Fight Like the Devil

A/N: *publishes this* *runs away*

As usual, this is for ASubtleCuddle because I love her.

Please enjoy!

. . .

Kyoko's fists curled at her sides as she looked at Yashiro. "You're... you're joking," she managed.

He pressed his lips together and shook his head. "Afraid not. Sawara-san emailed me, asking if we could pick him up after the shoot." At first, he wondered why he was sent this information but the expression on Kyoko's face made it clear that it was important. "I take it, it's all right to take another passenger?"

Kyoko hadn't seen Kuon in weeks since he played her manager... since she was sick. She was well enough to go back to work the next day but he disappeared after dropping her off at the Lotus shoot before they could talk. It wasn't like last time where she went out of her way to avoid him. She would have met with him if there had been the opportunity. Except she'd been unbelievably busy. He was, too.

She never got his new number because they weren't as close as Ren and Kyoko were. And she didn't want to ask anyone at the office because she didn't know who knew the truth.

So, of course, the next time she heard about Kuon, he was sitting pretty on the set of Sho Fuwa's new PV. She hadn't even known Sho was back in Japan. Neither of those boys failed to amaze her...

Smiling, she shook the thought from her head. "I'll do you one better," she said.

Yashiro blinked. Kyoko's scheming face never meant anything good when Fuwa was involved. But he knew better than to question her when they were still on set. Nobody could be sure who was listening to what. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"How about we meet him there?" Kyoko asked brightly. She smoothed out the ruffled on her blouse. "You think I can one-take the rest of the shoot?"

The break was almost over and she wanted to get this over with. There was no way she'd try this a year ago but that was then. This was now. She had better places to be than a commercial shoot that only hired her because they thought Natsu was "sexy". Really, she kept hitting misses with her casting agreements. The only thing she's been truly content with lately has been Lotus... even Bo had been hard to get into after Ren's bomb.

"Kyoko-chan..."

"Don't worry, Yashiro." Kyoko grinned as she started for the set. She turned over her shoulder and winked. "I learned from the best."

#

Kyoko managed to mostly keep her promise of one-taking the rest of the shoot-there was only one scene they had to redo twice but she firmly maintained that it was her coworker's fault for stumbling over the line. She didn't even take her makeup off before darting to the backseat of Yashiro's car; she barely took the time to change into her street clothes.

They were on the road less than ten minutes after the shoot wrapped. And they were at the studio in fifteen.

Yashiro kept himself from wilting under Kyoko's sudden intensity as she burst into the studio. There was a part of him that worried if her sudden interest in Kuon would overshadow her interest in Ren. At the same time... if she was truly happy... who was he to complain?

"You know, I always expect something stupid from Sho but not from Tsuru-him," she said under her breath as they were waved through to the sound stage. Maybe she didn't expect this from Tsurugua-san but Kuon kept proving to her that she shouldn't have such high expectations from the so-called newbie actor. Maybe the 'real' Tsuruga-san was more impulsive than he let on.

That, or he had a death wish.

"I didn't think you knew Kuon-san that well," Yashiro said breathlessly. He could hardly keep up with her speed walk but he knew he didn't want to miss whatever happened when she caught up to Fuwa's shoot.

Kyoko didn't slow down to recall Yashiro (somehow) didn't know the truth behind Kuon's identity. Instead, she called over her shoulder: "Just because his face is different, he's still the same."

"Just because his face is..." His brow crumbled as he came to a barreling stop behind her. Except when he looked at her to attempt to put the puzzle together, her attention was plastered instead to the medieval set. He kept himself from interrupting her staring contest with nobody and settled to solve the situation on his own.

"What is that idiot doing?" Kyoko narrowed her eyes.

