AN: It was a little hard for me to write this so it's shorter. I guess I'm feeling less inspired when it comes to Skip Beat because I loathed the latest chapter and especially Kyoko's character in it. I did want to update though so I hope you enjoy

Chapter Seven – Our Support

My voice repeats back in my head. I think about all the times in which I said observation is the best way to learn how to act in different scenes. You have to look at everything you can, hear everything you can, touch everything possible to touch. You have to rely on the outside world to be an actor and now I'm trapped within this small inner world. I bow my head and push a hand through my hair, at least I know how to act out despair.

I always claimed to be able to do most things with one hand and I thought that I knew all of the basics of acting and now I can't even focus on the joy of being in a scene because it's not a lasting joy and if it is then it's not one that I could have again.

I know that everyone is telling me not to feel despair and that there is hope and even if I am blind, I can still stay within the fields of acting but maybe from another angle. I don't want that. I want to be my best and maybe I am selfish wanting what I worked for for so long, what I've been working for for so long.

"Careful," I hear Mom say as she comes over to me, she places a hand carefully on my back and then puts another hand to my wrist. She moves my hand slowly. "I refilled your tea cup," she tells me, "Right here."

I smile to her. I don't want to talk about how damn irritated I am with losing my independence, from having been admired and looked up to to having to be looked after. I take a shaky breath and nod. I don't want to smile, I don't want to accept that maybe everything could get better because I feel like I'm lost and even worse than that is because I am scared to lose more and I'm scared of lost hope. I don't want to hear that I'm blind for life with no recovery.

"Mom," I tell her and hear her slide the chair back. "I…I can take care of myself," I argue and hear her sigh. She stirs a spoon in her own cup and I hear her sip the tea. I nervously lift the other cup to my lips. I shouldn't be harsh on her, she's worried about me and I'm lucky to have parents who care about me so much.

"I'm allowed to," Mom tells me stubbornly. "I'm allowed to take care of you. I wasn't allowed to for years so I'm taking the opportunity to do so now." I laugh at that and Mom laughs too. "I wasn't allowed to show my son off to all my friends and take pride over his growth. I want to be with my baby."

I pause before sighing, "I'm not a baby anymore," I tell her, "and I doubt that you'd be proud of me."

"You're a survivor," Mom tells me, "and even if you weren't, you're alive. I am proud of you for not doing worse, for finding a life with people who care about you. For being my son," she kisses my cheek and I smile weakly. I don't know how I'm going to handle this new part of my life but I do know that I should be appreciative of the people around me. I need to do this for them and fight for them.

I smile as I nod. "Thanks, Mom" I tell her and she squeezes my hand.

"Of course, Kuon," she tells me and then places our hands on the table, "I'm here for you. We're both here for you."

I have to hold tight to that. No matter how much of a freak I believe myself to be, I'm not. I'm loved. I have to remember that.

…..

…..

"Are you sure they are at the apartment?" I ask Kyoko as she looks through her bag for something. I hope that she hasn't forgotten something and if she has then I hope it's not important. I hate to admit how worried I am about going there. I'm scared that I'm going to say the wrong thing or they'll come to think of my presence of being an annoyance rather than an act of friendship. I slow my breaths and Kyoko turns to me.

"Are you worried about Kuu-sama?" she asks and honestly I'm not. It's starting to click into my head what happened when Kuon came from America and changed his persona to Ren. I thought it was exotic for him to be from California but there's not been a day that I've known him and haven't been suspicious of him.

"Actually no," I tell her and sigh as we stop at a light, I look around feeling extremely thankful for having working sight. I might be cruel for saying that but I want to appreciate the good in my life and motivate Ren – Kuon to do the same. "I'm worried about Ren…Kuon," I correct myself and Kyoko sighs.

"He's the same person," she says and I don't know if I've explained myself well enough. I know that they are the same person, that's not what I'm thinking about. I'm scared that I've thought of my presence in Ren's life as bigger than it is. I consider him a friend and I would want to continue our friendship despite his limitations but does he. He's always isolated himself even when he's in a crowd.

"I'm worried that I'll be of a negative use" I laugh and Kyoko shakes her head.

