Skip Beat: 50 first dates

Hello all you friends of mine! I am so sorry I have put this story on the back burner for so long. Feel free to hate me, scream at me, throw rotten food at me (though please throw it softly. Please)

On the plus side, I finally got my non-fanfiction novel, "Chosen Child" complete! Yay! I hope to have it publically published soon so be on the lookout for it if you like my work yeah?

Before I go on, here are some thank yous to guest and member reviews for this story! Thank you all so much! It's your words and encouragement that keeps me going!

Crazygeekwierdo: picked up on that yeah? Don't worry, there's a lot more interesting drama and angst and humor (because it's a romantic comedy,) to come! thank you so much for your review and I hope the wait was worth it in this chapter!

Hati: a different ending from the movie? Now would I do something as cruel as that?...maybe ;) I think you'll find that I've taken a lot of liberties with this movie fic and except for the concept, I've pretty much stripped the movie and manga to make them both work so you never really know what could happen. Thank you so much for the review and I'm sorry I took so long to update this I hope the wait was worth it though.

Guest (July 31, 2013): man, when I see how long you reviewed this, it makes me really mad at myself I put this on the backburner for so long. I am so sorry for that. I hope you enjoy this update though and I promise I will do better about it in the future (I'm working out a schedule in my head so I can keep up with all my fanfics) the good news is with my novel completed, I can focus on my fanfictions for a little while now I'm so sorry it took so long to update this though. That's really horrible of me. I hope you enjoy this update and thank you so much for your review!

Guest (October 22, 2013): I am so sorry I put this on the backburner for so long. I love this movie too and the manga just seemed to work perfectly with it, so I decided to merge them. But I've not been doing a very good job at keeping up with it lately. I'm sorry about that. I hope to do better about that in the future. I am so sorry. I hope you all enjoy this update and I am so sorry I ignored this story and you all for so long. I hope that this update at least will make you smile.

Thank you also to the following members who reviewed for my story (even though I ignored it for so long)

Missshay16: not a spell per-se but a definite curse. Hopefully this will make things a little easier to understand. Thank you so much for your review and I'm sorry I took so long for an update.

Data Seeker: my friend, thank you so much for all the advice and such. This is going to have a few more curse words in it than normal, but I promise they are there for a reason and there is a purpose. I hope you enjoy the update though.

Juniper Bush: well, I'm glad this helps you enjoy the manga more. I'm sorry it took me so long to update this but I hope you'll find it just as good as you found the last chapter. Thank you so much for reviewing this for me!

And thank you to the following favorites/followers:

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Kate here with good news! I do not own Skip Beat and I don't own 50 First Dates, but I own this story so Enjoy!

-Kate

-Date 3-

Chapter 3: What Happened to Kyoko

Ren was stunned as he climbed up the creaking steps to the room in the Ryokan. Yashiro awoke with a start, his glasses fumbled on his face and his hair askew. "whos-Ren? What are you doing back so early?" he asked, moving his glasses back into position and rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

Ren turned to Yashiro and looked up realizing that he had reached his room. "I'm-I'm fine." He said, turning from Yashiro and shaking his head free of the cold look on Kyoko's face.

"I don't know who you are sir."

He clenched his fists and turned away from Yashiro, "I'm going to bed."

Yashiro watched his charge with confusion.

'He seemed so excited about tonight. I wonder what happened.'

But he knew that if he asked Ren wouldn't answer. So he switched off the lamp and fell asleep.

Darkness overtook the room and Ren lay facing the ceiling, his mind racing with thoughts.

'what happened?! I didn't dream yesterday meeting Kyoko-chan did I?'

His mind traveled back to that first dinner, where he watched her eat the hamburger with egg and they discussed "Corn" who even after ten years, she had remembered. He thought about that special soup she made for him after he had an argument with Shotaro, even though Shotaro was her "prince." The promise to have dinner the next night, the declaration as friends, no. no, there was no way he dreamed all that.

'did she not want to have dinner with me? Was that it? She was just trying to be nice in rejecting me?'

No. All the years he knew her she was obviously blunt. If she didn't like something she said so, that or suffer through it if it had to do with her mother. But the girl was a horrible liar, and she was genuine.

'did she really forget me? Is that possible?'

He stared up at the wooden ceiling coated in darkness as though the answers would be written there. He remembered Shotaro's words as he thought about it.

"you actually think you mean something to her? I got news for you Tsuruga…by tomorrow, she won't even know who you are."

He sat up with a start, his eyes wide with shock. "Shotaro knows something. Something's going on here, and I am going to find out what."

