AN: Thank you so much for your patience in the update of this fic. I hope you enjoy the chapter. 😊
Chapter Twenty One – Somebody's Not Getting Married
Kyoko froze as she picked up a magazine that had celebrity gossip scoops. On the front page there was a story about a female celebrity's plastic surgery that had gone wrong. That was the typical American magazine that would focus on these stories about people who had made mistakes. There were people who were seen as beautiful who had wanted to enhance that beauty and turned into ugly people. Americans were a strange breed.
However, down the side she saw something that had made her very uneasy: Academy Award Nominee Kuu Hizuri welcomes daughter into family. Kyoko blinked at that. Was this saying that Julie was pregnant, how had the magazine got a hold of this before Kuon even knew. Kyoko purchased the magazine before walking over to sit down on a bench and read the article.
As she sat down and turned to the page, she saw pictures of Kuu and her together. She turned to the article and read it. Her eyes widened as she absorbed what it was saying. Most of it was talking about how Kuon was Kuu's son and he had started acting in America. They were discussing his work in Japan as Ren Tsuruga and how the two countries differed when it came to their celebrities.
However, there was also information about how Kuu was teaching her about Hollywood and that he was fully expecting her to join the Hizuri family as a member of it. She paused. Was this taken from the multiple times when she had called Kuu 'father'? Of course that would create some misunderstandings. Maybe she should think of a different -
Kyoko paused as she read that they had also asked Kuon some questions and that he said he wanted to propose to her. Okay, this was something that they hadn't discussed and she wasn't sure how to feel. Becoming a part of the Hizuri family would be exciting and she had never loved anyone as passionately as Kuon…but marriage already?
She had once told Sho that what she dreamed of being when she was older was his bride but those days were long gone and she was a different person. The idea of being a bride didn't feel as romanticized to her. She looked down, trying to figure things out in her head. What was a bride anyway? If someone was a wife did they have to automatically be a mother as well? Would she be okay taking a step behind her husband for the rest of her life?
She took a deep breath as she tried to read the article again.
She needed some explanations for this because, before she even started in America herself, she was being married into the HIzuri family. She didn't remember ever being an active participant when it came to making that decision.
Kyoko needed some answers and she needed them now.
…..
….
Kuon looked up as Kyoko entered the house and smiled as he came over to her. He had finished his scenes earlier than planned – he was an amazing actor – and so he was glad to spend time with his parents and with Kyoko. He tilted his head to the side as he approached her and frowned. She definitely didn't look happy. Had something happened? Was it some cultural barrier that she had encountered but he didn't know anything about?
"Are you okay?" he asked as he put a hand to her cheek and Kyoko looked at him firmly.
"Kuon, I'm not really old enough to get married," she said before shaking a little as if thinking that he'd get angry and cast her off. He looked at her surprised and nodded slowly. He allowed his thumb to tuck some of her hair behind her ear and looked at her confused.
"Okay. Did some random guy propose to you?" he asked wondering what the homeless people in this area were really up to? He knew that there was the smile police who would stop you if you weren't smiling, but random proposals. Maybe it was a sociology experiment for one of the colleges around here.
"He wasn't random," Kyoko said before raising an eyebrow, "And he hasn't done it….yet."
Kuon blinked again as he stared at her. He really didn't know what she was talking about. "Kyoko, princess….did you want me to?"
"No, I don't want you to." Kyoko said as Kuon blinked and took a step back. He wasn't sure how to feel about this. Had his parents told her that they wanted him to get married to her. Had his mother started talking about grandchildren? He had asked them to not scare Kyoko off with these kinds of idea. He knew that she wanted the relationship to have a slow pace. Getting engaged was not slow. On the other hand, did this mean that she never wanted to marry him.
"I'm sorry, I don't really -" Kuon said as he looked at her with mixed emotions. "Did I do something wrong?"
Kyoko sighed before passing him the magazine and told him the page that the article was on. She watched as Kuon read it through and then sighed.
