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: As a birthday present to myself, I decided to update today. Yay for the big 2-0! This chapter isn't as long as the others, simply because I like where I left off. Not much Ren in this chapter, and there might not be much in the next one either, but we all have to sacrifice sometimes to get to the story. Moko appears in this chapter (I know, I know finally) and there is a little present at the end to lighten the mood from where I was going to end it.
In other news, visit my new website (complete with a blog). I am really proud of it:
krisblack (dot) webs (dot) com
If you are ever wondering why I am not updating for some reason, I keep a blog there on my writing status of the next chapter. Sometimes I may give small clues away too ^_~.
Enjoy the chapter guys!
"Kyoko you know that I wouldn't-"
"What do I know Ren?" She cried out. "I know that I am pregnant, I know that some crazy stalker has been after me, and now I know that you haven't completely been open with me and here you are accusing me of keeping secrets from you."
"I was wrong. I was caught up in the moment," he defended himself. "I apologise. But I won't apologise for keeping my identity from you."
He wanted to protect her. His past was not to be envied by anyone; he was terrified that if she ever heard anything of his past life she would hate him, not only that but he would leave her forever tainted. He wished that he hadn't done some of the things that he had in the past, but that was a different person in a different lifetime who he would like nothing better than to forget.
Kyoko stepped towards him and looked up at him closely.
"Why won't you just tell me what your name is?" She demanded.
He stepped closer, inches away from her.
"I am trying to protect you."
"From what? What difference could a name possibly make?"
"The same argument can be made in my defence. You know me, Kyoko. You know my personality, you know my hobbies, and you know likes and dislikes. You know that Yashiro is my manager. You know me more than anyone ever has which is disconcerting." He moved closer to her and leaned down to look her in the eyes. "You know my feelings too Kyoko. You know the only me that I want to know."
He inched closer and she closed her eyes in a fluttering motion. Ren hesitated. Did he really want to move those few centimetres and connect their lips? Of course he did. At this point in time, he wanted nothing more than to kiss and make up for the argument that they just had but no one had won. He knew that this kiss would throw off any semblance of balance they had found in their rocky relationship between friends and almost-lovers. Kyoko wanted nothing to do with love or any emotion remotely related to it at this point, so why didn't she move back, open her eyes and tell him to leave her alone instead of just standing there? Surely she wasn't thinking clearly.
Her eyes blinked open, sensing his hesitation. For a moment he clearly saw hurt on her face before she covered it up like she always did. She was quick to hold back her emotions from even him, although sometimes she would let herself slip through for him to help her. He needed Kyoko to feel something for once, to repair the damage that he had inflicted on her heart and soul. Without another moment of hesitation, Ren stepped forward and pulled Kyoko towards him gently, pulling his lips down and over hers.
Kyoko hesitated for only a moment before she closed her eyes and responded to Ren's gentle kiss. It seemed almost natural for her to. Her mind went blank as she felt the soft caress of his lips over hers. His smell overcame her, the sweet scent of his cologne and freshly cut grass. She moved her arms around his neck and pulled herself closer, throwing them off balance slightly before Ren wrapped his arms around her waist to centre their balance.
When Ren's hand touched her back slightly, Kyoko was snapped back into reality. Here she was again in a compromising situation with Tsuruga Ren and instead of acting professional and friendly they had automatically jumped each other.
'Dammit all to hell,' Kyoko thought angrily and pulled away from Ren.
Ren knew the moment that Kyoko had stiffened that she was about to pull away, so he was ready with a stoic facial mask.
'Good job, Ren,' he scolded himself. 'Way to push her away, just like you didn't want. She'll never talk to you again.'
Kyoko couldn't scold herself enough. Why was it that she had this almost uncontrollable urge every time she and Ren were in these kinds of situations? Wasn't this the reason she was pregnant and in this kind of situation in the first place?
"I – I have to go. I still need to thank Director Ogata and catch the bus back to Tokyo," Kyoko stuttered.
She left without waiting for an answer from him, leaving Ren by himself. The moment the door shut behind her Ren punched the nearest plant holder, a massive pot holding what looked like a decent sized palm tree that had been sitting on the counter next to him.
'I just made another horrible life-altering decision,' he cursed himself and stormed back to his hotel room.
He slammed the greenhouse door behind him. Inside, the plant pot that he had taken his anger out on (which had to be about the size of a boulder and thick as a wall) cracked slightly before bursting into tiny pieces, sending the tree to the floor. Staff from the hotel rushed in quickly.
Director Ogata had told Kyoko that she had a week off while they finished up the shooting on location, meaning that Ren would still be stuck there for a week. Kyoko sighed in relief. Although she didn't like being away from Ren and Yashiro, she needed time to herself more than anything else in the world right now. Yashiro met her at the bus stop to send her off.
"Ren is in the middle of shooting, so I came to send you off safely."
"Thank you Yashiro-san," Kyoko smiled at him, thankful that she wasn't going to see Ren because she was sure he was angry with her. She didn't want to risk seeing the demon king. She shuddered.
"I heard that you have the next week off from shooting," Yashiro tried to start a conversation, Kyoko seemed more withdrawn then usual.
"I do. I will most likely be doing jobs with the Love-Me Section though."
"Well, don't forget to take breaks and rest a lot," Yashiro scolded like a father before joking. "And don't let Moko-san push you around."
Kyoko froze. Moko.
'Moko is going to kill me!" Kyoko panicked, looking back and forth chaotically in case she had come to hunt her down already.
With everything with Ren, Beagle, and him, she hadn't even once called her best friend in the whole entire universe! She could just imagine what Moko was going to do to her when she got back.
