Chapter Title: Tsuruga-sempai, the Thief

Rating: PG-13/Teen

Disclaimer: If I owned Skip Beat! Vie Ghoul would have a pet Beagle as their mascot and drum-player. (No, not really; but it's till a cool idea...)

Disclaimer Part 2: THIEF OF THE NIGHT TIS MINE!

Dedication: This is dedicated to Devilishduck... Yes, just Devilishduck. For her (please tell me you're a her) awesome long review. x) Yay Malevolent fowl! (That's a use of synonyms. O.o Ooooooh...)

Chapter Summary: Kyoko wakes up and finds out that Tsuruga-san is her co-star. Sounds crappier than it is. I hope.

I k33l teh spell check! With 3s instead of e's! Or i's! Don't bug me when I'm typing fanfiction! –argues one-sidedly with Spellcheck-

Song: Insomnia by The Veronicas

Don't forget about my little challenge to you guys last chapter! I wasn't kidding! It's an easy puzzle and you could end up as a character... What've ya got to lose? (By the way, the character will probably be an OC that I've created to play a role in the drama Kyoko and Ren are filming. So I'm not sure anymore of whether it'll be minor or moderate. :D)

PS I'm winging it on this fic. Is that bad?

M...M...M...C...H...E...E...S...E...Y...P...O...P...C...O...R...N

"LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE! LATE! LATE! LATE! LAAAAAAAAAAATE!"

Mogami Kyoko jumped out of bed, not even stopping to think that people in America were probably planning to schedule ear exams later due to her screams. She glanced wildly again at the clock. Hmm...

She'd planned to wake up an hour ago. But if she could manage to get ready in five minutes she might just be able to make it.

Kyoko threw on a cami, pants and a jacket; then rushed to the bathroom to teach herself to brush her teeth and her hair at the same time.

The clock was ticking down the last three seconds to five minutes when Kyoko sped out the door, grabbing her shoes and calling goodbye to the owners of Darumaya. She hopped on her bike and sped away as if a hoard of smiling Tsuruga-sans were on her tail, inwardly wondering if perhaps she should learn to drive.

No; she told her frazzled self, ten minutes and five miles across town later. Biking was definitely better... No traffic. All those nice pedestrians had quickly stepped out of her way.

She took a second to straighten herself out, and then walked briskly into the building where she would be going meeting her stars, going over her script, and practice acting- they might even be able to get in shooting a scene or two today. She'd missed the script reading; but it'd been held before she'd been offered the part so...

No use crying over spilt milk.

S...M...A...R...T...E...R...T...H...A...N...A...W...A...F...F...L...E

Yashiro watched Ren watch everyone else in amusement. Not that he was amused... well, he was, but the point was that Ren was amused.

And why shouldn't he be? Everyone was bustling around, trying to get everything ready and unsuccessfully trying to hide their anxiety at the absence of the female lead. Not that they could blame her, having only offered her the part two days ago, but...

Yashiro saw Ren catch Ogata-san's eye, and Ogata-san smiled. Ren simply nodded, but Yashiro could see the smirk in his eyes. Only the three of them- the actor, the manager, and the director- knew Kyoko... At least, well enough to know that she would be here on time.

There was only a minute until she would be officially 'late' and; due to the abrupt change in the script- nothing too big, but enough to create a small problem that had thankfully been solved- everything was chaos. The last thing needed was for the female lead to be late, or even worse, absentee.

But the three who knew Kyoko knew she would show up on time. Not only because of her dedication to what she did; but because of how she hated inconveniencing and displeasing others; and how she always valued a good first impression of herself upon others.

Sure enough, just as the clock struck eleven o'clock AM, Mogami Kyoko strode into the room- looking a bit ashamed and out of breath, but still there, nonetheless.

It seemed as the room breathed a collective sigh of relief as Director Ogata hurried over to welcome Kyoko and accept her expected apologies for nearly being late.

"Gomen ne, Ogata-san," Kyoko bowed hurriedly, looking up in worry. Ogata-san shook his head.

"No, it's fine, Kyoko-san. Please come with me... You must be introduced to your costar- the one who will be playing the phantom thief, Sakurazuka Seishiro?" he added at her apparent confusion.

Kyoko's blank look was quickly replaced with one of understanding. She nodded, embarrassed. "Gomen ne again, Ogata-san. I'm still half-asleep."

"No worries. Have you been able to grasp the concept of your character, the lady Sumeragi Subaru, yet, Kyoko-san?"

"I- I'm still working on it," she confessed quietly, following Ogata-san through the room, around groups of people.

"That's all right. Just be sure to do it before long; we might start filming even today."

"I understand, Ogata-san."

A few moments later, they'd arrived at a bench where two people were sitting, waiting expectantly. Kyoko's brow furrowed up in puzzlement at the two's presence; but as Ogata-san spoke, her eyes widened and she felt oddly... kind of faint.

"Kyoko-san, I'm sure you'll be quite happy to hear this. Meet your costar, Tsuruga-san."

I...K...3...3...L...T...E...H...F...R...E...N...C...H...F...R...I...E...S

Song: Right Kind of Wrong by LeAnn Rimes

Ok, so, maybe it wasn't as lengthy or as progressive as I'd hoped, but I'll get started on another chapter now. And now that I've promised that, there's no way I can put it off till tomorrow! :D

Ok, so, please take the poll on my page. I need your guys' opinions.

And don't forget about the challenge. And I have another one too. If you can tell me from which manga I got both names (first and last) for the two main characters in Thief of the Night (AKA Kyoko and Ren's character's names), you'll also get a spot as an OC actor in Thief of the Night... that is, if you want, of course. So- two chances! And there'll probably be more, too. I have positions to fill and I'll most likely be too lazy to create my own... unless I have to...

Ok, so... Byebye!

Subaki-Chan out.