Just a warning I am Dyslexic so my stories will not be perfect but I now have one Beta reader to help me along the way :D
Thank you so much to Roshelle Diall for offering to work with me :D
Hello my sweeties,
This story I started writing
when chatting to Roshelle
it had no real thought to
begin with and is
one of my instant storyteller
creations
Enjoy.
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Kanae looked down at the lurid pink envelope on Lory's desk. He just smiled at her casually as he motioned for her to take it.
"No offence president, but there is no way in hell I am falling for this again." she looked at the envelope, then back at Lory. His eyes sparkled as his smile broadened,
"I'm afraid you have no choice Kotonami-san, this is a Love Me assignment and you will treat it as such or I'm afraid your contract will have to be terminated immediately." no matter how much she looked at the matter she could not afford to lose her place here at LME, she couldn't afford to fall behind Kyoko. She loved the girl dearly even if she would never admit it, but the truth was you could not miss the sudden surge in her fame with her new movie underway.
Especially when she was acting alongside people such as Tsuruga Ren and Hizuri Kuu. Oh, how she wished she had been offered the part. Though she doubted very much she would have been able to play Tsuruga's love interest. She had already had to sit through 5 Kyoko moments about the matter already.
It just had to be today... today of all days, it just had to be today...
Kanae reached forward and grabbed the envelope. Viciously tearing it open, she read the pink card that she pulled out,
Your assignment today is to complete
this riddle challenge to claim your prize.
You will need to use nerve and logic to win.
Kanae glowered at Lory,
"Mo! are you kidding me! You called me in on my day off for this?" Lory could see her anger rising, but he didn't fear the girl. That glare that would send any normal man running was nothing to the man sitting before her dressed in a toga cosplaying as Julius Caesar.
"Well you had better begin quickly if you want to get back to your day off it shouldn't take long. Kanae stood in a huff and stormed from the presidents office slamming the door behind her Lory quickly smiling like a cheshire cat picked up the pink walkie talkie from behind his desk.
"The raven has flown, I repeat the Raven has flown." the other pink walkie talkie users just blanched at his words all thinking the same type of thing.
He is really enjoying this a little too much!
Kanae stood inside the elevator trying to regain her calm composure of indifference as she counted to ten.
Why did i have to come in today for this stupid idiotic game? I should be...
An idea of where she should be came to her. She usually spent the day alone either reading through scripts or at the gym. She would never tell her, but deep down she really would have liked to see Kyoko today. She was always so busy filming for 'Take a Chance' plus her other work that she didn't have much time anymore to be spending odd days with her best friend.
Pulling the pink card back out of the envelope she grudgingly read the first clue,
Where important emotions are found,
friendly challenges overcome.
That is where you'll find me
with colours brighter than the sun.
Kanae stopped for a moment to consider this. It was the first line that stuck in her head
Important emotions,what emotion would the president think of as important?
The answer was immediately clear:
"Love Me" she said out loud, snapping her fingers together as she pressed the correct button for the floor she needed.
Walking down the empty corridor, she approached the locker room with caution; you never could tell with Lory what he was planning. She looked at the door and it looked normal. Pushing it open slowly, she looked around and was surprised to see Chiori there.
"Hello Chiori-chan no filming today?" she asked as she entered the room fully shutting the door behind her.
"Hello Kanae-chan. I wish but the president has got me waiting here for someone to play a stupid game I don't rightly understand for some weird reason. Are you here for it too?" she looked at Kanae hopefully, but sadly Kanae shook her head and then at the same time nodded.
"Well not exactly. I'm the stupid someone he has playing his stupid game." she answered with a wry half smile showing how much she was enjoying the experience.
"Ahhh, I'm sorry Kanae-san, I really am, but at least i can give you the clue now." she took a deep breath and recited from memory
Come one, come all
come on in,
for chances of fame that you could win.
With skill, talent and a little luck
just don't forget to sign the guest book.
Don't be alarmed, don't be afraid
we took the choices that we made,
seek us where the answer lies
a brother and sister side by side.
Kanae stopped and thought about it, the last part worried her slightly. Was it the fact it was telling her not to be afraid or was it the part about brothers and sisters. Her gut clenched slightly as she thought about her family,
Would they remember? she wondered as she decided where the clue was leading her next.
Chiori stood there watching the older girl, wondering if she should say anything as she saw a slight pained expression in Kanae's eyes. It was only for a moment, but Chiori was sure she had seen it.
"Are you OK Kanae-chan?" she asked slowly as the older girl smoothed her features.
"I'm fine Chiori-chan, thanks for the clue. I'm sure you can probably get back to your real work now." they smiled at each other as Kanae left the locker room.
