Here is the next bit. See I am not completely evil leaving you hanging on a double cliffhanger for long. I hope you enjoy it. Please let me know.
Note: I do not own Skip Beat!
The shrill tones of Kyoko's phone pulled Catherine to consciousness. She groaned and smacked her lips as she tried to figure out where she was. The copper taste of blood cut through the fuzz as she ran her tongue over the slightly bleeding lip she had cracked on the back of Kyoko's head. Having foreseen their fate, Catherine had hit the release on the terrified actress' seat belt and shoved her to the floorboard before the truck crushed the top down trapping the girls in the car. The phone sounded again as Catherine opened her eyes to stare into the darkness filling the car. She could feel the small shard of windshield glass and something cold pressing into her cheek and arm as she shifted on the passenger seat. Taking stock of her pains, Catherine found that she was pinned by the steering column where it had been pressed in to her lap and she had a sharp pain in her side from the angle at which she was bent, but she didn't feel seriously hurt. She shifted her arm up to find the actress slumped on the floor.
"Kyoko." Catherine called as she patted the unconscious girl on the shoulder. Kyoko moaned as the phone rang again. Kyoko moved and was brought back to life by something cold that slipped from the top of her head and fell down the back of her shirt. The girl squealed and tried to thrash about until Catherine grabbed her shoulder. "Be still!" Catherine hissed. Kyoko's head came dangerously close to hitting Catherine in the face again. "Breathe." Catherine tried to calm the frightened actress. Kyoko took several deep breaths as she forced herself to be still. Once calmer, she squirmed so she could pull her shirt out to let the cold thing fall to the floorboards behind her. The phone buzzed again. "Can you reach that?" Catherine asked the girl jammed in the confined space. The shrill tone was starting to get on her nerves. She had a good idea about who was calling and figured he would continue until he got an answer. Kyoko tried to wiggle enough to reach the device, but being a victim of inertia, it had slid under the seat into the back floorboard.
"No, I can't get too it." Kyoko fidgeted a little more trying for the irritating thing as it rang once more. She gave up and relaxed into as much of a comfortable position as she could get.
"Are you ok?" Catherine changed the subject to a more pressing issue. She could not see her charge in the darkness caused by the truck. Kyoko felt her forehead and found a bump in the middle of a sore spot, but there was no blood. Otherwise the girl was mostly unharmed.
"I think so." Any more response was cut off by Kyoko's phone ringing again. Catherine snickered in response, not because the situation was funny, but because she needed to let off some tension. Catherine laughed even harder when the phone in her pocket lit up.
"He's calling me now." Catherine chuckled as she fidgeted to get the phone vibrating in her pocket. She accidently hit the receive button as she slipped the devise out.
Ren paced as he tried Kyoko's manager's number, his anxiety growing with each unanswered call. He froze when the call finally connected.
"Catherine." He called anxiously into the receiver. Yashiro tensed as the sound of the actor's voice. Ren could only hear rustling and a loud thump followed by an explicative as Catherine fished the fallen phone back up. Ren started to breathe again when he heard the dulcet tones of Catherine's voice echoing through the phone.
"You know there are laws against phone harassment." A spark of hope flared in Ren's chest. If Catherine was well enough to tease him, then they were ok, but he had to make sure.
"Is she ok?" Catherine could hear the worry in the Ren's voice. Catherine looked over to where she could just see the trapped actress in the light from her phone.
"Well, if you call being trapped in a pile of broken glass and….. what are these?" Catherine poked at one of the grayish cold chunks beside her face. "Shrimp? Why are there shrimp in my car?" Catherine remembered what she was saying. "Oh, right. If trapped in a pile of broken glass and shrimp is ok, than she is just hunky dory." Relief washed over the tall actor as his knees buckled under him and he dropped to the roadway. Yashiro closed the distance to his charge eager for news of the girls.
"Would you like to talk to her?" Catherine could tell what the actor wanted. Ren nodded before realizing that Catherine could not see it and voiced his answer. Catherine held the phone out for the actress to take, addressing the girl in a sing-song tone. "It's for you." Kyoko took the phone and spoke into the receiver.
"Hello." Ren closed his eyes and relished every note of his beloved kohai's voice.
"Oh, thank god. Are you alright Kyoko?" Ren had to hear it from his love before he could be calm.
"Yes. I got a bump on my head, but I think I am ok." Kyoko touched the knot again. Ren relaxed in the knowledge of the girl's safety. Yashiro, on the other hand, was ready to rip the phone away from Ren so that he could find out about Catherine. Hearing that Ren had reached the trapped girls had jumpstarted the emotions that he had shut down. Ren could feel the nervous energy rolling off his manager as he shifted his weight from foot to foot. Ren looked up at the anxious man and asked the question he could see in his friends face.
"How is Catherine?" Kyoko turned her head to see the woman resting across the seat behind her. Kyoko could read the pain growing on her face in the light of the phone. Catherine's legs were pinned firmly to the driver's seat while her body bent over sharply to lie on the passenger's seat. She could not sit up to relieve the pressure on her spine due to the crushed in top just a few inches above the woman. The only thing that kept the ceiling from resting on the manager was the broken seat back and the dashboard. Catherine tried to breathe normally, but the presser on her ribs from the strange position was starting to make her pant lightly.
