This is my first fan fiction and I never thought I would be putting it out for people to see. Constructive criticism would be very welcome. I apologize if there are any spelling or grammar errors that I missed. I hope that you find this reading enjoyable.

Disclaimer: I do not own Skip Beat or any of the characters from it. Skip Beat is the property of Yoshiki Nakamura.

Takarada's Game

Kyoko was quiet as she rode with Ren to LME. They were both wearing black clothes with a gray bandana tied to their upper left arms. Ren glanced at Kyoko and noticed she was rather nervous.

"Are you okay, Kyoko," he asked.

Kyoko jumped a little and looked at Ren. She smiled and said, "yes, I'm just not sure I'm ready for this.

Ren chuckled. "President Takarada certainly out did himself this time. I'm rather interested in seeing what the agency is going to look like."

Kyoko nodded in agreement.

One Month Earlier

Kyoko was walking down one of the many corridors of LME completing a Love Me assignment from Sawara. She was flipping through the papers she was carrying and walked right into someone coming from the opposite direction. She dropped the papers she was holding as she bowed and apologized.

She heard a deep voice chuckle and a, "it's alright Mogami-san."

Kyoko froze realizing that she ran into her senpai, Tsuruga Ren. She immediately threw herself into a dogeza and said, "I'M SO SORRY Tsuruga-san! I didn't mean to run into you! I should have been looking where I was going!"

"Mogami..."

"I'M TRULY SORRY! I'm such a klutz I'm no worthy to be your kohai! Please forgive me! I can't believe I ran into-"

"Mogami-san." Ren said a little sharply cutting Kyoko off during her tirade. He knelt down next to her and lifted her face off of the floor. He smiled and said, "it's alright Mogami-san. You don't have to be so hard on yourself. Now lets pick up the papers you were carrying."

It was then that Kyoko noticed the mess if papers all over the floor. She turned bright pink and started scrambling to pick up the documents. Ren gave an amused chuckle and started gathering the papers that were further away. After the floor was free of paper Ren helped Kyoko up and handed her the ones he was holding.

"Thank-you and sorry again, Tsuruga-san. Though you didn't have to help me pick the papers up."

'I'll help you with anything, since it means I can spend time with you." Ren said silently in his mind. Out loud he said, "it's no problem Mogami-san. I'm glad that I was able to help." He gave one of his heavenly smiles killing some of Kyoko's demons. "So who are you taking the paper to, Mogami?"

"Oh, Sawara-san wanted me to takes these to President Takarada."

"I see. Do you mind if I accompany you? President Takarada said that he wanted to see me about something."

"I don't mind at all, Tsuruga-san." Kyoko gave a small smile.

Ren's heart beat a little faster upon seeing Kyoko's smile. He smile always made his day. 'Of course I would be even more happy if she would say my given name,' Ren thought a little sadly.

They were quiet for a while as they headed to the elevator.

After a few minutes Kyoko asked, "Where's Yashiro-san?"

"Ah, he 's in his office finishing up some paperwork." Ren said easily. 'More than likely he's following us, so he can tease me later about not making any progress with conveying my feelings to you.'

"Okay, so are you on a break between jobs or are you done for the day?"

"I'm actually done for the day except for meeting with President Takarada."

They were now in the elevator heading up to the President's office.

"And he didn't say why he wanted to see you?"

"No, but that isn't too unusual. He rarely tells me what he wants to talk about when he asks me to see him."

"I don't think I'll ever understand President Takarada," Kyoko said. Then she slapped her hand over her mouth when she realized what she said.

Ren just chuckled and said, "I think everybody, who works here, has said that at least once. It's just the way he is. I don't think he'll ever change."

At this point the elevator stopped on Takarada's floor and they stepped out. They went up to the door of Takarada's office and before Ren could even knock it was opened by Takarada's aid, Sebastian. Today Sebastian was wearing ninja garb from about 15th century Japan.

'Well that costume certainly fits him. He's stealthy and quiet like a ninja,' though Kyoko. She bowed and said, "good afternoon Sebastian-san."

