Chapter 1 – Pieces in a board game

The Past

It was autumn and the varying shades of brown on the trees were mesmerising as the sun began descending from its heavenly throne. Mogami Kyoko, out of her bold pink uniform, set foot outside of LME, satisfied with the work that she had accomplished today. When she really thought about it though, she realised that the tasks she did today -carrying a mass of paper work from one section to another; cleaning and mopping the hallways; helping lost teenagers who were here to audition for a place in the latest vampire movie- weren't particularly stepping stones for her to achieve that prized place above Fuwa Sho. Knowing this, she slouched down in a corner in despair as an aura of absolute misery enveloped her lean frame, body and soul.

Out into the autumn afternoon, walked Tsuruga Ren. He noticed the flair of orange fury slumped in a corner and curiosity took the better of him. Yashiro, following a little behind, watched in amusement as Ren's expression turned from a professional one to one of contentment and serenity. He wanted to push Ren that little bit over the edge to see the story unfold in full force, but it was almost impossible to do so. Ren's composed self was a tough barrier to break. Yashiro's teasing nature made him want to place all his bets on Ren walking towards Kyoko. And he would've won good money had he really placed his bets, for it was not long after seeing her that Ren began his walk towards Kyoko. His eyes unmoving; his strides long and relaxed after a day of hard work; and his heart... Well, his heart was something the manager couldn't see. Yashiro sighed. He wished very much that he could.

As Ren walked towards Kyoko, he thought of how he hadn't seen her all day. Him being on a completely different set, and her working in the Love Me section meant that they barely saw each other these days. The number of times he called her went downhill as he could find no new excuses. Kyoko, being the person that she was, seldom called him in fear of bothering him with matters she did not want to concern a sempai about. Without realizing it, his face broke into a smile just like it had done when he had seen her name on set of Dark Moon after several days of separation when she filmed as Natsu. The smile was warm, honest and welcoming.

"Mogami-san?"

Kyoko looked up from her depression to meet Ren's eyes. She only saw it fit to rid herself of her despondent aura and grace her face with a dazzling smile. She bowed and greeted him, "Tsuruga-san, good afternoon".

The fading sunlight caught on Kyoko's face as she lifted her head, giving her fair skin a resplendent glow. Her cheeks were tinged with an almost invisible blush of pink which enhanced the beauty of her pinker lips. Her short hair framed her face gracefully and fell to her shoulders in various lengths. Ren quietly gazed at her alluring beauty, unaware of what he was doing until he heard her wavering voice, "Umm, Tsuruga-san...?"

Behind him, Yashiro stifled a chuckle. It's the Kyoko-charm, isn't it Ren?

This time, Ren simply looked at her, a little self-conscious.

"Ah, Mogami-san, are you on your way home?" He smiled.

"Yes, I have to be there as soon as possible to help Okami-san with the shop this afternoon."

"Would you like a ride home?"

"No, thank you. I'll be fine on my bike."

"Ah, I see. Well then, have a safe journey home, Mogami-san. Goodbye", Ren said and smiled. He turned away to hide his disappointment.

Behind him, Kyoko bowed and went in the opposite direction towards the bike shed to pick up her bike. Ren glanced back only to find Kyoko walking away... and his disappointment substantially increased.

Yashiro noticed this and broke into a silent laugh. There were times when Ren's inability to control his emotions stroked the older manager like a feather: tickling and making him hysterical with laughter. Ren's shifts in mood and his change in expressions (due to his budding feelings) were ever so slight it wouldn't be noticed by a random passer-by, much less a girl who had given up all hopes of ever loving a man.

Being Ren's manager, Yashiro had learnt several things about Japan's No. 1 actor. The fact that Ren had never really experienced true love between himself and another woman was one amongst many. If things between Ren and Kyoko were to work out, someone needed to play with their pieces on a board game. Because the pieces themselves couldn't move up any squares, as there was no one throwing the dice. Yashiro wondered if him and President Lory could really play this game and finally achieve the goal... At the moment, it seemed impossible. No, it was impossible.

He sighed, for the second time in the span of 10 minutes.

