AN: Sorry that it's been a little bit since the last update of this fic. I've been busy studying for finals and taking finals and balancing work and school. Today is my birthday so my treat is getting to write 😊 also I worked out a schedule so hopefully I should be able to update all of my Skip Beat fics at least once a week 😊

Chapter Nineteen: Day One and Counting

Kyoko was looking forward to training with the man she considered her father figure. She wondered whether there would ever be a day when this man would be her father-in-law, but only Corn would make her wonder such a question. She smiled as she looked at Kuu wondering what they were going to do that day.

"So," Kuu said as he sipped his morning coffee, "How's your appetite? I remember it being a little bad when we first met."

Kyoko looked at him confused, "You mean because I wouldn't eat food that you shoved in a bag and then tossed around?" she asked not really understanding what he was getting at. She hummed before looking forward, "I think it should be Kuon you're talking to about bad appetites and not me, well unless you think I should have had more of that cake."

"It's good to know that you're eating well and I do think you're right about Kuon, but I mean how is your appetite as an actress? Are you still avoiding bullying roles?" he asked her and Kyoko looked down, she smiled faintly. Her dreams of being an actress had started off slowly and compared to those around her, she seemed a little stuck when it came to other genres and other acting parts. However, she loved acting even more than when they had met the first time.

"I'd prefer to have other roles," she told Kuu with a weak smile, "but I'm happy to be in the arena. Sometimes you have to fight and train before you get to do the fights that you want or wear the costume that you want. I still feel that I have to train my body more. Kuon is a huge inspiration for me," she told him and Kuu smiled.

"I'm glad to hear it. My son has performed some roles that he most likely wasn't the happiest with but he's concentrating on the moves which are best for his career," Kuu smiled as he thought about Kuon and now, at least for the time being, he had Kuon back in his life. He wouldn't waste the opportunity to really connect with both of his sons.

"He's amazing and he's talented," Kyoko grinned.

"I admit that sometimes I think that I can't match up to his skills," Kuu nodded, "However, do you still want to keep a strong hunger on the acting world? The last time we talked you were looking at it as something to conquer and win at. I know that it might sound arrogant or that you can't relate, but acting for me isn't about proving my skills or being number one and I can't imagine it for Kuon either. Acting is about being able to wear the shell of someone else and live new experiences in your mind. Let's just say that I might still be a child at heart," Kuu smiled as Kyoko watched him. "Before I show you around the acting community, I want to make sure you have the drive that people will move towards."

Kyoko smiled and gave Kuu a playful salute, "Father, there are only a few things in this world that I care about more than my acting prospects," she said. "Whatever training you have in mind for me, I am more than willing to do it."

Kuu looked at her, "Then this should be very interesting," he said as he got out a number of folders with many pieces of paper stuffed into them. "When I heard from Boss that I would be training you, I found a number of things for you to work on. I'm going to train you to step back into Japan ready to be an actress to represent it."

Kyoko smiled happily and nodded. In her eyes one would be able to see not only her guts when it came to taking risks, but her determination to work hard and carry on working until she had achieved her goal.

…..

…..

Kuon entered the office where the director was for the picture. It was an independent movie, the directors second and he had been a little nervous about hiring an actor from overseas. However, somebody had shown him scenes from some of Ren's work in Japan and the director, Thomas Barnes, was thoroughly impressed with his skills. The director stood and bowed quickly before looking down but Kuon respectfully returned the bow.

"I'm not sure if you got the word, Mr. Barnes, but I'm actually not a Japanese citizen," Kuon attempted to explain. "The president of my agency pulled some strings and I have an amazing work visa that offers me many of the same opportunities as a citizen might have, but I'm an American," he said using his Californian accent as he spoke to him. "It's a pleasure and an honor to meet you. I'm Kuon Hizuri."

"Wow," Thomas smiled, "I'm a fan of Kuu Hizuri and I have to say that I did see some similarities in your style, you must have grown up watching him perform."

Kuon gave a weak smile. He didn't want to offend the man who had asked him to be in the movie with the role of a journalist who was reporting about a psychopath, which gave him a little bit of a 'Silence of the Lambs' feel. However, this was something he had been afraid of for years. Whilst he had made a conscious effort to have an acting style that could be said to be his own, you often learn mannerisms based on who you grew up around and he had spent a lot of time with his father.

"Thank you, however I hope that I have different skills from him," he said to the director as he sat down in the seat that Thomas gestured to.

