Chapter Six – Good News for Once

"I'm pregnant," Kyoko whispered.

She took a few nervous breaths and had immediately closed her eyes, she heard Kuon's soft voice as she sat there. She was a little scared to see his reaction, would he be angry and upset about this. Would the stress of the news be enough to set him off?

"Did you just…say?" Kuon asked and Kyoko nodded.

She heard Kuon's laugh, which was always something special for her to hear. She opened her eyes only to be caught by his radiant and blinding smile and his hopeful eyes. She laughed as she noticed once again that when he smiled like this, the blond hair seemed to glow. That was some kind of magic that she had learned he had inside.

"Are you okay?" Kyoko laughed softly, "Warn me before you smile like that," she teased.

"How can I not smile like this?" he asked, "That's amazing," he said as she saw his happiness light up the room around them. "Kyoko, were you scared I'd be upset. I'm so happy right now," he told her. "I mean, you're happy too, right?" he asked

Kyoko nodded, "Yes….and yes, I was scared. I mean you're going through your own problems right now. You have to take care of yourself, what if this is…"

"I love you." Kyoko nodded as she heard Kuon say that and she listened to him, looking into his eyes to really make sure she had his emotion and reaction correct. "I'm going to have to fight even harder now. I really want to meet them, I'm really very happy right now."

"Really?" Kyoko asked as her grin increased and she wrapped her arms around her husband. "You're not teasing or toying with me, right?" she said as she buried her face into his broad shoulder.

Kuon wrapped his arms around his wife and kept her close. "Of course not. I get to have a child with the wonderful woman that I love. We get to raise a little boy or little girl into a wonderful human being. There is going to be a life out there who has half their genetics from me and half from you. How could that not be a wonderful thing?"

"You'll fight, right? You'll fight to be their father, they need a father," she worried. She hated to say that to him, maybe it would mean that he wouldn't be excited anymore because she was saying that there was a chance that he could die.

"I want to be a family so however I can make that happen, I will do exactly that, I promise you," the blond grinned before sitting on the bed next to his wife. "You are always full of happy surprises, you're incredible, you know."

"I hope…" Kyoko said nervously, "I hope they have your legs," she teased before he grinned back at her.

"Well, I hope they have your heart."

….

….

Kyoko stretched out in the bed only to find that she was there alone. In her head she knew that Kuon was probably alright, that he had just woken from the bed and gotten up a few minutes or maybe a little less than an hour ago, but her heart yearned for him. She felt weird without him beside her. With all of her fear building around the idea that she could possibly lose him, without him there it felt like she might have already done so.

She looked over at the alarm clock and her eyes widened, 2:16 PM, it was that late already. She'd definitely have to apologize to everyone for waking up so late and perhaps inconveniencing them.

How long had Kuon been up?

She quickly got changed into one of the cute dresses she had bought with her latest acting project paycheck and hurried out into the living room. She was surprised to see Kuon reading over a book whilst sitting on the sofa and for Kuu to be looking over his latest script. Kuon smiled as she came out of the room.

"Hey, we were wondering when you'd be up," he grinned, "Sleep well?"

Kyoko stared at him in shock before dropping down to a low bow, "I am really really sorry," she said quickly, "I didn't mean to sleep so late, I must have really inconvenienced you."

Kuon stood quickly as Kuu blinked. "It's fine," he grinned, "You're not used to the time difference, it's six in Tokyo right now so your body is running on Japanese time, you'll get used to it."

Kyoko frowned, "Well, shouldn't you be used to it?" she argued, "You need your rest too, Kuon."

Kuon shrugged and looked away, "I'm an American," he stated as if that was the reason for everything. He had learned how to train his body against jet lag since he had done so many international shoots and he had gone overseas many more times than Kyoko had. Therefore, his reason of being American was not correct and Kyoko knew it.

Before she could make a reply to Kuon, Kuu was grinning at her. "Don't worry," he said watching her, "You haven't inconvenienced anyone, in fact, Julie and I have been looking over recipes that can help when you're going through chemotherapy."

"Which, I am not just yet," Kuon tried to remind his dad.

"Well, we were also looking up the type of food which someone can eat with stomach cancer. It's meant that we really haven't eaten very much yet, but we did find a few recipes so Julie went to get the groceries. She'll be back soon and then she and I will make it together," Kuu said with a smile. "Doing that has really helped motivate her."

Kyoko nodded softly, "Okay, I'd love to help," she said before going to hug her husband and sit down next to him. "I am really sorry that I wasn't awake earlier, I'd have liked to have helped you, father." She felt Kuon kiss her once she had said that word. "We have some news for you but we'd really like to tell you when Julie gets back."

The tension turned harsh in the room and Kyoko looked at the horrified expression on Kuu's face. She didn't really know what to do as he looked at Kuon and started turning paler.

"There's something else?" he asked. "Son, you have to tell me if something bad is going on," he said as he stared at Kuon as if his son had revealed he was a ghost the whole time.

