Chapter 3:
Kanae could only gape at Ren as he stared back at her, flour covered eyes blinking slowly. Her shoulders began to shake as she started to laugh and all too soon she was laughing so hard she was gasping for breath.
"Oh my god. I'm so *gasp* sorry! I know *gasp* I shouldn't be laughing but you look *gasp* so funny! Tsuruga Ren, covered in flour!" The thought sent Kanae into fresh peals of laughter. Ren narrowed his eyes at her.
"Oh you think it's funny, do you?" He reached over and grabbed a fistful of the flour, effectively cutting off her laughter as she stared wide-eyed from the fist back to what she assumed was his serious expression. (The flour left much to the imagination, though it gave Ren a bit of a Cheshire cat appearance).
"Tsuruga-san? Wait a second, you're not going to –!" She shrieked suddenly when Ren rushed out from around the counter towards her. Kanae ran instinctively to the other side, putting the counter between them again, reversing their previous positions. She darted a hand out and grabbed a handful of flour as well.
"Do it, and you'll have a face full of flour!" She threatened...um...threateningly.
"I already do. What's your point?" And suddenly, all Kanae could see was white, then, she heard the sound of Ren laughing, and when the flour made its way into her wind pipe and she began to cough, Kanae understood what had happened. He had actually dared to throw the flour AT her, her own handful falling from her hand in shock. Well. She blinked the flour from her eyes and saw Ren, bent over, hand on the counter supporting him, laughing like he would collapse any second. She narrowed her eyes and lunged for the plastic measuring cup on the counter and plunging it into the bag, and flinging the contents of the cup at Ren's face, sticking her tongue out at the surprised man. He unbent from his position, easily towering over her, and spilling flour everywhere. He slowly wiped the flour off his face, eyes locked onto hers.
"You realize of course," he leaned over to whisper in her, making her go rigid once again. "This means war." He grabbed two fistfuls of flour, and pretty soon, the two were engulfed in an all out flour throwing battle. Kanae would knock Ren to the floor, straddling him and expertly grinding the flour into his hair, only to have him flip them over and dump all the flour he could hold in his two hands into her long black hair. They would chase each other around the apartment, yelling and shrieking and generally causing chaos. By the time they were done, an had calmed down, (more like passed out from exhaustion), Ren's poor apartment looked like it had been hit by a blizzard.
And a violent one at that.
"You're a demon," Kanae panted, lying on the floor of his living room.
"If I'm a demon, then what does that make you?" Ren groaned back, lying next to her in the opposite direction, feet towards her head. He hurt all over. Ren hadn't had excersize like that in years. Not even working out. It happened when you're made to act the role of a gentleman all the time, he supposed.
"I don't know. But I do know that I so won that."
"Bullshit, I won that, hands down."
"Oh so you can swear, I'm impressed."
"If I wasn't on the verge of dying right now, I'd get you for that. By the way," Ren said, as his stomach growled. "You made dinner, right? I'm starving." Kanae scoffed as she got up gingerly, puffs of flour coming from her larger movements.
"Oh sure. Now you're hungry. You seemed very intent on distract me from dinner before. Mo. Just let me reheat the food. It'll take ten minutes." Kanae padded over to the kitchen while Ren hoisted himself up and surveyed the damage they'd done.
"How, exactly, do we clean this up?" Kanae looked up at him as she repacked the chicken. There was no way she could make the breadcrusted chicken now, seeing as they had used the entire bag of flour she would have used for the dredge, in the fight. Oh how upset Kyoko would be if she found out how we wasted the food. Kanae shook her head wryly and answered the question.
"I don't know, dust it off I guess?" She watched as Ren lightly began to hit the couch, a cloud of flour rising off of it. He stood back, coughing.
"Well, that didn't do much." Kanae laughed at Ren's confused expression. "It looks like you suck at house work too." She set the food down on the only slightly flour covered dinner table. (The majority of the fight had taken place in the hallway, lobby and living room). "Here, come and eat first, then we'll figure out how to clean up."
