Authors Chat: Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween. If you don't acknowledge Halloween, um, hope you had a good day! :D This is a short chapter, but it's a bit of a segue into the next major part.

I would greatly appreciate your comments and constructive criticism!

That being said, italics text are direct thoughts of characters, text is in quotes, noises are done with asterisks.

DISCLAIMER: Skip Beat! and it's characters are not my original creation, they are owned and created by Nakamura Yoshiki.

Story Timeline: Y'all know the timeline by now. If not, go back and read it in an earlier chapter! (taken out for length).

Playing With Fire

Act 19

Director Sutoyo had called the scene perfect, but Yashiro couldn't help watching from the shadows in horror. Seeing Kyoko-chan and Ren in those positions, entwining in bed had nearly broke him.

The pure Kyoko-chan! In bed with that wolf! Almost as bad as the time he trapped her outside the ladies room, only this time, there's nothing I can do about it! I can't believe Kyoko-chan would do this scene willingly!

And then it hit him… This was what they had been practicing. Yashiro burned red at the thought of it. The two of them. Alone. In Ren's apartment. …and Kyoko-chan had stayed the night!

OH MY GOD! T-t-t-those s-s-scratches on R-Ren's back weren't from a b-broken m-mirror were they!?! His shock and revelation were too much for him. He couldn't think straight, and couldn't keep the astonishment from his face.

He automatically assumed the worst. He was right, of course, but he had to force himself to believe not.

He muttered to himself, "Hah… no… no… It must be the mirror… I'll get Ren to tell me the truth. Show me the mirror, and if he can't… then I'll kill him myself!"

Ren exited the stage opposite the corner Yashiro had been standing, so Yashiro in effort to meet him. Ren's long legs outdistanced him swiftly though, and he had entered the dressing room and was already changing when Yashiro entered.

His angst was rising quickly, his face going two shades darker every second before he finally exploded in a conniption.

Ren turned and snapped at him, "What is it Yashiro? Spit it out already."

Ren's yelling at ME!?! He's the one who.. He did.. He went.. He… just.. HE!

"YOU… MIRROR… What happened Ren!? What mirror did you break? You didn't really break a mirror, did you!?!"

Ren sighed. He really did not have the mental capacity right now to deal with this.

"I broke the mirror in my gym in my apartment. If you don't believe me, you can feel free to check. Here's the key." Ren fished his key ring out of his jacket pocket and jangled it in front of Yashiro.

"B-b-but the scratches down your back! I was sure…" He let the sentence trail off, tempted to take Ren's keys to verify his claim, then thought better about it. A manager and actor can not work together unless they have a certain amount of trust in each other though, and Ren had been working with Yashiro for three years. They were like brothers even.

Though, even family can keep secrets from each other…

Yashiro inhaled and turned to Ren to pry him yet again about the damages to his body, and attempt to confirm his worst fears regarding Ren and Kyoko-chan, but when he turned he saw Ren already changed and sitting reclining in a floor-chair with earbuds already in his ears and his eyes closed.

Yashiro wondered a moment if it was the same music he had listened to before when he was bothered about something dealing with Kyoko-chan. This was clearly a silent message for Yashiro to leave Ren alone on this matter.

Yashiro couldn't help but fret for the rest of the afternoon. With Ren stayed in the dressing room through lunch and the afternoon, all the while listening to music and refusing to carry on a conversation with Yashiro. Eventually, Yashiro gave up trying to get anything out of Ren and went back to the set to watch the rest of the shoot.

Kyoko and the other lead girls were in the classroom setting filming the last scene of the episode.

"Natsu-chan! Can you really believe Katsuki-Sensei is gone!?"

She smiled, her usual mask of ennui marred only by the harsh slash of her mouth as the edges curled. "I successfully drove him off, didn't I? Did you lack faith in me?"

"Well of course not Natsu-chan… but with how things were going, it seemed like it would be a while."

"And what's THAT supposed to mean?" the look in her eyes said clearly that Kaori was treading on dangerous ground.

"Um… Nothing Natsu-chan. I just thought you were taking your time and having some fun."

Natsu sighed. "True, I didn't get to have as much fun as I wanted. No matter though."

"Oh? You have something new in mind then?"

"You could say that."

Natsu looked up at the new teacher's daughter. It was lucky that they wound up in the same class. She had never antagonized a whole family before.

It had been easy to gather the information on Murakami-Sensei and Murakami Kitami-chan. They hadn't been long separated from Murakami-Sensei's ex-husband, and had a lot of dirt that was easily found.

Natsu stood up and gracefully walked across the room to where Murakami Kitami-chan sat and flashed a dazzling smile.

"Kitami-chaaaaan! We're having a little get together for Karaoke after class today. We'd like you to come as the guest of honor!"

She flushed, probably embarrassed at being called so informally upon first meeting.

"O-okay Kitagawa-san," she smiled shyly.

"Call me Natsu-chan!" Her eyes lit up and her smile broadened. "You know the karaoke box near the station? We'll meet you after class in Box 'R'."

"CUT! That was perfect ladies. That's all for today. Please remember to return your costume to the costume department today for laundering and pressing."

"Yes Director Sutoyo! O'tsukaresame deshita!" the girls called as a group before leaving the stage.

Ren stepped re-entered the room as they were calling their final thanks for the day and followed Kyoko from a distance as she headed down the opposite hall for her dressing room.

After she had changed, she popped her head into the hall and looked left, then right as if she were searching for something. That something was Ren, and he was standing just to the right of the door, leaning against the wall.

"You were going to leave after I already informed you we needed to talk after the shoot?"

She blushed and attempted to stammer a 'no' but stopped as Ren gave her a look that said he knew she was lying.

"Come on. Seems I have to walk you to the costume department to return your costume and don't disappear. Then we'll drop Yashiro off and go somewhere to talk."

Kyoko's heart pounded uneasily as he took her elbow and gently lead her toward the costume department.