I'm sorry I've been gone for so long. Christmas stuff & a MASSIVE assignment meant I had to focus all my attention on that for a while. But the assignment was done last week so I've been working on this monster chapter since then. I hope it's worth the wait :)

Chapter 14

Whenever Kanae had to dress in her vile pink uniform, it always put her in a foul mood. The more work she'd gotten over the past few months, the less she'd had to wear it. That was her excuse, and it was a damn good one. But sometimes she'd have a week or two off whilst she was in between jobs, and the President would call her in to do some LoveMe work.

Kanae huffed as she slammed her locker shut more forcibly than she need to. She wasn't a fool; she knew she needed to do something to gain back the lost emotion inside her. But it made her so damn mad that she had to subject herself to such ridicule. Surely there had to be some other way then to march around in neon pink, doing odd jobs for people who looked at her with pity, disdain or humour? She hated it!

So it was with a heavy heart and a stormy countenance that she stomped out of the LoveMe changing rooms, off to her first job. She was so focused on her bad mood; she didn't notice Ren Tsuruga until she bumped right into him.

"Oh- sorry." She grumbled, not in particularly sorry at all. Her bad mood instantly changed, however, when she looked up at him.

Kanae Kotonami was an excellent actress, a different calibre to the regular popular idols, and with that talent came (what she liked to call) a distinctive bullshit detector. Ren might've been able to fool any regular person with that polite smile, but certainly not her.

"No, please excuse me. I wasn't quite paying attention Kotonami-san." He replied with a gentle, breezy attitude that had Kanae's suspicions quadruple. She observed him quietly, noticed the slight bags under his eyes, the skin paler than normal, the way his smile didn't stretch to all his features. To the untrained eye he looked fine, to Kanae he look utterly exhausted, stressed, and drained emotionally. That last one struck a chord of fear and protectiveness in her as her mind instantly flickered to Kyoko. She wondered if his mood was anything to do with her self-proclaimed best friend. "Are you on your way to a job?" Ren asked.

Suddenly Kanae remembered the missed call from the orange-haired actress from the night before. She hadn't noticed it until this morning because one of her nephews had hidden her phone. She'd been about to phone her back when the President had called her in for work and, in her rage, Kanae had forgotten about anything else but the fact that she'd had to wear the pink overalls again.

"Yes, I have to go escort one of the older actresses to her next shoot." The raven haired thespian explained, trying to keep her concern hidden for the time being. She wanted to call Kyoko first.

"I see. And it's just you I take it?"

"Yes, it's just me." Kanae replied, and she watched him catch himself a moment too late. She'd seen the dejected look on his features in the split second before he masked it with the false smile once more. This caused her an even greater concern. Ren Tsuruga was one of the few actors she considered to be on her level, how bad was his situation that caused him to act so...fake?

"I see." He said again, more quietly this time, before he looked at her with a smile and a slight bow "in that case I'll leave you to get to your job, have a good day" and before she could say anything else, he'd hurried off, leaving Kanae to wonder just what the hell had happened.

"You saw it too didn't you?"

Kanae jumped about a foot in the air, turning around to notice that Ren's manager had been standing there the whole time.

"Could you please not do that?!" She yelled, clutching her heart slightly.

"Sorry! Sorry!" Yashiro replied waving his hands up in an odd sort of apology wave. Kanae looked at him oddly for a second. In another situation she might have found it funny. "It's just, I saw you looking at Ren. You noticed it too didn't you?"

Kanae, trying to regain her cool composure, stood up straight and glanced down the hall- the way Tsuruga had gone. "He doesn't seem like himself. Has he talked to you about it?"

Yashiro sighed and rubbed the back of his head subconsciously. "No, and I'm a bit nervous to ask. He just seems so- well- down. He was fine with our first job this morning. He was able to act perfectly and nobody suspected anything. But the second he thinks people aren't watching him he looks completely miserable. I'm wondering if it could be about Kyoko-chan."

Kanae blinked, surprised at the young managers insightfulness. "I was wondering the same thing. But I couldn't think of what it might have been. They seemed to be getting closer."

"You knew about that?" Now it was Yashiro's turn to be surprised. Kanae looked over at him with a raised eyebrow and he had the decency to look sheepish. "Oh, I guess you would. You are her best friend after all."

