Kaorin71: Second chappy! Hurrah! The ending! Again, I'm sorry if they're so OOC. By the way, if you want to read that one shot manga I based this from, it's entitled 'Magic Shoe Shop'. You can find it on Mangafox or whatever… I'm thinking about making a sequel or something about this only it focuses more on Hiou and Kanae but I guess I wouldn't… *sigh* Oh, in this chapter, only the first part of this happened on another day. The rest are all at the coming of age ceremony. And yeah, I don't know a thing about that ceremony so if I messed up on it please let me know so I can change it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Skip Beat…

With All My Heart

Chapter 2…

"Kuon-sama, you called for me?"

Kuon looked up from his position. He was still on the floor, working on the shells. This time, he was trying to repair number two. He saw her still moist hair and said, "Did Lissa push you out in the rain again?"

"No," she replied. "I insisted on doing the chore for her."

That's when he stood up. "Use another excuse. Really, number seven. Why are you trying to protect her?"

Looking away, she said, "She's right anyway. I'm just a shell and I'm obliged to follow any order given to me."

Her master frowned a bit. He sighed then walked up to his cleared up desk. He opened the drawer and took out a small box from it. Peering at Kyoko, his expression softened. "Number seven, I'm going to speak to myself right now. Don't dare listen."

Still not turning to him, she nodded. "Yes. I will not listen."

Inhaling deeply, he started, "To be honest, I don't want to migrate to America yet. I don't wanna leave this place. I don't want that coming of age ceremony, that stupid offer to study abroad and to follow the footsteps of my father. I want to create my own image in my own ability. I don't want anyone to dictate me." Stopping for breath, he looked at Kyoko. When he saw no response, he continued. "I want to be free. And, if possible, I want to stay here forever. Here with all the other shells. Here with the people I grew up with."

Fumbling with the small box, he said, "Ten years ago, I met this little girl back when I took a vacation in Kyoto. I saw her near a clearing in a forest. There was a steam and those gorgeous looking trees around her. But the girl seemed out of place in that scenery. I could still remember that mournful expression she had on. It seemed like she lost all her hope to live."

"I went closer to her and I found out that she was actually a child shell. Her left arm was in pieces. I don't know if that's the result of the recent war there at that time and I didn't ask. I didn't want to burden her feelings even more," Kuon explained, glancing out his window. "I wanted to make her feel happy. I wanted to comfort her. But my father's right hand, Victor, called me and ridiculed that young shell. I could've punched him, and I should've. Yet I didn't so instead of just leaving that girl there, I gave her a little momento. I gave her a blue stone that my mother had given me before she died."

Prying his eyes away from the window, he fixed his eyes to Kyoko. "You know, if I only knew where that girl is now, I would've visited her. I want to know if she's alright, if the people are treating her fine. Truth be told, the one thing I will never forget about her was that hopelessness set deep in her eyes. That same hopelessness that told me she was just waiting for her death to come."

He finished his story but Kyoko still continued to ignore his gaze. He finally got tired of waiting for her and got up, then went up to the girl. Grasping her arm, he turned her around. There was a surprised look on her as she saw her master in front of her. Kuon looked into her eyes yet she refused and turned away.

Kuon still grasped her arm, however, and spun her to him again. Only they were closer this time around. Kyoko tried to pry his hand away but to no avail.

"Ku-kuon-sama," she stuttered, trying to free herself. "I've got other chores to do."

"Wait a moment," he told her, reaching for the box. He opened it and inside was a beautifully decorated rhinestone necklace. Taking it out with his free hand, he held it out for her to see. "Look."

She let her other hand touch the jewelry. But she took it away when she realized what she was doing. "What is it?"

Smiling, he told her, "It's a necklace that I made back when I was in elementary. I didn't have anything good to do so I thought of doing this." Then he lowered his hand then spun her to his side. "I kept this in my drawer all these years because I thought I could never find anyone to give this to. But since I am leaving this place in just a few more days, please take this as a momento."

"But…"

Before she could make a decent complaint, he walked behind her. He unlatched the necklace and then placed it on her neck. He was about to latch it again when there came a loud banging at the doorway. The two of them didn't' have any time to react. Before they knew what was happening, the necklace was brutally taken away form Kuon's hands and was thrown off to the far corner of the room.

