Hello. Thank you all for your continuing interest in my story. Here is the next chapter for your enjoyment. Please let me know if there is anything that needs correcting. Thank you.
Not: I do not own Skip Beat!
News of the accident had already reached Lory when his favorite couple knocked on his office door. Sebastian showed them into a relatively ordinary office. The man himself was dressed in a black on black FBI like suit and gave off the air of an investigator as he busied himself with a tape of the event. Kyoko watched as Catherine hurried her through the mass of girls. She gasped as she saw Catherine register the flying object, shove the younger girl forwards out of harm's way, and turn to block and take the brick's impact. It was hard to tell exactly which of the young women had chucked the object, there were just too many in the group dressed the same. The group scattered screaming when the women went down. Yashiro could be seen gathering up the manager's unconscious form and running back inside. Kyoko slumped into a chair and began crying. It was her fault her friend was injured. Ren took a place beside her and tried to comfort the distraught girl with a warm hand on her shoulder. It broke his heart to see her in such misery.
"Kyoko, this is why Kat-chan was sent to help you. To keep you safe from things like this," Lory told the girl sternly. "If she knew you were crying because she did her job, she would be unhappy." Kyoko looked up at the man contemplating his logic. She stopped crying but could not feel any better about Catherine's injury.
"But if I did not need protections, she would not have gotten hurt!" Kyoko shot back her own logic. Ren let his hand drop away from her shoulder as Kyoko righted herself to argue with Lory.
"This is true, but she would still be doing this job for someone else. I would much rather her work with you then someone that actually caused a problem." Lory retorted. "At least you appreciate her work." Kyoko looked at the strange man in confusion. Did Catherine do this type of thing all the time? Her thoughts were interrupted when the phone on Lory's desk rang loudly.
"Hello" Lory picked the receiver up and spoke into it. "Wait, Let me put you on speaker phone, Ren and Kyoko are here too." Lory pushed a button on the phone before returning the handset to the cradle. Sound could be heard buzzing from the speaker. "Ok, go ahead."
"As I was saying," Yashiro's voice crackled across the line, "She has not woken up yet so the hospital is admitting her, but I need her information so that they can process her paperwork. She does not have a wallet with her." Kyoko gasped remembering the shoulder bag Catherine had been carrying when they got out of the car. Lory turned to retrieve the missing bag from behind his desk.
"One of the guards brought her bag up a few minutes ago. Hold on. "Lory called to the phone as he dug through the mentioned bag. "Here it is! Can you give me the phone number to the hospital and I will have the information faxed there right away?" Yashiro did and Lory handed the information and the number to Sebastian to take care of. "Please let us know as soon as you have any information."
"Alright," Yashiro agreed. It meant that Ren would be taking himself to work, but the first filming was a joint job with Kyoko so it would be ok. On that note, Yashiro disconnected the phone and went back to the room containing Kyoko's injured manager and sat down. He looked down his front at the blood that had started to dry there. He leaned forwards to the woman and jokingly said, "You just ruined my favorite suit." Catherine moaned lightly at the sound of his voice, but did not wake up.
Back in Lory's office, Kyoko was depressed to hear that Catherine was still not awake, but she knew that she needed to get on with the day. This was what Catherine would have demanded. Ren sent her to get ready in the LoveMe locker room and then turned on Lory as soon as the door was closed.
"When the HELL were you going to tell me that Kyoko got a new manager and that it was HER? She knows who I am!" yelled Ren. Panic had started to rise in him.
"Calm down." Lory soothed the stricken actor. "She was sent by Kuu and knows the situation here. She will not give you away."
"Why her? Of all the people he could have picked, why her?" Ren plopped himself down in the chair unceremoniously. He dropped his head into his hands. He was visible upset by this surprise. "I have not seen her in a long time. It was shocking to discover this development while she was bleeding in front of me."
