Here is more fun for you to read. Thanks for sticking with me.
Note: I do not own Skip Beat!
Kyoko sat her bleeding senpai down on the toilet in the bathroom as she grabbed a handful of tissues from the counter and pressed them to his nose. She was surprised at how much blood was flowing down his face. She made him tilt his head back and pinch the gushing orifice closed. Ren was doing his best to not look at the source of his troubles as the corset clad woman busied herself trying to clean the blood from him. He did chance a peek at her, but all he could see was her cleavage as she bent over tending to his ailment. A wave of dizziness came over him and he grabbed for the close thing that would keep him from falling over. His hand landed on the corset clad waist of the young woman in front of him. Unable to control his desire anymore, he pulled the young girl down with a squeak to sit straddling his lap. Thankful there was enough material in the skirt that it did not bind her uncomfortably. Wrapping her in his arms, he dropped his head to her shoulder and breathed in her scent through the metal tang of the blood still filling his nose.
Kyoko froze when she landed on her senpai's lap unexpectedly. Her heart pounded at his closeness, but she was desperately trying to convince herself that it was due to the sudden drop and had nothing to do with her feelings or the man she was wrapped in. She had gotten use to his closeness when they were the Heel siblings, but this was different. Without the protection of Setsuki, this was more personal. She felt his warm breath tickle across her chest as her grudges fought a losing battle with her angles for control of the locks on her heart. It was the addition of the warm droplets on her chest that broke her from her inner conflict and reminded her that the man before her was still losing blood. Melting from her shock, she pushed Ren's head back and away from her shoulder so she could assess how bad the man was still bleeding.
Ren kept his eyes closed while Kyoko raised his head up and pressed the tissues back to his face. He breathed slowly through his mouth trying to slow his thundering heart and stabilize his betraying blood pressure. He knew he had to regain his control before he did something that would scare the girl in his arms. After a few minutes, Kyoko pulled the tissue away from his face to see that the blood had stopped. Ren, regretfully, let his arms slip from around the girl as she rose to looked for something hardier to clean the drying blood from his upper lip and cheeks. She hissed as she realized that she had managed to get blood on the cream fabric of her borrowed chemise during their intimate moment. Kyoko's call for help was met with an immediate response from her blushing manager.
"Can I help?" Catherine stuck her head in to bathroom to see bloody tissues everywhere. Her eyes caught the running drops of blood on the young actress's chest. She quickly turned and pulled out a white hand towel in answer to Kyoko's unvoiced request. The acting nurse took the offering and soaked on end in the sink before gently wiping the actors face off. Ren had steadied himself enough to open his eyes. His heart nearly jumped from his chest when his eyes found the red drops running across Kyoko's white skin. He used one of the tissues to remove the blood before it could stain the satin cloth of her corset. Kyoko stiffened slightly at his actions, but relaxed when she realized what he was doing. Ren's nose had stopped bleeding, but the damage was done to his shirt and one of Kyoko's sleeves.
"I am so sorry!" Kyoko apologized to Catherine as she finished cleaning Ren up. "I got blood on your dress."
"Don't worry about that." Catherine waved across in front of her as if waving the young girls worries away. "It will wash out. Is he going to be ok?" Catherine turned Kyoko's attention back to the man she was tending. Kyoko looked at his face and swallowed hard as she recognized 'The Emperor of the Night' staring out at her. She quickly turned her attention away as her grudges tried to shield there mistress from the man's heated look.
"I think so, but I am worried about the blood loss." Kyoko looked at all the bloody tissues and towel that littered the counter and floor of the bathroom.
"Why don't you go take that off so I can rinse out the blood." Catherine knew that being away from the attractive girl would do a lot to help Ren's condition. "I will stay with Tsuruga-san until he feels a little better. I think some tea will do us all a little good." Kyoko agreed before turning to change.
"Umm… Kat-chan, could you help me out of this?" Kyoko indicated that she needed Catherine to untie her. After losing the strings and showing the young woman how to split the front open, she turned back to the troubled actor and shut the door.
"Too much?" Catherine teased the man that was now cradling his head in his hands. Watching Catherine stripping the young woman in the doorway had been hard on Ren's shattered self-control. Ren still had not found his voice so he just shook his head affirmative. "I don't seem to remember you being this easily flustered by women." Catherine continued as she started to collect the bloody tissues into the waste basket. Ren pinned the teasing woman with a dirty look. Catherine snickered and raised her hands in submission before apologizing "I am sorry that my amusement caused you such grief." Ren let out a heartfelt sigh at the sincerity of her words. "If I had known it would have caused such trouble, I would not have made her dress up." Ren had regained his composure and was sitting up properly now. "Although I think your manager loved it." She teased.
"It's a good thing that he did not have his camera with him." Ren finally found his voice as he thought about what his manager would do with pictures of Japan's top male celebrity having a nose bleed over a girl. Catherine smiled and made a mental note to send those pictures to the bespectacled man later. She blushed again as the encounter in the kitchen with the male manager filled her mind. She busied herself with cleaning up before Ren could notice the reddening of her ears. It was only a few minutes more until Kyoko knocked on the bathroom door to let the trapped residence know that she was done changing. After setting the sleeve of the chemise into the sink to soak, the three friends left for the kitchen.
Yashiro had busied himself with cleaning up the pans from lunch. What was left of the meal was still setting out, mostly untouched. Catherine looked at the cold food as a twinge of regret of her actions stabbed her. She had interrupted the afternoon meal that Kyoko had worked hard to make.
"I'm so sorry." Catherine apologized for her actions. "You guys did not get to finish your lunch."