**********************************Date 3********************************

"NO! Why do I have to do this? Where did they even come from?!" Ren awoke to hear the familiar whining from his manager. He rubbed his eyes and pulled his head off the futon to see the shadow of Yashiro pleading with what looked like the shadow of a strong, cold, queen that held all power over him.

"come on Kanae-chan. Why do I have to watch them?!"

Ren chuckled, 'yup. That explains it.'

He heard Kanae's voice through the paper screen, "because I have to keep Ms. Brat happy! I can barely handle her let alone these monsters! You watch them for a while! That's all I'm asking!"

Ren was intrigued as he waited to see what his manager would do. After a brief pause he heard the bespectacled man sigh and nod. Ren gave a chuckle 'he is so whipped.' He thought.

"fine, I'll watch them." He heard Yashiro say.

Kanae seemed happy as she responded, "really?! Thank you Yukihito! You don't know how much this means to me!"

Ren was shocked as the cold number 1 Love Me member threw her arms around Yashiro in happiness. Yashiro was frozen as he thought, 'Kanae is touching me. without force. She's touching me.'

Kanae on the other hand jumped back from Yashiro, a blush coating her cheeks as she responded in her normal, cool tone, "t-that was just because I didn't want to watch them. D-don't you dare start thinking yourself as something special, baka!"

Yashiro awoke from his stupor and nodded, "of course Kotonami-san! It was just out of gratefulness nothing more!"

Kanae smirked as she placed her hand on her hip, "gratefulness nothing baka. I'm just glad that it's not me they'll be torturing today."

Yashiro paled as five children appeared from out of nowhere and ambushed the bespectacled man. Ren watched from inside laughing as he heard the normally calm man shout, "hey! Hey! Let go of those!"

'Got his glasses.'

He gave a grin as he watched the shadow of his normally calm manager become panicked at the attack of five little children who seemed to know exactly how to annoy someone to the point of frustration. 'No wonder Kotonami-san's always tense.' He thought with a small smile.

The paper screen door burst open and Yashiro burst in looking like he'd just fought a war and lost. He dragged his feet on the tatami mat, dragging two children that seemed attached to his kneecaps with him.

"Can you let go of me now please?" he asked, trying to keep his voice as low and (he hoped) threatening while another child hung on his throat forcing the windpipe to squeak.

The children smiled and shook their heads, "no!"

Ren suppressed a chuckle as he watched his manager, a man he had seen take care of rabid fangirls and annoying press with just a cold stare, fall helpless at the attack of five little children. 'Certainly a new sight to see. Wonder what will happen when they get married?' he thought with a laugh.

Yashiro heard his young charge laughing at him and felt his face heat up in an embarrassed blush, 'damn, not like I didn't have enough struggle with Ren respecting me, now what will I do?' he turned down to the little children that were stuck like amoebas on his body. "Get off of me!"

He shook his body desperately trying to shake the glued child off of him. It worked. The child swung off of his limbs and crashed into the wall of the wooden Ryokan at the far end of the room. Ren had a mix of three different reactions at once: 1. He was grateful that the child hadn't gone through the paper wall next to him, intruding on the room next door of who knows who, 2. He was scared for the child and hoped he was okay, 3. He was generally impressed with his weak-looking manager who actually turned out to be really strong.

Yashiro on the other hand was frozen with only one thought crossing his mind, 'Kanae's going to kill me.'

The child got up and shook himself off with a wide-eyed stare of wonder, "wow! Yashiro-san! You throw better than Onee-chan! Do it again!"

Yashiro paled, 'what?' he stared in exasperation at the child, "aren't you hurt? Aren't you ready to settle down now?"

The child shook his head, "nope!"

He sprinted back to Yashiro and found his rightful place clinging to his leg. The other children saw what a fun game they would play and began to fight for Yashiro to throw them next.

"My turn!"

"No, it's my turn!"

"No, it's me next!"

Yashiro was ready to cry.

He turned to his young charge, "Ren, help me here?" he practically begged.

Ren stared at his manager and gave it a little thought before cracking a wicked smirk, "sorry, I don't think I can help you. I have to do something before my shoot in the afternoon, good luck Yashiro-san." He stressed the use of his name to mock his manager.

Yashiro stared with shock as his charge quickly got up and began to leave the room. "Wait! Ren! You can't just leave me here! Ren do something!" Yashiro called out in a panic.

The tall man stopped for a moment and Yashiro felt a hope flutter through his chest that maybe his charge would help him from the mass of children's bodies that were weighing him down. Ren turned around, a bright smile on his face and Yashiro felt his hope crash painfully to the ground as he heard the tall man say, "don't be too rough with my manager okay? I need him for the afternoon."

