Wow this chapter! It was SO hard to write, especially considering I had two assignments due at the same time as I was thinking about it. I hope you enjoy it everyone. I know the last chapter was a massive cliffhanger so I'll shut up and let you enjoy it...hopefully! (^_^")

Disclaimer: I don't own Skip Beat.

Chapter 13

Kyoko always remembered the first time she'd heard a fairytale.

She'd been young, certainly before she'd started school, but she could recall it vividly. Shotaro's mother had taken her to the library for something they called "story hour". She remembered Sho crying because he wanted to play his new game instead. But that all changed when they sat in front of a wrinkly old storyteller. At first Kyoko didn't know how to react to the stranger but from the first words he spoke, oozing with magic and wonder and warmth, she had been enraptured; so much so that she still referred to him as 'The Wizard' to this day. Even Shotaro had been swept up in the old man's stories, especially the one about the Pirate, but he denied it afterwards.

The first fairytale she ever heard was 'Beauty and the Beast' and she was entranced by the bravery of the heroine, the commoner who became a well loved Princess at the end. Kyoko had been torn between fear and laughter when the old man's voice suddenly became deep and rough as he roared like the Beast in the story. But she remembered falling in love with the Beast as Beauty did and crying tears of happiness when he was saved by her love in the end.

That very night, after her mother sent her to bed with cold words, she'd had a dream of growing up to be a beautiful Princess, freeing the Prince from a wicked spell and living with him happily ever after. But instead of a castle, she dreamed of living in the Ryokan with Sho. It was a place she'd always felt same and warm, somewhere she was happy.

It was the first time she'd ever thought of Sho as a Prince.

But she'd grown up a lot since then. She'd been hurt by the one person she believed in the most and Kyoko had realised that fairytale romance was a lie. Still she clung to her love for the stories, as they were so removed from the tragedy of reality. In reality, love made you weak; in fairytales they made you strong enough to conquer anything. In the real world, love blinded you and caused you untold pain but in fairytales, you could fly on loves wing- soaring beautifully in the magic and the joy it gave you. She'd met her own fairy, so of course she believed in magic, but the magic of love? That was a fallacy.

How could she ever believe in love again? How could she dare to trust her own judgement once more?

And yet, there she was, in the arms of a man for whom she'd harboured feelings far longer than even she could decipher. She had seen the look of longing, the softened glace he gave her as he pulled her gently towards him and pressed his lips lightly on hers.

Her emotions seemed to have frozen solid. Instinctively she realised she'd closed her eyes and now was vaguely aware of the sensation of his lips, the warmth of his body against hers, the smell of peppermint and something uniquely Ren. She felt this all, but seemed to experience it as if she were a spectator, like this wasn't really happening to her. It made her feel slightly numb.

Ren pulled away and she opened her eyes slowly. Kyoko felt as if she should be reacting, that she should be feeling something, anything, that this was something incredibly huge and that it would completely change everything.

Ren could only look at Kyoko's blank stare for so long before he had to turn away. Regret and fear flooded him, even more so than when he'd revealed his true identity to her. He couldn't believe his own stupidity. He'd known she felt nothing for him romantically. Yet his own desires had clouded his judgement so much, he'd began to see things that weren't there- to hope for things at a dangerous level. It was as if he'd signed his own death warrant, in agreeing to these flirting lessons, but it wasn't just him paying the price- it was Kyoko- and he hated himself for that.

"Kyoko" He said once more but, instead of the love and care that had filled his voice before he'd kissed her, now his words were laced with sadness "I- I..." he trailed off, unable to know exactly what he could say. There was nothing he could say to make this any better. Of that he was sure.

Kyoko moved to touch her lips with her fingers, her eyes still wide and glossy. Moments before his lips had been where she touched. Ren's lips...they'd been on hers.

"Ren" She whispered faintly and at the sound of her voice, a voice that wasn't angry or hurt, Ren turned around to face her. "I don't...I don't know what..." she trailed off, not knowing what to say or what to think. She willed herself to just think, just react; do something- anything!

The crestfallen look on Ren's face stirred something inside of her. The frozen wasteland of her emotions, her body, thawed just a little under that look.

"You really don't understand? How could I have possibly made myself clearer?" He said in quiet sadness, his hands clenching into fists. He didn't want to do this, but he'd screwed things up so much and she deserved to have answers. He took a deep breath, trying to quell the fear that rose up inside him like a tsunami. "I promised myself, and you, that I would never hide anything from you again. But I have been. I've been hiding this for a long time."

"Hiding?" Kyoko repeated under her breath.

"My feelings for you. My...love- for you."

