Skip Beat! 1. Chapter 1

The Hollywood Actor

"Ren! Reeennnn! Ren, did you hear? He's coming back to Japan!"

Tsuruga Ren turned toward his respected, reserved, and _mature _manager who was currently running down the hallway of LME squealing like a fan girl. Knowing exactly what he was talking about but not wanting to appear interested, he decided to feign ignorance.

"Calm down Yashiro. Who's coming back to Japan, and why would I have heard about it?"

Yashiro's jaw dropped in a look of pitying disbelief. His next words came out slowly as if Ren had suddenly been afflicted with the understanding capability of a 4 year old.

"You mean you haven't heard? It's only the biggest actor to ever cross over into Hollywood movies. The LEGENDARY ACTOR!"

Ren maintained his impassive and unimpressed face as he inwardly laughed at Yashiro's growing impatience. His mind flashed back to a conversation he'd had with Lory a week prior.

**One week ago…**

_It had been a long day. His first official day filming as Black Jack had just ended and his emotions were in turmoil. In one day he had nearly managed to blow his cover when he'd lost his cool and fell out of his Cain Heel character. That idiot Murasame had taken too much of a liking to Kyoko and no matter how many times he'd reminded himself that she was Setsu, he still ended up falling out of the act when he'd threatened the punk in perfect Japanese. Kyoko had looked stunned and even though he'd tried to assure her that everything would be fine he had to admit that he messed up. _

_Now Murasame would probably be sneaking around trying to catch him up even more and it would be hard to explain Setsu's presence to the cast. When the filming had been completed for the day Lory called Kyoko and told her to go home for the evening and to have Ren meet him at his office. They made their transformations back into Kyoko and Ren and went their separate ways._

_Now he was standing in Lory's office, staring at what could only be described as a 19__th__ century English judge complete with curled, powdered white wig and long robe. Instead of his usual cigar, Lory was puffing regally from a gavel shaped pipe and blowing perfect ringlets of smoke into the air._

_Ren briefly wondered if the president had already heard about his little slip up at work and the near fight he picked with his co-star but pushed the thought away. News couldn't possibly travel that fast. He was probably just here to remind him to keep a level head with Setsu but still 'touch her lightly' as he had put it. Preparing for the headache that was sure to come, Ren was considerably shocked by the next words to leave his boss's mouth._

"_He's coming back."_

"_Him?" Ren asked confused._

"_That guy." Lory explained._

_Oh. There was only one person he could be talking about and Ren found himself wishing he had been called there to discuss his…affection towards Setsu. _

"_What does he want?" He could feel his true self peeking through and tried to fight it back._

"_He's filming a new action movie and they'll be on location in Tokyo for 10 days. While he's here he decided that instead of assistants he wanted his son Kuon to take care of him."_

_The actor felt the barely contained anger start to come forth._

"_I will not-"_

"_I decided not to tell her until the day he actually arrives. I figured it would be a nice surprise for her." The president interrupted with a smirk at Ren's obvious misunderstanding._

_The man himself however scoffed at Lory's deliberate use of words to mislead him. _

"_When will he be here?"_

"_Next week."_

So here he was one week later with a blushing and squealing manager and a heart that was beating double-time in his chest. Although that might have something to do with the adorable pink-clad girl who was currently running up to him surging with excitement that rivaled Yashiro's.

"Tsuruga-san!"

Her sweet voice called out to him as she sprinted down the corridor with a smile bright enough to blind the sun. A smile also graced his face as his steps quickened in her direction, and he had to fight not to take her into his arms as she bounced up to him positively glowing. Neither one of them noticed the jealous glares nor the whispers that were being thrown her way by the women standing nearby trying to subtly get Ren's attention.

"Good morning Mogami-san, you sure seem happy today. Did something happen?" He asked knowing she probably was bursting at the seams wanting to tell someone the news he'd already heard.

"Father is coming back!" She exclaimed literally jumping in happiness.

"Really?" He asked just to humor her good mood.

