Chapter Seven – A New Drug

Kuon sat quietly as he looked at his father from where he sat on the bed. He didn't know what to say and that was why being a kid sucked, he didn't have any say in his own life when it became a family decision. Even though Kuu was asking for his opinion, it wasn't as if Kuon had say over that. So instead of protesting or saying something that might irritate his dad he just smiled and nodded.

"Yeah," he shrugged, "Maybe some good will come from going to Japan," he said in a very unenthusiastic manner. Kuu reached out and put a hand over Kuon's wrist.

"We don't have to if you really don't want to," he assured his son but Kuon just looked away. He had been enough of a burden on his family. He knew that they were trying to do this for him but he really didn't want them to do it. It would mean his father sacrificing even more in terms of his career and he wasn't sure how the Japanese would react to his mother's very foreign appearance. She wasn't Japanese despite being married to someone half-Japanese.

"Your career," Kuon finally commented and Kuu shook his head.

"It's not important. My career is not what is most important to me," Kuu tried to reassure Kuon who remained silent. Kuu sat next to Kuon on the bed and pulled his son to him in a side hug. He wondered if Kuon would protest to that since he was older now but instead Kuon sighed and slumped down out of exhaustion.

"It's because I haven't tried hard enough isn't it?" Kuon asked and Kuu blinked confused.

"You…haven't tried…hard enough?" he asked slowly, confused to what Kuon might mean by that. He thought that Kuon was making great strides in attempting to be happy and find his place in the world. Even though he had had a friendship end, he seemed to look forward to the positives. "Kuon? What are you talking about?"

"If I tried harder to be healthy then you and Mom wouldn't be burdened," he told his father before shaking his head. "Tell me, if I wasn't here…would you go to Japan to live there?" he asked and Kuu paled. He put a comforting hand on Kuon's shoulder.

"That question isn't even worth discussing because you are here and being part of a family means choosing to make sacrifices to help one another," he said and Kuon created a fist with his hand. He bowed his head, falling silent. Maybe once his father left the room at the next visit with the psychiatrist, they would give him some different drugs or at least a prescription for something stronger, something that would transform him into the kind of son his parents wanted for him to be.

"Yeah," Kuon said sadly and Kuu looked at him.

"Kuon, you're the kid in this family, families aren't supposed to ask kids to sacrifice their own happiness so the parental figures can do something which they don't find as much interest in," he saw Kuon nod in a depressed manner. Kuu pushed his hair back in a way that an affectionate father would. "Are you going to be okay? I didn't mean to depress you."

"I'm fine," Kuon replied in a hollow voice that made Kuu wonder if he really was. "Dad, can you leave?" he asked and Kuu opened his mouth to protest. Kuon kept his eyes closed feeling the guilt wash through him. He had caused this unpleasantness in this family. Ever since his parents, especially his father, had started to pay more attention to him they had seemed to become more unhappy and tired. He forced a smile on his face. "I'm fine," he said. Kuu raised an eyebrow not believing him.

"Are you?" he asked and Kuon nodded with this fake smile on his face that Kuu could read through. "No decisions have been made yet, we're going to go over to Japan as a family, maybe we can make more decisions when we're there. Kuon, are you really going to -"

"I'll be okay," Kuon replied and Kuu nodded. "Can you just go do something else? I'm sorry, I just need to be alone for right now." Kuu took a deep breath in. He hated to leave but he wanted to give Kuon the independence which he was asking for.

"I'll be downstairs if you need to talk about anything," he said before ruffling his son's hair. "I love you, Kuon," he told him and Kuon nodded. As soon as Kuu had stepped out the door and closed it behind him, the smile left Kuon's face. The sacrifices which his parents were making for him were too big. He was becoming a huge burden to them. If they had just had a different kid then they would have a happy family life but they were left with him, the broken and twisted child.

Kuon quickly stood up and went to a drawer in his desk, he fumbled around to reach something in the back and then drew out a sock which had a small bag in it and in the bag a lighter which Rick had given him were he to decide to take up smoking or whatever. Kuon flicked it on, he saw the flame and brought it to his upper arm where it would be hidden by a shirt. He flinched as he felt his skin starting to burn but he deserved this. After some time he had to pull the lighter back and store it again. He grimaced from the pain but he deserved that. He was causing such agony for his parents, they wouldn't punish him for that so he would have to punish himself.

TLPTLP

As Kuon faced the psychiatrist, he took a deep breath. He had asked his father to leave the room so that he could ask something. Despite some protests from Kuu, he had eventually left and Kuon looked to the woman in front of him. "The Abilify isn't working," he told her and the woman looked at him shocked. "I thought that someone mentioned Xanax or Zoloft before. Do you think they might be able to help more?" he asked and the psychiatrist shifted.

