AN: Wow, it has been such a scarily long time since I wrote a chapter of this. I have to tell you though that I am glad, and also apologetic, that I did because it gave me a chance to reflect. When I was writing this before I cared a lot about the reviews (I still love them) but the most important person I write for wasn't enjoying this fic very much, let's hope that she starts to enjoy it again 😊

Chapter Eight – Kanae Kotonami

Kyoko smiled as she wrapped her arms around Kuon's arm excitedly as they went to see the play that had been advertised. There were multiple showings but Kuon had got them tickets for one of the later days. Kyoko was excited and she also hoped that this would motivate her friend. Corn had told her that he wanted to be a stage actor and if he got a chance to do that then she wanted him to experience all the joys that were around it.

"Do you think I'd make a good actress?" Kyoko asked him as Kuon laughed and stopped, Kyoko stopped holding onto him so closely but Kuon still kept hold of her hand.

"If you want to be an actress then I think you could do it," he nodded and Kyoko smiled again. "You're really creative," he told her before sighing and looking up at the sky. "I mean, you see things that nobody else does, you have a real sense about the world."

Kyoko smiled softly as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, "Kuon, you're the creative one," she took a deep breath in, "I really hope that there are good things for both of us in the future. I think that's what your dad wants too," she said before hearing a girl sobbing softly to herself. Kyoko nervously fidgeted before walking off to see where the noise was coming from.

"Kyoko, maybe she just wants to be left alone," Kuon said as he attempted to stop her and Kyoko turned to him.

"If she wants to be left alone, she can just tell us," she said with a determined grin that made anyone under ten look absolutely adorable. Kuon reluctantly followed her. He knew that when he felt as if his own world was crumbling he tried to lock it up inside and bury it so deep down within him that he wouldn't have to deal with it.

"Kyoko -" he said as the little girl ran over to another girl of the same age. This girl looked a little less elegant than Kyoko, her clothes weren't the best and she didn't have a lot of accessories, she still did look pretty though, she just didn't look as beautiful as Kyoko did.

"Hi," Kyoko smiled as she stood in front of the girl, "Are you okay? What's your name? My name's Takarada Kyoko," she said as she tilted her head to the side.

"You shouldn't be back here," the other girl said as she stood up and all of a sudden there was absolutely no sadness that could be seen on her face. Kuon knew all about those walls.

"Oh, well it's okay for just a little bit, right?" Kyoko said, "Did you get hurt?" she asked and Kuon tried to walk over to her and make the suggestion that they should leave this girl to figure things out for herself.

"I didn't get hurt, what are you talking about?" the girl asked before looking at them. "You two obviously don't go here," she said as Kuon smiled weakly about that. He knew what she was referring to and he knew that it was something that bothered his father. Whereas his mother had been okay with class divisions, his father wasn't and he had always said that you had to base on other factors and he wished that he could be seen as an ordinary man.

When you had access to whatever clothes and food and anything else that you liked, life didn't seem quite as much work as for those who couldn't afford these things.

"We wanted to see the play," Kyoko said, "Are you in it?"

"A minor role although I do think that I have more talent than the main girl who is starring in it," she said with a calm face but there was a fire in her eyes. She looked at Kyoko as she studied her, "Did you say Takarada as in Lory Takarada?"

Kyoko nodded, "He's my father, well he adopted me but I still consider him my dad. He's a little out there sometimes but he's fun and he cares so much."

"And then who are you?" Kanae pointed to Kuon who looked at her, he looked quickly to the side.

"I'm…" he took a deep breath in, hopefully she wouldn't recognize the name, "I'm Hizuri Kuon."

The girl stared at them and it looked as if she recognized both of the last names. She looked away from them and turned to the mirror. "So you're both the children of big names in the acting world, guess that means that you're just like her, that you don't even have to try."

"Trust me," Kuon smiled weakly, "We do have to try," he said as Kyoko's face lit up and her smile grew.

"That's so impressive that you know so much about acting," she smiled, "Do you want to be an actress? Kuon is thinking about trying to do some stage acting and I think that he's going to be really good at it. I think that there are so many things that you can do in acting and, and –"

The girl raised an eyebrow, "Let me guess, you want to be an actress."

Kyoko paused before shaking her head, "I want to be an artist and fashion and accessory designer."

The girl smiled at her before looking away, "Not that you care, but I'm Kotonami Kanae and I have the acting ability to deliver any line better than the girl who is actually starring in this production," she said and Kyoko sat down before Kuon could make a suggestion that they leave her to get ready for the show. Reluctantly, Kuon went down and sat next to Kyoko.

