Chapter Thirteen - Mother

Rikuu quickly grabbed his picture and looked at it, he held it in his hands, his body shaking as he took a look at it and finally he smiled. The four of them were there with Kuon only having a few scars on his body which could have easily been covered by makeup. So, the confession hadn't ruined everything but then how did they approach the situation from this point? Kyoko now knew something which Rikuu had been trying to keep private from her. Wouldn't that shatter her trust?

"Is everything okay?" Ren asked as he followed Rikuu who gave him a short glare and held the photo protectively.

"Somehow," he bit back before looking down. He sighed as he put the picture back down and tried to figure out how this had turned into the best case scenario. No girl wanted to be told that her future was already set no matter whether it was what she believed she wanted or not.

Rikuu took a deep breath in. He had already told Ren so much about the future and why he had come and what he was hoping to prevent. Right now Kyoko must be panicking and trying to nervously figure things out for herself, he owed her the same respect as to tell her. "I have to go, don't do anymore damage."

"I don't know what that means," Ren said and Rikuu shot him a hard look causing the actor to put his hands up in defense. He wanted to ask if what he had done by telling Kyoko was such a bad thing especially since it had seemed to improve the future but Rikuu had a point. Ren had been completely freaked out by the idea of having a son who was a time traveler, there was no doubt that Kyoko felt the same way. "Okay. I won't make any more interactions with -"

"So if she comes up to you wanting to know what your thoughts are on this matter, you're just going to ignore her!?" Rikuu asked in a bitter manner. He pushed a hand through his hair. He was desperate to stop the pain and heartache that he had endured and now it seemed that he was trying to push two foolishly stubborn individuals through a very tight door.

"How about if I don't start any interactions with her?" Ren offered and Rikuu sighed. It was better than nothing. He nodded and put the photograph in his pocket making sure that it was completely safe. This was his guide to making sure that the problems didn't go beyond the point where they could be fixed. Maybe he could go to the Love Me office and talk to her. Hopefully Kyoko would talk to him but Rikuu wouldn't blame her if she didn't. She must be panicking right now.

…

…

Kyoko stared ahead of her wide eyed in the Love Me room. She bowed her head as she heard the door open and put a hand to her wrist. She hoped it was Kanae, she needed to speak to Moko to calm herself down but if she said anything to Moko-chan she would be said to have gone crazy. No. She had to try to at least act rationally about this. It seemed anything but rational.

As she looked up, her eyes widened even more and she started to twitch. Rikuu was opposite her and as Kyoko studied him, she saw parts of herself in his appearance and his mannerisms. She didn't want to admit the fact out loud that this was her son from the future and her son with Kuon Hizuri no less. Was Kuu setting the two of them up or was there something about her that Kuon really had fallen in love with.

"Hello," Rikuu said weakly as he stayed by the door. "I know that you must be in shock but would it be possible for the two of us to talk?" he asked and Kyoko watched him, she opened her mouth before bowing her head.

"I'm struggling," she told him and Rikuu took a step towards her but as she flinched, he pulled back.

"I know and I was hoping that you wouldn't find out. I was hoping that Ren and I could do it together," he saw Kyoko shake her head and he knew that this was how she acted when she knew that he was hiding some piece of important information from her. He had lied far too many times as a child to not know when she suspected something – although most of his lies had been about stealing cookies -. "Okay. When," Rikuu sighed, "Dad and I were hoping."

"How long has he known?" Kyoko asked as she watched him and Rikuu shifted.

"Soon after I got here. I didn't mean for anyone to know but there's something really awful that happened in my lifetime and I don't want to have anyone go through that again, most of all, I don't want the two of you to suffer through that again." He watched as Kyoko lifted her head and the two made eye contact. Rikuu didn't want to explain his story again, it had too many parts of it that still scared him and gave him nightmares but he owed it to his future-mother. "You were stalked when you were on an acting job and then Dad tried to save you, he got hurt but he saved you and the creep was taken to jail but when he was released, he tracked the two of you down and he…he skinned Dad." Rikuu saw Kyoko wrap her arms around herself, tears in her eyes. "You saw it happen and it drove you crazy and you…you couldn't live with having witnessed that."

Kyoko sniffed and closed her eyes, "So, you're saying that I should give up on acting?" she asked and Rikuu shook his head.

"I could never ask that of you but I just want you not to get involved with that creep. Depriving yourself of acting is not going to make you happy," Rikuu commented. "More than that, it could drive Dad away, him thinking that he caused you not to be happy. I don't know why Dad told you, I was hoping that he wouldn't but….there are some things that you can't not say once they've already been spoken."

