A Life worth Living

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

Teaser: Kyoko and Ren are starting their married life together and Kyoko's star is rising fast. In her typical fashion she is intent on dragging others to the top with her. Kyoko issues her "little sister", Maria, a challenge she just can't pass up.

Author's Note: This story is closely tied with Always With You, Runaway Royalty, and When the Cats are Away, so I strongly encourage you to read (or re-read) those stories first. This is my second time posting this story. When I posted it the first time I hit a personal roadblock that frustrated me to the point of pulling the story. Now, after repeated inquiries I am editing and re-posting it.

There is a problem, however: A lot has happened in the manga since I finished the stories listed above. As I do not wish to go back and alter those stories, I will only allude to certain events which are now canon. I hope that this won't throw you off too much. Please enjoy.

Prologue

It was dark in the Hizuri's California mansion. It hadn't been easy to extract five days from Ren and Kyoko's crazy schedules, but their managers had been able to make it work. Ren had insisted, believing that Kyoko needed the break before her audition for the role that she wanted more than any other she had ever played. He knew that his parents would embrace Kyoko and help her to find her equilibrium prior to the big day. His thoughts had proven to be correct; Kyoko was refreshed again through the loving care of Kuu and Julie.

At the moment, as far as Kyoko knew, everyone else was still safely asleep. Kyoko wasn't worried about waking anyone because the grand piano was located at the far end of the mansion in the spacious grand ballroom. Still, she kept her touch light as her hands flew across the keys. Brahms floated and rolled and rippled through the pre-dawn air. She didn't hear Ren come in until he gently wrapped his arms around her waist and placed his chin on her shoulder. "You're playing more beautifully every day, Kyoko."

Kyoko had blindfolded herself as a part of her training, so she couldn't look at her handsome husband, but she leaned her head against his and shivered as his warm breath played across her neck. Despite the way her body thrilled to his touch, she somehow continued playing without missing a note.

"I think that you're ready," Ren spoke softly into her ear in a voice that sent a thrill down her spine. "And your fingers must be very tired. Why don't I carry you back to our room... so that I can massage them for you?"

Kyoko made only the feeblest of protests as strong arms lifted her from the piano bench and the Emperor of the Night carried her out of the ballroom.

Chapter 1 – One Small Request

To be completely honest, Director Shinkai thought that he was wasting his time, as well as that of the producers. But there still remained a lingering sense of guilt, even shame, for how he had used Mogami Kyoko on the day he first met her.

The truth of the matter was that he had always wondered what would have happened had he allowed Kyouko to steal the role from Matsunai Ruriko. He couldn't help but remember his astonishment at the sudden transformation of the odd girl in the pink jumpsuit into a genuine Japanese beauty. Moreover, when she became Choko, she had been exactly what he had envisioned. Ruriko had stepped up and delivered a good performance, but Kyoko might have delivered something great.

After that day, Shinkai had followed Kyouko's career with the same fascination as when he had watched her push through a foot injury to steal the role from Ruriko. Her success only confirmed what he has already seen: She was destined to become a powerful actress who would someday rock Japan back on its heels. Even her stalker incident seemed to propel her higher up the ladder of fame.

Director Shinkai hadn't even seen her since attending the wedding. He had always thought that there was something odd in the relationship between Ren and Kyouko. He had never seen the man act so openly irritated with any other girl. It was as if she could somehow break through Ren's defenses and get under his skin. Somehow those two together just seemed to make sense.

After the couple had returned from their honeymoon they had waited three months to settle into married life; then they threw a dinner party. Shinkai was pleased to be invited; obviously Ren had never told Kyoko the truth of what really happened three years ago.

During the course of the pleasant evening, Shinkai had mentioned a future project he was enthusiastic about. Kyoko listened in rapt attention as he explained the story of Ishida Tomiko, a promising young pianist who had lost her parents and her eyesight in a tragic car accident. He was astonished when Kyouko fell on the floor and begged on hands and knees for the part.

"Kyouko-san, you don't even play piano, do you?"

