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

Warning!: This really is an M rated story. I work on it when my mind wanders off to the dark side.

Chapter 4: Pieces

Rina leaned heavily on Cherry as she watched Ren's face. As far as she could tell, he meant what he said. He wouldn't bend to her will to protect a broken doll. She needed another way to control him.

"It's unfortunate that you don't want Cherry. It means I'll have to send her to auction." Rina sighed dramatically as she cupped Cherry's face in her hand. She turned the teen's head from side to side, looking at the girl as if she were appraising livestock. A small smile appeared on her lips as she thought of something. "It's a pity I'm going to have to sell her in parts to recoup my investment."

Ren's eyes widened as he processed what Rina had just said. She hadn't said it in so many words, but the threat was clear. Either he played along with her sick little fantasy or the broken little girl in front of him was going to be sold off one piece at a time.

"She does have pretty eyes at least, but I doubt anyone would want her for breeding stock." Rina continued her monologue. "Not that she needs her eyes to be used as breeding stock. Though, I do have two clients in particular that prefer to remove the eyes themselves. They tell me I just don't preserve them correctly."

Rina circled Cherry, taking inventory of the all the 'extra bits' that could be sold without dramatically decreasing the value of the main body. Her assistant started taking down notes as she spoke. "I suppose we'll start with the eyes, the arms, cut just above the elbow, and the legs, cut just above the knee. After that we'll know how much we have to sell the rest of her body for. Oh! But before we cut anything off we should sell of her virginity. Every woman has some value in that regard. Mr. Hu has an interest in girls her age doesn't he? We should offer her to him first. Mr. Quin accidently killed the last one and we still haven't collected the final sum from him for breach of contract."

Ren couldn't quite settle on an emotion. He was torn between fury, revulsion, and defeat. He was furious that he had been put in this position; revolted that someone could even think about doing those things to another human being; and well aware of his defeat. Rina had won. She was the better monster. It didn't matter what it cost him, he would do anything to keep Rina's threats from becoming a reality. "Stop." He commanded, his outrage ringing through the warehouse.

"But we were just getting to contingencies." Rina replied without looking at Ren. "If the main body doesn't sell we'll have to sell off the organs. Not to worry Charlie, it's nothing so crude as harvesting all of her organs at once and hoping we find buyers who are a match to her blood type. We only take organs as they come into demand. One at a time. She'll live through most of it."

If Ren had eaten anything in the last 24 hours it would have ended up on the floor of his cell. His body had decided on an emotion for him. It had settled on revolted. Ren looked up at Rina from the floor where he had collapsed on all fours. "Stop." He begged as he retched.

"Thats better." Rina told him as she stepped away from Cherry and placed a hand on the glass front of Ren's cage. "So Charlie, you'll behave yourself from now on won't you?" It was like the moment she knew he would bend to her will, she had stopped thinking about him has Tsuruga Ren. In her eyes he was Charlie now.

Rina held her hand to her ear as if waiting for a response. "As long as she is safe." Ren answered through gritted teeth.

"Tiffany would say the same thing. That's why I don't introduce her to any of the new children anymore. She insists on protecting all of them." Rina informed him.

Ren looked at her with a question clear on his face.

"Don't worry. I'll introduce you to your wife soon enough. But first… You really should get cleaned up." It was phrased as a suggestion, but Ren got the feeling Rina's suggestions were closer to orders than anything else. She turned away from him to address her assistant. "Put Cherry back in her box for me."

Ren watched as Rina's assistant led the teenager away. The girl didn't respond to anything but direct commands, but a part of her must still be functioning if she could understand what was being said to her. Ren should have been relieved that there was still a soul inside the girl's body. He wasn't. His presence had worsened her fate and there was nothing he could do to change it.

Rina smiled at Ren as he turned his head to look at her again. She was a kid with a shiny new toy and her excitement was written on her face. "The shower is in the front left corner, Charlie."

Ren looked to the corner of his cage as he staggered back to his feet. It certainly didn't look like there was a shower in the corner. Instead it seemed to be occupied by an armchair that was bolted to the wall.

