Hello readers and welcome to ADVENT '09!

A little background before we get started. This is the third year I've written an Advent story. Basically, each chapter is a day and every day you get a new chapter – think advent calendar and you're pretty much there.

I was actually thinking about writing advent in a different fandom – but just as I was making up my mind I had a dream. Then, when I was reeling from that dream I had another dream involving CAPES and GLITTER.

So, yes. This advent comes from the first dream and next year's advent comes from the second. :P

ANYWAY! I decided to go a different way with it this year, sort of.

And no – I'm not telling you the pairing (though you can guess if you want)

Warning: slight OOC-ness – though I try to keep it as IC as possible.

Disclaimer: The characters in this chapter are not mine – the story is though.

Beta'd by Aerisiera

Advent 09

December 1st – 24 days to go

It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, the birds were singing...

...Sho was driving her up the WALL!

Kyoko crossed the road, trying to ignore the blond shadow that she had acquired on her way to the L.M.E. buildings.

Unfortunately for her, it seemed that Sho knew that she was trying to ignore him and was doing everything in his power to remedy that.

"Kyoko!" He called out from behind her, waving his hand to try and grab her attention.

And grab her attention it did...as well as everyone else's attention.

This included students on their way to school...who just happened to be fans. Kyoko could hear their notes of surprise and delight at seeing Sho out on the street in broad daylight. Murmurs of "Is that who I think it is?" and "Oh my God!" and "Sho! Can I have your autograph?" assaulted her ears.

Kyoko had just wanted to go to work.

"Kyoko!" Sho called out again. Kyoko gritted her teeth as she felt every fan's eyes turn to look at her; judging her and finding her wanting. Yes, she could see how she wouldn't quite measure up to Sho whilst wearing her bright pink work uniform.

Kyoko glowered at the thought that some girl didn't find her worthy for Sho.

He was the one not worthy for her!

Slowly she turned around, her hands clenched into fists. She could feel her grudge monsters settle about her shoulders like a mantle, the growing purple cloud swirling about her, making everyone within a ten foot radius take a step back in alarm.

Not Sho though.

He just walked up to her like she wasn't trying to burn him with her eyes.

"Finally!" He rolled his eyes, "I've been calling your name for ages. You mustn't have heard."

"Obviously." She growled between her gritted teeth.

He looked at her in slight alarm at the animalistic sound. "What's wrong with your voice?"

"Nothing." She said shortly, her fists trembling at her side. What she wouldn't do to just punch the idiot and then run.

Maybe then he would get it through his thick skull that she wanted nothing to do with him after what he had done to her!

...but is that completely true...?

Kyoko shook her head, trying to dislodge the small voice that was whispering in her ear. Yes, it was completely true. Sho had done nothing but make her life worse!

...liar...

A hand clamping itself on her shoulder brought her back from her thoughts and she startled when she focused on Sho's face, not three inches from her own.

"What are you doing?" she screeched in alarm, leaning back away from him.

"Kyoko, Kyoko, Kyoko." He leaned forward, a finger brushing under her chin, tilting her head up.

In the background Kyoko could hear dozens of fan girls and boys gasp.

What a pity. Witnesses meant that she couldn't hit the slimy git.

"What?"

Sho, seeing that his seduction technique wasn't working, pouted and leant back, his arms dropping to his sides. "Come now, is that the way to speak to your most beloved –"

That was all Kyoko heard because at that point she had turned around and walked off, leaving Sho standing there slightly bewildered and his fans crowding around him now that they had an opening and Kyoko's evil aura wasn't holding them back.

She could hear the shouted requests for his autograph thirty feet away.

---/---

Sho couldn't believe it! She had just left him there!

In the middle of the street, surrounded by bloodthirsty fans!

He had been counting on her weird aura that surrounded her to keep his fans away whilst he told her something important. But noooooo...

He watched her get further and further away from him, keeping his eye on her form even as his fans pushed their way in front of him, their voices clamouring in his ears, deafening him.

"Kyoko!" He yelled out, not a little desperately. She didn't even raise a hand to acknowledge that she heard him! And he knew she had, it was in the way that her shoulders tensed just that little bit more and her steps sped up just slightly.

He watched as she rounded the corner out of sight, growling slightly to himself.

What on earth did he have to do MORE?

Despite wanting to just push away his crowd of admirers, his inner showman won out and instead, he pasted a smile on his face and started signing the bits of paper being thrust into his face.

---/---

Kyoko felt some of the tension in her shoulders disappear when the L.M.E. buildings came into view, slowing down slightly as she crossed the paved courtyard at the front of the main entrance.

She was almost there when she felt a hand catch her around the arm and spin her around. She growled under her breath when she recognised that the hand belonged to Sho, who looked like he had run as fast as he could to catch up to her.

Damn, she had thought that she had lost him.

Oh well, maybe he would leave her alone once he said whatever he had to say. It must have been important – he had been chasing and stalking her for a week now.

"Well?" She asked impatiently, "I don't want to spend a moment more in your presence than I have to."

"Kyoko," he panted, and then took another few seconds to compose himself, his head hanging down as he gulped in air.

Kyoko looked wistfully at the doors that were so close...but so far.

"Kyoko." He said after a moment, his voice much steadier. "I wanted to let you know that my agent has decided to take me on holiday, so I won't be seeing you this month."

Kyoko stared at him blankly.

This was his big news?

He was rubbing her face in the fact that he was going on holiday?!

She twisted out of his grip and took a step back, glaring at him. "Well," she sneered, "thanks for that."

Sho looked a bit lost at the drastic change in attitude, his hand still reaching out towards her. "What? I...?"

Turning, she stormed over to the building. "Leave me alone, Sho!"

