Dedicated to iNuQTpIe who's birthday was yesterday. Happy Birthday for yesterday!

Also, I want to thank my editor who is battling her way through illness to edit these chapters in the…ten minutes I give her to do so. Props to you my man!

I'd probably like you a bit more if you weren't holding my tablet pen ransom 200 miles away. Damn it woman! You know I can't do anything!

So, to appease her and to ensure the safety of my pen once and for all - I give you this chapter.

Unedited at the minute.

Advent '08

December 18th - Only 7 days to GO!

That morning was hell for Kyoko.

She had once again taken to hiding out in the toilets during the break just to get away from all the sneers that she was getting.

Nanokura had spread around that she was a liar yesterday when Kyoko had left early and now she was dealing with the fallout.

Everyone was staring at her and whispering about her behind their hands.

Her reputation, or whatever left she had of it after starring in Sho's video, was completely down the drain now.

She didn't even know if she was going to recover from this.

She sighed as she checked her watch. Two minutes before she had to be back in class. Standing, she stuffed her book into her bag and carefully opened the stall door. Luckily there was no one in the bathroom and she slipped out and quickly made her way through the corridors, avoiding the larger groups of students as she went.

She reached the classroom at the same time as the teacher and she was thankful for that. When she walked into the room, the teacher right behind her, none of the students could do anything to her.

Nanokura shot her a dirty look and slumped down in her seat. The rest of the girls, taking their cue from Mimori, crossed their arms and slumped down in their seats too.

Kyoko sighed in relief.

The good thing about Nanokura's group of follow-on's was that they followed her explicitly. If she didn't do anything to Kyoko then no one else would do something to Kyoko in her presence.

Smiling at the teacher she made her way over to her desk, surreptitiously checking her seat for drawing pins or anything else like that.

She was learning from experience.

She sat down and started to pay attention to her teacher when she started to talk. She only had one more lesson to get through and then she would be out of here until January.

Hopefully by then all this would have blown over. It was amazing what two weeks would do to teenagers resolve to hate.

Besides. They should've gotten distracted by the Winter Awards and forgotten about her perceived slight.

She still had a year or so left being in the same school as them all, so she wasn't going to become really angry with how they were treating her or anything. All she wanted now was to keep her head down and get on with whatever time she had left with them.

Try not to draw any more attention to herself and just focus on perfecting her acting skills, so that she could work her way up in the business and hopefully make her debut sometime.

Sighing softly she propped her chin in her hand and looked out of the window.

Less than an hour to go.

---/---

Arriving at L.M.E. that lunch time, Kyoko felt finally free for the first time in a few days.

She couldn't help but grin as she wheeled her bike into the bike rack and locked it up.

"You look happy."

Kyoko glanced upwards to see Kanae's amused expression. Her grin widened and she straightened and stretched her back.

"I am happy. Everything feels good right at this moment."

She linked arms with her best friend and walked into the building.

"Besides." Kyoko turned to Kanae "I've got you a present!"

Kanae's eyes lit up in delight.

"A present! Really?"

Kyoko nodded and reached into her bag, pulling out a small gift wrapped box.

"Here."

Kanae took it gently before looking up at Kyoko.

"Can I open it now?"

"Sure."

Kanae held the box in her hands for a few moments more before grinning and ripping off the wrapping paper.

"Ooooh! Earplugs!"

Kyoko laughed.

"I thought you might need them over the holidays. What with you having to spend time with all your family and all."

Kanae laughed as well and slipped the present into her pocket.

"You have no idea how much of a lifesaver these are going to be." She paused and rubbed the back of her head. "Actually Kyoko. I haven't got your present with me right now. Can I give it to you tomorrow?"

"Yeah sure! I wasn't expecting you to get me one."

"What? How could you not? We're friends."

Kyoko shrugged and smiled at her.

"I don't know. I've never really had Christmas presents off people who I didn't consider family…"

Kanae stared at her in amazement before dragging her closer for a hug.

