DISCLAIMER: SKIP BEAT! and its associated characters are the work of Yoshiki Nakamura. This author claims no ownership of Skip Beat or any of its characters.

Em-dash issue fixed 01/18/2022

Ren Tsuruga hated kissing in the rain.

It wasn't just the clammy, wet clothes. Or the slightly musty, tepid smell of water from the 'rain machine' tanks. It was the inherent grossness of trying to make a kiss look believable when that musty water inevitably mixed with your kissing partner's hair product and makeup and then dripped from their nose and then directly onto your lips. Or the multiple retakes that were almost always needed because water does strange things to hair and makeup—and actresses don't like to look like drowned rats in their movies. Or just...trying not to drown under a deluge. The worst part was when the actress turned her head sideways—he supposed they did it because it made them look more attractive to the camera, but it almost always forced water up his nostrils. He thanked his lucky stars that no one had decided to have him hang upside down while an actress kissed him, like that one dude in that American superhero movie. He imagined it would've been like being waterboarded.

Ren groaned. He didn't understand why writers loved the trope. Normal people simply don't go kissing each other in thunderstorms. Wouldn't most people realize they couldn't really see each other and find a tree to shelter under or something? And why did these scenes always happen in the most picturesque of places? There was always some kind of pretty meadow, or forest, or beach, or—in this case—a seaside cliff. Always something rural and awkward to make sloshing around in wet shoes miserable. Even when it WASN'T a kissing scene, it was still miserable—like that one time during Forest of Spiral's shooting where he'd powered through a rain scene with a high fever unnecessarily because an actress couldn't get the word "suspicious" out of her mouth.

Ren treated kissing-in-the-rain scenes like a more uncomfortable version of stage combat. In fact, he treated all romance scenes as variations on stage combat—and he did all his stunts himself. He honestly preferred combat to the kissing scenes. At least fight scenes didn't require you to trade fluids—bodily or otherwise—with a near—stranger. A few choreographed punches, sure, but he had tasted someone else's lunch or breakfast on an actress's breath too often to find even the thought of staged kisses appealing anymore. A gentleman would never kiss and tell, but it was one reason why Ren was so fastidious with his hygiene. Thankfully, his movies had generally been light on the kissing end of things. Generally, whenever he'd had romantic roles in the past, they'd been the kind of movie where the actor and actress gravitate around one another until the one big kissing scene right before the end credits. Even Dark Moon, for all its romantic tension, hadn't had a kissing scene until the last episode. He'd been really happy about that, because by the time they were finishing up the drama, Itsumi-san felt too much like a guy friend's younger sister. He was half afraid he could only manage Katsuki because Kyoko was usually nearby.

Still, Ren was an actor and a professional. And a professional did his work with precision and grace. He always had. He'd fucked up many things in his life, but he'd always had confidence in Ren Tsuruga's work ethic.

Err.

That is, until Dragons of Memory started shooting.

Dragons of Memory had been pitched to him as Seiji Shingai's newest project. He liked working with Shingai, and the director had requested him again for this movie. The Route project was still casting and scouting for shooting locations, so he'd had the time needed for an in-between project. And Shingai was great. Ren saw him as someone who shared his views on professionalism, though shooting Rin Doh had been particularly painful with someone as childish as Ruriko. Dragons would be Ren's fourth film with Shingai, and if people were starting to call him Shingai's Mifune, then he'd take that accolade and run with it. When the script came for Dragons, Ren didn't think to look too closely at it. He'd thought it was going to be a yakuza flick.

It WAS a yakuza flick. Just...not the normal kind. It was a yakuza-romance flick. It was the story of Ryusei, one of Tokyo's youngest lieutenants, the murder of his younger brother, and his subsequent flight back to his rural village—where he finds Tomoe, a childhood friend grown into a beautiful woman. Ren had groaned when he realized that the movie was not going to be full of fist fights, after all. It was worse. It was a broken man falling helplessly and obsessively in love with a girl who had overcome her own tragedies and yet still retained a pure heart. They would have a short but desperate amour fou until the rest of Ryusei's gang came looking for him to revenge themselves and pin the murder on him, and Ryusei would have to decide on whether or not he could leave the girl he loved. The similarities to his real life situation were a little too on-the-nose, even for Ren. It had Lory's fingerprints all over it.

Ren had felt queasy over having to fake love with a stranger (again!), and in a story that so closely hit on aspects of his past like this one.

And then he'd found out that Shingai had chosen the script primarily with Kyoko Mogami's debut in mind. He'd been asked as a matter of course because Shingai knew he'd do the part well. And Kyoko had accepted, thanks to that go-getter-eat-everything attitude his hopeless father had instilled in her.