"Kuon, you know that your father said he wanted to be involved in anything that might include a drug treatment. I don't -"

"Dad only said that to keep up appearances," Kuon lied quickly and somehow he knew that the psychiatrist was believing him. His acting skills must not be that dreadful after all. Kuon bowed his head. "Dad's a famous actor and his fans might have a negative view of those drugs. Dad also umm…I think that he's been taking some of my drugs away from me."

"What do you mean that your father is taking the drugs away from you?" the psychiatrist asked, feeding into Kuon's lies despite him being a child still. "If you're not following the recommended dosages then that might be making you feel that it's not working."

"No, umm," Kuon shifted. "Listen, I can pay and I'm taking the recommended dosage and everything but Dad…Dad is…well I don't think it's best for Dad to be involved in what drugs I'm taking," he said and the psychiatrist looked at him before sighing.

"I agree with that, your father has never been supportive of your treatment, one might think that he doesn't want your condition to improve," the psychiatrist sighed before going to retrieve something from the desk. "If you can pay for it," she said and Kuon found it suspicious that she was offering it to him without having a pharmacy license. "I can give you a month supply of Prozac and then I'll have to write you a prescription."

Kuon nodded as he took money from his pocket, "How much?" he asked and the psychiatrist handed him the white bottle of pills.

"How about $100?" she asked and Kuon handed over the money quickly. He looked at the bottle of medication, this should work. If he could prove that he was happy and that he could become the perfect son then his parents would change their minds about moving to Japan. It was at least worth a try.

TLPTLP

"His plane's here. His plane's here," Kyoko said excitedly to her dad and Lory smiled down at her. He really felt a lot of joy in how excited Kyoko was to see the Hizuris. According to Kuu, Kuon's treatment had gotten a lot worse in the week and a half following his visit with his psychiatrist. The Hizuris were truly worried about him now and felt that getting out of the country on this vacation as soon as possible was for the best.

"He must be looking forward to seeing you too," Lory said before seeing Kuu with a large cart of luggage. He turned to see Julie there with him and then paled as he saw Kuon. This wasn't the boy he remembered. This wasn't the same kid which he had known his entire life. Kuon was stiff, his eyes were hollow, his face didn't even have a trace of a smile, what had happened to him?

"Corn!" Kyoko said as she ran forwards to hug him and she wrapped her arms around her good friend. He didn't wrap his arms around her either, he seemed too far gone for that. He looked confuses or as if he hadn't slept or eaten. Any sane person would be worried for him. "Corn?" she asked and he blinked.

"Hello, Kyoko," he said stiffly and since he wasn't wrapping his arms around her, the young girl took a step backwards. Had she done something wrong? She knew that Corn got depressed and he had a lot of troubles in his life but she also liked seeing him smile. He was just hollow.

"Isn't that great, Kuon?" Julie asked trying to encourage her son to at least express some emotion. "Kyoko came to meet us at the airport. Kyoko-chan, you're as adorable as ever," she beamed down to Kyoko before seeing her son's almost lifeless eyes focus on her. "We should definitely do something fun to celebrate, right, Kuon?"

Kuon nodded but his face didn't change from the blank expression. Lory came over to Kuu and put a hand to his shoulder.

"We should probably move from this area, Shuuhei," he advised his friend before coming to Kuon who gave him a formal bow but still was stoic in his expression. Lory turned to Kuu before smiling to Kuon weakly. "How are you doing?" he asked and Kuon nodded.

"Good," he said before stepping forward and away from them. Kyoko followed him, wanting to tell him all about the different art and fashion projects which she had been working on. She wanted to fill him in with what was happening with her life and ask him about his own. She didn't like this neutral Kuon though. Something felt so wrong about it.

"How long has he been this way?" Lory asked Kuu in a way where there was no chance of Kuon hearing this. Kuu frowned.

"About a week now. He says that he's not tired, that he's not hungry. He's been depressed before but nothing like this," he explained showing his paternal worry. "I thought that bringing him here might get some kind of emotion from him but he's been almost…robotic in his actions. I don't know what to do anymore," he said showing the pain in his own expression. "It doesn't mean I don't love him though, I just don't know what to do anymore."

End of Chapter Seven

Thank you for reading, reviews are appreciated

Thank you to the reviewers of Chapter Six (as well as my AN)

13stars, Brennakai, Guest, JayDows, Kaname671, KrisXD, Kumioko, SpiritedRanger, The Real Jackie-O,