With that, Ren left poor Yashiro to his doom of five children with way too much energy. Yashiro let out a soft sob as another child demanded to be thrown by the already worn out spectacled manager, "Ren, you're too cruel."

********************************Date 3**********************************

Ren chuckled at his manager's misfortune as he walked down the hallway towards the main lobby. He needed to find Shotaro as soon as possible, 'something's going on here and I'm going to find out what.' He thought with a determined glare ignoring all the doe-eyed fawning looks he was receiving from the other guests.

"Hey, isn't that Ren Tsuruga?"

"The actor?! No way!"

"What's he doing in a small Ryokan like this up in Kyoto?"

"AHHH! I want to talk to him so bad!"

Finally, Ren reached the lobby where Shotaro was signing out a guest that was ready to leave. He looked absolutely miserable but Ren didn't care. Shotaro turned to the actor and gave a small smirk, "what's up Tsuruga, leaving already? I'll tell Kyoko you said goodbye…oh wait! That's right! She rejected you yesterday didn't she?"

Ren growled and tried to keep his temper down as he stared down the arrogant young brat that he knew had some intel on the reason Kyoko was acting like she was. He grit his teeth and took a breath before giving off a gleaming smile. "actually Shotaro-san I was looking for you. There is something I need to discuss with you. are you busy?"

Shotaro looked shocked as he studied the man's face. He couldn't see anything that said the man was lying (but then again, Shotaro's never been the best at reading emotions).

"whatever," Shotaro drolled, a bored expression on his face.

Ren hid a smile by biting the inside of his cheek. Shotaro may not have realized it, but he just walked right into the predator's trap.

Shotaro and Ren walked off to a corner where there were hardly any people before Shotaro turned to Ren with a glare, "alright you two-bit actor, what is it you want to talk about?"

Ren ignored the insult and continued to wear his dazzling smile that was barely holding back the true fury and anger he felt. "you seem to know Mogami-san extremely well." He said, his brain furiously working to try and find a way to approach the question without being cut-off from Kyoko once more. He hated it, but the only way to talk to her, was to get through the obstacles. And he was going to get through those damn, annoying obstacles, no matter what it took.

Shotaro crossed his arms as he watched the actor warily. There was nothing odd per say about the question, it was just about the fact that it came from Tsuruga that drove Shotaro's annoyance on edge. "yeah. She's been in my family for years."

'I knew that you idiot. Come on; give me something I can work with!' Ren's inner Kuon growled, but Ren pushed down that thought as he turned up the wattage of his smile, "ah I see. So have you always been this protective of her then?"

Sho scoffed, "she's pretty much a naïve idiot Tsuruga. She'll believe anyone and anything. If I don't protect her, that idiot girl will get herself hurt. She's like a precious servant to me and my family." He said, feeling that inner barrier of the frustrations he held back begin to fall. He had just held them to long and now that Tsuruga had been poking around and couldn't do anything, Shotaro had a way to vent and piss Tsuruga off at the same time 'win-win.' He thought.

Ren felt his hands clench and unclench as a vision of him strangling Shotaro passed through his mind, 'it'd be too easy, no one's here to see it.' He thought, but he took a deep breath and tried to calm himself, 'no point to it. Keep digging Tsuruga, we're not done yet. I know I'm breaking him.'

Ren turned the wattage of his smile brighter as he responded, "don't you think that's a little harsh of you Fuwa-san? I mean she sounds like someone important to you, and she doesn't seem like she always gets hurt."

Sho scoffed in response, "oh really?! It's because of that idiot that I'm stuck here in the first place! If she had just done what she was supposed to do she wouldn't have-"he cut off, his eyes going wide as if remembering something.

Ren lurched forward, resisting the desirable urge to grab the whelp by his throat and push him as high as he could go, "wouldn't have what?!" he repeated.

Sho stared at the desperation in the man's eyes before narrowing his own, "wouldn't you have liked it if I told you, you two-bit actor." He finished with a glare.

Ren felt his heart drop as his mind surged with anger, 'damn it I was so close! No more Ren Tsuruga, I'm done with this game!'

Ren felt Kuon begin to crawl and push his way up to the surface and Ren desperately pushed him back down, though a large part of him wanted to let him out and let him destroy everything. But he couldn't allow that, 'if I do that, Kyoko will be terrified of me. I can't let that happen. Not with her.'

He turned to Sho and the bright smile dropped away and revealed his true cold glare that Shotaro had to admit, scared him. "you're not going to tell me Fuwa-san?" he growled.

Shotaro shook his head even though Ren's glare was making his body tremble with fright, "nope."

Tsuruga felt the last bit of hope he had drop away. If he never found out then it wouldn't matter if he tried to get closer to Kyoko, it wouldn't happen. He stared up at Sho and though he hated it, the desperation showed on his face, "please…tell me what happened to her." He begged.

