Always Be My Baby
by Kris Black
Summary: After going over lines for TDM, Kyoko and Ren have a night of passion and the result could not only cause a scandal, but ruin both of their careers. How will the two lovers withstand the trials of their love?
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Skip Beat! the manga or the anime. I do not own any characters listed in this story except those you don't recognize. This story is for entertainment purposes only and no money is being made off of the story as a whole, or in part.
AN: Okay, now that I have the basics done in the first chapter, I can start getting into my plotline! Woot! Thank you to all who have reviewed so far. I hope you start getting excited, the last part of this chapter starts getting deeper! Also, if you have not re-read the edited first chapter already, I suggest you do so now, because it is drastically different from before. Thanks!
"Use it?" Ren asked stunned. "It was only a trial."
"Apparently, Director Ogata thought that it was brilliant. He wants to use the one you just did, he's not cutting anything – he wants to get the raw emotion of surprise from both of you."
Ren nodded quietly.
"That's not much of a reaction," the President noted. "But I have to tell you, when you first came to Japan everyone said that you had closed you 'old' self off; today you showed your true self for the first time in years."
Ren clenched his fists tightly.
Kyoko walked slowly over to the Hummer, debating with herself the whole way. Was it really okay to interrupt Ren when he could be in such an important discussion? What if he forgot it was lunchtime, after all he only eats minimally! Would he remember that he promised to eat lunch with her? She really shouldn't disrupt them, but his health could suffer...
'Maybe I'll just stand beside here and see if he notices me,' Kyoko thought and planted her feet beside the hummer, swaying slightly with all the rampant thoughts running through her head.
She looked up at the silhouette that appeared to be Ren and discovered that she could see right through the glass; she could see the forlorn look that looked completely out of place on Ren's usual face, his emotions hidden behind his demeanour. Kyoko froze instantly, all scrambled thoughts vanished from her head.
'What can I do to help him?' Kyoko wondered.
Her eyebrows furrowed. She began pacing back and forth in small circles, wondering what could be getting Ren down, especially after he had put on such a great performance. Should she really interrupt the two of them?
"I am not criticizing you, so no need to pull a face like that," the President scolded. "It was a last resort for you to truly show the feelings of Katsuki. It's about time that you begin to forgive yourself. You have to let it go Ren; you need your 'old' self to truly create a better Katsuki than the previous. Harness it."
Ren snapped his head up instantly from where he had been looking at his feet. He glared at the President for a few seconds, who glared back, before his expression turned into one of amusement. Ren turned around and glanced at something moving outside of the window and his expression immediately softened.
"Isn't that Mogami-san?" The president asked Ren. "What is she doing, walking around in a figure-eight around the outside of the Hummer?"
The president paused for a moment. Ren and Kyoko were friends.
"Oh, could she be waiting for you?" He teased.
The director looked back to look at Ren, who was staring at the distraught Kyoko out the window, the look on his face the same as the one he had been showing to his co-star during filming earlier that day.
"Y-You?! Why of all things did this fall to someone who is so hard to deal with, and the first person in the Love-Me Section?" He exclaimed at the now-stunned Ren. "Do you like the path to eternal fighting?"
"Wha-what are you talking about?"
"That look on your face! It is so easy to tell, you gave that look to Mizuki in the screen test earlier!"
The president passed Ren a mirror and Ren instantly relaxed his face.
"It must have slipped," he replied in a semi-casual sort of way.
"Well, I guess that it is better for you that she is tough. That way she'll be able to fight you; after all, you think that you are not worthy of love, correct?"
Ren looked back at him sadly, but didn't reply. He simply stood quietly and exited the Hummer to meet Kyoko.
"Kyoko?" Ren asked, looking around to where she had just been standing.
"Ren-kun!" Kyoko exclaimed, running towards him from the opposite direction he had seen her.
She ran up to him and stopped quickly, grasping her knees and gasping for breath.
"Kyoko?" Ren asked again, looking down at her.
She simply stood up and smiled. She put her hand out as if to give him something. He reached out and she plopped a cold-hard stone into her hand.
'Corn,' he thought deftly. 'Does this mean-'
"I saw you earlier in the Hummer," Kyoko explained. "You looked like you and the President were talking about something serious. I kept trying to think of something that would help, but this was all I could think of. Hold it up like this."
Kyoko motioned to hold the stone up to the sun, while Ren just stared at her, thinking about how the tables had suddenly turned from their childhood to now.
"You know, Ren-kun, if you don't follow my example I look like an idiot."
"Oh, right," Ren smiled and held the familiar stone up to the sun, watching it change colour like he remembered.
"That," Kyoko whispered. "Is magic. A fairy prince gave it to me when I was small."
Ren snickered. He couldn't believe that she still believed all that stuff.
"Did you just laugh at me?" She asked darkly.
"No," Ren replied hastily, his face a stony mask of acting.
"It's true. He was the prince of the fairies, except he couldn't fly because his wings hadn't grown yet," Kyoko paused. "Actually that's not true. His wings had grown many times before, but every time he tried to fly high his father, the king, his fingers would crush the prince's wings and he would have to start all over again."
Ren looked down at Kyoko. He couldn't believe that she still remembered that whole story. She had her face cast down so that he couldn't see.
"I wonder how he is doing now. He must have grown into an adult by now, with large and beautiful wings. I am sure that he was able to soar through his father's fingers into the sky. I am sure that now he can fly more freely than anyone."
"I wonder," Ren mused to the girl.
"Why are you always such an antagonist?" Kyoko asked darkly. "Corn was born to be a king, and the king is born with the power to stand above everyone else. Corn couldn't do it because he was still a child – but the adult Corn would surely be able to become an amazing king!"