"I very much doubt that," she murmured turning to the gold envelope she had sitting next to her. Picking up the walkie talkie she open the channel.
"Locker room stage complete, repeat locker room stage complete."
Lory was loving this as he watched Kanae striding down the corridors towards the lobby. He smiled to himself as he saw the two figures in black enter and stand by the waiting area. No guard dared approach them, though most of the male population wished they could sneak a few moments with the shorter one of the two. Though no one would dare approach with the wild beast she clung too who glared at anyone he caught even looking at the young, very attractive girl.
Kanae noticed the pair as soon as she entered the lobby. There was no way she could have missed them, they stuck out like a sore thumb. She swallowed hard and approached the pair just in time for her to hear the blond and pink haired girl complain,
"Nii-san stop glowering so much you will wrinkle your pretty face." she said as she gently stroked his cheek with her hand. The man who had been evil looking and sullen smiled sweetly at the young girl beside him as he placed his hand over her own.
"I'm sorry Setsu, but as your brother it's my job to protect you, my cute little sister."
Kanae felt like gagging at their overly loving sibling affections. As she stood before them and cleared her throat meaningfully, two sets of silver-grey eyes turned to her. The blond's face became uninterested as soon as she looked away from her brother. She stared at Kanae and so did her brother as they looked he over.
"Are you the seeker?" the girl asked in a bored tone as she casually leant against the taller man.
Kanae felt the fear of all of those around her, but she didn't back down, just nodded. For the first time the girl gave her a smile, but it made Kanae shiver as she saw the light behind the girls eyes.
"Good. maybe me and Nii-san will be able to spend some quality time alone." she said in a husky purr as she turned to her brother, Kanae tried to shut out the implications of that statement.
Its none of my business...she thought as she tried to get the conversation back on subject.
"Do you have a clue for me?" she asked slowly, but firmly as she watched the pair before her.
"I like this one Nii-san, she's fiery" Setsu said with her slow seductive smile. A chill ran down Kanae's back, but she never moved as she waited for the young woman to answer her question.
"Your clue is"
I cover the skin
and mask the eyes
but only to help
your true beauty
shine.
Kanae looked at the girl and man who stood before her. This one was a little tougher. She tried to think, but the girl's face kept drawing her in. As she watched and waited, the girl pulled on her brother's arm to whisper something in his ear. He smiled only for her as she batted her pink shadowed eyes at him flirtatiously, it suddenly hit Kanae:
"Make-up!" the blond and pink haired girl smiled.
"Very good. Fiery and clever, I really do like this one Nii-san." for the first time the tal,l dark dressed man offered her a half smile. It seemed to say 'If she likes you, I can accept you.'
"Since I like you, I'll just give another little hint, it's the modelling side." the pink haired girl said in a lazy kind of way as she yawned and pulled on her brothers hand. "Lets go shopping Nii-san, I need some new nail varnish." Like a puppy, he held her hand and followed her leaving Kanae to stare after them.
What an odd pair, but really prez, why the hell did this have to be today?!
She stormed off towards the Modelling make up rooms. It took an elevator ride, plus quite a bit of walking, before she found herself in the right corridor. Walking down the corridor, she looked at the 6 rooms used for make-up.
"How the hell am I supposed to know which room it is! Mo!" she said out loud. Suddenly she noticed a pink envelope pinned to one of the doors.
"Mo. Well at least he gave me a little help!" she pulled the pin out and opened the envelope all it said was,
Come in.
Kanae pushed open the door gingerly as she wondered what type of horrible things could await her, but all that was in the room was a small woman who looked up from her laptop the moment Kanae opened the door and gasped.
"Yes. Yes. Yes you are beautiful! Come in, come in! Girl let me get a look at you." Kanae was literally dragged into the room by the woman almost a head shorter than she was and pushed into a makeup chair.
"My name is Jelly Woods, in the industry I'm known as the witch. I only work with beautiful people as my canvas as I create the art." with that she was off applying makeup to Kanae with speed and skill that only she possessed.
Kanae was astounded when 30 minutes later Jelly turned her to the mirror to admire herself, her hair and makeup were perfect as Jelly smiled.
"Any time you want anything done you call me OK? Now your clue is," she handed Kanae her card as she recited the clue,
Skin is my canvas
but theirs is cloth
when cut is called
they race it off.
Kanae looked at herself in the mirror. She looked good and before she even thought about the clue, she thanked Jelly who told her it was a pleasure.
So canvas, cloth when cut is called...race it off...
Again this one seemed a little harder. As Jelly just smiled packing away her equipment, Kanae wound the words around in her head until suddenly it clicked.
"The clothing department, they work with cloth and they help everyone change for their scenes." Jelly smiled broadly.
