AN: Just a warning, I cried whilst writing this chapter and I don't cry all too often with my fics. I really hope that you enjoy it though 😊

Chapter Six - Hope

Kuon never knew a time when he wanted to pretend not to be alive more than this. He didn't want to be on his side and unable to move. He didn't want to realize that all of his work had been for nothing and that he was helpless. He took deep breaths to steady himself and heard the tweeting of some birds. If he was a bird he could just fly away from all of this.

As he lay there, he didn't see the shove that Kyoko gave to Shou and the way his eyes widened in shock. Kyoko frowned and looked at Corn on the ground. She placed a hand on his shoulder and frowned. "I'm gonna get the fairy queen, Corn" she said before running to the house where she didn't see Julie but she saw Kuu there.

"Mr. Fairy King," she said in panic, "You have to come quick! Quick," she repeated, "Corn got hur-"

As soon as she had said that, Kuu came running and he saw Kuon on the ground with Shou pointing at him and laughing. Kuu frowned at the kid wanting to smack him for what he had obviously done to Kuon, but this wasn't his child. His child was the one on the ground in pain.

"Hey," Kuu said as he picked Kuon up and held him in his arms. "Are you hurt?" he asked, "Kuon it's okay," he said seeing how upset his son was. "I think you and your friend should leave, Kyoko," he said as Kyoko nodded and tried to take Shou's hand so she could pull him away from Kuon.

"I'm really really sorry, Corn!" Kyoko yelled to him through her tears. She saw the pain he was feeling and felt so scared for him. He couldn't move and Shou had taken advantage of that. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean for you to get hurt!"

"Please, leave" Kuon told her and Kyoko's body stiffened as tears started to gather in her eyes but she knew that what Corn was saying was out of defense. If only she hadn't brought Shou here she wouldn't have lost her friend. She started shaking but she wasn't going to lose it in front of Corn, she wasn't going to show him how she needed him.

Kyoko looked down sadly as she walked home with Shou beside her. "Why did you push him? He didn't do anything to you," she tried to tell him. "Corn is really nice and you hurt him."

"He's not a fairy, he's a regular person, they all are," Shou said bitterly. "You're just stupid."

Kyoko froze and her back straightened, she wasn't going to get upset with that. She believed in Corn and Shou was just jealous. "Even so, you're mean. You were really mean to him."

"Why can't he move?" Shou asked, "That's dumb."

Kyoko turned to him, "He was nice to you. He got hurt and now he has trouble eating and can't move. You hurt him when he was defenseless," she said before looking down. "I wish I had gone with them but now he doesn't want to see me."

"What's good about him anyway, he's broken and he's stupid," Shou said but Kyoko glared at him. She pushed him again and then looked down. "Why do you keep pushing me?" Shou grumbled, "You're stupid, my parents will kick you out if you're mean to me."

"You think pushing is right," Kyoko argued, "Corn was trying to be nice to you and you made him scared and uncomfortable."

Shou stared at her in horror and then looked at Kyoko as she stood there with her fists by her sides. "What? What is it now?" he asked her and Kyoko shook her head.

"Are you really upset about all of this?" Shou said with a roll of his eyes, "It's dumb."

Kyoko looked down and closed her eyes. She thought about how much Shou's parents had helped her and how much they treasured their son. She didn't know if the fairy king would still let her go back to the house after what had happened. She dropped down into a bow, "I'm sorry, Shou," she apologized with tears in her eyes. "You're right, it's stupid," she said wanting to stay at the inn.

Shou sighed loudly, "At least you know," he said not realizing that at this point, Kyoko was only apologizing for selfish reasons.

….

….

Kuu looked into Kuon's bedroom where he lay unresponsive, staring off into space. It had been a couple of days since they had seen Kyoko and Kuon hadn't wanted to speak to anyone. Kuu could understand why. His son had always been able to defend himself in the past and he had always willingly tried to help others. Now he could get shoved onto the ground by a six-year-old, unable to move.

Kuu took a step into the room and then came over to a chair by the bed. He noticed that Kuon was more pale and feverish than the previous day and reached out. He felt cold and clammy and his eyes looked sore as he tried to pull away.

Kuu felt his heart break as he saw the pain his son was in and the way he didn't seem to want to try any longer. "Hey," Kuu said, trying to mask the pain in his voice. "Kuon, please talk to me," he begged as he saw his own child starting to disappear. "The doctor's here, he wants to do an examination, okay?" he asked and saw Kuon turn his head into the pillow.

Kuu's eyes filled with tears as he saw his son's rejection. He was glad that Kuon was looking away and not seeing how hard it was for Kuu to act as if things were okay. "I love you," he said before looking over at the doctor.