Since when was this common knowledge? Had Kyoko been off spouting nonsense about the two of them being best friends to anyone within earshot? It sounded ridiculous, but Kanae wouldn't be surprised if it was true. She tried to change the subject.

"I'll talk to her and see if I can find out what's happened." Kanae volunteered before she recognised what she was saying. Suddenly she was angry at herself. When had it come to this? Going out of her way for people without even thinking about it, even when there was no direct benefit to her?! What was this friendship doing to her?! She was supposed to be a lone wolf, a sole huntress, prowling the way to the top of the acting food chain. Friendship was never in the plan.

Yashiro, oblivious to the inner struggles of the fiery dark beauty beside him, turned to her with a grateful smile. Normally this would have pissed off Kanae further, but Yashiro looked so relieved to have someone on-side besides the crazy President that her anger dissipated, turning into sympathy for the long suffering manager. "Thank you." He sighed "I'll try to speak with Ren, though I doubt he'll say much."

"Knowing something is better than knowing nothing." Kanae shrugged and Yashiro grinned at her again. They stood, watching each other for a moment, before the bespectacled manager made a startled gesture and felt around in his briefcase.

"Here's my card. If you find out anything, call me."

Kanae took the card and, with no small hint of suspicion in her tone, replied "You seem quite interested in Tsuruga-sans love life, is that normal for a manager?"

Yashiro turned pink for a moment and turned his gaze downwards, placing his hand at the back of his head again. Kanae noted it was the second time he'd done that and in both times, it seemed he was feeling awkward. She bit down the most bizarre urge to grin at that knowledge.

"Well- maybe it is or maybe it isn't I'm not sure." Yashiro stammered slightly and then sighed, placing his hand back down by his side, he ushered in closer to her, lowering his voice so people around them couldn't hear (the funny thing was, there was nobody around). "The truth is the President really wants those two to see how much they care for each other. He's been pushing them into circumstances where their feelings would be more obvious. I've noticed the two getting closer, but only recently become aware of the President's role in things. He mainly took me on board because he feels as though something will happen soon, and he wants me to monitor the situation, and help protect them against the media when the need arises."

Kanae tried to be shocked, she really did, but nothing the President did shocked her anymore.

"Oh. I see." She stated matter-of-factly.

Yashiro, however, looked shocked at her reaction. "You aren't angry? That your friend is being manipulated?"

Kanae frowned slightly. "Well, I wouldn't exactly call it being manipulated; to be honest I've been hoping for something like this. The way they've been in such denial has been driving me insane. So if something happens, all well and good. But still...if something bad has happened..." she trailed off, somewhere in between worried and angry. She hated feeling this way, not knowing whose butt she needed to kick.

Yashiro looked a little bit unsure, before placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Normally Kanae would lash out; telling whoever it was to keep their damn hands to themselves. But those were normally actors who didn't know any boundaries. Yashiro seemed ok.

"I'm sure nothing terrible has happened. You know how those two are, always making mountains out of molehills." He awkwardly tried to reassure her. Kanae found it rather endearing despite herself.

"Yeah, I guess. Anyway I should go; I need to call Kyoko before my next job." She nodded to Yashiro before turning away.

"Um, Kotonami-san!" The manager cried and Kanae turned around with a quizzical expression. Her eyebrow arched as she once again noticed his hand reaching to scratch behind his head. "Your clothes..."

"What about them?" She barked, instantly on the defensive. Yashiro took a worried step back, the colour in his cheeks brightening.

"Nothing, it's just that, well, pink is a nice colour on you. That's all!"

Kanae just stared at him.

"Well anyway it was nice seeing you, let me know if Kyoko-chan is ok, bye!" Before Kanae could even register what he'd said, Yashiro span around and hurried down the hallway in a very similar fashion to Tsuruga-san's exit minutes before.

Kanae stood in shock for a few moments, wondering if she should follow him and punch him hard enough to break his glasses or simply to demand the meaning behind what he just said.

Instead she felt a small smile creep up to her face, the faintest hint of a chuckle escaping her lips, but it didn't last long. Strange managers and the odd things they say would have to be put on a backburner for now; she had more important issues to focus on.

Reaching into her pocket she picked up her phone and dialled Kyoko's number.