"Silly. Of course you get a present."

Linking arms with Kyoko once again Kanae pulled her into the building.

"Now. We have to get to work or Sawara-san is going to get upset."

They both drew attention to themselves as they burst out into peals of laughter.

---/---

Kyoko spent a few enjoyable hours doing odd jobs and handing out presents to those people that she had grown close to over her months working at L.M.E.

By the end of her shift she had almost forgotten what had been happening to her at school and she only had two more presents to give out. Yashiro's and Ren's.

All she was doing was waiting for an opportunity to find them so that she could give them their presents…and tell Ren that she wasn't going to the awards with him.

That opportunity came only twenty minutes later.

She was cleaning the hallway with Kanae, just wondering how she was going to find them when the lift doors opened and they walked out towards them.

Kyoko smiled and waved at them, missing the worried look that passed between Kanae and Yashiro. Ren smiled at her.

"Kyoko-chan. How are you doing? I haven't seen you in days."

She flushed under Ren's attention.

"I'm okay Ren-san. Actually! I have presents for you both!"

She pulled over the bag that she had been carting around the entire day and looked inside, searching for Yashiro's present. It wasn't hard to find and she handed it to him with a smile on her face.

"There you go Yashiro-san. I hope you like it."

Yashiro took the present with a surprised look on his face.

"Kyoko-chan…you didn't need to get me anything."

She waved him off.

"Oh I know, I just wanted to. Go on! Open it!"

Yashiro pulled off the wrapping paper and his eyes widened when he saw the present. He pulled it out of its box appreciatively.

"Oh wow. This is wonderful."

He stared at the fountain pen engraved with his own name.

"You like it? Oh, I'm so glad. I wasn't sure what to get you…and then I remembered that you always carry around your planner with you."

Yashiro flinched at the word planner but hid it quickly.

"It's wonderful. I love it."

"That really is a nice present."

Ren leant over Yashiro's shoulder to get a closer look.

"I got you a present too Ren-san."

"Me? Really? You got me a present?"

Yashiro snorted and Ren knocked his shoulder as he walked past, shooting him a glare. Yashiro just rolled his eyes and grinned at Kanae who smiled back.

Ren stood close to Kyoko as she bent over her bag to get his present. She stood, present in hand but she looked unsure. The excited look that had been plastered over his face dropped off.

Of course, only Yashiro was able to tell because only Yashiro knew him well enough to know when he was excited about something.

Ren being excited was a foreign concept to anyone who hadn't worked with him for at least five years. You learnt to tell his different moods from the minute facial expressions.

"Kyoko-chan? Is anything wrong?"

She shook her head and fingered his present, her eyes averted.

Yashiro and Kanae narrowed their eyes at the scene.

Just what was going on? She wasn't going to cancel now was she?

"Ren-san? Could I…could I speak to you in private for a moment?"

Ren paused for a second before shrugging.

"Sure. We'll just go into here."

Holding her by the elbow he propelled her towards the nearest room.

"Wait, Ren-san! Are you sure you have time for this? Your appointment with the president is in five minutes. Can't this wait? Ren-san? Kyoko-chan?"

"Oh. I'm sorry Yashiro-san. I didn't realise that I was going to be taking up valuable time…" she turned to Ren. "I don't want you to be late to see the president."

Ren glared at Yashiro and kept his grip on Kyoko's elbow.

"The president won't mind me being a little late for the meeting. Besides, I want to hear what Kyoko has to say."

With that he dragged Kyoko into the room and closed the door. Yashiro stared after them.

"No you don't."

---/---

Ren sighed as he closed the door behind him before smiling at Kyoko.

"Now, what did you want to say?"

"Um…here."

She passed him his present and he took it.

"Can I open it here?"

"Sure. Go ahead."

He open his present slowly, taking care not to tear the paper that it was wrapped in. His eyebrow rose when he pulled out a book.

