Chapter 1: The Rise of the Fallen Angel

Disclaimer: I do not own Skip-Beat! and its characters.

"Can you please repeat what you said, Sawara-san?"

At the moment, the office room of LME's talent section was filled with a black aura full of rage and hatred. Sawara Takenori, the head of the said talent section, could not help but sweat and gulp while looking at a chestnut-colored short-haired teenage girl who was sitting in front of him. She, Mogami Kyoko, was looking at him as if glaring the life out of the poor man.

Why am I getting this feeling of déjà vu seeing her like this? Ah, I remember, this also happened that time when I mentioned 'Prisoner' PV offer a year and a half ago...

After summoning every bits of courage possible, Sawara forced a smile on his face and carefully repeat what he had revealed before to the girl. "As I said before, I was contacted by Queen Records this morning for an offer. Apparently, the angel you played in Fuwa Sho's 'Prisoner' PV was so well-received..."

The dark aura in the room instantly vanished.

"Really?" the girl asked him with a pair of glossy innocent eyes. And Sawara was once again reminded of how innocent this girl was and how she loved every characters she had played, even if she disliked them before she brought them to life in front of the cameras and reality alike.

Sighing a bit, Sawara's smile turned to be one more natural. His gaze upon Kyoko showed how proud he was of her growth as an actress. "Yes, and turns out that people are curious of what becomes of the angel after her conduct of sin. They have finally found the appropriate song of Fuwa to go with the plot they have prepared as the continuation of 'Prisoner', and the producer wants you to reprise the role."

A joyful smile and blush appeared on Kyoko's face. No word could describe how happy she was that the very first role she had played (aside from Bo the chicken, of course), was still remembered by lots of viewers who wanted to know about the story of the fallen angel's life after her falling to the insanity at the end of 'Prisoner'.

In her own personal opinion, receiving this offer would not bring any harm to her state of mind. Asami Haruki, Sho's producer for all his PVs, was not a difficult person to work with. The woman even praised her acting after the shoot had been done. And if the story really picked up from the end of 'Prisoner', then there was a big chance that the idiot blonde singer would not appear in the new PV. How could an already dead character appear again after he was killed?

Her initial reaction for this offer, though, was something that she could not help. She still could not exactly control her demons whenever Sho's name was mentioned, although her last meeting with him was almost half a year ago. Kyoko just could not forgive him for how Sho had forced her into his car, causing unavoidable misunderstanding between her and her senpai, calling her in the middle of her 'work', and in the end, pitting her with the Demon Lord.

After some consideration in her head, she lifted her eyes to face her superior. "May I know the details of this new PV, if you do not mind, Sawara-san?" she asked with an easy smile.

"Ah, about that, the President wants to talk to you about the details."

A somehow awkward silence filled the room for a few seconds as Kyoko processed the statement before finding her voice again. "Eh? The President?"

Sawara nodded his head while crossing his arms in front of his chest and leaning against his office chair. "This PV, Mogami-kun, is in fact the joint project by LME and Akatoki Agency long-awaited by the press."

When Kyoko has excused herself into the president's office, she was startled by the sparks resulting from a glare war between two very tall men already seated facing each other.

The first one was the president/owner of LME, Lory Takarada. It did not surprise Kyoko to the least that the flamboyant mustached man was dressed in Mayan attire and seated on a golden throne. He let his quite long curly black hair loose under a golden crown resembling a helmet with colorful long feathers. Beside his sandaled feet, a large mighty bird that Kyoko could only guess a falcon was perched quietly, staring at its surroundings.

His opponent in the glare war was the very person that had brought turmoil inside Kyoko's heart for the past months. Tsuruga Ren sat on a low golden bench; his expression was completely pissed off. Kyoko made a silent note in her mind to not provoke the Demon Lord further before observing her respected senpai. His tidily-styled hair was dyed dark brown again, his original color, after Cain Heel's black long hair. Today, Ren was dressed casually in a black wool jumper, a brown thick leather jacket, a pair of beige pants, giving him the image of absolute professional and masculinity.

Kyoko's eyes moved up to have a glance at his face. His jaws were clenched as tight as his two fists. His two eyebrows were knitted together in a frown, and his brown eyes were radiating deadly intent, which was at the moment directed solely at Lory. These signs of his foul mood made Kyoko wonder what the president could have possibly done to anger Ren this much.

Beside Ren, his manager, Yashiro Yukihito, sat nervously and unnoticed. Now that Kyoko paid a good attention at him, she could see the bespectacled man sweating profusely, tongue-tied. His eyes glanced back and forth from Ren to Lory, and then to Ren again.

What a poor soul, Kyoko thought. If she were put in his shoes, she was sure she would fare worse than the manager.

It did not take long for Lory to break eye contact with Japan's number 1 actor and address Kyoko in the room. "I see you are here, Mogami-kun. Have a seat."

Kyoko sat down gingerly on another low bench near the one occupied by Ren and Yashiro, cursing quietly in her deepest mind on how the piece of furniture was nearer to Ren than to Yashiro. However, she relaxed a bit when her eyes were caught in eye contact with Ren. His bad mood was gone, and a heavenly smile spread across his heavenly handsome face. Any normal girl would have swoon over this smile, but it only made Kyoko cringe as her demons were attacked by its rays.

"I hope I did not intrude at a bad time, President," Kyoko said to Lory after breaking eye contact with Ren and turning to face her employer.

"Nonsense," Lory replied as he swatted one of his hands in a gesture of denial. "On the contrary, you came at a very good time, Mogami-kun. I believe Sawara-kun has informed you of that offer, hasn't he?"

Catching which offer Lory meant, she nodded her head.

"Now, Mogami-kun, I need your help to convince this blockhead here," he continued as he gestured to Ren, "to take part of that offer as well. This project is very important to LME and I have to send in the best of the best we have, don't you agree?"

Kyoko's eyes widen. She took a glance at the scowling Ren before turning back to Lory. "P-President, y-you mean…"

Lory nodded while smiling almost haughtily. "Yes, Mogami-kun, you and our Ren here will take part of Fuwa Sho's 'True Reflection' PV."

This is my first fanfic, so please kindly review :) Thank you!