AN: Hope you're enjoying this. I'm almost at the point where I can start adding some more fics to my writing list. I think I might try to update The Little Prince twice a week as well as writing More Like a Phoenix (and less like a wren). – actually that's the full title -. Well I hope you enjoy, reviews are always treasured.

Chapter Nine – What Family Means

Saena sighed as she walked over to the office where Todoh was usually. She hated to admit that she had any form of weakness and after what she had been through with that loser who had impregnated her with the reminder of her greatest mistake in judgment, she was starting to fall in love again. She walked over to the papers on his desk and saw that there were pictures of that jerk but twenty years older. He had really tracked him down? Why wouldn't he share this with her?

Well, she had to admit that she knew why he wasn't sharing this information with her.

He cared about her and wanted to protect her and this was after she had decided that men weren't worth the hassle. She shuffled through the papers and then found a folder filled with pictures and dates of her daughter and that man who had been idiotic enough to propose to her.

Those pictures of her daughter at sixteen were ones that she could relate with but this pathetic creature who was holding onto a man's arm, who held his hand, who he had kissed passionately without knowing paparazzi were there. She didn't understand those pictures. Maybe her daughter was being used by this man. Maybe that's how it all made sense to her.

"She should have thought more about her career, stupid fool" she said but as she looked over at Todoh's name plate she had a feeling of envy. She shook her head. Why should she feel jealous of love like this, they were actors, part of it had to be from that. The way that she and Todoh were together and were respectful enough to not make a show of it. That was real love.

"Is that so, maybe you've been saying the same thing about me," she heard a man say to her as he smiled coldly. Saena froze as she turned to him. Those cold eyes were something that she hadn't ever expected on that face. She whipped out her phone and immediately dialed the emergency number.

This man was never going to take her down so easily.

"I've paid our daughter a little visit," he told her casually as Saena noticed two men also entering the office so that it would be hard for her to escape. "You know, little girls they love animals. I thought I'd do something right as her father and give her her own pet."

"Wow, how caring you are," Saena told him, "I'm surprised with your lack of experience, your sperm ever had a chance," she said as she lifted her chin. "Of course, she is an animal herself."

"I see how highly you think of me," he said as he approached her. "Maybe if you had told me that I had a -"

"Well wise guy," Saena said coldly as she refused to let the now five men in the room intimidate her, "How was I ever supposed to do that without knowing your real name?"

"Boys," the man smiled and started to walk out of the room, leaving his "sons" to finish that morning's job.

…..

…..

Kyoko looked at the blanket that the small blond tabby cat Kuon was sleeping on. He didn't look the most comfortable and it broke Kyoko's heart as she saw him there. He was trying to keep his distance from her and he was trying to act as if everything was okay. He had even been able to wrap his very expressive tail around his back leg.

She knew that he wanted to be with her, she could see the love and desire in his eyes. However, he still was Kuon and he was always respectful of her. Even when he had teased her as Ren Tsuruga, he had always calculated the risk and everyone respected her because he respected her.

He was a little kitten but that was temporary. Inside he was still her Kuon.

She sighed and grabbed her own blanket before sitting down next to him on the floor. It was early evening and she knew that he was probably hungry. She didn't know what to feed him and she had been looking that information up. Everything said that feeding him cat food was best – the kind designed for young kittens – but that seemed more than disrespectful.

She closed her eyes before reaching out for him. She gently ran her fingers through his fur and felt the warmth of his body. She smiled softly as she saw him blink and then yawn whilst stretching. He was acting just like a cat. Could the Kuon part possibly have left him?

"Hi," Kyoko smiled as he blinked at her, "I didn't mean to wake you up. You should come and be in the bed with me."

Kuon stared at her puzzled before shaking his head.

"I didn't mean that you had to be in the bed with me but I want you beside me," she said as she watched him turn so that he was facing her. She reached out to pet him again. "Come here," she said as she picked him up and set him on her lap. "I'm sure that this is very intimidating," she said weakly as she looked around the room.

Kuon curled up in her lap and gave a heavy sigh.

"Can you…understand me?" she asked and the little cat nodded his head. "So, all of these words that I'm saying, you understand me?" she said and Kuon sat up and turned to look at her before nodding. "So, if I told you to stand over there," she pointed and Kuon seemed to roll his eyes before going and standing exactly where she pointed.

