37Gasp shock. I have failed yet again! Meh, I guess no one is really surprised. Sorry to all of you who were hoping my next update would be Her Fairy Prince. Working on it, I swear. But in the hustle and bustle of life I have been distracted.
As a forward to this story, I have seen enough "Oh noes, Ren is going to die! That is the only way Kyoko will understand her own feelings!" fics post chapter 163 that it made my heart hurt, even though I know he won't actually be killed. So, for all those of us who just want a little bit of warm fuzzies, I have written this. I do not apologize for character portrayals. If I fudged with people a bit, I think I kept it reasonable. You are free to hate and flame me if you disagree. Enjoy.
There was a distracted air on the Box R set. The girls, who earlier had been granted the gift of seeing the spectacular Tsuruga Ren, were in a daze, and had to be strictly brought back to work by an irate Natsu, who was quickly getting bored with their gushing. Who cared if the man was about to perform his own stunt job in a chase scene? She had people to torment.
When everyone had finally settled down, filming resumed and Natsu finally found herself amused. She took advantage of every person present and found herself completely separated from any outside influences by the end of the scenes.
So deeply was she immersed in her self, that when a huge crash was heard from the direction of the Dark Moon filming, everyone was surprised to find the only person not panicking was Dark Moon's very own Mio. Everyone else, who had nothing to do with Tsuruga Ren, or any of the other people involved, was completely flustered and distracted. The girls in particular were extraordinarily worried about their handsome hero and if work had been stalled before, it was at a complete standstill now.
People kept looking at Natsu anxiously, trying to figure out if she was simply in shock. But she sat by herself, idling turning the pages of her script, ignoring everyone, and not in such a way that suggested complete internal shutdown. A calm descended and thoughts turned back toward work, which did need to be finished before the evening came on.
And then, just a scant few minutes after the crash, when people had begun to breathe again, came the sound of sirens, moving towards the Dark Moon set. Pandemonium reigned again. More gasps, girls almost fainting, anxious whispers between the older professionals on the set, and the gnashing sound of the director's teeth as he accepted that nothing could easily be done. Added to this was the completely drowned out sound of calm breathing and the occasionally turned page. Natsu was still unmoved.
After ten minutes, three people breaking down into tears, and more than a hundred ideas about how many people had died and how, Natsu's script was shut with a distinctive snap, which managed to at least catch the attention of the people immediately around her. She put the script in her bag, stood up, and looked around for her companions. Surprised, they were still at her side in an instant, having not strayed too far. Her calm immediately engulfed them and all four were ready. Without any direction, Natsu led her posse through the group of chaos, leaving a surprised calm in her wake, and eventually reached the set. She found her place and her subordinates took theirs with the command of a glance. She then turned a bored look out to her audience, letting her gaze linger on those other people who were supposed to be on set as well.
The director, unhappy that Natsu had taken charge, but accepting that he needed to get everyone back to work now, gave instructions to the now silent but still unmoving crowd. In two minutes the group had shaken off the worst of the shock, and although the scenes required several takes as one person or another was distracted by the unknown incident, filming was finished only a little behind schedule.
Through the filming the only person never NG'd was Natsu. It was as if Mogami Kyoko was nonexistent, unconcerned about anything that might have happened. Natsu was a girl wholly centered in her world. And she seemed to be the only girl inhabiting the body that was now heading off to change. When she finished and left later, people were surprised to still see her unconcerned, moving at her own pace, ignoring everything. Chiori, the only one brave enough to bring up the subject, followed after her and tried to talk to her.
"Kyoko-"
"Yes," It was Kyoko's voice and body, but Chiori could still feel a trace of Natsu and found it hard to not respond with her own character.
"Do you have a minute? You don't… look so good."
Since there was nothing wrong with her appearance and she well knew it, Kyoko/Natsu raised an eyebrow and gave Chiori a commanding smile.
"How so?" Struggling not to get caught up in the other girl's acting, Chiori took a moment to think about her response.
"You just... where is Kyoko?" Kyoko/Natsu blinked, surprised by the question.
"I'm fine, really. But I do need to head out fast," her aura lessened and Chiori felt more of Kyoko seeping through. "I have another job right now and if I don't make it on time, I might just get skinned alive."
This was said so seriously as to terrify the other LoveMe member, who could only too well remember that Kyoko had not made any comment on her "Dangerous Mission." But Kyoko just smiled, waved, and walked off, before Chiori could ask what exactly Kyoko had meant.
Mogami Kyoko made it away from all of her coworkers before her face became completely blank.
