AN: I completely rewrote this chapter because I was finding myself having problems on how to continue it. This is taking place over the chapter which was just here. I hope you enjoy.
Chapter Seven – A Bird
As Kyoko entered the agency that night, she could only concentrate on Kuon and how sick he was and more than that that he had actually reached that point of illness as quickly as it seemed he had. If this was the case then his list of things that he wanted to do – even such a short list – wouldn't be fulfilled. Would Kyoko always go through life thinking that his life had been unfulfilled despite the fact that he had carved a place for himself within the Japanese acting community.
After all that had happened, was that still an accomplishment or would it be overshadowed by Kuu Hizuri and his Shuuhei Hozu.
Kyoko still had the same thoughts that she had expressed to Ren and Yashiro whilst she had been playing the role of Kuon. Though it was maybe a bit bias since she had seen so much of his work and so little of Kuu's recent work, she did consider Ren the better actor. Maybe it was because his background was so much more terrifying than Kuu's. Maybe it was because Kuu had grown up in Japan and Kuon had grown up in America whilst spending his teenage years in Japan. Maybe it was because he was so desperate to prove his worth as a person.
What she would most remember about Kuon though was his friendship. She would remember Ren's words which had always driven her to have more passion. She would remember how much she loved him and think about how she might have even been lucky enough to marry him. She smiled softly before groaning and slammed her hand against the wall.
People stared at her as she repeatedly slammed her hand against the wall and placed her head on it with tears in her eyes. "Damn it," she whispered painfully. She wrapped an arm around her body and shivered. "He's not dead yet," she tried to tell herself. It was bad luck to start thinking of a person as dead when they weren't and Corn had strength that other people didn't have. He could pull through this.
"Please try, I'll try too…" she whispered.
She felt someone behind her but she was too busy trying to focus on getting rid of her own pain and negative thoughts. There had been many times when someone had approached her and it had meant bad luck for her. It had meant that Idiot Number One or Idiot Number Two had come in and she couldn't deal with either of them right at this moment. If it was Maria or Moko they would have said something to her.
"Excuse me," a woman said in a very clear and beautiful voice which reminded her of a rich young lady. "Are you Kyoko?"
Kyoko stayed very still and then felt the woman place a hand on her shoulder. As Kyoko flinched, the woman pulled back and Kyoko turned around to see a woman in her late forties with the beauty of a supermodel. Her long blond hair was flowing over her shoulders and she had a pained expression on her face. She had the same emerald eyes that Kuon had as well as the same hair color.
"Are you -" Kyoko said before seeing the woman bow gracefully.
"Hello," she smiled looking even more gorgeous. She bowed gracefully with her hands together and spoke in perfect Japanese, "My name is Hizuri Julienna. Thank you so much for your help with my son. I am so grateful for your help."
Kyoko's eyes widened as she looked at the woman in front of her and she bowed very deeply, her cheeks turning red as she looked down. She had always heard from Kuu about Julie's beauty and she had seen the photo briefly of Kuon with his parents but her beauty couldn't be captured on any photograph. She looked as if she would be a perfect casting choice for the goddess of Aphrodite.
"I haven't done anything, not really," she said and Julie sighed.
"You've done so much. My son isn't doing so well at this time. He might not be able to set foot outside of a hospital room again and he might not have very long to live," Julie tried to brush away her tears. "But he's fighting because of you. He's happy because of you and you don't understand how important his happiness is to me."
"He's still sick though," Kyoko whispered and looked down. "I know that I'm not family but could you please allow me to see him? I know that he might not respond right now and Father, Kuu-sama, must be very worried about him but I want to talk to him even if…" Kyoko looked down sadly, "even if he can't respond back."
Julie nodded, "You're a good girl, Kyoko-san," she smiled. "Shall we return to the hospital right now or are you bu—"
"I was going to report to the president but that doesn't have to be done now. I'd love to see him," Kyoko said before her eyes widened and she bowed again, this time apologetically. "I cut you off. I'm sorry. I'm just excited about seeing him, please finish what you were saying."
"No harm done so the bow isn't necessary," she smiled before nodding trying to hide her own sadness. "I think that maybe if you have the same energy around Kuon then he will find the possibility of having that energy himself. That is what I want. I want to see him happy and awake and alive."
"Is there still a possibility of him living through this?" Kyoko asked hesitantly. She saw Julie think it over before nodding.
"There is, but Kyoko, no matter what happens I'm his mother. I am always going to be his mother. Even when I'm in heaven and looking down on him or even if he's gone and I'm not, my position as his mother is never going to change. It was my husband who stopped me from looking at the timetables of all the flights between LAX and Narita."
