Always With You

Disclaimer: I do not own SkipBeat or any of its characters

Chapter 19 – Enoki Masami's story

Note: In response to several requests for information: In this story Kyoko is in the spring of her eighteenth year. She started acting at sixteen and has been acting for two years. Sorry for being vague about that.

A full week had passed and there were still no signs of Choshi Kazu. The people closest to Kyoko were torn between a sense of eerie suspense and relief. Maybe he just got bored and moved on.

Due to multiple scheduling conflicts among the cast, the filming for Ronin's Children had been intermittent. Today they were back on schedule and filming began early.

[Enoki Masami is seated in booth in a small mom & pop style diner. She is dressed in a stylish ankle-length dress of a very dark-blue material. She is sipping on a cup of tea while reading a book. Next to her on the table is an additional stack of books. The title of the top book is The Criminal Mind.

The morning diners are speaking at a normal level. The camera focuses on Masami as she reads. The sound of the door opening is followed by an uncomfortable silence. Somebody sits down across from Masami. She looks up to see Makada who has sat down and is leering.

"I heard from my boys that you've been messing around in my playground. Since when did you start playing Robin Hood, Masami-chan?"

"Since when did you start harassing harmless little schoolboys? It's bad for your image; you're the undisputed leader of the Shoguns. Leave the kiddies alone and stick to the big boys."

Makada spread his hands palm-down on the table. "You see, that's part of the problem. When Jino started the Shogun he used that sword as the symbol of his power. Now some of the gang members are discussing whether I can really hold the gang together if I don't even have Jino's sword."

"You're breaking my heart, Makada-san. They can just keep 'discussing.' The sword belongs to my family."

Makada was clearly losing his patience, "That's a man's sword." Makada said coldly, "It has no business in a girl's hands."

Manami flared, "You just try to take it away from me, Mack, and I'll use it to shorten your neck!"

In the background the agitated diners were filing out of the door. The owner of the diner was picking up the phone. Makada looked over at him and raised a warning hand, "Everything's fine. No problems." He turned back to Masami, "Whoa, Masami-chan, we're just talking here." He gave her an oily smile, "Of course, we could solve this all easily enough if you and I hooked up. Between us, we could rule this city."

Masami looked out of the window, saw something, gathered her books, and stood. "Never in your wildest dreams, Makada. You don't worry about that sword. It has another job to do. Ja ne."

Camera follows Enoki Masami down the aisle to the door. The focus returns to Makada as he looks out of the window and sees a tall, handsome man holding a car door for Masami. As the car drives away Makada reaches for her half-empty cup and twirls the contents around. Then he holds the cup to his mouth, throws back his head and drains the tea. His eyes are cold and angry as he lets the last drops fall on his tongue, then he turns the cup over and slams it open-side-down on the table.]

[Camera instantly transitions to Masami's hands coming together in a clap (the sounds of the cup and the clap are as-one sound.

Masami is kneeling in front of her family's gravestones. Kihara Genjo, dressed in a somber black suit, stands two feet behind her and to the side, his hands also held in prayer and his head bowed. Both are motionless as a stick of incense burns down. The camera points slowly up to show slow-moving clouds.]

[Camera angles down from the cloudy blue sky to the pair walking down the path through the terraced graveyard. At a set of steep stairs Genjo stops and reaches his hand up to help her descend. Their hands linger and their eyes meet for a moment before she continues walking.]

[Kihara Genjo holds the car door for Masami. As she sits, he lingers with the door open as if he wants to say something. He remains silent instead and closes the door gently.

As the drove down the road Genjo finally spoke his mind, "It's been three years, Masami-chan. You know that my parents would have taken you in when you had to sell of the house to pay off the debts. You could be going to the University now." He looked over at her. "You were always the smartest kid on the block. You would have been accepted at any school.

"What I mean is… haven't you wasted enough of your life on this revenge business? Do you think that your parents would be happy if…"

"STOP!" Genjo looked startled and started to drive off the road to a stop.

"No! Drive! Just stop talking. Don't tell me how long enough is. Enough will be when I find out who killed my family and take care of them."

"And then what? Murder for the sake of revenge is still murder. You'll get them, if they don't get you, and then you'll get to spend your life behind bars! Why not give yourself a chance in life? Why not give us…"

Masami looked at Genjo's set face as he continued driving. "Us?" She asked softly, then her face became hard again, "You know, two years ago I dreamed of 'us.' But how can there be an 'us' with the deaths of my family hanging over my head? I'm sorry, Genjo."

They rode on in silence. Masami pulled out her key chain and starts playing with a little panda charm that is attached to it.]

[Flashback: The doorbell rings and a youger Masami in a high school uniform yells, "I'll get it!" She opens the door to find the large man in his early twenties kneeling in a dogeeza with a sword laying beside him. Her eyes widen, "Jino!"

She turns back into the house and yells out "Otou-san! Okaa-san! Hurry, quick!"

A handsome graying man steps in the doorframe. After a moment spent scowling, Chief Enoki's face relaxed, "Get up and come inside, son."

