Chapter Four: Ensnared
Kyouko bewailed her misfortune as she made her way through the LME hallways to the cafeteria. Kotonami Kanae listened sympathetically at her side. "I've taken three showers and I still smell like gunpowder, Moko-san!"
"What's that about gun powder?" Ren asked, stumbling upon Kyouko much in the usual way—that being catching her saying something out of context and wondering what she could possibly mean.
She stiffened remembering what Sorata had said about keeping Duty Binds Us under wraps. Kanae already knew about it because she was slated for the role of Captain Takeda Hikari, but Ren couldn't know. She trembled because Sorata had just about put the fear of God into the young girl. "Uh… uh," Kyouko stumbled over her words and Ren listened closer falling into step with the two women.
"It's for a role," she said at last, knowing that she was venturing into dangerous territory, but figuring it might be easier to tell Ren a half-truth. Unbeknownst to her, Kanae was as equally in on the plot as Yashiro and Sorata. Her mouth was clamped firmly shut and she watched with amusement at the scene unfolding before her. Someday, she decided, she would turn these crazy happenings into a best-selling novel.
"You have to smell like explosives… for a role?" Ren asked, slightly bewildered. As far as he knew, smello-vision had not yet been invented.
Seeing his mistake, Kyouko elaborated, "I mean, I have to know how to shoot a gun. So now I smell like gunpowder from practicing."
Then much to her embarrassment, Ren leaned closer and sniffed her hair. "Hm, you're right. You do smell like gunpowder."
"Eeeeeehhhh! You could have taken my word for it!" Kyouko howled.
Ren's eyes sparkled mischievously. "That wouldn't have been nearly as fun."
Creepy hair-sniffing aside, Kyouko was relieved. He hadn't pressed her to reveal that she was acting in Duty Binds Us. Now if only she could figure out why Kanae was so pleased with herself? Said best friend was smiling dreamily off into the distance, contemplating bridesmaid dresses and wedding bouquets.
"Moko-san, what are you looking at?" Kyouko interrupted.
"Nothing," Kanae said.
"But you were smiling like this," Kyouko said, imitating her wistful stare.
"Nope. Wasn't me. Must have been some other woman standing next to you who looked just like me," she dodged. "Perhaps I have an evil twin. You know I have an evil twin in that drama I've been busy with lately."
"Oh right," Kyouko said, successfully distracted because Kanae rarely discussed work with her. "What was it called again?"
There were several ways to describe Director Hakimori, most of them involving trees of the willowy sort or spindly insects. Suffice to say the man was incredibly narrow and delicate-looking. He appeared as though he might blow away in the wind if you breathed too hard. Such assumptions, however, were immediately shattered when he opened his mouth to speak.
Kyouko was quite taken aback by the director's enthusiastic greeting.
"Oh, Mogami-chan!" he cried throwing his arms about her neck and hugging her closely.
"Uh, um, hello… Hakimori-san…" Kyouko threw Sorata a beseeching glance.
"Now, now, Hakimori," the older woman said. "Kyouko-chan isn't used to directors like you, so get off her."
Hakimori melted to the floor and hung at her feet. "Forgive me, Mogami-chan," he wailed. "I'm just so happy to see you!"
"Is… is something wrong?" Kyouko asked, wondering why a middle-aged, and supposedly respectable, director had prostrated himself at her feet.
Sorata snorted. "No. He always does this." She leaned down and yanked Hakimori up by the collar. "Come now, be a man!" she said sternly.
"Oh, Sorata!" he cried, now wrapping his arms about her. Sorata rolled her eyes and shoved him off. "Pain in the neck," she muttered. She turned to Kyouko. "Sorry, I ought to have warned you, but I forgot. Hakimori always acts like this when he's greeting people."
"Does he ever stop?" Kyouko asked worriedly.
"No."
Hakimori gave Sorata a pitiful look. "You're poisoning her against me," he accused.
"Too bad."
The man pouted for a moment, and then in a rapid change of expression, as he seem disposed to do quite frequently, he declared, "Mogami-chan, if you will follow down that hallway there, we are all meeting in the room on the left. A few more of the actors have yet to arrive, but I will join you when they have."
"And he's sufficiently violated their personal space," Sorata muttered under her breath.
Kyouko giggled and followed Sorata down the hallway that Hakimori had pointed out. It was unnerving at first, she supposed, but the man was harmless.
The room was a pleasant, square space. Most of the cast had already gathered and were taking advantage of the cushy chairs and the nice view afforded by the large windows on the far wall. A thick wooden meeting table took up most of the space, but not too much to be unreasonable.
"There's Kotonami-chan," Sorata said, nudging Kyouko with her elbow. Kyouko smiled and took a seat next to her best friend.
"Isn't this exciting, Moko-san?" she asked. "We haven't acted together since our debut commercial."
