Author Note: Thank you once again for supporting me. I do have to warn you that this chapter actually changes the flow of the storyline a bit. I really hope that you still enjoy it, it's also going to relate a bit to the title and so will some of the following chapters.
Chapter Nine – Fifty Seven
After Shou had left, the Hizuri family members turned to Yashiro Yukihito who was just standing there looking at Kuon. "Well," Yashiro said – daring to speak first – "I am very relieved that Kuon didn't leave you," he told Kyoko. "I'm also understanding why I haven't been contacted," he told Kuon. "Though I am disappointed, I considered us close friends."
"Would you have considered us good friends if you had known I was this way? It's not like you could have been my manager," Kuon said as he nervously looked at the ground. "When…"
"he got sick and his body started to change," Kuu said as Kuon looked at him, "my son didn't know what to do. He's been dealing with it ever since, working under the name of Katsuki Takamoto." Kuu put a reassuring hand on Kuon's shoulder.
Kyoko smiled, "and he's been kind to me, very kind," she smiled to Kuon as she went over and held his hand. "Why did you come over, Yashiro?" she asked. "You didn't know this was Kuon, right?" she said as he laughed.
"No, all I saw was you talking to Fuwa and I wanted to step in in Kuon's place. I'm glad that I'm the one who heard what you were saying and connected the dots, but please be careful if you want to guard that secret. The one thing that's keeping this from being a scandal is that you aren't that recognizable," Yashiro said as he turned towards his friend and client. "I'd still like to spend some time with you…Katsuki..as I did consider us friends."
"Definitely," Kuon smiled, "and I do…consider us friends, you know"
Yashiro smiled, "Very good, because so do I."
….
….
Two weeks later, Kyoko was very pleased that her husband had a full support system behind him. He had given so much up but now he had a good friend, a loving wife, and parents who supported him and wanted to help him through all of these hard steps. She had slept over at Katsuki's again and as the sun shone through the window she stretched and yawned.
She pushed herself up, expecting to see the seventy year old Kuon but her eyes snapped open fearfully. She had become so used to his elderly gentleman body that she was shocked when seeing, instead of a seventy year old, a Kuon that appeared to be in his late fifties.
He looked so recognizable as Kuon Hizuri. An older Kuon Hizuri, but Kuon all the same.
She didn't know whether to wake him or not, but she could see his hair was thicker and a lot of the wrinkles had vanished. Fortunately he looked healthier, but this was different. This was a slightly younger Kuon. Kyoko reached over to get the light so she could study him more carefully when her hand pushed his wallet off the side table and an ID fell out.
She picked it up and was shocked to see a picture of a fifty seven year old Kuon and instead of reading Katsuki Takamoto, it read Kuon Hizuri. She quickly took out her phone and was able to pull up a picture of the twenty-five year old Kuon. They looked so similar, she was scared that they wouldn't be able to pretend who he was anymore. He was exposed.
"My sweet Corn," she said to him as she heard him stir in the bed. This was the name that she used for him to comfort him when he needed it the most. He always smiled at the playfulness of it and it made Kyoko so happy when he was happy.
"Hey," he said as he looked at her, it was odd, feeling that he could move more easily than before. He turned to her and saw the shock in her eyes. "What is it?" he asked, "What's wrong?" he said, his body somehow feeling better than it had in the past nearly two months.
"You're younger," Kyoko whispered, "I mean you're not…young, but you're younger," she said as she ran her fingers through his mixed color hair. His hair was surprisingly his rich blonde but there were many gray strands throughout. "You look like you…"
Kuon stared at her and Kyoko was taken aback when instead of jumping up to see his reflection, he reached a hand out to check her pulse. Why was his first instinct to protect her? He stared at her with such intensity and panic in his eyes. "You're feeling alright, aren't you? Our daughter is okay, right? No bleeding, no possible miscarriage?" he asked her. He moved his hand from her pulse to her forehead and took deep breaths to steady himself.
"I'm alright, Kuon," Kyoko said as she watched him. "Are you okay?"
"Y-Yeah," he nodded with a deep breath, "but you promise me that you're okay. You promise me that there's no transfer of life force, you're not going to pass out and you don't feel faint do you."
"There's nothing to worry about," a voice said as both of them looked to the doorway and saw Aurora standing there. Kuon held Kyoko close as if protecting her from the fairy princess. "Kuon is getting better much faster than I expected and it's because of all the energy directed towards him by those that love him. Kyoko is fueling the majority of that love, that's how your body is starting to change back but you still need some time."
