A/N: So...these one-shots are officially out of order. This takes place somewhere between nowish in the manga (Chapter 206-ish) and the end of the Tragic Marker shoot.


So, it happened again.

Kyoko had allowed herself to get lulled into a false sense of security. The Tragic Marker shoot was ending this week. They only had five more days of filming where they were required on set, and Ren hadn't had any of his weird freak outs in weeks. So when he had to shoot his last fight scene with Murasame, she didn't think it was going to be a big deal. She was milling about the set, acting aloof like Setsu always did, but she made sure to keep an ear open for the dialogue in the scene. It was a hard habit to break at this point. Everything was going fine at first, but then she noticed that Murasame was going off-script.

Way off-script.

It seemed like this guy just wasn't going to follow anyone's lead when it came to acting. As Murasame hurled insult after insult trying to get a reaction, she saw Ren, who was already transformed into Cain Heel, who was further transformed into BJ, transform again into that nameless other man. She saw it happen, she saw him smile, and she couldn't do anything to stop it.

The fight was brutal. They started out throwing punches, then they resorted to using chairs and props against each other. Kyoko was watching the fight, waiting for the director to yell for an NG or a cut or something, but when she turned around, she saw he was too overwhelmed to react. She turned back just in time to see a man she didn't know, blood all over his face, lifting a bruised and whimpering Murasame off the ground, his neck in a vice-like grip.

She did the only thing she knew would work: she screamed. It was a wordless, nameless, terrible plea for the fighting to end, and it tore through her throat and brought her to her knees.

She heard a limp thud as Murasame hit the ground, but her eyes were trained on Ren's. His gaze was hollow and empty, and she tried to maintain Setsu's character, but she couldn't help but run onto the set. Other people were tending to Murasame, who seemed to be coming around. Kyoko was totally focused on Ren. She spoke to him softly, then touched his face, and she saw a semblance of recognition in his features.

That was enough. She needed to get him out of here.

Kyoko took him by the hand and led him away from the set. The director was shaken from his stupor by this action.

"Wh-where are you taking Heel-sama? Setsu?" he asked timidly.

Kyoko pinned the director with a terrifying glare. "Can't you see my brother is done working for the day? What were you thinking letting this scene go on for as long as you did? Were you even going to call for a cut?" Now that the danger was over, she realized how very angry she was. "Can't you control your actors, Director?"

At this, the director was at a loss for words. He floundered, but all he came up with were uninspired apologies. Not good enough.

Kyoko sneered. "I see how it is. You didn't call for a cut because you wanted to use my brother to film this disaster of a fight scene. Well, I hope you can edit it into something useful because this is the only take you're going to get." She suddenly turned around to look at the people on the set and made eye-contact with a young make-up artist who looked like she was shaking in her boots. "You," she commanded, "I need you in the dressing room to take off all this make-up, and I want it done fast. My brother needs to get away from this set as soon as possible."

The make-up artist jumped into action, rolling her gear toward the Heel dressing room. Kyoko looked back to check on Ren, whose vision still seemed blank. His lip, the source of most of the blood on his face, looked to be busted as well. She gently pulled him by the hand and found that he was willing to follow her, so she ignored everyone else on the set and guided him to the dressing room. The make-up girl was already set up to remove Ren's make-up and clean up his wound, and the company car picked them up twenty minutes later.

When they got to the hotel, Kyoko wasn't entirely sure who she was dealing with, and she didn't know exactly who she should be acting as, either. He definitely wasn't Cain, but he wasn't really Ren, either. He almost seemed to be in shock. The last time this happened, she barely acknowledged the situation as Setsu, and it seemed to help, so she decided that kind of approach was probably better than dropping character and freaking out.

She wordlessly led him up to the room by the hand. When she got there, she walked him to the bed and gently pushed him so that he sat down on the edge. She touched his face, looking more closely at the wound on his mouth, then ran her hands through his hair, lightly feeling for any lumps on his head. She felt a few. She sighed.