"Hizuri-san," the doctor said as he saw how hard it was for Kuu to keep composure, "Could you give me some time alone with Kuon," he said not wanting for Kuu to break in front of Kuon. Knowing that your own father was crying over something you couldn't control might be damaging for a ten-year-old.

Kuu nodded shakily and went to his own bedroom where Julie was in a similar position to Kuon. She lay in bed unable to move and kept looking at a picture of the three of them together before any of this happened. Kuu sat down next to her and placed a hand on her arm, hoping it was comforting.

"I'm so sorry that I left him," Julie whispered as she grabbed to the pillow. "If I had been a better mother," she said as she looked away. "He was doing so well, he managed to move his elbow. Do you remember?"

"I remember," Kuu said as he let his hand softly rub against Julie's upper arm. He felt ashamed that he couldn't protect his own family. Kuon hadn't spoken for two days and he hadn't eaten either, he had just been there and Kuu couldn't get through to him, neither of them could.

"I just…he must feel so helpless," Julie said and Kuu nodded trying hard not to show his own pain to her. He needed to be the strong one in the family. "I don't want to lose him, Kuu" Julie continued, "He's ten. He's a child and…I don't want to be the kind of mother who can't take care of her little boy. I don't want to wake up in a couple of weeks and find him unresponsive," she said meaning that she didn't want Kuon to die.

"It'll be okay," Kuu told her whilst also hating the fear he had in his own heart. "In a few months it will be okay and we'll all be able to get back to America," he tried to tell her and Julie sobbed again which broke Kuu's heart.

"I'm scared that we'll be going home without Kuon or with his…what if he dies here and we can't move his body overseas," she sobbed feeling her own heart break. "I want him to be at home with his books and his toys. I'd even buy him that surfboard he's been wanting," she said and Kuu looked up.

"You said that you didn't want him to have it at ten because you're scared that he would -" Kuu looked down. He didn't want to say the word when it had a high chance of actually happening. He looked down as Julie placed a hand on her stomach remembering when she had given birth to her son and how he looked when the doctors had handed him to Kuu. She remembered the ecstatic and nervous face of Kuu as he held the little baby in his arms and how he knew he was a father.

"I will give anything for Kuon to be alright," Julie said sadly.

As they sat there together, they heard the doctor knock on the door. Kuu stood and went to open the door, he looked back at his wife unsure if she wanted to hear this. "Jules," he said as he went over to her affectionately, "Do you want me to move this outside?" he asked as he placed a soft kiss on her forehead. Julie shook her head and Kuu invited the doctor in.

The doctor looked at them gravely, "I hate to say this but after examining Kuon, if his condition doesn't improve then I think that his condition will prove terminal," he said. Kuu started shaking as he felt his own pain and Julie couldn't help the tears that were in her eyes. "He needs to eat and get some rest, he needs to regain that will to live," the doctor said and Kuu felt vomit rise to his throat.

"I don't know how to make it so that he wants to live," Kuu said sadly. "He was doing so well," he said as he started to cry himself which shook Julie up.

"I want to kill that little jerk," Julie whispered and Kuu stood wanting to get out of the room. He needed to be strong for Julie but hearing that Kuon could slip away from them was too hard. He walked out of the room without another word to anyone.

"I'll leave some notes for you in the hallway," he tried to tell Kuu. Kuu went to the yard and stared out. He wanted Kuon to be healthy and happy, that's all you could want for your child. He looked up at the trees where there were birds flying around and chirping. Kuon loved watching birds. He loved nature and pointing out the different animals to Kuu. What if he never did that again?

Kuu was staring out into the yard before his body shook and he had to kneel down, one hand wrapped around his stomach as he thought about the feelings that were literally leading his son closer to death. As he was crouched down, he saw a rustling in the bushes and looked up to see Kyoko. He froze and waited to see if she had brought that kid with her.

Kyoko came alone but she froze when she saw how upset Kuu was. She paused and walked up to him. "Are you okay?" she asked and Kuu looked at her trying to become strong because crying like this in front of a child didn't feel right. "Can I apologize to Corn?" she asked with her eyes showing fear.

Kuu looked down not knowing whether to let her do so or not, "Kuon is dying," he told her and Kyoko took a step back in shock.

(END CHAPTER SIX)

AN2 : Thank you to everyone who supports this fic 😊 Special shout out to my reviewers of the previous chapter: Ashenvale, brennakai, DreamIdol, Felicity Dream, fire1, Guest, Julie, ktoll9, Kris, Lennie, Sara