Yashiro walked and watched Ren at the same time, as the latter strode towards his car, opened the door and sat on his seat. Yashiro did the same and glanced to the right to see the expression Ren had now. He was surprised to find a stoic face void of any expression whatsoever.

Ren, sat on his driver's seat, was aware of the glances from Yashiro. He was determined not to leave any opening for Yashiro to pry into; creating a deeper crack he believed he couldn't deal with. He was pleased the when older man turned away, dissatisfaction etched onto his face rather boldly.

Ren opened his window, and began driving. He was highly grateful to the blowing wind as it blew away the molecules of dejection and replaced them with... nothing.

As Kyoko unlocked the chain that was used to bind her bike, she noticed that the tyres on her bike were punctured. How exactly, she couldn't recall. It had been fine this morning as she pedalled her way to LME. Lost in hopes to recall the incidents that morning, she failed to notice the sudden stillness that fell upon the area surrounding the bike shed. There was an ear wringing silence that screamed for one to run away, but lost in thoughts, Kyoko was oblivious to the change in atmosphere. The busy streets surrounding LME seemed to be void of any human existence as the ever present background noise of people moving around, ceased.

Would she have noticed had what happened next not happened at all? For what happened next, plunged Kyoko into a world of kaleidoscopic colours; of darkness; and most of all... painful realisations.

As she pondered the events of the morning, something solid and hard came into contact with the nape of her neck, rather painfully and without mercy. Thoughts of punctured tyres flew away, as she fought to understand the situation. Before her conscience made a final plunge for darkness, she could only make out the outlines of a rather ugly face: a face that was scarred and shaved once every red moon.

Ah, the dice finally rolled. And a piece moved closer towards the goal.

Righto, this chapter is longer than the first (and so is my after note). Partly because a reviewer found the previous chapter too short... And partly because I babbled (quite) a bit. Yah, babbling FTW. It makes your fanfiction longer. God bless Long chaptered fanfiction. And babbles.

Okay, sarcasm aside, I'd like to thank every reviewer that reviewed the Prologue.

Tohru12 for being the first ever reviewer on my first ever fanfiction (they always a leave a mark); elfenknight, ren and kyoko in a bucket, The Poisoned Doughnut Of DOOM, Ecki, Serara, Teelsa and queen34 for your positive and motivating reviews. Never did I think that a comment could propel a fiction writer to write. But it did, and I remain forever grateful to you guys; Nine Days a Queen, I am truly honored that my prologue had the ability to make you lose your formal reviewing voice -as you put it- and go all caps :-); The Nameless Soul, nope, it's not alternative universe. I don't believe I'm experienced enough to delve into that (¬_¬); momoirousagichan, your review is much appreciated; I love your straight forward statement. It's rare to find reviewers such as yourself. Thank you. :) But prologues are always confusing, are they not? Or that's how I found it when I read the prologue of the book I'm currently reading. Actually, in all honesty, my fiction's layout is a little similar to that book's. Haha~

... And all those who favorited this fiction and put it on alert, I thank you.

A few notices, and more blatherings:

- The next chapters might not come as quickly as this one did. As much as I'd like to say, "I have a life to live and dreams to fulfill"... I'd be lying if I did. See, I'm an extremely lazy person with a very bored imagination. So the words don't to me as easily as they should. And being a student, I have one of those things called 'summer jobs' where the emplyers carry out the practice of child labor, lawfully, in the name of giving the kids enough experience to last in the adult world. But experience is experience. It's highly valued by the universities, which is pretty much all I care about right now.

- That aside, if you have any ideas or events you'd like to see happen, do leave it in a review. I'll try my best to incorporate it into the fanfic, if possible.

- I somehow feel that this chapter didn't live up to the quality set by the previous one (there are a few sentences I'm not particularly happy with and am lost on how to rephrase them). Hence I decided to get myself a beta reader. How do I do that?

- And I changed the story title. This'll probably be permanent. Hopefully. Hrrm. (¬_¬)

On another note, this is not a vampire fiction. But, I suppose, you've guessed that already from this chapter.

In case it's not clear, this chapter occurs prior to the prologue. (I've added a date to the prologue now, so to make it clear) Exclude that.

G'day.

Thanking momoirousagichan again for kindly pointing out my mistakes. :)