Chapter 82 Doing the Right Thing

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Skip Beat, for if I did, the Ishibashi brothers would protect Kyoko like a little sister.

His heart ached, watching his daughters cling to their mother, fearing that they would never see him again. Earlier, he had broken down from the shock of Kimiko's accident and disclosed everything to his wife. After his confession, he indulged in a long relaxing bath at the insistence of his wife until the water grew cold. When he got out, he shaved his face then dressed in a pair of dark blue slacks and a gray pin-striped button-down shirt his wife had ironed for him. He stared at the mirror, unable to make eye contact with his reflection, and focused on lathering pomade into his hands. Satisfied with the texture, he dragged his fingers through his hair, working the product into the strands. Using a comb, he styled his hair to make it look a little more presentable. Once he was satisfied with his appearance, he joined his girls for dinner. Regret and guilt tore at him as he wandered into the dining room alight with laughter and happy banter. His poor decisions were going to deprive them of future nights like this one and leave them fatherless.

"We made all your favorites, Tou-san," his youngest daughter, beamed proudly. "I helped mommy cook!"

"That's wonderful, darling. I'm so proud of you!" He leaned down, kissing his daughter's forehead.

"Come sit, Tou-san, and let's eat," his eldest daughter said, coming to his side and taking his hand. He nodded, swiping at the tears that threatened to spill over. He allowed the girls to lead him to the table where he sat across his wife and smiled.

"Thank you for this sweethearts! Everything looks wonderful," he told the girls and his wife. He reached for his chopsticks and dug in since they waited eagerly for him to take the first bite. "It's delicious! You ladies really outdid yourselves," he praised, smiling warmly at his beautiful family.

Seeing his smiling face, the girls dug into their dinner. As they ate, they each shared stories about their day. It had been a long time since he was able to enjoy a meal with his family. The night could not have been more perfect.

After dinner, he helped clean up, prolonging the inevitable. Once the last dish was stowed away, he knew his time was up.

"Is it time for you to go away for work now, Tou-san?" His youngest daughter asked, wrapping her arms around his waist.

"I'm afraid so sweetie. Your papa has an important job to do from now on so I want both of you to take good care of your mama. We want mommy to remain healthy while I'm gone," he stressed to the girls and bent over to hug them one last time. He kissed each of them on the forehead and stood to address his wife. She had been home only a few days before he dropped this bomb on her. He smiled at her through watery eyes. No matter how much he regretted his actions, he knew in his heart that he would make the wrong choices all over again if it meant she could remain on this earth a little longer. It was worth it, to have her here, standing with them again. Knowing they would be taken care of while he was away made leaving more bearable.

He gave his wife a tender kiss goodbye and walked to the door. He took one last long look at his little family, hoping to commit the image to memory before shutting the door behind him. As he walked toward the stairs, he pulled out his cellphone to make a call. "Hello, this is Hanazawa. You gave me your card a few days ago outside the set of the Sacred Lotus…Can we meet now?"

He paused to listen to the person on the other line before answering.

"Yes, I know the place. I can be there in fifteen minutes…okay, see you then," he replied and ended the call.

They fussed over her like she was a fragile pampered princess. Although she liked the idea of being considered a princess, the rest was quite annoying. She felt ridiculous being treated like this in her chicken suit. So a few of her quirky stunts on set managed to knock her off her feet, that didn't mean she needed to be laying here on a makeshift bed, on set mind you, taking another break just because she was bumped on the head with a ball that ricocheted at her. With Bo's head, she didn't feel a thing. Any other time she could have played it off and kept the gags going, but nooooo, the Ishibashi brothers ruined it by freaking out and causing the director to halt filming until she recovered. It didn't matter that she told them that she was perfectly fine. No one would listen to her.

Kyoko tried to roll herself into a sitting position which was proving to be very cumbersome in the chicken suit.