"Yes, and I get to pick him up from the airport and cook his meals like last time."

He bent low to whisper in her ear.

"I'm sure he's looking forward to seeing his favorite son again." He pulled back and had to fight the urge to kiss her as he looked into her eyes and saw the determined look he loved so much spread across her face. There was a mischievous gleam in her eye and he was pretty sure what this incarnation of him was plotting.

Still whispering to her he added nonchalantly, "You know, I heard once that Hizuri Kuu was deathly afraid of puppets."

Her eyes widened in surprise. "Really? I've never heard that."

"It's a well kept secret in the entertainment industry. The story goes that when he was a child his parents hired a ventriloquist for his 11th birthday, and when it looked at him and began talking on its own he was so terrified that he ran from the room screaming and refused to come back in until it had been taken out of the house. It's also rumored that he almost missed his chance to debut in Hollywood when he turned down the lead role in a movie called 'Puppetmaster'."

Kyoko gasped in shock. "Father turned down a role? He never told me that."

Ren grinned evilly, enjoying this little bit of early revenge he was getting on his father for the stress he was sure would plague him in the upcoming days. He leaned even closer to her maintaining his conspiratorial whispering.

"Something that is even less known is that after he had become a prominent actor in America, he was invited to guest star on a children's show called 'Sesame Street' where all the main characters are marionettes."

She squeaked in dread and anticipation and he smirked at having her totally absorbed in his tale.

"Being that he was now internationally famous, and not wanting to seem as if he was too self-important to do a children's show, Kuu decided to do the appearance."

"What happened?" Yashiro, who had by now become just as engrossed with the story as Kyoko had, asked breathlessly. Ren rolled his eyes mentally and continued his tale.

"They say he completed the job perfectly, but afterwards he had nightmares of possessed puppets for three weeks straight. He even went so far as to dispose of most of his young son Kuon's toys. Anything with eyes and a mouth was thrown out of the house and he never set eyes on another puppet again, not even to watch his own appearance on the television show."

"Wow." Kyoko breathed out. "I can't believe father is actually afraid of something."

"Well, puppets are pretty creepy." Yashiro came to his hero's defense.

"I don't know about that," Ren continued, "but I do know that if a certain little boy wanted to payback his father for getting rid of all his favorite toys, he would probably visit the cursed doll and puppet store that just opened."

"You mean the one in the Shinjuku district?"

"You know it Mogami-san?" Ren asked a little taken aback.

Kyoko giggled nervously. "I may have passed by it a couple of times."

The two men just stared at her with slightly frightened expressions.

"Well, look at the time." She laughed trying to change the subject. "I should be going to meet father now. It was nice speaking to you Tsuruga-san, Yashiro-san."

She bowed to the two and before they could question her any further on her…hobbies, she quickly exited to the yellow Hummer limo that was waiting for her in front of the building. She need not have worried actually, because as shivers ran down their spines, both men decided that they really didn't want to know.

The next day found Ren sitting in his dressing room waiting to be called out to be interviewed for a daytime television show, and trying not to strangle Yashiro. The man had been pestering him since the day before on what was clearly his favorite topic next to Kyoko, and that topic was Hizuri Kuu.

"I just want to know where you heard those stories. I've idolized Kuu since I was a kid and I never heard that he was afraid of puppets. Do you know anything else about him? Other secret phobias or things he likes?"

"Yashiro for the last time," Ren spoke through gritted teeth. "It was just something I heard somewhere. I don't know anything else about him and regardless of what your obsessive thoughts may lead you to believe, there are some of us who couldn't care less about Hizuri Kuu."

His manager once again opened his mouth to retort but was cut off as a scream sounded from the hallway. They rushed out of the door of the dressing room to find people hurrying past them to stand in front of one of the televisions that were mounted against the wall. Yashiro tried to peer around Ren to see what the commotion was about when he heard the taller man's voice come out harsher than usual.

"Yashiro, cancel all of today's jobs. We're leaving."

The actor turned on his heel and headed to the building exit. His manager watched his retreating form, flabbergasted at his charge's uncharacteristic behavior.

