Okay! So, now we hopefully get to the point of WHY Kyoko's being targeted. Trust me, you when you find out who the father actually is, you'll understand why the mother feels she needs to die, and you'll even find out why she sent the note! You wouldn't just send a note like that, it would be too much of a give away, right?

Mwahahaha!

Damn, I'm evil!

Anywho, On with the show!

Disclaimer- Vain day is upon us! Make sure those locks are on your heart! Don't let yourself be corrupted! ZETSUBOU SHITA!

CHAPTER 12

Kyoko watched as the woman nearly dragged her son into the house, crying her eyes out. She'd noticed Kyoko after a minute and instantly recognized her.

"Kyoko!" She ran over, throwing her arms around the girl who was by no means used to American affection and started blushing like mad. "Thank you! You brought my son home to me!" She cried and Kyoko awkwardly started patting her back, watching as Ren pulled himself from the stone, took one look and started laughing.

"I love you, but I think-"

The door was crashed open. "Who's telling my wife-" He stared at Ren on the ground, and Julie hugging a very red Kyoko on the door step. "I'll make an exception. What are you doing here, though? Isn't this a little far from Tokyo?"

"We need to talk, there's something going on, and we need to hide for a while." Ren stood and Julie looked back over to her son, seeing how tall he was and cried again.

Kuu could only smile, pulling her into the house, a gentle smile graced him, the likes of which Kyoko had never seen on the man, and he realized, as much as he doted on his family in Japan, it was a terrible understatement on how he actually felt for them.

She smiled, sighed, then turned her face away, unable to watch someone else love their family as much as she was seeing now.

It just hurt too badly.

Kuu made tea before they explained the situation. Kuu could only grit his teeth, anger seethed from him. He would make sure this woman was found. How could you throw away your child then come back for revenge? This was totally unacceptable! The girl who was usually so lively and happy couldn't break the look that she was about to cry. He wanted so badly to hug her, tell her she was a part of this family, and just don't think about the other woman, but he knew two things.

You can never forget about your mother, and it was not his place to comfort her.

Especially since he doubted he could break his wife's grip from the girl.

When she realized what was happening, shortly after they started the explanation, she ran over and started comforting her the way she always did.

His wife was a very loving and giving person, and this situation, with it being their adopted daughter, hit too close to home.

"Oh, you guys can stay here as long as you like! You can move in! I'd love to have you both here! If I find that woman..." Julie's hands clenched as she thought of the beating she wanted to give Kyoko's mother.

"Mom, what we need now is a strategy. We need to find her, and she's probably somewhere in Tokyo. I've spoken to the police, and they say they have no leads. I don't know what to do."

"I'll take care of that." Kuu stood and whipped out his cell phone.

"Ohayo, Kudo-san. Remember that favor you owe me?" He grinned, knowing he was about to really get stuff moving.

Ren had been moved along in conversation, talking about the relationship he had with the girl who was now smiling. Julie knew just how to cheer up a girl in love.

"He said he'd propose if he thought I was ready for it." Kyoko grinned, earning a surprised look from the woman.

"So, you finally decided you deserved to be loved?" Ren smiled sadly.

"I can't live in the past forever, and honestly, Rick wouldn't have wanted me to suffer like this. That's what he died for." Ren looked his mother in the eyes, tears starting to stream down her cheeks again.

"It wasn't your fault, you know that, right, Kuon?"

"What happened?" Kyoko looked between them, totally lost and Kuon, as she was going to have to get used to calling him again, explained.

The torment and torture on his face was unbearable to her, but at the same time, she couldn't stop listening as he explained the death of his best friend.

Kyoko heard the story and looked down at the watch, the one that had been given to him by the police at the scene. He'd been wearing it when he died. It had been Kuon's birthday gift to him.

Kyoko sighed, thinking about this.

She'd understood that Ren had hidden a dark past from day one. She knew that he often hid his feelings with that 'gentleman's' smile. She also knew that when it came down to it, Ren was one of the sweetest, most kindest people she'd ever met. She frowned, suddenly furious with herself for not finding out this darkness, trying to understand him better before she started falling for him. Now instead of considering if this was too much for her, she was considering how to help him out.

She'd seen him slap that watch, clenching to it as if his life depended on it. The thought of him hanging this badly to such a horrible moment in his life explained so much.

She leaned against him and sighed, snapping him out of the depressed spiral he was starting on. "Maybe it's time to get rid of the watch, Kuon." She looked up, seeing the horrified look on his face. "You should give it back to the friend you gave it to. It was meant for him, right?" She smiled and Ren just watched her, thinking over the words she spoke.

They were so simple, but so so hard to hear at the same time.

Maybe she was right.

"Found out why no one can find your mother." Kuu frowned, headed towards a hidden cabinet near the back of the room behind a massive portrait. He flung it open and whirred the combination lock in seconds, opening it to pull out a couple of handguns, as well as a shot gun. Kyoko gasped, jumping up in shock at the display in the cabinet.

