A/N: Sort weekend and lots of working, so I didn't get to write this chapter until today, but I am really happy with it, so I hope you like it. Also, you should check out halfdemonfan's "Reality of Dreams" The lemon version of my oneshot "Bathtub Fun" It was awesome and I'm really glad that they made such a great remake. Anyway, please enjoy.

*******I quote a lot of Skip Beat in this story. This does not mean I own it. This means I'm trying to use authentic dialogue. Please don't sue me. I have nothing. *******

Flying

Ren stared up at the ceiling, taking deep breaths and trying to focus on the girl resting on his shoulder rather than the fury just below the surface. The more he let his thoughts wander to the scene in the woods, the angrier he became. It had been bad enough when the freak had been somehow invading her dreams, terrifying her and putting her in a constant state of fear. That had almost been the worst part; there had been nothing he could do to fight this strange man. But when he had arrived on set and, after leaving Yashiro sitting the taxi in his haste, was unable to see her anywhere, the panic had begun to bubble in his chest. The arrival of Fuwa had only irritated him, but the growing terror pushed it away, and after hearing the crewmember talking about someone stalking her, he had been unable to stop himself from running after her.

He closed his eyes for a second, the scene playing out in his mind, the green blur of trees and plants that rushed by as he raced through the woods, the passing sounds of animals fleeing, the crunch of the dirt under his shoes. 'I have to find her.' The thought had repeated over and over in his head, the fear so real he had been unable to concentrate on his location or which direction he was going. Unconsciously, he tightened his hold on the girl beside her. The worse had been bursting into that clearing. For a half second, he had been paralyzed. His eyes had skimmed her, from her stocking-clad feet to her bare back, pale skin covered only by a bra, and the arms that hung at her sides, frozen. Finally, her eyes, wide open and terrified and her assaulter leaned closer, his eyes malevolent.

The next thing Ren remembered was the feel of the jaw giving under his fist, the powerful feeling rushing through him as the man fell, the longing to follow him to the ground and throw his fist against the man again and again, to feel only his muscles working as his hands were covered in this man's blood. The longing passed when he saw her legs give out from the corner of his eye, and arms that would have been hard at work committing a murder wrapped gently around the trembling girl, holding her to him. 'She's okay.' It was as if a calm wind blew away every other thought. She was crying and scared and possibly traumatized, but all in all, she was okay. That was all that mattered.

Kyoko turned in her sleep to face the wall, and he shifted his arm out from under her head. As much as he would love to lie in bed with her all day, he had a job to do and some excuses to make. Quietly slipping out of the bed and walking into the kitchen nook, he pulled out his phone and dialed Yashiro's number. The man answered on the first ring, obviously out of breath.

"Ren! Where are you? Where's Kyoko? What's going…"

"Yashiro, I'm in my room. Kyoko is here. She's fine." There was a soft sigh of relief.

"Okay. The Director is…" There was a pounding on the door and Ren glanced over in annoyance.

"Just a second Yashiro." He walked over to the door quickly, not wanting the loud noise to wake Kyoko. Setting the phone down on an end table, he unlocked the door and pulled it open. Fuwa glared at him, hands in his pockets, and Ren bit back a snarl. "What do you want, Fuwa?" He snapped, dropping all pretense of politeness.

"Where is she?"

"Kyoko is here. Go away." He started to shut the door in the boy's face when Momose-san appeared from the side.

"Um…Tsuruga-san?" He jumped a little and gave a small smile.

"Oh. Momose-san?" He heard the bed move behind him and turned a little. Kyoko approached them, obviously woken by Sho's yelling, and he moved a little to the side, letting the two in.

"Kyoko! Are you okay? We were all worried when you disappeared from the set!" Kyoko's eyes widened.

"Momose-san! How did you know I was here?"

"Oh. When I couldn't find you, I asked Fuwa-san, but he didn't know either. I was worried so I talked to the director, who said you were with Tsuruga-san. I thought Tsuruga-san wasn't supposed to arrive until tomorrow, so I came up to see if it was true." She smiled a little. "I'm glad you're okay."

"Momose-san! I'm so sorry! I should have come and told you where I was! I didn't mean to run off like that!" Kyoko cried guiltily.

"Ah…no. It's okay. Don't worry about it."

"It isn't Kyoko's fault." The three turned to Sho. "I'd say it was the fault of the person who invited Kyoko to his room secretly, disregarding the feelings of everyone else." Ren's eyes narrowed. "That man." He lifted a finger and pointed at Ren.

