Well, I see that Chapter 8 fell flat. I hope this one is more to your liking. Enjoy.
Note: I do not own Skip Beat!
Kyoko stood in amazement as she watched Ren take direction from Hideaki. The photographer had placed his new subject against a plain white background that was lit by two very bright lights shining into white umbrella like objects that took the hard edge off the light. Ren stood there and looked out into the darker room as Hideaki captured Kyoko's image on his film. Kyoko could hear the photographer giving soft instructions to his subject, and Ren followed them easily. When the man pointed in a direction Ren would look in that way. Kyoko marveled at how simple her senpai made it look. This continued on for several minutes until Hideaki decided he had enough pictures of the girl standing and casted around for a prop. His eyes landed on the barstool and his well trained staff retrieved it for him before he could even ask for it.
"Have a seat." He said to his subject as the stool was placed in the light. Ren walked over to the seat and hopped up on it. He sat perfectly straight with his hands folded neatly in his lap as he has often seen Kyoko do. He crossed his ankles and hooked his heel over the lowest rung of the bar stool in a very polite and dainty way. Hideaki smiled and took a few pictures of the natural pose the girl chose before getting his subject to let different emotions play across her face. Kyoko watched intently as Ren responded to the softly spoken requests of the photographer. Kyoko's attention was pulled away from the scene when she felt someone step up and stop close by her side. She glanced over at Yashiro before her eyes returned to the action in the lit area.
"He really does an amazing job." Kyoko remarked to the man beside her.
"Just keep watching, that will be you in a little while." Yashiro commented as he watched Hideaki switch his subject's position on the stool. Kyoko swallowed back the nervous edge as Ren slid back to sit deeper on the seat and hooked both heels over the topmost rung of the stool. His legs butterflied out and he leaned forwards slightly to grasp the stool between his thighs. One arm was locked and supported the weight of his body as the other arm bent across his leg so that the hand wrapped lightly around the supporting forearm just below the elbow. From a slightly down cast face, Ren turned serious eyes out towards the man taking the pictures. Hideaki said something to his subject too low for Kyoko to hear and Ren turned his gaze to where Kyoko stood. The look changed from serious to wanton and the photographer clicked happily away on his camera.
The 'come hither' look caused a shiver to run up Kyoko's back and she had to shut her eyes and force herself to breathe evenly through her mouth. She stood there trying to understand the strange longing that washed over the body she was in. Was it a male thing? Or was it some conditioned reactions that Ren's body had? And if it was the second, why would the feeling stir by a look from her? Or was it the knowledge that Ren was turning those heated eyes to her? She shook this last thought away, he was just doing what the photographer told him to do, there was no special meaning behind the fire that lit his eyes. Kyoko's thoughts were interrupted when Yashiro poked her in the side.
"You're being called." Yashiro pointed over to the photographer calling Ren's name. A light color flushed Kyoko's cheeks as she stepped over to see what the man wanted.
"I would like to get both of you in a few shots together." Hideaki said with a smile. Ren stood behind the photographer and smiled. Kyoko's eyes widened a little at the request before shifting her gaze to Ren. He shrugged lightly and nodded, he was up for it if she was. Hideaki notices a hit of reluctance in the tall man, he was usually up for just about anything that the photographer suggested, short of nudity. Kyoko swallowed back her indecision and stepped forwards to join her senpai in the light, she could use this as practice for the real shoot that was yet to come.
Hideaki had Kyoko in her larger frame stand behind Ren. Ren folded his arms over his chest and grasped his upper arms before leaning his smaller frame back to rest against the chest behind him. Kyoko wrapped her arms around Ren to rest her hands over his. Yashiro smiled as he watched the pair settle into their pose. He dropped the knowledge that the two actors were reversed and looked on them as an outside person would, Ren stood a little stiff wrapped around the girl he cared about. A wide grin split the man's face as he held in the joy at seeing his project couple so close together. Hideaki looked at the pair through his viewfinder and frowned.
"Relax Ren." He called to the tense actor. He was not sure what was going on, the man that was usually very easy to work with was all tense while the girl that claimed she knew nothing of modeling was doing an exquisite job. He expected it to be the other way around. Hideaki pause as a thought crossed his mind, maybe it was the young girl that had put his model off. He watched as the girl tilted her head up and spoke quite words to the man behind her. This seemed to solve the problem, Ren melted round his guest and the two looked back towards the photographer with calm, almost content eyes, he quickly lifted his camera back up and captured the images he was trying for. He had the pair run through a few more couple pictures with no more sign of reluctance from his male model.
As the pair shifted through the different poses, all of which Ren had shown her during their training session, Kyoko listened to the quiet reassuring words of her senpai. His soothing whispers were more than enough to get her to relax and slip farther into the image of the tall actor that she was trying to portray. At Hideaki's urging, Kyoko bend Ren backwards into a more intimate position. Ren gasped as Kyoko took his weight into her arms and held him by a hand on the hip and an arm across the back, Ren reached up instinctively and lightly grasped onto the shoulders and neck above him. Kyoko has slipped into her new role completely and now supported the man inhabiting her body parallel to the floor. Looking into the familiar golden eyes pulled a strange feeling from Kyoko, a longing that she was unfamiliar with and she held Ren tighter so he press against her front. Ren was shocked that the innocent girl in his body could make such a wanton thing of her own accord. He closed his eyes while dropping his head back to try and stop the strange feelings running through him. His eyes shot open and he gasped at the feel of the rough stubble and soft lips pressing into the pulse point of his neck. His leg lifted from the floor as his knee bent up involuntarily. Hideaki clicked away furiously on his camera as he caught the sincere expressions on the young girl's face. Yashiro dropped to sit on the floor in excitement as he pressed his pocket handkerchief to his nose to stop the blood trying to gush out. There were other signs of joy from the surrounding crew, but these were interrupted by a loud blast of French words that issued from the model that pushed her way into the studio suddenly.