"There's no way. You mean a lot to Kuon," she tries to remind me and I take another breath in and try to concentrate on the road. I am skilled at not trying to give everything an emotional reason but being sensitive to whatever emotions are around me. I need to be strong for Kuon. He needs friendship despite all the protests that he might make of not needing it.

…..

…

As we reach the apartment, I can see that Yashiro-san is still shaken. It's going to be okay. I don't know what he's worrying about anyway, maybe Ren can act a little cold and distant but both Ren and Kuon greatly admire and depend on Yashiro. They wouldn't want him to feel hurt. It's going to be great for Kuon to know that he has more support from all of us.

Yashiro still seems nervous as we go to the front of the apartment building and I'm sure it's not the size of the building that is causing him alarm. He's been here more often than I have. I can only assume that it's Kuon's condition but something like that shouldn't matter to Yashiro.

I just hope that Kuon is having a better day today. He got in this accident because of me and my carelessness, I just hope that he's doing better and that he's learning to cope. I can't help but feel responsible for him but I feel scared to say that, that is something that Julie-san wants. She didn't have her child for so many years and she's a good mother unlike mine. I can't help but think that I ruined it for her.

I hear the door open and see Father there. I smile to him and see Yashiro-san drop down into a very formal bow. "Oh, we came to see Kuon," I tell Kuu who is studying Yashiro and bows to him as well. "This is…"

"I know, his manager," Kuu says and Yashiro immediately stands up straighter. He pauses and I know he's feeling more nervous. Yashiro has told me before that Kuu has always been a hero to him and Yashiro seems nervous about how casually Kuu-sama is speaking. "We've met before," he says and I close my eyes remembering the time when I played out the role of Kuu's son.

"We came because he's Kuon's friend as well. We wanted to show our support," I tell him and Father nods, his expression showing his understanding of the situation. I take another deep breath in and see Kuon sitting with Julie-san. I approach him slowly. "Hi," I whisper as I put my hand on his back. "I came to see you."

"Kyoko-chan," he smiles as he takes my hand and squeezes it. I hate that he seems so lost but I can't do anything to stop it as much as I might want to. "Yashiro-san came as well."

"He did?" Kuon asks sounding unsure and Yashiro moves towards him.

"I did. I came to see how you were doing. I was worried about you," he laughs. Yashiro takes off his glasses and I see the sadness in his eyes that I feel responsible for as well. I hear his voice clearly though. "I also came to see the state of the burns." Kuon pulls back subconsciously and Yashiro chuckles, "I definitely think we can take care of those. Get you acting again."

"You think a blind man can act?" Kuon asks in disbelief and Yashiro laughs.

"Not any one, no an average person may experience some difficulty but for you, I think you are the one who will stand out against other people. When it comes to you, Re-Kuon, you could do anything in the acting field. Now, I want to know what information you want the press to know."

"For right now," Kuon says nervously, "Maybe nothing. I need more time to think about it."

…..

…..

I feel a little nervous having so many people around me, when I was a teenager, I felt that I would never have anyone supporting me again. I thought that my parents no longer wanted me as their son, I felt that Rick died because I cared so much about him and our friendship but now when I need people they have come for me. I don't deserve this. After all of the pain that I've caused in my life, I don't deserve such love but that doesn't seem to be an issue for them.

I take another breath in and feel Kyoko's hand on mine. "I don't want to stop healing because I'm afraid of the reaction of the public," I tell Yashiro who seems to understand. I'm surprised not to hear him fangirling over either my relationship with Kyoko developing or Dad being here.

"I'm going to make us something to eat," Dad tells us and I nod. I stand but Kyoko helps me stand, I know that everyone is worried about me. They are worried about my condition and especially how I'm managing it. I'm doing my best but there are still a lot of things to work out.

I take a deep breath in before bowing deeply, Kyoko tries to steady me and I know she's scared that I'm going to fall over and hurt myself. "Thank you," I tell them and hear Mom take a few steps over to me. "Thank you for all of your support."

End of Chapter Seven

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Thank you to the reviewers of Chapter Six

H-Nala, Kaname671, Kris XD, PaulaGaTo