I do not own Skip Beat! But this story is my own idea. Hope you like.

Prologue:

A Problem and A Solution

Her beautiful gold eyes, her silky sleek black hair, her athletic body; all of this made her shake her head in disbelief and sadness. "Not again... How can I get rid of this curse?" She sighed as she examined her sharp claws then retracted them. Her ears fell back and her long tail flicked in annoyance. "Couldn't I have at least been a small one?" She sighed again. "No! I had to be cursed as a big one that would stand out anywhere. I hope they don't catch me and put me in a zoo or, something. Stupid family curse!" "Crap! I'm in Tsuruga-san's apartment! What do I do?" She panicked as she remembered. She was too big to fit under the bed and all that was left of her part-time humanity was laying on the floor beneath her. She gave a low growl.

"What the hell was that? It can't be." Ren heard it. That was definitely coming from his guest room. "Mogami-san?" He called out a little worried. Another growl and the hiss of a very large feline came from the room. He knocked on the door. "Mogami-san? Is everything okay?" His hand rested on the doorknob. Another growl, this time a little lower. He opened the door a bit to peek in and check on her. Why is she sitting on the floor with her back to the door in a black fur coat? With a tail? With pointed ears on her head? Is she wearing a costume? Is that tail moving on its own?

Kyoko turned to look at him with her big gold eyes, rose to all four of her large paws, twitched her ears and sleekly stalked to him. Ren's eyes grew wide at what he was witnessing as the very large predatory black cat came to him and rubbed his leg with her head and purred. His hand twitched as he tried to stay still so he wouldn't scare the animal with large teeth and claws. I have to show him I won't hurt him, maybe this will help. She continued to purr and rub against him as her beautiful long tail wrapped around him. She pushed her head against his hand, forcing him to pet her. Much to his surprise, he was now petting a very large, 46kg, black cat with gold eyes that was his Kyoko. He looked to the cat then looked to the pile of clothes that she had been sitting on.

"Kyoko... Is it you?" He croaked out. "It can't be." She nuzzled his palm as an answer. He fell to his knees. She performed a cat-like dogeza and he blacked out. He didn't faint, it's just that everything went black as his mind tried to process the completely uncommon situation.

This is so humiliating. Why couldn't this have happened at home? Heh, heh.. Too bad it didn't happen around Sho.. Why did it start this year? Her eyes darkened and Ren noticed a very dangerous look on her face. "Kyoko?" His voice snapped her out of her Sho mauling fantasy. She shook her head and sighed. Ren looks worried again. She bumped her head into his chest to reassure him that he was not her prey.

"You aren't going to attack me are you?" He genuinely wanted to know.

She sat back on her hindquarters, wrapped her tail around and partially raised her front left paw then shook her head sadly.

"I'm sorry for asking that. It's just... you had a very scary look in your eyes." He leaned forward and caressed the soft fur of her cheek as he sat on the floor in front of her. "So, I have to ask.. Do you know how this happened?" She nodded. "Did someone do this to you?" He continued in amazement. She shook her head. "How long does this last?" She hung her head, then lowered to lay in front of him, flicking her tail in annoyance. I really wish there was a way to communicate when I'm like this.

A lot of things had changed since her 18th birthday and this was one of the major changes. Her first shift was painful, thankfully she had been alone in her room for it and the nice couple from the Daruma ya had been out for the weekend visiting family. Another change, because of the shifting, was how she felt about herself for some reason. She felt beautiful for once, she felt like she was worthy of her Senpai, worthy of anyone. Her body started moving like her catlike self instead of her stiff human self which, by the way, was attracting a significant amount of attention that she was becoming more aware of. She could hear what the whispers were saying about her, she liked it, it gave her a boost of confidence. She noticed the looks and although they were a bit disturbing to her at first, they gave her ego a nice little polish. Another thing that she noticed was fear in others, especially when it was fear of her, that was a new thing. She never dreamed anyone would be afraid of her, but she knew of at least three people that were, those three were Sho (for some reason), Mimori-chan, and oddly enough Hikaru-san. Sho's fear was nice but, along with Hikaru his fear smell was mixed with something else she couldn't put a finger on. It was mixed with something that Tsuruga-san and a few men and a couple of women had, but she just couldn't figure out what that unique scent was. She liked it best on Tsuruga-san though. Finally she noticed the other new smells and that those new smells had emotions that came with them. Fear definitely had it's own scent and on some people it was quite delicious. Happiness smelled pretty sweet, almost like candy. Jealousy smelled pretty rotten, she didn't like that one and it came off of quite a few people that she knew.

There were two smells that she really had a problem identifying. Those two smells, either individually or, combined came off of almost all of the men she knew, maybe it was a guy thing, but they smelled like a mix of cream, warm honey and bourbon. (If she only knew.) When it came off of Tsuruga-san, it made her mouth water.

Strangely enough these two smells emanated the strongest from Tsuruga-san and Sho. She never dreamed those two would have anything in common except for the scent of rage and hate that wafted from them whenever they caught sight of each other, it smelled like fresh, bloody meat. Her mouth watered thinking of that one too. That was another thing that changed, her tastes. Lots more rare meats and oh it was delicious. The taste of the blood laced juices gave her an almost orgasmic satisfaction when she ate it.

So, all in all, was this really a curse for her? Other than transforming into a panther, which she was steadily starting to be able to control, her senses had become more acute. She was more graceful, her sight better, her hearing more acute and her sense of taste and smell stronger. She was even more sensitive to touch, which was a bit disturbing around Tsuruga-san and also why she sometimes lost her control of the shift around him. His touch combined with a certain two of his scents made it very difficult to fight her struggling heart and this fight took away from her struggle to gain control of the shift. Which is also why she was now laying on his guest room floor stretched in front of him as a panther, trying to find a way to communicate with him.

"This certainly explains a lot." Ren sighed.

It finally dawned on her, if she was to control this she would have to admit it. He was still staring at the supernatural wonder that lay in front of him. The panther called Kyoko. Her golden eyes trained on him and giving him a look that he wasn't familiar with, she rose to all fours and padded to him. Her soft, black, fur-covered, Kyoko sized body rose to his sitting form and placed her paws on his chest. First she nuzzled his neck, he gave her a long caress down her back and he felt her shiver. He felt her sandy, yet gentle tongue trace up his neck and heard a loud purr.

"I love you." She told him as she nibbled his ear.

He was a little stunned to have the small naked woman wrapped in his arms so suddenly, telling him she loved him. It was quite unexpected.

"I love you too, Kyoko." He sighed with relief. It hit her the strong scent of cream, mixed with warm honey and bourbon. His arms wrapped her tightly around her petite nude frame as his soft, velvety lips moved to hers. The scent of warm honey and bourbon became stronger and overpowered the cream scent as their kiss deepened and his tongue caressed her lower lip begging for entrance. With a low purr and soft moan her lips parted and their tongues met for the first time in a dance of passion and lust with her bare body pressed tightly to his fully clothed.

"Mmm, I guess that's what that smell on you is." She cooed into his ear. He gave her a puzzled look. She smirked sexily and snickered as her small hand traced lightly from his cheek down his neck, "I can smell your lust." She whispered seductively. Her eyes darkened and she pulled him in for another kiss.

Her modesty was thrown out the window after waking up naked the night after her first transformation in the alley behind the Daruma ya. At least here in Ren's arms she felt safe. Yes, he would keep her and her secret safe.