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: I was getting to the good part that I have been looking forward to forever, so I couldn't stop... Here is another update guys~!
Don't forget about my website: krisblack (dot) webs (dot) com
Enjoy!
"What do you mean, you killed someone?" Kyoko asked, almost in a whisper. Surely, there was some other meaning that she was failing to understand.
Ren took a staggered breath, staring at Kyoko's hands in her lap now.
"There was a gang fight. It was stupid. Everyone was fighting with one another and one of the opposing gang members came at me with a knife. I was weapon-less, my fists were my weapon, and I defended myself."
He paused for another moment, looking up at Kyoko briefly before turning his head to look out the window.
"I tried to move the knife out of the way, to disarm him, but one of us moved the wrong way, an unexpected way, and the knife ended up piercing him – a fatal wound."
Ren felt like he was reliving the moment all over again, like the knife had pierced him instead. Sometimes he wished it had. He didn't deserve Kyoko and he certainly didn't deserve a child.
Almost as if she knew what he had been thinking, Kyoko crossed the distance between them and folded her arms around him, her tears still flowing freely down her cheeks. She sobbed slightly into his hair when he folded his arms around her, pressing his face into her chest, breathing in her essence.
"You didn't mean to, Kuon," she whispered to him, using his birth name. "It was all just a big accident. It wasn't your fault."
He didn't reply, he just held her tighter.
They stayed like that for minutes, hours, days, time just blended together until it was only them in the whole world.
"How did you end up in Japan?" Kyoko finally asked, pulling back only slightly.
"My father hired the best lawyers; I was really torn up physically from the fight and emotionally. They managed to get me off on self-defence. I didn't recover from it, not really. In the end, my father called President Lory from his original acting firm, LME, and asked him to bring me to Japan so I could start a new life – as a different person."
Kyoko wiped her tears off of her face and looked at Ren, really looked at him. He looked broken, like he was that fifteen year old boy having to face repercussions all over again.
"I forgive you," she whispered and kissed him on the forehead.
He looked up at her in surprise and she blushed lightly.
"I really don't deserve you," he finally voiced. "Either of you."
Kyoko shook her head. That wasn't true. What he did in his past didn't matter. He had changed, he was a good person. He was a good person when she had met him before, all those years ago. Tsuruga Ren, Hizuri Kuon, they were the same person: the person that Kyoko cared for the most in the world.
"You are the person I respect most in this whole world. If anyone deserves anything, it is you."
He leaned in slowly towards her and she instantly shut her eyes. Their bodies adjusted naturally, without thinking, and their lips made contact for the first time in months. The kiss started out slow, comforting each other from their fears. As it went on, it slowly turned into something fiercely passionate, as if they had not seen each other in years.
When they broke apart, Ren looked down at Kyoko's swollen lips.
"I was expecting you to leave me and never come back, to cut me completely from your life." He confessed.
"I was expecting you to do the same," Kyoko confessed, looking at him.
"That would never happen," he answered. "I won't abandon you, Kyoko."
She stared at the carpet. She believed him. She wished she wouldn't, but she did. She respected him, looked up to him, cared about him, she never wanted him to leave her like everyone else in her life. She wanted to always be by his side.
Ren wanted to confess to her; he wanted to tell her that he loved her more than anything in this world, but he couldn't. If she knew that he was in love with her, regardless of what she said now, she would unconsciously push him away; push him out of her life where she couldn't be hurt. Instead, he settled with all he could get of her.
"Marry me."
"Ren?" She asked, startled.
"Marry me, Kyoko. Regardless of everyone else, regardless of Hizuri Kuu, marry me. I asked before but I am going to ask again now. I want you to always be by my side. I want our child-"
"Daughter." Kyoko interjected, her hands shaking with nervousness.
"What?"
"We are having a girl."
"A daughter," Ren's eyes lit up and he kissed her once more. "I want our daughter to grow up with us, with you and I together. I don't need love, Kyoko. I need you by my side, always. You deserve happiness. Marry me."
Could she do this? Ren looked at her so earnestly that she believed that she could. She had wagered with Hizuri-sempai about their marriage in any case. She did not want to subject Ren to a loveless marriage, but when he looked at her that way, all she wanted to do was say yes and have him kiss her to oblivion.
She shouldn't feel that way. She shouldn't get too attached.
Despite all of her concerns, despite all of her fears, her demons, her revenge, she nodded her head.
"Okay."
