Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiii! I can't believe this story is a year old. Tomorrow is it's birthday! Ah! Seems like just yesterday this plot hatched. Mmmmm... good times. Anyway, read, enjoy and review. You know the drill!

Together Again

KawaiixKisses

Unbearable

Kyouko

It was like, no matter what I did...he was there. Why now that I was so desperately trying to escape him did he appear in front of me? Couldn't he see that I was done here? That I wanted no parts in the train-wreck of a man that was Fuwa Shoutaro? I loved him once but that was long ago? So long ago...

I had been chewing my lower lip for the better part of an hour, only half way listening to the conversation that was happening around me. My attention was elsewhere – on Shoutaro. He was sitting across from me, a few seats from my left, his blue eyes trained on the director as he spoke. I couldn't keep from glancing at him every once in a while, noting how his blonde hair had grown out slightly, how his lips would twitch every now and then. He was to star along side me in a new drama, a supporting role but still a main character.

"I'm so glad you all agreed to do the drama," the director, Harujima Hedeki, said.

I forced myself to refocus my attention on the middle-aged man, it wouldn't look good if I was caught Seiichi (an average sized male with shoulder length black hair and even blacker eyes) and finally Fuwa Shoutaro. I swallowed.

The story was of a deadly romance between two cousins, Saito Machi and Saito Masahiro, who begin a romantic relationship during their second year of high school. During childhood, the two often spent their summers together at their grandmother's home in the country and that's where their feelings for one another began to blossom. At first it was innocent and continued on that way until Masahiro confessed his feelings for his cousin who felt the same way for him. The Saito cousins knew that they could never be together in public and so hid their relationship from everyone. In comes Takahashi Shin, popular, class president and beyond rich. Shin takes notice of Machi, who is a year younger than him, and develops feelings for her. Shin is confused as to why Machi doesn't return his feelings and begins to suspect that something weird is going on between her and Masahiro. Shin black mails Machi when he finds out that what he suspects is true and forces her to date him and ignore her cousin. Masahiro becomes extremely jealous and ends up killing Shin. The two cousins are faced with hiding the death which in turn brings them closer together.

The story was unlike any other I had played, but I was confident that I could pull it off effortlessly. Opposite me was a well known actor, Murasame Taira. I knew him from a project I helped Ren with but we were never really introduced – he knew me by another name. That's another story however.

I was most confident that with Murasame and myself as the leads, that the drama would be a complete success. I had seen him work with Ren and he was a splendid actor, a little brash but still good at his job. I wasn't too sure about the rookies however, it could go either way with them to be honest. I remember when I was the one being called a rookie, it seems like it was so long ago. With that in mind I decided to trust them – you never know what a person is capable of.

"Kyouko-chan, do you have anything that you'd like to say?" Hedeki's voice asked, interrupting my thoughts.

I blinked a couple of times before turning my attention to him. With a smile, I looked around the room at all the actors. "I hope to have fun with everyone and make a great drama."

A few people smiled at me in return, mostly the rookies, all except for Sho. I still couldn't figure out why he was there. It's true that lots of people in the biz switched up every now and then – actors to singers and singers to actors – but Sho had never shown much interest in acting. It was widely known that Sho didn't even watch TV, only few people knew it was a lie, but nevertheless, wouldn't fans find it weird for him to be in a drama?

"Alright. Lets read through some lines," Hedeki suggested.

The more experienced actors, and Sho, pulled out their scripts while the rookies all looked rather nervous.

"No pressure," he assured them, to which they all relaxed considerably and followed suit, pulling out their scripts.

"Now I know you all are dying with curiousity so I'll tell you now what your roles will be," Hedeki said as the rest of us opened up to the first page. "It should be a no-brainer that Kyouko-chan and Murasame-kun will play the 'Saito' cousins. Fuwa-san, I want you to play Takahashi Shin; we're counting on you."

I looked up from the script, my eyes falling on Shoutaro. He was nodding his head, accepting the role, his expression neutral. I still couldn't figure out why he would agree to do a drama. Didn't he have promoting to do for his new song? It wasn't like he was on break why he had taken up the drama, his schedule with filming would often conflict with promoting his single of course...didn't he know that? So then why? Was he here to annoy me? To get under my skin? Hadn't I made it clear that I wanted nothing to do with him?

"Lets start with scene 3. More of you are in it so everyone will be able to participate," Hedeki suggested and we all nodded our heads.

We ran through the scene a couple of times, everyone was starting to digest their characters and get a feel for them. I personally, loved Machi. She was in love with a man that she had no business loving and because of that she was hurt. I had heard stories of cousins who fall in love but I had never thought that I would actually get a chance to bring that kind of story to life. After reading through the script, I felt for the people so unfortunate as to love someone in their family. It was a painful love.

