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Anime/Manga » Skip Beat! » Patience Is Its Own Reward
leavesfallingup
Author of 14 Stories
Rated: T - English - Humor/Romance - Kyouko & Ren - Reviews: 873 - Updated: 04-26-10 - Published: 03-16-10 - Complete - id:5821424

Patience Is Its Own Reward

Disclaimer: I do not own SkipBeat or any of its characters.

Kyoko is still attending school and is trying to make the most of it before it graduation, with Ren and Sho chasing her every step of the way.

Chapter 8 – The gift, and the challenge

I would like to tell you that Kyoko woke up the next day, accepted Ren's love, and all was right with the world. But neither real life nor drama is ever that easy… and I am the cruel, merciless writer bent on torturing my readers (insert evil laugh here).

Kuu and Julie were scheduled to fly to Hong Kong to attend a fashion event at noon the following day. They surprised Kyoko by coming to the Daruma-ya early that Saturday morning. Out of courtesy they had called the Okami-san on the previous day to warn the couple. Both couples agreed to keep the visit a surprise for Kyoko.

The first surprise was that Kyoko had slept at all that night. The action scenes had served an additional purpose and she had been exhausted when she finally arrived home. Her mind was also numb from trying to grasp the ungraspable concept that someone like Tsuruga Ren might actually find her… interesting.

But a good actor is also a good observer. She had seen many of Ren's tender moments, but she had just filtered them out. As she slept, these moments passed through her mind like an endless parade. Each look, each word, the multitude of small kindnesses, the times he seemed to have trouble being in her presence; they were all there. And now her mind tore off the old labels affixed to each instance and replaced them with new labels. The labels now read: tenderness, desire, longing, love…

And her responses to these new labels were… troubling… disturbing… frightening… and maybe just a little exciting.

Hence, Kyoko woke up after six hours of sleep and didn't feel any more rested then when she had gone to sleep. She looked and felt like a wreck as she made her way down the stairs in her pajamas. As she descended, she smelled coffee: Oh, good. I'll finish the first pot off by myself and make them a new pot.

She was four steps from the bottom when her head went below the ceiling and she was able to look into the private dining room of the Daruma-ya couple. Tired eyes saw four people sitting at the table; and then she recognized them. Startled, she made an "Eep!" sound and slipped down the last three steps. All four people started to rise, but the ladies motioned for the men to sit and quickly moved to the sprawled figure. "Are you all right, Kyoko-san?"

"Hai, Okami-san. I just bruised my… pride," of course, she said this as she was rubbing her… pride.

"Let's get you back upstairs and we'll attend to your make-up," Julie said. The two ladies helped Kyoko up and escorted her up the stairs.

The men sat in companionable silence. Oddly, despite their very different backgrounds, the two couples liked each other right away. Perhaps it was their shared interest in the young lady who was currently being attended to.

The experience of years showed, and Kyoko was dolled up in no time at all. Julie apologized, "I'm sorry, Kyoko, but we really wanted to spend time with you before heading to Hong Kong."

It was definitely a pleasant experience for Kyoko to hear such words, "Oh, that's okay, Okaa-san. I'm glad that you stopped by."

Julie saw a fleeting expression of pain flash on Sachiko's face. She catalogued that for further consideration and finished Kyoko's eyeliner. "Now, this may seem a little… presumptuous, but Kuu has been bragging about your cooking for months. I know that this probably isn't the way that you wanted to spend a Saturday morning, but…"

Kyoko smiled happily, "You want me to cook breakfast for you?" She turned to the Okami-san, "Oh, can I? I'll cook for everybody, and I'll clean it up so that everything's ready for your early lunch crowd."

Sachiko smiled, "We've already prepared the ingredients for you. Do you want Taisho to help?"

"Oh, that won't be…" Julie saw Sachiko's expression and stopped Kyoko with a hand. "I think that's a good idea. He said that he enjoys cooking with you. Why don't you head on down and Sachiko-san and I will clean this up?"

Kyoko nodded and hurtled down the stairs. Julie looked at the Okami-san, "She doesn't know."

"Pardon?"

"She doesn't know how you both feel about her. Has she told you anything about her childhood?"

"No."

"All of my information is second-hand, but I do know this: she spent her childhood being rejected. She expects to be rejected. That's why she keeps you at arm's-length. The reason that she calls me Okaa-san is that I refuse to let her call me anything else. Tell her, Sachiko-san. Both of you should tell her how you feel about her. We don't need to compete with you. That girl needs as much love as possible."

The Okami-san looked at the beautiful American woman for a long time. Then her eyes became soft, "Thank you, Julie-san. You are very observant. I think we'll do that."

There are limits to any chef's tolerance. Daisuke loved to cook with Kyoko, but he quickly became irritable with Kuu in the kitchen. Kuu was quick to pick up on that, so he removed himself to the other side of the counter. But he still threw over the occasional suggestion, such as, "Oh, you'll need more than that. I'm hungry this morning. Kyoko, could you maybe crack twelve more eggs? I haven't eaten anything since around 1 a.m. this morning."

