Disclaimer: I do not own Skip Beat or any of its characters. Thank you. Sorry for the wait. I previously mentioned the use of song lyrics….until I read that it is forbidden so I shall just have to reword and rewrite the music to my own tastes if I intend to include it or create my own lyrics. Please read and review (PS sorry if the chapters seem quite short, I will endeavor to make them longer.)

~ Three Months Prior ~

Kyoko could barely compose herself. She'd been played again. She felt the heat in her eyes build up and the watery tears start to spill over which just fueled her rage. How dare he reduce her to tears! How could this have happened again? She felt so stupid. Did she have some big sign on her forehead that said 'I'm gullible, lying, smarmy bastards welcome.' She wiped her unsavory tears on her flamboyantly pink uniform. She was so tired of this obnoxious color. Everything that reminded her of him needed to be shed. She needed to start over somewhere new, somewhere far away. She needed the fictitious princess she had always pictured herself as to become a reality. The one thing she didn't want in this new life was love.

Love was where this had all started. She was grateful she had found something she was skilled; at besides being used until there was nothing left, but it was time to make a change. No more LoveMe pink. It was time to escape. She needed to be anywhere but here. She needed to be successful and beautiful and untouchable. She needed to be a star, more brilliant and shiny than Tsuruga Ren.

President Takarada would never go for that. He refused to let her debut because he felt she needed to experience love to be a successful actress. Well, to hell with that. It was time to make a statement, but unless she had some leverage she wasn't going to get anywhere.

She glanced up at the television where her mother's faced filled the screen.

'...I do not have a child...'

A little leverage was all she needed, and she knew exactly where she could get it. The darkness had begun to seep in and Kyoko didn't mind one bit. She would need in the next coming months.

"Sho, you have a visitor."

Kyoko's face filled his vision, her eyes red rimmed and full of purpose but still a bit on the swollen side. Her hair looked mussed but her demeanor was all ice and steel and he knew she came here with a purpose. She looked…..calculating.

"I need to see my mother. I know you know how to get in contact with her while she's in town and I need to do it immediately."

"Why?" She spoke with fluid, icy calm tones. Her arms crossed over her midsection. She looked confident yet shaken.

"Today, Shotaro. This is my business. I don't ask yours and you don't need to butt into mine."

"Kyoko….." He ran his hands through his hair, leaving it ruffled. She eyed him coolly. Her face softened a bit.

"I hate when you do that."

"Do what?" He paused. She shook her head meaning she wasn't going to elaborate.

"Why do you need to speak to that woman so urgently? Did something happen? Are you in trouble? How do you know she can help you?"

"This is something she will have no choice but to help with."

"You intend to corner her into something she may not be so willing to help with? I have people who can help you with whatever it is you need Kyoko, if it's that serious."

Kyoko looked him dead in the eye, her gleam sharpening intensely.

"Let me be clear. I want nothing from you. Ever. All I am asking is for her information, because she is the best and that is what I need. Apart from this, you will not need to worry yourself over pathetic little Kyoko. If you cannot or will not, help me, I will take my leave now."

Sho licked his lips and leaned forward, meeting Kyoko's eyes.

"I will do as you've asked."

"Good. Arrange for the meeting to be here. Make it sound as if you will be present and explain that it's urgent."

Sho was drinking in his fill of Kyoko. She may be full of piss and vinegar right now but she was still…..Kyoko. She was girl who knew him best. He though he knew her best. How very wrong he'd been. Not only did she know him best, she knew him a whole lot better than he knew her. She was also very much a woman and a whole lot less girl than he had once visualized. Legs that went on for days, eyes that penetrated his soul, and a mind that was so sharp you could find yourself wounded from it, if you were not careful. He was supposed to not have any feelings for the maid/servant girl his parents had wanted him to marry. She was supposed to be dull and boring. The way she looked at Tsuruga Ren and the way he so carefully clocked her movements made him so jealous he wanted to punch walls. She claimed that she had no feelings for him, at least, not the way she once had. He shrugged his shoulders. Who wanted that? Clingy, wonderful, unadulterated adoration. Apparently, Tsuruga Ren had. He stared at her red rimmed eyes. Only one thing apart from her mother could have possibly made her cry like that. His fists clenched.

"What are you angry about?" Kyoko murmured, bringing him out of his daze.

"Why were you crying? Did the fancy superstar you were chasing dump you?"

"I've told you once before that I wanted nothing from him but to use him to sharpen my own talent. I only want my revenge and I intend to get it."

"So, why is it you've come here crying, begging to see the monster that is your mother? You think she'll offer you comfort?"

"I need nothing and no one to comfort me for the sins committed against me. I only intend for them to be repaid in full."

"You can't even say his name." Sho stood and approached the couch Kyoko sat, spine straightened with determination. He leaned onto the back of the couch, arms posted on either side of Kyoko, sinking her deeper into its recesses, effectively cornering her so that she could be fully observed. "He has you running scared. Have you fallen for him Kyoko?"

Sho's eyes looked remarkably different, desperate even, arrogant yet panicked and…..jealous? It couldn't possibly be jealousy. To think that he would develop feeling for her AFTER he had thrown her away like rubbish, it was ludicrous. The thought lingered in her head and made her laugh. He wanted to be dangerous? He didn't know the demons she'd lived with.

"Is this jealousy?" She ran her fingers up one of his arms and he went still for a moment at her touch.

"Ever the reprobate, I see." A voice from behind the couch sounded.

Sho extricated himself from the position he had assumed and straightened, chest pulled up tight. Kyoko laughed in spite of herself. He assumed she needed protection. How very wrong he was. There was only one person in this room with a need to protect herself.