Here is the next section for your enjoyment. Please let me know if there is anything that needs correcting.

Note: I do not own Skip Beat!.

Around three that afternoon, Kyoko and Ren both had a read-through for the police drama that Ren started in. This had been one of the jobs that Lory had given to the LoveMe girl just a few days ago. They were wasting no time getting this episode rolling. Ren and Yashiro were both slightly surprised when Kyoko and Catherine walked in for the reading. Kyoko totally forgot to mention her participation with all the excitement over the benefit.

"Good afternoon Tsuruga-san, Yashiro-san." Kyoko smiled at her two friends. "I will be working with you for this episode. Please treat me well." Catherine followed her charge over, but stood silently behind her. It was easy to tell that she was still upset about the previous night.

"Good afternoon Mogami-san." Ren greeted her warmly. "I look forward to working with you again." Yashiro finished writing something in his book before greeting the young actress.

"Hello, Kyoko-chan." He turned his eyes to the silent woman behind her. "And to you Saunders-san." Ren glanced at his manager, his sudden formality worried him. Ren could almost see Catherine bristle at the formal address. She smiled politely at them.

"Good afternoon Tsuruga-san, Yashiro-san." Ren could hear her teeth grind as she spoke. "I hope you had a good night's rest." The tension between the two managers was nearly palatable.

"I sleep very well. Thank you." Yashiro smiled back at her. This was a lie; he had spent hours turning the night over in his head before he had finally gotten up without sleeping at all. The other actors were watched the pleasant exchange with caution, expecting the pair to throw down at any moment. It was like watching two cats defending their territory, lots of posturing, fluffy tails, and hissing before the real battle broke out. Kyoko looked nervously between the two not sure what to do. They had made such a lovely couple yesterday. Everyone was saved from the possible battle when the director called for the group to sit down. Since there were only places for the actors at the tables the managers were asked to wait in the lounge.

"Do well." Catherine patted Kyoko on the shoulder before turning and leaving the room. Kyoko's eyes followed the retreating woman till she disappeared through the door. Yashiro wished Ren something similar and followed the irritated woman out of the door. The two actors looked at each other not knowing what to do. Leaving the upset people alone was not a good decision, but they could not do anything about it. They took their seats and turned their minds to the work at hand.

Catherine left the meeting room to look for a quit place so cool off, Yashiro's formality had just poured gas on the fire that she was attempting to smother. All she wanted to do was get away from that room. She did not pause when she heard a familiar voice calling her name formally. It just twisted the pin their fight had placed in her heart causing the wound to bleed again. She closed her eyes and continued to walk down the hall. His legs were longer so he quickly closed the distance between them without running. She still ignored him when he called again using Kat-san. She was trying to control her anger, and his insistence was not helping. They were halfway down the hall when Yashiro reached out and grabbed her shoulder to stop her so they could talk. This had been the wrong move to use on the upset woman. As soon as his hand landed on her shoulder she snapped. Her hand flew to his wrist and before he knew what happened, he was face down on the floor with his arm bent behind him and a knee in his back. The joint lock she held him in was just shy of hurting him and he gasped for the air that was knocked from him when he hit the floor. He could feel her tremble with anger against his back as he lay still on the floor under her.

"Catherine." The use of her full name without the honorifics caused her to back off his arm a little. Yashiro continued as he felt the pressure on his joints easy. "Can we please talk?" She removed her knee from his back and dropped his arm. He rolled his head to look at her feet as she stood next to him. He did not want to move too fast and end up back on the floor. He pushed himself up to a kneeling position and looked up at the dangerous woman. She stood in a relaxed position, but looked as if she could kill him without a second thought. He swallowed hard and stood the rest of the way up. He could feel the anger in her eyes burning his skin. It was only after her display that he realized how much he had insulted her yesterday. He bowed to her and began. "I apologies for my assumptions last night, it was wrong to think one hired as a body guard would be unable to protect themselves." Yashiro continued. "I was still shaken by the incident in the president's office and forgot your station. Please forgive me." His actions through Catherine off, she had not expected this. Yashiro remained bowed to her as she took in what was happening.

"Stand up." Catherine's anger had cooled at the man's sincere apology. She sighed deeply at the pain riding behind her eyes pounded to her heart beat. Yashiro raised his head and watched as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Whatever." She waved the entire thing off and turned to continue on her way. Yashiro, confused by this reaction, stepped lively to catch up to the retreating woman. He could see that the anger had drained from her to be replaced with exhaustion. She walked down the hall with her head bent down and eyes nearly closed. "I think we were all off last night." Yashiro grunted his agreement as he rubbed the pain from his wrist. "I am sorry too for the entire misunderstanding. Let's just forget the whole ordeal." Yashiro agreed as they turned the corner into the lounge to wait for the reading to be done. Catherine pulled the newspaper out of her coat pocket and handed it to Yashiro.