The queasiness turned into full-blown terror when he found out it was going to be her.

Shooting had started before he could even discuss the roles with Kyoko—given her wrapping up Lotus and his prep work for Route, they hadn't even had the time.

So now he was standing by the edge of a seaside cliff under a darkening sky. With Kyoko. About to kiss—her first on-screen kiss—in a major scene without a word of discussion between them. Underneath them, tall waves buffeted the cliffs. Above them, dark clouds were looming. They were shooting the kissing-in-the-rain scene weeks early because a storm had been forecast over the area and Shingai wanted to capture the view over the sea without having to resort to CGI. It was only the second day of shooting, and they hadn't even had the chance to shoot much else. He'd barely had the time to develop Ryusei as a full-blown character, though Kyoko's character was so much like her real self he doubted she'd had trouble.

Now, Kyoko stood, blushing fiercely, in front of him with long black hair and a white dress that fluttered like a sail in the wind. She was beet-red. She was shaking a little. She was looking anywhere but his face. He was wearing a white button-down shirt open just enough for the camera to see the temporary yakuza tattoos across his chest. The wind buffeted both of them fiercely and he moved to shield her from it. As his hands drew her in protectively, she gave out a tiny yelp.

"Are you cold, Mogami-san?"

She nodded, not looking at him.

"Just sit tight with me. They'll be ready soon."

He tried to make his arm around her feel companionable—friendly, even though he knew that was ludicrous. He never would have held another actress like this, even if she'd looked like she was going to fall off the cliff without his help. He could feel her shiver underneath his hand. He wondered if she could feel his heartbeat. The crew kept their setup going, frantically getting the shot ready before the real rain fell. They'd have the rain machines for this shoot, too, but Shingai had insisted on getting a real storm.

It was true that they knew how they felt about each other now, but they'd been physically separated for a few weeks since the day he'd confessed to her. He'd deliberately been a little bit of an asshole to her even as he was pledging his heart, but she'd taken it in her typical Kyoko manner and they were talking more often now as themselves, without crutches like Cain and Setsu helping their relationship along. Let me be your boyfriend, Kyoko—naaaah, just kidding! He'd even asked her not to wear the necklace he'd given as a mark of his love, because of the rabid fanbase that followed his every move. He'd hated that, particularly, because it had given him a little thrill to see the necklace he wore around her neck. He'd wanted her for so long he figured he could live with being hers but not touching her. And so he'd kept his hands—and his lips—off of her. If he was being honest, he might have been trying to avoid her physical presence, too.

He didn't know whether he could stop himself if he started.

He didn't know whether she wanted him like that at all.

HOW DID I GET INTO THIS SITUATION?! He suspected it was part fate, part Lory. And maybe even Shingai had figured out a little something even as far back as Rin Doh.

Kyoko's face got even redder as he shielded her from the wind. She was starting to shake.

SAY SOMETHING, Kuon, he told himself. She's going into meltdown! I don't think I can act with her. It wouldn't be acting. Is she going to be OK with this? I don't want her to be uncomfortable. I wish we'd had a little more time to just talk about it...it would be monstrous for this to be our first—err—second? Third? Fourth?!—kiss. I don't want this kiss to be acting. I don't know if I can keep myself in character—they'll figure it all out. I swear Lory knew about this—why didn't I read the script more carefully!?

And then a sobering thought. Oh god, what if Shingai had cast someone else as Ryusei!?

Kyoko's soft voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Ano...Tsu-tsuruga-san…" she said, looking away, "I...um...I.."

She trailed off.

"Mogami-san? What is it?"

She looked like she was about to say something extremely embarrassing...

"I...I...I don't know how to kiss!"

She was adorable. But he hated the fact that he had to be her senpai at this moment. He tilted her face up towards his, gently, and ran his thumb gently over her lips until her eyes finally met his. In them, he saw her embarrassment over the situation, her innocence and then, there it was-her guts. Her pride as an actress. And perhaps something else that he couldn't name yet.

"Mogami-san, do you trust me?"

"Yes...I do, Tsuruga-san."

"Do you remember our first scene with Shingai? In Rin Doh? The tea ceremony scene?"

"Hai, senpai."

Inwardly he cringed. He wanted to be so much more than her senpai. And yet here they were, literally on a cliff, with a rare opportunity for a storm and a one-shot take of this idiotic kissing-in-the-rain scene and she had legitimate questions about the actor's craft that they should have had the time to discuss as colleagues before shooting. So...senpai it was.

