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: So, a little later this time, but I did warn you! I wanted to get this chapter to turn out exactly like I wanted. Originally it was supposed to be different, but I like the way it turned out this time better. Again, I have to work some midnight shifts at work this week (who does "Midnight Madness" for Easter? It's just insane, I mean we work our asses off for every other holiday, give us a break! ~I'm a cashier lol). Anyway, more of a rambling note than informative – enjoy the chapter!
Kyoko hadn't expected the doctor to get back to her so fast. The next morning when she woke up there was a voicemail left on her cell phone asking her to come in for the results of her blood work. Kyoko glanced over her filming schedule – she had some free time for a couple hours before she had to be on set, she could go and see the doctor now and still manage to be early for the shooting.
Kyoko dressed in a hurry and walked down to the clinic. Again, there wasn't a line up (especially with it being so early in the morning), and she got in almost instantly, much to her disappointment. She was sure whatever the results were that she was in no way ready to hear them.
"Mogami-san, it is good to see you again," the doctor smiled as she looked down through the results of her blood work.
"What's wrong with me doctor? Am I really pregnant?"
"Yes, you are Mogami-san," the doctor stated while Kyoko looked down and covered her face with her hands. "If you want, I can refer you to an amazing OBGYN in Tokyo, she'll take good care of you."
Kyoko nodded, face still hidden.
"And you have to remember that you still aren't that far along – there are always options…"
"No," Kyoko said. "I could never do that."
"Very well, it is just something to consider," the doctor patted her knee gently. "Take good care of yourself, alright? I'm going to give the OBGYN your cell number so that she can set up an appointment, okay?"
Kyoko nodded again.
"And I am going to prescribe you some pre-natal vitamins that I want you to take everyday."
Kyoko thanked the doctor in a dazed state and accepted the prescription. The doctor wished her well again before she left. Kyoko made it halfway down the hallway before she collapsed against one of the walls.
How was she going to tell Ren? Should she tell Ren? Of course she should, that was just a stupid idea… Did Ren even want children? At least she had more than a week to come to terms with this and try to figure it out before Ren was set to appear. She covered a hand over her stomach, pregnant.
"What? Ren is not taking any breaks?" The crew gossiped.
"Remember when he had that serious-looking phone call last night? Well, some people think that it was the actress 'Kyoko'."
"Really, you shouldn't listen to everything the tabloids say…"
"Yes well, apparently he seemed disturbed that something is going on," one of the crew continued. "And who else but his actress love-interest could make the Tsuruga Ren work with no breaks and condense his whole schedule so that he could go to the set of Dark Moon tonight?"
Kyoko had managed to pick herself up and make it to the set on time. They only managed to film a couple of scenes before the director called a lunch break.
"Are you coming, Kyoko-chan?" He asked on the way out.
"I don't feel all that hungry," Kyoko said truthfully.
She felt the need to vomit, not the need to eat. The director nodded and left with some colleagues as Kyoko sat down to review the script more.
"Kyoko-chan, you have a visitor," one of the remaining crew members informed her.
'If it is Shouter again…' Kyoko thought darkly as she made her way to the front to greet her visitor.
"It's him!" The crew member pointed out. "Wow, Kyoko-chan, I knew that you were close to Fuwa Sho and Tsuruga Ren, but I had no idea that you were close to Vie Ghoul as well!"
'Crap he is an Esper!' Kyoko screamed in her head the moment she saw Reino and ducked down instantly. 'How did he discover the location of the shoot?!"
"Kyoko-chan?" The crewman asked.
"Tell him that I'm not here! Tell him that I'll never be here again!" She whispered hurriedly to him.
"Why?"
Her demons came out at full force to protect their guardian. Her voice dropped low.
"Because he is the scariest stalker in the world!"
The crewman instantly left to tell Reino that Kyoko was no longer on set. Kyoko watched horrified as the crewman tried to explain and Reino just walked passed him into the studio.
"Sir you aren't allowed in here!" The crewman exclaimed while Reino ignored him.
'I have to get out of here, that guy is crazy,' Kyoko thought to herself, still ducked down out of view.
