The Story so far: This story picks up exactly where the Skip Beat manga chapter 243 leaves off. Ren is overseas and Kyoko is auditioning for the role of Momiji in Sacred Lotus of the Mire.

Disclaimer: I do not own Skip Beat or any of its characters… But you all knew that anyways.

A/N: This story was conceived before the release of manga chapter 244. As Nakamura-Sensei releases more chapters I expect there will be noticeable differences in several characters (Producer Kuresaki, Director Morizumi, and Koga Hiromune). If character consistency is important to you consider this fair warning.

Somewhere in Guam…

It took 4 hours and who knows how many takes to get the shot right. Four hours in the sun, dressed in all black and covered in special effects makeup. Finally making it into the air conditioned break room Ren collapsed on a bench next to the vending machines. Kicking his long legs out in front of him and leaning his head back against the wall the actor closed his eyes. Feeling the cool air slowly permeate his clothing, he felt a smile start to tug at the corners of his mouth. Its almost over.

It wasn't that Ren disliked his role. Black Jack, BJ for short, was exactly the role he was looking for. After all, BJ was an undead, soulless, and truly terrifying serial killer. Tsuruga Ren on the other hand, always played the guy that got the girl. Ren wanted to be more than that though. He wanted to show the country that he could conquer any role. They knew him as a heart throb, but he wanted to scare them stiff too.

Director Konoe had agreed to let him try, but there were conditions… Specifically, no one could know that BJ was being played by Ren until the director decided to reveal it. His name wouldn't even appear in the credits after Tragic Marker was released until the director gave the Ok. The real trick here, was keeping the staff and the rest of the cast from figuring out who Ren was during filming.

To solve the problem Cain Heel was born. Almost as much of a monster as BJ himself, Cain was the role that Ren was currently struggling with. Living as Cain was hard. Cain was the darkest parts of Ren brought to light. The parts that Ren had locked up and buried as deep has he could. It might even have been a stretch to say they were parts of Ren at all. Tsuruga Ren was really just the stage name he took when he abandoned his life in the United States and fled to Japan 5 years ago. More accurately, they were parts of Hizuri Kuon, the man that Ren feared and hated more than anyone else, his former self.

"Cain-san!" Manaka squealed excitedly, ruining Ren's brief moment of relaxation. Opening his eyes he glared at her the best he could, hoping that she would finally take the hint and stay the hell away from him. Undaunted she continued, "I'm so sorry we had to do so many retakes because of me. Don't hate me OK?!"

"Didn't I tell you before? I could never hate my pet rodent." Cain responded in English, knowing full well that Manaka wouldn't understand a word of it. "It's a waste of energy. Now get the hell away from me."

"Talk to her in Japanese you Bastard." Murasame yelled across the room. "We all know you speak it."

After weeks of working together, this had become a pretty common exchange for the three of them, but today Ren wasn't in the mood. Pulling himself up right, Ren let a smile flow over Cain's face. Continuing on in English, Cain shifted all of his attention to Murasame and spoke with a sinister smile painted on his face. "What do you care trash? Today's the day I kill you on screen." Then tilting his head slightly to the left and letting his grin widen Cain switched to Japanese. "You die today."

"No Cain-san." Manaka corrected. "Murasame-san's character kills BJ, not the other way around."

Cain looked at her with pity. Poor stupid little rodent. You really think that's how this story ends? In the beginning it was true Murasame's character was supposed to kill BJ, but as filming progressed the director had decided to film two endings; one where BJ was laid to rest once again and one where BJ finishes off the protagonist. Today they were filming the later.

With a grunt Ren stood and headed off towards the lunch table. He stopped short just as he was about to pass Murasame. Turning his body slightly and looming over his fellow actor, Ren let his face fill with malice. He locked eyes with the shorter man. "Tick tok, tick tok, tick tok. Be sure to figure out your last words before lunch ends." With that Cain Heel turned away and made for the lunch table, leaving Murasame to figure out what he had just said in English.

It wasn't that he was particularly hungry. In fact he would have preferred not to eat. But Ren had made a promise to eat properly while he was overseas. And the last thing he wanted to do was disappoint her. So he grabbed a sandwich and a bottle of green tea before retreating to the far corner of the break room. He ate quickly and in silence, but took the time to take pictures of his disappearing sandwich every few bites. They were proof that he was eating like he promised.

"Ok. Lunch time is over folks." Director Konoe announced.

In response all of the actors and staff shuffled to their feet. None of them looked particularly happy to be venturing back outside, but there was work to be done and a movie to finish.

