Chapter 13, Where has all the Rum gone! (sorry, could no help it) Please let me know what you think.

Note: I do not own Skip Beat!

Kyoko walked back out into the living room to find Ren standing by the couch with a glass of ambler colored liquid. She walked over to him and he placed her on the couch and pressed the glass into her hand. She looked into the drink Ren had given her and swirled it around the glass. A rich smell reached her nose and she knew it was some form of alcohol.

"What is this?" Kyoko asked as she drew in the rich scent of the drink. Ren sat down on the couch next to her and tucked his feet up under him so he was slightly facing her.

"Rum." He answered and Kyoko looked at him warily.

"You know I am under age." She said with a raised eyebrow.

"Not at the moment, you're not." Ren smiled at her. "I know my limits and there is not enough there to get you drunk, just enough to help sooth your frayed nerves." Ren's smile softened a little to something more reassuring. "If you don't want to drink it, that's fine." Kyoko realized that Ren was trying to help and took a small sip of the drink. She was expecting a biting edge to the liquor, but was surprised to find the rich nutty flavor to be somewhat akin to very dark chocolate and slipped down her throat with a warmth that reach clear to her core. She looked at Ren in awe, the only real experience she had had with alcohol was that one time Sho had snitched some sake from the stores at his family's ryokan, and that had not turned out very well.

"This is….. good." Ren smiled as Kyoko took another sip of the rum. He had hoped that she would like the drink. He waited for her to lower the glass before turning to what he needed to say. He was starting to feel the relaxing effects of the shots that he had taken.

"Would you like me to answer your question?" Ren penetrated her with his eyes. Kyoko rested her hand on her leg and sat her drink in her palm as she thought about what she wanted. She knew that Ren kept secrets about who he was, and it was his right to, but curiosity burned inside of her.

"You don't have to tell me." Kyoko answered. Who was she to ask the great man about his personal life? She could feel Ren's eyes burning her skin as she stared down into the drink resting in her lap.

"That is not what I asked." Ren sighed. "Do YOU want me to answer your question?" He rephrased his request. Kyoko picked the drink up and took a long pull at it before placing it back in her palm. She weighed her heart and nodded her head. She did really want to know who Ren really was. Ren took a deep breath and looked at the rum in Kyoko's glass; he longed to take it from her and down it himself. He let the air out slowly so that he could steady himself for his story.

"You know that Tsuruga Ren is my stage name?" Ren started somewhere that would be easy for Kyoko to handle. Kyoko looked up from her glass and pinned Ren with his own swimming blue eyes. She nodded her head and Ren went on. "When I took up that name, I changed my appearance so that no one would recognize me for who I was." Kyoko cocked her head a little as confusion creased her brow.

"Why?" She asked. Ren took another deep breath. Maybe it was the fact that he was telling Kyoko, or because he was looking into his own eyes, or it could have been the buzz he felt from the rum, or maybe a combination of all three; Ren was not sure, but he was finding it easier to tell his story then he had first thought it would be.

"When I started acting my father was well known in the field, so I was held to a higher standard than a new talent should have been." Ren explained and Kyoko hung on his every word. "I ended up with parts that I had no business in and got frustrated every time the directors would fire me for not doing the job properly." Ren had worked himself into full steam and pushed on to the real reason he was hiding. "I also got picked on about my mixed blood, which caused me to get into a lot of trouble." Kyoko broken into his story as his words hit her.

"Wait, did you say mixed blood?" Confusion deepened the furrow on her brow. Ren nodded.

"How many pure blood Japanese do you know that have golden blond hair and blue eyes?" He asked her. Kyoko turned to look at her drink again as she thought about this. Ren sat on pins as she raised the glass to her lips again and took another slow pull of the alcohol.

"You have a point." She said as she slowly set the glass back in her hand. "Please go on." She turned thoughtful eyes back to Ren.

"Towards the end I spiraled out of control and did some things I regret." Ren wrapped his arms around him and rubbed his hands up and down his arms to try and drive the cold he felt away. "The consequences of those actions broke me and I could no longer function as who I was." Kyoko watched as the memory held for so long tormented him. Ren closed his eyes as a single tear slipped from the corner and Kyoko pulled her hand from under her glass and reached out to place it reassuringly on the knees pointing towards her. Ren's eyes opened when he felt the warm pressure on his knee. He had expected Kyoko to scorn him for his actions, not comfort him in his anguish. Ren reached down and to pick up the hand on his knee. He marveled for a moment at how much bigger his hands were then Kyoko's before taking it up and lacing their fingers together. Kyoko gave him a little squeeze of support and he held to her like the last life line of a drowning sailor.

