RESCUE.
"You done fleeing already?" Reino slowly inched forward with small, light steps - almost like a predator that was about to pounce on it's prey. "Such a shame! I do love a good chase, but oh well."
"Wh-Wh-Wh-Why?" Kyoko stuttered hysterically, her voice quivering with trepidation. Her shoulders pressed against the sides of her neck as she continued to shrink against the tree trunk. "Wh-Why me?"
"Don't you remember?" He bent down, leaning close to her until his face was only inches apart from hers. "I already told you. I'll take everything that belongs to Sho Fuwa."
"I don't belong to him or anyone!" Kyoko had intended it to be a shout but it only came out as a hoarse whisper. "Let me go! I don't have anything to do with him!"
"That's not how he sees it though," Reino's pale lips spread into a creepy smirk, sending a chill down Kyoko's back. His face was so close that she cool feel his breath on her cheek. She cocked her head away to the side and retched. Everything about him from his hair to his skin was deadly pale, and it was making her nauseous almost as if he wasn't human.
Kyoko was disgusted by the thought that at some point she had found his ghoulish features attractive. "So what? What he thinks of me doesn't mean anything," she pointed out hopefully.
"I don't care what Fuwa thinks," Reino closed his long fingers around one of Kyoko's wrists and roughly pulled her up. "All I know is that I want you."
Once she was standing straight, he snaked his arm around her stomach and caged her in while maintaining a firm grasp on her wrist. Her back tightly pressed against his chest.
With the exception of the movement of her chest bobbing up and down, Kyoko was frozen. Completely paralyzed, when their skins made contact. Just like last time, and the time before that.
She wanted to wrench away from his touch, to some place where she could be free from the torment of his dark eyes, which were greedily feasting on the sight of every inch of her body. Even with the layers of the thick, dark gown draped around her form, she felt as though she was naked.
"Not gonna fight back, huh?" Reino whispered softly in her ear, as he stood behind her. His breath burned against her skin churning her stomach in revulsion, so much so that her lunch threatened to show up again. "Since you're not running, shall we begin?"
In the same forest, a few paces away, Sho Fuwa was running blindly through the maze of the endless trees. The broken branches creaked and the dry leaves rustled under his shoes as he stomped on them, moving ahead without any sense of direction.
Cupping his hands around his mouth, he yelled as loud as he could manage through his gasping lungs, "Kyoko!"
Besides the fluttering of some crow's wings, which flew away, angrily cawing at him for disrupting their peace, and also the eerie chirping of the crickets, all he received in reply was sullen silence.
"Kyoko!" He called out to her again, louder this time but to no avail. He increased his pace and sprinted ahead.
Is she even here? Sho thought as he pushed his tired body to the limit, ignoring the painful tinge in the sore muscles of his legs, which were begging him to stop. His lungs were threatening to burst, but he ignored them as well, gulping the sweet air of the forest to keep himself going. He didn't care that Kyoko hated him, or that she would never want his help. All he knew was that he wasn't about to leave without making sure she was safe, no matter what it took.
What Sho didn't know was that when Kyoko found herself cornered by Reino in the empty forest, he was the first person who popped in her mind whom she hoped would come to rescue her.
Shall we begin...?
When Reino had spoken those words to her, Kyoko was terrified, to the point she thought wasn't humanly possible. In that moment of sheer fright, her only hope and salvation was Sho, since he was the only person who knew about her stalker. Before she even realized what she was thinking, she silently played for her nemesis to come and rescue her.
"I can't wait to see Fuwa's face," Reino said softly in a seductive voice. Kyoko couldn't actually see his face, but she could feel the cruel smile on his lips, as they were pressed against her skin. "It will be so much fun when he finally finds out what I did to you. I bet it will be way worse than when he learned about his latest song being stolen by us." He chuckled lightly. "There's no way he can write a new one so quickly, but that persistent fool's trying anyway. He still hasn't even figured out that we'll copy that one too."