"That's true," Kanae replied nodding. She wasn't quite looking Kyouko in the eye. Her gaze kept wandering over the girl's shoulder towards the door. Almost all the cast had arrived, but a certain Lieutenant Akio was blatantly missing.
A thin man approached and tapped Kyouko on the shoulder. Kyouko turned and smiled. "Hello, Mogami-san. My name is Yasu Hayate." He paused nervously. "I'm… I'm playing Lieutenant Ichirou." He blushed madly.
"Hello, Yasu-san," Kyouko said brightly, wondering what Hayate had to be nervous about. "I look forward to working with you."
"I h-hope I don't… inconvenience you in any way," Hayate continued, still blushing. "I'm still new at acting. It's such an honor to work with an actress like yourself."
Kyouko felt her heart go out to the man. "Really, I'm sure you're very good, Yasu-san. And I've only been in show business for two years."
Hayate smiled. "You're too kind, Mogami-san."
All further conversation was halted by the arrival of Director Hakimori and the final actor in Duty Binds Us. "Now that our Lieutenant Akio is here," the director said, "we can finally get down to business."
Hakimori went on to explain his work ethic and expectations, but Kyouko didn't hear a word of it. She was too busy staring at her Lieutenant Akio. It was Ren. He seemed startled by her presence for he had not known she was acting in Duty Binds Us. She wondered if he knew that she was playing Moyami Rin. Did he know that she and he were supposed to… supposed to… Kyouko couldn't even form the thought together.
Sorata nudged her elbow. "We're starting the read-through, Kyouko-chan," she hissed. Though Sorata would have liked to watch Ren's expression when he realized that his leading lady was none other than Mogami Kyouko, she had to focus on the budding actress to make sure she paid attention during the read-through.
Thus the task of observing Ren's epiphany fell to Kanae. "You better tell me everything later," Sorata hissed in the young woman's ear. Kanae nodded solemnly and turned her spying eyes stealthily to Ren.
"First scene with Colonel Jira, that's Yamamoto-san," said Director Hakimori, "and Private Rin, that's Mogami-chan. Let's have it!" Glee and ecstasy danced visibly across the man's face.
Tsuruga Ren, however, struggled to make sure no expression made its way onto his face. He wasn't even sure if he had managed to suppress all his shock and surprise. Did Hakimori just say that Kyouko was playing Rin? His love interest in the script? It had to be a mistake, but there was Kyouko reading out Rin's lines in the first scene. He couldn't believe it.
Ren chanced a sideways glance at his manager to see if perhaps Yashiro was as surprised as he was. Yashiro's gaze was trained determinedly on the lines in front of him. Ren fought to keep his eyes from narrowing for all to see. Yashiro had known! That much was obvious. Ren felt betrayed. It was a set up to make him confess his feelings to Kyouko. He would bet money that President Lory had been in on it as well.
"I'll prove them wrong," he thought. "I'll show them that I can control myself even in this situation. I will not lose her like this."
A gentle elbow in his side pulled him out of his thoughts. "Your lines are coming up," Yashiro whispered. So they were.
"Duty Binds Us, Part One, Scene Ten," Hakimori read out. "A platoon of soldiers are scattered around the hand-to-hand combat training grounds. Their stances are mixed. Some are relaxed and others at attention. They are waiting. Moyami Rin's expression is clouded. Lieutenant Akio arrives. Akio smiles."
"I've only met one of your number so far, so I'll introduce myself, Ren said. "I'm your new lieutenant, Madara Akio, but if you call me Madara, I may have to kill you."
"Most of the soldiers laugh. Rin does not," Hakimori inserted.
"Eventually I'll learn your names… or at least I hope so," Ren continued. "For now I'll try to get to know you while we're training. We'll be starting with hand-to-hand sparring. Please partner up."
"The soldiers pair up. Rin is left without a partner. She is clearly displeased by that fact."
"I'll be your partner, Moyami-chan," Ren said kindly. It sounded like his gentleman's voice to Kyouko, only there was something very genuine to the tone.
"Rin smirks at the idea of being permitted to abuse her new superior," Hakimori said, trying not to laugh during the stage directions.
"Don't complain when you're black and blue," Kyouko muttered softly.
"Akio hears her."
"Pardon?" Now that was definitely his gentleman's voice.
"I said, yes, sir," Kyouko said, more confidently than she would have if she were speaking to the real Tsuruga Ren as the real Mogami Kyouko.
"They spar. Akio ends up on the ground rather quickly, but brings Rin down shortly thereafter. Rin becomes even more furious and struggles to her feet." Kyouko felt a determined smile coming to her face. She had read this scene over many times and she felt a growing connection to Rin's character.
"Your first reaction was good, but then you left your guard open," Ren told her smartly.