"You can't get up yet, Kyoko-chan. What if you have a concussion?" Hikaru panicked, trying to get her to stay put.

"Hikaru-san, I assure you that I'm fine," she said through clenched teeth, trying to keep her grudges from attacking her costar. "The costume took the brunt of the force. I promise you I didn't feel a thing," she assured him, her tone softening. They were being overly cautious because of the incident last night. Even though she wasn't the one that got hurt.

"It's fine, leader. Let's help her up!" Shinichi advised him. They reached down on each side and pulled Kyoko to her feet using Boh's wings. The live audience clapped once she was on her feet again. Kyoko blushed and bowed sheepishly, waving to the audience. They were treating her like a professional athlete that was being helped off the field after an injury while playing the game. She looked nervously backstage and found the producer scowling at her. It's not my fault! Everyone is overreacting!

"Guys, can you please stop fussing over me? We are delaying the film and the producer looks ready to ring my chicken neck," Kyoko pleaded.

Hikaru looked dejected. She was right. This wasn't her first time having mishaps on the set as Boh. She improvised pretty well that her errors always appeared intentional. He was overreacting and it wasn't his place to do so. Hikaru felt very protective of her, like a brother would with his little sister. Girls in this industry seemed to gravitate towards hurting her because of their petty jealousy. He still wanted to kick himself for keeping quiet about the incident on the stairwell. She assured him that she took care of it and the problem with the girl resolved itself.

He had been in the industry long enough to hear the rumors regarding Kimiko. Several people on their set had shared their experiences with Kimiko on other job sites and confirmed she had always been on the shady side. According to the rumor mill, she often used her family name and money to threaten other actresses into quitting or doing her bidding. It was a known fact to many that worked with her that she used family connections to obtain roles. Although her uncle was the director of The Sacred Lotus, Kimiko was passed up in favor of Kyoko to play the role of Momiji. It led Kimiko to act irrationally, which was the understatement of the year. The fact that she tried to set Kyoko and Ren on fire last night, proved to everyone that the girl had finally gone bonkers when she didn't get her way.

"Okay," Hikaru said with a fist pump. "Let's finish this up and celebrate with some anpan in the cafeteria!" The other brothers pumped their fists enthusiastically and cheered.

Kyoko brought her wings up and crossed them into an "x" to veto their celebratory meal. There was no way she was going to place that high-calorie food into her body. Not when she was working on her figure for the upcoming R'Mandy shoots.

"Ehhhh!" The brothers cried out in chorus like a set of triplets.

"Kyoko-chan, you have to eat it with us, " Yuusei insisted.

"I'm sorry, but there's no way I'm eating that junk. It would blow my whole diet out of the water. I have to prepare my body for a swimsuit photoshoot," Kyoko stressed not realizing her words would KO Hikaru.

"S-s-swimsuit?" Hikaru managed to squeak out before keeling over.

"So much for thinking of her as a sister," Yuusei muttered under his breath to Shinichi. They caught their leader once again before he hit the floor. Kyoko had given him one too many shocks in the last forty-eight hours. He had barely recovered from finding out that she was Setsuka Heel. Kyoko had been embarrassed by the compliments showered upon her as soon as she walked into the studio. The contrast between her usual self and Setsuka had been too extreme, especially whenever she walked around wearing the unflattering LoveME uniform.

"Hey, you lot! Quit fooling around. We only have this studio until 9 pm and only finished half of the recording. Get back to work! The guest star is already waiting," the producer shouted from backstage. He turned challenging eyes on Boh, "especially you!" Kyoko squawked, flailing her wings. Why is it always me?

Hikaru sprung to life as the producer shouted at them. He apologized to everyone on the set and in the audience. The rest of the taping went much smoother. They managed to bring back the upbeat atmosphere and finished filming without further interruption.

Kyoko and Tadashi accompanied the brothers to the cafeteria but didn't eat. Her father awkwardly admitted that he had dinner plans with Sota while Kyoko wanted to go home and cook for Ren. Since he wouldn't be home for a couple of hours, she didn't mind hanging out with her friends for a bit.

