AN: There is more Hizuri in this chapter than Kyoko but I hope you still enjoy
Chapter Four: Important Things
When he had told Julie of what had happened, she hadn't seemed as angry as he had expected her too. She was saying that unfortunately what happened with Kuon was just the failings of the American entertainment industry. She wasn't as enraged as Kuu was that somebody could be treating their own such with such disdain. Kuu, however felt unrest over it. How was his son going to achieve his dreams if this was the attitude surrounding him.
Kuu sighed as he read over the script that he had just received from his agency. He would have to memorize these lines fast because of a delay in the writing department. He could do it though. He had memorized much longer things in half the time. He just had to keep his mind focu-
"That's Kuu Hizuri," he heard an unknown woman say and kept his head bowed. Even of the set people would sometimes get excited about seeing a celebrity. The fact that he looked Japanese in part and that his dyed hair made him look more American as well would sometimes draw people over. He had been scouted for modeling agencies before he even began dying his hair.
His son was even more gorgeous than he was, well Kuu tried his hardest not to apply such words as gorgeous to himself so he wanted to emphasize that Kuon was more gorgeous than he was. He was more intelligent than the average kid, more talented, and when he got out of the wheelchair he would show them that his athletic skills could come back again. Yes, Kuon could outshine everyone.
"Isn't his son that cripple?" he heard another woman say and Kuu froze, his body turning numb as he tried not to draw attention to himself. He had to control the anger. Not doing so would only hurt his own image and that might translate badly not only to Kuon but to Julie as well.
"I don't think that's a nice way of putting it at all," the first woman said and that helped Kuu steady himself. "I mean, he doesn't mean to be in a wheelchair and shouldn't he -"
"I'm not talking about his body," the second woman said and Kuu froze again. No. He couldn't just sit here and hear this. He had to get himself turned around so that he could yell at the women that they had absolutely no right to treat his son in such a manner. "I'm talking about his mind. He's really very stu-"
"Is that what you think?" Kuu asked as his hands shook and he glared at them, acting in a way that could be very bad for him if a photographer were to take a picture right now. "Do you think that my son is stupid? I'm extremely proud of my son," he said as he challenged them to argue against him. "He's intelligent. He might not be able to move his legs but that doesn't take away the fact that he's intelligent and I'm sick of tuning you people out."
The first woman gasped but the second woman took a step forward.
"And who do you consider yourself being when you say that? People have always been-"
"I know, people have always said these things about my son, tried to put him down and I didn't listen and he got hurt and depressed but I promise you that I'm listening now. Even if I implode my own career, at least I had a chance. I'm fine with destroying my own life so that he has a chance to have one," Kuu said and the first woman looked down, her head bowed.
"I'm so sorry," she whispered, "I would hate for my child to be spoken about in such a manner. I truly am very sorry," she said and the second woman rolled her eyes.
"I'm very sorry for you, your son will achieve nothing in his life," the second woman said, "he'll just be a blank space with no career to speak of, only known as the black ink stain on Kuu Hizuri's life," she said and Kuu looked at her almost viscously. How could these people even exist? What did they have against a twelve-year-old?
…..
…..
Kuon grinned as he picked up the mail for that day, he sorted through it, creating a pile for each of his parents before stopping at a box which had Kyoko's handwriting on it. Her handwriting was always so sweet, it was in English and she had tried to do each letter correctly, so they looked printed. He smiled as he opened the package and looked at the bag that was inside.
She had really put so much hard work and care into creating this for him and it showed. She must have picked out fabric that would look professional and thought about him with each part of the process. He ran his fingers over the buttons and zips thinking about how thoughtful she had been in selecting just the right ones. This was kindness and friendship of which he had never had before.
Hopefully Kyoko would find herself surrounded by friends that she could hold as treasured as he held her. As he opened the pockets, his hands went over a stapled collection of papers and his eyes lit up as he pulled out a script. She really had written him something so that he could keep on remembering his acting goal.
This bag was now a valuable treasure to him and he wanted to reciprocate the action somehow. He hummed to himself as he held the script in his hands. She had belief in him. She believed that he was going to be a great actor and that's what he needed since he had started to lose that kind of faith and belief in himself.
He wanted her to be proud to be his friend and as he closed his eyes and smelled the soft strawberry scent of the script, he could imagine himself standing on a stage and basking in the glow of the stage lights with an older form of Kyoko clapping her hands wildly as she believed in him and congratulated him. He smiled happily as he remained in that moment before pausing.