It all started making sense to Kyoko. What it meant when Shouko told her about Sho being depressed and why she found him writing a new song earlier. Rage burned inside her almost bursting her veins with a fresh supply of adrenaline. Using this new boost of energy, she finally moved her lips just enough to mumble, "you are not just imitating him anymore, but..." Her voice trailed off.
"That's right," Reino let go of her wrist and instead, reached for the zipper of her dress on the back of her neck. He tugged it down all the way to her waist, keeping his other hand busy fondling the tips of her hair on the nape of her neck. "It's his fault for giving us a chance to steal it in the first place."
The cool breeze touched the bare skin of Kyoko when he unzipped her gown, making her shiver. More from fear and shame than from the cold. He traced his fingers across her creamy back down to her lumber region. When the zipper wouldn't go down even further, he ripped it off.
He whisked his hand beneath her shoulder and cupped one of her breasts while his other hand moved up and down her back. He kept exploring her body for a long moment before he finally leaned even closer.
Wrapping his hands around her chest, he pulled her close enough to crush her back against him, and tugged off the sleeve of her dress from the ball of her shoulder. He gently swept his hand around her neck one last time, before he pressed his face on it, holding her chin in place. At first, he only showered her neck with soft, moist kissed but soon his movements became more aggressive as he nuzzled at the spot between her neck and her shoulders. His teeth sank sharply into her flesh as he nibbled at it.
Using all her strength, Kyoko finally struggled to wrench away from him but he firmly held her in place. When she realized that it was no use to fight back, she stopped. Instead, in order to distract herself from the nightmare she was going through, she asked the question burning on the top of her mind. "Why are you doing this? Going so far to take down Sho. Is it a grudge?"
"Grudge?" With his lips still pressed against her skin, he chuckled. The sound of his laughter reverberated throughout her body, sending ripples of shock. "It's nothing like that. It was only a coincidence. An agency happened to look for a new band they could hire that would copy Fuwa's style in return of the agency representing them. Our intentions aligned and so came the Vie Ghouls. Personally, though, I just thought it would be fun."
"Fun?" Kyoko's eyes bulged out.
"Oh yes," his lips curled. "Fuwa always had such a calm look on TV so I thought it would be fun to watch him fall. For me, it was not for something so flashy as money or fame. I don't care about either of those, so long as I get to see his face twist in remorse."
All the fear which was consuming Kyoko from the inside out vanished without a trace, and it was replaced with burning anger and disgust. With one final swoosh, she twisted free from his grasp and jerked away from him.
Reino was about to chase after her, but he stopped when he noticed that she wasn't running away in the first place. Instead, she just stood there are a few feet away from him. Her hazel eyes burning with a cold fury as she glared at him.
Sho limped ahead as fast as he could manage through his wobbly legs, which wasn't very fast. Despite his bursting lungs, he stubbornly refused to rest until he found Kyoko.
He finally halted to a stop when he saw something dark flash between the thick cover of the trees. He followed it.
When Sho was near enough to see, it turned out to be Reino and Kyoko. To his surprise, the two were only standing there, staring at each other. Reino with shock and Kyoko trying to eviscerate him on the spot using her death stare.
Calling it a 'death stare' was putting it mildly, because the way Kyoko's eyes were sparkling with hatred, she could have drilled holes into Reino's skull. It seemed as though she was trying to murder him with the sheer force of her eyes. The inner darkness from the most desolate corner of her heart was put out on display on her face for him to see. It was so terrifying to witness, that the temperature of the forest probably reached below zero degrees. Her aura was so cold that it could've easily turned the moisture in the air into sheets of ice. At that moment, she wasn't Kyoko anymore. Everything about her, from her looks to her aura had her character's name written on it, Mio.
"I can't forgive..." Her voice was a hiss, as sweet as poison. It trailed off as she was literally shaking from anger. Through gritted teeth, she muttered, "I'm so angry right now that I can burn myself to a crisp. How dare he lose to you rotten plagarists?"