Kyoko didn't even notice the buzzing in her pocket. She didn't notice anything around her, the traffic, the faint sounds of the trains pulling into the station, even the people who barged by her on their way to work- none of it registered with her.

"S-Sho?" She choked out "what are you doing here?!"

At least Shotaro looked as shocked to see her as she did to see him. He wore a cap to cover his face but, due to their height difference and close proximity, she'd recognised him immediately.

He seemed to overcome his surprise quickly however, instantly feeling the need to provoke her; it had become such a natural reaction that he wouldn't have stopped himself even if he had the ability to. Sho averted his gaze from her, as if she were too meagre for his eyes to bear, sneering as he did so. "What I'm doing here is none of your damn business. I don't have to explain myself to someone as low down as you."

Perhaps his words wouldn't have been quite so harsh, were it not for the fact that he'd had such a rough morning. He was supposed to be travelling to a studio about 40 miles away from the centre of Tokyo- to film a new music video. He'd thought they'd be driving there but, apparently, there'd been a mix up and some wannabe new talent had gotten HIS car and now he was stuck travelling by train like some worthless nobody. It was insulting, it was mortifying and it was damn right infuriating!

Shoko was on the phone, trying to fix the whole embarrassment. If she didn't, Sho cursed inwardly, the studio would pay dearly. For now he had Kyoko to take his anger out on. Sho smiled as he waited for the flash of indignation, the feeling of her aura of hatred, with a sense of satisfaction bordering on glee.

"Oh. Sure."

Sho had to double-take, staring at her uninterested and slightly exhausted features with his own version of indignation.

"What the hell's the matter with you?" He cried, his tone laced with anger and bewilderment at not getting the reaction he'd come to expect from her.

Kyoko sighed. At first, she'd felt that normal horror at coming face-to-face with the reason she lost her most important emotion. But as soon as he spouted off his usual spite and vitriol instead of feeling angry she just felt...tired.

The way she'd felt over the past few hours, the things she'd experienced, really put her relationship with Sho into perspective once she stood facing him. The emotions she'd recently felt, the strong reactions, the blinding fear which cocooned her, the paralysing hope she tried to force away, the happiness and the sadness. All of these emotions blended together into feelings far stronger than any hatred she'd ever felt for Sho.

"Nothing." Kyoko said, looking up at him. It was like meeting him for the first time. She turned to the train station, looking up at the clock once more. "Do you remember the last time we were here?"

Sho blinked, unsure of her reaction, but followed her line of sight. He couldn't help but reminisce along with her, the words falling out of his mouth before he thought about them. "Yeah. I remember you freaking out. You were completely overwhelmed with the city, kept pointing out every little dumb thing." He chuckled despite himself, hoping to get a reaction from her once more. "So un-cool, not much has changed there. You're still as bland and boring as ever."

Kyoko laughed humourlessly. "You know what? You're probably right."

Sho had had enough. "Ok, just WHAT the hell is going on with you? Normally you'd have wanted to kill me the second you saw me, so what gives?"

Maybe it was the lack of sleep, maybe it was the extreme emotions and shock which had swarmed her body in the past few weeks, but something inside her just snapped. She turned back to Sho, her eyes flashing dangerously, but Sho was no longer in the mood to gain any sort of satisfaction from it.

"Well maybe I'm just sick of all of that! Maybe I'm just sick of hating you, and focusing on my energy on something so- so- STUPID! You're right, I am un-cool, and I was stupid for ever trusting you. I've hated myself and you ever since you showed me what you really are and I devoted my life to defeating you and humiliating you as much as you humiliated me. But you know what? I've had enough of it. I'm sick of you being in the back of my mind in every decision I make. I want to be happy! I just want to let myself be happy, but you're always there-" She pointed to her head "you're always in there, always getting in my way!"

They stood silent for a few moments, Kyoko's chest heaving from her outburst, Sho wide eyed and rooted to the spot. The flame-haired actress stepped back a few paces, her anger dissipated and she looked up to Sho sadly. The pain in her eyes somehow made him feel something. Not sympathy, not regret, but fear.

He was losing control.