"Kuu wanted the best to protect Kyoko, she is the best, as you should already know," Lory leaned his back against the desk with his arms crossed at his chest. "She has performed very well today. You should be proud of her." Ren knew he was right. The decision to make Catherine Kyoko's protector was the best thing his father could have done. Not just anyone would have seen the object fly towards them from that angle. Let alone protect her and stop the brick from falling into the crowd around them. Ren was not happy about the outcome, but he understood the reasons behind it. Ren sighed deeply, stood up, and put himself back together.
"I understand," Ren informed Lory. "I have to go get Kyoko for the filming. Please let me know as soon as you hear something from Yashiro." Lory agreed and Ren left to get on with the day.
The filming went smoothly after Ren chastised Kyoko for her work ethic. Since there was nothing she could do, she needed to focus more on her work. After only a few retakes, the end of the day came and Ren agreed to drive a very anxious Kyoko to the hospital to see how Catherine was doing. They called ahead and Yashiro met them upon their arrival. Kyoko was surprised to see the usually crisply dressed bespectacled man in a t-shirt.
"She has not woken up yet." He explained to the couple as they walked in. "The doctor thinks she has a concussion and there is a large bruise on her arm. They won't know more until she wakes up." Yashiro lead the actors through the hospital into her room. Kyoko saw Yashiro's jacket folded up on a chair, the blood spot obvious on the lighter material. He has also taken off his dress shirt and rinsed the much smaller spots out of it. That could be seen hanging in the little alcove where what was left of Catherine's ruined clothing had been placed in a bag. The woman herself was lying on the bed in a dressing gown with an IV coming out of her arm. The nurses had cut her out of her bloody clothing when she came into the emergency room. Kyoko chastised herself for not bringing her friend something decent to wear while in the hospital. She would definitely remember it for tomorrow. Kyoko was unable to see the injury under the large bandage covering most of the left side of her face.
Kyoko walked over to the chair positioned by Catherine's bedside. She looked at Yashiro for permission to sit down. He had been occupying the mentioned chair since Catherine was sent to this room. After a nod from the man in question, Kyoko sat down and took Catherine's hand. There was no response from the patient. Ren stood against the wall near the foot of the bed and watch the pair. He wasn't sure how he felt about this development so he worked for a concerned yet distance expression. Yashiro noticed that Ren was uncomfortable but could not figure out why.
"Catherine-san, can you hear me?" Kyoko asked her softly while rubbing small circles on the back of her hand with her thumb. She had always heard that a familiar voice was good for an unconscious person. "I am so sorry that you got hurt. It's all my fault" The girl sobbed and she dropped her head onto the bedside to cry in earnest. Ren started towards the distraught girl when he noticed movement from the bed. Catherine raised the opposite hand and placed it on the girl's head. Kyoko looked up to see a weak smile creep across Catherine's face.
"That's enough of that," Catherine patted the top of Kyoko's head. Kyoko jumped up and threw herself onto the injured woman. Ren and Yashiro were shocked at Kyoko's ability to be so physically close to the woman that she had known for such a short time.
"I am SO SORRY!" Kyoko cried as she tried to bow while holding onto Catherine. "I was so scared when I saw the blood. I can't believe someone would do that. How…"
"Kyoko!" Catherine gasped in pain, interrupting the girl's rant. "Could you please stand up?" Kyoko was practically lying on top of the wounded woman. She had pinned her hurt arm between them in her haste. Kyoko dropped in horror to the floor in a dogeze bow stammering apologies all the way down. Catherine looked to the two men in the room for help with the girl. Ren reached down and pulled Kyoko to her feet.
"Mogami-san, Saunders-san asked you to stand up. Please get up where she can see you," Ren whispered into her ear. Kyoko let the tall man lift her too her feet and looked down sheepishly. "That's better." Ren released her arm and stepped back so Kyoko could stand on her own.
"I am sorry Kat-chan," Kyoko apologized again. Catherine laughed and shook her head at Kyoko's misplaced guilt. She immediately regretted it as the movement made her head pound and swirled up a bout of nausea. Yashiro saw the woman's plight and hit the call button for the nurse. In just a moment the nurse bustled through the door and pushed the visitors to the other side of the room. She checked Catherine and called the doctor. The nurse wrote something on Catherine's chart and handed it to the doctor as soon as he walked into the room. He looked at it and then examined Catherine. He turned to the three onlookers and cleared his throat.