"I think she is ok for the moment, but we need to get her out of here as soon as possible." Worries slipped back into Ren as he listened to the actress describe the position her manager was trapped in. Yashiro keyed in on Ren's worry and stilled as he waited for a verdict from the actor.
"Just tell them I am ok and to get the dam truck off us." Catherine interjected her opinion into conversation. Ren relayed the message to Yashiro. The male manager snickered in spite of the situation and turned to watch the first of the fire trucks pull up.
"The emergency crew is here." Ren reassured the young woman as he picked himself up from the road so he and Yashiro could head over to let them know the girls were alive. Upon hearing that they had a line into the crushed car, the EMT requested to talk to the trapped women. Kyoko updated the medic on their condition and the man handed the phone back to Ren so they could get moving. They determined that it was important to get the trapped manager out of the painful position as soon as possible.
The fire man spent the better part of an hour unloading the cases of shrimp to make it easier to tip the truck up off the car. Yashiro had stripped out of this jacket and jumped into the bucket line to help clear out the mess. When Ren offered, he was told by the EMT that he would best help by keeping the girls calm and informing them on the condition of the trapped women. Ren gave Kyoko a play by play detail of the clearing of the vehicle while Catherine kept them laughing with an unending supply of stupid jokes that were completely inappropriate give the current situation. After about thirty minutes, she informed Kyoko that she could no longer feel her legs and the muscles of her back were cramping up. Shortly after that, the older woman started perspiring profusely and stopped responding to Kyoko's words as she tried to control the pain issuing from her side. Ren's anxiety level rose when Catherine stopped poking fun at their predicament. Ren's eyes driffed to his friend tossing boxes from the back of the truck. He wasn't about to worry him more with this development.
Once most of the boxes had been shifted out of the truck, the road crew got a crane hooked up to truck. The EMT advised Ren to tell the girls to cover their heads as best they can while they pulled the truck off the car. Kyoko prodded Catherine back to attention and got her to cover her face before telling her senpai that they were ready. Yashiro joined Ren at a safe distance while the truck was lifted to reveal the mangled car containing the girls. The only thing that kept the actor from running to the flattened car was the phone pressed to the side of his head. Yashiro had to turn away when the emergency crew descended upon the twisted metal with the hydraulic cutters. His heart would not let him stand there and watch without being able to help. Ren placed his hand on the distressed man's shoulder trying to comfort him. It only took a few minutes for the 'jaws of life' to chomp through the top of the torn up car and the fire fighters to fold the thick metal back to expose the two trapped women. Unable to hear anything but the crunching metal through the phone, Ren hung on with all the patience of a father awaiting his first child as he inched closer to the wreckage. The crew helped Catherine to straighten out before they extracted the cramped actress. Ren's heart leapt to the sound of cheering as the firemen lifted the stiff girl from the car and gently lowered her to the ground on the driver's side of the car, away from the mangled truck.
Kyoko staggered as her sore muscles refused her weight. She was saved from the ground as Ren grabbed her up and crushed her to his crest. The EMT could not stop the man from taking possession of the young woman as she came out of the car. Ren squeezed the girl against him and kissed her temple. He did not care if she tried to run right now, he needed to feel her against him to know that she was safe. The entire ordeal had completely crushed his self-control. Seeing that he was not going to get the injured girl from the tall man, the EMT took Ren by the elbow and pulled the two over to the waiting ambulance to check the girl over. Ren loosened his hold on Kyoko just enough to pick her up and follow the medic away from the wreck that the crew was trying to get Catherine out of.
Kyoko's mind was not working as she let the tall actor cradle her in his arms. She was relived to be free of the terrifying ordeal, but she was not sure how to handle the blatant affection that Ren was showing her at the moment. Even to her love-resistant brain, she could feel the emotion Ren put into his embrace. The tender kiss he had pressed to her temple had burnt its self into her skin. Her grudges ran around screaming as they looked for a way to keep the last of the locks on her box. Chalking his behavior up to the stressful situation and his gentlemanly ways, Kyoko rested her head against her senpai's chest and relaxed. She felt like she was taking advantage of his kindness, but she had just spent the last hour listening to his voice reassuring her that everything would be ok, and as she rested in his arms, she believed it. A twinge of regret filled her as Ren sat her down in the ambulance so the medic could check her over. The actor started to pull away only to find that his hand was trapped by the young girl. He gave her a smile so gentle that it made one of the female onlookers pass out before he laced his fingers together with hers. Ren could feel that his mask had cracked and he was not sure if any amount of glue to tape could ever repair it. Something nagged at Ren's consciousness as he realized that the fan-girl squeals he had come to expect at these moments were missing. He turned to find his personal cheering section was being held back by a couple of officers as he waited for news of the girl still trapped in the car. Ren had completely forgotten about the woman that the firemen were still cutting from the car. What was left of the joy he found at Kyoko's touch died as he watched the emergency squad carry over a backboard for the injured woman.