"A dictionary?" He asked.

"Um…it's for difficult and older words…just in case…you know…you find one in your script that you don't understand?"

He stared at her for a moment before looking back to his present and flicking through a few pages. He nodded in understanding.

"Thank you Kyoko-chan."

She blushed.

"N-no problem Ren-san."

He stopped looking at his present and looked back at her.

"Now. What did you want to say?"

She averted her eyes, unable to look at him.

"Well…I…"

"Yes?"

"I…I can't go with you to the Winter Awards."

She tensed, closing her eyes, ready for him to start yelling at her for jerking him around. He didn't say anything though, but she still couldn't look at him.

If she had looked up she would have seen the hurt, clearly visible, on his face.

After a minute he spoke.

"Why?"

Kyoko took a shaky breath and concentrated on the floor two feet to her right.

"I can't go with you. It wouldn't be right. I mean…you're famous…and I'm not. At least…not right now. I'd just bring you down, Ren-san. You should go with someone more beautiful and famous…someone that will complement you and raise your status…or something.

"I didn't…I didn't mean for you to think that I wanted to go or anything when I asked you about the awards…I just thought that you should go. That was all. I wasn't angling for you to invite me…I mean, yeah…it would be amazing to go to them but I don't want to go to them if it means that you think that I was only talking to you to get you to invite me.

"I wouldn't do that!"

She looked up at him, desperate for him to understand. He stared back, shocked by her outburst.

"I don't want you to think that about me Ren-san. So I can't go with you. Not if it means that you think badly of me again."

Ren flinched slightly at the reminder of how he used to feel about her and how he treated her when she first joined L.M.E.

Kyoko was staring at him, desperation in her eyes, wanting him to understand. But all he could do was stare at her, gripping his present.

They stood like that for a minute or two before Kyoko sighed in defeat.

"I'm sorry." she said quietly before walking past him to the door.

Ren didn't know what to say, he didn't know what to do. All he knew was that he had to stop her from leaving the room and possibly his life.

His hand shot out of it's own accord and grabbed her hand.

She turned to look at him, shocked.

"Wait." He whispered. "Please…just wait."

She did. Standing in front of him in silence, her hand still gripped in his.

"Kyoko…Kyoko you are good enough. I don't want…I never thought that you were angling to be invited. I just wanted to you to be there…with me. That's why I invited you.

"Not because of any of those reasons."

Kyoko stared at him, still silent, her face closed off to him.

She was slipping away from him, he could tell. She still didn't believe him.

He tightened his grip on her hand.

"Please?"

With that word, she broke.

"Okay, Ren-san. I'll go with you."

A look of relief crossed his face and Kyoko breathed in sharply when she saw it.

"Thank you Kyoko-chan. I'll see you tomorrow? Or at the awards if not, okay?"

"Okay."

He smiled at her before dropping her hand and opening the door, his face once again a blank mask.

Yashiro was standing on the other side, looking suspiciously at him.

"Come on Yashiro-san. We're late for the meeting with the president. Oh, and arrange for Kyoko-chan to be picked up on the twenty forth with me."

Yashiro blinked in surprise, glancing between Ren and Kyoko before smiling and pulling out his planner.

"Okay. I'll do that."

Kyoko watched the whole exchange completely dumbfounded. She had no idea what had just happened.

After Ren and Yashiro had left to go see the president, Kanae came up to Kyoko and raised her eyebrow.

"Well?"

"I tried…I tried to cancel."

"…And?"

Kyoko frowned, completely lost in her thoughts.

"He said please."

Kanae looked at her in silence before she grinned widely and clapped her on the back.

"Well you know what this means, right? Shopping!"

There you go. She tried and failed. She didn't cancel and my tablet pen is now SAFE!

Hope you enjoyed : )

Tell me what you think of the chapter? The story so far?

See you tomorrow!

DS