Because I forgot.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot…and Mine-san...oh, and some other people - but they haven't turned up yet and it would spoil the story and DAMNIT! This is why I don't write a disclaimer until the very end!

Hope you're enjoying this!

Oh. I just wanted to say that you guys who've reviewed are freaking AWESOME! Completely makes my day - especially as I've been horribly ill the past fortnight. It's always nice to wake up from a fever induced dream to find that people seem to still like my ramblings. :D

Shout out!

This chapter is dedicated to the three people who reviewed every chapter: WriterofShadow, Marz Bani and Blonde-Existentialist

Warning: This chapter is obvious...in so many ways...

(Wow! A disclaimer, dedication AND warning?! All in one chapter?! I'm getting good!)

Advent '08

December 4th - 21 days to go

Kyoko woke earlier than usual to complete darkness.

Stretching, she rubbed the sleep from her eyes before fumbling for the light switch. She flinched as the harsh light lit up the room.

"Urgh…" She groaned and rolled over, shoving her head deeper into the pillow.

It was too early for this.

Raising her head a little, she squinted at her watch. Groaning loudly again, Kyoko flopped back down for an extra few seconds before she sighed and pushed herself out of bed.

Shivering as her feet touched the cold wooden floor, she quickly hopped her way over the room until she was standing on the small rug.

With a feat of dexterity, she managed to hook her clothes off the floor and drag them over without ever leaving the only spot in the room where her feet wouldn't freeze.

Dressing quickly, she grabbed her bag stuffed with last nights homework and made her way slowly downstairs; her thick socks muting the chill.

"Good morning, Kyoko-chan."

"Morning." She replied before flopping down to sit at the small breakfast table.

"You're up early; you don't normally have time for breakfast."

She nodded as she helped herself to a portion of the food laid out.

"I know. I just got up earlier today. I think it's too cold to sleep."

"It is rather cold today isn't it? Make sure you wrap yourself up. You don't want to catch a cold. Do you have a warm enough coat?"

Kyoko paused, her chopsticks to her mouth. She swallowed carefully.

"Coat?"

Immediately she knew that this was the wrong thing to say.

"Coat. Yes, coat. You…do have a coat don't you?"

"Um…"

Kyoko blushed at the disbelieving looks she received.

"Well…this won't do."

Taishou watched as his wife bustled out of the room before turning to look back at Kyoko. He grunted once and then finished off his breakfast.

Kyoko watched him as he stood and left the room before her attention was brought back to his wife who hustled in, airing out a brown woollen coat. She smiled when she noticed Kyoko looking at her.

"This is old but I'm sure it will do."

She held it out and Kyoko took it, holding it almost reverently. She looked up, speechless at the gift.

"It's…thank you."

"Well go on. Try it on."

Kyoko smiled and stood, shrugging on the coat and buttoning it up. It fit perfectly. She grinned, tugging down the sleeves and brushing herself off.

"It fits perfectly. Thank you so much."

Tugging her hair out from under her collar, she checked her watch and made a small noise in consternation. Picking up her bag from the floor she made her way over to the entrance hall and slipped on her shoes.

Turning she waved goodbye and slipped out. Unlocking her bike she wheeled it around to the front of the restaurant before swinging herself into the seat and peddling away.

---/---

Kyoko arrived early to the sound of dozens of excited girls crowding around the gate. She had to shove her way through the throng with her bike to get into the yard.

Once through, she breathed a sigh of relief and wiped her forehead. Looking back she shook her head at how her classmates were acting over seeing a celebrity.

It was quite amusing, especially since most of them had already debuted in the industry. Why they were acting like inexperienced fans, Kyoko had no idea.

Though she supposed that it might have something to do with the celebrity appearing being Ren. The man was like a god of acting.

She smiled whilst thinking about him. His skills were mind blowing; he could slip in and out of characters as easily as a fish through water. When she watched him she always became breathless with wonder.

Grinning, she wheeled her bike over to the rack and locked it.

If she was going to be honest with herself, she was quite looking forward to seeing Ren today. She hadn't seen him for days because he had taken a small holiday and hadn't been in.

Well…the president had made him take a small holiday and wouldn't let him come back to work. But it had been a week since then and, even though she was a little hazy on the details, Yashiro had come up with a plan, so she supposed that it couldn't be that long before he would have turned up.

