AN: I skipped over the meeting with Kuon and the group. Sorry if you were looking forward to reading it.

Chapter Three

Kyoko grinned to herself as she made a checklist of what they were going to eat that afternoon for dinner. She had been able to arrange her schedule so that she and Kuon would tag-team it with Aurora. Despite this being how Kuon's parents were doing it for a while, Kuon and Kyoko would schedule some family time each week as well as openly communicate about how best to fit their plans around Aurora's needs.

Since Kuon had to go into the office to speak with the president, Kyoko had taken the time to do some shopping and other tasks around the house and then tonight she would be attending a meeting with a couple of directors and appearing live with the Kimagure Rock group and then another late night spot before she came home again.

She had told Kuon not to wait up for her but he ignored her anyway so that he could let her vent to him before they went to bed. Sometimes it would flip or there would be an entirely new schedule but busy was good. Busy was normal for them. Kyoko tasted a little bit of the stock, it could use a bit more salt, before -

She heard Aurora scream. As a mother there was nothing more frightening than the sound of her child screaming and she stepped out, forgetting about the stove, of the house and into the backyard. "Sweetheart?" she asked as she saw Aurora had fallen down and as she came forward she saw that there was a bird with a broken wing.

"It doesn't fly," Aurora pointed and Kyoko saw where it had clipped its wing and frowned. She kissed the top of Aurora's head before carefully moving towards the bird.

"It got hurt," Kyoko said wondering if there were any predators nearby. "Can you stay here and watch the bird for a moment?" she asked and Aurora nodded obediently. Kyoko went to get a shoebox (turning down the stove on the way through the kitchen) and put paper towel in it before going back towards the bird. She turned to Aurora who was now on her hands and knees over the small brown bird.

"He's still breathing," Aurora pointed out and Kyoko nodded. She heard the sound of a car pulling up in the driveway and smiled in relief. Kuon was an expert in helping small animals, especially birds. In fact, Kyoko had often joked with him that if he didn't have the talent to be an actor or performer or if he didn't have the looks to be a model, he would have made an amazing veterinarian.

"I'll go and get Daddy to help us," Kyoko said as she put her hand on Aurora's arm and kissed her head. "Just watch the bird. I'm sure that Daddy will be able to help. I'll go ask him," she said and Aurora nodded. She stared at the starling and listened to its tweeting. It sounded like it wanted to get up and it wasn't limp. It just kept trying to fly and then falling down again.

Aurora looked back as she heard some footsteps and saw her father there, she looked at the bird and then felt her father's hand on her back.

"Hey, my little starshine," Kuon whispered before looking to the bird. "I heard there was an emergency and I suppose it's this little guy right here." Kuon put a fingertip behind the bird's head as if stroking him. "I think that we can help him," he tried to reassure Aurora. "If you hadn't spotted him though, we might not have been able to. This bird has you to thank for that," he grinned to her before looking at the box that Kyoko had brought out.

"Can you help him?" Aurora asked with wide eyes and Kuon nodded.

"We're both going to help him," Kuon replied with a soft look on his face that always appeared when his focus was towards small and cute animals. He could see that the bird was trying to move but somehow the broken wing had caused it to lose its balance or maybe it had hurts its leg too. He turned back to Kyoko, "Can you bring me some gloves and a clean towel?" he asked before turning to his father who had given him a ride home.

"I'll get them, it's okay, you already were in the middle of cooking dinner, right?" he asked Kyoko who fidgeted nervously. "He's got a skill with this," Kuu said as Kyoko gave him the items Kuon had requested and Kuu went outside as Kyoko turned back to the stove.

"I know, just something else about him that makes him so loveable," she blushed. Shotaro didn't care about animals in the same way that Kuon did. In fact Kuon had the same affection towards animals as she did towards princesses and now that he was back in Japan to stay they might be able to approach the subject of a pet.

Kuu brought Kuon what he had asked for and then sat down, bringing Aurora into his lap so they could watch Kuon treat the bird. Kuon put on the gloves before gently placing his palm over the birds head and gripping the bird, he slowly brought it to the towel and wrapped it up in the towel and then put it in the box. He had paused for a moment to check how the break on the wing was but managed to cover the bird with expert care.

"Dad," Kuon said as he handed him the lid of the shoebox that Kyoko had made and set the wrapped up bird in the box, "Can you make some air holes?" he asked but before he had finished his question Kuu had already finished the task with Aurora watching. Once the lid was back on the box, Kuon picked it up and stood up with the box in his hands. "I think this little guy will only need to rest for a short time but I can't be sure until I can examine him further. I'll have him in the office with me and then we can wish for his safe recovery."

"Does he need to go to the hospital?" Aurora asked with wide eyes.

