Next day

"Mo! No arguement. You are coming over. We are having a sleep over tomorrow night. End of."

"But I dont want to impose."

"MO! If I thought you would do that then I wouldn't have invited you over!"

Kanae sighed in relief as Kyokos eyes finally regained a small bit of their shine.

"I will meet you at mine, okay? Do you remember where I live?"

"Yes moko-san. I finish at 9. Is that convienient?"

"That's perfect. I finish at half 8. I will get things ready for when you arrive. I might even make popcorn"

A little more of the shine returned. Kyoko was happy. Her best friend wanted to have a sleepover! she wanted to spend time with her! And she was making popcorn!

"Ooohhh Moko-san I love you!" Kyoko cried as she launched herself at Kanae. Kanae allowed the hug. She didnt usually but she felt that her best friend needed this.

~to be honest, I kinda needed it~ thought Kanae. Plus she did love Kyoko (though she would deny this if anyone ever said anything.

"Kyoko I have to go back to work. I will see you tomorrow night."
She glided out the door leaving behind a rather happy, entranced in la-la land, Kyoko.

The rest of the day passed smoothly and quickly for Kyoko. She performed beautifully as Natsu, completed two LoveMe jobs (one of which being cleaning the floor again. She was a lot less liberal with the wax this time) and had successfully avoided Ren for 2 days. Things were definitely looking up.

Back at Darumaya, she helped out at the resturant even though Okami said no. A few of the regular customers even asked for her autograph. She went a very impressive shade of red but signed the bits of paper they had handed her. It turned out that Taisho had shown Box-R at the resturant that night. Most of the regulars also watched Dark Moon. They congratulated her on her work and the dedication she put into it. One even admitted that Natsu frightened him a little and Mio... well Mio had scared him. She started to apologise until the customer started laughing. Confused she asked him why he was laughing and he pointed out that scaring him was nothing to be sorry for. It had been a long time since he had been so engrossed in a drama. Kyoko liked that the regulars loved her shows and her characters.
(A/N. i might like to add that Kyoko thinks they're just being nice but is happy that they like her work. She is still OUR Kyoko after all.)

She helped Okami with the clean up and went off to have a nice relaxing bath. She had a bit of an ache in her right side and hoped that the bath would help soothe it. As she relaxed she was thinking up topics of discussion for the sleepover. It wasn't until she was out of the bath and packing her bag for her night at Kanaes that it came to her. She was going to ask Kanae if there was anyone special in her life. At least one of them deserved to be happy.

As she drifted off to sleep that night, a sudden sharp pain in her stomach jolted her awake. She clutched her stomach but the pain was already disappating. Putting it down to stress, maybe a pulled muscle, she fell asleep dreaming of her best friend and ice cream.

Morning came and Okami was trying to wake up Kyoko.
Grudgingly, Kyoko rolled over and looked at her clock. It was 8am. For a brief second Kyoko wondered why this was important, until Mio kicked started her brain.

"KYAAAA! I have to be at LME in an hour!"

"Calm kyoko. Breakfast is ready and I've laid out your clothes for you, but I think you should stay home. It took me 10 minutes to wake you and you don't look very well"

Kyoko looked surprised but quickly covered it. She put it down to her rollercoaster days lately and the stress. She told Okami so. The last few days had been hectic. She threw on clothes after a flash shower, grabbed her bags and flew down the stairs.
Taisho greeted her in the kitchen and handed her her breakfast. She ate it slowly under Taisho's watchful eye. Her stomach hurt again. She could only eat half. She promised Taisho that she would get something at the canteen at work, as she was running late. He eyed her for a second before nodding and returning to his work. Kyoko bowed to both of them and headed for LME.

She spotted Ren in the lobby and headed in the opposite direction, towards the LoveMe door. If she payed things right she could avoid Ren again today and then tonight she'd be with moko-san !