Making her way up to her class she couldn't rid herself of the smile. A few of her classmates looked at her as she entered the room but she blended in with the rest of the excited teenagers who where chattering loudly.

Sitting down in her seat she propped her chin in her hand and stared out of the window at the entrance. The group that had been standing there was slowly being shooed away by some of the teachers.

It looked like they didn't want every student mobbing their guest.

Kyoko's head jerked upright.

What if they didn't allow any students but those chosen for the video to see and talk to Ren? That would be terrible! She had been planning on going up and saying hello and inquiring after his holiday.

If she wasn't chosen then it might be days until she saw Ren, even with Yashiro's plans.

She clenched her fist as pain blossomed in her chest at the thought.

It couldn't be allowed to happen!

She would just have to sneak off and try to find him during lesson time.

Decision made, she absentmindedly rubbed at her chest, wondering why it still hurt slightly before groaning. It must have been from when she had cycled about in the cold without a coat; some sort of mild chest infection.

She sank lower into her seat, embarrassed by her own idiocy.

Fortunately she was saved from anymore self-berating when the teacher walked into the room. Today everyone fell silent almost immediately and quickly went through the proper morning greetings.

The teacher was looking extremely harassed and barely shot them a glance.

"Good morning class. Today will be a bit disrupted due to our guest but I'm sure that we can all be professional about this and it will not disturb your studies too much. Right. Turn to page ninety three in your maths books."

There was a large rustling noise as everyone reached into their bags at the same time. Everybody except for one girl behind Kyoko.

"Um…excuse me?"

The whole class turned to look at the girl who was just tempting fate by drawing the teacher's frazzled attention to herself. Kyoko recognised her as the girl who had seemed so excited yesterday.

"Yes?"

"I was wondering…who is going to be chosen for the filming?"

The students swivelled to look back at the teacher, this time every eye held a glint of hopeful curiosity. Even Kyoko.

The teacher sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Those who were chosen have already assembled in the main hall. If the Head didn't speak to you then you weren't chosen."

There was a groan of disappointment as the students realised that they wouldn't be getting a chance to act. Kyoko too was disappointed but all the teachers statement really did was to solidify her determination.

If she hadn't been chosen to act with Ren then she would have to make sure she saw him. That was all. She would sneak out after this class and go down to the main hall to try and find the group.

Nodding to herself she bent her head to her work. There was less than an hour before she would be seeing Ren.

---/---

Cautiously Kyoko cracked open the door to the main hall. Seventy or so students sat there, talking amongst themselves.

She glanced around the room before frowning. It looked like Ren hadn't turned up yet. That was odd…he was never late to a set.

He prided himself on this record.

She smiled softly as she remembered being his manager and everything that she had done to make sure that this record had not been broken. Her face heated up as she remembered having to look after him when he was ill as well…and trying to get him changed and into bed.

Especially when he had started taking off his top before she had turned around and closed her eyes.

The memory of his toned body stuck in the fore-front of her mind and her heart started to beat painfully fast.

Leaning against the wall Kyoko pressed her hands to her cheeks to try and cool them down. Her cold must be getting worse if she was starting to get a temperature as well as chest pains.

So caught up in trying to cool herself down she didn't hear the front door click open or the sound of people making their way into the entrance hall. It wasn't until the noise suddenly stopped that she looked up and froze.

Sho stood not ten feet away, looking at her with a mixture of shock and surprise on his face.

"Kyoko?"

She opened her mouth but no sound came out. What was this? Why was Sho here? Where was Ren?

Shoko Aki, Haruki Asami and a few others stood behind him. Shoko was looking between Sho and Kyoko worriedly. Haruki had stopped with the rest and was staring at Kyoko, trying to work out why she looked so familiar.

Kyoko took this all in without moving her eyes off Sho.

He was staring at her unblinkingly. Slowly he dragged his gaze down her body, taking in her school uniform and the way it fit her body.

When he finally looked back up at her face, every inch of Kyoko instantly became sensitised. His eyes held so much emotion but it was one she couldn't name. Her attention was caught on his mouth as his tongue darted out, wetting his bottom lip. This time her cheeks flushed for an entirely different reason.

The tension between them was staggering, neither one speaking until Haruki broke the silence.

"Kyoko-chan? I almost didn't recognise you with dark hair."

