At some point, they migrated from the kitchen to the neighboring living room. Julie maintained a firm grip on Kuon's hand all the while, as though afraid he might suddenly vanish before her eyes. Years ago, Kuon would have been embarrassed by his mother's behavior, but he didn't mind so much now. He suspected that he needed the reassurance just as much as she did.

The living room was much the same as Kuon remembered – a low ceiling, overtop a long white couch and large flat screen television. In the far corner of the room stood a tall bookshelf housing a wide assortment of movies. Kuon remembered his fascination with the shelf when he was younger. He'd dreamed that someday, a movie of his own might make the shelf.

There was a tug on his hand, and Kuon found himself being led towards the shelf by his mother. "We have some new additions," she murmured, looking back at him with a wink, "But my favorite hasn't left the DVD player since it was delivered."

Behind them, Kuu snorted slightly.

Julie ignored her husband, pulling out a neat stack of DVDs from the shelf. She turned to Kuon and smiled, "You see, we've been keeping up with your career."

Kuon smiled back, "Really?" He reached for the first movie in the stack and looked at the cover. His eyes widened in surprise. "Oh," he said in a flat voice. "So you saw it. How did you know?"

Kuu peeked between them. "Ah," he said, catching sight of the DVD. "Don't be silly. You may be able to fool all of Japan, but you can't fool the parents who raised you."

"I see." Kuon stared at the cover photo, feeling uneasy.

BJ stood alone in a dark forest, hood angled away from the camera. He radiated darkness and murderous intent. In his left hand he held a dagger, blood dripping off of the end to spell the letters: "Tragic Marker."

As per his request, the truth of Cain Heel's identity had remained a secret even after the initial hype for the film had died down. After everything that had happened between him, Kyoko, and Murasame, he felt it best that Cain simply fade into obscurity. Even his parents, who knew he was taking on a 'cold-blooded killer' role, hadn't been told the name of the project.

Gently, Julie pulled the DVD from his grasp and returned the stack to the shelf. "Kuon?" she asked carefully.

Before he could respond, Kuu clapped a hand to his shoulder. "You succeeded, didn't you? Believing in your own possibilities. You should be proud."

Kuon nodded slightly. "It helped me, I think. And I'm glad to have done it. But …" he paused, looking away from his parents. "It was hard. And I messed up. A lot."

Kuu and Julie exchanged glances behind him.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Julie asked.

"No," he said immediately. Then after a moment, "Or maybe. Not now, at least."

"Alright, but you know you can talk to us, right?" Kuu asked earnestly.

Kuon understood his father's concern. The last time he had been fighting his demons, he had pushed his parents aside, falling deeper into the darkness. "Yes, I know," Kuon reassured him. "And it's not like before. I've … found someone, whom I can turn to for support."

"Oh?"

"What?" Kuon asked, before catching sight of his father's expression. He scowled, feeling a slow burn rise up his cheeks. "No, dad, that's not what I meant!"

Julie laughed then, clear and beautiful. "Oh Kuu, don't tease him yet."

Kuon shot a suspicious look at his mother. "Yet?" he asked.

She grinned.

"Fine," Kuu conceded, heading back the way they'd come. "Later then. I want to make omurice now."

Julie's eyes lit up, "Oh! Then I can also make some – "

"Mom!" Kuon said quickly. "I actually have something I'd like to show you, while dad cooks."

"Just me?" she asked, surprised.

"Well, yes," he said. "Dad can see it too, but I think you will especially appreciate it."

"Then I would love to see whatever it is!" Beaming, she turned to face her husband, "Take your time, Kuu. Our son wants to show me something."

Kuu sighed dramatically and waved them off, disappearing into the kitchen.

Once he had gone, Julie rounded on Kuon. "What is it?" she asked eagerly.

"Ah …" In his haste to prevent a cooking disaster, Kuon realized he hadn't actually thought through what he planned to do, now that he had his mother's attention. There was one possibility though … "Actually," he said, turning toward the television, "It's a video on my phone. Can I connect it to the TV …?"

"Another video?" Julie looked excited. She reached up to pat his dark-colored hair. "With your hair?"

Kuon laughed, shying away from her hand, "No. This isn't a video of me. Did dad tell you about what happened when he visited Japan last year?"

"About the girl who played 'Kuon'?" Julie asked, looking amused.

"Um, yes," he said, struggling to hide his embarrassment. He pointed at his phone. "This is a video from one of her dramas."

"Oh! I haven't even seen what she looks like yet!" Julie exclaimed. She raced across the room to set up the television, before ordering Kuon to connect his phone. They sat down to watch as the "Box-R" theme song began.

