AN: Couldn't help but to write another chapter but I have an eight hour shift tomorrow so I probably can't write then. Maybe I'll create a stash of these and update one a day 😊 Anyway, I just hope you keep on enjoying them.

Chapter Seven – Birthday at Midnight

"Kuu, darling," Julie said as she squeezed Kuu's upper arm to wake him up. The two had been taking shifts so that they could make sure that Kuon was okay and Kuu was three hours into his sleep. He blinked his eyes open before looking to see Kuon's doctor standing next to Julie. He immediately sat up straighter.

"Is everything okay? Kuon, is Kuon okay?" he panicked before seeing that there was a black bag in the area where Kuon was. He froze nervously, his heart seeming to shatter. No. No no no no no no no. His son, he couldn't be dead! He could not be dead! He wasn't in that body bag, no…

"It's not him," Julie said as she saw his fear, "It's just a bag, Kuu. He's not dead. They said that he gets to be out of isolation since his lungs are recovering but…" she bowed her head and Kuu looked around. Where had they taken his son!? He tried to steady his breathing before hearing the doctor speak.

"Hizuri-san, Kuon has been moved back to a private hospital room but I do need to discuss something with the two of you regarding his treatment. Kuon's injuries are quite severe and quite extensive and we feel it's best to place him in a medically induced coma until his head and lungs are both a bit better. Both of them require oxygen especially with use. Hopefully it would only need to be for a few days to a week that he is kept in that state."

Kuu stared at the doctor wishing that he was hearing this after having a bit more sleep. "The seizures?" he asked, "If Kuon is in a coma then…what happens if he has a seizure?"

"We're hoping that by doing this, the number of seizures will reduce significantly when he's taken out of the coma. Although there doesn't seem to be any memory loss or any loss of speech or disability, there is the risk that these things will come if he continues to use his cognitive abilities, we're suggesting that he is placed under this coma so that he will be able to heal," the doctor told them and Kuu looked down nervously. That didn't sound good at all.

Kuu looked over at Julie who took his hand and squeezed it, he turned back to the doctor, "What do you need from us?" he asked and the doctor nodded.

"Just for you to fill out some forms as his legal guardians, policy states that unless the two of you agree we won't be able to do anything," he said and Kuu nodded shakily.

"Okay," he said sounding so lifeless and vulnerable, "Okay, we can do that."

"As long as it gives my baby some more time," Julie whispered as she looked down. "Happy Christmas Eve, Kuu."

They followed the doctor to the private room and Kuu walked over to his son. He started to straighten the hospital gown again and placed a hand on his neck, his thumb resting on his throat so he could feel Kuon's pulse. Kuu gently pushed some of Kuon's hair back and was surprised to see a pair of half-open emerald eyes watching him. Kuon was awake?

"Kuon," he whispered as he gazed upon his son. He couldn't believe that Kuon was awake again. "Hey, it's good to see you awake," he whispered but tears started to roll down his cheeks as he saw his little boy just gazing up at him. Kuon reached up with difficulty to the respirator mask but Kuu gently guided his hand away. "You need that, don't take it off, okay?"

Kuon nodded slowly as Julie tried to hide her relief that they could interact again. Kuon nervously reached for his dad's hand and held to two of his fingers which brought flashbacks of Kuon's delivery to Kuu's mind.

"I'm here," he whispered as he placed a hand on Kuon's chest whilst the other was held by his hand. "We're right here. We're not going anywhere."

"We'll monitor him over the next few hours, see if we should choose a new course of action or not but it's incredible that he's awake and responding to stimuli," the doctor said and Kuu nodded before seeing Kuon cringe from the light. He was about to speak but the doctor dimmed the room again.

"Hi, baby" Julie sobbed as she went to Kuon's side as well. "Try not to think just try to keep fighting, okay? Please continue being your strong self and fight, we'll take care of everything else. You just continue fighting."

Julie saw a nurse adjust the amount from the IV that Kuon was getting into his body, hopefully this would allow him to relax if just a little more than usual.

…..

…..

Why had she come here? Why had she decided to come and "enjoy" a party after seeing the kind of state that Kuon was in. It all seemed so needlessly frivolous and Kyoko wished she could enjoy it more for Maria but he had looked so alone in that room, so injured and damaged. She had always believed him to be strong and skillful and she had witnessed that when he was Cain Heel but she hadn't seen him in such a dangerous situation before. The doctors had told the Hizuris that he could die that night or that his condition wouldn't get better. The president had told her that it was grim. Julie had told her the horrifying injuries. This wasn't a normal situation and he needed people to support him.

So, if that was the case, what was she doing here?