"At the darkest point in my despair, my father called Lory to come help and I jumped at the opportunity to leave the wreck I had made of my life. To start fresh and new somewhere that did not know me. It was a chance to prove to myself and the world that I could stand on my own without trying to live in the shadow of my father." Ren looked down at his fingers laced with Kyoko and tried not to cry.

"To fly without your wing being torn by the hands of your father." Kyoko spoke softly as she remembered another precious person's words.

"Exactly." Ren sniffled not realizing that Kyoko had used his own words on him. Kyoko sat her drink down on the table in front of her and shifted so she could pull Ren into her arms. When his head hit her chest he realized that she was not going to push him away for this part of his revelation and he cried in earnest as a weight lifted from his heart. Kyoko held him close until the last of the racking sobs passed and he was able to push away from her and sit up on his own.

"Thank you." Ren said as he wiped the remnants of the tears from his face. He froze as he pulled his hand across his eye and realized the unmanly thing he had just done. "Did I just cry my eyes out?" Ren asked in shock, even when he was at his darkest point he had never really cried like that. Got mad, got drunk, got violent, shut down; yes, but never cried. Kyoko chuckled at the shock on his face.

"Hormones are terrible things." Kyoko drained the rest of the rum from her glass and stood up to take it to the kitchen. She still had a ton of questions that she wanted to ask him, but she could tell that he was not up to answering anymore tonight. It was starting to get late and she already had a lot of stuff to think about. Kyoko rinsed out the glass and left it by the sink for a proper washing tomorrow. She was starting to feel the first touches of the alcohol. She walked out and looked at Ren still frozen on the couch.

"Come on. It's time for bed." She called and he popped up as if he had been waiting for her word. Ren sat back down on the coach as quickly as he had stood up. Apparently two shots were way more than Kyoko's small frame could handle comfortable. Either that or the proof on that rum was much higher then he remembered. Ren stood back up under the watchful eyes of Kyoko and tried to walk, but found that his balance was less than stellar as he stumbled and plopped back down to the couch. Kyoko came to him to find out what was wrong.

"Are you all right?" She asked in a concerned tone and reach out to help her senpai up. Ren took her hand and stood just to sway into her arms.

"Yes, I just…." Ren stopped before he admitted what he had done. She had not turned him away for his past deeds, but would she forgive him for abusing her body in such a way. Kyoko's eyes narrowed as she figured out the truth.

"You had some of that rum didn't you?" Kyoko glowered at Ren as he hung his head and tried to not look as guilty as he felt. "You know I'm under age." Ren looked up and gave her a sweet smile.

"I'm adding to the delinquency of a minor?" He teased her and she rolled her eyes at him. She really could not get mad at him. What he had just done took courage, but she wished he had not found it in a bottle.

"It's bed time." She growled at him and swept his feet from under him. Ren giggled at the sensation of weightlessness as Kyoko carried him from the living room. Now that he was unburdened by the weight of his past the effects of the alcohol were hitting him hard. He wrapped his arms around her and nuzzled into the crook of her neck and took a deep breath. It was his familiar scent, yet the body he was in responded to it. He liked the hint of sandalwood on top of his own smell and he was sure that if he liked it in Kyoko's body, she would once she was back there.

"Remind me to get some of that shaving cream." Ren muttered into the side of Kyoko's neck. Kyoko gasped as she felt Ren's lips move on the side of her neck. She had just reached the edge of Ren's king sized bed so she tossed him lightly into the middle so that she was no longer touching him. Her grudges were all clinging to the lid of the box as the hinge groaned from the pressure of the feelings inside trying to escape. Ren squealed as he was unexpectedly flung into the bed and bounced laughing in the middle. He rested back on the comforter giggling as Kyoko dug through the bag that he had packed. She pulled out the different clothing before shoving them back in the bag and looking up at him.

"You forgot to pack pajamas." Kyoko and Ren stared at each other for a moment before Ren burst out laughing at his own error. Once he calmed down he rolled from the bed and dug into his dresser and pulled out two set of clothing for them to wear. The first were his favorite black silk pants and a soft cotton shirt, and the second was a pair of silk pajamas that had a drawstring in them. Knowing that she would be very comfortable in them, he gave the shirt and pants to Kyoko and took the silk pajamas for himself. Kyoko took the offered clothing and left for the bathroom to get changed.