"It's ok." Kyoko stepped up and reheated the food in Catherine's microwave. She did not like using these devices, but it would work to save this meal. The four people sat to enjoy the fruits of Kyoko's labor. Catherine choose to have some of the dished here with the apple bunny slices verse the vegetable porridge that had been made for her. Kyoko got Ren to eat more with the excuse that he need more protein because of his blood loss.
"These are so cute!" Catherine gushed as she munched on the bunnies from her plate. Yashiro smiled at her as she picked up one of the bunnies and made it bounce around her plate before popping it in her mouth. "Where did you learn to make these?" Catherine posed the question to the female that had been cooking in her kitchen.
"Yashiro-san made those." Kyoko corrected Catherine's mistake. The older woman met the artist warm eyes with surprise. Her look quickly softened to gratitude as she thanked him for taking such good care of her.
"I do have one question." Catherine finished the last of her bunnies as she addressed the group in general. "Where did all this come from?" Catherine indicated the plates and cooking dishes that had not been in her kitchen when she went to bed last night. "Don't get me wrong. I appreciate that you came to take care of me, but who does this belong to?" Ren stepped up to answer that question.
"Well, there was not enough stuff in the kitchen to make lunch, so we got you some essentials." Ren busied his eyes with the tea in his cup before looking up at the shock plain on the woman's face.
"You mean you bought all of this stuff for my kitchen?" Catherine's disbelieve shown plain on her face. Her eyes ran the kitchen to take in all the items that were new: the rice cooker, the pan, the dishes, even the lacquered tray from lunch. "Tsuruga-san, Kyoko-chan, Yashiro-san. How can I ever repay you for your kindness?" An idea crossed Yashiro's mind, but he shook the lewd thought away before giving it voice.
"Just keep Kyoko safe." Ren answered as he turned soft eyes to the young girl next to him. Kyoko blushed as Ren used her name without honorifics. She blamed the slip up on his loss of blood before getting up to clear away the dishes. Yashiro eyes widened at the development between the reluctant couple. Catherine could feel the waves of giddiness rolling off him He took a breath to comment on this when Catherine interrupted him before he could start.
"Of course I will continue to keep Kyoko safe." Catherine glared at the manager to shut up. Ren had not noticed this for his mind and eyes were trained on the woman clearing away the mess. "But that is my job. I feel I need to repay you for this." Ren dragged his eyes away from his love and focused on the woman at the table. Catherine's brow furrowed as she tried to come up with a suitable reward for their kindness. Ren was about to deny the need for repayment again when Catherine waved her thoughts away. "I will think of something nice." Any more discussion of the issue was prevented by the sound of Yashiro's phone ringing in the other room. He excused himself to answer the object while Catherine took the rest of the plates to sink to be washed.
Ren watched the two women navigate the kitchen with easy. They moved with the grace of dances as they stepped around each other to get all of the dishes and pans cleaned and stowed in their new home. His attention was caught by a slight creak of wood and turned to see his manager leaning against the door frame watching the women work. Ren was slightly surprised to see the same look he secretly turns toward Kyoko on Yashiro's face as the manager's eyes followed the woman in the black robe. 'Could it be he likes Catherine?' Ren turned the meaning and possibilities over in his head. When the two workers finished their task, they turned to look at the men occupying the room.
"So what do you have planned for this afternoon?" Catherine questioned the men. She knew Kyoko only have LoveMe work today.
"Ren has a modeling shoot at 4 that should last till 8," Yashiro answered as he pushed off the doorframe and stepped all the way into the room. Catherine glanced at the clock on the wall to read the time of almost 2. "We will need to be going in a little while so that Ren can find a clean shirt." Eyes dropped to Ren's front where small drops of blood were evident on the expensive fabric. Guilt riddled Kyoko at the fact that she had not cleaned the stains from his shirt. She was about to apologize for her oversight when Ren laughed.
"I really must be more careful." Ren dabbed at the dried blood before standing up. "Well then, let us be on our way." The group made their way from the kitchen to the living room so things could be gathered.
"Since Kyoko-chan does not have anything else to do. If she would like to stay here, I can take her home later." Catherine offered. Kyoko was thrilled by the idea of hanging out at Catherine's house, but was troubled by the idea of making the sick woman take her home later.
"I can't make you take me home. You're not feeling well." Kyoko started to refuse the offer, but was stopped when Ren placed his hand on her shoulder.
"I think that is a wonderful idea." Ren prodded the girl into accepting the kind offer. "If it bothers Mogami-san to have you take her home this evening, we would be happy to come back to give her a ride home." Yashiro nodded his agreement as he finished straightening his shirt and retying his tie. Kyoko wanted to disagree, but she really did want to spend more time learning about Catherine, so she agreed.
"Great!" Catherine exclaimed. "Then I will arrange dinner for everyone too." Concern touched Ren for a moment as he stressed his brain to try and remember if Catherine had ever cooked for him before. Unable to come up with an answer he decided that a woman with no cooking tools in her kitchen probably was not the best cook.
"That is not necessary." Ren politely refused the offer. "I don't want you to overwork yourself as you are recovering." Catherine waved the refusal away.
"Nonsense, by that time, I will be much better. Anyway, it's the least I can do for your kindness to me." Catherine left them no more room to deny the offer, so Ren agreed.
"Then we will see you this evening." Yashiro pulled his coat on over his somewhat wrinkled dress shirt. It is amazing the amount of wrinkles a shirt can get when it is slept in. Now properly dresses, the two men said their farewells and left to get Ren a change of clothing. Catherine shut and locked the door behind them before turning to Kyoko with a grin.
"Let me get dresses, and if you feel comfortable enough with English, we can watch a movie before we go get supplies for dinner." Kyoko agreed in English. "Alright, go pick out a movie." Catherine turned to get dressed as Kyoko went over and pulled out the movie with the palindromic title picture. She was sure that any movie with a princess named Buttercup and a pirate had to be a good movie.