Angry beyond reason, Kuon started to yell at the trespasser. "What -"

"Kuon," the man said. His sharp eyes quickly darted to the young boy and he immediately stopped talking.

"Victor-sama," Kyoko murmured softly, staring at the bulky blonde man beside her.

He looked at her then made a face. He was Kuu Hizuri's right hand and loyal adviser. And this man was also the one who hated Kyoko to the core. Grunting, he made his way to Kuon. "What's with this stupidity? Giving an accessory to a mere shell? For once, Kuon, would you think?"

"I am thinking," He answered back, fists tight in anger. "I know that I'm going to be shipped away in just a few days and that I won't be able to see number seven and the other shells here again."

Even with that explanation, Victor continued to make a face in front of him. He briskly walked towards the door, unable to stand being in the room any longer. "I don't need your petty excuses." Then he swirled around and faced Kyoko. "And you. You're just a shell, dammit. Don't go talking to the master as you please."

Although reluctant, she bowed down to him, saying, "I'll always remember that, Victor-sama. I'll remember it with all my heart."

"You don't have a heart," he replied sarcastically. After that, he swiftly slipped out of the room, yelling, "Kuon, come out in five minutes or you'll be reprimanded again."

Kuon didn't want to come with the man but, as the heir of the Hizuri family, he had to. Sighing, he cast one last glance at the girl before heading outside.

When Kyoko was sure that no one was around anymore, she straightened her posture. Her eyes were on the necklace as she walked up and bent down to pick it up. It had a brilliant violet color which shone brightly when she placed it in direct sunlight.

Kuon-sama, Kyoko thought wistfully, hugging the necklace. A single tear trickled down her face and unto the stone. Please don't forget me.

At last, the coming of age ceremony was here. A lot of influential and rich guests were invited just for the occasion. The venue, which was just at the huge garden of the Hizuri manor, was almost full. There were really a lot of them.

They're all here for Kuon-sama, Kyoko thought, serving trays of refreshments at various tables. I might as well enjoy seeing him while I can. After all, he might never come back.

As she was serving the other guests some drinks and food, the other human maids of the manor were dressed in lustrous gowns. Another rule made by Victor. Human employees can take the day off during important gatherings but shells should work like hell. It didn't mean much to Kyoko anyway. All she wanted was to see her master happy even by the end of the day.

When she was passing by a table, someone tried to trip her. It was good thing that she had a good coordination and she managed to dodge the disaster. As she looked up to see who tried to hurt her, she saw the face of that irritating bitch. Yep. It was Lissa.

"Poor you. Are you tired? Do you want to take a day off just like us?" She laughed at this, as if she made a very funny joke. "Well, too bad you can't. You are just a shell. And besides, there's an order that you have to work everyday of your miserable life."

Her laughter continued. The others who were at the table with he started laughing with her. It seems like all her friends were all in that circular area. Kyoko ignored their smartass remarks and went off to do her job. She didn't want to be bothered by those pesky idiots. Not now when there was something important about to happen.

Just as Kyoko was finished serving the other beverages, there was a loud commotion at the other side of the venue. Turning to the direction of the noise, she found Kuon and Victor yelling and arguing fiercely.

"What do you mean I'm going to get married?" Kuon asked, pissed off. "No way will I marry someone who I had never met before."

"It's not use backing away form the deal," Victor said calmly. He looked too calm, actually. "We've already talked about the matter. Your father and I have conversed with the girl's parents and they agreed quickly."

"'We'? Don't you mean you only? I don't think you gave my father a chance to talk," he said, ready to punch him anytime. "He won't do that to me. He'll want me to find someone I like myself. He would want me to be free not to be locked up."

"Your father decided on this with me. Even if you ask him, he'll -"

Patience gone, Kuon tried to punch the man squarely in the stomach. But before he could land a blow on him, he was stopped by Kyoko.

"Kuon-sama, you shouldn't do this," she told him, punching him back. "This is a celebration. Please don't start a fight."

"Number seven, please," he told her, too angry to acknowledge her politely. "I'm not the one making the mess. I want to clarify things. I want to love somebody who I chose for myself. And I want to stay here where all the things and people I love so much are!"

Kyoko was about to answer when someone from inside the manor appeared. Not actually someone. There were two of them. One was a little girl and the other one was an extravagantly dressed old man. They both carried one shoe box each.

"Special order by number seven," Maria said, unable to remember the teenager's name. "Shoes that can destroy love, as requested."