Kuon looked at his wife as she grinned, "That's the fairy princess," he said as Kyoko smiled.
"I know, we've met," she said as she kissed Kuon's cheek. "I'm so happy though, you're going to get better. Do your joints hurt as much?" she asked with the same amount of concern as her husband had shown towards her.
"They don't hurt very much at all," he said as he held her close. "I guess I should contact my mother, tell her another shopping trip may be in order," he said before seeing Aurora vanish. He stood feeling more able to be on his feet, and turned towards the mirror.
The good news was that he didn't look like a very old senior citizen anymore, he looked healthy and with a slight bit of youth to him. He was relatively the same age as his father but probably ten years older than him. The bad news was that he looked like himself, just a more mature version of himself. He couldn't hide anymore unless he used makeup.
He turned to Kyoko attempting to hide the nervousness in his voice. "I…" he said slowly, "Kyoko," he said with his hands shaking. "I can't protect you by pretending to be your teacher, I'm sorry," he apologized before she came to stand beside him and made sure to tilt his chin up so he could see the reflection of the two of them.
"Do you see who that man is?" she asked as she held his hand, "That is my husband. That is the man who now has an explanation for not being beside me during my pregnancy, that is the man who can explain to Japan his innate goodness and his kindness. That is my husband, that is my husband who can now come home, that is my husband who I love very very much." She turned his chin towards her and put her hands on his shoulders.
She laughed as he lifted her up and kissed her passionately.
"As long as you want me to," he said as he placed a hand on her cheek and another on her belly once her feet were on the floor.
….
….
Kyoko happily stepped out of the house with her husband's hand in her own. She didn't know what would happen to this house, but she hoped that Aurora would allow them to keep it and she hoped that Kuon would choose to keep some of the items inside. It would be a shame to lose it. Still, Kuon coming home and being Kuon made her heart soar.
Maybe the world would attack them, the world would definitely have questions, but she would be with her husband the whole time. Her wonderful husband.
She held her husband's hand lovingly before seeing the elderly women stare at them in shock.
"Oh my word," Kyoko heard Mrs. Yukimura gasp, "That's Ren Tsuruga," she said although that made Kyoko roll her eyes, he hadn't been Ren for a while, "Don't tell me that Katsuki Takamoto was Ren Tsuruga. That is so embarrassing, I attacked him any everything. My granddaughter will hate me."
Another woman turned to her for a response, "You didn't know. I didn't know. How on earth did he get better, I thought that Katsuki was…he does look like Katsuki like this," she said. She watched as Kuon turned back at them nervously, Kyoko squeezed his hand more for support.
"I'm happy that you found my acting so believable," he said to the two of them with a gentleman's smile. "Fact is that I've been sick for a really long time. Now I'm getting better, I'm happy that I was so convincing," he told them causing Kyoko to roll her eyes.
She felt a little awkward though. She had spent so long trying to figure out how to take care of her seventy year old husband that she hadn't spent any time trying to figure out the best way of taking care of a man in his late fifties.
"I do apologize," Mrs. Yukimura said still in a deep level of shock, "If I had known your age I would have never acted so irrationally."
"If I had known his social status, I would never have placed my hands on him as much," her friend said to her as Kyoko continued to see the gentleman smile.
"It's really alright," Kuon said, "I'm flattered that you found me so attractive. Don't worry, I will remember this and keep the confidence you've let me feel as I really do grow older. It's nice to know that you think of me so well," he said as Kyoko rolled her eyes playfully.
She knew he was just trying to move on from the seventy-year old state that he had been in, but of course he was using Ren Tsuruga, always the gentleman to get on with his life. She was happy that he was recognizable now, that meant he would be there with their baby. She wouldn't have to exclude him from things like doctors appointments anymore and he would be there at home for her.
"So, Kuon," she said going to see Kuu and Julie who they'd notified about a surprise, "You know you can get back into acting now. There are lots of good roles for your age."
Kuon smiled thoughtfully, "I'll consider it, but I do like being a teacher," he told her as he smiled down at her with his natural grin.
"Well as long as I get to be your star student," Kyoko laughed as she held tighter to his arm.
Right at that moment she didn't understand how dangerous being a teacher in his fifties would be for her husband. He was now at the age where girls her age and under would be attracted to him and want to be close to him, desperate housewives and women who had never found a husband would try to get closer to him, and the older women would think he was close enough to their age to prey on him.
Still, she trusted her husband and very soon it would be September, she had no doubt that she would be able to be with her husband then on December 25th, he always made her birthday incredibly special and he had since she had known him. Was it selfish to think that?
