Disclaimer: Skip Beat! is by Nakamura Yoshiki

Chapter II

まだ 虹を作ってる すがる様に繰り返してる

I'm still making rainbows. Doing it again and again with desperation.

触れられないって事も 知りながら 手を伸ばす

Even knowing that I couldn't touch it, I still hold out my hand

名前があったなぁ 白くて 背の高い花

That tall white flower had a name... didn't it?

枯れて解ったよ あれは僕のタメ 咲いてた

Only when it wilted, did I realize that it bloomed for me.

- Harujion by Bump of Chicken

If anyone told him three years ago that Mogami Kyoko would one day take his breath away, he would have laughed in their faces and mockingly told them that no amount of makeover was going to make a swan out of a duck.

Well, Fuwa Sho wasn't laughing now. He was too busy reminding himself to breathe while calling himself fifty kinds of fool in his head.

He caught her just as she was saying her goodbyes to one of the award organizers on his way back from the cloak room. She apologized for not being able to attend the party after the awards, an early photoshoot in the morning was her excuse. Their eyes met when she straightened from her graceful bow, she gave a small start, but was quick to avert her gaze from his. The woman to whom she was talking soon went back inside the grand ballroom, leaving the two of them alone in the receiving hall.

Kyoko was a vision of fiery elegance wrapped in a flowing strapless chiffon gown stained with the hues of a magnificent sunset. It had a modest neckline, but it left her shoulders and most of her back deliciously bare. Her hair was slicked back and piled atop her head in a severe bun, showing off her cheekbones and the clean line of her neck. The only jewelry she wore was a pair of dangling gold earrings and the matching bangles on her left wrist.

The absence of a ring on her finger was all the incentive he needed.

He pushed himself off the wall and approached her, his every step and echoing footfall filled with purpose. "We need to talk."

"No, we don't," she countered dismissively as she walked past him without even meeting his eyes. "I don't have anything to say to you."

He easily caught up with her in two quick strides, his hand automatically latching on to her arm and turning her around to face him. "Well, I do. Could you stop being a bitch for just five minutes and listen to me?"

That came out horribly wrong. He wanted to kick himself for the knee-jerk response and groaned inwardly at the venomous look she threw at him.

"The most I could spare you is five seconds." Her amber eyes, made more cat-like by her smokey eye make-up, narrowed at him, "Start talking, Sho."

"Stop being unreasonable! That's not nearly enough time to-"

"Five... four..."

"Stop counting, dammit!" he growled, resisting the childish urge to stomp his foot in frustration.

Kyoko merely raised a condescending eyebrow and said, "three..."

He wanted to point out that she never intended to give him a chance in the first place. But any remark from him, tinged with even the barest hint of antagonism, would have resulted in a shouting match. The volatile kind of confrontation that made him want to back her up against a wall and kiss her senseless. It would have definitely gone a long way in satisfying his curiosity, wondering if her rogue painted lips would taste the same as when he first kissed her on Valentine's day. The only thing that kept him from doing so was the certainty that she would despise him for it; more than she ever despised him for stealing her first kiss. Then again, it was not as if she didn't already hate him enough for simply breathing the same air.

"two..."

"Shut-it, will you?!" he growled.

In the next heartbeat he had her wrists pinned to the wall above her with one hand, and the other covering her mouth, putting a stop to her annoying countdown. He always thought that he was a civilized human being, but Kyoko could rile him up and get under his skin with little to no effort.

The situation brought a feeling of déjà vu, they were once again in that parking lot at TBM from two years ago, when he forced her to declare that she felt nothing for that two-faced bastard. He leaned down to meet her amber glare and could tell that she was thinking the same thing. There was a whole world of difference between then and now, but it irked him to know that he always lose his cool when it comes to her.

"Look, I'm sorry for-" he stopped, then sighed. He gathered his thoughts and started again, "I'm sorry for being an ass the last time we met. I was way out of line. And you didn't-" he swallowed past the lump in his throat and lowered his gaze, "you didn't deserve that kind of trash talk."

He could feel the weight of her golden gaze on him, weighing his words. She had not walked out in the middle of his apology, which he took to be a good sign. His grip slackened, enough for her to pull out of his hold and put a respectable distance between them. The silence stretched; it became awkward, went past uncomfortable, and turned downright ominous.

"Is that all?"

He looked up at the slight tremor in her voice and found himself unable to look away.

"You called me frivolous, when all I did was take a chance at a relationship. You accused me of dreaming too much, when I dared to believe that someone could love me. You even mocked me for wanting to make that someone happy."

Kyoko delivered each accusation with impunity in a deceptively calm and measured tone. But he was undone by the tears that she stubbornly refused to let fall. She stopped crying in front of him when they were six to spare his feelings. At nineteen, she refused to cry in front of him out of sheer pride. Because crying meant losing. And Mogami Kyoko swore that she would never lose to Fuwa Sho again.

"If accepting your apology will get you to leave me the alone, then fine, I forgive you. But this would be the last time. I'm done listening to whatever it you have to say. Do us both a favor and just leave me alone."

Underneath the burning rage of her amber gaze was a seething mass of hurt. He finally managed to push Kyoko too far and inadvertently broke something in the process. He never meant for things to get so out of hand. He was once again rendered helpless by his ineptitude. He only wanted to incite her anger, to ensure his presence in her life- but he never meant to hurt her. Not like this. Never like this.

"What would it take for you to believe me? Should I prostrate myself on all fours and beg?" Sho asked tightly, hurt and slighted at having his apology thrown at his face. "Listen to me, Kyoko. I know I could be stupid and boorish at times. I said all those things in retaliation to make you angry, and mostly because I was frustrated with myself. But I never truly meant to hurt you."

"Self-frustration drove you to vilify me? That's a record low, even for you," she said with acrimonious incredulity.

Sho braced himself, fully expecting Kyoko to slap him. He never expected her to chuckle mirthlessly, pressing the heel of her palm against her eye as she desperately fought back a wave of angry tears. "Are you really so cruel as to begrudge me this precious little happiness I found with someone?"

Her words wound him. Upon reflection, he soon realized that deep inside, he knew them to be true. Kyoko was right, he really was a cruel bastard... and he wasn't going to be changing anytime soon. Not if he wants a fighting chance at getting her back.

"Want to know why it's frustrating, Kyoko?" He patiently waited for her to meet his gaze before continuing, "It's frustrating because that someone is NOT me."

A/N: I've wanted to use this song for the longest time in an SB! fic. Anyone who had been following my fics could tell that I'm crazy about j-rock bands. Fujiwara Motoh of BoC is a very gifted lyricist. His songs actually have stories to tell.

Harujion is actually the name of the flower referred in the song. It's a type of wild flower and considered almost like a weed by most people.