Hello again, Sorry I missed a day, but with the pain still sitting behind my eyes and work, I could not sit behind my computer long enough to get a chapter done. Still upset with myself for missing a day. I hope you enjoy
Note: I do not own Skip Beat!
"Are you sure there is nothing else I can wear?" Kyoko looked at the clothing Lory had produced for her. She had no problem with the outfit, but she was sure Ren was going to have a hissy when she came down to help.
"You are part of the LoveMe section, so it is only right that you wear the proper uniform." Lory grinned. Kyoko let out a sigh and went to put on the blazing pink jumpsuit before heading back down to the cellar to help with the cleaning. Why in the world did Lory have one of these in Ren's size? Kyoko carefully snuck her way through the halls and hid anytime that she saw anyone coming. It would not do to let her respected senpai be seen in something so horrendous. When she finally made it to the basement, she stood outside the door and debated going inside. She did not want to embarrass Ren, but she knew that Kanae would be mad if she did not come back to help out. Kyoko finally drew up her nerve and stepped into the storage room where her friends were.
"So tell me the truth, what intentions do you have towards Kyoko-chan?" Kyoko froze when she heard Kanae's voice.
"I don't know what you mean." Kyoko recognized her voice respond to her best friend's question.
"You know perfectly well what I mean." Kanae hissed at her companion. "I know how handsome men are, and don't think I will stand by and let you hurt her. She has been through enough heartache due to that baka singer." Kyoko held her breath as she listened to the conversation.
"Don't even compare me to that shit head." Kyoko's eyes widened as she heard her respected senpai use words that she never dreamed he would. "He pisses me off to know end." Kanae laughed at Ren's words.
"But you have to thank him." Kanae responded with a bit of disgust in the voice. Kyoko's mouth fell open that her best friend would say such a thing.
"How so?" The disgust was even thicker in Ren's voice. Kyoko nodded her agreement to the shelf that was between her and the pair.
"If he had not brought her here and dumped her, we would never have met her." Kanae explained her thoughts. There was a very pregnant pause as Ren thought this over.
"You have a point." Ren finally answered. Kyoko was surprised at how calmly he had taken this news.
"Now answer the question. What intentions do you have towards Kyoko-chan?" Kanae steered the conversation back to the original topic, Kyoko leaned closer so that she could hear what Ren's answer would be. She was sure that she knew he would answer that he had no intentions towards her other than professional, but her heart wished he would say something else.
Ren opened his mouth to tell Kanae that he intended to woo the girl and marry her, but he stopped when a loud crash came from the next isle over. Kanae and Ren looked at each other before dropping what they were holding and raced around the corner to see what had cause the cacophony. Two sets of eyes widened in disbelief at the sight of Ren's body, dressed in a shockingly pink LoveMe uniform, sprawled on the floor where Kyoko had unwittingly bumped a suit of medieval armor off the shelf as she was trying to eavesdrop on her friends. Ren's face went fire red as he realized that the only way she would have managed to knock the plate mail down was if she had been leaning against the shelves.
"Where in HELL did you get that THING!" The shock at seeing her was quickly replaced with anger as he took in the outfit that Lory had given her to wear. "There is NO WAY you are going to be seen in public in THAT!" Ren walked over to her and started pulling on the top of the jump suit. "Take it off NOW!" he bellowed as he tried to strip the offensive outfit off of Kyoko. He was going to beat that man into pulp as soon as he saw him again. Kyoko grabbed Ren's hands to stop him from pulling on her clothing.
"Calm down." She cried as she pulled Ren around and trapped him in her arms so he was sitting in her lap facing away from her. Ren struggled in her grip for a moment before stilling. He could see that it was no use to fight her, she was much stronger then he was now. He fumed for a moment before freezing in her arms as he realized what he had just done.
"I just did it again, didn't I?" Ren slouched over the arms that were still holding him tight. "I am sorry, I don't know what happened, I just lost it." He could not understand why he could not keep his emotions in check today.
"You're about as stable as my sister is just before she starts." Kanae chuckled at the repentant actor. Ren could feel Kyoko still behind him and he thought over the words that the dark haired teen had said. Ren's mind turned as he put all of the pieces together, the strange achiness deep inside, the irritability, the mood swings, and the little blue pills that Kyoko had given him. The epiphany struck and Ren cocked his head to look at Kyoko behind him out of the corner of his eye.
"Are you about to start your period?" He asked her softly hoping he was wrong. Kyoko closed her eyes and nodded her head slightly confirming his worst fears. "Great JUST GREAT!" Ren pushed from Kyoko's arms to pace around the room fuming. As if being in someone else's body wasn't bad enough, he got to experience it at the worst most possible time.
"I'm sorry." Kyoko apologized to him, but Kanae huffed at her.
"Don't apologize to him." Kanae glared at the man inhabiting her friend's body. "We live through this once a month, one time isn't going to kill him." Ren glared back and opened his mouth to say something sharp back to her, but shut it again. Now that he knew why he was irritable, he was bound and determined to regain his self-control.
"You have a point." He answered instead and turned to go back to the job that he was doing. He was not going to give Kyoko's best friend the satisfaction of listening to him whine about bad timing. He was, after all, a man and women did this thing every 28 days. "Let's just get this done so we can go home." Kyoko and Kanae were surprised that Ren had taken the news so easily and they picked themselves up to go follow him back to the sections they were cleaning.
