Here is chapter 15 for you. And yes, I do read all of the reviews I get on my stories. I many not respond to them all, but I DEFINITLY ready them.
Sorry for getting you caught at night Saizen24, and yes, Sho does show up...
Please let me know what you think. Thanks.
Note: I do not own Skip Beat!.
After breakfast, Ren called Lory to explain the odd situation and request that he call Jelly in to recolor his hair. After a few minutes of phone tag, Lory called him back to tell him that she would be available at two. This left a few hours open for Kyoko and Ren to lay low. Ren thanked his boss and went to help Kyoko with the cleanup of his apartment.
Ren walked into the bedroom to find that Kyoko was still dressed in the night clothing he had given her and was stripping the cased from the pillows to add to the sheets and blankets already pulled from the bed. The fine powered dye that the fairy had removed from his hair was scattered everywhere, but Kyoko was doing her best to contain the dust. He could hear the fine tinkling of the fairy's laughter from where she rode in the hair on Kyoko's head. The creature lay on her stomach and held on to the golden strands as she tried not to fall off the as Kyoko moved around. Ren walked over and started to gather up his sheet to take them to wash.
"I can do that." Kyoko offered as Ren turned with the load.
"That's ok," Ren passed up the offer. "They're are my sheets anyway." Ren started to head out when he tripped over the end of his pant leg where it had come unrolled. He fell face first into the bedding with a plop. Ren flailed free of the sheets screaming out his frustration. "Remind me to get you a decent nightgown to keep here." He bellowed as he yanked the offending hem up from around his foot and twisted it up into place. Kyoko stared at him with an open mouth.
"Why would I need a nightgown here?" She asked and Ren blushed a deep red. He had not meant to say that out loud. His mind spun on an answer that would not make her freak out.
"In case something like this..." Ren started, but stopped, nothing like this was ever going to happen again if he could do anything about it. "I mean… not like THIS this, but if you ever needed to stay over and forgot proper clothing kind of this. That way you..." Ren stopped his words when it hit him that he was rambling on like Kyoko normally did. "I'm turning into you!" He squeaked and realized that this could be offensive to Kyoko. "Not that there is anything wrong with you, I like you…" A blush rushed up Ren's face as that confession slipped from his lips. This was not the way he wanted to tell Kyoko how he felt. Ren screamed out his frustrations again and pushed himself up grabbed the rumpled bedding and stormed out of the room before his scattered brain could get him into more trouble.
Kyoko hid her mouth with her hand so the smile that was threating her would not be seen. She had been shocked by her senpai's suggestion to get her night clothing to keep here, but the rambled excuse did make sense. She had spent many unexpected night here and never had proper clothing to sleep it. She thought he was so cute all flustered and rambling, so unlike her respected senpai. It made her heart happy to hear that he liked her, even if she knew it was only as a friend. Kyoko looked at the stripped bed before casting her eyes around the room to see if there was any hint as to where fresh sheets were kept. Seeing nothing that looked promising, she turned to follow her beloved senpai to ask.
Once the chores were done, the unfortunate couple needed to tend to their personal hygiene. The pair was more familiar with the bodies that they inhabited so getting clean was less of a fiasco then yesterday, and Ren even remembered to show Kyoko how to shave with his nice electric razor. Now that they were washed and dressed, there was still time before they had to leave, so Ren and Kyoko retired to the living room to relax for a little while.
Ren looked overtop the script he was reading to where Kyoko laid on the floor playing with the little fairy. Ren shook his head, his body would never have been in that position if he had been in it. Kyoko rested on her stomach as both legs bent back at the knees with the ankles crossed up in the air. She was supporting her head and shoulders just off the floor by her elbows and her chin sat in the palm of one hand. The other hand was held out so the fairy could hold on to her index finger as she danced lightly around in the sunbeams. Kyoko hummed a catchy tune as her feet bounced happily in the air. Ren sighted as Kyoko giggled when the fairy did pirouettes while holding onto the tip of her finger. He looked at the clock on the cable box and saw that it was about time for them to leave.
"It's time we got ready to go." He called over to his companion and got a resounding ahh of disappointment. Ren set his script on the table and stood up to stretch. He did not know what he had done to make himself so achy, but he figured that it would go away as the day wore on. Kyoko picked the little winged girl up and looked at her.
"Do you want to come with us, or stay here?" The fairy thought about it for a moment then pointed at the potted plant that she had taken to sleeping in. Kyoko took her over and sat her carefully into the leaves. Kyoko fixed a plate with some fruit, honey, and bread on it incase her guest got hungry and followed Ren out the door.
Unable to do anything about it, Ren had decided to let Kyoko go out into the world with his natural blond hair and blue eyes. On an offhanded comment from Kyoko that Ren's natural look reminded her of her pseudo father, Ren decided to throw caution to the wind and suggested that she reprise her roll of Kuon, only older, as the bases for her cover. She was ecstatic about his and spent several minutes rewriting her Kuon's image to fit her new role. Ren even gave Kyoko a pair of old jeans and a shirt that was more Kuon's style then Ren's. Now that she was in her role, Ren's body looked far enough off from normal that no one would recognize him at a glance, and if they spoke to him, Kyoko's personality would be more than enough to throw them completely off. Kyoko added a bag with Ren's contacts and normal clothing to change into after Jelly was done fixing his appearance and they were ready to go. Ren was not sure why he had done this, but it gave them a good cover for his identity and it made her happy; that was all that mattered.
