AN: I really hope you guys enjoy this chapter 😊 Thanks for reading.

Chapter Three: Knowing your child

Kuon paused and turned to look at the small girl straight on. He looked down trying to find the right words to say and shifted uncomfortably. Kyoko reached out to touch his shoulder and Kuon flinched before taking a couple of steps back. The little girl tilted her head to the side, "What is it, Corn?" she asked nervously. "Is it your legs? Does standing for a long time hurt your legs?" she asked and Kuon looked away.

"It's nothing," he lied to her, "So, you'll be okay setting your stuff up?" he asked and Kyoko nodded as Kuon put the bag down. "If you need anything make sure to ask, I know that they'll treasure you," he said as Kyoko stood with her hands by her side and tried to make eye contact with her important friend.

"It must be nice to have parents who love you so much," she smiled as Kuon nodded silently. "I know that when I'm with Father, he's really funny and he does his best to help me be happy. He told me that it was sad to see me leave on the plane because I'd miss the holidays."

Kuon watched her, he knew that Kyoko was trying to make small talk and she did look rather excited. He didn't want to ruin this trip for her, but he had to try not to get too close to her. He nodded again and looked away. "Don't worry about me, okay?" he smiled weakly. "It must be really exciting for you to be here in America. There must be a lot of things that you're excited to do. Just, I'm going out, tell my parents if you need help," he said as he rubbed his back awkwardly. "It's nice to see you again."

"It's so great to see you, Kuon" Kyoko laughed. "Can I come too?" she asked eagerly and Kuon hesitated a little.

"There's a couple of Japanese stations on the TV. Dad likes getting those because he grew up in Japan. You should ask him where the TV is if there's anything that you'd like to see," he said before looking at her. "I hope you have a good time here, Kyoko."

As he left Kyoko felt a chill through her body. He was still being as nice to her as he always had, he was still showing her how important she was to him, but she felt strange. It was as if he wasn't really here. She stopped hesitantly as she looked in the direction he had just left and hummed. Maybe he had been hurt because of the accident, maybe the psychological recovery took longer than the physical one. Still, she couldn't help but feel that he preferred to be alone.

Kyoko looked at the Corn stone and picked it up. Maybe she shouldn't have come? Maybe she had hurt him too badly or maybe this was just forcing herself onto him and his family, it wasn't as if they had asked her to come. She closed her eyes and let a few tears slip down her cheeks as she brought the stone to her chest.

"I'm so sorry, Corn" she whispered as she held the stone close to her body. "I really just wanted to see you because I miss you. I didn't know you were suffering so much," she allowed her hair to fall onto her knees. She had this happy life because she had met him. He had introduced her to a world where she had people who love her, she had a family, she had proper friends. She just wanted to make sure that he had the same thing.

As she sat there, she heard someone come to the doorway and then heard heavy footsteps approach her.

"Aww, Kyoko," Julie said as she wrapped her arms around the little girl, "What is it? Are you homesick already?" she asked. "I know, you're far away from home, but we're going to have a great time and make you feel like this is a once in a lifetime visit," she attempted to comfort her.

Kyoko shook her head as she tried to wipe the tears away. "I'm sorry," she tried to apologize. "It's not that. I'm really happy to be here and thank you so much for having me here, I'm really grateful," she attempted to smile as Julie sighed and offered a nonbelieving look.

"I know that you're upset about something. I get upset too and when I do, I try to talk to someone about it," Julie smiled. "It's never good to keep your feelings bottled up inside."

Kyoko looked at her and blinked hard as she attempted to get rid of the tears that were making her feel weak and childish. "Wha-What about Kuon? Who does he talk to? Is it his dad?" she asked and Julie laughed as she hugged Kyoko close.

"You have no need to worry about Kuon, he's a very happy child." Julie said as Kyoko blinked and looked down before listening to the rest of what Julie was saying. "What makes me so happy to be his mother is that he's talented at so many things, he's gorgeous, he's intelligent, he's so mature. In short, Kuon is the perfect son and he has such an optimistic view on life. He's going to grow up and be so magnificent, just you wait and see."

Kyoko wrapped an arm around herself, "No. He's not," she argued and Julie looked to her.

"Kyoko, maybe if Kuon has hurt you, he doesn't know what he did. I know that it's hard to think about, but Kuon probably didn't mean to trouble you. Can you tell me what he said to you so that I can think about what it really means?" she asked as Kyoko's eyes widened and she shook her head.

"N-No, Kuon didn't do anything wrong," she tried to argue and Julie smiled.

