You heard Steph, Tomoko and I need to go over the show. It's her first day babe, I don't want to leave her alone." John replied, truly not wanting to just leave Tomoko standing there like an idiot.

Again, Victoria rolled her eyes then grabbed John impatiently by the arm.

"I'm sure Tomoko here can take care of herself. Right hon?" Victoria asked.

Tomoko shook her head in agreement with her eyes to the floor. The way Victoria grew increasingly irritated with John made Tomoko all the more uncomfortable. Victoria continued.

"Now come on John damn it. You're wasting my time just standing around here."

With that, Victoria literally dragged John away off to her dressing room for a little "discussion."

As Tomoko stood by herself feeling like a fish out of water, Shane McMahon started walking towards her with a group of other executives. Tomoko placed a hand above her brow hoping he wouldn't notice her. This night was already off to a bad start and she was quickly feeling as if she's made a huge mistake by being here.

Shane almost completely by passed Tomoko as he was yakking it up, but then caught a glimpse of her at the last second.

"Tomoko, what's up? Where's Steph?"

Tomoko stood looking at Shane and the other men.

"She had to do some things."

Shane laughed, "So she left you here by yourself? What the hell's her problem?" Shane said looking at his buddies. There was a part of him that truly felt bad for Tomoko being left all alone, and there was another part that was playing the role of concerned and caring co-owner of the WWE for the benefit of the other executives, all of which were friends of his dad.

"No Shane, it wasn't like that. She left me with John Cena. I'm just waiting for him to get back."

Shane raised an eyebrow. Meanwhile, Tomoko just wanted Shane to leave. After their past history, she didn't know if she would ever be able to feel normal around him, regardless of how nice or charming he was to her. Shane placed a caring and on her arm.

"Well, okay, I'll send one of my assistant's to get his ass back over here. We've got a show to do and I don't want you sitting here by yourself wandering what the hell you're supposed to do." He smiled at her warmly and then left winking.

Back in Victoria's dressing room, Victoria did her best to rip John a new one.

"What the hell was that all about John. I'm supposed to be your fucking valet remember? Didn't you talk to Stephanie?"

John stood there just wanting to get back to Tomoko as quickly as possible. He couldn't wait to start working with her and beyond that he hated when Victoria was in one of her "moods."

"Listen babe, I did talk to Stephanie. I don't make the decisions. All I can do is ask."

Victoria turned away absolutely pissed off. She huffed around the room like a Tasmanian devil. Then she walked right up to John, got in his face and said.

"Well ask again superstar."

Quickly thereafter, she stomped out of the room and slammed the door. John stood there thinking to himself, why do I put up with this crap? Then quickly rushed off to find Tomoko.