"Who is taking responsibility for this patient?" the doctor asked the group.
"She's my manager," Kyoko responded to the question. "She doesn't have any family here in Japan." The doctor turned to look at Catherine. She nodded gently letting the doctor know that it as ok to tell them. The doctor turned back to the young girl in front of him.
"Your manager is suffering from a concussion," the doctor informed them, "She has also had several stiches in the side of her face. She will need to stay here for observation for the next day or so. Once she is released, she is not to be left alone for the a few days. She will need to come back in 7 days to have the stitches removed."
"Will she have a scar?" Kyoko looked at Catherine with concern.
"We did the best we could with small stiches, but yes. She will most likely have a lasting scar from this." The doctor sighed. Kyoko's face clouded over in dismay. She knew how bad a scar could be in this industry. The doctor continued before the young girl could break down. "With the proper treatment, the scar should not be too noticeable when fully healed." The doctor went back to Catherine's bed. "Do you understand what I have said?" He looked at his patient.
"Yes," Catherine breathed softly. She was still a little nauseous. The doctor turned to the nurse, ordered medication, gave instructions for her to be woken up every 15 minutes, and then left. Kyoko came over and sat in the chair again. Yashiro and Ren looked on with worry in their eyes. They knew that Kyoko was blaming herself for this accident. Catherine turned her head and looked at the girl sternly.
"You are not responsible for this!" She told the young girl. Kyoko was shocked by the harshness of the gentle woman's voice. Ren smiled just a bit because he knew what was coming. Catherine continued reprimanding the guilt ridden girl, "YOU will not apologize to me again for this! It would be an insult to me. This is what I was hired to do and Kuu would have me skinned alive if I had let anything happen to you. I am not in 'Show business' so one little scar is not going to change my job description." Kyoko's grudges were coming out to bask in the anger that was swimming off the, until now, peaceful manager. Kyoko cringed as she humbly received the tongue lashing she felt sure she deserved. Catherine softened her voice. "Now Kyoko, please do not let this upset you anymore. In a few days I will be fine." She smiled warmly at her charge. Kyoko smiled back, she felt better after being put in her place. Ren stood back in amazement at how well Catherine could handle the feisty girl. He was starting to believe that Kuu had made a good choice in her protector.
"Are you sure you will be ok?" Kyoko asked her again, concern filling her voice.
"Yes, I will be fine," Catherine reassured her one more time. "I think that I just need to get a little rest." Catherine then leaned her head back, closed her eyes, and swallowed. That little show of strength had taken so much out of her. She knew that Kyoko needed it, but the posturing had not done her any good. Seeing that Catherine was in pain, Ren went over to Kyoko.
"Come on. It is late and she needs to rest." Ren looked at Yashiro and then to Catherine. "Saunders-san," Catherine opened her eyes and looked at the man standing over her. "I will take Mogami-san home tonight." Catherine nodded the barest head movement and closed her eyes again. "I will also make sure she gets to work safely tomorrow." Catherine raised her hand in response to this statement. The head nod had been too painful to repeat. At that moment the nurse came in with some injectable medication for Catherine. When she left, Kyoko squeezed Catherine's hand trying to comfort her; she had realized that the older woman was in pain.
"I will come back and see you tomorrow." Kyoko said, releasing her hand. Catherine opened her eyes and looked at her. She could tell that the pain medication was already taking affect from the far off look in the woman's eyes.
"I look forward to it." Catherine responded as she closed her eyes and let the medication kick in. The three visitors looked on helplessly as sleep took her pain away. Yashiro collected his clothing, returning the coat to its proper place and following Kyoko out of the room. Ren took up the rear and stopped long enough to take a glance and the sleeping woman. He was glade that she would be ok. This may not be as bad as he had first thought it was.