Sho just stood there and watched as she slammed open the front door and disappeared inside.

Ok. That was not how he expected that to go.

---/---

It had been an early start for Ren and Yashiro. Ren had a photo shoot that was scheduled to last the whole day and, at that exact moment, they were on their way to the car that was waiting for them at the entrance to the building.

Yashiro walked next to Ren in silence. He had been reviewing everything lately.

And it was not looking good.

If something wasn't done soon all his plans could be thrown out the window.

"Ren..." He started, and then stopped. He had no idea how to word this.

Ren glanced curiously at him, but before he could open his mouth to ask just what his manager wanted he caught sight of something out of the front doors that made him freeze.

Yashiro, suddenly finding himself paces ahead of his charge, looked back at him – then followed his line of vision to see what had put that expression on Ren's face.

It wasn't hard to miss.

Sho was there, standing close to Kyoko. Too close. His hand on her arm. They seemed to be talking, and then Kyoko turned and walked towards the building. Sho still hand his hand outstretched, waving goodbye.

He must have walked Kyoko to work.

Yashiro glanced back at Ren's pale face. It seemed Ren had figured out what happened too.

They watched in silence as Kyoko walked by them, so far into her own world that she didn't even see Ren.

Yashiro sighed as Ren's eyes followed her until she disappeared up the employee stairs.

This was not good. It seemed his plans were failing at a faster rate than he had thought.

Quietly he followed Ren to the car, buckling himself in the passenger's side.

He didn't speak until they were well on their way to the site.

"You're going to lose her, you know?"

The only sign that Ren heard what he said was the tightening of his hands on the steering wheel.

"If you don't do anything, she's not even going to see you..."

"Yashiro." Ren barked out.

But he was too far gone. Ren needed to see. Needed to see what he was doing by denying himself, needed to see how much he was hurting himself by not taking this one chance.

"No." He said calmly. "Ren, why won't you understand? You can't just sit back and allow this to happen!"

"Yes. I can."

"No you can't! Sho's getting closer to her day by day! There are rumours about them on the internet! He walked her to work this morning!"

Ren was silent, his eyes never leaving the road in front of them.

Yashiro despaired.

"Is this some sort of noble sacrifice?" He almost hissed at the younger man.

"No."

"I've seen the way you look at her. Hell, even the President has seen it."

"I don't look at her any –" Ren started to protest.

"Yes, you do!" Yashiro interrupted him, banging his fist on the dashboard in irritation.

Ren glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. "Yashiro..." he warned.

Yashiro breathed heavily for a moment before reigning himself in. "I apologise." He said stiffly. "But you have to understand Ren. If you don't do anything soon, you are going to lose her, and I don't think you'll be able to get her back."

There was silence in the car after that. Yashiro clearly not knowing what else to say. It wasn't until Ren drove up to the site and parked the car that he opened his mouth.

"Is it such a bad thing?" He asked quietly before getting out of the car.

Yashiro could only watch in shock as he left. "Oh Ren," he breathed into the empty car, "of course it's a bad thing. You love her."

---/---

Lory had not been having a good day.

It was early afternoon and all day he had been waiting...waiting for it to get cold.

He glared at the sun that was dipping towards the horizon.

Oh yes, it got dark early – but it wasn't cold. The sky had been clear and the sun, whilst not as hot as summer, was still as warm as late autumn.

It was December damn it! It was supposed to be cold! There was supposed to be snow!

How could he wear half the outfits he had planned if it wasn't cold?! He'd get heatstroke!

This was why Lory was having a bad day.

He sighed and twirled around in his chair until he was facing the desk once again and morosely watched the wall of televisions he had had installed just yesterday. They were supposed to be showing scenes of snowy winter land! Not this!

Grabbing a remote off his desk he started to flip through the channels without paying that much attention.

Hold on a minute!

He skipped back a few channels and stared at the scene in front of him, his eyes sparkling in happiness.

Snow!

There was snow somewhere in the world!

Quickly, he clicked the volume control until he could hear what was being said.

"And in Italy, the snowy season has already started with two feet of snow falling just last night. Snow sports enthusiasts are flocking to the Alps to get in early. It seems that it really will be a white Christmas after all."

Italy! All his snow was in Italy!

This could only mean one thing...

"Mine-san!" He practically yelled into the intercom.

"Yes, Sir?"

"Arrange the jet! We're going to Italy!"

"Sir?!" Mine-san sounded startled.

"You heard me! Tomorrow!" The television was showing more pictures of white expanse, long unblemished ski runs glittering in the morning light.

"Sir, I don't think...isn't tomorrow too soon?" Mine-san pleaded with him. He ignored it.

"Nonsense!" He said happily. This time tomorrow and he would be surrounded by snow. Along with everyone else of course.

"Who else is going? Do they have passports?...Have you told them?"

Hmm, actually, that was a good point. Did they have passports? If they didn't he'd have to rush them through. Sometimes it paid being a prominent figure in the industry, stuff like this didn't hold you back when you needed things done fast.

"Of course I haven't told them! I've just come up with the idea! But you're right."

There came a sound of a sigh over the intercom, "I'm glad you see that, Sir."

"That's why we'll go the day after tomorrow!"

"What?!"

"Please put a rush order through on any passports that are needed and make sure the housekeeping staff at my mansion know when we're arriving."

"But Sir! You haven't told me just who is –"

"And please get the jet ready! Thank you Mine-san!"

Before Mine-san could protest again Lory took his finger off the buzzer and twisted around in his chair again to face the dying light.

It was good to be President.

Well there you go. And yes, I did have Sho act like that on purpose – all will be explained! (she said in a mysterious voice)

Tell me what you think, eh?

DS