"Usually if an animal is hurt then they will need to go to the hospital," Kuu tried to explain. "And if it was an injury that the bird had that Daddy didn't know about he'd take him there but your dad has an amazing gift with animals."

"Well that's because I learned from my father," Kuon said before nodding. "I'm not the most skilled and I'll have to check on this little guy when he's not as scared but I think that it'll just take a little time, a little bit of medicine, and to bind the break. I promise to do my best to help him as much as I can but you already helped him, if you hadn't spotted him he wouldn't have been able to get any help. I can tell this little guy is so thankful to you."

"Can I help too?" Aurora asked and Kuon smiled.

"Well, I'm going to contact my friend who is an animal handler though, he might tell me it's best that we have someone like him look over the bird," Kuon said as he thought about someone he had met during filming a few years ago. People often made jokes about it that everyone knew Hizuri Kuon but he did keep in contact with a lot of people. He honestly wanted to keep the bird in their yard since the bird was familiar with the area but maybe a video call wouldn't hurt. "But there is a special way that you can help," Kuon grinned.

Aurora looked up at him with big puppy dog eyes.

"We can say a special get well charm for the bird, if all four of us send the bird warm and healing thoughts then I'm sure that he'll be able to know we're rooting for him. Your mother is the best at charms and magic so she'll tell us her best one. You can go ask her but make sure to wash your hands from playing, okay?" he grinned and Aurora nodded before going off and doing so.

"You think that the bird is going to be okay?" Kuu asked and Kuon looked at the box again.

"I think so. If something changes or if my opinion is different later on tonight I might take the bird to the vet but I'll try solving the issue here. I really don't want to have the bird heal in an unfamiliar environment. I don't know if it's got family here but I don't think it'd be best to be alone in an unfamiliar environment," Kuon said before going off to his office.

Kuu looked after him and sighed, "Like sending your fifteen year old kid to Japan and telling him to build an entirely new life with an entirely new name," he said so that nobody would hear him. Even though he was glad that things had turned out for the best, he still felt horrible sometimes that that had been the solution. Hopefully Kuon wasn't referring to that.

3.2

Even though the breakage of the wing hadn't been bad, Kuon had been talked into letting a friend of a friend take the bird into their home for a week or two and then they would bring the bird back when they were healthy to release them. Since she and Kuon were so busy it would be the best thing all around but she couldn't help but acknowledge the sadness that they had. Yes, a cat or a dog would probably be the best thing to consider and preferably a cat. Yes, a cat would work better with their lifestyles or maybe two cats.

She thought about how excited just the mentioning of kittens might make them. Aurora was four so she was just expected to act cute and sweet and get excited over small adorable animals but Kuon. She laughed as she thought about how different he was when he had an animal to take care of. Yes, she would open up to him tonight about maybe getting two kittens.

"Kyoko-san," Hiroaki Ogata said as he approached her and Kyoko felt her back straighten as she turned to him. She felt like saluting but instead just stood up and dropped into a bow. The fame didn't affect her like other people, she would always be well mannered and if she ever slipped she could just picture Ren Tsuruga's disappointed face. "So, I wanted to offer you the second lead for this project personally. Have you heard about it?"

"It's different than the one that Kuon was doing with the accident, right?" Kyoko asked as she put a hand to her chest.

"It is, I was just thinking that…." He hummed before looking up at the ceiling as if trying to figure out whether to say something or not. "He does seem to take non-disclosure agreements quite seriously," he said and Kyoko blinked and tilted her head to the side wondering who this person was that the director was referring to.

"What's the role? Should we go and sit down?" she asked and Hiroaki nodded. Kyoko smiled softly, she was between managers right now and had been offered a replacement manager but said that she could take care of things herself and it had been understood before the car accident that Yashiro would become her manager again but Kuon needed him more right now so she was fine with someone new.

Hiroaki nodded before gesturing for Kyoko to enter the office that he just walked out of. Once she was sitting down Hiroaki turned to her and passed her a description of the film. "I'd really like for you to play the corporate spy who is the main antagonist role."

Kyoko sighed as she thought about those two things. Being a corporate spy would probably greatly annoy her mother and she didn't know the reaction from that. Being an antagonist wasn't her favorite thing but over the past few years she had been offered more roles than she could take and had her pick of the best of them.

"What is the lead like?" she asked and Hiroaki stared at her.

"He's a put-together international business leader. The too wealthy to live in reality type. Someone who is misperceived but who has a fun and playful side that your character takes advantage of…I mean, he agreed today so I -"

Kyoko raised an eyebrow as she stared at the director in front of her. "Kuon's already agreed to this?" she asked before nodding. "If he's in then I'm in. I could use an excuse for playing around with my husband," she said mischievously. Yes, this was going to be a lot of fun.

End of Chapter Three

Thank you for reading