I do not own Skip Beat!
Thank you Yoshiki Nakamura for all of your incredible talent.
Day Five:
The Battle of The Bands
On this day the knights would battle, once again secretively, for the fair maiden's hand with music. Yet again, like the plushies, two of our sneaky bachelors would carefully deposit their gifts for the fair maiden in the LoveMe chamber. Hikaru came in early morning this time with Shinichi as a lookout. Ren was actually running late, so he had to sneak in around lunch time, hoping not to be busted by one of the denizens of the insanely pink locker room. Thankfully, neither of the young men needed to explain their trek into the pink haven to any of the girls. Their only witness would be one security camera in the hall and one very elated boss that would not reveal their activities.
Hikaru's gift had safely landed, wrapped prettily with silver metallic paper and a lovely blue bow, on the end table in the LoveMe room in the early morning thanks to the watchful eye of Shinichi. His gift was an exquisitely detailed little blue bird in a gold cage that would preen and spread its wings in time with Bach's Air that would play when you touched the door of the cage. [You give my heart wings when I hear your voice.All of my love, your Secret Admirer.]
"Oh! It's so cute!" Kyoko squealed when she opened the gift. "And the music is so pretty and relaxing." she smiled softly. When the music was finished she gingerly re-wrapped the little music box and placed it carefully on the shelf in her locker. Kyoko then left to check with Sawara-san for LoveMe assignments and talent jobs.
After spending the greater part of 45 minutes trying to sneak into the LoveMe room, Ren was almost tempted to ask Yashiro for help in distracting Kyoko... Almost and then he thought of how Yashiro would react if he discovered Ren doing any of what he had done in the past month, he shuddered. Ren did not want to deal with a squealing fan-girl of a manager, he would find a way himself.
Finally, Kyoko and friends had left for lunch. Ren had to quickly deposit his pale pink satin wrapped gift, that was topped with a light blue satin bow, on the table in the LoveMe room and beat a hasty retreat. As Ren was sneaking around, the final two admirer's gifts were being delivered to the reception desk.
"Kyoko-chan! You have another delivery today!" the receptionist greeted Kyoko as she and Kanae came back from lunch. "You are getting quite popular, aren't you?" she commented.
"I guess I am." Kyoko mumbled as Kanae snickered. "Thank you so much for putting up with this."
"Oh, no problem Kyoko-chan. Do you know who they are?" The receptionist inquired.
"I was going to ask you that." she informed her.
"Oh no, I haven't a clue. All of your gifts have been delivered to me through a delivery service. Sorry I can't help solve your mystery."
"Aw, it's okay. I guess if you knew it would be too easy for me." she let out a hollow chuckle and bade her a good afternoon.
"Oh my gosh!" she exclaimed when she saw the beautifully wrapped gift from her Number One Admirer, whom she suspected to be her fairy prince. There it was, waiting for her on the table, begging to be opened.
Kyoko squealed and flushed with delight when she unwrapped the gift from Ren. It was a little ceramic fairy with short red-gold hair holding a "corn stone" close to her heart accompanied by a light blond lion peacefully resting at her feet. She had stained glass wings that fluttered with the music. She was wearing a pale green, leafy short, strapless dress that ended mid-thigh with a tattered hem. Her tiny toes were polished in pink, and delicate little vines wrapped around her little ankles and up her petite legs, ending at her skirt line as the silver base spun to the classical piece Claire de Lune by Debussy. [Your voice calms the beast within me. I belong to only you Kyoko. Love Always, your Secret Admirer.]
"It's so beautiful.." she whispered with a sigh. She listened to the music a couple of more times then gingerly repacked it and moved on to the next.
Up popped a sparkly little chocolate, fluff and bead covered grudgling that wrapped herself around the black and gold wrapped gift box as she spun and twirled the prince's head from the previous gift in her hand. What do we have here Mistress? May I open it?. The grudgling begged with anticipation. No, was the answer.
Sho's music box was a circular mirrored surface made to look like water topped with two swans, one white and one black, that would move about the little "lake" as the music played the classical piece Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake Waltz on a black base with a gold key.[You make my heart dance with joy when I see you. My lovely Kyoko. Your Secret Admirer.]
The little grudgling danced around giggling, "Looks like there will be poultry for dinner tonight!".
"If I didn't know better, I would think that Sho sent this but, the cards just don't match what he would say to me." Kyoko mumbled with furrowed brow then patted her little grudgling down and carefully returned the music box to its wrapping and moved on to the next gift.
Kyoko shivered as she reached reluctantly for the final gift. What is wrong with me? She scolded herself then shook off the bad feeling and unwrapped the dark blue and silver gift, to discover another music box. This one was from our silver haired, wraith-like rock star, Reino. His offering to his sweet goddess was another angel, she started in a sitting position with her pure white wings covering her body only to unfurl and raise as she stood revealing a gossamer white silk gown that twirled as she gracefully spun in time with Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata on a dark blue satin pillow with silver cord and tassels sewn on, all attached to the music box base with a silver key to start the music. [My heart soars to the heavens when I hear your voice and see your face. Eternally yours, Your Secret Admirer.]
"Pretty, but a bit spooky and depressing." She sighed when the tune finally finished.
"Kyoko! Mo, you're gonna make us late." Kanae scolded, "Hurry up and put that thing away, you can look at it when we come back later."
"OOo, sorry Moko-san." She apologized, then carefully placed the music box in it's special container, stored it in her locker and prepared to leave for their drama shoot.
He thought he would have a little fun and check up on his little 'princess' today. So, the blond rock star decided to visit Kyoko on the set of her new drama. Shoko had done a little research for him and found that she was co-starring in a period drama with the long-haired LoveMe girl she always hung out with. He didn't mean to hear it but, as he stood at the dressing room door, the two girls were discussing something about all of these 'gifts' for the past few weeks and what some guy named Takarada-san had told her. Four? He heard her say four Secret Admirers... With this new information, the Deva King emerged and he stomped off fuming, to plan out his next move. He would not lose to Anyone! Kyoko was his and that was that!
Kanae snorted, "I wonder if they hired the orchestra to play the recorded music too."
"It's not funny Moko-san!" Kyoko snapped with frustration.
"Are they coordinating their attack?" "How could it be all on the same day every single time?! Not only that, first it was flowers, then candy, then knick knacks and now music boxes! I just don't understand! It can't be coincidence." She rambled on in exasperation.
"Ugh, I'm going to the set!" She stomped out slamming the door behind her. She was no longer haunted by paranoia. At this point it was becoming an irritation. Who could be wasting money like this?
Kanae just shook her head and snickered.
But really was it a coincidence or, wasn't it? These young men were competing for their lady love, they absolutely detested each other when it came to the battle for her heart and now all of them knew there was stiff competition. There were only hints and speculations at this point and only one knew the exact identity of one of his adversaries. The others were in the dark, but they all knew for certain that they needed to step up their game if any one of them were going to win this race.