They made an interesting pair, sitting in a room of flour coated furniture and flour covered themselves, chatting about their day and the various ways Kyoko had tried to force them together.
"You remember the day I 'fell'" Kanae said, annoyed, making air quotes around the word fell.
"Yeah?"
"Oh I fell alright, " She said finishing her meal. "But not by accident, that girl has the match making skills of a four year old." Ren shook his head, laughing dryly as he remembered the incident. He had been passing Kanae and Kyoko, who were up on ladders, pinning posters up on a bulletin board, when Kyoko suddenly "bumped" into Kanae, sending her tumbling down into Ren's startled embrace. He had caught her instinctively, before he had even known what was happening. At the time, he had thought the behaviour of the girls was odd, but he acknowledged that none of the LoveMe girls could be considered normal and just shrugged it off. Clearly, it had been more than that. Ren sighed as he dumped the dirty dishes into the sink and glanced at the digital clock on the stove to check the time.
"Kotonami-san, I think it best that you stayed over tonight." Kanae put her clean dishes away in the cabinets and turned to look at Ren, shaking her head.
" Nope. Nu-uh. No way. I will do no such thing. I am going and I will sleep in my own bed, thank you very much." Ren raised an eyebrow at her.
"Really, " he said, leaning on the counter conversationally. "Say Kotonami-san, how did you and Kyoko get here exactly?"
"The subway?" With our bikes and that stupid bag of flour, Kanae inwardly seethed at Kyoko.
"Exactly. What time is it?" Kanae looked at the stove clock. 1:30 AM. Crap. How long had she been here? 5 hours? 6? She didn't even know anymore.
"Now, you could go home, by yourself, at this untimely hour, but it would be unsafe to do so, being that you are a rising actor after all. Who knows what the paparazzi would come up with if they saw a young woman such as yourself travelling home at this hour. And I cannot drive you home, because I confess, your cooking has made me quite sleepy and I do not trust myself behind the wheel at the moment." Kanae saw that manipulative smile that he so often showed Kyoko and finally understood how he could coerce her into things she clearly wouldn't do unless severely persuaded. Her shoulder's slumped in defeat.
"Jerk." She muttered and Ren laughed in mock hurt.
"I'm surprised at you, Kotonami-san, and here I was going to give you full reign on my shower facilities."
Kanae narrowed her eyes at him.
"Fine. God, you're infuriating!" Kanae stalked past a snickering Ren, into his master bath. She waited in the door way as Ren tossed her a pair of shorts and a T-shirt. Kanae shook her head in amusement at the size of the garment and retreated into the bath, closing the door behind her.
For the first time, since she had begun to cook, Kanae got a good look at herself in the mirror. She was literally, covered in flour. From head to toe. Her face had been cleared up somewhat since she had eaten and had wiped some of the flour off her face. Kanae grinned at herself in the mirror, allowing herself a moment of truth. She had kind of enjoyed the evening.
Kind of. Nothing more.
She disappeared into the shower, her mask of disinterest back in place. Ten minutes later, Kanae emerged from the bathroom, feeling refreshed, wearing his shorts, which fell to her knee but choosing to forgo his shirt for her own tank top, stating that sleeping in his shirt was the equivalent of wrapping herself up in sheets. She then motioned for Ren to go in. When Ren came back into his bedroom, he found Kanae sitting on his bed in the dark, staring out of his wall – to – wall, floor – to – ceiling window to the bustling city below. It was closer to 2:30, Ren guessed as he sat down on the bed next to her.
It occurred to him, as he saw her face properly in the glow cast off from the city below, that Kanae was exactly the type of woman Kuon would have been attracted to and probably bedded. (Well, he would have even now, if it wasn't for Kyoko. Then again, she had had long black hair before hand as well. He wasn't going to lie to himself, now was he?) He would be lying if he said he wasn't attracted to her now, but now the attraction was mostly physical, his emotional attachment to her was leaning more towards the side of "best friend". Even if she did seem to have some sort of grudge against him, that he was certain had something to do with Kyoko.
He shifted next to her. She seemed to be deep in thought about something. He respected that and waited for her to speak.
"Tsuruga-san."
