Keep on trying

Disclaimer: I do not own Skip Beat! or any of it's characters.

Chapter 90

In an up-down world

Sensing the warm beach underneath her body, she run her hand through the sand grains. Then Kyoko remembered what someone had told her one day. If she examined the dust under the microscope, she would see that every single mineral was different from the other. She wanted to check it, but she lacked neither the time nor the interest to actually look it up. The girl grabbed a fistful of sand and let it slip through her fingers. After observing it indolently for a few minutes, she quickly got bored.

'What am I doing here in the first place?' Her mind rejected the idea of giving her any hints. The sun was slowly changing its location in the sky, reminding her that the time was flying by faster that she thought. While searching for some clues, Kyoko noticed that she wasn't lying alone as she expected. The man next to her had his back turned, so the girl could only point out that he was very tall and his hair was blond. "Sho?" She asked quietly, demanding the answer to her previous question.

Then the person turned towards her with a small smile. "Good morning. How was your nap?" It wasn't the voice that proved her assumption wrong. His legs were longer as well, but again it was not the case. She realised her mistake thanks to the eyes that reflected the green forest, the place where they had met in their childhood. "Corn!" She yelled inadvertently. "What a relief! I believed that I would never see you again!" Her friend grinned, deciding to tease her a little. "Why would I? Did you do something bad lately?"

Kyoko hesitated a little, but then she shook her head. She still wasn't aware of the reason why he had got so mad at her that fateful day. Was it her imagination? Did they really part with each other in dispute? Maybe it was a simple misunderstanding. 'Can it be that he wasn't angry at me this whole time?' The pure hope filled her heart just to be mangled by his next words. "It's not like you had lied to me and hid the fact that you were already married. You didn't hurt my feelings at all. You didn't cut my fledgeling wings, making me unable to fly. You're innocent, aren't you?" His eyes, that always carried the solace and the understanding, were now cold and emotionless.

She woke up from that part of her dream to experience the second one. Once again she was lying close to the man, but this time she was more than sure that it was Sho. He was frowning a little, while sleeping, so she took her time to look closely at him. The messy strand made Kyoko aware of the fact that his hair grew a little. Somehow he looked more mature now. If only it went hand in hand with an actual personality change. Thinking that it was just a continuation of her previous nightmare, she determined to enjoy herself a little.

Not even trying to be cautious, she reached out and touched the area around the mouth. His skin felt surprisingly soft and some annoying part of her soul wondered whether it was Shoko-san's duty to take care of his image. Fighting with that weird feeling, that she could not find an appropriate name for, she gently caressed his cheek. "What exactly are you doing?" Kyoko heard a slightly annoyed cry. 'That's quite impressive. I didn't know that my imagination could create such a perfect copy of his voice.'

Smirking, she answered. "What were you expecting from me, when you entered my mattress? It's pretty normal for a married couple to show some affection." The girl giggled, finally relishing her dream. And then she thought that it may be de facto a reality, not the product of her sleep. This theory was so unbelievable and frightening at the same time that Kyoko almost fell of her bed. 'Open your eyes!' She begged in her mind. 'Open your eyes and tell me, it's not true!'

Her wish was fulfilled, but only half-way. Sho indeed opened his eyes, but the spark of confusion and curiosity could not be mistaken. It was not a dream. And she just said the most embarrassing thing in her own life. Well, at least it was some kind of ice breaker.

"Whaaa?!" She screamed and jumped out of the bed so as to move away from Sho. He raised his brow sceptically. "I should be the one asking." The boy started. "I didn't perceive that you had this side of you." Adding it was completely unnecessary. As if the situation wasn't humiliating enough. "I… I'm so sorry! I didn't mean it at all!" Kyoko tried to save the day. "So why did you say it loud? Were you joking?" At this point he didn't really aim for getting a proper answer from her. He was simply revelling in the blush on her face.

"Of course I wasn't! I mean… ugh, you know… why are you even here?", "Isn't it quite normal for a married couple to show some tenderness?" Sho impersonated her, visibly proud of his memorising skills. "Please, stop it!" She pleaded, thinking that this amount of heat in her face must have been dangerous to her health. Her expression managed to touch his heartstrings and he gave up. "OK, let's just drop the topic." Kyoko was somehow dissatisfied. "But… why were you sleeping in my bed?" It was the last sentence she could have predicted she'd ever say out loud.

The man in front of her sighed and rested chin on hand. "Let's answer that later. So hurry up and change your clothes!" He ordered without an explanation. "Why?" She asked, but was intentionally ignored. "I should prepare a breakfast first." Sho shook his head. "No, you shouldn't. We're eating out today." The girl was even more confused. Her husband gave her a lot of mixed signals. It was way too unusual to understand it with no clarification, so she just did as he told her.

"But I've already promised that I would spend this day with my friends!" Kyoko tried to complain, yet she found herself inquisitive out of the nowhere. "We will be back before they arrive." And so he grabbed her arm and left the building. Kyoko was so shocked that she didn't realise that it was the first time someone held her hand after her farewell to Corn.

AN/ Hello everyone! I've just raised from the grave! It's nice to come back, especially after this long break. Honestly, I needed it more than I had thought. During those two week I've been ice-skating (5 hours per day), studying for my finals and writing more poems. Actually I contacted a publishing house and they are willing to publish them, so I may not be able to write these chapters daily :(. Anyway! I will do my best to update as often as possible. Thank you for your patience! I hope you have a great day and see you soon~!