I do not own Skip Beat (too bad). Please enjoy:)

Kyoko was in her dressing room getting her makeup done by a woman called Rino Tsuzuki. The expectations for her had now worked its way up her body, and she was scared stiff.

'You know being like this won't help in the slightest right?' Grudge commented.

'I know' Kyoko whined internally. 'I told myself that over and over, but what do you expect. This is my first time acting, and it's for a famous director no less, and my co-star is supposedly famous too!'

'But this is your chance!'

'I know, and it's putting on even more pressure!' Grudge sighed.

'Try to relax.'

'Easy for you to say'

'I am you.' Kyoko sighed.

'No matter what I do, it only adds more pressure!' Grudge thought for a moment, then a lightbolb went off in her head.

'You know what happens if you screw this up right?'

'NOT HELPING!'

'You most likely won't get any more chances, and then? Shou will always be that arrogant prick on his high horse.' Kyoko's tenseness fairly lessened into a body trembling anger. 'I thought you wanted to take a bat and whack him off that horse, but by the way you're acting, I guess not.' A evil smile played on Kyoko's lips and a laughter that matched. The woman behind her became frightened and left the room, but Kyoko was too busy laughing to herself to notice. She was also too busy to realize when two other people had taken her place in the room.

"Hello, you must be my new co-star?" Kyoko, startled by the deep voice, turned around to face it. "I'm Ren Tsuruga, and you?"

"I'm YukihitoYashiro, his manager" Kyoko rose from her seat and bowed.

"Kyoko Mogami, nice to meet your acquaintance." She rose from her bow and concentrated on the man's face. She tilted her head for a better angle, but that didn't work either.

'This is a new reaction' Ren thought.

"Something wrong?" he asked. Kyoko put a finger on her chin.

"Oh! Sorry for staring, but...it's just...have I seen you somewhere before?"

'A pick-up line?' Ren gave one of his famous girl melting gentleman smiles.

"No, I'm sure if I ran into someone so beautiful, I would of remembered it."

'Playboy' she thought, annoyed.

"I would of remembered you too, but...I just can't put my finger on it, but I'm almost positive that I've heard your name before." Ren and Yashiro looked at her, dumbfounded that she didn't know who he was. There was actually someone out there that didn't know who Ren Tsuruga was.

'That sounds kind of conceited, but...it is rare' Ren didn't fail to keep a calm smile on his face.

"You probably have seen me on tv?" Kyoko shook her head.

"I don't have time to watch tv, so that can't be it" Ren thought for a moment.

"What about posters?" Yashiro asked.

"Posters?"

"Yeah, the ones around the city." Kyoko gasped. Daniel's words had finally clicked in her head.

'He's Japan's number most desired man' Kyoko flew back into the high chair, which toppled to the ground. She pointed a finger at Ren. "You're Ren Tsuruga!" Ren's smiled grew brighter.

"Yes, I did mention that earlier." Kyoko became embarrassed and composed herself.

"S-Sorry for my rudeness" Kyoko bowed again. Yashiro waved it off.

"Don't worry about it! We were just surprised you didn't know who Ren was. He is Japan's number one actor after all." Kyoko stood back up, and gave a dry chuckle.

"heh...heh..heh. Well, while working my butt off to pay bills and put food on the table, who would have time for tv?" Yashiro froze. The girl had just been flustered and blushing, but now she was giving off a blood freezing murderous aura.

There was a knock on the door, and Lory and Maria came in. Maria ran into Ren's arms, Ren lifting her up and in for a hug.

"All ready?" Lory asked, and Kyoko nodded.

"You look great nee-sama!" Maria complimented. Kyoko's eyes sparkled, and she was sent into her fantasy land. She was wearing a school uniform. The thought was to look innocent and young, which Kyoko didn't need much help on. Her now blue/black here were done in big curls going to her shoulders.

"Makeup caste its magic on me!" Maria giggled, but low enough, so that her beloved onee-sama wouldn't hear her and think she was being mocked. Ren placed her gently back on the ground. "Oh,yeah! Maria-" she went close enough to Maria's ear, so that no one could hear."Sorry for not asking before, but how did it go?" Maria tilted her head to the side, confused.

"How did what go?"

"Your talk with you dad!" Maria blushed, and Kyoko took a step back to get a good look at her.

"I-I didn't talk to him yet."

"WHAT?! WHY NOT?!" She looked to the ground.

"I...don't know what to say. I haven't talked to him in ages. I can't suddenly start now." Kyoko smiled. It was normal for her to still have a few more butterflies. She bent down in front of the girl.

"How about I help you after work?" she asked. Maria beamed and nodded vigorously.