"Je suis désolé, mais je suis en retard. Le trafic était horrible." Marianna Adual called as she rushed into the room followed by her manager. Kyoko popped out of the character she was in to find her lips pressed against Ren's neck causing her mind to short circuit for a moment and she quickly withdrew her hands from the places where they were touching her senpai. How could she do such a thing to someone so important! Most of the eyes in the room had turned to see the arrival of the French model so they did not see the young girl drop from the tall actor's arms to the floor.
Ren sat on the bar stool and watched Kyoko take direction from Hideaki. He was proud of the way that she had slipped back into her character after their little mishap. Yashiro closed behind him and placed a bag of crushed ice on the knot that had formed on the back of his head. The drop to the floor had not been that far, but the angle his head had been in caused it to hit first. Kyoko had nearly broken down in tears over the whole event, having no idea what had come over her to make her act in such lustful manor. Kyoko was ready to howl her normal apology for the injury that she had caused her respected senpai, not to mention her body, but she had been stopped when Yashiro suddenly appeared next to them. A stern glance from him as he checked Ren over had reminded Kyoko that she was playing Ren and 'HE' would not make such a scene. Kyoko bit back her response and was able to regain her compositor to slip back into the mindset of the character she was supposed to be portraying. She politely apologized to the 'girl' she had dropped and asked if there was any injury. Ren assured her that he was ok and when they locked eyes, he knew he was going to get one of her dogeze bows as soon as they were alone.
Yashiro handed Ren the can of peach juice that he had retrieved for the actor and watch Kyoko put out a series of heated expressions that made the female staff members swoon. Hideaki loved it, usually Ren was just a little more reserved, but the emotion he showed today was exquisite. The photographer paused and had his subject switch backgrounds. Ren's eyes narrowed as one of the female staff stepped close to Kyoko and flirted with her. Kyoko smiled brightly and said something back that made the woman blush and giggle. Ren was not close enough to hear the words exchanged, but he swore he heard the woman's heart beat from across the room.
"How much of a playboy does she think I am?" Ren growled low. Yashiro chuckled at the jealousy coming off the actor. Yashiro uncapped his water bottle and raised it up in front of him as he thought of a response.
"You're just jealous that she's not flirting with you." Ren glared up at his chuckling manager. Yashiro sighed away his mirth and took on a more serious expressing. "Have you ever given her a reason to think you were not?" Yashiro took a sip of his water as Ren let out a deep sigh of his own and dropped his face to his hand. There had been many times that he had shown the girl affection and played it off as something lighter. No wonder her view of him was skewed. He had to set the girl's image of him right or she would never see his advances as anything more than fooling around. Ren found something to retort when Yashiro's eyes looked up and went sharp warning Ren that they were about to have company. Ren turned to see Marianna Adual had finally come out of the makeup room and was heading straight for them. The woman's eyes were locked on Ren, but not in a good way. The model stopped right in front of where Ren was sitting and glared at him.
"Are you trying to steal my job?" She asked. She had not liked that Hideaki had started the shoot without her, even if she had been forty minutes late. And she really had not been happy to find a slip of a girl in the arms of the handsome model that was her partner for this shoot. Ren stared at the woman in shock, he had not expected such venom from the famous model.
"N-no" Ren stuttered too stunned for more words.
"Are you a model?" She asked with no less venom.
"No, I am an actress." Ren answered as he started to recover. Marianna glared at him again.
"Then I suggest you leave modeling to the professionals." The woman huffed at him and turned away to where the photographer was working. "Amateur." She hissed as she left. Ren and Yashiro both watched the woman leave with wide eyes. They could not believe the audacity of the woman.
"Rawr." Yashiro made a cat crawling motions in the air toward the woman's back. Ren giggle at him and they watched as the woman tried to playing the perfect innocent girl for the photographer and Ren. Having been very late, she had gone straight to the makeup room and not properly greeted the 'men' she would be working with. Ren and Yashiro watched as the French woman greeted both the photographer and Kyoko with kisses on the cheeks. She gave Kyoko and extra kiss before turning her attention to work. Hideaki sent Kyoko back to the makeup room to get changed and placed Marianna in his spot for some individual pictures, but both of the spectators noticed the way the French model watched her coworker walk away. "I think she may have designs on you." Yashiro leaned in close to Ren and whispered.
"I think you are right." Ren nodded, it was clear from the look on her face that she would try something to draw the handsome man to her during the shoot
"Do you think it will work?" Yashiro chuckled at Ren.
"I think snowballs would have a better chance in Hell." Ren grinned wide in the knowledge that nothing the woman could do would sway Kyoko's heart.
"Want to have some fun?" Yashiro raised an eyebrow in suggestion and Ren smile deviously at him. They knew it would be a bad idea to mess around with the model, but it would serve her right for treating 'Kyoko' is such a rude fashion. Ren put down his ice bag and picked up a water bottle to go check on Kyoko. Yashiro laughed to himself when Marianna's eyes caught and narrowed at the sight of his companion leaving. This photo shoot was most definitely going to cause rumors.