I do not own Skip Beat or any of the fish mentioned in this story ;)

"Is something wrong, Mogami-san?" Ren asked, noticing a very gloomy looking Kyouko.

"Wrong?" she echoed, closing the magazine she had been staring at.

"You seem upset," he observed, trying to catch a glimpse of the magazine she had been reading without her noticing. She had placed it face down on her lap however, and all he could see were the advertisements.

"I'm not upset," she said, offering a smile to appease him. He simply cocked an eyebrow at her though, and she knew she had been seen through. She could never slip anything past her sempai, not even the smallest detail, the slightest change in expression. He caught them all and knew the emotion behind them. That was what you got from a first rate actor, she supposed, someone who was a keen observer of human behavior.

"You seem like something is bothering you though," he countered, "You can't tell me about it?"

"But it's silly," she said, admitting that there was indeed something bothering her. "I don't want to waste your time, Tsuruga-san. You must be busy."

"Actually, Mogami-san," Ren replied, "I'm done for the evening."

"But you must be tired," she countered, "You always work so hard. You should have a healthy dinner and get a good night's sleep."

"Have you eaten yet?" he asked.

"No," Kyouko replied, missing the hint.

"Then why don't you join me?" he asked, "That way, you can make sure I eat something healthy and you can satisfy my curiosity about what's bothering you."

Kyouko looked at her feet.

"That is, unless you have other plans…"

"No, I just didn't want to inconvenience you, Tsuruga-san," Kyouko replied, "If we eat together, it will be dark when we're done, and if it's dark, you will insist on driving me home and then you will be delayed getting home and won't be able to get as much rest, and then you won't be able to put in as much effort at work, and it will be all my fault."

"Mogami-san," Ren replied with a chuckle, "It's barely seven o'clock. Even if we eat the world's slowest dinner, I will still be able to drive you home and have plenty of time to get a good night's rest before any of my work tomorrow."

"But I don't want to burden you with my silly concerns," Kyouko argued, "It really is nothing."

"Mogami-san," Ren countered, "It would bother me more to be distracted wondering about what's wrong than to hear your worries and then possibly be able to help you with them."

"I'm sorry, Tsuruga-san! I didn't mean to distract you," Kyouko apologized.

"If you're really sorry, you'll come to dinner with me and tell my about it," he responded with a smile.

"But—"

"Do you want me to be distracted about it tomorrow while I'm on set?" he asked.

"No," Kyouko said, shaking her head.

"Then shall we go?" he asked.

Kyouko nodded meekly, put the magazine in her bag and followed her Sempai to his car. Ren pulled into the parking lot of a small restaurant and lead Kyouko inside to a table in a dark corner where they would be less likely to be spotted.

After they had ordered, Ren again asked, "So what is it that's bothering you, Mogami-san?"

"Well, um…It really is very silly," she said, coloring and staring at the her hands.

"No matter how silly it is, I'd still like to listen," he said with a tender smile.

"Well…" Kyouko began, "It's about…fish."

"Fish?" Ren asked as if it were the most natural thing in the world to be concerned about. Kyouko was still looking at her hands, so he was able to chance a grin, but he did not let the laughter slip into his tone.

"Yes, fish," Kyouko replied, looking up when she didn't hear laughter. "Isn't it something strange to be upset about?"

"It probably isn't the most common thing to be upset about, but that all depends on your reasons. What is it about the fish that upsets you, Mogami-san?" he asked.

"It's just so sad!" Kyouko said, reaching into her bag and pulling out the magazine. She flipped it open to the article she'd been reading earlier and pointed to the image of a strange little fish.

Ren looked at the picture Kyouko presented.

"These fish were once normal," she explained, "But because they live in caves where there is no light, they all went blind."

"But, since there's no light, they wouldn't be able to see anyway, so they don't need eyes. Is that really so bad?" he asked. He had the urge to laugh in relief and at the ridiculousness of the situation, but it seemed to be genuinely upsetting Kyouko, so he held it in and waited for her response.

"I just feel sorry for them," she said meekly. "They were deprived of something they needed for so long that they changed. They became fish that no longer needed light."

So it wasn't really about fish, Ren realized.

Their dinner arrived just in time to prevent him from telling Kyouko that she was not a fish and love was not light and that even if it were, he would shine on her as much as she needed to make sure that she never lost her sight.

But that wasn't Kyouko, he recalled. After being denied love for so long by both her mother and Sho, she was worried that she, like the fish would lose the ability to use it for good. She was in LoveMe to try and recover that missing emotion, but if she failed, would she lose her heart, like the fish had lost their eyes? All he could do was try and assure her otherwise, that she was strong, capable and not like the little blind fish.

"You know," Ren began once they had settled back down and begun to eat, "If you were a fish, I think you would be a salmon."

"Why am I a salmon?" Kyouko asked cocking her head to the side.

"They're fighters," Ren explained, "They are born in rivers, swim all the way out to the ocean, and even to the last, the fight the current and swim back to the rivers to spawn. They have drive and determination. They reach their goals."

"But I haven't reached any goals yet," she said sadly.

"But you are not a cave fish, Mogami-san," Ren told her, "You are not sitting in the dark and waiting to go blind. You're searching for the light and fighting until your goals are realized."

"Then aren't you a salmon too, Tsuruga-san?" Kyouko asked, "You are always working hard for your goals."

She had no idea how apt the metaphor was for Ren, who was always fighting his way against the current, always trying to be the best so that he could prove himself and return to his place of birth successful in his own right.

"Maybe we're both salmon, then," he said, oddly pleased to be the same type of metaphorical fish as Kyouko.

Kyouko smiled at him. Her spirit seemed to have lifted. She too seemed to enjoy being the same type of fish as her sempai. Then, her face clouded over, her brows contracted and she looked up at him.

"Tsuruga-san," she said, looking him in the eyes, "I don't think I can eat this anymore."

Ren glanced down at her plate and the barely touched salmon in front of her.

"How about we go get a hamburger instead," he said with a laugh, "I don't think cannibalism suits an up and coming actress."

AN: So mostly, I had the idea about the metaphor between Kyouko's ability to love and the cave fish's sight, and it just kind of spiraled. I fear I may have beaten the fish metaphor thing into the ground, but hopefully it was still somewhat enjoyable. Thank you for reading! Leave a review if you'd like to let me know what you think.