On the drive home, Yashiro groaned as he spied the mob of paparazzi hanging outside his apartment complex. He was listed in the directory, so of course, they easily tracked him down. He wondered if he needed to find a new place of residence and pulled Ren's car over to the curb before they were spotted.

"Ugh, it looks like I have to go on foot from here," Yashiro lamented to the top star sitting in the passenger seat.

"Are you sure? What if you're attacked by a crazed Morizumi fan as you're walking?" Ren asked, glancing at his friend with a worried expression.

Yashiro chuckled. "Didn't you hear? I'm a wanted felon. No one would dare mess with me."

Ren grimaced, "that's not funny at all!"

Yashiro chuckled again and unlocked the doors. I thought it was funny. They stepped out of the car for Ren to get in the driver's seat.

Yashiro had enjoyed driving the little sports car. It had some good pep and was easy for him to adapt to the left-handed driver seat.

"I think I'll be great driving during fashion week in LA," Yashiro joked.

"Wait until you get on a freeway during rush hour. You'll also have to remember to drive on the right-hand side of the road. That's another challenge," Ren warned.

That did sound like a challenge. Before Yashiro could ask Ren if he had experience driving in the States, Ren explained about his time in Guam. Since the island was a territory of the United States, they had adopted the traffic laws and patterns of the mainland.

After saying goodbye to Ren, Yashiro had managed to enter his apartment unnoticed by cutting through the neighboring property and scaling the wall. He was glad all his exercise had paid off.

Yashiro came out of his room, rubbing a towel against his wet hair, relieved that he had managed to survive being the frontman today. With him by Ren's side, they were able to get to all of his jobs on time and with relative ease. He wondered just how much longer he could keep this up. He plopped down at his coffee table and cracked open a beer. Taking a generous swig, he sat in front of his laptop and put on his rubber gloves before touching it. It was about time he spied on his favorite couple but was immediately confronted with the bitter truth as soon as he logged in.

As he suspected, their fansites were clogged with posts about him. No one was damning him. Most were superficial discussions on his good looks. Some even linked him to the night they had all gone out to the club. It was a different side of him that the public was not privy to. Some speculated that perhaps the Boy Scout persona he exuded while with Ren was just a cover and he was low-key Yaskuza royalty. There was a petition, with thousands of signatures, demanding he gets rid of his glasses. Someone even linked a whole separate site dedicated to him. Yashiro didn't even want to entertain the idea of what was being passed around in there.

He made the mistake of reading the next line while taking a swig of his beer and found himself coughing up the drink from his mouth and nose.

"Oh my god, that fucking burns," he wailed as he hacked up the liquid. He used the towel around his shoulders to clean up the mess. What in all that is holy are these fans thinking and why are they discussing them on Kyoko's site?

KyoFan1: Oh my god, y'all! Did you hear Ren-san defending his man? I totally ship some much-needed bromance between these two, if you guys know what I mean *wink, wink*.

KyoFan2: Before Kyoko-san came along, it was highly suspected that Ren-san had a "close" relationship with his manager. They were always seen together at events.

KyoFan3: If you guys are interested, this link has photos of them together. Some of them are gold!

Yashiro's mouse arrow hovered over the link to see just what was being circulated about them this time. Oh Kami-sama, am I a potential rival to Kyoko-chan in the public's eye?

Ding Dong! The sound of the doorbell interrupted.

Eh? Who could it be? A reporter? Cops? Yashiro stood with a heavy heart and draped his dirty towel over the chair. He walked to the front door and looked through the peephole, releasing the breath he was holding in relief. All he could see was the back of the head of what appeared to be a teenage boy wearing a baseball cap. The kid turned to press the buzzer again. Yashiro thought his profile looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn't quite place it.

