Chapter Ten – I'll Wait For Him

Bella was approaching the house from the driveway when she saw Sakura crying. She knew about how much her brother cared for this older girl. She was his younger sister after all, it was her duty to find some incriminating information about him but she knew enough that Rikuu would never choose to hurt Sakura this badly. "Hi," she smiled as she approached her and Sakura sniffed.

"Oh, oh, hi" she bowed and Bella went into an even deeper bow.

"Are you okay?" Bella asked as she tilted her head to the side. This girl had inherited her mother's gift of showing kindness and comfort to people that she didn't even know that well. She just had an openness and innocence about her. "Did Rikuu make you…"

"I thought that I would come and see how he is," Sakura sniffed, "he hasn't been to school for a while."

"I think that he's getting homeschooled," Bella said nervously as she took a step back. She had been told by RIkuu as well as her parents that his illness was a secret that it was very important that he keep but if Sakura started to hate him then it would be worse for Rikuu. Bella didn't know very much about it but she had listened to her parents conversations to know that Rikuu was seeing a reality that was different from hers and it was similar to when Alice was in Wonderland. That's why they now had a dog, or he had a dog, so that the dog could see what was real and what was fake or something like that. They wouldn't tell her too much directly so she had had to piece it together for herself.

"Why would that be happening?" Sakura asked and Bella felt her stomach fold.

"Please don't tell Rikuu," Bella said before closing her eyes. "He says you're really important to him so he probably doesn't want you to know but if you don't know then you'll misunderstand and you'll think that you can't deal with the fact that he's ill."

Sakura watched her carefully, her face turning more pale. "Like, ill, like cancer?" she asked and Bella shook her head. Tears pricked her eyes but she stood firm where she was.

"He has an illness in his head. People go to hospitals for illnesses in their heads. People get bullied at school for…" Bella said and Sakura hugged her. Bella started to cry and Sakura pulled her in closer.

"Isabella-chan," Sakura said as she kissed the younger girl's forehead. "Thank you for telling me. I think it's very important that you told me and I still care about Rikuu a lot. Thank you for explaining it to me."

"You don't hate Rikuu, right?" Bella sobbed and Sakura shook her head.

"No. It's not his fault and I'm sure that he's still the same RIkuu and he's still got the same heart but tell him to contact me. I will be there for him when he decides to contact me but otherwise I'll be cheering him on. I won't push him." Sakura promised. She hugged Isabella again before leaving and Bella tried to ease her tears so that she wouldn't be interrogated when she came into the house.

When Isabella entered she found her mother sitting down on the staircase with her head in her hands. Isabella nervously turned to her. She felt a little guilty about talking about Rikuu's problems with Sakura but she hadn't had a bad response to this. Wasn't that a good thing?

"Mom," Bella asked and Kyoko raised her head to turn her attention to her daughter.

"What is it darling?" Kyoko asked with a sigh and Bella came to sit next to her. She opened her arms for a hug and Kyoko wrapped her arms around her keeping her incredibly close. Bella sighed.

"Mom, Rikuu's illness…is it really bad?" she asked and Kyoko paused. She looked down. It wasn't good but he was still Rikuu. Having a serious psychological disorder didn't change who Rikuu was or what his character was. Kyoko didn't want to have Bella see him as some kind of alien entity but she didn't want to lie. It was probably something that he would have to deal with his whole life.

"He's not dying. Rikuu's illness isn't like a terminal illness," she attempted to explain and Bella watched her.

"No, I know," Bella replied, "It's in his head. That's what you and Dad said, that it was something he made up in his head but he doesn't know how to change the world that he's seeing around him. I just wanted to know why he made Sakura cry," she said and Kyoko sighed. She had wished that her son hadn't done that. She could understand this desire to not be in a relationship at this moment but to push away friends because you were scared. Somehow those people might find out anyway and they might not be as supportive.

"I told her," Bella whispered and Kyoko's eyes widened. "I didn't tell her what it was but she said that she supports him but doesn't want to push him and that she still wants to be friends with him."

Kyoko sighed but smiled. "Then let's hope for the best," she told her feeling hopeful as well. There were still things in life that her son had a chance to do.

…..

…..

Kijima looked across at Kuon who had even pulled out a notebook to take notes on the forum. There was something that meant more than just trying to act out a role and Kijima felt a little shock as he saw Kuon list down possible medications and their side effects. As there was a pause in the discussion, Kijima looked across at Kuon.

"You know someone with this illness?" he asked and Kuon's eyes widened.

"No, no," he said quickly and Kijima watched him curiously. Usually Kuon was calm and laidback. He was able to respond most times with a very smooth reply that matched his personality and was able to hide any painful emotion. "I mean, no…I don't…I just, I was interested."