She looked around frantically, there had to be some sort of exit that she could get to without being seen. Just beside her there were long-winding stairs going down to the basement… maybe she could escape from there! She took a deep breath and fled down the first flight, waiting on the landing out of view. Maybe Reino would just give up.
The crew member was still telling Reino that he wasn't permitted in the area, and his voice was getting closer. Sooner than she thought, she heard Reino's heavy steps on the staircase just above her. Terrified, she fled the stairs altogether and ran into the basement where they kept some of the props.
'You have got to be kidding me! How did he know?' She screamed in her head, causing her to take a misstep and injure her ankle.
'I've worked through worse,' she remembered the last time she had filmed with Ren with an injured ankle.
She ignored it this time just as well as last time while she looked around for any type of exit. All she saw was props piled on top of one another, furniture… a window! She kicked off her slippers hastily, knowing that they would only prevent her from climbing as fast as she could and ran towards the window.
"Director!" Sho yelled as he ran into the lunchroom, completely out of breath. "Where is Kyoko?"
"We haven't seen her since lunch started," the director replied, just a little stunned. "But on the way out, someone heard that she had a visitor…"
"Director!" The crew man who had been helping Kyoko shouted as he ran into the room. "I think Kyoko may be in trouble!"
"What happened?" Sho asked quickly.
"A member of Vie Ghoul came to visit her, and she seemed scared. One thing led to another and she fled out the basement window!" He exclaimed, waving Kyoko's slippers about. "Then that guy jumped out the window after her!"
Sho ran out of the room as fast as his legs could possibly carry him.
Kyoko's ankle was throbbing painfully as she ran through the forest. She tripped over a stuck up root and fell against a tree, panting for breath. Was this going to be it? What would that stalker do when he caught up to her? She placed her hand on her abdomen, what was she going to do now? A twig snapping made her snap her head up.
"And here I was hoping that you would run until you were in tatters."
"Why do you have to target me?!"
"Don't you remember? I already told you," Reino asked, smug. "I'll take everything of Fuwa Sho's."
"I'm not his!" She yelled at him.
"That doesn't seem to be the way he sees it though," Reino taunted.
"What he thinks has absolutely nothing to do with this!"
Reino grabbed her arm and pulled her up to him roughly, shocking Kyoko enough to scream. He placed on hand on her stomach, pulling her back against his front. She flinched away from the hand, knowing that she didn't want him to touch her, let alone touch where Ren's child was.
"What an unexpected development," he whispered into her ear.
Kyoko stopped moving immediately, frozen in fear. He couldn't know, could he?
"Kyoko!" She thought she had heard Shotaro yell, but that couldn't be. He couldn't possibly know that she was out here, trapped in shock by her stalker. But how could she have imagined it? The last person on Earth that she would hope to be saved by would be him.
"Just thinking about the look on Fuwa's face when he sees you like this," Reino laughed evilly in her ear and began to unzip the back of her Mio-dress.
Kyoko gulped loudly. She couldn't possibly do anything, what if Reino told Sho about the pregnancy? What if Reino threatened the baby if she did anything? She closed her eyes shut tightly. Reino continued pulling the zipper on its downward path, revealing the strap of her bra and a good deal of her back.
Reino moved her head to expose her neck to his face. He slipped his hand slightly under the front of her dress, resting right above her right breast.
"All I want is to see a look of utter defeat written on his calm face," Reino said, lowering his lips further down toward her neck.
Kyoko breathed heavily. This was not happening, this couldn't be happening. Why was she just standing here while he was practically molesting her? No one could save her but herself; she had more than one person to protect. Kyoko breathed deep one more time, determined. She was sure that she could do this.
She grabbed Reino's arm tightly then, taking full use of his shock, twirled out of his less-than-tight grasp to glare at him with full force. The demons swirled around her at such a furious speed that they looked more like dark light than actual beings, her glare turning deadly.
Reino took a step toward her, and she took a step back; he advanced again, this time quicker. Kyoko tried to step back, like before, but her strained ankle gave out and she tripped. Reino caught her and pulled her face towards him. Kyoko's eyes grew once more, glistening with tears as Reino inched his face closer to her.
A crack over on her right caused her to jump, more so when Reino let one of his arms go of her to catch an impact.
"The hero always shows up just at the right time," Reino commented.