"W-Wait! Ren, where are we going?" When no answer came he turned his head back to the television set and his jaw dropped as he read the headline flashing across the screen.

_**Japan born Hollywood actor Hizuri Kuu hospitalized after accident on the set of new movie.**_

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><p>Author's Corner: This story is for my favorite whip wielding Kuu fan girl. You know who you are. The Kuu stories are seriously lacking and for that reason there will be much more to come so, stay tuned.<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

Rushing to the Scene

Lory picked up the phone on the first ring.

"Where is he?" Ren's voice came through the receiver. The LME President could hear the worried edge to his tone as he fought to stay calm.

"I've sent a car to get you. We don't want the press to know what hospital he's in so I don't want you driving here and being recognized. It should be waiting for you outside."

Sure enough, when Ren stepped out of the building there was a black Mercedes sitting at the curb with Lory's personal assistant standing next to it. He quickly entered the car closely followed by Yashiro and they were soon flying through Tokyo at breakneck speeds, and violating enough traffic laws to make a street racer cringe.

They pulled up to the back of the University of Tokyo Hospital and Lory's driver led them through empty hallways and into an elevator; pushing the button for the top floor.

"I wasn't sure you would show up." The deep voice of Lory Takarada greeted Ren in the deserted corridor.

On the outside the actor seemed calm but his anxiousness could be found in the way his fists clenched to his sides. Before he had a chance to respond, a frantic voice called out.

"How is he? Is he alright? Did they need to do emergency surgery? Please tell me he's not… *gulp* dead."

"Calm down Yashiro." Lory soothed as Ren mentally rolled his eyes at the fangirl currently occupying his manager's body. Seriously, did the man have no shame? This from a guy who repeatedly referred to himself as 'big brother'.

"Kuu is very much alive and is now awake." The president continued. "However, he did suffer from head trauma and there are some lingering effects. It seems he's developed a serious case of- Ren wait!"

At the words 'head trauma' the previously calm actor turned and barged into the hospital room. Past grudges and arguments forgotten, the actor pushed the door open and his eyes immediately fell on the man who gave him life. The man who bred his love for acting and who was his one true hero. The man who was currently gorging himself on enough fried tempura to feed a small army and… _was that kimchi? _Where did he manage to find Korean food in a Japanese hospital?

The answer became known when a flash of bright pink in Ren's peripheral alerted him to the other presence in the room. _Only Mogami-san would be able to cook a five course meal in a public hospital with only two hot plates, _he thought to himself, suddenly feeling foolish for having worried so much.

Seeing as how his father was currently distracted by the mountain of food, and knowing well the repercussions of interrupting a beast while it feeds, Ren made his way over to the hot pink pixie that was currently tossing a stir-fry in a giant wok with demonic speed and an unearthly gleam in her eye. If he looked closely enough he thought he could see a dark orange aura flowing around her. Clearing his throat cautiously, the actor attempted to catch the actress's attention without losing a finger as she was now chopping onions at an inhuman pace.

"Mogami-san." Ren called lowly as not to startle her. "Mogami-san look at me."

*CLANG*

The large knife she had previously been using shook violently where it was embedded into the small cutting board. Ren stared at it in shock for a second until a drop of water hit the board next and broke his trance.

"It was me." Came the broken voice of the girl he loved. "It was my fault."

Ren's expression softened as he gently cupped her cheek and wiped away a stray tear.

"Mogami-san, I'm sure it wasn't your-"

"If I had only been able to fry the Tonkatsu faster, this never would have happened!"

And for the second time in an hour, Tsuruga Ren was struck speechless.

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><p>Author's Corner: Long overdue and hopefully not too disappointing. This chapter is short and definitely not in my top ten but I wanted to post SOMETHING. Don't hate me and be patient while I try to get back into this fanfiction thing. I don't expect it to be very good for a while but I'm tired of using that as an excuse to not post. Feedback will be greatly appreciated. Until next time…<p> 


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