Kyoko looked at Julie and saw the same hope in her eyes that she had seen so many times in Ren's. She had already noticed all the similarities between Kuu and Kuon but now she was starting to see the other side and how much of Kuon was inherited or influenced by his mother. He had such good, strong, and loving parents. They didn't deserve their son to die. He didn't deserve to die.
…..
…..
As Kyoko entered the hospital after Julie, the two went up to Kuon's room to see a relieved Kuu sitting outside. He looked up at them before throwing his arms around Julie who was getting nervous seeing his awkwardness. "Why aren't you in there with him?" she asked before putting a hand to her chest. She shook her head. No, there was no way that her husband would be happy about their little boy dying.
"What's going on Kuu?" Julie asked as she momentarily forgot about the young actress that she had brought in to see the ill man.
"He woke up, it seems like the doctors didn't read the charts or there was something that they weren't expecting but he woke up," Kuu said and Julie let out a sound showing her delight. "The doctor is checking on him now, he's very weak but they managed to find a drug that works for him."
Kyoko looked at them almost not believing what she was hearing.
Before they had said that it would be hard to prepare a cure and Kuon was even expecting himself to die. Now they were able to find something to at least stabilize him. She felt the happiness sink in on her before closing her eyes. Usually when she was this happy there was some drawback or things weren't as magical as she thought.
Kuon, in her eyes, was always capable of doing impossible things but she had never been that lucky. She had been the one who had always drawn the short straw, she was the one who had always been left out in the rain whilst all of the other children were inside. The luckiest thing that had ever happened to her was that a boy that she had met as a child had moved to America to work at the same agency where she, after following a childhood friend who would abuse and take advantage of her to Toyko, would end up working.
That didn't happen to everybody and especially if they were continents apart from one another but could she ever wish for any other miracles to happen. Maybe she was supposed to feel gratitude that he was even in her life but seeing him would never be enough. She needed him beside her.
Kyoko looked up to see a doctor exit the room and her eyes widened as she took a step forward. She needed to hear the news but she knew his parents needed to know more. Maybe she would have a future with Kuon but they had a past, they were far more important than she was.
"He's recovering. He's still very weak and there are other complications, his mind is very hazy right now but we're hoping that's just because of his exhaustion. We'll need to keep him for inpatient care, but he's recovering," the doctor said and Kuu felt his heart beat at that knowledge. He slipped his hand into Julie's and went into the room.
Kyoko looked at them before she nervously followed behind them. She stood looking at Kuon as he looked at them and smiled. She took a seat by the window as she watched him with his parents. He needed them right now. She wasn't nearly as important as they were.
Kyoko looked away for a moment as she heard a bird fly onto a tree and start chirping. She smiled as she remembered how she had met Ren in the woods during the location shoot of Dark Moon and when they had walked back together, he had pointed out to her different birds. She had always thought that that was an odd place to find Ren but with Kuon it felt like the perfect place.
"It's a bird," Kuon said weakly as Kyoko saw him looking to her, he looked so exhausted and she could see immediately in his eyes how hard he had been fighting for the ones he loved.
Kyoko nodded, "Yes. I think it might be a sparrow," she said before looking at Kuu who was walking over to the window.
"Did you want me to make it fly away? Is the chirping hurting your head?" he asked and Kyoko looked at him. She thought about how she had pretended to be Kuu's son and had how she had asked him what the name of a bird was in Japanese. She remembered how naturally he had woken up and how shocked he had been to see that it wasn't his son and it was just her pretending to be him.
"No. It's…I like it," Kuon said as he let his eyes slip closed and stretched slightly as he listened to the song that the bird was singing. Kyoko dared herself to stand up and took some nervous steps over to his side, dropping onto her knees in front of him.
"I'm so glad that you're awake," she told him with a sweet smile.
Kuon nodded with soft breaths. "I'm glad that I found an angel," he said as she watched him. She hoped that he wasn't talking about going to some place with a strong bright light and angels welcoming him. She didn't want him to die. She wanted to go around and finding ways for them to be happy together.
She watched him before seeing him reach out for her hand.
"Stay with me?" he asked her and Kyoko smiled in relief.
"Always," she said not realizing the word until it had left her mouth. She blinked in surprise before she relaxed. Despite not meaning to say that, she meant it. She would stay with him for as many minutes or hours that he wanted and hopefully she would one day look back and see how those minutes became years and those hours became decades of being with him.
End of Chapter Seven
Thank you for Reading
Thank you, reviewers of original Chapter Seven:
Ashenvale, brennakai, Guessitguest, Kris, paulagato, SyntheticDesire21
Thank you, reviewers of Chapter Six:
Ashenvale, brennakai, Crazy4Animation, DreamIdol