"Why don't you show us what you can do?" Kyoko asked eagerly, "If you're a good actress then you should prove it, you should go out and act in front of as many people as you can."

Kanae shifted awkwardly before looking at them. "You better not tell the other performers about me doing this and I'm only doing it because you challenged my love for acting and my ability as an actress. If this got around then you don't want to he-"

"We won't tell anybody," Kuon said as Kyoko smiled.

"Alright," Kanae sighed before doing the scene of the main character for them. She looked at the two of them and saw tears in Kyoko's eyes from how moving her performance was. "That was amazing!" Kyoko said as she stood up and clapped her hands to give a standing ovation. Kuon politely clapped despite noticing the smile and blush on Kanae's face as she finally saw somebody affected by her acting to this degree.

"That was really good," Kuon said and Kyoko looked back at him.

"It was phenomenal," Kyoko giggled as she clapped harder and saw Kanae's face light up as someone appreciated her art and her skill. "If they didn't cast you as the main role, all of the other parts must be really good. You're amazing."

Kuon saw anger flash in Kanae's eyes.

"Wait until you see the play then," she said as Kyoko looked back at Kuon who shrugged not sure what that meant.

…..

…..

As the play ended, Kuon and Kyoko looked at one another in shock. Despite having seen such a great performance from Kanae just before the performance, she was in the background with only two lines whilst a blond diva seemed to take over the show. Kyoko looked at Kuon who was staring at the girl, Erika, who had seemed to rule over everyone else.

"Why was that cast like that?" Kyoko asked as she looked devastated. It had seemed that Kanae's performance had given her such a high opinion that just seeing that everyone else couldn't act in the same way had let her down. Kanae should have been the star because she had the most talent.

"I didn't know Japan could get as bad as America," Kuon sighed as he saw Kanae trying to clean up the stage a little.

"What do you mean?" Kyoko asked as she tilted her head to the side.

"Well, sometimes in America the roles for a show aren't given to people based on talent but on some other skill. That's why I failed a lot. People didn't pick me based on my own abilities, they wanted to show the son of Kuu Hizuri so I messed up because I can't compete with my dad and that's why I got so depressed. However, sometimes just by being the child of someone famous, you can use that to your advantage. I just got it backwards," Kuon tried to explain to her as Kyoko saw the pain in his eyes.

She went over to Kanae as Kuon followed her again. "I think they were wrong," Kyoko said and Kuon put a hand on her shoulder. He didn't want her to get affected by this and be targeted by anybody. The Takarada name offered her a lot of protection though.

"Huh?" Kanae asked as she stared at the girl opposite her, "You think that -"

"They are wrong, yes," Kyoko said as she smiled proudly, "I don't like to say my opinion too loudly but they are wrong. You are an amazing actress and it's so sad that they aren't giving you a chance." She took a deep breath in before looking to Kuon and then back to Kanae, "Do you like stage acting?" she asked and Kanae nodded.

"A-any type of acting," Kanae said and Kyoko smiled.

"Then we should show your talents to our fathers, I'm sure that we can help you if there's fees involved. I know that both my dad and Hizuri-san care a lot about young actors and they might be able to sponsor you," Kyoko said and Kuon nodded.

"I don't want to speak too much on them but my dad loves seeing unrecognized talent and if you want to take a class in acting then we could help with that," Kuon offered as Kanae looked between the two of them.

"Why would either of you want to help somebody that you just met that day? Why would either of you try to offer charity to –" Kanae said but Kuon cut her off.

"Then prove to them that you deserve it, show them your skills and earn it from them. I'm sure that Boss, Takarada-san, if he saw how much talent you have at your age then he would want to secure you as an LME actor in the future. Well, you might have to give your blood to LME but it's a cool agency and my dad worked there for a while," Kuon shrugged and Kyoko smiled at her.

"And then we get to be friends," Kyoko smiled happily and Kuon saw her go over and hug Kanae who welcomed the hug.

"Why would you want to be friends with someone like me?" she asked and Kyoko smiled in a way that always made Kuon's heart melt.

"Because you showed how beautiful you are through your acting, please say we can be friends," Kyoko said with a weak smile and Kanae nodded.

"I'd like that, my first friend," she said as Kyoko hugged her closer.

End of Chapter Eight

Thank you for reading and thanks for your patience for this chapter.

Thank you, reviewers of Chapter Seven

Artistofthemind, Brennakai, KrisXD, MWEH, noeliaf87, paulagato, RichkeyZero, Someone2303, The Real Jackie-O, Undertheskys, Yujiro101

Well the most important person I write for, myself, enjoyed writing that chapter so I hope you liked it too.