"Even in someone else's body, you're always the modest one." Ren sighed and pulled off his shirt and flung it onto the floor. He unhooked the bra and deposited it in the same manner next to the first article of clothing her had removed. Ren stared at them for a moment before pulling on the top of the pajamas. He then pulled off his socks and pants and tossed them down on the floor to crumple next to the first two articles. Ren pulled on his pants and pulled the string up so that they would not fall to the floor. He had to roll the hems up several times so that he would not tread on the ends of the legs as he walked. He looked back down at the rumpled pile of clothing now on his floor.

"Not exactly how I dreamed her clothing would get on my floor." Ren sighed.

"What was that?" Kyoko asked as she walked through the bedroom door. She had heard him speak, but she could not hear what he said. A dark blush bloomed on Ren's cheeks as he whipped around to look at the tall frame standing in the door way.

"NOTHING!" Ren said a little louder than he had intended. Kyoko raised her eyebrows as Ren tried to find a way out of his predicament. "I need to go to the bathroom." Ren cried as he rushed past his companion. Kyoko looked over to what he had been looking at and sighed when she saw her clothing strewn about.

Ren came back from the bathroom to find that Kyoko had picked up and folded the clothing he had taken off. She had also turned down his bed and was sitting on the edge waiting for his return. Kyoko stood up as Ren came over and she helped him into the bed.

"What are you doing?" He asked as Kyoko pulled the bedding up over him.

"You're drunk so I am making sure you get to bed properly." She said as she tucked Ren in.

"I am not drunk." He grumbled, the shock of Kyoko walking in on his mussing had sobered him slightly, but he was still feeling the alcohol. Kyoko smiled at him and reached to turn the light by the bed off. Ren grabbed her hand before she could touch it. "Where are you going?" Kyoko looked down at him.

"I am going to sleep in the spare bedroom." She informed Ren. Ren pulled the blankets back and started to get up.

"Oh, no you are not." Ren made to get out of the big bed. "The spare beds are nice, but they are too small. I know what it's like to sleep in them. I bought this bed so that I could stretch out and be comfortable." 'Among other things.' Ren thought to himself before going on. "Since you are me today, you get to sleep in the big bed. I will go and sleep in the guest room." Kyoko placed her hands on Ren's shoulders so that he could not get up.

"I will not take your bed away from you." Kyoko complained as she pushed him back into the bed. Ren looked up at the hardheaded woman.

"Fine." Ren said stubbornly. "We will just have to share this bed." Kyoko seized up as she listened to her senpai's words. Did he have any idea what he was saying!

"Just lay down, you're drunk and…" Kyoko started to press Ren back to the bed, but he pushed her hands away and sat up with his arms crossed over his chest.

"I told you I am not drunk." He interrupted her words. "Anyway, you would be sleeping with your own body, and I would be sleeping with mine, so there is nothing improper about it." Something occurred to him and he voiced his thoughts to the girl glaring back at him. "Besides, what would happen if the fairy's spell took effect and we were not together?" Ren knew it would still be a while before the spell would take work, but he did not know if they would need to be touching for it to work. Kyoko's eyes widened and her mouth fell open as she thought about this. Kyoko reluctantly agreed and Ren smiled as she walked to the other side of the bed and slipped under the covers. Ren noted that she lay on her side on the very edge of the bed. Ren leaned over and pulled on her shoulder so that she rested on her back.

"Move farther into the bed or you will fall off the edge." Ren spoke softly to Kyoko. "I want you to be comfortable." Kyoko nodded and slid a little farther into the bed before Ren rolled to turn out the light before he settled into his place in the bed. There were miles between them, but Ren was happy that Kyoko was in his bed, in one form or another.

Kyoko curled under the covers and listened to Ren's breathing even out as sleep took hold of his alcohol relaxed body. She turned the events of the day over in her mind. The secrets she had learned about her senpai and about the body she was currently using. The things that were said in the makeup room and the way the woman had flirted with her in Ren's body. Her mind flipped through hundreds of memories of men treating her the same way the girls had treated Ren today. Could it be? Was she not as plain and boring as she believer herself to be? Kyoko pushed the thoughts from her head and took a deep breath so that sleep would come to her too.

Author's Note: You know, after going back an proofreading this chapter, I realized that I had Ren take on more of Kyoko's personality, and Kyoko started to take on Ren's. maybe it's the fact that they are in each others bodies. I thought about rewriting this section because of that, but it just seemed to fit the way it was. Between the hormones of a teenaged girl, the alcohol, and the fact that he is not trying to be himself at the moment; this just feels (to me at least) right for Ren. Sorry if it is a little OOC, I will work harder next time.

Thanks for the inside look on life Zaphi Nashii, it definitely gives me something to think about.