Just a warning I am Dyslexic so my stories will not be perfect but I now have one Beta reader to help me along the way :D
Thank you so much to Roshelle Diall for offering to work with me :D
Hello my sweeties,
Sorry for the long wait guys,
seems I was stupidly pushing myself again making
myself sick, or so Faith said.
So I'm yet again stuck in bed, but good news
Faith said I can write a bit :)
Neh xxx
I do not own Skip Beat.
Enjoy.
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"KUON! KUON!" Yashiro was out of breath and panting, the phone call that morning had chilled him to the bone.
His best friends words, the tone he had used and the utter and complete hopelessness in his voice. What had happened to Kyoko? Was it the babies? Yashiro hadn't thought twice racing from his apartment and grabbing a cab he had flown across the city to Kuon and Kyoko's new house on the outskirts of the city, praying everything was OK.
'Yuki, you've gotta help me. This is terrible, I just can't do this alone.'
'Kuon! What's wrong? What's terrible?'
'Kyoko's gone, I can't do this alone Yuki!' beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep...'
So he was here. He had even paid the cab driver extra to punch it. What had happened? Had Kyoko left him? His frantic knocking was soon answered by a very distraught Kuon, his hair was dishevelled and his shirt untucked, his blue eyes alight with confusion and in the very depths fear.
"YUKI!" Kuon exclaimed grabbing his best friend and dragging him through the door. Yashiro was ready to bet the worst thing in the world had happened to Kuon, the way his friend looked as Kuon dragged him swiftly through the new house to the sitting room with Yashiro trying to ask questions the entire time.
"What's wrong Kuon? What happened? I can't help you unless you tell me..." Yashiro stopped as he looked around what had been the neat sitting room. They had moved in 2 weeks ago, Kyoko was now 28 weeks pregnant and Kuon had paid a specialist company to move and unpack and settle them so Kyoko would not have to worry. Now the room looked like a bomb had hit it. His heart flipped. Had they been robbed? But no wait. What was that noise?
Kuon had stepped further into the room than Yashiro, no longer dragging him. Kuon was now listlessly pointing to the space before the sofas that Yashiro couldn't see. Yashiro's heart was racing, his head filled with horrible thoughts of finding Kyoko dead on the carpet or some other gruesome thing. Kuon would never hurt her surely? No of course he wouldn't, but there were plenty of complications with pregnancy. What if she...Yashiro had taken a few steps forward and all he could do was gasp at the sight before him.
"I don't think this is right, I feel bad leaving him like that Moko." Kyoko said as Kanae concentrated on the road before them. They were driving out of the city towards Kanae's destination of choice as Kyoko sat, almost sobbing in the passenger seat.
"You needed to get away Kyoko, even Natalie agreed. I'm sure Kuon will figure it out for himself. Now please stop worrying, you need to think about you and the babies. Nothing else, OK?" Kyoko nodded slowly and Kanae smiled.
"You know I wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't for the best?" Kyoko nodded again and sighed.
"Thank you Moko, I really did need to get away." and they drove on in silence, Kyoko wiping her eyes on a tissue Kanae handed her as the vibrations in the car lulled her into a sweet sleep.
Yashiro stared at the twin Moses baskets before him.
"Oh Kuon..." the sound of crying filled the air and Yashiro raced past the sofa to what appeared to be two screaming dolls.
"What's going on?" Yashiro asked completely and utterly confused by the situation as Kuon, walking around the sofa, collapsed onto it. Putting his head in his hands as he again tried to rock the baskets getting the dolls to stop crying.
"It's our baby group project!" Kuon explained in a tone of utter defeat, rubbing his hands up and down his tired face as he rocked the baskets with his feet.
"They are the highest form of Baby Like Intelligence Notation Collection Systems: BLINCS for short. They are meant to show what it is like to have a real baby in the house and we are supposed to care for them for 1 week. They're set at around 2 weeks old and they register and store all information about how they are cared for. They can feel and sense everything they are so highly advanced, but I just can't do it alone Yuki! Kyoko's gone off for a spa day with Kanae as she has been feeling really depressed and now I'm all alone and can't do it!" Yashiro just stared at Kuon.