Kijima nodded slowly. He stretched and then looked around at people stealing glances at the two of them. "Well, you've been taking a lot of interest in this," he said and Kuon stared at him nervously.

"It's a very interesting subject," he said and Kijima nodded. "I mean, how many times have you heard about this illness?" he tried to laugh which made Kijima even more suspicious.

"Do you have it?" Kijima asked and Kuon looked at him and then stared down at the notebook. It was better to take this bullet himself despite what that meant for his career than let Rikuu suffer with it. Kijima paused as he heard Kuon's silence and put a supportive hand on his shoulder. "Man, if you have it, that sucks but you know that it's going to be okay, right?"

"Yes," Kuon nodded. "I do know that. It's nothing. I don't have it but I'm just thinking what if I did? Would I be able to expect to go home and expect Kyoko to care about me?" he sighed. As long as he steered this conversation towards himself, there was less chance that Kijima would guess about Rikuu. His son's future meant so much more than his own.

"Kyoko isn't that fickle. If she's promised her heart to you then she's promised her heart to you," Kijima commented, "and your kids adore you. I'd feel very fortunate to have your life."

"Your life isn't bad either," Kuon commented and Kijima nodded.

The two of them could hear that the intermission would be a bit longer and Kijima stood, gesturing to Kuon. "Come on," he said in a friendly manner, "let's get something to drink. It's pretty warm in here." Kuon sighed before nodding and following his friend out of the room. As they stood there they heard the sound of phone cameras and Kuon rolled his eyes.

"So, where are the drinks?" he asked. Kijima looked around but as they stood there, a young woman approached them with a microphone and notebook. Kuon's eyes widened. Was this girl from a university or something? Had she been sent out to cover the discussion.

"You're Hizuri-sama, right?" she asked excitedly and Kuon nodded.

"Sorry, I offer my apologies but my friend and I are quite busy," he said and then saw Kijima walk off on his own. Kuon sighed and turned back to the reporter. "Is there something that I can help you with?" he asked, attempting to smile through the interruption.

"I thought I heard you and your friend discussing that you might have this illness?" she asked and Kuon shook his head.

"You heard incorrectly," he told her and the girl tilted her head to the side. "I have not been diagnosed with this illness."

"Okay, do you know someone who has been?" she asked and Kuon raised an eyebrow.

"I don't have to answer that question," he said as he thought about Rikuu and whether lying right now would help his son later or just protect him for the time being. The girl nodded slowly. "I don't wish to comment on that at this time."

"Yeah, I think that if anyone had this disorder, they'd be pretty messed up," she said and then saw anger in Kuon's eyes. She smiled as Kuon felt a picture being taken of him. "Don't you agree?"

"If I knew anyone who suffered from this disorder, I would certainly not call them messed up. Maybe they are unfortunate but it doesn't mean that they won't have a happy life or the kind of life that they deserve," Kuon argued and the girl wrote this down in her notebook. "I will support those who have this illness and I came here to learn more about it."

"There's someone that you're protecting, isn't there?" the girl continued and Kijima came back with two beers at that moment. He looked between Kuon and the reporter.

"Hey," he said with a laugh as he came to them, "I didn't think that there would be press at this time. I mean, isn't this supposed to be a compassionate event?" he asked. "Kuon is my guest, I'm here in order to learn more about my character for my next role and Kuon agreed to accompany me so I didn't get too bored."

"So, it's you that he's protecting," the girl asked and Kijima shook his head.

"I'm an actor, researching my role is most important," he said and Kuon looked to him, glad that he was able to distract the reporter long enough for her to be distracted. Kijima gave Kuon a look to tell him to wait in another area of the hallway.

As both of them managed to detach themselves from the young woman, Kijima turned to Kuon with a recognized seriousness in his eyes.

"You should tell me if you're protecting someone with this. You know that I wouldn't betray your trust." Kijima urged and Kuon bowed his head, taking slow breaths. "You took so many detailed notes. Is it Kyoko?" he asked and Kuon looked at him.

"If this ends up in any paper or media footage then I will no longer be your friend or want anything to do with you," he warned and Kijima sighed.

"You should know that I'm not going to tell anyone but you're not acting like yourself. So, it is Kyoko. Well, I can't say that I'm not surprised. She's always seemed to -"

"Rikuu," Kuon said and Kijima fell silent. "I will protect my son with not only my career but my life. He's only a kid and if you ruin his -"

"I would never," Kijima said before humming, "anything that I can do to help the kid?" he asked and Kuon looked to him, he was about to shake his head but he bowed it and took slow breaths.

"I'll let you know," he replied and Kijima looked at him guiltily. Of course Kuon would protect his son with his life. Kijima would never doubt that about the natural blond.

End of Chapter Ten

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H-Nala, Kaname671