"Kyouko-chan!"

I had been walking into the break room for lunch when a feminine voice called my name. When I turned, I found Kichida Mana jogging up to me. I smiled at her and she returned the actions, tucking a lock of long blonde hair behind her ear.

"Kichida-san."

The blonde blushed furiously, embarrassed no doubt. "Call me, Mana," she told me, "please."

I smiled and tried it out, earning myself a smile from her. "Mana-san."

"Is it alright if we eat together? I don't really know any of the other actors, n-not that I know you either," she said nervously. "You just...seem nicer."

"Mm? Of course," I answered, smiling politely. "I was just getting ready to start."

Mana smiled happily. She was a pretty girl, far prettier than me, with long legs and arms. She wore a gray tank top with a pocket on it's left side, a black star sewn onto it, and a pair of acid washed shorts. Her blonde hair was parted on the left and curled loosely. She looked more casual than I did. That day I decided on a high wasted yellow skirt and a thin, pale pink shirt tucked neatly into it – my hair was it's usual mess.

I opened the door to the break room, feeling somewhat inadequate compared to the girl behind me. A small sigh escaped my lips. Little did I know, I had bigger things to worry about other than being shorter than the girl behind me.

Shoutaro

The room felt smaller the moment she walked in.

She was looking at me like a cat caught stealing the canary, her eyes wide and her mouth agape. I might had laughed had I been anyone else. At first I was surprised to see her there – I figured she'd be ignoring me the entire time we worked together, the only communicating we would do would be through our characters. When I noticed the bento box she had been carrying it hit me that she wasn't exactly looking for me.

"Mana-san, lets go eat some place else, ne? Fuwa-san looks busy," she said to the blonde who stood behind her.

I watched as the blonde gave her an odd look before her hazel eyes fell on me. "Fuwa-san."

I arched an eyebrow at the two of them.

"Sho-chan!" the blonde exclaimed.

Inwardly, I cringed. Fan girls had become less appealing since my trip to Kyoto. None of them were anything like the girl I wanted. Kyouko would never behave like some mindless bimbo, clinging to a man just because they had seen him on TV. While at one point, it was fun to play with them, now they were just annoying. Of course, I did appreciate them, without them I wouldn't have been where I was or where I am now, I was simply growing tired of them crowding around me. I especially didn't want the attention while Kyouko was around.

The blonde climbed into the seat beside me and latched herself onto my arm. "It's really you! I was trying so hard before to be calm but now that we're not working it's different!" the blonde told me.

"Mana-san..." Kyouko chided playfully, a strained look on her face.

I watched as she sighed briefly before pulling out the seat across from this 'Mana'.

"Sho-chan has never done a drama right?" Mana asked, pulling me from my thoughts.

"Nope," I answered, folding my arms across my chest. Mana didn't take the hint of course and tightened her grip on me.

Apparently I had made a mistake thinking that the setting would have been more professional. Fan girls were fan girls no matter what it seemed.

"Me either. Maybe we can help each other?"

Great.

"Maybe."

From the other side of the table, the woman I had been so desperate to see, snorted. Mana was to wrapped up in me to notice of course. I looked to Kyouko, noting the sour face she was making at her bento box. I knew for a fact that it wasn't because of her food, Kyouko always cooked amazing meals.

"What's your problem?" I asked her.

"Eh?" Mana answered, confused no doubt.

"Not you. You."

Kyouko looked up then, her hazel eyes trained on mine. I grit my teeth at her expression – her death glare was vicious.

"What's your problem?" she spat, lifting a bit of sushi to her lips, her eyes narrowed dangerously.

Mana looked between the two of us, her expression troubled. "Kyouko-chan... are you okay?"

I watched as she turned her attention to the blonde at my side and smiled pleasantly, her eyes sparkling with warmth and kindness. It was scary, really.

"Hn. I think you should stay away from Fuwa-san – he's not very nice."

I gaped at her. She couldn't have been serious. Mana must have been thinking the same way for she responded with:

"Eh? Sho-chan is super nice, Kyouko-chan."

Kyouko only continued to smile that creepy, fake happy, smile. "Oh, I think I know a bit more than you."

"How? Kyouko-chan is an actress and Sho-chan is a singer..."

I looked down at the girl beside me. She was very out of tune with the biz. It was common knowledge now that the two of them shared a past. It would have been different if she had been in the biz for quite some times, a lot of stars didn't pay much attention to tabloids unless it had something to do with them, but as a newcomer, it was odd that she had no knowledge of them.

Kyouko must have been thinking that same thing since she only stared at the girl. "Mana-san..."

"Don't be mean to Sho-chan, Kyouko-chan," Mana chided, pouting a little.

"Tch."

