Yays! Here is the next chapter in our story. Sorry, this one is kind of long. I hope you enjoy it.
Note: I do not own Skip Beat!
Catherine woke up early the next morning. Her head was hurting her, but not as bad as the day before. She opened her eyes to an unfamiliar ceiling. As she lay still, taking in the sounds around her, she could hear the soft breathing of someone in the same room, but they were farther away from her then the bed would allow. She sat up carefully and looked at the well-furnished bedroom; a quick search revealed the sleeping form of Kyoko in a second bed in the room. She smiled at the trickery of her companions as she came to the conclusion that they never took her home last night. She looked at the digital alarm clock on the side table and saw that it was 5 am. It was a little too early to really be awake, but she didn't want to go back to sleep. She got up quietly and stumbled over a bag sitting on the floor next to the bed. She opened the bag to find clothing and other personal items. There was another bag at the foot of Kyoko's bed so she figured this one was supposed to be for her. She picked it up and headed out to find the bathroom.
Kyoko stirred from her sleep when she heard the door shut. She rose up to her elbows to try to determine what had woken her and found that Catherine was gone. Panic started to flood the young woman until she heard the water running in the bathroom. Letting out a sigh of relief she laid back down on the bed for a moment. She pulled out her phone from where she stashed it last night and looked at the time, 5:10, it was still too early to really be up, but if Catherine was getting up, so was she. After pulling on some clothing, she headed out to the kitchen to start breakfast for the group. There were a lot of people to cook for this morning.
The water running in the bathroom woke Ren from his light sleep. He hadn't slept well knowing Kyoko was just in the other room. He had wanted to get up and go check on her many times, but with Yashiro sleeping on the futon on his floor, he didn't dare do so. He was impressed with the way that Yashiro had handled the situation the night before. His manager was not someone to be messed with. Ren looked at the clock next to his bed, 5:19. Looking over at the sleeping man on the floor, Ren got up and quietly went out to see who was up. He found Kyoko poking around in the kitchen and figured that it was Catherine in the bath. Ren leaned against the door frame and watched his heart's desire for a moment, caught up in her little movements. The way she almost danced around his kitchen made his heart beat faster. He loved the fact that she was so comfortable there. She knew more about the things there then he did. He took some time to compose himself so he would not scare her when she saw him.
"Hey," he said softly to her.
"EEPP!" she squealed dropping the pan she had gotten out. She whipped around to look at the offending voice. Ren laughed softly, pushed away from the door frame and walked, barefoot, into the kitchen. Kyoko glared knives at him. "Why did you do that?" she hissed at him, trying not to make more noise. Ren bent over and picked up the pan.
"I was just coming out to see who was sneaking around the apartment. I didn't mean to scare you." He smiled softly at her. "I hope this didn't wake anyone else up." He looked at the offending object and handed it back to her. Kyoko turned bright red and took the pan from him. Afraid that she disturbed Yashiro's sleep she quietly set it on the stove. Ren laughed softly again at her antics, if the pan dropping did not wake the only sleeping person in the apartment, her putting it on the stove would not have. He turned to go check on his guest. "If you need anything, just let me know."
"Ok," she called as she busied herself with pulling items out of the refrigerator for breakfast. She paused long enough to watch him walk out of the room. His sudden appearance had surprised her. 'He looks so good first thing in the morning in his silk pajamas. The way his hair stuck up on the one side….' She shook her head sharply to dislodge that thought from her brain. What was she thinking! These were not thoughts she should be having about her most respected senpai! She set about cooking a western style breakfast for the group. The unusual food would give her something to occupy her mind.
Yashiro was lying face down on the futon when Ren got up to see what was going on. He had woken up to the sound of the running water too, but he was not going to intruder on the quiet time between his favorite thick couple. He was hoping the early morning light would shine on their love. He laid there listening to the water run and hoping that Kyoko was in the kitchen. He was startled when the pan hit the floor, but relaxed when he did not hear yelling or more noise. He thrashed about on his futon in fan girl mode thinking about all of the cute and lovey thing those two could be doing. Then sighed and fell still. He knew it was only his imagination and it would take more than just a little early morning light to get those two together. He heard the water stop and decided that he needed to hit the shower next. Ren came back into the room and saw him staring at the ceiling, the covers strung about from his fan girl moment. Ren laughed at the position his manager was in. Yashiro extracted himself from the bedding and folded it up before taking his bag and heading towards the shower without saying a word to his charge.
Catherine had a nice shower. Her head was feeling better now that the last of the pain killers was wearing off. She hurt, but she could think again. She examined the damage to the side of head. There was a very bright bruise that had formed around the line of tiny stiches. They had really taken extra care to make sure the scar would be a nice clean line. Whoever packed the bag thought of everything she would need. There were extra bandages, some medicine for the cut, and makeup. Catherine decided to be bold about the cut and show it off. She pulled on the dress slacks and a fitted t-shirt she found in the bag. She didn't even cover up the bruise with the makeup. If anything she did the rest of her make up to accent it. This would give her a more menacing look. She was determined to show that she was not going to be scared by this incident. She styled her hair lose so she would be able to swing it back to show off the stiches if needed. She stood back and looked at the results of her work. Please with herself she dropped her bag inside the guestroom and went to get breakfast, unaware that the others in the apartment were awake.