"Okay?"
"I will marry you," she smiled.
He beamed, the smile that killed of a thousand demons in one go, and leaned in and kissed her once more, passionately.
When they pulled away, Ren looked at the clock. It was later than he had anticipated and they both had to work the next day.
"It is late, you should probably be getting to bed," he said just as she was beginning to yawn.
"But I don't want to take your bed from you," she persisted. "It is so huge; would it be so bad for us to share it?"
"Kyoko…"
"We will only sleep," she yawned again.
He agreed, hesitantly. He did sleep better in his own bed and he wouldn't protest to having Kyoko in his arms while he did so.
It was the best sleep either of them had had in about three months.
Finding Kyoko's mother hadn't been the difficult part, quite the contrary. When you have connections and a bit of money, people like to talk. No, locating the wayward mother had not been difficult.
It was convincing her to sign the papers that currently resided in a manila folder under his arm that could be the trying part. He hoped that she would cooperate. He had no idea what this woman was like, despite all of the background knowledge he had acquired during his search.
After all, she had abandoned her only daughter.
Hizuri Kuu walked up to the small, old house in disrepair and rang the ancient door bell. It appeared that even after having left her child she was still not doing as well as she would have hoped.
"Can I help you?" A man asked, answering the door.
He was wearing a dirty wife-beater and grungy pants. Although the man couldn't be much older than Kuu himself, he appeared decades older. This, Kuu knew from his research, was the reason the mother had left Kyoko with the Fuwa family years ago – for this poor and useless man, Kyoko had been abandoned.
"I need to speak with Mogami-san, please," Kuu asked politely.
The man scrunched up his face for a moment in what appeared to be confusion. Then, he turned and yelled for his wife, his mouth had few teeth left.
No class or respect.
Mogami-san appeared at the door moments later, looking just as haggard and used as her husband, only with more teeth.
"Can I help you?"
Kuu glanced at the husband, not sure if he was aware that Kyoko existed or not.
"I was hoping that I could talk to you alone for a few moments."
Her husband tensed up, obviously intimidated by the well-kept, well-dressed superstar.
"I don't think that is such a good idea," he said gruffly.
"It is about something that happened about ten years ago."
Mogami-san stiffened and looked back at her husband.
"Just for a moment," she acquiesced. "We will stay in sight."
Kuu stepped to the side to allow her to lead the way. She walked a little ways away from the house, but clearly still on the property, Kuu followed.
"Who are you and what do you want?"
"I am sorry, proper introductions have not been made. I hope you will respect my request for the utmost secrecy of my identity here."
He pulled his sunglasses off and extended his hand to her.
"I am Hizuri Kuu."
Her hand, instead of shaking his, flew to her chest. She may not have recognized him right away, but she certainly recognized his name.
"What- what on earth are you doing here, Hizuri-san?"
He pulled he manila folder out from under his arm. He grasped it firmly with both hands and passed it to her.
"In regards to your daughter, Mogami Kyoko, I would like you to sign these."
She opened the folder and pulled out the papers, looking at them cautiously, her brows furrowing.
"You want to marry her?"
"Oh, no!" Kuu laughed. "No, she is engaged to a colleague of mine and I promised them that I would find you. They were under the assumption that you may not want to have her around."
"Well, this is just ridiculous. She is too young to be married."
"She is already seventeen. I believe that you truly lost any real say in what she does when you abandoned her, did you not? The least you could do for her now is release her to join a family who wants her, who loves her."
Mogami-san glanced down at the papers again.
"This colleague of yours, who is he?"
"They requested that it is kept quiet…"
"Is it Fuwa Sho?"
"I- the pop singer? No." Kuu replied, flabbergasted.
"Who then? Tell me who she intends to marry, and I will sign the papers."
"It must be kept quiet…"
"Who will I tell? No one in these parts even knows I have a daughter," she argued.
"First, there is a paper in there for you to sign," Kuu instructed. "It is a statement agreeing that you will not have contact with Kyoko or her husband, the company either of them work for, or any children they may have in the future."
"I beg your pardon?"
"This is to protect everyone involved, including you, Mogami-san. Besides, you haven't had any contact with your daughter for years, were you intending to start again?"
"Well… no, but-"
Kuu stared at her and she gave up. She took the pen he offered her and signed the statement promising to keep quiet and stay away.
"I signed the paper. Now who is she marrying? It must be big for Hizuri Kuu to come all the way out here for it. Is he a superstar as well?"