"Did you ever feel anything more for me than what you said to Shoko?" She asked, her voice so small; not weak but contemplative. Sho knew his answer was important to her. "After all our years of friendship, I don't even care if you never loved me. But isn't there at least one time where you thought of me as more than a maid to cater to your every need? Shotaro, isn't there any time when you regretted what happened between us, that you regretted what you did?"

Where the world had previously vanished around them; now it seemed that they'd created an entire new universe. It was a universe where all their experiences, the whole of their past resided. From the day they met as children, to the day things fell apart- all moments accumulated to this point, this present moment which seemed to leave their future hanging in the balance.

Sho knew the answer; he knew it deep down inside himself. And a part of him thought of telling her, of wiping the slate clean and washing his hands of the whole mess the pair had wrapped themselves in.

But what would that mean? It would mean giving up, accepting defeat. And Sho Fuwa never lost a battle in his life; he certainly wouldn't lose this one. If he admitted any wrongdoing then she was free to forgive him, free to move on.

He wouldn't let her. She was his. She was meant to obsess about him one way or another. That's the way it had always been and that's the way he'd make it stay.

"You have-" Sho replied, in a low serious tone, his glare of hatred more vicious than anything she'd ever seen from him "and always shall be nothing more than an object to me. Throughout our childhood you were like a dog, always fetching things, always obeying. I never respected you, I never thought of you as anything more than the thing that did whatever I wanted. Why would I regret feeling that way? It's not like you had any respect for yourself either. You pretty much asked to be treated like that."

Kyoko was silent for a long time, the sounds of the traffic, the life around her, drifted back into her consciousness. The world was no longer their own. Their universe had shattered.

Sho, at any moment, expected the tears, the hatred, hell even that insane rambling laughter from the first time he'd shown his true colours to her. She'd claimed she was sick of feeling that way, maybe he'd been too idle with her recently. He clearly needed to toy with emotions more, so that the feeling was fresh, so that she didn't think of anything else. There would be no room for doubts when blinding rage took hold of her mind.

Instead Kyoko looked up at him, eyes wide and crystal clear. It was a look of such wonder and awe that Sho felt caught in it like a sailor caught in a sirens hypnotic song. But it struck him, too, like ice. She looked as if she'd just woken up for the first time, just been told of all the wonders of the world. That was not what he intended.

"Kyoko-" He began, in a vain attempt to carry on his venomous tirade, but she cut across him.

"I have to go." She replied, her voice breathy and wistful.

"Go?!" Sho cried "Go where?! HEY!" He grabbed her arm as she made to move past him, squeezing it tightly.

"Let me go." She met his eyes and said it with such calm it only enraged him further.

"No." He growled.

"Fine" Kyoko replied and, without any warning, elbowed him right in the stomach. Sho double over winded from the unexpected contact. He looked up, ready to curse her into the next century.

But she'd already disappeared into the crowd.

Ren slumped one of the armchairs in his dressing room, utterly spent of all energy.

He'd kept up the charade all day, pretending to give a damn about his work, the people around him. He didn't. The young actor hadn't slept for a moment last night, every spare moment had his mind focused on the nights events, repeating them over and over like the scene of a car crash. He felt haunted by his actions, worried sick about Kyoko, and fearful that he'd lost the one thing cared about the most in the entire world.

It was taking every ounce of his strength not to call her, or check up on her in any way. He'd made a promise to her that he'd give her space and damn it if he wasn't going to pull through with that promise.

He sighed, clutching his head in between his hands.

The clunking sounds of objects being dropped on the wooden coffee table alerted him to the presence of his manager. Ren glanced up. Yashiro was sitting in the armchair across from him. Two glasses rested on the table in between a large bottle of whiskey. Ren met his manager's eyes with a confused look.

"I don't know what's happened." Yashiro said bluntly. "And if you don't want to tell me that's fine. I just thought you could use a drink. I bought this when you were filming your last scene."

There was a silent understanding between them. Ren, too tired to cover up his emotions, took the bottle gratefully and poured them both a drink. Yashiro raised the glass.

"To curing whatever ails you." He replied and drunk it in one gulp. His face contorted and his entire body shivered.

"Yashiro-san, have you ever had whiskey before?" He asked quietly.

"Truthfully, no." Yashiro replied, his voice raspier than normal as he recovered from the shock of the bitterness. "But I was aware that you like it."