There was a slight pause. "Hm. That's right." Kyoko blanched. She wasn't looking at him, but she could feel the beams from the overly bright smile. "I was careless and didn't think about what could happen if the media found out. I should have known that Momose-san would be worried. Momose-san?" The girl blushed brightly.

"Um…uh…yes?"

Ren tilted his head a little and smiled so brightly that little flowers materialized around his head. "I'm very sorry."

"Um…no…it's fine. I'm just glad she's okay." Fuwa glared at the ground irritably.

'Didn't expect him to apologize.'

"Now, if you don't mind, I have some things to take care of. Do you mind leaving me alone?" Kyoko flinched at the cheerfulness in his tone, and watched in silence as both Sho and Momose-san filed out. Half afraid that he was angry with her because of Sho's rudeness, she started to slip out when he caught her arm, pulling her over to his side and wrapped his arms around her, breathing in her scent to calm down.

"Not you." He whispered, burying his nose in her hair. "Don't be upset. I'm not angry with you."

"He's lying. You didn't do anything wrong." Her hands pressed against his chest and she looked up at him. "No one will find out that we were alone in your room, and it was my fault for not thinking about calling Momose-san." He smiled a little at her earnest expression and touched her cheek.

"Thank you." He mumbled, pressing a soft kiss against her forehead.


"I…talked with the Beagle. He won't be bothering you anymore." Kyoko stared at the man standing across from them in the secluded hallway. She had been on her way back to her room after staying with Ren for a little while, who had insisted on accompanying her, when they ran into the bottle blonde musician. Wondering why he hadn't taken the hint earlier, Ren shifted closer to Kyoko.

"You 'talked' with him? Sho, he's a demon from Hell!" She cried, making the corner of Ren's mouth turn up a little.

'Demon from Hell? Heh. I guess that's one way to look at it.'

"What is talking going to do? He can't be reasoned with!" Sho rolled his eyes.

"Kyoko, when men talk, they don't actually talk." Her eyes widened.

"You hit him!" She cried. Sho shrugged.

"Just where people wouldn't see. He'll live."

"You idiot!" She cried, her fists clenched. "Now he'll tell everyone what happened! You should have just left him alone!"

"He was going to tell anyway, Kyoko! But now he'll be too humiliated to say anything. Do you really think he'll go public with the fact that I beat him up?" Kyoko was about to retaliate when Ren took her hand.

"He's right." He told her softly, massaging the top of her hand with his thumb. "He won't tell the press that Sho Fuwa beat him up. It would hurt his pride too much." Kyoko sighed, unable to argue with her reasonable boyfriend, and crossed her arms.

"Why did you do that, Sho?"

"I just told you…"

"No. Why put yourself at risk? He could press charges you know. Or if he did take the chance and talk to the press, your reputation would be ruined."

Ren could see in Sho's eyes that a confession was coming. He narrowed his own and glared at Sho, warning him silently. 'No. You had your chance. Don't you dare.' Sho faltered, the hatred rolling off the man scaring him a little. "It doesn't matter." Ren broke in suddenly. Both teens turned to him. "The damage is done, and hopefully Fuwa was right in that he won't tell anyone about this. The question is, Kyoko, do you want to press charges?" She shook her head silently.

"What!" Sho cried. "What do you mean no? Why not?"

"I don't want my image stained by him." She said simply. "I just want to forget about it." Sho was about to say something else, but Ren cut him off.

"Okay. We need to talk to the director later, and we won't tell anyone what happened" He paused when Yashiro turned the corner. "Yashiro?" Suddenly the image of the cellphone on the end table flashed in his mind and he put a hand over his mouth. "Oh God. Yashiro-san I'm so…" The man snorted and held up a hand.

"Don't worry about it. What's going on?"

Sho's eyes narrowed. "None of your business." He snapped. Yashiro turned to the younger man in surprise, and then lifted an eyebrow. Before he could retort, Kyoko snapped.

"Don't talk to him like that!" All three men looked down at her in mild surprise. "He has a right to know what happened."

"God Kyoko. Who else are you going to tell? I thought you wanted it to be a secret."

"Who I tell is none of your business." She felt Ren's hand take hers and she glanced up at him, but he was staring at Sho.

"We need to be going. Goodbye Fuwa-san." Yashiro smirked a little, trailing behind as they walked back to her room, Kyoko quietly filling him in on the way.


