Just a warning I am Dyslexic so my stories will not be perfect but I now have one Beta reader to help me along the way :D
Thank you so much to Roshelle Diall for offering to work with me :D
Hello my sweeties,
I really do have a wonderful beta reader,
you wouldn't be getting chapters if it wasn't for
Roshelle. So make sure you leave a nice review with her in mind :)
as she reads all the reviews scared someone will point out a mistake she missed :P
Neh xxx
I do not own Skip Beat.
Enjoy.
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv
"I've had practice. My sister has children and so does Mei's brother." Kuon nodded and he picked up his own nappy and tried to do as Kenta had instructed. He was glad the older man stayed with him and watched, he never spoke but Kuon thought he had it figured out. That was until he went to fasten the pull tabs and they were nowhere to be found. He frowned, wondering if he had a different type of nappy as Kent smiled and pointed at the nappy.
"It's on back to front." Kuon wanted to sink into the ground and never get out again as he, with his face burning, put the nappy on the right way around and fastened it securely. He wondered why they had come to this class to begin with?
"You'll get the hang of it, no fear." Kenta said smiling as he examined Kuon's work.
"And it's well done for your first attempt. I've seen people put them on in so many ways that just laying it down the wrong way is nothing. Kuon knew he was just trying to make him feel better and if he admitted it, his words did help as they carried their babies over to Natalie for inspection. Kuon was handed a chamomile tea whilst Kenta got lemon. Kuon raised his eyebrows at Kenta who smiled. She makes herbal teas for individual needs, chamomile is a tea for stress and nerves, it's meant to calm the drinker.
"How does she know which tea to make?" Kuon asked sipping his tea, letting out a little sigh of happiness. It was nice and refreshing.
"She watches us all, from the moment we enter to the moment we leave. She doesn't miss a tick. that one. She always knows if there is something wrong. She says its from studying childcare and psychology in England." Kuon looked up at that news.
"She is English then?" he asked watching the woman speaking with a couple who looked very close to their due date.
"She is indeed. She came over with her husband and his business and never went back. Let's go see what tea our lovely ladies got to drink, shall we?" Kenta said, leading the way to his wife and her new friend. He placed his hand on her shoulder and squeezed before sitting down next to her. Their eyes met for a moment in a silent exchange of love and in Kuon's case concern for his wife, which Kyoko answered with a small smile. Mei watched and smiled at their silent exchange. She liked this young couple.
The rest of their class went fine and they both talked about how much they had learnt, at 16 weeks Kyoko began to show the smallest bump, this was when it started to get a little complicated.
"FOR HEAVENS SAKE KUON! I'M PREGNANT, NOT DYING! I'M SURE ME AND MOKO WILL BE PERFECTLY FINE, AND DON'T WAIT UP! I WILL NOT BE COMING HOME TONIGHT SO YOU HAVE TIME TO THINK ABOUT THIS!" Yashiro and Kanae who had been chatting and walking towards the apartment together stopped, listening to the screaming Kyoko. The door slammed open and Kyoko exited the apartment in a rage like neither of them had seen before.
"Come on Moko-san, we are leaving." she had a bag slung over her shoulder, a frown on her face. All Kanae had time to do was shrug at the startled Yashiro, then turned and followed the furious Kyoko as she stormed down to the elevators. Yashiro turned to see the half dressed Kuon standing in the doorway looking very agitated and confused.
"What have you done this time?" Yashiro asked, grinning slightly as Kuon pulled his shirt on.
"I have no idea to be honest. She has been sick all morning and the last few days have been rough on her, with not being able to keep food down, so I just suggested she stay home today and rest. She simply flipped out!" he said throwing his hands into the air to emphasise.
"Why the hell would she flip out over that? I'm only thinking about her and the baby. It's not like I was trying to stop her from working. I just wanted her to rest a little." Kuon let out a long sigh as he dragged his fingers through his hair, looking very upset and confused by Kyoko's behaviour.
"She's never gotten mad at me like that before. Maybe I should go after her?" Yashiro grinned, Oh you have so much to learn Kuon he thought as Kuon allowed him into his apartment.