Kyoko fumbled for a moment for something to say before she bowed deeply.

"Asami-san. It's wonderful seeing you again."

Haruki moved forward until she was standing between Kyoko and Sho.

"Have you been chosen? I didn't see your name on the list but it's wonderful if you are! I have the perfect role for you!"

Kyoko swallowed. Her face was still flushed from just before but now she was also embarrassed at being caught out.

"Actually Asami-san, I haven't been chosen. I was just going to the bathroom because I felt a little faint, that's why I was here."

Haruki looked disappointed for a moment before her face lit up. "Well, you'll just have to be added to the list then."

"What?"

"Seeing you has given me inspiration. You must take the part. Please?"

Kyoko was speechless. Be in the video? Work with Sho? That wasn't exactly what she had had in mind. She had thought Ren was going to be here. She had been waiting for Ren!

Ren…

Suddenly inspiration hit her. She modelled her face into one of contrition.

"I'm sorry Asami-san, that will be impossible, you see…I'm only in school at certain times in the week. L.M.E. has requested that I go into work during the other half."

"Oh." Haruki looked disappointed. "When are you here?"

"All day Monday and Wednesday and the mornings of Tuesday and Thursday."

"Hmm…"

Kyoko breathed a subtle sigh of relief when it looked like she had evaded spending time with Sho. Holding her breath she tried to edge out past the thinking Haruki. She had almost made it when Haruki shot out her hand and clamped down on Kyoko's arm, grinning.

"You're in school pretty much everyday except Friday right?"

"Y-yes?" Kyoko answered cautiously.

"Well then! That's no problem."

Kyoko's eyes widened

"What do you mean that's no problem. Aren't you filming today and tomorrow?"

Haruki waved off the question, her hand still clamped on Kyoko's arm.

"No, no. We're auditioning for roles today and tomorrow. We don't start filming until next week."

"Oh."

"Also. With you taking the main role as a certainty it's one less that we have to worry about."

"T-the main role?"

"Yes. After the acting in Sho's last music video…you're the only one that I know would be able to pull off the character."

"Oh…" Kyoko said faintly.

Haruki smiled and let go of her arm.

"I'll see you on Monday then. Please meet here at eight sharp."

"O-okay."

Haruki nodded and then waved behind her, signalling to the group to go into the hall.

"Goodbye Kyoko-chan."

"G-goodbye Asami-san."

When the door clicked closed and Kyoko was left in the empty entrance hall she sank to the floor wondering what had just happened.

---/---

As the group made their way up to the front of the main hall Shoko stared at Sho from out of the corner of her eye.

He had been caught completely off guard when he had spotted Kyoko.

And there was no way she could have missed his obviousness when he had checked her out.

What had been interesting was that Kyoko had blushed at the attention, even though she supposedly hated the boy.

Shoko raised her eyebrow. She wasn't going to deny it, she was curious at what exactly the relationship now was between the two. After all, it had been almost a year since Kyoko had thrown the food at them and declared her revenge.

Making her way up the stage steps she sat down next to Sho. He seemed a little out of it still and she had seen the look he had given when Haruki had somehow managed to rope Kyoko into starring opposite him.

She snorted in amusement. That boy was more obvious than he realised. She swallowed her smile when she saw he was glaring at her until he turned back to looking ahead at the students sitting in front of him, then she allowed herself to smirk.

Waiting until Haruki started to address the students about how the auditions had been organised she leant sideways, closer to where Sho was sitting.

Watching for his reaction she whispered quietly to him.

"I didn't think that Kyoko-chan would be here. And Asami-san getting her the role opposite you?"

Shoko had to bite her bottom lip to stop herself grinning as she spotted a blush appear on his cheeks. It was faint but it was still a blush.

"I didn't know she was going to be here and I have no idea what Asami-san was thinking."

Shoko leant back into her chair, allowing Sho to get the last word. It was obvious that he didn't really feel completely adverse to the situation…no matter how much venom he tried to inject into his voice.

It all added up to one thing.

A very interesting video shoot.

---/---

Instead of going back up to class for the rest of the morning Kyoko had just walked out of school and slowly made her way over to the L.M.E. building in a daze.

She arrived two hours early but sat in one of the cafés across from the building trying to work through what had happened, running over and over the conversation again and again. Each time she couldn't figure out what she had done wrong.

And now she was starring opposite Sho in his new video.