"Um...I think you have the wrong apartment," Yashiro called from the other side of the door. He knew it was rude of him, but he didn't want to alert the reporters to his actual location.

"Mo! Oji-san, have you forgotten the cute face of your favorite nephew," the boy asked, stepping back and giving the door a wink. Yashiro's eyes widened with recognition. He scrambled to open the door and stuck his head out, looked both ways, then pulled the "boy" inside, shutting the door behind them.

"Kotonami-san, why are you here? It's dangerous for a woman like you to be out in the streets at this hour!" Yashiro scolded as his gaze raked over her attire. She was wearing a short wig, a baseball cap, jeans, a t-shirt, and a jacket that made her appear to be a very trendy youth of the male species.

Kanae didn't like his tone. Why is he berating me like I'm some child or helpless female? Granted, she was only eighteen. To this older man, she was probably still a child in his eyes. He was probably used to dating sophisticated women that could never pass as a boy even if they dressed like one.

"You know, I'm quite mature for my age and I am very capable of traversing the dark, scary streets of Tokyo without the aid of a chaperone. If my presence here is not wanted, I'll just see my way home," she huffed and grabbed the doorknob to leave.

"Wait!" Yashiro sputtered, grabbing her free hand. "I'm sorry! Please stay. I'm happy you're here. Can I offer you some tea? Coffee? I have some meals in the fridge I can warm up for you if you haven't had dinner."

Kanae scrunched up her face at the thought of eating a microwaveable dinner at this hour. Those frozen meals tended to be high in sodium and preservatives.

"It's not what you think. They're meals that I cook over the weekend for me to eat during the week. This way I don't have to think about what to eat when I get home late after work. They're very nutritious and high in protein."

Kanae's expression changed from disgust to something more akin to curiosity. "You cook," she murmured, awestruck.

Yashiro smiled. "Sit down," he gestured towards the coffee table. "I'll heat one for you. Maybe one day, in the not-so-distant future, I can cook a fresh meal for you," he offered, still smiling, and headed to the kitchen.

He turned before seeing Kanae's flushed face. It finally dawned on her that she was all alone in an attractive man's apartment. She had been here last night, but Kyoko and Ren were with them, making things easy. Why did she come here? To check on him? Make sure he still wasn't punishing himself for last night. If she wasn't working, her mind strayed to thoughts of him. She wanted to know more about him.

Kanae sat down at the table where his laptop rested along with a pair of discarded rubber gloves and a can of beer. She gingerly turned the can to read the label. It was the same brand her brothers drank at home. The content on his computer screen caught her attention and she couldn't help looking at it. This was Kyoko's fansite. As fans posted, the text scrolled up with each new one.

Pfft, of course, he would be RenKyo#1Fangirl. Their exchange on the site made a lot more sense now. She wondered if she should confess her chat name too, but decided to keep that little tidbit a secret for now. Forgetting that this was a horrible breach of the man's privacy, she read the screen earnestly.

Curious, Kanae clicked on the link that was being reposted. It was filled with very poor or perfectly-timed, depending on who you asked, pictures of Ren and Yashiro in compromising positions. It was nothing filthy related, but they were still hilarious. She studied the images, unable to determine if they were real or fake. Ooh! When was this picture of Tsuruga-san carrying Yashiro taken? There were many of them out at premieres or dinner parties together with Yashiro remaining right by his side. She could see why everyone thought they were lovers when they were together all the time.

"Ahem!" Yashiro cleared his throat to gain her attention.

"Oh my god, I'm sorry. It just caught my eye. That was very rude of me," she stammered out an apology, mortified by her behavior.

"Relax, Kotonami-san," he assured her with a soft chuckle. He was only teasing her. "I don't mind. I guess you must have seen..." his voice trailed off as he stared at the screen in horror. Placing the tray down with Kanae's food, Yashiro snapped the laptop shut.

"Um, it's really not what you think," he faltered. Why were people taking these pictures out of context?