"Did you see this?" Yashiro took the paper and looked at the article folded to the top.

"Yes." He flipped through the pictures again. He paused at the images of them doing the tango before drawing her attention to the two actors dancing the mambo. "Don't they look so cute together?" Catherine agreed as she sat down on the short couch along the wall. Yashiro got a canned coffee before joining her on the sofa. Now that the air was clear between them, both managers were exhausted.

"Wonderful job." The director praised the actors. "I will make sure you all have schedules for the filming in two weeks." The actors chatted for a minute before filtering out on their separate ways. Kyoko and Ren had held it together for the script reading, but they were worried about the pair that had left. Kyoko quickly gathered her things and turned to go find their managers with Ren right behind her. It did not take them long to find the pair in the lounge.

Kyoko turned the corner and stopped dead in her tracks. Ren had not noticed the sudden change in her velocity and ran into her before he could stop. He caught her before she could fall on her face. Once he was sure that his love was ok, his mind turned to what could have stopped her so suddenly. He looked over expecting to see one or both other managers dead, but the sight that meet his was completely unexpected.

The two managers were leaning against each other on the sofa, sound asleep. Catherine's head was on Yashiro's shoulder and his cheek was pressed to the top of her head. Kyoko let out a light squee at the sight, they were so cute together. She sighed longingly; it would be such a shame to wake them up. Ren pulled Kyoko back out of the lounge and shushed her protests. He had a great idea. Ren pulled out his phone and took several pictures of the pair as Kyoko giggled at him. Yashiro's phone buzzed in his pocket as Ren emailed the pictures to the sleeping man. He shifted in his sleep, but did not wake up. Kyoko smiled evilly at her senpai as the two went back down the hall to the meeting room. Ren then called his manager to wake him up. The vibration and music from the call was enough to interrupt his sleep. He slipped into his gloves without waking the woman leaning against him.

"Hello?" Yashiro stifled a yawn as he answered his phone.

"Yashiro?" Ren's voice echoed through the line. "We are done here. Where are you?" Yashiro told him. "Alright, we will be down in a minute." Both parties hung up. Kyoko giggled at Ren while Yashiro took in the woman sleeping against his shoulder.

"Kat-chan." He whispered to her. She shifted as her dream dropped away. "The reading is done." Catherine sat up and stretched.

"Sorry." She yawned as she ran her hand through her hair where it had fallen into her face. She stood up and staggered slightly to gain her balance. Her head fell forwards and she brought her hand up to rub her eyes. She pushed her hand up her face and through hair again. It paused for a moment at the back of her head as she pulled lightly on her hair to help raise her face. She sighed heavily before continuing her forward movement to the drink machines on the other side of the room. Yashiro watched her, not sure what the movements meant. She ordered a coffee so he figured that she was still waking up.

Kyoko and Ren turned the corner into the lounge to find the two managers awake. Catherine was waiting for her drink while Yashiro turned to look at the new arrivals.

"How did it go?" He stood up to meet his charge. Ren noticed that his cheek was slightly red from the time it has spent pressed to the sleeping woman's hair. Amusement filled his smile as he tried not to tease his manager.

"It went well." Ren could not help digging at his manager a little. "And how did things go with you." His eyes flashed to the woman behind his manager. Yashiro caught the movement and cleared his throat to cover his embarrassment. He rubbed his slightly stiff wrist as he thought about the answer.

"We talked." He was not going to let Ren get to him. Catherine had been listening to the conversation. She thought about telling them how she had dropped the man, but decided not to bruise his ego. That was how they got into the argument in the first place. She walked over to the group blowing on her coffee. Kyoko noticed a crease had formed on the woman's forehead, like she was thinking hard about something. Catherine covered a yawn with the back of her hand and shook herself to try to wake up fully.

"That's it for us today." Catherine sipped her coffee. She turned her attention to the young actress. "What would you like to do now?" Kyoko thought for a moment.

"How about dinner?" she suggested. The reading has taken about three hours so it was just about time to eat.

"That sounds perfect." Yashiro piped in. "Ren is also free for the evening." The taller actor shook his head slightly at his meddling manager.