Kyoko nodded. She looked at him again and took another breath in.

"I really do love him," she admitted and Rikuu smiled. Despite how idiotic Kuon had been as to tell her all of this and show her the photograph, at least he hadn't ruined the love that existed between the two of them. "I'm glad that he loves me too," she blushed.

Rikuu took the chance to walk over to her and sit down next to her, he watched her before sighing and she blinked, turning back to him. "I just wish that was enough."

"It's the start of something though, right?" Kyoko asked him and RIkuu nodded. The two sat silently for a moment before Kyoko turned towards her son, still trying to process the information that she was just given. "Rikuu?" she asked and he nodded, still concentrating on the ground in front of him. "Am I a good mother? Have I ever been unkind to you?"

Rikuu turned to her quickly, the shock on his face. "You've always been a great mom," he said not wanting to comment on how he didn't think that her act of suicide was really a demonstration for a great mother to make. "We've always felt incredibly safe and happy being your children. You gave us everything that we needed especially since Dad was never the same after the accident. I mean, I never noticed any difference but that's what you said the whole time. You said that when it came to the point where he couldn't act, he got quiet and distant but he was still the same on the inside. You though, you were an amazing mother."

Kyoko smiled before looking down and felt the tears in her eyes. "I don't know if I ever would have told you about it but my mother never loved me as a kid and I don't think that she would have ever loved me even in the future. I didn't want to be like my own mother. I'm very glad that I made you happy."

Rikuu nodded, "I know. I know Saena-san," he said with a darkened expression on his face. Kyoko hummed and turned to him, not understanding the reason for his expression.

"Saena-san?" she asked

Rikuu laughed stiffly, "As if that woman would have ever let me call her grandmother."

…

….

The six year old Rikuu looked up at Kyoko as she held onto Alyssa's hand with one of hers and checked her phone with the other. They were supposed to be meeting with their maternal grandmother that day and Rikuu had come to the misconception that his Japanese grandmother would be like his playful and attentive Japanese-American grandmother. Julie was always spoiling them with treats and presents and she would have an overjoyed look every time she saw them. That was the type of grandmother that Rikuu had grown up knowing.

"Are you okay?" Kyoko asked Rikuu and he blinked up at her. He nodded and she sighed. "I'm glad that Kuon isn't here," she said to herself. Rikuu tilted his head.

"Why isn't Daddy here?" he asked and Kyoko looked away not knowing what to say, she didn't want to spoil Rikuu's impression of her mother before they even met one another. Even though the odds were greatly stacked against her there was still a small chance that Saena might surprise all of them.

"Daddy doesn't like Japan very much," Kyoko tried to explain and RIkuu nodded. His father didn't like a lot of things very much. He was always quiet and reserved and whenever his grandfather would mention going to Japan, his father would leave the room or just avoid the subject entirely. Rikuu loved Japan from what he had seen in photographs and stories so he didn't quite understand his father's dislike of the country.

Kyoko stiffened as a very firm lady approached them and Rikuu nervously twisted in his formal clothes before he dropped down into a bow whilst his mother did the same. "It's good to see you again," Kyoko said and Rikuu nodded.

"It's nice to meet you," he said and heard the woman before him give a criticizing hum.

"I guess this is the best you can do with your genetics and that monsters," she said and Kyoko rose. She shook her head quickly. Yes, Kuon's face had been messed up a lot from the attack and kids laughed and said he was ugly but this was one of the first times when Rikuu had heard it from a grown up.

"Don't call Kuon a monster," Kyoko said and the woman looked away dismissively.

"You still don't know your place or how to show respect, do you?" the other woman, Rikuu's grandmother said as Rikuu blinked up at her. "Your children obviously are small demons themselves. Well, this meeting between us shouldn't last long."

"Monster? Demon?" Rikuu asked confused and Saena turned to him.

"Did you want to argue that fact as well?" she asked and Kyoko put a protective hand on Rikuu's shoulder. "Your father is a monster who is better off dead," she said coldly and Rikuu shook his head.

"But I don't want Daddy to die," he said and Kyoko looked at him sadly. This definitely wasn't what she had been hoping for but she shouldn't have expected anything different.

End of Chapter Thirteen

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Thank you to the reviewers of Chapter Twelve

Black neko hime, Belarosa, brennakai, H-Nala, Kaname671, Kumioko