"Oh, so you aren't Tsuruga-san's secret lover?" She retorted and picked up her chopsticks. Her dish had pickled veggies, salad, and steak all carefully proportioned.

Yashiro forgot what he was going to say while he waited with bated breath for her to take the first bite. She glanced at him with surprise and smiled. It was delicious! She ate with more gusto, only pausing to sip some of her tea. While she ate, Yashiro sat next to her and put his gloves back on. He opened his laptop and clicked out of the link then went back to the website. He didn't need to say anything to know that she had seen his screen name of choice.

"So you go in there incognito?" Kanae asked between bites. She had so many conversations with him while she was in the U.S. and she didn't even know it. It was so embarrassing now thinking about it. He would know exactly just how passionate she was about her best friend if she revealed herself now. She said nothing instead, while Yashiro confessed how involved he got with the fansites.

"Well maybe you can put a little something in there so they could stop talking about what a great couple you make with Tsuruga-san," she teased. She was feeling a bit jealous at all the attention the two men received for not being a real couple.

Before Yashiro could post something to redirect the conversation to a more Kyoko and Ren-focused chat a new post popped up.

KyokoMYGoddess: Da fuck is all this shit-talking. Kyoko-sama chose Tsuruga so quit opposing her choice with this nonsense. That dude is so not gay, his manager though…hard to say.

Yashiro glanced at Kanae as she happily ate her food feeling less guilty about eating at such a late hour.

"What is it?" She asked, chopsticks paused in midair alarmed by the serious look on his face.

"Do I come off as gay? Like if you saw me at work standing next to Ren, does my outward appearance scream 'he has to be gay'?"

Kanae wiped her mouth with a napkin and took a sip of tea. When she was through, she looked him dead in the eye and leaned in, touching her lips to his. Before he could register what was happening, she pulled away from him with a blush on her cheeks.

"Yup, you're definitely gay," she announced in a matter-of-fact tone and resumed eating.

Yashiro stared, stunned, his mouth opening and closing like a goldfish. She couldn't hold it together any longer as her body shook with laughter, making the expression on his face priceless.

"You have a devilish streak in you, Kotonami-san," he said turning back to the screen. Yashiro wanted nothing more than to show her just how gay he could be but didn't trust himself to stop at kissing. The fact that they were two adults, completely alone in his apartment, was not lost on him. He knew she was only eighteen and assumed she had little experience with men. They haven't even had a first date yet. There was no way he would do anything that would scare her off.

Doing his damnedest to ignore the delectable creature beside him, Yashiro focused on the screen.

EmeraldEyedFairy: Good! Let his manager have him. I can swoop in as her true love and we would live happily ever after.

KyokoMYGoddess: Ahahahah fuck that! Your chances at having a shot at Kyoko-san are less than mine. She's not a lesbo!

EmeraldEyedFairy: I'm a guy, asshole! No one can rival my love for Kyoko-chan.

KyokoMYGoddess: Yeah sure, "bro!" Any guy calling himself a fairy is a fucking flaming homosexual in my book!

Yashiro hummed as Kanae leaned closer to read the screen. "Are these guys suspicious? What's with those names? I swear that girl attracts a bunch of weirdos!" she asked, following the trail.

"I would say everyone is suspicious to me after finding out Morizumi-san haunted the place. I did ask the President to look into this Fairy person and claims he's harmless."

"Well, if President Takarada says so...I mean these two alone are enough to lure her into a trap don't you think? Their names would appeal to her in a heartbeat. Maybe we should warn her just in case she ever does log in to these sites." Yashiro agreed she was still so easily seduced by fairy tales. It didn't help that Ren and her father fed her obsession.

These two fans alone were dominating the conversation and having a dick measuring contest of who knew the most about Kyoko. The information they were using was public knowledge so that was a relief to both Kanae and Yashiro! Anything more personal and it would have raised flags. The "Fairy" eventually left the chat stating that his lady love awaited.

