Chapter Six – Worry
Kuon didn't want to tell his father about how bad he felt and that the medication was making him feel worse. Sometimes you had to get used to something before you saw improvement. That was what his marital arts teacher had told him when he started to take lessons. Surely these pills were just acting like a sore muscle. It feels bad at first but then it starts to feel better.
Kuon hugged tightly to a pillow as he lay in the bed. He was such a baby, He shouldn't be acting this way. His babyish nature had turned Rick away from him and the older boy no longer looked at him like he was his confident friend. Kuon knew that today was a school day. He had to get ready to go or otherwise it would make his parents disappointed in him but the sickness he felt was overwhelming.
He heard someone knock on the door and turned inward to press his face into the bed. He didn't want them to know how weak and selfish he was. He had already caused so much pain for everyone. He groaned a little as the door opened and heard someone enter. The next thing he felt was a hand gently stroking his head and slipping into his hair.
"Darling," Julie whispered as she sat down on the edge of the bed, her fingers still making their way through his hair. "Are you okay? Do you not feel well? Should I notify your school?"
"No, I'm okay. I'll get up," Kuon told her but he mainly spoke into the mattress. If his mother saw the pain and nausea that was on his face it would concern her greatly. Besides, his mother had an acting role today, he would be in the house alone and he knew that his dad would be worried about that. Kuon groaned again. "I'm just sleepy. I'll get up."
Julie hummed. She could feel that he was warmer than usual by only placing her hand on his neck and back of his head. She really wanted for him to turn and look at her so that she could feel his forehead and take care of him. "Darling, if you're not feeling well…"
"I'll get up. I promise, I'm okay," Kuon lied to her before getting himself into a kneeling position, still looking away from his mother. "I'll get ready now. I was just being selfish."
Julie frowned and continued to watch him, she sighed as she stood up and walked over to where she could see his face. His expression concerned her but more than that, it made her worry that his eyes were slightly more dilated than usual. He couldn't possibly have being illegal drugs. No, not even that Rick kid would give him those. Even at fifteen, Rick couldn't have access to them.
"Darling," Julie said as she looked up at him with a mother's concern, "Have you taken anything funny? Any pills or anything?"
"Just my medication," Kuon said and Julie bit her top lip. She didn't want to tell him how scared she was because his medication might be helping him and she didn't want to deprive her son of something that he might need.
"Kuon," Julie said calmly, "I'd like for you to stay home from school today. You don't look well and I'm concerned about you. What if you feel weaker at school? Your father is here for the majority of today, I think that he'd be more concerned with you going to school right now."
Kuon turned to her with panic now filling his eyes. "No. I have to. I have to go to school. School is important and I can't burden Dad any more than I already have. No. I have to go to school," he attempted to convince her and Julie sighed before sitting back on the bed and pulling Kuon into her arms. Her son was getting so big now that he would soon be turning fourteen. She could remember when he was a toddler and she could easily hold him and keep him safe.
"You're not a burden," she argued with him. She looked at him lovingly, pushing his hair back. He was gorgeous. His emerald eyes though dilated and full of fear were a beautiful color and his face, though extremely pale at the current time made her happy every time she looked at him. "I want for you to take the day off and rest. It'll make me more worried if you go into school looking like this."
"I'm fine," Kuon tried to argue with her and Julie hummed.
"Even if you think you'll be fine," she said as she looked down trying to keep the heartache from her eyes. "I won't be if you go in. I'll be worried all day. Please, for me, take today off of school."
Kuon watched her. He wasburdening her and it wasn't fair to her. He slowly nodded and Julie stood up before tucking the blankets around Kuon so that he could get some more sleep. As a thirteen year old, he needed his independence but it was a mother's privilege to worry and be overprotective even over someone as capable of taking care of themselves as Kuon.
…
…
Kuu was making something for the family to have for their meal for that day when Julie approached him, shaking her head a little. Kuu immediately turned down the stove and moved to face her. Something felt wrong. For a moment Kuu panicked but realized that if it had been a gun Julie wouldn't be acting like this, she would be screaming and frantically attempting to help their son. "He's not doing well?" Kuu asked before washing and drying his hands. "How bad? Do you think it'll help for me to talk to him?"