"You better pop off and say hello then, hadn't you?" Kanae bowed again to the woman as she left.
Well at least I got something nice today.
she thought as she felt the curls Jelly had put into her hair, she didn't often wear her hair up, and even more rarely would she curl it, but it felt nice to have her makeup done and her hair nice for today.
The clothing department door was open, but she knocked still before she entered. There smiling, stood Maria.
"Hello Kanae-san." she smiled as she hugged the older girl around her waist.
"OK, follow me." she said taking Kanae's hand and pulling her into the costume room. It was 5 floors high and packed with every type of costume imaginable.
And this is where prez spends most of his money.
Kanae thinks bitterly, remembering all the times she has had to assist accounting all because of her photographic memory and her good handling of money and figures. Maria drags her to the back of the room where there are a range of changing rooms, pushing her into one and pulling the curtain, she tells Kanae to get changed and ready.
"Mo! What? why?" she moans as she looks at the covered item of clothing hanging in the room. She doesn't feel like playing this game at all.
"Please Kanae-chan, otherwise Grandfather will blame me!" Maria said with her most pleading voice. Kanae, knowing the girl's whole history, plus her upsetting childhood bends to the girl's will, removing the red silk dress from the cover bag she strips and slips into it plus the selected lingerie that are in the bag waiting too.
The dress feels gorgeous to the touch reaching medium thigh length. It fits her body like a glove, the thin spaghetti straps holding up the straight neckline are elegant with small stones, the only decoration on the dress at all. Pulling back the curtain she looks at Maria.
"Mo! Happy now?" she asks as Maria passes her some 2 inch, red strappy heels.
"I will be when you put those on." Kanae sat and slipped into the shoes. Standing again, she looked in the mirror at herself. She had to admit, she looked really good. The dress was perfect, offsetting the make-up and hair style Jelly had given her. Plus it all made her look older and more mature. Smiling slightly at herself she caught Maria watching her and quickly wiped it from her face.
"Well what torture next? I suppose you have a clue for me, too?" Maria giggled and nodded,
You're ready now
your costumes done.
Take to the stage
and have some fun.
Remember where we first
met
They're waiting for you
on the set.
Maria smiled as Kanae looked at her closely.
Where we first met, when did I first meet Maria-chan acting school? No it was before that...
the image of Maria crying and Kyoko sitting on the floor sawing sprang instantly to her mind as she remembered her LME audition. Where had that been now, searching her ever full mind she recalled the casting paper and its title talent auditions...
"Studio 5" she whispered and Maria clapped.
"Well done Kanae-san, shall we go." Grabbing Kanae's hand again, she dragged her along.
"Mo! What about my clothes and bag?" Maria just smiled.
"Don't worry Kanae-chan, they will all be packed up and ready for you." \
Placing her hand in her pocket, she pressed the button it contained and continued walking with Kanae towards studio 5. More than once did a man walk into door frames, walls and even each other as the beautiful woman passed them. Kanae couldn't help but smile as she walked along the corridor, she felt somehow happier than she had when waking up.
Maybe its not such a bad day after all. she thought.
Entering the studio she was surprised to see it was pitch black, even during the day if not in use the studios were always lit for the staff that needed to collect props and supplies from them. Kanae looked around as suddenly a small light flickered in the centre of the hall.
Suddenly without warning the lights burst into life.
"SURPRISE!" a large crowd shouted as they broke out into song.
"Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Kotonami-san, Happy birthday to you." the room was full with people she had thought would never remember this day. Not when they had so much to think about. Her family was all there dressed in their best. Directors and cast members she had worked with. The president, Jelly, Chiori ,Ren and Yashiro. Then, in the middle, standing behind a large cake, there she was...
"Come make a wish Moko-san?" Kyoko called as Maria dragged her,still in shock, to the table where the cake stood. The cake was beautiful in the shape of an award it read.
Number 1 Actress
Happy Birthday Moko!
Of course she had made it for her, of course she had found out when her birthday was even if Kanae had refused to tell her. Her best friend would never give up. She had taught Kanae how to fight back when they had won the Curara commercial together and she was no different now.
Closing her eyes she blew out the 20 candles and the room cheered her. As real tears fell from Kanae's eyes, she hugged her best friend.
"Mo! You baka!" she whispered as Kyoko hugged her back tightly.
"Happy Birthday Moko-san."
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something short and sweet for Kanae :)
Neh xxx
TAKE A LOOK AT MY PROFILE FOR A CHANCE TO HELP CHOOSE MY NEXT STORY :)
Comments and reviews please
3 comments or PM's before I will post the next chapter :)
Roshelle Space.
All finished! Very nicely done!