If this was a different scenario, she would be impressed with the set-up of Sho's shoot. The sets were more elaborate than when she had done the Prisoner PV all that time ago and the costumes were just as beautiful. Once again, Sho's directorial team had opted for a fantastical setting and every inch of the sound stage looked straight out of a picture book. Sho was dressed in a traditional prince's outfit, covered from head to toe in frills and velvet that would have made the singer break into hives a year ago.

And Kuon... and really, this was where Kyoko doubted the observation skills of everyone on set... was fitted in a pirate costume that hung off his body in carefully-placed shreds. A brown wig completed the look. A brown wig. How could they look at him and not immediately place him as Tsuruga Ren?

The story of today's shoot seemed simple: The Prince fought the Pirate in an impressive sword fight over a princess. Both Kyoko and Yashiro were happy to report that the princess in question was a mere generic princess, played by a no-name actress.

Kyoko watched as the director called for another take and the crew fell into a seamless movement. So far, nobody had noticed her or Yashiro waiting in the darkened corner. She sighed. The shoots she'd been on recently hadn't been this smooth and she found herself aching to be on the stage even if she'd rather choke than bee in another PV with Sho. She'd had enough of working on his PVs for the rest of her life.

Action. The stage filled with the pop-y beat of Sho's upcoming single about lost love and the men fell easily into their choreographed fight sequence. Jab. Slash. Dodge. Jump. Slash. Ja-

"Ah!"

Kuon jumped back, dropping his sword and clutching his shoulder. It took another second for the Sho to clue in and unhand his own weapon. Another for the music to stop. The set froze in unmistakable silence.

"If you understand tempo enough to write music, how can you screw up simple choreography?" Kyoko screeched, breaking the silence.

Dozens of heads whipped around to her unexpected outburst, watching as she stormed from her corner to where Sho and Kuon stood in the center. Yashiro trotted helplessly behind her. He was as surprised as the rest of the set to witness the accidental damage-but he was bewildered at Kyoko's reaction. The only one he ever expected her to get this riled up about was Ren. But Kuon?

"Kyoko?" Sho's concern melted into surprise as he turned from his co-star to assess the woman yelling at him. It sounded like Kyoko. But the way her hair and makeup were done, he wouldn't recognize her off the bat if he'd passed her on the street.

Which wasn't to say she looked wholly unlike herself. It only meant that he'd have to take a second look before realizing his childhood best friend was in front of him. "What are you doing here?"

"You could have killed him!" she shouted. "What's wrong with you?"

Sho rolled his eyes. Whatever she was doing here, she was already taking everything out of proportion. He'd overstepped a bit but it was nothing serious. "You're overreacting."

"It's not too bad, Kyoko-senpai," Kuon interrupted softly. "Please don't worry."

"Don't defend-" Of course Ren-as-Kuon would defend Sho in this situation. Why wouldn't he? Kuon must not hate Sho like Ren did. She whipped around to face Kuon, ready to yell at him for defending the person who just assaulted him when her mouth ran dry.

Beneath Kuon's hand, red blossomed against the thin linen of his pirate shirt. The face he wore disguised none of the pain. Kyoko swallowed hard. "You're bleeding."

"What are you doing here, Kyoko?" Sho said loudly. She wasn't supposed to be concerned with some nobody actor, even if he was bleeding (a little bit, nothing serious). "Have enough time on your hands to pick up strays off the street?"

"LME requested we pick up Kuon when the shoot wrapped. Kyoko-chan's work finished early, so we were watching." Yashiro interjected. He bowed deeply. "Please pardon our intrusion."

"You don't need to make up lies for her, Glasses." Sho snorted. He recognized her manager right away as Tsuruga's old manager. Him, too? He definitely had better things to do than babysit Kyoko and worry over a starting out actor. Unless the rumors were true and Tsuruga quit acting? "She's an actress and could probably come up with a better excuse than that."

"Sho," Shoko scolded. "You're not helping."

"Neither is Kyoko yelling at me!"