"I've seen a handful of the titles you worked on in Japan," Thomas continued as Kuon tried to remind himself not to focus on the similarities between his father and himself. "You've done a lot of impressive work but I only saw a small minority of them. Dark Moon was my favorite, that raw energy and the way you formed the character as your own," he tried to compliment Kuon who smiled as he thought about that.

It was most likely for the best that he didn't say his favorite part about filming was working with Kyoko.

"Thank you for acknowledging me like that, I'm very grateful," Kuon smiled before he looked up at the director. "So you wanted to go over some of the things that I needed to know for my character?" he asked and the director smiled.

"Exactly. I also wanted to test out your English language skills but now that I see you've been educated over here, I am confident that you'll be perfect for the movie." Kuon nodded, he didn't want to say how he had only lived in America until the age of fifteen. He wanted everyone, especially the director, to know as little about his life as possible.

…..

…..

After the discussion, which had been longer than Kuon had expected, had ended, he went over to the café where he would be meeting Yashiro. He caught his manager waiting for him and looking over some contracts and so approached the table. "Sorry that took so long," he smiled weakly and Yashiro looked up at him before nodding.

"I wasn't even aware of the time so I wouldn't have known you were late until you just told me," he said before looking down at the paperwork and closed the folder he had put it in. "I also don't consider you late as you did say to leave a gap open at the end in case anything happened so once again, Kuon, right on time. Congratulations."

Kuon smiled before looking up at the counter, "Mind if I get myself something to drink?" he asked and Yashiro gestured that he should go without even thinking about it. "Can I get you something?" he asked as Yashiro looked at him.

"You really are too considerate," he said before looking at the green tea he had ordered and forced himself to drink. "Perhaps some water, I don't know who this café is kidding to believe that this is actually a proper Japanese drink," he said quietly so that he wouldn't offend anyone who worked in the coffee shop.

"Iced?" Kuon asked and saw Yashiro nod before he turned back to his paperwork and Kuon got into the line to order the drinks.

Despite the paperwork in front of him, Yashiro kept having to look at Kuon and how much he fit in in this country. It wasn't that Ren Tsuruga never fit in, but he was tall and sometimes looked too perfect. He had the American way of emitting a confident energy and sometimes it really was too overly confident. Still, here he seemed to fit in more with the rest of the blonds. Yashiro chuckled to himself as he looked down at the table, he never had dreamt that he would be representing someone like this. He had often thought of the American stereotypes but Kuon was different.

Yashiro was lost in thought until he saw someone in the corner of his eye and blinked. He wasn't expecting Kyoko here already. "Hi, Kyoko," he waved her over, "come and join us, though you should tell Kuon if there's anything that you want to order."

"Thank you," Kyoko said as she came over to Yashiro and dropped into one of her formal bows with her hands placed together in front of her. She looked around and pulled a chair up to the table before looking up and saw Kuon in line. Silently she came up to him and took his hand as he looked at her with a grin.

Yashiro really had to admit that he loved seeing Kuon so happy. He had always isolated himself when he had lived as Ren Tsuruga. It wasn't that Ren was a bad guy, he had a lot of traits that were rare to find in other people, but Kuon seemed happier and more natural. Kuon was able to make the mistakes that Ren had always tried his hardest to avoid. It did feel sad the more that Yashiro realized that Ren was always a character of Kuon's that he had made for the sake of working in America but Kuon was a friend and Kuon was open to making friends.

He was happy for him. He was happy for them.

As Yashiro watched them, it came to Kuon's turn to order and Yashiro had to hide a grin as Kuon spoke in his Californian accent.

"[Hey there, how's it going?]" the blond said with the same positive energy he directed towards everyone.

"[Good. Thanks for asking. What can I get for you?]"

"[I'd like a large iced water, a medium black coffee, and a medium lemonade but the Californian lemonade not the original, please. Will that be okay?]" Kuon asked and Yashiro had to admit that seeing Kuon speaking English actually seemed to make more sense than watching him speaking Japanese.

"[Sure thing,]" the barista nodded as he prepared the cups and Kuon paid with his American credit card. Kyoko blushed as she saw Kuon slip a twenty in the tip jar. She pressed small kisses to his arm. Why was this guy so giving and generous?

Kuon took Kyoko's hand and moved over to the side.

"Can I remind you again how sexy you sound when you speak with your true voice," she said and Kuon looked at her with a playful smile.

"Only if I can tell you how attractive you are when you dare to use the word sexy," he smiled playfully as they waited together.

Was this what happiness was?

End of Chapter Nineteen

Thank you for reading

AN2: Special huge thank you shout out to the reviewers of Chapter Eighteen: brennakai, DreamIdol, PaulaGaTo, and RichkeyZero