Kyoko looked beside her to see Sho, furious, glaring daggers at Reino while breathing rather heavily.
"But why is it that the hero's face looks more villainous than my own?"
"I'm going to beat you half to death," Sho growled. "I'll ruin your face for show business."
"I won't stop you," Reino replied. "But I can see the headlines now: Kyoko assaulted in broad daylight by member of Vie Ghoul. Her image will be stained, as the public would perceive you to be. Her future will be destroyed; just like it will be when the tabloids begin to question who the fathered her child – Fuwa Sho, Tsuruga Ren or me."
"Her…her… Kyoko?" Sho asked stunned.
Kyoko, who had already been shaking from nervousness, started to sway back and forth.
"Kyoko?" Sho asked, worried now.
He was already by her side when her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she fainted into his arms.
When Kyoko woke up, Director Ogata was sitting beside her bed.
"Kyoko-chan?"
"Director? What happened?"
"Fuwa Sho went after you once he found out about Reino chasing you," he explained. "Apparently you fainted when he found you. He brought you back here and then said he had to do something. He promised he would check up on you later."
'Like I would want something like that,' Kyoko growled to herself.
"Are you alright, Kyoko-chan?" The director asked, reaching out for her hand.
"I-I'm fine," she stuttered out.
"Well, I have some news that might make you feel better. Yashiro-san is here-"
"EH? Shouldn't he be with Ren-kun?"
"Well, that's just the thing. Apparently Ren has condensed his schedule and he arrived today."
"What?" She asked shocked.
She had thought that she would have had more time to prepare what she was going to say the next time she saw him, what she would do!
"Yashiro-san is waiting downstairs for you to go and meet him if you want."
"I suppose Yashiro-san has updated him on what happened."
"I assume so."
Kyoko sighed and moved to get up. She thanked the director for looking after her and hurried out the door and down the stairs where she met Yashiro. He ensured that she was fine and then showed her to Ren's room.
Kyoko had been nervously ringing her hands since she met up with Yashiro. Nothing she could think of would calm her nerves. Sure, she and Ren were close, but neither of them had really discussed what had happened between them – every time they even tried someone had always managed to disrupt them. All she knew was that she had promised herself to never love again, and yet she had ended up sleeping with Ren. Now, even though she may or may not have feelings for him, she was pregnant and had no idea what he was going to say about it.
She didn't have much time to think about it any further when the door opened. She couldn't help smiling at Ren while he smiled down at her.
"I'm glad that you're okay," he said, letting her into the room.
Kyoko walked in nervously at sat down on one of the chairs, still wringing her hands. Ren passed her a bottle of water, which she accepted.
"I guess today was pretty hard for you, Kyoko."
Kyoko looked down at her feet, nodding.
"You lied to me again," he stated simply.
Kyoko's head shot up. She started trembling slightly in fear of the possible eruption of the Dark Prince.
"Over the phone the other night. You already knew about the stalker then, didn't you?"
"I'm sorry!" Kyoko exclaimed, falling to the floor in an attempt to gravel – hopefully appeasing the Dark Prince.
"You don't have to grovel, Kyoko," Ren scolded, touching the top of her head. "I understand. You just didn't want to worry me, right?"
"Yes," she muttered.
Ren gripped the seam of his pants, trying to hold back his frustration.
"But, you aren't hiding anything else from me, are you?"
Kyoko visibly stiffened, which caught Ren's eye. His frustration began leaking out slowly and Kyoko looked away, fearing the Prince that would surely erupt from him.
'Should I tell him that the stalker was actually one of those Beagles? Should I tell Ren about him? Should I tell him about the baby?' Kyoko thought hurriedly. What exactly would she tell Ren about any of it?
"Kyoko," Ren said darkly. "What are you hiding?"
A loud knocking interrupted the conversation, giving Kyoko a chance to breathe and think while Ren went to answer the door.
'I shouldn't hide any of it – he'll surely find out later anyway. I guess it is all better coming from me, in my own words, than for me to have to give some lame explanation later,' Kyoko decided.
She looked up to see Ren pulling the knob, curious to see who needed Ren so urgently. Maybe it was Yashiro-san with some sort of emergency… However, when the door opened Kyoko wasn`t the only one who was shocked about who was on the other side.