"Well...I remember that you didn't like it when I led your acting…"

"Yes! I want to be an actress on equal footing as Tsuruga-san! I want to do more than just react to Tsuruga-san…!"

"Exactly. But, Mogami-san-while I would love to discuss the techniques actors use for these scenes, we don't have time. So...will you let me lead you? Just remember who your character is and act like her, OK? Follow my lead, and we will get through it."

She was silent for a few seconds while he looked into her eyes.

"OK, senpai."

He smiled at her as gently as he could and tightened his arm around her just a little. She turned her body towards his and he felt her head tilting into his chest and he let himself feel her warmth, her strength, her curves, and then just as he was about to enfold her completely in his arms he heard Shingai shout…

"TSURUGA-SAN! KYOKO-SAN!

They sprang apart immediately.

Shingai smirked and shook his head. So much for his co-stars 'not dating.' He'd suspected something as early as Ring Doh when Tsuruga-san had unexpectedly played up to a newbie talento who'd never even so much as booked a commercial before, and anyone with eyes could see they were besotted with each other now. He'd confirmed that with Lory when he made the request to cast Kyoko-chan. To be fair, he thought Ren was adorable like this. The man finally looked a little more like his age. He'd cast the young actor enough times to know how aloof he was with actresses off-set. Now he could see Ren orbiting around Kyoko, both of them trying to look like they weren't constantly trying to look at each other. They were idiots, but they were extremely talented idiots, and this film was going to be a career best for him. He could tell.

"Tsuruga, Kyoko-the rain will start pouring soon. We'll have the machines on as well, but I'd like you to take your positions now, please. When the drops start falling, we'll call action."

The two actors made their way off the cliff, ready to run towards it for the big moment.

Big, fat drops of rain began to fall from the sky.

"ACTION!"

Tomoe ran after Ryusei's lanky form as he made his way to the cliff by the sea.

"RYUSEI!"

"RYUSEI!"

Her dress flapped behind her in the rising wind, and rain had plastered her long black hair to her form. Finally, she reached him and he faced her. The look in his eyes broke her heart. It was an empty, frozen, despairing look—the kind of look that kept him from seeing anyone, trapping him in that nightmare of an evening when his little brother had been fatally stabbed by a rival Yakuza family over a drug smuggling deal in Tokyo.

"Tomoe—you don't know me. You don't know what happened...Eiji died because of me. He died because I handled things badly and they went after him and killed him! To punish me!"

"No, Ryusei—you didn't kill him. You did everything you could to save him. Did you trap him and stab him in that alley?"

"You don't understand, Tomoe." His words were coming out desperately now, as tears poured down his face. "I took away the happiness that should have been his. I took his future."

Tomoe breached the distance between them to take his head into her hands and look deeply into his eyes.

"He would not have wanted you to live like this. He loved his onii-san. He would not have wanted you to live like a ghost."

He stared into her eyes. Her hands held his face still until he stepped closer and then his lips were on hers…

And it was like nothing he'd ever felt before.

This was nothing like he'd ever felt before—not in any other gig, not with any other woman, not ever. He'd vaguely planned a soft, gentle kiss and a lingering glance under the rain. It wouldn't be out of character for Ryusei to treat Tomoe with a bit of reserve, keeping his passion for her at bay under a veneer of tenderness.

But when he'd closed the distance between them all he could hear was his heartbeat in his ears. The world faded into heat as his lips found hers—a charge of static at first contact and then a rush before his hunger overtook the gentleness he'd intended at the outset. She gasped into his mouth as he deepened the kiss, hungrily running his tongue against her lips and then tasting her as she began to kiss him back.

She was kissing him back!

All he could feel were her lips on his, the feel of her body under the white dress she wore...and there was fire, fire, fire. There were explosions where her hands touched him. His arms enfolded her and he leaned down into her to soften the difference in height between them, burying himself into her ...this was everything. She was everything, and the whole world could burn all around them and he would still fight with everything inside him to keep this moment. Mine, his kiss said, mine mine mine. There was so much need. She fit into his body like a key turning a lock. As far as he was concerned, there were no gods, no masters, no cameras, just her and him in a sea of endless light.

She whimpered as he kissed deeper, and then again as his mouth kissed her neck and tasted the salt of her skin. His hands wandered down her body, pulling her even closer to him, only to find her hands entwined into his hair and her own lips seeking his again as her body arched towards his own, her desire rising in response to his. He could feel himself harden painfully against his trousers as he ground himself into her. Her kiss became more insistent, more demanding, and he let himself dissolve in bliss and madness as he gave in.

There was no coming back from this. He was never going to come back from this.

