I'm not sure how many people will make it to the third part of this story, but here it is. There is a little bit left to add after this that could be extended or not, it really depends on the response I receive from the rest of the story. I hope you enjoy reading this story...

Wedding Dress

Chapter 3: Flowers

Kyoko stood in front of a row of flowers trying to decide which ones to use for her bouquet. Why she was wasting her time on such a miniscule task, she would never understand… but still, "Which ones are better?" she kept asking herself as she picked up a vase full of white roses.

Suddenly she dropped them, and the flowers and the vase crashed to the floor. The shop keeper, standing near, immediately began to pick of the glass fragments, all the while listening to Kyoko's constant apologies. By the time the whole thing was settled, Kyoko was no farther along in picking her flowers…

"Ren would know… I'll call him and ask. He should be done with his shooting by now." But before she could even reach for her bag, her phone began to vibrate inside. An unknown number popped up, and Kyoko quickly opened the phone.

"Hello?"

"Kyoko-chan, this is Lory."

"President?"

"Yes, yes. That isn't important though. Where are you, right now?"

"I'm at the flower shop with Maria. Why?

"There's no time for questions. Do you have one of the limos with you?"

"What is the President playing at…" "Yes, only because you insisted."

"Good, drop whatever you are doing right now, and you and Maria go and get into that limo right now. I mean hurry, don't worry about the flowers, just go."

"Okay…"

"I'll answer your questions later."

Grabbing Maria by the hand, and picking up her bag, Kyoko rushed out of the store and into the limo which had already been pulled up to the front of the store.

"Onee-chan, what's going on? I didn't call for the limo, did you? Why are we leaving?"

"I don't know…"

Locking the doors, Kyoko finally put the phone back to her ear.

"President, what's going on? Why-?"

At that moment, before the Lory Takarada could explain anything, Kyoko heard the sound of metal being dented. It was then, through the tinted windows of the bullet-proof LME limo that Kyoko saw she had been shot at.

"Maria get down!" Kyoko said, crouching next to her on the floor. She didn't care if they said it was bullet-proof, someone was after her. It was then that it hit her.

"Lory, what's happened to Ren?" She asked in a small voice, barely above a whisper.

"Kyoko, I'll explain everything when you get here."

"Where's here? Why won't you tell me what's happened to Ren?" Tears, that had threatened to fall a few seconds before, quickly began to form in the actress's golden eyes.

"You'll see. It'll only be a few moments. Don't be alarmed when the security guard comes to get you. It's for your own protection. Can I talk to Maria?"

Kyoko didn't bother responding, but rather handed the phone to a confused Maria.

"Grandfather, what's happening? I want to know!"

"Maria, I need you to stay in the limo. The driver's going to take you back home okay. Please don't argue. I'll let you know what's happening when I figure this all out okay. I need you to be strong for Kyoko right now ok. Please don't argue…"
"Yes Grandfather."

A tap at the window made both of Kyoko and Maria jump. Kyoko, realizing that it was the security guard got up from where she was crouching, and looked out the windows to make sure that the person with the gun was no longer in sight. Slowly opening the door, she got out and was quickly escorted into a building she would later realize was a hospital. Lory was waiting for her just inside and a nurse quickly guided them through a maze of hallways, rooms, and stairs, until they finally reached their destination.

"Kyoko, we cannot go in there yet, but I wanted to tell you this in person. I think it'd be best if you sat down." Lory said.

"If this is a joke Lory," Kyoko began, addressing the President by his first name, "I want you to know that you have taken this too far."

"If only it were that simple… Kyoko, Ren's been shot."

Kyoko fainted and Lory laid her down across some chairs in the hallway.

Lory sighed; this was going to be harder than he thought. The report he had gotten from the director, and confirmed by the crew went repeatedly through his head…

"Minami-san, after all these years, I've finally caught up to you. Any last words?" Ren's character proclaimed as he held a gun to his co-star's head.

"Why would I waste any words on you?" Minami screamed back. Her long dark-auburn hair, drenched from the now pouring rain, clung to the sides of her face. Tears mixed in with droplets of rain as Minami began to accept her fatal fate.

"Very well. Then this is goodbye!" Ren finished as he pulled the trigger on the fake, unloaded gun. When he heard the shot go off he immediately looked at his co-star, afraid that for some reason the prop gun had been replaced and he had shot a real one. It only took a split second and a searing pain in his abdomen to realize that he really did have a prop gun. His mind immediately flashed pictures of Kyoko, and then it went black.

The person who fired the real gun tried to escape, hoping that everyone would be too obsessed with Ren to realize that someone was still in the room. Unfortunately for them, two or three of the crew men saw what happened and reacted as fast as they could, tackling the shooter to the floor and removing the gun. Others on set called an ambulance as fast as they could, and Ren was on his way to the hospital in a matter of minutes… As soon as he saw Ren off, the director made a call to LME's President, and relayed the whole event.

Lory was taken out of his thoughts as Kyoko came to, and a nurse exited Ren's room. Her face was grim and she quickly walked away without making eye contact with either. Another nurse entered the room several minutes later, and Lory and Kyoko were left to wait in the hallway.

Some time passed before Kyoko spoke, barely audible to Lory's ears, "How?"

"He was shot during one of his scenes."

"Did they catch him? Did they catch the man who shot him?"

"Yes, they caught the… woman."

"Woman? Some woman walked onto the set and shot him? Don't they have security there? Why didn't anyone stop her! Why did she have to shoot him?"

"Kyoko, the police are interrogating her as we speak, and yelling won't change anything."

"You're telling me to stop yelling when the man I love is dying in there. I may never get to speak to him again, and you're telling me to stop yelling? It's my fault if he dies! If I had never agreed to marry him, then that woman, who probably did it out of jealousy, would never have shot him!"

"You don't know that Kyoko, that is not true."

Just then Kyoko stopped, her tears, her yelling, everything. She looked down at her hands, and began trembling. "They were after me next, weren't they? That's why you told me to leave. That's why they shot at the limo! Oh God…"

Just then the doctor came out of the room and into the hallway. Mogami-san, Takarada-san, I'm…"

Kyoko didn't wait for him to finish. She ran into the hospital room, ignored the shocked faces of the nurses, and went to Ren.

"Ren, no… you can't leave me now."

Please review and let me know what you think! Thank you for reading!

-Tohru12