Kyoko sat down on the edge of the armchair, her knees felt weak and she was vaguely aware of how much she was shaking. Yet it still seemed to her as if this wasn't really happening, like watching herself in a dream and knowing she was having the experiences- but being unable to fully connect with them.

"I knew you could never love me that way, and after what happened with Rick I didn't believe I could ever be deserving of having someone like you in my life like that." Ren walked toward her and kneeled down, looking up at her as she leaned forward, noticing her jump slightly as he said the word 'love'. "Kyoko I want you to know that I never told you because I didn't want you to feel pressured for one second. I will never force you to do something that you don't want to do and I didn't want to think you had to be anything less than yourself around me."

Kyoko, for the life of her, couldn't get anything he was saying to fully sink in. Only one word filled her mind, a word so loaded that it was causing her whole body to shut down.

How?

How had she not realised?

How could she accept what Ren was saying?

How could this be happening?

When Kyoko didn't reply again, Ren sighed and hung his head, resigning himself to the inevitable.

"I know this must be a big shock, and you probably need time before we can talk about it. If you want to talk about it, I- I understand if you don't. I'll take you home now."

Something in his tone felt so final that Kyoko felt a crack in her heart. She looked up and stared as he retreated down the hall to get his keys. The sight of his back turned made her hurt. She wanted to say something to him, but words completely failed her. It was all too much at once and she felt like a part of her soul had floated away from the shock of it all.

The only this she could do is follow him out of the apartment, the door slamming to a close behind them.

It was the sound of the early morning birds that alerted Kyoko to the fact that she'd been awake all night.

Ren had dropped her off, giving her his schedule for the next few days and letting her know that he would give her all the space she needed. It was all up to her, if and when she wanted to talk. He said they could pretend it never happened if that was what she wanted. He even tried to crack a smile and a joke about it before she left, but Kyoko knew him too well. He seemed, to her, more vulnerable than she had ever seen him. It was like he was trying desperately hard not to bare his soul to her and yet realising that he pretty much had already.

Because he had kissed her.

Because he had said he loved her.

Kyoko sat up in her bed for the millionth time that night, her hair in disarray, her face dry and itchy from lack of sleep. It was no good trying to get any sort of rest. She groaned in frustration. How could she possibly sleep when something like that had been revealed to her, with so many of her emotions fighting amongst themselves? Ren loved her! HER! How on Earth was she supposed to respond to that?

Looking back on it she realised how many hints there had been, the subtle touches, the gentle smiles, the way he'd single her out. She'd always tried to deny it, even going as far as to throw herself at Moko-san's mouth- covering it to prevent her from even daring to suggest that the great Tsuruga-san could have stronger feelings for her than what Kyoko wanted to believe.

It still felt like it couldn't be right, like this was all a mistake. He certainly couldn't mean he loved her could he?

But then hadn't he told her that real kisses should be full of feelings? She brought her hands to her lips yet again.

No. She couldn't deny it however impossible it seemed. It was a soft and gentle kiss, a caring kiss. Kyoko had next to no experience with kissing but even she could tell that that kiss had been loaded with emotions. He'd kissed her so delicately, like he was desperately afraid of hurting her.

A small smile appeared on her face, her heart tickled. But the moment was fleeting as the swirling dark cloud of her thoughts descended back down to her and she groaned once more.

She needed to clear her head.

Looking out at the sky she could tell dawn was breaking; light pinks and yellows were streaked across the sky like an oil painting. Without thinking much more on the matter she got up and silently dressed into warmer clothing. Before she left she crept into the bathroom to wash her face, trying to refresh her skin, and tame her bed head. It calmed her slightly, gave her something to focus on instead of the events that had occurred not seven hours ago.

She set off onto the quiet streets; a few people were around, getting ready or just starting their early morning jobs. But for the most part it was silent and a bit eerie. The bizarre serenity awarded her some wonderful clarity. The puffs of chilly morning air hitting her face revitalised her, waking her up despite the sleep deprivation.

The young actress had no idea where she was going, but she walked for what seemed like an eternity, all the while the world was waking up around her. It was only when she was nearly trampled by a business man as he hurried past her, coffee in one hand and a briefcase in another, did she realise she'd stumbled upon Tokyo train station.

She stopped.

Kyoko looked up at the old red brick building, a historic and iconic hub, giant and yet somehow quaint in an area of large cold skyscrapers. Sitting down on a bench opposite the building, she watched the old clock ticking and remembered the last time she'd stopped here. It seemed like a lifetime ago.

How things had changed since then.

"Sho-chan! I think we're almost there!" A young Kyoko squealed, sitting up in her train seat and pressing her face against the window.