She still refused to panic, but the truth was from the moment she had heard the crash it had taken every ounce of her will to stay Natsu. It was made doubly difficult by the fact that Kyoko was not only worried about her senpai, but Setsuka was beyond anxious for her brother. If anything had happened to Cain…
She checked her phone, but she had no messages, from Yashiro, Ren, or the president. Nothing from anyone actually.
Her initial reaction to the crash had been the need to run over and check on things. But logic overran desire, and Ren's voice telling her all of his various principles for professionalism kept her in her seat. She would be no help and would interrupt her own filming. Besides, the cars were supposed to crash at least a little.
When the sirens had started she was shaken, but resolved that if medical help was coming she still belonged where she was and that things were being taken care of. If she needed to know anything, she would be told. After all, right after Box R she was heading back to the hotel to meet with Jelly Woods for her magical transformation of the day. Ren's work would finish enough after hers that he would have to join her there. Besides, it would not do for them to always be seen heading to some job together.
Since she had received no calls, she was determined to believe that they were not necessary. If her work as Setsuka Heel had been canceled for the day, she would have been told.
While a tiny voice in the back of her head whispered that somewhere in the confusion she might have been forgotten, Kyoko trudged through the city, refusing to show any fear, but incapable of any other emotion. Somewhere in her heart she was could not help but harbor the horrid fear that Ren had been hurt or worse… no, she would not even go there.
Tsuruga Ren could not die.
She was relieved slightly when Jelly was waiting for her at the predetermined location. At least she was not the only one in the dark if anything had happened. She was quickly whisked into the magic of her spectacular makeup artist and found herself slipping easily into the persona of Setsuka.
When she was finished she walked out of her changing room to be met by the sight of the president, sitting quietly with a serious look on his face, his attention directed to some personal thought. He did not look up when she entered, and, channeling as powerful an affection as Setsuka's, Kyoko felt herself teeter precariously over the edge of hysterical panic, not quite fallen, but needing only a tiny push to reach total and complete mental breakdown.
A door closed and Setsuka whipped around to see her brother leaving his changing room, holding a cigarette and searching in his pocket for a lighter.
"Nii-san!"
As soon as she saw him she moved, faster than anyone would have believed, and in less than a second had jumped onto her brother, hanging off of his neck and hugging him as tightly as she could manage.
For all that he had been slammed with an incredible force, Cain barely staggered, but instantly dropped the cigarette and grabbed onto his sister, easing some of her weight off of his neck.
To say that Ren was not shocked would be an absolute lie. Setsuka's affection for her brother had been obvious the day before, but their interactions had been conversational and accidental, not physical and deliberate.
But neither Cain nor Ren had any control over his arms when the one person he cared about more than anything else willingly grabbed him. Trying to figure out what could have possibly caused this, he was surprised when she leaned back a little to look him in the eye. It was unfairly distracting, especially given that he was also holding her.
"You weren't too bored today, were you? You didn't do anything stupid and get yourself hurt?"
He stalled for a moment, but then understanding hit him. Her filming site must have been close enough to hear the accident and its aftermath.
"Of course not, Setsu. I told you, didn't I? I wouldn't let myself be put in any danger." He gave her a crooked smile that asked how she could doubt him.
The smile she gave him in turn was staggeringly warm, and perilously close to his face. If it would not have scared her half to death, it might have made Kyoko feel better to know that in that moment, she had shaken her senpai to at least the same degree as she had been startled earlier that day, and he was enduring equal agony trying to stay in brotherly character.
Lory watched on in amusement.
He would remember to tell Kyoko later exactly what had happened on set, of course. The crash had been much bigger than intended, but Ren's driving had actually helped things, not hurt them. Since the other car held stunt drivers (Ren being the only actor stupid enough to actually volunteer his own skin, really that boy) the scene was finished in the time limit. And while one of the stuntmen had been taken to the hospital, it was not a serious injury. Most importantly, Ren had not received a single bruise or scratch.
Possibly the most affected person had been Yashiro, whose vision had gone black when the cars hit each other so violently. He was torn between the terror of telling the president, the misery of telling the public, the tedium of getting a new job, and the mortification of what on earth he was going to tell Kyoko without getting himself killed. It had taken a few moments before he had recovered, and only then discovered his charge was safe.
But all of that could wait. Right now Lory would content himself with watching the two siblings banter back and forth about Cain's bad habits, Setsuka still settled in his arms, and still smiling.
Such was the power of a talisman.
Hope you liked it. Thanks again to my beta. Three cheers for Will, who puts up with more missing words than any beta should have to. Many thank you's. Have plans for another oneshot, focused on Lory and his crazy. I am thinking people might like it. Maybe...
I will post the last chapter of Fairy Prince, I swear. I have the plans all made up. Just have to finish.