"Hm?"
"How much do you love Kyoko?"
Ren was somewhat taken aback by the question but nevertheless, he answered it after some consideration.
"To be honest Kotonami-san, I don't know. Besides if I did answer it, it would be like a child telling his mother 'I love you much'" Ren drew out the this in a light childish voice. He slid the wet towel off his shoulders and flung it away, somewhere in the room. " I can tell you though, that the mere thought of a life without her in it, frightens me to my very core."
Kanae regarded him for a moment.
"if you love her so much, why don't you tell her?" The question is so absurd to him that he can't help but give her an incredulous look.
"And ruin the fragile...whatever it is I have with her? I think not. Besides, she is LoveMe No. 1 remember? She practically founded it. The woman shudders at the mere thought of love and despises the emotion. How do I change that? Without being able to change her mindset, making a move will only alienate her." Before he had even finished his statement, Kanae was shaking her head.
"You're wrong. She doesn't hate love. She only thinks she does. If she truly hated it, she would mock all those that claim to be truly in love. No, valentine's is different," Kanae cut in, seeing Ren;s protest before he even voiced it. "In that she hates the fact that women are forced to out their feelings in what she considered to be a macabre massacre of a pure maiden heart. Remember, she once tried to convince me that Hio was in love with me and with her 'father'" here Kanae used air quotes, and r=Ren understood that they were talking about Hizuri Kuu here. "She never once belittled the fact that Kuu claimed to love his wife unconditionally. Kyoko doesn't doubt for a moment that he does in fact love her and that it is sincere. Kyoko just believes, after that incident to Fuwa, that she doesn't deserve love. That that, is the reason that she has never been shown proper love. She thinks that no one will ever love her that way. So rather than hope for the impossible, Kyoko defends herself by rejecting, or rather, pseudo-rejecting the emotion. This way, she saves herself future torment because she declares it something that she doesn't need and is perfectly happy without."
Kanae trailed off speculatively and Ren just stared at her.
He hadn't even thought of it that way. Never thought to analyze what Fuwa's actions had really done to her. He had always assumed that she hated love for what it had done to her. Not that she didn't believe herself worthy of it. A thought suddenly occurred to him.
"Kotonami-san. Why are you in Love Me?" Kanae stiffened and then sighed, slumping again.
"Fine, I'll tell you, but only because you've told me things too." She went back to staring out the window. "I guess it's because of my family. They're great and all, but they're lazy, rebellious, and they breed like maniacs." Ren sweatdropped. What? "I spent a lot of my childhood giving up a lot of the things I wanted. I learned the meaning of sacrifice and compromise pretty early in life. I guess I lost the compassion in general that most people have in life. And you know the president," Kanae said, half smiling, though slightly annoyed. "He decided that one way or another, he was going to beat it back into me." Ren couldn't help but smile back.
" Well, it seems to me that you're almost there, right?" Kanae grimaced.
"Sort of. I was almost out of the woods when Valentine's day came around. President asked mewhat I thought about the holiday and I automatically answered that it was a useless holiday made for an emotion that didn't exist." She shrugged as Ren stared at her, clearly amused.
"For the record, your little girlfriend said the exact same thing." Ren sighed.
"I know. And I've come to the conclusion that I am a masochist. That's the only explanation I can come up with. Hang on a second. I thought you had a problem with compassion. Why do you hate love?"
"Mou, it all comes under the same umbrella."
"So," Ren draws out the word, watching Kanae's response. "You haven't liked anyone? Past, future or...present?" He watched as the blush on Kanae's face intensified on the last word and how she avoided his eyes.
"Mou, what's with this line of questioning all of a sudden?"
"What, you can know all about my love life, but I can't know yours?"
"I don't know, I don't have one! I swear I don't have a crush on your dorky, glasses manager!" She huffed irately, still refusing to meet his eyes.
"...I never said anything about Yashiro." Ren said laughing a little as he watched the blood drain from her face as she realized her mistake.
She picked up a pillow and thwacked him in the face with it.
"Look what you made me do!" She kept hitting him.