Sho was shocked to say the least. He had never seen the man who was the top actor in all of Japan (not that Shotaro would ever admit that) beg before. He gave a smirk, "oh, and why should I tell you?" he asked, leaning over the tall man with a smirk on his lips, enjoying the newfound power he held over the actor.

Ren hid a cunning smile behind his mouth, Shotaro was an idiot to not see the people that were beginning to gather, and 'Boss always says all press is good press. Might as well test that theory.' He leant closer to Shotaro with a wounded puppy stare on his face, something he perfected as a child with his overly doting father, Kuu.

"Fuwa-san, I'm hurt that you would hide something from me." he said, leaning closer to the young teen, his brown hair falling over his eyes in sadness.

Shotaro felt perturbed by the man's strange reaction, but a small greedy pleasure flew through him to see that he had a one-up on the actor.

"hmph, you think I care Tsuruga?"

Ren looked taken aback, while still watching the reactions of the people around him, 'good, we're starting to gather more.'

"that's kind of mean don't you think? I mean, after how close we've gotten." He said, stressing the word close.

Shotaro felt tingles running down his spine as he stared at the strange actor, 'what the hell is happening here?!'

"hey! You should be nicer to Ren-sama!"

"yeah! Stop leading him on!"

"you jerk! Stop treating him so badly!"

Shocked, he pulled himself from the actor that now had a small smirk on his face to see a crowd of people gathered around him, glaring at the young teen with hatred.

"be nicer to Ren-sama!"

"who the hell do you think you are!'

"you're being really mean to your lover!"

Shotaro was stunned as he listened to the various insults running through his mind, 'wait what?! Leading him on?! Treating him badly?! LOVER?!'

He shuddered as he heard the man whisper in his ear, "now, about telling me about Kyoko? You tell me, I get them off your tail. That or enjoy being my new target, Fuwa-san."

Shotaro turned around and nodded, "fine! Just make them stop! There's no way in hell I'm a lover with you! NO WAY!"

The crowd looked stunned as they heard the young teen shout. Shotaro stood there, trembling in humiliation and anger as Ren stepped forward, a smile befitting that of a cunning fox on his face.

"what Fuwa-san said is true. We're not lovers. We're just good friends. We were concerned over something so I needed to talk to him. I am sorry for the miscommunication. Right Fuwa-san?"

He turned to Sho and Sho could swear he saw the bright smile become brighter as it stared at him. He knew he was trapped. 'stupid platform-wearing actor, damn it!' he thought before pasting a smile on his face, trying to hide the rage and embarrassment he felt inside, "Right." He growled through his grit teeth.

The crowd looked at the two and a mass of red faces appeared as they realized their mistake. Apologies were uttered as they shuffled off and Shotaro was stunned as he watched Tsuruga smile and laugh at the crowd's mistake.

'that jerk knew exactly what was going on! What the hell is he?! Dammit!' he clenched his teeth in anger before the crowd had finished around the famous actor and walked off. Shotaro sneered, "well, you certainly know how to schmooze over a crowd and use them for anything don't you Tsuruga? Is that how you get all your roles to?"

Ren turned around and gave a bright smile, ignoring the teen's insult, "just making sure we're clear here Fuwa. You promised me information about Kyoko." He reminded the teen watching him closely. He didn't trust Fuwa as far as he could throw him, but it was the only way to get what he needed to know about Kyoko.

Sho sneered, "and what if I refused Tsuruga?"

Ren laughed and pulled his face close to Shotaro, "do you really think it would be hard for me to destroy your reputation and make you my target Fuwa? Don't underestimate me." he growled.

Shotaro was annoyed because he knew the tall actor had a point. 'damn it! If I tell, my parents will kill me! but if I don't, I'm going to be Ren Tsuruga's…ugh, I can't even say it. Damn it, damn it, damn it! There's got to be a way around this!'

The teen thought as hard as he could. He could care less about Kyoko but if his reputation suffered or if he got in trouble with his parents because of this, he was screwed…and that was not okay.

He gave a sigh, "look Tsuruga, I don't know what the fascination is with Kyoko, but you'd do best to drop it. Trust me when I say she's not worth it. Besides, you're the 'number one bachelor of all of Tokyo,'" Shotaro hated to admit that, but he needed to get Ren Tsuruga off of this subject. If he kept pushing and found out…it could be bad. "you have plenty of women drooling at your feet, many of them much more pretty than Kyoko. She's just a plain, average, boring housewife type of girl. Why would you be interested in her?"

