Kyoko- age 24

Ren- age 28

Skip Beat and its characters are the property of the wonderfully talented Yoshiki Nakamura.

The lights flashed rapidly and without mercy as the lights bounced off her orange hair. She gracefully stepped out of the limo, on the red carpet, her dress shimmering under all the attention of the press. She smiled gently as she made her way down the carpet, pausing now and then for a photo-op. Her golden eyes were the only thing that would have revealed the truth of how she really felt if anyone had bothered to pay attention. Tired of the press and their constant nagging and rumor mongering, she did her duty until she finally made it inside the building, letting her face slip for the briefest second as she sighed and then forced herself back into character as people approached her in greeting.

As she smiled, hugged, and chatted, her eyes wandered around the room, looking for a particular face.

'Why am I looking for him? Even if I saw him, nothing would happen.' Kyoko sighed on the inside. 'He hasn't spoken more than a socially required word to me in 3 years. Though I really don't understand why.'

Kyoko began to wander the room. A sudden fanfare failed to catch her by surprise as the President of L.M.E. made his typical grand entrance, this time in full jungle mode. The people who were unused to seeing the gaudy and eccentric display of the President, and even a few who were accustomed to it, shrunk back as the multitude of wild animals were paraded in by their trainers. A young woman left the President's side and ran up to Kyoko in excitement.

"Onee-chan! You look beautiful!" Kyoko smiled graciously.

"Thank you Maria-chan. You look quite stunning yourself." Kyoko took in the pale blue dress the young woman was wearing, clearly the latest design in couture. A voice from behind made Kyoko freeze mentally and internally in the middle of her assessment.

"Good evening Maria-chan."

Kyoko fixed the mask over her face and slowly turned to face the voice. Maria had already glommed herself onto the tall, handsome actor in response to his greeting, much to the disdain of the women around them.

As pure gold eyes met with deep chocolate brown ones, Kyoko's heart felt like it was going to burst and shatter all over the expensive and well maintained carpet. Little did she know that the man across from her felt exactly the same way.

"Mogami-san."

Kyoko internally shivered at his deep voice, a longing stirring within her for more than just a polite word from him. She still did not understand his sudden distance, which had started three years prior.

Ren, on the other hand, understood completely. Every time he saw her, the memory came flooding back.

Ren's heart shattered as Kyoko shyly told him the news. She had a boyfriend. And it wasn't him. His mind was numb from the intense pain he was suddenly feeling. He was barely able to follow what she said. His mind had shut down and would not, for the life of him, allow him to hear anything except the words that meant his Kyoko was with another man.

"I see." Ren replied, with some sort of mask still barely hanging on his face. "I suppose congratulations are in order." His gentlemanly smile appeared as he forced himself to look at her.

Kyoko cringed slightly as she felt the anger emanating from him, and then was confused as she felt something she had felt before from Tsuruga-san, but had yet to figure out what it was.

"Tsuruga-san…?" Kyoko began, but was immediately cut off.

"Well, I must be going, Mogami-san. I have a very busy schedule and don't have much time for chit-chat." With that, Ren turned and walked away, attempting to give off the impression of a man who was not experiencing the most devastating blow of his life. Kyoko was left behind, confused and hurt by her sempai's response.

After he had escaped from her, he went to his office. He presently did not have any work to do because Yashiro had set this time aside specifically so Ren could have some "Kyoko time" as his meddlesome manager called it. As Ren shut the door, he neglected to turn on the light. The darkness seemed like an appropriate place for him at that moment, considering the state of his mind and heart. For the second time in his life, Tsuruga Ren slid to the ground and sobbed.

After sobbing until he was exhausted, he began to think about what he was going to do now.

'I can't face her like this. I won't be able to survive around her in the state I am in.' Ren thought to himself. The only way out that he could see was one Kyoko herself had taken several years beforehand. To protect himself and Kyoko from what his broken heart might cause him to do, he had to lock away his heart and forget about Mogami Kyoko.

For Ren, that had been easier said than done and something he was not actually able to manage, but he gradually was able to distance himself from her. And he had suffered for it. His career had been fine, because he was a professional. He would not allow his personal life to cause his work to suffer, but, privately, he suffered from intense insomnia. If he fell asleep, he dreamed of her. And because he refused to have her come over to his apartment to cook for him, his diet had suffered as well. He had been sick far too many times for his liking in the past three years.

Ren looked at Kyoko, and pretended not to feel that pull in his stomach the second he met those golden eyes he had lost himself in many times before. As their eyes met, he saw something for the briefest second that made him become curious. He mentally shook it off and smiled his gentlemanly smile. But before he could speak, a soft, melodic voice sounded from behind. He saw confusion cloud Kyoko's eyes as a small, delicate hand placed itself on his arm. He mentally cursed himself for briefly forgetting.

"Mogami-san, Maria-chan. May I introduce you to my date, Utsukushī Megami."

A/N: Hi everyone! I'm so excited that I have my first chapter out! This is the first fanfic I have written, so please be nice! I welcome any suggestions or critiques. And I absolutely love comments. So feel free to leave long ones and lots of them. :) I will try to update chapters quickly. I know how agonizing it can be to wait for that chapter to reveal itself.