Kyoko just laughed and tripled all of her portions. Daisuke watched her work and grumbled about "Such wastefulness… there's only five of us… we could feed an army."

Kyoko bumped him with her shoulder** and said, "Trust me, Taisho. There won't be a speck left over."

When they sat down to eat, the Daruma-ya couple watched in amazement as Kuu consumed enough food to feed a small school. Sachiko shook her head in wonder, "It's a good thing that you are rich, or he'd eat you out of house and home."

Julie laughed, "As it is it takes both of our incomes to keep him fed." She slapped her husband's reaching hand, "Stop that! That roll is mine and I'll eat it as slow as I want."

Even the stern-faced Daisuke chuckled. "I've never seen anything like it. And I've served Sumo wrestlers. Why don't you look like them?"

Kuu grinned smugly, "Hard work and good living."

Julie guffawed, "Yeah right! He just has lucky genes. The rest of us have to exercise if we eat one-tenth of his intake.

When their meal was finished, they visited. When it was time to head out to the airport, Kuu pulled Kyoko aside, "You have summer break in July, right?"

"Hai."

"Well, I've told the boss to keep your schedule clear for at least one week. We're flying you home to come and see us." When she started to protest, Kuu stopped her, "Don't you dare say no! We want to see our daughter."

Once again, Kyoko didn't trust herself to speak. She simply nodded and returned the hugs that the couple gave her. As they drove away Sachiko walked up next to her, "Now, why don't you and I take care of the dishes. There's something I've needed to tell you."

Filming for the actor Cain Heel's movie began at noon that day and was expected to stretch late into the evening. After the director had met Kyoko's Setsu, he found a way to write a character into the movie. Kyoko shielded herself from direct interaction with Ren by remaining in-character, even during breaks. Ren sensed that something was wrong, but he was kept too busy to pursue it. As the lead, he had many more scenes than she did. It wasn't until very late afternoon that he managed to corral her.

"Mogami-san, it's very important that I talk to you. Can you please come with me for a couple of minutes?"

Kyoko wanted to run. She wanted to find a hole to hide in. But she respected and… well she respected her sempai too much to risk offending him in that way. "Hai, Tsuruga-sempai. Ano… what is this…?"

"Don't worry. It's nothing bad… I mean… well, I hope that you won't be upset."

Now she was worried. He's not going to confess! No! I can't… I'm not ready…

They arrived at his dressing room. "Could you wait here for just a moment?" Ren asked as he opened the door.

It took every ounce of self-control that Kyoko possessed to keep herself rooted in-place. She was just about at her physical and emotional limit when he opened the door and stepped part of the way out. Ren looked sheepishly down as he said, "I have a confession to make." Had he looked up, he would have seen Kyoko turning ashen-white. "The other day, when you came over to my apartment... I heard you."

Kyoko's mind stumbled. "Huh? I mean… I don't understand."

"Mogami-san, I heard your song. I heard you playing and singing. I didn't want to embarrass you, so I pretended to walk in just as you finished."

At any other time, Kyoko might have been embarrassed. But this subject was so much safer than what she was expecting that she felt relaxed. "So, you're saying I was so bad that it would have been embarrassing?"

Ren's eyes became wide and he knocked his head as he quickly straightened up, "Ouch! No! Not at all, Kyoko! I thought that your voice was amazing! You never told anyone that you could sing so beautifully!"

Kyoko did hear his use of her given name, but she ignored it as she turned red from his praise. Ren quickly moved on before he scared her away completely, "Look, Mogami-san, your lyrics were so… personal that I didn't think you would want me to hear. That's all. But…" He took a deep breath before continuing, "I do want to hear you play and sing more. So I got you this." He pulled out a beautifully polished Gibson acoustic guitar and extended it to her.

Automatically, without thinking, she reached out her arms. It was only when her arms were full of guitar that she began to protest. But Ren held the guitar in-place when she tried to hand it back. "Please accept this, Mogami-san. I think that you have a lot of talent, and it is your responsibility to develop it."

When he saw that she was still trying to form a protest on her lips, he said one more thing, "This guitar comes at a price."

Kyoko gulped, "What price, sempai?"

He gave her an evil smile and pulled out a folded sheet of paper. He quickly unfolded it and placed it on top of the guitar that was still held in numb hands. It read "Kijima High School will be holding a Talent Demonstration Contest on April 25th. All students are encouraged to participate. You may display any talent, but you are encouraged to showcase a talent not previously demonstrated in public."

She read the notice a second time and looked up at Ren in protest. "That's too soon! I haven't played in years, and I wasn't any good. I can't…" The disdainful look in Ren's eyes stopped her.

"I thought that you never backed down from a challenge. I'm very disappointed. I guess that I had better take the guit…"

"WAIT! I'll do it!" She hugged the guitar to her body. "I'll do it, sempai. I'm not afraid of a challenge. You just watch me."