"You shouldn't get into fights on set like this. They'll think they're getting to you," she commented drily. She waited for a reply, but she didn't get one. She looked at the clock. It was three in the afternoon. She sighed again. "Would you like me to run you a bath? I know it's early in the day, but you look like you need to relax."

He closed his eyes and shook his head slowly.

"Hmm, maybe you need something to eat, then." She turned to investigate what they had to eat in the room when she felt his hands grip hers firmly. When she turned back to face him, she saw a wild look in his eyes, almost as if he were scared of something. She found herself taken aback by the force of the emotion in his eyes, but couldn't do anything but stand there.

Slowly, he released one of her hands. He moved his fingers up to her hairline...and started removing the bobby pins that held her wig in place. She reacted with alarm, brushing him aside with her free hand. "Wh-what are you doing?" she asked.

He stopped. "Kyoko," he whispered.

She looked at him in disbelief that he was breaking character in this place, and using her name so casually, too, but when he began removing the pins again she didn't try to stop him. She took the few out in the back that held the wig in place with her unoccupied hand, since she didn't want him to miss any and accidentally pull her hair.

A few moments later and her Setsu wig flopped lifelessly onto the floor. He then removed the cap that kept her hair squashed flat to her head and began running his fingers through her hair.

She almost sighed at the simple pleasure of this sensation. All she could do was lean her forehead against his shoulder as he continued to lightly massage her scalp. She had been wearing that thing for two days, even sleeping in it. At some point, he had released the grip he had on her hand and his arm now circled her waist, coaxing her closer to him, all the while continuing to play with her hair. She finally gave in and leaned completely against him, sighing deeply.

"Don't leave me," he whispered, his breath tickling her ear. He squeezed her waist a little tighter. "Okay?" he asked.

"Okay," she promised as she continued to lean against him. After another moment of standing like that, he put both arms around her waist and pulled her up with him as he leaned back onto the bed. Her stomach did a dizzying flip before she could reorient herself to the new position. She was pulled halfway on top of him. She looked up at his face, but his eyes were closed. "T-Tsu… Ren," she blushed as she used his name so freely, even though she was just following his lead, "what's wrong?"

He didn't open his eyes. "Shhh," he breathed as he leaned in and kissed the top of her head. "Don't worry. I'm okay. Just stay with me for now."

An hour passed and they were basically in the exact same position: Ren had Kyoko gathered to him as close as he could. He seemed to be sleeping. She didn't want to move to find out, though. She didn't know who she'd be dealing with the next time he opened his eyes. She tried to relax, but every once in a while, she still tensed up at the thought of being so close to him.

She had become used to Ren treating her strangely sometimes when they got back to the hotel after shoots, and this definitely wasn't the first time he had pulled her into bed with him and cuddled her like he was a lost little kid and she was a stuffed animal. It had been weird at first, but she found that she got a strange sense of satisfaction knowing that she was the one he turned to in these moments.

The kiss on the head had been new, though, and she didn't really want to think about how it had made her feel.

Her phone began to buzz. She knew she had to answer it. Otherwise, people might come looking for them and barge in on their special place.

She gently propped herself up with her elbow and reached over Ren to get to her phone on the bedside table. She checked the caller ID: it was The President. She took a deep breath and let it out before answering the call.

"I just got a call from the director," he stated before she could even say hello. "Is Ren okay? Do I need to come down th-"

"No," she assured him calmly, quietly. "Tsuruga-san is asleep right now. I think he just needs some time."

She heard The President breathe a sigh of relief. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," she replied firmly. Then she began to wonder what kind of state her decision to remove Ren had put the production in. "I'm sorry for inconveniencing everyone, but the scene had gotten out of hand and no one was going to stop it." She still apologized, but having Setsu in her mind for so long made her apologies much shorter and simpler.

She heard him laugh on the other end. "No no, you were right. The director will be shooting coverage shots for other parts of the film today. I should have known Ren was in good hands. Now I'm glad you spent that time as his replacement manager."