The colour drained from Kyoko's face.
"Kyoko-chan, are you alright?"
"I haven't called Moko-chan yet," she whimpered.
"You mean, you haven't told her anything?"
"She is going to murder me, Yashiro-san," Kyoko yelled, grabbing onto his collar and shaking him roughly. Her demons began to sing a funeral march. "She is going to chop me into pieces! How could I have forgotten to call her? Remember me well."
"Su-Surely it won't be that bad…" Yashiro laughed nervously.
Kyoko instantly went into demon-mode, glaring at Yashiro for having the gall to underestimate her best friend.
"You don't know Moko-chan then."
Yashiro looked like he was about to say something when Kyoko began vibrating all over. Yashiro didn't know whether to laugh or call an exorcist. Her whole body began to shake, looking evil until she pulled a cell phone out of her pocket.
"Hello?" She said in her usual tone, all demons disappearing for now.
She nodded a couple of times, saying she was free and then ended the call. Yashiro didn't want to ask because he knew that it wasn't his business, but he was just so curious.
"It was the OB-GYN in Tokyo that the doctor here had referred me to. She was just calling to set up an appointment in a couple of weeks," Kyoko satisfied Yashiro's curiosity.
The shuttle bus pulled up to the curb and opened its doors for Kyoko.
"Take care of yourself."
She nodded and picked up her luggage, getting onto the bus. Yashiro waved her off knowing there was no way Kyoko could stay out of trouble for a whole week by herself.
'Hopefully Moko-san will lock her up,' Yashiro prayed before he made his way back to Ren. If he didn't he was sure that stupid actor would skip his lunch.
Moko had been waiting for Kyoko at the bus stop in Tokyo. Kyoko darkened. She was sure that the traitor Yashiro had been the grand concocter of this scheme. Moko didn't look please and Kyoko was terrified.
"I guess one call would have killed you," she greeted.
"Mo-Moko-chan."
"Don't you 'Mo-Moko-chan' me. I thought that we were supposed to be best friends or something ridiculous like that?"
"We- we are."
"Then what was so important that you couldn't spare five minutes to call me and tell me how you were doing?"
'If Ren is the Demon King, Moko has to be one of his underlings,' Kyoko thought, terrified by the look on Moko's face. 'Like his second in command.'
"I am so sorry Moko-chan," Kyoko wailed as she threw her arms around her. "I meant to call you, really. But things just got so out-of-hand that I completely forgot. You wouldn't imagine the horrible things that that Beagle did, or –"
"You're making a scene," Moko muttered angrily under her breath.
Kyoko's head instantly popped up and watched people all around her staring at them. Kyoko smiled weakly.
"Maybe we should go out and catch up," Moko suggested.
Kyoko readily agreed and trailed Moko down the street, her suitcase wheels creating a dull lull behind them.
"You haven't been reading any tabloids or anything while you were away, have you?" Moko asked, breaking the comfortable silence that had engulfed them.
"No, why?"
"No reason," Moko said, looking relieved.
"O-okay."
Moko took Kyoko to an old-fashioned ramen noodle shop and requested a booth in the back, which was still in the open, just away from the rest of the customers. They ordered their ramen before Moko started staring at Kyoko, waiting for an explanation.
Kyoko gulped. She was feeling so anxious right now that her stomach began to feel upset and she felt slight cramping.
"Well, I guess I should start off with telling you that I met Fuwa Sho at the shoot."
"What?"
"It was totally out of the blue and I was just as shocked as you are now. We got into a fight, of course, and then this rival band of his showed up – Beagle."
"Never heard of them." Moko stated.
Their ramen was delivered and Kyoko continued on with her story while the pain in her stomach got worse and worse.
"He said that he had taken care of him but I didn't believe him."
Kyoko stopped for a second and took a couple of deep breaths.
"Kyoko, are you all right?" Moko asked worried. "Your face has drained of colour and you're sweating…"
The pain hit her in her abdomen again and her brows furrowed.
'Oh god,' Kyoko thought.
The pain had gotten worse and Kyoko was a person who couldn't tolerate pain for very long – although she could if it involved things like work, like the ankle incident with Ren.
"Moko-chan, I think that you should take me to a hospital," Kyoko stammered.
"Why, Kyoko, what's wrong?"
"I think there might be something wrong with my baby," she whispered, her eyes welling up with tears.
"You're baby?!"
She had been waiting for the right time to drop the pregnancy bomb on Moko, but there was no time like the present. Moko got directions to the nearest medical facility and helped Kyoko out the doors as fast as they could go.
President Lory sat as his desk, cell phone in hand.
"Indeed, I think so too," he affirmed. "From her point of view, there probably wouldn't be enough either. It's best not to expect too much. Try to consider her feelings."
He paused for a moment, listening to the man on the other line.
"Yes. I'll do my best to settle things. We can meet at the end of this month, the twenty-second."
He hung up the phone and slung his head back on the chair. The best he could do? He laughed lightly.
'This is awkward,' he laughed to himself. 'How am I going to deal with this complicated situation without forcing things? Isn't there someway to get his done more smoothly?'
A light bulb went off in Lory's head. There was a way to solve his problem, and it would be coming back to the office after her two-day vacation; he relaxed again, proud of his brain.
He didn't have to involve himself in this matter at all – thank God.
AN: And that's all folks~! I already know what Kuu fans are thinking, I bet (because I am one!). Stay tuned for the next chapter.
P.S.: Reviews are AMAZING birthday presents. May 24th is a GREAT day for a birthday. Please review, if only to give me an amazing birthday – I have to share it with my little brother (he turned 14 today and I turned 20), so it is nice to have things for yourself.