For a moment the man seemed close to tears as the BLINCS units continued crying, calming every now and then due to the slow rhythmic rocking of Kuon's feet, but certainly not happy. Yashiro couldn't help it, he burst out laughing.
"Oh Kuon!" he said almost doubling over with his mirth.
"I thought you or Kyoko were dying or something!" he couldn't help but laugh.
Kuon knew it was from relief, still he felt the need to shoot his friend a look as he was laughing at this situation. It might as well be a matter of life and death. If he couldn't take care of these babies now, what hope was there when his own came along? Kuon prided himself on being able to learn anything. What kind of a father or a husband would he be if this was something he would be unable to do?
Yashiro knew he only made it worse as he tried to control himself but he never imagined he'd see a day where Kuon looked like a man about to lose everything. Yashiro placed a calming hand on Kuon's shoulder and squeezed it, finally getting his laughter under control.
"Kuon you do not have to do it alone. I'm here and I always will be whenever you need me. Now let's get this mess cleaned up and sorted out." Gently picking up one of the BLINCS babies from the baskets he motioned for Kuon to do the same.
"First let's see if these little bots are hungry." he said as Kuon nodded picking up the second BLINCS unit and nodding.
"There are bottles in the kitchen." Kuon said as he lead the way.
"So did you get much sleep last night?" Kanae asked as the massage therapist poured hot oils over her back. She sighed contentedly.
"It wasn't too bad. Kuon and I only had to get up twice. Though I have to say it's like a chain reaction with the BLINCS, when Chloe cries Astra cries. So it's like a never ending circle until you get them both to sleep." Kyoko said as she enjoyed the firm caress of her own therapist. This spa specialised in prenatal massage. Which was why Natalie had suggested it to Kanae when she had called her about Kyoko's depression. Kanae knew it wasn't prenatal depression, but Kyoko needed some time to unwind. With her hormones running wild, the move and everything else she was just a little down, but this spa day would hopefully cheer her up a little. As Kanae watched Kyoko sigh with content, she knew they had made the right decision even if it did mean leaving Kuon alone with the robot-babies.
"Who named the babies?" Kanae asked watching her friend with a happy smile.
"Oh they came with those names, it's something to do with the programming. When Natalie first set them up she had to name them. The processor once you have voice activated it can record that you have used the names as long as you have done the voice set up first." Kyoko said as Kanae nodded. She had spent some time with Kyoko and the babie-bots and she had to admit they were an amazing piece of technology. If they had moved Kanae would bet people would think they were real, but maybe she should be glad they weren't. The thought of moving breathing computers that were complex enough to know when you were holding them correctly scared her.
"Yuki...Thanks." Kuon said as they sat on the sofa in the sitting room feeding the robot-babies together. Yashiro smiled at his long time friend.
"It's fine Kuon, though next time please don't scare me like that." Kuon smiled sheepishly.
"I suppose I did go a little over the top." He said not able to meet Yashiro's eyes as a blush rose to his cheeks. Yashiro snorted
"A little? My dear man I've never seen or heard you so scared and lost in my life." they both chuckled and silently fed Chloe and Astra. It was a comfortable silence as the babies suckled on the bottles of water, which Yashiro guessed would later be filling up the nappy on the bots behind.
"It's scary, being alone with them for the first time. It makes me wonder can I really do this? Am I really ready to be a father?" Yashiro looked up at his best friend sitting next to him on the sofa.
His eyes were soft and gentle as he looked down at the bundle of robotics before him, they were so realistic looking. Even if they didn't move Yashiro had to take a second look when he first saw them.
"Kuon, no one is ever truly ready for children, or so my sister says anyway." Yashiro said with a chuckle.