She felt weird when she heard this. "I'm glad it wasn't too much of an imposition."

"You're doing a good job, Kyoko-san. Just hang in there." Before she could react, he continued. "I talked to the director and we agreed that we should try to minimize the amount of time Ren needed to be on set, so he reconfigured the shooting schedule and it looks like Ren will only be needed on set tomorrow and the next day. The Heel Siblings will be retired by the end of the week!" he declared.

"Oh," Kyoko managed. "That soon." She felt weird about this, too.

"Yes! I'm sure you're looking forward to getting Ren out of your hair for a while."

At that, she glanced at the wig that had carelessly been forgotten on the floor. "Oh! That reminds me. I accidentally messed up my wig. I know this is extremely short notice, but is there any way Miss Woods could meet me tomorrow morning to fix it?" she asked apprehensively.

"Hmm," The President sounded thoughtful. "I think it's possible. Let me contact her and she will call you with her availability later tonight."

She sighed again. "Thank you. I'm sorry to cause another inconvenience."

"Think nothing of it. You saved Ren's hide today. The director said if it had gone any longer, someone could have really gotten hurt."

They exchanged goodbyes and Kyoko reached over to place the phone back on the table. She sighed, then looked up at Ren's face. She froze when she saw his sleepy eyes upon her.

She waited for him to speak for a long time, but he seemed content to just look. Finally, she broke the silence. "That was The President. The shooting schedule has been moved around and you'll only be needed on the set for the next two days." Subconsciously, she let out a sigh.

"I heard."

His voice had a note of finality to it that for some reason threatened to overwhelm her with sadness. "Well, it will be good for you. Your life can go back to normal sooner than you thought now. No more hiding your true identity from everybody anymore."

He laughed humorlessly, which she found to be a little odd. "Yeah, I suppose you're right. Life will go back to normal." Before she could say anything else, though, he wove his fingers through her hair again. "Why did you lie to him?"

She looked up at him, startled, defensive. "What do you mean?"

He leisurely played with her hair again. She almost closed her eyes. "Why didn't you tell him it was because of me that you need help with your costume tomorrow?"

Why? She sighed as she looked away. "I...didn't want to burden you with anything else, I guess." She looked up, timidly this time. "I just didn't want him to know, either," she whispered. She felt foolish for feeling this way, but for some reason, this moment seemed precious to her. She lowered her gaze and stared at his chest. "It was stupid. I'm sorry I didn't tell the truth."

She closed her eyes, expecting a scolding, but Ren just held her close to him. For some reason, this hurt her heart in a strange way. In two days, all of this would be like it never happened. As far as she was concerned, Cain Heel wouldn't exist anymore. Setsu wouldn't exist anymore. There wouldn't be anyone like her brother to care about her, and she wouldn't dream of calling up Ren to indulge her when she felt like she needed affection. She sighed again.

She knew what it was like to miss being a character, but until now she had never been jealous of one of her characters.

Setsu was so special to her brother. Her brother would do anything for her. He would fight for her and protect her. He would spoil her rotten. He let her take care of him. He pet her hair and held her tight.

Nobody felt that way about Kyoko. Before this role, she really couldn't recall ever being held with this kind of tenderness before. It made her feel so pathetic and stupid. She was jealous of an act. Ren's acting was so good that he had tricked her into thinking Cain really did love Setsu, and that feeling had left its mark on Kyoko's heart as well. To feel all this kindness and to know it wasn't really for her, but for her character - it was getting harder to endure.

But...there were still two days left, and she might as well make the most of it. She pulled herself back from the brink, knowing she had to be strong right now. She finally relaxed completely against Ren's chest and breathed in his scent.

"I'm going to miss this," he said, startling her enough to make her look up. His eyes were closed now, though. "I mean," he back-pedalled, "not all of this Cain Heel business, but definitely some of it."

"Hmmn," she acknowledged. She didn't really trust herself to speak at the moment, so she just stayed close, put her arm around him lightly, and quietly enjoyed the moment.