"I'll learn! I promise. You said it doesn't start for five months? That means that you haven't cast it yet. So please, Director Shinkai-san, give me a chance to try out for the role."

Whether it was his own latent guilt, or those pleading golden eyes that did the trick, he would never know. "All right, Kyouko-san. I will give you one chance to audition, in exactly four months. But you have to sit in front of myself and the producers and play Bach, Brahms, and one piece of your own choice, with your eyes blindfolded."

She had shown him the same bring-it-on look that he still remembered when Ruriko had thrown down her challenge.

So here they sat, he and three producers, facing a grand piano and waiting for the young actress to enter. He had needed to argue with two of the producers when they tried to force another candidate through. "Give Kyouko one chance. That's all I ask." Surprisingly, the one female producer had supported him wholeheartedly.

Everyone sat up when Kyouko opened the door to enter the room. It was not the beautiful dress she was wearing. It was not the way that she had done up her hair, which was now long enough to put into a bun. It was what she had in her hand that surprised them. She walked in blindfolded, with a white cane tapping in front of her.

Her head was tilted as she stopped halfway into the room. She seemed to be scanning for something in the air. Then she turned and executed a proper bow to the two men and one lady at the table. "Thank you for allowing me to come and audition for you today. May I play for you?"

"First, I would like to ask you a question, Kyouko," the lady producer asked, "How did you know where we were sitting?"

Kyoko smiled, "It's a pleasure to hear your voice, Nishimura Rumiko-san. I have spent two hours out of every day blindfolded for the last four months. On occasion, when my schedule permits, I have spent longer. I am learning to distinguish little sounds, such as breathing. But someone made it easy for me this time; one of you scratched his arm."

Producer Fujimaki, looking embarrassed, snatched his hand away from his irritated arm. "I'm having an allergic reaction to something I ate. Wait, how did you know it was a man, and not Rumiko-san?"

"Because you continued to scratch while Nishimura-san was speaking to me; if she was the one, her speech pattern would have been disrupted."

The four people at the table looked at each other and at her with amazement. Director Shinkai cleared his throat, "Uh-hmm, Kyouko-san, could you please play for us now?"

She bowed graciously and tapped her way to the piano. She began with Bach's Inventio 11, one of his most tricky pieces. Everyone was all-attention now. Even Rumiko, who had seen how tenacious Kyoko could be, was amazed.

Next Kyoko began playing Brahms Sonata No.3. With the exception of Shinkai, they all closed their eyes and allowed the music to flow through them. Director Shinkai was already thinking about camera angles, close-ups, and pans.

Finally, she began playing Beethoven's Rondo de Capriccio, Op. 129. It was clear that she hadn't yet perfected this very complicated and fast piece, but she played it fairly well.

By the time she was finished the people at the table were sweating in sympathy with her exertions and they had smiles on their faces. She pushed the bench back, reached for her cane, and walked over to stand in front of the judges again. It was easy to locate them this time by their heavy breathing. "I am sorry that I haven't yet perfected the last piece. I promise that I will have it ready before we start shooting… if I am honored with this role."

Shinkai looked at the other three. There was no longer a question. "Kyouko-san, would you please remove your blindfold?"

After she had done so, he smiled, "I honestly didn't believe that you could do it in such a short time. But your husband was right; you really do live for a challenge. Congratulations to our new Ishida Tomiko!"

Kyoko beamed with delight, further captivating the men's hearts. Then her face turned thoughtful, "Ano, I do have one small request…"

oOoOOoOo

Takarada Maria was always happiest when she could spend time with her onee-sama. Even after three years she had never met anyone who so closely matched her. Kyoko had become the big sister she had never had. Occasionally she was also the mother-figure who she had lost. It had been a year since that man (she would never say his name) had tried to kill Kyoko; although Kyoko was completely recovered, Maria still had nightmares.

It was evidence of how much she loved Kyoko that she let her marry Tsuruga Ren. Oh sure, it was obvious that Ren had made his choice. But Maria hadn't even made one objection to the match; to the amazement of just about everyone who knew her. She had even taken part in the wedding!