"Rin's face starts to turn red, while Akio matches her temper with indifference. A few of the other sparring partners stop to watch. Akio lands a blow on Rin's abdomen and she buckles. Akio lets his guard down and Rin manages to pin his arm behind his back."
"You left your guard open, sir," Kyouko replied, smirking. She lifted her gaze and for the first time since he had entered to the room, she met Ren's eyes. She could see that it was not Ren, but Lieutenant Akio sitting on the other side of the table. His eyes sparkled.
"Akio fights the urge to laugh," Hakimori said, snapping Kyouko back. She realized that already she was becoming ensnared by Ren's acting. Kyouko glued her eyes back on the script and refused to look up. "He twists in her grip and breaks loose. He is off balance and skitters sideways. Rin watches him calculatingly. They circle like vultures. More soldiers stop to watch and start whispering. Rin lunges forward. Akio catches and spins her to the side."
"It appears that whoever taught you to fight neglected some of the basics," Ren said. His voice sounded strange, almost cold.
"He smiles jokingly, but something in Rin seems to break," Hakimori narrated.
"Do not insult Lieutenant Ichirou," Kyouko seethed. "He was a better man that you will ever hope to be! Stop trying to take his place!"
"Rin storms out," Hakimori said quietly. He seemed to be affected by Kyouko's outburst. "Akio looks around to the other soldiers who quickly resume sparring."
Ren was quiet for a moment, then he looked up and against her will Kyouko felt him draw her gaze. "I'm not." Silence hung over the cast save a few tentative claps. Any applause seemed to die before it really began. Kyouko held Ren's gaze for a moment before she tore her eyes away.
"Ah yes," Director Hakimori said, looking up from his script. "I've been meaning to talk to you, Mogami-chan and Tsuruga-kun, about this scene. I've arranged for the both of you to receive private lessons in the martial arts."
Ren turned toward the director. "I thought we'd be using stunt doubles."
Hakimori laughed heartily. "Ha-ha, stunt doubles!" He wiped a tear forming in his eye. "Oh my, you were serious, weren't you, Tsuruga-kun? No no, this is a very expressive scene and the only proper way to capture those expressions is if you truly are fighting."
"Well," Kyouko said, "if I'm going to learn to fire a gun, I might as well learn this too."
"That's the spirit, Mogami-chan!" Hakimori said, smiling broadly. He turned to address the entire cast. "We'll begin filming next Tuesday. Make any final preparations to your characters over the weekend and report to costumes by eight."
Kyouko was very quiet on the car ride home that Sorata began to grow a little worried. "Ne, Kyouko-chan, are you alright?" she asked.
"Sorata-san," Kyouko began, "Did you… did you know that Tsuruga-san was going to play Lieutenant Akio?"
Sorata paused a moment to consider her answer. It would not do to give away her hand too early. "I didn't know until early this morning. By then I assumed it wouldn't make much of a difference if you knew before the read-through or not."
"Oh. It was… it was quite a surprise," Kyouko said finally.
"I'm sorry. If I had known you would be this unhappy I would have told you this morning," Sorata lied.
"I'm not unhappy… exactly. I suppose it's just I don't know if I'm ready to act side by side with Tsuruga-san yet," Kyouko mused.
"I thought you weren't too worried about the intensity of the role," Sorata said, worried at once that Kyouko was being forced into something she wasn't mature enough to handle.
"No, it's not the role so much as just acting with Tsuruga-san. I first started to truly study acting because I had acted with Tsuruga-san when I was working on one of my first Love Me jobs." Sorata nodded. "And when I acted with him, I wasn't really acting but responding to his acting. I was ensnared and it was an awful feeling. I don't know if I'm ready to hold my own against Tsuruga-san yet."
Sorata chuckled softly. "I think you are, Kyouko-chan. I've seen the way you transform when you take on a new role. And I wouldn't be surprised if somewhere along the line Tsuruga-kun becomes ensnared by your acting."
Kyouko blushed. "I don't think that's possible."
But Sorata continued to smile. "You'll see, Kyouko-chan, you'll see."
Author's Note: Hey Everyone! Sorry I was a day late, but I figured it wasn't such a big deal in the grand scheme of things and I wanted to finish drafting Chapter 5 before I posted Chapter 4. I like to be ahead and I'm quickly falling behind. Ack! Anyway, this is the last you'll see of Duty Binds Us in script form, so if you were sick of me doing that all the time then "yay." Even here it wasn't completely script-ish (totally a word). And we finally had the big moment you've all been waiting for since the Prologue. Next chapter is even better because Kuu comes back! Anyway, as I mentioned I'm falling behind which is in part due to a tiny bit of block so if anyone has requests you are invited to make them known. Speaking of requests. I have no talent for making AMVs, but if anyone would make a Skip Beat AMV using Doll Parts by Hole I would love you forever! Okay, that's everything I think. Next update will be on Wednesday! Review!