"And if I told you to try to stand on one leg?" she asked. She watched as Kuon looked around and then shuffled so that he was next to the wall. Using it for balance, he managed to push his two front paws onto the wall and then lifted one paw off of the ground. He held that position for a few moments before he tumbled and gave a heavy sigh again.

"Okay, that's enough of that," Kyoko said as she picked him up again and brought him over to the bed. She smoothed down the fur which was a little dusty due to his tumble. "You know, you really are a gorgeous kitten," she said as he looked at her with a slightly irritated expression.

"I think that father just needs some time to figure this out for himself, I mean, his son's a cat," Kyoko tried to tell the man she loved as she ran her fingers across his back. She froze as she heard the sound of the door getting unlocked and saw Kuon run out without her. "Kuon!" she called out not wanting for this to be an intruder who could hurt her helpless feline fiancé.

Kyoko caught Kuon in her arms and pressed him to her chest, silently apologizing for taking advantage of his smaller size which allowed her to do this. She heard him mewing as he looked up at her and she closed her eyes. When the tears started slipping down her cheeks, Kuon gave up on the mewing and instead cuddled closer to her.

Fortunately, it was Kuu who entered the house with a number of bags and boxes. Kyoko tilted her head t to the side and noticed that they were all from a well-known pet shop. Is that why he had left? Had he wanted to make sure that he could provide for his son?

She could see things like food, the nicest litter box one could imagine, a cat tower, a couple of scratching posts. She froze. Had Kuu gone out to take care of this for them so that she and Julie could stay with Kuon?

"I think I've got everything that the shop associate said," he told them as he also put down a couple of books on how to take care of kittens. He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair before looking up at Kyoko and his son. "I thought that he needed at least some of these things."

Kyoko smiled as she tried to blink back her tears. She set Kuon down on the ground and the little kitten ran up to his father and sat in front of him. He meowed up and Kuu very gently picked him up. He held the cat with such love and affection and anyone could see how much he still loved his son.

"Hey," he said as he saw the kitten looking at him nervously, "Listen to me, okay?" he said before looking back at Kyoko who nodded.

"He's in there, Kuu. He can understand every single word you tell him."

"Then I want you to listen to me," he told the cat as he held him so that they could look into each other's eyes. "You are my son and I love you," he saw the cat freeze and smiled again. "You are Kuon Hizuri. You are my son and I love you. Understand?" he asked and the kitten nodded nervously.

Kuu brought Kuon to his shoulder and stroked him very gently.

"Now, I don't want you to be angry at me for buying these items. I won't get mad if you don't use them but I wanted you to have things that made you feel like there are people who care about you. You're a man inside of a kitten's body, we all know this," he said as he went back to the sofa and sat down with Kuon on his lap, the kitten still watching his father. "I'm treating this the same as you getting a cold and acting delirious because I know we'll find the cure to get you back but for however long you're this way, we don't love you any less. You are still our Kuon just as you are still Kyoko's Kuon."

Kyoko smiled as she started to unpack the bags and saw Kuu's guilty expression. He hadn't meant for them to do the hard work. "Wow, Father," she grinned, "You got a lot of great items. It makes me think that when Kuon's his normal self, the two of us should adopt a cat."

Kuon tilted his head to the side as he watched them but he felt more comfortable on his father's lap. He curled up and gently let his tail tap his dad's leg. Kuu continued to stroke him gently and lovingly. He just wished that there were better circumstances for his loved ones.

Once everything had been taken out, Kyoko picked up a bird toy that looked like a wren and brought it over to them. She smiled as she saw Kuon reach out with his paw and bring the bird into his body. She stroked the kitten again before going over to the TV.

"There's something that I really want to watch," she told them and grinned to Kuon, "It's a certain episode of Dark Moon, is that okay?"

Kuon nodded before looking up at his father as if asking him.

"Yes, I always prefer the Katsuki in Dark Moon," he grinned as he rubbed Kuon behind the ear. "He was much more talented than Tsukigo Mori."

Kuon rolled his eyes but cuddled closer to his father, he wondered which episode of the drama Kyoko was intending to play for them. He smiled and gave some uncontrolled purrs as he noticed that this was the episode where he had improvised and they had left the Cat Steps in.

…..

…..