She looked up at the clock, in ten minutes she would be eighteen and that was an acceptable age to date a twenty-one year old, right? Well, if she was allowed to date him, if he recovered, if he forgave her. She wanted to be with him instead of around everyone else. It felt like he was the only one who mattered.

Kyoko made her way over to Maria who was dancing with her father and smiled, leaning close to the birthday girl. "Maria, I am so sorry but I have to leave. I really apologize," she said as she dropped down into a very formal bow. "Please forgive me."

Maria turned to her father who was watching Kyoko curiously. Her face turned into one of shock and alarm as she looked at her big sister. "It's your party next," she argued, "people are expecting that you stay. I think Grandfather has a cake for you, just stay ten minutes?" she begged and Kyoko closed her eyes.

"I am so sorry, Maria" she said as she tried to hold back the tears, "The man that I love is in the hospital and if this is the very last birthday that I get to spend with him, I'd really like to be with him as soon as possible. He saved my life."

"There's somebody that you love?" Maria asked and Kyoko nodded nervously. "The person in the hospital?" she continued and Kyoko nodded her head again. "Then he probably wants to spend your birthday with you as well so you should go."

"Thank you for understanding, Maria-chan," Kyoko said before rushing to get her bag and then running out of the event. She felt that she was disappointing everyone but she wanted to see him. She wanted to wish him a Merry Christmas, apologize until he forgave her and tell him that she loved him. Fortunately, she was able to wave down a taxi that would take her to the hospital.

…

….

Kyoko was glad when she was told that she was going to be met by Julie at the waiting room of the hospital. She felt a little bit silly in such a fancy dress like this one but it didn't matter because soon she would be able to see him and gaze upon him and if she was lucky, she might even be able to touch him. It felt like a lifetime ago that she had hugged him but it was really only four days. She just really hoped that he would forgive her.

"He's doing a little better but you have to go easy on him," Julie told her. "If his brain gets overloaded, it could trigger something. Kuu and I are trying to keep notes on what causes anything similar to a seizure or that could lead to a seizure."

"It's okay for me to see him though?" Kyoko asked as she looked down hoping Julie wouldn't change her mind. "I mean, it's okay for me to be in the room with him, that isn't a trigger…is it?"

"I think he wants to see you," Julie replied and Kyoko nodded nervously. As she entered the room, she saw Kuu holding onto Kuon's hand as they were discussing what restaurants they should visit in Los Angeles when he came back. It was when Kyoko came into the room that Kuon shifted in the bed, his eyes widening a little. "Easy, easy," Kuu said as Kuon nodded and tried to breathe with the respirator. "Happy Birthday," he told Kyoko as he looked around at her.

Kyoko smiled and nodded gratefully before coming closer to Kuon, she slipped a hand down on the bed next to him and then dropped down onto her knees next to him. "Hi, Corn," she whispered as she put her forehead to the bed, trying not to cry as he stared at her. "I'm so sorry, I'm sorry. I don't know if you want me to call you Ren or Tsuruga-san or Kuon or Hizuri-san or Corn but…but I'm going to go with Corn and I'm sorry that I tried to push you away, that all of this happened because I do love you," she said before looking up to see that he was surprised that she said that. He reached for the respirator mask but Kuu took his hand preventing him from pulling it off.

"The doctor said that you need to keep it on," he said hating that he was treating his grown up son as if he were a little kid.

"If the doctor said that then please keep it on," Kyoko whispered before she felt her tears in her eyes. She reached out and touched his cheek, kissing him on the side where he didn't have his head injury. "I really do love you, I've loved you for such a long time…the Katsuki acting test was when I realized I had feelings for you and then…then those feelings grew and I was scared and…no, keep it simple," she told herself before feeling Kuon weakly put his hand on her cheek, tucking a few hairs behind her ear.

"I really do love you, Kuon," she told him and he blinked at her. "No matter what name you want me to call you and…and I forgive you for lying to me, I think I understand why you did it but it doesn't matter anymore as long as you're alive." She laughed a little as she felt Kuon run his weak fingers through her hair. "It's okay that you don't say anything now just please fight for everyone who loves you, please?"

Kuon nodded slightly before holding her hand. He just gazed at her, taking in how beautiful she was and rejoicing in the fact that she was here with him, that she wanted him. That was all that he had wanted from her.

End of Chapter Seven

Thank you for reading, reviews are appreciated

Thank you reviewers of Chapter Six

Ashenvale, Erza, H-Nala, Kaname671, Kikoune, ktoll9

AN2

I'm so glad people are enjoying the story and are so supportive of it. I think Kyoko is starting to figure things out and this fic really is more about taking it slowly and using raw emotion 😊 But Kuon has made some progress so he just has to gradually recover from this.