Ren clenched his hands but he knew the brat had a point. In his view, Kyoko was someone that Ren had literally met just two days ago; he had no idea of the past between them. Not to mention it had been ten years and Kyoko didn't seem to even notice or care that Ren had come back, 'then again, she is expecting a fairy prince.' He thought with a slight hint of jealousy toward his other self. But he had made up his mind and was going to see it through.

"she's interesting brat. And not that I have to tell you my motives, but she's a lot prettier than you seem to think she is. She has a real beauty that women in Tokyo don't come anywhere near to possessing. It's that kind, childlike, innocence she has that makes her amazing. And I will do anything to make sure I can have it, have her near me. I won't let anything stand in my way, including you. Do I make myself clear?"

Ren was shocked as his mouth just opened and told off the teen. Normally he knew how to keep his emotions bottled up inside to play all sides of the table and turn things in his favor when it was time. But he guessed that he had inherited that annoying, zealous bragging trait from his father as he spoke about Kyoko.

Shotaro stared stunned at the actor's description of his childhood friend. He had lived with Kyoko for seventeen years now and had never heard of anyone who spoke of her that way, including him. He bowed his head in defeat.

"fine. I'll tell you…on one condition." He started.

Ren narrowed his eyes and nodded, ready to accept any challenge.

"you have to get her to agree to go out with you again tomorrow. You have to get her to agree to another date. If not, I won't tell you a word." Shotaro finished, waiting for the actor to back down.

But Ren just gave a smirk, "that's all? I can do that."

He walked off toward the lobby after being told that Kyoko was there. Shotaro shook his head with pity, "you know, if I really didn't hate the guy, I'd sorta feel bad for him."

-Date 3-

Ren smiled as he walked toward the main room of the Ryokan where he knew Kyoko was after hearing her scream in exclamation at Ruriko, "you're like Snow White!"

'yup. she's not changed a bit.' He thought with a smile, thinking on how much the little girl he knew loved fairy tales more than anything. It was one of the reasons she had mistook him for a fairy to begin with. 'first time I was ever called a fairy prince.' He thought with a smile.

Then his thoughts turned serious, 'what would happen to her that she would just ignore me like that? Did her mother do that to her? What the hell happened?' he pushed those questions away as he reached the door to see Ruriko outside with her umbrella and Kyoko staring at her with stars gleaming in her gold eyes, "your skin is so pretty! It's like a princess!"

He turned and saw Ruriko standing there with a large, haughty smile on her face. "well, at least someone sees how important I am."

She glared over to Kanae who was in charge of holding the umbrella. Kanae seemed to be gritting her teeth and clenching it hard enough to turn her palms white. Kyoko gave a smile and her eyes went wide as she noticed Kanae, (after pulling herself from La-La-Land) "who is she Ruriko-hime?"

Ruriko snuffed and responded with a cold smile, "a dog of LME. She can't love anyone because there's something wrong with her, so they felt pity for her and made her able to do tasks for other people. Quite sad really."

Kanae hated the way that Ruriko made it sound like she was a defect, and she hated the way the girl stared at her with confusion and pity in her eyes. "but love is the most incredible, amazing thing! I don't know where I would be without my prince Shotaro. He's amazing and wonderful and I know this because I love him so much!" she gushed.

Ren felt a stab of hurt clench his chest, 'damn it. How am I going to compete with that? I'm just her fairy prince, not her lover prince. And since I hid my identity, I'm not even her fairy prince anymore! I'm just some stranger! Damn it!' he thought feeling jealousy and anger rise up in him at both the arrogant brat of a teen and his hidden self.

Kanae was pissed. How dare this girl lecture her on love? What the hell did she know? Sounded like she had more of a simple crush and fascination with the idea of love than actual love, 'she's a typical housewife idiot.' She thought.

Kyoko didn't seem to pick up on these thoughts however as she jumped forward and clasped onto Kanae's hands, "I can show you how amazing love is if you want! The fairies know so much about it and they tell me stories! Maybe they can help you too!" she smiled.

Kanae growled and glared at Kyoko, "you think I want some love-sick idiot's help? I'm an actress, not some housewife idiot that let's herself be dragged about by love. And fairies? What are you five? All of us stopped believing in fairy tales a long time ago; maybe it's time for you to get a damn reality check."

Kyoko was stunned as she watched Kanae hand the umbrella to Kyoko, "you think you know so much about love? Than you do this. I'm fed up with it all." She growled her grey eyes narrowed in hatred at the young girl.

Kyoko's eyes were wide with surprise and shock. She had never meant to hurt the young woman's feelings; she just wanted her to know how amazing love was. That was what she felt for Shotaro right? It was the same as it was with her mother right? Was it such a bad thing to believe in love? She didn't understand.