Half way through the episode, Kuu heard his phone ring and as he looked at it, his eyes widened with concern. He didn't know whether to tell Kyoko about the name that had appeared on his unlisted number: Mogami Saena. This woman had never called him before and she had no idea how she had found his number. It was a good thing for caller ID.

"Kyoko, can I move him over to you?" Kuu asked since the kitten Kuon had fallen asleep on his lap. Kyoko looked at him confused before nodding. She saw Kuon's little eyes open for a moment before he yawned and went back to sleep. She lovingly pressed him to her chest and let him sleep with his head and front paws on her shoulder.

"Love you," she whispered to him as she saw the human Ren Tsuruga on the screen. She didn't want to admit the pain in her heart as she watched him interact with Itsumi Momose. She wondered if he would ever interact with her like that again. Well at least he wasn't dead.

Out in the hallway, Kuu pressed the accept call button and tried to calm himself. "Hello, this is Hizuri Kuu. How did you get this number?"

"Mogami Saena and if you really have to ask that, I can tell why you're an actor instead of something that requires more intelligence," she said as Kuu's mouth dropped open but he had to remember this was the mother that always gave his daughter such a pained expression.

"Kyoko's mother, is this concerning her?" Kuu said as he went over to the stairs. This seemed a conversation that he would want to sit down for. "How can I help regar-"

"I'm not calling about that girl," Saena said, "I'm calling about your older and much smaller child," she said as if she knew and Kuu felt his veins run cold. He closed his eyes and looked over at the cat items he had bought. Did she know what had happened?

"I'm sorry, I don't understand what you mean. My son is quite tall," he tried to argue with her and Saena gave a heavy sigh.

"Maybe in his human form, or maybe his litter box makes him look bigger. I'd hate for his height to be exaggerated because his father is wearing rose colored glasses," Saena said and Kuu's back straightened and stiffened. How could she know?

"Why have you contacted me?" he asked firmly. "Again, I repeat that this is an unlisted number which means that you must have gone through some trouble to find it. I'd like to know why."

"If you had to choose one of your children to protect then which one would it be? If it's that girl then I would advise you to take that kitten to the nearest non-kill shelter," Saena said coldly and Kuu felt his anger boil at that but he had to try to speak calmly.

"How dare you talk about him like that! How do you know that he isn't -" he asked feeling terrible for saying that but even if he was a kitten, Kuon was his biological son. Kuon would always be placed first between the two of them. He had raised Kuon up until his teenage years. Kuon was his son, their son.

"If you want to save him you'll keep him close to you," Saena told him. "Imagine how reckless that girl was to get him into a situation like this. Imagine if she did something reckless again which led to the death of an animal." As she said this Kuu felt chills over his body. He hated being put in this position and he had been trying his hardest to not blame Kyoko but his son was so important to him.

"What do you want?" Kuu asked in a firm, no-nonsense tone.

"I want you to keep a close watch on that girl. Do you think that she wouldn't go against you? Do you think that she wouldn't let the Hizuri name die. I'm sure that you're not a fan of combing a kitten or cleaning a litterbox. I bet you're thinking that you'd do anything for your child but would she?"

Kuu looked at the carpeted floor before him. He didn't want to admit that this woman was getting into his head. He didn't want to admit that she was psychologically trying to take advantage of him. He froze before ending the call without even saying goodbye to her and walked over to the living room. He looked at Kyoko and saw Kuon so peacefully on her shoulder.

"Can I –" Kuu said as he reached a hand out to Kyoko. "May I hold him again? I'd like to talk to him alone," he said as Kyoko looked up at him.

"Yes, of course. I think he's very tired after what he's -" Kyoko said but Kuu's body was shaking.

"He's my child, Kyoko. I can take care of him," he said as Julie looked at him. He wasn't acting his normal, happy Kuu self. She saw Kyoko gently give Kuon to Kuu who was waking up and looking around confused. Kuu held him gently and yet very protectively.

"I've got you," he said as Kuon blinked up at him and mewed. "Come on, I need to talk to you," he said as the cat looked at him nervously. "What did I tell you before?" Kuu asked as the kitten stared up at him nervously. "You are my son and I love you." As he left the room, he felt himself fight back his own tears and went to the study to sit down with his little boy.

Was Kyoko really the cause of this?

End of Chapter Nine

Thank you for reading

Thank you Reviewers of Chapter Eight

Crazy4Animation, Kris, ktoll9, paulagato