Julie looked up at him and gave a weak smile. "Not too bad but he's so pale and he's got a fever and his eyes are dilated. I wonder if there's something in the medication that we have to be worried about. I asked him if he had taken anything else and he told me he hadn't."
Kuu paused before going to retrieve the pill bottle and checked the side effects. A lowered immune system was a possibility but it didn't say anything about dilation of the pupils. Perhaps it was just a strain of a cold that was going around.
"I suppose all we can do is monitor him," Kuu told her and Julie sighed. She nodded knowing that her husband was right but that didn't stop the worry. "I'm more concerned about how his friendship with that troublemaker ended. I don't think that Kuon did anything wrong but sometimes you need just someone to be there for you and Kuon isolates himself too frequently."
"So you think that I should have let him go to school today" Julie questioned. She paused. Maybe she should have but her protective nature had taken over control. She didn't want to think about how he could collapse or faint from the way he was feeling. Staying home seemed the best option.
"If you think that he should stay home then he's going to have to stay home," Kuu sighed. He bowed his head, gripping tighter to the counter. "Jules, I really don't know how to help him sometimes. I know that he loves acting but he doesn't have a way to do it, there's no air for him to breathe when the directors are looking at me and expecting for him to be as experienced as me. Maybe if we sent him overseas so that he had a different kind of stage to stand upon."
Julie crossed her arms over her chest and looked away stubbornly. "Not without me is he going overseas. We either move as a family or not at all."
Kuu paused and exhaled slowly. "I'm not going to force you to move to Japan, Julie. Let's just consider it as an option. Maybe he'll find his chance and bounce back, it's always possible. I mean, there might be a director who doesn't see him as only an extension of me."
"Let's hope so, you're a hard man to match up to," Julie said before looking out the window. She closed her eyes feeling the stress weighing down on her. "I wouldn't mind moving to Japan, you know, if it helps him."
…
….
Kyoko sighed as she returned back to the ryokan. She had developed and changed and grown up without her even realizing it. She could imagine the old six-year-old her compared to the nine-year-old her. These nearly four years had meant a lot to her and she felt that she had so many people to be thankful to. However, she was most thankful that her delusions concerning Shotaro were over. She could be free from her devotion to him.
"Did you have a good day?" Sho's mother asked them and Kyoko nodded but saw Sho pout and shrug his shoulders.
"It was okay," he said in a kind of moody way and Kyoko rolled her eyes.
"It was nice seeing everything and everybody again," Kyoko said before turning to her adoptive-father and running into his arms. She buried her head into his chest as Lory held her close, so much love flowing through him for this little girl. "Thank you for being my dad," she grinned and Lory squeezed her close again.
"Thank you for being my daughter," he told her and then put an affectionate hand to her shoulder. "Kyoko, I have a question that I'd like to ask you. There are many great schools in this area. I was wondering if you'd like to stay down here since you've been enjoying yourself so much."
Kyoko backed away with complete horror on her face. She had tears in her eyes and shook her head quickly. "Please don't leave me here. I want to go back to Tokyo with you."
Lory's mouth opened and he took out a handkerchief to dry her tears. "Of course, that is your decision," he told her as Sho watched her cry feeling extremely uncomfortable about it. "We'll go home together but I did receive a call from someone who wants to visit us. He might bring along his kid as well. I thought he could stay with us."
"That's okay," Kyoko said sounding relieved that she was able to return to the home which she loved. "I'm sure that I'll, I'll like their kid."
"It's Kuu Hizuri," Lory said and Kyoko's face brightened. That meant that Corn would be coming to see them. She blushed with her cheeks turning a bright red. Even though she tried hard to control her crush, she did still love spending time with him and he had appeared to have calmed down from previous times. Maybe nothing bad would happen on this particular trip.
"I'm excited," Kyoko nodded as Sho looked to her with a frown, just who was she getting so excited for? She should be thinking about him and only him. It better not be that cripple again.
End of Chapter Six
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Thank you to the reviewers of Chapter Five
Kaname671, Kris XD, Paulagato, Phoenix1218, Tam2013,