It was a bolt of lightning and a crash of thunder nearby that startled them out of their delirium. Their lips parted and Ren looked dazedly at a Kyoko whose darkened eyes left no doubt in his mind about who or what she wanted. Had it really been raining?

"Aishiteru," he whispered, a hair's breath away from her lips. And then he kissed her gently on the corner of her lip as she panted quietly. Leaning closer to her ear and away front he camera, he whispered, "Kyoko...ashiteru…"

"CUUUUUT! Otsukaresama, mina-san! Let's all pack up, dry up, and then eat back at the hotel!"

Shingai had to cut before the two people in front of him did something he would need to censor. The crew were looking agog at the couple. No one had ever seen THE Ren Tsuruga like that...almost a madman...and Kyoko! Kyoko had been incandescent and delirious and...he felt himself color before finishing the thought. That was awesome, he thought, but what in the actual fuck just happened? Ren had added the last line...but it had been a great addition. He'd also seen his lips move again right before he called cut, but didn't think the audio had caught it. Lory Takarada is going to have a field day with this one, he thought. I didn't know Ren was capable of it. Kyoko's still an unknown quantity, but for Ren to lose it like that..!

Meanwhile, Ren and Kyoko had parted as if they'd touched hot embers on each other. Ren groaned. Only now he could see the effect of the rain on the white dress. Her nipples were hardened and silhouetted against the fabric, which clung shamelessly to her body.

He grabbed a towel from a random assistant's outstretched hands and used it to cover her wet form.

"Here...let me walk you to your trailer…"

No...I want to carry you to your trailer, and then carry you in, and then lay you down, he thought, and then clamped the thought down before he carried it out.

"No, Tsuruga-san, that won't be necessary!"

"I insist, Mogami-san! The ground is wet and your costume has terrible shoes for it."

Kyoko wasn't looking at him again, but allowed him to walk her to her trailer with an arm comfortingly placed behind her back.

Ren stopped at her door.

"Kyo-Mogami-san…"

Gold eyes peeked out at him from a beet-red face.

"Yes, Tsuruga-san?"

"Please...when we get back to the hotel, will you have dinner with me? Just us?"

"Demo...Tsuruga-san…"

"Please? We need to talk."

Kyoko looked visibly worried, but nodded.

"Alright, Tsuruga-san."

Ren left her after she closed her trailer door behind him, feeling bereft and hollow. He felt like a man who'd found water in the desert, only to have it disappear into thin air. There was no longer any doubt in his mind. He didn't want to wait anymore. This whole plan of waiting until he'd reached his goals—he wasn't sure if he could reach them anymore without her.

Kyoko sat in her trailer, staring at her reflection in the mirror. Her cheeks were flushed, her lips were slightly swollen...the white cotton of her dress clinging to her body and—oh god—her nipples. Was this why he'd grabbed a towel so quickly? She could still feel him everywhere. The aftershocks still reverberated. She could still feel his hands roaming over her body—holding it, claiming it. She felt as if he had marked her as surely as she'd marked him all those months ago. And the absence of him felt like a void deep inside of her. For a moment she'd had the urge to ask him to come into her trailer with her—she knew that eyes were watching, and that he himself needed to change out of his wet clothing so he wouldn't get sick—but she didn't want to part from him. The 'click' of the door latching shut was a reminder that he and his warmth were gone for the moment.

Kyoko had looked up and watched his prior kisses on video before this shoot, her heart twisting a little while she reminded herself that he was an actor and this was what actors did. He's acting, Kyoko, she'd tell herself. She'd had questions, like: was her wig going to be OK when drenched down with water? Was the water inside the water tanks clean? She wanted to have some idea what it would be like to kiss him. She'd noted the similarities in all the scenes—the wet hair, the weird tilt to the side all the actresses seemed to do. She didn't know if it was just acting—kisses that did the tilt, but as she'd never kissed anyone in earnest she figured it was part of a proper kissing technique. But the kisses all seemed pretty brief, so she figured she'd be able to use her guts to power through it with Tsuruga-san. Rule of the Heart, she told herself. Tsuruga-san didn't want to change their relationship, and so she'd invoke it.

When he'd kissed her on that cliff, it was all she could do to stay upright. A natural disaster, she'd called him. Her heart had felt like it would escape out of her mouth even before Shingai had called "Action!" She should've known she wouldn't get off so easily—how naive of her to think she'd step into a kiss, tilt her head, look at him tenderly, and then escape unscathed! Had any interaction with him ever left her unscathed? She'd been a mess after he'd kissed her cheek last Valentine's Day! She'd barely kept herself together after that hotel incident as Setsu. What made her think she'd survive this round?