Ren smiled honestly for the first time that day, he picked up his glass, swirling its contents around but not drinking it. He felt a rush of gratitude towards Yashiro in that moment, which caused him to admit the thing which had been looming over him all day.

"I kissed Kyoko."

Ren thought his managers eyes might bulge out of his head; he'd never seen anyone look quite as flabbergasted.

"I..." Yashiro began shifting in his seat, looking entirely unsure of what to do with himself. His cheeks tinged pink. "I see. So, what does that mean?" Yashiro treaded lightly, he didn't want to ask too many probing questions at once.

Ren sighed once more and Yashiro could practically see the cloud of darkness surrounding his poor charge.

"It means-" Ren breathed, putting the glass down "it means that she knows how I feel, how I've felt about her all this time. It means that I've probably scared her away for good." Ren stood up, pacing around the floor.

"Ren-" Yashiro said, but the emotions Ren held inside all day had finally burst forth, and Ren carried on speaking.

"It means that I pushed away someone that I love more than anything. It means that I was stupid, and reckless, and I let my own selfish wants cloud my thoughts..."

"Ren-" Yashiro tied again, in vain.

"It means that I've lost her, Yashiro, you should have seen the look on her face" He clenched his hands, trying to resist the urge to trash the whole room. "She'll never be able to trust me again."

"REN!" Yashiro yelled, finally breaking the young actors concentration.

"What? What is it?" Ren replied at the urgent tone in Yashiro's voice.

But Yashiro wasn't looking at him.

Ren looked towards the doorway, where Yashiro's attention was focused, and he felt his heart stop in an instant.

It was Kyoko.

"That's- not- true." She panted, walking forwards into the dressing room. Her hair looked windswept, her eyes were wide and glossy, her breathing was shallow as she gasped for air. It was like she'd been running a marathon.

Yashiro, without saying a word, got up a slid out of the room, clicking the door shut behind him and standing guard outside the room. This action went completely unnoticed to both Ren and Kyoko.

Ren thought he must have gone mad, surely she couldn't be here? "Kyoko...what-"

"I-don't" She interrupted, still gasping for air in between words. "I- don't- feel like- like that- oh" she clutched her side leaning on the back of the armchair for support. "Cramp- cramp. Ouch. That- hurts."

"Kyoko?" Ren moved to her side in concern for her. He went to reach out a hand to her, but let it linger in the air. "Are you alright?"

Kyoko looked up at his presence, her eyes blazing like a recently lit fire. Before Ren even registered what was happening she reached up, clutching his arms, and pulled him into a deep, longing kiss.

At first Ren's whole being froze in shock as his lips met hers. But his body responded to her before his mind could catch up. He closed his eyes, wrapping his arms around her delicate waist, and pressed her closer to him. Kyoko made a surprised hum at this, and his heart soared at the sound. Her hands moved across to his chest, her palms rested flat where his heart lay thundering underneath. One of his own hands moved up, burying his fingers into her soft, bright locks, before sliding down to gently caress her cheek and their lips moved in tandem together. He felt peace, excitement, love, pure joy, all at once.

Kyoko felt so alive under his touches, under his care, her body felt electric and all at once she felt breathlessness that running could never give her.

There they stayed kissing and laughing, occasionally pulling apart to smile or blush or both, nervous bubbles of laughter floated into the air as they continued to kiss. Ren didn't think about what it meant that she was here, that this was happening. For once both of their minds were silenced, it was their hearts they were finally listening to- with absolutely no interruptions.

Outside the dressing room, Ren's faithful manager stood guard diligently, unaware of just what exactly was happening inside, but happy enough to venture a guess. Smiling slightly, he pulled on his gloves and unlocked his phone and began typing a text message.

Hello President, it's Yashiro. Just letting you know that Operation Jane Eyre officially starts today.

Oh god I'm so nervous about that kiss scene! I don't really write them very often so I hope that was ok :) I'm trying to depict Sho as not an outright villain like some fics do. I think he's a complex character who makes a lot of mistakes. In a greek tragedy he'd be the character who dies because of his own hubris XD Don't get me wrong though, he's still an asshole!

But still, yaaaay lovey dovey fluff at the end! Did that make it all worth it? Haha, let me know! Your reviews are lovely to read, they keep me going!