She turned to Ruriko who was laughing, "that was perfect Kyoko-chan! I couldn't have played that better myself! Thanks to you that dog of LME will surely be fired now! Ha! Who would have thought all it would take were some stupid words from some stupid girl?"

Kyoko was frozen. She had never had such cruel words uttered to her, not since her mother had abandoned her so long ago. She didn't even notice Ruriko walk out from underneath her umbrella with a smile, "well, now that the dog's out of the way, I might as well get ready. Tsuruga-san's my co-star and I'm gonna make sure he falls for me. thanks for all your help Kyoko-chan." She laughed as she left the girl frozen in the garden.

Kyoko's thoughts were racing. She was furious at herself for making another guest upset, 'what was I thinking?! I'm such an idiot! Sho-chan's parents were nice enough to let me stay and I blew it! I'm an absolute idiot!' she was devastated as she felt a depressing aura come around her. 'what made me think I could talk to another guest that way! What the hell was I thinking?!'

She didn't even notice Ren coming up behind her.

Ren wanted to strangle Ruriko after he had heard the cruel girl talk to Kyoko and Kanae that way. While he didn't particularly care for Kanae, he knew that Yashiro did, and whether or not he liked her was irrelevant. No one messed with Kanae because Ren wouldn't let it kill Yashiro.

And no one messed with Kyoko, because Ren wouldn't let someone hurt the girl he wanted so badly to have.

"that didn't sound like it went too well." He commented offhandedly, pretending like he was just an innocent bystander that hadn't been watching the entire time.

Kyoko spun around at the sound of a deep, sexy voice that sent shivers down her spine. She was shocked to see a tall man with dark brown hair that fell over into his matching dark brown eyes staring at her. "can you get up or are you done for?" he asked her; that deep voice of his reverberating off of her chest as her heart pounded.

She looked around in shock as she noticed that she had fallen to the ground. 'oh no! a mistress of a Ryokan doesn't soil her clothes like this! Gosh, I'm even more of an idiot than before!' she hastily tried to stand before stepping on the hem of her yukata and falling on her face. It went up in flames as she stared up at the tall man who just stood there, observing her. 'what the hell? Why doesn't he do anything?!' she thought angrily to herself.

Ren was trying to hold himself back from laughing as he watched Kyoko struggle to stand. The weight of the heavy umbrella was holding her down and keeping her from standing, but she hadn't realized that and continued to struggle, looking like a newborn calf just trying to walk. He gave a sigh at the girl's antics and lowered his hand to her, "here, come on I'll help you up." He said.

Kyoko stared at him and her face deepened the blush as she saw his large hand come down to meet her small ones. She was furious at the tone he used with her. Like he was talking to a child! She was not a child! She let go of the umbrella and stood to her full height, all the regality and propriety of a hostess of a Ryokan. 'no way am I losing to such an arrogant person! No way!'

"thank you sir, but I can take care of myself." She told him, her formal tone clipping her words.

Ren stared at her in shock before giving a small smile in challenge, "oh? So what are you going to do about what just happened there then?" he asked watching as her face suddenly fell into a crestfallen depression.

Kyoko had no idea what to do and she hated that. But she wasn't going to tell this complete stranger that! Who did he think he was?!

"I'll take care of it myself." She told him coldly, hoping he'd get the message and go away. He didn't.

"oh? Yes you seemed to take care of it so beautifully the first time." He said with sarcasm.

Kyoko felt her face heat up in embarrassment and anger as she sputtered, "sh-shut up! I can take care of this myself!"

The man shook his head and he laughed, "it seems to me that you struggle with this kind of thing. Why don't you just go and apologize?"

Kyoko turned to him, "you think I don't want to! Of course I do! But I really hurt her feelings and there's no way she'd accept an apology from someone like me!"

Ren put a hand on his chin in thought, "so…you're just going to hate yourself over it then?"

Kyoko felt her eyes drop. That was exactly what she was going to do. Ren laughed at her, "idiot. You don't have to hate yourself over it. You made a mistake. You go, apologize and move forward. It's that simple."

Kyoko stared at him like he was an alien as Ren looked at her confused, "what?" he asked.

Kyoko shook her head, "nothing. Okay, I will."

She turned and Ren saw her shaking. He gave a chuckle and put a hand gently on her shoulder, "tell you what, I know the girl so I'll go with you okay?"

Kyoko looked up at him in thanks. They walked through the Ryokan and found the pink-clad girl fuming in the lobby. Ruriko stood over her and was crowing in pride as she stared down at the Love Me Member.

"how dare you leave me on my own? You were supposed to take care of me, I'm afraid I'll have to cut your points for this." Ruriko jeered, not sounding sorry in the least bit.