But she'd be lying to herself if she claimed that it was Tomoe who kissed him on that cliff. No, it had been entirely her. It had been Kyoko who kissed her Tsuruga-san back. Kyoko had deepened the kiss first. Kyoko had sunk into his body, and twined her fingers into his hair, and then run her hands across the hard muscles of his arms and his back and then moaned like a wanton woman. Shingai-san had accepted the scene, but she knew she had been a failure as an actress. She had felt utterly subsumed by Tsuruga-san, surrounded and overwhelmed and cherished, even if it felt like he'd set the world on fire around them. And she wanted more. She wanted him. Since their confession on the elevator, she could admit that to herself. Setsu knew Cain was hers, but Kyoko knew Setsu's nii-san was, after all, fictional. Kyoko wanted Tsuruga-san entirely for herself. And she wanted that kiss to feel like it had been something holy to him, even though she knew she was supposed to be someone else. Did he feel like this, too? Or did he feel like this every time, with every actress?

Was this what they meant when they called him the co-star killer?

Because she couldn't stand it if he was doing this...this with another woman. She knew she couldn't do it with another man. Was this what it meant to be a real actress? To let someone into your heart like that—a new person, over and over with every movie, every drama—was this what it was like? She could more easily sell herself on the street. It hadn't been like this with Koga-san in Lotus, but then, his character had never loved her as more than a sister. They'd never had to kiss. Tsuruga-san can make his co-stars fall in love with him for real, she remembered Yashiro telling her. Does that mean *he* falls in love with them for real, too? She thought back on the videos she watched. No matter how she looked at it, she had to consider the fact that even though it had shaken her to her very core, she was just another actress he had kissed on camera. Perhaps she'd get used to it in the future and kisses wouldn't feel like this.

But...he'd said aishiteru. To her. He'd said her name and told her he loved her. He'd said it so that only the two of them could hear it, but he'd said it. If he hadn't said it a second time, she would have concluded it was his character who was saying it to Tomoe. So why would he say her name? Kyoko knew how seriously Tsuruga took his acting. To be out-of-character was something inexcusable in an actress starring in her first lead role, and something she needed to grow out of. But Tsuruga-san was a veteran, and was someone used to kissing on-screen. Was it just a playboy game? She supposed it was possible, but now that Tsuruga-san knew how she felt, why would he go to such lengths to play with her like this? Was it true, then, that Tsuruga-san fell in love with his actresses as they fell for him?

It was a worried Kyoko who shuttled back to the hotel.

An anxious Ren was pacing back and forth in his hotel room after showering off the remains of the day's scene. He was certain Lory had been working his mischief again, because Kyoko had the room immediately adjacent to his—and it was connected via an adjoining door. The man was insufferable sometimes, but he was grateful Kyoko was so near. At least there wouldn't be an awkward shuffle through the hallways for people to see. He could hear her shuffling about her room, no doubt drying off after the shower she also took.

Continuing as they were was impossible. He wanted more, and for that to happen, she had to know everything and decide whether she wanted more, too.

They'd arrived back at the hotel on the same shuttle, but had kept a careful distance. The crew were unusually quiet around them, and he was beginning to think that whatever cat had been in the bag was well and truly out—even if he and Kyoko weren't technically 'in a relationship.' He'd have to tell Yashiro to begin countermeasures. The crew and cast would be prevented from blabbing to the press given their employment, but there was no way to keep that scene under wraps. He wouldn't be surprised if they used a still from it as part of the poster. It was only a matter of time. In truth, it had always been a matter of time, but he'd thought it would be a little more time, and not less.

He groaned as he thought about his 'arrangement' with Kana. Over the past few weeks, they'd developed a good working relationship which he'd come to appreciate, but the publicity was beginning to wear on him—even though he managed to keep their interactions to an absolute minimum. He and Kana would have to make a public break of it. It would have to be choreographed, and he was afraid he'd truly limited their options for managing the publicity after today's performance. He'd underestimated the interest that the press would show in his fake "relationship." He and Kana had been covered consistently since the leaked kiss incident, and people were still talking. But he was beginning to resent the fact that time being seen with Kana meant that he wasn't spending time with Kyoko, and he missed even missed eating, when eating meant having the food she made him. He'd begun thinking of the meals she made him in the past as her way of telling him she loved him. But having her cook for him here was impossible. Unlike the little kitchenette that came with their Tragic Marker room, this one was a more conventional affair: bed, seating area, bath, minifridge. And it wasn't his co-star's job to cook for him, either. Room service was on its way—twin hamburgers with egg that he'd cajoled the hotel's restaurant into preparing for them.

