One Take Only (A Skip Beat! Fanfic)

Chapter 16: Cats, Bags, Etc.

Kyoko sat, head hanging, in front of the director's desk in his personal office. Next to her, Sho lounged, legs crossed, looking purposely in the opposite direction. Shoko stood at his side, her face kept carefully neutral.

When Director Anna finally entered, looking more at sea than angry, Sho barely seemed to register it. For her part, Kyoko jumped up to offer an apology.

"Director, sir, I'm so sorry to have caused so much trouble for everyone," she started, preparing to fling herself into a full-on dogeza, but he waved her off.

"Please, Kyouko-chan, just sit." He said, and she complied, still shamefacedly bowing her head. "I...have to say that I'm confused. I don't really understand what just happened. The two of you seemed to be working together well enough, and then...well, I guess what I'm saying is that I'm hoping for an explanation."

Sho snorted. "As if you don't know," he sneered at the older man, while still directing his gaze at the blank wall that had captured his interest.

Shoko smiled sweetly on behalf of her charge. "What my client means to say is that he feels as if the staff here has been deliberately deceiving him as to the identity of this young lady," she said, tone smooth and official. Her hand, however, was not so restrained, and had found its way to the crown of Shotaro's head, where it took a tight grip and forcibly turned his face to meet the director's. If the loud crack that issued from the idol's neck as she did so was at all troubling to her, her expression certainly did not reflect it. "And if that is the case, then while his reaction may have been...exaggerated, his displeasure is warranted, is it not?"

Sho attempted to back this up with a meaningful scowl while surreptitiously blinking away the tears of pain that had sprung to his eyes.

Anna began to reply, saying, "Well, as the assistant director tried to tell Fuwa-san, none of us were trying to conceal anything of the sort—"

"Then why did all of you go out of your way to call her Natsu?" Sho snapped. "How do you explain that?"

"Director, sir, if I may—?" Kyoko interjected before he could respond. He nodded. She turned to direct her attention to the pop star.

"Nobody was trying to lie to you, you moron." She said simply. "I asked them to call me Natsu, and they did. That's all. They didn't know anything about us." She turned back to the director to add, "By which I mean two very different people who shared a platonic childhood friendship that has since deteriorated, sir. Nothing romantic."

"And why the hell would they just do that, huh? They had to know something was up, and they just went along with it!" He spat.

"No, Shotaro," she said, with the air of talking to a very slow child. "I said it would help me to stay in character. It's an acting technique. Something you wouldn't know anything about."

"What?!" He demanded, jerking his head around to look at her so fast that another, even louder crack was heard. "Last I checked, I walked on set two days ago with no experience outside of a handful of PVs, and I've been doing just as well as all you jumped-up 'actors.'"

"Us, jumped-up?" She retorted, shooting up from her chair. "You egotistical—"

But all the director had to do was say, "Excuse me," and she settled back into her seat, posture pristine, hands folded in her lap, and all her attention on the man who could very well decide the fate of her career.

"Now, from what I understand, the two of you know each other outside of work..." ("This guy's a genius," Sho said drily, and Kyoko immediately stepped on his foot.) "which makes this conflict between you personal, and not professional."