"The one you can't forgive is him?" Reino raised an eyebrow. "Did I miss something?"
"It's obvious. As long as he stays in this industry, he must stay at the top no matter what. For him to lose to someone, it was never supposed to happen!"
"Why do you care?" Disappointment clouded Reino's face. "Don't tell me that you're still secretly in love with him."
"Don't utter such nonsense!"
"Then what? Deep down, you've forgiven him? Is that it?"
"Wrong!" The next time Kyoko unsealed her lips, the truth which she had been holding in for so long came tumbling out of her mouth. "The real reason why I can't forgive him for losing to someone else is because the one to make him feel fear and despair for the first time as he comes crashing back from the top, it has to be me!"
Each word hit Sho like a bullet straight to his heart, and for the first time he was consumed by remorse for what he did.
"The gap between you and me is far greater than the sky and the earth," she continued. "My desperation and desire to see him loose is much more than your petty sense of amusement. I'll never hand him over to you! He is not yours to destroy! He is my prey!"
Sho grabbed a nearby tree for support. The shock of what he had just heard made him paralyze, and the hair on the back of his neck stood up straight. He had earlier thought that this girl was deep down still the same Kyoko he grew up with, but he couldn't have been more wrong. The Kyoko he knew would never have said those words no matter what. He reminded himself to inhale when he realized he forgotten to breathe.
"Fuwa, goodness, I finally caught up with you!"
Suddenly, Sho turned sharply at the sound and found Ogata behind him, huffing and puffing like he had just ran here all the way from the set.
When the Director heard about Kyoko's stalker, he notified a few members of the staff to look for her in the forest and then came out himself following Sho's track.
"Did... you find... her?" The Director inquired between gasps. He followed Sho's pointed finger between the trees and found Kyoko not far ahead. The vocalist of the Vie Ghouls was there as well.
"Whatever," Reino blinked uninterestingly. "You don't have to you get so worked up about it. Don't worry, I have no intention of fighting you over Sho Fuwa. I don't have such intense obsession with him anyway. You can keep him. From now on, I'll stop messing with him."
Kyoko frowned suspiciously. She found it hard to believe that Reino was the type to just give on something just because she asked him to. She knew better that to trust his word.
"Besides," a corner of Reino's mouth quirked up in a lopsided smirk, almost as if he had heard her thoughts. "I've found someone much more interesting in his place. I'll stop harassing Sho Fuwa, and simply start on you."
"Wh-Wh-Wh-What?" Kyoko slowly started stepping back as her fear returned. "But you won't get anything out of me!"
"That's not true," stepping close to her, he raised his arms and gently cupped her face in his hands as he whispered in a quiet, hushed tone. "You really hate Fuwa from every ounce of your being. I don't know what he did to you to make you hate him so much and I don't care either. What I want is to take his place in your heart. I want you to hate me like that. You and I, we're the same. No one can even comprehend the darkness that resides in us. You have no idea how breathtaking you looked when you glared at me with those cold eyes of yours. Only Sho's name is enough to make your black aura radiate, so I'll do something much worse to you than what he did. Then will you please, for my sake, get so angry again?" He kept slowly inching his face towards hers as he spoke.
Once again, Kyoko found herself motionless under his touch. She wanted to fight back, but her strength had dissolved away into nothing. And in it's wake left only cold terror. Her body went numb, her eyes fixated on the sight of those pale lips of him which were coming in as he leaned down to kiss her.
Their lips almost brushed when Reino suddenly jerked away from her to dodge an incoming punch. It was from no other than whom Kyoko had been expecting. After everything that happened between Sho and her, she never thought she would ever be this grateful to see him. Relief flooded inside her.
Sho pounce on Reino. Having his first punch dodged, he tried again, but this time Reino easily blocked it by cupping his fist. "Just when things were finally starting to get good. The hero shows up to save the day!" Reino chuckled amusingly.