Kuu sighed.
"This time next week, she and Tsuruga Ren are to be married."
"Tsu-Tsuruga Ren?" She stuttered, almost dropping the papers. She had heard of him before as well, it seemed.
"Will you sign the rest of the papers now?" Kuu pressed
She nodded and walked towards the nearest wall and using it to press on with her signature. She pulled her family stamp out of her purse and stamped in the correct boxes before passing it back to Hizuri Kuu, who thanked her.
"I wonder how she managed to get her claws into someone like him," Mogami-san asked, almost rhetorically.
"No doubt by acting the exact opposite of you," he said as nicely as he could back to the woman before taking his leave.
She hadn't even asked how her daughter was doing.
He got back in the car, headed for the airport to return to Japan. He called Ren's cell phone, only to find it turned off. Strange. Instead, he left a message:
"I just wanted to be the first to congratulate you on your upcoming nuptials, Tsuruga-san. I have the paperwork from Kyoko's mother in the seat beside me right now."
When Kyoko woke up the next morning, the light was already shining through the curtains, heating up her skin. She stretched and yawned in the comfortable bed, content with life. The bed beside her was empty, but there was a note lying on the pillow. Kyoko glanced over at the alarm clock, noting that it was late and that Ren should already be at work by now.
Kyoko turned over to pick up the note when she noticed light glistening off of her hand. She looked down to find the ring that Ren had used to propose to her the first time resting on her finger – a perfect fit. The large diamond glistened and the light bounced off of it onto the walls of the room. Kyoko smiled and picked up the note.
Kyoko,
I hope that I do not have to get used to waking up by yourself. I know that you don't have work until later on this morning, so I decided to let you get as much sleep as you can, given your state and how late we stayed up last night.
I will be at LME all day today; I am hoping we can eat lunch together.
-Ren
Kyoko put the note down on the bedside table and went about her morning routine. She had to be at work in a few hours and couldn't afford to sleep anymore. She had just finished her cereal when she heard someone knock on the door.
Maybe Ren had been expecting a delivery of some sort?
She walked to the door, poised to open it, when she thought better of it. It wouldn't do anyone any good if someone saw her inside Ren's apartment. Instead, she looked through the peep hole.
There was at least half a dozen men standing outside the door poised with professional cameras.
Kyoko gasped and backed away from the door, as if standing there would somehow allow them to see her. She looked to the dead bolt to ensure that it was locked, it was. Luckily, Ren had remembered to do so on his way out this morning.
How had they gotten into Ren's secured apartment building?
She nearly ran to the living room where she had left her cell phone the night before. She turned it back on. It vibrated lightly, letting her know that she was receiving a message. It was from Ren.
Something happened. You need to come to LME as soon as you receive this.
Her hands shook. She couldn't possibly go to LME right now.
She tip toed towards the balcony as stealthily as she could manage. She opened the door slightly and peeked over the railing so that no one would notice her. The whole sidewalk was filled with paparazzi. She pulled back and hurried back into the apartment.
She flipped open her phone and dialled Ren's number as fast as she could.
"Kyoko?"
"Ren," she almost cried. "I can't get out. I can't leave the apartment!"
"Kyoko, what's happening?"
"There are paparazzi, Ren, they are covering the sidewalk and some of them are outside the door!"
"The apartment door? How?"
"I- I don't know," she answered. "But they can't find me here. They rang the door bell, but I checked before opening the door."
"Is the door still locked?"
"Yes."
"I have Yashiro-san calling the apartment security right now to have them removed. I don't know how they got in, but they won't be there for long, I promise," Ren soothed.
"How am I going to get to work?"
"Don't worry about that right now," Ren answered. "We have another situation on our hands here at the company. Another tabloid came out."
"Another one? What could they possibly have now?" Kyoko asked, shutting all the curtains in the apartment despite being on such a high floor.
"It is an exposé this time. You would be surprised what a well-positioned cameraman and someone with a good imagination can come up with," Ren almost growled. "Our main focus right now is to make sure you are safe and to get you to LME."
"How are we going to do that?"
"I will think of a way, trust me."
"I do, Ren. With my life," she replied before they ended the call.
All she could do now was wait.
AN: I know it is a bit shorter than the last chapter, but I had gotten all I needed done in it. In the next chapter we can see just what exactly this expose says that has everyone riled up.
As usual, please review guys. I need feedback about what is going on :)