Ren sighed as he dropped onto a rock, staring complacently at the forest around him. A few birds chirped and took flight, and a squirrel was making its way toward him slowly. He smiled at it, then lowered his eyes to the ground, lost in thought. 'What if I hadn't made it in time." The thought had been plaguing him since he had awoken at 5 in the morning, completely rested and too thoughtful to go back to sleep or lay around in bed. 'What if Fuwa had been the one to save her…and he didn't want me to know what happened?' He could feel a shadow of the anger; of the hurt and betrayal he would have felt. Flinching, he watched the squirrel absentmindedly as it scampered off. 'I would have been so upset, I probably would have scared her off.' He crossed his arms and sighed, thinking of her again. 'I hope she's really okay. If…' His thoughts were cut off when he heard a familiar giggle.


Kyoko shivered as she placed her hands in the stream, smiling at the chill that passed through her. For the first time in days, she felt completely refreshed. Stretching, she began walking beside the little brook and listened to the chirping of the birds. Little fairies danced around her, greeting her and welcoming her to their home. Giggling, she skipped along, following them. A few twirled around her, calling her to play, and she chased after them, running by the stream and jumping over it with a laugh.

Squatting down, she cupped the water in her hands, smiling at the water fairies that perched on her hands, and took a sip of the water. They swirled around her again and she jumped to her feet, giggling and twirling as the moved with her, but froze when she heard a crunch and two large hands covered her eyes. Squeaking, she brought her hands up and touched the fingers covered her face, then smiled when she heard a familiar chuckle. "What are you doing?" He whispered in her ear, and she blushed at being caught.

"Um…playing?" He laughed softly, removing his hands and kissing her cheek. She turned in his arms and looked up at him sweetly, her cheeks red. "What are you doing up?"

"Well, I thought I'd go for a walk. I do like hiking." She smiled, remembering the time they had met in the woods a few months earlier in Kyoto. He returned the smile, but then his expression turned scolding.

"You shouldn't be wondering around alone. What if that stalker came back?" He was almost afraid that the reminder would scare her, but she only smiled.

"I have my cellphone on me, and I left a note for Momose-san. Besides, I'm not afraid if you're here." He was momentarily taken aback at the cute smile and sweet voice, and tried to hold back, but gave it up. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her, ignoring the way she stiffened in surprise for a second, then smiled when she relaxed, wrapping her arms around his neck. He mentally cursed his height as he nearly had to bend over double to kiss her, then put his hands around her waist and lifted. She wrapped her legs around him and he nearly groaned aloud, stepping back and carefully sitting on the grass, keeping his lips on hers. 'Got to get her away from there before…crap.' He felt her gasp against his mouth and then, much to his surprise, pressed against him again, moaning a little. He groaned and, picking her up a little off of him, and placed her beside him. She was blushing as he turned on his side and kissed her cheek, then moved down to her neck where he decided to stay for a little while, enjoying the way she whimpered and moaned.

It was a good ten minutes before Ren realized that they were in the middle of a forest and someone could walk by at any time. He sighed and pulled away, stroking her face as he rested his head on his right arm, watching her catch her breath. "Good thing we're apparently the only ones who like early morning hiking around here." He commented idly. She giggled breathlessly, trying to control her blush and ignore the strange sensation in her lower stomach. His gentle hand on her face made her entire body relax, and she watched the clouds roll by. "Did you sleep well?"

"Very well." She glanced over at him with a smile. "You?" He laughed softly.

"Yes, I slept well too. But I haven't eaten anything." She didn't jump up and start yelling. Instead, she smiled a little and closed her eyes.

"Me either. What time is filming?"

"I talked to the director again after you went to bed. He said we should both be on set by noon, but he wanted to make sure that you were okay, so he said if there are any problems, that you should call him and he'll make arrangements." She was silent. "Are you okay?"

She sighed softly. "I hate that I inconvenienced everyone."

"That wasn't your fault."

"No…but it still caused a lot of problems."

"Reino caused a lot of problems. You were just being harassed." He sat up and she followed slowly. "We should probably go get breakfast, and maybe the director will let us film a little early." She nodded, taking the offered hand and keeping it as they went back to the hotel.


Kyoko zipped her bag and pulled her purse onto her shoulder. Tucking her corn stone into her pocket, she surveyed the half empty hotel room in satisfaction. Waving goodbye to Momose-san, she headed out the door, leaving her bags in the room. 'Just have to say goodbye to the director, and then I can grab my stuff, say goodbye to Ren, and get on the train.' She hated that Ren would be staying another day, and that filming had been pushed back, but she repeated Ren's reassurances in her mind. 'It wasn't my fault. I had nothing to…wait.' She froze in the hallway, glancing around. A cool breeze suddenly hit her neck and she squeaked, turning around quickly and finding herself staring into the eyes of her least favorite person.