"I can't believe this. We haven't been in the country that long and they have to go ahead and print something like this? How desperate are they for a story?" he asked as Kyoko looked at him with her won shock. Instead of talking about what they were saying about them, he was saying that they shouldn't even wind up in an American magazine. Well, it was true. They must not have a lot to report on if they became an article.
"Kyoko, please don't listen to these. Do you know how many magazines there are like this over here. People don't believe everything they read anyway," he looked at her before putting the magazine down. He took a few steps towards her and wrapped her up in his arms. "Please don't let this affect you," he told her as he kissed the top of her head.
"I just want for there to be good articles about us. I want to prove to this country that I can work here one day too and then we can be with your parents more," Kyoko told him as Kuon looked down upon her. He didn't want to tell her how Americans were sometimes extremely racist and that unless she had the talent and popularity of a Lucy Liu, she might not be able to find parts that had a lot of range. This was something that she was dreaming of and wasn't America also the land of opportunity.
Kuon nodded, "Well then, we'll have to do our best to make those articles happen but no matter what happens, I support you. I love you."
Kyoko smiled as she wrapped her arms tighter around his waist, feeling the security from being that close to him. "Thank you, Kuon," she said as she stood there with him anchoring her. "I love you too and it's not that I never want you to propose but I want for us to take our relationship slowly."
"We will take our relationship at whatever speed feels most comfortable to you," he grinned at her before lifting her chin enough to kiss him passionately. He looked at her as if she were the most beautiful person in the world, which to him, she was.
…..
…..
Kyoko couldn't sleep and so she had decided to grab a blanket and go and sit out in the garden and look at the nature around her. She knew that Kuon loved nature and it wasn't hard to see why. She had never had a family which had taken her camping or which she had explored the wilderness with. Shotaro definitely wasn't the type of person who would go out with her to the woods.
Kuon was though.
Corn had always seemed so magical because of his connection to the natural world and his love of different plants and animals. He was active and loved running and jumping, but he was also able to sit still and pet her head and make all the bad things go away if only temporarily. She remembered how she had prepared imaginary food for him and he had eaten it.
Some people – a lot of Shotaro's fan club – had said that she was strange and weird and rejected her because of those traits. Kuon was different. Kuon had always been supportive of her and now that she had met him as an adult, it was as if she had matured herself. She had always been strong and capable, self-reliant in many ways, but with Kuon it felt that she could let her guard down and he would still protect her.
As she sat listening to the sound of nature, she felt someone approach her and she looked up to see her prince standing there with a few more blankets. "I couldn't sleep," she told him and he nodded as he sat beside her. "I think it might be jet lag or maybe my mind's too active, but I really couldn't sleep."
Kuon grinned at her as he wrapped his arms around her whilst sitting next to her. "It's really alright," he grinned, "I couldn't sleep either, or at least I couldn't sleep without you."
"Will you stop feeding me lines," Kyoko teased him as she put her hand through his hair and blushed before putting her hands in her lap and smiling. She didn't know how to really talk about the things she was feeling. Maybe it was having him so close that she could feel his warmth. Maybe it was that she had had that article flow through her mind but she felt her heart beat in her chest.
"What is it?" Kuon asked her sweetly and she looked at him.
"You are really attractive as a blond with emerald eyes," she said as he laughed and looked out on the garden. He gazed up at the moon and took a few deep breaths before leaning back and looking up at the stars.
"Thank you," he pointed to the stars, "Doesn't this feel comfortingly familiar?" he asked her. "I think the reason that I felt so at home in Kyoto is because it is a bit like this yard. Do you think that if we're lucky enough to become a hopelessly romantic, old, married couple, we could retire in Kyoto. Not that I don't love being in California but…"
"I know," Kyoko said as she lay back with him, guiding him back as she did so that she could place her head on his strong and warm chest and hear his inhales and exhales, "I think it would be amazing. Going back to where our story began. Like a full circle."
Kuon smiled.
How was he so lucky to have this moment? To have every moment with her?
End of Chapter Twenty One
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Brennakai, Kris, Machi3663, MWEH, paulagato, RichkeyZero