She blinked. Wait…

Wasn't his video supposed to be a winter romance?

She groaned loudly, drawing the attention of the other patrons of the café and dropped her head onto her arms.

What on earth was she supposed to do? She couldn't back out now…not when Asami-san was already auditioning. If she went back now she would be late for work and she couldn't go in tomorrow either.

After that…well…

After that the auditions would be over and if she backed out then she would be letting everyone down.

…not that she wouldn't mind letting Sho down for once…

She sighed. No, she couldn't do that. It just wasn't in her nature. Besides, if she backed out then Sho would come up with some comment.

She could see it now. He would call her something like coward or amateur and make it known across her whole school that she couldn't act.

No. That wasn't acceptable.

She would just have to do the best she had ever done and show everyone that she was a professional.

Checking her watch, she dug out the correct change and left it on the table before exiting and walking across the street into L.M.E., checking that her bike was still chained in the same spot she had put it those two hours previously.

Inside, Kyoko was grabbed by a harassed looking Yashiro who winked at her conspiratorially.

"Kyoko-chan, I'm so glad to have caught you, everything is so busy and I was afraid I had missed you."

"Yashiro-san? What is it?"

"You remember our plan?"

"Yes…?"

"Well, Ren comes back into work tomorrow so it starts then. Okay?"

"Okay, Yashiro-san. I won't let you down!"

He smiled at her and patted her on the shoulder.

"I know you won't Kyoko. Just remember…tomorrow. And don't say anything to him."

Kyoko smiled in return and watched as he rushed off to do whatever job was next on his list. Her attention was caught when she heard her name being called out.

Searching through the crowd she spotted Kanae pushing her way over to her.

"Moko-chan!"

She smiled as she watched a look of pain cross Kanae's face at how loud she had yelled her nickname. Elbowing a pushy man out of her way Kanae finally managed to make her way over to where Kyoko was standing, ignoring the man's loud protests at how he had been treated.

"Bunch of loud idiots."

Kyoko didn't wait for Kanae to say hello and instead grabbed her into a big bear hug.

"Kyoko-chan? What are you doing?"

"I haven't seen you in weeks! How was your shoot?"

Kanae pried herself out of Kyoko's embrace before smiling.

"It was good. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out."

They started making their way over to the employee only staircase, dodging in and out of people rushing about.

"When does it get aired?"

"Oh, not until sometime in January."

Kyoko smiled at her friend.

"I can't wait."

Kanae blushed slightly.

"It wasn't that big of a role…"

"That doesn't matter. It's a role you played."

Kanae cleared her throat and instead of answering she thrust a long piece of paper out for Kyoko to look over.

Kyoko frowned and scanned over the list. There was over sixty bullet points.

"What's this?"

"That," Kanae said, pointedly. "Is the To-Do List that we have to complete. Sawara-san gave it to me when I came in. About five minutes before you showed up."

Kyoko's eyes widened and she re-read the list again, this time paying more attention to what was actually written. It was true, it was a To-Do List.

"When's it got to be completed by?"

"The end of today."

Kyoko stopped dead in her tracks.

"We have to finish this? By the end of the day?"

"Pretty much."

Kyoko groaned. Today just wasn't going well. She glanced over the list once more before following Kanae once again to the locker room so that they could get changed into their work uniform and an afternoon of rushing around.

---/---

Kyoko groaned in pain as she flopped down onto her bed. Her feet hurt so badly. She had spent the whole afternoon and a little way into the evening with Kanae, rushing around the building completing job after job.

When they had finished and reported so to Sawara-san she had spotted another list even longer than today's sitting on his desk waiting for tomorrow.

Just thinking about it made her feet throb in pain.

She rolled over and shuffled herself under her duvet, switching off the light and closing her eyes in exhaustion.

She was asleep almost immediately.

:D

Okay, okay...so some of you had already guessed. That's right - Sho! Sho's here! Yaaaaaay!

Oh wait...most of you aren't ShoKyoko shippers...pffft, oh man - you are not going to be happy! Ha ha ha ha ha.

But...I'm not about to shoot myself in the foot - the main pairing is still up for grabs so - tell me what you think!

Guess what my favourite pairing is why don't you? :D

Oh! Does anyone have any opinions on what I can call Taishou's wife? I can't find her name anywhere in the books or on the internet.

DS