"You stupid Beagle! What do you want!" She snapped. "Are you here to bully me again?" He rolled his eyes.

"Well, that wasn't the plan, but I can fit that in too if you want."

"If I…why would I want to be bullied!" She cried, looking around at the deserted hallway. "What do you want?"

"I'm here to capture you." He smirked.

"To take me to the demon world?" He cocked his head and chuckled.

'Such a strange girl. It seems like her love circuits are dead...'


Ren knocked lightly on the door, waiting patiently when he heard footsteps, and smiled when Momose-san opened the door. "Hello Momose-san. Sorry to disturb you so early."

"Oh, no it's fine. Are you looking for Kyoko-chan?"

"Yes. Can you ask her to come here for a minute."

"Oh…um she's not here. She just went to talk to the director."

"Alone?"

Momose-san cocked her head a little. "Yes…why?"

'OH! She doesn't know who Kyoko's stalker is…' "No reason. Thank you." He strolled away, covering as much ground as possible with his long legs. Hurrying around the corner, he looked back and forth down the hallway, and hurried to the elevator.


He was lying on top of her. It was all Ren registered before he had grabbed the wrist of the hand wrapped around Kyoko's hand and squeezed. Kyoko looked up in surprise, and then relief. "Ren." Her voice was soft and a bit scared, and he knew that he must look pretty frightening. The other man's eyes widened and he jerked away, fleeing to the other side of the room.

"Who are you? Tsuruga Ren? That's a false name. Because you used to be a foreigner." He glanced at Kyoko who didn't seem surprised but was staring at Ren worriedly.

Ren felt a tiny hand slip into his as the words washed over him. He squeezed gently, grateful that she was there to anchor him to reality, protecting him from the onslaught of memories. "Most people wouldn't say 'false name.' Tsuruga Ren is my stage name. But my name isn't important right now, Stalker-san." His eyes narrowed and Reino took a step back.

"What? Are you going to hit me again? A guy like me wouldn't hold up very well against you." Reino said nervously.

Ren seemed to think about it for a minute. He wanted to hit him. More than he wanted anything, he wanted this man to feel pain for what he had done. But the little hand in his, squeezing fearfully, kept him sane. "No. I'm not going to hit anyone…if you promise never to bother Kyoko again. That includes whatever you've been doing to her for the last week." Reino lifted a brow in mild surprise, but nodded.

"Fine. I'm not afraid of dying, but I hate pain." He turned to go, but paused. "Kyoko. Throw that thing away." She glared and he dodged the grudges that were suddenly attacking him.

"I will not!" She screamed furiously. Ren lifted an eyebrow and watched the man walk away, then turned back to Kyoko. "Thank you." She said softly. He stared at her.

"What did he mean? What did he want you to throw away?" Her eyes widened and she looked at the ground sadly. "Kyoko?"

"He…" She hesitated, then peeked up at him. "He wanted me to throw Corn away, because he said that if…if the child who owned Corn were to continue to be as sad as he was as a child, then he would either have been insane or…or he would be gone from this world." Ren looked down at her in shock as a tear fell from her eyes. She clutched the rock in her hands. "I knew you were sad." She whispered, sniffing. "I could see it in your eyes, but I never listened to you talk about the sadness in your heart, like you listened to me." She brought her hands up to her face and sobbed, Ren staring at her in stunned silence.

'What kind of person was he? How could he have known that.'

"I'm so sorry Corn." She whimpered. His eyes softened and he reached out a hand, pulling her to him, and resting his head in the crook of her shoulder. She sobbed as she threw her arms around him. "I'm so sorry." He shook his head.

"Those things he said were nonsense. I'm still here, and I'm not insane, am I?" She smiled weakly and shook her head. "You don't have to be sorry. I was happy when I was with you, and I still am."

"You said…father's hands were too big…and…" He shook his head.

"Because of you, I can fly freely in the sky." She nodded and rested her head against him, relaxing a little. He glanced around and pressed his lips to the top of her head, then just held her. "I love you." He whispered it against her hair.

"I love you too Corn."

A/N: Ta da! :) Sorry Ren didn't beat him up. I really am sorry. Maybe later...maybe not. Anyway, back to studying. Thank you all so much for reading and reviewing! :D IT is really appreciated and keeps me motivated.

Lifany: You have disabled private messaging, so I wanted to thank you for reviewing! I am very happy that you think my chapters are well written! I have also also always wanted Ren to be the one to save her! LOL

To all other anonymous and without-an-account reviewers, THANK YOU! I dont'have time to respond to all of you, but thanks!