The background for the next scene was unremarkable, but then again, it was supposed to be. The final battle between the protagonist and BJ was a martial arts show down. Nothing should take away from the fight itself.

Taking their positions Ren and Murasame faced off. As the director prepared to call "action" Ren felt himself slipping further into the back of his mind. With Cain, Ren could maintain his presence, but BJ… was overwhelming.

"Action"

Both men moved simultaneously, Murasame like a trained fighter and BJ like a deadly puppet, pulled along by strings that no one could see. Left. Drop. Kick to the torso. Block. Spin. The moves played out in Ren's head as he watched BJ execute them. Then Murasame slipped.

Ren watched as BJ's foot connected full force with Murasame's shoulder. And in that moment, Ren lost control of BJ. He could only watch as BJ pursued Murasame with true murderous intent. The more he fought for control of his own body, the further Ren seemed slip into the background. Everything started to go black.

Murasame scrambled to regain his footing, but BJ just seemed to be faster…and better. They were off script. Way off script. And while he had pushed Cain into real fights before, something was different. Cain would have repositioned them, gotten them back on script to finish the scene. Murasame hated him, but Cain was a true professional. Something was wrong. And looking into BJ's eyes, Murasame finally figured out what it was. He saw the struggle in BJ's eyes and he saw the moment Ren's consciousness was fully consumed. And in that split second he knew that BJ was really going to kill him.

But that was also the moment that BJ stopped moving. Just a like a marionette hanging from its strings, he swayed slightly as his movement ceased.

Murasame stared up at BJ, not even sure he was still breathing as silence surrounded them. "Cain?" Murasame asked.

No response.

Murasame half walked, half scuttled away from the other man, his own chest heaving.

"Cain-san?" Director Konoe asked as he approached the frozen actor.

Again no response.

Hesitantly the director reached out and tapped BJ's shoulder. "Cain-san?" He repeated. Grabbing the larger man's shoulder and he shook him gently. Ren's body collapsed and the set burst to life as emergency services were called.

When the EMTs arrived they made quick work of moving the unconscious man into the ambulance. But when it was time to drive to the hospital, director Konoe went by himself, refusing to let anyone else come along. Not that anyone really wanted to spend more time around the terror that was Heel Cain. But something still seemed amiss to Murasame.

Meanwhile in Japan…

After being disqualified from an audition for the role of Momiji due to her hair color, Kyoko stood confidently facing Producer Kuresaki and the rest of the panel for the audition. After declaring her intentions to preform her version of the ninja Momiji even if she couldn't have the role, everyone waited for the producer to make a decision. Would he let her proceed with her demonstration? Borrowing some of Momiji's inner strength the teen actress's eyes pierced the panel of judges, daring them to deny her this request. The promise of violence seemed to wrap itself around the slender woman and the longer the producer waited, the heavier the air of tension around her seemed to be.

"Fine. But if you want this role, you are going to have to make up for your lack of preparation. A ninja for a period drama simply cannot have an unnatural hair color. Now then…" The producer's words trailed off for a moment as he thought of something. "Approach us as Momiji would."

For a moment Kyoko didn't move. Behind her Morizumi Kimiko, another applicant for the role of Momiji, glared. This girl forces her way back in and now she isn't going to the respond to the producer's request. What is she an idiot? It was almost funny and Kimiko's lips started to twitch up into a smile before Kyoko spoke.

"I would like to… but I don't know who you are."

The producer pointed to the name plates set out before the panel of judges and asked with a humorless expression, "If you cannot read these name plates how could you possibly be able to the read the script?"

"That's not what I meant." Kyoko answered hastily as her composure slipped. "I know that Koga-san is Sakanoue Shizuma who is the samurai Momiji serves and adores." A slight blush rose up her cheeks. "But who are the rest of you? Does Momiji know you? Does she perceive you to be a threat to Sakanoue-sama? Are you allies? What are your stations? Do you merit respect? Are you fellow ninja?"

The producer looked at her thoughtfully while all other eyes fixed on him, waiting for a response. "Sakanoue-san is sitting alone. For the time being you may think of Director Morizumi and Futahashi-san as part of the back drop." He gestured to the men behind the table.

"And you Producer Kuresaki?"

"I am a samurai visiting your master."

With a quick nod Kyoko closed her eyes and counted down. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and when she opened her eyes Momiji's soul had taken its place inside Kyoko's body. Checking her surroundings, Momiji started forward. Her walk wasn't fast but it wasn't slow either. She just placed one foot in front of the other, but something was different from when she had first walked into the auditorium. Her movements were smoother somehow, though no one watching her could quite explain why. Even though her eyes constantly scanned her surroundings they didn't flicker back and forth. She seemed aware of everything, but concerned about nothing.