"Fantastic." Catherine turned to the taller actor. "There is something I forgot about. Could you see Kyoko to dinner and home?" Kyoko was shocked at her manager's request. How could she assume that her respected senpai could be free enough to take care of her in his free time? She was about to raise a protest when Ren answered the woman.

"I would be delighted to." Ren smiled warmly at the woman. He was sure that the two managers had gotten together and arrange dinner with the young woman. But he would not complain about being asked to keep her company. Now that the evening was decided, they headed out to the cars. Kyoko walked with Ren while Yashiro followed and Catherine brought up the rear. Yashiro slipped back next to the woman.

"Can you give me a ride?" He asked Kyoko's manager. Catherine nodded lightly. Yashiro felt there was something off about the woman, but could not place it. When they reached the car park he slipped away from the actors and followed Catherine to her car. Ren did not notice their absence until he unlocked his car and turned to find the two managers missing. He laughed. Kyoko looked around to find what was funny.

"Where did they go?" She looked around worried at the absence. When her phone buzzes in her pocket, she pulled it out and looked at the text message from Catherine.

"Taking Yashiro-san to LME. See you tomorrow." She read the massage out loud to Ren. He chuckled again and shook his head.

"So what would you like to do for dinner?" Ren let the managers' actions slide for tonight. He would have his fun with them tomorrow. Kyoko decided that she would cook for them as she climbed inside his sliver sports car.

Yashiro watched the exchange between the two actors before he got into Catherine's car. He had asked her to send the text so that Kyoko would not worry about them. Catherine had only nodded and sent a short message without a word. As he sat in the car, he studied the woman concentrating on driving. She had pulled a pair of dark sunglasses from her pocket and was hiding behind them. Yashiro found this odd because the sun was setting and not very bright where they were. The color had also faded from her cheeks and she looked slightly ashen.

"Are you alright?" concern colored the man's voice. Catherine perked up slightly.

"Yes. I am just a little tired." Catherine admitted to part of the problem, but Yashiro did not believe her.

"You can just drop me off at LME." he suggested. He had hoped to spend some more time with her, but he wanted her to take care of herself.

"It's ok. I can take you home." Catherine rejected his offer. "I would hate to leave you stranded somewhere." Yashiro did not want to risk angering her again so he agreed. Catherine smiled lightly at him and turned her attention back to the road. Yashiro considered calling the president to inform him of the manager's odd behavior. He pulled his glove on and got his phone out to see that he had a missed email from Ren. He opened the mail and dropped the phone as a light blush rushed across his face. Catherine looked over at the startled man.

"Is everything ok?" Catherine's words made Yashiro blush harder and pull away from her.

"Everything is fine." He lied as his back hit the car door. 'When had Ren taken that picture? I can't let her see it!' His mind screamed as he scrambled to retrieve the fallen device. Catherine peeked over her glasses suspiciously at him. "Um, it was just some random spam mail." He tried to cover his actions. Disbelief still shown in her eyes, but she was not up to pressing the issue so she turned her attention back to the road. Yashiro closed the phone and put it back in his pocket, forgetting to make the call he had pulled it out for. He would have to take care of those pictures later. It was not long before they arrived at Yashiro's home where they said their farewells and he left the woman to take herself home. Catherine waited long enough to see that he made it inside before pulling a bottle out of her pocket. She took two of the pilled from the bottle and washed them down with the cooled coffee before starting her way home. She felt that it was going to be a long night.

Author's Note:

Thank you everyone that has enjoyed this story so far. I enjoy hearing what you think about my story, so thank you for your comments.

To Literati Lover: I understant that Mimori knows Sho, and I am sure that Sho had denied the rumors about his and Kyoko's possible engagement, but I think she is the type of girl that would really believe that Kyoko could be out to get Sho back. In her eyes, Sho is perfect, and who does not want the perfect guy. She knows that they have a history together from the time they spent together on the Prisoner PV, and she has seen how Kyoko affects Sho. In a society where arranged marriage is not a foreign idea, I can see her jumping to conclusions. Anyway, she was the perfect person to further the story line, no one else would get that upset and pick a fight with Kyoko about the pictures. Thanks for taking the time to think about my story.. I really do appreciate it.

If anyone wants to help, I have a few interesting ideas for Sho's PV, but I am torn over how to portray his character in this setting, so have avoided writing him in until now. I would like an opinion. The PV will be fun, but it would not really serve to further the story line (other than to show how Sho is reacting to Kyoko's situation), so should I leave it out or go ahead and put it in. Please let me know what you think. Thanks.