Thanks Manga Ren. Woke up this morning with some great ideas.
Of couse Deets, what fun would it have been for them to wait a few weeks, arrest the mother, and then get married.. no pizzazz in that. Got to add a little termoil to make life intresting.
I hope you all enjoy it.
And we continue!
Note: I do not own Skip Beat!.
Ren listened to his captives talking softly as he remained still under the blanket. The position that they put him in was not very comfortable, but he wanted to see if he could figure out what was going on.
"Are you sure you did not get hurt?" Kyoko asked Catherine again.
"Yes, I am sure I am fine." Catherine answered for the tenth time since they got into the car. "Don't worry about it." Catherine tried to make the girl stop worrying.
"But…" Kyoko started, but Catherine cut her off.
"We don't even know for sure." Ren could hear the annoyance in her voice. "Plus you promised not to mention it to anyone." Now he could hear the determination in her voice.
"But…" Kyoko tried again.
"Please Kyoko, it's important." Catherine fell to begging the girl. Kyoko was silent for a moment before reluctantly agreeing. They drove on in silence while Ren tried to figure out what the girls were keeping secret.
Ren sent up a silent prayer to whatever deity was listening when Catherine turned off the car. He had not wanted to alert the girls that he was awake so he hadn't moved since they packed him in the seat and he was starting to hurt. He had turned his mind to the situation and why they had kidnapped him. He would gladly have gone with them if they had asked. There was no reason to get violent about it. He also puzzled on the odd thumps that issued from the seat every now and then, but he could not think what could cause it.
"Let's see if we can get him inside." Catherine got out of the car and popped the door by the actor's head. She grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him from the car. Kyoko quickly cupped his legs to her hip at the knees so that his feet would not hit the ground. Ren thought about fighting back, but his curiosity made him remain limp and let the two girls manhandle him. Catherine supported his weight on her thigh and banged on the door of the small house. A man opened it and the two girls finessed the heavy actor inside. They laid him down on the living room rug and Kyoko snatched a pillow from the couch for his head.
"I know you told me that you were going to bring some friends over, but you did not tell me that I would have the Ren Tsuruga tied up in my living room. Man Kitty, you're always full of surprises." The owner of the house spoke to his friend in English as he took in the scene. Catherine stood up and gave the man a hug and spoke in English back to him.
"Well Con, you wouldn't love us if we didn't add spice to your life." He laughed at her. "Come give me a hand." They left Kyoko to tend Ren. They came back in a few minutes later with a very mad and struggling Yashiro. They managed to get him over to the floor next to Ren before they dropped him. Kyoko looked at the manager in surprise. Yashiro was rumpled and missing his glasses, but he recognized Kyoko when he rolled away from his captors.
"Where did he come from?" Kyoko asked. Yashiro begged Kyoko with his eyes to help him.
"The trunk." Catherine responded nonchalantly as she squatted next to him. She tried to place a hand on his shoulder but he flinched away. He kept looking to Kyoko to save him from the crazy woman behind him. It broke her heart, but she backed away and let Kyoko help the man to sit up. He glared daggers at the woman that he had loved as she took a seat on a stool across the room from him. The stocky man handed her a mug and she thanked him in English. She watched the two captives for a few moments as she sipped her coffee. Kyoko sat by her love petting his hair and waiting for him to wake up.
"Ren, I know I did not hit you that hard." Catherine finally gave up waiting him out. "Quit faking so we can talk." On that note, he sat up and turned questioning eyes to the woman. Kyoko gasped at the actor, she was sure that he was still unconscious. Catherine let out a deep sigh and sat her coffee on the counter and went to squat in front of the two men. "Now if you both promise not to cause a fuss, we will untie you." Ren nodded and Yashiro glared at her for a long moment till he nodded quickly too. Catherine reached up and pulled the tape as carefully as she could from Ren's mouth. He grumbled at the pain as she reached over and pulled the tape off Yashiro's mouth too. The two captives worked the pain from there face while Catherine dropped herself to the floor in a bow.
"Now before you rip me up, please let me apologize for kidnapping you and explain." Catherine held her spot on the floor as Kyoko moved over and joined her. Even though they were still tied up, the apology calmed the men's anger as curiosity took over.
"What's going on?" Ren asked to the girls on the floor. Catherine sat up and looked at him seriously.
"We kidnapped you." She explained.
"I figured that." Ren continued. "We would have come quietly if you asked." Catherine pulled a pair of wire snips out of her pocket and proceeded to free the actor's limbs.