The first ten minutes of the episode played out, following Maruyama Marumi's character, Chitose, on her first day at a new high school. It was a cliché theme, but Kuon knew the real gem of the show was yet to come. Sure enough, the end of the 'school day' soon arrived, and Chitose began wandering the empty halls of the school. She would soon stumble across her classmate, Kitazawa Natsu, who would mark Chitose as her newest target.

Kuon turned to his mother, "Kyoko should be coming soon. She plays the bully Natsu."

"Kyoko?" Julie smiled.

"Yeah," Kuon said distractedly. He pointed at the screen, "There, she's the one with the short hair."

Julie looked back at the screen.

Natsu and her friends sat in an empty classroom, polishing each other's nails and gossiping. It was immediately obvious to the viewer that Natsu was the leader of the group. The other girls seemed to defer to her, nodding as she spoke and laughing at her jokes.

"Excuse me?" a timid voice called from the doorway, "It's my first day and I got lost. Would you help me find the art room?"

Natsu handed her bottle of nail polish to Tsugumi and turned. She smiled beatifically at Chitose, "Of course. My name is Kitazawa Natsu. I'm in class 2-B. These are Kaori, Tsugumi, and Yumika." She pointed to each girl in turn.

Flustered, Chitose bowed, "Thank you, Kitazawa-san! My name is Chitose, and I am also in class 2-B."

"Wonderful," Natsu said. Though she was still smiling, there was an edge to her voice that made Chitose take a step beck nervously.

Slowly, Natsu rose to her feet. She propped a hand on her hip and shifted her weight to one leg. Tilting her chin to the side, she contemplated the girl before her.

Julie's eyes widened at Natsu's chosen pose – a very familiar pose. She turned to Kuon in amazement, "Is this what I think?" she asked.

"Keep watching," Kuon told her, still focused on the screen.

Natsu sauntered toward Chitose with long, confident strides. She paused beside her and smiled, "Well, come on then!" Then, hips swaying as she walked, she continued out the door, not bothering to check that Chitose was following.

Kuon paused the video. "There's not much after that. Natsu's group plays a much larger role in later episodes."
"Kuon!" Julie exclaimed, "That's not the point!"

"No, it's not," he agreed. Suddenly apprehensive, he turned to Julie, "What did you think, then?"

Julie softened. "It was unbelievable, Kuon," she said sincerely, "I just don't understand … how?"

Kuon turned back to the paused television. "She has always had immaculate posture … for a Japanese woman from the Muromachi* period," he said, "So she was having trouble figuring out how to adopt the posture of a typical high school girl like Natsu – someone other girls would look up to."

"Oh," Julie said, "I can see how a model's walk would help in that case, but how did she learn it like this? Like – "

"You?"

Julie nodded, "She must have watched me somewhere, in order to emulate my methods to such a degree!"

"Not … exactly," Kuon said slowly, knowing there was no way around this potentially embarrassing conversation. "You see, she came over one night, demanding that I – "

"What do you mean, 'one night?'" Julie interrupted suspiciously.

Kuon froze, cursing himself for his slip. Then with a bright smile, he turned to his mother, "Only that we met at a time that worked with both of our schedules."

Julie cuffed his shoulder, "Don't you act in front of me!"

"Mom, please. It's really not … whatever it is that you're thinking," he assured. "Anyway," he soldiered on, "She demanded that I teach her 'the walk,' so I set up some exercises and gave her a crash course on modeling."

"As a guy, I wonder how that worked ... " Julie mused, looking thoughtful.

Kuon groaned in embarrassment, "Please, stop. Yashiro – my manager – gave me enough trouble as it is. Luckily, Kyoko is talented and has a great imagination."

"Imagination."

"Yes!" he insisted, "I showed her the basics, and told her that she would be learning the methods of the one said to be the most beautiful woman in the world. She was able to improvise quite a bit on her own after that."

"The most beautiful … " Julie repeated, looking pleased with herself. "That's what your father always told you."

Kuon gave her an affronted look. "I may not be a female model, but even I can tell that much! They still talk about you in Japan, you know. And it's not because of dad. Your unique style of modeling has always – "

He was stopped by a loud, "Ahem."

Kuon turned to see his father standing behind them with a smug expression upon his face. "What?" he asked.

"Nothing at all," Kuu said haughtily, "The food's done, but I must say – who's really the oya-baka in the family?"


*Muromachi: A period in Japan when seiza-style sitting was adopted. I am not certain if the use of it here is accurate, though.

A/N: Fluff. Lots and lots of fluff. I don't really have a proper plot for this story; this is basically a sequence of events I want to see happen! ;)

Also, what do you think of this version of Julie? There isn't much to go off of in the manga, so I just went with what felt right.

Thanks for reading and please review! Next chapter will include some Kyoko!