Catherine came out of the bedroom as Yashiro was heading to the bathroom with his bag. Neither party was paying attention and nearly ran into each other in the hallway. Coming up just short of a collision, their eyes met in surprise. Yashiro's surprise turned to shock as his eyes were pulled to the dark area on the woman's face. It looked worse than he remembered. The smile she flashed him was sweet yet very cold.
"Good morning, Yashiro-san." She gleamed at him. Yashiro shrank back. She was MAD! Her smile was on par with Ren's gentleman smile.
"G-good morning." Yashiro stammered back to her. He took a step back. "H-how was your n-night?" he asked. His terror was starting to spread.
"I slept well. I was extremely surprised to wake up here this morning," the sparkles from her smile were starting to crackle the air around her. Yashiro swore that he could see where it was actually starting to lift the ends of her hair up. He took another step back and raised his bag between them for protection. It was only then that he remembered where he was going.
"Um…. That is.. um…. Well I need to go take my shower now. I will see you in a little bit," Yashiro squeaked and ran into the bathroom to hide from her for a minute. He leaned against the closed door and shivered. He knew she was going to be angry, but he did not know it would be that bad. He could handle her yelling, but that Mio like air was just too much for this early in the morning.
Catherine watched him run in fear and smiled with satisfaction. She was mad at the man for tricking her into staying last night. After thinking about it in the shower, she understood why they had made her stay. She was not going to stay mad at them, but she needed them to respect her more. At least they could have asked her opinion last night. She sighed as she continued into the kitchen; she could smell the bacon and coffee coming from the room. Kyoko was standing at the stove flipping French toast onto plates when Catherine stepped in. She made enough noise that Kyoko looked up and tensed upon seeing her manage. Kyoko could only see her right profile as Catherine reached into the cabinet to get a cup for the coffee.
"You know, if you had asked me last night to stay, I wouldn't have disagreed too much." Catherine sighed as she set the cup on the counter and reached for the craft of coffee. Kyoko froze solid at the disappointment in the older woman's voice. "There was no need to trick me into staying." She poured the coffee into the cup. Kyoko dropped to the floor in a dogeze bow.
"Please forgive me I know it was wrong to kidnap you like that and we should have asked you to stay instead of forcing you but we were worried about your health and the doctor said you should not be by yourself last night..." Kyoko stammered her apology. It went on for about three minutes as Catherine stood there sipping her coffee. She had turned to lean against the counter as Kyoko rambled on.
"Enough." Catherine said as sat the cup down, crossed her arms, and turned to her charger. Kyoko silence as soon as Catherine spoke. She knew that Catherine had every right to quit and she was sure that was going to happen. Catherine did not say anything as Kyoko clung to the floor. Catherine looked over to where the breakfast was burning on the stove. "You should really get up and watch that." Catherine pointed to the stove. Kyoko levitated from the floor back to the mostly ruined bread that was charring in the pan. She squeaked another apology and scooped the burnt toast out of the pan and into an empty plate to be disposed of. Catherine took the plate from her and walked away with it. Kyoko stared at her as she filled the plate with some of the other items Kyoko had made. She was going to eat the burnt French toast!
"Wait!" Kyoko raised her hand to take the plate from Catherine. Catherine turned her face to Kyoko catching her in a glare. The younger woman froze as the full extent of the injury showed on the older woman's face. Kyoko was shocked that she had left the wound exposed. Having effectively stopped Kyoko's protested, Catherine took the food out to the table to eat it. She had allowed Kyoko to burn the food; she was going to eat it as punishment. Kyoko stood there in shock and watched her manager walked out. She did not understand what had just happened. She expected something else from this morning.
Catherine sat at the table in the living room. She could hear Kyoko recovering in the kitchen and the water running in the bathroom. She was happy with the reaction of two of the three cohorts that arranged her stay here. She was just waiting for the third to appear. As she sat on the floor at the coffee table, the object of her thoughts opened the bedroom door and came out. Ren looked over at her and changed his course. He was going to go over to the kitchen and get breakfast before his shower, but dealing with his guest came first. He stopped on the other side of the table and bowed deeply to her.
"Please forgive our behavior last night." Ren apologized, "We should have asked your option on the subject before taking your health into our own hands." Catherine cocked an eyebrow at him. 'So he heard Kyoko' she thought.