It was also evidence of how much she loved Kyoko when she had voluntarily boarded an airplane to join the shopping trip for a wedding dress in New York. From the day that her mother had perished in an airplane crash Maria had never stepped foot on an airplane. But when Julie-sama called and asked if she wanted to come along, Maria had bitten back her fears and said "Yes." The first part of the trip, from Tokyo to Los Angeles, had been hell for the young girl. Then Kyoko had joined them from Nepal, where she was filming, and everything was better. Nevertheless, Maria had clung to Kyoko for the remaining flight to New York City. Afterward, Kyoko accompanied Maria all of the way home to Tokyo so that her imouto wouldn't be scared.

So when Kyoko called and asked if Maria would like to come to dinner, Maria had immediately agreed. Now the twelve-year old girl stood in the kitchen next to Kyoko, watching the master at work and helping wherever she could. Whenever the two females got together Ren wisely stayed out of the way. Even though Kyoko had learned to make friends and to interact naturally with other girls (something that she had never learned in childhood) she was the most free (and freaky) with Maria-chan. Occasionally Ren would listen for minutes and still not understand what they were talking about. Of course sometimes he was glad that he didn't know.

"So then Juiichi-san has the nerve to tell everybody that he turned me down! Like I would ever be interested in that walking hair commercial! His hair is his only redeeming feature. So I decided to do something about it."

"Oh no… you didn't?!" Kyoko cringed before asking, "What did you use, the wax candle or a voodoo doll?"

"Neither," Maria replied smugly, "I snuck some red hair dye into the shampoo that he brings with him to use after baseball practice."

"Maria!" Kyoko giggled, "That's terrible!" Somehow her tone belied her words.

"Oh, it'll come out eventually," Maria replied smugly, "But for now he looks like a patchwork quilt. All red and black and splotchy."

Ren shook his head silently, grateful that he had managed to stay on the good side of those two scary females.

Maria asked the question that she had wanted to ask all evening, "So-o-o, tell me already; did you get the part?"

Kyoko tensed up as she continued slicing the beef for her stir-fry. "Yes," she answered tentatively.

Maria looked at Kyoko in confusion, "Just 'yes'? I thought that you wanted this part more than any role you've ever had? What's wrong, Onee-sama?"

Kyoko looked sheepishly at her blonde little sister, "Well… you know how grateful I am for all of the help that you've given me by teaching me to play piano for this part? And how people are always saying that we seem so much alike that we really could be sisters? And how you already play piano amazingly well?"

Maria, who loved it whenever people said that she and Kyoko seemed like sisters, just nodded and waited for Kyoko to finish.

"Well, while you were helping me the other day I had this thought… now… you don't have to go along with this… I mean, you've never said that you wanted to act… but," And then Kyoko finished the rest in one rush of breath, "Iaskedthedirectortoletyoupla ythepartofyoungTomikoandhesa idyes!"

Even though Maria was on the same odd wavelength as her big sister it still took a minute for her to translate the garbled words into something meaningful. Then her eyes went wide with astonishment, "REALLY?! I get to be the younger version of you? And he said yes?! THAT'S GREAT, thank you, thank you, thank you!" As she said all of this she was jumping up and down while hugging Kyoko.

Instead of hugging the shorter girl back, Kyoko grimaced and kept both arms high in the air. Only when Maria lowered her voice and settled down did she finally realize what Kyoko had been crying out: "Knife! Maria! Knife!"

Ren shook his head as he sat in his chair and watched this scene. Those two together as a team? Shouldn't I warn Shinkai-san?

Notes: As you no doubt noticed, there were many references to events in the past. As I mentioned before beginning, this story is the sequel to Always With You. If you haven't read that story, much of this will not make sense.

Please don't confuse Ruriko, the pop-idol who appeared early in the manga, with Rumiko, the talk-show host from Always With You.

Finally, I dedicate this story to Runadaemon, who has been following my stories from the beginning and who has corrected hundreds of my typos. Here is the missing story you were asking about.