"Now remember Kyoko, you are not Tsuruga Ren, you are Hizuri Kuon, Hizuri Kuu's son visiting from the states to see an old friend of the family." Ren made sure that she was aware of her cover story one more time. He had spent the entire drive to LME schooling Kyoko on how to be an American. When she asked how he knew such things, he just looked at her sideways and shrugged. Kyoko spent the rest of the time he prattled on trying to push the little voice in her head away so that she could concentrate on what he was saying. Anytime his words would subside, her thoughts would return and she would find herself pondering over the little bits of his past that came bubbling up: mixed blood, the son of a famous actor, someplace that did not know him, the fact that he did not know simple things like 'tenteko-mai'. Kyoko gasped as something hit her, maybe Ren was not from Japan at all! Kyoko so wanted to ask him, but she knew this was not the time or place to do so, she needed to concentrate on her role.
Ren and Kyoko stood on the side walk outside of the LME office and braced themselves for the ultimate challenge. Kyoko remembered how Sho had not recognized her after she had changed her hair, so she had confidence that she would be able to make it through the building and into Lory's office without anyone detecting the true identity of the body she was in. Ren took a deep breath and started towards the door and Kyoko followed. The receptionist greeted 'Kyoko' like normal and eyed the handsome man behind her, but did not say anything as Ren led the way through the lobby and deeper into the building. They were just about ready to hit the steps when an annoying voice called out to them.
"Oiy Kyoko!" Kyoko froze up at hearing the voice of her childhood friend. Why the hell was Sho in LME? Ren took a deep breath before he turned to look at the musician closing on them.
"Be pleasant." Kyoko whispered as she also turned to look at the man calling. Ren plastered a fake smile on his face and waited for the singer to stop.
"What are you doing here today, Fuwa-san?" Ren asked as pleasantly as he could through clenched teeth. Sho looked at her and then at the tall blond smiling next to her.
"Why don't you call me Sho-kun like you use to." Show asked crossly. Ren raised his eyebrows as he bit back the response he wanted to give and thought of something that would be more appropriate for mixed company.
"Because it's best to be proper at work." Ren just barely kept the venom from his voice as he tried to keep his anger in check. What was he doing here? "Now what are you doing at LME?" Ren tried for calm, but it was eluding him today. Kyoko looked from Sho to her senpai and back. She could feel Ren's annoyance at the man.
"I was here negotiating a possible joint venture with another talent." Sho smiled smugly at her. "What are you doing here?" Ren gritted his teeth so he would not snap at the idiot in front of him.
"I thought you were smart enough to know that I work here." Ren retorted. Sho glared at him. Kyoko saw that this was going to get out of control very fast.
"Excuse me Mogami-san, we needed to get going." Kyoko tried to distract Ren from the challenging look that Sho was giving him. Ren broke eye contact with Sho and looked up at Kyoko. She cast her eyes to the stairs and back so he would get the hint.
"If you will excuse me, I have work to get to." Ren said curtly and turned to lead his charge up the steps. Sho looked over the blue-eyed blond.
"Who's this Yankee?" Sho sneered at the tall man. "Is he your new boyfriend?" Kyoko opened her mouth to tell the man off, but never got the chance. Ren whipped around and snapped at the offending singer.
"As a matter of fact, he is! Now if you will excuse us," Ren took Kyoko's arm. "We have SOMETHING to do. Good day." Ren turned and dragged a very shocked Kyoko off up the steps, leaving a stunned Sho standing with his mouth hanging open. Ren fumed as he dragged Kyoko off down the hall. "That man pisses me off." Ren muttered as he stopped in front of the elevator that would take them farther upstairs.
"Why did you say that?" Kyoko asked. Ren turned to look at his companion and his anger melted away at the look of surprise and fear missed together in her eyes. What he had just said and implied hit Ren like a ton of bricks.
"OH God, Kyoko, I'm sorry." Ren apologized for the trouble he had caused her. "I just snapped and that was the first thing that popped into my head." The elevator doors opened and the pair stepped into the little metal box. Ren pressed his head into the cool wall as Kyoko chose the floor. The cold helped to alleviate the headache that Ren had not noticed form. Kyoko looked over at her suffering senpai, she was now sure about what was going on with him. There was no other explanation for his short temper and irritability.
The doors opened and Kyoko led the way out of the elevator. Ren followed but stopped as he looked around the hall.
"This is the wrong floor." Ren called to the form leading him down the hall.
"I know, but there is something in the LoveMe locker room that you need." Kyoko called back to her compainion and continued walking. Ren picked up his feet and followed her. Kyoko opened the door and let Ren into the room. He watched as Kyoko opened up her locker and pulled two tablets from a bottle to hand to Ren.
"What are these?" He asked as he studied the little blue football shaped pills.
"Midol." Kyoko said as she got a bottle of water from her locker and handed it over so he could take the tablets. "It will help with your headache." Kyoko explained.
"How did you know I had a headache?" Ren asked as he opened the bottle. He popped the pills in his mouth and washed them down.
"Because, I usually get crabby when I get a headache." Kyoko was not about to tell him that she thought he was going through PMS. She prayed again that the fairy's spell would break soon.
"I'm not crabby!" Ren snapped at her. Kyoko raised an eyebrow and cocked her head as if to point out his snappiness. Ren glared at her before he was forced to concede the point.
"Ok, maybe I am a little irritable today." Ren huffed and crossed his arms. Kyoko wanted to point out that he was more the a little irritable, but that would not be a good thing to do at the moment. She was use to her emotions going out of control once a month, but she was sure Ren had no idea how to handle it.
"I really am sorry about yelling at Fuwa like that." Ren hung his head. He could not thing of anything he could do to set the problem right.
"It's ok." Kyoko tried to comfort Ren. "That Baka should learn to keep his nose out of other people's business." Ren smiled weakly at his kohai. Kyoko chuckled and the pair turned to go get Jelly to fix the work the fairy had done.
Author's Note: I still feel that Ren and Kyoko are a little OOC in this chapter, but It just worked so well i left it. I hope you enjoyed it.