DISCLAIMER: I don't own Skip Beat or any of its characters, except the ones I made myself ^^
Chapter 1 – Meet Shinichi Azuma
More than fifteen pairs of eye bulged out of their sockets as a middle-aged man in a dazzling blue suit entered the LME building and walked up to the receptionist. The poor woman, obviously unused to men who had their hair braided with colorful hair bands, gaped for a moment before quickly recovered and forced herself to smile.
"Ehm.. may I help you, sir?"
The man in question coughed. "Oh, um, yes. My name's Shinichi Azuma, and I have a meeting with Tsuruga Ren today at 2pm."
'Ts-tsuruga..?" After a while, the woman nodded. "Ah, yes. You can go up to the seventh floor, Dianthus room."
"Dianthus room. What a coincidence." He chuckled. "Thank you." Shinichi took the elevator and left.
"Pretty strange, isn't he?" The receptionist talked to her friend, who just shrugged, looking unimpressed.
"Have you met the president of the LME, Takarada Lorry?" She shook her head. "No wonder. You're new, right? Well, he isn't around that often these days. But one thing for sure, he's far more eccentric than that man."
"What's next, Yashiro?" Ren asked as he hurriedly put on a vest over his shirt.
"A meeting with the director – which is also the scriptwriter – of Yamato Nadeshiko."
Ren raised his eyes questioningly. "What's that?"
Yashiro Yukihito sighed and fixed his glasses. "It's a title of a new drama you've agreed upon, about a perfect Japanese woman or something. Anyway, it's held at 2pm, so," he checked his watch. 1:49. "we better get hurry or else we'll taint your punctual prince's reputation."
Ren laughed and followed his manager to the elevator, down to the seventh floor. He just had finished his currently airing drama, 'A Lost Letter', which was about a woman going to confess to her longtime-crush through a letter, but unfortunately she lost the letter. One of her co-worker found it accidentally and she begged him to return the letter. He agreed – but only if she became his girlfriend for a whole three weeks.
It was a light, heartwarming comedy romance. Ren enjoyed it, but he felt that he still needed to grow – he was still far from surpassing his father. He hoped this next job would be as challenging as 'The Tragic Marker', since Lorry specifically assigned him for this and there would be no chance to refuse.
They stopped in front of a door signed 'Dianthus Room'. The door was opened slightly, revealing a figure of a man sitting patiently on one of the oak chairs. Yashiro frowned. "He's early. I expected him to be late, since people said he's kinda lax about time. But I guess this drama's very important to him."
That man practically jumped on his chair when they knocked, and immediately rose in excitement. Only then that Ren could really see him – a striking blue suit, braided hair completed with colorful hair bands, silver earrings, a pair of an 80's sunglasses, and the most amazing of all things: a beautiful phoenix tattoo right on his chest, which could be seen because he left his shirt practically unbuttoned.
Seeing the weirdo President almost every day, Ren was able to keep a straight-face – well, not completely – not to mention he was a very capable actor. But then he realized that Yashiro was still gaping and nudged him.
Yashiro blushed and coughed as to regain his dignity. He then bowed politely towards that man. "You must be Shinichi Azuma. Pleased to meet you, I'm Yashiro Yukihito, the manager of Tsuruga Ren."
"Pleased to meet you too, Yashiro-san, Tsuruga-san. And first of all I'd like to thank you for taking part in my upcoming drama."
"No, it should be me who feels grateful." Ren smiled his lady-killer smile. "But unfortunately I've yet to receive the script, so could you please tell me about it?"
"Ah!" Shinichi rummaged his bag and pulled out a stack of paper and handed it to Ren. "Here, please take a look at this." Ren started flipping the papers. Realizing there would be no way for him to finish the reading so quickly, Shinichi asked politely, "Or do you prefer me to summarize it for you, Tsuruga-san? You can have the paper so you could read through it once more at home."
"Actually, that would be great, Shinichi-san."
"Well," Shinichi cleared his throat. "To begin, you should've heard about Yamato Nadeshiko, ne?"
Only years of acting experience prevented him for stuttering. "Yes, of course." Damn. I should've researched it first! Is she famous or something?
"Erm," Unexpectedly, Yashiro became the hero of the day. "Actually, I've never heard about it." Bingo.
Shinichi's jaw dropped open. "What! Are you even Japanese?" Then he laughed at himself. "Don't mind me. I guess the younger generation doesn't really pay attention to those kinds of things anymore, eh?" He sighed. "Well, basically, Yamato Nadeshiko is a term used to refer an ideal Japanese woman: beautiful, smart, and loyal. She is said to possess the traditional grace and beauty of a Nadeshiko flower: also called Japanese Dianthus, which is why I said what a coincidence that we met here in the Dianthus Room."
As Shinichi explained this, Ren was struck with an image flashed across his mind: Kyoko, dressed in a yukata wearing a long black hair wig. Yamato Nadeshiko. He quickly shut his imagination away and focused on whatever Shinchi was explaining next.
"So, basically, the story's about an imaginary Yamato Nadeshiko. She lived somewhere in the era of Edo, and was said to be the most beautiful woman in Japan. Unfortunately, she had a drunken father who sold her to a wealthy shogun. Being an obedient child she is, she didn't resist."
"Afraid of someone stealing his beautiful wife, the shogun decided to forbid her from going outside and showered her with jewels and dresses instead. Now trapped in her golden cage, Yamato Nadeshiko slowly lost her passion for life."
"One day, when the shogun was away, she ran away from the shogun's castle. Suddenly, a group of young men appeared and tried to assault her- fortunately she was saved by a samurai passing by."
"Strangely, this samurai wore a piece of cloth which covered half of his face and his entire head. Even though Nadeshiko was afraid of him, she thanked him and offered him to have dinner at the castle. On the way home, a branch of tree accidentally ripped the cloth he was wearing and revealed the fact that he was a gaijin."
"Instead of running away like the samurai previously thought, Nadeshiko held her ground. Her curiosity was picking up. Starting from that day, they met each other in secret – until the shogun learnt about his wife's 'special guest'."
Shinichi smiled and clapped his hands together. "So, what do you think?"
Both Ren and Yashiro jerked up. Shinichi had a strangely alluring voice which made him amazing at telling story – they secretly were disappointed when he had ended it. "I think it was an amazing story so far, Shinichi-san. May I know the continuation of the story?"
He smiled mysteriously. "Sure, you can read the script, Tsuruga-san."
Ren sighed. "If you say so. By the way, have you decided on the female leading role, Shinichi-san?" Not that it mattered anyway – Tsuruga Ren was okay with whomever he worked with, or for exact, he didn't really care.
Shinichi's eyes lit up. "Oh, yes! Um, actually, I haven't contacted her yet, but I'll try to persuade her into this. I saw her once in a drama where she was playing the antagonist, and she had this graceful aura I'm looking for! I think it's called 'Box A' or something?"
Ren and Yashiro froze. "Do you mean Box-R, Shinichi-san?"
"Ah, yes! That's it! The one who played Natsu.. she's really impressive. I think Mogami Kyoko will become a perfect Yamato Nadeshiko."