Ren looked down to Kyoko and smiled as she looked up to the blue skies that she probably saw Corn soaring through with his beautiful wings. He closed the space between them quickly and pulled her against him in a tight hug.
"Sometimes I wonder if you were really born as a fairy, Kyoko," he stated.
Kyoko kept her arms limp at her sides, surprised at the sudden emotion that Ren was displaying. Sure, the previous night he had held her tight like this, but she was not expecting a repeat performance.
"R-ren-kun?"
"You know if you don't follow my example I look like an idiot," Ren joked.
Kyoko smiled and brought her arms up and wrapped them around his torso and hugged him back tightly.
"Thank you, Kyoko."
She pulled away slightly and looked at him, confused. He pulled Corn up and kissed the stone gently before placing it back into her hands.
"I'll be alright now," he said simply. "This is your treasured possession, isn't it?"
Kyoko blushed and nodded gently, closing her hands around the stone.
It was shortly after that that the top audience rating for Dark Moon surpassed that of its predecessor Tsukimori.
Her cell phone woke her up, which was unusual. No one ever called Kyoko before six-thirty in the morning – especially on a Saturday.
'What could be so important as to wake someone up at such an ungodly hour?' She wondered as the demons swarmed around her.
She grabbed the offending cell phone and opened it up. The name Yashiro-san flashed repeatedly on her screen, she hit the button quickly.
"Yashiro-san?"
"Kyoko-chan, are you still at home?" Yashiro asked in a panicked voice.
"Of course I am, it's six-thirty on a Saturday," Kyoko replied. "Is something wrong? Did something happen to Ren?"
"Well, you could say that. Kyoko, whatever you do, don't look out your window."
"My window?" She asked and walked over to peek out quickly.
Thousands of flashes went of, rendering her temporarily blind.
"Kyoko-chan, are you alright? I told you not to look-"
"Yashiro-san, what is going on?" Kyoko asked terrified.
"Let me talk to her, all you're managing to do is scare her!" Ren's angry voice sounded in the background of the phone as, she assumed, he snatched it away from his manager.
"Kyoko, are you still there?"
"Ren-kun? What's going on...?"
"Kyoko, a story was leaked to the tabloids regarding that thing that happened last month."
"What?" Kyoko froze. "H-how did they find out about that? We- I..."
"Don't panic, it's not that big of a deal. Apparently some paparazzi have been following us around for a while, taking some photos and blowing them out of proportion. We're sending a company car over for you right now."
The world spun around in a haze and Kyoko's eyes widened. The smell of eggs cooking wafted from downstairs and bile rose up in her throat. Kyoko dropped her cell phone on the floor and raced to the bathroom as fast as she could, spilling the contents of her stomach into the toilet.
"Kyoko? Kyoko, what's wrong – are you alright?" The older woman from the daruma ran in to check on her.
"My, my phone," Kyoko managed to croak out hoarsely, knowing that Ren was probably about to blow a gasket for her sudden disappearance from the line.
"What's wrong? What happened?" Ren asked as soon as she managed to say a gentle hello.
"I was just a little sick. It's probably just from the overwhelming shock. Don't worry, I'll be fine. I'll see you in a bit, alright?"
"Okay. Stay away from the windows and doors, the body guard from the company will come in to get you. Be sure to cover your head when he escorts you out."
"Alright."
"Oh, and Kyoko?"
"Yes?"
"Be careful."
The line went dead and Kyoko picked herself up from the floor and washed her face and brush her teeth. She hurried to her room and threw on some clothes before brushing her hair quickly through a couple of times.
"I am sorry for the trouble," Kyoko said to the owners of the daruma when they came up to check on her again. "I never knew that any of this would happen. If anyone comes by again when I am gone, call the police or LME."
"We're worried about you Kyoko," the man replied. "Have you read what those gossip columns said? They are saying horrible things about you – you can't let them get to you."
"Oh, believe me, I can handle it," Kyoko said in a sinister way, thinking back to what the girls in middle school used to call her because of her relationship with Sho.
"The car is here Kyoko," the woman called out to her.
Kyoko looked down, demons swarming around her. There was no way she was putting something over her head like a coward. None of what these people were saying was true and she didn't care what they wrote about her. The body guard came in; as soon as the door opened thousands of flashes went off in hopes that one of them would catch Kyoko in her home.
"Maybe you should put this over your head, Mogami-san," the man suggested as he passed Kyoko a black coat.
"I would rather not," Kyoko replied as she grabbed her duffel that she has packed quickly and slung it over her shoulder.
"If you say so," the body guard looked uncomfortable. "Are you ready?"
Kyoko nodded, demons still flowing around her. The body guard looked at her terrified for a moment before leading her out, keeping a careful distance from her to ensure that the invisible demons wouldn't choke the life out of him.
The lights went off immediately when the door opened once more. Kyoko kept her head down to keep herself from going blind as the body guard pushed his way through the crowd amid shouts of questions:
"Are you and Tsuruga Ren in a relationship?"
"How long have you been sleeping together?"
"Is this how you got your job on Dark Moon?"
"Is it true that you are dating Fuwa Sho and Tsuruga Ren?"
Kyoko couldn't make out anymore of the questions, and she was sure that she didn't want to. Her demons grew larger in form and number and spread out around her, creating a miniature barrier between her and the shouting torrid of reporters. The body guard opened the door quickly and gently guided Kyoko's head into the car. The flashes instantly became dimmer, the tinted windows doing their jobs. The yelling became nothing more than a dull background noise. The car pulled away from the curb.
AN: Ah, and so the plot thickens and I start to veer away from the manga (but not too far away)! I have introduced Kyoko talking to herself and her demons (finally!). Don't forget to review, please! It is what made me update again so quickly!!