That was, until she got within 4 feet of her master and the visiting samurai. She felt more than saw the producer's face change. He pretended to recognize her as an enemy and went for the wooden sword on his hip. Without flinching she turned to face the new challenger, her hands already gripping the hilts of the wooden short shorts on her hips. By the time the producer had raised his sword for the first attack, Momiji had her own swords held like a cross before her to take the impact of the much larger man's full downward swing. The impact forced her backwards a step, but she was instantly on the offensive, using her smaller size to step under the producer's follow up swing.

"Who do you serve?! Tell me!" The producer demanded as they crossed swords once again, his natural strength overwhelming the tiny female ninja. In response she smiled. Forced into a corner and barley holding her own, she smiled. It started out small, but the more intense the exchange got, the broader the smile got. The more desperate her situation became, the happier Momiji seemed to be.

"Who do you serve?!" The producer's voice boomed.

A laugh escaped Momiji's throat and the producer drew back, thinking he had pushed the young woman too far. Her face however, remained defiant, sporting a fearsome smile. As he took another step back a full throated laugh followed him. "You think yourself worthy of my master's name?" Momiji chortled. "You can't even beat me. What business could you possibly have with my master?"

Angry now, the producer stepped forward and the two clashed once again.

Knocking one of her short swords away and pinning the tiny ninja to the ground, the producer stopped momentarily. His breath was ragged as he stared into Momiji's bright amber eyes. Forcing her hips to the ground with his body weight, he kneeled across her body and held her empty hand above her head with one hand. In his other hand his sword lay across her throat.

"Tell. Me. Who. Your. Master. Is." He demanded. But she just shook her head, almost as if she were telling him to just cut her throat and get it over with. "Why not?!" He asked in exasperation.

Her amber eyes sparkled and her face flooded with an expression that could only be described as triumph. "A tool should never betray its master." She responded with a flare of condescension in her tone.

That was all it took for everything to click into place for the producer. With the other girls, he had forced them to give up a name in the fight and if it was Sakanoue's he had eliminated them. He never expected one of the actresses to refuse to give a name at all. The idea was always to prove that they understood that they couldn't betray Sakanoue, but to be so loyal as to give up her life to protect her master's name... The tiny woman beneath him was a force to be reckoned with. With that thought, the producer moved to get up off of the fallen actress. But Momiji was still in the driver's seat.

The moment the producer shifted his weight off of her she moved, flipping him to the ground and placing her own blade against his throat. Startled, he looked into the eyes of a woman who knew she was going to kill him. The producer's heart pounded and his breath caught in his throat as he realized his mistake.

"Wait Momiji." A voice rang out behind them. Koga Hiromune's voice, or was it Sakanoue's voice? Either way Momiji froze and waited for her master's orders. Her face said clearly that she wanted the man beneath her dead. She thought he was a threat that needed to be eliminated. But if her master said otherwise she would stay her hand.

"Cut!" Another voice boomed. With that word Momiji vanished, replaced by a very, very embarrassed Kyoko. Rolling off of the director into a full bow, she started apologizing vehemently for overstepping her bounds and being so rude to the group. Somewhere in the long winded and overly scatterbrained rant she also managed to thank them for letting her demonstrate her Momiji. Actually, she managed to say it about 6 times before the producer regained enough composure to stop the young actress and convince her to stand back up.

"Fine." The producer spoke without even consulting the other judges. "You can partake in the next portion of the audition. Go to waiting room 3. We will call you and the others who advanced when we are ready for you."

Bowing politely to each of the men in the room Kyoko left in search of her temporary manager, Yashiro Yukihito, and the bottle of water she was sure he had on him. As she walked away the room fell silent until Hiromune spoke. "Damn. That was intense. Way more intense than we need her to be for the action scenes in this romance drama. But… I really want to know what else that little girl has in store for us. Because whoever that was that you just fought, it wasn't that overly polite actress. And it sure as hell wasn't any of her past characters either. Mio and Natsu are both too cold for my personal tastes but Momiji is feisty." The last word he spoke with reverence as he licked his lips.

The director walked up and claped the producer on the shoulder. "And you almost disqualified her because of her hair…"

Happy with herself, Kyoko headed to the waiting room with a skip in her step after reporting in to Yashiro. Knocking lightly before entering, she stepped inside to see the other finalists for the part of Momiji.

