Next section, I hope you enjoy it. Please let me know what you think.
Note: I don't own Skip Beat!
Lory arranged a car and driver for Catherine and Kyoko for the next few days until Catherine's shoulder healed enough for her to drive again. It was no time at all till Catherine was back sporting her usually tank top, jeans, and black trench coat. Kyoko did not understand how the woman could where that heavy thing now that the summer had set in fully. It was just way too hot, but the temperature did not seem to bother Catherine.
On one particulate day, the LoveMe crew spent most of the morning redacting and shredding old documents. Chiori was out on another job, which left Kanae, Kyoko, and Catherine to handle the tedious work.
"Why do we have to do all do all of this!" Kanae dropped what would be her tenth box of paperwork on the table before ripping the top off of it. "Doesn't the president have secretaries to do this stuff?" She pulled the first of the folders out and dumped the paperwork into her work space.
"Moko-san. It's part of our job." Kyoko tried to calm her frustrated friend. "Anyway, at least we get to spend time together." Kyoko beamed happily at her friend. Since all of the rumors had started, she had not gotten a chance to spend any time with her friend. Catherine felt kind of bad that she had been keeping Kyoko away from the long hair teen. Catherine looked up from the paper she had just finished coloring to find that it was almost 11 o'clock. She needed to go see the president to give him an update on Kyoko's situation. Having finished the box that she was empting, Catherine stood up and stretched.
"If you ladies will excuse me for a bit, I have a meeting to make before lunch." Catherine collapsed the file box and placed it on the stack with the rest of the empty boxes. "I will meet you in the locker room after lunch, Kyoko-chan." Catherine left to give her report. The two friends spent the rest of their time together chatting about the jobs they had done recently.
The pink of Catherine's LoveMe jumpsuit was out of place against the red and black of the gothic décor of the President's office. She settled herself into the crushed velvet of his chairs to wait for Lory to finish his phone call. The man himself sat on the edge of this desk in full vampire regalia, complete with fangs and violet cat's eye contacts. A velvet cape was draped over the center of the desk. Having finished his business on the phone, he slipped the jewel encrusted item into his pocket and turned his attention to his waiting guest.
"Vhat do you have to report this veek?" Lory asked with a typical Transylvanian vampire accent. Catherine stifled a laugh at the man's antics.
"Nothing new. Things have been fairly quiet." Catherine petted the soft fabric on the arm of the chair. She was amazed how Lory could change the décor of his office so much. He must have a million different chairs stuck in a closet somewhere.
"And you?" Lory prodded Catherine into a subject that she had not wanted to cover.
"Better." Catherine stood up and slipped out of the top of her LoveMe coveralls back to reveal a dark tank top and the bruise that had turned a lovely shade of yellowish-green. "The hip is about the same and neither hurt now." Catherine sat back down letting the top of her suit hang from her waist. Lory nodded his approval before Catherine continued. "So have you heard anything new on the rumors?" This brought a frown to Lory's face.
"Unfortunately I have." Lory shifted the cloak and retrieved a thick folder from his desktop. He handed the file to Catherine to look through. She recognized this folder as the same thin folder that she looked through on the pirate ship just after her first encounter with Sho's fans. There was significantly more information in it now. Catherine flipped through a multiple reports from a plethora of detectives. The all came to the same conclusion. "As you can see, we may have a slight issue."
"I see what you mean." Catherine pulled out an official looking document and read over it. "Do you think this is related to Kyoko getting pushed in front of that car?"
"I hope not," Lory sighed. "But I am afraid that it is." Catherine put the paperwork back into the file and handed it back. "Please watch her very closely for now. I have a few lawyers working on the problem now."
"Of course." Catherine stood to return to her charge. "I will keep her safe." Catherine reassured the worried man.
"I know you will do your best. Please don't tell Kyoko about this until we know what can be done about it." Catherine agreed with Lory's request before leaving his office.
"If we can just make it through till December when Kyoko turns 18 and this will all be over." Lory prayed to the empty office hoping some deity would hear him and protect his young employ.
Catherine arrived to the LoveMe locker room before the two teens did. She quickly stripped off her LoveMe jumpsuit and redressed in her normal tank top and jeans. Her mind spun on the problem just presented to her. If what she had read was true, then Kyoko could be in serious danger in the next few months. Catherine made a mental list of things that she would need to prepare in case things got out of hand. She settled her coat on to her shoulders as Kanae and Kyoko burst into the room.
"I don't ever want to see another paper shredder in my life." Kanae complained as she yanked off her coveralls. "I don't think I will ever be able to get all the ink off my hands." Kyoko agreed with her as she changed into her normal clothing for the ride to her filming. She had to be on location at 2 for her guest appearance in Ren's police drama. "Hey Kyoko-chan, we need to go out together sometime in the near future." Kanae suggested as the two girls got ready to leave. It was the closest thing to admitting that she missed her friend that Kanae would allow.
"That's a wonderful idea!" Kyoko squealed her delight. "How about we go out for ice cream next Thursday afternoon?"
"I am free so as long as it is ok with your manager, I am fine with it." The two girls looked to Catherine. She mentally checked to make sure that Kyoko was free before nodding her approval. Kyoko flung herself at Kanae for a bone grinding hug before the older actress could avoid her. Inside Kanae was glad that they would be able to spend some free time together.
"Come on Kyoko-chan." Catherine saved Kanae from being crushed. "If we don't get going, we will not have time to get lunch when we get there." Kyoko released her friend and bit her farewell before following her manager out to her car. Catherine stripped off her coat and deposited it in the back of the car before she got in. Kyoko pulled out her scrip to go over her lines one last time while Catherine maneuvered the car into traffic. Before long the pair was speeding along the Shuto Expressway in fairly light traffic. Catherine looked in her mirror and let out a light laugh. "Look who'd behind us." Kyoko pulled herself from her script and turned around in her seat to see a familiar silver sports car. Kyoko's phone rang as she turned back around in her seat. Catherine smiled and returned her attention back to the road. She was uncomfortable boxed in between the large truck on her left side and the concrete wall to her right. She hoped the car in front of her would speed up so she could get out of the confining space.
"I see you." Yashiro teased. "Are you on your way to the shoot?" He asked Kyoko.
"Yes, we were going to stop and have lunch when we got in that area." Kyoko explained why they were so early.
"Nice, how about Ren and I join you for lunch?" Yashiro smiled at his charge. Ren just sighed and shook his head at his manager's continuing his matchmaking.
"That would be wonderful. Where would you like to go?" Kyoko and Yashiro talked it out and hung up to inform the drivers of the meeting place. Catherine only partially listened to her; the driver in front of her was acting weird. He would speed up some and then slow down suddenly. Catherine backed off and gave herself ample distance behind the crazy car. When the car sped up again, Catherine followed to try and pass the truck so she could get around the erratic driver. She reached the cab of the larger truck just as a new car came shooting on to the expressway clipping the front end of the truck, causing it to swerve badly. Kyoko screamed as Catherine stomped on the break trying to get out of the way, but it was not enough to completely save them. The truck crossed into her lane and pushed her car over so that the driver's side door scraped against the concrete wall. With no way to get away from the large speeding truck, the two girls were dragged along as the truck driver over corrected, veering away from them, and bounced off the concrete wall on the other side of the road. Catherine cried out to her terrified passenger as she saw the truck shutter before tilting up and over.
Author's note: Muhahahaha…. Got to love cliff hangers!