"Oh, it's good news," Kyoko said quickly. "Really good, sorry to worry you father. I promise it's good news," she said nervously. She hated seeing Kuu this worried. She hated doing any kind of harm to this family, her family.

Kuon nodded, "It's good news," he tried to assure his father. He handed Kyoko a stack of books, "Dad went out earlier to get us these," he tried to tell his wife. The three books were all about taking care of someone with stomach cancers or stomach problems in general with one of them being a cookbook with different recipes in.

Kyoko grinned before bowing again whilst she was sitting down, "Thank you so much," she said trying to blink away the tears that were filling her eyes. "Thank you," she repeated before sitting up. Nervously Kuon put his hand on his wife's stomach and looked at her protectively.

As they shared a look that the baby was alright, they heard Kuu gasp.

He pointed between the two of them with a grin growing on his face, "Kyoko are you…are you two…"

Kuon couldn't help the smile on his face, "I'd really like to wait until mom is here to tell you. It would be unfair to make it official without her here."

Kuu started to laugh as he sat there, "You can tell me, I'll fill her in when she gets home. Are you telling me that I'm going to be a granddad?" he asked as Kuon looked down and laughed, Kyoko blushed and kissed Kuon's cheek.

"We should really wait until mom's here to tell you," Kuon tried to hide the fact but both of the couple's body was already revealing the surprise despite wanting to hold back.

"Tell me what?" Julie asked as she stood by the doorway with two huge bags of groceries, she set them on the floor. "If there is something wrong I'm…" she looked at the huge smiles on the faces of all three of her loved ones before Kuon nodded.

"Yes, Kyoko is pregnant," he said as he pulled her in close.

Julie felt the happy tears trickle down her cheeks as she put the groceries down and ran over to the two of them. "This isn't a joke, right? You're being completely serious, aren't you?"

"I'm going to have a baby," Kyoko nodded. "I thought that I never wanted children, but the truth is I'm really happy because I'm having Kuon's child. I have someone who loves me and wants to raise a little boy or girl with me. I mean, I know that he's sick right now, but I think…I think we'll make it."

"And if the worst happens," Julie said as she put everyone back on edge, "There will always be a remainder of Kuon for us."

Kyoko nodded before looking at her husband, oh god, that gentleman smile had come back again?

….

….

Kyoko had had a really good day, in fact right now she didn't want there to be any other surprises happening that might ruin the day. When Kuon had asked her if they could take a walk however, she had felt something sink in her gut. She didn't really know how to approach the situation other than to say yes to the man that she loved.

She had put on some cute jeans and a t-shirt with a nice warm jacket and Kuon was wearing a red turtleneck with the jeans she loved most on him and a designer leather jacket. She felt something was wrong with her husband, he was being too distant for her liking.

"I think I'm going to call Lory," he told her as she nodded, "I need to take a break from acting, at least until the cancer is in remission."

"That's a good plan," she nodded, "very thoughtful. I'll make sure to do my best to make sure you have everything you need in place. I could always take some time off as well…"

"No," Kuon replied immediately as she turned to look at him surprised.

"But I…" Kyoko whispered, "It doesn't make much sense that you take time off and I don't, especially since I'll start showing in…"

"more months than I will," Kuon said as he stopped and they looked out at the beach. "I need you to go back to Japan at the end of our trip, but I don't think I'm…"

Kyoko glared at him sharply, she reached out to put a hand on his arm and shook her head. Was he actually saying that he'd leave her alone when she was pregnant? He was her support, didn't he realize that already? Was it that difficult for him to accept?

"I'm not going back there without you, you idiot" she said as she looked down.

Maybe she was going to be a terrible mother, maybe she was already a terrible wife. Why else would her husband who had been diagnosed with a terminal illness be telling her, his wife who was pregnant, that they needed to be separated.

"Kyoko," Kuon said as he looked into her eyes, "You know how much I love you. One of the best doctors for stomach cancer is in New York and my father already owns property over there," he attempted to explain.

"Then I'll go with you to New York. Aren't there things that I can act in New York, I mean it will probably be hard but I've got credits, I can do auditions. I speak perfect English," she tried to remind him. Whatever happened she didn't want to lose him.

"Your career is in Japan," Kuon said to her again, "I'll be back in Japan as soon as I can, but you've got jobs as an actress you have to fulfill. I'm not going to let you lose the status of your career because of me. I don't want you to have to start over again."

"You're saying that I should prioritize my career over you," Kyoko shook her head quickly, "I can't do that. I'm sorry, I can't use that as a reason for why I shouldn't be by your side as much as possible right now."

"I am asking you to continue for the sake of your career," he tried to say.

From the way he was looking at her, Kyoko knew that he was concerned about her and was doing this out of love. He wanted the best for her and her dreams, but she wanted the best for him. Surely separation wasn't going to do that.

"Who's asking that?" she argued, "because that sure sounds like Ren Tsuruga instead of my Kuon Hizuri."