CHAPTER 2: Before the Sun Rises – HER

Disclaimer: I do not own Skip Beat, for if I did, Kyoko would definitely have dreams of Ren/Kuon/Corn XD.

Her sleeveless dress billowed in the wind. 'I've been here before,' she thought. The only source of light was the moon's luminescence shining down upon her. The night breeze blew through her hair making her shiver and causing her bare arms to sprout goosebumps.

When the wind whipping through her hair finally died down, she looked around her. She could hear the ocean waves crashing from somewhere below. "I know this place," she thought, scrutinizing her surroundings.

She was standing on a cliff but not at the edge. There was a figure standing where she normally did in her previous dreams. 'Tsuruga-san?' she thought. She squinted her eyes against the dim light and concluded that it wasn't quite him.

Although the figure before her had a similar build to her Senpai, his light eyes and even lighter hair, barely distinguishable in the pale moonlight, belonged to another man she knew.

'Corn?' She thought. "Corn, you came back," she exclaimed calling out to him but no sound came out. Her voice could not reach him.

He just stood there in Ren's form like he had when they had met in Guam. He had that same melancholy smile on his face when he told her about his curse. She took a few timid steps towards him. She had an inkling of what was going to happen next so she tried to tread softly. She did not want to startle him. She continued slowly as if approaching a cornered animal.

He raised his right hand, as in goodbye, and pushed off from the ground falling to the dark abyss. She was already sprinting towards him before he leaped. "No Corn! Don't leave me," she tried to scream. She didn't hesitate and jumped after him. Grasping for him, her arms clasped nothing but empty space as she fell into the darkness.

Kyoko woke with a start from her bed. She was panting and covered in sweat from the exertion the dream had on her. Tears instantly filled her eyes and trailed down her cheeks. Corn, where are you? She sobbed into her pillow to muffle the sound. She didn't want to worry her landlords any further. After her tear ducts ran dry, she felt refreshed and started analyzing her dream.

This was a recurring dream she had been having since she left Ren on Guam. The same questions always flooded her mind. Was this a premonition? Did he need her? Why was the dream reversed? It had always been Ren beckoning to her, telling her to come away from the edge. These days, Corn and Ren began to overlap in her dreams and her heart as if they were the same person. Corn, you baka! It was because he used Ren's voice and body that she was now so confused.

Was her subconscious finally trying to tell her something? Were they the same person after all? Was she being tricked like an idiot? Could it be that she so desperately wanted to believe they were one and the same? She placed her fingers to her temples and rubbed to relieve the headache coming on.

Meanwhile, the Kyoko grudges in her mind were rooting for their mistress to finally make the connection. That man had been playing her all along. If only she would bring herself to acknowledge it. They've been cooped up for so long they needed some release and couldn't think of a more fulfilling way than to go after this new culprit.

Kyoko's phone vibrated saving her from thinking too hard. She read the incoming text, Good morning, Mogami-san! I have a few errands this morning so I will meet up with you and Yashiro-san at lunch time. He included a heart emoji at the end of the message.

She smiled and blushed warmly. After a few seconds of dreamy bliss, her face darkened as her thoughts brought her back to reality. What was this heart supposed to mean? This playboy was messing with her feelings and giving her false hope. Settling her nerves, Kyoko responded with Ok, see you then. Make sure to have a nutritious breakfast!

She wanted to crawl into a hole when she read his response, Yes, Mom! She knew he was teasing her from last night but even so, she still felt embarrassed. She was acting just like a nagging wife? She smacked both sides of her face with the palms of her hands. She had no time thinking about things out of her control. She needed to focus and get ready for work. Perhaps she could add this to the list of things she needed to consult with Kanae. Her best friend had a knack for reading between the lines of Kyoko's jumbled thoughts. Her grudges giggled with glee as she thought of her best friend; they knew Kanae could help stir things up for them.

Just as she finished up breakfast, there came a knock at the back door of Darumaya. She opened the door and found Yashiro standing there. "Good Morning Yashiro-san," she said bowing to her manager. "Would you like to have breakfast?" she asked, gesturing for him to come inside. Yashiro bid her and the Darumaya couple good morning. He declined her offer since he already had a healthy breakfast at home.

They needed to run along. He had a meeting scheduled with the president first thing. He went over her schedule as they drove to LME. Her morning was free for any LoveMe related tasks. If it was ok with her, he planned for them to meet up with Ren for lunch at LME's café. Kyoko nodded her assent. After lunch, she had a Sacred Lotus reading, a promotional photo shoot for the historical drama, and her LoveMe job at TBM.

"Ren did say you guys were having dinner tonight," Yashiro casually mentioned keeping his cool. He snuck a glance at her and caught her blushing. His inner fangirl did somersaults at the prospect of these two having dinner together. There was slow progress in the romance department between his two charges. Yashiro thought he would be dead and buried before they finally acknowledged their feelings for each other.

"I will drop you off at his place after TBM, Ok?" Yashiro continued. He told her that Ren would get home first to prepare. Ren even left him no room for teasing. Earlier this morning, Yashiro could have sworn he was talking to the demon lord over the phone. He shuddered, imagining Ren's gentlemanly smile on the other end of the receiver. Yashiro didn't want to push his luck so he kept his thoughts to himself.

Kyoko felt nervous at the thought of coming face to face with Ren again. What did he want to talk to her about tonight? I need to come up with some excuse to get out of this. She frowned at that thought. If he was having trouble like during Dark Moon, she absolutely could not abandon him.

Her eyebrows twitched as her thoughts turned ugly. Why couldn't he just call that despicable girl he loved to help him? The incident with Kimiko flashed in her mind. How could he love someone so horrible? Who was she to judge given her lousy experience? Love was blind. The heart wants what the heart wants.

Maybe, the evil girl had him under a spell. All he needed was true love's kiss like Corn. Again with Corn. Her face started flushing as she imagined herself, as his knight in shining armor with a delicate Ren set upon a bed in a deep sleep. She was clad in golden armor, leaning over Prince Ren to place a kiss on his soft rosy lips. Her Kyoko angels stirred with happiness at the prospect. She shook her head vigorously to erase the images floating through her mind.

Kimiko's pretty face holding up the expensive pinky ring replaced her lovely images. A ring like that only meant one thing. It was an unbreakable promise for future love. There was a myth regarding the red thread of fate between two soulmates tied at their smallest fingers. No matter what obstacle, across space and time, the lovers would eventually find each other again. The thought of Ren giving Kimiko such a gift representing a predestined love crushed her heart.

What just happened? "Ky– Kyoko-chan," Yashiro stuttered at the oppressive aura that filled the tiny space. "Is everything ok?" His voice pulled her out of her dark thoughts. She managed to paste a small smile on her face.

"I'm fine. Just thinking," she told him weakly. Yashiro frowned but let it go for now since the menacing atmosphere around her disappeared as quickly as it came. Maybe it was just his imagination.

To fill the silence, they talked about nonsensical things for the rest of the ride. Yashiro took the time to do a little recon on Kyoko's likes and dislikes. He planned on passing the information on to Ren since the guy needed all the help he could get.

Kyoko became suspicious of his questioning that she had to ask him why he needed to know so much about her. Yashiro told her that a good manager should know everything about their charge. Kyoko accepted that excuse easily and answered his questions wholeheartedly.

AN: Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed! Since I have a lot of re-readers I wanted to clean up my earlier chapters here as well as I post over to AO3. I like to think I improved as I progressed. Thank you to Wh1teNo1ze for beta reading!

Until next time, sayonara! ^_^