"Pull the armchair out." Rina instructed.

Ren took the two steps required to reach the chair even as he shot Rina a disbelieving look.

He pulled on the chair, losing his balance momentarily as it pulled away from the wall with unexpected ease. No that wasn't right. The wall moved with the chair. Part of the wall at least.

Looking up, Ren could see the tracks in the top of his cage where two large glass panels pulled away from the wall to form a 4' by 4' shower enclosure. Along the bottom of the panels and at the moveable joints, a nearly transparent plastic formed a water shield. A drain had appeared from underneath the armchair and directly above it four showerheads seemed to be built right into the ceiling.

"You'll find soap, shampoo, and conditioner under the sink." Rina supplied happily as she watched Ren's reaction to the transforming furniture.

"What about contact solution?" Ren asked as he took inventory of the toiletries available to him. Now that Cherry was out of sight his voice had gained back the undertones of displeasure.

Rina rapped her fingers on the glass as if she were considering something. "Your medical records did not indicate that you wear contacts. Otherwise contact solution would have been provided. You'll simply have to do without for now."

It wasn't an ideal answer, but Ren nodded in understanding before stepping into the shower enclosure with small bottles of shampoo and conditioner in hand. One more trip to the 'half bathroom' to retrieve body wash and Ren was ready for a shower… If only Rina would stop watching him. "Was there something else?" He questioned as he glowered at his captor.

"Does everything in your closet fit you?" Rina asked as her eyes continued to run up and down his body.

Ren stared blankly back at the woman for a moment as he collected his thoughts. "If you are talking about the closet in my home in Los Angeles, the answer is yes."

"Perfect." Rina chirped happily. "I'll go find an outfit for your trip to the park this afternoon." With that she turned away, leaving Ren to wonder what she was talking about.

He found out nearly two hours later that 'The Park' was actually an indoor film set that was located in the next warehouse over. Getting ready to film one of Rina's movies was actually disturbingly normal. He was handed a script, sent to makeup, sent to wardrobe, sent back to makeup for touchups, and introduced to the director. Even the content of the script was strangely normal.

It was admittedly out of the norm to be kept isolated from the other actors until he would actually be needed on set. But that he assumed, was a precaution Rina took to prevent any of her dolls from conspiring against her. She seemed through enough to have considered it.

Ren read along with the script as he heard it being performed from the other side of a curtain. The sound of children's laughter filtering through the air made him feel nauseous. It was a disquieting reminder that Cherry wasn't the only child here. No, she wasn't the only victim.

Roseland: "Really, Tiffany. A girl like you shouldn't be wasting her time here helping out with her big brother's children. Go out and find a man of your own. That way we can take turns babysitting."

Dave: "Don't tell her that. You know there is never going to a man good enough my baby sister."

Tiffany: "I'm hardly a baby, Dave!"

Roseland: "Of course you aren't. My husband is just over protective. Aren't you Dave?"

Dave grumbles.

Tiffany: "Come on kids. We've spent enough time in the park for today. We'll come back tomorrow.

That was Ren's cue. One of the stage crew pulled back the curtain and motioned Ren though. He put on his best smile as he walked in front of the cameras and towards his fated meeting with Tiffany. Or whatever other poor soul Rina had pulled into her delusions. According to the script it was supposed to be love at first sight. Ren didn't have any love left in him though. Not since She left him.

Not until his knees gave out and his lungs refused to work.

Not until Her amber eyes met his again.

Not until his whole world shifted.

Not until he realized She didn't leave.

No. She was taken.

"Mogami-san."

A/N: *Sigh.* Nakamura-sensei finally gave me enough material to start writing Koga in my other story (Love Is Not Enough), but now I have to go back through and reread and edit the first 13 chapters. (Because I don't remember all the details and I don't want to mess things up.) It's not going well. (I have the attention span of a goldfish right now.) But on the up side, my writing does seem to have improved over time. Enough so that the mistakes I made the first time through make me cringe. But hey, I managed to write another chapter for this.