"And you have it harder than most with having two at the same time. If we all waited until we were ready for children then no one would ever have children in the first place! These babies although they seem so realistic, they are not your babies, they're not your children. Yet I know Kuon when your real children do come you will be an amazing father. Just like you are an amazing husband. You will love protect and cherish your children for all time, and though you won't always do everything right, face it, you're human and no one knows everything. You will be a daddy they can be proud of and I know you will be fine." Kuon looked at Yashiro and knew that what he was saying was exactly what he was thinking.
Yashiro wasn't just saying it to make him feel better he really did believe Kuon would be a good father and deep down inside it made Kuon feel a little better about the whole thing. Yes Kuon had panicked when an hour after Kyoko had left he had been unable to stop his 'fake' children from crying, but here he was now feeding and burping them in a calm and quiet atmosphere with his best friend beside him.
"I don't know what I would do without you Yuki." he stated firmly as Yashiro chuckled a little evilly as he placed the now 'sleeping' Astra in her Moses basket.
"You would probably be pulling your hair out." he said and Kuon couldn't help but smile thinking it was probably true.
"If it's any consolation, I'm glad you called me." He added with a sincere smile. Kuon looked at him again as he placed the 'sleeping' Chloe in her basket.
"Any reason?" Kuon asked thinking Yashiro would have shouted at him not thanked him for calling him on his day off.
"It just shows you trust me and are happy to call me when you need help." Yashiro looked a little embarrassed at admitting this, but he had started now/
"It's kinda nice knowing you would call me, as I really do want to help however I can. You and Kyoko were kind enough to name me godfather of your two wonderful children to be and I want to live up to those expectations." Kuon smiled at his friend and patted him roughly on the shoulders as together they began cleaning up the mess Kuon had made.
Yashiro had always been very open to emotions in his fangirling ways, but this was a new type of emotion and neither of them were used to it. Even when they fell into a slightly uncomfortable silence, Kuon took the moment to lift it with a few of his own heartfelt words.
"I would never have asked if I knew I couldn't trust you with my own life and that of my children Yukihito." and with that, the sitting room was righted and cleaned and all that day Yashiro and Kuon spent with the robot-babies Chloe and Astra, helping each other out. Working out together what was wrong when they cried the way good friends do.
Kanae helped Kyoko through the front door. Her friend had slept most of the way home and was still not fully awake after Kanae had roused her. Talking quietly together Kanae assisted Kyoko through to the main sitting room. The sight that met the two women made them smile to each other as Kyoko flipped out her phone and snapped a few pictures.
Sitting on either end of the sofa each with a robot-baby in their arms fast asleep was Kuon and Yashiro. All was quiet and the two women smiled together as they watched the men sleep.
"We all need our friends sometimes." Kyoko said with a friendly one armed hug around Kanae's shoulders. Kanae just nodded and smiled at her best friend before helping her up to bed. She would let the two men sleep a little more before she woke them since they looked like they had quite an exhausting day.
She smiled when she came back downstairs. Kyoko fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. Leaning against the doorframe, Kanae watched the sleeping men with a soft smile on her lips, realizing they would both make amazing fathers.
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We'll I hope this chapter has made up for the late update :)
the BLINCS units are actually real robotic replicas
they're not called BLINCS but sadly I couldn't remember the correct
name for them (sorry)
when I was studying to become a nursery nurse at college
we were given one of these robot-babies
for 3 days, and they do record and recognise
when you feed them, hold them correctly ect
and even have a neglect alarm plus
different settings for illness, fussy and calm baby
let's put it this way if more people had to look after these robot-babies
I think there would be a lot less teenage pregnancy!
So the idea of using the robot-babies came from me and the idea of a panicking Kuon?
Well that came from my Ex-boyfriend at the time who,
panicked when I left the baby with him for 4 hours so I could go to work.
Hehe my mom found it hilarious and as we are still friends
I still tease him about it till this day, maybe its the reason he doesn't have children XD
Thank you for reading
Neh xxx
Comments and reviews please