Disbelief crossed Kuon's features. "What? Shoes that can destroy love?" Then he looked at Kyoko, anger in his face. "You lied. You're also with him. You don't want me to be free and you don't want me here anymore. Is that it?"

Kyoko tried her hardest to reason with him. "No! It's nothing like that, master. Please -"

Too late. Kuon was too overcome with anger to control himself. He shoved the girl away - hard. Too hard. She flew to the banquet table and got hit by a punchbowl. The bowl landed on the ground and broke into shards. Then she dropped down on the same ground where the shards were, getting pierced by the glass pieces.

Kuon stood stunned by his action. Recovering, he went up to her. He lifted her off the ground gently and had her sit up. He wiped the blood – or shell oil – off her right arm. Concern and guilt was written all over his face. "Number seven, are you alright? You're not too hurt, are you?"

Kyoko rubbed her arm and said, "There's no need to worry, Kuon-sama. It's just the outer mechanics that's been damaged. It's nothing serious."

Kuon was about to buy her excuse when he observed some thing. There were also some small pools of water on the ground. When Kyoko's blood dropped, it sank below the water.

"Shell oil floats on water," he murmured. Confused, he looked at her face. "Are you..?"

Kyoko, knowing that her secret had been discovered, quickly squirmed out of his grip and then fled from the place. Kuon tried to call her and follow her but the crowd pressed against him. He quickly lost sight of the young girl.

"That wasn't very wise, Hizuri-san," Lory said beside him. The young girl, Maria, was clinging close to him.

Kuon squinted at him. His gaze then fell on the shoe box. "That… She ordered shoes that can destroy love? For me?"

He shook his head then raised the other box Maria had. He opened it and revealed a pair of normal looking shoes. "These were the shoes she ordered for you. The shoes that can destroy love were for her."

"Why would..?" He trailed off, not making any sense.

Sighing, he told him, "You know, I couldn't understand that girl either. To tell you the truth, when I was getting her foot measurement, her skin felt like real flesh to me. It wasn't like that synthetic skin that common shells wore." He then placed the shoe box with Kuon's shoes on the table. "In fact, I don't think she's a shell at all."

The young man before him almost couldn't believe what he discovered. So the servant who has come to know as number seven wasn't a shell at all? Then was she human?

Human like him?

Then… Kuon thought, putting all the pieces together. Then that means that she's really human. And she kept it from all of us for all the four years she has been here. She didn't tell anyone. Not even me. If that's the case, then this feeling that I thought was wrong is actually...

Realizing this, he quickly got on his feet and started to follow the path that Kyoko took. But he didn't get very far. Soon enough, he was blocked by a crowd of people. People who were pretending to want to talk to him on that bastard Victor's order.

He frantically looked for a way to escape. That was when he saw the shoemaker and his assistant leaving the place.

"Hey, wait!" Kuon called, still stuck in the thick crowd.

Maria heard his frantic call. She turned back to look at his pitiful situation. Then she turned to her grandfather. "Shouldn't we help him get number seven back?"

Lory shook his head, grinning mischievously as he continued to walk away. "That's not our decision to make, Maria."

Kuon-sama, you shouldn't have known, Kyoko sighed, peering at the glorious view of the waters before her. But there's nothing more you can do now. I've made up my mind...

"Are you sure about that?"

Startled by the voice, Kyoko swirled to face the owner of the voice. But when she turned around, her surprise disappeared.

"Lory-sama," she said in a soft voice.

He smiled faintly then held out the shoe box he was carrying. Opening the box, he took out a pair of glass shoes from inside. The designs were intricate and elaborately embedded, as she expected. Lory said, "These are the shoes you ordered. I did as you said. Shoes that can destroy love."

Nodding, she went to him. Behind her, the cool breeze from the pier blew on her, making her short brown hair sway. Her clothes billowed gently as she removed her footwear and raised her left foot.

Lory took the shoe for her left foot. He placed it on the ground, just in front of her raised foot. He looked up to her and asked, "I'll ask this one more time. Are you really sure about this?"

"I know what I want to do and this is it," she told him. "If I don't do this, the feeling called love will keep burning in my chest. It will burn on and on. When Kuon-sama leaves and marries another woman, that fire will consume my entire being. It'll hurt more than it does now."

