A/N: I do Not own Skip Beat.

I always feel that I release a story just as the newest chapter of Skip Beat comes out. I don't do it on purpose. This story is going to have a lot of little notes. Sorry.

This was a request from Shiroyuki76. This was all her idea and I came up with a story with her rules. It was a fun little challenge. I hope everyone enjoys it! Cheers

Chapter 1

Kyoko was sitting in her little desk with about half the class missing. No, there wasn't some strange epidemic happening, this was normal. Granted, normally there were more students than this but today was just busy for everyone. Kyoko was thankful that she did come to school today. Since today they announced something she didn't want to miss for the world.

"It's time for annual school trip. This year it will take place in Okinawa on the week of May 24th." That was about two months away. Everyone that was here took out planners and Blackberries to see their schedule. Half the class cheered and the other moaned. Kyoko was one that cheered. With Dark Moon done at the end of the month, there was only Box R and Kimagura Rock. She was sure she could take off that week for Bo and Box R was talking a break all of that month. She would just have to make sure that anything up and coming wasn't scheduled that week.

Details were given for the trip and Kyoko wrote it all down. They would be going with the other students of their grade in the school and it was going to be a five day trip.

"Everyone is required to get permission from their parents and 60,000 yen for the trip. Now, let's…." Kyoko's mind blanked, Sixty...thousand...yen! Do they really expect students to be able to come up with that kind of money? Oh no wait, most of these people are rich or have parents that can actually provide that much. Kyoko only had herself.

Thoughts of money and the trip flooded her mind till the end of class. She had a meeting after class with the Dark Moon cast. Director Ogata had requested everyone to meet before they started filming. For the rest of the month they were wrapping things up on the last episodes and re-shooting things that Director Ogata wasn't happy about. Everyone was feeling the pressure and the sadness of the show ending at the same time. Pressure to get it all perfect and sad that it was ending after a year of working together.

Maybe she was the only one that felt that way though. Kyoko walked into an empty conference room. She was 30 minutes early, since she had nothing else to do. School was over, she changed into her normal clothes, took her time getting here and she was still early. She decided to try and find money. She had two months to come up with the money for the trip. She could budget her income.

Kyoko was madly scribbling in a small notebook with dozens of torn pages littered all around her. This was how Ren and Yashiro found her. They were about 15 minutes early and went straight to the conference room. Yashiro turned to Ren and smiled nefariously.

"Okay, here is your chance. I'll be back before the meeting starts. She's all yours till then!" Yashiro gave Ren a very robust smack on his back and then started to walk away.

"Ya…" Ren glared at his manager as he ran around the corner with a huge smile on his face. He sighed. Yashiro, once again was trying to force his opinions on him about his lack of love life with Kyoko. As if he already didn't know his lack of progression with the girl. He looked back at her and a small smile twitched his lips.

Okay so he was pleasantly surprised to find her here alone but the atmosphere around her didn't scream a good one. He stepped inside and walked up to her. She was still writing something and then scratching things off then writing. She still hadn't noticed his presence. He looked over her shoulder and found numbers, lots and lots of different numbers and some notes.

"What are you doing, Mogami-san?" He asked and she jumped in her seat. He quickly took a step back as she swung around the large chair and bounced out of her chair.

"Tsuruga-san! I didn't see you come in. I'm so sorry."

He smiled at her, "That's alright. You were concentrating so hard on something. What are you doing?" He pulled out the seat next to her and sat down when she did.

"Oh… I" She looked around and blushed, "Geez, what a mess." She started to collect all the scattered pages and putting them in a neat stack.

She sighed, "I was trying to find some money to save in my budget." She was actually rather embarrassed admitting this little fact. She was hoping to have it done before anyone came in. Of course, Ren would be here early, she should have packed it up sooner.

"Money? For what?" He had a slip in his hand that detailed the amount she paid for school. It simply said school.

"Um..." She took the slip from his fingers, "My high school is going to Okinawa for their school trip." She sounded excited when she said it but then a sad smile replaced her cheer.