Kyoko sighed. "Let's get you out of here, Kuon... kun." She still couldn't bring herself to drop that honorific as she awkwardly wrapped an arm around his torso. Tsuruga-san was still there under the Kuon facade, even if she wanted to make a point to Sho. "I'll get you cleaned up since nobody else on this set seems interested in doing their jobs properly."

Sho yelled something back at her, but she tuned him out as she ushered Kuon from the stage into the hallway. Nobody followed. Kyoko didn't know if she should be thanking the universe or Yashiro for the luck. They followed the signs to the green room, relishing the quiet as the stage doors closed behind them.

"What were you thinking, agreeing to work on this?" Kyoko asked as the door closed behind them. She dropped Kuon at the table in the center of the room, before rushing to grab the first aid kit stashed in the back corner. "I thought you hated Sho."

"You starred in his PV for Prisoner." Kuon licked his lips, swallowing hard. His eyes moved from Kyoko's angry face and found a distraction in the packet of sugar someone left on the table. It wasn't supposed to be this hard to do the stupid video. He was an actor who starred in movies and drama to high acclaim, for god's sake. That didn't mean anything when he was working his way up from the bottom. Even if his acting skills were the same, nobody took him seriously, least of all the Sho Fuwa, who mocked him when he tripped up the choreography during rehearsal. "I wanted to follow in my senpai's footsteps."

"You can drop the act, Tsuruga-san; nobody's here but us. You can speak openly with me."

Kuon shook his head. "And you looked so beautiful-no, stunning-that I thought, maybe he couldn't have been too bad if his song evoked such a wonderful version of you.

"I..." Her tongue went dry. There were a hundred and one things she wanted to tell him. Like how her hatred stalled production. How she still hated what Sho had done to her, even if she couldn't bring herself to hate the man himself anymore. Or ask him when he'd even seen the PV when he seemed to hate Sho more than she ever did. But all she could focus on was 'stunning.' He thought she was stunning.

She took a deep breath, digging up the words from her chest and refocusing on the man in front of her. He hasn't looked like Tsuruga Ren in months but this man, even as Kuon was unfamiliar to her. A stranger she really, really wanted to get to know.

But she didn't know how to say that without being stupid or naive, so the words out of her mouth were: "You're bleeding again."

Kuon looked down, breaking the spell of whatever had fallen over them. He felt his face revert to the tight, calculated face he used as Ren. "I will say, his aim was impeccable. Remind me never to get into a sword fight with sharpened weapons with the guy."

"It's not too deep," she said softly. She reached out and pushed his opened shirt aside. "A few butterfly bandages and a shirt change and you should be fine."

They remained in an amicable silence as Kyoko pried his shirt off and got to work on cleaning his wound. The only sounds in the room were the sounds of opening packages and soft gasps as the hydrogen peroxide hit his skin. She whispered apologies under her breath as she pressed the skin together to apply the butterfly bandages and told him to stop being a baby when she covered the wound with a square of cotton batting and wrapped gauze around his shoulder and torso. Soon enough, the gauze was taped in place and there was no reason to stand so close anymore. Her fingers lingered there, brushing the edge of where the gauze met with his skin. He shivered.

"Kyoko," he whispered.

She stifled a gasp, looking up to him only to realize their faces were centimeters away. Too close. Too close for him to be saying her name like that. He pressed a kiss to her cheek, pulling away to watch her reaction.

Her hand trailed up to touch her cheek. "What was that for?"

"I'm sorry for all of this." He smiled wryly. "Putting you through all this was unfair."

Any response she could have mustered up was smothered by the briefest brush of his lips against hers. He was gone in an instant, halfway across the room. Kuon didn't look back as he pulled the door open. But his next words lingered in the air long after the door closed behind him:

"This will all be over soon, I promise."

~ End Chapter Five ~

A/N: Can you believe my fic outline tells me that there are only 3 chapters left of this? Shoot your best predictions for how this ends in the review box!

Questions? Comments? Concerns? Leave a Review!