"You don't need to chase her Kuon, just give her time to calm down. I want you to think of the reason why Kyoko flipped out today." he wasn't going to tell the young man, it was something he needed to realise for himself, Yashiro decided as he watched Kuon sigh again and walk to his bedroom to continue getting ready for work. Yashiro poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down on the sofa. Noticing the litter of paper and pictures on the coffee table, he leant forwards to see what it was all about.
Pictures of houses and large family apartments littered the table. He picked up the one closest to him and read through the advertisement.
"SO YOU ARE GOING TO GET A NEW PLACE?" he called through to Kuon. Kuon walked out from the bedroom moments later fully dressed and ready for work as he strapped on his wrist watch.
"Yeah, me and Kyoko were looking last night. She was really excited. I just can't see why she is so angry over something so small."
"Think about it Kuon, there is a reason." Yashiro said with a smirk like smile which Kuon hated.
Why couldn't Yashiro just bloody tell me if he knew? Yashiro was starting to grate on him, so he quickly gathered the rest of his things and ushered his manager out for work.
Meanwhile in Kanae's car...
"Why...(sob) did I ….(sniff) say that to him?...The stupid...(sob) asshole." Kyoko was half shouting, half crying as Kanae sat there with a big smile on her knowing face. She let her best friend bash it out, but she could feel a laugh building. She had never seen Kyoko like this and she had to admit it was different. She couldn't help it, during one of Kyoko's rants she used an insult she hadn't used since being with Sho, calling Kuon a glorified Ken doll. Kanae let out the laughter that was now too much to contain.
"HAHAHAHA... A glorified Ken doll...HAHAHAHA that's a classic...HAHAHA..." Kyoko scowled at her.
Kanae laughed more replying.
"You said it, not me. HAHAHAHA!" instantly Kyoko's anger vanished and she burst into full tears as Kanae leaned over and cuddled her best friend.
"Oh Kyoko, I'm sorry. It's just that I'm used to this. My sister was the worst for mood swings when she was expecting her baby. We called them 'baby swings'." Kyoko looked up at her friend,
"Baby swings?" she asked, as Kanae smiled.
"Yep, baby swings. Not to be confused with actual baby swings as you'll be buying one of those later. Basically, it's just your hormones going loopy." she said in a matter of fact voice.
"Great." Kyoko said with a note of desperation in her voice.
"Not only am I getting fat, I can't even control my emotions anymore." she slumped in her chair and sighed. What the hell was she going to do now? Kanae smiled and patted Kyoko's back.
"OK then. Shopping, dinner, ice cream, more shopping and then a sleep over at my place. How does that sound?" She asked using everything she knew Kyoko would love and she was right. Kyoko was sparkling and nearly levitating from her seat, she was so happy. She may be older, wiser and no longer the number one LoveMe girl, but she was still the Kyoko Kanae had come to love and respect.
"Come on, Miss Contrary. Let's have a fun day out."
They did have a great day. Even after lunch when Kanae had to rub Kyoko's back as her body decided it was about time she had another bout of sickness, it failed to dampen Kyoko's spirits. Kanae advised Kyoko on maternity clothes and insisted she use Kuon's card to pay for the purchases, telling her it would make her feel better. Even though Kyoko would normally refuse to spend so much money and make Kuon pay, she had to admit as they got another lot of clothes wrapped up and asked for them to be delivered to her and Kuon's apartment, she did feel a lot better.
Lory looked at the sighing form before him. Kuon was sitting, waiting for Yashiro to finish up his phone call. They had a modeling job in 45 minutes and he didn't want to be late. He checked his watch for the 100th time that day, then his mobile, sighing again as he saw no messages or calls from Kyoko. The fact the day seemed to be going by at a snail's pace just depressed the young man further as he sat there, trying to decide what had set the woman he loved off into a fit of rage this morning. He just couldn't figure it out. He had only repeated the doctor's, Yuri's and Natalie's advice. Why was she being so aggressive all of a sudden? He had half expected her old daemons to start popping out. He sighed again.
"OK, so what's wrong?" Lory asked, sitting down next to Kuon, who jumped a mile as his boss dressed as Attila the Hun sat down next to him.
"Why should there be anything wrong?" he asked but with very little emotion in his voice. Hell, he couldn't even act uncaring to the man who had infuriated him over Kyoko for years!