Jino stood up and began to follow. As he started to pass by his sister he stopped and met her eyes. He looked down at the sword in his hand and then lifted it up to Masami, "Why don't you take care of that for a while?"

Masami held the heavy sword at arm's length, as if it was covered in blood. She walked to her room and laid the sword on her desk. Then she called her friend Nami.

"Masami!" her mom's voice rang out, "Your dad and I are going to go for a drive with your brother. We'll be back soon."

"Ok, mom."

"Hi, Nami. You'll never guess what just happened. That charm for restoring families actually worked…"]

[Second flashback: It is late evening and there is another knock at the door. Masami opens it to find Captain Hitaki, her father's best friend, along with another officer. They are both wearing black arm bands. Camera focuses on her face as it changes to a look of horror. The scene fades]

[Enoki Masami, still riding in Genjo's car, surreptitiously wipes her eyes while looking away out of her window.]

"Cut! Great job, both everyone. Let's wrap for today. Be here bright and early tomorrow."

Aiko Mari stepped up to Kyoko and offered her a handkerchief to finish wiping the tears in her eyes. "That was awesome! You know, normally I'm only on a set to do the stunt-work. I almost never get to just watch. I just really love your Enoki Masami character."

Kyoko looked at her new friend for a minute before starting to laugh, "You should."

"What do you mean?"

"When I needed to figure out my character I patterned her after you!"

Mari flushed with pleasure, "Really?"

"Yeah, really. Only I had to add the dark side."

Kyoko took her phone out of her bag and turned it on. "Oh, Amamiya-san called. Just a minute." Kyoko pushed the callback button and waited, "Amamiya-san? It's Kyoko. You called?"

Kyoko listened to her friend and her eyes slowly got bigger, "Really? That's great! …Well, what if you invite him over to the Darumaya? …Your mom has met Taisho and Okami-san… I'll tell you what: I'll invite Tsuruga-san to come as well, and I'll cook… It's not an imposition, I love cooking… Ok, call me back."

Mari raised her eyebrow. Kyoko explained, "You remember that really good looking guy that Amamiya-chan danced half the night with at the fashion show? Well they've been phoning and texting back and forth. She really wants to go on a date with him, but her mom's very traditional about those things. So I'm going to have her invite him over to the restaurant after it closes and I'll make a nice meal. I'm going to invite Tsuruga-san as well so that things can be more relaxed. Would you like to invite Kurosaki-san?"

"Thanks, but no. I finally got him to invite me to a movie, and I'm not letting him out of it."

* * *

Choshi Kazu, looking haggard and underfed, turned the key in the ignition and the old hot-rod car roared to life. It had taken almost every cent that he had left, but he had a working car again. He got out, went to the warehouse door, and opened it. Now I'm going to find you, Kyoko. And you're going to pay for everything you've done.

A half-hour later he spotted Kyoko and Mari walking into LME. Now he only had to wait until he caught her alone.

* * *

Hiraga Akio sat beside Tsuruga Ren and across from Chiori Amamiya. It was amazing to him that he had met Amamiya-chan after so many years. His first acting job had been as an extra in The Scarlet Dice. It had been Chiori Amamiya's first role too, but she had impressed the director so much that he had changed her character's part and given her a major part in the show.

Akio had a crush on her throughout the filming. She was always nice to him, but she was too involved in her role to worry about a boy's interest. The day that she had been burned she had stayed tough and kept filming; he had gone home and cried for her. And then filming was over and he had never seen her again.

Until Box-R came out; her name was changed, but it didn't matter; he recognized her right away. He hadn't liked the mean role that she played. She played it very well, but he didn't like to see her playing bullies. The girl he remembered was always nice.

Acting hadn't really worked out for Akio, but as he reached his full height and his body filled out he began getting quite a few modeling offers. He always hoped that she would see him posing in some magazine and remember him too.

She didn't remember him when they met at the fashion show, but they had hit it off instantly. Tonight he barely noticed as Kyoko set out one delicious course after another. He barely noticed when Ren tried to engage him in conversation. He only had eyes for Amamiya.

Ren frowned slightly as his cell-phone buzzed. He excused himself and walked out to the front door. "Hello?"

"Is this Tsuruga Ren?"

The voice sounded familiar, "Yes, it is. May I ask who's calling?"

"This is Nishimura Rumiko. Please don't hang up."

"Why would I hang up? What can I do for you, Nishimura-san?"

"We've got a problem. I promised your mother to sit on Mogami Kyoko's story in return for you using my show to tell your story when the time was right." She paused. When Ren didn't respond, she continued, "This afternoon the man who digs up dirt for my show handed me your information. He has everything. He works for me because it gives him a thrill to see me zing people. He wasn't happy when I sat on Kyoko's story. If I do it again, he'll just take both stories elsewhere."

Ren felt suddenly cold in the warm spring air.

* * *

Ren didn't notice the old-looking hot-rod that started up and drove away.

Choshi Kazu was tired and hungry. Too many people there tonight. I'll come back tomorrow night.

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Notes: Things in the story are about to get intense. Please keep reading.

Thank you everyone for your reviews.