Disclaimer: I don't own Skip Beat! or any of its characters.

Kenji glanced over at Izumi and saw she was spacing off in her thoughts. "What are you thinking about."

"My husband. Was he really trying to have me killed?" she asked and turned to face him with sadness in her eyes.

"I'm afraid so," Kenji said and shook his head. "I don't see why he would think to do something so foolish. You have a powerful father able to take care of any problem in the world and he loves you very much."

"I think that's part of it," Izumi said and leaned down to pick at a flower. "This flower holds beauty unreachable to some people in this world. In order to make myself feel more beautiful than this flower all I have to do is pluck off one petal at a time." Izumi pulled off the white petal and let it flutter to the ground. "Each petal removed gives me more power and weakens the flower at the same time. Hurting me would hold power over my father and threatening to do much worse could have given him more power than anything."

"Or get him killed," Kenji said and scratched his head. "Girl, you have an interesting taste in men."

"You have no idea," she chuckled and pulled her legs onto their bench as she turned to face him. "Once I fell for a guy hard enough to allow him to use my car for street racing and then I had to explain to my dad why my car was being held by the police. I didn't get nearly as much hell as the kid got, but I still got my fair share."

"I think you're doing something wrong," he said and placed his arm on the back of the bench.

Izumi inched closer to him and placed her head on his arm. "I think it's past time for me to do something right."

Kenji looked down into her eyes and they remained silent for a while before he found the courage to speak. "We barely know one another and I'm not certain as to what's ahead of us. Let's take ten steps back and do this right."

Izumi raised her head and gave him a puzzled look as he held out his hand.

"My name is Kurokawa Kinji and I live my life as a body guard. I want to help you get through this little battle and I hope we can be friends. If more comes from this, then so be it. But I'm not going to force it to happen," Kinji said and waited patently until Izumi took his hand.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Saitou Izumi and I live my life as a woman looking for some reasoning behind the chaos in my life. I have no problem being you friend, but I'm am going to make it my mission to get in your bed before your mission is over," Izumi said and moved quickly forward to give him a sudden kiss. "I bet I'll win." She jumped to her feet and ran away with laughter.

"Damn it," Kinji got to his feet as well and gave a smirk. "You shouldn't go running off like that. You have people hunting you!"

The cameraman followed the couples' run and waited to kill the machine until the director yelled cut. He watched Ren and Kyoko walk back laughing with each other. Lory wasn't completely lost with the hidden goals he carried with them.

"I thought you would freeze," Ren said honestly. He chuckled. "That look of shock was purely honest. I can't believe you kissed me."

"Hey, don't let your head get too big. I didn't kiss you. Izumi kissed Kinji," Kyoko said and did her best to pull her head from the shot. "Honestly, I'm surprised I did so well, also."

"Don't be surprised!" the director chanted and pulled her into a hug. "I honestly didn't think you could do it, but you did it. Yet another take that was a perfect recording. Damn, you two should have gotten together a long time ago! Alright everyone! That's a day's work! See you for next week's shoot!"

Kyoko stood still as the artist removed her make up and hair style. She slipped into the lady's restroom to change back into the outfit Kanae picked out for her. It did make her feel pretty cute.

"I still can't get over you dressing in those clothes," Ren said from a bench outside the lady's room.

"Waiting for me?" Kyoko asked.

"I was hoping you would be willing to come to my place and cook me a nice meal. I haven't had a home cooked meal since before your trip East," Ren held out his hand and Kyoko took hold. "I want to sit down and talk with you. Is that alright?"

"About time," she said and gave a smile. "What do you want to eat then?"

"Let's have you surprise me," he said and climbed into the driver's seat.

Kyoko peeked over at him as he started the engine. The sky was just starting to lose hints of the sun and his eyes appeared so strong. As she thought back she could remember the times she would tremble when their eyes met and how afraid she was of the beat her heart danced to when he was around.

"What are you thinking about to give you such a far off look?" he asked. The look he gave her made her feel as if he knew every word she was about to say.

"I was thinking back to how much you seemed like a challenge to me and you always encouraged me every step I took. My goal was to reach your level and crush Sho into the ground." She was lucky enough to catch the twitch in his face when she mentioned her old crush's name. She was learning so much and it hadn't even been a complete day spent with him. "I don't believe I have quite reached to your standing just yet, but I do feel as if I have let go of my old crutch."

"Crutch?" Ren parked his car and killed the engine. They got out of the vehicle and Kyoko walked right next to him and hid her waiting for him to take a hold of her hand again.

"In my head, I believed I needed him to support me and help me stand strong," she shook her head and gave a sad sigh. "It took too much for me to realize he was only a weight holding me back and not worth the worry or love I wasted on him."

Ren let her hand go as she began digging through his closets as if she lived there with him for a long time. She opened his freezer and took out a frozen pizza with a container of chicken wings. As she worked she began to hum a tune to herself and he never took his eyes off her. It was amazing she was unaware of all the times he followed her ever movement. He knew the way she walked, the way she talked and even the way she buried things inside. Since she kept so much inside he was only curious to know how much he was missing out on.

"Ren, in about twenty minutes the food will be ready," she took a seat at the kitchen table and smiled at him.

"I love how you smile almost every second of the day," he said.

"Love, huh?" Kyoko raised an eyebrow. "I love the way you have never uttered that word in connection between you and I ever."

Ren opened his mouth to argue, but he didn't have a point to argue. She was completely right. He was head over heels in love with her, but she had no clue. He wondered what she would do if she found out how he felt.

"It seems as if we're going to do the fighting scenes the next time we go to work," Kyoko said and chuckled. "That's going to be a lot harder than kissing you."

"I thought that was only Izumi kissing Kenji?" Ren said and watched her face go bright red.

"It was!" she jumped to her feet and walked away.

Ren walked up behind her as she walked to the wall. It felt as if she was asked him to act on the images in his head. He continued to walk forward until her back hit the wall. She looked up at him and he ran the back of his fingernails on her cheek. A shout of triumph sounded in his heart as he watched her muscles twitch from the chills he gave her.

"I think we should practice the kissing," he said in a hushed tone. "We need to make their interaction as real as possible."

"Ren..." Kyoko whispered his name. Before his face got too close she twisted away. "The pizza might be done now."

"Damn," he mumbled under his breath and rested his head against the wall. There was no point in hiding his feelings now. That little episode screamed everything to her and crashed every wall he tried to hold up.