Acknowledging her words, he nodded. "That's your decision. But I'm warning you, once you put this on, you will no longer be able to take it all back. You will lose that feeling. Losing the ability to love is the same as losing your soul. And losing your soul means you'll become an actual shell."

"I'll accept that with all my heart, Lory-sama," Kyoko whispered, lowering her foot to the shoe.

Having no other way to stop her, Lory carefully watched as she tried to fit the shoe. Yet, before she even had the chance to wear it, a familiar person came to stop her.

"Number seven!"

Surprised to hear that voice, Kyoko stopped and glanced at the direction where the shout came from. So did Lory. And there, standing just a few feet away from them was her master.

"Master Kuon…" Her voice trailed off, shocked to find him there.

The young man was panting and gasping as he spoke. "I'm not going to let you do that, number seven. I'm not going to let you destroy yourself just for my sake. I won't allow you."

"In order to serve you faithfully," Kyoko started, "I must not feel any hesitation. But if I continue to stay human, it'll be only a matter of time before…"

"Before what?" Kuon shot at her, still out of breath. "You don't need to go through this. If you want to stay by my side, then so be it. We'll walk the path together, you and I."

"But I'm not fit to be with you," she told him, unable to hide her feelings anymore. "Kuon-sama is so nice and kind and for that reason I am still alive."

Not getting her words, he asked, "What do you mean?"

"Ten years ago, you saved me. You saved me from death by giving me the courage to live on," Kyoko said, her hand close to her chest. "I was torn back then. I didn't want to live. That time, you mistook me for a shell because of my artificial arm. But you didn't ridicule me like all the others. You showed me your kindness and I will never forget that."

"You…" Kuon then started to piece the words together. "That girl in Kyoto… that was you?"

She nodded. She reached in her pockets and took out a blue stone. Kyoko then held it out for him to see. "Look. This is the stone you left me with ten years ago. The same stone I had poured all my troubles into. Because of you, my situation became bearable. And because of you, I am still here."

"Then why did you pretend to be shell?" Asked Kuon.

"In this world, only a few chosen ones can enter your society. I am not one of those. Do you think if I introduced myself as a human being, they would've accepted me?" Kyoko stared at him, tears streaming down her face. "That's why I applied as a shell. Even though I am only a servant, I can still see you. And when I saw all those shells and how you cared for them, I knew that I was in the right place. Then and there, I realized I didn't need my soul or my life to live freely. Just with you by my side, I can survive happily."

Suddenly, before she could react, Kuon took her into his arms and embraced her. She didn't try to get away from his hold. In fact, if she could only stop time then she would've. Kyoko felt protected just having him by her side.

"I didn't comfort you back then just for you to come to my home and be my servant," he told her soothingly, stroking her smooth hair. "From now on, let's live together. We'll be together. And I won't let anyone get in our way."

To this, Kyoko started to complain. "But, Kuon-sama – "

"It's not Kuon-sama," he said, tracing his thumb over her lips. "Ku-on. My name is Kuon, number seven."

Kyoko wanted to complain again but Kuon got her first. "No, I can't call you by that anymore. That's not your name."

Kyoko stared up to him. "My name…"

"You do have a name as a human, right?" Kuon said this while holding her closer to him. "Then tell me now, what's your name?"

She still wanted to complain. She wanted to tell him the consequences of the path he chose to take. But then, they both decided to take that path. They'll be questioned, yes, but they'll stay together. Together always and forever.

Kuon was still stroking her hair as he asked again, "What's your real name?"

Kyoko leaned on his chest, breathing calmly. "My name is…"

"Grandfather, isn't it a waste?" Maria told him, watching the scene unfolding before them. "She didn't even wear the shoe you made!"

"But it's not that important," Lory told her, holding the shoe box. "What's important is that they realize their own mistakes and they walk towards their future with their own two feet."

Maria frowned childishly. "But it's still a waste. You made the shoe but she didn't even wear it."

Sighing, Lory started to walk back to his store. "You'll understand when you yourself make the shoes someday. Now let's go. I wonder who's going to order my shoes next. I've been keeping an eye on that Kotonami Kanae servant at the Hizuri mansion."

This made Maria smile. "Yeah. Then she'll wear the shoes! This time, we'll make shoes that will create love! I hate anything with the word 'destroy'."

Chuckling, Lory cast one last look at the couple before going on his way. "Yeah, maybe we will."