Ren stopped his pacing when he heard a tentative knock on the door between his and Kyoko's room.

He rushed to open it, and there she was, dressed casually in a comfortable shirt and soft sweatpants. It was the same shirt she'd often wear underneath the atrocious Love Me jumper, the one she'd worn when she'd fallen asleep on his coffee table while studying for her entrance exam.

They stared at each other until she said...

"Ano...Tsuruga-san…"

"Yes?"

"You're staring at me."

"Oh! Sorry, Kyoko-chan…" He turned his face away and stepped out of her way.

Kyoko visibly blushed at the -chan and tentatively padded into his room.

Somehow, the confession in the elevator made things like casually having her in his living quarters more difficult—it was so much easier to tell himself that there wasn't anything going on when he didn't know how she felt. Now, neither of them could claim that she was only over as his kohai. He was afraid she'd take his requests for her time as intrusive—or worse, predatory. For someone who'd had a past like hers, that was the last thing he wanted her to think. So he hadn't asked her over, and she hadn't questioned why. Now, they were alone again and he didn't quite know how to breach the distance between them, even though they'd been entwined so intimately not so long ago on the cliff.

He hadn't felt this tongue-tied and helpless in years. He vacillated between staring at her and looking at the floor and keeping a small distance from her when all he wanted was to grab her like he had just moments ago. He could smell the scent rising off her skin and he wanted to nuzzle himself into her neck and pretend everything was all ok.

For fuck's sake, Kuon, grow up.

Tentatively, he reached for her hand and gently tugged her to sit across from him, seiza-style in the little tatami area by the hotel windows.

Kyoko sat across from a Ren who was as silent and as awkward as the Ren she'd cooked for the night they'd seen the couple with the nineteen-year age gap. Back then, Kyoko couldn't exactly tell what he was doing with his long pauses and his sighs and his refusal to look her in the eyes. Now, she figured he had something to tell her and didn't quite know how to do it.

She watched as a faint blush—a blush!—colored his cheeks.

They spoke at the same time.

"Is kissing always like that?" she asked.

"I want more than this," he said.

Their words collided in the air, and Kyoko saw Ren's eyes widen as he paled.

He's going to tell me that yes, it's always like this, Kyoko thought as she looked away. Stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid...I am such an idiot. A lovesick, stupid idiot who went from that frying pan Sho and into Tsuruga's fire. I shouldn't have taken his stupid necklace. I don't want it anyway...I won't be part of a line of women who pine for him after he kisses them. Stupid stupid stupid stupid...STUPID! Stupid stupid stupid...

Ren moved closer to her across the tatami, their knees touching. His hands took hers and he held them softly as he spoke.

Kyoko's thoughts stilled. Ahhhh but I'm not going to be able to stop feeling this way, she thought.

He sighed. "No, Kyoko. I've never had a kiss like that before. Listen...when you kiss someone...someone you don't care about, it doesn't feel like that."

"It-it doesn't?"

"No...in fact, it's usually kind of gross. Rain scenes are the worst. You get cold and clammy...and the water gets into your mouth and it's disgusting. And...sometimes your co-star's breath stinks. It's like...kissing an aunt, except with tongue."

"Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh?"

"Yes. Did you feel like that today?"

Kyoko scrunched her eyes closed and whispered. "No."

"I'm sorry we weren't able to discuss it before shooting...but you...You know how I feel about you. It's never been like that for me before and I got carried away. Please, please believe me. The earth moved for me, Kyoko. If anything, I was a failure as an actor because I had forgotten who I was supposed to be. I only saw you. And I can't bring myself to apologize for it."

"What?"

"I wasn't Ryusei. I was me. The scene was a failure, but I'm not sure Shingai knows it."

Kyoko wasn't sure whether to feel like she was sinking into the floor or floating into the ceiling.

"But...Tsuruga-san...I think it was me, too." And I don't want to apologize for it, either.

Ren caught his breath. Could she...could she have liked it? he thought.

"I want more than this."

"Tsuruga-san? I know...you said you had something big to do...and I have my goals too...so...I won't insist on changing…"

"May I call you Kyoko? Without honorifics?"

Her mind flashed back to a sunny day in Guam, Corn asking her the same thing. The voices were the same and she looked up at him and remembered what she thought back then—how she would melt if she ever heard his name call her Kyoko. But today that voice was calling her Kyoko, and that voice had told her aishiteru. She tried not to think too hard about the fact that the tone and the inflection were identical.

She nodded.

He had crept closer to her, her hands still in his. He had risen up onto his knees from the formal sitting position, moving to cradle her body.

