DISCLAIMER: I don't own Skip Beat or anything it contains! But I do like reading Skip Beat and watching it! :)

Chapter 4

The rest of the week passed without incident. There were only 2 more days left until punishment week was over. I will now describe the worst to even worst part of the week.

Kyoko was again sleeping in her comfortable bed, thinking how great it was going to be when she could finally talk again. It felt like it had been a month and she even forgot what her own voice sounded like! Her fantasies were interrupted by Taishou's wife, who shook her awake.

"Kyoko, wake up!"she yelled frantically,"This building is on fire!"

Kyoko opened her droopy eyes and was met with a blazing inferno. She jolted awake and took Taishou's wife's hand and dragged her out of the building while avoiding falling flaming beams crashing to the floor. The heat felt like they were inside an oven and flames licked at their feet. When they finally made it outside they stood panting from exertion and the three of them, Kyoko, Taishou and his wife, watched silently as Daruyuma came crashing down. Fire trucks arrived with flashing lights but they were too late. Tears fell silently as they watched the futile efforts.

"What are we going to do now?"Taishou's wife sobbed.

"It's alright, it's alright."he murmured, comforting her while Kyoko stared dazed, not comprehending what she saw.

Flashback:

Earlier that night...

"Sir, no smoking allowed at this restaurant."Taishou explained.

"Fine, whatever, I'm leaving!"the rude customer said. As he stomped outside he deposited his still glowing cigarette on the ground by the wall of the building. A single flame started and nobody had noticed.

Back to the Future:

Kyoko and the couple had to stay at a hotel nearby for the rest of the night. She stayed up all night wondering where were they going to stay now. They couldn't afford to stay at the hotel till Daruyuma was rebuilt. She tossed and turned and when she got up the next morning they all had an emergency meeting.

"My wife and I decided that since we were going to have a vacation soon anyways, now would be the best time to go, since we don't have anywhere to stay."Taishou said in that deep voice of his.

"Yes, we had been saving up and planning for years. We decided to go to Okinawa. Isn't this exciting?"his wife exclaimed.

"Do you have anywhere to stay at?"Taishou asked concerned,"We don't want to leave you here by yourself."

Kyoko nodded and smiled, indicating she had said yes."I don't want to bother them. I want them to have fun on a vacation by themselves. Having me there would be bothersome. I'll just ask Moko-san. She'll probably say yes anyways."she thought in her head.

Kyoko wondered when they would be leaving, in her head.

"Oh, and I bet you're wondering when we're leaving too. The departure date is tomorrow. Sorry for the short notice. We don't really have any more money to waste on another day at this hotel."he smiled apologetically.

"Wow, they know me so well that they can read my mind."Kyoko smiled happily.

That afternoon:

Kyoko was all packed up and ready; there wasn't much. It was pure luck that she had grabbed her purse before she ran out of the burning building. All she had to do now was ask Moko-san. Today was the last day she was Tsuruga-san''s substitute manager so she thought he would let her talk to Moko-san for a while. She brainstormed last night to find a way to ask Moko-san without talking. Kyoko had thought of a brilliant idea. The idea was to bring a magazine everywhere and circle words to make sentences. That would comply to the guidelines, so it wouldn't be a problem.

Kyoko was ready to go.

She was at the LME building accompanying started reading her magazine and circled some words and showed it to Ren.

"I-need-to-talk-to-a-friend?"Ren read. Kyoko nodded, pointed in Moko-san's direction and waved good-bye.

Kyoko ran off and tapped Kanae on the shoulder.

"Oh, jeez, it's you, Kyoko. Do you need anything?" she said. Kyoko turned to a fresh page in the magazine and scribbled some circles and showed Kanae.

"Oh, I read that magazine before. Why are there circles on it?"Kanae asked.

"Huum,"Kyoko's eyes lit up and she ran away.

"Wait, what did you want to talk about?"she shouted. Kyoko held up her pointer finger while still jogging away and the result, she almost tripped.

"Hey, you okay?"Ren asked gently while holding her shoulders to keep her from falling. Kyoko blushed, righted herself and pushed him away. She tugged his shirt and was met with resistance and looked back.

"What?"Ren asked while smiling. Kyoko sighed and then thought a while before gesturing with her pointer finger to come with her. Even though Ren knew what she meant, he didn't budge an inch. Kyoko sighed again and just grabbed his hand instead. She practically dragged him over to Kanae.

"Her hand is so warm. I wish I could hold it forever."Ren grinned in thought. When they reached Kanae, Kyoko let go of his hand but he didn't. She shook her hand out of his grasp.

"Oh, sorry."he apologized nonchalantly meanwhile Kyoko's heart was beating furiously. She looked at the floor and stuck the magazine out for him to read.

"Can-I-stay-at-your-place-for-a-few- days."Ren read,"Well, sure you can." He smirked at Kyoko's blush. Kyoko shook her head furiously from side to side and pointed to Kanae.

"Oh, I see, you want to ask Kotonami-san, yes?"Ren asked. Kyoko was relieved he didn't get the wrong idea.

"Oh, I'm actually going to America to film a movie. Sorry. Is there a reason?"Kanae said sympathetically. Kyoko turned to a new page and circled some more. Kanae took it and scanned it with her eyes.

"I feel so bad now."Kanae said,"Is there anywhere else you can stay?"

"Well, if you don't, you can stay at my house."Ren said jokingly. Kyoko took the magazine back and circled the word really with her eyes brimmed with joy.

"Uh, well I didn't really-" Ren stopped when he heard something.

"I feel so bad for Kyoko, her home was burned down."Kanae was conversing with someone.

"What?! You don't have anywhere to live?"Ren exclaimed. Kyoko nodded, downcast with being reminded Daruyuma had burned down. "Uhh, sure, you can use the guest room." Kyoko circled some things in the magazine.

"You're-the-best-sempai-ever!"Ren raised his eyebrows, not wanting to tell her that it was more for his sake than hers. Living in the same house as Kyoko was his dream come true. When Ren saw her smiling she frowned and circled furiously.

"I'm-not-happy-that-I-get-to-live-in-your-house-ju *st-that-the-couple-gets-to-have-their-

vacation."Ren read,"Of course, why would I ever think that?"he said in low voice. Kyoko blushed. She was beginning to think this was a bad idea.

Please review, if you see grammar or spelling issues then please tell me. Sorry this chapter was so long. Have a great day, a fantabulous day, yep! Bye!

P.S this little star(*) means that I know that the word just is split up, it's just that when I fix it and save it again, it reverts back to ju st, like that! I'm grumpy now!(but hopefully you're not):)