"I know that he doesn't do anything wrong, he's a great kid and I'm so fortunate to be his mother. However, America is a different culture than Japan and if Kuon has acted in a way that you feel inappropriate due to the culture barriers then I want to help you figure out why he did that," Julie smiled as Kyoko paused.

Did she really think that Kuon was okay? Kyoko really didn't think that Kuon was okay at all, he seemed distant and to not want her here. Despite how much he was trying to be nice, there were some nasty thorns in his heart that were hurting him. Why couldn't his mother see this? She should be the one to comfort him and to make sure he could go through life happy and optimistic.

"Umm…no, it was nothing," Kyoko tried to brush it off. "I just…Kuon…umm…no it's okay," she tried to smile. She wanted to help him but with how delusional Julie seemed there might not be any chance of breaking through. She didn't want to insult the woman either. This woman was interested in taking care of her, she didn't want to spit in her face.

Julie grinned at her, "Do you want to help make burgers for dinner with us?" she asked as Kyoko's eyes lit up and she nodded excitedly. "I know that it must be more exciting to go out to dinner, but I think that my husband was eager about you being here with us and we remember how much you loved his cooking when you stayed with us in Kyoto."

Kyoko smiled and nodded eagerly, "Is Kuon going to help too?" she asked and Julie smiled.

"Why don't we go ask him?" she said as she gave Kyoko another hug and grabbed some tissues for her to wipe her eyes with. "See, now it doesn't even look like you've been crying," she tried to cheer up the small girl before going out of the room with her. The two of them came to see Kuu in the kitchen and he looked at Julie in surprise.

"I thought you had gone out," he told her as Julie blinked confused.

"Why would you think something like that?" she asked, "We talked about making dinner together only a few minutes ago and I know that I went to check on Kyoko but you can't be that forgetful. Why would I be going out?"

"Because I heard the door get unlocked and then closed. I just assume that it was you," Kuu said as he laughed softly. "I must have imagined that."

Kyoko's eyes widened and she rushed to the doorway. She could see shoes which would be the Hizuri parents but there was a space missing with the smaller shoes. Had Kuon gone out? "Could it be that -" she pointed before looking down. She didn't want him to feel alone anymore. He had always protected her from the pain of the world, why couldn't she protect him now?

"I'm sorry, I want to go look for him," she said to the parents. "I'll be safe," she said as Julie sighed.

"You should just wait here for him, Kyoko. Kuon goes out when he needs his space. He never gets into trouble out there so it's going to be okay. Sometimes Kuon needs his space but we all do, don't we?" she asked her husband and Kuu nodded.

Kyoko looked at the door again before coming into the kitchen. She'd most likely be too late to stop him from leaving, but this didn't feel right. Is this why he had stopped emailing her back. These weren't the actions or the words of someone who was happy but of someone who was attempting to act happy.

"Kuon," she whispered softly, "I really hope you're okay. I hope we can do something fun tonight," she said as she tried to hope with her whole heart and wish for the safety of her special friend.

….

….

"It's that loser Hizuri," a boy shouted out as Kuon attempted to ignore them. People were stupid and especially other boys. Maybe if he had grown up around other children he would be like them, but he was often surrounded by his father's friends and famous models that his mother knew. Instead of playing with toy cars and Transformers, he had intelligent conversations that were beyond his years.

"Hey, Hizuri! You look like a mutt today as well," a boy called out with a laugh and Kuon closed his eyes.

Ignoring them was easier. He didn't want to drop down to their level. These people were idiots and he should be glad that he was born with a brain and a heart. He cared about other people. He shouldn't care what they thought of him, he wanted to protect others and not hurt them. Kyoko brought those feelings out in him.

"You gonna wa-wa-walk like this," the first boy said as he did an impression of Kuon during the time that he was doing his physical therapy. Kuon sighed and tried to ignore them again.

"You hearing me Hizuri?" the guy asked before shoving Kuon into the wall. Both boys expected him to fall down and one of them was even waiting for him to start crying for his mother. They didn't expect the boy they were trying to bully to turn around with such anger in his eyes.

"You better beat it," he said with a cold and sadistic smile on his face. "You don't know who you're messing with,"

"Aww, da little baby likes to -" the first guy said before Kuon struck him in the groin with a strong kick and watched the preteen cry. He hated to admit it, but unlike when he saw Kyoko cry, this actually felt good to him.

End of Chapter Three

AN2: Thank you to everyone who reads and supports this story. A special shout out to the reviewers of Chapter Two:

Brennakai, Cheshire 2313, Crazy4Animation, cutielove077, DreamIdol, Erza3, Glimare, Guest (2), insidebeast, PaulaGaTo, SweetJaneP's, Tabbykatroses, talim258, The Real Jackie-O