KyokoMYGoddess: What the fuck kind of shit was that? All this time he already had a piece of ass waiting for him. Still not convinced that fairy is a dude.

"Now is our chance to test this guy," Kanae told Yashiro, turning the computer her way.

RenKyo#1Fangirl: KyokoMyGoddess you truly are a loyal fan, unlike that other guy. What's your favorite thing about her? Mine is how she commits her all to a role. I never saw Setsuka Heel coming!

KyokoMYGoddess: Shit yeah Setsuka nearly caused me a heart attack. I guess I love that she's genuinely nice and down to earth...you know, different. Like her fame hasn't gotten to her head like some of these other stars. If I could, I would crack Fuwa Sho's skull for hurting her. I'm surprised Tsuruga hasn't done so.

RenKyo#1Fangirl: I'm pretty sure Ren-san would want to be first in line to get a piece of Fuwa.

KyokoMYGoddess: Probably...I'm pretty jealous of Tsuruga but he seems to be treating her right despite what the tabloids are saying about him. I don't believe for one minute that he was interested in that Morizumi bitch even to get ahead in the industry.

RenKyo#1Fangirl: What makes you so sure? He could be a complete asshole and just using her like he did Morizumi…To help his career and all.

KyokoMYGoddess: Nah! There are other hotter chicks out there that could help his career more. You can tell he's totally entranced by her. The way he talks about her in interviews. His face when he looks at her. That guy is head over heels in love with her. Plus just cause you have a pretty face doesn't mean you're pretty on the inside. That bitch Morizumi tried to pay me and my boys off to harass my Goddess. Complete bullshit!

Kanae and Yashiro exchanged looks. What the hell was this guy talking about?

RenKyo#1Fangirl: Wait! So you met Morizumi?

KyokoMYGoddess: Yeah! I even tried to tell the cops that the bitch was a nut job. Good thing that gay manager took care of her ass!

Yashiro groaned. Seriously, would they stop with the gay jokes already? Could he possibly be the kid that Tadashi told them about? Yashiro thought. He pressed the kid for more details. If it wasn't the same kid, then they would have to look into his background as well. Kanae and Yashiro passed the rest of their evening, enjoying each other's company, and looking out for their best friends.

"Are you sure about this, Hanazawa-san?" the driver asked his passenger as he stepped out. "Your testimony alone should be able to help shift the public's perception of the manager."

"I wouldn't be able to look into my family's eyes if I don't follow through. I made my bed, now I have to lie in it. Thanks for all your help, Koki-san!" Hanazawa told the reporter.

"Thank you for doing the right thing. Good luck in there," Koki said, nodding towards the building behind him.

"Thanks again. Good luck with the article," Hanazawa said before turning around and walking towards the entrance. He entered the building and headed to the front desk.

"How can I help you, sir?" The officer at the front desk asked with a relatively pleasant smile. He tried to smile back, but he was too nervous. With his pulse rate running high, his heart threatened to beat out of his chest. Part of him wanted to run away, taking his wife and children and just going, never looking back. Instead, he squared his shoulders and took a deep shuddering breath.

"Yes, my name is Hanazawa Soujirou. I'm here to turn myself in for the crime of assaulting the actress Kyoko-san," Hanazawa confessed and broke out in a cold sweat.

AN: Hi hi everyone! Thanks for sticking with me. I know I once again threw someone under the bus to take the blame for Kimiko's actions, but I needed an opening to get this whole situation into the news XD. I tried to capture KyokoMYGoddess as the delinquent boy Jin from ch 62 of this fic. I even had to stop myself from having him and Kuon go back and forth with each other...LOL. I was going to shift to Ren and Kyoko but decided to stop here. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed it.

Thank you for continuing to read and leaving feedback. I hear (read) all of you. I hope you liked how I worked in the online chatter as well as some YukiNae.

Until next time, ja ne! ^_^