Kanae stared at her with anger, "whatever. Do whatever you want."

Ruriko laughed and clapped her hands in glee, "I don't know what made you think you could act anyway. You're just a dog of LME that gets by on simple points. What would make you think you could ever be more than that?"

Ren glared hatefully at the young star, remembering the same cold words people used to speak to him about being Kuu's son. But he was shocked as he saw Kyoko step out and confront the young star.

"I thought you were like a princess, but in reality you're just an ugly stepsister trying to cover up your own ugliness by making her feel down. I bet she's an incredible actress that can beat you at anything!" Kyoko glared at Ruriko.

Kanae scoffed, "as if I need some love-sick idiot to take care of this for me." she stood up, "take away my points. Go ahead, but I know that I'll always be a better actress than you could ever hope to be, and one day I'll be higher on the charts than any of your stupid bubblegum pop songs."

Then she turned to Kyoko and glared, "and I don't need your help. So stay out of it next time."

Kyoko cringed and she bowed her head, "I'm sorry that I said something rude to you earlier. It was wrong of me to jump to conclusions before even understanding your side of the story. I'm sorry."

Kanae stared in shock as the young girl stood there with her head bowed low. She pushed away the feelings of thankfulness at the sincere apology and ran a hand through her hair in exasperation, "alright already. You don't need to make it sound like you destroyed me. I'm stronger than that. Stand up love-sick idiot," she gave a smile down to Kyoko who stared at her in wonder before walking off.

"well, my task is complete." Kanae said, raising her hands in a stretch. "I've taken about as much diva as I can. Guess I'll go home and start packing."

Ren gave a smile and stood out, "wait Kanae-chan. You took care of Ruriko didn't you?"

Kanae glared at the actor and sniffed, "for as long as I could, sure."

Ren's smile got bigger, "and you forgave someone who did something wrong to you?"

Kanae nodded, not understanding the actor's intentions. "sure, why?"

Ren smiled and held out his hand, "hand me your book."

Kanae did as she was asked and Ren pulled out a stamp before stamping the book with a hard smile.

Kanae looked down in shock as she got the book and read "80% you're almost there!"

She looked up back to the actor and narrowed her eyes, "I don't want pity Tsuruga."

Ren smiled, "and I wouldn't dream of giving it. You've earned this Kanae. Just enjoy the rest of this trip and know that your job at LME is secure."

Kyoko jumped up in excitement and clung to Kanae, "that's awesome Kanae-chan! You did it! I knew you were amazing!"

Kanae felt a blush rising on her cheeks and she pulled her arm from Kyoko's grip, "MO! Get off of me!"

Kyoko stopped before giving a sorrowful stare, "but Moko-san!"

Kanae glared at her, "my name's not Moko-san, love-struck idiot."

Kyoko felt her head drop, "I'm sorry. I thought we were friends. Forgive me for ever thinking that you would want to be friends with someone like me."

Kanae stared at the girl before looking up to Tsuruga who held a stamp that looked a lot like the -10 stamp she had gotten before. She growled and stared at the actor, 'you wouldn't.' she mouthed.

Ren gave a smirk that just simply said, 'try me.'

"Mo! Get up off the floor! We are friends you idiot! Now stop embarrassing me!"

No way did she want to be friends with this house-wife, love-struck, idiot, but with Tsuruga holding the key to her future in LME not like she had much of a choice, 'damn that actor! I will pull myself out from under his thumb!' she thought.

She needed to de-stress. 'wonder what Glasses-kun is doing?'

"I'm going to go now."

Kyoko smiled and waved, "okay, bye Moko-san! I'll see you later!"

Kanae cringed but couldn't suppress a smile as she walked off, "that girl is just strange."

Kyoko smiled and turned to Ren, a huge grin on her face. "I made a friend Tsuruga-san!"

Ren smiled and suppressed the urge to hug her as she stared at him cutely with her big, golden eyes. He pat her head and nodded, "yup. You certainly did Mogami-san."

Kyoko smiled at him and her eyes fell in a blush as she muttered, "you know…I don't know whether you've eaten or not yet…but would you like to grab some breakfast with me?"

Ren smiled and nodded, "sure Mogami-san. That would be nice."

-Date 3-

And it was. The breakfast he had carried him all the way throughout the day. Ruriko had complained about a stomach and head ache and therefore was not doing her scenes today…again, but Ren didn't care as he finished his for the day.

He walked up to Shotaro's door and pounded on it. He heard a groan from the other side and saw Shotaro answer the door, a lazy, vacant stare on his face.

"I followed up with my part of the agreement Shotaro, now you owe me an explanation." He growled.