I couldn't help myself and smirked. At last I had someone on my side for once. Everyone always sided with Kyouko. True, what I did to her was really shitty, but I was trying to make up for all that – didn't that count for anything? I wanted to make things better between us but that seemed to be impossible with Kyouko throwing up any and every wall that she could to keep me away from her.

"Oh, everyone is here," came a voice suddenly.

The three of us looked up and I recognized the man to be Sato Ichiro, the redhead. He smiled brightly and sauntered in, followed by Kobayashi Seiichi and Murasame Taira.

"Kyouko-chan," Murasame greeted her casually as he walked into the room.

I watched her smile genuinely as he pulled out the seat beside her.

"Murasame-san," she said, continuing to smile at him. "I was wondering when I'd get a chance to talk to you."

The dark haired male smiled at her as the others gathered into the rest of the seats at our table. It's funny how I went there to be alone and brood to myself and everyone else decides it's a cool place to hangout suddenly. I sank back in my chair.

"Ah. Well I'm here now," he said to her, offering her a smile, his eyes studying her face.

I knew that look. He was giving her that look! I knew what that look meant, I had used in on women plenty of times. He wanted to get into her pants, there was no doubt in my mind about it. I knew that Kyouko would never succumb to whatever advances he might make, but it still pissed me off that he might try. Kyouko was mine, whether she wanted to acknowledge that was her business, however, the fact still remained that she was mine. No one else had any business giving her "looks".

The only thing about that was I couldn't actually say that. What good would it be if the world knew I wanted Kyouko but she didn't want me? Me. Fuwa Sho. It wouldn't make either of us look good. So instead of telling that Murasame character to get lost, I clenched my teeth together, shooting death glares his way as a conversation erupted between them.

"I was excited when I heard I'd be working with you," Kyouko said to him, smiling that stupid, innocent smile of hers.

"Yeah? I felt the same. You were really amazing in Dark Moon," he commented. "Seikai has to be my favorite from you though."

I wanted to throw up. He was so obvious that it was making me sick. I turned my gaze onto Kyouko and she was just eating it all up, smiling like an idiot.

"Really? I haven't seen too many of your dramas, but I do like the one you were in with Tsuruga-sempai."

Tsuruga Ren. It always came back to him. Every time. She had chosen him over me countless times – each time more painful than the last. What was so good about Tsuruga anyway? Sure, he was an A-list actor and charming and all that shit, but I knew her best. I knew who she was, who she had been and who she had the potential to be. I understood her better than anyone else and she me. There weren't two people who were more for on another than she and I. Tsuruga was merely a distraction from all that...

"Ah. Tsuruga-san is pretty impressive, I had no idea he was Cain Heel – I never would have thought," the male mentioned.

I watched as the woman I loved smiled – a true smile – while thinking of another man. "Yeah."

"I wish I could meet Tsuruga-san," the blonde who clutched my arm whined.

The three of us looked to her and she continued. "I'm apart of LME just like Kyouko-chan but I haven't had the chance to meetTsuruga-san... or even see him."

"Tsuruga-sempai is very busy," Kyouko chimed in. "He's currently on location."

"Yeah?" Mana asked, her face turning up into a smile. "He's filming?"

I watched as Kyouko nodded her head, smiling happily. "He's working on a new movie – Oceans."

I sucked my teeth. Who cared about whatever movie he was staring in?

"Kyouko-chan must know everything about Tsuruga-san... huh?" I found myself asking, my voice icy.

She looked at me, a bit startled by my words apparently because her eyebrows climbed her forehead. Her hazel eyes were wide, staring me down in disbelief. I watched as her gaze lowered and she caught her bottom lip between her teeth, but I ignored it.

"Eh? Is Kyouko-chan close with Tsuruga-san?" Mana asked, looking between the two of us.

"Oh yes," I answered for her. "Best friend's I'd say."

Kyouko only continued to look down.

"Really? That's so awesome! Lucky!" Mana commented, smiling innocently, blind to my motives.

"Mhm. He even showed her the ropes, taught her everything she knows..."

Mana only listened in awe as I wounded the woman I loved so much. At the time, I didn't know it, but apparently something had changed between her and Tsuruga. There was no smile when I mentioned his name, no glint in her eyes. All I saw now was deep sadness and shame. That didn't stop me though.

"I'm surprised though... at one point she hadn't even liked him – now they're as thick as thieves," I continued on, narrowing my eyes at her.

"You don't know anything," she finally snapped, standing up from her seat and staring me dead in the eye.

The room was silent for a long while, the two of us staring at one another and the others watching us.

"Tch," I sucked my teeth – I was the one to look away first.

Apparently her triumph in our little staring contest gave her the courage to speak up because she didn't let me off that easily.

"Why don't you just tell me why you're really mad, Shoutaro? Ne? Tell me what's got you acting so shamelessly," she hissed.