"I am sorry about the jumpsuit." Kyoko apologized to Ren as she helped him reach the items on the top shelf. "Takarada-san said since this was a LoveMe assignment, that I had be dress in the LoveMe uniform." Ren sighed at her gullibility and Kyoko went on. "I took special care not to be seen on the way down." Ren was glad that his kohai was so considerate; he feared to think what the headlines would say if pictures of him in that god-awful thing got out to the tabloids.
"It's alright Kyoko-chan." He reassured her. He could not stay mad at her for something that was clearly the president's doing, but he was going to give that man a piece of his mind the next time they were alone.
The three actors worked for a long time clearing out the junk that Lory had accumulated. Ren watched Kyoko closely as she interacted with her best friend. At one point, Kanae slipped from the stool as she was trying to get a rather bulky bag from the shelf, but Kyoko was quick to save her friend from a painful landing and a spike of jealousy shot through Ren at seeing the brunette in Kyoko's arms. Ren shook the irrational feeling away as best he could. It was an odd feeling to have at the sight of his own body holding the attractive teen. He could not tell if it was his own feeling, or a conditioned response the body he was in had? Kyoko and Kanae had both blushed awkwardly and set about picking up the bag of fake coconuts that had spilled on to the floor.
When they were finished with the isle that they were picked for today's cleaning session, the three friends started towards the LoveMe locker room to get changed back into real clothing. As they walked, they chatted about all of the strange things they had seen in the storage room. Ren paused as he saw a familiar flash of light and he turned to see the camera man of a local paper adjusting his lens to get a better picture of the three actors. He looked at Kyoko and realized that they had grown accustomed to the horrendously pink jumpsuit she was wearing and had walked into the main lobby without a second thought.
"This way." Ren grabbed Kyoko's arm and pulled her into the first hallway he could get in. There were a few more flashed as the photographer tried to catch their escape. Kanae followed their retreat snickering as she realized what just happened. Ren was sure that his reputation could handle the odd outfit, but it was still embarrassing, and he could hear the teasing coming from his manager already. The hall that Ren had chosen took them twice as far as the path they had been taking did, but it got them away from the man with the camera. Unfortunately they would have to pass through several other halls and the café before they could reach the safety of the LoveMe locker room. By the time the door closed behind Kanae's back both Ren and Kyoko were bright red and out of breath. Kanae fell over onto the sofa laughing at Ren's predicament. He glared at the laughing girl and went to change out of the jumpsuit and back into his own clothing.
Kanae sat up and wiped the tears from her eyes and turned to gather her clothing so that she could take it to home with her. There was no way she was going to change in here today, it would be too weird. She was used to seeing Kyoko change, but the male presences in the room made it impossible for her to strip off her coveralls, even if the male had her best friends mind. Kanae turned around and blushed hard at the sight that accosted her eyes. Kyoko had absentmindedly started to strip so that she could get back into the normal clothing Ren would wear.
"What do you think you're doing!" Kanae turned quickly to face the wall away from the partially naked male body standing next to Kyoko's locker. Kyoko stopped and looked down at the shirt she had just pulled off not understanding what the problem was. The top of the pink coveralls hung behind her still held in place at her waist. The top of the dark boxer short she was wearing peeked out over the folds of brightly colored material. Kanae tried to scrub the image of those toned pecs and washboard abs from where it had been burnt into her mind. How could she possible think about that man like that! This was the person that her best friend like, even if she would not admit it to herself. Kanae squished her eyes shut and ran from the room before Kyoko could apologize for the blunder she just realized she had made. Ren's hand on her arm stopped Kyoko from running after her friend and causing them both even more embarrassment.
"I am so sorry!" Kyoko wailed as she sat down on a seat topless. "I wasn't even thinking." Ren chuckled to himself. It was nice that she had finally become comfortable in his body, now if she could just keep that feeling after they switched back.
"I am sure you will have the chance to apologize to Kotonami-san later." Ren turned his attention to the locker and pulled out Kyoko's normal clothing. "And I am sure she will get over it." Kyoko nodded weakly. There was nothing that they could do about it at the moment. She promised herself that she would take her friend out for ice cream later. Kyoko slipped the rest of the way out of the coveralls and pulled Ren's normal clothing on. The couple had just finished changing to go home when Lory pushed into the room.
"Kyoko, there's a problem." Lory seemed agitated about something. "The talent that I got to cover your gig tonight fell down and will not be able to do the job?" Concern for the actor crossed her face as she listened to Lory speak. "So can you to help Ren cover it. The show starts in 10 minutes and I can't find anyone to take the position on such short notice." Horror filled Kyoko as she realized what Lory wanted her to do, or at least Ren to do.
"There has got to be someone else that can do it." Kyoko freaked out. "ANYONE else!" Ren looked on in confusion, what did she do that was so bad.
"If it is something that can be subbed out, I can do it." Ren volunteered
"NOOOOOOO!" Kyoko shrieked, she would die if Lory made her take Ren to do THAT.
"It's not a problem Kyoko-chan." He had no idea why she would be so upset about having him do her job for her. "You covered my modeling job, so it's no big deal for me to cover your normal work."