"Guns are illegal!" She cried and Kuu stared at her in shock for a moment.

"In Japan, they are. In America, you're allowed to have them for protection, and I think this fits the situation. Your mother was on the same plane you were on." Kuu frowned, watching as Kuon frowned, leaning back.

"That woman staring at the airport was your mother after all." Kyoko gasped, feeling panic start to set in.

"Kuon, you remember how to use this, right?" His father handed him a small gun and upon second thought handed him another.

"Taurus 22b, Walther p22." He looked them over quickly and nodded. "I remember."

"Good. Take her downstairs and teach her how to shoot. We'll go tomorrow to get her a license, and with the situation, I'm pretty sure there won't be any arguments. Honey." He handed her a small pearl handled revolver and she frowned, holding the thing as far from her as possible. Kyoko was doing about the same thing.

"I feel dirty." Kyoko frowned, and Julie sighed.

"It's for the best. I'll go down with you. I know how to use this, but I never have. I have no idea how to aim." She frowned and Kyoko looked at her with terror.

"Kyoko, if things get bad, if something happens and I can't help you, you need to be able to defend yourself. Your mother uses guns, so teaching you swordsmanship isn't going to help. Come on downstairs, Dad has a shooting range in the basement. I'll show you how to use a gun in a safe place."

Kyoko gulped as she nodded, still holding the gun at arms length, between her fingers.

Kuu frowned, plugging in his cell before the next call. It was getting to evening for him, and he knew his wife wouldn't notice, but he'd been on the phone a lot today, trying to figure out what was happening with an odd movie he was supposed to be in, and decided to make sure his phone wouldn't die during the next few calls he needed to make. He'd gotten a little more information on Saene Mogami, and he needed to check a few things.

Thank god for all of those favors he owed for getting people bit parts in movies and helping with training a few government officials in stunt falls.

It was nearly three in the morning and Kuu was chugging coffee. He'd gone ahead and called off him and his wife, knowing they weren't going anywhere for a few days.

Unfortunately, there was another call he knew he'd need to make, and that one would be a lot harder than finding out how to find a Japanese woman who apparently tried to make herself impossible to find.

That one, at least, he'd be able to wait til tomorrow to make.

For now, he had to find out who to look for.

By seven that morning, Kyoko was not only skilled in loading and unloading, turning on and off the safety on her gun and at least somewhat knowledgeable about proper maintenance, but also able to aim and shoot with a decent accuracy.

Julie was already familiar with her gun, having used it herself with a few stalker issues, but her aim was horrible. Kuon was just happy she'd never had to use it.

They decided to go up and eat, at which point Kyoko realized the time difference and apologized the whole way up the stairs about keeping her and her husband up all night.

Kuu sat in the dark living room, sitting on the couch, staring at his cell phone with contempt when Kuon found him.

"Dad, Kyoko's making breakfast. It'll be ready soon." He watched, surprised by the dark demeanor of the man before him. Very few times in his life had he seen this look on that man.

"I'm not hungry." He stated flatly and Kuon stared.

"What's wrong?" His father using those words had never been heard. Kuon was terrified.

"She changed her name. That's how she was able to get on the plane when she had an alert out in Tokyo. She's also had a past full of horrible deeds. Kyoko has at least three siblings." He watched as Ren stared.

"What?"

"She was raised in America. Kyoko's grandparents were interned in America during World War II. We can take her to meet her grandmother tomorrow, well, today, if we get the information that Saene hasn't been there recently. She lives about two hours from here."

Kuon stared.

All this time Kyoko was alone, and she had a grandmother alive here?

Kuon closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Do we know who the siblings are?"

"Yeah, another one in Japan, one in Florida and the last one in Ohio." Kuu lit a cigarette, and from the look of the ashtray, he'd been chain smoking for some hours.

Ren sat and stole a cigarette from his father's pack. Kuu watched, a little amused as his son lit the cigarette and took a deep hit, trying to relax after the news. "Do any of them know about her?"

"Their fathers all died when they were children. After she got the life insurance money, the children were all abandoned. The last one, the little girl is only five. She doesn't have any family, and is stuck in Ohio in the foster care system. There had been one more, he killed himself four years ago. He was only twelve years old. I've already taken the liberty to ask the Children's Protective Services there to send her here. It's not unusual for famous couples to adopt. The last two, I'm having trouble finding."

"Was Kyoko the oldest?" Kuon asked, suddenly terrified. He already knew what he would need to do.

He'd heard horror stories when he was a kid about the foster care system.

This was Kyoko's family. He couldn't allow it. "Please find them." Kuon put his head down.

They'd only been going out for a week and a half, and here he was, about to adopt three children for her.

And now he needed to tell her what his father had found, as soon as he was done with this cigarette.