She was four years younger than him. He was fantasizing about someone who was four years younger than him. He should stop that and just be happy that they were friends. Maybe if he was twenty-two and she was eighteen then it would be okay but that would be in ten years and a lot could change in ten years.
He heard his cell phone ring and his eyes drifted towards it as Rick's name flashed on the screen. He should start thinking about Kyoko in the same way that he thought about Rick. A friend who he was not at all attracted to but wanted to support and wanted to be happy. That was the only normal way of handling this. He could not be in a relationship, whatever the actual meaning of a relationship was, with someone who was four years younger than him. It was cruelty and manipulation.
"Hi, Kuon speaking," Kuon grinned as he lay the bag on his lap.
"You sound happy, dude," Rick laughed and Kuon bowed his head. Was it that obvious how much joy Kyoko's present had brought him. "Don't tell me you experienced the thing?" he asked and Kuon frowned in confusion.
"The thing?" he asked. He didn't want to admit that half the time he was a little concerned about what Rick was actually talking about. Rick had the cool guy image and Rick tried to have that image and sometimes Kuon felt a little out of the loop. His dad had always attempted to encourage him to be himself.
"You know, when you go into the bathroom by yourself and you feel that thing?" Rick asked, "Have you discovered it?"
Kuon rolled his eyes, "Isn't that just for like adults?" he asked with a shrug.
"Dude, you have to try it…it's pretty coo-" Rick said but Kuon cut him off. He was twelve. He wasn't going to start thinking about pleasuring himself and having sex with girls no matter how important it was to Rick to experience those things. Acting gave him the same rush of adrenaline anyway. He wanted to get better and then he wanted to act, fooling around with girls was only fun for him if they were performing a scene.
"So why did you call me?" Kuon asked with an awkward laugh. Was his mind supposed to be designed more like Rick's? Was he broken when it came to being a man? Was this the kind of disturbing imagery that clouded his dad's….WOAH, no do not go there.
"My dad's decided to take me to Japan and I wanted to know if I got get Kyoko's address and see if we're close by," Rick said and Kuon felt his eyes widen. What was going on?
"You want Kyoko's…address?" Kuon asked, trying to repeat the question, "Uh…she doesn't have one."
"She doesn't have an address?" Rick asked and Kuon felt his stomach twist. Was this okay? He didn't want them to meet as they both represented different parts of his life. Kuon felt his heart twist in his chest. "Dude, okay she doesn't have an address," Rick laughed. "You care if I come over?" he asked and Kuon smiled, hoping that the subject of Rick and Kyoko meeting could be dropped at this point.
"Sure, you can come over," he smiled not sure why he felt so much on edge.
…..
…..
As Kyoko finished her homework, she looked at her email inbox. She wanted to read over some of the past emails between her and Kuon, they always made her feel good. Even though she had other friends and those friends weren't so far away, Kuon was so special to her. He was the one who she could just think about and she would stop crying and the sun would shine.
Her eyes lit up as she saw that there was an email from Kuon with an attachment to it. She quickly scanned the email.
Thank you so much for the gift, Kyoko!
I'm really happy to have received it. I know you put your heart into it so thank you so much. I promise that I'll use it a lot. Thank you for your hard work. I'm happy to have a friend who will do something for me like this. Hope you like the attachments
Kuon
Kyoko looked down at the attachments and blushed as she clicked on a couple of photos with Kuon holding and wearing the bag that she had made for him. The third attachment though was one that she was more curious about. It was an audio file. She clicked on it nervously.
"This is to thank you for the script, I noticed that the characters didn't have gender and so I thought I'd read it," Kuon said and Kyoko felt a blissful emotion surround her at just hearing the sound of his voice. Her eyes widened as she heard his natural voice as he read the words she had written for him and then a playful second voice as he read for the other character. She laughed loudly with happy tears in her eyes.
"Thank you," she smiled after he had finished and she put her hands over her heart, "Thank you, Kuon."
End of Chapter Four
Thank you for reading
Thanks for the Chapter Three Reviews
Brennakai: I'm glad you liked it 😊
Kris XD: Well, I did change one huge element about the situation Kuon grew up in, Kuu is more alert to it this time 😊
Miss Elyon: Thank you so much, hope that I haven't let you down 😊