His affectionate look was a trifle unsettling as he returned, "Of course, Mogami-san. I always do."

The upcoming talent show was the talk of the school. In a normal school, maybe twenty percent of the students have demonstrable talent. In Kijima High everyone had talent, or at least thought they did. Another feature of this talent show that made it unique was the audience. Famous parents, grandparents and siblings, directors, talent scouts and even occasionally the presidents of talent agencies attended this event. More than one star had been launched from this stage.

Therefore it is understandable that Kyoko was nervous and worried. Many of the performers had been learning their talent since early childhood. Kyoko had thirty-four days to choose a song, memorize it, and learn to play it in front of a packed house full of people from the world of entertainment.

It was a challenge that was tailor made for Kyoko. Sawara once said of her, "That child is the true definition of guts and courage." She was determined to prove him right again.

If anyone who is reading this story plays guitar, then you know that "playing until your fingers bleed" is not metaphor, it is a reality. No truly dedicated learner has walked away unscathed. Kyoko was no exception. In fact, it became so bad that the make-up crew had to keep liquid band-aids available to keep the damage from showing on film. But she played, and played, and played. And she sang the song she finally found until her voice quit and she could only lip-sync while she played.

Two other significant events happened at the end of March: Ren's teaching term expired and most of Kyoko's class graduated.

It is important to know something about the Japanese school calendar before we proceed. The Japanese school system operates primarily on a trimester system. School starts in April and ends in March. Summer vacation takes place after the first trimester. Graduation happens in March. There are exceptions as far as graduation for a school like Kijima. Kijima specializes in serving students who are often involved in television, movies, and concerts. Oftentimes this means that the student is required to absent himself/herself for extended periods of time. This being the case, students often lose time which has to be made up later. True, some students do correspondence coursework, but even that is sometimes difficult.

Kyoko, for example, missed over a year of school. But Kyoko was both intelligent and determined. She had worked tirelessly so that she would complete her schooling before her eighteenth birthday, even if that meant completing three years work in about sixteen months. Unfortunately, that still meant that she would not graduate with her regular senior classmates.

Tsuruga Ren had said his goodbyes to the class on the previous day. He did inform them that a part of Dangerous Academics would be filmed at Kijima. Even though Kyoko had been semi-avoiding him, she already missed him.

Kyoko was trying to write out a translation of a French story when she sensed a tall presence behind her. Her fingers were hurting, and she was irritable, so it should be no surprise that the look she directed at her childhood friend was less than friendly. "What is it, Sho?"

Sho had been different since the incident at the park. He had not pestered her, but he did watch her from across the room a lot. During lunch he always seemed to sit where he could see her. And he always seemed like he had something to say, though he never said it. It was wearing on Kyoko's nerves. "Would you just spit it out, Sho? You're driving me crazy!"

"I want you to be there." He said abruptly.

She looked up at him in confusion. "I'm sorry, where?"

"Graduation. I'll be walking with the others." He saw the look on Kyoko's face, "I know that it was wrong to pull you out of school and then attend secretly myself. I… I am really sorry about that."

Kyoko looked around quickly, "Sho, keep your voice down. People will hear!"

Sho pulled a desk close, "Look, I really would like for you to be there. If you'll come to my graduation, I'll come to yours."

Kyoko was about to say she didn't want him at her graduation, but something in his expression checked her words. Perhaps it was her new awareness of Tsuruga Ren, or perhaps it was the confidence that certain people in her life were instilling in her. Whatever the reason, Kyoko was able to reevaluate Sho's motives for the first time. "Sho, why did you transfer to this school?"

Sho looked her directly in the eyes with an almost hungry look that froze her heart, "You know why."

Kyoko pushed her desk away from him without thinking. The truth poured over her like an ice-cold shower. I can't deal with this right now. "I'll think about it, Sho. I have to study." She turned away and stared at her book as her pencil hand shook slightly. After a minute she heard Sho push back his chair, stand, and walk away.

She continued to stare at her French work for another five minutes. Then she packed up her books. She had two more classes, but she pled a headache and excused herself. Instead of going home, she went to LME and straight to the music library. She had spent all week listening to songs, trying to find the right one. This afternoon she picked up a CD by Ashlee Simpson and started to listen. In just a few minutes she knew that she had found her song.


Notes: Kijima High School is fictional. There are actually several schools who cater to idol-types in Tokyo, but I don't know enough about any of them to truthfully represent them.

Ten attaboys (or attagirls) to the person who first guesses which Ashlee Simpson song Kyoko chose.

* If you read the second chapter, you already know this, but I will repeat: The Daruma-ya couple hold the titles of Taisho and Okami-san. I gave them the names Daisuke and Sachiko. I mean no disrespect to the story, I just like people to have names.

* * Kyoko gently bumping Taisho's shoulder is a gesture of camaraderie, at least in the places where I used to cook. Your hands are occupied and you need to look what you're doing, so this gesture provides a means of agreeing, supporting, or saying "did you hear that? That's funny!"

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