Shotaro was pissed. He didn't think the actor would be able to move so quickly into Kyoko's heart. It was honestly astounding how stupid the woman was. But an agreement was an agreement, and while Shotaro was a great many things, he was not one to renege on his word. He gave a sigh and opened up his door, "come on in."

Ren walked through the door and sat down on the chair. Shotaro opted for the bed.

"how did you do it?"

He asked.

Ren shrugged his shoulders, "I see no reason to tell you, just tell me what I want to know Fuwa."

Shotaro was racing, trying to think of a lie to tell when his mother stepped into the room. "if you won't drop this Tsuruga I'll tell you."

Ren turned around to see Mrs. Fuwa. In the candlelight, you could see the wrinkles that adorned her face and showcased the stress that she felt. Ren had a foreboding feeling as he heard Mrs. Fuwa sigh.

"about two years ago now, Kyoko was in a terrible accident."

Ren paled. Kyoko was in an accident? "what happened?!" he demanded.

Mrs. Fuwa turned to her son who cringed as he remembered and she gave another sigh. "I guess Shotaro didn't want to take over the Ryokan. He was planning to run away to Tokyo and Kyoko was going to go with them. That night that they ran, there was a rainstorm. Rather than wait it out, my stupid son decided to go ahead with his plans. Going down the mountain, the driver of the car for Kyoko and Shotaro hit a spot in the road that was beginning to flood. They fell from the road and hit a tree. The driver was killed instantly and Kyoko suffered a traumatic brain injury. Since then, she's suffered from memory loss."

Ren was stunned. Kyoko had lost her memories? But she seemed to remember the stone and her childhood memories…what was going on?! "I don't understand. She seems to remember her past and childhood memories."

Mrs. Fuwa nodded, "she remembers everything up until the day of the accident. When she hit the tree it damaged her short term memory."

Ren didn't know how to respond. Shotaro took it as he didn't understand and spoke up, "basically, at the end of every day, Kyoko forgets everything that ever happened. Every 24 hours she just relives the day of the accident. At night, exactly the time when the accident happened, she forgets everything that happened during the last 24 hours."

Ren was frozen as he listened and he remembered the cold words that Shotaro had spoken to him before, "by tomorrow, she won't even know who you are."

She would never know who he was. She would always forget his face by the end of the day.

Mrs. Fuwa watched this realization come to him and she sighed, "so now that you know, leave Kyoko-chan alone. We keep her in this Ryokan to keep her safe. Don't come near her again."

Ren walked out of the room numbly, still trying to process this. He had been with Kyoko all morning. It didn't seem like she had any memory loss whatsoever! But…"I don't know who you are sir." It would be the only thing that made sense. The reason why she had denied him dinner last night…was because she had forgotten she wanted to have it again.

'every night she forgets everything that happened in the last 24 hours.' He thought. 'this means no matter how much I try, she'll never remember me. maybe this love was doomed from the start.'

He felt discouragement as he turned to walk into his room when he saw Kyoko standing outside of his room. "Mogami-san?" he asked curiously.

Kyoko jumped back and a blush flew to her face, "oh! Tsuruga-san! I'm sorry for disturbing you! I didn't mean to come at a time when you weren't here…"

She continued to babble but Ren felt a sense of relief wash over him, 'Tsuruga-san, so she hasn't forgotten me yet.' But how long would it be before she did?

He turned his attention to Kyoko who was still babbling about how horrible she was to be disturbing Tsuruga-san so late at night and Ren gave a sigh.

"Mogami-san, you're fine. What can I help you with?"

Kyoko stared up at him and her blush seemed to deepen as she shuffled her feet on the ground. "well, I…I…I wanted to thank you Tsuruga-san."

Ren was taken aback and Kyoko smiled up at him as she continued, "I don't remember the last time I had friends. In fact, I think my last friend was Corn, and he's a fairy prince so he's actually more than a friend. Anyway, thanks to you, I got a new friend today. So thank you." she gave a deep bow and Ren felt a sad smile cross his face.

'that's right. But she'll forget all about that tomorrow. How lonely must she be to not have anyone around because she can't remember them? The only ones she can remember only keep her around out of pity. And that's not right.'

He turned to the girl and gave a warm smile, placing his hand on top of her head, 'I can change this. I know I can.' He thought.

"don't worry Mogami-san. I'm sure you'll make a lot more friends soon." He said with confidence.

Kyoko stared up at him in wonder, "you really think so?"

Ren nodded, "yup. I'm going to help you."

And he meant that in more ways than one.

-Date 3-

Hope you all enjoyed the update, sorry it took me so long, but I hope it's worth it! Thank you all so much for reading and I can't wait to read your reviews! Thank you!

-Kate