"Sorry! Sorry! I give! I give!" Ren ducked for cover as her blows kept falling. Soon they fell, exhausted once more on the bed, laying side by side.
"I'm going to kill Kyoko next time I see her." Kanae said idly, as they lay staring at the ceiling. She felt oddly comfortable with Ren. Like she was with a friend she had known for years. She could just let go. Sure, Kyoko was undoubtedly her best friend, (although she would rather die than admit it out loud). But Ren was just easier to talk to about certain things. He didn't have any of the expectations that Kyoko. Not that hers were bothersome, but still.
"I don't know what I'll do yet," Ren said in response to Kanae. "But it'll definitely leave an impression."
And it was with this final brief bit of conversation that the two fell asleep.
LINELINELINE
The next morning, Yashiro let himself into Ren's apartment, Kyoko in tow. She had insisted on coming along today, not that he was complaining. (He did an internal squeal of joy). But he wondered why she had insisted that she must come along today? They entered the apartment and Yashiro stopped as he came upon a pair of female foot wear, boots to be exact, in Ren's lobby. On any other day, the logical conclusion would have been that Kyoko must have come over. However, today, said girl was with him, so who in Kami-sama's name did these belong to? He looked around in confusion, gaze landing on the bright pink jump suit hanging off a couch that was white...though if he remembered correctly, Ren's couches...were...brown...
Yashiro stared, stupefied into the living room of Ren's apartment. He heard Kyoko come in behind him and gasp. It looked like a blizzard had hit the apartment. And it clearly hadn't held back. The whole place was covered with a white powder that was dusted (and he used that term loosely), over the floor, the couches, the tables, flowers, TV set, on the walls, in the kitchen on the counters and on basically any available surface including the windows.
Yashiro watched as Kyoko padded into the living room towards the couches, trying to avoid being covered in the powder herself as she inspected it closely. She ran a finger over the table and tentatively licked the substance and her expression turned to one of surprise.
"Flour."
"What?"
"This – this stuff, this is 's from the flour bag that Moko-san and I bought yesterday." Kyoko gestured to the neatly folded bag of flour on the kitchen counter, that was very obviously empty.
"Kotonami-san?"
"Yes, it seems like she's still here. Let me just check the guest room." Kyoko walked over to the guestroom as Yashiro shook his head and headed to Ren's room. He opened the door after knocking lightly.
"Re-" He stopped abrupbtly as he took in the scene in front of him, his briefcase dropping to the floor in shock.
"Huh, that's odd. I can't find Moko –san any –" Kyoko broke off as she joined Yashiro at the entrance to Ren's bedroom.
There on Ren's master bed, lay Kanae and Ren, with Ren seemingly draping his arm over Kanae's waist. At least that was how it appeared from over the blanket. The shock though came from the fact that the two seemed to be – lord have mercy, Yashiro prayed - naked.
"Moko-san?" Kyoko shrieked in shock suddenly, startling Yashiro and jolting Ren and Kanae out of their sleep.
"Wha-?" Kanae mumbled as she heaved herself up, clutching the blanket to her naked chest. She caught sight of Yashiro and Kyoko suddenly and screamed.
"Ahh!" Ren shot up from sleep, hair mussed, eyes blearily half opened. Kanae screamed again in shock at Ren's appearance.
"Kyaaa! What are you – What am I – What are we -?" Kanae and Ren, now fully awake, gaped at each other.
"Oh my god." Kanae moaned as realization over took her. She stared at Ren, horrified, the older man, mirrioring her expression.
"We –we –"
"We slept with each other!" Ren said, mouth agape as he stared at his bedmate, terror dawning on him.
Kane began to hyperventilate.
"Oh no oh no. What am I going to do? We didn't use protection!" Kyoko stared back and forth from between the two, hands on her mouth.
"What am I going to do if I get pregnant? My career is doomed!"
"Your career?" Ren said, clutching his hair as his spectators watched stunned. "What about mine? I can just see the head lines now! 'Tsuruga Ren has Sex with a Minor!' I'm ruined!'" The two turned on a startled Kyoko, who stood in the doorway.