'Wow, Maria Takarada is actually nicely interacting with another female.' Yashiro thought, eyebrows arched. 'She usually makes sure none of Ren's co-stars get too cocky and keeps them at bay. When she walked in here, I thought she was up to another scheme.' Lory cleared his throat, and Kyoko stood back on her two feet.

"Before the shoot starts, I want to have a discussion with you alone Mogami-san." Kyoko gulped. For some reason, she didn't like the sound of it, but she only nodded. Yashiro left the room.

"It's a pleasure to be working with you Mogami-san." Ren added and left behind Yashiro. Kyoko bowed.

"The pleasure is all mine." Maria stood there, worry written all over her face. Kyoko gave he a reassuring smile and a wave. She gave in and slowly walked out the door, concern still evident on her face. Lory chuckled.

"How did you do that?" he asked and sat in the sofa behind him.

"Do what?" Kyoko picked up the high chair and sat down also.

"Get her so attached to you. That girl doesn't usually trust people so easily, so it's a shock to know that she's so infatuated when she's only known you for a few hours." Kyoko blushed.

"I-I didn't really do anything...We just a had talk last night."

"A talk? About what?"

"Her father" Lory leaned back and cocked both eyebrows.

"She actually talked to you about her father?" Kyoko nodded.

"And her mother. She said that the adults always tell her how it's not her fault, but she never believed them." Lory smiled.

"And you helped straighten out her perspective" It was not a question, but a statement. She lowered her head, making Lory chuckle at her shyness. "Thank you"

"I didn't do anything! Really!" He laughed. He had no choice but to take his hat off to her. He finally remembered what he wanted to talk about and became serious again. His hands folded in his lap.

"Alright Mogami-san. I need to ask you a few things." Kyoko nodded. "Okami said that you and Shou Fuwa were childhood friends, am I correct?" She nodded again.

"He...was there for me." He waited for her to elaborate. "M-My mother...she..." Kyoko struggled to continue; just talking about her mother made her heart weep. Now, adding Shou to the mix was breaking her from the inside out. All it did was remind her that love is just an emotion that's temporary, if it's even there; no on loved her no matter how much she loved them. "M-My mother, she..."

Lory could take no more of seeing the girl in such a broken state. He wasn't sure what had happened between her and her mother, and there was no mention of her father, but he knew that it was a touchy subject, so he would leave it alone.

"What about Shou's parents?" Her reaction was nothing compared to when he asked her about her parents, but she still looked sullen.

"They're back in Kyoto. Shou was supposed to take over the Ryoukan, but he wanted to be a pop star..., so we ran away."

"How are you connected to him and his family? How did you meet?" Kyoko went back into her depressed state.

'I'm guessing that has something to do with her mother.' he thought. He placed a hand over her knee.

"Kyoko, let me ask you this...what is love to you?" She looked him straight in his eyes and answered:

"Love is a useless emotion that only drains you of who you are and leaves nothing left. It sucks you dry until you are nothing, and you still receive nothing in return. It gives you hopes and strings you along, and then when your hopes and dreams are at its peak, it kicks you back down. Then, it sweet talks you, so that you can foolishly work your way back up, only to be kicked down again." Lory shook his head.

'It's even worse than I thought. This girl has never received real and genuine love from anyone, so now she's turned against it.'

"Kyoko, would you like to be an actress?" Kyoko smiled and nodded. "Why?"

"Because I want to crush someone to the ground."

'Fuwa' he concluded. He sighed.

"I can make you an actress, but only if you agree to something"

"Alright"

"Join Love Me" he stated.

"Ehh!"

"Kyoko, you are missing a very important human emotion, and without that, your acting won't travel far. Do you know what that emotion is?" She shook her head.

"No, but...I can probably guess" He nodded.

"You know that I'm a president and that I work with entertainers, but I plan to create the Love Me section. It's supposed to be for young newbies like you, who have something important missing in them, and Love Me gives them jobs in order to get people to "love them" He made quotation fingers. "And I think you would be perfect for the number one spot"

"Because I'm a human defect." Kyoko said gloomily.

"No! No! That's not what I'm saying!" She looked up at him expectantly. He let out a breath and smiled. "What I'm saying is that I think you can be something in this world, but the fact that you avoid love will hinder you from that, so I want to help you become something great. Join." Kyoko looked at the man sitting in front of her. He was surely good at sweet talking people. There was nothing for her to protest about. If this was going to help her develop, then she should take the opportunity.

"...Okay" Lory smiled and stood, followed by Kyoko. He extended a hand to her. Kyoko, confused by the action, only does what anyone else would do, she shook it.

"I'm Lory Takarada, you're new boss. It's a pleasure to have you." Kyoko caught on. She smiled and bowed.

"Kyoko, Kyoko Mogami"