"Well for one, you look like your dog has just died and as I know you don't have a dog, I'm guessing you and Kyoko-chan have had a fight or something." Lory sat back, relaxing with his legs out in front of him, his ankles crossed. He crossed his arms for good measure until Kuon sighed and hung his head in his hands.
"Is it that obvious?" He asked, as Lory chuckled.
"100 percent crystal clear. What's the matter? Have her hormones started to act up?" Lory asked as he smiled at the younger man. It was like someone had switched on a light bulb in Kuon's head as he sat up straight and spun to face Lory.
"Does that happen?" he asked, looking at the man he viewed like a second father. The man who had helped raise him to the man he was today.
"Does what happen? You mean do women get hormonal when pregnant?" Kuon nodded and Lory laughed long hard and loud.
"Of course they bloody do, you dolt. Their bodies are going through major changes to support the child and themselves, of course. She is going to be over emotional and upset. God, I remember with your mom and dad, Kuu had to sleep on the sofa for weeks at a time as Julie became even more unmanageable, if you can believe that." Kuon was just nodding, taking everything in like a sponge. He needed help, he was scared and confused at Kyoko's sudden attitude change and he needed to know if their was anything he could do to help.
"So how do I calm her down?" he asked Lory looked at Kuon and could see a basket full of puppies in his place begging him for knowledge of how to cope with this new challenge in his life, Lory chuckled
"Is she that bad?" Kuon nodded and began explaining that morning to Lory who listened and giggled as Kuon laid out the complete emotional state of his wife.
"OK well my first bit of advice would be to apologise." Kuon stopped him short.
"But I didn't do anything wrong." he said, getting agitated as again Lory chuckled.
"That doesn't matter Kuon, you will soon learn with any woman you need to swallow your pride sometimes and say you're sorry, even if you don't know why. It is better to apologise than seek forgiveness later." Kuon nodded but remained silent as Lory continued.
"Next get her a nice big bouquet of flowers and something nice that she enjoys, you know chocolates or some such." Kuon nodded again and Lory could see the puppies in the basket that was Kuon wagging their tails and he smiled.
"Lastly, give her some space and time. Even if you too have to sleep on the sofa. You do it until she feels better about you, and she will. So don't worry if it takes a few days or even a week or more, you just have to be there for her when she needs you and help her out as much as you can without her knowing." Kuon frowned at this.
"Why should I help her without her knowing?" Kuon asked, as the older man smiled.
"Because Kuon, she is an independent woman who works and breathes acting for a living. If you start treating her like she is an invalid, she will soon get angry." Kuon suddenly thought back to Kyoko's exact words that morning.
'FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE KUON, I'M PREGNANT NOT DYING!'
and he suddenly realised what had caused her over reaction. He was being over protective and taking away her independence without even realising it. Lory watched as his words hit home in the young man's eyes.
"We do it because we care Kuon, but sometimes we have to know when to step back." Kuon nodded and pulled his phone out of his pocket. Scrolling through his contacts, he picked a number.
"What are you doing now?" Lory asked, hoping the silly fool wasn't trying to call the his wife after he had just told him to give her time and space.
"I'm taking your advice, old man." he said standing,
"Hello, this is Hizuri Kuon speaking. I would like to order your most beautiful bouquet of flowers, money is no object and have them delivered to..." Lory smiled as Kuon rattled off the address he knew to be Kanae's apartment. So Kyoko would be getting her distance, he thought with a smile, Knowing that Kanae had a large family she would have seen baby swings before he was sure. So Kyoko was in good hands. Now it was just to deal with the confused, worried and anxious father to be. Maybe he would hint on Kuon calling Kuu. A good father-son chat was just what the doctor ordered, he decided as he watched the young man setting up his elaborate apology.
OH how fun this is going to be. Lory mused as Kuon called up Kyoko's favourite bakery to order fresh cakes to be sent to Kanae's address also.
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv
I know a lot of you are saying its too sweet and it needs more action,
I promise there are things planned to come along for this story, but
we still need the setting up for such events,
though I hope you see we are starting a little with this chapter :P
Thank you for reading
Neh xxx
Comments and reviews please
Roshelle's space.
I don't like to see them fighting. Hope you enjoyed the chapter and I'm excited about future developments as well! :)