"As long as you realize your error, I forgive you." Catherine bowed her head to Ren. He straightened up and looked at her. She held her head just right so that her hair covered most of the left side of her face. Since he apologized right away, she was not going to intimidate him…. Much. She smirked up at him. "Don't do it again." He swallowed hard. He knew she could make his life hell if she wanted to. She could see the worry in his face. "Don't freight. I won't tell her anything. I promise." Ren relaxed with this reassurance. He knew that she would keep her word. "Go get some food before Kyoko burns anymore." Catherine poked the charred toast with her fork. Ren retreated to the kitchen. Catherine watched him go to the woman he loved before shaking her head and continued to eat.
Ren walked into the kitchen to see Kyoko mechanically cooking the rest of breakfast. The rest of the food was cooked perfectly, so Ren wondered why Catherine's was burnt so badly. Kyoko was a much better cook then that. Kyoko heard him come in and turned to face him, despair showed on her face as her senpai walked into the room. Tears welled up in her eyes as stared at him.
"She HATES me!" Kyoko cried and she fell to the floor. "She is never going to speak to me again!" She started to turn to dust on the floor as Ren stood over her wondering what to do for the wilting girl. Ren bent over to lift her up.
"Did you apologize properly?" He asked the drying husk that had been Kyoko. She nodded her head in defeat. Ren looked at her confused. "What did she say?" He pushed her for more information.
"NOTHING!" Kyoko responded in despair. "She just took the burnt French toast and left!"
"Burnt French toast?" Ren questioned what was left of his kohai.
"I burnt it during my apology and she took it!" Kyoko cried. Ren smiled and shook his head.
"Calm down Kyoko, I am sure she just felt responsible for distracting you from your cooking. Just sit down and talk with her a little. I am sure it will be ok." Ren reassured the distraught girl in front of him. Kyoko calmed at his words.
"Are you sure?" she asked.
"If we explain our reasons then yes, everything should be fine." Ren patted Kyoko on the head and went to get some coffee. When he turned back, Kyoko handed him a plate full of food. He forced a smile and took the plate from her. He went back out to sit at the table with Catherine. She smiled at the breakfast he was eating. She knew he never liked to eat in the morning either.
Yashiro finished getting dressed and came out to find his charge and he worst nightmare sitting comfortably in the living room together. 'Why is he so calm?" he thought as he slipped past them into the kitchen. Wonderful smells were issuing from the pans Kyoko was tending. Kyoko saw him come in and dished him up a plate as he poured coffee for himself.
"Did you talk to Saunders-san this morning?" Yashiro asked Kyoko. The young woman blanched at his inquiry.
"Yes." The simple answer spoke volumes after his experience with the woman in question. "Tsuruga-san says we just need to sit and talk with her." Yashiro looked at her doubtfully.
"He was out there sitting with her having breakfast. They looked quite comfortable." Yashiro said in amazement. "I was scared to death of her when I saw her in the hallway." He shuddered as he remembered the incident in the hall. Kyoko looked at him in surprise. How could Ren be siting calmly with her? She had been so mad earlier. They both poked their heads out of the kitchen to see the two sitting together. There was no hostility visible. They looked at each other confused. Yashiro took his plate and cup and went out to the living room to sit down. Kyoko went back to get her own food and follow him out.
"May I sit here?" Yashiro asked the two people occupying the table. Both of them looked up at the nervous manager. Catherine smile sweetly. Yashiro stiffened at her expression expecting to be turned away.
"Of course you can." Catherine answered and waved him to the table. She seemed too peaceful. Yashiro sat down and looked at his food.
"Um…" He began. Catherine looked up at the uncomfortably man as he wiggled in his seat. "Well, I would like to apologize for my actions last night." Kyoko came over and sat next to the nervous man.
"We should have asked you before forcing you to stay." Kyoko continued where Yashiro left off. Catherine turned to look at her.
"We are sorry." They both said in unison. Catherine's face softened and a real smile graced her lips.
"Well as long as you understand why I am upset it's ok," shock lit the faces of the two guilty parties as Catherine forgave them. Ren continued to eat as if there was nothing going on. She continued, "If you have just explained to me your reasons, I wouldn't have been able to object. The reasoning behind your actions was sound, the execution, however, left somewhat to be desired." Catherine sipped her coffee as they looked on with disbelief. They were going to get off easy this time. "In the future, please consult me before doing such again." With that, Catherine stood up to take her empty plate to the kitchen. Yashiro and Kyoko could not do anything as they watched her walk out of the room. They had both expected her to remain mad for a while. Ren finished his breakfast and stood up.
"See. I told you it would all work out." He left to tend to his dished and take his shower. The two left looked at one another and dug into their meal. It had been a complicated morning already and they still had a long day ahead of them.
Ren walked into the kitchen while Catherine was running water in the sink. She took his plate from him and set it into the soapy water.
"That was really evil." Ren smiled to the girl. She looked at him with a wicked grin on her face.
"I know. But you all will think twice before pulling a stunt like that again." She said then turned back to her water.
"True." Ren left to get ready for the day.