By the looks of things, the other girls had encountered some difficulties with the first part of the re-audition. There were only two other girls left in the running for the role of Momiji. Takako Eno and Morizumi Kimiko were all that were left. And judging by the condition of their hands, the producer hadn't gone easy on them either.

Looking past her competition, Kyoko saw Kotonami Kanae and crossed the room in a bound. "MOoo-KOoo!" She yelled, excited to see her best friend. "You got the Chidori role didn't you?!"

"Of course I did. I told you I would." Kanae responed. Not that I wanted the role. The president made me audition for this if you recall Kyoko? Of course with a friend like Kyoko, Kanae knew better than to add the last part out loud.

"I really want to co-star with you Moko!" Kyoko exclaimed wrapping her arms around her friend, who made no move to hug her back. In fact the only reason that Kyoko auditioned for the part of Momiji was to be in the same production as her best friend. "You're going to be the most beautiful Chidori! They're so lucky to have you!" Kyoko continued as she slowly melted into a puddle on the floor without releasing her hold on Kanae's waist. She looked up at her raven haired friend with an expression filled with admiration, worship, and envy.

Glaring, Kanae started lecturing Kyoko about proper behavior at an audition. "Don't embarrass yourself like this in public. I know you just can't help yourself when we are at LME but you can't possibly act this way filming your dramas."

"But I do…"

After another ice cold glare from Kanae, Kyoko finally settled into a chair next to her friend. Situating the fake short swords at her waist she was surprised when her bag started vibrating. She fished into the inner pocket to pull out her bright pink phone with a perplexed look on her face. The phone in her hand was still, but her bag continued to vibrate. As the realization hit her that it must be Setsuka's phone, Kyoko panicked, rooting through her bag to pull out a slim black phone.

The other girls in the room stared at her in irritation, but it didn't matter to Kyoko. Cain was calling his beloved little sister Setsuka. And Setsuka would never miss a call from her brother that she loved more than anything else on the planet. After all there were only 5 rules to playing Setsuka.

1) Brother comes first.

2) Brother comes second.

3) Brother comes third.

4) Brother comes fourth.

5) Brother comes in 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th too.

"Brother." Kyoko purred into the phone in English, catching her audience off guard. The moment Kyoko became Setsuka everything about her changed: her voice, her mannerisms, her posture.

"Actually, Setsuka-san this is Murasame." The voice on the other end of the line began.

Figuring out that the conversation needed to switch to Japanese Setsuka responded. "And you have my brother's phone why exactly Murasame?" She left off the honorific intentionally.

"I'm not sure how to tell you this…"

"Just spit it out already." Setsu retorted in an uninterested voice.

"Cain was just taken to the hospital in an ambulance."

"What did you say?!" Setsuka voice dropped. Panic, concern, and desperation laced her normally sultry voice. "What happened to my brother Murasame?!"

"We don't know anything yet, Setsuka-san."

"How can you not know what happened?!"

"We were filming a fight scene when he just stopped moving. He doesn't look injured but he isn't responding either."

"Why do you have his phone? Are you with him? Can I talk to him?" Setsuka's voice dropped to almost a whisper. As tears started rolling down her cheeks. "How can this be happening again?"

This wasn't the first time that Ren had become unresponsive. It had happened before when he was filming for the TV drama Dark Moon. They didn't know what caused it then and they didn't know why he suddenly woke up either. The thought of Ren never waking up again petrified Kyoko. Sure she was acting as Setsuka, but Ren was her friend and mentor. She absolutely could not lose him. "And you love him" a soft voice reminded her. Where the voice came from… even Kyoko didn't know. Maybe a grudge spirit, maybe her inner fairies, but either way she couldn't deny the truth in its words. Not anymore. He had to be Ok.

"Setsuka-san." Murasame's gentle voice called though the phone laying forgotten in her hand. "Setsuka-san. Are you still there?" He hated Cain, but aside from being overly attached to her brother, Murasame didn't have a problem with Setsuka.

"I'm here." She whispered back.

"Director Konoe is with Cain. I was really just calling to tell you that you can find out more about your brothers condition from him."

"Thank you." She whispered before hanging up and going through the contacts on the phone. Finding Director Konoe, she pressed send and prayed that when he picked up he would tell her it was all a lie. Nothing else in the world mattered in the moment. What if he doesn't wake up?

A/N: This is my first attempt at fanfiction so I hope you all liked it. I have a number of additional chapters outlined and I intend to upload them as they get fleshed out but critiques or suggestions are invited. I hope to use any comments/reviews to improve future works.

Edited: 8/20/2017