"But they want 60,000 yen for it and then I'll probably have to have extra for my own spending money." She smoothed out the sheets of paper absentmindedly as she spoke.

"I don't think I'll be able to go unless I get another job soon." She sighed, "And if that job won't conflict with the actual trip."

"It can't be that bad. May I?" He asked.

"Do you even know how to budget money, Tsuruga-san?" She asked skeptically.

"Hey now! I know how to make a dollar stretch. I lasted a week on my own on $50 which is about…" He quickly did the math, "a little over 4000 yen." Never mind, the actual events of that week that only caused him to spend that much. That wasn't the point.

Kyoko frowned. A dollar? American currency? "You lived in America?"

Ren wanted to smack himself. He coughed and changed the subject "Let me see what you have, I'm sure you are missing something or exaggerating."

"I am not! I was able to support myself and that stupid ass in a very expensive apartment for almost a year on three jobs. I know how to budget money and what I can and can't afford."

Ren almost snarled. He didn't understand how anyone could call himself a man letting a wonderful woman like Kyoko support him like that. How could he let her work herself to the bone while he did nothing to help and even demanded such luxuries as a two bedroom apartment. Well, two bedrooms was a must. Perhaps he was more upset that he got to live with her alone for that year. Either way, he didn't like it.

"What's this for?" He pointed to a figure and she looked at it.

"Rent, though they don't like the fact that I pay them. I wouldn't feel comfortable not paying them something. Can you believe they wanted me to pay them 5000 yen a month? Ha! For a room, utilities and food, I figure I should pay them at least a quarter of the old place so 25,000 yen a month."

If Ren was drinking or eating something he would have choked. She was paying 100,000 yen for an apartment? Alone? As it was he simply stopped breathing for a moment then continued. It was in the past, nothing he could do about it now. Still why did his hand itch to hurt a blonde singer?

"Okay. Well how about this one? This seems low, is it something you can cut out?" It was about 6500 yen expense.

"Oh, that's for food. I was thinking about that too. I usually buy food when I'm out and about since I don't want to use the restaurant's food. Maybe I can put in some hours there at Daruma-ya's and I can make myself bento for the two months. Minimum wage is 739 an hour so that means about 9 hours a week for food. I can do that."

"Mogami-san, I'm sure they would let you make yourself food with the rent you are currently giving them without having to work the extra hours." This girl was too much. She had to provide a service or fee for everything she took from people.

"I couldn't do that. That is food for the restaurant. It is food they buy with their money to help with their livelihood. Their restaurant is everything to them. I couldn't possibly take from them." She sighed and started pointing out things.

"This is for school, books, notebooks, pencils and such. This is for acting school. I'm thankful that they don't have any extra supplies I have to buy. Rent, food and..." She sighed.

"I was able to save a little money since I had three jobs but with the chocolates for Vain Day and then Moko-san's make-up that I kept replacing, my savings dwindled to almost nothing." She was distracted and he was just listening to her talk. He was happy that she trusted him to help with her problem but he hated her having this problem. She shouldn't have to do so much to get what she deserved. She should have anything she wanted and be able to go anywhere she wanted, be it Okinawa or Paris, France.

"And you wouldn't believe how much I have to pay for the salon. I keep thinking about going back to my natural color but then I would have to wear a wig for Natsu. It would save me money though." She paused and continued to think about it.

"No, I can't. It's easier with my own hair and I like my color." She pouted. "I have three more paychecks from Dark Moon but then my budget drops dramatically. I knew I was going to have to cut back and already started to make adjustments. This school trip was just too much." She shook her head and started to crumble the sheets of paper.

She smiled up at him sadly, "It's okay. I'll try and go to Okinawa some other time on my own. I'm sorry to have troubled you with my petty problems, Tsuruga-san." She was stuffing all the sheets of paper in her purse. From what he saw, it was true. She couldn't afford it. She had everything down to the last yen. She had about 10,000 yen free each month. He thought about the dinners she would make for him, bought with her own money and then the birthday gift. She must have used her free money that month just to buy that one gift.