"Hey," Sho greeted Ren, smirking at him. "Kyoko is here, isn't she? Would you get her for me?"
Ren stood shocked at the door for a few moments. Yashiro had said something about this – if Fuwa somehow showed up at the same location as Kyoko, that it demonstrated some sort of lasting bond between the two. However, Ren was cut off from his thoughts the moment another, more preppy, face appeared before him.
"Ah, excuse me Tsuruga-san," Momose added.
"Mimosa-san?" Ren asked.
Kyoko repeated her name out loud also. What was Momose doing with Shotaro?
"I-I was looking for Kyoko-chan," Mimosa explained. "I was worried about her and I thought that she might be with Fuwa Sho, so I visited his place and he said she wasn't there. But what happened today is top secret, right? So, I asked the director and he told me that she was with you – I was really surprised actually. So, I just thought that I would come and check on her. I'm sorry!"
"You don't have to apologise," Sho retorted, looking at Ren. "After hushing up all of this man-related stalker stuff to save face for Kyoko, he actually had the gall to call her up to his room. He's the one undoing everyone's efforts."
Kyoko made her way to the door in an attempt to defend Ren, when he began to reply coolly.
"Of course you are right. I was thoughtless and this could have created a mass media scene if anyone documented it and sent it to the tabloids following us."
'He's smiling, he is definitely smiling!' Kyoko repeated in her head fearfully.
She could tell without looking that the Dark Prince had come out fully, she could feel the chills down her spine. She was scared to turn around, terrified to hear him speak again, but she had to stop him before someone got killed.
"Re-Ren?" She tried.
"Forgive me?" He smiled his horrible, radiant, sparkling, terrifying smile at Momose who instantly blushed and forgave him.
Meanwhile, Kyoko was shaking in fear for everyone.
"Kyoko," Ren said, still in his terribly sweet, sickening voice.
"Ye-yeah?!" She yelled in surprise.
"Could you please explain to me why Fuwa-kun, someone who has nothing to do with Dark Moon, could possibly know about the situation?"
"Th-that…" Kyoko began.
She had wanted to tell Ren everything in private, where she could explain things fully and properly where her biggest secret wouldn't be exposed; Sho found out about her being pregnant before he did. Why did he have to ask her a question like that now?
"Kyoko," Ren reminded icily.
'The longer I put this off, the worst it is going to become…' She opened her mouth to rely, but he beat her to the punch.
"Why are you asking all this now? You heard about the whole situation from your manager, didn't you?"
Ren just stood there, silent.
"Or," Sho continued to taunt. "Could it be that you don't know everything, yet everyone else on Dark Moon does? But, that's impossible, right? After all, you are playing a lead role in both the show and Kyoko's life right? For example, who do you think protected her from that stalker?"
Ren's eyes widened and Sho smiled triumphantly at him while Kyoko couldn't do much but watch as the shit hit the fan.
"Wait, wasn't Kyoko-chan…" Momose started.
"Oh, that's right," Sho continued. "Kyoko was found unconscious on the forest floor – or at least that's the story everyone who wasn't involved was told."
Ren glanced down angrily at Kyoko, remaining quiet, and then looked back up at Sho.
"Th-that's not it! I was going to explain everything to you properly just now, and back in the room, but all those times…"
She stopped, looking up at him with tears in her eyes, her hands shaking quite noticeably. Ren glared at her a bit more – she had become afraid of him. The only girl he could ever remember caring about was standing in his presence, shaking because he was terrifying her. He looked down and clenched his fist tightly.
"Sorry, but only for a bit, could everyone leave me alone."
Kyoko looked up at him, eyes still tearing up while everyone else turned and walked away. Ren turned to walk back into his room, silently shutting the door behind him. Kyoko collapsed to the floor on the other side of his door, holding back her tears as much as possible.
"I'm pregnant," she whispered almost silently in a false effort to tell Ren what she had truly wanted to say.
AN: Well, I hope you liked it. I love Reino . Anyways, don't forget to review, if you hadn't before I would have put off writing this chapter forever! So, now you know that reviews are like gas for my writing engine lol.
Heads up for the next chapter: Ren softens up, find out what happened to Reino, and there may be a confession of a secret! Stay tuned!