"Would you sit down already? We don't wanna draw attention to ourselves. We're runaways remember?" Shotaro hissed in the seat opposite her, looking around slightly nervously.

Kyoko sat back down in her seat, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. "Yes, you're right Sho-chan of course; we don't want to be caught before you can even get started on your dream."

"Don't you worry about that. Just wait. I'll be a huge star before you know it. I'll show them..." He trailed off in his own thoughts, a winning smirk gracing his handsome features and once again Kyoko was struck with how brave he was. Not only was he brave but he was smart, resourceful and endlessly talented. She would stake her life on the belief that he'd make it in the admittedly harsh music world. Her Sho-chan was special.

And she felt so lucky to be chosen by him, to share in his world. Despite how horrendously guilty she felt about leaving his parents behind with nothing but a note explaining what they'd done (although not in too much detail). She'd had to write that note in secret, as Sho didn't want to say another word to his parents until he could come home a star and prove them wrong.

"Are you sure it will be ok? What if your parents call the police?"

"They won't find us, I've already made connections in the music world, we'll be fine so would you stop worrying already? I've told you this a thousand times." Sho replied lazily fixing his cap lower on his head and slouching in his seat.

"R-right! Right Sho, I'm sorry, I just can't help but worry." She looked down at her lap sadly, fidgeting idly with her skirt.

"Well stop it 'cause it's giving me a headache. If I knew you were going to be so whiney I would have thought twice about asking you to come with me." He growled.

Kyoko snapped her head up her eye wide and full of hurt. Sho looked up and met her gaze, heaving a huge sigh.

"Ok I didn't mean that, you know I needed you to come with me."

Kyoko beamed at him, Sho's previous harsh words instantly forgotten. She played with her long, dark hair shyly- a blush creeping up to her face at the thought of her Prince singling her out once more.

"I don't care how long it takes for your dreams to come true, I know it will all be alright as long as you're by my side Sho! Nothing can go wrong, I know it." She clenched her fists together determinedly as they pulled into the station."Everything will turn out perfectly! You're going to change the music world forever and I'll be right here beside you, supporting you no matter what!"

How strange that memory seemed now. She had been so sure in her beliefs, in everything she said to him and to herself. Kyoko never complained to Sho again after that moment. Even when his popularity rose and she saw less and less of him, Kyoko never confided in him about how lonely she felt when he left for days on end, how she hated sleeping alone in an apartment in a big, scary city by herself. But she convinced herself she was happy, it was all for a good cause. It was the final bit of hard work before her and Sho-chan's real happily ever after.

Now here she sat, in the same place she'd been what seemed like an eternity ago, wondering where that idealistic, endlessly optimistic girl had gone. Was she still somewhere buried deep inside, or did she die the moment Shotaro's true nature had been revealed to her?

And so another question entered her mind.

Why did Ren fall in love with her?

She was LoveMe member number one, a girl so damaged by her previous relationship that she scorned love altogether. Why would he have fallen in love with her? Did he love her only because of their childhood connection? Did he only see who she used to be, failing to see her for the jaded and bitter individual she really was? Nothing made sense to her any more!

The last time she was here she'd been so sure of everything, so sure she had all the answers. Now she knew- she didn't have a clue. But there was an odd, almost insane, clarity to knowing that she knew nothing. It motivated her to find answers.

She stood up determinedly, fear striking her as the uncertainty of her situation began to sink in. She had to see him, Ren. He was the only one that had the answers she needed right now.

But how could she begin to ask the questions she needed to ask?

"I'll know, I'll know when I see him." She muttered under her breath, turning her back away from the station and walking away hurriedly. She couldn't deny that she was terrified, but there was something else there. Excitement, happiness, and something else she couldn't quite describe. She was seeing the man that- no matter what the entailed- said that he loved her. And it wasn't just anyone. It was Ren!

"Oops, please excuse me, I wasn't paying attention." Kyoko gasped as she walked into the back of a stranger standing on the street.

The stranger turned around and caught her eye. Her eyes bulged wide, her breath stopped dead.

It wasn't a stranger.

It was Shotaro.

I know you guys might be really mad at me that they aren't lovey-dovey right away but I really felt that Kyoko would go into a shocked state. The poor girls personal confidence is so shot and her entire world view has just been rocked by this massive revelation of Ren's, and we all know how internal and overthinking Kyoko is XD And now Shotaro's come into it, just as she's taken a step forward!

Review and let me know your thoughts, enjoy it? Agree/disagree with my opinion? I love everyone's comments and I can't believe that I have over 300 reviews. You guys are AMAZING! Cookies for everyone!