Chapter 1:

Sho really did have a way of messing things up for her.

Kyoko had been out with her wonderful best friend to grab some salads for lunch (she'd wanted ice cream, but sometimes friendship is about compromise) and she was certain that nothing could have brought her mood down. Even when Sho had walked through the door she had vowed to keep her head down and hope that he didn't interact with her. Perhaps luck would be on her side and he wouldn't notice her at all?

Luck was, in fact, not on her side. Before Kanae's expression had given away that he was right behind her, he had alerted Kyoko to his presence by unceremoniously placing a small velvet box on the table in front of her. Kyoko noted that it looked remarkably like a ring box.

"Umm, are you getting married?" Some part of Kyoko was as angry to see him as she always was, but she was more confused than anything. She wouldn't have even had a clue as to what type of girl he might propose to. Well, she knew what that girl might look like, or at least her cup size, but not who she would be or how they would have met. Kicking puppies in tandem, perhaps?

"No," Sho answered, as if this somehow explained everything.

Kyoko eyed him for a few moments, agitated by his smugly indifferent behaviour. When her harsh glare wasn't enough to get him to elaborate, she picked up the velvet box and opened it. "This is definitely an engagement ring."

"Yes," Sho said. "It's for you."

Kyoko was incredulous. "Am I getting married?" She scoffed.

Sho sneered. "Who would marry you?" He asked, pushing Kyoko to the point where her curiosity no longer outweighed her frustration.

"What the hell is your problem?!" She said, and, were it not for Kanae's quick response time, would have tipped her salad right into her friend's lap. "what did you just learn what a riddle was at daycare this week, and that's all you can say now?" Without response, Sho plucked the ring from it's box and made a grab for Kyoko's hand. She yanked it out of his reach and backed away.

He frowned when she moved back. "You should be grateful, you know" he said, turning the ring over once between his fingers. "As unappealing as you are, this might be the only chance you get for a man to want to put an engagement ring on you" he made a point to look her up and down in a condescending way "or touch you at all, for that matter. You should be so grateful that it's someone like me doing it"

Kyoko's face flamed hot and she opened and closed her mouth a few times, floundering for a response. "Is this how you always ask girls to marry you? Without warning and by insulting them? God, no wonder you're perpetually single"

Sho's eye twitched in response. "I'm not 'perpetually single' I'm an incredibly eligible bachelor, and besides, I would never ask someone like you to marry me." He took a moment to compose himself before he continued, "I'm here to hire you"

"Hire me? What do you have dimentia? This isn't a brothel, Sho, I'm an actress. You can't pay me to marry you"

"How many times do I have to tell you I don't want to marry you?" A pink, splotchy blush kept it's way up Sho's neck, a physical reminder of the way that she could get under his skin like no other. "I'll tell you what the ring is for if you just shut up for two seconds and let me talk!"

Kyoko briefly considered spitting on him as a response, but decided against it.

"My parents want me to move back to Kyoto," Sho said.

"They always wanted that, that's why you ran away. Otherwise it would've just been moving out"

"Are you actually going to let me explain or just keep interrupting me every 10 seconds"

Kyoko resigned by raising her hands in submission, then miming the act is zipping her lips.

"Thank you," he replied dryly. "they want me to leave Akatoki and move back to Kyoto. Which is hard to fight since I'm still technically a minor," be paused for a moment to run his fingers raggedly through his hair. "they also don't know that we aren't still living together, aren't still together"

Kyoko cringed at the implication that they ever had been together, but held her tongue. It was what his parents thought, after all.

"They'll never listen to what I have to say on moving back, but if you couldn't possibly marry me if it meant me bringing you back to Kyoto, then they'd gladly wait until we're old enough to get married and settle down to try again. By then I would be an adult and it wouldn't really matter what they want me to do"

"So you bought me an engagement ring for me to say I won't marry you," Kyoko asked once she was confident Sho was finished with his spiel.

"Well," he averted her gaze and she sensed a nervousness that he usually wouldn't display. "It's a bit more complicated than that"

Kyoko again waited a long beat before responding. "well?" She prompted. "You're the one who didn't want me to interrupt you, so you ought to spit it out or we'll be here all day"

The blush along Sho's jawline had evened out. A light hue of embarrassment, rather than an uneven red tone of anger. "I need you to leave me at the alter"

Kyoko stared at Sho for a hard moment before asking "have you been reading my diary?"

"I'm being serious"

"I don't believe you"

"I am!" Sho said, exasperated. "Look, anyone can say they're getting married, but really, you've helped me run away before. But planning a wedding? That's the sort of thing you only do if you're serious. They would never expect me to pay for and plan a wedding just as a trick." Kyoko sort of saw his logic. It was a bit deranged, what he was suggesting. "Just come with me to Kyoto, pretend we're going to be a happy, normal married couple, maybe drop a couple of hints about not wanting to leave your life in Tokyo, say you need some fresh air a few minutes before the wedding, leave a note about how you 'can't do it' and bolt. My parents will let me go to Tokyo to be with you, and all my problems will be solved"

"Just a reminder that I hate you" Kyoko said.

"Okay so act like you don't. I thought you were an actor, you can't pretend to want to marry me for 2 days? What kind of actor are you?"

He had almost trapped Kyoko with this line. Her damnable pride had compelled her to say "of course I can" and she sat proudly with it in the air for a few solid moments before she hurriedly tacked on "but why should I?"

Sho knew he had her. He retrieved from his pocket an unmarked envelope. "I'll pay," he said, thrusting the envelope into her hands.

"I don't want your money," Kyoko said, though this didn't stop her from unfolding the envelope. "there is no amount of money on earth that could make me pretend to love–" Kyoko opened the envelope to find that the cash inside was substantial. Not enough to pay off all of her debts, by any means, but enough to pay off a small, high interest rate loan, plus enough left over to buy Kanae a dinner to make up for this lunch, which Kyoko had just noticed she left. Kyoko hadn't seen this much cash in her life. She was so consumed by debt that it was easy to forget that most people who were as successful in showbusiness as Sho was were quite well off financially.

Sho took advantage of her moment of indecision to up his offer. "You can also keep the ring when this is over. Or sell it, for all I care" he added when Kyoko didn't look particularly enthused by the concept of wearing an engagement ring he gave her. "and I'll buy you a wedding dress of your choice. Something big, and pink, and princessy, I don't care"

Kyoko's heart screamed at her to say no. To tell him where to shove that ring then run out. Her heart and her wallet were in completely different wavelengths, however.

She stood up abruptly and stuck out her hand for him to shake.

"You've got a deal"