I found myself standing up as well, shooting her with one of my own irritated glares. "You're annoying, that's why I'm 'really' mad."

"Tuh! You're just jealous!" she seethed.

"Of what?"

"Of Tsuruga-san's success. You can't handle it."

"I don't give a fuck about that bastard," I spat.

Her thin brows crunched together. "Liar."

She was right. I was a liar. I was jealous of him, but not of his success, not anymore. He had something I wanted. It wasn't the fame, it wasn't the fans – I had my own. He possessed something that I felt had been rightfully mine. Kyouko. He had her in a way that I never would. I had it once, but it was gone now because of my own stupidity.

"You think I'm lying?" I asked her, my voice low. "I guess you never really knew me..."

Her eyes widened and she took a step back. I watched as she relaxed her shoulders and looked down at her feet.

"That's the problem," she said softly. "I do know you... but I wish I didn't."

Her words hit me like a fist to my jaw – unexpected. She wounded me deeply. How could she say that to me? Me of all people. Didn't she know what she meant to me? How much I loved her? Didn't she get that I needed her? That she was the only person worth living for? What else did I have besides her? How could she...?

My mouth opened, then closed a few times, but no words came out. I couldn't think of anything to say to her after that. What was there left to say? I had been real shitty to her, but I hadn't expected her to ever feel that way. Even when she claimed to hate me – swore her vengeance on me – I never expected her to say something like that.

"I guess we're both unfortunate then..." I said, my voice low.

I didn't bother waiting for a response from her – I left. I couldn't be in the same room with her at that moment.

Kyouko

I watched him leave, my heart heavy and bitter. What made him think he had the right to say those things to me? About me? Who was he to pass judgment especially when he knew nothing of Ren and me?

I sat down in my chair, silently staring at my hands before I decided I couldn't be in that room anymore with all those people staring at me. I stood up again, running my fingers through my hair as I walked out, forgetting all about my lunch. I walked out of the building and out back to the alley, setting myself down on a crate by the wall.

"Shoutaro.. idiot."

I could feel the tears building up in the back of my eyes, burning me and threatening to spill down my face. I forced them back however, convincing myself that Shoutaro wasn't worth my tears anymore. What really hurt is that he brought up Ren – the very Ren who hadn't spoken to me in so long. After I told him that I couldn't return his feelings, he had decided that it was best that we didn't see each other anymore – he wanted nothing to do with me. He had told me that with the way he loved me he could never be my friend, not like how I wanted him to be. He couldn't bare to be around me.

I missed him.

Shoutaro had just threw it in my face that I had ruined my chance at being with a guy who would be good to me. Ren would have taken care of my heart and saw to it that I never be hurt again. He would have kept me safe from the likes of Shoutaro who seemed only to appear when he needed to crush me once more. I ruined all of that. And for what?

All for a man who had no idea how to love me. Shoutaro knew nothing of my heart. He didn't understand it – but I wanted him to. God, I wanted him to. I wanted him to be the one to hold my heart, to keep it safe. He didn't know how to. He was so confused with his own feelings that he could barely understand mine. But how could that be when he knew me best?

He knew the Kyouko that Ren did not and still... he didn't know how to treat me. He didn't know what to do with me. He was... he was...

"Idiot..." I whispered, hot tears spilling out of my eyes.

"Kyouko-chan?" a voice called out to me.

I looked up quickly, rubbing the tears from my eyes and straightening my slouched back. "Murasame-kun."

He smiled at me, worriedly, sitting himself on the crate beside me.

"You want to hear a dumb question?" he asked me.

I was silent for a long while, looking down at my folded hands on my lap before nodding my head slowly. "Hn."

"Are you alright?"

"Tch..." I kissed my teeth, smiling bitterly. "You're right... that was a stupid question."

I was so distraught that I hadn't even bothered with minding my manners.

"I know."

It was silent between us for a long while before he spoke again. "What was that in there?" he asked me.

I nibbled my bottom lip gently before kissing my teeth again and leaning back against the wall behind me.

"We have history... Shoutaro and I," I told him.

"I know. Everyone knows..."

"Hn. 'Childhood friends'. We were more than that," I continued.

Murasame nodded his head slowly, understanding what I meant by that. He remained quiet, allowing me to pour out my heart to him. I told him everything, from the very beginning and he listened to me. I don't why, but it was comfortable telling him the truth. From my mother, to Shoutaro to Ren. Everything. He listened quietly, no judgment or anything like that. It felt good to say it out loud for once.

"I loved him." I said finally.

Murasame nodded. "You still do."

I was silent for a long while. "Yeah."

I hope everyone enjoyed the anniversary chapter, I enjoyed writing it. Leave me a review onegaishimasu