"First, I want you to promise me that you won't leave or run away until you hear me out tonight."

She smiled ruefully. She'd done her fair share of running from him since they'd met—but she was well and truly trapped right now. Since the elevator her heart had been his to break, and he knew it. Or should have known it.

Ren spoke. "I don't want to waste the time I have with you on pointless hiding. I just keep wanting more and I can't even tell you. I don't want to spend any more nights wanting to see you and then keeping myself from calling you—I don't even know if you'd want to see me too, but I miss you. The calls aren't enough—I talk to you and I miss you even more. "

"I don't want to hide what I feel about you anymore, Kyoko. And I think that after today, I've ruined any chances of us being able to hide anymore. I'm sorry, I meant to protect you a little longer from this, but I couldn't help myself. I'm sorry for being so selfish. I'm sorry for not being able to control myself."

"Tsuru-ren...Ren, it's ok. I feel the same way...I miss you too. But...I...don't regret it…"

"Neither do I, Kyoko. But before you decide anything, I have to tell you. I have to tell you everything. Please, will you listen?"

The look he was giving her was so sad and bereft all she could do was grasp his hands tighter.

"I'll listen," she said softly.

"Then, first things first. You know that Ren Tsuruga isn't my real name."

"Yes."

"My name is Kuon Hizuri. I grew up in California."

"Otou-otou-san's Kuon? But...I thought...he said…" Kyoko took a long look at the man who was on his knees before her and chided herself for not seeing the resemblance. She, who knew Tsuruga-san's measurements to the bone, should have seen the similarities in their faces. I am a special kind of stupid...but Reino did say that Ren wasn't his real name...and I've suspected for a long time that he hadn't grown up in Japan...

"Yes. Imagine my surprise when I saw you running around like I used to. You were just like me. Father thought so. I thought so too. You did so well, even Yashiro wasn't sure if it was really you."

Kyoko smiled, and said, "I tried to act like Cor—"

Kuon saw her little gasp and her eyes widen in shock and unconsciously gripped her hand a tiny bit tighter. The moment of truth would be now. He hardened his resolve.

"I just want to tell you, before I say anything else, that I love you. I love you. If I were ever cursed, yours would be the only kiss that would save me. I know what I'm saying. I want you to know that even though I've been an idiot and a selfish asshole, I've never meant to hurt you or deceive you. And please remember—you've promised not to run away until we're done talking."

Kyoko looked on as he sighed again, and then gasped when he removed a familiar stone from his pocket. Is he giving me Corn back? she thought.

When he spoke again his voice trembled. "Eleven years ago, I visited Japan with my father. We visited his hometown. He spent a lot of time doing interviews and I got left behind a lot. So...I went to explore around the ryokan where we stayed and met a girl by a stream. She was very cute, she loved fairies, and hamburgers with fried eggs. And I gave her my good-luck charm before I left because I was hoping a part of me would stay behind and help her when she cried. And when I met her ten years later, I fell in love with her and played her fairy prince again because I thought she could never feel anything for me as a human. I am sorry, Kyoko. Corn was never a fairy prince. He was just me. But even as Corn, everything I told you was true. I'm here as Ren Tsuruga because my father's fame was so overwhelming I couldn't come out from under his shadow. And people bullied me because of it."

Ren stopped there, moved back from her. She started, surprised at his sudden movement—and then gasped as he did a dogeza. When he rose his eyes looked into hers with unfiltered sorrow.

But Kyoko closed the distance between them and pulled him into her embrace. It was a bold move for Kyoko, but then, it felt like all she could do at the moment. She could see that it had bothered him to keep this from her, and her own desires would not let her leave him looking so despondent. "Tsuruga-san...wait...no, Hizuri-san? I'm still not sure what to think. But I loved Tsuruga-san, and I loved Corn, so I must love Hizuri-san, too."

"Kyoko, please...call me Kuon. I want to hear it from your lips. No one else in Japan calls me Kuon, not even Lory. You'll have to call me Ren in public, but please—when it's just us, call me Kuon."

"Kuon."

Kuon melted into her embrace and ended with his head in her lap. Almost by instinct, she began to stroke his hair like she had in Karuizawa and Kuon sighed. The harder part was coming.

"I...came to Japan as Ren Tsuruga because I had to leave California. I...killed someone. He was my friend. He died because he was trying to stop me from doing something really stupid...I had been in a fight and I...was going to kill someone if Rick hadn't chased after me. And when he tried, a car hit him as he was running across the street. He...he died. He died in Tina's arms...Tina was his fiancee. So you see...when you told me that you saw that I thought I had no right to be happy, you were right. I have no right to your love, Kyoko, not when I took that away from Rick and Tina. When I was Cain, when you saved me, all I could think of was him...and his face covered in blood...and Tina screaming when he died. And Kyoko, what I told you in Guam was true. I've made everyone around me unhappy. I really am under a curse."