Sebastian inclined his head and motioned for them to follow him into the office, which looked like an ancient dojo. When they finally saw Takarada they weren't surprised to see his costume. He was dressed as the master of the dojo and had a katana and some shuriken.

Kyoko bowed low while Ren simply inclined his head and at the same time they said, "good afternoon President Takarada."

Takarada beamed and said excitedly, "Ren and Mogami-kun, just the two people I wanted to see. Sit down make yourselves comfortable."

Ren and Kyoko sat down on the couch, that looked out of place in the dojo themed office. However it was always in Takarada's office.

"Mogami-kun what are those papers you're holding?" Takarada asked curiously.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Kyoko would have dropped into a dogeza but Ren stopped her. She blushed and continued, "Sawara-san asked me to bring these to you." Ren let go of her shoulder so she could stand up and hand the papers to Takarada.

"Thank-you," replied Takarada. He looked at the papers for a few minutes before he passed them to Sebastian, who was standing right behind him. Sebastian took them and seemed to disappear immediately without making any noise.

Takarada looked at the pair sitting across from him for a couple moments. 'They look the same as always. If they keep hiding their feelings they'll never completely understand each other. Don't they realize how much they are hurting themselves by hiding their feelings for each other?' This was Takarada's thought process as Ren and Kyoko looked back at him with varying degrees of curiosity on their faces. 'Well this might help them to finally confess to each other. I still can't believe they didn't confess when they were doing the Heel siblings.'

"I'm sure you are both wondering why I wanted to see you." Said Takarada while Ren and Kyoko both nodded in agreement. "Well I am planning an activity that involves basically everybody in LME. It is an activity that requires partners and you two are going to be partners."

Ren and Kyoko both looked shocked. In truth Kyoko completely froze. Takarada gave one of his evil smirks. This was exactly the reaction he had been expecting.

'What do you mean his partner? Partner for what!? I can't be Tsuruga-san's partner, even if I don't know what we're doing!" Kyoko thought desperately.

As she was thinking this Ren asked the President, "What exactly are we going to be partners for Sir?" 'I sincerely hope it isn't anything overly strange.' Ren added silently. 'Not that I'm really complaining. I'll take any chance I can get to be with Kyoko.'

President Takarada was sure he knew exactly what Ren and Kyoko were thinking and silently sighed. 'Maybe this won't be so easy. Seriously these two are a pain in the neck. But I have a feeling it will be worth it.' "Mogami-kun are you still with us?"

Kyoko snapped back to reality. Takarada noticed and started talking before Kyoko could go into an apology that could last for at least five minutes. "Alright this activity that I am planning is a day long game of laser-tag here in exactly one month. There will be two teams. Each team will have an even number of people and everybody will have a partner." Takarada paused in his explanation to see how Ren and Kyoko were taking the whole scheme. They seemed to be taking it wall and didn't say anything. So he continued.

"Throughout the game partners are going through and, for want of a better term, killing members of the opposing team. But there is a slight catch." Both Ren and Kyoko looked slightly startled at that. "Members of your own team will be working on taking you out as well. You want to be the last pair standing and you only win if you are both alive. While the whole team wins, a special prize is given to the last pair standing. So you can only trust your fellow team members for so long. The only person you can completely trust is your partner. Understood?"

Kyoko looked like a statue. Ren was thinking that there had to be something else to this scheme of Takarada's. He gave Takarada a look that said, 'there's more to this, isn't there?' Takarada simply gave Ren a blank look in answer to Ren's silent question.

Kyoko was still frozen and it was starting to worry Ren. He reached over and gently put his hand on Kyoko's shoulder. "Are you alright Mogami-san?"

She didn't answer or even look at Ren. Instead she continued to look at Takarada. Noticing her expression Takarada sighed slightly. "Ren would you please step out for a minute. I need to talk to Mogami-kun privately. Then I will have to talk to you privately as well."

Ren didn't like it but he couldn't argue. He looked at Kyoko one last time then nodded and left Kyoko alone with Takarada. 'Why does Boss need to speak to Kyoko alone?' Ren thought allowing some of Kuon to slip through.