"You! If you hadn't left me here last night, this wouldn't have happened! My career is destroyed! And it hasn't even begun yet!" Kyoko blanched at the thought of being the reason for Kanae's downfall in business.
"I've committed the worse crime possible Mogami-san! What am I going to do if she becomes pregnant with my child?" Kyoko panicked at Ren's near hysterical expression.
She threw herself down in a dogeza in front of her friend and her sempai.
"I'M SORRY!" She cried. "I don't know what I was thinking last night when I left Moko-san here! And now I've ruined you both! I can't do enough to ask for your forgiveness! I –"
"Baaaka."
Kyoko stopped at the calm and slightly mischievous voice of her best friend. She slowly lifted her in confusion to find Kanae and Ren smirking at her from the bed. Ren finally got out of bed, revealing himself to be clothed in pyjama bottoms from the waist down. Kanae got out from the other side, also turning out to be wearing shorts and a tank top, whose straps had slid down, giving the illusion that she had been nude. Yashiro could only stare back and forth between the two, perplexed.
Kanae crouched in front of Kyoko, thumping her harshly on the forehead.
"That's what you get for pulling that disappearing stunt yesterday." Ren grinned somewhat apologetically at her as he pulled on a shirt.
"Mogami-san, I'm flattered that you would try so hard to help me, but I am not, as you seem to think, in love with Kotonami-san." Kyoko opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, like a landed trout, unable to comprehend the sudden switch in situations.
"Oh well. Glad that's over. Right Yashiro?" Ren clapped his manager on the shoulder, eyes turning concerned when the man didn't respond, still staring at Kanae, who held his gaze, puzzeled.
"Yashiro?" Said man's eyes promptly rolled up into the back of his head as he fell over, effectively passing out.
"Well then."
LINELINELINE
"That was so mean Moko-san!" Kyoko pouted later that day as the slipped on their LoveMe outfits for the day. "Yashiro-san even fainted!"Kanae straightened her hair in her locker mirror and turned to face her tormentor for the last month.
"Oh and like leaving me alone in a house with a man I barely knew wasn't mean?"
Kyoko eeped and jumped back a couple steps.
"eheh. Well, what do you say we just let bygones be bygones, hmm?"
Kanae rolled her eyes and slammed her locker shut, walking out of the Love Me room. Her best friend was definitely a little loopy in the head, but she loved her nonetheless. As they walked out, the two Yashiro and Ren hurrying down the hallway, most likely on their way to an important meeting or shooting. Kanae saw Yashiro notice them out of the corner of his eyes and turn to wave and smile at them before turning the corner and disappearing with his charge. She waved back noncommittally, and the two girls continued on their way in a content silence.
"Moko-san. Yashiro-san's gaze just now was very loving wasn't it?" Kanae stumbled in shock before turning around to grab Kyoko by the front of her jumper.
"You! What about this morning's fiasco did you not understand?" Kanae shook the young girl violently.
Kyoko clasped her hands over Kanae's, eyes sparkling with earnestness.
"No. Trust me, this time Moko-san, it's the real thing!" Kanae twitched, then disentangled herself from the clearly crazy woman and walked away briskly.
"Moko-saaaaan!"
"No."
"Just let me try at least!"
"No way."
"Pleaaaaase?"
"No."
"Pretty please?"
"No."
"Moko-san, come onnnnn!"
"Noo.
"He loves you, I swear!"
Finis.
A/N: Phew. And I'm done. I was gonna split this into two chapter but I wasn't sure where or how to split it so I left it. It appears my writing still lacks something to be desired as I seem to have made you guys think this was a crack fic. Hopefully I cleared that up with this chapter. Anyways. With this done. I am down to one Skip Beat! Fanfic to finish. Also, I'm pretty sure someone is going to nail me on the fact that Kanae is probably not going to be considered a legal minor, but whatever. I'm sure to Ren, it feels that way. Again, I realize that Ren is VERY ooc, I guess it made more sense on paper. I didn't have the heart nor the energy to change it. So once again, I left it. Adios amigos. Do tell me what you think.
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