Kyoko remembered how the man she'd known as Ren had stood frozen in front of her, during the car scene in Dark Moon. During the fight outside the store. During the fights with Murasame and the night when he'd crept up to her like a wraith in his blanket and wound himself around her as if she were a life raft. This is what he was seeing? A man in the street, covered in blood? A woman screaming? And I was so worried about my maidenly pride.

"Kuon...you...you didn't mean for him to die. Rick died because of an accident. A driver hit him. Did you even know that he would be hit? Were you driving the car? Did you ask him to follow after you?"

"He died because of the things I did, Kyoko. Because I was an idiot, a messed up boy who gave in to his urges to hurt people because he'd been bullied."

"I know you, Kuon. I know you wouldn't murder anyone. The day you froze on Dark Moon, you did what you had to to keep a child from being hit by a car. The day you froze in that alleyway, you'd just saved me from a gang that wanted to molest me. So I refuse to call you a murderer. Rick died because he wanted to save you" Kyoko paused, before adding, "No, Ryusei—you didn't kill him. You did everything you could to save him. Did you trap him and stab him in that alley?"

Kyoko smiled at him—him, the murderer!—gently. "You didn't kill him, Kuon. I'm as sure of that as anything else in this world."

Kuon hid his face in her lap as his eyes shed the tears he'd kept since that night. "Thank you, Kyoko." He stayed there like a child, clutching onto her in a way that he hadn't dared in Karuizawa, hiding his tears as she stroked his hair.

She didn't know how long they stayed like that, but she knew Kuon needed her there, even if she didn't say anything. She knew she didn't have to say anything. If this was truly her Corn, he'd been there countless times when she herself had cried. He'd been there even after he'd left, and he'd been there as Ren Tsuruga when they'd found each other again. Over and over he'd found her and he'd been her safe harbor. The least she could do was give him her lap.

"Will you forgive me for lying to you?"

"So long as you promise to never do it again."

Kuon extricated himself gently from her lap, moving them so she was on his lap instead. Kyoko was reminded of the times she sat on his lap as Setsu, but this time, there was no pretense between them. His eyes held hers as he took her hand and kissed it.

"Then...may I have the honor of calling myself your boyfriend?"

"Even with all your goals still ongoing? I don't want to be a distraction or an impediment," Kyoko said.

"Even so. I don't think I can make it there without you, Kyoko. It'll be hard, I think. Kana and I will have to make a break publicly, and then you may be bothered by my fans. But it was probably only a matter of time. I'm not sure whether people will believe that kissing scene was an act. But I don't want any distance between us anymore. Let's figure it out together."

Kyoko held his gaze as she smiled quietly. "You said you were under a curse, right? Well then…"

She moved slowly into him as his hands tightened around her, and then they were kissing. She moved her lips onto his softly. This time, there was no rain, no thunder, but Kyoko thought, as he kissed her back, that this must be what bees felt like when they took nectar from a flower. If their first 'real' kiss had shaken them to their core, their second felt like a promise given form. Kuon took his time as he deepened the kiss, feeling his heart lighten as they lingered on each other.

When they stopped, Kyoko touched her forehead to his and whispered, "Was your curse broken, then?"

"I think so," Kuon responded, "but maybe it's the kind of thing that will need regular maintenance."

He closed his eyes as he nuzzled her neck, peppering kisses on her ears and her chin and her collar as she giggled. His hands had just found the bare skin of her back as he moved in for another kiss when…

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

"Room service! Two hamburger steaks with egg!"

He grinned at Kyoko. "Let's have dinner."

The next morning, the cast and crew of Dragons were shocked to see their main leads come to the set hand-in-hand. Kyoko had fallen asleep in Kuon's room last night, and he'd been a gentleman. It had been enough to hold her while she slept. It had been the best sleep he'd had in years.

"Ah, Tsuruga-san, Kyoko-san. In character early, I see," Shingai said, grinning as he saw the two co-stars turn matching shades of red. Ren recovered quickly before Kyoko could stammer out an answer, giving Shingai a version of his "Jacob's Ladder" smile.

Lory got an interesting phone call that morning.

Yashiro also got an interesting call that morning.

Kana gave her blessing, agreeing to work with Tsuruga-san's manager and publicist.

And Kyoko and Kuon did all their scenes in one take.