If he had known, he would have never accepted it. He was just happy to have her smile for him on his birthday. The fact that she took the extra effort to buy him something was beyond his wildest dreams. He thought of the things she offered to pay when they go out to lunch and he was pleased with himself that he put his foot down and paid. He would have to make sure to pay for so much more now.

"Let me pay for it." He offered. No! I couldn't possibly take money from you, Tsuruga-san. He could hear her scream and rant at his audacity.

She blinked stunned and then smiled softly at him. "I can't do that. You don't get anything out of it. This is my school trip. I should be able to pay if I want to go. Thank you though." She blushed and gently patted his hand. He felt his whole body melt at that brief moment of contact. He was tempted to snatch her hand and hold it forever.

"It really wouldn't be a problem. It would make you happy and you could just save for spending money instead. You can even buy me a souvenir." She shook her head.

"As if you haven't been there before." She gave a sarcastic smile.

"Well, I have but just for business. It's very beautiful. Where would you be going?" He asked.

She smiled brightly, "It's a five day trip. Four of the days are all planned out by the school. They are going to Shuri Castle, the Ocean Expo Park, Himeyuri Peace Museum the Gyokusendo caves are just a few of the places. Then on the fifth day everyone is free to just spend time at the beach." She paused and frowned again.

"What?" He asked concerned.

"I guess, it's a good thing I'm not going. I would have to buy a swim suit. There would be no way I could afford everything for this trip." She wasn't looking at him which was a good thing. His mind started to flash with her in various bikinis and tiny swimsuits dripping wet from the cold ocean water. People started to filter in and their time together was over. He watched Kyoko changed from sad and regretful to the cheery and energetic professional girl as the rest of the crew came in.

As everyone came in, Ren tried to think of a way to get her the money. He would love to just kidnap her and taken her there himself. Though, he would prefer it be a romantic weekend getaway with her than just a simple sight seeing trip. Plus, this was probably something special to her. She was overjoyed with the thought of going to high school. This was just one of those things that she wanted to do like a normal girl. His thoughts were interrupted as Director Ogata started.

"Thank you everyone for coming in early today. I just wanted to announce that our ratings have hit 46%!" Everyone in the room clapped and cheered. They were less then a percent away from beating out Tsukigomori's record.

"Yes, it's wonderful news. No one thought we would be able to make it this far and it's because of you and your hard work that we were able to recreate a better show. We still haven't beaten them yet but then we have three more episodes to air. We can still do it!" Ogata pumped his fist into the air and everyone cheered with him determined to reach the goal.

"Now, even if we don't beat the record rating, I would still like to thank all of you for all of your dedication and your wonderful take on these characters. To Momose-san for Mizuki's determined free spirit, you took her cheerful innocent and gave her new depth with her goal oriented and never look back attitude." Everyone clapped and smiled brightly.

"To Tsuruga-san who created this new playful, yet sometimes scary and wounded Katsuki making every woman watching want to heal his broken soul." Again everyone turned to the person and clapped cheerily. Kyoko was smiling up at him and clapping enthusiastically. He nodded and smirked at everyone, lightly raising his hand in acknowledgment.

"And of course, to the newcomer, Kyoko-chan, who gave the world the most bone chilling Mio which caused many a nightmares to our two stars I'm sure. A hero is only as good as their villain and Mio was perfect." Everyone laughed but clapped as well. Kyoko buried her blushing face in her hands as they cheered.

"As thanks, I will be holding a party during the airing of the last episode. I do hope that all of you will be able to attend." He told them the details. It was to take place at the usual studio which he booked for the night and there would be food and music along with the showing at 9pm that night. The meeting ended and the shooting for that day began. Kyoko not being needed that night left, leaving Ren to ponder how he was going to help her with her trip.

A/N: Money amounts:

60,000 - $740

5,000 - $61

25,000 - $307

100,000 - $1231

6500 -$80

739 -$9

10,000 - $123

Haha. I hope I got them all. I actually find this part fun. Sorry if this confuses anyone.