"I know that, but it would not serve our purpose for you to come quietly." Catherine explained as she freed Yashiro. The manager rubbed the angry red line on his wrists where the ties had cut in. "We needed you to struggle." Catherine explained. The two captives looked at the girl as if she lost her mind. Catherine pulled Yashiro's glasses from her inside coat pocket and offered them up to him. He took them and put them on so he could see.
"Why?" Yashiro asked as he folded his legs under him and rubbed where the ties had cut into his ankles. Catherine returned her clippers to her jacket pocket and looked at the two men.
"So Lory does not think you ran off when you don't show up for work tomorrow." Both of the men listened to Catherine as she explained the harebrained scheme. "As we traveled around the country, I came to the conclusion that if someone was going to try to get a hit in on Kyoko, they would do it when we tried to come back to LME at her birthday." The men agreed with this. "So to keep that from happening, we came up with the idea of getting her married and having Lory send a copy of the marriage certificate to Kyoko's mother and the insurance company. This should take away any reason that she would want Kyoko dead." The young actress had sat up and was very depressed at her manager's words. Ren's itched with the need to hold the girl he loved in his arms, but he needed to understand why Catherine had chosen this path.
"So you kidnapped me?" Ren asked as he turned it over in his mind. Catherine nodded. "So I would have an excuse to take time off to get married?" Catherine nodded again. "And you attached us to make it look real?" Catherine nodded one more time. "Do you know how pissed Lory is going to be when we do get back?" Catherine nodded her head again.
"I'm probably not going to be on his list of favorite people." Catherine chuckled. "But this way, it's only me on his bad girl list, not you." Ren chuckled at this. Yashiro sat thinking about his part in this play.
"Why did you kidnap me?" He asked, he could not see how he fit in. Catherine turned sad eyes to him.
"We needed to get the card to get into Ren's apartment building from you." She felt bad about drugging him. "I couldn't just leave you asleep in that ally." Kyoko turned wide eyes to her manager; she had not asked how she got the card for Ren's building. Yashiro let out an exasperated sigh.
"And what's to make Lory think that I was not in on this?" Yashiro rubbed his eyes to ease the pain that the ether had left in his head.
"Well, I kind of tossed your apartment." Catherine admitted sheepishly. Yashiro put his glasses back on and stared at the woman wide eyed.
"You did what?" He exclaimed.
"Well I had to find your Inkan." Catherine explained. "You will need it to witness the marriage." Yashiro let out a loud squee as joy rushed through the man. He would get to sign his favorite couple's marriage certificate! It almost made up for the entire drugging thing. Ren chuckled at the man's joy. Ren turned the plan over in his mind. If they could pull it off, it would be perfect. They had just over a week till Kyoko's birthday, but there were a lot of things that had to be done between now and then. Ren saw a few flaws in her plans.
"There are some problems with this." Ren pointed out. Catherine turned her attention to him. "Where are we going to hide out, and what about the paperwork?" Catherine smiled at him.
"We are not going to 'hide'." Ren looked at her confused. "There is too much stuff to get done to go into hiding." Catherine went on. "The easiest way to get everything that needs doing done, is for you to resume being who you are for a bit." Ren blanched at her suggestion. For him to go back to being Kuon meant leaving his disguise behind and telling people the truth. Yashiro sat quietly as he took in the meaning of her words. There was the possibility that he would find out who Ren really was. "I'm not suggesting you announce it all of Japan, but there is some paperwork that you are going to have to go fill out in person, and it would raise questions if you go in as Tsuruga Ren." Ren stopped to think about that. He had been so busy worrying about Kyoko that he had not even looked into how to get married in Japan.
"You have a point." Ren reluctantly agreed with you. "What do you suggest?" He considered Catherine very carefully.
"Well, for started, why don't you bring Yashiro-san up to speed, and we will go make something to eat." Pain shot through Yashiro's heart when the girl he loved called him so formally. Even though she had treated him so badly, he did not want that distance between them. He watched with sad eyes as Catherine and Kyoko dropped their coat off on the couch and went to join the man in the kitchen. A bolt of jealousy hit him when Catherine bumped into the man and he wrapped his arm around her in a comforting squeeze. Yashiro seethed as Catherine dropped her head to his shoulder and let out a deep breath before following Kyoko into the kitchen. The man turned a look to Yashiro that was almost disappointment before shaking his head and following the two girls into the kitchen. Yashiro was shocked from his anger by the man's actions. What could he have meant by that? The manager turned to face his charge so that Ren could fill him in.
"So, what's going on?"