Sebastian was in the locker room. Kyoko bowed to him. She had great respect for the man. Not only did he put up with Lory Takarada's random ways, he appeared to be some kind of ninja and magician. He was always there, even if you couldnt see him and appeared to know nearly everything.
"The president requests that you go to his office please Mogami-san" Sebastian said while returning her bow.
"Thank you Sebastian-san. I will head up there right away."
She bowed again and headed for the elevators. She staggered against the wall as another bolt of pain shot through her, but this time the ache stayed. She tried to shake it off. She was to busy and it was probably just hunger or something. She hadn't finished her breakfast this morning. She was in a world of her own until she got the elevators, and the doors opened to reveal Maria.

"NEE-SAN! Are you going to see Grandpa?"
"Yes Maria-chan. how are you today?"
"I'm brilliant! I saw Ren-san today, I got new curse supplies and to make things better... I'm going to see father in America!"
"Wow Maria-chan, thats amazing. When do you go?"
"Saturday. It's short notice but I dont mind. "
"You must be so excited!"

The conversation continued all the way up in the elevator and along the corridor to the presidents office. At the door Maria bid Kyoko goodbye with a promise to bring her something back.
She was about to knock on the door when Sebastian opened it.
~how many of them are there?!~ Kyoko thought. She smirked as she imagined an army of Sebastians throughout the building. It took a few seconds for the presidents office to register with her, and even then she wasn't sure she could believe what she was seeing.

The president appeared to have recreated the 60's in his office, complete with VERY bright colours, a disco ball and a shag rug she was pretty sure she would get lost in.

"Mogami-san. How's it swinging you groovy cat?"

Kyoko couldnt respond. He was wearing a deep blue, crushed velvet suit. He was also wearing what appeared to be possibly the ruffliest cravat known to man. Add all of this to the greeting and the decor and Kyoko just couldn't cope with the sensory overload.

"Umm... Mogami-san... are you okay?" he was waving his hand in front of Kyokos face.

Kyoko returned to earth.
"Yes sir!"
"Good good. now. I have some requests for you."

She groaned inwardly. This couldnt be good. Tentatively she asked if they were LoveMe requests. The last one he had sent her on had involved meeting Ren dressed as Cain, and she couldn't forget the one that involved Kuu.

"Oh no, no. not at all" Kyoko breathed a sigh of relief.
"Take a seat and we shall discuss them. Tea?"
"Yes please"

As they sat drinking their tea, the president went over the requests. The first was for a modelling shoot and she looked doubtful, but the president put it to her as an opportunity to expand her portfolio. She agreed. ~it might be fun to try something new~ she thought.
The second one was a commercial... with a twist. An awful twist.

"Sho?! Fuwa sho?! Wants me to do a commercial for him? Worse, with him?! I am deeply sorry sir but I will have to turn this one down. He is unprofessional, arrogant, unable to put aside personal feelings and probably only wants me there to lecture me about something so no actual filming would take place. It would be great inconvience to the director and other staff."

The president looked shocked. Kyoko typically liked everyone and he had never heard her talk like this before. For Kyoko to be like this, the kid must be a real pain in the arse.

"Ah... Very well. I will let you reject this offer with no consequences. I know actresses will usually work with people they don't like but I can see your point. It clashes with your new Box-R filming schedule anyway. Now for your last request. It is a lead role so you will be technically debuting but I think this role is perfect for you. She is a princess and it is not a bully/villain role. However..."

He didnt get a chance to finish. As soon as Kyoko had heard the word princess she had jumped out of her seat.

"Yes president. please. I will fufill this role to the best of my ability. I promise."

Lory tried very hard to hide the smile on his face.
"Are you sure Mogami-san?" She nodded. Then I shall have the sccript prepared for you. I shall send it to Sawara. Perhaps you should have a small get together? celebrate your lead role?"

She bowed. "That sounds like it could be fun! I could invite Moko-san and Chiori-san! Thank you! AAHHHH I'm going to be a princess!"

"Oh Mogami-san. One last thing before you go. With the acceptance of this job your schedule is about to become very busy so I am going to assign you a manager."
He looked at her and caught the look on her face.
"And before you can object, you've been here 2 years and as I said, your schedule is about to get very busy. It will be helpful and it's about time you had one. Do you have a preference?"