"You're dead!" Sho squinted his eyes dangerously as he released another punch at him. Reino embraced himself for the hit but it never came, because Ogata had already snaked his arms around Sho's shoulder to pull him back.
"Stop!" The Director shouted.
"Let go!" Sho screamed as he struggled to wrench free out of Ogata's grasp, but the frail man turned out to be surprisingly strong. Glaring at Reino through his cold, sharp eyes, he muttered promisingly, "that face of yours, I'm gonna rough it up so bad that you won't even dare appear on TV again!"
"You can't," Ogata tightened his grip. "Listen to me, Fuwa. I know you want to help Kyoko, but if you raise a hand against him, the situation will only get more out of control. No matter the reason, if you resort to violence, it will only make you look bad in the eyes of the press. Our only safe option is to call the police."
"Sure, go ahead." Reino smirked. "I don't mind."
All three heads cocked at him in surprise.
"Since I didn't even get a chance to kiss her, the charges pressed against will be nothing serious. I will easily get a bail. My lawyers will make sure of that." A cocky smile made its way to his lips as he turned to look at Kyoko straight into the eyes. "However, can't say the same about you though. You will be known as the girl who was almost raped by the famous vocalist of Vie Ghouls. Since people are not yet familiar with the name Kyoko Mogami, the headlines will probably say, 'Mio of Dark Moon assaulted by celebrity in broad daylight.'"
"I wasn't assaulted!" Kyoko shouted hysterically. She had been too afraid before you even consider how this incident would affect her role and her career, but now that she finally thought about it, panic crept inside her. "You said it yourself! You didn't even kiss me! Nothing happened!"
Reino smirked again as eyes greedily traveled down Kyoko's body. "That may be true, but it doesn't sound very convincing when you look like that." The green shade of Kyoko's beautiful embroidered dress was washed up in brown mud. It was tattered in different places, along with her dark stockings, which were ripped as well. Her zipper had been pulled all the way down to her waist, and was also broken, revealing her back and the thin strip of her brassiere.
Reino went on, "Regardless of the truth, your image will forever be stained."
"Your career will be affected as well if this incident goes public," Ogata reminded him, but Reino ignored the Director. His smile didn't waver an inch as if career wasn't even worth considering. "Kyoko," Ogata turned to her. "It's your decision to make. What should we do? Do you want me to call the police?"
Kyoko looked down. Her voice sounded rough when she finally answered, as if each word was forced out of her throat. "No. I can't let anyone find out..."
"Are you insane?" Sho barked at her. "You're so worried about your stupid image that you're gonna play right into his hands and let him walk away? So what if they find out? Instead of hiding it, use this story in a positive way to sell your name!"
"No!" Kyoko snapped back. She slowly raised her head back up and her eyes were smoldering embers of hazel fire. "I don't give a damn about my own image. However, I'll not allow Mio's name to be tarnished by the likes of him."
"What?" Sho shot a questioning look at Ogata, but the Director was just as perplexed.
"I'll not let Mio's image be stained. She is my first character. In spite of everything, I learned to love her with all my heart so I can build her up. She's supposed to be as graceful and proud as a highborn princess. To put a stain on her before the show even airs, I will not let that happen!" Tears simmered in her eyes silently and Ogata immediately rushed to her side. He took off his coat and hung it on her shoulder before he rocked her back to console her.
"So I guess we're done with here!" Reino's uninterested eyes swept across their faces, staying on Kyoko at last. "For now," he added threateningly, before he turned and started walking away.
"Hey bastard!" Sho shouted after him. "Just wait a second! You think you just get to walk off like that after what you did? I won't let you run!"
"I'm not running." Reino looked back without actually turning. "Kyoko had just said it herself how much her character means to her. Since I want her to hate me, I'm gonna tell the press about what happened here myself."
Kyoko gasped, her eyes with desperation. "No!" She cried. Sho sprinted after Reino to stop him before it was too late.