"Umm no sir. I trust your judgement. If you'll excuse me"

She bowed and exited his office. She grinned. She had a leading role! As a princess no less! She was getting a manager and she was seeing Kanae tonight. Today was a good day.

However, the Gods are mischievous. In her la-la land daze, she rounded the corner and walked straight into Ren.
"T-tsuruga-san! Ah, I'm so sorry. I should have been watching were I was going."
She sank into a low bow. Not getting a response (because Ren is to busy staring at his love) she glanced up. Ren was giving her a gentleman smile. (A/N. Ren is giving her one of these smiles because shes been avoiding him for days and she's bowing in apology.)
She squeaked, apologised again and ran off.

~okay... now i'm starting to see why they think it's my fault~
Ren was upset. Everytime he went within 10 feet of her lately, she ran. Today was the first time in days that she'd been anywhere near him
~if you don't count me nearly running her over. Does she hate me? Did I scare her away?~

Rens mind was running with these thoughts for the rest of the day. Yashiro noticed that Ren was preoccupied with something and had to remind him a few times about his face.

Kyoko skidded into the LoveMe locker room. Her heart was beating insanely fast and it wasn't just from the running.
She felt hot and the pain in her stomach had moved. It now felt like a stitch and she felt sick. She shrugged it off. She put it down to too much running around and not enough fuel. She couldn't stop though. She had to be at Box-R in 40 minutes.

She arrived at the studio and felt even worse. She greeted the director and headed straight for make up. At least there she could sit down. Becoming Natsu was difficult today. She didn't have the energy to summon her up. She didn't even know if she had enough to keep Natsu in charge. She closed her eyes and summed up all the energy she could and called Natsu. Kyoko let Natsu take complete control.

"Moga...Natsu-san, are you ready for your make up?" the make up artist asked.
She nodded and settled into the chair.
"Natsu-san, are you okay? You look very pale"

She looked at the make up artist in the mirror, then at herself. She did look rather pale.
~I'm going to have to get boss lady to take better care of herself. I cant be seen like this~

"Oh yes. It's just been a very hectic day, that's all"
The make up artist seemed appeased by this and set about her work. When she had finished you couldn't even tell that Natsu was ill.

Filming passed. Somehow she managed to pull off a spectacular performance. Enough so that a few of the new staff were now scared of her. One couldn't even be in her presence alone.

She grimaced.
The pain was worse. She felt awful.
She dropped Natsu. Kyoko was back.
"Mogami-san, are you okay? You look terrible!"
"Uh yes, director-san. I'm just hungry is all, but it's okay as I'm going to a friends after this and she'll make sure I eat something." She smiled. One of those magnificent smiles she had. The director was blinded by it.

"If you're sure. Good work today. Have a good evening"
Kyoko bowed and picked up her things. She was grateful that Kanae didn't live far away with the way she felt. She bid goodbye to everyone and headed for Kanaes.
The short walk was unbearable. She felt like she was on fire, her right side was agony and she felt really sick.
She stumbled into Kanaes apartment building, grateful that it didn't have a doorman. With the way she looked there was no way she'd get past him. She stepped into the elevator and rested her head against the cool side. She hadn't thought it possible to feel even worse than she already did but this lift was determined to show her a new level.
Her ankle hadn't even hurt this much. She clutched her side. It was so painful.
The elevator dinged and Kyoko practically fell out. She wasn't entirely sure how she got to Kanae's door. She leaned against it and knocked lightly. Kanae opened it.
"About ti... Kyoko what's wrong?!"
"I don't know."
Kanae noticed that Kyoko was clutching her side.
"Did you hurt yourself at work? Did someone attack you?!"
Kyoko shook her head and instantly regretted it. Her nausea got worse. The pain was becoming intolerable. Kanae stepped back to let Kyoko in.

"Come and sit down Kyoko. I'll make you something to drink." Kyoko hadn't moved.
"Kyoko? Earth to Kyoko, is there anyone in there?"

Kyoko took a small step forward.
As she stepped over the threshold the world turned black. The last thing she heard was Kanae shouting her name.